The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr scratched Welk behind the ears for a moment before looking up at the others. "Alright. Let's go. Um...who here knows how to get out of this place?"

"I remember which way we took to get here," Nate replied easily. "I don't know if there's a faster way, though."

Welk blinked quietly as Werr scratched him, then walked over to the door and glanced out. "I don't know the way." he said. "I don't even know how Cynyr knew the way. I would get lost in here."

Seria walked over near him and said "Cynyr never spoke of this place to me. Even before this, when we were...better friends." She shook her head and walked out into the hallway, glancing around at her surroundings.

((Hm. If we ever come back to this place later on, I definitely have something fun to do with it. >:3 I have mentioned before that the dark magic thing infects mages differently, right? And it varies between mages, according to their powers. So later on, when Cynyr is better known to the world as a mage, we can come back here...and I can...well, long story short, I can blow stuff up. :-D))

"Let's refrain from wandering, then." Nate said flatly, moving past them to lead the way out.

"Yeah," Werr nodded, though he was still kind of confused. Why had Nate said that? He had made it seem like a simple slip of the tongue, but...'It was a pleasure knowing you'? That was what tragic heroes said before they run off to give up their life to save the world and the like. I read too many novels, Werr said inwardly, shaking his head a bit to clear it of such thoughts. Still...that, and Nate's manner of speaking was rather formal. Very formal, now that Werr thought about it. Maybe the man just had the habit of talking like that, since he spoke to the king and such.

((Sounds like a plan. Also, I hope Natey isn't a traitor of some kind. I like him.))

Welk gave Nate a sidelong look as the young man passed him, then shrugged and followed behind him.

Seria walked beside Werr as they went along. "So," she said, glancing up at the boy. "how do you know Cynyr and Welk? Personally, I'm surprised that you're still alive. Cynyr is horrible at controlling his temper. I should know."

((Of course not. He's no traitor. He just has a freakishly awesome secret. xP))

Werr blinked at Seria for a moment before answring. "Cynyr and Welk lived in the same town that I did...we wouldn't have met if it weren't for me falling out of that tree...and yes, I'm aware of Cynyr's temper, but we were actually starting to be more like friends..." He frowned, still unhappy about Cynyr leaving like that.

((Great. ))

Seria nodded thoughtfully. "I once thought that too." she said softly. "But people change. Cynyr didn't always have a bad temper and skittish demeanor. He used to be a kind person. Relatively. But that Cynyr vanished a long time ago, and I doubt he will ever return. What we are left with now is a broken being that only remembers how to hate." She closed her eyes sadly and shook her head. "Only to hate." she said softly.

"What happened?" Nate asked out of curiosity. "If you can answer. What broke him?"

"Do you know?" Werr looked to Welk, frowning a bit. "I wonder why he let Airlia go with him, then..."

"Airlia gives him power, no?" Nate looked towards him before glancing back at Seria. "You would keep such a thing with you, would you not?"

"Well...yeah, I would." Werr nodded after a bit of thought. "But still, what made him so tempermental, then?"

Seria closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head and said "I"m sorry, but that is not my secret to reveal. Welk does not know what happened any more than you both do." She went silent for a moment, then spoke again. "If you wish you know that secret, then it must come from the one that hides it." she said. She padded quietly along the floor, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Werr sighed a bit.

"I suppose you're right," Nate shrugged. "I apologize for being nosy. At least we're coming to the exit at last," He said, stepping ahead and pulling open the door to the outside. He held the door open for the others, smling at all of them in an attempt to lift their spirits. It seemed that the absence of just two members of their little group was causing two of them obvious distress...Seria, not quite so much, but it was there a little, at least.

Welk frowned at Seria for a bit, then sighed and kept close to Werr. He didn't know Seria very well. Cynyr had never talked about knowing any other half-cats other than themselves, and never a girl half-cat at that. Welk wondered for a moment how Seria and Cynyr had met, but he decided to ask about that later. Right now, he was sad and upset, and didn't want to talk.

Seria blinked as they stepped outside. It was mid-afternoon now, and the sun was bright and shinning. It made it hard to see for a moment, since their eyes were used to the dim lighting of the fortress.

Welk bumped into Werr from behind, having been blinded for a moment by the light. He paused and rubbed his eyes with a paw, then blinked several times, getting used to being back outside. He stayed close to Werr, as the boy was the one person left that he trusted the most. He wasn't about to let Werr leave him too.

Werr stopped and covered his eyes for a brief moment as he adjusted to the light again. Nate seemed unfazed by the sudden brightness, heading out the door after them. Werr followed after a moment to recollect his eyesight. "So, uh..." He cleared his throat as he stepped outside. "Which way?"

