The Forgotten Zodiac

"I'm sorry..." Werr murmured, closing his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry...this is all my fault..." Obelisk just watched quietly, as he had been for the past few hours. This group seemed so...off. For whatever reason. He had many a question, but he had to save it for later. He would turn to those who likely had the most credible information; Isslia and Werr. But Werr was occupied, and Isslia likely would refuse to speak with him...so Welk and Cynyr would be the next best option, it seemed.

Lexi tried to speak again, but her voice wouldn't come. Tears leaked from her eyes, and she closed them lightly in order to fully savor the touch of Werr's hand against her face. Her lips looked chapped and her face was very pale, and her fingers were cold in Werr's hand. She cried weakly, her eyes hurting badly, then slowly formed words, unable to speak them.

I love you.

Werr kissed her forehead, then pressed his to hers and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry..." He whispered to her. He watched as Obelisk stood, and left the room. He paused in the doorway, though.

"I'm sorry, too. Arguing...is pointless at this time. I only furthered Werr's irritation and anger with me." Obelisk sighed unhappily, then turned away, closing the door behind him and Malice. "Come, son. Let's go have a word with Cynyr and Welk. Werr is busy..."

Malice swallowed, then nodded, though he glanced over his shoulder at the room they were leaving behind. Seria followed them out, and they faced the others.

"Well?" Welk said, leaning forward in his chair. "Is she okay?"

Seria sighed, then looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah. She'll be just fine," she said softly.

Welk sighed and smiled over at Cynyr, who was still nursing his broken arm, then said "Can I go in and see them?"

"I think they need some time alone," Seria said genially.

Welk's expression fell a bit, but he shook it off. "Well, you should see to Cynyr and Nate, then," he said. "They've been waiting."

Seria nodded, then moved over to them and set to work.

"I needed to speak with you both regardless. In a civil manner. Is that possible at the given time?" Obelisk asked smoothly, sitting down across from them. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened so far, but I've had nothing to do with any of it. If you want my help - which you don't have to accept in the slightest - I need a good description of everything that's happened so far. I have my suspicions, but..."

Welk and Cynyr exchanged a look and spoke in hushed tones for a moment, then they looked back over at Obelisk and Cynyr spoke. "Alright. We'll tell you. But only because this just took a very serious turn. We could've lost Lexi...if she died..." He closed his eyes and shook his head, then looked back up and started talking. Welk took over quickly, as Cynyr seemed hesitant to speak, and Welk quickly became very animated in his speech as he related the entire tale to Obelisk.

"Indeed." Obelisk nodded, then listened. He paused Welk, however, at one part in the story. "Wait...I injected Nate with the strider serum? Why would I do such a thing? I knew you were at the castle, of course, but your business wasn't interfering with mine."

"You broke Dmitry's legs! I'll kill you, you disgusting excuse for a--!" Marion suddenly shrieked, plunging her teeth into Obelisk's neck. He ripped her off, frowning at the snake.

"I did nothing of the sort. Calm yourself." He said smoothly. "Something is going on here. Something very bad, indeed. We may just have an imposter on our hands. It's true, though...I took a syringe of the Strider serum. For safekeeping. But the point still remains, I haven't done any of these things. I don't understand what's going on...and I'm trying to find out. So stop attac...attacking me...y-you have venom?" Obelisk growled, holding his neck.

"Yes, of course I do." Marion hissed dangerously.

"I can't talk if my neck swells up!"

"You won't be able to breathe, either. Serves you right!"

"Doesn't matter," Obelisk shrugged, choosing instead to speak through shadows. Marion watched in disgust.

"Y-you...you really CAN'T die, can you?!"

"No. Shut up and let the adults talk, yes?" He snorted.

"Marion..." Dmitry said, tugging her back lightly. "I'm mad too, but don't go attacking people..." He kissed her muzzle gently, wrapping her around his waist.

Welk tilted his head, saying "Do you think someone is controling you? Like Ma-...er...someone."

Malice blinked once, slowly, but gave no indication that he had understood what Welk was going to say. Instead, he slowly chose to slip away from his father, creeping so slowly that none of them noticed him moving.

