“Aurin!” cried Luna, rushing over to him and jumping into his arms. “I was so worried that you wouldn’t come back…I was so scared when the rumbling started and the roof flashed red. I thought you had all died.”

“It’s alright, Luna,” said Aurin, holding her tightly. “We did it, it’s over.”

“Thank God, you’re alright, bud,” said Kyle. “I feared the worst.”

“Gardner’s orb came in useful,” said Aurin, releasing Luna and throwing the Orb of Return back to Gardner.

“Ha!” chuckled Gardner. “Thought it might, mate. Glad to have been of service. You know, I wasn’t expecting you to return it…”

Aurin looked to the top of Harmony Tower, relieved to see the swirling clouds that had long-covered it were back in place. The barrier truly had been restored and Hazelton could now be rebuilt. All that was left was to deal with the lingering wild Minakai that had spread out and into the wilderness.

“Master Taurus?” asked Pisces, walking up to Leo.

“He’s gone,” said Leo, shaking his head, “and I don’t believe he’s coming back. He sacrificed himself to atone for his mistake.”

“What…what do we do now?” asked Pisces.

“There’s nothing else to do, Lorrane,” said Leo, taking off his Zodiac mask and throwing it onto the ground, “except face the music.”

Pisces looked at Leo with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. She couldn’t believe that Taurus was gone.

“Zodiac Squad,” Frederick called out to his comrades. “We’re done here. The Zodiac Squad is no more.”

Upon hearing this, many of the Zodiac Squad members also threw their masks on the ground, but others sprinted away. They were fearful of the consequences of their actions, especially now that they no longer had the protection of their leader, Mayor Boren.

“You can run, but I will track you down!” barked Detective Knot. “You will all pay for your sins, I assure you.”

Knot’s Flaround barked loudly too and the detective patted his faithful canine’s head.

Frederick walked up to Knot. “I’ll come quietly,” he said.

“I’m glad that at least one of you has some remorse,” spat Knot. “The damage you caused…the destruction…the lives lost. Was it worth it? Was it worth it at all?”

“No,” said Frederick, his voice trembling. “No, it was not. I’m sorry…”

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Leo.”

“Frederick. My name is Frederick. Leo is dead.”

Conrad and Klaus walked through the group of tamers and over to Aurin.

“Well…that’s that, I suppose,” said Conrad. “Thanks for everything, Aurin.”

“I’m glad you came back to town,” said Aurin, reaching out to shake Conrad’s hand. “Everything that happened with us over the summer. That’s in the past. You came through.”

Conrad smiled and shook Aurin’s hand.

“There is just the matter of the Zeera egg,” said Klaus slyly. “I would appreciate if you handed it over swiftly. We have no idea what will happen should that egg hatch. It’s safest with the Minakai Guardians.”

“No,” said Aurin.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that I’m not handing it over.”

“I don’t think you understand, young man,” said Klaus, his tone growing darker. “Zeera is a species that is difficult to control at the best of times, but if this egg retains the corruption from its previous life, then it will be a danger to us all. If you do not hand it over, I’ll be forced to take other measures.”

“Go ahead,” said Aurin as Kyle passed him back the egg. “See what happens if you try it.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Aurin, you do not know who you’re dealing with. Do not test me.”

“No, Klaus,” said Kyle. “I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with. You’ve seen what Aurin is capable of and you know how strong his Minakai are. He’s been personally trained by Tobias, who is a much better judge than you are. If he says he’s keeping the egg and that he can handle the responsibility, then that should be good enough for you.”

“There is no way in—”

“Klaus,” said Conrad firmly. “You’re not going to win this one. If you try and take the egg from Aurin, you’re doing it alone. I’m not going to help you.”

“Ah, so it’s insubordination, is it?” asked Klaus.

“No, it’s preventing you from breaking the law and stealing someone else’s property.”

“Well, we’ll see about that,” muttered Klaus, turning his back on everyone and walking away.

“I’m probably going to pay for that,” said Conrad with a shrug, “but at least it’ll buy you some time.”

“Thanks, Conrad,” said Aurin.

“Don’t mention it,” said Conrad, walking after Klaus. “Keep in touch, everyone.”

The crowd slowly started to disperse with Knot enlisting a few volunteers to escort the Zodiac members who were willingly going to turn themselves in to the police station. Before long, the only ones remaining outside the tower were Aurin, Luna, Kyle, Gardner, Jimmy and Emily.

