The Forgotten Zodiac

She sniffled, glancing back at the empty Place Between Worlds. She closed his eyes for a moment, her shape just seeming to waft like a soft breeze, then she opened her eyes and murmured "Yes. I do." She stepped to the very edge of the gate, looking over at Titus and folding her hands over her heart. She knew what to do. Titus would go to his gate, then the two would entend their powers towards each other and pull their worlds together. A draining process, but it needed to be done. She kept her eyes focused on him, watching him closely and with equal nerves.

Titus leaned forward and placed a kiss on Galai's cheek before letting go and walking away. He walked to the edge of Tartarus, looking back at the Place Between Worlds. Soon, when he and Galai left, this place would dissolve into nothingness. The Gate would dissolve too, if their worlds weren't joined in time. "I'll see you on the other side," Titus said quietly, his voice carried to Galai by way of the shadows. Then he left, knowing that the darkness was already melting away without him there. Galai would leave, and then the bridge would dissappear, too.

Titus didn't hesitate before starting to reach out with his powers, pushing it towards Amnairus.

Galai raised her hand and started a flood of her powers, extending them towards Tartarus. She began to interweave the light into the shadow, watching as the light of Amnairus started to dim and part of the land started to flicker. A large swath of the land that was forest and trees started to turn rocky and barren as Tartarus and Amnairus combined themselves. Like the two worlds were being pulled together at the edge, so the inhabitants could wander freely between the worlds. The darkness of Tartarus was filled with a portion of light while shadows crept into Amnairus, until a state of peaceful twilight hung over everything. The beautiful castles were pushed together perfectly, melding back to the way they had first been created. One huge castle, meant for a king and queen to rule together.

Needless to say, pandemonium had struck the inhabitants of both worlds.

The Tartarans were the first to lose it. They retreated from their caves, advancing on Amnairians everywhere. They started grouping in the gardens, taking the defensive in order to protect themselves. They were all confused, of course, but Tartarans were the kind to go on the attack when things went wrong. The Amnairans were holding out well, but it would only be a matter of time before someone figured out how to breach their defenses.

"Enough!" Titus roared when he arrived next to Galai. Like that would do much. They were too far away from the fighting; the few Tartarans hanging back froze instantly, but Titus' voice was - impossible as it seemed - lost in the snarls and enraged roaring further away.

The Amnairians were frantic, running here and there and putting up defensive barriers against the Tartarans. What stopped the fighting was an unexpected force that was loud enough to be heard over anything.

"ENOUGH!" Naybrin thundered, his great voice bellowing out like a tornado, crashing over the world like the great boom of a storm. He bellowed a tremendous roar that caused cracks to appear in a few buildings and caused many ears to bleed profusely. "This is not a day for which to fight, but to mourn," the great dragon king said, snarling down at the tiny beings below him as he craned his head back. "Your leaders have words to speak to you. Once you listen, you will understand what has happened." He glanced to Titus and Galai, dipping his head polightly when Galai nodded at him.

Slowly, the Amnairians let down their barriers, watching their Tartaran brothers closely.

The Tartarans recoiled, grouping nearby but still keeping their distance.

"You have my thanks, Naybrin," Titus nodded once, then looked towards his people and Galai's. "There has been a...a very unfortunate occurence. The Divine...is dead." There was silence. Complete and utter silence. Titus continued. "As you all know...the Place Between Worlds acted not only as a bridge, but a barrier between Amnairus and Tartarus. But with the Divine gone, the Place had dissolved entirely. As such, we were forced to return to this; our worlds, combined as one. This will not be permanant; but until further notice, any Tartaran found to be intentionally harming any Amnairian will be tried in not only my court, but Galai's also. Physical conflict will not be tolerated." He glanced sideways as Toro ran up behind them, quick to scurry and hide behind Galai.

Galai wrapped her arms around Toro in a quick hug, running her fingers through his silver hair before pulling back and taking Titus' hand. "Likewise," she called. "any Amnairian discovered to be intentionally injuring any Tartaran will be tried by me and the king of Tartarus as well. I trust you all to get along in this time of crisis." She nodded down at Touri, her personal guard, who had been faithfully keeping close at all times, then beckoned for her to come close and said "Make sure that Alima knows to keep the other guards in check. I want no one getting overexcited or losing their cool."

"Yes, my leige," Touri replied instantly, taking true form and galloping off to do as she was told.

Galai nodded to herself, watching with a tired hint of a smile as her people hesitantly began to mingle with the Tartarans, and vice versa. Some Amnairians kept away or went about daily business, ignoring their brothers, but more than many were willing to meet and greet. Most took to true form, moving forward with ears perked good-naturedly towards the Tartarans. Some of the unicorns approached a few Tartarans and extended their muzzles towards them, willing to exchange scents and talk.

