The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr held still, though tears welled up in his eyes. He wouldn't mind dying here, actually. He thought about pushing Malice's claws into his neck and being done with it, but at that thought, the bracelets around his wrists wrenched his arms around (even the broken one) behind his back and held his wrists together. He let out a cry of pain, starting to squirm uncomfortably. "Do-don't bother, Cynyr...take him out. Better I die than the whole world suffer...right?" He said, his voice still not any louder than a breathless whisper. Ophile, in the meantime, looked from Werr and Malice to Cynyr, wondering what the half-cat would do.

Cynyr continued to cry soundlessly, his single eye so full of heartache that it made Seria turn away to avoid crying herself. The half-cat's shoulders slumped as he stared at the boy, then he said, very quietly, "But...I would give up the world for you..." He held the gauntlets tightly in his arms, then froze at a sharp sound.

The cracking of glass.

A moment later, everyone there ducked as another, even louder cracking sound rang out, and the teddy bear in Cynyr's bag started to glow. Wind kicked up instantly and Cynyr suddenly vanished, using his air wings and slicing between Malice and Werr, nabbing the boy up into his arms. He wasn't able to hold onto Werr and both gauntlets, however, and he just barely managed to shove one onto his right arm as Malice swiped at the other, getting it onto his left. Instantly, both gaunlet owners threw their arms towards each other, with Malice trying to attack and Cynyr desperate to block. The result was a huge explosion that sent them both flying apart, each slamming into the wall behind them. Cynyr, hurt by the force that had flung him back, slowly let Werr slide from his grip and looked up in time to see Malice vanish into thin air, laughing wildly and crying out "The POWER! It flows into me! Even with one, the power FILLS ME!"

Cynyr glanced towards Welk, spotting the oddly glowing light that was flashing through the bear. Welk, who had been ever digging at the walls of his prison, had finally broken it, not knowing what it would do. He had been too depressed to think it over, and now his soul was slipping out of the shattered orb and into the sky. Weakly, Cynyr stretched his hand towards it and concentrated the gauntlet's powers, watching as only a bit of energy was needed to do want his thoughts wanted.

Within mere seconds, slumped on the ground in a puddle of water, was the tiny, hand-sized silver figure of Welk.

Werr inched forward, putting his face close to the little being's form. He couldn't reach his hand out to him, the bracelets were still there...he did recognize the little thing, though, and curled his back towards Malice to protect little Welk. He started crying, miserable over his own weakness.

Well, that was another clue towards the fact that this was the real Werr.

Welk was unconscious, his body made of an odd substance like living silver. His only features were his face and hair, which seemed to have been formed perfectly. After that, he only had a general body shape, and even then, the tiny little creature didn't have legs. Just a spindly tail like a ghost that started at his hips. He was drenched in the shimmery water from the inside of the orb, almost resembling a new creature that had just been born.

Cynyr slowly pushed himself up, panting. He fell down again when a sudden rumbling broke out, followed by Malice's voice. "I shall trap you all here, forever!" he shouted, laughing crazedly, and the entrance to the Star Palace suddenly collapsed. They were trapped. Then the demonic being vanished, content with his single gauntlet for now.

Cynyr carefully moved his single gauntlet up and at Werr, using his thoughts to command what he wanted. A moment later, Werr's bonds snapped, hissing angrily as they fizzled into nothing.

Werr pushed himself upright, frowning slightly. He scooted away from the group, holding his broken arm and looking down. He was crying as he pushed Seria away from himself. "No...I'm not worth wasting your energy on, Seria..." He didn't say anything after that, curling up in the corner and avoiding them entirely. He didn't hate them. He wasn't angry. He thought that they would be angry at him. That was all. He thought that Cynyr would hate him for being so stupid and getting caught. For giving up after so little torture.

Cynyr coughed and blood splattered out of his mouth. The impact with the wall had been harsh, but he would live. He struggled onto his hands and knees, panting, then looked over to Werr and spoke. "I suffered without you, you know... I felt so bad that all I could do was cry and hurt inside. We've been through so much that I'm not sure if I could live without you. I could't live without Seria by my side, and the same goes for you. We're brothers now, remember? I can't let you go. I haven't even eaten properly for days. I was sick with grief, sick with regret and hatred for myself. Why had I left you alone, I thought. I blamed myself for it, and heavily.

