Artemis Child

Artemis Child Ch55

  Cory held his hand out to Lexi and Marc. "We promised to stay friends. Let's find common ground despite our parents." Marc looked at him with an uneasy look in his eyes. Marc grabbed his hand and got helped up, but the moment he got to his feet he slammed a good right hook to Cory's face knocking him down to the ground. Andrew went to move forward but Cory motioned for him to stop.
  "Marc if you want to hit me, fine. You want to kill me, fine. But there is something that you don't understand. When I was in that form I was seeing visions..." Cory paused to get up only to get punched again by Marc and land back on the ground. His lip was busted now, bleeding down his chin. His blood sizzles slightly but didn't start healing. Something was off now. "I'm not going to heal anymore Marc. It's just me and you. Talk to me." He said and got punched again. "Stop it." Lexi started as a whisper. The punch was a good one, Cory spit out blood facing the ground. "I can't." He said kicking Cory in the ribs knocking him onto his back. "She cried from you." He said grabbing him by the collar of the jacket that Lexi made. He ripped it off Cory dropping him face first in the dirt. He slowly got up from the ground to face Marc. "You aren't going to fight? Going to make her cry again?" Marc said giving him another punch. The werewolf transformation, transfer healing factor, and reversion had left Cory drained.
  "Get up..." I said looking at him. He didn't look my way, but he did get up. "Fight for her." Marc said taking a swing, but Cory did his best to get out the way. He still got hit but not as hard. Then came the counter. He took a swing at Marc, who blocked it with his forearm. Three solid jabs hit Cory right in his ribs, more blood spit out. "Stop it!" Lexi yelled at them, the next swing changed the game. Marc sent a strong straight punch to the face, taking it and turning his body, Cory got a hold on Marc's arm. He twisted the arm at the wrist joint and pointed it down to his waist as he turned to bring Marc off balance. Then with a swift rotation of the arm rolling the shoulder portion up knocked Marc to the ground. It was a simple take down, but all Cory could gather up at the moment. "Marc. I don't want to fight you. There are bigger things on the way." Cory tried to explain, Marc grit his teeth and let out a grunt against the pressure on his arm. Lexi walked over to us, her blade in hand. "Cory." She paused and adjusted her grip on the blade. "Get off him." She finished. "I will. Just got to have Marc understand tha-" this time she raised her weapon up, she cared for both of them. But she was afraid. She brought the weapon down, Cory blocked it with his left arm.
  The weight of the blade was one factor, but the weapon paid no mind to the strength of bone as she cut clean through Cory's forearm. The detached part landed next to her brother's face. We all ran forward to try to help but Lexi could cut his head off next if we got too close. Cory moved away from Marc, holding his bicep above the wound. It didn't bleed, instead it steamed. "I told you I won't heal anymore." He said trying to hold back the healing power. The wound sputtered blood in little shotgun style pops before he placed his palm against the wound. "Heal." She said raising her weapon. I could tell she didn't want him to. She wanted him to prove that he meant it. She cared for him, and I felt a little jealous, but I was more happy for him.
  He tore part of his shirt and tied it at the bicep as best as he could using his teeth. "One little piggy went to market." Said a voice as suddenly the ground was like quicksand. Cory's arm sank beneath the sand. We started all getting stuck. We all sank to our waist before we could move farther than a foot away from our spots. The sand moved like a sinkhole and every time someone disappeared the voice counted out.
   We landed onto a tomb of some sort. The sand pulsed with colors. We landed in a tomb of some sort. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse, Belgium, Aztec, Mayan, and many more mythological aspects lined the walls and pulsed in tanden with the sand.
   The sand walls began to light fast. Torches starting from a corner worked it's way across the wall to reach the other corner all in sync. Inside the room was some people that shouldn't be there. Me, Cory, Andrew, Toni, Serena, Marc, and Lexi were all there, Jake from Camp Jupiter, Max and Kaylyn, along with something else. A man or monster like a deformed goblin gnome thing. It had gigantic shoulder blades, and a loincloth made of mushrooms that pulsed like the sand.
  "Its MeGruchos world!" He said, his voice like a drugged Elmo. "Well not my world but you know. It's part of the story." He said again looking at me and gave me a wink. "Be sure to tell them about the wink." He said putting his hand next to his mouth as if it's a secret. Next to him sat a small shrub, completely out of place in this room. The room was roughly thirty yards by forty yards. The ceiling was just pulsing sand that moved like water. Nothing was making sense and I was feeling anxiety coming on.
  We all drew our weapons and pointed it at him. MeGrucho withdrew Cory's arm that was chopped off and pointed like a weapon at us. "Look. Let's just try to work this out." Cory said eyeing his arm. The being pulled on a leaf and it made a beep sound. The ground slid up like a cabinet with countless weapons lining the cabinet into what seems like an abyss under the shrub. He placed the arm on a rack and closed the shrub, returning to normal.
  "Did we eat pot brownies or something?" Jake asked looking around more confused that they were there and not what was happening. "No you gotta open this here box." MeGrucho said pointing behind him to show a small chest. It was lined with gold symbols like the walls but chains of four different metals wrapped around it like it held something dangerous. "Nevermind I'll do it." It was surprising that we weren't attacking. We had no idea how to get out so we were being cautious. I looked over to Cory who was holding his arm. Blood dripping down to his elbow of his other arm from a drying path on his hand.
  The being fished a wallet out of his loincloth. He grabbed a card of some type and tried to use it on the seam of the chest. He was trying to open it like it was a locked door. "Come one baby." He said sawing at it and trying to Jimmy the lock. The card slipped from his greasy hands and into the chest. "Noooo. My MasterCard." He said trying to fit his fingers in there. "Okay. Now you definitely have to open it." He said suddenly appearing behind Toni, Me, Cory and Serena.
  Like magic we were suddenly in front of a chain of a certain metal type. Cory Iron, Toni Silver, Serena Gold, and me Bronze. Cory's ring floated in front of him, Toni's guns, Serena's Sword, and Damocles' ring in front of me.
  Toni's and Serena's weapons shifted into a silver and gold ring. Four chains, four rings. This being was powerful, and we were all curious. "I want to get out of here." Lexi whispered to Marc who was only armed with a quiver. After hearing that Cory willed his ring to do something. The iron chain snapped with a thunderous clang, seeing him do it, I trusted his judgement. And imagined my chain doing the same, only to have it do it like in my head. It melted like ice before breaking. Serena mouthed something in Latin to Toni, who didn't understand. Serena undid her chain, and looked at me. "I'm sorry." She said after Toni undid his chain. She had realized what the box was. And now she knew that without her will the chain wouldn't have broken. "Pandora's box." She mouthed. She willed the ring to turn back to a sword and swung it at the being. "WOAH bitch. Calm down. I just wanted my card." Her attack went no where. She was frozen in time. The man began go open the box.