The Forgotten Zodiac

"O-oh!" Aries hugged her son back, blinking in surprise. "Rush did? Oh, well, he shouldn't have." She giggled, squeezing him tightly.

"I think he's getting less grumpy already," Jerod chortled.

L'arc smiled and nodded at Jerod, then went in to visit with Rush himself.

"I heard that you weren't feeling so great," he said conversationally. "You're getting better, right? You need Gabe to... I don't know, fling some magic at you or something?" he asked.

Rush blinked at him. "All this concern over me...I don't like it." He snorted a bit, shaking his head, then managed a smile. "I'm fine, really. I could use a healing spell, but...I don't think it'll help too much."

L'arc nodded, sitting back a little bit. "We can't help but worry. You're our friend, you know, and from what Gabe heard from Aries and told me, you've been kind of bad off," he said. He shrugged a little, then changed the subject. "Heard anything from the others? Bermuda, Israel, anybody?"

"No...not heard from. But I heard Verolen. VPS tried to set up a dream connection, but you know Verolen...he doesn't sleep much. But she managed to get it so that I dreamed about his present condition...he's fine. Talking, and hopefully walking."

"That doesn't make sense." Sylas blinked. "We located him with magic about a week ago. He was in a trench in Oceanica. A trench."

"He's not drowning or anything. Arachne hasn't sensed him die for a week or so..."

Gabe nodded a bit, then said, "I could try the location thingy again. Do you still have the map, L'arc?" he asked, looking to the druid, who nodded and drew it out of his bag.

"Yeah, it's right here," he said. He spread it out for the others to see, then showed them the marks on it. "Here's where everyone was a week ago," he said.

"This is a week ago, though. We should probably double check..." Jerod said thoughtfully, then picked up a stick and started drawing out the circle on the ground. The rune circle. It took a few minutes; he had to be careful of rocks and other things that got in the way. "Here we are. Do it again, Gabe, just like last time." He smiled.

Gabe nodded, flipping to the correct page and preparing himself. He stepped carefully into the circle, watching with awe as it started to glow as soon as he stepped in. "Oh! Look!" he said. "What's doing this? Is the forest more magic than the palace?" he asked, looking up at Jerod with wide eyes. "Tell me, I wanna know!" he said, seemingly barely able to contain himself.

"Well..." Jerod blinked, looking around.

"It's the tree," Sylas chortled. "It wants to help us, so it's lending you a bit of your magic. That location spell will let you actually see who you're looking for, not just where they are. The Tree of Seasons gives his blessings." He smiled, patting the tree's trunk happily.

"I see. Tell him thank you," Jerod shrugged. "Go on then, Gabe. Look and see where our dear friends are, yes?"

Gabe then nodded, closing his eyes after he recited the spell. He gave a sudden jerk, then grinned. "The circus!" he declared. "I'm at a show at the circus! Israel and Verdi are performing!" he said. He seemed to stay in that one place for a moment longer, then recalled that there were others he was supposed to find, and frowned in concentration.

"Oh!" he said, jerking again. "This is... an underwater cave? There's an air pocket. Verolen's trying to swim! ...and he's not doing too bad," Gabe said, sounding suprised. "Freaked out, but definitely trying. Someone's helping, too! And..." he paused, furrowing his brow. "Bermuda's... somewhere... in the cave, too, but I don't see him... maybe he's..." Gabe pivoted on the spot, trying to look around the room that was presented to his mind's eye. "He's in a little pool. I think he's asleep. Oh..." the little warlock shook his head. "Bermuda doesn't feel very good."

"Interesting. Who are they with?" Aries frowned. "Who on earth has the guts to teach Verolen how to swim, at that?"

"Come on, lad, most people pick up after awhile..." The squid woman chortled. "Come on now, you can do it. Remember what I taught you."

"I HAVE MORE WATER IN MY LUNGS THAN I DO AIR," Verolen screeched.

"You're not dead yet, are you? Learn how to swim, and it'll be easier, won't it?" She had taken away the pearl, to make it more important for him to learn. "Look, since you seem to have forgotten...make cups with your hands and scoop the water. Scoop, kick. Scoop, kick." Verolen spluttered and struggled to keep his head above water, but somehow managed to propel himself forward. "There you go. Not hard. We've been at this for a week now, and you've finally managed to push yourself forward a meter. Good job."

"It is too hard!"

"Is not. Or my name isn't Bershee." She snorted.

"What's your name, then?!" Verolen spat water at her, starting to tread water. The first thing he had learned. She laughed a bit.

"Start swimming in circles, you."

Bermuda had laid his arms on the edge of the little pool he was in, resting his head on top of them to watch as Verolen slowly got the hang of swimming. Slowly.

The nereid was still incredibly tired and weak, but it seemed that he was getting better. Slowly.

At this rate, Verolen may be able to swim a mile before he got better, Bermuda thought with a bit of sadness. He tried to push himself up out of the water, to maintain some of his own weight without the water's help, and was able to prop himself on his elbows, holding his shoulders and the upper portion of his torso out of the water. He smiled a bit at this small victory, then allowed himself to slip back into the pool.

He hadn't yet had a good look at his reflection, but he had seen the marks of the spell on his arms and chest - runes imprinted on his body, that were now healing and, some of them, scarring. He wondered if he bore any of the marks on his face, and hoped not - it would, after all, be better if the others didn't know what all had happened, and maybe he could cover the scars that he had gotten, so they wouldn't worry or question the sudden change in his magical abilities.

((Hehe, I have more plans for Bermuda. ))

((Ha, nice.))

Bershee turned and watched Bermuda, smiling. "How are you doing today, prince?" She questioned, the frills that served as her ears tilting low in respect. She walked over and sat down next to him, brushing his soaked hair back. "Is the magic pool helping at all?" She poured another bottle of strange liquid into the pool, stirring with her still-growing (back) tentacles.

"I think I'm doing better," Bermuda replied. At the very least, his voice wasn't hoarse anymore, and he could stay awake without feeling as though he was going to pass out at any given moment. "Bershee, I can't thank you enough for helping me out of there. And Verolen, too," he said, looking over to the demon. "I'll repay you somehow, I swear it," he said, turning his gaze back to the squid woman.

"I need no repayment, prince Bermuda." Bershee chortled. "I'm honored to be able to protect you during your time of need. I'm grateful I chose to chase after those guards...I was thinking I should just leave, but to abandon the Demon Prince as well...I didn't want to. It felt rather unfair, them stealing my prize and trying to kill me..."

"Why did you want to sell me, again?" Verolen blinked.

"I have many mouths to feed. I have half a mind to sell you still, but something tells me my prince needs you more."

"I only see one mouth, there,"

"I have children, you dense demon. They aren't mine, either. They're the poor little ones who managed to escape the wrath of the senators. Not all of them are very young, either. So you can imagine how difficult it is to find food in these waters...too many people hunting in the same area means less prey. Or at least, less easy-to-catch prey." Bershee snorted.

"Oh. I get it." Verolen started swimming forward again, trying to climb up onto dry land. Bershee reacted by throwing him right back into the water.

Bermuda laughed softly. "You're a wonderful swimming trainer, Bershee," he commented, resting at the edge of the pool. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't turn Verolen in, thank you," he added a moment later.

"He's not going to learn by walking about," Bershee rolled her eyes. "Half an hour more, Verolen. Then I shall allow you to rest." She opened up her chest and rummaged about for a moment, withdrawing a small seashell on a chain. Bermuda could feel the magic lingering around the small object, but Bershee set it aside and instead pulled out a larger shell, pressing it against her frilly ear.

She listened for a long while, then said, "They're still searching, but they'll never find my cave," She chortled, smiling a bit. "If they didn't find it with the initial sweep, they won't be finding it anytime soon." She put the conch shell back, then turned to Bermuda and put the seashell necklace around his neck. "I know it may not seem like much, but this is imbued with magic that will help you regain your own, quicker than normally. You have to be awake for it to work, though, which is why I waited. May it serve you well.

Bermuda nodded and accepted the necklace, looking down at it for a moment before looking back up at Bershee. "Thank you," he said, for what he doubted to be the last time. He did feel a bit stronger now, with the necklace around his throat, and smiled a bit. "It's helping already."

"Excellent." Bershee smiled happily. "Now then. You can get out of the water now, demon prince. But when I return from hunting, you're going to swim out in open sea. You have to learn how to dive and control yourself when completely submerged."

"Hmph," Verolen grumbled as he climbed out of the water.

"Right, so...they're with a squid woman named Bershee?" Aries tilted her head to the side. "Interesting...we should try to contact them somehow. Can you see just outside the cave? We need to find it, obviously..."

"...no, not really... But they're in that Abyss place. Somewhere there. Maybe they have a sending stone, or something," Gabe said, opening his eyes and looking at the others as he allowed the spell to fade. "We should try using the stone to call Bershee lady."