#max rigel

Are you up? Orion’s message lit up on the screen. 

Darius hadn’t slept much and was scrolling through messages of the heirs he had been ignoring. They had wanted him to come to The Hollow after the Acrux Fall Party, where all of the heirs had made their mandatory appearance, but Darius had just wanted to be alone. Visits to the manor exhausted him and put him in a bad mood. Seeing his little brother Xavier was the only thing positive about those visits. He couldn’t wait until he joined him here at the Academy. 

Darius: Bright and Shining

Orion: There is nothing bright and shiny about you, Dariius

Darius: Maybe you should talk to your mirror

Orion: I’m going to ignore that. I do know of something that actually is shiny. Interested?

Darius perked up at that. Inner dragon stirring at the word “shiny”. 

Darius: Tell me

Orion: Open the window

Darius looked up and saw Orion hovering outside his window at the top of Ignus House, using his air magic. In a few strides, Darius was at the window to let him in.

“Early bird,” Darius muttered.

“Yeah, well, blame Washer. He was the one who woke me up so early,” Orion complained. 

“Don’t put horrific images in my head please. It’s way too early for that,” Darius grimaced. 

“It wasn’t like … “ Orion started, but stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply.

“Anyhow,” he continued, holding up a scroll, “let’s move on to shiny things, shall we?” 

They moved to the couch in front of the hearth, with only some glowing embers as remnants of the fire that had burned there. The temperatures were going down now that Fall had set in. Darius cast fire magic into the hearth to top up the fire and warm up the room.

“So, I was browsing the hidden library when I found this behind one of the books,” Orion explained when they were sitting down. “It didn’t make sense at first, but then I found a notebook as well.”

“So what is shiny about a piece of old paper and a notebook?” Darius asked. 

“Nothing shiny about that, but it’s a map to what I think is a treasure hoard and the notebook holds the key to unlocking the hiding place where shiny things might be hidden,” Orion explained.

Darius jumped up at that. “So what’s the plan? Can we go get it? Does it fit in my treasure chest? I can buy another chest, you know. Is it far? We could go now.” He pondered. Darius started pacing and plotting and measuring his treasure chest, which stood in front of his bed, moving the gold coins and trinkets and gemstones, his dragon eyes lighting up.

“Whoa, hold your dragon there buddy,” Orion chuckled. “I love your enthusiasm man, but we don’t even know if the treasure is still there, how big it is and …”

“The treasure is big? Then I should take some stardust, so that I can transport it into my room,” Darius interrupted. 

“How is this your treasure, Darius!” Orion exclaimed. “I found the map and the notebook, so that basically makes it mine, doesn’t it?” 

“No, mine!” Darius growled. “My.treasure!” 

Orion shook his head, knowing that there was no reasoning with Darius once he got into his grabby claws state. “Ok, down boy,” he sighed, “Let’s get ready for the treasure hunt then.”

About ten minutes later, they were ready. Orion was carrying a backpack, holding Darius’s clothes and the now buttnaked dragonshifter jumped out of the window to shift into his huge golden dragon form, which would carry them to the location of the treasure. 

Orion followed, jumping out of the window and guiding himself onto Darius’s back with his air magic. They could have taken the stardust to get to the location, but they were not familiar with the site and they didn’t know what they would encounter. Safer to just scout the location from the air. Besides, they both could do with some fresh air and the joy of flying to wipe away the memory of the dreadful Acrux party the night before. 

They flew in silence, crossing the academy grounds, the cities and lands beyond it, high up in the sky where there were no people, no problems, no worries. Orion savored this time with Darius high up in the sky. When Lionel Acrux had forcibly bound Orion to Darius, they had to spend time together to appease the bond, but Darius was and always had been, a good friend and he actually enjoyed spending time with him. Bonus for not having the other annoying and yapping heirs around. The four heirs to rule Solaria one day, Darius, Seth, Caleb and Max hardly spent any time apart it seemed. So yes, Orion felt something that must be contentment, even though nowadays, he was only able to find that in books or booze.

The location was marked as somewhere in the mountains to the east of Solaria, not far from the academy. Perfect for the short Fall break. It wouldn’t be long before they would land on the spot they had chosen to start their hunt. After having circled over the site, making sure they were safe, Darius began to descend and landed in an open clearing near the foot of the mountain range and surrounding woods.

Orion handed Darius the backpack, so that he could get dressed. Orion scouted the surroundings. It was quiet here. There was the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, water running in the stream, the sound of buzzing insects and birds chirping in the surrounding woods, but nothing else. He could live there, he thought. A nice cottage, lots and lots of books, bourbon stack; yes, that would be wonderful.

