The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk immediately looked up at the mention of food. "I'm starving!" he said, though he didn't move from Cynyr, who was starting to doze off. The panther woke up more at Welk's voice, rubbing his eyes lightly. He didn't know why, but he felt kind of glad that he hadn't fell completely asleep. It was weird. He sort of felt like something bad was going to happen when he fell asleep... He shook off the feeling and turned into a panther, starting to actually groom himself like he used to do. He hadn't done it in a long time. It felt good to clean off his fur and get the dirt out of the thick black strands.

Welk smiled, feeling much more at ease now that Cynyr was back to normal. He got up and wandered around the inn, then turned into a cat and bounded over to Werr. "Werr!" he said, stopping in front of the boy. "Quick! Do something important for me." He rubbed his head all over the boy's leg, saying "Will you scratch my ears? I need your magic touch." He purred loudly, grinning at his best friend.

Werr laughed. "Alright, alright," He sat down in a chair and started scratching Welk behind the ears as Thelma worked on the stew in the kitchen. Before long, she brought out seven piping hot bowls of delicious smelling stew, placing them on the tables. Lily was already sitting at the other table, and she smiled brightly at the scent of the food; the food that Obelisk demanded was apparently some attempted recreation of his favorite meal, but the recipe called for three pints of human blood. The servants continuously had to try and substitute it for other things. But Obelisk never liked it, and so he made the servants eat it. Every time.

So this was the first time Lily had seen real food in awhile. She quickly grabbed her bowl, waiting and just smelling it first. Arilia watched her with a little confusion, but she took two bowls and took one of them to Cynyr. "Here's your stew, master." She said happily, offering the bowl to the panther.

((Initiating cutscene in next post. Which one are we doing first, Nate or Nightlash? We could just not do Nightlash at all and leave it as a not-so-surprising-surprise. :T))

((Nate, then. I miss them. o3o ))

Cynyr paused in mid-lick, with his tongue still buried in his soft fur. He pulled it back into his mouth and took human form, taking the bowl Airlia offered him. "Thanks." he said softly, but he didn't move to start eating. Of course, nobody ever said that wearing a mask for your entire life was easy. He stood up and moved off to an empty room, closing and locking the door firmly behind him. He then proceeded to make sure that all windows were shut and that there was absolutely no way for anyone to peek in. Only then did he carefully pull the mask down around his neck and start eating. Even with the room all locked up, he flinched and jerked the mask back up at nearly every sound he heard.

Welk had watched Cynyr go into the room and had sighed. He was practically melting due to Werr scratching behind his ears, which was his favorite spot to be scratched in, but once Thelma brought out the food, he took human form so he could eat. He couldn't help but wonder, as he had so many other times, what Cynyr worked so hard to hide from them all. It was a mystery, and at this rate, it seemed like it always would be.

Nate had started a fire and was relaxing next to it. After the others had left, Luen had gone off for a hunt while Nate rested. He was sitting up now, watching the flames dance in front of him. He rubbed his chest, feeling the sting of the venomous remains. Moving was still difficult; the poison had made him sluggish and forced his body to slow, and it still dragged at his limbs. Nate sighed and continued watching the flames. He probably wouldn't be able to summon up another breath of fire if he tried; he had lit the wood on fire so they could cook the food, but that had been little more than a thin flame, barely enough to get the kindling lit. And it had hurt, at that.

Nate didn't expect what happened next. An arrow thudded into his shin, causing him to let out a cry of pain. He cut off his cry and broke the shaft of the arrow off, rolling to the side and winding up in a ditch nearby, hoping to gain some cover. He, however, found himself face to face with the edge of a blade. "Nate Furhblast, fancy seeing you here..." The guard at the end of the sword grinned. "I've got him!"

Within mere moments, Nate was being tied up in chains. "Get off me, you imbeciles! I'll burn you all to a crisp!" He shrieked, trying to make as much noise as possible to alert the absent Luen to what was going on. One of the guards shoved a water-soaked wad of cloth in his mouth and gagged him, then proceeded to kick him in the gut. Hard.

"Burn that, fire-freak." The guard laughed while Nate rolled onto his back, moaning. They dragged him off quickly after that, wasting no time in getting him to the dungeons of Liadaph City.

Luen was off by himself in wolf form, creeping up on a rabbit. He was about to lunge for it when he paused. A weird feeling overcame him. An urgency crept over him, filling him with a sense of terror.

Something was wrong.

