We had been walking for a while now and I could tell by looking around, how dark it had become.

"Hey, maybe we should take a break or something," I suggested to Pisces. She did not respond and kept on walking ahead of me, her gown providing the only source of light as we got deeper into the woods.

I had no idea where we were going. Pisces didn't respond when I asked her that either. She was just silent all the way, ever since her freak glow-up episode. What had she seen? What had I seen?

Realizing that the distance between us was starting to widen, I hurried over, trying to keep up. How was she so fast? Her gown did not at all seem to get caught in the undergrowth that was a personal hell for me, not to mention Despyon's shield which was wearing down both of my arms.

I was then trailing behind Pisces, trying not so well to restrain the miserable feeling that was gradually creeping up on me. I tried to distract myself by looking at the Zodiac's hair which I hadn't noticed how long and curly it actually was. It settled just over her waist, glowing with that ethereal brilliance, though not as bright as her gown. It was mostly the thin streaks of violet and white, illuminating the rest of her blue hair.

It had been a nice distraction, calming even, until my arm started acting up. I directed my eyes down to the insignia. The arrow symbol was lighting up again but it was a little different this time. Instead of gradually glowing in neon green, the light materialized spontaneously then going off and coming back on again.

It was so weird, it looked like the insignia was glitching or something, and almost at the same time, I started getting this strange creeping feeling. I started feeling myself.

"What is it?" Pisces asked, finally speaking. I looked up to find her standing several yards ahead. She looked tired but incredibly serious at the same time. Do Zodiac get tired? Well, she had almost died from an injury, so. . .

"The mark," I said, looking back down at my arm, "just now. I swear it was. . ." I couldn't quite explain it. The glitching had stopped.

Clearly annoyed, Pisces turned around and was about to keep on moving but I knew I wouldn't get another chance to talk to her like this.

"Hey, come on," I pleaded, hurrying up after her. "Wait!"

"We need to rest," I grabbed her by the arm without thinking.

She turned around, staring daggers at me with her glowing blue eyes. I quickly let go of her arm. Never before had I ever felt so stupid and afraid. I was sure she was going to conjure up some blue energy ball or something and blast me to pieces.

The glow in her eyes lowered, and the tiny crease between her brows was gone. She sighed. "Fine, we can stop here."

I also sighed, more than relieved that all of my body organs were still intact and no energy blasts were coming at me.

Setting aside Despyon's shield, I sat down and rested my back against a tree. Pisces remained standing, looking into the darkness.

"Are you okay?" I asked, feeling the tension in the air.

"You wanted to rest, didn't you?" Pisces asked, not looking at me.

"Well, yeah," I answered, "you could also—"

"Then rest," she cut in with a sharp response. Geez, what had gotten into her? She was not the same mysterious yet fascinating Zod. . .okay, I decided I was gonna stop calling her 'Zodiac'. It felt—I don't know how it felt but she looked very much human to me, minus the, you know—all the glowing. As a matter of fact, now that I was thinking it. She had this strange sense of familiarity to her; like I'd known her before. But then I had just met someone who had a magic stick that allowed you to teleport.

Was Ethel okay? What was the Chieftain and his soldiers going to do to her? All these questions drifted off as everything around me darkened even more.

***

My eyes opened up to a bright morning and I had to wince until my sight had adjusted. I must have fallen asleep over Despyon's shield whose curved surface had served as a surprisingly comfortable pillow. I sat up against the tree from the previous night, taking in the surroundings. The trees were clearer this time, towering high up in the air as golden streaks of sunlight penetrated through the leaves and branches which cast shadows over the undergrowth.

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I breathed in, letting the air fill my lungs. It felt so fresh and unreal, accompanied with the smell of what I guess was bark, grass and. . .I held my breath, abruptly turning my head either way.

"Pisces," I called, getting up on my feet. She was nowhere in sight.

I called out her name again, frantically searching the woods with my eyes. I was getting worried, with just a little bit of fear. Where was she?

A terrible thought then crossed my mind. She had left me. Of course she had, especially after how she had been acting last night. How could I've been so stupid! Rest, she had said. What a—

"You're awake!" I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning around to find Pisces standing there.

"You called?" she added, her face beaming.

"I. . ." I was flustered by her expression. She was no longer brooding or grumpy as she looked back at me with her big blue—wait, her eyes seemed to have apparently switched from glowing in their characteristic blue color to purple.

"Where were you?" I asked, trying my best to look away at those eyes.

"I thought I would go on ahead and scout for enemies and clear our path." She said, smiling wider with every word.

