The Forgotten Zodiac

"It doesn't matter," Nate shook his head. "We can protect Cynyr for as long as he needs us to. As for the king and queen...we have a Tartaran with us, and we know of an Amnairian. They can vouch for us, or something...where there's a will, there's a way, isn't there?"

Werr watched the claws, half expecting one of them to be stabbed into his chest any second now. Werr just closed his eyes, grabbing Welk's hand again, remaining seated in front of his friend.

"Oh?" the Divine said. "You speak of Forin Dulce, do you not? I know of him. A credit to his race, he is. Though I've recently been informed that he..." The creature growled. "...allowed an Amnairian to kiss him. Whatever you do, do not tell the king and queen of this, or else he and Luna Vevila will both be branded as traitors. Apparently, neither one knew that their kinds were only supposed to kiss when they accepted each other as mates. Well, I can understand that neither knew. Divines are a touchy subject on both worlds. Since they obviously are not mates, however, and if anyone else knew of this, they would be stripped of their guardian titles and cast out of their worlds. Tell no one of this."

Welk whimpered, weakly rasping Werr's name in effort to call for his friend. He still didn't know that his friend was right there next to him.

The Divine snorted, then said "Be gone with you all. Shoo. Out the door you go." It waved its female hand dismissively.

"What about Welk?" Cynyr said. "You still have his memories!"

"Leave without them." the Divine said. "Go. I see no reason to give them back. I've taken many memories from many different creatures. I've never given any of them back. Why, then, should I return his?"

Werr stood at once, swearing loudly, using the word he had heard Forin once say. He figured it might have more of an effect. "You freak! You said yourself, without Welk, I'll crumble! I can't...I can't do anything without him. I won't just let you take him from me!" He screamed at the Divine, outraged. Apparently, he was already feeling the weight of his own horrific thoughts. A right-minded Werr would never so much as raise his voice at something like this Divine. Nate was shocked, to be perfectly honest. Werr wasn't done with that, though. "There has to be something I can do to make you give him back! Isn't this where the main character gets a riddle or a challenge in order to save his friend? Some stupid game, gambling lives?! Give me a chance! Something, ANYTHING!"

"SILENCE!"

The Divine bellowed the word so loudly that everyone there covered their ears. It brought its huge head down, inches away from the boy. "You dare shout at me?!" it roared. It knocked the others backwards with the force of its roar, from the sheer blast of air that came forth. "I am the god of two different worlds! I have the power to make you suffer beyond all comparison! You must know that! Yet here you are, foolishly yelling at me!" it shouted. "I could kill every single one of you and send your souls to a place where even I wouldn't dare to tread!" It panted for a moment, glaring down at Werr, who glared back. Then the being pulled back, holding its head in one hand contemplatively. "I like you." it said, smiling. "You're the first mortal to ever have the nerve to shout at me and fear no repercussions. I suppose...this once...I could return the memories I took from your friend. This once." It narrowed its eyes. "Never expect anything such as this from a being like me again. Divines keep what we wish to keep. Though I would've loved to keep your friend's memories and studied them much closer, I, reluctantly, will give them back."

"SILENCE!!"

The Divine bellowed the word so loudly that everyone there covered their ears. It brought its huge head down, inches away from the boy. "You dare shout at me?!" it roared. It knocked the others backwards with the force of its roar, from the sheer blast of air that came forth. "I am the god of two different worlds! I have the power to make you suffer beyond all comparison! You must know that! Yet here you are, foolishly yelling at me!" it shouted. "I could kill every single one of you and send your souls to a place where even I wouldn't dare to tread!" It panted for a moment, glaring down at Werr, who glared back. Then the being pulled back, holding its head in one hand contemplatively. "I like you." it said, smiling. "You're the first mortal to ever have the nerve to shout at me and fear no repercussions. I suppose...this once...I could return the memories I took from your friend. This once." It narrowed its eyes. "Never expect anything such as this from a being like me again. Divines keep what we wish to keep. Though I would've loved to keep your friend's memories and studied them much closer, I, reluctantly, will give them back."

Werr stood fast, his glare not wavering until the divine said that Welk's memories would be returned. "W-well..." He said, struggling to keep his voice steady, but the relief was obvious in his voice. "There's no real point in waiting around then, is there...? The sooner we have Welk back, the sooner we'll leave you to do whatever it is you do when you aren't...defending the balance of worlds, or whatever."

To be honest, he definitely feared repercussions. Pain was rather low on the list of things he liked, but Welk was far too high on that same list to just be let go of.

