Three days have past since the last encounter. Tai and Nick are almost at Tharsis looking for some kind of sign of civilization. the last fight ended up with a blazing finish to the battle against the psychotic boy and the archer girl, but they disappeared after my last attack and Nick and I are headed to Tharsis is search for a hint of Layn.

The heat feels heavenly on Tai's bare face as he faces the sun. The barren landscape fits Tai's fighting spirit right on the nail. Tai feels pump and ready for anything to pop up.

He looks over to Nick beside him and asks, "Where do we start?"

Nick was in a rather depressive and foul mood for the past 3 days, they were able to escape the battlefield thanks to Tai and Nick was feeling like weakling for that. He woke up to the heat of the sun close to a beach in Tharsis. He looked over and saw Tai anxiously awaiting to keep going, though they weren't exactly sure where to go.

Nick got up and stretched as he looked to his surrounding figuring out where to go. "Well if you don't have any more clues about the whereabouts of this gate then we should head east i guess. There's no Gateport on the map and I haven't heard of there being one around here. So I guess we need to rely on you and our instincts." Nick said with a grumpy tone as he grabbed his belongings and got ready to move.

Tai looks ahead to see a man walking in there direction. Tai and Nick continue walking to find out that the man is beaten and battered and when he gazes upon Nick and Tai, he is murmuring to himself "how horrible. another destroyer has come to extinguish the last of us. Oh woe to me. the death of us has come. Oh woe. Why is it always us? why don't we get attacked and just end it? why not finish us off so the pain will stop? Why drag the pain on?"

Tai had no clue what he was saying, so he glanced over to Nick, but Nick gave a look saying 'wut? idk. forget it.' The man continues walking. Nick doesn't seem to care, so neither did Tai. Tai saw a bit of sweat and a clench of teeth on Nick, but it was probably the awesome weather we are having.

Tai sees smoke in the distance and people running far from recognizable sight. Were the people running from the smoke? Or were they trying to get closer?

Tai looked a little harder and saw them moving farther away. They were moving toward the fire. Why?

Tai doesn't like the look of the situation ahead. He left his thoughts of Layn behind to observe more on the situation. "Maybe they are trying to stop the fire?" Tai asked assuming Nick sees what Tai is seeing.

[Really there is nothing in front of us but a small village and you don't see fire. its just Tai's mind playing with him.]

Nick could not make sense of what the old man was saying, but when he mentioned Destroyer, Nick suddenly got a flashback to his weird dragon dreams, but he tried to block them out as he did not want part of it now. as the old man passed them, Nick continued walking trying to make sense of that man, but he just thought that it was just some crazy old man.

As Nick saw the small village up front he could smell meat cooking from a shop about a mile away, he was already hungry. Though he then listened to Tai and tried to see if there was any fire, which he did not see, and the only smoke he smelled was the smoke of his next meal. "What are you talking about? What people? What fire?" Nick said as he walked passed Tai giving him a curious look.

"The fire on that village. I think its being attacked, and the fire is burning the village down." Tai said giving Nick a 'duh' look.

He looks back down at the fire and the fire formed a face with wrinkles saying "HE HAS RETURNED" as it turns to ash from the fire.

Tai blinks and it all disappears. the fire and the face. Everything.

A 4-legged, red scaled monster with 2 horns and an evil look on his face saying "i will kill you" jumped from a brush and attacked with his claws! Tai tried to witness what happen so fast as the creature came froth to claw him! But Tai evaded with his shirt torn and a scratch on his chest. The scratch didn't cut deep. As Tai was unprepared he shouts "Aoru!" and inflames his hands but the monster attacks again! "NICK!"

2 more monsters swarm out of the bush!

"Hmm I think there might be something wrong with you, maybe some food will make you feel better." Nick said with a rather worried tone. Fire illusion were not caused by hunger, something was happening to Tai but he had seemed to have snapped out of it.

