[center][b]~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~[/b][/center]

His adolescent eyes opened wide, unblinking and staring at the floor. In his mind things had been different. Xander had been calm and collected, brazen even as he stood up to those who came before him with gusto demanding a fellowship be assembled to assist him on his personal journey. His heartbeat quickened. Breathe came in short, sharp waves. This wasn’t like the stories he had heard growing up. Stories of people coming together to assist in the cause of the greater good, to combat the growing darkness before it sweeps across the kingdom. Now, he was nervous, afraid even. 

Pyre was a well sized hamlet, but by settlement standards it was still quite small. It was a well populated hamlet, around three hundred people all together. Unfortunately, outside of the hamlet proper most gathered in small collectives only rarely seeing other people. Leaving Pyre on his own was a step that most people didn’t take lightly, let alone a child. But Xander had decided that his cause was just and teachings be damned, with Yggdrasil’s blessing or not he was going to save his sister. But he did not have much to go on.

[b]“I’m looking for Abyssal Shade, Atrestrianna, and a way to cure the darkness…”[/b] Xander blurted out, sweat beading across his forehead dripping down his face. 

His face grew pale. An exasperated look swept over his rough visage. His mouth hung open, jaw slack with disbelief at his folly. So foriegn had interactions with individuals outside of his own family, or even the few people he encountered in the hamlet proper been that he truly could not comprehend how to initiate an actual conversation with another person. What would his sister have told him? 

[b]“I...I’m sorry,”[/b] Xander sighed, more disappointed in himself at this point than nervous. [b]“I’ve come from Pyre. My name is Xander. What’s yours?”[/b] 

[center][b]~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~[/b][/center]