The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr took Cynyr's hand, nodding in understanding. He wiped his eyes, sniffing once while Obelisk shrugged and turned away, walking back out. "Obelisk! Bring me some candy, please? Or a cookie?" Werr called after him.

"I'll see what the kitchens have," Obelisk replied, shutting the door behind him. Werr smiled, wiping his eyes again.

"S-so who were you shouting at, Cynyr? Where did he go?" Werr asked, smiling at Cynyr again.

"Under the bed, apparently," the panther said, flicking the tip of his broken tail. "Welk, come on. Obelisk's gone."

Welk carefully crept out, glaring at the door. He turned to Cynyr and had only one word for him; "Talk."

"Obelisk dug his way back up from the underground," the wind mage said calmly. "As it turns out, the whole time we were fighting him, he was being controlled by something worse. He caused earthquakes to start up as he neared the surface and one of them was pretty bad. The force mad Werr trip and hit his head." He dropped his voice lower, watching Welk carefully with a few ounces of fear. "He has amnesia and can't remember us."

Silence.

Welk just stared at him for a good, long moment, as if trying to determine that the panther wasn't lying to him. Slowly, he just seemed to break down. He moved forward, unable to believe his brother. "Werr?" he said softly, his voice strained and sad. "You remember me, don't you? You...you have to remember me! ...Don't you?"

Werr pushed himself back with his arms, shaking his head slowly. He pushed himself so far that he promptly fell off the bed. He then burst into tears again, wrapping his arms around his bandaged chest; it hurt, of course. Red started showing through the bandages, as Werr had split his stitches, apparently.

Doctor Marr came out at this point, frowning. He helped Werr back up onto the bed, letting out a sigh as he started to undo the bandages to check on the damage.

Welk simply stared, his bottom lip quivering. "He...he really..." he said softly, tears forming in his eyes. For all two years had done for him, he really had changed the least out of them all. Still the fiery, emotional little kitten that Cynyr had picked up so long ago.

Welk backed up and hit the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. He put his hands over his ears, holding the sides of his head. "Why did this happen?" he said, and even the hardened Cynyr cringed at his voice. So full of despair. Hopeless. "I shouldn't have left. I knew it. Oh, I knew it. I should've listened to myself, but no, I thought they'd be okay. Nope. Of course not. Nope."

Werr watched him, blinking in surprise. Eventually, after Doctor Marr left, Obelisk returned with a plate of steaming cookies. He handed them to Werr and left again.

Young-minded Werr looked down at the cookies and promptly slid out of bed, ignoring his own pain (which was surprising) and sitting down next to Welk. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly, offering a cookie to the one who had once been his dearest friend. "Why are you crying, are you hurt?" He put a hand on Welk's shoulder, frowning a little.

Welk shook his head, finding that his voice had departed him. He kept his gaze down, thousands of thoughts darting through his head all at once; Why did this happen? How could he fix it? Would Werr ever remember him? If this was permanent, how could Welk cope? Could he trust Obeli- no. A glance over at Cynyr brought up all new thoughts; would he be okay? Were his limbs permanently damaged? What had hurt him? He wished Seria were here, or...or...

He suddenly found himself longing for his mother, Briana.

He pushed that feeling away, instead curling further into his little ball as he sobbed quietly.

Werr lowered the cookie, deciding that it would be best just to eat it. It was certainly better than letting it go stale. Eventually, Werr leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes like he was going to sleep; he didn't want to move anyways. He wasn't actually tired, he just had nothing better to do but sleep. That, and there was a dull pain in his chest that made it hard to concentrate on much, really. Obelisk returned by this time, snorting a bit as he spotted Werr falling asleep against the wall. His bandages immediately moved to pick Werr up so he could move the boy back into bed.

Welk remained against the wall, slowly lifting his head slightly to watch Obelisk as the tall creature moved around. He definitely seemed nicer, to some extent. Not that Welk trusted him, and from the way Cynyr was staring, the panther didn't seem to trust him very much either. Once Werr was settled on the bed, Welk suddenly moved, taking lion form and bounding over. He jumped up onto the bed and laid down, curling close to Werr and pressing his head against the boy's side.

Cynyr gently ran a hand over Welk's red mane, trying to comfort him but having no such luck.

