The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yeah, it is," Welk said, touching his nose gently to the top of Werr's head. He shifted around and took cat form, pushing behind Werr so the boy was leaning back against the lion's furry belly. Welk reached out with his paw to pull Werr's legs in and sort of tuck the boy against him, into a comfortable position. This resulted in Welk only being able to rest his head on Werr's knees, but he didn't mind.

Werr drifted into sleep quite quickly after that, weary and worn from the day's events. Indeed, he did have some unpleasant imagery invade the shallow hole that was his unconscious state; just the sight of his arm - swelling and bruising - and then the giant lizardman, but not much else. He slept peacefully otherwise, right up until Forin woke him up in the morning.

Well, Forin didn't wake him up, to be precise. But Werr definitely woke up to find Forin inspecting his suddenly bare chest. "Ah!" Werr sat up quickly, snatching his shirt out of Forin's hands. "What are you doing?" He frowned suspiciously.

"Wondering." Forin replied. He seemed slow to move away, and his hand absentmindedly rubbed his chest.

"About?"

"About how you survived a Tartaran mace to the side of your face." Forin snorted. "Those things are designed to do crazy amounts of damage when swung correctly. Yet I was told that you were back on your feet after the first head-on strike. So, I'm wondering how that's feasibly possible for a human like you. I concluded that you retained the light magic that Galai used to heal you; it's still there, feeding you enough power to survive things like that."

"Really?" Werr blinked down at his hands, frowning slightly.

"Don't get used to it. It might wear off eventually."

Welk stirred slightly when Werr moved, but he was too exhausted to wake up all the way. The Tartarus fights had been draining, plus his side was still sore from the long wound he had sustained. His fur was all patchy where it had been burned off from the tar, but it would grow back. If anything, his mane had already grown further. He now had a short mane of redder fur that gave him an almost human-like hair look. It fell neatly over his face in a slight poof, though not enough to cover his eyes. He flicked his short, ruined tail around and rested it on Werr's lap, twitching the ragged, hacked-off end. He slowly stretched in his sleep, extending his sharp white claws as he arched his back against the couch, then relaxed again and rested one paw on Werr's leg, digging his claws in slightly. As if he didn't want to let Werr go, even in sleep.

Cynyr walked past, looking terribly exhausted and just plain...well, terrible. His dead eye was still covered in blood, though he had changed his clothes from his blood-soaked outfit. He was wearing his original black clothing again, per usual. He grabbed a rag and walked out to the hot springs in the back, then came back after he had gotten the rag soaked with the steaming hot water. He sat down in a chair nearby and placed the rag over his right eye, sighing quietly in pain as the hot water soaked into the destroyed eyeball.

"No arena fight can be won without sacrificing something. Seria told me what you went up against. That's a creature called Naragni. No one has fought them with victory in the past twenty years." Forin said, a new sort of quiet respect in his voice. It wasn't very pronounced, but it was definitely there. "Titus was foolish to allow Dark and Light to challenge you, though. Be grateful that he chose to help--"

"I'm so tired of hearing that," Werr grumbled. "'Be grateful', 'you should be thankful', 'at least I chose not to' blah, blah, blah. I am grateful. I'm alive - as far as I know - and that's plenty to be grateful for already." He didn't bother sitting up to put his shirt back on, he just moved closer to Welk to keep warm. "Another thing I would be grateful for is if a certain Tartaran didn't 'wonder' over me in my sleep. That's kind of creepy, you know!"

Forin said nothing, though his eyes narrowed at Werr's words. He glanced over at Cynyr and sighed before slowly moving towards and up the stairs. Werr looked over at the wounded half-cat with a sigh. "I don't like him much," He mumbled. "He's dangerous. And he kind of...scares me, sometimes."

He jumped about a foot when the door slammed open. "Werr!" Cici was there, and she looked angry. "I understand if you were hurt, but you could have at least let me know that you were back before going to sleep! I was worried!" She hovered over him, pouting as usual.

"Augh, Cici, we can strategize or whatever after breakfast or something," Werr groaned. "I'm still tired."

"Still tired? You slept for two days!"

"What? What day is it?"

"It's the twenty-third day of the second Fall month. Why?"

"Oh. My birthday was yesterday, then." Werr sighed. Cici stared at him for a long moment before darting out the door again, flying away with all due haste. Werr watched her go, wondering if she was afraid of something. Being 18 wasn't all that great, Werr decided. He felt just the same as always. Still groggy, perhaps, but pretty much the same.

((I needed some happy stuff for Werr for once. xD))

((-flails around- They should have a party~! I was actually wanting to have a ball-like dance at some point [so I could get Seria and Tasia in pretty dresses] and this is a good place for it~! What say you?))

Cynyr glanced over at Werr and gave a halfhearted smile. "Congratulations," he said. "You're my age. Now you just need to keep all of your body parts and skin intact and you'll be doing better than I am." He slowly stood up, ignoring how his entire arm was now shaking badly from his shoulder to his fingers, then walked over to Werr and poked him in the center of his forehead. "Happy belated birthday," he said gruffly. "Be careful when you tell Welk. He'll be so excited for you that I wouldn't be surprised if he knocks you off the couch by accident." He turned away and brushed his tail down Werr's arm, a soft way of conveying his emotions that he couldn't seem to do with words. Then he promptly walked into a door. He yelped and backed up, shaking his head and holding the rag over his right eye in disgust, then slowly walked around the door and went out.

