The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate froze, his eyes locked on Nelu. Without warning, he somehow managed to cover the distance between himself and Nelu in a matter of a heartbeat, leaving his sword behind. He sank his teeth into her arm, dragging it backwards. His hand came between Seria's belly and the blade, but he wasn't done with just that. He sunk his palm into the tip of the blade, driving it completely through his hand. With the sword locked between the bones in his hand, he managed to point the blade away from Seria.

Unfortunately, the only other direction it could go was towards himself.

Nelu shrieked and lunged back, dropping her sword in shock. She clamped her hand over her wound, panting. "You blasted monster!" she snarled, backing away. "Hmph! No matter. We accomplished what we came here to do. Relic, we're leaving!" She took wolf form and turned to run off, only to come face-to-snout with a huge green dragon. Zephyr snarled in her face, slamming a paw down inches away from her. She screamed and ran to the side, desperate to get away, but Zephyr blocked with his tail. "No." he growled, sounding threatening. Nelu gulped, knowing she was trapped.

Seria panted from fear, leaning against Nate. Her eyes were closed, but her hands were moving, gently working the sword out of Nate's hand and tenderly placing both of hers over both sides of the wound, starting to close it.

Welk and Jag both closed in on Nelu's other sides, leaving her with no way out. She spat furiously at them, then smirked. "You can't hold me." she growled. "None can." She ripping something out of her pocket and threw it on the ground, releasing smoke into the air. Zephyr snorted once as the smoke blinded him, then felt steps race over his skull and down his back, all the way to his tail.

When the smoke cleared, Nelu was gone.

Nate wrapped his free arm around Seria, to steady and comfort her. "Thank you," He said quietly, wiggling his fingers to make sure he hadn't damaged any bone. Not that it would be any problem for Seria. "I didn't think that would actually work..."

"She got away," Werr frowned, a little more than unhappy. He moved towards the house, deciding to take a peek at the body. There was too little chance of Orion being alive, Werr didn't dare get any closer. He staggered away from the door and back to Welk, looking ashamed and terribly grieved. He leaned against Welk, fighting back tears. "It's my fault...we're too late..."

In the meantime, Spy poked towards Relic, sniffing him curiously.

Welk let out a comforting purr, nudging the backs of Werr's legs so the boy was forced to sit sideways on his friend's back, since the fire mage was still in cat form. "I'm sorry, Werr..." he said quietly, flicking his ragged tail up and just managing to catch the side of the boy's leg with it. "If anything, it was my fault. I wanted to stop and see Briana. If I hadn't done that, we would've gotten here in time. I...I'm sorry..." He lowered his head, digging his claws in and out of the ground beneath his feet. He tilted his head around to the side and rubbed his skull against Werr's legs, purring softly.

Relic watched Spy curiously, making no move to touch him. He was just sitting meekly where he had sat down earlier, fiddling with the feathers tied into his hair with one hand.

Spy patted Relic's leg, feeling a little sorry for the Raptorix. "It's okay," He squeaked. "I don't have any family either. I can't remember any of them, anyways."

Werr shook his head. "It's my fault this happened in the first place..."

"But it did happen." Cici twittered. "That doesn't matter much, does it? The past is the past. You couldn't help what happened, anyways. What matters is what you do now. Of course, I already know your answer to that."

"To get rid of a weed...you have to go to the root." Werr sighed.

"Back to the palace!"

Relic blinked calmly at the chimera, then suddenly reached up and used a sharp claw to cut a bright red feather out of his hair. He moved forward and delicately tied the feather into Spy's soft fur, behind and to the side of one ear. In human form, it would've hung off the side of his head. "Here." the raptorix said. "You can keep that one. It was my original one, for who I used to be. I don't need it now." He pulled back and brushed the ones he had in his hair, saying "These were my friend's and family's. I took them after they got murdered. It helps keep me sane, just a little bit." He tilted his head, then said "Well, I should go." and stood up.

"Wha..." Welk said, raising a cat brow at him. "You don't have to go! Why would you go back to Nelu and that creepy Obelisk thing?"

Relic smiled sympathetically, then said "I have nowhere else to go. I don't have friends like you do. My only ties left are the ones I cannot break. Obelisk found me a long time ago and I've been bound to work for him ever since. I can't complain, though. I have to stay alive, no matter what. It would be a shame for the last raptorix to die...or would it? I have no way to restore my lost clan. I'll die someday, and with my death, the raptorix will be gone completely from the world. For good, sadly." He shrugged slightly, then said "I'll be seeing you all around. Sorry we couldn't have been friends or something. It would've been nice." He smiled, then raced off and was gone in a matter of seconds.