“Let’s go,” Darius pulled him out of his reverie and started walking towards the mountains. 

“There should be a passage somewhere to the right of that overhang,” Orion pointed out. “That should lead to the cave with the Zodiac signs we saw on the map.” 

“You think the treasure is still there?” Darius asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Orion replied. “That’s why this is a treasure hunt, not a treasure haul.” 

“Could still be,” Darius said, hope shining in his eyes.

About half an hour later, they reached the entrance of the passage. It had taken a while to find it, since it was obscured by fallen rock and trees. 

“You know, you could have just carried me and used your vampire speed to get us here, instead of walking all the way,” Darius complained.

“We agreed to use our powers only if necessary. We don’t know what we are walking into,” Orion retorted. “Keep your dragon greediness in check, will you? It’s not like we are entering a store here.” 

They looked up at the spot where the passage started, which was quite high off the ground. Part of the mountain side must have collapsed at some point, erasing the path up to the passage.

“So how do you suppose we get up there, oh great expedition leader, “ Darius mocked. “You think this qualifies as an absolute necessity to use your air magic to give us a lift up there? I mean, I could create stairs out of ice if you prefer.”

“No, I guess you are right. Let’s not waste energy climbing up. I’ll lift us up.” 

The passage was by no means an easy way into the mountain. Several curses later, panting, despite being in top condition, bleeding from scrapes caused by tripping over loose rocks, they finally found what looked to be the entrance to a cave at the end of the passage. 

“Let’s heal our wounds before we go in. If there are any bloodthirsty monsters hiding in there, we don’t want them to catch on immediately because of the scent of our blood,” Orion said.

“Says the bloodthirsty monster,” Darius deadpanned. 

“Alright smartass, after you,” Orion gestured after they had cleaned themselves of the blood and healed the scrapes. 

“No magic barriers of any kind here,” Darius remarked, after having stepped inside the cave entrance. 

“Just watch where you are going. There might not be magical barriers, but there might be traps,” Orion warned, producing a fae light. He could see perfectly well in the dark with his vampire abilities, but Darius needed it. 

It was cold inside the mountain, but there were no sounds. They followed the narrow tunnel  inside the mountain for a while until it opened out into a bigger cave where they heard water flowing. They stopped at the end of the tunnel, examining the space in front of them. Some light was coming in from the ceiling to the right of the cave where they could see gaps in the mountain wall. They couldn’t see the far end of the cave, because of the lush vegetation obscuring it. The cave was big, with a stream running through it. Beside the running water, there were no sounds. 

“Must be close to the surface or the side of the mountain,” Darius whispered. “So now what? Throw a rock and see what happens?” he asked, leaning forward a bit more to see around the corner of the entrance.

“I can do a quick run across and see if there are any traps. If there are any, I bet I’m too fast to get caught in them,” Orion suggested.

“What if you’re wrong?” Darius asked.

“What do you mean if you’re wrong?” Orion pulled a face. “I’m never wrong.” 

“Whatever you say, professor,” Darius muttered.

Orion sped off and within seconds, he appeared back at Darius’s side. “Still no traps,” he said. “I’m getting a little suspicious. Either the owner wasn’t very good at protecting his belongings or there is a catch. There is a door with a zodiac wheel at the far end of the cave, like the drawing on the map. My guess is, the treasure is behind that door.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Darius said and started making his way to the other side of the cave, with Orion following suit. 

They reached the end of the tunnel and after carefully checking their surroundings again, they turned their attention to the zodiac wheel, which was carved out in what looked to be a stone wall or door. It was slightly humming, protected by magic.

“Great!” Darius sighed. “Why couldn’t there just be a lock to break and we’d be on our way with the gold.” 

“For one, that would be way too easy and two, who says there is gold? It never stated what the treasure was. You were just blinded by gold and gemstones and whatnot before we even left your room. Ever think that treasure might be something else?,” Orion challenged.

“Treasure means gold and riches and it’s behind that door and it’s mine,” Darius said with determination, glaring at the wall as if it might budge just by looking at it. 

“Alright grabby claws,” Orion said, rummaging around in the backpack for the notebook, “Let’s see if we can get past this barrier.” There weren’t any more details on the map, but he remembered reading a clue in the notebook which made sense to him now that he saw the carving of the zodiac wheel.

Orion flipped through the notebook until he found what he was looking for. “Read this,” he said, holding up the notebook for Darius to see.

The signs are my guardians 

The Three will reveal me

But beware the answers 

Or be trapped with me for eternity

“The wheel is the lock,” Orion remarked. “When I first read it, I thought that something representing the number three would be the key and that the number would be hidden somewhere for us to find, but in the third sentence, it speaks of “answers”. It looks like there will be three riddles and the answers to them are three of the zodiac signs which are the keys to unlock this door.”

