Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 23: Risk

"Starting from the very beginning...We, well, I... I went out exploring myself and I tripped -"

"Sagittarius and I were following him to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. He tripped and fell over the hill by the wall, so we decided to take him outside so he could rest." Aries visibly flinched after saying that, as if expecting a physical blow from King Deimos.

"Go on." The king of Firea growled.

"I woke up," Leo continued, "and, I..." He glanced nervously at Sagittarius.

"You shouldn't hide anything from me," King Deimos warned. Leo bit his lip and nodded.

"I saw... A vision. A glowing person -" Leo visibly tensed at this, "- told me a prophecy."

"A prophecy...?" King Deimos rumbled. "Hm. Recite it."

"Three of them will pierce the wall,
Nine of them will answer the call,
Fire, water, air and earth,
Will rise together and prove their worth." Sagittarius quickly recited.

King Deimos was silent for a few seconds. Sagittarius shifted away slightly, Aries looked away and Leo stared at his feet.

"Well, go on." King Deimos growled.

"And I decided to go fulfil the prophecy, since I assumed the prophecy was calling for us, and we went to Wateria and we found Scorpio and he told us -"

"Slower." King Deimos ordered.

Leo nodded nervously and took a deep breath. "And he told us, uh, his Queen had taken his friends, Cancer and Pisces, prisoner. So we decided to help him, since, uh, the prophecy said so..."

"We left Wateria after... that, and we went to Airia, repeat, and Earthia, repeat." Aries stated.

Blaise's mouth gaped open in surprise, but she didn't say anything.

"And, uh... we joined forces and destroyed the wall with our powers... And possibly caused a world apocalypse? And it turns out the... Glowing person that gave Leo the prophecy... Was actually a guy who called himself Ophiuchus."

King Deimos was silent for a second.

"Ophiuchus?!" He snarled.

Everyone jumped at his outburst.

King Deimos's amber eyes swept over the twelve teenagers, practically alight with fury. "If a stranger told you to murder someone, would you?"

"Well -" Leo began, when no one spoke.

"Silence." Blaise stated. Leo glanced over at her, eyes wide with shock. "Bl -"

"You've just sentenced all of Zodiax to death," King Deimos continued, beginning to pace the room, "because of your stupidity."

He turned to glare at them. "All twelve of you running off, breaking the rules - there are rules for a reason and you know this!"

"Ophiuchus is the fifth element. The most dangerous of them all, and that is why 'Etheria' doesn't exist! The ether element... a small army could wipe out all of Zodiax. We couldn't let them... Breed."

Leo's mouth hung open with shock.

"The wall was there to protect us from them. All four of us... We used every ounce of our strength to create that barrier. The only way Ophiuchus could undo it... Was to combine the elements that were took to create it."