The Forgotten Zodiac

((Torture of the magical kindz. One of them was Gurushi, but without the clothes and mask and whatnot. Early on in his service to Obelisk.

Also, anytime you have a 'had had', remove one of the 'had's. It sounds perfectly fine in speaking, but in literary writing, a single 'had' is good enough. "I had had enough of eating those pies" vs "I had enough of eating those pies".))

Diana cried into Luen's shirt, trembling horribly. Forin sat down next to them, now looking upset and a bit annoyed. "Did you make her cry?" He asked Luen quietly. If it had been anyone else, he would have been furious. Of course, Diana had spoken too quietly for Forin to hear, though he could guess what she had said. He just wanted to make sure.

Werr, who had been watching Welk, immediately ran out. He did what he could; check for a pulse, check that Welk was breathing...then wait. He figured it would be the same as last time. So strange...

((Okay, okay. xD))

Luen shook his head slightly, then said "She was talking about...her parents." He held the little girl tightly, cradling her in his arms. He rested his chin on the top of her head, whispering soothing things to her like a protective big brother should've.

Eventually, Welk woke up, looking disorientated like the first time. "Agh...again?" he said, sitting up. He shook his head to clear it, then spotted Werr and said "Oh. Hi Werr!" He hugged the boy, then looked around and said "Awesome, it snowed!" He took cat form and plunged off, but he was evidently cold from his earlier rounds, so he came back within a few leaps around in the snow. "Brrr!" he said. "It's freezing out here." He nudged Werr gently and said "Come on, let's go inside."

((-nodnod-))

Forin nodded, slipping his hand over Diana's as she cried away.

Werr blinked, then nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess." He followed Welk inside, watching his friend carefully. How did he all of the sudden have memory loss? It was strange and most unusual, unlike anything Werr had ever seen before...

Welk trotted inside in cat form, then paused, looking over at Jag, who was laying near the fire in gryphon form with Lily laying against him. He was taking turns preening his feathers and grooming Spy, who was positioned between his front legs. Welk blinked at them, then looked up at Werr, almost as if making sure that the boy was seeing the threesome as well. Finally, he trotted over and stopped in front of the gryphon, who looked up and glared at him. "What, Welk?" he asked.

Welk's eyes widened. "Wow, you know my name!" he said. "What's your name?"

Jag blinked in shocked, then stammered "J-Jagat."

"Cool." Welk said, looking down at Spy. "What's this thing?"

Jag was now eyeing him like he had lost his mind. "Spy. The chimera, remember?"

Welk shook his head, then waved at Lily, saying "Hi Lily." and walked off to flop down near the cave wall, his attention drawn to a rock that he started batting back and forth.

Jag looked over at Werr and gave him a very flat look that obviously meant 'You saw that, right?'.

Werr just shrugged. He knew as much as Jag did, at this point. Why did Welk know Lily, but not Jag or Spy? This was horribly strange... "Welk? Are you okay?" He asked, setting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"The food is ready," Nate announced, pulling the last of the meat away from the flames (although he had left a good portion of it uncooked for himself and Zephyr). He took some over to Forin, Luen and Diana first, smiling in an attempt to help ward off some of Diana's obvious sadness.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Welk said, purring and nuzzling Werr's hand. "I didn't know we had so many new people here, though." He glanced around, then said "Hey, where's Cynyr?"

Seria looked over at him in concern. "He's out hunting." she said.

"Aw." Welk said. "I wanted to cream his clock with the huge snowball I made outside."

Zephyr snorted slightly to clear his throat of a cloud of smoke and Welk flinched. He calmed down when he realized it was the dragon he had met earlier. Seria was instantly disturbed. Welk had never jumped like that before, after he had known Zephyr for long enough. It was as if he had completely forgotten who the dragon was.

Luen carefully picked up a piece of the food and held it out to Diana, saying "Here, Diana. You need to eat something. It'll make you feel better. Will you try some? For me?" He obviously knew how to talk to emotional little girls. His voice was soothing and gentle.

"He should be back by now..." Werr bit his lip in concern, about both Cynyr taking so long, and Welk's apparent forgetfulness. He couldn't be certain, but he had made a connection between Welk's collapsing and his memory loss. Or perhaps the memory loss caused the collapsing, but what caused any of this in the first place?

Diana pouted ever so slightly and sniffed several times before taking the food and chewing it slowly. She still looked horribly distraught, but now she was talking and eating. Forin was filled with relief, although his jealousy lingered.

Cynyr appeared then, dragging several freshly killed birds and rabbits with him. He almost looked white instead of black with the amount of snow that covered his fur. He walked over and set them down by the fire, then shook the snow off of his pelt and sighed. "That took a lot longer than I imagined it would." he said flatly. He turned and walked back towards the entrance, laying down near the snow instead of rejoining Werr and Welk.

Welk bounded over and tackle-hugged him hard in cat form, making the panther yelp. "Welk, what's wrong with you?" he growled.

"Nothing at all." Welk said, grinning.

"Off." Cynyr snapped, and the other half-cat went scurrying back to Werr. He trotted over and sat down next to the boy, lowering his upper half down into Werr's lap. He purred and rubbed his head against Werr's chest, starting to knead his paws on the boy's legs.

"C-Cynyr, there is something wrong with him," Werr attempted to say over Welk's purring and nuzzling. "Hold on, Welk, I'm tr-trying to talk to Cynyr," He tried to push Welk off of him, but gave up before he could get anywhere.

