Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ Chinese Zodiac Saga ❯ The Time of the Oath ( Prologue )

It was another calm day. The Athena's Knights were all gathered for Saori's birthday. This was a huge party, including all knights of the Goddess. Saori was just glowing that day. As she did every year for a while now, she took her morning of away from everybody, and never talked what she did. She actually went to the Sagittarius House and prayed for her savior's soul, and then went to the shore, and reflects about everything. And every year Aiolos' soul was at her side. But not today. Something was dead wrong.
When she came back, a terrible feeling filled her instantly. Again, she knew, the world would be in trouble. It was no surprise to her to see and old friendly face equally concerned. "Hello Master Dohko! What a delightful surprise". There was the old Libra Saint, with Shiryu and Shunrei at his side. "You feel that too don't you Athena?" "Yes, unfortunately... What is it?" Shiryu spoke first "It's the time of the Oath" "Oath?" "Yes, it's what the myths call it. The world is always in balance. Good and evil, Yin and Yang. But every few thousand years, the balance starts to break, and it must be restored."
"Trouble again I presume" said Hyôga with his usual calm voice. "Yes, I'm afraid" "Not a really happy birthday" he said again, smiling tenderly. "Here, to make it a little better" he said, giving her a little package. She opened it. Inside was a little ring. "It was a treasure gave me to keep. She gave it to me a couple of days before she passed away, and told me that as she was given that, she was giving to me and I should one day give to someone. This ring it's a symbol of love. Every bearer of this is linked". Her eyes filled up with tears. "Thank you" she said, and hugged him. "Oh, where are our manners? Here, this is for you too" Shunrei said, offering her a big box. For a second, all of their troubles seemed distant. Saori was impressed by the Chinese style dress she found. "She made it! All of it" Said the Dragon. Shunrei blushed. "Thanks, I loved it". Dohko seeing all the commotion said calmly "Let's wait until everyone is here to discuss the problem". They all nodded and left.
It was late afternoon and they were all gathered in a beautiful room. Together, the 12 Gold Saint, the main 5 Bronze ones, and Athena. Dohko started to explain to them "The world is always in balance between Yin and Yang. It may bend towards one or another at times, but none too much. Where there's good there is evil, where there is evil there is good. There is no light without shadow. But that balance is once more breaking. No towards one side or another, but breaking all together. This kind of collapse would eventually cause a destruction never before seen. The problem is that we cannot fight this with pure might. The balance must be restored, and that can only be done at one place. The Forbidden City. Inside the Palace there is a passage that leads to the REAL Forbidden City, the place where only some chosen one may step. In it's heart, the Oath Stone. With it, we can restore the balance, but it's well protected. The Jade Emperor and the 12 Saints of the Chinese Zodiac are there to maintain the balance, but they cannot see, nor touch nor feel the Stone, and they sworn an Oath thousands of years ago that they would protect the stone with their lives without never even seeing it. Thus they do not know what is going on nor will they believe us. Our mission is go through all of them and reach the Stone." Everyone looked at each other. "Simple then. We are 12, they are 12, it's one on one fight" said Aiolia. "Not that simple" Dohko replied "We Gold Saint are needed to stop the mass destruction. We must protect the world's Cosmos with our own. Only we can do that. Again we must ask our young friends here". "How much time do we have?" Asked Kamus. "There is no way to know that" replied Shaka "It may be years, it may be days". He already knew everything Dohko said, and more than anyone but Athena he felt the ruin approaching. "We will go!" Said Seiya, banging his hand on the table. All the others stood up too and agreed with him. "I must warn you. They are of course extremely dangerous" said Dohko "and neither they are good. They are always neutral, so they will not do any unnecessary harm, but they will have no mercy either."
After the long and dreadful talk, all of them went back and started the party in honor of Athena. All of them of course pretended to smile and enjoy themselves, and some of them really did, although the concerns never left their mind.
The morning after was rather busy. The Gold Saints prepared to channel their Cosmos to protected the world's. Some of them were going to travel to certain important points of the world. Dohko went to China, Shaka went to America and Mu was going to Egypt, but he waited to give a final blessing in the Bronze Cloths. The 5 of them also were preparing to travel. Their morning was all about training as hard as they could, and as quickly as they could. Seiya went to train with Aiolia, Hyôga with his master Kamus, Shiryu with Dohko, Ikki with Shaka, and Shun with Milo. As soon as the day was gone, so were they.
