[Novel] The Zodiac Empire

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Duel Academy :: Academy Courtyard :: Off-Topic

Who's your favorite character?

Naito: 1
20%
Alsen: 0
0%
Cosena: 0
0%
Sartur: 0
0%
Shadow: 1
20%
Croakie: 0
0%
Alile: 1
20%
Alvisa: 0
0%
Zento: 0
0%
Leah: 0
0%
Mary: 2
40%
Total Votes:: 5

[Novel] The Zodiac EmpireTue Jan 12, 2016 11:39 pm

Hey guys sorry bout not giving you anymore chapters of Heaven Academy yet, my editor has been MIA. So to make up for it, I'll show you the other novel im working on, The Zodiac Empire.

Read in link below or the spoiler
http://sta.sh/07llp2htzep

The Zodiac Empire

Prologue

Spoiler :

Raging infernos and chilling frost. They say that this is all there was when the world began. To the south lay Rafendile, a land decorated by raging flames and boiling magma, inhabited by the giants, the only ones who could stand such blistering heat. To the north, Kricade, land of the dragons, the only ones who could live in the arid deserts of snow and ice which encompassed the continent. Though these regions lay on opposite ends of the world, their winds managed to reach each other, and through this phenomenon, a long road connecting the two lands was formed. When this path appeared, both the giants and dragons were curious of what lay on the other side, and so set off to discover what was at the end of this road.
When their paths crossed, both races were caught by surprise. It didn’t take either party long to suspect the other of trying to invade their land. Wishing to avoid conflict, Nircogard, leader of the dragons, took it upon himself to try and reason with the giants. The dragons were merely curious, he explained, of what lay at the end of this road which had suddenly appeared. They hadn’t known anything but ice and snow existed in this world. In response, Egitnafir, leader of the giants, explained that they too were curious, as they’d only ever known raging flames. So, the two sides struck a deal. The dragons would allow the giants to enter their home to show them what lay there, as long as the giants did the same.
The journey to Kricade was long, but certainly worth it for the giants. They were amazed by how much land there was in Kricade. Unbeknownst to the dragons, the giants had long since outgrown Rafendile, and so needed new land to sustain their people. So, while Nircogard and Egitnafir discussed the issues of their peoples, the greedy giants made secret plans to exterminate the dragons and take Kricade for themselves. So when the dragons were lead to Rafendile, they were not prepared for the sudden attacks launched at them by the giants.
The war was long, brutal in nature, and by the time it was over, no dragon remained. However, the giants had not escaped unscathed. Few giants remained standing, burning with rage due to the death of their own leader, Egitnafir. However, the giants knew that both Nircogard and Egitnafir would be back, as the end is always followed by a new beginning. In preparation for this, and to avoid the snowstorms that suddenly ravished Rafendile, the giants carried the corpse of Nircogard into the depths of Kricade, then returned to Rafendile to await Egitnafir’s return.
Centuries passed. A new continent known as Drazilwalnd formed to the west, with the souls of the deceased reborn as a new species, known as the Casters. These revived souls had no memories of their past lives. The only ones who did were Nircogard and Egitnafir, reborn as twins. They had remembered everything. However, as they were now of the same race, they agreed there was no more reason to fight, deciding to live their lives together in peace. Yet this peace was tenuous, for one day Nircogard awoke to find his twin sister missing, left only with rumours that she had fled south, in the direction of Rafendile.
Knowing he must act quickly, Nircogard told everyone of their past lives, warning them of the dangers to come. Some laughed in his face, while others toyed with him, pretending to believe him only to go behind his back and make fun of him. No one believed him, though he couldn’t blame them. Who would believe such a ridiculous story?
Alone, the dragon king travelled north, to Kricade. The journey took two months, traveling across glaciers and deserts of snow, before he found what he was looking for. The corpse of his dragon form, buried in ice, preserved for centuries. Knowing that he must be a dragon to stand against the giants, Nircogard struck from his corpse a tooth and an eyeball, from which he crafted a wand. With the wand, his magic was enhanced tenfold, and he was able to fuse himself into his original body. Returned to dragon form, he made preparations to fly back to Drazilwalnd, but when he felt the earth rumble beneath his feet, he knew it was too late. Egitnafir had arrived.
Flying with the utmost haste to meet his sister, Nircogard was horrified to find that she’d brought with her a legion of her giants, each wearing a necklace, strung with the corpses of the people of Drazilwalnd. Overcome, first with grief, then with insatiable anger, Nircogard struck, taking Egitnafir’s head off with one blow. Though he met with his demise soon after, Nircogard was glad that he’d taken the giant’s leader from them once more.
More centuries passed. Once more, the souls of those who’d been dragons were reincarnated as Casters. But this time, the giants had been reborn as powerless humans. These humans resided in another new continent that had risen from the seas at this time, known as Maeruthan. In addition, the giants that remained received a new continent for themselves as well. Residing between Rafendile and Kricade, this continent was named Nohegimat. And, as if destiny was trying to prevent another genocide, both of these new continents were surrounded by massive walls, trying to keep these races away from each other. Through all of this, neither Nircogard nor Egitnafir had been reincarnated, but it is said that their souls are reincarnated every eight generations.
“And the baby will be the eighth, right father?” asks the little girl, sitting in her father’s lap.
Her father chuckles, running his hand through the girl’s blonde locks, “That’s right, Cosena. Soon, very soon, your brother shall be born. Then, one day, he’ll lead us all, as king. King of the Zodiac Empire.”
“That’s so cool! My baby brother is an ice-breathing dragon! Tell the rest of the story!” Cosena replies, clutching onto a teddy bear.
Her father, however, shakes his head, “Sorry Cosena, but you know daddy doesn’t like to talk about what happens next…” He turned his head away with a sigh, brushing his fingertips across the cold, metallic mask that covered the right side of his face.
“But why!? I wanna know what happens next!” Cosena whines, jumping up and down in her father’s lap.
“Because,” her father began, grabbing her gently, “You’re far too young to understand.”
“How do you know that!?”
“Because you’re… ticklish!” he grinned, tickling Cosena roughly, causing the girl to fall back, giggling uncontrollably as she thrashed about to try and get him to stop.
“N-not fair!”
“Until you stop being ticklish, you’re too young for that part of the story,” her father said, letting her sit back up, “Speaking of which, I believe it’s your bedtime. It is eight, after all.”
“But I’m not tired!” Cosena retorted, giving her father a pout before yawning, doing her best to suppress it.
“You may not be, but someone here is,” her father chuckled, reaching over to his other daughter and running his hand through her magenta hair. She stirred slightly at this, before curling up, gripping a stuffed frog that was clutched tightly between her fingers.
“But Alsen is little! I’m a big girl!” Cosena pouts before picking up her little sister and carrying her to bed, “See! I’m big enough to put Alsen to bed! So I must be big enough to stay up all night!”
“You’re a very good big sister,” he smiled, kneeling down to look Cosena in the eye “And that’s why I need you to stay by Alsen's side forever. I need you to protect her in case anything bad happens.” Cosena stood silently for a moment, then nodded. Going to turn around, she hesitated, stopping to embrace her father.
“I want to see mother…” she whimpered, hugging her father tightly.
“I know you do, Cosena, I know. But your mother is far too sick for you to be around…”
“It’s not fair… She’s been sick for so long… I miss her…”
“Don’t worry Cosena… She’ll be better soon… I promise,”
“Then we’ll be a happy family again… right?” Cosena asked, wiping a tear from her eye “You, me, Alsen, mother and the baby?”
“Yes, We will. Always,” her father replied, patting the girl on the back “Now go to bed. You’ll see your brother in the morning,”
Once Cosena is in bed, he turns off the lights and walks off, shutting the door behind him. Walking through the castle to his office, he moves straight to the balcony, stepping into the cool air, staring up at the starry night sky.
He remembers all too clearly when this land was called Drazilwalnd, full of witches and wizards like himself. He remembers that history, doomed to repeat itself, brought destruction upon Drazilwalnd. For humanity, like the giants and dragons before them, outgrew Maeruthan. Overtaken by both curiosity and need, they explored beyond the walls around their continent until they found Drazilwalnd.
He remembers the first ships. The first armies. The strategic strikes. The destruction. He remembers the mountains of corpses that lined the city streets as the humans committed genocide, like the giants before them. He remembers the smell of burning flesh, the sight of red mist, both so potent that many who escaped fell sick.
During this, one young man named Sartur Raizu realised that there was only one way for them to survive. Gathering his best friends, he dug underground and hid throughout the remainder of the war. Once over, they disguised themselves as humans and snuck on a boat back to Maeruthan. Moving forward, they began to work to create their own empire, one in which they could live in peace.
“Why am I thinking of this now…?” he mutters to himself, shaking the horrific memories from his head. He sits down at his desk, staring blankly at a picture of him, his daughters, and a beautiful woman with sky-blue eyes, her hair a swirling sea of magenta and blonde.
“Freylar… Soon our dream will come true… Soon we will live in peace…”
“MASTER SARTUR!” Looking up, he sees an older man with scarlet hair, racing over to the desk. Skidding to a stop, the man rests his hands on the desk, panting heavily.
“Yes, High Priest Zephan?” Sartur asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Y-your son… Your son has been born!” Zephan exclaims, coughing hard. He’d clearly exerted himself greatly to reach Sartur’s office, “B-but… y-your wife… s-she’s…”
Sartur blinked, looking down to his knees. His hands curl into fists as he feels rage beginning to simmer within him. He grits his teeth, not wanting to hear what the priest would say. There's just no way something like that could be true.
“I’m sorry, Master Sartur… B-but there’s one more thing… Y-you’ll have to see it to believe it! Please, come quickly!”

“Wait, you couldn’t possibly mean…?” Sartur leaps from his chair, knocking it over in surprise. Leaping over his desk, he follows on Zephan’s heels as he dashes from the office and down the hall.

Last edited by Linda-Senpai on Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 13, 2016 6:08 pm

Very nice, I love how pretty much all the basic lore is established in this short bit.

Looking forward to the rest.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 13, 2016 10:48 pm

Yay someone likes it :D ill post ch1 now, will post ch2 when im done making some changes

http://sta.sh/01b43beve4vn

Chapter 1

Spoiler :

One would never have been able to guess that such an empty room was shared by three people. Books, paper, and pencils were all stacked on the floor. Stuffed animals, most with their heads or guts ripped out were lined up against the walls one by one. Leaning against the corner of the wall was also a skateboard. How could three people live with just this? If it weren't for the twelve signs of the zodiac designed on the walls, and the childish drawings hanging up on the walls as well, this would quite literally be big, empty white room.

Laying in the middle of the floor was a pale skinned boy with frosty white hair, cuddling with a wolf plushie. Sitting next to him was a girl with wavy magenta hair, sky blue eyes, and the same pale skin as him, trying to wake him up.

“Rise and shine, Naito!” He didn't react, so she jumped on top of him and started shaking him violently. Still she got no reaction from him other than his soft snores. She frowned, surprised he still hasn't got up. After several more minutes of aggressively trying to wake her brother up, his eyes slowly opened up.

“Alsen. Get. Off. Me...” He said with a yawn, rubbing his blue eyes.

“Happy birthday Naito!” exclaimed Alsen, clapping her hands in excitement.

Naito shoved her off of him, then stood, stretching his arms out. He picked up a wand off the floor and pointed it behind him without even looking. Alsen instinctively stepped to the side, watching a small, thin icicle shoot out of his wand and pierce through one of the date's on the calender. July 22^nd, 2015.

“Just 730 days left...” Naito said, staring at all the marked off days on the calendar.

“And you almost overslept on your sixteenth birthday! How can you oversleep on such a big day?!”

“I had another dream.”

“Again? Gee, that makes three times in just one week. It was about Nircogard again, right?” asked Alsen.

Naito nodded. “Of course. I can't really remember what was happening. Just darkness, ice, a dragon, and loud noises...” He sat on the floor with his hand in his head, as if deep in thought.

“Well, no point in stressing over it now. It's your birthday, time to celebrate!”

“Celebrate what? It's just another day passing by until my coronation. Nothing in the time between matters.”

Alsen shook her head. “Nu uh. No depressed attitude on your big day! Now come on, let me fix your hair up. Can't be looking a mess on your birthday!” She pulled out a brush and approached him as he slowly backed away.

“W-What? No! I've told you, I can take care of my hair myself!” He protested, with his hands up as if to defend himself.

“Nope! You're too little to do it yourself. Last time I let you do it yourself, you looked like a walking mop.”

“...Too little? You're only two years and seven months older than me.”

“Thanks for proving my point, genius. Now sit down and be a good little Naitey.”

Naito sighed and sat down, no longer resisting. Alsen giggled at his obedience and began to brush his hair.

“So, what do you have planned for my 'big day'?” Naito asked, rolling his eyes as he says it. He made no attempt to hide the sarcasm in his tone.

“Secret!” replied Alsen, despite knowing she didin't have anything planned. Living inside this room their whole lives, their was never much they could do, after all. The only reason they actually knew what a birthday is was because they read about it in a book.

When she finished brushing his hair, she pulled her wand out. “Okay, time to bring on the party guests! Animal Spirit: Frog!” she pointed her wand in the center of the room. At her command, a transparent spirit of a frog shot out of her wand.

“Croakie and Shadow are your party guests? We see them every day.” Naito rolled his eyes at her again, but pointed his wand in the center of the room just like her, chanting 'Animal Spirit: Wolf!' and a wolf spirit appeared in the center of the room as well.

As soon as the wolf saw Naito, he jumped on him, licking his face. “Happy birthday, Naito! I heard Alsen has a big birthday surprise waiting for you! I wonder what it could be!”

The frog glared at the wolf. “Yes, being greeted by mutt saliva first thing in the morning must be very happy indeed...”

“Thanks guys.” Naito said, wiping the dog drool of his face with his sleeve. “It's just a little hard to be excited for this 'big birthday secret' while trying to make sense of these dreams.”

“Another one? That's the third time this week. Now I am certain that there is a deep meaning behind your dreams. I think your inner self is trying to communicate with you.” said the wolf.

“My inner self is trying to communicate with me? What do you mean by that, Shadow?” asked Naito.

“My mother once told me that dreams are our inner self trying to give us a message of something we might not be fully aware of. Since your dreams were all about Nircogard, and you happen to be his reincarnation, this must be the case here!”

“Oh don't go feeding his mind with that delusional stuff.” croaked the frog. “Dreams are just visions in our head to keep our minds working as we sleep. It's what separates sleep from death.”

“Croakie, that's just what ignorant, simple minded fools who don't like thinking outside the box say.” replied Shadow.

Croakie croaked at him again. “Ignorant? The delusional mutt dares to call ME ignorant?”

Shadow barked back at him. “I'm not a mutt, you filthy slime toad!”

The loud sound of Alsen slamming her wand on the floor startled both of them. “Enough! What have I told you two about fighting? Anymore bickering, and I'll unsummon you both for the rest of the day, and you'll miss out on Naito's birthday!” Both Shadow and Croakie quickly went silent, not wanting to miss the big day.

“Now, let's start this birthday off strong! Come on, let's, uh...” Alsen said, scanning their nearly empty room until her eyes spot the paper and pencils. “Draw some pictures!”

“But we do that every day...” Naito whispered under his breath. He shrugged, deciding to just go along with it.

The two of them spent the next hour drawing pictures together. When Alsen finished her first drawing, she showed it to him. It was a rose in the night under the pale moon light, with 'Naito Raizu' written in the bottom corner. “That's you.” she told him, explaining that it represents him because his name means 'The rose of the night'.

As they drew, there was a knock on the door. It opened up and a red bearded man slid in three trays of breakfast; cinnamon toast with eggs, potato pancakes, and milk. He quickly shuts the door behind him, without a single word.

More time passed as they drew and ate their food. When they got bored of drawing, Naito started to read the same books he's already read hundreds of times. Alsen just watched him, as she didn't enjoy reading nearly as much as her little brother and older sister.

Eventually, the door burst open, and a girl with long, blonde hair, and the same pale skin and blue eyes as them came in. There was a mixed expression of shock, terror, and joy on her face, much to the concern of Naito and Alsen. Although they weren't allowed to leave their room, their father would sometimes drag her away, for reasons unknown to them.

“C-Cosena...there you are! Your foods already gotten cold, and you're late for Naito's birthday!” said Alsen.

Cosena completely ignores this. “Naito, your coronation...”

“What about my coronation?” asked the now very curious Naito.

“It's today!”

“WHAT?!!!” everyone shouted at the same time, including the animal spirits, unable to believe that the coronation was suddenly two years ahead of schedule.

“Is this some type of joke, Cosena?” asked Alsen, despite knowing her sister tends to lack a sense of humor.

“Of course not! Why would I joke about something like this?!” replied Cosena, hands on her hips. “All I know is I was told that it's being changed to today. It begins in just four hours, and one of the High Priests is going to bring us proper outfits to where to the event. I was told to inform you two.”

Alsen turned to Naito and gave him her best sister hug. “Happy birthday Naito! Didn't I tell you I had a secret birthday surprise for you?”

Naito looked up at the ceiling and shut his eyes. “Sixteen years. I've waited sixteen long years, and now it's here 730 days sooner than expected...”

“Are you ready for this, Naito? This is a lot to take in so suddenly.” said Cosena.

Naito looked down and opened his eyes, with a big smile on his face. “Of course! No longer must I wait! I'm finally going to be king, the first door to my destiny has been unlocked! I'm going to change this world so that we can all live in peace and freedom. Just watch me!”

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 13, 2016 10:57 pm

Slow, but sets up what can only be at least 1 main character, so its understandable.

Eagerly awaiting Ch. 2

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 14, 2016 12:00 am

thnx :D heres ch2

Chapter 2

http://sta.sh/01gb4mz23kur

Spoiler :

For the three siblings, walking out of their room for the first time ever felt like being caged birds, finally set free. With everything a completely new sight to them, Naito and Alsen could hardly be blamed for stopping and staring at every little thing. Cosena had to drag Alsen away from the dragon shaped water fountain to stop her from getting her dress wet, only to see Naito wandering off somewhere on his own.

With how massive these castle halls were, it wasn't hard for them to get lost. The shining, golden walls had dozens of large doors leading to unknown locations, and there were staircases going both up and down, showing them that this is only a small fraction of the castle. If their father hadn't shown Cosena the way earlier, they might have never found the throne room.

Now standing outside the throne room, the three of them waited for Sartur to call Naito in. Dressed for the occasion, Cosena and Alsen are wore elegant dresses; Cosena's black and Alsen's white. Naito was dressed like a king, wearing royal robes and a very long, red cloak. His cloak was so long, his sisters had to hold it up in the back so that he didn't trip over it. They figured it's so big because it was designed for him to wear on his eighteenth birthday, not today. As they wait, they could faintly hear Sartur speaking from the other side.

“We gather here today...” he cleared his throat, then continued to speak. “For the most important day of our lives. As we all know, our king was not intended to be crowned until two years from now. However...” Naito tried to listen to the rest, but all he can make out is something that sounds like 'Tirdipsowl' ;somethng he's never heard of before.

“I'm getting bored of just standing here.” Alsen said, flapping her brother's cloak. “Let's go back to the fountain!”

Cosena swatted the back of her head before she could even think of taking off. “Oh no you don't! You're staying exactly where you are until it's time for us to go in.”

Alsen pouted but didn't argue, continuing to flap Naito's cloak in boredom. They waited for what felt like ten more minutes until they finally heard Sartur speak loud and clear. “And now, let us begin the coronation! Come, Naito Raizu! To the throne!”

The large doors slowly creaked open, seeming to move by the command of Sartur's voice. At the very end of the room is the throne, where Sartur stood, holding a crown above his head. Seated on the floor with their heads bowed, several feet away from the throne where three High Priests, dressed in ancient robes.

As Naito walked along the rolled out carpet leading to the throne, he came to a sudden stop, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Alsen whispered 'Go on, Naitey' in his ear. He took a deep breath and continued walking. When he reached the throne, he could hear the High Priests whispering something he can't comprehend. Despite the chills being sent down his spine, he sat.

Sartur walked in front of him, the crown still raised high. “The one who dons this crown shall be the king of the Zodiac Empire, king of us all! And one day, shall rule the entire world! Naito Raizu, you are the third coming of the Dragon King, Nircogard. By accepting this crown, you do not just take leadership of the Zodiac Empire. You also take responsibility of going on your journey to become Nircogard once more. From there, you shall use your power to create a new world order, letting us live in peace, and thrive once more! Only you are capable, only you are worthy. Do you accept your destiny?”

“I-” Naito stuttered. “I accept.”

“THEN GIVE ME YOUR ARM!!!” Sartur suddenly grabbed his arm, handing the crown to one of the High Priests.

Naito gasped as his father pinned his arm down and pulled a knife out of his sleeve. He glanced at his sisters, and saw that Alsen looked like she was going to scream, but Cosena covered her mouth. She looked him in the eye and nodned, as if telling him 'It'll be okay, just stay strong'. The terrified expression on her face as well, along with the chanting of the High Priests didn't help him feel any more comfortable with the sudden change of events.

Sartur pulled out a goblet, holding it in one hand, with the knife raised high in his other hand. Naito quickly shut his eyes tight, but instead of feeling the knife pierce through his flesh, he heard the sound of metal dropping to the floor. When he opened his eyes, he saw the scarlet haired High Priest and his father both racing over to the knife, but the High Priest got to it first. Everyone stared at the two men in shock.

“Master Sartur!” exclaimed the turquoise haired High Priest, ready to go to Sartur's aid, but Sartur held up a hand, signaling him to stay in place.

“Stay in position, fellow High Priests. I'll take down the traitor myself.” Sartur said, licking his lips with a smile, as if he'd been waiting for this. “So, Zephan, you finally show your true colors. Are you truly this envious that your son is a mere Soldier, while mine is going to rule the world?”

“Cut the crap, Sartur, I know what's really going on here.” replied Zephan, holding the knife in both hands, as if ready to strike at any moment.

“Oh, I wonder what truth that could be? You mean that you only have approximately two minutes left to live?” Sartur asked, mockingly.

“And how do you plan to kill me with no weapon? We all took magic suppressants, so it's not as if you can use your magic on me.”

“I need no magic to exterminate a pest like you. Please, allow me to demonstrate!” Sartur stomped his foot on a very specific spot of the floor. Far off to the side, the floor started to creak open, as if triggered by a button. A ferocious roar bellowed from below, sending chills down everyone's spine. The whole room rumbled until the floor was done opening. Then, something terrifying leaped out.

“What...the...HELL is that?!” Zephan asked, dropping the knife in fear.

Standing besides Sartur was a huge beast with three canine heads. Each head had a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, and the tail had a serpentine head of it's own. Alsen screamed at the sight of it, while the other two High Priests seemed taken aback by the sight of it, though they continued their chanting.

“Everyone, I would like you to meet Citrouille. Citrouille, meet everyone. I've got lunch ready for you, girl.” Sartur pointed to Zephan, whom staggered back and turned to run as fast as his legs could take him.“I hate to inform you, but Citrouille eats traitors for lunch.” Sartur said with a devious smile.

As Zephan tried to escape, Citrouille lept across the room, landing right in front of him. The three heads proceeded to viciously devour him alive, flesh and blood splattering everywhere. Naito shut his eyes to avoid seeing such a sight.

“Who's a good girl?” Sartur said when the Cerberus was done eating, petting her head like she's his pet dog. He picked the knife and goblet back up, returning to Naito. “I apologize for the interruption, everybody. Now, where where we?” He pinned his arm down again, and without any hesitation, struck the knife into his flesh, filling the goblet up with the dripping blood. Naito gritted his teeth, trying his hardest to look like a brave king rather than a frightened child.

“Now, everyone.” Sartur said, turning to face the High Priests and his daughters. “In order to show our loyalty to the king, we must drink from his blood!” He took a sip from the goblet to demonstrate. When he finished, he let out a satisfied sigh, wiping blood off his lips with his sleeve. It felt as if things just wouldn't stop getting creepier by the second. “Anyone who refuses, you'll be served as leftovers for Citrouille.”

Sartur handed the goblet to the other High Priests one by one, who each took their sip. Then he walked over to Alsen and Cosena. Alsen was trembling and her face was streaked with tears. Cosena looked like she was trying to be brave, but it was clear that she was frightened too. Sartur hands her the goblet.

“Sis, you're not really going too...?” asked Alsen, but Cosena shot her a look to say 'Keep your mouth shut!'. She took the goblet with trembling hands, and took her sip. She gagged and looked like she might vomit, but Sartur took the goblet back, letting her know that she did a good job.

Next, Sartur handed it to Alsen. She refused accept it and dropped to her hands and knees. Citrouille licked her lips, sensing fresh meat coming her way. By now Naito was ready to take action against this, but forced himself to stay seated.

“Father, please, no. I can't...” Alsen sobbed.

“You will.” Sartur said, clearly not giving her a choice. He glared at Cosena, who nods and held her sister down. Alsen shook her head wildly, screaming 'No! No! NO!!!' while Sartur forced the remainder of blood down her throat against her will. Cosena released her, and she dropped to her knees, crying like a baby.

“At least Citrouille didn't eat her, right...?” Naito whispered to himself under his breath.

“And that completes stage one of the coronation. Now, for stage two...” Sartur said, wiping the blood off the knife.

“T-There's more...?” Naito whispered again, unable to imagine what could possibly be next, after what's already happened.

“Now that we have all shown our loyalty and trustworthiness, the king must do the same! Let us allow him to drink of our blood!” Sartur exclaimed, striking his own arm with the knife, letting his blood drip inside. He then handed it to to the High Priests, who did the same thing. Just like before, he now walked over to Alsen and Cosena.

This was far more than Naito could take, so he shut his eyes yet again. While his eyes were closed, he hears his sisters scream. Once he heard his fathers footsteps approaching him, he opened his eyes to see his father standing in front of him, handing him the goblet, half full with everyone's blood. He gulped it all down, forcing himself not to spit it out despite the awful taste.

“Well done, son.” Sartur said, patting Naito on the shoulder. “With the completion of stage two, we can now proceed to stage three! The crowning of the king!” He took the crown back from one of the High Priests. The High Priests bowed their heads down while Sartur slowly places the crown on Naito's head.

“Naito, it's official. You're the king of the Zodiac Empire. Let's create a great new world together, everyone!” Sartur shouted and clapped

Citrouille licked Naito's face with each of her three heads, congratulating him. “All right girl, back to your playhouse now.” Sartur said while petting her and causing the floor to open up again. She whined like a little puppy and wagged her tail, making it clear she didn't want to go back down there. “Don't worry, daddy will bring you more fresh meat later.” She stuck her tongues out and panted happily, then obediently went back under the floor. Sartur closed it back up after her.

“Now that that's done, it's time for the feast! All of you are required to be there, unless you want to see Citrouille eat again.” Sartur then walked out, followed by the High Priests.

Naito watched them walk away, wondering how his father actually expected anyone to eat after this. They just learned the taste of blood, and watched a man get devoured alive. At least it's over now, right?

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 14, 2016 12:27 am

Welllll thennn. Bit disturbing, but certainly attention grabbing. Great Chapter

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 14, 2016 12:46 am

done changing ch3 from present tense to past tense, so here it comes alongside ch4 :D ch4 is were things truly get interesting

http://sta.sh/06pv3srvu7t
http://sta.sh/0cen91nvqqo

[size=32]Chapter 3[/size]

Spoiler :

As she walked back to their room, Cosena had to pinch her nose to block out the rotten stench of vomit. She opened the door and saw Naito sat in the corner of the room. He stared blankly ahead while petting his stuffed wolf's fur. Alsen was on her hands and knees in front of a puddle of vomit. Her face was covered in snot and tears. Cosena sighs, then walked over to her sister. She sat next to her and places her hand on her shoulder.

“Alsen, get yourself cleaned up. You can't attend the feast looking like this.”

Alsen gags as if she was going to vomit again, but nothing comes out. “Sis...please tell me you're joking this time. We just drank Naito's blood, watched him drink ours, and saw a man eaten alive, yet you're thinking about food?” She continued gagging, and this time really vomits again.

Cosena tries to comfort her, but suddenly heard an unexpected loud sound from Naito's direction. She turns towards him and saw his crown is no longer on his head, but rolling across the floor on it's side. He wraps his arms around his knees and starts to rock back and forth, still staring ahead blankly.

“I-I'm sorry...I should've...” He said. Contrary to how calm he was at the coronation, he was a complete train wreck now.

Connie whispered under her breath. “Not another one of his mood swings...Why must Water Signs be so emotional?” She reached her hand over to him in attempt to pat his head, but he swats it away.

“I just sat there the whole time! I let it all unfold before my eyes! Alsen could've been ate alive by that...that thing! I'm the king, aren't I? I could've stopped it, but I didn't do anything! What type of king am I...?”

Cosena tries to keep her patience with them, but at this rate they are going to keep everyone waiting for the feast. She knows she'll be the one to take the blame for it despite it being her younger siblings fault, like always. She took a deep breath and continued trying to reason with them.

“Father wasn't going to let it her in the first place.” She said, then turns to Alsen. “Alsen, you're his daughter. If he was willing to throw your life away like that, why are you still here? You refused to do as he said, but instead of feeding you to that Cerberus, he forced you to drink the blood. Why?” Alsen didn't respond, realizing what her sister was telling her.

“Exactly. It's because you're his daughter, and he... l-loves you.” Cosena struggles to get the last three words out with a straight face. Alsen still didn't say anything, but nodded and wipes her face with her sleeve.

Now Cosena turns back to her brother. “And Naito, let's say you're right, that you should've done something. What's sitting here sulking about it going to do?”

“I...” replied Naito, still rocking back and forth.

“Come on, you don't want to be the baby forever, do you? I thought you were tired of Alsen calling you 'little Naitey' and trying to do everything for you? What would mother think of this?”

Naito seemed to snap out of his trance, jumping to his feet with a fiery passion suddenly in his eyes. “Mother....I'm going to rule the world just like you wanted. I won't disappoint you.” He looks Cosena in the eye. “Come on, we have a feast to attend.” Cosena sighs with relief at how easy this went thanks to her brother's mood swings. Either that or she must be a really good big sister. Or both.

When Alsen finishes washing her face off, the three of them begin walked down to the dining room. Just like when they walked to the throne room, Cosena had to c had her curious little siblings all over the place. But who could blame them for wanting to explore the whole castle? They've lived here their whole lives but never once left their room before today, so it's only natural for them to want to see more.

If Sartur hadn't given Connie directions to dining room like he had for the throne room, they surely would surely get lost thanks to Naito somehow having made his way up two staircases, while Alsen is on the third floor playing in the fountain again.

“Kids...I hope I never have them.” Cosena said, shaking her head, despite only being three years older than Alsen and five years older than Naito.

After far too much wasted time, they finally arrive at the dining room, which seemed to be twice as big as the throne room. There are dozens of tables, each with about twenty chairs at them, and someone seated in each one. Their tables are filled with all sorts of delicious smelling food, but no one seemed to have started eating yet. Seated at the grandest table of all is Sartur and the High Priests. Their table had three empty seats at it, obviously for them.

The room was full of conversation before their arrival, but is now dead silent, with every eye focused on them. Sartur stands and taps his glass with his fork, getting everyone's attention.

“Everyone, the king had graced us with his presence!” He said, leading everyone into applauding.

While the siblings stare around in awe, three of the people seated at one of the tables come over to them and bow. “Greetings, my lord!” They say at the same time.

“Uh...who are you?” asked Cosena.

“Oh! I-I'm terribly sorry, we should've known to introduce ourselves.” said the turquoise haired girl. She wore a purple dress, and looked like she was around Naito's age. “I'm Soldier Alvisa, head of the Water Sign Coven.” As she introduced herself, she had a hard time keeping her violet eyes from staring into Naito's own sky blue eyes.

The male soldier stepped in front of her, running his hand through his slick red hair. He was tall with a rather robust figure, appearing to be between Alsen and Cosena's age. “And I'm Soldier Zento, head of the Earth Sign Coven!” He knelt before Alsen and Cosena, taking their hands in his and kissing them, much to their shock.

Next, the violet haired girl stepped up and introduced herself. “Name's Alile. Head of the Air Sign Coven.” She said, then walked back behind the other two.

The siblings stare at these three in bewilderment, leaving an awkward silence in the air until Alile spoke again. “I told you they wouldn't understand. Allow me to explain. We have a coven for each Elemental Sign, and we're the head soldiers of three of them.”

“But, you don't exactly look like what I would imagine when I hear the word 'Soldier'. And what exactly is a 'coven'?” asked Cosena.

“Don't worry about the vocabulary. We're just called soldiers because we serve a king. As for covens, why don't you ask our father's about that? Must be a word for something they did in their time. All it is here is the groups we're split into. We learn spells in that type of stuff in groups, or covens based on our Elemental Sign to simplify things.” Alile explained.

Alvisa nodded.. “As the head soldiers, the three of us will be accompanying you on your journey. It's our jobs to keep you safe and follow your every order, no matter what it may be.” She said, lightly blushing.

“Hold up.” said Cosena, still trying to understand. “There's four Elemental Signs, but only three of you. Where's the head of the Fire Sign Coven?”

The three soldiers stare at each other, then Zento spoke. “There isn't one, dunno why. I think the masked bastard, err, sorry...your father. I think he has a problem with Fire Signs. Ah, d-don't tell him I said that, of course.”

“Oh, the High Priests are your fathers?”

He nodded and glances in the direction of the High Priests. “Yeah. Dunno where my father is though, he should be here by now...”

