The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr nonchalantly turned the page of his book, seeming to not care about the panic he just caused in poor Jagat's mind. Spy just watched them from his spot on the windowsill, wondering what on earth was going on with poor Werr. The quiet room quickly took on an air of discomfort, which was explained when the door opened again and Obelisk entered.

"Before you say a word, Werr, I hope you aren't planning on blaming this entire fiasco on me." He growled. "I'm not the one who killed Grey."

"You didn't save him, either. I bet, in fact, you didn't even try." Werr said bluntly, still not looking up from his book. Obelisk was silent. It was true; when Grey was being killed, his neck twisted to the point of breaking, Obelisk had just watched with nothing but jealousy. Werr continued. "And what, did you think his death didn't matter? Just another death among millions. You didn't realize that a single Wyrven corpse would be the starting point of a massacre of my kingdom. You didn't think about it until my castle was burning, did you?"

"You're testing my patience, boy..." Obelisk growled.

"And you've broken mine!" Werr snarled. "Get out of my sight before I have you thrown in the brightest jail cell they have here!"

Obelisk's magic crackled dangerously around him, his curled lip showing that he was extremely angry at the moment. Finally, after a moment of tense silence, Obelisk turned away, left the room, and slammed the door loudly behind him.

"Well..." Nate frowned, growing suspicious. "Werr...perhaps you could do with a soak in the healing springs, you seem to need--"

"The only thing I need right now is silence so I can concentrate. I appreciate your concern, but there's nothing you can do for me right now, Nate." Werr said, back to his I-don't-care tone of voice.

Cynyr had been up on his feet and in front of Werr's bed the moment Obelisk had walked into the room. He was extremely suspiscious of Werr now, perhaps deciding that his theory on Werr finally going crazy was right. He frowned up at the boy for a long moment, then sat down, clearly tense. Seria tried to cuddle with him again, but though he tried hard to get back into it, he was obviously no longer in the mood. She sighed and eventually left to tend to her other duties.

Nate sighed heavily, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "Forgive me, your majesty," He said quietly, pulling out what looked like a blow-dart gun. It only took one shot; Werr yelped and reached up to his shoulder where he had been hit, plucking the small dart out of his skin.

"N-Nate, what the..." Werr started to say before he went limp, falling unconscious.

"It's just a tranquilizer. He really needs to sleep or something," Nate shook his head, moving forward and taking the dart back. "Sorry, Cynyr. It's for his own good." He said before the half-cat could turn his glare on him. "Here," He said, offering the book Werr had been reading to Cynyr. "You can read in his stead. I know how important that is."

To Nate's surprise, Cynyr's glare softened soon after he explained. "It's fine," he said, sighing deeply. "He obviously needed it." He shifted to human form and stood up, pulling a blanket up over Werr's body and carefully brushing his hand over the boy's head. He then turned and took the book from Nate, opening it to the page Werr had been on and started to dilligently read through the text. Silence reigned over the infirmary, for the most part, and tension was evident in Cynyr's every movement. At one point, he simply slumped over the book on his knees and just laid there, looking more dead than anything. He resumed reading after a moment, his dark yellow eye scanning the text as well as it could on its own.

Werr had read through the text about the guardians, and how they were originally intended to be the bearers of the Artifacts. He had read that they knew of the locations of each individual artifacts at all times; that was a good thing, as they knew Resu would likely be willing to help them locate them. But Cynyr was now reading about the individual powers of each artifact. The first was the ring Cynyr held; that was easy enough to understand. But the second and third were a pair: One half drained magic, while the other transferred it into the wearer and gave them the same powers drained - a powerful pair of bracelets, indeed. The fourth was a crown that created a barrier that deflected all attacks back at the attacker with tenfold the power. And the fifth was a sword, able to kill with a single tiny cut.

Most of them sounded rather deadly. But it got worse. When combined, all weapons grew greatly in power. The book became a little vague at this point, but it was said that the person who the artifacts accepted to wield all five would be named the 'destroyer of empires' and be virtually unbeatable.