After the first monster had sprung out and attacked 2 more came out and surrounded Nick. Nick was a bit surprised to not have noticed them, probably because he was still thinking of food, "You're making me late for my dinner!!" Nick yelled at the 2 beast which ran toward him with their head downs and their horns pointing forward. Nick rolled forward and evaded the attack, turned around and used his breath of fire to engulf them both in flames. But they quickly rolled on the ground and put out their fire. "They're smarter than they look."

More monsters came pouring through the brush making the total amount of monsters surrounding them 8.

"i think we are surrounded... Kasai panchi!" fire formed around his fist as Tai punches one of them in the chest where a bright crest appears and the monster disintegrates. "i think i got one!" Tai looks at the others surrounding him and Nick.

"maybe they are weak in the chest!"

"Really captain obvious, you think?" Nick said in a sarcastic tone as they were surrounded by the wild beast. 3 of them jumped to Nick which rolled out of the way, and making the 3 of them crash heads.

Another came rushing toward Nick "Draco Potentiam! incrementum gravitatis quinque!" Nick increased the its gravity by 5 times which caused it to stumble and trip on the ground. Nick quickly jumped on it and used his breath of fire on the chest causing it to disintegrate just like Tai said.

"2 down, 6 to go!"

Tai steps back and 3 step forward. Tai tries to keep distance so he can charge his fire but the still follow. Tai chants, "kasai panchi." and fire rushes to the fist he swings around to the left monster making him disappear. the other 2 started to understand they were messing with the wrong people. they started to back off, and run for the brush again. "Hell no!" Get back here! Hi no ya!" Tai fires a fire arrow at one of them and the arrow pierces his chest and another disappears.

Another beast charged at Nick, but instead of dodging this time Nick was gonna face it head on. Nick put his arms forward and grabbed the beast by the horns, the beast was still able to push Nick back a bit but did not knock him to the ground as Nick was still holding on to the horns and holding the beast back. "OORAHHH!!" Nick yelled as he twisted his arms and brought down the beast to the side. The beast quickly got up and started running toward the forest like the other beast, but Nick did not attack them like Tai.

As Nick saw Tai kill one of the best running away, he gave him a disappointing look.This beast were probably hunting or defending their territory, there was no need to keep attacking them. At the moment Nick head began to hurt as he saw flashes of Torthon and could hear the words "Murderer..."

"Well! they wont be bothering us again now will they? haha! Tai gave Nick a look that shows satisfaction and victory. Nick didnt look so good, like his head was going to burst. "hey you alright?"

Nicks head was still burning, he could feel his eyes changing into those of a dragon, he felt like he was going into a trance but he willed himself out of it before anything happened. He opened his eyes and heard Tai question him. "I'm fine... I'm just hungry..." Nick was in a rather foul mood again.

"Let's go!"


(OCC: I'll leave it to you to explain the town.)

the town becomes more visible as we approach it. it is dirt-filled and the huts are made of straw. the people look at Tai, and then at Nick, and then the ugly looks start spreading. "hey check out the new faces. they dunt look too nice... watch yur back with them looks.

Tai approaches a man and asks "Where are we?" the answer he gets is just a "hmpf" and a back facing him. "not too welcoming huh?" Tai smells the fire cooking food and makes his way toward the scent. the man cooking the meat over the open fire shouts "HEY! GET AWAY FROM THAT!"

As Nick entered the village he did not make eye contact with anyone, instead he just thought of what had just happened and of how hungry he was. He immediately walked over to where the food was at and for a moment just stood there taking in the delicious aroma while Tai made his way over to him. The cook screamed at Tai, as Tai seemed to be getting ready to take the food without saying anything. Nick just laughed at that.

Nick took out some drachma and handed them over to the cook, "Give me 3 plates. I'm starving!" Nick told the cook. The cook gave him a whatever look as he turned around and started preparing the plates, 1 was for Tai, the other 2 were for Nick.

