The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr paused just outside the door, placing his hand on Zephyr's head. "I accept gratefully. Your mate and child will also be welcome here, as I doubt they'll fight with Naybrin while you fight with me. Not that there's going to be much fighting. Any move I make will just become a massacre of whoever I send in..." He muttered, shaking his head and dropping his hand. "Zephyr, do you think I don't know of the pain involved with loss? I might be young, sure, but do you think I don't understand what Naybrin is going through? I've lost friends and family alike. I've lost too much for you to need to remind me how much Naybrin suffers because of what happened.

"But his suffering is no excuse." Werr continued down the hallway.

"And it never will be," Nate said, coming up the stairs. Tasia was taking a nap, and Nate took the chance to speak with his friends for a bit. "Everyone is responsible for their own actions. Just as King Asmodius killed Luen during his time of rage over the wrongful death of his daughter, he was responsible for that. We cannot blame grief or hardships for the actions of people. Naybrin will realize what he's doing, sooner or later."

"Speaking of...I'm with the belief that my head guard was killed, Nate."

"That's unfortunate. You want me to take his place?"

"You were raised to be a guard. You served under King Asmodius for a long time." Werr forced a smile onto his face. "Unless I'm mistaken, you did a good job of keeping him alive."

Nate smiled in return. "You have my sword, your majesty. I accept your offer."

"Good..."

"But," Nate said, suddenly moving forward and picking Werr up. "As your new head guard, might I suggest a bit more rest?" He plopped Werr down back in bed, tutting a bit. He completely ignored Werr's protests. "You can barely walk, so you obviously need rest and--"

"No! Enough!" Werr snarled suddenly, standing up again. He promptly fell forward, landing on the bed across from him. He was met with a pained groan from the occupant of the bed he landed on. It was Toro, wrapped up in bandages from head to toe. He looked a bit like a mummy of some kind. Though Werr had no idea what had happened to the boy, he had made the mistake of getting in Relic's way. It had only taken two minutes before he was wounded to this point. To make matters worse, the healing spells didn't seem to work on him much at all. The most they could do was stop the bleeding. It was perplexing, at best; Divine healers, who had been working for eons to perfect the art of healing, were unable to heal a young Rabbitzen in need...

Zephyr walked over to Toro's bed and peered down at the rabbitzen, carefully bending his head forward to nuzzle the young boy softly. "Poor thing..." he murmured, then looked up as someone kicked the wall outside. "Of all the no-good, inconsiderate FOOLS in this world, I had to go and make friends with HIM!" Dark's voice came, shouting angrily. "FIRESTORM, you IDIOT! Why did you leave me here?! I thought you were different! ARGH!" He slammed his boot into the wall again, yelping as it hurt him. He stumbled back, panting raggedly, then ran off as one of the doors opened.

Tasia peeked out, blinking her eyes sleepily as she glanced around, wondering what the loud banging sounds had been. They had nearly made her have a nightmare, but she had woke herself up in time so as not to experiance it.

Nate marched out again, frowning at Dark. He looked up to see Tasia looking out of their room; he moved forward at once, pulling her back into their room to explain what was going on.

"Sorry," Werr mumbled to Toro, climbing to his feet again. He leaned on Zephyr, having no one else to lean against. "What happened?"

Toro just blinked at him, his lips moving, but no sound coming out. He closed his eyes again, starting to cry. Ophile whined and nuzzled Toro's hand, watching as the Rabbitzen's fingers moved to settle on his head.

"Oh dear," Ophile blinked once or twice. "That is...absolutely terrible. The healers, by some strange turn of events, seem to be incapable of healing these wounds. They were all made with a knife containing some sort of magic that blocks their powers. But what's more troubling is the person who did it...it seems to be an undead form of the being you know as Relic, Werr. But what's more troubling than that is the fact...perhaps you don't want to hear this right now, but...Relic came for someone in the jail. He left with that someone after dealing with Toro, who was entertaining that person at the time..."

Werr slowly sat down on the bed again. It didn't take a genius to realize who had been taken.

Cynyr had slowly woken up by this time, just in time to hear Ophile speak. He blinked slowly, frowning, then his eyes widened and he struggled upright. "Welk?! He took...Welk? No! No, he...he can't!" he said, fear evident in his voice. "He...he..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He slumped against the wall, looking severely unhappy. He buried his head in his arms, his golden ring around his finger glinting in the light.

Werr stared at the floor for a very long time. Then he stood up once more, walking around Zephyr. He made it out to the hallway before his attempts to walk were stopped again by Nate.

