The Forgotten Zodiac

"We're here to speak with his majesty, King Titus," Cynyr said, deciding that proper title usage was nessecery here. "It's of utmost importance to the safey of both Tartarus and Amnairus." He glared hard at the bat, not really liking him very much. Obviously. "I suggest you let us in," the panther said. "Trust me. We wouldn't come into this vile place without a good reason. Though personally, I think it's nice here." They could hear the sarcasm in his voice, clear and simple.

Welk was in human form and clinging fearfully to Werr, his ears back. He didn't like their current surroundings very much.

"Fine, whatever. I'm late anyways." He squawked at them, hopping away with all due haste, still holding his nose.

"That...was...strange." Werr blinked at the bat-thing. It literally was a giant, grotesque bat. Werr was used to seeing more humanoids, obviously; he would have gawked at everything they passed, actually, if it weren't for the fact that the streets were empty. Not even the usual eyes peeked from the caves. There was shouting or cheering in the distance though...

They headed towards the castle nevertheless. And of course, they were stopped by the black wolf. He hardly glanced at them before pushing open the gate, though he did give a short howl before doing so. Obviously a signal to whatever other guards were lurking around.

Cynyr stalked forward, following the black wolf and grinning as the one-eyed dark grey wolf from before showed up and spotted him. "You!" the wolf snapped.

"Me," Cynyr said smugly.

The wolf guard growled and said "I thought you left."

"Whaddya know? I'm back," the panther said, watching the wolf tense up and snarl.

"Come on, Cynyr, stop it!" Welk said, taking his brother by the hand and pulling him along. "Don't get into a fight so quickly. Come on, please?"

Slowly, Cynyr turned away from the wolf and let Welk pulled him off, both panther and wolf glaring hard at each other for as long as possible.

"Cool it, Cynyr, we don't want to fight. At all." Werr shook his head. "Just show us where the--oh, that must be it." Werr headed towards the large double doors of the throne room. Of course, Titus was inside, boredly flipping through book after book after book. He hardly glanced up as they came in.

"Welcome back, Cynyr the half-cat. Forin survived, I'm well aware of this; I know the instant any of my children perish. And it's been far too long for him to still be within his trial, so I must conclude that he survived. So what are you here for?" Titus, once more, spoke loftily. As though nothing at all mattered.

Werr was quick to explain what he had to Galai. That without the proper concealment of the gate, things would go downhill far too quickly for both worlds. Titus took a moment to respond. "So...you want me to hide this gate, in order to protect our worlds and yours..."

"Basically." Werr nodded. His voice was steady, but Welk would be able to tell easily that he was trembling slightly. Titus was...intimidating, to say the least.

"Unfortunately, I'm not good at giving without taking..." Titus tutted.

"Should've known," Cynyr said, tilting his head slightly as he stared up at the king. "Well, what do you want? Might as well tell us already so we can get this over with. I have better things to do than stand around yakking with a stupid-"

Welk grabbed him from behind and put his hands over the panther's mouth, hissing "Shut up! Are you trying to get us maimed and killed?! I've already lost one body part, thank you, and I don't want to lose anymore!"

"Mmph!" Cynyr's voice was muffled through Welk's hands as he tried to get the lion to let go.

Jag rolled his eyes at the two of them, then walked forward and bowed gracefully to the king. "Your majesty," he said. "We really would like to have the gate secured as soon as possible. Isn't the safety of your kingdom enough? If you require more, at least tell us what it is you want."

Titus thought for awhile. "I'm bored," He said flatly. "Having my children fight the monsters I make is boring, too. It's too easy to predict the outcome, and there have only been two deaths in the last century. Boring, boring, boring. Since it is the day of the arena..."

"You want us to fight something? To entertain you?" Werr made a face.

"Well, it's either that, or I could take one of you as my personal jester. Or something of the sort." He tutted, glancing over their group before returning his gaze to Werr. His soul-peircing gaze.

"...Fine," Werr frowned deeply at him. This seemed like the easiest way of making it out of here without losing anyone. Seeing how the other option was to literally give someone up. He looked at the others. "Who wants to fight?" He asked glumly.

"There's no point in asking that question. You came here as a group, you'll fight as a group." Titus interjected.

