The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr was curled up in the corner, his hands holding his head, his knees tucked up to his chest. When the chains left, he had gaping holes in his sides, arms and legs. But he knew he wouldn't be allowed to bleed out.

He reacted badly to the news. "Y-you're lying...you're lying!" He shouted, throwing every last lick of energy that he had into his voice. "Th-the shadows...speak no truth...right? I-I don't ca-care about Sylas...but Cynyr will never replace me! O-or Welk...Ophile won't forget either, that wolf doesn't forget anything...Naybrin, too! I st-still have friends, Malice, you...you can't take that from me...you can't," He whimpered in a small voice, shaking his head. "You'll never be my friend..."

For only a second, Malice grew angry. His gaze turned down into a terrible frown and his mouth formed a snarl, but he was quick to put it back to normal after throwing Relic a suspicious look. "Now, what are you talking about?" he said. "How could I lie to you? All I want is to return to the stars, where I belong. If you were in my position, wouldn't you like to return to where you came from? I merely need a small portion of the Artifacts' powers in order to go home. You would deny me my home? Where I would be away from you and your friends, and you could live out the rest of your lives in peace? I see no harm in this." He moved a long-fingered hand out and rested it against the bars, staring in at the boy as he leaned against the cage. "If I were able to use just a meager, tiny piece of the Artifacts' power, I could leave this world forever," he said.

Relic was 'staring' intently at Werr, as if trying to do...something, through his gaze.

"So...you use me like a puppet? You kill innocent people, have others die doing your dirty work, steal my friend's body..." Werr coughed, a bit of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "I understand. You want something...we all wa-want something...but the-there's a good way...of getting...what you want, a-and a bad way. Y-you...you're tr-trying to get home, but hurting everyone in your path...it's evil!"

Malice stared down at Werr, then smiled slowly and said "Evil...maybe I like that. You haven't seen true evil yet, child. You will learn in time. For now, rest. The bars will tend your injuries so they don't get infected. Can't have that happening, hmm?" He threw back his head and laughed with sudden, ferocious abandon, his living shadow cape rising up to swirl closed over him, thinning further and further until Malice had vanished. "Come, Relic," his voice wafted from thin air. "Let's leave our guest to his rest."

Relic slowly stood up, lurching towards the door. He stumbled at one point and leaned heavily against Werr's cage, panting softly. He closed his eyes, then looked over at Werr and sighed.

Werr whimpered and cried after Malice left; it was all he could do at this point. Just lie there and weep. He couldn't help but wonder if Malice's words had been true. His own father...replacing him? No, it was just wrong, so wrong...and even then, what...what more could Malice do to him? Everything...Malice could do anything to him. Most of it seemed like it would be painful. He had to get out of this somehow, he had to...Werr turned to the stone wall and drew his head back, intending to smash it against the wall, but only found himself nearly being strangled by the bars that dragged him out of the corner and left him in the center of the room. Then they started patching him up. Werr struggled, oh how he struggled. He didn't want to be in pain, but he knew that he could bleed to death if he were left alone. Finally, after ten minutes of him screeching and squirming and making their job difficult, they had the sense to knock him unconscious.

"So..." Forin sat down at the dinner table. "The desert awaits us." He said quietly. "The question is...do we take Sylas and Leo, or leave them behind?" He frowned, tilting his head to the side.

Seria was sitting across from Forin, next to Cynyr, who was slumped over the table with his head buried in his arms. She was rubbing his back gently, trying to comfort him and failing. She looked up at Forin and said "I think it best if we leave them here. They've been through a lot, and I'm worried that this is getting to be too much for them. Plus, Sylas is going through the death of his only child. We should let him be. I normally wouldn't even make Cynyr go, but..."

He looked up at her through his single eye. "I said I'm going," he whispered. "I'm not letting anyone else carry these-" He cursed nastily. "hunks of metal."

Luna, sitting near Forin, sighed and said "I suppose that's alright."

"Perfect. We wouldn't have it any other way, Cynyr. Well...we leave at dawn. Pray to whatever gods you lot follow that everything goes well. These artifacts could very well determine the fate of everyone on earth for the rest of all eternity. Whether they live or they die..." He sighed, standing up.

"What god do you follow then, Forin?" Aries had joined them for their meal, and was just curious.

"I had a god. It died a few days ago."

"Oh...but I thought--"

"Not all gods are immortal." He frowned at her, turning back to his food.

"Alright then. Is it...the same for all of you?" Aries looked around the table.

"I never was into religeon, really..." Nate murmured.

