The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr yelped when his fingers were frozen. He watched Luen flee before getting the ice off of his fingers. "There's a tracker inside his stomach..." Werr sighed.

"Which needs to be removed," Forin stared at him through the holes in his mask.

"Yeah," Werr felt a bit uncomfortable at the stare. "Hey...you're a--"

"Discreet removal specialist."

"Yeah, that...do you think you can get that thing out without hurting him?"

"I cannot say how much it will hurt. I do know that it will likely have less pain than being pinched, though." Forin answered lightly. "Do you wish for me to remove it?"

"If he'll let you..." Werr nodded.

"Very well then. You should see the tracker within the hour. You should go catch up with Nate, human. You're weak on your own." Forin started off after Luen, disappearing into the crowd with Diana right behind him. Werr watched them leave before moving to catch up with Nate and Seria, knowing that Forin was quite correct.

((I didn't know Forin wore a mask. -thinking of Cynyr a bit- How much does Forin's mask cover?))

Seria smiled at Werr as he approached them, but when she saw the look on his face, she paused and let her smile fade. "Werr? Something wrong?" she asked, flicking her tail against Nate's hip to get his attention. She was holding Airlia's hand in her left hand and a small bag in her right, which she had refused to let anyone see into. She had gone off by herself to get whatever was in the bag a while ago.

((Be sure to let this switch to Luen and Forin and Diana at some point. It won't be much fun if Forin just comes back and says "Here the tracker, the end." XD ))

((They're at the mask festival, remember? They're all wearing masks! You forgetful duck you. xDD))

Nate looked around. He had been looking at some festival food, wondering if it would give him indigestion or not. "Ah, Werr. Yes, do tell."

"O-okay...but you have to promise not to get angry or go after him or anything, I think Forin is already taking care of it." Werr sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Forin is taking care of what?" Airlia frowned at him, adjusting her mask again. It didn't quite fit properly, so she kept having to push it up.

Werr lowered his voice, frowning. "Luen has a tracker in his stomach. It's why he hasn't been eating properly, he's really malnourished because of it..."

"Hm." Nate murmured, thinking a bit. "What were you planning to do about it?"

"I was going to take him to you and Seria so you could cut it out and Seria could heal him. We could have disposed of it using Luen's powers."

"Has it occurred to you that he doesn't trust us? Much less me. I'm the one who burned him."

"But you haven't given him any other reason for him not to trust you, I--"

"Not everyone is as trusting as you are, Werr."

((Of course. xDD))

((...-repeated headdesk-))

Seria immediately looked concerned. "That's terrible! The poor thing... I understand why he wouldn't want to come to us about something that important. We're little more than strangers to him. That's sort of our faults, in a way. We haven't exactly made the first move towards a better relationship with him." A thought suddenly hit her. "Wait a second." she said. "You let Forin go after him? Luen barely even knows who Forin is! They've barely exchanged more than three words to each other. I don't trust Forin to take the situation delicately, especially something as sensitive to Luen as this."

Werr blinked. "H-he kind of suggested it...should we go stop him or something? What should we do?"

By now, though, Forin had already reached the room in which Luen was hiding. "Luen? Your name is Luen, right?" Diana knocked on the door. "Could you come out, please?" She asked, smiling. Forin, in the meantime, removed his mask and flexed his fingers, frowning slightly.

A frosty blast of air shot out from under the door, along with the sound of ice forming. "G-go away!" Luen stammered. "I said I'm fine! And to be completely honest, I don't trust any of you! How can I? In reality, this is not a happy go lucky fantasy world where everybody trusts everyone else after they meet and talk for a few days! I'm not like that! I'm scared of everyone I meet!" A sharp crackle of ice and a crunch of snow, then silence.

Forin's frown deepened at this. Diana pouted. "But we're here to help you, Luen. Forin is really good at taking things out, and it won't hurt at all. You probably won't even feel anything, so--" She stopped as Forin raised a hand. She stepped back, and he pulled on the door handle.

