Page 31 of Capture of Capricorn

The candidate should have heroic qualities.

A willingness to sacrifice themselves to help others.

Bravery despite impossible odds.

Male, for they are better suited to receive the gift.No surprise they had that sexist rule.

Must be on the verge of death.Odd requirement.

Of noble character.

The mental fortitude to handle death, both the meting of and the occurrence of on a possibly daily basis.

Compassion for those suffering.

Strength that is both physical and mental.

On and on it went, a seemingly impossible list of requirements that boiled down to one thing. A warrior should be a hero.

The next section dealt with the ritual to become a Zodiac warrior, AKA the cult initiation. Apparently, it required the candidate to accept, but the wording around that clause confused, for it said,It is not enough for the invited warrior to verbally agree. They must accept the charge with all of their being. Their heart, mind, and very soul must be in harmony, or the transference will fail.

Transference of what?

An image appeared next, showing a body lying on the ground. Wait, not ground, but a floor inset with medallions, just like the room where Capricorn claimed they’d teleported. The passage alongside stated,The candidate should be placed upon the sigil of the Astraeus that has selected them. As their life force exits the body, the Astraeus shall imbue their chosen recipient with strength, adapt their candidate’s physical form to be able to withstand the rigors they might face, and forge a connectionto their constellation, which ends with marking their flesh with the constellatory sigil of their benefactor.

The next page showed a man’s back with a massive tattoo of a fish splashed across it. The image reminded her not only of the painting she’d seen at the garage sale where she found the orb but of Capricorn and his gigantic skin art. No way that tattoo just appeared on his flesh as the book tried to claim. Just like bleeding out on a floor couldn’t change someone. It was a wonder any of the so-called chosen survived if that was how the cult treated them.

Upon the completion of the transference, the newly minted warrior shall be powdered with galactic dust, healing them of their wounds and rendering them fit to undertake their new duties.

What a load of rubbish. Zora slammed the book shut and glared at the library. “Informative my ass.”

“Did you not like the book?” Capricorn’s sudden query surprised, and Zora almost toppled from the chair shifting to see him.

“I’m into fact, not fiction.” She waved the tome in the air.

“What part do you think isn’t true?” he asked, perching on the armrest of the chair across from her.

“All of it. I mean, it speaks of deities watching over humanity and getting worried monsters might eat them all, so they decided to supercharge some dudes to become defenders of Earth.”

His lips curved. “A succinct summary, and while you might not believe it, it’s actually all true.”

The claim brought a snort. “You mean to tell me you became a so-called Zodiac Warrior by bleeding out on a floor?”

“Not just any floor,” he replied. “When I accepted?—”

She interrupted. “Accepted from who? The book says someone called Astraeus chooses who becomes part of the cult. I assume that’s a special title for those higher up in the hierarchy.”

“The Astraeus are the spirits imbuing the constellations. Depending on who you ask, some might call them gods, although they are rather restricted in how much they can act. They aren’t alive in the sense we understand. More like sentient energy.”

“Energy doesn’t think.”

“Not the kind you’re familiar with,” he rebutted. “However, I’m not sure how else to describe the Astraeus. They have no physical form but are somehow tethered to their constellation. While they don’t think or feel like we do, they have an interest in protecting Earth. Hence, why, when they saw humanity suffering, they devised a solution. The Zodiac Warriors. You might call us their avatars, as they lend us some of their energy that we might protect against perils that would usually be deadly.”

“How cute you think you were chosen by a god to be some vigilante hero.” She couldn’t help the pert yet sarcastic reply to his claim.

“You might mock, but had I not been selected, I would have died. Becoming a Zodiac Warrior saved my life.”

“What heroic thing did you do that almost killed you?”

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