Thirteen

Eight

Despite of the dark world around her, Aires' throne room always seemed to shine with brightness, white marble walls draped with red and gold furnishings.  As Aries waited for the other stars to arrive, she paced her throne room impatiently.

"I know they are angry, but do they need to take their time?" Aries exclaimed.

Watching Aries pace back and forth, Onyx himself began to grow impatient. "Aries, you must give them time. You after all had refused to see them repeatedly, in order for you to fully recover from your battle with Serpieth, however, it also seems you have not yet-"

"Enough!" Aries paused before continuing, "I do not wish to speak of myself and the condition I am currently feeling."

"As you wish." Onyx bowed his head, at the same time Ryvre burst through the doors running towards where Onyx and Aries were standing.

Catching his breath Ryvre began to speak, "Aries, Onyx. I bring news of the sta-"

"If you're here to tell me that they refuse my calling then just spit it out." Aries spat out.

"N-no in fact they will be here shortly." Ryvre spoke nervously.

Aries looked towards Onyx and with a split-second decision waved her hand causing Onyx to transform into that of a "human" the small Gods called their creations. He was finely built with lush pale hair, flush lips and eyes that lit his soul.

"Why did you turn Onyx into that? He looks like one of those creations the little Gods create." A little curious Ryvre asked.

With a bit of hesitation Aries responded, "None of the other stars have ever met one of the Almighty Guardians, so they'll believe this is Mars." As Aries motioned towards Onyx's new appearance, Ryvre wondered if the other stars would be convinced. He has met the Almighty ones and felt that Onyx did not resemble Mars, but he had to trust in Aries. Just as they were finishing Onyx's transformation the other stars finally came into the throne room. They all sat in their thrones accordingly. Silence bestowed the large room, all ignoring Aries.

After a while Taurus spoke, "Why have you called us here, after denying us so many times and who is he?"

"I have grave news. It has been many moons but Mars, my ruling star, has come to warn us of a past enemy. I do not deserve your sympathy, but the truth must be said as I fear the worst is yet to come." Aries struggled to speak as she still had to fully recover from her same battle with Serpieth.

"Are we really to believe this thing is Mars?" Capricorn sneered.

"I am not Mars in the flesh, this is a form I take when I am away from my home. For safety, I must apologize I can not be my true self." Onyx lied.

"Why are we here? what has threatened us so badly that an Almighty must show themselves." Scorpio questioned.

"Long ago when there were only five of you, there was a guardian who went by Master Ophiuchus, he had tried multiple times to create the perfect creation. However, he created demon stars that resided in your dark sides; to protect you all from them we had to rip them from within and that part of your memories. All while we were protecting the newly born stars, we had put Master Ophiuchus out of mind. Unfortunately, he had finally created something worth more than death itself, the 13th star young, Ophiuchus." Knowing he had their full attention Onyx continued speaking what Aries was telling him through their mind link.

"Young Ophiuchus ended the life of it's Master becoming the new Master Ophiuchus. Sadly Ophiuchus realized in order to rule our world they needed to kill Aries and gain power of the 12 black stars."

"They? What do you mean they?" Virgo asked softly.

"Ophiuchus is two creations and they share a body. In other words Ophiuchus has two souls, similar to Gemini, who can be two separate beings. However, the difference between Gemini and Ophiuchus is that they can flicker quickly between one another rapidly. The only way to tell who is speaking is with a special looking glass." Aries answered Virgo's question.

"As I was mentioning, Ophiuchus was dismissed and sent to the dark depths of the universe. That was many moons ago, however-" Onyx looked towards Aries, who then spoke to continue his story.

"When you, Leo, had spoken of the strange feeling on the new moon it had me worried after awhile. I had sent Onyx and Ryvre to look, and of course my worst fear had come true. Subsequently, this demon star had awoken from slumber and managed to escape. My dear stars I went to the moon, fighting him to keep him in his prison cell after he had attacked my kin and I had to come home to save Onyx, that is why he is not present, he is recovering from Serpieth's attack." Aries cautiously looked around the room hoping all had believed her. As small murmurs spread through them, Onyx linked minds with Aries.

Aries, I feel faint, I must leave soon, or they will find out I am not Mars.

Give me a small amount of time. I need them to respond.

"I know all of you are angered with me. Many of you will believe I am not fit to lead but as Mars has spoken, this was kept from you to protect us all." With little strength Aries had left, she spoke to the now divided stars. "I had no other choice but to believe this was the right path to protect our world."

"How can we trust your word?" Leo doubted as he spoke. Aires had kept this from him, let alone everyone else.

Aries looked down trying to think if they were ready. No matter if they were or not, she needed them to believe her, she turned to Ryvre and with one look he gave Aries a nod and brought out the 12 gems.

"I cannot express how this may help us destroy the 12 dark stars, but these are what connects us to them. It is not much, however, with these we can slow them from becoming powerful once more and find a way to stop Ophiuchus from advancing into power."