It had been three moon turns since the uneasy peace began and each species was growing restless, there was even rumour of the Shadowlings nation breaking the truce, whisperers of Shadowling scouts being caught well within the borders.

Krebhu, a Woodling solider, was one of the few who had decided to run the branching, a race of agility, speed and skill. The race was every 12 moon turns and to win it, let alone complete it, was a great achievement. More importantly, the winner of this year's race would have the honor of being the Woodling representative of the prophecy. Rem, an Aqualings scholar, and the representative had discovered that each species must, in their own way, decide their own representative. The other Woodlings began to gather at the starting line, marked by a braid of leaves and flowers, created by the Woodlings princess Adora. Krebhu moved to join them, only to be confronted by Astaros, a Woodling shaman.

"You must win this race Krebhu" the oldest of the woodlings shaman spoke softly, almost desperately "you must! Understand?'" Krebhu took a step back, slightly affronted

"The winner will be decided by Eriteya's will Astaros" he replied, eyeing him warily

"No no you don't understand! You must win!" the old shaman repeated feverishly, is eyes wide, trying to make him understand, ineffectively.

"I will do my best, but as I said before, the winner is decided by Eriteya's will alone" Krebhu replied, taking the older Woodlings hands in his own, trying to ease his worries and Astaros closed his eyes nodding as Krebhu stepped away, hearing the warning horn be blown in the distance. As Krebhu stepped up to the line he caught the gaze of Princess Adora, before quickly looking away.

"She likes you" Tress, a guardian for the royal family glanced at him with a wry grin, "you can see it in the way she looks at you" Krebhu couldn't help but scoff slightly,

"I'm just a soldier" he replied, getting into a ready position "it would never be permitted"

"Anything's possible" Tress shrugged in reply, Krebhu was silent. Krebhu was so deep in thought that he was startled out of his trance at the blow of the starting horn and was immediately a few steps behind, which in this race, could cause him to lose. "Shit" he cursed softly under his breath taking off, gaining quickly on the closest competitor and passing them. After gaining a good spot in the center of the pack he eased his pace slightly, conserving his energy for the rest of the race.

Krebhu reached the main section of the race and quickly jumped onto the first branch, landing neatly before jumping to the next, closely followed by Tress, who wasn't far behind him. A cry of surprise was heard as a Woodling scout, Krebhu thought, plummeted to the forest floor, having jumped onto a rotting branch. Unfortunately, the scouts fall went unnoticed as the other competitors' raced onwards, caring only to win, and not entirely unwilling to sabotage others to do so. A flare of green glowed behind him as the scout pulled out of the race. The wind rustled loudly in Krebhu's ears but he blocked it out, focusing on quickly finding good, healthy branches to jump too. Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, the silver oak towered in front of him, the Woodling more solid unsheathed his abnormally long talons and began to climb, swiftly overtaking two other woodlings. A curse was barked above him as a Woodling solider lost their footing, regaining it quickly by grabbing the ankle of the Blacksmith, throwing him of balance. The blacksmith was unable to regain his balance and toppled downwards, forcing Krebhu to jump to the side to avoid him "too close," he thought as he continued upward. Upon reaching the top, he took a leap of faith into the bright leafy green undergrowth, it providing him with a soft landing, and racing towards the river. Tress came up beside him, shooting him a mischievous grin as he overtook him, diving into the river Mims with Krebhu Meer seconds after, only half remembering to hold his breath. Swimming against the current was a difficult task, especially when you reached the caves. Many woodlings took the pitch blackness as an opportunity to sabotage others and although weapons where not permitted in the race some woodlings carried some anyway. Krebhu himself carried a small dagger, for self-defence, he had told himself that morning as he strapped it inside his boot. He personally hoped he didn't have to use it, a wish too soon denied as a loyal, one of the few to run the branching, came up behind him. Small and silent Krebhu didn't notice her until it was too late, the female Woodling had stuck a small silver dagger into his ankle, Krebhu forced himself not to cry out, knowing it could mean drowning and retaliated by drawing his own dagger and doing the same. Pain flashed in the loyals eyes and they both swam out into the open, Krebhu taking in large gulps of air before getting up and climbing onto the bank, the wound wasn't too bad, he took a deep breath and shifted his focus, determined to swallow the pain and keep going. Perhaps not the best solution, but the old shamans' words echoed in his mind eerily, and besides, Krebhu wasn't one to give up easily. The Loyal however sent her flare up, it bursting in a bright spark of green, pulling out of the race. Gritting his teeth against pain he limped quickly onward.

