A World of Stars ➳ A Zodiac Story

Chapter Twenty-Eight: "We're Stars"

It was almost unreal.

  They stood on what seemed to be clouds. The sky was dotted with hundreds and hundreds of glittering lights that twinkled sweetly. No cloud was to be seen, probably because they were standing on them. "Where are we?" Libra breathed as she looked around at the dark night sky.

"Among the stars," Came a voice from behind them, and they all spun on their heels, ready to fight. They all visibly relaxed when they saw it was Orion, next to him stood a beaming Phoenix. Phoenix looked like the same bubbly person as before, but Orion looked different.

  His physical appearance seemed the same, but he had a wiseness in his eyes of someone very old. He waved his hand in a vague gesture of the sky, spattered like the canvas of an artist.

  He then began walking, a thin strip of what seemed like moonlight stretched in front of them for as far as they could see. They immediately began walking behind him.

  He began pointing to different constellations and explaining them. The Zodiacs were barely listening as they observed their surroundings in wonder. Orion stopped abruptly, making them bump into him and fall like dominos. "Why does everyone do that?" Sagittarius cried exasperatedly. They all laughed at her reaction and stood up, wondering what made Orion stop so suddenly.

  In the sky, there was a blank space. There were no stars, just black, endless dark. He watched their expressions, watched as a few of them looked with a blank stare, while realization dawned upon the others. "Us," Virgo said quietly,

"What?" Taurus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We are supposed to be there," Aries breathed, watching as her foggy breath danced in the cool air, however, she wasn't feeling cold. Everyone looked at her, and then Orion.

"We're stars," Scorpio said,

"Well technically, we're constellations," Gemini corrected,

"Oh pish-posh," Aquarius retorted, waving his hand dismissively. Gemini raised her eyebrow,

"I have.. mixed feelings about this," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Orion nodded in understanding.

"Of course, none of this is compulsory. It is up to you whether you want to resume your place as constellations or continue life on earth as mortals." He nodded towards the blank space,

"You would be immortal," Phoenix said out of the blue, this was the first time they had heard her speak since they got here, "Here, you would live forever with us and the other constellations. At day you would live in Starfall City, at night you would resume your positions as constellations. Until you bore offspring who would be able to take your place." She finished her lecture and looked at them. Most of them gaped at her while others shook their heads in disbelief.

"Is this Starfall City?" Gemini said finally,

"No," Orion answered,

"Can we see it?"

• • •

  "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," Sagittarius said to Aquarius, whose mouth hung open in complete astonishment. He closed his mouth and grinned boyishly at her, running his hand through his hair.

"Maybe I can capture something else with my mouth," he said, leaning in to kiss her. She pushed him back and whispered,

"They don't know," he froze and turned to see everybody gawking at what was behind them,

"I think we're okay," he whispered back. Scorpio closed his mouth and gulped before looking at the two,

"No, we saw that. We're just too distracted by that," he pointed to the city behind them, the one that Aquarius had also been gaping at.