A/N: To those who find their meeting different, let me tell you that a few things in Aries are changed. If you have not read it, you would not know about it. Though it is not major changes, it will definitely not affect the main plot. There will be an extra chapter just for Aries and Lyra in this version, which I will intimate before updating.
Enjoy!
Breeze lisped in a secret language to the abandoned grass. The soughing grass, in turn, rustled among themselves, arguing who would win being the loudest. The night sky was unexceptionally clear with just a few stars peaking out.
I never knew that gazing at the sky could be so relaxing. Taking in the scent of the lemongrass, I turned just in time when he landed with perfection on earth.
His hair was dark enough for me to mistake it as a part of the Abyss. And his eyes bright enough for me to see a glimpse of Origin in them. The way his eyes scanned the earth, I knew. The last time he was here, he attended the funeral of his ex-consort.
I acknowledged him. "Polaris, Northern Star."
He waved his hand. "Leave the title behind, Aries."
I nodded. "What brings you to earth?"
He looked far ahead. "A breach."
I frowned. I knew many things, but definitely not as many as Polaris knew. "A breach in what?"
"In security," he said. "Because of that, the dungeons will open and Alioth will be released."
My eyes widened. "Alioth will be? But the dungeons-"
Polaris sighed. "Qamar and I were the ones who designed every part of the Dungeons. You know that."
I nodded again. "I do."
The night insects after deciding that Polaris was not here to harm them, began their nocturnal chatter. At a distance, a group of fireflies lit themselves up and buzzed around the grass fields we were in. I almost smiled faintly at them. These fireflies and the stars were not far from being different.
Polaris said. "In a way, the Dungeons speaks to us. I can feel that the time for Alioth in the Dungeons is up."
I put my hands in my pocket and turned to him. "Just her?"
"And a few other people," Polaris said. "A shifter and a vampire. That's all I know for sure."
I took in a deep breath. "This might be the first time anyone is going to walk out of the Dungeons alive."
Polaris chuckled lightly. "Alioth is my daughter, yes. But she is her mother's daughter too. If anyone can survive, it would be her."
"Definitely."
A pause fell over us before Polaris sighed. "I want you to go in and talk to Alioth about her release tomorrow night, Aries. Can you do that?"
This request was odd. Had it been a lesser star, I would have probed their mind and would have seen what they had in their mind, but this was Polaris. He had a title for a reason. And for that reason, I would do what he asked me to do.
"Can I ask why?" I asked.
He gazed up at the few stars that dared to peak on our conversation. "Do you know who I am?"
I gave him a blank look. "Of course, I do."
He slowly fixed his gaze on me as if waiting for me to continue.
"You are the Northern Star," I said. "One of the few who can control time."
"That's all, Aries?" he asked. "I expected better."
I looked into that shimmering eyes. "You are an Ecthos. One of the Ecthos who can walk freely."
He laughed. "Not just an Ecthos, Aries. I am not just what Cosmos tell you I am. I was one of the Ecthos who lived in the universe which did not have its current two rulers. When I was your age, my leader was not Cosmos and Chaos. And Ecthos were not the only race of power. I was one of the four who put Cosmos and Chaos on the throne they sit on. I was once called the Kingmaker."
Did I just not admit not knowing everything as Polaris? I knew Polaris had powers over Qamar, but I never knew he had powers even over Cosmos and Chaos. Just how old was he?
"That throne they sit on," he said. "Is not made of happiness and peace. But by death and gory. It is made of aether. That was the reason why even though I am not the Fate-Writer of this part of the universe, I help those who write it. No one could know the universe better than the ones who lived before Cosmos. Fate-writers, they... let's say that there are many possible future outcomes and the Fate-writers choose the best for that situation and for the future and solidify that. As a controller of time, I, like Qamar, do know what are the possible fates, but I never solidify it like him."
There was a reason why I was called the First Warrior. Why I had an elite army under my control. But it did seem that Cosmos kept secrets from me.
