"Huh?" I gotta be careful since Libra can detect lies.
"What, a Mafia?" Leo is a fool.
A few attendees jolted, including the one all covered up. Perhaps he's the mafia here?
"I was in a gang before. But I only farm now." I answered.
"Phew~"
"Alright! It's my turn! Hey everyone! I'm marked as the Leo! My name is Johann Helios. My father owns a garage and I'm working there. My hobbies are-"
"Hey, we already know a lot about you." The black beauty woman said.
"May I finish first, please?" Leo irritatedly said.
"You're always on the tv. What's left to know about you?" She added.
"PFFTT!.." a few of the crowd giggles.
"Pfft.. s-sorry bro, but she's right. You're on the news twenty-four seven." Taurus said.
"Argh! Alright. Let's finish fast!" Leo looks pissed. Good for you, haha.
"Good day to all of you, my name is Stephen Chrono. I bear the mark of Virgo. I'm thirty three this year and my job is.."
He glanced at Capricorn who nodded back at him.
"I'm the Assistant Director of Mr. Hilson Donald." He continued.
"Hilson Donald?" Leo asked.
"Yes.."
"Isn't that the name of the North President's son?" He asked.
"Yes, that's him." Virgo answered.
...
"My name is Emilia Equan. I bear the mark of Libra. As I've said before, I have a passive ability to detect lies from truth. I'm twenty seven and I also work as an attorney in a firm. I've been practicing my profession for five years already. So, if any of you have a legal concern, feel free to consult me about it." She said.
"But every country has their own set of laws, how would you-"
"It doesn't matter. I also studied all of them even before apes became humans." She answered, her brows knitted.
"That is not the real story of how man appeared!" Pisces losing his godly temper.
"It is true!"
"Please stop!" Capricorn said loudly.
Pisces fixed his holy cap as he sighed.
"Next please."
"Hello, I'm Christine S. and I have the mark of Scorpio. I'm also twenty seven and... I guess you know the rest from the news." Her expression turned sad.
There was a reporter who interviewed the people around the area where Scorpio lives before she gained her mark.
From the answers people gave, Scorpio lives in the slums together with other girls who works as hostesses in a nearby bar. Most of them are skin and bones and they are paid only with a bowl of food and water every day. After she got her powers, her poisonous aura leaked from her body into the bar she's working in and several men had been reported dead.
When asked about her aura, she simply answered, "I cannot control it at the meantime." But her eyes reflects death rather.
The room went quiet.
"Good share...next."
"My name is Nathaniel..just that. I have the Sagittarius mark. I'm thirty two and... that's all you need to know." He answered.
"Why are you all covered up?" Leo asked.
...
"You'll pass out if you see my face."
"Why? You're so handsome I can't even be compared?"
"It's for your safety, little cub." Scorpio chuckled.
Pfftt!
"It's not that. He's had circumstances that made him like that, Leo." Virgo said.
"Okay..?"
"Anyway, what do you all know about your powers?" Capricorn asked.
"Let's take turns clockwise again." Virgo said and pointed Aquarius.
"I can summon a chalice of water just by thinking about it." His eyes glow a purple color as the same light glows on the palm of his hand where the mark is. A golden chalice decorated with brilliant stones of amethyst appeared. The chalice has water in it and some suspended mid air flowing into the chalice in a slow motion.
"Wow." Everyone gasped.
"The water in my chalice can heal minor wounds in a few seconds. I haven't tried it on serious ones yet." Aquarius said.
"Have you discovered anything else?" Capricorn asked.
"No." He answered.
"Alright. Next."
"As someone protected by the God of Cosmos, Anyone who denies me gets squashed by his might." Pisces said.
Libra sighed as her eyes glowed towards Pisces. The latter must be lying again it seems.
"But it's the tru-"
"He's got a skill called 'invisible hands'. It allows him to move or KILL without anyone knowing from a limited distance." Gemini interrupted him.
"I see. Might of god, huh?" Capricorn's brows knitted.
"Ahem.. what I discovered from my power is that I can leave a lesser mark on a person and make that person do my bidding. Nowadays, I heard people calling it blessing or sort." Aries said.
