The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr put his hands on Welk's head, petting him gently. "It's alright. I'm not going anywhere." He said comfortingly.

"Well, at any rate, you two should eat something," Nate held out some cold (but cooked) chicken meat and two small loafs of bread. Werr took it with a small smile. "Don't mention it," Nate shrugged, getting some more and handing it to Luen. "Eat," He practically ordered, though he was smiling. "You need it more than any of us. I dunno how you survived without eating very much, but I'll have none of that while we have enough food to go around. And it's not like we can carry much of it with us when we leave, so...might as well." He shrugged, sitting next to the wolfling. "We're about two miles out from the ruins. We'll stop there for another rest before moving on to the area Werr's father was in."

"Okay. Thanks." Luen said, scooting a little closer to Nate. He took the chicken the dragonian offered him and started eating it, making short work of it with his sharp teeth. He took some of the bread next, easily devouring it. After he finished, he sighed peacefully, happy that he was finally able to eat what he wanted and as much as he wanted. "Such a good feeling." he said, smiling up at Nate. He rested his head on his paws and said "This is so different from what I-"

Pain hatred hurt pain pain so much pain hurt anger hatred pain hate hate.

Luen and Welk both suddenly jerked their heads up in shock, glancing around wildly for the source of the odd feelings that had just come to them. It was almost like the two of them had suddenly sensed it from something close by, something that held magic, like they did. Almost like...another mage.

A few seconds later, however, the terrible feelings were gone, leaving Luen and Welk looking bewildered.

"What...what was that?" Luen said, glancing around him at the others.

"What was what?" Seria asked.
"Didn't you hear that? Didn't you feel it?" Luen asked.

"No." Seria said, shaking her head.

"I felt and heard it." Welk said, pressing a little closer to Werr. "It was horrible."

A wail came from the other side of the field. Diana had burst into tears at the voice, though Forin hadn't heard and didn't quite understand. He had, however, felt the disturbance and knew what it meant. He scooped her up and carried her back to the others, glaring around at the treeline. "We need to leave," He said. "Now. We're being watched..."

"Hm," Nate frowned. If Welk, Luen and Forin were all talking oddities, then it was definitely time to leave. "Alright, grab what you can carry and let's get out of here. We'll just leave the carriage, and the horses should be safe enough here..."

Luen and Seria both nodded and took their human forms, gathering up supplies and putting them in bags, then placing the bags over their shoulders. Welk took human form as well, glancing around worriedly. Something about that voice, however, was nagging at him. It had almost sounded...familiar.

He shook his head, dispelling his thoughts, then took a bag when Seria handed it to him. He moved to flick his tail, then remembered and sighed hard. He stood near Werr, glancing around at the trees.

Luen closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and said "That's strange. I can't sense anything around us but ourselves. Whatever was out there is gone, for now." He shrugged, not knowing what else to do.

"Hmm," Nate frowned as he finished packing what he could. "No matter. We should still move. It probably realized that we noticed it, and dropped back a bit. Whatever it was."

"At any rate, standing here talking about it isn't doing us any good," Werr pointed out as Forin finished calming Diana down again and grabbing his own bag. "Let's get a move on." He started walking, holding open the fence gate for the others.

((He can totally grab Arilia, by the way. xDD))

Welk stepped out, sticking close to Werr. Seria followed behind, glancing around suspiciously. Luen stayed near Forin and Diana, moving to take the little girl's hand. "Hey, don't be upset." he said. "I'm sure that whatever that was is far away now. Don't worry." He picked up her and set her on his shoulders, which looked more dangerous than it was, considering that Luen was the skinniest person in the group. He put her hands on either side of his head and put his own hands gently on her legs, holding her on his shoulders.

Seria smiled tightly over at them, but she was on edge. Something about the strange thing that Diana and the two mages had heard was bugging her. She wished she would've heard it as well, but no helping that. All she could piece together was that it had been bad.

((Nah. You knew it was Cynyr, correct? I'm saving his reentry for what I had told you before. If he takes Airlia, they'll all know it was him and it'll ruin what I have planned that I haven't told you yet. o3o ))

((Ah, right then.))

