The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin dodged the sword swipe, but was unable to predict the wolf attack. He snarled as Nelu sank her teeth into his shoulder. He dropped the sword, but jerked his elbow back and hit Nelu hard in the ribs, using his other hand to force her teeth off of his shoulder. "Maybe I am. Who knows," Forin coughed, stumbling away and out of the smoke entirely. "Sixty seconds."

The wolfling snarled and backed up, but she continued to grin. "Sixty seconds isn't long," she said. "Just enough time for you to apologize for being so weak, I suppose. What do you say?" She jumped out of the shadows again, this time from behind, and took human form right before hitting Forin. She grabbed onto him from behind, bringing her mouth a few inches away from his ear. "Do you have any regrets?" she purred, her voice smooth and low. "Anything you wish you could've done better? I know I do. I wish I could've drove a dagger into my foolish brother's skinny neck...oh, wait, I'll be doing that next."

Forin waited a long moment before speaking. "I wish I could have laughed more. Diana never heard it..." He said quietly, before pulling out of his pocket what appeared to be a small metal cylinder. He had pulled it out of the inner pocket of his cloak the second he had spotted Nelu, of course. He swallowed hard, then pushed it up against his chest, wincing as his entire hand sunk into himself. He pulled out his hand, but the metal bit was no longer there. It was excruciating; to put something inside of someone required delicate work, and he had just placed it as close to his heart as possible, without taking much care.

He then whipped around, grabbing Nelu in a messy headlock, his arm around her neck rather than his elbow. She would have been able to struggle free if not for the faint beep she heard from inside Forin's chest.

Boom.

Amnarius itself shook; a cloud of smoke and dust shot up from around the garden, getting thrown absolutely everywhere from the sheer force. Flames engulfed the silver trees and soft grass, the pure sky polluted with smoke as it spread across the blue expanse. The castle took a small amount of damage as well; a few windows shattered closest to the explosion, and the stained glass window in the ballroom was met with a number of cracks along the beautiful signet of Amnarius.

There was silence for a long moment, then something finally moved. Luen pulled himself up out of the ditch he had jumped in, coughing hard. Dust billowed up out of his lungs in a puffy cloud, but he didn't care. Part of the white-stone wall had fallen on him, resulting in a bleeding wound on his head and several bruises on his body, but again, he didn't care. He scrambled up and ran, ran as if his very life depeneded on it. Ash was falling through the misty cloud that had seemed to settle over the much-too-quiet city. Like the powers he had lost were weeping black snowflakes from the sky.

"Forin!" he called, his voice echoing far too long in the silence. "Where are you?!" He took human form and stood, panting, as he waited for a reply. "Forin! Forin! Why...?" He sniffled, tears trailing in dusty tracks down his face.

"Why would you do something so terrible...for someone like me...?"

Luen found Forin. It wasn't too hard; the Tartaran was at the bottom of a small crater that had been formed. Nelu was nearby--what was left of her, anyways. Forin was staring dully up at the sky while blood leaked from a wound on the arm he had held Nelu with. More specifically, it was pretty much gone. His other arm was at his side, cut up and badly burnt, as was his face. Otherwise, Forin was half-buried in ash, dirt, and rubble.

It was just hiding the real damage. Under the mess, there was a gaping hole where Forin's chest should have been. His body mutilated, unmoving and cold, it was surprising he wasn't bleeding too much. What blood was there was only being dragged out of him by gravity; his heart was...gone. As were most of his internal organs.

Forin was dead.

Luen stumbled over and collapsed to his knees near the Tartaran's corpse, blinking in shock. He didn't have to touch Forin to know. He threw his head back and wailed, sobbing to the sky. Then he remembered that Nelu had literally been blown apart, not even leaving a body behind.

His wailing increased after that, to screaming levels. He screamed to the sky, pure, unabridged agony in his voice. He didn't seem able to calm himself down. He wailed and sobbed and screamed incoherently, then noticed his head felt a bit lighter than normal and reached a quivering hand up. He was missing his right antler; it had been broken off when the white-stone wall had fallen on him. It was now just a stump, but he didn't care. He scooped Forin up into his arms, still sobbing, then somehow managed to turn and take deer form while moving Forin around, so the body ended up on his back.