"You gotta remember Tai, money is the universal language." Nick said as the cook handed over the plates. Nick took out some more drachma and showed them to the cook, "So, what can you tell us about this place..." The cook looked around to see if anyone was watching closely and took the money, stashing it in his pocket. He leaned forward to tell us what he knew.

"I dont know if you folks have heard the rumors, but the Banished One was said to be alive and attacking us. some just say it is just an impersonator, but seeing that he burned down a whole street full of people just a few days ago makes me wonder. Both of you look very suspicious and mimic the look of the Reposition dragonfolk in the legend of the great massacre." The man looked worried as if he snitched on someone and is about to be ratted out.

Tai spoke "can you tell us more? What is the Reposition?"
The man holds out his hand as if he were a vending machine for information.

Nicks head started to hurt a bit when he heard the cook mention the Reposition. But he tried to keep his cool and pretend like everything was ok. "I've heard a bit about the Reposition. The Reposition was a myth. It was said to be a group of powerful dragon who lived in another dimension watching over us. However it is just a myth... right?" Nick asked the cook, but the cook did not say anything, he just moved his finger telling Nick to give him more money. Nick was a bit annoyed now, but he still gave him a bit more drachma as he continued his story.

"The legend goes that there was a group of Destroyers who gained a new recruit, and his name was Craisontus (Cray-sun-tus). Craisontus was young to be a Destroyer, first and youngest to be recruited. The Destroyer's purpose was to ensure the Warlords do not become corrupt and the Warlords control the infantry, but they are not important. What is important is that the Destroyer's are granted powers that are sealed to the soul and are stronger than most all the empire. With great power comes great sacrifice.

One day, a Warlord wanted to gain power and attacked the Dragon King, but the Destroyers were sent to annihilate the aggressor. Tai was granted part of the mission with 1 other. The other Destroyer fought and was defeated by the Warlord and his men. Craisontus was only 10 Repo cycles old and he managed to kill the opponent. Tai was mentally unprepared for the death for the death of his fellow Destroyer and the murders he committed. He became confused and lost in thought. He became unstable in his mind, but for the victory was awarded the ring that shows a Destroyer's distinction, the Destroyer Emblem.

His mother died soon after he was awarded the ring. Craisontus was terrorized by his only parent being dead, and sought to find answers. His mother left him a will to a Dragon's Blood Stone necklace, which is said to protect the user. Craisontus took the necklace.

One Repo cycle later, a war broke out due to the argument of 2 countries conflicting the safety of the people they were supposed to protect. Craisontus grew insane and decided to just stop the fighting with everybody being dead. He began with the Dragon King, and then started to the Warlords. After the Warlords were dead the other Destroyers fought to stop him, but Craisontus's mentality was unbreakable and he reigned on top. 3 million died the first week, and Craisontus found it to be fun to finish what he started. The 2nd week ended with 6 million dead, 8 whole civilizations. Thankfully all the deaths were not caused by Craisontus, but the war itself caused two-thirds of the deaths and he finished the rest. There were only 18 million Reposition Dragonfolk left.

The Repo devised a plan. So the Reposition swore to banish Craisontus to any other planet than theirs to hope to ridance themselves of the corrupted goals he strived to accomplish. His banishment took place as an election of the new Dragon King of Reposition to use as a lure. By the time he was successfully sealed and banished, one-third of the population had already died in the Reposition. Craisontus lost his name but soiled his title and is now called the Banished One. No one knows the real name of the Banished One."

Tai was intrigued by the story. in fact, he saw that the last part of the banished kinda sounded familar, but he wasnt sure. He looked over to Nick...... but Nick wasn't there... wait... where is everybody? where did the man telling the story go? where did the light go?! 'BANISHED, BANISHED! YOU, CRAISONTUS WILL NOT BE NAMED NO MORE. YOU ARE NOW TAIRUS! TAIRUS THE BANISHED. WE, THE REPOSITION, HEREBY BANISHED YOU ELSEWHERE OTHER THAN HERE! BEGONE AND SEEK NOT TO RETURN!"

