Ark dreamt of darkness, and in this darkness, he felt pain, but still no pain at all. It was like he was floating in the ocean, one wrong step meant death but for now, he was safe.

As he dreamt he felt people around him he felt emotions of fear, sadness, happiness, and most of all he felt pain. Ark struggled he felt the darkness starting to spread almost as if taking him over trying to end him, he tried to struggle against it but to no avail, it was winning. Then he heard a voice.

“Get up, Artemis. It is time for your trial.”

Ark suddenly felt the darkness be blown away and he could breathe, Ark’s eye flew open to see a woman surrounded by light.

“W-who?” Ark asked.

“Who I am is not important. I am only here to judge whether you are worthy or not.” The woman spoke loudly as the darkness around Ark faded.

“How will you judge me and what for?” Ark asked.

“I will judge you based on your ideals, your past, and how you’ve lived your life up to now. I am judging you for the ability of the Great Sage.” She responded. Then, the room went silent for a moment and Ark then felt a prick in the back of his neck. His entire life flashed before his eyes, everything happening at lightning-fast speed, from his time with the previous Artemis, to his life with his adoptive mother, and even times that he didn’t remember. A lot of these other memories holding one person in particular, a wolf hybrid girl by the name of Ruby North. But as suddenly as it had started it stopped. And the lady sighed then laughed.

“Well, then it’s been a while since we last met Hiro. But of course, you wouldn’t remember me no-one does,” She said somberly. “Now then, I have deemed you worthy of the power call upon it when you feel it is necessary but do not use it for foolish and trivial things. Goodbye, my love.” the woman said before Ark’s body started to glow then he awoke with a start.

“Ah!!!!!” Ark shouted sitting up in a hospital bed.

Lily jumped, startled by Ark’s scream. She closed the book she was reading and sighed softly to herself. “Finally.” She mumbled to herself.

Ark looked around to see a very familiar room, the sounds of the ocean and seagulls could be heard in the distance. In the room, Rin was asleep in a chair near the bed. Kaito, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Ark felt his head and his hand was met with a bandage covering the left portion of his head. He walked over to a mirror in the corner and started to undress the bandage.

Even after taking off the bandage his left eye just would not open he looked back at the mirror and stepped backward, his left eye had been replaced with a blackish scar.

Lily got out of her chair and went over to Rin. She shook the kitsune awake, who grumbled in response. “Rin, come on! Ark's awake!” That caused Rin to perk up.

“About fucking time! Gods, he gave us a heart attack! And we were not the ones who were dying!”

“Uh hi, ummm. I have a question for you ladies.”

“Yeah? What is it, Ark?” Rin asked, turning to her brother. She had her bandages back on her face, but she could still make out where his voice is.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“Great gods he has amnesia!” Lily said shaking her head. “I’m Lily. The blind kitsune is Violet, or Rin, your older sister.” Lily told him, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

“You realize I'm kidding right? And yes I caught the sarcasm Lily,” Ark asked.

“Yeah. Whatever.” Lily said, staring out of the nearby window as she furrowed her eyebrows.

“So, what do we do now?” Rin asked, her eyes darting nervously over to Ark.

“Well, what do you do when you’re wanted by an evil psychotic king? Hide and do absolutely nothing?!” Lily retorted back to Rin, her snarky and sarcastic words cutting deep.

“Zeus on a crucifix! What is your big deal?!”

“My deal?! Just how would YOU react if you found your best friend from your childhood, thinking everything would be okay, just to have all of your hopes and dreams shattered in an instant because low and behold! Your friend is working for the exact same person who is trying to kill you!” Lily shouted at Rin, who clenched her fists.

“Yeah, well, YOU were the one who was hunting US in the first place!”

“Is THAT what this is about?! Do you want to know the reason WHY I was working for Cole?! It’s because he took me under his wing, literally! He saw me dying from my curse from Zeus and decided to offer me a job. The whole reason I was cursed, was so that I can right my wrong-doings! I thought helping him would maybe lift the curse! Then I realized I was fighting for the wrong side! THAT REASON RIGHT THERE IS WHY I CHANGED! I EVEN DYED MY HAIR! GET. OVER. IT! WHY CAN’T YOU EVERY BELIEVE ANYTHING I SAY?!”

“BECAUSE LAST I CHECKED, YOU TRIED TO KILL MY BROTHER FOR KING COLE!”

“OH, GREAT GODS YOU ARE SO NAIVE!” Lily stormed off to another room, slamming the door shut in a rage.

Ark stood there, the fight having shocking him. He opened his mouth to say something but decided to keep it to himself.

“What in the hell happened?” Kaito asked walking in the room.

“To put it simply, Lily an I kinda blew up at each other,” Rin said, crossing her arms and turning her head to the sound of Kaitos’ voice.

“Oh.” Kaito then looked over to Ark. “Oh, hey Ark. Nice to see that you’re finally awake.”

“Thanks, man I’ve, uh, been better though,” Ark said pointing to the scar.

“Yeah. If we had gotten you here and treated it any later you most likely would’ve died, and, well, while you were asleep you nearly died.” Kaito explained.

“Speaking of which, how long was I out?” Ark asked.

“About a week at most,” Rin said, walking over while she used the sounds of people's voices to lead her over to Ark and Kaito. “And yes, I have fresh bandages on because the potion wore off on the way back here. Kaito basically had to carry me while she carried you.”

“Why are you being so aggressive towards her? If it weren’t for her we wouldn’t have escaped.” He asked Rin.

“I don't trust her, Ark. Something seems off about her aura.” Rin said, shaking her head and frowning.

*MEANWHILE*

After Lily had stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door shut, she heard Kaito come in, but she didn't care. She then got a splitting headache and groaned in pain. She face-planted onto the bed and her world went black.

Lily woke up in front of a tall figure. The only defining feature of this character was his mask. “Who are you?!” Lily asked, though her mouth was not moving.”

“All in due time, hybrid. Now, I have to warn you about what's to come.” The voice echoed and didn't seem to be coming from anywhere but inside of her.

“Oh yeah?! Why should I trust you?!”

“If you want to die, be my guest and don't heed my word. But if you and your friends want to live, I suggest that you heed my word.”

“Fine, what is it?”

“Cole, James, and Max are all on their way to your location. I suggest you all leave at once if you don't want to be caught, experimented on, and killed.”