The Forgotten Zodiac

((I meant in favor of leaving Diana alone. xD ))

"Of course," she answered, folding her hands lightly and concentrating. A moment later, light filled the area, generated from her own body. She let her wings unfold slightly from her internal sheaths, helping to guide their way down into the depths of the darkness.

Naybrin was leading the way still, sniffing softly for any sign of Althos' mother.

Althos was quiet and calm, surprisingly. Cyprus just had that sort of effect on people, really. Walking down further into the tunnels. He paused, feeling a wall for a moment. "There are people behind here...the tunnel must loop around. And..." He turned, staring at the other wall. "A dwindling life past this one. A couple others..."

Naybrin lifted his head, thinking over Cyprus' words, then backed up and said "Stay clear." As soon as Cyprus moved, the dragon lowered his head forward and breathed over the wall. Instantly, crumbles began to form, causing the wall to fall quietly a moment later.

There were a couple of yelps from inside, and a soft moan. Two red-cloaked men brandished spears at Naybrin, but Cyprus stepped forward first. "Judgement is here," He frowned, eying the spears. Drakeling scales. One threw one of the spears at Naybrin, but Cyprus threw up a transparent sheild; it pierced the sheild and stopped there. Blood gushed from Cyprus' shoulder. He took the wound for himself. rather than let Naybrin be hurt again.

"Mommy!" Althos wailed. A middle-aged, blond-haired woman was lying nearby, under some of the rubble. She didn't respond to the cry, and she looked like she had been beaten.

Naybrin snarled, lashing his tail back and forth as he stalked forward, his long, muscular body rippling. He took a deep breath and released a stream of fire at them, sending them screaming in agony. Then he turned to the woman, beginning to gently lick her.

She slowly stirred and opened her eyes, then let out a low wail of pain. Cyprus let Althos off and started moving the rocks. "Mommy, mommy, it's okay," Althos whimpered, hugging her tightly. "I'm okay. I'm alive, see? And I got these people to help me save you. So we can go home now, a-and...take a long nap, and drink tea, and...all of your favorite things!" He sniffled, and she slowly calmed down.

"Althos...Al, my little angel..." The woman sighed and wrapped her hurt arms around her son, crying out the pain of having lost one child, but at the same time, the joy of having her other returned to her. She looked up at the others with bleary eyes. "Thank you..."

Naybrin exhaled over her and worked up a bit more saliva, making sure she was coated in it. She was getting better by the second with the dragon's healing spit all over her. "Please, don't thank us," the First King murmured. "Just rest. Rest, young lady. You've been through enough." He smiled gently, giving Althos a small nudge.

Althos rubbed Naybrin's nose, then stood up and stepped back, allowing Galai to pick the woman up and get her onto Naybrin's back.

Cyprus looked down the tunnels again, looking serious again. Angry as ever. "Go on ahead, Naybrin. You should go too, Galai. Father...you'll have work to do here." He turned to look at Death. The Titan could not directly kill anyone, after all; that was not his work. So Cyprus would have to get his own hands dirty in order to be rid of these...'hitmen'. Mercenaries. Whatever they called themselves. Cyprus would describe it more as filth, to be honest...

Death tilted his head softly, not frowning, but not smiling either. He hated his job, in all reality, and though he wasn't going to stop Cyprus, he knew better than to state his feelings at that moment. He just quietly moved to follow the demigod, his skeletal wings rattling softly.

"...Alright," Naybrin said slowly. "But...Cyprus...be careful, okay? I'll hear if you call for me." He nosed the demigod, then turned to start ushering the others out of the foul place.

"Right." Cyprus nodded, brushing Naybrin's tail with a hand before turning and walking down the long corridors.

Naybrin, however, was met at the entrance by another Demigod. The only other one currently in existence. Snider. "Don't mind me," He chortled. "There was no way I was about to pass something like this up. Physical pain, emotional turmoil, chaotic goodness everywhere!" He laughed, passing Naybrin by on his way down.

Naybrin snarled, curling his lips back sharply and attempting to bite the demigod as he passed, but Snider was too fast. He darted off and Galai stepped in the way before Naybrin could follow. "We have work to do," she said softly. "We need to hurry." She stroked his nose and he exhaled sharply, but did as she asked and helped her take the others out.

"Oh, I won't hurt him," Snider giggled a bit. "I'm just watching! See ya'll later!" He waved as he disappeared into the dark of the caves.

"Work? What work are you doing?" Althos questioned quietly, tilting his head to the side. "You...you're taking me home, right?" He fliddled with his shirt, nervous all of the sudden. His mother didn't look well at all...she was hurt, and clearly hurting on the inside. She held tightly onto Althos' hand, even in sleep. She wouldn't dare let him go.

"We're going to take you home, don't worry," Naybrin said. "I'm going to place enchantments over your home so these people won't be able to find you again. The spells will follow you, even if your family moves into another house. And Galai is going to heal your mother once we're somewhere safer." He blew the boy's hair back gently.

Althos slowly nodded. "Okay." He sighed and held his mother close, closing his eyes. "We...we should go, then." He said, looking back at the caves as a scream echoed out from the darkness. Not Cyprus', that was for sure.

Inside, it was perfect for Snider; people running about, trying desperately to fight back in unstructured panic. Cyprus was the closest thing to a god that anyone here had ever seen. There were even a couple mages turning to face the Demigod, but they fell fast.

