The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin caught Luen before he fell over. "Don't fight it. Don't fight it, Luen. I'll take care of the werewolf. Just retreat..." Tears slipped from his eyes. "I'll bring it down. I need you to come back, so you have to reserve your strength...you have to keep yourself intact. Keep Luen alive. Don't worry about us out here, I'll take care of everyone." He said softly, quickly hugging his dear friend. "I don't want to lose you...so..." He wiped his eyes, then smiled slightly. That was quick to fade, though. "Didn't you hear me? Get out of there! Go, Luen, don't let it destroy you!"

Luen whimpered, then said "B-but...it's lonely..." He slipped away, collapsing in a heap on the ground...where a gruesome transformation began.

The sharp sound of bones breaking and reforming was terrifying. As rain began thundering down from the sky, the werewolf transformation took full effect, and when Luen again rose, he was so, so different.

He was at least twice Forin's height, with long, heavy jaws filled to the brim with teeth. His fur was long and shaggy, and no longer pure white. It was a dusty light gray, and his claws were bigger and more dangerous-looking. He was like a horrible mix of a deer and a wolf, standing tall on his hind legs. His claw-hooves were jagged and obviously hurt to stand on, as they bleed through the cracks. His antlers were cracked, with many, cruel tines, and were a dirty brown color, no longer a gentle white like they used to be. He shook his head, opening solid black eyes, then glanced down at his body, which was so muscular that it threatened on the edge of disgusting. Which everything about him was now.

He grinned and said, in a dark, gravelly voice, "I like this. I like this a lot. And now I will cement my power...by lapping up your Tartaran blood." He turned his gaze onto Forin, releasing a howl that was a defilement of the world itself.

"Good luck." Forin said quietly, drawing Vorpal. In an instant, his power...his glorious power, it all came rushing back to him. He hadn't known if it would return when he called upon it, but here it was. He shed his skin like it were mere articles of clothing, though it fell off of him in chunks and pieces like glass. With a shake, it all came loose and went crashing to the ground, though it vanished before it touched a thing. "I understand. I know why you like the power. It's mind-numbing and incredible all at the same time...but you've overtaken the wrong person, were-being. I'll not allow you to take Luen's life for good." Despite his form, Vorpal didn't become sucked into his hand. He made sure of that. He didn't want to hurt his weapon, after all. In fact... "Vorpal! Wake up. Remember what I said about hurting your master? Forget about that for right now. We're not going to kill him, obviously, but...we have to put him down...and keep him there." His grip tightened around the blade's hilt as his red light-eyes narrowed at Luen. Or rather...the thing that was not Luen.

Vorpal snapped awake instantly, gasping when he saw where they were. "Master Forin, I...never mind," the weapon started, only to stop himself moments later.

Luen snarled, laughing heartily. "You don't get it, do you?" he spat, glaring at them. "I still AM Luen! I remember everything, but now, I have power. Sure, I tried hard to fight it at first. I didn't want to be a werebeast. But then the power and strength started to get the better of me. I've always had trouble with power; you know that quite well. With this werebeast poison pushing at me at every turn, never letting me rest, it was only a matter of time before my defenses shattered. And of course, I had no idea what I was becoming until you told me. Ophile was right; the fear I felt of losing myself only increased the pushing of the poison. If not for that, I might not have transformed for another five days! Plenty of time to find a cure. But there's no cure now. Because I'm going to keep this form." He clawed trenches in the ground, saying "I'm going to keep it and never let go."

Forin exhaled slowly. "I know, Luen. I'm sorry. This is all my fault...but I won't let you keep the power. It's not right, you're not Luen anymore. You're not the person who told me, so many years ago...that he was my friend. Something else he told me...was that friends shouldn't hate friends. Do you hate me now, Luen? I wouldn't blame you...this is my fault. I was too blind to see that keeping things a secret was better..."

Luen tilted his thickly-furred ears back, rain soaking his body, then he said "No...I don't hate you. But...I can't control myself anymore..." There was a brief flicker of sorrow in his eyes. "Forin...I can't stop myself from killing you..." he said, his voice aching with pain. "Please...I'm begging you...stop me!"

And he lunged forward with teeth bared and claws extended, a howl tearing loose from his throat.

Forin nodded once. "I'll stop you," He murmured, apparently vanishing. He actually was just moving too quickly for the naked eye to detect. He reappeared behind Luen, above him in the air. He lashed out with his foot, connecting with the back of Luen's neck. He was stopped short. Nothing happened at all. Dull attacks were practically useless, apparently.

Luen snarled angrily, then whirled around and rammed Forin with his sharp antlers, sending the Tartaran falling backwards. He slammed down onto all fours, snarling and running forward to snap at the Tartaran before he gained his feet again. Luen crashed downwards as Forin threw Vorpal up, and for a moment the only thing between Forin and those sharp, lethal teeth was a thin, sturdy blade named Vorpal. Luen pulled back when the blade started hurting him, snarling and running in a quick circle to attack again.

"Any weak points to mention?" Forin questioned his blade, watching his foe. He dodged to the left, letting Luen run past, but not without leaving a gash on the werebeast's side. He whipped around in time to get his arm caught up in Luen's claws. He screeched, jumping backwards and away. Shimmering red and black liquid spilled from his split crystal skin, but it didn't matter. It didn't hurt much.

