The Forgotten Zodiac

"No, Forin is Tartaran through and through. I'm afraid my blood isn't quite the same anymore...I wonder if Titus will even recognize me!" Ophile shook his head at the thought.

"Enter quickly," The guards ushered them inside and to the throne room. "All of you."

"Might as well..." Ophile sighed through his nose.

Vaira helped him along, watching him in concern, then looked up as they entered the throne room. She helped to guide them all along, helping Seria usher along a very weak Cynyr, then set Werr down once they had neared the throne. She bent her head around and carefully nuzzled Tasia, who moaned softly at the touch from her dragoness companion.

"Why is this?" Titus said, looming over them, an open book in one hand. He reached down with the other and grabbed Kiraki by the collar, frowning at her. "A daughter of Beoth. That explains things, but...I want to hear it from your own mouths. And you can keep yours shut, Obelisk. Be grateful that I do not throw you in my dungeons for trespassing."

"You should be grateful I don't take control over you and force you to kill your beloved Galai and all of her subjects. Which I believe may or may not have been part of Malice's plans before I was released by Cici." Obelisk retorted quietly.

"Of course...regardless, explain yourselves."

Ophile swallowed hard and explained. Everything; from him being changed into a human to Beoth's arrival and transportation here.

"Very good," Titus nodded once, looking towards Vaira. "Explain to me why I should dare to keep this child of Beoth in my realm. She is dangerous, a curse among curses. And protected by a Titan that even I dare not meddle with. Why do you think Malice obeyed Beoth, and left? It is because of who Beoth is. Cyprus is even worse!" Titus snorted, shaking his head. "You all are treading upon the realms of the titans, I am not responsible for what happens. Take this woman and leave, I don't want her here."

"Your majesty," Seria's voice slid smoothly into the conversation. "I believe Tartarus is the best place for her for a few reasons. First of all, the girl has learned to control her powers very well. Second, mortal Earth cannot possibly hold her powers without many things going wrong. Malice took her because he wanted to use those powers. Who's to say others won't use them as well? And third, I noticed something. You need her here, your majesty. Lady Galai has allowed a male rabbitzen named Toro to live on Amnairus until the end of his days. The balance of your worlds shifts at this. A male, living in a world that is all female? The planets shift for that. If you keep her here, then it would be a female living in a world that is all male. A perfect opposite match for your sister world. It would keep the two places in balance much better. And you, as the king, should know how important it is to keep in balance with your mate's world."

Titus sat there and thought upon what Seria was saying. He thought for a very long time before letting out a half-growled sigh. "Very well then. Name, child?"

"Kiraki. I was disowned, so I no longer have a surname." She said quietly as Titus walked back to and plopped down in his throne.

"Very well then. Your new surname is Ka'ael. You will learn what this and many other words mean in due time. The rest of you, leave. Good luck on getting your old form back, Ophile."

"Thank you, my king." Ophile saluted, then turned on heel and led the others out. "We should get back to Amnarius now."

Vaira picked Werr back up into her mouth by the collar of his shirt and allowed Seria to help Cynyr up onto her back, then offered her tail to Ophile to help him along. He was better at walking in human form now, but she didn't want him to fall over. She headed out to the place between worlds, noting that the Divine was circling agitatedly nearby. It obviously wanted something from their group, as indicated by the constant glances in their direction.

Sylas was still unconscious on Vaira's back. He hadn't woken up since Kiraki had attacked; he still seemed very much dead. He was breathing, but it was very shallow and weak. He was older than the others, after all. He had his life force back, but his body was having trouble putting it back with what was left of his still-intact life force.

Obelisk's bandages lifted Sylas up and dropped him in the Divine's hands as they passed. "There you go. Shoo."

The Divine snorted and curled Sylas gently into its claws, then darted off into the blackness around it, perfectly content now that it had what it wanted. Vaira continued on the path to Amnairus, knowing that Sylas would be okay with the Divine. She carried the others into Amnairus, noting that Jag and Lily were still out in the Enternal Garden. They seemed happier out there (or they didn't know the gates were open now).

"You're back," Toro ran foward to greet them. "Oh dear...you all look exhausted." He bit his lip, looking up at Werr, who was hanging limply from Vaira's mouth.

"Just tell Galai we're back," Werr grumbled, not opening his eyes. "Vaira...take us to the guest house already."

"Right," Toro darted away again, off towards the castle.

((Should we skip to Boko soon? :T))

((Yesh.))

