The Forgotten Zodiac

"Wha?" Werr blinked, shaking his head quickly. "N-not right now, Welk, I--" He started to say, but Welk wouldn't leave him alone. He looked towards Lexi and uttered, "You have nice hair," He smiled a little wider, then flopped back down and put his hand over his friend's muzzle to keep Welk from laughing at him. He then sat up again, frowning slightly. "Isslia..." He sighed. She was in dog form, curled up in the corner. She perked up ever so slightly, looking up at him. "Come on, at least sleep at our feet or something, where it's comfortable..."

"Okay," The girl yawned as she stood, then walked over to the bed, hopping up in a single bound and settling down there.

Welk moved his thick paw up and pushed gently at Werr's face, trying his best not to laugh his head off. He nearly cracked at the confused look on Lexi's face, but he kept his calm easily enough. He looked down at Isslia, his grin slowly vanishing. A feeling swept up in him, and though he didn't move at first, he eventually slowly got up and crept to the edge of the bed with her. He bellied forward, slowly creeping close, then tenderly moved his head forward and began to gently groom her gray fur. He didn't know what compelled him to act like this around her. He just...wanted to.

Isslia hummed a little note and snuggled closer to Welk, clearly exhausted. Werr smiled and laid back, closing his eyes and forcing himself to drift off, as usual. Things were going smoothly enough...

But of course, just when things were going well was the common time for them to be foiled again. Diana stirred in her sleep, letting out a small noise and rolling over in her sleep. Something tickled her hand; and she realized that she was moving. No, not moving...she was being moved? But she felt...so weak...so helpless. She couldn't move...

Cyprus was holding her by the collar, dragging her along to where Naybrin was napping. He had been eating sheep in the field and decided to take a nap there. And of course, Cyprus was walking straight for him, multicolored eyes flashing in the moonlight. He looked upset...so dreadfully upset. But he pressed onwards, his intentions clear in his mind. He would take Naybrin and the priestess somewhere far away and be...rid of the threat they imposed on him.

Naybrin was dozing softly, but a little uncomfortably. The wild sheep he had eaten were covered in thick, disgusting wool, which was hard to digest. So he had a bit of indigestion, and it was making him sleep a bit roughly. But it was fine enough.

His ears flicked up at the approach of footsteps, and he woke up a moment later, lifting his head. "Who goes there?" he asked, tilting his head and peering through the darkness. His sharp green eyes were quick to catch movement and his nostrails flared as he breathed in, catching scents.

"You..." he said quietly, narrowing his eyes.

"Hello, Naybrin." Cyprus said quietly, though to Diana's ears, it sounded like a bell of some kind. It sounded different for each ear; never the same, but always completely incomprehensible. To Naybrin, however, it was words. Words of an exhausted, dying Demigod. "It's been a very long time, hasn't it? There's no need to speak, I already know what you want..." Before the First King could react, Cyprus threw up his hands; the great dragon's vision was obscured by bright, shimmering lights. All of his senses, completely cut off.

When Naybrin came to, Cyprus was finishing up with tying Diana securely to a tree. Once he let go of her and stepped back, she seemed to wake up fully--and start screaming. Kicking and flailing, desperate to make an escape. But it was no use. They were apparently in the middle of nowhere. No one would hear them. They were on a lonely hill with a single tree at its crest, the one Diana was tied to now. Cyprus seemed to be in a bad shape; he was shaking terribly and blood was leaking from one of his ears, the droplets dripping from his chin as he stared at the ground.

"Isn't it sad, Naybrin? I can't transport things the way I used to...I had to make you smaller so I wouldn't kill myself." It was so.

Naybrin was now human. No wings, no fire, no claws or scales. Thankfully, Cyprus had given him clothes; regal, silver-trimmed icy blue colors. Not that it mattered too much.

"A-and even that...hurt..." Cyprus plopped down, breathing heavily. "My defensive magic is useless now, too...I'm dying. S-so I don't have a choice. I'm going to die...but I'll make sure that you two come with me." He clenched his fist, drawing a knife from his sleeve. He stood shakily and walked over to Naybrin, tears dripping from his face. Mingling with the blood leaking from his ear. He hesitated, though. "P-please, Naybrin...te-tell me why I shouldn't kill you...f-for siding with Yemara..."

Naybrin was staring down at himself in complete and utter shock, slowly moved a hand up to flex the fingers. "What...what did you do to me?" he said, his voice coming out as more of a choked whisper. His voice wasn't nearly as thunderously warm as it had been before. Before, when it had been like the rushing of a waterfall, it was now like the trickle of a river. He slowly moved his hands down and touched his legs, biting his lip in shock. He moved a hand up very, very slowly and felt of his hair, which was a soft light blue, just like his scales had been. The hand transferred to his chin, where he had light, prickly white stubble all over his cheeks. He stared up at Cyprus for a moment, then finally spoke.

