Thank You For Today

Dying was not pleasant. If you were lucky, you wouldn't remember the sensation of dying or the weird terrifying visions that come during limbo before one would wake up. Most were not that lucky, however. The memories would haunt them both in dreams and consciousness. Following them for as long as they lived until their luck ran out, and they had their final death. For in this world if you had good fortune, you had multiple shots at life. There was a force in the world that would heal a person at death’s doorstep, and they be at peak health being able to continue on with their day as if it never happened. Nobody knew for sure how many they had, a guess at best, but there was always a hope for another shot. The nightmares were always a constant, it was a question of whether one would remember it or not.

That is why Artemis LoneStar woke up screaming, not paying attention at all to any of their surroundings in the slightest. If he did, he would have realized that they were in a small, confined space and would not have smashed their head on the wooden ceiling. With many curse words muttered under their breath, Artemis laid back down nurturing their head, trying to force himself to calm down.

Artemis was a young twenty-something, tons of freckles on their face, with unkempt black shaggy hair. If one looked closely at them, they could see their pointed ears poking out. He blinked a few times, his blazing green eyes adjusting to the new environment. Taking note of his whereabouts and the nightmare that had just happened, Artemis concluded that he was inside a coffin. There were many holes in the terribly built coffin, for he could see the light coming in, but it was indeed a coffin. “Guess the dead can’t complain about sloppy work,” Artemis grumbled to himself lowering their hands.

Wondering how Artemis got in this mess, he took note of another detail that had slipped their mind. All his belongings were gone. Sure, he had clothes on, but everything else on his person was missing. Wallet, bag, hat, everything. That was less than ideal; hopefully, it hadn't gotten sold yet or dumped. Rocking his leg back towards their chest Artemis kicked upwards to the ceiling with enough momentum that he could manage in his position.

He was able to get the ceiling to cave in with a few kicks and was rewarded with blinding himself from the sunlight as wood splinters fell on top of him. They sat up, shielding their eyes as he did. Artemis swerving his head around, he found that he was in a graveyard that seemed to be well kept for. The grass was mostly alive, and he could see the words on the grave markers clearly though Artemis had zero idea what anything said. Not for it was in a different language that Artemis did not speak, but for the fact that the young man had absolutely no idea how to read.

A choked scream reached Artemis's ears, and the young man turned towards the sound. Standing in about a four-foot hole were two people with shovels in hand, staring bugged eyes at Artemis. With no idea what to say to them, Artemis went with the first thing that popped into his mind. "Good morning." He swung his legs over the edge of the broken coffin and slid down the side.

The people digging the hole scrambled out, mouths opening and closing with no sound coming out. Artemis shuffled their feet uncoverable with the gaze on them; he had never been good at being the center of attention. He shoved his hands in their pockets, rocking on the balls of their feet slightly. "Where are my belongings?" He did his best not to mumble the words.

The taller of the two had long curly hair, pointed her shovel at Artemis. She was the first to get her voice back in functioning order. "You were shot last night, cowboy. Dead as a doornail. Showing no signs of getting back up." She accused.

"I'm not a cowboy," Artemis corrected, fiddling with the insides of his pockets. "From what I can remember, I drank a lot and already was pretty beat up. Getting shot well, besides killing me, my body was ready for some rest."

The shorter one, who desperately needed to shave, blinked in surprise; "You were just asleep?” It was true when someone came back from the dead their body took time to heal. Some people were quicker on getting back up than others. Artemis’s wound should have only taken about few minutes to patch up with where they gotten shot, but due to mental and physical exhaustion they stayed passed out. “We nearly buried him alive," he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

His companion elbows him in the ribs. "Sorry about that. I hope you can forgive us for such a blunder on our part." She tried to give a reassuring smile, but it looked more like a panicked wince. She was expecting anger or something from the non-dead man but to her grateful surprise that was not the reaction she got.

Artemis just simply shrugged the matter off, finally meeting their eyes. "Just get me my stuff back and the name of the person who shot me."

