The Forgotten Zodiac

"You don't understand the kind of power he holds..." Werr sighed heavily, then looked up at Lexi again. "He likes you? That's good. It's good to have someone to talk to, I just...didn't think it would be my place to make nice with him. I guess we can just be straightforward and ask..." He knocked on the door, frowning slightly when there was no answer.

Lexi listened for an answer, and when nothing happened she carefully slid in front of Werr and gently pushed him back a step, then turned back to the door and gave a timid knock. "Obelisk?" she called in her soft voice. "Are you okay? I...I'm just a bit concerned for you, that's all. Are you alright? Can I come in?"

Still, no answer, but the door slowly opened. Obelisk was inside, sitting in a chair with one arm over the back and his legs hanging over the side. Blood absolutely everywhere, along with bits and long strips of bloody black skin. Most of the bandages were completely soaked in blood. It looked like he had torn off pretty much all of his dead, black skin. "Skies above, Obelisk, what happened in here?"

"Remor. Stupid, stupid Remor..." Obelisk muttered, limp in the chair.

Welk squeaked and dove into Werr's shirt, and the boy felt him zip around to the back, where he clung to the fabric of the boy's shirt and trembled.

Lexi gasped and was sorely tempted to look away, but another instinct welled up inside her and she knew she couldn't just let Obelisk suffer like that. She darted forward and helped Obelisk up, ignoring the blood, and carefully helped him lay down, then touched his chest and murmured a healing word, watching as his wounds started to heal. "What happened?" she asked in concern, her voice timid and quiet with fear.

"Remor saw the image. He was upset, then angry..." Obelisk sighed. "He ripped off our skin before I could stop him. I expected this to happen. I just didn't expect him to...do this." He muttered, watching as his bandages started picking up the skin shreddings and pressing them back onto his body so Lexi's healing spells would reattach them. "I will be fine. Not to worry. It's not like it'll kill me."

Lexi was having quite a bit of trouble healing him, as she hadn't had much training and it had been a while since she had last worked this hard. But she tried her hardest, though, even when sweat trickled down the side of her head and she started to pant. "I...shouldn't have done that..." she murmured to him. "That picture...I'm so, so sorry..."

"Oh, Lexi..." Obelisk sighed. "What's done is done." He moved his hands, pushing hers away when she started to look unsteady on her own two feet. "Enough fussing over me. It's not your fault. He agreed to let you draw him, either way. I, on the other hand, have business to attend to now..." He slowly stood up, lumbering over to where Werr stood. The king hadn't moved much, just looking on in shock, until Obelisk approached. Now he took a wary step back, gripping his staff tightly.

Obelisk spoke quietly, but his message was clear. "Give me the artifact."

"I don't have it," Werr backed up quickly, shaking his head. Obelisk's bandages slid around and slipped under Werr's shirt, grabbing at Welk. He dragged the Spectral out while other bandages closed around Werr's neck. Werr's staff was quick to start setting the bandages alight, but even after they were severed, they didn't release or give up. Werr fought against the bandages around his neck, desperate to not let them squeeze.

"Werr!" Welk shrieked, trying uselessly to struggle out of the bandages. "Obelisk, stop!" Lexi cried, running forward and helping Werr pull at the bandages. "Please, he really doesn't have it! Don't hurt them, this isn't the way to go about it!" She pulled back and moved in front of Werr, putting her hands up in a sort of surrendering gesture. "Please, Obelisk! If you do this, it's not going to make them want to help you anymore. Please, calm down." She took another step towards him, rather bravely, and murmured "Please. Calm down..."

"Do you think I care about--" He grabbed Lexi by her neck, lifting her effortlessly into the air. He paused, as though just realizing what on earth he was doing. He gently set Lexi down again, the bandages going limp around Werr and Welk. He turned, walking away without another word.

"C-crap...he's going after Cynyr," Werr spluttered, hurrying to scoop up Welk and charge down the hall in the opposite direction. "Come on, Lexi, we have to get there before him!"

Lexi stood for a moment, tears dripping down her cheeks as she touched her neck, then she turned and ran after Werr, blood pounding in her ears.

Cynyr was outside, sitting perfectly balanced on the edge of a balcony's railing. He was watching the sky, and the look on his face told that his mind was elsewhere, thinking his many distant thoughts. Other than the slow blink of his eye, he could've been a statue, resting there for eternity. But a sudden flick of his ears told of life, and his eyes snapped back to the present instantly. A stranger wouldn't see the change in him, but his ears remained back and his body had stiffened ever so slightly. Unseen, a sheen of wind magic closed over the bag in his lap.

Obelisk didn't go straight for the bag. He stepped out of the shadows, as though he had been a part of them; he immediately grabbed Cynyr by the back of his collar, throwing him back into the hall as Werr ran around the corner. "Cynyr!" Werr yelped, charging forward as quickly as possible. "Obelisk, stop this instant!"

"No," Obelisk said simply. "Fools. You knew this was coming. Give me the Artifact." He said simply. "You can't stop me. You know you can't. Do you need a reminder of two years ago? Where, if not for a certain meddling fairy, I would have wiped your very existence from the earth? I don't think you need a reminder on that, as you judge me by it every time you see me," He snarled, a hiss sneaking into his words as he drew himself up to his full height.

Cynyr cursed and struggled to stand up, his mouth set in a snarl. "Why do you want it?" he spat. "We need it to stop Malice, who has the other one and is threatening to destroy the entire world? What does it matter if you get your body back if there's no longer anywhere to live? I'm not handing this thing over to you." He jammed his hand into the bag and into the gauntlet, yanking it back out and holding it at the ready.

