The Forgotten Zodiac

In a world where magic was highly valued, there were schools designed for young mages and witches to grow in their abilities and powers, whatever they may be. They were educated in healing and battle, and hundreds of other subjects, each school more prestigious and skill-filled than the rest.

But all that changed suddenly. There was a discovery that the surplus of magic use was seriously damaging the world. Trees were dying sooner, plants withered easily, roses wilted to nothing within minutes of blooming. The leaders of the world came together and made one of the most important decisions in the history of this world.

The mages and witches of the world needed to be flushed out.

Now, with the magic-users all but extinct (or otherwise firmly imprisoned), a new threat has arisen, naturally. The kings of the threatened empires have cried out for the help of those who they heartlessly murdered before. The threat is serious; one of the kings who had agreed to dispose of the magic-users had hoarded the strongest ones for himself and armed them with a new power of Dark Magic. There was no warning as to what started this behavior; there are all sorts of speculations, but one rumor is common. Kind and gentle King Asmodius was not acting of his own accord.

It wasn't the over use of magic that had eroded the life in the empire, it was the the Dark Magic, which infected the land and was deemed to be highly contagious. It is assumed that Light Magic would be capable of countering it, but such a thing hasn't been seen in hundreds of years. Will anyone be able to stop this incredible threat? No, I'm not ending this on a question. There is someone to stop this threat, and this is their story...

Slowly, carefully, a cat the size of a mountain lion crept along the outstretched branch of a tree. His fluffy blonde fur was ruffled in the breeze, and his red eyes were centered directly on the figure below the tree. His target was a teenager standing about six feet under the branch. He was tall, with black hair and a completely black outfit. A mask covered his face totally from view, and the only skin you could see on him was the tips of his fingers from his fingerless gloves. His eyes were the only other thing visible. They were thoroughly fixed on the book in his hands, scanning row after row of text.

Closer...closer...just a few more inches. The blonde cat shuffled along his branch, inching along until he was practically above the teenager. Without a single sound, the cat leapt off the branch and plunged down onto the boy. The teen let out a strangled yelp as he was suddenly slammed to the ground. "Augh!" he shouted, his heart pounding, only to hear laughter burst out overhead. "What the--Welk!" he shouted, twisting his head to the side to glare at the cat. "What have I told you about scaring me like that?!"

The cat tilted his head to the side and purred "Not to do it, but you think I'm going to listen to you?" The black-haired teenager growled and abruptly pushed his upper-half off of the ground, knocking the cat off his back. Welk yelped as he was tumped off, then glared at his friend. "You're a jerk, Cynyr." he said, his tail flipping from side to side. "If I'm a jerk, then you're a moron." Cynyr replied, standing up and brushing his black outfit off disdainfully.

Someone was watching silently from a tree. Dark eyes watched the two for several minutes, then glanced downwards to look at what the owner of the eyes was writing. He was scrawling word after word in a small and thick book, careful not to splotch or smudge the ink at all. His ink bottle was securely lodged between two smaller branches, and he was leaning against the foot of the tree with his thick black boots propped on a branch for balance. He was lightly tanned, with black hair, judging black eyes and thin lips stretched tight in a focused grimace.

His frame was tall and slim, though he wasn't without muscle strength. He did look a bit underfed for a 17-year-old, and perhaps a little tired, but he was ignoring those factors for the time being. He wore a long black leather cloak that was topped with light brown fur, a plain brown burlap shirt and black pants. This was Werr Grehi,otherwise known as 'the boy who writes everything down', as his hometown's...'lively' sense of humor stated.

Werr was most intrigued with these two; they were his classmates at his hometown's 'education center', as he liked to put it. School was far too boring of a name. Werr wasn't all too sure why he had decided to follow these two here, but it had to be for some reason. Werr was never one to follow uneducated guesses. Allowing his thoughts to wander, as these two didn't seem to be doing very much, he found himself thinking about the war. Funny how life seemed to drawl on despite the fact that the majority of the men in every village were being drafted out to defend the borders of the kingdom.

Werr would be with them now, if it weren't for the fact that his mother was ill. He had stayed behind to care for her, not that she would ever get better. Mental problems didn't cure themselves overnight. Werr reminded himself of rule number 12; don't start thinking about mother, it'll make you cry. Number 15, as well; don't let your mind wander while you're supposed to be observing something.

