The Forgotten Zodiac

Sylas scrambled up after his friend, then blinked. "Well...we have two options. We could wake him up, or sit here and stare at him until he wakes up on his own." He said jokingly, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.

L'arc smiled a bit at Sylas, shaing his head slightly. "I suppose it is important," he said, before leaning over and shaking Bermuda's shoulder gently.

"...not yet!" Bermuda spluttered, sitting up with a wide-eyed expression. He blinked at L'arc and Sylas, taking a moment to process who they were, before relaxing. "Oh... it's you."

"It's us," L'arc said, frowning slightly. "Nightmares? You haven't had trouble with those in a while."

"Yes, er, well... I'm fine. What did you need?" Bermuda asked hastily.

"Just... wanted to talk to you. See if you're doing okay," L'arc said, stting down on the bed. "You know, I'm not as oblivious as you seem to think. I know that there's something going on with you."

Bermuda frowned, hesitating before speaking again. "...truly, L'arc. You shouldn't worry."

L'arc bit down on his lip, "You know that hearing you say stuff like that only makes me worry more, don't you?" he asked.

Bermuda shifted uncomfortably and looked away, glancing up at Sylas for a moment. "It's inevitable. There's nothing I can do, except what I want to do to help you. Let it be, won't you? I... it's hard enough as it is, without talking about it," he said.

"That doesn't sound like a very straightforward answer," Sylas frowned. "What are you planning, Bermuda? Verolen said you were planning on 'stopping the war'. Somehow, I don't think that's a very easy feat to accomplish, y'know?"

((Now I'm imagining the Phantom after being hit by the spell. xD "This place is on fire! Talos, fetch water, lots of it. Oh, there are people hiding in the big tree, we've gotta keep the fires away from it! Son, Rush, both of you with me, we can make a shield around the tree and--Byrne, why are you pointing that at me? Get inside, before you die of oxygen loss, jeez!"))

((XDD This is going to be awesome.))

"As I just said, it's not going to be easy," Bermuda responded a little testily. L'arc held up his hands in a surrendering fashion.

"Easy there, Bermuda. We just want to... help you out, okay? Come on, you know you can talk to us," he said.

Bermuda hesitated for a long moment more, then said, "I had a vision."

"Now we're getting somewhere. What happened?" L'arc said, relaxing his pose again.

"...there's going to be a fire."

L'arc immediately stiffened. "...you can't mean here, can you? That's... we..." At Bermuda's grave nod, he shuddered and fell silent. But then, "So, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to... to stop the war?"

"...that would be telling," Bermuda said, smiling as if he had just tried to make a joke. The expression was forced, however, and none in the room really found the reply humorous to any degree. L'arc seemed irked.

"Bermuda, come on!"

"...I need to go back to sleep. I have to get ready, L'arc. Please... just stay out of my way."

((Complete reversal of attitude, though.

He's not even going to hold a grudge at anything. "What? Oh yeah, I remember, you tried to kill me once. Yeah, I don't care." And he won't care about bringing his wife back anymore, either. He's not going to bear any kind of hatred at anything, and dislike at something will be rare. Heck, maybe he won't even like the same foods anymore. xDD))

"Get ready for what? If you're not going to tell us, we'll ask Rush what you're planning. We'll interrogate Verolen. Someone here has to know what you're up to, even if you're not saying anything." Sylas gritted his teeth. A fire? Here, of all places...the councilmembers had to be alerted to this. The entire town would be destroyed in an instant...and if the fire spread, which fire usually did, it could be all over the plains in a matter of seconds and even further out into the forest. It wouldn't get any further than the Tree of Seasons, Versha would see to that, but...

Bermuda frowned and turned over, ignoring the others for a while before letting out a very fake-sounding snore.

"Oh come on!" L'arc said, rising to his feet again and shaking Bermuda's shoulders. "You can't be serious? What is with you? You never act like this?" he practically shouted. After about a minute more of ineffectual shaking, however, he looked back to Sylas.

"I give up," he said, throwing his hands in the air. "We should... we should go tell the council about the fire, at least," he said, already headed from the room.

((XD

I am having fun with Bermuda right now.))

"Yeah. Let's do that." Sylas slid down the ladder after L'arc, but not before passing a final glance over to Bermuda. "You know...we care about you. That's why we want to know...because the hardest things usually require sacrifice." He said quietly before slipping out of the room and hurrying after L'arc.

"A fire?" The elder was immediately concerned. "And how do you know? Most of the surrounding trees are fireproofed..."

"But the Phantom can easily get around that." Verolen tutted. "His Black Fire will burn anything. It devours anything within a certain radius easily...after it passes said radius, it'll return to normal fire, the point still remains...Treefort could potentially become nothing but a crater. The Tree of Shelter will burn."

