The Forgotten Zodiac

Obelisk had easily avoided damage by the use of his bandages. They lowered themselves now, though ready to defend against another blast of light, if needed. And he continued his countdown still. "1..." Gurushi reacted to this by one action; he ignored his burns and pain, throwing himself onto the circle.

His scream was louder than Cynyr's had been, seemingly coming from everywhere. Every stone, every fiber of the rug, every tiny piece of dust in the room was apparently joining in, all using Gurushi's voice. Thunder rumbled like a hundred dragons growling at once, and lightning cracked across the sky. Darkness spilled forth from under Gurushi, forming a writhing orb around him. His screams were cut short when there was a blast and he was thrown across the room, falling limp against the wall. Dead.

What was left in the circle seemed to be an orb of some black substance; it shone and hummed with power. It hovered in the air for a short moment, but raced towards Obelisk the next moment, sinking into his chest. He shuddered, then laughed. "Well...that wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I will have a second chance...but this...even just this...!"

"Skies above..." Cici whispered, hardly believing it. "H-how did he even break out?! This is bad, so very bad, we need to leave now!"

"Hm. I don't think so. You lot have been throwing wrench after wrench into my plans. I will tolerate you no longer." Obelisk chortled. The doors slammed shut, and black tendrils reached around the walls and across the broken ceiling. Even the ground turned black. It was as though Obelisk had trapped them inside a black birdcage. Even Luna could feel the darkness and evil pressing in around her. "How should I punish you...? Of course, I still could use you, Werr...and besides, you'll suffer enough just by watching. Won't that be fun? Yes, yes, how to punish..."

Cynyr growled, fighting to make his damaged body work. He struggled up onto his elbows, hissing darkly. Welk moved over to him and wordlessly pushed him down with a paw, fear making his tail twitch and leap around wildly.

"I can create a teleportation spell, but I'll need to alter it so it won't kill Forin or Cynyr." Luna said. "I can make it so the parts that carry them away from here will be darkened so it won't harm them, but I need time. If I don't, I'll end up hurting Forin and killing Cynyr."

Cynyr snarled at her, trying desperately to drag himself forward. He couldn't do anything with Welk pushing him down, however. Luna's light attack had hurt him too badly.

Zephyr thundered out a roar, slamming his tail out against the ceiling of tendrils, trying to break them. He growled when they held strong, then craned his head down at Obelisk. "Stay away from them, creature of darkness." he threatened, snarling.

Luna was concentrating, her wings curled around herself to protect her from the push of the dark magic. She chanted softly, trying different ways to form a teleportation spell. So far, none of them were working out. She kept trying, knowing that if she had enough time, she could do it.

"Oh, I won't. I'll stay right here, don't you worry." Obelisk just laughed. "You can try to escape, yes indeed...but it would be much more fun to take a trip down memory lane, wouldn't it? Ah, yes...relive the past...and make it worse!" He raised a finger, pointing it at Nate, laughing away.

Nate drew in a shuddering gasp, only able to watch in horror as the skin on his arm started peeling away, from the hand up. Blood splattered the ground. Skinning, all over again. It didn't stop at his palm, though. It kept going, spreading up to his elbow before it started to even slow. To make it worse, he could see blood spreading on his shirt where the word had been. It was there again. 'Liar'. Nate screamed with agony and rage, to Obelisk's apparent enjoyment.

"Who's next?" He chuckled, pointing his finger towards Diana next. Forin was quick to step in the way. More blood spilled, and he collapsed. The scars on his arms, legs and chest had opened up again. It felt as though he were being drowned in Holy Water. He couldn't make a sound; he just laid there on the ground, twitching.

With him out of the way, Diana was defenseless. She wailed as her arm was suddenly bent funny; broken and twisted. Memories flashed in her mind's eye, showing her how her arm had ever been broken anyways. That was the worst of it. Mother, father, blood...so much blood...the nasty men, kicking her as she wept over her dead parents. A foot hit her arm a little to roughly; it had only been cracked then, but Obelisk had made it much worse. Diana plopped onto her rear and clutched her arm, wailing in pain that was both physical and emotional for her.

