The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate exhaled, and Werr was pretty sure he saw a wisp of smoke trailing out of the fire-breather's mouth. "Very well. That's believable enough." He paused when Luen asked to be killed. He hesitated, then said quietly, his tone dangerous, "You're not worth the effort. Scurry back to the hole you came from, wolfling, and if I ever see your hide again, I'll burn you so much that not even a rat would want to come near your corpse."

Luen immediately scrambled up and limped quickly away, though his legs were burned so badly that he could barely walk.

Seria suddenly stepped in front of him, preventing him from getting away, then said "Wait."

"What?" Welk said, puzzled. He wanted the wolfling to leave as soon as possible. "Why should he wait?"

"Don't you feel it?" Seria said, throwing Nate a stern look that clearly said 'watch yourself'. She bent down towards Luen, who lowered himself as close to the ground as possible, then placed her hand gently on his head, stroking his white fur. "He's a mage as well. And a very adept one at that." Seria said. "That explains why he's weaker than his sister."

"What are you suggesting we do, Seria? Drag him along with us?" Nate asked, frowning and ignoring Seria's look. "Somehow, I doubt the other one won't appreciate that quite as much."

"Nate..." Werr blinked at the older man, wondering just what was going on. He was starting to have doubts, but he was doing his best to stick to his theory that Nate was just acting scary to ward off their enemies. Besides the whole fire-breathing, pointed-tooth thing. Werr was still confused about that part. He sighed and thought quickly. "If he's a mage...he could be helpful to us. But we can't force him..." He walked into Luen's view, standing behind Seria. "We can't make him come if he refuses."

Seria sighed, then said "Alright." She stepped aside, giving Luen room to move, and said "You're right, Werr. I just…it's extremely hard for me to see any being in pain, even if it is an enemy. I…" She backed up, putting her hands on her temples to try and stem the headache that she had developed.

Once he had the room, Luen immediately fled as fast as his burned legs would allow him. He ran off at a limping canter, disappearing into the woods.

Once he was gone, Welk heaving a sigh and said "I think it would be a good idea to get to that town, Ulles, pretty soon, yes?"

"I understand," Werr said quietly. "Yes, we should get a move on again. But before we start walking..." He looked towards Nate expectantly.

The anger had vanished in an instant again. Nate looked just as calm and quiet as ever. He caught Werr's look, and nodded. "I suppose I do owe you all an explanation. I hadn't intended for that to happen so soon after meeting you. Forgive me for saying this, but I didn't quite trust you enough..." He sighed slightly. "I suppose I have little choice now, hm?"

"You really don't." Werr shook his head. Airlia was still hiding behind him, holding onto his shirt.

"Very well then..." Nate inhaled, then exhaled deeply. Smoke billowed out of his mouth, and his teeth grew slightly sharper. His neatly-kept fingernails shifted, transforming into large talons. He pulled back his sleeves; there were small patches of skin that weren't skin at all. Rather, scales. Nate's eyes changed, even; his normal, round pupil was changed to a thin slit within the time it took him to blink. "I had wings and a tail, at one point...they were torn off." He said, examining his talons for any dirt that might have gotten stuck. He wasn't looking up at the others; he seemed somewhat embarrassed. Either that, or he was paranoid about something or other again.

Nate was part dragon.

There was silence for a long moment, which was eventually broken in a way they should probably have expected by now. "Cool!" Welk shouted, flicking his tail rapidly behind him. "You're a dragonian, a half dragon! I've never seen one in real life before!" He was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement. "I can't believe it! Wait...yes I can!" he said, transforming into a human. "How is this even possible?" he asked, his eyes bright.

"I don't know myself," Nate shrugged. "I was telling the truth when I said that I don't know who my parents were."

"I heard that Dragonians were hated by most dragons. They're despised to the point where regular dragons just want them dead...that's probably why you've never seen one, Welk..." Werr said thoughtfully.

"Well," Nate nodded. "That's true. I, however, have had the fortune to be raised by humans and I've only met one dragon before. He tore off my wings and tail, but then left because the soldiers at the training academy heard the ruckus and came running."

"How are you able to hide yourself?" Werr asked, blinking.