“So where are the riddles?” Darius asked, scouring the wall in front of them, searching for a clue.

“I’m not sure.” Orion scratched his head. “Let’s see if there are any clues I missed in the rest of the notebook. I read it several times, but without the actual location, it didn’t always make sense to me.” 

They settled themselves against the wall and while Orion flipped through the notebook Darius surveyed the space. The hum of the magic and the trickling of water was soothing and made him somewhat sleepy. The fact that he had hardly slept the night before, didn’t help. The world, his father and any problems seemed far away here. For a moment, he could imagine being free and unbothered, but it didn’t last long. There was no escaping the real world, or his father for now, but maybe one day. 

While he waited for Orion to find something to help them open the door to his treasure, he pulled out his atlas and checked the group chat. There was no reception in the cave, but some of the messages had already been downloaded on his atlas, up to an hour or so ago. They stopped after they had entered the cave. 

Seth: Where are you man! Are you alright? Haven’t heard from you. Send me some love!

Caleb:  Wanna come to the Orb and have breakfast with us? @ Seth Why only send YOU love. Don’t we deserve love too?

Seth: There is pizza in the Orb

Max: It’s late breakfast, Seth, not dinner. Who eats pizza for breakfast?

Seth:  We’ll come find you Darius.You shouldn’t be alone today. We can still hang out before we go to our families tonight  You can come with me to mine  if  you like.  @  Max who cares if it’s breakfast? It’s always pizza time!

Darius chuckled. Well, they would be in for quite a journey if they were going to come find him. He did appreciate Seth“s offer, but he wouldn't be going with him. 

“Something funny?” Orion glanced up at Darius from the notebook. 

“Just the heirs,” Darius sighed and put his atlas away. “Found anything yet?” He looked at Orion. 

“I think so,” Orion stood up. 

With water imbued, the Black Stone talks

“Look for a black stone. I think that if we make it wet, a text will appear.” 

“Take a step back,” Darius said. “Let me burn away some of the overgrowth near the wall.”

Darius used his fire power to burn away some of the plants and vines. Once cleared, they noticed a black slate in the wall. Orion used his water magic to wet the stone and a text appeared. 

“Here we go,” Orion said, stepping in front of the stone to read the text. I guess the stone will give us questions and the signs are the answers. It looks like you can push each sign into the wall or door. Don’t go pushing signs too quickly though, Darius. We need to get the answers right. I don’t like the sound of keeping  your treasure company for eternity,” he mocked. 

Darius didn’t seem to notice Orion’s mockery and moved to stand in front of the zodiac wheel.

Orion used his water magic to make the stone wet and a text appeared. Orion read it aloud: 

I climb every mountain of challenge with pride,

My ambition and discipline never subside

“That must be Capricorn,” Orion said.

“Are you sure?” Darius asked.

“One hundred percent,” Orion said.

Darius pressed the Capricorn sign on the zodiac wheel and it slid in. After a tense moment and nothing happening, they let out the breath they had been holding. Orion looked back at the black stone and the text had vanished. He used his water magic again to wet the stone and the next riddle appeared. 

Center stage is my kingdom, my magical throne

What zodiac friend loves to shine on their own?

Orion let out a laugh.

“What’s so funny? Darius asked. 

“What sign do you think that is?” Orion grinned. 

“Can you repeat it?” Darius asked. 

Orion did and Darius frowned, thinking hard. “No idea,” he said. He looked at Orion, whose eyebrows shot up in disbelief. 

“If you know, just say so. We aren’t here to take a test in your classroom, asshole,” Darius grumbled. He just wanted to get to his treasure.

Orion shook his head. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize the traits of your own starsign.” 

“Surely it’s not Leo!” Darius protested. “I don’t have a magical throne and I share … shinyness…with others … ” he trailed off.

After a beat of silence, he reluctantly pressed the Leo sign and it moved backwards. Silence. 

They looked at each other for a moment. “Well, let’s move on, professor know-it-all,” Darius snapped. 

Orion grinned and turned his attention back to the stone, wetting it once more with his water magic.

The world is my classroom, knowledge my guide

“Oh, that’s you, that’s Libra,” Darius reached out to the Libra sign on the wheel and pressed it.

“No,!” Orion yelled. “It’s …” 

But it was too late. The ground began to tremble and vines shot up from the ground and the walls around them with high speed. They tried to fight them off, but even with Orion’s vampire speed and strength and Darius’s fire magic, they were no match for the vines. In no time their hands were bound and they weren’t able to use their magic anymore. They were trapped.

