Author Note:

If you didn't read the description then there's going to be blood, violence, minor character death, and maybe some swearing.

Also, I've nearly abandoned this story twice now. Oops. 😬 

_____

[ Etho Point of View ]

Etho never thought much about leaving home. He was comfortable and content with what he had, so the thought never crossed his mind.

Yet, here he was. He was so far from anything he recognized and found familiar. He didn't know the first thing about navigating the luscious lands in which he now trekked. However, he did know that there was an important event going on today.

Earlier, he had passed by a village, with houses built of wood and leaves. The villagers there informed him of a tournament being held not far from a wooden palace. The people living in the small establishment were very excited for the tournament, hence why many were preparing for the journey there.

"If you hurry, you may be able to enter," A merchant had mentioned to him.

"What's the prize?" Etho asked, wanting to make a beneficial decision for himself.

"The tournament winner will become the king's personal guard," A farmer chimed in.

"Wouldn't that be so nice living up in the palace?" A youthful village smiled at the thought.

'Maybe...' Etho thought to himself. 'Maybe it wouldn't hurt to enter.'

Coming to his decision rather quickly, Etho then traveled his way to the palace to sign up for the tournament. The silvernette didn't expect to win, but at least the competition would bring him a sense of familiarity. A sense of familiarity that he greatly desired.

The palace was wooden and covered in leafage, much like all the villages nearby. The overgrown look of the structure suited it, making it look more naturalistic compared to a castle of stone. Unlike most building covered in vines and leaves, the palace looked lively and lived in.

A mile or so from the palace was a field with a crowd of people surrounding it. Many different kinds of warriors wereto be conditioning themselves in the area. For every warrior, there were a couple non-warriors who spectated on the sidelines. Some sat in the ground to watch, while others sat on rocks.

Etho approached a wooden stand, where he had seen all the other warriors visit. The stand appeared beat up, as if it had been reused. It had a wheel so it could pushed around, but even then the stand looked like it scraped the rough ground every time it was moved.

"Can I still enter?" Etho quietly questioned.

"Yes, of course!" A cheerful reply was given, as a man in large red hat popped up in sight. "I just need your name, your age, and your wallet."

"My name is Etho, I'm twenty-two," The light haired stranger began to respond to the list of requirements. "And... Why do you do you need my wallet?"

There was a slight flinch from the man behind the stand. He adjusted his tall, maroon hat, struggling to find a response. The dark red in his outfit made the man stick out from all green and brown earthy tones that surrounded the area.

Etho didn't match either, as he was dressed in light grays and dark blues. His attire resembled that of a cold weather explorer. A large coat with fur surrounding the hood. Along with his rather bulky coat, he had a large backpack that was nearly empty from how little personal belongings he had. The light haired male realized how extremely overdressed he was in comparison to the local population.

"He doesn't need your wallet," A flat voice replied, another male slowly rising up from behind the stand.

This male was shorter than the other, yet shared the theme of wearing dark red. He had a more tired demeanor to him, but there was a short glance of a smile that he had as faced the taller man.

However, the smaller male's most defining quality was his feathery wings. Signifying that he was a hybrid. Hybrids were a rare sight, since they had been slaughtered in masses for many years, forcing a majority of them to go into hiding. Only within the last few decade had hybrids been coming out of hiding, as the world was slowly becoming a safer place.

"Grian!" The man with the top hat turned to face the shorter one. He lowered his voice, as he loudly whispered to him. "Why did you do that? I could've finally gotten someone's wallet."

"I wasn't about to give you my wallet," Etho informed the men in the wooden stand.

"Scar, you don't even need anyone's wallet," The shorter brunette with wings, Grian, reminded him. "Now get this man entered into the tournament, so we can go get a decent seat."

"Oh, yeah," Scar, the man who had tried to get the silvernette's wallet, had forgotten his original task. "The tournament is happening. I completely forgot."

Once Etho was registered for the tournament, he decided to stop by a traveling merchant cart to change his attire to be more fitting for the environment he was now in. Much of the clothing the merchant sold was green, which seemed to be common color of the woodland kingdom.

