by Drew Smith
“Clothes! Now!” He yelled out.
“Joffree. Is Doxas okay?” Concy couldn’t see over his shoulder. He turned to look at Doxas. He turned back to her with a frown.
“I am sorry my lady.” Joffree shook his head.
“No…NO! He can’t be! Not him!” Concy pulled herself up enough to see over his shoulder. Doxas had turned to stone. Tears overflowed Concy’s eyes as she buried her head in Joffree’s chest.
Chapter Twenty Eight- Sagittarius, Zodiac of Sagnet
(“Lake of the Archer; Sagnet’s own little river of dreams. This world has grown into quite the paradise. West Zin must be proud of what it has become. I can already sense the Zodiac coming toward the surface. They were created to protect this planet, but the people here on Twilight have now become the protectors. I see now why she needed my help with all of this. Her time is almost up. My child will soon come to pass, but her successor seems like a fitting replacement for her side of the galaxy. Our Scarlette Rose. She also concerns me though. She has an inner power like nothing I have ever felt. West Zin must have felt that power in her too. It seems I will have to trust in my child’s wishes in choosing a mortal to take the place of a god.”) Kontaminate thought.
He waited patiently as he thought to himself. The water began to bubble at the surface, but he didn’t flinch. As the Zodiac shot out of the water and onto the land, Kontaminate just glanced at Sagittarius of Sagnet. Sagittarius didn’t move once it faced him. He walked over to Sagittarius and placed his hand on its Zodiac symbol on its face.
“You have done well, I shall release you now.” He said calmly. The star energy flowed from the zodiac symbol on its face into the air. As the energy came out from its body Sagittarius began to slowly turn to stone, but in the shape of a man holding a bow.
“I am sorry, you have done everything right but we have no need for the guardians anymore.” He whispered.
He stepped back to look at the Zodiac once it was fully petrified. He raised his hand and opened a portal.
(“Now that I have met you and your companions, Lumus, I feel like allowing this course of life to bloom as fate would will it. Good luck”) He thought. His smiled as he entered the portal, leaving Sagittarius petrified in front of Lake Archer as a reminder to the people that they are in good hands.
Chapter Twenty Nine- Capricorn, Zodiac of Capaz
Scarlette sat beside Lumus in a patch of grass enclosed by the small forest that overlooked Lake Twilight, with the waterfall in front of them. She had her hand resting on her pocket with thoughts of the hourglass in mind. They didn’t speak to one another. They just sat in silence. She finally took the hourglass out from her pocket.
“I can feel their powers, you know. The god somewhere up there. I can feel the West Zin’s power. I can also feel the others, but they are faint.” He blurted out. Scarlette smiled.
“You never told me you knew of them. That makes this much easier.” She said. Lumus stood up.
“I have to tell you something, Lumus. I have to leave Twilight soon, and I just… I just want you to know I will miss you!” She blurted out. Lumus looked at her for a while before answering.
“Leave Twilight? What do you mean? Are you planning on going back to Dystopia?” He asked. Scarlette shrugged.
“You know already that you were born from the positive energy of Twilights core. “Twilight’s core is blue, and it represents the positive energy of the west side of the galaxy. Dystopia’s core is red, and it represents negative energy for the west side of the galaxy. These two planets are the only planets on the west side, though Twilight stands alone in our solar system. Dystopia is in a mirror realm we call the second dimension. When you were born the mass amount of positive energy used by the core to create you had drained the core’s energy, and because of this it caused Twilight’s core to turn red. With both cores on the west side negative the whole west side became unbalanced. Demons made their way down the Aster Mountain caves, and this is when I was killed. When I lived in the realm of the dead the West Zin took care of me and I was taught things about the planets, and a little about how the universe works. I was given the chance to come back to help you. I told you that already, but what I didn’t tell you was this.” Scarlette held her hourglass up for him to see.
