The Forgotten Zodiac

Cynyr let out a sigh and shifted a bit closer, pressing his nose against Werr's clothes.

Welk tilted his head slightly to the side, then flopped down on Werr's opposite side and studied him. He reached his head up and licked the side of Werr's face, cleaning the blood off of his skin. Once he was finished, he glanced around to make sure they were safe like Ophile had been doing, then said "I made that staff myself. I had Seria help me figure out the right spells and motions I needed to give it some of my powers, but other than that, I did it all myself. And look what else it does!" He took human form, then took the staff from Werr's hands and grabbed a hold of the orb on top. He gave it a hard twist and pulled it away, revealing that the orb was really the hilt of a sword. He pulled it out of the cane, holding it where Werr could see it. It was finely made, obviously crafted with a great deal of magic energy imbued into it. Welk gave it a swing and the whole thing came alive with fire, leaving a trail of sparks in the air that soon winked out of exsistance. "It never runs out of flames and the more heart you put into it, the bigger the fire gets," he said, smiling happily. "In staff form, it generates a fire shield whenever someone tries to hurt you, and because the sword makes its own magic, it never runs out and the shield can stay up for days!" He slid the sword back into the cane and handed it to Werr, saying "I put my heart into this, with you in mind the whole time."

"That...that's amazing," Werr took the staff back and held it tightly, running one finger over the leaves and swirls that were patterned into the staff. He pulled himself to his feet unsteadily, and wrapped his arms around Welk. "Thank you..." He said, trembling as he threatened to fall limp again. "I could never make something as perfect as this...thank you s-so much..."

Welk put his arms around Werr, holding him tightly and providing support for him. He purred loudly, then sank to the ground, taking Werr down too. He pushed Werr back against Cynyr, making him lay down, then took lion form and rested his head on the boy's lap. "You need to rest," he said. "You can finish opening the rest of your presents later, when you feel better. Seria will be here soon and she'll fix your ears. And I'll make sure nobody lays so much as a finger on you. Ever. Even if it costs me my life. Because I'm your knight, and that's what I'm suppose to do." He continued to purr, though he kept an eye on their surroundings as well.

Werr scratched Welk behind the ears, letting out a sigh. He watched as a couple Amnarians started cleaning up the mess that Cern had made; the craters on the ground had to be repaired, and the entire library had fallen to ruins. They all jumped when a howl sounded nearby, a low and sad note. Luen, wherever he was, would easily be able to tell that it was the sound of mourning; Phare was indeed dead.

Luen, back at the castle with Diana and Forin, perked up his ears at the sound of the wolf howling. He moved away from the girl and Tartaran, heading out to the balcony where Cynyr had originally been. He took wolf form, his body tense, then tilted his head back and joined the sad wolf song. It didn't matter to him that he was a wolfling and Ophile was a Tartaran; they were both wolves, after all. Having a wolf die was a tragedy to both their kinds.

Welk perked his ears when he heard Luen's voice join in the howling, then sighed and was quiet. He didn't want to disturb anything by talking.

The howling stopped eventually, and by that time, Werr looked more or less asleep again. Ophile came back eventually, still bleeding slightly. His head hung low and his tail dragged behind him, but he perked up slightly when he came into sight of the others. "Where's your healer? Shouldn't she be here already?" He asked quietly, frowning slightly.

Welk frowned at this, also noting the absence of Seria. Finally, she appeared, frowning and looking unhappy. "It is NOT easy moving around in this dress!" she said, frowning down at her outfit. "That's why I don't wear dresses. You can't run in them." She neared them and carefully sat down, setting to work immediately. She placed her hands on either side of Werr's head, over his ears, generating her healing powers with a touch and restoring his hearing to its best. Then she turned to Ophile and gently brushed a finger against each of his wounds, healing them instantly. She smiled gently at the wolf, then moved over to Cynyr and checked him over, making sure he wasn't injured. Other than being exhausted and sick, he was perfectly fine. Seria frowned, however, running her hand over his left front leg. She put her hand over her mouth in horror, her eyes wide.

That was kind of hard to ignore. Werr frowned at her before questioning, "Are you going to tell us what it is, or...what?" Ophile sniffed Cynyr's arm, looking up at Seria expectantly. A divine healer did not wear a horrified look for no reason, obviously.

"Well, if you want to know..." Seria answered, pushing Cynyr's sleeve up and holding a claw to his wrist. She made a thin cut over his skin, watching as he started bleeding.

Pure black.

It was thick and slimy, like goo, seeping over the ground in a dark puddle. Seria carefully touched the pool with one finger and pulled back, watching as the liquid clung to her finger and stretched out into a long strand. She shook it off and burned the stuff off of her finger with her magic, saying "Whatever you do, don't touch that stuff. His arm is completely filled with it and it's spreading upwards, into the rest of his body, effectively poisoning him. It's killed his arm, and if it gets too far into him..." She shook her head, then said "But I've never seen stuff like this before. And look at his hand!" She took Cynyr's hand and lifted it where the others could see it. His claws had turned black and his fingers were turning the same color, and even as they sat there, they saw the black color creep another inch up the half-cat's pale, scarred skin.

Werr stared in shock. "That looks...l-like dark magic or something...c-can Cici fix it?"

Ophile sniffed the goo, eyes narrow. "I know not who 'Cici' is, so I cannot give an answer. But I warned him to seek council on this matter...he was a fool to ignore my advice. There is nothing I can do, though. I know not what this stuff is. Perhaps you should have a word with your Lord Obelisk."

