The Forgotten Zodiac

Seria fell limp on the ground, her body shaking horribly as tears leaked from her eyes, losing hold on her cat form. She started crying, weakly covering her head with her hands. Terrible memories floated up, and one hand found its way to her stomach, where she held onto it protectively and began to sing in a haunted voice.

"B-Baby don't cry,

m-momma's right here,

I w-won't let you f-fall.

F-For if you l-look in the sky,

and n-never do v-veer,

we will f-forever stand tall."

She wept into her hand, utterly limp.

((He's been brainwashed too, if you didn't realize. 'Big brother'. Haha.))

Gaul gave quiet instructions to Alexander. The boy scurried off without further ado, probably to go eat his pancakes. He poked his head out the door as he noticed some commotion, but he ignored it and turned back to Seria, pointing at her again. He hesitated though, watching her again for a long moment. How many would it take to kill her? Five more? Maybe ten, if she was resilient enough...he had to take a few seconds between each shot. This could take a few minutes. He pointed again, but again, he hesitated. Perhaps he was remembering something, or--

The door was pushed opne. "I FOUND HER!" Spy said loudly, though Werr snatched him up and quickly silenced him.

"Go, get in there," Werr nodded at Welk and Cynyr, quickly rolling out of the way before Gaul could do anything. So of course, his shot of lightning missed and hit the wall. Werr stared at the black spot for a second, then hissed, "Be careful, too."

((Bah. -3-))

Cynyr leapt in like a silent shadow, followed by Welk, who looked just as angry (but of course, couldn't never match it) as his brother. Cynyr leapt onto Gaul instantly, taking a full-on blast of lightning to the chest, and sank his teeth into the man's arm. The room was punctuated with snarls and snaps and shouts.

Welk ran over to Seria and grabbed the back of her shirt with his teeth, dragging her to the door and out. He shifted forms and shook her gently, saying "Seria? Seria, Seria, oh, this isn't good..." He jerked his head up at a roar outside from Naybrin, but they quickly took it for laughter. He was enjoying himself, as the guards tried desperately to catch him (despite him being 10 times their size).

More lightning came from the fight, but most of it hit the floor and walls. A few shots went out the window, and the rest harmlessly hit the door and petered out. It was as if he wasn't even trying. Gaul managed to break free, backing up into a corner. He fired shot after shot in quick sucession, forming a small circle of burnt area on the floor. It erupted into bolts that stretched from the ceiling to the floor, a cage that kept them out. It immediately became apparent that it was hurting him, though; he slid to the floor, holding his chest and practically withering. He wasn't exactly the buffest, toughest fighter, that much was clear. "S-stop..." He wheezed. "I was-wasn't going to hurt her..." The bolts quickly started dissapating, though he tried desperately to keep them up. He fell limp, the cage he had made becoming completely useless as it disappeared.

Spy, surprisingly, hopped out of Werr's arms and sniffed the man warily when Cynyr hesitated. He let out a squeak as he moved suddenly, but only wound up petting Spy as he wheezed. He would jerk every few seconds, and it soon became obvious what was going on; the same reason most lightning mages never quite made it very far. Their own magic hurt them. Attacking too much and too quickly could kill them by destroying their very hearts.

Cynyr curled his lips back in a snarl, intending to finish what he had started, but a sudden sharp, horrible pain in his chest send him to his knees. He lost hold on his panther form, gasping for air. His heart gave a terrible lurch, and it was beating oddly, rapidly and a bit lop-sided, as if it were failing on him. That single blast to his chest, full of lightning magic, had done damage.

Welk reentered the room, holding Seria in his arms, and set her down gently against the wall, rushing to his brother's side. "Cynyr?! No, not now, we don't have a healer!" he exclaimed, fear prominant in his voice.

Werr swallowed hard, unsure of what to do. "H-hold on, Cynyr...Cyprus can help you. He'll be here soon. J-just stay with us, got it? Stay here." He insisted, closing the door so no passing maids or guards would see them. Gual fell silent, unconscious. Werr knelt next to Cynyr, hugging his friend tightly.

"That's far enough," Obelisk literally ripped the iron door off of its hinges. Cyprus...well, he wasn't exactly in the best of states. He had syringes sticking from seemingly random spots on his chest and legs, and it looked like someone had dropped him in front of a stampede. To make things worse, a bear trap was clamped around his chest, another one on his shoulder. He was hanging from the ceiling by one arm, which looked broken.

"Oh, you're late," Snider giggled, dropping the knife he had been about to cut into Cyprus with. "I was about to carve your face into him! Here, hold still, this'll only take a minute," He bent down to grab it, but was only met with a blast of dark magic to the face. He was blown backwards, and Obelisk literally dragged him out of the room, leaving Luen to help Cyprus.

Luen ran over and began digging through the vairous needles and syringes littered about the place, using his sense of smell to direction him to the ones he wanted. A few seconds later, and Cyprus had been given a shot to stem bleeding and another to block pain. Luen then began pulling the syringes loose, using his ice powers to force the bear traps off of the demigod. He grabbed some rags and began to tie them around various wounds, murmuring apologies.

"It's okay," Cyprus whimpered, his pain-filled voice lost to the usual reasons. When he was finally untied, he wasted no time in limping away, struggling desperately to move forward. He held his arm awkwardly, ignoring his pain; his defensive magics that drained the surrounding area of life weren't working now. He was still too close to Yemara's magic source, and he still hadn't gotten a chance to absorb her essence.

He found a problem when he reached the stairs, though. He didn't have enough energy. He was tired and hurting...lifting his leg to do more than a slow shuffle hurt too much. So he just stopped and stared at the stairs, starting to cry. People were dying, and he was too weak to save them...he was always too weak. He had never really been very strong, not as strong as his half-brothers and half-sisters...

