The Forgotten Zodiac

She blinked, then nodded and said "Well. Talking, okay. Hmm. Um...do you think the others are okay? I mean, I hoping they are, and I'm praying they're fine and dandy, but...this is a dangerous land. If they got separated, it could be very hard to find them again..." She shook herself, then said "I shouldn't think like that, though! Everyone is capable of good things, and I believe they will all be okay." She sighed, then said "I keep hearing their voices, though. Diana...Luen...Forin. Everyone. I hear them whisper. And I miss them..." She rubbed her eyes, then said "Forin is good to me. He's kind and loving, and he treats me so well. And Diana. She's got the most tender soul despite what's happened to her. Luen too. They could all use their pasts as excuses to be mean and spiteful, but none of them do." She picked at the grass around her, then said "I miss my true form. It's hard...not being able to spread my wings anymore. Knowing that my true form is gone."

She chuckled softly and rubbed her eyes, trying to hide the small bits of water that had tried to start forming. "No, I won't cry," she said, exhaling heavily. "I just wonder. Forin lost his true form as well. And my intense love for him and the fear for the pain he was in made my change. I just have to find it again." She ran her fingers through her long, beautiful silver hair, watching as the strands fell away and revealed a single long blonde strand she had dyed into her hair. It was a reminder to her of Forin's first true kindness towards her; getting her that soft blonde wig when she had lost all of her hair, so long ago. She smiled and started braiding the blonde streak. Once she was finished, she gave Nate a gentle hug and said "Don't worry about me, Nate. You need to worry about yourself. Just take it easy, okay? We don't want to lose you."

"Not lost," Nate said quietly, hugging her in return. "Just wandering." He then went back to eating the deer meat, rather happy with the meal that Luna had caught for them. "Eat up. No starving, either." He said after a moment, pulling the meat off the sticks for her. It burned him a bit, but Nate didn't seem to notice too much.

She thanked him and ate quietly, knowing they had plenty of food left on the deer. She planned to cook most of it now so they could carry some with them. It wouldn't do to starve later, after all, if they couldn't find anything else. She sensed that there were only two main deer herds around here. One was the one she had hunted from. The other was a bit smaller, but they were more easily hidden. She sensed they had a good, strong leader about them. He clearly knew how to avoid humans that he knew meant to harm them. She wasn't fazed, however. The herd they had hunted from had provided them with proper food.

Nate was oblivious to all of this, not having the same senses as Luna. It took quite awhile to finish cooking all the food; there was a lot of deer meat, and only so much fire. Nate worked to keep stripping the meat, humming a bit as he did so. Just to keep things from getting silent.

Eventually, though, his humming stopped. When Luna looked towards him, she could clearly see that he had torn open the deer's neck and was squeezing out blood to drink. He licked it out of the stiff fur, then off of his fingers. Then he would squeeze again, desperate to get more of the precious crimson liquid.

Luna turned away quickly, trying not to feel afraid of the dragonian. She didn't want to fear Nate, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her, but seeing a sight like that was not easily forgotten. She put her head into her hands, closing her eyes tightly, and she didn't remember when she started crying. It was very, very soft, with hardly a sound at all, but she still cried. She didn't even really know why she was crying. Only that she wanted to. That she needed to in order to keep going. She also had the strange sense that somewhere else...something was dreadfully wrong.

*

Luen's bright emerald eyes opened slowly. He inhaled slowly, becoming used to being awake again, then paused and breathed in again. He felt...great. Just the simple movement of breathing in seemed completely new to him. He expected to be in pain, but he wasn't. As he slowly lifted his head, he was surprised to find that he didn't even feel a bit tired. He felt refreshed.

He felt stronger.

"Luen?" Ophile said, lifting his head. He hadn't moved since last night, determined to keep Cynyr (and Cyprus) away from the Kirin that Forin and Diana adored so much. "What's going on? Do you feel okay?" He asked quickly.

"He smells bad," Cyprus whimpered, ducking behind Seria and clinging to her arm. Really, it was a bit much; he was a fully grown Demigod, but he acted very much like a child. The nurturer who needed nurturing.

Seria didn't mind, of course. She stroked Cyprus' hair back and said "It's okay. It's still just Luen. It's okay."

Luen shifted around a bit more, trying to stand up. He did so, but a pang of pain through his bite wound made him wince. He frowned down at it, then looked up at Ophile and said "Yes, I feel fine. In fact, I feel...great." He tilted his head back slowly on his long neck, as if just now feeling the power in that simple movement. He shifted to human form, wincing and rubbing his arm. "Ow, that smarts..." he said softly, but he didn't stay quite so soft for long. He held his hands up and flexed his fingers several times, then said "Wow...Seria, you must be getting better at healing or something. I feel...great. I feel better than I have in a long time."

She swallowed, then said "Heh heh, yeah. That's...good, Luen."

He smiled at her, still looking down at himself and just seeming...awed.

"What are you talking about, Luen? Seria was unable to heal your wound. Don't you see it?" Spy tilted his head to the side, then clamped his hands over his mouth when Ophile snorted at him.

"Werr and Welk should be back by now..." Ophile said, getting off the subject entirely. "I wonder if something happened to them."

"What about Lexi? I'm worred about that girl..." Carlyle sighed. "I should have just stayed with her..."

"Should have, could have, would have," Cyprus chortled. "Personally, I'm worried for the Dragonian. I can sense him. He's not all...there. It's rather curious, but worrying at the same time."

Seria tilted her head at Cyprus, then looked to Ophile and said "I'm sure they'll be back soon. Let's just all remain calm, okay?" She looked up as Luen stretched, working a few kinks out of his back. "Welk and Werr are fine," he said. "I can smell their blood still running through their veins, at least."

