The Forgotten Zodiac

Zephyr lowered his head down and curved it so he could rest his head on the ground. He was in his largest size and didn't want to leave it, as it was his natural size. Dragons grew to huge sizes the longer they lived, and Zephyr was no exception. He was massive, a single red eye easily as tall as Nate himself. As demonstrated by Necropolis, a human could easily fit inside his mouth and have plenty of space to move about.

Seria heard Nate call for her and moved away from Forin, since she had cast a spell that was dependant on her own energy to replenish his. Since she had more than plenty of energy, it was no problem for her. Her energy continued to go into him even as she moved towards Zephyr, who just kept his eyes closed at her approach. Seria walked up and carefully moved a hand out, touching his muzzle gently. His scales were warm and hard, glittering like diamonds in the sunlight. Seria stroked his muzzle once, then set about healing his various wounds.

Nate moved forward again once most of Zephyr's wounds were gone. He put both hands on the dragon's muzzle, then wrapped his arms around him as far as they would go in a hug. He couldn't even reach halfway around, but the point still remained. "Thank you, again. For saving us."

Zephyr sighed, making Nate's clothing whip around his body, then thrummed a low note in his throat. It was a sad tone that, while quiet to Zephyr's ears, made the ground vibrate slightly. He flicked his tail once, curling the long limb around as Seria climbed over his body to reach all of his wounds. His broken wing was that hardest, as she was unable to set it without Zephyr moving the limb up and putting the bones together, which was painful for him. He did it, however, and Seria healed the bones. The half-cat jumped off of his back and landed neatly on the ground, moving over to rub the patch of scales over the dragon's eye. "There." she said. "All better now." She moved to go back to the others and paused. She reached out and touched Nate on his shoulder, once, lightly. Then she pulled away, afraid of his reaction, and trotted away with her ears down.

Nate watched her go, a sad look in his eyes as he did so. He turned his attention back to Zephyr, though, smiling again, though it was slightly tainted by his sadness. "We...we should get a move on. We need to find out where to go first, though." He let go of Zephyr, and started walking towards the others. He didn't expect what was coming next though.

Necropolis came barreling through the snow, and he went for the one person who wasn't with someone else at that moment. Who happened to be Nate. He tackled the Dragonian to the ground, and stood again, standing on Nate's back. "Look at what the dragon dragged in!" He laughed. He was still blindfolded, though the chains were gone now. "How've you been, half-dragon freak?" He grinned, stomping down on Nate's lower back. He screeched, struggling to throw Necropolis off.

Zephyr's tail swung around, slamming into Necropolis with enough force to break several ribs. He sent the Tartaran flying, glaring at him. "Not you again." he growled, bending his head down to offer Nate something to hold so he could get up. Once the dragonian was standing, Zephyr nudged him lightly towards the others, unraveling himself from his curled up position and following, leaving huge footprints in the snow. He sensed Nate's unhappiness with Seria and said "You could have her, if you tried. It would be easy. What's to stop you?" He snorted softly, then said "Even if you don't decided to court her, you shouldn't let your friendship with her dwindle. That, in my opinion, would be rather...stupid."

"Oh, I've been thrown again." Necropolis laid there in the snow, grinning. He didn't get up again, though.

Nate groaned as he stood, seeming distracted now. Seria would be able to tell that he was in pain. "Well...I can't. She's Cynyr's, I can't just take them apart. I still feel an attraction, though...I don't understand how to just continue being friends like this." He grumbled, clearly not happy now. "If he's here, where's Vidia and Luna?"

"Not here! I ran away." Necropolis yipped happily, climbing to his feet again and rubbing his chest. "That was fun, dragon. I would ask you to do it again, but you might take my head off next time. Maybe I'll just tear your wings up. That would be painful, wouldn't it? Of course it would. I've found something interesting when my eyes are covered. I can still see you all! Everything's all black, and I can see thin white outlines." He raised a finger to supposedly trace one around Zephyr. "And I know how to induce pain now, too. Obelisk said he had given me new gifts, but I didn't notice these until now! This is fun. How's your back, Nate? Kinda makes you want to scream, right?" He grinned.

Zephyr turned and roared in Necropolis' face so hard and so loudly that the sound echoed for over a hundred miles in all directions. "You annoying little PEST!" he thundered. "Why can't you just go and be a good summon like Forin? He doesn't ANNOY ME and he actually LISTENS to his mistress! Take an example from him and SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" He snapped his jaws shut inches away from the Tartaran, then turned and glared down at Nate. "If that's honestly how you think, you are not the same dragonian that was willing to face down me, a dragon ten times your size, in order to save someone dear to you. If I were you, I would let nothing come between me and a friend like Seria. I was alone for many long years; I wouldn't let anything come between me and a female like that. Even if it was just to remain friends with her. Your kind seems to underestimate the meaning of being 'just friends'." The dragon, obviously in a bad mood, turned and moved back to the others, his ears pressed back flatly against his head.

((To clarify, Necropolis now has the ability to identify weak points on a person after a few minutes of looking at them. Nate's being his back, so he stomped on it. And the membrane on a dragon's wing would be their most sensitive part, as it's not covered in scales.))

"I'm not a pushover," Necropolis grumbled once Zephyr was out of earshot. Nate sighed heavily at Zephyr's words, but decided to follow.

"Well, if he's here, Luna and Vidia can't be too far behind. Should we wait for them, or..." Nate started to ask, but Werr was quick to come to a decision.

"It's gotten warmer. I think we can wait for a little while longer." Werr nodded. Welk was still asleep, as was Forin. "Is he..." He asked, peering over at Necropolis.

"He should be down for awhile." Nate shrugged, then reached over and quietly tapped Seria on the shoulder. "I...need you to fix something for me..."

