by Drew Smith
“I don’t know.” He said.
“Think about it. The other Zodiacs never had to feed. They are creatures of star energy made by the West Zin, but they live at the bottom of the ocean. I would guess that their legend was passed down by the people that saw them descend from the skies in the first place. They must be feeding off the star energy from fallen stars right? So if that is true, Serpentarius must have descended from the skies to feed. That is the only thing that would make sense to me.” Lears continued to stare into the sky as he yelled.
(“I’m impressed by his theory. It does make sense. The other Zodiacs didn’t speak, so reasoning would be out of the question, but fallen stars? I would guess they fed off the energy from the planet’s core, but telling Lears that would probably only anger him further.”) Lumus thought. Lears turned to him, and grabbed him by the shoulders.
“This thing will eventually find the core of the planet, Lumus. Think about it: we have no choice but to stop it.” Lears yelled out. Lumus finally agreed with a nod.
“Okay, I am convinced there is no other way. We need to stop this thing from getting to the core of Twilight.” He agreed.
“Finally you come to your senses. Keep up!” Lears turned and began running toward the North to Aquoise. Lumus hesitated for a moment and looked up to the sky.
“Scarlette please, if you think this is the right thing to do… Help me understand…”He muttered. He started running behind Lears. The two raced across the open plains with their attention toward the skies.
Lumus couldn’t help but notice a purple tinge in the clouds above. Lears wasn’t paying attention to the color, but his eyes were scanning for any movement from Serpentarius.
“Lumus, try to generate some star energy. We need to start luring Serpentarius now!” Lears demanded as he began to emit an eerie dark shade from his entire body. Lumus followed with him, though he found it a little more difficult to emit star energy while running.
(“I haven’t tried to bring out my power while running for some time now. Maybe I should have trained more. Sometimes I think Lears could very well be better trained at things like this.”) He thought.
“Fool! you are slowing down. Pick up the pace.” Lears shouted back. Lumus pushed himself to generate more power, finally he was able to pull enough power to generate a dim white light surrounding his body.
“Look, Lumus! Serpentarius is there in the sky to the north! It is descending to the surface.” He shouted again. Lumus had finally seen Serpentarius. He found it hard to see it at first, because it was a solid white star energy. It was well hidden in the clouds.
“Lears, it’s coming straight down to us!” He shouted.
“Keep running, Lumus. I would prefer an open area to fight, and we just have a bit farther to reach the edge of Aquoise.” He suggested as he watched the skies.
They sprinted as fast as they could as Serpentarius came crashing down into the surface. They focused on dodging as much as they could, but Serpentarius didn’t let up. It burrowed through the dirt and came up through the ground, trying to catch either of them in its mouth, but its oversized body was so long that they had to jump over its body while trying to dodge its large mouth chasing close behind. Finally they made it to the edge of Aquoise, and Serpentarius spiraled up into the sky, and stared down at them. After a pause in the air, Serpentarius lit up like an explosion of bright white lights. When Lumus was able to open his eyes he couldn’t see Serpentarius anywhere. He looked to his right, and Lears was also frantically looking around for Serpentarius, but they both saw nothing.
“Lears?” Lumus said with concern.
“Underground?” Lears replied. Suddenly a bright sphere came from the clouds landing only a few feet away from them. They couldn’t see what it was, but Lumus braced himself in case of an attack. He shielded his face enough to see past his arms and put one leg back a bit to strengthen his stance.
“So you two are trying to keep me from what is mine too?” A voice said from inside the light. “Serpentarius?” Lumus asked.
“Ophiuchus, but you can call me Rasel in this form.” Rasel walked from the sphere of light as a woman. She was wearing a suit of light armour resembling snake skin, and a pure green dress also with the snake pattern. She put her hand out in front of her with her hand open to reveal her palm. A small circle of light formed on her palm, then she reached her other hand into the light. She pulled a large snake from the light by its tail. The snake fully left the portal from her palm and hit the ground. She snapped the snake like a whip turning it into an emerald green steel polearm. The snake’s mouth opened to its widest, the handle all the way to the snakes head was covered in green steel in a snake skin pattern. The tongue of the snake stretched out before turning to emerald colored steel, and formed a sharp flat blade.
