The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin roared, the sound amplified by the shadowy-material that surrounded him. He reached up and batted Relic down and away, grabbing for the Raptorix once more. The tendrils falling and fading as he focused all of his attention on Relic, knowing that Nelu was distracted.

Nate turned, and smiled with relief. "Hey, Luen! Do you think you can hold up here while I get these three to safety?" He called, already starting to lead Werr and Airla (he was still holding Welk) around Nelu, giving a wide berth from the female wolfling. "Count to sixty!"

Relic bounced around, easily holding his own against Forin. His speed let him outrun Forin's attacks whenever he wanted, so he started taunting the boy. He would let the tendrils get within inches of grabbing him, then would put on speed and zoom away, laughing or calling out his insane rambles.

"Sixty?" Luen said, never taking his eyes off of Nelu. He created thin but sharp claws of ice that formed over his own fingers. "I can do sixty."

Nelu snorted and said "You think you can, but I know you can't. I've had my fair share of spars with you, Luen, back when you worked for the right side. I always beat you within the first thirty seconds of a battle."

"Well then I'll have to beat you for once, won't I?" Luen said, letting himself lower slightly into a battle-ready stance.

Nelu grinned, flicking her black tail, then ripped two swords off of her belt and said "Unfortunately, that won't happen, because this time I'm going to kill you!" She charged forward and struck with her sword, only to hear the sharp rap of steel striking ice as Luen quickly blocked with his ice claws. "I have to withstand you." the ice mage said. "At least until my friends get away."

Forin was getting tired. That was evident in his decreasing speed and the fact that he was breathing fairly heavily. Diana was crying still, very much fearful as to what was going on and what could happen. Forin performed a pincer move, sending tendrils from Relic's side and from behind, and his claws coming from the other side. From above came his foot, the heel blocking his escape to the front.

Nate hurried to get Welk, Werr and Airlia over to where Seria was. She would be able to get them to the inn, at the very least. Werr could help carry Welk, certainly. Luen would need his help, Nate knew. While he could do little to help Forin, Nelu wasn't a jumping, speeding, regenarating lizard-man.

Relic yawned and let the attack come, already smiling. "Finally, something worthy of my powers." he said, then sat down and let the attack crush him completely. When Forin pulled back, Relic's entire body was a twisted, mangled wreak of blood and body parts.

Nelu and Luen's fight was fast and deadly, and it was painfully obvious that Nelu outmatched her brother. Nelu was better fed than him. Her body had had access to enough food to keep it strong, while Luen had only grown weaker and weaker. Within the first twenty seconds of their fight beginning, Luen was breathing hard and just barely able to keep up with her attack. She had already managed to land a few good wounds on him, leaving bleeding cuts that stained his white clothes red.

"You're weak, brother!" Nelu laughed, slamming her sword down with such force that several of Luen's ice claws shattered. "You always were the weakest of us all! Even Jewel was stronger than you!" She laughed and slammed the butt of her sword into Luen's head, knocking him off balance long enough to stab her sword down through his body. He screamed in pain as the sword tore through his skin and came out the other side of his body. He panted hard, then flinched when Nelu leaned down and said "Yes, Jewel was stronger than you...but not stronger than me. Our sweet little baby sister. You know; the one I murdered because she was nothing but a clingy burden. Who was she constantly clinging to? Ah, yes. You. She loved you so much. But those emotions made her and you weak. So she had to be disposed of."

Luen felt his heart clench painfully, then fill with unbridled rage. He screamed and threw one hand upwards, creating a powerful ice spell that knocked Nelu off, then reached up and ripped the sword out of his stomach. Blood was trickling out of his mouth from the damage the sword had given him inside, but at the moment, nothing could stop him. He staggered upright and readied his hands to cast spells, not even going to try for another ice weapon.

He was going to fight with magic alone.

Nelu got back up and growled at him, saying "You're going to pay for that...!" She jumped forward and attacked again, but this time, something was different. Even though Luen was far too skinny, even though he was badly injured...he was stronger than her. Sixty seconds came and went and still Luen stood, fighting his sister until both of them were breathing hard.

