Draconic Ascendance: The King Selection

"Hey, have you heard about the King Selection?"

So early in the morning, in the crack of dawn- blasted rumors in the village of the commoners. As the merchants and farmers prepared their stalls for their businesses, they could not help but listen to the news widespread from the City of Nobles. Passing from ear to ear, they spoke of the Selection they all feared.

"The Queen is mad! If we don't remind her of this lunacy, Fontana will be sure to end up in scraps!"

"Watch your mouth!" another said, her eyes dilating. "The Queen's soldiers are around. You do not want to be dragged and beheaded, do you not?"

"What's this about the King Selection?" a young, roguish lad asked them as he drops the pile of sacks he had carried from the farm.

"Ah, child," the woman beckoned the male and sighed deeply in regret. "The King Selection will be held tomorrow in the Queen's courtyards. We do not recommend to enlist. You are sure not to come out alive. Why do you think is this country's population of males, less?"

"I'm not sure why any man would not want to enlist," the boy shrugged his shoulders. "Isn't that the easiest way to climb the ranks?"

"If only that was so easy. Had the other generals and princes from other nations not been invited, our homelads would have had better chances of surviving the trials. You ought to get married today! All men are compulsory to join the Selection, except the married ones and those who are younger than the Queen!"

The villagers continued to gossip about the Selection while expressing their opposition to their Queen's rule. On the sidelines, were two men tilling the soil along with the other children running in the fields. The farmer looked over to his companion who was engrossed to his duty of tending the crops.

"Ares," he beckoned over to him and patted the space beside him. "Come and sit."

The male lifted his gaze and shook his head, the sound of metal could be heard clunking around his body.

"I want you to find a woman today. I will lend you my wife's ring."

The lad was baffled at his master's invitation.

"A woman...? Why?"

His master took a deep breath and regrettably patted his shoulder. "You will be forced to join the King Selection if you meet their criteria. Knowing how much of a vigorous young lad you are, you will be sure to be recruited into the stands."

Ares stared deeply at his master, for he did not know much about this country. "Is the King Selection... a bad event?"

"You will lose a limb upon entering the trials before reaching the Three Games."

Ares fell silent and continued to listen to his master's narration, as one of the witnesses of the King Selection. He once worked as a physician in the Castle. He often tended to the injured soldiers- but when the Queen had officially announced the launch of the Selection, his patients switched from soldiers to nobles, the participants of the Selections. Most commoners were slain by the noble's swords- for they excelled and had education in chivalry and sword-fighting.

Though clad with golden armour and silver shields, their thick, crimson blood still streamed across the Queen's battlefield like a puddle from a light rain. The brazen, pale faces of the candidates who wished to sit on the throne displayed a defeated expression as they dissolved completely into the Queen's exhilarating madness. The Queen's laughter could be hauntingly heard echoing- like a witch who had just successfully eviscerated her subjects.

They quivered in fear as their knees gave up on their weight, soiling their palms with the fresh blood underneath them. Their eyes widened in horror as they realized what they had just done. They were disgusted at the sight of blood in their hands for they might have raised their swords against someone who may have been their family or a friend. Though they may be noblemen who are expected to only display the gallant grace of their clans, they have knelt down to something so low in order to marry the Queen.

But one had to walk through the chaos before they could seek her attention.

The King Selection is an annual competition held by the one and only, Her High Radiance, Maximillia Eurydice von Kranel- the third ruler and the very first Dominant Queen to reign in Fontana.

Her influence and talent in the art of war is known throughout the land and is feared by other Kings. At the young age of twenty-two, Queen Eurydice had conquered the entirety of the continent's rebels and managed to protect her city from mythical creatures' harm. Though she does not have a husband, Queen Eurydice wants to be labeled as a 'queen' rather than the 'crown princess'. One that would refrain so would be strangled and fed to the moat's alligators.

Though her intentions are unknown for the origin of the King Selection, one thing is for sure: the Queen is planning to kill all the capable men in the Castle who are going to become threats to her supremacy.