Nate pulled out what looked like a compass out of his pocket. He closed it after a brief moment, then pointed southeast. "That way. On to the war, I suppose."

Welk glanced in the direction Nate pointed in, then paused and sniffed at the air. His ears flattened sadly and he closed his eyes for a moment, then whispered "I...I can smell Cynyr and Airlia's scents still, over the ground..." He sighed unhappily, then turned and started walking in the direction Nate had said.

Seria followed in the back, staying alert for enemies.

Werr walked next to his friend, scraching the half-cat behind the ears as he did so. "It's okay, Welk...even if he left, Cynyr is still your brother...even if he didn't want to come...well, when I finish my investigation, I'll come with you to help you find him, okay?" He said, trying to cheer his friend up.

Nate was about to say something about how illogical that was, as the scents would be long gone by then and there was actually little chance of them walking off the battlefield alive...but he kept his mouth shut. This time.

Welk sighed as Werr scratched him, then looked up at the boy and asked "You mean that? Really?" His bright crimson eyes shone in the sunlight, looking like two bright red rubies. He curled his tail around and wrapped it around Werr's leg as they walked, sticking as close to the boy as he could without making it hard for either of them to walk.

"I mean it. I'll stay with you for as long as you want me to, Welk." Werr nodded, quite sincere. He didn't have anywhere else to go, really, and Welk was his friend. Why wouldn't he stay with his friend?

Nate was silent, attempting to calculate how many day's travel it would take to get to the battlefield from here, and the chances of them running into any enemies along the way. The latter was actually fairly high. He had heard of others being set to the task of hunting down the remaining traces of mages.

With any luck, Cynyr would have the sense to hide in a cave somewhere and not show his face ever again.

Welk stared at him for a moment, then broke into a smile and said "Thanks. That means a lot to me. I want you to stay with me for as long as possible, because friends should never leave each other." Those words accidentally reminded him of Cynyr, and how that friend had left, and the half-cat went silent.

Seria trotted up to Nate and threw him a look, then asked "So how long is this going to take?"

Werr guessed what Welk was troubled by. "It's alright. I'll stay with you until we both die of old age, if I must." He smiled a bit and scrached Welk behind the ears again.

"By my rough estimations, somewhere around two days and a half, if we stop regularly for rest and meals." Nate answered bluntly. "There's at least three towns along the way, and I have enough money to spare, so we should worry not about finding places to sleep, and getting things to eat along the way."

Welk smiled at that and purred when Werr scratched behind his ears again. "Good." he said softly, still smiling, then trotted along with a bit more spring to his step.

Seria nodded, then said "I have some money as well. Between the two of us, I imagine that we'll have plenty if the need should arise that we would need more than what you alone carry." She glanced around for a moment, still on high alert, then said "So tell me. How did you come to work for Asmodius?"

Werr smiled at his friend, not listening to Seria and Nate.

"How I came to work for king Asmodius? Well," Nate puffed a bit, smiling slightly. "That's quite the story. I do suppose we have time, though. Well, to put it bluntly, I have no idea who my parents were. I was abandoned as a child; I was found by a soldier, none other than one in training to be a guard for the king. I was raised at the training facilities; I spent most of my childhood there, in fact. I have no idea who approved such a thing, but they thought it would be...beneficial for me to learn to fight and hunt at a young age. And who better to teach me than a training facility designed to train soldiers?" He chuckled a bit. "It does seem a bit sad, though, being raised like that. I wouldn't know; I never knew any other sort of childhood, so I just have to live with the one I have, no? Regardless, by the time I was eighteen, I was ready to be a guard. I was assigned to the Honor Guard, in fact; King Asmodius chose me. Three years later, something happens that I can't quite recall still, so on and so forth, here we are. It's been about ten years or so since then. I worry for my king..."

((Say, random question, how long has the war been going on, even? o-o))

Seria watched Nate closely as they walked, listening intently. When he was finished, she looked back forward, thinking over everything that had been said to her. "That is quite different from how I was raised." she said. "I was raised by my father, as my mother died giving birth to me. My father loved me very much, and I him. I lived in a large town near Delbrenhiem. I had several friends, some of whom I still know, and I went to a normal school. Along the way I discovered that I had the abnormal ability to heal people and found my talents as a healer. I set up a small, secret place that I used to heal people in, and so stayed hidden from the wars and killings of mages and witches. Then I met...someone...who captivated me completely." She sighed deeply, then said "He no longer holds feelings for me."

((I dunno, I would say something like, around fifty to sixty years or so? Maybe fourty. -no idea-))