The Forgotten Zodiac

Isslia sat up suddenly, which caused Welk to look back at her. Her face was wet with tears, and she looked exhausted. "N-no, don't leave..." She whispered, not wanting to wake anyone else. She scrambled off the couch and ran up to him, hugging him suddenly. Of her own accord, without being scared or startled into movement. She hugged him tightly, as though she didn't want him to leave again.

"No one...no one's ever said that to me before. Not that I remember...my parents probably said that, but that was too long ago..." She sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "N-no one's ever told me that they love me. The ones who hurt me didn't even pretend. But you...I-I heard it from you, and I felt...I felt so...oh, I don't know what I felt, but I know that I..."

She pulled away a bit, looking up at him. "I want to hear it again. Not from just anyone...fr-from you. You're more than just a good friend, you...you make me feel so safe and protected..." She pressed her face against his warm chest, tucking the top of her head against his chin. "So, would you please...say it again?"

Welk blinked in shock, almost unable to believe what had just happened. Was she really hugging him so tightly? Was she really crying those soft, joy-filled tears? The realization that she was hit him like a ton of bricks. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling tears seep from his own eyes, burying his face in her soft gray hair. He fell lightly back onto the couch, trying to hold all of her at once as she curled up in his lap, cradled by his arms, legs and body.

"I love you," he said firmly, unhesitating. "I don't care if you never let me touch you, or kiss you, or...or anything like that. I don't care. Because if you don't want me to, I won't do it. All I need to be happy, all I need to be content, is to know that I can make you happy. Pleasure? The only pleasure I could ever need is knowing that you're happy. I love you, I love you, I love you..." He kissed her forehead once, his lips soft and warm against her skin. "I love you..."

Isslia tucked herself close to him, smiling happily. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning against him. "I...I want you to show me. I want to be shown what it's like, to really, truly be loved...you've shown me a tiny glimpse of it, and...I want it." She hugged him tightly, closing her eyes.

"A tiny glimpse, yes," Welk said softly. "And I intend to, at your own pace...show you more." He kissed her forehead again, his heart fluttering with emotion, then he bent one knee up to cradle her back, giving her something to lean against. He moved a hand up and, with trembling fingers, stroked her neck softly, feeling her shiver. But it was a trusting shiver, not a fearful one. And when she tilted her head back to look up at him, he knew the time was nigh and he could wait no longer.

His lips touched hers, as soft as a butterfly's wings. Instinctively, as this was his first kiss, he knew to turn his head just so and caress her lips with his, one hand coming up to cradle the back of her neck. His other hand found the small of her back, resting lightly there.

Isslia leaned in a bit, pressing up against him; she had been taught to hold still and let people just have their way with her, but this was different. This was better. She pressed closely up against Welk, tears starting to slip down her cheeks again. She pulled away again, covering her eyes with a hand and wiping her tears away. "S-sorry...I'm just...happy, I think. I feel...I feel okay, not upset or unhappy, but...I've never felt this before. Is this love?" She tilted her head to the side, then pushed her face into his shirt again. "I don't even care. I like it." She smiled slightly, relaxing against him. "Can we sleep here? Or should we go up to bed?" She questioned. She didn't want that, but she definitely wanted to rest in his warmth and comfort.

"We'll stay right here," he said gently, still feeling exilerated from the kiss. It had been perfect, that one bonding movement that had truly brought them together. He leaned back softly, stroking her hair with one hand and wrapping his other around her waist. They laid down and she fit perfectly against him, curled up innocently against him. He didn't kiss her again, not wanting to push, and instead just laid quietly with her, stroking her hair and shoulder lovingly.

Isslia soon drifted off into a happy sleep, her fingers clutching Welk's shirt and one hand twinned up in his hair.

By morning, it became apparent that their job was not finished. Gual was obviously not their enemy. Obelisk had recounted a number of things, and had come to the conclusion that Gual hadn't been the only attacker. Whoever had given Gual the powers...that was who was helping him. And they were still none the wiser. Their only lead was the name Gual had given before his death. The maid girl in the castle.

Werr wasn't too worried about that; a few of their group were still...well, missing. Zelana hadn't returned, Sylas and Leo were gone (although that was more or less normal), and Forin was extremely stressed out; Vorpal hadn't been seen since he had been taken in by shadow. Obelisk couldn't find him in the Realm of Darkness, so he wasn't there...all in all, they still had problems to deal with, and the encounter last night had only increased the questions.

At least the bloodstains were gone.

Luen was sick from exertion. He could hardly move without groaning in pain, sounding as though he could scarcely breathe. Allie, who had been settled right beside him, kept patting his forehead with a wet rag. He constantly apologized (they couldn't get him to stop), saying how he should've been stronger, that it was his fault the shadows had eventually broken through.

