The Kings Knowledge

Have you noticed my little princess
that time is speeding up
and with every year that passes by
it becomes harder to find enough

The story tellers speak of magic
the fairy tells speak of dreams
but it is time that holds the key to all
nothing else seems to mean a thing

Oh we laugh and play, and make believe
that forever will always be there
we wake each day a little bit older
and deeper in the dragons lair

Somehow we forget that father time sleeps
under the shelter of the dragons wing
guarding the treasure which only he can keep
and the key to eternity

Alas every glorious sunset
we dismiss without a thought
not knowing the games fate may play
or what the webs we’ve spun have caught

We take for granted the most precious of gifts
the very life we have to live
Stumbling round like bumbling fools
on a fair day chasing a pig

And with that the King closed his eyes
so only that the silence reigned supreme
the little princess became confused
for she knew not what it was all to mean

Shimmering opalescent moonlight
illuminated the world with a mysterious glow
and within the castles highest tower
they stared at the shadows on the kingdom below

Then after a moment the silence escaped
and the king began to speak
My most beautiful flower I’ve brought you here
so I may bestow the knowledge I keep

Each moment, each second, each breath
every instant upon which we stand
is nothing more than the tiniest speck
in the hourglass full of sand

It shall always come to pass away
and another shall be reborn
we are much better to chase our dreams
then to fret over time and mourn

For life is forever in the birth of tomorrow
the desires in every wish
the smile so bright in a childs eyes
the magic in every kiss

Its the merry sound of laughter
the hidden enchantment in every story
Its in the power of every sunrise
we so foolishly dismiss upon waking each morning

Yes it is time that holds the answers
but it is only us who ask the qeustions
Remember that my little princess
for it is the trust of all of lifes lessons

Search the remnants of every night
for all the pieces to every dream
Nothing is ever out of your reach
you must only dare to believe

Know in your heart the qeustions you ask
lead to the dragons keep
but rejoice in the journey before you my princess
for the adventure is ever so sweet…

We’re all familiar with those monsters, the ones that live under our beds, in our closets, and in every dark corner we encounter. Though he wears many masks and carries several names, he’s the same exact idea, a creature that scares the living Hell out of us. The boogeyman is something we’ve nurtured from a very young age. We gave him the tools to scare us, the power to frighten us, and the ability to haunt us at any time. But as we grow up, we lose our vivid imagination skills, which the boogeyman feeds off of. By simply not believing, we’re taking away his energy, leaving him as nothing but a disregarded scrawny creature that will someday cease to exist.
As for us, our boogeyman is rather different. He wears a uniform and carries a gun, he doesn’t hide under the bed, nor in the closet. He appears in plain sight, proud and confident. We’ve known him from a very young age, though he’s not the work of our imaginations. We never gave him any tools to scare us, nor did we grant him the power to frighten us, and we certainly didn’t allow him the ability to haunt our every waking hour. He was forced into our imaginations, I call it “fate’s cruel prank”. “Nature’s ugly joke”, would be a better description. He doesn’t feed off of our vivid imaginations, no, he feeds off of fears. But not ours, those were the fears of the cowards that stood by and let it seep into our homes. Those people that chose to close their eyes and allow this hideous monster to fabricate itself into our minds. No matter how much we grow up, we can never stop believing. We can’t get the idea that at any moment he can barge in pointing his gun at us out of our heads. He would never fade away, he will never cease to exist….

