Artemis and the Kag Mantas: Artemis and the Kag Mantas

As soon as Artemis stepped out of the portal, she was bathed in soft light coming from the ground; the natural clay road was surrounded by fungi of all kinds, and their glow lit up the path in chorus. The thick canopy of purples and oranges contained the light, making the ambience even more magical.

Artemis noticed the area would be eerily silent were it not for the firefly chirping that lulled the rest of the creatures to sleep. She stood in place for a second, ears moving around gently to get used to the surrounding sound, and planting her hooves properly to sense any movement in the land.

After making sure the place was safe, she began walking down the clay road. Artemis had received word that Faedin needed help healing a patch of woods that had fallen ill, and decided to go lend a helping hand. She had never been to Faedin, but she had heard of the endemic wildlife and lush atmosphere; it was nice, she thought, and it was definitely pleasant to walk through.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud gasp from behind her.

“Oh my god are these GLOWING mushrooms?!” Artemis’s ears flicked in irritation at the destruction of the precious silence.

She rolled her eyes, not looking back. “They are. I mentioned them on the way to the portal, Pit.”

The elf rushed to her. “I know but they look so pretty in real life! Plus, you make a horrible job of selling anything; you could pitch me the most glorious of things and I would feel you’re announcing a funeral.”

“Har har.” Artemis replied unamused, but her expression changed when Pit ran ahead, kneeling to get closer to a particularly vibrant fungus.

In a blink, the deerfaun reached for the bow on her back and shot one of her arrows to separate the elf from the plant they were about to touch. Its shimmering gold didn’t go unnoticed, and Pit was stopped dead in their tracks. “You stupid fool! I warned you about these, are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

“Come on, Artie, a plant can’t kill god.” He mentioned in a mocking tone, his attention away from the mushroom now, but still crouching over it.

“That plant will turn your gross, grabby fingers into useless sticks if you so much as touch it, god or no god.” She walked up to him at her own pace and picked the arrow back up, tucking it inside her quiver safely and continuing to walk without him.

“But what if I eat it and it makes me stronger! Invincible, even! A god among gods!” He said the next sentence quieter. “The hallucinations it must cause have got to be amazing…”

“If you want to disintegrate your hands and entire digestive tract, knock yourself out. But I’m not healing them back or putting up with your tantrums.”

She heard her friend sigh and stand up to follow, their long strides helping them catch up quickly.

After an hour of Artemis keeping Pit out of fungal danger, they arrived at the capital. The setting remained the same: a safe sphere of grass and trees lit up by natural lanterns all over the ground. In the center, a town hall made of tilled soil marked itself, and in the middle of it a glowing fountain rose to reflect the beautiful light of the mushrooms.

A creature resembling a sugar glider stood in front of it; they wore a shawl with glowing patterns and a thick scarf. “Good evening. Might you be Artemis?”

Artemis nodded briefly. “Are you the town representative?” The creature nodded with a pleasant smile. “Where’s the dying forest?” Despite Artemis’s milder-than-usual tone, her words were still far from being friendly.

“This way, if you please.” The representative gestured with their paw to Artemis’s right, and began walking down a new path of clay at a gentle pace.

After a few seconds of peaceful but hollow silence, the creature spoke again. “You see, usually we give Faedin time to heal herself, but Kag Manta season will be here any minute now, and without the canopy to fully cover their path, the mantas will lose their way in the outer sky.” They gestured up to the canopy, despite it still being healthy on that side of the path.

Artemis heard them, but didn’t find anything necessary to reply. Fortunately for the representative, Pit had decided to come along, and had more than enough social spoons for the both of them. “That sounds awful! Do the Kag Mantas come every year?” His eyebrows knit together in sympathy, and the creature returned the expression.

“They do. Faedin always has enough light, but the Kag Mantas make her glow in a unique and magical way. They tend to rest in the southern inner skies, but once a year around this time they migrate to the northern inner skies in search for a weather change.” They traced the direction from south to north with their tiny paws as they spoke. “It’s an issue that the trees in their path got sick; the gap in the canopy they created can lead the mantas away and into the outer sky, and they’ll get lost.”

“Oh no!” Pit’s eyes almost watered at the thought of baby mantas losing their way, but they quickly made room for an excited and confident grin. “Lucky you Artie and I came to save the day then!”

The creature laughed politely. “It would seem so! All of Faedin will be in your debt if you manage to save the mantas.”

“We’ll take payment in gems and roses.” He winked, and the creature laughed more openly this time. Artemis’s eyebrows furrowed a bit in growing annoyance.

