Zodiac Story

by AGirlWithManyHopes

It's not really off avatar just something I made up. Deals with the zodiac society and the elements. Based off the perspective of Scarlett who learns more about the zodiac world when she has left her village despite it being against the rules. She meets new people of different elements and learns the world is bigger than she had thought before.

Introduction

Little did we know that our world was split into two dimensions. The human world and the zodiac world. The human world or the original dimension, is much more advanced with more knowledge than you could ever imagine. Meanwhile, the zodiac dimension is very limited. There are no phones, cameras, computers, they don't even have the basics of things like lightbulbs and ovens! They have weapons like we do just nowhere as advanced since they are all made out of wood with the exception of some made with some metal or iron but, no guns. Only swords, daggers, and knives. Other stuff obviously but there is too much to name. In my world, the zodiac world, our lives we tried to live pretty simple. Eat, train, work, and sleep. That's all that we needed and we would be alright. Now let me get down into depth more about the details about how our society works. We all live in 12 different clans or tribes. We call ourselves the zodiacs. Each group is based off of their own zodiac. What exactly is zodiac you ask? Well you see, we are given our zodiac by the date we were born. That determines us what clan we are in.

Now here's the part that is different. If you aren't born with the same zodiac as your parents, then you get separated from them. Keep in mind, the parents must be the same zodiac as well. A lot of parents I am pretty sure try to get their children born within the same zodiac date as themselves but they can't exactly control that. So that leads this to myself. My name is Scarlett and I have never known my true parents. Due to this also, I was never told my last name. They are afraid we will try to escape and find our parents if we ever found out our last names. At least those of us who don't have our parents that is. Now within the 12 different clans there are four elements or signs we are given depending on what we are placed in. There are fire signs, water signs, air signs, and earth signs. For earth signs, there are the virgo, taurus, and capricorn. For the air signs, there are the gemini, libra, and aquarius. For the water signs, there are the pisces, cancer, and scorpio. Then there's me. I am a fire sign. The fire signs consist of the leo, aries, and the sagittarius. I was born December 16 so I am a sagittarius. Now below here I will list the dates of the signs and the rules the zodiac have. Enjoy my zodiac life story. ;)

Zodiac rules:

Rule 1: Always stay in your designated zodiac clan

Rule 2: Can only marry one of the same zodiac (since you can't leave your clan anyway)

Rule 3: If you do try and escape your designated zodiac clan, there will be consequences

Rule 4: If you do not fulfill your duties and jobs as your zodiac sign, you will also be punished

Rule 5: Live in our society peacefully and don't go off revolting on things when they won't change since these rules have been here for thousands of years

Zodiac dates:

Aries - March 21 - April 20

Taurus - April 21 - May 21

Gemini - May 22 - June 21

Cancer - June 22 - July 22

Leo - July 23 -August 21

Virgo - August 22 - September 23

Libra - September 24 - October 23

Scorpio - October 24 - November 22

Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22

Capricorn - December 23 - January 20

Aquarius - January 21 - February 19

Pisces - February 20- March 20

Chapter 1: Adulthood is soon to come

16 years later into the present…

Another year of training and hard work was finally coming to an end once again. Out of the other 500 kids my age, we had all been placed in our rankings today. Our rankings decided where we would be put within the jobs of our society. These are chosen for us so we don't have a say if we wanted to be something else. This is just how our society has worked for thousands of years and up until now. Through the 16 years of my life, it has all gone by in a flash to me. Each year just seemed the same to me now. I get up in the morning and do my daily stuff, go to school and learn the basics of reading, writing, math, etc. Then go to fight training and get back to our cabins all of the students in my age group sleep in and wake up and do it all over again. Fighting and learning combat was a must know for us. We are taught this supposedly because it's good for self defense and if our land somehow ever is intruded by others, we can easily defend ourselves without any worries. So, to sum up how our rankings work, they base it off the work we do in class and how good we are in combat training against other students. In the beginning, I remember, I struggled with learning and combat training and I was far behind the other kids. There was one big reason why they had an advantage over me. They had their parents to help and teach them things, while I had nobody. Not a soul and when I mean not a soul, I mean absolutely nobody. I've never had a friend before out of my entire lifetime. I guess it is kind of my fault though since I didn't really try to make any friends anyway… but none the less, and over time, I adapted to school and practiced my punching and kicking motions out on different objects around the cabin that I knew would not break easily. So even with my shy and timid nature, my learning skills and fighting skills were more supreme than ever before. Now enough of my rambling on about my past life. It's back to reality now and checking the ranking boards.

