[Rubber Boy. Rank 3. He is a scrawny kid, mid-twenties, with long limbs and a shallow face. He has short, brown hair and wears gray clothing. His hands are constantly near his belt, where he has two knives attached. He leans against a tree, arms held awkwardly at his sides]

I was the only one that believed. I was standing in the back, listening to the words that Prophet gave. I didn’t really see what all of the drama was about. I wasn’t sure what I believed in, if I’m being honest. The Pantheon Gods could have been there, sure. There was also a chance that they weren’t. How would I know? But for some odd reason, I believed him. Maybe it was more curiosity than belief, but I decided to listen to his warning.

So, what did you do?

I went home. Just like everyone else. I mulled it over in my head as I walked back to my little shack on the outskirts of town. I thought about it while I made myself some dinner. I thought about it while I sat on a little chair outside my house, facing the ocean. The sun set and I sat there long enough for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was a couple more hours before I made the decision.

What is that?

I decided I was going to go with him. Prophet, I mean.

You just left? Was there nothing in Westfall for you?

My family had all moved on several years earlier and I was on my own. There was no reason for me to stay in Westfall. And my curiosity was getting the better of me. I wanted to follow this man, to see what happens.

I scrambled around the shack gathering my things and then grabbed a few hours of sleep. The sun was showing hints of rising when I left the shack, my pack over my back and a loaf of bread in my hand. I think I almost ran to the inn because I was scared that they would leave without me. As it turns out, that concern proved to be true.

They left?

Yes, they did. Thrown out, in fact. As it turns out there had been a small explosion at the inn only a couple hours after Prophet’s announcement. The explosion had destroyed half of the upper level. I learned that Thunder and his sisters had been in the blast. Thunder and Seraphina were only knocked out, but Catherine got the worst of it. Her health was pretty bad.

The blast had originated from Prophet’s room and the Drakes were livid. They immediately threw Prophet and his companion to the street. The city guard arrived to arrest Prophet and his friend, but they were too late. The duo had disappeared into the night.

What’d you do?

I followed them, obviously. I stopped by the market for some food, loaded up a waterskin with extra water, and took off towards Lamont.

Why Lamont?

It was either Lamont or Bayside. I knew that the two of them were heading South because there had been word that they had started their journey from Upworth. And I figured that Prophet was trying to spread the word to as many cities as possible, so he was either going to stop at Lamont first, or got straight to Bayside. I took a wild guess and headed to Lamont. I was hoping I would catch them on the way there, but no luck. They had a fairly good lead on me. You’d think Prophet, being as old as he is, would have been a little slower. But I’m telling you, he has some leg power.

It took several days for me to get to Lamont. I could have traveled a lot faster, but I decided to take my time getting there. I stopped at several villages that were on the way so that I could stock up on food and water, often catching some sleep in an inn. Some of these villages had been visited by Prophet, some had not. It seemed that Prophet was, in fact, heading to Lamont. But after a while I found that I was taking a completely different path from him, because there was a point that none of the villages had heard of Prophet or his companion.

I eventually showed up to Lamont and found myself stopped by a few guards. They asked me what business I had in Lamont and I told them I was looking for a friend. When I told them that he went by the name Prophet, they scowled at me and pointed down the road. It looked like I had just missed Prophet and his companion, as they were only sent away a few hours before.

Tired, I turned and marched back down the road. At this point I had been traveling for a few days and wasn’t too sure about my motives anymore. Since the road headed West, I figured that Prophet had headed to Bayside. I wasn’t sure I was up for the long march to Bayside, or even back to Westfall, for that matter. I decided to follow the road to the west for a while, mulling the idea over in my head. Was this man really worth following? What was I even doing out here?

Some time passed as I walked, eyes to the ground, and the sky getting steadily darker. At some point, I was snapped out of my thoughts quite abruptly. It’s still kind of a blur, if I’m being honest. But while I thought about my question, I found myself getting dizzy. It was getting dark, so I thought that maybe I was just getting tired from the long walk. I stopped to steady myself and saw a small fire in a grove of trees a short distance away. I could see that there were a couple of dark figures crowded around it, warming their hands. I wandered that direction, if only to ask to stay by the fire for the night. As I got closer, my body started to writhe with pain. My head felt like it was going to explode, my gut was twisting, all of my limbs started to seize, and I suddenly felt incredibly weak. I fell to my hands and knees, bruising my knuckles on the hard ground. I tried to crawl, but the dizziness overwhelmed me, and I ended up planting my face into the dirt. I rolled over with a groan, feeling bile come up my throat. I looked in the direction of the fire and the figures next to it, now only a rock throw away. They were a blur and I couldn’t tell if they had seen me or not. I tried to shout, but it only came out as a groan. Then my vision went dark, and I blacked out.

I woke up three days later.