The Forgotten Zodiac

Sylas hadn't even flinched while the Divine was 'shouting'. He laughed when he was nuzzled, wrapping his arms around his huge friend's muzzle as far as he could. "Alright. I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to get mad at me, okay? Because it's incredibly easy. The answer is..." He said, then suddenly stepped to the side, dropping into the abyss.

The Divine reared its head back with a startled roar, frowning over the edge of the bridge and shouting "Crazy!" It quickly unwound itself from around the bridge and lunged after the human, easily catching up to him and simply falling with him for a while. It opened one great eye staring at him through its silvery depths. The darkness was endless and the huge creature could easily teleport them back. It curved back and forth through the air, then came up under the man and caught him on his head, deciding to stop falling and glide instead. "You sneak," the creature said, but Sylas heard the humor in its voice.

Sylas laughed. "It's 'e'!" He said, clinging to his friend's head. "The letter 'e'." He rolled over and laid on his back, watching the darkness pass them by. The endless abyss. "That's all it was, really. Maybe I shouldn't have given you such a hard riddle. Even with all the memories you've probably picked up over the years, no one knew that one? Or did you just not want to cheat?" He grinned.

He felt the creature tense up under him, then said "I have my dignity, you old fool." Then a sound that was as rare as snow in the middle of a desert in summer; the Divine laughed quietly. It wasn't a malicious laugh, as many others had heard. It was a simple, pleased laugh. It snorted, unable to stop smiling. "You always were a silly goat," it said, gliding along slowly through the dark. It moved a huge, clawed white hand up and wrapped its fingers around Sylas, lifting him as it turned over in the endless black. It put Sylas down on its stomach, flying along on its back with ease. It sighed deeply, closing its eyes, then settled for a slow, graceful falling-glide. "Sylas..." it murmured, it's great eyes dark behind its lids. "You know I'm getting older too, right? See these?" It gestured at the dark gray stripes running up and down its back and belly. "I didn't have these two years ago. It signals that I'll be dying soon. 'Soon' being in the next ten years. Galai will become pregnant with a new Divine during that time and I'll die at the moment it takes its first breath. My time is ending...my dear little human friend. The only of which I left the memories of alone." It bent its head forward sadly, nuzzling Sylas softly. "I've already been alive for over 100,000 years. What's ten more?"

"That...is unfortunate." Sylas said, sitting up and frowning at his huge friend. "Well...everything dies eventually, I suppose. I don't have that much longer left, either. But on the other hand...I'm human." He heaved a sigh, putting a hand on his friend's muzzle. "Will the new Divine...be like you? I was going to retire in Amnarius. I'm growing far too old for any sort of adventuring. And my son," He chortled. "My son is the king of a burning nation! It's too much, all too much. But if the new Divine is the same as you, we could make friends again. That woud be nice..."

It smiled and said "It'll have all of my memories, of course. It'll know you as well as I do." It took Sylas into its hands and arched back up, heading towards the bridge. It flew up and hovered over the bridge, landing gently and wrapping its long body around it again. It laid down on the bridge and carefully deposited Sylas next to it, then said "I have a favor to ask of you, Sylas Rowe. Would you, maybe..." It swallowed, then dug hard into its dignity and asked "...grant me the honor of taking a copy of your memories? I have the ones from your son, and gaining new ones each day. I want the next Divine to know all possible about you." It touched its nose lightly to him, sighing heavily. Sylas could almost swear there was a thin sheen of water in the giant silver eyes. But...the Divine wasn't supposed to cry. It never had in 100,000 or so years of existance.

Sylas smiled up at the Divine. "It would be my pleasure to give them. The only reason I refused before was to keep you from figuring out that riddle, you know. But now...it would make me happy if you took a copy." He said, sounding genuinely pleased. He closed his eyes and stilled his mind, though he knew full well that it made no difference to the Divine.

He felt the presence of the Divine wash over him in a gentle wave. Normally, the Divine's presence was completely and utterly dulled to every sense and feeling. It was how it copied memories from people across the land without them knowing. If someone could know everything about a person, Ophile would be that person. But if someone could know everything about everyone in the entire world, that would most certainly be the Divine. It even had a backlog on Obelisk's memories, unknown to him. Though its presence was normally dull and unknown, it allowed Sylas to feel its mind washing over his, melding them together into one for a matter of moments. Sylas got a feeling of the Divine's existance; long, undying...lonely. With only the memories of other people to go through to pass the years.

The copying was done in a matter of moments and the Divine pulled back, leaving Sylas with a warm feeling in his mind. As if someone had stroked his soul.

Sylas beamed at him a little, but that faded after a moment of thought. "I guess I understand a bit more of how you feel. It seems...boring. Perhaps I can understand a little of how Obelisk is, too. I'm starting to wonder, after having him help me. He's surprisingly gentle with those bandages of his..." He muttered thoughtfully, leaning against the Divine for the comfort of them both.

The huge creature exhaled softly, closing its eyes and it simply soaked in the comfort of having the only human it actually liked touch it. It purred softly, resting its head on his hands. "You're still just an old ponderer," it noted, silently catalogging Sylas' memories away. It chuckled, then muttered "Stupid riddle...'e'..." It smiled despite its closed eyes, flicking the end of its tail. It placed the claws of one hand just in front of Sylas, who could only stare at the claws that were much, much bigger than he was. The dark black claws of one huge hand contrasted blatantly with the bright white claws of the other hand. A symbol that the Divine had been conceived by a Tartaran and Amnairian pair.

