Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 12: Explanation

The hideout was small but rather cozy. A wooden table sat nearby, covered with papers and sketches. Several wooden drawers were overflowing with papers and there were papers pinned to a wooden board on the wall. A couch and table sat nearby - both were covered with half-eaten snacks.

"Way too much writing." Leo muttered, sweeping away several papers on the floor to sit down.

"Please, sit down. We owe you an explanation - well, they'll be doing the explaining." Taurus said cheerfully, sweeping the bags and baskets of snacks off the couch.

Virgo dived to catch them. "I'm not cleaning that up!" she snapped, putting them down on top of all the papers. Taurus chuckled and gestured at the couch. "Come on guys, sit down."

Cancer perched herself awkwardly on the edge of the couch. "Um, thanks." she mumbled. Pisces sat down next to her. "Thanks!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Pisces!"

Taurus's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, yeah! Introductions! I'm Taurus, and this is Virgo and Capricorn!"

"Pleasure to meet you." Capricorn said, nodding at the other nine elementals. "Honoured to meet you." Virgo added, picking up several papers from her desk. "Now, explanations, explanations..."

The nine elementals seated themselves on the couch and the floor as the earth elementals quickly swept up their papers.

"Um, how did you -" Gemini began, but she was interrupted by Capricorn. "Questions later." he said, unfolding a large sheet of paper.

"Alright. I assume you all must be extremely confused. Now, yes, we know you're... other elementals.  Fire, water, and air... if I'm correct?"

"Yep." Sagittarius said. "How do you know?"

Capricorn turned the sheet around to reveal a large, full map of Zodiax. "We copied down the original map from the king's quarters and we... overheard some conversations."

"Bluntly speaking, I spied on them." Taurus added.

"We've always knew something was up." Virgo said, pacing back and forth. "But we didn't actually... know what it was until we overhea - spied on them."

Pisces opened her mouth to speak, but she was shushed by Taurus. "Let them explain." Taurus lowered his voice and whispered, "They get cranky when they're interrupted, especially with their... research stuff."

Capricorn frowned at Taurus. "We do not."

"You do."

"Hmph." Capricorn turned back to the nine elementals and unfolded another sheet of paper. "Anyways, we heard about the other lands the first time we spied on them and pieced everything together after several... after spying on them some more."

"Turns out Earthia and Airia have been... contacting each other rather frequently. That explains the lack of a magic barrier at the wall." Virgo picked up a sheet of paper. "We scribbled down some of their... conversations. Of course, they could only communicate with letters, so we've never actually seen an actual air elemental until you came." Virgo stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the desk. "Just today, before you arrived, the ruler of Airia sent an urgent message to King Terrest asking for help. His daughter, apparently, had overexerted her powers and she fell into a coma."

"Oh." Libra said sheepishly. "That... might've been us."

"Hmm. Interesting. You will have to tell me more later." Virgo said, scribbling something on a sheet of paper.

"Anyways, as we were saying... a few minutes after we heard of this message, Virgo immediately sensed your presence. She has an ability that allows her to do so." Capricorn said.