“Do you like my polearm? I suppose I should give it a name. How about Snake Bite?” Rasel giggled.
“Don’t laugh yet, you still have me to deal with!” Lears began to emit a dark aura around his body. Lumus didn’t notice before, but Lears wasn’t carrying a weapon. He hadn’t been using his sword in some time now, he thought. He left his sword that Scarlette gave him in Capaz Palace, he quickly remembered.
Lumus shouted as Lears ran at Rasel. Lears leaped into the air. He yelled as he pointed both of his palms at her. He began to shoot small spheres of dark star energy at her. She smiled as she raised her polearm, and began to spin it as fast as she could. The dark star energy was easily deflected all over the fields of Aquoise.
“You expect to fight me without a weapon in hand? Foolish man.” She jumped into the air at him as he was coming back down to the ground. She spun her polearm, hitting him in the gut with the bottom of her weapon, then flung him through the air. He rolled along the ground without any means of stopping himself. Lumus clenched his fists, helpless to aid him.
“Lears!” He shouted. He powered up with a light aura around his body, and ran at Rasel.
“You will suffer the same fate!” She yelled out. After she had spoken she had to look at Lumus a second time. The second look at his face caused her to flinch. He threw his right fist as hard as he could, but stopped before hitting her. The sheer force of his punch threw her across the ground just as Lears had suffered.
“Why didn’t you follow through, Lumus? You could have ended her with that attack.” Lears said as he made his way to his feet.
“No matter. My enemy is still a woman, and I cannot hit her.” Lumus straighten his stance and took a deep breath. Lears just stared at him.
“Are you kidding me!? That is no woman. She is an It. A creature and nothing more. It just appears to be a woman.” He shouted at Lumus. He expressed nothing but anger as he yelled to him.
“Even so. I…I just can’t.” He put his head down. With a flash Rasel appeared in front of him, and delivered a devastating strike to his neck. The energy around his body faded.
“Never let your guard down, human! I will not take any mercy on those that seek to stop me from my goals.” She screamed. Lumus fell to his knees as she pulled her polearm back. Lumus laid upon his knees with his head down.
“Lumus… Lumus wake up! I need you to wake up Lumus!” A familiar voice spoke to him inside his head.
“Scarlette? Is that you Scarlette?” Lumus could hear a gentle laugh that seemed to echo in his head.
(“Yes, it’s me Lumus. I seem to have a better connection with you now. It would seem… Well I can’t seem to tell you.”) Scarlette’s faint giggle seemed to get louder.
(“What are you talking about, Scarlette?”) He answered her just by thinking.
(“It doesn’t matter, you will learn in time. As a goddess I am bound by laws of the gods. I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to, but you need to listen now. This creature that you fight may look like a woman, but she is just another demon. If you don’t beat this thing then it will consume the core of Twilight. You need to stop that from happening. Not only would everyone on Twilight perish, but the entire uni
verse could be at stake. This monster is not a creation of the West Zin. It is all of the negative leftover star energy from the Zodiacs since they were created. Lumus, please destroy this creature. Not just for me or you, but for everyone.”) Scarlette begged. Rasel watched him closely.
“I know you still have some fight in you. I won’t turn my back to fight the other one until I know I have finished with you. So get up and let us finish this!” Lumus’ eyes opened suddenly, causing Rasel to gasp. He grabbed her wrist of the hand that held her polearm.
“Ah you filthy human! Get your hands off of me!” She yelled out. Lumus stood up then looked down at her.
“I am Prince Lumus, protector of this world. I will never allow a monster like you to harm my friends, my family, or my home!” He snarled. He began to glow brighter than ever before. Lears backed away slowly to watch.