Spy sniffed the feather, watching Relic go. "Just...it's fine. We need to go." Werr sighed, shaking his head. "We'll see him again. Maybe we can talk to him then..."

"So...you're really intent upon saving Cynyr?" Forin asked quietly. "Even if you aren't certain you can help him?"

"I can help him!" Cici huffed. "I said that already. I know I can help him."

"You're a staff." Forin snorted.

"And you're a creature from a different world! Why would it matter what I am? I want to help!"

"If she says she can help, I believe her." Welk said, shaking his head slightly and ruffling his fur.

"Plus," Luna said softly from where she was sitting in cat form. "you have me now. My powers exceed anything of this world. There is nothing that can hide from me." She padded over, her large wings fading away into her back, then lifted a paw and rested it right on the light staff. It didn't so much as singe her. She smiled, then moved off and glanced over at Forin, eyeing his mouth with an eyebrow raised. "Hmm." she murmured, flicking her long tail seductively. "I wonder what a Tartaran like you would taste like."

"Don't bother trying. I would sooner tear your lips off with my teeth than give any memories to you." Forin snarled. "If you tried looking at them, you'd probably get a heart attack, at that." He pulled Diana closer to himself. "And if you touch Diana, I will kill you. Dying worlds or not."

"Ohh, so grumpy," Cici tutted.

Luna smiled at him, then spread her wings and leapt upwards, flapping them once to carry herself over to Zephyr, landing delicately on his head. "Let's be off then, gentlemen and ladies." she said, tilting her head over her shoulder and sitting down, curling her tail all the way around her legs. She smirked at Forin, then said "Well, some of you are gentlemen. Others? Not so much." She smiled, folding her wings away into her body.

Zephyr raised his head, making her get off, then lifted one huge paw, which was curled lightly around Luen. The wolfling was still sick and was currently sleeping, curled up in the large green paw, unaware of anything that had just gone on. "Come on." the dragon said. "Let's get a move on."

"Yes, let's..." Werr nodded quickly, scrambing up to his spot with Welk. He stopped when he sat, however, wincing a bit as he looked back at Orion's house.

Forin dug through his bag, grumbling something about bandages. "Why do you need bandages? No one's hurt," Diana shook her head. "I didn't fall down or anything, so I don't need them..."

"Not for you, I want to throw them at Luna's face," Forin growled. "But I can't find it. Strange...I always keep a roll with me..."

"Can we just go? We'll find you something later, Forin." Nate tutted, climbing up onto the dragon's back again.

Welk tilted his head slightly at Werr, catching the pained look that crossed his face, then shrugged it off. He was probably getting tired of sitting on Zephyr's hard back. It was easy to get sore from that... The fire mage scrambled up in front of his friend, tying them both in securely before grabbing onto the spike in front of him, ready to go.

Luna merely flicked her ears lightly at Forin's threat, unintimidated by him in the least. They both knew that if worst came to worst, she could best him. Once everyone was settled, Zephyr lunged up into the sky, heading towards Storaph Palace with Luna and Jag flying close by.

Seria was behind Nate, as usual, her arms wrapped delicately around his waist. She gently traced small circles across his chest with one of her claws, curling her tail around to rest in his lap.

The flight was longer than any of the others, and it was carried out in stiff silence. As impossible as it seemed, even the night appeared to darken as they approached the dark palace. The new moon kept any light from them, not that it mattered. The clouds would have obscured it, regardless. So the flight was carried on in pitch blackness, as well as silence.

Werr must have passed out along the trip, because he woke up as they were landing. He shook his head, pushing away any grogginess and focusing at the task at hand. There was no time to snooze anymore.

Zephyr didn't even bother landing on the ground. He plunged right down towards the roof of the throne room, flapping his wings and extending his back legs down towards the tiles. There was a booming crash as he busted the entire roof in, letting out a resounding roar. He whipped his tail around and broke the rest of the roof away, then decreased his size a bit and dropped down into the room, raking a claw across one of his sides to sever everyone's ropes so they were ready to get off as soon as he landed.

Luna and Jagat both dropped down out of the sky, though Jag remained flying overhead, close enough where he could hear everything. He saw no point in needlessly endangering Lily and Spy.

Zephyr landed with a thud, baring his large white teeth in a snarl as everyone dismounted in a hurry.

"Welcome back," The voice wafted out from behind the curtain, just as raspy and bored-sounding as ever. Though this time, there was a hint of excitement in the voice. Just a tiny bit. Princess Holly was there as well, staring in surprise at the dragon that had just landed in the throne room. Cynyr was there as well, sitting nearby. Black inscriptions circled the floor around him, seeping some black vapor.