"Werr," The Dragonian moved to pick Werr up again.

"No!" Werr snapped. "If you want to help me, Nate, then help me walk." He said, his tone commanding. A tone he didn't take on often.

"R-right..." Nate blinked then nodded, taking Werr's hand and helping him walk. The Dragonian helped his new employer all the way to the throne room, where Werr got right to the point.

"Tell me everything," Werr said, almost using the same tone he had on Nate. He quickly corrected himself, though. Especially upon seeing the damage to Galai's face. "Please, Queen Galai. I need to know everything there is to know about the artifacts. There has to be a book, a scroll, something...I...I need it, your majesty."

Galai looked up at him, pushing away the sad expression she had just had on. The skin of her face was scarred now, permanent. She listened as he spoke, then sighed. "Alright," she said quietly. "There is a book that was made at the time of the artifact's creation. The Book of the Old Ones." She raised her hand and concentrated, then a book formed out of thin air. It was white, with golden trim, with elegant gold letters that said 'Book of the Old Ones' on it. She took it into her hands and held it out to Werr, saying "Take it. Along with my blessing, Werr of Alastor."

Werr took the book in his free hand, still holding onto Nate. "Thank you. Thank you, very much, He bowed as much as he could, before turning away.

"U-um, Werr..." Airlia said, moving in front of them. Nate stopped, as did Werr. "Uh...I heard about what happened to Alastor...I just wanted to say, if you need my help..."

"I'll ask if your services are needed." Werr smiled sightly. "Thank you, Airlia. I'm...truly grateful. But what I need now is more water. And maybe some breakfast. Or dinner. Whatever time of day it is."

"Of course," Airlia nodded quickly. "I'll have it brought to the infirmary."

"Good," Werr nodded before moving off again, Nate alongside him the entire time.

((It's a gradual thing; Werr is starting to give out more orders, and is getting snappish when people don't listen to him. Soon it'll turn a little more violent, and then we can fix him, and then he'll get kidnapped a bit after they resolve the dragon problem.))

((Sounds good to me.

I thought it was cute how he started to order Galai and then stopped himself. n////n))

When they got back to the infirmary, Cynyr was draped over a bed in panther form, practically about to fall off. He sighed heavily, looking...depressed. He flicked his tail several times, then looked up as Werr and Nate entered the room. "Meow," he said flatly, lifting his head slightly. He slid off of the bed and padded over, sitting down lightly nearby. His half-mask was back on his face, courtsey of the Amnairian guards. They had found the mask in Welk's cell, where Cynyr had left it with him. Relic had left it here, of course...

((Also, for the sake of the roleplay, one of your characters should be kidnapped as well. :T

And yeah, Galai is easily of higher power than him. :3))

"Now then, I still say you need rest and relaxation." Nate said, helping Werr back into bed. Werr downright refused to lie down, though. He sat up and propped himself up with pillows, opening up the book Galai gave him. At least he wasn't snapping at people anymore...which was still somewhat unusual, considering who it was. Breakfast came not long after he was settled; there was enough for everyone to eat heartily, as usual. Airlia smiled as she pushed the cart in, then grabbed something off the cart and moved over to Toro. She helped him drink some sweet-smelling white liquid, which he apparently had a small difficulty in swallowing.

((-thinking mode- Well, Welk's already kidnapped, so...

Tasia, maybe. I've discovered that I wuv her character so much. u3u She's so cute.))

Cynyr didn't eat anything, turning his muzzle away from the offered food. He sat regally near Werr's bed, his ears flicked back in all-seriousness. He was a knight, through and through, and no matter what, he had agreed to stay by Werr's side and protect him. No matter what. He glanced up at the boy, then turned his gaze back to the door, where Zephyr was sitting near it and preening himself. The dragon was a mighty ally to have on their side, to be sure.

((Which will put Nate into furious rage mode. :T I LOVE EET! Aaand for the sake of getting Forin back, Diana will also be captured. And that will ultimately save all three of them. :3))

One dragon amongst hundreds. Werr didn't see where they could become victorious. He still didn't think they could fight much at all, at that. They would literally be massacred by the numerous other dragons. Perhaps he would be thinking twice about attacking if they had a grown drakeling on their side, but as far as Werr knew, the one drakeling he knew about was still no bigger than he was.

Honestly, they shouldn't be at war at all. Werr looked up and around, wondering where Forin was; he could use some advice from the Tartaran right now... "Jag, go find Forin and bring him here," Werr said, not taking his eyes off of the book. His eggs and bacon grew cold on the nightstand beside him, even.

