The Forgotten Zodiac

Deep inside the cave, Seria was examining Tasia's hands carefully, trying to relieve some of the pain the girl was feeling. Her twisted little hands were so sad to look at, but the dragonian herself didn't seem to mind. She winced once in a while as Seria worked, but kept quiet. "Does it hurt bad?" Seria asked gently. "Sometimes," Tasia answered, still in dragon. She only sounded bad at speaking when she tried to use normal language. "I can't hold hands or pick up stuff very well," she said. "Or do this." She tried to make a fist with one hand, which resulted in a sad little disfigured attempt at it. She couldn't do it all the way. Seria looked sad, but she kept going with the healing, removing some of the pain. "There," she said. "That should feel better."

Tasia flexed her hands weakly, noting that she still couldn't bend them right, then said "Thank you, healer,"

Seria smiled slightly, then flinched when Vaira suddenly lifted her head and growled. "People are approaching," she said, her voice rumbled and mixed with her growl. A moment later, the Amnairians lifted the spells that had formed the bars over the cage, making them and the huge wall outside disappear.

((Ah, darn it, I forgot to answer what you had said up there. -shakefish- Darn my scatterbrainedness.))

"There you have it," Airlia flew down into the cave again, smiling brightly. "Tasia and Vaira, we've cleared up things with Galai! You're free to stay with us, but you have to leave when we do. Aside from that...well, you're pretty much free!" She said excitedly, landing in front of them.

((Did you want to do something else? -blinkblink-))

((Nah. I was going to do Werr talking to the queen and then her contacting Titus afterwards, but this is okay. o3o))

Tasia hissed violently and scrambled behind Vaira, shivering in fear at the scent of the Amnairians. Vaira growled slightly, but tried to keep her temper in check as Tasia climbed up on her back and the dragoness moved out of the cave. Both of them blinked badly at the sunlight outside, having spent so much time in the darkness. Tasia was practically blinded by the sunlight, letting out a horrible cry and starting to sob. Vaira flinched at the cry and immediately jerked her head around to see what was wrong, causing one of the younger Amnairians' nerve to break and run away screaming. Vaira swung her head around at the screaming, snarling, and the other Amnairians all backed up abruptly. The situation was quickly growing more and more tense.

A moment later, suddenly and without warning, all of the Amnairians suddenly panicked and raced away in all directions, each one with the same look on their face. One of their weapons fired by accident, catching Vaira with a flash of light that stung her eyes, but made Tasia wail in agony.

That did it.

Vaira roared and thundered a horrible bellow, lashing her tail from side to side. "Was this a trap?!" she shouted, snarling. "Was this nothing more than a lie?! We did nothing to hurt you and yet my companion is hurt!"

((We can do that on the side somewhere, and you can edit it in? I kinda wanted to do that too, but I had no idea how to get it in after that thing with Nate. xP))

Werr, unfortunately, had been behind Vaira. Her tail whacked into him, lifting him off the ground and flinging him a few feet away, to where Luna and Vidia stood. "Ow..." He moaned, sitting up. He wasn't injured, perhaps a little bruised up and winded, but nothing serious.

Vidia, however, was nothing short of freaking out. The noises, the roaring and screaming, plus the sound of Werr landing mere inches in front of her...they made her think that something was seriously wrong. She let out a shriek and covered her ears. There was the sound of several explosions at once; no one was seriously injured, though a few Amnarians were thrown. Vidia whimpered, trying to stop herself. There was another explosion that blasted at Vaira's back, where Tasia sat.

Tasia screamed and was flung off of her dragon companion from the force of the explosion. Vaira snapped her head around and roared her loudest, which nearly defended everyone around them. Nobody could hear each other well afterwards, especially those that hadn't plugged their ears in time. Welk had thin trickles of blood leaking from his ears and he found he couldn't hear anything, only feel the vibrations through the ground. That didn't stop him from running over to Werr and attempting to ask the boy if he was okay, only to find that he didn't hear the slurred words come from his mouth.

Vaira snaked her head back on its long neck and was about to breathe a colume of fire over everyone there when a shadow suddenly passed over her.