I woke to the ringing of the alarm on my clock which just the noise itself was always enough to almost make me jump out of bed. Today I didn't however. I was so used to that annoying sound I didn't even react to it this time. I simply just slammed my fist down on the snooze button to shut it up. I slowly rubbed my eyes, trying to return to reality and out of the world of where my dreams laid. Everybody was gathering together in the center or the main hall which connected all of our cabins together. I could hear the roaring of all of their voices shouting together at once even before I opened the door to my room. Unlike others, yelling and jumping in excitement as they all went to the main hall, I walked there calm and collected without a single soul even looking at me as I passed by almost as if I was invisible and lived in a different universe. Then, as soon as I entered the room, I realized the room was silent which never happens. I looked up and glanced around at everyone and my surroundings to see a woman standing at the center of it all. She was tall, had hazel eyes like mine, had her light brown hair back in a ponytail and looked like the strongest woman alive. I noticed who she was right away, seeing her before in public and helping out others around town. Her name was Alicia Hartman. She was the leader of our sagittarius tribe. She kept our town in order and she decided how to solve any problems that come along in our village. She must be preparing to speak for us, I thought.

"Hello children. No, excuse me, you are all adults now at the age of 16, please forgive me." There was silence for a second, everyone didn't mind what she said, they were just focused so intensly on her knowing how strong and independent she was as a person. At first, I don't think she noticed that we were waiting for her to say more because she obviously had more to say. Eventually, she went on anyhow.

"So I know you are all excited to hear your rankings." We all nodded in response to her words.

"However, I'm afraid to say this but you will have to wait a bit longer. You see, your rankings have been completed, we just need to clarify them and put them up. Do you think you all can wait here a bit longer until we call you out to come and see them?"

"Yes Ms. Hartman," We all said in unison and she left the main hall without saying another word, leaving everyone even more anxious for their rankings. The chanting and yelling between everyone soon started up again and I sat there wishing I had earplugs to knock out the sounds of their screams of joy. If only I had something to distract myself… For the entire time of waiting, I did absolutely nothing but zone out for like thirty minutes. I was just going through my thoughts in my head, wondering where I would be placed in a class of 500 people. I found my heart pounding in my chest faster than usual. Was I nervous about my results? I may have been slightly before but it's not like there was a specific place I wanted to be placed at for any kind of job. I looked down at my hand, which I now had clenched into a fist above where my heart supposedly was. Everything is going to be okay...they know where you would work best and that is where you will be put.

By the time an hour had passed, everybody was getting hasty and a little frustrated. My personal opinion was well, I didn't mind waiting since after this I would be considered a full adult. I'm supposed to miss my childhood no matter what even if I have no good memories from it, right? Seconds after however, they were calling everyone out and everyone crammed themselves up against each other trying to get through the door. I didn't want to have anything to do with that so I simply just waited for the room to clear out completely until I was the last soul left in the room. Waiting may have took ten minutes, but it's not like the results would be better for me if I see them a few minutes earlier. When I managed to get out of the main hall, everyone was crowded and swarmed in front of the ranking boards. From what I saw, they had ten boards. On each board, they had five papers with ten names. This continued from the boards left to right and went in order from one and all the way to the last and final five hundredth person. It took the ranking boards forever to clear out because once people saw their results it was if their feet were glued to the ground. They were yelling at everyone it seemed like about what spot they got but I got to the point where I was just annoyed by this and it takes a lot to annoy me. Trust me I'm very calm and collected from being bullied and picked on as a child so I am basically an expert on it now. I waited until there was finally only about ten people left in front of the boards. They all had confused expressions on their face and it was for an obvious reason. They were having trouble finding their names. I looked from the right boards first, skimming through the list look at only names with a first name and no last name which was pretty simple seeing as everyone had full names and only like twenty people didn't So I looked through the boards. 500-400. Nothing. 400-300. Nothing. 300-200. Nothing. 200-100. Nothing. When I reached the last board on the left and final board to look at, I was getting scared. Does something happen if I don't find my name? Is there such a thing as not qualifying at all? My heart started to pound and I could feel sweat starting to drip off from the sides of my forehead from nervousness and the heat from the sun burning against my skin. With my confused expression on my face, a woman in her younger 20's approached me.

"Can't find your name?" She asked slowly approaching me.

"No ma'am," I told her and stood there unknowing of what to do next.

"What's your name honey?" She asked me.

