The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr recoiled at once, a small whimper escaping his throat. Nate pushed Tasia so she was standing next to him, and he stepped in front of them. He drew his sword in a flash. "Not so fast," He snapped, brandishing his blade at Dark.

"Y-you were dead!" Werr stammered, suddenly rubbing his arms. The wounds Dark and Light had given him weren't there anymore, but the memories were still fresh. Painful.

"Aieee!" Dark yelped, fleeing wildly back to Firestorm. "Don't hurt me, I didn't even DO anything yet!" The great red dragon he was running towards dipped his head and nudged the little black being under his belly, growling angrily at Nate. "Sheathe your sword, nethra!" he snarled. "This one's with me!"

Dark peered out accusingly at them from around Firestorm's leg. "'Were' is the word of the day there, your highness," Dark said, glaring at Werr. The artifical being was a little under eye-to-eye with Werr, just neatly at the point where he was Welk's size. "And before you ask and torment me further, Light isn't here."

Nate frowned, but he didn't seem willing to put down his sword. He did so when Werr spoke, though. "Put it down, Nate. Just...calm down. Let's hear him out..." Werr frowned. Nate sighed and did so, but didn't seem happy at all about it.

"Explain quickly, Dark. I don't enjoy the thought of getting into a fight with your dragon friend." Nate growled, still nowhere near trusting of Dark or Firestorm.

"I-I was dead, but Galai brought me back," he said. "She offered the same service to Light, but...he outright refused, not wanting to be near me anymore. He said he'd rather remain dead then live bound to my side anymore. So Galai saved me and let me live here and...I'm happy." He looked down, an angry frown on his face. "Light was a fool. Such a...f-fool..." He quickly lifted his hand and wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, sniffling.

"And...you're going to be helping us? Does Obelisk know you're alive?" Werr blinked.

"I do." Obelisk said from above, standing atop the building. "I would appreciate it if you did not threaten my creation and your new ally. For that matter, most of you are going to be riding on the back of Firestorm here, so might I suggest not annoying him quite so much?"

"Right." Werr nodded once. "Sorry, Dark, but you must understand. You don't exactly have the best track record with us. But...I'm willing to give you a chance."

"I'll be keeping an eye on you, that's for sure." Nate snorted.

Dark stuck his tongue out at Nate, glaring at him, then pressed his head against Firestorm's scales and sighed deeply. The dragon bent his head and nuzzled Dark softly, then spat "Nethras," in Nate and Tasia's direction.

Tasia whimpered at the crude word, which meant 'never a real dragon'. It was as bad of an insult as a real dragon could give, as it served to remind dragonians of the fact that they were only half of the creatures they took after. She held tightly to Nate, pressing her face between his wings.

Nate just growled in return. "Be grateful that I'm not coming with you, dragon. You won't have to put up with too much of me. Now if you'll excuse us, you've distressed my bride. We will take our leave now." Nate tutted, shifting so that he could put his arms and wings around Tasia. He led her away, protecting her every step until the dragon was out of sight.

"That was...eventful. Anyways..." Werr scratched the back of his neck. "I'm pretty sure everyone who's coming is here."

"You're forgetting Jag," Ophile tutted from behind Werr. "Worry not. Stay here, I'll fetch him." He turned and padded off, wondering where the gryphon could be. He hadn't seen Jag since they arrived here...

The gryphon wasn't in the city. He was out at Vaira and Tasia's old cave jail, laying on the top, where he could be close to the sky. One leg was bent up and the other was draped over the edge of the cave, with his arms folded over his chest. He sighed, staring up at the sky. His mind was elsewhere, however.

With Lily, of course.

He habitually started twisting the golden wedding ring around his finger, nervous. He missed Lily dearly, wonder eating at him; was she okay? What of the baby? Were they both safe? He flicked his long blue tail, pouting. Why did he ever agree to go on this stupid journey, anyways? He briefly pondered over the black stone sitting in his pocket. Lily had the white one, of course, part of their presents from Cici. If she tapped the rock twice and said "Call thy pair," then Jag would be instantly teleported to her. So she had to be fine, he concluded.

"Feeling a bit nostalgic, Jag?" Ophile said quietly, appearing at the mouth of the cave, looking up. "I'm glad you're still here. I was concerned something happened to you. Werr and the others are preparing to leave; we quest to find the Artifacts of the Fair Ones. Simple enough."