Welk twitched over onto his back in his sleep, laying there like a dog in mid roll-over. He was purring again, like he always did when he knew he was near Werr.

((I say PERFECT. Like I said, this should be happyhappy tiems (although be warned; something could still potentially happen (you are roleplaying with ME, after all)), so that's perfect. And Titus is still around, so he and Galai could dance, too. 8'D

And of course...THERE WILL BE CAKE. -dances-))

Werr watched Cynyr go, frowning a bit. Of course, it was hard not to notice the shaking, and the half-cat seemed a little...grumpy. Like he was going back to how he had been before they had purged the dark magic. Perhaps he wasn't that evil now, but...

Werr turned his head back to Welk, unable to supress a smile, nor wanting to. He reminded himself that he had been asleep for two days, according to Cici; had Welk done the same? "Welk," He said, shaking his lion-friend. "Wake up. We've been sleeping for too long..."

((YAY~! -flails-))

"Ugh...no...just a few more...minutes..." Welk murmured, tilting his head back and moving out his entire body in a long stretch. He roused himself to consciousness, however, at Werr's voice. He opened his crimson eyes and moved over onto his belly, lifting his head and giving it a shake. He snorted softly, blinking his eyes, then looked over at Werr and smiled. "Hi Werr!" he said, rubbing his head against Werr's arm. "What's up?" He rubbed his head down against Werr's abdomen, purring loudly and putting a paw over the boy's legs.

Werr smiled and scratched Welk behind the ears again. "We were asleep for two days, says Cici. I dunno what the others have been up to, but I turned 18 yesterday. While asleep." He chuckled at that, finding it somewhat amusing that he had slept through his birthday. He remembered his birthday last year; he had made himself a small cake and had a couple sips of wine from the basement - but he had immediately decided that he really didn't like alcohol. It had been a fairly normal day.

And here he was now, a year later. On a different world, with the collective memory of the past few weeks that had held more troubles and pain than he could ever remember having in his entire life before. But it wasn't just troubles and pain, although it seemed like it sometimes. He had friends, people he cared about and who cared about him, and those who would fight to the death just to save his life. In spite of his troubles and worries, he was able to relax in this knowledge.

Welk's jaw dropped and he stared at Werr for a moment before finally saying something. As it turned out, Cynyr's warning wasn't in vain.

"It was? Wow, that's awesome!" he said, jumping up and bouncing all over the couch. "You should have a party! You don't turn 18 everyday, after all!" He stopped jumping around and nuzzled Werr's shoulder, saying "Happy birthday! Well, it's not exactly your birthday today, but you know what I mean! Hey, you're as old as Cynyr now! Too bad he's got a half a year over you. Anyways, I feel like there should be cake involved here, even if we missed your actual birthday. Cake is good anytime! And I'll get you a present! I have no idea what to give-...WAIT, I thought of something!" He took on a completely serious air all of a sudden and leapt over Werr's legs, landing near the couch. He took human form and ran out the door, leaving a few sparks behind in his haste.

Werr, once more, watched as someone - this time Welk - ran out the door. Werr flopped back down on the couch with a heavy sigh, staring up at the ceiling as he thought about what to do now. His thoughts were interrupted when Cici's stuck her face over his, her long hair brushing his cheeks. He pushed it away, shaking his head and sitting up with a whine of, "What now?"

"Galai wants to know which you would prefer; a private party, or a bigger one?" She questioned happily.

"Uh...there's no point in keeping the fun to ourselves, I guess?" Werr blinked at her.

"Alright then, perfect." She grinned, and was gone again in an instant. Werr stood and stretched after she was gone, remembering that Nate had wanted to go over a few strategies after he had gotten back. He wondered if Nate remembered that at all.

Zephyr was outside, speaking with Vaira. They seemed to be exchanging information and telling of their pasts and the things that had happened to them. When Werr walked out, Zephyr turned his head at the boy and said "Hello, little one." He bent his head forward and blew a thin blast of air from his nostrils, ruffling Werr's hair, then turned back to Vaira with a flick of his ears.

Seria was walking about with an armload of books, heading towards the library. She smiled when she saw Werr and opened her mouth to say something, but Welk suddenly ran up and said "Hey, Seria! You're going to the library, right? Great! I need your help with something super bad and I have to get it done like, right now. It's-" He spotted Werr and immediately clamped his mouth shut, staring at the boy he had become such close friends with. Without another word, he grabbed Seria's arm and hustled her off towards the library, ignoring her complaints and questions of what the heck he wanted.

Werr smiled a bit as he watched his friend go, before looking back up at the dragon. "Welk is freaking out because it was my birthday yesterday. I slept right through it. Anyways, I was wondering if you've seen Nate anywhere. He said before we left that he wanted to go over some strategies about something or other. It's probably because we can't really attack Obelisk head-on, as I'm pretty sure you're aware of...so yeah, where's Nate gone off to?"