The entire door quite literally phased through the ice, falling off of its hinges and everything. "What flimsy wood," Forin commented, setting the door aside and stepping into Luen's room. "As my mistress said, it will be nearly painless. Your fear is of no regard to me. That tracker inside your stomach is a danger to my mistress, so I will remove it, whether you prefer it or not."

Not only had the door been covered in ice, but the entire room as well. It was bright inside instead of dark. Luen had left the windows open, and the light coming in through them shone off of the snow that covered the ground and the ice that covered the walls. None of the snow was melting in any way. It was so cold in the room that Forin and Diana's breath came out as white puffs. Luen was still under the bed, now with a huge sheet of ice covering the whole bed. He was laying on his side in human form, shivering, though not from the freezing cold temperature of the room. He jerked when Forin opened the door, quickly pushing back against the wall under the bed.

Forin, of course, had pinpointed Luen by scent. He reached through the ice (and the bed) and grabbed Luen by the collar. A moment later, and Luen was on top of the ice-covered bed, Forin's grip firm on the back of the ice-mage's collar. "If you struggle, I really cannot say how painful this will be for you. Not that I care. I just thought it would be fair to let you know."

Diana was oblivious to them, making a tiny little snowman despite how cold it was. Forin didn't seem to care at all about the temperature. Of course not.

Luen yelped when Forin grabbed him. He struggled for a moment, but when Forin spoke to him, he grew still, simply laying there on the bed. He was shaking badly, but he knew better than to struggled anymore. Part of his shirt had become skewed during his movements, revealing the painful scar on the left side of his body, where the tracker had been implanted from. The poor wolfling was badly frightened. He had no idea what Forin was going to do to him. "W-wait!" he stammered. "I...I s-should let you k-know that the...the people that p-put the tracker in s-said they stitched it to m-my stomach to k-keep it in p-place... Maybe you s-should do t-this later?" He wasn't fibbing to try and get out of the current situation. It was the truth, and a fairly obvious one, at that. It would make sense that the tracker be secured in place once it was put inside of a person. Not only would it help the tracker stay still, but it would minimize the threat of people trying to remove it on their own.

"So I wil remove the stitches, as well. Your stomach will be unharmed." Forin pushed Luen down onto his back. Red runic symbols glowed on his palm before he placed it on Luen's scar. Forin closed his eyes, and his hand passed through skin and muscle with ease. Luen could feel a tingling as Forin found the tracker device, then a twinge of pain. But as he had stated, it was hardly anything to wail over. The next moment, Forin was holding the little circular device, two black wires hanging off of it. Luen's skin was perfectly intact and there was literally no trace of Forin's magic.

"Done." Forin put the device in Luen's hand and then turned to leave. He wanted to destroy it, but he had realized the same thing Werr had. As soon as the thing was destroyed, their current location would be targeted. Since they planned to be here another night, it was best to let it be for now.

Diana hopped up, picking up her little snowman and carrying it over to Luen, holding it out to him happily. "Mister Snowman wants you to know that Forin is very good at what he does," She giggled. "As if that wasn't obvious.

Luen twitched when Forin touched him, quivering, but he didn't say anything. He whimpered softly when he felt the twinge of pain. He had dug his hands into the snow covered blankets beneath him, trying not to think of that fact that Forin had his hand inside of his body and could potentially hurt him badly if he so wished it, then gasped when he felt the weight of the tracker leave his body completely. He opened his eyes and stared up at the tracker that Forin was holding, watching as the boy put it into his hand. Luen held it tightly, then quickly sat up and pulled his shirt up, closely examining the skin of his stomach. Aside from the nasty scar that was already there, he was unharmed. He cautiously ran two clawed fingers over the surface of his skin, barely able to believe that the tracker was gone. He carefully let his shirt fall back down to cover his stomach and held the tracker tightly in his hands, staring at it. When Diana came over to him and held out the snowman, he stared at her, still breathing a little hard. He made no move to take the snowman or touch it, still wary of Diana too.

"Mistress Diana, we should return to the festival," Forin said gently. Of course, the only times he spoke with any measure of kindness was when he was speaking to Diana.