"Scarlett. No last name."

"Why your on the first list!" She said almost yelling it where everyone could hear it. "Sorry...my bad but yeah it's on the first list," She said and walked away. The first paper? That can't be-but it was true. There on the very first slip was my name in the top ten. My eyes widened and my mouth hung wide open in amazement and shock. I made the top ten?! I peered at the paper again to see the other names along with mine.

Jason Evans

Scarlett

Tyson Jenkins

Henry Jackson

Lucas Young

Ryan Robertson

Will Thompson

Jonathan Talon

Logan Banks

James Whitaker

I was the only girl who made it in the top ten. Realizing I had made it in the second slot, the natural response was to see who had beaten me right? I looked at the first name on the paper. Jason Evans. I had heard that name go around before. What did he look like again? I don't usually pay attention to many people since I'm so focused on my own individual training. As I walked away, people begun to crowd around the ranking papers again and I knew exactly what for. Just to see who made the top ten slots. I saw all their heads turn at once to look at one tall darker skin boy standing slightly behind me. His eyes were dark brown and seemed as if they were looking into your soul. Oh yes that's right. Jason was the one with the dark eyes who always defeated anyone who came in his way. How could I possibly forget?! I didn't care for him that much since I made the top ten that was a big accomplishment in the first place. After him they searched through the names for a couple more seconds when they all stopped after reading them all. They all stared at me and were waiting to see how I would react. I stood there trying to be expressionless while on the inside my heart was pounding because I never liked to be the center of attention for anything. I instead looked behind me. There was no way Jason Evans could possibly be looking at me too, right? Man, was I wrong. He most definitely was. With our three to four inches of height difference, I felt that in any second he would just squish me like an ant and that would be my end.

"So you are the only girl who made the top ten in the rankings this year huh," He said looking into my eyes seeing what I would do. I knew what his game usually was. All the girls in the village loved Jason. They loved his dark eyes, spiky black hair and how strong he was. They always followed him around and clinged to him as if they were his own personal slaves. That trick doesn't work on me since I've never even talked to boys before nor did I want to or feel like it. I was a lone sagittarius and that's how it seemed I was going to stay.

"Yeah...sure. What does it matter to you?"

"I don't know just interesting knowing how silent and quiet you are."

"Just don't mess with me Evans," I told him and began to walked away before the next thing I knew his hand plopped right down on my shoulder.

"Hold up now. You can't tell me what to do. No girls tell me what to do."

"Well your little tricks on picking up girls won't work on me so back off," I said slightly raising my voice and brushing his hand off of my shoulders. I walked out of the group and toward my cabins. Everyone's mouths were wide open was what I noticed when I passed them all. What was I thinking? I was just thinking about how I knew he could easily squish me like an ant and now I just go up and say all that crap to his face?! What is wrong with me? Knowing people who get in Jason's way, he'll probably want to slaughter me when he gets the chance.

Trying to get the fact of what I just did out of my head, I walk down the halls and to the job selection board. If I recalled correctly, if you get in the top ten, you can pretty much do whatever you want. I thought I might as well sign up for something while everybody is still talking about what rank they got. I looked over the choices. There was first the farmers. It was the job usually nobody wanted knowing you had to work in fields all day in the burning heat and just was completely painful all around. That one was pretty much out right away. Second choice was a shopkeeper. These people can make their own stores and sell whatever they want in them to others. They also give out the food from the farmers to everyone in the village in equal portions. Nobody gets more than anyone else except for Alicia Hartman and the people who work for her being in a high position in the society. Third was the teachers. The one's who scored higher ranks got to choose whether to be a fighting expert teacher or just a regular teacher that taught the basic things of learning. While others below them are just put in whatever one the leaders think they would be best at. Fourth were the scouts and the one's that protect everyone when danger comes around. They watch from the walls that surround the village and hide up high in the trees and watch everything really that goes on in the city. Then finally, there was the only thing the top ten can specifically qualify for. I know I've mentioned them a couple of times now but I'll just say what we call them again to refresh your memory. The leaders of our society. They make all the decisions for us and find the solutions to any problems that come across in the society. As I have also explained, they also watch over the training for different age groups and determine their rankings as the grow and how they have improved overtime. It was the one job I never even thought about. As if I wanted to be a- my thoughts were interrupted when I looked behind me to find Alicia Hartman standing behind me. My eyes widened and I bowed as you should when you were in your presence. Then something unexpected happened. She laughed. I looked up to find her laughing down at the position I was in and I was completely dumbfounded as to why.

