The Zodiac Cycle

1.9 No?

"There she is!" Keith called out, spotting the redhead before anyone else.

"Brianna!" Amber shouted, running over to her, waving her arm in the air.

Brianna turned to her, startled, then sighed when she saw who it was.

"What do you want?" Brianna asked as Amber skidded to a stop in front of her, nearly falling, and straightening herself back up quickly. Brianna put her hand on her waist and cocked her hip, tilting her head.

"Are you and Iris okay?" Amber managed to say while huffing. The rest of us were able to catch up to the pair by then.

Briannas eyes narrowed "why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, we were just wondering." Amber scratched the back of her neck. "I'd rather tell you when Iris gets here."

"What do you mean when she gets here? Have y'all been stalking us?" Brianna scowled. The sun was setting and all the orange hues reflected off glass surfaces of the city, sending cascades of multi-colored refractions through the streets and onto the scattered people below.

Iris arrived within a couple minutes and was suprised to see the group that had joined her friend.

"Alright Elf, she's here, now spill." Brianna crossed her arms and tapped one of her feet impatiently.

"Well, theres someone..."

Amber was interrupted by a shift in the air around them. It wasnt as dumb as it sounds. It wasnt just the air, but the presence within the air that cause all of them to stiffen.

Iris grew alarmed looking behind the group. They all slowly turned to see a tall masculine figure.

Then two rods of light.

Scratch that, they were swords, one in each hand.

Swords that seemed to glow?

The illumination from the swords lit up the face of the figure. The first thing the group noticed was the large ragged scar that crossed over it diagonally, avoiding his eyes, but twisting the skin on his nose in an odd way. He was paler than even Iris, nearly the actual color white. His hair was black and trimmed nicely so that it didnt cover his eyes, but hung over his forehead casually.

One of his eyes was red, the other was a slate grey.

Nolan retreated to behind Ash, who stuck his arms out protectively. Iris shivered and stayed planted firmly beside Brianna. Amber glanced at Keith, then realized who it was.

It was Zveck.

And he started running at them.

Brianna and Iris reacted first. Iris let out a command, inaudible over the groups gasps, and Brianna spun, crouched, and launched Iris into the air. Iris spread her feathers and flapped once before dive-bombing towards Zveck. He reacted fairly quickly, moving his arms to swing the swords at her, but Brianna got to him first, grabbing both arms to prevent him from stopping Iris. Iris flipped forward, and in a swift motion, dragged her talons along Zvecks back.

Their teamwork was incredible, and they were already so in sync, Keith thought to himself, watching. The other three, at this point, had snapped out of their stupor and were charging towards him as well. While with only five of the twelve, fighting had a low probability of success, keith had a strange feeling that this fight was good for them.

Zveck was especially heinous towards Nolan, but Ash repelled any attacks he tried with a large amount of aggression, while Amber had realized that maybe it wasnt best to have Nolan fight.

That is, until he brought out a pistol from his hip that had been covered by the hoodie and circled around the group with it, firing carefully, only when an opportunity presented itself. Brianna and Iris took turns switching from defensive to offensive. One would fend off an attack, allowing the other to administer a blow of their own, then they'd take a step back and switch positions before doing it again.

Zveck was livid now, but Keith could tell that even though they had tried their best, they had barely put a scratch on his defenses.

He attempted to lunge for Nolan again, and the fish seemed to be out of ammo. Ash jumped on his back, but was thrown off and crashed into Brianna and Iris. He turned back to Nolan, who took a step back.

Zveck lifted one sword above his head. Ash let out a cry, telling Nolan to move, but he seemed frozen in time, his eyes growing wider.

Zveck brought the sword down harshly and there was a loud CLANG.

Amber had jumped between Zveck and Nolan and in her hands was some sort of orange glowing stick that was holding off his sword. But Keith knew it wasnt just a stick.

It was a Bow.

He had left out one more tiny detail of the Zodiac business.

They each possessed the power to summon weapons correlated to their sign. Each sign had a different weapon, and with a bit of practice, could summon it at will. The weapons were also prone to being summoned in times of need. The Leo's weapon was a bow and arrows.

"Keith, what the heck is happening now?" Amber cried out in distress.

"Its your weapon, just roll with it and I'll explain later!" He replied calmly.

Amber looked back at an angry Zveck who was pushing against her. She let out a grunt and shoved him backwards.

The other four gathered to either side of her staring him down. The bow in Amber's hand lit up for a moment, before disappearing in sparks.

Zveck straightened his back and smirked, before turning and calmly walking away, disappearing into the twilight.

"Uhh, should we go after him?" Iris asked as Brianna sighed in relief.

"No, hes not an easy opponent. We should collect the rest of the signs before confronting him again." Keith scratched his head "although, it does seem odd that he gave up so easily."

"He didnt give up," amber crossed her arms, looking a bit embarrassed, "he withdrew. He's saving the fight for another day because he couldnt get what he wanted."

"To kill me." Nolan said quietly. Keith was impressed. Cancers were ranked as the least logical and most emotional of the signs, but Nolan fought alongside the others bravely, without hesitation. He also was fairly composed at that moment, in no way shivering or scared. Instead, he just leaned a bit into Ash who had his arm around Nolans shoulder.

"Well, we cant let that happen, can we?" Keith asked confidently. "Now let's go get the rest of your teamates."