The Forgotten Zodiac

L'arc glanced over at Sylas as Verolen receive a rather exuberant greeting from Israel. The druid moved over to Sylas' bed and poked his shoulder gently.

"Hey, Sy," he said quietly.

Sylas suddenly twisted, pointing an arrow at L'arc. He opened his eyes, and immediately dropped the arrow. "S-sorry...bad dream." He shook his head, sitting up. "Wait...L'arc!" He lunged forward and hugged his dear friend. "L'arc, you're okay! I was so worried..."

L'arc's nervous laugh transformed into a real one as he was hugged. He wrapped his arms around Sylas in return, ignoring the dull throb in his back that came with beeing gripped so tightly. "No need to worry, Sy," he said. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

"You sure? You look like you've been in a fight!" Sylas frowned.

"They were jumped by humans. It's okay," Verolen shook his head. He carefully laid Byrne down on his bed, sighing. "This doesn't look good...he's riddled with Dark Matter..."

"I'm good, I'm good," L'arc insisted. He jumped up to his feet and headed for the door. "I'll get Minori, yeah?"

As he turned, the others could see clearly the bloodstain growing on the back of L'arc shirt. Bermuda jumped up. "L'arc, you're bleeding!" he said.

"I... what?" L'arc said, turning to look over his shoulder.

Sylas looked down at his hands, which had blood on them. "Shoot...L'arc, you stay. Verolen, go get Minori. Kendra, we could use your help," He looked pleadingly up at the demoness. "Please, L'arc needs your skills."

"Certainly," Kendra said, rising to her feet.

"It really is bleeding, huh?" L'arc murmured, shaking his head as he went back into the room. "I have a higher threshold for pain than I thought..."

"Every sword is tempered in its time," Kendra said. "I'd wager you've been through more fire than most."

"Er, yeah... who is she, exactly?" L'arc asked, directing the question to Sylas.

"Someone Eve met in the Darklands." Sylas said. "She helped tend to my surgery wounds. She'll have you patched up in no time." He smiled a bit.

"Don't worry, L'arc! Miss Kendra is a good lady," Verdi giggled. "Hey, Rush!" He jumped into the Chimera's hands, and was quite shocked when Rush promptly threw him across the room. Verdi whimpered and curled up where he had landed, terrified now.

"Burukai!" Rush screamed, then sat down and folded his arms over his knees.

Kendra jumped slighly at the chimera's outburst, then sighed and shook her head. "I will tend to him next," she said, helping L'arc remove his armor and lift his shirt over his head. She studied the wound for a moment, before concluding, "You'll only need a bandage. The cut is not deep... though you may want to see about getting your armor mended." With that said, she began to wrap gauze tightly about L'arc's abdomen.

Israel, meanwhile, hurriedly scooped up Verdi, holding him close. The siren wrapped his dark wings around himself and the Moot, trying to comfort him.

Verdi sniffled, hugging Israel close and burying his face in the Siren's feathers. "H-he hurt me, Israel..." He whimpered, shivering. "He never hurt me before! I-I think my arm is broked..." It wasn't, but he had landed on it hard. It would be sore for awhile.

Rush trotted over to the solid rock bed, flopping down on it and hitting his head on the pillow. Again and again and again. Thankfully, the pillow wasn't made out of a rock.

"You're fine," Israel cooed, gently stroking the Moot's ears. "Rush will be too, I... think?" Israel looked over to Rush and spent a few moments simply watching him. "Is he all right?"

"Don't think so," L'arc answered.

"They're in here, as usual," Verolen directed Minori inside.

"Kerri!" Rush yelled at that moment, literally pouncing on top of Bermuda. He didn't really attack; it was more of a tackle hug of sorts. Then he jumped off of Bermuda and landed square on Sylas. The human fell over, wailing and hugging his chest; Rush jumped off of him, and pounced on Minori.

"Kerri." Rush wound up sitting on Minori's chest, staring down at the Manakete king.

Minori blinked up at Rush confusedly, then gently shoved at the chimera's shoulder. "Ah... hi. May I get up?"

Kendra wandered over to Rush and pulled at the collar chain around his neck, guiding him off the King. "Come," she said.

Rush made a small choking sound, and whipped around to stare at Kendra. He drew himself up to his full height, growling viciously. Verolen got between them at once, shaking his head. Rush dropped his head on Verolen's shoulder, relaxing at once.

Verolen sighed. "You're still in there somewhere, Rush..." He murmured, though his friend was deaf. "We'll get you out again somehow."

Kenda backed away from Rush, holding up her hands in an act of apology, then shook her head slightly. She watched as Minori rose to his feet and brushed himself off. "Right, then... Byrne?" he asked.

"Over here," Verolen went over to the human boy. "Look at him. His hand...shoot, his entire hand is Dark Matter,"

"That's my hand," Manny blinked at it, frowning a little. "The...the Phantom took my hand and put it on Byrne? That's not good..."

Minori frowned deeply. "That's his weapon hand, is it not?" he asked, lifting Byrne's arm by the wrist. "...I don't know what I can do about this..." he murmured.

"We can't just let him die," Sylas bit his lip. "Maybe...maybe the dark matter won't kill him. It reacts differently for each human, right?"

"That is correct." Kendra slid into the conversation. "It is rare, but I have heard of cases where the human does not respond aversely to the dark element," she said. "There are certain characteristics that indicate this ability... would you tell me of your friend?" she asked.

"U-uh..." Sylas blinked. "He's not all that brave, but he's loyal. He...he's a good kid. He knows his limitations, unlike...well, me. I, uh...what kind of characteristics, exactly?"

"I don't think she was talking about personality," Verolen shook his head.