Zephyr chuckled good-naturedly, then moved his head down again and rubbed the underside of his huge muzzle against the top of Werr's head. "May luck fall your way and your life be filled with joy," he said, giving a deep dragon hum in his throat. "You will always have the power of a dragon on your side, as long as I draw breath to fight with." He pulled back, smiling at the boy, then said "Nate is in the courtyard with Tasia, training. I suggest you head there if you must speak with him. Farewell, Dark-Eyes." He turned back to Vaira, continuing his talk with her.

"Thanks," Werr smiled in return, then moved off to where Zephyr directed him towards. He was a little confused by that reaction; Zephyr was hundreds of years old, wasn't he? An aging human like himself really wouldn't be all that important. Werr remembered reading somewhere that the older one got, the quicker the days seemed to get. So was a year like a day for someone like Zephyr, or did the days just seem to accelerate until they reached a certain point?

Werr shook his head, clearing his thoughts again as he approached Nate. "Hey, Nate, I--"

"Happy birthday." Nate looked up. He had been wrapping leather straps around Tasia's fingers and knuckles, for some reason or another. He was wearing similar straps, and there was a tall stack of sandbags off to one side. Werr concluded that the Dragonian man was going to teach the younger female how to spar, interestingly enough. Werr wondered whether or not Vaira had approved of this much, but again, he shook off his questioning nature.

"You already know, then." Werr sighed. "I don't really get why it's such a big deal...and how do you know, anyways?"

"Spy must have overheard something. He's been running around all of Amnarius, shouting about a ball tonight for your 18th birthday." Nate chortled. "Anyways, was there something you needed?"

"Oh, I was just going to ask about what you needed strategies for..."

"Don't worry about that right now! Come now, lad, you have to be at least somewhat excited. Think of it this way, the Alastorian advisors can't tell you what to do now, once you head back to the throne. You're 18, and by law, you get to make your own decisions for your country."

"How is that supposed to make me happy?" Werr frowned at him. "I don't want the throne, and I definitely don't want to have to make important decisions for an entire country!"

"Oh. Right." Nate blinked at him. "Still..."

Tasia smiled over at Werr, giving him a pleasant nod in greeting. She still wasn't too willing to speak, but at least she wasn't so shy. When Nate finished with her twisted little hands, she pulled back and studied what he had done. She had understood him fairly well when he had explained what he was doing to her and what he wanted her to do. She clenched her hands into fists and opened them again, smiling at the straps over her palms. She flared her wings open a bit and swished her long dragon tail behind her, her soft light pink hair flowing slightly in the wind.

Luen was dozing nearby, curled up in wolf form, fast asleep under a tree.

"Would you like some practice, Werr? There's no harm in learning how to punch something." Nate smiled a bit, holding up another set of leather straps. "Or perhaps I can give you a lesson in blocking with a sword, later? It'll be my birthday present to you."

"Uh, sure." Werr shrugged. "I'll just come see you later." He looked up as Spy bolted past. The little Chimera screeched to a halt upon the sight of Luen. He snuck towards the sleeping wolf, his tuft-tail high while he crouched low. He sprang up and landed on Luen's side, screeching, "WERR'S BIRTHDAY WAS YESTERDAY!"

Werr covered his eyes with his hand, trying very hard not to laugh.

Luen screamed and lunged upright, yelping and wailing as he tore in circles. He thought he was getting attacked, and that coupled with his natural shyness sent him into a complete panic. He raced in wide circles, screaming "Get it off! Get it off!" He had been dreaming peacefully only a moment before, then had woken to someone shouting at him and something landing painfully on his side. Which for him, being so frail, was really very painful.

He ploughed into Tasia by accident, sending the female dragonian falling forward with a wail.

Spy shrieked and clung on for dear life, clearly unhappy now. "Let me off! Let me off!" He screamed, his tiny fingers gripping Luen's fur as tightly as they possibly could.

"H-hey!" Nate yelped, catching Tasia quickly and righting her before chasing after Luen. When the wolf came around again, Nate moved in swiftly and pulled Spy off of the Luen's back, hoping that would calm the wolfling down.

Luen finally stopped, panting hard. He glanced over to see what Nate had pulled off of him. "...Spy?!" he gasped, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted. "Why...why would you do that?! You nearly gave me a heartattack!" It was true, somewhat. The wolfling's heart was pounding in his chest, feeling like it was ready to burst right out. He took human form, sitting down on the ground and rubbing his eyes. Adrenaline was surging through his veins. He panted, one hand over his chest, then said plantively, "Please...don't ever do that again, Spy. That was...scary, for me." He ran a hand through his white hair, noting silently that he had left snowflakes all over the place in his terror.

Spy looked near tears. "I'm sorry!" He wailed at once. "I'm not scary, I was just trying to tell you that it's Werr's birthday party tonight a-and you were asleep so I decided to play and wake you up at the same time and I'm sooooooo sorry!" He said all in one breath. Nate sighed and put him down, watching as the chimera just sat there and cried, truly sorry for what he had done. "I-I didn't mean t-to attack your h-heart, Luen, p-please forgive me..."