Alsen stared at all the people seated here in awe. “Wow, I thought we were almost extinct! I can't believe there's still so many of us left!”

Zento laughs at this. “Don't be silly, my lady. There's only ten witches and wizards left in the world. You three, the three of us, and the four High Priests. The rest of these chumps, they're just magicians. Humans trained in magic. They'll never be as powerful as us though, since they aint born with a Grimoire.”

Alile glances over at the High Priests, then looks back at them. “We better get to our seats. Sartur's over there giving us the look of death. Not a good thing.” She said, then the three of them return to their seats.

Naito, who had been silently lost in the aroma of all the food, finally spoke. “Food...can we eat now?” he asked, licking his lips.

“I thought you didn't want to eat with the taste of blood on your tongue?” asked Cosena.

“Taste gone. Hunger back. Eat now.” He said, and starts walked over to their table.

When their take their seats at the table, Sartur stands and taps his glass, getting everyone's attention again. “Alright everyone, before we can begin our feast, I have a very important announcement. I'm sure some of you have noticed that we are short of one High Priest today. During King Naito's coronation, we discovered that High Priest Zephan was a traitor. But fear not! The traitor had been brought to justice!”

Zento's expression slowly changes to that of pure hate and rage. He slams his fist down on the table and stands up, about to charge at Sartur, but Alvisa holds him back. “That bastard...he killed my father!” He said, covering his face in the palm of his hand.

“Now, since there was a traitor among the High Priests, we can't help but fear there's one hidden in the soldiers as well! We certainly can't have that, can we?” Sartur said, smiling wryly. “OH CITROUILLE!!!” Suddenly, a ferocious roar can be heard from above, along with the rumbling from Citrouille's footsteps Alsen clung to Naito in fear of the beast she thought was going to eat her earlier.

“What the hell is that...?” Zento asked in shock.

Citrouille bursts through the door, causing many of the terrified soldiers to scream. She runs through, her tongues sticking out and her tail wagging from side to side, nearly hitting several tables. When she gets to Sartur, she licks his face happily.

“You've been a good girl, Citrouille, so daddy's got a game for you: sniff out the traitor!” Sartur said, petting her.

Excited, Citrouille walked around the room, stopping at each table. The soldiers shudder in fear as she sniffed, praying that they were not the traitor Sartur spoke of. She stopped at Zento, sniffing him more than she did with the others, then turns back to Sartur, panting in excitement.

“Oh, found us a traitor, have you? Good girl!” Sartur clapped.

“I-I'm not a traitor! I didn't do anything, I swear!” Zento protested, slowly backing up.

“Oh but you must have. Citrouille's nose does not lie.” replies Sartur, grinning from ear to ear.

Zento tried to take off running, but Citrouille snatched him by the back of his shirt with her tail. She opened her mouths wide and raised him above his head, as if about to swallow him whole.

“Zento!!!” cried Alvisa.

“No! Bad girl! Daddy did not give you permission to eat yet!” yells Sartur. Citrouille covers her eyes with ears, whining over being scolded by him. “Don't worry girl, you may not eat now, but why don't you show him your playhouse?” Citrouille pants excitedly again, like a puppy that just got a new chew toy. She walked away with a struggling Zento wrapped up in her tail.

“Zento...!” Alvisa continued to cry.

“He'll be fine.” said the unconcerned Alile.

“I apologize for delaying our feast, everyone. With that out of the way, we can all dig in!” Sartur said. Everyone then began to eat, as if nothing just happened.

The siblings ate in silence for a while, until Cosena decided to break the silence. “Uh...who are these 'High Priests'?”

The turquoise haired one spoke. “Oh yes, we should introduce ourselves, shouldn't we? I'm Zart, High Priest of the Water Coven. We're in charge of teaching and training the soldiers.”

“And I' Vozlar, High Priest of the Earth Coven. I believe you already met our kids.” said the violet haired one.

“Of course, you've already met Zephan earlier.” said Sartur. “The four of us were present in the war humanity raged against us in the past. We were the only survivors. Us, and your mother.”

When Naito heard the mention of their mother, he dropped his fork and stared ate his plate in silence, balling his fists.

“But that was hundreds of years ago...” said Alsen.

“Oh, trust me, we are far older than we look.” said Vozlar. “We make up for our slow reproduction rate with our long lifespans.”

“Why did Zephan try to stop the coronation? And what are you going to do to Zento?” Cosena asked.

A look of disgust spread across Zart's face. “That bastard had always been jealous of your father. He wanted his son to be king instead of lord Naito.”

“I would hope his son isn't a traitor as well.” said Sartur. “Don't worry about him, I will not let Citrouille harm him unless it comes to it. I'm just going to...ask him a few questions.” Sartur said with a wry smile on his face.

“Now, allow me to explain why we had to have your coronation ahead of time, Naito.” Sartur said, then began explaining. “The giants have begun to take action. We don't know what they are up to, but going off their history, it can't be anything good. They've left their continent of Nohegimat and are making their way to Tirdipsowl.”

“Tirdipsowl...what's that?” asked Naito.

“We don't know much about it, but the story is that the chaos from so many wars gave birth to a new land, Tirdipsowl. Whatever might be on this land, it must be something important if the giants are going after it. They've been minding their own business in Nohegimat ever since the second war. I wonder what could make them take action so suddenly...” Sartur explained.

“S-so are we going to be fighting giants?”

Sartur shook his head. “I would hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does, do not worry, you'll have our most elite soldiers by your side.” He said, then took a sip of his wine.

“Afterwards, your next destination will be Kricade. As you're already aware, you're going to have to merge your soul with the corpse of Nircogard to regain your original form. With power like that, no one will be able to resist us. Then you could truly rule the world...” He gulps down the rest of his wine. “But, let's put these things aside for now, shall we? It's your birthday, Naito! Time to celebrate!”

“C-Celebrate...?” Naito stutters.

All three siblings seemed surprised by their father suddenly talking about celebrating Naito's birthday. As far as they can remember, they have never celebrated their birthdays, nor had their father ever even told them happy birthday.

Their jaws drop when the doors suddenly swing open, and soldiers walked in pushing a cart with a giant cake on it. It had sixteen layers, and the top layer reads 'Happy Birthday, king Naito!' with sixteen lit candles. The soldiers stop pushing it once it's right in front of Naito, then take their seats. The siblings are still staring into the bright flames on the candles in awe, when their father suddenly stands.

“Everyone, please stand and sing the birthday song to our king!” He said with a huge smile on his face, and actually leads everyone in singing. Naito's eyes started to water as they sung, and Alsen embraced him in a tight hug, while Cosena still looked shocked by at it all.

Happy Birthday,

To you

Happy Birthday,

To you

Happy Birthday,

Dear King Naito Raizu,

Happy Birthday,

To you,

Happy Birthday,

How old are you?

Everyone stared at Naito expectantly, but he just stared ahead, at a loss for words. They repeated 'How old are you?' three more times until he finally answered.

“S-Sixteen.” He whispered.

“They can't hear you, Naito.” his father said, placing his hand on his shoulder.

“SIXTEEN!” he said as loud as he could, then blew out the candles all in one go. Everyone applauded, then one of the soldiers began slicing the cake.

After everyone got a slice, Sartur tapped his glass again. “Alright, now it's PRESENT TIME!!!” He exclaimed in such an excited voice that it scared his kids.

The door opened again, and more soldiers were pushing in another cart, this one full of wrapped presents, which they sat at the table.

“I'm dreaming...” whispered Cosena, pinching herself repeatedly.

Naito stared at the presents with a raised eyebrow, until his father pats him on the shoulder, encouraging him to open them up. He nodded, and hadtily ripped open the first one. Three cellphones, one for each of them. Naito holds it up and stared at it curiously, having never seen anything like it.

“If there's one thing humanity is good for, it's their technology. These clever devices are called cellphones. You'll need them to stay in touch with each other if anything happens. And so I can keep contact with you. I've already registered my number in there for you.” explained Sartur.

Naito ripped open the next one. Three shining wands. One was white, the second pink, while the third was yellow.

“Cieseroe, Wawtrobe, and Xarthe...” Sartur said, naming the wands in order. “These brand new wands will enhance your magic far more than your old ones. Hopefully you won't ever have to use your magic on someone, but if that's what it comes too, you should always be ready.”

Sartur hands Naito the next present, which he opened immediately. “Wallets. If there's one thing that truly makes up this world, it's money. Money and war. You'll need cash on you at all times. Luckily for us, money basically grows on trees. Naito, yours had $30,000 inside, Alsen's had $18,000, and Cosena's $100,000.”

“Huh? Why does mine have the least? That's not fair...” complained Alsen.

“Let's just say money had to be spent responsibly, and leave it at that, shall we?” replies Sartur. Cosena laughs at how their father basically just called Alsen irresponsible, which is too true. “The last three are very special.” Sartur hands one to each of them. Necklaces. Alsen's shaped as the sun, Cosena's the moon, and Naito's a star.

“Those belonged to your mother. I've been keeping them as something to remember her by. But you three need them far more than me.” Sartur said with his voice full of sorrow. Cosena pinched herself again when she saw a tear drop from his face. “Naito, remember your mother's one wish before she died. 'I want him to go on to rule the world, and lead us to a new beginning'. Those were her dying words. I know you'll make her proud. I'm so proud to call you my son.” He said, and hugged his son. Naito's eyes widen in surprise at being hugged by his father for the first time as far as he can remember.

“Cosena.” Sartur said, turning to her. “Please keep your little brother and sister safe. I can't afford to lose anyone else I love.”

Cosena nodded, unable to hold her tears back anymore. Out of all the surprises today, hearing her father say he loves them was the most surprising.

“We'll always be a happy family together...” she whispered to herself. Her brother's destiny is to rule the world, and hers is to keep her family safe and sound.

Chapter 4

Spoiler :

With the feast over, Naito returned to his room. He tossed off his cloak and robes, then changed back into his normal clothes. Holding out his wand, he chanted 'Animal Spirit: Wolf!' and Shadow appeared, quickly jumping on him and licking his face.

“It's finally time to leave the castle. I've waited so long for this.” Naito said.

“Such a huge destiny ahead of you. Maybe you'll get your memories from your past life as Nircogard back on the way.” replied Shadow.

“Huh? You think that could happen?”

“Yeah. I've been thinking on what your dreams could be trying to tell you, and I've came to a solid conclusion. Nircogard, the real you, is trying to give you your memories back!”

Naito chuckles. “That's real nice of him, but I think I have too many memories I want to forget. Not interested in gaining any memories.” The door opens, and Alsen and Cosena walk in, changed out of their royal clothes as well.

“You ready, Naitey? Those soldiers from earlier are waiting for us.” said Alsen.

Naito nods. “Yeah, let's go.” He grabs his skateboard, folding it up small enough for him to stick in his pocket, then the three of them walk out together. They climb up the stairs until they're at the very top floor, where Alile and Alvisa are waiting for them. The two soldiers bow when they see them.

“Zento's not back yet?” asked Cosena. Alvisa bit her lip at the mention of Zento.

“Do not worry about him, I assure you he'll be back tomorrow.” replied Alile.

“How can you be so sure of that?” asked Naito.

“I'm psychic.”

“Psychic? Like, you can see the future? That's amazing! Can you tell me my future?” asked Alsen.

Alile averts her gaze to the ground. “My apologies, lady Alsen, but I prefer not to use, or talk about my power, if possible.”

“Oh, s-sorry...”

“So, how exactly do we get out of here?” asked Cosena, looking around for some type of exit, but there wasn't as much as a door in sight.

“Ah, yes, allow us.” said Alvisa. She points her wand at the ceiling, then a thin stream of water shoots up at it. The ceiling started to slowly spread open, making such an ear splitting noise, the siblings had to cover their ears.

When the ceiling was done opening, the outside world can be seen from above. The siblings stared up in awe at the sky, having only seen it in books until now.

“Wow...” said Naito.

“Now, let me take your hands. Don't be afraid.” said Alile. She took Naito and Alsen's hands first, then jumps all the way out with them. After jumping back down, she took Cosena and Alvisa's hands, then jumps out with them as well. Alile sends another stream of water down to the floor, closing the ceiling back up.

“That was amazing...I wish I could jump that high!” exclaimed Alsen.

“You can't, you're a Water Sign. Air Signs like me are naturally blessed with high agility.” replied Alile.

When they get a good look around, they see that there isn't much around other than grass and tall tress, dozens of them knocked over.

“Where are we? What happened to our home?” asked Naito, looking down where they came up from.

“This used to be the forest of Drazilwalnd. Of course, now Drazilwalnd is part of Maeruthan. Our father's hid underground here until the war was over. The castle is still there, just underground.” explains Alile.

When Naito looked up again, he shields his eyes from the faint sunlight. “So bright...”

“Uh...there's not much sunlight here, thanks to the trees.” said Alvisa, staring at him.

Alile nudges her shoulder. “Look at how pale their skin is. Isn't it obvious they've never been exposed to the sun?” she whispers.

“O-Oh! My apologies, my lord!” Alvisa apologies with a bow.

“Huh? What are you apologizing about...?” Naito asked in confusion.

“How long are we going to stand around here? It's spooky...” said Alsen, clinging to Naito.

“We shall start heading to town now. We'll stock up on supplies, then head out to Tirdipsowl tomorrow, once Zento is back. Make sure you stay close by, unless you want to get lost.” said Alile.

The group began walking through the forest together in silence. As they did, Alsen made a comment about Alvisa's hair, leading to the two of them talking about hair and other girly things the whole time. Naito rolled his eyes when he heard Alsen mention that she takes care of his hair herself. Cosena and Alile began talking to each other about their respective Elemental Signs. Bored out of his mind, Naito summoned Shadow, then took out his skateboard.

“Hey Shadow, think you can beat me to town?” He asked.

“Are you challenging me to a race? You're on!” replied Shadow, sticking his tongue out in excitement.

Naito counted to three, then they zoomed right past everyone else. Cosena yelled back after him, telling him to stay with the group, but he replied by saying they're just going in a straight path. Alvisa said that she strongly recommends they stick together, but Naito said they'll just have to catch him. Once he was so far ahead that he couldn't see them anymore, he came to a stop, laughing.

“That should add some fun to things.” He said, placing his hands on his knees, panting.

“Hey, why'd you stop? I thought we were racing to town!” Shadow complained, turning around and coming back to Naito.

“Let's let them catch up a bit first.” They waited for the rest of the group for a while, but no one came. “Huh...didn't know I left them this far behind.”

Shadow howled to signal their location for them, and they waited for another ten minutes, but the girls still didn't come. Naito began to pace around in circles, wondering what was taking them so long. Eventually he started to hear something that sounded like a distant, singing female voice.

“Shadow, do you hear that?” he asked.

“Hm? Hear what?”

As he listened, the voice felt as if it was drawing him in. He got back on his skateboard, riding in the direction he heard it coming from. Shadow looked from the direction they came from, to the direction Naito's going, then follows after him. The further he went, the more clearly he could hear the voice. After several minutes, he found the source of the voice.

Ahead of him stood a girl with long, block hair, wearing a short black dress with no sleeves. There was some type of resonance within him coming from her that felt familiar to him, making him more curious. He hid behind a tree, listening to her sing.

Mary had a little king,

Little king, little king,

`Mary had a little king,

Who's soul was cold,

As snow...

And everywhere the king went,

The king went, the king went,

Everywhere the king went,

Mary was sure to know...

Naito knew this song; it was 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', Cosena used to sing it to him when he was little. These lyrics, however, were all wrong. Had someone taught her the song improperly?

She then disappeared, and Naito looked from side to side. When he felt a tap on his shoulder he spun around to see her staring at him with a wicked smile on her face. Now that she was facing him, he could see that her eyes were two different colors: one red, one blue. Something inside Naito was telling him he knows this girl, but he knew for a fact he had never seen her before.

“I take it you liked my song.” She said, more of a statement than a question.

“H-How did you...?” Naito said, blinking in confusion.

“Singing? It's not very hard, just took practice. Would you like me to give you some lessons?”

“No, not that! How did you teleport behind me?!”

“Oh, you mean this?” She asked, teleporting behind him again. This time, she swipes his skateboard from under his feet, causing him to fall on his rear end.

“Hey, that's mine! Give it back!” Naito shouted at her, getting back to his feet.

“You wouldn't mind me taking it for a spin, would you?” She asked with a giggle. Without waiting for his permission, she started riding it around him in circles.

Shadow barked at her, then started chasing after her, but she chanted 'Animal Spirit: Vulture!' and a vulture spirit appears in the air. It swoops down, picking Shadow up in it's talons. It flies around in circles with him, then drops him from high up in the sky. Naito runs over and catches him before he can hit the ground.

“M-Magic...? Are you a Witch, a Magician?”

She ignored his question, continuing to ride around him. “This is a nice board, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I keep it, would you?”

Frustrated, Naito pulled out his wand and shouted 'Cieseroe!'. At the command of his voice, the wand transformed into a green rifle the shape of a rose, it's tip red like petals. Pointing it at her, he pulled the trigger several times, shooting sharp ice missiles out.

The girl dodged by teleporting, and as she did so, she pulled out a wand of her own, chanting “Ethyfescir!” causing it to transform into a scythe nearly twice her own height with skull imprints all over it. As more ice missles came her way, she swung her scythe down in a wide arc, cloaking itself in flames, melting the ice before it could reach her. She laughed mockingly at Naito's puzzled and frustrated expression, leaning against the bark of a tree with the scythe raised above her head. Dressed in all black with a scythe, all she needed was a hood and she could be mistaken for the grim reaper itself.

“Planning to hurt me with that little toy gun, were you?” she giggled

A loud ringing noise suddenly erupted from Naito's pocket. Reaching into his pocket, he saw it was coming from his cellphone, and noticed that Cosena was calling him.

“H-Hello...?” he said, answering it.

“NAITO!” she yells in his ear. “Where the hell did you go?! We've been looking all over for you! Thank god I remembered we have these cellphones!” Before he can respond, the vulture spirit swipes his phone out of his hand, giving it to the girl.

“Don't worry about those two, you're playing with me now, Naito.” She said, hanging the phone up.

“How do you know my name? How do you know I have two sisters? Who are you?!” He demanded.

“Who cares? Certainly not you, certainly not anyone else.” She said, sticking his phone in her pocket.

Shadow barked at her again. “Thief!” He pounced at her, but she simply teleported out the way and stomps on his back.

“N-No, don't hurt him!” Naito begged.

“Why shouldn't I? It's fun. Oh dear, have I made you upset?” she asked, mockingly.

“Yes! Yes you have!”

“Oh, okay. I'll just hurt you instead.”

She teleported behind him, this time kicking him in the back. He fell to his knees, screaming in pain. The vulture spirits flew after Shadow again, but Shadow bite down on it's talons. They crushed under his jaws as he chew them so viciously that he ended up ripping them off. All the blood dripping from his mouth makes him look like a predator that just finished devouring his pray.

“S-Shadow...?” Naito asked, staring at his friend in shock.

“I'll protect you, no matter what.” replied Shadow, spitting blood out of his mouth.

The girl scowled at her vulture spirit. “Useless spirit! Go back to being dead!” She pointed Ethyfecsir at the spirit, unsummonng it.

“Give my friend his stuff back, now!” Shadow demanded.

“Silence, you stupid mutt. Why don't you go back to being dead too, while I play with the little king here?” She said, kicking Naito in the chin. She raised her foot to kick him again, but felt a sharp pair of teeth piercing through her flesh. When she looked down, she saw Shadow biting her.

“Ah!!! Stupid mutt, now you've gone and made me mad!!! KRIFARDE!!!”She shouted, raising her scythe high in the air.

At the command of her voice, her scythe began to glow a fiery red. Slowly, a bright red light began to shine down on them from the sky. It didn't take Naito long to figure out that she was charging up probably her most powerful spell. Jumping back to his feet, he cloaked his fists in ice and swung them at her, while Shadow also lunged forward. Without even moving from her position, she kicked Shadow in the snout and Naito in his temples, knocking them both back down.

Naito and Shadow looked up to see a burning red, star shaped figure surrounded in flames, hovering above the trees, still getting larger by the second. A huge burst of fire shot down from it towards Shadow, but Naito unsummoned him right before it could hit, just barely avoiding getting hit himself.

“What type of magic is that...?” Naito asked, trying to get a good look at it, but unable to look directly at something so bright. Just then, Naito could hear distant familiar voices calling his name, getting closer and closer every second second.

“A-Alsen? Cosena?! I'm ov-” He said, but the girl kicked his ribs, knocking him down once more. She then stomped on his temples so hard that it knocked him out.

“Ah, damn it. It seems I gave away our location.” She raised her scythe above her head again, absorbing the figure from above back inside. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a small bottle filled with a black liquid.

“Be a good boy and drink this for me, will you?” She cradled Naito's head in her lap, forcing half of the liquid down his throat. After just a few seconds, he started grasping his hair and gritting his teeth as he trashed around on the ground.

“I'll be going now. I prefer to avoid being outnumbered if possible. Sweet dreams, my little king.” She kissed his forehead and rode away on his skateboard, singing as she did so.

Twinkle twinkle, little star,

How I know, what you are,

On your throne, up so high,

Like a dragon, in the sky,

Once the flames arrive,

None will be left alive,

Still you shine fading light,

Twinkle twinkle, through the night,

Then the fool in the dark,

Needed light within her dream,

So she welcomed your tiny spark,

Only to fall into your scheme...

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 14, 2016 7:37 pm

Things do indeed get interesting in Ch. 4

Not sure where this is going, which is this Novel's greatest strength IMO, its like the Song of Ice and Fire series, it keeps you guessing on what will happen until it finally happens.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireSat Jan 16, 2016 11:11 pm

really glad you're enjoying it :D I been working on this for over a year

Heres ch5 and ch6

http://sta.sh/0di15lyn732

http://sta.sh/011yxt8wx3g5

Chapter 5

Spoiler :

July 22^nd, 2006. This was a very special day in Naito's life. His seventh birthday. Little did the young boy care about it being his birthday, but as he lay there sleeping, he wasn't aware of the surprise waiting for him. Sitting above him is were his two sisters, ages nine and eleven at the time. They gently tapped their snoring little brother on the shoulder, then his eyes slowly opened.

“Happy birthday, Naito!!!” They both exclaimed.

Still groggy, he stared at them, rubbing his eyes. Once fully awake, he marked off the previous day on the calnder, like always, then noticed his sisters were hiding something behind their backs.

“Alsen, Cosena, what's that?” He asked, curiously.

“It's a present, silly! Go on, open it!” exclaimed the excited Alsen, as she and Cosena sat the wrapped present down in front of him. It wasn't easy, but they had convinced their father into buying a gift for Naito, just this once.

“Open it...?” asked the confused Naito, tilting his head to the side.

“Here, I'll show you.” said Cosena, ripping some of the wrapping off the corner for him. Naito followed her lead, ripping the rest off. When he finished unwrapping it, he gasped.

“What is this?” He stared curiously at it.

“It's a skateboard!” exclaimed Alsen.

“What does it do?” He gave it a push, watching it roll across the floor.

“You ride on it. Let me show you.” replied Cosena. She stands on it with one foot, and uses her other foot to kick off. Naito and Alsen watch her with excitement in their eyes and big, happy smiles on their faces.

“See? Now you try.” Cosena hops off, handing it to her brother.

He does just as he saw her do, standing on it with one foot and kicking off with the other. He falls off the first time, but gets right back on, this time getting the hang of it.

“Wow, this is fun!” He said as he rides around the room. When he's done, he hops off, embracing his sisters in a big hug. “Thank you Alsen, thank you Cosena! This is the best birthday anyone could ask for!” He said, happily.

His sisters giggle. “You're welcome, Naito.”

Naito wakes up with a smile on his face, thinking he's still in his dream. When he's lying on a bed in what seems to be a tiny little room, at least, compared to his own room. He places his palm on his forehead, trying to remember what happened. Last thing he can recall is him and Shadow being attacked by some strange girl. The thought of possibly being kidnapped by her sends chills through his whole body.

“Lord Naito, you've finally awaken!” said a female voice.

Naito jumps up with his hands up as if to defend himself, but relaxes when he sees it's just Alvisa. She's sitting in a chair next to the bed he was in, as if she had been watching him sleep the whole time.

“Where am I? Where are Alsen and Cosena?”

“You're in a hotel, my lord. We were all so worried when we found you passed out like that...you were screaming and trashing around as if in a great deal of pain. I gave you a potion to calm you down, but you stayed sleep for two whole days. I was worried you'd never wake up, thank god Alile saw you waking up after two days in the future.” explains Alvisa.

Everything she said seems to fall on deaf ears. “Where are Alsen and Cosena?” He asked again.

“O-Oh, yes. Lady Alsen and lady Cosena, along with Alile, went to get supplies for our mission together. They should be back shortly.”

“Supplies...? Oh, so we made it to town?”

“Y-Yes, my lord. We've been here for two days.

The sound of a toilet flushing can be heard, followed by the sound of a sink running. A few moments later, Zento walks out of the bathroom with his hands in his pockets, whistling.

“So sleeping beauty has finally awaken from her eternal slumber, eh?” he said, jokingly.

Alvisa rolls her eyes at him. “Very funny, Zento.”

The first thing Naito notices about Zento is the hideous scar going diagonally from his right eye to his chin.

“Ah, soldier Zento, you're back.” He said,

“Yeah, back for action, not babysitting sleeping kings. Whatever, at least I don't have to see Alvisa here ogling at you twenty four seven, even tho she knows she has a man.” Zento replied, glaring at Alvisa.

“I-I wasn't...! I was just worried he wouldn't wake up...”

Now ignoring the two soldiers, Naito summoned Shadow, whom refused to look him in the eye. “Shadow, you okay, boy?” Naito asked.

“I'm sorry...I failed to protect you.” Shadow replied, tears in his eyes.

Naito shook his head. “When have I ever asked you to protect me? You're my one and only friend, I can't afford to lose you. I should be the one protecting you.” Naito pet his friend on the head. “Besides, it was my fault that we wound up in that situation in the first place.”

The sound of a door opening could then be heard. “Naitey, we're back~!” called Alsen, in her usual cheerful voice. She dropped the shopping bags she had in her hands to embrace her brother in a tight hug. “Alile, you were right! He is awake!”

Cosena and Alile walkd in behind her. “Dammit, Alsen! What if you broke something?!” said an annoyed Cosena, picking up the bags her sister dropped.

“Silly Cosena, you can't break bread. Or can you?” Alsen said, playing with Naito's hair.

“You can't break it, but you can bake it.” Alile said, sitting the bags she's carrying down on the table.

“And that rhymes!” Alsen said with a smile.

“Don't encourage her!” exclaimed Cosena. “What if there had been something fragile in there, like eggs? You're just so irresponsible...” she sighed.

“Well I see everybody is safe and sound.” Naito commented.

Cosena gritted her teeth at him, then walked up to him, her face red with anger. She took a deep breath before slapping him across the face. Her slap left a red outline of her hand on his cheek. “And where the hell did you go the other day?! How could you just wander off on your own like that? You know better than this, Naito!”

Zento snickered at this, while Alvisa covered her mouth with her hands. Alile on the other hand, continues to take their supplies out of the bags, ignoring the siblings drama.

“Cosena, you don't have to be so aggressive. Naitey didn't mean any harm.” said Alsen.

Cosena glared at her. “You be quiet! I don't want to hear your voice right now! You're the main reason he still acts like a little kid, so you're equally to blame!”

“Gee, I didn't even do anything...” Alsen sighed. “Anyway, Naito, what happened?” She asked, touching a bruise on her brother's face.

“We were attacked!” said Shadow.

“Attacked? By who, or what?”

“It was a girl...” Zento snickered in the background again when he heard that Naito got beat up by a girl. “She must've been either a Witch or a Magician, because she had a wand and used magic. She mostly teleported and threw kicks at me, but she also used some really strange magic. She said 'Krifarde' and a really bright red light appeared above.” He explains.

“That must be the light we saw that lead us to wear you were.” said Alsen.

“Never mind that. How could you have encountered a Witch or Magician if the only ones in the world are with the Empire? What did this girl look like?” asked Cosena.

“Black hair, black dress, and two different colored eyes. One was blue, and the other red. She also had this presence about her that just felt...familiar. It's hard to explain, I don't understand it myself.”

“Soldiers, do you know of anyone like this?” Cosena asked, turning to face the soldiers.

“U-Uhm...” said Alvisa. The three soldiers stare at each other for a while until Zento spoke.

“Nope. Doesn't ring a bell.”

“I don't remember anyone like that from the Empire either.” Alvisa said, shaking her head.

“There are no such memories, nor any future visions of someone like that in my head. For now.” said Alile, continuing to spread mayonnaise across slices of bread.

“Interesting...what happened next?” asked Cosena.

“Well, she took my skateboard and phone. She used fire magic, and she knew my name somehow, and knew that I have two sisters. Last thing that I remember was her knocking me out.” said Naito, sitting on the bed.

Cosena's eyes widened. “Natio Emerald Raizu. Are you serious?” Naito gulpped at her using his middle name, but nodded, trying to avoid meeting her eyes. Cosena sat next to him and placed her hands in his, looking him in the eye. “Do you know how hard it was for me to convince father to buy that skateboard for you? Not only that, but imagine when he tries to call your phone and instead of you, some mysterious Fire Sign girl answers!” She said, clearly furious, but still trying to maintain her composure.

Naito turned his head to the side, but she cupped her hands under his chin, forcing him to face her. “This is all my fault, I know. I'm sorry, Cosena.” He said, regret clear in his voice. Cosena sighed again, then hugged her brother. “I know you are. It's okay, just please, never do something like this again.”

After a short moment of silence, Naito spoke again.

“So, what's with everyone's change of clothes?” He asked, noticing that the girls were all in different clothes from before.

Alvisa wore blue shorts with a white tank top. Alile wore black jeans and a purple, short sleeved button up shirt. Instead of wearing pants like everyone else, Alsen wore a blue skirt with a sleeveless, light green shirt. Cosena was the only one not in short sleeves, wearing a long sleeved brown shirt, and white jeans. Zento simply wore a pair of baggy shorts with a sleeveless muscle shirt.

“We have to blend in with the people of Maeruthan.” said Alile, putting a backpack on.

“And it's summer, we have to dress for the heat. Though, we don't know what the weather will be like in Tirdipsowl, so we got extra pairs of clothes for every type of weather.” said Alvisa, also putting on a backpack.

Zento did the same, putting his backpack on as well. “We're already a day behind schedule. Are you three done with your petty sibling bonding yet?” He asked as he walked over to the door, hands in his pockets.

Naito's stomach begins to growl, but he ignored it. “Yeah, we need to get going. We have to get there before the giants.” He made his way to the door, but Alsen grabbed his arm.

“No no, Naitey, you need to get dressed like us first.” she said.

“Oh, right.” He said, scratching the back of his head.

“Your change of clothes is in the bathroom.” Alile said, pointing to the bathroom.

So he went in the bathroom to find a pair of shorts and a black, short sleeved shirt. When he came out, he saw everyone waiting in front of the door with their backpacks on. Zento tossed one to him, which he just barely caught then puts on.

“Are we all ready to go now?” asked Cosena.

Chapter Six

Woteon; it was quite a small town. The sun had already began to set in the sky, so mostly the only people out where the Maeruthan soldiers, on their duty. As they approached the massive walls, Naito found himself staring up in amazement, not even realizing he was falling behind. When he heard something growling in the distance, he quickly caught up with everyone.

“D-Did you guys hear that...?” He asked.

“Hear what, my lord?” asked Alvisa.

“There's something growling back there. You guys don't hear it?”

Alile shook her head. “Negative. If there was something there, I would be the first one to know. Air-Signs have very high intuition.”

“But, I know I heard something...did I imagine that?” He asked himself, palm on his forehead.

Alsen walked over to him, hugging him from behind. “You okay, Naitey? You look pretty pale.”

He laughed. “Don't I always? You're just as pale as me! I'm fine, it's just so hot.” He adjusted his collar and wiped sweat off his foreheard.

“Huh? It's not hot, silly Naitey. The sun is going down.” Alsen replied.

“Are you kidding me? I'm burning up here!”

Cosena shouted at them to keep up with the group, so they continue to walk with everyone. Once they were miles away from the wall, Alile told them it won't be good if they get caught leaving the walls. So once they were certain that the Maeruthan soldiers weren't watching, they all took out their wands and chanted 'Blevinsil', and vanished from sight. Alile told them that since they're invisible, when they get outside the walls, if someone's missing they won't waste any time searching for them. Fortunately, when they became visible again, everyone was still there. Naito, however, was on his hands on his knees and is covered in sweat.

“The hell's wrong with him...? We've only been walking for a good three hours or so.” Zento said, staring at him.

“Hot...so hot...” Naito replied.

“Huh? B-But, my lord, aren't you a Water Sign? Water Signs like us can naturally keep ourselves cool...can't you?” asked Alivsa, utterly perplexed.

Naito shook his head. “I am a Water Sign, but I don't really have any water powers. I'm mostly just ice, which is why I can't stand the heat. I'm basically a melting block of ice right now.” He said with a fake laugh, trying to make humor of his situation.

Not only was it summer, it was July 24^th. The month of July 23^rd through August 22^nd was influenced by the Zodiac Sign of Leo; one of the three Fire-Sign months. During the months of signs influenced by the element of Fire; Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, those influenced by the Water-Signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces had their magical energy reduced by 25%. Fire-Signs would have their magic increased by 25%, but if they were a Leo during this period, it would be a 50% increase instead.