Werr shook his head quickly and adjusted his sitting position. He bumped his ink bottle with his elbow, knocking it over entirely and sending the whole thing to the ground. He attempted to catch it, but wound up going down with it. He fell to the forest floor with a crack; he landed on a branch, of course, but it did sound an awful lot like a bone breaking. Werr panicked for a moment before realizing that no, he hadn't broken anything.

Besides his nose, possibly, Werr considered the possibility as he felt blood ooze out of the aforementioned place on his face.

Both of the other boys immediately whipped around as Werr fell out of the tree. Welk jumped to his paws, cocking his head to the side, while Cynyr quickly covered his head with his book. "Oh my gosh, it's raining morons!" he cried, glaring up at the trees as if expecting more people to come falling down from the branches.

"Cool it, Cynyr." Welk said, rolling his eyes. "Hey, wait a second..." he said, trotting over to stare intently at Werr. "I know this guy. He's from school. He's that guy that always has his nose shoved in a book." "You mean the nerd?" Cynyr said dryly, still casting the trees suspicious glances. Cynyr wasn't an ordinary 18-year-old teenager. He had a pair of black cat ears instead of normal human ears, and a long black tail protruded from the tailbone of his spine. His eyes were an abnormal color, like Welk's, except Cynyr's were yellow.

Welk grimaced. "Don't call him a nerd." the cat said, throwing his friend a look. "It's not nice, and besides, you're more of a nerd than he is." "I am not!" Cynyr shouted, then turned and stomped off. Welk laughed behind an upraised paw, then turned back to Werr, finally noticing his bloody nose. "Ooo, ouch. You okay?" the cat asked, smiling brightly at the boy.

Werr scrambled upright, his left hand reaching up to pinch his nostrils together to try and stem the bleeding, his right hand searching for the book that had dropped while he was focused on his nose. "I-I'm fine, I..." He stumbled along his words. Cynyr was the only one in town with a talking pet, Werr had always been a bit too frightened to get too close. Yet, here he was, embarrassing himself stupidly. "Really, I...I'm okay," He nodded. "Um...Werr. My name is Werr." He said, though his voice was a bit muffled through his hand and the fact that he was pinching his nose. "Um...sorry about all this, I'll uh...just be going now," He said, still trying to angle his head upwards to help stop the bleeding, while trying to find his book without looking.

Welk rolled his eyes, then grinned. "Here, let me help you." he said, standing up. To Werr's shock, the cat's furry features melted away, revealing a familiar 15-year-old teenage boy with fuzzy blonde hair, cat ears and a tail. Clothes sprung into existence on his body, which turned out to be a dark blue tank-top with a loose black jacket on over it, and a pair of dark blue jeans over his legs. Black boots were snugly fitted to his feet. He immediately laughed when he saw Werr's face at his transformation. "Ha! That never gets old!" he said, smiling, which showed off his sharp white fangs. "I usually always stay in cat form whenever I'm not at school, so a lot of people don't know who I am. They just assume I'm a talking cat or something, so it's always a lot of fun revealing my true form to people. The looks on their faces never get old!"

He chuckled happily, his blonde tail swishing around behind him. He walked forward and picked up Werr's book, then promptly began flipping through it. "What is all of this stuff?" he said flatly, peering at the words. "Looks boring."

Werr was indeed shocked and perhaps a bit more frightened, but that left him easily when he thought about it. If the kid wanted to hurt him, he would have done it when he had been in cat form. He stood up, still pinching his nose. The second reason he wasn't afraid was the fact that he was bigger than the teen, both in age and in height. Werr pulled his book out of Welk's hands, frowning. He snapped it shut between his side and his hand, making sure not to let any blood get on it. "It's mine, obviously. If you must know, it's a large collection of my own thoughts and observations, along with a few simple rules that I use to help me focus. I have to keep my mind organized so I can focus on more important things. To you, it would probably be boring, yes. Life here is pretty boring, in case you were too busy fooling around with your brother to notice."

He thought for a moment on what he just said. He sounded a bit like a jerk. Mother always said that he needed friends, which was a good idea, despite her current mental state. Werr sighed and added, "Regardless, it's nice to finally talk to someone, I suppose. Nice to meet you, Welk. Where did Cynyr go? Back to town?"

