The Forgotten Zodiac

Welk glanced over at him, then shuddered and pulled back behind Werr, shivering. "I don't trust him," he said fearfully, peering at Obelisk through large red eyes. He breathed a small tongue of fire out of his mouth, sending the little flame dancing in Obelisk's direction. "Meow," he said, then finally pulled away from Werr and took lion form, curling himself around the boy.

"Why not?" Werr blinked in confusion. "He's pretty nice. He doesn't look all that great, but he's not bad..."

"Welk believes that I am because of certain things you do not remember," Obelisk said quietly. "I was forced to do terrible things to both him and you. I was unable to stop myself, but that is no excuse. I understand Welk's distrust." He said simply, silently pondering something curious. Malice...for whatever reason...didn't really seem capable of killing Werr. Obelisk frowned slightly, wondering why that was. So many times Malice tried while controlling him, and now he tried while controlling an entire Wyrven. Yet Werr lived on, despite hundreds of odds against him. Perhaps he - he and his friends - were the ones to weild the artifacts. There really wasn't any way of knowing who the artifacts would choose; it could be him. It could be the Rabbitzen Ina, even. For that matter, it could be none of them.

((I switched to the others in this post, so if you want to say something in the first part, just do like I did with the * and I'll know and switch the posts right.))

Welk stared, watching Obelisk speak, then buried his head against Werr's leg, trying hard not to freak out and engulf the once-dark being in flames. He settled for resting his head in Werr's lap and staring at Obelisk. He found that he couldn't look away. He worried that if he did look away, the creature would attack or something and kill Werr. It was so hard to look at him and not remember what he had done to them. To Werr...

The lion hissed and turned his head away, pressing into Werr.

*

Zephyr soared high over Storaph Palace, trying not to drop the very annoying kirin in his hands. "Will you sit still, please?!" he shouted at Kyrik, who flinched and stared up at him. "I'm worried I'll drop you!" the dragon said.

Kyrik looked down meekly, holding his thin legs close to his body.

They were right over Storaph by this time and Zephyr started to head down. He smiled slightly when he saw Seria standing in the courtyard, waving. She had spotted the large emerald dragon from a window and had gone out to meet him and the others. "Hello!" she said when the dragon landed. "You got Diana! That's great. ...And who might this be?" She smiled at Kyrik as the dragon set him down, then flinched when the kirin snorted fearfully at her and plunged away, bucking a few times before settling down not far off.

"...Okay," the healer said, blinking out of her shock. "I suppose he's more of the shy type, then."

"Hardly. The thing was nuzzling me the second it saw me." Forin snorted, taking the ice bag from Jag and sliding off of Zephyr with Diana. "Fix her, please," He took Diana's injured arm in his hands, holding it out to Seria. The girl sniffed, still on the verge of tears.

Forin had told her along the way about Luen.

Seria immediately frowned, saddened by Diana's crying and a bit unnerved by the fact that a strange lerloch had taken to Forin so...quickly. She pushed that aside, however, and instead concentrated on Diana. She took the child's severed thumb from the bag and put it back against her hand, holding it in place as she began reattaching fibers and muscle. It took a while, but she managed to reattach it, then move on to the girl's other wounds. "Shhh...it's okay," she murmured. "I'm so sorry, Diana."

Kyrik trotted over to watch, not interested at all in Seria herself. He licked the side of Diana's face, then turned gentle green eyes up at Forin.

Emerald gentle green eyes that were slitted, of course.

Diana sniffed, wrapping her arms around Kyrik once Seria was done. Forin rested a hand on the Lerloch's muzzle, frowning slightly. Those eyes...were deers eyes normally slitted? Forin shook his head, not really understanding it, but he turned and picked up Diana. "Come," He said quietly. "Let's say goodbye to Luen." He moved off, silently hoping the king would walk by in time to see Diana crying over her dead friend. That would make his suffering worse, seeing a poor young girl sobbing over the one he had killed.

