Once, there was a world. The organisms that claimed dominance over all others were much like us, give or take some physical traits. There were kingdoms, empires, dictatorships, and democracies. But there was one certain country called Sburb where our story takes place. There were three major kingdoms in this peaceful country, the Kingdom of Time, the Kingdom of Heart, and the Kingdom of Skulls. The Prince of Heart holds over a vast amount of land east of the Cool Ranch River. To the west of said river, lies his brother's Kingdom- the Kingdom of Time. Each of these brothers are highly respected throughout the land, even to the Kingdom of Skulls, which lies south of both the brothers. The Skull Kingdom is full of monstrous people who are told to be very violent and will take the life of any human they meet. The Skull King is not a very kind man, to say in the least.
No one knows how long these brothers have been ruling over their land, but no one really minds. Everyone is prospering and there hasn't been a war in almost a century. But here's the difference between these brothers; Prince, or Knight as he likes to be referred to as, Dave, is a very sociable man. He's known to go to each of his villages to participate in local parades and festivals. He makes a point to travel into the Troll Forest often, which is located on the path from his castle and to the Land of Space. He does this to make sure there is peace between the humans and trolls. Even though he's said this to be so, others feel as if he has a troll lover that is unknown to the rest of the world.
Sir Knight David Strider is a very caring and kind prince to his subjects, while his older brother, Prince Dirk Strider, is not. This isn't saying that he is a cruel man, he just doesn't visit anyone. Ever. The elder brother rarely leaves his palace, and very few of his subjects have even seen him. If he ever does leave his cold and lonely estate, he does so during the night. Even though both his people and his brother detest his standoffish ways, they can't complain at how skilled he is at keeping the rage of the Skull King at bay. No one knows how he does it, but the Skull Kingdom hasn't threatened war to either of the other kingdoms in 15 years.
In the Heart Kingdom, there are three main villages. These are known as the Land of Life, the Land of Void, and the Land of Hope. The village we will be focused on is Hope. The population just peaks over 500. The village is mostly known for their adventurous hunters who seem to be able to hunt and catch anything. Each villager is as nice as the next, and have never caused any trouble to the other two villages. They trade furs and meat in between Void and Life, and give some of their goods to the prince out of gratitude.
Hope is located in the northeast corner of the kingdom, just above Tomb Lake. Krypton forest lies to the west of them, where vicious beings who eat human flesh dwell. Once every three months, the village sends one young adult as a sacrifice to the beasts. It's the only thing they can do to keep the unkillable savages away from their home.
The Village of Hope is home to one particular adventurous male. His name is Jacob English, the only son of the English family. He has jet black hair that sticks up when he runs his hand through. His piercing emerald green eyes seem to win over all the maidens in the village. Jacob stands at about 6'01'', and has a lovely tan thanks to all the work he does catching fish in Lake Tomb. His upper right arm bears a rather garish looking scar from where one of the town stray dogs bit him when it went mad. He's somewhat muscular, since he does stay outside in his free time. Jacob has recently turned 19, and feels that now he can do as he pleases. In fact, our little hero is planning on venturing into the Krypton forest this very night, when the moon is at its brightest.
The sun was making its way back down to the ground, and the young adult's heart was beating quickly. He helped his tired grandmother with dinner, while his parents were in town, selling furs for bedding. They eventually returned, holding a sack full of coins that were gold, silver, or bronze. The family enjoyed their meal of deer meat, sharing stories of their day all the while. Lady English had learned that the Void market was opening for the summer, and that she was planning on buying the men of the family new bows there. Lord English informed Jacob that June was soon approaching, and the sacrifice was going to be chosen by the end of the week. Jacob felt a shiver go down his spine. He never needed to be worried about being chosen, since he was the only son of his family. But it was still a horrible fate for anyone to be given.
Jacob told his family of what went on at the lake. He taught the three 5 year olds of the village how to float in water that was deeper than them. This is what he did when it wasn't fishing season, swimming lessons. It kept him occupied and he enjoyed seeing the faces of accomplishment on the young children. Plus, he got pay out of it, what's not to love?
His grandmother had a simple day. She talked with the other elders of the village. Apparently, the Time Kingdom was throwing a celebration for the new Heir of Breath Village. Once the first child of the Lord of a town became 18, they were in position of ruling over the village, but only if the parents were both dead. Jacob was relieved his parents were as healthy as ever, he was not ready to govern over Hope just yet.
After enough time had passed to where he wouldn't look suspicious, the jumpy teen excused himself from the table, saying that he felt extra tired after swimming in the lake with his friends and the kids all day. His parents understood and bid him goodnight. Instead of going upstairs and into his room, Jacob snuck out the backdoor and made a mad dash towards the menacing forest.
He had left a pack of items outside of the house, which he grabbed while he bolted from the village. The forest wasn't that far from his home, if he ran the whole way. Young Jacob was in great shape so it wasn't that big of a deal for him.
The sinking sun was nearly gone, streaking the sky with orange and red as it descended. Jacob grinned as he trekked the final yards.