“I was given a whole other life to live, but my time will be up soon, and I just wanted you to break the news to everyone for me.” She smiled. He hugged her, but as he tightened his hold on her two large splashes of water shot from Lake Twilight. Lumus turned and powered up his star energy. Scarlette pulled her bow off her back and readied an arrow.
“Scarlette, be careful. I cannot feel their power anymore.” He said.
“I know. They are but shells of their former selves. I imagine that the others are not having as much trouble as I thought they would.” Lumus looked over to her.
“How could you know that?” He asked. Scarlette loosened the grip on her bow.
“I suppose I won’t be needing this anymore.” Scarlette dropped her bow to the ground. Lumus stepped back from her as she began to levitate. Her hair blew up in the wind as her power radiated around her body in a faint pink glow.
“My power is almost full. West Zin has almost fully transferred her power to me. Lumus please stand back. Capricorn of Capaz is mine. You take the other zodiac.” She demanded. Lumus was surprised to feel so much power hidden inside of her.
(“Scarlette, what is happening to you? I will have to lure the other away from her. If I can fight Pisces of Piscyst alone then we won’t be in each other’s way.”) Lumus began to generate star energy as quick as he could. His power quickly exceeded Scarlette’s. Both of the Zodiacs turned their attention to Lumus.
(“Too much power. They are attracted to star energy. I need to drop my power down.”) He thought. He took a deep breath, and some of his power drifted into the sky. He looked at Scarlette, but she didn’t flinch. Her power continued to grow. Lumus turned his attention over to Pisces.
(“Okay big guy, time for us to go.”) Lumus shot off at incredible speed, striking Pisces in the centre of its chest, then he started running through the forest and south of Capaz. Pisces followed without hesitation.
(“Lumus, I was hoping we could fight them together. As our last moments together I wanted to stand beside you as an equal. Don’t forget me, okay?”) Scarlette’s eyes lit up with a solid pink glow. She was levitating as she drew in star energy. Capricorn waited patiently as her power grew. When she was finally ready to fight, her hair slowly floated back to her shoulders. Capricorn shot across the surface of the water. Scarlette rivaled its speed as she also shot across the water at Capricorn. As the two collided it created large explosions of energy around them. It seemed like a stalemate until Scarlette let out a scream. The pink energy around her exploded and engulfed Capricorn completely. After a moment Capricorn flew out of the energy and skipped across the water like a rock skipping the surface of a calm lake. Capricorn flew into the waterfall as it slowed down. Scarlette began to fly higher into the air.
(“This power is incredible. I can fly too, this is amazing. The power of the West Zin has almost fully taken over. I have truly become a goddess of the west galaxy.”) She smiled. Her hair blew in the wind as she gazed at her hands. She didn’t noticed Capricorn slowly exit the waterfall. It raised its hands to her. With a flash it launched a barrage of horn shaped energy attacks. She raised one hand and the star energy shot from Capricorn broke apart and faded into the sky.
(“This will be my final gift to you all. Lumus, I am sorry for everything you have gone through. I hope I will see you again. Goodbye my friends.”) She thought while closing her eyes.
She raised her hands and formed two balls of star energy. The left was red and the right was blue. As they finished collecting energy she pushed them together to form one large purple ball of energy. She dropped her arms out in front of herself and clapped her hands together, releasing a shockwave that pushed the energy at an incredible speed. Capricorn t
ook the attack head-on, but tried to stop it with its hands. The energy slowly erased its body. Scarlette smiled as a portal opened behind her.
“Seems my time is up. Since the portal has opened, that means West Zin has already faded away, and I am now the West Zin. It is time to go then. Goodbye, Twilight. I will be watching over you from now on. Lumus, take good care of Twilight while I am gone.” She announced as she backed into the portal.
She turned with a smile and a small tear in her eye as she turned into the portal. Her tear rolled off her cheek, and fell into Lake Twilight. The tear hardened into a small condensed ball of star energy, then sank into the depths of Lake Twilight.
