The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr was sure to relax and be gentle with Cynyr; he couldn't feel it, but he slowly and carefully moved his hand up and scratched Cynyr behind the ears in the same way he would always scratch Welk. "Well...even if I can't feel, I think I'll be okay. I've got all of you here..." He kept his arm looped around Lexi, and smiled at the others. "And we're all alive. I...I'm so happy..."

Lexi gave him a soft kiss, sighing and nuzzled into his neck. Welk beamed up at his friend, taking a moment to just stare at him and make certain he was alive. He then sighed and rested his head against Werr's chest, closing his eyes and listening to the boy's heart beat. He was still purring away, a happy warmth eminating from his entire body. Lexi reached out and stroked his ear back, seeing the small patch of white fur there, and gave a giggle.

Werr leaned against Lexi, closing his eyes.

"Shouldn't we leave soon?" Isslia commented, watching the hill that the smoke was behind. "I thought I saw someone...but he's not there now. We should probably go, just in case the fight might wander over this way..."

At her words, Dmitry heaved himself up, giving a light shake before crouching to allow them on. One by one, they mounted him, and at each touch, they saw him shiver in a frightened sort of way. He was still wary of touch, after all, from the incident with Snider. It had taken Marion a bit to get him used to the feeling of a simple swallow of food again.

Once they were all on-board, he lifted off into the air, flying strongly.

Welk had let Werr and Isslia onto his back and had taken flight with his own wings. Cynyr had spread his air wings, with Lexi on his back, and flew close by.

Werr watched as they flew; it wasn't long at all until they spotted the capital city again. Welk started his sharp descent, and Werr instinctively gripped tighter with his legs and less with his hands; a number of dragon flights had taught him that the bump of landings could be avoided by doing this. It would make it less likely for him to fall off.

But Welk was not a dragon. His fur was smooth and not textured like Naybrin's or Zephyr's scales. Werr, who couldn't feel enough to balance himself properly, quickly found that his grip slipped as though it were butter. He started falling before he could even cry out in alarm, plummeting to the ground.

Welk let out a sharp sound, calling "Werr!" loudly. He had felt the boy slipping from his back, felt him falling loose. He swerved quickly, not wanting Isslia to fall, and flew after Werr. He grabbed him as gently as possible with his claws, snagging his clothing and flapping his wings rapidly to try and gain height.

Isslia squeaked and transformed into her dog form, grabbing onto Welk's mane with her little teeth so she wouldn't fall herself. But that took off quite a bit of weight from Welk's back, and they shot upwards -- just in time to avoid an arrow.

"Bulliete wants your head, Werr Krow! We know your secret, too!" There was a small group of soldiers down below. Bulliete scouts, who had gone on ahead before the battle began. The info they had was nothing new; one of the Generals had been putting two and two together since their random appearance - and odd dissappearance - from the battlefield.

It didn't matter at this point, though. What mattered was the arrow lodged in Werr's boot (in the sole, just barely missing his heel) and the scouts that were on the ground. One of them was a man in a red coat, speaking to a soldier. One of the Blood Hawks, who was now recieving the deposit for a head-price, judging from the money bag that was handed him only seconds before he ran off.

Dmitry roared and plunged down among them, skidding to a halt easily nearby once they had been bowled off their feet. "Get back to the house, quickly!" he ordered, watching as Cynyr nudged Lexi from his back and ran to stand near Werr. Welk had just let go of him, near to the ground, beating his long golden wings to hover as he landed, growling savagely as he stood in front of his dear friend, Isslia still on his back. His wings folded back, forming a strange sort of feathery protection around her.

Welk was right behind him, and when Werr slowed, he leapt into the lead, letting Cynyr slip into his old position. Nate had ran with Lexi; they trusted him to get her safely back to the house. Both half-cats were on-edge, lurking along the pathway, lips curled back into snarls. Werr felt a creepy, almost crawling sensation traveling up his spine. Like cold fingers were drifting over his skin. It took him a second to recognize the odd touch of Cynyr's wind powers creeping over him, ready to tighten and pull him backwards at a moment's notice.

((Connected off of dA posts.))

Werr didn't complain much about pain or anything of the sort; instead, he led Lexi's fingers down to the knife. He smiled a bit. "I got hurt. Don't worry about the pain, I can't feel anything. But would you heal it for me?" He smiled slightly, kissing her cheek as he knew she would do it. It was still nice to ask. Nice to know that her help was not only wanted, but needed also.

A quick glance around told him that Forin, Luen, Luna and Diana were back. The girls were taking turns braiding each other's hair, and Forin was tending to a sick-looking Luen. "Are you feeling any better?" He questioned quietly, holding Luen's head in his lap.