The Divine held out its female hand, lowering it until it could rest it with the back against the platform. Slowly, a tiny glowing ball that was barely any bigger than the iris in someone's eye formed, hovering just over the tip of the nail of its index finger. "Hold out your hand." the being said, watching as Werr did so. The little ball floated over and landed on his palm. "Gentle." the Divine warned. "If that orb breaks, then I will have no way whatsoever of returning Welk's memories to him. Whenever you can, have him swallow that orb. His memories should return soon enough afterwards." The Divine then shook its head and said "Now all of you, go. I grow tired of dealing with you." It raised its hands and, with a single snap of its fingers, teleported them all back to the cave where the others waited.

Werr plopped back onto his rear, heaving out a great sigh. He held gently onto the little orb, looking down at Welk. He rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, wondering if the half-cat passed out or anything.

"What happened?" Forin asked, frowning.

Welk was still awake, though he flinched away from Werr's hand, quivering. He curled up onto his side, covering his head with his hands. He had given up on trying to run, his body still cold from his time in the snow. The place between worlds with the Divine hadn't exactly been warm.

"We encountered a weird...thing." Cynyr said, brushing his overcoat off. "It called itself a Divine. It had taken Welk's memories to try and make us stop going to the place to fix the bridge between this land and Amnairus. We've convinced it otherwise. Now we just have to open the gates and make the queen of Amnairus and the king of Tartarus make a shield that will protect the gate from Obelisk. Even his powers wouldn't be able to pierce both the king and queen's powers combined. That Divine was going to send us back without Welk completely, but Werr..." Cynyr looked over at the boy and chuckled slightly. "...Werr yelled at it and made it change its mind."

Seria moved over towards Werr and carefully examined the orb he was holding without touching it. She didn't dare put fingers to it. She didn't want to risk breaking it. Werr had it under control, anyways. "All of Welk's memories are in this tiny little ball." she said in wonder. "Amazing." She backed away, making sure that there was nothing near Werr that could potentially bump him and make him drop the orb. It would've shattered on impact with the ground.

"A...Divine?" Forin blinked. "And Werr...yelled at it? And he isn't dead?! Suddenly, I'm glad I didn't go with you fools..." He shook his head. Divines were very large and freakishly powerful...to think that Werr, a weak human, was able to change the mind of a Divine by yelling at it...

Well, one thing was for certain. The same strategies wouldn't work on the king and queen.

"Welk?" Werr said quietly. "I know how you can find Werr again. You just have to swallow this." He held out the orb, though he was prepared to pull back in case Welk struggled and tried to break it. "It's almost like candy...but I swear, if you swallow this, Werr will come back. He said he would."

Welk didn't move for a long moment, his back to Werr. Then, slowly, he lifted his head and turned it so he could see the boy. "H-he...did?" he asked weakly, sounding horribly scared and lonely. He wearily pushed himself upright, holding back sobs though tears still dripped down his face, then stared at the orb Werr was holding for a few minutes before he did anything. Slowly, he lifted a hand and held it out, waiting. Werr was able to tip the orb into his hand. Welk held it for a moment, sniffling softly, then murmured Werr's name and put the orb into his mouth, swallowing it seconds later. He immediately coughed hard, gasping for air. Once he felt better, he looked around, but was dismayed to find that nothing had changed. He curled up into a weak ball on the ground and sobbed quietly, heartbroken.

He slipped into unconsciousness a moment later.

((Also, I was thinking about the Tartarans-being-male thing, and I realized that I had mentioned Forin being hated by his own parents. How can Forin have parents if there aren't any females? And for that matter, how can Necropolis be younger than Forin if there aren't any new Tartarans evuh? Perhaps there are only male guardians, and no female Tartaran guardians?))

Werr laid down next to his friend, managing to pull Welk into his grip. "He never left..." He said quietly, hugging the half-cat tightly. He laid there for a long time, and he wasn't about to move until Welk was back to his normal self.

((...Crap. Darn, I really liked my one-race-all-female-one-race-all-male thing. It was neat. Plus then, it wouldn't explain how the Divines are made. Maybe the king and queen use their powers whenever they see they need more of either race. Then it would really make them the king and queen because they would know each and every Tartaran and Amnairian because they made them.

We could always edit that line of Forin's? -shrug-))

Welk was unconscious for a long time. No convulsions hurt him this time. He was still and silent, except for occasional little pained twitches that were always coupled with a small "Ah!" or some other tiny sound. Werr felt that the half-cat was tense and rigid against him, his body drawn tight like the string of a bow.

Cynyr sat down nearby, still in human form, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his forehead against them, where they couldn't see his face.

Seria watched him for a long moment, then moved to the entrance of the cave to go for a short walk. She needed to clear her mind.

Cynyr lifted his head at her footsteps, watching her move, then glanced over at Nate. Again, there was no malice in his eyes. Just a look that seemed to say 'Aren't you going after her?'. When Nate didn't move, Cynyr glanced up at Seria again, his body tensing up. Then, right when she was about to move out of sight, he scrambled up and ran after her, calling "S-Seria, wait!" She turned at his voice and they saw his stop next to her, saying something. She listened, then blinked and slowly nodded once. They walked off together, with Cynyr slowly talking to her.

