The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr blinked, smiling. "That's neat," He nodded. He had nearly pulled away from Welk when the fire had crept closer, but he had forced himself to hold still. He trusted Welk, of course. After all, if his own knight would hurt him, who on earth could he trust? "How'd you figure out how to do that?"

Welk laughed and said "I was trying to burn myself to see if I could do anything." He grinned and said "It failed miserably, but I discovered that I could increase the heat of how hot the fire I put out was. I thought that if I could put it out, maybe I could take it back. I kind of hoped the fire would turn blue because it got cold, but it just ended up doing that. Several hours of practicing later and I'm able to control it for a while." He extended the fire up Werr's arm, watching the cold flames flicker and spin all the way up against his neck. The tendrils crackled softly, making a wispy sound. Welk watched them, then suddenly pulled back and stood up, taking the glowing flames with him. He concentrated and formed the flames in front of him into a tall plume of fire, curling it around himself as he closed his eyes. The flames danced in elegant circles around him as he twisted around, letting everything else fade into the background. Seria watched him as danced silently with the flames spiraling around him, for some reason unable to stop smiling. Welk was an innocent, pure-hearted being. He was young and had a good heart, always wanting to protect his friends from any danger. Like someone else she had known...

She wiped small tears from her eyes shortly afterwards.

Luen watched Welk in awe, since fire was his opposite element. His emerald eyes were bright as he watched, amazed by Welk's skill in controlling the fire.

Nate watched in surprise, smiling away. He hadn't known that Welk was that skilled. It was interesting to see how quickly Welk had progressed. He didn't feel jealous of Welk's skills at all, though; he wasn't a mage, and he never would be. There was no point in wishing for what you wouldn't ever have. Nate would never be capable of that kind of control over his flames. He had a hard time not letting it out whenever he got mad, as it was.

Lily, however, watched in awe and wonder. She was curious to know how Welk and the others had obtained their magicks. They were all so powerful...she didn't think of herself as weak, but she did wish she could defend herself a little better. Jag wouldn't have to worry about her so much, if she could.

Diana just curled back up in Forin's arms, grabbing onto Luen's hand again.

Werr watched his friend happily, feeling oddly...content. He didn't need to be strong. Physically, anyways. Welk would protect him, and Cynyr would too. They both had promised that. Werr watched for a few moments, but his smile turned forced as Obelisk cackled in the back of his head, and the memories of the fires that had taken him away from his family came back to mind. Obelisk then asked a horrifying question.

'So desperate to avenge them. How do you know they were really your parents, anyways?'

'Shoo! Go away!' Cici tinkled in his head, removing Obelisk's voice again. 'Sorry, Werr, I fell asleep.'

'It's okay...' Werr thought in response, his mind racing. He felt numb and scared again, staring at the flames that danced around Welk. 'It's fine.'

It wasn't.

Suddenly, everything went wrong.

The attack came from seemingly nowhere. It wasn't an attack by people, however. It seemed to strike Welk all of a sudden, instantly incapacitating him. His eyes went blank and he collapsed, the flames around him dissipating instantly.

"Welk!" several voices shouted. Seria scrambled forward, already touching hands to the half-cat's body. He was completely limp, as if he had suddenly just been unable to hold himself up anymore. Seria ran her hand over his forehead, searching for any injuries. There were seemingly none. Seria touched his chest gently with a hand, making sure his heart was beating and his lungs were giving him air. They were. Whatever had made this happen to him seemed to be invisible.

Werr scrambled forward, grabbing his friend's hand. "Welk? Welk!" He patted the half-cat's face, hoping for a response. Of course, there was none. "What happened to him? What's wrong?" He asked Seria desperately, fear obvious in his voice. He stored Obelisk's question in the back of his mind, deciding to focus on his friend first.

"I don't know." Seria said, sounding scared as well. Welk suddenly stirred, blinking his eyes open. He looked bewildered, to say the least. "Urg...what happened?" he asked, sitting up.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Seria said. "You just...passed out. Are you okay?"

He stood up, despite Seria saying he should sit down, and tested his limbs. "Yeah, I'm okay." he said, flicking his tail once. "I don't know what happened, either. The last thing I clearly remember was my fire dance, then the weird thing that was talking to me. That's all. Hey, did anyone get anything to eat? I'm starv-"

"What weird thing?" Seria asked, immediately concerned.