"Don't even try!" Cici snapped as Obelisk raised a finger towards Werr. Nothing happened. Cici automatically blocked any and all magical interference. Thus, this horrible magic of Obelisk's was unable to reach Werr. If it were a physical spell, Cici would have to put up a shield, but it wasn't; the magic was merely traveling from Obelisk's finger towards whoever he was pointing at, carried by the darkness that hung around the room.

"Oh, no matter. He's suffering already, just give it time." Obelisk chortled. "I can make him scream anyways, see?" He said, raising a finger towards Welk.

"No!" Werr did scream, but it was too late.

((You can hash him point at other people. :T))

Welk screamed as blood suddenly gushed out of his tail and wounds appeared all over his body. A black eye throbbed into place as blood poured from his tail. He was helpless to stop it. Having his tail cut off was terrible, of course. He glanced down in terror at his arms, which were suddenly covered in bleeding slashes and cuts. His entire body started to shake as he watched the blood drip down his arms. He just stood there, shock holding complete control over him.

Luen was next, though he didn't know what hit him. All of a sudden, a long, bleeding slice opened up on his chest and stomach. The time Forin had stabbed him had nearly cost him his life, so to have that wound again, in his weakened, sick state, was a death sentence.

Seria was barely affected by it. A few small scrapes here and there appeared on her, but nothing else. She had never been badly injured in her whole life. She did scream, however, at the sudden pain she felt in her mind when all of the new injuries suddenly surfaced. There was no way she could heal all of that! It was impossible!

Zephyr winced as a familiar pain settled in his side. The spear was once again lodged in his body, only now, it was much deeper. He snarled, but even that caused him pain. He had to stand perfectly still so as not to cause the spear to jab into one of his great lungs.

Jagat suddenly screeched and plunged out of the sky, crash landing to a halt on the ground. One of his beautiful wings, his left one, was nearly severed from his entire body, hanging by mere threads. It had happened a long time ago. A rouge man had broken into his house and had tried to steal from him. Jag had lived alone. He never remembered having parent and he didn't care about them, either. All he had of them was his father's violin. When the man had tried to take it, Jag had fought back, ending up getting his wing nearly severed. He had kept the violin, however, and ever since then, had never spoken to anyone about it. He had walked to a healer in a town nearby in time to save his wing, but the terror he had felt had always remained, buried deep in his heart.

Luna was unaffected by anything. The darkness couldn't hope to touch her.

((Next post, I'll have Seria do the healy thingy and lose her cat form.))

((I thought they'd be transported away first (near the Alastorian Palace), which would let Werr wander away in a shocked state, and get picked up by guards who recognize him. :T))

Lily and Airlia's wounds were similar; whip wounds all over their backs, bleeding through their shirts. Spy didn't get much aside from a couple scrapes, but the screaming from everyone else was obviously frightening him. "See?" Obelisk laughed wildly, tilting his covered head up at Zephyr. "I didn't get anywhere near them. Enough, though, I suppose. I shall end their misery." He raised his other hand, but Werr interfered.

"I won't let you!" He snapped, holding up the staff. Cici generated a huge, transparent shield of light, barely big enough to cover all of them. The shield was hit with a blast of darkness. It held up for a few moments, but started cracking.

"I-I can't support something this big!" Cici yelped, struggling to keep the shield up.

"Use my energy! Something!" Werr growled at her, and gasped a bit as he felt a great deal of whatever energy he had being sucked out of him. A few of the cracks vanished, but the majority of them remained.

"It's not working, I can't take any more without killing you!" Cici shouted over the roar of darkness, sounding frantic.

((Well, they'll have to be careful because they'll have Cynyr, who will still be full of dark magic. And if Werr isn't with them, he won't get healed because Luna's powers can only hurt him. Cici can heal him and take out the dark magic, like she said. In other words, Werr really shouldn't leave them, at least for long. Plus, she's got teh healin' touchies now. -insert La from dA-))

That was when Luna suddenly threw out her wings and cried out several ancient words. A few seconds later, the entire palace was bathed in light, except for two dark circles that formed over Cynyr and Forin, enclosing them where no light could touch them. When the light faded, the entire group was gone.

*

They all landed not far from the Alastorian Palace, Luna panting from the effort. She slowly released them all and let them fall slowly to the ground, then folded her wings and simply sat by.

Seria was instantly up on her feet, glancing around frantically at everyone. They were all bleeding and injured badly. There was no way she could heal them all without some of them dying.

