The Forgotten Zodiac

Pandemic, plague, disease, call it what you will. But all around the world, humans are dying. They were previously the highest-populated race; but after three years of the strangest virus seen yet, their numbers quickly descended. They became easy to spot, wearing cloth to cover their nose and mouth, protecting them from the unseen killer that could lurk literally anywhere. Healers tried desperately to save those who contracted the virus, but it was oddly magic resistant.

Religious groups claimed that humans had been doing too much wrong and too little good, so they were being punished for it. For that ridiculous reason, few humans were trustworthy and those who didn't succumb to the sickness died of starvation. Three years or so more, and humans were so few in number that they were akin to diamonds. And they were never happy to be found. With the human population so low, other species gave up entirely on finding any sort of cure. They went on with their lives.

Not all hope is lost though, it seems. The city of Buranda is hard at work collecting humans and keeping them safe from further harm. They are given the chance to hold a job, to earn money and have a family. The entire city was assured that there was no way they would contract the disease here; Sir Vonnet, the head of the city, had the place kept perfectly clean and they had trained wolves to sniff out the virus and locate any problem areas. Anyone who had contracted the virus was removed effective immediately.

The humans were completely isolated from the rest of the world, though they didn't mind it. The jobs most men held were kept secret, for some reason, and anyone who told anyone else about their job was punished. Most of the time, that meant going and doing their job and being unable to return to their families or friends, often for months at a time. Things were peaceful otherwise; so long as work was done, families were given food and shelter directly. They traded materials and handmade items, and things were perfectly fine.

Yet still, good things never last...

The town of Grittle. Distant from any major cities, this little farming town sat peacefully atop a hill overlooking large plains. It was a quiet, quaint village, inhabited mainly by half-humans. They were immune to whatever virus had claimed the lives of full humans, naturally, but they remained isolated from the rest of the world due to the stereotype placed upon them during the time of great illness. As the humans had been branded untrustworthy, as did all others with human in their genes.

So, half-humans populated the outer villages of the kingdom of Tira. Outlying areas, like the aforementioned town of Grittle. There was nothing wrong with the majority of the half-humans, though, to be honest. Society had merely segregated the kingdom. Those with pure, non-human blood mainly lived in the center of the kingdom, near the capital. The further out you got, the more likely you were to stumble upon human-likeness.

Thus, we turn back to Grittle. With little houses made of wood and a few of brick, a single bakery and a single pub, it was hardly much to look at. But late at night, when the warm air rang with the cicada's cry, there was quite a lot to look at. The pub was merely a front, though business was well there and none of the patrons knew of anything suspicious about it. Underneath the pub, however, was a collection that many came to from around the world - albeit in secret - to see.

There were rare beasts of many kinds here. A miniature dragon here, an albino gryphon there, so on. They all snapped and snarled at their bars as people passed by, as some even offered to buy them.

There was just one man here tonight, and he was indeed attempting to buy something. He looked fabulous; jet black hair, a rose tucked into the lapel of a clean suit, boots that seemed to shine in spite of the floor being made of dirt. It was pretty obvious what he was, though. His smirk gave it away. A Vampire, no doubt about it. He looked back at the thing he was buying, smirking away. "I'll pay any price for it."

"Like how much?" The chubby half-fairy demanded, tiny purple wings fluttering behind him. "You don't come across these very often, you know."

"I'm well aware of that. I'll pay...one thousand gold pieces."

"O-one thousand?"

"Yes. I'll pick it up in the morning, shall I?"

"Y-yes, of course!" The half-fairy stammered, blinking in surprise as the Vampire swept away, moving back up the trapdoor and out of the pub with all due haste. The half-fairy looked back at the creature and smiled nastily. "You're about to make me one filthy rich man."

"Oh good! You'll be able to afford to take a bath." It responded with mock excitement.

"Tch! You..." The man raised his hand to hit, but laughed as the creature flinched. "Well...no point in damaging my merchandise." He left after that, still laughing giddily at the prospect of having himself a small fortune tomorrow morning.

Avis leaned back against the cold wall of the collection room. Her thin wrists were shackled together, the skin on her ankles rubbed raw from the chains that secured her to the wall. She sighed heavily as the half-fairy left her alone, feeling the heat against her cheeks as the cloth of her face-mask absorbed the warmth of her breath. Her dull green eyes scanned the room for the millionth time as she reached down and scratched at the stone floor. Curse them all.

