The Forgotten Zodiac

"Lost memories?" Werr peeked out fearfully from under the blankets. "I don't...I don't understand...fire? No, no, no, no, no...I hate fire..." He dropped the edge of the blanket again, whimpering a bit. He was acting like he was five or something; nowhere near the strict, calm, calculating demeanor of his normal self.

Cynyr stared at him for a moment, then crossed his arms, placing the fingers of one hand over the bridge of his nose. "Why me? I hate little kids..." he muttered, shaking his head. "I am not the best person for this situation..." He sighed, then looked up at Werr and said "Will you at least come walk with me? You probably don't understand what's happened, but I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help you." His eye suddenly brightened slightly, then he said "If you walk with me for a little while, I'll help you find your mom. Okay?" He offered his hand out to the boy, trying not to startle him.

Werr sniffed a bit, then took Cynyr's hand hesitantly. Doctor Marr watched for a moment, then moved over to help with Obelisk's lip. Scary or not, the creature still had a wound, and the doctor had an obligation to help in any way he could.

Werr climbed out of bed, though he still looked hesitant. "Dad said not to go places with strangers, but...you don't seem to be lying. So I'll go with you." He nodded, looking around. He decided to ask yet again, "Where am I, exactly?"

((Fixed))

Cynyr carefully led Werr out of the room, feeling greatly self-conscious and awkward. "In Alastor Castle," the panther said. He avoided the gaping crevasse Obelisk had left behind in his wake and headed to the throne room, discreetly trying to help Werr remember things through sight. "If only Welk were here..." Cynyr thought. "Aside from crying and being his usual freak-out self, he'd help with this better than I can. Heck, Welk might even jog some memories. Guess I just gotta make do without him..." He trudged on, pushing open the throne room doors when they reached them.

The crack was actually closing, but much slower than it had opened. Obelisk was starting to fix what damage he made, for once. His behavior was most odd, indeed...it really was starting to look like he wasn't as evil as he had seemed.

Werr stood at the entrance, staring at the throne room for a long while. "Are you sure we should be here, then?" He questioned, looking around warily. "I mean, this is a castle. Isn't this where kings and queens live?" He sounded a bit intimidated and hesitant.

Cynyr snorted and said "You have no idea..." He looked away and said "No, it's perfectly fine for you to be here. I'm one of only two personal guards to the king himself, you see." There was no pride in his voice as he said this. "Come on," he said, giving Werr's hand a small tug to get him moving. He led him along to the library, taking in a small, calming breath as he entered the large room. He and Werr and Welk had spent hours upon hours in the past two years in this room, reading or just coming here to talk. Sometimes Seria joined them, sometimes not. Mostly, it was the three of them. This room held good memories inside its walls.

"Whoa! So many books!" Werr looked up at the tall shelves, gasping in surprise at the sheer amount of volumes upon volumes of wonderful, wonderful books. He grinned widely, running over to one of the shelves and grabbing the biggest book he could find. He sat down in his (unknown to him) usual chair, opening it up eagerly and starting to flick through it. He had always enjoyed reading, apparently.

Cynyr watched the boy, then moved forward and wordlessly stuck a hand into his pocket. He pulled out a small key, then turned and moved off into the library, heading towards one bookcase that was locked. He put the key in the lock and opened it, then pulled out the book inside.

Werr's journal that he had written over the years, filling it with everything he and their friends had done back when dark magic had still been killing the land.

Cynyr held the book for a moment and opened it, reading through the hand-written pages. He chuckled slightly when he saw a doodle Welk had drawn onto one page about how he was the greatest adventureer ever. They all had contributed to the book and it was painfully obvious which lines Welk had wrote. His handwritting was terrible. The panther tucked the book under his arm and walked back over to Werr, holding the book out to him with one hand. "Here," he said, staring at the boy. "You might like this."

Werr set down the book he was reading and read the one Cynyr handed him. He stopped on the first page though. The first sentence, even. That sentence read, 'This book tells of the tales that I, Werr Grehi, lived through (despite all odds).' He looked up, obviously confused. "Werr Grehi...you called me that. Is this book about me or something?" He looked down again, not really recognizing the handwriting. But the words...they seemed so real, like he had something special to do with them. The book was thick and heavy, but it seemed so familiar to him...he suddenly closed it shut and held it close, as though someone might try and take it from him. He looked back up at Cynyr, waiting for an answer.

