The Forgotten Zodiac

Nate tore his eyes away from the spot, looking up at Zephyr and then down at Tasia. "Yes," He said at last. "Please, make me." He pushed Tasia and himself up onto Zephyr's back, pressing his face into his friend's scales. Hiding his eyes from what his mind only saw as a meal. And boy, was he hungry. He stopped himself from thinking about it and focused his eyes on Tasia's face instead. Where there was warmth and love, but also worry. Worry for him, mostly.

Zephyr stood once they were settled and turned quickly, trotting off towards the Eternal Garden in the hopes that Cynyr was still there, with the Gauntlet.

He hurried on, cantering along the hallways with his long dark-green body flowing like an emerald river. When they reached the Eternal Garden, they were astounded by what they saw there.

Seemingly hundreds of Thing bodies, all shaped out of plants and foliage.

There was a huge, narrow spike of land that had jutted upwards into a ledge, one that had a slight curl off to one side, and it was on this curl that Cynyr sat, the Gauntlet on his hand and his clothing looking more than a little torn. Naybrin was sitting next to the huge spike, his head level with Cynyr, and the two were talking quietly. Naybrin was full-sized once again, resting on his haunches and taking turns bathing one front paw and then the other.

Nate frowned at the sight, and moved to slide off of Zephyr's back as they moved past the 'bodies', but Tasia stopped him again. When they got close enough, though, Nate really did slide off of Zephyr and walk forward on his own. He tried to say something, but the actual words were caught in his throat. It came out as a gutteral growl, and then a loud shriek.

That got Cynyr and Naybrin's attention, and the huge ice dragon was quick to dart his head forward, blinking as Cynyr leapt off of of his perch and landed on the dragon's snout. He jumped off when Naybrin was close to the ground, and a single look at Nate was enough to let him know what was wrong. Still, he looked to Zephyr, who bent his head and whispered in the panther's ear. Cynyr nodded once, very slowly, then walked forward and put his regular hand on Nate's shoulder, saying nothing. He let his touch communicate for him, since he had no words to speak, then pressed the Gauntlet to Nate's chest and concentrated. It hurt, as it wasn't like a regular healing with pain-numbing spells, but it wasn't as bad as Nate might've expected. More like someone was pulling something initially painful off of him, followed by a wave of relief as he slowly returned to normal.

Nate seemed dazed at first, but after his skin slowly grew back, free of scars from the past, he quickly snapped back to reality. "What the..." He blinked down at his hands, then looked up at Cynyr. "You fixed me? I know that much...not too sure...what happened?" He frowned. "I remember a little bit...skies above, they were tearing off my skin. But you fixed me!" Nate suddenly lurched forward, wrapping his arms around Cynyr in a tight hug. Then he let go, flying back to where Tasia was waiting. He hugged her tightly, kissing her cheek, her lips, her forehead, practically smothering her with love. "You didn't leave me. You didn't run and hide, even when I was...like that. I was afraid that you would be terrified of me, but...you weren't. That made me so happy, and it makes me happy now. Thank you." He kissed her again, beaming with joy.

Tears leapt to Tasia's eyes as her husband kissed her. "Nate, Nate, my dear, precious Nate..." she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and twinning their tails together. "I could never, ever leave you. You're my life; I can't live without you." She kissed him back, then pressed her forehead against his neck and wept with joy.

Naybrin suddenly laughed, catching their attention, and the dragon said "Is something wrong, Cynyr?"

The panther was standing there with his mouth open and his eyes wide in a shocked expression, the same expression that had been there since Nate had hugged him only moments ago. He had stiffened completely, blinking rapidly as if he couldn't believe what had just happened.

Naybrin laughed and laughed, finally bending his head to gently nudge the ruffled panther. "Come, Cynarios, it was all in goodwill," he said kindly. "You did a good thing for your friend, yes?"

Cynyr slowly relaxed, still looking quite ruffled. "...I...suppose," he finally said, brushing himself off.

Naybrin licked him and Cynyr yelped, darting a few steps away from him.

Nate chortled, smiling still. "Sorry, Cynyr. I couldn't hold myself back. I was too grateful." He said, settling on Zephyr's back and pulling Tasia into his lap. "It won't happen again. We won't let it, right? Malice has to go down."

"And we can make that happen. Tonight." Obelisk said from behind them. He had escorted the whole group here; Luen, Forin, Diana, Luna, Seria, Ophile, Lexi, Werr, and himself. "I looked a little into what the rifts were constructed from, and I contained a few Things in order to make our own. If my calculations are correct, we'll find ourselves in Malice's hideout before he knows what's coming. Figuratively. He'll know we're coming, he just won't realize we used a rift until it's too late."

