The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr smiled as Welk relaxed in Lexi's hands. "He likes you," He smiled a bit, then sighed. "Sorry about him," He jabbed a thumb at Obelisk. "He's not exactly...a pretty sight. But he's definitely one of the more...resilient people around here."

"He won't mind some intelligent discussion now and then. If he likes you," Ophile chipped in. "He doesn't like a lot of people, but just try to make a good impression, if you happen to talk to him. Oh, and just remember that he's old. Really, really old."

"Really old." Diana agreed. Obelisk could hear all of them; he just lacked the care to respond in any way. So he just listened. At least they weren't calling him a freak.

((^^))

Lexi nodded at their suggestions, turning her gaze towards Obelisk once more. She studied him for a moment, then turned her gaze back to Welk. Cynyr watched her quietly as she went back to cuddling Welk, then he turned his attention back to Seria as she nuzzled under his chin, kissing his jaw. He smiled and twinned his tail around hers, purring in his raspy, scratchy tone.

Werr smiled as he watched them, then looked up as Sylas stood. "I'll be in my room," He said, pushing his plate aside and moving away from the table. Werr wondered what could be on his mind, then he remembered. Sylas was probably still picking up the pieces. Still recovering from the shock of a dead child. There wasn't much else Werr could think of, at any rate.

"I'm going to go patrol with Nate," Ophile shook himself, then left.

Soon after, the realization that she was going to get married hit Seria like a ton of bricks and she started fretting over everything. She didn't have a dress and she had no idea what to do about the wedding, but Cynyr continuously reassured her that everything was okay and that it would all get done. He let her run off to the castle tailor to get her dress started on, then the weight of what he had just done hit him as well.

"I...I'm getting...married," he said, the last word dropping from his mouth like a stone in a river.

Werr couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "It's been a long time coming, Cynyr. I'm glad you and Seria are finally making it happen. You two are absolutely perfect for each other, I can tell you that much." He smiled happily.

"You two are idiots." Obelisk tutted. "Malice is going to use your love intrests against you. Mostly you, Werr...Lexi is in more danger than she realizes. You lack the power to save her from danger, Werr. Cynyr protects Seria with his life; if you were to try, you'd surely wind up dead."

"Thanks for the support," Werr replied dryly.

"Hey," Cynyr said, frowning. "He's more capable than you think. Besides, he has all of us to help him out." He blinked once behind his mask, his single-eyed gaze piercing, then said "Werr just needs to train. Like we had been doing before all of this happened. He was improving rapidly." He turned to Werr and said "In fact, why don't we go out and work on it a bit more? I'm sure Naybrin would like to watch us work." His eye was dancing with a bright light that Werr had rarely seen.

Luen leaned on his single arm and smiled at them all, then said "I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back." He stood up and took deer form, moving along slowly on his three legs.

Forin and Diana stood to follow, not willing to let Luen go off on his own. "Yeah, we can go." Werr nodded, smiling a bit still.

"Yes, go right ahead. Train and train away, while the magical imbalance of the world grows worse and worse..." Obelisk tutted. "You can't take that Artifact into Amnairus without the other, you know. I've been doing a bit of research, you see..."

"Good to know," Werr stood, sighing a bit.

"They're doing all they can," Lexi said suddenly. She had been quiet for a while, blushing when Obelisk had brought up love interests, but now she spoke. "Please, don't be mad at them. If they train and grow stronger, won't that help for protecting that odd gauntlet? The stronger they are, the better they'll be able to do. I'm sure they understand how grave what they're doing is..."

Cynyr flicked his ears up a bit, smiling at her bravery. He knew she was a tad scared of Obelisk, after all.

"You clearly do not understand the meaning of 'angry'. If I happened to be angry at this moment, you would know." Obelisk snorted through his broken, burned nose, causing the bandages to flutter a bit. "I am merely...exasperated. Weary too, perhaps. I'm curious, has anyone told you about me before? Anyone in this little group? Do you know anything about me?"

Lexi slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry, but...no. A-and I didn't mean to take you as angry, you just seemed...so tense." She shifted a bit and said "I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid I'm very out of the loop." She twirled a lock of her long black hair and said "I would listen if you would explain." She blinked her soft brown eyes at Obelisk, somehow senseing that he didn't really mean to come off as so dark.

"Out of the loop? I'd say..." He snorted. "Go on then, Werr and Cynyr. Might as well leave me to tell my long story to your friend here." He waved them off and leaned back in his chair, starting to talk. "Believe it or not, I was actually a normal human once. I had a wife, kids, a home and the simple wish to spend the rest of my life in peace. Probably would have happened, too, but..." He continued on, the same story that Werr and Cynyr already knew. The 'blasted fairies' accidentally bestowed powers upon them, and then the war, the massacre of his family and everything else...so on and so forth.