"Okay," Diana nodded, settling for setting 'mister snowman' on the bed next to Luen. "Be better soon, wolf-man," She smiled at Luen before turning and skipping back to Forin. Forin rested the door against the ice around the doorframe; he was a remover, not a placer. He couldn't make the door go back where it was. Regardless, he was gone a few moments later.

And then Werr was knocking on the lopsided door, shivering a bit at the cold air. "Luen? Are you in there? Are you okay?" He asked, sounding upset.

There was no answer for a long moment. "Yes." Luen finally squeaked. He quickly cleared his throat and gave it a better try. "Y-yes." he said, a bit louder and firmer. "I...I am. I think..." He sighed, releasing a thick white plume of frozen breath into the air. Since none of the ice or snow was melting, he saw no reason to make it go away. He liked it. It was comforting. "You can come in." he said, lifting a hand and making the ice around the door disappear, except for a large stalagmite icicle that kept the door up.

Werr pushed the door aside, though apparently it was heavier than Forin let on. He could only push it just enough so he could get inside, though he started shivering as soon as he set foot inside. He was sensitive to the cold, to be honest. "I-I'm guessing Forin alr-already got to you...?" He chattered, crossing his arms and pulling his cloak around him. "I'm sorry...I s-should have thought a-about whe-whether or not you w-would have wa-wanted that..."

Luen gave an almost unnoticeable nod, then saw Werr's shivering and lifted a hand again. He made all of the snow and ice in the room vanish without melting or leaving water behind. He left what was on his bed, however. He couldn't bring himself to make it leave yet. He needed it. He missed the coldness of snow. "He got to me..." he murmured, fingering the tracker in his hands. "He forced me to do it. He pulled me up through the bed and made me lay still on it, then..." He paused and shuddered, then said "I don't want to talk right now." He created a thick sheet of ice that blocked him off from Werr and made it hard to see through, then laid down on the bed, still holding the tracker.

Werr looked upset. He took off his mask and rubbed his eyes, wondering what he should do now. "Okay...when you do want to talk, I...I'll be around, okay?" He rubbed the back of his neck, turning around to follow Forin, though the summons and summoner were long gone.

A few seconds later, he was pushing his way through the crowds (his mask back on his face), trying to see if he could find Nate or someone. He really shouldn't be alone like this, Nate and Forin were both right. He was weak. Defenseless. His mind was hardly a weapon against the people they were facing...

((Weak, defenseless, and alone. If you wanted to do something, now's the time to do it.

If not, no matter. xD Just decided to give you the opporotunity. Do tell if you need one for any of my other characters. o3o))

Whump!

Werr was suddenly slammed into from the side by such force than he was nearly sent to the ground. The person that had ran into him was almost his height and size, but a bit more slender. His face was covered by a black hood and cloak that ran down the length of his entire body. A huge pair of slitted yellow eyes flashed open inside the hood and a growl floated out. The eyes were too large to be half-cat or wolfling eyes, or even dragonian. There was something more reptilian about these eyes, something...sinister. There was a sharp snap of jaws inside the hood, then a hissed voice growled "Watch yourself, boy. There are people about that mean to do you and your companions harm." The figure then scurried off, but not before Werr saw that it had a long reptile tail sticking out from under the edge of the cloak.

((How about a new villain that will be shown more soon?))

((Whee. : D))

Werr stared as the figure disappeared into the crowd. What...on earth? His mind switched to what the person had said. What kind of people? King Asmodius' agents, surely. Werr yelped as he was grabbed by the back of the collar. He flailed for a moment, struggling against his attacker.

"Calm yourself," Came Forin's stony voice. "Did I not say that you are weak on your own? Yet here you are. If I had been an enemy, you would be done for."

Werr stared at him, immediately deciding not to tell about the strange figure. He might have just been seeing things...his eyes were playing tricks on him. Yeah. "Er...sorry," He stammered, not sure what else to say.

"No harm, no foul," Diana squeaked from Forin's side. She was clinging to his arm this time, rather than clinging to him from behind. "Be nice, Forin."

