The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk gently laid Werr down on the bed, then took lion form and curled up right against him, wrapping his paws tightly around his best friend. He used his sandpapery tongue to lick Werr's hair soothingly, then slowly went limp and fell asleep.

Cynyr had followed them into the room, shutting the door behind him with his tail. He was tired, very much so, but he dutifully checked every inch of the room for potential enemies. Old habit, evidentally. Finally, once he was satisfied that the room was safe, he stood for a moment to think. Not too seriously, as he wanted to go to sleep, but just to look down at himself and wonder if he would ever return to normal. He sighed deeply, closing his eyes, then blinked them open when something in the room started glowing. He glanced over to a small stack of clothing nearby, recognizing the outfit there to be his. It was mended and folded neatly, all of the black goop cleaned from it. One of his pockets was glowing with a gentle, faint light. Instantly curious, he carefully lumbered over and dipped two long fingers into the pocket, grasping the object within and pulled it out.

It was the little ball of light that Titus had removed from Forin so long ago, which Forin had then given to Cynyr.

The living shadow held the ball in his open palm and stared at it, then blinked in shock when the ball rose up and floated over his hand. He took a step back, wondering what it could possibly be doing, then winced as it suddenly darted forward and sunk into his chest before he could stop it. He stared down at his chest in fear, wondering what was the ball of light was doing, then felt his body changing. His entire form was shifting, his scales melting away and his hulking reptilian form growing smaller and thinner. He closed his eyes tightly from the pain that came with this strange transformation, not wanting to wake Werr and Welk.

When the transformation stopped and he opened his eyes, he was shocked.

He was a half-cat again, completely and utterly.

He quickly touched hands to his chest and head, feeling his skin. He still had the scars, yes, but he was normal again. No longer a lurking lizard-thing, but a black panther wind mage. This alone was enough to bring a smile to his torn lips. He walked over and pulled his clothes on, then crept up onto the bed and curled up against Werr's free side, resting a hand on the boy's body.

He fell asleep, feeling relieved and...happy. So oddly happy. It was finally over. Obelisk was gone. They could sleep peacefully, without worry for attack or dark magic.

Finally.

Werr opened his eyes slowly, finding it to be daytime again. He still felt exhausted, though...he jerked upright upon realizing that someone else was here, though. It was Nightlash, sitting in a corner and flicking through his journal, apparently bored. "N-Nightlash," Werr spoke somewhat fearfully, biting his lip in mild concern.

"Oh, your majesty. You're awake." Nightlash looked up. "You already know me, then? I don't recall ever meeting..."

"Er...no, neither do I. I just...you're the duke of my hometown, so..." Werr quickly put together that those under Obelisk's control apparently now had no recollection of the events that had occured recently.

"Ah, I see."

"Um...what are you doing here?" Werr asked warily.

"Oh, I was just checking in." Nightlash smiled warmly. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but...the city is kind of a wreck, there are dragons in the hills nearby, you have feathers in your hair, and...well...what the heck happened?"

Werr snorted and flopped back down on the bed between Welk and Cynyr, silently noting that the panther was back to his normal self at last. Werr smiled, reaching back and touching the feathers tied back in his hair still. "That...is an extremely long story."

((We should start the epilogue nao?))

((Yeah, we should. I'm not 100% sure how to go about this, plus we didn't return Cynyr to his original form. I'm not sure how that will effect our timeline, because he would be returned to his original form before that. I'll probably go up to my previous post and make it so that he finds the orb and holds it for a moment, then it restores his form and he falls asleep. That fits better with all of the current mood. You'll probably have to change something to have Werr notice the change, but that's okay. Well. Here goes my best attempt at closing. If you want to add anything, feel completely and utterly free.))

However abrupt the ending was, it was over. The aftermath of the war was, like any, bad. Many lives had been lost, homes destroyed, and friends killed. Luckily for the land, however, it now had a new king ready to help it rise up anew.

Welk and Cynyr remained in the castle with Werr, loyal to the very end. Even with Obelisk gone, even with the mages now officially free, they chose to stay at the side of their best friend and companion. Werr offered to have Briana moved to the castle, but Welk had refused.

Seria was given an honorary place in the castle as the head healer, where she was able to be with Cynyr as much as she wanted - which he seemed to enjoy, though he tried to hide it.

Jag and Lily left soon after, taking Spy with them. They moved into a simple town on the outskirts of Alastor, ready to start their lives and a family. Jag dropped by the palace once in a while, completely at random, to play his violin for those who lived there.