(“I have never seen such a power. This is something else entirely. How can he tap into so much power? Where is this all coming from? This is far stranger than that girl.”) Lears stumbled backwards, but didn’t even blink when he hit the ground. He just continued to stare at Lumus and he began to tremble.
“Don’t think you have won yet! My star energy is from the beginning of this planet’s time. I have been storing power from the day I was chased away by the Zodiacs.” She said, then laughed. Lumus squeezed her wrist tighter, then pulled her close. He threw his head forward, hitting her with a hard head-butt. He turned his body to face the South with his hand still gripping her wrist. He arched his arm forward and threw her up in the air, and slammed her back down into the ground. She laid on the ground and spit up blood onto her chest. She suddenly began to glow, then a flash blinded Lumus as she turned back into the giant serpent of star energy. The massive body only began to appear as she started to slither through the air. Lumus was pushed aside with ease. Lears rose to his feet, and jumped out of the way as Serpentarius’ head came charging at him with its fangs pointed directly at him.
(“So she can turn back into her snake form at will. This will make things far more difficult.”) Lears thought. He waited for a chance to jump on its back. Just as the head turned around to attack once more. He jumped up over its head and onto its back. Quickly he turned and ran toward its head upon its back. Lumus watched from the ground. Lears charged his hands with star energy as he made its way up its back as fast as he could. He jumped again when the head turned back to attack, but he dodged it. This time he slapped his hands together sending a shockwave at the back of Serpentarius’ head. Serpentarius halted its movement to look at him with a glare. A flash blinded his sight for a moment, but Serpentarius turned back into its human form.
“Two on one, my snake form isn’t going to be of use here.” She muttered to herself. She drew her polearm from her palm once more. Lumus smiled.
“So you will fight us in that form then?” He suggested. Rasel swung her polearm a bit to analyze its weight.
“I find it entertaining that you try to mock me, but I have been around since the beginning. My dear human, I do not fear you, and I only choose this form because I know that the serpent is too slow. I feel as though you are not entirely human either. You both have the same face as well. I find that odd. I have been watching from the skies all of my life, and I don’t recall seeing either of you with such power until recently. If I was to fight a human I wouldn’t have to resort to this, but I will in your case.” She explained. She flicked her long green hair from her face.
“You have it right about us Rasel. Lumus and I are not what you would call normal. We are something else entirely. Similar to how you came to be actually…” Lears bragged.
“I don’t care. Neither of you matter to me. I will take this planets core and ascend to space for my next meal. I will become a goddess, and I will rule this universe as I see fit.” She protested. Lears laughed with a sinister grin on his face.
“Why? What makes you think you can be a god? You were created as a result of the scraps of beings created by a goddess. You are just the garbage left over that we have been stuck cleaning up.” He added.
“How dare you, you filthy abomination! I will enjoy killing you both! Before, I was going to just kill you because you were in my way. Now I will take joy in it!” She explained.
Lumus’ power rose. Lears noticed his power jump significantly.
“I guess I have no choice. If Lumus wants to max out then I will do the same.” Lears said to himself. He began to yell out as he tried to boost his power too. His faint dark aura became solid. Lumus could only see past parts of the aura, and Lears just smiled as he clenched his fist in a furious rage.
“I will show you the power of darkness!” He shouted. He continued to emit so much power that the dark aura built up around him completely. The left over dark energy started to seep out in a perfect circle around him. The farther the dark energy got from him the more it faded until it disappeared entirely.
(“What is he doing? If he generates too much power who knows what will happen. That kind of power could kill him. Only a god would dare generate so much at once.”) Lumus thought. He blocked his face with his arms to stop the heavy winds from hitting his eyes.
“You may want to take some shelter Lumus, I wouldn’t want you to die from this before I get a chance to kill you on equal ground.” Lears smiled at him with a sinister grin then turned his attention back to Rasel.
“You two are not companions, yet you fight me together. Interesting. Whatever it takes to save your world I suppose. It is too bad that you don’t stand a chance. I will kill you both and take this planets core. You cannot stop me.” Rasel looked to Lears, but her body faced Lumus.
