How to train your hoglin

The Ender Prince

Phil walked for days, traveling as far as he could in the day, finding a cave to set up a fire in at night.
His crows continually nagged him about going to the Dreamon King. They never gave a good reason, though.
Finally, he reached the edge of the snow. A dark forest loomed above the ground, mist filling its maze-like corridors.
Phil looked around. He was going to meet this Ender Prince here, but he wasn't going to wait like a sitting duck.
He climbed a snowy hill and pulled his crossbow from his inventory, preparing a bolt and training it on the ground below.
He didn't want to shoot, but if the Ender Prince turned out to be a threat, Phil wasn't going to risk dying and being unable to save Techno.
Before long, a poof of purple particles filled the air, and a tall, dark figure appeared.
The strange creature looked around. He looked similar to the Endermen who roamed around the world, but half of him was white, and different.
He had one green eye, in the black half, and one red eye, in the white half.
He was tall, much taller than Phil, with digitigrade legs and elongated arms.
He looked around, large ears swiveling. A long, tufted tail swept the ground behind him.
"Hello?" He asked quietly? "Um, Philza? Philza Minecraft?"
"Yes?" Phil asked, standing, still holding the crossbow.
"Oh, hello! I was told to-to meet you here."
"By who?"
"Um- well I have these particles." He explained, gesturing to the purple specks still floating around him. "And they-they tell me stuff sometimes."
Phil studied him, but the strange creature wouldn't look him in the eyes.
"Well anyway I heard you were looking for the End, right? Or, the portal to the end. I can show you the way there. Also there was something about danger? Could you explain that?"
It wouldn't hurt to trust him a little. Phil put away the crossbow and walked down the hill to stop near the Ender Prince.
"Wither knights. They're hunting me. Well, us, and a few others, but mostly me. They killed my friend, and now I need the Dreamon King to revive him."
"Um, the-the Dreamon King? He's.... He's not usually, well he's difficult to... It's hard to explain."
"Can he do it?"
"I mean, probably. He can do a lot of things."
"Is he trustworthy?"
"I... I'm not sure. I mean he's helped me out, kinda, but he's not the type of guy you trust."
"As long as he can do it."
"Ok. So I need to bring you there?"
"And then you should probably come with me, so we can discuss what to do with the wither knights."
"Well, um... I don't... I usually don't like, get involved."
"You're an immortal, right?"
"Yeeees, I guess. Technically."
"Then we'll need you."
"I- well....ok."
"Great. I'm Phil."
"Ranboo."

Ranboo was a good guide, although he was very jumpy, and never made eye contact. He understood that his legs were longer than Phil's, and he slowed his pace.
He didn't talk much, either. He kinda just walked, or, occasionally, teleported in a swirl of purple particles.
He only teleported a few feet.
"How long will it take to get there?" Phil asked.
"Oh, well it depends. If you can fly soon, only a few days. If not, a lot longer than that, because we need to avoid the wither knights, so we should cut through the Totem's desert."
"We should avoid immortals."
"Why? They're like us, aren't they?"
"Immortals tend to fight. A lot."
"I don't."
"I should be able to fly tomorrow, a bit."
"Ok! There's a good spot to rest nearby. We'll get there in a few hours."
Right around sunset.
Phil was enjoying Ranboo's company. He was friendly, and jumped to help Phil whenever he asked for something, even teleporting on top of the trees in order to describe their surroundings.
Mist swirled out of the trees. Ranboo stopped, backing up. "Um, Mr. Minecraft?"
"Is this normal?" Phil asked.
"No. No, this isn't normal." Ranboo said with a quick shake of his head.
The most swirled closer. Oh dear. Phil recognized this mist.
"Get behind me. Now."
Ranboo teleported, appearing behind Phil's outstretched wings.
Phil drew his sword and waited. Any number of enemies could be waiting in the woods. Including Techno's old rival, the White-eyed one.
An arrow shot out of the most and plunged into Phil's wing. It hurt, but that's not what mattered. If his wing hadn't been there, it would've hit Ranboo, which meant Phil wasn't their target.
"Ranboo, stay behind me. Do you have a shield?"
"Um, yes. And armor. And weapons."
"Stay behind the shield. They're probably aiming for you."
Out of the mist stepped a wither skeleton.
It charged at Phil, who met it's stone blade with his netherite sword. He kicked it's leg out and plunged his sword through its skull.
Another came and charged Ranboo, who yelped and stepped backwards.
Phil intercepted it and knocked it to the side, slashing its head from its shoulders.
He spun and smashed at third one into a pile of shattered bones. A fourth one rattled behind him, and he met its blade.
A fifth one rattled, and Phil dove to the side, barely escaping a slash. If he was even touched by those blades, he would get wither, which would be worse than bad.
A sixth one lunged towards Ranboo, and Phil cut its leg off. It collapsed and slashed his arm with its blade.
He felt the effects immediately as his blood turned black and pain spiked through his body.
He barely stopped another blade, killing one of the three skeletons, and a sword plunged through his chest.
He stabbed his own blade over his shoulder, impaling the skeleton.
He crumpled. You may not live to see the end.
The wither skeleton stalked towards Ranboo, who backed up.
"Mr. Minecraft? D-don't die. I-I can-"
Phil twisted and threw his sword through the wither skeleton's head.
"Mr. Minecraft!" Ranboo knelt by Philza. "Um. I- I don't know how to fix this."
Black blood poured from Phil's wounds. He could barely breathe through the pain.
"Take this." Philza gasped, shoving Techno's inventory into Ranboo's hands. "Take it to the Dreamon King."
He gave Ranboo the Eyes of Ender. "Tell him... To revive Technoblade."
"I'm not leaving." Ranboo said, his voice shaking.
Phil shook his head, unable to find the strength to speak. Was this how Death's Angel died? Withered in a forest?
A rattle and a raspy gasp led his gaze to the edge of the woods. A wither skeleton.
It rattled and stumbled forwards. Ranboo scrambled backwards, away from it.
Everything was fading. Phil could only hope that Ranboo escaped and saved Techno.
Ranboo backed away from the skeleton. Through black fog, Phil saw a flash, heard the clatter of bones, and everything went dark.

Hey guys. Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I took a bit longer with this chapter, and the art.
Ranboo is here!
And about that cliffhanger, I'm not sorry. I have been given too much power, and y'all better be ready for me to abuse it.
Muahahaha