Bob was having a horrible day. Over the past few hours, his plans, his dreams, had been turned upside down. Six hours ago, a colony ship bound for Alpha Centauri had left Pluto outpost. Four hours later, it had passed through the Oort cloud’s border. One hour after that, they received a transmission from the opposite side of the solar system, apparently from the colony ship.
Bob, the President of the Solar system, had dreamed of being remembered as the man who pioneered the far reaches of space. Now, due to some unseen force, the Human race may never extend its reach beyond the rays of Sol.
He suddenly noticed a man, sitting in the guest’s chair. Startled, Bob jerked himself out of his reclining chair. “Who are you?”
“Forgive my sudden entry, Mr. President. I am pleased to tell you that your race, while possessing sufficient technology to colonize other solar systems, is not culturally advanced enough to be allowed outside of your system of origin.”
“Says who!”
“So states the Federated League of Races. The Treaty of Shigonto, the basis for the League’s foundation, clearly states that no race which is likely to begin wars is to be allowed into the position were it may do so. Humanity has been determined to be warlike, therefore it cannot be allowed to propagate itself beyond this solar system.”
Bob had been growing more and more angry during this speech. He jumped at the opportunity to speak. “A blockade is an act of war, you know. Such things have been forgiven in our past, but the blockade must be removed.”
“Tell me, Human, how do you think any attack by your forces against an enemy capable of erecting such a barrier?”
Bob was defeated on that point, but he was not going to give up yet. “That wasn’t my point. My point was that you don’t approve of war, but you committed an act of war.”
The man smiled. “The solar system you attempted to send your ship to is inhabited. The ship held what constituted an invasion force, as I doubt that you would have allowed the peaceful, plantlike people there to survive. Your colonists would have cut them down, set them on fire, or buried them with buildings.”
“We didn’t know that it was inhabited.”
“No, you didn’t. and that’s yet another reason you cannot be trusted with our universe. You could have colonized and destroyed their entire species before it was noticed that they were just like you.”
Bob had run out of arguments. “What do you want us to do?”
“I would see this decadent species exterminated, but as much as I would like to, my employers’ collective approval of the Treaty of Shigonto forbids me to do so. The barrier will be lifted when the Human race has proved itself by not coming into conflict with itself, on an individual basis or on any scale. Conflict is defined by the use of force to harm someone. If on any one day this happens, my employers will come and announce the quarantine is ended.”
The man picked up his black umbrella and left.

Ten billion years passed. Humanity had spent itself in a grand war that had destroyed three of the four rocky planets, made uninhabitable every colonized moon, and severely destabilized the Sun. before the Sun went nova, the Aliens that had confined Humans so long landed on Earth, the last surviving planet. After many tests, they came to a conclusion. Humans were not the victims of any outside cause which made them aggressive, they were just a bad crop.
The man with the black umbrella could have told them that.

That grand oak tree
How did it form?

From a seed made of God
Grander than human folklore.

It embedded in this fertile land Nutured by a mighty hand.

An outer shell one day broke lose
From it a stem sprang forth
And tiny roots drank from earths juice.

A day to break from the ground.

Yearly a trunk grows wide
by adding wooden circle round.

From its source arms
Reaching for a sunrays charms.

Green leaves of fraility stand
Gaining strength from rain heavy roots
ground in a richer land.

Right seasonly her seedlings come.
A nature of variety tell fate of some.

Dropped to embed in this fertile land.
It is nurturedby a mighty hand.

The cap on my pen is not but a plug

forbidding my brain to drain away the pain

of love, the similes about love I thought of

while getting over the pain,

the alliterations of

draining away the pain in my brain

or the horrible metaphors about

putting the plug back on the pen

as not to cover this entire page with

my mindless puddle of thoughts.

I awoke to the sound of morning.

It was the sweet but reedy song of

the pond birds that replaced

the orchestra of frogs and crickets composed

by the moon each night.

The whinny of a horse

and the call of a raven add a bridge to the

smooth tempo of the chorus.

I peered out through the hazy mist of

7 am,

imagining the speckled clouds like

nature’s music notes, shifting,

as if the sun could not decide

which song he would like to hear.

I wanted to join them.

Dance without care

or embarrassment,

as the chickadees catch the high notes

and the jays set a beat.

But alas, the mist kept them mysterious

in a hollow city

of arbutus and fir.

I would do anything just to feel your skin.
I would do anything to hear you breathe.
Can you tell me where you’re hiding?
I’m addicted to your movement,
I need to hear your voice.
All the things you’ve promised,
All the words you sang in my ear,
Have melted into my denial.
I’m going to believe you’ll come back,
You will walk through my bedroom door,
Tell me you’re sorry once more,
Once more I’ll believe you.
And once more we’ll be happy,
And in love.
In place of reality,
I will wish these thoughts;
As I’m writing them in black and white.
Tell me please, where are you hiding?

