Xodus has an impressive although rough debut here.

He hasn't been seen since this mission but he makes an impact while he's here.

 
The brittle grains of sand harshly devours Xodus's face like annoying tiny gnats of ice biting hungrily through his bare flesh. The unpleasant sensation was enough to awake and jolt the wanderer back to his feet, instinctively reaching for his spear and setting his body in a defensive stance. He quickly glances around to take in the new environment he unintentionally finds himself in. It was a desert, though not a desert in the traditional sense that he was aware of. The grains of sand were cold as ice, though dry and...and blue. It was not something Xodus have seen before, or felt for that matter.

Xodus continued to scan the area. It was the same wherever he looked, an ocean of blue sand as far as the naked eyes could see. Things certainly did not turn out the way he wanted. This was to be merely an escort mission of two of his fellow countrymen, nothing more. Their names were Wildfall and Summer, two young Ireacans who managed to come across some substantial amount of monetary assets and desired to travel to Honorburg where they owned a deed to some property there. Xodus overheard the two couple's (were they a couple?) desire to travel to Honorburg and decided to approach them, offering his services as an escort and guardian. This offering was a little out of character for a man of isolation such as himself, of course, but Xodus had his own reasons for wanting to head to Honorburg. It would be that more quickly and easy to reach the destination with a rich couple who wouldn't spare any expense for transportation rather than trying to find other alternative ways of trekking across a vast ocean, such as being a stowaway on a ship for example.

The bitter cold interrupts Xodus's thoughts bringing him back to the harsh reality of his situation. He certainly was not dressed for the occasion, wearing merely a loincloth made from the thick hide of a Hemothwog, a popular creature hunted for game in his homeland of Quanadaca. With the exceptions of the silver earrings and silver braces on his arms, the rest of his body was bare. Thinking on this nearly-hopeless predicament brought a shiver within his body. As if sensing the uncomfortable sensation, a black ink-like substance begins escaping from the very pores of Xodus's skin spreading across the cold spots on his body like a plague. The substance seems to have a mind of its own, absorbing the sensation of cold into its oblivious darkness. The way this creature felt to Xodus was hard to describe. It didn't feel wet on Xodus's skin despite its liquidity look, or even dry for that matter. It didn't feel like anything actually, yet the wanderer could always sense its presence hiding deep in the crevices of his very soul, lurking around and watching Xodus's every move. This very thought sickens Xodus.

The "Opaque One," as Xodus has come to call this abomination over time, took away the coldness from his body. It did not do it out of the kindness of its heart mind you, it did it to remind the wanderer that it was still there...that it would always be there waiting as a predator would in the comfort of darkness.

Xodus quickly changes his thought back on how he has gotten in this dire situation, pushing the cursed Opaque One out of his mind, at least momentarily. Liked he remembered, Xodus wanted to use the young couple to travel to Honorburg, but it wasn't easy to convince them that he was capable of being their escort and guardian. Truth be told, both the one known as Summer and Wildfall looked more than capable of handling themselves, still, Xodus needed to convince them to let him travel with them. He offered a sparring challenge to Wildfall to prove that he was capable of protecting them. Summer instead wanted to accept the challenge on Wildfall's behalf, feeling that she was the more capable fighter of the two, which to Xodus's observation seemed to be the case. Regardless, he would not, or rather, could not challenge the female Ireacan. To do so would violate one of the Seven Penances of the Repenter, and he would not allow that to happen under any circumstances. Ever.

It took some convincing but finally Summer grudgingly allow Wildfall to accept Xodus's challenge. The battle pursued and Xodus fought just enough to let Wildfall know that he was capable of fighting and protecting the couple from harm. He didn't put his all into the battle, for a Repenter has no equal in combat capability and the wanderer knew that he could easily have defeated Wildfall. Still, he did not want to embarrass Wildfall in front of his female companion, and thus, the sparring between the two look closer than what it really appeared with Xodus deciding to have the spar end in a draw, allowing Wildfall to keep face in front of Summer while also admitting the capabilities of Xodus as an escort/guardian.

Xodus might have been a little too generous, in hindsight, as the young Wildfall proved himself craftier, no, sneakier than Xodus had expected, although Xodus assured himself he'd simply been too gracious in his efforts to avoid shaming the young couple.

The wanderer's thoughts were once again interrupted as he notices a discrepancy of the surrounding environment around him. It was a small irregularity but an important one nonetheless. Xodus could barely make out what appears to be remnants of footprints approximately 30 yards South from his position, at least he believes that direction to be South, there truly is no way of telling. He walked towards the area and leans down to get a closer look, supporting most of his weight on the butt-side of his sacred white spear. These were footprints alright, though vague. The wind wiped out most of the traces of footprints, only a skilled tracker would be able to pick this out in this oxy-moronic "dessert tundra."

Upon further review, there seems to be footprints of two people. Could it per chance be his countrymen? Even if this was not the case, the fact that there are inhabitants in this inhospitable environment gave Xodus hope that he could at the very least begin seeking answers from those who created these prints before him.

"We would not be in this asinine situation if it were not for you interfering with that sword." Xodus spoke aloud. He knew it was listening and would respond.

What can I say? My curiosity got the best of me. Besides, if it were not for my interference, you may not have ever been able to assist your so-called "countrymen" in this ill-begotten place, meaning you would have broken one of the Penances of the Repenter if I am not mistaken, correct? Now you wouldn't want that Repenter, would you?

