The Forgotten Zodiac

Luen sighed, finally calming down his racing heart, then reached out with one hand and stroked Spy's head. "Hey, it's okay. It just startled me, that's all," he said, pulling the chimera over. "I don't mind playing. I just wish you'd do it while I'm awake." He held Spy in his arms, nuzzling the top of the chimera's furry head with his chin and nose. "Don't cry, I'm really not mad. Anyone who knows me understands that I don't get mad easily," he said, standing up. He glanced over at Nate and Werr sheepishly, saying "Sorry to have bothered you all." He apologized to Tasia several times before he finally just ran off, embarrassed.

Spy sniffled and watched him go, then got right back to normal and started bolting around again, trying to find someone who didn't already know about the party that night. Werr just sighed and plopped down, pulling a notebook and pen from his bag. Of course, he started to write; what else would he do with it? He watched as Nate started to show Tasia a few simple jabs to start with, then he looked back down at his book. He flipped to the front page, where he kept his rules. Twenty of them in total, all of them firmly stuck into his memory. 'Don't let your mind wander when focusing on something', 'don't get yourself into situations you can't get yourself out of', and whatnot. Basic rules he had given himself while Heather was in the height of her madness; rules he had used to shut out the rest of the world, shut in his emotions and ignore himself. That had brought him to the detatched observations and silence that he had done before meeting Welk.

After a moment of thought, Werr promptly ripped the page out of his notebook, crumpled it into the style of an origami boulder, and tossed it away from himself. Nate, who had observed the action out of the corner of his eye, decided to help by blowing the tiniest streams of flames at the paper. It burst into flames and dissolved to ash in mere seconds. Werr smiled up at Nate, who just grinned and went back to teaching.

The happy moment was interrupted by a howl, originating from the gates of Amnarius. Two wolves raced into the city; one dark gray and one black, all with silver eyes. The head guard and right-hand of the Tartarus Palace. They charged towards the castle, and - naturally - were stopped short by the unicorn guards. "Move it, cone-head," The black wolf snarled, starting to pace. "Our business is not with you!"

The guard standing in front of the gate, with one guard on either side of her, glared indignantly at the wolves. "You are tresspassing on Amnairian ground, shadow-walkers," she said. "Therefore, every step you take here is our business. Unless you want to taste the end of my horn, you'll explain why you dare set foot here!"

A thin light suddenly shone over their heads and Galai's voice said "Let them pass, Mai." Galai's presense faded, along with the light.

Mai snorted, tossing her ruby colored mane, then slowly stepped aside, glaring at the wolves. "Watch your step, fleabags," she said, frowning at the two wolves.

The black wolf snapped at Mai as he passed her, but charged into the castle nevertheless. He slid to a stop upon reaching the king and queen. Both wolves bowed their heads low, the gray one panting slightly. "Your majesty, as you suspected, one of us has been summoned." The black one spoke with urgency.

"Do tell," Titus tutted. He was sitting next to Galai, on a silver throne that was normally put away and left to gather dust. But of course, it had been brought out so he could be seated at his rightful place. He didn't plan to stay for long, but Galai had convinced him to stay for as long as Werr Grehi and his friends remained here. After all, Titus wanted very much to see the same potential that Galai saw, and he would be unable to see that if he was back in Tartarus. "Which of my children has fallen into the hands of Obelisk?"

"It...it was Cern, my king."

Titus was silent for a long moment before glancing at Galai and explaining. "Cern was imprisoned long ago. I should have ended him...but I took pity on him and imprisoned him instead. A mistake, clearly. His crimes involved the possessing and devouring of numerous ground-treaders. His skill sets include the invasion of minds, obviously, as well as an unnatural ability to pick out his target's worst fears. He is also very adept with a number of weapons as well as human torture devices. He seems to favor psychological torture, following along with his fear-sensing capabilities." Silence, and then, "We should tell Werr. The boy needs to know what they'll be going up against next. From what I can tell about Werr, Cern will quite literally be the boy's worst enemy...I was afraid this might happen, at that. Out of all of them, the chances of Cern being selected were so slim...the summoner has to have an entire lung removed for him to be even capable of being summoned!" Titus growled before forcing calmness back upon himself.

Galai reached out and gently slipped one of her delicate hands into Titus', favoring him with a small smile. "What's done is done," she said, her voice gentle and soft. "You cannot go back. All we can do is prepare for what we know will come." Her solid white eyes crinkled slightly around the edges as she smiled, extending her three right wings out and entwining them in the two of his on his left. She let her smile fade and said "Yes. Werr and his friends must be warned of what they go up against." She glanced over at her new right-hand, Touri, one of the guards that had been her one of the queen's three personal guards. After Bala's treachery, Galai had decided to promote her two remaining personal guards, Touri and Alima. Young Alima had been ecstatic over her new rank as head-guard, while Touri had reserved her naturally calm demeanor and had thanked Galai for her new position.