She had long white hair and fair skin, and she was dressed in a simple red and white dress that fell just above her waist. It clearly hadn't been changed in awhile, and it looked like she had bled on it a little, at some point. Indeed, there was a small bandage taped to her cheek; a souvenir from the last time that fat fairy had gotten upset with her. She couldn't help herself though.

It was hard to put on a smile and act happy when others haggled over prices to buy you. The last guy had been a creepy old guy who had wanted to run tests on her. She had kicked him in the knee, which had resulted in the fairy-man threatening to cut her lips off with a knife. Thus, the blood and bandage. What had this Vampire wanted her for? It wasn't too hard to tell, she had overheard them talking about a circus. A circus!

Avis closed her eyes and tried not to cry. Here she was, condemned to a life behind bars. She would be gawked at by pure-breds and half-humans alike, a 'wonder of the world'. Would it stop there, though? She could be sold off to someone else to work as a slave, or she could be forced to dress in skimpy outfits and pose as eye-candy for creepy old guys in pubs, or--

Avis forced herself to stop thinking about it and laid down on her side, deciding to try and get some sleep.

It wasn't like she had anywhere else she could go.

The circus was a small, traveling one; the cage Avis was put in was a specially designed carriage. Instead of solid wood and small windows for the walls, there was nothing but bars. Cold steel. At least they had left the roof and one side of padded seats. She also had a small blanket folded and tucked underneath the seat.

Then they were off. Avis' carriage was at the back of the line; and when they stopped in a town, she was positioned in the middle of a half-circle, making it hard to see any of the other things in this twisted little circus. The days crawled past, eventually seeming to meld together. She quickly lost track of how many towns she had been in.

It was the fifteenth, perhaps the sixteenth. Avis sat in the center of her carriage as a pack of children surrounded her little carriage on all sides.

"Make it do something!" One of them whined, obviously bored. Another reached their hand in to try and touch her, thinking she needed to be pet or something. Then someone else found a long enough stick and started jabbing her in the side with it, whining about her being the most boring thing he had ever seen. Avis just sat there, a dull look in her eyes. Stupid. All of this was the most ridiculous, stupid thing ever. She wanted to cry, but she refused to give these brats the pleasure of watching that.

"If you think she's boing, you should come over here!" The voice of another attraction called from one of the circus' carriages next to Avis. Several kids left Avis alone to go and see whatever it was that was calling them away. While the majority of the kids were gone, leaving only a few kids, those left soon joined the others, deciding they agreed with the others who thought that Avis on the edge of crying was boring. Avis was left with a moment of peace until other annoying, whiny and cruel spectators walked by and stood a while hoping to see something interesting. The previous scene replayed itself over as the contents of the other carriage continued to draw the attention of those who came to this stupid circus. The resident of the other carriage drew attention away from Avis nearly everytime someone came by. 

Avis finally started crying, now that there was a few moments of quiet and solitude. After a few minutes of this, she wiped her eyes and peered out the bars, watching the people flocking towards the one calling attention to themselves. She couldn't see who it was at all...Avis retreated to a corner of her barred carriage, watching as the sun retreated and, eventually, the non-humans left the area.

Avis finally moved back to the edge of her carriage, looking towards the other carriage again. The ringmaster and the other non-caged bunch were not too far off, laughing over a fire with their fresh meat and warm drinks. Avis cleared her throat, then looked over at the other carriage once more. "Psst," She called. "Uh...thanks for today..." She hissed as loudly as she dared, not even realizing that perhaps the other person might not be able to hear her.

"Pfffft, you think I did that for you?" The voice that had been silent since the end of the work day spoke again upon Avis' soft address. Seeming not to care the noise made, laughter reached Avis' ears. "If you're popular enough in this circus, you'll be treated better. I've been here a while. Much longer than you have at least. When the merchandise makes more money, the conditions for said merchandise are much nicer." The voice calmly explained to Avis. There was a pause for several moments as the voice inside the carriage went quiet, taking a short time to think. "You're welcome, I suppose, if the time off granted you some relief. You'll have to work harder after this to get more attention, though. That is assuming you want better treatment while on the road."

