The Seat of Aries
The Flame
Image from Iron Age Media.
Mars was not a place for the weak. It was fire and war, which was reflected by its ruling family, the Zhanshens, who held the seat of Aries, first in the Zodiac. The Zodiac gods were the 12 strongest and most powerful star gods in the system. Eight families competed for 12 seats, after three families were destroyed and one chose mortality. Those eight families often tried to hold all of the seats, but the Aries seat always belonged to a Zhanshen.
No one held the seat now.
For, unbeknownst to the other gods of the Zodiac, the Zhanshen family was down to two members: Dedra and Darden. They were brother and sister and the only survivors of the bloodshed started by their brother’s betrayal of their father for the Aries seat. Both had been too young to pick a side in the war that followed and therefore been spared by both. But now that they’d grown, it came back to who should have the seat?
Darden was the male and the elder, so many thought the seat should be his, but most also knew that Dedra was the stronger. The Aries seat was meant for the strongest.
So who should have the seat?
When Darden came of age and took over the rule of Mars, he reopened the fighting pits, attracting gods from the entire solar system. Most expected him to take the seat of Aries, but instead he merely enjoyed the fights with the rest of the gods, indulging and befriending visitors.
One of these visitors was an earth elemental named Acker. After a long day and night of watching the fights and indulging in libations, Darden convinced Acker to help him build a tower to trap his sister Dedra. One night, they moved her and her bed far away and Acker created a tower to imprison her. Unable to escape, there she stayed. Darden persuaded Acker and a water elemental named Maris to provide her with food and water. In return they stayed in the Zhanshen box to watch the fighting while staying in the Zhanshen palace and were served by the minor gods of Mars.
Darden didn’t take the Aries seat, as such a position came with responsibilities, which the young god had no interest in. Instead, he stayed at the fighting pits of Mars. He befriended many of the minor gods in attendance though the friendships were always shallow, focused more on what they could do for each other.
Acker grew bored with this life after many years of fun and determined that he would return to his home planet of Saturn. However, Darden learned of this plan, and refused to let Acker go, as he needed him to feed his sister. Acker was bound and thrown into the dungeon. Maris found his fate amusing and mocked him when they went to the tower to feed Dedra together. She was now covered in jewels, as she had the favor of Darden, and the shining rubies infuriated Acker.
Prior to his imprisonment, Acker grew a tree outside the one window at the top of the tower to deliver food to Dedra. But this day he opened up the bricks at the bottom of the tower, sealing them behind him. He climbed wooden stairs he created up to the top of the tower.
And was met with a fireball aimed at his head when he reached Dedra. He ducked just in time and cried out, “I’m not here to harm you.”
Her hands were ignited in flame as Dedra asked, “Who are you? Why have you come here?”
“My name is Acker, I built this tower.” He was forced to dodge another fireball.
Dedra cried, “If you are from my brother, then return to him and tell him he must kill me himself. I will not be tricked again by one of his minions.”
It hurt to hear that because it was true. What had Acker done with his life other than act as minion to Darden? He sat on the stairs with nothing to say, reflecting on his life.
This apparently intrigued Dedra as she let her flames go out and approached him cautiously. She asked again, “Why are you here?”
Acker forced an apple tree to grow, forming it to fit inside the tower. With a sigh, Dedra picked one of the fruits, “I miss meat.”
“I have no way of producing that, especially as I am now your brother’s prisoner as well.”
Still holding the apple, but not eating it, Dedra asked, “Are you staying here then?”
Acker looked at the stone walls of the tower he’d built. “Maris is outside waiting for me. If I don’t return, she’ll tell Darden.” She’d tell Darden anyway and he might be trapped in the dungeon forever after that.
“Who’s Maris?”
“She brings you water.”
Dedra nodded, rolling the apple around in her palms. She looked the same age as she had when he’d helped trap her here, so she must have chosen to stop her aging, as was a god’s choice.
Acker stood up, resigned to his fate. “I’ll leave the tree here then and grow a garden below, as I don’t know that your brother will let me return, meaning you’ll starve. Is there any food you like best?”
“He won’t kill me in that way,” settled now, Dedra sat on her bed. Since Acker had built the tower around her sleeping, it was the only thing that marked her heritage in the tower unless Darden had allowed her any other personal effects that she’d hidden away. “It’s not the way of Mars. Strength through flame, that is the way.”
His curiosity roused, Acker no longer wished to leave. “And he’s showing strength through flame by locking you in a tower?”
“Of course not,” she looked again at her apple. “He’s weak, which makes him cruel.”
Acker knew her assessment was true, as he’d seen both traits himself.