"Some person with one white feathery wing and one black dragon-like wing." he answered. "Weren't you listening to him? I thought all of you could see it too." He frowned at them, then shrugged.

"What did it say?" Luen asked.

"I don't remember." Welk answered. "Something boring, probably. It seemed boring." He shook his head, then said "Anyways, about that food..."

"Er...we didn't see anything like that, Welk. You passed out." Werr bit his lip in concern. "We don't have food yet, but Nate said the dragon was getting some...in the meantime, Welk, you have to remember what that thing said, it's probably important."

Welk frowned and thought hard for a moment, then said "Ack, I can't remember! All I get is a blur of voices, all of them faded and quiet. Sorry..."

Seria sighed, then said "That's okay, Welk. If you remember anything else, tell us, okay?"

He nodded in agreement, then sat down against the wall of the cave. "Where'd Cynyr go?" he asked, noticing that the panther wasn't around.

"Hunting." Seria said. "He should be back soon."

Welk shook his head again, closing his eyes for a moment, then said "I hope he comes back soon. If not, I'll have to go look for him! He probably got lost. There's a lot of snow out there, after all." He smiled at the mention of snow and took cat form, bounding outside and letting out a happy yip as he plunged headfirst into the snow. "It's everywhere!" he shouted, rolling around in it.

Seria smiled, chuckling softly before turning away.

"A-ah, hey, wait up!" Werr yelped, running after his friend. He stopped at the entrance of the cave though, deciding to just watch. It was horribly cold still, anyways.

Diana peeked up at Forin, tugging on his sleeve. He sighed, sensing what his mistress wanted. He rummaged around in his bag for a bit before pulling out a pair of white gloves similar to those Necropolis had. He also withdrew a silver hat that had the Tartarus emblem on the front. Lastly, he pulled out his spare cloak and wrapped it around Diana. Once she was suited up and ready, she grabbed Forin by the hand and dragged him outside.

Forin followed, smiling a bit. "She wants to make a snowman," He informed Luen quietly before Diana got Luen out of the cave. "Just go along with it. Try and get her to talk, if you can..."

A snowball suddenly flew out and whacked Luen in the chest. Welk laughed, rolling back in the snow in human form, then shrieked when Luen sent an entire army of snowballs back at him. The wolfling smiled, then let Diana pull him where she wanted. "Okay Diana." he said gently. "Let's make the best snowman ever, okay? He'll be the greatest." He formed a thick ball of snow and started rolling it across the ground, letting Diana help the entire time. Once they had that one done, Luen formed another ball and said "Okay, now this one. We can work on the head next. That'll be fun, won't it? What do you want to name the snowman?" He moved his tail around and gently brushed a few snowflakes off of her cheek, touching a hand down tenderly to her shoulder.

A thin sheet of ice suddenly rose up beside them as Luen deflected against a barrage of snowballs, much to the dismay of Welk, who started making more.

Diana had opened her mouth to talk before the snowballs started hitting the ice wall. She flinched and ducked behind Luen, grabbing onto his shirt. She relaxed quickly again, starting to push the ball of snow around again. Forin watched, looking perfectly content on the outside. But inside, he was a little upset. Diana had taken to Luen so quickly. She regarded him as her friend, yet she still thought of Forin as a guardian. Just a guardian. Forin knew this for a fact; she would have spoken if not for Welk's actions. The last time she had been in this state, it had taken Forin a full year to get Diana to even try speak to him. Luen had done it in barely two days.

He didn't hate Luen for it, but he was definitely jealous.

Luen threw several snowballs back at Welk, smiling when the cat yelped as they hit him, then helped Diana move the snowballs as they constructed the snowman.

Welk charged around through the snow, accidentally melting it behind him as he ran around. He laughed happily, jumping around like a rabbit in the springtime, then flinched when Zephyr appeared. The dragon was holding a dead deer in his mouth that he had located out in the snow. It didn't look too bad, plus it meant that there would be enough for anyone. Zephyr shook the snow off of his back, then blinked when Welk suddenly fled from him and raced back into the cave, hiding behind Werr. He cowered behind the boy, quivering fearfully.

Zephyr flicked his ears in confusion, then shook it off and moved into the cave.

"Welk, what's wrong?" Werr inquired, scratching Welk behind the ears. "Are you okay?"