"So if you think you're going to shut yourself away...or fade...or do anything to hurt yourself, you've got another thing coming. I need you, and he needs you. Welk? Remember Welk? We love you too dearly to let go of you. Without you, we just fade away into nothing. I don't blame you for anything..." He rested his forehead on the ground, shuddering. "I blame myself," he said, his shoulder racking with sobs.

"I remember..." Werr said quietly. "I remember..." He rolled over, then got on all fours (well, threes) and crawled towards Cynyr. He curled up again next to his friend.

"Well, it's a start. Now let's see those wounds, Werr. Seria needs to heal them." Nate said, pulling one of the bandages off. He blinked at the deep, half-healed hole in Werr's skin. "Oh...that doesn't look good."

Werr shook his head. "It hurts..."

"I should hope so. If this didn't hurt, I'd be more concerned. They look well taken care of, though. No sign of infection...oh, you arm is broken," Nate blinked, looking at the odd angle Werr was holding it at. "Seria, I think he'll let you work on him now."

Seria nodded, then bent down onto her knees next to Werr and started on his wounds.

Luen, meanwhile, carefully moved towards the limp, tiny little silver figure curled up on the ground. He bent down and cupped his fingers under Welk, slowly lifting him. Welk barely filled one of Luen's hands, and he was as limp (and heavy) as a doll filled with sand. He breathed rapidly, in small gasps, like he wasn't used to breathing real air again. Luen just stared at the itty-bitty silver soul for a moment, then carefully held him out to Werr. "Here," he said softly. "I...think he needs you more." One limp little arm hung over the edge of the kirin's hand, and the ice mage very gently used a single finger to carefully lift the tiny limb back into his hand.

Werr looked up, but waited until Seria was done repairing the break before holding his hands out. He looked at the limp little Welk, and realized that he was shaking. He stilled his hands at once, knowing that his shaking would feel like an earthquake to poor Welk. Werr forced himself to calm down. To breathe in, and out. Slowly, steadily. "I'm sorry, Cynyr..." He murmured at last. "I gave up..." More tears slipped down his cheeks, but he was careful not to let the tears hit his hands or Welk.

The panther was quiet for a moment, then he softly whispered "I did too..."

Welk's breathing seemed to grow a little easier as his body got used to real air again. Werr was able to curl one finger under Welk's tiny hand, which barely filled a single fingernail. Despite its small size, Welk's hand was perfectly formed. Every detail was perfect, from his eyes to his nose and hair. The only thing not right were his legs, which were that odd ghost-tail. Werr felt the unconscious little being give a sudden squeeze of the tip of his finger, holding on tight and shifting a little closer. He slowly opened his eyes, which were the same bright crimson as always. He didn't seem to have the strength to lift his head, and he just blinked weakly and stared at the ceiling.

"Welk...you're alive. I'm so happy to see you again..." Werr curled his hand around his dear friend a little, then shifted to lean against Cynyr. He pulled the gauntlet off of Cynyr's hand and carefully let Welk slip into Cynyr's hand instead. "Let this be our reason for fighting again." He said softly.

"I hate to burst your little reunion bubble, but we happen to be trapped underground with a limited air supply. We might not be in any danger now, but we'll run out of oxygen before long." Forin frowned at them.

"Boko can dig us out!" Boko made a sound like a bark. "Boko can dig and dig and dig. See?" He started scratching at the wall, smiling.

Zephyr and Vaira moved to join him, working with their claws to shift the rubble and their tails to clear it. Zephyr looked down at his son and smiled, noting that Boko acted more like a dragon than a drakeling. Zephyr paused for a moment to lick Boko's head gently, proud of his son. He and Vaira had always been good on teaching Boko the ways of the dragons, and it showed. They had taught him about drakelings as well, of course, but being dragons themselves, it was only natural that Boko picked up their traits.

Cynyr held Welk as gently as possible, looking worried, then slowly cupped his other hand under the one holding Welk and curled him close to his chest, flicking his ears back sadly. "Oh, Welk..." he murmured, stroking the tip of one claw over Welk's head.