"What was the universe before Cosmos and Chaos?" I asked, unable to keep the wonder from my voice. "How was it?"
"Different," he said with a shrug. "I do know how those Soul-Bounds come to existence."
My eyes nearly popped. "You do?"
He nodded calmly. "Not a tale for today, Aries."
I shook my head and sat on the damp ground. "I thought Cosmos was giving these bonds."
"She does," Polaris said. "But not for everyone. She can give Soul-Bounds only to those souls who have tasted death."
My shoulders further slumped. "Not the Warriors then."
What was I hoping? A Soul-Bound? After what happened to Ursa, we Warriors said we would not take a consort. But if we did find a Soul-Bound, who are we to deny the gift the universe gave us? But which ones would we be paired with?
He chuckled. "There is a reason why you guys are called the first-generation stars. It's not because she created you first. It is because the first-generation stars and pulsars carry the essence of the universe before she sat on her throne. That is why she cannot control you as she can control the quasars and the other stars."
I suspected something along those lines, but never that. I had always known that Cosmos could not control us the way she did other stars. It was out of respect we listened to her.
"Ursa knew the truth behind," he said with a faint smile. "She knew everything and much more than what I knew. Perhaps knowing too much is dangerous."
"Could be," I managed to say.
While Ursa may have been his consort in the past, to us Warriors, she was family. When the numbers from fifteen dwindled to fourteen, we were distraught. When Ophiucus further fell into a deep slumber, many lost the control of our sanity. The final straw was Ursa.
"Are the others connected to you now?" he asked.
I gave him a small nod. When anyone one of us were talking to a higher authority, we stayed connected.
"Good," he said. "I really hate repeating myself to everyone. Gets boring when you say the same thing twelve times."
I chuckled. "True that."
"What are the others saying?"
"Most are in shock," I said. "They cannot accept the fact."
Polaris hummed. "Happens."
When she asked a question via the link, I could not help but ask Polaris. "Libra has a question."
"What is it?"
"You said Ecthos was a race before Cosmos," I said. "Then how come some Ecthos are born even after Cosmos and Chaos took over?"
"If I answer that," he said. "I will be breaking a promise and not to mention Cosmos will be pissed off and since she cannot harm us, she will end up harming the ones you love."
"Ones I love?" I echoed. "What do you mean by that? Do you mean Antlia?"
Polaris closed his eyes and sighed. "Cosmos and Chaos did a huge mistake of separating the stars and the pulsars, creating an imbalance. To rectify that, twelve pulsars live in Origins, under Cosmos, without anyone's knowledge. Since a star is posing her a lot of problems, Cosmos realised her mistake and she sent the twelve pulsars on earth with no memory of their pulsar life. Until they regained their memory, they are vulnerable. Cosmos could potentially kill them."
I had a mix of emotions bubbling in me. Twelve pulsars like us were living in Origins? While I had not met them, I already felt a bond of kinship among them. It has been ages since I actually met a pulsar if one excluded Seren, Veiya and Moros.
"What does that have to do?" I asked.
Polaris looked into my eyes and for the first time since the beginning of this conversation, I felt exposed. Naked. "You will tell me the answer to this question in three months time. Wait until then."
I withheld myself from asking further questions. I did want to know the answers, but I could respect that only when I waited for it. And waiting for a matter of three months was not a big deal. After all, with this long life, one learnt the virtue of patience.
"I understand," I said.
Polaris smiled. "You must go tomorrow night, Aries. While I can see the fate of everyone like Qamar and write it, I prefer not to. It reminds of the time when Cosmos sat on her throne newly. I keep to my business and him to his. Only if he needs help, does he come to me. But I cannot help but meddle with this. Go tomorrow and tell my daughter about this."
Before I could ask another question, Polaris vanished not even leaving a trail of his scent. What did Polaris meddle now? What was awaiting me tomorrow night in the dungeons?
********
The last time I was here, I met Zircon and that was over three thousand years ago. A good friend, but quite serious with what he did. Humming a song that I heard in the cafe this morning, I went to the lower floors.
