The Forgotten Zodiac

Riordan swept backwards, his lip curled angrily. Valley... he thought, anger seeping through his every cell. He gritted his teeth together, lunging forward again, only to be met by Kage. "Hey, little king," he purred, flicking his scarred black tail around rapidly. "Why don't we get down to bare tactics? You want to save your sweet little wifey and brother and yourself as you escape the castle. Too bad you can't." He swung his sword around, which was met by Riordan's, and the king gave a sharp shout as he pushed back ferociously.

"How is that tactics?" Ink frowned slightly, still behind Riordan. Following him and watching his back, moving to match Riordan's pace and stance changes almost effortlessly. "He's balancing heavy on his left leg. His right must've been injured at some point. Target the weaker side, he'll be off balance to block and down he'll--" Ink paused as Zex barreled into the fray.

He tackled Kage to the ground, using the hilt of a broken sword to smash the undead's face in. Kage's sword wound up embedded in his gut, but he only faltered for a few moments.

Kage gave a strangled gurgling sound of shock, glaring at the boy through now-blood-shot eyes. "You little-" he started, but was cut off as Zex quickly pulled away, getting off of the dragonian and pulling the sword away from him by putting his boot in his face. Riordan blinked at all of this; what was Zex doing?

"You..." the king began, staring at Zex. "...what are you doing?" He clearly didn't trust him; for all he knew, that could've been a very skillful and subtle diversion.

Zex turned his eyes on Riordan, looking...scared. And in pain. He still felt pain, and the knife driven through him hurt. He managed to collect some wind and splutter, "Wh-what does it look like I'm doing? You need to get out of here!" He dragged the knife out of the wound, swinging it powerfully at one of the soldiers.

"Oh, Zex...I figured you'd crack before long. Traitor." Lance glanced over his shoulder, grinning. "Relic! Dispose of them. All of them."

Immediately, the abused, battered, now half-decayed raptorix barreled into the room, releasing a sound that chilled Riordan to his bones; the cry of a monster, of a lifeless thing that was forced to keep living, bound and chained to the space between worlds, pulled in two directions by Death and Life. Half of his body was mere skeleton, while the other half was ripped skin and torn muscle.

It was a sad and terrifying sight, especially when he lunged forward and slammed into Riordan, throwing him to the ground and raising his head, about to sink his sharp teeth into the king's neck.

"NO!" Zex pulled the Raptorix back, but it took his strength combined with Null and Ink to drag him off. Keeping the freak off was another matter entirely. "Run! I'll keep him distracted, just get out of here!" He demanded, pointing his bloody weapon at Relic. "Stay back..."

He trembled. The monster had already gotten a taste of him. Would it want more?

Relic gave a low, mournful, warbled hiss, clearly in another world of pain and anguish, a few stray, green-tinted tears leaking from his eyes. He jumped forward and rammed his head into Zex's chest, attempting to batter the boy out of the way in his pursuit of the king and his brother, who were quick to flee. Riordan, however, paused long enough to throw his great black blade at the raptorix, which hit him square in the chest. Black blood immediately spurted in thick waves from the wound, causing Relic to scream and fall backwards.

"Come on!" Riordan grabbed Zex's arm, tugging the boy with them as they ran.

"Wh-what?" Zex followed, but he was incredibly flustered, it seemed. Ink helped him run, barreling through the two guards at the door, following in Null's wake.

"The horses are just outside! Come on, let's go," Null slammed open a side door, holding it open for them. Riordan, Ink and Zex hurried through. Null shut the door and dragged a water trough up to block it. There were more horses than there were people; he had been planning on his entire unit, as well as Valley. Neither of which would be coming.

Ink immediately picked a grey horse, leading it over to Null, who was quick to start strapping a trolley onto it. "It's not a royal carriage, but if your brother can't ride, Riordan, there's no choice. Get in," He ushered Ink into it, practically throwing a weakened Zex in behind him. He shut the small wooden slat and climbed onto his black bulk of a horse, clicking his tongue. The rest of the horses were trained  to follow his; if they were untethered, they'd follow.

"Wait...Valley!" Riordan said, turning back towards the door. "This isn't where I was going, Null! We have to find her, I won't go without her! I-" He was cut off as Relic rammed his way through the door, shaking blood from his face and snarling at them. The zombie-fied raptor lunged at the king, who dodged backwards, away from the gaping mouthful of sharp teeth that flashed for his throat. "YOU STILL HAVE A MIND!" he suddenly screamed at the raptor, and though it seemed to do nothing, Riordan immediately went still, not doing a thing as the raptorix leapt for him.