“Melting...?! What do we do?” Alvisa asked, starting to panic. Zento swats the back of her head, telling her to chill out.

Alsen points her wand above his head, dumping a gallon of water all over him. She then took a bottle of water out of her backpack and handed it to him, which he chugged down instantly. “Don't worry, he just needs water. I'll stay right by your side to keep you cool. I won't let my little snowman melt!” She giggled.

“Your little snowman? Heh, better than your little 'Naitey', I suppose.” Naito laughed.

Far off in the distance, they could see gigantic mountains, which they knew was Nohegimat. It was so far away that they would require an airplane to get there. There was no way the Giants could reach Tirdipsowl before them, right? Alsen took her phone out, snapping a picture of the mountains.

“Say cheese, Nohegimat!”

“Our ship's just ahead, let's keep going.” said Alile, pointing at the ship sitting in the ocean.

As they walked to the ship, Zento suddenly shouted 'Watch your step, lady Alsen!' and tried to pull her back, but decided not too when he saw he was too late. Alsen looked down, feeling something crawling up her legs. She had stepped on an ant hill, and the angered ants were crawling all over.

“EEK! ANTS!!!” she screamed, trying to shake them off.

“Always watch your step. If that was a snake, it would've bit you.” Zento said, trying to hide his laughter.

“Ants bite too! Eek, ah, ow! Ow ow ow!!! I'm sorry little guys!!!”

Cosena found this highly amusing, so she took out her phone. Mocking her sister, she said 'Say cheese, dancing ant girl!' and snapped a picture of her. Alile sighed and blew the ants all off of Alsen with a gust of wind.

“Can we all act a little bit more serious, please?” Alile said, glaring at them furiously.

Alsen frowned. “I didn't step on that hill on purpose, you know.”

Cosena smirked. “Nice to see you getting told by someone other than me for once.”

Their ship sat in the ocean, with a capital Z and E emblazoned on the sail; the insignia for the Zodiac Empire. Alsen took out her phone again, snapping a picture of it.

The whole time they were sailing to Tirdipsowl Naito was staring up at the sunset, trying to ignore his sweaty skin and increasing hunger. Alsen occasionally dumped water on him to keep him cool, much to his annoyance. Couldn't she find a more pleasant way to keep him cool? He shook his head. Anything is better than sweating like a melting snowman. Surely he just had to get more used to being in the heat. He could adapt.

Once the sun set and the moon rose, he felt a sudden pulse of energy racing through his veins. Witches and Wizards are influenced by the moon. This must be what it feels like to be under the moonlight; it was a great feeling indeed. His stomach growled for what felt like the tenth time this hour. He could just tell them how hungry he was, but felt as if he'd be wasting their food before they really needed to eat. Luckily, his silent prayers were answered when Alile said it's time to eat.

Watching her hand out sandwiches to everyone, he started to drool. He devoured his the second she handed him, like a starved beast. Realizing that he hadn't ate anything in two whole days, they let him eat extra. Of course, he was going to get extra simply for being the king anyway. Now fully replenished and no longer burning up from the heat of the sun, he sprang to his feet.

“Man, I feel so good! Like I could take out the entire Giant species myself!” He said, running in place, then taps Alsen on the shoulder. “Tag, you're it!”

Alsen giggles. “Silly Naitey, you know you can't outrun me. Look at how much longer my legs are!” She stands up and tries to chase after him, but Cosena pulls her back down.

“Stay put you two! I don't think it's a wise idea to run on a moving ship.” She scolds them.

“Should you run on a moving ship, you might trip, fall, or even slip.” Alile said, making another one of her silly rhymes.

Naito, still energetic, decided to stare into the ocean, thinking about how all this water came from the melted ice of Kricade. He thought about how Nircogard fell for Egitnafir's trap, how he wasn't strong enough to defeat the Giants. What if he hadn't fell for Egitnafir's lies when they were reborn as a Witch and Wizard? Would the human race even exist? Would they have been able to live in peace with no more repeated bloodshed? Would his mother still be alive...?

A tear plopped down from his cheek into the ocean, and his hands started to shake as he gripped his necklace. If he was really the third coming of Nircogard, then doesn't that make everything that happened over so many centuries his fault? His mother...is it fair that she had to die all because he was too weak to stop his people from being wiped out in the first place?

Alsen wrapped her arms around his midsection and rested her head on his shoulder. “Naitey, you're thinking about mother again, aren't you?”

“You know me too well.” He said, his eyes downcast.

“It's not your fault.”

“Yeah...just wish I had at least got a chance to know her...” He sniffled, wiping the tears off his face.

“I do too, Naitey. I do t-”

“EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!!!” Alile shouted, cutting Alsen off.

They turned around to see a huge ball of fire, nearly twice to size of their ship, flying their way. If it had been aimed several feet lower, they would've all been scorched to death.

“That was close...” Naito whispered

“Was that a Giant attack?!” Cosena asked, standing in front of Alsen and Naito.

Zento nodded. “Y-Yeah, must've been...I didn't know they were capable of THAT though!” He said, holding Alvisa's hand tight.

Alvisa gulped, pointing up ahead. “L-Look! Giants up ahead...!” Ahead they could see three massive figures that they could hardly make out due to the far distance and darkness.

“All Water Signs, get ready for the next attack! You're going to have to be ready to put it out when I say so, or we're all doomed! Earth Signs, be ready to put up a wall to lessen the damage if they fail to put it out!” Alile commanded, stepping back so the Water Signs could be up front.

“I-I can't put out a fire that big!” exclaimed a panicking Alsen.

“No, we should be able to do it together. Remember, our power is mostly drawn from the moon, so under the moonlight, we're twice as powerful.” Alvisa said, although by how many times she just dropped her wand, she was clearly scared as well.

“Pull yourselves together, will ya?” Zento said. “The moon may be a source of our power, but our determination and the strength of our minds is the biggest factor! We aint gonna win this if we're about to piss out pants!” Alsen and Alvisa nodded, then took deep breaths, calming themselves the best they could.

Naito took out his wand. The time for him to get revenge on the creatures that caused so much chaos, confusion, bloodshed, and sorrow was finally here. “Just watch me, mother.” He whispered to himself, walking up front with Alsen and Alvisa, only to be kneed in the gut by Alile.

“Where are you going, King Raizu?” she asked, surprisingly calmly.

“I-I'm a Water Sign too...”

“My apologies, my king, but you said earlier that you have no actual water powers, just ice. Those flames will melt you instantly. I think you'll be most useful hiding in the storage room down below.”

She may as well have kneed him ten more times. He was supposed to just hide away while everyone else put their lives on the line? Even his beloved sisters, the most important thing in the world to him? What type of king was he, letting this Soldier talk to him like this, and command everyone as if she were the king? Despite his feelings, he knows she was leading everyone far better than he could in this situation. Air Signs are the wisest and most intuitive of the Elements, after all.

“Fine...I'll stay back, but I'm not gonna hide!” He said.

Alile frowned at him. “Tch, have you never played chess? The whole point of the game is protecting your King while taking out your opponent's. No smart player is going to have their King in the most dangerous position. If it was up to me, you would still be sitting on your throne at the castle!” She said, furiously, then sighed, turning back to the direction of the giants.

Cosena glared at her. “I should throw you overboard for talking to my brother like that, and having the nerve to put your knee to his gut. That's MY job.”

Alile rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. “Yeah, yeah, I already know what you're going to do to me when this is over. I AM psychic, you know.”

“Wow...never seen Alile so pissed.” Zento whispered to Alvisa, whom was still nervously waiting for the next attack.

Thirty seconds later, Alile shouted “NOW!!!”, and another fireball the same size as the last came flying towards them. Alsen and Alvisa shouted “Lihetwarld!” while Cosena and Zento shouted “Hertalaw!” A large bubble half the size of the fireball appeared out of the Water Sign's wands, which they hurled towards the rapidly approaching flames. They managed to reduce the fireball to a third of it's size, and what remained of it crashed into the wall of rocks Zento and Cosena put up. It shattered their wall to pieces, sending rocks, pebbles, and boulders flying all over the ship and into the ocean, but it failed to damage anything else.

“Wow...they really did it.” Naito whispered, watching in amazement.

“Do you think they'll attack again? We can't defend forever.” asked Alvisa.

“What the hell are they standing on? Giant's can't walk on water, can they?” Zento asked, leaning over to get a better look, but all he could see was the dark, hulking shadows.

“Tirdipsowl must be over there. It's still too far for us to see. Just be prepared for anything.” Alile replied.

“Hey, where are they going?” Naito asked, noticing the three figures they saw walking away, disappearing from sight.

“How did we lose sight of something so big...?” asked Cosena.

The ship suddenly tipped over to the side, nearly dropping everyone into the ocean. Heavy rain began to pour down from the sky, despite no signs of a storm before, and their ship spirals out of control. Alile told everyone to hold on tight, but the sudden strong winds blew them all out in separate directions.

“Yeah, let's go.”

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireSat Jan 16, 2016 11:20 pm

From mystery to action. Very nice.

Keep the quality up. Can't wait for the next chapter.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 9:13 pm

chapter 7 contains both mystery and action :D

Chapter 7

http://sta.sh/01itcfv6nlh7

Spoiler :

Seven year old Naito stared up at the ceiling, rocking back and forth while petting Shadow's fur.

“Hey Naito, how come I've never seen your mother?” Shadow asked.

Naito's his eyes seem to flicker at the mention of his mother. “I-I don't have a mother...” He replied, suddenly shaking.

“You don't? What happened to her?”

“Alsen and Cosena say she she left the castle without permission one day. When father found her, she was dead. A bad human found out she was a Witch and killed her. I was just a baby at the time...”

Shadow gasped, then bit his lip, staring at the floor, leaving the room in complete silence, except for the snoring of his two sleeping sisters. After a minute, Naito grabbed one of the stuffed animals and started ripping it's guts out.

“Humanity is really terrible! Why should she be dead just because she was a Witch?! She never did anything to deserve this!!! I want to see her, I want to know her, I want mother!!!! MOTHER!!!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing the cotton from the stuffed animal all over the place.

His scream woke Alsen up. Cosena was also awaken, but shut squinted her eyes shut and covered her eyes, clearly annoyed. Alsen rubbed her eyes and sat next to her brother, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She whispered to him 'Shh, everything's okay.' then looked at Shadow for an explanation. The wolf spirit hung his head in shame, then explained what happened.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know...” Shadow apologized. “My mother was killed too.”

Naito stopped screaming when he heard this.“You're mother too?”

“Yes, and it was all my fault...” replied Shadow, tears running down his face. “She died protecting...protecting me!”

He told them about how the pack he and his mother were in had been wiped out by wolf hunters. The two of them had to live in fear of being hunted every day. His mother stayed up as long as she could at night, keeping an eye out for any hunters. Being wolves, they had to hunt too, but wasn't that different? They had to hunt prey just to eat and survive. Humanity simply hunted wolves to satisfy their sadistic pleasure.

One day when his mom went out to hunt for food, Shadow tried to convince her he could help, but she insisted that he stay where it was safe and wait for her to come back. When she left, he decided to be stubborn and go off to hunt on his own anyway. He thought this would surely convince her that she didn't have to treat him like the puppy he was. But while he was looking for food he happened to bump into a group of hunters. When their guns were pointed at his head, he thought it was all over. He disobeyed his mother, and now she has to lose her only son because of it. If only he wasn't such an idiot...

Just then, one of the hunters was tackled to the ground by another wolf. His mother. She took the man's life away in just seconds, but before she could attack the rest of the group, all Shadow could hear was the barrage of bullets assaulting his mother, and her dying howls. She collapsed, laying in a pool of her own blood. These brutal hunters didn't waste a single second before making Shadow suffer the same fate himself. The mother and her wolf pup died together.

“That's how I became an Animal Spirit...” Shadow gritted his teeth, tears still pouring down his face. He shook his head in attempt to shake out the bad memories. “When animals die, our souls can be summoned as Spirit's by Witches and Wizards. But if we die as an Animal Spirit, that's the end for us.”

Naito hugged his friend, nuzzling his head against the wolf's soft fur. “I'm so sorry, Shadow. I can't believe you had to go through that.”

“Me and my mother died because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. So I swore to myself that I would atone by protecting the one I serve as a Spirit.” Shadow explained. “Naito, I will always protect you.”

Everything started to fade out and change into a different scenery, like a dream ending and a new one beginning.

The sun shone brightly, but one wouldn't be able to tell with all the tall trees blocking out the sunshine. There was a light fog all around, not thick enough to obscure one's vision, but enough to notice, as well as layers of leaves and fallen branches on the ground. Naito, Alsen, and Cosena were setting up a tent, while Shadow and Croakie ran around playing together.

“Yay, we did it!” Alsen exclaimed once they were done setting up the tent.

“I'm getting kinda tired.” Naito said, wiping sweat off his forehead, placing his hands on his knees.

“Then you should rest. We can handle this.” said Cosena.

While everybody else walked off, Naito rested under a tree, slowly dozing off. A while later he woke up to the sound of a singing voice. When he opened his eyes, he saw girl dressed in black standing over him.

Scream, scream, scream, your misery,

Painfully out your lungs,

May I hear you scream?

Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary,

Your life is bu-

“But a dream.” He finished for her.

She smiles at him. “You know my little song?”

“The tune you sang it in just sounded like a song I know, 'Row Row Your Boat'.”

She giggled, then leaned down and kissed his forehead, a wicked smile on her face. He blinked a couple of times, then his eyes widen in shock as he realizes that this was the same girl that attacked him in this forest when they left the castle. Springing to his feet, he backed up, reaching to his pocket for his wand. “Y-You're...”

“Hello, Naito. You must be happy to see me again.” When he didn't say anything, she extended her hand out to him. “May I have this dance?”

He raised his eyebrow at her. “What are you saying...?”

“I'm saying that I would like to dance with you.” Her smile was so wide now that he could see her clean white teeth.

He stared at her like she was crazy, but she grabbed his hands anyway, placing one on her shoulder and the other on her hip. She lead him in ballroom dancing. He was far too surprised and confused to even resist or say anything. With her body pressed against hers, he could feel a strange warmth within him. A familiar warmth. It was almost comforting, but at the same time it, felt quite vile. Was this because she was a Fire-Sign?

“So, how has your day been, Naito?” she asked, casually. She got no response out of him. He was still trying to wrap his mind around it at all. “Why must you ignore me? You know you can tell me anything~.” She said in a singsong voice.

“Who are you?” He asked, breaking his silence.

“Me? I'm the harbinger of doomsday.” She said, laughing. Was she toying with him?

“Don't play with me! I want to know who you are! There aren't supposed to be any Fire Sign's left, and no Witches outside of the Empire! Who are you?!!!”

She giggled. “I'm just little ol' me~”

“Who are you?!”

“I'm the devil in disguise~.”

“WHO ARE YOU?!!!”

“Silly Naitey, you already know.”

Hearing her call him by the name only Alsen uses, he felt a rage boil up inside him, and pushed her to the ground. “Don't call me that EVER again.”

“Why not? You always let your precious Alsen call you that.”

“H-How do you know her name?” He stuttered. “How do you know my name? J-Just stay away from my family, okay?! I don't want to see you near us ever again!” He yelled at her.

She looked up at him with a frown on her face and tears in her eyes. She stood, dusting herself off, then the fog started to thicken, and she stared at the ground with her hair covering most of her face, but a faint blue and red glow was visible from her eyes. Two slabs of rock rose up from the ground behind her, which Naito looked over her shoulder to see.

“Would you like to go see them?” she asked, pointing behind her.

Not giving him a chance to reply, she grabbed his hand and lead him over. He leaned down to read the writing engraved on them. One read 'Alsen Raizu – 1997-2015' and the other one 'Cosena Raizu – 1994-2015'.

“You look like you've never seen a tombstone before.”

Naito clenched his fists with a furious expression on his face. “You...what did you do them?”

“These are called tombstones.” She said, disregarding his question. “The ground a tombstone is on is where a dead body is buried. When someone dies, they are buried and a tombstone is placed where they were buried so people can come back there to remember them.”

“W-What are you trying to say?” It couldn't be true...there is no way something like that could be true! She's just trying to mess with his head, right?

“If you'd like the summary, Alsen and Cosena are dead.”

Naito dropped to his knees, trembling, pure shock evident in his eyes. “You're lying. Haven't your parents ever told you that lying is bad?!” He refused to believe it. They were just by his side before he fell asleep!

“Would you like me to show you?” She asked.

Not answering, Naito stared at the ground, crying softly, his tears dripping to the dirt one by one. The girl picked up a shovel and slammed it on the ground in front of him.

“You cry a lot, for a boy. Since you don't believe me, I can dig up the bodies for you.”

He stood to his feet, snatching the shovel from her, raising it above his head with all his might. There was a burning rage in his eyes despite the dripping tears. “YOU'RE A MONSTER!!!” he yelled.

The shovel collided down on her shoulder with such force that it broke in half. Her arm bent at a strange angle, blood dripping from her shoulder, but she didn't even react, despite the obvious pain.

“I'll take that as a no then. Will this serve as a substitute confirmation?” She takes two necklaces out of her pocket, one shaped as the sun, the other the moon. Those are Alsen and Cosena's necklaces...the one's from their mother that their father gave them for his birthday.

She chuckled at the rage in his eyes. “Tell me, how does it feel to dance with the devil?”

“Shut your mouth!!!” He shouted, charging at her, swinging his ice-claoked fists wildly. He hit her right in the eye the first time, lucky enough to have caught her off guard, but then she started teleporting to dodge each strike with ease. Punch, teleport, punch. The pattern went on and on, gracefully. It was like a couple dancing to the beat of their hearts. As soon as she saw a good opening, she kicked him in the gut, causing him to double over in pain.

“Want to see how I did it? How I killed those beloved sisters of yours?” She asked, between heavy breaths.

“Shut your filthy mouth you monster! Devil! Fiend! Demon! Whatever you qualify as!” He yelled, extending both hands and pulling out his wand, shooting several razor blades of ice at her. She teleported out the way while pulling out her own wand. The ice blades followed her like boomerangs, but she transformed her wand into Ethyfescir, then swung the scythe down, cloaked in flames, scorching the blades.

“Watch carefully...”

Like a nightmare being displayed right before his eyes, Naito could see Alsen and Cosena tied to the ground. This girl was there as well, holding a whip and standing next to a horse. His sisters were struggling and squirming around like worms to no avail. She hit the horse with the whip, causing it to neigh in pain, running back and forth. All Naito could do was watch in horror as it trampled his sisters to death.

“NO!!! ALSEN, COSENA!!!” He yelled, reaching his arm out for them, crying uncontrollably now, repeatedly sending blades of ice flying at this devil of a girl, all of which she melted with a swing of Etheyscir.

“Don't you like that, Naito? Isn't this fun?! Look at how much fun I had with dear Alsen and Cosena! But wait, the show is just beginning! Watch them BURN!!!” She said with sadistic eyes, as she raised her arms. As if on cue, the corpses of his sisters erupted in flames, burning to ashes.

“Hahaha!!! See, there's nothing left of them! My apologizes for letting you think I could dig them up! It's okay though, we had great fun before they had to go!”

Naito yelled at the top of his lungs, sounding like a mother bear trying to protect her cubs from a predator. “Cieseroe!” He shouted, transforming his wand. He pulled the trigger of his rifle in a nonstop fury, sending dozens of ice missiles at her, faster than the naked eye could see.

She managed to dodge every single one, still not fatigued despite her constant teleporting. Behind him, she tapped his shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Come on now, you know that's not going to wo-” Before she could finish her sentence, Naito rammed his rifle against the bridge of her nose. He could hear her nose crack under the impact. She dropped her scythe as she staggered back and fell down, clutching her bleeding nose, staring up in shock. Naito extended both hands forward, charging up a powerful attack, but as he did so, she sprung back to her feet, hitting him in the jaw with a hook kick, followed by another flaming kick his gut. He doubled over, clutching his gut, panting.

His face was bruised and bleeding, but despite being ice, his spirit would not be put out, like a raging fire. He got right back up and tackled her to the ground far too quick for her to get a chance to teleport. He was now on top of her, staring her in the eye, murderous intent clear in his eyes. Someone who has no problem taking the lives of others shouldn't have a problem losing their own life, right? If you kill you should be ready to be killed yourself.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers, Alvisa, came running their direction, carrying a large sack of sticks. “My Lord, I found some...” At the sight of her king, she dropped her sack and screamed.

Distracted, Naito looked up at her. “Soldier, get of here!”

“King Raizu...w-what's going on?” she asked.

His opponent took this distraction to her advantage and rolled, knocking him off her, then began mercilessly stomping on his chest over and over. Alvisa screamed and shoved her off him, then took his hand and started running away with him.

“Come back, Naito! Don't you want to join your sisters? They miss you!” His opponent shouted after him.

“Monster! I'll rip you to shreds!!!” He shouted back at her, making an attempt to charge back at her, but his injuries left him weak enough for Alvisa to drag him away against his will. After several minutes of running, they found a little cottage, which they go inside and climb up the stairs.

“We should be safe here.” Alvisa said, panting.

Naito snatched his arm away from her. “What do you think you're doing, soldier?! I have to destroy her! She...she killed my sisters!!!” He yelled, sobbing.

She attempted to respond, but her mouth slowly melted off and a noose mystically appeared around her neck. Her body was hauled up in the air, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. She crashed through the window, and the noose ripped while her body was hanging outside. Naito could hear a horrible crashing sound when her body hit the ground.

“Soldier Alvisa!!!”

Naito could now hear the girl in black walking up the stairs, singing in a creepy voice.

I'm at the door now~

I'm coming up the steps~

I'm at the top of the steps~

I'm at your door now~

She sliced the door in half with her scythe, engulfed in flames. Naito felt like he was having a meeting with the devil; receiving his invitation to hell. But he refused to go down without avenging his sisters. With balled, ice cloaked fists, he charged at her, only to be kicked in his temples before he could land a single blow, followed by a stomp to his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

“Don't even try to get up.” She said, cackling manically.

“Who are you...?” he asked, defeated.

She giggled. “My name is Mary, and I have a special gift for you: PAIN!!!” She swung Ethyfescir down at him in one swift motion.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 9:39 pm

Dayum

Can't wait to see how this goes.

I rate 10.1/10

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 10:17 pm

10.1

that means it's slightly above perfecto! :D

Chapter Eight

Spoiler :

He was only six years old at the time. A child his age should be full of life, joy, and excitement. But this boy's face expressed none of those three things. He just sat there, staring up at the ceiling, completely void of expression. It was as if he were completely numb to everything around him. He didn't react in the slightest when his eight-year old sister tapped him on the shoulder and waved a stuffed frog in his face.

“Come on, Naitey! Mr. Croak wants to play with you!” Alsen said. She put the stuffed frog to her face and started going 'Ribbit! Ribbit!'.

Although he was completely ignoring her, she started hopping circles around him, still making frog sounds. It took her pretending her stuffed animal was hopping up and down his body to get Naito to break out of his trance. He swatted her hand, knocking the stuffed frog away.

“How come you don't want to play animals today, Naitey? It's your favorite game.” She asked, still smiling.

“I'm bored of acting like an animal.” He replied.

“Then let's-”

“No.”

“Ugh, you don't want to do ANYTHING!” Alsen complained.

“So you should let me not do anything.”

She frowned and crossed her arms, then sat next to him, watching him do absolutely nothing at all. The two of them sat in silence until their door opened and their eleven year old sister walked in. The door shut without her even touching it, as if there was someone else on the other side. Naturally, she must have been escorted back to their room, from wherever she was.

Life returned to Naito's eyes when he saw his oldest sister carrying a stack of books, which she sat down on her bed. Reading had always been the boy's favorite thing to do, but he always reads all his books in one day. This left him having to read the same ones over and over every day, but to him, the more he read the same thing, the more it seems to degrade in quality.

“Father got new books for us, Naito.” Cosena said as she sat down.

“Cosena, where were you? You were gone again.” He said.

“I was bad, so I was punished again. Don't worry, I'm fine.” She replied.

“Daddy gave you a spanking again? You're ALWAYS getting in trouble. What did you do this time?” Alsen asked. The three of them fell asleep together last night, so Alsen and Naito were surprised to wake up and see her gone. Most of the time when Cosena got in trouble, their father would drag her away and they wouldn't see her again until the next day.

Cosena bit her lip and glances to the side, blushing lightly. “Don't worry about it...” She then sat on her bed, putting Naito in her lap. “So, what type of story do you want to hear?”

“A story about a family.” He answered, not even taking a second to think before answering.

She flinched when she heard this. “Uh, a family story? We don't have a story like that.” She said, twirling her hair in a nervous manner.

“Then what's this?” Naito asked, pulling a book out of the center of the stack. On the book's cover there was two kids, a baby, and two adults. Cosena couldn't even begin to imagine how he knew what that book was even tho it was under several other books.

“Oh, how did that get there? That one's boring, so I gave it back to father. I wonder how it got back here?” She asked, playing dumb. “Maybe you want to read this construction book instead?” She picked up a book with a bulldozer on the cover, but Naito shook his head.

“No. You shall read me this book.” He demanded.

Cosena raised an eyebrow at him and clenched her fists. “Just who do you think you're talking to like that, little boy?”

“I'm the future king of the Zodiac Empire. So as the rightful king, I demand that you read this book to me.”

It took everything in her for Cosena to will herself not to slap him across his face. Instead, she stood with her hands on her hips.

“How about, with that attitude, I don't read you anything?”

“Then I'll just read it myself!” He exclaimed.

Alsen sat on the bed next to him. “Hey Naitey, maybe you want to play tag instead?”

“No.” He said, stubbornly, as he opened the book, trying to read it for himself. Cosena had been teaching him how to read, but his reading level was still very low, so Cosena always reads to him.

Cosena looked like she was cursing herself in her head. If he read that book, he would find out that everyone has both a father and a mother. He wasn't aware that he had a mother, in fact he only knew of brothers, sisters, and fathers. She already knew he would her with a barrage of questions when he found out, but she couldn't let him find out that his own birth killed their mother. His poor little heart would shatter into a million pieces.

She snatched the book out of his hands as soon as he turns the first page, but he must have already got a good look. “Cosena, what's a mo-th-er?” He asked, trying to properly pronounce the word.

She sighed, knowing that her little brother has given her no choice but to explain. “Naito, every child has two parents. There's the father, which is the man. Then there's the mother, which is the woman. Understand?”

“No, I don't understand. How does father and mother have a child?” He asked, curiously.

“I-I don't know, you have to remember there are some things that even big sisters don't know.”

“If every child has a mother, why don't we have one?” He asked immediately, as if he had a thousand questions ready for her, just like she thought he would.

“I...” She bit her lip, having no clue what to tell him. Should she tell him the truth, knowing it will shatter his heart? Or should she lie to his face about something so serious?

“Cosena, he has the right to know.” Alsen said, hugging him from behind.

“Right to know...? Have you been hiding something from me? TELL ME!” He knocked the stack of books over and jumped to his feet.

Cosena placed her palm on her forehead in frustration. Thanks to Alsen, she had no choice but to tell him something now, since he now knew they had been hiding something from him.

“Well, you see, our mother, she was...killed by a human. We've never seen her because she died before we could.” She lied.

“Cosena, you...” Alsen said, but Cosena silenced her by covering her mouth.

Naito said nothing for a while, then his eyes suddenly widened with terror. “Mother...killed...by...human...” He repeated several times, like a robot. As the realization sunk in on him, he pulls at his hair frantically. “Mother...mother...MOTHER!!!” He yelled, throwing a book across the room.

Alsen hugged him tight. “It's okay, Naitey! We may not have a mother, but we will always have each other, right?”

“If I could just leave this room...maybe then I would have seen her at least once.” He said, wiping snot off his face.

Cosena shook her head. “No, Naito. She died when you were just a baby. And the reason she was killed is because she left the castle without permission, and a human found out she was a Witch, so the king of Maeruthan had her executed.”

“Is that why we're not allowed to leave the room?” He asked, still sobbing. She nodded. “But you're allowed to leave sometimes!”

“Not for fun, Naito! Father only takes me out of here when I'm being punished!”

“Mother was killed outside the castle, I won't be killed just for leaving the room. As the future king of this castle, I say we should explore outside the room. How can I rule the Empire if all I know is my room?”

“He has a point, Cosena.” Alsen said.

A smile spread across Naito's face, knowing Alsen would back him up. “See? You're outnumbered two to one! So let's explore outside the room! Please?” He asked, making an impossibly cute face.

“Aww, how can you say no to a face like that?” said Alsen.

Cosena grinded her teeth in frustration. “Even if I were to agree with that, the door is locked from the outside! We can't leave even if we want too!”

Naito shook his head “Nope. Father forgot to lock it this time.” Whenever their door shut they could hear it being locked from the other side, but only Naito noticed that it wasn't locked this time.

“We're going to get in so much trouble if we do that.” Cosena replied.

“So? We're going to get in trouble even if we don't do anything, so we may as well get in trouble for an actual reason. Right?”

Cosena gritted her teeth, seeming to be reaching her boiling point now. “Fine, dammit! But if we get caught, don't say I didn't warn you!”

“Yay!” said both Naito and Alsen, giving each other a high five.

Neither of them were tall enough to reach the doorknob, so Cosena put Naito on her shoulders so he could open the door. As soon as they took one step out, an ear splitting beeping noise could be heard, and red lights started flashing.

“Alsen, Cosena! What's going on?” Naito asked, frightened.

“I don't know!” Alsen said, covering her ears.

“I warned you...” Cosena said, looking more frightened than both her little siblings combined.

They then heard a door slam and footsteps approaching, so they quickly ran back to their room and try to shut the door behind them, but it swung back open with such force it knocked them down. Sartur walked in with an angered expression on his face.

“My dear children, you dare revolt against my orders?” He said, slowly approaching them. For every step he took, they took two more steps back until he had them cornered.

“W-We're sorry, father!” Alsen stuttered.

Ignoring her, Sartur stooped down and struck Naito with the back of his fist, knocking him halfway across the room. Naito collided against the wall with a loud thud.

“Naito!” Alsen and Cosena exclaimed, running over to him.

Sartur, not even close to finished with his son, continued to approach him. Cosena stood in front of her younger siblings, as if the block their father's way to them.

“Please father, don't hurt him!” She pleaded.

“Would you like to suffer your fate first?” Sartur asked, dryly, pushing her to the floor and walking past her. She got right back up and stood in front of him again.

“Please daddy, no! It's not his fault! It was my idea for us to leave the room when I noticed you didn't lock the door! He was only listening to me...Alsen kept telling me we can't go against your orders, but I wouldn't listen! Please don't hurt them! I'm sorry, father...” She lied, tears pouring down her face.

“That's not true!” Naito said, holding onto his bruised cheek.

“It's okay, you two.” She turned to them with a weak smile. “You don't have to try taking the blame for me.” She said, despite her being the one taking the blame.

“I see...and to think I thought I could trust you. Perhaps this will teach you a lesson.” Sartur took his wand out of his pocket, then created blades of air, which he used to shred their beds to pieces. They watch as he tore their beds up to nothing but cotton. “Sleep on the floor from now on.” He said, then grabbed Cosena's arm and dragged her away, slamming and locking the door behind them.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 10:25 pm

Barely any screen time and Satur seems like the biggest douche in the world.

Pretty good, not my fav chapter, but thats because I take bullying scenes a bit personally.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 11:03 pm

Looks like Sartur wont be leading any character popularity polls XD

heres ch9. Very short for the sake of cliffhangers

Chapter 9

Spoiler :

When she opened her eyes, the whole scenery around her had changed. She was just in their room at the castle, inside her eight-year old self. But now she was eighteen again, laying on her back at the top of a mountain. The only source of light on this stormy night was coming from the moon, as well as light that seemed to be coming from flames down below, despite the rain.

“What the hell...where am I?” Alsen said, picking herself up. The last thing she remembered was the storm starting up out of nowhere, then they were all sent flying out of the ship. Did that mean that this is Tirdipsowl? But how was she just in a moment from ten years ago? It was like a living nightmare, being inside her eight-year old self on that day again, knowing what was going to happen. All she could do was watch it all unfold, regardless of how much she wanted to stop it. She had no control of her eight-year old body whatsoever.

“Naito...Cosena...where are you?” She asked, dropping to her knees and covering her face, sobbing.

On that day, if she hadn't sided with Naito instead of Cosena, they wouldn't have got in so much trouble. Cosena had never been the same ever since then, and there was no telling what their father did to her. If she hadn't let Cosena take the blame for her and Naito, then Cosena wouldn't have been punished for something that she tried to stop them from doing. Naito could hardly be blamed for wanting to get out of their room so bad, which meant there was only one person at fault. Alsen.

Unlike Naito and Cosena, nothing actually happened to Alsen that day. It had always been like that. Alsen would agree with Naito on something that Cosena told him they shouldn't do, and Naito would get in trouble, but Cosena would take the blame for it. How could she be such a terrible sister to Cosena?

“Alsen...” said a familiar voice, although it sounded strange and distorted.

Alsen looked up to see a girl with black hair, wearing a black coat with the hood covering her face. Despite the hood, Alsen recognized her anywhere.

“C-Cosena?! Is that you?”

The hooded girl chuckled. “Who else would I be, my dear little sister?” She took the hood off, revealing her face. Her normally sky blue eyes were bright red, much to Alsen's surprise.

