He was still a King, although a long time ago, he was so much more powerful, strong, and cunning. He could have things brought to him from the farthest region of the kingdom just by asking some of his servants to bring them for him.
His realms expanded through thousands and thousands of miles, which he could see from the windows of his castle. He could see forests, he could see deserts, he could see mountains, he could see almost every possible landscape there, from his castle’s windows. He was making things work, back then, he was the man, he was the boss, he was it. However things changed with time. How? Well, they just did, time passed, and things were not the same anymore. He didn’t even notice how, but little by little his kingdom started decaying until it almost disappeared.
There was not much left of the kingdom now, villagers left, fields went dry, farm animals died. There was just the castle left now, where King Youvi lived. It was strange how he didn’t notice about what had happened to his kingdom, he seemed to keep going without seeing it was dying. How? You may ask yourself. Well, there are many reasons why people lose hope and most of the times they don’t even notice they have lost it. King Yuvi was one of them. Would he ever find out he had lost hope? And would he ever find out why?
In spite of all this kingdom lost, he didn’t seem to be unhappy, or lonely or sad. He looked just as if nothing had happened, as if things were normal. He sometimes even had an odd smile on his face.
His favorite part of the day now was to play with his ants by the window. Well, they were not his ants, but they were there in the castle somehow, so, he claimed them his. He could play for some time but after a while he would inevitably get bored, and some of them would bite him often, and he didn’t like that.
After playing with the ants, he would always stare from the window to the other side, to the outside where his kingdom remained. Playing with ants may have been just an excuse. What he really liked doing was staring from the window. But he couldn’t do it without playing with the ants first, it was some kind of ritual, or a way to not do it directly, because he knew that every time he stared from the window to the fields of his kingdom he would remember with melancholy those times when his parents were with him and the old glory of the kingdom.
He hadn’t realized yet, but little by little, he was starting to miss the old times more and more. He missed his parents, missed his childhood, missed the former glory of the kingdom. In very small increments an idea was starting to form in his mind. Will the kingdom ever grow again? Will it ever be like it was before? Was there something he could do to make it blossom again to its former glory? He would keep this idea on his mind now that it had appeared. It was very hard for him to let go of an idea.
- So, royal guard? What are we up to now? Where do we go from here? The kingdom is not what it used to be, what are we going to do about it?
- To battle sir! That has always worked, let’s go out and conquer some villages.
His loyal guard. He had been there since the king could remember; he had always been a loyal folk. In other times, more active times, he would go out and fight for the king and make the king’s name proud. But nowadays, he just stayed there, pretty much, he didn’t do anything anymore, so the king was a bit surprised when he heard him saying that they should go out and conquer. However, King Youvi considered the idea and thought that maybe the guard was right, that conquering was, what they needed, a kingdom needs conquering, right?
The king decided that he would take the guard’s idea into action. They would set out to conquer, to bring the kingdom to its former glory. They would battle, kill, slave, rape and do all the other things conquerors do. And by doing this, the king knew, that they would bring the kingdom back to life and they would all be happy again, the guard and himself.
- To battle! We’ll search and destroy, we’ll bring glory back to my kingdom. March strong royal guard! Let’s get some villagers killed tonight!
- Of course my horse, I mean, my Lord!
King Youvi and his loyal guard put all their armor on and prepared to use their best swords and weapons, they would go out to conquer new villages and bring glory back to the kingdom. Out there, in the field, where many battles had been won before, there they were now, with a brave spirit and their heart pumping hard. They would revive what had been lost in their times, they would feel again, battle, pain, joy and above all, victory.
After a couple of hours or maybe, even days of marching, they finally arrived to what would be their first victory, their first conquer, the first town they had reached. As they were entering through what seemed to be the main street of the town, they started to notice something strange, there didn’t seem to be anybody in town, the town was empty. What had happened to all these people? Where had they gone? The houses were still in good condition and there were carriages and other vehicles on the roads full of what it seem to be fruits and vegetables. Something strange that was, King Youvi knew there were not many visitors in his castle anymore, rather, none, but an empty town, that was even more strange.
They stood leaning over a carriage for a while, thinking, looking at the streets and houses of the town, what had happened there? They kept thinking. Was this some kind of joke? Why would the people leave a village if they had everything in it? Or had they died? Had they suddenly died? By some disease or by something else? Maybe? King Youvi reached with his hand the back of the carriage and put it inside of the pile of rotten fruits and vegetables, he wanted to see if there was still some of them in an eatable condition. He touched something, it seemed to be hard, pulled it out of the pile and found out that it was an apple in a good eatable condition. He had a couple bites, and gave the rest of it to his loyal guard. All this marching had made them a bit hungry. He ordered the loyal guard to look for some more apples or other fruits and store them in sacks, this might be even a longer march as they were expecting. They wouldn’t go back to the castle until they could find out what had happened to the people or until they found a village or a place to conquer.
Miles away from the previous town and a couple of days later, they finally reached their destination, another town that used to belong to the kingdom. After walking on a few of the main streets of it, they found the same story. There was no one in town, it seemed to be completely empty, same as the previous one. King Youvi and his loyal guard went to the center of the town where there was a fountain. They sat there. The King had his eyes staring straight to the ground, and had a thoughtful expression on his face. This town was empty as well, which could very likely mean, that all of the towns were empty. He knew that this could happen, a long time ago, the kingdom’s Wizard had seen this happening in one of his dreams.
He dreamt that every villager left the kingdom. By some strange reason, that the dream didn’t quite explain, they left, and they left all their things in their towns. Something had happened that had made them leave, apparently. There had not been any killing or any disease, it had been a choice they had made. The wizard was very alarmed by having that dream. He knew that when he dreamed something happening, it usually happened in real life after some years. It was so unlucky that the wizard was no there anymore by King Youvi’s side, this time he would be very helpful. But he had disappeared as well, some time ago.
