"Damn it!" I was lost again. How was I ever going to make it to the land of Xerxes in time? I had made it to the desert but I hadn't seen any of the landmarks Grandmother had told me about. There should be an oddly shaped boulder somewhere around here. I shielded my eyes from the sand whipping through the dry desert air and looked in all directions. Wait, what's that? There were two silhouettes outlined by the dull horizon; one of them was small, the other large. I moved forward with caution. The shapes certainly weren't boulders. What else could be out here? It couldn't be… Sure enough, it was people. One was short, with golden blonde hair pulled back into a braid, and wore black with a red cloak. He looked to be about my age. The other man wore a giant silver suit of armor. He looked like he was a few years older than me. I crept toward them, catching a bit of their conversation.
"Man, I'm starving! When are we going to get there? I want to eat now," the short one slouched down and let out an exasperated sigh.
"It'll only be a while longer, brother, we're almost there." Where are they going, I wonder if they could also be headed to Xerxes?
"U..Umm excuse me!" I stammered.
"GAH," they spun around and looked me over.
"I... eh…overheard you saying you're going somewhere? It wouldn't happen to be Xerxes…would it?"
The man in the armor answered me in a pleasant tone, "Yeah! We are going to Xerxes," he paused and turned to look at his companion, then turned back to me, "Are you headed there too? If you are, you're welcome to walk with us."
His companion shot him a look before adding, "Just don't slow us down, we have important things that we need to do there."
"Sure! I've got my own important business there as well," I switched my bag to my other shoulder and began walking. "So, what are your names?"
"I'm Ed and this is my younger brother, Al," the short one replied.
I stopped walking, "Younger?" What kind of weirdos are these people, and who the hell wears a suit of armor to the desert? I could see Ed's face turning red, not from embarrassment, but from irritation.
"Yeah! You got a problem? Calling me short?" he scoffed.
"No... I just…it just…surprised me," I turned and continued walking. "My name is Sophie, by the way."
"Well, Sophie," Al spoke up, "What brings you to Xerxes?"
"I'm looking for something rumored to be there. It's important that I find it as soon as possible."
"What are you looking for?" Ed turned to me with interest. Now that I got a closer look at him, I noticed that he was pretty attractive. The only down-side was his height; he was nearly a whole head shorter than me.
I turned away, hiding the redness of my face that was caused by my observation. "Ah, it's sort of personal." I looked up to see the horizon had already started turning passionate hues of pink and orange. Man, it's already that late? "How about you guys, why are you traveling all the way to Xerxes?"
"We need to right our wrongs and fix our past." Ed answered after a moment of thought. Well, that was vague. I guess that's only fair, I didn't exactly give a straight answer myself. I looked up and noticed the large shape in the horizon. Good, we're almost there.