The Dark King (Editing)

Chapter One

Present.
Ellie's POV

I was allowed to sleep in today. Do you want to know why? Well today is my eighteenth birthday, which comes with some benefits and disadvantages. One of the benefits is that I get to sleep in, I get a gift from my family, and I get to go to the centre town. Once a month there's a palace tour for the kids who turned eighteen in that month. An disadvantage is that my parents are trying to marry me off to some random man. Apparently I don't get any say in the matter, and every girl my age is going through the same thing.

I didn't want to get married, not yet. Maybe if I found someone I love in the centre, they'll wait on the whole marriage thing.

When I woke up the sun was already up. I smiled at the warm ray of sunshine that was on my skin. I got up from my uncomfortable hay bed, and ran my fingers through my long dark brown hair. I was so excited to leave for the centre town.

I changed my clothes to one of my nicer ones, today was the day I got to visit the palace. I was a little scared though. Our King, also known as the dark king, is the most terrifying man ever. He's cruel with no mercy, he kills and abuses people for fun. Just look at him wrong and you're getting executed for treason. When you turn eighteen a scroll, different than the weekly scroll, gets delivered at your home. It allows you to come to the centre town fro a tour of the palace and let you stay at their hotel. Sometimes people didn't go because they're too afraid of running into the king.

Another nickname for our king, is the frowning king. Our king has apparently never smiled in public since he was crowned king. I don't blame him though. Our enemy broke into Ursania and slaughtered his parents right in front of him. Or so I have heard. From what I hear, it seems best I don't run into the king.

I left my home once the horse carriage arrived. I waved goodbye to my loving parents who were worried about me being alone in our kingdoms capital. I made sure I had on my PIB (personal information band), you weren't allowed in without one. Our bands had our date of birth, our gender, and any other information. Since woman aren't allowed to choose who they marry, if a single mam takes a liking to you they can mark you as their own. It takes about a month to get another band that states you were taken.

I wasn't sure how long the ride was, but after what felt like forever, we finally got to the centre capital. There was so many buildings and people. I quickly thanked the man at the front of the carriage, and headed out into the crowd.

When I tried to walk towards the palace, but I kept getting pushed around. Fell on my butt a few times, these people are so rude. I probably would've said something if I wasn't in such awe about all the people that were in front of me. Eventually I pushed myself through the crowd and made it to the palace entrance. I showed my PIB and my scroll that says I'm here for the tour and should be here. He let me in after examining the scroll.

I looked at the palace, it was so beautiful. It was so big, I couldn't imagine what it looks like from the outside. It was the biggest building I've ever seen. Way bigger than my home. There were some towers so high that the birds had to avoid flying into them.

I walked in the palace to see a crowd of people my age waiting. I didn't know so many people would be at this tour; this made it ten times better. What if a meet a guy here and we get married? What if I make a friend- never mind. The last time I made a 'friend' he just abandoned me, never said anything.

I took a deep breathe and walked over to the crowd. There was so many types of people. Some girls were wearing these very pretty and big dresses that had little designs on it. I was envy of their clothes, and you could tell they had a lot of money. You could tell that some boys were rich too. They had the best shirts, pants, and shoes. Then there were people in less expensive clothes but still clothes better than my own. You could tell I was poorest there. I bet not too many kids of farmers go to this because they were afraid of the king. It makes sense though, if the king was going to torture anyone, it would be the poor people.