[azemyc]

Mark

[Strudel]

username: Strudel
name: Edgar (alias Julian)
gender: Male
prompt answer:

Edgar's life changed the day the Grand Duke Bernard Saville-Sutton II rode into his village.
The Grand Duke still had evidence of disease across his body-- the pockmarks were visible not only on his arms but clear across his face as well. They had all heard the news that the kingdom has been devastated in some areas-- and that the Grand Duke's castle had nearly been emptied of occupants between the disease and those too afraid to stay.

Never did this sleepy village on the outskirts of the Duke's domain think they would see the effects of these ill times. They were poor and never visited by the outside world.The little hamlet would have never imagined they would have the King's own cousin visit their quiet "dirt hovel" as the guards referred to it.

Never would they have thought they would watch their village burn at the hands of their Duke's knights either.

Edgar remembers watching the knights in wonder, until they started rounding up the villagers and shoving them into wagons. He watched in confusion, until the knights began slaying those that resisted. He watched in horror as his own father was cut down by the same knights he had always dreamed of joining one day.

Edgar remembers being hoisted up by his scruff, thrown roughly into a wagon, and forced near the bars as he tried to scream for his father he would never see again. He watched as the Duke and his knights set fire to house after house. He watched as the lights and screaming faded into the distance, and he watched as all he could see was the smoke obscuring the stars far off in the distance. He was in shock, he didn't even feel as one of the women from the village held him close to her chest.

It wasn't until they reached the Duke's castle that the weight of what happened had hit any of them.

They were dragged from the wagons and thrown into huge rooms together. They were given food and water. They were given beddings and clothing. They were forced into wearing the clothing of staff. Of castle staff.

They weren't prisoners, they were slaves. The castle needed staff, and the villagers were healthy and able-bodied. They were also far away from anyone else, and the Duke knew the king would never notice that a small hovel full of impoverished citizens had disappeared. If anyone ever noticed, they would think that bandits had ransacked the unfortunate place-- and that's what the next guard rotation assumed when they arrived to find only smoldering ashes in place of the quiet village.

The Duke had gotten away with his heinous crime. He kept the citizen's of the village under his thumb, none of them daring to run or complain after a couple of their own had been made examples of. They were all slaves in mind and body.

All except for Edgar.

Edgar did what he had to, to survive. He kept his head down, he did as he was told, he took undeserved punishment, all of this without complaint. But there was still a spark of life in him. He dreamed that one day he would be set free, to do as his heart desired. All he wanted in life now was to build grand buildings and cities-- he wanted to be an architect. He might have been the son of a blacksmith, but he was a literate son of a blacksmith that fell in love with architecture.

Now Edgar was fifteen, a large boy on the cusp of manhood who had been doing hard labor in service of the Duke since he was a small lad. By now, the Duke had stopped bothering to pretend his slaves were castle workers. They lived in poverty, and wore rags. This was when Edgar gained his first "crown". He saved a young female slave from being punished for something that had been a knight's fault. He was punished for this action, but his defiance sparked a fire in the hearts of his fellow slaves. They turned Edgar into a cause to rally behind, and soon the slaves were treating Edgar as a leader to their new little uprising. His crown was the hopes of all of those who had been enslaved alongside him. It was the dreams of his people and the return of their former way of life. It wasn't a crown he wanted, but it was a crown he took up not just for his people-- but for everyone under the thumb of the Grand Duke. They defied the Duke in secret, gathering those that sympathized with them. They would fight for everything-- Edgar would fight even though his dream was not to pick up a sword and even though he didn't possess the silver tongue of a leader.

Their uprising was quashed quickly when it came to light. The slaves' hopes died as they watched the Duke's guard drag their young leader through the castle courtyard and up to the stocks. Their dreams were crushed as they watched Edgar's punishment unfold. Their spirits extinguished as they watched Edgar's second crown grace his head-- a circlet made of iron and broken glass.