“What the fuck just happened?” Darius growled. “That is the right sign. That riddle describes you!” 

“Just because I was fucking forced into being a teacher, doesn’t mean that the riddle describes me!” Orion snapped. “The star sign describes Sagittarius. They are the philosophical ones, not me!” 

“Well, to be fair, you kinda are. I mean, you love books and you teach in a classroom,” Darius countered, hanging his head in defeat. “Now what?”

Orion let out a growl in frustration and tried to wriggle out of the vines, but it was no use. They were trapped.

The heirs had gone to find Darius when he hadn’t replied to their messages. They knew he was upset about the visit to his home  and the party. They knew he hated it and his father. They needed to cheer him up. 

When they hadn’t found him in his room at Ignis house, they went to the Orb for what was now more brunch than breakfast, to form a plan.

“Remember a couple of weeks ago, we tried that tracking spell?” Caleb asked, leaning back on the couch. 

“Yemmuhuh,” Seth mumbled, his mouth full of pizza.

“I take that as a yes,” Caleb mused and continued, “We didn’t remove the tracker, did we? We all still have it.” 

“I guess,” Max said.

“We could check,” Seth jumped up. “Ill go over there,” he pointed at the opposite side of the room, “and you find me.” 

“We can see you if you go over there Seth,” Caleb said.

“Well, just close your eyes then,” Seth said and ran off.

“Can you find me?” he yelled from the other side of the room.

“What do you think?” Caleb sighed, pulling his hand over his face.

Seth came bouncing back. “Did you find me?” he asked, hopeful. 

“Why don’t you go outside where we can’t see you and hide close to the Orb,” Max suggested.

“Good plan.” Seth darted off and Max and Caleb drew on their magic to see if the tracking spell was still active. When Seth had disappeared through the doors, they got up and walked towards the exit. 

“Do you feel that pull?” Max asked. 

“Yeah, it seems to be working,” Caleb replied.

They rounded the Orb to the back and found Seth hiding behind a bush. 

“Great hiding place, Seth,” Caleb sniggered. 

“It worked, didn’t it?” Seth grinned. “So let’s focus on Darius and find him.” 

They drew on their magic once again, with Darius in mind. 

“He is not close,” Max remarked, “but I can feel a direction outside the Academy.” 

“Same,” Caleb agreed.

“Let’s get a backpack for my clothes, I can shift into my wolf form and Max can ride on my back. Caleb can run with me,” Seth suggested. 

“Let’s do it,” Caleb said and not long after, they were on their way. They ran alongside each other, arriving at the mountain range several hours after Darius and Orion had first entered the passage.

“By the stars, I’m already going mad and it can’t have been more than a few hours,” Orion complained. 

“What do you mean, you are going mad,” Darius asked, yanking on a vine with his leg. 

“I swear I hear Capella yapping,” Orion whined. “Why must it be him to haunt me in my final hours of my existence?” 

“That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it?” Darius retorted. “I almost have one foot free.” 

“You can’t do magic with your feet, you know,” Orion snapped, trying to move his hands once more, grunting with the effort.

Darius rolled his eyes at Orion. “Just focus on getting these vines off and … wait, I hear something too.” 

“I told you I heard Capella yapping and you dared roll your eyes at me,” Orion snapped, his mood getting worse by the minute. 

“Just … shush.” 

“Now you shush me?” Orion asked indignantly.

Darius cocked his head at the sound of murmuring that seemed to come from the entrance of the cave. It actually did sound like Seth yapping. How odd. And was that Caleb’s voice too? And Max?

“Darius are you in here?” Seth’s voice echoed through the space. 

For a second, Darius and Orion looked at each other in confusion. “This is real, right?” Darius asked.

“Yes, it’s fucking real! I told you!” Orion spat.

“Seth! Caleb! Max! We are here,” Darius yelled back.

“Who is “we”?” Seth’s voice came in return.

“Orion and me,” Darius answered. “Get your asses over here and help us out.” 

The heirs moved in the direction of Darius’s voice and appeared in front of him and Orion. After a moment of silence and confused looks, they burst out laughing. 

“How. What. Why?” Caleb grinned, looking from Darius to Orion and back again.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Darius muttered. “How are you even here? How did you find us? How did you know we were in trouble?”

“Can we leave the thousand questions for later,” Orion interrupted. “Altair, Capella, put your earth magic to good use and get these vines off of us!” 

“Alright Professor, but let’s talk conditions first,” Seth said, crossing his arms.

“Conditions? What conditions?” Orion asked, irritably.

“No detention for a month. No wait, two months. For any of us,” Seth demanded, gesturing towards Max, Caleb and Darius.

