The Forgotten Zodiac

"What's happened to you, Welk?" Werr said sadly, hugging his dear friend, unable to stop himself from trembling a bit. He couldn't lose Welk. It would be too unbearable. Even with Cynyr around, Werr knew what would happen. It wouldn't be good.

He couldn't do anything, either. Werr swore silently. Again, when Welk needed him desperately, Werr could do absolutely nothing to help. His friend's mind was unraveling before him, and Werr was helpless.

((Obelisk can't have something to do with it, by the way. Not directly, anyways. For reasons that will be explained later.))

((It's not Obelisk. It's the thing Welk saw with the one feathery wing and one dragon wing. A Divine.))

Welk just hugged Werr back and was quiet. He had grown quieter and quieter as he had forgotten more and more people. By now, he had forgotten seven members of their group. Only Lily, Seria, Airlia, Werr and Cynyr remained, and with the next attack, Welk's memories of Lily and Airlia were gone. A thin trickle of blood leaked from his mouth during the attack, signaling how badly it was hurting him. Finally, once the attack had stopped, he just curled up between Werr and Cynyr, sleeping off the mental damage. He only spoke to them now, as he didn't trust anyone else since his memories of them had faded away into nothing. He had no idea why Werr and Cynyr had chosen to stay with all of these...strangers. Sure, Seria wasn't a stranger, but he didn't know anyone else here. He really just wanted to leave. He was currently in human form, laying on his side between Werr and Cynyr, where he felt the safest. Cynyr was gently licking his hair and he was holding tightly to one of Werr's hands, his head resting on the boy's leg.

((Hmm. I would question the motives behind this, and how to fix it, but I'm sure you won't tell me because now we're in the thick of it and I don't like spoilers.))

Werr was shaking now, consumed with worry and fear for his friend. If Welk had another attack...Werr shook the thoughts out of his mind. He had to find out what was happening. But...no one seemed to know what it was. They would have left again, needing to be on the move once more, but Werr refused to go anywhere with his friend in this condition. Not that anyone had asked him to; they knew all too well how serious this was.

"Welk...don't forget me, okay?" Werr said quietly, knowing that his friend could do as much as he could to stop this madness. "Please..."

Welk flicked his tail silently in his sleep, but did nothing more. He slept for a while longer before waking and sitting up. Again he was completely quiet, only talking in hushed tones to Werr and Cynyr. He stayed in human form, his knees pulled up to his chest, still with Werr's hand held tightly in his. He was still holding onto Werr's hand when the next attack struck him and his memories of Seria and Cynyr vanished. More convulsions and more blood. Cynyr was crushed when Welk woke up and had no idea who he was.

Werr was the only one left now.

Welk now clung to him like his life depended on it. He refused to let Cynyr close to him now, nor Seria or anyone else. He was deeply scared of them all. To him, he was surrounded by strangers, some of which were scary looking. He held onto one of Werr's arms and leaned against the boy, practically curling his body around Werr in an effort to stay as close as possible. His clawed fingers twitched occasionally from the damage the convulsions did to his body.

Werr hugged his friend closely. His condition, to his dismay, was starting to remind him of the way Heather had been, before she died. Werr could do nothing but try and protect her, keep her calm. Now, Werr was desperately trying to keep Welk calm, to keep him from forgetting anything else. He had no clue why all this was happening or how; Welk's forgetting of Cynyr and Seria had removed his idea of systematic memory loss. He kept his hand locked in Welk's, unable to stop tears from sliding down his cheeks. He wiped them away, not wanting Welk to see. Not that it mattered. Welk would forget him soon enough.

Cynyr stalked angrily back and forth in front of the cave in human form, muttering constantly to himself. He was trying desperately to think of something to jar Welk's memory, to make the process stop. He thought of nothing. He roared and flung a sharp tendril of wind outside, watching it shatter a frozen tree. He panted for a moment, then said "What's doing this?! Why?!" He fell down into a sitting position, holding his head in his hands. What would happen once Welk forgot Werr? Cynyr knew Welk. If he was in a situation where he was alone, he would freak out and try to find someone he knew. Especially if there were a lot of other people around. Welk was dependant on people to survive. He needed a friend nearby to function. Welk was a completely loyal person. If he was your friend, he stuck with you until either of you died.

Welk hugged Werr a little tighter (if that was possible) and rasped "What's wrong, Werr? Why're you crying?" He reached up and touched the boy's face gently, his hand still as warm as ever.

Werr wrapped his arms around Welk's neck, resting his forehead against Welk's. "Because...because you're hurting, and I can't...I can't help you..." He whispered. "And...I'm afraid. I'm afraid that you'll forget me...I...I want to help you, somehow..."

