The Astrologian Tower - The secrets of the Zodiac

The region of Oaktown was one of the more ancient and renown places for studying and researching magic. Zachary had visited it once with his mother when he was younger, tagging along on one of her wizarding jobs before he knew he could wield magic himself. Now he was there on his own, now late at night as he was on the search for other secrets pertaining to the Celestial Spirits and other magics associated with the stars. Nothing bit at first, but something to help him in the future.

It was then he stumbled upon an old scroll in Oaktown about an observatory. On the far ends of Oaktown in the woods away from the town lights at night-- there is a large tower that reaches up towards the night's sky. It was meant for the study of astrology and astronomy-- to study the magical secrets of the heavens at night. Through it, they could see beyond the world. However, another rumor was that ancient relics and secrets of the stars were hidden within that tower as well.

Smelling an adventure, Zachary decided to check it out.

***

It had become night time by the time Zachary had reached the outskirts of the fabled tower, almost in the depths of the forest. Oaktown was almost out of sight. Accompanying him was a few of his summons in a familiar form and his newest non-human friend. Zachary strolled through with a little star-shaped creature riding in his hood-- Astral. The little star fairy relaxed peacefully as he let Zachary carry him around. The cherubic creature was as innocent as a child and after a long adventure to discover his origin, Zachary cherished him as a companion and friend.

Following beside him, was one of his spirits-- in the shape of a large anthropomorphic white lion. Ajani, or as he was more formally called, Leo. The mighty zodiac spirit and leader accompanied Zachary on his journey this time, deciding his presence was possible in the middle of the forest. Though a quiet and serious of Zachary's spirits, Zachary appreciated the great lion's company and always tried to encourage him to be more sociable among him and his other spirits.

Finally, perched on his shoulder was another spirit-- a certain white owl who was called Professor Nyx-- a knowledge spirit who helped find this mysterious tower. "This is the place," she said with a gentle flap of her wings.

The tower was a simple castle-like structure, reaching up and out in points. It looked imbalanced but seemed sturdy with a large tower part that observed the open sky clear of the trees.

Zachary approached cautiously, finding a single wooden door along the side of the brick structure. "Are we sure no one is home? I mean, someone could be living here." Zachary asked.

Nyx gave a soft hoot as she looked up at the tower. "I could fly around to see if anyone is home." she said and softly took off from the boy's shoulder.

Having decided to explore himself-- Astral rose out from Zachary's hood and floated his way to the door. With curious little telepathic oohs and ahhs, the star fairy approached the door where a giant moon-shaped knocker was located on it. With his tiny little arms, Astral tried to lift up the knocker with all his might. Despite his flying, he couldn't lift it as he was quite a weaker little creature. After great effort, the little star let go-- causing a single but loud knock that echoed through the tower entrance.

Astral went spiraling backwards in the air-- till he bumped right into Leo's head, on top of his mane. The silly star fairy let out a soft coo as he settled on the lion's head, causing a soft growl of surprise from Leo.

Ooooh... heavwy... Astral chirped in telepathy between them all.

Leo growled but didn't dislodge the star creature from his head, him knowing how child-like he was. "Remind me again why you all insist on snuggling me?" Leo growled with a mild case of embrassment.

"Sorry, Ajani. It's the fur," Zachary said with a smile, but stating a fact.

They waited about a minute since Astral knocked on the door-- but no answer came. By that time, Prof. Nyx returned from her flight around the tower. She began to descend, and Zachary extended his arm to allow her a place to perch. "I searched the entire building. Some magical lights are on but no one inside. It's strange... but then again this place is magical. Some locations are meant to be completely automatic in energy." the owl said.

With nothing left to do, Zachary let out a sigh. "I guess if no one is home, we can go in? No sense to be polite if no one lives here." he said, hoping the rumors of this place being abandoned were true. Gently he pushed against the door-- and it slowly opened with a steady creak.