Only to come to a complete halt, his entire body quivering ever so slightly, twisted face slack and rather neutral. He was taller than Riordan, and though he no longer had eyes within his head, it appeared he was able to see the king.

Null swept in, slamming the flat end of his axe into Relic. He knocked the raptor back and lifting Riordan by the back of the shirt, dropping him into the trolley. "Forgive my insubordination, sire, but from what I've seen this day, lingering here any longer would be suicide!" Null snapped, setting his horse into motion. The two horses strapped to the trolley whinnied and jolted into a gallop quickly after him.

"NO!" Riordan shouted, now physically restrained from jumping out of the trolley by Ink. "Valley! VALLEY!" His ringing scream echoed for quite a distance afterwards, and it was a bit longer before Ink was able to subdue him.

"VALLEY!!"

*

A few hours passed. Since his final outburst, Riordan had gone eerily quiet, sitting motionless within the trolley, his head held in his hands. It seemed nothing could rouse him, nothing could draw him from the pit of sorrow he had sunk into.

"Are we...are we sure that we can't get Valley back?" Ink asked quietly.

"No." Null said gruffly.

"She...she's probably dead," Zex said quietly. Ink had followed his instructions to patch up the most severe wound, and he was able to sit up again, though it was clear he was still in a lot of pain. "Going back would lead to nothing but more death..."

"But...how can we know?"

"She...she has royal blood. If not a willing sacrifice of blood...Veros can use her soul." Zex said quietly. "But he'll be expecting us to come back. We can't...we can't get her back."

Ink sighed, looking down slightly. "I...why does Veros need blood?"

"Human blood all carries a certain amount of the Goddess' magic. It is the reason some are capable of weilding magics...some have more magic in them. Virgins...the piece of their soul that is intact in them but not in others, fuels a certain kind of magic. Pure and sweet. Untained magic, directly from the Goddess herself. Royalty is something similar, but it's more in the blood than in the magics. The anointing during the coronation ceremony is more important than most people think. It signifies the blessing of the Goddess upon their rule." Zex explained quietly. "So by using blood, he has the blessing and her magic...and with his powers, it's enough to forge himself his old form again."

"Makes sense." Null grunted. "We've reached the trade road. We'll turn off and take shelter with one of the outer settlements."

"No. We drive on through the night." Zex insisted. "Alastor. We have to get to Alastor."

"Are you mad? With the current battles doubtlessly being waged, it's too far from safe. We'd be slaughtered before we got behind enemy lines." Null frowned.

"Find a way."

Riordan said nothing at all, his head still firmly in his hands. He didn't care where they went or what they did anymore. In his mind, nothing was worth the effort any longer. He had told Null to get his family out over himself, and he had failed. They both had failed. Where they went and what they did now meant less than nothing to the king.

Silence passed for a long while. And then, oddly, Zex pulled a sheet over Riordan; there were a couple riders on the path behind them, and though they were still a bit far back, Zex wanted to hide the regal clothing their royal companion was wearing.

And before long, the riders had caught up to them. They were a sultry group; one wearing clothing a bit too dark for the desert sun, a kid wearing an outfit a size too large for him. The third wearing simple clothing an a smile on his face. The smiling one spoke, and to Zex's ears, it sounded quite...familiar.

"Hail, friends! I couldn't help but notice you seem to be a bit unprepared for your journey. Here," Sylas unstrapped a waterskin from his horse, tossing it into the carriage. Zex was on it first, tasting it for poison. Then he handed it to Ink, who drank eagerly, as he hadn't had anything for quite some time. "There you go. You look less thirsty now."

"If you're bandits, you should know that the norm isn't to give your vicims something to drink..." Zex muttered.

"Bandits? Ha! My friend here surely wouldn't mind such a life, but I have higher standards than that. We're just friendly travelers on the road back home." Sylas smiled brightly.

Zex didn't answer this time, his pained glare not trusting in the slightest.

Leo was standing between the two horses in panther form (seeings how he was big enough to server as a horse himself), glaring at Null, who was glaring right back, each with equal venom in their gaze. Only a sharp sneeze from the third rider was enough to cause both to blink and break out of the hate-filled staring contest.

Dark rubbed his nose lightly, turning his head to glance over at Sylas. He was just as pale-white as ever, combined with his lank white hair that fell neatly over one pitch-black eye. He tilted his head at Riordan, wondering why sorrow flooded off of the man in waves, then again looked at Sylas.