((Relic isn't dead, as you should know. And at this point, Luen doesn't need Froggy's help.))

((Obviously. xD While it would be fun for Relic to (try to) get into Forin's memories, wellllll...))

Forin's monster started to dissolve at this. He was exhausted and wounded. Which was bad; he knew that Relic would just put himself back together again, and that he hadn't completed his mission yet. In a last act of rage, he grabbed Relic's remains, leaned back and threw them as hard as he could in a random direction. Unable to keep the shadow-stuff together, it collapsed into a pile of black goo in a matter of seconds. The goo dissolved, dropping Forin and Diana on the ground. Forin was on the ground, Diana in his arms despite the fact that he looked close to unconsciousness and he was bleeding badly from his various wounds. "I'm sorry, mistress..." Forin whispered, struggling to keep his eyes open. "I failed you..."

Diana just wailed, burying her face in his bloodied shirt. Nate came a moment later, and he was fairly certain that they needed his help more than Luen did. He moved to pick them up, but Forin just snapped at him. He wouldn't let go of Diana, and Nate wasn't quite strong enough to carry both of them at once.

Frowning, Nate did what he figured was best, if Forin didn't want to be moved; he stood in front of them, sword drawn and ready to block any stray attack.

Meanwhile, several miles away, Relic's remains lay motionless on the ground. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then the raptorix's entire body reformed out of thin air, pulling particles and cells together out of the surrounding environment. Once he had finished reforming himself, he stood up and shook himself, then grinned and said "That was so much fun! I wonder if that neat boy can do that again? I hope so." He started running and made it back to the town barely any longer than a minute after Forin had thrown him. Raptorix's were the fastest runners in the land, but it was still shocking how quickly he had recovered. He trotted back into the town and waved his clawed finger at Forin, giving Diana a wink. "Nice to see you all again." he said. "HI FROGGY!" he shouted upon seeing Nate. "YOU LOOK FUNNY!" He then sat down and started watching Nelu fight Luen, which was getting more and more violent.

Both of the fighters were still going at it, giving each other more and more wounds. Luen was able to hold his own against his sister, but he was starting to receive more wounds than he gave. Nelu noticed this and pressed her attacks, driving Luen back. She sliced down across his side, ripping a gushing wound in his flesh that made him scream in pain, then spat "You will find no mercy from me this time, brother! Your life is going to end; today! I show my enemies no mercy!"

Luen panted raggedly, watching her run at him one last time, then sighed softly, feeling the blood trickle out of his mouth. In his final effort to win the battle, he concentrated the last of his powers and threw out an ice spell.

Instantly, Nelu was frozen in her place. She was still alive, but she couldn't hope to keep fighting. Luen had won.

The ice mage gasped for air, finding it hard to breath past the blood in his throat, then limped over and put a hand on the frozen form of his sister. "Unlike you...I...give mercy..." he said softly. He touched his forehead to the ice, then his legs gave out, unable to hold his weight anymore. He collapsed, unconscious, to the ground, his hand leaving a bloody trail down the ice.

Forin cast a very nasty look at Relic before he passed out. Nate looked between Forin and Luen, not knowing which to go for. He sheathed his blade, looking at Relic. "This battle is done. I shall remove my injured, and leave you to Nelu." He said, though he stayed very alert and ready to block any attacks as he moved over to Luen to pick the injured wolfling up.

Relic watched Nate closely, then smiled and said "I guess so. I already have the information I need anyways, so I'll take Nelu and go capture your wind mage friend and bring him to King Asi." He charged forward and slammed into Nelu, knocking her over and shattering the ice off of her (leaving her unconscious), then grabbed her and raced away before anyone could stop him. "Bye!" he called over his shoulder. "I'll see all of you again sometime, after I find Asi's mage!" Then he was gone.

Seria raced out of the inn once the battle was over, quickly hurrying over to Nate. "I took Welk inside. He's still upset." she reported, then said "What happened?!"

