Knox

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

These were the first few words that hung high over the heads of all who would come towards the throne room of Midas. Adorned as a part of a large tapestry that tells the history of not only the nation of Midas, but of all Fraus. An older knight and a young boy walk up the grand staircase towards the throne room. The older knight patiently waits in front of the throne room as the young boy’s eyes and mind wander to the depictions of glorious heroes prevailing over horrid dragons.

The large, ornate doors to the throne opened slowly. The King looked on curiously as a man exited through a doorway closer to the throne.

"Ahhh! Murdoch, I assume you have the young boy that my Vizier informed me about." King Minimus Das proclaimed as he rose from his jewel-encrusted throne and wore the finest robes and fabrics a king ought to be wearing.

"Yes, my liege," Murdoch, the oldest of the King's guard, affirmed as he went down to one knee. "This boy's shown magical affinity which could rival any magic-user in Midas, Kogane, or anywhere in all of Fraus."

Murdoch gestured to his right, where he'd told Knox to stand when they entered the royal throne room of Midas. The room went deathly silent, and Murdoch's brow started to shimmer a little with nervous sweat. King Minimus does not take interruptions to his day very kindly.

"Knox. Introduce yourself to the King. NOW." Murdoch whisper-yelled to his right without looking up to not offend King Minimus.

"Murdoch, my trusted servant, are you starting to lose yourself? You're talking to nothing and no one."

Murdoch's eyes shot open, and he looked to his right, and Knox was nowhere to be found. The old knight rose from his spot, and let out an exasperated groan while rubbing his face with his hands and going down the length of his short, graying beard.

"KNOX!" the knight yelled.

The young boy didn't respond to Murdoch. Instead, Knox walked out one of the doorways that offshoots the throne room with a book in his hand. Behind him, one of the castle's butlers begs him to put the book down as that is property of the royal family and should only be touched by them or the castle staff. Murdoch sighs before stepping in front of an unaware Knox. The young boy bumps right into Murdoch while not paying attention to where he's going. Knox looks up at Murdoch, whose fury is evident from the bulging veins stemming from his forehead.

"Oh, sorry. 'Doch! I just caught the familiar whiff of ink on paper and had to see what books a castle had in it. Look, they even have my favorite - War of the Dragons."

Knox shuts the book he was carrying and tries to put it in his satchel. Before he can, the butler snatches the book back from him, dusts it off, and walks away from the throne room. Murdoch almost lets his temper go, but is quickly interrupted by the King's uproarious laughter.

The white-haired knight turns to look toward the King, whose eyes start to form tears. He'd never seen his liege look so boisterous and amused. The lack of court jesters wasn't from lack of trying, but from a lack of success for anyone who dared try. Murdoch eventually stopped bringing in jesters altogether before the kingdom ran out of people. The King finally settles down and looks down toward Knox. The brown-skinned boy had taken some dice out of his satchel and was rolling them on the ground, cheering and moaning at the results he would get.

"Young one, please introduce yourself to me." the King asked kindly.

Knox doesn't bother to turn back to the King or stop playing with his dice. "Didn't y'hear 'Doch? It's Knox."

Murdoch crouches down to Knox's level and harshly whispers to him. "Son, I've seen this man behead people for far less. Start acting right before you join him."

Knox pauses for a moment. And then another. And then another. The boy grabs up his dice and turns toward the King, and he sits back down the same way as before and starts rolling his dice again.

"Yes! Mostly three's!" Murdoch shouts as he removes several dice from play.

Murdoch glares at Knox before looking toward his liege, distressed, worried about the young man's fate. The King looked amused as he watched Knox quietly play his game.

"Young Knox. Now that you face me in my court, there's much I need to discuss with you. Will you lend an old monarch an ear for his story?"

"Hmm." Knox sounded off as he flung dice to the ground while picking most of them back up to re-roll.

The King clears his throat and begins gesturing to the stained-glass portraits adorning the throne room ceiling.

"Long ago, the people of this kingdom were far and few between. We posed very little threat to any other neighboring civilization or tribe with our small numbers. As such, we were left alone by almost everyone around us. Many long-lived nations that existed at that time could have wiped us off the face of the map. Still, by the grace of the Originator, we were able to survive."