"Yeah, I heard about that too." Leo said.
"Well, for mine.. I can turn into a giant person with horns..." Taurus said in almost a whisper.
"I haven't heard news about transformation anywhere though?" Virgo asked.
"I was hiking on a remote mountain somewhere when I fell asleep. I woke up and turned into just a bit bigger person.."
"Wait, wait. You're hiking, right?" Leo asked.
"Yes."
"You woke up where exactly?"
"Where I was hanging after closing my eyes."
"Oh.."
"Next."
"ABYSS" Gemini said.
The mark of Gemini shines on her dark blue eye. A mixture of neon blue and pink light traces what seems to be a keyboard drawn on mid air. She took it in front of her and began typing something from it. Files started appearing on air all of a sudden.
"Impressive." Aries said.
"The world is my screen." Gemini added cryptically.
"Great. Next."
Oh, it's me.
"I- I can bless people with protection. I tried it with my cousin and even a needle won't make contact with his skin. I also managed to cover my entire house with a barrier of protection." I said.
"Is that so?" Virgo asked.
"Yes."
"Was...was it soundproof?" He softy asked.
"What?"
"Nothing."
...
"My turn! I can-" Leo paused.
"Summon your oversized axe and swing it tirelessly? We all know." Scorpio said.
"Huh?! Can anyone please not interrupt me?" Leo looks pissed.
"You're all over the news, bragging here and there."
"I'm not bragging! Also, do you like me this much? You've been picking on me nonstop now."
Scorpio stood and her eyes glowed gold once again. "Because men like you who's so full of themselves tend to be selfish, now what will happen when we need to form teams someday?"
"It means I'll be your leader if we're put together." Leo didn't back down and stood for himself. His voice is calm but the glow in his jade eyes intensifies.
"Calm down, both of you. This is not the time for this. We're here to learn from each other not to fight between ourselves. Our enemy is the gate only." Taurus tapped Leo on the shoulder and talked them both out of it.
"Next please!" I'm so irritated I called out.
"Ahem..I can explain it later with Madame Violet. You next, Libra." Virgo said.
"I can tell when someone is lying and-" Libra's sign on her wrist glows a pretty pink color and a piece of shining white cloth appeared on her hand.
"Whenever I put this on my eyes, I can see the list of sins a person has. Also, I have this coin but I haven't tried yet if it functions like it did in my dream." She added.
"Dream?" Does that mean we all dreamed about the same thing? Or our power functions like it did in our dream? I have more questions than answers now!
"Next"
"I figured I can also summon a weapon." A golden symbol shines underneath Scorpio's dress. The golden hue glorified itself on her Navel. With a golden handle, a long black leather whip appears on her hand. Upon closer look, the leather is actually a body of a black snake and on it's tip, sits what looks like a sting of a scorpion.
"I can use this to spread poison in the air and mark enemies at the same time." She answered.
"What do you mean by mark?" Aries asked.
"I can put a blessing to them. But this blessing actually only allows me to kill the person marked anytime. I think it's because the mark is already a poison just waiting for the command."
"I see.."
"Next"
"I can burn anything in a certain area around me. But now...I know more about my available skills." Sagittarius nodded at Virgo who nodded back.
Capricorn stood beside Virgo while Sagittarius approach them on the board.
"Alright. This time, we'll help you learn how to know the scope of your powers." Capricorn said.
"Sagittarius?" She called.
The latter opened the bottom of his mask and puts on a cigarette.
As he lighted the cigarette..
"SKILL.." He commanded.
Several parts of the flame turned into a blue, almost white flame and spread into a shape until it became a tome made from fire.
"The Book of *Sagittarius*" it says on the cover.
"Wow.."
Gemini came up front and pointed a finger on Sagittarius's smoke. A few smoke followed through her fingertip "SKILL." and turned a navy blue color as it took a shape of another tome.
"The Book of *Gemini*" it prints.
"We're both Earth signs so.."
"SKILL"
Virgo and Capricorn both took a small crystal from their pockets and placed it down the table. As they raised their hands out of it, Garnet and sapphire hues of sand from the fastly eroding crystals rose out to the air and form respective tomes of their own color.
