Set In Stone?

Chapter One

Once upon a time, there was a boy locked away in a tower. The tower was guarded by a ferocious beast; a dragon who destroyed anyone that came within the tower's limits.

The boy was to be stuck there until his savior- a knight in shining armor- battled the dragon and saved the boy. Once taken back to his kingdom, the boy would marry the knight; who turned out to be a prince, and live happily ever after ruling over Krystallin.

Of course, the tale didn't specify when the knight would come.

And eventually, the boy got tired of waiting.

One day, he scaled down the tower wall and fled into the night.

No one knows how he got past the dragon. Some say he slew it, others say there was never a dragon in the first place. But despite all the theories and excuses, the reality stays the same.

The boy was not there when the prince arrived.

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"Alright everyone, say goodbye to Roman."

Roman grinned as a stampede of kids ran up and squeezed his lower torso. A chorus of goodbyes echoed through the house as Roman managed to hug all the littluns who wanted one; an impressive feat to accomplish when in the middle of a juvenile-created moshpit. 

As he made his way to the front door, weaving through entanglements of arms and other bodily assortments, he bid farewell to his mother. 

—

Krystallin wasn't big by any means, but that didn't stop Roman from knowing nearly no one there. Sure, he knew the parents of the kids who were dropped off at his Mama's daycare. He had a couple of chats with them— mostly about the struggle of parenthood from sleep-deprived adults who would never forgive themselves if their precious "angels" were to hear any of the gossips they tell to strangers such as himself. 

But other than that he only knew a select few at school. A quarter of those people were his friends and the rest were people whose names he picked up in passing.

Oh yeah- and Peter, the baker's boy, (although he's mostly known as "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" because last October he ate an entire pumpkin— stalk and all— and then threw up in a fourth grader's trick-or-treating bucket) but everyone knew him. 

Sometimes Roman worried about what he would do once school was over. It was a reasonable thought, what with being a senior and having less than a month left of it. 

College wasn't an option. Those were for important people; ones who had lives to save and problems to solve. All Roman had to do was shovel out poop from horse's hooves and the rest of the stables. 

Most people felt relieved that they had their whole life planned out for them. It takes away the pressure of figuring out what to be and who to love. Even those who got shitty jobs seemed to prefer them over the unknown.

But not Roman. What's the point of living as a cog in a machine that nobody seems to know why it exists? And why doesn't anyone question it? And by anyone, he means people other than those assigned to figure it out.

Roman wanted more. He wanted to wake up not knowing what was in store for him. He wanted to not know why he was getting up, or if his actions would set anything important in motion. He wanted to be more than just some stable boy. One who lives, then dies, then gets replaced.

One time, he read a book about people who didn't have roles. They got to write their own story. Be their own person. And at that moment, Roman had never wanted so badly to be in another world. 

Well, to some extent, they didn't like "gay" people there. Roman wasn't quite sure what that meant, but it didn't sound good. 

But that was beside the point; Roman wanted to be free.

And sometimes… 

All the time.

It felt like he was the only one.