The Forgotten Zodiac

Ophile sighed, choosing to lie down next to Luen instead. He wasn't scared...it would still take awhile for the lycanthropy to take effect, right? Right...

Eventually, all of them dozed off. The moon descended and the sun began to shine on the horizon, chasing away the chill of the night.

Nate slowly opened his eyes. He pushed himself upright, and was immediately reminded of the happenings of last evening. "Luna..." He nudged the sleeping Amnairian. They had stopped under a large bush, deciding to sleep for the evening. Now it was morning.

Nate noticed his hand. And nearby, a rat seemed to be holding was looked like...skin. A sizeable chunk of skin had fallen off of his hand, and had become breakfast for that rat. Nate whimpered slightly, but went back to nudging Luna.

Luna blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Nate?" she said, looking up at him. "Are you okay?" She put her hands gently on his cheeks, stroking his skin softly, then spotted the rat and hissed ferociously at it, making it race away. "Disgusting little creature," she spat with a curled lip, then stood up, saying "We should keep moving." She helped him up, saying "Come on," gently.

"Yeah, we...should." Nate nodded shakily. "We have to find the others...we have to. Right?" He said, flaring his wings. "Can fly still...shall we fly and find them? Might be dangerous..." He eyed the trees, then shook his head. He stopped talking, turning his head one way. "I hear fighting. This is bad."

"Fighting?" Luna said, looking a bit scared. "Who could be fighting? Come on, let's go see!" She looped his arm around her shoulders and started walking, heading in the direction of the noise. She paused once and shifted Nate around a bit, making sure he wasn't going to fall over, then continued on their way, walking on. She almost didn't want to see the fighting; she was worried for who it could be.

Nate followed easily, ignoring the disgusting fact that his feet felt like they were almost sliding around in his own skin. It felt a bit like...a wet sock. Nate shuddered, closing his eyes; then abruptly pulling Luna down as they got closer to the fighting. He crawled forward, peeking out of the bushes.

It was an obvious clash between several archers and footsoldiers. The soldiers were working in pairs, one cutting down a tree while the other sheilded him from the hail of arrows. There was more to it than that, though; some archers were being smart about it, and shooting the soldiers going after their neighbors, as the sides were unprotected. At the same time, the soldiers had odd bird-like creatures that were attacking the archers, squawking and cawing loudly as they did so. It was a horrible scene; a lot of blood already soaked the ground.

Luna clasped her hands over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "Oh..." she murmured. "It's so...terrible..." She put her face gently against Nate's shoulder, sniffling quietly. "What do we do?" she said softly. "I don't think there's anything we can do..." She sniffled again, then said "Should we just...leave?"

"Yes...we should," Nate said gently, then looked up sharply as one of the vulture-like birds landed in a tree above them, squawking loudly. One of the soldiers pushed through the bushes, and Nate stood, pushing Luna behind him. The Dragonian pushed the soldier before he could draw his sword, then turned to run; the soldier grabbed his arm in a panic.

Nate's skin slid off like a glove, leaving about half of his arm in the soldiers' hands. Nate screeched, but he grabbed Luna up in his arms and bolted, running for dear life.

She squeaked fearfully, closing her eyes sharply and pressing close to him. She trusted him; she could remember Luen going on and on about so many nice things Nate had done for him. She couldn't help but smile at his happiness over Nate. So she trusted the dragonian, no matter what he looked like. She clung to him, hoping she wasn't hurting him, and kept her eyes closed.

Nate took off, though he was clearly unsteady in his flight. Before long, though, it was obvious that they had lost the soldier, and Nate slowed down to better avoid the trees. He picked up speed again as they neared the plains, though; he broke free of the trees and picked up altitude rapidly, getting out of range before anything could possibly happen. He flew high over a herd of deer (which was an odd sight out in the plains) and soared over a small lake, deciding to land on a hill near the water source. He lowered Luna to the ground, breathing hard. "Okay...safe now..."

She slipped from his arms, wiping away her tears. "Oh Nate, I'm so sorry this is happening to you..." she said, gently pulling a layer of his skin away for him. It hurt, yes, but her touch was so light that it didn't really matter. "We have to find someone that can reverse this..." she said softly, holding his hand tightly.

