The Forgotten Zodiac

"Ow..." The girl moaned, pulling aginst the straps that held her to the machine. Her long, blonde hair was braided and the pulled over her shoudlers. Thankfully, the pirates hadn't had the patience to cut her hair. Admittedly, it served no purpose here other than to occasionally get in the way of the wires they had strapped into her back, but she did love it. Maybe it would boost her morale. Still not helpful, but considering she would probably spend the rest of her miserable life strapped to a machine, it would be nice to occasionally feel better about herself. She slammed herself forward as best she could, but only succeded in pulling the various tubes in her skin out to were they hurt as well as fulfilled their needed purposes. This was not part of her job description. She was going to make Loren pay for this. Quite a lot. She might even threaten to quit, though that wouldn't really get her anywhere. She'd probably just make him mad.

On deck of the airship, a teenage boy was working his way up toward the captain. His face was coated in grease, as were his hands and most of his body that wasn't covered by clothing. Holding back his short brown hair were a pair of goggles, which would have looked ridiculous anywhere but on an airship, where he should have been wearing them, especially at the speed they were flying. "Captain? Captain Malya? I was told I needed to ask you before checking on the prisoner!" He shouted over the wind. "I need to make sure she's still connected!"

Captain Saana J. Malya, or Captain Malya as she insisted upon being called, was at the wheel, of course. She flicked a couple switches on the control board next to the wheel before looking up at the boy. "There's no need, I already sent Vael!" She called back, the sun reflecting off of her own orange-tinted goggles. Her brown hair was cut short, the goggles covering her blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress shirt with a royal blue vest over that, matching dress pants and boots that were covered in straps that kept them firmly on her feet no matter what. She wore a short black top hat with blue-tinted steel curls tucked into the white band. Also firmly stuck there was a red card with a gold 'c' in the middle; it was the trademark of airship captains, and was a bit like a flying license.

"You can help Libree, though! There's a hole in the hull off the stern end, goodness knows how it got there, but Libree needs someone to make sure his ropes are tight while he goes and fixes it. We'll be in town in about an hour and a half, so if you don't want to do that, find some other way to be useful."

Vael walked down the steps to the 'boiler' room, where the girl was strapped to the machine. He wore a black trench coat that was zipped and strapped on firmly, so no one could take it off without his say-so. Said trench coat had a hood that he currently had pulled up, though his eyes were already concealed by old, dusty-looking shaded goggles. He took two paces before stopping, inspecting the girl silently. Of course, he never really spoke anyways, and when he did, his voice had some odd accent to it, so most people had a hard time understanding him anyways.

He walked forward the rest of the way, reattaching the tubes without a word before checking the wires and the tightness of the straps.

Riahn immediately turned to go help Libree. There was a hole in the airship? The captain clearly didn't realize that holes led to the engine filling with dirt and falling out of the sky, or birds flying in and messing it up. Some of those parts were really, really old too. Birds would break them. He hurried up to Libree and waited for the older male to tell him what to do. "There's a hole?" He asked nervously.

The girl immediately lunged herself forward, determined to make this difficult for them, meaning the pirates in general. She didn't bother trying to convince them to let her go or that they were terrible people who were abusing the innocent by their very existence. If it was true, she was as good as dead; and, if it wasn't, she would make them mad by saying it was.

Obviously she knew that much, or she wouldn't be sending Libree over the side of the ship to fix it in mid-air. Libree was a tall, wiry fellow with clear goggles and a mechanic's suit on. For of course, he was the mechanic of the ship. Riahn was his apprentice. Libree was currently strapping on a harness, picking up a rope tied securely to the mainsail. "Here, remember what I taught you about these old belay systems?" He asked as Riahn approached, handing the boy a harness. "I fixed up an old one I found in the last city we were in."

Vael silently tightened the straps, forcing her back against the chair. He had surprising strength, one stubborn girl wasn't going to stop him. "Supper will be soon," He said quietly, his words somewhat slurred, his accent only making it worse. "We'll feed you."

((When were we gonna bring in evil-Sylas?))