The two were nodding to the request till the second part. The woman nervously laughed and rubbed her forearm, while the other noticed something far more interesting to stare at than Artemis’s face. "Listen, I get the want for revenge for someone killing ya. But that guy is someone in town you should not mess with. You should probably just skip town."

"Does he have a bounty?" It was the first time no nervousness slipped out of Artemis's voice. Something shifted that the two gravediggers could not place.

The man nodded, raising an eyebrow at the question. "He does, yeah. That don't change anything."

A small smile grew on Artemis's face, one that caused the two gravediggers to sit up straighter. "That changes everything," he walked closer to the pair. "Now, it's not just petty revenge. It's work."

It turns out that the man who shot Artemis was a man who went by Arron Hudson. His bounty was not the most impressive that Artemis had ever seen, but money was money. Besides, from what information Artemis could find on Arron, he was a menace in this town; nobody would complain about him getting picked up.

Honestly, Artemis was madder at himself for getting a life taken from them by such a person. That is what he got for drinking in a new town with as many injuries as he had at the time.

Artemis lost a step at that. Why was he so hurt? That was something that they always hated about when someone died; memories were always hazing for a while. It took days or even weeks before all of them came back. For now, Artemis would have to deal with flashes of memories and odd hunches.

Arron was at some backwater bar when Artemis finally found him. The young bounty hunter half expected to see a few scumbags in there half-drunk at noon and maybe a few of Arron's friends. That was not at all what was taking place at the bar.

The scene that was taking place in the bar was strange, but not something Artemis hadn’t seen before. Two bodies lying on the floor unmoving, a dwarf woman and snake person cowering behind the bar, as Arron and this big strong-man type guy standing in the center screaming at each other. Tables were thrown all about the bar, and glass bottles shattered, decorating the floor. Between the two men sat a small girl her hair was all white. She was shaking, covering her ears, rocking back and forth, not daring to speak.

Artemis stood there dumbfounded for a few moments till the sound of a bottle shattering snapped him to it. Arron, now that Artemis was gazing at him remembered the blond douche bag clearly from last night, had thrown the bottle. at the big fellow. Who Artemis just now realizes had two twist horns on his head, and a ring in his nose. Artemis drew his gun with a flick of his wrist, wondering if he should be shot in the air. Deciding that it was a waste of time, he shot Arron right in the left knee. Arron screamed, falling face first.

The bull-man looked towards Artemis, clearly bracing for an attack. "I have no qualms with you. Get behind the bar now, and I wouldn't attack you," Artemis stated, simply not breaking eye contact with him. The bull didn't move towards the bar nor towards the bounty hunter.

Arron did, though, turning his head towards the sound of Artemis, eyes narrowed. "Hey, I remember you. You're that crybaby drunk I killed last night."

Artemis flushed slightly at the remarked but pushed forwards. "Indeed, I am; pretty pissed about that fact, actually. Fortunate for you, however, you’re more worth to me alive." Artemis's eyes danced between the two men trying to predict their next move might be. However, Artemis also couldn't help but eye the girl. She had taken this opportunity to scoot further from them, her back against the bar, eyes never wavering from the violence before her. "What's the deal with the girl?"

This got a reaction from the bull-man. "She is wanted by the royal guards. Pretty penny if you ask me. And she is coming with me." The girl whimpered and tried to crawl further away, but the bull-man turned towards her. With a split-second decision, Artemis fired again, this time aiming for the shoulder of the giant. It didn't hurt him as much as it did Arron, but he did stop reaching for the girl. He whipped around towards Artemis, his eyes ablaze with anger. "You stupid human, you think bullets are goanna stop me?" He launched forwards; fist drawn back, carefully aiming at his opponent's face.

Artemis dodged, firing again at point-blank range in the chest with little effort. "I am not a human," Artemis corrected not losing a step as he avoided three more punches.

The strong man rubbed where the bullet hit, eyes following Artemis carefully but no longer pursuing. "Elf then?" he asked, taking notice of Artemis's point ears. Arron roused to his feet from behind the big fellow, leaning heavily against a bar stole, digging for his gun.