Cyprus seemed like more of a monstrosity than a Demigod at the moment. With a wave of his hand, the rock wall swept to one side and met the other wall, crushing anyone who got in its path. With a twitch of his fingers, the sharp stalagmites on the ceiling fell and peirced the skulls of many. Cyprus was clearly not invincible; he soon had several wounds, from throwing daggers and arrows. He wasn't fast enough to dodge, really. But it was obvious that it would take a hundred thousand men to overcome the enraged Demigod. Numbers that they didn't have. The very earth obeyed him! It was as though mountains themselves would kneel at his presence!

There were captives. Hurting souls that Cyprus sought out, slaying anyone who got between them and him. Women, children, a few men. He was quick to release all and instruct the men to get the people out. He would deal with the rest of these Blood Hawks.

They were bloody now, that was for certain.

"I...I think I'm good. Thanks, Seria." Werr nodded. He had been given a blood transfusion (with Lexi on the other end), and was feeling a lot better. "You need to go lie down. Go talk to Airlia, see if she can't give you some spare energy." He insisted, smiling a bit. "You've done enough."

Seria, looking woozy from all of the healing, nodded dimly and sank back against Cynyr, who moved at once to take her to a back room where she could rest. He came back after she was settled, flopping down in panther form next to his brothers. Welk played with his tail for a moment before taking lion form, rolling onto his back with his head in Werr's lap. Lexi was curled up against Werr, her chin on his shoulder, and Isslia was laying against Welk.

Werr was quick to slip into sleep, knowing that he needed it.

Nightmares were very common for him, but not as of recently. But even this...it just didn't seem like a nightmare. It was vivid and clear, and Werr remembered the events perfectly. Titus' voice, muffled behind a door, was saying something about Remor. About how it was too risky for him to stay with Obelisk anymore. Then there was a scream, and silence for a long while.

Then everything went south. Forin was looking desperately for something, probably Diana. He looked furious, enraged. Cynyr seemed upset, too. Werr couldn't tell why, exactly, but he knew that something awful had happened. He, however...he couldn't move to help them. Welk took him back to Alastor, where the two of them stayed while Forin and Cynyr kept looking. Werr was a bit upset; he wanted to help, but he knew that he couldn't.

And then the world was consumned by a pit of darkness so vast that not even light escaped it. A black hole of some kind, swirling with vast, dark powers that Werr could only dream of. It burned his insides and swallowed him whole.

Then he woke up, sweating and tasting dry dust in his mouth. Isslia smiled at him. She had been digging in her bag when he woke up. "You were snoring," She grinned a bit. "You slept in, too. It's already lunchtime."

"Wha...right..." Werr blinked at her. "Thanks."

"For?"

"For letting Welk like you. He...needs you, at this point." Werr shrugged. Honestly, he was just talking; he hadn't meant to say 'thanks', but it was the first thing that came to mind and mouth. It sounded nice enough, anyway, and it wasn't like he was lying.

Isslia blushed immediately. "Yeah...some part of me needs him. Some part of me is still a little scared..."

"I can understand that." Werr shrugged. "But you're giving him a chance. That's worth the world to him." Isslia continued to blush, and went back to digging through her bag until she found the notebook she was looking for.

"Thanks," She gave him a passing smile before leaving again, still quite red at the cheeks. Werr just smiled and leaned back again.

Welk bounced into the room at that moment, his mouth still full of food, despite his attempt to talk. He spread his wings in the house and took a bounding leap onto the couch, landing so forcefully that the impact caused Werr to bounce and Cynyr, who had been sleeping on the edge, to fall off with a thud and a curse. "Sorry!" Welk squealed as Cynyr attempted to snap at his wings and hacked tail. "It was an accident!"

"I'll give you an accident!" Cynyr snarled, heaving himself up onto the couch and rounding on the lion.

"No! No! Werr, save me!" Welk laughed, because it became apparent to the others in the next second that he was grinning from ear to ear. He cleared Werr's head in a single leap and flopped into Lexi's spot (she had gone to eat lunch too), curling close to his sibling.

(( http://my.deviantart.com/messages/#/art/Good-times-355753360?_sid=559df144

Remind you of anyone? 8D ))

Werr laughed and sat up, wrapping his arms around Welk tightly. He then sighed and closed his eyes. "We need to go home," He said suddenly. "We need to go back to Alastor. We're...we're done here, really. Our soldiers are fighting for Herrace now, we've downed two kings, and from what Obelisk told us, Naybrin, Galai and Cyprus went to be rid of the mercenaries after myself and Carlyle. We've done enough damage and enough good...I'd say it's high time we leave."

He sighed a bit. "Gossain, the empire across the Hadaraak desert...we may have to deal with them, next. They've made plans for a trading route, you know. I dunno if I like it or not yet. They have things we don't, I suppose, so there's no real reason to object..." He sighed and shook his head. "I dunno. I just feel like we need to go home."

((It'll seem like it's over, then BOOM. JUST AS THEY'RE CROSSING THE OCEAN TO GO HOME, LE TITAN EMERGES. And Snider shows up all laughing and happy and explain what all he's been doin'. 8D))

((-rolls-))

Welk listened to his dear friend speak, then pressed close, sighing quietly as he tucked his muzzle down against the boy's shoulder. "I want to go home too," he said softly. "I miss the castle, and...I had just decided to see if I could convince my mom to move to the castle, at least for a vacation or something. Maybe she'll meet up with Leo again. Wouldn't that be nice?" He rested a paw over Werr's chest, reclining easily against the boy, his furry red mane tickling his nose and cheeks.

Cynyr huffed and laid down on Werr's other side, resting his head in the boy's lap and closing his eyes, flicking his ears back.