Unless.

There was one thing she could do in order to save them all. She pressed her hands to her temples, letting out a shaky breath. It had never come to this before. Never.

Divine healing.

A power that could only be obtained two ways. One was to train for years upon years until they had complete mastery over all healing arts. The other was to sacrifice something of yourself, something you would never get back through all the remaining years of your life.

Seria sighed deeply. Divine healing powers could do anything except bring back the dead. You could reform limbs out of nothing, so long as the injury was recent. Energy would no longer be a problem. She would have all she needed right at her finger tips. No poison would ever be above her. She would even be able to heal sicknesses.

She slowly lowered her hands, clasping them in front of her chest.

She already knew what she would sacrifice for these powers, the powers to save her friends.

Slowly, piece by piece, she gave a part of herself away, feeling the new powers seep into her body. Once the process was done, she walked over to Luen and gently touched him on his forehead. Immediately, his wounds sealed and his sickness vanished. He blinked, opening his eyes and sitting up, rubbing his eyes wearily.

She moved on to Nate and healing his injuries with the merest touch, then Welk. His tail did not grow back, as he had lost it a while ago, but his injuries all healed right away. Forin was next. Surprisingly, Seria had no trouble healing his wounds, then Diana and Lily. Jag's wing was fixed with a flicker of touch, then Airlia. She moved on to Zephyr, gently reaching up and touching his nose. The spear in his side fell to the ground moments later. Cynyr, she could do nothing for. She was still, after all, just a healer. Magic was something beyond her powers to fix.

She moved over to Werr and gently took his hands into hers, running her thumbs over the backs of his hands. "Everything is okay now." she said softly, smiling at him though her eyes held sadness. She put energy back into him, reaching up to brush her healing fingers through his hair.

((They'll be able to find him easily, but fien.))

Werr blinked at her in surprise. That was a lot of healing...he looked around. Nate was still clutching his arm, the memory of the pain alone frightening him. Forin sat up and pulled the sobbing Diana into his arms, trying desperately to comfort her. Lily cried into Jag's shirt, sniffing. Spy curled up nearby, watching all of them with wide eyes.

He pulled away from Seria, happy to feel no pain when he moved. He climbed to his feet, taking another sweeping glance at everyone. Even if the wounds were gone, there was still so much blood...Werr swallowed hard, trying not to smell it. It was next to impossible, of course.

"We should help the half-cat now," Cici chirped, glowing brightly as she prepared herself for the procedure. "Er, you should know, Werr...this won't be pleasant for you, either. I have to dig through memories from your mind, and it might hurt...and...you'll probably relive things like your mother's death. The more emotional the memory is, the more energy I can get from it. So..."

"I don't care. Keep going. No matter what I say, don't stop until Cynyr is completely healed." Werr said firmly.

"Okay," Cici sighed as Werr walked over to where Cynyr was.

Welk's eyes widened as he watched, wincing when Cynyr snarled horribly. He was hurt badly from Luna's light attacks, which had burned through his clothing and skin, making it very hard for him to move around. He scrambled back from Werr, hissing. "D-don't...don't you dare!" the dark magic inside him snapped. "I've already claimed this body! I'm keeping it! His mind is dead to you all anyways!" He quickly grew frantic as Werr neared him, raising one arm to block his eyes from Cici's light. "No!" he screeched, but Welk moved over in human form and looped his arms under Cynyr's, holding him around his shoulders. "Stop it!" he said, holding on tightly to the struggling mage. "This body isn't yours, you creep! We're going to put my brother back into it and that's that."

Cynyr was too weak to knock Welk off. He panted for a moment and Welk sighed deeply, extremely unhappy to see his brother this hurt. Cynyr snarled and tried again to free himself, growling "This is wasted effort on your behalf, human boy!" at Werr. "You can't save Cynyr! Nobody can! He's mine!!"

Werr watched the struggling sadly. He swallowed hard and set his hand on Cynyr's head, and he pushed Cici to Cynyr's chest. "Even if Cynyr is dead...I won't allow you to inhabit his body any longer." He said quietly, watching as they both were enveloped in light. Cynyr was knocked unconscious at once. They sat there, frozen in the same position. Seconds stretched to minutes. Minutes stretched to a full half hour before Werr finally moved. It was just a small tremble at first, but it quickly turned to him shaking, tears sliding down his cheeks. He tried to pull away, but his hands were locked in place, as if they were frozen. Finally, after several more minutes, the envelopment of light melted away. Werr threw Cici aside and ran into the forest, not saying a thing.

