The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin moved subtly, placing himself in the way of Mirage's odd looks. "Mirage," Izan spoke with a smile. "This is Welk Kaelen, the king of Alastor. You know why he's here. Say...didn't Lennon say you had business downstairs? Are you finished with that so soon?" He tilted his head a bit to the side, then looked around. "And where on earth is your brother? Studying up in his room, as usual, I imagine..."

((Welk is posing as the king. .D.

Welk Kaelen.))

"Yes, dear Izan, but I'll get to my business later. Trust me when I say...it can wait," she said, giving him a smile. "As for Dmitry...he said he had something to do. Apparently greeting our wonderful guests isn't enough for him." She didn't tell the king that her brother was recovering from his spell in his room at the moment, keeping Marion for his only company. She threw her long white hair to the side, then said "Oh well. I suppose he'll greet them later." She stood up and walked forward, curtsying lightly and offering Welk her hand. "I'm so very pleased to meet you, your Majesty," she said, blushing.

Welk didn't frown on the outside, but inside, he was glaring. He took her hand and said "Thank you. I'm pleased to meet you as well."

She giggled and moved back to her chair, winking at him.

He shuddered.

((EWIOGNILWNGILW I forgot. xD

Also, you get to choose the popular torture here. :3 Cutting open the stomach and putting things in, burning areas of flesh down to bone, severing muscle and bone and leaving fingers hanging by just veins...

Or something else. Probably something else. owo;; I shouldn't give you too many ideas.))

"Well, at any rate...you have an hour or so to wait in your rooms. Dinner will be soon, though, and we can talk about what to do then. Yes?" Izan smiled happily. The group slowly moved off, all of them upset in more ways than one.

"If it's any consolation, I didn't like him in the first place," Marion said flatly, her thick body draped over Dmitry like a woven blanket, adding a comforting weight on top of him. "He was thick-headed and rude. Not slave material at all." She tutted, bumping her nose against his cheek.

((pDp Nuuu. I don't wanna.

Also, I have conjured up a sinisterly plan. owo ))

"Hush, Marion," he said, rubbing his temples as he laid quietly on his side, rubbing his face wearily with one hand. "No one should be considered 'slave material' or not. I won't stand for this. I'm going to go down there and...ugh..." He shuddered, clenching his teeth and digging his claws into the navy blue covers below him. He panted, nearly letting a painful sob escape his lips, then said "M-Mirage is...acting out of her boundaries..."

((xD Do what you will, then.))

The Naga went silent, hating every second of this. All Dmitry needed was some fresh air and sun on his face, but...no. They were killing him here, and Marion despised each and every one of the ones who vouched to keep him locked away. "It's not fair..." She crooned mornfully. "I don't like it at all. You're so kind and caring, but people hate you for it. You want to set people free, so they lock you up...it's not right." She hissed angrily.

He sighed, a little of the trouble leaving his face at her words. He was so pale. Unlike Mirage, who was regularly allowed out when she wanted it, he was forced to stay inside. And it was wearing on him, bit by bit. He moved one hand up and gently stroked her face, then said "That's not...all I want, you know..." He blinked up at her, unable to see well due to his vision, then touched his nose to hers and closed his eyes.

"I know." Mirage said simply, reverting to human form and pressing close to Dmitry. "I know..."

Downstairs, Nate had woken up again. He was starting to strain against the bondings. He was blindfolded; he had no idea where he was or what was around him, but he could take a guess. All he could smell was a faint mildew scent, musky and rather...disgusting. He felt a wood table beneath him...which meant he might be able to burn it, if he could avoid burning himself...the chains, though. Steel, or another kind of metal. He wasn't going to be getting through that.

((Okay, so Dmitry is going to attempt a rescue, which will fail. Since he has Marion with him right now, she'll escape to go for help. And then stoof will happen. You'll see.))

He was alone for a while, trying to think of a way out of this mess. Finally, he heard footsteps heading down towards him, then the door slowly creaked open. He heard hushed voices talk for a moment, then someone moved over and pulled his blindfold off.

Dmitry tilted his head to the side, saying "You've caused me a lot of trouble, you know. I should be upstairs resting right now..." Marion was wrapped tightly around his waist, using her long tail to help keep him upright as he moved.

"Then be upstairs resting," Nate frowned at him, but shook it off. "Are my friends back?"

"I think so," Marion nodded.

"Then why on earth are you down here?! Go to them, tell them what's going on. You're going to get yourself killed, boy, and I don't want your blood on my hands." Nate snarled, almost threateningly.

"Hmph! Do you want help, or not?" Marion spat at him.

"Not from someone who can't help themselves!"

"You'd better shut up before I give the personal order to have you killed!" Dmitry hissed, holding a finger up in a sign for silence. "You have no idea what I'm capable of! Now shut up. I...have a weird feeling about you. Like...if I help you...I'll find something I've been missing. Because I can follow emotions so closely, it sometimes gives me hints about people. Something...just perks my interest about you. So be quiet and let me work, alright? Besides, they can't hurt me here. I'm the prince and you're my slave. I have the sole rights over you." He snorted and a thin trail of...smoke, came out of his nose. He moved forward and scanned around the room, searching for the keys to unlock Nate's bindings.

"Look, it's not like I don't appreciate the help, but if I'm causing you trouble, just leave me here." Nate snorted, letting out his own puff of smoke. The keys were hanging on the wall, on a hook in the corner.