"Yemara? Are you quite daft, lad? I am the First King; I don't take sides when it comes to gods or demigods. At least, not unless I can help it. Yemara is far too violent for my old tastes. Then again, I did make the mistake of eating sheep. Ugh."

He tilted his head and immediately fell over, nearly starting to roll down the hill. He slowly sat back up, then moved a hand up and clumsily patted Cyprus' shoulder. "You look like you need a good nap, some decent food, and an entire system regeneration for your magic," he said.

"Stop it," Cyprus pushed Naybrin's hand off, grabbing him by the collar and pressing the knife to his neck. "You can't fool me...you can't! The Priestess of Yemara, in your little crowd of followers? Don't lie to me, Naybrin! Don't..." He suddenly pitched to the left and nearly fell over, but staggered and remained on his feet. "I can't have a system regeneration. I can't..." He whimpered. "My garden is gone. Gone! Replaced with buildings and humans, I can't draw energy from that! I can't draw energy from anywhere without my garden...y-you know that, Naybrin!"

"I assuredly assure you that I have no, in fact, lied to you, dear Cyprus," the great dragon said. "And what's this I hear about a garden? Wait, give me a moment, my memory isn't entirely shot..." He thought for a second, then said "Oh yes. I remember now." He stared up at Cyprus through his green eyes, then said "You forget who I am, lad. I'm the mage's mage, the most powerful magic user alive. Show me where your garden used to be and I'll see what I can do. And if all is for naught, then I'll find a similar magic and give it to you."

"Stop it, I don't care about magic right now!" Cyprus shook Nate once or twice, as roughly as he could manage. "Tell me why, N-Naybrin, I don't understand...answer the question...why is the priestess of Yemara with you? Why? You know how bad this is...the prophecies at her temple say that when she arrives," He whipped the knife around and pointed it towards Diana, who sobbed in fear. "When she arrives...Yemara will be quick to follow. Yemara will return. I can't let that happen, Naybrin." He dropped the first King, moving towards Diana. "Can't...let that happen..."

"Cyprus!" Naybrin called, his voice a bit weaker than he might've wanted. "Stop right now! I won't let you kill an innocent child, demigod or not!" He shook his head, then tried to get up and stumbled, yelping as he flopped over the ground. He snorted, then made a desperate move and forced his barely-working limbs to obey him. He managed to push off from the ground and grab Cyprus' legs, making them both fall down the hill. By flailing a leg in a rapid kick, he knocked the knife from Cyprus' hand. "Cyprus, you are not thinking rightly at all," he said, sitting firmly on Cyprus' back. "You, the giver of life, would take the life of a little girl? Come on, laddie, surely we can do something else. And Diana is no 'priestess'. Come now, you're pulling my leg with that."

"I-I'm not..." Cyprus shook his head, leaving the knife on the ground. He was confused, so very confused now... "I overheard some of the humans talking about her. They said she was a priestess of Yemara...and I went and looked at their dumb 'prophecy book', a-and it was true! That girl's picture was in the book, a-and...and it said that she w-would be the one to release Yemara...! That's why I have to kill her...a-and you, if you get in my way. I have to...I don't want to, but I can't let Yemara run loose. Never, ever, ever again." He whimpered, just...sitting there, at this point. Wringing his hands together and watching Naybrin. His strange eyes practically begged for a reason to stop. It was as clear as day; he didn't want to kill anyone. He wanted to go home to his garden and curl up in his trees and sleep until his magic was rejuvinated. But he couldn't...

Naybrin sighed, then bent his head in a dragon-movement and gently nuzzled the side of Cyprus' head. "My dear boy," he said, trying to stand and promptly falling flat on his face. "I understand your plight. I remember Yemara as well. I don't want her to return, goodness no. But I will not stand by and watch you get yourself, and a few other people, killed in this process. If you kill Diana, you'll start an avalanche of pain and hatred. With Diana gone, her friend Luen will become despondant and attempt to end himself, which will only further infuriate her summon, Forin, who will hunt you down with his last breath. Luna will fear for her do'orin with every bit of her soul, which will only make herself sick, further upsetting Forin. With Luen upset so, or dead, if his attempts fell through, it was sadden the dragonian Nate, which would lead to Seria becoming upset, followed by Cynyr, and Welk, and Werr, and Lexi, and so on and so forth." He was quiet for a second, then he said "I don't think you want that. But I suggest you simply calm down and think this through." He bent his head and bumped Cyprus' shoulder gently before remembering that he was human and pulling back, instead extending a hand to touch his shoulder. His hand looked a bit deformed with the way he was holding it, which was reminiscent of a dragon's paw. "Please, youngling," he said quietly, his voice soft.

