The Forgotten Zodiac

"Tobias, Allie," L'arc greeted, an appropriate amount of concern in his tone as he approached, while not looking too subserviant to the humans. "Are you two all right?" he addressed their health first, looking them over for any sign of irreparable harm.

"Allie is fine, thankfully," Tobias shook his head. "I...got a bad cut on my side. They broke my leg, too. But supposedly, that won't matter." He quietly muttered, referencing the fact that he was scheduled to burn. Allie didn't know, thankfully. "Please tell me you're working towards getting her out of this." He looked down, desperately wanting to hug his daughter.

"I am. Both of you," he assured. He reached out and rested a hand on Allie's back for a moment. "So what happened?" he asked. "What do you have to say about the centaurs that were killed or are missing?"

"I...I was told the supposed crimes I was being held for. But they aren't true in the slightest." Tobias shook his head. "You can't honestly believe that I...please tell me you don't believe such lies, L'arc! I knew there were centaurs nearby, but I was planning to bring them a peace treaty, not war and devestation upon myself and my daughter."

"I suspected as much from you, Tobias," L'arc said. "Don't worry, I believe you. I'm going to figure out what's going on here," he said, then stood up and turned back to Persha. "Okay, let's see that cloth and... other matter,' he said.

"Sure." Persha shrugged, taking no heed to Tobias' words. He trotted off to his hut, emerging with a small box. "This was found in my hut shortly after my wife and the girl went missing." He handed over the strip of cloth. It looked like a torn sleeve. "And here is the...other stuff." It was tucked into a small bag. As he had described, it was black ooze of some kind, but L'arc could sense something both wrong and familiar about it at once. There was a sort of magic aura about it that was strikingly similar to something he knew...

"This... this is like Dark Matter," L'arc said. He appeared to be stricken with a realization all at once, and swore under his breath. "I know who took them, but I don't know where to find them," he said, sighing heavily. "This is my fault..." he muttered, but loud enough fr Persha to hear. "I set him loose..."

"You set who loose? Who is to blame for this? It is not your fault. I do not believe you would do such an evil against me, King Semperverde. Were you mistaken in releasing a prisoner?" Persha questioned, frowning.

"L'arc!" Sylas hurried into the camp, holding more of the Dark Matter. "Manny found this stuff. He said it's Dark Matter. I thought he went north!!"

((Okay, the current map I have in my head is the entire Oceanica to the south. Going north from there, we have the Flatlands (the plains housing Halberd Hall, where we are now), the Forest, then the crater where the Darklands used to be, then the humany place. To the west is the mountains, where the Manakete live, obviously. Please correct me if you have different ideas.))

((I picture Oceania in the east, the humans in the south/starting up the east coast, the forest in the middle, plains to the west, mountains to the north, and the crater more north than the mountains.))

"It was all a mistake - but nonetheless, the blame rests at my feet," L'arc said, then looked over as Sylas came running. He grimaced. "Persha, have you ever heard of the "Dark Chaos"?" he asked.

((I picture Oceania in the east, the humans in the south/starting up the east coast, the forest in the middle, plains to the west, mountains to the north, and the crater more north than the mountains.))

"It was all a mistake - but nonetheless, the blame rests at my feet," L'arc said, then looked over as Sylas came running. He grimaced. "Persha, have you ever heard of the "Dark Chaos"?" he asked.

((Humm...I suppose that works. Change the north to south, then. I need to draw up a map or something. .3.))

"Centaurs place no blame upon anyone but those who have directly acted." Persha ((I keep almost writing his name as Perhaps, it's really bad)) pondered the question for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm afraid I've heard of no such thing."

"What wounds were on the body?" Sylas asked quickly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Wounds! How did she die?"

"Torn apart. Limb from limb. Curse you, making me think of such a thing..." Persha growled, suddenly looking...tired. And sad.

"Right," Sylas darted off again.

Persha watched him go, but not without casting a questioning look at L'arc.

((I have been meaning to do that for a while XD))

L'arc sighed. "I... literally stumbled on to him," he said. "He used to be a nymph, but he stole the Scyre and killed the Mother Tree... he had been placed under a seal, but I accidentally broke it. I told him to leave the forest alone... perhaps I should have told him to go die instead," L'arc said, rubbing his temple slightly. "The humans are innocent. This is all my fault," he insisted.

((I tried to make a map once, but I used Florida as a base and it was obvious.))

"Peace, King L'arc." Persha shook his head. "You ask for an execution? Whether or not you released this evil is beside the point. I will not persecute you for that which has been done indirectly, without harmful intentions. I would not be capable of calling myself a noble Centaur if I did such a thing. Before you came, I was...actually having second thoughts about the execution of those humans. They did not seem capable of causing such wounds..."

"L'aaaaa-arc!" Sylas called from the edge of the camp again.

"You should probably see to your...companion." Persha mused, starting to pace.

((haha))

L'arc gave Persha a nod, then rushed off towards Sylas' voice. "What? What is it?" he called as soon as he approached.

"We're on the trail," Sylas nodded, looking towards Manny. "He says he can pick up the trail."

"It's a fairly large being..." Manny muttered, feeling along the ground. "It...made human tracks by using shoes. It must float, then, or levitate...o-oh...it...it drinks blood and takes energy from that, b-but...it doesn't have any direct weapons, so it...tears victims apart..."

"So it's not Dark Chaos himself. It's a monster, regardless...how'd you tell all this?"

"Yes." Manny trembled. "Um...Dark Matter is essence of the past. Any objects that have strong history have more dark magic...like a piece of ground that was stepped on a lot. The more memories a place or thing has, the more Dark Matter there is around it. So...it makes sense for a Dark Matter being to leave a history trail. And if you can look at it right...you can see everything."

"Useful to know, Manny," L'arc praised. "Hang on. " With that, the king ran off again, to report all of this to Persha. He found the centaur and brought him back to the others, and had Manny repeat what he'd just reported to the King.

When Manny was done explaining, Persha nodded thoughtfully. "I understand. I don't know much about Dark Matter, but I'm willing to accept secondary possibilities. Which way did this beast go? It likely still has the young girl..."

"Yes, it carried her off for a snack." Manny whimpered. "Tracking it will be hard, though...it doesn't really have a form, and it floats..."

"But you and Eve can sense the particles in the air, right?" Verolen frowned. "If Dark Matter leaves a trail, you should be able to tell where it's been due to higher concentrations of Dark Matter in the air, right?"

"Correct," Eve said. Already she was working her hands in the air, making odd shapes and symbols with them. "I can sense him... it, rather... clearly. And as far as I can tell, the child is still alive," she assured.

"Good. We should make haste, then." Persha nodded. "Lead the way. I hope you are correct on all this, and aren't making things up..."

"This'd be some story," Sylas chuckled. "Off we go, then."

Eve nodded, then she and Manny took the lead as they hustled roughly northeast, towards the coast. After a couple miles or so, Eve slowed slightly, and began running through her hand motions again.