“Are you okay? You look a little...different. What's with your hair and eyes?” Alsen asked, tilting her head while looking up at her sister.

“Am I okay...? I don't know, am I?” Cosena asked, her voice still distorted.

“Cosena, what's wrong with your voice?”

“NO! I AM NOT OKAY!!!” Cosena suddenly shouted, with a psychotic look in her eyes and a crazy smile spread across her face. Alsen jumped back, startled and stunned speechless. “That's right Alsen, I've finally realized that I'm NOT okay.”

“What's wrong, Cosena? What happened to you?”

“Haha, what happened to me? Don't act as if you don't know.” Cosena cupped her hand under her sister's chin, brushing her cheek with her other hand. She leaned in and whispers in Alsen's ear. “You broke me, that's what happened.”

“I'm sorry...I didn't mean t-”

“You always disobey me! Why can't you ever just listen to what I say for once?!” Cosena said this while still smiling, then slapped Alsen across the face. “You don't care about me. All I ever do is protect you and Naito, but I don't get any love back! With everything I go through protecting you two, I can't even get obedient little siblings in return?!” She exclaimed, slapping Alsen several more times.

Instead of flinching or resisting, Alsen just took it all. “You're right...I'm so sorry, Cosena.” She said and tried to embrace her sister. Cosena simply laughed and pushed her down, then aggressively snatched her up by the collar of her shirt, slapping her again.

“You're not sorry, don't lie to me. You only care about yourself and Naito. To you, I'm just that annoying, bossy sister that loves to ruin fun. You two were so close, and I was so envious. Why were you so close with each other but not me?! I've NEVER been okay, yet I continued protecting you two because that's a big sister's job, and I loved you both!”

Alsen said nothing. Is this truly how her sister had been feeling for all these years? It's all her fault, and now it's come this far.

“Sometimes I wish you didn't exist, you know? If you weren't alive, just imagine how much better my life could have been.”

“Is that really how you feel?” Alsen asked, with tears streaming down her face.

“Of course it is! Although I can't change the past, I have figured out another way I can be okay.” Cosena said, then grabbed her eyeball and yanked it right out of her eye socket. Alsen watched in shock and horror as Cosena stomped on it, splattering blood everywhere.

When she reached for her other eye, Alsen tried to grab her arm in attempt to stop her, but her hand went right through her. All she can do was watch helplessly as her sister destroyed her other eye, then a chainsaw appeared in her hand.

“Please, don't do this Cosena!” She cried, but her sister paid no more attention to her. Cosena raised the chainsaw and began hacking her limbs off one by one until there was nothing left but cut off limbs and blood. Alsen dropped to her hands and knees, crying hysterically.

Useless. It's all your fault. You shouldn't exist.

The words circulated in her brain, and she knew it was true. Her existence had done nothing but cause misery for Naito and Cosena, and now Cosena is gone because of her.

“Maybe I can make things right.” She said, standing back up. Slowly, she walked over to the edge of the mountain. One step, two steps, three steps, four steps. Then she fell down from 300 meters high.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireMon Jan 18, 2016 11:07 pm

Linda, are you alright? It takes an insane person to have moments like that.

Good chapter, but disturbing as all eff.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 2:06 am

Maybe I like that I'm not alright.

Heres ch10, but be warned: the action might need alot of work. I'll let you guys decide if its good as is or needs alot of improvment to be awesome

Chapter 10

http://sta.sh/05e2tn4nz2

Spoiler :

Her body felt as if it was on fire, and all she could hear was light conversation and the sounds of the pouring rain. She fidgeted and tried her hardest to open her eyes, but the first thing she saw was an extremely bright light that forced her to squint them shut. Would such a worthless soul be seeing the light of heaven, or the flames of hell? Surely she had awoken in the afterlife. However, if this was heaven, why did she feel so numb? Also, if it was hell, why isn't she overwhelmed with despair?

“I... don't think I can do anymore on my own.” said a low, frantic voice. Alsen tried hard to remember who's voice it was.

“She'll be okay for now though, right?” That voice...if she was hearing it now, did that mean they were both reunited in the afterlife together?

Her eyes flew open and she gasped. It would've been pitch black if it weren't for the pale moonlight, and everything in sight was all fuzzy and spinning around, making it impossible to make anything out. A warm hand rested on her forehead, and when she looked up. Even with blurry vision, that familiar voice and long, golden hair set her heart at ease.

“C-Cosena...!” It came out as a hoarse croak, and she realized just how dry her throat was.

“Alsen!” Cosena exclaimed, embracing Alsen firmly.

“We both made it to heaven?” Alsen asked.

Cosena buried her head in Alsen's sore, stiff shoulders, her hands tightening in her hair. When Alsen's vision cleared up, she could see Alvisa looking down at her, clearly surprised, and Alile sitting off in the distance. They were still up in the mountains.

“You're still alive you idiot! Don't scare me like that ever again!”

It didn't make any sense. There's no way anyone could've survived a three hundred meter fall, and there's no way Cosena should still be alive either. What the hell was going on?

“But I saw you kill yourself, Cosena...how can you still be alive?”

“Look, whatever you saw wasn't real. This is Tirdipsowl, the land created to store up all the chaos and rage built up in souls before they are reborn. We all saw terrible, false things, but those were just illusions. The darkness here is trying to consume us.”

When she saw her eight-year old self again, that part was something that really happened, but when she saw Cosena destroying herself, that was just an illusion? In that case, could it be that Cosena didn't really feel that way? It didn't remove her guilt, but maybe her existence wasn't quite as pathetic as she thought.

“But I jumped off the mountain. How did I survive?” Alsen asked. As she tried to sit up, she felt an aching pain in the back of her head.

“We saw you jump off the peak. Alile was quick enough to catch you. It wasn't enough to break the fall, but it was enough to save you. I was able to create a soft blanket of dirt for you to fall in rather than the hard, rocky mountain. Alvisa healed you up the best she could, but you're still hurt really bad.”

Something hadn't felt right to Alsen the whole time. Even with everything explained to her, something was just wrong. After getting a good look around, she realized the problem.

“Where's Naito?” Alsen asked. Cosena bit her lip, and Alvisa's eyes shifted downwards, sorrowful. Alile simply continued staring down below the mountain with her back facing them.

“We don't know where he is. We were able to find each other, but nobody has seen Naito or Zento yet.” Cosena said. She hiked her knees up and wrapped her arms around herself, hiding her face.

“What?! Naitey is missing and we're just sitting around here?!” Alsen asked, furiously. She sprung up to her feet, but the throbbing pain in her head forced her back down.

“Please understand, Lady Alsen....” said Alvisa. “The Giants are down below, searching for us. If we move from our hiding spot, they might catch us...” Come to think of it, she had been hearing something that sounded like heavy footsteps.

Alsen gritted her teeth and slammed her fist against her palm. “Naitey is all alone, going through that same hell we did! The darkness could be destroying him right now, and you're worried about getting caught by some petty giants?!” Alvisa sniffled and wiped tears off her face when Alsen shouted at her.

Alile turned around and spoke for the first time. “Do not worry, Lady Alsen. The Wizards will be back very soon. Please have faith in my psychic intuition.”

With nothing else she could do, Alsen used her healing magic to cure her sore throat and headache. She slowly stood back up, struggling to regain her balance. She wanted to go save Naito, they had to find him. But Cosena didn't agree with that, at least right now. After the illusion she had just saw, could she really disobey Cosena yet again? What she saw may not have been real, but still...what was she supposed to do?! How could she just let Naito suffer all alone? Then a voice called out to them, and looked up in relief.

“There you Witches are!”

Walking their way was none other than Zento, with Naito draped over his shoulder. Naito's arms and legs were bound together by a chain made of rocks, and he was trying to wriggle free from Zento's hold, like a worm caught in a bird's beak.

“Unhand me! I have to destroy her!” Naito shouted.

“Fine!” Zento said and dropped him.

When Naito saw his sisters both running over to him his eyes widened in shock. “Alsen, Cosena! You're alive?! How...?”

“I've been telling you that for like fifteen minutes now...” said Zento, annoyed.

Alvisa ran over to him and embraces him tightly, her eyes filled with tears. “Thank goodness you're okay...” She cried with her head in his chest.

“Tch. I thought I wouldn't make it with how much of a pain that guy was.” Zento said, patting her back and glaring at Naito. “He kept saying he has to kill Mary...” He whispered in her ear, making sure no one else heard him.

“M-Mary...? So then it really was...”

“Shh! Now aint the time to talk about this.” Zento replied, covering her mouth.

Zento released Naito from the rocks bounding his legs and arms. Cosena explained to her brother that what he saw was just an illusion formed by the darkness here, and that they were hiding from the Giants. As they talk, they could hear the footsteps of the Giants getting louder by the second.

“What are we going to do now, king Raizu” asked Alvisa, nervously glancing over her shoulder.

The memories of everything the darkness here showed him was still fresh on his mind. He saw his sisters burnt and trampled to death, who knew what else they'd see? After the Giants shot those huge fireballs at their ship, there was no telling what else they were capable of.

“Let's just go home...” The young king stared into the eyes of his sisters, and they could see just how terrified he was. What he had seen was something no teenage boy should ever see in his life, yet he saw it. Witnessed it. Felt it. It was only natural that the last thing he wanted to do is stick around this place a second longer.

“Impossible, my Lord.” Alile said with a shake of her head. “If we were to attempt an escape, the chances of being caught by those Giants would be far too high. Our only hope at making it out of here is to fight.”

The rumbling of the ground intensified. Next thing they knew, a conical fireball, one considerably smaller than the ones from before, collided into the mountain.

Rocks flew all over the place, while some were burnt to nothing but ash. Standing before them was now a thirty foot tall creature with a humanoid body that seemed to be made entirely out of rocks and flames. The gaps between some of the rocks in it's body revealed flames within the creatures insides. With both hands, it gripped tightly onto a massive hammer that must've weighed at least a half a ton.

They were face to face with a giant.

Creatures that not even the dragons could defeat many generations ago.

It was over.

Alsen and Alvisa screamed at the sight of it. Cosena and Zento didn't make a sound, but their quivering and clattering teeth gave away their fear. Naito, on the other hand made no sound, nor any movement. He simply stared in awe at the creature. The sight of it gave him a painful headache and made him feel nauseous. He'd seen this giant before. It was right by Egitnafir's side when she slew Nircogard centuries ago. It was this exact same giant. Even though many new giants had been born since then, Giants and Dragons did not die of old age. Naito may not have had any memories of his past life, but there was something within him that recognized the sight of it.

Time seemed to freeze around him, and the whole scenery changed. The world around him was now a frozen land of ice and snow. Something was wrong, completely wrong. Naito was not a teenage wizard. No, he had a spiky tail. He had scales and rough skin the color of emeralds, with tiny, razor sharp spikes poking out of his back.. A large pair of wings were sprouted out of his back, and he was naturally flapping them.

Flying.

The simple flap of his wings was causing gusts of wind powerful enough to blow down an entire town.

His eyes had no pupils; a pure, shining white light was all that appeared to be in his eye sockets. He was a behemoth of a dragon, 80 meters long and 50 meters large.

There was no mistaking it.

He was Nircogard.

What the hell was going on? Was he seeing yet another illusion? Oh god, please no! Did his poor soul really deserve to see any more murder?

All around him was a savage massacre, corpses strewn about everywhere. The majority were the bodies of dragons, much like himself, only not nearly as huge, while others were frozen over giants. Those that were still alive where badly beaten and covered in blood. The two that stood in front of him were the ones that stood out to him the most.

One was 80 meters tall, as tall as Nircogard was long. Her body was more humanoid than that of the other giants, resembling the figure of a human female. Unlike the other giants, she had skin; pitch black as if it had been completely burned. She had long, black hair that also seemed scorched. Her eyes, just like Nircogard's, lacked pupils; seemed to be nothing more than shining red light. She wore nothing but a long cloak of flames that went down to her ankles, and held a massive, burning sword, half her height. Rather than bones and blood, her insides were made up of flames and stone.

Egitnafir.

One of the giants that stood by her side was clearly the same one that was now towering over Naito and the others. Fortunately, Naito's illusion ended there, and everything was back to normal.

Alile took her wand and it bent in half, shouting “Niwufdry!”, transforming it into two thin swords, surrounded by an aura of wind. “Earth Signs, prepare for defense! Guard the king if it costs you your lives! If we lose him, we lose it all! Water Signs, you're our best hope at offense, attack!” Alile commanded with authority. Why was this lowly soldier giving everyone the commands, again? Should that not be the king's job?

Alvisa and Alsen were both clearly not in their best condition; Alsen still hurt from her fall, and Alvisa was drained out from healing her; both of them also obviously struck with fear. However, they would still fight. They had no other choice.

Alsen shouted “Wawtrobe!”, transforming her wand into a bow with arrows made of water. Alvisa shouted “Dawltifer!”, transforming hers into a halberd, surrounded with an aura of water. Zento shouted, “Fertisha!” transforming his wand into a pair of stone brass knuckles, while Cosena transformed hers into Xaerthe; a giant ax made of stone.

The Water Signs attacked from afar; Alsen shooting her water arrows, while Alvisa waved her halberd in the air, sending spherical pulses of water at the giant. When she got an opening, she would thrust the halberd at the giant, then back up as quick as she could. Alsen attacked from the left; Alvisa from the right. The giant's body was mostly stone and fire; water was the strongest element they could use against it.

The Earth Signs, in this situation, were best suited for defense, just like Alile had commanded them to. The giant swung down slow but mighty blows with his hammer down at them, however, it's movements were slow enough for them to evade, and when they couldn't, Cosena and Zento would shield them with stone barriers. The giant, however, still possessed unbelievable strength; the impact of it's hammer against their barriers was incredible; shattering them into tiny little pieces, and knocking the Witches and Wizards dozens of feet back, and that was just from the impact alone. A single one of those blows would be enough to kill them instantly.

Alile continued to give everyone commands, while serving mostly as a distraction. Her movements swift and smooth like the wind, dodging attacks before the giant even moved a muscle. With her natural agility and intuition, this giant had no chance of landing a single blow at her. She jumped off a high point of the mountain, landing on it's shoulder. Of course, making physical contact with a giant would, and did scorch, scrape, and bruise her feet, regardless of wearing shoes, but she back flipped off instantly; just enough time to make the giant scratch at his shoulder, like anyone would do if a bug was crawling on them. She ran circles around the titanic creature, occasionally motioning as if she were going to slice at it, only to back out just as quickly, throwing the giant's entire movement off.

Her distractions gave the Water Signs enough time to heal everyone, then quickly get back to action. They were actually doing damage. Hardly any damage; a pace that would take hours for them to actually defeat the giant, but damage nonetheless. Maybe if they had their Grimoire's, they would actually stand a chance. A witch or wizard's Grimoire doubles their magic energy and power, but without it, they'll just fatigue out too fast. None of them knew where their Grimoire's were at anyway; they had never once seen them.

The giant seemed to have given up on physical attacks and was now relying entirely on it's fire. The rain, along with their magic being multiplied under the moon gave the Water Signs enough power to exterminate the flames just as soon as they came. This, however, left them too busy putting out flames to continue their assault. By the time the giant would get weary of shooting flames at them, they would already be far too low on energy to continue fighting.

As Naito watched this unfold, he wished there was some way, any way he could help them. He knew it was all just a futile, desperate attempt at survival. Perhaps the addition of one more wizard, their king would give them the extra power they need to defeat this monstrous creature. But what was he supposed to do? He's just...ice. Completely useless against fire. Even now, the heat from the giant was causing him to sweat to the point of dehydration. There was nothing he could do but just sit and watch his soldiers and sisters fight for nothing. What a worthless king he was.

“Revenge...pride.” A low, guttural voice seemed to whisper in the back of his head. He had heard a growl earlier, was this the same voice?

“W-Who's there...?” He spun around, but rather than being met with the source of the voice, he saw something utterly horrifying. Four more giants had made their way up the mountain, and were right in front of him.

“I won't seriously just let the ones I love die before my eyes again, will I...?” The voice whispered again.

The way the voice used the word I was enough for Naito to understand that this was Nircogard speaking to him. He did have the dragon's soul, after all. After the dreams he had three times this week, the growl from earlier, the illusion he saw just moments ago, and now this, maybe Shadow was right. Was his inner self truly trying to convey a message to him?

Naito truly did not wish to see his beloved sisters murdered by these giants here, the three of them had been through so much together. He wanted to fulfill his mother's one and only wish, but how could he save anyone here? He was ice and the giants were fire. All he could do against them was melt.

The others quickly noticed their king cornered by four giants and rushed over to him; surrounding him so that the giants could not lay a finger on him. They were scratched up, bruised, bleeding, and breathing heavily, yet they all stood tall around him. They were truly willing to risk their lives for him, weren't they?

“What does ice become when it melts...?”

It finally clicked in his mind. Ice becomes water when it melts. Of course! He might not have any actual water powers, but if ice melts, it becomes water. The giants biggest weakness. How stupidly he'd been thinking all this time. Being ice doesn't make him useless, it makes him unique.

“Heh, this is the second time I've been so close to death this week...” Zento commented, a weak smile spread across his face. He stood in a fighting stance with his fists guarding his face, throwing punches that shot boulders out of his fists. The giants weren't even flinching.

“W-what do we do now? I'm almost completely drained out...” Alvisa asked between heavy breaths, the panic clear in her eyes.

Alile was about to give them another command, but Naito silenced her with a wave of his hand, and spoke.

“Alile, how many giants are down below?”

“Three more, my Lord.”

The four giants that had just made their way up the mountain were getting close enough to strike them down with their hammers, occasionally shooting fireballs their way, which The Earth Signs did their best to block, while Alile helped them evade. These giants were clearly smarter than they looked, considering how with the way they were positioned, there was no safe way off the mountain.

“Zento, Cosena, Alile, do your best to keep these four busy. Alsen, Alvisa, I need your help to take that first one out.” He turned towards the first one that they had been fighting all this time, glaring confidently at it.

“My Lord, you shouldn't...” Alile protested, but Naito wouldn't let her finish.

“Soldier, I said, keep them busy!”

“Understood.” Alile nodded. Focusing back on the slowly approaching giants.

The giant that Naito, Alsen, and Alvisa faced was raising it's hammer for a devastating blow when Naito extended his arms forward, fingers stretched out as much as they could. He shut his eyes tight and raised his hands up to the sky, focusing intently for a short moment. When he opened his eyes, the pouring rain had froze into hail, and rather than pouring downwards, it's direction changed to shooting right at the giant.

Seconds away from the giant, the hail melted back to rain. Just as Naito planned. “Alsen, Alvisa, control it, now!”

They understood his plan, working together to merge the thousands of rain drops he was controlling into a huge, a fourth of the giant's height, which they hurled right at the giant. The giant's melting fire was audible as it staggered back. This was the most damage they had done so far, but it wasn't enough.

With the giant recovering from it's loss of balance, Naito stretched his arms out to the sides, shut his eyes, and chanted “Morsowna!” When he reopened his eyes, he was inside a large, thick snowball. Running inside the snowball, he lunged himself at the giant's ankle. The heat quickly melted away at his snowball, but before it could completely melt he had already created more layers of snow. No matter how much it melted, he would just create more.. A witch or wizard's power is enhanced by their determination, and right now, he couldn't be more determined.

He repeatedly slammed himself against the giant's ankles. He was like a ping pong ball never missing the paddles. His continuous impact was enough to throw the giant so far off balance that it fell, right off the edge of the mountain. The impact of such a heavy creature hitting the crowd threw everyone off their feet, including the other four giants. Naito could swear he felt even the mountain itself move a little.

“Everybody...!”

He said, struggling back up to his feet, breathing heavy. He had drained himself of roughly 75% of his magical energy in order to knock that giant off the edge. Licking his lips, a smile spread across his face over his victory. The dragon within him was proud to get revenge on one of the giant's that was around in their onslaught at Kricade.

“We need to make our way to the ocean! Alile, help us get down!”

Alile nodded. She grabbed the hands of the Earth Signs, then quickly zoomed over to the edge of the mountain with the Water Signs, while the giants were still struggling to get back up.

“We're going to slide down the slope. I'll use my air magic to slow our way down enough, while the Earth Signs will use their earth magic to make the rock smooth.”, she explained.

So they all jumped off the edge at the same time, and as they did, Alile surrounded them with an aura of air. They slid down, going down at a comfortable pace, while Zento and Cosena made the surface smooth.

When they reached the bottom, the three Giant's that were waiting down below instantly spotted them. The witches and wizards ran over to the ocean, where Alsen and Alvisa both nearly collapsed, but were caught and supported by Naito and Zento.

It was time for their escape. Without their ship, the best plan would seem to be flying or sailing away on the backs of Animal Spirits, however, summoning an Animal Spirit consumed a rather large amount of magic energy, and everyone was nearly fatigued. Furthermore, an Animal Spirit only lasts a short period of time, so they would just fall into the ocean when it disappeared. Not only that, but the Giant's could just shoot fireballs at them from a distance. With that plan out of the picture, Naito knew what their only option was.

“Everyone, I'm going to freeze a path in the ocean for us to cross. The giant's won't be able to pursue us in the ocean, and if they even try, they'll just melt the ice and drown themselves. It will take forever for us to get back to Maeruthan like this, but it's our only hope. I'll be fatigued far before then, but once we get too far away for the giants' fireballs to reach us, we can rest on a block of ice in the middle of the ocean until we've regained our energy. By then, we can use Animal Spirits to get back the rest of the way.” Absurd as his plan was, what other choice did they have? Anything was better than staying here any longer.

“Just hope nobody falls in the ocean.” Zento commented.

They followed through with the plan, walking carefully down Naito's path of ice. The giants roared with rage at their escape, hurling furious fireballs their way, all of which they either dodged, or the Earth Signs blocked. It took them nearly two hours to get far enough away from the giant's to sit and rest.

Naito stared up at the moon while keeping the block of ice frozen. It would take them days, maybe even over a week to get back to Maeruthan, but it was what they would do. He sighed, and smiled, knowing his mother would be proud of him.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 4:20 pm

The action, while slightly bland, is far from the worst I've read.

Personally, this chapter would be 9.8 or so out of 10 due to the revelations on certain characters.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 7:11 pm

I find writing action alot smoother when it's Naito vs Mary. Other times it gets complicated >.<

Chapter 11

http://sta.sh/0e0r7sr2dgo

Spoiler :

Sleep had been eluding Naito all night. The group had continued journeying back to Maeruthan from sunrise to sundown. All hope had begun to feel lost, but fortunately enough, a reinforcement ship was sent their way, and they were able to sail back safely. They were all completely fatigued, especially Naito. He had been using up all his energy to freeze paths in the ocean for them to cross the entire time, after all. Despite being drained to the point of feeling like he couldn't move a muscle, the boy just couldn't sleep.

It wasn't that he couldn't fall asleep at all, rather, every time he did, his dreams shot him back awake. Most of his dreams had been about Nircogard, though they were all blurry within seconds after waking up. Some, on the other hand, stayed glued to the top of his mind. Those had mostly been about that girl he met in the forest. Mary. That's what she called herself in the illusion he had at Tirdipsowl. He dreamed of her killing Alsen and Cosena in the most brutal ways imaginable. How could he even consider going back to sleep now?

Who was this Mary girl? He couldn't shake the question off his mind. She used magic. Fire. How? According to his father, the only witches and wizards left alive are the Empire, and the last Fire Sign, Zephan, was murdered. Then again, there was nothing stopping there from being other Fire Signs, since one's Elemental Sign is determined entirely on their Zodiac Sign. The Empire did have an entire coven for Fire Signs, but they had no head soldier. Alile was head of the Air Coven, Zento the Earth Coven, and Alvisa the Water coven. There just weren't any witches or wizards with Fire as their Elemental Sign left.

Thinking of it this way, Mary has to be a human. But if she isn't part of the Empire, how does she know magic? Humanity is supposed to be completely unaware that they can be trained in magic to become a Magician, and even so, they'd have to be taught by a witch or wizard. Also, if she was just a Magician, why was she so powerful? An untrained wizard is said to be ten times more powerful than a fully trained Magician, and he isn't just any wizard. He's King Raizu. Second coming of Nircogard. He'd be able to defeat a single Magician without breaking a sweat.

Whoever she was, what did she want from him and his family? Why did she take his skateboard and phone? Why had she tried to kill him in the forest? Why is he having nightmares of her murdering his sisters? Maybe if he could just fall asleep again, his next dream would give him some type of clue.

But there is simply no way he's going back to sleep, so he forces his body to sit up, which he quickly regrets when he feels a sharp pain shoot through his head. Glancing to his side he notices a bottle of water and gulps down half of it, then splashes the rest over his face. He didn't know what he was going to do until sunrise, but anything sounded more appealing than sleep right now.

Naito had still been half sleep until now, but now that he was fully awake, he could hear the sound of soft sobs coming from across the room. Sometimes he'd wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of Alsen crying in her sleep, so he walks over to her bed, but notices she's fast asleep, snoring softly. Her peaceful sleep makes him feel a little envious, wishing he could sleep in peace right now.

“Naito, what are you doing out of bed? You need to rest.”

He jumps and turns around in surprise, but relaxes when he sees Cosena. She's wide awake and sitting on her bed, arms wrapped firmly around her knees.

“I can't sleep. Bad dreams.” He explains as he walks over to her bed. Sitting next to her, he notices streaks of moisture on her cheeks being reflected by the dim moonlight, and her eyes slightly puffy, with bags underneath.

“Are you...crying?” He asks, tilting his head to the side to get a better look at her face, but fails to see her clearly with how dark it is, the only light in the room coming from the moon. The only time he had ever seen his eldest sister cry before was that one day when he tried to leave his room, so this is quite the surprise. With everything she's gone through without shedding any tears, it unnerves him to imagine what could possibly make her cry.

She looks away from him with a pitiful attempt at a fake laugh, as if he was joking, waving her hand in his face. “Huh? Pfft, no! Don't be silly little brother, of course I wasn't crying!” Naito says nothing and just stares at her, certain that he had heard her crying. “What were you dreaming about anyway, Naito?” she asks.

Naito hikes his knees up and wraps his arms around them, just like Cosena. “That girl that attacked me in the forest. Back at Tirdipsowl, she called herself Mary in my illusion. I can't stop having nightmares about her...k-killing you and Alsen...” He nearly choked out the last part, grimacing as he remembered the horrible dreams he had.

“Really? No wonder you can't sleep.”

“Yeah...”

“You shouldn't stress too much over it, after everything you've been through, it's only natural you're having bad dreams.” Cosena assured him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Naito hikes his knees up and wraps his arms around them, like Cosena.

“But I'm scared...I don't want to keep seeing such horrific things. Why am I dreaming so much about this girl that I don't even know? Why did she try to kill me? What if she really...kills you and Alsen like in my dreams?”

Tears began to trickle down his cheeks as he shook his head in attempt to get rid of the horrible thought. Cosena hugged him tight, letting him rest his head on her shoulder while she ran her hand through his hair.

“That won't ever happen. As long as we stick together, nothing and no one can break us apart. We defeated giants back at Tirdipsowl. Do you really think some girl can take on the three of us? Plus, we have those three Soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives for you.”

“Yeah, I suppose you're right. That does make me feel a lot better.” Naito, reassured, wiped the tears off his face. “Hey, Cosena, what would you do if...you ever lost me?”

Cosena's eyes went downcast and her expression seemed to darken. Naito got the impression that she had already experienced this during her illusion, and it was the last thing she wanted to remember.

“I-I don't know, Naito. You and Alsen are very important to me, I don't want to imagine life without you guys. The three of us will always be together as a happy family. Always.”

As she said it, she remembered the promise her father made to her sixteen years ago. He promised her that they'd always be a happy family, but that same night, her mother died. From there, her father was never the same, and everything just fell apart. Naito is always stressing over the loss of their mother, but she was also deeply pained by it. Only she knew the pain of being a five year old girl, unable to see her mother for months due to a severe illness. Only she knew the pain of waiting for the birth of her baby brother every day only to be informed that his birth killed her mother. Alsen may have been born at the time, but she was too young to even remember it.

“I'll never lose you, my little eagle. Never...” She said, embracing him even tighter as she fought back the tears.

“Eagle...?” Naito had never been called an eagle by his sister before. He couldn't quite understand what she meant by that.

“We're not caged birds anymore. We're eagles, ready to take flight and show this world that we are the masters of the sky!”

She pats his back, giving him an encouraging smile. Naito couldn't help but chuckle at this metaphor, although he understood what she meant. They're no longer caged by the prison of their room, now free to explore the outside world.

“So, how come you're not sleep, Cosena? Did you have a bad dream too?”

Cosena bit her lip, her eyes downcast again. “No, I...just wasn't sleepy.”

Through his peripheral version, Naito noticed something shining by Cosena's pillow. Out of curiosity, he picked up and examined it closely. It was a kitchen knife, fresh blood dripping off of it. It had clearly been used recently.

“Why was this under your pillow...?”

Cosena snatched it out of his hands, flustered that he had seen it. “I just got a little hungry, so I cut myself an apple.” She said, twirling her hair between her fingers, suspiciously avoiding her brother's eyes.

“Apples don't have blood.”

“Well it's pretty dark right now, and I didn't want to disturb you or Alsen's sleep, so I didn't turn the lights on. I couldn't really see what I was doing, so I ended up accidentally cutting my finger.”

“Huh, that sounds like something Alsen would do. You're not usually so silly.” Naito says with a playfully mocking laugh.

Cosena rolls her eyes at him. “Yeah yeah, rub it in. Anyway, you need to go back to bed. You need to restore your energy, there's no telling what tomorrow has in store for us.”

Naito shakes his head. “No...I don't want to.” He rocked back and forth in place, biting his nails, still afraid of the dreams he had been having. As he did so, he gazed out the window, staring up at the starry night sky.

“Hmm, I think I know something that might help. I once read that if you make a wish upon a star before bed, it's light will shine within you, scaring away the evil creatures that give us nightmares.” Cosena said, staring up at the stars with him.

“Huh? How can I make a wish on something so far away? Do I use my magic to pull them down to me?” Naito asked, confused.

Cosena couldn't help but giggle at this. “No, you just stare at them like you're doing now, and make a wish in your head. But you can't tell anyone what you wished for, or else it won't come true.”

Naito closed his eyes, wisely deciding on his wish. Once he had decided, he said to himself “I wish that me and my family will be together for all time.” He waits patiently, but nothing happened.

“It didn't work...nothing happened.” He said with a frown.

“You don't know if it came true right away, silly.” Cosena said, ruffling his hair. “Only time will tell. Now, you really need to get back to sleep.”

“Uh...can I...sleep with you tonight? I know I have the light of the stars with me now, but...I want your light with me too.” He began to bite his nails and rock back and forth again, clearly still afraid.

Cosena's face slightly flushed red, but it was too dark for Naito to notice.

“Alright, I suppose that would be fine, whatever helps you sleep tonight.”

She didn't mention that she's also more comfortable with him by her side. “Goodnight, my little eagle.” She says, as the two of them lay down, slowly drifting to sleep.

Chapter 12

http://sta.sh/01bnjvhwqy1r

Spoiler :

Cosena woke up to the bright morning sunlight shining down on her through the window. Naito was fast asleep by her side, smiling peacefully. He looked so innocent as he snored silently, Cosena couldn't help but smile. She was sure her brother wasn't having any nightmares now.

The familiar scent of french toast and syrup wafted through her nose, and she noticed three plates of french toast, eggs, and fruit salad on the table. She would've been startled when she heard sudden movement under the bed, however, the lack of her sister's presence made it obvious who it was.

“Alsen, what on earth are you doing under my bed?” Cosena asked as she sat up.

Alsen popped up from under the bed, frowning with her arms crossed. Croakie was seated on her shoulder, and let out a ribbit of disappointment.

“Ugh, Cosena! You ruined it!!!” Alsen pouted.

“Ruined what?”

“Me and Croakie were gonna pop out and scare you!”

“Then you shouldn't be so noisy.” Cosena shook her head as she said it.

Croakie croaked at Cosena and turned his back to her.

“How rude! We most certainly are not noisy! We are quiet and sophisticated.”

He and Alsen made a 'sophisticated' pose, though Cosena was neither impressed nor amused. Alsen pulled her phone out of her pocket, and it wasn't long before her frown turned into a smile, followed by her girlish giggles. Croakie was suppressing snickers as he also looked at her phone.

“What's so funny?” Cosena asked.

“Hmm?”

Alsen looked up at her, then glanced over to Naito, who was still asleep, then back at her phone, her and Croakie breaking out into laughter. Cosena snatched the phone out of her hand, and saw that they were looking at a picture of her and Naito sleeping together. Her face instantly blushed a bright shade of red, and Alsen and Croakie were laughing so hard now that they were rolling on the floor in laughter. Cosena gritted her teeth and balled her fists, more in embarrassment than anger.

“W-what's so funny about that? He was having bad dreams, so I let him sleep with me.”

“It was so cute! Oh my god Cosena, I didn't know you even knew how to be cute!” Alsen stood up, placing her hands on her knees while looking up at her sister. Her jaw dropped when she saw how embarrassed she was. “Wow! Are you really blushing? That is so cute! You should be like this more often.”

Embarrassed as Cosena was, seeing Alsen being her normal self again set her heart at ease. After all, it was just the other night when Alsen attempted suicide by jumping off the peak of a mountain. It was quite impressive that she could mentally recover from such a thing so fast. Then again, she had always been that way. Nothing had ever been able to keep her smile away for long.