Knowing that they would not find anyone there either, King Youvi told his loyal guard that they should better be heading back to the castle. There was no point in searching this place, nor other places, because they would all be empty. The life of the kingdom had been drained by some strange cause. Now, the only thing they could do was to try to think thoroughly in the castle, find a reason, find a cure, or just, lay down, and wait for time to take them too, to make them disappear, like the rest of the kingdom.
To get back to the castle, they had to go first through the forest, then through the meadow, then over the hills, and then, the would reach it. This would take them a few days, perhaps.
On the way, marching, King Youvi kept thinking about how the times were before, when he was a child, when he could play with his parents in the castle. It had been a very good time, he had had a very joyful childhood. They used to sit down and tell him stories, to play with him and to try to make him smile and to make him happy all the time. He could tell them what he did in the day, and tell them the stories and mischiefs he had done. They were good parents, and they were the king and queen of the kingdom. The kingdom hadn’t been the same since they had left.
King Youvi’s parents had disappeared as well, they hadn’t said good bye, they just disappeared. He could not remember if they left before or after the villagers started disappearing, probably it had been before. Anyway, the kingdom had not been the same since they left. There used to be order and prosperity. Now, everything seemed to have faded out, there was not much hope for the kingdom.
As they were marching, or rather, walking, they could spot a small cabin in the woods. They would spend the night there, it was getting late and King Youvi was tired and sad. It was a good time to have some rest and try to sleep the night away.
What was this cabin? It seemed oddly familiar, somehow. The smell of it, the look of it, the feel of it, it all reminded him of something, but he couldn’t quite know what it was. There was an old couch, an old radio transmitter, a kitchen table and random kitchenware near the stove. It seemed pretty cozy, if you asked him. But why was he feeling what he was feeling? Why was he suddenly so connected to this cabin, that was there in the forest, where he had never been before? At least, he didn’t remember having being there before. But who knew? Maybe he had, when he was a kid, he remembered he used to travel all around the kingdom with his parents, staying in little places where people would take them as their guests.
Apart from all the furniture, kitchenware and other elements of the decoration of the cabin, there was something that resembled and old chest, above the kitchen table. An old brown, woody chest that was there, looking as if it were waiting for somebody to open it, holding some kind of story inside of it. It was one of these things that King Youvi couldn’t stop from doing, once he had an idea in his mind, he would go for it. He would now open the chest and see what was inside of it. He got closer to the chest and with his right hand removed the lock that was locking it, it was not locked, and pulled the wooden lid of the chest, thus, revealing what was inside the chest. It was some kind of old photo album, with its worn out cover and with some threads unwrapping. He took it, opened it and had a glance at the first picture. His face suddenly got pale, and his eyes acquired this strange glossy look. It was as if he had seen something… Profound.
This image, this picture, what a bizarre, strange coincide. He was in it. It was an old picture that portrayed him and his father and mother. It was he when he was a kid, his parents playing with him. It was such a lovely picture. He must have been maybe 6 or 7 years old. What a strange coincidence, why was that picture there? And the expression of them, they all looked so happy. Back then, when life for them was simpler, easier. This cabin, had they stayed here before in one of their journeys? Or how come was this picture there?
Little by little a small memory of what had been started to come back to his mind. It didn’t quite tell him what this cabin was, but it told him something else. It told him about the beauty of his childhood, about the beauty of his life when he was with both his parents. Things were far different from what they were later on. On those times all he had to do was smile and try to make his parents happy. He would cry and whine, sometimes as well, but that was just part of the same plan, to bring happiness to them. He suddenly remembered the breathe of his mother in his forehead and the strong hug of his father, and so much joy, oh so much. They had lived very happy times indeed, they had had so much luck. He especially, had been a lucky one.
After having this memory coming back to his mind, he started thinking and feeling how things had changed in recent times. And in not so recent times too, it had been a long time since he last smiled and since he last felt completely happy. What had happened? Well, now he could start to understand what had happened. His parents were gone now, they had left, they had taken another journey on which he couldn’t take part on. That was what had happened to the kingdom, the kings had left. Although, he knew, that his was meant to happen, his parents had warned him about this. They told him he would once have to take care of the kingdom on his own, that he would once have to make everything flourish again, and make it even better, or at least try hard to. Then, had this all been some kind of sign sent from above, his whole quest to conquer? And had this cabin been there in their way just by coincidence? Most likely not. So, king Youvi took the picture and put it in his pocket, the he decided he would go to bed.
King Youvi thought that night, he thought a lot. He remembered many things that his parents had taught him, and many things that he had learned from them. He remembered how much love there had been between his parents, how his mother loved his father and how he loved her in return. There had been a time when they were so much in love they would have carried on with anything. He then saw how the kingdom had been created and with which purpose. It had been created by love, with the purpose of bringing more love to the world, or maybe as an announcement, as a sign to send, that showed that love could thrive, love could flourish, love could create and love, and love.
He knew what he had to do now, he had to find love, he had to bring it back somehow. He had buried it deep somewhere when his parents were gone. Now, he had to unbury it and spread it back in the kingdom. The only thing he had to keep in mind all the time was this, that the kingdom had been made out of love, and it would only flourish with love and time.
King Youvi would take the picture with him to the castle and display it somewhere high, where he could see it everyday, and he could remember his parents, and the love they had had for the kingdom, for each other, and for him. The kingdom they had built for him, or let’s just call it life, was what his parents had left for him, wanting him to live it, wanting him to enjoy it, wanting him to flourish in it, wanting him to do all these things they wish they had done, and not to do all the things they wish they hadn’t done. Life was a gift, it had been a gift for him, they gave that to him, happily.
