“Carry on my wayward son, and bring The Kingdom of Diocolus to heights it has never seen.” –King Hyperlytus SaNogueireous
“Father! NO!”
Every morning I wake up to the panic beat of my own breathing. I have to re-live to tragic event of witnessing my own brother, Prince Samson SaNogueireous, killing my father, King Hyperlytus SaNogueireous, so he can take the thrown. Once I catch my breath, I continue my long journey back home to the Kingdom of Diocolus, which was ruled by my father. From the battle ground at the Cliffs of Dover, at the end of the Eumeneus Forest, where my father said his last words to me before slicing his own hand, so that I could pull myself up from the Cliff without his weight threatening my chanced of survival. My voyage back home is no picnic. It is the first morning and I’m already low on water and have no food.
“I Got You!” I said with excitement.
As I walk over to collect my hunted game. As I stop to see the deer I hear a strange noise, the leaves move and a rope fastened around my ankle. The next thing I know I awake lying down next to log with a man inspecting my hunting bow.
“Actually I have you. Who are you and what are you doing in my woods?” The man calmly said.
“My name is Maximus SaNogueireous, son of King Hyperlytus SaNogueireous. I hail from the Kingdom of Diocolus, where I must return to.” I responded.
“I am terribly sorry. I heard what happened to your father. He was a great King. Here, let me take you down from there.” Said my capturer.
As I was let down from the trap, I took a look around and rubbed my ankle.
“How do you know of my father?” I asked
“I am Thrasolytus, God of Nature. I hear all, see all, and know all.”
“So, are you going to let me have that deer?” –I asked with hesitation.
“Oh yes. I normally don’t let people hunt in my forest, but you have fallen on hard times. Even good guys need a break. Let’s take a walk to where I rest and we’ll cook up some lunch.
“Lunch,” I asked. “when I hunted that deer it was for breakfast.”
“When you fell into my trap you hit your head on a rock and you were out cold for about 4 hours.
When we arrived at where Thrasolytus lived, I took a gander with awe. Everything was made of wood. Where he stayed was up in a tree. It was all very natural. I skinned the dear and we cut off the eating pieces. They were ready to be cooked. We put them on a stick and roasted them over his fire to perfection. As we ate, I was astonished with the outcome of the deer. Even coming from royalty, it was one of the best meals I ever had.
“That was good.” Thrasolytus said. “Do you know you’re way back to Diocolus?” He asked.
“I am not all sure, all I know is that I have to go through the woods” I responded.
He handed me a map “This is the map showing the way to Diocolus. Should you get lost, just follow the river, it will lead you right outside to the gates of Diocolus.”
Along with the map he gave me a pouch of mushrooms to eat if I get hungry along the way, and animals are scarce.
I was on my way through the lonesome forest once again. The day seemed to go quicker as it went on, and before I knew it I was hungry again. I stopped walking to take a seat on a rock. I took out the pouch of mushroom’s I received from Thrasolytus and ate five of them, leaving fifteen incase I get hungry later on. Within minutes I felt very strange. The ground started swaying like the waves of the ocean. Then bright colors, yellows, greens, reds, pinks, and blues started taking the place of the normal ground. I grabbed my stuff and I ran, falling once or twice before I could get to a good pace. The trees started chasing me, coming alive with voices dark as night yet distorted. I ran for what felt like two days, when finally I fell. I turned over on my back, crawling away from a figure that resembled my brother. He was dark, his eyes were red, his mouth stretched out to the size of a watermelon yelling, “NEVER RETURN!”
I kept crawling back wards, it took three times the energy climbing the waves. There felt like a 40 mile an hour wind was blown at me when he yelled. I held my breath until I couldn’t anymore.
I awake, opening my eyes a few times a minute, I was blacking in and out. I was being carried by someone –a rather short person, a man I believe. The man carried me across a river’s shallow parts stepping on rocks and logs. He took me off his shoulder and set me to lye on the ground. I could see flames, there was a fire, and a few horse –two or three maybe. He walked over to what looked like a canvas plastered upwards. The man came back with a bucket and splashed water on my face. I awoke at full attention. “Damn boy, you must have had one hell of a trip.” He said.
“Uh yeah, who are you?” I asked
“Well I’m just your everyday friendly forest man. Nah I’m just kidding with you, my name is Hempia, but shouldn’t I be asking you that?” The man said raising one of his red haired eyebrows.
“My name is Maximus SaNogueireous.”
“And just what are you doing falling asleep in the forest when it’s almost pitch black?” Hempia asked
“I was on my way to the Kingdom of Diocolus.” I told him.
“Diocolus? Hell boy, that a far way from here.”
“No, you must not know where Diocolus is. I have word from Thrasolytus, God of Nature, that if I follow the river it will lead me Diocolus, and there’s a river right there so I must be somewhat close.”
“Are you ensuing that I’m dumb or something? I know where Diocolus is,” He said. “The guy who has the long name that starts with a T gave you the wrong directions son. Do you want to get back to Diocolus?”
I thought to myself, how this could be. It started to make sense. Thrasolytus threw me off course. I wondered why, but nothing came to mind.