Kyrik tilted his head, then followed them in curiosity. He followed behind them, watching them closely. He shied at nearly everything that passed them, but was willing to follow.

Luen's body was still where they had left it, limp on a bed in the infirmary.

His pale skin was cold and lifeless, his scrawny frame weak and tiny.

Kyrik tilted his head to the side and walked over, sniffing the corpse lightly. He glanced back at Forin and Diana, wondering.

Diana burst into tears at the sight of it, squirming out of Forin's grip and wrapping her arms around the lifeless body. "Wh-why?" She wailed into Luen's torn shirt. "Why d-did this happen to you? Luen, why? I love you...you can't be dead! I love you!" She screamed, refusing to accept it. She proceeded to weep into Luen's clothes. Forin watched, looking rather unhappy. Diana was in hysterics, and Forin had chosen to leave the one at fault alive. He still wanted very much to slay Asmodius...even more so now that Diana was weeping over what the foolish king had done.

But he had to make the human suffer.

Kyrik moved forward and nuzzled the crying girl, his long muzzle gently brushing her skin. He glanced back at Forin, his emerald eyes gleaming lightly, then suddenly nudged hard at Luen's body. And again. The kirin shoved at him, threatening to push the corpse right off of the medical bed. He stomped a hoof on the ground, snorting, then pushed at Luen again. Then he turned and pushed Forin, bleating as he did so.

"He's dead," Forin murmured, putting his hand on Kyrik's muzzle again. "It's alright. Just let him rest in peace..." Diana tugged Luen's body back into her arms, sniffing pathetically. "Diana, mistress, it's okay. I'm still here..." He said quietly.

Diana turned and wailed into Forin's shirt. "He's dead! Why did he die? Why?"

Forin was silent, kneeling and wrapping his arms around the distraught, wailing girl.

The kirin stomped a hoof angrily, then walked over to a window and looked out. It was nighttime by now, slowly starting to approach morning. He bleated loudly and walked back over, then promptly butted his head into Forin. Hard. He then twisted up onto his hind legs, tossing his head back, the tines of his antlers glinting in the dim room lighting. He slammed back down on all fours, shaking his head, then pushed Luen's body off of the bed. He seem to care about letting the poor wolfling's corpse rest in peace, as he watched emotionlessly as the fragile body hit the ground. He bugled loudly, glancing towards the window again, then turned pleading emerald eyes on Forin.

"Ow!" Forin snarled. "What the--stupid, hair-brained deer! Don't you understand anything?" He snapped viciously as Diana started crying all the more. "Get away from him!" He picked up Luen's body and placed it back on the table, swiping at the Kirin when he tried to shove it off again.

"F-Forin, stop, h-he..." Diana sniffed. "He wants something...w-what is it?" She questioned, shaking her head. "W-why can't you talk?"

"Because he's dumb," Forin grumbled.

"No, Forin, don't call names," Diana chided. Forin just 'hmph'ed and said nothing.

The kirin looked at her sympathetically, then moved forward and nuzzled the side of her face. He bent his head and caught her eyes with his own, as if trying to communicate through sight, since for some reason or another he was unwilling or unable to talk. His dark emerald eyes were shimmering in the dim light, glistening with sorrow, the slitted pupils fixed on the girl. He nuzzled her again, then looked back to Forin. He walked over and put his muzzle right on the Tartaran's shoulder, whimpering. He curled his long neck up, gently touching the Tartaran's face with his soft nose.

Diana just looked up at him sadly, not understanding much. She wrapped her arm back around Forin's, looking down. Forin growled at the Kirin, annoyed. Honestly, he just wanted the thing to leave him and Diana alone at this point; he didn't really know who it was the thing's eyes reminded him of, but it didn't matter anymore. He just wanted to be left to grieve in peace.

He decided to express this. "Shoo, Kyrik, or whoever you are." He growled. "Just...give us some time, okay?"

