The Forgotten Zodiac

There was silence for a long time, then someone screamed. The throne room burst into panic, the commoners pushing and fighting to get outside. The guards (and the others) were dragged back by the mass of bodies charging for the doors.

Werr gripped the armrest of the not-quite-his throne. He knew this would happen. This sort of thing always happened. Which was why both of his knights were right there with him; normally, they would have hung back near the doors, but Werr had insisted upon them being able to reach him easily.

"Not so fast, weirdos! You can't have Werr, there's no way I would let you take him. Even if Luna can hold me, Werr is still mine!" Cici snapped at them.

"Weirdos?" they both said at the same time. Light turned to Dark and said "Brother, do you think I'm weird?"

"No, brother." Dark answered. "Do you think I'm weird?"

"No, brother." the first answered, then they turned back to the beings at the throne and said, at the same time "See? We're not weirdos." Dark waved one hand in front of himself and said "Oh? They have a little light fairy staff, now do they? That should be fun to mess with!"

"No, Dark." Light said. "We're must remember Lord Obelisk's orders. ...What were his orders again?"

"I haven't the foggiest." Dark answered. "Let's just take the kingy dude and cut him open. Maybe we'll remember then."

Fire suddenly rippled out at them, along with several blade-sharp gusts of wind. The twins leapt out of the way with startling agility, flipping and twisted themselves around to avoid the blasts of magic.

Welk and Cynyr were in human form, their hands held at the ready to fight, but not about to leave Werr completely unguarded. Welk hung back while Cynyr leapt forward, entering a fast-paced battle with the two new enemies. All three of them moved so quickly around the room, leaping off of walls and flipping around to avoid attacks that it was astounding that they didn't hurt themselves.

Werr was quick to react as well, though he simply stood and backed up while Cici cloaked him in his usual armor. At the display, there was much more screaming and a heck of a lot more confusion. Naturally, not everyone knew that mages were now legal; the veto of the law had been done two days ago. There wasn't exactly newspapers or anything to get the word out quickly.

The guards were focusing on getting the people out safely, at this point. Even the life of a king was little compared to this many people. Werr preferred it that way, honestly. He had already vowed to protect Alastor, and that included its people, so he wasn't about to call for any guards.

Unfortunately, that also meant the guards were getting those who could help mixed up in the bunch that they were ushering outside, but Werr hadn't quite noticed that yet.

Welk stayed in front of Werr, his ears perked up over his head as he tried to keep track of the fighting between the twins and his brother. Jeez, they were fast! He had no hope of fighting at that high of a speed, so he chose to hang back and defend Werr.

Finally, the combatants pulled apart, Light and Dark both landing on their feet further back from the throne while Cynyr landed in front of his friends, panting and clutching a wound on his left side. Light had a slash across his right leg and Dark was holding a gaping slash in his left shoulder. Both panted for a few seconds before Light said "Well done! I have to admit, that was some amazing fighting! You managed to hit both of us while we only managed to get one hit on you."

Dark nodded eagerly, saying "I really want that cat now. I want to cut him open and see what makes him tick." His hands twitched and quivered in anticipation, but he made no move to go forward yet. He was still holding his bloodied shoulder.

Cynyr panted hard for a moment, then risked a glance over his shoulder and said "Welk, get Werr away from here! Go get Luen and Diana and get out of the castle. I can hold these goons off until then."

"Cynyr-" Welk started, but Cynyr roared "Go!" at him. Welk gulped, then turned and grabbed Werr's hand, pulling the other boy into a run and heading off into the castle.

Dark moved to follow but Cynyr moved in the way. "Going somewhere?" he growled, his scarred lips pulled back into a feral snarl.

Dark grinned and said "Fine. We'll deal with you first."

The three lunged at each other again, the sound of their clash ringing through the castle.

They hardly made it a few feet away from the throne room, though. Something slammed into Werr, taking him down to the ground, hard. His hand was torn out of Welk's grip and Cici clattered away from him. That caused his armor to vanish at once. He found it a little difficult to breathe, what with Necropolis standing on his chest.

"You guys don't pay very good attention, do you? I thought Werr was the priority!" Necropolis shouted back into the throne room, although he was fairly certain his words were lost in the noise of the fighting. "Such morons..." He spotted Werr scrambling to get a hold on Cici again, but he couldn't reach it with Necropolis' feet keeping him firmly pinned to the floor. Necropolis swept the staff up in his own hand and threw it down the hall in one quick motion. His hand looked badly burnt after that, but he was grinning nevertheless. "Can't have you getting to that thing again, can I? It's a nusiance, really."