"Finally decided to return, Werr?" Gurushi chortled. Of course he was there, in front of Holly's throne. "You're horribly slow..."

"Shut up!" Welk snapped, tense at the sight of his brother. "We're here for Cynyr, and this time, we're not leaving without him!"

"You honestly believe that you can still save him?" the dark mage growled, making no move to rise from his position. "It is nothing but a load of crap. Luna lied to you, after all."

Welk blinked sharply, then looked over to the snow leopard, who looked down in shame. "What?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Little One." she said, and his eyes widened. "You." he said. "You were the voice I heard before. The one that told me how to save Cynyr. That was you?"

She nodded once.

Welk glanced back over at Cynyr, then back at Luna, saying "How did you lie to me?"

"Is it not obvious?" Cynyr said. "I'm the one she thinks will save her stupid world. She knew from the start, of course. She just couldn't come get me on her own. My powers exceed hers. She told you what you wanted to hear so you would trust her, so she could get close to me. She only wants to help you get me back so she can further her own methods."

"That is not true." Luna protested. "Not entirely. While it is true that your powers are needed to fix my world, I won't take you away from Welk so abruptly. I do want to help him reclaim your mind so you'll be normal." Then, in a quieter voice, "You've suffered enough as it is."

Cynyr spat at her, curling a few tendrils of dark magic around his body.

"Worry not, Cynyr. Soon, you shall have enough power to wipe away anything that irritates you. It will be glorious..." Obelisk practically purred from behind the curtain. "Soon, soon, so very soon...oh, we should let your friends watch. I'm tired of hiding behind this thing."

The metal frame supporting the curtain was thrown asaid. Obelisk sat in the throne (as king Asmodius was elsewhere), one leg curled over the other, his bandages writhing around him. And of course, the entire room seemed to get darker. With the roof now gone, a cold fog was able to settle around their feet, as well.

"Wh...what the...?!" Cici obviously had knowledge about what was going on, because the next screech from her was, "Get Cynyr off of those marks! NOW!"

Welk didn't hesitate to take cat form and lunge forward at that, his claws making a frantic scritching sound against the tiles on the floor as he sprang into a run. Luna jumped up into the air, beating her wings gracefully as she dove down towards the panther. Seria stayed back incase her powers were needed to heal someone, which she was expecting to happen at some point.

Cynyr raised a clawed hand to strike Welk right through his heart with a dark magic tendril, but screeched when Luna hit him with a blast of light. It sizzled against his body, causing him to cry out in pain. That was enough of a distraction for Jag to suddenly swoop in and sink his claws into Cynyr's shoulders and toss the panther out into the center of the room, then rise back up into the air.

Cynyr snarled, his body still quivering from the light magic attack. He staggered up to try and return to the marks on the ground, but Luna blocked his way, Welk at her side. Cynyr hissed at the light magic that radiated from Luna's wings, shielding his eyes against the glow. Her magic could only hurt him, after all.

"Hmm, I should have expected that..." Obelisk sighed, sounding horribly disappointed. "10 seconds left, too...argh, how annoying..." Gurushi darted forward, grabbing Cynyr by the back collar, quite literally throwing Cynyr back into the spell circle. Forin stepped in then, blasting Cynyr out of the circle with a wave of shadow magic.

"5..."

Gurushi caught the dark mage with his own shadow magic, enclosing a shell of it around Cynyr, hoping to lock him in place.

"4..." Obelisk continued his lazy-sounding countdown, watching with obvious displeasure.

"Everyone, close your eyes!" Luna shouted, her tone commanding. "Zephyr, cover the Tartaran with your wings unless you want him to burn!"

Zephyr obeyed instantly, throwing one wing out and scooping Forin up into it, covering him completely from sight, then tucked his head down to avoid whatever Luna was going to do. Everyone covered their heads or closed their eyes at Luna's shout. Once everyone's eyes were closed, Luna looked down sadly at Cynyr. "I'm sorry." she said softly, then flung light out into the room, driving away Gurushi's powers and pinning him to the wall.

Cynyr's pain-filled scream reverberated throughout the castle at the blast of light that followed next.

A few moments later, the light cleared and the others were able to open their eyes. Welk cried out in terror when he saw Cynyr, who was laying on the ground a short distance away. Luna had used a tendril of light magic to pick him up after she had blinded him with the light attack, moving him out of the marks on the ground. He looked dead, his clothing and hair singed and shredded from the light. He opened his eyes a few moments later, however, struggling to get up, snarling hard. The light magic hadn't damaged the dark magic in his mind, of course. Just his body, which was the equivalent of hurting the real Cynyr, obviously.