The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yeah, I've definitely been here before." Verolen nodded. "The kitchen is...here?" He opened a door, easily finding the kitchen. "Eve? You in here?" He called, wondering if he should just go in and look for her himself.

"Hm? Prince?" Eve emerged from around the corner, further down the hall. "Looking for me?" she asked.

"Mommy!" Manny ran forward at once, grabbing Eve in a tight hug. "I was lost. But now I'm not!"

"Er, yeah, that thing wanted you." Verolen shrugged.

Eve laughed. "Oh, Manny!" she said, looking up at him. "I'm sorry, I should've known to let you come with me," she said.

Manny nodded, letting go of Eve again and smiling. "I was lost," He said again. "Verolen helped me. He wants to go save Byrne and Verdi now, too. Those poor people, them."

"What happened to Byrne and Verdi?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"They were sold by some guy." Verolen made a face.

"Dysonius got to them," Sylas elaborated, finishing off his fourth apple. "I don't even know when they were taken, but we've gotta go find out where they are so we can save them."

Eve nodded. "That sounds bad," she said. "Are we heading out soon?"

"We plan on it," Verolen nodded. "Our first order of business would be tracking down Dysonius and making him tell us where Verdi and Byrne are. Hopefully, they weren't split up and we can pick them both up at the same time."

"This Dysonius, he's trouble?" she asked, tilting her head. "Think he'll readily tell us where they are?"

L'arc came out from around the corner. "I've got the others," he said. Sylas and Rush were following behind him. "I think we're set," he nodded, looking over to Bermuda and Israel, who were already there.

((Sylas was already there.))

"Yeah, he's trouble. He used to be Sylas' so-called 'master'." Verolen nodded.

"Dysonius knew that I never miss. He used that to make me kill those who were defending the forest. I was whipped every time I missed, because he knew I would do it on purpose." Sylas mumbled unhappily. "The last time we saw him, he fell out of a machine the Phantom had used to attack this place. He fell a pretty long way. We thought he died, but..."

"Apparently not." Verolen patted his friend on the shoulder. "It's fine, we can talk more on the way..."

((Oops))

Bermuda opened his mouth to address the others. He saw it as his reponsiblity, as he knew where it was that Dysonious was hiding -- barring that he had not wandered far from Verdi's sending stone. He was cut off, though, as one more ran to join their group.

"Me too! I'm coming to fight, too!"

Bermuda turned with a sighed, looking rather annoyed at the sight of the youngest selkie trotting towards him with a small bow and quiver in his hands.

"Quay..." he began.

"You can't say no, Prince! It's my family's job to protect you, and I'm gonna follow through!"

Bermuda scowled, looking to Verolen, who seemed to have much more disregard for Quay's feelings and wouldn't mind screaming "no" at him.

Verolen, though, was no longer Saeo. He didn't actually know the Selkie, though he did seem to remember something, as he eyed the boy suspiciously for a moment. "Well...don't blame us if you get hurt, kid."

"You really should stay," Sylas shook his head a little. "We have a habit of getting into bad situations, we can't guarantee your safety..."

Rush seemed to be rather grumpy at the moment, rubbing the scales on his arm that were growing back, poking through his skin once more. It wasn't as quick as last time, but the scales were just determined to remain on his arm. VCF assured him that it wouldn't ever be more than that, unless the Phantom triggered something else. Which could potentially be fatal, so he should avoid letting that happen ever again. "Just turn right around, kid, it's too dangerous for a tyke like you."

"I'm not a tyke!" he said. "I'm a big, dangerous archer!" he said, puffing his cheeks out in an effort to look threatening. Bermuda rubbed his forehead.

"Stay," he said. The selkie looked dejected, but wouldn't refuse a direct order from the Prince. "I'll stay in touch with my stone. You can keep the Manaketes informed on what's going on. And you can protect Gabe and Arachne, they're not going to be coming, either," he said, looking to the others for support. L'arc nodded, looking to Aries.

"Sounds like a good plan," he confirmed.

Quay looked slightly more pleased as he was charged with this task, then nodded and ran off.

"Let's leave before Gabe figures out we're going," Aires said, quite serious. "Let's get out of here, and quickly."

"Might as well," Sylas nodded, eying Rush's arm. It looked a bit...scary, like that. He said nothing, though, turning towards the hall that would lead to the castle doors.

"All right," Bermuda nodded, leading the way out. "From what I can gather from my stone, Verdi's stone is that way," he pointed as they exited the castle, the altitude granting them a spectacular view of the land below. To the east was the sea, and the west was the continued mountain range. Behind them was the north, what was known as the Barren Lands, and the frozen desert. Directly below and fanning out to all sides was the forest, and rising from the middle was the remnants of the ancient tree of Life. Even in its ruined state, the tree cut an imposing figure against the skyline, a monument to the previous strength of the Forest Kingdom.

Bermuda, however, pointed to none of these places. His finger was leveled to the east, but not so far as the sea. No, here was the newly founded and growing settlement of the humans and the demons that had escaped the Darklands.

"So, if Verdi's stone is indeed with Dysonious, which is probable, he's there."

Sylas looked from the forest to the town, then to the sea. Then back at the settlement. "That looks...well..."

"Bad." Rush growled, able to spot the little pillars of smoke that rose into the sky from multiple fires. It was easy to see the small indent they had made in the forest nearby from gathering supplies. "We don't have much choice, though..."

"Come on, let's not waste time," Verolen said, already moving down the mountainside. Of course, he hadn't seen Bermuda's staff in action before; he didn't know that they could easily be teleported.

The others had already clustered together as if trained, and Bermuda paused to look at Verolen. "Where are you going?" he asked. Then, realization seemed to dawn on him. "Oh, you don't know, do you? Get back over here, I'll have us there faster than you can blink," he said, showing his staff to the demon.

Verolen looked back at them, slightly confused. He trekked back up towards them, to an eye-roll from Rush and a bemused grin from Sylas. Verolen stood with them, apparently waiting for...something to happen. Which he was fairly certain something would, he just didn't know what it would be, yet.

Bermuda prattled off the familiar spell, and with a burst of light, they vanished.

They reappeared inside the forest, a quarter of a mile from the human settlement.

L'arc clapped a hand on Verolen's shoulder. "Well, how'd you like that?" he asked, laughing slightly.