The King looked away from the ceiling and stood up. He looked at Knox, who quietly whispered "new record" under his breath, still not bothering to look at the King. Murdoch looked toward the both of them and sighed.

"Knox is curious what happens next, my liege. He whispered it quietly." Murdoch lied.

The King's eyes tightened, turning his face into a scowl. Still, he walked toward the wall to the left of his throne, and upon the wall were more stained-glass portraits.

"Still, the Originator made many things in his infinite wisdom. Some of these things weren't meant to challenge his greatest creations, us humans, and one of these obstacles he deemed necessary for us to conquer was the dragons."

Knox's ears perked up at the word dragons. He stopped playing with his dice and gave all of his attention to the King. Having heard the clattering of dice stop, the King had also paused his talking. He pauses for several seconds.

"What happens next, King?" Knox asks with complete sincerity in his voice.

The King smiles and continues, "Dragons were fierce creatures that once roamed this land in numbers that felt too high to count and too fearsome to acknowledge. These creatures would terrorize all nations in a manner of ways. Still, the larger, more established nations of Fraus had plenty to lose and thus didn't do anything about the threat of the dragons."

The King turns towards Knox and Murdoch.

"WE, were not so lucky. The dragons deemed us as easy picking for their attacks. Our farmlands, burnt. Our animals were taken or eaten. Our people, charred to a crisp at the behest of unruly animals and their primitive desires. We were at the end of our rope until-"

Knox cuts him off. "Until the Champion Dran Kilof got his blessing from the Originator. He was granted-"

Minimus cuts Knox off. "Immense magical ability to protect his people and his soon-to-be kingdom of Midas. Dran's magic was so strong it was said that he could-"

Knox interrupts him again. "Fell a full-grown dragon in a single moment!"

The King smirked. "You really do love War of the Dragons."

Knox nods vigorously. "I read the copy my parents had so much that it fell to pieces and couldn't be fixed. They promised to get me another for my 14th birthday here in a few months."

Minimus eyes Knox keenly. Murdoch cleared his throat.

"My liege, perhaps we should continue with the story."

The King looked toward the stained-glass windows of his castle. He then waved his hand at them. "Let's skip right to the good part." King Minimus spoke before making a more direct path for Knox.

Knox stared intently at the man approaching him, as did Murdoch. Murdoch tensed up with every step King Minimus took toward them, but Knox didn't even twitch. Eventually, King Minimus Das was standing in front of the 13-year-old boy. The boy looked up at him with bright eyes. The whole of Knox's attention was on the King, and Minimus Das was enjoying the rapt audience.

"An undocumented part of the legend exists, Knox."

Knox's eyes widened at King Minimus Das's confession.

"There's more!?" Knox can't help but fidget from excitement. He pulls out his dice, but doesn't roll them on the ground. Instead, he passed them off from hand to hand and started to pace.

"Indeed there is. After Dran Kilof drove most of the dragon scourge from our lands, he set out on a mission to make sure the dragons could never threaten any people ever again. It was in this quest he met his untimely end. The royal family of Midas was shattered at the loss of its Champion, who had secured them a future worth living. But fortunately, his legacy-"

"DRAN KILOF DIES?!" Knox shouts. "But in the story, he makes it back to Midas and settles down to begin a lineage of champions to defend Midas for every generation!"

The King turns around, and Minimus raises an open palm hand to his face. "That was merely how my great, great-grandfather wanted Dran's memory preserved. Most of Midas's people were uneducated at that time, so the first King of Midas wanted to protect the people from the same pain he endured upon learning his fate. Thus, War of the Dragons was created."

Knox falls flat on his back. His eyes are wide open. "So who's going to protect Midas?"

The King drops his hand from his face. There's a pregnant pause throughout the throne room. Without warning, the King spins quickly around. The flourish of his cape creates a swoosh noise as it follows his erratically fast movement. The bejeweled, golden crown upon his head wiggles a bit from the force of his spin. The King extends his arm and from his arm his hand and a single finger from his hand.

"It is YOU, Knox. You will be the one to save Midas from what threatens it."