Chapter Thirty- Aquarius, Zodiac of Aquoise
Lears stood on the edge of the mountains overlooking Aquoise. From high on the mountaintop he was able to see all of the ocean east of Aquoise. He waited with his arms crossed. A smile struck his face as his eyes opened.
“I can feel the Zodiac’s power. It’s faint, but it is there.” He jumped down from the mountaintop, and slid down the dirt on the side of the mountain. As he raced down, he noticed the Aquoise soldiers mobilizing in the city below.
(“Insects scurrying below. Those fools think they would be able to stop me if I tried to kill them. Cute. Hahaha.”) Lears reached the bottom of the mountain. He came to an abrupt stop as he felt something strange in the distance.
(“That power. It is overwhelming. Is that Lumus? No. It can’t be. That is someone else. It almost feels familiar to me.”) He thought. He turned toward Capaz.
(“A second power? Wait, the second power is Lumus without a doubt. It seems he is starting to get serious.”) Lears smiled.
“He is growing more powerful, but he isn’t reaching his full potential, but why? Maybe these Zodiac creatures are not as strong as we anticipated.”) He thought. He let out an ominous laugh as he turned back to Aquoise.
The guards of Aquoise had their eyes on Lears. He approached with a smile, but the guards backed away in fear as he passed the gates to look upon the ocean. He watched the surface beginning to bubble.
“So it begins. The power of this creature is weak. I can barely feel its star energy. I will make short work of this. I see now why Lumus is holding back.” He said. He laughed as the Zodiac Aquarius of Aquoise emerged from the ocean surface. Aquarius flew through the air, and landed on the shoreline in front of Lears. The monster reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders. Its tentacles of star energy pointed toward him, then went to strike him. Lears laughed as he generated a barrier of dark energy around his body. Aquarius tried to force its attack through his barrier, but it just caused Lears to laugh even louder.
“I was hoping you would be stronger. I was planning on unleashing my full power on you. Though I suppose I still could. You are but star energy, and killing you won’t matter, now will it.”
Lears continued to laugh as his barrier expanded, causing Aquarius to let go of him and stagger backwards. He extended his arms out on each side of his body as the barrier grew in size. He let out a roar as the energy rolled off of him like a shockwave. Aquarius flew back into the water, but Lears continued to generate power. He ran up to the edge of the water then jumped straight up into the air, and held his arm up with his hand extended towards Aquarius. Lears opened his hand and shot a huge ball of black transparent star energy at the water. Aquarius jumped from the water just to take the attack head on. It broke apart as it took the attack. Bit by bit the star energy that formed its body dissolved into nothing but the emblem of the Zodiac Aquarius from its head. The emblem fell to the shallow shore in front of Lears. He stood panting on the shore looking down at the emblem.
“I guess going all out really does drain my power. This is the first time I was able to use everything I had in one attack.” Lears raised his leg and slammed his foot hard on the Aquarius emblem, shattering it into pieces.
(“Odd. The shattered parts are turning to stone. What a waste of power. This thing couldn’t even give me a decent fight. Lumus will be expecting me to turn on him right about now. I will give the order once we meet back at Capaz.”) He thought.
He turned to the guards in Aquoise. He gave them a sinister grin as he walked past them.
(“I can feel Lumus powering down. He must be returning to Capaz soon. Then I shall meet him for our final fight.”) He laughed as he thought about the fight to come.
He walked southwest with excitement. There was a sinister grin still on his face as he made his way toward Capaz.
Chapter Thirty One- Pisces, Zodiac of Piscyst
Lumus raced along the Torson region home of Capaz, He led the Zodiac Pisces of Piscyst across Torson plains. The Zodiac was able to keep pace with him. He found it interesting that it was so easily manipulated into following him from Lake Twilight.