"The most you'll be capable of using that thing for against me is wrecking the castle." Obelisk said sternly. His voice had been calm before, but now he sounded like he was scolding a child. "I require one use for it. Simply one. You treat it as though I'll destroy the Artifact and you'll never have a chance of beating Malice. Believe it or not, it's safer in my hands! Malice cannot touch me, fool!" Obelisk snapped.

Lexi had stepped up behind Werr, tears dripping down her cheeks as she quietly hugged him from behind, leaning into him for comfort and a sense of protection.

Cynyr glared hard at him, then said "What do you intend to do with it? How would you rebuild your body? I know you understand how much weighs on this hunk of metal; just handing it right over is a big deal for me. I'm getting married tomorrow; I have to make sure this world is going to be safe for me and Seria's future, and for Welk and Werr and everyone else. There's more than just you here, Obelisk. This gauntlet holds all of our lives. Can't you understand why I don't want to just fork it over?"

"Can't you understand how sick I am of this body?!" Obelisk hissed at him. "Can't you understand how tired I am of cringing at the slightest movement? Of wincing every time a speck of dust lands in a spot unprotected by bandages?" He seized Cynyr, lifting him to eye-level. "You wouldn't live a day in this body! It would kill you! Do you think I like having the very shell I live in be a constant reminder of how no matter what I wish on and how hard I pray, that I'll never, ever die and I'm stuck with the constant reminders and realizations that the world recoils at the very sight of me, and no one could ever love a freak like me, and I can't love anyone in return because I would have to watch in utter uselessness as they died of old age and I'm just going to live on and on and on! DO YOU THINK I APPRECIATE YOU UNDERESTIMATING THE DAMAGE I COULD DO TO YOU AND WERR AND SERIA IF YOU DON'T HAND OVER THAT CURSED GAUNTLET?!" He roared, the shadows themselves taking up his voice and causing the castle to tremble with his rage.

Cynyr struggled and fought against Obelisk's grip, then shouted "I understand more than you think! You can brush this off and tell me it's nothing, but you aren't the only one that lives with the pain of being trapped in body you don't like! I've hated my body for endless years, and I still hate myself! I understand that you have it way worse than me. I get that. All I want from you is that for ONCE in your life, you would just come to me and ask for something without trying to kill me! Have you ever thought that perhaps if you just came quietly and asked nicely that I might just decide to help you out?! But you know what; I've had it! I've had it with all of this!" He kicked Obelisk back and ripped the gauntlet from his arm, dropping it on the ground without another care. "Take the stupid thing! I don't care what happens to it anymore! I sure hope you can protect it, because I'M THROUGH!" He took vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of where he had gone or what he had done. He just...disappeared.

Lexi was sobbing, her face pressed into Werr's shoulder, and Welk had curled up so tightly that he looked like a tiny silver ball, his body shaking.

Obelisk snatched up the guantlet. Werr watched as he got to work; the king never saw exactly what Obelisk was making, but it was easy to tell it was a person. Werr just never saw the face. It was limp, lifeless, dead, but Obelisk didn't seem to care. He made the body, then watched as it dissolved into shadow. Thirty seconds, that's all it had taken him.

Obelisk threw the guantlet at Werr, who caught it numbly. "Don't dare refuse me again," Obelisk growled, stalking away. He still had to find a method of getting himself into his body, but that was easier. Werr held the guantlet carefully, then turned and allowed Lexi to cry on his shoulder.

"Are you...okay?" Werr asked her gently a few minutes later.

She shook her head slowly, slipping closer into his arms and leaning against his chest, crying softly. Welk quietly slipped out of Werr's hand, sliding off to find Cynyr. He somehow sensed that his older brother needed the comfort; something was wrong, something the panther wasn't telling them. Welk was determined to find out what it was, plus he wanted to leave Werr and Lexi their time together.

Lexi rested her head against Werr's shoulder, keeping her arms around him as she cried softly.

"It's okay," Werr murmured. "I know how scary he can be...I know." He gently stroked Lexi's back, leading her to a bench in the hallway. He sat down and helped her do the same.

Obelisk, in the meantime, had no qualms about making Lexi cry. At the moment, he was furiously flipping through books he had summoned from the shadows, attemping to find an answer. There had to be some way to get himself back into his body. He already had an idea, but...he didn't like it. He hated it. Basically, if he were to have his current body destroyed to the point that no part of it was able to contain a soul any longer, then his soul would search for the next available host, any empty shell nearby. The body he had created with the guantlet, for example. His soul would inhabit that and the body would be his again.

But...in order to make it so that his current one was completely inhabitable, he needed the other guantlet. The one that Malice had. The one that they had to defeat Malice to get. Furthermore, he would need someone to destroy his old body for him, as he wouldn't be able to get all of it in one go on his own. So...not only would he have to be rid of Malice, he also had to convince one of the others to help him. Which made absolutely no sense, as Cici promised that she would kill him once Malice was gone. So there really hadn't been any point in the temper tantrum he had displayed before.

Now, his mind trailed to Lexi. Now, he started to feel upset with himself.

Lexi herself had finally stopped crying, now leaning against Werr and just breathing quietly. She sighed and looked up at him, then turned her gaze down and murmured "Thank you...for just being here. It...it makes me feel good...knowing somebody cares." She slipped her fingers into his hand, pressing closer to him. "I...I...love..." She blushed sharply and turned her head slightly, saying quickly "I love it here in the castle..."