The Forgotten Zodiac

"Tasia Furhblast," The woman sighed. "Wife to that annoying Dragonian male, Nate, I presume. No matter, you'll both be dead soon anyways."

"Who are you?" Werr demanded, seeing nothing but the burlap over his face. "What do you want?"

"The people here call me Queen Libira. A take on a popular goddess of the eastern areas, named Libra. Goddess of balance. You know me as a different person entirely. I had you dragged here because I want you out of the way. Come now, don't play dumb. You knew this would happen eventually."

"W-why now?!"

"Now is the perfect time, of course!" She laughed and walked forward. "It's rather simple; I kill you, present your head to that enraged dragon stomping on the ashes of your castle, and he'll leave. If he doesn't leave, we have a backup plan." She tore the sack off of Werr's head, and ripped the blindfold from Tasia's.

The woman standing before them was none other than Ina. Ina, the foolhardy little rabbit that Werr had mysteriously named his heir. She laughed again. "One way or another, your kingdom is mine, Werr."

Werr glared at her for a long moment then hung his head, trembling slightly. Ina chortled at this. "Glad to see you know when you've been beaten. Take them to the dungeons and have them prepared for feeding time." She waved to the person behind Werr and Tasia. "Oh...and make sure you put them near Sylas. I did promise I would let him see Werr alive. Although I never did mention for how long. Hm," She grinned, then sat down. They were led out of a fairly small room, not like a throne room at all; not like a castle at all. The dim lighting cast eerie shadows along the walls. The doors were concealed by long banners that bore the Silver Tornado's emblem, the same as the necklaces they all wore.

The 'dungeon' was more like a single room down a hallway from the 'throne room', sealed shut with an iron door. It was windowless and dark, with several large cages in it. Most were empty, although there was one in the corner with a bundled up shape that looked as though it might be human. There was a single long table off to the side with straps; it was easy to guess from the torture tools littered around it what the table was for.

The dual mage shoved them into separated cages, making sure Werr was next to the cage with the human in it. Tasia was thrown in one next to Werr's, and she sobbed quietly was she was let go. The dual mage growled at her, then stomped over to the human's cage and hit his hand against the bars, producing a loud rattle. "Wake up, man, you have a guest," he said, then sat down nearby and grabbed a bottle from the table, which was half-full of a strong alchohal. He took a long drink, sighing as he swallowed.

The man jerked awake with a groan, shifting around to see what was going on. Werr found himself looking at who was - unmistakeably - his own father. Sylas Rowe, in the flesh. He looked a bit underfed and in a great deal of pain, but that didn't matter. If his hands weren't tied, Werr probably would have reached through the bars. Just to be sure this was real.

"Werr." Sylas said quietly. "How...unfortunate. You aren't supposed to be here..."

"And why not? You...you're my father!" Werr stamered, unsure of what to do now.

"I am indeed. Why are you stating the obvious?"

"We-well...I would think that my own father would be happy to see me..." Werr said, frowning a bit.

"Well, I'm not. But," Sylas smiled a bit. "The only reason that is happens to be because that means you're going to be killed and a crazy rabbitzen is going to take your place as ruler of the kingdom. I'm very happy to see you, but I'm unhappy to see you. Rather confusing, certainly..." He seemed to be having some difficulty talking or moving. He kept his arms tucked close to him, a thin blanket draped over his shoulders.

He was much older than Werr, naturally. His black hair was streaked with grey, his dark eyes filled with mingled joy and sadness as he looked at his son. His exhausted face was wrinkled with a tired smile. "I imagine you have questions..."

"You think?" Werr snapped sarcastically.

"But if you'll forgive me, I'm n-not that great at explanations...what about you?" He leaned forward and looked past Werr at Tasia. "A dragonian female, and quite pretty, too." He didn't say it with any sort of malice in his voice; he said it as though he were merely stating fact. He could be listing off numbers in the same tone. "Are you Werr's girlfriend?"

Tasia's eyes widened, then she stammered "N-no! I-I'm not! I'm married and mated to N-Nate Furhblast." She turned her head over at Werr with an undeniable level of anger and said "Never to him." She pushed back into a corner of her cage, holding on tightly to the gold ring around her finger.

