The Forgotten Zodiac

"I know," Werr nodded, flushing a bit. "I think...I like her too. It's not bad, is it?" He asked quietly, climbing off of Cynyr in order to climb into bed. "I'm kinda...I dunno. I like her. She's kind and she cares...I mean, she's friends with Obelisk now. Obelisk, of all things...er, people..." He wormed his way under the blankets, smiling a bit still.

"No, it's not bad," Cynyr said, curling up on huge fluffy pillow on the ground next to Werr's bed. He gingerly lowered himself down onto it, looking a bit creaky. Werr knew all the years of fighting and all of the scars on the panther's body gave him unrelenting torment. Plus the wind mage was still so young. He laid still for a moment on his pillow, but quickly looked uncomfortable and stood up, starting to pace to loosen his limbs. Werr heard several bones pop as the half-cat moved around. "You could court her, you know," he said, going right on with their converstion. "You're already on the right track for it. She's insanely caring, you're always kind to her...it works out."

"Yeah. Naybrin convinced me to start, I think...I just wasn't making too quick of advances. What do you think of getting Toro to help me make some jewelry for her? Like a necklace or something?" He questioned, yawning yet again. "I dunno. I'll think more about it tomorrow. I guess I could make something with the Artifact...that would be nice."

The panther nodded, watching as Welk snuggled close to Werr's neck with a sign, wrapping his arms tightly around his best friend's neck. "We'll work on it tomorrow," he agreed, finally able to stop his pacing. Foregoing his pillow, he leapt up onto the bed and flopped down against Werr's side, pressing his head against the boy's side and draping his paw over his legs. He fell asleep slowly, able to be comfortable now. Welk was snoozing away, and he nuzzled closer to Werr in his sleep.

Werr smiled all the wider and dozed off. His hand still ached, but he knew they were safe enough; leaving to the Eternal Garden to train had been a simple matter of talking with Galai. The lockdown had been initiated since their return, of course. Even though Zelu had warned them not to come out simply to practice, Werr couldn't help but think of what he could make for Lexi using the Artifact. Baubles and bells, jewelry of all sorts...so many beautiful things could be made. Werr had never thought about it before, really.

They slept contentedly, and when Werr woke up, it was to Welk laying on his face, solidly asleep. The little Spectral was laying over his forehead, his ghost-tail draped over the side of Werr's face and one hand holding tightly to a lock of his hair. The other tiny arm was wrapped tightly around himself. Cynyr was still laying against Werr, his back pressed against his side and his tail resting over Werr's leg.

Werr slowly opened his eyes, realizing where Welk was. He smiled a bit and picked Welk up, easing him onto a pillow next to his head. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing up.

And promptly collapsing on the floor. His hand felt like it was on fire; it looked normal, but something was wrong. The pain was supposed to ebb, wasn't it? Not get worse. Not get massively worse. To make it worse, it sounded like there was screaming, echoing in the back of his mind. He clutched his wrist, realizing that something must be wrong with the Artifact. It was crying out for help the only way it knew how; by calling out to those who used it the most.

Cynyr leapt awake and withered on the bed, clawing at the covers in pain. He and Werr had taken turns using the Artifact; he felt the same pain. He staggered off of the bed, shifting in midair so he collapsed next to Werr in human form, panting. "What...the heck?!" he gasped, noting that Welk had jerked awake and was circling them in a panic, his crimson eyes wide. He darted down and clung to Werr's neck, saying frantically "What happened? What's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?!"

"My hand...C-Cyn-Cynyr..." Werr gasped, staggering towards the door. "The Ar-Artifact...something's wrong..." He spluttered, wanting very much at the moment to cut off his own hand. It wouldn't make the pain stop, though, his entire arm was starting to ache while his hand shook. "We've gotta...make sure it's safe..."

The half-cat stood, forcing himself up with a strength of will that had been hammered into him by his own life. He swept Werr into his arms and leapt into a run, Welk darting by his side. They ran on, racing to where they had set the Artifact after training with it. A sharp scream echoed down the halls suddenly, and Welk said "That was Lexi!" Cynyr turned quickly, deciding to check on her first. They found her unconscious in her room, her arms wrapped tightly around herself and obviously in pain.

"She can feel the Artifact," Cynyr said in astonishment. "How? Tch, it doesn't matter. We'll come back once we find the Artifact itself." He turned and raced out, heading towards the place they needed to go.

The Eternal Garden, of course. The Lockdown lifted as they approached the gate, and they were allowed passage. It wasn't pretty on the other side of the gate, though; Resu was fighting while Zelu was focusing all of her energy on the Artifact. The tool looked a little broken; one of the fingers had been torn, and a black substance was seeping from it.

As for the fighting, Resu was technically defending. A shield was up between her and Zelu, and...things. Things that were unlike anything Werr had ever seen before. Things that would give him nightmares later. Things so utterly vile and speech-snatching that Werr would later only be able to call them 'things'. And he could only hope they hadn't been human before. Each muscle on their bodies were visible, their skin simply...gone. They didn't bleed from this, though; it was as though someone had removed their flesh without breaking anything. What blood they had dripped from their tongueless mouths, their moans indescribably horrific. Perhaps they were trying to form words. Others were just screaming. Their faces had been contorted, twisted into something more like an animal than anything else. Fangs and claws had been mercilessly welded onto their muscle and bone, a sight that made Werr's stomach churn.

