Artemis Unveiled:The Descent

Untitled Part 12: Trial

"Aria, you're scared, and it's reminding you of something even more terrifying," Adomoye said calmly.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Aria nervously clasped her hands, only allowing herself a brief moment of thought.

"Your sadness, your fear, they can't escape my insight," Adomoye's voice resonated deeply. "Before I delve into your mind, do you have anything to explain?"

"It wasn't me," Aria asserted.

"How do you prove your innocence?"

"I... I can't. But I believe... I wouldn't do it."

"Let me see into your heart, to see if what you say is true, or if you're lying..." Adomoye's calm voice turned cold, issuing a detached command. "Kneel."

Aria obeyed the command, kneeling on the ground. Adomoye's fingers slowly slid to her forehead, and Aria tensed, fearing the impending pain. She stared at Adomoye's pale face, devoid of any expression.

A bright light flashed, growing increasingly intense until it resembled a piece of bleached paper. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced Aria's forehead, like a steel needle piercing her brain. Aria cried out in agony, wanting to pull away, but her body wouldn't respond, her hands numbly hanging by her side.

"Don't resist..." Adomoye's voice echoed in her mind.

Aria tried to respond, but no words came out. There was only endless pain, spreading from her forehead to her entire body. Soon, she was writhing in unbearable pain, wanting to scream but only able to whimper.

"All of your memories..." Adomoye's voice echoed, as if another needle pierced Aria's forehead, almost causing her head to explode.

Memories seemed compressed into a single point, drawn out from every dark corner. Along with the excruciating pain, she felt as if she was back at the starting point of her memories, glimpsing some childhood fragments, but unable to recall how old she was or where it happened. Then the scenes began to jump, her searching through the cramped room of Echo Tower, the day she lost an important message from Sovereign Bastion. Suddenly, a bloody hand appeared, but the image was too blurry to discern clearly. Finally, the pain overwhelmed everything, her mind blank, consciousness gradually leaving her body.

"Don't resist me... Don't hide... Tell me everything..." Adomoye's cold voice continued.

"I haven't... It hurts... Please stop..." Aria pleaded inwardly. With the intense pain and flashes of white light, the scenes began to repeat over and over again, thousands upon thousands of times.

"The Oracle... she's mortal..."

Another voice sounded from a distant place.

Aria felt her body falling, the icy hand on her forehead withdrawn. She stiffly collided with the ground, her brain and body still in agonizing pain. She curled up on the ground, tears streaming down her face, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"Have her memories been restored?" Lucius's voice came from nearby.

"Only a few early memories, the rest disappeared," Adomoye said calmly. "I'm puzzled... why can't I see them? She couldn't have forgotten so deeply, as if they never existed. And there are some that don't belong to the present... I suspect her memories are flawed..."

"She mentioned upon waking that she lived 280 years ago. I also suspect her memories are flawed. Could someone have tampered with her memories? Like you, using magic to alter them?"

"No one among the demigods can perform mind-reading spells. If someone deliberately altered her memories, only I could have done it," Adomoye said sternly.