Forin had Diana's other hand, silently grateful that both of Diana's sides were covered by people he trusted. Probably the only two people he trusted; himself and Luen. Diana seemed happier to have Luen holding her hand again, as well, and of course she was. Luen was like a good friend to her, the only one she had (besides Forin)  for years.

Werr watched them all, not knowing of the misery and sadness that the summoner and summoned bore. Nate had a small idea, but Airlia had probably figured it out best; she knew of the legends of Tartarus. Like Forin had said, none of them reflected a happy place.

They walked in relative silence, Nate in the lead.

After a while had passed, Seria suddenly tilted her head back, cautiously sniffing the air. "Hey." she said to the other lerloch in the group. "Do you both smell that? The air has taken on a different scent."

Both Welk and Luen turned their sensitive noses to the wind, scenting for what she was talking about. "You're right." Luen finally said. "There is a strange scent in the air. It's faint, but notaceable."

"It's odd." Seria said. "Welk? What do you think?"

Welk had turned his gaze back down moments after he had sniffed the air, both of his arms wrapped tightly around Werr's right arm. He glanced up when Seria spoke to him, then looked down again. "Yeah, it's weird." he said, nuzzling Werr's shoulder a bit.

Luen glanced over at him in concern, knowing that he hadn't quite been himself since he had lost his tail, then turned his gaze forward when the cleared the edge of the forest.

The ruins of Hierves lay before them.

Forin's nose was also twitching. As the ruins came into sight, he frowned a bit. "While I know not exactly what you smell, I can sense a great number of deaths from within those ruins. Within the last five years, perhaps over a hundred have fallen..."

"Great," Nate said grimly. "Well, I don't think we were going to head in there. Werr, which way from--" He stopped, hearing a scream in the distance. It seemed to be coming from one of the more intact parts of the ruins.

"Who was that?" Werr asked no one in particular. "We should probably help them..."

((Thus the lure into the ruins. :T))

Luen glanced at the ruins in concern, saying "I think we should go in. That sounded terrible."

Seria was already trotting in that direction in cat form, leaving the others little choice.

Luen shrugged, then broke into a light trot and followed her, sticking to human form and sliding Diana off of his shoulders, instead choosing to hold her in his arms. He was defensive of her, which was a good thing, considering that they were heading towards unknown territory.

Welk stuck near Werr, not really caring to stay away from the ruins or go inside and find the source of the scream. He didn't care what they did.

((D:))

Forin walked ahead of both Luen and Diana, of course reflecting his role of Diana's true guardian. Werr followed behind them, while Nate brought up the rear.

Nate, however, felt his stomach churn. His nose was nowhere near as sensitive as Welk's or Seria's or Luen's, but he could definitely smell blood from the place they were approaching. No one could lose that much blood and survive...however, another scream rose up from the place. Another desperate wail.

Seria and the other lerloch scented the blood as well, which spurred Seria into a gallop. She reached the ruins first and darted inside, forcing the others to speed up so as not to lose sight of her. A healer who wanted to heal was not something to be trifled with.

Luen quickly stepped up his pace, along with the others. Seria also slowed down a bit, but she still kept in the lead. She flicked her tail rapidly at them, saying "Come on! We should hurry." She flicked her ears back at another scream, wincing with the headache that was already forming.

"Seria! We have to be careful, we don't know how many traps are still active in here!" Werr called warningly. He followed her regardless though, though he slowed a bit. Which was a mistake, as it turned out; before he knew it, Forin, Diana, Luen and Seria had all forged ahead, leaving Werr, Nate and Welk behind.

The screaming led down several hallways, and down a winding passage. Then, an iron bar door, which was locked shut. Behind it, a black hooded man was standing over a shirtless man, who was strapped to a torture table. He didn't appear to have any wounds, though. The hooded man, standing next to the table, appeared to be weaponless; he was wearing entirely black, down to the mask that covered the lower part of his face.

The hooded figure reached down, his pale hand covering the other man's eyes. He screamed again, a bloodcurling sound that echoed through the dark halls of the ruins. When he was released again, it took him several seconds to stop screaming, and several more to catch his breath. "Please, stop..." He rasped, shaking badly in his bindings. "I'll tell you an-anything, just...please..." His head dropped to one side as his body attempted to pass out. The masked man would have none of that, though. He drew a needle from his sleeve, injecting the man with whatever was in there. He jolted awake, and screeched in agony. "Wesson Smith! I'm a soldier of Alastor, I was sent here with a unit to watch the borders! You already know that, because you killed them a--" He cut off and started screaming again as the cold hand was dropped onto his mouth. It burned like fire, but left no trace of damage whatsoever.

