The Forgotten Zodiac

((Eh...good? I think? oxo Really depends on how Zephyr and Nate react to it, I suppose. It's the thing Airlia's going to go off and find.))

The next morning dawned bright and early. Cynyr was still working, looking exhausted and drained of the little color he had. He was still going strong, however, holding his left wrist with his right hand. His long black tail hung limply, not having the energy to keep it up.

Jag and Seria were arguing quietly, both having been the first awake besides Forin and Luna. Jag still hadn't let Seria heal him, but she was obviously winning the fight, because a moment later, she moved her hand out and touched his broken leg, healing it in an instant. They then ignored each other and Seria stalked off into the forest to go find some fruit to eat, her tail flicking behind her.

Welk was still pale and unconscious, but he was starting to regain some color.

((Oh, okay. xD

You should know by now that I wouldn't object to either cases. :T))

Lily stirred at their argument, her hand rubbing the place where her wound had been. She opened her eyes and curled back into Jag's arms. Nate seemed to be just falling asleep now, though he struggled to stay awake. For Luen's sake.

Werr, not surprisingly (and if this is a surprise to you, I suggest you turn back to chapter one and re-read this entire story, because you clearly have been paying little to no attention to any of the storyline), was caught in a nightmare. It was different than the others had been, though; instead of him being on a little piece of the world, floating on nothing, this one actually came from memory.

Fire. There was lots of it, everywhere. It obscured his vision while his lungs filled weakly with smoke. He was lying on the floor, hot tile burning into the skin on his cheek. He couldn't move. He was pinned to the floor by a heavy china cabinet that had fallen on top of him. He could only weakly cry, and that was snatched away by the roar of the flames. He watched in horror as two adults rushed past the doorway, a woman screaming something as the male dragged her away, shouting something in response.

Werr didn't recognize the voices. He definitely recognized one, though, echoing in the back of his mind.

'Are you certain they really were your parents?' Obelisk laughed at him.

Werr, reliving the trial of fire that he had gone through at age four, could only close his eyes and hope that the nightmare would end soon. There was a crack as the heat split the cabinet in two. Werr squirmed and struggled until he finally managed to get free. By then, the entire place was an inferno.

Werr crawled on his stomach to the closest exit, dropping out of a window and into a bush below. He somehow managed to stumble out, staggering to the main road. Things were disoriented and foggy, smoke still clouding his vision. Or was that unconsciousness, threatening to take him down? Maybe his parents had fled this way. He thought he caught a glimpse of them, but they had faded into the distance to quickly for him to tell. Werr screamed as loudly as his smoke-filled lungs would allow. "Come back!"

"Come back!" Werr screamed again before he realized that he was awake. He groaned and buried his face in his hands, realizing that he had been crying. That stupid question...he couldn't know if Heather and Darius really had been his parents. He would normally insist that the council had searched for years, but...some things didn't fit. He set his recently repaired mind on the task of putting together what all these somethings were.

They had conveniently found his parents when it came time for the council members to disperse. His parents were conveniently located in the perfect area, not too far from any of the other council members, but not too close. They took him in and treated him as though he were a long lost son; but in return, Werr had taken a long time before he was warmed up to them again. Perhaps that had something to do with parent/child relationships, but Werr had been horrible during those days. But Darius and Heather had dealt with it. Always calm, always gentle and respectful. Not once could Werr remember a time when they had raised their voices.

Werr cried weakly into his hands, unsure of what else to do.

Welk shifted slightly against his friend, moving around a bit until he could curl up right between Werr's legs, his head resting against the boy's abdomen. He shivered slightly and Werr realized the half-cat was deep in the throes of his own nightmare, especially when he whimpered and dug his claws abruptly into Werr's leg. Hard. He had never hurt Werr like that before, but Welk wasn't awake right now and he wasn't kneading his paws like he liked to do. When he did that, he was gentle and soft and it was a calming thing.

This wasn't calm.

He muttered something incomprehensible and flicked his tail a few times, quivering and panting softly, his ears pressed back against his head. He shook his head slightly, as if trying to tell someone 'no', then whimpered "Where are you...?"

Werr looked down at his friend, filled with concern at once. He scratched Welk behind the ears, trying feebly to comfort him. He moved his leg away though, his weakened and tired mind turning to distress at the thought of pain caused by Welk. The real Welk.