Vaira did as Werr wished and took him and the others to the guest house. She let them off when they reached the doors, as she needed to shrink down in order to fit. Tasia couldn't carry herself, but Nate was easily able to carry her. Seria helped Cynyr inside, to a quiet room, where Vaira brought Werr in and put him next to the barely conscious panther.

Werr curled his arms around Cynyr, hugging his half-panther friend as tightly as possible without hurting himself or Cynyr. Nate had no intention of taking Tasia into the guest house; he had to get her to the Divine Healers, of course. Nate looked towards Vaira before he left. "Where...where is Zephyr?" He questioned quietly.

Vaira looked away from him, then said "I won't lie to your, dragonian. Zephyr is your friend as much as my mate. He went after Boko. Alone. I didn't want him to go, but...he was very persistant. He's...still a human, so I don't know what's become of him. If he were a dragon, I wouldn't be worried. But..." She sighed heavily, then said "I was intending on going after him as soon as I dropped you all off."

"I see." Nate said quietly, then sighed. "Well, good luck to you both, then." He nodded, then turned and helped Tasia towards the castle.

Boko sighed, whimpering with the movement. Chains and heavy shackles had been put on him, holding him down even though he was inside a metal cage now. He could barely move, and it was rather constricting to breathe. He didn't know much of what was going on, but he was in the back of a carriage now, on his way to goodness knows where for goodness knows what. He was bleeding slightly; he had struggled against the humans as they had chained him down, which they reacted to by punishing him every time he moved. So now he was holding stock-still, not wanting another scratch or kick delivered to him with just the simple twitch of a foot.

A figure more familiar for his scent now than anything else followed after the hunters, red eyes fixed on the cage that held Boko. Zephyr was still very wobbly in this human form, but he had been able to cope well enough so far. Boko's cage was more towards the back, and covered by a large tarp. If he waited for the right moment...

Finally, he ran forward, trotting carefully alongside one of the other carriages before putting on speed and darting under the tarp. "Boko!" he hissed, sliding in between the bars.

Boko jerked upright and immediately started wailing and thrashing, expecting to be hit again. He quickly realized who it was, then started crying. "Papa!" He wailed, pushing his muzzle into Zephyr's arms. "Papa, help me--"

"Why are you making noise?!" One of the humans in the front jumped into the carriage, doing a double-take when he saw Zephyr in the cage. "Oi, who are you?! Get out of there, are you trying to kill yourself? Stupid stowaway!"

Zephyr gently licked Boko's snout, then turned to the man and snarled heavily, a deep, feral growl that could only belong to a dragon. "How dare you cage him?" he growled, standing and stalking towards the man. "How DARE you take him from me!" Fire licked along his mouth, his eyes growing slitted and dark. He still moved a bit raggedly, but he was so filled with anger that he didn't care. He lifted a leg and kicked the man back out of the carriage, then turned and slipped back into Boko's cage, grabbing the chains and starting to burn through them with his flames. He cut through one of the chains around Boko's legs, then another.

The other man driving the carriage pulled it to a stop. Both men grabbed Zephyr and dragged him out of the cage, proceeding to try and tie him up. "Papa, no!" Boko wailed, jerking against the last few shackles. "Leave daddy alone!" He roared at the humans, but it was still little more than a high-pitched squeal to them.

Zephyr roared and engulfed himself and the men holding him in flames, shooting it everywhere until one clamped their hand over his mouth and forced the flames to stop. Zephyr struggled hard, then kicked back and managed to knock the legs out from under one of them, then threw his head back and broke the other's nose with his skull. He had several tight ropes around his torso and arms by this time, keeping his arms pinned to his sides. He let out more flames, panting raggedly.

Finally, the chains holding down Boko snapped. He crashed against the bars; once, twice, three times before falling back, panting. Once the fires stopped again, the humans got right back into the carriage, this time with knives. Boko squealed again, smashing into the bars a final time before they broke. Boko grabbed Zephyr up and hugged his father close before taking off, bursting through the carriage and into open air.

He didn't make it very far. He crash landed in a tree only about a mile away from the humans, he fell limp after that, though still conscious. Barely.

Zephyr slowly pushed himself up, his arms shaking. One of the men had gotten a dagger into his stomach and blood was dripping heavily from the wound. He clasped his hands around the knife, holding on tight and withering on the ground. He didn't dare pull it out, as the following rush of blood would kill him. He laid there, panting hard, then looked up as a few huge shapes landed around them.

The last thing Zephyr saw before he passed out was Naybrin's jaws coming towards him.