The Forgotten Zodiac

"You seem to know a good deal about the subject," Nate said with a small smile. "Cynyr seemed to be a strong fellow for the time that I met him...whatever this pain is, it's unfortunate that he has to bear it. Perhaps it's not too late to destroy the shell that hides his emotions."

"...too late?" Werr blinked at Nate in mild confusion. "How could it be too late?"

"Well...if you keep your feelings locked up for long enough, it can have plenty of negative effects on your mind and body. You stop thinking altogether, you don't eat right...I can't say what Cynyr might do, I haven't observed enough half-cats to be capable of an educated guess, but I can say that he's following a tricky path."

Seria nodded in reply to Nate, sighing quietly. "I've tried, believe me. Many a time I have tried to break through his shell. I have never been successful." She sighed again, then was silent.

Welk frowned unhappily. "I think I know what you mean, Nate. There were times when he would lock himself in his room for hours and I wouldn't hear a word out of him. Once he even did it for an entire day. 24 hours straight. When he came out, he looked terrible, but I couldn't get him to say anything. The next day, he was fine and as normal as you can get with Cynyr."

"Well...you were by yourself then." Werr pointed out. "Together, I'm pretty sure we can do it. It won't be easy, but that's what friends are for, right?"

"Right," Nate spoke up. "But one thing after another, right? Not everything at the same time."

"Yeah..." Werr sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "Don't worry, though," He smiled a bit. "I'll be done before you know it, Welk."

Welk purred for a moment and said "Right. Cynyr's as much your friend as he is mine. We'll get him to open up. And hey, now that I think about it, he kind of was starting to warm up to you, Werr. Back in the underground cave? He was actually letting you pet him. He's never let a human get that close to him before." He purred and rubbed up against the boy's legs, then said "There's something special about you, Werr. I can feel it." He grinned, then spotted a squirrel nearby. "Squirrel!" he shouted, then raced off after the little brown animal.

((I hope you remembered that it's night time nao, 'cuz I just now did. xDD))

Werr smiled a bit, not quite sure what Welk meant by 'special'. He laughed as his friend darted after the rodent, though. Nate watched them both, but looked away when movement from Airlia distracted him. Her hand had been in Nate's, ever since Relic had shown himself for the second time. She had pulled it out of his grasp to cover a yawn, her other hand holding her bag.

"Sorry," She muttered, rubbing her eyes. "That's contagious."

"Indeed," Nate chuckled before having to stifle a yawn of his own.

((I had forgotten. D: But that's okay.))

A few minutes later, Welk came back, the dead squirrel hanging from his mouth. "I got it!" he said around a mouthful of dead animal. He spat it out on the ground and wiped his mouth off with one of his paws, then said "I'll eat this tonight so we save a few supplies."

Seria nodded, then turned to Nate and asked "We should stop soon so I can check on Luen. Is the next town far away? If it's too far off, I'll be forcing a stop."

((Yep, no big deal. o3o

I'm excited~ I should tell you now, the bad guy is A) a possible female and B) an extremely powerful puppetmaster who isn't human at all and posesses other powers that you may or may not see. But the puppetmaster bit is the most important, 'cuz that's how she's controlling Asmodius. She has his mind tied up in her strings~ :3 This is going to be fuuunnnnn.))

"Good job," Werr chuckled.

"It is," Nate stopped with a sigh. "It's another half day's walk from here. I said when we started, it would be dawn before we arrived. Unfortunately. We should just stop now."

"Oh, good," Airlia plopped down. "I'm exhausted."

((Coooooooooooool. I like eeet.))

Seria nodded, then turned to help Luen off of the donkey. The poor wolfling looked completely drained of all life. His eyes were hollow and dull, his skin paler than it normally was. He was still dutifully holding a hand to his head, his ice spell still in place. Seria touched his arm, making him look at her, then carefully helped him off of the donkey. He staggered as soon as his feet touched the ground. Seria grabbed him, keeping him upright, then made him stop the spell and led him over to a fallen log nearby so he could sit down next to it. He slumped back against the log as soon as she was no longer supporting him, barely able to keep his body upright.

Diana watched curiously, sitting down near Luen, looking concerned. Forin watched everyone silently, though he made certain to keep an eye around them. They were away from civilization of any kind; bandits and thieves were bound to be crawling about. He knew that the others would likely make a fire, which was probably a bad idea, though he said nothing of the subject. Fire meant light. Light attracted a lot of things. In this case, thugs.

Seria sat down on the log behind Luen and put her hands on his head, starting to scan with a heal spell to see if there was anything she could do for him. She did this for a few minutes, then sighed and pulled her hands back. "There's nothing I can do for him." she said. "The swelling has gone down, but there's still some damage that's healing inside. Until it's fully healed, there's no way to tell if he'll recover or not." She sighed, then reached out and rubbed one of Luen's soft white ears. The wolfling didn't respond in any way to it.

Diana looked up at Forin at once. He, however, raised a hand and shook his head. "Seria has already removed his pain. There is nothing I can do to repair a broken mind. I apologize, mistress, but this is beyond my power." Diana pouted at him, but said nothing. She knew he was right. Forin never lied to her.