The kirin looked greatly hurt, slowly backing up. He glanced over to the window, seeing how close morning was getting, then slowly managed to speak. "But...I...don't have time..." he murmured, flicking his ears back. He sighed deeply, then slowly turned and walked towards the door. He accidentally tipped over a jar filled with odd gold powder, sending the dust into the air. He sneezed, watching the harmless glitter float through the air, then smiled and gave a little laugh. He blew on the gold dust, watching it swirl, then laughed a bit more.

His laugh was Luen's, perfectly and exactly. A giggle that ended in an almost-hiccup.

"Don't...have time?" Forin frowned at him, which deepened when he heard the laugh. He quickly threw it together in his dark mind. The eyes, the laugh, the attachment...it all made sense all of the sudden. All of it. Forin moved forward, putting his hand on the Kirin's muzzle yet again.

"...Luen?"

The kirin stilled, staring intently at the Tartaran. He slowly stepped forward and pressed his muzzle against Forin's neck, flicking his ears back against his head.

The sun rose at that moment, signalling dawn.

Two things happened at once. The first was that Luen's corpse, laying nearby, vanished completely. Gone, right off of the bed. The second was that the kirin suddenly jerked and fell to the ground, squealing in pain. He rose up shakily on his thin legs, then flinched and reared up on his back legs.

All of the color on his body vanished, his fur turning stark white. His eyes remained emerald, which was basically the only color the white creature had. He shook his head dazedly, blinking slowly, then shrank down into human form.

None other than Luen sat there, except instead of wolf traits, he now had deer. Two small antler buds sat on either side of his head and his ears were now slender deer ears. His once-long fluffy tail was now short, though still just as fluffy.

He blinked in confusion, glancing down at himself and wondering what had just happened.

Forin practically tackled the thin white being, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Luen..." He murmured, squeezing his eyes shut in order to stop himself from crying. Diana, however, made no attempt to stop her tears, although they quickly turned to tears of joy. She ran forward and Forin moved to allow her to hug the once-Wolfling as well. He hugged them both, refusing to let go.

"Luen, I told you that you couldn't be dead!" Diana rubbed her face into Luen's shirt, smiling a little bit. "I told you so."

"I don't know how this is possible, but whatever's responsible has my thanks..." Forin muttered. Which didn't sound like much, but as with a lot of things, it was a lot to come from him.

Luen looked confused as they hugged him, but within a matter of moments, he was hugging them back nearly as hard. He flicked his new ears back, burying his head against Forin's shoulder and wrapping his arms tightly around Diana and the Tartaran. "I...you..." he stammered, having a hard time forming words. His body shook and trembled, not recovered from having been dead for so long. It was like his odd deer form and his corpse had combined, leaving him in a terribly weakened state that was a bit better than how his wolfling form had looked. He had both arms again, but that was pretty much the only thing different. He was still terribly thin and cut up, malnurished and skeletal. But he seemed to no longer be controlled.

He hugged Diana close and started sobbing, his shoulders quivering with each haggered little breath. "I thought you both had left me..." he murmured in a raspy little voice, barely able to keep himself upright. If not for Forin right next to him, he would've fallen over.

"No, Luen." Forin said, suddenly sounding stern. His voice softened a bit when he spoke next, though. "I didn't forget about you. I searched for two years, but Cern...and then, I only left your body because I had to save Diana. I...would never, ever leave you. Ever."

"Me neither!" Diana sniffed. "L-Luen, we should get you Seria t-to fix your cuts, a-and we'll get you food..."

"There's no time," Forin tutted, scooping frail little Luen up into his arms. "Hold on, my dear friend. We'll get you back in shape in no time," He said quietly, starting towards Nate's room, where Seria was.

Nate was actually just waking up. He was propped up against the wall, pillows behind his back for comfort. He couldn't move his legs still, and after a quick test, he found it was difficult to move his arms, as well.

He felt like crying, but decided against it, just going limp again.