Instead of the usual stench of filthiness and malice, there was a strong scent of freshness hitting my nose. I just paused for a moment to breathe that scent in. Never in my life had a scent affected me so much.
Greedily gulping in that smell, I cautiously made my way to Alioth's cell. Surprisingly, the strength of the said scent was getting stronger with each step I took. Who was thrown here?
Apart from stars in this part of the universe, only the Hunters and Huntress had the power to throw people here apart from the Royals. No Warrior threw a criminal here. And the Hunters were rarely being chosen nowadays. So... who threw that person with this amazing scent here? Just by that scent, I could tell how pure the soul was.
Or did that appear to me like that? This person could have destroyed an entire civilisation and I would worship that person.
The darkness shrouded me, greeting me like an old friend of its. But then again, when did I need light to see?
The West wing was empty apart from four people in their cells. I had met three and I was quite close to one. But who was the newcomer? Was it their scent that was teasing me now?
Only when I was close enough, I saw who that fourth person was. Her brown hair was sprawled all over and skin over her wrists were red from all the thrashing and twisting in the chains. I could see a pair of boots peaking from the seam of her dress. Who wore sneakers with a dress? Apparently, this girl did.
Her heart-shaped face was streaked with tears. Her parched lips were crying out in pain. Her eyelids fluttered and her jaws trembled. Even with that grime and tears, she was a female who had a beauty like no other. I simply could not take my eyes off her. Her scent was not the only thing that rooted me. It was the female her self.
Something about her soul that made me stay.
Have I seen people cry in my life? Yes, I have. Did I want to comfort them? Sometimes. But seeing this female cry out in some pain, I could not bear it. I just wanted to kill everyone responsible for her pain and be done with. If doing that would put me in the Dungeon, I would gladly take my place in the same cell as hers.
As much as she was a female I did not want to see cry, she was the first apart from Antlia who triggered protectiveness from me.
How I wished I could step in just to wipe those tears away and wash her sorrows.
But even amidst the pain, I saw her fighting spirit. She was not someone who gave in easily. I admired that. Even at times like this, she was fighting.
"She will die if she continues like this," Miguel helpfully said.
"I am trying to take her pain," Cathara said, her voice having a break in between. Cathara had lost her daughter and she still had that motherly instinct in her. "But I cannot."
Alioth said, "I can't bear to see another die."
After all, seeing her mother's mutilated body had made Alioth snap and go on a rampage.
But what was she taking a form as a nine-year-old kid? If I did not know any better, I would have walked past her.
"Is it necessary that I have to commit a felony to go in?" I asked, hating the rules Polaris made. That made me realise something. Was she the reason Polaris came down to personally tell me to inform Alioth about her release?
It was as if that North star knew this would happen.
"Unfortunately, yes," Miguel replied.
While I could not go in, I could do my best to alleviate her pain. When I reached for her, her mind was guarded. Even against me. Ignoring that fact, I focused on what was causing her the pain.
She was a shifter and she was going through heat. Or that was what anyone else would have said. But she was going through something that mimicked heat. Since it dealt with rising in body temperature, I tried my best to bring it down. I called to the pain to my surprise, it listened to me as though it knew me.
Upon a few commands, the heat was under my control. Usually, Amaris or Luna were the ones who controlled this stuff. What was I doing? Why was I doing this?
"Arien!" Alioth snapped. "What are you doing?"
"I am taking her pain," I replied. "She has been wronged. I don't know why."
I could not tell her that her scent was my undoing. That her face was something I could keep looking at for the rest of my life.
"So many are wronged, Arien!" she said. "Will you go an take away their pain?"
"If I could, yes," I replied and we both knew that even if I could take their pain unless they were my family, I would never trade places into the dungeon cell. And why was she calling me by that stupid name Leo gave me?
