The Forgotten Zodiac

The soldiers were closing in fast, preparing their bows. They then started firing, focusing on the weakest of the shields first. Which, as a matter of fact, happened to be the cracked one around Sylas. The one-eyed human stumbled backwards as his shield shattered and vanished under the power of the arrows. He managed to fire off two of his own, downing two of the soldiers before an arrow landed in his leg. He fell back with a cry, but Rush quickly moved to cover him.

"Guys, cover your eyes!" He called. "Erres tsu mi verdella, schienza! Perche!" He called, and incredible white light burst from the tome, making it impossible to see anything.

Eve ducked, hiding from the spell. Bermuda watched and nodded his approval at the performance of the spell, even though it didn't seem to have an effect on him.

The soldiers were down in a second, most of them blinded by the light. "Let's go!" Rush said, dropping the spell and closing the tome. He looked a little worn-down already. Sylas managed to climb to his feet, gently withdrawing the arrow from his leg, knowing that it would be hard to continue like this. At least he still had his aim, though.

Eve grabbed Sylas's arm and hoisted him up, dragging him along hurriedly.

Sylas walked with Eve's help, hurrying after the others. Verolen seemed to be leading them towards a staircase that was set against the side of a cliff. 'Hey! Don't let him take you down there!' The real Verolen shouted the second he recognized it. 'That's the secondary lab that my father uses for the nasty experiments!'

'What kind of nasty?' A new voice, apparently coming from Rush, spoke up.

'Very, very, VERY nasty. The kind that'll kill you if you so much as look at them.' Verolen insisted.

'Oh. That does sound nasty. Hi, by the way, I'm the VCF!'

'Oh. Yeah, I'm Verolen. The real one.'

'Nice to meet you. Sorry about not talking before, I had to find my voicebox so I could broadcast outside of the vessel.'

They continued to chatter, despite the fact that they were still moving towards the secondary lab.

Eve glanced at Rush, wondering if VCF had cared to tell her vessel what was going on. She stopped, looking around, pulling Sylas to a halt with her. "Verolen," she called. "Wouldn't it be best, you think, to get this over with fast?" she asked. Bermuda and L'arc stopped, turned, and looked at her. "What do you mean?" L'arc asked. She shrugged. "Just wondering why we don't use the front door."

((VCF is a guy. xD))

Rush frowned. "I agree with Eve," He said. Of course, VCF was smart enough to tell Rush what was going on. "I feel like I've seen this place before. We should just go through a window or something instead of this way."

"Tch," Verolen made a face. "Fine. Whatever. We'll do it your way." He frowned, turning away from the stairs and moving alongside the cliff instead. Sylas could have sworn he heard the demon mumble, "It's not like you lot are going to survive either way..."

Sylas shook his head. Jeez, Verolen was being horrible today...

Eve tapped her pocket, getting the real Verolen's attention. "Should I shove him off the cliff?" she suggested, speaking out of the corner of her mouth. "Or what? What's ahead?"

'Don't do that, it's still my body, you know.' The real Verolen tutted. 'Hmm...from what I can tell, he's just leading you there now. Hopefully there won't be any other tricks...'

"There's the castle," Verolen said, pointing towards the gray-stone mansion that they had visited several times before by now. They approached quickly, Verolen leading them around back.

"Here," Rush said before Verolen could take them to the back of the castle. He picked up a rock and promptly threw it into a window. Of course, the window shattered. He pushed off the shards still stuck there and climbed through without hesitation, turning back to help the others up.

L'arc grabbed Rush's hand and the windowsill, propelling himself though. Adahre reached his hand up next. Eve gestured for Verolen to go ahead of her.

Rush pulled L'arc up easily, though Adahre was a bit heavier. Verolen snorted and pulled himself through, not bothering to get help. Rush helped Sylas up, then reached out a hand for Eve. Once she was through, Rush turned one way, while Verolen moved the other way.

"Where are you going?" Rush frowned.

"There's something I need to take care of, first. I'll catch up," Verolen waved his hand at them, walking away.

"Gabriel," Talos entered the room at last. Gabe and Lilith were still playing cards, of course. "If you're ready, you can come see your mother now," He said gently.

"Oh..." Lilith frowned, then looked up at Talos. "Can I come?"

"No. Stay in here."