If only I could give what Cynyr gave me, Werr thought desperately. He would gladly return to his broken-minded state if it meant Welk would be okay again. Heck, he would take Kolo's torture times ten if Welk would recover from his suffering. He understood what his mission entailed and how much was really at stake; but he would rather be killed than live without Welk.

"I would never forget you." Welk assured. "You're my friend." He nuzzled Werr gently, attempting to purr but only managing a weak rasp that turned into a bad cough. He sighed once he was done, then Werr felt his body start to quiver. "W-Werr..." Welk said softly, pulling back. "Werr...? What are you doing?" He was looking away from the boy, off in a different direction.

His friends could only watch in horror as he lost his last memories right in front of them. While he was awake.

"Werr!" he called desperately, pulling away from the boy and glancing around. "W-where are you?" It was then that they realized the worst part of this last loss.

He could remember who Werr was. But he no longer knew what he looked like. All he knew was that Werr was his best friend and he had suddenly left him. "Werr!" Welk cried, terror seeping easily into his voice. "Where are you?!"

"Welk!" Cynyr and Seria both said, moving forward. He screamed as they neared him, not knowing who either one was. He moved to try and run from them but Cynyr pounced, pinning him to the ground. Welk screamed, still crying desperately for Werr. Cynyr held the struggling half-cat down as Seria moved forward. Suddenly, Welk tore himself away from them and bolted towards the entrance, sobbing.

Werr climbed to his feet, only able to watch in horror as Welk fled. He staggered to the entrance, looking as though he were going to go after Welk, but he didn't. He sank to his knees in the snow not two steps from the cave, tears dripping from his face. "I'm here, Welk..." He murmured through his sobs. He screamed at the sky next. "I'm right here!"

A long moment passed, and Werr climbed to his feet, drying his eyes. "W-Werr, we--" Nate started, but Werr was quick to cut him off.

"We have to find him, before he gets hurt. We'll have to be careful..." He climbed to his feet, locking his teary eyes with Spy's wide and intimidated ones. "We...we can track him down with your help, right?"

"Right," Spy just blinked at him.

"Come on, then." Cynyr said, trying to keep the slight waver out of his voice. He quickly took control of the situation, knowing that not all of the group would be able to go after the fire mage. "Zephyr, you're staying here with Forin, Luen, Diana, Lily and Jag. Airlia, you can fly, so I need you to go overhead and track Welk so we don't lose him. Werr, you're on me, since we need to move quickly. We'll take Seria, obviously, incase Welk gets hurt." He flinched when he heard a pain-filled wail echo out from the snow far outside. "Spy, go!" the panther ordered, turning and making Werr get on his back. "Nate, you're with us too. We need a fire source with us, to be safe." As soon as Werr was settled, the huge panther lunged forward, bounding outside. Seria scrambled up and followed, glancing over her shoulder for Nate.

Airlia was quick to obey, taking off with all due haste. Nate charged after them, surprisingly able to keep pace. His endurance would wear out quickly at these speeds, though. Hopefully, Welk hadn't gotten too far. Spy bolted ahead, running on top of the ice layer above the snow. He was light enough to not sink with every step, which was lucky, as the snow would likely cover even his tall ears.

Werr wanted to call out to Welk, but that might scare the half-cat away. He could only hang on to Cynyr as they ran after his dear friend.

They found Welk where he had fallen down a hill hidden by the snow. He was curled up at the bottom, sobbing, his arms wrapped around his body. He was lost, not knowing where he was or where any of his friends were. He held his head in his hands, wailing as his body spasmed from the cold. He dug his claws so deeply into his head that he quickly drew blood, which leaked through his soft blonde hair and dripped down the side of his head. When he heard the approach of the others, he tried to move, tried to get away. But he couldn't. He was too weak and cold to do anything, his heart pounding painfully. Since snow and water were superior to fire, he was suffering much worse than any of the others in the cold weather.

Werr got off of Cynyr. He walked silently over to Welk, pulling the half-cat into his arms, ignoring Welk's weak struggling. "It's okay..." He said softly. "We only want to help. Please..." He trembled, half caused by the cold and half by his own crying. "Just let us help..."

Nate, in the meantime, was blowing fire at the snow around them. The air was quickly heating up with that, though probably not enough to help Welk start moving again. Just enough to where it wouldn't kill him. It was the most Nate could do here.

Welk's entire body quivered from the cold, his lower lip trembling sadly. "W-w-who...a-are you?" he stammered. "I...I w-want W-Werr. I n-need h-him..." He coughed painfully, his numb fingers weakly pushing at Werr's hands, trying to no avail to make him let go. Finally, he was limp, frosty tears sliding down his pale cheeks.

Cynyr watched sadly, not knowing what to do. "What's doing this to him?" he asked no one in particular. He shook his head, then took human form and moved over to them, not making a move to touch Welk.