"Oh, okay," my eyes found themselves looking at Pisces's forehead where her insignia usually stood sticking out like tiny sharpened pieces of sapphire. It wasn't there.

She must have noticed me staring. "Decided to conceal it. Don't want to attract unwanted attention."

"Smart," I said in response, though, honestly, I thought her insignia looked really great on her.

"We should get going," Pisces said shortly, leading the way.

I picked up Despyon's shield and walked after her. She was no longer walking as fast.

"You still haven't told me where we're going," I said, using this as a conversation starter, given as to how overly chipper she had turned out to be.

"Oh, how silly of me," she laughed uncharacteristically, "we have to get out of the forest."

"And go where?"

"Well, you know. . .?" she paused, as if I would magically catch on.

That strange feeling then returned. That ominous sense of dread that seemed to send a shiver right down my spine and, as if on cue, my insignia—which I guess it was, now that I'd learned that I had inherited it from the Zodiac, Sage—had started glitching again, but ever so slightly in a blink and you'd miss it kind of way.

"What's wrong with this thing?" I twisted my arm either way, trying to figure out what could have been the problem. "It did this before. Yesterday."

"It's just like you said. It's merely glitching," Pisces added, apparently not at all interested. "We should keep moving."

"Wait," I looked at her, " I never told you that," I frowned, trying to remember, "did I?"

"We're wasting time," Pisces grabbed at my other arm, "let's go!"

She was almost pulling me after her when the insignia lit up again. Going on and off twice this time. Pisces quickly let go of me.

I regarded the insignia and an idea came to mind.

"What? What are you doing?" Pisces asked as I slowly brought my tattooed arm closer to her. It started glitching again with even quicker succession.

"Would you cut that out?" Pisces snapped, throwing back my arm.

"Why does it keep doing that?" I stared at the insignia and it appeared to be quickly gaining a steady glow, with the whole arrow symbol lighting up.

"Enough already, let's—" Pisces was cut short by what had sounded like someone yelling?

"What was that?" I spun around, high on alert.

"What was what?" Pisces asked with mild interest, hardly even bothering to look towards the direction from which that sound had emanated.

There it was again, clearer this time and. . .

"Desmond!" it was her voice. Pisces's voice.

I turned around. "Tell me you heard that!"

"Desmond!" it came again and this time, so did the source.

She had jumped out of a series of bushes, her long gown sweeping aside fallen leaves as her hair swayed in the air, accentuating her insignia that burned brightly on her forehead.

"Pisces?" my jaw dropped. My eyesight had to have been playing a trick on me. "How—"

"Desmond, get away from her!" the new Pisces said to me as I watched her get into an attacking pose.

"Ugh, enough of this!" I heard those words come out in a very different voice, accompanied with absolute disgust as I slowly turned around just in time to catch the other Pisces start doing the unthinkable.

Watching in profound terror, her body appeared to be literally morphing and transforming. Her face, formerly with a light pale blue tone, started to dissolve into a new one, slowly turning into a much darker purple hue and so did her hair which shortened until there was nothing left.

The transformation continued down her neck, blue being replaced with purple and black, all the way down to her feet. This Pisces had then vanished and in her place stood a tall woman with dark purple skin, so dark that I couldn't tell where the fabric endings of her garments began. There was a strange symbol on her forehead that was almost identical to that of Pisces's insignia, having two vertical lines, except they were straight and were topped off with a curved horizontal line at their ends.

The symbol matched another one that stood out over her bust. It was much bigger, covering nearly her entire chest area. They both lit up in a bright purple glow, matching her eyes which burned with a certain ferocity in them.

"Desmond," I turned to the other Pisces who I then had to believe that she was indeed the real one, "get back, now."

I instantly obeyed, all while my own insignia lit up like crazy. I rushed over to Pisces's side, still befuddled by whatever was happening. "Who the hell is that?"

I noticed Pisces's jaws tighten and the glow in her eyes intensified. "Pollux," she said, even though I did not quite catch it the first time but I did not dare ask again.

"I should have known using your own power against you wasn't going to work," the other woman spat and I shivered as I watched her clawed fingers light up in purple.

"I told you, Pollux," Pisces levelled, "he's in my protection. You'll have to go through me to get to him."

Finally getting her name, Pollux, the evil purple Zodiac lady, contorted her dark face into a sly grin as she regarded me before fixating back on Pisces. "Fine, you should've stayed down. I won't be so courteous this time, Pisces."

The two Zodiac then charged at each other, unleashing their fury.