He pushed such thoughts away though. "Welk," He said gently, shaking his friend. How had that scream not woken him up? "Welk, wake up..."

Welk barely stirred at Werr's touch, mostly just flicking his ears once. He was still exhausted and drained of almost all energy, so his mind told him to remain unconscious, which meant he would suffer through the nightmare he was having. Finally, though, when Werr persisted in shaking him and calling his name, Welk's nightmare ceased and he woke up. He wearily opened his eyes slightly, then flicked his gaze to the side and looked up at Werr. Again, he was unable to say anything, but now he was too tired and sore to write. He winced and lifted one hand weakly, reaching up to brush his fingers against Werr's cheek. Then he let his hand go limp and just stared up at Werr, blinking dully once in a while with a half-dead air.

"You...you were having a nightmare," Werr said, deciding to say nothing of his own. He just hugged Welk gently, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "You're okay now, though. I won't go anywhere. Though I wish that gate would hurry up and be fixed...if these people can turn Cici back into her natural form, maybe they can help you, too..."

Mere seconds after Werr had spoken, a horribly loud creak came the gate. Welk couldn't lift his head to see, but Werr saw that the entire broken door was magically lifting and hovering in the air, slowly fitting back into place. The vines that had grown around the doors all snapped and fell away, restoring the tarnished surface back to a subtle golden glow. The other door swung open slowly on its hinges and the two doors were repaired. Now that they were fixed properly, a glistening, shimmering bridge could be seen forming, much faster than the actual repairing of the gate had been.

It was faster, yes, but also much, much harder on Cynyr's body. All of his own energy was stripped away, leaving him as defenseless as a small kitten. He coughed, but that was about all of the movement he could manage.

Werr watched as the glowing gradually dimmed. Nate jerked awake again, blinking groggily at the others and then at Cynyr. Was it almost time to go, then? He started to scratch Luen behind the ears, wanting to wake him as gently as possible.

Arilia was awake by now. She had been since Werr's scream. She wondered what Werr had been dreaming about now, and she also wondered why Forin never bothered to remove them, but there was no real point in questioning it too much. She wasn't about to speak out of turn, after all, and asking prying questions was rude.

Luen jerked awake, looking around in bewilderment, then sighed when he realized he was okay. He closed his eyes for a moment at Nate's touch, then looked up when a sharp ringing sound echoed out. Slowly, the bridge on the other side of the gate grew more and more visible, until it looked as solid as any other bridge out there. It was a normal bridge, with just the right amount of shadow so Forin wouldn't be uncomfortable, yet enough sunlight so that Luna would be okay too. How this was accomplished, they didn't know.

But now, the bridge was finished.

Cynyr immediately flopped down, breathing hard and staring at his work. His left arm was steaming slightly, but it didn't seem to be hurting him. From his shoulder down, his sleeve and glove had been ripped apart, leaving his scars showing, not that he cared much anymore.

Seria came back with a bunch of fruit in tow, already munching on one piece. She blinked in shock when she saw the finished gate, then set the fruit down and called for attention. "I suggest everyone eat something before we go through." she said. "We don't know what's through there and we need to be ready for it. So eat up."

"I still don't think it's a good idea for me to go," Forin grumbled. "When's the last time anyone saw a Tartaran on Amnarius? Ten thousand years? The last thing we need is a fight," He took two of the fruits anyways, one for himelf and the other for Diana. Nate collected two as well, taking both of them back to Luen.

"Here, eat up." He said, putting the fruits in front of the wolfling. "You'll need it."

Werr, of course, climbed to his feet and grabbed a couple. He brought it back to Welk, but frowned a bit. "Do you think...you could manage to chew? Um...blink once for yes, and twice for no, if you don't feel like talking yet..."

Welk just tilted his head away and fell back asleep.

Luna frowned at Forin and said "Oh, do shut up, please. You annoy me so much. If you just lay low and keep quiet, I am sure they will not mind too badly. Maybe. Then again, they could get mad and throw you out...for your looks. I mean really, how much can one being frown? If anything, they will throw you out for being a grump." She smiled, showing pointed teeth, then said "I am only teasing, of course. Though you could stand to smile a bit more, Forinny."

