Acroama

Towards the end of the joyful summer the king died. As the funeral was being arranged the son would occasionally see his father's dead body. Every time, he was shocked by its lifelessness; the body and face so peaceful—so deafeningly quiet and still. It felt to him like looking at a painting, or a statue made out of stone or clay; something slightly other than human. The son had seen dead bodies before — but to see his father's felt so foreign. It did not seem like his father — yet he knew it was him.      The son cried. He cried so frequently that the muscles in his eyebrows and face ached, and his skull and temples throbbed with a dull headache throughout the day. When he would cry in the past it felt more like a choice, but this tragedy had crippled his fortitude—he could not control his emotions. Every time he thought of his father's goodness and the weight of this loss hit him, whether by himself or with others, he could not help but weep.       W...

The prince awoke in the back of a rickety cart. He was surrounded by plants and herbs that smelled strange. He quickly realized that he was being watched by a shrouded figure at the end of the cart. The face of this person was obscured from him. He first thought the figure was another pile of plants, given the dramatically rustic nature of the cloak.       The figure stood up at a surprising speed and said in a strange voice that seemed to both whisper and yell at the same time, the word, “Somnum!”      The prince immediately began to doze back out of consciousness — and as the world narrowed around him again, he could see that Helianna was lying next to him unconscious as well.  THE PRINCE WOKE IN a dark room. The same strange odor immediately filled his nostrils. The scent seemed to be coming from a pile of something burning in the corner of the round room he was in. Faint green embers glowed from the small pile.       Again ...

The prince laid quietly in his bed staring at the stars out the window across from him. Embers from his fireplace burned dimly in the dark room.      He had an exciting evening of sparring with father —regrettably his shoulder dislocated again. He was becoming very used to the pain his shoulder caused.      The shoulder was better now, yet he laid there in bed wide awake. He could see part of the sunflower silhouetted. The flower had been lying in the window seal for years now.       The prince carefully pulled open his covers and moved his legs to the floor — his feet curled as he touched the cold stones. He leaned over, grabbed a small bedside stool, and quickly tiptoed to the window. He placed the stool quietly on the floor beneath the window, and stepped up on it. The window seal met him at the bottom of his rib cage.       Pale moonlight lit the tiny space. He admired the sunflower's nuances with hands held behin...

The young prince breathed new life into the kingdom, and all fondly watched as he progressed through the early stages of childhood. The son loved his father, who would always help him prepare for sleep each night, and would often calm his fears by telling him the story of the seven sons; when the boy would do something well or wrong, the father would tell him stories of his elder brothers, Vivere and Emortuus. Despite the king’s older age, he remained gentle and dedicated as he trained his prince in the necessities of life. The king relied on the assistance of his house servants to help raise this special child. The young prince very early on became attached to the cook and his wife. The cook was a tall, caring, funny man — his wife was much shorter, quick, and very discerning. They played with the boy and taught the boy as if he was their own; the cook's wife was the servant who fed the child as a baby. The cooks loved and respected the king, and worked in unity with hi...

Once upon a time, there was a family. The family consisted of two very wise parents and seven sons. These seven sons were raised to be kind and gentle; helping tend to the several needs of the people they lived among.       Their mother taught them to be fair and respectful to each other as they learned to craft meals, clothing, and tools from raw materials. The sons were also raised to be strong and determined; they hunted regularly with their father and other men — becoming skilled with bows, arrows, and slings.       The boys learned humor and friendship as they fished together with their friends, from a nearby stream that flowed from a glacier at the top of a mountain. They assisted in repairing and building homes, digging wells, and planting crops. The family avoided contention in their home and within the community; however, the sons still learned how to defend themselves and those they loved.       The boys grew older an...