Seria's face paled considerably, then she said "H-how...can you smell that from here, Luen?"

He blinked, then shrugged sheepishly and said "I...I don't know. I just...can. Maybe something happened to my magic...?"

"Yeah. Magic, right," Seria said softly, looking greatly troubled.

"Hm...not even I can smell that far," Ophile shook his head. "Most odd."

"I can smell them!" Spy said, raising his hand.

"Yes, but you're a chimera. A mix of many things. How did you get like this, by the way?" Ophile nosed the little fuzzy creature until Spy fell over. The Chimera rolled away from Ophile, straightening up and dusting himself off. He didn't answer, just staring at the wolf. "That's fine. You don't have to tell us," Ophile shook his head. "I've just realized that you're the only one I haven't gotten memories from. But again, that's quite alright...you've proven your worth to us. There's no question that you belong with us."

"That's good," Spy said, falling quiet again and crawling up Cyprus' leg.

"ADORABLE," Cyprus exclaimed at once, picking up the Chimera and hugging Spy tightly, as though this was the first time he had seen the creature. "You're so cuuute~ Seria, what's his name? Sly? Spork?" The Demigod questioned quickly.

"His name is Spy," Seria said, trying not to think of Luen, who was now innocently sniffing around and trying to figure out how his senses had become hightened so greatly. "Though our friend Jag affectionately calls him Snack. That's just him, though. It's a bit of a family-friendly-like thing. We just call him Spy." She moved her cool, healing hand out and gently ruffled the chimera's fur, then said "Our little Spy." She smiled, then glanced over as Luen sat down in a corner of their little den-site, still glancing down at himself as if he couldn't believe his own senses. Was this energized feeling a dream?

"Spy? Spy!" Cyprus exclaimed. "How could such a cute little creature like you be a spy? You're far too adorable. That's the beauty of it though, isn't it? No one suspects a thing! Seria, Seria, ask him how he infiltrates the enemy bases. I wanna hear it." He pushed Spy's little head up to his cheek, nuzzling the Chimera happily. He quickly forgot about his question and pulled Spy away, holding him at arm's length and grinning. "You're so many things at once, it's wonderful! You're a fish and a bat and a cat and a dog and a human and a Lerloch and a werewolf and a potato--you're part potato! At least .001 percent potato. That's amazing." He went back to nuzzling Spy, practically purring with happiness. Of course...Spy was so many things at once, he was practically a non-being. But he was still alive, which made Cyprus extremely happy. Living things that shouldn't actually be alive were...uplifting, to him.

Seria just blinked and stared at them both, wondering how in the world Spy could be .001 potato. Not to mention all of the other parts Cyprus had mentioned. She had heard tales and stories of true chimeras. Big, hulking creatures, said to have the head of a lion, the hind legs of a goat, along with huge ram horns, large feathery or dragon wings, and either a long snake for their tail or an actual scorpion stinger. They sometimes had a second head, which was usually a goat. Either way, these creatures were gigantic and to be feared. Spy was just so tiny, adorable and sweet. He almost didn't seem like a real chimera at all. And with that many parts in him, Seria knew why.

He wasn't a real chimera at all. A cheap imitation, rather. Chimeras were disgusting freaks of nature that were never meant to be; there were few wandering the world left. They originated from the experiments of a wayward witch or two. They had been trying to make the perfect beast from a random mix of things.They had both been devoured by the monsters they had created.

The main point of difference between real Chimeras and those beasts was the fact that Spy - though childlike, playful, and often oblivious he was - had a human mind. And a human form, though he never seemed to use it. So it certainly was possible that Spy had started as a human.

And apparently, a potato, as well.

Cyprus didn't seem to care, nor did he ramble about which part had more influence on his form. He just continued fawning over Spy, who was thoroughly enjoying the spontaneous attention he was getting.

((And now I have the image of Spy dragging Vorpal (despite the burning) to a fight in order to help the others. "I...I can be strong, too!"

Baaaahhh, so cute~))

((Awww. He's too adorable.

Except if Forin wasn't there, Vorpal would still be somewhat useless. xD ))

Seria smiled at the two of them, then said "Well, since we know Werr and Welk are still out there, we should wait for a while longer. I trust them. I know they'll be okay."

*

Welk soared high over the plains, his wings subtly shifting with the current. He curled one wing slightly and began a slow, long circle downwards, calling "See anything yet?"

Naybrin shook his head, saying "Nothing at all. Where could they be?"

Welk pouted, then said "Still with us, Werr?"

"Still with you, but...what on earth is that?" Werr peered down at the ground. "It looks like a carriage...but not a war carriage. Go down to it, Welk, let's find out what it is. And who in the world would drive a simple carriage through a warzone."

Allie was getting nervous. That much was obvious. She had every reason to be; she was a legless girl driving a carriage with an injured wyvern and a Naga she didn't trust in it. Through a battlefield. Soldiers or scouts could pop out at any time, and would attack without question. Her younger friend, though, had set her up with a long skirt to go over her usual tied-off shorts, complete with stuffing to make it appear as though she had legs, and boots to cover her nonexistant feet.

Dmitry, meanwhile, seemed to be getting worse as time drawled on. He was feverishly sick, too weak to sustain a proper immune system, and they had entered air full of battle residue. He coughed weakly and gasped for each breath, hating how fragile he was. He used to be strong. He used to be powerful. He was a wyvern, for crying out loud! But now he was weak and pitiful, and he hated himself for it. How could he ever truly proclaim to love Marion when he couldn't protect her?