How long has it been now? (Quark)

OOC: This is a reunion battle between Gorin and Tayler. I'm sure it will be interesting to see how they both react, Gorin to seeing somebody he barely remembers and Tayler to see somebody who is drastically different now.

BIC: “You really shouldn’t smoke.”

An old man sat in a rocking chair, bobbing forwards and back in a rhythmic motion. What appeared to be a longhaired teen stood across the room smoking a crudely rolled cigarette.

In reality the longhaired teen was the neo-echo known as Gorin. The longhaired teen was his favorite appearance to use when travelling. His dark skin and yellow eyes usually drew unwanted attention unless he was using a different appearance.

“What do you care old man?” replied the former god. Smoking had no negative effects on him, as he didn’t even have to breathe in the first place.

The old man sighed and shook his head, his long white beard brushing the floor. He stood and walked away mumbling about how rude today’s youth were.

Gorin took the old man’s chair and sat facing the fire. He took the moment to take a better look at the raggedy inn.

It was the usual cliché inn. There was a bar at one end, complete with a couple tables and such, a fireplace at the other. A spiral staircase at the corner of the room led to the actual rooms.

“Ralph, don’t get too close to the fire dear.”

Gorin turned his head to see that a woman and a young boy had entered the inn. Obviously travelers, the two of them wore worn out clothing.

The boy, Ralph as the woman called him, seemed to marvel at the crackling fireplace. He slowly made his way over to it while his mother spoke with the innkeeper about the price for a room.

Gorin went back to staring at the fire, although he kept a close eye on the child. He didn’t want that stupid boy to touch the fire, leading to the woman accusing Gorin of convincing the gullible little boy to touch it.

The child started to inch closer to the fire despite the fact that the Oblivion Master was giving him the kind of look that most children shied away from. He was soon close enough to the flame to merely stick his tongue out and feel the incredible heat.

“Stupid kid, let’s see what happens when you play with fire.” thought Gorin. He focused on the fire and took control over the element of flame that it held. Within seconds he felt the warm sensation of having complete control over the fire.

“Hey kid, wanna see something cool?” Gorin asked. The boy turned to him and nodded excitedly. This was the fun part.

“Just lean a little bit closer to the fire and don’t take your eyes off it.” The boy did as he was told and was quickly close enough to burn the tip of his tongue if he stuck it out.

Gorin exerted his control over the flames and made them die down to a mere kindle. Being the stupid child that he was, Ralph leaned incredibly close in order to get a good view of the now-small flame.

When the gullible child’s head was close enough, the flames suddenly sprang back to life. Ralph barely got his head out of the fireplace in time to avoid being set on fire. He was practically a water fountain when his mother grabbed him and, scolding him the whole way, took him upstairs to the room she had rented.

The neo-echo got out of the rocking chair and made his way to the bar. The innkeeper and bartender were chatting about how the Oblivion War had recently ended over in the foreign continent.

“Yeah, something about that Gorin guy dying and his second in command not being good enough to keep morale up. I heard that Gorin’s fierceness was enough to keep many enemies at bay,” said the bartender. He was so preoccupied with the conversation that he didn’t even notice the fact that a third person had taken a seat at the bar.

“Well,” began the innkeeper. He had a nasty habit of trying to seem tough, and it was about to bring him a lot of grief. “I saw a picture of Gorin once. If he were in this bar I’d chase him away with a broom, a weak looking guy he was.”

Gorin was about to speak up when a woman’s voice suddenly broke the two-man conversation.

“He was a lot more powerful than he looked, and he looked pretty powerful to begin with.” The neo-echo turned to see that a woman had indeed entered the bar, a warrior by the looks of it.

Deciding that it didn’t matter whom the woman was, Gorin used his appearance changing ability to look like his first body did, minus the wings. The innkeeper instantly ducked down, bawling like a baby that he didn’t mean what he had said.

The woman however, had a different reaction.

Tayler's eyes shot wide open, "Well isn't this quite the coincidence?" Tayler said calmly, flashing back to the battle she had with him long ago.

Gorin shrugged, "It sure is," Gorin smirked, the lady seemed vaguely familiar but he simply could not put his finger on what her name was. After he died and his form was changed he only regained thirty percent of his memories, the memories of this women was not completely restored.

"So what are you going to do now, kill me?" she said keeping calm. She remembered how he fought before; he seemed to kill just for fun. But of course when she fought him last time, he had the help of an equally powerful warrior named Kenjin. Even though now it was just the two of them, she could sense that his powers had grown since their last powers. All that had changed with Talyer was her experience and one simple attack that wouldn't do much against him anyway.

Gorin chuckled lightly and stood from the rocking chair, "I've changed since you have last fought me." Gorin informed. Tayler then realized he no longer had wings.

