The Betrayal of the Guardians

~ (8) Mark of the Zodiac ~

"Good morning sleepyhead," her grandmother greeted with a singing tune. "How are you doing in these first hours of the eighteenth year of your life?"

Arisa stood in the middle of the kitchen, scratching her palm. She was so concentrated on that drawing that she shut down her surroundings, forcing herself to ignore her grandmother's greeting.

"Celestia to Arisa." Her grandmother snapped her fingers close to her granddaughter's face.

"Ah," replied Arisa, her attention returning to the real world. "Good morning, grandma."

Her grandmother tilted her head, her face displaying worry.

"I'm guessing your big day didn't start well," said her grandmother. "Did something happen for you to disconnect from this world?"

Arisa gazed at her grandmother, whose apron was covered with a mixture of ingredients and water.

She must have been busy preparing today's special dish for my birthday.

Arisa cleared her throat and looked sideways. She didn't want to worry her just because a weird rune appeared on her hand and she had a strange dream.

"Aha! Something happened and you better tell me," her grandmother said, pulling Arisa to the nearest seat.

Arisa made herself comfortable on the cold chair. Her grandmother stared at her with concerned eyes, waiting for Arisa to tell her what was bugging her. She sighed, thinking to at least not let her grandmother worry today.

She thought of telling her about that strange dream with the ram and Zen.

Zen. Her heart raced as she remembered him attempting to kill her.

She shook her head. It was just a dream. There's no way he would hurt me. We've been friends for years.

Arisa thought it was best not to tell her grandmother about the dream. She might add more distrust between Zen and her grandfather. She was sure her grandmother would report everything to her husband. 

She decided to tell her about the mark on her hand. She slowly put her left arm on the wooden table.

"This happened." She opened her hand, showing the black drawing that wouldn't disappear no matter what she did.

Her grandmother gasped at the sight of the drawing, covering her mouth in surprise.

"What is it, grandma?" Arisa asked, her heart rate increasing.

Her grandmother's reaction towards the drawing wasn't very pleasing. She wondered if she had been cursed. Arisa had heard of cases where people had been cursed in their sleep; the caster would infiltrate the victim's dreams to do so.

Who would want to curse me?

She had always been kind even to the disgraceful people, not counting the Guardians. She remembered the Eterian she bumped into the previous day.

Could it be that my apology wasn't enough and he tried to hurt me when nobody could see him?

"I washed this hand so many times, but this thing won't disappear," she said, pushing away her thoughts. "I even tried to activate it using my magic, thinking that it may be a rune. But still nothing happened."

A flashback of her forcibly rubbing her hand with a sack and a brush passed through her eyes. As she failed to remove the drawing by washing it, she tried to use her magical ability.

She had concentrated all her energy into her palm and an orange aura appeared around her hand, proving that her ability was being used. What happened next was that her heat wave evaporated the water that was in the bucket. The drawing, however, remained in perfect condition on her palm.