"All I know is that it isn't Yemara." Diana shook her head.

"Now we've gone from planning to yabbering about religeon!" Forin snapped. "I understand that you would be concerned for your country if your king were attached to the wrong kind of god, but our opinions don't affect Sylas as much as they affected Werr. So stop asking questions, Aries." He frowned at her frightened and unhappy reaction. "It's for your own good. People get hurt around us..."

Cynyr glared up at Aries, sighing heavily through the holes in his face. He put his gaze back down to the darkness of his arms and the table, feeling no desire to eat whatsoever. He hadn't eaten for a while now, actually...

The door suddenly opened to emit a rather flustered Lexi. The girl looked a bit out-of-sorts, but mostly alright, other than a few scrapes. "Thank goodness I've finally gotten here," she said, looking around shyly at the people sitting there. "We were waylaid along the way by bandits and a troll. Would you believe, an entire troll? I've never seen one that far away from their cave... We're alright, of course. Just a few scrapes." She didn't smile, and instead said "Um...where might I see Werr? I'd like to talk to him..."

Silence.

Forin stood abruptly as the door opened. He sighed and eyed Lexi curiously. "You're obviously out of the loop. Werr Rowe is dead." He frowned, sitting down again. "Anything you wanted to discussed can be given to us. The king to be is Werr's father, Sylas Rowe. He's...grieving at the moment, so I'm afraid if you wanted an audience with him, that will have to wait."

Ophile appeared behind her, sniffing her hand curiously, wondering what she was here for.

Lexi blinked sharply, her hands darting to her mouth. Tears formed in her eyes for some reason. She hadn't known Werr for long, but she had felt a connection with him. It was odd, but she had liked being around him, and now that he was gone... "That...that's terrible," she murmured, her tears spilling over. She brushed a strand of her soft black hair back, then murmured "That's terrible..."

"Shut up..." Cynyr hissed, shifting a bit at his spot. "Shut your mouth already..."

Ophile whimpered slightly, trying to act like an actual dog so he would maybe get his ears scratched or something. He sat back on his haunches and wagged his tail, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Yes...terrible." Sylas walked in, sitting down in the chair at the head of the table. He had been hungry, after all. In spite of his grieving, he still felt the need for food. His stomach's grumbling had woken him up, too. "Where's Dark? Won't he be joining us for dinner?"

"I don't really know where he went." Forin shrugged. "Girl, if you're going to be here, then why not have a seat? We're not going to eat all this food by ourselves anyways."

"Um...but...who is she?" Aries questioned, confused.

Lexi looked a bit embarressed by this time, what with people being confused by her. "Um...I-I had Werr's personal permission to be here..." she said. "Because my family was gone..." She took a step back, maybe to retreat out, then spotted Ophile and smiled. "Oh...how cute," she said, bending down and scratching his ears gently. Her nails were a normal length, and filed neatly, so her scratches felt good. She gave a weak smile as she scratched him, moving her hands up over his back and down to the base of his tail, then back again. By the time she had finished, Ophile had pretty much absorbed her entire life's worth of memories, which actually wasn't much. She had been born into a normal family, but her father had started acting weird, soon giving her a necklace that he clained was from her mother, when it had really been the Artifact. Then her mother and brother had died and her father had grown abusive. Then she had met Werr and had felt the strangest pull towards him, and he just been so nice and he had been so handsome...

She sighed and pulled away from Ophile, unknowing of the memories she had given, and slowly walked over and sat down at the table.

Ophile shook himself. "Well, she speaks the truth." He shrugged. "Sorry, dear child. I didn't intend to intrude, but we have...well, trust issues as of late. Not with each other, just other people." He stepped lightly over to where Cynyr was, nosing him gently before turning right around and resting his head in Sylas' lap. He had realized that he hadn't collected any memories from the human. None whatsoever. Sylas hesitated, but finally moved to pet the wolf. Two seconds passed before Ophile let out two sharp yips of pain, jerking his head away. Inadvertently, his jaws clamped shut on Sylas' hand. Both of them froze, Ophile growling slightly.

"I didn't expect it to hurt you," Sylas blinked at him. "I have a magical seal on my mind. Pain numbing and delerium spells don't work...nor do memory absorbtion attempts, apparently. Please let go of my hand..." Ophile finally did, stepping back and curling up next to Cynyr's chair, still growling a bit.

"Well...there goes my appetite." Sylas frowned down at his bloody hand.

Cynyr didn't lift his head, but he moved one hand down and rested it on Ophile's head. He just let his hand sit there, not having the slightest desire to pet him.

