Echo: The Girl That Time Forgot

Fate

A woman with coal black hair and a snow like complexion stole through the shadows. She had traveled far to get here, and her destination was at hand.

As she emerged from the trees onto the hillside, she stopped in front of the little door that most would've missed. It had been a thousand years since she was desperate enough to come here, and she hoped it would be a thousand more before she had to again.

She took a deep breathe, laid her hand on the door, and knocked. A few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a small but tidy house. It was full of all sorts of potions and ingredients, the walls were lined with hand woven tapestries and there was a distinct smell of old magic in the air. In the corner there sat an old, rickety spinning wheel that was running on its own.

As she stared at the tapestries she realized that it was only one tapestry, woven together with millions of small parts. Millions of lives, documented forever in these weaves.

She looked down, to see three old women looking up at her. The foremost one had a single blood shot eye sunken deep into a lifeless socket, the two others simply had two ghastly holes in their face where their eyes had been.

She shuddered, they were as horrifying as she remembered.

"Ahhh, Lady Artemis, it's been a while since you've visited us," Clotho, the one with the eye, said in a raspy voice.

"Yes. Yes. A very long while," the two others echoed behind her.

She forced herself to relax and faked a smile. "Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos," she said, nodding to the women, "It's good to see you all again."

"No it's not," declared Clotho. "We all know that you dread having to come here, and the only reason you would be here is if every other option failed. What you have come for is important, I can sense it. We have lived to long to be concerned with niceties. Why are you here?"

The woman sighed, "May I come in?"

It was Clotho's turn to sigh, "We haven't the energy for formality. If you must come in, then do."

The woman strode through the door and sat at the small, rickety table.

"Now will you answer my question?" Clotho asked.

"I need to see a future."

"Most people do."

"I need to see the most likely future for a nymph named Echo."

"I see. Do you have anything of her's?"

"Yes," Artemis nodded. "This," she said procuring a tear of clothing from her bag.

"Hmm," the old woman reached for the clothe and clasped her hands around it. Artemis stared intently at her face as Clotho closed her eyes and began chanting a language so ancient that even Artemis didn't know it.

Clotho gasped and her face tightened in pain, she began breathing heavily and sweat formed on her forehead. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she began to breathe normally.

"Well what! What is her fate?!" Artemis nearly shouted.

The old woman looked up at her and began to recite a fate,
"She will know pain like no other,
There will be blood, ash, and shattered glass,
But like Rome she will be rebuilt from her ashes,
Like a phoenix she will rise,
She will bring down the heavens,
And shatter the skies,
She will leave chaos in her wake,
For goddess of destruction is her fate."

A chill went up Artemis' spine as the eery words were spoken. She looked the old woman dead in her horrible, lifeless eye, "How do I stop this?"

The old women stared back at her for a second before breaking out into the most horrifying cackling she had ever heard. Her laughter sounded like nails scratching against a million chalk boards and it shook the goddess to her very core. Suddenly Clotho stopped laughing and focused her blood shot eye onto Artemis' face, as if staring into the depths of her soul.

"You?" She said in her raspy voice. "You can't change anything," the three fates said in unison. Then they all began smiling with their toothless gums. They just sat there smiling their terrifying smile and Artemis realized her audience with the fates was over.

She stood to go and walked to the door, but she stopped as her hand touched the knob. "You know, I don't believe in fate," she said glancing back at the old women.

"Oh my dear, if you didn't believe in fate, you wouldn't be here," they hissed and then began cackling again.

Artemis hurried out the door so quickly she left her bag, but she was not going back for it.

On the long journey home, the fate's words echoed through her head, "Goddess of Destruction will be her fate." Fate isn't real, she told herself. But no matter how hard she tried she could not shake the feeling that the fates spoke the truth.

She was uncertain of many things. But one thing was clear, she had to save Echo.

[Hey guys, I know this was a short chapter, there will be a couple more like this throughout the book. They will hence force be referred to as Artemis chapters, because most of them are just Artemis doing dramatic things. Hope you like it, thanks so much for reading! Remember to vote!]