Adakon

Chapter 1

Fourteen years ago today, time seemed to slow down. For a moment, some thought it had actually stopped. That was the birth night of the next heir to Adakon's throne, me. My name is Chronos. As in the greek god of time. Not the guy who was overthrown by Zeus after eating him. My family has a thing for choosing historical names. It's been that way for most of Adakon's history. We know what not paying attention to history and our past can do so we make sure we know our backgrounds, and what to look out for. We also honor this tradition by naming our children after people from history or mythology.

Also here in Adakon, the royal family have specific powers, which influence our names. My power is the power over time. I have an ability to stop time for a little bit, but I can only do it so often because it drains me so much. My father, Set, named after the Egyptian god of storms, has the power over storms, of course. He can't control the forecast if that is what you're thinking. He just makes small storms, small enough to harm or even kill his target. When he really needs to, he can call on a big storm and influence it over to where he is, but he can't just create it out of thin air like could with a small one.

We also as a royal family, have a special power, given to help protect the kingdom. We all are also able to have dreams, visions of dangers that lie ahead. Usually just the king would have them, but on rare occasions, one of the other members of the royal family has them.

As I have said, history is important to us. They start to drill our kingdom's history into our heads as soon as they possibly could. I don't even remember a time when I didn't have to have history classes every week. Honestly, I hate it, having to do this for my entire life. You know there is only so much history that you can learn before it catches up to the present and the history from here on out is what happened ten seconds ago. And even when that happens, they just repeat the whole timeline all over again. It got so boring that I started to sluff, and explore the town below.

My father used to take me down to town all the time, exploring the shops, talking with the people, but something happened and we stopped going. He became overwhelmed with meetings and other duties that a king must do. I would try to ask what is going on but he simply states that I wouldn't get it until I am king.

On my thirteenth birthday, while I was in the city, I decided to go to the Agalda town library. There I was looking for a book to read and chose the book titled "The World of Diamond." Little did I know it was actually a textbook about our early days, diamond referring to us being a utopian society. I brought it over to a table and sat down to read. I opened, saw the table of contents and realized what I had picked up and was about to close it when something caught my eye. It was just one word, a single word that peaked my curiosity. Erebus.

I had never heard of Erebus before. Whatever it was, it was definitely not in my textbooks back at the palace. I read about a lab scientist, the founder of our technology today. His power was his knowledge and how he used it to attack the royal palace, but it was his own electromagnetic technology that overthrew his plans. I was reading about his trial and how one of my ancestors condemned him to the mountains of Karoth, when I heard a voice.

"You aren't supposed to be looking at that," a quiet, but sharp voice said. I looked up. It was the librarian, a short female with classic glasses on the edge of her nose, complete with an attached chain around her head.

"Sorry," I replied, "I'll go put it back." I was on my way to stick it on the shelf and come back later to grab it when she intercepted me, holding out her hand.

"It is fine, but that book isn't even supposed to be here. It shouldn't exist."

"Why?" I asked, "What's so bad that it shouldn't exist? Nothing seemed dangerous. Most of it I already knew."

"Erebus is why." she replied, "Your great grandfather felt like his story was too dark, threatening the system of the utopia, so he banned it from all textbook and from anyone talking about it. All books concerning him, except the one specifically for the current king and queen, were supposed to be burned, but one managed somehow."

"Can I ask one question though? What ever happened to Erebus?" I asked, hoping for an answer.

"Well, you know so much already, I guess this little bit of info won't hurt," she quietly said. She spoke up, "He met his end, but his hatred lived on. The reason why he is called Erebus, is because he became pure darkness. And he still is out there, plotting his way into the kingdom."

The room fell silent. I slowly turned the book over to her, the words still ringing in my ears. I started to go when the librarian stopped me once more.

"Please keep this a secret. Something like this could get me imprisoned, since it is against the law."

I nodded. I walked out into the dimming daylight, and hurriedly walked back to the palace before dark. My orange home, dyed by the sun, loomed ahead, overlooking the town of Agalda.

I slipped into the palace, unseen by the guards. I arrived in my room just in time before my dad walked in. He had a stern look on his face. This was going to be a fun conversation.

"You have been missing your history classes," he said.

"So," I replied, "what's the point anyways. I learned all of it already. I know every little detail of history from the mesopotamian crescent to the the color of Hitler's shoes. Name anything and I can place it."

"You're missing the point. We have to learn from this-"

"I am. I have learned literally everything I can!" I said, a bit heated

"Apparently not, for if you have, you wouldn't have to be in school. We repeat classes until the student has learned the most important lesson of all. How to see patterns in enemies, tyrants and people. To lead a kingdom as large as ours, you must know what to look out for, what dangers lie ahead for not only you, but your people."

My father left the room, leaving me to think about what he said. I laid down on my bed and drifted off into the embrace of sleep.