"Interesting."

The deep voice seemed to come from every inch of the world around them, soft yet loud at the same time. It sounded both male and female. "This has worked out rather nicely." the voice said. "Just as I wanted it to."

Werr hugged Welk protectively, whipping his head around in an attempt to find where the voice was coming from. Or rather, who. It reminded him of Gurushi's voice, to be honest, though it was much less...raspy. "Who are you?" He demanded, wiping his tears away at once. "Show yourself!"

They heard a soft snort, then suddenly, they were immersed in darkness. Really, they had instantly been teleported somewhere else. There, hovering in front of them, was a huge being that was very strange. The left half of its body was female, with a long white dress, while the right half of its body was male, wearing a black cloak. The female side had a single feathery wing while the male side had a black dragon's wing. The being stared down at them for a moment, then said "Well? Here I am, little human boy."

It was a Divine, which was a perfect mix of Sun and Shadow. It was only born when an Amnairian and a Tartaran came together as a couple. It was, obviously, very rare, but both worlds considered it to be the ultimate being. A god to both worlds.

Werr stared up at the being, remembering what Welk had said before. Something about one black wing and one white. Werr was quick to make the connection between Welk's memory lapses and this...thing. Werr let go of Welk, bringing Cici around in front of him. She generated light armor for him, though she didn't say anything. "What have you done to Welk?!" Werr shouted at the being, not caring about what it was or why he should care. "Give him back to me..." His grip tightened around Cici, pointing the staff up at the Divine like it was a sword. "Now!"

Welk just laid on the invisible floor beneath their feet, curled onto his side, sobbing still, though it was much quieter than before.

"I took his memories away." the Divine said. "And I'll not be giving them back. If I do, you'll just continue on your merry way and doom the entire world to death."

Cynyr stepped forward, snarling "No, we're trying to stop that! Obelisk is the one killing the land, not us! We're trying to save it."

The Divine shook its head. "You mean to open a world-path between your world and Amnairus, correct?"

Cynyr slowly nodded.

"Well, I cannot let you." the huge being said. "That is a mistake."

"What?" Seria said. "What are you talking about?"

"I needed to stop you all from advancing towards Nanilai Viha Mortala." the Divine said. "So I attacked one of the links that kept your group together. Without Welk, Werr will crumble, followed by Cynyr. And, like dominoes, the others would follow soon after. You must not reopen the gates between Amnairus and this world. It is not safe. Obelisk could take control over me if he has a way through. I have more power than you could ever imagine, but if someone were to tip the scales of my power and make one greater than the other, I would be at risk for controlling. Obelisk could potentially triple his current powers if he stole mine, maybe more." Its voice lowered slightly. "Just accept the fact that your world is doomed and go home. Leave Welk here; he won't be of use to you ever again." It flicked a finger and a portal door opened, leading back to the snow.

Werr stared at the thing. The armor melted away, and he crossed over to the portal and threw Cici through it. He then turned back and sat down in front of Welk. He said nothing at all, though he wanted strongly to scream at this freak of nature. Or to cry. He held both back, and he just...sat there. If this thing really was that powerful, it would know his intentions. He had thought it before, as well. He would rather die than go on without Welk. And if that meant sitting here for the rest of eternity, dying of starvation, or being killed by this thing, Werr would take it. But not once would he consider just leaving Welk.

"Is there no way to open the path only to close it mere moments after? I understand your concern, but we can't just 'accept that our world is doomed'. Would you think such a ridiculous thing and just go on?" Nate asked quietly. He wasn't sure where they were or why, but he did know that this was complete insanity. This thing was flatly denying them any chance to fight back. Obviously, Nate didn't really like that all too much.

"Oh, you could." the Divine said. "If you wanted Cynyr to die, of course."

"What?" Cynyr said, backing up a step.

"Once you open the gates, you'll be severely weakened for several days. Truthfully, I'll be surprised if you even survive. You won't be able to close it, obviously." It leaned back slightly, staring down at them. "Unless..." it said, moving one hand up to touch its chin lightly. "You would have to speak with Galai. She's the queen of Amnairus. She rules her land and commonly communicates with her mate, who is on Tartarus, obviously. The king." It lowered its male hand, which was like a dragon's paw only in a human shape. It rested it on the edge of the huge platform they were standing on, tapping the thick claws against the sheet of invisible glass that seemed to be there. "If you could speak with Galai and Titus, they might be able to find a way to shield the gate from Obelisk's peering eyes. I can't help because I am not allowed to interfere with matters of your world. As I explained, I cannot have something tip my powers out of balance. If I were to try and help Amnairus, I would have to do something of equal power to Tartarus as well, lest I risk overpowering one world and having both collapse."