❇ 𝔗𝔦𝔩𝔩 ℑ𝔱 𝔈𝔫𝔡𝔰 ❇

Chapter 1 - Artemis

Artemis POV:

Ever since the 10th of May 2080, all I can remember is just fighting for my life. If you had told me before that the world would be ending and I would be the only one alive, I wouldn't have believed you. But now, the reality is so harsh that even if I tried to escape it, I wouldn't be able to. If I wanted to, I could just let them take me and end it all for the easy way out but Artemis Starwaski is not a coward.

To be honest, I don't know what I am getting out of writing a pointless makeshift diary on pieces of forgotten newspaper scraps. It's not likely anyone will be around to read them anyway. But then again, maybe it gives me some sort of relief that perhaps, someone is with me and I'm not alone in this foreboding place I once called home. Home. Such a funny word. It only has four letters yet it means so much to some people. The holder of memories, the creator of traditions, the bonding of family; everything happens there.

How can one even feel homesick when there is no home to go to? What am I even getting out of living in a world where there is no humankind except me? So many questions and yet I will never obtain those answers; I guess some things will always stay unanswered no matter how hard I try to solve them. I think I am starting to go delusional with all these late night expeditions running on little to no sleep at all. I start hallucinating my family even though I know they're never coming back. It's already been 6 years since they were killed but I still can't bring myself to believe they're not really there.

The reality that I am all alone in this corrupted place will never fully be able to be comprehended by my mind. It just sounds so depressing. The fact that I will never again feel safe in my father's arms, get lulled to sleep by my mother's angelic voice, be challenged by my two older brothers or ever get a hug from my little sister again. It hurt. It hurt worse than a thousand knives spearing my heart at once. Even then, the pain would eventually subside but nothing can ever replace the torture of loss. The pain of loss is the most excruciating suffering anyone can go through. It tears apart your soul and leaves you so empty yet with a head full of thoughts. Thoughts so unnerving that you wish you could just switch it off. But you can't, can you? The people who died, die but the sorrow they leave behind will always be alive.

Gunshot. Oh no. They know I'm here.

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I managed to get away, not unscathed, but with only a small stab wound in my right arm. Luckily, I keep a small jar of some alcohol in my belt pocket. Using a torn piece of my shirt, I pour alcohol and rub it onto the wound. It wasn't deep but I still hissed with the pain. Great. Just another wound to tend for and another burden to keep track of. Those creatures appear in large groups but they are like mindless zombies walking around.

I wish time could go faster and I would be able to find the rest of the pieces of the Prophecy easily. If I just had someone with me, my life would be slightly easier but that would just be to much to ask for.

Wrapping up my wound with a spare bandage, I glance around at my surroundings. They're not vaguely familiar but I'm sure as I keep going I'll eventually recognise the path. Then again everything looks the same with scattered debris, towering trees and ash - like fog.

I sometimes wonder why I was the person to be chosen to 'save' this city and the rest of the world. This clumsy girl with anger issues is hardly saviour material. When everyone else got news about this arising apocalypse, they all sealed this city off with barriers. So no one could get in and no one could get out. If any of the barriers separating this city and the rest of the world break down, in less than 24 hours everyone would become infected. So if I didn't hurry up and find the rest of the pieces, this world would soon be no more.

Literally the fate of this world is in my hands. My bruised, scarred and burned hands.

Eventually, I reached the hideout I've been camping in. I've been changing the place I stay every week so that if the creatures do manage to locate me, they won't have enough time to get to me. Living like this has made me feel like I'm just living out of a backpack. Pack, unpack, move in, settle in, pack, move out, hide and find a new place to stay. It was an endless circle of just moving into every abandoned house until I'd run out. After that would happen, I would just go backwards and start from the very first hideout all over again.

So far, I had only obtained one piece of the Prophecy (from a secret trapdoor located under one of the houses) but I was determined. I had almost located the second as well by seeing if there was a pattern from where I found the first piece. There was six pieces altogether and once they were all found, they would form a glass sphere which would undo the curse placed on this city. The curse had been placed when some adventurers had found ancient treasure and tried to steal it. It had turned them into mindless creatures who had bitten others to become the same vile beasts.

Wincing with the pain of the wound, I managed to change into a loose tunic I had found in one of the houses. In total, I had about 7 outifts which I swapped regularly. I was living the life of a runaway but I wasn't running away. How ironic.

I double checked the boarded up windows and locked door before climbing into the rickety bed. Comfort engulfed me and I wrapped the satin sheets tighter around myself. Soon enough, sleep came and my mind drifted away.

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That's the end of chapter 1! Thank you so much for reading and I would appreciate if you could vote and comment. Any feedback is highly appreciated!