The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate stumbled to his feet, not knowing what to do. He couldn't blow fire, he could potentially hit Werr, now...

Werr screeched, tugging at Relic's fingers, not knowing what the Raptorix was trying to do. "Get off of me!" He kicked at the guy's knees, for lack of anything else to do. He thought desperately, thinking that perhaps lying would get him off. "Ulles!" He screeched. "We saw him last at Ulles!"

Relic paused and tilted his head to the side, then said "Ulles? You mean the town I just came from? That's funny, because there were no traces of a wind mage there. Perhaps I missed something. Or perhaps..." His voice darkened. "You're lying. I'll just take a look through your mind to make sure." The raptorix moved towards the boy again, only to suddenly get slammed into from the side by Welk and Seria, who were moving in sync with each other.

Seria growled ferociously at the raptor, digging her teeth into the creature's wrist and snapping the bone while Welk clawed at its back, leaving long bleeding trenches in Relic's scaly skin. To their shock, however, the most the raptorix did was sigh. Not a scream, not a yelp, not even a twitch of pain. "Are you both finished yet?" he asked, staring at them.

((Forin can come in at any time now. Not that he'll do anything.))

((Otay. But he won't get scary yet. o3o))

Werr, his head still in the Raptorix's grip, was unable to do much to get away.

"Make it stop!" Diana wailed at Forin. "Make him go away, I wish you would make him go away now!"

"Yes, Mistress." Forin released her, placing her behind Nate with a warning glare at the dragonian. He turned on heel, looking quite annoyed at Relic. "I would ask you to release the boy, but from the demonstration I just observed, you appear to have no intentions of doing so." He relaxed his hands, runic symbols glowing on both of his palms for a short moment. "Your insanity feeds you strength. You have the ability to ignore pain altogether. Yet somehow, I doubt you and your broken mind will be much of a match for a creature of Tartarus." By now, the crowds had fled to various places; as if anyone would stick around to watch. It was a good thing, because Forin could move freely.

He surged forward, his right hand going for Relic's upper arm, his left aimed towards the hand that was holding onto Werr. He was intending to remove bones; there wasn't much an attacker could do if his bones were lying outside of his body.

Relic stared at him, then suddenly laughed crazily and said "I like you! You say funny things!" He finally moved his hand from Werr, letting the boy go with the air of someone that knew they could easily get him back. He whipped around and slammed his muscular tail into Forin, knocking the boy to the side, then kicked up into Seria with one of his raptor feet, knocking her violently off of his arm. She gasped from the sheer force of the blow, which instantly made her loosen her grip on him. Once she let go, the raptor kicked her again, this time with enough force to shoot her back into an abandoned stall. Then Relic turned on Welk, moving to flip the cat over his head like he had done to Nate. Welk was ready for this, however. He twisted in midair and landed on his paws, then raced around and came at the raptor from the side.

Relic just stood there and watched him, then lashed out and caught Welk's head in his hands, bringing the cat to a screeching halt. "If I can't get the information from the boy," the raptorix said. "then I'll get it from his best friend." He plunged into the half-cat's mind, starting to riffle through his memories. Welk screamed and clawed frantically at the raptor's hands, trying to get him off, get him away, do something to make him stop.

Forin was not to be struck down so easily. He slid to a stop, observing the scuffle before choosing his moment to try again. He ran forward again, expecting the Raptorix to drive him away with the long appendage. When the attack came, his hand sank through scale and muscle, grabbing for the bone. It was taking longer than he expected though, to get through the muscle and ligament. This wasn't like human flesh and muscle, it was structurally complex and Forin found it difficult to push through.