"Scarlett please. You don't have to do that. I find it too much anyway."

"I'm sorry Ms. Hartman," I reply and stand straight up in my normal position again.

"Alicia is fine," She told me and laughed once again. I was wondering what on Earth she was doing here but I didn't want to ask because I thought that would be rude.

"Well anyway, you are probably wondering why I'm here and not there with all the other leaders and other new adults of our society, am I correct?" I slightly nodded in response and waited for what was coming next.

"I came to talk to you about your decision Scarlett." Since when do the leaders care about what we do? If we somehow how have some sort of a decision, then we should choose what we want, right?

"How come?"

"Well you are the only girl in the top ten weren't you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well it's a great honor and I wanted to talk to you about what you think you are going to do as a job with having a decision of your own."

"Okay...please go on."

"You see, there is never really been many girls in the top ten in general so mostly boys have been known to the rule the society over thousands of years. With that, I'm the first Sagittarius girl to ever be the leader of the village. You get where I am coming from here?"

"Yeah I understand."

"I'd just like to see more girls rise up in our society, you know? So with that being said, I think you have potential Scarlett."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"But I'm not-"

"Scarlett you are such a smart, strong, and independent individual. You would be a great leader for this village! Don't deny it. Just take all that I said into consideration, okay?" I nod in response as I did before, and then next thing I knew, she was gone.

With all I just took in, there was no way I could make a decision now until I remembered that I had to decide at some point today because they want to give the jobs out as fast as they possibly can.. I looked at the place where my hand had last draw the letter S under. "Scout" I didn't know what to do or think anymore. I left the job board and went and sat in my room thinking about what on Earth I should do. I thought hard probably for a hard three hours and I finally made up my mind. I didn't know how this would go or work out but there I found myself at the board again writing my name under leader instead of scout. Leaving the board, I was terrified to see another name above mine but ignored it and moved on anyway. Jason Evans.

Chapter 2: Escaping and Kidnapping

I awoke the next morning completely exhausted. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about if my decision was right or not. It was driving me so insane I thought my brain would burst. I slowly crawled out from under the bed. This is the last time I would see it, seeing as leaders live in a completely bigger and more unique establishment compared to other citizens. Today was what we call graduation day. Yesterday we were just given our results. Now is the day where we actually get handed out certificates, get announced our jobs to the entire group of my fellow students through the years, and shake hands with Alicia Hartman being the leader of the Sagittarius society and all. I didn't ever understand why my body had been shaking abnormally all morning. All I have to do is walk up on a stage and be handed some things and sit back down. So, why do I feel like something bad is going to happen? I feel like at this point I just expect my life to go downhill from here since for once in my life, something amazing happened to me. What a downer I am. We all gathered in alphabetical order with our last names. The first person to go was Ben Anderson. After he went it just kind of was all a blur for me. It went by so quick that it felt as if it had only been ten seconds but I looked up and realized there were only ten more people in front of me. I was in the back with the very few other people that had no last names. We always went last. The boy right before mines name was Scar and once he went, I knew I wouldn't even have to listen to be told that I came next.

"Scarlett," Ms. Hartman called and I walked up to the stage to her trying to not go too fast or too slow. I tried to look as casual as possible even though on the inside it felt as if my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I pulled out though and shook Ms. Hartman's hand, grabbed the certificates, and went over where the rest of the people who already went were. We all waited patiently for the last person went and waited to see what would happen from there.

"Thanks to you all you wonderful new adults in our society and I wish you all a wonderful and happy future." Everyone clapped to her words so I decided that I might as well too.

"Tomorrow your jobs will be assigned and-" All at once, it was if our world had frozen in place. The scout bells that surrounded the village had been rung and that only meant one thing. Trouble was coming. Some kind of trouble was coming.