They arrived at Beijing in the morning. No time to lose, they went straight to the Forbidden City. Almost all of them were there once as a tourist, but they felt now in a completely different place. They noticed an overwhelming energy in each corner, in each stone, in the air itself. Dohko told them how to enter. "Go to the very heart of the City. In the Throne room burn your cosmos. The lanterns will light and the passage will open". Saori also gave them special passes and permits so their access would be free. As they got there, the room was completely empty. They all concentrated and burned their Cosmos as bright as they could. And then they felt it, a pressure against them, against their souls. The battle went on, with the Bronze Saint trying to overcome this powerful force that kept them from the gates. Not only their souls were being crushed, but their body was starting to suffer. "I will not let you stop me!!!!!!!" Seiya shouted. The Pegasus formed by his cosmos started to fly in the room. "AAAAAAAAAAHH" The other four screamed together. The Cygnus, the Dragon, the Phoenix and Andromeda all joined the Pegasus. Soon, the room was bright with an otherworldly light. Below them, a stairway opened.
They don't know how long they walked the dark path that was ahead of them. It could had been days and they wouldn't know. It didn't felt like Earth anymore. I didn't felt like anything they knew. They continued to walk until a bright light was seen at the end. "At least" said Shun "we are here". As they left the corridor, their eyes were blinded by the really bright light. But there was no sun; it was just bright all over. Ahead of them an enormous city. The Real Forbidden City. The city laid in a mountain, and it rose until the peak. There, a palace stood, motionless, in the clouds. 12 temples were in the path, much like the 12 Temples of the Gold Saints. They walked.
As their entered the city, they all started to feel what Athena was talking about. The fabric of reality itself was ripping apart. They all knew they should hurry. A huge statue laid just in their path. "THE PATH AHEAD IF FORBIDDEN, AS IS THE PATH THAT LAYS BEHIND. WALK ON CHOSEN ONES. WALK ON CHOSEN BY THE CHINESE ZODIAC. WALK ON ALL OTHERS AND SHALL MEET DEMISE. THE PATH YOU TAKE IS THE PATH OF LIFE AND DEATH". "Let's go" said Seiya, confident. As soon as he passed the statue, he saw hundreds of other statues in front of him. All of them armed with spears and shields. And all of them moved, as did the giant.
"PEGASUS RYU SEI KEN (Pegasus Meteor Fist)" The attacks of the Bronze Saint didn't miss one of them. But none of them fell. "What??” "NEBULA CHAIN". Shun's attacks didn't do much damage either. "Damned!" screamed Ikki. The giant one attacked with his huge lance, and quickly Shiryu defended it with his Shield. "I take this one, you take the others".
Seiya tried again Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken. Hyoga used Diamond Dust, and Ikki Hoyoku Ten Shou (Flight of the Flaming Phoenix). Shun defended them and repelled the enemies with his chain. Some of them were destroyed by the simultaneous attacks. But just some of them. Hyoga looked at the ones destroyed. He hit some of them, but what was different. "Ikki also struck them! That's it". He got it. Hot and cold. "Seiya, wait for my signal. Ikki, attack the same ones as I do! Shun, defend us". "DIAMOND DUST" "HOYOKU TEN SHOU". The statues stood there motionless. "Seiya now!!" "PEGASUS RYU SEI KEN!!!” The statues shattered. All of them. "Good thinking Hyoga" said Ikki, taping him in the shoulder.
While that, Shiryu was staring at the giant. It was about 3m tall, and immensely strong. The statue attacked him with great speed, and he defended likewise. He dodged most of the attacks, for he did not know the true strength of the lance, and thus didn't want to risk his Shield. Not know."ROZAN SHORYU-HA (Rozan's Rising Dragon)" Not even a scratch. The statue's attack and defense techniques were awesome. He striked it a couple of times, and realized that it was useless. Perfect defense and perfect attacks. Then he remembered. A long time ago. The Galactic Tournament. He too had the perfect attack and perfect defense. And Seiya defeated him. Quickly he rushed towards the giant, and attacked his chest. He knew that it wasn't going to do him any harm. The giant striked back. Shiryu waited until the last possible moment and dodged. The spear made a large cut in his leg. But he didn't just dodge, he jumped away from the attack and kicked his giant fist. The impact was enough to make the giant strike his shield. The giant cracked. "ROZAN SHORYU-HA". He attacked in the same spot of the impact that the giant did to himself. In a few moments, the statue crumbled down in pieces. The Dragon won.
"And that was just the reception" joked Seiya. They continued in the path. Soon ahead of them was the first temple. The Rat's Temple. They walked in, and the room was really dark. In the shadows, a dark figure appeared. "You are not welcome" said him. They barely could see his silhouette. "We need to get to the Oath Stone" said Seiya. "You may not. Only the worthy may pass" "So, let’s prove we're worthy".