Obelisk narrowed his eyes at that. "He would not do such a thing. My son is not the same Malice you knew a year and a half ago, Welk. Please, you must understand that, and listen to me. Me, my son, and my wife...we don't want to hurt you. Any of you. I didn't care less what you were doing, so long as you stayed away from me and my family. But you didn't, and now tragedy has befallen us all. I'm trying to fix it. I beg of you, set aside your irrational anger and grudges from the past. Put away your memories of who I once was, and who you think I am now, because none of that matters now. Do you understand that?" His neck had swelled noticeably by now, and it probably hurt, but Obelisk was very accustomed to pain. He couldn't care less. He wasn't breathing, either, but it didn't affect anything. His powers moved oxygen from his mouth and nose directly to his brain, and kept the blood flowing so he wouldn't pass out.

"It's possible that I was controlled, I suppose..." He paced, still clearly unhappy.

"L-Lennon," A small squeak came from behind Welk. Isslia, of course.

"Ah, Isslia. I heard that you had information...would you mind telling me what happened? I need your account of things..." Obelisk didn't correct her, not wanting to have to explain. Not yet.

"U-uh...there was a big, tall man with burnt and wrinkly skin, and bandages all over..."

"I see. That negates your theory, Welk. Who would manifest illusions of me while I'm far away, and control me when I was closer to your location? It doesn't seem logical." Obelisk tutted.

"Illusions? They can't have all been illusions." Nate said, listening from the stairway, still keeping his distance. "You were there when we were taken to the warzone..."

"No. I had taken the cake from the Gryphon girl, then I went home. I wasn't there when you were taken to the warzone, I'm sure of it. My wife and son are my witness to that. But...it had to have been someone with access to the Realm of Darkness. They couldn't have gotten their hands on the syringe otherwise, you see." Obelisk started pacing, frowning. "Perhaps...somehow...there is another with the same powers I have. Perhaps they wish to be the only one, and are trying to frame me for crimes I didn't commit. They must know me well...perhaps they've been watching me. The only one I can recall with such powers is Cern...I gave him the powers myself, a long time ago. But that does not add up in the slightest. Cern does not know a thing about anything. His memory is gone. Broken. Shattered. He was with me, perfectly fine and happy, but I woke up one day...and he was like that. I don't understand how it could have happened, but it happened. Perhaps it was the same person who's causing all this, but for whatever reason, they didn't want to kill Cern. Just disable him. Hmm..."

Obelisk started pacing, and looked at the others. "My apologies. I was speaking my thoughts without meaning to." It was a bit odd, having someone talk to you without moving their mouth. "Did any of you have questions for me?"

Welk was blinking at him, his arms wrapped protectively around Isslia. "Er...not really," he said. "Currently trying to think of powerful figures that would want us dead, and I can't think of many..." He stroked Isslia's hair back from her forehead, then turned to look at his oldest brother and said "How's it hanging?"

"Shut up," the panther replied, rubbing his shoulder still despite Seria having healed it.

"And a nice day to you, too," Welk chortled, rolling his eyes.

"Now is not the time for casual conversation, you two." Obelisk seated himself in another of his shadow seats, looking thoughtful. "As we speak, someone may be looking to bring destruction upon us all. A foolish someone, clearly; destroying your group is harder than bringing ruin to an empire...clearly. I've been trying to destroy Bulliete for awhile now. It's extremely annoying. And that's just a kingdom!" He snorted.

"Destroy...Bulliete?!" Marion hissed dangerously. "I don't mind that, but...that's why you were horrible to Dmitry?!"

"A kingdom without a king is as useless as a temple without a god." Obelisk tutted. "Izan's ruin will bring about the rule of the Peacekeepers, a republic-oriented system that actually works. Once they come to terms with the fact that they're in charge, Bulliete itself will be turned inside out with true peace. In a sense, it will destroy the known Bulliete today, but it would also work towards ceasing the war and settling a great deal of civil unrest."

Dmitry patted Marion breifly on the cheek, but she felt how cold his hand had become, like the blood had drained out of it. Along with the blood in his face, which was now very pale as well. Marion could sense it wasn't purely from Obelisk's words, however.

