The Forgotten Zodiac

"Whatever you say," Nate chortled. "Come on, Seria, you must be hungry." He put a hand on her shoulder and started towards the down.

"I FOUND HER!" A shout came from town. Spy emerged from the buildings, charging towards them like a bullet. "I found her, I did!" He jumped around in circles at Seria's feet. Then he paused, looking up at her happily. "I found you."

A bird call echoed out and Jag touched down in gryphon form, Lily sitting on his shoulders. He rarely left her alone, after all.

Seria flinched at Spy's shout, then smiled weakly at him and the other two. "Yes, you found me." she said, leaning her head wearily on Nate's shoulder. She was so tired. Having to heal a dragon, especially when he had been in his bigger form, had been draining. Plus, she hadn't eaten for a while and she had been under a lot of stress from the experience...

She slipped into unconsciousness a moment later.

"W-whoa there," Nate caught Seria easily, lifting her off of the ground.

"Oh no! Ohhh, no, is she gonna be okay?" Spy pouted, running back to town. "I'll go tell the others to get her bed ready!"

"Hey! Don't squish me in here, if you please!" Zephyr squeaked from Nate's pocket, keeping his head and body tucked down in the folds of cloth.

When they got closer to the buildings, Welk trotted out, saying "Why'd you leave without us, Nate? I wanted to see that dragon! Hmph." He flicked his tail a few times, then sat down and lifted one front paw to lick it. He then turned and bounded back inside, unable to stand his not being able to look around and see Werr somewhere nearby.

"I didn't want you all to freak out and injure yourselves needlessly," Nate grunted, taking care not to let Seria bump into his pocket as he moved through the door to one of the houses, carrying Seria upstairs. He was quick to call the others, grinning widely. "Guys, there's someone you all have to meet," He said.

"Great, more idiots running around with us..." Forin snorted.

Nate cast him a glare. "Don't freak out, okay?" He said to everyone in general before looking down at his pocket. "You can come out now, Zephyr."

"What's a Zephyr?" Welk said, taking human form and peering at Nate's pocket.

"I am." the dragon said, popping up out of the pocket.

Welk yelped and fell backwards, not expecting the sudden appearance of the tiny dragon.

Zephyr leaned forward and watched him with interest, then said "You're not very graceful. You should be more like Seria. She was very elegant and obviously intelligent. A valuable addition to your species." He snorted, holding onto the rim of Nate's pocket with his tiny paws.

Luen's jaw had dropped and he was staring at the miniscule dragon poking out of one of his best friend's pockets. He moved a little closer to Forin, almost as if he expected this to be some sort of trap.

"He says hi," Nate translated, chortling a bit. "This is the dragon that took Seria. And we found out why; he was injured and lonely. So, we're taking him with us. He can be a big help. Any objections?"

"But...he's tiny," Werr frowned. "I've never seen a dragon before, but I don't think a dragon that size would have been able to kidnap Seria and injure you that badly..."

"Don't trust your eyes so much." Forin tutted.

"Tiny?" the dragon scoffed. Another thing that some dragons valued was their size. "I'll show him. This way, please." he said, popping out of Nate's pocket and flying to the door. He hovered, waiting until Nate opened the door for him, then made his way out. He flew to the center of the town and touched down, then shook his head. "I am NOT tiny naturally." he said, snorting in Werr's direction. Then he rose up. At his full size, he towered over the buildings. If he would've rested his head on the ground at this size, the top of his head would've been level with the top of Nate's head. He shook his horns, staring down at the beings below him.

Welk was staring up with his mouth completely open, shock written all over his face. He even rubbed his eyes, as if making sure he was seeing this correctly. "I can't..." he said, staring upwards. "...I can't believe this! This is awesome! A real dragon!" He bounced up and down excitedly, his once-long tail flicking around behind him.

Werr stared up in shock. How huge... "O-okay...I take it back, then." He looked over at Nate, who was translating pretty much anything the dragon was saying. He then looked back up at the dragon. Forin just grinned at their reactions. Diana, on the other hand, dove behind Luen in fear.

"You're sure he's friendly?" Airlia asked, spreading her own wings.

"Certain," Nate nodded.

Airlia nodded and took off, coming level with the dragon's head. She looked at him for a long time, smiling. "I've never seen a dragon this close before...you're pretty scary looking when you're this size. But Nate says that you're nice, so I trust you." She smiled, though she didn't get any closer.

Luen quickly wrapped his arms around Diana, telling her that the dragon wasn't that scary.