Now with a renewed excitement for an adventure, Astral gave a chirp and flew right off Leo's head. The star critter didn't hesitate and flew in right as Zachary opened the door. A groan escaped Zachary, knowing how curious and energetic Astral could be when he wanted to. "Wait-- Astral! Don't fly off too far ahead!" Zachary shouted and tried to push the rest of the door open.

Not willing to wait, Leo stepped up and helped as he too applied his own strength against the door. With the lion's help, the door groaned open enough for even the large lion to pass through. With Nyx on his shoulder, Zachary moved into the tower, with Leo ducking under the doorway after them.



WC: 954/2000

The inside of the tower was surprisingly well-lit, as floating orbs of light floated in the air. The light was bright but gentle enough to allow people to not be blinded by it. A large staircase wound up the inside of the tower, spiraling and moving through different platforms with bookcases, chairs, desks and other objects of study.

With enough free space between floating floors-- Astral freely fluttered his way up around the spiraling structure. Keeping an eye on the flying creature, Nyx also flew after him, knowing how rambunctious the star could be. "I hope my first hatchlings are nothing like this. " Nyx commented to herself as she flew in similar circles to keep up. Slowly behind the two-- Zachary and Ajani marched up the staircase at a steady pace. Zachary kept a hand on the wall as he climbed, afraid to fall over the rail-less staircase that separated a drop back down. All the while, Zachary happily watched as Nyx and Astral fluttered in the air together-- like a playful game as he used them as motivation to follow up the stairs.

After about 15 minutes or so of climbing-- they reached the top of the staircase, revealing another door built against the ceiling that allowed further entry. Astral and Nyx soon rejoined them as Zachary held the star critter in his arms to keep him calm. He reached for the door and gently pushed it open.

Following a smaller flight of stairs up-- he soon was greeted by a grand site. The top floor was one large domed-shape room. The walls were lined completely with bookshelves save for a few side rooms and utilities that existed for livability. In the center of the room was a large astro-globe with multi-colored spheres that slowly spun around on its own, enchanted to make up a kind of heliocentric orbit as the other orbs rotated in different directions. Around the large globe were a series of desks and tables with a variety of astrological and astromancy tools-- meant to study the positions and bodies of cosmic objects in the heavens. The ceiling itself was a spectacular mural of a star-chart--- a realistic view of the night's sky with drawn lines to represent points, positions and constellations themselves. However, a part of the ceiling was 'missing' as it led to a large telescope-like device, that looked out into the real night sky. Despite the open space, there was no major breeze or cold air in the room.

Zachary and his company reached the top as they looked around. Eager to look around even more, Astral soon squirmed out of his grip once more-- and began to flutter around with interest. The star-like decore and shiny instruments had lured him into another flying frenzy-- but he was safe within the room... or so Zachary hoped.

Zachary too was amazed by the variety of tools and tomes he found there. "Wow... this place is beautiful. I could totally live in here,"

Finding a book podeum to perch on, Nyx landed there and looked around the room and keeping an eye on Astral. "This is definitely the home of someone who studied astro magic-- or at least did..." the owl hooted as she looked around with her keen eyes. "The tower hasn't been occupied in many years... yet it all seems in decent order. Clearly this magic is keeping the tower in working order."

Zachary slowed looked over the tables, seeing series of maps, diagrams and magic circles overlayed across it. "The magic library of sorcery, another tower like this, is supposedly completely automatic too from keeping things safe to keeping things clean. Not sure if it's smart but it's not alone. " Zachary added to Prof. Nyx's explanation. The maker probably enchanted this place but it looks also like a home than just an observatory."

1598/2000

Curious to the large telescope, Astral began to examine it with curiousity-- taking a peek inside the hole after looking it over, unsure what it was for. He saw the stars twinkle in the distance, some even brighter than he could see with his own eyes. He gave a soft coo of interest, his big eyes sparkling with wonder and nestalgia of some kind. Zachary joined the little star as he took him in his hands and placed him on his head-- something that Astral often enjoyed. "I wonder what kind of person used to live or work here?" Zachary asked.