"Well...we should make a fire, to cook that thing on," Werr said, moving towards the forest that they had been walking next to. "Come on, Welk, let's get some firewood and kindling."

"Okay." Welk said, turning into a human and trotting after Werr. He paused near Luen, watching the ice mage for a moment, then sighed and ran off after his friend. The half-cat was regretting how he had treated Luen a while back. True, it hadn't been anything severely mean, but he had been snappish with him. And why? Just because half-cats and wolflings didn't get along naturally? "Big whoop!" he thought at himself. "There's no reason that cats and wolves can't get along. Sheesh. I'm an idiot." He pouted and followed Werr, stopping to pick up small sticks as he went.

Werr wound up with a large stick after only a few minutes. The bark had been wet, but Werr had stripped off that part with a smaller stick, leaving the bare wood. It was mostly dry after that, and Werr figured they only needed enough fire to cook the squirrel. "Hey, Welk, do you think we should try and get more food? You know, for the others?" He asked, frowning a bit. "One squirrel isn't going to feed us all, and someone ate all of my jerky earlier..."

"Yes." Welk said, dropping his sticks into a smile pile. "I can go hunt for some more animals. I can smell some rabbits not far from here and there's a river nearby. Fish, you know?" He grinned, then said "You handle the sticks, I'll take the critters." He turned into a cat and ran off, flicking his blonde tail behind him.

Werr smiled and grabbed the sticks, deciding to head back to the camp.

The forest was dark. It was quickly nearing midnight; the moon shone brightly, casing an eerie glow over everything. The full moon reflected off the surface of a small pond, which was connected to the river that Welk was easily able to locate. Fish flicked underneath the surface, swimming away as something moved near the bank. Bare feet shifted in the muddy dirt, brown eyes examining the water curiously. His red hair was cut short, cropped neatly around his pale face. And he was indeed pale, extremely so. His eyes followed the fish easily, a grim frown creasing his young face. He looked about 7, though he wore clothes that would be more suited to fit a much older man. He didn't move aside from his eyes and head, standing otherwise stock-still.

Waiting silently.

((Not an important character. Supah creepy, and he'll die soon. So dun get attached. Insert Welk, pwease. :3))

"YAHHHHHHHHH!!" Welk suddenly shouted, charging in seemingly out of nowhere. He slammed into the pond in cat form, disappearing below the surface for a moment, then reappearing with a fairly large fish in his mouth. "Ha ha, sucker!" the cat laughed, transforming into a human and holding the fish tightly in his hands. "Bet you never saw that coming! Ha! Should've seen the look on your face." He was completely absorbed in his discussion with the fish for several moments, but he eventually noticed that he was not alone. He glanced over, red eyes wide in the moonlight, and spotted the boy. "Um...oops?" Welk said, standing up and shaking himself off.

((Welk's entrance. Dramatic. XD

Is this new guy evil or innocent? I needs the details.))

((Innocent, but controlled. The person controlling Asmodius is growing really impatient, so she/he (haven't made any firm decisions yet) sent a slave.))

The boy just stared at Welk for a long moment before looking down at his now-soaked clothes. He wrung out his shirt and locked eyes with Welk, moving closer. "Welk. I know you." He said, tilting his head a little bit one way. "My name is Tristan." He sat down, curling his legs up to his chest, examining Welk curiously.

((AWW.

As for the impatient-ness of the main person and this current urge to find Cynyr, I was thinking that since Cynyr is currently infected by Dark magic and is a mage, that makes him a rarity. Usually, because Dark magic affects mages differently than normal people, they die soon after infection due to the evil magic getting into their personal magic. Cynyr's didn't kill him, which makes him valuable as a potential Dark magic wielder, of which there are next to none and are very powerful. If said bad person had his powers under their control, it would obviously help greatly in whatever evil mission they have planned.))

Welk blinked at him, then said "Uh...you know me? Excuse me for saying this, but I have no idea who the heck you are. Sorry." He shrugged, then sloshed out of the water with his fish in tow. He flopped down on the ground to the side of the pond, shaking himself off again, then grabbed the fish and started tying it around his neck with a small rope he had. "Stupid...rope..." he muttered, making a knot. He turned into a cat and was satisfied to see it stay with him.

((Which is why the dark magic guy was infecting people in the first place, to try and find someone like that. Which would also explain why she/he's so desperate to get Cynyr.

Niiiiice. You're a good brainstormer. o3o))

"That's okay. You're not supposed to know me." Tristan shrugged a bit. "You know something, though...something that I need to know." He moved closer again, his eyes wide and pleading. "Please...it'll kill me if you don't tell me...where's Cynyr? Where?"

((Thank yew.

BUT THIS IS SAD. I don't like this with this poor kid. D:))

Welk's mouth opened slightly in shock and he quickly backed up a pace, flicking his tail from side to side. "You're one of those agents for Asmodius, aren't you?" he said, moving back another pace. "You're trying to find my brother! I'm not telling you where he is! As long as Asmodius is still looking for him, I'll know he's still out there." He turned and bolted, racing away as fast as his legs would carry him.