The Forgotten Zodiac

"You're right..." Werr sighed, leaning against Naybrin's nose. "I...I never thought about that, to be honest...I knew that Welk wouldn't want me to sacrifice anyone for him. I knew that he didn't want to be alive again at the cost of another. I knew that much...but I...it never crossed my mind. That he would want me to be happy without me...Welk was like that. He's probably mad at me for being so gloomy all this time." He smiled slightly. "Sorry, Welk..."

"Sir," The maid returned, slightly panting. "Your friends, I...I can't find them."

Werr stared at her for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"They're just...gone!"

Naybrin jerked his head back, staying hard at the maid. His expression was mingled; fearful and stunned. He jerked backwards, flicking his ears, and said "No. They can't be gone. Forin? Luen? Where's Cynyr and Seria? Nate?" He glanced rapidly from side to side, as if expecting to see them at any second.

"They're...they're just gone, sir. All of them." The maid murmured.

"I can help find them!" Vuker stumbled over to her. "Where were they last? I'll sniff 'em out!"

"Your nose isn't as sensitive now, Vuker," Werr shook his head. "Even...even Cynyr is gone?"

"Yes...yes, he is. He's just...gone. Just like you'll be, soon," She suddenly snarled, snapping her arm around Vuker's neck. She promptly thrust a dark blade into the boy's gut. Vuker collapsed in her arms, gurgling and struggling to get away from her. She merely wrenched the blade out and held it to his neck. The blade was obvious; it was a blade sparking with red flecks of magic that told the truth. It was enchanted to make unhealable wounds.

((This isn't Snider, by the way. It's the maid, and she's not possessed, either.))

Naybrin's reaction was one that was as rare as it was dangerous. Even Werr had only seen this once before. The dragon bellowed and dark, sinister red flames gathered at his mouth, which shot forward a moment later, slamming into the maid. The red flames tore her violently to shreds in a matter of seconds, leaving not even ash behind.

She didn't even have a chance to scream. Vuker slid to the floor, and Werr rushed forward to help him up. "Shoot, this looks bad...hold on, kid, we'll get you out of here. Zephyr, he needs to be taken somewhere safe, before he gets hurt worse!"

"I-I...I'm...fra...gile..." Vuker whimpered, tears streaming down his face as Werr practically carried him back towards the dragons. "I just...wa...nted to...help..."

"I know. I know, it's fine. Not your fault..." Werr said, but quickly realized the once-Drakeling was in shock, and thus, unable to hear anything. Hopefully unable to feel, too.

Naybrin crooned a low note, quickly moving over and pressing his tongue over the once-drakeling, though it didn't help much at all. The dragon raged and stormed back and forth around the hall, snarling and muttering.

Zephyr cringed back as Naybrin swept past, then said "Let's...let's take Vuker to a healer, at least..."

"Right...a healer...but Seria's gone," Werr started pacing. Vuker let out a low wail, moving his hands up to cover his eyes. Werr inspected the wound, noting the greyish bile that was bubbling out. "His lower intestines were cut. This needs magic, not stitches...Mr. Gertie is a healer in the city. He runs a clinic near the walls. I'll fetch him, we can't move Vuker at this point. Naybrin, come on! The last thing I need is to be alone," Werr said towards his upset friend, already running for the door.

But it was locked. Werr growled in irritation and wrenched the window nearby open, dropping out of that instead.

The dragon snarled, and Werr felt the tinge of the dragon's mind against his. It was on the edge of being feral, but he could still obviously think. He turned with an order to Zephyr: "Trust the sight of no one. Let none near you. Stay here." He then shifted to a smaller form and leapt out the window after Werr, running at the boy's side like a large dog.

Werr led the way down the main road. It was oddly...quiet. Many of the stalls had been abandoned, the shops deserted and closed for the day, even though it was only early evening. It was the day after the moon festival, after all. Most people stayed indoors for this day, as a day of remembrance for those days that had gone before.

Werr slid to a stop in front of the clinic, knocking hurriedly on the door. "Mister Gertie, I require your assistance!" He called. "Mister Gertie!" No answer. Werr growled in annoyance, then tried to open the door himself. It practically fell off its hinges. The clinic itself looked like it had been closed for awhile, dust settled on pretty much everything, and no signs of life. Werr turned, and realized abruptly that...well, the rest of the town looked very much the same. He turned this way and that, promptly realizing that Naybrin was also gone.

"Welcome to the dimension of the lost," Snider greeted cheerily. Naybrin was indeed still there; Werr, however, could not hope to see, hear, or sense him. The dragon king was inside this new dimension, Werr just beyond his reach. "By the way...that maid you killed was just trying to save her son, who had been taken hostage...oh well. They're both dead now. See, this dimension is nice," Snider plopped down on the stairs next to Werr, leaning against the human king. Not that he could feel it. He looked...scared. Alone. "I took the liberty of moving the whole city to this dimension a long time ago. Couple weeks, at least. Letters were still written, things eaten, so on and so forth. Life went on as though nothing was different. I just now took the liberty of moving Werr back. He'll find himself staring at empty halls, empty houses, empty everything. And then, he'll realize how empty he feels inside. He might kill himself, he might try to run, he might do something none of us really expect. Either way, he's there, and you're here. And you're not getting out if you kill me, so don't bother." He grinned, then vanished. "This is my world, Naybrin. And you're not leaving anytime soon."

