For The Crown - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - The Contest
My eyes blinked open. Rubbing them with my palms, I sat up in bed, thoughts of dreams the night before swimming in my mind's eye. I could never remember any of them particularly clearly. I took up a small hairbrush from the arm of couch next to my bed, and ran it quickly through my short, wavy, blonde hair. I looked around my room. Nothing in it even romotely suggested that today would be one of the most extrodainary days of my life. I picked up my blue and purple glasses from the bedside table to my left, and slipped them on. It was strange. I felt like getting up today. Usually I'd sleep in for a little bit. Then I remembered my alarm. It hadn't gone off. I grabbed my phone off the bedside table next to me, flipped the cover and pushed the power button. It greeted me with a cartoon picture of a character I admired, and a small clock. It was eight-twenty-two. About time to get up. Under the clock, it said Saturday. That was the reason it hadn't gone off. It was the weekend, finally. I got up, careful not to knock into the small trestle table I kept in my room, and pulled a pair of tights and a singlet out of my pajama drawer. I went down the hallway and into the bathroom, and got changed in there. I had noticed my sister's door at the opposite end of the hallway was closed, a signal that she hadn't gotten up yet. Once I was changed, I went back to my room and put some music on my phone. Duality by Set It Off started playing. I went over to a whiteboard I kept on my desk opposite my bed. It detailed what I was doing that week, and what excercise I was supposed to do each day. I'd do twenty of each thing. 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning,' 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning.' 'Duality.' First thing, sit-ups. I laid down on the ground, and started. I could almost make my forehead touch my knees now. It was a great improvement. When I started doing excercise, I could barely get my upper back off the ground. That was probably already a bad sign. 'I have a confession.' 'That you would not believe, that you could not perceive, this freak, gonna set it off.' 'I have a confession.' 'Of a side that I hide, it's a cloak or disguise, unleashed, gonna get it off.' 'No, I'll never get away,' Five down, fifteen to go. 'Cause if I try to stray,' 'It only holds me closer.' 'No I'll never get away.' 'I'll have it anyway.' 'I'll never stop.' 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning,' 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning.' 'Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' Ten to go. 'I have an impression, in the back of my mind.' 'For the black in my tie, contains, our dirty thoughts.' 'Make me an obsession, when you lock me inside,' 'For the ride of your life, unleashed, gonna set it off.' Five to go. 'No, can't count the list of things,' 'I know are wrong with me.' 'No need to justify them.' 'No, I'll never take the blame.' 'So I'll just stay the same.' 'I'll never stop.' Done. I checked the next thing on the list. Crunches. Right. I laid flat on my back again, and started repeatedly curling into a ball. 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning,' 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning.' 'Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' 'I'm blind.' 'I am evil.' 'I am souless.' 'I am chaos.' 'I am human.' 'And that's all,' 'I've ever,' 'Wanted,' 'To be.' Fifteen to go. 'No, can't count the list of things,' 'I know are wrong with me.' 'No need to justify them.' 'No, I'll never get away.' 'So I'll have it anyway.' 'I'll never stop.' Ten to go. 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning,' 'I can't quite contain, or explain my evil ways.' 'Or explain why I'm not sane.' 'All I can say, is this is your warning.' 'Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' 'Du-Duality.' Five to go. The song ended, and I paused it before finishing the last five. I didn't need to wake people up. When I did finish, I got up, grabbed some clothes out of the chest of drawers, and went into the bathroom to shower. When I done, I came back to my room to dump my pajamas back on my bed and pick up my phone. I then grabbed a black hoodie off my couch and slipped it on, putting my phone in the hoodie pocket. I looked in the mirror for a second. I was wearing black denim shorts, purple, blue, pink, and cyan coloured galaxy tights, and a purple t-shirt with the words, 'It's Me,' on it in black. My short wavy blonde hair was tucked behind my ear, and a small strand too short to tuck away hung over my glasses. I puffed out a bit of air, blowing it up and into the wavy bundle. My eyes were a light blue. Blonde hair and blue eyes were often a symbol of cletic heritage. I was proud of that. I then walked down the hallway and turned left into the kitchen. I went into the butler's pantry and grabbed some lying instant noodles. I put them in a small black bowl with words written in white on the side. 