Zephyr plunged down out of the sky, bellowing his challenge, and slammed into her, clamping his jaws around her muzzle. She was forced to shoot her fire through her nose and into the air, where it didn't hurt anyone. Seconds later, both dragons were fighting viciously, though Zephyr managed to draw the struggling Vaira away from the others before she broke free and resumed her attack on him. He had the advantage of size, but that didn't seem to help him much. They were evenly matched.

Vidia let out another wail, plopping down on the ground and curling her knees up to her chest, starting to rock back and forth on the balls of her feet while she sobbed in a panic. She couldn't see normally, now she couldn't hear much at all. It was rather devastating, to lose another sense.

Nate approached Tasia now, crouching a few feet away from her, knowing that she might have trouble hearing as well as her usual fear of absolutely everything. He didn't get any closer, looking over at the warring dragons. He knew that they had to be stopped before anyone got hit by anything on accident.

Luna wrapped her arms around Vidia and warped them away so the girl wouldn't risk hurting anyone with her powers on accident.

Tasia looked like she wanted nothing more than to run out to Vaira and hide behind her dear friend, but that would've resulted in her death, as both of the dragons had zoned out of everything else other than the being they were fighting with. She flinched when Nate got close to her, staring fearfully at him, unable to hear like most of the rest. She noted the way he didn't try to get too close to her, how he seemed to know she was scared. She slowly extended one ruined little hand in his direction, remembering how he had let her see his hands. She squeaked fearfully when Vaira shoved Zephyr to one side and the ground vibrated with the impact.

Nate looked down and smiled comfortingly when Tasia reached out her hand. He brought his own hand out, putting it within her reach without just immediately grabbing her hand. It was like gaining the trust of an animal, though Nate probably would never say such a thing out loud. He just understood that he had to let Tasia come to him rather than going straight to her.

Though really, now was hardly the time to wait around...

Finally, after hesitating for a moment more, Tasia scrambled forward and pressed her thin little body against him, quivering. Though she was taller and a few years older than Seria, she was almost a bit thinner from lack of several things. She hadn't lacked in food very much, but no sunlight and limited movement had done a number on her body. Other than that and her hands, she was very pretty. When she moved to go to Nate's side, he saw that she had trouble walking and that her feet were slightly turned in, again from limited movement. She tucked her wings tight to her body and cried softly against Nate's shirt, not liking the bright sun, which hurt her eyes, and the fighting dragons.

Nate hugged her gently. If he still had his wings, he would have wrapped them around her for comfort, but he instead tugged off his cloak and threw that over her shoulders. He didn't say anything; his own ears were still ringing from the roar, he was pretty sure Tasia would be in a similar condition. He looked over at the others; Werr was tucked behind Welk and Cynyr, Airlia had retreated back into the cave, and Spy was curled up in her arms...

There was a violent splattering sound further out from the dragons and everyone glanced up to see that Vaira had torn her claws through Zephyr's shoulder. He bellowed and lunged forward, snapping his jaws shut inches away from her face, which she had pulled away at the last second. They snapped at each other, swiping and inflicting deep wounds on each other with their sharp white claws. The ground rumbled with every footfall and shook every time one of the dragons was knocked over.

The fight was won in an instant.

Vaira lashed out at Zephyr, who dodged sharply and swung his tail around, slamming it into Vaira's side. The movement caused her to be knocked off-balance for only a second and Zephyr took his chance. He lunged forward and closed his jaws around Vaira's throat, slamming her head and entire body down to the ground. She was still alive, but she made no movement whatsoever, knowing that her life was now in his jaws. He growled threateningly, closing his mouth a little tighter around her throat. She whimpered softly, utterly still under him. He snarled, not moving his teeth from her neck yet, still full of fighting instincts.

Tasia wailed at the sight, knowing that Zephyr could kill her best friend if he wanted.

Nate stood at this, leaving Tasia with the cloak still around her. "Zephyr!" He called, walking forward several paces. He knew full well that getting too close would be completely suicidal at this point. "Calm down! Listen to your logical side, please," He said, clearly unhappy. "Killing her won't get us anywhere!"