It snorted, then said "Werr's a fine boy, Sylas. I hate him." It then laughed, much heartier than before. "He's definitely your son. Did you know he even had the nerve to scream at me?"

"Did he?" Sylas snorted. "He takes after me, then." He chortled, thinking back to the first time he had met the Divine. The much larger creature had threatened to destroy his mind on the spot. Sylas had suffered grave injuries from his trial of passage given to him by Resu. He had gone on a long rampage about how he had completely expected to be killed and how it was cruel of them to get people's hopes up - make them believe the hard part was over - only to have a big monster with a god complex eat them the next second. The Divine had found him incredibly amusing, it seemed, and still did. "Do you remember that?" Sylas chortled, knowing his thoughts were known by the Divine. "Nevermind, I know you do. How simple things were back then..."

The large creature snorted in a chuckle, saying "The world was a bit younger back then, I suppose...along with ourselves. Though if I recall, you were a very young human back then." It sighed through its nose, then opened its eyes, watching Sylas through the deep, immesureable depths. It nuzzled him again, then said "Let's go flying, my little friend." It offered Sylas its hand, prepared to take him on a trip that none had ever seen before.

For the rest of Galai and Titus' meeting, the Divine and Sylas flew as one, invisible to all eyes and sense, over the human world.

Sylas watched the world pass him by. It wasn't too bad, being friends with this giant. Sylas knew he would be grieved when the Divine died, but...

"Zephyr?" Nate moved into the hallway, stepping cautiously towards his once-dragon friend. "Zephyr, are you okay?" He said gently, sitting down next to his friend.

The human flinched slightly, turning eyes fulled of hot tears onto the dragonian. For a few seconds, he hesitated, not knowing what Nate would think of him and not exactly sure how to manuver in this form, then leaned against him and rested his head against Nate's shoulder. He cried softly, still reflexively blowing air sharply through his nose once in a while in what normally would've been a smoke-exhalent move. He still had his fire now, but it worked like Nate's; no smoke came with the much smaller flame inside Zephyr's body now. He sat oddly too, with his hands on the ground and his legs bent around him. His fingers were arched, forming pawish shapes.

"There now, Zephyr. I know it's you," Nate said, wrapping his arms around the human. "Ophile already told me what we have to do. We can fix all this. Have you told Vaira?" He questioned, frowning slightly. What on earth would Zephyr's mate think of him when she saw this?

"SALT!" Boko suddenly tackled Nate, squeaking at him before scrambling around and starting to lick Zephyr's face. "Yum~!"

Zephyr yelped and ducked slightly, placing his hands on either side of Boko's face in order to hold him back. He quickly realized what was licking him and felt his breath hitch in his throat, threatening to cry again. He put his forehead against Boko's, not knowing if the baby drakeling would recognize him or not. His scent was still the same, after all. Just not his appearance. "Boko..." he murmured to his son, sounding heartbroken as he continued to lean against Nate, not trusting his body to hold himself up properly.

"You taste good, papa. Why small now? Oh well. Taste good." Boko giggled, nuzzling his father eagerly. "I can wrap myself aaallll the way around you now! I could do not that before." He squirmed his way between Zehpyr and the wall, then pushed Nate aside, wrapping around Zephyr in a snug loop. "See? I can do it." His thick body supported Zephyr easily.

"You have an adorable son," Nate smiled warmly. "And he's getting good at talking, too."

Zephyr hugged him tightly, pressing his head against Boko's snout. He opened his mouth to try and explain to his son what had happened to him, but froze when he heard the sound of familar claws clicking against the floor of the hallway.

"Boko!" Vaira said, shaking her horns. "I told you not to run away from me like that. What if-" She cut off when she saw the green-haired human her child was wrapped around. She blinked sharply, then slowly leaned forward and stared at him. His scent wafted into her nose and she flinched sharply, her eyes growing wide. She peered at his dark emerald hair and red eyes, leaning a bit closer in order to better take in his scent.

"...Zephyr?" she asked hesitantly, and was horrified when he nodded weakly.

"Vaira," he said, moving to touch her muzzle with his hand. She jerked her head away from his hand, still staring as if in shock. He dropped his hand limply, utter despair filling his eyes. Vaira took a step back, looking scared, though her shock was starting to fade.

"Mommy, daddy is small! But he still daddy." Boko purred, nuzzling Zephyr happily.

"Vaira, please," Nate stood, frowning. "I was told that there's a simple fix to all of this. Zephyr will be a dragon again soon enough. And Boko is quite correct; despite his shape and form, he's still your mate and Boko's father." Of course, Nate didn't understand how serious this was for both Vaira and Zephyr. Boko didn't get it either, not that the small Drakeling understood much of anything.

Vaira took another step back, looking on fearfully. She and Zephyr both knew what would happen if word got to the other dragons about Zephyr's transformation, even if he was returned to true form; their pairing would be condemed as 'barren', or zhlach, in the dragon tongue. They would both be shunned by their own people and would be forbidden to mate with each other ever again. Naybrin and the more magic-sensitive dragons of the tribe could even use their powers to make Vaira and Zephyr both infertile, if certain conditions were met and certain words of a long-forgotten language were spoken by Naybrin. They would be cast out of their tribe and homeland.

Forever.

And for a creature that could live for thousands of years, that was a long time.

Vaira ducked her head, looking away from Zephyr and thinking over what this meant for her and her mate. Zephyr also looked away, lowering his eyelids half-way in a dragonish signal of sorrow. If Vaira chose to abandon him and walk away, he wouldn't stop her. He couldn't force her to stay with him and ruin both of their lives.