Obelisk watched for a few moments, noting their discomfort. He moved to leave, but found himself standing before Forin. The Tartaran looked up at Obelisk, but moved aside to allow the once-human to walk by. He was just guessing, really, but seeing how Obelisk didn't looked any more burnt than usual, Welk must not have attacked. As such, he could assume that Obelisk either wasn't actually Obelisk, Welk was now under control as well as Werr and Cynyr, or Obelisk wasn't the same as before.

Obelisk merely moved past Forin, lumbering down the hall, limping slightly. Forin sighed and assumed it was either the first or the third. He walked into the infirmary and sat down, frowning at Cynyr's condition. "We left Seria at Storaph," He said quietly. "Luen was in...critical condition when we left. Cern messed him up pretty badly..."

Cynyr flicked his ears at the Tartaran, listening as he spoke. "I'm sorry," he said, looking away. He sighed, gently scratching Welk behind his ears a few times. The half-cat sighed, then looked back up at Forin and asked "Do you think he'll live? How bad is he? And...where's Diana? You've never struck me as the type who would leave them both in one place without you there, so something must have happened to her."

"I left Luen with Seria so that he could recover. He's pretty bad...but if Seria doesn't want me to tear out her powers and feed them to crows, then yes. He'll live. I had no choice but to leave him, and..." Forin looked away. "Diana was taken by Cern. We need to ask Werr about whether or not he remembers exactly where the dragon's hiding place was, but..." He sighed heavily, looking at the sleeping Werr. He frowned for a moment, then looked back at Cynyr. "Looks like we may have to wait awhile."

Cynyr glared at him for a moment, saying "Don't talk about my fiancée like that. She'll do everything she can, I know she will." He relaxed again, resting his head against the pillows keeping him upright. "I just had to go and fight a wyvern..." he muttered, carefully rubbing his casted arm. It hurt so badly, but all he could do was bear the pain. The mage shook his head, then said "I can vaguely remember some details about the place. It was high up, near the tallest mountain. You have to go between two peaks. I think the valley is on the other side."

"That's helpful. Thank you." Forin sighed, looking back at Werr again. "Welk...I'm just going to go on ahead." He stood. "Don't get yourselves killed." He headed out the door again, going to find Jag, who had stayed with the horse. He walked quietly down the stairs and to the front gate, sighing as he approached Jag. "Welk is staying behind. Cynyr and Werr were injured by a Wyvern, as far as I could tell. Don't freak out if you see Obelisk; I'm not entirely certain, but it seems that he's not the same as before."

Jag snorted, saying "You're crazy. We're talking about Obelisk. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him." He shook his head, then said "So now we're one person short. Crap. And we were already going into this at bad odds. Bad being that we're going after Cern." He stood on one front leg and one back for a moment, then said "Well, at least we'll have a dragon on our side soon enough. Let's get moving."

Forin stalked forward and dropped himself (gently) on Jag's back. Before the Gryphon could object, Forin snapped, "I don't like this anymore than you do. But it's faster than getting a horse and that's not something we could use high up in the mountains anyways. Spy!" He called, 'oof'ing as the Chimera hopped up into his arms. "Let's go."

Nate was...well, upset, to be honest. It didn't seem like he would ever be happy again. Tasia was gone, Luen was half-dead...it was just too hard to be happy. He was sitting in the infirmary, where Seria was with Luen. But he was on the other side of the room, looking out the window. As if he expected that Tasia might suddenly decide to come back.

Ina had stayed behind with them, apparently. She was singing some song to herself, apparently painting her nails with some odd form of paint. It smelled badly, at any rate. It was imported from her hometown; a lovely pure white color that covered up the awful normal brown color of her nails. She seemed to think that this was nicer, somehow.

Seria moved back from where she had been working on Luen, panting. Even with all of her strength, with her amazing powers and skills, she had barely managed to do anything for the sickly wolfling. She could do nothing for the frailness of his bones nor the muscle he had lost. She couldn't help him gain weight so he would be back at a safe level. His right arm was gone forever. Seria had healed as many wounds as he had, but there was one she couldn't heal.

Whatever was inside him and causing him to vomit pure blood didn't seem to be fixable.

He had regained consciousness twice during this time, but hadn't spoke nor been able to see anything. The most that had happened was that Seria had needed to hold him through violent convulsions and help him lean over a bucket as he threw up mouthful after mouthful of precious blood. Now he was resting again, though he was conscious.