He raised his head, scaring the rabbit off, and tilted his ears up, listening intently. He was far off from where Nate was supposed to be. But he knew. He could feel it. It was in the wind, in the surroundings, in the ground itself. The white wolf's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. He lunged into a run, racing back towards the camp.

"Nate!" he called frantically when he got back. "Nate?!" He padded around in rapid circles, sniffing intently and searching for the dragonian. It soon became evident to Luen what had happened. He stared in the direction of the city, in the direction that Nate had been dragged in. His jaw quivered painfully. He didn't know what to do. Here he was, alone, still weakened from blood-loss, and without anyone to help him. Nate was doomed.

The white wolfling lowered his head sadly, covering his face with a scarred paw. Not again. Not his only other companion he had left! First Forin and Diana, and now Nate? Was the dragonian going to be lost to Luen as well?

No.

A growl tore out of Luen's throat. He lifted his head, snarling. He wasn't going to abandon Nate. Not like Forin abandoned them. He was going to get the dragonian back. And why not? "I am a mage." he growled, feeling his magic rush through his veins. "I have the power to get my friend back. And I will!" He broke into a run, heading towards the city. He had no real plan for now, but his sharp mind was quickly racing, thinking, formulating.

He had a plan.

By the time Luen had found the scuff marks, Nate was already tucked away in the dungeons. The jail wasn't far from the north gate, but it was heavily guarded. And really, it was a tiny little building. The cells and the like were all underground, sealed in by a heavy metal trapdoor that was kept under lock-and-key.

At the moment, Nate was at the very back of the row of cells (a few of which were occupied). He was in a circular room that was otherwise inhabited by a furry creature in one corner, which wasn't moving much. Nate was secured to a solid metal chair by chains. There were two guards standing at the entrance of his cell. Nate had counted at least fifteen others. Then there was the leader, who happened to be standing over him, his gnarled face inches from Nate's.

"You're going to tell me something, Nate Furhblast." He growled in an apparent attempt to intimidate Nate.

"You think I know what you want? It's been years since I've so much as seen the castle, I--" Nate was cut off as the guard pressed a knife to his bare chest; his shirt had been removed for the...interrogation.

"Why are you here?"

"I was traveling. A simple trip. I came alone."

"Oh, sure you did. I counted two bags there, and there could be more than just you here. Who are your friends, then? Assassins?" The guard pressed the blade into Nate's chest, watching a trickle of blood ooze out.

"And who here would I want to assassinate? That useless lump Nightlash?! I saved his life once, you know!" Nate snarled.

"Liar," The guard snorted, then snapped. "Lies are highly punishable here, you know." Another guard stepped in, pushing a cart with the usual scalpels and knives. Nate felt himself swallow. This was bad, but he had confidence that they wouldn't do anything too serious. They wanted to know who his friend was. He couldn't tell them, because then they would have no further use for him. And Nate didn't put murder past them.

At the moment, Luen was surveying the north gate. He was in wolf form, crouching low against a dip in the ground. He could see well in the dark, easily making out the forms of the guards at the gate. He had to get past them, but he was worried, for obvious reasons. He wouldn't be able to withstand getting attacked by anyone, he being very frail. Sure, he could avoid them or fight back, but either option would be dangerous to Nate's safety. The wolfling racked his brain for an idea, then thought of something. He turned into a human and carefully extended his ice powers out along the ground, moving it as close to the guards as possible without them noticing. Luen hoped this idea worked. He had never attempted something like this before.

He began to draw the cold out of the ground under the ice, which rapidly caused the ground to get warm. He didn't take it from the places near the guards, for fear of them getting suspicious. The ground got warmer and warmed, eventually getting hot enough to melt the ice and start to heat the water, turning it into thick fog. The fog rose easily, but it cooled fast, so it hovered heavily above the ground. There was so much of it that it looked like a cloud had dropped from the sky and had planted itself around the guards. Luen wasn't finished then, however.

He took wolf form and tilted his head back, letting out a chilling, lone howl.

"W-what the...?!" The guards jerked around, looking for the source of the noise and the fog. Only a couple of them looked scared; the others were either masking their fear, or suspicious of what was going on.

The howl carried to inside. It rang in Nate's ears, and he couldn't help but smile a bit. The interrogator frowned at this. He was quick to get to work, cutting some pattern onto Nate's chest. He worked slowly, the serrated edge of his scalpel slicing messily through Nate's pale skin. Nate saw what was being written boldly into his chest and screamed in rage. 'Liar'. "I'm not l-lying! Stop it!"

