After leaving the Blazer Kingdom, Avgi had decided to return to a place filled with green. In his lungs before was hot air that warped everything that sweltered within. However, where he returned allowed cool and fresh air to enter his eager nose, as he disappeared into thick brush.

His return was to layers of leaves and massive branches that completely covered the sky above, which made the dark night even darker yet. At the feet of the common tree, with several meters of radius, were roots that grew taller than a person, and bushes either dense enough to walk on, or plants with leaves large enough to use as blankets. 

Avgi traversed through the darkness with his golden eyes peering through the deepest shadow, free of issues. His walk through such an extreme environment was casual: every step of his leather shoes lightly tapped the ground and caused large dirt-camouflaged creatures to scatter away, the roots spreading across the ground were small hurdles for him to hop up his own height to reach the top, and when his glowing eyes landed upon a thick bush, so too did his feet, elevated from the ground as he continued to hike away.

Despite the gigantic forest being so aimless and seemingly impossible to navigate, with every wooden stalk bursting from the ground so obscenely-wide that their collective forms a maze, not helped at all by the greenery with even worse visibility, Avgi did not second-guess the directions he weaved through the green abyss in. Around more trees, through a hollowed log as wide as a hallway, and to his destination did Avgi arrive. 

His home was constructed upon the lower branch of one of the especially-large trees, which by the last time he measured, was around three hundred meters in circumference, and so tall that reaching the top would always give Avgi a great look over the whole of the Willow Kingdom, and a decent portion of the rest of Immemoria. However, what Avgi focused on was his house, built upon the gargantuan branches that weaved into the branches of surrounding trees. Despite having two stories built into its rudimentary brick-and-wood construction, it was completely steady and sturdy. As it turned out, though, the house didn’t look particularly well-built, seemingly thrown together with haphazardly-nailed boards and bricks of varying type and shape. 

Nonetheless, Avgi’s house was the perfect quarter for someone who just needed to sleep, after half a week of dragon-slaying, breaking out of an arranged marriage, and fighting his greatest enemy. He ran across a root, leapt at the bark of the tree, and dashed up the surface with enough of a start to blaze up the height needed to reach the branch his house rested on. After climbing onto said branch and walking up to his home, there was no door to open, but a doorway to step right into.

As he took his sword from his hip and dropped it, Avgi’s golden eyes flashed orange for a brief moment, causing bright lanterns mounted across the walls to ignite. The first floor consisted of a single and spacious room with many weapons lining the walls below the candles, from swords, to axes, to even maces of varying material and supposed elemental construction. Where one spear’s steel was coated in bright green venom, a flanged mace was burnt all over and still emitted small embers. Strewn about the floor was multiple forms of legal tender, in the form of watery bills that did not seep, and icy coins that did not melt. “Another day, another date.”

He walked to the crooked stairs in the back, kicking his shoes off to reveal calloused, roughened feet that immediately felt great relief. The stair’s messy and angled floorboards weren’t a problem for his steady stride. “And it’s always about the kingdom…”

The second floor was his lantern-lit bedroom. Against the wall was a crude mattress with fur pelts stacked upon it as blankets, and feather pillows with depressions and peaks battered into them over time. Across from the bed was a wooden target board, with five kunai stuck inside of them. The throwing knives were wide, with rings at the end of the handles. He walked past the target board to what was next to it; a board with eight draconic heads carved into them. “Am I seriously that much of an asset?”

One had a long face, and had a name carved under it. He took one of his knives from the board, and marked an X over the Aquadragon’s likeness. None of the rest of the heads had such a mark to declare them dead. Therefore, he had one down, and seven to go. Meanwhile, he continued to mumble to himself while glancing over the rest of the names. “I’ll keep telling ‘em that I don’t need to be secured. But they probably still won’t listen.”

What remained were the faces of the blocky Mountaindragon, the jagged Stormdragon, the branch-horned Sapdragon, the Flaredragon with large nostrils, the smirking Glacierdragon, the Lightdragon with closed eyes, and the sludgy Wastedragon. He turned away, and scooped the rest of his knives from the target, one in his right hand, the other four in his left. “After all, why settle for my promises when I can just be totally attached to them?”

