Sunday morning. The dining hall was crowded with first year students eating and talking to the friends at their tables. The morning sun was peeking in through the tall windows, helping them all to fully wake.

Aiven, Feíx and Derin were seated at a table as far away from the others as they could. The previous night had been a real pain in the ass. All thirteen of them had managed to summon and recall their light, but that didn't happen until five in the morning. And they weren’t allowed to leave before that happened. Needless to say, no one got any sleep. And the coming night would most certainly be sleepless as well, given they were to return that night. Aiven had his chin resting in the palm of his hand, he glanced around the hall. It was pretty easy to spot ‘the Zodiacs’, bags under the eyes and messy bed hair.

Adriam, Weide and Audra, along with the biggest crowd in the hall, were sitting at the table in the middle. Audra and Weide were more focused on eating, unlike Adriam who was happily talking to the group. They seemed to be more interested in him, actually, but could anyone blame them? The Optian teen was after all part of the Mune family. The biggest, and most successful after the royal family, Gnaye. Aiven rolled his eyes and let his gaze hover over the tables. Raión was sitting with a group where not a single one was of the same species. They were loud, and some were sitting on the table itself. Livíne, Yune, Terrie and Tarrio were all talking to a group of mainly Carás. Livíne was standing up, about to leave the dining hall. Cassíe and Zam had both left a while ago.

Aiven bit his bottom lip. So, they were Zodiacs, and he was the leader. The fact left a weird feeling in his stomach. Did every generation feel like this on their first day? What if they fucked up? What if they would be responsible for the end of the world? What if they died?

“Ven?” The friendly nudge on his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts. Aiven turned his head to look at his friend. “You okay? You zoned out there a bit” Feíx asked. Both him and Derin looked at him. Aiven nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine”

“So, have you heard anything from your parents?” Derin asked and placed her fork on the table. The boys looked at her, slightly confused. “No..Why?” “About the whole ‘Zodiac’ thing. The professors, or should I say Stars, said they were going to contact our parents about it” Derin explained in a semi-whisper. “My parents send me like, 50 texts yesterday” she added with a sigh. “Oh, nah my parents haven’t said anything. Probably haven’t even seen the message itself” Feíx said with a shrug and a small smile. Derin snorted.

“Well, I’m gonna go back to bed, whatever they’ve planned for us tonight is definitely going to further fuck up my sleeping schedule” Aiven said, standing up and picked up his now empty plate and glass.

“Sleep tight, Ven!” Feíx called out to the saevian who flashed a quick grin back at him in response.

.:.

“Oh Zami~” Omedgia called out, her voice echoing through the library. Zam looked up from the desk he was seated at. His eyes meat Omedgias. She carried a small stack of books, both old and new, in her hand's which she carefully placed down on the desk. “I found some more information on Stars” she added with a smile, referring to their history essay.

“Great! And please don’t call me Zami” Omedgia chuckled.

“Why not? It’s cute” Zam shook his head and shifted his attention to the books. He picked one up and gave it a closer examination. It was newer, covered in a deep turquoise coat with golden engravings. “That one’s a rewriting on that old one we found” Omedgia explained and sat down in front of Zam, crossing her arms on the table and leaning forward just a bit. The other teen nodded, the old one was a pain to decipher.

The two got on with their reading, scribbling down small notes as they went along. The library was drowning in a pleasant silence, only the satisfying crinkle of a page being turned, the graphite on their pencils rubbing off on the small sheets of paper and the occasional shoe gently tapping the floor could be heard. Stars, the helpers of Vanea. The small guiding lights, both up in the sky and, supposedly, wandering alongside everyone else, looking just like any other.

“Do you think they’re real?” Zam glanced up. “Hm?”

“Do you think Stars are real? Like, not the ones up in the sky because, obviously they’re real, but the ‘species’ kind?” Omedgia rambled out her question. Zam fell silent. He knew they were real, to his surprise, he’d spoken to them. But if he said yes then Omedgia would ask why, wanting him to explain his thoughts. And he didn’t believe Stars were real before, so he didn’t have any arguments to believe other than that he’d met them in person. So, to avoid any talking, he simply shrugged. “Don’t know, you?”

“I’m kinda in the middle” Omedgia admitted. “But I do like the stories that they’re helping the Zodiacs” Zam stiffened. “What?” “There are some stories that basically say that every generation of Zodiacs are trained by Stars, because they both possess celestial magic” Omedgia explained, allowing Zam to relax. An excited smile slowly crept its way to her lips. “And that reminds me” she said and quickly stood up from her chair, now leaning over the table completely.