“What’s your name, by the way? I’m Pit.”

“Brev. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Pit.” They smiled at the elf, and entirely missed the way Artemis rolled her eyes.

After a few more minutes of walking and putting up with Pit asking about every single mushroom he saw, the three arrived at a clearing where the moonlight shone brightly; the canopy nowhere to be seen.

Artemis’s eyes widened at it, taking in the starry outer sky for the first time. It was a watercolor mix of purples and dark pinks, and the moon was a gentle orange that shone a light that was blinding next to the subtle Faedian lights.

“Woah…” Pit gaped next to her with an expression similar to their friend’s.

Brev made a point of not looking up at it, their eyes presumably more sensitive to light than the others’. “As you can see, the outer sky is much brighter even during the night. I know it’s beautiful, but us Faedians aren’t used to such brightness— it hurts us— so the canopy is important to us.” They walked around the hard edge of light the moon cast on the grass until they reached the first tree that lacked leaves, and placed a paw on its dry bark. “Please.” They dared look up to lock eyes with Artemis, the importance of their words flooding them.

Artemis closed her eyes to give Brev a gentle bow that reflected the urgency. Once she opened them again, she unrooted herself from her place to walk into the moonlight towards the center of the clearing. The gold adorning her reflected the light even more brightly, and she closed her eyes to find peace.

In her hooves she felt Brev cover themself from the extra light. After a second, she felt Pit sit down to watch. An ear twitched at the sound of the outer sky breeze ruffling the grass. Once she fully focused, she started feeling Faedin.

Artemis could hear and feel everything in Faedin at once, but she started tuning each thing out until she focused on the one thing she needed: the ill trees and their sickness. It was a small, rather random weakness the trees had acted upon, she could now tell, and it was easy to heal.

After a few more minutes of channeling her magic into Faedin, Brev and Pit started noticing the bark of the ill trees had started to regain its color. Then, the first tree started regrowing its leaves. After timeless minutes of silence, Artemis felt the moonlight fully vanish from above her.

She opened her eyes, and the canopy was back to covering her and all of Faedin protectively.

Her instincts warned her in time to block Brev from a hug they ran to pull her into; they accepted the loss nervously and put their paws together in veneration. “You are a blessing, miss! Faedin owes you!”

Artemis’s ear flicked in recognition of the words, but her eyes remained on the now healthy trees. “The fungi.”

Brev stared up at her, confused. “Pardon?” Pit stood up and walked to them, just as curious, but much more relaxed.

She looked down at them, anger clear in her eyes, but her tone calm, unsure if Brev was to blame. “The trees depend on the fungi, and vice versa. Someone cleared this area of the fungi, so the trees grew ill. Don’t let that happen again.”

“O-oh!” Brev gave a small jump in recognition. “We sent the kids to gather fungi for the seasonal soup this year, you’re correct! How careless of us, oh dear…” Brev took their tail to fiddle with it anxiously.

Artemis’s face morphed into a lethal glare. “Don’t let it happen again.” She looked away from Brev once they nodded shakily, and walked a few steps deeper into the woods, drawn by a feeling in her ears.

Pit gave Brev a reassuring pat on the head to fulfill their roles of Good Helper - Bad Helper before he followed Artemis. “What’s wrong, Art?”

He stopped talking at a whip of the deerfaun’s tail that he knew by now, and waited.

A flurry of heavenly glow broke the anticipation as a magnificent creature soared high just beneath the canopy. It was large, with soft fins adorned with glowing stripes whose gentleness countered the outer sky’s moonlight’s harshness. Its slow, trance-like pace made it clear that the beast didn’t fly: it floated.

Its long, whiplike tail traced the path for a trail of orb-like lights to follow, and behind it came more mantas in flock.

“The Kags!” Pit let out an excited screech, grabbing onto Brev’s shoulders to shake gently.

Brev nodded with tears in their eyes. “Faedin was healed in time…”

Pit stared at the largest one with glossy eyes for a few silent seconds before whispering to Artemis. “Do you think I could ride one…” His question was met with a sharp and unannounced stomp to the foot. “OW-”

He was cut short when the leading Kag split from the formation, lowering towards them and floating around elegantly. It almost seemed as if it were thanking the pair. Pit caught Artemis’s usually hostile expression melt into a smile full of peace, and it resulted in a smile of his own.

The rest of the mantas started following suit, each taking its time to float around the clearing. The mantas’ glow was celestial, and it lit up the area in a way that was kind, and harmonious, and perfect.

Artemis would later receive a thank-you badge from Brev, but she found her reward in the glow she basked in that night.