Against the Shadows|| A Zodiac Story

Five

With a newfound freedom in her human body, Gemini sneakily ran off the celebration and made her way to the forest.

She enjoyed the new view of the world in a smaller and lighter form. She hopped around aimlessly and went where her two new little feet took her. The woods is not a place for a human to walk and wander however, dragons like her can easily defeat monstrous preys lurking about the Black Woods.

After walking for a long time, Gemini stopped in a lake and decided to take a quick dip in the water. As she happily watched and played with the fishes, a loud howl echoed through the trees which was then followed by several more.

"Hellhounds," Gemini muttered as she looked towards the dark forest where she heard the sound coming from. Knowing that it wasn't a serious threat, she turned back to the fishes. However, before she could even look down at the waters, she heard a neigh so she quickly turned into the forest once more only to see a galloping horse emerge from the trees.

Sensing the panic of the horse, she quickly moved out of the water and caught the horse to a halt.

"Shh... Calm down, buddy." She gently touched its snout and petted its head. 

"Reins?" She frowned upon seeing the strap attached to the horse. "Wait a minute. Why are you even in these woods, buddy? Where is your rider?" While the horse slowly calmed down from her touch, Gemini's bewilderment only grew as she processed the situation.

She looked past the horse and into the lurking darkness of the forest. "Someone's f*cked." She muttered upon hearing another howl from the shadows. 

"Stay here, bud." She patted the head of the horse and made a run for it into the tree, following the sound of the howling hellhounds. 

After running for a short while, she stumbled upon an interesting scene unfolding. A man is leaning his back on a tree, sitting and breathing heavily while five hellhounds are slowly walking towards him.

"So this is the man who is f*cked." Gemini sneered as she observed the situation from the bushes. "Let's check on Mr. damsel-in-distress wanna-be, shall we?" She chuckled to herself before marching into the scene with her head held up high.

Her presence quickly gathered the attention of the hellhounds and they turned their focus on her, growling with saliva dripping down their mouths. She gave them a blank gaze and continued walking to the man.

However, before she could reach him, the biggest hellhound howled loudly which summoned a pack of hellhounds. "You're seeing this, mister-in-distress? You were almost double f*cked." The hellhounds emerged from the bushes in all directions, completely surrounding the two.

With a low growl, the biggest hellhound pounced on Gemini. "Bad dog." She muttered as she raised her hand, catching the hellhound by its throat and throwing it forcefully on the nearest tree.

The hellhound whimpered in pain as it hit the trunk and fell to the ground. "Anyone else?" Gemini gave a chilling stare at the hellhounds causing them to shudder in place.

"Get out of here." She continued by releasing a portion of her dragon's bloodlust which left the hellhounds sprinting away from them. 

"Mnm..." Her attention quickly shifted to the man on the ground groaning. 

"Woah. Woah." She knelt down to the man to examine him. A frown formed on her face as she saw that there were no injuries on the man yet he was breathing heavily with a pale face.

"What—" Gemini's confusion was interrupted by the man's face contorting in pain. "Once won't hurt, right?" She throws a concerned look at the man before wrapping her arms around him.

She hesitantly leaned closer to the man. With her lips hovering closely to his, she closed her eyes and before long, a glimmer of light formed in her lip which she gently blew to his. Gemini watched as the dragon's breathe she gave the man enter his mouth and its light dispersed within him.

"Father is gonna kill me." She muttered with a sigh as she watched his pained face quickly calm down. "He won't if he doesn't know." She nervously chuckled while looking down at the man who was now sleeping peacefully in her arms.

"Alright, mister-in-distress. Let's get you out of here." 

-+++-

"You're here." Scorpio didn't have to look up to see the hooded figure who entered his office from the opened window.

"Your majesty." The hooded figure stopped in front of his desk and lowered her hood to curtsy.

"Libra." Scorpio finally raised his head from signing papers to meet the gaze of the woman dressed in all black in front of him.

"Scorpio, one of our messengers just reported that the princess of Novael is near the kingdom's borde— HOLY SH—" Virgo emerged from the door reading a letter in his hand when he got startled by the unannounced visitor of the king.

"Raven. Y-Your Majesty. I apologize for interrupting your meeting. I'll see myself out." He quickly composed himself from embarrassment upon seeing the two staring blankly at him.

"No need. I still have something to talk about with you." Scorpio stopped him and motioned him to sit on the couch. After the royal adviser nodded his head, Scorpio turned his attention back to the woman.

"It seems like they are already close. Watch the princess from the shadows and if there is anything odd, report it quickly." The king ordered Libra.

"Understood." Libra lowered her head while Scorpio gave her a satisfied look.

"Dismissed." With the king's word, Libra lifted her hood and disappeared from the room through the window.

"She always does that, doesn't she? No wonder the former queen took her away to be a royal raven." Virgo stared at the window, in which Libra disappeared to, with a displeased look.

"She's been good moving around the shadows since we were young. I am not surprised that my mother picked her to be a part of the throne's personal knights."

"You mean the people doing the dirty work in the shadows?" Virgo replied with a smirk.

"Perhaps." The king just shrugged. "Enough about that. Did you look into what I said? I only had a glimpse of her— light hair, silver? White? Maybe blonde? I couldn't remember clearly."

"After that day in the forest, you still feel the pain every night, right?" Scorpio gave the royal adviser a small nod.

"That night was the only night I didn't feel pain and fell asleep," Scorpio replied. "It was odd but I think she can help me." After a long moment of thinking, the king looked at Virgo with a determined face.

"Find her."

~xxx~

WC: 1093

Libra, the royal raven has joined the story! What do you guys think of her?

I do apologize for giving the new zodiac very little screen time. This is more of a story chapter than an introduction but I will give her more scenes in the next chapters.

I also want to apologize for ghosting after posting two chapters. My schedule got a little crazy but I am free now! (more or less hahaha)

Stay tuned for the next zodiac introductions. Cya~