The Forgotten Zodiac

"All is forgiven. Just...say anything like that in front of Galai or Titus, and...well, I'll kill you, then we'll be killed. So we'll all be dead." Forin sighed through his nose, shaking his head. "Sylas went back to his room, if you wanted to talk to him."

"You should probably talk to him. He's in denial over his son. He's replaced Werr with you, from what I observe. I can't tell for certain, but...I'm pretty sure you're the only one who will be able to talk him out of it. He'll probably get angry...stages of depression. It's a very human thing, but...he is human."

Dark straightened and nodded, then said "I'll do my best. I've never been good at comforting people, but Sylas has done a lot for me. It's the least I can do!" He turned and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Luen watched him go, then looked at Forin and said "I'm sure we'll find a way to convince their Majesties to accept your relationship. Like Luna said, maybe Galai will understand and convince Titus. She holds a lot of power over him, as much as she probably would never use it." Luen quietly sipped from his cup, then said "I'm going to pack my bags to be ready to leave. I forgot to do that earlier." He kissed Diana's forehead and said "Did you get your bag, Diana?"

"Yes. I did." Diana nodded. Her little purse with her few valuables - treasures from her parents to remember them by, a few things Forin had given to her in the past, and other meaningful objects - were tucked into Forin's bag. She didn't own much more than that, aside from a change of clothing, which Forin also carried.

"We'll go out and greet the dragons. See which one, if not all, of them are accompanying us." Forin stood, and Diana did the same.

Sylas had already secluded himself in his new room. He was writing; ever the scholar, Sylas had to get some things out of his head. Thoughts, memories, current happenings. He had to. Sylas set the notebook aside as Dark knocked on the door. "Come in," He smiled slightly, unable to hide his sigh.

((Also, isn't Malice supposed to show up with his threats and whatnot at the Star Palace? That leaves less time to mess with Werr. o3o))

((I have forgotten what the Star Palace is and wha...? Refresh me? xD -hopeless-))

Dark entered and sat down in another chair, pursing his lips tightly as he stared at Sylas. Finally, he just got directly to the point he wanted to make. "You trying to forget Werr using me, aren't you?" he said, his voice tight, yet calm. "You should do that. Werr was your son, not me. It's okay to share your pain with someone, but it's not okay to forget them completely! If...if you had died and Werr was still alive, wouldn't you want him to remember you always? It would be wrong for him to just throw your memories aside and get a new father!" He panted a bit, his black eyes fixed on Sylas.

((.3. Star Palace? The place where the Titans of Old were buried, including Obelisk at one point? The place where the Artifacts rested, and the place where they must be repaired (by a human)?

Malice has to get his hands on the Artifacts when they're being joined, otherwise they'll reject his commands and turn to someone it likes more. But if his magic is involved in the joining process, it'll mess it up and anyone could use it. Which is what he wants/needs. :T))

Sylas blinked at Dark in surprise. Finally, he smiled a bit. "You're a bit silly, Dark. Did the others put you up to this? Cynyr, perhaps?" He sighed for perhaps the hundreth time that day, shaking his head. "Perhaps I am getting a bit confused. Perhaps..." He stood, rummaging through his bag and pulling something out. He handed it to Dark. "You're one of very few people to ever see this. Ever." It was a small picture frame, depicting him, his wife, and a small child. Werr as a baby, obviously. He was a scrawny baby, but his smile seemed to light the entire picture up.

"I had that portrait painted five months after Werr was born. It's the only picture I have of them. I had so many hopes for the family." Sylas moved over to the tall mirror in the room, standing straight and looking at his older appearance sadly. "I wanted Werr to grow up to be a great adventurer. Perhaps, I thought, he could join me on one of my own adventures someday. And my wife...I was going to take her across the sea, before she got pregenate. She never left the house, really, however much I wanted her to. So I continued my adventures alone...a year and a half later, the place burns down, I have to leave my wife in jail, and I thought Werr was dead...it was my fault, it was all my fault." He sat down there, still staring at himself in the mirror. "And now he's dead again. I...I just don't know what to do anymore. D-did you know...she's still alive? My wife...in the dungeons. Here. I went downstairs to check, Dark. I went to check if Werr was with her. I think...something's wrong with me, I think." He reached out a hand and touched his reflection. "I don't know what to do. I've never felt like this before. It's like she's in my head, under my skin..."

