Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

96 - A Secret in the Snow

Days ago.

The Sanctuary was still tense, but good news was spread from Rodório's clinic, where Aldebaran, the huge Gold Saint, spent his days and nights hospitalized under the care of Kiki and Alice. He had finally awakened and there would be a relay guarding the Temple of Aries so that he could be visited by all who adored him. And there were many. The first visitor he received, however, already sitting up in bed, bandaged all over his head from his injuries and taking an icy crater from anything, was the Sanctuary's Master at Arms, Shaina.

Aside from the pleasantries about his injuries, Shaina got straight to the point.

"Taurus, I need you to tell me exactly what happened in the Temple of Aries. It is still unbelievable that you were knocked out with just one blow like that."

The huge warrior took another swig from his crater and finally spoke.

"It is as I told Mu." he began. "Maybe these sound like the words of a sore loser Shaina, but I still don't think I was defeated by just that God Warrior alone."

"A God Warrior?" asked Shaina, who was hearing the story for the first time.

"Yeah. That's how he introduced himself: a God Warrior of Asgard. But at that point we were already fighting in the House of Aries, for he surprised me in the night." confirmed Aldebaran. "He was an expert ice warrior, and may the soul of Camus forgive me, but as skilled as the late Aquarius Saint. And to make things even worse, he seemed to be able to move through the ice. I've never seen anything like it."

"Shaka was right, then." Shaina commented, remembering the Council many days ago in the House of Scorpio. "You said you couldn't have been defeated by him alone. What do you mean by that?"

"Well." said Aldebaran, very seriously. "I'm sure I was able to give him a good fight in the House of Aries, despite being surprised by the way he moved through the cold ar. I fought him. Fought him hard. The blood that spread through the house was not just mine, but his as well."

"And then?"

"There was something else." said Aldebaran, sullenly. "Something impossible to see, an energy that didn't seem to exist, but was there. Lurking in the shadows. And when I least expected it, I was hit from a place the God Warrior could never be. And so I fell, defeated."

"Someone else?" Shaina asked.

"I can't be sure. A shadow, no doubt."

Shaina pondered that information heavily and thanked the huge Taurus Saint, wishing him a speedy recovery. In the days that followed, he received as many visits as gifts, as he was loved by absolutely everyone in the Sanctuary, whether in the Twelve Temples or even among the simplest of Rodório.

Shaina, however, needed to take care of Sanctuary's strategies, and confirmation of a direct attack from Asgard, without any purpose, boded ill for the missions deployed to the North, after all, it had been many days and weeks without news of Athena's Galleon and it was not so long ago that the Bronze Saints had left for the North. Mayura fully agreed with her Master at Arms.

"If they were able to send two God Warriors to take down one of our top Gold Saints, perhaps we shouldn't trust so blindly to the letters we've received." said Shaina. "Just as Aldebaran was struck in the darkness, so there may be something hidden in the intent of these letters from the north."

"What's in your mind, Shaina?"

"We must alert Moses, as well as Ikki and the others. I will personally go to Asgard."

Mayura was silent, as she understood that no one else could be sent if they wanted to be sure that that plan would be carried out. And so Shaina left for the North, as Mayura saw more and more of the Saints abandon Sanctuary, leaving it vulnerable to any attack from the Underworld. Part of her thought that was the great purpose.