((Yeah, like I said, maybe there's just one female for Tartarus and one male for Amnarius, for repopulation purposes? It sounds weird, butbutbut...))

Nate smiled as he watched the two of them walk off. He didn't go after Seria because he knew Cynyr would have if he had not. They were better for each other, to be honest. He was a dragonian. He wasn't meant to be loved.

Werr didn't care about anyone else at this point. He remained close to Welk, hugging him tighter with every squeak.

((I DUNNO ANYMORES. -flails-))

Finally, Welk seemed to relax, his pain-squeaks stopping completely. He was exhausted, his body occasionally quivering from the hours of trauma he had endured. His body had felt more normal as he had forgotten how to use his powers, but Werr felt unusual warmth returning. Slowly, crimson eyes opened, blinking dully a few times as the half-cat refocused his weak vision. He looked at Werr for a moment, his slitted eyes moving around slightly as he studied the boy's face, then sighed and pressed close, closing his eyes and pressing his cheek against the boy's shoulder. The most he managed word-wise was a soft murmur of "Werr..."

((Nate makes me sad. ono))

((Well, it matters, because it's definitely a part of what I had planned for Forin and Luen and possibly Seria and/or Nate.))

"I know..." Werr said quietly. "I'm here. I never left. I never will. I promised that, don't you remember?" He sighed, weary from worrying about Welk so much. "That thing that you saw...do you remember that, too? It stole your memories of us. You ran...we tracked you down and were found by that same thing. It's called a Divine...it told us to leave you and just go. I got so mad...I don't like shouting, but I did, and it finally gave you back."

((Whut. Do explain, because it might help me come to a decision.))

Welk was quiet, slowly wrapping one arm around Werr's body. Other than that, he was limp. He was exhausted and had no energy left to move with. His blonde ears were tilted back simply because he couldn't bring himself to lift them. He pressed his face into Werr's chest, quivering. When he spoke, his voice was terribly scratchy. "I t-thought...y-you left me..." he rasped. "I thought...e-everyone...left m-me..." He coughed and let out a choked sob, murmuring "I m-missed you s-so much...!"

((I was going to have something happen that would force/drag them into Forin's memories in order to keep him from going insane. I'd say that this would be caused by the king of Tartarus (who I wanna play), who secretly knew about Forin's betrayal, but due to his not wanting Luna to get in trouble ('cuz he knows how important her mission is), didn't want to straight up banish him. Because that would raise questions, and he would have to explain what happened, and that would lead to Luna getting in trouble too.

So, he decides to just subtly render Forin useless. But it backfires and just drives him insane, instead. But that would be stopped up by Luen and whoever else going into his memories and knocking out the thing that was doin' it.

And yeah, those people would be locked in Forin's memories until he found them, and there are a few parts I wanted to throw in there that pertain to Forin's parents. Wanted, I guess. I don't really mind. -shrug-))

"I know. I know..." Werr said simply, hugging Welk tightly.

Time seemed to crawl past. It couldn't have been more than a day, but it still seemed to stretch out into eternity. Nate, who had buried the deer in the snow to preserve the meat, fed them the remains of said deer for dinner. Cooked, of course. Werr didn't move aside from eating, which he helped Welk with before turning in to sleep.

((...I don't like this. How does the person/people get out of his mind without him going insane? Because if Luen knew that leaving Forin's mind would make him go insane, he would just choose to stay there forever.))

Cynyr and Seria eventually returned, but they didn't enter the cave just yet. They stood outside in the snow, speaking in quiet tones. Seria had her arms wrapped around herself and Cynyr had his at his sides, one held up slightly as he explained something to her. She answered, he spoke again, she questioned, he replied. He moved a hand up and carefully touched her arm. She didn't move away from his touch, other than tilting her head down. He took both of her arms and bent down a bit, speaking softly to her. She lifted her head and looked at him. They saw that his ears were tilted down. Then Seria started crying softly and moved forward, wrapping her arms around his neck as he moved his arms around her, holding her close.

((Technically, it would just be their souls/consciousnesses within Forin's memories. They would remove the thing that was hurting Forin, and he'd be able to remove them once he was sane again. Which would be almost instantaneous. Removal specialist, remember?))

Nate watched silently from his seat. He was perched near the entrance of the cave, leaning against the left wall. Currently, he was fighting against feelings of jealousy. Cynyr was better for Seria, certainly, but he couldn't help but feel a little upset. He turned away eventually, moving underneath Zephyr's arm. "I'm okay," He said before Zephyr could say anything. "Just a little...cold."