The Forgotten Zodiac

Necropolis laughed at Welk, not noticing the claw bit. He looked up as Luen shouted. "Oh? And who shouldn't I leave alone? Are you suggesting that I merely take Werr and go, perhaps? Or do you want to bear my boredom? It's a heavy thing, my boredom. And it can be really painful sometimes. Fatal, even, if I'm bored enough. I wonder if someone like you would be capable of such a thing." He thought for a moment more, then grinned. "Let's try it, shall we?" He snapped his fingers. Two large, black guillotines appeared apparently from nowhere, positioned on either side of the street. Necropolis grabbed Diana, ignoring Forin's screams of rage. He set her in place, locking her head and hands into the appropriate holes in the wood, the things that would be sliced off should the rope be cut. Right now, the rope was wound tightly and knotted around a wooden post in the center of the road, which had appeared with the guillotines.

Necropolis skipped away once Diana was in place (sobbing horribly). He looked over the others, almost as if deciding who else to choose. He grabbed Nate by the hair, dragging him over to the second guillotine. Nate struggled, but Necropolis (despite his size) was horrifyingly strong. Once Nate was in place as well, Necropolis then picked up Luen, pushing him between the two simple, deadly contraptions.

"Which one do you want to save, hm? Of course, you should know that if the girl dies, Forin gets returned to Tartarus. So...are you going to save two people, or just the one? Choices!" Necropolis laughed, slicing the ropes around Luen's wrists. He then cut through the knot on the wooden post, watching as the ropes unwound. "Better catch them!" He laughed.

Luen didn't know what to do. He struggled against Necropolis' bonds, trying desperately to get away, to stop what the monster was doing. He, however, noticed what Necropolis did not. "You didn't say it right." he growled fiercely. "It isn't 'which one do you want to save'. It's 'the both that we're going to save'!" As soon as his ropes were freed, he lunged forward, joined by a certain fire mage that had managed to cut through his ropes.

Welk and Luen both jumped forward at the same time and grabbed the ropes attached to the guillotines, halting their descents. They glanced at each other and nodded once, then yanked back on the ropes, pulling the blades they were attached to back up to a safe height. They quickly knotted the ropes together and ran for the different guillotines, quickly freeing the people trapped in them. Luen was closer to Nate, so he got him out while Welk freed Diana and grabbed her up into his arms. The three, Nate included (with Zephyr still in his pocket), quickly backed away. Luen took Diana from Welk, holding her against him protectively.

"Ohh?" Necropolis tutted. "Bad children. I should punish you for that, really...but what would be a good form of punishment? I can't think of any, there are too many of you..." He hopped up on the wooden post, thinking. "Maybe I could manipulate that Werr? Seems easy enough. I could probably do it from here, if I tried..." He paused, thinking.

Forin stood in front of Luen and Diana. "Not good..." Nate said, looking towards the door of the house that Werr had been dragged into. Werr himself stepped out, holding a long silver sword. Blood dripped off the tip from whatever previous use it had. He looked strange; distant, unaware of his surroundings. Similar to how he had looked when his mind was broken.

"Werr!" Welk cried, running over and tackle-hugging his friend so hard they nearly fell down. "What happened?!" he asked, glancing warily over at Necropolis.

Seria had sliced through her ropes and was rapidly freeing the others, glancing around to make sure no one was hurt.

Zephyr stuck his head out of Nate's pocket, taking a good look around them, searching for a way out. He suddenly frowned, examining the edges of the town closely. He had been around for over a thousand years, so he had seen a lot of things.

He had never seen half a flower before.

He scrambled out of Nate's pocket and flew over to the yellow flower, staring at it closely. It was neatly cut in half. Perfectly. And still alive and growing. Zephyr peered at it for a moment longer, then glanced around, several things clicking in his intelligent mind at once.

Werr pushed Welk off, swinging the blade wildly at his friend. It didn't make contact, but it got the point across. Werr was not himself right now. Necropolis was laughing away, but he paused when he saw the dragon flick away from Nate. He jumped, his foot landing a hair away from where Zephyr was. "Hello there, tiny little dragon," He chortled, snatching the little dragon up in his fingers.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Nate snarled, choosing to focus on Necropolis rather than the trouble with Werr.

Which hadn't ended at just that. Werr stepped forward a few times, swinging the blade at Welk again.

