The Forgotten Zodiac

((Oh, okay. 936

:3 I know. You should. She's the epitome of evil. Not only does she frame Cyprus for things he didn't do, but she got him trapped in the Temple of Stars. By the time the gods discovered this, Cyprus was already destroyed. Obelisk has spent this entire time crafting new forms for the both of them; and now that he's able to, Cyprus will fight back. And whether he wants it or not, people will be caught up in the crossfire. :3 Poooor Cyprus. He's actually really nice, once you get to know him. And if you can understand him.))

"Ohh, ohh, I wanna!" Spy crawled forward and stuck his face near Ariana and blew on her, then promptly started yelling when the young girl grabbed onto his ear and pulled hard. "Owowowowowowowow!"

"Oh, dear," Nate moved forward at once, prying Spy's ear away and giving Ariana his finger instead. "Sorry, Spy. But you live with a baby, you should know better..."

"I didn't want her to grab my ear..." Spy sniffled. "Cinnoa always takes my hand."

"You offered it." Nate chortled, patting the Chimera lightly. Then he smiled slightly. "Spy, how would you like to come with us? We could use your sharp nose."

"I don't want Jag to go anywhere," Lily said at once. "I won't let you take him."

"But I wanna go!" Spy said at once. "Mommy, can I, pleeeaaasssee?"

Lily thought long and hard, then looked towards Jag.

((Aww.))

Jagat bit his lip, putting one hand around Lily's shoulders, then said "Well... It's only a diplomacy trip, right? I suppose I'd be good for Spy to see the world a bit. But if anything happens to him, I will personally murder each and every one of you while you sleep. Got that?"

Luen's eyes widened slightly, then he nodded once and said "Of course. We won't let anything bad happen to him." He tilted his head at them, smiling at little Cinnoa.

Tasia opened the door, pausing to blink at the arrivals. "Hello Jag, Lily," she greeted softly, brushing a strand of her pink hair aside with a twisted hand.

Jag tilted his head at her, saying "Greetings Tasia. Nice to see that you and your family are doing well, like ours."

"We are indeed doing well. I'm glad to see you, as well. Now Tasia won't be lonely," Nate smiled and nodded. "How long were you planning to stay?"

"Oh, just over the weekend, but we can linger a little longer if you need us to." Lily smiled, looking around. "I like this castle, I don't mind staying."

"That's good," Nate beamed, then looked up as Werr stepped into the room, looking happy and rested.

"Oh! Jag, Lily. How nice of you to drop by. We're...about to leave, though." Werr blinked.

Welk walked into Werr from behind, letting out a slight "Oof!" He stepped back, giving himself a light shake before glancing over Werr's shoulder. "Yo! Hey you guys!" he said, walking forward to give Jag's earring a light flick. "You get more and more of these knick-nacks every time I see you," the fire mage said, tilting his head.

Jag knocked his hand away, saying "Shut up. They're common items for gryphons; we've got customs to keep up. It's a symbol in my tribe."

"Oh yeah?" Welk said, grinning. "What does it mean?"

"The earring means I've got a family," the gryphon replied. "So don't bug, mister doesn't-even-have-a-girlfriend."

"Hey!" Welk protested. "Luen doesn't have one either!"

Luen looked down, blushing.

"There's nothing wrong with waiting for the right person to show up," Forin tutted, patting Luen on the neck.

"Luen doesn't need a girlfriend, he has me!" Diana giggled. "I give him all the hugs and kisses he could ever need." She finished off her plate of food, then got up and climbed onto Luen's back and hugged his neck from behind. "Welk has Werr to give him hugs, so there's no problem."

"Yes, hugs are important," Lily smiled brightly, leaning against Jag.

Luen tilted his head back and rested his handsome antlers against Diana's head, closing his eyes and flicking his ears back as he smiled.

"Well, yeah..." Welk said, glancing over and giving Werr a grin. "I'm glad to have Werr and his hugs. But there is something different about a girlfriend. Not that I know what it is." He smiled widely, showing off his sharp teeth, then said "Well, I imagine I'll know her when I see her!" He shook his head, then trotted over to the table and crunched down into an apple, flicking his tail happily.

