Sunblind Serpent: The Zodiac Without A House

Rafe had already marked the usable routes. The others had spent hours tracing the same path from different directions. Even while Marek and Rhovan were talking, they had been working nonstop already, except for Dario, who was basically just eavesdropping.

”You already ordered them before we met?” Marek pointed out.

”Yes,” Rhovan simply replied.

’Is this, after all, a conspiracy from this man? Or had he already made his decision before we met that he would serve me? If the second one is true, then is he toying with me? Or was that merely a test of whether I deserve to be served?’

Regardless, he never intended to trust them. For the sake of finding Mara, they were necessary tools. Anything for his sister. Any means would do, as long as the result would lead to finding her.

Finding her must always come first.

By the beginning of the next light period, they were moving west together. From time to time, Rhovan would correct Marek’s vocabulary about things. Marek would scoff at him for daring to correct him, even though that simple logic had made him become his follower.

They stopped at an old fuel station they finally found still working. Rafe wanted to top up the van before they set off on their journey to follow the routes he had marked.

While Dario was trying to fill the van’s tank, Marek found the opportunity to ask Rhovan. ”What do you know about the Prime Continuum? Didn’t you come from there?”

”Yes, I did come from the Prime Continuum,” Rhovan replied. ”Generally, the creatures there are called humans...”

Marek’s expression went strange. ”Creatures?”

Rhovan coughed. ”I mean, there are humans similar to you here in this world. In fact, all of us possess the same body structure. There’s just another name for people like us.”

”Name...” Marek muttered. ”What name?”

”Astrants.”

’Astrants...’ Marek repeated in his mind.

”Yes, Astrants.”

”For those Awakened, I presume?”

”Not exactly. It is the term for people capable of carrying and exercising Zodiac Authority through an Astral Mark.”

”Astrants then are people with Marks like us?” Marek asked.

”Generally, yes.” Rhovan crossed his legs, flicking his wrist to the van’s window, looking at Dario filling the van’s tank.

”Why not just call them Awakened then?”

”There’s a difference. An Awakened merely means the Mark has awakened with you. Astrant refers to what you become once that Authority can actually be carried and exercised,” Rhovan explained.

”I see. So to summarize, Astrants are those who can already carry Zodiac Authority with them. I don’t understand what Zodiac Authority is yet, but okay...”

Marek’s mind was not in the condition to get dumped with too much information at the moment. His mind was still trying to think about how to find his sister... faster.

”There’s also an old warning about Astrants,” Rhovan suddenly said.

Marek looked at him.

Rhovan’s expression turned a little more serious.

’It seems like this is going to be crucial moving forward. After all, it’s a warning...’ Marek thought.

Rhovan closed his eyes and breathed in.

”Astrants must fear more than death, for death is but an ending. Authority is no such mercy. The Mark may endure, the power may answer, and the tongue may yet speak as before...” Rhovan stopped as silence filled the entire van.

Everyone listened, except Kellan, who, despite being the most annoyed with Rhovan, seemed to be sleeping peacefully next to Marek on the second-row bench seat.

”But should something foreign take root within the law one bears, pray it is known before falsehood is mistaken for truth.”

Marek went silent for a moment. ’That’s supposed to be a warning? Although it sounds really ancient... sounds so grand.’

”Something foreign?” He could not help but ask. ”You make it sound like these Astral Marks that we have could get infected.”

”As expected of the Thirteenth... Dear Ophiarch, yes, in a sense...”

The others who heard Rhovan speak like this for the first time were flabbergasted.

’Why did he sound so romantic when he said that? That was the first time I heard him talk like that. But I kinda like it...’ Nadia licked her lips. ’But Ophiarch? Ophiuchus and Monarch? Or something else?’

Rhovan turned toward her and stared at her lips. ”Don’t lick too much. We don’t want your tongue getting split into two like a snake’s.”

Marek wanted to ask more, but Dario soon knocked on the van’s window and mouthed that the tank was already almost full.

