The King of Coal (A Dartron Fan Fiction)

Chapter One- The Crown

Dar sat in the court room, waiting for his father. The chair Dar sat in was much too large for the tiny boy.

"What have I done now?" He asked himself, trying to remember if he had pranked the maids again, or set something on fire. Dar quivered at the very thought of receiving his father's wrath.

Though he had been waiting for his father for what seemed an eternity, he was not in the least bit bored. No, stress has a way of taking over your mind, to say the least.

Dar tried to get his mind off his stress by studying the court room. The walls were of quarts harvested of the nether, gleaming in the morning sun. Paintings of fine mastery hung in array.

The floors were of redstone; a shade of deep blood.

And the ceiling, oh, the ceiling.

It was constructed of coal blocks.

The night colored ore made up the ceiling as if it were a swallowing portal, ready to lift him from his very chair and suck him into an unknown dimension.

"Ug. Coal." He thought. With the empty feeling it gives him, and being his least favorite color, you could say he was not fond of coal.

Plus he hated it when his brother threw lumps of it at his head.

After taking in the room around him, Dar then remembered why he was in the court room in the first place.

Sweat began to roll down his forehead.

He was not in the mood for a switch.

The painstaking waiting ended with the slam of the iron doors behind him.

The king had arrived.

Dar locked his eyes on his father as he strode to his place on the emerald throne.

Dar gulped.

"I didn't do it." He bluntly denied.

The king had a small smile on the curves of his lips, and shook his head. Something that started to become a rare occurrence when Dar was born.

"Son, you have done nothing wrong." At this, Dar let out all his air in a sigh of relief, and slowly sunk lower into his chair.

King Iron's face turned stern.

"Sit up straight, Dar. I will have none of this from you." Dar shot up like a rocket. Though he loves getting into mischief, he certainly listens to his father when he's around.

"Thank you." King Iron said. Dar focused on the king as he his reached up to his head, and slid his crown off the top of his head. Dar's father held the crown in front of him. The gold was cool and slippery in between his fingers. The king looked into his eyes in the reflection of himself in the iron facet in the middle of his crown. King Iron could see the tiredness, aging in his face.

He looked back up at his son, and placed the crown back on the top of his head.

"I asked you to come here today because I have something very serious to discuss with you." King Iron said, pushing himself up from his thrown. He walked down the steps to the redstone floor. He strode along the wall, looking up at the paintings.

Dar stared into his father's eyes, anxious to hear what next he had to say.

King Iron turned, and stared at his son in the eyes.

"Your brother is not going to become king."

Dar's heart stopped.

"You are."

Dar's eyes dilated, and his mouth became a tiny O.

"What?"

"Your older brother Saul is engaged to the princess of the Cave Kingdom, our brother kingdom. When they both come of age, they will be married, and Saul will become king of the caves. That leaves you as my only son to take my throne."

Dar tilted his head. "Why is he becoming king? Instead of the princess becoming queen of this kingdom?"

"The Cave Kingdom's current king does not have a son to take his crown. They need Saul to be their king. The reason you're not marrying the princess is because she is much older than you. She's almost Saul's age."

Dar jumped out of his seat. "I'm becoming king?" He said, pointing to himself.

"When you come of age, dear boy! Your old man is not dying anytime soon! You'll take your training 'til you come of age at twenty one."

"Training? What training?!"

"You will be spending everyday taking classes to become a king, just like your brother does. You're going to walk like a king, and you're going to talk like a king. You'll learn what to do when you rule and how to do it." The king laughed. "Much less time for you to get into trouble and making me age faster."

King Iron walked over to his son and got on one knee. He put both his hands on Dar's shoulders.

"You're going to have your name changed, too."

"What. Why?"

The king smiled. "It's a tradition in the Diamond Kingdom to have your named changed to a valuable ore."

Dar's face lit up. Would he be named Diamond after the first king of the Diamond Kingdom, meant to protect? Emeralds like the second king, meaning a worthy ruler? Or Iron, like his father, always ready to take into battle?

"What valuable ore will I be named after?"

"Coal."

"Coal?"

"King Coal the First."

Dar's heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. His face sank. What value is in that?

King Iron laughed. "Don't worry." He plucked his crown off his head and placed it on his son's head. "You'll get used to it."

The gold and iron crown fell down to Dar's ears.

The king chuckled at his son. "Ha ha! Ah lad!" He messed up his son's pumpkin orange hair. "My little King Coal."

King Iron got up, and left his son in the court room alone.

Dar slowly pulled the crown off of his head, and held it to his face. The six year old studied his reflection in the iron and gold.

"King?" He gulped.