Two days after I tried to solve the Cults Mystery.
The city was quiet again, too quiet for a city that had lost people to the darkness.
The morning sun didn't feel warm.
It felt... hollow.
I spent those days finding more clues and tried to listen, not only with my ears, but also with my logic.
Because logic, unlike faith, never lies.
I sat in my room, curtains drawn, the lantern flickering beside a stack of half-finished notes.
Pages scattered across the desk, from diagrams of mana distribution, to sketches of sewer tunnels, and scribbled phrases of "Open the Gate."
Each page was a dead end. But if there's one thing I learned from the old world.
"patterns always hide behind noise."
"If you can't find the answer,"
I whispered to myself,
"Change the question."
"The Tower never dies.
Our minds must open.
The rune will awaken."
Three statements.
All thematic.
All about consciousness and rebirth.
What if the Tower weren't trying to destroy the city, but awaken something beneath it?
I rub my hair from a frustration.
The afternoon came quietly.
After I finished my usual daily routines, Darius' brutal drills, Samantha's lectures, and Father's endless reminders to "rest", I decided to head to the marketplace in the West Sector.
The West was always alive with noise.
Vendors shouting, bells ringing, and gossip traveling faster than truth.
As I browsed through rows of old brass instruments and cracked gemstones, I let my Aether hearing bloom, gently, like opening a door just enough to let the wind slip through.
"Did you hear? The Guild of Astronomers got funding again, from the Capital!"
"Yeah, and they're building something new. Not even a telescope this time."
"I swear, everything they do ties back to the Zodiac signs."
"The Zodiac? You mean that weird old Thespian calendar? What does that have to do with the stars"
I froze.
The Zodiac, again.
The same word that kept showing up in every whisper lately.
But if they said it's from the Thespian Calendar, then it had nothing to do with astronomy.
Still, the idea of the Guild of Astronomers, a research institution tied directly to celestial studies, suddenly focusing on ancient symbols rather than constellations?
That was more than suspicious.
A thread had been tugged.
I chose to stop the investigation here, and quickly went home.
***
The next morning, I woke up early and went straight to the Band of the Eagle headquarters.
After finishing the morning drills, I didn't even bother changing my clothes, I went straight to the library.
The scent of parchment and candle wax filled the air. At the center desk sat Samantha, head bent over a thick tome, her blonde hair tied loosely behind her back.
She looked radiant under the morning light - effortlessly so.
I stopped halfway through the aisle and muttered under my breath.
"If I were just a few years older... maybe I'd have a chance."
Then I slapped both cheeks lightly.
"Focus, Caelus. You're here for knowledge, not romance and flirt."
With a steadying breath, I walked to her table.
"Samantha?"
She glanced up, smiling brightly.
"You finally came, Caelus! How's your training?"
"I'm holding up,"
I said, forcing a laugh.
"Darius keeps trying to kill me, but I'm still alive, so I guess that's progress."
"Good,"
she grinned.
"That means he sees potential in you. Remember, pain now means power later."
"Right... I'll keep that in mind."
There was a brief pause. Then I leaned forward, lowering my voice.
"Actually, I came here to ask about something else."
"Oh? What is it this time?"
"The Zodiac. I heard about it yesterday, some merchants said it's connected to the old Thespian calendar, not the stars. What does that mean?"
Her expression softened, turning thoughtful. She leaned back, brushing a trand of hair behind her ear.
"Ah... the Zodiac of Thespian. I didn't expect you'd be interested in that."
"Well,"
I shrugged.
"Let's say I'm... curious."
Samantha stood and walked toward one of the shelves, pulling out a worn leather-bound book with gold etchings along its spine.
When she set it down, I could tell it was old, older than any of the books I'd seen here.
"The Thespian Zodiac,"
she began softly, brushing the dust off the cover,
"It's a cultural. Philosophical. A reflection of how people once tried to understand themselves, not the heavens."
She flipped open the book, revealing colorful circular diagrams inked in gold and crimson, each one etched with symbols that felt both familiar and foreign.
"In the old Thespian calendar system, the Zodiac was a map of time, a cycle of personality, luck, and fate.
It was used like fortune cards or divinations. Every month was guided by one sign, and each sign represented a path, a mindset, that influenced how people interpreted the events in their lives."
I leaned in, listening carefully.
Samantha explain, smiling.
"The Thespians were interested in what they called the Inner Cosmos, the belief that every person carried a reflection of the world's rhythm within their own soul."
She pointed to the open page, where twelve intricate sigils surrounded a golden ring of runes.
"These are the 12 Signs of the Thespian Zodiac,"
she said, tracing each one.
Aries,
'The Pioneer' — beginnings, courage, self-determination.
Taurus,
'The Keeper' — stability, patience, devotion.
Gemini,
'The Mirror' — duality, curiosity, communication.
Cancer,
'The Nurturer' — emotion, protection, loyalty.
Leo,
'The Crown' — pride, leadership, conviction.
Virgo,
'The Maiden' — clarity, truth, inner discipline.
Libra,
'The Scales' — balance, fairness, choices.
Scorpio,
'The Veil' — secrecy, desire, rebirth.
Sagittarius,
'The Arrow' — exploration, purpose, idealism.
Capricorn,
'The Mountain' — perseverance, ambition, duty.
Aquarius,
'The Chalice' — wisdom, rebellion, change.
Pisces,
'The Dream' — intuition, mercy, transcendence.
"Each sign governed a month of the old Thespian year,"
she explained,
"and was believed to shape the tone of that period, the mood of the people, the outcome of harvests, even the success of rulers."
"But unlike the religion or science now, it wasn't taken as absolute truth. It was... poetic. A way to understand the world through symbols."
I nodded slowly, tracing the faded ink of Virgo with my finger.
"So people still use it now?"
"Not seriously,"
Samantha said, shaking her head with a small laugh.
"The church calls it superstition. But in small towns, fortune tellers still use it for readings, or lovers exchange gifts based on their sign compatibility."
"It's harmless, unless someone starts believing it can predict destiny."
She closed the book gently, the sound of the pages sighing between us.
"But the Zodiac is still part of who we are. It's less about prophecy… and more about reflection."
I leaned back in my chair, my thoughts spiraling.
The Astronomers' Guild getting funded again, to study this?
A calendar system, a set of signs about personality and luck?
It didn't make any sense.
Silence fell as I thought hard.
Unless...they weren't studying the stars at all.
Unless...they were using the Zodiac as a code.
A cipher hidden inside a belief system no one took seriously anymore.
"A superstition… that might not be so harmless after all,"
I muttered.
Samantha tilted her head.
"What was that?""
"Ah—nothing,"
I said quickly, forcing a smile.
"Just… thinking about how strange history can be."
"Thanks, Samantha"
"You're welcome, Caelus!"
That night, I wrote in my notes:
The Zodiac of Thespian: a cultural remnant, not a science. 12 signs as symbols of reflection, personality, and human rhythm. A belief.
But even as I wrote it, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
If the the Tower were using these signs…
then either they'd lost their minds, or they'd found something buried inside this superstition that the rest of the world had forgotten.
Or they're just using it as a secret code.
"Aghhh...i don't know"
With the silence whisper of the night, i leaned on the chair.
The zodiac is the only major clue in this mystery.
But I still don't understand its meaning and purpose.
I'm missing something.