The Opaque One laughed in Xodus's mind with a phlegm-like mocking chuckle. As much as he hated to admit it, Xodus knew the creature had a point. If Opague did not interfere, the sword's teleportation power would not have activated and Xodus would have never been able to uphold his promise to protect Wildfall and Summer. Of course, he would not be bound to protect them in the first place if they would have just mind their damn business.

Xodus guided and guarded Wildfall and Summer all the way to Honorburg just as he promised to, making little stops here and there along the way. After reaching their destination, the business between them were concluded...or so he thought.

As Xodus was venturing into the city searching for clues that could possibly solved his "problem," the wanderer managed to get into a confrontation with a few thugs who surprisingly recognized him by his title "Repenter." This was a surprise to Xodus as even fellow Ireacans barely knows who or what a Repenter is these days or even what one may look like, as was proven with Wildfall and Summer who never even brought up the subject during their travel with Xodus. It was obvious to Xodus that these were not your run-of-the-mill type thugs. Someone sent these men to him for a reason, but who? No matter, it would be easy to dispatch them, well, it "would" have been if Summer and Wildfall didn't decided to play heroes all of the sudden and joined in the fight.

The fighting was going well, Xodus thought. One of the thugs even began to run seeing how the odds were obviously against him and his group. Xodus gave chase to the coward and was able to deal with him rather easily. When he return to see how Wildfall and Summer were faring however, he found them gone and judging from the look of things they seem to have been bested by the very thugs they were handling with ease just a moment ago! Xodus did not truly believed this though, there seemed to be other forces involved in this whole incident, perhaps the same forces who knew he was the Repenter? What would they want with his fellow countrymen though? Perhaps there is more to Wildfall and Summer than the Wanderer knew.

Xoudus was obligated to find them now. Their trail was unusually hard to follow, even for him. Was their magic involved perhaps? Sadly, he was bound by his penance to help his fellow countryman, regardless if he deemed them worthy of help or not. It was after all partially his fault that they got into this mess in the first place. To avoid the calamity that nearly claimed this world centuries ago, Xodus had to follow the Penance of the Repenter's rules by the letter.

It took the Wanderer days before he could pick up their trail again. Thanks to a few contacts he had in Honorburg, he was able to conclude that there were some strange happenings at a place called the PERRL Hotel and there were also people who fit the description of Wildfall and Summer there. The Wanderer eventually snuck into the place and managed to meet up with two strange individuals named Ozzie and Geoffica. From here things gets kind of distorted. There was this sword of magic that was being held by Geoffica and it was explained by her to Xodus that this sword somehow absorbed some of the radiant energies which had teleported his countrymen to some unknown dimension. Only through activating said sword would they have the chance to find them. After hearing this, Opaque escaped through the pores of Xodus's skin and formed a shape similar to a millipede. The blackish millipede then moved quickly to take the sword for itself, changing it shape to match that of the sword and absorbing the weapon within itself. Before Xodus could respond to this, a tremendous blast escaped from the sword, followed by a bright, blinding light.

When the Wanderer finally came through, he found himself in this strange world alone with Opaque. The whereabouts of the one known as Ozzie and Geoficca was not known to him, but he didn't particularly care where they were. His only concern now is to find his troublesome countrymen, and the only hope he has in doing this is to follow this faint track he was fortunate enough to discover.

"Let's get moving." Xodus holds out his right arm and spreads out his fingers. Streams of black liquid begins seeping out from the fingertips and gathering together in the air, forming a large black sphere. The sphere begins to rise higher in the air, raising approximately 50 feet.

Moments later, black liquid suddenly begins seeping from Xodus's bare feet. This continues to transpires until a black puddle-like substance surrounds him. Xodus slowly begin sinking into this puddle as if he was falling through a deep hole in the ground. The blackness completely devours the Repenter in mere seconds.

50 feet up in the magenta-colored sky of this strange world, the black sphere suddenly has something protruding from out of it. Xodus bursts from out of the sphere standing tall and ominous on the top with his ivory spear in his left hand supporting his balance.

"There. The trail leads towards there." Xodus was now able to see pass the endless desert tundra and realized that much further South (really, he could not say for sure if he was really looking Southward) there is what appears to be a forest. If his countrymen were anywhere it would be in that forest, and the tracks leading towards that direction seems to agree with Xodus's thoughts.

Xodus sinks back into the sphere and rises again from the black puddle he created on the ground earlier. The black substance known as the Opaque One gathers its collective parts from both ground and air and begins to enter into the Wanderer's body once again. It would be easy for Xodus to use Opaque for travel, but the creature has not been fed yet and does not have enough power to teleport Xodus towards the destination at hand. His only choice was to walk through this desert tundra. It would take three-four days tops-to reach by foot. Energy will need to be carefully conserved here. Xodus does not have food, nor water, and a creature who needed to feed soon. Not the ideal situation, he had to admit to himself, but the wanderer does not have the commodity of time to dwell on such things.

Thus the Wanderer walks, following the trail of who he believes to possibly be his fellow countrymen. Little did he knew, this journey would affect the former Repenter in ways he could never even begin to imagine...

There's a few tense issues and it was muddied by the flashback. He fares better in his second roleplay which I think is quite strong. The cool thing is the fact Xodus is just one of four characters debuting for the mission! We'll introduce the other three debuts over the next two roleplays in addition to seeing a character we haven't seen in a while- Ozzie Whelk.