Silence followed. Then, "Hey...where is Leo? I need Leo..."

((Oh, right. xD I remember now.))

Dark slowly came forward and put his arms around Sylas' middle, resting his forehead against his back. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I sort of know what you feel, a bit. I lost my brother, Light. He was my other half. I couldn't do anything without him. We literally were part of each other. When one got hurt, the other got it too. We had to share powers. Then he went inside and we died and Galai brought us back but he didn't want to so she just severed our tie..." He sniffled, then said "The second we were created, we were family. And he's gone forever." He sighed, then said "It's not the same as what you feel, but I still understand it a bit. And I'm so sorry."

Leo entered at that moment, licking his lips with his rough tongue. He spotted the two and frowned, saying "Hey...what's wrong?"

((xD Also, it really does have to be a human. That which a human breaks, a human must repair.))

"Leo...Leo, come close," Sylas beckoned to his friend. When the panther was close enough, Sylas leaned against him. Not hugging or moving in any friendly sort of way. Just leaning against him, like they always did. "Don't leave again, okay? I need you. I feel dead inside." He said, rather flatly. He was smiling again, which was a bit strange. It was a sad, weak sort of smile, which did nothing to dull the sharpness of what he said next. "I feel like dying. I mean, I'm not dead right now, but I feel like I would be better off...but then I remembered you were still here, Leo...and I need you to keep me from hurting myself. Okay?"

Leo stared up at the man, then pushed his hand agains Sylas' shoulder and said "Trust me, if anyone's dying first, it's me. I earned that right a long time ago." He flicked his long tail and let Sylas lean against him, closing his eyes as he quietly supported his suffering friend. He slowly let his legs bend, taking them to the ground, where he shifted to panther form and sat regally, letting both Sylas and Dark lean on him. He shook out his fur, putting his head against Sylas'. "I won't leave you again," he breathed. "Not while life still pulses through me."

"Right..." Sylas murmured. "Dark...thank you for reminding me. You aren't my son, however much I wish you were now...you should go now, too. The others will likely be leaving soon, and they need all the help they can get." He lifted a hand and patted Dark on the head, smiling slightly. He stopped quickly, his hand moving to his eyes. "Ugh...I'm dizzy. I think I need to lie down..."

Dark pouted and looked about to protest, but he found that all he could do was sigh and said "Okay." He helped Leo as the panther stood up, ushering Sylas over to the bed and nudged him up onto it. Leo jumped up and sat at attention, watching everything in the room while he rested his tail on Sylas' arm.

Dark said goodbye and headed out of the room, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The others were actually on their way to speak with the dragons about leaving. Forin was already there. "Naybrin...you still have the body, don't you?" He sighed as he approached, frowning slightly. "That's not good. It's a biohazard. You might be fine, but it'll make the rest of us sick. That used to be capital punishment here, you know. For murderers. Their victims were chained to them, causing them to get sick and eventually die."

"Ew," Diana muttered, hiding behind Forin.

"Finally, someone who understands..." Relan was there as well. He had been trying to collect the body so it could be properly buried. Well...incinerated, actually. And the ashes placed in the King's Crypts, a place only the high priest was allowed to enter, and only for the occasion of the ash placing.

Naybrin merely sent them a growl and lowered his head down onto his forearm again, the body tucked behind his paws where they couldn't see it. He blinked without seeing anything, and his body just seemed to be deteriorating. He was gaunt and his scales were dull and lifeless, and the creeping stone had reached past his entire tail, now starting the trek up his entire body. He hadn't eaten for days. Or drank anything. He was effectively dying, living on his inner magic alone. His scales had started to curl slightly, a sign that they were risking falling off. Too great was the depression of the dragon king. Far too great for any mortal to understand.

He finally allowed Relan to take Werr's body, making a horribly sad moaning sound.

"Naybrin..." Nate arrived, stepping aside to let Relan pass. "Zephyr, he's killing himself..." He said quietly, leaning against his green friend's paw. "I've never seen him like this. It's getting bad..."

"Perhaps we can ask if the flames to incinerate him would be yours. Werr would like that," Forin suggested to the great dragon, wondering what on earth they could do to reverse the effects of the stone. It didn't seem very likely that he would get better anytime soon, though.