"I'll take that set and one of your moss hoods," Etho told the merchant once he made his decision.

"A fine choice," The merchant replied, handing over the set of neatly folded clothes and the hood. "That'll be four aqua pieces."

Etho pulled out a small, leather sack. He opened in and pulled out four bright blue, spherical gemstones. He handed them over to the merchant and then left with his purchases to change into them.

Once the silvernette had changed into environment appropriate attire, he made sure his previous clothing was safe inside his bag. The traveler then made his way to the are where most of the warriors in the tournament waited. Before, Etho noticed stares from the other participants at his outlandish attire. Now that he was dressed in the common white tunic, brown leather pants, and black boots with the moss hood, no one bothered to glance in his direction.

"Look!" A fellow moss wearing warrior shouted as they pointed off in the distance. "He's here!"

"Who's here?" Etho confusedly asked, turning his head in the direction the warrior had pointed.

"The king," Someone beside the foreign man explained. "Since the winner will become his personal guard, he's overseeing the tournament."

Etho's eyes followed the direction of everyone else's, stopping once he got a glimpse at the king. The king wore a moss-like cape that covered most of his tunic; the green cloth draping over his shoulders like a blanket. Based solely on his appearance, one could have guessed the king was in his early twenties, making him around Etho's age.

Surprisingly, the king wore no crown of gold or silver as most royals typically would. His crown was made of twigs and leaves, keeping with the kingdom's nature theme. While seated, the king adjusted his crown multiple times, wanting to be perfect atop his head.

"That's the king?" Etho seemed almost disappointed to learn the identity of the king.

"He may not look it, but our king is an admiral leader," Another warrior chimed into the conversation.

"Do all great leaders decorate their entire kingdom in grass?" The silver hair male asked with a smirk.

There warrior did not reply, leaving Etho to assume that he made a point about the king. Etho continued to examine the ruler from where he stood in the crowd of battle ready citizens. The silvernette assumed that the king greatly loved moss, since it was not only everywhere in decoration, but also a popular article of clothing that everyone wore.

"The tournament will began shortly," A voice in the direction of the king's outside throne shouted.

The voice had come from a woman dressed in dark armor. Her right arm was in a sling, and she stood beside the seated king. Her orange hair stood out against the surrounding forest, the hair being bright enough to set the whole place ablaze.

As she had said, the tournament did begin shortly.

Etho had no problem winning his early fights, as he had some combat training. He also greatly enjoyed watching the other competitors while he waited for his next battle. Unluckily for Etho, his later fights were much more difficult than his early ones. Instead of just raw power, he need to strategize and think to win the later ones.

"We'll now take a short break before we begin the final match," The woman in the armor announced to all the spectators.

'Final?' The silver haired male glanced around at the growing amount of spectators who had been defeated in battle.

Etho wore a face of shock under his mask, as he began to question himself. He found it hard to believe that he hadn't realized that he made it to the final match of the tournament. The thought gave him a sense of confidence he didn't initially have.

'I could win this.' Etho thought to himself, glancing towards the throne of wood that king stood on. 'I could win and live in luxury protecting the king.'

Unlike many of the others who were gathered for the tournament, Etho didn't go buy snacks or chat with any others. He simply sat quietly, sharping his sword as he waited for the break to pass. He didn't know what else he would do, since he was new to the lush forest lands. The light haired male had been concentrating so hard, that he failed to notice two people approach him.

"Sir?" A voice Etho distantly recognized spoke to him formally. "Do you have a moment?"

"Yes," Etho replied, putting down his sword and the rock he was using to sharpen it. "I do."

Before Etho stood the two men who ran the entry stand. The man with the large, maroon top hat stood slightly behind the shorter winged male. The hybrid seemed to be the one who had gotten Etho's attention.

"Firstly, we would like to congratulate you for how far you've made it in the tournament," The hybrid told him with a tiny smile. "It's assuring to know that a person with skill is going to be protecting King Bdubs—whether it ends up being you or your opponent who wins this tournament."

"Thank you," Etho thanked him, a joyous burst going through his body as he received the compliment. "That's very kind of you to say."

