Circle Of Twelve

Chapter 3: "The Awakening of the Zodiacs" (3/4)

No One's POV

Gideon slumped against his locker, the dull echo of students filing out of the building fading as the last bell of the day rang. Another monotonous day at Greenwood High had come to an end, and he was more than ready to leave behind the endless drone of lectures and assignments. All he could think about was meeting up with his friends at The Hideout, their favorite spot near the old train tracks. A place of routine comfort, where they’d play video games and joke about how life seemed so ordinary.

"Hey, Gideon! You coming?" Lucas shouted from down the hall, already pulling on his jacket.

"Yeah, I’ll catch up!" Gideon called back, adjusting his bag. He felt a strange weight to it today, heavier than usual, but he chalked it up to exhaustion. He began walking, the routine steps carrying him toward the door when something stopped him.

A sharp, metallic clink.

Frowning, Gideon set his bag down and opened it. Nestled between his notebooks and lunchbox was a smooth silver object, glinting faintly under the fluorescent lights. It hadn't been there this morning. He picked it up, and immediately felt a rush of warmth spread from his fingers to his chest. The object was not just any trinket; it was a pendant, shaped like a crescent moon intertwined with the sun—intricately detailed and impossibly cold despite the warmth he felt holding it.

Gideon blinked, turning the pendant over in his hand. "What the…?"

His thoughts raced. He didn't remember picking this up anywhere. How had it gotten into his bag? But before he could consider it further, the warmth intensified, almost like a pulse, and he felt a strange pulling sensation—an instinct, a whisper in his mind.

The Cloak of Equinox.

The words formed clearly in his head, though no one had spoken them. He froze, glancing around. The hallway was empty. His heart pounded as he felt another wave of warmth radiate from the pendant, enveloping him in a shimmering light. The world around him seemed to ripple, and for a moment, everything blurred.

When his vision cleared, the familiar hallway was gone. Gideon now stood in a vast, shadowy space, the air heavy with an ancient presence. Stone columns loomed around him, and a soft glow illuminated the space in front of him. At the center of this place, suspended in midair, was a cloak.

Deep midnight blue, with streaks of silver woven through it like starlight, the cloak fluttered as if caught in a breeze only it could feel. The words whispered again in his mind: The Cloak of Equinox awaits you.

Gideon reached out, hesitant, and the moment his fingers brushed the fabric, a surge of power shot through him. His vision blurred once more, and the strange space dissolved. He was back in the hallway at school, but the pendant around his neck felt lighter. It had been replaced by the cloak—now draped over his shoulders, fitting perfectly, as if it had always been there.

His heart raced as a strange understanding settled in. This was no ordinary piece of clothing. It hummed with energy, and when he focused, he could sense something else—someone else.

A name. Ethan.

The realization hit him like a wave. Ethan was a fellow member of… what? He fumbled for the right words, but they seemed to come from somewhere deep within: The Circle of Twelve. He wasn’t alone. He was part of something much bigger, something ancient and powerful. The pendant, the cloak—they were just the beginning.

Gideon slung his bag over his shoulder, feeling the weight of this new knowledge pressing down on him. He couldn’t just go to The Hideout. Not now. He needed answers, and there was only one place he could start.