She tried and tried and when she finally opened her eyes, my heart nearly stopped. That eyes. That brown iris that could simply make me question the reason for my existence. The tiny golden flecks that danced to a tune of wilderness shimmered, making her eyes even more alluring. It was not the light brown that caught the sunlight nor was it dark enough to mimic the night. It was the shade that fitted in well with gold, giving a brilliance of its own.
"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely.
There was something familiar about her. I could not help but smile at her. Only if I could enter that dungeon to release the locks. I could. I could walk in and release her, but there were certain rules that even I had to follow. If I broke her out, many other cells will be breached and so many felons would wander the universe free again.
With the barest hint of a smile on her face, she closed her eyes and gave into that slumber. While I checked for the pain, like a loyal subject, it had listened to me and stayed away from her. It better stay that way.
"What brings you here, First Warrior?" the Huntress asked me.
I tried to probe her mind, but Cathara gave me a warning look. "Leave it. Don't try to pry my mind."
"Yeah," Miguel chimed, leaning against the bars of his cell. "What brings you, a mighty warrior here? It is definitely not because you miss my company."
Alioth sighed. "What did my father tell you?"
I glanced at the female. "Who is she?"
"Lyra," Alioth said. "Thrown here for being rejected."
"That's harsh," I commented. Who in the right mind would let a female as she go?
"She can resist my power," Cathara said. "I bet she can even resist yours."
I snorted in response. Resist mine? Was she a first-generation star like me?
"What did my father tell you?" Alioth pressed again.
She was sure perceptive. I sighed. "Nothing much. Just that the..."
I did not know why I held myself. Did I want to see what they would do when they were released? But Polaris sent me here to warn his daughter, did he not? Then why was I hesitating?
A splash of cold realisation hit me hard. Why did Polaris specify me to come here today? Of all days why now?
Instead of answering her question, I just left the location of Silas in her mind. If the dungeon released them, they need to find someone they could trust.
Blinking to myself, I left the Dungeons to clear my mind.
************
What was I doing here again? I could not stop myself when I walked into the dungeons again the next morning. But this time, I had a mask and a hood on. Sometimes, I questioned myself.
I cloaked myself from all their visions and entered the wing, but Lyra's gaze fell on me. At first, I thought she saw in my direction by chance, but when her gaze followed my moments, I knew she could see me. What in the Cosmos was that?
Even Alioth was oblivious to my presence as it should be. Then how could this female see me?
She relaxed a bit after her eyes after locked with mine.
"Arien?" she called. Origins! That was the siren voice customised to pull me into a blizzard.
"So they were right," I smiled. "You could resist my power."
"Huh?" she asked. The look of confusion was so cute on her.
I shook my head. "Nothing much. Just here to check."
"On?" she asked.
"You," I said. "I tried to save you yesterday. Can't I check if the female I saved is alive?"
I was bluffing and I was thankful that she did not see that.
"You can," she said. "You can."
I chuckled. "I never expected this."
"What?"
"There is some sort of familiarity," I admitted. "I never expected that."
"Oh!"
Then I sat outside her cell. "What crime did you commit?"
She looked down and then at the chains that bound her. "Do I look like someone who had committed a crime?"
She looked like a soul incapable of committing a crime.
"Never judge a book by its cover," I managed to say.
"I was mated to the Alpha of my pack," she said. "He chose another female. He rejected me and threw me here. I am a human, after all. An unshifted werewolf."
I could not help but scoff. "That Alpha is a jerk. Want me to kill him for you?"
I was being dead serious. If she just gave me a name...
She blinked. "Why would you do that?"
"No one deserves to go through this," I said. "I have no idea why the Dungeon actually opened to put you in. If I could... I would release you."
She chuckled. "Thanks for the words."
"No," I said. "I do want to open it, but if I do that, I am worried that the true felons of this Dungeons would be free."
How did I wish I could open this now?
"They are here?" she asked in wonder.
I nodded. "There are so many dark creatures here, Lyra."
Creatures I did not want her to know.
There was a spark in her eyes. "You know my name."
"Alioth told me," I said. "Crime?"