"Nelu and Luen fought. It was a hard battle for him, I could tell...but he froze her and left her unconscious, so Relic took her away. He's still breathing, you should fix him here." Nate said quietly. "Shortly after you left, Forin collapsed as well. I don't know about him, he looks horribly injured..."

Indeed, with the deep gashes on his cheeks, shoulder and neck, the cut on his arm and the bites on his leg, Forin looked horrible. "Diana? Are you okay?" Nate asked.

"I'm fine," She said quietly, not moving from where Forin's unconscious form held her down. She didn't really want to, still very much fearful of everything else.

"What about Forin? Can you feel his heartbeat?"

"Yes. It's there, and he's breathing, so...he's not dead or anything. Right?"

Seria quickly mulled over the situation, then said "Right then. I can't do much for Forin, due to the fact that I've never worked on a creature like him before, but I can jumpstart his natural healing process. It's tricky, but I've done it several times before. Basically, I'll give him some of my energy so his body can heal much faster than normal." She turned into a human and walked over to Forin, kneeling down by his body and putting her hands on his chest and forehead. She murmured the correct chant, then let out a shuddering breath as some of her energy flowed into him. "There." she said. "I can't risk giving him anymore, least I not have enough for Luen. He should wake in a few minutes or so."

She then hurried over to Luen, concerned by all of the blood the wolfling was losing. "Here, lay him down." she ordered, carefully helping Nate lower the injured ice mage to the ground. She ran a claw down the wolfling's shirt, pulling the blood-soaked fabric away from his chest and abdomen, then put both of her hands on him and starting trying to heal his stab wounds.

((I don't know what else to do for Forinny. D: ))

((You did good. xD))

Diana rolled him onto his back, holding his hand still. She curled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and watching the others. They didn't seem too interested in helping them anymore, so Diana started cleaning up the blood with pieces of her pants.

"How is he?" Nate asked, watching with concern. He had no doubts that Seria would do everything she could. The afternoon sun shone brightly, despite their currently gloomy situation. He watched her in silence after his question, glancing at Diana and Forin from time to time.

"Not good." Seria answered, starting to pant as she struggled with Luen's wounds. "Nelu knew what she was doing when she stabbed him. She hit a major artery in his abdomen and I'm worried that I don't have enough power to heal it. I didn't think it was this bad. If I would've known, I wouldn't have given Forin so much of my energy. G-go get Airlia or Werr, I need more help." Suddenly, there was a sharp gush of blood under her hands that made her gasp in shock, then she snapped "Now!"

((Yaaaaaaay. ))

"A-alright," Nate nodded, sprinting off in a hurry. Diana watched in fear, then jumped when Forin's hand shifted in hers.

"Forin?" She looked back at her guardian, putting a hand on his cheek.

"S-sorry...mistress..." Forin just groaned, opening his eyes slowly. "I failed..."

"No, it's okay..." Diana shook her head. "Um...Seria said she couldn't heal you..."

"I know," Forin glanced sideways in Seria's direction, not wanting to turn his head due to the damage on his neck. He looked the other way as he heard footsteps. Nate was returning with both Airlia and Werr.

"Uh...what can I do to help?" Werr blinked, slowing to a stop upon seeing Forin.

"Not him, Luen!" Nate snapped, continuing until he reached Seria again.

By this time, the ground under Luen had turned a sinister dark red color with blood. Seria had almost had her whole hand in the gaping wound in the wolfling's side, a healing spell in use, desperately trying to stem the bleeding. "I need more energy." she panted. "These spells are based off of my own power level. If I have a lot of energy, the spell with have a lot of power. If I'm weakened, like I am now, the spell will be weak as well. I'm losing Luen fast, and if I don't get some more power into this spell, he's going to die right here." She risked a glance up at Werr, then had to look back down at Luen. "I need your energy, Werr. Airlia can transfer it from you to me, since she is an amplifier of magic. Werr, put a hand on Airlia's shoulder and have her do the same to me. Then she can channel your energy into my body. I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but if I don't, then there will be nothing I can do to stop Luen from dying."