((Just to remind myself: last night we came to the conclusion that Airlia was indeed an Amnarian, separated when the nasty king ruined the peace at the end of the Fairy era. There was a panic when he attacked the gate, and the newly-made Airlia was left behind. I decided to add that she was given away as a gift to another king who helped overthrow the peace, who happened to build/found Alastor. Which explains her unwillingness to go into Alastor Palace. I've also decided that what Resu calls her should be the 'Taken' rather than the 'Fallen', since it fits better.

NOW WE'LL NEVAR FORGETZ. oxo))

((Yes to all points. :D))

Cynyr growled angrily, then said "Fine. If that's what we have to do, I'm willing." He grinned and cracked his knuckles, smirking in a way that suggested that he really wanted to fight. Welk stared up at him with a frown on his face, wondering where this behavior was coming from. Normally, though the panther never shied away from a fight or a situation where he could talk back to someone, he was this eager to fight. Normally he held a quiet boredom in stuff like this, but now there was an odd gleam in his eyes. Like he couldn't wait to hurt someone. It sent shivers up Welk's spine, but he didn't let it bother him for long. He was worried about Seria and Werr. They were the two weakest members they had with them, and he was worried for their safety. Werr moreso than Seria, but Welk hoped that he would be able to help the boy out somewhat.

((I just put that there because I would have most likely forgotten by Wednesday. xDD))

"Very well then. You will be given your choice of weaponry. I'll even cut you some slack and show you what you'll be fighting before you do so." Titus held out his hand. Shadows gathered to show a twisted, nasty form; it looked somewhat like Relic did; it had scales all over and a long tail, but its feet weren't clawed and it didn't have hair. (And hopefully, it wasn't a regenerator.) The only thing human-like about it was the fact that it stood on its hind legs.

And it carried a sword.

"You will be fighting multiple entities of this form. They will vary in weapon and in color, but match in strength and in speed. Be aware that I am not responsible for any deaths amongst your group, nor will I offer assistance to anyone." Titus stated, then stood. "If you are resolute in your decision, then I shall lead you to the Arena.

Cynyr's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the creature, then he looked up at Titus and said "Lead the way...your majesty." He smirked, flicking his tail and tilting his ears back. Welk found himself staring at the panther's left ear, which was missing its tip from the first attack by Light and Dark. Welk held back a groan, not wanting his brother to lose anymore parts of his body to attacks and injuries, then turned and nuzzled Werr's shoulder, feeling a bit more worried about the boy than the panther. At least Cynyr could defend himself. Werr would need help, not that Welk was complaining. Just worried that he wouldn't be enough to keep his friend safe.

Werr was trembling, his eyes glued to their soon-to-be enemies until the shadows dispersed again. He jerked when Welk touched him, putting his hand on his lion-friend's head. "I...I don't think this is a good idea..." He murmured, trying to hide his fear.

"Come along then," Titus said. Though he heard Werr quite clearly, he chose to ignore it, walking past them to the door of the throne room. He led the way out of his castle, his wings spreading eagerly in the open air. He walked, however, showing the way around the castle and down a small gravel path there towards where all the cheering had been coming from before.

There was an indent in the ground, as though a crater had smashed into the ground here. The rocky outjuttings surrounding the indent were swarmed with Tartarans; they watched in excitement as a pair inside the trench sparred in a match of their magicks. One created a silver fire from thin air, the other was controlling the ground itself. It was indeed exciting, but literally everything came to a standstill when Titus lifted his hand. "Good afternoon, my children. We have guests today, and they have...delightfully agreed to fight in a match of their own. Ready the arena!" He ordered.

The two who had been fighting ran out with all due haste, and a few other Tartarans rushed in, dropping various weapons in a large pile against the wall closest to them. All kinds of weaponry; swords, naturally, but there were also bows, lances, maces...basically anything that could be classified as a weapon. Stairs were created by the earth-moving Tartaran, but were removed the second the small group made it into the trench they called their 'arena'.

"Magic will not be allowed during this match," Titus said to them quietly. A strange feeling came over them, which was literally Titus' magic going after theirs, placing a temporary seal over each of their powers. The only thing they could do now was switch between forms. Titus smiled slightly before taking off, landing neatly in a large throne reserved for him at the other end of the trench.  "I'll release them when you're ready." He called. There was still a stiff silence as the Tartarans watched, eager to see which weapons would be chosen.

