The Forgotten Zodiac

Marion flinched and stared onwards, watching in shock. She quickly shook it off, determined to find Dmitry. She nearly screamed when she saw him. His chest was covered in blood, though it was messily stitched shut in a way that seemed like it was meant to be temporary. There was a little bulge under his skin, and it was moving and squeaking. There were two...three? Three. Three little mice buried under Dmitry's skin, trying desperately to get out. Clawing and scratching and squealing.

Marion rushed over, putting her hands on the sides of Dmitry's face, making him look at her. "Dmitry...wh-what do I do?" She cried.

He latched desperately onto her hands, looking completely and utterly revolted. He was shaking from head to toe, unable to even form a single sentence. There was just something purely tortureous about knowing there were living things under his skin, moving and wiggling around. It was a torment that only a deeply sadistic being would think up.

He screamed and grabbed a knife from the table, desperately trying to slice his skin open again and get the mice out.

"No, no, no!" Marion reacted quickly, snatching the knife away. "I'll do it! Calm down, Dmitry, please..." She threw the knife away, looking for something else to use. The stitches...if she cut open the stitches, she could open up the gap again and let the monsters out. Marion felt sick as she grabbed a pair of scissors, cutting through the stitches and opening her dear Dmiry's chest again. Two of the mice found their way out from there, but she had to carefully reach in and drag out the third, which had already drowned in blood. Marion placed her hands over the wound and focused as much of her magic as she could on the opening, managing to seal the muscle and a few layers of skin shut. Well, he wouldn't bleed to death, but there was a lot of internal damage that her weak light magic couldn't take care of. Those rodents had put up quite the fight...

Marion found a bucket to vomit in, but her job wasn't done. She looked desperately for more; more stitches, more places where rodents had been dropped in. She found another place on the soles of his feet; but not mice. Cockroaches. She opened the stitches and let at least five cockroaches slide out. She had to drag a couple out. Seven small cockroaches...inside Dmitry's foot. It was enough to make Marion stagger back to the bucket and vomit again, but not before she sealed the wound shut. She looked more, just to be sure. No more. She fell on Dmitry, sobbing and hugging him desperately.

"Ca-can you feel...any more?" She whimpered, not wanting to do such a procedure again, but knowing she would do it anyways. Anything for her dearest fiance.

Tears streaming down his cheeks, he gestured quickly at his stomach. She had never seen him shake so badly before, in all of her time knowing him. Blood dribbled slowly up from his throat, trailing in crimson tendrils down his chin and neck. He pushed Marion's hand over his stomach, throwing his head back in agony.

She felt something slither under his skin, and there was a low hiss inside him.

In a sick sort of joke, Snider had put a live snake inside him, saying "And now to symbolize how close you want to be with your girly-girl, I'll put a live snake right inside you! You can't get closer than that!"

Marion hissed dangerously, tearing the stitches open as quickly as she dared. She reached in and grabbed the long snake's tail, dragging him out of her dearest's stomach. She grabbed it by the base of its neck and dumped it outside, through the window. She dragged herself back to Dmitry, crying as she sealed the hole again. She pushed every fragment of magic that she had into healing his internal damage. So much so that she turned white as a ghost. Blood seeped from her eyes, and she collapsed on the floor next to Dmitry. She had used too much of her own, weak magic; she was feeling the negative effects of 'running on empty', so to speak.

Dmitry squirmed around on the ground, clutching his abdomen and crying softly in sheer shock. He wrapping his arms so tightly around Marion that she felt a bit faint for need to breathe. Luckily, Naybrin stepped into the room, ignoring the fact that there was pretty much a full-on fight going on in the other room. Mirage was screaming things at Keir, who was shouting right back at her, and both argued valliantly against each other; she blaming him for leaving her and her brother, he blaming her for not understanding (to which she would only shout about how she didn't know what she was meant to understand).

Naybrin bent and pressed his steaming tongue to Marion, infusing her with some of his energy (and it was a lot that went into her, while he only found himself missing a pinch) before turning and pressing his tongue to Dmitry. He reacted badly, however. He screamed at the wet, slightly-moving muscle, desperately trying to push it off. It reminded him too much of the living creatures that had been put inside of him.

Marion staggered to her feet, her tears returning to normal. She covered Dmitry's eyes with her hand for a moment, and when she moved them, all he could see was her face. She smiled at him and kissed his forehead and cheeks, trying desperately to make him calm down.

