Atreus took one final look around before placing his helmet on his head and moving on from his place of awakening. Walking farther inland he discovered he was on an island. Even if it was far away he could still see the other side. He could also see the makings of a town and port though it was far enough away that he couldn't see much. Deciding the travelling there by foot was the best option. Walking was better opposed to leaping there and crashing down like a meteorite outside their town, he would not find any welcoming gestures doing that.
He began the trek across the island, it was mostly grass and other small pieces of plant life. Very few trees grew on the island it seemed, the ones that did were small. 'Most likely due to the wind', he thought to himself as he moved spear and shield in hand. He began to use the butt of the spear as a walking stick unconsciously, a result of a habit he formed from necessity. When he climbed mount Targon with his friend and rival Pylas, his long journey was met with the winds of that sheer cliff of a mountain. He needed a way to keep himself on the ground or fall to his almost certain death. The weapons he carried provided that grip to the mountain face so desperately needed.
'Being on the ocean tends to create lots of wind, knocking everything tall over, thus no trees.' he mused. As he continued on his way, the town getting ever closer, he began to think. Now matter where he was what did matter was how he got here. 'How did the clash between me and that pet', Atreus's thoughts began with extra hate for the last word, 'end in me being here, where ever here is.'
As he came within a couple dozen meters of the town he noticed a few of them seemed to be pointing at him. One of them ran off farther into the town. 'A lone shirtless warrior walking towards your isolated and small town, coming from the opposite of where the port is. Clearly armed. I suppose it would make me nervous if I was them.' lightly laughing to himself at the absurdness of the situation and walked on.
As he approached within ten meters he was stopped by a shout, "Halt, identify yourself outsider!" A small crowd of townsfolk was gathered and two of the people approached him from the crowd. Two women, one wearing armor that glowed in the sun, appearing in a golden colour. If it was good armor, it was not made from actual gold. The other wearing leather training gear and being a bit shorter.
‘This town has no need for more than a guard and her apprentice it seems. Perhaps I should use an alias for now.’ the former Ra’Horak warrior commented internally. “I am Pantheon.”, Atreus responded calmly, while internally cursing for using that title as the first thing to come to mind, he had somewhat accepted it but there was some hurt, “Would you mind answering me a question by telling me where I am?” The man slowly but firmly planted the top of his spear into the ground to show non-hostility.
The woman paused her eyes narrowing slightly, “Never heard a name like that before, or seen someone with weapons like those or a helmet like that. I would assume all of those are enchanted to glow and create that there... ball of light on your helm.” When she received no answer but only a minor tilt of his head in expectancy she frowned, “Well to answer your question, we are on Greentail island. This here is the town of Oatville we’re off the cost of Vanhouver, though how you are unaware of that I don't know.”
Pantheon paused and responded again, “It is not a name but a title, as for my knowledge of this place, I was unaware of a place called Vanhouver even existed.”
This caused some murmurs from the now larger crowd even confused looks on the guards themselves, “Vanhouver is one of the biggest cities in Equestria how could you not know about it? For that matter what are you doing here and what do you intend to do now that you are more aware of your location?” The guards more intent on talking to him had closed the distance to him more.
“For another thing why are you still wearing that helmet, didn't your mother ever teach you that sort of thing is rude.” the apprentice added before quickly shrinking under the glare of her superior. Pantheon hearing this laughed causing some of them to tense and others to relax.
“You ask a good question, the answer is experience, most fights go better when wearing a helmet.” The elder guards tensed slightly waiting for a moment before he continued, “ However I can see that no one here would want that, so I’ll do as you ask.” When Atreus removed his helmet the smaller guard blushed at his handsome face her wings jutting out at the sight before she noticed and retracted them.
Atreus who was smiling until a moment ago frowned slightly at what he saw, taking a closer look at the guards and the people themselves he noted every single one had a tail of hair similar to a horse’s. Some had feathered small wings on their backs like the apprentice guard. And maybe half a dozen people with a single straight swirled horn above their forehead. Atreus got a feeling of underline dread creep into his senses, the guard noticed his frown and gaze, “What are you looking at?”
Pantheon responded in a statement, “I will answer that after I confirm something, what is Equestria, and what is the name of our world?”
The apprentice could hardly believe the question, “What kind of pony doesn’t know what Equestria is? Even if you grew up in a remote earthpony settlement somewhere you would know about the unification of the tribes lead to Equestria and Celestia’s rule which turned ponies into the dominant race of Equis.” The apprentice looked like she wanted to say more but was cut off by her teacher’s hand.
“As my student has just so rudely put it, Equestria is the dominant power of the world Equis. However I must ask again what you were looking at earlier?” The guardspony stated.
The warrior paused considering his answer, “Your town has many..." Pantheon paused thinking about what the words the apprentice said earlier,"...'ponies' with wings, horns and tails. Though how you bare that name with only tails I am not sure”
The ponies seemed confused and a little uncomfortable being so closely examined from a distance. “What do you me-“ the apprentice started again having muscled free from her teacher’s grip. At that moment she finally noticed the so called 'Pantheon' standing in front of them didn't bear any recognizable or possible cutimark on either of his arms. he only had what appeared to be golden tribal paint. She noted after considering his words that he did not seem to have a tail to be seen. "Where is your tail?"
At this the elder guard saw that as well and took a wider stance on instinct. "You still haven't told us your name, and by the looks of it you have no tail or cutie mark. What are you?", the mare and her apprentice took slightly lower stances. An odd pony was one thing, a mystery was another. The townsfolk seemed to tense and back away slightly. Ponies weren't unwelcoming sort but isolated as they were made them less welcoming to mysteries and possible dangers than some city dweller would be.
He remained silent debating whether to tell these 'ponies'. On one hand he needed information, he was not happy hearing what he was given so far. Either he was on some lost continent or somewhere worse. Unfortunately he held a sneaking suspicion he was going to find himself unlucky. "I am someone that was given another chance at life after I had mine taken away, I buried my name with my regrets.” a pause, honest was often the best way to reach people, “I am hardly the same person now, if you still wish to call me by something I shall tell you it." It was worth the risk, when he had fought Xerath he didn't get the chance to tell that woman his name in return. She was what he fought for, the people who could not face their threats, and those he fought beside. She and him used themselves to protect others, 'Shields protect hearts, your own and those beside you.’ he reminisced before thinking a prayer, ‘I have defeated Xerath your sacrifice was not in vain Asose, I shouted your name to the heavens and killed that pet of the gods.'
During his thoughts the guard was having thoughts of her own, 'What is a person, is that the word he uses in place of pony?'. "That wasn’t what I was asking. But that would be a sad story if I had proof of it.” A pause, “Though I guess understand how that could change your whole perspective." She said relaxing her grip of her sheathed sword. 'Don't know if I would ever drop my own name though’, after her inner thought struck she asked again,"Would you my telling us your name… and race, please?" She asked in a gentler tone realizing he could be completely lost and isolated, the fact that he had made no aggressive behavior was note worthy. 'unlike me', she thought before she came up with an idea to help the situation,"My name is Steal Gait, and my trainee here is Sky Ray."
As the man turned the names over in his head he found them strange,"Good to meet you; my name is Atreus.". He smiled as genuinely as he could manage. 'This will be rough', he concluded. A moment between his words pasted before he spoke, "And as I said, my race is Human."