“Alsen will always be Alsen...” Cosena said with an honest smile. “I'm just glad you've recovered from your fall. Good thing Water-Signs recover so fast.”

She pat her sister on the shoulder, but in reaction to her touch, Alsen flinched and her eyes widened, then she swatted Cosena's hand away, and took two steps back. She looked the other way with a darkened expression, all to Cosena's shock.

“I-I'm sorry Alsen. Are you still sore there? Here, let me check your wounds.”

Cosena tried to help her sister out of her clothes in order to check on her wounds, but Alsen resisted, shaking her head.

“I'm fine...you don't need to worry about me.”

“Alsen, let me see.”

“Why? Don't you think you've done enough worrying over other people already?” Alsen asked, her tone surprisingly heavy and serious compared to her usual playfulness.

“What are you talking about...?”

Alsen said nothing further. Instead, she, still looking away, stripped to undergarments, allowing Cosena to inspect her for wounds. All her bruises and cuts were gone, all except one huge, hideous purple bruise that remained on her shoulder, right where Cosena had touched her. Just by looking at it, Cosena could tell how painful it must be.

“Damn! Where are the Soldiers at? We need Alvisa to tend to this right away! Oh yeah, I need to deal with Alile for speaking to Naito with such disrespect too.”

“They left already, said the had a request from father. It's fine, like you said, I'm a Water-Sign, it'll recover on it's own.” Alsen said as she put her clothes back on, her voice still heavy.

“Are you sure...?”

“Cosena, can I ask you something?” Alsen asked, rather than answering Cosena's question.

“Of course, anything.

Alsen paused and bit her lip, not saying anything. She opened her mouth to say anything, but before she could, a loud, annoying ringing noise sounded off from Cosena's pocket. Caught by surprise, Cosena reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Their father was calling.

“I-It's father...I'll be back, can you wake Naito up?” Cosena said. She walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her before answering the phone.

Croakie croaked loudly to get Alsen's attention. She smiled at him, then picked him up, rubbing him against her cheek.

“Don't worry, Croakie. Everything's fine. Come on, let's get Naitey up.”

Alsen hopped onto to the bed with Naito and started jumping up and down. Her jumping caused Naito to nearly fall off the bed, but he remained fast asleep.

“I'm glad I'm not him...” Croakie commented as he watched while sitting on the table.

“Naitey is a heavy sleeper, how else am I supposed to get him up?” She asked, playfully.

Alsen wasn't making any progress, so she sat on Naito's stomach instead, and began bouncing up and down while sitting on him. After a while, Naito's eyes slowly opened.

“Get...off...me...”

“Yay, you're awake!” Alsen exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“I said get off!” Naito shoved her off of him, causing her to fall to the floor, much to Croakie's amusement.

“Ah, some things never change. Youth is so beautiful...” Croakie said, as if he wore an old man reminiscing about his youth days.

Naito looked from side to side, then asked, “Where's Cosena?” Having expected her to by be his side when he woke up.

“Bathroom. She's talking to father on the phone.” Alsen replied.

Croakie hopped back on her shoulder, whispering in her ear for her to show Naito the picture. A big grin spread across Alsen's face as she pulled out her phone, shoving the picture in his face. While Naito examined the picture, he also summoned Shadow.

“Yeah, I slept with her because I was having terrible nightma-.” Naito said, but was cut off by Shadow tackling him to the floor, licking his face.

“Good morning Naito!” Shadow exclaimed.

Croakie rolled his eyes. “This is what you get for letting the mutt out...”

Shadow barked at Croakie. “What did you call me, you little slime toad?”

“Slime toad?! I am not a toad, I'm a frog!” Croakie croaked.

“Still slimy” Shadow remarked.

“Why, you filthy, insolent mutt...!” Croakie leaped at Shadow, but Alsen snatched him out of the air, shoving him in her pocket.

“We're not having any of this today.” She said. “Anyway, didn't Cosena just look soo adorable? That's so not like her!”

Naito scratched his chin, taking another moment to examine the picture, remembering how Cosena seemed last night as he did.

“Yeah, you're right, she did seem different last night. Promise not to tell her what I'm about to tell you, okay?” He said, and Alsen nodded, so he continued.

“I thought I heard her crying, but she said she wasn't. She also had a knife under her pillow, with blood on it. When I asked her about it, she said she cut herself on accident while slicing an apple.”

“Yeah, Cosena is never so silly. She's never so cute either!”

Naito's stomach growled and he smelled the food on the table, so he began to eat his breakfast while Alsen finished hers. A few minutes later Cosena came out the bathroom, and started pressing buttons on the TV.

“What are you doing with that strange box thing?” Naito asked, completely unaware of what a TV is.

“Father said there's something important he wants us to see. He told me to turn this thing to channel 7.”

When she got it to the right channel, they saw a man standing before a large crowd of people, with his arms folded behind his back. Even though his face was covered by a mask other than his usual metal one, they knew this was their father. He was surrounded by Soldiers, all wearing masks as well, holding up flags with the Zodiac Empire insignia.

Alsen gasped, “Father's trapped in the magic box! Who put him in there?!” She shook the TV as if in attempt to free their father from it.

Cosena swatted the back of her sister's head. “Just sit down and watch.”

Sartur paced from side to side before clearing his throat and beginning his speech.

“Greetings, citizens of Maeruthan.” He stretched his arms out to his sides and inhaled the fresh air for a long moment before exhaling. “Ah, it's been so long since I could last taste fresh air in peace...I am Sartur Raizu, a Wizard. Today I am here representing the Zodiac Empire.”

The crowd seemed completely perplexed. Some stared on curiously, some scratched their heads and chins in confusion, while some simply walked away, thinking this to be some kind of act. Wizards had gone extinct centuries ago, yet this man claimed to be one? Questions quickly began to stir within the crowd.

“What did he just say...?”

“The Zodiac Empire? What the heck is that?”

“A wizard? But those evil fiends were wiped out by King Maru and his army way back in ancient history!”

“Tch, what a lame prank...”

The Soldier's of Maeruthan were alerted by all the noise the crowd was making, and when they heard that Sartur was claiming to be a wizard, they too listened to Sartur's speech, both curiously and nervously.

“There is no need to fear, we come in peace. Yes, peace...that is all we've ever wanted. We will get our peace soon...so very soon...” He looked up at the sky, seeming to be speaking to himself now.

One of the soldiers pointed his gun at Sartur, seemingly agitated by his words.

“Quit speaking as if you're head was screwed on backwards! If Wizards wanted peace, they wouldn't have waged war on us in the first place!”

Sartur looked back down, his smile changed into a frown. “Oh? It seems you're facts are wrong. It wasn't us who waged the war, it was humanity.”

“That's absurd, you drunk old man! There are no records in history that say any such thing! What right do you have to deny history?!” the Soldier argued.

Sartur chuckled. “How do I know this, you ask? It's simple. I was there, see, we Wizards have very long life spans. Humanity may have thought they wiped us out back then, but you're going to have to try a little harder than that to get rid of me.” He folded his arms behind his back again, smiling.

The other soldiers of Maeruthan pointed their guns at Sartur as well. “Oh yeah? Well if you're really a Wizard, prove it! Show us some magic!”

The soldier tightened his grip on his gun, accidentally pulling the trigger. Moving quicker than the bullet itself, Sartur circled his hand through the air, creating a tornado which lifted him and all the Empire's soldiers off the ground. Huge as this tornado was, it was not doing any damage to anyone or anything around it. He pulled out a microphone and began to speak through it.

“Is this enough to satisfy you?” He smirked, followed by chuckles.

The Maeruthan soldiers dropped their guns and stared up in awe. The citizens screamed in fear, running as they could. Sartur didn't care that his audience was gone. His message was being broadcast all over TV, people would hear what he had to say regardless.

“Magic is a wonderful thing that you people do not understand. Imagine a world full of magic, where everyone could just live together in peace...wouldn't that be lovely? Yes, you humans are capable of magic too. With the proper training, you could become magicians.”

One of the Maeruthan soldiers picked his gun up and fired his bullets up at Sartur, but not even one hit.

“G-Get down from there, you monster...!” This soldier had just realized that all the other soldiers had already ran away and he was alone, shaking in his boots. He took a few steps back, then away himself.

“Our king, the third coming of the legendary Nircogard, is already on his journey to Kricade. Soon, he will merge back into his dragon form, and he will unite as all as one people in peace, under one leader. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for listening. Until next time...”

With that, he circled his hand in the air again, making the tornado disappear, as well as himself and the soldiers. Cosena shut off the TV now that their father was no longer on the screen.

“So that's why our soldiers left this morning...” Alsen said.

“The whole world knows of my destiny now, huh? Guess that makes this the point of no return...” Naito said, tapping his foot on the floor while petting Shadow, deep in thought.

Sweat suddenly began to trickle down his forehead, and before he knew it, he was blazing hot. Smoke could be seen through the window, and they could hear people screaming and running about through the halls and lower floors of the hotel. The very smell of the smoke caused him and his sisters to cough, and they could hear roaring flames.

“The buildings on fire!” Cosena exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

“W-What do we do?” Alsen asked as they quickly slugged their backpacks on.

“The window!” Cosena ran over to the window only to find that the flames were rapidly rising, so if they were to try that escape route, they'd be instantly torched.

Naito, not wanting to waste a single second, swung the door open only to fall on his butt when he was greeted by a wall of flames, which Alsen put out with her water magic. Being ice, this heat was too much for Naito. He was dizzy and his vision was blurry, barely able to stand. He felt like he was going to pass out, or worse. Cosena picked him up and put him over her shoulders. Fortunately for her, Earth signs are blessed with natural physical strength, so his weight wasn't holding her down a bit.

The stairs, elevators, and even the emergency exit were all blocked off by fallen, burning pieces of ceiling and debris. Alsen tried her best to put out the flames, but it was so hot that her water magic was evaporating as soon as it appeared.

“What do we do now?” Alsen asked.

She tried to keep her mouth and nose covered, but still breathed smoke in, causing her to cough violently. Burning chunks of the ceiling continued to fall down, creating holes in the floor.

“I have a plan...” Cosena said.

She pulled her wand out of her backpack, then used her earth magic to cover some of the flames around them in dirt. This cooled the air down enough for Alsen's magic to not evaporate.

“Alsen, mix some water with it.” Cosena instructed.

Alsen did as she said, mixing the water and dirt together to create mud. Naito caught on with the plan, getting off his back he tried to stand but ended up falling to one knee. Alsen supported him on his feet while he concentrated on freezing the mud. Once it was all frozen, Cosena shouted, “Xaerthe!”, transforming her wand into it's axe form, and proceeded to slam it down on the ice, cracking it in order to let it melt faster.

With the ice melting, the air cooled down some more, allowing Alsen to use her magic without it evaporating. They kept up with this pattern until the only thing blocking their path to the emergency exit was a huge chunk of the ceiling, which Cosena smashed into tiny pieces with her axe. The three of them put their wands away, then burst through the exit.

Sirens from several fire trucks were blaring annoyingly while dozens of firefighters were trying to hose the fire down to no avail. The building was completely scorched from head to toe, and it looked as if there wouldn't be anything left of it soon. Surely no one else could make it out of there alive.

“We made it...” Naito said, taking in deep breaths, so glad that their magic could save them.

The firefighter's noticed the three of them on the ground and rushed over to them.

“There was still people in there? Hey, are you alright? How'd you get out of there?!” The firefighter asked.

“If that's everybody, we may as well leave this place to burn. There aint nothing we can do here.” One of the other firefighter's said, handing water bottles to Naito and his sisters, which they quickly gulped down.

Naito could suddenly feel a strange feeling resonating within him. Seconds later, he could hear footsteps running through the grass. He looked up to see a girl that looked to be around his age, probably a year younger. She had scarlet hair and emerald eyes. The closer she got, the more Naito could feel the resonating feeling within him. Why was the presence of a girl he had never seen before giving him this feeling? Her face was covered in tears as she tugged on the firefighter's coat.

“Sir! My mother's still in there! You have to save her!” She pleaded, desperately.

The firefighter shook his head. “I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do...”

The girl dropped to her knees, pure shock and horror in her eyes. She clutched onto the grass and began crying hysterically. Naito was disgusted. It's these people's job to save people from fire, and yet, they won't even try to save this girl's mother? He walked over to the girl and sat in front of her on one knee, cupping his hand under her chin. She wiped the tears off her face, looking up at him in surprise.

Naito hugged her as tight as he could. He knows what it's like to lose a mother, and could only imagine what this girl must be going through, imagining her mother trapped in that hell all alone, nobody willing to save her. Burning with hate, Naito pointed his shaking finger at the firefighter.

“You...you should be ashamed! Isn't saving people from fire your job?! Look at this innocent girl! She's going to lose her mother all because you're a spineless coward!!!” He yelled, hoarsely. Tears fell from his face alongside his sweat.

“Young man, I know your parents taught you how to respect your elders. How do you expect me to get anyone out of there, huh tough guy?! If I go in there, I'll die too! This isn't any normal fire. Never in my life of fighting fires have I ever seen something like this! It's almost like...magic.”

Naito stood back up, ignoring this man. Through sheer determination, he began sprinting back inside. Alsen and Cosena shouted for him to stop because he can't save her, but he simply said, “Just watch me!”. They tried to go after him, but were held down by two other firefighters. He ran back in through the emergency exit they came out through, coughing as soon as he entered.

“Animal Spirit – Wolf!” He chanted, summoning Shadow.

“Naito, there's no way we can...”

“Just sniff her out for me!” Naito shouted.

Shadow flinched, but nodded. Naito had never shouted at him before, so this was unexpected. Shadow sniffed around for a while until stopping at one of the doors.

“Someone's in there.”

“Good job boy.” Naito said as he returned Shadow.

The door was unlocked, but by the blazing heat behind it, he knew there was a wall of flames waiting for him on the other side. Even still, he swung it wide open, covered his whole body in a ball of snow, and rolled inside. His snow melted instantly, and his skin and clothes got burned, but it could've been much worse. Inside he could see a middle aged woman trapped under an unconscious huge pile of burning debris. If she were to stay under there any longer the whole pile would be torched, burning her to death.

“I have too...save her...” Naito said, dropping to his knees. His sudden burst of was energy now gone.

Coughing painfully, he grabbed her arms and pulled her out with all his strength. He tried to carry her unconscious body on his shoulders, but with how exhausted he already was, the extra weight caused him to fall to the floor after just two steps, his vision slowly fading away.

“Mother...I've done the best I can. Please forgive me.” He passed out with everything burning around him.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 8:12 pm

Very nice, and did your avatar have any influence on the knife in Ch. 11?

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 10:06 pm

No I wrote this way before I started using this avatar.

Chapter 13

http://sta.sh/01qdvfgny3n8

Spoiler :

Heavy snow and relentless hail fell from the sky. Everything here was covered in snow and frozen over, from the ground to the highest mountains. Dragon's flew about freely. Some raced each other to determine the fastest, some fought each other in good sport to determine the strongest, while others simply napped beneath the trees, in caves, or on the mountains.

Atop the peak of the highest mountain, Nircogard watched his people. They did not die of old age, nor did they ever go hungry or thirsty. The only way a dragon could die was by murder. But the race had no conflict whatsoever; they lived in peace. There were times two fighting dragon's took their competition too far, but the second they saw Nircogard, they would break it up. Kricade may as well have been called heaven; it was truly perfect.

“Nircogard...! Nircogard, I bring news!” One dragon said as he flew over to Nircogard.

This piqued Nircogard's interest. Nothing ever changed in Kricade. What could possibly be news to him?

“Speak what you have to say.” Nircogard replied.

The dragon landed with his wings tucked in and his head bowed low enough for his snout to touch the snow. It may be against the pride of a dragon to submit to another, but only a fool would not show respect to Nircogard. After all, he was by far the most powerful known creature in this world. One dragon once let his pride get the better of him and challenged Nircogard to a fight. Rather than just fighting this dragon, whom had been known to never lose a competitive fight, Nircogard took on one hundred of the most powerful dragons at once. They came at him with everything they had, but were surprised when he recovered from it all within seconds. Simply flapping his wings caused gusts of wind so powerful that the other dragons had to resist against it to fly. Overwhelmed by such sheer power, they submitted themselves to him. Since then, no dragon had ever dared to doubt the power of Nircogard.

“A mysterious path has been discovered far to the south! We are certain that this was not there before!” The messenger dragon exclaimed, trying to suppress his excitement.

“A path...to what? Show me.”

The dragons had always wondered if their land of Kricade was all there was in this world. Nircogard once took it upon himself to fly in search of any other land. However, as nothing ever changed in Kricade, everything looked the same. As he had kept seeing the same things over and over, he convinced himself that he had already flew over the entire world. The thought of a path leading to another land being discovered truly piqued his interest.

The messenger dragon lead him to where hundreds of dragons were crowded together, staring in awe. When they felt the beat of Nircogard's wings in the air, they quickly spread about, allowing him to see for himself.

It was just as the messenger dragon had said. There was a path of water between the snow. Had their ice actually melted? How could such a thing have happened? The temperature here was always far below 0, there was no way anything should've been able to melt.

“Everyone, let us see what is on the other side.” Nircogard said.

So they flew in the direction this path was leading too, until the presence of another race, the giants, caught them by surprise. Both races were left speechless, staring at each other in awe, until Nircogard explained.

“Allow me...” He said. “I am ruler of the dragons, Nircogard. We discovered a path of melted ice which led us here, and we were curious as to what lay on the other side. You see, we've never known anything but ice and snow.”

The giants seemed satisfied enough to let down their guard when they heard this. Their leader, Egitnafir, stepped forward and explained their side as well.

“We too discovered a mysterious path leading us on this direction. All we've ever known is raging flames, so we couldn't help but be curious.”

The dragons had never even heard of flames. They were know all the more curious. Not only had another land existed, but a whole new race too.

“Why don't we strike a deal?” Nircogard suggested. “If we let you pass over to our land, you must also let us pass over to your land.”

“Yes, yes...that would be much appreciated.” Egitnafir replied.

The dragon's then followed the giant's to their land of Rafendile. Once there, they could hardly believe their eyes. It was blisteringly hot here, and everything was ablaze so much that everywhere they looked, they saw nothing but red and orange.

Despite the heat, it was possible for the dragon's to adapt to the change. Though they currently had no reason to live anywhere but Kricade, Nircogard knew it could only be so many centuries before they outgrew their land. When that day came, perhaps they could populate their people here as well.

Nircogard turned around to speak with Egitnafir, but when he did so, all he saw was her sword, along with the hammers of dozens of giants, striking down on him at once.

When his eyes opened up, he was no longer in a world of flames, about to be struck down by savage giants. Rather, he was lying on a bed. The whole room was white, with an open window to his left. To his right was an elevated pole towering over him, with an IV bag hooked onto it and painfully connected to the veins in his right arm via a long tube. In front of him was a TV hanging on the wall above a table with vases of flowers sitting on it. He also noticed his clothes folded neatly on the table, and then looked down to notice that he was wearing a white gown. In addition to his right arm, his entire body was sore and he was having slight troubles breathing, coughing occasionally.

“Was that...really me?”

He felt his skin to ensure that he was not a dragon. This wasn't making any sense. The last thing he could remember before his dream was collapsing in the burning hotel when he tried to save that girl's mother. Shouldn't he have died there? Furthermore, why was the dream he just had so much clearer than his previous ones? Before, when he would dream of Nircogard, it would all be blurry seconds after waking, and he'd hardly remember it at all. This time, it was still crystal clear. When the door opened, Naito felt his heart beat pick up. He hadn't even known where he was, why he was alive. Who took him here, wherever here was, and who was coming in?

“Alright, he's awake, you can come in now.” She motioned for someone to come in.

When he heard the woman's gentle voice, his heartbeat calmed down, assured that he was safe here. He was hoping that Alsen and Cosena would be coming in, but instead, it was the girl from before who's mom was trapped in the burning building. Just like before, he could feel a resonance within him from her presence.

“H-Hello.” She said, walking over to him and sitting in the chair next to his bed.

“Hi.” He replied, wondering where his sisters where.

“Uhm...my names Leah.” She shifted in her seat, staring down. To Naito, she looked a little uncomfortable.

“I'm Nai-” He nearly said his real name but remembered that they aren't supposed to give out their identities. “Nate. Nate...Emerald.” He could only hope the name he came up with sounded human enough.

“Emerald? That's a cool last name...” She kicked her feet as she spoke. “I wanted to thank you for saving my mom. I thought I was going to lose her back there...”

Naito didn't understand. He had collapsed back there. How could he have saved her?

“But I passed out inside.” He said.

“Oh, the firefighters ended up rushing back in there and getting you and my mom out. They had the nerve to take all the credit, even though they had no intentions on going in before you did. The nurse says it's amazing how fast you recovered.” He's a Water-Sign; of course he recovered fast. Even though he was different from most Water-Signs, he still recovered just as fast as any Water-Sign.

“Ah...and your mother, how is she...?”

Leah bit her lip, and Naito could tell she was fighting back tears. “She's paralyzed for life...but if it weren't for you, she'd be gone forever. I can't thank you enough.”

She placed her hands in his, looking him in the eye with a shy smile on her face. Naito could feel his heart beat picking up again, though he was unsure why.

“I didn't do anything but pass out...”

“No, you were amazing. You put your life on the line to save someone you didn't even know. That was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. You were like a super hero!”

Naito scratched the back of his head, glancing to the side. “I don't know about super, but thanks.” He tried but failed to hide the smile spreading across his face. It felt good to be acknowledged as a hero.

“I told my mom what happened, and she doesn't understand why someone so young would risk their life for her...” By the way she was looking at him, Naito could tell Leah also wanted to know why he did it.

“Simple. I know the pain of living without a mother, so I could only imagine how terrified you must have been, picturing her all alone in there. I just couldn't bear the thought of anyone else going through that pain.”

“You don't have a mom? Wow...that's really sad, I'm sorry.” Leah said. She looked as if she really pitied him.

“I don't need any sympathy.” Naito replied, looking away again.

“O-Oh, sorry...those two girls, are they your...friends?” She asked, looking him in the eye again.

She was obviously talking about Alsen and Cosena, Naito figured. Where were they anyway?

“No, they're my older sisters.”

“Oh...you guys have nice hair. Is that natural?”

Of course, he can't tell her that their hair color is natural, since it's impossible for a human to be born with magenta or emerald hair. Cosena was the only one with a hair color that a human could have.

“It's dyed.”

“Ah, I really like it, it looks like Wizard hair.” She said, reaching over to feel his hair.

Naito gulped, nearly thinking she could see through his lies. Trying his best to keep his identity a secret, he changed the subject.

“Where are my sisters?”

“I'm not sure, they went outside when the nurse told them they have to wait to see you. I felt bad for them, they looked so worried...”

He could see a deep, hidden sorrow within her eyes that told him she experienced more tragedy in her life than just today. The resonance within him was still there, making him slightly uncomfortable, but also curious. Why did he get this feeling from her? It made him want to know everything about her.

“It must be nice, having two older sisters.” She toyed with her fingers as she spoke.

“Sometimes. Other times, they think that just because I'm the youngest means they can tell me what I can and can't do. It can be a real pain in the backside, you know?” Naito replied with a chuckle, which seemed to surprise Leah.

“Really? I had...I mean, I have an older brother, but I've never seen him before. My mom told me that one day he disappeared from home without a trace, never to be seen again. My dad's dead, so it's just me and my mom at home. I don't have any friends, so it's pretty lonely. This is actually the most I've ever talked to a stranger around my age.”

Naito tried to imagine what it would be like if Alsen or Cosena were to disappear one day never to be seen again, but quickly dismissed the thought. The more he talked to this girl, the more he felt as if he could relate with her.

“I-I'm sorry, that has to be a lot to bear. I don't have any friends either, but I have my sisters, so I'm never alone.”

“Huh? You don't have any friends? I'm surprised, you look like you'd be popular at school...”

Her face flushed slightly as she said it, although Naito didn't understand what she meant.

“I've never been in school.” He replied.

She looked surprised at his words. “N-Never? But you have to attend school, it's the law.”

Naito realized that he made a mistake with his choice of words, and had to think of an explanation quickly.

“I mean, I've never been in an actual school with other people. My father homeschooled me and my sisters.”

“Homeschool? That's just like me! My mom homeschooled me up until my freshman year. She stopped because it became too much for her. I'm going to be a sophomore when summer break is over. You must be a junior, right?”

Naito basically knew nothing about school, so he had no clue what a 'sophomore' or 'junior' was. His best bet was to just go along with it, so he nodded. Before Leah could say another word, he decided to change the subject, knowing he would eventually slip up at this rate.

“I wonder what caused that fire.”

“It wasn't magic...”

“Eh?!” Naito didn't know what he expected her to say, but this certainly wasn't it.

“Did you see those Zodiac Empire people?” She continued when he nodded, “Everyone's accusing them. Just moments after they left, the hotel caught on fire. Those firefighter's are claiming it had to be magic, like how, what was his name? Sartur? How he summoned that tornado then disappeared without a trace.”

This had to be some type of setup or coincidence. What were the odds of such a thing happening right after Sartur's speech? Of course they'd get the blame under these circumstances! There was no way anyone from the empire would do such a thing, especially with their king inside. Besides, the only Fire-Signs in the empire were Magicians, and simple Magicians surely couldn't be powerful enough to create a fire like that without getting caught, right? The only person who he knew of who could do so such a thing was...of course!

“Mary...!”

He gripped furiously at his blanket, grinding his teeth together. It all made sense now. She failed to kill him in the forest, so naturally she'd plot a second attack. Trapping him inside a burning building would be all too easy compared to directly fighting him one on one, even if she did kick his butt that day. If she had an agenda against him, knowing he's the king of the Zodiac Empire, then plotting her next attack in a way that would harm them even if he made it out alive was a win-win situation for her.

“Hmm? Sorry, I couldn't hear you.”

Naito covered his mouth in realization that he had whispered Mary's name out loud. He definitely couldn't talk about her to this human girl.

“Do you...believe in magic?” Leah asked, looking him dead in the eye yet again. Her question clearly held some hidden weight behind it.

“I-It's kinda hard to deny after what the Zodiac Empire showed us.”

“Then, do you also think they caused the fire? If they did that, then that would make them...evil...” Her eyes went downcast again.

She looked away, and by her tone, Naito figured that for whatever reason, she did not want to believe this. Evil...his empire? Absolutely not. There was no way he could let someone believe such a thing.

“The Zodiac Empire is not evil!”

He said it with strong conviction, enough to reassure Leah. She was about to say something, but noticed the time on the clock.

“Sorry, I have to go now. My mom told me I only have ten minutes to speak with you. It was really nice meeting you.” She said as she stood up.

“Yeah, nice meeting you too...”

Was she really about to go? He wanted her to stay. He wanted to know more about her. He couldn't just let the feeling he got from her presence get away unexplained, could he? Plus, he now wanted to know why she seemed to take an interest in magic and why she didn't want to believe anything bad about his empire. That, and something else inside him just told him he was meant to see her again.

“Hey, wait!” He called, darting after her while she was walking away

“Y-yes?” She turned around in surprise, right when her hand touched the doorknob.

“Can we...be friends?”

Her jaw slowly dropped and her eyes widened. She took his hands into hers and smiled, tears of hope and joy building up in her eyes.

“Yes! Yes, I would love to be your friend! Oh, wait, I have something for you.”

She blushed as she dug into her pocket, pulling out a bracelet, woven entirely out of black strings. Several loops had been made in it, as if to hold something, though each one was empty.

“It's a charm bracelet.” She explained, putting it on his wrist. “My mom said my brother made it and that it's one of the few things she has to remind her of him, but let me have it.”

Naito thought of how his father gave him and his sisters the only memento's he had of their mother. There was no way he would ever give something so important to anyone, yet Leah was giving him this? He didn't know if he should hug her or scold her for this.

“You're really giving me this...? Why?” He asked.

“It's a sign of our friendship.” She said while attaching a little heart shaped object to one of the loops. “Now you have a charm from me. You're supposed to get one from every friend you make. You accept it, right? Please don't say no...” She pleaded with her eyes.

If she really wanted him to have something so important to her and her mother, what right did he have to tell her no anyway?

“Yes, I accept it. Thank you...” He said, pulling her into a tight hug.

Her face blushed a much deeper shade of red at his touch and he could feel his heart beating faster than ever. Her body felt warm against his. Even though he always vastly preferred the cold, this warmth comforted him. He smiled, rubbing her back while hugging her, so happy inside that he had actually made a real friend. The comfort of his embrace on her...he didn't want to ever let go. When he was young, he had read about friends in story books, leaving him always wanting a friend for himself. The closest thing he had to a friend was Shadow, but he wanted a friend more like himself too. They remained like this for a couple of minutes before Naito finally let go, remembering that she had to go.

“On more thing...” Leah walked over to the table, writing something down on a piece of paper, which she handed to him. “This is my address. Maybe you'll have time to visit me sometimes, since it's summer break...bye for now.”

Still blushing, she waved goodbye to him, then left. His back was facing the door when his sisters walked in. He had been staring up at the ceiling with a big grin on his face, arms wrapped around himself, when he suddenly felt Alsen hug him from behind.

“Naitey! You're finally up!” She exclaimed, relief clear in her voice.

“Someone seems a little too happy as well.” Cosena said, walking in front of him and examining him from head toe.

“A-Alsen, Cosena!!!” He exclaimed. “Where am I? Where have you been? How long have I been here?”

Cosena sat down on the bed, resting her forehead in her palm and massaging her eyes with two fingers. To Naito, she seemed stressed out.

“This is a hospital, silly. You were sleep for six straight hours, Naitey.” Alsen said, her voice surprisingly low and dry.

“Look, Naito, what you did was very brave, but incredibly reckless. Please don't do something like that ever again.” Cosena said, without even looking up.

Naito moved Alsen's arms off of him and sat down next to Cosena. “But if I'm really this big, powerful dragon that's going to rule the world soon, that was the least I could do. What if-”

Cosena slapped him across his face so hard that the sound echoed throughout the room. She didn't seem to care that her hand made contact with some of the scratches and burn marks on his face.

“What if you had died?! What then? Do you think life would just carry on unchanged for me and Alsen?! Would you be happy that you died without making mother's wish come true?! I was so close to losing both you and Alsen this week, can you two please just stop scaring me like this...?” She scolded, then hugged him firmly.

“Cosena's right. It's not brave at all to make the people that care about you worry like this.” Alsen said.

Naito hadn't even thought about that before he rushed in there. “I'm sorry...I'm such an idiot.”

Cosena sighed, letting go of him and leaning back on the bed. “I don't think it's a coincidence that the hotel we were staying at just burnt down out of nowhere like that, right after father's speech.”

Naito nearly laughed at how she had pretty much came to the same conclusion as him. “No, it wasn't; it was done by Mary, the girl that attacked me in the forest..” Naito replied.

“But how would she know who we are? Father told us to keep our identity secret, and we have.” Alsen said, biting her nails; a bit of a bad habit of hers. “Maybe we should call father, he'll know what to do, right?”

“Alsen, calm down, you're overreacting.” Cosena tried but failed to assure her.

“How am I overreacting? Some psycho girl is trying to kill us for being nothing more than who we are, and you expect me to be calm?! Either you call him, or I'll do it, and I'll be sure to let him know you said not too!” Alsen exclaimed, pulling her phone out.

“A-Alsen, we might just be over thinking it. For all we now, the fire was some silly accident, alright? No one is after our lives.”

“But Cosena, she attacked me in the forest, remember?” Naito chimed in, much to Cosena's annoyance.

“I'm calling him.” Alsen said. She began to type in their father's number, but Cosena slapped the phone out of her hands. It was clear she had no intentions on talking to Sartur.

“Alright, alright, I'll do it! Just wait a minute, okay? Naito, get dressed.”

Cosena walked out the room, slamming the door behind him. Naito took the gown off and began to change back into his clothes, regardless of Alsen's presence. The three of them had grown up together living in the same room their whole lives, so it wasn't like they weren't used to each other's bodies, although Cosena practically never let them see her undressed.

Several minutes later, Cosena came back in, extreme discomfort clear in her face.

“What did he say?” Naito asked.

“He said he's on his way here...”

Alsen and Naito had not expected Sartur to actually come to the hospital. They thought he would just give them instructions over the phone, and probably make sure more soldiers guard them 24/7. They only had minutes to wait in trepidation before the door swung open, and Sartur made his way in. Rather than his normal robes, he wore an expensive black business suit and a hat that covered the right side of his face.

“Hello, my dear children.” He said, arms folded behind his back. “So you believe some is after our king's life...” He was whispering, most likely because they were in human territory. “The traitor Zephan has already been took care of. Could we already have ourselves a mysterious open foe? I assume you three did not give your real names to anyone, correct?” He walked over to the window, staring outside.

“We haven't given away our identity, father, and we don't understand how anyone could know who we are.” Alsen said.

“Have you met any suspicious characters?”

“Yes.” Naito said. “There was this one girl...she had black hair, one red eye one blue eye, she wore a black dress and she could use fire magic. She used a wand that could turn into a scythe, called 'Ethyfescir' and used a really powerful spell called 'Krifarde'. She knew my name, and she...stole my skateboard and phone.”

Sartur slowly turned around and stared at them blankly; they didn't dare look him in the eye. He paced from side to side, his footsteps not making a sound, before he spoke.

“Is there a particular reason why I am just now being informed of this? Are you not aware that I made that skateboard from scratch with my own bare hands?” Sartur asked in a menacing tone, scratching his beard.

