The Zodiac Stone

Chapter One: The Boy With No flames

The Ophiuchus have no place in this world. They offer us nothing.

They are disgusting.

They aren't even human.

We should just rid ourselves of them...

Where is my fire?

"Aine the laame!"

Footsteps and a pitchy off-tone voice bounced down the stone corridor. Aine sprinted for somewhere to hide. The empty halls allowed him to keep his quick momentum.

The hot air and wild run made sweat bead along his hairline and drip down his forehead.

He felt his ankle roll and looked down. A patch of sand had blown in and coated the floor in a slippery layer. He grabbed the wall's corner catching himself. His satchel slapped his side as he breathed heavily and got his footing under him. For a second, he thought he felt hot, ragged breaths on the back of his neck.

He dashed away from the haunting singing at his heels down the new hall, his pursuer one step behind.

"Aine the lame!" The voice growled, pitchy, and horrible. The classrooms they barreled passed definitely heard, with their doorless entries.

The song, if one could call it that, had begun as a joke at the start of last year but was only another way Vhagn tormented Aine and he often chose to sing it, making their classmates snicker and point at him egging Vhagn to keep up the torture.

He clamped his hands over his ears, but the sound couldn't be muffled. It dug deep and shadowed his mind like clouds over the sun. He drove himself down the halls, his shoes smacked the flagstones, the sound not nearly loud enough to drown out the song behind him, but his legs carried him fast enough that he stayed out of reach of Vhagn's fists.

In their kingdom, Heilakaa, the social hierarchy was defined by the stars, when one was born.

Being born a Sagittarius, social order he ranked ninth, and while that put him at a slight disadvantage his problem wasn't where his birth had placed him.

Vhagn, a Leo, sat at a higher position than Aine at fifth. Without having someone higher than Vhagn fight for Aine, he was on his own, Vhagn having no one to answer to and could bully Aine any time he wanted.

Aine followed the soft bend of the wall and entered another long corridor with a solid wall of stone on his left and arches that led him on his right, passed a grassy courtyard; one of three that sat inside SazielAcademy.

A stifling hot breeze blew through the columns carrying a scent with it. The shipment from Aquariette had arrived. He could smell strong spices and nutty flavors on the wind from the delivery. The Aquarius' had the job of collecting from the clans and distributing who got what, each day, just as it was the Libra's jobs to teach the young.

A quick glance to his right showed him the courtyard was abundant with flowering bushes in colors of bright pinks, whites, and reds, and a circular water fountain with three tiers of falling water sat at its center. There were only two trees and they stood to the left.

Aine looked over, the grass and bushes and even the water bright with color from the sun shining in. Vibrant greens pulled the pinks and reds from the blossoms, letting them pop, the first thing one saw. The water fountain was made of pale granite, but the water was a crystal blue, even as it toppled over the basins' edges. But as the seconds of his gaze lasted on the scene a shadow fell across the area almost immediately.

Growing dark the bushes became grey, one near the dark color of the floor he ran on. The trees seemed to droop as if only alive when the sun wasn't hidden. A breeze shifted the leaves on the plants scattering petals and greenery, and then the gust of wind crashed into him. He gave a tremble as it ran down his back.