CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
From the moment she woke up, Lynx knew she had a rotten day ahead. Her roommate, Irene, woke her up while holding a notice from their mentor.
"If you skip class again, you'll be in bigger trouble," Irene tells her. "You can't avoid him forever, stop being so immature."
Just like her usual answers, Lynx brushes her off by turning her back from her and covering herself with the sheets. Her roommate sighs in defeat and leaves the notice on her bedside table. "We'll still take notes for you in case you change your mind. I have to go, the boys are waiting for me."
Lynx sighs heavily the moment Irene left. She feels bad for ignoring her friend but it's a lot better than attending class and seeing her mentor.
She was close to falling back to sleep again until she felt a change of atmosphere. Miasma suddenly lingered in the air and it took all her self-control to not inhale the somewhat addicting scent, at least for people like her.
"It's just us, you don't have to pretend to fight it," a deep voice says.
She grips the sheets tightly and tried to ignore the 'visitor'. The miasma becomes overpowering for a moment then it was minimized after a few seconds, indicating an opening and closing of a gateway.
She felt someone stepping closer so she kept her guard up. "What do you want?" she grunts, she only hears a chuckle in response.
The moment she felt someone's presence right behind her, she grabbed something underneath her pillow, kicked the sheets off, and turned.
"Get out of here." she snarls as she met two smug grins. She inwardly groans since this isn't the first time that these two have trespassed into her room.
"You could hurt me with that." the one behind her says as he tried pushing her hand away. However, Lynx stubbornly kept her switchblade aimed at him.
"It's exactly what I'm going to do if you don't get out of my sight," she warns.
This only amused her two visitors even more. "I love it when she's angry dear brother," the younger says as he licks his lips. "Her soul smells a lot more delicious when it has passion."
The elder eyes her before smirking. "Have I ever told you that my kind would love you in our place?"
"Plenty of times," she scoffs. "But I am not one of you."
"Do you really think so? I think you're forgetting what you're called, reject." he spat out the last word. Upon hearing it, she grabbed his arm but before her switchblade could even come in contact with his skin, the younger grabbed it from her.
"Give it back." Lynx glares.
"Calm down, we didn't come here to fight." the younger sighs as he places the blade in his pocket. "Our master sent us, have you even read the notice?"
"I don't care, I'm not showing up there and that's final."
"Today is the final warning. Are you really going to stay stubborn?" the elder asks. Lynx only averted her gaze which caused him to sigh. "Your other reject friends are going to get punished too if you don't show up today."
"What?" Lynx turns to him. "Why are Irene and the others suddenly involved?" she asks.
"It's in the notice," the younger shrugs. "The higher-ups must be desperate. After all, it's going to happen soon. Don't you feel the miasma thickening?"
Lynx suddenly feels guilty. Irene knew she was going to get punished if Lynx didn't show up yet she still didn't force her. Lynx felt bad for ignoring her.
"Damn it," Lynx curses. "Tell him that I'll come during training," she sighs in defeat. "Make sure nothing bad happens to my friends."
"Are you sure about that? You've been avoiding them for a long time, now you're suddenly following orders?"
"I have no choice," she groans. "I don't want to get my friends involved."
The two chuckle in amusement. "You're really loyal to your friends," the elder says. "I guess that's one of the things that make you human."
"That's because I am a human."
"And yet you and your friends are still called rejects." he taunts.
Lynx grabs him by the wrist and pulls him close. She digs her nails onto his skin until blood is drawn. He meets her gaze and gives her a smug look. "Is this something that a human would do?" he mocks.
"Descendant of Gemini, Luhan, leave." Lynx says through gritted teeth.
A gateway opens underneath Luhan's feet then it pulled him in, Lynx didn't miss the smug look he had before he was fully swallowed by the gateway.
"Do you always have to be that harsh with each other?" the younger asks as he takes out Lynx's switchblade.
"Give it back, Sehun." Lynx says.
"Only if you're really going to meet my master." Sehun tells her.
"I'll meet him." she whispers.
Sehun runs the blade across his skin before returning it to Lynx. "Send me back."
"Sehun, go back to your realm." a gateway opens and Sehun is gone quickly.
Once she is sure that they weren't coming back, Lynx takes a shower and gets dressed in her uniform. She mentally scolds herself for losing her temper with Sehun and Luhan earlier. The more she loses her temper, the less human she feels... and the more she feels like she's one of them.
One of the stellar spirits or the so-called descendants of the constellations.
The world is divided into two realms; The Earth realm in which normal humans live in and the spiritual realm in which those descendants live in.
Lynx is one of the unlucky ones. She's half-human and half-descendant. She belongs to neither realm hence she's called a "reject". There are only four rejects in existence and all four of them have been locked in the same facility since their childhood. Humans fear them and spirits mock them. They were made to become outcasts.
Their descendant parent left them once they were born while they were forced to leave their human parent. Lynx's case was different since she never met her parents. As far as she remembers, she was left at the doorstep of the facility when she was very young.
She looks at the time, it was training time. She leaves her room and heads towards the training room. Everyone she passed by quickly avoided her but she didn't bat an eye. She enters their assigned training room and she is immediately greeted by her fellow 'rejects'.