Welk made a gagging sound in the back of his throat. "Bleh, all books are boring." he said. "And I wasn't fooling around with Cynyr. I was practicing my hunting skills on him. He hates it when I use him as the target." He paused. "Me and Cynyr aren't really brothers. We just sort of...found each other. Because we don't have parents." He studied Werr closely, then said "Yeah, I guess it's nice to meet you too, Werr." he said, smiling. Then he frowned. "I dunno where Cynyr went. He hates being in town, so he usually spends his time out here or locked in the house. He's really good at hiding from me when he doesn't want to be found, so I'm not sure I could find him."

He flicked his furry ears mischievously. "Wanna help me find him?" he asked, his red eyes sparkling playfully. "Then we can both mess with him and make him really mad!"

"Not brothers?" Werr blinked. He mulled over what Welk had said for a moment. So neither of them had parents, they weren't brothers yet they both seemed to be the same sort of creature, and Welk tried to get himself in trouble, apparently. Werr was a little surprised at the offer. He considered his options; go with Welk to find Cynyr, or walk back to town alone only to return to his silent house and his sick mother and trawl through another boring day of doing absolutely nothing

"I'll come," Werr nodded, smiling a bit at Welk's enthusiasm.

"Yes!" Welk said happily, turning and trotting off into the forest, his black jacket flapping around his body. "Come on! I know a good spot to start looking!" He stopped next to a tree and gestured at Werr, then kept going, his ears perked up over his head. His tail, which protruded out from under his jacket, flicked around behind him energetically.

Werr followed quietly, making sure not to step on any twigs or anything of the like. He watched Welk's tail, though, not quite sure how the kid would react if he stepped on it or anything. Out of habit, he glanced around every few steps; he had heard all sorts of stories about dragons and monsterous bears prowling around these woods. Then again, he heard all sorts of stories. He practically went digging for them. Werr shook away the thoughts and focused on the task of being quiet,

Welk trotted just ahead of Werr, glancing around with his sharp red eyes. He sniffed the air lightly, his ears stuck up straight over his head. The teenager seemed almost at home in the confusing settings of the woods. They wandered around the forest for a long amount of time, seemingly lost, but right when they passed what Werr could swear was a tree they had already passed, they came upon a gorgeous area.

The thick forest gave way to a medium-sized open meadow complete with flowers and flowing grass. A huge rock formation was tucked into the side of the meadow, with a small waterfall cascading lightly over the stones. The water fell into a pond that was only about a hundred feet wide, but very, very deep. Small fish and creatures swam along the crystal clear surface of the pool.

There, tucked into an alcove just out of reach of the waterfall, was Cynyr. The masked teenager was leaning back against the rocks, his book open in his hands, his yellow eyes flicking between the rows of text. He was nearly hidden by the waterfall, and it was only when they got a lot closer that Werr actually saw him.

“Cynyr!” Welk shouted, making Cynyr jump. “What the--?! Welk!” the black-haired teen shouted, his tail puffed out angrily behind him. “What are you doing here?! And with the nerd…” he growled, glaring at Werr.

Werr managed to stem his bleeding during the walk, cleaning up the mess as much as he could with his handkerchief. He blinked in surprise as they came to the clearing; he had never been this deep in the forest before. He quickly recovered to follow Welk, stopping short as Cynyr glared at him. He returned the glare, frowning. "My name is Werr. Not 'nerd'. Nice to meet you, Cynyr." He said calmly. "We followed you, obviously."

Cynyr growled again, his tail twitching around angrily behind him. "You look like a nerd to me." he snapped, snorting softly through the fabric of his mask. Welk rolled his eyes, then ran forward, dodging around the waterfall. He stopped in front of his friend, staring at him. "Come on, Cynyr." he said, flicking one of Cynyr’s furry cat ears with his blonde tail. "Quit being a jerk!"

"I'm not the jerk here!" Cynyr shouted, smacking Welk's tail away from him. "You are!" he snarled at the other teenager. "You know when I come out here I want to be alone, yet you followed me anyways. And you brought your dorky friend with you!" He stood up and stalked out from under the alcove, his ears flat back against his head.