I see. The elements based largely on the type of signs. I'm a water sign so...
I observe the water bottle in front of me.
"SKILL" I softly commanded. The water rose out of the bottle as if the container it's in didn't exist. The water flowing midair turns blood red and shapes itself into a tome.
"Someone's observing. That's good." Capricorn complimented.
"Am I an earth or fire? I forgot." Leo talks to himself. What a joke. And he's always introduced as THE FIRE sign on tv.
"You're a fire sign." I said.
"I see...do you have a light?"
What a guy.
"Don't you smoke?" I asked.
"No. My skin won't be healthy if I do that." He said.
Whoah, that's so unexpected.
"Here. Use this." I handed him the lighter in my pocket.
...
Oh no.. that's actually..
"Thanks." He said.
That's 'his' lighter that I always keep in my pocket. I thought it's the one I use on my backyard. I'll have him return it to me later.
Everyone followed suit after that. The golden water from Scorpio's tome had a drop and like acid, it hit the table and made a hole. Pisces had a clear gentle blue hue that he calls 'holy water' I don't know about that guy's deal. Aries helped Libra by lighting her a cigarette and Leo burned a small piece of paper to help himself and the air sign Aquarius since he deemed the latter a minor still. Taurus got his crystal from an extra that Capricorn has. Everyone has their own tomes now. And when flipped...
A four-line poem was written in the middle of it. I flipped through the pages but there doesn't seem to be any more writings in it.
"What the?" Leo gasped.
"It's like a journal of sort?" Aquarius asked.
"Each of us has different content. But they all have things in common." Virgo and I locked eyes.
"They all give clues to a skill." He continued.
"Yeah, looks to me like this dude might be Abraham Lincoln or something." Leo clicked his tongue.
"Read what it says." Aries said.
"It says, 'My fellow citizens of this country, this day my axe shall hit the soil we tilled with our blood and pierce the earth with a loud ringing. This battle shall be won and I shall lead you to salvation.' that's it. I need to look into this."
"So...it looks like the skill being mentioned there is that you slam your axe on the ground and it will crack the ground open? Is that it?" Taurus asked.
"Give it a name and look at the scribbles again." Sagittarius said.
"Hmmnn..how about SMASH?" Leo asked.
"Are you Hulk? Try again, bud." Sagittarius laughed.
"Oh! I know!" Leo and Taurus locked eyes.
"Thunder breaking slash!" They both in sync even.
"Ooh!" Above the speech in his book appeared a title: Thunder Breaking Slash
I see! It really is a skill! But don't tell me he has to say all those words before getting to use the skill?
What a kid.
"Please try your skills somewhere remote. Our time is short and it's also time for us to go." Capricorn nodded at Virgo.
"But before we part ways, let's all please meet again in two weeks. Will everyone be busy at that time?" She asked.
No one answered.
"Alright. Let's meet after two weeks so we can talk about the gates." She said.
"Please remember the place, this is called Solitaire Mansion. And you'll be teleported here." Virgo said.
"Meeting adjourned."
"Hey pretty -" Leo was being annoying so I teleport back home.
"Hey! You weren't answering. I've been texting you a lot but you're not responding!" Vince said, holding my baby, Wyse.
"Momma why no anshur?" My cute baby asked.
"Hey, my baby.." I missed your cute cheeks.
"Whatever you do, don't let them in!" Vince said.
"What? Who?" He lead me to the window and lift the curtain a little. Outside the fences of my house are quite a numerous number of people including reporters gathering around it. It seems my barrier works from keeping people outside my premises.
"What the hell.." this is going to ruin my livelihood! I'm so stupid I should've not done it since I'm already keeping it low for now!
"You can teleport so I'll help you buy food in the market for now." Vince said.
"Thanks."
"Do we wait until they give up hovering over there?" He asked.
"Yes. I'm too tired right now to deal with them." It's been a long day and I need some sleep.
"Momma?"
"Yes, baby?"
"I'll shwip with you." He's such a cute and understanding little man!
"Aww~ let's go baby."
"Yay!"
I'm so damn tired.. it's been a really long day. Feels like I'm forgetting something though?
(yawn)
I'll just deal with it tomorrow.