The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin was silent, looking grumpier than ever, and angrier with each passing minute. Which made sense; Diana was gone. Not just 'kidnapped and now I have to go find her'. More like, 'kidnapped, and with every passing second, could possibly be getting hurt worse and worse, and is nearly impossible to find using practical, reasonable methods'. Just a bit worse.

Nate happened to be walking down the same hall, his eyes on the floor. It was clear that he had cried again, but he seemed to be getting better. Right up until he saw Luen. His eyes widened and his body froze, though his mouth slowly opened as Luen approached from the other side of the hallway. "L-Luen...?" He stammered, wondering if he was hallucinating. But...what had happened to him? Sweet, gentle little Luen...what monster would do such a thing; Nate reminded himself that Cern had taken the wolfing in the first place.

Nate stepped forward cautiously, wary of the blade. "Luen...do you remember me?"

Luen flicked his ragged white ears as Nate spoke, his gaze seeming to look right through the dragonian. "No," he said, his voice haunted. "I have no knowledge of your existance as a person." He pointed the end of the blade at Nate, clearly not recognizing him in the least of ways. "Step aside," he ordered, his bloody fingers clutching the hilt of the blade. The ends of his fingers were deformed; Cern had declawed him in an experiment to see if the missing claws would carry to the human form. They had, of course, and Luen's remaining hand had suffered for it, now having no nails on any of his fingers.

Nate looked at Luen, observing the wounds. It looked to be as though there were one thing keeping him alive, and that thing was slipping away... "...No." Nate said at last. "Go ahead. Run that blade through me, Luen. But I will not let you kill any others." He held his arms out, waiting. "My name is Nate, by the way. Nate Furhblast. And...if you're going to kill me, please try to make it quick." He held a smile on his face, in spite of his dark words.

Luen didn't even hesitate. He whipped the blade around and brought it down, aiming right for Nate's neck.

Luckily, his blade was stopped by a burst of fire.

"Hey!" Welk said, bounding in the way in lion form. "Nate! Sheesh, man. Really? You're suppose to help us catch Luen, not let him kill you!" He turned to Luen, who was leaning against the wall and panting so raggedly and pitifully that Welk's heart wrenched for him. When Welk stepped forward towards him, Luen pointed the sword defensively at the half-cat, warning him back.

"Luen...don't you know us?" Welk asked, his eyes brimming with tears.

"No. I have no memory of either of you," the wolfling answered. "Lord Malic and Master Cern are those who care for me."

"You're delusional!" Welk shouted, catching the attention of those inside the throne room.

"I don't know who 'Lord Malice' is, but Cern is the one who did this to you!" Nate said desperately, hardly glancing at Welk. "We only want to help, and--"

He stopped as Forin approached, his attention obviously caught. He was staggering slightly as he slowly regained the use of his legs. He pushed past Nate and Welk, stopping a safe distance from Luen. "Where...is...Diana?" He asked, not much compassion in his voice at the moment. He did care very much for Luen, but when the wolfling hesitated to respond, Forin ducked around the blade. He brought his hand up on Luen's grip, twisting the hilt of the blade and the wolfling's grip in turn, forcing Luen to let go.

Forin caught the sword, and swung it. He pulled back no less than a hair away from Luen's neck. "You used to be my friend...my only real friend. Then...you...you went and gave yourself up, like a fool! And now look at what's become of you. I can barely recognize you, a-and then you helped that FREAK get away with Diana! WHERE IS SHE?!" He screamed at Luen.

Luen just seemed to break under Forin's pressure. He tilted his head back, trying weakly to avoid the blade, his dull emerald eyes staring at Forin as if struggling to know who he was. Slowly, broken, halted words came out of his mouth. "Y-you...left me...t-there..." Blood spluttered from his lips, dripping down his chin and throat. "I...g-gave...myself...up...for you and h-her...though I'm n-not...surprised you f-forgot..." He jerked and suddenly bent to the side, his body forcing him to throw up several mouthfuls of blood, ignoring the thin cut that was drawn across his neck from the blade Forin was holding so close to his skin. "I waited..." he said, his voice tinted slightly with emotion. "For...t-two years...I waited for you..." A single, frosty little tear slipped from the corner of his eye, a silent plea for the things he had lost. "It's too late..." he whimpered, his voice returning to its monotoned level.

