It was dark but he had to keep running, his cloak flowing swiftly beings him as he quickened his pace. 'Just keep moving... C'mon you can do this!' He cried to himself trying to keep his thoughts positive. He ducked under a few low branches which caused his cloak to snag slightly and a large tear to become present, but he kept going.

"OVER HERE!! IT'S DEFINITELY HIM HIS CLOAK IS RIPPED!!" Someone called out to whoever was behind them.

"Dammit!" The figure muttered to themselves through their teeth.

He reached up to a nearby tree and pulled on a vine as he ran which caused the branch it was attached to, to fall and hit his pursuer on the head stunning him slightly and giving the runner a bit more of a lead. As the cloaked figure continued on he felt sweat drip down his forehead and the cloak become more and more restricting. He had no choice now but to remove the cloak and make some sort of distraction.

For now he had to keep moving and find an area where he'd be sheltered so he could free himself. It took a while but he eventually managed to find a section in the forrest which was densely surrounded by bushes and trees. He took this moment to unclasp his cloak and hang it on the tree in the hopes that if his pursuers caught up they maybe distracted for a while and mistake the cloak for himself.

Under his cloak he was wearing nothing but a pair of black ripped cargo-style pants and some brown combat boots that appeared to have been worn a lot due to them being as littered with scratches as his chest is. The biggest scar on his went from his left shoulder across to just above his waist and looked to have been created by a thick blade of some kind of sword. Other scars appeared to resemble claw marks or various other kinds of scratches. He held a gentle smile across his face while his eyes were full of fear and his soft brown hair was held up in a messy bun. His ears appeared to come up to a delicate point but other than that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary about this man.

...

He's normal right?

So, why are people after him?

...

After a short 20 second break, he took off again running towards a clearing, he was certain that the pursuers were no longer tailing him so he paused again. This time stopping near a small stream to the edge of the forrest and kneeling down beside it letting his hands feel the delicate current wash over them. His guard dropped slightly as he scooped up some water to wash his face and to have a small drink which filled his mouth with a slight metallic taste.

'A metallic taste?' He questioned to himself as he spat the water out into the bush beside him and brushing his mouth with the back of his hand. Sure enough, there were drops of blood dripping down the back of his hand, how had he let this happen.

He quickly stood up and began surveying his surroundings, his eyes glowing a warm green as he did this.

"Who's there?!" He questioned the darkness, stupidly waiting for a response.

No answer.

He wiped his bloodied hand across his trousers and relaxed his eyes slightly, that's when he noticed. An arrow had pierced him in his chest... 'An archer, damn! They must be in the trees somewhere...'

He looked around again, this time making sure to scan the treetops but he was too late, they must've already left by now or found a new hiding space.

...

"Have you found him yet?"

"No, not yet sir but we have a lead!"

"Well, keep searching! Have you seen Symmetry anywhere?"

"I'm over here!" The one named Symmetry called out as they jumped down from the treetops. "What do you need?"

"What do you know?"

"They're by a stream north of here. I managed to get an arrow in their chest so they're injured so they shouldn't have gotten far!" Symmetry said proudly.

"Fantastic work Symmetry! Please take this newbie with you to continue your search, they could use the support."

"Sure, Captain who's the newbie?" Symmetry asked as a person walked across to stand next to the Captain.

"H-hi." He stammered.

He appeared to be head to toe in full armour, his helmet had a red plume coming out the top of it and his curly blonde hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail. In Symmetry's opinion he was a little overdressed for the occasion but she wasn't one to judge.

"Hey! My name's False Symmetry but while on duty we go by our last names unless you can't go by yours for specified reasons." False introduced herself to the new member.

"Right, I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I must go tend to the main troops, it'll be our lunch break soon before the rotation for the celebration so enjoy yourselves 'till then!" The captain said before spinning around on his heels and walking off, out the forrest.

"So... what's your name?" False inquired once the captain left.