"Here is your leader!" The Duke practically hissed as the young man was before them, beaten in almost every sense of the word. If the Duke had looked to him though, he would have seen the spark of defiance in his eyes that lingered only for a moment as the Duke spoke. "And this could be any one of you, or worse! You remember that! You have a good life here. You are fed, clothed, and useful. You have jobs and a purpose. You work for me, you have good lives. Go back to your family, and take this mishap as a lesson."

They did go back to their families, with heavy hearts. How could they stand up to the Duke and his Knights, after all, if even the best of them stood no chance?

The second crown stayed on Edgar's head, digging into his scalp even as he was chained in the dungeon. It was dark and damp. Edgar was fairly certain they were leaving him there to die. He didn't care, he had done what he could and if he died he would meet with his family once more.

Little did he know, but Edgar wouldn't stay there long. Only three days passed before the dungeon door was wrenched open. There were guards and knights stepping through the doorway, but they had the Royal colors on-- not the red and black colors of the Grand Duke's court. All the men who stepped through the doorway were clad in the purple and white of the King's crest.

Edgar was removed from his cell and taken to find treatment just as the Grand Duke Bernard Saville-Sutton II was being arrested for treason-- slaves were not something the King tolerated. He would not overlook it from his cousin or anyone else. He would be tried for treason accordingly in the capital.

The now-freed slaves cheered as Bernard Sutton (Now stripped of his titles and land by the King's order) was shoved into a carriage and his guards forced to surrender their weapons. The guards and knights would be forced to come to the capital as well, and many of them would be punished for aiding the former Duke in his crimes. The slaves were free to go their own ways, gold provided to each of them to begin a new life-- a generous gift from the King straight from the former Duke's own stores of treasures.

None of the slaves noticed as Edgar was loaded into the king's own carriage and cared for by the King's own healer. Not that Edgar noticed either, he was barely conscious now. Fever from infection was addling his brain.

The King slipped into the carriage with his most trusted knight by his side, keeping his eyes off of the young man before him as his healer worked on him.

"So this is the boy? The one that was being tortured when Sir Harrok was staying in the castle?" the King finally looked to the boy, barely able to contain his shock as he stared at him.

"The leader of the slaves?" The King questioned. "The reason Harrok discovered Bernard's treachery? He's just a boy, and he looks so much like--"

"Like Julian? Yes. The resemblance is uncanny." his knight answered without skipping a beat. "Harrok mentioned that as well, though I thought it wasn't best to mention it. I didn't know how much he resembled him though. Aside from the hair, those fangs, and his shine, they could be twins." the crowned prince had had short hair, unlike Edgar's long hair and his shine had been that of a wildflower. However, Julian had kept his shine covered from embarrassment, he had hated the idea of being ridiculed for it.

"I didn't think the boy would be alive, honestly." the knight told his King as he bowed his head "I feared mentioning the resemblance would be cruel."

The King was silent as he contemplated the boy before him, that looked so much like his own son that he hadn't even had a chance to bury yet. As many in the kingdom had, he had fallen to a plague. He had told no one yet, aside from his healer and Renault (the knight with him) of his son's passing. These were tumultuous times, and the death of his only heir would only make the King's reign over his kingdom more precarious and make his people even more terrified.

The King had known he would have to tell the kingdom of his son's passing eventually, but it was something he couldn't afford to do at the moment-- he couldn't even afford to let himself grieve properly. An idea began to form in his mind.

"Lillain." The King said to his healer "Save the boy's life, you have to." the healer was working on removing the "crown" and cleaning the wounds that were full of infection because of it "You have to save him, there's no other choice."

Lillain nodded, she would save the boy. He wasn't gone yet, and she knew she could heal his wounds and control his fever.

"My King, Rupert, surely you don't intend to--" Renault began to question, but he was cut off by the king.

