"Stay out of my way!" Pisces snapped at the cloaked figure before her.

"What?" the figure shook its head, speaking in a low voice, "you don't want to hear what I have to say, let alone introduce me to your new boy toy over there?"

"Hey!" I cried out, obviously offended but still maintained some distance by staying where I was—back on the boulder.

Sighing, Pisces gave me a quick glance. "Desmond, meet Zygos. You'll want to steer clear of her mouth."

A little confused, I turned to the cloaked figure, dreading something like huge sharp teeth coming out of its mouth or something.

"What are you doing here?" Pisces returned to questioning, "finally decided to crawl out of Aries's comfort zone, huh?"

I watched Zygos slightly twist her head back, revealing a little of her face. Her dark thin lips twisted into a smile.

Pisces narrowed her eyes at her. "He sent you here, didn't he?"

"Well," Zygos twisted her head back to its initial position, concealing her face again, "I told him it would be a waste of time coming after you himself. It'd be best if he focused entirely on his grand plan—that way it would all be over before you and your mortal scum over there could even come to fathom whatever just unfolded."

"You can spare me the metaphorical bullshit, Zygos!" Pisces retorted heatedly and that was the first time I had ever heard her curse, "I know what Aries is planning."

"Oh, do you now?" Zygos taunted, chuckling softly. She circled around Pisces and I almost couldn't tell if she was walking or gliding. Her feet kept coming in and out of view, phasing through the air.

"What's going on?" Pisces followed the other Zodiac with her eyes, "you have to tell me."

"Now, what would be the fun in that?" Zygos whispered, halting her movement, "you'll have to figure that out by yourself, all while avoiding getting tracked down by the others and if I have found you already, it won't be long before the others do."

Pisces's insignia glowed and Zygos had to laugh, louder this time. "You forget that your telepathy doesn't work on me quite as it does on many others, little runaway."

"Why are you doing this?" Pisces's insignia's glow waned, "you didn't use to be—"

"What?" Zygos snapped, her lower face coming into view again, "working alongside the only one of us who knows what's right? The only one of us willing to do what's necessary to ensure our legacy remains known to all?"

Zygos went on, her tone getting considerably serious. "The gods may have limited my features to not partake combat or battle and forever live to serve as a mediator for the Zodiac. One who delivers justice and balance but he made me realize how blinded I was."

"You used to restore fairness," Pisces said and I could detect the hurt in her voice.

"Oh, now who's full of bullshit?" Zygos shook her head, "Fairness, you say. What kind of fairness was there? Sage would leave us for eons and go on his pointless quests in search of wisdom for his people until Aries found the way. Aries knew what was right for us but Sage and his convoluted intelligent mind thought him wrong. . ."

"That is a lie!" Pisces snapped, blue energy lighting up in her hands.

"You can fill your head with all the kinds of stories you desire, little one," Zygos called her out with that title again and for the first time, I realized how tall she appeared next to Pisces. Looking back, Pollux was also much taller than Pisces.

". . .But the fact remains," Zygos went on, "true balance had to be restored. Sage's wisdom would have been the doom for us all, thus someone else had to step up and lead us."

"Aries will never be a leader!" Pisces muttered through gritted teeth.

"He showed us a way of obtaining alternative energy sources, didn't he?" Zygos levelled, "and soon, this will no longer be an issue to us. The gods abandoned us but Aries will restore our status."

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"Aries is just using all of you!" Pisces persisted, "don't you see it? All he wants is more power and he'll stop at nothing to get it!"

At this, Zygos sighed disappointedly before going on to take off her hood, revealing a face whose skin was the color of gold that matched her straight flowing locks. Her appearance seemed to reflect her surroundings, giving off the illusion that she was both visible and invisible at the same time.

Just like Pisces and Pollux, Zygos had a distinct symbol etched onto her forehead—her insignia. Hers consisted of two shapes. The first one resembled the Omega symbol whose endings extended into longer horizontal lines unlike the typical symbol, then right below it, was the second shape. It was a plain straight horizontal line whose length matched the upper shape.

"No," Zygos said to Pisces, "you're the one who fails to see the truth. It is all but a matter of balance and nothing to do with power."

