Chapter Text
Being a god’s champion is a bit of a tough job.
Not that Solace would ever think to complain about it, no– he knew from an early age just how special this was. How important.
No, no. Tough or not, Solace was grateful. How could he not be? Raised from birth in the church of his god, Aurily; chosen at such a young age to fulfill their mission. He still remembered how proud everyone looked, how ecstatic his parents were. It was the most important day of his life.
And the day his life changed. From that moment on, he wasn’t just a little kid anymore. From the age of twelve, his days turned from helping with church duties and playing with the other kids to learning to fight, learning to communicate with their god.
By the time he was fifteen, he had left home, out to travel the world and carry out his god’s bidding.
But..
Well, it did get a little bit lonely at times. He wouldn’t ever truly complain, but sometimes the cold nights and quiet travels did get to him just a bit. It was a lonely life by design, though; other people just didn’t fit into Aurily’s plans. They didn’t fit into his plans for anything, really, and they certainly didn’t fit into his prophecies or his plans for Solace.
Solace couldn’t usually stand people, anyways. People or kings. He interacted with people inasmuch as his missions required it, and even then with a great deal of reluctance. Kings bothered him even worse. Really, Solace couldn’t stand any mortal authorities.
Not that it mattered too badly. No, no.. Before long, the biggest of Aurily’s prophecies would come to pass, and the world would be restructured to his rule.
..That was still a while out, though. That’s part of what Solace was doing, really, helping to prepare the world for that day.
This was how he found himself, a day like just about any other. He was off down a beaten path, traveling towards a kingdom. It sounded.. almost interesting. The directions didn’t sound like many others, either; rather than defense or protection, he was sent almost for.. diplomacy. They appeared to have some alignments with things Aurily’s followers believed, and they had just come under new rule, so it seemed he was sent more to try and extend an olive branch.
It was a few days and nights before he found himself approaching the kingdom. Even just the walls from a distance were very.. gold.
He comes to a stop about ten minutes from the entrance to the city. He had to reorganize his things a bit, retrieve his water. He sets one of his bags down, turning away to fetch his water.
..And when he turned back, his bag was gone, replaced with a puff of.. purple? The particles looked.. familiar.
It takes him a second before he processes. When he does, he groans and curses to himself.
Fucking Endermen?! Seriously? At this time of day?
He turns in a circle, squinting into the distance to see if he could spot the.. wretched little beast.
He couldn’t stand Endermen. Really, anything of the End. The whole thing was the exact opposite of everything Aurily’s followers stood for. They stood for light, for knowledge, for truth.. The End was the exact antithesis.
For a brief second, he thinks he sees the creature teleport in front of him, gone in another puff of purple just as quickly as it appeared. To make it worse, it sounded like the thing laughed.
How dare it?! He thought to himself, resting a hand on his sword. He wasn’t intending to fight today, but he would if he had to get his belongings back.
Another laugh rings out behind him, and as he turns around, he snaps a bit.
“Show yourself!” He yells out, drawing the sword fully. He didn’t have time for this..! How ridiculous, how disrespectful! “Don’t you know who I am?”
“No!”
An oddly.. clear human voice rung out in response, albeit heavily accented with something Solace couldn’t quite place. Another giggle followed the statement, and as Solace turns around again, he found himself face to face with–
…A person?
..No, not a person, a person wasn’t that lanky, didn’t have skin or eyes that colour, didn’t have what looked like scales on their neck. But it spoke like a human, wore human clothes, wore jewelry that betrayed a bit of an upper-class life.
It looked at him like a human, too. Grinned like one, but a mouth far too wide.
Enderborn. It’s not an Enderman, it’s an Enderborn.
As soon as Solace realizes it, he steps back, raising his sword. “State your purpose.”
The.. being looks at him with purple eyes, his bag clutched in one hand. It tilted its head, looking him over before it laughs.
It fucking laughs at him.
He swings his sword.
No luck; another little puff of smoke, purple particles, and the thing disappears, reappearing in his peripheral vision.
It leans forward slightly, prodding his side. “I should be asking you your purpose,” it says; the more it speaks, the more the accent becomes apparent. “You’re the stranger walking up to our kingdom. So who are you?”
‘Our’ kingdom? Surely this.. this– thing wasn’t in any authority over this city. It just couldn’t be! This sort of thing was just simply unheard of, an Enderborn in authority in the Overworld. Especially not one so.. obviously inhuman. Really, he thought, it had a tail!