Toro clung behind Galai, fearful still. All these people clad in black and grey...it was unsettling, to say the least. He was intimidated by the large winged man next to Galai, too. And...Kiraki was behind him, watching curiously while Galliant rubbed up against her feet, fearful for his master with all these new developments. Kiraki was doing just fine, though; she had almost seemed enthralled by the chaos before Galai and Titus had spoken.

"Do the same," He ordered his head guard, sighing unhappily.

Galai motioned with her hand for Toro to come forward and pulled him close to her side, keeping one hand around his shoulders. She knew he was scared, so she made sure that he stayed close-by, wanting him to feel secure. A good deal of wailing had gone up from the people below, and that was the beginning of the mourning for the lost Divine. It would last for a while, as they knew, but once the initial grief passed, things would settle down. Toro could feel Galai's delicate hand trembling slightly, still in shock over losing her dear child so quickly. Plus, despite her knew energy, she was exhausted. At some point or another, she needed rest.

Naybrin approached, his steps slow, measured and cautious. Regal, even, with his ears slicked back against his skull. "Lord Titus. Lady Galai," he greeted, his dark green eyes solem. "If I might offer my condolences for your loss... I'm truly sorry. I...know too well of the pain of losing a child..."

Toro didn't understand; he had always thought of the Divine as a terrifying beast, but he had already realized that it had been an important terrifying beast. He pressed even closer to Galai when Naybrin approached with his great self. Titus took note of this and found himself to be quietly happy (in a back corner of his mind) that Kiraki was a secluded, unloved little being. She expected nothing like that from him.

"We will take our time to mourn the lost." Titus sighed, looking up at Naybrin. "But for some here, the time to mourn is later. Naybrin, I hate to ask this, now of all times, but I'm no fool. I have sensed the bond between you and Werr Grehi. The boy is running out of time; the longer he waits, the more people suffer. I ask that you urge him along on his path. He should be aware already of what must be done, but he fears too much the consequence of dragging his crew away from what must remain here."

"What...what does cousin Werr have to do?" Toro asked timidly.

"Your cousin must locate the remaining four artifacts and return to the Palace of Stars, where the joining can take place; the Artifacts must be made whole again. It is the only way to release the thousand souls Malice has absorbed, and return his friend to his body at the same time." Titus explained flatly. He looked to the side and continued talking. Despite his lofty tone, he looked more tired than Galai did. Of course, Galai only had to merge the land. Titus had done the pulling of the worlds together, which was drastically draining. "Kiraki, as you are incapable of sympathy and thusly unable to mourn at the moment, I would like very much for you to start writing."

"Writing what, sir?" Kiraki questioned, her dull eyes turning on her lord.

"The events of what happened since Grehi arrived here again. I understand that he is a creature of habit; if he has not already written this down, he will fret later. And nobody," He sighed through his nose and rolled his eyes. "Wants that."

"Yes, sir." Kiraki hurried off through the mourning joined cities, into the castle to find paper and pens.

Naybrin nodded once, blinking his large eyes slowly. He lowered his head down to them and closed his eyes as Galai touched his nose. Her hand barely covered merely one of his many thousands of scales. "Thank you, Lord Naybrin..." she murmured, stroking his diamond-hard scales with one hand and gently rubbing Toro's shoulder with the other. Naybrin sighed through his smokey breath, then pulled back and moved off to find Werr.

Galai turned to Titus and leaned against him, taking his hand and saying quietly "Let's go inside...Titus."

"Yes," Titus said, allowing his weariness to seep into his voice. "Let's do that."

Werr and Cynyr were back in their room, though Ophile had already informed them of what was going on. The worlds were joined now. Not that it mattered much to Werr. The guest house was still there, and so was he. Cynyr and Welk (to an extent) were there too, so he really didn't want to be going anywhere. He knew that Sylas was dreadfully upset by all this, but he didn't really care about what his father cared about.

The Divine was dead now? Great. One less jerk to worry about.

Cynyr was dozing lightly at the end of Werr's bed, flicking his black tail occasionally. When the bed started to shake with thudding footfalls, he woke instantly and lifted his head, his ears perked in order to listen better.

It was easy to recognize Naybrin's deep, resounding hum as he settled down outside of the house, clearly waiting for them to come out, which was proven a moment later. "King of Alastor, please," he called softly, folding his huge wings against his back. "I need to speak with you."

Cynyr sighed, then stood up and shook out his thick black coat, jumping off of the bed and looking back at Werr. The panther was wearing his regal black armor, which he had tucked away into one of his bags. One of the plates on his back shaped nicely to a spot where Werr could sit, and Cynyr always felt better when Werr was as close as possible.