Tayler didn't feel the same demonic presence Gorin was gave off, he now felt quite different, "Well, if you were the same way you were when I fought you long ago then I would be trying to kill you right now," She stated, "but something has changed in you."

"Is this change a good thing or a bad thing?" Gorin tested.

Tayler didn't say anything for a few moments, but then finally spoke again, "I still don't trust you."

Gorin nodded, “So that is a bad thing.” Each second this ninja spoke Gorin began to remember little by little about fighting her. This was all he needed to fight her if this confrontation would turn into a battle.

Tayler strafed closer to the bar as she spoke, “I don’t know what has changed, so I still don’t know if it is good or bad. I think it is a good thing for you, but if I remember you correctly it will be a bad thing for me.” Tayler decided, resting her hand on the counter.

“Do you wish to find out?” Gorin challenged with a wide smirk on his face.

Tayler smirked back; she knew that Gorin was more powerful than herself. She only beat him last time with the help of another powerful warrior, Tuariv.

Ooc: Meh, this is all I got and it's not that great. I don't even know if it makes sense, I'm too tired.

OOC: Meh, let’s say this takes place after Xithium Quest unless you’re planning on Tayler drastically changing at the end of that quest.

BIC: Gorin morphed from the form resembling his first body to what he assumed was his true form. Instead of the white haired man that had been standing before the female ninja moments ago, a man with completely dark skin and hair stood in his place.

“I’m guessing you didn’t get an invitation to the funeral,” said Gorin. He stuck his left hand in his pocket, his right hand ready to create a weapon any second.

“What funeral? Did the sunlight hurt you that much?” the female ninja replied. The innkeeper and bartender were both cowering behind the counter, a smell of dirty underwear issuing from one of them.

Gorin created a rapier, holding it vertically in front of his face. He still didn’t remember much about this woman, if anything at all. A fight would certainly jog his memory.

“I have this new body because I was killed by a mixture of a disease that stole my immortality and sanity, as well as a flaming blade slicing through my chest. Not a pleasant experience really,”

The neo-echo slowly lowered the rapier until it was pointing straight at Tayler. He began to twist and spin it around like a bored child would a play sword.

“After spending a few months in Echo Side, which is so bad that Hell looks like Heaven while you’re there, I came back in a new body. I’m actually quite a bit more powerful now.”

Tayler was about to ask about the boy she had met during the quest that Kenjin had taken her along for. The boy, Mavro as Kenjin called him, seemed to have some kind of relation to Gorin.

She decided against it when she realized that the Oblivion Master probably wouldn’t even care, if he was still like he used to be that is. The female ninja unsheathed her katana, ready for combat.

Taking it as an invitation to begin, the former god swung his blade in a horizontal arch. Tayler blocked the attack and countered with a vertical strike.

Gorin sidestepped the blow and thrust his weapon towards the ninja. She managed to get out of the way, but the same couldn’t be said of the innkeeper.

The weapon had pierced through the counter and stabbed the man’s head, killing him on contact. The neo-echo shook his head slightly, making an annoyed sound.

“He really shouldn’t have gotten in my way. Oh well, I may as well burn the place down while I’m at it. He’s sure not going to make anymore money off of it,” said the neo-echo.

Gorin left his rapier lodged in the counter, as well as the man’s skull. He leapt across the room and, to Tayler’s amazement, straight into the fireplace.

There was only enough room for the Oblivion Master to stick his head in, but he was still absorbing more fire element than he would have been able to absorb halfway across the room. When he’d absorbed enough, he made it perfectly clear what he was planning to do.

“You know, this place would look much better with licks of flame spewing all over the place,” Gorin said as he created a ball of flame in his hand. “Like I said, looks much better already.”

The ball of fire suddenly shot from the neo-echo’s hand and straight for the stairs. The wooden staircase caught fire fairly quickly, as well as a portion of the downstairs floor.
“Help! Help us! Somebody please!” came a woman’s voice. It was accompanied by the crying of a small child. Gorin turned and began walking out of the building.

He stopped at the exit and turned to face Tayler, who was trying to decide whether to go after the dark man or save the civilians. “I’ll be waiting for you outside after you take care of this little mess,” he said.

With that the neo-echo gave a casual wave and exited the building, leaving the female ninja to save the woman and child from the burning building. She would have to be quick, the flames were spreading fast.

Without a second thought, Tayler dashed up the steps and through the fire. Amazingly she made it to the top without getting burnt. The flames were spreading fast; soon the entire building would be on fire. Burning planks were already falling from the ceiling, nearly crushing her. Thankfully it was at midday and everyone who stayed at the Inn was out doing other things, everyone save for the mother and her child. Tayler could still hear their innocent cries for help, they were at least still alive.

Tayler screamed in frustration and slight annoyance, she couldn't believe someone could be so evil as to burn two innocent people alive. But as she thought about it, there was the one who killed her own parents. For all she knew Gorin could have been the one who did so. With a cry of fury she pelted down the hall to where the screams were coming from. Their cries were coming from the room at the end of the hall, room thirteen.

