The Forgotten Zodiac

"Tch...fine then! If I want something done right," Werr grumbled, dragging himself to his feet and ripping the IV out of his arm. "I guess I have to do it myself!" He snapped, grabbing his staff and twisting the top, drawing his blade. He slashed at Nate with it, not at all surprised when the Dragonian drew his own sword to block.

"What the heck are you doing, Werr?!" Nate exclaimed, utterly confused as to why he was being attacked. He made no offensive moves; he just blocked and blocked, one swing after another from the amateur human king. His tail whipped around, catching Werr's ankle and tripping him up easily. Werr hit the floor hard, finding the tip of Nate's blade a mere inch from his face.

"C-Cynyr! Are you my knight, or are you just as traitorous as he is?!" Werr snarled, fear creeping into his voice as he scooted backwards.

Cynyr watched, shocked to his core, as the two fought, then took the oppertunity to move forward and grab Werr's arms, frowning hard. "I'm no traitor, Werr, and you should know that. I trust you with my life, something I don't give to just everyone," he said, his voice low. "Nate did nothing to hurt you! You're just hurting yourself! What's wrong with you, Werr? You aren't acting like yourself." He grabbed Werr's wrist and turned it expertly to the side, forcing him to let go of the sword-staff. It clattered to the ground and Cynyr pulled it away, holding it neatly in his tail.

Nate was quick to sheath his blade again, watching as Werr backed up, glaring at both him and Cynyr. "What's wrong with me? Me?! He's a traitor, and you...you're the same as him, you...worthless scar face!" Werr snarled. He stopped for a moment, still pointing at Cynyr, though he rubbed his temples as though he had a serious headache. He shook it off and went back to glaring at Cynyr. "You blatantly disrespect and disobey your own king, Cynyr? I thought you were more than just my knight, I thought you were my friend...well, fine! I don't need you, I have plenty others to help me save Welk. You're fired, Cynyr, and if I had my real guards here, I would have you imprisoned, too!"

Silence.

The black panther's face held complete and utter shock. He looked like Werr had ran his sword through him, though that was impossible with the sword-staff still curled into his tail. Slowly, he let go of the sword, not moving as it fell lifelessly to the ground with a harsh clatter. He took a step back, his jaw clenched tightly in his mouth. He lowered his head for a moment, then raised it and fixed Werr with one of the most dificult expressions for the panther to make.

Tears dripped down his cheeks, flooding out of both eyes, even his empty one. His single was was filled with the purest form of heartbreak.

Without Welk, Cynyr had only had Werr and Seria to lean on, his last two supports.

Without Werr, his last support crumbled as well.

He turned and fled from the room, not even sparing a backwards glance. He wanted to get away, to leave it all behind. For Werr had broken the one thing that was hard to gain from Cynyr, the one thing that brought you close and made you his friend.

Werr had broken Cynyr's trust.

Nate watched him leave, letting out a heavy sigh and wearing a look of mingled shock and disappointment on his face. "What...have you done now, Werr?" He left as well, shutting the door behind him.

Werr felt a mix of indignance and shame. Part of him was happy that he had said that. Cynyr deserved it. But the other part of him realized what his harsh words had brought upon him. Welk was already gone. Now had he pushed away Cynyr, too. In the back of his mind, he started a coundown. 24 hours until his mind collapsed into chaos, until he lost any semblance of sanity, with neither Welk nor Cynyr at his side for support.

Werr actually chortled at this. 24 hours was not a long time at all. His own mental thresholds had always been something he was curious about; he had seen them twice two years ago. Now he might even cross that fine line between a broken mind and pure insanity.

Cynyr ran from the building, from Amnairus, from the Enternal Garden and the mountain that protected it, his black cloak billowing out behind him. He angrily yanked his hood up, covering his entire face from view, and closed his cloak around him, vanishing out into the world.

Someone watched him go.

The figure watching was almost as dark as the panther himself, with a similar hooded black cloak. Dark, brooding yellow eyes peered out from the hood, glaring at the retreating form that Cynyr presented. He had been waiting for a while for this chance, the being had. And now he had it.

