The Forgotten Zodiac

Gabe seemed to be practically glowing as she praised him. "Yeah, see you soon!" he called back reaching for the sending stone in Sylas's hand, before hesitating a bit - he wasn't sure if L'arc and Sylas were done talking yet.

"Talk with you later, Aries. And I hope you get here safely." Sylas threw in before letting Gabe take the stone, cutting the call off.

"Well," Jerod smiled. "It's good to catch up with friends."

L'arc nodded his concurrence to Jerod's words. "That it is," he said, pausing to think for a moment. "...so have we heard anything from Verolen or Bermuda? Or Israel? Verdi, even?" he asked, turning to Jerod.

"No...I'm afraid not." Jerod sighed. "Verdi has a Sending Stone, but perhaps he lost it or something. I've tried to call him, but with no answer. Verolen...Arachne called about a month ago. She was crying, saying that she knew that Verolen was dying over and over again...we can only hope he wasn't drowned or something. We may not be able to find him, if that's the case..."

L'arc frowned, staring down at the floor as he took in this dismal news. Gabe, on the other hand, stood up and went over to Jerod, asking "Does a summoning spell work on people?"

"No. I'm afraid not, Gabe." Jerod sighed. "It takes a warlock beyond your years to sucessfully teleport someone not near you. If you attempt it and it's not done correctly...you could only cause damage. Damage that you don't want to cause, Gabe." He shook his head.

"You mean like, only their arm might get here," Gabe concluded with a frown. "I understand. That would be bad. Just an arm."

"Yes...just an arm of Verolen's or Bermuda's would be bad." Jerod nodded solemnly. "There are...location spells, though. I've never been able to do it, but perhaps you can..." He left the room for a moment, returning with more charcoal and a bunch of maps. "You can find out where everyone is, like this. Why did I not think of this before...?"

Gabe jumped up and down, then said in a voice so loud that L'arc grimaced, "Let's do it! Let's give it a go! I can do it!" he rallied himself.

Sylas winced a bit, but shook his head to clear it off. He smiled, then shifted his feet up onto the chair so that Jerod could lay the maps out on the floor. He had maps of a wide area that was Oceanica, and a large map of the forest. There were a few errors on the forest map, and Sylas wasn't too sure what the oceanica map was; there were basically just three lumps of land, and a few markers out in the blue colored water, but Sylas couldn't really read it too well.

"Right. We don't even need a circle. Just say this," Jerod pointed to the page in Gabe's spell book.

((Make something up. xD))

Gabe read the spell by Jerod's finger, watching as the runes on the page glowed in response. He closed his eyes for a moment, then started to prattle off names. "Verolen. Abyssial Trench. Bermuda. Fomalaught... in the palace. Israel... and Verdi. Fomalaught... a little outside the city. Who... else?" he asked, his concentration starting to waver.

"I don't think there's anyone else," Jerod said, shaking his head. He marked a few spots on the map, then looked grimly at it. All of the spots he had marked were in Oceanica. And one of them was just out in the water.

"What does that mean?" Sylas frowned, peering at the mark Jerod was hesitating over.

"They probably tied a weight to Verolen...and dumped him in the trench. Finding him...will be a hassle. It gets very cold down there, I doubt even Bermuda would be able to go down that far...and the Trench itself is wide..."

"If I was closer, I could probably see where he is better," Gabe said, as the runes stopped glowing. "That might... make it easier to find him."

L'arc was now studying the map. "Fomalought? Isn't Bermuda banished... from there? What's he doing there?" he asked.

"He's probably not there of his own accord. I doubt Israel and Verdi are, either." Jerod shook his head, taking the single map that he had made marks on. He rolled it up and handed it to L'arc. "Here. You can study this."

L'arc nodded and took the map carefully. Then he let out a deep sigh before standing, and offered a hand to Sylas. "I'm beat," he said. "Let's go back to the infirmary and sleep."

"Okay," Sylas nodded, taking L'arc's hand and letting his friend help him up. He was still a bit wobbly and it clearly pained him to put weight on his legs, but he ignored it and pressed onwards.

When they reached the infirmary again, Sylas collapsed on his bed, wincing a bit. Again, he didn't try to sleep at first, choosing instead to stare at the ceiling. Finally, he spoke. "Hey, L'arc?" He looked over at his friend. "Thanks...for being so nice to me. Even after everything that I've done, on purpose or not. Just...thank you. For being a good friend to me."

L'arc almost laughed. "Sylas, look at you," he said, gesturing to the boy's injuries. "You call that "being a good friend"?"

It was clear that L'arc deeply regretted having to hurt Sylas, even though he knew it had to be done... though he could have remained uninvolved. Though maybe it was better that he was there. Who could really say?

"...but I appreciate the sentiment," he returned after a moment, turning to go rest in the bed adjacent to Sylas's.

"Yes. I do. I needed it..." Sylas sighed, watching his freind for a moment. "You had a very good reason to hurt me. You did. I...can say that I would have hurt you, too. If I had to. I wouldn't be happy about it, but..." He smiled a little bit. "So don't be upset, please..."

L'arc turned over to look at Sylas, while he was still resting in his bed. "...if you say so," he said, the faintest of smiles on his face.

"I do say so." Sylas nodded, then rolled over, deciding that he might as well try to get some rest. As much as he could, what with the nightmares and all...

Sharks do not commonly go after meat that's been dead for awhile. But this particular shark was no common shark; it had swam down into the trench hoping to find a meal, but had turned up with absolutely nothing. It was hungrier than normal. So naturally, when it spied the dead demon tied to an anchor, the slowly rotting ropes still keeping him pinned to the weight that had dragged him down here in the first place, the shark went for it. It snapped up the demon in its jaws, thrashing a moment to get rid of the anchor's weight. That sank further into the trench, but the ropes had snapped; Verolen floated in place until the shark came back around, ready to bite into its newfound meal--

WHAM.

It would have made such a sound if they had been above water, but it was really more of a 'swhoosh' than anything down here. A massive tentacle slammed into the shark, dragging it down into the depths. "Ohh, shark meat. I'll feast this evening, I will..." A gravvely voice gurgled, cruel and obviously hungry. Female, to boot; it was a strange squid woman, who had six black tentacles in place of a bottom half. She was larger than most, but not fat; just tall and a bit bulky.

"Oh...? What's this?" She snorted, speaking to herself, mostly. A little angelfish was following her around, but it wasn't much more than an excuse to talk, for the woman. She wrapped a tentacle around Verolen and pulled him closer, peering at him with her crimson gaze that easily cut through the murky darkness around her. She paused for a moment, then laughed, nearly in hysterics. "Th-the demon prince? Here?! Oh, this is rich...no, no, no. I'll be rich." She hurried off, swimming up towards the surface and completely forgetting about the shark she had caught only moments before. She was more excited than hungry, now.

((You can go to Bermuda now. :3))