Nate returned to Storaph with Tasia, who was more than happy to follow him anywhere. They were practically meant to be together, and it wasn't long before that was so. King Asmodius worked hard to rebuild his ruined country, and Werr did extend help to the Storaphian king. Before long, the war zones were cleaned up and the borders restored to their natural order. Refugees within Alastor moved back to their (hopefully intact) homes, ready to start life anew again.

Naybrin, Zephyr and Vaira (with Boko in tow) returned to the Sacred Plains after saying goodbye to their friends. They were dragons, after all; the world might have accepted mages once more, but the fire-breathing magical beasts were a different story. They didn't leave before giving every single one of their friends beautiful scales from their bodies as tokens of their friendship.

Forin and Diana set off on their own to look for their missing companion, Luen, determined to find him and rescue him from Cern's clutches.

Airlia allowed Cynyr to unsummon her (by her own request) so she could returned to Amnairus, where Luna and Vidia were. The three chose to live there in safety, though Airlia visited her 'master' from time to time. He swore against it, but the others could see that her visits made him happy.

They had defeated Obelisk, at the loss of Cici, the little light fairy. They remembered her and many of the others that had died along the way, friend and enemy alike. As Werr had promised, the clan of the raptorix was not forgotten in history, as Relic had died that night in Storaph Palace, when he had let Werr and Cynyr go free.

Nelu had mysteriously disappeared, and wasn't found again.

Now, with the land safe under Werr's rule, the group of friends could finally live their lives in peace.

((That was my closing attempt. Again, you can change anything about it that you want, or write a completely new one. -shrug- I feel like I FAILED AM MADE OF WIN! :D))

((Made edits to last two posts. I didn't add too much, just about the refugees. And I cleaned up a couple things I thought could look a little better. Particularly the end. :T

Ah, now I have no idea how to start the next thing. I guess that'll just have to wait until we're on the mumble today. -grumpily goes off to school, unhappy about having to leave-))

((Youuuuuuuuuuuu. xD I see what you did thar. Win. x3

I thought of starting it with some of Werr's new day-to-day tasks in the castle with Welk and Cynyr.

Also, you should see the line I wrote before I forgot that Obelisk and the new bad guy aren't going to be correlated until later. I was going to put it after the end line, but then I remembered and removed it. I kept it to show you.

*

Up on the edge of the tallest mountain, the place where Naybrin had taken Werr to show him the land, a lone figure stood.

His black cloak covered his entire body. Not an inch of skin showed on him, nor was his face visible inside the hood. It was like the cloak was standing on its own, billowing in the wind. When he spoke, his voice was dark and raspy. Haunted. Like the man inside wasn't really there.

"Obelisk...you fool. You failed me."

He tilted his head slightly to one side, making a horrible cracking sound, then said "No matter. He was merely a pawn in my grand scheme. Beings like him are a dime a dozen."

He turned away, pausing to look back at the land below. "I'll be back. And when I return, not a single creature will be left alive in my wake."

And he disappeared, vanishing into thin air like a ghost.

Werr was limp in his throne. Blood trailed down from his mouth, the bandages around his wrists already starting to blossom with red as blood spread underneath them, too quick for them to soak up. Darkness crackled around his seat like electricity; it was flooding into the needles, which were causing so much pain that Werr's body was literally tearing itself up. He remained limp as it stopped for a moment, just as Cynyr came into the room.

"No...more..." Werr gurgled, his voice hoarse and weak. He looked exhausted already. It was easy to tell that he wouldn't last much longer. Obelisk stood behind his throne, and he reached down and patted Werr on the cheek with his shriveled, disgusting hand.

"What was that? More? Very well then." Obelisk withdrew his hand, and the crackling started up again. He stepped away from the throne, advancing on Cynyr. "Ah, the dark beast returns. Wonderful to see you again. I hope you've been doing well, because I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life. Then I'll make you watch Werr die. And then I'll kill you." He stretched his arms out, as if welcoming a friend into a hug. Darkness gathered in each hand, and it was easy to see his gnarled grin.