“It was my fault, father.” Cosena said before Naito could even get a chance to tell the truth. “I told him he should lead the way since he's the king, and he got lost.”

Natio wanted to intervene and tell the truth like always, but after so many years, he learned better than that. Cosena would just tell him to stop trying to take the blame for her, and her punishment would possibly be even worse. But weren't they now eagles, ready to take flight and show the word they are the masters of the sky?

“And Naito, my dear boy, you nearly died trying to save some foolish human woman?” Sartur asked, turning to face Naito, taking step after step closer to him.

“That was also my fault.” Cosena said, stepping between the two of them. “I told him he was being a coward by not even trying to save her, so he felt like he had no choice. I'm sorry...” She refused to make eye contact with anyone.

Sartur sighed. “When will you ever learn? I told you to keep your brother and sister safe, and you continuously do the opposite. You're lucky we're in public...” He whispered, venomously.

They all knew that if they hadn't been in public, Sartur would not have hesitated to beat Cosena right then and there before dragging her away; doing god knows what with her.

“Come with me, I think we need to have a little talk in private.”

He grabbed her arm aggressively, forcefully trying to drag her along. Cosena resisted at first, biting her lip and looking away. Going with him was the last thing she wanted to do.

“I said come with me. Now.” His tone was somehow even more venomous this time.

The change in his tone appeared to intimidate Cosena, as she shuddered and stopped resisting. “Y-Yes father...”

Naito's body didn't even give his mind a second to doubt himself when he suddenly jumped in front of his father, blocking his and Cosena's path to the door. Cosena was right, they are the masters of the sky, but she was also wrong. He's no eagle, he's a dragon, and a dragon's pride would never allow someone to harm what's important to him.

“Oh? What have we here. I wonder what you think you are doing, my boy.” Sartur chuckled, mockingly.

“I should be asking you the same thing, High Priest. Get your hands off her. As the king, I am warning you, if you hurt her in any way, I will have you banished from the empire!” Naito exclaimed, poking Sartur's chest with his finger. He was sure to keep his voice low enough for nobody to hear.

Alsen and Cosena watched with dropped jaws, completely astonished to see Naito standing up to their father like this. For a short moment, Sartur looked as if he was going to strangle Naito, but then a menacing smile spread across his face.

“Are you forgetting who created this empire in the first place?”

“Even still, I am your king, and you obey me! If I want, I can have you reduced to a solider. If I want, I can have you banished. If I want, I can have you executed.”

Sartur simply chuckled. “Very well then.” He said, releasing his grip on Cosena, then bowing to Naito with the same genuflection as the soldiers. “I shall be on my way now, however, since I was called over here, I would like to offer a suggestion.”

“Go on.” Naito replied, his arms crossed and his face stern.

“I recommend staying low for a month or two. Perhaps if the one stalking you thinks you're dead, we won't see anything like this again. It's still July, and we High Priests have predicted that there will be a Blood Moon Eclipse on September 27^th. It would be most wise for you to return to your dragon form on that day.”

“The what...?” Naito asked, confused.

“Blood Moon Eclipse. It's when the moon is at it's closest to our world. We call it the Blood Moon because it's bright red on this night and makes the sky look like a sea of blood. If our calculations are correct, then it happens precisely every eighteen years. On this night, magic is multiplied tenfold, but it only lasts until midnight.” Sartur explained.

So during this night, they're basically far more powerful. Would his magic being so much stronger help him merge his soul with the corpse of Nircogard?

“I see. Your dismissed.” Naito said, and with that, Sartur left.

Cosena let out a heavy sigh of relief and hugged Naito as tight as she could. She couldn't be grateful enough for what he just did for her.

“Naito...you've grown so much.”

Naito smiled. “The empire is my kingdom, so everyone obeys me. Even father.”

As Cosena hugged him, the same low, guttural voice he had heard before whispered to him.

“Yes...the weak will always submit to us. That is the right of the strong."

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Jan 20, 2016 10:14 pm

Finally, a Satur scene where he isn't the de facto dominant force in the room.

Very nice

10.2/10

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 21, 2016 12:22 am

Time for insight on other characters.

Chapter 14

http://sta.sh/01bd58hhmi0d

Spoiler :

It was hard to believe that a whole month had passed since that hotel burned down. Just as Sartur had suggested, they had been taking it low. Naito and his sisters had stayed at the hospital for two weeks before finally deciding it was safe to leave. After leaving, they used magic to change their hair and eye colors to disguise themselves, and moved out to another town. Rather than staying at another hotel, they rented a three bedroom apartment, even though they wouldn't be staying there for long. They had the money for it, and it was the best they could find in this town. With six people, a two bedroom apartment was quite cramped and took some time getting used too. They were used to living in a castle, after all. Naito and his sisters slept in one room, while the soldiers slept in the other. The whole month, there hadn't been a single sign of Mary. Maybe she really was convinced she successfully killed them.

Alvisa sat up in bed, rubbing her groggy eyes. It was only six a.m, but for the past month she hadn't been able to think about sleep. She had felt guilty about what happened to Naito when the hotel burned down. If her, Zento, and Alile had been by their king's side instead of with Sartur, then maybe things could have been different. The king could have died, yet they weren't there to sacrifice their lives for him, even though that's what they're here for. She refused to talk about this with Zento, as he would only assume that she felt this way out of affection for Naito. He had a tendency to get jealous way too easy. Talking to someone as apathetic as Alile would be the same as talking to a brick wall. Where was Alile anyway? Zento lay on the floor, snoring loudly in his sleep, but Alile's bed was empty and neatly made.

Alvisa put on her bathrobe and got up, being careful not to step on Zento, then walked quietly out of their room, shutting the door behind her. She shivered; it was freezing. Naito liked to keep the air conditioning us cold as possible. Every light in the apartment was turned off, so Naito and his sisters were likely still sleep. Being a little more careful than necessary not to wake anyone up, she tiptoed into the kitchen. Alile was nowhere in sight, so she must've went out for a walk or something. Whatever it was Alile does at six in the morning. It wasn't too dark since the sun was beginning to rise, so she didn't bother to turn the light on while she made some coffee, primarily for Naito and his sisters, rather than herself. Though she couldn't deny that some coffee sounded good right now. She would make a big breakfast for them every morning, and serve as the best soldier she could be, every day. She just had to make up for not being by Naito's side when his life was on the line.

She was focusing so intently on making the perfect breakfast, she hadn't even heard the front door open or shut. When she felt a light tap on her shoulder, Alvisa was so scared that she dropped a whole carton of eggs on the floor, every single one cracking, yolk getting all over the floor and her clothes.

“Good morning.” Alile said, standing in the living room. She had quickly moved out of the way before Alvisa had even dropped the eggs.

“A-Alile...!” Alvisa stuttered, “Where did you...when did you even...?”

“I can't help it if I'm a natural ninja.”

“Where have you been anyway?”

“An Air-Sign needs some fresh air.” Alile replied.

Alvisa looked down at the terrible mess, nearly screaming at just how devastating it was. This was certainly not a mess a perfect soldier would make. She had to get this cleaned up as soon as possible. There was no way Naito could see this, and definitely not Cosena! Chills were sent down her spine as she remembered how Cosena brutally beat Alile with a belt last month. That girl could truly be just as scary as Sartur himself...not that Alile didn't have it coming. It was what she deserved for being so disrespectful to Naito on their journey to Tirdipsowl. Alvisa didn't even want to imagine what her punishment for this would be, carefully walking around the cracked shells and spilled yolk on the floor to retrieve the mop. Alile sat in a chair at the table, crossing her legs and putting her headphones on as she read the newspaper.

“Hey, you could help, you know.” Alvisa said while mopping the floor.

Alile said nothing, continuing to flip through the pages. She must've felt Alvisa's glare, as she eventually took her headphones off and looked up, acting confused. “Hm? Sorry, did you say something?”

Six in the morning, and Alile was already managing to get on Alvisa's nerves...by simply doing nothing, as always. “I said, the least you could do is help.”

“But this is your mess, I didn't do anything.”

Alvisa slammed the mop down in frustration. “You did too! This whole mess is your fault for sneaking up on me! Everything...everything is your fault!”

It wasn't even the eggs that had her so frustrated. It was something else, something about Alile that had been bothering Alvisa for an entire month. Alile was psychic. She could see events in the future before they even happened. If she was truly psychic, then hadn't she been aware that the hotel was going to burn down that day? Even worse, shouldn't she have known that they were being led into a trap by the Giants, back at Tirdipsowl? They all could've died there! She knew they were going to achieve nothing there, she had too! Why hadn't she warned them of any of this?

“It wasn't my fault. Try not to blame me for things you don't understand.” Alile said, clearly understanding what was really upsetting Alvisa.

Alile gritted her teeth, angrily mopping up the mess. “You're a good for nothing psychic, dammit! You don't ever do anything with your power! Give me one good reason why you didn't warn us that the hotel was going to burn down!”

“Do you really think altering the future is going to help anyone?”

“That's a stupid question!” replied Alile, “If you're aware of something terrible that's going to happen, getting people away from that terrible thing, or stopping it altogether is obviously going to help people!”

“At the expense of the happiness of others...decide for yourself how much I would alter the future by altering the future.” Alile said, glancing to the side.

“Alter the future by altering the future...? What sense does that even make?” Alvisa tried to sound more frustrated than confused.

“What if the fire had caused someone to meet a very special friend they otherwise would have never met?” Alile asked, making it clear she was aware of something that Alvisa wasn't. “Would it be fair that they never got to meet because of my pathetic sense of justice?”

Alvisa simply rolled her eyes, soaking the mop in the bucket. “Okay, let's say something like that did happen...do you really think that outweighs all the damage?” She wondered about her question herself. Truth be told, Alile's words had her thinking.

“There has to be some greater being that decides everything that happens in this world...”

“Huh?” Alvisa was just confused now.

“Up in the clouds, under the ground, deep within the depths of the ocean, whatever, doesn't matter where. Of course, he could live in microwaves, kitchen sinks, perhaps the air we breathe everyday?”

“...What are you talking about?” One of the things about Alile that always annoyed Alvisa was her tendency to trail completely off topic and start speaking complete nonsense. Her nonsense may be funny sometimes, but more often than not, it's just straight up annoying.

“I'll label this greater being an Author, because it's just like writing a book. The author knows everything that happened, will happen, and could happen.”

“Get back to your point already...” Alile said, sweeping up the cracked egg shells.

“Let's give this Author a name. Hmm...Eagle-san. He likes to run around in circles, flapping his arms and going 'Caw! Caw!'. He demands that you use the Japanese honorific of 'san' because he's an anime geek and thinks he's superior to everyone.”

“ALILE! YOUR POINT. Please.”

“Shh...” Alile hushed Alvisa, placing her finger on her lips. “You might wake the royalty.”

“Sorry...” Alvisa said, being sure to keep her voice down, certainly not wanting to wake Naito and his sisters. “But what does this have to do with anything I said? I'm going to forget what we were talking about at this rate.”

"In the present, what hasn't happened yet is the future. But 24 hours after today, tommorow is no longer the future. It has become today, the present. But 24 more hours after that would be another tommorow, in other words, another future, so on and so forth. Now let's say, tommorow you were to make out with Naito a-”

“I would never do that!” Alvisa exclaimed, blushing a deep shade of red.

“It's just an example. As I was saying, if Zento saw this, he would go insane, wouldn't he? If I got a psychic vision warning me of this, you would expect me to stop it, right? But me stopping that future event would cause little changes in the events that play out from there. These little changes would add up and result in a drastic change to the future, all because I wanted to stop one bad thing from happening."

“That drastic change could be for the better.” Alile argued.

“Better for who? Just yourself? That's selfish. These tiny little details add up in so many different ways for so many different people, you could never even begin to imagine. The happiness of one person can lead to the demise of another, even if these two people have nothing at all to do with each other. The Author, Eagle-san as I named him, is the only one who knows every possible outcome if his story were to be tweaked. Where's the sense in altering the future to 'save' someone from a bad outcome if it's above my perception to understand the true results and consequences of my one act of wannabe heroism in the first place?”

"If I had your power, I wouldn't even think about all that crap that 'might' happen! If I could save someone I care about from something bad, I wouldn't hesitate to do so! Your logic makes it sound pointless to even have psychic powers in the first place!"

Alile stood, and within a second, she was right in front of Alvisa. “Then I'm glad you don't. Being psychic is a very shitty burden to carry. Don't you think I've thought of this shit many times already? Do you think it's pleasant seeing terrible things happen in the future, knowing there's truly nothing I can do? If I could trade my power away, I would in an instant.”

It wasn't Alile's fault she had psychic powers. She was born on January 25^th, meaning her Zodiac Sign was Aquarius one of the three influenced by the element of Air: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. It's said that Air-Signs have such high intuition to the point of some of them containing psychic powers, although Alile was the only one known to ever have this power. She didn't choose it, this 'Author' chose it for her.

Alvisa wanted to slap herself when she saw the tears swelling up in Alile's eyes. How insensitive could she get? Alile may seem apathetic to the whole world most, if not all the time, but she still has a heart and feelings. Air was just arguably the polar opposite from Water, in terms of personality. Air-Signs like Alile act out of logic and reasoning, while Water-Signs tend to act purely out of emotion. Alvisa hadn't even considered how much her harsh words were hurting Alile.

“A-Alile, I'm sorry...I just-”

“I don't need your sympathy...” Alile replied, dryly, staring Alvisa in the eye. “Come on, let's get meal cooked up already, I'm starving.”

The two soldiers were able to finish breakfast before anyone woke up. Alvisa wouldn't have been able to do it without Alile's help; the Air-Sign was very quick with her hands. They had cooked pancakes, eggs, potatoes, and sausage, with fruit on the side.

“Damn that smells good.” Zento said, walking into the kitchen, awaken by the smell. He was wrapped up in a blanket, clearly not enjoying how cold it was.

“You're going to trip.” Alile said.

“Huh? W-Whoa!” Just as Alile said, Zento tripped over the blanket, falling face first on the floor. “Ouch! Dammit, why'd you wait so long to let me know?!” He yelled at her.

“I didn't.” Alile replied, sitting with crossed legs.

“Yeah you did! You should've told me before I coulda fell! You knew it was gonna happen!”

“G-Guys, you're being too loud...” Alvisa said, fearing they might disturb Naito and his sister's sleep.

“No we're not.” Alile replied, picking up her fork to eat. Gasping, Alivsa attempted to snatch the fork from her, though Alile's reflexes were much too fast.

“Stop! We can't eat until the king has eaten!” Alvisa exclaimed.

“But I'm hungry.” Alile said.

Shivering, Zento walked over to the thermostat, checking the temperature. 45 degrees!

“Must...increase...temperature!” He said, slowly reaching his hand towards it.

“No!” Alvisa screamed, running in front of him. “We can't change it! If the king wants 45 degrees, he gets 45 degrees.”

“Tch, you're willing to give the brat anything he wants, aren't you?” Zento snorted.

“O-Of course! We're soldiers, it's our job t-”

“Even if he desired your body?”

Alvisa blushed. “M-My Lord would never ask for such a thing from me!”

“Pfft, sure he wouldn't. Bet you'd give it to him if he did. We've all seen the way you stare at him...” Zento balled his fists as he said it.

Alvisa sighed, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Zento's cheek. “You know you're the only one I love. Why must you get so jealous?”

Zento wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “Maybe because you're all I have left?” He bit his lip and hugged her tighter, remembering the day Sartur announced his father's death.

“What about me?” Alile asked.

“Alile is just Alile; annoying little psychic.” He said, though what he meant was that she was just a close friend. “But seriously, what happens when the king wants a queen and a child? I know that masked bastard has plans for when that day comes, and there's no way he'd choose a magician for 'king Raizu'.” Zento and Alvisa both looked at Alile.

“Why are you looking at me?”, she asked.

“'Cuz there's only you and Alivsa for him to choose from.”

“If that happened, then I would be upgraded from a soldier to a queen.” Alile said, not seeming to care at all.

“And if he chose you?” Zento asked, staring Alile in the eye.

She imagined being selected as the wife of Naito, queen of the Zodiac Empire. She imagined bearing Naito's children, and her face instantly flushed red. Shaking the thought out of her head, she said, “S-shouldn't I be the one asking you that? What would you do if master Sartur were to force me into marriage with the king? Or if he were to force you to marry Lady Alsen or Cosena?”

“I'll fight the motherfucker before that happens.” Zento said, balling his fists. “Masked bastard has took too much from me No way I'm letting him take anyone else!”

“You don't know that he was responsible for any of that...”

“Of course he was! You think our mothers really just wandered outside the castle for the hell of it and got executed together? No, Sartur killed them! Just because they were human!”

“Please don't talk about that...” Alvisa looked away, fighting the tears that threatened to pour out. The three of them remembered all too clearly the day Sartur announced that the king of Maeruthan had executed their mothers. They were told their mothers left the castle without permission, and were discovered to have been practicing magic, so they were executed.

“He took our mothers, he took my father! Hell, I'll bet he was responsible for Mary's disappearance too!” Zento slammed his fist against the wall in rage.

“We're not supposed to talk about her.” Alile reminded him.

“Calm down Zento...just sit down and relax. There's no point in getting riled up over things you can't even prove.” Alvisa said, taking Zento's hand and leading him over to the table. The three soldiers sat in silence, shivering.

“I don't like being cold and hungry.” Alile said, breaking the silence after nearly ten minutes.

“Heh, if Mary was here, she could just warm us all up...” Zento said, glancing to the side with his chin his palm, a sorrowful expression on his face.

“We're not supposed to talk about her.” Alile reminded, again.

“So? No one can hear us anyway.” Zento replied, “Man, it'd never be so boring in the morning with her around.”

Alvisa nodded. “Yeah...it'd be dull and boring, then next thing you know, Mary would have us all hyped up. Next thing we'd know, we're wondering what the hell just happened...” She laughed, reminiscing on funny memories.

“Remember that one time she got so out of control, Sartur made her strip naked in front of everyone, then beat her with a belt?”

“Yeah...just like Lady Cosena did to Alile last month. Except she was at least merciful enough to do it in private.” Alvisa said.

Alile showed no signs of embarrassment at the mention of her punishment. “No, Lady Cosena didn't make me take my clothes off. She's not as merciless as master Sartur. She just beat me. Still hurt like shit, though.”

Alvisa sighed. “It's been five years since Mary disappeared. Feels like such a long time ago...”

“Chick was always insane in the brain. No surprise she's taken joy in attacking kings and burning down buildings.” Zento glanced at the newspaper, seeing one of the topics that said 'Magical fire burns down hotel', he swatted it off the table.

“Insane...brain...that rhymes.” Alile said, “Elephants and microwaves don't rhyme, but elephants sure do like living in microwaves.”

“...Huh?” Zento and Alvisa both asked at the same time. They had no clue what Alile was talking about.

“Elephants. They've been migrating to microwaves because they had to run away from meerkats. But it's too hot inside microwaves for them, so it's our job to save them.”

“Uh, I'm pretty sure an elephant can't fit inside a microwave....” Alvisa said.

Alile continued, “We need to repopulate the elephant species. My plan is to move them all into banana peels.”

“Then they'll get ate by monkeys, genius.” Zento replied, rolling his eyes at her and crossing his arms.

Alile gasped. “Oh no! You're right! What about...oh, I've got it! We'll just take them all, and dump them into a small cup of soda!”

Zento sighed and shook his head. “Wouldn't you need an extra large cup...?”

“No. Elephants are big, so the cup has to be small. Actually, let's make that extra small. The soda will keep them cool while repelling the meerkats away.” Alile said, as if that made any sense at all. Was there some hidden meaning behind her words, or was she just speaking random nonsense again?

“Now what happens when the elephants drink the soda?” Alvisa asked.

“D-Drink it...?” That was the first time Alvisa and Zento ever heard Alile stutter. “...Soda won't work, it's too tasty! We need to think of a liquid so nasty that not even an elephant would drink it!”

“Your piss.” Zento said, jokingly.

“Brilliant idea!” Alile exclaimed, springing to her feet. “I'll fill an extra small cup with my piss right now!” She searched through the cabinets for the smallest cup they had.

“What? W-Wait a second, I was just ki-...you know what, fuck it. I'm not in the mood for your nonsense, Alile.” Zento rubbed his temples. Alile found an extra small cup, then dashed into the bathroom with it.

“...Well then, it's almost eight thirty.” Alvisa said, looking at the time. “I'll just bring king Raizu and Lady Alsen and Cosena their breakfast, then we can eat.” She put the siblings' plates on a tray, carefully carrying it to their room.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 21, 2016 12:35 am

Knew she had something to do with someone's past. It just made too much sense.

Great revelations, explains a good deal actually.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireThu Jan 21, 2016 5:57 pm

ch15 wont be done for a while, so here's a character popularity poll instead

Edit: I totally forgot to put Mary in the poll and I cant seem to make any changes to it, so if she's your fav char, vote Someone not listed...pretty sure she's the only one not listed anyway

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireFri Jan 22, 2016 1:57 am

Mary best character because pretty much every scene with her is crazy af.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireSat Feb 06, 2016 10:38 am

Huge delay bc I wasnt writing while I had pneumonia, but here's ch15

http://sta.sh/01mussfrf50v

Chapter 15

Spoiler :

Naito was 12 years old at the time. He was in just his underwear, laying face first on the floor, panting heavily. The skin on his back was covered in fresh, hideous red bruises. Sartur stood over him, frowning, holding a cane in his left hand.

“Get up, start over. That was only fifty.”

“I can't...”

Naito tried his hardest to get back up and start over. Sweat and tears poured down from his face. Sartur's hand moved faster than the naked eye could see; striking Naito's bare back with the cane. Naito howled and trashed around in pain. Sitting off in a corner of the room, Alsen, sat next to him, trying her hardest not to look. Sartur was forcing her to heal Naito whenever he got hurt too bad. This let him continue punishing the boy as much as he pleased, without the boy losing consciousness. Cosena was nowhere in sight; Sartur had already dragged her away, punishing her in ways unknown to Naito and Alsen. Naito had been foolish enough to kick a hole in the wall out of rage. Cosena took the blame for him, but Naito was still being punished. His punishment was to do a hundred-fifty push ups in a row, and if he stopped at all, he would have to start all over. By now this was his third attempt.

“Let's try this again. Shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?” Sartur asked.

“E-Easy way...”

“Then...get...back...up!” Sartur shouted, striking him with the cane between every word.

Naito was in too much pain to trash or scream anymore. He simply lay there in intense pain, trying his hardest, but failing, not to cry. This couldn't go on forever, right? Once Alsen was fatigued of magic energy, Sartur would have to stop, right?. If this was the easy way, what was the hard way?

“Are you crying?” Sartur spat the word at him, “I thought I made it clear that men don't cry! And you dare call yourself Looks like you want to do this the hard way.”

He grabbed Naito by the leg, lifting him off the floor and holding him upside down. Without warning, Naito found himself bombarded by a flurry of punches so fast the naked eye had no hope of keeping up, and so strong one could hear the blows landing on him clearly as they nearly dismantled every bone and organ in his already frail and battered body. In mere seconds, Sartur landed 150 blows across every inch of his body.

"Hmph" Sartur dropped Naito's near lifeless body to the floor. Still burning with disgust and anger, he turned his attention to his whimpering daughter.

Alsen couldn't control her crying. “F-Father, I-”

Not giving her a chance to refuse, Sartur picked up his cane and struck his daughter's arm with it. “Heal him!” He barked at her, the rage in his voice reverberating through the room.

“Y-Yes fa-ther...”

Alsen's voice cracked. Fearing Naito's safety more than hers, she scampered to his side and placed her hands on his chest. Her hands began to glow with a bright white aura, slowly healing all the damage Naito had took. Sartur had been beating Naito so badly that it required 30% of her magical energy to heal him each time. This was the third time, so after this she would only have 10% of her energy left. Not enough to heal Naito again. That meant this would be the end of his punishment, right?

As soon as she was finished healing him, Sartur pushed his daughter aside and yanked Naito up by his ankle again.

“Ah!!, OW!!!”

Sartur didn't waste a second. Naito didn't even get a chance to control his breathing before his body was roiled with another body shattering punch. Each strike was followed by another one in succession. The pace was much slower this time, allowing the naked eye to keep track of each one as they pummeled his body. Sartur knew this would be the last of Naito's punishment, so he intended to take his time.

Sartur threw Naito's limp body against the wall and picked up his cane again. Raising it to strike the boy, Sartur was caught off guard when the cane froze over in a block of ice. Sartur dropped it in shock and gawked at Naito, watching his son's hair and eyes glow. He was so stunned by the turn of events that he just barely dodged when a barrage of razor sharp blades of ice shot out of Naito's hands at him. Naito hadn't even known what he did or what was happening to him. When Sartur hit Alsen, Naito's emotions went haywire. It was one thing to abuse him, but to hit Alsen was a different story.

Snapping out of his daze, Sartur grabbed Naito by the throat, choking the air out of him. Naito's glowing stopped, and he grasped at his father's hand, trying desperately to pull it off his throat.

“I dare you to do that again.” Sartur said, grinding his teeth together.

“C-Can't breathe...”

Sartur dropped Naito's body to the floor, then walked out, slamming the door behind him. It shouldn't have even been possible to slam such a large door so loud; the sound reverberating through the room.

Naito jolted up, gasping for breath and grasping at his throat. What the hell? That was such a vivid nightmare! It felt just as real as the last dream he had of Nircogard. He had always tried his hardest to banish the memories of that day from his mind, and now he basically just relived it.

“It's okay, Naitey. You just had a bad dream.”

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Alsen, sitting on his bed with him. Naito looked around; it was just him and Alsen in their apartment room. Cosena must have already been up.

“Such humiliation...”, a voice whispered to him. Naito knew by now that this was Nircogard. Could Nircogard have gave him that nightmare?

“Yeah, so what? That was four years ago.” Naito replied in his mind.

“You still fear him...it is against a dragon's pride to fear anything. We do not fear; we are feared.”

“No I don't...besides, he feared me that day. I saw it in his eyes.”

“Yes...he saw the dragon within you, but that was a brief moment. Everyone should see me within you; always.”

“Go away, get out of my head already.”

“H-Huh...?” Alsen asked, blinking in surprise. Naito had accidentally said it out loud.

“Sorry, just talking to myself.” It was hardly a lie.

“You should get dressed and eat, everyone's already started the daily training.” Alsen said, motioning towards the tray of food on the table.

As Naito changed out of his pajamas, he couldn't help getting a good look at himself in the mirror. Since they were hiding inside for a whole month, they had focused most of their time into training. They had to be ready for anything. Naito's body had grown quite impressively during this time. He gained around fifty pounds, and his body was quite muscular now, with a lean build, thanks to Zento helping him weight train. Of course, his body was still nothing compared to Zento's. The soldier was an Earth-Sign, after all.

While he ate his breakfast, Naito kept fiddling with the charm bracelet he got from Leah. It was uncomfortably tight on his wrist, so he usually only wore it to sleep. He hadn't seen her in over a month, but he was thinking about her everyday. Right now he wanted nothing more than to see her again, so he decided to wear her charm bracelet all day. Leah had probably been waiting for him to visit her everyday, only to not hear from him for a month. He had to see her today.

Naito walked out of their room, carrying his tray, Alsen following behind him. In the living room, Zento and Alile sat face to face, surrounded by rocks and boulders. The two of them both had their wands extended and their eyes shut, focusing intently. Alvisa sat in the kitchen, watching.

“Eswrind...!” Alile muttered under her breath.

Her wand shone with a bright green light, and the rocks seemed to be levitating above the ground, but Zento's wand shone as well, and just like that, the rocks were back on the ground. How long had they been going at this exercise? They were both sweating and panting. If Zento had to keep the rocks on the ground, while Alile had to rise them to the air, it was just a huge battle of focus. If Zento were to lose his focus for even one second, Alile would have those rocks all in the air, but if she were to lose her focus, it wouldn't be good for her either. Naito found this battle of willpower highly interesting. How long would it last, and who would be the first to break?

“Naitey, you really need to stop turning the A/C so low. We're gonna catch a cold.” Alsen said as she increased the temperature on the thermostat.

“But it wasn't even cold...” Naito replied.

The presence of Naito and Alsen was enough to throw Zento's focus off.

“Ah, Lady Alsen!” He stood up and bowed properly.

“K-King Raizu!” Alvisa stood and did the same. “My apologies, my king, we did not know you were awake. Oh, let me get that for you!” She took his tray to the kitchen for him.

“Uh, Zento, you...might want to look behind you.” Naito said, pointing behind the soldier.

“Huh?”

Zento turned around only to be greeted by every single rock levitating in the air, shooting towards him. Quickly, he pointed his wand at them, causing them all to crumble to dirt.

“What the hell?! Are you insane?”

“I told you I would win this time.” Alile replied, standing and wiping sweat off her face.

“That doesn't even count as a win...” Zento just sighed.

As Naito and Alsen walked into the living room, Zento's eyes widened as he stared at Naito. Next thing Naito knew, Zento had him grabbed by the collar and slammed against the wall.

“Why....why do you have that?!” He demanded.

“What are you talking about? Get your hands off me!” Naito exclaimed.

“This!” Zento pulled at the bracelet on Naito's wrist, “Why do you have this? Where did you get that?!!!”

“Zento, calm down...” Alvisa placed her hand on his shoulder.

“What's it matter to you? I made it!” Naito lied.

Zento's slowly eased his grip on Naito, then let him go, scratching the back of his head.

“O-Oh...sorry man, I'm tripping. That just kinda looked like something I made a long time ago...”

“It's alright...it was just a misunderstanding, right?” replied Naito.

Zento nodded, “Yeah...a misunderstanding...s-so you don't let lady Cosena know!” Naito could sense the fear in him.

“Why are you scared of my sister?”

“He's afraid she'll beat him, my Lord.” Alvisa said.

“Why would she do that? Where is she, anyway?” Naito was confused.

“Because it happened to me.” Alile said. “She's in the bathroom. Said she wants a long, undisturbed bath.”

“Cosena has been hitting you guys? I'll have to talk to her about that...”

“N-No, please don't do that!”, Zento pleaded. “Don't tell her anything, come on I just lost my cool for a second!”

“Alright, if that's what you want.”

“Just don't let it happen again.” Alsen said, stepping between her and Zento. “I can be scarier than Cosena, trust me on that.” She winked at him, sending shivers down his spine.

As Naito walked away, he could hear Nircogard's voice in his head again. “Hold on...you're going to let that lowly soldier get away with putting his hands on you?”

Naito clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, of course, it was just a misunderstanding. It's not like he hurt me.

“Does this not hurt your pride...?”

“No, it doesn't. Now go away already.”

Nircogard didn't say anything else, so Naito looked out the window. It was a beautiful day outside. They've been hiding inside for a whole month now, surely Mary wasn't still after them. Perhaps they should go out today. Maybe he'd even get a chance to see Leah.

“It's your choice, isn't it? You're the king.”

“I said go away.” Naito said, as he walked back to the living room with everyone else. Even though he told Nircogard to go away, he agreed with him. He's the king, it's his choice, so they're going to go out and do something fun today.

“Everybody!”, he declared. “Today, we're going to the beach!”

The soldiers stared at him blankly, surprised by his sudden proclamation, while Alsen gasped in excitement. “The beach? Really?”

“Oh, this could be fun...” Zento said with a smirk.

“But my Lord, aren't we supposed to keep it low?” Alvisa asked.

“The king gets what the king wants.” Alile stood behind Alvisa with her hand on her shoulder, “Or do you rebel against the king? We should slit your throat for such seditious words.”

“N-No, of course not!” Alvisa replied.

They heard the bathroom door open and shut, and Cosena came out dressed in a bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a towel.

“What's all the commotion about?” She asked.

“We're going to the beach, Cosena!” Alsen exclaimed.

Cosena massaged her temples, “No...we're not. It's only been a month, we're not going anywhere. Even if we were, we wouldn't be fooling around, we'd be heading to Kricade like we're supposed too.”

“But that's not until the night of the blood moon.” Naito cut in, “Are you afraid, Cosena? If all you want to do is hide away in fear, we should just go back to the castle. It's the safest place we can be. I'll let father know we're coming back home right now. Alsen, let me see your phone.”

Alsen took a step back, “Huh? W-We're not really going back...are we?”

“Ask Cosena, she's the one who wants to go back. Maybe we should send her back alone?”

Cosena placed her hand on Naito's shoulder, gripping it a little too tight. “Naito...you're going too far.” The way she said it, Naito couldn't help feeling guilty. Being in that castle again was not something she wanted to imagine. “Okay, fine, whatever. We'll go to the beach. Is there even a beach out here?”

“Yes.” Alile said, “But we'll have to take the bus to get there.”

Making no attempt to hide her excitement, she jumped for joy, then summoned Croakie. Naturally, Naito summoned Shadow as well. Might as well bring out the full Spirit party.

“Croakie, we're going to the beach! Now I can finally build a sand castle!” Alsen exclaimed, throwing Croakie into the air and catching him.

“Ah, the beach...” Croakie said, once Alsen was done tossing him around, “Reminds me of my little pond...”

Croakie reminisced about the days when he was alive. He lived together happily with his friends and family, in a little pond at a park. The pond was slowly becoming polluted, and one day it got so bad that it killed everything living in it. Including Croakie.

“I object!” Shadow exclaimed, “I do not support the idea of getting wet!” Shadow shook his head at the mere thought of being in water.