"So ungrateful," Marion hissed low.

"For the love of...just..." Nate sighed. "Fine. Get me out of here and up to my friends. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought I was dead, at this point..."

Dmitry ignored him, finally locating the keys and moving over to Nate. "Enough," Dmitry said, fiddling with the keys. "I'm trying, okay? It's better than me not doing anything at all to help you. Isn't that enough?" His bright blue eyes pleaded with the dragonian for only a moment before he looked down again. "Either way, I just want-"

Wham.

Blood splattered across the floor. Dmitry crashed to the ground a short distance away, blood dripping out of his mouth and nose. His glasses had cracked from the impact on the side of his head. Something had hit him, and it had hit him hard. When he managed to look up through bleary, pain-filled eyes, he saw a huge armoured warrior standing there, the knuckles of his gauntleted hand covered in the boy's blood. How the man had gotten in without their knowing, they would never know. But here he was, and he lumbered towards Dmitry and grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt, holding him off of the ground.

"Let him go!" Nate strained all the more. There was a short screech, then silence; Marion slithered away, desperate to go get help. Wasn't Lennon supposed to protect them? Where on earth was he? Whatever...Nate's friends, those people...they'd help, surely.

"Stop it, let go of him! Whatever you're going to do to him, do to me! Just leave him alone," Nate snarled. He really did care about the boy. It may not have seemed like it; Marion had thought him to be ungrateful, but he had only been trying to protect Dmitry. She realized this, and her heart sank. They should have listened to him...

The completely armored man turned his head to stare at Nate, then looked back at Dmitry and pulled his fist back.

The impact was brutal.

Dmitry slammed into the wall and slid into a heap, whimpering as he curled up into a ball, holding his chest. The man advanced on him and picked him up again, but before he could hurt him again, a voice called out.

"Stop!" Mirage said, quickly desending the steps in order to look into the room. "Stop that at once!"

Nate pulled harder than ever, desperate to break free and get away from these people. But he could feel himself wearing down; he hadn't had all that much time to rest, after all. He grew weary once more. He wasn't in danger of passing out, but there was no possible chance of him escaping at this point. He could only watch with glaring eyes what all was happening. He despised every second of it.

Mirage ran into the room, pausing at the door. "Stop this right now!" she said, fixing her pink eyes on her brother. The armored man looked her way, making not a single sound. Dmitry also managed to move his head a bit, his body limp. He stared at her, panting heavily. "M...Mirage?" he said slowly. "G...get out of here! Don't...let him...get you too!"

His sister blinked at him, then her concerned look slowly faded into a sinister grin.

"Yes, stop doing that in here, Vinmar," she said. "Take him into the other room and finish up while I bestow the proper punishment on the dragonian."

Dmitry's eyes went completely and utterly wide, then he raked his gaze up to the hulking behemoth holding him. The man gave a single slow nod and said "As you wish, princess..." in a dark, scratchy voice. He carried Dmitry towards a second room, ignoring the boy's screams of "No! Stop, stop! NO!"

The door slammed shut behind them and the horrific screams began.

"Proper punishment...you're the one who needs to be punished!" Nate snarled. "I did nothing to you...and now you're going to hurt me for what? Your own sick enjoyment? And your own brother! You would have him killed?! What's WRONG with you?!" He bared his teeth at her, furious.

"Silly, silly dragonian," she said, giving him a quick pat on the head. "You don't understand, do you?" She sighed, then said words that chilled him to the bone.

"I was never on Bulliete's side anyways."

She chuckled, then said "Herrace offered me many things for my compliance in the war. I've been providing information to the leader of Herrace for a while now. My foolish brother and you simply...got in the way. Moreso for my brother. He was onto me for a long time. That's why I had to make absolutely certain that the council's desicion to keep him stuck in this castle was never overturned. Slowly killing him off by keeping him locked in here, where his physical body would wither..." She growled, then said "I had him right where I needed him to be. Then he bought you... You! His ability to follow emotions runs even deeper than mine, so I don't know what he saw about you, but whatever it was must've been great indeed. He started questioning me harder than ever! And when I tried to buy you in order to take you away from him and dull him back down, he goes and tries his heroic act! It's all so STUPID!"

((PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT. What if SHE is Obelisk's wife? Just a suggestion, I have other ideas if you deny it. Just a...random thought.))

((Nooooo. Obelisk's new wife is actually nice. xD Mirage is a little TOO crazy. Obelisk still has a heart and a functioning mind. They're just focused on the wrong things.))

"I figured as much..." Nate sighed. "Well, I guess you're going to kill me, then...there's no reason to keep me alive, after all. I know too much, at this point..." He closed his eyes, seemingly prepared to die. Then he jerked his head up suddenly, blasting a wave of fire at the girl. He singed his clothes, but he hit her dead on.

((-coughcoughpromptingatransformationcough-

-half-wants Nate to be chewed on- 9u9))

((A'right then. : D

And pfft, I would've done that anyways. xD))

Mirage screamed and flailed, and in a single instant, she exploded upwards with a roar, transforming into her true form.

A beautiful white wyvern stood before Nate, her scales tinged in a soft light-pink. Her long body was built to walk on its back legs, with long white wings folded across her back.

She threw her head back on her long neck, snarling loudly and lunging forward. She sank her teeth into Nate's leg and crunched down, sinking her claws higher up into his thigh.