The dual mage, now very tipsy, downed that last of the contents of the bottle and threw it to the side, listening as it shattered. He leaned back in his chair and studied Sylas for a moment, then said "You sure know how to make a complete mess of things, you old jerk. Who needs kids? They just bring you...-hic!-...heck."

"Alright, I understand. Just...in the wrong place at the wrong time, then." Sylas coughed a bit, then looked up at the other man. "You never really understood much about family values, did you?" He sighed, leaning back in his cage. "I don't think it's very fair for you to be calling me a jerk when I'm the one with my arms nailed in place." Werr looked down at that, spotting the position Sylas' arms were in; casually crossed over his chest. Except there were four nails in each arm, pinning them rather securely onto his chest. Otherwise, Sylas looked as though he had been chewed on by something. Then beaten by foot and fist. It was amazing, how steady he could keep his voice.

"What...what happened to you?" Werr managed to ask, frowning.

"Interrogation often follows along with a thing called torture, Werr. I suffered through all of it. I only gave in when she told me I would see you again," Sylas sighed and looked towards his son again. "I had to tell her a number of things that only I would know; where the gate to Amnarius is, where the Artifacts of the Old Ones were kept...and a few other things that I don't see why they matter. Regardless," He looked back up at the dual mage. "Leo, you shouldn't drink so much. I can smell the liquor from here...again."

The half-cat snarled and glared at Sylas from under his dark hood, then spat "Shaddup. I'll drink as much as I want." He glared at Werr, then lurched up and leaned heavily against the bars of the boy's cage, glaring. "He looks like ya, Sylas," he said, glancing over to the man in the cage. "Family values were never my thing, ya know? You remember, Sylas. I know you remember, you remember EVERYTHING. All the things, right there!" He pointed a finger at Sylas, then looked back at Werr and said "Forgive me if I didn't introduce m'self properly..." He lifted his hand and swept his hood back, finally showing his face.

It was like looking at an older version of Cynyr, save for the single eye and scars.

His skin was lightly tanned and his black hair was spikey and flopped over, almost exactly like Welk's. He grinned at the disbelief on Werr's face, then said "My name is Leodhaius. Nice to meet you, Rowe."

"Wh-what the..." Werr stared, looking actually surprised now. It was a bit odd that he hadn't seemed too surprised - not even when Ina revealed herself. But he was definitely in shock now. "Leo...C-Cynyr's father...Welk's father...yo-you've got to be kidding me..."

"He's not," Sylas rolled his eyes. "We were friends at one point. I'd like to think we're still friends, but I'm not entirely certain. And Leo, the only reason you forget things is because you drink. I'd like to say that you drink because of your actions in the past, but...we've been over this."

"You..." Werr stammered, glaring at Leo. "You monster!"

"Now Werr, that's no way to talk to your elder,"

"Shut up!" Werr snapped at Sylas. "He's a monster, and if you've 'been over' his past, then you know why!"

"I do know it," Sylas shrugged. "I just told you not to call him a monster."

"No idea whatsoever...kids these days..." Leo muttered, flopping back into his chair. "You don't know what I lost, kid. Sylas knows, he knows everything. It was way back then, back when I had a real family. Had a mate, had a son and two daughters. Perfect, it was. As I imagine ya'll's been told, I was in heavy debt. Got that way trying to help my wife. She was a sick, frail little thing, yes she was. Having Cynyr hurt her. She wanted to deliver him naturally, I wanted to have him out through magic, though we both knew magic usually hurt the baby or killed them. She won. I wanted to help her, wanted to give her a better life. I borrowed the money to pay for her medical bills, but the money just kept runnin' out. She was so sick, you see, and when she got pregnant with twins..." He sighed heavily, then said "At that point, I was a mess. Drank too much to keep a steady job, but I kept trying. Mala and Teela were the cutest little bundles of brown half-cat fur I think I'd ever seen. But Marin...my sweet Marin...she just got worse and worse. I was desperate to save her. When a certain unnamed organization came forward with a way for me to pay off the dept and get her help, I was all ears."

