The Forgotten Zodiac

((I figured as much. e3e))

Obelisk handed her over. The guards were gentle enough, especially since she hadn't struggled; one just took her by the shoulder and steered her up the road, the rest of the small group following. The first one, however, sized Obelisk up warily.

"You did something. I could feel that magic." He frowned.

"Excuse me?" Obelisk raised a brow.

"Don't think I'm not onto you. This entire house is overflowing with some sort of rancid magic. You didn't think there were any other mages in this town, did you? Stupid, I'd say...I've got my eye on her, and I've got my eye on you. Got it?" He didn't wait for an answer before stomping off angrily.

"Indeed," Obelisk closed the door quickly. He wasn't foolish; he had known and memorized every mage in the town. He was careful. But that man...he hadn't detected any magic on him.

How odd.

((He's a lightning mage! : D))

((o3o - o3e - e3o - e3e

And he is? .3.))

Cynyr slowly stirred in his place on the couch, sensing that his wife was no longer by his side. "Seria...?" he called wearily as he opened his eye, glancing at once at the spot where she had laid. "Seria?" he called again, forcing himself to sit up and look around more thoroughly. "Seria!" He attempted to stand up and immediately cried out in pain, falling to the ground on his hands and knees. He sank to his elbows, pressing his forehead to the ground, his entire body ridged and shaking. He panted hard, the pain eating at him, then struggled to stand again.

Obelisk watched him, guessing that Cynyr wouldn't appreciate his help. "Calm down. She was taken to the castle. She's not in any danger, unless you could a child with a knife that will attempt to dispose of her the moment he gets bored." He prodded Naybrin's side. "It's as we guessed," He sat down with a heavy, unhappy sigh. "Now we have two in the castle, held against their will. I can't possibly bail out both of them..."

Naybrin crooned a sad note, moving forward as Cynyr snarled and tried to get up again, hissing "I'll kill him, I'll end him, I'll tear his stupid, rediculous, freaking throat out...!"

"Calm yourself at once," Naybrin said, pressing his nose to the center of the panther's back. "Stop. You must think logically or both Seria and Cyprus will suffer."

"Get off me!" Cynyr shouted, but his voice came out oddly muffled.

"I have dulled your voice," Naybrin said. "No need to wake the others this late at night." He glanced over as Luen stirred a bit, looking sad even in sleep.

"Indeed..." Obelisk snorted as Diana stirred unhappily. "Calm yourself and just...breathe. Focus on breathing, perhaps?" He sighed, tilting his head to the side a bit. "It works for Werr, I know..." He stood and began to pace. He had to think of a plan, of course. A plan to get both Cyprus and Seria out of the castle.

But nothing he could think of would work without shedding blood.

"We'll figure something out," Naybrin said as he watched Cynyr go limp on the floor, breathing heavily and trying to calm down (it wasn't working very well). Naybrin kept his nose pressed to the panther's back, soothing him with a wave of calming magic, and blinked. "Has your heart always been this frail?" he questioned, but before Cynyr could answer, Luen woke up.

"Forin?" he called at once, rubbing his eyes, but when he saw where he was, he wilted a bit, looking depressed. "What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his emerald green eyes again.

Luen slowly dragged a hand through his white hair, sighing, then looked up as Cynyr grunted. The panther spat something at Naybrin, who flicked a long ear in order to hear better. "Get me up," he repeated, and Naybrin fastened his teeth into Cynyr's coat and dragged him upright, letting him lean against him. "Okay, so it's true," Cynyr said quietly, not wanting either of his brothers to hear. "Seria could explain better than me, but...years of both magical and physical wear-and-tear on my body is making me shut down. All the fighting, all the stress, the sharp pump of magic in and out of my heart...it all led up to one thing. Overload. And if I'm not careful, my heart could...give out on me, or something." He sighed heavily, then said "But none of that matters. We've got to get Seria and Cyprus back. All together."

"Very nicely said," Naybrin smiled, flicking his tail once, then turned to Luen. "Now, how did you come about your uncomfortable spot on the floor?"

"I dunno," he said lifelessly. "My head just hurt all of the sudden. I guess it was a few last remnants of werewolf leaving me."

