From within a lonesome and unassuming cave within the depths of the Niahi Woods, Rosario sat crosslegged, deep in thought. Not a sound was made save for his soft, monotone breathing and the occasional sounds of wildlife from farther in the woods. One benefit, he could admit, of his immortal exile was that there was a virtually limitless amount of peace time at his disposal that he opted to utilize as a time for meditation and self-reflection. A normal person would expect that his psyche would be perfectly enlightened as a result of all that meditation, but the tragic reality was Rosario despised solitude and longed for something he knew he could not obtain: a normal social interaction, one that was not disturbed by the fear inflicted by his curse. He had long since accepted the fact that such a desire was essentially impossible to achieve, but acceptance does not lessen the pain that a brutal fact causes. His days were bleak, devoid of hope and rife with lethargy. And as he battled his own depression internally, a faroff sound of flame upon foliage rung throughout the woods and into Rosario's ears. Instantly, his concentration was disturbed.
Another benefit that arose through his lengthy life was that as the years flew by, he became more and more connected to Niahi Woods. After all, spend enough time in any environment and you become the environment. He had grown acquainted with every little detail of the forest, from the amount of trees to what kind of sound was made at a certain time. If he continued to live for the next few centuries, he might even be able to hear the very earth breathe. But of all the sounds that Rosario kept memorized in his mind, the sound of crackling flames was not one of them. His mind was clogged with questions as he walked silently and calmly to the presumed source of the sound. Who in the right mind would bring fire to the Woods? What was he going to do with them? And arguably the most important question; Would this person fear him like everyone else? Then, just as he begun to ponder the possible answers to the last question, he spotted two figures; one was a fair-skinned man like him, clad in bright clothes and sporting hair of the same shades. The other was harder to identify. On one hand, it definitely resembled a bird, but he had yet to see a bird with flaming feathers and almost as big as the former figure. A single word popped in his mind, one that he heard once in a story told by her lifelong companion, Alyna: Phoenix. Without thinking, he swiftly and silently took cover behind a tree, blanketing himself in its shadow and keeping a cautious eye on the two. At first, he was confused. So long he remained detached from any social contact that when the opportunity finally came, he was quite unsure of what to do. How was he supposed to initiate conversation?