Adahre cast a disapproving eye on Verolen, but said nothing. He moved on down the hall after Rush. Eve caught up to the others, hoping for a chance to talk now that Verolen was gone. She pulled the pendant out of her pocket. "So, how many of us are on the same page, here?" she asked. L'arc turned, looking confused, but Adahre nodded. He looked to Rush as well.

Gabe smiled and jumped up. "Mommy now?" he asked. He tturned back to Lilith, looking apologetic, but turned to go with Talos.

"Yeah, VCF explained." Rush tutted. "Ridiculous. How long has he been leading us on?"

'From what the real Verolen doesn't know, I'd say since the curse thing.' Aries said.

Rush paused, listening to VCF telling him what Aries just said. "You've gotta be kidding me. How could we not have noticed this for so long?"

"Noticed what?" Sylas frowned in utter bewilderment.

"Yes," Talos nodded, taking Gabe by the hand and shutting the door behind him, leaving Lilith behind. He led the boy towards the main hall. Manny was secured to a chair with some odd helmet strapped to his head, and wires strapped to his chest. They led to a small box not too far away, set on a pedestal and crackling with red magic.

Aries was sitting to the right of the throne, smiling quite happily. For of course, she was happy. Although the body wasn't her own, she was alive.

Cicila Krow was alive once more.

Verolen entered the room from the far end, laughing a bit. "Those lot are such morons. I can't get over how long it's been." He grinned.

"You could stand to be a bit more discreet about things," The Phantom commented quietly.

"Nah. I like this body. It's filled with such raw power...I can do literally anything."

Eve gestured to the pendant. "Verolen - the real one - is in here," she said. "Rush, Adahre, and I can hear him."

L'arc blinked. "Adahre? When did you get here?" he asked. Adahre smiled. "Just a few minutes ago," he answered.

Gabe giggled happily. "Mommy!" he chirped, running to Cicilia and grabbing her hands.

"Yeah, VCF explained." Rush tutted. "Ridiculous. How long has he been leading us on?"

'From what the real Verolen doesn't know, I'd say since the curse thing.' Aries said.

Rush paused, listening to VCF telling him what Aries just said. "You've gotta be kidding me. How could we not have noticed this for so long?"

"Noticed what?" Sylas frowned in utter bewilderment.

"Yes," Talos nodded, taking Gabe by the hand and shutting the door behind him, leaving Lilith behind. He led the boy towards the main hall. Manny was secured to a chair with some odd helmet strapped to his head, and wires strapped to his chest. They led to a small box not too far away, set on a pedestal and crackling with red magic.

Aries was sitting to the right of the throne, smiling quite happily. For of course, she was happy. Although the body wasn't her own, she was alive.

Cicila Krow was alive once more.

Verolen entered the room from the far end, laughing a bit. "Those lot are such morons. I can't get over how long it's been." He grinned.

"You could stand to be a bit more discreet about things," The Phantom commented quietly.

"Nah. I like this body. It's filled with such raw power...I can do literally anything."

"That the Verolen we've been following around is a phony," Eve crossed her arms. She looked at the pendant. "How did you get in there, anyhow, Verolen?" she asked.

"Mommy!" Gabe ran up to Cicila and grabbed her in a hug. "You're okay!"

'How else? My father put me here.' Verolen replied. 'And he put that creep in my body, and stuck him with you lot...I'm surprise you all haven't died yet!'

"Wait, phony?!" Sylas stopped in surprise.

"Hello there, little one," Cicila blinked, smiling a little bit and patting Gabe on the head.

"That's Gabe, Aries' adopted son. I'll be rid of him soon enough." The Phantom said.

"Ha! I'll get rid of him," Verolen stepped forward, grinning.

Gabe turned around. "Ro-ro! When did you get here?" he asked, smiling at Verolen. He leaned into Cicilia's hand, acutely unaware that anything was wrong.

"Yes, that's the gist of it," Eve said. Adahre nodded solemnly.

"Well...I guess that explains his bad attitute? What are we going to do about it?" Sylas asked, frowning.

"Awhile ago." Verolen grinned, grabbing Gabe by the upper arm and pulling him away from Cicila. "Come here, Gabe, let's go somewhere fun."

"Bye," Cicila waved, smiling still. The Phantom was silent, taking his wife by the hand.

Eve looked at the pendant. "How do we get you out?" she asked.

Gabe giggled. "I like fun! Fun is fun!"