“Not like you have to be summoned in the first place...” Croakie said with a roll of his eyes. “Besides, you could use a good soaking, filthy mutt.”

“What are you trying to say, slime toad?!” Shadow barked, but Alsen shoved Croakie into her pocket before their little fight could continue.

“My apologies, my Lord.” Alile said, “It would be best if you two didn't do that in public.”

“Huh? Do what in public?” Naito was confused.

“Summon those Animal Spirits.”

“Why not? Humans can't see them anyway!” Alsen said.

“Yeah, but talking to invisible creatures will attract attention.” Zento added.

“Should we prepare the picnic?” Alile asked, even though no one said anything about a picnic.

Naito gasped in excitement. Hearing the word picnic reminded him of the day he and Alsen had a pretend picnic in their room. If they had that much fun with a pretend picnic, imagine how much fun a real picnic at the beach would be!

“A picnic? Did you hear that, Alsen? We're going to have a real picnic!” He grabbed his sisters hands and spun around in circles with her. Their smiles couldn't have possibly been any bigger.

Seeing how happy they were brought a smile Alvisa's face. The happiness was contagious. “It's kinda cute how excited they are.” she whispered.

“Less chit chat, more work. Come on, we need to prepare the picnic.” Alile grabbed Alvisa by the arm, dragging her in the kitchen. “You too, Zento.”

Before following Alile and Alvisa in the kitchen, Zento watched Alsen and Naito for a short moment.

“They're lucky to have each other...” He wiped a tear off his cheek which he didn't know where it came from.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireSun Feb 14, 2016 8:54 pm

Chapter 16 is here, and cray cray shit happens.

Chapter 16

http://sta.sh/022xxfayhrqc

Spoiler :

They had to wait at the bus stop for half an hour before the bus finally arrived. Naito hadn't took his seat yet when the bus took off, and as a result, he fell into Alsen's lap. She giggled and called him 'silly Naitey'. He hadn't expected the ride to be so bumpy. At the bus's first stop, a man put a dollar in the machine, but the driver told him it's two dollars to ride. The man said that was his only dollar and he's been waiting in the heat all day, so the driver better let him on. The driver insisted he couldn't, so the man demanded he give him his dollar back, but the driver couldn't because the machine already took it. The man went silent, and his rage could be felt before he even spoke. He ran his hand through his hair, looked from left to right, then started shouting vulgar things at the driver. Even once he was off the bus, he was still pointing and shouting.

Alsen thought it was scary, but Naito felt a little bad for that guy. His only dollar was basically stolen from him, and he was left out in the heat. Naito sure knew he would hate to be stranded in the heat. He felt grateful that his family had so much money.

The rest of the ride was smooth, but dreadfully boring. Naito ended up falling asleep with his head in Alsen's lap. Alsen couldn't resist taking multiple pictures of this. As he slept, Naito had a strange dream about himself and some girl he didn't know, but was awaken by Alsen shaking him.

“Naitey, we're here! The beach!”

Naito could hardly remember the dream he was having, thanks to be awaken so suddenly. All he remembered was himself in a garden with a girl, which was weird, since had never been in a garden in his life. He shut his eyes and tried his best to remember his dream, but he couldn't remember much at all. He couldn't even remember the girl's face, but he naturally assumed it was Alsen, or, of course, it could have been Cosena.

Alsen shook him again, and Naito opened his eyes again. Everyone else was getting off the bus.

“Come on, Naitey!” Alsen pleaded, tugging on his arm, looking more desperate than excited now. She looked frantically over her shoulder as Zento, Alile, and Alvisa got off the bus. She must have been afraid that Naito was going to cause them to get left behind.

Naito rubbed his eyes, then jolted up. “Oh, the beach! Picnic, here we come!” His and Alsen's roles were suddenly reversed. Rather than her tugging on his arm, Naito grabbed her hand and ran out, ahead of everyone else.

“Hey, don't just run off on your own!” Cosena shouted, running after them. They both got swatted on the back of their heads by Cosena's hand when she caught up to them. Not that they cared, they were both far too excited. They stared in amazement at the beach. Naito's only complaint was that there were so many people there, though it wasn't a big deal to him. He was just about to run over there, but his jaw dropped in shock and his face flushed when Cosena swept him off his feet. She held him with one arm under his knees and around his waist, and her other arm around his back.

“Aren't you forgetting something?” she asked, turning to face the soldiers, who were far ahead on the sidewalk, waiting patiently for the siblings to catch up. In Naito's excitement, he had forgotten that they had to go shopping for beach supplies first.

Cosena casually walked towards the soldiers while carrying Naito. Zento almost burst into laughter at such a sight, but Alvisa elbowed him in the gut. A little too hard. He squirmed and twisted, but failed to get down. “Put me down already!” he demanded.

Cosena laughed. “Even with the muscle you put on, you're still just as light as when you were a baby.” She smiled as if reminiscing about Naito's baby days.

“That's because you're an Earth-Sign!” he shouted, his face as red as a tomato. Alsen found this all far too cute and dug into her pocket for her phone.

“No!” Naito yelled when he saw what she was doing. “Do NOT take a picture of this!” Alsen giggled and ignored his desperate plea, snapping several pictures. It was hopeless to resist anymore, it was a no win situation for him.

Why do you let her humiliate you like this? Nircogard asked, unexpectedly.

Naito was tired of hearing Nircogard and did not want to answer his question, but figured the dragon would pester him until he did. “It's fine, she's my older sister. It's just harmless fun. Sisters will be sisters.” Thankfully, Nircogard said nothing else.

Cosena carried Naito the entire fifteen minute walk to the mall. He weighed around 150 pounds, yet she carried him the whole time like he weighed nothing. She was too strong for her own good, Naito thought. Alsen must have took at least a hundred pictures, and it took everything within Zento to not burst into laughter. Even after Alile told him he'll be punished by Cosena if he laughs, he still had a hard time holding it in.

Cosena didn't put Naito down until they were inside the mall. It was crowded and bustling inside, so Cosena told Naito and Alsen to make sure they hold hands so they don't get lost in the swarm of people here. Alsen was already going to hold Naito's hand regardless, but Naito said that Cosena didn't need to treat them like little babies. Cosena ruffled his hair and told him they might not be little babies, but they are her little eagles.

They took the escalators up to the second floor. Naito couldn't stop talking about how amazing the concept of moving stairs was, while Alsen thought it was so fun they should do it again. Cosena grabbed her by the ear, dragging her along before she could even try it.

First they would find something for Naito, so they looked through the Male Swimwear aisle. Alsen found a pair of white swim trunks with lightning bolt designs on the sides, so Naito changed into them and a sleeveless black T-shirt. He got a pair of sandals as well, but wouldn't put them on until they were at the beach. When he came out the changing room, Alsen insisted that he looked awesome. Zento got a simple pair of red swim trunks for himself and nothing else.

In the females section, Alsen kept picking out different stuff and showing it to Cosena, but every time, Cosena told her it was too revealing and she needs to pick out something more modest. Alsen eventually found a pink sundress, along with a matching yellow one for Cosena, which Cosena couldn't find any reason to reject. There was nothing revealing about it. Alile and Alvisa must have been waiting to see what Alsen and Cosena would pick out, since they got sundresses for themselves after they saw what Alsen found. Alile's was purple, while Alvisa's was light blue.

“Girls are weird.” Naito said while he and Zento waited for the girls to change.

“Pfft, yeah. I was hoping they'd all be in super revealing bikinis.” Zento said.

“What's a 'super revealing bikini'?” Naito asked. He and Zento were clearly talking about two different things. Naito simply thought it was weird how Alile and Alvisa copied what Alsen and Cosena were going to wear. He had no clue what Zento was talking about.

Zento blinked at him. “I-Is that a serious question...?”

“Yes.”

“Uh...forget I said that then, and please don't tell Lady Cosena!”

No more than two minutes later, Alsen came out of the changing room. The sundress was a few inches above her knees, but it wasn't too short.

“What do you think, Naitey? How do I look?” she asked with a twirl.

“You look like Alsen, of course.” Naito replied.

Alsen giggled. “That means gorgeous!”

“I'm more curious to see what Cosena will look like. It's hard to imagine her in something like that.”

Alile and Alvisa came out a few seconds later, but Cosena took a whole five minutes to come out. She stood timidly with her hands behind her back and her cheeks flushed slightly, glancing to the side. Unlike the other girls, she kept her shirt on under the sundress, keeping her arms covered, and also wore a pair of leggings under it, which nobody had even seen her pick out. Nobody made any mention of it, though. Alsen got a big smile on her face and started taking pictures of her.

“C-Cut it out, Alsen...” Cosena said, her cheeks flushing even more.

“But you look so cute right now! Don't you think so, Naitey?”

Naito clasped his hands behind his head and smiled a toothy, boyish grin. “Yeah, Alsen's right, you're adorable, Cosena. You look even better than Alsen!” He laughed and started running before Alsen could even process what he just said.

“Wait a minute...that's not funny, Naito!” Alsen exclaimed and chased after Naito, but he already got an ahead start.

“Knock it off, you two.” Cosena tried, but failed to resist laughing at her two silly little eagles.

They ended up getting sandals for everyone, sunblock, a beach umbrella, beach chairs, a beach ball, and a shovel and pail so Alsen could make her sand castle. Cosena also got a a sunhat and a pair of sunglasses for herself.

There were hundreds of people at this beach, but they managed to find a clear spot to set everything up. When they finished, the first thing Alsen did was poke Naito in the ribs and say 'Tag, you're it!', and take off running.

“Hey, that's no fair!” Naito complained taking off after her. Alsen's legs were longer than his, so he was having a hard time keeping up with her. She was practically running circles around him. Naito rested his hands on his knees, panting. He noticed the soldiers were sitting on the picnic blanket, doing...nothing. Cosena was sitting in a chair under the umbrella, reading a newspaper she got while they were at the mall.

“Wait are you guys doing? Get her!”

“But, my king, shouldn't we stay on guard in case something happens?” Alvisa asked.

Naito couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were at the beach, and these three expected to just sit there in case something happened? In case what happened? Nothing would happen. It's been a whole month, they're safe now. No one knew who they were, so nothing bad would happen.

“As your king, I order you to go get her. Now!”

The soldiers looked at each other, then stood. “Of course. At once, my king.” She curtsied, then the three of them ran after Alsen. Alile caught her in just a few seconds, and Alsen came storming over to Naito, hands on her hips.

“Naito, that's not fair!” she complained, “Alile's an Air-Sign! There's no way I can outrun her!”

“I advise that you watch the words you use in public, Lady Alsen.” Alile said.

“But it's not fair!”

“Why don't we play a game where her speed won't matter, then?” Naito suggested.

Alsen crossed her arms. “Hmph, I don't want to play anymore. I think I'll build my sandcastle now.”

“More like my castle, since I'm the king around here.” Naito replied.

“Silly Naitey, you're the king of the empire. I'm the queen of the castle!”

“I believe you two should watch the words you use in public, Lady Alsen and King Raizu.” Alile said in a low voice.

Alsen and Naito began building what they planned to be the biggest sandcastle ever. Alile joined them.

“Do we really have to do this...? It's so childish.” Zento said.

“Oh come on, it'll be fun.” Alvisa said and the two of them joined the rest in building the sandcastle.

Naito noticed that Cosena was still sitting under the umbrella all by herself. Why wasn't she playing with them? He told the others that he'd be back, then sat next to Cosena.

“What are you reading?” he asked.

Cosena nearly dropped the newspaper, startled. She was so intrigued by whatever she was reading, she hadn't even noticed Naito come over to her.

“This article is...rather interesting.” she told him, handing it to him so he could read it for himself. “For decades now, young children and infants have been disappearing without a trace. There is still no idea who is doing this or what is happening to these kids. Parents everywhere still live in fear of losing their kids to this unknown criminal.”

As Naito read this, he remembered Leah telling him that her brother suddenly disappeared one day. Could whatever is happening to these kids have happened to him? Naito felt anger burning up in him. What type of sick monster would do something like this? What could they have to gain from tearing families apart like that? Being a parent and losing your child to some unknown force, never to see them again...that must be one of the most painful things a parent could go through. How could anyone get away with a crime like that for so long? Could the king of Maeurthan be any more incompetent? This is why the world needs a ruler like Naito...

It's just human scum, what do you care?

Naito thought Nircogard wouldn't speak anymore today, but he was wrong. Human scum...what did he care what happened to them? They waged a brutal war in attempt to eliminate witches and wizards from the world. The king of this continent executed his mother for being nothing more than he who she was, yet here Naito was feeling sorry for the human race? Naito knew the reason he felt this way. Leah. What was so different about that girl? Why did he get such strange feelings from her?

“Not every human is scum...”

Naito watched kids playing in the water. Just simply being human didn't make someone evil. The war was over two hundred years ago, none of these people were even alive back then. King Maru was pure scum for having Naito's mom executed, but it wouldn't be long before the whole world obeyed Naito, and Naito alone. Honestly, what was so different from humans and wizards anyway? Witches and Wizards have magical power. So what? Humans could be trained to learn magic and become Magicians. It was stupid how they were treated as two entirely different species, when the only different physical trait witches and wizards have compared to humanity is their hair and eye colors. Such a petty thing. If humanity had just tried to live together in peace with the witches and wizards, things could have been so much different. Naito would fix what was broken. Once he rules the world, the two 'species' would be one and the same, living together in harmony.

“Are you done?” Cosena asked, snapping Naito out of his daze.

“Huh? Y-Yeah...it's despicable...”

“You zoned out for a minute there. Are you okay?” Cosena looked at him with concern.

“I'm fine.”

Naito handed the paper back to Cosena and noticed that Alsen's sandcastle was getting huge. It was all the way up to her waist!

“Hey guys, don't finish without me!” he called after them, “Come on, Cosena!”

“Hang on, I'd like to finish reading first.”

“You're going to miss out on all the fun, you can read that later.” It was the first time Cosena had ever seen Naito in disagreement with reading. Reading had always been the boy's favorite hobby, they had to really be having fun for him to not want to read.

“If you insist...” Cosena got up and followed him over to where Alsen and the soldiers were working on the sandcastle.

They didn't stop building until the sandcastle was the same height as Alsen. It was such an impressive sight that several people stopped what they were doing to watch in awe as the built it. When they finished, Naito took a picture of Alsen standing next to it with her phone.

The Water-Signs all wanted to get in the water, so they ended up playing a game of 'splash', which Alsen thought of off the top of her head. They were split into two teams: siblings vs soldiers. All they had to do was try to splash each other, and the team with the most splashes in thirty minutes would win. They all lost count, so they agreed that everybody won. After their picnic, they would go for a round two, where they wouldn't lose count. Or at least, they would try not to. It turned out that the picnic Naito was so excited for was nothing more than everyone sitting on a blanket, eating an d talking. Even still, it was by far the happiest lunch he had ever had in his life, and he wasn't wrong to be excited. The day had been so much fun so far, and it wasn't even over yet. His only regret was that he hadn't went to visit Leah. Instead, here he was having the time of his life. He was Leah's only friend, there was no way she wasn't hoping he'd come visit her every day. Guilt slowly overwhelmed him as they ate. He shouldn't be here...he should be visiting his friend. How long was he going to keep her waiting? Eventually she would probably lose hope in him...he couldn't allow that. He had to devise a plan to sneak out of here, but he knew if he left now, his sisters would panic.

“It's alright, they'll get over it”

“To make that statement, you must not know my sisters.” Naito replied to Nircogard in his head.

“It's not like anything bad is going to happen. You'll just go see your friend, then come back. They'll have attitude, and get over it eventually. Or, you could leave your 'friend' waiting forever. She'll think she was a fool for believing she made a friend, and if you ever see her again, she will hate you. Is that what you want?”

“I don't know...shouldn't I just let my sisters know?” That would be the logical thing to do, wouldn't it? Naito was sure they wouldn't agree with him going to see her, but at least if he let them know before sneaking away, they would know where he went, right? If he just left without a word, they would think he was attacked again. He couldn't scare them like that.

“You're a king, a powerful wizard, you're ME. Who's permission do you need to do what you want? Just how little pride do you have?”

“I have enough pride to listen to myself rather than you.”

Nircogard said nothing further, and Naito decided that he would tell his sisters everything about Leah and how she made him feel, and that he needed to see her again. Yet here they were, on the bus again, headed back to their apartment. He should have told them when he had the chance, so they could stop at her house before going back. But every time he tried to tell them, the words got caught in his throat, and he never actually said anything. Was he nervous, afraid of what they might say? Was he too embarrassed at his own strange feelings to tell his sisters? He didn't know, but he did know he blew his chance. It was only 3 p.m, still plenty of time until dark, and they hadn't passed the street Leah lives on yet. He still had time to say something, or he could wait until they got back. The address Leah gave him wasn't too far from where they were staying, it would just take him around thirty minutes to get there on foot. Naito thought he had put the piece of paper Leah's address was wrote on back in his pocket, but a stranger that was sitting in front of him tapped him on the shoulder and handed it to him, telling him he dropped it. It was a girl, but Naito couldn't really see her face because she had a scarf wrapped around her mouth, and was wearing a pair of sunglasses and had a hood over her head. She looked strange and suspicious, but she gave Naito the paper he dropped, and for that he was grateful. He didn't think he'd be able to remember Leah's address off the top of his head.

When they got back to the apartment, Alsen and Cosena ended up falling asleep. Naito guessed all the fun from the beach wore them out. Now that they were sleep, Naito concluded he would just walk to Leah's house, then come back later. The only problem was if they woke up before he got back, but that was where his loyal soldiers came in.

Naito went in the living room, where the soldiers were engaged in a game of cards.

“Soldiers, I'm going out for a walk. If Alsen or Cosena ask where I am, tell them I went for a walk five minutes ago. I don't care what time it is when they ask, tell them I left five minutes ago. Understood?”

Alvisa stood up. “My king, shall I accompany you in case s-”

“I appreciate your concern, but I'm perfectly capable of taking a walk on my own. If you want to be a useful soldier, stay here and do exactly as I told you. Are we clear on your mission?”

“Yes, king Raizu.” the three of them said in unison. Their king seemed far more serious than they had never seen him, so they took him just as seriously. With that, Naito was gone.

“Where is king Raizu going?” Alvisa asked, “He wouldn't tell us to lie for him if he was just going on a walk...”

“Don't worry, he'll be back alive.” Alile said.

“More importantly...” Zento said, “What's up with you personally asking to 'accompany' him?”

Alvisa blushed at what Zento was implying. “Y-You have the wrong idea! I would never....I was just offering to be by his side in case Mary showed up again...”

“You did have a lustful look in your eyes, though.” Alile chimed in, causing Alvisa to blush even more.

“See! I knew you've been eyeing him, even though you already have a man!” Zento exclaimed, furiously.

“N-No! Alile's just being Alile, she always says random nonsense! Why would you take her seriously?”

“It was a joke.” Alile admitted, “I just wanted to see your reaction, Zento.”

Zento balled his fist and ground his teeth at her. “I'm going to get you back one of these days...”

While the soldiers settled their little argument, Alsen was woke up by her phone ringing in her pocket. She yawned and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes before her mind was able to process just what was happening. Her phone was ringing, and the only people with her number are Cosena, Naito, and their father. Cosena was fast asleep, so it couldn't be her, and Naito's phone was stolen. Did that mean their father was calling her? Why would he be calling her instead of Cosena? Had he already tried to call her, but she didn't hear it because she's sleep? Timidly, she reached into her pocket for her phone. Her heart skipped a couple of beats. It was Naito. There was no way he could be calling her if his phone was stolen! Was the thief calling her? Why? She knew it would be best to tell Cosena, but her sister looked so peaceful in her sleep, she didn't want to disturb her. With shaking fingers, she answered.

“Hello...?”

“Hi! This is Alsen Raizu, correct?” asked the female voice on the other line.

“That depends, who's asking?” Alsen did her best not to show her fear in her voice.

The girl on the phone began to laugh. It wasn't a laugh as if something was genuinely funny. It was a shrill, manic, malicious sound that sent chills through Alsen's whole body.

“Try banging that thick skull of yours on a wall, I'm buried somewhere in your memories. I'll give you a hint, does the name Mary ring a bell? Remember? I'm the one you left behind!” She said, cryptically. Her voice went from malicious to plaintive.

Why did she speak as if Alsen should know her? She only knew of someone by the name Mary because that's what Naito called the girl that attacked him in the forest. Alsen realized how bad she messed up by answering the phone. If this Mary girl was the one pursuing them, and she was speaking to her on the phone, then she knew Naito was still alive.

“Are you still there?” Mary asked when Alsen went silent, “Is Naito with you right now? He promised he'd be here by four...I'm worried he'll be late.”

Alsen fake cried, though it was hardly fake at all. “What are you talking about? Naito d-died a month ago...” She had to try to convince her Naito was really dead, otherwise the whole point of them hiding for a month went to waste.

Mary let out that horrendous, manic laugh again, only this time, she laughed longer and harder. She must have been clutching her gut, rolling on the floor in laughter with how hard she was laughing. “Dead? You are such a bad liar! He just arrived! My my, color me surprised! Little Naitey is actually here earlier than I predicted!”

Alsen's heartbeat was beating three times faster than it's normal rate, and sweat was dripping off her forehead. What did she mean Naito just arrived? He was here with everybody, wasn't he? What the hell is going on?

“Where?! Where is Naito?! Where are you? What are you going to do to him?! I'm warning you, if you lay a finger on him, I will make you regret your existence!” Alsen couldn't hide her panic.

“Oh, you want to play too? We're at my place on 7643 North Willow Street. Can't wait until you get here!” Mary hung up.

Alsen barged out of the room, demanding from the soldiers to know where Naito is. Her head almost exploded in anger when they told him he went for a walk five minutes ago.

“You fools!” Alsen shouted at them, tears streaming down her face. “Why did you let him go out on his own? Naito is in danger!” She broke down into uncontrollable sobs, slamming her fist on the wall.

“L-Lady Alsen...what's going on?” Zento asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her, but she swatted him across the face with the back of her hand.

“I don't know...but he's with Mary! She lured him into a trap or something, and he's in serious danger!” Alsen wiped snot off her face, regaining her composure. “We don't have a second to waste, we need to get to him, now!” She rushed outside, not even waiting for the soldiers to follow after her.

Naito stood in front of a house in a small neighborhood, with Shadow by his side. He didn't like walking such a long distance by himself, so he summoned his friend for company. Shadow had insisted that this might not be a good idea, but Naito didn't listen. He was determined to see Leah. But was this the right place...? There were no signs of anyone living there, and there was a 'For Sale' sign in front of the house. He rung the doorbell ten times already but there was no answer.

“8034 South Dallo Street...this is the place.” he said, reading the piece of paper Leah wrote her address down on.

“Maybe we should go back, Naito. Something doesn't feel right...” Shadow said.

“No...someone will answer. This is Leah's house, it has to be.”

Just as all Naito's hope diminished and he was about to walk away, the door suddenly swung open, hitting the door with a loud slam. Naito gasped in shock at what he saw. Ten Maeruthan soldiers rushed out the house, circling around him, pointing high powered rifles at his head.

“Young man, what's your name?” asked one of the soldiers, still pointing his weapon at Naito, ready to shoot him down any second.

Naito gulped. Why where these soldiers in Leah's house? Why were they pointing their weapons at him and demanding to know who he is? He hadn't gave out his identity to anyone...how could they possibly know he wasn't human? The only human he even had a conversation with was...Leah. Could it be that she saw through his lies and reported him? Was the moment they shared together false? Had he been a fool to think he could be friends with a human? He refused to believe it...he couldn't believe it! Leah set him up! All this time he was worried about her, and she betrayed him like this! The thoughts clouded his mind with rage, spiraling it into further turmoil.

“I'll ask one more time...what's your name.” The soldier questioned him again.

People that lived in this neighborhood watched on, helpless and scared They didn't know Naito wasn't human, but if he used his magic now, his secret would be known to the world.

“My name...? It's Nate Emerald. Why, am I in trouble for something?”

“It's pointless to question him any further, this is the guy. Naito Emerald Raizu...Nate Emerald. Kid, that's the worst alias I've ever heard.” Naito's eyes widened when the soldier used his full real name, and his reaction seemed to reassure the soldiers that he was indeed Naito.

“Put your hands up where we can see them, now!” Naito obliged, slowly raising his hands in the air.

“Naito...this is really bad.” Shadow said, baring his fangs, ready to attack these men. Naito stared at him, desperately pleading with his eyes for Shadow to not do anything rash. If he were to suddenly attack, the soldiers would panic and shoot Naito dead.

“Number nine to number eleven, number nine to number eleven. Do you copy?” one of the soldiers spoke into his earpiece. “Yes, he's still alive...should we fire? Right, on it.

“Kid, we've been given permission to kill you. Any final words before you go?”

They were really going to kill him...for what? He didn't do anything wrong, yet in their minds, he deserved to die just for being a wizard. Just like how king Maru killed his mother for being nothing more than who she was. Naito's rage was reaching it's boiling point, but he kept his composure. He wouldn't let them kill him so easily, that would be far too shameful. How would he face his mother in the afterlife if he died here without accomplishing her one wish?

The only advantage these soldiers had over him was their guns. If they couldn't shoot, they couldn't harm him. It no longer mattered that they were in public. If these men knew who he was, the whole world was likely to know soon anyway, and that was a better situation than dying.

“This is stupid. We have their king right in front of us, and we're giving him final words? Just shoot already!”

They all attempted to pull their triggers at the same time, but were shocked to find that the triggers were frozen solid. Without moving a muscle or saying a word, Naito had got rid of their only hope of killing him. Now the question was: what should he do with these guys? Shadow answered that question for Naito. While they were still shocked at their frozen triggers, Shadow pounced on one of the men, biting right into his throat. The man screamed in pain, and within seconds, he was dead. The other soldiers panicked at what just happened. Their partner's throat was ripped apart, but they hadn't even seen anything happen to him, since humans can't see Animal Spirits.

“Pl-plan B! Switch to plan B!” One of the other men shouted.

Shadow was already on top of another soldier, when the rest of them thrust their hands forward. Stone, tiny tornadoes, pulses of water, and sparks of flame all shot towards Naito at the same time. Naito, shocked as he was, jumped back and waved his arm in a circle, putting himself inside a large snowball, which took all the damage for him. Before his snowball disappeared from taking so much damage, Naito pulled out his wand and transformed it into Cieseroe.

“Magicians...”

First there was Mary, now there's these soldiers using magic? Who was teaching these people magic? Naito didn't have time to to think about this. These men were after his life, and Naito was not about to give them any openings to do so. Pulling the trigger, he unleashed a furious barrage of ice missiles at them, shooting out at them pace as bullets. Each man lay on the ground unconscious and bleeding, some with their throats brutally torn apart, thanks to Shadow. The people who had been watching were screaming. Some stared in horror, while others ran in their houses, fearing their own lives.

“Naito...we need to get out of here.” Blood dripped from Shadow's mouth. He truly looked like a predator.

“Shadow...” Naito said. This was the second time he had seen Shadow's mouth covered in blood like this, and he didn't like it at all.

Naito nearly jumped out of his skin when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see none other than Mary herself, standing on his skateboard with a huge grin on her face. Of course she'd be involved in any attempt on his life. Shadow instantly charged at her, but she simply teleported a good distance away.

“Y-You!” Naito stuttered. Shadow stood in front of him, baring his fangs at Mary.

“Hello again, Naito. I missed you! It must have been longer than I thought, 'cuz oh my god, where did you get that body?”

She teleported back over to him and felt on his biceps, then quickly teleported away again before he could even react to her touch. Naito was silent. He had no clue what to say to this sadistic maniac.

“I'm afraid we can't play here. The guy I allied myself with doesn't want me to make a mess of his continent, you see.” Mary said, still grinning.

“I guess we won't be playing your games then.” Naito said, trying to piece her words together in his head. The guy she allied herself with...make a mess of his continent...she allied herself with the king of Maeruthan? By now Naito was fully convinced that Mary is a witch. If she was allied with king Maru, then it was entirely possible she trained his kingdom in magic.

“Aww, don't worry, we can still play. Follow me, I know a place we can play.”

“And if I say no?”

“You don't want to play with me today? Oh dear me, did I do something to hurt you?” she asked, mockingly. Naito didn't grace her with a response. “Maybe you're just tired of always playing with girls? Alsen and Cosena smother you way too much, I suppose it can't be helped. If you don't want to play with me, I can always play with Alsen instead. You'd love it if I got her off your back.” Mary licked her lips in satisfaction when she saw Naito's facial expression contort with rage and fury.

“What did you do to Alsen?!” he demanded, pointing Cieseroe at her.

“You'll never know unless you follow me~!” she said in a singsong voice, riding away on his skateboard.

Naito and Shadow didn't need to think twice before giving chase after her.

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Apr 20, 2016 2:32 am

Alright sorry for the huge delay, heres ch17. Please forgive me if it sucks, this chapter was extremely hard to write and slowed down my writing progress significantly. Let me know if you spot any mistakes in there. I'll post chapter eighteen as well, and chapter 19 will be posted later or tomorrow.

Also, important Author's Note: Alvisa's name has been changed to Casele, due to the confusion of so many characters having 'A' names. Also, I am going back and editing each chapter. If you want to read the edited chapters (which I highly advise), you can find them here on my blog

Chapter 17

Prince Silver

Spoiler :

Alsen ran through the streets as fast as her legs would take her, pushing past any passerby that got in her way. She did not care who stared at her, she didn't even care that they could see the green aura around her body. Nothing mattered right now but saving Naito. Zento and Casele, also with green aura's around their bodies, were running as fast as they could, but still lagged feet behind Alsen. After a few minutes the speed spell Alile had cast on them wore off, and their speed was drastically decreased.

“Cast it again!” Alsen shouted.

However, Alile did not cast her spell again. Alsen glanced over her shoulder while still running, resulting in her bumping into a street pole.

“Where did she go? She was just...” Casele asked, helping Alsen back to her feet.

Alile was nowhere in sight, even though she had been running alongside the rest of them the whole time, despite the fact that she was far faster than Zento, Alsen, and Casele combined.

“I wouldn't worry about her, she probably decided to run ahead of us.” Zento said, wiping sweat off his face.

Alsen took just a few seconds to catch her breath before taking off running again. She had to run without the help of a speed spell, but so be it. What else was she supposed to do? There was no sense in waiting around for Alile to come back from wherever she went. How dare she just run off without saying anything anyway? She’d better have gone ahead to save Naito, or else...if she thought Cosena’s way of punishing her was bad, she’d better be ready for the worst when this was over.

Alsen grimaced at the annoying, blaring sound of sirens. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw flashing blue and red lights a distance behind them in the streets.

“I-I think we're being pursued!” Casele exclaimed.

“What a surprise...three people running through the streets with magic around them totally wouldn't attract any attention.” Zento said, sardonically.

Alsen reached into her pocket for her wand, but swore under her breath when she realized it wasn't there. How had she managed to forget something so important? If she was going to have to fight Mary, she'd need her wand, but there was no time to go back for it. If she were to do that, who knows what could happen to Naito in that time?

She stopped running, shut her eyes, and placed her palms together. After taking a deep breath, she chanted “Invisibale!” and vanished from sight.

Alsen felt a slight throbbing in her head as she ran. Invisibale was a spell that would have already required a large portion of her magical energy to cast with her wand. Without her wand, her magical energy was cut in half and her spells required twice as much mental focus to cast.

She wasn’t sure if Zento and Casele were following her or not until she tripped over her own shoelaces, which, in her haste, she had forgot to tie. Her fall had caused the invisibility spell to wear off, but she didn’t care. The cars that were pursuing them were no longer anywhere in sight. She heard Casele gasp behind her, then felt her hands helping her back to her feet.

Her face bruised from her fall and smeared in dirt, Alsen continued to run. As she did, she thought about how much fun they were all having at the beach just a few hours ago. She and Naito were having the time of their lives, without a care in the world, but now...why did she have to fall asleep?!

Alsen’s body wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the soft grass by the time she got to the address Mary had given her. It looked like any ordinary neighborhood, with several lined up houses that looked fit to hold no more than five. The lawns were all neatly trimmed and the flowerbeds around the houses had a beautiful variety of flowers. Breathing heavily, Alsen walked up to the house and began banging on the door and repeatedly pressing the doorbell.

“Naito? Naito are you in there?!” she asked loudly, trying to peer through the window, but her vision was obscured by the curtains.

“Lady Alsen, something's not right.” Zento whispered, his hand pressed to the ground and his eyes shut as if concentrating on something.

As ordinary as this neighborhood was, there was something odd. It was quiet. Far too quiet for comfort. The only sounds were the whistling of the gentle winds and Alsen banging on the door, calling Naito's name. There wasn't a citizen in sight, which could be explained by the hour, as the sun was starting to set, but there also wasn't a single car parked anywhere.

“Lady Alsen, I think you should stop...” Casele said warningly, but Alsen was not listening.

Alsen locked her fingers together and, thrusting her palms forward, shot the door down with a powerful blast of water. Zento and Casele called for her to wait but she payed them no mind and barged inside. She couldn't see anyone downstairs, but heard a voice speak from the upper floor.

“Prince Silver, do you copy? Targets W-A, W-C, and W-Z have broke in. No sign of target W-AL.”

“Copy that. Backup is on the way.” replied a deep, muffled voice that sounded as if it was on the other side of a radio.

Alsen attempted to run up the stairs, but Zento grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back. “Lady Alsen, please do not do anything rash! He said they've got backup on the way. If we don't leave now they'll have us surrounded!”