“You might want to focus on me, Rasel! I’m the one that is about to kill you!” Lears shouted.
“Please. You both bore me. This little light show is pathetic. You two must be proud that you defeated the Zodiacs, but you have no idea that I have been sapping their star energy from them for centuries. Did either of you think at all about it? Why do you think the weak humans were even able to defeat them? If they had their true power they would have destroyed every living thing on this planet in seconds.” Rasel smiled.
(“Rasel is right. They were oddly weak, but we had such a hard time with them, and not all of us made it back from that. Is it possible she is hiding far more star energy then we know?”) Lumus continued to think to himself as he backed away from Rasel and Lears.
Lears finally stopped. His muscles had grown a bit more toned, but his face still carried his sinister smile. He unclenched his fists and took a deep breath.
“You should be worried, Rasel. I will show you the true power of darkness.” He announced.
“I’m not worried Lears, because you are but an insect under my foot.” Lears chuckled to himself.
“Rasel, Serpentarius, Ophiuchus. Whatever your name, is it doesn’t matter. You are just another pawn this world put before me to knock down.” Lears starred at her with a serious look in his eyes. This time she turned her full attention to him.
“Okay, insect. Go ahead! I’ll give you the first strike.” She announced.
“Very generous of you Rasel, but I believe the lady shall have first strike.” Lears argued.
“Very well, but when I send you to the realm of the dead don’t feel bad that a woman killed you.” Rasel declared with a smile.
She began to run at him with all of her might. He smiled then matched her speed as he ran at her. The two met in the middle of Aquoise fields with a huge flash. Lumus watched from the edge of Dornet region only a few steps from Zangus region of Piscyst to the west. A massive shockwave blew by him, but this time he didn’t block his face. This time he watched without a blink at all. Rasel and Lears clashed blow after blow, but he could only hear them. The flash of light didn’t disperse. The energy around them was so powerful that the light didn’t fade because of their power clashing again and again.
(“Lears has learned too. He has taken control of the star energy inside of himself complete
ly. This will complicate things later when he turns on me.”) Lumus pondered to himself.
The ball of light in the middle of Aquoise fields slowly moved. Lumus assumed Lears and Rasel were shifting the tide within the fight. He could see a crater as the energy from their fight dragged across the land. With a flash the blinding ball of light that encased the fight faded slowly. Lears and Rasel stood on opposite sides of the crater panting.
“I didn’t expect so much trouble from the life forms on the surface. I have been watching for so long, but your power is far stronger than anything I could have imagined.” She worried.
“I told you I would show you the darkness. Now you want to run away?” Lears warned her. She looked to the sky quickly, then back at Lears.
“Don’t bother Rasel. The moment you try to flee as that snake I will blast you with everything I have.” Lears argued.
(“He is right, even if I try, I am too weakened to flee, and the other one doesn’t have a scratch on him yet. I have no choice but to try to kill Lears, and then flee before Lumus makes it to the battle field, or I could…) I won’t flee, Lears. You have suffered too many injuries, and as you stated before you want your friend over there dead. I am going to assume he will not interfere, and that will allow me the time I need to kill you.” Rasel continued to struggle for air after talking to Lears.
“Enough talk, Rasel! Make a move while we are young.” Lears demanded.
Rasel flung her hair from in front of her face. She hesitated for a moment then dropped to one knee. She put her polearm on the ground in front of her with her palms facing each end. Light came from her palms, and with a flash her weapon changed back to a living snake. She pet the snake then stood up straight, and pointed toward Lears. The large snake slithered quickly toward him. At first he thought of the snake as just a distraction until it got closer. The snake began to split the closer it got. By the time the snakes closed in on him; there were hundreds of them. He put his arms up and straightened his fingers with his palms up. Then he coated just his hands with his dark star energy, but this time even Lumus on the other side of the battle field could see that his power was fading. The snakes began to strike, but he used the energy on his hands like sharp daggers to slice the snakes to pieces.