'Can't talk. Eating.' I put the noodle brick in the bowl, and filed it up with warm water. I then put the noodles in the microwave, and set the timer for five minutes, thirty seconds. I pushed go, and walked over to the widescreen computer by a bookshelve and turned it on. I logged into my user and opened a webpage. I instictively tapped N into the search bar, Netflix showing up as an instant search, but I didn't click enter. When I opened a webpage, it showed me a news spread as my homepage, and one in particular caught my eye. 'King gives up crown to contest winner!' I clicked immediately. The news article read as such. 'King Johnathon intends to step down and relinquish his crown and title to the winner of a compettition designed by the king himself.' 'Whoever wins said contest will be crowned and be the new ruler of the kingdom. Anyone is allowed to enter, as long as they can move and think.' 'If you are willing to compete, please be at the castle gates by one o'clock this coming Monday.' 'I wish good luck to all. It's going to be a lot harder than you think. -King Johnathon.' I lent back in my chair, thinking. It'd be something, that was for sure. I pressed enter and was taken to Netflix, where I clicked a show called Forensic Files. I put the contest out of my mind and wondered what horrific murder I'd learn about today. ~ The place I lived in was called, 'The Land Of Many Worlds.' Straight up Valerian stuff really. Many different types of creatures, people, and monsters alike lived here, all goverened by one king and his court. I lived in the Earth district, with my family. My mum, my dad, my little sister and my little brother. I didn't get on well with my sister Aurora most of the time, and I was almost always breaking up fights between her and my brother Owen. My dad did IT, computers and such. He was away half the time, doing work for the schools in the area. My mum stays at home with us. There are many other worlds, I couldn't even begin to count how many have joined the kingdom over the years. Creatures and aliens of all types stated to live amongst us, even in the earth district. The top of the chain, right below the king, where the Adoleans. They were magic wielders that looked human, but you soon realiesed that they were not. Then the Citetrons. They were sour and science obsessed. Their IQ was above the greatest Earth scientists, and their tchnology vouched for that. Then came the Humans, us, then there was the Anima-Beasts. Half-human, half-animal creatures. They were actually smarter than you'd give then credit for. Then the Treajans.They adored art in all it's forms. From painting to combat, nobody could best them. Then, at almost poverty status, the Make-Believers. These were creations people had created, and then left to rot. Robots, deformed animals, magical beings with no form to call it's own, test tube children who failed their creators, ect. Many, many more species existed between the levels, but many of each stayed with the Make-Believers. The contest the king had set was causing uproar. The fact that anybody could join and/or win the crown, was a fact nobody among the upperclasses appreciated. But it made the lower ones happy. It was a chance for maybe a Make-Believer to win, and give them all a better life. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want any part of it. I wanted the shot too. It was human nature, but I hoped that if I did win I wouldn't turn into some Napoleon/Hitler character. I'd rather kill myself than joing the top ten world's worst leaders. Oh wait. Hitler did kill himself. Whelp. Moving on. ~ It was Sunday, the day before the big contest was due to start. I'd asked my parents the night before if I could compete, but they didn't appear to be listening, and their default response was, 'Yeah,' or, 'Mhmm.' So I took my answer. It never said anything about dying, so I assumed it was safe. The Monday rolled around. At twelve-forty-eight I stood at the castle gates in the big city area. The castle was huge, and made of light dusty blue brick. The gates were wrought iron, and thousands of people swarmed at the gates. I saw Adoleans, Citetrons, Anima-Beasts and Make-Believers alike. I wondered if somebody was filming this. I pulled my hood up to cover my face, just in case. I had a steel sword in my belt, just in case someone decided to use violence and they didn't provide weapons. It was blunted, of course. But it could still give you a concussion and one hell of a bruise, if not break a bone or two. Whispered conversations were coming from the crowd. Ah, now I heard them. News reporters from all over the kingdom talked in every language possible. I heard a few talking in English, and I heard that it was being broadcasted live. Probably to every TV in the kingdom. I wondered if my family was watching. Probably not. At precisely one o'clock, the wrought iron gates swung open. The entire crowd rushed foward, almost pushing me to the ground. I regained my balance and