Daybreak's Crest: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 34: Clear as Glass

The knight's armour was quite the challenge to pull on, but Taurus would almost be proud of how quickly he was able to get it on. There was so many extra bits and pieces (Taurus recalled having a conversation with Vulpecula about why the mercenaries didn't just wear fullbody armour to protect themselves) and, as he tugged on the helmet, he realised why nobody just wore knight's armour around everywhere.

Goddesses, how am I supposed to see out of this?

Taurus managed to push the visor out of the way and lean down to pick up Leo's cloak. He shoved the collar (at least, he was pretty sure it was the collar) down the back of the armour (with much difficulty) and reached for Leo's axe.

The gold-trimmed axe lay strangely heavy in his hands. Taurus tested the weight, frowning.

"What's this end meant to do?" He said aloud, turning the axe over in his hands.

The axe weighed heavy on one side but was much lighter on the other; probably due to the large, curved blade on one end of the axe and the smaller blade on the other end.

The horn blared again.

Taurus dropped the axe next to his own armour (which he had hung up). "Sorry, Leo... I can't fight with that." He muttered, picking up his own axe. As an afterthought, he shoved the teal strip of cloth – the strip of cloth from Vulpecula's cloak – in between the gap between the plates of the armour on his torso and his waist and rushed out of the storage closet, beating down the regret for actually thinking he could do this that was already beginning to worm up his throat.

-x-x-x-

"First things first, let's find out who this guy is, shall we?"

With much difficulty, the Zodiacs had shuffled themselves around to give everyone else some space. Relys and Dene leaned against the wall at the back, tending to Leo, while at the front of the group, Aries, Scorpio and Sagittarius had arranged themselves in front of their mysterious masked figure.

Sagittarius curled her fingers around the edge of the blank, white mask and tugged. Then she tugged some more as the mask refused to part with the figure's face, until –

There was a distorted scream. Pisces winced.

"...there's an actual person under there." Virgo mumbled, almost in amazement. The white mask clattered to the ground and shattered, like porcelain – surprising given the resistance it put up. There didn't seem to be any straps attached to the remains of the mask; it simply had been an ovoid, blank white mask.

The not-masked-anymore figure coughed. They sounded like an actual human for once, which was strange, because... well, judging from their previous experiences with them, it was surprising that there were actual people underneath after all.

To their surprise, the person was... a lot more mundane than a member of an evil organisation should look. They definitely looked older than everyone in the Zodiacs, with the barest hints of wrinkles forming along her forehead, and dark brown hair in a bun. They might almost have mistaken her for some random villager – there was nothing about her that would make her particularly memorable, for being one of the cruel villains that had attempted to murder them several times.

Aries blinked. "You..."

Without hesitating, Sagittarius pointed an arrow at her face. "You! What's your name?!"

The woman chuckled lowly and stared up at the sky, promptly ignoring Sagittarius. "...I did my best, Divine Mother. Please... forgive me."

"Listen to us when we talk." Scorpio snapped. "And shut up with your ramblings." The woman's gaze turned slowly to Scorpio.