Seria sighed, then stood up and crossed over to Sylas, taking his hand into hers and healing it. "There," she said, moving back to her chair. She paused to briefly kiss the top of Cynyr's head, then took her seat and continued eating her lunch.

Leo, who had followed Sylas into the room in panther form, growled at Ophile before sneaking a good-sized chunk of steak from the table, carting it off into the corner to eat. Luen watched him for a moment, just staring at the panther as he enjoyed himself in the corner. It wasn't hard for the kirin to see a family resemblance between him and Cynyr.

"Thank you, Seria." Sylas murmured, turning his eyes back down to the table. He picked at his food after that, hardly eating much of anything at all, despite how hungry he had been.

"Well," Aries sighed, standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I must go care for the elder," She said, leaving a few moments later.

"You would do well to visit the dragons before we leave, Sylas," Forin murmured. "They might have something to say to you."

"You'll have to accompany me. I'm not quite worthy enough to be gifted with their tongue, unfortunately. No matter. If what I've been hearing lately is true, I already know far too much for my own good..." Sylas replied.

"I wouldn't know," Ophile snapped at him.

Cynyr gave Ophile a slightly hard pat, as if warning him to behave, then pulled his hand back and stood up. He didn't say anything, and when Seria questioned him, he ignored her. He headed out, toting his bag with him and keeping a hand over it, as if afraid that someone was going to take it from him.

Seria sighed, then ran after him and chased him down. Once she caught up, she stayed close by, holding his hand and just walking with him.

Dark entered next, pausing by the door to watch Cynyr and Seria walk off. He frowned, then headed in and headed to a chair, immediately starting to eat. He glanced up as Luna leaned over and showed Forin a small silver flower she made with her powers, then smiled a bit and said behind his hand, "Lovebirds."

Forin moved suddenly, a knife landing in the table between Dark's index finger and thumb. Forin cast his glare at the boy before turning to Luna and murmuring, "It's beautiful." He took it from her and tucked it behind Diana's ear, patting her gently on the head.

"Hey, don't threaten Dark like that," Sylas leaned forward and pulled the knife out of the table. "He's only telling the truth. If you don't like that, try to be a little more subtle about it, don't threaten to harm innocent people."

"You...haven't been around Forin much, have you?" Diana blinked at Sylas as Forin turned his glare on the to-be king.

Dark had jumped back, pressing against his chair after a few seconds of staring at the knife. "You crazy person!" he shouted at Forin, standing up in his chair and pointing at Forin. "Sheesh! I didn't say anything bad!" He jumped out of his chair, only to get snagged by long tendrils of ice.

Luen was sitting quietly in his chair, continuing to eat. Those sitting next to him, however, could see that one hand was under the table, putting out the ice. He quietly finished eating and stood up, walking over to Dark and taking him gently by the ear. "Come with me," he said, despite Dark's struggling. "I want to make sure you understand a few things about this Tartaran and Amnairian and why they're 'lovebirds'." He took Dark out of the room, with the little being fighting the entire time.

Sylas leaned back in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh. "Shall I give you the same information?" Ophile looked up at him, still a little unhappy, but realizing that it had been his own fault for prying.

"No, thank you. I'm already aware of the complex nature of this delicate relationship. Forin, however, could be a bit less...agressive." Sylas replied flatly.

"When you get your insides taken from you and replaced with faulty ones and bombs, tied down to a table and tortured needlessly for three days straight, placed in the Tartaran prison cells, your chest blown open and your soul threatened to be eaten by the Soul Eater, then wrenched back to life by your friends...then you can talk to me about being less agressive." Forin growled at him. "For that matter, Dark isn't your son, and--"

"I lost everything dear to me! Twice!" Sylas snapped suddenly, standing up. "First my parents, then my wife and child, and then my child comes back...and now he's dead!" He plopped down in his chair again, groaning a bit. "This...this isn't a game of 'who has the worst life', Forin. We all have problems, and we can't compare them. Just..." He stood again, this time leaving the room. Probably headed back to his own.

Silence followed, to be broken by Diana. "Can we go a day without fighting?" She questioned quietly.

Luna leaned over to Forin and nuzzled his shoulder, gently stroking down his leg and resting her hand on his knee. Luen reentered, now with a much more complacent Dark, who walked over and bowed to Forin and Luna. "I'm sorry!" he said, closing his eyes tight. "I didn't know a relationship between you was so serious. I thought it was just normal and that I could poke fun. I'm sorry!"

Luen smiled and touched Forin's shoulder as he moved back to his chair, gently ruffling Diana's hair as he sat down.