-1Disclaimer : Saint Seiya is property of Masami Kurumanda and Toei Animation

The White Saints and other characters who live with them in the Forest of Artemis belong to me

Part Four : The Sanctuary of the Sun and Moon

Far to north of Athens there was vast primeval forest that covered several mountains and spread for several thousand miles. Located in the center between two huge mountains was the Sanctuary of the White and Steel Saints of Artemis and Apollo.

And it had been their home for over five thousand years.

Of all the Saints that dwelled there none was stronger than the Guardians, twenty-four of the strongest and fastest of all the Saints. In the Guardians there was another group the five judgers, they were the Saints of Gryphon, Sphinx, Virgo, Aires, and Libra. Since the last great battle of the previous Holy War when almost of the Guardians had been slaughtered over half of there cloths remained unoccupied. Though their numbers had been increasing steadily there were still not enough of the Guardians to fight off the Warriors of Darkness.

Shy and not fond of the spotlight the Warriors of Artemis and Apollo became known as the Shadow Warriors. Only in times of great peril did the they show themselves and then it was only to people the trusted. Once they had been ordinary Saints of Athena but that had been over five thousand years ago. Out of Athena's Saints only two of them knew about the White Saints.

Aries Shion and Libra Dohko were the only survivors of the last battle of the gods, which was the last battle in which the White Saints took part in. But Shion was dead slain by Ares. Though he did not know it yet the White Saints were going to make him regret every thing he did to Athena and her Saints plus as usual they were going to collect interest.

A lone Saint stood on a the side of a mountain he was not to high up just high enough too get a good view of the Sanctuary of the Sun and Moon sprawled out below, lights flickered in the small doll-like windows. The temples of the Guardians were dim many of them hadn't been occupied in over a century. Though it was past midnight people were still walking around. The Guards and Saints were patrolling on the parapet above the thick monolithic walls that was the Sanctuary's greatest form of protection.

All was silent in the Sanctuary luckily thought the Taurus Saint Aiden. Most of the Guardians and their friends were still just children. The only ones who could be considered full Saints were Gemini Kamon, Lynx Aryan, Cepheus Avalar, Cancer Durmok, Aquarius Celant and Capricorn Shuran. Aries Dion of course was too, he had fought with Shion and Dohko against the legions of darkness. But ever since his brothers death he had stopped spending time with everyone including his former apprentice.

A explosion of cosmos in the Sanctuary below made him lift his head in alarm. But a second check revealed no traces of hostility or hatred. He smiled dryly after a minute for he realized that the powerful cosmos belonged to fellow Guardians Aquarius Saint Celant and his former apprentice Swan Kamion. The two Saints had completed their mission at last. Well I'm glad they finally arrived. The others were beginning to worry if Ares had found out that they had been spying on him. Though that was pretty unlikely. Lifting his head he focused on where the Saints were The training area of course, that was the only place that people could teleport into the Sanctuary, the wards prevented it. While in the Sanctuary they could teleport anywhere in or out.

Taurus snorted whatever the Guardians did was their business and nobody else's and he really didn't like being shouted at by one of the more temperamental Guardians as long it didn't get anyone hurt or killed they could do what they wanted. Nobody really asked questions around here, and if they did they were quickly silenced with a dirty look or threats ( promises) to inflict bodily harm. Oh well it doesn't concern us so might as well not bother to think about it too hard.

As the Taurus Saint had predicted the Guardians were still active despite the late hour. Especially Shuran the White Capricorn Saint. He was after all the fastest Saint in Sanctuary, and therefore the most active. He hated being confined or indoors all the time, so he was taking a midnight stroll. After finishing it he strode over to the empty training field, it was far enough away so that the sound of Saints training didn't carry over to the main Sanctuary.

A sudden loud crack made him skid to a halt as Aquarius Celant and Swan Kamion teleported right in front of him. The result was to avoid crashing into the three Knights he had dig his feet into the ground and managed to avoid falling face forward into the dirt. Half couching the Capricorn Saint glared at the two Guardians. His eyes dark and angry until he caught sight of who the two Saints were supporting. " Whose he?" said Shuran curiosity overcoming his previous irritation.

" He's the Gold Sagittarius Saint Aioros. He's been hurt really bad by the Gold Saints and Ares, they think he's a traitor. That he attempted to murder Athena."

Shuran snorted at the last part. " Well whatever they think he is, he's going to be dead and soon. We Guardian's can heal minor wounds sometimes not so minor. But healing life threatening injuries is way beyond most of us. Kamon's the only one who has that kind of power though he's only fifteen, plus he's the Gemini Saint and Master of Sanctuary. And I definitely don't want to ever fight him. I'll go ahead and make sure nobody's in the way."

Both Kamion and Celant knew what he meant by nobody the Council of Elders as they called themselves. Though what they called themselves made them seem wise benevolent and kindly, they were anything but. Their mission in life was to try too get rid of the Guardians or the Master of Sanctuary neither of whom liked what they were trying to do.

Without a backward glance the Capricorn Saint spun around and headed for the highest part of the Sanctuary past the Guardians Palaces. He didn't bother to ask for permission because it was technically an emergency the others were just going to have to deal with it.

Kamon meanwhile was reading an old tome as well as a number of other ancient documents and other novels. The Gemini Saint was the most powerful Saint in the Sanctuary of the Sun and Moon. Unlike Capricorn or Aquarius his power was not elementally based. Though he could twist time and even dimensions to attack an enemy he didn't do it often. Probably because his power was so great that things tended to be destroyed when he got mad. That was definitely one of the reasons why he was not a Saint to cross. He also had a tendency to act badly when people disturbed him.