"Wha...idiot! Stay with the group!" Forin snarled after him, but was still busy attempting to calm Diana down, she hadn't stopped crying, though at least she had been quiet about it.

Luna moved over and picked up Cici, her hands undamaged by the staff. She was the only other who could touch the staff and not burn, since she was an ethereal being. She watched Werr go, then turned when Welk called after him. "Werr!" he called, his voice straining, but he couldn't go after him. Cynyr was still unconscious. Welk had to stay with him. He didn't know if his brother would be okay or not. He wrapped his arms around Cynyr, holding the mage close. The dark magic was gone completely, yes. But that didn't mean Cynyr's mind would return to normal. As of now, he was just a body that was barely alive. The dark magic had reduced him to such a terrible sight...

Seria walked over and touched Cynyr's shoulder gently, but none of his wounds healed. Seria frowned and tried again, but still nothing happened. Without a mind, his body couldn't acknowledge the healing. Seria sighed, then gave Welk a reassuring look. "Werr will come back." she said. "Don't worry." She moved away, leaving a very sad Welk behind.

Werr didn't come back. Hours passed, and dawn finally broke. Nate, who had fallen asleep, jerked awake at the sound of a rooster in the distance. He sat up, inspecting his hand to make sure it really was okay. He seemed to be fine...

Forin could hardly believe it, though. Such incredible pain had vanished in seconds. That had never happened. Ever. Even Seria had been unable to heal him before...what had suddenly made her such an incredible healer? Diana was falling asleep just as Nate had woken up, at long last. She was a mess; Forin remembered how long it had taken her to merely talk after the first time she had witnessed her parent's death. Hopefully, with Luen here, they would be able to get her back to normal much, much faster.

Luen was currently curled up around Diana in wolf form, his furry back pressed against Forin's leg. He wasn't asleep, though. Seria had given him enough energy to last him for a while. Which he was curious about. How had she had that much energy when she had just healed so many terrible wounds?

Welk hadn't moved from his spot on the ground, where he was still holding Cynyr tightly to himself. He had his head pressed down against Cynyr's forehead, unmoving except for his bright red eyes, which were watching the rise and fall of Cynyr's chest as he breathed. Finally, the fire mage stirred and said "We need to go after Werr." His voice was raspy from being quiet for so long, but he coughed lightly and fixed it a bit.

Seria was curled up away from the others, still in human form. She hadn't moved to sit near Nate like she normally would've.

Zephyr, in the size where he came up at eye-level with Nate, frowned over at her but said nothing.

"Right..." Nate sighed, climbing to his feet. "Forin, do you think you'll be able to wake Diana up so we can leave?"

"No." Forin said flatly. "I'll carry her."

"Alright, I guess..." Nate shrugged, moving over to Seria. He sat down next to her, and was quiet for a long time, but he finally asked, "Are you okay?"

Seria sighed, then looked up at him and nodded. "I'm fine." she said softly, leaning over and resting her head against his shoulder for a moment. "Don't worry about me. Come on. Let's go find Werr. Zephyr, can you carry Cynyr, please? Even if he were awake, he wouldn't be able to walk."

Zephyr nodded, then grew in size until he could safely carry the mind-dead panther in his paws. Welk protested as the dragon scooped his brother up, but he didn't do anything else. He got up and took cat form, calling for Spy. "Follow Werr's scent." he said, trying hard not to look back up at Cynyr.

Jag took gryphon form and shook his feathers, curling one wing around Lily.

Luen was already in wolf form, so he didn't have to change.

Luna took leopard form, curling her long tail around her legs.

Seria just stood by, watching them all sadly. She sighed, then just started walking in the direction Werr had ran off in.

Spy sniffed curiously at the ground, then darted off ahead of Seria. He led them through the forest, one step at a time. The sky began to thicken with clouds, though their view of it was obscured by the trees overhead. It was nothing compared to the twisted forests of Storaph, though. This forest seemed nice, peaceful. It was quickly growing cold, though...