Luen, in human form and munching on a piece of fruit, looked up at Luna and frowned, tilting his ears back slightly. He didn't like hearing her talk like that to Forin, though she wasn't being too serious about it. He moved his head back down and finished eating, working his way through both fruits fairly quickly.

Werr bit his lip, eating one of the fruits for lack of anything better to do.

"Tch," Forin spat at the ground in her general direction, making it very clear that he absolutely despised her at the moment. "I said it before, I'll say it again. I have my reasons, and they aren't something for you to pry about."

"Teasing?" Diana started trembling at the word. She pouted up at Luna. "Don't tease Forin, he...he's not a bad Tartaran like Necropolis is. He's smart and strong...he's not very kind, but that doesn't matter to me. So...so no teasing him." She wrapped her arms around Forin's, looking on the verge of crying.

Forin remained looking livid, though it was easy to tell that his anger was boiling faster and faster as Diana neared tears.

Snowflakes started drifting through the air in a gentle cascade. Luen tenderly brushed his cool fingers against Diana's cheek, then rose back up and glared hard at Luna. "I'm going to ask you to never speak to Forin like that again." he said, his tail held out stiffly behind him. "It isn't right for you to disrespect him like that when he's done nothing to you. So shut up and leave him and Diana alone, because when you tease him like that, you tease Diana too, which teases me as well." And then he turned away.

Luna blinked sharply at that, then couldn't stop the smile from spreading over her face. "Alright then." she said, surprising Luen. "I will not make fun towards your friends anymore, little wolfling." She looked over at Forin and nodded at him, her ears tilting back slightly to show more submission. Not a lot, of course, but it was basically saying that she accepted herself and him to be on equal levels now. She would stop considering herself higher than him.

Seria had walked over to Cynyr and was trying to help him feel better, but nothing she tried had any effect on him. She was currently rubbing one hand over his shoulders and back, unable to do anything but watch him pant. Finally, he stood up and moved towards the gate, glancing over his shoulder at them all. "Well?" he asked, sounding tired. "What are you waiting for? I got the dang thing open. Let's go."

((At this point, I kinda want to add Luna to the mix who are going into Forin's head/memories. xD

Also, would we be going to a place between the worlds so both of them can be seen, or just going straight to Amnarius? Alsoalso, who's going to describe Amnarius? I kinda like how we've split up the worlds with each other, so I would insist that you do it, but I can if you really don't want to.))

Diana wiped the tears away from her eyes, standing up so Forin could. She grabbed his hand, naturally, and took Luen's hand in the other. Forin climbed to his feet, glancing at Luen in a mixed look that wanted to say, 'I can fight for myself', but it came out to be more of a 'thank you'.

Werr scrambled to his feet, somehow dragging Welk onto his back. He held onto him tightly, not allowing the half-cat to fall as he moved towards the gate. Nate was quick to relieve him of Welk, though he wasn't happy about it. "It's fine, Werr, I don't mind carrying him." Nate shook his head. "It's better than you wasting all of your energy trying to carry him, then accidentally dropping him somewhere."

"I...I guess..." Werr frowned, unhappy of the implimentation that he was weak. He didn't deny that he was weak, he just didn't need reminders. Nate looked tired, though, how would him carrying Welk be any better? Regardless, they all moved towards the gate just the same. Spy scurried after them, while Vidia slipped her hand into Luna's so she could be led along.

((Okay then.

It would be a path where both worlds could be seen, the same 'place between worlds' where the Divine lurks around. It will be there, of course. o3o Also, I'm going to change its look. I like this new one more, which is a long snake with the head of a dragon, but the Amnairus side is white with the feathery wing and the Tartarus side is black with a black crow's wing.

Yesh, I will describe Amnairus. If I suck at it, you can help. xD))

Luen bent down and gave Diana a hug, then looked up at Forin and just smiled at him.

Welk didn't stir, firmly sunk in a half-dead slumber. The most that happened was a small whimper and a barely noticeable flick of his tail.