She use to feel anger, and sadness.
A little bit of disappointment within herself.
But now she feels nothing.
She can’t feel the anger she once felt when you slammed the door in her face.
She can’t feel the sadness and regret she felt when she made love to you, and you had sex with her.
You stole away her feelings.
She no longer desires any sort of touch from you.
She requires NO touch from anyone.
You use to make it hard for her to walk; stand on her own two feet.
You used to make her wish that the last breath she took better be with you by her side.
You can tell her garbage you’ve been telling her; she’s not going to buy it.
You can hold her hand, call her beautiful, and look her straight in the eyes:
“…of course I missed you, why wouldn’t I?”
She’s gone.

CAUTION serial ahead. more stories in the same setting with the same characters will follow
I have no title, please feel free to suggest one in your comments.
(this user is now active)
Thomas(NPC): “Welcome to The Last Warrior IIXX, I’m here to tell you about how to play the game.”
Killamonkey4: hi wheres the bathroom
Thomas(NPC): “This is an orc.”
Killamonkey4: he ugly
Thomas(NPC): “In The Last Warrior IIXX, orcs have taken over the civilized world and are trying to stamp out the last humans, elves, and dwarves.”
Killamonkey4: good 4 them
Thomas(NPC): “You must save the world.”
Killamonkey4: cliche
(orc attacks Killamonkey4 miss)
(Killamonkey4 attacks orc hit 3 damage)
Killamonkey4 kills orc)
Thomas(NPC): “Congratulations, you are now ready to save the world.”
(Traveling)
(entering Capitol City chat room 2280)
Killamonkey4: HEY anyone alive
!%##@: no
Killamonkey4: hello dead person
Interruptingcow9998: ! is being stupid. new here?
Killamonkey4: ya
!%##@: try the biscotti it rocks
Killamonkey4: willdo. what u do in this game?
Interruptingcow9998: quests
Killamonkey4: which are?
!%##@: another name for LSD
Interruptingcow9998: when you go out and do a mission for some NPC
Killamonkey4: what that word mean?
Interruptingcow9998: Non Person Computer, all these dudes standing round doin nothing
!%##@: we do town D too
Interruptingcow9998: when crowds of orc attack and you have to defend the location with you buddies
Killamonkey4: what happen if orc win?
Interruptingcow9998: nothing
!%###@: they go away and nothing happen but u might die
Killamonkey4: what happen when u die?
(User Supmah is now active)
!%##@: you go to a shrine totem thingy and get rezzed but u stuff gets busted up
Supmah: anyone for the sewer?
!%##@: ya sure
Interruptingcow9998: Sup we got a new buddy
Killamonkey4: howdy
Supmah: aight killa, u gotta talk to this dude over here. it’ll give u a dialog box and u need to click the options at the bottom of the screen
Killamonkey4: dogroden?
Supmah: ya
Dogroden(NPC): This ancient dwarf is laden with a long beard. It doesn’t seem to slow him down much, though. “Those orcs are trying to come through the sewers! If someone doesn’t go down there right now, they might overrun the whole city!”
Killamonkey4: “I will go.”
Dogroden(NPC): Dogroden sizes you up. “Ye’ll probably get yeself killed, but ye better than nothin. Hop to it!”
Killamonkey4: y cant dogroden go?
!%##@: He lazy
Supmah: lol idk
Interruptingcow9998: because then what would we do?
(traveling)
(entering Sewers chat room 330)
Supmah: get together for buffs
(Supmah casts Group Bull Strength)
(Supmah casts Group Resist Magic)
(Supmah casts Group Cat’s Dexterity)
(Supmah casts Group Mage Armor)
Supmah: killa stay in the back and use this bow
Killamonkey4: ok
orc(NPC) “Charge!”
(Supmah casts Melf’s Acid Arrow at orc hit 40 damage)