"Hopefully, it was just that." Obelisk snorted. "I'm quite serious about Cyprus. He can heal you, Cynyr. It will take a little time and magic on his behalf, but if we save him from this horror, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help you. Heck, I'm sure he'd be happy to help you one way or another. He has a particular distaste for the suffering of others, so I can't imagine he'd sit idly by and allow you to remain in pain...now then, Luen, you need to coax Forin out of his tree and get him to help us. I need as many assets as possible, and you lot are, without a doubt, the best at what you do. You're the best at staying alive against the odds, at any rate."

Luen looked down sadly, folding his fingers lightly together, then wordlessly stood up and walked slowly to the door, seemingly thinking. He opened it and ventured out, hopefully, to return with Forin. He wandered off, heading behind Obelisk's house, towards the tree where the Tartaran was perched, as silent as a hawk. Luen approached timidly, clearly scared. Once he reached the base of the tree, he tiled his head back, staring forlornly up into the branches. For some reason, he couldn't make himself call out. He pressed his forehead to the bark of the tree, muttering to himself about weakness and trying to keep his gathered tears from falling.

There was silence for a very long time. The warm night air was permeated by the noise of crickets, singing their songs on their own, all dreadfully out of tune. It was quiet, almost lonely; Forin certainly looked lonely, tucked up in the upper branches of the tree. Obelisk's home was one of many with a sturdy iron gate, a shortcut to the shopping and farming districts -- if one had the key. But of course, Obelisk (ever the watchful one) had unlocked it when both Forin and Luen had tried to take said gate.

The tree itself was a large, dead pine. It seemed like the residents of this farmland had either passed away or fallen ill; the plots were left to the neglect of weeds, wild animals, and a number of other things. It was a mess, but Forin ignored all of it. He didn't care. He had his own problems.

Slowly, after a stretch of time that seemed to run for miles, Forin landed on the ground next to Luen. He didn't move to hug his friend, nor did he make any movement than to stand. Quietly, he spoke, sorrow and misery in his voice. "I should have listened to you sooner. Luen...I'm such a fool." He looked down at the sullen red glow of his own body. He seemed to strain for a moment. Slowly, his skin started to become visible again (not the sudden flash that would return him to normal), but it only took a matter of seconds before he let out a cry of pain and staggered. The normal skin left again, leaving him in the form he had once thought could only benefit him. "I...I can't...I can't change back."

Luen turned to face Forin with tears in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. Not a single solitary thought of petty 'I told you so's or anything of the sort could even hope to so much as flicker across the kirin's mind. He grabbed Forin at once, hugging him so tightly, yet so gently. He pressed his face against Forin's neck, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears that prickled his eyelids. He was still thin and ragged from his time as a werewolf, and Forin's arms could easily wrap the width of his friend's body. Luen didn't say anything, just wanting to take comfort from the feeling of Forin being next to him.

"We...we never trained in my mind, Luen. We never got around to that, did we?" Forin lightly mentioned the time where he had been in Luen's mind; it was the place he had gotten his prized weapon, Vorpal. He closed his eyes, allowing the hug. He didn't hug back, though. He still thought Luen was mad at him. "I...I don't think we're going to be able to do the rest of that spirit training. I don't know where my spirit is, anymore. I was...I was thinking about what you and Luna said. Up in the tree. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that you both were right. All along, y-you were right...my anger went away and I wanted to run inside and apologized, but...the more I thought about it, the more I realized how these powers have gotten to me. I felt like killing Carlyle for so much as waving at Diana. Just...up and slaying him. I was able to do it, why shouldn't I? It just...didn't make sense. I wasn't able to see sense. We-well, I do now, but it's far too late..." He spat bitterly at his own foolish stubbornness and stupidity.

Luen leaned back and lifted his hands, one living and the other metal, and gently touched Forin's cheeks, making him look at him. "Forin..." he said softly. Kindly. Tenderly. "...you have never been anything but a dear friend to me. I think of you as a brother I was never able to have. A piece of the family that was lost to me. You and Diana and Luna...you made me so...so happy! You gave me a life I actually wanted to live! And I was in love with every second of it. You gave me strength when my own was failing...and now it's my turn. You listen to me, Forin. You listen to me good. I care about you so, so much, and I refuse to let you suffer. You hear me? We're going to fix this. You're going to master these powers. Master them! But right now, we need your help." He recounted the tale of what had happened up at the castle, how Cyprus had been taken, then ended with "...and just now...they took Seria. We don't know what for, but she's up there in that castle. And they won't give her back."