Alsen did not care for what he had to say. She shot a blast of pressured water out of her palm at him, blasting him against the wall with a loud THUD!, then ran up the stairs three at a time. Blasting the doors down one by one, she searched them all for any sign of Naito, but found nothing until she entered the master bedroom. The second she entered, before she could even see anything, her eyes were burning and her vision was blinded. Someone had shot something into her eyes. She heard someone slam and lock the door, felt someone push her to the floor and was now bounding her hands together. She struggled, but was held down by what felt like four or five people.

“Prince Silver, do you copy? We've captured targ-”

It sounded like the door was kicked down, and the man who was speaking was hit with a heavy object, yelped in pain, and thrown at someone else. The people holding Alsen down let go of her, and someone unbound her hands. Alsen placed her hand on her watering eyes, using her water magic to wash out whatever had entered her eyes. The pain in her head was becoming too much to bear, but her vision now clear. Zento and Casele had their wands out and transformed and were fighting against a group of armored men.

Zento was throwing mighty punches at anyone his fists could reach, knocking them out cold after just a few blows, despite their heads being protected by their metal helmets. Casele was having a harder time, swinging her halberd in wide arcs at the three men around her, but it failed to pierce their armor. To Alsen's surprise, the men were fighting with what could not be mistaken for anything but magic. Casele’s opponents were shooting balls of fire, explosive bubbles, sharp conical stones, and blades of wind at her out of their palms. She was able to deflect most of their attacks by swinging her halberd, but got hit in the gut by a blast of water, which knocked her onto her back.

“Casele!” Zento cried, charging at the four men.

Alsen shot two ropes of water out of her palms, grabbed two of the men by the ankles, and, suspending them upside down, battered them against the wall, while Zento knocked the other two out.

“Where. Is. Naito?!” Alsen demanded, throwing them at two of the still conscious men that were getting back to their feet, knocking them over like bowling pins.

The men lay still on the ground, not moving a muscle. It was hard to tell if they were all truly unconscious, or simply feigning it. One man, however, sat up, leaning against the wall, laughing.

“He's not here, silly girl. It won't be long before the fire fiend is done with him...”

“What do you mean he's not here?! Where is he?!” Alsen demanded, but before she could abuse the man, Zento knocked him out with a mighty right hook.

Alsen refused to believe it. Naito had to be here somewhere. If he wasn't, then that meant Mary had played her for a fool over the phone and Naito was somewhere else, probably far away from here. What could be happening to him at this very second? She pressed her hand on her forehead, feeling her head throbbing again.

The blaring sound of sirens could be heard outside, which did not help Alsen’s headache in the least. Seconds later, she could hear multiple pairs of feet running through the hallway and up the stairs.

“Lady Alsen, where's your wand?” Casele asked, back on her feet.

“I forgot it...” Alsen whispered, struggling to keep her breathing under control.

Casele transformed her halberd back to it’s wand form. Pressing her hand against Alsen’s chest, she shut her eyes and whispered “Yecevor!”. Her hand began to glow with a bright white aura, and Alsen could feel her physical energy restoring.

“Crap...they have us surrounded just like I thought!” Zento exclaimed, peering out the window. “Quick, in here!” He grabbed Casele and Alsen by the wrists and ran into the bathroom with them, shutting and locking the door behind them. After transforming Fertisha back to it's wand form he chanted 'Lerthawl!', and the earth began to rumble under their feet like an earthquake. A massive stone wall broke through the floor, reaching up to the ceiling, blocking off the doorway.

“We're should safe for now...” he said.

“How were they using magic?” Casele asked, bewildered, “And do you think he meant Mary when he said 'fire fiend'?”

“No doubt about it.” Zento replied, crossing his arms. “I'll bet she taught those guys a bit of magic...but we can worry about that later. Right now, we need to think of an escape plan.”

“Escape?” Alsen asked, incredulously, eyebrow raised. “What do you mean 'escape'? We're not going anywhere without Naito!”

At that very moment, she heard the bathroom door get kicking, and heard what sounded like dozens of spells hitting the stone wall at the same time, but it didn't seem to have took any damage. A deep voice bellowed from outside the wall bellowed, “Don't just stand there, blast that wall apart!”

“B-But, my prince...it's not working.”

“Then grab the explosives, now!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Their footsteps could be heard running back down the stairs, and there was silence, apart from the sound of metal slashing uselessly against the stone wall.

“Didn't you hear? King Raizu isn't here!” Zento whispered, being sure to keep his voice low as to not be overheard.

“And it's your fault we're in this mess! You should have known better than to let Naito wander off on his own...now you better figure out how to get us out of the mess you got us in!” Alsen replied.

Zento's fists shook with rage and he took a few steps towards Alsen, but Casele stepped between them. “Listen here, you...”

BANG! His words were cut off by a deafeningly loud explosive sound, followed by a brief, low rumbling. The wall was now covered in tiny cracks.

“This is bad...” Casele said, covering her ears when the second round went off. The wall had twice as many cracks this time and was slowly falling apart. “I don’t think it can survive another round...what are we going to do?”

“There’s only one way out…” Zento took a deep breath, backed up, then charged at the bathroom's back wall, with his palms thrust forward, roaring at the top of his lungs. His muscles and veins bulged and he gritted his teeth, pushing against the wall with all his might. Once the walls edges cracked, he picked up his wand and shot a huge boulder out of it, which he flung at the wall. Slowly, the wall toppled over, but rather than falling flat on the ground, it fell against the closest building, slanted like a ramp.

Casele gasped in astonishment. “Zento...that was amazing!”

“Don't just stand there, run!” Zento exclaimed.

“What about N-” Alsen began, but Zento cut her off.

“Naito isn't here! We're going to find him, but we have to get out of here first!” Zento didn’t give her a chance to argue any further. He yanked her arm so hard she thought he might rip it out the socket, and sprinted up the ramp, Casele following close behind. Alsen heard explosive’s third round sound off as they ran.

“My prince, they're getting away!” one of the men exclaimed.

“After them!” Prince Silver shouted.

Zento, Alsen, and Casele ran atop the house's roof. They jumped off the edge of the roof, landing onto the roof of the closest house. Roosting birds flew about and out of the way when they saw the three bounding wizards. Bullets fired up from below, one just barely missing Casele's face, so they hid behind the chimney until they heard the guns being refilled.

Then they heard it – a loud, magnificent neigh that could only come from the greatest of horses. The sky darkened above them as if the clouds were blocking out the sun as the harbinger of an approaching storm. Alsen looked up and nearly tripped at what she saw. It was a giant horse with fur black as the night sky, gleaming red eyes, and a flaming aura around it's hooves and wings. It's wingspan had to be at least twenty feet long, leaving trails of fire in it's wake. The beast’s rider was covered from head to toe in shiny, silver armor. His cloak, black with silver stripes, flowed gracefully in the wind. He held up a sword that had to be at least six feet long, pointing it up to the sun. Alsen had no doubt that this was Prince Silver.

“I-Is that a Pegasus...?” Casele asked, also staring up in both awe and fear.

Alsen was never as interested in reading as her brother and sister, so she didn’t know much about a Pegasus. She had, however, heard Naito reading out loud about them while he read Intermediate Guide to Magical Creatures. He had said that they were very rare, endangered creatures that could only be found at the top of the mountains of Nohegimat, capable of flying up to seventy miles per hour. How Prince Silver got his hands on one was beyond her.

“Don't stop moving!” Zento shouted.

Alsen and Casele snapped out of their daze and, following Zento, jumped to the next roof, grabbing onto the edges of the chimney, the rough bricks scraping the skin off their hands.

It felt as if the temperature in the air had increased by at least twenty degrees and Alsen felt her eyebrows singe. The Pegasus swooped down and Silver swung his sword at them, just narrowly missing, although Alsen saw a tuft of her hair fall. Silver had to pull forcefully on the reins to force the beast to a stop and turn it around, but Alsen, Zento, and Casele jumped down the chimney before he could strike again.

“There they are!” exclaimed a voice from somewhere behind them.

She heard multiple people running after them, but Zento blocked them off with a stone wall. They ran outside, climbed up the brick wall, and jumped, grabbing onto the branch of a tall tree, using it as leverage to pull themselves up. The Pegasus darkened the sky above them again and blue and red flashing lights could be seen from below, bullets firing at each tree as they jumped across, while Silver kept swooping down and slashing his sword at them, just narrowly missing.

Not wanting to take a chance at getting hit, they leapt from the tree they were on, crashing through the window of the nearest house. All of the soldiers must not have got the message to use their guns, as the ones waiting inside motioned to strike with magic, no guns in sight.

“Fertisha!”

His wand transformed into the stone brass knuckles and he slammed his fist down on the floor, causing it to shake like a minor earthquake, knocking everyone off their feet. Quickly helping Alsen and Casele back to their feet, Zento dashed out the room with them at his side. Any soldiers that got in their way found themselves knocked out by Zento, or blasted away by Casele or Alsen. The throbbing in Alsen’s head intensified each time she cast a spell, but she did her best to ignore it.

“Prince Silver, do you copy? they're leaving out the back!” exclaimed a voice from inside the room they just left.

They just barely had enough time to duck and roll to the side when the back door swung open, and a giant sword was thrust forward.

“The chase is over, scum. We've been ordered to capture you alive, so stand up and put your hands where I can see them, or else I just might break orders.” Prince Silver said, sauntering arrogantly into the house.

Standing with her back against the wall, Alsen breathed heavily, her chest heaving. It wasn't until now that they came to a stop that she truly realized just how exhausted she was. Her knees bucked but she kept herself from collapsing before the enemy with sheer willpower alone. Zento and Casele were breathing just as heavy.

“What... have you done with... my brother?” Alsen asked between her sharp breaths, glaring at Silver in disgust.

“Did you not hear me? Hands where I can see them!” Silver pointed his sword directly at Alsen's throat. Acting instinctively, she put her hands up, and he laughed haughtily as he watched her eyes widen and her hands shake with fear. His helmet masked whatever facial expression she wore, but Alsen could imagine the type of smug smirk that must have been on his face.

Zento took advantage of Silver paying too much attention to Alsen, punching the prince between the legs.Silver's armor clanked as he fell to his knees, dropped his sword, and clutched onto his cup in pain. Armored or not, a low blow from an Earth-Sign equipped with stone brass knuckles is going to stun any man.

Zento threw another punch at his chest, which knocked Silver back out the door and on top of the soldiers outside. The other soldiers outside were too shocked to react fast enough, and Casele and Alsen both shot bubbles at them, which exploded on impact.

“We can't outrun them...our only choice is to hide underground until they go away.” Zento whispered to Casele and Alsen. He transformed Fertisha back to it’s wand form, then chanted ‘Roathemora!’, and his body was slowly covered in thick, heavy stone armor. Zento repeatedly slammed his stone covered fist on the floor until it cracked and there was a hole in the floor big enough for them to fit down.

“Let's go, quickly!” Zento said, waiting for them to jump down.

“You'd leave your king behind? How pathetic...” Silver said, slowly getting back to his feet, then spoke into his radio, “The plan is a bust, we were unable to capture targets W-A, W-Z, and W-C. There's no sign of W-AL anywhere. Kill the king.”

“NO!!!” Alsen shouted, shooting a large jet of pressured water at Silver, but he did not move an inch.

“Don't waste your energy, my armor is resistant to your petty magic!” Silver shouted at her.

“DON'T YOU DARE HURT NAITO!!!”

“If you care about your king's life, turn yourself in!” Silver exclaimed, pointing his sword at her.

“Lady Alsen, don't listen to him!” Casele cried.

But Alsen did not hesitate for even a split second. She threw her hands above her head and walked over to Silver. He said he wanted them alive, didn’t he? Whatever they would do to her couldn’t possibly be any worse than having to live with the pain of knowing Naito was killed because she refused to turn herself in.

Silver wrapped his arm around her chest, pressing her against his body, his sword at her throat with his other hand. “You two! Unless you want your king and your Lady to die, turn yourselves in as well! Ah what a waste of a rare beauty that would be...I wish our women came this fine too.” He pressed her body against his even tighter, and she was so glad he was covered in armor.

Casele put her hands up, and, shaking, she began to walk forward, but Zento pulled her back. “You'll just have to kill them then.” He said, his voice low and cold.

“Zento...?” Casele asked in surprise at his seditious words, but before she could protest, he jumped down the hole with her.

Last edited by Linda-Senpai on Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:36 am; edited 1 time in total

Re: [Novel] The Zodiac EmpireWed Apr 20, 2016 2:34 am

Chapter 18

Fire and Ice

Spoiler :

It was too quiet for comfort, and the woodlands' eeriness didn't help at all. Whenever he heard the murmurs of the leaves rustling in the wind, he glanced over his shoulder, fearing something, or someone, was stalking him. The only other sounds he could hear were his own sharp breaths and the birds chirping, which served as his only peace of mind. Naito collapsed--his legs finally gave out on him after what felt like hours of running. Shadow noticed his friend had stopped, and turned around and rested with his head in Naito's lap. Naito wasn't the only one exhausted.

“Naito, do you think we were fooled?”

Naito petted Shadow's head while staring up at the roof of leaves above them. He had chased Mary far outside the walls of Maeruthan. She was on his skateboard while he was on his feet, so it wasn't long before he lost sight of her, but he was able to follow her this far by following the sound of her singing. Not too long after they had entered the woodland, Naito's pace became so slow that Mary's voice faded away. Now he was lost in the woods with a psycho arsonist of a witch. Was Mary really leading him to Alsen in the first place? No, of course not. Shadow was right. He had been fooled. All Mary had to do was play a little mind game with him to set him up in this trap. He was far too exhausted to fight her now, so all she'd have to do is torch him to death while he can't even find her.

“Yeah...I'm a huge idiot.” Naito said with teary eyes, stroking Shadow's fur. The plethora of leaves above them and the boughs blocking the sunset made him feel like a bird that foolishly flew right into a cage.

Naito was far too exhausted to get back to his feet, so he simply sat there, resting. His only hope was that Mary might have got too far ahead to find them. Surely she had to be exhausted too, chances were she was resting as well. Once he regained his energy, he would have to turn invisible to hide from Mary, and try to find his way out of here. He would return to their little apartment, and Alsen would still be there, perfectly fine. She'd probably have had a panic attack or two, wondering where he was, but she would be perfectly fine. She had to be fine...after all, she had been at the apartment with Cosena and the soldiers when he left. Mary wouldn't stand a chance against all four of them.

After nearly an hour of forcing his eyes to stay open, Naito could feel his energy gradually returning. Within less than a minute, he felt fully refreshed, and his magical energy felt as if it was doubled. Naito stood. He couldn't see the sky but he knew what this meant—the sun had set and the moon rose. When the moon rises, every witch and wizard has their energy fully restored, both magical and physical.

“Shadow, we can get out of here now!” Naito said, feeling his hope rising up.

Every ounce of hope he gained was pushed right back down when he heard a shrill, terrifying scream that sent birds fluttering away. It wasn't the scream of someone in pain or danger. It was the scream of someone with lust for blood. Mary. Startled, Naito fumbled with Cieseroe, trying to transform it back into it's wand form so he could turn invisible. Mary was getting closer and closer, now close enough for Naito to hear her singing again.

“Tell me, what is your worst fear?

Is it death, or losing those you love?

Maybe it's the screams you can hear?

NO! It is I, your ultimate nightmare!

Come face me, if you dare!

When your world is shrouded in darkness, not a glimpse of light...

It is I who makes you cry in the wake of night!

This is my world, and for you there is no gain!

Silly boy, let me give you my gift of pain!!!”

Naito's heart felt like it wanted nothing more than to burst it's way out of his chest. With every passing second, he could sense her presence within him getting closer and closer. He needed to calm himself...he got Cieseroe back to it's wand form and he was invisible, she wouldn't be able to see him. Now he just needed to unsummon Shadow, and he could get away. Worst case scenario, he'd just have to fight her, and they were on equal footing this time, now that she lost her surprise factor.

“Animal Spirit – retu-” Naito's concentration broke when Shadow started barking.

“She's right over there, Naito! We need to land the first strike on her!” With that, Shadow ran forward, clearly not knowing Naito's plan.

“Shadow, wait!!!” Naito called after him, but shook his head. Just quickly unsummon him and get going. With his wand pointed in the direction Shadow ran, he began chanting the spell again.

Then it happened. He saw a huge burst of flames explode from that direction, and heard Shadow howl in intense pain. Something slowly floated up into the air. It looked like a mystic, ghostly fog. Naito's mind knew what just happened, but his heart refused to accept it. That wasn't Shadow...he properly unsummoned Shadow! The woods just made the spell a little strange! Naito rushed over to where Shadow had ran. There Mary stood with her wand in hand, the wind blowing her hair to the side.

“Stupid mutt...looks like you had to go back to being de-”

Surging at her, Naito roared like an enraged dragon, swinging his fist at Mary before she even had a chance to know he was there. He hit her with so much force that she was swept off her feet and knocked six feet in the air and dropped her wand.

“W-What the...?” She stammered, clutching her gut in pain.

The second she looked up, she was met with Naito's fist swinging down at her. She managed to roll out of the way in the nick of time, then attempted to kick him, but Naito grabbed her by the sole of her foot. With a spin on his heels, he threw her against the bark of a tree with a loud THUD! On her hands and knees, Mary panted heavily, tears streaking down her face from the sudden pain.

“Y-you don't have to be so serious...w-we're only playing, r-right...?” She looked up at him pleadingly, her eyes nearly bulging out her head with fear.

Her words only seemed to fuel his wrath. His foot connected with her gut, punting her against the bark of another tree, her body slumping to the ground, painfully. Fortunately enough for her, there was enough distance between the two of them now for her to teleport while he was charging at her again, forcing him to come to a halt. Naito glanced around, trying to spot where she went.

“Ethyfescir...” she whispered, transforming her wand, which she had just picked up. Naito spun around to face her at the sound of her voice.

Mary smirked arrogantly at him, holding Ethyfescir with both hands, but now that she could get a good look at him, she stumbled backwards and fell on her rear. Naito's face was livid —his eyes wild, shining bright red, and his hair aglow with a dark aura.

“Sh-shadow side...” The way she looked up at him as he stepped forward, it was clear that she realized she pushed Naito too far.

“Playing?” he spat the word at her, “You killed Shadow, and you mean to tell me you're just playing?!!!”

“He was already dead!” Mary protested, teleporting away the second she saw him motion to punch her again. “What are you worried about a stupid Spirit for anyway? Shouldn't you be worried about your dear Alsen?” She asked, trying hard to keep an arrogant smirk on her face.

It was Naito's turn to stagger back. He had already dismissed any thoughts of Mary getting her hands on Alsen. His horror must have showed on his face, as Mary giggled at him and took two steps forward, about to open her mouth to speak, but her knees bucked with fear when Naito bellowed at her.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ALSEN?!!!”

Sharp, spiky icicles began shot up from the ground where Mary stood, forcing her to teleport. No matter where she teleported, the icicles followed, and Naito wouldn't stop pursuing her, which left her teleporting all over the place. She was left with no better choice than to climb up the nearest tree.

“I didn't do anything to her. Why don't you ask King Maru what he's doing with her?” Mary said, staring down at him while sitting on one of the tree's branches. Naito's hair and eyes were no longer glowing—his hair was now the same shade of black as Mary's, and his eyes were blood red. “Did I mention that you look nice today?” She asked, licking her lips.

Her words brought Naito to a pause, leaving him thinking. King Maru? He had concluded earlier that Mary had allied herself with him, but he didn't expect this. While he's here wasting time with Mary, that man, the same man that killed his mother, has his hands on Alsen...?

“Cieseroe!!!” Naito shouted, transforming his wand.

Before he could pull the trigger, Mary snapped her finger. Naito just barely dodged to the side before a pillar of flames erupted where he was standing. Naito hissed in pain – some of the flames burnt his left arm. His hand glowed bright blue and he pressed it against his arm in attempt to sooth the burn.

Mary leapt out of the tree and snapped her fingers again. Naito rolled to the side before he could get scorched. “It's my turn to play, you little cockroach.” She said with a giggle.

“Cockroach?” Naito asked, bounding to evade Mary's constant pillars of flames, shooting ice missiles out of Cieseroe as he did so.

“No matter how many ways I try to kill you, you still manage to live!” Mary swung Ethyfescir down to create a wall of flames in front of her. As she did so, her cheek was grazed by three of Naito's ice missiles.

“Plan A, your little backup arrived before I could go for the kill.”

She wiped blood off her cheek and licked it off her fingers before teleporting behind him. “Plan B, you somehow made it out of Tirdipsowl alive.”

She swung Ethyfescir at his neck in a wide arc, an attempt to slice his head off. He ducked. The second he stood up straight again, she threw a round house kick at his gut, followed by another to his forehead.

“Plan C...” She breathed heavily as she said it, while Naito toppled, “I use up 90% of my energy to burn that hotel down with Krifarde. I was almost convinced I really killed you that time, but yet again you make it out! Why are you still alive?!”

“Why do you want me dead?” Naito asked, regaining his balance. Mary attempted a spinning hook kick at his temples, but Naito was able to predict her movement well enough to block, and followed up with a right hook at her jaw, which she dodged by teleporting behind him.

Mary ignored his question. “Plan D...whoa!”

She quickly teleported several feet back when Naito attempted to ram Cieseroe against her head. “Plan D...” she repeated, out of his reach, “You kill those magician's I trained specifically to kill you!”

“Why does a witch ally herself with King Maru in the first place, Mary?!” Naito demanded, but kept his distance from her, pointing Cieseroe at her head. He didn't wait for her to answer before pulling the trigger, unleashing a barrage of ice missiles at her.

“You said my name.” He felt her words on the back of his neck and threw and elbow at her jaw. He felt a crunch under the impact, then spun around and socked her right in the mouth before tackling her to the ground, knocking Ethyfescir out of her hands.

“I knew it...” She said with a sorrowful smile, spitting out a mouthful of bloo, along with a tooth, while holding onto her jaw. “You do recognize me, you remember me!”

“What are you talking about...?”

Mary used both feet to kick him off her. Still holding onto her jaw, she sprung back to her feet. “Don't play dumb!” she hissed at him, “Tell me who I am, now!!!” She picked Ethyfescir up again, seething.

Naito looked her in the eye for a moment before speaking. “You're a worthless piece of trash that shouldn't even exist.”

Naito never would have imagined her reaction. She flinched at his words, gawking at him in attempt to form words, but only managed to choke up sobs. Tears slowly began to rain down her face. If she was trying to get his sympathy, she wasn't doing a very good job. Why should he sympathize with the murderer of his best friend? A maniac who's constantly trying to kill him? The sadistic freak who put his sister into the hands of the man that killed his mother?

“If that's how you feel...” she said, blowing her running nose on her dress. “Then I know I'm doing the right thing!”

Charging, she swung Ethyfescir downward. Naito shot a few ice missiles at her hand, knocking the scythe out of her hands. She teleported instantly, and while he was looking around for her, she drop kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

Mary transformed Ethyfescir back into it's wand form, then, raising both her arms up to the sky stretched out wide, she looked up at the moon and whispered 'Krifarde'.

Just like the first time Naito saw her use this spell, burning red flames in the shape of a star appeared in the sky. The flames shot down from the sky and into Mary's back, but instead of burning her, they were shaped into a pair of wings. The flaming wings flapped and Mary hovered into the air. Looking down at Naito, she looked like some type of evil, demonic creature.

Naito didn't know what made him do it, but he forced himself to stand up, transformed Cieseroe back into it's wand form, and raised his hands to the sky while looking up at the moon, just like Mary did.

“Arkicade!”

He knew no spells by that name, yet a bright white, star shaped block of ice appeared in the sky, shooting down into his back, and forming a pair of ice wings.

Naito and Mary were both in the air, above the trees. He threw punch after punch at her while she dodged and teleported gracefully, throwing kick after at him, which he blocked and parried. Their pattern had a graceful harmony about it like a dance, yet they both fought to kill. Naito's fist connected with her already injured jaw. Slowly she fell beneath the trees and out of sight. Naito was ready to hear her crash down, but she rose right back up, and their pattern continued on into the night.

Their wings were gradually shrinking and as they did, Naito and Mary slowly lost air, getting closer and closer to the ground without even noticing. Then the wings were gone, and they began to fall. Mary teleported safely onto the ground, but Naito fell flat on on his back. Mary turned him onto his front with her foot and sat on his back, yanked his head up with a fistful of his hair, then slammed his face aginst the ground.

“This is Plan E. I'll kill you here and now.” She slammed his face against the ground three more times before getting off him.

Naito grabbed her by the back of her dress, using her as leverage to pull himself up to one knee, ripping off most of her dress from behind in the process.

Mary glared at him with disgust as he tried to get back to his feet. “You savage...you just don't know when to stay down, do you?”

She threw a hook kick at his temple, knocking him right back down. Picking up Naito's own weapon, she rammed Cieseroe into his forehead like he tried to do to her. Naito couldn't resist howling in pain, clutching onto the nasty gash left on his head. If

Mary stomped on his gut before sitting on him again, forcing his head up with another fistful of hair. “Tell me, Naito.” she said, tracing her finger down his cheek. “How does it feel to be the worthless one for a cha-”

Naito didn't know what he was doing, it was if his body acted on it's own in a desperate attempt to just stay alive. He grabbed Mary's face with both hands, squeezing it with all the might he had left in him. As if he was squeezing it right out of her, a mystic, black and red aura began to flow out of her body and into his.

“W-What...?”

She flailed her arms around in panic, shooting embers out in random directions, until one hit Naito's arm, forcing him to let go. The aura escaping her body and entering his disappeared. She staggered back, clutching onto her chest, panting heavily.

“What just happened...?” she asked, staring at Naito as if he were some mysterious, dangerous creature.

Naito collapsed back down, his insides enduring intense, seering pain like nothing he ever felt. He could do nothing but lay there, trashing and screaming in pain. His insides felt as if they were being twisted and pulled. He faintly heard Mary's voice but didn't even here the other voice or notice that someone else had arrived.

Naito no longer felt any pain. It was as if his mind and soul had separated from his body. He opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer in the woodlands. Where was he?

The entire Zodiac Empire stood in a circle outside in the pouring rain, all of them dressed in black, holding umbrellas over their heads. In the center of their circle was a golden casket, with roses placed on top. There was a framed picture of Naito's face seated on the casket as well.

Alsen's face was plastered in tears and there were bags under her eyes. Her hands trembled as she walked up to the casket, holding a bouquet of roses. Cosena and Sartur stood behind her with their eyes shut and downcast. Alsen's lips trembled and she sniffled up sobs, standing in front of the casket for a brief moment. She opened and closed her mouth as if trying to speak, but no words came out. After gently placing her bouquet on the casket, she broke down into hysterical crying, burying her head in Cosena's shoulder. Naito had never seen Cosena cry before, yet there she was, failing to suppress her sobs as she cradled Alsen.

Even his father had tears streaming down his face and he embraced his daughters tightly, as if their lives depended on him holding onto them forever. Sartur's hands were trembled and he gritted his teeth furiously.

Naito knew what this was—his funeral. No...this couldn't be happening! He tried to run over to them, but rather than him moving, the scenery seemed to move over to him. He reached his arm out to them and tried to shout 'I'm right here!' but no words came, and he had no arm to teach out with. Naito tried to look down at himself, but he didn't seem to have a body. It was like he was just a conscious mind with vision and hearing, but no body.

Alsen, Cosena, and Sartur all looked up at the picture of Naito, and, together, they said “Naito, why did you have to leave us...?”

Naito continued trying to call out to them, but the scenery slowly faded away and changed into something else. Naito was now inside large, eerie, dank room, lit only by torches. It was so dark that Naito couldn't even see five feet in front of him. Chains lay on the walls and spiky, metal shackles stained with blood were on the floor. The only sounds that could be heard were the low mumbles of the prisoners locked in the cells.

Naito moved forward, or, rather, the scenery moved towards him. He glanced into each cell as he did. The people inside were all broken shells of human beings, either laying or sitting on the floor, whispering words Naito couldn't make out. One prisoner in particular stood out to Naito. She lay on the floor completely naked, blindfolded with her hands cuffed behind her back and her feet tied together. She was shivering frantically and sobbed every few seconds. Her magenta hair hung wildly over her face, and her bare back was decorated in deep, gruesome welts and burns, some of which appeared fresh.

“Alsen!”

Naito tried to speak, but no words came out. He wafted into her cell and tried to take her blindfolds off, but he couldn't, as he had no body, yet Alsen stopped sobbing and looked up as if she could see him. If Naito had a body, his heart would have shattered at the words she whispered.

“Naito...why...? Why did you leave me all alone? This is all your fault...”

The scenery changed once again. This time Naito was in a bathroom that he recognized as the one to his room in the castle. Steam like thick fog covered the bathroom, obscuring his vision. Naito just barely noticed the bloody knife that lay on the floor, drips of blood next to it. He heard a familiar voice crying softly in the shower, and wafted through the curtains. Cosena sat in the hot water with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring up at the ceiling. Despite the steam, Naito could see that her arms, legs, and back were battered and bruised, and her arms were covered in cuts. To Naito's horror, she even had a black eye, and her lips were busted. Some of her bruises and cuts were so fresh that it was clear they had just recently been inflicted. Cosena buried her head in her knees, breaking down crying.

“Cosena...” Naito once again tried and failed to reach out. If he wasn't dead, he would break down in tears and hug her as tight as he could.

Cosena lifted her head up. Her eyes so lifeless that it was a surprise when she spoke the same, heartbreaking words that Alsen had,

“Naito...why? How could you leave me all alone? This is all your fault...”

The scenery changed yet again and Naito was instantly met with a terrible sight. Shadow was charging at Mary, but his body burst in flames. Mary laughed her usual shrill, manic laugh as Shadow howled in pain.

“Shadow!” Naito knew he couldn't speak, yet he wouldn't stop trying to call out to his friend.

“N-Naito...” Shadow said, as if he heard him, “I tried to protect you...why did you let me die in vain?”

Shadow's body became nothing more than a ghostly fog, floating up to the heavens. Dead or not, Naito couldn't take anymore of this. How was he supposed to endure watching everyone he loves suffer? Did all of this truly happen because he died? If he hadn't been foolish enough to try and see Leah on his own, none of this would have happened. He would still be alive, and his family would still be happy together. Had he forgotten his mother's one and only wish? He was supposed to go on to lead the world, and lead his people to a new beginning. All he did was get himself killed and put his family into deep agony. What would she were to see him now?

“That's right...” said a female voice.

The scenery had changed again, and he was now in the neighborhood where he went to in order to see Leah. Speak of the devil, there she was, standing in front of 'her house', smiling a toothy grin from ear to ear.

“All because poor, lonely little Naitey thought he could be friends with a human, his family has to suffer.” She sounded like a completely different person from when Naito had met her.

The front door of the house opened, and out walked Mary, alongside someone Naito had never seen before. It was a burly man with grizzly facial hair, wearing golden armor and a black cloak with silver stripes. Naito had never seen this man before, he knew it was King Maru. He pat Leah on the shoulder, as if to say 'good job!'.

“If only you had been smarter...did you really think you could be friends with a human, you inhumane freak? You thought I'd actually give you my address? So you can stalk me, you damned pervert? Ha! Get real!” Leah laughed, mockingly.

“So much for that wish of your mother's.” said King Maru, “Stupid Freylar really thought some immature boy could take over my kingdom? I'm the ruler of this world! Ah I still remember the day I had her killed, along with those other disgraceful woman from your petty little empire...how I enjoyed their screams!”

King Maru, Mary, and Leah all laughed obnoxiously and cruelly. At that moment, Naito would've given everything to see the three of them tortured to death in the most agonizing way possible.

Before Naito even noticed the scenery changing again, he was seeing his funeral again. Only this time, time seemed to be frozen, as no one moved so much as a muscle.

“Naito...” spoke a soft, gentle voice, filled with sorrow.

Standing in front of his casket was a woman who was not there before, only she seemed more like a spirit than a living person. Her body seemed to not have any physical form and floated above the ground. If someone were to try and touch her, their hand would likely go right through her. She wore a long, white and pink dress in contrast to how everyone else was dressed in black. Her hair was a mix of magenta and blonde, and went down to the small of her back, flowing gracefully, despite the lack of wind. Tears fell from her cerulean eyes as she stared at the framed picture of Naito.

“M-mother...?”

Naito hoped she would somehow hear his thoughts, since they were both dead. He had never seen this woman in his life, but he could just tell this was his mother. Her hair, her eyes, her face...she looked far too much like Naito and his sisters to not be their mother.

“Oh Naito, my poor baby...”, her words confirmed it.

“Mother, I'm here...”, but she showed no signs of hearing him.

“Memory is the key, Naito. Please, try to remember...it's all you have to do.” She said, cryptically.

“Remember what...?”

“You're smart, my poor, sweet, innocent baby...I know you'll figure it out. You will lead us to a new beginning soon, but first, you must remember. Think back...think back, Naito. You need to remember...remember now!”

The scenery faded away as if it was going to change again, but there was no nothing but total darkness. Naito could hear a baby crying...no, it had to be two babies, getting louder and louder. He heard his father speak the words “T-This...no! My calculations...”, and one of the High Mages, he couldn't tell which one, say, “Sartur, please let us handle this...such a heavy sin shouldn't fall on your shoulders.”

After that, Naito heard nothing further.

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[Novel] The Zodiac Empire

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