Welk, in the meantime, was unable to see any of this. He had been locked in an illusion, and was still holding onto a Werr that wasn't there at all.

"Yes we do!" Light and Dark both shouted amid the fighting. Then Cynyr kicked Light back and spawned a miniature tornado that swept the black-clad fighter up into the sharp gusts of wind. The black panther glanced down for a moment, clenching his teeth together tightly in his mouth, then gasped when Dark drove his white blade forward. The wind mage managed to twist at the last second to avoid getting stabbed in the chest with the blade, but that resulted in the sword tearing a long gash in his other side. He slammed to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth as he struggled and managed to stand again. He was definitely tough and resilient, but he couldn't keep going at this rate for too much longer.

Luna appeared, her white-gold wings open wide. It only took her a moment to figure out the current situation and act, grabbing Cici up into her hands to protect the staff. She flung one wing out, calling "Break!" The illusion holding Welk shattered, though he was dazed. The anthro leopard then moved towards Necropolis, holding up a shimmering ball of light that glowed brightly, sending rays of burning sun into the room.

Necropolis saw the light attack coming. He grabbed Werr and hoised him up, holding a knife to his throat and hiding from the sun rays using Werr. His smaller size made this easy. "Cut it out, or I'll cut his throat!" He yelped, not escaping a few burns.

"No, no! Don't hurt Werr!" Cici screeched.

Luna shut off the light ball instantly, glaring at the creature holding Werr. She flinched when Cynyr suddenly yelped as Light freed himself from the tornado and sliced off part of the panther's left ear, sending a thick cascade of blood pouring down his face. That was all the distraction the dark-clad brother needed. He slammed the butt of his sword forward, cracking right through Cynyr's partial mask and knocking the panther unconscious, leaving a bleeding mark on his pale white skin. Dark jumped forward and caught him, saying "Mine now!"

Light giggled happily, then turned and flipped over to Necropolis, saying "I'll take that one. I got here first, so I already said I wanted him." He grabbed Werr and ran back over to his twin, standing back to back with his brother. "And now we bid you all a very fond farewell~!" they both trilled, then, in a single burst of shadow and sun, they vanished.

With Werr and Cynyr.

"Crap, crap, crap..." Cici whimpered. "I've lost him, I'm not connected to his mind anymore...crap!"

"Well...that was excited." Forin sighed, leading Vidia back into the throne room by the hand. She was crying, only letting Forin lead her along because there was no one else around. Airlia had been pushed completely out with the rest of the commoners, and Nate was nowhere to be seen. And Werr...Werr was gone. Forin eyed Welk, wondering how the half cat would react.

Welk still seemed dazed from being in the illusion. Seria came in a few moments later, Nate at her side. They had been standing together in the crowd and had, of course, latched onto each other to avoid getting separated. The female half-cat glanced around, analyzing the situation and acting accordingly. She moved over to Welk and touched him lightly on his forehead, watching as he stirred and rubbed his eyes.

Jag padded in, Lily holding onto his tail and Spy held by his scruff in the gryphon's beak. They all looked ruffled, but otherwise okay.

Luen was out looking for Airlia.

Welk shook his head, then glanced up at Seria. "Oh. Hi." he said, then looked out into the room. His jaw dropped instantly. "Where's Werr and Cynyr?" he asked, walking forward into the destruction.

Seria glanced back at Luna, who shook her head. The sunlight being stepped forward and said "They are gone, half-cat. The twins that attacked have taken them both elsewhere."

Welk froze completely, his entire body going rigid. Suddenly, it was as if his bones could no longer hold him. He collapsed into a sitting position, staring blankly at the ground.

Seria walked forward immediately and touched his shoulders, saying "Welk? Are you okay?"

Silence.

Seria bit her lip, glancing back at Nate once before looked back at Welk. "Welk, we're going to get them back. It's going to be okay."

Still nothing. His eyes were open, but he was unresponsive to Seria. He finally looked up, but it wasn't at Seria. He reached a trembling hand forward and picked up the pieces of Cynyr's broken mask, clutching them tightly to himself. Then it was back to silence. Not a single sound. He didn't cry or threaten to maim the people that had taken his friends.

Nothing.

Forin, of course, had expected this much out of Welk. "We might as well just go. I don't think he'll be talking to us much for awhile." He snorted. "Where are Luen and Diana?" He said, peering around. He was confident that Luen would have protected Diana with his life, but he couldn't help but be concerned.