Luen coughed weakly and it sounded like a death rattle. His breathing was strained and raspy, and though his eyes were still covered by bandages, Forin knew he could hardly have opened them at all. "No..." he gurgled. "...feel...w...worse..." He coughed again, sounding hardly able to breathe, his skin oh so pale and his limbs shaking. To be frank, he looked like he was...dying.

"It's okay, it's okay..." Forin whispered, cradling his dear friend's head in his arms. Werr looked away. He wanted to ask what had happened, but...Forin didn't look like he'd be up for answering him. He looked so upset...

Obelisk, however, caught onto Werr's questioning look. "He's just...sick. If we knew why, we'd fix it." He tutted.

"He needs sleep, but he can't get there..." Fawn murmured. "I've been there before..."

There would be times when Luen's entire body would just go ridged and still, as if he were in so much pain that he couldn't risk a single movement. Finally, he just seemed unable to take it anymore. He took Forin's hand into his skinny, pale fingers, then pressed the Tartaran's hand to his forehead, closing his eyes tightly and exhaling something under his breath.

Both slumped, and when Forin next opened his eyes, they were inside Luen's mind. Not that it seemed to be any better.

The kirin had fallen to the ground, clutching his forehead as if his head were on fire with some strange sort of pain. "Goddess, help me...!" he cried weakly, curling up on his knees on the ground, still frantically holding his forehead.

"Luen," Forin sighed heavily, recognizing at once where they were. He walked over and did nothing but pull Luen into his grip again, looking miserable as he realized that his friend may as well be dying. "Is there nothing I can do to ease this pain of yours? There has to be something..." He paused, then bit his lip. "Don't ask me to end it for you, Luen. You know...you know I can't do that..." He tightened his grip around the kirin, tears welling up in his eyes.

He wasn't about to hold them back, either; he always told Diana that it was better to cry when the situation called for it. Better to cry than to bottle it up, hold it back. He had said such things even when he himself had to contain his own emotions, for the sake of not exploding. It hurt more to let it out eventually than it did to let it out right away. So of course, tears started dripping down his cheeks as he cradled his dear friend and watched him squirm in pain.

Luen whimpered and twitched and moaned, clutching at his forehead with one hand and Forin's fingers with his other. The next time he went ridged, he stayed like that, seemingly unable to move. Suddenly, his forehead was glowing lightly. His fingers were being pushed back from his head, slowly but steadily, not of his will. Something was there.

When Forin pulled Luen's hand away, he saw what was probably one of the weirdest sights ever. A shimmering white hole had opened in Luen's forehead, and something alive was being forced through it, into their realm. Luen wailed in terrible pain, digging his nails into Forin's hand and screaming. The environment around them was flickering between many different colors, signaling the kirin's pain and...something else.

Finally, the strange, shifting, bubbling thing was forced out of Luen's head, where it fell to the ground, literally a small, silver, glowing ball on the floor.

Luen was gasping raggedly for breath, his eyes dangerously blank.

Forin pulled Luen away from the orb, glaring at it furiously. He touched the hole in Luen's forehead, feeling the edges, but pulling away quickly as it shut itself tight. The Tartaran inspected his dear friend, making sure he was still alive before gently setting him down. He crawled over to the orb of light warily, not sure what it could be. Was it a monster? A ghastly beast come forth from the depths of his friend's mind in order to slay anyone who stood in its way? It certainly didn't look like it...

The orb was pulsing gently, as if with a heart beat, each pulse causing a tendril of white light to shift down the length of it. It seemed alive, yet it wasn't doing anything but...sitting there. Other than the sharp gasp of Luen's haggard breathing behind him, there was no other sound Forin could hear in the endless confines. Yet the little orb, hardly big enough to fill Forin's palm, was sitting there. Shifting slowly through its whites and silvers, pulsing softly.

Suddenly, a faint flicker went across a piece of Forin's mind that he thought had died. A familiar little feeling that had only recently went dark.

The familiar, faint, tiny feeling of he had lost when he had fought Dulce in the arena.

Forin immediately seized the small orb and concentrated. But...this wasn't his mind. He couldn't do anything here. "Luen," He turned and stroked his friend's hair back, holding the orb in his other hand. "A sword. I need a sword. Imagine a sword for me, please, put it here with us. You can do it, Luen, I know you can..." He murmured, closing his eyes for a moment. "For me?"

Luen's breathing quickened slightly at his friend's words, but he closed his eyes after a moment, plainly struggling to do what Forin wanted. A dark light shone out at Forin's feet, and a long sword appeared. It was the simplest of swords, but Luen couldn't manage anything greater at the moment without seriously hurting himself. Not that he wasn't hurt right now.