Honor of Euroka

Chapter 1 - Out of Time

Now, Honor was in a quandary of sorts. Why? Well, first you'll need to know the history. Honor grew up in a small, relatively untouched town in the southwest of a famous kingdom named Euroka. It had a wonderful king who was known for his relative pacifism and fairness.

His predecessor had developed a system; an individual would decide what job they wanted, and the king and his advisors would decide if he was worthy of it. In the event that the individual wasn't, they would decide what they were suited for, and if you didn't like it, then... oh well. It was also developed around status. The higher ranking an individual was, the more likely they would get accepted into that job. Honor was literally one step away from the bottom. He lived in a shack in someone else's property.

If the individual didn't know the job they wanted, it was an automatic farm hand or something even worse... This was the core of the problem.

See, Honor didn't want to be a farmer. He especially didn't want to be something worse. His family was gifted at failing things, so literally every single member of it was a farmer. It was pretty pathetic, and it was grueling work. No, thank you.

But Honor didn't know what he did want. There were only so many jobs he would be accepted into, and he didn't even want most of them.

Even then, knowing his luck, even if he knew, he'd just get rejected. He sighed. The ceremony would begin tomorrow, and he wasn't prepared much at all. He sighed again just for good measure.

There was nothing he could do, really. Although the king was good in terms of peacekeeping, his pacifism kept him from changing the corrupt government. Honor could only hope. He wasn't good at hoping much at all. He looked at the water clock. It was well past midnight. He'd get in a lot of trouble if somebody found him awake at this time. He just couldn't get to sleep. About two hours later, he did end up falling asleep. For too long.

***

"Honor, why are you still here?! You should be gone by now!" A man's voice shouted. Honor grumbled groggily. He was very comfy, which was uncommon, seeing as he only had a straw bed. No, actually, it was more like a straw pile on the floor. Needless to say, his family wasn't the richest.

He was very rudely interrupted by a desperate slap to the face, followed by a bucket of ice-cold water. No, it actually had ice. That was rare. Ice was handled with such specific care that it was only used for special events. So why was it being wasted on such a pointless day? And to wake him up, no less.

It did serve to wake him up, though. As soon as he was pulled out of bed, he knew what had happened. He had slept in. On the day of the Career Ceremony! Oh, he was such an idiot. But the even more idiotic person was "you! You let me sleep in!" He accused his father. His dad shrugged carelessly.

"I thought you had left. Besides, it's not like I slept in!" They both scoffed simultaneously. For some reason, this seemed to repair their relationship.

"You should get going. You'll probably arrive late, but then all eyes will be on you. You'll be famous!" His dad said.

"For being an embarrassment," Honor grumbled.

"Nonsense. They'll speak of you for centuries: the farmer who was too important to show up on time."

Honor let his father get lost in his own little fantasy. The truth was, his comment had left Honor more bitter than he let on. His father didn't expect him to pass any tests; he thought Honor would stay a farmer. Honor knew that the only thing keeping him afloat was hope. His father clearly knew this and didn't have faith in him.

"I'll get going now," He said. It was better to get his humiliation over with. His dad could sense the change of voice, but he didn't know why or what to do about it.

"Well... good luck," he said awkwardly but with good intentions. Honor gave a little half-shrug, still too sour to forgive his dad.

***

Honor walked out of his crude house. The path in front of him was rocky and unkempt. Any road-workers from the castle wouldn't venture this far for their minimal pay. It just wasn't worth it. As a result, it would take quite a long time to traverse and to catch up with the rest of the villagers who had gone before him.

He sighed for the first time that day; he realized it was a grossly overused habit. Without even realizing it, he sighed again. That was the indicator that he had to stop sighing, but even the thought of not sighing made him want to sigh. He sighed.

Rolling up his pants and retying his boots, he quickly began to stretch. After all, if he pulled a muscle, it would take even longer to catch up with the villagers.

He looked at the sun and saw that it was reaching its apex. He sighed, wondering why his dad had let him sleep for so long. The sun was bright, and he had to look down after not even a second. It would be a hot day; all the worse for his situation. Honor sighed.

***

After running for some time, he looked around. He had stopped at the fringe of a forest, and he could hear birds and a creek nearby. He tugged his canteen off of his belt and sloshed it around. It was less than a centimeter full. He unstoppered it, drank the small amount left, and headed into the forest.

He went by sound, the creek steadily gaining in intensity, until at last he reached a meadow. The creek water looked pure and ran quickly, so he assumed it was safe drinking water and filled up his canteen.

He knew he had wasted precious time, but in the long run, it would help him. After all, he had no idea when he would next see a safe water source. He left the gnarly forest and headed off. He started running.