The tiny silver being made a soft mewling sound, blinking and slowly looking up at Cynyr.

It took about an hour, but they soon had a hole big enough for Ophile to crawl through. He had started from the top, so getting everyone up to where they could reach it would be the hardest part. But the cave seemed stable enough, and Boko was proud of his handiwork. "Right. We can go through now. Boko is finished." He purred, shaking himself off. "Come, papa, it is sunny outside!" He giggled, beaming.

Zephyr let Vaira take a small size and crawl through, then the green dragon put his head near the hole and said "Everyone, you need to climb up my neck to reach the exit. Please come quickly."

Luen, Diana, Forin and Luna were first, followed by Dark, who had woken from his trying time repairing the Artifacts. Nate and Seria helped Werr and Cynyr, who were both very weak. Cynyr slowly tucked Welk down into a pocket on the front of Werr's shirt, letting the tiny silver being sleep.

Nate dragged Oridanante up and through the hole, which was harder than it sounded. "What are we going to do now?" Boko asked, realizing the weight of their situation. Clouds gathered overhead, threatening to drop rain. Which was extremely strange for the desert, obviously. They weren't natural clouds, either. They were signals of a magical imbalance within the world. This became obvious as yet again, Zela appeared before them.

"Fools," She was mad now. "If I had predicted you would allow the Artifact halves to be split up, I would have never allowed you to repair them!" She hissed at them, but her eyes fell on Welk. "Skies above, you've even created Spectrals! What is wrong with you people?!"

"We did what we had to," Nate interjected.

"Oh sure, and now I have to clean up your mess! If not for my survival, the world will fall apart at this point, and--" She stopped herself. "I've said too much. You made this mess, you fix it!" She grabbed the unconscious Oridanante and vanished with him.

"That was...quite the quick visit," Ophile snorted.

Cynyr sighed hard, glaring after her, then gently touched Werr's shoulder before looking up at the others. "I need to learn how to use this gauntlet," he said. "I and Werr. Then it's our job to go straight to Malice and finish this. But we're both too weak right now... And Welk. He needs us close by, he's too fragile in this form. A Spectral or whatever she said." He shook his head a bit, watching as Seria came over and supported him from the other side, then said "Let's return to Alastor and get Naybrin, then perhaps we should go back to Amnairus."

"Then it's our job to cover you while you recover." Ophile nodded once. "Come on then, let's go." Within minutes, they were on Zehpyr's back and ready to take off. Boko slid into his mother's pouch, as usual.

"Ohh, I hope we get there before Naybrin is all rock..." The little Drakeling said warningly.

"What? Rock?" Werr blinked. He had never seen the stone spell before, he didn't understand what Boko was saying.

Cynyr winced, then put his mouth to Werr's ear and whispered quietly to him. Explaning about Naybrin and how the great dragon had sank into a horrible sadness, causing him to start turning to solid stone. How Naybrin had just seemed to...die inside. Having lost his mate, child, and then the only human he had ever truly liked, it had been too much. Zephyr put on all haste to return to the capital, worried about one of the oldest creatures the land had ever known.

The First King.

As they flew, Welk awoke again and slowly clawed his way to the top of Werr's pocket, leaning out limply. "...Eeehh...?" The sound he made was questioning and weak, but he managed to slowly lift his head and turn it enough to lean against the front of Werr's pocket, staring up at the boy.

Werr looked down at the movement, then smiled at Welk. "We're going back to Alastor, Welk. And then to Amnairus. We'll take good care of you, don't worry." He put his hands around his pocket, not wanting Welk to fall out. That would be terrible, of course. He carefully pet Welk with one finger, scratching him ever so lightly behind the ears.

Welk closed his eyes, breathing quietly as Werr touched him gently, then he turned his head up at the boy and slowly said "...I...I missed...you..."

Cynyr's tail flicked around and Welk clutched onto his fur tightly as the panther said "You have no idea how much you were missed, little brother."

Welk managed a weak smile, then suddenly gave a small shuddered and started sobbing. "I'm...tiny!" he cried, not having the strength to lift his hands and wipe his tears. "And...I don't have legs!" His voice was itty-bitty and squeaky, but still his.