Within the silent dawnlight, covered by a black cloak, Artemis jumped off the carriage and started to run. Suddenly, she stopped. Right in front of her was the unexpected silhouette of someone she least wanted to see in the whole world.

“Oh my dear love, would you like my whole person and my soul?”

“Good, my only love. I will support you no matter what you do.”

That person was fervently flirting with a noble lady by a fountain. At last they kissed each other, and the lady said goodbye to him, and left slowly and reluctantly, then disappeared in the dark as the dawnlight dimmed. That person was still there, looking to the direction that the lady just left, and the direction towards which Artemis needed to go. After the lady left, she pulled down her hood to cover her face, and tried to sneak by him.

“Artemis?” He noticed her, rapidly caught up and grabbed her hand.

Artemis frowned, quickly wrenched herself away, turned and reproached him with a low voice: “Your highness, respect yourself. You are the Prince of our nation, and look at what you have becometh!”

But he just stared at her and said nothing.

She paused for two seconds then phlegmatically raised her volume: “Your highness Prince Antaeus. Stop your unbelievably absurd behaviour, give up your ridiculous lifestyle that offends God! You will never get me, NEVER, because I belong to God and I will be only His.”

But he acted as if he did not understand a word she said. Smiling, he mumbled: “Good, my only love. I will support you no matter what you do.”

As he dropped the last word of the sentence, reality wavered for Artemis. She smelled a hypnotic fragrance of rose, heard the sound of wind chimes as if coming from far, far away, and even saw a translucent blackish green hand reaching for her through the air.

“εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος…”In terror, she closed her eyes and made a sign of the cross quickly, then opened her eyes again. The fragrance disappeared, and the hand vanished into ashes. Dismissing it all as an illusion, she gave a perplexed glance to the person in front of her and said: “Okay, thank you for your support and I am leaving. God bless.” She turned around and ran off.

Antaeus stood still. Artemis, Artemis… He repeated the name again and again in his heart. It struck him and sobered him like thunder. What was he even doing? That was Artemis, the only one that he really loved, and she was leaving him! Now she’s gone. His heart ached as if being pierced by needles, his head hurt as if colonized by thousands of ants. Dizzy, he cupped his hands and scooped up some water from the fountain and showered himself in order to regain his senses, and ran in the direction that Artemis had gone .

Suddenly, he heard a sharp scream. Artemis was being thrown into a carriage by a man in a black robe. He scrambled onto his horse and the carriage rattled away Antaeus jumped onto a horse grazing nearby and went in pursuit.

Artemis’ hands were tied up. She looked at the man in black robe, frightened and pale as death. Before she regained the ability to think anything, the carriage had a sudden shake, and she saw Antaeus jump in the window of the carriage The man in black robe stopped the carriage and turned to investigate, but an unseen force immediately pierced his abdomen with a sword and he was kicked off the horse He twisted in pain on the ground and pressed his hands on the spot that was constantly bleeding out, but it didn’t help. He breathed heavily and his blood began to seep from his mouth. Antaeus jumped off the carriage, crouched down by the man and removed the fabric that was covering his face.

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“It was you!” Antaeus was stunned.

“Hahahahaha… Unexpected huh?... You amorous, flower-loving prince! My Aphrodite! Haha!... What a joke!... I am not going to live too long, and you neither, because you were cursed! You will be cursed for ever and ever!... Come to hell with me! Haha...” He burst out in laughter with a spasm, as his volume got lower and lower. All of a sudden his body stiffened, as death took his last breath.

Artemis got off the carriage, and Antaeus untied her hands. They looked around, and found themselves on a desolated, silent wild field engulfed by the darkness of the vast night. The soft night breeze was carrying the fragrance of the fresh grass, blowing Artemis’ long, silky auburn hair in little curls.

“Artemis...” Fascinated by her beauty, Antaeus whispered gently, but got interrupted by the owner of the name-

“Thank you for saving me. Now it’s getting late, I know a place around here, would your highness please get on the horse?”

Under her guidance, they arrived in front of a mysterious stone house covered by the color of night.

Artemis went up and knocked on the door thrice, then said: “Pax tecum!”

The door opened, and an old man in a brown robe appeared.

“Good evening, your Excellency.” Artemis knelt down and kissed his ring.

“Good evening my child, and my very special guest. Come in if you will.”

Antaeus was stunned by Artemis’ behavior but did not say anything. They followed the old man in. Inside the stone house, they walked first into a spacious hall that was without any fancy decoration but contained some pews, bookshelves and a simple marble altar. Above the altar was a crucifix and two candelabras that each held six burning candles with dancing flames. Then they walked through a side door, a hallway, then somewhere like a living room, with wooden tables and chairs.

“Your Excellency, this is Prince Antaeus. And your highness, this is Bishop Steven from the Roman Empire. ” Artemis said.

Antaeus, bewildered and out of place, nodded his head“I see, my good daughter in Christ. I’d like to talk with him first, could you please pour some water for us?” The bishop said.

“Sure, your Excellency.”

Artemis walked out and shut the door behind her. The bishop and Antaeus sat down, face to face. The bishop looked Antaeus up and down which spreaded a strange sense of fear from the bottom of Antaeus’ heart, as if the bishop had looked through his soul and knew everything about him.

He soon found out he was right, the bishop did know everything.

Bishop Steven fixed his eyes on Antaeus’ face with a kindly smile and said to him “Poor child, you still don’t know what happened, do you?”

Antaeus frowned , and shook his head with confusion.

“You are cursed by the one who tried to kidnap Artemis, ” Bishop Steven said.

“How did you know all about that? Are you the one who’s behind and plotted it all? ” Antaeus’ calmness began to evaporate and he stood up from the chair, questioning the bishop with aggression, but immediately he realized his impertinence and sat back down, “I am very sorry, your… Excellency. Please forgive my obstruction, I...”

“Don’t worry, my child. Let me tell you everything I know.”