The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk listened to Werr speak, keeping his gaze securely on the boy's mouth and eyes. He watched him with an unnvering intensity that would've unsettled other people, but Werr was used to it from Welk. The lion was like that, after all. Welk sighed and set his head back down on Werr's leg. When he heard someone come into the room and looked up to see who it was, he immediately burst out laughing and fell off of the couch, rolling around on the floor.

Luen's white hair was all nicely braided and decorated with flowers.

The wolfling flicked his tail in embarrassment at Welk's laughter, stammering "It...it was to make Diana happy, okay? She wanted to do it and I didn't want to say no, so..." He cut off, blush creeping along his pale cheek.

Nate frowned at Welk's laughing, completely understanding. Werr just blinked at him, struggling to keep his face straight. "It's alright, Luen. It was for a good cause," Nate shook his head. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. Little Diana is good at braiding though, I see." He smiled comfortingly. He then stretched and sighed a bit. "It sounds like you've already thought about this, Werr. I approve of your plans, and I'm going for a soak in the springs. You should tell Galai when you intend to leave, just so you know." He moved towards the door, but looked back. "Wanna come, Luen?"

Werr ignored them after that, thinking. When were they planning to leave? As soon as possible, probably...he didn't want to go anywhere when Cynyr was in such a shape, but as far as he had seen so far, there wasn't much they could do for him...

Luen nodded at Nate, deciding that some time in the hot water would be okay, though he didn't particulary like heat, being an ice mage. He took wolf form in order to move forward, only to hear Welk laugh even louder.

He couldn't help it if Diana had wanted to braid his fur too.

Luen flattened his ears against his head and hurried forward after Nate, just wanting to get out of sight at this point.

Once they were gone, Welk finally managed to stifle his laughter and crawl back up onto the couch, still giggling once in a while.

"That's not very nice, Welk," Werr said at last, though once Luen was out of earshot, he had chuckled a bit as well. "Anyways, what should we do now? And don't tell me to rest, I've had enough of resting. Every time something happens, everyone's all concerned about me getting enough sleep...honestly, that chloroform had me sleeping like a log! So, what should we do?"

Welk purred and nuzzled Werr's shoulder, saying "Well I'm not a nice person. That's a lie, but you know that. I'm super nice! Just not all of the time, apparently." He purred away and rubbed his feline face all over Werr's shoulder, stretching the rest of his long body out on the couch behind him and slowly working his way onto Werr's lap. At least, just the upper part of his body. He rubbed the top of his head under Werr's chin, draping his paws over the boy's lap. "Oh, I dunno. Anything!" he said in regards to what they should do. He thought for a moment, then said "Well, I haven't been able to bug Cynyr for WEEKS. I could go for some of that! I don't care of he's not feeling good. I used to bug him every day. Before...all of this happened." He sighed, then said "That settles it! I'm going to either prank him or just all out pester him! You can join in if you like, Werr!" He bounced up off of the boy's lap and bounded to the stairs, where he dropped into a crouch and started sneaking up towards his half-sibling's room.

"A-ah, Welk!" Werr jumped up to move after him, frowning. "We shouldn't bug him right now, we can find someone else to prank or something!"

Forin incercepted them on the stairs, looking at them with his usual cold look. He glanced at Werr, his frown deepening for a moment before he looked down at Welk again. "And what might you be up to, hyperactive cat?" He said quietly, brow furrowed. "You should listen to your friend, whatever it may be."

Welk flattened his ears against his head and glared at Forin, never having liked him very much. "None of your beeswax," he said, frowning at him. "I can do whatever I want. Though I guess Werr's right. Fine, we'll leave Cynyr alone. For now." He moved up and around Forin, smiling slightly. "We could mess with you, but I don't suppose that would-" He suddenly paused when he reached the top of the stairs, tilting his head slightly to the side, then looked down at his paw.

He had stepped in a large pool of black goo that was seeping out from under Cynyr's door.

He quickly stepped back in shock and took human form,  wiping the stuff from his hand as fast as he could. "What...what is that stuff?" he asked fearfully, his eyes wide.

"I-I dunno," Werr said, pulling Welk away from it. "You didn't have any cuts on your hand, did you?" He asked quickly, using his sleeve to help Welk try and be rid of the stuff.

"Forin!" Diana called from down the hall, running out of her room in a panic. She had just gotten up from a nap, which had (of course) contained a nightmare; tears were obvious on her face. She ran towards Forin the second she saw him, not noticing the black sludge on the floor. What happened next was a bit surprising. Forin darted forward, grabbing up Diana seconds before her feet landed in the goop. As a result, though, he himself slipped backwards and landed on his back in the gunk. None of it got on Diana, though; he held her in the air at arm's length, straining to keep her up.

Welk shook his head, then flinched when Forin slipped in the black liquid. He moved forward and took Diana from him, holding the little girl carefully against his chest. "A-are you okay, Forin?" he asked, wondering if the Tartaran would be okay from touching that stuff. They didn't even know if that liquid could infect other people, really. So far, it was just gross and sticky and seemed to be inside Cynyr's arms. Which was weird all in itself.

They heard a strangled gurgle from inside the panther's room, then silence again.

"I'm not sure," Forin said quietly, keeping his arms out of the gunk. "Do you not recognize this stuff? Obelisk nearly broke the light bridge using it, in the place between worlds. The sludge spikes. I...I'm not certain if I'm alright or not. I'm not dead, at least." He stared at Welk, his eyes flicking from his to Diana's faces. He didn't trust the half-cat, yet he dared to wrap his arms around her? To touch her in the slightest?