"Everyone take battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill." As I ran and looked behind me, one by one, I saw scouts getting hit with spears and weapons of sorts. What kind of sick twisted group could be doing this? They told us the other zodiac groups lived under the same groups as we did so why are they attacking us? What is their reason for doing this? People I had never seen before began to jump over the village walls and come through the entry way through the village. People all gathered together in weapons vaults grabbing one item each. I was running along with them when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Jason Evans, out of all people, toward a crack in the walls. He opened it up and went under and through it, escaping the danger throughout the city. With my high curiosity, I couldn't help but just try to follow him. I approached the hole at a quick yet sneaky pace, hoping that I wouldn't be seen by anyone. Before I went, I looked behind me one last time. All I saw was war and death. Blood flying all around me and screaming and terror everywhere. I couldn't bear to watch it so I was just completely out. I found myself in the middle of a forest. I knew there was forest outside of the village but what else could be out here, I wondered. The scouts were the only ones who could ever look out into the forest from the top of the village walls but they weren't allowed anywhere else. I looked around cluelessly, seeing as I had never been out of the walls before nor had I ever planned to be but there was just one problem. Jason was now nowhere to be found. I looked up in the trees, I looked in every direction around me but nothing. It was as if he had vanished into thin air. I sighed and wandered around wondering what I should do. I could still hear the screams of people from the city from where I stood. Now that I had done this, I didn't think going back was an option now. I would most definitely be caught at most punished but could even be sentenced to death for what I had done. The punishments were just that cruel in our society and been that way for thousands of years. There was only one thing left that I could do. Live in the forest alone. I actually believed it was possible since ever since I was younger, I knew all the basics things to do in order to survive in the wild. I knew how to make fire, whether food was poisonous or not, how to hunt, and how to build shelter. The question was if I actually could do this or not. I didn't know what to think but I knew it would be tricky. I was already used to eating small portions of food with everyone having to get small equal amounts to eat every day. Probably the only good thing about this was that I could eat as much as I wanted without sharing it with anyone else for once. As I had this in mind, something else came to thought instead. Has Jason done this before? Does he casually just walk out of the village and come back without anyone noticing and if so, how has he not got caught yet?! This was all nonsense and new to me since I was pretty sure everyone had obeyed the rules but look at me now. I obeyed the rules out of fear and who knows what will happen to me next. It was still early in the morning, I could tell just by looking at the sun. I began to walk out and away from the village at least a bit farther so that scouts would not be able to see me anymore. I began to set up my own little camp in the middle of the woods. I found some bamboo and used things around the forest to string the bamboo together and made a base to sleep on. I then made legs for it to sit it up in the air so I would not have to be on the ground. Wouldn't want any mosquito bites. That would have been brutal. Imagine the rest of it like this. It looked like a tent made out of bamboo with legs under it sticking it up in the air. I didn't care if it looked horrible as long as it worked. It took most of the day just to do that since building a shelter is very time consuming. Throughout building, my stomach did begin to feel hunger pains but not terrible ones quite yet. Once it was done, I took a short break and wandered around the forest looking for bushes. There seemed to be berry bushes all around the forest. I picked out the freshest, non poisonous berries I knew of. This consisted of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I cupped all of the ones I had picked up in my hands and brought them back to my camp. I ate them sparingly, putting the leftovers and wrapping them in a leaf. I needed to eat food in small portions and not all at once because if I ate all the berries now, I would have just burned them all of the next day and that would just be no good. I may not have slept perfectly well with the noises of other animals in the woods, but I've survived off of no sleep before and I can do it again. Then later about during the middle of the day, I had stopped in my tracks to hear a rustling in some bushes almost right behind me. I watched it carefully, afraid it could be a predator. Once I blinked within seconds, my mouth and my eyes had been covered by two hands and my legs were being dragged across the dirt. I could barely breath and thought the person was trying to suffocate me somehow or another but it seemed as if they were taking me somewhere. I was most definitely being kidnapped. I tried to scream but knew it was useless with their hand muffling my voice. There would be no point in screaming anyway. Nobody else could possibly be around here and they would never leave the village anyway. The person uncovered my eyes and I found a boy standing in front of me. I recognized him almost instantly. It was Henry Jackson, number four on the rankings list. The question was, what on Earth was he doing here? Henry had always been known for being popular in the village like Jason but much more talkative and arrogant. I never had wanted to be associated with him in any way but here he was, grabbing me by the neck and what seemed to be choking me to death. I looked around at my surroundings as this was going on, we were on a wooden bridge with a large drop under it with water underneath as well at the bottom. Henry then pulled out a knife and held it to my throat with his other hand around my neck. He had put me in a position where I was on the edge of the bridge and if his hand around my neck let go, I was going to take a plunge. My eyes widened at the fear of it, knowing the fire signs never really were taught how to swim.

"Do you realize what you have done?!" He yelled at me with his teeth gritted together and his nose wrinkled up in annoyance.

"What? I don't know anything I swear-"

"You are a traitor. You left your village in the middle of battle without even thinking twice about it. You have completely broken the rules, do you realize that?"

