All stared in awe at the young looking female, as she smiled warmly at them. "Now there is no use to fight over that book, for the both of you will need it on your journey." she said.
Hearing this, Logan grinned from ear to ear then turned to Coal. "Ha!" he teased, "I told you that I needed it!"
Coal would've glared but instead he shook his head. "Wait, you said that the both of us need this book," he gestured to himself and Logan, "I'm sorry ma'am, but you must be mistaken! I'm not with this boy." Stepping away from the Ellibrian, Coal makes his way to Dylan, and grabs his arm. "Let's go, Dylan. Maybe we could find another book somewhere else."
"Awe," the boy pouts, "I would like to know about the Twelve Fallen Stars too you know!"
"Well, too bad." He glanced back to Vega and the others, "Sorry, but now we'll take our leave. We have no part in this journey that you speak of." When he turned to walk away, one of the bookshelves slide from its spot, blocking the boy's path completely. Gasping, Coal stumbled back and stared with shock.
"First the shushing books and now moving shelves? This library is messing with my head. . .!" commented Dylan, who was now digging his nails on Coal's arm, not that either of them noticed.
"I'm afraid you won't be leaving, Coal," spoke Vega, seeming amused by the reactions she had received, "For you are taking part of this journey." Her giggle was soft, yet at the same time, it also sounded frightening.
Logan was now terrified than amazed, as he backed his way up to Celesta and Cassidy, who held each other's hands tightly. "I think I want to go back to the orphanage now." Cassidy gulps.
"If you're amazed by the shushing books and moving shelves, there's more where that came from." Her voice echoes through the room, making it sound as if they were in a cave, "For five hundred years I used this library as a cover for our base, but now that you're back, I might as well entertain you again."
With a snap of her finger, the floor beneath them began to rumble, and the bookshelves shook, making the books fall like rain. Cassidy was down on her knees, still holding Celesta's hand for dear life. Logan tried to shield himself from the falling books, while Coal and Dylan were doing the same.
Cassidy looked up, and she noticed that Vega was now no where to be seen. When she switched her glance, her heart comes to a stop as she sees the shelves topple over until one was now hovering over Coal and Dylan.
Celesta seemed to have noticed too, since she called out, "Dylan!"
Slipping from Celesta's grasp, Cassidy makes a daring move. Just as the shelf falls over, right on time, she manages to run and shove both boys out of the way. However, she looked up, only to see piles of books and a shelf go down on her. Before her vision goes black, she can remember Celesta's horrified scream.
"Cassidy!"
~ * ~
". . .Sidy. . .Cassidy. . . Cassidy, get up!"
Slowly opening her eyes, her vision was blurred but then cleared once more when she sees a figure put something on her. Apparently, it was Coal putting his glasses on her again.
"Ah. . ." She blinked several more times, until she finally came to her senses, "Ah!" She jumped up, "What happened?!"
"Thank the gods!" Celesta cried out, tightly wrapping her arms around her friend, "You seriously gave me a scare there, Cass! I thought you'd be terribly injured!"
"Yeah," sighed Coal, "You really did give us a scare."
"Oh." Pulling away from the shorter female, Cassidy looked at her surroundings, noticing that everything around them was pitch black, "Where are we?"
Dylan frowned, "I have no clue. This place just makes me think we're dead."
"Don't say that," mumbled Logan, "I don't think that's the case. . ."
Glancing to the prince, Celesta makes a comment, "Logan, you're the one who got us here in the first place, since you wanted to know the secrets of the legend so badly."
"Why do you want to know the secret so badly anyways?"
When he turned to his side, he finds all their gaze focused on him. He flinched then avoided eye contact. "Long ago, my grandfather was the one who told the story," he began, "I thought I knew the story so well, until he tells me that the legend was wrong."
"Wrong?" Coal blinked, "How was it wrong?"
"That's the secret, you see. Everyone says that the legend is wrong, but they don't even know what makes it wrong. That's why I'm so determined to find out."
"Very good, Logan. To be honest, we always thought that Sagittarius was the one to be curious." The deep voice that Logan was familiar with, echoed through the darkness.
The blond looked around himself, seeming a bit in panic. "Altair!" He called out, "Where are you?!"
The voice chuckles, "Well, I'm here with you."
"Water." Everyone turned to Cassidy, who was now looking down at her foot that appeared to be soaked. "We're standing in water."
"Oh, so that explains why my feet felt heavy when I walked." muttered Dylan.