Welk seemed to realize that Forin was glaring at him and set Diana down, frowning. "...You don't have to be rude," he said, giving Diana a small push away from him. He shook it off and ran past them, knocking on Cynyr's door. "Cynyr? Cynyr! Are you okay?" he called, trying to get his brother's attention. He tried the doorknob, only to find it still securely locked. "Dang it, why do you have to lock yourself away like this?!" Welk cried, exasperated. "Are you okay?!"

Nothing.

Eventually, Forin decided that he was and would be more or less okay. He pulled himself out of the sticky mess and pulled Welk out of the way, starting to kick the door. Once, twice. On his third attempt, there was a crash and the door fell away from the frame.

The inside of the room was covered in the black goop, like the goo itself had come alive and thrown itself everywhere. It dripped in thick, slow drops from the ceiling, the walls, the furniture. Welk immediately wailed and tried desperately to go forward and find Cynyr in the mess, but Werr grabbed his arm and held him back. They still didn't know if the stuff was contagious, after all.

Something inside the room moved.

A large black puddle on the ground suddenly shifted, letting out a pain-filled moan. It slowly rose up, looking very much like Cynyr's shape. The moan had sounded like his voice, too.

Then the form wavered, making the half-cat cry out with a strangely hollow and haunted wail, and his whole form changed.

The half-cat had been transformed into a dark creature made entirely of shadows, with a reptilian-like form that lurched up onto two legs. A long black tail waved slowly behind him, with his nose and chin now a blunt, dragon-like snout. His eyes were pupil-less glowing orbs in his head, yellow and sinister. Faint spikes formed along his spine and tail, claws forming on his hands and feet. He hissed, sounding like an angry alligator, then took a lurching step forward, leaving trails of the black mess behind him.

"Is...that Cynyr?" Werr stared in shock. He immediately thought back to the lizardmen that they had been forced to fight back in Tartarus. At that thought, he started pulling Welk away from the door. "Welk, we need to leave..." He murmured, shaking his head.

Forin was already gone, Diana in his arms. He was careful not to allow any of the goop slide onto her at all; but he felt so weighed down by the stuff that he barely made it to the door. He let her go and fell on his side, wondering why the stuff was so heavy. "G-go, Diana...Luen is in the springs, go get him..." He said before realizing that the gunk was spreading around his shoulders and to his front. It was reacting differently because of his race. It would most likely encase him entirely and suffocate him, if not attack his insides by getting through his mouth.

Forin probably would've died if Luna had come along at that moment. She had come up to get something from her and Vidia's room and, of course, froze at the sight of the mess at the top of the stairs. She snapped her wings out as a shield and ran forward, the black stuff melting away whenever her feet touched the ground. She threw out a blast of light and knocked the living shadow that was now Cynyr backwards, ignoring the screaming hiss that he let out at the light, then moved forward and grabbed Forin by his shoulders and pulled him out of the way. Once he was clear of the stuff, she used her light powers to warily burn away the goop on him, being careful not to hurt him in the process. She glanced up as Cynyr growled and tried to come forward again, then Luna used her powers to push him back again. He wailed and darted back into his room, hissing incomprehensibly at her.

Once he was free, Forin pulled away from Luna and fled. Not really 'fled' persay; he ran after Diana, desperate to ensure her safety. He was a guardian through and through, as it was. Werr hugged Welk, backing into a corner of the hallway and staring into Cynyr's room, his fear obvious. "Some of it got on Welk's hand!" He said at once, not wanting another of his friends to turn into a lizard-beast. He was already shaking as it was, shocked at what Cynyr had become.

Welk struggled desperately to get away from the boy, calling for Cynyr, who seemed to now ignore them. The shadow creature was curled up in the corner of his room, almost crying softly to himself. He made huffy little sobbing sounds which were all raspy from his new voice, which they could barely understand.

Luna moved over and took Welk's hand into hers, making sure that none of the creepy substance had gotten into his system. She burned away what she found, then backed up to watch Cynyr for a moment.

"What are you waiting for?" Welk said angrily, trying hard to push away from Werr, who was holding on stubbornly. "Fix Cynyr too!"

Luna sadly shook her head. "I cannot," she said, lifting one hand and placing it sadly over her mouth. "It's too late and it's not the same as for you and Forin. This black ooze seems to come from Cynyr. I do not know how he came about it, but I can tell that this stuff was somehow implanted inside of him and left to grow. A smart move, really. It was hidden to all of my senses... I cannot fix this, as he is this stuff now. A living shadow. If I burn it away, I'll be killing him as well."

Welk's eyes widened in horror, then his bottom lip trembled and he buried his head against Werr.

"How..." Werr shook his head in disbelief. "H-how can we fix him? If he's a shadow, then Titus can help him, right?" He said desperately, hugging Welk tightly. He doubted it. Titus would just as soon draw Cynyr out of his own body rather than the shadows themselves. "There has to be a way..." He said desperately, thinking.

Nothing came to mind.

The creature in the room wailed again, then suddenly lurched up and charged forward on all fours, snarling and snapping his reptilian jaws. He raced right towards Welk and Werr, growled savagely. The move was so sudden that Luna didn't react in time to push him away. To their shock, however, he pushed Welk out of the way without hurting him and reared up in front of Werr, his jaws open and ready to crush the boy's head.

Luna reacted then, quickly firing a beam of light at the shadow monster and senting him crying back into the room.

Werr pressed his back as far into the wall as he could, eyes wide with shock. He slid to the floor, then suddenly scrambled to his feet and took off down the stairs, so quickly that he almost tripped. He pushed past Airlia, who was coming inside at the moment; she jumped back and watched him run. She squeaked slightly when Ophile landed heavily next to her, taking off after Werr without a question about what he was doing. He was only supposed to watch, after all. Titus hadn't relieved him of said duty yet.