The Forgotten Zodiac

"I...would much like a weapon, my lord. Just in case. Like...the weapon you gave Relic before." Kiraki said quietly, shuffling her feet nervously. She clutched the stuffed animal tightly, deathly afraid of disappointing Malice. He could take the bear away, tear it in half...or, even worse, he could make her tear it apart. That was the worst thought she'd had in a long while, and it took a great deal of self control to not cry.

Malice stared at her through his soul-piercing gaze, then finally said "Alright then," and held a hand out towards her. A small, thin-bladed sword appeared before her, a very special weapon. "Relic handled that nicely," he said, his dark, slightly-scratchy voice practically digging into her ears. "It and its power to inflict wounds that a healer cannot heal. Don't fail, Kiraki, or I'll eat your soul in order to extend my life. Am I understood?" He leaned forward a bit, his crimson eyes gleaming.

"I...I understand. Crystal clear." Kiraki said quietly, backing up until she found her exit. She fled at once, holding onto the blade carefully, not wanting to cut herself at all. She ran all the way upstairs, and it was as she suspected; the exit was open now. She bolted through it, looking around; she climbed up onto one of the waiting horses, a nice pure black stallion.

Malice informed her of where she would be going and which way to go. She set off at a fast pace, knowing that she was chasing down a dragon. If she was to get anywhere in time, she had to move fast.

It took a few hours, but Vaira made it to Delbrenheim, the smaller town set in a tranquil forest. She landed and folded her wings, letting everyone else off. They were all tense, of course, but perhaps none so much as Werr. They went into the town, searching for the black panther that was their friend, only to discover that most of the people there weren't willing to talk to them. In fact, the town had seemed deserted at first. Everyone was locked up in their homes, with few people wandering the streets. When someone finally stopped long enough to talk, what they said was frightening.

"I can't stay long. Have to get home. Some demonic creature attacked us. Big and black, it was. Moved as fast as lightning, it seemed. It's in a cave just outside of town. It killed a couple of people here. That's why we're hiding from it. It's been here for a couple of days, but it only attacked about two hours ago. The clearest report of it was that it was some sort of...huge cat. Don't go out into the forest, it'll tear you all to pieces. We're gonna have some armed guards go out after it in a bit."

"Don't," Werr ordered. "Keep the guards in the town and keep your families close. We'll deal with the huge cat." He sent the villager off, and moved on foot towards the exit. He had gotten enough information from that one townsperson; it didn't take a genius to figure out who the huge cat was. He was as determined as ever to track down Cynyr. No matter what to took.

With Vaira's delicate sense of smell, coupled with the directions they had received from the villager, they soon located the cave that their missing half-cat had hidden inside. Blood was splattered around the entrance and trailed inwards. The cave didn't go too far in. Barely more than ten seconds at a strong walk brought you to the dark, deep cavern the panther was in.

A snarl sounded and yellow eyes flashed in the darkness as the panther slunk back and forth, pacing angrily. Blood dripped from one paw, where the ring artifact was still firmly holding on, despite Cynyr being in panther form. It looked like he had tried to cut the ring off of his finger, but had obviously stopped at the horrible pain. A discarded knife nearby, covered in slick half-cat blood, proved this point. But his whole gait was wrong, his entire demeanor...different.

Feral.

Werr was quick to arrive at said cavern. "Cynyr," He said quickly, looking with concern towards his friend.

"Werr, don't get too close," Nate dragged him back, recognizing the signs of a lost mind and animal-like behavior.

"Cynyr, what is this? What have you done?" Ophile whimpered, walking forward. His scent was still the same, perhaps Cynyr would recognize him...

Cynyr snarled suddenly and lunged at him, claws arching wide. Seria screamed in terror and Vaira snaked her head around, just barely managing to grab the edge of Ophile's clothes and drag him backwards in time to prevent Cynyr's claws from cleaving through his neck.

The panther backed away, enraged and hissing darkly. His eyes were missing their intelligent gleam, the subtle glow that showed life.

It was like he was just a regular black panther, now.

Ophile barked at Cynyr once or twice, which sounded like yelping thanks to his now-human throat. Obelisk, however, had seen plenty. His bandages whipped forward, pinning Cynyr to the floor in a matter of seconds. He stalked forward, wrapping his fingers around Cynyr's toe that the ring held onto. He wrapped both of his shriveled hands around it, watching as the ring grew in size and slipped right off.

Obelisk cleaned the blood off of it, tossing it to Werr. "What the..." Werr stammered. "How did you--"

"The Artifacts refuse to be lost. Once it's on, only another person can remove it if they have the intention to give it to another or put it on themselves." Obelisk shrugged. "I spent a small amount of time close to them, I know a bit more than the book does. And there's a good deal about these things that are forbidden to be written down in any book."

"Right..."