At that time, Leo was looking over things himself. While not a wizard, he clearly had some sense of knowledge pertaining to some magics as he was a celestial spirit. The lion soon found it too as he spotted something on the table. Drawings of keys-- Celestial spirit keys. "I may have found that out. Come here," he urged to Zachary.

Zachary joined Leo at the table, soon showing the diagrams of the keys and the stars associated to it. "Wait-- so the person who lived here was a Celestial Wizard?" he asked.

"Most likely," Leo said as he thumbed through the papers on the table. "Celestial Spirits and Astromancer have similarities in how their magics work. Though the latter branch I know very little about, only that most humans do not know how to wield it. But this feels different."

"How so?" Zachary asked, his head tilted in question-- and Astral mimicing the same gesture.

Leo closed his eyes for a moment as he took a breath. He then opened his eyes. "I knew it. This tower is an Astral Point." he declared.

"Astral Point?"

It was Nyx who jumped in as she flapped her feathers. "Astral Points, Zachary, are places in the human world where magics from the Celestial World and human world mingle and mix together. They are places, sometimes dependant on certain times or conditions where Celestial Spirits can exist here without risk of our magic running out or our life force draining. "

Leo nodded as he looked to Zachary. "That's right. The ruins where you found me is one such place," he explained.

Zachary's eyes widened, realizing things clearer now. Astral, however, just blinked at them cluelessly-- the conversation a bit much for the little star's head. "So THAT explains why you were able to survive in the human world for so many years! You were using the ruins as a means to maintain your magic and life force." he shouted.

Leo nodded in return. "This place is similar, possibly the wizard who was here made it possible for his spirits to live here." he explained.

Quickly unable to stay still, Astral fluttered off Zachary's head as he proceeded to explore the rest of the observatory's objects.

He was floating by the bookshelves-- where he soon stopped before one. Something caught his eye-- a tome of blue and gold in color that sparkled to his eyes. Lookie! Lookie-lookie! Sparkly! Astral called in telepathy as he soon tried to pull the shiny book free. It was heavy as he continued to tug-- but with one large tug, the book and a series of of scrolls nad papers came tumbling down on top of him with a clatter.

"Astral!" Zachary cried, both in alarm and grief to see the little star in trouble again. Leo rolled his eyes as he went to help too. The pile had covered Astral as Zachary moved a few of the scrolls-- but soon Astral's head poked out, shaking it to shake off small bits of dust that clung to the papers. "You okay, buddy?"

Astral answered with a burst of happy laughter as he reached down and pulled out the book he had! Zachary sighed at his demeanor being so carefree-- but soon was surprised by the book he found.

The tome was midnight blue cover with specks of gold on its covers-- as if to depict a stary night. There was no text to tell an author-- but runes inscribed in an ancient 'Meradisim' at the top seemed to suggest a title of some kind. On the cover which stood out the most, was the zodiac wheel-- a magic circle with the 12 zodiac symbols on it and a star sigil in the center.

+2000/2000

The book was curious as Leo picked it up out of Jirachi's tiny arms, his paws easily covering more than half of the cover. He looked it from front to back, studying the sturdy and hard binding. It wasn't like leather or paper-- but sturdy all the same. "Curious... the book seems to contain magical power in of itself. " he said as he soon showed it to the others. However, one glaring feature soon came to their attention--

-- a latch placed on the book to keep it shut, held there by a golden lock as part of the cover's boarder.

Zachary peered over Leo's arm to see the book."Who locks a book?" he asked.

"The wizard who lived here must-have locked it. He probably wanted to keep the information safe. I'm sure you know that knowledge is just as valuable as any treasure." Nyx hooted, spying the sparkly tome. "Perhaps the key is around here..."

As the owl looked around for any such key, Zachary gently took the book up from Leo. The appearance of the cover was indeed beautiful and well crafted. As he gazed at it-- he felt his balance waver a bit-- and his eyes began to blur again. He gasped, suddenly feeling the dizzying sensation of THAT again... and his eyes suddenly appeared as dark, starry masses.