Tai awakens with a cold sweat standing up and looks at Nick.

As the cook told the story Nick did not hear the story, he saw it. He does not know how or why but in the blink eye of an eye Nick was floating above ruins on fire. It felt like one of his weird dreams again, but it was different, this time he was living the story of the Destroyers and the Reposition. Nick could see dragons falling and dying, he could feel the scream of pain and agony from everyone below. But most of all he could feel the sinister laugh of a dark being, looking at the direction of the laugh Nick saw a dark figure on the horizon, it was a man, he could not get a good look at him but he knew who he was, "Craisontus..."

At that moment a large red dragon with thorns all over its body came flying towards Craisontus, "Torthon!!" Nick recognized him from his dreams, it was the elder dragon, the leader of the Reposition. He was fighting valiantly to kill Craisontus, but in a flash Torthon was taken down. Nick saw how Torthon fell from the sky and gave it out its last roar. Nick could feel the sadness in the roars that came from the rest of the dragons when Torthon dies. For some reason, even though he hated that Torthon was in his head Nick began to shed tears. "TORTHOOOONNN!!!"

Nick awoke from his trance to see that the cook had finished his story and he and Tai were giving Nick a weird look, as Nick noticed tears were really shedding from his eyes. "Ahh stupid onions." Nick said trying to cover up as he wiped the tears off. "Well that was a waste of my money. It's all legends. Come on man, let get out of here. We got more ground to cover." Nick said as he grabbed his stuff and started heading out. He was having a bad feeling about this, though he didn't know if it came from the town or from Tai...

" hey now boys! dont get into trouble! be wary as you may be mistaken for someone dangerous."

Tai shivers madly and feels a chill he cant shake off.

"do ya wanna leave Nick? Tai asks completely abandoning Layn hoping that Nick will say no, but also wishing for him to say yes.

"You know maybe Layn went somewhere else and maybe Layn is not here!" Tai adds fidgeting in place.

The people dressed in rags and brown clothes all stare at Tai and Nick. Tai's hands inflame without notice in a small spark, but not enough to be able to attack with. the people around him scatter to hide.

Three men appear in black robes with hoods over their heads. their presence sends fear running through anyone's veins. they approach Nick and stare down his dragonly eyes. "dragonfolk are not welcome here. leave or be damned."

As Nick was walking away he didn't pay attention to what the cook said or to Tai. He would think that him walking away would answer Tai's question. Nick's head was filled with visions of the destroyers and the Reposition. He could hear Thortons voice as if he was standing right next to him. Nick stopped in a halt when he saw the three men standing infront of them, he tried to look into their eyes but he could not see their face. Nick's head suddenly started to hurt again but this time with even more intense pain, it felt as if someone was trying to force their way into Nicks head. He looked down as he grabbed his head and grunted a bit in a low tone. The man to the right took a step toward Nick

"Did you not hear us?!?! Leave now or you will be-" The man, who had the voice of a younger man, did not finish his sentence as Nick grabbed him by the neck and held him a good 2 feet of the ground with one hand. The man panicked as he tried to gasp for air.

"Shut up..." Nick said with menacing tone as he broke the young mans neck with one hand, killing him. Nick threw him to the side like it was nothing. Where was this strength coming from?

"WHY YOU!!!" The man to the left step forward to try and attack Nick, but in a second he was entirely engulfed in flames by Nicks breath of fire. The man started screaming in agony as he started running across the street in panic.

There was only one more man in his way, and after what he had just witnessed this man did not seem fazed, he just kept starring at Nick. Nicks head while still hurting and he could not make eye contact with the last man, "Ugh, what's happening?!?!" Nick thought to himself.

Tai froze and the hands caught up into servere fire. Tai whited out and awoke with 2 guys on the floor leaving the last one still standing.Tairus raises his hand fires a fire ball madly flaming deep red toward the last standing man. He turns to ash. "Weaking." Tai speaks in a voice of deep scorching vibration in the air. Tai's body inflames entirely into an ember blast but quickly extinguishes with the scream of a woman behind him.