Zephyr tilted his head back slightly, studying Airlia closely through his slitted eyes. "Interesting. A girl with wings." he said, flicking his thin dragon tongue out once. He blew a puff of smoke out at her, then dipped his head and brought it a few inches away from the ones below.

Many of them moved back sharply, of  course. A dragon of that size moving his head down near you would be frightening. He studied Werr and Welk closely, the latter of which was one of the few that hadn't retreated. In fact, Welk had moved closer to the dragon, a grin stretched wide over his face. "You're so big!" he said, moving forward and placing his hands right on the dragon's snout.

Zephyr blinked, startled by Welk's bravery, then let out a sound that literally made the ground beneath them vibrate.

He purred.

Welk grinned wider at the sound, then turned and said "Werr, come pet him! His scales are warm!" He turned back to the dragon, leaning forward and putting his arms as far as he could around the dragon's nose.

Zephyr closed his eyes, enjoying the attention. He hadn't had anyone talk to him, much less touch him, ever since he had been born.

Werr blinked, but nodded. He inched forward, slowly and hesitantly placing his hand on Zephyr's scales. Of course he was scared; such a huge creature, told of as man-eating beasts in almost every human culture...he relaxed when nothing bad happened to him, though. "You're right," He said, smiling a bit. "Kind of reminds me of Nate. He's always warm. I guess it makes sense, what with him being part dragon..."

Diana remained behind Forin and Luen, not daring to emerge.

Zephyr blinked softly at Werr, then exhaled deeply from his nostrils, blowing Werr and Welk's hair back wildly. Welk laughed, then actually got up onto the dragon's head, plunking himself down right between his horns.

Zephyr blinked, startled by how bold Welk was. He flicked his tail once, then said "What is with this cat? He's a bit reckless and he smells of a mage. It's so odd. I can smell fire in his blood. I can smell another mage's scent on him, however. From his clothes. And this one..." He blew a thin wisp at Werr. "...also smells of a wind mage, but it isn't very strong. It's extremely faint."

"Welk is a fire mage. And yes, he's far too reckless for his own good." Nate chortled. "Well...we once had a wind mage traveling with us. But we had to journey into the enemy's territory to save Werr from their grasp. We found that the wind mage had been taken over by something terrible."

"Dark Magic," Forin stated calmly. "Call it what it is."

"Wait, Dark Magic? The same kind of thing that you have in your pocket?" Werr frowned at him.

"Sure, but it's not like I infected him. You heard him, your mother saw to the infection part. Oh wait, you were still loopy then."

"My...mother?" Werr thought back, remembering the battle with the tendrils. Which only meant that mother had been infected with Dark Magic, too. And father as well, most likely. That must be it, then. Someone must have done something, someone had released Dark Magic upon the world. It explained the Massacre of Mages; the four kings of this land had come together nearly 11 years ago to discuss things. Werr knew. He had been on the council at the time.

They had all noticed it; the winters were longer, other seasons were much shorter. Roses bloomed only to wilt half a day later. Food prices had been greatly affected, and the people were in distress. The world seemed to be dying. So the kings came to the conclusion that the mages were the cause of it; they drained power from the earth itself, and there were far too many of them.

Thus, mages were sought out and murdered. Three days of hunting and slaying. Some mages fought, others didn't. Some hid, but most of them never saw anything coming. The bad part was, the kings met half a year later to find that nothing had really changed. None of the people knew why the massacre happened, either.

A year later, Asmodius declared war upon them. Ophichus and Guald, the neighboring countries, fell within five years. King Regalo, his royal majesty of Alastor, had rallied their remains and created strategic lines around the country. The war still raged on now, but Asmodius had retreated many of his forces, though keeping a line around Storaph akin to the one surrounding Alastor. It was a bit of a stalemate; neither were attacking. They both had taken up the defenses.

And Werr knew why, too. (He had started pacing at this point, pretty much ignoring everyone else.) He thought back, trying to remember. He didn't recall Obelisk at all, unfortunately. He seemed to remember King Asmodius in the dark lord's place, to an extent. Regardless, he did remember something being said about him being in their control, and that he would be made king.

That was why he had been forced to give up that information (though in his mind, he had just been talking, rather than Obelisk searching his mind himself). The other council members were to be slain, and the king assassinated. Then, Werr would be king, and if he had been under their control, Alastor would have fallen within a matter of days. Would the council members still be killed, even though he wasn't in Asmodius' grasp anymore? Most likely.