Welk leapt back, startled. "Werr!" he called, dodging any of the blows directed at him. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

Zephyr squeaked hard as Necropolis grabbed him, finding that his grip was painfully tight. He didn't struggle, however. He stared right at the creature hold him, then said "I am not tiny."

Then he grew.

Suddenly, he seemed to have total control over his powers. He rippled upwards, taking his largest size easily. "You are." he growled, bringing his huge muzzle inches away from the evil creature of Tartarus. Zephyr flicked his head around to Nate, saying "This is an illusion. We're all trapped in it. We were the second we stepped into it. See?" He pointed down at the half a flower with one huge white claw. "His illusion is weak. He did not extend it far enough. We can use our powers, but the illusion made us think we couldn't."

Necropolis' right eye twitched. He laughed a bit, jumping away from the dragon easily. He hopped on top of a building, grinning at all of them and wringing his hands. Of course, now that Zephyr realized that they were in an illusion, the entire thing was transparent for him. He could see straight through the illusions; people milled about as usual, skirting around the group, though apparently not even seeing them. In the same way, none of the group could see the townsfolk anymore, aside from Zephyr.

"What? An illusion? How is that even..." He looked up at Necropolis, growling.

"I'm not from this world, remember? I can do things you can't even fathom. My tricks go far beyond just illusions, too!" Necropolis did a backflip onto the chimney, catching it with his hands and balancing on his fingertips. "Fun for everyone, get it?" He laughed again, grinning still. "Kind of sad that I was caught so easily, though. I hate flowers."

Werr swung again, but his sword arm was caught by Forin. "Unfortunately, I can't break an illusion just by knowing what it is. I have to beat it!" He tore the sword from Werr's grip, knocking the human to the ground. He stabbed the sword downwards, into Werr's gut, watching the blood erupt from the wound and Werr's mouth.

"Well. Well, well, well." Necropolis righted himself, a bemused look in his eyes. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd go that far. Break illusion!" He snapped again. The illusion was broken for everyone, though the townsfolk were still (luckily) ignoring the group. The guillotines vanished, the ropes disappeared, the wooden post was gone.

Werr remained. "I only altered his mind-state. He thought that you all were monsters and that he had to kill you with that sword. His expression was the result of your illusion. Otherwise, he would have looked completely terrified, and that would have given it away. And then you stabbed him with that sword, which is really funny. Also, that was lined with a pretty destructive poison that'll work into his bloodstream and erupt all of his arteries at once." Necropolis giggled, then added, "Hey, hey, wanna hear a funny joke? What's black and blue and red all over? Werr in five minutes!" He laughed hysterically, rolling around on the roof."

"Forin!!" Welk screamed when he saw Forin stab Werr. "What's wrong with you?!" He snarled violently at him, running back over to Werr and scooping him up into his arms, angry-tears dripping down his face.

Seria had heard Zephyr when the dragon had said they could use their powers, so she now ran forward and knelt down near Werr, snarling up at Necropolis. "It seems you didn't know much about us, you idiot." she spat. "I am an advanced-level healer. I can remove any and all types of poison. This is nothing to me." She pulled the sword out of Werr's stomach and threw his shirt back, creating the same slits on his body that she had the time that Nate was poisoned. Werr's blood ran an odd color at first, full of poison, then slowly turned red. Seria started running her powers over his body, forcing the poison out through the silts she had made. Once she was done, she raised her hands and held them over Werr's chest, closing her eyes. She located the last traces of poison inside him and made slits over those spots, letting the deadly stuff out.

Zephyr snaked his huge head around and closed his jaws around Necropolis, trapping the creature inside his mouth. He was extrememly strong, plus the flesh inside of his mouth was much harder than a normal person's. It was like the world's toughest leather. Both of those facts combined meant that Necropolis couldn't break out easily, if at all.

"Wha...I thought..." Forin stared at Werr's bleeding form. Werr's hand reached for Welk, but his eyes trailed around at the others as his mind dropped into shock. He glanced at Forin and stared at him for a few moments, a look of fear prominent in his eyes before a black bruise blossomed on his neck and he passed out.

Forin stepped back, eyes narrowed. Necropolis...that freak! Such a manipulative monster.

"Oh! It's dark!" Necropolis yelped, sitting up quickly in Zephyr's mouth. There was enough room for him to stand, if he wanted to, with the top of his head just brushing the roof of the dragon's mouth. "I can't see anything." He felt around, his hands touching Zephyr's teeth. "What are these? Windows? They're broken windows. I should fix them!" He punched at the teeth, cracking one easily. His freakish strength had been no illusion.