His vision cut away as if he disappeared from the place he was-- caught once again in the visions of his magical eye trait-- the Stargazer Eyes. For a moment, he found himself in the same observatory. Due to the color and change, he couldn't make out details but he felt as if he stepped into some dream as he turned around. He soon found an elderly man with a long white beard, his robes covered in stars and wearing a classic pointy hat. A look he only saw wizards wear in fairy tails. He saw him working around his workshop on many projects, observing the heavens in his telescope, and marking things on his papers. With him, he also had a series of keys-- Celestial Spirit Keys-- on his belt. Finally, the vision ended as he saw the strange letters on the book and the book in the man's hands. He thumbed through it, studying and writing in it--. Finally, as he closed the book, he took a golden key-- a Zodiac key with the symbol of Capricorn on it. He turned the key to seal the book.

Color and light flashed once more into Zachary's eyes as he felt his balance waver once again-- and he blinked, his vision finally clearer now, his ears and head ringing from the intense vision. He felt himself reach for the nearby table-- the book clasped in his supporting hand as he realized he had another vision.

"Zachary!" Leo shouted, worried as he saw him faulter. "Are you okay? Did... It was the Stargazer Eyes, wasn't it?" he asked.

Zachary let out a few breaths, regaining his composure. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. Sorry..." he breathed, and soon stood back up. "I... I think I saw the past this time. I saw the person who used to live here. "

Hearing the commotion, Nyx stopped her search and flew over to see if Zachary was okay. Hearing about his vision, the owl cocked her head. "Could you make out any details?"

Zachary looked at the book he was holding-- seeing the glyphs at the top, but then suddenly he understood their meaning. For a brief moment, the whites of his eyes flashed again to their starry color-- and he could make out the glyphs. "Arc of Cosmos...?" he read at the top. He sook his head-- and soon turned to Nyx, now perched on the bookshelf above them. "Well, he clearly was a Celestial Wizard. He did a lot of work here and he used this book. He locked it with a Zodiac Key. The Key of Capricorn."

Leo rose a brow at this. "The man was the keeper of Capricorn, the Sea Goat?" he asked.

"Yeah, he used his key to seal it but... do we need the specific key to open it?" Zachary asked, looking around to see if the specific key was around.

All the while, Nyx eyed the book's cover. "Maybe not... Look at the cover," the owl instructed, causing Zachary to look at it again. "The book clearly relates to the astrological magic of the zodiac. Perhaps it wasn't just merely limited to Capricorn's key... but those of any true Zodiac spirit." she explained.

Zachary turned to Leo as he fished out his keys. "May I, Leo?" Zachary asked the lion, hoping to have the lion's permission as he held out his own golden key. The lion gave a firm nod, giving him his concent.

Holding the book with his left arm, he used his right to hold the Lion's key and inserted it into the small lock. He shook the key in a bit, and finally, he turned it.

The lock clicked and soon the clasp opened, causing the strap that held it in place to loosen. Zachary's breath caught in his chest as he removed the key and gently opened the book. The pages were a golden brown color with black ink for the writing, along with lightly colored diagrams and formulas he saw on the book. Some were written in his language, others in the Mediesian language from the cover.

All the while, Astral hovered overhead, looking curiously as Zachary scrolled through the pages and the other spirits. Zachawy? the star chirped.

"What is it?" Leo asked, curious too.

Zachary paused as he closed the book. "They're spells. Pages and pages of spells and diagrams for crazy-looking magic... I think its Astromancy but... this is way beyond what I heard before. I think I know who lived in this tower..." Zachary said.

"Who?" Nyx asked.

Zachary looked up at them. "Alphonse K. Galileo. He was one of the earliest Celestial Wizards known. "

Zachary soon stood there with the cornerstone of new power in his hands. Upon study and reading this tome, a new world of magic would open up to him-- one that would change the course of his life forever...

The End. Second magic Unlocked. Arc of Cosmos.