Snider, in the meantime, had gotten a knife. It wasn't a particularly appealing blade; it was black, and hissed quietly as its blade made contact with air. An enchanted weapon, and powerfully so. "I've been wanting to test this..." He murmured thoughtfully, then stuck the knife in Naybrin's leg. The dragon didn't feel a thing. Not a drop of blood was shed from Naybrin, nor were his scales broken. But when Snider removed the blade, it was covered in blood. Snider stabbed again and again, giggling and chortling.

Naybrin roared and flicked his tail out, catching Snider with it and sending him flying. "Get away from me, pest," he spat. "I have no time for you." He turned back to Dmitry and Marion, scooping them into his hands before heading out of the room. He was acutely aware of a stinging pain in his leg from where Snider had stabbed him, but he ignored it.

Back in the main room, Mirage and Keir were still at it.

"You abandoned us! You left us without you!"

"I had no choice, Mirage! I had to look for your mother!"

"And did you FIND her?! What did you do when you didn't, huh? Just went about your way and stuck with your treasure hording addiction?!"

"You need to shut your mouth, child! I am still your father!"

"Not the way you act!"

"So you're really a wyvern, eh Keir?" Naybrin said, tilting his head.

"Yeah, I am," Keir said, never taking his eyes from his daughter.

Snider dissappeared, leaving a bookshelf to topple over on the floor. It looked like he had been buried, but he wasn't even there anymore. The knife was stuck firmly in Naybrin's leg, but not in a place where he could see it. He still couldn't feel it, either. It was just...there, but not. Causing no harm, apparently.

"Shut UP!" Marion suddenly screamed at them. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She stomped forward, giving Mirage a firm smack across the face with a bloody hand. She delivered the same to Kierstrider, then marched back to Dmitry, heaving up up on her back. She nearly fell over at first, but managed to keep both of them upright. "The both of you should go climb a mountain and soak your heads in lava!" She screeched at them. She then stormed out, obviously intending to return to Obelisk's house. Where Seria was.

Seria, however, was already busy. Werr had been calmly reading a book when his lower leg had started gushing blood. He was throwing quite a fit, obviously in a world of pain and anguish. Seria had been able to heal most of the wounds, but one was persistent and wouldn't stop reforming.

"Why isn't this working?!" the healer gasped, struggling to work on the boy. Welk paced agitatedly behined them, his face a mask of worry and sorrow. He curled up around his best friend, he dear brother, desperate to help him somehow. Whimpering, he pressed his head to Werr's shoulder, nuzzling into his neck, murmuring his name. He looked up when Naybrin poked his head through the door, glancing around. Having sensed Werr's pain, he had hurried back as fast as he could, bringing Marion and Dmitry with him. Along with two other, very unhappy passengers; Mirage and Keir, both tied up and gagged.

Werr cried, starting to look whiter than a ghost. He pushed his face into Welk's fur, clutching the tufts of hair on his mane. Nate, who had been gearing up to go find Naybrin, immediately strode towards the dragon. "Are you hurt?" He demanded, inspecting the great dragon's leg. "No stab wounds...wait, what on earth is this...?" He pulled out the knife, and immediately, Seria's magic worked its wonders and sealed the stab wound shut.

Sylas frowned down at the weapon, then gently prodded Naybrin with it. A small cut appeared on Werr's leg, and he whimpered a bit. Sylas then walked towards the human king, making a small cut on his arm; the cut didn't show up on Werr. It showed up on Naybrin, through the scales and everything. "What the heck is this weapon?!" Sylas immediately put it down, not wanting to meddle further with this witchcraft. "That's a mighty dangerous knife there..."

Welk let out a low, beastial moan the others had never heard him utter before. He pressed his muzzle further into Werr's neck, wrapping his paws and wings around him tightly, gently.

Naybrin was enraged at once. So enraged that he did something none of them had ever seen before. "Sylas, unhand that malagurrak at once," he ordered, and the tone of his voice commanded him to do so. A second later, Sylas and Leo both leapt backwards as smoke issued from the dragon's nose, his cheeks puffing out for only a moment before fire leapt forth. But it was a fire none had ever seen before. It was red. A dark, bloody red that sparkled like gemstones, like someone had thrown sparkles into it. Not his normal orange fire, tinted with blue.

It hit the weapon and only it, eating away at it with sheer, utter power unlike any they had ever seen. This was Naybrin's might, released in anger.

And only a little bit of it.

Werr, his leg cleaned and healed, curled up with Welk and whimpered softly.

