Zodiac Rising

1. The Beginning of the End

The Gods gathered for the first time in thousands of years, they had a plan, a plan that would make all of them happy—well, that was the hope at least (spoiler: it didn't). You see, the Gods had grown tired of watching the humans; so, they conducted a plan, one that would be a defining moment in their history. They decided to make guardians of the humans, well, more glorified babysitters. They called them Zodiacs, there were thirteen Gods who were chosen to create said Zodiacs; Zeus, Ares, Hestia, Hermes, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hades, Dionysus, Apollo, Prometheus, Aesculapius, Poseidon. The first to be created was Ophiuchus, he was the strongest and most beloved out of all of them—basically the favourite child. He was so loved, in fact, they gave him a mountain for a kingdom.

Every Zodiac had a group of humans they were, you could say, assigned to. Each of these hairless apes was born under a star sign, and that was what decided where they lived. However, even if the Zodiacs had unlimited power, there were rules in place to make sure they didn't deviate. For instance, falling in love with a mortal was a big no-no, and so was reproducing before your contract was up. Each Zodiac had one-hundred-years of service before they could live their lives like normal humans. In that time period, they served the Gods and any distractions resulted in pretty harsh punishments—like children, and spouses. Ophiuchus did exactly that, he had the hots for a mortal, and... let's just say that it wasn't pretty.

It all started on a wintery evening, during the Winter Festival. Ophiuchus held dinners at these gatherings, and that's when he first laid eyes on her. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in the entirety of his life. Of course, he couldn't give in to his temptations, he had to resist—he was a Zodiac after all. Although, as time went on, he found he couldn't keep her out of his thoughts, he just had to talk to her, to see what she was like. So, on the second day of the summer solstice, he wondered out of his castle to find this mortal—only to talk, of course. He would never break the rules that Gods have given him, never—and that is why there is now only twelve Zodiacs. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, let's go back to when he was still intent on following the rules—sort of.

Ophiuchus stood in front of his mirror, admiring his divine physic, "Damn, I look good." He grinned at his reflection, smoothing back his hair and marching out of his room. He was on a mission, you see, to talk to the beautiful mortal. He wandered around the entire kingdom, in search of the mysterious girl that he only wanted to talk to. He found her picking orchids from the garden, she looked as stunning as he did, and that was saying something.

She glanced up at him, a tad bit startled that a seven-foot behemoth of a man was staring at her, "Oh, hello," She smiled, making his heart skip a beat.

"H-hello..." He stammered, a bit worried that he was ill because he never got flustered like this. Anxiety swirled around inside of him, making his entire body leak a strange liquid. He pulled at his shirt collar, suddenly feeling incredibly warm. What is happening to me? He thought, slapping on a smile to hide the fact that his nerves were on fire.

She giggled, making his knees weak. "How are you doing today?"

"I-I'm doing g-good. Ho-how about you?" Ophiuchus was baffled, why was he stuttering? Why was his body extruding liquid? The thing that confused him the most was this intense feeling of wanting to collapse into himself.

The gorgeous human sauntered over to him, the smile she had literally making his legs wobble. "I'm doing better now that you're here," She purred. "I've seen you staring, it's about time you came to talk to me." She reached out, touching his chest.

That did it, Ophiuchus collapsed to the ground, completely transfixed by her beauty. It was in that moment he knew he would break the rules for her, he would die for her, he would do everything anything she wanted. She held his heart in her hands, and he didn't even know her name. "What is your name, fair maiden?"