The Forgotten Zodiac

((Nuuu, I want you to play as him. It would be more ffuuunnn. And he wouldn't come in for like, ages, and you'd only play him when we get there. :I Doooo eeeettttt.

Not that I'm going to force you. But it would be more interesting and there would be less roleplaying with myself that way.))

Nate just moved back to the bar, ordering a shot of whiskey and downing that before moving towards the stairs. "Well, I'm going to bed. We have quite a distance to cover if we're going to make it to Kash before evening tomorrow." He stated simply before heading upstairs.

(('Tis pronounced 'ch-a-shh'. NOT cash, like money. I get irked when people read my long list of city/town names and mispronounce every single one. -looks pointedly at mother- >:I))

((Fiiiiiiiiine, I will. 'Tis no problem.))

Seria grimaced at Nate when he took the drink, then said "I'm heading off too. You coming, Luen?"

Luen glanced up from where he had been looking out of the windows and nodded, saying "Yes, I am." He followed her upstairs and paused at he and Nate's door. "Ohh..." he moaned softly.

"Scared?" Seria asked, stopped at her and Airlia's door.

Luen nodded slightly, flicking his white tail while his furry ears stayed back against his head.

"You don't have to be scared of Nate." Seria said, patting his shoulder. "He's not that bad. Just a little strange."

Luen took a deep breath, then nodded. "Okay." he said, giving her a small smile, then turned and cautiously opened the door. He paused, then gulped and walked in.

Seria smiled, then went into her own room.

((Okay. I hate that too, when people mispronounce my names.))

((Now I feel like I'm forcing you. :x))

There was only one bed in the room. Nate was sitting in a chair that was in the corner of the room. He had already put out the candle, and his eyes were shut. His slow breathing and stillness were sure signs that he was asleep already; though two things were 'a little strange' about him right now. Firstly, he was sleeping while sitting up, his head not even leaning slightly. Secondly, he had just come upstairs not a moment ago, and he was already asleep.

Yes, just a little strange.

((Nah, you didn't. I said I was okay with it, and I mean it. ))

Luen shuddered, keeping close to the wall as he carefully walked over to the bed, but he didn't get on it. He instead chose to transform into a wolf and take cover under the bed. He felt like that option was much safer than sleeping in the open. He did, however, take the blankets off of the bed and pull them under. While he didn't trust the room and the person already asleep in it, he did trust blankets. Blankets were always nice to him.

The ice mage wolfling fell asleep moments later, curled up in a soft nest of blankets.

((Haha. NIGHTMAREZ TIMEZ. :I))

Morning slowly crept over the horizon, dragging the sun out from behind the mountains to the east. The inn actually had a fairly decent view of the sunrise. Werr stirred as the light settled on his eyes through the window, but he rolled over and pulled his covers over his head.

He was dreaming, and he didn't want to be disturbed.

It was peaceful. He was standing with his mother and father on a hill, having a pleasant chat. They were exactly as he remembered them, years ago before any of this started; his father, kind and knowledgeable, with the musky scent of tobacco wafting around him. It mingled well with his mother's smell of fresh cinnamon. She was wise and gentle, smiling at every opportunity she got. Welk was there too, smiling and laughing as Werr's father made his usual jokes.

Then things changed. Night fell. Mother and Father vanished with the sun, as did Welk. Werr shivered, looking around desperately. There was no one. He was alone...then everything was caught up in flames. The fire spread too fast for anything to be done; the world burned around him. Werr could do nothing but sit on his hill and watch.

The moon was gone. The trees were gone. Now it was just him, alone on a hill, floating on absolutely nothing. The entire world had burned away. Werr peered over the edge, feeling suddenly nervous.

"Off you go," A voice rasped in his ear. Werr jerked around to see who it was, but there was no one and nothing. The next moment, though, he felt a hand push into his chest, and then he was falling...

Thud. "Ow!" Werr let out a yelp as he hit the floor. He untangled himself from the blankets, looking around. He let out a sigh of relief...just a dream. Then he jumped as Nate, who was standing on the other side of the bed (and apparently the one who pushed Werr), cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Sorry. I didn't expect you to recoil so much. You were having a nightmare, I could hear you from the other room, so I thought to wake you up." Nate blinked at him. "My apologies."

"Er...that's okay..." Werr blinked.

Welk was sitting on his bed in cat form, watching the goings-on with a nervous glint in his eyes. "You okay, Werr?" he asked, looking concerned. He had woken up moments before Nate had even gotten up to see if Werr was alright. Being half cat made Welk a light sleeper, though he could sleep deeply if he so desired. He got up off of his bed and trotted over, sitting down next to Werr. "Nightmares are terrible." he said, rubbing his furry head against Werr's arm.

"Yeah," Werr nodded, trying to remember what had happened in the dream. Sadly, the more he tried to remember, the less he realized he could actually recall. "I'm alright. I just remember a voice...it was weird, and then I was falling, and then..."

"Sorry," Nate said again, smiling apologetically.

"It's alright. I'm fine. It was just a bad dream, it's not like I've never had them before." He stood and brushed himself off, patting Welk gently. "We should probably head out soon. Does this inn serve breakfast?"

"Yes, she does. Just ask the innkeeper if you want breakfast, she'll remember you're with me. I'll pick up the tab right before we go, so there's no problems."