(Supmah kills orc)
(!%##@ uses spinning blade attack)
(!%##@ attacks orc miss)
(!%##@ attacks orc hit 13 damage)
(!%##@ attacks orc hit 15 damage)
(Killamonkey4 attacks orc miss)
(orc attacks !%##@ miss)
(Interruptingcow9998 attacks orc hit 8 damage)
(Interruptingcow9998 kills orc)
(Supmah casts Flaming Hands at orc hit 30 damage, orc hit 30 damage)
(Supmah kills orc)
(Supmah kills orc)
Killamonkey4: they not hold anything back on graphics for fire
!%##@: nope they try to break computer
Supmah: lol lets keep going
Dungeon Master As you enter the final chamber, you are greeted by a huge orc.
Grabknife(NPC): Who dare wake me?”
(Supmah casts Magic Missile at Grabknife hit 55 damage)
(Grabknife uses Knockdown at !%##@ hit)
(!%##@ balance fail)
(Interruptingcow9998 uses Sneak Attack on Grabknife hit 39 damage)
!%##@: oh crap
(Grabknife attacks !%##@ critical hit 9999999999999999999 damage)
(Grabknife kills !%##@)
(Killamonkey attacks Grabknife miss)
Grabknife uses Knockdown at Interruptingcow9998 hit)
(Interruptingcow9998 balance fail)
(Supmah casts Melf’s Acid Arrow at Grabknife hit 100 damage)
(Killamonkey4 attacks Grabknife miss)
(Grabknife attacks Interruptingcow9998 critical hit 9999999999999999999 damage)
(Grabknife kills Interruptingcow9998)
Interruptingcow9998: ^@$%#$
!%##@: yes?
(Grabknife uses Knockdown at Supmah hit)
(Supmah balance fail)
Interruptingcow9998: not u i meant teh #$!#@ word but the stupid block got it
Supmah: run killa
(Killamonkey4 attacks Grabknife miss)
(Grabknife attacks Supmah critical hit 9999999999999999999 damage)
(Grabknife kills Supmah)
(Grabknife uses Knockdown at Killamonkey4 miss)
(Grabknife uses Knockdown at Killamonkey4 miss)
!%##@: this getting boring
Supmah: if he can get a hit then Grabknife will die he only have a few more health
(Grabknife uses Knockdown at Killamonkey4 miss)
(Killamoneky4 attacks Grabknife miss)
!%##@: doubt he can get a hit u shoulntve given him a bow he cant shoot
(Killamonkey4 attacks Grabknife hit 2 damage)
(Killamonkey4 kills Grabknife)
!%##@: Ive been wrong before
Supmah: Killa, there a wand of rez in my backpack u gotta use it on us
(Killamonkey4 loots 1 Wand of Resurrection from Supmah’s Pack)
Interruptingcow9998: monk?
Killamonkey4: how do i work it?
Supmah: press i
Supmah: find it in ur inventory
Supmah: right click one of us
Supmah: left click the wand
(Killamonkey4 uses Wand of Resurrection on Supmah)
(Killamonkey4 uses Wand of Resurrection on !%##@)
(Killamonkey4 uses Wand of Resurrection on Interruptingcow9998)
Interruptingcow4: u rock
Killamonkey4: thx
(Interruptingcow9998 uses Search)
(Interruptingcow9998 opens Hidden Door)
(Interruptingcow9998 loots Chest)
(Killamonkey4 loots Chest)
(Supmah loots Chest)
(!%##@ loots Chest)
(traveling)
(entering Capitol City chat room 2280)
Supmah: talk to Dogroden
Dogroden(NPC): Dogroden looks at you with surprise. “Well! Never expected to see ye again. Take this and go take a shower, ye stink!”
(Dogroden gives Killamonkey4 a Supernatural Longsword of Righteous Vengeance +5)
Killamonkey4: thx for the fun
Supmah: np
Killamonkey4: I gotta go now, c u later
!%##@: hold up
Killamonkey4: ya?
!%##@: if u don’t friend us ull never find us again
Killamonkey4: k
(Killamonkey4 is now friends with !%##@)
(Killamonkey4 is now friends with Supmah)
(Killamonkey4 is now friends with Interruptingcow9998)
Supmah: bye
Killamonkey4: laters
(This user is now offline)

As you can see, I tried to go for the online chat room feel with mispellings, intresting names, and the whole dialog (name): thing. I am open to changing it if it is too hard to read.