(“This should be far enough away from Scarlette. I just didn’t want to have her in the way if things got out of hand, but Scarlette should be able to handle herself now that she has become a goddess. That is a strange thought…A goddess of the west galaxy. Someone I have known almost my whole life becoming something I thought… well I never really gave gods much thought. I don’t really know what to think of all of this. Then again I was once a mortal boy on a farm. All of this is new, and I suppose anything can happen at this point. I don’t even know what I am. A god? An abomination? A mistake created through a child’s wish? People call me Prince, or savior, but what am I really?”) He thought to himself.
Lumus came to a sudden stop. Pisces over shot him by a few feet, but turned around with a sharp twist. Lumus had his head down in deep thought.
(“What am I really? I can’t stop thinking about this. Why now? How come I never had these thoughts before? I just don’t know what I am. Everyone just called me the prince and the savior…, but I haven’t saved anyone. I haven’t done anything for Twilight. Lears, Kontaminate, and the Zodiacs… I have brought nothing but pain to them. Why do they care for me when all I do is bring more grief?”) He shook his head in frustration. Pisces ran at him at an alarming speed, but Lumus didn’t react. His head was still down and his mind raced with thoughts of his life. Pieces threw its right fist forward hitting Lumus on his left cheek, but he didn’t even move an inch. His eyes lit up with a bright white glow. He raised his hands to hold his head as he continued to shake his head in frustration.
(“I don’t know who I am, and I just don’t know what I am doing! WHO AM I?”) Lumus’ body began to emit mass amounts of star energy that formed like waves in all directions like layers of energy forming a disk of energy around him. The power began to cause him to levitate into the air. Pisces paused as it waited for Lumus to make a move. The star energy from him confused Pisces. It couldn’t understand what to attack.
(“I have to fix everything! I have to save this world, but not from Lears. I need to save this world from me!”) He screamed out as he thought to himself.
The power from Lumus pulled back into his body with a flash. He dropped to the ground, and as he landed on his feet he jumped toward Pisces, and grabbed his zodiac symbol off of its face He crushed it like it was nothing. Pisces began to petrify, but Lumus had already began walking back to Capaz.
(“I need to find Scarlette. I have so many questions that I need to ask her. I need to know what I truly am. I can’t feel the power of the Zodiacs anymore, and that tells me they have all been defeated. Kontaminate has left too, but Scarlette… I can’t feel her power anymore either. Her energy is completely gone.”) He cringed to think he wouldn’t see her again, but he knew she was gone. No matter how many ways he tried to convince himself. He knew he wouldn’t see her back at Capaz with the others. He stopped, and he looked up to the sky. He smiled as he gazed into the red moon, the Scarlet moon.
“She really is gone...... I thought we would have had more time. I never had a chance to say goodbye, nor will I get the answers I seek.” He whispered to himself. He felt something behind him. Like pulses of energy appearing and disappearing.
“I’m sorry Lumus. I didn’t mean to leave so suddenly.” Scarlette said softly. Lumus turned around with a surprised look in his eyes. It was Scarlette in a white robe stretching down to her ankles. Her hood covered her eyes, but he recognized her voice and her smile.
“Scarlette? But I thought you had already gone to the realm of the dead?” He cried out. Scarlette pushed her hood off to reveal her face.
“I’m the goddess of this planet now Lumus. I can go where I please, but I can’t stay long. Coming to this world drains my star energy.” She explained.
“Well I am happy that I at least get to properly say goodbye to you. I have been trying to think of what I might say, but I just couldn’t find the right words…” He said embarrassed. Scarlette stepped forward and grabbed him by the shirt. She pulled him close and kissed him. She held him tight like she never wanted to let him go. At first his eyes were open, but after a few seconds he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her. After a moment he opened his eyes, but she was gone. He looked up to the sky, and smiled once again.
“Thank you Scarlette. That was one of the questions I didn’t know how to ask you.” He said with a big smile on his face as he made his way back to Capaz.