He slipped from the snow-covered ledge he had been waiting on and headed into the Eternal Garden, confidance and a deep-set hatred in his every step. He didn't fear Resu, inside.

He couldn't be broken by a mere trial or the facing of his fears.

"...Werr?" Toro murmured after a long while. "Are you...okay?"

"Perfectly fine," Werr smiled weakly a bit, but kicked out at Ophile as the wolf tried to pick a little closer.

"Werr, please just let me see..." Ophile said, tilting his head to one side. "You know you're not okay. You know what you just did, I can tell from the look on your face. But..."

"How the heck do you plan to understand by looking at my memories? There's nothing there, you can't help me. So no."

"...I see." Ophile sighed heavily. But then he jumped over Werr's foot, nosing the human's hand.

"I said no!" Werr snapped, standing up again and backing out of the room entirely. He sat down in the hallway, furious with...well, everything.

After he was gone, Toro looked down at Ophile. "What...IS wrong with him?"

"One can only witness so much cruelty before it begins to rub off on them." Ophile tutted. "I imagine that a combination of his reclaimed memories involving his mother, and the more recent events from two years ago and today...they're starting to get to his head. He knows it, too. What I don't understand is why he's refusing help. Perhaps he thinks he can overcome this on his own...come along, let's confront him again."

"Right," Toro nodded and moved to open the door, but found it jammed. "Wha...hey, I think...crap, I think Werr barricaded the door or something. We're trapped," He bit his lip. Indeed, now leaning against the door was a heavy metal suit of armor, effectively locking them in.

Outside, Tasia had once again woken from her nap and had carefully crept out of her room, glancing around. She didn't see Nate anywhere, so she decided to look for her husband (and more recent, mate). She crept out of her room, still wearing his shirt over her pink one, along with her shorts. She glanced around, then scurried off hurriedly, wanting to be by his side while she was out in the open. She trotted along, her wings held at the ready and her tail curled close to herself, then she caught a scent and paused. It was faint, but unfamiliar to her nose. She wrinkled her nose and lips slightly at the smell, not liking it at all, then hurried to find her mate. She ran around a corner and slammed head-long into Werr, giving a small shriek and falling back with her wings covering her head, shivering fearfully.

Werr fell back as well, blinking in surprise at Tasia. "Watch where you're going," He growned in annoyance at her, then sighed and offered her a hand to help her up. "By the way," He said, rather calmly despite his words, "Your husband is a traitor. If you find him, kindly inform him that he might as well just turn himself in."

"Tasia! There you are," Nate approached from behind Werr. "And for goodness sakes, stop calling me a traitor! All I did was put you to sleep, Werr, you--" He stopped, looking around. Werr frowned at him, still glaring. Nate drew his sword quickly.

"What, going to attack me again?!" Werr snarled, backing up fearfully.

WHAM!

Werr was slammed into from the side by what felt like a brick wall. He was easily knocked the ground, sent reeling by the attack. The person that landed neatly over him at first made him think it was Cynyr, due to the hooded cloak. But this person wasn't Cynyr at all. They couldn't even see his face due to the hood draped over him. But it was definitely the person that had watched Cynyr run off, the one who had completely shattered Resu's test set before him for one simple reason; she hadn't been able to find a way to test him. She had tried, believe me she had. But he had resisted everything with an iron will. And now he was here.

A small burst of fire flickered along his jaws from inside the hood, making him look like a possessed demon of some sort. He stood up, fire trailing up one arm and down the other. "I'm here for the king," he said, pointing a clawed hand at Werr. "Stand aside, dragonian."

Tasia, who was behind the strange black-clad man, whimpered in fear.

"Absolutely not!" Nate snarled angrily, already moving forward with a skillful upwards slash, trying to get the hooded man to back away from both Werr and Tasia. "I will not allow you to take him!"

Werr was already scrambling backwards, his eyes wide with fear as he attempted to catch his breath desperately.

The figure slid backwards, avoiding slash after slash with far too much ease. His grace and skill seemed somehow familiar to them, but it couldn't be figured out at the moment. He didn't bother using his apparent fire powers against Nate, but his next move was shocking.

Wind magic burst forth, slamming Nate backwards against the wall with just enough force to rattle him somewhat.