Orion glared at Seth, but said nothing.

“Or we could just watch you try freeing yourself,” Seth grinned.

Orion let out a growl and after a couple more seconds, he gave in. “Alright, you fleabag,” he agreed. “No detention for two months.”

Seth and Caleb moved forward, using their earth magic to remove the vines from Darius and Orion. 

“So, care to tell us what you are doing here?” Caleb asked. 

“Why don’t you tell us what you are doing here, first?” Orion countered. 

“We went in search of Darius and when we couldn’t find him, we tried the locator spell, which we practiced a couple of weeks ago,” Max explained. “It was still active and that is how we found you here, whatever here is. Your turn.” 

Darius and Orion looked at each other. Darius nodded and they told them about the map, the notebook, the riddles, the zodiac wheel and the treasure. “But just so you understand, it’s mine!” Darius pointed out.

The heirs looked at each other and shrugged, knowing there would be no arguing over treasure with a dragon and besides, they were all rich, so they didn’t need any treasure. They were happy to let Darius have his shiny coins if he wanted them.

“If there is a treasure and if we can still get to it,” Orion remarked, turning towards the zodiac wheel, which appeared flat again. The star signs they pressed, back in their original setting.

“Looks like we are back where we started. Let’s try this again, shall we?” Orion proposed. “Darius, you are in charge of the black stone now. I’ll press the buttons.” 

Darius moved towards the black slate in the wall and used his water magic to make it wet. Another text appeared. He read it out loud.

Strength is my gift, though gentle I seem,

Loyal and grounded, I carry the dream.

“That’s you,” Max turned towards Caleb. “That’s Taurus, right?” He looked to Orion for confirmation.

“I agree.” Orion pressed the star sign Taurus and the piece moved backwards. “Next,” Orion demanded.

With imagination that goes super far

What zodiac friend is a creative star?

“That sounds like Max, Pisces,” Caleb said, thoughtfully.

“It does and I think you are right,” Orion agreed. He reached for the Pisces sign on the wheel and pressed it. “So far so good.” He blew out a breath. “Last one I guess.” He looked at Darius, who splashed water over the black stone again and read out the last riddle.

 The world is my classroom, knowledge my guide

“Looks like the riddles rotate. This is Sagittarius,” Darius said. 

“How do you know?” Seth asked. 

“Don’t ask,” Darius grumbled, looking guiltily at Orion, who said nothing, but just pressed the Sagittarius sign on the wheel. The last piece slid into place and he took a step back. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the wall began to move backwards and slid to the side, revealing a dark, smaller cave. 

Seth howled at their success of opening the door and stepped forward. Orion stopped him, pushing him back. “Careful!” he warned. “There might be traps.” 

Orion guided a fae light into the cave to get a better view. He picked up a big rock and threw it in the cave. Silence. 

“Looks clear,” Darius said.

“After you,” Orion gestured.

Darius took a step into the cave and waited for a beat. He took another step and stopped again, but there didn’t seem to be any other traps. Orion and the heirs followed him in. 

In the center of the cave, there was a large flat piece of rock, but they didn’t see any treasure. There was a hum in the air and they could feel magic.

“I think there is a concealment spell here,” Orion mused. “Let’s see if I can break it.” 

He concentrated on the rock and cast an intricate spell. A shimmer went through the air and a large chest, sitting on top of the flat rock was revealed. 

Darius moved forward, his dragon eyes glimmering. He opened the lid of the chest and almost dove into it. He grabbed gold coins and gemstones and jewelry, anything he could get his hands on. “Mine!” he growled.

Orion and the heirs let Darius have his moment and then approached the treasure, big grins on their faces.

“I guess you are a happy dragon now?” Orion asked, clapping Darius on the shoulder. Darius’s smile said enough and if Darius was happy, he was happy. “Let’s go home and you can bathe in your new precious treasure for the rest of the Fall break,” Orion said. 

“Sounds wonderful,” Darius smiled. He took out the pouch of stardust and moments later Orion, the heirs and the treasure were back at the academy in Darius’s room. 

“Let’s get pizza and celebrate!” Seth smiled, bouncing on the heels of his feet. 

“Again?” Max asked incredulously. “You just had pizza this morning.” 

“It’s always time for pizza. You know that, right?” Seth countered. 

“I guess a celebration is in order,” Darius smiled. “One of you will have to go get it though, because I’m not leaving this treasure,” he added, continuing to turn over every piece and throwing it on his bed. He couldn’t wait to bathe in his new treasure, but he supposed that some quality time with Orion and his best friends, before they left for their families, would do him good. It was a perfect Fall Break after all.