"Touri," Galai said. "Make certain that the gate is watched for trespassers. Let Tartarans come through to speak with Titus, but none else; he should not be cut off from his people while he is here, but nor should we leave ourselves open to potential attack."

"Yes, my queen," Touri said, dipping her horned head at the queen before turning and cantering out of the room.

"Perhaps we should not tell him today. I doubt Cern would dare set foot in Amnarius, orders or not. And I do believe that Obelisk's control, if it is indeed used here, would be broken far too easily here. Obelisk is a creature of complete darkness, and this is a land of pure light." Titus said thoughtfully. "On the other hand, the boy is celebrating. Speaking to him of this matter would only cause him to fear and worry more than usual. Fear and concern has its place, and that place is not during festivities. Speaking of...Ophile, Phare, why don't you stay and join us for the ball tonight? It's Werr Grehi's 18th birthday party, and thanks to a certan chimera, absolutely everyone here in Amnarius seems to be willing to attend. As such, I would appreciate some assistance in keeping an eye on boy before and during the ball. I understand if you wish to return to Tartarus, but--"

"We'll stay, my king." Ophile, the black wolf, barked at once.

"Good. Thank you."

Galai nodded at her husband, saying "I wouldn't dream of telling Werr now, when he needs a moment of time free of worries." She looked up at the wolves and smiled at them, saying "You both are welcome to stay as long as you like. I'll tell my guards to let you be. Alima!"

The young head-guard stepped up briskly, her pink mane flowing behind her.

"Make sure that all of the guards know to leave these Tartarans alone," the queen said. "If anyone lays so much as a finger on them, they'll answer, not only to me, but the king of Tartarus himself. Understood?"

"Yes, your Majesty!" Alima said, then turned and trotted out of the room.

Galai smiled after the guard, then turned and gave Titus a gentle kiss over his left eyebrow, touching her delicate lips gently to his skin.

"Phare, check the perimeter for anything suspicious. However doubtful it is, we cannot ignore the possibility of Cern already having been here." Titus said, wrapping his fingers around Galai's hand in a gesture of care. "Ophile, I want you find Werr and ensure that he is safe and well-taken care of. Do this discreetly."

"As you wish," Both wolves said in unison, both trotting out.

"Ophile is the best at what he does," Titus sighed. "If anything were to come up, he's been trained to handle things discreetly. Werr will be fine."

Galai closed her eyes, sighing quietly, then said "For the sake of all three of our worlds, I hope you're right."

*

Cynyr stalked through the streets of Amnairus, looking tired. He was exhausted, very much so. He had slept for a full day after they had returned from the place between worlds, drained from his new air wing ability. Even now he was extremely tired, but he couldn't sleep. He was restless, plus his arm still shook badly. The convulsion-like quivering made it impossible to sleep, so he had settled for walking around aimlessly. He had no real goal as to where to go. He just had to walk, had to pace, had to move. His ruined right eye was proving to be a major pain, however, as he bumped into his sixth Amnairian since leaving the house. The Amnairian forgave him and apologized, but he simply shrugged it off and kept walking. She had nothing to apologize for. It was his fault.

Ophile nearly ran into him as he bolted past, but something made the wolf slide to a stop after narrowly avoiding a tumble with the half-blind half-cat. He turned and sniffed Cynyr suspiciously. "You," He snorted. "You were at the arena. Impressive fight, although I see that the old saying still holds true. No one wins an arena fight without sacrifice of some kind. Most people sacrifice blood to the rocks, but there have indeed been cases similar to your eye." He tutted before continuing. "No matter. My business is not with you, but you carry the scent of Werr Grehi around you. You must hang around him often. If you would be so kind as to direct me towards the human boy, I can do my job properly. Which is to ensure his safety, in case you were wondering. A task given by Titus himself." He added, knowing that Cynyr would instinctively lean towards being untrusting of him.

Cynyr blinked dully at Ophile through his single eye, then jerked a thumb towards the courtyard. "That way," he said. "If not there, find the blonde lion. They're usually always together." He scowled at the wolf, then bounced lightly away on the balls of his feet and turned his back to the wolf when his arm acted up again, worse than ever. He grabbed his left hand with his right, doing his best to hold it still and press his left arm against his chest as hard as he could. Even then, it was as if the nerves in his arm had somehow been fried and were deteriorating.