"...Very well then," The man with the scalpel put away said tool (though he was already finished writing the word) and pulled out a different one. It had a finer blade, and looked very, very sharp. Nate knew what was coming. It was a popular form of torture here in Alastor. Skinning, it was called, and it was pretty aptly named. The skin off of various areas, namely feet, hands or arms, was cut and literally peeled off and away from muscle and bone.

Nate's screams split the night air in two. It was no wonder there weren't too many houses near here, the soundproofing was still being worked on.

Luen's ears flicked up sharply at the scream and his whole body quivered, just barely able to stop himself from running forward. "Patience..." he thought shakily. "P-patience..." He calmed himself and moved forward at a steady walk, keeping his powers active on the ground below him. Steam literally rose from the ground whenever he lifted his paws. He was draining the cold from the ground rapidly. The fog swirled around his snowy white form as he stepped forward, heading directly towards the gate. He reached out with his powers and took hold of the fog, since it was cold enough for his powers to work on. He swirled the fog around him, making him look like an ethereal being. He didn't say anything, simply walked at an even pace. His gaze never wavered to any of the guards. He kept it straight ahead. He even crossed the fog down over his paws so the guards couldn't see him walking. Like some sort of ghostly wolf.

The guards were terrified at this point. They dropped their swords and fled, yelling something about ghosts. The few who remained brandished their swords uselessly at Luen, though a few of them trembled still. None of them reacted in time to slash at Luen as he passed.

"Stop it! Stop!" Nate screamed. The skin had been removed from a good chunk of his palm and most of his index finger. Blood spilled everywhere. The ball of fur in the corner was shifting, peering at them through its own fur as though they had woken it from a nap.

The interrogator stopped at the guard's motion. "Tell me, then. Who was the owner of the second bag, and where is he now?"

"Luen..." Nate moaned, limp from the pain that was his hand. "His name is Luen...h-he's going to kill you..." He wheezed in an attempt to laugh, and screamed again when the blade was moved to scrape off more skin off of his hand.

In an instant, the entire building and the inside of the room was bathed in ice.

Sharp claws of ice ripped through the frozen door, tearing it to pieces. A terrifying snarl echoed out of the darkness and a thin wave of fog rolled in through the broken door. Luen raced in, looking more ferocious than Nate had ever seen him. He lunged for the guard seconds after entering, sinking his sharp teeth into the man's neck. Such horrible growls and snarls tore from the white wolf's throat, sounds that Nate had never heard before. Once the guard was dead, Luen turned to the interrogator, snarling viciously. He was crouched low, his tail held out straight behind him.

The interrogator grabbed a knife off of the cart, stumbling back against the far wall. He accidentally stepped on the ball of fur, which retaliated at once. It unrolled itself, sinking its claws through the leather of the man's boots. Its fur was a muddy brown, though it looked like it might have been white at one point. Its eyes were bright yellow, and narrowed with anger. Its fur was patched; it looked like it had suffered a lot of abuse recently. The creature was furry, yes, but it didn't look like a dog. Or a cat. It looked most like a large lion cub, though it was still strange; It was smaller than Luen, though still bigger than the average house-cat. Its paws were large and thick, and obviously clawed. The thing had a short muzzle, like a cat's, but no whiskers. Its ears were larger than a normal cat's, and it had stubby white horns atop its head. It had small black wings that looked entirely useless, as well. Behind it was a long, thin tail with a large tuft of fur at the end.

The interrogator screamed as the thing started clawing up his leg. He slashed at it, desperate to get it off, and clearly distracted.

Luen lunged forward, clamping the man's throat in his jaws. Blood spurted forth, drenching Luen's muzzle and forearms in red. The wolf shook the interrogator, sealing the man's demise, then released the corpse and let it fall to the ground. He panted for a moment, blood dripping from his mouth, then took human form and ran over to Nate. "Nate! Nate?!" he said, starting to work on freezing the chains around the dragonian until they were at a point where the wolfling could shatter them. He threw the strange creature a sidelong look, then concentrated on Nate. He noticed the dragonian's hand and said "Oh no..." He paused halfway through the chains and took off his over-shirt, then ripped the fabric into shreds. He carefully wrapped Nate's hand as gently as he could, looking sickened. The skin would grow back, but it would take a long time, especially without Seria around to heal it.