"My name is Wels, I'd rather not share my last name..." The now named person, Wels said glancing at the floor every now and then.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, ready to get going?"

"Sure..."

Together they began to walk through the forrest to a clearing area near the forrest edge where the training grounds were. There was a wall of targets laid out in archery lanes, in another area were squared that had been marked out with planks of wood to mark a hand to hand combat zone which had various kinds of combat dummies lined up along the side and underneath a nearby wooden shelter. The shelter also seemed to be home to various assortments of practice weapons and real weapons.

"So, what we doin'?" False asked Wels.

"What do you mean?"

"For practicing? You had to have been hired for a reason? So whatcha good at?"

"Oh, right. I mainly work with swords..." Wels replied.

"Cool! I'm an archer but I was brought up learning hand to hand combat, I've rarely worked with swords. Over there is our hand to hand combat leader, he' excellent with stealth! He's often nicknamed 'The Ninja' by our main team as he refuses to share his name unless he has to!" False stated as she pointed to a sliver haired man training in the hand to hand combat square. "Oh, and over there is Iskall! You'll probably spend most of your time with him as he often works with swords, daggers and the like as leader of the weaponry team!" She waved to the Swedish brunette who was sharpening his sword on an anvil.

Wels stood in awe as he watched various kinds of people patrolling, marching, fighting, shooting, fixing, cleaning, talking, planning, healing and all sorts of various tasks in preparation for defence, offence and other important measures that may need to be taken for the kingdom and for the prince's birthday celebrations later today.

"Alright, how about I take you over to meet Iskall?" False asked.

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

Together, False and Wels walked over to the area where Iskall was working.

"Hallo False! What brings you over to my area of the training fields?" Iskall asked.

"Just showing the newbie around! Meet Wels!" False said before turning to Wels. "And Wels, meet Iskall!"

"Nice to meet you Wels!" Iskall greeted Wels while sliding his sword into its belt holster and putting away his sword maintenance equipment.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Iskall then spoke up.

"So, Wels. What are you interested in?"

"I err- I mainly work with swords..."

"Haha! I meant your hobbies, what do ya do in your spare time!" Iskall laughed, while Wels kicked at the floor and blushed slightly out of embarrassment.

"Iskall, please stop trying to find someone who'll be your drinking buddy we don't even know how old the poor boy is." False retorted with which made Wels laugh a little.

"Well, I'm still 17 so I wouldn't be able to drink anyways..." Wels spoke up a bit during all the laughter and a slightly bashful Iskall.

"False, you're just a party pooper, you almost never drink with me anymore and you know how stealthy over there feels about public events and I definitely wouldn't be seen dead with any of the other idiots from our respected troops drinking!" Iskall eventually retorted to False.

After that was said the duo began arguing with one another over respectable duties and what is and isn't a reasonable pass time. Meanwhile, Wels stood at a slight distance from the arguing hoping that it was all going to stop sometime soon.

...

The figure had left the stream now, the arrow still sitting in his chest. He knew better than to pull it out and make his injury worse than it already was. He just had to hope he'd be able to find someone who may be able to help heal his injury.

"Shh! Quiet you pesky bird! I'm trying to watch him and see what he does." Someone up, hidden amongst the branches muttered through his teeth to his companion.

The said companion, then jumped off the branch and flew off into the sky, who knows where it was heading?

The person had now shifted himself along the tree branches slightly still trying to watch what the strange person beneath him was doing. He noticed that the person below him had an arrow in him, 'why does he have an arrow in his chest?' The treetop lurking gremlin thought to himself as a look of concern washed over his face. 'Should I jump down and help him? Or wait it out a bit longer..?' He questioned, now dangling his legs off the branch, kicking them back and forth out of boredom.

He had a feeling the person below him wasn't human as he'd just seen his eyes change from glowing to a dimmer, softer green before he arrived which told him he should be safe to approach but he was still skeptical.

Especially after the last time he tried to help someone he thought wasn't human so was safe but did in fact turn out to be human...