Riahn grabbed the harness and nodded immediately. Of course, he remembered. It was hard to forget. The old man was a good teacher, but he could be incredibly repetitive. He supposed it came with being old. "I remember." He spoke loudly to make sure Libree could hear, then muttered under his breath. "Good thing it's old. It'll fit with all the rest."

Isabella huffed and continued squirming, though squirming was really all she could do. "You aren't just going to push it in through a tube?" She scoffed, trying to say anything that would bother him, if only to have the satisfaction of bothering him.

((She's so petty right now.))

((HEY. SAGE. WHEN WE BRING IN EVIL SYLAS? DUN IGNORE ME. -shakes fist at-))

"Good," Libree nodded, double-checking his harness before clipping the gondolier onto the harness. "Off we go, then," He climbed over the rail on the front of the boat (after Riahn was suited up and clipped in, of course) and quickly got to work.

"Would you prefer that?" He asked as he raised a concealed brow skeptically. He went about checking the wires again, then the machine itself.

((You don't want to play others in the crew, do you? Then he can eat them as soon as night falls and they've crashed. Will Libree be down there when they crash? Also, you should reply with the crash, since I don't want to write it.))

Riahn checked all of Libree's knots out of habit and then leaned back against the rail. Now he just got to wait and check knots every five minutes. It wasn't very exciting. He crained his neck over the rail and looked at Libree for a while, watching the man's miniscule movements.

She shrugged, or made an attempt to. "It could, detabably, be better than being fed like a child. Besides, you're barbaric pirates; I can hardly expect chivalry."

((That's great, but the crash will happen a little while after Sylas shows up. So I needed to know. But I'm bringing him in now. SURPRISE, VAEL. TROLLOLOL.

And the only other crew members I can think of would be a cook. Haha. NO.

Yeah, I planned to either have Libree there when the crash happens, or down with the machine, so it blows up on him. Haha.))

"Barbaric? Barbaric would be not feeding you at all, I should think." Vael said quietly, jerking suddenly and looking up. Something was on top of the machine, looking down at them in mock curiosity.

"You must learn to not be picky, child," The thing was pale, bony and thin, and taller than Vael and Isabella combined. It was laying with its stomach against the machine so it could fit in the gap between the hard metal and the ceiling. The mock curiosity in its red eyes changed to malicious delight in an instant, its thin lips curling into a disgusting smile. "Hello there. I am Sylas. I have come for her," He said boredly, resting his head against his hand, his elbow propped against the machine.

((Leave him there, and Riahn can watch him die, and then he'll be all sad.

SYLAS! SYLASSYLASSYLAS! Oh, what if Timothy was one of the Gifted being held captive? Since darkness would strengthen the machines. -nodnod-))

Before she could answer, Isabella heard the voice and jumped, as high as was possible in the straps. "What's that? What's come for me? Wait, come for me? What kind of sadistic torture is this?" She struggled against the straps as best she could, but it wasn't going to work. She was stuck.

((Okay. Haha.

Hmm, I wanted to save that for later, 'cuz Sylas will start being soft again when he finds Timothy. Haha. It can be that way if you want, I guess. I'll just have Sylas not-remember yet.))

"Torture? I am not going to torture you, child. I'm going to eat you and use your bones as toothpicks. Much less painful than torture." Sylas shrugged.

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Vael growled, eyes narrowed as he reached for the sword he kept strapped to his side. Outdated compared to other weapons found around this age, but this weapon was the best he had, and he wouldn't trade it in for any plasma blade in the world.

"I won't, you say? And who is going to stop me? You?" He laughed coldly. "I can bring this airship out of the sky within mere seconds."

"You wouldn't dare! You'd crash along with it, you know!" Vael snapped, though the fear was quite plain in his eyes.

"Ah, but I suppose the difference between us would be the fact that I wouldn't be harmed much from such an impact." Sylas grinned. "Oh, I know you'll be dying to find out your odds of survival, but I'm going to keep the tension up a bit. Your little human friend, hanging off the stern of the ship like a spider, let's start with him." Sylas raised two fingers like they were a pair of scissors, then put his fingers together.