Welk turned away, unable to stomach watching the wolfling anymore. It hurt him to see him like that, to hear his words.

Forin threw the sword aside, wrapping his arms around Luen at once. It didn't seem like much, but coming from Forin, it was indeed a big deal. "I didn't once forget, Luen." He said, his voice suddenly softer. He had been hoping that Luen was still in there; the wolfling's words had obviously gotten past the Tartaran's rage. "It's not too late. It's not too late for you, and if you tell me where she is, it won't be too late for Diana. Please, Luen...don't just give up. Seria can keep you alive, we can get your powers back. You have things to live for, even. You can't give up! You still...you haven't heard me laugh," He didn't let the wolfling go, hugging as tight as he dared to without hurting his dear friend. "Please, Luen..."

Luen's body was fragile and small against Forin's, now much more suited to the frame and build of a twelve-year-old instead of the twenty-year-old person he was. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. All of Cern's messing around with his mind had obscured and twisted all of his memories, so even now, he was straining to remember things about the person holding him. He couldn't remember a lot; Cern had dug around through his mind so much and scrambled a lot of memories. He was utterly limp against Forin, panting softly as he struggled to breathe. Finally, he forced out words, though something obviously tried hard to prevent him from speaking. "H-Ha...daa...r-r-r...ac... D...Des...ert..." he rasped out, then he fell limp, his fragile little frame so weak that his system couldn't even keep him awake any longer.

Forin supported Luen, closing his eyes. Hadarac Desert. It would be difficult to find anyone in that place; it was the desert behind the mountain range of Storaph; said range cut through both Alastor and Storaph, and the two kingdoms had divided the desert behind it. It was a nasty place on both sides of the border; both kingdoms had more or less forgotten the areas; it was a place for criminals and those who were banished. It was like a new place entirely, different from both Storaph and Alastor alike.

Forin was not without ideas, though. "Seria!" He called, gently lowering Luen to the floor. "You stay here and heal Luen! Whatever you do, don't you dare let him die. Nate, you need to stay here and protect Seria in case Cern comes here to investigate what happened to his 'pet'. I'm not going alone though, so get yourself ready, Welk. We're going to find a dragon."

Seria moved forward at once, gently picking up Luen and immediately gasping softly. "Oh, he's so light..." she murmured, brushing his hair back and studying his wounds. So many, of many types and kinds. She didn't dare say it outloud, but she wondered if it was worth keeping Luen alive. He was missing his right arm and there was no way to ever get that back, and he obviously now had some internal problem that, while he was still alive, forcing him to vomit blood. With a single touch on his body, Seria could sense many spells in place over his body, spells that kept him alive and functioning, forcing him to live. As he recovered, Seria would have to carefully remove those spells as he recovered, so he could function under his own power once again. If he didn't die during that amount of time, and Seria knew this meant a long recovery.

Welk flicked his tail excitedly, saying "So we're going to see Zephyr again? Awesome!" He turned and bounded off down the hallway to get his stuff together.

"What's your plan?" Nate asked, frowning at Forin. "I'll stay here as you say, but how do you plan to find Zephyr?"

"There's a certain fluffy Chimera we all know of. He lives with Jag and Lily, on the outskirts of Amnarius. I have this," Forin pulled out the green scale of Zephyr, showing it to Nate. "With this, we can find Zephyr. And I have a few things of Diana's so once we get into the desert, we can track her down. So that little fluffy ball of irritating hyperactivity will be the difference between me finding Diana...and Cern tearing her apart while we search fruitlessly for her." He looked down at Luen, his expression difficult to understand. He was angry at Luen, as bad as it sounded, but he was absolutely sick with anger at Cern for what he had done to Luen (and what he could be doing to Diana). At the same time, he was sad for his dear friend and horribly upset at himself for allowing Diana to be taken.

He didn't even seem happy to be seeing Luen again.

Seria picked Luen up, holding him as gently as possible. Again, she considered the ups and downs to letting him pass on. He wouldn't be hurting and his suffering would end, but then they would lose two years worth of Forin's searching effort, because they would've ended up killing the thing he had been searching for.

Seria moved off, at a loss for what to do to save the once-sweet, kind wolfling.