He glared ferociously at Werr, then yelped when Welk ran up and yanked on his tail. He whirled on his friend, a horrible glare in his eyes. "Don't do that!" he shouted, only to have Welk laugh in return.

Werr was a bit taken aback at all this. These two were friends? Seemed like a mismatched pair to him. One happy and outgoing, the other...grumpy and a bit of a jerk. Why did Cynyr wear a mask like that? What species were these two? How did they 'find' each other? And here Werr thought actually talking to people answered questions. Apparently it was quite the opposite. "There's no need to shout..." He said quietly, knowing that he had no say in this situation. "Here, why don't we go back to my house? I'll serve tea and we can get to know each other a little better. My mother does say that tea makes everything better," He said lightly.

Cynyr jerked his tail away from Welk and curled it around his own leg, keeping it away from them. He glared at Werr, then said "Welk can go with you if he likes, but I won't. I'm leaving. And if you follow me this time, I'll rip your ears off. And don't think for a second that I can't do it." He then crouched down on all fours on the ground and closed his eyes. To Werr's shock, the teenager transformed into a black panther the size of a large tiger. Cynyr glared at the boy through his slitted yellow eyes, then sped out of the clearing, disappearing into the forest.

Welk pouted for a second, then sighed and said "That's Cynyr for you. Always grumpy, no matter what you say." He glanced over at Werr and grinned. "What, you didn't know he was a Half-cat like me?" he asked, flicking Werr's hand with his fluffy tail. "I would think it was obvious because of the ears and tail. Only Half-cats have those. Maybe that's why we're called 'Half-cats'. We are half cat after all." He laughed good-naturedly.

Werr shook his head, brushing off his fear again. "You can't blame me," He sighed a bit, opening up his book only to realize he had no spare ink with him. He closed it again, letting out a heavier sigh. "Half-cat, eh? Good to know. I'll have to look that one up in my library, I suppose." He headed back into the trees, walking back the way they had come. Of course, he had memorized which way they came from. Werr was strange like that. The silence was a bit awkward as he walked, so he glanced at Welk and asked, "So, uh...what do you think about the war?"

Welk trotted after Werr, enjoying the company of his new friend. He knew Cynyr would come back home before dark, so he didn't have to worry about his adopted brother. He transformed into his cat form and waltzed beside Werr, prancing along the path through the forest. When Werr spoke of the war, he glanced up in confusion. "War? What war?" he asked, looking at him strangely. "There's a war going on?"

Werr blinked at Welk for a few moments before nodding his head a little. "Yes, my father was drafted to fight in the war. In his first letter, he told me what was going on. Apparently the magicians are back, and they're serving King Asmodius' army, but something isn't right. There's something affecting their powers." Werr thought for a moment before adding, "No one knows how or why King Asmodius is doing this, as he used to be such a kind and fair ruler. No one expected this kind of thing, much less from him. Anyways, the handwriting on my father's letters slowly became less and less readable, he kept saying something about the darkness and how it seemed to follow him everywhere. The letters stopped coming a few weeks ago." Werr realized how upsetting this story was and stopped himself before he went further. Of course, he spoke in a relatively light tone, same as always; he generally masked his feelings. He didn't really know why, he just found it easier. "So yes, there's a war, and apparently it's very serious. I'm surprised you didn't know about it. How did Cynyr avoid the drafting soldiers?"

"Oh." Welk said, looking down at the ground as he walked. "I'm sorry about your dad." he said, his ears back slightly. "I think Cynyr knew about the war and tried to keep it a secret from me. He kept acting really strange when the drafting soldiers were in town. I asked him who they were and why they were here, but he just said they were not important and were just passing through."

He paused for a second, then kept going. "Now that you mention it, those soldiers did come to our house a few times, but Cynyr never answered the door. He would keep it locked and would tell me to stay in my room, then he would lock himself in his room for hours, even after the men left." He transformed back into his human form and rubbed his nose lightly. "Our house is the run down one of the edge of town, so I guess the men eventually decided no one lived there and moved on."

He sighed softly. "Yeah, it makes sense to me now. I'm so stupid to not have realized it sooner. Sometimes Cynyr would come home out of breath and really nervous. I think those soldiers must've spotted him in town and tried to follow him or something."