"What?" Welk said. "We can't use magic?" He looked even more scared now, but he quickly steeled himself. "I choose no weapon," he said, taking cat form and dropping into a crouch. "I have the only weapons I trust right here." He brandished sharp, long claws, his ears pressed back against his head.

Cynyr moved forward and picked through the swords, glaring at each one. "These are worthless," he said, gritting his teeth together in a scowl. Finally, he picked one he seemed to like well enough, giving it a few test swings before lowering it at his side. "Guess I'm taking this sword and my own claws," he said, frowning.

Seria sighed, knowing she didn't have a cat form to revert to anymore, then moved forward and picked up a bow with arrows. "You can use that?" Welk asked, blinking in surprise.

"Of course," Seria said, smiling. "I'm a healer. I should be able to fight from long-distance."

Jag picked up a lance and twirled it expertly in one hand, nodding satisfactorily.

((Oh yeah, I forgot to add something to my last post, so I edited ett. :T))

Werr spent several precious seconds looking for a sword that had a similar balance to the one he had used earlier that day. However useless it felt. He wondered distantly if the Tartarans could see him trembling. The sword was the only thing here that he knew how to use, even slightly. He finally found one that seemed right enough, gripping the handle tightly.

He barely knew the basics, but he hoped it would be enough to stay alive. He thought quickly, deciding to help in the way that he could. Strategizing. "O-okay, I think we all know that I'm not much of a fighter," He said quietly, trying to avoid having his strategies overheard. "I'll hang back and provide Seria with a little close-range protection. Jag, I don't think any of them will have wings, so you have that advantage. Welk and Cynyr, I suggest you two spread out, and try to distract these things while Seria attacks them from a distance. Don't go too far out, though, or you'll be on your own."

He swallowed hard, then added, "Let's all make it out of this alive, okay?"

Welk nodded fearfully, then pressed close to Werr and nuzzled him gently. Cynyr just watched, then looked up at Werr with a slightly more caring look in his eyes and nodded once at him. The best the boy would get from the panther right now.

Then the fighting began.

Jag immediately leapt skyward, beating his wings and rising up high into the air. He curved his wings in and dove downwards, slicing at the monsters with his lance. His large wings carried him easily as he twisted and danced through the air, calling out insults and put-downs to the creatures.

Cynyr stuck his sword through his belt and took cat form along with Welk, then the two split up and raced forward, slamming into small waves of the creatures before they could near the others.

Seria began lining up arrows with her bow and firing, making sure that every shot counted in someway. An arrow in a creature's eye or throat was the best, but it was also good if she managed to get some in their chest as well.

Along with the fighting, the cheering and jeering exploded into existence. Titus watched with a curious look in his eyes; he had heard Werr's instruction to his friends, thanks to his magic lingering around them. The human was interesting...he couldn't fight in the slightest, and willingly admitted it, yet he clearly had a strong mind in the presence of danger. This was definitely far from boring already, and the fighting had just barely begun.

Werr tensed as a bare-handed lizardmen approached from behind, apparently making a messy attempt to sneak up on them. He moved into position, taking care to correct his stance, and brought his sword up. The lizardman was not intimidated in the slightest, charging forward at once. It wasn't barehanded like Werr had thought at first; it had iron plating of some kind on its tail, which it swung around and smashed into the human boy before he realized what he had failed to notice. Werr crashed onto his side, gasping as he came to the realization of how rough and sharp the jutting rocks beneath them actually were. His arm was bleeding slightly as he made it to his feet again, but he made no attempt to face the thing alone this time. "Seria, behind you!" He called, moving out of the way so that the female half-cat could fire.

The other lizardmen were just as ferocious and quick. They ducked away from multiple attacks, striking whenever they saw the chance. They tried continuously to surround Welk and Cynyr, to no surprise.

Another thing Werr underestimated had been the amount. There were at least thirty of them, forked tongues flicking and rage growing the longer they battled. The sheer noise surrounding the Arena made it easy to become discombobulated, to make matters worse.

Seria whipped around and snatched an arrow from her sheath, slamming it into the bow and pulling it back so fast that anyone barely had time to blink. She released the weapon and the arrow flew out, slamming into the lizardman's eye socked, sending him reeling back and howling as he raised a hand to his eye. She pulled another arrow out, but didn't put it to her bow. She ran forward while the lizard was distracted and rammed the sharp tip of the arrow into his throat, ignoring the blood that poured forth. She kicked the dead lizard over, panting, then turned without hesitating and armed another arrow.