Nate shuddered, closing his eyes halfway. The creature whimpered, staring at Luen pitifully and pulling against its own chains; it was held to the wall by a shackle around its neck, chained to the wall. "You're not going to leave me here, are you?" It said quietly, its voice shaky. It was definitely intelligent then, whatever it was. "I'll wind up as soup!" It then shifted, its fur apparently dissolving into thin air. The yellow eyes changed to hazel and shifted into a more human-like shape. What was left definitely looked human; it was little more than a small boy, looking like little more than a pathetic prisoner, wearing nothing but a long burlap tunic. "Please, th-they'll kill me..." He pleaded. "I can help carry him! I'm quite strong, b-but not strong enough to break these..."

Luen looked back at him sympathetically, then finished breaking Nate's chains. He whimpered softly when he saw the word cut into the dragonian's chest, then caught him when the wolfling released the last chain. He carefully leaned Nate against the wall and gently touched him on the shoulder, then moved over to the little boy. He stopped in front of him, staring down at the child. He heart ached for the boy, but his natural fear of strangers kept him from freeing the boy right away. He bit his lip and stared at the boy for a long moment, then finally said "...Okay. I...I'll let you go." He froze the child's chains, then snapped them cleanly.

Nate watched in his half-conscious state, wondering what on earth that thing was. Its voice sounded muffled and perhaps warbled to him, but then...so did Luen's. Nate brought himself to look down at his wrapped, bleeding hand. He grabbed his hand by the wrist, curling it close to his chest protectively. He didn't notice the tears of pain that were sliding down his cheeks. He wanted to mumble his thanks, but he couldn't.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" He squeaked, wrapping his arms around Luen quickly. He then reverted back into the strange creature, letting go of Luen. He ran around the room for a moment to stretch his legs, then paused to sniff at the blood on the floor. He jumped up into the chair that Nate had been tied to, peeking at Luen over the top of it. "How are we going to get out? Did you consider that?" He asked, looking over at Nate. "Skinning is bad. If they had carried on, they would have burned his muscles and left nothing but bone." He flicked his tail around, then looked back at Luen. "So, how do we get out, wolfy? Weren't there guards outside?"

((I changed the appearance around into something that makes a little more sense, I hope. Pwease fetch that post again. :T))

Luen winced as the creature hugged him, then watched it move around. His gaze darkened when the creature spoke of the guards. "There were." he growled. "But not anymore." He looked down at his bloody hands for a moment, then was filled with revulsion and quickly wiped them off on his shirt. Blood had covered his mouth, neck and chest from killing in wolf form. What happened in one form always carried over to both. He suddenly felt like throwing up, but he managed to calm himself down. He went over to Nate and helped the dragonian stand, barely able to support his weight. The frail wolfling hoped he would be able to hold Nate up. Once he had steadied himself and the dragonian, he started moving towards the door. When they got to the door, he glanced over his shoulder at the strange little creature. "A-are...you coming?" he asked, feeling a small trickle of sweat rush down the side of his head.

((Got it.))

The creature perked its ears up and followed, changing back into his human-like form and moving to help support Nate. He wasn't able to do much, due to the fact that he was so short. "Where are we going to go?"

"Seria..." Nate groaned, glancing down at the thing that was following at his other side. He did his best to walk on his own, but he was failing miserably. "We nee-need to find Seria..."

"Find someone? I can find people! I'm really good at finding things, can I help?" The creature looked up at them hopefully, smiling widely.

"Uh...s-sure..."

"Okay! I need a scent to go off of, do you have anything that belongs to this Seria person?" He changed back into his strange furry form, running circles around Luen and Nate, his tail flicking around wildly.

((Does it make more sense? xD))

Luen blinked slowly, exhaustion telling on him. He thought it over quickly, then said "W-we...I don't think we have anything that belongs to her. She k-kissed Nate's cheek when we last saw her, and she hugged both of us. Her scent should still be on my over-shirt, albeit faintly." He pulled a strand of his ripped apart shirt out of his pocket and held it out to the creature, saying "I know she touched this piece."

"Okay!" The creature snapped up the bit of cloth in his jaws, setting it on the floor and sniffing it quickly. After a long moment, he handed it back to Luen and started off up the row of cells. He peeked around cautiously before heading up the stairs and out the door of the jail. He stopped and waited there, turning his round eyes on Luen and Nate.

"Wh-what are you?" Nate murmured as they started off, his eyes unfocused and blurry.

"I'm...um...I don't know. My name is Spy, maybe. I think." He paused, looking a little confused.