The Forgotten Zodiac

"Oh. Hm. Okay." Sylas blinked. "Seliora, eh? Alright then, how did you get to my world? You must have found an Ether piece, obviously, but how'd you find it?"

"It'll take about twenty minutes for us to get to the castle from here. You guys should shut up before you alert any unwanted interruptions to our presence." Verolen snapped annoyedly. Sylas frowned, but silenced himself anyways. Jeez, Verolen was being nasty today...

"It was--" Eve quickly quieted down, not answering Sylas.

((Haha, that's too fun.))

Bermuda was walking beside Rush. The Nereid looked especially uneasy. His stomach had started to hurt, and he really felt like they shouldn't be here.

((WHY DID I JUST DO THAT. -rage-))

"You alright?" Rush asked, lowering his voice so Verolen couldn't hear. "You look like you've seen several hundred ghosts at once."

"I don't think..." he started. "I mean, Adahre says... augh, it's so confusing. My stomach hurts," Bermuda said, looking to Rush. "I want to go home. I think we all need to go home."

Rush blinked. "We can't go home, what about Aries, Gabe and Manny?" He frowned. "VCF is signaling me, too. Vessel Communications Function. He said that the Library is fully functioning again, but something is putting a stress on the system borders. Some sort of magic is squeezing power out of them or something...and we're getting closer." Rush shook his head, frowning still. "But we can't give up. These are our friends, and I've really come to start considering you guys as family. We can't just back out now."

"What did I just say?" Verolen frowned testily.

Bermuda bit his lip. "You're right," he said. He looked over at L'arc, but the dryad seemed unaffected by all of this. "Let's get this over with."

"Heavens above, shut up!" Verolen growled annoyedly. "Do you guys hear that?" He hissed, stopping. Something else was hissing and scuffling amongst the grass. Without warning, another of the energy-spitting spiders scuttled towards them, hissing loudly.

'What the heck is that?' Verolen (the real one) stopped listening to Aries for a moment. 'Gah, I told you, he's going to lead you all into a bunch of traps! He'll wear you out before you even get a chance to get to my dad! Be careful, whoever you are!' He said, talking to Eve, obviously. But he still didn't know who she was. Aries hadn't gotten to that part yet.

L'arc gasped. "Sylas, shoot it!" he said, eyes wide.

Sylas did, but two more jumped out to take its place. Sylas shot those as well, but their numbers were starting to get ridiculous. He couldn't possibly shoot all this at once. One of them came from the left, biting into his ankle. Sylas was thrown into a tree from the blast, sliding to the ground. He wasn't a magic-user, it wasn't affecting him the same way it had affected Verolen. He was able to stagger back to his feet, although he looked like he was about to cry from the pain of it.

L'arc screeched, slapping the insects away from his feet with his sword. Bermuda was hurriedly muttering the protection spell over all of them, the effect taking over on Sylas most easily, then L'arc, himself, Rush, Verolen, and Eve.

Just in time, apparently. Rush had nearly been bitten, but now he was protected. "Let's move, Bermuda can't hold the spell up for that long with this many people!" He said, starting to move away from the spiders. Verolen made a face, but it was gone again in a second. The fake Verolen was getting tired of playing this role, apparently.

L'arc grabbed Bermuda's arm and tugged him along, as he had started to look pale. Eve grabbed Sylas's arm and helped him up, hurrying along after the others.

Sylas shot a few arrows behind them, though he was still shaken up from the attack. He stumbled after Eve.

"This way," Verolen jumped in the lead, turning onto a road. "This is the fastest road to the castle, let's move!"

L'arc and Bermuda followed hurriedly, and Eve with somewhat less enthusiasm. She kept a firm hold on Sylas's arm, seeming too distracted in her own thoughts to let go.

Sylas managed to keep up, keeping an eye behind him. Rush followed as well, watching their flanks. "Hold on a second..." Verolen frowned, looking around. Arrows suddenly thudded into the protective spell, bouncing off harmlessly. There was a group of guards coming their way, and of course, they had bows.

"Ah, crap..." Sylas frowned, looking around. What on earth were they supposed to do now?

"Verolen, now what?" Eve muttered under her breath. Bermuda dug around frantically and pulled out the Crylliedad tome. He hurriedly flipped it open and becan to brace himself for the use of this much magic.

'He's forcing Bermuda to use too much magic,' The real Verolen said. 'We'll be vulnerable if that happens, I don't think Rush knows any protective spells or anything. But he should be able to use that tome, get Rush to do it instead of Bermuda or something!'

"Ahh!" Sylas yelped as an arrow cracked the shield covering him. He notched an arrow on his own bow, looking furious.

Eve nodded slightly and grabbed Bermuda's arm, getting his attention. "Stop that," she said, pulling the tome away from him and handing it to Rush. "You do it, Bermuda's getting tired," she said. She looked around hurriedly, to see if there was anywhere else she could be of use.

Rush blinked and nodded, preparing to use the tome. He'd never used them before, but VCF was telling him what to do. Verolen noted this, not looking very happy about it, either. He transmuted his cloak into a sword, deciding to just go with it. These clowns would wear out sooner or later.

The guards were quickly forming a wide circle around them, intending to fire from all directions at once to break the protection spell.

Eve had gone over to Bermuda, murmuring something in his ear. The neried gave a sudden lurch, and his eyes flashed, then he straightened up and looked around. He gripped his staff with renewed vigor, looking like he was prepared more quickly to use it as a club than for healing purposes.