For a moment, the only sound was of the two dragons. Zephyr's breath growled in and out of his lungs, mixing with Vaira's. Finally, the emerald dragon blinked and slowly released his hold on Vaira, allowing her up. She did so warily, watching him closely, then lowered her head and licked under his jaw, acknowledging that he had won. He allowed it, closing his eyes halfway and continuing to pant. When she pulled back, she tilted her head away from him respectfully. He snorted, then moved forward, bending his head down to nuzzle Nate lightly as he passed the dragonian. Vaira followed meekly behind him, looking chastened.

Nate sighed with relief, running his hand over Zephyr's scales as the dragon passed. "Right, then. We should head back to the castle, now that things have been cleared up. You both can get yourselves healed up, and I suggest a long soak in the healing springs for you and Tasia, Vaira." As he spoke, he returned to the female dragonian's side, taking his cloak off of her and helping her stand.

Tasia weakly leaned against him, still sobbing quietly over the light hurting her eyes. Vaira swept over her, scooping her up into one hand and nudging Nate out of the way in the process. Tasia moaned, reaching one hand out towards Nate. He had been nice to her even though she thought male dragonians were supposed to be mean. Vaira tucked the girl's arm back in, saying "You don't need him, sweetheart." She glared at Nate over her shoulder, then turned her attention back to Tasia when the girl chirped weakly up at her. The dragon somehow looked ruffled after that.

Welk was smacking himself on the side of the head, trying to get his ears to work again but only making it worse.

Nate smiled at them both regardless of Vaira's words. He turned back to the others, looking over them all. Airlia poked out of hiding, moving to sit next to Werr. "Can any of you hear yet?" Nate asked.

"Sort of. It's all muffled." Werr mumbled, shaking his head. "I don't think Welk can, though..." He frowned at the sight of the blood around his friend's ears.

"Yeah, muffled," Airlia nodded in agreement with Werr. Spy, on the other hand, just stared up at Nate. He knew the Dragonian was talking, but he couldn't figure out what was being said.

"Alright," Nate sighed. "We need to find Seria, she can probably repair the damage..." He looked around for Luen and Seria in concern.

Cynyr nodded at Nate's question, answering perfectly "I can." He had covered his ears in time to prevent a lot of the damage.

Seria was already working on healing the ears of her friends, and she had started with Luen, taking him over to a tree nearby and setting him under it. She had healed his ears quickly and was now checking him over for any other damage. He had been knocked over easily by the ground shaking under the force of the dragon's fighting, and had a few bleeding cuts from landing on some sharp rocks. Seria healed them, then motioned towards someone else and said "Next!"

Cynyr touched Welk and got his attention, then pointed over at Seria. Welk frowned, then shook his head and pointed at Werr. "Are you serious?" Cynyr growled, but Welk couldn't even heard a whisper. His delicate cat ears had taken more damage than the others' ears. Cynyr sighed, then said "Werr, you're first, then. Welk won't go unless you're healed."

Welk beamed at his friend, blood still dripping down from his ears and clinging to his blonde hair.

Werr sighed, then stood. He was certain that he didn't have any serious wounds, so the healing should only take a second or two for his ears. Then Welk could be healed.

Nate moved over to Luen in the meantime. "Come on," He said with a small smile. "We should take these two to the healing springs." He motioned towards Vaira and Tasia. "There's not much point in waiting around here."

Luen nodded, then motioned up at Zephyr for him to lower his head. Zephyr did so, allowing Luen to carefully climb on his shoulders. Luen held a hand out for Nate and helped the dragonian up behind him, then told Zephyr where to go. The emerald dragon lifted his head and tilted it back at Vaira, snaking his head forward to give her a remembering nip near her ear. She flicked her ears back and let out a submissive dragon whine, ready to follow him wherever he went. He lifted off and she followed, holding Tasia close in her hands. The poor girl was utterly exhausted, curling her wings up over her head to protect her eyes from the sunlight.

Once everyone was patched up and ready, they headed off to the castle again, following after the Dragons. Werr yawned tiredly, mumbling something about needing sleep. It was difficult to tell what time of day it was, but none of them had slept since they left their own world. There was no sunset, though things seemed slightly dimmer than they had before, if only a little. Regardless, he was still tired, and it was obvious.