Then he ran, ever crying, as fast as he could, to the Divine healers.

Toro was waiting in the healer's room. One of the healers had already run out to the jail, a guard following her just in case. Toro jumped when Luen burst into the room.

He took one look at the destroyed, bloody mess and screamed, backreeling until his back hit the wall. He plopped down on the ground, unable to tear his eyes off the ruined corpse that was Forin.

Namanai took one look at the body and instantly knew he was dead, but before she could open her mouth to protest, Luen shoved his face into hers and snarled "I swear if you don't do something, ANYTHING, to bring him back, I'll murder every single one of you. You have the power to restore organs and bodies! And you'll use those powers on him or you'll be the one needing your body fixed!"

Namanai's jaw dropped and she blinked, but for some reason, she didn't call for the guards. She could feel the gaping hole that had been torn in Luen's heart from Forin's death; a hole similar to the one that had formed when the once-wolfling had died and Forin had mourned his death.

The older healer nodded once, then said "Summon Airlia to me this instant and prepare yourselves, my sisters. We have work to do and we must do it fast." They nodded in reply and set about preparing things, then Namanai took Forin's body from Luen and retreated to their healing room. She set the body down, then turned and promptly knocked Luen out with a spell. He was deeply and powerfully unconscious within a split second, his skinny body hitting the ground with a weak thud. A Divine healer tucked him into one of the infirmary beds, along with giving him an I.V. He needed it, frankly.

The healing would be difficult. Healers worked off the body's natural tendancies to heal itself; they directed the regrowth and repairing of the body, healing things and keeping them in their proper place. The problem was, Forin was dead. His body had no more natural ability to heal itself than a frog had the natural ability to turn back into a tadpole. And of course not; it was torn in half, his torn up and burnt legs only remaining attached thanks to his spine and a thin layer of muscle and skin.

Still, healers were called such for their powers to heal wounds, and wounds were what covered Forin's corpse. One of the healers darted out in search of Airlia, as Namanai had asked for. The girl's powers would help the Divine healers salvage Forin's body. The Divine healer located Airlia talking with Cynyr and Werr, both of whom where trying to figure out what the explosion had been; for once, with Cynyr talking more than the human king. It seemed that some part of his heart was still attached to the girl, after all.

"Miss Airlia!" the Divine healer said once she neared. "Please, Namanai requests your assistance, at once!"

Airlia jumped at the sound of her voice. "I'll come back later," She said over her shoulder, taking flight at once. She transformed into her dove form, flying much faster in that form, with her larger wing span. In seconds, she landed on the window of the infirmary; Toro opened it to let her in, and she made her way into the healer's room at once.

"I'm here, Namanai," She said, looking at Forin's body. Her face completely melted into one of concern and worry. "Oh...poor Forin..." She murmured, looking back up at Namanai. "I'll give it everything I have. Please, don't wait anymore." She said hurriedly, taking Namanai by the hand and preparing energy to force into the healer.

The older healer nodded, then started repairing the Tartaran's shattered body. It took hours, to say the least. When they were finished, even the powerful Divine healers were in severe need of rest. Airlia's powers had helped, however, and they soon had Forin's body put back together.

In order to get Forin's soul back where it belonged, however, they would have to go speak with Titus. Luen was awake by this time, sitting quietly on his bed with the I.V. still stuck in his arm. He was watching quietly as the vitamin and mineral enriched water dripped into his body.

Broken like the missing antler on his head.

Toro sat in the corner, watching quietly as Forin was finally brought out and laid down on the bed. Intact now, but still dead. Ophile was lying on a bed nearby, an I.V. strapped to his neck. He also watched in silence, only having woken up a few minutes ago. He sensed Forin's death and had taken the time to snap himself out of the daze Obelisk had placed him under. Diana would be so upset...

Ophile slid off the bed and shook the I.V. off of himself, padding over and sniffing Forin's corpse. "It is without a soul..." He said quietly, then turned away and nosed Toro gently. The Rabbitzen nervously pet the wolf, but calmed down after a moment of this and scratched Ophile behind the ears and under the chin. The wolf turned his head and licked Toro once. "You should accept Galai's offer, little one." He said quietly before returning between Forin and Luen. He looked at the Kirin expectantly.

