Behind the Trigger

~Chapter Three: The Cornation~

"Vix! My mother wants us all in Star Tower for something important. We have to go," Helios's voice was unusually calm for the situation, but he was really just trying to cover up his fear of what might happen.

Vix got the message and bid goodbye to his father. He joined up with Helios and said hello to his sister who waved. Vix saw the determination in his friend's eyes, but he also saw fear and concern, something he didn't see often.

"Why are we going to Star Tower?" Vix asked the group.

"I don't know, but my mother sounded worried about something," Helios responded without looking him in the eye.

"What do you think?" Vix's grey eyes met Helios's gold ones this time when he talked.

"War," Helios's response was simple, but it struck each of the kids hard.

Celestial's violet eyes now shone with more fear than they did a minute ago. What were they going to do? She was only twelve, she couldn't fight in a war. They traveled the rest of the hallways in silence, the word war echoing in their minds on a seemingly endless repeat. They soon reached Star Tower, Queen Dawn conversing with Andromeda's mother in the corner of the surprisingly large room. Andromeda was on a balcony and staring into a telescope at the dark sky of the Darklands.

"Andromeda we're here," Helios addressed her so she looked away from the telescope.

Her usually neat black hair was now pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head, her dark blue eyes looking tired from looking into a telescope for so long.

"Good, now come look at this," she commanded as they all walked over to the balcony.

The wind was up a bit and Helios's golden blonde hair swished around, obviously in need of a haircut. Celestial's platinum blonde hair held wide curls in a short bob that framed her chin, now in her face from the sudden blast of wind. Vix didn't have a problem with his hair, the navy-colored short hairstyle never getting out of hand. After patting down his hair, Helios walked over to the telescope and looked in. His mother hadn't said what was the matter, so when he looked in he was surprised. The three moons of the Darklands shone a bright crimson for some reason. Each of the teens had a turn looking into the telescope and all were surprised.

"Why are the moons red?" Vix exclaimed.

"I don't know, that's the problem," Andromeda grumbled and pulled a stool over to sit on.

"Well, what could the King of the Darklands possibly be happy about? Also, I thought the trademark color of the moons were black on his crowning, why would they be red?" Helios pondered.

"Dude, I just asked that question," Vix complained.

"Sorry about that," Helios rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I don't know what he could be happy about, but maybe something like a crowning made the moons red," Celestial suggested to the group.

"Maybe that is what he's happy about. Do you think he finally has a Queen?" Andromeda questioned her three friends.

"That would make sense, but who would this Queen be?" Helios asked.

The group was lost in thought for quite some time, eventually moving to sit around a round table to think. They had no idea who this Queen was, or what she was planning to do. They were stumped.

Suddenly, a letter landed in the middle of the table they were sitting at. Their heads shot up at the arrival of the letter, its presence startling everyone in the room. How did this get in here?

"Helios, what is that?" Queen Dawn questioned her son as he held up the letter.

The envelope was a creamy white and had a wax seal they had never seen before. The seal was in the color of blood and held the emblem of a broken sword. What that stood for, they didn't know. On the back of the letter in red ink, it was addressed to Prince Helios, his full title written in breathtaking cursive, every letter perfectly in place. Helios shrugged and opened the letter.

"Dear Prince Helios," he started, feeling weird about saying his own name aloud.

"I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am here to announce that I have been officially crowned Queen of the Darklands earlier tonight. I know that you don't know who I am, and that's fine. I know that you will be wondering why the moons have changed color, and that is because of me. My royal color is crimson, so the moons have become alight with a bloody glow. I just thought that you would need some clarity on why the moons are this way. Yours truly, Queen Enchantress," Helios finished off.

The whole room was confused on why their lifelong enemy just gave them information. Why would they give us this? Why are they giving up an advantage?

"Well, that solves that problem," Vix muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, but now we have more!" Celestial shouted in frustration.

"Who is this 'Enchantress'?" Andromeda asked the group.

"I don't know. Do you think it's her real name or a name to hide an identity?" Helios wondered aloud.

"Even more problems!" Celestial growled out.

"Calm down sis," Helios tried to comfort her, but she was storming around the room and looked like she wanted to punch anybody who got close to her, so he kept a safe distance.

"What do you mean calm down? Helios, we could have a war on our hands now! An enemy wouldn't just give away that information for nothing! I think she's just playing at us. I think she has a bigger plan, and I definitely believe that Enchantress is not her real name. She wouldn't give us a name, that is something that you would want to keep secret," Celestial stopped pacing to look her brother in the eye as she pretty much just owned him.

After her angry little rant, Celestial calmed herself down. She was stressed on the inside. She was not ready for war at twelve. Her brother would leap into battle in a heartbeat, but not her. She was utterly terrified of war. She could die, her friends could die, her family could die. She just couldn't do it. She broke down crying and her brother held her close. She cried for a long time, the people in the room watching in sympathy for the girl. It was a lot of pressure as it is being the princess, but now with war? They couldn't imagine it.

"Shh, it's going to be OK. We'll make it through this. Maybe there won't be a war after all," even as Helios comforted his sister, he knew that last statement wasn't true.

"I think we all need some rest. Let's sleep over it, then we can call a meeting with the council tomorrow. We'll tell them what we know and hopefully come up with a plan," Queen Dawn said.

Celestial had fallen asleep after her break-down, so Helios carried her up to their room. Vix said goodbye to Andromeda who was one of the last ones to go, seeing as her room was right across the hall. This was going to be a long night.