Cynyr stalked forward, snarling and flicking his tail back and forth. "Let him go," he growled, unstopping in his advance towards Obelisk. "I swear I won't let you hurt him. I don't care what happens to me, but I won't let you hurt him or any of the others." His body started smoking, turning into a literal shadow. Cynyr concentrated, closing his eyes as his entire solid form melted away into a wisp of shadow. His yellow eye opened, a single glowing point in the shadow that was shaped like his reptilian form. When he spoke, he voice was haunted and ghostly, like an undying spirit. He didn't waste energy on words, simply swept forward like a wave, giving himself up completely to the dark energy he felt inside him.

"So, you plan to fight fire with fire, eh?" Obelisk laughed, shaking his head. "Useless. Useless!" He twisted his hands, actually trying to manipulate Cynyr's movements now by moving the magic around him. He dragged at Cynyr's new form, attempting to suck him into none other than the magic that was feeding Werr's agony. With Cynyr's energy, it would mean death for Werr.

Cynyr snarled and pulled at Obelisk's energy, fighting with everything he had in him. He managed to keep his energy to himself, not allowing Obelisk to take any of his powers. He surged back, hissing up at Obelisk as he kept the dark lord distracted and concentrated on him.

A blast of fire slammed into Obelisk, lighting onto his bandages.

Welk kept the stream of fire going from his hands, a determined look on his face. He looked bruised and beaten, but capable of fighting.

Obelisk was quick to put up a wall of shadow around himself. The fire was quickly put out, but the damage was done. A good number of the bandages slid off and fell to the floor, but he kicked them aside without a second thought. With Obelisk's attention focused on keeping sheilds up and active, the crackling from around Werr stopped short. He slid from the throne, collapsing on the floor, very much unconscious. Obelisk didn't care; he focused on ridding himself of the bugs that had dared invade and mess up his plans.

Tendrils reached out from his sheild, attempting to grab Cynyr and Welk. The fire didn't seem to be stopping it, either.

"Werr!" Welk shouted, then he turned glaring crimson eyes onto Obelisk. "You'll pay for that," he said, ignoring the pointed look Cynyr was giving him, clearly telling him to get away. Cynyr didn't want him to get hurt, but Welk didn't want his brother or best friend hurt either. So he stayed and took lion form, lunging to the side to avoid the tendrils as Cynyr swept upwards in a dark cloud, hissing.

Obelisk pushed Cynyr away, finding it all too easy now. "What? I'm not hurting him anymore!" He taunted, jumping backwards and landing on the throne. He stretched his arms out, grinning again as shadows exploded from every corner of the room, twisting and changing into bodies. Soldiers, black swords and lances in tow, marched forward. If they couldn't be beaten with power alone, the two would be overcome with numbers.

The cannons finally stopped. They weren't out of ammunition, but the dragons had taken out the last of the cannons. "We need to get in there," Nate said, looking towards the gates.

"Not so fast," Obelisk's voice split the sky. There was shaking from the castle as two of the towers split off, the rock clashing together until a large rock thing stood before them, slightly resembling a man in the way that it towered over them.

"No rest for the weary..." Nate frowned.

Naybrin tossed his head back, staring the golem down, then said "Come, brother and sister of wings and claw; we must fight. All of us must fight with all we have in us. Come! Into the fray!" He lunged skyward and Zephyr and Vaira followed him, bellowing their challenge.

Down below, Seria watched nervously, darting here and there. "What do we do?" she said fearfully, her eyes wide.

"We can't fight that thing," Nate shook his head quickly.

"We'd all die!" Airlia put in, horrified at the thought.

"We're not going to die!" Forin hissed at her. "Just calm down. Our first priority is getting into that castle to try and help Welk, Cynyr and Werr."

"I said, not so fast!" Obelisk's voice laughed, and the shadows formed soldiers similar to the ones currently inside. They even picked up and possessed bodies of fallen ones. One of them rose up behind Seria and grabbed her, dragging her away. "You're not so tough when you stay down," One of the soldiers sneered before moving forward to strike. Moving forward with perhaps a hundred others.

((Also, I feel like a number of the minor characters should be seriously injured. To add to the 'oh gosh we're really in trouble' feeling before Cici strikes. >:3

Also, Naybrin's wings were broken by the cannons.))

((Oh yeah. I'll fix that.))

Zephyr swept around, slamming into many of the soldiers and driving them back, Vaira at his side and Naybrin somewhere behind them. The three dragons were the group's main fighting force, and with Naybrin's wings broken, that eliminated his ability to fly. But he had taken down the golem alone, with no help, so it was clear that he could still fight well.

It wasn't done yet, nowhere near. The golem rebuilt itself behind Naybrin, the rubble only merging with its form to make it larger. It swung its hand down at Zephyr's muzzle, hoping to break something important.