“I heard that a new generation is about to begin! Or, has begun I can’t remember” She beamed at the other.

“Really?” Zam asked with a toothy grin. He found amusement in the girl's excitement. The way her face lit up when talking about her favorite things was, maybe, his favorite thing. That and the fact that she wasn’t scared to look him in the eyes.

“Yes! Zami, we get to see a whole generation from beginning to end, how amazing isn’t that?” the carán girl squealed, her poof of hair bouncing around her rather broad shoulders.

“Very” Zam agreed. “But focus, please. We’re doing Stars, not Zodiacs” he added. Omedgia nodded in an excusing manner and sat back down.

.:.

With her legs crossed, Cassíe sat in the glade used for the mythic and magic classes. As she wasn’t in the program she rarely got to see it, only after class and on weekends. And though she’d never admit it she wished she could see it more often, it was truly beautiful. Cassíe took a deep breath, taking in the smell of eld and sylven, both coming from the trees surrounding the glade and filled the air with the wonderful scent. The early morning sun shined gently through the thick layers of leaves. The girl had only been sitting there for an hour or so, but it felt like an eternity. The best eternity, as it was only between her and her thoughts.

“Cassíe?” Startled, Cassíe quickly jumped to her feet and whipped around to face whoever had spoken. Before her stood an equally startled Livíne. Cassíe eyed the much taller girl up and down. “What do you want?”

“Well, I was just taking a quick walk when I found you here all by yourself. Is everything alright?” Livíne asked, taking a small step towards the other girl now more at ease.

“Ofcourse everything’s alright, why wouldn’t it be?” Cassíe questioned crossing her arms. Livíne chuckled. “You never know. Plus, you are alone in the forest”

“And? I like being alone”

“Well, I can not argue with that. Alone time in beautiful places like the glade really is something wonderful, don’t you think?” Livíne smiled.

“You’re weird, in a creepy way” Cassíe stated after a moment of silence, looking at the other with narrow eyes. “And your tail is showing” she pointed out with a nod towards the edge of Livínes skirt. The soft and silk-like hair that grew on the end half of the girls tail could be seen peeking out, and because of Livínes hight it was really clear to see.

Livíne blushed in mild embarrassment and quickly moved the tail to re-wrap itself around her thigh, making it close to impossible to spot. “Thank you” she muttered, the other simply nodded. Cassíe was the first and so far the only one who knew she hid her tail, or had one for that matter. It was another thing the vitanese girl didn’t like about herself, and having it paired up with her hight wasn’t ideal.

“I guess I will leave you to return to, what you previously did. See you tonight” Livíne said with a smile, the blush already on its way to leave. She waved ‘goodbye’ at Cassíe before leaving the girl alone.

And with a sigh, Cassíe sat back down, took a deep breath before falling backwards to lay in the soft grass.

.:.

The headmaster's office was silent. The five professors, or more correctly Stars, sat in the couches and looked at each other. Pondering what they’d been told by the short redhead.

“Did, you really feel, him?” Shaula asked, breaking the silence. She had Alkaid’s hand in her own, rubbing small circles on it with her thumb. Alkaid nodded. “It. It can’t be anything else” he breathed.

“But why? Why now? And what happened?” Etamin questioned out loud.

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t feel him after, they departed, so I thought he was gone. But it could be another blockage” Alkaid suggested. Nashira shook her head. “Can’t be” she stated. “Our blockages are permanent”

“We don’t know that” Etamin said, gaining a cold glance from the tall Star. “A thousand years without change seems pretty permanent to me” she said.

Sirius, seated so he could watch the other four, had his chin resting in the palm of his hand. For Alkaid to feel something bad wasn’t unusual, it happened as it was supposed to. But this long of a break with nothing, and now all of the sudden he appears. No falling Star had been seen for years in Lumino, so where did he come from? This didn’t make sense.

“What do we do?” the questions hung visibly in the air once it had been ask by Alkaid. Sirius stared before him, his eyes quickly flashing in green. “As of now, nothing” the other Stars were caught off guard by the answer.

“Nothing? What do you mean by that?” Nashira questioned and raised her eyebrow. Sirius stood up from his seat, folding his arms behind his back and moved to his desk before he spoke. “Exactly what I said, we do nothing. We’re still not fully certain that what Alkaid felt really was him, and if we were to throw this at them this soon, they’d panic. So we wait. For more evidence and for a clear sign that he is back” Sirius explained. Hiding something like this wasn’t ideal, but the Zodiacs hadn’t been active for even a week. For now, they’d leave them out of it and only when they were fully assured would they let them know.