There was never a better name for her.
She shrugged. "Since you saved my life, I guess not."
"What pack do you belong to?" I asked.
"Does it matter?" she asked.
I could not win with her now. "Does not."
Then I looked at the other three. "Their time is up."
"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at Cathara who was trying her best not to laugh at Miguel and Skye.
"They are free to go," I said. "It is a matter of time."
"Do they know?"
"No," I said. "I want to know how they would react if it was a surprise."
"You like that, don't you?" she asked. "Knowing something and then seeing how the other would react?"
She hit right on spot. How could she, by the way?
I smirked. It was then Sage was calling me. Frustrated that she was calling me now, I closed my eyes.
What is it? I asked.
They found Ant is with me, she replied.
This was getting out of hand.
I will pick her up, I said.
With a hum, she cut the connection.
I said, "I have to go. I got an important call."
Grumbling under my breath, I left Lyra there, hoping that I could see her again.
***********
After I left Antlia in that safe house given by Varian, I wandered aimlessly on the beach. A week ago, I saw a female and until now, she haunted me. How I wished I could see her again. Hold her in arms if I could. Sage did sense something was off in me, but thankfully, she did not question it further.
Now, when Ant was safe from danger, I could not help but think of Lyra again. Especially, when that constellation was shining brightly tonight.
"Aries," a familiar voice called me.
Startled, I turned around to find Polaris smirking at me.
Was I thinking about her so much that I actually let my guard down? What was wrong with me?
"Thinking deeply, I see," he commented as he sat on the sand.
I gulped. "Nothing much."
That smirk told me many things and for the first time, I did not want to know what it meant.
"I see you are doing well," he said.
"I am," I answered. Since when was he interested in my well-being?
"My daughter returned," he said. "But she says you never told her what you were supposed to say."
"I was supposed to say?" I asked. Two could play thins game. "Was that the reason I was sent there?"
He laughed. "You did understand why you were sent. Good that I don't need to explain."
"But why her?" I asked.
"Why?" He pulled up a thinking face. Then he gave me a smile that screamed loudly and that glint in his eyes that had me holding my breath. "I don't feel like saying."
With that, he left, vanishing without a trace. Blinking to myself, I sat down, allowing the tides to touch my feet. What was with Polaris? What did he know?
Did he just come here to... irritate me?
"Aries!" Varian called, jogging up to me. "Silas called. He says Miguel was released and he is running with two females. One is an Alpha."
I saw past him the car that was oddly parked. Varian must have gotten a call from Silas while he was driving and Varian must have left it out like that before he rushed towards me. It meant, he did not go into the house yet and he did not see Ant.
Miguel was released. Polaris came to tell me that Alioth had gone home. Who were the other two females with him? Cathara and Lyra?
If so, then who was that Alpha? Definitely not Cathara. Had it been her, the title would have been Omicron.
Instead of a feeling of being doused in cold water, I felt hot. Just pure heat flared to life. Was Lyra an Alpha? Could I handle seeing her like that?
"Silas says that Miguel must have reached here," Varian said. "He was searching for me."
I absent-mindedly nodded. "Okay."
"Knowing Miguel," Varian said, excitedly. It was obvious that he was ecstatic knowing that his friend was back. "He would take them to 'Darkmoon' here. Let's go."
And just like that, I allowed him to drag me to the pub.
**********
I drank beer after beer, just to stop those palpitations in my chest. It was after an hour that Miguel comfortably sat on the third seat. When they began to talk, that scent of Faide, the cosmic flame, burnt wood and steel wafted to my nose. The scent that was teasing me all this time.
I raised my head, and I did not even need to try to locate that girl. Even though she stood a bit uncomfortable, there was an aura of regalness to her. She was an Alpha. A female even I would call my alpha.
My eyes locked with her surprised brown ones. When her lips parted, I knew I was done.
Would I ever let her go? I smirked. Never.
A/N: What do you think of this? Any thoughts about Polaris?
Until next update,
~Quill