Inside, Cynyr and Welk were fighting with wind and fire alike, but it was hardly any good. The shadows continued to mold themselves into more soldiers, more fighting forces. Obelisk was sitting in the throne now, just watching and smiling away as they fought for their very lives.

At his feet, Werr stirred, moaning softly. The pain, the agony...it was just a dull pulsing at this point, but Obelisk was close enough to where every movement from him translated to pain for Werr. And the power Obelisk was putting off...gods help me, Werr cried out inwardly, trying his hardest to push himself back into unconsciousness. He knew that Welk and Cynyr were fighting, though...fighting for him. So his feeble prayer quickly turned to 'gods help them', instead.

Cynyr swept along, gathering more and more shadows into himself. He was threatening to overload, he could feel it, but he just had to keep fighting. He swept around again and Welk raced alongside him, then leapt upwards. Cynyr reformed a patch of scales on his back and Welk landed on them, firing more flames out as his brother arched around the room, leaving long trails of darkness behind them. When Cynyr arched past Obelisk, Welk suddenly lunged for him, using the fire like a rocket and sending both himself and Obelisk tumbling.

((Get Werr out of there and chop Captain Bandage in half. : D He can play dead. >:3))

Obelisk threw Welk forward, dislodging the annoyance from his back. In an instant, a black scythe to rival that of the Grim Reaper's was in his hands; he slashed out at Welk with his new weapon, his voice dripping with evil and hatred as he spoke. "Your friends are dying out there, you know! You can't fight against me forever!"

((.3. ~))

Cynyr swept forward in full shadow form, taking solid form behind Obelisk and fastening his thick claws into the dark lord. As they struggled, Welk raced over to Werr and grabbed him up into his arms, saying "Werr! Oh, Werr..." He quickly raced past the shadow soldiers, heading for the exit as Cynyr continued to battle the dark lord. He plunged his sharp teeth into Obelisk's arm, tearing it clean away from his body as he tore his claws over and over through the undead once-human.

((So much fun~~~~~

Man, I really am in a good mood today. xDD))

Werr just moaned again, curling into Welk's grip as much as he could manage.

The scythe hit the ground a few feet away with a clatter, Obelisk's arm making more of a splash as blood flooded out of Obelisk's deep wounds. He could get cut and not bleed, but his entire arm was missing. And he did indeed feel pain; his scream was heard from those outside, even with all the fighting going on.

It caused Diana to hesitate. Forin had been keeping her away from the soldiers and fighting them off, but the girl paused for a split second at the sound of the scream. That was long enough for the large foot of the stone golem (which was still fighting Naybrin) to come crashing down towards her. Of course, Forin wouldn't allow her to be crushed. He tackled her to the ground, narrowly avoiding the both of them being squashed flat. He couldn't avoid the swarm of shadow soldiers that saw their chance, though. Arrows flew, lances and swords were stabbed. It was all Forin could do to keep Diana from getting killed while he kept her pinned to the ground, enduring the hits to his back.

((I noticed. ;3 It's a very good thing.))

Zephyr ran forward, bending down low over the two and jamming his skull forward, throwing the soldiers back. He nudged Forin up roughly, saying "Get to the trees and say there!" He nudged Diana up as well, then threw his head back and roared as the golem suddenly fell on his back. He threw his head back and roared in pain, feeling his wings twist sharply as his long, narrow body was forced to the ground under the golem, crushing the dragon's wings. "Zephyr!" Naybrin and Vaira both shouted, arching forward to wrestle the golem off of him.

Diana half-carried Forin away, but was stopped up by, of course, more soldiers. Nate darted in at this time, covering their escape; the trees offered a welcome shelter from all the fighting. Forin collapsed and Diana wiggled into his protective arms, crying quietly as she felt hot blood soaking into Forin's clothes and starting to puddle around them.

But it was not a time for them to worry much about the injured. So long as Forin wasn't dead yet, he'd be fine. Nate fought valiantly, doing whatever he could to keep the bulk of the soldiers focused on him and not the ones in the trees, nor on Seria. Which was a problem; he had made himself a target. There were a lot of soldiers. Too many for one man to fight alone, that was for certain. With the dragons wrestling with the golem, it was impossible to depend on them for help, too.

Sticky situations all around, it seemed.

((FINISH HIM. -refrence you don't get-

Gotta go now. :3))