"He's not our 'lord'!" Werr snapped at once. "He's pure evil, and he will never rule my people or anyone!"

Seria shook her head, saying "I'm not sure it would've done any good. I've never seen stuff like this before, and just looking at it gives me a bad feeling." She brushed Cynyr's hair back, then stood up and said "We should go back to the guest house. The party's over, but Cici still has things she wants to give us. I'll send Nate back for Cynyr, since he can't-"

Cynyr suddenly groaned and opened his eyes, blinking a few times before wearily sitting up and rubbing his hand over his left eye.

"I believe the party ended the second Cern showed up. You should have a word with Titus about who he is, Werr Grehi. Cern is incredibly dangerous, but the king and queen have implied that they do not want you to know from outside sources." Ophile nosed Werr gently as the human struggled to his feet again. "To be honest, I considered testing you. Titus remains skeptical of your abilities and strength, and I wished to relieve him of such concern. But I feel that you have been through enough already..."

"Erm...thanks." Werr blinked, then looked over at Cynyr. "You okay?"

Welk stood up as well and pressed against Werr's side, making sure the boy stayed up. He watched in concern as Cynyr staggered up, black goop still dripping from his arm. He felt it dripping over his skin and raised his hand, staring at the slit in his wrist that was leaking the black blood. He blinked at it, then did what they didn't expect.

He screamed and leapt backwards, desperately clamping a hand over the wound to try and stop the stuff from leaking out. He got the goo all over his other hand, watching in horror as his claws turned black on that hand. He flailed and moved backwards again, not noticing when Seria ran over and touched his wound with a claw. It sealed, preventing more of the ooze from coming out. Cynyr sighed once it was closed, his eyes worried. "What...what IS this stuff?" he asked, trying and failing to keep the fear from his voice.

"Calm down," Ophile barked at him angrily. "That's the cause of you not listening to me when I told you to get help with it! Now stop moving, or it'll spread even faster!" He didn't actually know, but he was hoping that would get Cynyr to shut up and stop moving so much. The wolf was a little irritable right now, apparently.

Cynyr flicked his ears back angrily, but said nothing. Seria touched his shoulder, making certain to stay away from the goop covering his arms, then said "Come on. Let's go back to the guest house. You all need to rest."

The panther slowly nodded, dropping his arms weakly to his sides.

Welk's eyes were shining with unshed tears, but he closed his eyes and looked away, not wanting to see the sinister black mess covering his half-sibling's arms. He looped Werr's left arm around his shoulders, helping the boy stay upright and walk as he led him back towards their temporary home. "It was nice while it lasted," he said. "But we're never going to be safe until Obelisk is for sure dead."

"We can't kill him..." Werr mumbled unhappily. "Cici said before, h-he's immortal..." He leaned heavily on Welk still, but was slowly getting used to moving again. "I don't know what we're going to do, but...Cici said something about weakening him so she could seal him away..."

"Indeed, Obelisk is immortal. And still gaining power. If you lot are attempting to seal him, I suggest you do it as soon as you can, because if you wait too long, no one will be capable of stopping him." Ophile said, also sounding unhappy.

Seria tore the hem of her dress off and was wrapping it carefully around Cynyr's arms, making sure that she covered up all of the goo on him. She didn't want him to get that stuff on anyone else. Once it was all covered up, she walked beside him, making sure to stay right by his side. She spoke quietly to him and he answered, then leaned over and kissed her gently on the side of her face. She smiled and tilted her head back at him, then was quiet until they got back to the guest house. The others were already there, wondering about the status of their friends. Luen barked when he saw them approach, running out with his tail wagging slightly. "Thank goodness you all are okay," he said, stopping as he neared. "You...are okay, aren't you?"

"More or less," Werr smiled. "Thanks for worrying, Luen. Is everyone else okay? You still have your magic, right?"

"Yes, their magic will have long since returned," Ophile snorted, looking at Luen curiously. "You joined in the howling," He said flatly. It was more of a statement than a question, really.

"Werr!" Cici burst out of the guest home, poking around him and Welk curiously. "Are you both okay?" She caught sight of the staff and recoiled at once. "Who is that? You found another staff?"

"No, no," Werr almost laughed at this. "Welk made this for me. It saved my life, too."

"Oh. Good job, then, Welk." Cici smiled. "Now come on, all of you. I understand that you need to rest, but my presents just keep gathering dust! Everyone else is already inside, now let's go!"

Welk smiled at Cici, helping Werr into the house and onto the couch, where Welk sat down next to him with his head resting on Werr's shoulder.

Luen moved his ears back and tucked his tail between his legs, crouching down slightly in a gesture of submission towards the other wolf. "Yes, sir," he said, keeping his eyes downwards. "I'm sorry, if you wanted to howl alone. I couldn't help it. The loss of a wolf, even a Tartaran wolf, is a tragic one." He crept forward and carefully licked the other wolf's jaw, showing that he accepted Ophile's higher status over him.

Ophile snorted, but said nothing more. He didn't follow them into the house, instead vanishing and reappearing on the roof. He still had a job to do, obviously.

"Come on, Luen, we're waiting on you!" Cici called from the doorway. "If you don't hurry up, I'll give your present to someone else!" She said in a sing-song voice, grinning.