Seria was up and moving around, looking a tad zombified. She was still exhausted, but she had wounds to see to, people to check on, and breakfast to help make. Ophile stayed close, somehow knowing that she really needed him right now. She needed some form of support, and they just seemed to develop a bond during this rough time.

Ophile spoke to her gently, even when she didn't talk back. She would lick her hands when she suddenly went still, and he made sure to know her every thought, just in case she got too upset suddenly. He was a good companion, but it was obvious that Seria would prefer having Cynyr.

Werr was finally capable of movement again, but he hadn't left Lexi's side since morning. Fawn was moving about freely, and she was mostly making breakfast for everyone. Nate was in a bad shape still; he had woken up in the morning, walked into the main room, plopped down in one of the chairs, and hadn't moved since. He was unresponsive and unmoving, and Zephyr had curled himself around Nate to prevent his inner flame (which was dangerously low) from going out due to the cold. Carlyle hadn't been seen since last night.

Obelisk finally stopped pacing and kicked the table before sitting down and fuming in frustration. "Malice," He called into the hall, knowing that his son was safe; he had put him in the Realm of Darkness with Lexi when the attacker first hit. "Come here. I need a hug from you."

Malice darted out immediately and hauled his little frame up into Obelisk's lap, wrapping his arms around his father and pressing his face into his neck. "Daddy, are you okay?" he asked worriedly, peering up at him through his dark eyes. "What's wrong? I'm here, you can hug me until you feel better." He pressed close, nuzzling up, then suddenly flinched and unbuttoned one of his pockets, looking into it and saying "Stop it. You don't want to break something."

He rebuttoned it and hugged his father again.

"I'm okay. Just very annoyed..." Obelisk sighed, stroking Malice's hair back and hugging his son tightly. "There's quite a lot going on at the moment. I'm debating our next course of actions depending on what information the maid Nerin has to offer. Or if she's even still there. If she's the one behind all this, we may be in for a fight..." He watched Malice speak to the thing in his pocket, and for a long moment, it seemed like he would be amused. He frowned, though. "What are you speaking to, son? What's in your pocket?" He sounded serious, almost angry, but he sighed and calmed himself down. "Malice, child, have you made a new friend? Or did something find you and ask for help?" He reached for Malice's pocket, tilting his head to the side.

Malice didn't say anything for a long moment, allowing his father to un-button the pocket and dip his fingers inside.

What he pulled out resembled a tiny, solid, silver-black imp of some sort.

The metal imp crossed his arms angrily, looking humiliated and upset. He had hardly any features, other than a large pair of shimmering eyes. "I thought it was one of the toys you made for us," Malice said softly. "I just thought this one could talk. I found him in a mouse hole in my bedroom. He was trying to hide."

"I was NOT hiding!" the figure raged in a familiar voice. "I couldn't MOVE! You annoying brat! Return me to my master this instant!"

"He's been saying that a lot," Malice said, still looking up at his father as if expecting punishment.

Obelisk blinked at the imp. "Who is your master, tiny one?" He leaned down, frowning. "Who are you?"

"That voice," Forin looked up, frowning unhappily. "Gods, there's something wrong with me...I keep hearing him..."

"Hearing things isn't healthy, Forin. Did you sleep at all last night?" Werr frowned.

"No. I searched the house for Vorpal."

"Oh...I'm sorry you can't find him...but he'll turn up eventually, right? What's a sword without its weilder? He'll find you again, I'm sure of it." Werr patted him on the shoulder. Forin just grunted.

"No! NO! I will not go back into that pocket! You hear me? N. O. That spells no, you incompetent fools!"

Malice took him and moved to shove him back into his pocket, still thinking it was just one of the toys, when the little figure frantically screeched "FORIN! FORIN, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M EITHER GOING TO CRY OR STRANGLE YOU, DO YOU HEAR ME?! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DID TO DESERVE THIS, BUT I-"

Into the pocket.

Forin stood and paced about, starting to look again. Obelisk sighed, shaking his head. "Malice, child, I think you should return that to Forin..." He became distracted a moment later when he realized that Cyprus was awake. Something was definitely concerning him about the Demigod. And with good reason.

He just sat there, completely quiet, until Ophile nudged him. Then he put his hands on his face and started to prattle off on a tangent. It was obvious what he was talking about; the Realm of Darkness. The place where he should not have been. Oddly enough, everyone in the room could understand him as clear as day.

And it was as clear as day that he was broken.

"I saw a black cloud in a white field. I could not move." He said at a loud whisper, covering his eyes. "The cloud swallowed me, and the field was gone. The cloud was silence. The silence was dead. The silence was unbreakable. The silence was sudden, stark, deafening. It covered me in black and made me bow to it. I tried to hold my breath, I tried to not breathe, but I had to breathe in, and I breathed in the silence. It would not leave when I exhaled. Only more of it got in. The silence went inside me and never left. The silence brought with it a monster.