"Welk has been collapsing here and there, and he's being oddly...forgetful." Nate explained for him, frowning a bit now that he was away from Diana.

Welk meowed when Werr tried to push him off, saying "NoooOOOooo~!" in an obviously over-dramatic voice. He then smiled and got off of Werr, sitting calmly nearby, though he still nuzzled against the boy's shoulder.

"He what?" Cynyr said, concern immediately tinting his voice. He looked over at Welk, watching the blonde half-cat as he purred and nuzzled his best friend. "Why?" Cynyr asked. "What happened?"

"He was just showing off, dancing with his fire abilities, when he suddenly fell down." Seria said. "When he woke up, he didn't remember who Zephyr was. He collapsed a second time and now he's forgotten Jag and Spy."

Welk's eyes suddenly flickered and he sank down next to Werr, instantly unconscious.

"And now it's happened again." Seria said, getting up and going to Welk's side. Cynyr was up much faster than her and had already made it over to the half-cat, watching worriedly as the healer touched Welk's head gently. "Nothing." she said, shocked. "My powers are so much stronger now, but I sense nothing wrong with him."

A few moments later, Welk stirred and opened his eyes, slowly sitting up. His cat form had melted away when he had went unconscious. He rubbed his eyes weakly, saying "Darn it..."

"...Welk?" Werr asked hesitantly, wondering who he had forgotten this time. How far would this go? Another horrific thought crossed his mind. Would Welk forget...him? "Welk, do you remember me?" He asked desperately, grabbing his friend by the arm.

"Of course." Welk said, somehow sensing Werr's desperation. He put a hand gently over the boy's fingers on his arm, smiling softly. "I would never forget you." he said, touching the boy's face lightly. "You're my best friend." He smiled a little wider, then said "Hey, did we get food? Save some for me!" He jumped up and trotted over to the fire, pausing when he saw Nate. He blinked at the dragonian, saying "Hi." Then he picked up some food and moved back over to Werr, already munching on a bite.

Nate frowned, shaking his head. Hopefully Welk would snap out of this silliness sooner or later. Werr scratched Welk behind the ears, relaxing a bit. He looked horribly troubled, though, looking over at Forin. "Welk...Welk, do you know him?" He asked, jabbing a thumb at Forin. "Or...any of them?"

Welk glanced over at Forin, eyeing him for a moment, then said "I don't know him. He looks cool, though." He took cat form, crunching a bit of deer bone between his teeth, then said "I know almost everyone else. 'Cept that guy." He gestured at Nate with his tail. "And those new people we got earlier. I like the dragon! He's seems awesome!" He flicked his tail happily, then finished off some more food and sighed, resting his head in Werr's lap.

"You probably still know Seria...what about...Airlia?" Werr guestured towards the winged girl. She was the first one they had met. Werr was wondering if this had something to do with magic, or if Welk's memory was reeling backwards. If it was the latter, Welk would potentially forget him...which would end badly. For both of them.

"I know Airlia." Welk said. "And Seria. Why are you asking me all these questions, Werr? You're acting like I've lost my mind or something." He rubbed his head against the boy's arm, then said "I'm tired..."

Cynyr reached out and licked Welk's head gently, saying "Go to sleep. We'll wake you later."

Welk dozed off, his head still resting on Werr's leg.

Cynyr kept licking him softly, feeling like he was losing part of his life. If Welk couldn't remember him... He shuddered, feeling a cold wave of fear pass over him.

Werr shook his head, letting out a sigh. He scratched Welk behind the ears, feeling weary as well. He could only sit there and let his friend lay against him. After a little while (and after he had eaten), he let his mind wander again. Something in the back of his mind was nagging him, something important, but he had forgotten it. How unusual...he rarely forgot important things...

When Welk slipped into another unconscious spell, Werr and Cynyr, who were both touching him, felt it. Literally, because he started to convulse. Seria was over in a flash, but even her strongest spells couldn't stop his convulsions. When he came out of it and woke up, he looked bedraggled. It was about a minute before he said anything, and when it came out, it was creaky and weak. He quickly recovered, however, and was soon back to normal.

If you could call the fact that he now didn't remember Luen or Diana 'normal'.

Werr was starting to panic a little bit. Welk just kept forgetting, and if this got any worse, Welk could die. "I don't sense anything wrong with him, either." Forin commented quietly, frowning a bit. "Perhaps my senses are dulled because of the cold..."

"Maybe...Cici, is there any Dark Magic messing with his head?" Werr asked quickly, desperate for answers. He didn't even care about Welk's confusion anymore. He moved his staff towards Welk's head, so that Cici could scan him for anything of the sort.

Nothing came up. There was no Dark Magic inside of the half-cat. Whatever was affecting him seemed to be completely invisible, or was attacking from a very long range. Cynyr watched him for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong with his younger brother. He came to no conclusions whatsoever. Welk's mind seemed to just be fading away into nothing. Cynyr had an idea and started questioning Welk on everything that had happened to them. To his shock, he discovered that Welk was also forgetting what had happened along their journey. He didn't remember becoming a fire mage, nor he did remember how to use his powers. He didn't remember any past enemies other than Obelisk, and his memories of him were fading as well. He also, much to everyone's shock, didn't hate Nightlash.