Celestial Bonds

Prologue

Disclaimer: we don't own Aphmau or any characters of her creation. We only own OCs. *applies for all chapters
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A girl was running through the stars. She breathed heavily, indigo-black hair fanning out behind her. Her golden-amber eyes sparkled with fear as she looked back to see the shadow still closing in.

All at once, the shadow was gone, no longer behind her. Confused, the girl let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps her plea for help had made it to the others. She turned forward, desperate to reach her goal, but in front of her, out of the deep darkness of space, her shadow materialized, a sinister grin on his tanned face and an evil glint in his pitch black eyes.

"Shad," she hissed, her voice full of venom, not revealing an ounce of the fear she felt. She reached for the sword on her back, the purple blade reflecting the light coming off of her as opposed to the darkness coming off her adversary's figure. Her hand trembled, giving away her misgivings about her abilities.

"Hello, Libra," the man sneered.

"Wha-what are you going to do?"

He chuckled. "Well that depends entirely on how willing you are to give up your power. You've stood up against me one too many times and I'm afraid I can't tolerate that kind of disloyalty. You should consider yourself lucky that I'm letting you live, for most wouldn't be granted that privilege."

The girl closed her eyes and prayed as hard as she could to the stars, but no help came to her.

The man standing on front of her just laughed. "Oh sweet, innocent Libra. Your friends can't hear you. The nearest one is many years away, and even so, he has come to believe that I am right and I can be a great leader to all of them. You've been running for a long time, little nebula."

"Don't call me that!" The girl grimaced. Years? Shad was just trying to trip her up. It couldn't have been years since she fled her home. She had refused to fall in line with Shad's insane plot to rule. She, as well as Dante, had run away, promising to protect each other. He had been killed right in front of her, just stabbed by the Shadow Knights. As he was dying, he begged her to run, so she did, but not because of him, but because of fear.

God, she had been such a coward. Glistening tears had formed on the corners of her eyes, but she furiously wiped them away. Shad grinned to himself and as quickly as a bolt of lightning, he brought his blood red blade down, straight towards the heart of the woman in front of him.

All of the sudden, the amethyst sword materialized in front of his and blocked his strike. She stood, nearly defeated, but still with the rage of a thousand cosmos in her eyes. "Aaron, please." Shad stopped in shock at the use of the name, but quickly recovered. "Aaron, if any part of you is still in there, somewhere, please. Stop this."

"Aaron is gone you foolish girl. He's been gone for ten years. Just feel good that he had a better fate than your friend Leo." The girl stopped in shock this time and Shad used that as an opportunity.

The purple sword went flying into the never-ending blackness of space. The girl yelped and was on the ground, a sharp blade at her throat. "This is your last chance, Libra. Give up your powers or meet the same fate as your friends. Or maybe I should just banish you, like the legends of Aries, Sagittarius, and Capricorn."

"Those are just myths, you-you jerk." Suddenly she looked up over his head and gasped fearfully. He turned, and when he looked back, she was gone. Shad cursed and saw her running, faster and faster, adrenaline moving through her veins.

As she ran, she cried. She cried for Dante, the friend she had lost. She cried for Leo, the friend she had left. And she cried for Aaron, her one true love. A glow caught her eye and she looked to see the Gate of Light. It had been mentioned in the myths of Aries and the others who had been banished from the heavens.

She changed course, heading towards the gleaming gate, and when Shad noticed, he let out a scream of desperation. If she made it to that gate, he would never be able to reach her unless she was captured by lesser beings.

He dashed after the smaller figure, but before he had started running, he knew it was too late. Within what felt like minutes, but was probably only a few seconds, the girl reached the structure and as she approached, the golden gates opened, revealing what seemed to be a galaxy inside.

She looked back only once at the man she had once loved, and even from that distance, he could see the tears running down her face, and how broken she was. She had lost her two best friends, the man she was going to spend her life with, and her home, and yet she still pushed forward.

"Goodbye, Aaron." She said it so quietly that she was sure he couldn't have heard it, but even so, his expression changed, if only for a second. She stepped into the galaxy, which kept changing and just like that, she was gone. Shad screamed in frustration. He would have to send a shadow knight to each of the habitable planets in over a thousand galaxies.

One year later, in the village of Meteli, the head guard, Laurance, was making his rounds when suddenly, a beam of light blew through the night sky, far away. It raced down to the south and seemed to land. Laurance realized what it was and felt a bond to it. "It couldn't be, could it?" He raced away, much to the confusion of some others in the village.

In O'Khasis, the guard to High Priest Zane, Garroth, felt the same bond and saw what seemed to be a star falling out of the sky. "Wha-that couldn't be a-no, that's not possible. I have to check, though. It's like the one I felt with Ava." At that thought, he set off. "Garroth! Where are you going? You get back here this instant or so help me I will reduce you to the farthest outpost."

Ein was walking through the forest. "Ugh, why did Dale make me transport this stuff?" Suddenly, the skies were illuminated and a beam of purple light shot down straight towards Ein. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was standing on the edge of a crater.

There was a rustle in the trees and three men, one blond, one brunette, and one with white hair came out next to Ein. All four stared down into the crater. At the center was a girl. She had purple-black hair and a petite figure. The blond and brunette gasped. "Ava?" the blond murmured.

Ein didn't stop to ponder this as he ran into the crater, desperate to help the frail girl. "Wait!" The brunette shouted. Ein reached her first, the others not far behind. The girl turned and muttered in her sleep. "Shad...no...Aaron." "Shhh," Ein whispered gently. The blond knelt at her side. "What's your name?"

The girl opened her eyes, staring straight at them. "My name...is Aphmau."