Welk came back now, in human form with his bag slung over his shoulder. "I'm ready," he said. "Let's travel fast." He never, not once, would've thought that he would be traveling alone with Forin. He had never really liked the Tartaran, but he didn't hate him either, so this would be a new experiance for the half-cat. Welk suddenly turned and hugged Nate hard, purring loudly. "It was good to see you again, Nate," he said, glancing up at the dragonian that he was now closer in height to, albeit not by too much. He dropped his voice lower and said "Give Tasia a kiss when you find her again, okay? Oh...and a hug from me." He grinned, then backed up.

Nate smiled slightly, nodding. He had been planning to set out to search for Tasia immediately, but Forin was right. Seria would be incapable of fighting off Cern if the Tartaran came back. As such, he couldn't exactly just leave..."I will. Thank you. It was nice seeing you again, too. And with any luck, it won't be the last. Who knows, maybe Werr will hire me..."

"Welk, there's no time. We must leave," He snapped, moving towards the doors. "Let's go already."

Welk nodded at Nate, then turned and trotted after Forin, saying "We're gonna be traveling buddies, Forinny~!" He quickly grew serious, taking lion form and following at Forin's heels. Once they were outside, Welk walked to the gates and sat down, waiting for Forin to get his horse. Once the Tartaran was set, he and Welk moved into gallops, racing off towards the edges of Alastor.

The trip was uneventful, at best. They started at noon, and rode hard to Alastor.

Werr was watching Cynyr sleep. He was upset, to say the least. He didn't seem to willing to talk; the claws had raked against his chest, creating deep grooves and making it painful to talk anyways; Docter Marr had done what he could for both of them. Werr was nowhere near as injured as Cynyr was, though. He did look very upset, troubled by what Obelisk guessed was old memories. Werr just laid there in his bed next to Cynyr, not wanting to move due to the pain.

But if he was able to move with ease, he would have likely moved away from the half-cat. Werr eventually started crying into his blankets; he fell asleep shortly after. By the time he woke up again, it was late evening; but he really didn't see much need to be awake, so he made himself sleep more, knowing how much he needed it.

"Jag, could you get fish from the market today?" Lily asked, rummaging through the kitchen cupboards. She - along with Jag and Spy - now lived in a little town named Fuez; it was on the very far side of Alastor, barely within the borders. It was a beautiful port town, and especially beautiful early in the morning, which it was now. The window view from their living room looked out over the rising sun, which was quickly growing over the horizon.

Spy was on the windowsill, watching the sunrise. His tail flicked around behind him, which made it obvious about what he was doing; every morning since the moved in, Spy would get up to watch the sunrise and plan what he was going to do during that day. He usually started by running around in circles around town. Then he would help the baker deliver bread to those who ordered it. He would get paid a single bronze piece every morning for helping; he would then run home and put it in one of his many money-jars, which he hid under the floorboards. He had saved up quite a bit so far, though no one really knew what he was saving up for.

Then, after helping with the bread, he would practice climbing by going up the chimney, provided the fireplace wasn't lit. Then he would wash up by splashing around in the ocean, attempting to catch some small fish. If he did catch something, Lily would fry it for him to eat for lunch, which he loved. After lunch, he would help Lily in the garden, then go shopping for dinner. After dinner, it was right off to bed.

It was just another day, really...right up until there was a heavy knock on the door. It was Forin, Welk behind him; the Tartaran's look alone would be an obvious sign that things weren't going to be normal from here on out.

"Yes, love," Jag replied, staring down at several papers spread out on the kitchen table. "I'll get them once I go out." Jag hadn't changed much, other than the tribal decorations he was wearing. A simple silver circlet around his forehead, a thick band around his neck, and a bigger necklace band that draped over his shoulders. He worked out of the home, doing metalworking. He would receive requests from people across Alastor for his splendid works, which he would craft. Suits of armor, swords, axes, all manner of objects. His jewelary was the highest demand, as he created delicate, intricate pieces that were of high quality. He commonly asked for Lily's advice on all of it, as she, after all, was a girl that would wear items such as those. "Bah, Davis raised his metal prices again," the gryphon said, frowning at the papers he was studying. "That jerk... He knows I need that material..." He looked up when the knock at the door came, moving to answer it. He merely blinked at those behind the door for a moment, then finally said "Well! You both are a sight I thought I'd never seen again." He moved aside, allowing them both to come in. "Lily!" he called towards the kitchen. "It's Forin and Welk. You remember them? From two years back."