A couple of meters on and Krebhu's ankle had gone numb, the pain had gone away, so he guessed that was a good thing. He had caught up with Tress, who appeared to have injured his arm in the Mims. Both Woodlings knew the end of the race was near, both wanted to win, but there was one problem... the 6ft long Komodo Dragon in front of them. Tress took a step back,

"Uh...Krebhu...?" the Guardian spoke cautiously as the larger predator took a step closer, "how about we uh... truce, for now at least..."

"Sure..." Krebhu was quick to respond, also frozen to the spot, "how exactly do you plan to uh... get past that?"

"Never fought a predator before..." Tress let out a nervous laugh "thought that was your lots' job" Krebhu looked at him stupefied, snapping out of his daze when the Komodo dragon let out a warning growl, lashing its tail violently and lunging towards them. The two woodlings dove to the side, the jaws of the predator just missing Krebhu, who was hindered by his ankle and collapsed. The Komodo took the advantage and advanced on him, pinning him with a large, taloned paw to the ground. Krebhu closed his eyes, expecting the worse when suddenly the komodo turned with a snarl. Tress had sliced at the beast's tail with his talons and was taunting it to get it off him. The larger being removed his paw from Krebhu and advanced on the Guardian. Krebhu staggered too his feet, jumping onto the Komodos' back, digging into the flesh with his talons. The Beast let out a squeal of pain and thrashed, trying to throw him off, Tress jumped up onto a low branch and swiped at the predator's eyes, sending it wheeling back, blinded. Krebhu was thrown off, hitting a tree with a soft cry, winded momentarily. Through his black edged vision, he saw Tress advancing on the beast, who was now screeching and thrashing about.

"Tress! Leave it be its blinded now, it won't hurt us" Krebhu called climbing to his feet, unsteadily, his ankle had started bleeding again though he only noticed it when he felt his ankle wet. The Guardian looked over at the solider and, after a brief hesitation, shrugged sheathing his talons as Krebhu did the same. The Komodo dragon fled screaming into the forest "besides, we still have a race to win, and I can hear others approaching" Tress's ears flicked slightly as he listened quickly hearing the sounds of the race behind them,

"This truce is over" he grinned "see you at the finish line!" Tress shouted running off again, Krebhu, still a little winded took a minute to process what had been said.

"Ah crap!" he cursed loudly, running off in pursuit, hoping that the Predator didn't... bother... any of the other competitors. He made it to the cliff face just in time to see Tress soar off into the distance, towards the finish line. Krebhu quickly grabbed an oversized, broad and sturdy looking leaf from the pile left there for that purpose and, quickly shaping it into a glider, jumped off the cliff, landing in a spout of hot air to gain height before angling downwards to the finish line, he could just see Tress ahead of him and bit his lip, thinking quickly of a way to get more speed to catch up. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted a fast flowing current of wind and aimed for it. He was quickly picked up in it and, struggling to keep control of his glider, zoomed quickly onwards, this must be what a Breezling feels like, he thought as he quickly gained on Tress, who watched him wide-eyed as he zoomed past. The current ended and seeing the final straight below him, he landed his glider, a little awkwardly and nearly collapsing in the process, suddenly feeling very dizzy. He shook the feeling off, or tried to, and jogged towards the finish line, collapsing fully on the other side. You have won the race Krebhu, just as Eritraya willed. That was the last thing he heard, louder than the raucous cheering of the crowd before everything spun into endless, eternal dark.

The first things Krebhu noticed when his senses returned was the consistent, throbbing in his ankle, the groans, and grunts of the infirmary and the overwhelming sick scent. After a fairly difficult mental debate on whether or not it would be worth opening his eyes, he forced them open, only to squint them as the bright light of the infirmary hindered his vision.

"Welcome to the land of the living Krebhu" a familiar voice spoke; he could almost hear the grin in the voice. Sitting up fully with a slight wince Krebhu turned his head to look at Tress, who was in the bed next to him.