Naybrin flared his wings, bringing his head down close to them. "This is it, then," he said softly. "You'll have to be very, very careful. All of you. Go and gather up everything you'll possibly need and return quickly. This is our finale."

They scattered, racing off to do as they were told, and returned quickly with all of their weapons and things intact. They also returned with a few others in tow; Jagat and Keir. The gryphon had agreed to help them, and they had encountered Keir right after. Jag had spawned them in some armor, taking a few minutes to adjust it to their styles and needs, and it had taken more than a few bags of coins to convince Keir to come along. But now they were ready, each outfitted in armor that fit them perfectly.

"Skies above, look at you all. Like sheep attempting to ward off a slaughter." Obelisk snorted once they were all ready to go. "You're not helping, Naybrin. If they succeed, it wouldn't be their finale. It would be Malice's."

"Can you just shut up for five minutes and open the rift?" Werr snapped at him.

"Fine, fine. You might want to stand back..." Obelisk waved his hands at them, making even Naybrin step back. When they were out of the way, power surged around him; like he was drawing shadows from every corner of the Eternal Gardens, and they swirled around his feet like waves. He pushed outwards, forming a large orb of the shadows; with a flash of darkness, shapes were visible through the shadows; Things. There were quite a bit more than a 'few'. But Obelisk was quick to put them all under his control. They were like puppets for him.

Within minutes, the rift was open. A gaping hole in a large tree, with what appeared to be the cellars of some far off place. Obelisk waved his hand, and the Things started to vanish once more, but it was all to obvious they were fighting it. There were two sharp cracks and Obelisk's arm fell limp at his side, broken from the backlash of the shadows. So he used his other hand; he was still more powerful than they were. A broken arm was nothing. The Things were gone in seconds, and Obelisk stepped towards the newly made Rift.

"Let's be off, then."

Naybrin shrunk downwards, taking on a form that was not too much taller than Obelisk. He too have been given armor by Jag, and his was regal in every regard. Silver and embelished with sapphire gemstones, it was armor befitting a king. Which he was.

Cynyr had russled up his old armor, which Jag had fixed up so it was better than ever. Dark, ebony black armor, with smooth purple jewels embelishing the plates.

Forin had lightweight armor tinged in red, set to match Vorpal, and Luen looked like a shimmering white knight in his brilliant armor, set with soft blue stones. Even little Welk had a doll-sized set of armor on, gold and set with crimson rubies. He suddenly darted off, scuffling around in the bushes until he found something, then slowly dragged out Werr's fire-sword staff. "Lexi got Obelisk to fish it out for you," he said. "A while ago. I was fixing it up for you." He pulled it to Werr's feet, then flew up and sat on his armored shoulder.

Diana had been given a bow and arrow set, and her armor was a dark silver. Forin stood behind her, his hands folded behind his back and his chin held high.

Werr picked up the sword with surprise. "I thought...this was lost in the rift," He looked up at Obelisk, then at Lexi. "Obelisk, why..."

"Don't question it." Obelisk frowned at him. Ophile snorted a bit, rubbing his face against the ground. He didn't like the helmet he was wearing now; it covered his ears and made sounds muffled, so he was trying to get it to where his ears were uncovered. Diana had to help him once she was done giggling.

"Right. Is everyone ready, then?" Ophile asked quietly. "We might want to be a bit...sneaky. At first, at least."

Cynyr was the first to push forward, jumping into the rift in the tree. Next to follow was Naybrin, and then all of the others jumped through. Once the last was in, the rift sealed behind itself with a small snap.

They were in the cellar of Malice's castle. The home of their enemy.

Naybrin shook himself and his armor didn't even rattle. "Move quietly, little ones," he said softly, flicking his tail. His long ears were perked, listening for any incoming sounds that would alert them to any Things. "I have laid a veil over us, so we are hidden from any life scans Malice might try to conduct. To all sense except sight, we are not here."

"Then let's stay out of sight," Ophile said, turning himself invisible. He padded ahead, making himself the scout of the group, as usual. He returned a moment later. "We're clear on the stairs, but there's a room with Things that look like they're sleeping up at the top. We just have to not wake any of them."

"Should be easy enough," Werr said, watching as Obelisk moved forward.

"If we are hidden to all except sight, then all we must do is make our foes blind." The eternal being said quietly, moving up the stairs with obvious determination.

Everyone moved slowly, hardly daring to breathe, let alone speak. Even the ever-complaining Vorpal was silent, desperate not to be noticed. Zephyr allowed a few people onto his back, holding his tail far up from the ground as he slowly and delicately picked his way over the Things. Naybrin was even more smooth in his tiptoe, and he snaked his tail around and gave the others behind him something to lean on in the situation that they felt like they were going to fall over. Their armor, crafted to perfection by Jag, never made a single sound.

