the heartless prince and the duck

Part 1

Life as a duck is pretty simple. There's not a lot to think about, not a lot to do, and not a lot to worry about. It really was the ideal life for your average slacker who craved freedom from the worries of humanity.

Not that a duck would have any concept of those worries or of any other potential existences outside of its own. Ducks swim, quack, eat, and oppose authority. There isn't anything else to it.

Unfortunately, this tiny little black duck that quacked along the lake with lazy contentment had a problem. There are some things that remain consistent about a soul no matter what reality a person winds up in. No matter which leg the trousers of time are threaded through, there is at least one or two consistencies an individual cannot carry over.

There is no reality in which the commander of the city watch causes harm to his wife. That is simply the sort of man he is.

Likewise, there is no reality in which this simple duck doesn't help those in need.

It started with curiosity.

The man who made his way to the lake each evening, looking just a bit dazed and out of sorts, sitting down at the shore and staring into the water. He was a strange man.

The duck didn't have a very consistent concept of humans but he was at least aware that people normally maintained the same general color scheme.

Sometimes the man would appear pale with blond hair at the edge of the lake, other times he'd be tan with dark hair.

His eyes were always consistently lonely and empty though, regardless of the color within.

The duck didn't really understand humans or why they might look lonely or sad, but he understood that the man needed help. He couldn't really grasp why in his tiny duck mind, it was that inerrant instinct inside of him that followed the soul through any reality or timeline.

So he swam to the shore to keep the man company, quacking gently to get his attention.

That's when things got strange.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP HIM, YOUNG DUCK?

The voice was distressing on a spiritual level. The duck reeled back, noting that the human looked unnaturally still.

As though frozen.

And the human definitely hadn't been the one to speak.

YOU REALLY ARE CAUTIOUS NO MATTER WHAT, AREN'T YOU?

And how exactly could the duck understand these words? The incongruences built up left a very confused and very distressed duck who was swiftly considering the options of swimming away.

...but... if he swam away the frozen human would be left defenseless. It wasn't really that the duck had any need to protect him but... well, it just felt irresponsible to swim away at the first sign of danger. There was no choice. He'd bite and squawk at the source of the voice until it went away.

He'd just have to figure out where it was coming from first.

YOU'RE SUCH A CONSISTENT PERSON. DON'T WORRY, YOUNG DUCK. I'M HERE TO ASSIST YOU. I'LL GIVE YOU THE POWER TO HELP THE PRINCE.

The duck, so far as ducks could think coherent thoughts, had a very firm conviction that he didn't need help from a suspicious ass voice coming from apparently nowhere. He'd find a way to help the 'prince' on his own without any need for some scam. Besides, from the sound of the voice, if he accepted, he got the feeling that his life would grow infinitesimally more complicated.

He treasured his simple duck life.

YOU REALLY NEVER CHANGE. IT'S ALRIGHT THOUGH, I PROMISE I'M ONLY DOING THIS TO HELP YOU. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I'M NOT YOUR ENEMY.

That was the other thing about the suspicious voice! How did it seem to be reading his thoughts without him uttering a single quack?

Highly suspicious.

The lake glowed beneath him without any regard for his rather consistent rejections.

CONSIDER THIS MY GIFT TO YOU, KIM ROK SOO.

Who the fuck is Kim Rok Soo?!

–

Roksu Kim shot up in bed, sweat trickling down his forehead and feeling more than a bit violated after that dream.

It wasn't the first dream he'd had of being a duck. It definitely wouldn't be the last.

It was still an unpleasant mystery as to why he had those dreams or why the Crown Prince of the Roan kingdom always played such a prominent role in them. It wasn't any of his business whether the perfect heir to the kingdom looked lonely or whatnot.

He was just your average servant in the palace. He didn't play any major roles, had no power, and had absolutely no desire to get to know the local royalty. As for that creepy voice who insisted it was a 'friend', Roksu only had ill feelings towards it.

It always bothered him that when he was a duck in the dreams, he had no memory of being human. It felt so natural to be a duck, as though he'd sincerely lived his entire life as one and never been a human to begin with.

Which was of course a ridiculous notion. He was an average orphan with an average turbulent childhood who had lucked into a position in the palace and did what he could to maintain the very little stability in his life.

One day he'd like to live like a duck though. No concerns, no work, nothing but slacking off for days and weeks at a time on the peaceful surface of the lake. It was a worthy retirement.

Roksu's feet swung over the edge of the bed, dismissing the strange thoughts and stranger dreams as though they never happened. He didn't really have time to bother with all of that.

Today would be just another forgettable day among so many other forgettable days.

Roksu, in the times to come, would come to regret not paying his strange dreams more of his attention. Mostly he would learn to truly resent the disembodied voice that curses him with humanity.

For now, he pulled back his shoulder length red hair into an up-and-down, preparing for the day as he wondered why exactly it felt so strange to look at his own reflection.

Theoretically he'd seen this same face reflected back at him his entire life. For the past twenty-two years he'd seen brown eyes, red hair, and a scrawny figure every time he prepared for the day.

Who could say why, for just a moment, the entire concept of mirrors seemed strange and he felt that he ought to be looking down into the ripples of a lake, seeing a large yellow beak and pitch black feathers.

Roksu, being a definite sort of person who didn't waste much thought on foolish strange feelings such as this, brushed it all aside as he left the servants quarters to begin his day.

And what a day it would be.