"I...I don't wanted to be treated better, I want out! I'm a person, not a...not a collectors item like I've been treated since I got caught!" Avis snapped at him, then clamped a hand over her mouth as someone near the fire shouted something indescernable. Avis crossed her arms and teared up again, shaking her head. "Fine, fine, I...I guess it might be worth it...while I'm here..." She pouted, still clearly unhappy. She picked at the burlap dress she had been given, suddenly wishing they hadn't taken the soft red and white dress that the half-fairy had made her wear.

Avis looked over at the other carriage, straining to get even a single glimpse of the thing inside it. "Hey..." She said softly. "What's your name?"

The voice laughed again. "Like that'll happen. Anytime soon at the least." The voice sighed, quieting the fit of laughter. "So you're saying that you'd rather be treated poorly until the unlikely even that you escape?" The voice couldn't help but chuckle again. "That attitude will change quickly." After letting out a sigh, the voice went quiet again, until it heard Avis' slight movement and quickly moved out of what might have been in Avis' sight. "None of your business, Avis!" The voice snapped, suddenly sound grumpy and somewhat harsh. The unfriendliness melted away quickly as the being in the carriage that Avis tried to look into let out a sigh. "I'll tell you later. Maybe."

"O-oh..." Avis recoiled, blinking. She wrapped her arms around her knees, letting out a heavy sigh. How she longed to have so much as a friend...that didn't happen to be a rock or a tree that she slept under overnight. Then she realized and wondered something, frowning slightly. "How...do you know my name?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side curiously.

The owner of the voice grinned, chuckling again. "Like I said, I get treated much better than some of us, as I tend to get the most attention out of all the acts here. I tend to pick up on things I hear." The voice laughed. "Well, Avis," The voice said, a smirk audible in the voice when saying her name, "you may want to get some rest while you can. We can talk more tomorrow."

Avis frowned unhappily, but decided to listen. There was no reason for her not too, and it seemed like dinner was just table scraps anyways. Avis laid down on her straw, wondering what could possibly be worse.

Well, nevermind. There were a few things that could be worse, Avis realized. Like being a slave for some creepy old perverted man, or maybe even just having to clean out horse stalls. I hate horses, Avis thought and sighed heavily before going to sleep.

She woke again at the crack of dawn; another day. Apparently they had moved while she was asleep; not too far, just to the other side of town. And the circus was just starting up apparently, Avis thought as she noticed a few people lining up at the fortune teller's tent. That was always a popular one, but there were also venders who sold things, a man with a cute little 'knock over bottles, get a prize' game (though it was rigged), and then the main attractions. One of which, she happened to be. But...she wasn't very attractive, curled up in a corner of her cell. She wondered distantly what could be done to make herself more presentable.

Smile, she thought inwardly. Smiling makes everything better, doesn't it? Isn't that what mother used to say? No, wait. She would say that smiling is for those who's lives are perfect. So in short, smiling was for the little vampire children, their shady parasols protecting their sensitive skin from the rising sun, trotting her way like nasty vultures, ready to prey on the defeated for a bit of entertainment before the kill and meal and--

Smile. Avis forced one onto her face, moving a little closer to the bars. She picked a bit of straw from her hair, twiddling it in her fingers and wondering what to do. When the children peered into her carriage, she smiled all the more and decided on something. Whatever happened, she would not tell jokes. "Hi there," She said quietly. "Nasty weather we're having, isn't it?" She remarked. She had never liked the sun much either; she certainly wasn't a vampire, but when it rained, Avis absolutely adored the grey hues of the sky, the pattering of the raindrops--focus, focus...

But apparently, the kids had already moved on to the neighboring person, the one who had called attention to himself the other day. Avis felt a little mad, but she simply sighed through her nose and watched as they 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed over the whatever-it-was in the next carriage over. She needed to think of what to do, and fast, as more visitors were pouring in.

The being inside the other carriage continued as he had before Avis had said anything to him, absorbing everything around him. Rarely did he ever sleep, so he was awake and aware way after Avis went to sleep, and he was alert when they began to move again.

