Modern Day Artemis

By:Muskan

When Apollo and Artemis walked away from the burning Olympus down into mountains they decided that they wanted to travel the world, and for the first time since their birth, they chose to go on different paths.

The goddess of storm hunting found herself venturing deep into forests, her womanhood walking the line between brutal and tragic.

When mountains turned into skyscrapers, the queen of hunt altered her ways with them. She stacked behind her favorite bow and arrow in the forest and brought switchblades and hunting knives. She threw away the deerskin and armor for black leather jackets, thick jeans, and combat boots. She never wanted to leave the forest but she knew in her heart that she had to.

Not just her, but her nymphs adapted too. Decades ago when she taught them to be fearless and merciless, encouraging them to embrace the darkness and training them to be unafraid of the woods she never thought that she would lead them into shimmering cities filled with car smoke and busy roads. Her nymphs gave up their trees for motorcycles now, as fast and agile as the birds.

She might have left Olympus centuries behind but her Olympian qualities still stuck with her. She carried the air of someone completely untouchable with her through the streets as second nature. And she was still as impatient as any child of Zeus. The nymphs understood this evolution away from the forest too. They would silently prowl as cats in cities at night, looking in alleyways for runaway and hurt teenagers. She might have not had the power to heal them like her twin but she carried the capacity to turn them into something that could heal themselves and never be hurt again.

She missed Apollo whole-heartedly but she felt like she saw him everywhere in these cities and the music they played. As Artemis wandered through the city streets one night, her eyes caught two men in a dark alley overpowering a young girl. Her anger knew no bounds, fists clenched, she stomped her feet in their direction and she struck her harsh punishment on them mercilessly.

She took the young girl home while she cried and thanked her profusely for saving her life. Finally, for the first time in the city away from the forest Artemis felt like she had found her purpose. The Lady of the Moon learned to thrive in cities that never slept. Artemis and nymphs did not stay in one city for too long after that.

Just like she had ruled the forest she would rule cities too. Because just like the forests, Artemis had recognized that the cities had monsters too. And just like she had adapted to the cities, so did the monsters. Wearing human skins and laughing among them only to slowly reveal their true nature.

 So the goddess of storm hunting still hunted and struck hard, it’s just that her preys have changed. But the Olympian in her could always see through them.