Cynyr moved forward first, taking a quick step out onto the transparent bridge. It held him easily, though it was a bit nerve-wracking to walk on a bridge that you could see through. Every time Cynyr placed his foot down, the bridge lit up slightly in that spot. The edges of the bridge glowed, letting them know where the edge was so they wouldn't fall off. Cynyr walked without hesitating on the wide bridge, barely pausing to wait as the others followed him. Through the gate didn't lead to more forest, though it would have seemed like it from any other angle. But walking into it led onto the bridge. And around the bridge, there was nothing. Just black, empty space, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Which wasn't very far, as the only light source was the bridge they were to walk upon.

((Fixed))

((Forin's going to freeze up in awe for a few minutes. o3o

Otaaayyy, I can help~))

Forin brushed his hand against Luen's before moving off. It was a sign of gratefulness, however pathetic it was. Forin didn't seem to be capable of many emotions, so any sign of one other than hatred or anger was rare. Forin led the three of them onto the bridge, marching after Cynyr with no hesitation.

Nate followed, carrying Welk. Werr, of course, was right at his heels. Airlia followed after them, still looking more or less asleep, her movements stiff from the venom that had paralyzed her completely not long ago. Spy scampered after them, jumping on the bridge to create bright little flashes of light that he giggled at.

((Lol.))

Luen smiled a little wider at Forin, then just concentrated on leading Diana safely across the bridge.

A loud creaking sound echoed out behind them when the last person stepped over the threshold. The doors of the gate swung shut behind them, leaving them temporarily trapped in the place between worlds. The gate could now easily be opened again, but it was unwise to leave it open. There was still plenty of light to see by, obviously, from the bridge they were on. Cynyr kept his ears flicked up to catch any sound in the darkness of the abyss around them, making sure they were alone.

Which, of course, they weren't.

Both Forin and Luna could feel a weird presense out in the darkness, though neither of them could tell what it was. They seemed to be the only ones that could feel it, though they didn't know what it was from or if it was friendly or meant them harm.

((Also, sorry for saying this, but you did a poor job of describing the transaction between worlds. The most the readers understand is that a bridge was made. You didn't say much about what the bridge was over (I was thinking there was a massive hole behind the gate and that the bridge spiraled down into the hole), you just said that it lead into the 'abyss'. After a bit of reflection, I now imagine the 'gate' as a giant door. The door was repaired and opened, and there was nothing but black past the door, and then the bridge was made, so on.

If you want, I can backtrack and change a couple of your posts to help describe it a bit more in-depth. :3))

Forin felt the presense, and immediately felt uneasy. He held onto Diana's hand all the more firmly, though he made sure he wasn't squeezing too hard. Spy just hopped along, and eventually started rolling along on the bridge, squealing with joy as it lit up underneath him. He rolled and rolled.

Then promptly rolled off the edge, his joyful squeaks turning into panicked shrieks.

((Yes, help me PLEASE, on account of my description skills are terrible. xD Basically, the gate leads to near-total darkness with the see-through glowing bridge leading quite a ways in, where it eventually splits into two roads, one of which is bright and leads to Amnairus and the other of which is dark and leads to Tartarus.))

"Spy!" several voices shouted at once. Jag ran to the edge and was about to leap off, when suddenly, a huge black dragon paw appeared out of the darkness and caught Spy. There was silence for several moments, then the huge hand-like paw lifted and deposited Spy back onto the bridge with a chuckle. "Careful there, little one." said a familiar voice that sounded both male and female at the same time.

The Divine came into view, a smile curling up the edges of its snout. "Hello again, brave little boy." it said, staring down at Werr. "I didn't think we would meet again this soon." It tilted its head around and eyed the rest of the group, pausing on Luna and Forin. Its expression grew slightly curious and it said "Well well well. A Tartaran and an Amnairian. How...odd, to see you both so out of place."

((Okay, focus on the gate itself. Where was it, location wise? On the edge of a cliff? Where did the darkness come from, exactly, if there's a giant rock creating light on the ceiling of the giant forest?))

Spy ran to Jag and cowered behind his ankle. Werr frowned, recognizing the massive thing. "I didn't expect seeing you so soon either," He shook his head, moving to stand in front of Welk and Nate.

Forin stared up at the Divine with a strange expression on his face. He didn't look scared or confused. More like awed. He stood there for several minutes before shaking himself out of it, his facial expression returning to normal. "I'm not here for much. Just tagging along." He shrugged, masking his shock at seeing the Divine.