Shroud felt his galloping heart skip several beats as his gaze refused to turn away from the stranger who leaned casually on the wall of the house. The arrow piercing into the back of Bret was still too fresh in Shroud's memory and so he was quick to place a hand on the hilt of Old Faithful in case the man before him tried to attack.

"Well you going to answer me? The end of the world will be here sooner than hearing a peep from you so speak up." The purple-eyed man told Shroud. Shroud head snapped back into reality as he realized the man had simply asked for his name.

Still, he kept his guard up.

"It's Shroud... who are you?" Shroud replied bluntly whilst straightening himself to appear more confident and less short compared to the rather tall minecratian

"Nice 'name'. you part of some clan that hands out nicknames? but nevermind that, my name's Tyler and why are you wondering on my land?" Tyler teased as well as introducing himself. Shroud at this point had calmed down enough to get a better look at Tyler, though his scrunched up face revealed he did not like Tyler's taunting. Anyway, the person in front of him looked no more than seventeen or eighteen in age with short, messy, dirty-blonde hair atop his head. He wore a vivid green hoodie currently unzipped with a paint-spatter shirt showing off many colors which contrasted against his dull black jeans and white shoes. Shroud took this all in a glimpse before giving an answer back.

"Curious... I heard a rumor or two about this place." Shroud said making sure not to mention who he received the news from as to protect them. But Shroud also concluded that this man seemed friendly enough to not go on a murderous rampage.

"Oh... I guess these rumors are about some demon man -or someone possess by some ghost? All lies spread by the people of Rhagall who jump at the slightest shadow." Tyler shot down the rumor of Rhagall quickly.

'well at least the rumor of the overly-jumpy people is apparently true...' Shroud pondered to himself as he kept his eyes fixed to Tyler strange ones.

"So I must advise you to stay out of the city, cause if I was booted out then what do you think their reaction is going to be of you? You looked like a demon ready for death-bringing." Tyler pointed out much to the annoyance of Shroud at the last comment. However, if what Tyler said was true then getting the people to even speak to him would be impossible least they try to kill him.

As Shroud opened his mouth to speak once more, rain suddenly fall from the heavens in a downpour causing Shroud to shiver from the cold.

"F***ing rain! C'mon let's continue to talk in my house where it's dry." Tyler suggested. Shroud could only agree as Tyler opened the door into his home. Once inside, Shroud quickly sat down by the fire place to dry himself and warm up before picking up the words he wanted to speak once more.

"Well I only really came here to ask a question of the location of a friend. If this place wasn't the closest town I'd gladly have went somewhere else." Shroud admitted to Tyler who had gone to his crafting table to create something.

"hmm... well ask away then.. also you want some mushroom soup? I got plenty to go around." Tyler said without turning his head towards Shroud.

"His name's Aodh. Heard of him? and no I'd rather have something else." Shroud replied. He also wanted nothing to do with mushrooms as he had gotten sick and tired of them long ago especially now that they weren't necessary to survive.

"Hmph. More for me then. And... actually I have heard news of a guy named Aodh. Some guy came down from Kettil delivering some sort of message from him." Tyler said and Shroud's eyes lit up with hope of finding his friend soon.

"Really? Who was the person who delivered the message? No one else was with us when we got separated nearly two weeks ago." Shroud asked while trying to hide his excitement and curiosity.

"I didn't really have a chance to talk to him because of the stupid rumor, but I heard his name was Bret." Tyler replied. Shroud heard the name Bret and instantly his expression changed to grief as he knew the man would not see another day.

"Bret's dead." Shroud nearly whispered, but loud enough for Tyler to hear.

"DEAD? How do you know of he died!?" Tyler whipped around quickly after he pulled out a cooked steak from a furnace and his eyes looked almost accusing. Shroud saw this and rapidly told his story of how he had been traveling to Rhagall and saw Bret get killed by the diamond clad minecraftians.

"And the only way I found out about his name was from this book of his." Shroud finished as he pulled out the torn book from his pocket. Tyler passed a bunch of steaks to Shroud before taking a look at the book.

"Terrible fate for poor Bret..." Tyler muttered aloud as he flipped through the pages slowly. Shroud on the other hand wanted to ask something the was bothering him.

"True... but how do know of Bret and Aodh if no one will get close to you and do you know where Aodh is now?" Shroud inquired trying to fill in a blank area.

"hmm? oh... let's just say some of the people of Rhagall aren't quite so cowardly and don't think me to be much of a threat. These people tell me the gossip going around. As for where your little friend is... I heard he headed for the town of Glenn." Tyler said as he gave the book back to Shroud. Shroud just nodded and pulled out his ancient map.

"Where would it be on this map?" Shroud simply questioned. Tyler was about to protest that NO map could be large enough to depict both Glenn and Rhagall on one page. However, one look at Shroud's map silenced the thought.

"wow... niffy map you got there... anyway, Glenn is all the way there in the mountain biome." Tyler said as he pointed to a black dot on the map with faded letters above it. Shroud nodded once more and started to carefully trace his fingers along one of the roads looking for the quickest route to Glenn.

Suddenly a loud boom sounded nearby making Shroud's head turned towards it in befuddlement.

"Probably just lightning." Tyler said boredly as he finished some of the mushroom soup he made awhile ago and headed off to a separate room now that he felt the conversion was over. However more booming sounds were heard becoming faster and faster with each strike that even Tyler's calm, isolated thoughts rattled with worry.

Soon both minecraftian stood outside in the rain to see lightning striking every inch of Rhagall as fires started everywhere and screams shouted high into the heavens. Tyler rushed back inside and slipped on some iron armor and grabbed a sword. Shroud was about to ask what he was doing when Tyler handed him an Iron chest-plate and spoke.

"We have to help them! This is no average-Joe storm!" Tyler shouted over the sound of hundreds of lightning strikes.

"Why?! Don't these people fear you?!" Shroud shouted equally as loud back. A look of determination crossed Tyler's face as he said his next words.

"Maybe. But they cared for me at one point- they SAVED ME at one point! I can't just let that go."