Seria stood up, wiping her bloody hands off on a towel nearby. "I can't do anything else but try and keep him alive," she said, glancing over at Nate. "And even then, I have my doubts. But I'm trying as hard as I can. I'm not giving him up without a good fight." She moved over and touched Nate on the shoulder, then gently hugged him. When she pulled back, she grabbed her bag and headed towards the door. "I'm running low on medicinal leaves," she said, picking up the small box in her bag with a leaf shape on it. She opened it and studied its contents, then sighed and closed it. "Watch Luen while I go to the castle gardens and get some more, okay?" she asked, glancing at Nate and Ina in turn. She turned and walked out, leaving them alone.

Ina shrugged and looked expectantly at Nate, blowing on her freshly painted nails to help them dry faster. She wasn't about to start a babysitting company. Watching Luen lie there and mope was the last thing on her 'I want to' list. It was a wonder what Werr ever saw in her, really. In fact, Ina wondered about that, herself.

Nate stared out into the night sky for a moment longer before moving over to Luen. He sat down on the bed across from him, smiling weakly. "Uh...hi, Luen." He said upon confirming that the wolfling was conscious. "I just wanted to say sorry about what happened to you...and I know things seem dim right now, but...but you have to hold on, okay? You still have things to live for; like me, and Forin...and Diana, too. You'll always have us. So...don't give up." Nate started stumbling along his words, realizing that his eyes were welling up with tears. "You...you can't give up..." He murmured before his voice cracked. After that he just shut up and focused on not turning into a bawling mess in front of a Rabbitzen whom he hardly knew and his dying friend.

Luen was silent, not seeming to notice his friend's presence. He slowly opened his eyes, which were still dull and lifeless. They brightened slightly after a moment, but it wasn't because he heard Nate. After about a minute, he suddenly spoke weakly. "Yes...my lord..." he said quietly, then suddenly moved unexpectedly. He pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and lashed out at Nate, hitting the dragonian in the chest with the paper. It had the rune for 'Frost' written on it, and when Luen activated it, a frost spell burst out and wrapped around Nate, pinning him to the ground with thick bindings of ice. Luen got off of the bed and moved towards the door, grabbing his sword from where it was laying nearby. He trotted out of the room, moving at a pace faster than they would've thought possible for his condition.

Nate screeched, struggling against the bindings. "L-Luen! LUEN!" He screamed, feeling the ice starting to constrict more than just his body. It was already starting to dim his internal flame, which was essentially his life force. "Ina! Go after him, break these things, do something! Don't just sit there!" He spat angrily while Ina continued blowing on her nails.

"Fine, fine," Ina hissed at him in annoyance. She waved her hands back and forth as she stalked out of the room, following Luen. She made no attempt to stop him yet; she just followed along behind, waiting to see what he would do.

The wolfling didn't seem to notice her or care that she was following. A one-minded objective had settled in his mind, one that gave him no room to think of his own, not that he could.

Kill the king.

He stalked down the halls and into the throne room, where Asmodius was talking to a few guard. The king still looked very, very tired and upset, but as time passed, he was slowly recovering from his loss. He and his five guards looked up as Luen entered the room. "Hello, young one," Asmodius said quietly, his voice strained. "Is there something you need?"

Luen wordlessly picked up another piece of paper and threw it.

Luckily for Asmodius, one of his guards grabbed it out of the air in curiosity. He barely had time to scream as jagged frost spikes suddenly ripped through his entire body, tearing him to pieces then and there. The other guards all snapped into action then, drawing their weapons and running forward with swords bared.

Luen didn't stand a chance.

He blocked one sword hit, but the bone in his arm broke cleanly as a result. He flailed his single arm and threw the sword, watching as it flew out and sank into Asmodius' shoulder. The king cried out in pain, then, without thinking, shouted an order.

"Kill him!"

Five swords fell in an instant.

Luen was stabbed in multipule places on his body, including right through his chest and neck. He gurgled once, his eyes growing wide. Light returned to them, though it was already dimming. Tears slid from his eyes as he struggled to speak, to say something. But nothing came out.

He fell to the ground, broken words slowly managing to find their way out.

"I'm...s...s-sorry..."

He died a moment later, all life leaving his emerald eyes.