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The king followed close behind Kieran. Well, ex-king. After all, he did give his crown to Kieran. Lucky him. Except… his father insisted on following him everywhere. Kieran sighed, this day was the worst. Including the day before, and the day before, and before. I think you get the point.
Kieran’s dad cleared his throat. “You know, Kieran. You’ll have to marry soon. I already chose multiple women for you to pick from.” Kieran stopped in his tracks. He glared at his father, orange tinting his eyesight.
“You think anyone would want to marry me like this?” He replied. “I’m a monster, dad.” All because of that stupid alien! He’s the reason this happened. He’s the reason no one would look at Kieran anymore. Even if someone did, they would look away with disgust in their eyes. Flames clouded Kieran’s eye, blocking his father from his view for a moment.
The ex-king looked shocked, a hint of sadness in his old, tired eyes. “Ah, but Kieran! These women were chosen because they-“ A crash came from the town square, making everyone’s heads turn towards the sound. A tall, muscular man stood in front of a… lizard? It didn’t look like a human. It had black scales decorating its teardropped shaped face. Bandages wrapped around its mouth and the left side of its face. Another monster? They were becoming more common.
Knights came rushing behind the ex-king and Kieran, probably gonna arrest one of the two people. The muscular man was yelling at the monster, who was sprawled out on the floor. It looked like it wanted to cry but couldn’t.
Could the man be its owner? One of the new laws did state that all monsters had to have someone to look after them. Like they were pets. Disgusting. The knights drew out their swords. Meanwhile, their general was trying to talk to the man.
Kieran groaned, he couldn’t even go to the markets in peace now?! “This monster was blocking my path! It doesn't deserve to be here! Hell’s supposed to be a peaceful place!” The man was shouting at the general. Kieran’s father sighed and stepped in front of his son.
“General Nio? May I handle this?” His father asked. The general looked surprised but nodded. He led the knights towards the castle, leaving nothing between the man and Kieran. The ex-king approached the man, clearly anger flew through Kieran’s dad’s veins. “So this monster was blocking your path and you couldn’t say excuse me?! It’s almost like you wanted to shout at them!” His father continued to yell while the monster stood up.
Kieran’s head snapped towards them, studying their appearance more. The monster locked eye contact with him, well… not exactly but they looked in his direction. Looked a bit below his eyes actually. Kieran’s dad stepped back from the man, gesturing to Kieran that they should go. The new king sighed, finally!
Once they reached the market, Kieran’s dad walked away, leaving his son alone. Kieran could sense eyes drilling onto him, but whenever he looked back, nothing.
“Hi?” Keiran jumped back, trying to figure out who spoke. Oh… it was the monster from town square.
“Hey? Listen, I just need to get something so let me through.” Kieran muttered, walking past the monster. They seemed like they wanted to say something, but instead they followed close behind Kieran. “What do you want?!” Kieran snapped, turning towards them. Heads turned towards him. Just great.
“I- … nothing.. It’s just that I wanted to thank your father for saving me, but I can’t find him?” They chattered. Kieran tilted his head, looking up at them. They were really tall, maybe like 7 feet? Maybe a bit less.
Kieran blinked, confused. “My dad? You want to talk to my dad?” The monster nodded.
“Besides, I thought because you’re a monster, you could be my friend?” Their speech came out muffled because of the bandages, but you could clearly hear ‘friend’. Kieran looked shocked. He looked like a monster?
A monster just called him… “How dare you! I’m not a monster! How.. dare-“ Kieran stopped yelling when the monster looked down, unwrapping the bandages. They muttered something like sorry. “Do you have a name?” The king asked, snatching the bandages from them.
The monster shook their head. Their owner didn’t give them a name? Interesting… Unless, they didn’t have an owner. “You don’t have a name?” The monster shook their head once again. Kieran groaned, looking down at the ground, meanwhile the bandages were burning to a crisp.
“How ‘bout this.. you live with me for a while since you don’t have an owner and I’ll give you a name.” The monster looked taken back.
“Really?” Dam, did their head tilt look cute- What was Kieran thinking. Head tilts from monsters weren’t cute. Monsters weren’t supposed to be cute. They were supposed to be ferocious, scary!
Kieran quickly shook his head. “Yeah! I- uh- umm- what- sooo- what type of names do you like?” Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Kings don’t trip over their words like that! Meanwhile, the monster shrugged their left shoulder.
“I don’t really know. I guess you can call me… Amaryllis for now.” And they picked a cute name?! Kieran’s dad came up from behind him, holding a bag of products. “Kieran, you ready to go?… Oh, I see you got a new friend!” His dad spoke up.
“S-shut up, dad! Anyways… Amaryllis is going to stay with us for a bit. Until they get a proper home, of course!” The new king spit out, heading towards the castle. His dad chuckled, and followed close behind him, motioning for Amaryllis to follow them.
-At the castle-
Knights made their way through the crowded hall, most of them weaving between Kieran and Amaryllis. Kieran’s dad was currently sleeping, seeing as it was midnight. But of course, Kieran had to promise this monster that they could see the stars together! He looked towards the monster, who was currently looking around, mostly looking at the jewels.