Up on deck, a very much solid pair of scissors formed from the shadows. They positioned themselves and cut just as Sylas closed his fingers. Namely, the cut the rope supporting Libree. The poor fellow didn't even have a chance to cry out before he was plummeting towards the ground, gravity taking hold.

((We'll leave Timothy, then. He can come in later, if at all.))

Riahn grasped for the rope, but the scissors cut below his reach and all he could do was to watch the mechanic fall. "L-Libree!" He unstrapped and whirled, pulling his harness off as he ran. "Captain! Captain?" Despite the relatively small size of the airship, he was still panting hard when he reached Malya. "Something happened to LIbree, cut the rope." He panted.

Isabella paled even further and threw her weight forward, trying to break or loosen the straps. "I-I assure you, I taste terrible!" A wire came loose with a twang and prevented her from leaning back any further, which stopped her from throwing her weight as well. "And-and my bones would splinter to small to be used as toothpicks!"

Malya blinked at Riahn for a moment, pushing a button on the control board to put the ship on autopilot. She jumped over the stairs to the main deck, marching forward and seizing the ropes that Libree had been secured to. Of course, the scissors had long since disappeared. She examined the cut, then went and peered over the side of the deck.

She then proceeded to kick the railing, growling in frustration and anger. She turned to Riahn. "What did you do, boy?!" She demanded, red in the face by now. "Libree is dead for sure, we're too high up for him to survive such a fall! What happened?!"

"Oh no, I assure you, you taste quite delicious." Sylas smirked. Vael had paled as well, though it was a bit less noticeable.

"Libree...what did you do with him?!" Vael snarled.

"I killed him. Super simple. Now, how about your dear captain? Or that mechanic apprentice?" Sylas sneered. "I'll bring this entire ship down. In fact, why not?" Sylas swung forward suddenly, kicking Vael out of his way. Sylas grabbed the cords and wires and tubes that were attached to Isabella. He then pulled, ripping clean through them with ease.

Riahn jumped backward and nervously wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. "I- Scissors, made from shadow, like an elemental, they cut the rope!" He pulled the rope up and held the severed end out to Malya, proof that he hadn't broken it somehow. The only way for him to have cut it would have been for him to climb down, cut it, then climb back up to go find the Captain. It wasn't really possible.

Isabella thrashed against the straps, which gave away accept for one. The one happened to be her left foot and it proceded to throw her against Sylas and, if he hadn't caught her, the floor. She whimpered and tried to pull herself backward so she could get away, but wasn't doing very well.

"Scissors? Shadows? You've gone completely mental, lad!" Malya shouted, annoyed and angry and very upset. Libree had been a good friend of hers. Her anger vanished as soon as she noticed that they were losing altitude. "What the..." She moved back to the wheel, checking the control board. "Something's going on...the machine must have broken...right after Libree fell, too..." She growled in annoyance. "Riahn! Go see what's going on!" She shouted, turning off autopilot. The ship lurched dangerously, tilting forward more. Malya fought to get it under control. She swore; they were surrounded by forest on all sides, and they were descending too quickly to even consider trying to find a body of water for an emergency landing. They'd have to hit land. And they'd hit it pretty hard.

Sylas grinned, his grip tightening around Isabella quickly. The shadow scissors cut through the last binding, but Isabella was well in Sylas' grip by then. "Shall we go? This ship doesn't have long, anyways." Vael made a move like he was going to attack, but Sylas just tutted at him. "Hurt me, and you'll be hurting the child here," He chortled as Vael stopped at once.

Vael gritted his teeth. What to do...this freak of nature was going to murder this kid. Vael couldn't help himself; he refused to stand idly by when someone was in mortal danger. Captive or not, Isabella was still a person, and all life was and is precious. But what could he do? The ship was going down fast. They had lost their engineer, so they couldn't switch to the standard power interface. By the time they figured it out, it would be far too late.