"Yes but I had a choice. Live or die. I think I want to live Henry."

"No wrong answer. You are supposed to fight for your village and die trying. Now you have broken the rules and there will be consequences.

"Henry we can talk about this please-"

"You were going to be a leader of the sagittarius Scarlett. You had all this wonderful stuff ahead of you and what did you do? You threw it all away and abandoned your people. The population of sagittarius and scorpio has been extremely reduced because of this and you just left in the middle of it all. You shouldn't be afraid and if you die, so be it. You would have died fighting for your people but you couldn't do that. You had to be a rebellious girl and run off on her own." He dug the knife into the skin of my neck and it hurt. It stung me hard with pain and fear was all that clouded my brain. Could this be my end? Am I going to die today for going against what I known all my life? Why did I do this again? The knife hurt more when it came out of my skin. It definitely had a deep cut there and I could see it. Some blood running down the side of my neck.

"You will now die for your crimes," Henry pushed me with the strength of a bull and my body began to hurdle straight for the water. As I was falling to what I believed was going to be the end of me, I heard not only myself screaming but another scream which I didn't quite understand but I didn't want to look. I closed my eyes waiting for impact with the water. I did try to look up for a brief second but the sun was in my eyes and I hit impact with the water at that very second. I sunk under at first but came right back up after and began to flail my arms in the air like the idiot I was. There was no point in screaming. Nobody was ever going to see me. As my body attempted to fight against the current, it was no use because the current was pulling me with intense force and it seemed that there was no way out. Oh but was I wrong. That's when something grabbed me up from under my arms and slowly lifted me a bit up from the water. Then for a brief second along the current, I was at a complete stop. I turned my head to look behind me to be in complete shock with what I saw. It was not a something but a person I knew oh too well. I didn't even have to look at his face. Once I saw his eyes, I knew exactly who he was. The dark brown eyes gave it in but I looked at him completely to make sure I was right. I recognized the tanner skin and spiky black hair and knew I was right. Jason Evans was trying to save my life. He had his one hand gripped on something keeping us from going into the current while he had his other hand wrapped around my waist keeping me with him.. His teeth were gritted and either sweat or water ran down his forehead. I was so confused. Why is he here? Why is he helping me after everything I said to him? Next thing I knew, he actually managed to lift me up and out of the water and on flat land. I looked down at him as he stood there in the water fighting the current on his own. I attempted to put my hand out to see if he would take it and see if I could help pull him out. To my surprise, he took it. I pulled with all of my might and you would think ranking number two on the rankings board that I would have some kind of upper body strength, but I just seemed to be completely useless in this situation.

"Wow you are weaker than I thought." Is he seriously mocking me now in this life or death situation he is in? Then in a split second, he managed to lunge out on flat land all by himself. Pretty sad he could do that and I needed assistance...I ignored that and sat there on the ground. My breathing was hard and I was completely exhausted. I found my body unable to move from the position I was in. What on Earth is happening to me?! My head looking up, as he came over me and looked into my hazel eyes. I felt my heart pounding out of fear. He saved me but now what? Who knows he could possibly be wanting to kill me as well. His eyes seemed alert and his face expressionless only with his lips parted slightly. His eyes seemed as if they were looking into my soul but I couldn't find the energy to look away. The next thing I knew, the weirdest thing happened. My body was moving on it's own and went into a sitting position. I was terrified, wondering what the heck was going on, but Jason continued to look at me the exact same way. He moved his hand off from the rocky ground and his thumb pressed lightly over where I had been cut. I tensed up at the feel of his touch with pain still coming from where the boy had cut me. Then, without warning, he placed his hand on the side of my neck and got his face even closer to mine. I felt my face redden from being so close. He was only inches away from me now. He had his eyes focused on my facial features. He kept mostly his eyes on mine with the occasional looking at nose and down at my lips. This went on for several minutes when he abruptly backed himself away from me and took his hand off from my neck. He said four words and began to get up.

"You are healed now." I look probably dumbfounded as he walked away from me. You are healed now? What does he mean I'm- I interrupted my thoughts by looking down at my neck. The cut was gone and no trace of it was there nor the pain I had felt before. I looked up with my mouth wide in shock as I watched him begin to walk away from me.

"Is that it? You are just going to leave without explaining yourself." He paused and he turned around to look at me. His face was serious yet seemed slightly shocked that maybe I had spoken to him.

"What is there to explain? I helped you out that's all. Be thankful and move on."

"But you-you healed the cut on my neck!"