The gryphon snorted at him, fluffing out his crest feathers. "Big whoop," he said. "I'm about ready to go home. I have lives to take care of, after all. Mine, Lily's, and our child. I don't have time to run about with these...these unorganized morons! Werr's scared of everything, Cynyr's just a freak, Welk's a criminal, Luen's pathetic, Forin's angsty, Diana's whiny, on and on and on. And I'm not a nice person, coupled with the fact that I'm melodramatic and harp on things I shouldn't." He sat up and glared at Ophile, then said "But I'll go anyways and regret it later."

"Welk, Luen, Forin and Diana are all remaining here. So really, you just have the scaredy-cat and the freak to be concerned about. This is indeed something that you harp on but should not; Werr has suffered endlessly since childhood and fears only more suffering, which is perfectly reasonable. Cynyr strives for peace and the security of his family, Werr and Welk. Welk is no criminal, but his body has been claimed by the very thing we're attempting to defeat now.

"Forin comes from a place that feeds off of the misery of others. He just happens to have come to the unfortunate conclusion that your world is worse than ours. Whether or not he is correct is up to debate, but yet, the only reason he would remain in that world is for his summoner. Diana, on the other hand, does try to push past her own misery and reach out to others, but her friends are suffering around her. She's lost her parents and both her friends in one lifetime, and though her friends returned from death, trauma has stolen her voice. So she can't really whine now, can she?

"On and on and on. Who else do you have to complain about? The newly-weds, who's marriage you didn't even attend? Galai and Titus, who can only allow enough time to meet one day of every month? Or perhaps you wish to complain about me, who has been chiding you for the past five minutes for focusing on the negative aspects of your so-called 'friends' instead of looking at things from their perspective. Before you insult someone, walk a mile in their shoes, Jag. You might learn something."

Jag snorted and said "Did you know I grew up not knowing what the word 'love' was? I heard people say it, but I never knew what it meant. I didn't know the feeling, nor had anyone ever shown me that affection, which was another word I didn't know. Love, affection, all of those happy words. I didn't know them. When I met Lily, I started to understand what those things that everyone else seemed to have were. It took me a while, but I fell in love with Lily. But only her. I still haven't learned how to love anyone other than her. I'm still not even sure if I classify the others as 'friends'." He stood up, flaring his wings, then plunged off of the edge and flew up, heading towards the others.

"So you suffer just like everyone else. Therefore, you have no excuse to insult the others," Ophile growled at the spot where Jag had been, as if the Gryphon could still hear him. He trotted off to meet the others, still seeming a little upset. He wouldn't have cared, normally, but Jag had spoken bad of Forin. Who, in Ophile's mind, was deserving of much more respect than he ever got; he had given his entire life up for the sake of his friend. Not even his summoner. Something that had literally never happened before, with any Tartaran.

Ophile sighed as he arrived to find the others climbing onto Firestorm's back. "Don't leave without me, now," He chortled, climbing up without help.

Firestorm looked a bit angry, but once Dark gave him a rough scratch of his ears, he seemed happier. Cynyr settled down between two of the spikes, then looked up as someone came running out to them.

Seria ran over in cat form and leapt up onto the dragon's back, landing in a perfect crouch. "Leaving without me?" she asked, purring.

"I thought you were staying here," Cynyr said, staring at her.

"I changed my mind," she answered, nuzzling his cheek and causing him to blush. "Your little chat with me convinced me otherwise." She sat down behind Werr and touched his shoulder, giving him a smile as she took human form.

((You mean the fact that I mentioned Ina's being attacked convinced her otherwise? xDDD))

Werr smiled happily. "I'm glad you're coming, Seria." He said with a short nod.

"I'm glad too. Considering our past endeavors, we may have been in trouble without a healer." Ophile barked happily. "That's much less to be concerned about. Is everyone here? We may as well head out, then. Onwards and upwards."

"We're headed towards a sacred forest, well beyond the deserts of Amnarius. A good distance out indeed, and a perilous journey by foot." Obelisk said, sitting at the front of Firestorm's back. "Be prepared for a long flight."

((No. I said before that she was coming with them, remember?))

Firestorm muttered something about the amount of people he was having to carry, then stood up and walked off towards the place between worlds. He carefully stepped through the gate and walked down the glimmering light bridge, heading towards the Eternal Garden. As he walked along the bridge, he suddenly became aware of a massive creature floating along beside them in the darkness.