"He's expecting you to come." Kyungsoo, her closest friend, tells her.
Lynx only nods as she walks towards her mentor. She bows her head as a sign of respect. "You didn't need to get the others involved, master Minseok."
Minseok is Lynx's mentor, he's also Sehun and Luhan's tamer. He's been training Lynx and the other rejects ever since they were young.
"You are running out of time Lynx, there was no other option. I have already given you enough exemptions since I thought you weren't ready but now you're just making excuses." Minseok says.
"I don't want to join the tamer's quest. I don't want to tame a descendant. I'm doing fine without one." Lynx insists.
"Your fellow half-bloods have already done it, it's your turn. You're my best student Lynx, I know you won't fail me."
"Taming a descendant only means I'd have more descendant blood in me."
"Your friends hesitated too yet they still did it. You're already twenty-one Lynx, don't let all your training go to waste. I don't want you or your friends to get punished by the higher-ups."
"Why can't they just admit that they're threatened? Having a descendant also increases our risk of death. For all I know, they're just finding ways to get rid of us."
"That's enough Lynx," Minseok slightly raises his voice. "You always insist that you're human, so act like one."
Lynx grimaces upon realizing her mistake. Her lips are hurting because of her fangs and her eyes are in a shade of gold. She takes deep breaths to calm herself down. "You'll be joining the next tamer's quest and that's final. You're dismissed." Minseok says.
Lynx shook her head in disbelief and returned to the training field. She saw Kyungsoo who was preparing for a sparring session.
"Irene and Jeonghan have just finished, I was supposed to spar with him but you can fight him today," Kyungsoo said. Lynx nodded as she took her place. Kyungsoo takes out a small knife and runs it across his finger.
"Descendant of Scorpio, Jongin, come." Kyungsoo mutters. A gateway opens and a tall figure emerges from it.
"Hey Lynx," Jongin says as he steps out. "Are you my sparring partner once again?"
"Get ready." Lynx simply says as she ties her hair up.
"She seems furious." Jongin shrugs. Kyungsoo gives him a serious look.
"All the more reason for you to not go easy on her," he tells the descendant. "You know she hates it when you hold back."
Jongin looks at Lynx once more. "Understood." he sighs before stepping onto the mats as well.
Jongin is a royalty, Sehun and Luhan are the same. The royalty rank only consists of the twelve zodiacs that are known by most humans, they are the highest forms of descendants. He's a descendant of Scorpio but despite his rank as a royalty, the descendant never said anything bad about the four half-bloods. He's been with Kyungsoo for four years and over the years he's learned to understand his situation.
Jongin is one of the few stellar spirits that understands the four of them. He's one of the very FEW that makes them feel human, namely him together with Irene's and Jeonghan's own descendants.
"You're not putting on any safety armor?" Jongin asks.
"You're not going to hurt me today, descendant." Lynx says as she stretches her arms.
Jongin smirks. "Hmm? You're not calling me by my name? I'm hurt Lynx."
She eyes him. "I'll call you whatever I want." without warning, she charges at him. Jongin easily blocked a punch she was about to throw and twists her arm in return.
"Why are you always so rude to me Lynx? I thought we're friends." Jongin snickers.
"Stellar spirits and humans cannot be friends." Lynx hisses as she pulls her hand back. She brings her knee up but the descendant is fast enough to move back again.
Amusement is obvious on the Scorpio descendant's face. "Isn't it hypocritical if you say that?" he moves behind her and pushes her. "You're not your usual self, little half-blood brat."
Jongin and Lynx never really got along well, much to Kyungsoo's chagrin... actually, Lynx doesn't get along with any other descendant at all.
"Come on." Jongin challenges.
Lynx narrows her eyes and lashes out with her knee, her feet colliding with the back of Jongin's knees making him land on them. The descendant is taken aback so Lynx takes advantage of it. She kicks his back and pushes him against the floor. When he tries getting up, she only adds more weight onto him and pulls his arm against his back. She takes her switchblade.
"Stop fooling around, Jongin." she hisses as she holds the blade against his neck. "You know I hate it when you go easy on me."
Jongin smirks at this. Next thing Lynx knew, her switchblade was swatted away from her hand. She turns towards Jongin and she almost smiles in excitement.
She jumps off of Jongin's back and slowly steps away from him. Jongin pushes himself off the ground.
Kyungsoo, Irene, and Jeonghan, who are all watching the two, all gulp at Jongin's sudden change. His eyes are golden and his pointed tail is currently swinging dangerously. It was his tail that took the blade off Lynx's hold.
"That damn tail." Lynx mutters as she eyes it. That tail has always been her problem. That damned scorpion's tail. One sting could lead to paralysis or worse, death.
"You're hesitating." Jongin chuckles.
"Are you kidding me?" Lynx gives him an excited smile. "This is what I'm waiting for."
This is what Lynx wants. It might sound a lot 'less human' but she likes things this way... even if it ends up getting bloody.
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Let's meet our first set of descendants!
AGAIN.
And do take note that I'm not basing this on their real signs, I'm just picking what would suit them so don't correct me about what signs they really have. Haha.
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XOXO
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XOXO