When they stopped and all of the booths got set up, he was still awake, moving to the edge of his free area admist the restraints put on his ankles and wrists. While his treatment was nicer than the majority of the attractions at the circus, he wasn't allowed much room to move, as he could be something of a danger to those who came to visit the circus. He was still a couple feet from the concealing cage bars that made him visible but held him at a distance at the same time. Scowling as he watched the people move about, setting up tables and tents for the fortune teller and the rest of the cheap toy booths meant to entertain. People were onlt just starting to arrive, so his threatening glare wasn't a danger to his clean reputation as one of the most popular attractions. After several minutes he moved and sat back against the wall furthest from eyes in the heads of those opening up the circus, waiting for the spectators to arrive. Finally, they did, and he was ready for it. While he did his work for those around to see, he couldn't help but smirk a little as he listened tp Avis' pitiful attempt to gain some popularity.

Avis sulked as more and more people flocked towards the one in the other carriage. Avis was still fiddling with the bit of hay she had picked up; the fuzzy head brushed against her nose, causing her to sneeze. The sudden noise caught the attention of a nearby family of Fawns. She didn't realize it, but she had the advandage of moving space. She sat down right in front of the bars, doing something she normally only did during traveling so she could feel the leaves and grass they passed.

She stuck her legs through the openings of the bars, watching as the half-goat children poked a little closer. "Hello," She said gently, knowing how naturally timid their kind was. Time for a different approach; she shook off the earlier failure with the vampire kids; they were normally snooty and cruel anyways. But perhaps she could win affection with these people, at the least. She watched as one of the children nervously held out his popcorn bag. Avis felt much like she was an elephant being fed peanuts or something, but she slowly reached out her hand and picked just one piece from the bag and popped it into her mouth.

It took all her willpower not to snatch the bag from the child. The stuff was absolutely delicious compared to the gruel she was normally fed. But the fawn boy grinned and ran back to his parents, chattering with them about something or other. Avis wasn't really listening; the fawn girl had watched all that and was now offering Avis a dandelion. The common weed wasn't much in reality, but it was a promising gesture. This was working out well enough. Avis took the flower and tucked it above her ear, where it could easily be seen. "Thank you," She said sweetly, waving as the girl was called back by her parents.

Avis continued in that manner; there were plenty of people who passed up the chance to look at her, but after just awhile, Avis thought of herself as quite popular with the more docile beings. Even though she would rather punch everyone here in the face and make a break for it at the soonest chance.

The carriage to Avis' left was just as popular as ever to those who walked through. Avis would hear many different sounds from the other carriage and those watching. Odd noises that were indescribable, the sound of the chains around the cage's inhabitant's wrists and ankles, and occasionally the voice that had become recognizable to Avis came from inside the carriage. Gasps, applause, screams, laughter and other sounds came from the viewers standing close to the carriage. Soon a crowd had gathered, pressing close to watch the show. The crowed worked in favor of the performer, providing a great deal of peer pressure to those walking by. The crowd grew in size, and several stray eyes fell on Avis.

"Bet'ya wish you could watch some'a this!" One of the young vampires that Avis had tried to entertain before called to Avis, grinning.

"Maybe you should ask for lessons!" Another spectator who wasn't amused by Avis in the slightest joined in with the kid.

"Be sure to take notes!" Another laughed. They were all quick to stop their rude taunting, as they didn't want to miss anymore of the performance that was still much more captivating than Avis.

Avis frowned, her face going a little red at the spectator's words. There had to be something she could do...she was still getting a few people to come and look at her, all of whom she smiled and waved at, a couple of whom she tried chatting with. Noon came around, and the vendors started selling food; someone (probably a werewolf) walked by carrying a plateful of what looked like skewered meat on a sandwich. Avis' mouth started watering at once while her stomach growled angrily. She hadn't gotten dinner last night, and she was never fed for breakfast...

Avis thought very hard about what she could possibly do. Not much...pretty much her entire life had been spend in captivity. She sort of knew how to fight thanks to a certain captor who taught her so she could fight in rings with other rare creatures. She had won once or twice, but she nearly died in one fight, which made her captor sell her off in disgust. She had always been flexible, but she couldn't really do acrobatics without showing off her underwear in this stupid dress.

The other thing she could do was jokes, but she already told herself that the last thing she was going to end up as would be a clown. Never in a million years. Avis, for lack of anything better to do, started hitting her head against the bars. She watched the small dandelion fall to the ground, and immediately struggled to pick it up. Eventually, she was lying on her stomach with her arm hanging out of the bars, but she just couldn't reach the small flower. Avis gave up in that position, going to banging her head repeatedly on the wood floor of her carriage.