Werr nodded and smiled a bit, then looked over at Jag and Lily. He barely opened his mouth before Lily spoke. "He's not going anywhere," She said firmly.

"Right." Werr chortled a bit. "I guessed as much. Now then...have some breakfast." He gestured towards the table, then looked around. "Has anyone seen Lexi? And Ophile too, now that I think about it..."

"Asleep," Cynyr reported, stalking into the room. Welk immediately bounded over and shoved an apple into his sibling's hand, saying "Eat up so we've got strength for the trip. We're knights!"

"I hadn't noticed," the panther said, his sharp teeth gouging a chunk out of the apple as he bit down.

Welk smiled, then patted Cynyr's shoulder and turned, walking calmly back to the table and giving Luen a pat as he passed.

"Anyways, Lexi and Ophile are still asleep," Cynyr repeated, flicking his long tail. "In the same room. I checked in on them and left them to sleep. You could wake them, Werr. We've got to get moving soon and they haven't had breakfast."

"Yeah...I'll go get them up." Werr blinked, wondering what Ophile was doing with Lexi. He shrugged it off, deciding to go find out for himself.

They really were just sleeping though, although Ophile was whimpering ever so quietly as he slept. Werr ran his fingers through the fur on Ophile's head, causing the wolf to open his eyes at once and make a bit of a snorting sound.

"Sorry. Nightmares," The wolf murmured, looking down at Lexi, who was still curled up against him. He ran his tongue against her hand, nosing her gently.

She jumped and sat up abruptly, blinking. She rubbed her eyes and glanced down at Ophile, smiling softly and giving him a stroke before looking up to Werr. "Hi," she greeted quietly, letting him lean down and give her a kiss. "Ophile had nightmares last night. I let him sleep here," she said, as if afraid Werr would assume something else. She gave him an extra kiss after that, to reassure him that he was her one true love.

"I figured as much," Werr smiled a bit. Ophile had slept in his room once or twice for the same reason. "It's alright. Ophile, come on. You look tired still. Come eat some breakfast, it'll do you some good."

"Alrght," Ophile stood and shook himself out, staring at the floor for several seconds before stepping down.

"Can I ask what the nightmares are about?" Werr questioned quietly. "You've been having a lot of them recently..."

"Nothing in particular. It changes. I keep seeing dreadful, awful things...I know they've never happened before, either. I've searched all my memory banks, but none of this has ever happened before." Ophile said quietly. "The only thing I can relate them to are the Skinless Striders, and even those are a bit of a stretch..."

"Ech," Werr cringed. The striders, literally skinless, were bloodthirsty creatures. Werr was certain they had gotten rid of all of them, but they still haunted nightmares. They always would.

"'Ech', indeed." Ophile nodded seriously, pushing past Werr on his way to the dining room. "Let's just go eat, though."

Lexi followed after them a moment later, having thrown on her traveling clothes. A pair of tight black leggings that came down to her knees, long brown boots, and a black tank-top with a tightly laced leather armor piece over it. She followed quickly after them, running over and taking Werr's hand gently. She nuzzled under his chin, sighing in quiet contentedness, then looked up as Welk shoved his head out of the door, his blonde hair sticking out wildly. "There you are!" he said upon seeing Werr. "I start getting uneasy if I don't see you for more than thirty seconds."

Werr laughed a bit. "Yeesh, now I feel invaded upon," He chortled, scratching Welk behind the ears before standing again. "Is everyone else ready to go?"

"I should hope so! Because after I eat, I want to leave straight away." Ophile gave a enthusiastic nod.

"Right." Werr smiled. "Let's go make sure we're ready to go, Welk."

"Yep yep!" Welk said, taking lion form and bouncing along beside his friend. He grew still and pushed under Werr's hand, surprisingly quiet for a moment, just enjoying the special bond he and the young man had. "I'm glad we're brothers, Werr," he said softly. He pushed up onto his hind legs, putting his forelegs over Werr's shoulders as he gently nuzzled him. "I'd be lost without you," he said simply, then moved back down and walked calmly.

"I would too." Werr smiled slightly, following his friend into the dining room.