Zephyr grunted loudly and shook his head rapidly from side to side, flinging and flipping the creature of Tartarus around in his mouth. He flicked the tip of his tongue up, forcing Necropolis back a bit more in his mouth, then snarled. Lucky for him that his teeth grew back fast, so the broken tooth wasn't a big concern for him.

Seria's hand closed over Werr's neck, gently but firmly. She carefully made a thin slit over his skin, letting a hot rush of blood out, then closed her hand around his throat again and used her powers to seal the wound inside closed.

Welk was still crying softly, but he was glaring at Forin while he did. He hadn't liked Forin before, but he had accepted him. Now, that had changed.

"Oh! I seem to be inside something!" Necropolis yelped, then promptly kicked the back of Zephyr's throat. "He's trying to eat me! Stop it, foul beast, you'll give yourself indigestion!"

Forin just looked away, looking angry. He wasn't angry at any of them, of course. He was furious at himself. Once again, he had hurt someone unintentionally. This wasn't as bad as hurting Luen had been, but perhaps this was worse. He felt hated, and he hated himself. And his true self hated him. All the hatred was stirring up his own hatred, which was for pretty much everything on this world. Forin gritted his teeth, avoiding eye contact.

Zephyr growled darkly, shaking his head again. "Stop it, you lousy little pest!" he snapped. "That is extremely bothersome! You should know it does not hurt me. My throat is much too thick to be harmed by the likes of you. Sit still and be glad I'm giving you enough air to breathe with." He bent his head down to the others, asking "What do I do with this thing? I don't want to keep him in my mouth for the rest of my life. That would...suck? I'm fairly certain that's a human term for something being unpleasant."

Pale arms snaked gently around Forin's waist, curling delicately up over his chest. Luen rested his head on the creature of Tartarus' shoulder, closing his emerald eyes softly. "I was going to do the same thing." he said softly. "Perhaps not that brutally, but I was going to stab him with several icicles once I realized I still had my powers. You just beat me to it. As long as he's alive." He fully expected Forin to push him away, but he hoped he wouldn't. Especially since the summoned creature had cried on Luen's shoulder that one time. That alone had made Luen believe ever stronger in their mismatched little friendship. He sent a soothing wave of ice along his own arms, letting the tendrils of ice creep up Forin's body. The ice was cold and strangely refreshing to the touch, since it was full of magic.

"I-I don't know," Nate shook his head. "Guys, what are we going to do with Neropolis?"

"Let me go! I'll leave. I know when I'm beaten." Necropolis snapped. He finally was sitting still, but not before he had broken the cracked tooth completely, holding onto the sharp point as though it were a prized souvenir. "Really, I'll just go."

Forin didn't push Luen or pull away, but he was far from relaxed. Even with the ice tendrils, he looked as though he was seriously considering grabbing the sword and running it through Welk, as well. At least the half-cat would stop glaring at him, then. Forin thought hard about what Luen had said. Then Welk would have hated the wolfling, and perhaps even reacted differently. Welk could have attacked, and Luen would have been at an elemental disadvantage. Forin kept his eyes on the ground, but he relaxed the slightest bit. It was a good thing that this hatred was directed at him. He could grow used to it again. Luen probably wouldn't be able to grow accustomed to hatred from members of this group.

Werr opened his eyes again after his wounds had been healed. He still seemed to be in a little pain, but he didn't complain. He just sat up shakily, leaning against Welk for support. "Cici..." He mumbled, sounding unhappy. "Cici's still inside..."

Zephyr growled, a deep, rumbling sound that crept up from his throat, then said "Fine, then. I'll make sure you leave, however." He turned to Nate once more and said "I shall return momentarily." He then leapt upwards, beating his huge wings rapidly and ascending up into the sky, vanishing into the clouds.

Welk turned away from Forin with a distrustful air, glaring at the ground now. Nightlash was really the only person he out and out hated, and he didn't hate Forin as badly as that. He just really didn't like the creature of Tartarus now, but it wasn't like he was going to tell him to leave or say aloud that he hated him. He knew Luen and Diana liked him, and that was the only thing preventing him from saying things he would probably regret later.

When Werr woke and leaned against him, Welk wrapped his arms tightly around him, pressing his mouth and chin against the boy's shoulder. "I'll get her." he said softly, then moved away from Werr and bounded into the house. He immediately froze in horror.