Cassidy then puts her foot back down, making a splash! sound as the water ripples. Soon, the entire darkness was replaced by a scenery of stars that shone brightly in the purple colored sky. They stared with awe, not even minding the fact that they stood in what appeared to be clear water that reflected the sky above.
"We're dead. We're in heaven." Dylan suddenly blurted, earning himself a slap from the violet eyed male.
"You're not dead, but you are in the heavens."
Putting their attention up ahead, the group sees a couple before them. One was a male with dark blue hair, while the other was a female with dark purple hair. Of course, the group already knew who the pair were.
"Altair and Vega." Logan's whisper was low, but the others managed to catch his sentence.
Vega smiled softly, "Hello, there. Did you like the act that happened at the library?"
"Not really," admitted Celesta, "It almost made Cass injured."
"Dear, that falling shelf wouldn't have hurt Cass anyways," she giggled, sending shivers to crawl right up Celesta's back. "But aren't you guys curious to why you're here in the heavens?"
"I was just about to ask." announced Coal.
Altair and Vega strolled in opposite directions. Altair took a deep breath, "Like Vega had said, she is an important character to the legend of the fallen stars, however, she was never mentioned. Me, I was the same. In fact, that's one secret you finally discovered! The legend is missing three important characters."
"But there's only two of you," said Dylan, "Who's the third character?"
"That, you'll find out about later." He lifted his arm and snapped, "Now let's get to the important part. Coal, would you read the last text on the book you found?"
Poof!
Coal blinked, just as an opened book magically appeared in front of him. Clearing his throat, the boy read the black texts on the last page of the book.
"Five hundred years will pass and the stars will fall at last.
Heroes will be reborn, to place the stars once more.
To seek the truth that hid in ash, the legend shall repeat it's past."
There was a moment of silence for a while, till Logan finally mumbled. "The legend shall repeat it's past. . . The stars will fall for the story to be retold." His eyes shined, "That's why I never saw the Libra constellation! It fell because Libra was reborn!"
"Exactly," Altair chuckled, "The same goes for the rest of the Zodiac constellations. The heroes are now reborn, the stars have fallen, and the story is repeating itself."
"How the story began was with the war between two of the regions that were said to be the most peaceful," Vega's voice was now more serious, "Now doesn't that sound familiar?"
Snap!
The pages of the floating book flipped over to the the first few pages. The scenes of beautiful stars, were then replaced my a horrific display. Screams were heard, fire looked like it was devouring the place, blood splattered. Seeing this made the teens tremble inside. Especially Coal and Dylan, as their memories slowly made its way to the surface of their heads.
"W- What is this?" There was visible lace of fear as Cassidy nearly drowns to the sound of weeping children.
The male blunette was frowning at the scene, before he replied. "This is a few of the war scenes that took place in Threa and Ewart five hundred years ago. It was just as violent as the war now."
Logan snuck a glance to Coal and Dylan, and when he sees their pained expression, he can't help but feel terrible.
"How did the war start in that time?" the Caprius managed to choke out.
"The same as the one now. The overthrown of the Scorpio king and the sudden invasion of Pisceies and Capri. Now take a look at these two scenes." Altair snapped his fingers, making the book flip it's page and the scene changes once again.
In two different sides, two scenes were placed. Both had a young little girl, who appeared to be fighting for their lives. One scene was a girl with blonde hair, being choked on her bed by a man in a black hood. The other scene was a brunette running in a sea of fire, trying not to step on the corpses left behind.
"Who are they?"
Vega answered, "Princess Pisces and princess Capricorn. They were chased out of their own kingdoms, and were forced to seek refuge some place else in Iref and Ira."
Coal and Dylan exchanged glances, before turning back to the holographic sky.
"I'm pretty sure that the two of you boys can relate." said Altair, obviously pointing out the two former princes.
The pages are turned, and the glaring light from the fire, finally dispersed to bring the scene of stars back again. Yet, it was changed quickly with another various scenes of people talking, fighting, or nearly dying. Some of the scenes had people using supernatural powers such as air, fire, water, and earth manipulation, ice and sand manipulation, super strength, and psychic.
"These are the Zodiacs!" began the male star, "They are the heroes from five hundred years."
Logan's jaw nearly drops, as he stared up with admiration. "Wow. . ."
With another finger snap, the scenes change to an image of twelve people with different symbols on the side. The water below their feet stopped reflecting the images above, now revealing a colorful Zodiac wheel.