"Tch...keep riding." Null ordered, getting his horse back into action. At a fairly slow pace; the horses were worn from the getaway. Sylas, Leo, and Dark, however, stuck close.

Sylas, in fact, pulled ahead, getting his horse in line with Null's. They spoke quietly for a few moments before the older man broke off, pulling back to walk next to the trolley. "Hello there. Perhaps I should introduce myself; I'm Sylas, this is my friend Leo, and our companion, Dark."

"Hello! I'm Ink." The less sane one seemed to be having trouble coping with the bright desert sun, but the thought of having new friends made him happy. "This is my brother Riordan, and my new friend Zex."

"Zex? That's an interesting name. Quite old. Not very common. That's quite the wound you have there," Sylas pointed at Zex's bandaged chest. "You doing alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Zex snapped, frowning.

"Alright, just trying to be friendly. What about you, Riordan? You doing okay? You should probably drink something. Depression isn't any reason to neglet yourself."

Riordan fixed him with a look to match Leo's and turned pointedly away, tugging the sheet up around his face so he didn't have to look at them or be seen further.

Leo raised his eyebrows ever so slightly at this, suddenly tempted to be little more than a bother and blow the sheet off. But he held back, instead settling to tickling Dark's horse with small breezes of wind magic to make the animal bounce around lightly, almost bumping its rider off. Dark glared hard at the panther, but the young man had become quite the silent traveling companion as of late. He did still speak, of course, just not when strangers were around.

"Alright then." Sylas shrugged. "So where you headed, Ink?"

"Alastor. We have to meet up with the king." Ink smiled.

"Oh? That's nice. We're headed to Alastor ourselves." Sylas nodded. "Perhaps we should ride together."

"I think you should leave." Null glared pointedly back at him.

"I really don't think you want me to. You haven't noticed yet, but something had been following you. Some dark power, just waiting for the chance to strike...good thing I come prepared." Sylas drew something from his pocket. An orange-sized pearl like orb, gleaming brightly. Zex hissed and buried his face at the sight of it. "Titan repellant. Don't try to take it; it'll backfire and bite you."

"Who are you?!" Null demanded, stopping the horses again.

"Sylas Krow, father of Werr Krow, embassador of Kaislun, patriarch of House Krow, the man with the silver tongue...I have many names. You can just call me Sylas." He grinned, pocketing the orb again. Zex relaxed, though he still looked angry. "After collecting what information I could about the situation, I figured it'd be best to travel with a little protection. And here I am, protecting your dear king and company from a long-ranged Titan magic attack. If you really want me to leave, I suppose I will...but you don't want me to."

Null mulled it over, frowning. "...Very well then. Just stop talking before I cut your tongue out. I may not be able to hold that orb, but you certainly don't need to be in one piece to."

"I'd like to see you try," Leo growled, also noting the way Dark's gaze had gone from curious to hardened in a matter of seconds. The young man was fiercely protective of Sylas, who was his first true friend and the person who had helped him find a reason to live.

Leo flicked his tail a few times, turning his gaze back up at Riordan. Something immediately flashed through the panther's head when he stared at the look on the man's face. He had seen that sorrowful, broken-hearted look before...on his own and Sylas' faces...so long ago...when they had lost their familes.

Null said nothing further, and the trip passed in relative silence, aside from a stray conversation between Sylas and Ink. But before long, the less-sane royal was asleep next to his brother, worn out from a hard day's fight.

"Are you sure it's alright, letting him go with them?" Lance hissed.

"Peace. I would have attacked them, if not for a strange entity blocking my view. No matter. We have all we need." Veros smirked. "I will be back in my old form before sundown."

"And what of your current body?"

"Perhaps he can be of some use. His mind is full of arcane knowledge. About Kaislun, this world so much...apparently, there is yet another untapped resource on this world. Have you ever heard of...Dragonstone?"

The scout had ridden from the trade route to the castle, only to find it in pieces. After seeking out the advisors, a letter had been written to Werr, who took up shelter in Kess, one of Alastor's oldest cities. This letter was now in Werr's hands, as evening fell upon them.

"Not good." He sighed, sitting down at the table. The rustic manor they had taken shelter in was nothing new for him. "Gossain has sent their army along the trade road. Alastor's soldiers have already been dispatched to meet them, and reinforcements have been called from the south. All in all, it's not looking good..."