"So...the king has been taken..." Heath, the head guard, marched into the throne room, pointing a finger at Nate. "All this is highly suspect, you Storaph swine."

"Tch, really? I'm going to go save your king, which is more than you could pull off." Nate batted the hand away, frowning.

"You...!" Heath grabbed Nate by the collar. "If Alastor doesn't have a king or a queen, the entire system collapses! Moral is lost by all soldiers, there's no order or peace, and Alastor will be nothing but rubble in mere days! How in the name of Hera are we supposed to just trust you lot, huh?!"

"Because I've saved him before! We all have! That kid is a magnet for trouble, and if we can't bail him out of it, no one can! So shut your trap, you thick-skulled, beefy--"

"You're asking for it, pig!" Heath roared, punching Nate square in the face and letting him fall back, blood dripping from a cut on his lip.

Forin, surprisingly, swept between them. "Enough. We haven't the time for this foolish quibbling. You have a perimeter to secure, guard. We have a king to save. Leave it at that." Heath balled his hand into a fist again, as if he would punch Forin, but he grumbled something and turned away, barking orders at the other guards.

Forin turned on heel and moved away as well, his cloak billowing behind him as he headed off to find Luen and Diana.

Luna calmly reached out and grabbed Seria by her tail, preventing her from doing something to the guard that no healer in their right mind would do. "Stop yourself, child." she said. "Calm down."

Seria hissed darkly, but did as Luna told her and made herself calm down. She moved over to Nate and gently took his hand, helping him stand. "Sorry." she murmured, touching her delicate hand to his cheek to heal him. "That man was out of line. You're as noble as anyone out there."

Meanwhile, Luen was wandering down the hallways of the castle, horribly lost. Diana was sitting on his back, since her weight was easy to carry. Well, normally it was. Luen was limping along on three legs, his front left one held up against his furry chest. Blood had stained his white fur a dark crimson and was leaving drops of blood all down the hall behind him, dripping thickly from his paw. He looked up when Forin found them, his emerald eyes full of pain. "F-Forin." he greeted, pausing to pant. "What happened?"

"Werr and Cynyr were taken by a pair of weirdos and Necropolis. That doesn't matter, what happened to your paw? Come on, we should get you to Seria." Forin said, pulling Diana off of his back and holding tightly onto her hand. "We'll have to go after them and get Werr back here before the public collapses into chaos. That would be horrible, apparently."

"Ah, some strange person blew up part of the infirmary where me and Diana were." the wolfling explained. "I didn't get a good look at whoever they were because I had to defend Diana from the blast. It was so sudden that I couldn't get an ice shield up in time to cover us completely. I got hit with a chunk of glass that went through my arm and pinned it to the wall. I couldn't move my arm at all. So...I pulled it out myself so I could get Diana away safely." He followed after Forin as they started walking, limping along painfully with his injured leg held up still. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

"Mostly, but Werr and Cynyr aren't going to be if we can't get to them in time. Knowing Obelisk's intentions, which I'm fairly certain I do, means that Werr will most likely be killed and Cynyr will be reinfected with dark magic, making him a fitting sacrifice again, restoring Obelisk's powers." Forin sighed. "Do you need me to carry you?" He asked with concern lacing his voice as he led the way back to the throne room, which he did from memory. A left turn here, a right there, so on. "Ah, well, it doesn't matter much now. We're here." He said, stepping into the throneroom. "Seria, Luen is injured."

Seria glanced up immediately when Forin spoke, then trotted over and bent down to Luen. "How did this happen?" she asked. Luen explained simply, more concerned over Werr and Cynyr's plight than his own injury. He winced as Seria slid her fingers along the opening, watching as the skin and fur resealed behind her claws. He lowered his red-stained leg back to the ground once she was finished, then said "Well. Let's prepare to leave."

*

Light was singing a brisk, happy song as he and his brother warped to a landing not exceptionally far from the castle. True, they were quite a ways away, but still. They had gone in an unknown direction. "That song is beautiful, brother." Dark said, dropping Cynyr's limp body to the ground near a tree. The panther stirred slightly, flicking his long black tail once. "Better tie him up." Light said. "Don't want him throwing a fit."

"Ever true." Dark answered, pulling out a long tendril of rope and thoroughly binding Cynyr's wrists behind his back, ignoring the blood that was leaking slowly from the wounds on the panther's body. He didn't stop there. He pushed Cynyr up into a standing position and shoved him against a tree, binding him right to the trunk. "There." he said, dusting off his hands. "Now put your person down so I can heal you, brother."

