Within the confines of Sanctuary, one Kido Saori sat patiently on her throne-like seat. Sanctuary had become deathly silent and disturbingly cold ever since the fight against Hades. It had been a little over three years since she and her Saints ventured into the Underworld. It had been a little over three years since she lost all of her Gold Saints and Seiya, her most favored Saint, had been nearly killed and fell into a state of coma.
The remaining Saints in Santuary had lost a great deal of moral and were just barely making it through the day.
Shiryu had gone back to the peaks of Rozon to mourn the loss of his master with Shunrei. Shun had taken it apon himself to handle the affairs of the Graude Foundation in Saori's absence with the Steel Saints helping whenever they can. Hyoga returned to Siberia and Ikki had just left without saying anything about where he was going.
Marine barely spoke to anyone anymore aside from Saori, Seika, and Shaina and visited Seiya in the hospital and Aiolia's empty temple every other day. Though she spent a little more time in Aiolia's house than she did at Seiya's bedside. There had been rumors floating around about her and Aiolia being lovers or something close to it that were unconfirmed. They were obviously more than friends but not quite lovers yet. When news of the Leo Saint's death reached her, Marine had been hit hard by it. She had locked herself in her little cabin for over a week and didn't come out for anything. Marine sometimes went days without eating and several times did Saori have to force her to take care of herself. She had also become more tempermental with almost everyone than usual and a was bit more harsh with a anyone she trained with.
The Ophiuchus Saint was more better off than the Aquila Saint, though the two do get into verbal spats more often. Shaina would spend the better parts of her days at Seiya's bedside with Seika. When another day of no response came from the Pegasus Saint Shaina would go out to the trainning fields to blow off stream; meaning she'd beat the crap out of her lackies and any other poor soul unfurtunate enough to be her sparring partner. Like Marine, Shaina's usual heavyhanded techniques had become even more brutal. She hardly ever pulled any of her punches anymore.
Saori slouched slightly in her chair with a heavy sigh. If all that'd been happening weren't enough, she had been getting these unusual dreams for weeks now. At first they had been indistingishable and blurry but over time they had become sharper, more focused and defined. They had always started out and ended the same way. Each night she had these dreams she grew more and more worried about what they meant.
In her dreams she always found herself standing at the far end of her darkened throne room with her staff and sheild in hand. But the strange thing was that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move, let alone make the smallest twitch. Also, everytime she tried to open her mouth she couldn't speak. At her feet she could see all the Saint Coffers surrounding her protctively.
As Saori was beginning to wonder what the meaning of all this was, she scensed a second presence besides herself in the room. In that instant the free-standing torch basins sprung to life and illuminated the room. Saori found that the second person in her dreams was a young teenage woman who looked about the same age as her. Her short brown hair framed her lightly tanned face. Her emerald colored eyes shinned like jewels in the darkness. She wore a strange cloaked outfit of pink, white, and gold silk. As far as looks go the outfit looked a little like a female super hero costume crossed with a magician's robes.
The girl had been studying the room and when the tourches closest to Saori bursted to life. Saori and the Saint Coffers instantly became the source of the stranger's attention as she looked the young goddess incarnate over.
Suddenly, a large golden circle of gold light with all the ancient symbles for zodiac and the kanji for North, Souh, East, and West appeared directly under her feet. She stood in the center of a ten-point star with the sun on the left and the moon at her right as it slowly spun.
A small key that had been hanging around her neck transformed into a pink wand or a short staff of the sorts with wings, rubies, and a gold star.
For a moment Saori worried that the girl might attack her seeing as she couldn't move. But then the mystery girl would turn her back to her and faced a massive cosmos equal to or possibly stronger than her own when it suddenly flooded the room. Before the girl stood a man in dark red robes with strait long red-orange hair and narrowed eyes. The imposing figure held a godly air to him that Saori herself and other mortal gods had. She alo found him to be strangely familiar.
He loomed over the girl, not even aknowledging Saori, and reached out to her. He said something in such a low and menacing voice that Saori couldn't hear it. This only made the green eyed brunette step back defensively.
Saori tried with all he might to move but something kept her restrained to where she stood. She felt the need and to help the girl all the sudden, the want to protect her. The young goddess felt as if something truely horrible would happen if she didn't. It was then, as if feeling Saori's unspoken desires, the twelve Gold and five familiar Bronze Saint Coffers opened up, spilling light and power into the room.
Then the dream would fade and leave Saori wondering what happened to the brunette. The strangeness of the dreamand her godly instincts made the young woman think it was a prophecy of some kind. If that was true, then it meant a new fight with a god was coming and it was centered around the strange girl in Saori's dreams.
Saori gave a heavy sigh. If a new fight was coming then that meant her already straining and crippled forces may not come out victorious this time.
The large doors to the room opened and at them stood Aquila Marine. The Silver Saint walked briskly and full of purpose over to Athena's raised throne and kneeled. "Athena-sama." her light voice was melancholy and slightly hoarse from little use but still carried a business-like tone.
"Marine," Saori greeted. "What's the news?"
The Amazon stood, he back strait, hands at her sides, and heels together. "Seiya still hasn't woken up yet. The doctors say his body has been healed completely for some time now so they're waiting to see what happens next... but they also say that if he doesn't wake up soon, they'll have to pull him off life support." Saori nodded grimly, cueing Marine to continue. "Finding replacement Saints for the fallen ones is going slow, especially for the Gold Saints. Non of them left any living trainees except Libra and Aries, but Kiki is still too young and Dragon said he refuses take his master's cloth for the time being. And the Bronze Saints have recieved your summons and are on their way."
"That's good."
Marine was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Athena-sama, if I may ask, why did you call for Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, and Ikki? Is something wrong?" The Eagle Saint held no illusions about Seiya and his friends not being stronger than her and other silver level Saints. She wouldn't allow herself to inflate her ego enough to the point of blinding her eyes to blanted truth.
These particular bronze boys were able to go head to head with Silver Saints, then take on the Gold Saints, and finally they had become strong enough to defy gods and still somehow pull out a victory. Dispite their low rank, they were among of Athena's most powerful defenses. If Athena ever called on these five, now currently four, then something somewhere was about to go terribly wrong. Marine wanted to be ready to fight if something did go wrong.
Saori peered down at Marine's masked face then spoke. "I believe so." she started "... I've been having these strange dreams lately." Saori then told the female Saint every little detail that she could remember about the dream. "I think it's some kind of a vision, maybe a warning. I'm unsure about what was happening in my dream, but the meaning is clear. A new foe, most likely another god, is approaching us and this girl is involved somehow."
The Silver Saint nodded in agreement. "I can dispatch scouts to find her if you want."
"Yes, but first call in one of the artisans. The scouts should at least know what the person they're going to search for looks like."
"At once, Athena-sama." Marine then hurried off.
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YOU ARE READING
Seal of Stars: Light of The Zodiac
FanfictionA Holy War between the mythical Gods of Greece. The cloths of the stars and the Saints who wear them. What does Sakura have to do with any of it? Contains Mild Yaoi.