"Of course, Mistress. Come, Werr. Allow me to take you to the Dragonian and the healer." Forin tutted, turning around. Werr hurried to follow, his thoughts were a bit scrambled at the moment.

((Since I haven't yet, and I'm a little bored, I've decided to list my character's balances; weaknesses that balance out their powers. I don't think I've told you about them before, so yah. xD

Airlia and Werr can't fight in a physical manner at all, so they're nothing to worry about for any bad guy. Nate is a good fighter and a fire-breather, but if he drinks cold water, he can't breathe fire for a day or so, and that's partially why he drinks alcohol. Force-feed him too much water, and he gets sick and could possibly die. (Real dragons keep boiling water in their nests, and they can drink that. Nate can't, 'cuz he has a human throat and mouth, and drinking boiling water would be painful. But anything below boiling is dangerous for his system.)

Diana and Forin are simple; Diana can't fight for herself, and if she's captured and threatened, Forin is forced to follow along with the captor's demands. If they actually hurt her though, he gets scary. Which, you'll see sooner or later. Forin's main weakness in the fighting sense is long-range stuff. He can't remove a heart if he can't reach it because arrows or spells are keeping him at bay. He does get injured like anyone else, but he has a skill in ignoring the damage until it gets serious, or until the fight is over.

That's it, I think. If you didn't want to read all that, TOO BAD. xD))

((I READ ALL OF THAT AND LOVED IT. SQUEE.))

The figure that had bumped into Werr was still moving through out the city, heading unfalteringly towards an empty alley. He trotted into it, his feet making odd clicking sounds whenever they hit the ground. It sounded like claws being tapped against stone.

Because it was.

He was humming a light tune to himself as he moved, and he didn't stop when a new figure suddenly leapt down from the roof and put a knife to his throat. "What do you think you're doing here?!" Nelu snarled near his hood, keeping the knife next to his throat.

"Doing?" the hooded figure said in a chipper voice. "Just following mission orders! Hee hee hee!"

"You insane monster." Nelu spat, letting him go and backing up. "I still can't believe Asmodius gave me you for a new partner. True, you're ten times better than Luen ever was, but at least my brother had half of a brain."

"I have a brain!" the figure chirped. "I just never use it."

"Idiot." Nelu growled, walking over to peek outside of the alley. "Did you see the targets?"

"See them? I spoke to one." he answered, bobbing his head from side to side rapidly.

"What?!" Nelu snapped, whipping around to glare at him. "You were only supposed to scout them! What did you say to it?"

"I told him to watch out for me, though he doesn't know that!" the hooded creature said, bouncing up and down excitedly. "They don't know anything."

"YOU don't know anything, you ignorant idiot!" Nelu shouted at him, brandishing her knife. "This mission is important to locating the wind mage for Asmodius! He's getting desperate, and if you mess this up, you'll join the rest of your fallen tribe!"

The creature stilled instantly, lifting his head to reveal his sinister yellow eyes. "You think I have forgotten what I am?" he growled darkly. A clawed hand appeared through the edge of his robes, reaching up to rip the hood off. "I am a raptorix! I was born for simple missions such as these! A wingless dragonian? Bah! Half-cats? Please! A broken wolfling? Nothing I cannot handle. Even the creature of Tartarus stands little chance against me. For I have something they all do not have." He paused, letting a grin that screamed insanity creep across his face, then said "I have a broken mind. Therefore, they can never hurt me. Never hurt me! I can fight and fight and fight and I'll never go down, no matter how many wounds I receive! Let's see you do that, puppy."

Nelu fumed horribly at him, then turned away and growled "Shut up. Just make sure you do this right."

"Everything is wrong." the raptorix said, his insane state returned. "This rock, and this grass, and this cape...GASP! That's my cape! It's wrong, it's wrong, it's lovely and wrong!"

Nelu put her head in her hands and sighed, wondering what she had done to deserve such a stupid partner.

((They'll be attacking in a few more posts. For now, they're done.))