"Well, I certainly can't hide my scent from dragons, but I've lived with humans long enough to where their scent masks mine from most animals. As for the talons and the like...after getting my tail and wings torn off, I trained myself to dialate my pupils to make them more human. The talons are natural for Dragonians, as is the fire."

"You...you seemed so scary before..." Airlia whimpered.

"Yes...I apologize greatly, miss Airlia. And fear not, I never intend to harm my friends with any fire. I am always in complete control." Nate said. With that, his talons shrank and his eyes slowly returned to normal. He coughed again, getting the last of the smoke out of his lungs. "Are you satisfied, Werr?"

"Yes," Werr sighed. "No more secrets, though?"

"None in regards to myself. I could tell you various things about other people, but...I'm afraid that would be rude."

"Why did that dragon tear off your wings and tail?" Welk asked, frowning in concern. "That's mean." He shrugged, then turned and pranced off without hearing the answer.

Seria moved to follow him, but she caught Nate's eye when she passed him. Her bright blue eyes had a knowing look in them. She had known what he was from the moment she had first walked into the room he was in back at the abandoned fortress. That was why she had talked about 'keeping no secrets' to him earlier. She had known, most likely through her powers as a healer. Then the link between them was broken, and she had moved away from him to follow Welk, who had continued in the direction that they had been moving in before the attack.

Nate just shrugged again in response to Seria. She had kept it to herself, he was grateful for that much.

Werr followed, pondering their new findings. Have Nate with them was definitely a help...but if a dragon had torn off Nate's wings and tail the last time he saw one, what would happen if they ran into a dragon again? Not that Werr thought they would run into any dragons or anything. Dragons were very self-preservant creatures; they kept to themselves and mainly hid from humans.

But even so, Werr didn't doubt anything at this point. There were too many possibilities.

Suddenly, something jumped out of the bushes and landed squarely on Werr's back, wrapping arms around his shoulders and neck. "Hey Werr!" Welk shouted, clinging to his friend in human form, his tail wrapping around Werr's leg. "Guess what? I like you and we're best friends!" he said, then let go and ran off, laughing giddily.

Seria rolled her eyes at Welk, but couldn't stop the smile that spread over her face at his excitability.

Werr let out a yelp of surprise, but quickly calmed down once he realized that it was only Welk. "I like you too," He blinked a bit, but then smiled as well. Welk was so hyperactive sometimes. It was fun to watch.

((Perhaps a small time-skip is in ordah.))

((Perhaps. What say to them just arriving in the town after a moment more of walking?))

Welk ran back a few seconds later, a good-sized stick held tightly in his mouth, even though he was in human form. "You know," he said, pulling the stick out of his mouth and twirling it in his hands. "I've always liked sticks, 'cept I usually used them to annoy Cynyr by poking him over and over. It was fun!" He glanced around, looking sneaky, then crept over and poked Nate with the stick. "Beep!" he said, then ran off again.

This time, however, he didn't come back immediately. Several minutes passed, and he didn't return.

((Sure, why not. :I

I was gonna have something bad happen, but that can wait until the next town, since we need a cooldown period after that attack. Also, you can make some more trouble when we're in Ullar, if you want~))

Nate blinked at the bushes where he vanished before moving on. Werr started to get worried after awhile, though he suspected that Welk was merely hiding again or something. Airlia was following gloomily along behind the rest of the others, her fear of fire still compelling her to distance herself from Nate. "Welk?" Werr called, frowning slightly after a few more minutes. "Welk! Where did you go?"

"Here!" Welk shouted, marching out of the bushes nearby with an angry look on his face. "Guess what now?" he asked, then didn't wait for an answer. "We've been being followed this whole time." he said, then jumped back into the bushes. Several snarls and yips followed, then Welk forced a large, partially-furry white shape out of the bushes, where it had obviously been trying to hide.

Luen had followed them.

The wolfling whimpered when he was forced into the open, and he quickly tucked his tail between his legs in fear.

((OR THAT. : D))

Nate immediately switched back to his angry-mode. "What did I tell you, mutt?" He snarled. Werr grabbed him by the arm, frowning.

"Cool it. I don't think he followed us to attack us or anything." Werr said quietly. "We can at least check that, can't we?" Nate was silent for a moment, fuming and turning away. Werr moved forward, kneeling in front of the wolfling, fairly confident it wasn't about to try anything.