"So what if I did?"

"Well, that's not something a normal person would do." Then once again my body began to move on it's own again. It walked all the way towards him and stopped right in front of him and I found myself looking at him once again.

"So you are right. I'm not a normal person. So?"

"Not being normal is fine it's just- can you explain something to me though?"

"Maybe depending on what it is."

"Why did you save me? Just the other day I had talked back to you in front of everyone in our entire grade? Shouldn't you be mad at me or something?" Everything was silent for a moment. All you could hear was the rustling of the trees in the wind and the chirping of the birds flying around nearby.

"Well, I do suppose I could answer that much. I will say this. Being a leader was never important to me in the first place."

"Why? Isn't that like a great honor? People always said that you always wanted to lead the village one day."

"People don't know what I want. They just think they do from what I tell them. They don't know what I think on the inside about all this."

"I mean...I guess that's true. Even so, why save me anyway? How does that benefit you in any sort of way."

"Did you think I wanted to watch you die? Do you think I am that sick and twisted kind of person, because I am not. I really don't act like I truly am anyhow. That is as much as I can say."

"You still haven't explained-"

"I saved you because you are different than everybody else. Okay? Was that the answer you were looking for?" Everything was silent again and I found myself staring at him again dumbfounded wondering what on Earth that was supposed to mean.

"I don't have time for this. I have to go." He began to walk off and I just couldn't allow that.

"What do you mean you are going? Going where? You haven't even explained to me what me being different to you had anything to do with saving me?!"

"I can't tell you Scarlett. I'm sorry. People like you just would not understand." After that comment, it was as if a light switch had gone up in my head. With all that has happened to me in the past day, I was about through with all this nonsense that he would not explain to me. It felt as if my blood was boiling up inside of me and I was just fired up and more enraged than I have ever been.

"People like me huh! Well let me tell you something, JASON, you haven't exactly been the greatest person throughout the years. You've been one of the most arrogant cocky jerks around. That's the only stupid reason why you are popular. It's all because you are so strong that everyone just follows you as if you are their leader or something but not me. I won't shrink down to their level. You may think you can talk to me in this way where I am a child but I am not. I am the same age as you. I demand you tell me what on Earth you are doing even running out in the forest in the first place and explain whatever the crap you are going on about with something that I "would not understand!" After that major outburst, I had yelled so much, I thought I was going to be out of breath. It felt like my lungs were on fire, no my entire body was on fire. It was as if I had unleashed all my emotions out on one person and with being the quiet person I was, I had never done such a thing before. Jason looked at me like I was insane. His eyes were wider than they have ever been and he almost seemed terrified.

"Scarlett, your gem." He pointed at my gem. I looked down at the gem necklace I was given at birth. It was glowing, literally glowing. It was shining so bright and felt so hot I thought I could have mistaken it for the sun. I held it in my hands and remembered what I was told as a child.

"One day kids, when you are all grown up, your gems one day will glow and this has a very special meaning to it. You have found your true inner self and have unleashed and felt things that you never have before and it will make you stronger for it."

"Is this...gem unlockment?" I asked looking up at him wondering if it could be true. Jason nodded as if in a daze by what just happened. Did he happened to be...impressed?

"After all this, I'm gonna explain myself to you."

"Why because you are scared of me now?"

"No, because you have impressed me and I believe you have potential as the individual you are." Next thing I knew I was walking through the woods with Jason wondering what on Earth he was possibly going to tell me next.

Chapter 3: It was all a lie

We walked through the forest for several minutes until finally Jason stopped and sat down somewhere. This would be the perfect place for him to finally explain himself. All I did was wait as I watched him try and look for the right words to say. I could read his body language and could tell that we just felt awkward. He sat at least three feet away from me, his hands were gripped together as if he was stressed over something and his eyes stared into the dirt as if he was in deep thought. This is not how he normally looked. Usually standing up his chest was puffed out, his head held high, and he would look as if he could take down anything and anyone that came in his way. There was definitely a side of him I did not know but the question was, what was it?

"Let me just start out with this." My eyes widened and my ears were almost surprised to hear him speak. He looked at me to see my reaction. I only nodded trying to listen and probably had the most serious and intense face ever.

"Go on," I nodded and he did.

"The Jason you think you know, that's not really me."

"How so?"

"I'm nothing like that really."

"Are you saying you have been faking your personality?"

"Basically yes but there is a reason for that." He watched my eyes again and I once again simply nodded, motioning for him to go on."