Cynyr was like a living bolt of lighting. He was fast and agile, easily shifting from cat form to human form whenever it was needed. Claws and sword flashed with equal precision, landing deabilitating blows and wounds behind. He had gotten a few cuts on him already, but none where too bad yet.

Welk was fighting strongly, having grown much more since the very first time he had had to fight off enemies, so long ago. His lion traits showed well in these settings as he dug his teeth into a lizardman's tail and dragged the creature off its feet, the muscles in his furry shoulders rippling as he threw the lizardman to the side and moved onto the next.

Werr made sure to keep an eye on Seria's arrow supply. She was sure to run out soon...he was quick to collect used arrows from any nearby fallen enemies, taking care not to get too close to ones that were still moving. He managed to keep Seria's quiver full for a little while longer, at least...

Something was definitely up though. There was some sort of chanting from the crowd; either they were being cheered on, or they were calling for something...Werr shook his head, unable to make it out through the clatter of battle. He was quickly distracted by something else though, namely an arrow landing in his left arm. He did his best to ignore it, snapping the shaft off of the arrow; he knew full well that he could very well slice through an entire artery if he tried to yank it out on his own.

Instead, he directed Seria towards the source while the lizardman fired an arrow towards Jag.

Jag wheeled about in the air, curving and snapping his wings in and out to rise and fall rapidly. He took gryphon form and slammed into the lizardman with the bow, allow Seria to concentrate her fire elsewhere. The wing-cat ripped the eye out of the lizardman's head with his sharp beak, kicking his legs out to claw the creature's stomach. He quickly jumped away as the creature swung out at him, then flew back up into the sky with a shrill bird-call.

There was a sharp yelp from a lizardman and Welk raced past, dragging one of the creatures with him. He dropped the creature and pounced on it, mauling it violently.

Werr couldn't hold back a small smile when he realized how well they were doing. His plan was actually working; he had depended on Welk and Cynyr to be the main fighting forces, and they hadn't let him down. Jag and Seria were doing very well as backup, exactly as he had planned. There were only a handful of lizardmen remaining by this time...

What he hadn't planned for was the next five lizardmen to arrive. There were only five more to emerge from the holes littering the sides of the trench, and these were perhaps twice as large as the others. They were all clad in thick armor that looked impenetrable, and had amongst them a bow, a lance, a sword, a mace, and one had steel claws covering its natural ones, twice as sharp.

One for each of them, then...Werr backed up, knowing how little chance he stood against these beasts. This would be very bad, indeed. Titus' words rang in his head. They all matched in speed and in strength. That definitely meant that these, despite their size and armor, were just as fast as the others. It did mean that they weren't any stronger, but that meant little to nothing. Werr shouted something, but it was drowned out as the crowd went completely insane, their screaming reaching even higher levels than before.

And as Werr had expected, things just went downhill from there. The one with the bow started firing its thick bullets at Jag, a piercing hail of danger. The creature with the lance started after Cynyr, while the clawed one went for Seria. The one with the sword immediately started towards Welk.

One for each of them...Werr realized too late that he had lost track of the one with the mace. He found it again rather quickly though, behind him. Again, too late. The large metal orb smashed into his chest, literally sending him flying backwards. He tumbled to a halt a good ways away, falling still. Werr laid there and focused on not passing out, feeling the arrowhead that was buried even further into his now-broken and horridly-bleeding left arm. He had moved it instinctively to protect his vital organs. And it had worked, more or less. He wasn't dead, that was for sure.

Werr crawled forward and grabbed up his sword, his only weapon against this mighty beast. It roared at him before moving forward again, and Werr realized that he had been wrong about the speed; the armor slowed them down at least a little. Thankfully. It gave him enough time to stagger to his feet, though he had no idea what he was going to do next.

Or if any of the others had survived the initial attacks, at that.