"There's no need to be afraid," He said, his tone still quiet. Gentle. "He's just pretending. Can I asked why you followed us? Don't you want to be back with your friend?"

((Mwahahahahahahahaaaaa!))

Luen was shaking slightly in fear, but he forced himself to speak. "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but I don't have anywhere to go. There's a reason I asked you to kill me, sir." he said, glancing over at Nate. "Nelu, my sister, abandoned me when she saw my burns. There is no room for errors or mistakes, and I made one by letting your fire blast hit me, sir. My legs are hurt badly from that blast, and now I'm not as agile as I used to be. Nelu told me I was of no further use to her or King Asmodius and made me leave her shortly after I found her again. I don't know how to convince you that I'm not lying just to make you drop your guard or something, but it is the truth." He whimpered softly, then said "I have nowhere else to go, and if I'm out here by myself at night with these injuries, I won't last till the morning. I'm not asking you to help me. I'm asking you to kill me."

Welk's jaw dropped, and he glanced at Werr in shock, then back at the wolfling. "Are you serious?" he asked flatly.

"Quite." Luen answered honestly.

Welk stared at him and said "You've got problems, dude."

Seria frowned at Welk and said "He's not lying, I can tell you all that. As a healer, I can sense him clearly. He was not lying in anyway when he spoke."

Welk looked at Seria, and nodded. "Alright." He sighed, then stood. "We won't kill you. We already decided that, and...your own sister abandoned you? That's terrible..."

Even Nate seemed to agree, his anger disappearing again. "No. Life is valuable. You don't want to die. There's more to living than just serving someone."

Airlia, in the meantime, had crept around Nate and Luen, approaching from behind the wolfling. She patted him gently on the head, smiling a little bit. Honestly, she preferred dogs to cats. Wolves were close enough, and this one certainly seemed done with hurting people. "I don't want you to die. We haven't even met each other yet. You haven't met any of us yet! Werr is really nice, and Welk is super hyper all the time. Seria is very kind and a good healer, she's the one who healed most of your wounds. Nate...he seems kinda nice, but I don't like how he blows fire. It's not okay. What are you like?" She asked, blinking at him curiously.

Werr and Nate both fell silent as Airlia rambled on. Apparently, she was done with being gloomy.

Luen nodded slightly when Werr spoke to him. "Yes." he answered. "Nelu is like that. We used to have a sister too, but Nelu killed her... Nelu doesn't care for any life but her own." He sighed, then flinched when Airlia began petting him. He slowly relaxed a bit under her gentle hand, listening as she spoke. "I...am quiet." he answered when she asked him what he was like. "I'm always overpowered by my sister, who is loud and outgoing. No one really ever listens to me because of my shyness, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't care..." He gave a small, nervous laugh. "I haven't been in my human form for several years, as I've thought of myself as more of an animal than a human, due to some of the missions King Asmodius has ordered me and my sibling on." He stopped and shifted around a bit, winced as his legs throbbed, then said "I'm just quiet, really. And Nelu has said that I am much too polite for my own good, though I don't know what's she's talking about." He looked up at Werr and said "Is your arm better? I apologize for biting you..."

"Yes, my arm is fine." Werr nodded.

"Well," Airlia said, wrapping her arms around Luen's furry neck. "I don't think you're just an animal. My name is Airlia, and I don't like it when people die. It makes me sad. And it'll make me really sad if you die now, because I know you now, and I absolutely hate it when people I know die. Especially if I like them. And I like you, so I'm not going to let you die. Why don't you stay with us?" She suggested, smiling. "From what I've heard from the others, we're going to go find out what happened to Werr's parents. I don't think even Nate would mind if you came with us."

"I'm not adverse to accepting help," Nate shrugged. "Though I would suggest he watch his step if he decides to come with us. No more biting."

Luen winced as Airlia pressed against him, then lowered his head when Nate spoke to him. "Yes, I apologize for that. I was following orders at the moment. I...no longer have orders to follow anymore."

Welk bounced up and down in excitement and said "Alright then! You're with us from now on, Luen!" He then turned and bounced in several rapid circles, meowing the entire time.

Luen watched him for a moment, then said "Is...he okay?"