Isabella thrashed, trying to get away. Wind began swirling around the cabin as Isabella's powers regenerated. It began shoving between the diplomat and the Iyouis, pushing the girl farther away from him and pulling and twisting at his fingers. It wasn't properly controlled at this point; she was to terrified to think straight.

Riahn hurried to the edge, but made no move to go over once he knew Malya couldn't see him. Despite the fact that it was completely illogical, he felt much safer on board the ship. At least he wouldn't be horribly crushed when they crashed. On the other hand, it could be said that he would be causing the crash by not fixing the ship, not that he would know how anyway.

Sylas made no notion of pain or even a slight movement of his grip slipping. He braced his feet against the floor, grinning still. Shadows erupted from the ground in a wide circle around him; Vael moved forward, apparently to try and stop this madness, but the shadows grabbed him and literally threw him up the steps.

Vael landed with an audible 'crack', though he made no sound of pain. He did, however, grab his forearm, shaking slightly. The bone was broken in two, he could feel it. He resisted the urge to cry out in pain, and climbed shakily to his feet, looking up at Malya. "I-Iyoui! The-there's an Iy-Iyoui below deck!" He shouted, wincing with pain. He then noticed that the ship was sinking very, very quickly. The ground and all of the trees were getting awfully close. "Uh...right...are we going to crash?"

"YES, YES WE ARE!" Malya screeched, still struggling to get the beast of a ship under control. "Maybe you want to, I don't know, fix one of our situations?!"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about the one where we're going to crash, or the one where we're going to DIE?!"

"How am I supposed to do that?!"

"FIGURE SOMETHING OUT!"

Isabella screamed, unable to help herself. The wind reached a frenzy, swirling in a tornado around the two of them and pulling her forward. She thrashed again, trying to get out of his grip, not that it would do her any good. "L-Let me go! Let me go!" She screamed, pulling and trying to get out of Sylas' hands.

Sylas was spun around by the wind, but he kept his grip and backed up until his back was to the machine. What Sylas failed to realize was that in pulling the wires out of Isabella, he had caught one of the tubes running from the machine. Said tube had been keeping fliuds running throughout the machine, keeping it cool; the fluids were now on the floor and not inside the machine. The machine was currently overheating, though it wasn't obvious.

It became very obvious, however, when the machine exploded not two seconds after Sylas bumped into it. He and Isabella were thrown forwards, onto the stairs. Sylas went limp on top of Isabella; he had taken a good deal of damage from the shrapnel, he was unconscious.

Well, with no emergency landing power and a flaming hull, the ship was now pretty much plummeting to earth like a rock. The trees didn't provide any cushioning. The flaming ship smashed through them like they were all toothpicks, crashing to the ground below. Malya felt her hands come away from the wheel, then fell unconscious; she whacked her head against the rail as the ship came to such a sudden stop. Vael fell forward with the stop, being thrown off the ship itself before dropping into unconsciousness there. Honestly, the both of them were lucky to be alive. Not that Malya would be if she stayed where she was, as the ship was still on fire, and the burning wreckage was falling apart.

Isabella got lucky. She had been sheltered by Sylas' body, so she was relatively unharmed, except for a few cuts and bruises here and there. She stood up and ran up the stairs, glad she'd worn pants. Attempting this in a skirt would be diffficult, she realized, especially with th emassive ammounts of flame.

Riahn had been safe simply because he was strapped in and behind the main cabin. Once the ship stopped moving, he unstrapped and hurried forward to where he knew Malya was. He located her quickly and knelt on the ground. "Malya? Captain Malya?!" He patted her on the cheek and shook her, trying everything he could to get her to wake up. Medicine was not his speciality; trauma was even less so.

Malya didn't move for a long time, then suddenly jerked and started coughing. "R-R-Ria-ahn..." She spat out, blood bubbling out of the corner of her mouth. She blinked several times and used Riahn to try and pull herself up. She was shaking badly, her eyes fogged over slightly. "F-f-fi...fire..." She moaned, managing to look around a bit before her legs collapsed from under her. There was another, though smaller, explosion as the fire reached the oil tank. The ship groaned and cracks sounded, the ship threatening to fall on its side; it was already standing at an odd angle.