The Forgotten Zodiac

Verolen snorted. "You're annoying. Not all demons are evil, you know. You lot haven't even met a real demon family, just my dad. So really, there's only one demon anyone needs to shoot. I trust Sylas to do that well enough. Right?" He looked up at Sylas, nodding. "Don't even wait. Shoot him in the head, that'll buy us the most time."

"Er, right." Sylas agreed.

"I want to come!" Quay wailed. Bermuda then reappeared in the hallway. "No, Quay, go play with Apathy," he said. Quay stood at attention. "Okay," he said, smiling at his prince and hurrying off. Bermuda shook his head slightly. L'arc and Eve were with him. "We're ready to go,' he said.

"Good grief." Verolen rolled his eyes. "Let's get a move on, then. Are we all here? Do you have Aries, Eve?"

((Smal post is small. -sadface-))

Eve nodded. "She's right here," she said, tapping the pillocase that was now attached to her belt. "We're ready," L'arc nodded as well.

"Alright then." Verolen nodded, taking the Ether shard off of his neck and handing it to L'arc. The portal opened underneath his feet, wrapping quickly around his legs.

Eve followed Verolen, then Bermuda, and all the others. L'arc went last, wondering where they'd end up this time.

"Crap...this is the last place we need to be right now..." Verolen looked around. They were in the cave that he and L'arc had stayed in over the winter. The fire pit was still there, as were the marks on the wall that Verolen had been keeping track of the days with, and the bedding for L'arc.

"Where are we?" Sylas blinked.

"This is where L'arc and I stayed over the winter. He slept through most of it, as you're probably aware of, so I had to keep a fire going and keep his bedding warm and dry...reflecting on it, I don't know why I did that."

"Uh...to keep L'arc alive?"

"Yes, but I don't remember why I bothered to do such a thing. Regardless, let's get a move on, shall we?" Verolen moved towards the entrance, stepping over the long-dead fire pit boredly.

L'arc blinked, then glared at Verolen. Eve picked up on this. She hadn't known them for long, but even she could tell that Verolen had... changed, somehow. But, first things first. Manny, Gabe, and Aries's body.

((Okay. I've got it now. I know how to fix Verolen. After this climax, and then your two/three, then we will fix Verolen. Yaaay for fixing. Unless we wanted to fix that this climax, too.))

Sylas blinked in surprise, then let out a sigh. Yes, Verolen had definitely changed, sad as it may be. 'Honestly, the nerve of him...poor L'arc. Tell him that it's okay for me, will you? Verolen's just being a jerk again.' Aries said, letting out a sigh.

((FIX VEROLEN SOONER BETTER.))

Eve reached out and patted L'arc on the shoulder. "Aries says she's sorry."

L'arc blinked. "For what? Come on, we have work to do," he said. But he was obviously upset. Bermuda wrung his hands nervously. Adahre spoke a thought into the back of his mind that made him feel sick to his stomach. He hurriedly shoved it away.

((Okay.

...Dang, a lot is going to happen this climax, haha. Start thinking about what to do next, 'cuz it will be your turn for realz next time.))

Sylas let out another sigh and looked around again. He caught his eye on something and picked it up, then hurried to catch up with the others. Sylas inspected it as they headed down the mountain. "Hey, L'arc, is this yours? Or Verolen's?" He asked, holding up what he had found. It was a silver pendant with a small sapphire set in the middle, glimmering despite the dim light that the Darklands provided.

((I have it.))

L'arc glanced at the pendant. "Not mine," he said tersely. There was a sllight waver in his voice that he tried to cover.

((Write it down somewhere.))

Verolen glanced back at Sylas, shrugging. "I'll take that as a no." Sylas blinked, looking at it curiously. He walked ahead a little more to catch up with Eve. "Here, I found this. I don't have a need for it, you can have it."

((I won't forget this.))

Eve looked at the pendant. "Oh, thank you," she said, taking it carefully and placing it in her pocket. She smiled at Sylas gently. "So, it's Sylas, right?" she asked. She hadn't really talked to anyone in the group yet, besides Aries and Manny, and, more recently, Apathy. Might as well make conversation while they had nothing better to do.

((You'd better not. :T))

"Hm? Oh, yeah." He noded, smiling in return. "I'm Jemina's son, not that you would know who that is. She was an elder tree, and she took very good care of me, but...she was cut down by humans. Where do you come from, Eve? I mean, obviously you came from here in the Darklands, but how did you wind up on our world?"

'Why would you put me in your pocket? I don't even know who you are! Sylas, can't you hear me? At all?' Another voice, apparently coming from the pendant, had raised his voice. He sounded weak, like he had been contained in the pendant for a very long time, and he was starting to fade away. 'Come on, listen to me! You're in serious danger!'

'Uh, hey, Eve? There's someone in your pocket.' Aries said, for of course she could hear it.

"I'm from..." Eve broke off suddenly, hearing the voice. "Hold that thought," she said, pulling the pendant out of her pocket. "Hello?" she called, holding it up to her ear. "Is someone in there?"

((Haha! You shall never knows where she is from.))

((CURSES. xD))

'Yes! Yes, I'm in here!' Whoever it was responded quickly, desperately. 'Wait, you can hear me? Thank goodness! Boy, do I have a lot of questions...but I'll get to those later! Don't be alarmed, you'll tip him off and he'll attack. Goodness knows we don't want that. Well, how to put it...that Verolen is an imposter! It's not me, I'm in here, and you guys are following that freak show straight into a trap!' Verolen, for of course it was he, spoke quickly. "Whatever you do, don't let him know that you're onto him, okay?'

((OH, JOY. Hey, Verolen's back! -hug- I missed you!))

Eve nodded sligtly, murmuring "Okay. You're going back into my pocket now. But you can tell me what we need to do," she said. "Talk to Aries, if you like."

She then turned back to Sylas. "What were you saying?"

((xDD Yes. Cute and happy-go-lucky Verolen is back.))

Sylas blinked. "Uh...I asked where you came from around here, but...who were you talking to?" He asked, frowning a bit.

'Don't tell him. The fake will hear. He's probably on edge due to the necklace being found, but he's hiding it...' Verolen advised, though he sounded a bit upset by now. All this time, the others didn't even notice...some friends he had. Not that it was their faults, but really. 'Aries? Oh, great. While we're waiting for an opporotunity to strike, you can fill me in on things. Firstly, what on earth happened to Sylas' eye?'

Aries laughed a bit, then started to explain things.

"It was just the wind. I thought I heard someone, but I was wrong," she said. "Aries said she didn't hear anything, either, so I must've imagined it," she nodded. "Now then, your question. I'm from the Province of Seliora, which is quite a ways east of here, if we are where we think we are," she said. She nodded. "Yes, I think so. It's east."