The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr sat up quickly, untangling himself from his blankets and following Welk out of the cavern. He stopped short. What the heck was that?! Sure, it looked like a bear, but it was huge and those tusks and that tail made it look like some sort of fat sabertoothed tiger walking on its hind legs. "C-Cynyr! Hold on, we'll help!" He yelped, though he had absolutely no idea what he was planning to do. Compared to that bear-thing, he was hardly more than a mouthful. Werr turned to the dead fire, attempting to relight the ashes. Maybe the flames would scare the beast off, though he was well aware that the chances of that were terribly slim.

Cynyr couldn't reply to him. He was doing his best to avoid the giant bear's massive claws. Suddenly, the bear roared and jerked its whole body forward, throwing Cynyr from its back. The half-cat yelped as he hit the ground, then scrambled upright and went straight back in. The bear was trying to get closer to Werr and Welk, which it sensed were the weaker ones, but Cynyr's continued interference was making it extremely mad. The bear was taller than Cynyr, but only by around a foot.

For several seconds, both animals were so entangled together, clawing and attacking and biting at each other at such a close range, that in the darkness, neither Welk nor Werr could tell them apart. Blood quickly began to soak the ground, a sign that the battle was growing more violent. The bear was the one making all of the noise. Cynyr hardly ever made a sound, save for a few growls here and there.

The half-cat clamped his powerful jaws over the bear's ear and ripped the digit completely off of the bear's head, blood spraying across the ground.

The bear roared in agony, then slammed a thick paw out and dug his long claws into Cynyr's body, ripping easily through the panther's fur, skin, and flesh.

Cynyr finally roared, a deep, guttural screech of pain that echoed through the clearing. He didn't have any time to do anything else, however. In the next second, then bear yanked its claws out of the half-cat and hit him straight over his head. The powerful blow made Cynyr's whole body give out, and the half-cat flew backwards, slamming into the ground. He couldn't see straight, and none of his limbs would move. The blow to his head had been horrifyingly close to his spine, and he could only pray he wasn't paralyzed.

"C-Cynyr!" Werr yelped, attempting to light the fire with renewed desperation. Something hit him on the head, however, and then on the hand. Rain suddenly poured from the sky, thunder rumbling in the distance. Werr quickly pocketed the flint, realizing what this meant. No fire. Not even a slim chance of warding this beast off by himself. "Welk?" He said warily, backing up a couple paces, searching for the half-cat out of the corner of his eyes. What was he supposed to do now?

"Cynyr!" Welk screamed, seeing his brother fall to the ground. He was still standing protectively near Werr, but his whole body was shaking badly with fear. He didn't know what to do.

The bear turned its attention to the two boys, lumbering closer.

Welk's eyes widened, and he quickly turned and fastened his teeth into Werr's sleeve, dragging the boy safely under the waterfall cavern. The bear couldn't fit under the small spot, but it wasn't going to leave. It started using its thick tusks to dig at the rocks, beginning to tear the cavern apart to get to them.

"What do we do?!" Welk shouted at nobody, fear coursing through his veins. They were trapped, Cynyr was hurt, and they couldn't do anything to help. All they could do was wait for the bear to rip enough of the cavern apart so it could kill them.

Suddenly, the bear roared and backed up, clawing at its back. Cynyr had, somehow, managed to get back up and was once again ferociously tearing at the bear's back, this time drawing blood. The bear lurched away from the waterfall, once again back to trying to get Cynyr off of its body.

Werr was in a panic, and about ready to run to the back of the cavern in a desperate attempt to escape. "C-Cynyr! Use your magic or something!" He shouted, not sure how else he could help. Not that he really thought that could help, anyways. He turned and moved to the back of the cavern anyways, trying to see if there was a way they could get out that way. It was too dark to actually see, but he tried feeling the cave walls. Feeling nothing, his panic growing, he swore and kicked at the stone wall. He yelped in surprise as the rock fell away from his foot, crumbling away. "Welk! Come here, there's an opening here!" He yelled back to his friend, pushing away more of the loose stones.