"But...i-if I leave her alive, and the prophecy is true...Yemara will be back with all her previous power, a-and..." He suddenly moved forward, hugging Naybrin tightly and sobbing pathetically. Some Demigod he was! Useless and dying, and now crying! "If I kill her, then Yemara can't come back...I don't know who Luen or Forin or any of those people are, but it won't matter because by the time they find me, I'll be dead, too. I'm too weak...I have no magic left, I only have...46 hours left..."

Naybrin patted Cyprus' back, clumsily yet gently. "I assure you, I will not allow them to harm you or allow you to die. Come, take me to the place where the remaining magic traces are the strongest. We'll see just how much I can do for you." He slowly rubbed Cyprus' back, trying to figure out the movements of his hand and make sure it worked properly. He pulled back, keeping his hands on Cyprus' shoulders, and said "Let me try first, alright youngling? Better than ending a poor little girl under some story made of, as I've heard the young Welk say, a 'load of crap'." He tried to stand up and fell forward instead, making a 'oof' sound.

"R-right," Cyprus nodded, standing up and helping Naybrin up, as well. "I'm sorry, I...I don't have enough magic...to turn you back." He sniffed, shaking his head. He pulled Naybrin up the hill, his head hanging. "I can teleport us, but...it will take up more of my magic. But we're too far to walk, s-so..." He put his hand on Diana's head, and all three of them vanished entirely, leaving even the ropes behind.

They reappeared, back in the dirty alleyway. Diana let out another scream, but Cyprus clamped a hand over her mouth. "Naybrin, I-I can't talk to her, make her be quiet!" He wailed, pushing the girl towards him.

"For goodness' sake, Cyprus, you're not much better off on the whole yelling thing," Naybrin said, sitting in the center of the alley. He looked up at Diana and pulled her close, hugging her gently. "Little one, I beg of you to stop your screams. This man will hurt you no longer, I promise. He was merely confused, that is all. Please, I'm going to bring you back to your family. Shush now, dear Tender-Soul, shh..."

Diana whimpered and sobbed, but buried her face in Naybrin's soft new clothes. She stopped screaming altogether, but it was clear that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with Cyprus. She was terrified. "Make him go away," Diana whimpered up at Naybrin.

Cyprus just gave a whimper of his own, then he stared pacing up and down the alley. "This...this is where my tree stood once. My tree, my beautiful tree...it's gone, all gone! My flowers, my little pond...the ducks that would visit every summer, the elk that come by in the winter, all of it...destroyed." He plopped down and curled up on the ground, suddenly feeling dreadfully ill.

Naybrin soothed the little girl, saying "I promise you, Tender-Soul, he meant no real harm. He's...a tad confused right now." He stroked her hair back, then looked up at Cyprus and said "My good man, I suggest you stop fretting so. I have a plan in mind, and if it works, you'll not have to worry ever again for your forest. I need a bit of time to think it up. Now come here and help me stand up. These legs won't..." He paused, then just stared at his legs for a long moment before smiling widely and laughing loudly. "I have legs! Human legs!" he said giddily, touching them a bit. "Look at this, Diana! Look, I can hug you properly! Look at these hands!" It seemed the realization of being human had just hit him, and he was overjoyed.

"Yes, congratulations, you have arms and legs and...a plan, did you say?" Cyprus walked over, ignoring the fact that the simple action of moving forward was enough to make Diana tense and whimper. Cyprus helped Naybrin stand, smiling a little.

"Naybrin, have...have you never been a-a human before?" Diana questioned with a small sniff. She remembered Zephyr being a human for a time, and she had figured it was just a stage of growing of some kind.

"She's a bit silly," Cyprus' smile grew. He couldn't help it; he loved kids. Which was part of why (thankfully) it had been so hard for him to take Diana's life. "I still don't understand...b-but I'll leave her alone. F-for now." He shifted his weight from side to side, clearly uncomfortable. "What's the plan you had?"

"Naybrin, take me back. Please?" Diana begged, still very much terrified of the man with the voice like bells.

Naybrin's body trembled and shook, as if he was having a hard time standing. Which he was. He shook his head slightly, then took Diana's hand, meaning to lead her along. He couldn't carry her yet, at all. "No, little one, I have never been human before," the First King said, grinning with sheer delight at his hands. "You do realize, dear Cyprus, that if I'm spotted like this by other dragons, there will be a tremendous uproar. I hold a great deal of magic in the balance of our kind, and if I cannot return to my natural form, then there will be severe consequences." He shrugged, then said "But there's time before that happens, I suppose. Let's return home, shall we?" He slowly started walking, heavily supported by Cyprus and Diana both. "And yes, I have a plan, my boy," he said to the demigod. "But first I need to recover from this transformation. Just an hour, that's all I want. Then you shall show me the place where your old garden's faint magic is the strongest. We'll start there."