Luen grunted, then proceeded to lick all of Forin's blood from his claws. "Ahhhhh..." he immediately said, with a low exhale to punctuate his point. "I must...have more..." He snapped his jaws threateningly before lunging again, determined to bring Forin down.

Vorpal immediately began a run-down of Luen's current state. "Werebeasts are known for their strength and speed," he said. "They rely mostly on hearing and smell, as their eyesight grows fairly dim, enhancing the other two senses. So I would think loud sounds or an overload of scent would help to confuse him."

Thunder boomed overhead and Luen flinched, snarling.

"Hearing it is," Forin ducked the next lunge. He started dodging madly, waiting for an opening. A left swipe from Luen caught his side, but he rolled with the hit and avoided too much damage. He ducked under Luen, then seemingly vanished again; once more, he appeared behind Luen. This time, however, he dropped directly onto the were-beast's shoulders, balancing easily. "Vorpal! I kind of want him to kill me," He said, knowing it would make the sword furious.

Vorpal was silent for a few seconds, then he played right into Forin's thoughts. "WHAT?!" he thundered at the top of his lungs. "How DARE you even THINK that?! What is WRONG with you?! Master Forin, I cannot allow you to do this! If you even THINK I'm going to let you just DIE, you have another thing coming entirely! Why I outta-"

Luen screeched at the loud yelling and shrieking from the sword, plunging around in circles and howling in pain. He bucked like a wild horse, finally plunging over onto his side and attempting to knock Forin off.

In the end, it was all just bad luck. Forin slipped a moment before Luen lurched to the side; his leg wound up underneath the burly shoulder of the werebeast, and upon contact with the ground, he screamed as he felt several cracks. Vorpal slipped from his fingers, clattering to the rocky ground. And of course, Luen's other hand landed right over his face, mere inches from his neck.

Luen lunged at once, getting his teeth around Forin's neck right as thunder boomed overhead in one of the most powerful bursts either of them had ever heard. Forin felt those insanely sharp teeth press into his throat, right on the verge of breaking the skin. Luen was snarling, his lips curled back and his ears pinned down, his tail held straight behind him in a gesture of anger and dominance.

Forin could see his eyes. They were cold and dark, full of hatred and anger. Slowly, light entered them. Slowly, those sharp teeth started to let go. As if in some sort of trance, the werebeast slowly let go of Forin's throat and moved his head back, staring down at the Tartaran in horror. Tears mixed with rain. Again, ever so slowly, Luen lifted himself, inching away from his best friend. Even when Forin had room to move, Luen was backing away, his ears tilted down and his tail curled between his legs. He let out a small, questioning sound, like a whimper and a mewl, staring right into Forin's eyes as thundered boomed again.

Then he turned and raced away.

Forin stared at the empty space where Luen had been only moments ago. Suddenly he screamed, punching at the ground with his crystalline fist. He left a crater behind, he hit so hard. "Darn it! Divine condemn it! LUEN!" He screamed after the werebeast. "LUEN!" He couldn't move like this. His leg was shattered...he was quick to give up on walking or crawling, resigning to lay flat on his stomach and drag himself along, scooting over until he was close enough to Vorpal. He used the weapon as a crutch, and managed to pull himself up. Step, drag. Step, drag. It didn't take long until he tripped, cursing and swearing again. Useless...all of this power had been useless...! Did he not have enough of it? Why...why had he failed so miserably?!

From far in the distance, he heard a ringing, echoing roar, filled to the brim with pain and overflowing with sadness.

Luen hung his head, panting after his loud out-burst, then turned and continued running away. Where to, he didn't know. But he couldn't stay any longer. It was for the better, really. His family didn't deserve to die at his hand. Not Luna, not Diana, and now, after this, especially not Forin.

He would save their lives by leaving their lives.

Back with Forin, Vorpal whimpered, slowly beginning to speak. "M...Master?" he said softly. "Master...please...do not torment yourself for this. He...he could've killed you. Don't you see? He has left you alive...so you can save him." He spoke very timidly, considering who he was, trying not to make Forin angry at him.

Forin didn't listen one bit. He threw his head back and screamed at the sky, which only thundered and dumped more rain on his head. Eventually, when he couldn't scream anymore, he dropped onto the ground and sobbed into his arm for several minutes, while his power left him and his skin returned. The rain was cold, and stung his numb hands. He picked up Vorpal again and started limping back to the cave, whimpering a bit with every step. Finally, Nate spotted him; the Dragonian flew over to him and picked him up, carrying the Tartaran back by himself.

"Seria," He called quietly, frowning slightly. "Forin is hurt."

The healer stood immediately, running over and settling next to the Tartaran, starting to heal him. "What happened?!" she said in concern, her ears flicking down as thunder boomed again. "Where's Luen? Didn't you walk off with-" She froze when her hands landed on his wounds, pausing to stare at the claw-marks that had been dug into Forin's skin. "...No..." she said softly, realization dawning on her. "T-Tell me...that it didn't happen. Not yet..."

"Oh, it happened, alright," Forin spat, furious. He was so angry and upset that tears ran down his cheeks in seemingly endless streams. "He could have killed me...b-but he didn't. He ran off. We'll never, ever find him again..." When Seria paused, he snapped at her. "Heal me already! I need to comfort Diana..."

Seria flinched and Cynyr growled, saying "Don't talk to my wife like that, Tartaran." Seria shushed him with a wave of her hand, getting to work immediately. "There," she said once she was finished, quickly moving away and pressing close to her husband, who was still curled up with Werr and Welk.