Fourteen silhouettes grow clearer in the distance beyond the dome, all equally spaced out and encircling the whole human population. Through some trick of Psynergy, they’ve made it so that every person has a clear view of every Original Guardian, even if that person is short and standing in the middle of a million-person crowd.
I turn in a slow circle, observing them—the Geminin Twins are so perfectly identical they look like clones—and I see that the humans around me are doing the same thing. Some Guardians look more masculine and others more feminine, but most are so androgynous they don’t seem to have a gender. And just like the ice carving of Sagittarius that Nishi showed me in Starry City, these mortal stars have an amalgamation of features that probably represent the ultimate evolution of their people. No human I’ve seen in modern times looks anything like them, yet somehow I can still find traces of all my friends’ faces in theirs.
I stop studying the fallen stars and stare instead at the humans around me. Unlike the Guardians, these beings all look more or less the same. They have a small range of skin tones, and hair shades, and eye colors, and body types. They’re not all that distinguishable from each other—they must hail from a single planet.
Earth.
At least our history records seem to have gotten that much right.
The humans also look unhealthy. Thin, tense, tired, terrified, tiny—and as they behold the majestic Guardians and their magic tricks, they don’t seem all that inclined to trust them.
“Welcome to the Zodiac Solar System,” says the tallest Guardian, who’s draped in red fabric. I get the sense that everyone understands him, like he’s somehow speaking to them in their own language. “When our Thirteen Constellations foresaw your arrival through Helios, each of our Houses gave up its Guardian Star—us.”
Gasps rise from the crowd, but when he speaks again, a million people fall to instant silence.
“We shooting stars crashed onto planets in our own Houses, and we arose in human form, each of us with a Star Stone, or Talisman, that stores our particular power—the strength we bring to the Zodiac.”
I thought the Talismans were secrets entrusted only to the Guardian of each House—and yet Aries is freely telling everyone about them. Is this another one of Aquarius’s manipulations? Did it occur to him that knowledge of these Talismans would one day inspire another ambitious soul to attempt the same theft he committed?
“In these mortal forms, we have been charged by the stars to work together and harness the powers of our Stones to protect our planets, and, hopefully—if you’ll have us—our people.”
I can barely process any of this.
Humans came through Helios—Hysan was right. Which means there’s really a portal in our sun, and it could lead anywhere. This might not even be the largest solar system—our Zodiac could be another offshoot from something bigger.
And that has to be what Aquarius is dying to find out.
18
A DIFFERENT GUARDIAN STEPS FORWARD and enters the dome, walking through the barrier like it’s not even there. I know I didn’t notice him earlier, because if I had I wouldn’t have been able to take my eyes off him.
My amazed reaction is reproduced through the crowd, as everyone’s eyes find Ophiuchus. If his appearance is striking now, it’s nothing to what he looked like then, in his original form. He’s as tall as Aries, maybe taller, and his skin seems to contain every color imaginable and unimaginable. When he moves, he glimmers and shines like he’s made of pure light—even the day’s shadows don’t seem to touch him.
“Friends, I have come to tell you that you have nothing to fear from us,” he says in a voice that emanates strength and warmth and trust. “If you choose to form your own society, we will honor your wishes and leave you in peace.”
Murmurs of shock and relief break out, but they die down as soon as he speaks again.
“We have no desire to hurt or control you. We are the stars of the Zodiac, and we are here to watch over you. It’s our fate to steer you toward your passions and your purpose and your soul mates—but ultimately, your destiny is designed by your decisions.”
He bestows on the humans a dazzlingly brilliant smile that could make the sun swoon. “We would never take your free will from you. Nor are we unknown to you. We are manifestations of universal concepts, and if you search yourselves, you’ll find you’re more drawn to one pursuit or pastime or value than all others, and therein you will find yourself and your Center.
“For my part, I seek only to promote Unity—a skill you do not yet possess. You are divided by man-made barriers that you have been born into; yet we are offering you a chance to choose your own identity. It’s a right I hope you will be humble enough to extend to your children when they’re old enough, and that they will one day extend to their children, and so on.”
I can’t believe how far we’ve strayed from Ophiuchus’s vision for our future. It’s only now that I can fully appreciate his original purpose in our galaxy.
The earthlings were ultimately swayed by him, and we zoom forward in time to see how the Guardians took turns addressing the population, each one sharing what strengths they most valued and describing what kind of world their House would one day become. It took centuries to colonize some of the more topographically complex planets, like Sconcion of Scorpio and Kythera of Libra, so for many generations, people of different Houses shared their land and resources with each other. They elected representatives for a galactic government, and though they’d just divided themselves into thirteen new nationalities, the humans felt united.
They were a homeless people who’d found a new home to inhabit.
They were survivors.
Over time, people evolved to better suit or reflect the environment around them. In the deepest waterworlds of Scorpio, humans developed red eyes that cut through darkness. On the rough streets of Aries, people grew buff enough to hold their own. On the swampy Ophiuchan planet, teens developed scaly skin when they reached puberty that protected them from the bites of most poisonous creatures.
Each House designed its own system of rules, but those laws were superseded by the Zodiac’s universal government. The Original Guardians acted in an advisory role for the humans, and they continued to meet in the astral plane to work together to ensure the Zodiac’s wellbeing. They read the future together, traded resources, dispensed advice, ensured harmony, and planned for tomorrow.
The scenery shifts, and as I skim through a montage of these Guardian meetings, I realize there’s one fallen star with whom Ophiuchus appears to be particularly close.