Werr stopped pacing. They had waited far too long. If the council members were going to be assassinated, it would be as soon as possible. And that meant that some of them might be dead already.

"Umm...are you okay, Werr?" Airlia tapped him on the shoulder. He had only been silent for a few moments, but Airlia had never seen him this deep in thought.

"Hm? I'm fine, just...thinking." Werr shook his head. He looked up at Welk, wondering if he should share his thoughts.

As soon as Airlia had spoken, Welk's gaze had shot around to the human boy in concern. All thoughts of the dragon he was sitting on vanished. He quickly got off of Zephyr's head and moved over to Werr, hugging him lightly. He didn't say anything, just hugged him.

Zephyr watched them through his large eyes, then said "The loss of a mage is a great loss indeed. The world needs its magic users, to be certain. So I assume that part of your journey, of sorts, would include getting him back?"

When Nate translated, Welk nodded, a bit frantically. "Yes!" he said. "Obviously!"

Zephyr tilted his head at Welk, then said "Forget him. He's a lost cause. There is no way to return a dark mage to their original state. I should know. I've been around for over one-thousand years, after all."

Welk's eyes had widened and his jaw dropped open. "You...you can't say that!" he said. "There's always hope! He's my brother and I'm not going to just let him fade away!"

"He's already gone, is he not?" the dragon asked. "Face it, child. He'll never be the way you want him to be again. He's gone."

Welk stared at the dragon in horror, but he could only see honesty in the huge red eyes. The fire mage hugged Werr tighter, putting his ears back.

Zephyr sighed deeply, then said "Hm...so, where are we going? I can take you all anywhere you need to go much faster than a stupid horse."

Werr sighed, hugging his friend in return. "Ignore him. We have Cici. She said she could do it, and...well, I believe her." The staff was strapped to his back using some rope he had found. It freed up both of his hands easier.

"Well, we kind of have to wait for Seria to wake up, and...Werr, where are we going first?" Nate asked, knowing that the council members needed saving as much as Cynyr did. He had already pieced together most of what Werr had, after all.

"I...I don't know..." Werr mumbled, looking down at Welk sadly.

Welk sighed deeply, then said "...Council members first." It clearly pained him to say it, as he wanted Cynyr back greatly, but keeping Werr close by and off of the throne was a bigger priority. Welk couldn't function if he didn't have Werr. "And can we go somewhere, if it's not too much of a split off? Especially now that we have a dragon to ride."

"Where?" Jag said, still eyeing Zephyr suspiciously.

Welk hesitated, knowing Werr wouldn't like what he was going to ask, then said "...I want to visit Briana, my mother. I have some things I want to talk to her about. It's important and only she can tell me." He twinned one hand lightly into Werr's shirt, waiting tensely for his reaction.

Werr nodded. "Alright. To Kash first, then. And it's actually not too far off from the closest council member...if I remember correctly, one of them was in Ulles. So we'll stop by Kash. It's not far at all from Ulles, actually, and it might take just a few minutes travel by dragon...maybe we could drop you off at Kash with Briana, and come get you when we've warned the council member?"

Welk's reaction was instant. "No." he said quickly. "I'm staying with you. We'll take care of the council member first, then go to Kash to rest. Then I can talk to Briana while we're resting." He nodded eagerly, not about to agree to a situation where he had to be a full town away from his friends.

Jag snorted, rolling his eyes lightly. He personally thought Welk was annoying, but then again, he thought they were all annoying. Some more than others, but still.

"Okay," Werr nodded. "We can't even get a move on until Seria wakes up..."

"And she's eaten something. We're not going anywhere until all of us are at 100 percent. How would she help us if she died of starvation?" Nate tutted. "Lily, is there anything left from breakfast?"

"Yes," Lily said, nodding. "You never ate, so there's quite a bit left, actually...we didn't realize you were gone until I finished making it, so..."

Zephyr shook his horned head and shrunk down to his tiny size, peering up at them all. "Well?" he said. "Then go wake her up and make her eat something. I'm ready to get a move on! It'll be so amazing to fly with so many people on my back. Of course, if one of you falls off, I can't go after you. That would result in all of the others being knocked off as well." He shrugged, then flew up and scrambled back into Nate's pocket, purring. "I'm taking a nap." he said, sticking his muzzle out of the pocket. "Do be so kind as to remember I'm in here and don't squish me by accident. That would be terrible." He tucked his nose back down, curling up in the dragonian's pocket on his back, as if he were in a hammock. He fell asleep moments later, lulled by the warmth that Nate himself created.