The Forgotten Zodiac

"May I speak with you?" Dmitry suddenly asked, his blue eyes now a clearer, sharper color as he looked at Isslia. "Privately? No no, trust me, I mean you no harm. I just would like to speak with you alone. If you had to choose someone to stay with you to ensure I spoke the truth, I would only allow either Welk or Cynyr, as you seem to trust them most, but as Welk is weakened and you seem to hate Cynyr now, you'll either need to pick someone else or simply trust me."

If anyone searched Dmitry's emotion at that moment, they would find no malice or hidden intent. He merely wished to speak with her, it seemed.

Isslia blinked dully at him for a few moments, still sipping on her milk, then nodded. "Sure. I'm pretty sure your wife would kill you if she knew you did anything, and Welk would burn your corpse to a crisp, so...sure."

"I suppose Werr and I will continue on to fetch Welk's milk, then." Obelisk nodded, passing them easily. "Good day to you, Dmitry."

"Yeah, see you later. We'll take the second hallway, you two can just talk here." Werr waved a bit, then followed Obelisk into the kitchens.

Isslia looked fairly glum as she stood there in front of Dmitry, feeling increasingly awkward. "So? What do you want?"

He stared at her for a long moment, then said, quite bluntly, "You know, Galai can give you back your virginity. She can heal any wound there is out there. The Divine can take away the old memories. I...don't really know why I'm telling you this, but...I dunno. You seem like..." He shrugged. "...I dunno. I just think you deserve that first true love. I know that you've met Welk and you're happy, but what will you do after you two are married?" His gaze held no malice, only a seemingly boundless level of curiosity. "I mean...I'm sure Welk would keep his distance if you asked, and willingly, but...he's still a virgin himself, from what I can sense. He has a young mind, that one."

He leaned against the wall, turning his gaze at the floor. "I guess...there's just something about you that makes me want to force everything around you to be perfect. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suddenly developing feelings for you. I'm happily married to a beautiful woman. I just...I grew up around this. The slave girls around me always crying, always hurt. People were confused when I never wanted any of them, when I kept to myself and took Marion as my only 'slave'. I hated it. I wanted to kill everyone who hurt those innocent young girls..." He sighed, releasing a puff of smoke.

Isslia set her glass aside and held her hands behind her. "Just because I'm not pure doesn't mean that Welk won't love me." She smiled slightly. "If he's to be my husband, then I'm sure we'll be happy together. Whenever he's ready to...you know...then I'll be ready for him. I...don't want to heal these wounds with Galai's magic. I've already gotten past what happened to me...it's in the past. And with Welk protecting me, it isn't going to happen again. And I don't want to just forget, either...the world isn't so full of monsters that I can't walk these halls alone. I've just had the misfortune to meet so many of the monsters that it made me scared of everyone else. Do I look like I'm crying?" She smiled again to cement her point. "Welk makes me happy. And if he wants me to bear a child for him, then I'll see Galai. But I don't want to change the past, I don't want to be different than I am now. Don't you think it would change me, losing a good part of my past?

"Besides...if I had gone to Galai when I first had the chance, Veros would be back in his old form now, whatever that is." She shrugged. "Like I said before, I'm not an infant. I'm actually a very good fighter now. I don't need other people to make things perfect for me, because I think the imperfect things are more important. I mean, just look at Welk. He's not perfect either, but he's just right for someone like me. Don't you think? Everyone has their own problems to deal with. I'm glad you're worried about me, Dmitry, but I don't need to be healed any more than you do."

He blinked, watching her for a moment, then lowered his head so his eyes were hidden behind his hair and gave a soft chuckle. "How naïve of me," he said, smiling at the ground. "I'm sorry. You're right; you're not a little child to be coddled and protected. At least, I'm not the one who should protect you. Welk is your healer. It's his place for this, not mine. I'm sorry." He pushed away from the wall, turning to walk away while throwing her an off-hand wave. "I"ll see you around."

"Sure." Isslia nodded, turning back to the kitchens. She rinsed out her cup, and chose a fruit juice instead of milk. She already had one glass, it was enough, right? She didn't like the taste of the nasty stuff, anyway. Juice was much more flavorful, and didn't stick in her throat like milk did. She walked steadily back to the infirmary, though she kept her hand near the wall in case she started to fall. She was honestly surprised at herself for not collapsing; she had lost the most blood out of the others, and Lexi and Luna were still in bed. Well, Luna had that mind thing going on, but Lexi was more or less okay. Although, that Kage person had threatened her the most...

Suddenly, screaming tore through the air, screaming that sounded like someone on the verge of insanity, being tortured within inches of their life, on a level of pain that was unholy and terrifying.

Isslia was able to instantly recognize the screaming as Welk's.

When the door to the infirmary was thrown open, those who had heard the screams and come to see what had happened found a horrific sight. A large magic barrier had been placed up in the center of the room, where Welk had been dragged by a dark, demonic figure that was now literally eating into his chest and stomach. Blood was splattered everywhere, and the only reason Werr wasn't affected by this torment seemed to be the glittering purple barrier around the two figures and a black skull-shaped that had appeared in the center of Welk's forehead. All he could do was scream endlessly as the smoky figure crunched and ate noisily at his organs.

Isslia stumbled into the room, throwing her juice aside. She immediately put fist to the barrier, but just touching it seemed to drain whatever energy she had left. She was reduced to clawing at it from the floor, very near unconsciousness but not about to give up. As her vision faded, she heard voices behind her. Muffled, but still recognizable as Werr and Obelisk.