Naybrin didn't say anything, just managed another slow, lifeless blink. It seemed that Werr had been the last straw and all of his past hurts had caught up to him. Like he had said, his life had held too much pain and too few joys. When all one had to look forward to was a long life of misery and loneliness, what else could one do? He sighed and closed his eyes, a tear sliding out from under his eyelid and crystalizing, shimmering and pulsing smaller and smaller until it was a tiny crystal droplet on the ground. He didn't cry again after that single drop. Luen moved forward and picked it up, staring at it as he cupped it into his hands.

Zephyr nodded to Nate, murmuring "I don't know what to do. It's a very serious thing, and I understand why he's doing it. After losing his mate, his child, and now his bonded, he has nothing left. Still, if he dies...the First King..." He shuddered, then said "I fear the world itself made shift."

"The world shifts more and more every day. But I see what you mean," Forin tutted, shaking his head. "The only thing I can think of to do is to continue on. No matter what, Malice must be stopped, or our world will not only shift, but it will be destroyed. That is something that none of us want. I doubt even Naybrin would want that."

"Don't underestimate him," Nate frowned at the Tartaran, shaking his head.

Luen stroked the crystal tear with his thumbs, then put it down into his pocket, deciding to keep it. It had to be valuable, after all; the frozen tear of the dragon king himself. He walked over to Diana and he and Luna set about getting the little girl comfortable on Zephyr. Obviously, the emerald dragon would carrying them over poor Naybrin. Vaira also wanted to come, feeling it her place to remain at her mate's side.

Inadvertantly, Boko was going as well. He couldn't really be trusted to stay behind with strangers, and there was no way of getting him back to Amnairus in time. They were going to the desert, though; Boko was familiar with areas like that. Those who knew of Drakelings often had the misconception that they lived underground pretty much anywhere; but no, they were even more secluded than that. They lived where few others did, out in the desert. Where their caves were near impossible to find (as well as their tunnels), and the dragons wouldn't bother searching for them.

Once everyone was settled, Zephyr and Vaira walked over to Naybrin and bent their heads, touching their muzzles to his. "Unaka hatu suks ilu catama'ara, Naylabinzu," Zephyr murmured, closing his eyes. "Ero ma'etek cuksis ala mera. Ekta myrrin zloma e'thu." They both pulled back then, after speaking that ancient prayer over their king and giving him parts of their inner magic so he could further sustain himself. Because they ate and drank normally, their magic would replenish, but because he had stopped doing both, he didn't have the energy.

"Are we all ready, then? Dark is back, Sylas and Leo are staying...I think everyone is here." Forin said, looking at the group on Zephyr's back. "Alright then. Off we go, Zephyr...to Haadarak Desert. Aries," He looked down at the nervous adviser waiting to wave them off. "Wish us luck. I don't believe in it, but we certainly need it now."

"O-oh...right, then. Good luck," She nodded up at them.

((Just switch back to Werr/Malice during their travels, unless you can think of something else. .3.))

Zephyr nodded, then crouched for a moment before leaping high, followed by Vaira, with Boko tucked down in her pouch. They rose up, high into the air, leaving the others behind. Naybrin didn't move at all, still staring at the ground and waiting for the creeping-death to take him. The stone crept another inch on him.

*

Malice again savored the taste of Werr's blood through his living chain monsters, while Relic twitched around on the floor, leaving green puddles of ooze everywhere.

By now, Werr had been trapped here for a while. Too long for his tastes, that was for sure. But Relic actually made things a tad easier. Whenever he had to do something alone in the dungeon, he would repeat his odd statement of "shadows speak no truth". He clearly meant Malice, though that was all he seemed capable of saying so far. And he made sure Werr was always fed and given water, and he even let Werr out to stretch his legs once. The second the boy tried to bolt, Relic had leapt at him, much faster than Werr thought possible for him in his current state. After standing on Werr, who was pressed to his front on the ground, for almost a solid minute, dripping his green slime onto the back of the boy's neck, Relic had allowed him up and back into the cage. He was still powerful, even in this decrepit state. But now he could do nothing but roll around in weak circles, as if in agony, as Malice's chains sliced their sharp teeth down into Werr's just-healed-over wounds and feasted on his blood. On his arms and legs, and one wayward strand even headed for his neck. Malice only let that one break the skin and not go down too far, not wanting Werr to die.