"No, I'm going to heal you first this time, brother." Light said, dumping Werr out of his arms and catching the rope that Dark tossed to him. Before the boy could get away, Light had trussed him up tightly and had pushed him back against a tree.

((His, not him.))

Werr struggled and squirmed, but it was no use. He was soon tied to the tree by his neck, with his hands around the trunk behind him, and his ankles secured to the tree easily. It was extremely uncomfortable, but it kept him from squirming too much; every movement caused him to gag to some extent. "Let me go!" He spat angrily, but his fear and panic was obvious from his trembling. "W-what do you want from me?!"

"Screaming," Neropolis jabbed his cheek with a finger, grinning. "Fear, panic, pain...Obelisk wants you to suffer, and so you shall. Oh, don't worry, we'll keep you alive as long as possible. But in the end, you will die. With your various intestines and organs hanging out of your body, and your blood staining the snow red for several meters all around.

"Hey! He's mine!" Light said, batting Necropolis away from Werr. "You aren't going to do anything to him! I am. Brother, tell him I'm right."

Dark looked up from digging through his bag and said "He's right. If you wanted the boy, you should've called him first. But you didn't."

Light stuck his tongue out at Necropolis, pushing the Tartaran away from Werr. "You go away and leave us to our work." he said. "Go play in the forest or something. We don't work well when we're being watched by an intruder."

Dark nodded in agreement, grinning...well, darkly. He stood up and touched his brother's wounds, watching as they vanished. Light did the same to him. They were not able to heal their own wounds. Only the other's.

Once they were finished, Light walked over to his bag and started pulling things out of it. Various knives and sharp utensils.

Cynyr came into consciousness at around this time, weakly lifting his head and blinking his yellow eyes dully. He quickly grew active, pulling against his restraints and growling when he realized the situation they were in. He glanced over and spotted Werr, feeling a wave of fear seep through his body. He didn't see anyone else, though, so he assumed it was just the two of them.

Not that that was better.

Their trees were fairly close to each other, so the half-cat was able to reach out with his tail and touch Werr's hand.

"Heh, as you wish. Perhaps I should lock up the mage's abilities first, though? Done and done." Necropolis snapped once, then skipped away. "I'll go torture someone else, then. I've got my own stuff. I'll be back sooner or later. Don't worry about me," He chortled, then was gone.

Looking at the weapons, Werr felt his mouth go dry. He looked over at Cynyr, his sheer terror quite clear. He doubted they would do any serious damage to Cynyr; Obelisk needed him as a sacrifice, to regain his powers.

Werr, on the other hand, was nothing more than an entertainment factor in this case. The worst part was, he couldn't struggle or anything. If he struggled too much, he could snap his own neck or strangle himself on the rope that held him fast. Werr struggled to hold back tears, not that there was much point in hiding them.

Cynyr flicked his ears, instantly noticing that his left one was a bit lighter. He remember how a good chunk of the tip had been severed and shook his head; yet another scar on his body. He snarled when Dark moved over to him and touched a blade to his throat, running the tip lightly up under the panther's chin, forcing him to tilt his head up slightly to avoid the blade. "Oh my." the white-clad being said. "You're covered in scars already. Phooey. You've ruined part of my fun." He grinned at Cynyr, trailing the knife up against his face, watching as the panther's eyes grew wide and full of fear. "So you fear blades near your face, hm?" Dark said in a singsong voice. "Fabulous. This should be fun. But first!" He hefted the blade and, without pause, stabbed it into the panther's shoulder, grabbing another one and doing likewise with his other shoulder.

Perhaps Werr had been wrong about them not doing serious damage to Cynyr.

To his credit, Cynyr didn't scream. True, he barely held back one, but the fact was that he held it. Dark picked up a smaller blade and carefully cut the panther's clothes open to reveal his scarred chest, then dug the tip into the top of his chest, cutting a diamond-shaped mark into his skin. Still, the mage held back his cries, determined not to scream. And he didn't.

Light watched his brother work, fascinated. He watched as Dark proceeded to cut away at Cynyr's skin, leaving designs pocked all over his perfectly white skin. It took a while due to the fact that Cynyr's skin was already so twisted and rough from the scars that it created some resistance to lighter blade strokes. So Dark cut those spots twice as deep. At one point, Light looked up at Werr and said "You look uncomfortable. That's not good. You should be more comfortable." He stood up and loosened the ropes around the boy's neck, giving him plenty of room. None of his other bonds were loosened, however. Just his neck. "It wouldn't do for you to strangle that unmarred neck of yours." Light said, flicking a strand of his black hair out of his white eyes.