Aurin stared at the tower before him, still awestruck by the magnificent structure in the same way that he was when he first laid eyes on it. The day that he and Shamtile first arrived in Hazelton, he saw Harmony Tower as something to be conquered, but now, almost two years later, he knew that it was something to be respected. It held riches, it held wonders, but most importantly, it stood as a guardian to the world, holding back the flow of wild Minakai that brought so much danger.

“What’s running through your mind?” Luna asked him, taking his hand and putting her head on his shoulder.

“I’m just hoping that one day I’ll be worthy of climbing to the top and fighting a tower guardian fairly,” said Aurin.

“You’ve got the best shot of anyone here,” said Gardner.

“You still beat me in Ludonia over the summer,” said Aurin.

“Eh, we’ll see how things play out next time,” shrugged Gardner. “My training since then has been basic while you’ve gone above and beyond to hone your skills. I’m not so sure we’d have the same outcome this time around.”

“Well, then we’ll see at the next Hazelton tournament, won’t we?”

“We will,” said Aurin excitedly. “It’ll be nice to get back to normality.”

“Normality?” asked Jimmy with a chuckle. “Has there been any of that for you since you first got here?”

“There was that brief period between exposing the original Sagittarius and Libra and the second Hazelton tournament. That was a nice couple of months of peace.”

“Speaking of the tournament,” said Emily. “What’s going to happen now that Mayor Boren is gone?”

“That’s…a very good question,” said Aurin. “Perhaps I’ll run for mayor and make sure they put the tournament on. I’ll quit right after the tournament is over.”

“You think you would get elected?” laughed Luna.

“He’s the town hero now,” said Kyle, nudging Aurin. “You made a name for yourself with your battling prowess and now you’ve made a name for yourself as the saviour of Hazelton.”

“Saviour of Hazelton,” said Aurin, putting his left index finger to his chin. “You know, I quite like that.”

“Great, there’s another unneeded ego boost for you.”

“You said it, not me.”

“I can see your head swelling already.”

Shamtile leapt onto Aurin’s shoulders, knocking Luna out of the way. He placed his hands on the side of Aurin’s head and squeezed, trying to prevent his master’s head from getting any larger.

“Knock it off, Shamtile!” Aurin scolded him. “He’s joking. You’ve made this same mistake before.”

Everyone laughed as Shamtile hopped back onto the grass and curled up in a ball, embarrassed.

“Right, all,” said Gardner, stretching his arms into the air. “I need to get a proper sleep before I do anything else. I’m wrecked.”

Jimmy furrowed his brow. “Didn’t Detective Knot ask us to give him a few hours and then go give official statements at the station?”

“Agh! I forgot!”

“Luna, should we go check on Hannah?” asked Emily. “I’m sure that Mr Williams has taken her to the hospital by now.”

“To be honest,” said Luna quietly. “I’m not so sure that I want to see her.”

“I’m not so keen on the idea either, but we’ve known her for so long and she’s hurt. We can cut ties with her after we know for sure she’s going to be alright.”

“Maybe go easy on her,” said Aurin.

“You of all people are saying this?” asked Luna.

“I don’t think she betrayed us because she wanted to, but out of loyalty to her dad. As despicable as most of the Zodiac Squad were, Virgo…erm, Mr William was one of the ones that wasn’t so bad.”

Everyone stared at Aurin in confusion.

“It doesn’t make anything that happened right, don’t get me wrong,” he said, “but I truly believe that they didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand. Let me ask you all this…do you really think Hannah, the same girl who hates battling with her Chlost, wanted wild Minakai running rampant around the world?”

“No…no, I suppose not,” said Luna as the others agreed.

“Then give her a break,” said Aurin. “If she proves me wrong and shows no remorse for the events of the last couple of days then throw her under the bus and drive over her a few times.”

“Okay,” said Luna nodding slowly. “I think we can do that.”

“Yes, we can,” said Emily.

Gardner rubbed his eyes violently. “Alright, enough yapping. Let’s get into town and give those statement so I can hit the hay.”

“You lot go on ahead,” said Kyle, walking over to the trees. “I’ll meet you there later once I’ve made sure that the ranch is alright.”

“How come he gets out of it so easily?” muttered Gardner.

Everyone except for Aurin made their way out of the clearing leaving him and Shamtile standing alone. They looked at the doors of Harmony Tower once again, both of tamer and monster silently taking it in. One day, they would challenge the tower again. One day, they would reach the top by themselves. One day, they would defeat it.