Werr didn't hesitate too much. If Naybrin was calling on him, it must be important. Plus, they had made plans to restore Alastor together. Werr snatched up the teddy bear he had been lying around next to, then plopped down on Cynyr's back. He absentmindedly scratched Cynyr's ears as the half-pather started off, taking him downstairs and outside.

Cynyr's rustic, scratchy purr started up, very quietly, in his throat. It sounded similar to Leo's growled purring, but with Cynyr, at least you could tell it was a purr. It had taken Sylas a while to be able to tell a purr apart from a growl.

Outside, Naybrin sat with his paws folded gently over each other, his head turned up at the clouds with a distant air. Before, Naybrin had been bright and happy, with a young air despite his age and a good sense of humor. Now, he just seemed old and very, very tired. Like his age had finally caught up with him.

He looked down at Werr and Cynyr when they came out, forcing a small smile over his lips. "Hello," he said quietly, lowering his head down to their level. "How are you, your Majesty?" he asked as Cynyr moved over and brought the boy close to the first dragon.

"Naybrin," Werr said softly, sliding off of Cynyr's back and moving forward, wrapping his arms as much as possible around the huge dragon's muzzle. "It's good to see you again. Personally, I've been doing okay...I think. But Welk..." He sighed unhappily, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter too much. You don't look so well yourself, Naybrin...have you been eating enough?" He questioned quietly, rubbing his fingers over Naybrin's hard scales.

Naybrin closed his eyes down to thin slits. 'Thin' meaning that Werr could hold his hand up to what still showed of the dragon's eye and not quite be able to touch the edges. "I'm still alive," he murmured, blinking with a soft sound of snick. "That's all that matters, I suppose." He turned his attention to the bear strapped to Werr's back, then addressed Welk himself. "Delta droma, naia-lercatta. Juai oma nu cruta?"

They heard a weak whimper from the bear, followed by a slight tremble and a flash of heat.

"Malas hai terin u'harn Cynarios ekta Werrin?" the dragon questioned. Cynyr frowned, not knowing what the heck he was saying.

Welk was silent, but Naybrin seemed to be hearing something from him. "Da'keen, naia-lercatta," he murmured, and Welk once again slept inside the bear. Naybrin returned this gaze to Werr and spoke to him in the normal language again. "He says he missed you and Cynyr and that he can't stay awake for too long without crying. This is why he sleeps so much. He longs to return to you both, but knows he cannot, so he has asked me to guard you both no matter what. He said he'll try to speak more, when he has the strength, because he understands that you wish to hear him again." In a lower tone, Naybrin added "He loves you both dearly. And...I might suggest comforting him as much as you can. I touched on the edge of his mind and was nearly overcome with the abhorrent amounts of sheer depression he's currently feeling."

Werr looked downcast just from the prospect of Naybrin being able to talk to Welk, yet he remained incapable of communication with his friend. "Right." Werr muttered, though he found it very hard to imagine Welk as depressed. It made his heart ache greatly when he thought about it. "S-so...anyways, what...what did you need me for, Naybrin?" Werr questioned, attempting to distract himself from his pain.

Naybrin was quiet for a moment, then he said "As I'm sure you are aware, things are rapidly going wrong. Time is of the essence if we are to save this land and your friends from ahnihalation and death. We must find the remaining pieces of the Artifacts before Malice gains too much more power. He already has a Titan in his grasp as a minion. Death, the 'Grim Reaper', as humans call him, is a truly powerful thing to have dominion over. Now, coupled with the strength of the Divine, even I could be hard-pressed to fight Malice. I believe he is trying to gain the power to ressurrect his fallen form. If he gets enough power to rival the gods, then he will warp Welk's body beyond repair and destroy everything in this land. All will become slaves to his will...even the other gods themselves." He shook his head sadly, then said "I will stand by you, Dark-Eyes. The dragons side with you. But you must march against Malice. If you don't take command, then there will be no one to stand against Malice and prevent his true return. ...There will be no way to return Welk to his true form and back into your arms." He spoke gravelly, with all-seriousness.

"Welk..." Werr murmured, hugging the bear tightly. He knew what he had to do, but doing it...just seemed so impossible. Even with Cynyr at his side, all of his friends and accomplices...heck, even with Naybrin on his side, it seemed impossible. To find all four of the Artifacts and take them from the people in possession of them...then to join them together? It was too much, Werr really didn't think he could do it. He said nothing, ashamed of himself and his thoughts; Naybrin had tried to teach him that he wasn't worthless, yet here he was, thinking it again...