Welk's eyes widened at the mention of breakfast and he quickly turned into a human and ran out of the room, saying "Food! Food!" He raced past Seria, who flattened herself against the wall to avoid getting run over. "Welk's up." she commented playfully, peeking in the open door Welk had left behind. "Grab Luen before you come down, please. Thank you. Airlia's already downstairs." She then trotted off, her fluffy red tail waving behind her.

Wer smiled, moving to follow his friend. Nate realized shortly after that them doing so had left him to get Luen. Nate sighed slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose before moving back into their room. He kneeled next to the bed, and said softly, "Luen, are you awake?"

A sharp dog yip sounded from under the bed, followed a loud bump. Luen whined and crawled out from under the bed, still in wolf form, then sat there and rubbed his head with a paw. "Yes, sir." he said, removing his paw. "I didn't mean to sleep in. I simply forgot to wake myself on time. It won't happen again, sir." Before Nate could say anything, the ice mage had turned back into a human and walked out of the room, his baggy clothes flapping lightly around him.

"Wait a moment, if you will," Nate said, standing and following Luen out into the hall. "You don't need to call me 'sir', I'm not on duty here. And there was no problem with you sleeping in, I just wanted to let you know that we were going to go eat breakfast now, and you're welcome to join us..."

Luen stopped, standing near the wall, then blinked. "Um...okay." he said, messing with his thin fingers nervously. "I'm...not quite used to these setting yet." He took a shaky breath, then said "Uh, yes, breakfast sounds good." He quickly turned and trotted away, almost running in his haste to get away from Nate. He really was scared of him.

Downstairs, Welk was doing what he did best; chatter. "I read somewhere that mages can sometimes alter their natural powers." he said, putting a bit of food into his mouth and swallowing it before he kept going. "Like, a fire mage could change his natural power to lightening or ice or something, but the process is really dangerous and risky. The mages sometimes die during the ordeal, but there are rare instances where they not only change their powers, but keep the old ones as well, so they're able to use TWO types of magic. It's really neat!"

"And I thought you didn't like reading," Werr chuckled, though he doubted what Welk was saying in the first place. He had never gotten much of a chance to read anything about mages. Books with anything related to mages were illegial. Not nearly as bad as traveling with a mage, but still pretty bad.

"Here you are, dears," The innkeeper set out a whole tray with full plates of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a jug of milk for all of them. "Enjoy your meal." She smiled brightly before moving off again.

"Yum!" Airlia squeaked with delight, grabbing a plate and digging in at once.

"I don't." Welk answered. "Actually, I might've heard it from someone. Somewhere. I don't remember." When the food was set out, he said "Oh, bacon! I love bacon!" He got a handful and sat in his chair, munching on it, which left the others in relative silence for a moment.

Luen came down the stairs and walked over, carefully selecting one piece of bacon and sitting down in an empty chair to eat it. He ate it delicately, then took a single pancake and ate that. Once he was done, he seemed finished, getting up and walking over to a couch in the waiting room so he could rest for a moment.

Nate ate surprisingly quickly. He took the rest of the bacon and several of the eggs. He didn't touch the pancakes or the milk, though Airlia was fairly certain she saw him eying the pancakes a few times. "Why don't you have one?" Airlia said, pushing one towards him.

"No, thank you," Nate shook his head, pushing the plate away.

"Come on, it's delicious!" She grinned.

"That won't be nessesary, Airlia." Seria said, taking a pancake off of the plate. "Let him be. I insist." She bit into her food and took two more off of the plate, then finished off the eggs. She glanced over at Luen and said "Did he eat anything?"

Welk said something, but it was unitelligable due to the food in his mouth.

"Aww." Airlia pouted. "But it's good..."

"Yes, I remember him grabbing a pancake and a piece of bacon. Not much else." Nate shrugged. "Let him do as he pleases, I suppose."

"Oh yeah, are we taking him with us, or not?" Werr asked, curious. "I don't remember what we decided. No, we didn't decide at all last night..."

"That isn't a lot of food." Seria commented, glancing over at the wolfling. She shook herself and answered Werr when he spoke. "Yes, we're taking him with us." she said. "His powers are amazing. You should see them in action sometime, Werr, Welk and Airlia. I would even go so far as to say that he surpasses Cynyr."

"Nu-uh!" Welk said, quickly swallowing the bite in his mouth. "Nobody can surpass Cynyr! Nobody." He was adamant on this, glaring at Seria like she had suggested that he shave off all of his fur.

"Darn...I wish I could take the seal off by myself..." Airla sighed. "If he really is that powerful, I want him to be my master."

"Well, I guess we'll see him in action sometime, if we're bringing him with." Werr nodded. "It's alright, Welk, Seria was just guessing. We don't know for certain." He added quickly, not wanting his friend to get mad again.

Welk glared at Airlia and said "Might I remind you that Cynyr didn't even want you in the first place? If you want Luen so badly, then you can just stay with him when I go to find Cynyr." He glared for a few more seconds, then released a huge breath and said "Oh, I don't want to be mad at any of you! It's hard for me to stay mad for a long time! I'm a happy person." He put his head in his hands and ran his claws through his blonde hair. "I'm sorry, Airlia." he muttered. "I just don't like hearing people talk bad about my brother... I mean, he did take care of me for almost my whole life up to this point."