Nightlight | A Zodiac Story

11| decrepit

The walls of the castle were buckling down and the small frown appearing on the young boys face
"Asclepius," his fathers voice rung through his ears "you have done enough harm"
His own grip on the sides of his heads was growing tighter by the minute, his knuckles turned white and he was screaming, and he had been in that cell for ages, what felt like decades, and now he was released into a labyrinth like some sort of rat who had to get out of the maze for a simple block of cheese. This wasn't the first time he's been released either, it's the same thing every single time, another maze that leads into another cage. Sometimes he asks himself what's keeping him held down to this game, this facade, and it comes back to him. Boredom. When you think about it, we're all rats trapped in cages, and no matter how many mazes we're given, we're always gonna stay trapped.

•••

Sagittarius had always felt trapped, it's something to do with her character, always wanting the next best thing or knowing some new knowledge. She liked new. Growing up surrounded by death, with the apocalypse and all, she didn't expect much else when she found out the news about her brother. It wasn't new, why was she overreacting before, she didn't know him so why should it matter if he's a murderer or a dead murderer. She was happy to have found out by Cepheus, even though he wasn't the most credible person in the world, she was happy with it. With the new information, she repeated the same steps walking down. She was expecting to see the two scruffy haired boys, waiting eagerly at the foot of the stairwell, but she was dissapointed to be alone. She had no other option but to wander the halls, aloof and alone.

•••

The other fire signs were busy at work, trying to find some sort of connection between Ophiuchus, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Whatever was going on in his head when he did it, was unfathomable to the two boys who were working their asses off to figure it out. They were slightly worried when the cheerful brunette didn't show up after around 45 minutes, so they sent Leo after her, leaving all three of them in different places, alone. Aries still continued to work hard, but Leo was surprised to not find Sagittarius anywhere near the route to Cepheus' tower, so he kept searching until he did find her, and when he did he struggled to stop himself from letting out an ear piercing scream.

•••

The earth signs were still as bored as before, but they were getting somewheres with their shared determination. They had a system, a writer and two readers, Virgo would neatly scribble down the notes that the other two had found, which consisted of connections between the families, other crimes and any other important detail that they might need. After the inspirational spark of creativity really hit them they had next to nothing, but now they had pages upon pages brimming with information and they were close to solving the puzzle but a piece was missing, and it was the most important piece; Ophiuchus' relation to the royal family. They knew that Ophiuchus and Sagittarius were both the product of Apollo so if they could simply find Apollo and ask him about this whole shenanigan, their problem would be solved. But to their shock, locating a god proved much harder than it seems. Seemingly out of nowhere, as the team was scrounging through the hallways, they had lost Taurus.

•••

Her head violently shook against the wooden chair she was roped against, her hair a tousled mess, unable to recognize the voice. Her lips parted for a small breath and she couldn't muster the strength to speak a word so she kept quiet, but her thoughts were whirring around at top speed. Her wrists were creating friction against the ropes that bound her to the chair, she hoped for either freedom or a fire, unfortunately neither came. She heaved a hefty breath, and tried again to no avail. Her eyes were fixated on the figure looming over a table in front of her. Her thoughts were worrisome, fearful of who he was and what he was going to do to her. She came to the conclusion that that day was her last on earth, she winced in thought, letting a tear fall from her eye and glancing up to hear blades scratching against eachother. She couldn't focus, her mind came to a stop. Nothing was blurry anymore, the man was marching towards her, she struggled against the bounds and her head lurched forward.
She was awake, but certainly wasn't where she was when she fell asleep.

•••

"But that cant be," Cancer thought aloud "how did he die before he committed the crime? What if..."
"Spit it out, Cancer" Scorpio whined, curiosity coursing through his veins
"What if he didn't do it"
Scorpio and Pisces sat there both in thought, all of them had questioned his crime but never spoke aloud. All of the Zodiacs felt that way.
"Cancer, go grab a book on the death reports, would you?'' Scorpio ordered and the boy scampered off to the library. Unbeknownst to the other water signs, that would be the last time they saw Cancer for a while.

•••

"Hello Zodiacs," A menacing yet familiar voice called to the four "remember me?"

vote and comment because the story is finally getting good, also its a short chapter but i really like how it turned out, but as per usual im begging for some constructive criticism here!!