Ep. 1 - The Coronation

— 14 years later —

Today felt different. It's weird, it's just a normal day, but it just felt different. Or maybe it is different, but I just don't know. The light shines through a small gap between my royal green curtains. It's really annoying, I know. I laid sprawled out, face pointed to the tall ceiling in my king-sized bed. My 11.9 ft (362 cm), obsidian-colored wings sprawled out awkwardly going over the sides of the bed. My wings have grown way too fast over the past few years. My wings have caused nothing but problems with moving around and putting on clothes.

You must be wondering why I have wings. To be honest I'm also asking the same question. Life would be so much easier without them —but of course they let me fly and stuff— but, still, it would make my life much better. According to Uncle Arcadius (his exact words), all the great kings of Aerofetha had black wings, it's just how they were born. That doesn't exactly answer my question, as, when I was younger, I would start thinking about how my ancestors got these wings in the first place, and that's how I get headaches as a child. I think I'm getting another one. I laid there, eyes closed to kill the headache.

Somehow, I fell back asleep, but my slumber was interrupted by annoying noises."Prince Elaris, wake up!" Rough hands were shaking me awake, "Elaris, please wake up now!" My eyelids slowly open, I see Uncle Arcadius, his face was plastered with a grin and beamed with happiness. "Prince Elaris, wake up, it's the day you are of age to become king of Aerofetha, kingdom of forests!"

"Two more minutes, please" I plead as I cover my face with a pillow.

I woke up (again) to get dressed for the big day. A sad smile stuck on my face. Too bad my father isn't here to see this day. I grab my father's coronation robe, the same robe his father wore before, and his father before. The robe was elegant, green, with streaks of black and gold, and has 2 slits at the back for my wings. It looks so clean as if it was just made yesterday. The robes smelt of pine trees which isn't surprising since everything in Aerofetha smelt of pine trees. The robes took an exceptionally long time to put on, not only was the robes tight, my wings made problems worse.

"You ready yet?" Uncle Arcadius asks from outside my changing room.

"Yep!" I opened the door to find Uncle Arcadius's face full of happiness to see me in these robes.

"You look like" he helped fix my robe, "like a proper king"

When My father died, Uncle Arcadius became my guardian and the new king of Aerofetha (not from royal blood, which means he had no wings) since I was too young to be king. The citizens didn't mind him being a royal-bloodless king since he was a kind and smart man who was a very good friend of the former king (hence why I call him uncle).

"Good morning my prince" my maid, Rama said handing me an apple for breakfast, just how I like it, "or should I say, my king."

I sat down on the grand dinning table."Thank you, Rama" I grinned and went back to my apple.

"Hey, hey, hey! Look who's up early?" I hear a male voice from behind. "Good morning, our future King!" Another voice said, a higher pitched voice this time. I swiftly turned around.

"Good Morning, Tris, Syl, Kelt, and Torra." I say calmly with a wave with my occupied hand. My 4 best and only friends has just entered the dinning room.

Tris or Trisrona, is one of the main generals. She is the most optimistic, friendly, and loudest person I ever met. There was once we were hiding from an enemy, but he got caught because she was talking too loud. We fought long and hard side by side in many battles and I trust her with my life. Her parents were also generals and fought alongside my father in much more battles.

Syl or Sylwreak, is the lead strategist and sorcerer in training. He is probably my best friend out of the 4 (don't tell the rest) and is probably the smartest and clumsiest person I ever met. There was once we were in a dragon's lair, and he knocked down a huge pile of gold that take toppling on top of us as well as woken up the dragon. That's the reason my I have this huge scar on my face —not because of the gold, because of the angered dragon— thanks a lot, Syl. His parents were both regular towns folks, so his parents are mighty proud of him for being friends with the prince.

Kelt or Keltrois, is also one of the main generals. He is one of the strongest person in battle and the most stubborn person I know. I can't think of a moment where he truly shows his stubbornness because there are so many, and Kelt is probably the exact definition of stubbornness. He is an orphan at a very young age, we have no clue who his family is— oh, wait, we do: it's us— you're welcome, Kelt.

Lastly, Torra— yes just Torra— is not from here, but from another kingdom (not sure which). My father gave their family refuge in Aerofetha when the other kingdom had a small war with another. These wars are not ours to fight, so we only help out the ones in need of help. Torra is an enchanter and is one of the shyest and talkative person I know. There was once I asked Torra about what Torra was reading, and eventually I was pulled into a 30-minute-long discussion on a book about crystals.

"Excuse me, my prince?" A guard said from the door, "King Arcadius is looking for you, the ceremony is about to start."

The sun was shining brightly down on Aerofetha. Too bad I was in a robe or else I would have said the weather was really nice (I prefer windy days though, and there was no wind at all today). I was slightly sweating waiting for Uncle Arcadius to announce me onto the platform to start the official king-afication ceremony, both from the heat and the nervousness.

"And now I present to you Prince Elaris!" Uncle yelled. The citizens watching the ceremony cheered loudly. "Prince Elaris," the crowd stopped cheering, "I hereby announce you," he put the big old crown from his head onto mine, "The 21st King of Aerofetha!"

The ceremony took way to long for my liking. I had to shake hands with like 30 people and then have to participate in a big party that lasted 5 hours. I was just hanging around with my 4 friends during the party trying not to catch too much attention— which is impossible since I'm now the king— and I told them; "Yeah know, this coronation doesn't really make me feel special, in fact, it's funny because as a king, I am supposed to get and wear the finest outfits but all I get are hand-me-downs. Hand-me-down robe, hand-me-down crown, and even a hand-me-down sword."

"Excuse me?" A small man timidly ask, "this is an invitation from the King of Steovaria, Scar for a meeting in the Hall of Kings."

"When is this?" I asked while politely taking the letter from the messenger's hand.

"Tomorrow, and King Scar also told me you can't skip this meeting."