The wind mage stared back at him silently for a moment, then said "Read it and find out." He took panther form and curled up in his usual spot, which was just a mess of thick silk blankets wadded up against the wall closest to Werr's chair. The softness of the silk was one of the only things that didn't catch on his scars and rather actually felt good. He sighed when he laid down, but he didn't lower his head yet. He stared at Werr for a moment longer, then stood up and walked over, sitting down next to the chair in another usual move. Though usually it was Welk sitting so close to the chair, purring away like a maniac. Cynyr tilted his ears back and gently brushed his muzzle against Werr's leg in a slow nudge, forcing a purr into his throat that only ended in a bad cough.

Werr smiled down at Cynyr, not too sure what he was going to find by peeking into this book. He opened it anyways, reassured by Cynyr's attempted purr. He opened it up again and started reading.

He read through most of the day. Lunch was brought by a maid, and by the time he finished that, he was starting to doze off. He finally fell asleep a couple hours later, the book still open on his lap, open to a page that described Amnarius in all of its glory, as well as a couple sketches taped to the book that Werr had convinced Forin to draw before leaving.

Cynyr had stayed awake the whole time, and even now he wasn't very tired. He stood up and took human form, stretching before moving to Werr. He left the book in Werr's arms, just picking up the boy and the book together. He cradled the boy against his body and turned, walking out of the room. He took the human king up to his room and gently placed him on the bed, making sure he was covered by the blankets. He pulled the book away and set it nearby on the bed, then took cat form and curled up at the foot of the bed. He wasn't tired, but for some reason, sleep came quickly to him.

It was growing late. After a full day of riding, the palace finally came into view; Forin had always thought that having the capital cities within a day's ride of each other was a bit silly, but king Asmodius and king Regalo used to be good friends. It made sense; they trusted each other, of course. They rode on towards the castle, forcing the horses to go ever faster.

They were stopped at the gates of the palace. "Halt! State your business, Alastorians!" The guards demanded. The crest on the reins of the horses was a dead giveaway.

"Tell your head guard Nate that his old friends have stopped by for some important business." Forin said with a frown.

"And why should I do that, kid?" The guard tensed immediately, his hand moving towards his sword. "Who sent you?"

Seria moved her horse forward, smiling at the man. "We were sent by king Werr Grehi from Alastor on personal business," she said. "Don't worry, we aren't here to bother. And if you don't trust us, then why don't you go ahead and bring Nate our message? If he doesn't know us, he'll just dismiss us, won't he? And if he does know us..." She smiled and flicked her tail, glancing over to the side as Welk shook his pelt, fluffing his blonde fur out in all directions.

"Nate isn't exactly able to receive messages at the moment," The guard growled at them. "Scram, all of you!"

"What happened to him?" Forin asked, frowning.

"None of your business!"

Forin slid off of the horse, advancing. The guard drew his sword; Forin knocked it deftly out of his hands with a jab of his fingers to the sword hand; from there, it was easy to punch the guard in the face from there, watching as he fell backwards. Forin stepped on the guard's armored chest, keeping him pinned to the ground. "What happened to Nate Fuhrblast?" He said, sounding more dangerous than he ever had before. Of course...he refused to lose another friend.

"W-we don't know! Poison or so-something, nothing we do fixes it," The guard struggled against Forin's foot. "He's just barely hanging onto life as it is, and you've come to finish the job, haven't you?! I won't let you!" The guard drew out a knife, stabbing it into Forin's leg. The Tartaran let out a scream of pain, bringing up his foot and threatening to stomp down on the man's face; his foot landed next to the guard's head, however. He stepped over the man, limping towards the castle. "Seria, you have a Dragonian to heal, apparently..."

Seria nodded, then got off of her horse and led it along, Welk trotting after her. Seria also grabbed the reins of Forin's horse, with Diana still sitting on it. She followed behind Forin, carefully stepping over the fallen guard.

Welk bent down and stared at the guard for a moment, then grinned and said "Boy, I hope you don't get demoted for this!" He laughed, then waved at the guard and ran off after the others. They all made their way into the castle, where they left the horses in the courtyard for the time being. "Where's Nate?" Welk asked, glancing around. He let a tendril of fire curl up his arm, playing with the flames for a moment.

"I'll find him," Seria said, then bent down and touched her hands to the ground. A moment later, a large red cat raced forward, already following the familiar scent of the dragonian.

For you see, at some point during the two years, Seria had used the Undoing Liquid Cici had given her to take her cat form back at the cost of some of her Divine healing powers. It wasn't too much of a loss, however, as she had been training hard ever since then. Her natural healing powers were very strong now, thanks to that training.