He paused for a moment, flicking his tail back and forth, then said "I'm not proud of what I did to Cynyr. I paid for it, too. I paid hard." He bent forward and pressed his head into his hands, then said "Not too long after I gave Cynyr away, I had went out to apply for a job. I was going sober, I was getting a job, I wanted to help my family. But when I got home, they were DEAD. Bandits killed my precious little family. Marin, Mala, Teela...all of them. Dead and lifeless." He was silent for a moment, then said "Maybe I am a monster. I hated Cynyr ever since then. I blamed him for being the start of these problems. If we had just delivered him with magic and risked his death, Marin's health wouldn't have gone so far down. My drinking went skyward at that point. Didn't care 'bout anything. Not too long after, I thought I'd try again. Met a cute blonde half-cat named Briana and accidentally got her pregnant. Her family wouldn't let me stay, even though I wanted to try and take care of her. They kept her away from me and told me bad things about her." He was quiet again, then said "So yeah, maybe I am a monster. Maybe I am because I can't let go of the hatred towards a child that did no wrong. I don't care. I don't care about anything anymore..." He rested his head on his arms, heaving a deep breath, then looked up at Werr and said "Besides, ya can't call me a monster when you're one yourself."

Werr snorted. "Me? A monster like you? And how are you rationalizing that, exactly?" He said, sounding just as angry as ever.

"Werr, don't..." Sylas said quietly.

"And why not?" Werr turned his frown on his father. Sylas went quiet, then sighed, shrugged, and looked away. Werr looked back up at Leo expectantly. "What could possibly make me as bad as you?"

Leo smiled and said "I had one friend back then. That was Sylas. He's still my friend, no matter how much I complain and drink and argue with him. I've watched you, Werr. I've watched you and my son. Cynyr trusted you. He thought you had his back, that he could open up to you. You threw that right back into his face. More than two years of building up trust and friendship, and you ruined it. Even in my worst moments, I never turned Sylas away. Because I need him. If I didn't have him, I do believe I'd probably drink myself to death. You had better, Werr. You had a knight who would lay down his life to protect you. You had a shoulder to lean on, an ear that would listen, and a voice that would speak, and you were those things to him as well. You threw it away! Did he mean nothing to you? Did the good times in your past just fade? Congratulations, Werr." He smiled, then said "You really are a human king."

Werr stared at Leo for a long while before turning around, setting his forehead against the back bars of his cage.

"There comes a time in life when the bad events of the past begin to overwrite the good memories. And if you aren't careful...your own haunting past becomes your reality." Sylas sighed heavily as Werr started banging his head against the bars.

Leo chuckled and picked up another bottle, taking a drink. "Good times and bad are all the same to me," he said, chuckling. "Good, bad, good...-hic!-...bad..." He suddenly scooted his chair back and stood up so sharply that the chair fell over backwards. "Sylas, I'm sorry I couldn't get ya outta there before they hurt ya. I tried and you know it," he said. He stared at the torture tools on the long table, then suddenly swiped his hand through them and sent them flying. It cut up his hand, but he didn't care. He held onto his hand for a moment, then suddenly walked over to Sylas' cage and sat down in front of it, glaring at the man inside. "I hate you," he said flatly. He obviously didn't mean it, as he was under the effects of the alcohol. "Why didn't ya lemme die? Woulda been easier, ya know. Dead, dead, dead, everyone's dead. Ya just couldn't lemme die."

"You apologized already. I already forgave you," Sylas sighed. "And I already told you why I won't let you die. Ever. When we're old and shouting at kids to get off our lawns, I still won't let you die before me. We're friends. Things would be awfully dull without you. And they probably would have killed me if you hadn't stepped in, you know?" He turned his head and looked over at Tasia again. "And what about you, miss? Any friends coming to fetch you? Your husband would be one of them, I imagine. And you do seem to know Werr...where did you two meet?"

Leo fell onto his back, muttering about how Sylas was a pompous, self-righteous fool and his best friend in the same breath.

Tasia sniffled, then said "U-um, well...I w-was held captive in A-Amnairus when I m-met your son, s-sir. He helped set me f-free. He u-used to be nice..." She shifted around uncomfortably, staring quietly at Sylas. "Y-you seem nice enough," she said, tilting her head slightly. She flinched when Leo suddenly shot flames from his mouth, then cut it off, then did it again. She frowned, understanding that he was suffering, then looked back to Sylas.