And in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that tail swinging forward to knock him off his feet, sending him onto his back on the dirt and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Ouch. He starts to sit up, stopped halfway by a thin wooden staff shoved into his face.
“Who are you?” It repeats, keeping the same smile on its face the whole time.
Solace hesitates a bit before he responds. “...Let me up and I’ll tell you,” he says finally, reaching to grab his sword from the ground. No way was he telling this thing anything about himself while he was on the ground.
Shockingly, it retreats. It withdraws the staff, disappearing it in a little puff of smoke. Even more shockingly, it holds its hand out to him. “C’mon, then, get up!”
..This is a bad idea.
Despite the thought, Solace grabs its hand and pulls himself up. He shudders at the feeling; it was cold, oddly so like these things always were. He pulls his hand back as soon as he’s back on his feet, wiping his hand on his shirt.
Judging by the thing’s small scowl, the gesture didn’t go unnoticed. No matter, Solace just had to get through dealing with it..
“Who are you?”
He lifts his head at the repeated question, much less concerned now that they were on somewhat-even ground again. He almost doesn’t even want to answer, wants to try and just walk past it, but–
It appears something else. He thinks for a second that it’s the staff, but when he feels cold metal poking his collarbone, he realizes it’s a dagger. “You have ten seconds.”
And the thing starts counting.
“My name is Solace,” he says finally, nearly spitting the words out. He pushes its arm down, glaring back at it. “I’ve been sent on a mission from my god to speak with your king. Who are you?”
He doesn’t elaborate any further. He almost swears the thing rolls its eyes at him. How dare–..
It responds with something in a language Solace can’t understand. He has half the mind, at least, to identify it as Endspeak.
“Excuse me?”
“Seto,” it repeats, and the tone makes Solace scowl even more. It’s speaking like that should have been obvious from what it said.
“..That’s not what you said.”
“It’s what you people call me.” The thing – Seto – responds rather flatly, grabbing Solace’s arm out of nowhere. It’s still holding his bag in its other hand, now dragging him along in the other as it walked into the city, weaving through the streets. “Who is your god? Who sent you?”
Ugh. He really wasn’t getting out of this fucking interrogation. “I can’t tell you that, you’re not the person I need to speak to.”
Seto groans and Solace swears it hisses.
Regardless, the statement worked, and they walk in silence the rest of the way.
Seto drags him through winding streets, dodging people that seem.. far too comfortable with the Enderborn’s presence. Solace stays silent, despite the comments he wanted to make. He gets a bit more hopeful when the castle comes into view. It’s built in shades of white, grey, and gold, mainly. It looked nice, actually. Much more in line with the rest of the city and the people living in it.
The inside of the castle, once he’s pulled up the steps and through the doors, looks.. a bit less extravagant. The inside is mainly just plain wood and stone. It’s hard to tell from a glance where everything really is. The Enderborn comes to a stop in the middle of the hallway, finally letting go of Solace and turning to face him. “Wait here,” it says simply.
Before Solace can even respond, it’s teleported away in a puff of particles.
He finds himself tempted to wander around, but– no. He’s still here on diplomacy, he really needs to make a good impression. It’s an almost painstaking amount of time that passes before the Enderborn returns with somebody else in tow. The other person looks markedly more.. human, and Solace breaths a small sigh of relief. They’re tall, dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Aside from their gold amulet, they’re just wearing shades of black, a crown sitting lopsided on their head.
“Uh– hey, dude?”
Solace’s relief deflates a bit. The crown– this was their king? And he opens a conversation with “dude”?
Solace sighs to himself, looking between the two before he responds. “Hello.” He nods, starting to bow. “My name is–”
“Oh, Aether, please don’t bow at me,” the.. king cuts him off with an incredibly loud laugh, and Solace feels his eye twitch. This one seemed just as insufferable.
He straightens up with a quiet, mumbled apology. “My name is Solace. I’ve been sent on behalf of my god to speak with you.”
“Oh! Shit, man, why didn’t you say you had business?” They laugh again and wave for Solace to follow them, turning on their heels and walking down one of the halls. “I’m Sky, let’s go talk then!”
Solace nods and follows Sky, unable to stop himself from casting a smug grin at the insufferable little Enderborn. Goodness, he hoped he really didn’t have to deal with that.. thing much more.
(Little did he know – and he would come to find out – that the Enderborn had found himself quite interested in Solace.)