My house is quiet and eerie, Evan, my roommate, has already gone to sleep. I’m on the couch wearing my purple silk Victoria Secret pajamas and robe, devouring a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream on the eve of my 30th birthday. I’m excited but also dreading it. Watching my favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy, a commercial comes on about Homeland security systems and a little boy is afraid that he has a monster under his bed. I remember those days of the monster and of being abused at the age of seven. My parents never believed me, but I could have sworn that there was one. I could understand why my father couldn’t find him, because it was within him.
When my show has finished I throw away the empty carton and wash the metal spoon. I walk into the master bedroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. While doing so, I examine my long brown hair and deep sea green eyes in the mirror. Continuing to the bedroom I pick up my latest Judith McNaught book and lounge in the kind sized bed.
* * *
Sheeeech
A scratching sound comes from under the bed. Looking at the foot of the bed, a light brown covered animal, the size of a human, with a clear sunny day sky blue eye peeks up. With a blood curdling scream, I jump up and bolt down the hallway into the kitchen. Frantically, I search for the seven inch butcher knife. Within 30 seconds I have found it and have ran into the living room.
“Alex, don’t run from me!” A shout that sounds oddly like Evan’s comes toward me.
As the monster creeps closer to my position, I think of an escape route. With him coming into the living room I vault over the couch and rush toward the garage.
I pull the rope to the attic and climb the ladder with light speed. The light brown creature comes into the garage just as I pull the ladder up with me.
“I know where you are!” He yells under me.
“If I were you I would leave, and if you don’t I will jump down and kill you myself!” I shout back hoping he leaves immediately.
“Well come on down!”
I push the attic door down and frantically look upon the room. The monster is to the right. With the knife in hand I jump down to face him.
When the monster comes running toward me I kick him in the stomach and it buys me some time to rush toward him. With this move he kicks the knife out of my hand making it slide under my Audi A4. I dive for it and he grabs my leg, thrashing me into Evan’s bag of golf clubs. Slowly, I stand up and take out his driver. Swinging it left and right I eventually hit him in the head and shoulder, I am able to get the knife out from under the car. I drop the driver and rush back into the house with the butcher knife within my grasp.
Cutting through the living room I notice that a lamp is broken and a chair is overturned. Rushing away form the scene I end up in my bedroom walk in closet. I close the door and put a sturdy wooden chair under the door knob. With the use of a foot rest I am able to pull down my revolver from its secret hiding place. Jumping off the stool I put the gun in my belt loop and rush to my dresser and pull out three bullets from the sock drawer. Keeping my knife in hand, I remove the wooden chair and bolt through the sliding glass door and out into the large backyard.
Determined to get away from the monster, I run to a huge tree just beyond the pool. Climbing up into the lush leaves the blue eyed animal comes out of the house. Staying quiet I watch as he waltzes around the pool stopping at the end closest to me looking toward the house. I pull the gun out of my belt loop, unlock the safety and shoot once.
Plunging into the water is the monster. Coming down from the tree, standing out in the open grass area, police sirens and a helicopter surround me. I turn away from the pool and look into the bright light overhead.
“Drop the weapon and step away with your hands up!” A police officer shouts with his gun drawn.
I drop both the knife and gun and back away two feet. An officer quickly comes up behind and handcuffs me. While escorting me to a car, I look back at the pool.
Evan is floating face down.
At the police department they take my pictures and fingerprints. After telling a counselor what happened they quickly take me to the psychological ward. Walking down the long hallway lined with other inmates, I notice many are in tan masks and screaming. I get into my cell and watch the metal bars close.
* * *
“Aaaah!” I scream sitting up in bed.
“What’s wrong?” Evan asks rushing into my room.
I tell him all about my lively dream and nonchalantly he says, “That’s nice”.