"How long was I out?" Krebhu murmured, shielding his eyes with his arm as they adjusted to the harsh light.

"A few hours, by a few I mean two days" Tress shrugged with a small grin.

"Two days? Huh" Krebhu shook his head disbelieving, only to wince from the pain in his ankle.

"You were in bad enough shape they had the Greens working on you, I overheard them saying it was already infected when you crossed the finish line, you were lucky you weren't amputated." Tress paused to give him a crooked smile "too bad, I hear Adora has a soft spot for amputees. "

Krebhu scoffed "I've told you a million times already, it would never be permitted, not me being the rank I am." Tress shrugged

"Considering you outrank even me now, being the Woodling representative, I'd say you'd have a pretty good shot "Tress teased, his eyes glinting mischievously. The sudden realization hit Krebhu with the force of a komodo tail. He was the Woodling of the prophecy, he would be the one tasked with saving their world. His shoulders felt impossible heavy with the invisible burden.

The whole of the infirmary fell silent as Queen Eudiline walked in. The Woodlings Queen was beautiful, everyone had to admit that, but it wasn't a factious beauty. It was a warrior's beauty, slanting cheekbones, and a stern face, with flaming red hair down to her waist that almost looked like flames. Her keen green eyes swept over the inhabitants of the infirmary before she locked her gaze with Krebhu, coming over with two guardians behind her.

Krebhu bowed his head respectfully and sat up a little straighter "your Majesty "he said softly, looking up at her again but not meeting her eyes, not wanting to disrespect her.

"Representative Krebhu, I hope you're healing well?" Queen Eudiline responded with a slight, but respectful, nod.

It took a second for Krebhu to recognize his new title, a slight hesitation on his part before he spoke again "thanks to the healer mages I am "he smiled, he had to think not to say greens, but he managed.

If Queen Eudiline noticed his hesitation she didn't respond to it "you understand that the other representatives are meeting tomorrow night don't you? You will have to leave tomorrow morning to make it. "

Two days, yeah right, the meeting was a week away, I was out that long? he thought to himself, but in response to his Queens Question, he nodded "I'll start preparing right away "he said going to get up, pushing the pain from his ankle to the back of his mind he stood, relieved to find himself still in the garb he had worn to The Branching.

"Good, my daughter will meet you at dawn to send you off "Queen Eudiline smiled, "oh and Tress?" she added, almost as an afterthought. Tress, who hadn't been listening to the conversation and instead  flirting with a young healer, looked startled to be addressed by his queen.

"Yes your majesty?" he responded tilting his head curiously

"Ethren... perished... in The Branching, your captain now" and with that, she walked out of the infirmary, leaving an astonished Tress to stare after her.

The sunrise glowed in many hues of orange and pinks over the treetops, and as Krebhu shouldered his pack again he looked over what might be the last time he saw his home.

Princess Adora came quietly out of the forest, having left behind her guard beyond hearing distance "nervous?" she asked softly, coming to stand beside him.

Krebhu started ever so slightly, "you need to be louder when you walk" he responded if anyone else addressed the Princess like that they'd be taken straight to the cells. But because it was Krebhu, Adora just smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder,

"You avoided the question "she murmured "you can tell me..."

He sighed "a little" he admitted turning to her, neither truly knew how they felt about each other, but it was certainly more than a friendship. "But who wouldn't be? I may never come back to this..." he continued, gesturing with a light brown hand to the surrounding forests.

Adora sighed and nodded, "you may not... but to increase the likelihood you will, wear this" out of a handcrafted leather satchel she took out an amulet. It was a tarnished silver ring, the center was a weave of metal lines, inscribed with Woodling words of protection and safe passage.

Krebhu smiled and bowed his head to let Adora hang it around his neck, where it settled just below his shirt line. "Thank you Adora" he smiled gratefully but Adora gave only a sad smile in response, taking his hands in his.

"Stay safe Krebhu "all titles were forgotten when they were together, "stay safe and come back to me." Krebhu squeezed her hands in what he hoped was a reassuring way before turning and setting off into the forest, each step carrying him further away from the life he knew, and those he had come to love.