"Where'd such a thing come from?" Sylas questioned, poking the singed part on the floor where the knife had once been. "Must've been a really, really old weapon..." He peered into the bucket of blood, then let out a sigh. "He needs a transfusion, doesn't he? Use mine," He offered his arm to Seria.

"You've still got alcohol in your system," Ophile pulled him back. "Let Lexi do it."

"Oh...right. Fine."

Seria set the girlfriend up with her boyfriend, patting Lexi's shoulder gently. "Everything will be okay," she said softly, stroking Welk's mane once before turning sharply at a loud thud. Naybrin had collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. "Are you okay?" she asked at once, stroking his light blue scales.

"I will be," he said wearily. "Just...getting old. I shouldn't have reacted so to the sword. Using such concentrated power is hard."

She stroked his muzzle again and again, saying "Just rest, Naybrin. Okay? Just rest..."

"Ugh..." Obelisk finally stirred, sitting bolt upright. He wiped his face with his hand, then looked around in confusion, though his eyes were still closed. He remembered to open them a moment later, and smiled slightly at Fawn. "Thank you, dear. No, no, I'm okay." He murmured, standing and brushing himself off. His eyes fell on Marion and Dmitry, and he relaxed. "Well then, no need to go find them before heading to the castle." He looked from Werr to Naybrin next. "That's two less than I need, though. What happened here?"

"Snider happened," Marion hissed.

"Hm...curious, indeed..."

Dmitry was still a shaking, shocked mess against Marion, unable to lay still. He twitched and wiggled and squirmed, tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn't bear to lay still; he was too afraid, afraid of nearly everything that seemed to move. He watched Seria turn her head and stare curiously at the bound Mirage and Keir, and immediatley shivered and pressed into Marion, sobbing.

Marion held him tightly, stroking his hair back and kissing his forehead. "Seria," She murmured after a moment. "He has internal damage that I couldn't heal. Please...he needs help."

"What all happened?" Ophile nosed Dmitry, but Marion pushed his nose away. He snorted. "Animals and bugs...under his skin? No wonder he's so shaky...yech, that must've been nasty. I'm sorry you had to go through that, Dmitry. And don't worry about Snider, we'll...do something."

"Go away," Marion pushed him with her foot, hissing a bit. Ophile backed off willingly.

Seria hurried over and placed her hands over Dmitry's chest, but he shrieked and scrambled away from her, wailing. Realizing she had acted too quickly, she let Marion calm him and let her brilliant mind work for her. "Marion, give me your hands," she said, and when the girl did so, Seria put her hands over hers, then settled them over Dmitry's chest. "Concentrate," she ordered. "Picture your hands becoming portals for my magic to pass through." Once she knew Marion was doing so, she began to send her magic down into Dmitry, who wasn't freaking out nearly as badly, since it was Marion's tender hands touching his bare, tattered skin.

Marion felt the magic flowing through her hands. She quickly redirected the magic wherever it was needed; in Dmitry's foot, his stomach, his chest. Then she placed both hands on Dmitry's head and sent a wave of Seria's magic over his mind, to calm and relax him. Then Marion pushed Seria's hands away, smiling a bit. "Thank you...thank you very much." She dipped her head to Seria, then collected Dmitry in her arms again and started singing for him.

"Obelisk, perhaps you should count who all should be here..." Ophile suggested. "I don't want anyone else going missing."

"You're right. Carlyle and Zelana are both upstairs, in seperate rooms. Forin, Luen, Zephyr and Cyprus have not returned yet. Everyone else is in this room, except Allie Waest."

"Where is she?" Ophile asked at once.

"Kaislun. Titus' magic took her there. Not my problem, nor does it seem to be much of one in the first place." Obelisk shrugged.

"So we're all here, for now," Cynyr said slowly from his spot on the couch. He was watching every move Seria made, biting one of his claws lightly. He looked like he wanted to say something to her, obviously torn between going to her side or going to Werr's. The only probably with having a best friend/brother you loved and a wife (or girlfriend), he had discovered, was that it wasn't easy to be at both's side at the same time, as much as he wanted to. He knew his place was mainly with Seria, seeings as she was his wife, but he was afraid of his bond with Werr starting to weaken if he didn't spend time around him.

He didn't see how Welk, with his new girlfriend, was still finding plenty of time for him. But then again, this was Welk he was talking about. His compassion seemed to flow in waves, enough for everyone he loved. Cynyr was more withdrawn, certainly, but even he sometimes grew jealous of Welk's ease-of-caring.