Luen surged forward at that moment, pushing close to Cyprus and helping to guide him up the steps, half-pushing, half-pulling at him in order to get him to move. "Come on, Cyprus, you can make it!" he said. "We have to go! Let's...go...!" He kept pushing at him, finally making it to the top of the stairs. "Keep going, it'll all be okay!" he said, taking Cyprus' arm and pulling on him.

Cyprus stumbled along after Luen. The Kirin led him to the entrance, but Cyprus quickly objected and moved away, towards a different set of steps. He pointed desperately until he got Luen to help him up that way. Then he led the way to the room where Cynyr and Gual were suffering.

Cyprus limped to a spot in between the two of them, then laid down and stopped moving. Stopped breathing, stopped everything. He was trying his very hardest to do something, anything, but Yemara's magic and her spirit inside him were deterrants that he had to overcome. And in his weakened state...

For a long time, nothing happened. Cyprus seemed dead, he was so still and silent. Then, without warning, soft green light crept into the dark corners of the room and slowly started enveloping it. Thin vines blossomed from the light, creeping around until there was one over Seria, one over Gual, and one over Cynyr's chest. They all budded and bloomed beautiful multicolored flowers that released even more light into the room. But it was more than just a fancy show; they were being healed. Slowly, Gual's wounds from the fight with Cynyr closed, and his breathing steadied. Seria's limbs went numb for a short moment, then were released from the bonds of paralysis and pain. Cynyr, who had been beginning to see black at the corner of his vision, felt great relief as is own heartbeat steadied, evened out, and calmed down. His joints loosened, his pain faded, and even the burn on his chest from Gual's attack vanished in instants.

Pain, however, was a natural thing. Cyprus couldn't just make it vanish so quickly; even divine healing, if the damage had been heavy enough, left behind a little bit of pain. The body had to adjust. But Cyprus took it away. He literally took it upon himself. All of it, from all three of them. So when the light faded and the flowers wilted, he curled up in his spot and didn't move again, his eyes stuck in a black tint and glazed over as he lost touch with reality.

Luen knelt next to Cyprus, placing his hand over the demigod's shoulder. "You'll be okay," he soothed, glancing over at the trio. Cynyr was unconscious, still held close by Werr, but he looked much healthier than he had begun to look in the past few days. Welk leaned against Werr, looking terrified and relieved at the same time.

"C'mon," Luen said. "We need to get out of here. Do we know where everyone else is?"

"Th-this is pretty much everyone...Naybrin will catch up with us, and Forin...has a more important job to do. You could try finding him, but don't let yourself be seen. Obelisk insisted that for a reason." Werr looked over at Gual, frowning a bit. He was worried about the man; wouldn't he ruin everything, since he knew what was going on here? Why would Cyprus heal him...? It didn't make sense...but it didn't matter. "Obelisk is 'taking care' of Snider, if he's doing what he said he would. Let's just get out of here, and if we have to come back, we will. It'll be hard enough to carry everyone, as it is."

Luen bit his lip, then nodded and shifted forms. He tugged and yanked at Cyprus, getting him up onto his back, then pulled Seria towards Werr. "Welk, carry Cynyr. Werr, you have to carry Seria. I can't manage much more than Cyprus, and I don't want to trip and knock him off." He shook his antlers, then, once everyone was ready, carefully began leading them outside.

Werr wasn't used to carrying people, but Seria wasn't too heavy. He made sure to keep her at least a little steady, although she seemed to be okay. Cyprus, who was limp on Luen's back, left behind a trail of dropped tears as they walked.

But soon enough, they made it out of the castle and on the way back to Obelisk's house.

As soon as he was certain the others would be okay, Luen kissed Allie reassuringly, then turned and fled back to the castle, seeking his dear friend Forin. He kept in deer form, galloping quietly through the halls, searching for Forin. He followed his scent, tracking the Tartaran easily thoughout the castle.

He was in the dining hall. Alexander had been eating, but not so anymore. Forin had his hand inside Alexander's head; he was trying, desperately, to use the powers that had since forsaken him. He was trying his very hardest, but as Luen poked his head in, it was obvious that Forin couldn't keep trying. His crystalline skin shifted, spreading over the boy's wailing face.

In a matter of seconds, his skull was crushed. A pair of guards managed to make it back in time to see it, too. One staggered back and ran off, the other slowly...bowed. Forin blinked, confused. He turned to see the cluster of maids in the corner. They were bowing, too. "What...what are you doing?" He snapped.

"H-he who challenges and defeats the king...if he has no heirs or family to face the challenger next...you are the new king." One maid stammered.

Forin stared at her for a long time, then staggered back and towards the door. "Wh-what kind of twisted laws..."

Luen skittered to a halt, staring with his narrow mouth open at his friend. He blinked, then galloped to the rest of the way forward and buried his muzzle against Forin's neck, saying "Forin, Forin, are you okay? What happened?" He nuzzled his friend over and over, never wanting him to leave, always wanting him to be safe.

Forin, trembling, climbed up onto Luen's back. "Go. Go!" He wrapped his arms around his friend's neck, trying desperately not to whimper or wail. He wasn't meant to be a king. Not like this... "I'm not the king! I hereby place the Peacekeepers in charge! Deal with it!" He yelled over his shoulder as Luen charged away.

Luen galloped off, his hooves clattering on the ground. He was glad Forin was back with them, and as the Tartaran held on tightly to his slender neck, Luen felt a sense of ease come over him. He thundered out of the castle, his gait much smoother than a horse's, and they went back to Obelisk's house, safe and sound. Luen slowed, panting softly, and bent his head back to nuzzle Forin's cheek, closing his eyes and relishing in his friend's touch.