Zander, a survivor from Duskath

A pair of icy-blue eyes fluttered open as the person to whom they belonged to slowly rose from a deep slumber. Zander let his vision adjust to the sudden light before gingerly getting out of his bed. The eighteen-year-old young man ran a hand through his short, messy black hair in an attempt to straighten it out before proceeding to put on his clothes. Looking outside the window of his small room, he could see the sun hadn’t properly risen yet.

Zander lived in Galern, a small village on what was left of the Arcans Republic in the mainland. After a group of students from the Banfaul Academy screwed up a magical show they were doing and split the Republic in two, a bridge had to be built to connect the largest part of Arcans to the rest of the continent. Exiting his room, the boy noticed Lynne was probably still asleep, since there was no activity in the house yet.

He had been born in the cursed land of Duskath during the war, and when he was only one-year-old, the island was invaded by the other kingdoms’ armies and a large part of the population perished along with it, including his parents. He was saved by Lynne, a friend of his mother, who managed to sneak him out to the mainland. From what the woman told him, it had been very difficult to find a place to live where she could work, since duskathians weren’t exactly welcomed by the other nations, even at Falbrein, but she eventually managed to find them a place in Galern. She started working as a farmer and then shopkeeper, and after a few years, she was able to rent a small house. Zander was very grateful to Lynne for everything she did for him so far.

Zander had a job at a nearby farm, and sometimes the local blacksmith hired him to help with his shop. He didn’t earn too much money, but he was glad to even find work, considering the stories he heard about other duskathians trying to move on with their lives in other parts of Atlarcton and the few ones he had talked to while they passed through Galern.

After a really quick breakfast, since he had to leave some for Lynne to eat before she left to work herself, Zander stepped out of the house to go to the farm. Walking around the village hadn’t always been nice, he and Lynne used to be feared by the other people, but that situation got better with time, mostly. Wishing a good morning to a few friends on the way, he noticed the hunters gathered by the town’s only road, preparing to leave as well.

Galern had a group of people that went hunting for food sometimes, and Zander always nurtured a dream of joining them one day, even though he knew it would never happen. A weapon was very expensive to someone like him, even a basic iron sword, and he had no way of knowing if the hunters would accept him in their ranks. He would earn way more money as a hunter than what the farmers paid him, and he really wanted to give Lynne a better life.

Sometimes he dreamed about being a bounty hunter at the capital and getting more money than he could count to buy a big house for his surrogate mother and then travel the world, maybe even go back to Duskath and get to know his old home. Yeah, like that will ever happen, the blue-eyed young man shook his head and left for the farm.