“What planet are you from then?” asked Dedra.
“I’m from Saturn.”
“Do you know the Capricorn?”
“No,” he answered. He decided not to tell her that the current Capricorn had decided to step down to live a mortal life and a new one chosen in his stead. The god had fallen in love with some Earthling and wanted to be with her, which meant shedding his godliness and existing solely on a plane mortals could perceive.
Dedra looked at him with suspicion, as though she knew he was holding back information. “If you’re not a spy; then why are you here?”
It was the same question he’d asked himself. Why was he here? He decided not to answer and instead said, “I have to get going.” He stood up.
“Back to the dungeons? You have no desire to live in this prison you’ve built?”
He left without answering. And he didn’t answer Maris’ questions either.
The visits began to be the one part of Acker’s day that he looked forward to. He noticed that Dedra was letting herself age, but he didn’t comment on it. He also noticed that she kept peppering him for information on the outside worlds. While he answered little, he also understood her desire. Her mind had stayed sharp, even in her confinement and he noticed she did have a few books tucked away in her tower. He wondered what they were and how she’d gotten them, but he didn’t care enough to ask.
It turned into a routine after not so long a time. Acker also never noticed that every time he made the wooden stairs, Dedra would take a piece from them. He only observed her waiting for him at the top of them.
One day, Acker was complaining about Maris’ complaining. “Apparently Darden goes to the temple every day and returns in a foul mood.”
Dedra’s eyebrow raised. “The temple? He’d never been fond of religion, has he changed so much?”
“Hm? No, I’m not sure why he goes there.”
“I know,” Dedra stood. She grabbed a sack from under her bed and went to the window. Then she hesitated before turning to Acker, “Thank you for keeping me company. It’s been a real pleasure.” Then she tossed out the wood pieces and set them alight.
She then followed the fiery pieces out of the window. This caused Acker to yell and leap to the window. To his surprise he didn’t find her body mangled on the ground. Instead he found the girl engulfed in the flames, rushing away from the tower, moving with speed only the gods had.
With effort, Acker brought the earth up to him so that he could lower himself down from the tower. Maris was on him immediately. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” he replied.
“Well, we have to go after her! Do you know where she was going?” Maris’ eyes bulged. “What if she’s heading to Darden?” Maris looked scared.
Acker was pretty sure he knew where she was going, but he didn’t want to tell Maris. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, we need to get to Darden and you need to go back to…”
“Is that really what’s most important right now?”
Maris was clearly conflicted, so Darden said what he hoped would push her over that edge, “Darden needs you.”
With that she was gone, running in the direction of the fighting pits. Acker waited a moment to make sure she didn’t return before taking off to the temple.
When he arrived he saw signs of the flames Dedra must have cast to get in and scare away anyone who’d tried to stop her. He’d never been in the temple before because why would he ever come here? So its majesty was new to him.
The walls were coated in intricate designs of rubies depicting scenes of Aries past and pillars of onyx with gold shining through bracketed the entirety of the hall. In the front was a massive golden wall with the Aries symbol on it. The temple was beautiful and made him wonder why he’d never thought to come here, instead filling his time with the cheap amusement of watching lesser gods fight.
He eventually noticed what he guessed to be a priest at the front of the temple. Acker called out to him, “Hey you!”
The man didn’t move from his kneeling position. Acker asked, “Where is she?”
The robed head turned his way, “You cannot interrupt the test.”
Before he could ask what test, the heavy doors at the back burst open and in walked Darden with Maris following closely behind. “Where is she?!”
“You cannot interrupt the test,” the priest repeated.
“It’s my test!” Darden shouted, walking up to the front of the temple and leaning down to yell at the priest face to face. “Why is my sister taking my test?”
“Any Zhanchen may take it. You didn’t submit to it. She did.”
“It’s my test. I was going to take it.”
Acker watched this exchange, finally figuring out what they were talking about. “Aries. She’s trying to be the next Aries.”
Both Darden and Maris glared at him in response. “It was my test,” Darden grumbled again.
The priest said, “You feared the danger more than you wanted the mantle. So it may be hers.”
“It was mine,” Darden growled before turning away. Maris followed after him, as a puppy after its master.
Acker wondered, “What danger?”
“The seat of the Aries is meant for the strong. If an applicant fails the test they do not survive it.”
Acker thought of the girl he’d befriended. Was she strong enough to survive whatever the test entailed? He did not know.
They waited. Then the golden doors with the zodiac symbol opened and Acker saw Dedra standing there wreathed in flames, even her eyes took on the orange hue. Then he saw the ram horns grow from her head.
The priest smiled and bowed, “Greeting Aries.”