The Divine slowly turned itself upside-down as it flew along beside them, smiling at them all. "Well well well," it said, grinning and showing off a mouth that was full of sharp, wicked teeth. "My favorite kind of snack; people full of memories. Delicious, tasty memories."

((Still made me giggle.))

"Delicious, tasty memories, that happen to be leaving." Werr sighed. "Please don't stop us, Divine. We're trying to save the world again. Worlds."

"What he's trying to say is, we're in a hurry and we haven't the time to chat." Ophile said quickly, shaking his head a little.

"Sorry," Obelisk shrugged. "We'll be back eventually."

((Also, I noticed how in both of these, Amnarius became like a 'base of operations'. Which isn't really a problem or annoying or anything, but the majority of things that we do are based around Amnarius/Tartarus.

Just a random observation.))

((:3))

The huge creature snorted, then moved a dangerous, clawed hand out and gently petted the top of Ophile's head. For some reason, the wolf's memory-absorbing powers didn't work on the Divine. He got absolutely nothing from the massive creature. The Divine purred and patted the wolf's head, then pulled back and eyed Obelisk through one great eye. "Your memories interest me," it said. "But I won't pry." It looked down Firestorm's back, then stopped on Werr. It sighed, then said "I wish I could dissect your mind. Sylas' child... He was my favorite human, did I tell you that? He'll always hold favor with me. Not that I carry that feeling on to you." It smiled, then turned to Cynyr and said "My only advice for you is to avoid your greatest source of despair. It will only bring you more misery."

Cynyr frowned, not understanding what it meant, then blinked when the creature flew off.

Werr just sighed and shook his head. "Come on, let's keep going..." He said quietly. "Might as well."

They moved forward again, quickly crossing back to the Eternal Garden. They were stopped almost immediately by Resu. "There are a few things I must discuss with you before you go anywhere," She said quietly. "My mistakes have been recognized and no longer will the gate be visible to anyone without request."

"Yes, it seems you've slipped up quite a bit as of late..." Obelisk remarked.

"My only mistake was with Nelu."

"Oh? And what of Wulf and Toroph?"

"Wulf passed my test. He was injured badly, but pressed onwards regardless of my intent to keep him here. Toroph was taken in by Diana, and I sensed the good will in his heart." Resu shrugged.

"He hurt me!" Obelisk snarled. "He humiliated me in front of all of Amnarius, to make matters worse! I want to slay that pathetic child and--"

"Calm yourself, oh eternal one. There are more important matters to attend to. Namely, this." Resu waved a hand, and an orb appeared; the same kind she used to monitor the tasks back when Werr and his entire group were suffering their own trials. It showed Ina, bound and gagged, with multiple cuts on her body. She was tied to a tree, her feet dangling a few inches off the ground. There were a few others there; a couple men and one nasty looking woman.

"They were led here by the one known as Nelu. They brought Ina with them; I'm unsure of how they know, but they are aware that she is the only heir to your throne, Werr. They were interrogating her about how to get into Amnarius. She is unaware of how to. I am unsure of whether the powers were used, but the woman has the ability to create pure mental torment. And I am certain that they plan to proceed with the torture any minute now, and I have no doubts that they will take her life soon after.

"Another thing I have observed are their matching necklaces. They are all made of a silver-plated copper, and they take the shape of a small tornado. Now that you are aware of who they are with, kindly dispose of them. I dislike their stench, and they're muddying up my garden with Ina's blood." Resu snorted, then disappeared.

"The Silver Tornado..." Werr murmured, then frowned. "Firestorm, we have to save her. It's important."

Firestorm growled throatily and was about to argue otherwise, but Dark suddenly moved forward and hung off of the edge of the dragon's muzzle, poking and pulling at his lips as he formed rather comical expressions on the dragon's face. "Just do it, Firestorm," the artificial being said, taking hold of the scales just to either side of the dragon's nose and hanging from them. It looked extrememly dangerous, but the red dragon seemed to have endless patience when it came to the little black-clad being. "I know you don't like humans. I don't like them either." He grinned in Werr's direction, then said "It's just a rabbit, now go! Gogogogogo!"

"Fine," the red dragon sighed, then flicked his head up and threw Dark into the air, catching him gently when he came back down. He then spread his wings and leapt up into the cavern, heading towards where he smelled Ina being at.