<strong>Episode 1, The Village of Hope's End: Saffron and King's Exodus from hopelessness; What the hell is that thing?!</strong><br/><br/>The village. It wasn't a bad village, necessarily. There was food, and there was water, and there were people, and that was more than you could say about some places in Creation. It was a small group, deep in the South- Roaming, from one oasis to another, constantly gathering the Firedust that sold so well to the rare trader that came by. More often, however, you would stop to find the rare First-Age artifacts that you could hope to pull out of the sand- Small things, usually, baubles, but they were helpful nonetheless, things that got you rewards, like an extra Camel steak for dinner.<br/><br/>" Saffron! Finish up your digging! It's time to head back to the camp for the night!" yells the foreman. A large, portly man, bald, with a perpetual grimace, and holding on his shoulder the mark of his authority. He's never been able to use it, it's far too heavy for him to wield as a weapon, but he carries it anyway. The weapon's never left its sheath as far as you can remember, but the sheath enough is alone, woven from silk and with tiny gems of Jade in it, the pommel and it's streaks of each color of Jade engraved in the handle always beautiful.<br/><br/>At the moment, however, you've found something rather more interesting. As you dig away in the sand, down the mostly-collapsed corridor, a tiny sparkle reaches your eyes. As you uncover the object, you feel a sudden brief flash of memory- It's hard to parse it, you remember golden light everywhere, a strange sort of armor standing around you, breaking your enemies with astonishing ease and grace- And then it's gone, leaving only the pair of golden rings, clearly designed to fit over your wrists, carven with a somehow familiar, comforting sunburst symbol- " SAFFRON! GET YOUR ASS UP HERE OR WE'RE LEAVING YOU IN THE DESERT, I DON'T CARE HOW GOOD A DIGGER YOU ARE!" Sounds like it's time to return to the camp. Nothing special. Just a bunch of people, sitting around the oasis. And King, of course.