"Find something. We will." Nate sighed, leaning against her and closing his eyes. Then he stood, walking down to the water's edge and starting to clean himself off as much as he could. By the time he was done, there were several layers of skin on the grass, but he had been careful not to get any into the water. They had to drink, after all. "Thirsty?" He asked her, smiling slightly.

She sighed, watching him sadly, then said "Yes, I am. Thank you." She walked forward and bent by the water, lifting a handful up to her mouth. She swallowed quietly and quickly, not trusting their surroundings, then took another drink and stood up. "Do you want any help with your skin?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. "Like, would you rather have it all off?"

Nate paused, thinking about it. "It iches...and burns, in some spots. I would...like that to stop. Please, help me..." He said, looking down. "I...don't want to scare y-you, though. You don't have to help..." He said quietly, patting her on the shoulder a bit. He then pulled his hand away, starting to strip skin from his arm. It didn't hurt too much, it was just a few small pricks and the skin came loose. Nate paused. "Don't take off the face, though...It will be easier to convince the others that it's me if they can still recognize me..." He ran his fingers through his hair, not looking surprised when a large chunk of his hair came away with his hand. "Meaning to get cut hair anyways..." He muttered, trying to make light of the situation.

She gently started peeling his skin away, pilling it next to them. She continued, leaving the skin on his face and shoulders. Those parts didn't seem to be peeling as badly as the rest of himself. She stuck away just in case, however, saying "I'm so sorry, Nate..." She bent and kissed his cheek, saying "I'm so sorry..."

"Not your fault," Nate said quietly. "N-not...your fault..." He said, resisting the urge to cry. He let Luna peel the skin away from his back and chest, though he took care of everywhere else. He could reach there, after all. When all was said and done, they had a large pile of disgusting skin to the side. "Animals will eat, I guess..." Nate muttered, putting his torn shirt over the pile. "Breakfast ready," He said with a small laugh.

Luna looked sickened at that, but she shrugged it off. "Come on, let's keep walking," she said, putting his arm back around her shoulders. "Gotta keep moving...maybe we'll find the others." She sighed as they started walking, hoping they found their friends soon.

*

"Marion?"

Dmitry walked into his room and flopped down onto his bed, his glasses falling to the side and becoming lost in the blankets. "Marion, I need you," he said softly. "I've a question for you."

The snake slid out from under the bed, sliding around Dmitry's waist once before putting her head close to his. "Hey, there." She said softly. "Questions are fine. What's going on? It's been awfully quiet...king Welk and his group are gone. Just...gone." She hissed a bit. "I didn't like any of them, but they were here to try and help. Now...all of them are just gone."

Dmitry sat up abruptly, his eyes growing wide. "That's what I meant to ask you about," he said, fumbling for his glasses. "They've just vanished? How could they vanish like that?" He bit his lip, then shook his head and said "This doesn't make any sense. I...I still had things I sensed I needed of them. That I still sense I need." He held Marion's head close, stroking her scales, then stood and said "I need to speak with Mirage. I...know I don't have to ask you to stay close. You always do." He moved out of his room, walking slowly with her twined around him. Marion could sense how frail he was. Like a single hit would snap him in half. He needed to get outside, to go into the sun. But he never could go. Mirage had seen to this slow demise.

"As if." Marion said, unwinding and transforming, using her human form to take him under the arm and help support him. "Asking would be an insult at this point," She snorted, silently dreading going down there. Mirage...the wyvern scared her. Immensely. There was no way around it, though...they had to talk with who they had to talk with.

Mirage scared Dmitry as well. He knew that, in his current state, he was weaker than her. If she wanted to kill him, he had no doubts that she could carry it through. He glanced over at Marion and opening his mouth, as if meaning to ask something, but just sighed and looked away.

He opened it again, however, when they reached the dungeon.

Mirage was gone, with only a pile of chains left on the ground.

"What?!" Dmitry said in horror, staring at the chains. "She's gone?!"