Spy ran in circles for a few moments, stopping by a trampled looking bush. "Hmm, I think he tripped here," Spy said, inspecting the tracks on the ground. He sniffed the bush, eying the apparent blood that was on it. "I think he was bleeding, too. Didn't you heal him, Seria? I don't smell anyone else's scents..."

"I don't think he got hurt at the castle," Nate frowned. "Didn't Cici protect him?"

"I did," Cici 'hmph'ed at him. "And I saved you lot from getting killed, too, so don't be pointing any fingers at me!"

Welk paced around them, following Werr's footsteps. "Come on!" he said, sounding a bit angry. "Let's pick it up!" He trotted off, not waiting for them. Jag shrugged at the others and followed, flicking his long tail behind him.

Luna glided by overhead, her white-gold wings glittering in the sunlight. She flew over Welk, following the cat as they all walked for a while longer. Several tense minutes passed, minutes where they only found Werr's footprints. Welk was growing more and more irritable as they walked, his concern growing. Finally, after a while passed, he let out a soft, startled cry and said "Look! There's more footprints!"

Several more sets of tracks had joined Werr's. It looked like they had paused here for a while, then they had all moved on, with the new ones herding Werr along.

Welk charged forward at that, not caring that he was leaving the others behind.

"Welk!" Seria cried, then sighed and ran after him, still keeping to human form.

The trail turned onto a road. Spy took the lead again, his nose easily picking up Werr's scents amongst the others. It was easy to tell which direction they were going in, though. The walls of Alastor Castle rose up before them; it was much nicer-looking than Storaph Palace; no darkness seeped from the walls, at any rate. As they approached, snow started to fall. Nate looked up in surprise, not happy at all; snow? They were barely into the fall seasons, there were still green leaves on plenty of trees...something was going on, but there was no time to worry about that.

"I shouldn't go with you," Nate said, stopping. "I can't."

"I...I don't want to go in there, either..." Airlia pouted, looking upset about something. "Are you sure Werr went this way?"

"Yes. I'm sure." Spy nodded. "I have to find him, I have to. I can't not find him, that would drive me crazy, I think."

Welk ran ahead, using his feline nose to follow Werr's scent right up to the palace gates, where a pair of guards waited. Welk glanced back at the others and said "His scent goes to the castle. Why does it go to the palace? Where did he go?!" He took human form and ran up to the guards before the others could stop him. "Excuse me!" he said, his ears flat and his voice dark. "I'm looking for Werr Grehi and I'm not leaving until I find him. He's my best friend."

Seria face-palmed.

The guards looked at each other, then back at Welk. "No." One said, crossing his arms. "No one gets through here without authorization or a proper appointment."

"Which, you obviously don't have." The other frowned, his hand inching towards his sword as he eyed the group on the road further back. "Now beat it, cat."

"There must be something we can do," Spy whimpered. "I have to find him. I have to, have to." He nodded vigorously.

Nate was walking away at this point, Zephyr in his pocket and Airlia following behind him. They were headed back towards the edge of the forest, where they would wait. The others would be fine. This was the very heart of Alastor, heavily guarded to boot. Nothing would happen.

Forin was quick to come up with an idea. "Werr was injured, wasn't he? The blood?" He glanced towards Seria. "Show them that you're a healer, perhaps they'll let you through, at least..." Of course, this was the palace. If anyone knew who the council members were, at least by name, it would be the guards. Especially by now, what with most of them being dead. Thus, if the guards knew that Werr Grehi was a council member, they would obviously care about his safety and health. If he was injured, they would try to get him fixed.

Seria nodded, then ran up and grabbed Welk by the back of his shirt before he could make the situation worse, which he had been about to do. "Go back to the others. Now." she ordered. He hesitated, opening and closing his mouth as if to argue, but he finally ended up hissing at her and stalking off angrily.

Seria rolled her eyes, then turned back to the guards with a professional air. "My name is Seria Auryn. I am a divine healer and I know, for a fact, that the young man that was brought here, Werr Grehi, is injured. If you don't want to lose him, I suggest you let me in. I know that boy very well. If you believe me to be lying, then I can prove my status to you right here." And she promptly sliced open her right arm. She carefully murmured a spell and healed it, rubbing the spot lightly once she was done. She tossed a lock of her hair back and said "Well?" up at the man she was talking to.