Artemis shook his head to the negative, closing the distance between themself and the bull-man without his gun raised. The bull-man was not sure what happened next, but with a strange flash around the bounty hunter’s fist, the darkness seemed to form around and on it. The punch sent him crashing backward right into Arron, who was attempting to take aim at Artemis. They both fell to the floor with a sickening crack sound.

The bar went quiet for a few moments as the dark energy around Artemis’ fist vanished. The silence was broken when they saw that darkness flowed down towards his shadow. A crackle of red and black shapes and then rising like a demon was a creature made of complete shadows lumbering over Artemis. It smiled with its unnatural spiking teeth causing everyone else to scream. "I am a ShadowWalker."

Arron's bounty was not worth much, but with both his and the bull man's bounty, it was an excellent way to start the day with. Artemis turned his focus downwards toward the girl. She had long white hair that matched her torn up-white jumpsuit and blazing purple eyes. A memory itched every time Artemis met those eyes they could not place.

With the bounty money, he got the girl some new clothes and food. She hadn't spoken a single syllable since they left the bar together. With both of their meals finished, Artemis cleared their throat. "Got a name?"

She flinched, caught off guard by the words. She did not say anything, just peered at Artemis for a moment. "Maria, my name is Maria...I don't remember what my last name is." She broke eye contact and went back to staring at her finished plate.

Artemis drummed his fingers on the table nervously. He wasn't good at talking with people; other members of their bounty hunter guild were. The thought of the guild made Artemis' head swim. He was on an assignment for their leader. And he had traveled with someone, but who? It wasn’t his brother or older sister. He knocked that train of thought aside, focusing back on Maria. "Want any seconds?" The question caught her off guard. She blinked at him a few times, then simply nodded.

With the second round of food order, Artemis preceded his questioning. "So, what exact kind of trouble are you in? That the royal guards looking out for someone like you?"

It was the girl's turn to drum her fingers on the table with nerves. "I don't have all the pieces of why. I just know some people above want me alive, and another group of people don’t. My memories are so foggy; I just remember the last few days clearly of being hunted and shot at," her eyes watering as she spoke. "Anytime I try to force myself the memory of anything, it just seems to get further away."

That wasn't the sob story Artemis was expecting, or what she was experiencing with her lost memories didn't sound like someone who just died. “When you say, ‘people above’ do you mean Halos Island?” Maria nodded at the question.

Halos Island is where mostly every rich person lived, with no worries about water or food shortage, no fear of gang wars and most importantly where the Coltherstone Castle rested, where the current king had taken the throne. The island was air born for everyone lesser to stare up and gaze upon the land and dream what life up there was like. From Artemis's knowledge there were only two ways to reach that island. The first being the more common and expensive way was by hot air balloon. The second and most dangerous way. It would be by climbing up the Life Tree, the centerpiece of the world. Only a few people in the world have managed to do that, not without losing some lives in the process.

So, most likely Maria was the daughter of some wealthy family from Halos Island wanting her home. Another family with the same amount of power and money to throw around doesn’t. Halos Island was not outwardly violent like down here, more of behind door's kind of cruelty. At least that was how Artemis understood it. Still Maria’s story did not make much sense, but maybe the bounty hunter was wrong in thinking. Maria did die and her memories were fuzzed like his were. It could be her first time and she was young, so she had nothing else to compare it with.

“Do you think there is any chance your memories are going to come back? Without forcing them, I mean, just with time” Artemis was not sure how to ask this question.

The girl paused, thinking about her answer carefully, “I have an odd hunch telling me yes that is the case.”

Biting their lip, a habit that refuses to die, Artemis gazed out the window as he spoke. "Then I think I can help. We can head to my guild headquarters. Gather some supplies and aid. Hopefully, by that time, you have a better understanding of your situation." And hopefully, Artemis's memory also would be better.

"Why are you helping me?" Maria's voice was small but did not waver.

"Because you're in trouble, someone who needs help. I am someone who can give that aid," with a short pause, Artemis added. "How much is the reward for getting you home anyways?"

"I believe the bull-man said three thousand gold?"

Artemis's jaw hit the floor as that number hung in the air. Maria acted like she didn't say anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly Artemis just realized why everyone was crazy to get their hands on her. And more motive to keep her safe than before.