"Ohh, nice catch!" Nate grinned. "I've got the fires ready, we'll just skin this and cook it up, we'll be eating in no time."

Diana ignored them, working on the head of their snowman now. She looked like nothing more than a young girl playing around in the snow. Her misery aside, anyways.

Welk stared hard at Nate as the dragonian spoke to Zephyr, then looked up at the boy and said something that made him freeze completely. "Werr, that's a dragon. It's huge! I've never seen a dragon like that up close before!"

Zephyr tilted his head around to stare at the fire mage for a long moment. Seria also looked up at him, shocked. "What are you talking about, Welk?" she asked. "You know who this is."

Welk shook his head.

Seria looked startled at that. "T-this is Zephyr." she said, patting the dragon's flank.

Welk smiled up and the dragon, saying "Hi! I'm Welk!"

Zephyr stared down at him and said "I know that. We've been introduced before."

Welk frowned after Nate translated. "We did?" he said. "Hmm. You think I would remember meeting a dragon." He shrugged, then said "Nice to meet you, Zephyr!" and ran back out into the snow without giving the dragon a second thought.

Werr watched him go, feeling a bit confused. He shook it off, deciding to help Nate skin the meat. It was kind of gross, but he might as well learn while he had the chance.

Diana finished the snowman, adding a bump of snow for the nose and holes for the eyes and mouth, as they didn't really have coal. She smiled up at it, taking Luen's hand again. "Rufus," She spoke at last, her voice sounding small and distant. "That's his name. Like daddy's."

Luen looked at the snowman for a moment, then stared down at Diana when she spoke. "That's a good name." he said, knowing it had a much deeper meaning than just a random name grabbed from the top of her head. "Why don't we make another one to go along with this one? Rufus shouldn't be lonely." He took Diana's hands into his, gently pulling the cold from her gloves so her fingers wouldn't be cold. He rubbed her fingers gently with his burned ones, then said "Or we could go inside, if you're getting too cold."

Welk charged past, his coat nearly white with all of the snow in it. He paused near their snowman and studied it, then said "Oh, I know!" He ran off and dug through the snow, plunging his head in up to his neck. He pulled something out and trotted over, dropping two stones into Diana's hand. "Eyes." he said. "Works better than holes." He turned and ran off again, just seeming to enjoy bounding around aimlessly.

"Yes, yes, let's make another one," Diana said quickly, getting to work with little hesitation. She put Rufus' eyes in first, though. A lot of hard work (on Diana's part) later, and another snowman was put up next to the first. Diana added another nose and smile to this one, but went and shuffled through the snow to fine more stones for the eyes. She stepped back and smiled sadly up at the two of them, slipping her hand into Luen's grip again. "Lydia." She said quietly.

Luen bent down in the snow and hugged her gently, stroking the back of her head. "Perfect names." he said softly. "Here, now I'll make them both something nice." He stood up and concentrated his powers on the snow around the two snowmen, forming it into one more snow thing on the ground. A snow dog sat there, shaped perfectly by Luen's powers. "There." he said, smiling slightly. "Everyone needs a dog." He petted the snowdog's head, then said "Do you want to name him too?" He held Diana's hand gently, brushing more snow off of her with his tail.

"Boris." Diana said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Rufus and Lydia and Boris. They killed Boris first. Then Rufus. Lydia last, they...did things to her, first. They made me watch. I do-don't even know what they did, really, but she cried and cried before they killed her, and then they took me away and said they'd do the same thing to me, and I was horrified and scared, and I thought I was going to die..." She sobbed, pulling her hand away from Luen and curling up in the snow beside him. "I don't feel good..." She mumbled, sobbing more.

((What did they do to her? Just curious.))

Luen picked the little girl up, hugging her gently. "Hey, hey." he soothed. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I won't let anyone hurt you and I'll never leave. Shhhh..." He stroked her head gently, deciding to take her inside. They had had enough of the snow. He stood up with her and went inside the cave, moving back to their spot near the wall. He pulled the gloves off of her hands and the hat from her head, gently rubbing her fingers to make them feel better.

Welk didn't notice their disappearance. He dug around in the snow for a moment, then took human form and started making a huge snowball to throw at Cynyr when the panther came back.

A second attack hit him soundlessly and he dropped instantly into the snow, limp.