"AAHHHH!! HE HAS RETURNED! RUN! HIDE!! The woman shouts. The city guards (which number in very few tens) arrive and say "Halt! Surrender now!"

Tai ignores the call and inflames again!"Aoru! Hi o moyasu!" and grows larger in fire. Tai is left in the open but is hot enough to cause burns to anyone weak enough who might come near.

Nick's head felt like it was about to explode, as the last thing he saw was the man standing infront of him turn to ash, but before he did he was able to say a few final words, "Don't trust him dragonfolk." Those final words, were the last push that Nick needed. He lost control. Nick blacked out and transformed into his dragon.

He leaped infront of Tai as he spun, swiping the incoming guards with his tail, knocking them to the buildings on the side. The screams of the villagers could be heard from all over the place, but they did not reach Nick. The dragon would give out loud roars constantly, using his breath of fire to keep everyone away from Tai and him. For a moment the guards retreated with the villagers and only a few villager were staying behind due to injuries or curiosity. It was now or never...

The dragon spun around and pinned Tai to the ground with his right claw. The flames did not affect him in the slightest, or Nick's brain was not noticing the slight burns. "incrementum gravitatis quinque!" the dragon chanted increasing the gravity around them by 5 times. "You will pay for what you have done, Craisontus!!" The dragon screamed telepathically, it had the voice of Nick, but a second voice could be heard over it, Torthons voice.

All Tai could see was an Elder Dragon with a face the shows ire and an unsatisfied look of madness. The dragon was neither of the world nor of any previous face seen before. The fierce roar made a slight cringe in Tai's soul and Tai stood up without the claw or spell having any effect on him. 'What am I?' Tai has eyes that have no glimmer of life; his face has no fear shown; his body is being controlled by a mind not of this being. Tai is not Tai anymore. Tai is blind and standing in total darkness with a ball of light in front of him. the ball of light turned red and Tai didnt like that.

"Hi no YA!" Tai fires an arrow bigger than his own body at the light in front of him. The attack hits the corner of the light and part of the light shatters off. The light moves back a few meters.

The complete darkness becomes darker and Tai's own body begin to disappear.

Nick woke in his dragon form laying face first on the ground on a wasteland, he tried to get up but he felt a great force holding him down. He looked around him and had dozens of dragon pinning him down. "Wha- What are you doing? Get off me!!" Nick struggled to get free but he did not have the strength to do so. The dragons did not even seem faced by him, they just kept looking forward ignoring him. As Nick look forward wondering what had their attention, he gasped in disbelief. He saw a dragon that resembled a combination of himself and Thorton fighting against Tai on the twon where he just was.

"Hey, stop this... this must be a dream... that's not me....... GIVE ME BACK MY BODY!!!!!" Nick screamed in anger, as he saw the fight unfold infront of him.

On the battle Tai had thrown a big fire arrow which only scratched the dragon on the side, but the dragon kept his ground as he quickly lighted the whole village on fire to prevent Tai from moving much. He used his spiked tail to try and hit Tai and would constantly try to bite his head off.

As Nick saw the battle the weirdest thing for him was Tai, his movement were weird and he was not saying a word. Would Tai really be the kind of person that would attack his friend without trying to reason with him... "TAIRUS!!!!!!" Nick screamed from his own world not knowing if his voice would reach him...

OCC: Lets go ahead and fight. ill throw the first punch. lets get this thing graded so we can tie up loose ends and start fresh


Tairus can feel the anger focusing toward him and something told him he wasn't friends anymore with *joseph or nick?*. Tai step back and shouted "Aoru!" and flames blaze around his fists. he places one foot back to start his lunge. Tai leaps foward with a shunpo "Shu" and now he is within combat distance.

Tai throws his punches out there wildly, flailing his flaming hands to land a hit.