Welk took his eyes off of his opponent for only a moment to make sure Werr wasn't dead, which was all the sword-wielding monster needed to rip a bleeding trench in the half-cat's blonde fur. Welk yelped and staggered back, scrambling frantically to get away from the creature before it could kill him. He slipped on his own blood and slammed into the ground on his back, his mouth open in a soundless scream as the lizardman bore down on him. He somehow managed to twist his body at the last possible second, getting a thin slit opened up on his stomach instead of being disemboweled. He kicked out and dug his back claws into the creature's leg, able to use the thick monster as something to push off from and scramble up. He got an idea when he saw the blood dripping from his side and bounded around in long circles, leaving pools of blood everywhere. He smiled darkly when the lizardman slipped in the blood like Welk had only moments before, giving the half-cat the time to race up and grab the sword, pulling on it as hard as he could to get it away from the monster. Finally, Welk won out and pulled it away by kicking the lizard in the face, then stabbed the sword down. It entered the lizard's chest and Welk threw his weight down on the handle, curving the tip of the sword up and into the lizard's throat and head, killing it. He panted for breath, then lifted his arm and glanced behind him to look at his wound. It ran from the top of his left shoulder all the way down to his hip.

Jag sailed through the air, trying not to get hit by the bullets his opponent was firing at him. The wing-cat growled, flying in circles to avoid the blasts, then saw his chance and dove for the creature. He threw his lance out and took gryphon form, watching as the lance clunked into the lizard's armor, distracting it for a moment. Jagat plunged downwards and slammed into the creature with enough force to shatter bone, though all it did for him was bruise the monster in several places. He screeched and clawed at the creature, being close to the same height when he stood on his back legs. Jag was quite a bit bigger than Cynyr, through that didn't mean he could've beaten the panther in any kind of fight. The blue-jay colored gryphon used his weight to his advantage and bullied the lizardman backwards, then jumped up and sunk his claws into the monster's shoulders. He flapped his wings and somehow managed to find the strength to get airborne, where he flew up high into the sky. "Bye-bye," he said once they were high enough, then let the creature fall to its death. Jagat wasn't done there. He twisted in the air and plummeted downwards, heading to go help Seria, who was cornered by her opponent.

The female half-cat was doing her best to avoid getting hit with the sharp claws of her enemy, trying hard to think of something to do to get herself out of this mess. Luckily, Jag flew in and Welk bounded over, and with their combined efforts, they hatched and quick plan and killed the creature. Welk darted around in front of it and tripped it up by, in a risky move, rubbing up against its legs like he would to one of his friends if he were happy. Jag then swept in and came up behind it in human form, throwing his arm around its neck and strangling it to death. Seria quickly scrambled and hunted for arrows, as she had ran out quickly.

The three of them moved on to Werr, where Jag distracted the lurker while Welk jumped on it from behind. When it stupidly swung its mace around to hit Welk, the nimble half-cat leapt away and let the creature hit itself on the head with the large metal orb. Then he and Jag ran in and slashed its throat out.

Cynyr darted about, doing his best to avoid getting hit by the creature with the lance. His fight was fairly easy, but it was far bloodier and horrified his friends. The panther snarled and lunged at the lizardman, using his weight to throw the creature off-balance. "You didn't have your legs apart," he spat, sinking his sharp teeth into the creature's leg. He planted his feet and sunk his claws into the upper part, then pulled hard and actually ripped the lizardman's leg in two, sending blood gushing everywhere. The creature howled in pain, then swiped its lance around and clipped Cynyr's face with it. A perfect, neat wound, right over his right eye. The panther yowled and staggered back, holding a paw to his eye, then slowly lifted his head and growled in a way none of them had ever heard before. It was dark and evil, seething with hatred. The lizardman barely knew what hit him. Cynyr lunged forward and slammed down onto him, grabbing one of the creature's arms and tearing it right out of the socket. Then he took human form and grabbed the lance from the monster's hands, stabbing it down over and over and over until blood soaked the ground beneath them. The worst was that the lizard was still alive as Cynyr kept stabbing it in the stomach. Over. And over. And over again, until the creature's abdomen was a horrid mess of blood and shattered organs. Cynyr's own body was covered in the creature's blood by now, a dark mess of crimson blood that was so thick that it dripped in long ropes down the panther's body. He moved his arm forward and forced the creature's head back, holding the lance to its neck, then said only one word. It was so full of hatred that it sent a dark tremor down Welk's spine when he heard it.

"Die."

And he ripped the lance violently through the lizardman's neck, tearing it in a zig-zag pattern until the creature moved no more.