She turned to me. "For one to rise. . ." she raised her left arm, pointing a finger to the sky and an image materialized, resembling a golden cup that shimmered in the air, ". . .another must fall." She finished and with her left arm, she pointed to the ground and a similar image materialized. This time, the left golden cup collapsed to the ground where it exploded into gold dust while the other one ascended and dissolved in the air.

"Isn't that right, Desmond Turner?" she approached me while I still stood atop the boulder, wondering how she'd known my name. Everybody seemed to know my name!

"Don't listen to her!" Pisces warned and I was beginning to understand what she had meant by being weary of her 'mouth'. I could feel the effects of her words in my mind. It was nothing like Pisces's telepathy. It was way different, like she was pulling me out of my own mind and into hers. Pisces's telepathy usually had me listening to her in my own mind—in my own world, but Zygos was forcing my mind out of me. Forcing me to bend to her will.

"When Sage fell, another rose in his place," I heard Zygos's words envelope my mind. "An act of balance but one that only runs short until you serve your purpose by letting Aries deliver the Zodiac to their ultimate form of existence."

"Leave him alone, Zygos!" Pisces lashed out, coming at Zygos with her glowing arms and was about to blast her with energy right before she vanished, leaving Pisces to hit nothing but air.

"What has she been telling you?" I heard Zygos's voice but I couldn't see her. It was like she was behind me on the boulder. ". . .That you'll be back to living your normal life once all this is over?"

I tried to move but my body was held in place by Zygos's words, willing me to listen.

"Don't listen to her!" I heard another voice. Pisces. She was trying to break into my head.

"His cause is inevitable," Zygos went on, pushing Pisces out of my mind and regaining control, "you let him show you the way and you get to keep your current and past life, which is more than Pisces will ever give you."

"Leave him al—" Pisces was cut off again and it felt like a battle was going on in my mind.

"She was lost after Sage's death, wandering the universe aimlessly. A simple helpless form," Zygos's voice pulled me deeper into her own mind. "She has no guarantee you'll find your home. She is lost and alone, looking for someone to drag down her pathetic hole with. But Aries is the way, Desmond. You needn't lose your life when you are no longer just human. You bear an insignia of the Zodiac. You have found your way into ours. Why should you waste all of that potential, all of that power by fighting a losing battle?"

"Desmond, please. . .?" Pisces's voice was distant now, barely audible. She had been locked out.

"I can take you to Aries right now," the other, more commanding and luring voice continued, coaxing me further into suggestion. "and end this once and for all. Why risk it all when you can be home in a heartbeat?"

"Enough!" Pisces's voice grew louder, breaking into my mind with more strength this time.

I gasped, feeling something hard against my back and I discovered I had fallen from the boulder. I looked up to find Pisces, her eyes glowing, forcing her power on Zygos whom she had managed to suspend in the air just above the boulder.

Zygos's golden glowing aura appeared to be fighting against Pisces's abilities and in a matter of seconds, she had broken out of her telekinetic hold, vanishing in a wave of golden dust. She then reappeared next to me.

"All you have to do is chose, Desmond," she said as Pisces tried to force her into the air again. "Restore the balance. Walk towards death. . ." she glanced at Pisces, "or walk away from it and chose life instead." She returned her golden eyes at me, "where will your scales tip towards—life. . .or death. . .?"

She was hoisted in the air again by Pisces. "I said enough!"

"The choice is not yours to make, Pisces," Zygos said out loud, hardly struggling in Pisces's hold, "he has his own scales to bear. You can't tip them for him."

"Quiet!" Pisces increased her power and I was already up and on my way to retrieve Despyon's shield. I picked it up and was adjusting it on my arm when I thought I had seen something slip past the boulder. I ignored it, assuming it must have been some rodent before returning to Pisces's side, ready to provide my assistance.

Zygos sighed the moment she saw me do that, alongside Sage's insignia already glowing on my arm. "I had a feeling you'd resort to this, but your scales remain unbalanced and if that is the case, then, well. . ."

There was suddenly a very loud sound. It was coming from deeper into the forest but it felt like it was growing close.

"Perhaps you'll need a little bit more persuasion," Zygos eyed me with a twisted smile before she went on to vanish, leaving behind a cloud of gold dust that danced around in the air for a few seconds then dissipated.

The sound came again, closer this time. It was like an animal. I turned to Pisces. "Umm. . .what the hell was that?"

Her expression was more than enough to tell me the kind of trouble we were about to walk into.