"The monster was noise. Voices, thousands of them." He trembled and shivered and spoke with an eerie sort of whisper that echoed off the walls. "The noise threw me about and shredded my insides to pulp. It devoured that pulp and hollowed me out. When it left, there was nothing but the silence again. It devoured what was left of me, and there remained only an eye. My eye. Green. My green eye. The noise entered that and hollowed it out, too. The sound used it as a cup. It drank fear, hesitation, anger, madness...it took all of it, poured it into my eye, and drank it. The silence used me. Used my body to drink from my eye. When it had its fill, it put my eye back in its rightful spot, then beat me with my own body.

"I was scared that it would kill me, but eventually, it gave my body back to me. It handed it back and whispered something I could not hear. I could not move. The silence still had me. The silence whispered again, louder. 'I love you'. And I know who it was talking to. It was talking to me. I breathed in the silence and the noise, and all of it happened again. Over...and over...and over. I could not stop the cycle, and each time, I felt more and more alone.

"The silence didn't love me. It loved the noise, and the noise loved the silence. But they break each other outside. Inside me, they could be together for a short moment; inside me, they were at peace with one another. But noise turns to chaos, and silence is controlling...silence fills the eyes with emotion, and the noise drains it. But then the noise has broken the silence, and the silence the noise; they have to leave my corpse, so they give it back to do it again..." Finally, he fell silent, just sitting there and twitching. Naybrin was the only one capable of seeing something fatal; Cyprus' inner magic centers were decaying and shutting down.

It had been too much. The physical, mental, emotional and magical stress had broken him on all fronts, and now he was dying. Rotting away like a flower past its blooming time. Even sleeping in his tree wouldn't help him; his magics needed to be reordered badly, and the only one who could effectively bring order to something like that would be another Demigod.

The third Demigod, of both order and chaos.

Snider.

There was silence for a long time after that. Naybrin closed his eyes and began to cast his magic about in the world, searching for the escaped demigod they needed to fix their friend. Afraid, Malice clung to his father, shaking. Cyprus frightened him, at this point, and he wasn't about to move. The little wiggling imp in his pocket refused to let him still too still, however. "Vorpal! I'm Vorpal, understand me?! I belong to Forin the Tartaran, not Malice the child! Do you hear me? DO YOU?! I will not be made a plaything by the likes of you!"

Malice took him out of his pocket and pushed him away, onto a table, where he fell down with a tiny thud. "I don't like him anymore..." he whimpered, burying his face into his father's chest. "He yells too much..."

Obelisk sighed. "I'm sorry, Vorpal, you should have told us who you were sooner." He snapped, and the shadows snatched up the little imp and carried it off. It held it out in front of Forin, who was extremely distracted.

"That...was the creepiest thing I've ever heard. You're lucky, you weirdo, Diana's asleep." Forin snorted, staring at Cyprus.

"No, no, no!" Cyprus threw himself against Naybrin, worming his way underneath the dragon. "No more sleep. No more. I don't want to sleep."

"Skies above...first, none of us can hear him. And then, when we can hear him, he's broken. Some Demigod." Forin snorted, then realized what was in front of him. "What is this?" He took Vorpal from the shadow, inspecting it curiously.

"MASTER!" Vorpal screeched as he clung to the front of Forin's shirt, his thin legs hardly able to hold up him. "You would not BELIEVE the humiliation I was subjected to! After being taken into the Relm of Darkness, I was altered, horrifically altered, and when I came-to, I had been shoved into a mouse hole! A MOUSE HOLE, FOR THE GODDESSES SAKE! And then I was in that child's pocket for hours more! Only now have I been able to grasp my ability to speak again. Now lean down here so I can poke out your eye for not finding me earlier!" He buried his face into Forin's shirt, his tiny form shaking.

"Vorpal...Vorpal, it's you," Forin plopped down on the couch, immediately hugging the little imp as tightly as he dared. "I was so scared, I thought I had lost you...I was looking for hours and hours, I made Obelisk search in the Realm of Darkness, I thought for sure that you were just gone..." He sounded a little choked up, but he was overjoyed to be reunited with his little friend.

Vorpal hung on tight, not wanting to be separated again from his master. "I can still change back to a weapon, I think," he said meekly. "But all I know is that I'm bound to this new form. Maybe I had it all along and just never uncovered it. I don't know." He curled up, blinking his large new eyes softly, then said "We can figure out weapons later. I'm exhausted for I think the first time in my life..." It was surprising how easily the tiny, five-inch tall figure fit in his master's hand, when before he had fit in a sheath on his back.

He started crying, freely, of his own will, not during a time where he thought everyone else wasn't looking.