"What, and leave my weak human form open to attack?! I'm barely surviving in this one!" Cynyr shouted quickly, then once again had to focus on not getting killed. Plus, he only knew how to use wind magic, and he wasn't sure he could hurt a creature this size with a gust of wind.

Welk ran over and began digged at the wall with his paws, helping Werr move rocks out of the way. He could see perfectly well in the darkness, and he was able to help make the hole in the wall big enough for them both to fit through. "I'll go first!" he said, shimmying through the hole and into a tunnel.

Then a loud scream sounded from the raging battle, and everything went eerily quiet.

Welk's head shot up, and his eyes widened in horror. That scream. It almost sounded like... No. "Cynyr..." he whispered, terror making his body quiver.

((It wouldn't open up to the outside, it'd open up to a tunnel. 'Cuz there's a waterfall. And this is not like minecraft, you cannot just place a water block at the top of a cliff and have it run forever and ever. There has to beez a level ground/more descent behind it, obviously, so the water can flow. So yeah, tunnel, not outside.))

Werr froze, looking back. Oh dear...Werr looked back at the cave entrance, not sure what to expect. Was Cynyr...dead?

((Ah. I'll change that.))

Welk fought past the tears that sprang up in his eyes and raced forward along the tunnel, knowing that he had to get outside and see what had happened. Once he got to the end, he waited impatiently for Werr, not about to leave his friend alone.

Werr slid down into the tunnel after Welk, hurrying after the half-cat. What on earth was going on out there...?

"Come on." Welk whispered, creeping along the tunnel until they both were able to get out, back into the outside world. Once they were out, they made their way carefully back towards the scene of the fight, trying to keep quiet. Welk nearly screamed when he saw what waited for them, but he managed to hold it back at the last possible second.

Cynyr was laying motionless on the ground in the meadow, his body ravaged by bites and terrible wounds. The ground beneath him was soaked with glistening red blood. The bear was once again ripping the waterfall apart, still stupidly thinking that Werr and Welk were inside.

Werr froze, staring in shock for a long moment. He jerked himself out of it, creeping forward, keeping his eyes on the bear as he pulled Cynyr into his arms, careful not to make much noise. He planned to creep back to Welk, then have him help carry their injured friend into the tunnels. The bear would be unable to reach them from there, it would take far too long, and the bear would likely lose interest and move on. Werr's heart was practically in his throat, though; it was hard to see through the rain, and he had to slowly shuffle his feet instead of stepping, so he didn't place his foot on any twigs that would attract the bear's attention. Not only that, but he was walking backwards so that he could keep his eyes on the bear, and Cynyr was heavy. Werr was dragging the half-cat through the mud, though he was holding on as much as he could.

Welk saw the trouble his friend was having and crept over, his paws making no sound at all. He helped Werr pull Cynyr towards the tunnels, then froze when the bear roared. It tore a huge chunk of rock loose from the waterfall, sending the huge stone flying towards them. Welk quickly ducked, pulling Werr down as well, as the rock sailed over their heads, landing with a huge THUD. Then Welk cringed when he heard a deep grunt.

The bear was looking right at them, having turned when it heard the thud of the rock.

With a thunderous roar, the bear charged at them, determined to finally catch its prey.

((This would be a good time for your character to show up. Otherwise, they're dead.))

((Okay. But, uh, my character is sealed away for survival purposes. 'Cuz technically, she's hundreds of years old. So, um...initiating helpful random occurance. And yeah, Cynyr breaks the seal, gets her seal of power, so on. Have fun thinking of a description for the seal, I'm open for anything. :3))

Their luck hadn't run out just yet, though. The rain had weakened the ground, which concealed a tunnel like the one they had exited from only moments before. The rock hitting said weakened ground had weakened it further; Werr backpedaling with Welk so their backs were against the rock was the final straw. The ground collapsed on itself, dropping the three into the tunnel below; the tunnel was flooded partially in this spot; there was a hole in the tunnel floor here, where the rainwater from the night before and today had flowed into, creating the pool they dropped into. Werr had just enough time to breathe in before they were submerged.