started pushing back. Then the crowd stopped and a defeaning roar was heard. I saw a huge three headed lion tower over the crowd. The news article said nothing about this being deadly! I unsheathed my sword, uncertain if it was going to do much damage. Then, all at once, guns, magic spells, energy blasts, everything was thrown at the lion by those at the front. The monster came down easy, and I sheathed my sword before running on with the crowd. I passed a large lion paw on the way past, and I stopped and petted it gently. "Sorry about that." I ran through a large doorway towering above us, and stopped before I fell off a platform and lava. I realised I was actually near the front. "The floor is lava!" I yelled back. People started running ahead of me, slowly slifting through onto numerous floating objects. I jumped onto a nearby table. Two other people did the same thing simultaneously. One almost fell off and into the lava, but I grabbed their wrist and held them steady. The two were Make-Believers. The one I grabbed was monotone and translucent, while the other was small and dark, with six pairs of arms and wore black. "Thanks." Said the monotone one. "No problem." I said. "Spider." Said the dark one, her right middle arm held out. I shook it. "Queen." I said. I almost slapped myself. Bit of a silly name for this type of thing. "I'm Invisible." Said the monotone one. "Nice meeting you both." I said. I jumped from the table onto a small coffee table, then onto a large brown leather sofa. It was loud from all the yelling of the mob, and it was hot from the lava. I wondered for a minute if it was real. Then, as if to prove my suspicions, someone tried to jump onto the couch I was on from too far away, and slipped of it and into the lava. They screamed and dissapeared beneath the surface. Blood thundered through my ears. This was very real. Suddenly the yells of the crowd suddenly sounded like the screams of the dead. My sword burnt my skin when I brushed against it as I jumped from object to object. What was I even doing here? This wasn't my place, I should be watching all this in my house with my family, not actually competing. I stood still on a dining table. I was never going to win. I was going to die. I looked around. So many people had disapeared into the lava, but many still remained, and some had even gotten to the end of the large hall, and had made their way to the next room. I wasn't going to let myself be outdone by people like them. I jumped from the dining table onto a chair, then a microwave, then a fridge, then a chair, then a couch, then a bedframe, then a table again. I was thankful for my gripy shoes. I wore black and white sneaker-boots, which went up to my knees. They were my favourite, and I'm glad they were helping out. Soon enough, I made it to the next doorway with hundreds behind me, but hundreds ahead. The next obstacle was scafolding. Lots, and lots, of scafolding. I grabbed a bar and started climbing up to the top. It was very high. The floor beneath me was water. It was so deep, I couldn't see the bottom. Then, a person ahead of me, a Citeron, fell from the bars and into the water. He tried to swim to the lowest bar, but a huge shark swam out from under him and swallowed him whole. I realized more people were following behind me, and decided to get a wriggle on. I climbed throughout the bars like a monkey, going upside down, spinning, balancing, and twisting my limbs in ways that really shouldn't be possible. I reched the end, and realised that there was a large gap between the scafolding and the small chunk of concrete tile that you could land on to pass to the next room. I saw people on the other side, and I knew my time was limited. I unhooked my legs off of the bar I was currently slothing on, and started swinging. Once I'd gained enough momentum, I let go. I landed on the other side and somersault to my feet. I made it. I sped into the next room, where it was absolute chaos. There was a sign hanging from the roof that said, 'Pick A Door, Any Door!' I looked at the many doors infront of me. There were just doors without walls for ages. As far as I could see, there was no gigantic doorway at the end. I assumed you had to go through the small doors to get to the big one. I picked the first clear door I saw. I walked up to it and opened it. I didn't have a chance to see what was inside before it shut behind me. But once I saw what was in the room, I immediately shoved on the door, rattling the door knob furiously. It was black nothingness, and something white, gooey looking and melting was oozing out from the floor. It slowly grew taller, and the gooey stuff crew cavities in what i assumed was it's face, a great, wide, disgusting, smiling mouth, and gaping wide eyes. My heart raced faster, my movements frantic. I turned to face it. It was huge, and it was getting closer, it's disgusting, melted and eerie face leering at me. I unsheathed my sword, the blade twitching, my movements uncertain. It's smile looked fake now, it's