((Oh, that's another weakness. If it's a creature he's never encountered before, the new genetic and chemical structures will confuse him, so it takes longer to extract anything. :T))

Relic watched him, again with a faintly bored expression on his face. "You bore me. I don't like you anymore." he said, then brought his head forward sharply and cracked his forehead into Forin's, knocking the boy backwards and away from his arm. Then he turned back to Welk and increased the power on the half-cat's mind, which caused Welk's cries to escalate to horrible screams. He sorted through the cat's memories, starting from his memory of when Cynyr first became a mage at the school.

Welk's eyes widened in terror and regret, since he could see the memories as well.

It only went on from there. Memory after memory shot through Welk's mind, forcibly yanked from his brain by the raptorix's power. All memories of Cynyr. Some were good and some were bad.

Cynyr protecting him and Werr from the bear attack.

Cynyr saving him and Werr from Kolo's torment.

Cynyr talking to them.

Cynyr reading the books Werr had let Welk give him.

Cynyr taking them to the abandoned fortress.

Cynyr leaving.

Cynyr.

Welk burst into depressed tears, losing his control over his cat form and reverting to a human, collapsing on the ground. He sobbed soundlessly, wrapping his arms miserably around himself.

Relic stared at him, then said "That was fun. Breaking and entering minds always is." He turned back to the others, saying "I know what I need to know, but I'm always up for a good fight. Who's next? I could go for some more memories to defile."

((Tail, not arm.))

Forin fell back, landing roughly on the ground and lying still. "Forin!" Diana screamed, running out from behind Nate. She stopped suddenly as a transparent black wall formed around her.

"You want a fight?" Forin said quietly, climbing to his feet. The emblem on his forehead glowed red, and the runic symbols on his palms started shifting, branching out and spreading up his arms. "I will make you leave. My orders are absolute." The wall around Diana shifted as he spoke. It spread, reaching out with tendril-like things and wrapping around Forin's arms and hands. It overtook his arms entirely, then changed further.

It became solid, splitting into massive claws. "You will leave."

((Now he gets scary.

If it continues for much longer, it'll get bigger until it's a giant, partially-transparent monster with Diana at the heart and Forin controlling it from the head. :3))

((Oops.))

Relic's eyes lit up happily and he clapped, clicking his large sickle claws against the ground. "Impressive! Most impressive!" he trilled. "Are you going to fight me with that? Oooooooo, this will be so much FUN!" He leapt forward, laughing joyously as he raced circles around Forin. "Hit me!" he called. "Seriously! I really want you to hit me!" He suddenly stopped cold and just stood there, waiting for it. "Really! Hit me as hard as you can!" he said happily, wagging his tail energetically.

((Cooooooool.))

"With pleasure," Forin hissed. He swept Relic's feet out from underneath him, slamming the claws into Relic's chest with ground-breaking force. As he moved and spoke, more tendrils were spreading out. Nate had to roll out of the way, proceeding to grab Welk and Werr and drag them away from the wall that held Diana.

Diana, in the meantime, was being lifted into an orb of the same material that made up Forin's claws. She was crying and upset, but the orb that took her in practically cradled her, attempting to calm her down.

((You wanna? It'll be more fun if Nelu shows her face; then Forin will recognize her, and he'll get maaaaad. :3))

Relic gasped loudly, though not from any pain. It was from the thick spurt of blood that suddenly rushed up his throat from the force of the attack. Blood cascaded out of his mouth as he panted for a second, then there was a surge of magic and the blood flow stopped. "Impressive!" he said, then kicked the claws off and bounced up. "Sooooooooooooooo impressive. You can do it again, I'm sure you can! But first let me do this." He concentrated and closed his eyes for a moment, then all of the wounds on his body healed completely. All of his inside damage disappeared as well, along with the blood on his mouth and body from the attack. "I loooooooooooove doing that." he said once he was finished. "The last time I did that was because some guy ripped my arm off! All the way! There was bone and everything sticking out. I put myself back together, you see. I do that. I do that. Yes I do. Can you put yourself back together like that? Here!" He held out his tail towards Forin, saying "Rip my tail off! I'll put it back together!"