Avgi walked back to his bed, sitting on the edge and throwing one knife over his shoulder. It spun in the air, sticking onto the outermost ring of the target. “And it doesn’t work. I’m not even into the stuff that royals are.”

He gripped the second knife from his other hand, whipping it out from across his side and throwing it in a beeline. It didn’t spin whatsoever, stabbing into the middle ring between the outermost ring and the bullseye. “What I love isn’t any of this leader stuff.”

The third knife stuck right next to the second one. “Or tactics, or strategy, or being indebted to a kingdom.”

He fell back, hitting the soft blankets with a soft thump, and staring at the ceiling blankly. “It shouldn’t be a problem. It wouldn’t, as long as the royals I keep getting stuck to…”

Suddenly, he threw his body back up, throwing the fourth knife. It soared across the room, planting itself firmly in the direct center of the target. “Had SOMETHING in common with me!”

He paused for a second, before throwing the fifth knife. Its tip crashed into the bottom of the fourth, deflecting off and landing right next to it. “I’m not royal. Not a prince. Not a king. I have more in common with royal guards, if anything.”

He stood up, walking over to the board to pull the knives back. “Someone who understands me for me, and not just what I can do for them.”

Avgi walked back to his bed, and sat down, continuing to throw knives haphazardly around the board. “Someone who likes the same stuff I do. Adventuring, on and on, discovering all there is to see!”

His first knife passed through a memory of a great two doors that towered over all who dared approach, opening to let the knife soar down an endless abyssal hallway. Within the darkness were the glowing eyes of all forms of beasts larger than life, and the golden sheen of treasures enticing every sort of adventurer to fall to the deadliest traps. Avgi’s knife passed through the light at the end of the metaphorical hallway, and in reality, it stuck perfectly into the target’s bullseye. “Someone who loves to fight, and have fun!”

In his mind, two dark violet eyes with white pupils began to appear in his thoughts. The next two knives he clumsily threw landed horizontally from each other, becoming daggers that stared back. “Someone with… My sense of justice.”

Her gaze was one that he remembered. Her bright pupils pierced every thought Avgi had in that moment, and seemed to intensify when he specified his conditions. “Someone who… I’ve always known…”

Esca was who came to mind. Avgi flung the last two knives with both hands, them not even landing on the target and simply bouncing off the wall. His face fell to watch the floor. “But… We can’t.”

He continued somberly, sulking over to the board to pick up the knives once again.

“It’s just not possible… I’m the Champion of Immemoria...” Once he knelt down to pick up one of the knives that fell, her frenzied grin reflected off of the blade’s broad surface. “... And she’s a menace.”

He tilted the knife, looking into his own golden eyes. “Everything she does is in opposition to everything these kingdoms stand for.” When he blinked, he saw the kunai reflect the image of their hands powerfully grasping each other.

“Yet... I didn’t realize how soft her skin was… Was that why I didn’t wanna let go?” He shook his head slowly, standing up and sticking the fallen knives back into the target board.

“Can’t let this get to me… We just can’t.” After putting them away, Avgi stepped away and jumped backwards into bed, sighing out.

“I’ve gotta find someone else. There’s no use fawning over Esca.” He turned over, peering through a window. That window had no glass, only an opening in the wall that gazed out into the barely-lit leafy treetops.

“Feasible love, I’ll find you one day…" Avgi sat back up, pulling back the furs pelts of leaf and grass so he could bundle himself within. As his head hit the plant-feathered pillow, a few avian leaves coughed out from the side. He didn’t mind, for he had surmised a plan. “Maybe I could try asking out someone first… Then we won’t be FORCED into a commitment!”

One face came into his delirious, almost-asleep vision. Pale green skin and soft eyes stained with sap brought Avgi an adorable attraction he couldn’t shake off. The green hair of the young man spilled down like the namesake of his kingdom, at least some strands of the thin willow leaves always getting in his face and going down to his jaw. Every memory of him was with a serene smile, and a quiet, shy cheer.

“You genius… Salixio just might work.”

Avgi shut his eyes with a grin, preparing for his new mission. The new mission was one that started as soon as the daylight fell down, and fresh pollen filled the air.

When the lands were in peace, he would seek love that could not be rushed.