“Maxi-something, so do you or don’t you want to go back to Diocolus?” Hempia said.
“Oh, yes. Yes I do.”
“Alright we’ll go in the morning. I’m hungry. you want to eat something?” Hempia asked.
I was starving, without a pause I said yes!
Hempia was certainly odd, but I had a good feeling in my gut about him. Hopefully he wouldn’t turn out like Thrasolytus did. Hempia wanted to have the fire in his teepee, the sun was going down and he wanted to keep warm for the night. We both went out and collected twigs and a few logs for the fire. Before he put the twigs in the pit, he put a few of these nugget shaped green mossy things in.
“What are those?” I asked.
“These little things are dried up leaves off of some plant I find in these woods. Great for starting fires.”
We put the twigs over the plant buds and then Hempia grabbed a stick and lit it from the fire out side. The cooking fire went right up, and stayed lit for a long time. We roasted a boar that he had hunted earlier that day. It looked like it was going to be even better than the deer I ate with Thrasolytus. Most of the smoke stayed in the teepee, there was only a small opening at the top. I looked over at Hempia in accomplishment; his eyes were redder than his beard. I didn’t even feel like bothering to ask why. I was too relaxed. I have never felt so calm in my whole life. I was getting hungrier even though I was eating the boar. I think Hempia was too by the way was also eating so readily. We finished the entire boar. The fire died out and all that was left were warm coals. The last of the smoke creped out of the teepee’s top opening. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night.
I woke up that morning. I finished the last of my water, my mouth was dry. Hempia came out of the teepee.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get back to Diocolus?” I asked him.
“Eh, about two days by foot,” He said. “however, I could lend you one of my horses. That’ll get you there in about half a day.” He told me.
“I appreciate it. that would be a big help.”
Hempia kept the horses tied up about 15 paces away from where he was set up.
“Now this is my baby. Her name is Buttercup. Use her for as long as you need, but be careful, she’s got a little kick to her.” He warned me. “Now ride.”
And I did. Buttercup and I rode for a day straight, sprinting on and off. We made good time. I left Hempia’s at sunrise, and arrived at The Kingdom of Diocolus at sunset. It was dark. The streets were empty of citizens, and there was only the sound of the wind. There were small random fires on the streets, and on every corner were guards dressed in black armor. This was not the Kingdom I once knew, this is not the kingdom of my father.
“YA!” I yelled at Buttercup. We rode through the streets of Diocolus, all the way to the stairs of the Royal Palace.
“Halt at once!” Guards came from the bottom of the stairs, from inside the gates, and surrounded me. I was trapped. They threw me off Buttercup and took me inside the palace. With my hands tied behind my back, I was kicked to the ground on my knees before my brother.
“Bow to thy King.” Samson SaNogueireous said.
“You are filth!” I said as I spat at his feet.
He slapped me in my face and brought me to my knees, where he back handed me once more.
“Take him to his final resting place.” Samson said.
His guards put a sac over my head, blinding me from any visuals. I was lifted and carried to a different place. Horses galloped, and what ever I was in was very unsteady. I believe I was being drawn by horse carriage somewhere. When the carriage came to abrupt halt, I was lifted once again and put onto stable ground. The mask was taken from off my head. I took a look around; I was at The Cliffs of Dover, where Samson had just killed my father. The only people who were there were two of Samson’s guards, an old a horse driver, and Samson himself. We stood on the battle ground. Samson had a shield and a sword. One of the guards gave me the same.
“I did not want it to end this way my brother. It was bad enough I had to kill my own father. However, you must understand, change was needed. I am King now, not you. Good guys finish last.” Samson said before coming at me full force with the swing of his sword.
I dodged the sword but then he swung the shield at me, knocking me down. Once more attacked with the sword but I rolled over and got back on my feet.
“You are quick, but you are weak.” He said
I swung my sword at him, but he moved. I tried again. Our swords clashed, knocking mine to the ground. He dropped his sword and shield, and tackled me. I dropped my shield. We were close the edge. He was on top dominating the brawl, when a man on a horse came screaming from the forest like a bat out of hell. It was Hempia, he had one hand wrapped around the reigns of the horse, and the other yielding a spear. Samson turned to look and as he did I took the offensive. I punched him in the face and throw him over the edge. Hempia threw the spear through one of the guardsmen. He got of his horse and stabbed the other one with the sword that Samson dropped. The horseman rode off.
“Hempia!” I yelled with joy. “How did you know?”
“Does it matter?” He asked.
“You’re right. I have to get back to Diocolus.”
“We’ll ride together.” Hempia said.
It was morning when I arrived back to the Kingdom of Diocolus. We rode to the Palace. I walked through the gates and into the royal room, taking my time gawking with joy. I walked up to the rooftop deck, looking out at the Kingdom. The whole town was out cheering on the streets. There were no more fire on where they stood, and the clouds cleared up. It was sunny once again. Hempia came from behind me and placed my fathers crown on my head. My long dream of becoming king came true, and The Kingdom of Diocolus was peaceful, the way my father left it.