Seria, who was just now climbing shakily out of the rubble of the stand she had been thrown into, stared at him in shock. "But...but you're not a healer..." she said. "How can...you do that?"

Relic looked over at her and said "I'll tell you later. I'll tell you ALL later, if you want!"

((Suuuuuuuuuuure, why not? She'll come around once she gets tired of Relic 'showing off'.))

((Be careful, Relic. The monster will swallow you and the shadow magic will tear you to shreds again and again and again. xD))

Forin watched, looking at his claws. Indeed, the blood had vanished off of those, as well. "Will that make you leave? What will it take?" He snarled angrily, slamming his claws down on the tail. He tore it apart in one swift motion, then he proceeded to rip that in half, ignoring the blood that splattered everywhere.

"Seria! Watch out!" Nate called as the shadow-stuff merged and twisted together, making a large leg and foot. It slammed down only inches from Seria.

((He'll just keep putting himself back together over and over. He can seriously go down to being just a heart, brain and a lung and be able to pull himself back together. Completely. But he knows better than to be caught up in something like that.))

Seria yelped and ran away from the leg, shouting "Watch what you're stepping on!"

Relic didn't move as his tail was ripped away. He stared down at the twisted stump leftover from the attack, cooing "Lovely. Just lovely, don't you think?" He stared at his discarded tail pieces and said "You can keep those. I'll just make a new one!" He concentrated and within seconds, an entire new tail had grown from his body, wiggling around excitedly. "That was fun, but I'm getting so bored with you." he said, yawning. "Do something interesting." he ordered. He grinned, then flinched when a voice shouted "Relic, you're such a waste of time!"

Nelu leapt down from a nearby roof and landed next to the raptorix, kicking him in the side of his head. "You nasty fool." she snarled. "Are you really that stupid? You have the information we need to track down and capture the wind mage and yet you keep fighting these people? Idiot!"

"I was having fun!" Relic whined, unharmed by her kick.

((That's scary.))

Forin stopped, his eyes falling on Nelu. His gaze switched to something of pure hatred. He didn't get a chance to do anthing else before he was grabbed by more tendrils, which lifted him up above Diana's orb. Within seconds, the entire thing changed; another leg formed, the arms moved away from Forin's, the stuff completely engulfed him, he and Diana were lifted higher.

It was finishd in mere moments. Now it towered over everyone; a huge body of some sort, made up of the half-transparent material. The arms and claws grew to fit on the body. Diana was lifted to where the heart would logically be. Forin, who was around the head area, was still clearly in control. His movements were the monster's movements.

He reached down with all the speed from before, attempting to grab Relic. His other hand went for Nelu.

"What the heck...?!" Werr looked up at the thing in shock. "Welk! Look at this!" He shook his friend, who was still in Nate's arms.

"We might have to evacuate," Nate said, though he looked about as shocked as Werr did.

((By the way, the weakness for this stage is the fact that wounds that occur on the monter's body happen to his body, too. And also, he comes out of it physically drained, so he might pass out. :3))

((He didn't always have that power, of course.))

Nelu transformed into a wolf and leapt out of the way, avoiding the attack, while Relic just sat there and let the hand grab him. Nelu snarled at him and shouted "Not this time, you insane idiot! I order you to get out of the way or fight seriously!"

Relic sighed, then said "If I have to. But this was going to be so much fun..." He used his sharp back claws to claw his way back out of the hand's grip, landing easily on the ground. He jumped up and landed on the monster's shoulder, using his thick claws to tear at it.

Welk, still deeply hurt by the memories that Relic had riffled through, was completely limp in Nate's arms. He sniffled and opened his eyes, then looked up when Werr shook him. He stared up at the thing Forin had turned into, his eyes widening in fear. "What...what is that?" he asked softly.

((Yah. xD

Forin always had this ability, though. Since his first summoning, which was a loooong time ago. It's more powerful (faster, bigger, stronger) if the summoner is wounded, or gives up some of their blood to the orb that's protecting them.))