"I'm not that strong or smart. I usually only have sparks of confidence and usually am cowardly. I am actually very clumsy and probably just an idiot really."

"Do you have any evidence to prove this?"

"If you really get to know me, you'll see. I can't just act casual when someone tells me to. It just doesn't work like that."

"So please go on," I said and watched him and noticed the small things like he scooched closer to me and he put his hands on his sides, obviously more relaxed and allowing than he was earlier.

"I basically acted that way to blend in with people."

"What for popularity? That's all you stupid people ever-"

"No. Stop. Quit jumping to conclusions and let me explain myself." I kept my mouth shut after that. I did realize that when he said that, he didn't yell at me. He may have basically told me to shut up but his voice was still calm and normal. Maybe it was true. Maybe he really was different like he had said.

"Scarlett. I know this is going to scare you but...I'm not a sagittarius."

"That is such a lie. You have a red gem around your-"

"Look at it more closely." I look up close at the gem and noticed that it was just red on the rock was paint that someone had put on it themselves." I gulped now not knowing what to do or know what would happen next. He dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out another gem. This one was real and was most definitely real compared to the other one.

"You-You're a water sign?!" My heart started to pound faster out of fear. A water sign tribe was what came in to the sagittarius village but what was the name…?

"Wh-What water sign are you?" I asked afraid of the answer.

"Scorpio." My eyes widened and I looked at his dark eyes and slowly backed away. He's one of them? Is he gonna kill me too? No, he could have already done that. He's probably trying to bring me back to his scorpio tribe so I can tell them all the fire signs' weaknesses and then kill me right afterwards.

"Scarlett it's okay I'm not-"

"Your tribe is the one killing the sagittarius tribe," I said in disbelief and I thought I was gonna choke on my words I was so terrified of what could happen to me next.

"Scarlett wait-!" He put his hands on my shoulders sending chills down my spine.

"Get off of me Jason!" I yelled and complained and tried to escape but he wouldn't let go and he was too strong and was not showing any weakness against me.

"Scarlett please just listen to me. I'm not what I seem to be. I left the scorpio tribe when I was a child."

"You did what?!"

"Yes. When I was ten, I left my village because of something I just could not deal with anymore and throughout the years, I happened to find the sagittarius tribe along the way. I decided it would be good to train in another village where I would not be treated the way I had been before and I had done it ever since."

"But how could you do that? Your name wouldn't have been in the system."

"I put my name in the system myself. I entered my name into your group by sneaking into the main hall and putting it in there."

"Are you crazy?! If they had caught you, you would have been most definitely been killed."

"It was worth anything to me to get out of my tribe Scarlett. I'm more free now and have the ability to do what to choose what to do with my life and not be controled by others."

"What exactly happened to you anyway?"

"That is a story for another time. I only tell it to people who I can really trust."

"What? So you don't trust me?"

"I do it's just overtime I want to assure myself that I can trust you and the only way to do that was get to know you personally."

"I suppose that is true."

"Also don't call me Jason anymore. That's basically just a fake personality of myself that I don't want to be anymore."

"Then what am I supposed to call you then? That's your real name, isn't it?"

"It actually isn't. I made up that name because it seemed to be more of a sagittarius name. My real name is Alex Cross."

"Well, I never would have guessed that." He laughed and then sat up from the ground. He put his hand out to me and I took it. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the ground. We began to walk more through the forest when I decided to ask something I still did not understand very clearly.

"So, how did you heal the cut from my neck."

"Oh well you see, water zodiacs have the power to heal minor wounds such as the one you had. Since we have water in our bodies and we are water zodiacs, we can heal each other because of that."

"I wish I could do something like that," I said seeing as all I was supposed to be able to do was control fire but I could not even make fire myself yet."

"Don't worry. With lots of hard work and self confidence, I am sure you will be able to manipulate fire soon." That made me feel a little better about myself hearing it from someone else. The question was, what were we going to do from here? We left the village so where else was there to go. I didn't exactly want to sneak into another zodiac village like he did but what other options were there?

"Come on. I'm going to show you something."

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise. You will figure it out once we get there," Alex said and we walked on until we reached a large tree. Up in the tree, there was a tree house and ladders that lead up to it.

"Well, don't just stand there. Let's go." Alex said and motioned me forward. I did as I was told with Alex coming up behind me. There was not much in it once we got up there. All that was in there was two places in tree house where wood had been cut out to make windows with a chair, some books scattered across the floor, and a blanket on the floor.