When Shuran pranced in with his usual clatter Kamon looked up, carefully bookmarked his page, and directed a look that could kill at him. " Will you cut that out Shuran your beginning to grind my nerves and that's supposed to be Miran's job." he said exasperated.

" Well somebody's in a tichy mood right now, But never mind that I'm not here to annoy you. Though it would be very fun."

" Get on with it, before you suck out all the air with that big mouth of yours, honestly I've never known another Saint who talked as much and as fast as you do."

" There's an injured Saint, he's the Sagittarius Saint Aioros, apparently the Gold Saints believe he's a traitor and attempted to execute him if you don't do something he's going to be dead really soon."

The door banged open and the two Guardians entered carrying in the severely injured Saint. As soon as he caught sight of the injured Saint, Kamon stood up concern in his dark blue eyes. Walking over to where Kamion and Celant stood supporting Aioros he nodded in the direction of the Sanctuary's medical ward where injured Saints went to receive treatment. There were healers other than Kamon but he was the strongest despite his young age.

Panting slightly with the effort of carrying him all the way from the training arena through the twenty-four temples of the Guardians to the Master's Chambers. It was no small wonder that they were exhausted and winded. They carefully laid him down on one of the cots in the medical ward. Luckily none were occupied so there were questions of who the strange Saint was. Shuran began converse quietly with Kamion and Celant about how the Saints mission had gone

" Well they certainly believe Aioros is a traitor. So if he survives he's not going be able to return to the Sanctuary ever. Or at least not until they figure out that Shion is dead and Ares is possessing the Gemini Gold Saint. Which would take about another thirteen years."

Kamon meanwhile was looking Aioros over the gash on his forearm was nasty and bleeding sluggishly, and he had several other serious bruises and scrapes. But what worried him most was the wound on his chest it was bleeding a lot. A closer look revealed that it had luckily missed several major organs, though he had lost a lot of blood nonetheless.

Ending their conversation Shuran shouted over his shoulder at Kamon. " Hey, you done yet."

Kamon shot him a deadly look as he got up from where he had crouched to get a better look at the Saint wounds. " You Celant, and you Kamion can leave you've done your part. Shuran stay here I might need your help. He has a chance albeit a slim one that he'll survive and I think he will after all he's a Saint of Athena. And he's an honorable and very loyal.

Kamion and Celant nodded looking relieved and left. Kamon turned and rested his hand on Aioros's forehead. Shuran meanwhile had took several steps forward until he was directly behind Kamon, who glared at him over his shoulder his eyes dark and angry. Dropping his gaze at last he concentrated gathering his cosmos he released it slowly channeling the power he gathered into his hand that was resting on Aioros's head the wounds on the Sagittarius Saint stopped bleeding and began to scab, the bruises darkened and faded until they were barely visible.

Shuran was beginning to worry Kamon was using too much of his power. And if he used too much more he could have ended up killing himself in the process. Moving closer the Capricorn Saint stopped until he was directly behind Kamon who glanced over his shoulder his eyes dark with worry. Kamon too was worried about how much power he was expending.

Shuran started forward he was starting to look scared. " Kamon please stop, your using too much power and you're going to end up killing yourself. Dion would kill me (painfully) if you don't stop NOW." He finished the last part as something close to a shout.

The Gemini Saint flared his cosmo one last time then let if fade slowly. " Shur.. he said using Shuran's nickname, Stop worrying I don't plan on getting myself killed anytime soon. Dion would definitely kill me if I did anything stupid, he does have a bad temper after all." sighed Kamon, he looked exhausted and worried. " I'm pretty sure the Sagittarius Saint will recover, though I couldn't heal all his wounds without killing myself in the process. So it will take a while for him to recover. Though the real problem is where he is going to stay when he does recover."

" Could he live with us. I mean he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Athena's Saints would kill him on sight if he went anywhere near them. The Council of Elders would have an apoplexy if they found out that a Gold Saint and supposed traitor was staying with us the Guardians, strongest of all Saints."

" Since when do we ever listen to them. I personally don't give a rats hindquarters what they think and neither do you Shur… none of us do. It's our job to protect the innocent and the weak. Plus every Guardian vowed to never let a Saint die if we could help it…." Before Kamon could finish sentence his knees buckled and the Gemini Saint collapsed on the ground.

Shuran bolted to where Kamon was. "You stupid idiot, using all your power like that. If get yourself killed we're all in for it. The Gray Saints would love it if you were out of the way. Plus I'd end up with all of the Guardians mad at me." Supporting the Guardian Saint partially he sighed " Not that I'd expect anything else from you plus the fact that I'd do the same exact thing."

After a few minutes Kamon began to stir than opened his eyes. " Great I just had to collapse now of all the stupid times." Seeing Shuran's expression he winced visibly.

" Come off it, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Shuran snorted disbelief on his face. " A few days or weeks maybe. You're completely and utterly exhausted and if you use your powers again you'll either end up killing yourself or losing your powers for good."

Kamon glared at him his dark blue eyes angry, Shuran met his gaze his own dark brown eyes level. " You do know that if you try anything I can and will overpower if I have to, though I definitely don't want to. You're my friend and I don't want anything to happen to you."

For a brief second Kamon looked at him hatred, anger and something that looked remarkably like fear in his eyes. But then it was gone replaced by something that looked remarkably like defeat. Kamon lowered his head slightly and Shuran let him go. Kamon wasn't stupid and he knew when he was beaten. Though he was worried about how exhausted Kamon looked, he knew that Kamon was strong willed and luckily would recover fully in time.

" Kamon with Ares in control of Athena's Sanctuary and Shion dead it means that the new Holy War is about to begin doesn't it? "

He nodded grimly " Yes, it means that starting now we must be prepared to fight."