’How big is the van’s tank that it took a few minutes before it could be filled to the brim?’ Marek wondered. ’Perhaps there was something wrong with the hose... Is it also a condition I could identify and possibly take it in? Perhaps.’

Rafe, along with Silas, was already checking the routes. Eren was also trying to help them. They were sitting on the third row bench seat. Nadia was sitting on the front passenger seat. Meanwhile, Marek was basically sandwiched between Kellan and Rhovan, because Rhovan insisted he sit in the middle to better protect him.

Marek looked at Rhovan again. ’Foreign... falsehood mistaken for truth.’

”I’m aware of my own greatness, oh Dear Ophiarch... please don’t get obsessed with me...” Rhovan suddenly said, catching Marek off guard.

”More like obsessed with sending you far away from me,” Marek replied.

Rhovan just chuckled and closed his eyes as Dario turned the engine on.

’I wonder why Dario’s the one driving? He might break that steering wheel...’ Marek crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Dario’s face. ’He seems to be sweating so much... Does this count as training?’

He looked at Rhovan, who was still smiling even while his eyes were closed. ’What a pretentious dude!’

Marek then turned to the third-row bench seat, looking at Silas, Eren, and Rafe working on the routes. ’Please... I need to find her...’

They continued westward.

The next route passed through an old residential district. Extension cords still ran between balconies. Portable lamps still lit the windows. There were even some portable stoves and barbecue stands in front of some homes. Some foldable camping chairs could be seen from the side.

’People used to be here... perhaps a group of friends enjoying the night sky...’

”Can you slow down the speed?” Marek asked Dario.

Dario complied.

Near one apartment block, he saw one structure that stirred something inside him. It looked like theirs. It had the same narrow balconies. Same exterior paint quality and color before rain and years had turned it gray. Same cheap metal railings that rattled whenever somebody leaned on them.

Amara, their mother, used to hate that rattling sound.

”Stop shaking the railing, Mara,” was what their mother would say.

’I’m not shaking it!’ was how Mara would reply.

A very rebellious teenager.

Then make up an excuse like, ”The wind is shaking it!”

After that, she would stop and pretend she had won against their mother.

The van stopped as they noticed Marek’s soft expression looking at a house. All of them also went silent. Even Rhovan himself just kept his eyes closed.

Marek moved his gaze toward the second-floor balcony. For a second, he remembered how the light in their kitchen would light up as early as five in the morning. Their mother had returned from the hospital laundry duty, with both her palms reddish from detergent despite the gloves she wore. Unfortunately, the hospital preferred hand-washed clothes, not machine-washed.

One time, when Marek was still awake studying, she found him boiling noodles.

”For yourself?” she asked.

”For Mara tomorrow,” he replied.

Amara smiled and said, ”She has food from school. You don’t need to do that. Besides, noodles are best eaten when hot or warm.”

Marek shook his head and said, ”She hates school food.”

Amara put her bag down and gave out a light laugh. ”She hates everything that isn’t noodles.”

Marek was just waiting for the water to boil. Amara asked if he wanted help, but he refused and just told her to get some sleep, and that her eyes looked tired.

When he finally finished cooking the noodles, he covered the pot.

He then went to his sleeping mother, her head resting on the dining table. ’She really likes to sleep in uncomfortable positions.’

He then got a pillow from the sofa and gently lifted her head. He sighed and looked at their quiet home... then at the center chair of the dining table. ’I miss you, dad... I’m just...’

”Oh, dear Ophiarch.”

Rhovan’s voice brought him back.

He looked at him.

”We have to continue...” Rhovan said.

Marek did not even notice that Rafe and Eren had already come out. A section of the road ahead collapsed into a shallow trench. Eren was checking how deep it was and whether the van could cross it without getting stuck. Then, Eren looked at the van and signaled with his hand.

Rhovan noticed Eren’s signal and said, ”It seemed like we could not pass through the shallow trench with the van.”