By order, the first image was a man with flaming red hair and bright green eyes. Next to him was young tanned girl who had dark black, silky long hair, her eyes just as green while the other boy next her had darker ones, having brown messy hair. Then it continues to a grayish blue haired girl with dark red eyes, a young blond male, and two other blonde females. After, there was a man with reddish brown hair, followed by another male with purple hair, and a female brunette. The last two of the images were a blunette male, and a blonde girl that they recognized from the other scene.
"Aries," Altair pointed to the first image, then went down listing each people in picture, "Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces." He takes another breath, "All are now reborn, but right now, we only have five." The images faded but five of them remained.
"Gemini, Libra, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces." listed Logan, "They're the five you found?"
"Yes, and this is them now."
The image changed, and Coal nearly dropped to his knees once he sees that he had replaced the image of Capricorn. Celesta has replaced Gemini, Logan replaced Libra, Cassidy replaced Aquarius, and Dylan replaced Pisces.
Stepping back, Coal shook his head, "No, no, no. That can't be right, I'm a boy and Capricorn is a girl! How can they be reborn as the opposite gender?!"
"Because they can," shrugged Vega, "Besides, didn't you think that Capricorn's past was directly similar to yours?"
The brunette didn't reply, looking down to the water to see himself standing on the Capricorn sign. "I must be dreaming. . ." Then he pinched the blond beside him.
"Ow!" Dylan jumped, "What was that for?!"
"Nope. . . I'm not dreaming."
"But this is unexplainable!" Celesta finally spoke, looking directly at the stars with a serious expression, "How would you know that we're the reincarnation of the Zodiacs?"
Altair's reply came blunt, "Simple. Your unnoticed marks says it all."
Cassidy raised a brow, "Unnoticed marks?"
"Those marks."
Vega pointed to Logan's hand, and when he looks, he sees the symbol of Libra on the back. The others noticed a new mark on their hand too, giving an expression filled with surprise and confusion.
"We had these marks ever since?!" Asked Dylan, looking at the bright blue Pisces symbol on his hand.
"Of course. We call them unnoticed until someone points it out."
"The person has to pay extra close attention to your hand, though. That's the only way people will notice the marks." added Altair.
"But it's not just the marks," the female star lifts her finger, and the water beneath her feet rise up, "You can also tell. . . If you have supernatural powers." She flicked her finger, and the ball of water went straight to Cassidy.
Flinching, the girl raises her hand for defense, but the moment she touches the water, it turns to solid ice. This stunned everyone and herself. Before the cold ball dropped, Cassidy catches it in her hands, only to have the ice turn back to water and slip through her fingers.
A proud smile is painted on Vega's face, "Aquarius had the power of water and ice manipulation. What Cassidy just performed is an example of it."
"Wait, so I did that?!" she pointed to herself.
"Of course. If you hadn't react, you would've been all soaked right now."
"Then what's our powers?" Logan stepped up, "Would it be the same as Cassidy's?"
"Discovering your power will come soon, in a time when you need it, and no. Your powers are to be determined by your constellation and element. Like how Cassidy is an air sign, but her constellation is a water bearer."
The floating book in front of Coal, dropped but luckily Coal caught it before it could go diving. The images disappear and it's back to the purple night sky.
"It is now your journey to retell the legend by your actions, and find the remaining Zodiacs." Altair and Vega were touching the water no longer, and their voice were louder than usual.
Dylan looked up, "But how will we know where we're going?! We don't even have a map!"
Snap!
A rolled up paper appeared, and dropped in Celesta's hand.
The purple haired female giggles, "Now you do."
"We will give you clues where the other Zodiacs may be located," Altair stated, "For now, I believe that the fire elements are in their region, Iref."
"Then the rest of the four are in Threa and Ewart!"
Coal and Dylan snapped in unison, "What?!"
The scene of stars began fade, and the area begins to shine brighter. No one could see each other, but they could only hear the giggles of Vega. Before they were completely blinded, they can hear the two stars chant.
"Good luck!"
~ A/N ~
YAAAAAAAAY NOW THE REAL ADVENTURE SHALL BEGIN!
Now you should look forward for the female fire signs will make an appearance~
P.S. I'm having trouble with pairs. Two of the original pairs are the same, but the rest are different. Take a lucky guess on who will end up with who and I'll think about it!
*sees that I actually changed Vega's personality* . . . . Huh.
~Aquarii-San