There are three rules that the Queen changed upon her reign when it comes to choosing a King.

1.) The candidate must be of the Queen's age or older, but not more than ten years.

2.). He must be in healthy condition and without a trace of illness. He must have a complete body. He must also be capable of giving Fontana an heir.

3.) The candidate must participate in the King Selection and win the trials to prove he is capable of becoming the ruler of the nation.

However, there is one rule that the Queen cannot change. For the Kingdom of Fontana chose it themselves:

The Queen must find a King before she reaches her 25th birthday, or else she will be banished from the throne.

The Queen's time has come to choose a new King. Two years, and if she cannot find a suitable one, her own people will abandon her.

But Queen Eurydice cannot carelessly choose anyone.

The King must be able to slay a mythical creature, thus the purpose of the King Selection.

She must find the most suitable man, commoner or noble, to protect the nation she worked so hard for. Someone strong, but also, easily manipulated. Someone... unique and suitable.

Someone she could proudly call her husband.

"Ares," the lad's master shook his shoulders and smiled. "Would you rather join the King Selection or find a wife?"

Ares, the mysterious young lad, whom the farmer- formerly the castle's physician, adopted, continued tilling the soil, unbothered. "All I need to do is win, right?"

His master becomes quiet. He was the only young lad who expressed volunteerism to the Queen's games. "You wish to enlist?"

"No," Ares replied and stretched his arms in the air. His sweat glistened amongst the midday sun. He was a fit young man and had a miraculous appearance better than a noble's. His master feared that he would be forced to join the Selection and lose one of his assets. "But if the guards are to force me, then I have no choice but to participate."

"Why participate when you can avoid it?" he chuckled. "I was lucky to have married my wife before the Selection began in the Queen's coming of age. But this generation is unlucky. How old are you?"

Ares replied with a blank expression. "Twenty-four."

"Ah, so young! Would be a waste if you lost your limbs in that darned competition."

"Why does everyone hate the queen?"

"We do not hate the queen. She is a wonderful leader, but an unforgiving one, too. Her father was worse, but the queen today, his daughter, is like a demon."

Ares ran his fingers across his hair and closed his eyes to imagine the words of his master. His master stared at him.

"You are not much of a talker, I wonder if you'll be fine?"

"I'm okay," Ares told him.

The boy he adopted was odd. The physician first found him in the slums, bleeding to death. He was but a young man, around sixteen or seventeen by the time he found him. The physician knew he was a runaway slave from one of the castle's filthiest prisons- home to the most notorious criminals in land.

He took the boy home and cleaned him. At first, young Ares would hiss at him like a cat and stare at him with murderous eyes. But every time he looks at him, he is reminded of his son that passed away, and he couldn't allow Ares to leave.

So he raised the boy along with his wife.

"You changed a lot." his master said and smiled.

The Ares today was a gentle man, unspoken and emotionless. He rarely interacts with others and sleeps alone in the barn with the other animals. He always had this distant look on his face, so calm and unbothered. Being with the boy he raised, made him feel at ease.

Ares was still a mystery to the physician even to that day, and he was more than willing to wait for him to open up by himself. He could not bring himself to ask why he had shackles on his feet by the time he rescued him from the foot of death.

There were so many things that the physician wanted to ask, but never dared.

Like how unusual Ares's clothes were. How they did not seem to tighten even if he grew up so much.

Or how immune he was to poison or sickness.

Or how odd his golden eyes were, which were so different from the rest of the country's folks.

Or how skilled he was in fighting the bandits or wolves that tried to attack the merchant's daughter the other day.

Or how he even managed to be in the same spot as those bandits were, as if we went somewhere late at night the other day and got caught in the mess.

The physician did not know much about him.

All of a sudden, their tranquility was disturbed by the Queen's royal army. Their spears shifted to Ares, who still carried a huge rake in his hands and a sack on his shoulder. They surrounded him, eyes keen to capture the young man.

"Hey, kid," a soldier grabbed Ares' arm. "Why are your clothes filled with bloodstains?"