"I try to be nice," Sylas nodded thoughtfully. "And it is as I said. If all those stories are true, Werr here is suffering in his own mind. Falling apart, to say the least. He has the same mental problems his mother did; quite intelligent, brilliant, in fact. But very prone to attachments that are so strong that it becomes unhealthy when the other leaves for any period of time. From what Leo said before, I would imagine that something caused Werr to start pushing his friends away, ultimately causing the destruction of his own mind. I'm not sure what he's doing now. I think perhaps he's attempting to force himself into unconsciousness." Sylas said, watching Werr for a few minutes, then looked up at Tasia with a small smile. "I do hope your friends get here soon. If I heard correctly, you two were going to be fed to the lion."

Tasia sniffled and said "Lion? What lion? T-there's one here?"

Leo snorted and said "What lion, she says. Ha. HA! Silly, silly." He fiddled with the silver pendant around his neck for a moment, then said "We gonna have some fuuuuun today. Yessir."

Tasia watched him fearfully as he took another swing out of his bottle, then looked towards Sylas again, her gaze fearful.

Sylas sighed, then looked over at Tasia again. "The lion I'm speaking of has been altered somehow. It's...huge. I only know because they showed me, and threatened to feed me to it if I didn't talk. Of course I didn't believe them; I had information they wanted that they couldn't get if I was dead. But they got it out of me anyways. I can't move too much without screaming in pain now...so I can't help much." He shook his head, looking upset. "Werr...get ahold of yourself. You're going to need it for when your friends arrive. Accept their help. Please..."

Werr continued smashing his head against the bars until he finally just stopped and sat there, whimpering a bit. "She said we would be 'prepared' for feeding...what does that mean...?"

"Did she? Someone will be in here soon enough. I can't say what they'll do, exactly...I don't know. Sorry." Sylas bit his lip, clearly concerned for his son. "Your friends...Seria, Nate, all of them. Do you...trust them to show up on time?"

"If they're not traitorous. Nate is, but if he's with everyone else, then...maybe." Werr glared at the wall. Sylas looked up at Tasia, wondering what her answer was.

Tasia snaked her tail through the bars and whacked Werr over his head, a hiss escaping her lips. "You stop talking about my husband like that, you idiot!" she shouted at him, standing up in her cage and facing him fully. "He's no traitor, and neither are any of your friends! You're the only traitor I see here, human, and if they don't come, then I don't blame them! We've been on your side all this time. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Nate and I have been nothing but help to you this whole time! I have half a mind to kill you myself if you don't shut the heck up and stop talking like that about the person that chose me over every other girl in this world! Now shut up!" She flumped back down into her corner, ignoring them all completely.

Werr glared at her for a long moment, only paying attention to the fact that she had hit him. Sylas smiled at this, though. "Well, Tasia trusts them, apparently. I don't think she would lie to you, my boy. It's okay to trust in more people than just Cynyr, you know. From the stories I've heard, you have a whole list of people you can depend on, and--" Sylas cut himself off as the door was opened.

Someone stepped in, wrapped in a thick white hooded robe of some kind. It shrouded most of his face and was apparently too big for him, as it hung loosely over his hands and dragged on the floor around his feet. "Good morning Sylas, Leo." He said quietly.

"Evening." Sylas corrected him.

The part of his face that wasn't covered curled up into a smile. "I never was able to fool you. Oh well." He started walking forward, moving to unlock Tasia's cage.

"What are you doing to them, Snider?" Sylas asked quickly.

"I'm not sure yet. I think I'll experiment, perhaps." Snider replied quietly. Sylas swore under his breath.

((You can go ahead and let me know if there's anything in particular you wanted. If not, I'll just go easy on her and nail her wings together. Easily fixable by Seria.))

"Yo Cider," Leo said, clearly and obviously mispronouncing his name. "Which reminds me..." He took another drink from his bottle, letting out an "Ah..." when he swallowed.

Tasia shrunk back from the man, her eyes wide with fear. Fire welled up in her throat and she shot it at him, trying desperately to force him back, to keep him away. She flared her wings and flew around the top of her cage, trying to find a place or spot to hide.

There was none, of course.