"He can't replace my son, Renault, I know that. Not for me, anyway. He can for our people though." The King had a gleam in his eyes that hadn't been there since the death of his son days prior "The kingdom will dry up and die without the hope of a leader when I pass. I need an heir, a son, one to train and raise up to bring this kingdom into prosperity. Without that, we will fall into famine and civil war until we are overtaken. There isn't an option here, Renault. We'll cut his hair, we'll train him. You'll train him. We'll save our kingdom-- our home."

Edgar would soon gain his third crown-- the third and last crown he never wanted. He would be a leader again, forced into it by another once more. He didn't know it just yet, restlessly sleeping as the healer worked on him, but he would once again become the hope of others. This time, he would be the hope of an entire nation. He would be forced to answer to a different name, to be a different person. He didn't agree or decide on any of this, it was decided for him as the healer pulled him from the cold grip of death.

"He'll be the hope of our nation, Renault. He'll bring about a new era. He'll be a king, someday." Rupert told his knight, who looked both worried and skeptical "He'll be a man of the people, he was one of them after all. It won't be the same, I know, but it's what has to be done."

The sun was setting as they headed toward the capital-- toward Edgar's new life. He would be a prince, in a gilded cage. He wouldn't wake up for a few more days after, but when he did he would be in a room the size of his entire home growing up in the village. He would awake on a bed as soft as down feathers. He would awaken with his hair nearly shaven to his skull, and clothes made for royalty. He would awaken with King Rupert Saville IV by his bedside. Edgar would awaken with a new name and title to accept-- and he would accept it. What choice did he have, really, when he was told the fates of an entire kingdom worth of people depended upon him to take up this mantle?

Edgar, now Julian, took up that third crown, knowing he might die wearing this one. Still, he took it up bravely and with pride. This time, if he was going to be forced to wear a crown, he was going to do it with honor and style.


[2,193]

Each illustration represents a time in which Edgar has worn a "crown". Slave/Prisoner/Prince, respectively.
art by me.

[PrincessAlexis]

☆ username: ♢ PrincessAlexis
☆ name: ♢ Rocky
☆ gender: ♢ Male
☆ prompt answer: ♢ Text

WIP

[ShrimpnamedLuka]

username: Min Yoogni
name: Manas
gender: Male
prompt answer:
"The crown is all I have to remember her." He thought to himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. The crown of flowers on his head withering away and fading in color. He stares at it, thinking back to the time she was alive...his sweet little sister. Wiping a stray tear from his cheek with his paw, he growls at the memory of her face. The last time he saw her before she died in his arms. The way her fur looked with the crown on her head, vibrant and full of light, like her...
She's gone now, the last images of her smile and laughter haunting him. He'd tried...tried so hard to protect her. To be there for her. Looking at the crown again he stares from it to her small throne where she would have been sitting if she were still with him. Damn the assassins to hell. They will pay. He drops to his knees and howls in agony...for her

[zakuro.]

could this be extended?

[Mint Chip]

marking to watch (and an early good luck to everyone competing c: )

[lysander]

could this be extended?

i could also use an extension i just got home from a roadtrip yesterday hAHahaHa but if not that's fine too! i have.... enough.... ...?
either way gl to everyone !!!

[Birdy]

could this be extended?

i could also use an extension i just got home from a roadtrip yesterday hAHahaHa but if not that's fine too! i have.... enough.... ...?
either way gl to everyone !!!

Gonna hop on board the extension-request train if that's cool^^

Found out my sister's coming to town tomorrow and I need to prep! <3

[Unleashed Squiid]

could this be extended?

i could also use an extension i just got home from a roadtrip yesterday hAHahaHa but if not that's fine too! i have.... enough.... ...?
either way gl to everyone !!!

Gonna hop on board the extension-request train if that's cool^^

Found out my sister's coming to town tomorrow and I need to prep! <3

I fourth this, if that's okay?
(if not, it's totally fine.)

[Micki.]

I'd also like an extension, if possible!!

but as everyone else has said, it's fine if not c: