The Forgotten Zodiac

"Eltanin," Bershee said softly, sitting down next to him. "Enough of this. What happened to the proud, brave, wise Selkie leader I once knew? If you know where he went, I'd be much oblidged if you told me. His people need him right now..."

Eltanin leaned back, resting his whittling on the floor beside him, with the knife. He sighed, then looked at Bershee and said, "Wish I knew where he went too. I know that I... I know," he murmued distractedly.

Bershee rested her hand on Eltanin's shoulder, looking down at her other hand. "There are many great leaders of the past we can look to, as an idol, someone to be respected. King Voral of the forest kingdom, Queen Waed of the Ocean kingdom, the fabled Avis twins, who ruled the far away Sky Kingdom. All written into history books as the greatest leaders this world has ever seen. Even King Verolen himself could be placed on such a list; his army is great, and his people adore him. He leads with nobility and strength. But so many of these, Verolen in particular, lack a key aspect that I believe would have made them even greater. Something...that you have, Eltanin.

"Does a shark feel sorrow for devouring its prey? Does a sea anenome sympathize with the fish that resides within it? From my many observations, and many others, we can see that nature itself has no sign of it. We who are capable of thought, blessed by whatever Goddess or God is out there...only we are capable of this. Compassion, Eltanin. Feeling pity and sorrow for those less fortunate, and having an emotional response when others are in pain, even when you had nothing to do with it. And...feeling guilty when you did cause it. That is something Verolen lacks, and will never have. That is something even our own Queen Waed lacked. But you have it.

"You were not too weak to fight against Verolen. You did what was best for your people, even at the price of your friends. That is not a choice many could make, and...I believe it was the right one. None of your friends are angered or cursing your name. None of them hate you for what was done, and even if they did...it would still be okay. I suppose what I'm trying to say is...you did what you needed to. And even now, you feel guilt over your decision. But no one's angry at you. I think...the only one angry at you is yourself, Eltanin. And that is what makes you a great leader." She leaned forward, closer to him than she had been before. She smelled sweet, like water lilies mixed with the usual salty scent. She gently kissed Eltanin's temple, then stood, moving to the door.

Something in Bershee's words (and probably her actions) seemed to stoke an inner fire in Eltanin's blood. He felt his spirits lift, even as she moved to leave. Rising to his feet, he decided to call out to her. "Bershee, wait."

He hesitated, unsure of what he had wanted to say. Some inner emotion had spurned his words before he could rightfully think of what he wanted to say to her. His mouth fell open and hung there for a second, before he cleared his throat, finally settling into a smile. "Thanks," he said.

Bershee blinked at him for a moment, then smiled happily. "Welcome back, Eltanin." Was all she said before leaving again.

Rush was thrown back into the room with Byrne. The human had been unconscious for a long while, but the clanging of the chains was enough to wake him up. Rush could tell they had already done something to him; the human was strapped down to the surgery table. Rush's hazy gaze fell upon the human's wrist, where a rather odd line was. The human's hand was a different color than the rest of him. How odd.

Rush didn't question it. He couldn't question anything. Some odd part of him recognized Byrne, however, and he crawled up onto the table, sitting next to the boy. The chains on his wings and feet, meant to slow him down, clinked noisily. Not that he could hear it. His ears were still bloody and very wounded looking, but Rush wasn't someone the Phantom cared enough about to treat.

"Good evening, Byrne." He sighed, watching the boy. "I have some very good news for you. You're going home. I have no use for you, and so I'm going to drop you in the forest and leave you be. Naturally, though, I wouldn't just do that and leave it be...look at your new hand! It's a gift from me to you. You'll notice the black line on your wrist; that's Dark Matter. You can use your hand and everything. But, eh...I've heard that humans have very negative reactions to this stuff. We'll see how that turns out for you. At any rate...I'm sending you with Rush. You'll be chained together, and, as you can see...he's deaf. And he'll get hungry before long...so, it's like a race!" The Phantom chortled. "Which will get you first? My pet, or the adverse effects of Dark Matter? So much fun. Rush will automatically be returned to me in a few days, with or without you. But you should know, much like yourself, he hasn't eaten anything since he got here. His previous meal...ran off before he could get to them. So, if I were you...I'd break the chain as soon as possible. And run very, very far away, to die a painful death at the hands of...your new hand!" He laughed.

((You can pick what the Dark Matter does. It's different across the board; not everyone reacts the same.

Sylas is going to have a heart attack. :3))

Byrne's eyes opened in slits and he let out a thin moan. He shifted slightly, away from the Phantom, and averted his eyes. However, when he saw Rush and heard the Demon King mention the chimera's name, his eyes widened, transfixed at the sight of him. "A-are you... I mean... is he... what...?" the human murmured disjointedly. He allowed himself to look at Verolen, then, his breath catching in his throat. "I don't... want t-to die," he whimpered, his plea evident in his tone.

Rush swung his legs back and forth, not really able to listen. He watched, though, seeing the pain on the boy's face. The Phantom grinned a rather cruel grin. "Well then," He said. "I suggest you run. You'll live the longest that way. Rush is...not the Rush you knew. The Library has been disabled, and his mind has been returned to the way it was before that blasted thing was dropped on him. Nothing but a loyal pet. He would kill you now, if I was able to tell him...but a certain someone somehow managed to deafen him with little knives. Very frustrating. Oh well," The Phantom concentrated, forming a portal on the floor next to the table. He then locked a thick shackle around Rush's neck, securing the same to Byrne's, and attaching a long chain between them. Long enough for free movement, a good solid 10 feet, but still long enough to keep the two of them together.

Rush picked at the metal shackle, trying to claw it off. The Phantom unstrapped Byrne from the table, then promptly dumped the both of them into the portal.

They emerged on the other side, in a grassy clearing. A calm breeze brushed the grass, which...Rush had taken to tearing up. He clawed up the grass, gnawed on a stick, attacked a tree rather viciously, then stopped and rounded on Byrne.

He sat down next to Byrne, just staring intently at the human, as though he expected something to happen.

Byrne, for a few long minutes, could only stare at Rush in horror. He was faintly aware of the fact that his hand felt... strange... he could feel only pain from it for a minute, then the next minute he could feel nothing, as if the limb was gone. He cleared his throat softly and blinked at Rush, wondering how long it'd be before the chimera decided to eat him.

Finally, hesitantly, he reached out and brushed his good hand against Rush's wing, looking a bit freightened about how Rush might react.

Rush twitched, tilting his head to the side like a dog might. He coughed a bit, then stood and stretched, then went back to chewing on the grass. Rather suddenly, he froze and stared at the bushes.

"People!" A squirrel launched itself out, curling up on Byrne's chest. "Hello there, little human. How are you? Do you like peanuts? I like peanuts. Oh!" He darted away again as Rush slashed out at him. Byrne was lucky; the chimera-thing's claws snagged on Byrne's shirt, but only barely grazed his skin.

Rush proceeded to gnaw on his own claws, tearing up the shirt between his teeth in order to free his hand. Then he flopped down next to Byrne, imitating the way he was lying around. "Ferrosill," He seemed to purr, his voice slurred due to the fact that he could not hear. "Merris?" He was talking in a way that sounded like another language, but could very well have been gibberish..

Byrne finally urged himself to get up, shifting away from Rush. There was a seed of fear growing inside his chest, and it made him feel sick and weak. Of course, the fact that he'd been starved and tortured probably had as much to do with that as his fear. He stood shakily, trying to get his bearings on walking. The human only made it a few steps before his vision turned hazy and white, and he felt himself falling.

Rush caught him, picking him up and starting to walk. He had no earthly idea where he was going, but one thing for certain, he was hungry. Maybe he could find some fruit nearby? His first thought was the fruit, not eating anyone. Perhaps Byrne wasn't in as much danger as he thought. Rush trotted off into the trees, doing his best not to jostle any of Byrne's wounds.

Imagine his surprise when he stumbled upon a camp of Vieras.

"How are we going to find anyone?" Sylas was pacing back and forth, despite his crutches. "I'm too hurt to go anywhere, Bermuda's still recovering, Israel and Verdi aren't good to send anywhere, Arachne is missing a foot...and sending Reetah and Verolen alone is way too risky." He mumbled, then turned to L'arc. "What the heck are we going to do? Rush, Manny, Eve and Byrne are all in the Darklands, and Gabe...who the heck knows what happened to Gabe. He probably got killed, like...Aries..." Sylas sighed heavily, then went back to pacing.

"I know..." L'arc lamented from his position, laying facedown on his bed. "I don't know what to do..."

((Sorry. Been a long day. D: ))

((Das fine. :3))

"I don't know either. I just...I..." Sylas stopped suddenly, putting a hand over his chest. Something didn't feel right...his mouth was dry and suddenly felt like his tongue was cotton. He was dreadfully dizzy...Sylas nearly collapsed on his bed, swallowing hard. Verolen walked in at this point, but he was clearly not in a mood to talk, as he flopped down on his own bed and curled up, most likely for a nap.

L'arc barely moved as the others positioned themselves, letting out a sigh. "Why hasn't Eltanin contacted us again?" he asked, knowing that the others didn't know either.

"Bershee said something...about tapped lines." Sylas said, wondering if he should mention how odd he was feeling. "But she said she'd get a form of communication to us. We just have to...wait on that." He moved to lie down, but suddenly found himself sprawled out on the floor between his and L'arc's beds. He struggled to sit up, to push himself upright, but found that he couldn't. He couldn't catch his breath, either, so any hope he had of alerting L'arc was rather suddenly null and void.

L'arc sat up as he heard Sylas fall into the floor, his eyes widening slightly as he saw the human try to move and fail. "...Sy?" he called, tenatively. He rose from his bed to kneel at Sylas's side, worried. "Verolen!" he called. "Go find Bermuda!"

Sylas managed to grab L'arc's hand, shaking horridly before blacking out.

"I'm on it," Verolen sprinted off before another word could be said. Where was Bermuda, anyway?!

Bermuda was sitting in the Sanctuary, near the middle of the room with his eyes closed, He appeared to be resting, with his elbows on his knees, face in his palms.

Verolen paused outside the doors. He wasn't supposed to go in... "Bermuda! Bermuda, Sylas needs you!" He called. "Wake up, I can't go in there after you! Bermuda..." He huffed a bit, then removed his shoe and threw it at the prince. It hit Bermuda's shoulder lightly, and fell to the floor with a thump.

Bermuda jerked as the shoe collided with his shoulder, turning to look at who had thrown it. Seeing Verolen, he opened his mouth to reprimand the demon for waking him, when he saw the serious look that he bore. "What's wrong?" were the words that came out of his mouth instead as he climbed to his feet and went to the door.