"As will I." Versha said quietly. "I have forseen that I, the Tree of Seasons, will be the final death to occur among the Tree Spirits. What happens beyond that is far beyond my sight; whether the forest is to win the war, or the humans succeed in massacring us all, I will die on the day of the coronation. But...don't be sad, friends. My death will bring about new life, just as it always is with the Tree of Rebirth."

L'arc's expression was somber as he listened to the conversation that followed his words, before saying, "Bermuda saw it in a vision, and he's never been wrong before. It's definitely going to happen."

"...mayhap we should begin moving those that can be moved, then?" Kendra offered, entering the room just behind Verolen. "How far does this radius of your father's extend? Is there enough time to save the villagers from physical harm?" she asked.

"Of course there is, if we move them now," Verolen nodded. "But once he's here and attacking, it'll take maybe five minutes before everywhere within 3 miles of where he sets it off to burn..."

"Nay. I shall reduce it. The black fires will go no further than the treeline and the borders of this town. If treefort is to be destroyed, then so be it. But I will do everything within my power to keep the black fire from spreading." Versha insisted. "It won't go far. By tomorrow, all women and children should be with the refugee camp just beyond the treeline. They should move closer to the witches of Halberd Hall. Everyone else will have my protection from the flames, enabling them to leave the area as quickly as they can."

((Thus, Sylas will be able to run the wrong way without getting killed by the fire.))

((Goot.))

L'arc nodded, smiling slighlty. "Thank you Versha. That's doing more than we could ever hope to ask for. Thank you," he repeated, inclining his head to her slightly.

((So what are we going to do with the senators after this?))

((I dunno. They're your bad guys, I assumed you had a plan. But I can play some if you want. >w< They could send out assassins, recon groups, so on. They could declare war on the forest, even. That'd be like a slap on the face to pretty much all of Forestum, seeing how they would have just suffered one war to plummet right into another, pointless one, but...yeah.))

Versha dipped her head. "If it is to be my last act, then I would make it one that will be remembered." She said quietly.

"I'll give the orders to pack and leave," The youngest of the three stood with a small sigh.

"I'll help with the relocating in any way I can," L'arc volunteered immediately. "I know it's my fault that your town is... going through all this. I still cannot thank you enough for putting up with it. I honestly question if I am worthy of such confidence, but... I suppose I must be, for you to do this for me. I promise, I'll set things right as your King," he said.

"We trust that you will. And...besides, not many here were initially comfortable with being in treehouses. Maybe it's time we settled a little closer to our roots. We'll rebuild." The elder nodded smiling. "If you wish to help, you could go alert the human camp that we're on our way. Explain the disasters we have forseen. To my understanding, Verolen and L'arc, the two of you have already familiarized yourself with them...and their horse. You have their trust, which is very helpful to us. They'll listen to you when you speak and believe what you have to say."

"Right, we can do that," L'arc said, looking over his shoulder to Verolen. "We'll go immediately, so don't worry. By your leave?" he asked, heading to the door but pausing at the threshold as he awaited their permission to go.

"May you have all the speed of the four winds." Versha dipped her head, giving him leave.

"Let's go, then." Verolen moved to follow, then looked back at Sylas and Kendra. "You two, stay here and watch over the others. Check on Rush in a few, okay? He might need something."

"Sure," Sylas nodded, glancing over at Kendra. After the other two were gone, he looked up at her, smiling a bit. "Do you want to? I can go by myself..."

"I shall be glad to accompany you, Sylas," Kendra assured, flashing him a smile. "Truth be told, I am not sure how comfortable I am venturing alone in a strange city that is... so far off the ground." The normally tightly-wound demon flushed slightly as she admitted this, then said, "I would prefer it much more if I had with me a guide who feels much more secure than I."

Sylas turned bright red. "Uh...I don't really...um...yeah. Sure. It's fine," He shook his head, remembering that Rush's potion-making station was on the ground. Whatever he was making, it was on the bottom floor regardless, so he didn't have to worry about going to one of the top levels. "Come on then, let's go." He smiled, much more calmly as he led her to the nearest ladder.

"See? You already know your way around so well," Kendra complimented. "If we are to speak frankly, I get turned around rather easily in a place like this... see, in the Southlands, the terrain is relatively flat, and comprised of fields. No forests or mountains or the like. This is quite the palpable change, but I fear I am not adapting as speedily as I'd like." She spoke all of this while following after Sylas, staying close as to not get lost.

"You'll be fine. The forest folk are really nice, you'll be able to ask for directions anytime if you do get lost. Or you could just call for me, I'll hear you." Sylas smiled a bit, unable to hide another flush of pink in his cheeks. "We do travel a lot, though...it took some getting used to, myself. But this is...well, this is our life. Our ways. If we don't travel, our enemies catch up with us. The only safe place we seem to have from that is the Manakete Palace..."

"Yes, as I've seen. The dragonkin are very kind," she said, nodding in a matter-of-fact way. She seemed to hesitate, but added, "You, also, have been very kind to me, Sylas. You are a good friend to those in this group, and you have been most welcoming to me."