Nate was in his room, the castle's doctor sitting in a corner, trying to comfort a teary Tasia. The poor woman had done all she could; Nate had a nasty fever, blood leaking on and off from his ears, mouth or eyes, his breathing heavy yet shallow. Black bruises blossomed along his body. His lips were tinted blue; he wasn't getting enough oxygen. He coughed and spluttered every minute or so because of this, trying desperately to take a deep breath. There was no injection wound, meaning he had somehow come across this some other way.

Actually, it had been in Nate's food. It was a slow acting poison that came from the Vermillion Vampric Bat; its venom was designed to cause veins to swell to the point where they would burst with the slightest touch. Nate's naturally sturdy body was holding up surprisingly well; the veins that did burst were quick to repair themselves, but it was clear that Nate was wearing down. The main problem wasn't the fact that his veins were bursting. It wasn't even the fact that some of the bursting had poured blood into his lungs for several minutes, nearly killing him (there was quite a mess on the floor from him coughing it up again and again). The main problem was the fact that the poison was literally in every corner of his body, ravaging him from the inside out.

When Seria trotted into the room, Tasia lifted her head in shock, tears pouring down her face. She had been here through it all, trying to comfort Nate and help him through everything. She was at her wits' end, fearing that she was going to lose the second male in her life that she had ever loved; and this one hadn't hurt her like the first. The sweet female dragonian didn't recognize Seria at first, but when the healer took human form, Tasia squealed and darted forward, hugging her tightly. "Seria!" she sobbed, speaking in the human language. She had been learning fast, it seemed. "N-Nate...you must..." she started, but Seria pulled back and took her mangled hands into her own, giving them a gentle stroke. "Shhh, don't cry," the half-cat said. "I know. I'm going to help him." She hugged Tasia again, then moved forward to Nate and set her hands on him ever so lightly. Her powers washed over his entire body in a turquoise wave, sending a flood of energy into him at the cost of Seria's own. She placed a hand over his mouth, brushing her fingers against his lips, then held her hand over his chest. Slowly, the poison started draining through his skin, forming a ball of shifting liquid that hovered just over Seria's palm.

Nate gurgled as the poison finally started to leave his body. By the time Seria was finished, the orb was as big as her head, and Nate didn't seem to be improving. Finally, he opened his eyes and just laid there, staring at the female half-cat above him. "You're a sight for sore eyes," He groaned, wiping blood away from his previously bleeding eyes. "Literally." He struggled to sit up, just as uncomfortable as ever with lying down anywhere.

Forin helped him sit up, propping him upright with pillows. "What happened?"

"Not too sure...I was just eating, and this happened...I'm fairly certain it was poison. Nothing happened to the king, fortunately...but I could have died..."

"Which would have been terrible, I'm guessing." Forin said. "The guard outside seemed eager to defend you in your moment of weakness."

"Luso, I'm guessing...yes, if I go down, the entire guard force will have some serious problems. We're short-staffed as it is. The kingdom is in a tight spot financially, you see, what with all the rebuilding...without Werr's support, Storaph would be little more than broken buildings. As such, cuts had to be made, and a lot of the guards were let go. To have me down must have been stressful on poor Luso; he's next in line to be head guard, but he's nowhere near ready for that position. For that matter--"

"So, the guard force is weak and if you were taken out, the entire system would be weakened and vulnerable..." Forin frowned.

"A motive for the poisoning." Nate nodded with a frown. "You must have some business here, though. You've never come for a chat..."

"I've been busy," Forin said bitterly. "We found Cern, kind of. We think he intends to assassinate king Asmodius."

"I see...gah, I'm parched...does anyone have any ale or something?"

Tasia moved forward at once, pressing against Nate and practically sitting on him with how close she tried to get. She nuzzled against his neck, placing a hand over her mouth as she tried not to cry harder. She wrapped a wing around him, curling her tail around one of his legs. She loved him greatly, as he had only proved to be honest, protective and caring towards her. Not at all like the one that had hurt her before.

Seria smiled reassuringly at her, then turned to Welk and said "Go find Nate something to drink. And try not to break anything, alright?"

Welk rolled his eyes, then turned and trotted out, leaving sparks in his wake.

Seria turned back to Nate and Tasia and smiled at them, saying "Aside from the poison, how are you both?" She raised a questioning eyebrow, her smile widening a bit.