Seria gasped in horror and Luen quickly shifted Diana to her, then flung his hands forward. He encased the room in ice in mere seconds, creating large, glistening icicles that all pointed at the black-clad man. "Stop what you are doing this instant!" Luen shouted, ice forming along his shoulders and curling down his arms, like armor. "Cease torturing that man at once."

Forin snatched Diana away from Seria, backing away altogether, pushing her against the wall and pinning her there protectively with his back.

The black-clothed man lifted his hand away, turning his gaze on Luen and Seria. His eyes flicked behind them, a small hint of recognition flashing in his black eyes. He bowed ever so slightly at Luen's orders, then drew a knife from his belt. It was small, but the hilt and handle were made of metal skeletons that were...moving. They clutched at his hand and fingers, apparently trying to bite him, but their rigid metal jaws did nothing.

With one swift moment, the blade was suddenly protruding from the tortured man's neck. There was a gurgle, and Wesson Smith was no more.

The man with the knife said nothing. Instead, he pointed. Straight at Forin and Diana.

((It's Gurushi, by the way. :T))

Luen quickly glanced back at the two, then back at the man, saying "No. I...I don't know what you want, but if you want them, you can't have them. I won't let you anywhere near them." He put his arms to the sides, forming large claws of ice, then suddenly paused and stared at the man closely. "Wait...I know you." he said, his emerald eyes fixed on the man. "Gurushi! You're that brat Holly's guard. I remember seeing you standing near her whenever I was summoned to the throne room by Asmodius!" He snarled deeply, glaring ferociously at Gurushi, then said to the others "We need to leave. Now."

((I figured it was him or the other guy, with the long tongue. -forgot his name already-))

((Nuuuu. Obelisk is no fool. He wouldn't step outside the castle for the mundane task of collecting uninfected mages. :T))

"Agreed," Forin pushed Diana back up the stairs. He didn't know who this 'Gurushi' was, but if he wanted them, then he couldn't be good news.

Gurushi dropped his hand again, his head tilting a little bit one way as he watched Forin and Diana leave in a hurry. Then, at last, his voice came. Just a small sound, barely more than a whisper, but it carried the tone that could strike terror into anyone's heart. That, and it came from nowhere...and everywhere at once. "Diana Harelt, you will come with me." It said, Gurushi himself barely moving, icicles still surrounding him.

((Okay.))

"Go!" Luen shouted, fighting past the wave of fear that washed over him at hearing Gurushi's voice. He slammed the icicles down into Gurushi, not knowing if it would have any effect on him or not.

Seria turned to flee, but paused. "Luen-"

"Just. Go." he said firmly. "I'll be right behind you. I promise."

Seria hesitated, then nodded and fled up the stairs.

Luen slowly started to back towards the stairs, keeping his gaze locked in Gurushi's direction, his hands held out, ready to cast spells.

The icicles didn't even penetrate Gurushi's skin. He was, however, stopped up for a moment. He set about crushing the icicles, but they were strong; it took him a few heartbeats for him to break the first one, which was attempting to dig into his eye. His entire body was like steel, though. He started to move again, grinding the tips of the icicles into nothing but blunt circles.

Forin was pulling Diana quickly back the way they came, his memory not failing him; he made it to the door with all due haste, slamming his way through it, out into the open. He realized vaguely that he didn't know where Welk, Werr or Nate had gone, but he thought nothing of it. Gurushi wasn't after them.

Luen threw out enough ice to block a charging elephant from breaking through, then turned and darted up the stairs. He prayed that his body wouldn't fail him now, weak as it was, and concentrated on finding his way out. He quickly became lost in the confusion of the ruins, not knowing which way to turn.

Meanwhile, Seria had stayed close to Forin and Diana as they made their way out, glancing over her shoulder worriedly. "Luen said he would be behind us!" she said, but knew better than to go back.

((I've decided that Cynyr will come in here, at the ruins. I'm just waiting for the perfect 'trapped with no way out, escape is hopeless' scene that's needed for his entrance.))