"No Werr, stay back!" The ancient one snapped as he scooped the dogling into his grip. "It could easily eat you, too..." He glared at the barrier and the ones within it, then set Isslia aside and held his hands out. He started quoting something that sounded oddly familiar; a passage from the Writ of the Goddess, Werr realized as he pulled Isslia further away.

((It's a demon, so. .3.))

The demon lifted its head, Welk's blood dripping from its mouth as it screamed violently, jerking away from the nearly-unconscious lion and vanishing into a cloud of black dust, the barrier disappearing. The puff of smoke darted out the door, flying off toward the dungeon, returning to its host; Cynyr.

"Welk...WELK!" Werr screamed, rushing forward. Obelisk's magic beat him to the half-cat, blocking up broken arteries to prevent death from bloodloss. The internal damage was something the healers would have to fix, though.

While they were both distracted, Isslia managed to get ahold of herself. The energy drain had stopped, and while she still felt weak and dizzy, she crawled away and staggered to her feet, moving as quickly as she could.

Down the hall, up the stairs, two left turns. "Seria," She moaned, knocking on her friend's door. "Seria! Open up!"

"Isslia, child, are you alright?" Ophile, who was seated beside the door as usual, frowned up at her.

"I-I'm fine, I need...I need Seria...and Airlia. Ophile, go get Airlia!"

"Why on earth--" Ophile stopped short as Isslia put her hand on his head. He jerked away before the memories reeled back too far. "I understand. I'll get her." He ran off at once, his feet pounding against the floor. Isslia turned back to the door and continued knocking.

The door was flung open, emitting Seria, whose eyes were wide with concern. "Isslia?" she said, quickly taking the shaking girl's hands into her own to try and calm her down. "What happened? Take a breath, tell me what's wrong!" She ran a hand gently over the dogling's hair, trying to help calm her down so she could speak properly.

"No, no, there's no time to explain, absolutely no time!" Isslia grabbed Seria's hands and pulled her, fast as she could, towards the infirmary. Two right turns, and halfway down the stairs, however, Isslia collapsed. When Seria attempted to help her up, she gave a teary wail. "Forget about me, go help Welk!"

((Wait, I though Ophile was currently feral-crazy? Or did Veros let go?))

Seria blinked sharply, then did as Isslia said and raced off, heading toward the infirmary. She sensed the problem almost before she got there, already forming the powerful magics she would need.

She threw the door open and hurried inside, noting how still Welk had fallen and how Werr was holding his friend in his lap, not caring that his clothes were becoming increasingly blood-soaked. She got right down to work, chanting a spell that caused Welk's maimed abdomen to be enveloped in a glowing force-field which immediately began to repair his organs. Without Airlia, however, Seria risked straining herself far too much, as this was a truly powerful spell.

((Veros promised Titus that he would leave the Tartarans for Obelisk. And Titus turned over the Obelisk, so Veros left.))

Obelisk watched, releasing his spells as Seria worked, allowing blood to flow normally again. Seria was beginning to feel the strain before she felt a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here," Airlia said, worry etched onto every feature of her face, but she poured power into Seria. "Don't drain your energy. Only use mine," She insisted, not wanting Seria to strain herself at all.

((Oh yeah. .w.))

The half-cat nodded, quickly drawing from Airlia's energy and channeling that into the spell, which made the shield she had erected grow brighter and stronger. She closed her eyes, putting everything she had into the spell, knowing the wounds were closing and organs were reforming. Sinews and tendons were reattached, and after only a moment, Welk's frantic gasps for air grew calmer as precious oxygen was able to enter his lungs once more.

After a long while, Obelisk figured out where Isslia had gone and returned her to the infirmary. She was finally unconscious, so he laid her gently on a bed nearby. Werr, in the meantime, started humming a small tune. Seria recognized it as the song that Welk had sung to him once or twice before, when Werr had lost his mind. He didn't remember the words, but the tune had stuck with him until now.

Seria glanced up at them, blinking softly as her magically-attuned-senses picked up certain things they weren't aware of. Curious now, she whispered another spell that allowed her to see their magical networks inside their bodies and immediately was a tad stunned. Their networks were practically identical, much like if Cynyr and Welk stood close to each other. Being brothers was the answer to this, but Werr, though adopted right into the family, wasn't related by blood. She had to smile at how closely entwined the two were.

But within Werr, there was something rampant. It was driving the wrong way, cutting into areas that his minimal magic wasn't supposed to flow through, and generally wreaking havoc. Seria could easily identify this as the magical venom that had been placed inside Werr; it would do massive damage to a mage in seconds, but in Werr, the effects were mostly dull and underlying problems. Until it was manipulated by an outside force. Seria could see quite clearly a trail passing over his heart, damage done only a few days ago. The trail passed the lungs, too. And that little rampant bug was on its way down, it seemed, slowly crawling through where it shouldn't ever be.

Seria sighed, turning her attention back to Welk, watching as his pale skin finally closed perfectly, as if nothing had ever happened. From lower chest to just under his navel, he was completely healed. She gently pressed her hand over his stomach, feeling the repaired insides with her magic, then pulled her hand away. "He's stabilized," she said. "But his magic is completely haywire. Those blue flames screwed up his fire magic. It's fixing itself, but slowly. I can speed it along by syphoning the blue fire's magic out of his, but I need something else for it to go into." She spotted a jar nearby and picked it up, then set about using her magic to pick the traces of the blue fire out of Welk and put it into the jar.

The fires were furious. They seemed to have a mind of their own, and engulfed the inside of the jar like splashed paint. Seria was still able to work and move it in, and Airlia took it when she was finished, hurrying off to have it purified by Galai.

Werr looked up when Seria was finished. "Will he be okay?" He asked quietly, looking...tired.