Father Albio

Personal history

Awakening and the vision

According to everyone who woke up and survived the first day after Awakening on The Surface layers was the worst day of their lives. The sand burning their skin, the light too bright to see anything, powerful enough to bleach their hair and darken their skin quicker than it should be possible. The lucky few wake up either inside of a shadow cast by the sand dunes or the ruins of a building or close to them.
Father Albio wasn't one of the lucky ones. He woke up in an empty area, with small dunes, devoid of any shadow in sight. Still, he stood up and started walking. Even for a young man, walking more than 1 kilometer on the Surface layers without any preparations is a very hard task. And Albio wasn't young. After 100 paces, he collapsed and lost consciousness.
According to him, at that time, he experienced a revelation.

"As I fell into the darkness, feeling my body touch the burning sand, I stopped feeling the heat altogether. Instead, a cool breeze enveloped my entirety, and from a point both far away and close to me, a dim light started shining. I blinked my eyes, and where was nothingness, there stood The Tree[...] It taught me to sing and it told me where to seek the food and safety. The last thing it told me to do was to outstretch my hand..."

— Father Albio's story about what happened when he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, Father Albio's hand was holding onto a mysterious metal staff. Just as the pain started coming back, Albio started singing the Song The Tree taught him. With the first notes, the heat attacking his body disappeared. Not questioning it, he went in the direction he felt his staff showed him.

Pilgrimage

Led by the staff, Father Albio traveled upwards and farther from the center of The Pit. Just in the first 2 days, he managed to arrive at the layer one level above his starting place. Once in a while, the staff would change the course, leading him towards another survivor. Albio shared the blessing of his Song with them, praising the greatness of The Tree, his savior. Many would join him in his travel, some tempted by the promise of the food at the end of the journey, some who wanted to raise their chance of the survival, and some who saw him as a Herald of The Tree and the one who saved them. His flock grew faster and faster.
One day, when they reached the fifth layer from The Surface, Albio's staff stopped showing him to go upwards. They were at the right layer and their goal was closer than ever before.

The Vault

The food was running out. So high up, the oases and well-preserved ruins were rarer and rarer, so stocking up on food and water was harder and harder. Everyone knew that if they didn't find any food by the next day, most of them would probably not survive to see another one. Albio managed to keep almost everyone calm, convincing them that The Tree wouldn't abandon them. The few discontented ones decided to try their luck and left the group.
A few hours later, Albio's flock found the hole which led to the building built inside of the floor of the layer. There was one entrance, however it was blocked by heavy, metal doors. It seemed like their journey has come to an end. That is until one of them, a child merely 8 years old, tripped on something in front of the door. It was a slit with a shape similar to the one Albio could feel in his hand for the last few days. He inserted the bottom of the staff inside the hole.
With a loud sound, the doors opened, revealing the inside of a giant food storage vault. Thus ended the 9-day pilgrimage.

Father of a tribe

Albio decided to repurpose the vault as a village where he and his people could safely live. Others, without his knowledge, voted and made him the leader of their tribe. With almost a hundred members they were the largest tribe of the Surface layers to this day.
3 years after Awakening, Father Albio passed away, surrounded by people he loved.

Age (Just after Awakening):
~70
Year of death:
3rd year of Awakening
Other names:
Singing Lunatic,
Pilgrim without a Mask
Physique:
Many would describe him as a man-shaped bear.

Ethnicity

People of the Surface

Eyes

Light blue

Hair

White, long and curly, same for the beard. Black bushy eyebrows.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Light brown, heavily tanned

Height

185 cm

The Song of Sunlight

The mysterious Song known only by Father Albio has a mysterious ability to protect everyone who can hear it from the heat and the deadly impact of the sun rays (which in The Pit can burn someone completely in a matter of seconds). Even the equipment of everyone affected is completely safe. The effect lasts for 10 hours after the Song ends.
Sadly, the Song of Sunlight has been completely lost the day Father Albio died and no one else has yet been taught of it by The Tree.

Albio and Religion

Until his last days, Albio was praising the greatness of The Tree, becoming one of the first people in the Surface who did so. At his request, a shrine has been built inside the village. His words would bring comfort to both his tribesmen and the travelers who visited them.