Cynyr read through all of this, getting a foreboding feeling in his chest when he read the 'destroyer of empires' line. He shook it off, looking down at the single artifact resting around his finger. The ring that was part of a deadly set of wearable. And it was sitting on his hand.

Filled with a sudden revulsion (and odd sense of terror), he grabbed the ring with his other hand and tugged, intending on removing it and keeping it in his pocket instead.

To his shock, then ring stayed firmly put.

He pulled harder, but it seemed content to stay where it was for now. He stopped pulling on it, now wanting to risk pulling off his entire finger. He narrowed his eye at the ring, but it did nothing, of course. He sighed, then returned to reading the book, though his long black tail now flicked back and forth in earnest.

"What's wrong?" Nate questioned, watching Cynyr pull and pull on the ring. He smirked a bit. "Is that too small for your finger or something? I would think a powerful artifact like that would change sizes without much trouble..."

"Perhaps it doesn't want to be lost," Ophile tilted his head a little to one side, watching Cynyr read.

The last, long chapters of the books gave the history of the artifacts. They were all originally one piece, wielded by Jemina, the queen of fairies. The Artifact was used to lock away great beasts of lore; Cyprus and Beoth, who Obelisk had already described; Nura'al, a giant sea serpent known to devour ships whole; Hora and Horo, malicious twins unleashed by the dying Nura'al; and some ambiguous text described a one-horned dragon-like monstrosity that had somehow stolen immortality from the gods. The Artifact had locked the monster away, and encased his immortality in a beautiful gem that was later made into the very same gem that was placed in the Fountain of Youth.

The last chapter described how the Artifact had been broken into five. It described the days after the Fountain was made; things were fairly peaceful and all the people of the land were happy. But an argument had broken out among the fairies over what to do with an injured dog abandoned in the woods. The Fairies determined that they would bless it and send it away again, but each fairy wanted to do it themselves. Magic collided and flew into a pair of humans passing by; from there on, it was the same story Cici had told them not long ago. Except it actually gave the names. The real names. Marge had been the aged woman, and the children she had later were Juli, Tuss and Rily. All four of them had light magic, and they went on to have children of their own. The only one of the family to survive the massacre of a war that had torn Obelisk from his family was Rily's one son, unnamed. It was evident that some light magic survived, as there was indeed still light magic scattered about the world (although rarer than Rabbitzen).

But what was most interesting was the fact that the book went into further detail on the one known as Remor. The one overcome with Dark Magic on that fateful day of the fairies' argument. Upon the death of his wife, Remor's powers had overflowed with furious rage, killing pretty much every soldier and every survivor alike. His own powers tore out his eyes when he saw what was being done and tried to stop it. They led him to the Fountain of Youth, which was being guarded by an injured fairy. Cici. She tried to stop him; the two of them were friends at one point, but that mattered not to Remor's powers; they were moving of their own accord, and though Remor fought against it, he was force-fed the orb that dissolved within him and made him immortal.

This took a serious turn for the worse - and yes, it got worse - when Cici took the matter to the Fairy Queen. She had Obelisk banished immediately to the Temple of Stars, occupying the final room there. She attempted to strip away his immortality and powers a few days later, but Remor's powers attacked and killed the Queen when she relaxed her guard for even a moment.

What happened next was bloody. Remor screamed that his name was Obelisk and went about destroying every Fairy he could find there. Which was actually the majority of them; the Temple of Stars was a unique place, and many fairies had traveled with the Fairy Queen to see the sights. While they were being killed left and right, the Artifacts were retrieved by the Queen's assistant, and had the powerful weapons do the only thing the assistant could think of to do; seal 'Obelisk's powers and lock him away at the core of the earth. The Artifacts broke from the sheer amount of work that action took.

And that was it. The book concluded with saying that the Artifacts remained at the Temple of the Stars to this day, and then it ended.