They were all obviously after one thing. The Artifact. But as Cynyr stepped into the Garden, it was as though someone had flipped a switch. They all directed their attention towards the living beings in front of the gate. They didn't move yet and fell completely silent; then one stumbled forward, a guttural sound coming from the thing's throat. And then they all started forward, obviously with the intent to attack and kill.

Cynyr's eyes widened, then he glanced up sharply as Welk raced past, his entire body lighting up into a bolt of flames that grew larger and larger. He zipped in circles around one of the things, lighting it up and burning it to the ground. With a sharp squeal, he burst into so many flames that neither of his friends could see him for a moment. Then it cleared and a small silver dragon was there, flying straight through the things and burning holes in their bodies.

Cynyr didn't have time to question or even yell at Welk. He set Werr down for a second and shifted to panther form, already gliding under the boy's legs so Werr ended up sitting in the natural saddle-like divit in the panther's armor. Cynyr leapt high then, clearing a creature and bounding towards the downed Artifact.

Werr held onto Cynyr tightly, but it was all for naught. As the panther raced past one of the things, Werr felt its slimy hand and sharp claws hitting his arm, the disgusting fingers wrapping around his limb. Werr shrieked as he was yanked right off of Cynyr's back, and thrown into a waiting thing's arms. The human king struggled, but it was useless. These things were stronger than humans one way or another, and Werr was weak as it was. He was thrown forward into the dirt, and immediately felt the scratching, clawing, kicking and biting commence. He curled up, protecting his chest and head, but his legs and arms were at the mercy of beasts that seemed to be completely without anything of the sort.

Cynyr threw his head back, calling the boy's neck, but one of the huge lurkers jumped onto his back and he found his armor being ripped forcefully off of his body, leaving his body open to attack. Another lurker joined the first, and the weight sent the panther down, where more lurkers attacked him mercilessly.

Welk soared past, diving for the Artifact. He grabbed onto it, barely managing to get it off of the ground in time to avoid several dripping black hands. "Werr!" he called, digging his claws into the metal and flying quickly towards his friend.

A long-fingered hand reached out from midair and closed around the tiny Spectral, sending the Gauntlet flying to a stop not too far Werr.

Malice tilted his head to the side, staring at Welk as the Spectral tried desperately to free himself from the painful grip. "Hmm. What do we have here?" Malice said, his creepy voice wafting from the stolen mouth he used. "Come for my other gauntlet, eh?"

Werr found himself closer and closer to unconsciousness with every hit. When he tasted blood, though, the things suddenly stopped. One grabbed him by the hair, dragging him upright and forcing him to look at Malice. When they made him bow, he yanked himself free and fell to the dirt again, too injured to move any further from that. He felt odd, as though he was lying on top of something; it took him several moments of shaky moving before he managed to get the Artifact onto his hand. He screamed as the cuff clamped down on his hand with what felt like needles, digging into his skin painfully. But it was on. It was enough. He mustered up the strength to swing his arm forward, a blockade of light forming between himself, the things and Malice.

Malice hissed, throwing his left hand up to shield himself from the light. "Think that will stop me or my children?" he snarled, his hand starting to glow. The other Gauntlet formed, raising a dark, twisted barrier to protect himself. In his other hand, Welk continued to struggle, but even his fire powers just seemed to die before reaching Malice's skin. His shift into dragon form dispelled, forced off by Malice. The dark lord hissed, pointing his armored hand down at Werr and releasing a dark wave of energy.

Cynyr knocked it aside with his sword, panting and bleeding from many wounds.

"Cy-Cynyr!" Werr yelped, looking up at his bleeding friend. "W...Welk, he has Welk..." He struggled to speak, then threw another blast of light towards Malice, the beams focusing into arrow shapes while vines sprang from the ground, wrapping around the dark being's feet. About half of the arrows redirected themselves as another of the things tried to grab Werr from behind. The arrows took down the thing easily, but that meant the attack towards Malice was even weaker.

Malice hissed again, watching as Cynyr bounded around to cover Werr so he could focus on attacking the dark lord. The panther combined wind with his blade, turning into a raging whirlwind of power and agility.

Welk yelped as Malice's grip tightened, trying frantically to get loose, but to no avail.

Werr threw more arrows into the attack, working on keeping the things back at the same time. He had to keep focusing, but it was starting to hurt. His blood started leaking from the cuff of the gauntlet, but he ignored it to the best of his ability. Which wasn't very much, but he still tried to fight past the pain.

"You want this?" Malice snarled, holding Welk up and squeezing the Spectral tightly in his hand. Welk wailed in pain, trying desperately to make Malice stop hurting him. "You want this little, pathetic excuse for a life?" the demon spat. "I'll give him too you, alright. In pieces!" His arm seemed to disappear for a moment, but really it was just how quickly he had drawn it back. And then flung it forward, following with a blast from the gauntlet.

Welk slammed into a tree and fell to the ground, unmoving and limp. Blood started to leak heavily from his mouth; the harsh impact on his tiny body had been horrible. He looked lifeless.

Broken.