As lunchtime arrived, the performance in the other carriage came to a sudden halt and the crowd that had gathered around quickly dispursed to find some place to purchanse an overpriced lunch. Pretty soon a meal arrived at the carriage beside Avis, courtesy of those running the circus. Avis definately caught the smell coming from the hot food that had been deposited for the more successful entertainer. After several minutes, there was quiet, snarky laughter, as the entertainer found the clunk of Avis' head againt the floor amusing. "Hey, Avis," The voice finally said after the laughing ceased. A small amount of steak that had been cut into smal pieces was placed in the corner nearest the carriage to the side. What seemed to be a dark colored and disfigured hand quickly pulled away,. "you're providing me with entertainment that's rather refreshing. I can't let them starve you when I've hardly learned anything about you." He said, sounding much more friendly than he had in the past, although he wasn't trying to come off as friendly at all. "So while we have time to talk, since these easily amused spectators are currently occupied, why don't you tell me about yourself, Avis?"

Avis grabbed up the steak at once, making sure to chew very thoroughly as the savory taste washed over her mouth in waves. "Well," She sighed after she was done. "At least someone kind of cares," She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Obviously, you already know my name. I'm human. One of the last, blah-blah-blah. I was born into captivity; I started my 'career' being sold to a lonely old hag who wanted a pet. I spent about half my life there. I was pretty well taken care of, and I thought I had it pretty good. But then the old lady died, and all of her stuff - including me - went to her smarmy kid. He sold me off in the blink of an eye, not thinking anything of it. I was taken to some illegal fighting rings or something; they kind of taught me how to fight enough to defend myself, but I was injured in my third fight. And then I was sold off too many times to count. Well, I finally landed here, shockingly enough. And apparently, a human like me is just far too dull for people to look at more than once!" Avis huffed angrily, shaking her head. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me about yourself, are you? I don't even know your name!"

"Huh." The other carriage said after listening to Avis tell her story. "That's nice." He chuckled a little bit and let out a sigh. "I'm afraid I can't tell you much, in case you end up resold again, but if you must know, I go by Karsenir around here." He went quiet for several minutes, trying to figure out how much knowledge he would be comfortable letting out about himself. "For now I'll let you know I've been here for...Eh, a year and six months. I'm not a hundred percent sure because I didn't expect to be here longer than a few days. A week at most!" Karsenir's voice had grown a little darker with an irritated tone to it. He paused, cleared his throat and sighed again. "Anyway, I've been here that long. I started out, after I had discovered I wouldn't be leaving, a lot like you've been, Not being cooperative, entertaining, or even slightly attractive to any of the people who came to watch. They started to starve me, like what's started happening to you. I still decided to be arrogant, as I don't starve as easily as some do." Karsenir stopped when a stray kid came up to his carriage.
"Sorry, show's over for now. Come back with your parents after a while and you might see something." Karsenir said, turning his attention away from Avis for a moment. Once the kid left, Karsenir let out a quiet grunt of displeasure. "When my attitude didn't change after their attempt to starve me into good behavior, they took to physical abuse. They knew what I could do to better their show and their pockets, they knew how to keep me from handicapping damage, and the know how to cause pain." He muttered. "After a short period of such torture, I began to work on better entertaining." Avis heard Karsenir moved as close as he could to Avis' carriage. "I'm glad you started trying today. Keep it up. Things should get easier for you."

"I don't want them to be easier," Avis grumbled unhappily. "I want to get out of here. I'm...grateful, though. To you. Thanks for warning me, now I know better than to get too far onto their nerves. Torture...isn't exactly something I would do good at." She shivered, shaking her head. "So, uh...when I break out of here, do you...want to come with me?" She asked quietly. "You'll probably laugh at me, but...I think I can pick these locks. Um...you've been here longer, what happens when someone breaks out? Do they...chase after, or...what?"

Karsenir nodded, though Avis coudn't see him. "I understand that." He smiled a little as Avis continued. "Whoa, hey, don't get us in trouble!" Karsenir exclaimed quietly. "Seriously, if we get caught thinking about trying something...Just don't." Karsenir was quiet for a little while, looking around. The food stand lines were not as long as they were, meaning people would start showing up big time again. "On the road. Talk to me then." Karsenir said. "We may come up with something."