Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.

Gemini desperately tried to control her breathing as she approached the House of Muses.

The House of Muses was the greatest entertainment house built by one of the past councils known as the Muses. It doubled as an arena, an amphitheatre and an event hall. But today, it would serve as an arena for her last trial.

The light of the sun temporarily blinded Gemini as she stepped into the open-air arena with Aries by her side. The cheers of the gathering crowd were almost deafening, all of them chanting her name.

Right in front of her, on the other end of the arena were the gods themselves. Standing beside them was Ursa Major, the Council's most trusted adviser for many generations.

Oh, shit.

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"Pick a number from 1 to 10," Ursa Major ordered.

Gemini nervously looked at the Zodiac Council before her. They were all dressed in tunics and pants with some pieces of their Greek battle armour, their usual gold crowns nowhere to be seen. But she was too. It couldn't be...could it?

"Uh...5," Gemini said nervously. Her hands were trembling and she felt beads of sweat starting to form on her brow.

One of the Zodiacs stepped forward. Libra. He was tall with an ivory tunic under his bronze armour. Even in battle, his hands were adorned with various rings. What they represented, she couldn't remember. She was too nervous. She had never really battled a god before...other than her parents.

Meanwhile, Libra just looked at her calmly, assessing her. Probably noting down my weaknesses and thinking up strategies, Gemini thought bitterly. He has a big advantage since the gods have been observing me for the last six trials.

She would have expected this. After all, for every generation of gods, one of the trials would always be a fight or a battle or something along those lines. That would explain the lessons and training as well.

But at that moment, all Gemini could do was curse herself for not connecting the dots earlier. If she had, she would've had more time to prepare...

"You have five minutes," Ursa Major said. "You may pick your weapon from over there." She nodded towards a rack of various weaponry behind them.

Aries gripped her arm tightly and pulled her towards the weapon rack. "Libra isn't so bad. He plays fair and square. Be thankful you didn't choose someone like Taurus or Scorpio or Virgo or..." he paused, "me."

"Would you have gone easy on me?" Gemini asked, scanning the rack. All the weapons were in good condition and polished nicely.

Aries gritted his teeth and glanced at the council behind him. Libra was swinging his sword and stretching. The clock read three more minutes.

"No," he admitted, not looking at her. "I would've gone all out. And maybe cheat a little..."

Gemini didn't reply. Instead, she picked out a sword and tried swinging it a little. It was of high quality and perfectly balanced. Not too heavy, not too light. As Goldilocks would say: Just right!

"Look," Aries said, drawing her attention back to him, "whatever you do, just pretend that this is a normal spar with your parents. Don't panic. Never do that. You've come this far. You can win this. I know it."

"Is that what you said to Ophiuchus?" Gemini asked bitterly.

Aries fell silent and looked away, clenching his fists. "That was different. Ophiuchus was going up against Scorpio. She was good, yes, but not good enough. I failed her by lying that she had a chance, but I won't fail you. And you have a chance. You really do. Libra isn't that vicious and you're better than Ophiuchus ever was."

Gemini raised her eyes to meet his. "Thanks," she whispered. They stared into each other's eyes. Gemini never noticed, but his eyes were like two flaming rubies. So filled with anger, hurt, and regret. All she wanted to do was to take all that away and...

Then the horn sounded, breaking them out of their trance.

"Good luck and may the stars be with you," was the last thing Aries said before he quickly made his way back to the rest of the Council.

Gemini took a deep breath before she turned to face Libra in the middle of the arena. "Fighters, get ready! You have an hour!" Ursa Major shouted. She then lifted the horn to her lips and blew.

Libra didn't even hesitate and slashed at her. Gemini was thankful for all the surprise attacks her parents sprang on her and quickly blocked his blow. She could hear the faint mutter of approval from the Council behind her.

Focus, she told herself. Don't let that get into your head because that's how even the strongest can fall.

She blocked blow after blow and landed a few of her own. After a while, she was panting and so was Libra. They were evenly matched and were both fair players. No dirty tricks. But then she made the mistake of glancing at the clock.

Libra took the opportunity and swung his sword at her. For a moment, Gemini felt pure panic running through her veins and heard her blood pounding in her ears. A flash of silver sliced across her vision as pain blossomed in her side.

All the breath came rushing out of her lungs as she hit the sandy ground of the arena. Libra had hit her with the flat side of his sword, knocking her down. Black dots danced in her vision as she struggled to get up.

Time seemed to slow down as she saw Libra's sword swinging down in a vicious ark. In this trial, it was a fight to the death so Libra had full permission to end her life. No mercy.

Gemini's eyes flitted to Aries who was standing with the rest of the council. He seemed slightly panicked and his eyes were urging her to get up and continue fighting. A little further down the line, Virgo was covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face as Capricorn held her in his arms.

She could do this. She had to do this. For her family, for Aries, for her country.

With newfound strength, Gemini brought her blade up to block Libra. The roar of the crowd echoed in the background as she focused solely on driving Libra back.

Her family was counting on her. Her friends were counting on her. Her fellow countrystars were counting on her. With all the strength she had left, she brought her sword down.

Libra hadn't been expecting that and stumbled backwards a little. Gemini took the opportunity to knock Libra down and hold the sword to his neck.

The crowd cheered as Libra held his hands up in defeat. "Gemini!" Ursa Major boomed. "Approach the council."

Gemini set the sword down and Libra stood up. "Congratulations," he said, holding out his hand. "Are you okay? I hit you pretty hard back there."

"Yeah," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it. "Just a little bruised, but nothing serious. At least it didn't break the skin." The moment she let go, Gemini took in a deep breath and approached the council.

They all stood up and descended from their thrones. "Gem," Virgo said tearfully, running up and hugging her step-sister. "I knew you could do it!"

Capricorn came up behind his wife and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Congratulations, Gemini," he said. "Welcome to the family."

"Well, you can thank me too, you know," an annoyed voice came from behind Virgo.

Virgo immediately whirled around and hugged Aries. "Thank you for taking care of my little sister."

Gemini giggled at the look of surprise on Aries' face. It was clear he wasn't expecting Virgo to actually thank him. Much less hug him.

"Um...yeah... you're welcome," Aries said uncomfortably, unsure whether he should hug back or push her away.

"Virgo? I think you can let go of Aries now," Capricorn intervened at Aries' look of help and Gemini wasn't helping by laughing her head off. In fact, all the other Zodiacs were laughing at Aries. Some even took pictures.

Aries sent him a grateful look as Virgo let go of him, but that quickly vanished when Gemini threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered, burying her head in his chest.

Aries sighed but hugged her back. "You're welcome. I knew you could do it, but can you please let go of me?" Gemini quickly let go of him as he carried on, "Your coronation will be held this evening at 20 00 so wash up, rest, whatever. Just be ready by 19 00 and I will collect you from your room."

Gemini nodded and let Virgo escort her to her room.

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Do you think you stand a chance against a fully trained god?

If you had your pick, which god would you want to fight?