The Story of the Celestial Maidens

***ARTEMIS***

"Erm, sorry to intrude in your conversation but what if it's not literally a birch tree or a birch bird? What if what you're looking for has a birch carved on it."

All our heads turned to Jairus who just spoke. His Korean was slightly accented, but he still did speak the language.

"You can speak Korean?" Seth asked his friend who had been silent the entire ordeal.

"I have Korean classmates in university. I learned a thing or two. Any way you can just forget what I said."

""NO"" we all exclaimed.

He looked taken aback so he just laughed nervously.

"Jairus, you're a good man." I said and gave him a thumb up. "What you said actually makes sense."

We totally missed it! There were two birches that exist in the world and a tree would obviously not grow inside a cave. I activated my True Sight again and watched the threads.

"Which one though?" I asked.

"Tell us what colors are there."

"The colors of the rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet."

"Then let's all check the end of all threads then. Let's see if there's either a birch tree or a birch bird carved on any of them." Kyle suggested.

I pointed them to the end of each of the thread of power. Since there were seven, Jairus and I had to take a swim to get to our destination. Also, since Blake couldn't swim, he was the one in-charge of the yellow thread which was in another section of the cave which had shallow waters. As for me, I followed the green thread of power which led to the big rock in the middle of the pool.

I watched as they reached their destinations before I went to mine. Once I reached the end of the thread, I immediately scanned the area and much to my dismay, there was no birch carved anywhere near. I broke the surface and tried to catch my breath.

"There's a bird carved here!" shouted Blake.

"There's one here as well!" yelled Kai who was following the blue thread.

"Try to push it! There should be some sort of reaction!"

Once I heard their affirmation, the rock in front of me suddenly started glowing. In the rock's surface, an outline of a tree glowed in ethereal green aura. I put my hand over it and a green magic circle with a pentagram at its center emerged, it replaced the glowing tree. In response, a magic circle also appeared at the back of my hand and at its center was a crescent moon.

I heard a low rumble and I was very surprised to see the top section of the rock had vanished. In its place was a small platform where a book was resting. I immediately climbed the rock and took a look at the book. It had a leather cover where unfamiliar letters was scribbled. But somehow, even though it was the first time I saw it, I could read it.

"The Codex of Souls."

I took the book and sighed in relief.

'Finally! We got the real one!"

***

We reached the Lesfar Ancestral Home in Ilihan that evening. Liu Yue and Tao were already home.

"How was it?" asked Liu Yue once we reached the living room.

I flashed a smile and showed her the half of the codex we had retrieved from Hinagdanan Cave.

"Now, we only have to return to China and get this over with." I said.

"Not quite." Tao suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"Only the Maiden of the Stars can use the Codex of Souls, but even with that attached to every story about it, magic users still tried to obtain it. That's why she divided it into two and hid each half away from each other."

I sighed. Again. Our problem was not yet over.

"Hey Liu Yue, you've been around for quite some time, right?"

"You could say that."

"That means you've met the different reincarnations of the Celestial Maidens."

Liu Yue suddenly chuckled. I asked him why but she only smiled.

"You don't know their real story, do you?" I shook my head. "Thought so. You wouldn't have asked such a strange question. Artemis, has seventh uncle never said anything about eh origins of the Celestial Maidens?"

I shook my head again.

"How about the Book of Jade? Aunt Riya should've left some sort of clue."

"In the book was only her life before she fully accepted her role as the Maiden of the Moon and travelled to the past and assist Liu Qing."

"I see. Well, it's not your fault. The Maiden of the Moon is the one who drew the short stick when it came to memories."

"What are you talking about?"

"Would you like to hear a story? Or rather, would you like to hear the legend of the Celestial Maidens?"

We all agreed.

"Let's see… A long time ago…"

The Celestial Maidens were three ladies who were in-charge of the balance of the universe. Nobody was sure where they came from or how they came to be. Were created by the great creator? Or were they just there since the beginning.

Nobody knew.

The Celestial Maidens each governed a sphere of influence; the Maiden of the Stars had authority over the stars and spirits, the Maiden of the Sun who had authority over the sun and time, and lastly the Maiden of the Moon who had authority over the moon and space. They were also known as the Guardian of Phantasm, Keeper of Chrono and Witch of the Void, respectively.

As civilizations grew, pantheons of deities were also created. They were respectful to the Celestial Maidens, and most importantly, afraid of them. They were after all also known to be very powerful and the incarnation of the universe itself.

The three were friendly and vey sociable to the immortals, and later on even to mortals – humans. The other immortals did not like it and pleaded the creator himself.

Whether it was fate or coincidence, the Celestial Maidens fell in love with humans. For the deities, it was a preposterous aspect for such powerful beings. The maidens started neglecting their duties and plunged the world into chaos. The great creator was not happy about the situation so, with the support of the various deities from different cultures, decided to punish them. They were stripped off of their divinity and were casted into the human world.

The Maiden of the Sun was stripped off her immortality and was doomed to live a mortal life. She would repeat the cycle of reincarnation over and over again never to reach past the age of forty-five.

The Maiden of the Moon was the same; she was stripped off of her immortality and was to repeat the cycle of reincarnation, but unlike her sister, she would be reborn without the memories of her previous lives. She was doomed to live all her life without knowing who she truly was or why she had such abilities.

And lastly, the Maiden of the Stars. Unlike her sisters, she regained her immortality, but she was cursed on becoming the world's self-destruct system. Aside from that, she will only love one person and was doomed to search for him in every cycle of his reincarnation. She was also to never directly seek her sisters, unless they find her first.

"Nobody's really sure if the legend is true or it has been twisted as it is passed down. But anyway, the existence of the Celestial Maidens is only known to a few." Liu Yue said to end her story.

"And I was the one who drew the short stick on memories." I replied and sighed in disbelief.

"What about the identities of the other two maidens? Do you know who they are at the present?"

"Sorry kid, I only knew the identity of the previous generation of the Maiden of the Sun. As for the Maiden of the Stars, she changes her identity too often and we're kind of in a spirit contract. I can't reveal anything about her unless she wants me to."

"It's fine. Thank you for sharing it. Even though it sort of sucks I don't remember my previous lives."

"At least you're optimistic."

That evening, before going to bed, I tried calling Lei or anyone with him, but there was no answer. Afterwards, I spent the night reading the first few pages of the Codex of Souls. It was filled with various names and a few unfinished spells. Once I got sleepy, I drifted off.

I had a weird dream.

I found myself in a very dark place. Well, not totally dark but the vast space was filled with ominous violet light and there was nothing to see no matter how far I could see.

"How did you get in here?" asked a voice.

I turned around and saw a teenage girl with golden hair that reached her ankles, golden eyes which seemed to gleam at your very soul and fair skin which was kind of making her literally glow. She was wearing a long white dress and she was covered with a very powerful aura.

"Who are you?"

"Never thought I'd see you here. In fairness, your aura is weaker now that you're mortal."

"Pardon? Wait, time out! Who are you and where am I?"

"Hmm… How do I explain this… this place is a dreamscape. It's not yours by the way and the owner's not here, but then again he's your True Knight so maybe you have access to this place."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Also, you haven't answered my first question."

She only giggled. She snapped her fingers and I was suddenly seated with tea and scones served in front of me.

"As for who I am, my name is Xiena. The name should sound familiar, right?"

I racked my brain, searching for information about the familiar name. My eyes widened once I remembered her.

"You're the chief goddess of Agymista, Lei's old world."