Lexi listened intently, giving Obelisk her whole attention while Cynyr took Welk and set him on Werr's head, then took Werr by his wrist and pulled him from the room. "Come on, she'll be okay," he said, leading Werr outside. "Let's get down to business. But first..." He carefully unsheathed his golden blade and studied it, then looked up at Werr and said quietly "Do you like her? Just wondering and all, because it is fairly serious. If you do like her, I need to know. 'Cause if you like her, I'll want to protect her too, for you. So...what do you think?"

Werr blinked, looking down. "Yeah...yeah, I think I do like her." He murmured, looking away a bit. "But I'm worried. Obelisk is right, Malice...he wants the destruction of the entire world, doesn't he? We're standing in his way. Lexi...really is in danger by getting close to me. I hate that...I hate how we're always the target of things. But if we don't fix this mess, no one will..." He sighed, shaking his head. He looked back up at Cynyr. "You...kept my staff...right?"

Cynyr smiled gently and said "Of course." He pulled the staff from his back and handed it to Werr, then said "You should definitely court Lexi. We only live once. What's the point of living if we've never had anyone to love? Seria is one of the best things that ever happened to me. You and Lexi are both kind people, and she seems to understand you well. You should definitely at least try and be with her. Sometimes to drive to protect someone we love is enough to cause us to pust past our limits and succeed." He flicked his tail and touched Werr's head, then said "We'll be okay."

"Yeah...we usually wind up okay one way or another." He smiled a bit, taking the staff back into his hands. It hummed happily, glad to be back with its owner. "Right. Let's get to training," He said, drawing his sword.

"So, as you can see, I'm the oldest, strongest, most resilient person in this group, and pretty much everyone hates me for some reason or other." Obelisk finished glumly, putting another chunk of beef into his mouth. "I would help this group, but not only do they not want my help, they don't want to help me. So I do nothing but provide information at times, and wait. You do a lot of waiting when you're as old as I am..." He said thoughtfully, then sighed. "That's all."

"Oh..." Lexi said quietly. "That's sad. I'm sorry, sir." She brushed her hair back and said "I wish I could help you, Obelisk. I feel like you aren't as bad as they think." She stood up and said "I'm going to go see if Seria needs some help." She turned to head out and paused, then looked back at Obelisk and carefully walked close. She tilted her head and looked at him, then gently leaned forward and kissed his forehead. She then turned and ran out of the room, heading off to locate Seria.

"Interesting," Obelisk murmured. "Interesting, indeed." He had only been kissed on very rare occasions since his return from the first period of time spent underground. He just didn't seem...kiss-able. Bitter hatred filled him far too often. But Lexi...he liked her. Not enough to pursue her, goodness no, but certainly enough to tolerate her existence and presence. Perhaps protect her, too, if the need came. Perhaps.

Cynyr and Werr trained for a while, and Werr seemed to improve a lot during their time together. They came in later that day, tired but pleased with their work. Welk bounced along on Werr's head, smiling and quietly telling about something he had heard before. Still the boundless little lion they loved. When they entered the castle, Cynyr said "I'm going to my room for a while. I'm tired. Keep Welk with you." He waved his hand once, then headed off, looking tired. When Werr walked through the halls, Welk suddenly tugged on a lock of his hair and said "Werr, listen!"

There was Lexi's voice, singing quietly as she sat in her room, drawing away.

"Voices are singing a song in the breeze,

someone is praying you come back to me.

Voices from above,

I hear them now!

A being filled with love,

I wonder how!

Don't give up hope 'cuz I’m here by your side,

I will hold you for as long as you need.

Look up at the sky,

it's so blue!

Up there we will fly,

I just need you!

Please come back to me,

because without you I am lost."

"That's my song!" Welk squeaked. "I sang that a long time ago."

"I know. I remember," Werr smiled a bit. Welk had sung the song when they found Werr; his voice had been stolen and his mind broken for the first time. Werr still remembered those events quite clearly. Quite clearly as one of the worst times in his entire life. But Welk had hugged him close and sang that very song.

Werr walked towards the singing, hanging just outside Lexi's door. After she was done singing, he cleared his throat a bit. "So, uh...what do you think of Obelisk now that you know his story?" He asked, not sure what else to do.

She jumped at his voice, turning to stare at him before looking down at her artwork. "I think he's misunderstood," she said quietly. "I understand that you might not like him very much, and I heard enough from Seria and Luna to know that he's done bad things before, but...maybe he needs a new start, you know?" She looked up at Werr, staring right into his black eyes with her soft brown ones.