All The Stars Are Falling

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

THE WAR WITH OPHIUCHUS has been going on for almost two months now, and from then we have discovered several things: One was that the Serpentians – what we call them as – generate deadly venom naturally in their system. This was how they were killing people easily, and that they were using their blood on their weapons to ensure this took effect. Another was that Scorpians who could shapeshift were immune to their poison. And third, they were taking intact corpses with them when they retreat, but we're still not sure why. Eating them, perhaps?

Some assumptions we had were that they were taking Geminis to conjure images of themselves, which we believe to be partly true, as the Serpentians come in literal hordes with each attack. Even if they were uncoordinated, they still did enough damage. In this case, we were not so worried as Geminis who can do conjurations could only do this for a finite amount of times, else they turn into a husk. But what was worrying was that if this were the case, then the Gemini lineage of conjurers would soon all die. Another assumption we had was that they had 'weak days', as a few days would pass without an attack at all – we're not yet certain why, but we're not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth here. We'd take a day of peace any time.

I was out on a scouting assignment with Osh, Haran and Erj. Erj was the new commander of sorts for our trio-team, as we were starting to be assigned to missions closer to the Blightwood. He was a well-trained Arian commander, his hair military shaved, with tan skin that didn't do his young face any justice. He looked like he had forty years on him. Osh was another Arian, her golden hair always braided and put up into a crown. It's a staple fashion style within the female Arian population – kept their hair well out of their face, they say. Haran never had a day where he wouldn't make at least one comment about Osh's hair, which Osh just shrugs off and ignores.

Haran was a Scorpian, his skin hardened like a rock, like that of a giant, armoured scorpion. He was a shapeshifter, able to shapeshift into a human-sized scorpion – their Scorpskin as they call it – at will. He had a long pigtail hanging by his nape, likely signifying his tail when he transforms, with the rest of his head shaven. If I were Osh, I'd make fun of his hair in return, but she was not that kind of person.

"Jem!" Osh said through a whisper, but loud enough to know she was signalling danger. She motioned her arms to draw out the string on her bow, preparing an arrow. Erj climbed up a huge tree without a sound, a talent he should be proud of, fastening the binoculars he had hanging on his neck onto his big, owl-like eyes. I followed Osh into a small clearing, submitting into a tight crouch. Haran shifted into his Scorpskin, his coccyx growing out of his backside, ending in a long and sharp pinpoint. He grew two extra limbs below his ribs, turning into angular, legs wrapped in tough carapace. His face warped into what someone would look like if their father were a giant bug, growing what looked like fangs on his cheekbones. He was now a silver scorpion that could talk with an ominous voice.

"I'll look out from behind," his deeper voice bellowed from his insect-like mouth.

I readied myself to break open a huge Piscean mist vial and spread it around us once Erj gave me the signal, but he just stayed there like a hawk, his body tensed – steady. After a few minutes of waiting, my legs were beginning to feel like gelatin. Osh seemed to be undaunted, a keen eye out in the woods.

For context, the Pisceans have an affinity to water, and there were two kinds of Pisceans: first were the regular ones, who could breathe underwater for extended periods without coming up for air. We called them breathers, and they made up most of Fiskarnir. The other not so regular ones were known as weavers, ones who could bend water to their will and make it do things. I was one of those irregular ones.