When Jacob made it to the entrance of the forest, he stopped to catch his breath. Doubling over, he took in deep breaths of the cool, damp air. Once he regains his posture, he stood up tall to take in the scenery. Krypton forest was dark and dense. The trees had green trunks and orange leaves. Jacob didn't understand how the flora was so odd in this forest only, but he heard that the Troll forest in the Time Kingdom consisted of trees with magenta trunks and teal leaves. Before entering the forest, Jacob was quick to make sure his father's sword was by his side. Sure enough, it was. With that trusting thought in his mind, he headed into the dangerous forest.
The moon shone bright onto the land below it, yet few of its beams even touched the forest's ground. Jacob had to strain to see around him. He had long taken his sword out, and bolted his body to face any noise he heard. It was strange, 40 minutes of wondering around this vast forest, and not a single sight of life! Well, besides the strangely colored trees and bushes, that is.
Jacob was getting really exhausted and was ready to turn back, until something caught his eye. He whirled around to see a silhouette of a human standing about 50 yards from him. Its eyes shone a bright orange that pierced the darkness of the forest. Jacob's mouth hung open slightly, he was unable to move. He was going to call out to the being, until it vanished. Jacob blinked, and then the person was at least two feet in front of him. It frightened the poor boy, but he wasn't going to run away that easily. He charged at it, wielding the sword above his head. That's when the being started to make its escape, going deeper into the forest. Jacob yelled at it to stop and fight like a man, but it ignored him. Jumping over thick roots and ducking under gruesome looking spider webs, Jacob went after the strange thing. It was fast, but the boy could keep up just fine. Jacob chased it until he reached a clearing making him come to a dead halt.
Panting, he looked around to take in the view. He noticed a large castle made of stone. It was breathtaking, the thing must've been built on about the same amount of land as Hope was! The gentle rays of the moon cast down on it, making it look even more surreal. Moss grew on the stone steeples. The countless amount of windows seemed to have a lack of glass in them, leaving the inside of the castle exposed to the elements. Jacob was no fool, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to go on a true adventure! To save the princess and get married immediately afterwards! He read about all of this before, and knew what it meant. After all, the son of the lord of Hope needed a beautiful bride, right?
He went around the castle, looking for a proper entrance. The castle looked ancient, as if it was abandoned and nature was allowed to claim it back. He finally found a drawbridge that led to the doors. Jacob feared for ghosts, since it looked old enough to have them, but braved on. He put his sword back in its sheath so he'd come off as less threatening. Once he did this, he wondered why. It had to be impossible for anyone to live here. The place was radiating old, yet Jacob could see why someone could still live in it. He actually could see himself coming here often to get out of work, exploring makes time much more enjoyable than skinning animals or swimming with some kids!
Jacob ventured towards the doors. They towered above Jacob, they had to be at least 15 feet high. Jacob took the greenish metal into his hands, and gave it a hard pull. The doors didn't even budge. He tried pulling, but with no luck, either. He sighed and took a step back, thinking of what to try next. That's when he noticed a peculiar emblem painted on the door. It was a heart- well, sort of. The left half of it was completely filled with a faded dark pink. While the right half had a sliver of dark pink. It took him a second, but Jacob remembered where he had seen that sign before. That was Prince Dirk's royal emblem! He had seen it on letters that were directed towards his father. Wait.. Could this be HIS castle? Jacob pondered over this, maybe it was. No one he knew had ever seen the prince or even knew where he lived. They only got letters and gifts from the man.
Jacob was getting ready to scale up the wall and climb into the nearest glassess window, before the heavy wooden door swung open. Once again, Jacob was startled, enough to fall to the ground. When he regained his composure, he stood and wearily walked into the castle.
The castle had a musky smell to it. It surely smelled like oldness, but that only compelled Jacob to explore every inch of the structure. Suddenly, though, candles attached to the walls lit. Once again, Jacob was caught off-guard, and he jumped high into the air. He looked around to see if anyone had used some sort of magic or mechanism to ignite the candles all at once. That's when he saw a girl, a girl who had the palest skin he had ever seen. It looked as if she had never seen the light of day in all her life. She was wearing a skimpy outfit, but it looked like she was going for a housecleaner. The skirt of her outfit was less than halfway up her thigh, and she wore black boots. The top of her revealing uniform was as tight as the black tights she wore and she had a useless looking apron tied around her person. Her cotton blonde hair just touched her shoulders before curling up at the ends. She was busying herself with dusting a picture of two boys with black crows around them before turning towards Jacob. Her light pink eyes seemed to shine upon seeing him, and her black lips turned up to the biggest grin Jacob had ever seen.
She smiled, waving her duster at Jacob. "Hiya! How'd you get inside?"
Jacob, too disgusted by her outfit, blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "WHORE!"
Hope you guys like this fanfic! I've been rolling this idea in my head for months, and now I've finally gotten the chance ((and the motivation)) to write it down! I'll be updating once a week, and I hope I can get this fanfic places c: I MIGHT change the rating up to M if I feel like writing smut, which is something I've yet to do. But first, I gotta see if I can get this going places. Please review if you enjoyed it, and constructive criticism is always appreciated!
-Skyler Free