Obelisk was hardly bothering to be sneaky. He actually stepped on one of the Thing's hands, but it didn't so much as stir. He was the first to make it to the door, and his shadows started marking out paths they should take to make it to him without alerting the Things. Which was difficult; apparently this was practically a storage room for these things. The corners were especially bad; Things just laid on top of one another, sleeping soundlessly. Within minutes, they were all on the other side of the room, and Ophile darted forward again, eager to keep going.

His next report was a little less alarming. The armory was up ahead, and it didn't look like anyone was there. Through there was a hallway, which led to a set of stairs. But there didn't seem to be doors in the hallway, which was...odd. Ophile seemed a little offput by this, but Obelisk ignored it and moved on ahead.

They all followed him without question, moving as quietly as possible. Cynyr walked close to Werr, his fur standing up and on-edge. He glanced up, giving Werr's hand a slight bump before looking down again, concentrating hard.

Welk sat on Werr's shoulder, holding on tightly to a groove in his armor. He closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly shifted forms, turning into a tiny silver phoenix that perched on his friend's shoulder, ready to fly out and light into flames.

The armory was filled with weapons. There wasn't even any armor here; but it was full to the brim of weapons. Torture devices, even. Dangerous, deadly weapons. And along one wall, next to what appeared to be a torture table, was a counter. And on top of that counter was a line of syringes. Dull green liquid swirled inside. Nate flinched at the sight of them, shifting back and away from the counter. He bumped into a sword rack and knocked it over, making quite a bit of noise. "Sorry," He muttered, looking down.

((Soooo...I had a nightmare. Kinda. A daydream, really. Daynightmare?

ANYWAYS. Basically...I was kinda imagining what it would be like if you up and stormed off one day. For good. Chzy and I both got really depressed and he stopped replying to me altogether. No skype, no mumble, nothing. Nerd and Hg went on their way and so on, sad. But they still had each other, so they were okay. But me...I went on to be a massuse and got a job and raised a family, but I was never happy. I hated myself because I was the cause of you leaving.

I love you. -cling- And I know it might seem like we're leaving you out and stuff, but I'm going to make sure that you're our first 'mumble guest' and I won't let Chzy record maybe one or two episodes without you listening in and owghowlau I love you. ;3; ))

((Oh Bun, noooo. I would never just up and vanish. -holds so tightly- Especially over something so trivial. I know my feeling left out is a bad problem I have, but it's because I just love you so much. I love you, Bun, and I would NEVER just disappear without telling you anything. And even then, I would NEVER just leave you. I swear it. -sobcling- Merissa, I would never let you go.))

Zephyr gave Nate a gentle nudge, exhaling softly against his armor, then they all flinched when Naybrin gave a sharp snarl and pushed everyone together tightly, snapping at Ophile "Go invisible, now!" He grew a bit bigger and crouched over everyone else, and a moment later, everyone felt a horrible, bloodcurdling presence looming at them, like some dangerous beast was watching them. "Be absolutely still," Naybrin whispered. "Malice's gaze is directly on us at this moment. I have cloaked us in invisibilty, but if a single one of you moves out from under me, you'll be visible. Right now, Malice only sees a blank floor."

((Good...good. -sighhug- Dunno why I was thinking those things. I'll be okay.

But I have a full day of school today. D: ))

There was utter silence for the longest time. None of them dared to breathe, much less twitch. Ophile's breathing had even slowed to a gentle, calm rhythm. He had forced it down. Malice's gaze beat down upon them like the sun; just much, much worse. The sun didn't threaten to destroy all you knew and loved. Not the second it saw you, anyways. The presence alone was like standing underground in a trembling cave. Tons of rock just waiting to fall and crush you in an instant. Just waiting...

((-snuggles close- Do your best, yes?))

Finally, the burning, terrible gaze shifted away, looking elsewhere, and they heard a nasty, gravelly voice order a few Things to clean up the sword rack that had fallen over. The voice...it sounded faintly like Malice, but...worse. Twisted, sickening, and just plain...wrong.

Naybrin shifted off of them, saying "Here, in his own castle, Malice has all the control. What you heard was his true voice, and before this is over, you'll probably see his true form. Although...I wish you wouldn't have to see it." He shook himself, then said "We must press onwards." He bent his head and blew a soft breath on Lexi, who was armed with a heal staff and lightweight silver armor. Seria had given her a few minor spells, sensing that she had the power to be a healer, with more training. The girl flinched at the warm dragon breath, looking more than a little scared.