Seria was a deeply cared-for member of their group. They all loved her. She had saved their lives over and over, after all, never wanting anything in return.

Forin tensed at the news. "I'll kill them all," He growled, anger filling his being again. He stopped himself, though, burying his face into Luen's fur. "Diana is safe, though?" Upon getting confirmation of that, he relaxed a little and started back towards the house, holding Luen's hand. Not his real one, his metallic one. The one he had made for his precious friend. The one that reminded him of his silent promise to the same special friend. That he would do all that he could to ensure that no matter what, he wouldn't sit idly by while his friend suffered.

Thankfully, Luen seemed to have made the same promise. Forin smiled slightly at this thought, and as they passed though the gate and into Obelisk's backyard, he was able to relax more and think about what he might have to do in order to help the others save Cyprus and Seria.

Luen smiled, then leaned in just before they made it to the door and said "And once everyone is safe...me and you, we'll go find Luna together. Diana will be safer here, and we can move faster without her. The better to return quickly to her, after all. We'll go find Luna and show her you understand now. I know she'll come back once you speak to her." He flexed his metal claw-hand lightly, gently folding the edges around Forin's fingers, trusting in the limb Forin had so carefully created for him. He opened the door to the house and carefully led the Tartaran inside, saying "We're here."

((DIANA WILL NOT BE SAFER HERE

ALONE

NO FORIN, LUEN, OR LUNA

YOU WILL UNLEASH A WORLD OF ANGUISH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, LUEN

DIANA HAS NEVER BEEN TRULY ALONE

SHE DOESN'T COPE WELL

THIS IS GOING TO BE PROBLEMATIC

I WILL HAVE FUN WITH THIS.))

"What on earth is this? You look corrupted," Obelisk said the second he set eyes on Forin. "You are corrupted. Interesting."

"What the heck do you mean?" Forin frowned.

"Basically, it's a healing for the soul. A mechanism that only Kaislun residents have. It fills in gaps when parts of you are missing. It should reasonably try to repair said parts and get them to fill their own space, but if the part is gone entirely, it sits in for whatever's missing. It has a variety of effects. Mostly...this. Powers are most often what goes missing, so it turns into a power source. But it's terrible; if you let it grow too much, you can get stuck."

"Tell me something I don't know." Forin snapped.

"Oh, so you're stuck, then." Obelisk tutted. "That's a shame."

"How do I fix it?"

"Well, I don't entirely know. I only know about the corruption because I overheard a conversation between Galai and Titus about you and Luna. They said you were more likely to develop it, and I asked what they were speaking of. Titus explained it."

((.3. I thought she liked Zephyr and Nate, too. Plus there's Lexi.))

"So...you knew this could happen...but you didn't tell us?" Luen said in shock, but he shook it off and wasn't mad. He took Forin by his hand and led him over to the couch, where he sat him down and said "I'll be right back." He crossed over to the bathroom and suddenly paused, leaning against the doorframe as one hand jumped to his head. He swayed woozily, but was quick to shake it off and pick up a cloth, wetting it in the sink and bringing it over to his friend, where he began to gently clean the sweat and dirt from the Tartaran's face.

((She doesn't feel super close to Zephyr (she trusts him and knows he's a friend, but he's not someone close enough to run to when in trouble), Nate is currently too scared of hurting people (and he sorta scared her, too, what with his skinlessness for a bit there, and hurting a younger girl), and Lexi is confined to her bed.

The panic will be glorious.))

"I didn't think about it. In case you hadn't noticed, a lot has been going on lately. I'm still only human. I can only do so much at once." Obelisk snorted. "Now then, I'm going to make sure Fawn is sleeping okay, and I need quiet in order to think of a plan. See you at dawn." He turned on heel and walked away, leaving those who were awake alone.

Forin sat still and let his friend work, his heart heavy. Not even Obelisk knew how to fix this. Would he ever look normal again? What else could happen to him? Too many questions...

((Pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.))

Luen worked dilligently, talking in his soothingly quiet voice the entire time. Assuring Forin that he would be okay, that they would find Luna again, and that they would all be together. Once he finished, the kirin gave Forin and gentle push and settled him on the couch, saying "Go to sleep, Forin. You need it. I have someone I need to talk to before I settle down." He tenderly stroked the Tartaran's hair back, then turned and walked to the rooms, where he followed the special scent all the way to its owner, who was still unaware of his return.

Allie.