Ophile watched him, aware of the jerky movements. "Amputation is messy business. Take that to a healer before it gets worse, and said messy business would be required." He said flatly before trotting off in the direction Cynyr had indicated. Of course, he found Werr where Cynyr had said he would be. Just...writing. Nate and Tasia had gone back inside after their sparring practice.The wolf moved so he was tucked between two barrels and a wall, which provided enough of a hiding space. He kept his eyes locked on the human boy. Watching patiently.

"Werr!" a voice called, and Welk trotted over, looking excited. "Before you wonder, I don't have your present yet," he said, flopping down next to the boy and panting for a moment. He had a thin sheen of sweat covering his body and he looked tired, but his eyes danced with a bright, eager light. "I'm working hard on it, though, and it should be done before the party," he said, resting his elbows on his knees. "Don't ask for any hints, because I'm not giving 'em." He grinned and flicked his ragged tail, smiling and showing off his pointed teeth. "I had to take a break, because it's exhausting work, what I'm doing. Plus I missed you!" He grinned widely, closing his eyes for a moment.

Werr laughed and closed his book, scratching Welk behind the ears. "I won't ask for hints, then. Here, I'll show you what I've been doing for awhile," He showed Welk his pages; it was a recounting of the first time they met. "I'm going to fill up this book with all the stuff we've been doing the past couple of weeks. See?" He smiled and showed Welk the first few pages. Then he flicked through to the page he had been working on when Welk had approached. He smiled away, although the page had in small letters at the bottom, 'I'm being watched, somehow'.

Welk watched in awe, blinking. "Wow!" he said. "That's amazing, Werr! I can't wait to read it, and that's a lot for me to say. I usually hate reading, but this should be awesome." He purred and took cat form, rubbing his head against Werr's shoulder. His sharp lion eyes spotted the words at the bottom of the page, however, and he leaned in and narrowed his eyes at the words. "'I'm being watched, somehow'? What's that mean, Werr?" he asked, leaning back and looking at the boy in concern. "Is someone stalking you?"

Werr sighed heavily and looked around warily. Ophile had his ears perked from the moment Welk had stated what Werr had written. Interesting...the human boy really was quite perceptive. How long had he been aware of his prescense? This wouldn't be an easy job, then. Ophile turned away and moved, deciding to change positions.

"I dunno," Werr murmured. "Just...be careful, I think..."

Welk frowned, but said nothing of it. He leaned forward and gently brushed his muzzle against Werr's cheek. His rustic-colored mane fell down over his feline forehead and tickled lightly across the side of Werr's face. Welk pulled back and just sat next to the boy for a while, resting his head on Werr's shoulder and purring softly in a comforting gesture. He was growing bigger by the day and was now nearing Cynyr's size, which was fairly massive. Cynyr was three feet tall at the shoulder and Welk was now two and a half feet tall there. Only half a foot more and he would catch his brother. He was still the same silly half-cat, however, and it seemed like he always would be.

He sighed and licked Werr's neck once with his rough lion tongue, continuing to purr contentedly.

Werr wrapped an arm around Welk, smiling in contentment as his friend comforted him. Might as well just try to relax. Maybe he was being paranoid again. He had already discarded several of his rules from his memory, and now he was desperately trying to recall them to see if he had any advice for himself in this sort of situation.

Oddly enough though, the feeling of being watched was gone now. Maybe Welk had caused them to move on? So strange...

Regardless of the single incident, the day passed with no further ones. Welk left him eventually to finish the present, of course, and Werr went back to writing, though he made sure to stick around other people this time. Finally, time came for the final preperations to be made. Cici showed up sometime after lunch with an entire box full of handsome and beautiful outfits, trimmed and sized perfectly, each with the names of their respective owners pinned to the front.

Cynyr took one look at his and made a sound of disgust. "This...this is a suit," he said, frowning at it. His was a simple black suit-like outfit that was trimmed fancily in bright yellow curls, like his eye. Cici had obviously tried to keep his simple, though that wasn't the case for Welk's outfit.

His was a pair of crimson red pants and a matching shirt with spiraled orange and yellow flames twisting around the legs and waist. He loved it and spent several minutes just examining every inch of the outfit, obviously never having something that nice to wear in his entire life.

"I don't thnk you have to wear it, but it would be nice if you did..." Werr sighed. "It's up to you, though." His outfit was at the very bottom; it was red with golden trimwork, with a long cape om the back. It wasn't a bad addition, really. There were dresses for the women and more suits for the men; still, all sorted and separated neatly.