((You said there was the body of the council member in here, yes?))

((Yes.))

Hanging from the wall in a fairly gruesome manner was a corpse. Bruises similar to the one that had formed on Werr's neck were covering the body. It was pinned to the wall by long knives, one through each wrist, and another through the chest. There was another cut, obviously the one that Werr had pulled out. Blood soaked the wall behind it, forming a puddle on the ground below. Cici was leaned against the wall near the door, obviously unhappy.

"You're not Werr. Where is he?" Cici huffed. "I told him he was inside an illusion, but I don't think he was able to hear me. I don't know why he thought it would be a good idea to put me down, either. Now where is he?"

Welk stared in horror at the corpse for a long, hard moment, then shook himself and scurried over to Cici. "H-he's outside." he said, reaching for the staff without thinking. As soon as his hand closed over her, he screeched and pulled away sharply, cursing loudly (something he had heard Forin say). "Ow ow ow ow ow!" he yelped, clutching his hand tightly against himself. "Jeez, you'd think with me being a fire mage that wouldn't hurt so much!" He winced, then bent down and took hold of one of the legs of his jeans. He used a claw and cut the leg off of both parts, turning it into shorts that came down to his knees. He wrapped one of the strips around his hands and went back over to Cici, grabbing her and scurrying back out to Werr. The staff quickly burned through his protective wraps, burning his skin a bit more before he was close enough to thrust the staff into Werr's hands. Welk hissed lightly through his teeth, wrapping his arms around himself and rocking back and forth in effort to relieve some of the pain in his burned hands.

Werr blinked at Welk in confusion before he remembered. "Oh...S-Seria, can you fix Welk's hands?" He asked quietly.

"That moron touched me instead of bringing you to me, Werr," Cici whined. "At any rate, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit...weary." Werr nodded, remembering the body. Had that been an illusion, too?

"No. The body really was there," Cici said, sounding a little saddened. Werr's heart plummeted at that. They had been too late to save Delilah, then... "You knew her, huh?"

"Yeah. She was a council member..." Werr sighed heavily. "We were too late..."

"We were a little more than late," Nate said, not sounding happy at all. "Necropolis had said that he had been waiting for 'days and days'. I don't know whether he was just being insane or what. I'm tired of insane people..."

Seria nodded, then moved over to Welk and made him unfold his arms and held his hands gently in her own, sending out a healing wave. He sighed quietly, still disturbed by the body he had seen, then glared at Cici and snapped "He just got injured, idiot! I didn't want him to walk, so I brought you to him."

Zephyr flew down out of the air, landing with a ground-shaking thud near them. He shook his huge head, then said "The being known as Necropolis is no longer near us. I threw him as far as I possibly could." He snorted proudly, then opened his mouth and stuck his tongue into the place where his tooth was broken. "Good thing I'm a dragon." he said. "This will grow back within the hour." He bent his head down and brought it a few inches away from Werr, saying "We should move on. There could very well still be enemies within the premises."

"Thank you," Nate said at once. "That probably won't keep him for long, though. Zephyr says we should move on, and he's right. We can all rest in Kash, where we'll be at least a little safer."

"Okay," Werr nodded, leaning against Welk again before strapping Cici safely to his back once more.

"And another thing, how long has this dragon been here? You said his name was Zephyr?" Cici chirped. Of course, she could speak most tongues, human or not. "Nice name. I'm Cici!"

Zephyr tilted his head back upon hearing the staff. He flicked his long ears up curiously, saying "Interesting. Nice to meet you, Cici. Zephyr Shinning-Scales, at your service." He dipped his head at her, then laid down on his side so they could climb on for the walk to Kash. "I'll carry you all again." he said. "You'll not need to strap yourselves in. I'll just be walking, which will be faster than if you all were walking or riding horses." He blew a thick puff of smoke into the air, shaking his dark green horns.

Once Seria was done with his hands, Welk wrapped his arms around Werr and helped him up, each taking silent comfort from the other. Welk took Werr's hand, holding on tightly, then led him over to the huge green dragon, helping him up onto his scaly back. They sat together, with Welk in front since he was stronger and was able to hold on better. Werr could hold onto him to avoid falling off.

Luen touched Forin's shoulder and gave him a soft, reassuring smile, then took Diana's hand and led her to the dragon.