Cynyr read dilligently through all of the remaining text, soaking in every detail. He sat back and released a deep breath, his gaze yet again directed to the ring on his finger. He pursed his lips, then grabbed the ring once last time and gave it a hard yank. Not only did it hurt badly, but the ring actually clamped tighter around his finger. He glared at it, noting that his hand came away bloody. He had pulled a bit too hard...

He shook his head, then said "Hey, Nate? I...wanted to tell you something. It's simple and stupid and...childish, but...well...I'm sorry. For...for how I treated you when we first met. I...was a real jerk." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, peeking up at Nate with a rather...timid look on his face.

Nate blinked at Cynyr, then smiled a bit. "All was forgiven long ago, Cynyr. Where is this coming from, exactly?"

"Something wrong?" Ophile looked up again, tilting his head to the side. "Excuse me for intruding, but these are things you don't say often, Cynyr. Is it because Nate is now your coworker?"

"Really now, Cynyr, you don't have to worry about a thing," Nate chortled at that. "I couldn't care less how you were two years ago. I care about how you are now. And if you're apologizing...I think I see some improvement."

Cynyr rolled his eyes and said "Don't ask where it came from, just accept it!" At this point, he was so tired that he clearly was on the verge of rambling. He glared from Nate to Ophile, then promptly shoved his face into the book in embarressment. "Lemme alone," he muttered, flicking his tail rapidly in agitation.

Zephyr, still curled up near the door, looked bemused.

"Well, I'll leave you to taking care of Werr," Nate said with a smile. "I have to spend a little more time with my bride," He dipped his head, then headed past Zephyr to the door. Ophile just shrugged and continued examining Toro's wounds, which he had been doing since Cynyr was reading. The boy had suffered from multiple cuts along his arms and legs, and his feet...his fake ones had been cut off entirely, leaving nothing but the muscle and bone. Ophile didn't pry too much into that area; he hardly wanted to give poor Toro an infection, especially when the healers couldn't heal him.

Toro watched everyone in silence, a dull look in his eyes. He was mostly awake, just a little tired looking. But he definitely looked to be in pain.

Zephyr sat back on his hind legs, glancing over at Toro sadly. He sighed, then got up and walked over to the door, heading out. He walked down to the courtyard, where he took his biggest form and curled up in the soft white grasses, resting his head on the ground. He breathed in a deep, calm breath, snorting when the grass tickled his nose. He lifted his head and rubbed his muzzle with a paw, then looked up and studied the sky. He could see birds, a few Amnairians, rays of sunlight, clouds...

A large dragon flying towards the city.

Zephyr lunged up with a roar, though it wasn't a roar of anger or threat. He ran forward, calling still, as Vaira herself plunged down out of the sky, slamming into the ground below with an earth-shaking thud. Zephyr ran towards his life-mate, calling her name. When he neared, he saw that she was covered in various wounds, her arms wrapped securely around the pouch over her stomach, where Zephyr knew Boko was concealed.

Once Vaira landed, Boko poked his head out fearfully. He looked more or less okay, though he had claw marks on his muzzle from one of the smaller dragons that had attacked. "Papa!" He said happily, purring and sliding out of his protective mother's grip and crawling up onto Zephyr's head. "Papa, bad dragons attacked us and made us leave home." He whimpered, wrapping himself around one of Zephyr's horns. "They no get us here, right? Please no?"

Zephyr thrummed to his adopted child, closing his eyes in both pleasure and fear. He was shaking slightly as he moved over and nudged Vaira softly, saying "Vaira? Vaira, are you okay?!" The female dragon below him shifted slightly, clearly in pain from her many wounds. "Z...Z-Zephyr..." she rasped, trying to lifted her head in order to lick his muzzle gently, but she couldn't manage. She went limp, breathing raggedly. "Hold on," Zephyr said, turning and darting into the castle with Boko still clinging to his horns. He found Seria and, quite literally, grabbed her up into his mouth and ran back out to Vaira, depositing the startled healer near his injured mate. "Heal her, I beg of you," Zephyr said, crouching close to Vaira and nuzzling her gently. "We both need her."