The mysterious figure was a dual mage, which had forever only been spoken about. They were excruciatingly rare, as any and all previous attempts to become one had either resulted in death of complete loss of all magic ability.

He pointed a hand at Werr and locked his arms and legs together with wind bindings, then looked back to Nate with fire licking around his hands.

Werr screamed and squirmed, trying desperately to break free from the wind bonds that held him fast and cut into his arms and legs when he struggled. "Don't just stand there!" He hissed up at Tasia. "Do something already, are you daft?!"

"Wha...what the..." Nate huffed, but he was quick to move forward to attempt another retaliation. He knew, however, that his efforts were near pointless. A dual mage...however impossible it was, that was what stood before him, threatening his new king and frightening his wife.

Tasia sniffled and wiped at the tears falling down her face, then actually managed a rather brave statement; "W-why...should I help the m-man that threatened my mate?" She sobbed quietly, then yelped when the strange dual mage turned and bound her up as well. "Since you refuse to step aside, dragonian, I'll take from you as well," the mage said, knowing that even if Tasia had tried to help, it would've ended the nearly the same. "You're more foolish than I thought," he said to Werr. "If she made a move to help you, I would've ran her through and killed her instantly."

Tasia's eyes widened and she kept crying, shaking in fear and watching as the mage easily parried another attack by Nate and used his wind powers to turn him completely in the other direction.

Nate snarled with rage, spinning on the spot and attemping a side-swipe at the man. "I won't let you! Leave her be!" He roared, sounding surprisingly like an actual dragon for a moment while he flared his wings and his tail struck at the man's ankles, attemping to trip him up like he tripped up Werr before.

The man sprang upwards in a stunning display of extreme agility, his cloak flowing back to reveal that he had a long black tail under his cape. He was a half-cat, which explained his agility. He flipped perfectly over backwards, then twisted on one leg and vanished, reappearing in the blink of an eye behind Nate. "That's it?" he murmured into the dragonian's ear. "You have nothing else to show? True, I'm far beyond your abilities, but... Hmph. I suppose I should've known." He swept his leg around, bringing it up and then down onto Nate's left wing, snapping the wing-arm bone like a twig. A blast of wind pressed into the dragonian's back, slamming him into the opposite wall. One arm bone snapped harshly, along with a few ribs. The dual mage walked over to Tasia, hefting her up over his shoulder despite her screaming and wailing, then grabbed Werr by his collar. "This is what your anger brought you, human," he spat at Werr, then murmured a teleportation spell.

"Nate!" Tasia shouted, tears falling to the ground. "Find me, I know you can! Nate, I love-"

All three vanished as the words left the asailant's mouth.

Nate staggered back to his feet, holding his injured arm. His broken wing dragged on the floor behind him at an awkward and painful angle. He heavily against the wall, breathing shallowly as he moved slowly back towards the infirmary and, ultimately, the healer's room beside it. He knocked once or twice, leaning against the door, and quite literally fell into the room once the door was opened.

"Nate!" Seria shouted, running forward to kneel next to him and wrap her arms around him. "What happened?!" She started feeling him for wounds, carefully touching along his body and sensing the spots she needed to work on. Several of the other Divine healers gathered around, lending her energy and watching intently. Once the half-cat stableized the dragonian, she let him lean against her, holding him close. "What happened?" she asked, curling her tail around his arm.

Nate rubbed his healed ribs, wincing a bit. "Tasia...a-and Werr, they were taken...by a dual mage." He said, looking furious. Not angry at anyone but himself, though. He had foolishly wasted time...then Nate remembered something. "I-I know who they were taken by, though...we-well, not who specifically, but I know for a fact that he was with the Silver Tornado. I saw his necklace." Indeed; Nate had caught a glimpse of it during their scuffle. "W-we need to talk to Toro..."

Seria nodded, then helped him up and let him lean on her as they trekked to the nearby infirmary. She still didn't know Cynyr had left. It had happened away from her, after all, and it wasn't like anyone had come to tell her. She pushed the suit of armor blocking the door away, then helped Nate inside the infirmary and over to a chair, where he could sit down. "Toro?" she said, glancing to the rabbitzen. "We need your help."