Luen whimpered softly, but it was so faint that they barely heard it. His breathing had slowed dangerously and his skin was excruciatingly pale.

"Quickly!" Seria urged.

"Okay! I can do that!" Airlia nodded eagerly, putting her hand on Seria's shoulder and pulling Werr's hand up to her own shoulder. "Focus, Werr. Relax, and I'll do everything else." She said. Werr blinked at her and nodded, doing his best to relax. At once, he felt himself being exhausted, and very quickly. Airlia was able to give Werr's normal energy a small magical push, forcing it into Seria with all due haste. She didn't stop until Werr sank to his knees, unable to stay on his feet.

"Oops," Airlia pushed out the last of Werr's energy before letting go of Seria. "Sorry, Werr...you didn't have very much energy at all, did you?"

"That...was weird..." Werr shook his head, breathing heavily.

The turquoise glow of magic around Seria's hands immediately strengthened and grew brighter as Werr's energy poured into her. Every last drop of it went straight into the spell. Even with the new burst of power, Seria was soon exhausted again. Werr hadn't had a lot of energy, as it turned out. She had managed to stem most of the bleeding, but she was having a hard time closing the wounds.

That was when Welk padded out of the inn, his head low and his ears back.

The blonde half-cat was still upset over what Relic had done to him, so he wasn't really aware of the fact that he had came outside. He padded over to them, his tail dragging the ground behind him, then he sat nearby, still staring at the ground.

Seria sensed his presence and immediately jumped for her chance. "Welk!" she said. "Airlia, take Welk's energy! Gah, I can't believe I didn't think of him before! His energy levels are always so high that he might have enough for me to finished this."

Welk glanced up dully at her while she spoke, then he padded over and sat down next to her, ready to give his energy to her even though he barely looked like he had any.

((He has enough to save Luen AND replenish some of Werr's energy.))

Airlia blinked then nodded, putting her hand on Welk's shoulder and starting to draw it out. She was pleased to find that he had much more energy than Werr did, even in his gloomy state. Werr seemed so worn out, he could only manage to raise a hand in greeting to Welk.

Forin watched them all from his spot on the road, wondering vaguely if any humans would dare to step outside to enjoy the festivities anymore.

Welk's energy flooded into Seria through Airlia. Within seconds, Seria's powers were at their max. She was able to heal Luen's wounds completely, though the wolfling’s breathing and skin color had yet to return to normal. "There." the female half-cat healer said once she was finished. "There is nothing more I can do for him. If he dies now, at least we'll know I tried my best to save him. Prepare yourselves for the worst, however. He's lost far too much blood for me to discern if he'll live for more than a few hours." She sighed, but she was so full of energy that she couldn't feel tired if she wanted to. "Airlia, if Welk has enough left, you could transfer some of his energy into Werr to get him back up to speed." she said.

Welk stood up and walked wordlessly over to Werr, where he sat down by his best friend with his head lowered. He almost seemed ashamed to be near the boy for some reason, and he kept giving him small nervous looks.

Airlia nodded, proceeding with the energy transfer easily. She sucked a bit more off of Welk before standing, moving over to Diana and Forin. She smiled and reached out to touch Forin's forehead, to transfer the extra energy she had pulled. She pulled back with a shocked yelp when a little red lightning bolt shot from Forin's forehead at her finger.

"I bed your pardon," Forin sighed. "Your pure energies are too much for my ugly, tainted kind."

Werr leaned against Welk, still a little tired. "You okay?" He asked, frowning a bit as he glanced at Forin and Airlia.

Welk sighed and said "Y-yes. I'm okay." He glanced over at Seria, who was wiping blood off of her hands, then said "Werr...I've decided what I'm going to do about Briana, and I feel terrible for it. I've made up my mind, though. Nothing can change my choice." He pressed against Werr, feeling so sad and upset. He sniffled, lifting one paw and putting it down on Werr's leg.