"Shall I fetch his summoner? She will have already felt the bond between them severed..."

Luen didn't say anything. He reached up and yanked the I.V needled out of his skin, ignoring the trickle of blood that followed. He slid off of his bed and wandered aimlessly over to Forin's bed, quietly climbing up and laying down next to him, taking deer form and tucking his legs close to his body. He rested his head on Forin's chest, closing his eyes as sobs worked into his throat and tears slipped from his eyes. In his heart, however, he was steeling himself for what he knew was ahead.

He was taking Forin's body to Tartarus, by himself, if he had to, and was getting his soul back even if he had to give away his own.

Ophile said nothing in return and left the infirmary. He returned with Diana and Luna at his side not long later; Diana had obviously already been crying, but she wasn't now. She just walked in and gently sprinkled a small handful of pink rose petals (leftover from the wedding) over Forin's face. Then she sat down on the bed Luen had been laying on, her eyes on the floor. For the second time in so little time, someone she loved had died. She didn't understand that his soul could ever be retrieved, nor did she have the emotional tolerance to hear it right now.

So she just sat there with the numb realization that everyone close to her was going to die. Her mom and dad had been the first, then it was Luen (even though he came back, Diana had still suffered the trauma from that), and now it was Forin. She had to be cursed or something...

Ophile watched her in silence, recognizing her emotional state. He also realized that her physical state could potentially be affected. He knew her past; she would probably go silent again. Even if Luen brought Forin back. If she didn't, Ophile decided he would do his best to keep an eye on her for other symptoms.

There was silence for a long time before Luen finally staggered up and jumped off of the bed, walking off without saying a word. It seemed that the Tartaran's death had silenced both Diana and the kirin. He walked off and returned a short while later, a pair of saddlebags strapped to his body. His light tan hooves clicked softly against the ground, but there was no other sound. He walked over and carefully pulled Forin onto his back, then turned and walked over to Diana, pushing at her and nudging her towards his back. It didn't seem possible that he could carry both Forin's weight and Diana's, especially as deprived as his body was right now, but he pushed at Diana until she too was seated on his back. Then he turned and just started walking. Out the door and towards the gate, his eyes dreadfully blank.

Ophile quickly debated with himself whether or not to follow. He started to trot behind them, but veered off and went to go spread some news to Werr and his friends. Nate would obviously want to know what was going on with his friend Luen. Werr and Cynyr would care about Forin's fate, if not Diana's. Seria would care about all three of them; she was most important, at that. The three wouldn't likely make it out of Tartarus uninjured.

Luen just kept walking, moving slowly, steadily, until he was out of Amnairus and heading towards Tartarus. His gaze was mostly down at his hooves, but he looked up once they entered Tartarus. It was just as dark as ever, but he didn't care. He walked towards the distant castle, sighing quietly through his velvety nose.

"Ahh!" Toro yelped behind them as they entered Tartarus. "H-hey, wait up!" He yelped, running after them. "Where...where are we?" When neither Diana nor Luen responded, he seriously regretted following along.

But he had been bored, really.

Toro followed along beside them as they approached the castle. They weren't really stopped by the guards; Tartarus was quiet, surprisingly. They hadn't been approached, nor looked at twice by anyone. As Amnarius had gone silent, as had Tartarus. It was as if everyone knew of Forin's downfall; either that, or they knew of the damage done to Amnarius. Perhaps something had happened to Galai when the bomb had gone off. Regardless, the continued unobstructed; even the guards were prepared to let them in without a word.

Toro, thoroughly freaked out at this point, ran into the castle and pushed the doors closed behind them once Luen was through.

Luen just kept walking, moving quietly until he was standing in front of the throne room doors. He pushed them open softly with his nose, then walked in, his gaze just as blank as ever. He walked over to the throne and carefully bent down, letting Diana slide off. Once she was off, he took human form and carefully lowered Forin's body to the ground, then finally turned his gaze up at the throne.