Naybrin bellowed and thrashed, knocking over a few buildings and sending things flying. He stormed back and forth, frantically trying to reach out with his mind to Werr, to do something to reach him, but he couldn't. He lashed out with his tail, knocking over another building, roaring angrily.

Werr staggered to his feet, running back to the castle. But it didn't matter; Zephyr had been taken. Vuker was still there, but he wasn't much help or comfort, lying unconscious on the floor as he was. Werr did what he could; he applied pressure to the wound to try and stop the bleeding. That was the most he could do.

Naybrin, however, heard something nearby. Nate, banging against a barred window. "Naybrin, Naybrin, Naybrin..." He panted weakly. "Let us out!"

The First King swung his head around, catching sight of Nate through the window, and didn't bother to do it gracefully. With his eyes narrowed to feral slits, he charged forward, his size increasing to the largest he could master, and slammed his thick-scaled head into the house, knocking the roof completely off of the building.

Nate stared up at the great dragon, sighing a bit. "Thank goodness...we've been here for two days, I was beginning to worry that we'd starve to death...Lexi, look, it's Naybrin, we're saved," He shook her shoulders gently. There was water all over the floor; at one point, Snider had returned and doused Nate in water again, to keep him contained. He was still quite damp and very much cold. "Naybrin, what's going on? I've been watching from the window, there's...there's no one here. They're all gone. Ever since the festival..."

Naybrin's slitted eyes shot to Lexi, who very slowly woke, seemingly rousing from a great distance away. She sat up, rubbing her eyes wearily and looking utterly depressed. She looked up at Naybrin, not even giving a nod. She leaned against Nate, closing her eyes again.

"Lexi..." Nate murmured, hugging her close. "It's okay. We can go back to Werr now." He looked up at Naybrin, then frowned. "You don't...you don't look okay, Naybrin. What happened?" He questioned quietly. "You look...mad."

"Naybrin, what's going on?" Forin approached from the road, carrying Diana on his back, and pushing Allie in her wheelchair. Luen followed behind, but he looked half-dead still. "Everyone's vanished, and why on earth did you tear up those houses?"

"We're trapped," Naybrin said angrily. "Snider is planning to make Werr go insane from loneliness. He is shut up in that castle, with not a soul to speak to, and we are trapped here. Only a demigod can move people from a realm like this. Not even I have the power to do so." He turned sharply to stalk back and forth, muttering under his breath.

"A demigod?" Nate frowned. "Snider..."

"If it takes a demigod to break free from a demigod, then why haven't you called Cyprus yet?" Forin questioned, frowning. "Werr is already getting kinda close to snapping, he shouldn't be alone at all. Call Cyprus here, Naybrin, you know he'll be more than happy to come help us."

"Cyprus, fighting Snider? From what I've seen, that'd be like asking a kitten to fight a lion..." Nate tutted. "Cyprus is timid and caring, Snider...is vicious. But if it sounds to me like...well, that's the only option we've got..."

Naybrin growled violently at Forin, ignoring the way most of them jumped. Naybrin was not known to lose his temper, so when he did, it was a frightening thing. But he calmed slightly and sat back on his haunches, lifting his head skyward and closing his eyes. He began a primal-sounding chant that sounded as though it were in the most ancient forms of speech.

Within a few minutes of this, Cyprus flashed into existence on the main road. He was just as odd looking as ever, his white hair a little longer than before, his eyes still shifting colors. His outfit was pale blue today, and consisted of long robes. He looked around for a moment. "Naybrin? Naaaaybrin? Who called me?" He looked this way and that, then frowned. "Hm...perhaps..." He shut his eyes and concentrated for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, they were locked into a green color. "Ah! Naybrin, there you are. What are you doing...oh no! Why are you in Snider's realm? That's a bad place...here, let me get you out of there--"

He had just started to reach his hands out towards Naybrin when Snider tackled him. "You will not interfere!" The Demigod of Chaos snarled, punching and kicking Cyprus with everything he had. Cyprus wailed and tried to get away, to get Naybrin free, but Snider was ruthless. "Naybrin! Naybrin, you just have to--" Cyprus tried to wail, but Snider backhanded his cheek and wrenched his arm around behind him. With a snap, it broke, and Cyprus' scream sounded clear.

"That's no good..." Nate muttered from where he sat, not really capable of much movement.

((You just gotta take his hand. o3o))

Naybrin bellowed and charged forward, switching forms as he went. He jumped to the side, scrambling on all-fours for only a moment before leaping forward, springing right over Snider and grasping one of Cyprus' hands tightly, grunting as ancient bones popped. He held tightly to Cyprus' hand, however, refusing to let go.