Cynyr snarled and struggled against the bandages, whimpering softly in the back of his throat. His eyes remained blank even after the ring was removed, showing that whatever was wrong with him was self-given. He wriggled up and away from Obelisk, hissing at him but not attacking. He knew now that the decrepit creature was stronger than him, so he didn't risk going near him again. He pressed back into a corner, snarling and growling angrily.

Seria had fled outside of the cave and was in tears, crying and sobbing quietly.

"Cynyr..." Werr murmured, stepping forward cautiously. "Cynyr, I...I still have to apologize to you...you can't--" He suddenly cut off, collapsing onto his side. The artifact now around his finger glowed slightly, and if one was listening hard enough, they could have heard a faint giggle.

"Mischevious little bug," Obelisk snorted.

"What the...Werr?" Ophile nudged the human king, worried.

Kiraki watched Seria sobbing. The daughter of Beoth was tucked behind a bush, debating whether or not to actually do anything. She sighed inwardly and started, feeling invisible trails of magic start to leave Seria and drifted towards her. Absorbing them was a simple task; healing magic. Might as well use it...she looked at her arms, where they had been scratched by low-hanging branches she had passed by. A quick rub with a single finger, and they were gone. She could only use the powers she absorbed for a limited time before they were gone completely.

"Sorry..." Kiraki murmured, hugging Sir Two Foot close to her as she continued the absorption process.

Seria didn't notice that her powers were being taken. She was completely overwhelmed by her greif to notice anything except that Werr's voice and Cynyr's growling had both stopped.

*

When Werr woke up, he found himself in a large, lush forest. The trees were green, there was an even number of brightly colored flowers on the ground around him, and everything just seemed peaceful and...perfect. Birds chirped in the trees, flitting from branch to branch, and off in the distance, Werr could hear someone laughing and shouting.

"What the..." Werr stood up quickly, spinning in circles for a moment. "What...is this...?" He blinked in confusion, then started towards the sounds. He looked up, seeing...nothing. No sun. It was still bright, but there was no sun in the sky. Werr bit his lip then started forward again, wondering who was making that sound.

The sound led Werr to a meadow in the middle of the forest, where a small child was running around and chasing scores of butterflies. The child squealed and giggled and laughed as the little insects flew around him, then he sensed Werr and turned to face him.

A six-year-old Cynyr, unscarred and untainted, looked up at Werr.

"Werr!" he said, breaking out into a grin and running forward. He gave a quick jump and got his arms around Werr's neck, holding on tight and hugging him. "You finally made it! Are you here to play with me?"

"What?" Werr blinked, returning the hug. "U-um...no, Cynyr, I'm not here to play. I...I have to get you back into your own mind, okay?" He wasn't sure if this was the case or not, but...it seemed close enough. "I have to apologize to you. I have to make things right...I...I hurt you. And I'm sorry for that. I'm so sorry..."

Cynyr tilted his head to one side and said "What are you apologizing for? I don't have any of those bad memories in here, where I'm safe. I just have some good ones. Like how I know who you are!" He nuzzled under Werr's chin, then scrambled away from him and said "C'mon, you hafta play with me!" He dropped to the ground and rolled around in the grass, then paused and looked up at Werr. "I don't want to go back," he said. "That's why I don't accept your sorry yet. Because I don't ever want to go back, where things can hurt me. Where you hurt me." He was silent for a moment, then shook his head and went back to rolling around.

Cynyr stopped again, laying on his side and not looking at Werr for a long moment. Everything seemed to still. The birds stopped chirping and the gentle breeze stopped moving through the trees. Storm clouds boomed overhead as Cynyr started to shake slightly. "I don't want to go back..." he growled, his little form shifting slightly and growing a bit bigger. He whipped around, his face now a twisted mat of bleeding, torn skin. His body was covered in similar marks, his clothing torn to the point of barely covering him. "Is this what you want me to be?!" he shouted, digging his claws into the ground. "This hidious scare face?! Here, I'm safe from this...this MESS that I am! And what, you only want me back for Seria, is that it? I didn't come here because of her, Werr. Or do you just not care?!" Tears poured down his cheeks, mixing with the blood dripping down his cheeks and from the hacked-apart holes in his face where his nose used to be. "I don't want to go back...to being a monster..." he said quietly, covering his little face with his hands and crying softly.

Cynyr, only a small child here, shook and trembled and watched Werr fearfully. Before, he had been happy and innocent, but after the infliction of his scars, he was fearful and scared. It was like Werr's talking had awaked more years in him, more bits and pieces of the memories he had tried to throw away. He hiccupped and whimpered a few more times, then slowly slunk forward and carefully slid close to Werr. He was so small, even at the age of eight. He pushed under Werr's arm and curled up against him, pressing his bloody little face against Werr's chest.