"We would also like to ask if you would like us to hold onto your wallet while you fight your final–" The hatted man, Scar, was quickly interrupted.

"Scar, stopping trying to swindle this man's wallet," Grian pinched his nose in mild frustration. He then lowed his voice as he looked up to face the man. "...you don't want your first impression to the king's potential new personal guard to be you trying to take his wallet, do you?"

"Come on, Grian," The taller brunette lightly stepped in front of the hybrid. "This is just friendly banter."

"Our ideas of 'friendly banter' are very different," The short hybrid mentioned, before fixing his gaze on Etho. "But that's besides the point. What really matters is that you do your best, Etho."

"Yeah, we'd love to see you in palace," Scar added onto what the winged man had said.

"What do you two do in the palace?" Etho questioned the two, assuming that they worked in the palace.

"I'm the Moss Palace's official wizard," The taller brunette cheerfully told me. "Basically, I use my magic any way that King Bdubs requests!"

"A wizard?" Etho had great doubt in the words that the man in maroon had just uttered. "I would have guessed you to be a jester."

"Very funny," An annoyed sigh quietly escaped the tall brunette's lips.

"And what do you do?" Etho questioned, turning to the winged hybrid.

"I'm his assistant," Grian hesitantly admitted, as he looked up at Scar with a tiny smile. "And I occasionally deliver important messages for the king."

"That's interesting," Etho told the short brunette with wings.

"We should probably leave you to prepare yourself for the final match," Grian told him, glancing towards the field with a few little blood puddles left on the ground. "Best of luck to you, Etho."

"Thank you," Etho thanked him, defaulting to sharpening his sword again.

The wizard and his assistant made their way back to their seats, leaving Etho to himself. The two seemed much fonder of Etho than the other competitor, though the silvernette didn't understand why they had that bias.

"Now the tournament will resume with our final match," The armored woman announced. "The winner of this match will become the king's personal guard."

Knowing that he had gotten this far without losing the tournament, Etho figured he would go all out with his strength and skill for the final match. He kept a close watch on all his opponents movements, not letting any of the opposing strikes reach him. Etho got a small glimpse of the king whispering something to the ginger haired woman during the battle, shortly before the silvernette swept his opponent off his feet and pointed his sword at their throat.

"We have a winner," The woman announced, walking onto the field.

Etho outstretched a hand to his opponent, helping them to their feet. Neither of the two seemed angry nor excited with the results, yet the opposing force was lightly smiling at their own defeat.

"Congratulations," The competitor quietly told the stranger. "You've won the honor of protecting his majesty."

"Thank you," Etho thanked them still processing what had just happened; his world moving too fast for him to keep up. "You did good."

"Thanks," They nodded, stepping away as the woman approached them. "I look forward to seeing you by the king's side."

'I did it.' Etho mentally celebrated, his excitement delayed from his own shock. 'It wasn't even that hard to win.'

"Congrats on your win," The lady with hair as orange as a forest fire outstretched her arm, the one that was not in the sling, for the victor to shake it.

"Thank you," The silvernette awkwardly shook it, looking around at all the enthusiastic spectators. "I didn't expect to win when I signed up."

"I don't think many people did," She pointed out as the hand shake ended. "But you got lucky and now you're coming back with us to the palace."

"Alright," He nodded, having no complaints. "I'll need to grab my bag and I'll be ready."

"All you have is a bag?" She tilted her head, slightly concerned by his response.

"I travel fairly light and I was in the process of moving anyways," Etho explained to her.

"I see," She glanced towards the king's outdoor throne, which was now empty. "Once you've grabbed your things, the king requests you join him in his chariot for the ride back to the palace."

"Okay, I'll be with him shortly," Etho answered, going to quickly fetch his bag.

Once he grabbed his leather bag, he made his way to the chariot. The chariot kept the nature theme, as vines and leaves hung down from the top of the cart. Four brown horses were alined to pull the chariot, each horse having a different fur pattern.

Not wanting to keep the king waiting any longer, Etho open the door and stepped inside the chariot.

_____

Author Note:

I've decided to replace the end of chapter word counts with these little Author Notes, because I enjoy these much more.