Lily hurried out of the kitchen, smiling happily. "Hello, hello!" She said brightly. "Please, come in. I was told that it was going to rain today," She giggled. A fortune teller had stopped by yesterday and had forcasted rain for the morning.

"Lily, I told you not to believe that lady!" Spy objected. "I know crazy people, and she was cccrrraaazzzzyyyy." He hopped off of the windowsill, rolling around on the rug.

"Shh, Spy, don't talk about people like that." Lily chided, though a smile remained on her face. "Well, Welk, I'm suprised to see you out and about without Werr. And Forin, how has your search for Luen been going?" She asked, concern in her voice as she spoke. When Forin just looked down for a moment, Lily sighed. "No luck?"

"No, we found him..." Forin mumbled. "But he's not in the greatest of conditions. Seria was thinking about letting him die." He didn't look up, clenching his hands into fists. He had read Seria's expression when she looked at the wolfling; it had been too obvious to him what she was thinking of doing.

"Oh...I'm sorry," Lily set a hand on his shoulder. Forin clearly still hadn't gotten over his adversion to physical contact; he grabbed her hand, almost digging his claws in. She jerked her hand away, her hand leaving Forin's grip with a couple of thin scrapes along the back of it. She took a couple steps back with a small whimper, turning away and deciding to let Jag deal with them.

((Also, we'll mention the pregnancy in a bit. I want Forin to cry first, and then in comes the comedic relief when Forin understands zero percent about childbirth. xDDD))

Jag glared at Forin, quickly extending one brillant blue wing out and around Lily, drawing her close to his side. He stroked a hand gently over her head, brushing aside strands of ginger hair, then turned to Forin and said "I'm...sorry, for that. I personally can't say I know how you feel, as I didn't know Luen very well, but...he was nice enough." He fluffed out his crest feathers, giving his long blue tail a small flick, then said "Well, you wouldn't have come here without having a reason for it. You don't seem to be the kind of person who likes idle chitchat. So what do you want?" He was quick to cut to the point, though he did move his gaze from Forin to Welk when he saw the half-cat stare at Lily. He just stared, simple enough, but for good reason.

"I...messed something up," Forin said, looking utterly defeated now that he was admitting it out loud. He looked more than upset, he looked absolutely miserable; as though nothing could ever repair what had happened.

"Where's Diana?" Spy suddenly asked. "Where did she go? I want pettings from her, I do! Is she taking a nap somewhere, 'cuz she takes lots of naps all the time, it's true. So where is she?" He ran in a circle around Forin's feet before staring up at the Tartaran, tilting his head one way questioningly.

That's when the tears fell to the floor. It was very, very strange to see Forin cry; as grumpy and nasty as he was all the time, crying just didn't seem to be something he did. He had only ever shed a tear once before, when Bala had tortured Diana in order to cause him to suffer.

But now, Forin plopped right down on the floor, brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, rested his head against his arms and just cried.

"...Oh," Spy backed up behind Jag and Lily, his ears low.

Welk took a step back at this, not really knowing what to do. It would've been different if Luen would've been here. Luen could hug Forin and comfort him. Welk? No, he couldn't do that. Forin would probably hurt him. The half-cat sighed, giving his head a slight shake. He felt sorry for the Tartaran, of course. Seeing Forin cry made Welk feel sad too, but Welk knew he wouldn't be able to comfort the creature. When he thought about it, Welk knew that Diana and Luen were to Forin like what Werr and Cynyr were to him; his best friends, his most trusted companions. His family. And Forin didn't have either of them, now. Sure, he had Luen, but Welk personally thought that the wolfling wasn't going to last longer than a few days. Maybe a week. Tops. Maybe if they got Diana back, having Luen die wouldn't be so hard on Forin?

Welk looked down, saddened that he was even considering pulling the plug and letting one of his friend pass on. "We'll get Diana back, Forin," he said quietly. "We know where to go and what to do. She'll be okay." He moved a little closer and brushed his tail out before he could stop himself, gently flicking it over Forin's arm. He quickly snapped his tail back to his side after that, not wanting Forin to beat the tar out of him for touching him.