((Mmk.))

"Er...about that..." the gryphon said. "He...well, he sort of killed himself, which severed his bond with Diana. Long story short, Luen went on a crazy-spree in order to get his soul back, but the damage was already done. Since the bond between summoner and summon was broken, Forin had to go back to Tartarus." He shrugged, scratching his crest feathers.

Werr groaned. "Fine then..."

"If you had questions about Tartarus, I can help," Ophile said, hopping up onto Werr's bed. However, he slid off after Cynyr gave him a rather nasty look.

"I just...no. It's fine, nevermind." Werr sighed, going back to reading his book. Ophile titled his head to one side, then moved his head forward and nosed Werr's hand. The human king snatched his hand back, giving Ophile a glare to match ones Cynyr gave. Ophile moved back, returning to Toro's side as Airlia finished feeding him the liquid, which was little more than enchanted milk designed to give him all the nutrients, fiber and vitamins that he needed to make it through a day. He would be drinking it until he could swallow easily again; his throat had been damaged in the 'fight', by way of Relic clawing it open. It had been the only thing the healers had been able to fix, but the area was still raw and freshly healed.

((Cynyr would be so proud of him. -wipes tear- xD))

Cynyr glanced up at the boy in slight confusion, then shook it off. He wasn't the type of person to pry. He preferred keeping his distance, though he had a gentler side. He gestured at Ophile by flicking his tail several times, tilting his head ever so slightly at the wolf. Ophile really was the one person who understood him completely and utterly, because he had seen ALL of the half-cat's memories. His bad ones, his few happy ones, his intimate ones, the ones that made him cringe and the ones that made him cry on the inside for hours on end. The wolf had seen them all. There was a difference in the way Cynyr treated the wolf over the others. The half-cat seemed to open up more and show affection a tad easier towards him, though he was good with the others too, as they knew. It was just easier when someone knew everything about you, he supposed. Nevertheless, he flicked his tail for the wolf to come to him.

Ophile did indeed approach, but not without giving Toro a comforting lick on the cheek. "I'm not certain what's going on with Werr," He said quietly, glancing up at the human king. Werr didn't seem to be listening at all; he just kept reading. Ophile continued. "If that's what you were going to ask. And before you question who it is, that really is Werr. I'm certain of it." He nodded shortly. "I'm curious to know what's going on in his head, but if he doesn't willingly touch me, I can't see a thing."

Cynyr sighed, keeping to panther form as he rubbed his head against Ophile's shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured. "We'll find out later. I suspect he's either extremely tired or about to crack under the pressure. I know I've gotten close to that point myself, several times." He rubbed his muzzle against the wolf's neck, sighing into the thick black fur. When Seria came in to check up on everyone, Ophile felt the half-cat relax a bit further at merely the sight of her.

Ophile smiled a bit at this. He stood and shook himself for a moment; then he padded over to Seria, deciding to explain what all had happened so far. From the discovery of the injured Toro to the revelation that Forin was gone. After he finished, he returned yet again to the Rabbitzen's side, hopping up on the bed and laying himself out beside the poor boy.

Seria shook her head, then moved over and replaced Ophile's spot near Cynyr with herself, taking cat form and purring as she walked over to him. He stood up to greet her, a terrible excuse for a purr working into his throat. But it was a purr nevertheless, and when she came near, they touched muzzles and rubbed against each other's necks. Cynyr laid back down and Seria joined him, curling up against his side. Their tails twinned together and Cynyr rested one of his paws over hers, keeping his muzzle close to hers with their whiskers brushing against each other.

Things grew quiet in the infirmary. It was a comfortable silence, until Werr seemed to remember something. He looked up at Jag. "I'm a bit surprised you're as calm as you are, Jag." Before the Gryphon could question what he was talking about, Werr continued. "Your house is within Alastor, is it not? Right on Brittle Ocean, if I'm not mistaken. Didn't you leave your wife there? And according to the most recent letter I recieved from you, she's with child...you're very good at keeping your cool, or perhaps you just forgot..." Werr shrugged, looking back down at his book. Apparently Werr was now being completely insensitive, though whether this was on purpose or he was just being honest was up to speculation.

Jag's mouth slowly dropped open, his gaze blank. It wasn't that he had forgotten about Lily, far from it; but with all of the things that had happened, her location had slipped from his mind. It was easy to know why, after all. Dragons attacking, Forin's problems, the dissapointing trip out to the desert. It had been a lot to take in and smaller details had slipped Jagat's mind.

He slammed the door open so hard it rattled the room and raced out.