Seria got to work at once.

Boko slid off of Zephyr, whimpering slightly. "Mom?" He cooed, wiggling his way in between her limp arms. He licked her claws, hoping to get a response, but Varia didn't seem to be capable of movement. He ran back out and sat down next to Vaira's head, peering into her large eye. "Mom? Are you...okay? Mommy?" His tail flicked around excitedly when she inhaled, but he looked upset again when she breathed out without saying anything. "Dad!" Boko squealed. "Mom is not okay!"

"No, my little one, she isn't okay," Zephyr said, scooping Boko into his arms and holding the baby drakeling close to his warm chest. "Let the half-cat work, alright? Mommy will be fine soon...I hope..."

Seria was working dilligently, scurrying all around the magenta dragon's body as she healed wound after wound. It took her a while, but she managed to stablize the female dragon's condition enough for her to move a bit. Vaira slowly pushed her head up, looking dazed and sick, but alive. Now she was simply exhausted.

Zephyr bent his head forward and crooned to her, licking her muzzle gently.

Boko nuzzled into Zephyr's chest, whimpering a little. He suddenly perked up a bit, then asked his father, "S-so, you has salt rocks? You said you get salt rocks, where salt rocks?" He scrambled up and licked Vaira's muzzle as well, clinging upside-down to Zephyr's lower jaw. "I luuuv yew, mommy. So get better, okay? Now, daddy, salt rocks! You saaaaiiiidddd~!"

Zephyr sighed, then picked up the little drakeling and sat him down nearby, then spoke.

"Boko...do you know what's going on? Do you know why mommy was hurt? Our leader, Alpha Naybrin, started an attack on Alastor. That's Dark-Eyes' kingdom. You remember Werr, yes? Dark-Eyes. Naybrin started a war with Dark-Eyes' kingdom, youngling. War is a bad, bad thing. I can already figure out how Vaira was injured..."

It was as followed; when Naybrin anounced the attack on Alastor, Vaira had refused to join in. Keeping Boko tucked tightly into her pouch, she attempted to flee from the other dragons in order to join her mate, whom she had known wouldn't have joined the murderous rampage of the other dragons. The dragons had attacked her, trying to prevent her from leaving, but she had gotten away, though not without her many wounds. Her only consolation was that she had protected her baby from nearly all of the attacks.

Zephyr sighed, then licked Boko's head and body, sending warmth into him, and said "I'm sure I can find you something good and salty, okay?"

Boko listened quietly, his tail falling still (for once). "War is bad thing. Got it. But salty things are good! We should give Dark-Eyes salty thing, and Naybrin salty thing, and they will be better. Right? Riiiight? Good! I will go find Dark-Eyes and make him eat something salty!" Before Zephyr could stop him, he bolted off into Alatstor Palace, off to sniff out something salty to force-feed to Dark-Eyes.

He made it to the infirmary, a warm pretzel lodged in his mouth. "Weeerrrrrr!" He screeched, flapping his wings to launch himself forward and landing on Werr's bed. "WERR! WAKE UP!" He roared his squealy roar in Werr's face, but the human was still out cold. "Oh," Boko blinked, dropping the pretzel. "He's dead."

"Get OFF of him!" Cynyr shouted, wrapping his arms around the heavy baby drakeling and hauling him off. "Stop it, stop it! Leave him alone, you-"

"Kindly refrain from calling an infant names, panther," a soft voice came, and Galai herself entered the long infirmary. Cynyr gaped at her, but didn't bow as he should've. He let go of Boko after yanking him off of Werr, growling protectively.

Galai smiled and walked forward, presenting Boko with a treat; one of the salt rocks he (and most dragons) enjoyed. The thick rock was completely and utterly coated in salt, plus the inside was filled with it as well. A delightful treat that would take him a few hours to eat, but that he would be tasting and eating the salt from the entire time. "Here, little one," she said. "Why don't you take this out and eat it near your father?"