Kieran’s cousin approached him. “Heyyy, lil guy! Who’s this, your boyfriend?” They teased, smirking. Amaryllis snapped his head towards the cousin, blushing. Probably with embarrassment, right? As if a monster would fall for Kieran! Right? ….
“Shut up, Jordan! I just met Amaryllis today.” Kieran scoffed, looking down. How could his cousin be so annoying? Jordan shrugged and walked off, like they didn’t have a care in the world. Annoying! Annoying I tell. Amaryllis stared at Jordan, blinking in… confusion maybe? “Sorry ‘bout, Jordan. They’ve been annoying ever since they got married.” Kieran lifted one shoulder, and walked towards the garden. It would have the best view after all.
Amaryllis followed close behind him, looking over the paintings, taking longer with the paintings that have Kieran. But that doesn’t mean anything, right? “Wow.” The monster gasped as Kieran opened the door to the garden. Bright stars filled the dark indigo sky. The new king wished someone could paint this, capture the sky in swirls and twirls. It truly was amazing.
Just like Amaryllis.
-A year later-
It’s been a whole year since Amaryllis and him met. Yet nothing happened. The monster did show interest in Kieran, like he was a friend. And in return, Kieran showed barely no interest back. Some days he could tolerate the lizard following him around like a puppy, other days he liked being around him. Scratch that, loved being around him. That all changed when Amaryllis asked Kieran to meet on a hill.
Cherry trees surround them with a single weeping willow standing in the middle. Amaryllis looked up at the willow. Its leaves brushing against his scales. As he turned towards Kieran, the sun shone behind him. It made him look… angelic almost. Beautiful.
Kieran stood there, not knowing what to do. Thankfully, Amaryllis ran up to him. The monster didn’t talk as much as he used to. That was okay with Kieran, he was okay with talking to the monster. Barely no interruptions. Just him and Am- What was he thinking?! He couldn’t be with a monster!
“Kieran! You came!” Amaryllis smiled, his one eye blinking. The monster told Kieran why he wore the bandage when they met. His… “owner” forced him to wear it, so he wouldn’t look weird. Kieran didn’t know why Amaryllis wore it some days, especially considering his owner abandoned him! “I was worried you wouldn’t come.” Amaryllis blushed.
Kieran stepped forward, warmness spreading throughout his face. “Just hurry up! The new rulers are coming to grab me… and take me to a boring, BORING meeting. Sometimes I hate being king.” He scoffed. Gerson and…. Agnetha? Yesss. They had their coronations one the same day, even though they barely know each other. It was kinda fun.
Amaryllis tilted his head, his smile fading. “Oh.. okay then! Ummm…” Amaryllis paused for a second. Actually a minute seems more appropriate. The monster sure did take his time. Then again that’s what Kieran loved most about him. Oh, and he also threw the guy who shouted at Amaryllis when they first met in the dungeon. He also learned that the muscular guy’s name was Magnus. “Will you..” Amaryllis’ words snapped Kieran back to the present.
“Will you marry me? I know we haven’t even dated but-“ Amaryllis got cut off by Kieran’s sharp gasp. How could… how? How could a monster love him? How could anyone even remotely like Kieran? He was a monstrosity. All because of that stupid…
Kieran threw his arms around Amaryllis, tears forming in his eyes. He nodded like crazy. This is what he wanted, right? So why was he crying? “Of course! Of course I’ll marry you!” He finally responded, cupping one hand around Amaryllis’s cheek. The monster blushed, silent.
“Are we interrupting something orrr?” A voice spoke behind them. A young woman stood in front of a monster. Oh… Agnetha and Gerson Boom. Great, just great. Kieran told them to go to the meeting without him. After all, Amaryllis just proposed to him. Now they could live happily ever after.
-Years later-
A few days before the commotion in Cightt, the kings invited the other rulers over… for a stupid fucking treasure hunt. The lesser king didn’t know his husband was going to spout nonsense but oh well. “The Phoenix is reborn.” What did that even mean?!
Oh well. At least he picked Kieran a red spider lily. Which does mean death but the lesser king doesn’t focus on shit like that. The Elite king decided he would go by that instead of Amaryllis ever since… nevermind, Kieran doesn’t like remembering that… incident.
Now, he had to go and kill children! Children! Wellll… three children and two adults. Actually… one kid, one teenager, a time traveler who barely has any memory about the future, one alien, and a printer. Great. Just great. Kieran leaned against the weeping Willow that stood in the middle of the hill. The hill where the Elite king proposed to him. Truly a magical place.
“Blood will splatter the willow. The Phoenix is reborn. The spider lily will bring death to him.” Stuff that the Elite king spouted before. It wasn’t important, of course. He just read a lot. Still, one of those nonsense sentences laid on to this mind to this day.
“Time ticks. Someone goes back in time and brings the lily that brings death to the important.” The someone that goes back in time was obviously the time traveler. The lily must be the red spider lily. But death to the important?
Truly nonsense.. right? It’s all nonsense. Life is nonsense.
“Time ticks.
Someone goes back in time and brings the
Lily that brings death to the important.
Time truly flicks.
Then the king will become dormant.”