((Sounds good. I'm thinking something sort of like a giant crystal-type thing that they can't see into, hence not knowing that there's a girl in there, and when Cynyr touches it that breaks the seal on it and releases the girl or something like that. I dunno. XD ))

Welk yelped as he went under the water, not knowing which way was up. He opened his sharp eyes and saw an air bubble above them, then grabbed Werr and swam up with him. They appeared in a large underground cavern, and Welk quickly let go of Werr and went back for Cynyr. Once he got his brother, he dragged him up out of the water, hauling him out by the scruff of his neck. He had no idea if the black half-cat was alive or not, and he was screaming inside with how badly he wanted to know. He didn't pay any attention to his surroundings, all of his thoughts focused on Cynyr. He coughed several times, clearing his lungs of water, then pawed at Cynry. "Cynyr!" he said, rather raspily from the water. "Cynyr, are you okay?"

((Close enough, I guess. xDD))

Werr coughed a bit, helping Welk pull Cynyr onto dryer land. He stood, looking around. They had dropped into a dead-end corridor of some sort. Werr could make out odd runic symbols on half-buried tiles on the ground. Standing at the end of the dead-end was a white marble coffin of some kind, with a golden obelisk shape chained onto the front. The coffin was glowing ever so slightly, providing enough light to see by. "W-we should get him away from the water," Werr tore his eyes away from the scene to look down at Cynyr. "Is...is he okay?"

Welk coughed again, then turned back into a human. He carefully reached forward, trying to ignore the wounds all over Cynyr's body, and tipped the half-cat's head back. He then bent down and pressed his ear delicately to the panther's chest, listening intently. Finally, he pulled back, saying "He's alive, but his heartbeat is really weak." He gritted his teeth together angrily, then snarled "Why can't I be strong? How come Cynyr's always getting beat up and almost killed because he has to defend us?! I want to protect him! He's always taken care of me and protected me, so why can't I do the same?!" He shook his head, gently running his fingers through Cynyr's wet, bloody black fur.

Werr was quiet. He didn't really know what to say; he'd always been weaker than others, he used his wits to bring down greater foes, not that he ever really needed to before. This time...he had been given literally nothing, and Cynyr had taken all those injuries for them. Werr paused and listened to the rain splatter against the pool for a moment before speaking.

"We should put pressure on the wounds that are still bleeding," He said quietly, tearing off his vest so they could use it to soak up some of the blood. He had left his bag back in the cave behind the waterfall. Hopefully it was safe there...

Werr caught himself looking back at the coffin while he wrung out the cloth. That glow seemed so warm, so inviting...Werr shook it off, paying attention to what he was doing.

Welk pulled off his own jacket and used his claws to rip it into bandages, then began binding Cynyr's wounds. He left any that were still bleeding to Werr for a moment, working on wrapping up the wounds that had stopped bleeding. Once they were taken care of, he used a part of his jacket to try and stop some of the bleeding wounds. He winced when he saw the jagged lines on the panther's body from the bear clawing him, then shook himself, just concentrating on putting pressure on the injuries. Some of them were shallow, but other's was dangerously deep. The half-cat had nearly sacrificed his life for them. Welk's tail flipped angrily, then laid still. Once they got the wounds to stop bleeding, he wrapped them tightly in strips of his jacket. He transformed back into a cat and buried his teeth into the scruff of Cynyr's neck, carefully pulling him away from the water and rain, further into the dry cavern.

Werr stood and followed. They stopped a few feet from the glowing coffin, and Werr sat down silently. "We should...try to get some sleep or something..." He said quietly, looking at Cynyr. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked, truely concerned for his friend. At this point, he was fairly certain that Cynyr would be okay, but Welk looked...traumatized or something.

"Yeah..." Welk said quietly, his ears back. "Yeah..." He shivered and wrung out a part of his red tank-top, then turned back into a cat and laid down next to Cynyr, putting his back against the panther's. He looked up at Werr and sighed. "So...we're trapped in here? Until Cynyr wakes up?" he asked, lifted his head up to look at the spot where they had fallen through. It was really high up... He shook his head, then motioned with his head at the spot near his furry belly, letting Werr know he could get close, since the boy didn't have his bedroll anymore.