empty eyes containing a small prick of white light against the dark holes. I slipped around the door to the oppisite side, and tried the handle again. Nothing. I took a deep breath and steadied myself, leaning against the door for support. I must've picked the wrong door, that's why it had locked me away with this, this, this thing! I looked at my feet, and I noticed white ooze leaking around the side of the door. I looked to both my left and right. The ooze was slowly curling around the sides, as though to incase me if I froze longer. I slowly looked up. I don't know what sound came out of my mouth. A gasp. A scream. A yelp. I didn't know. All I knew was that the leering, melted face was grinning at me from above the doorframe. I lept foward, away from it. I then turned back to it, I was not letting it out of my sight. The melted, slimey creature engulfed the door and crawled towards me, getting bigger every second. "This isn't a game, Atana." It said. "Nobody can save you." "You're spent. Your turn is over." A game? Spent? Over? No, I didn't think so. "So? I'm not scared of you! We made you, I can take you apart!" I said. I didn't know where those words came from, but I think I said them. "I'll knock you right out of the frame!" I held the sword infront of me, bracing for a sudden attack. I was correct to brace myself. The slimey being leapt at me, head first. I dodged to the side, upset I was caught off guard. "I won't stop until you're gone!" Said the slime. I chuckled, and looked it in the eye. "Game on." It was my turn to attack. I swung my sword at the slime monster, it morphed backwards and I missed, but I turned the blade upwards and came down again with a diagonal strike. It somehow dodged again. I was loosing patience. I drew my sword back to my side, and aimed a stab at it's 'body.' I lunged, but it stretched, making a hole in it's middle. My sword flew through it, but I pulled back before the creature could clamp down on the blade. "What do you hope to gain from all this?" It said, lunging for me, but missing. "What do you mean?" I said shortly. I didn't intend on wasting my breath on small-talk, except when it was a particularly witty one-liner. Then I made allowances. "What do you hope to gain from this, this contest? Material gain? A throne? People to lord over?" I scoffed. "Only fools risk their lifes for those things." I said, holding my sword close. The creature was a few feet away. I pondered how to attack. "I play for naught." The creature threw it's head back and cackled. It's laugh was sharp and hideous. "No one in this world plays for naught!" "Very well," I said, putting my right leg behind me. "I do play for gain." I stepped foward and lunged with my arms outstretched. The blade came a milimetre to the creature's neck. It looked suprised I'd caught it off guard. It just stared me in the eye, it's white eyelights flickering, sharp slimey teeth bared. "I play for pride, and knowledge. That's my gain." The creature cackled again. My patience had run out. I brought up my left elbow and slammed it into the creature's left side, bringing it to the ground. I held the tip of the blade above it's head. It cackled no longer. "Don't you dare laugh at me. Fools laugh at others. Wisdom laughs at itself. Remember that." I said. I drew my blade away from the stunned and melted being, and started walking towards the door. After a few steps, I turned back to the creature. "My name is Queen. Never forget it." Instilled with a new passion to persever, I stalked towards the door, sheathing my sword. My hand was on the handle, and I found it turned easily. I opened it, and was about to step out of the room. "W-Wait! Could you take me with you?" Said the melted slime creature. I looked back at it. It still lay on the floor, but as it noticed me turn my head it stood up straight. I looked at the door, then at the slime creature. I thought it over in my head. "Fine." The slime monster cackled again, quietly this time. It quickly slid over to me, and I walked out the door, the creature following me. I looked at the end of the room of many doors, and now saw a tall doorway. Many of the doors were still barricaded with steel. I walked towards the door, my head held high and a hand on the hilt of my sword. "So, what do you think the next obstacle is?" Said the slime creature. "I don't know. It could be anything, really." I said. "First was a giant lion, that was felled pretty easily. Second, was Floor Is Lava, a human game, so that was easy enough. Third, the scafolding with the water and the giant killer sharks, that was easy enough if you knew what you were doing, and fourth was this." I counted off the obstacles on my right hand. It was like a giant obstacle course. No shite, Sherlock, I told myself. "Do you have a name?" I asked the slime creature. It looked suprised. "No, I don't think so. The king pulled me out of nowhere. I probably didn't exist before this whole game thing started." "Then how did you know mine?" "I dunno. Just kinda knew."