The Forgotten Zodiac

Silence fell. "You really did it, didn't you? My, how compliant. Wait, you...don't know. Hm. This is highly amusing...but, I'm a monster of my word. I'll leave the forest alone. Off we go...!" The coffin flew open, and the hazy smoke gathered around it. A tall man in a rather unique outfit - black armor over top an odd suit stepped out, smoke covering his face from view. "See you later, king of the forest," He chuckled, stepping past L'arc. He kicked Bird in passing, but once he left the hallway, he dissappeared into a cloud of hazy smoke, which flew out of the temple faster than L'arc could react.

"L'arc? L'arc, are you okay?" Sylas called, sounding scared. "L'arc! Answer me!"

The seed in L'arc's hands glowed and hummed, and filled L'arc with more of a calm feeling. Bird, in the meantime, struggled back to his feet and staggered away.

L'arc was distracted for a long time; by the words of the monster at first, then the strange aura emanating from the seed in his hands. It was nearly a full minute later when he registered the fact that Sylas was calling his name, and he hurried back to the hall, looking between the bars that seperated him from Kendra and Sylas. "I'm fine," he said quickly. "What about you two? Okay?" he asked, then looked around quickly to see where Bird had gone.

"I'm okay. The smoke is gone, what was that thing? What...what are you holding?" Sylas frowned. "Where'd the Bird guy go...? Oh, there," Sylas watched as the masked man approached L'arc again, holding several scrolls and one thick book. He nodded and turned back down the hall he had been trying to take L'arc in, waiting at the intersection again.

"Go with him, he should lead you back," Sylas nodded. "Hurry!"

"Okay, I'll be there soon!" L'arc said, running quickly after Bird. He slowed as he got closer to the nymph, as the monster had identified him to be, and looked up at him. "...listen... I'm sorry," he said quietly.

No response. From the half of Bird's face that L'arc could see, he looked more than upset. But far from angry. He turned and led the way down the hall, and before long at all, they arrived in the room that Sylas and Kendra were in.

"L'arc! There you are..." Sylas hurried forward, then blinked. "Jeez, Bird, you look...hurt..."

The man still said nothing. Instead, he pushed the scrolls and books into Sylas' arms, who dropped several before managing to get a grip on them. "What...what are these?" He asked, but didn't get a response. Instead, Bird withdrew a length of rope from his rabbit-skin bag. He wandered into the main room and sat down on the altar, starting to tie what was unmistakeably a noose.

"I don't think so," L'arc said, crossing the room quickly and snagging the rope from Bird's hands. "It was my fault, not yours. I don't know exactly what I've done, or how to undo it, and it would appear that you know what's going on, and so if you could tell me what to do, I'll help you get... it back. It's obvious that I've done something horrible and I... I'll make it up to you, okay?" he tried, looking straight at Bird as he spoke.

Bird tilted his head at L'arc, then slowly nodded.

"Come on, then. Let's go back to the others." Sylas pulled on L'arc's sleeve. "We should get Bird some medical help, and then we can talk to him..."

L'arc, folding the rope around his arm, turned and nodded to Sylas before looking back at Bird. "You know the way out, right? I've gotten all turned around..." the forest king muttered, glancing around the altar room.

Bird nodded again, standing and leading the way. It was only one room over before the found the room with the caving-in roof; Bird turned down a hallway, then climbed a set of stairs to a trapdoor, which he pushed open. He stepped outside, squinting in the sudden and harsh light of the sun; he looked incredibly pale. It was easy to tell that he wasn't often in the light.

"Right. This way," Sylas took the lead, still holding all the scrolls and whatnot. Kendra had taken half of them to make carrying them easier. And before long at all, they were on their way to the camp.

"So...uh...Bird, right?" Sylas questioned. Bird nodded. "Can you...not speak?" Another nod. "So...you CAN speak?" Negative. "Oh. Sorry, you confused me," Sylas smiled a bit at himself. No response.

"It's fine," L'arc said. He held out his arms, offering to take some of the books and scrolls from Sylas and Kendra. He glanced back at Bird, then asked, "Sylas recalls meeting someone like you before... was that you?" he asked, trying to make conversation that could be answered in "yes" or "no".

Bird nodded, then paused and drew something in the dirt. A wolf. "Yeah! I was being attacked by wolves and you saved me. Your attack on the wolves let me get away, and I crawled to the Tree of Seasons. I'm really grateful for that. I never got to thank you for it."

Bird shrugged, and continued walking.

The quartet walked on in silence, L'arc trying desprately to think of something to fill the quiet, but he hadn't come up with anything by the time they reached the camp again.

"Our tents are over here, Bird," L'arc said, taking the lead again quickly, where it had been left to Sylas before.

"Hey, there they are," Verolen greeted them at the edge of camp. "Who's this? A new friend? You just can't go anywhere without dragging along newcomers, can you? What's your name, stranger?" He held out his hand to him.

Silence. Bird didn't even move to shake Verolen's hand. He just stared at it, mildly perplexed.

"His name is Bird," Sylas cleared his throat. "He doesn't seem capable of speaking..."

"Oh. I guess that's okay, then. What'd you lot get?"

"Into trouble." The human sighed. "I dunno why Bird gave us all these scrolls. We'll just have to get into them and figure out what they say. Want to help me with that, Kendra?"

"I'd be honored," was Kendra's immediate reply as she smiled over at Sylas. She moved over to a currently unoccupied tent and motioned for the human to follow.

L'arc considered going after them, but instead looked to Bird. "Listen, can you... describe to me, in some way, what... I let out?" he asked.

Bird frowned at L'arc, then began what could only be described as an odd charade of sorts. He put his hands over L'arc's eyes.

Verolen, in the meantime, walked in a circle around the man. "Huh. A wood Nymph. I haven't seen one of these since...ever, really. Aren't they extinct?" Bird managed a soft hiss, turning his back to Verolen while keeping his hands over L'arc's eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just...curious. As to why you're here." Verolen frowned. Bird turned and frowned right back at Verolen, then pointed at the tent Sylas and Kendra went into. "Alright, alright," The demon prince backed off, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Bird went right back to covering up L'arc's eyes, clearly wanting him to guess.

"Ah, blind?" L'arc attempted. "Darkness..." slowly, he shook his head, those two things being all that he could make of the action. He wasn't sure if he was even close...

Bird pulled his hands away and nodded. He held up his fingers to sign the number two; clearly, the second guess was the right one. Darkness, or dark. Bird paused, frowning slightly. As if he wasn't sure how to go about charading the next part. He then stamped his foot down in the mud, then did so again right next to it, until he had a nice row of foot prints. He stopped when he had around five, looking up expectantly at L'arc.

"Okay, dark," L'arc said. He watched the next action in confusion, glancing between Bird's face and the marks in the ground. "Ah, five? Six? Feet?" he asked, clearly not getting this one at all.

Bird frowned in frustration, then knelt and drew out marks. It was the same written language that had been all over the walls. In the light, L'arc could recognize it as the Nymph written language; but he had no idea what the symbols meant. Bird stood again and pointed to it, clearly expecting L'arc to understand that much.

"I'm sorry, I never learned to read Nymph..." L'arc said quietly, before suddenly getting an idea. He looked around quickly. "Rush! Hey, Rush, where are you?" he called. "Come here, I need you to read something!"