((Oo.))

Seria turned and looked at Nate, then nodded. "Of course." she said, her voice distant. She looked down, not meeting his eyes. "What do you need?" she asked flatly.

Zephyr shook his head and growled, then curled up nearby and blew a thick plume of smoke up into the air to clear his lungs. "Human creatures." he snorted, rolling his eyes.

Cynyr glanced up innocently from his spot where he was leaning against a particularly huge rock. He watched Seria talk to Nate, then looked away and watched Welk with about the same amount of interest; not much.

Nate pulled Seria away from the others a bit, turning his back to her. "Where Necropolis stepped on me..." He said quietly. When Seria moved to feel what was wrong, she would be able to tell at once that things were very wrong, indeed. There wasn't much she could do for it, either. Nate's spine was bent in the lower half, and it had deep (for bone) grooves in the upper half. He was in a lot of pain, a bruise already forming where Necropolis had stomped down.

It was remarkable how well he was able to move and fight with such damage. It explained why he never slept while laying down, that was for certain.

Seria gently pushed his shirt up and ran her delicate fingers over his skin, a sad look coming over her face. "Nate..." she murmured, closing her eyes and tilted her ears back all the way as she generated a soothing healing spell that chased away the dragonian's pain like sunlight scattering shadows. "How long was this like this?" she asked, her soft voice so gentle and sad. She moved her head forward and pressed her cheek against his shoulder blade, tears gathering in her beautiful eyes.

"Ever since my wings and tail were...removed. That dragon tore up even the bone. That caused all of this." Nate sighed with relief once the pain was gone. The skin on his back was laced with pale scars that one wouldn't notice at first glance. The problem was, it was already healed over, however wrong it was. His body had done the best it could to repair the damage, but it hadn't been enough. Seria could do little but remove his pain. "It aches all the time...I'm grateful to have been able to keep it a secret for this long. It's my biggest weak point; if Necropolis had stepped on me any harder, I would have screamed like he wanted me to." Nate sighed heavily. "Seria...can you keep it quiet for me? The less people who know, the better. Forin guessed it not long after we met, he's shockingly perceptive...I don't know how Necropolis knew, though..."

Once the spell was done, she wrapped her arms gently around him. "Of course." she murmured. "I wouldn't dream of telling them. Unless they themselves figure it out or you decide to tell them, they'll never know." She slipped around to stand in front of him and hugged him, and he felt her tears when she put her cheek against his neck. "I'm sorry I can't help you anymore than simple removing of pain." she murmured, and he felt her quiver.

Cynyr, inside the cave, just watched with a neutral look on his face, then yawned and decided he really, really needed to sleep.

Nate wrapped his own arms around her. "I've grown used to it. Don't worry about me, really." He pulled away from her, wiping away her tears with his thumb. "Thank you," He said quietly, hugging her again. "For even caring about someone like me."

"Why wouldn't I?" she said softly, leaning into him. "How could I not care about you?" She sighed, curling her tail around and brushing the silky fur against his arm, then leaned up and gently touched her lips to his cheek, giving him a delicate kiss. "You're a noble, kind person and any person, any girl, should consider themselves lucky to know you. ...I do." She hugged him tightly, not wanting to leave unless he made her.

Nate held her for a long while, before a voice split the frozen air. "Necropolis!" Vidia's voice called loudly. She was climbing the hill towards them, doing her best to run through the snow, but it was hard.

"Crap!" Necropolis yelped, starting to crawl away in a desperate attempt to get away from his summoner.

"Come here! Stop running away from me, or I'll put a leash on you or something!" Vidia fussed at him, reaching the others. She stopped short, sensing all of them and the dragon. She looked from them to Necropolis, frowning. "Did you hurt someone? I told you not to, Necropolis!"

Zephyr, laying with his wings spread open to keep the softly falling snow off of the others, chuckled and did something new; he reached out with his mind and brushed it into theirs, saying "I enjoy the idea of a leash. I think it would work out well." He curled his lips back into a toothy grin, calmly folding his arms and moving his tail around so several members of the group could have something warm to lean against. Granted, it wasn't nearly as warm as his belly, but it was better than leaning against the fallen rocks. He bent his head around and rested it on the ground, sighing when Luen lifted a hand and started rubbing one of the dragon's long ears.

Luna's voice pressed in on the people she had taken info from's minds, including Vidia's, asking "Did you find him, Vidia?"

(("Luna's voice pressed in on the people she had taken info from's minds" should be "Luna's voice pressed in on whom she had taken info from". Hard to explain the ruling of that one, but it just looks...nicer.))

"I did!" Vidia said, standing over Necropolis. "But he's injured, I think. He's trying to crawl away..."

"Get away from me! I don't want to go with you, little wimp! I can see so many weak points on you, it's disgusting!" Necropolis shrieked at her.

"Don't call me disgusting!" Vidia frowned.

"Bind!" Vidia suddenly shouted, given the word by Luna, who had taken temporary control of the girl's mind so she could use the word. Necropolis instantly found his arms pinned together behind his back and his legs no longer supported him, as if someone had tied his limbs together and had taken the bones from his legs.

Luna snorted, then said "There. Vidia, what I just used was one of several commands that force a summon to obey their summoner. 'Bind' renders the summoned unable to move until you decided to free them with 'Release'. Release can be used to free the summoned from any of the other commands that force movement or no movement upon someone."

A few moments later, Luna herself appeared, dropping down gracefully out of the air.

Necropolis started to shriek curses and other foul words at Vidia, who crossed over to Luna and took her by the hand, pouting. "How do I make him stop doing that?" She whimpered, a little scared now.

"Release me!" Necropolis spat, hissing in annoyance, though he couldn't move at all. "I'll kill you all, so help me...!"