Forin swung at Relic angrily, batting him off of his shoulder. Black liquid oozed out of the wound, and it was clear that Forin had suffered the same damage on his real body. He was ignoring it, though, grabbing for Relic once more. The creature still hadn't left, and that made Forin furious. He hadn't forgotten about Nelu, though; he raised his free hand and tendrils shot out of the palm, intending to snare Nelu.

"I don't know," Werr shook his head.

"At least it seems to be under his control," Nate frowned. "We shouldn't stay here. We could get caught up in the fight."

"So much magic..." Airlia was staring at the monster in awe. "It's not pure magic, but there's so much of it..."

Relic jumped out of the way, laughing happily. "So much fun~! So much fun~! I am having so much fun~!" he sang, letting his movements because quick and rhythmic, like dance steps.

"Relic!" Nelu shouted, then 'tsked' and turned away from him, concentrating on out running the monster's hand. She raced around it and snapped her teeth into its leg, then jumped back and started dodging in for light bites whenever she could make them.

Relic contented himself with playing with a stick, seemingly forgetting all about the battle.

((Relic is so simple. XD))

((See, if these were magic-users, it'd be a lot more dangerous. xD The tendrils can suck the magic right out of a person. o3o))

Forin ignored Nelu for the time being, focusing on his mistress' wish. He struck downwards at Relic, intending to grab the Raptorix and throw him as far away as possible. At the very least, it would buy him enough time to be rid of this irritance that was nipping at his ankles.

((Woah.))

Relic caught sight of the attack and jumped out of the way, frowning as he dropped the stick he had been playing with. "BAD!" he shouted angrily, growling deeply. "You made me drop it!" He crouched down for a moment, then leapt high. His legs were obviously the strongest part of his body, besides his tail. He was able to jump very high, higher than any half-cat could ever jump. Raptorixs were notoriously good jumpers. He landed on the monster's head, clawing and digging at it. He cut trenches in its cheek with his sharp claws, tearing deep into it. Then slid down its back, digging his claws into it as he slid down.

((Yah, he's a bit overpowered like this. xD

Oh, but Seria's healing magic will only work a little bit on him. Otherwise, it'll backfire. He's not any natural creature, healing magic has to be specific for both wound and species. Seeing how he's not a species she's ever seen or worked on before, it would only be logical that her spells wouldn't work very well.

Whoops. ._. I didn't think about that before now. Yeah, I think that balances his current over-powered state. >.>))

The black ooze that slid out of the wounds shifted and changed into more of the tendrils, going after Relic in obvious annoyance. This was getting a bit ridiculous, needless to say. And Forin was growing more and more infuriated. Diana squeaked in fear as Relic slid past her. The orb she was in was strong and thick, but she could still see through it, and this Relic guy was terrifying to her.

"Come on," Nate said after a few more moments of watching. "We have to get Seria and get out of here. We'll go back to the inn...maybe we can wait this out there, or something."

((Darn. Okay.))

Relic winked at Diana and jumped off of the monster. The second his feet touched the ground, he sprang up with a thunderous roar, ferociously attacking the monster's neck.

Nelu charged forward and bit the thing again, as deep as she possible could, then retreated and turned into a human and began using her array of weapons to fend off the tendrils attacking her. She leapt forward when she saw her chance and stabbed a weapon deep into its arm, leaving it stuck there. When Nelu jumped back, however, she was nearly caught by a new attack.

Icicles suddenly rained down around her, forcing her to leap and dodge in an effort to avoid getting impaled by one of them. When they stopped, she whipped around knowingly to glare at the person that had created them.

Luen, snowflakes still trailing off of his fingers. He was breathing hard, but he looked determined to face his sister.

Nelu grinned and said "Well if it isn't my worthless brother."

"Worthless to you, maybe, but...but not to these people." he replied.