The fire was crawling along the sides of the Inn at an intense speed, attracted by the dry wood that the walls were made of. It was moving at a matched speed with Tayler's running and was steadily growing faster and stronger. The entire building was on the verge of collapse with the mother, child, and Tayler still in it.

What felt like hours, Tayler reached the end of the hall where the two were staying at. Without slowing down, she jumped forward and kicked the door down and tumbled into the room. A surge of heat blasted over her head just before she stood. The young boy sat there covering his head with his mother lying on the floor with burning planks buried in her skin. Just by looking at her, Tayler could tell she was dead and she knew the boy knew that as well.

Tayler picked the child up off the ground; there was no time to mourn within the burning building. Tayler shifted the boy over onto her right shoulder, struggling with the weight. With her left she charged it with lightning and pounded the window out. The glass shattered outward, not harming anyone. Tayler glanced over her shoulder to see the fire approaching fast and intensely. A tear rolled down her cheek when she stared at the lifeless face of the boy's mother, laying there on the ground never to comfort her child again.

She grabbed the boy with both her arms again and covered his head. She jumped from the window just as the fire engulfed the room, a large explosion shattering through the open window directly after them.

The two tumbled for the ground until Tayler successfully landed on her feet with skill. She set the coughing young boy onto the grass, feeling sympathy and empathy for the boy. She watched him bend over on the grass. He tried to stop the crying, but it broke through anyway and he began to weep, his tears staining Tayler's shoes.

Tayler felt like joining him, but she had other things she had to do. She bent down to the boy to comfort him.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted through a series of sniffles and pushed her away from him. Tayler stood back to her full height as tears began to swell in her own eyes. Something about this boy reminded her of Dehel.

"Please little boy, run over to the market area and look for a boy named Jarek, he will look after you until we can help you." Tayler told him, her brother Jarek would most certainly help take care of him until they could find a place for him to stay.

The boy stood up to his feet with tears still streaming from his eyes.

"Please, leave now. It's not safe for you here." Tayler pleaded. The boy nodded and quickly disappeared into the market, asking people for Jarek.

Tayler wheeled back toward the burning building, hatred swelling up within her, "Gorin you bastard. Show yourself!" she screamed, he sword blazing in the sunlight.

Ooc: ROFL, 666 words.

A small flicker of fire illuminated the spot where Gorin was standing. He was in the longhaired teen form, and was using the fire of the building to light a crudely rolled cigarette.

“And here I thought you’d be quicker than that,” said the neo-echo. Blowing cigarette smoke out of his nose, Gorin continued. “Oh well, I guess you’ll have the knowledge that its partially your fault haunting you forever.”

Tayler bristled with anger, clutching her sword so tight that her knuckles were white. She hated Gorin more than she had ever hated him before. How could he have killed an innocent person and traumatized a young boy, yet feel absolutely no remorse whatsoever?

“You ****ing,” began the ninja. The way that the Oblivion Master was merely standing in place casually smoking a cigarette made her even more angry. “How could you do that? They were innocent people!”

Gorin took a deep puff of cigarette smoke, letting it out slowly. He knew that it was wrong to kill innocent people, that’s something White Light would have made him do. Sadly, he had done it himself this time.

“How far would you go to protect the ones you love?” he asked. He gained an annoyed frown when he saw Tayler’s face contort with even more anger.

“How the hell does killing innocent people protect the ones you love?!” she shouted. The burning building illuminated both of them now, causing long shadows to branch off of them.

“It was said by my late children, the Dera Mages, that I would die at the hand of somebody who became a warrior because of losing their loved ones at a young age. A while ago I thought the prophecy meant two children, whom I almost killed. I changed my mind and eventually died at the hands of another,”

The Oblivion Master flicked what was left of his cigarette into the burning rubble. “The only way I can protect my loved ones now is to ensure that I die for good. According to the prophecy, that’s the only way I can die for good.”

Tayler cut Gorin off. “You killed innocent people just so you yourself could die? That’s the most selfish, cruel thing I’ve ever heard!” She didn’t quite understand why the former god wanted to die, and didn’t care either.

Gorin sighed, a stream of fire branching off of the rubble and engulfing him in flames. If she still wanted to fight him, he’d happily ablige. The Oblivion Master was soon covered in what appeared to be a raging hellfire.

“Alright then,” he said. “If you still hate me despite the fact that you don’t understand that I’m saving more people than I’m killing by doing this, so be it. If you wish to fight me then I’ll happily ablige.”

With that, the battle began.

OOC: Gorin's dialogue in this post is a tiny bit confusing if you haven't read "The treasure of black mountain" and/or some of Gorin's recent battles involving the OA. That's not exactly critical to the fight though, so don't worry about it.