Chapter 227 My Dear Brother

"I am Ophiuchus, thirteenth zodiac, and Protector of all mortal realms. I gave that all up so that I could be with you. You won't remember this ever, but there was another life that we spent together. We spent it madly in love, and after you passed on and I died, I couldn't get you out of my head. Normally if I liked them, they would make their way to where you are now and then up to Yaggisdral. That never happened," I explained, and Tallia looked at me with shock, putting her hand to her chest.

? "Why am I so special to you?!" Tallia exclaimed, but I reached out and took her hands.

"Because the love that I have for you is the strongest that I have ever felt. I would have sooner died than be told I would never see you again, so I resigned myself to one final life. A life that I could spend with you. I left many people behind, and I hurt some of them, but I would do it again in a single heartbeat! There is nothing I won't do to keep you by my side!" I declared, and Tallia burst into tears as she threw herself into my arms.

"Please, never leave me again!" Tallia begged as she clung to me tightly.

"I won't, I promise," I said as I stroked her hair reassuringly. "I will always be here for you."

We stayed like that for a while until Tallia had calmed down before finally pulling away slightly to look at Capricorn.

"So, you are his sister-in-law?" Tallia asked hesitantly, and Capricorn nodded with a smile. "It is nice to meet you."

"Likewise, my dear," Capricorn said, and I chuckled as I shook my head.

"She is always like this," I said, and Capricorn shrugged unapologetically. "But she means well."

"Of course I do," Capricorn said before taking another sip of wine. "But enough about me, let's talk about you two."

[Tallia]

I was still trying to process everything that had just happened as Galio or Ophiuchus, and his sister-in-law talked. So many things were running through my mind that it was hard to focus on any one thing in particular.

The biggest thing was learning that Ophiuchus had given up everything for me. He had given up being the Protector of all mortal realms so that he could be with me again. It sounded so romantic when he said it, but now that it sunk in, it just made me feel guilty.

I didn't want him to give up everything for me because then he would resent me later. That, and I didn't want him to get into any more trouble because of me. I had caused him enough problems as it was, and I didn't want to be the reason that he got into more.

"Tallia, are you alright?" Ophiuchus asked, and I snapped out of my thoughts to see both him and Capricorn looking at me with concern.

[Galio]

"I-I'm fine," Tallia said, even though she clearly wasn't. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"I understand," Capricorn said as she took another sip of wine before setting it down on the table next to her. "It is a lot to take in."

"But you don't have anything to worry about," I said as I reached over and took her hand reassuringly. "Everything is going to be alright."

"I hope so," Tallia said, and I nodded before leaning over and giving her a kiss.

"I promise," I said, and Tallia nodded before looking back at Capricorn.

"So, what happens now?" Tallia asked, and Capricorn shrugged.

"That is up to you two," she said, "But if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to come to find me."

With that said, Capricorn got to her feet before floating over to us and giving me a hug. "It is good to have you back in the family, my dear brother."

"It is good to be back," I said as I hugged her back tightly before letting go. "Now, I will be calling for you to help then, but I want Tallia to have Leo's Power. He is the hunter, and his abilities will keep her moving and hard to hit. I was just going to talk to whoever called me, but your powers should do the trick."

"No, I mean, I could lend you them, but I had to fight someone else to talk to you, and now I have to send you over to him," Capricorn said with a sigh and an eye roll.

"Oh? I can't imagine who would want to talk to me that bad?" I laughed, knowing exactly who it was.

"I think his words were, "I don't give a shit about that loser; I just want to see the woman that was worth leaving a friend like me," or something like that," Capricorn said as she gestured for an Astral Portal to open, the edges looking like the starry night sky.

"Ah, that sounds like Scorpio," I said as Tallia, and I walked through the portal, Capricorn following close behind.

"You have no idea," Capricorn muttered before the three of us were dumped into a large room with a high ceiling.

The first thing I noticed was the fact that there were weapons everywhere. Swords, knives, spears, maces, and all other sorts of weaponry lined the walls or sat in racks. The second thing I noticed was the large amount of bloodstained furniture and corpses strewn about. It looked like a massacre had taken place here recently.

In the center of it all stood Scorpio with his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed expression on his face as he looked at me. He was wearing a pair of loose-fitting pants with a belt around his waist that had various pouches attached to it, along with a sleeveless shirt that showed off his well-toned arms covered in tattoos. His long sandy hair was pulled back into a ponytail, much like Capricorns was, but he had a massive curved tail coming out from behind him like my long fluffy white cat tail did, but his eyes were violently red.