"M-Marion..." he stammered softly, his hands clenching weakly into fists. "Something...I sense someone...it...it can't be...him." His throat clenched, then he suddenly started coughing, spitting blood into his hands. "Oh dear..." He pushed Marion off, gently, and moved to the bathroom, where he threw up several mouthfuls of blood into the sink.

Welk winced, mostly choosing to look the other way. Just in time to see the door into Werr and Lexi's room shut softly, as though someone had just gone inside...

Malice closed the door softly behind him, his round black eyes fixed on the figures of Werr and Lexi, still locked closely together. Lexi was sleeping quietly, traces of pain still flickering over her face, but she seemed calm enough.

Marion followed him, holding his longer hair back and rubbing his shoulders. "It's okay," She murmured repeatedly.

"What do you want, Obelisk? You--" Werr stopped himself, realizing it wasn't Obelisk. Rather, the child. He paused for a long moment. "So...you're...Obelisk's son, then?"

((Also, I'm putting these in their right order, so pay it no mind.))

Dmitry exhaled hard once the blood stopped coming, then slowly said "I thought...I thought I felt my...ah...my father's presence nearby..." He shook his head, saying "A terrible thing to fancy, I know. Get my hopes up."

Malice nodded once, staring intently at Werr. He almost didn't even blink, so focused he was on Werr's expression. "Who are you?" he said, transfering his gaze over to Lexi. He paled.

"The..." Werr thought carefully. "One of the group that stopped you before. When you were a bad man. But...Obelisk has raised you well, hasn't he? You don't seem like a bad kid..." He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "Obelisk doesn't seem bad anymore, either...he just..." He looked at the boy, then smiled a bit. "Do you like your dad?"

Malice nodded at once, saying "I love him. I love him and mommy very much. They're my family. Mine." He said it a bit defensively, as if afraid Werr would try and take them from him. He didn't smile, instead choosing to carefully cross the room and peer down at Lexi's sleeping face, watching her closely, with a strange expression on. Suddenly, large tears appeared in his eyes, dripping down his cheeks.

Werr nodded thoughtfully, looking back to Lexi, but his gaze returned to Malice when he heard a sniffle. "What's wrong? I...I know she's hurt, but...she's better. She'll be getting better. Her back was hurt, but she'll be fine eventually. Please don't cry, I...I don't like it when people cry..." He bit his lower lip, unsure of what to do about the crying boy. Perhaps he should take him back to Obelisk...

Malice rubbed his face lightly with the backs of his hands, sniffling and crying more before speaking. But his words cut into Werr deeper than any knife could.

"I d-did th-this...it was a-an a-accident, but I d-did it."

Malice sniffed again, tears pouring down his cheeks, then said "My p-powers wanted to c-come out. I d-didn't kn-know how to c-control th-them. E-Everytime I t-tried to p-practice with th-them, th-they backf-fired on me, 'c-cus I couldn't t-tame them. And for s-some reason, th-they went to h-her." He hiccupped and sniffled, clearly very upset. "I al-almost k-killed her..."

((I imagine Remor could be the force that directed the backfire of Malice's powers to Lexi.))

((Bahahaha...BAHAHAHA.

Theory accepted.))

Werr stared at the boy for a very long time. He turned his face away, looking at Lexi quietly for a long moment. Finally, he stood, grabbed Malice by the arm, and literally dragged him to Obelisk.

"Malice? Werr, unhand him this instant," Obelisk stood, his tone quickly nearing anger. Werr did so, not wanting Obelisk to get the wrong idea.

"Tell him what you just told me. Tell him!" Werr hissed at Malice, then...returned to Lexi's room. Without another word.

Obelisk blinked after him, then knelt in front of Malice and gave his son a hug. "Are you alright, child? What was he talking about?"

Malice pressed close, as if fearing this would be the last hug he ever received from his father, then, haltingly and with many stutters and sobs, told him of what he had done. Having clearly kept this in for a while, he bawled very quietly onto his father's shirt, and Obelisk felt the burning emotion of pure shame emnating from him. His long black horns even seemed to wilt a bit, if that were possible.

Everyone else in the room looked stunned, as they could easily hear Malice's terror-filled voice when he spoke.