Before long, they were all well fed and ready to go. Naybrin had eaten breakfast as well, although his was much...heartier. "Ready to go, old friend?" Werr spoke to the large being, smiling happily. The heart-bond still existed between them; Naybrin may have noticed Zela stalking about once or twice over the past year, at that.

Naybrin hummed and shook his head, and the ripple ran down the entire length of his long body. He flicked his long ears and bent his head, giving Werr a gentle nudge. "Yes. I am," he said, closing his eyes and purring.

Welk landed carefully on his head, folding his wings in. "Woo! These things get tiring," he said, sitting down and rubbing Naybrin's head with a hand.

"You merely need to build up endurance, like I told you before," the retired king said. Just because he was retired didn't mean he had lost any of his power. He was still, after all, the First King. If anything, he was more powerful as an Elder dragon, because he gave advice to the new king. Zephyr, their other dear dragon friend, was turning out to be a good king so far.

Welk smiled and jumped off of Naybrin's head, soaring around overhead until he felt like landing. Which he soon did, and he landed at Werr's side.

"Alright, then. We're ready to go." Werr smiled brightly, patting Welk and giving Naybrin's arm a hug before turning to help Lexi get on. Just a simple leg-up was enough to get the others up, once Naybrin shrank down to a size that was easier to mount. After that, they were tied down to Naybrin's back-spikes; however careful the first king was in flight, it was still dangerous for any of them to go unsecured, most particularly the ones without wings of their own.

Once they were settled, Naybrin turned his head to where Forin and Luen's group was mounting up. Luna bent forward and gave Forin a kiss, placing her hands on either side of his face. She stroked her soft fingers over the X-shaped scar on his lips, then gave it an extra kiss, along with a giggle. Neither she nor Forin had been able to re-unlock their true forms yet, but they were hopeful. She turned away just in time to help Luen climb up onto Naybrin, watching as he settled himself and started slowly tying himself down.

Diana sat directly behind Luen, hugging her friend from behind while Forin tied her securely to the Kirin. Nate was easy to get settled; he had wings of his own, so flying up and settling himself down towards the back was simple. He secured himself to Naybrin, then leaned forward to help Spy, who was fumbling and struggling to make his own knot.

"I think that's everyone," Werr looked back, then nodded. "We all ready to go?"

"Yep!" Welk said, having securely tied himself down to Naybrin's back. He wasn't skilled enough with his wings to sustain a long flight by himself, so he simply buckled down and sat behind Werr, nuzzling the boy's shoulder from behind.

Cynyr was sitting a bit behind them, with Seria just in front of him. He lifted his head and touched her shoulder softly, and she looked over at him before sighing and leaning back into him. He held her close, gently nuzzling her fluffy ear.

Then Naybrin lifted off, beating his ancient wings rapidly to gain height, and they headed into the clouds.

*

Tick. Tick. Tick.  Tick.

Dmitry Soko tilted his head back and studied the clock, wishing he could shut it up but not wanting to move from his chair. He was tall at 22 years of age, with black hair that came down around his ears. He wore glasses and was dressed smartly, wearing a blue shirt and black pants.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall, staring out the window at the ground below. He was sitting in a window seat, writing in a book that was currently sitting on his lap.

"Dmitry?"

He jumped and turned sharply at the familiar voice, blinking behind his glasses. "Mirage?" he said, tilting his head slightly. "What do you need?"

Mirage Soko flicked a lock of her long white hair behind her ear, frowning at her brother. She was tall like him, both with pale skin and strong features. She was wearing a pink dress that looked more tribal than anything. It was long and decorated with all sorts of golden pearls and chains, and she had a line gold crown that rested on her forehead. Large golden hoops hung from her ears and she had a thin train that followed her as she walked.

She tilted her head disapprovingly at her brother, saying "Have you...found anything on father yet?"

Dmitry sighed and gave a soft shake of his head, saying "You remember what he was like. We'll be lucky to ever see him again even once."

Mirage growled, showing off teeth that looked a bit sharper than a normal human's teeth, then said "Who does he think he is?! We're his children, yet he just abandons us like we're...common merchandise!"

Dmitry had already mentally prepared himself for another of his sister's famous rants.