The Limbless King - by Kemono Kirito

In a dazzling land, clear with beauty, stood a glistening castle of the purest of white. With an incandescent radiance that was reminiscent of a whit flame, the castle stood at the far ends of the kingdom. This kingdom with such a brilliant castle and prosperous land, was called Elarion. In this kingdom of Elarion, everyone was happy and always satisfied with their lives. This kingdom knew not what the slums were; it had plebians however, and they were loyal to the king. The land's prosperity, made it's king, the royalty and the peasants, jump with joy at every harvest. The peasants started to idolize their king- long live king Gibson Elarion! long live king Gibson Elarion! They continued to chant with every prosperous day that went by, little did this poor king know that faithful subjects would be the very ones to devour him. King Gibson Elarion I, was a very benevolent man; loyal to his subjects to the very soul. His every move was calculated, precisely to any way and in every way, benefit his people. Enlarging the living quarters, providing lands for cultivation- he would even go as far as to give his people riches from the kingdom's vaults. His kindness was already bordering on the line of lunacy, but he never cared and just presses on. One faithful day he decided to come down from his Palace chambers, to see the beautiful faces of the people who he was the benefactor of, however, fate had it's own plans to teach this king a lesson, he wouldn't be given a chance to forget.Moving through the streets of his kingdom he could see the happy faces of all those he had worked so hard for, and it warmed his heart- he felt like a man who was so parched and seeking a glass of water was given a bottle of water as a present, it was an ecstatic feeling he wouldn't be able to forget. He started pondering about what more he could do to earn the gratitude of his people as he moved further into the life the commoners he had rule over. Suddenly, a little boy dressed in rags came running over to him, he was baffled by the appearance of such a haggard boy, in this kingdom that glistened with the finest of gold. The little boy, with a grime and snort stricken face asked the king for alms; the king was even more perplexed by how one of his subjects spoke about not having the finance he so painstakingly increased for them. However, feeling pity for the boy, the king took off his fur coat and gave it to the boy telling to sell it, the boy happily snatched it away and took off without even uttering a word of thanks. The king felt saddened by this but continued on his way. But surprisingly, this act began repeating itself, in different and absurd ways. When this little boy left, two grown men approached the king looking tattered for the same reason as the boy, next it was a lady and a child, soon a man bumped into the king, after he left, the king could no longer find his purse. Each time a set of people left, they would always go in the same direction, and more 'poor' people would come back looking nore haggard making the whole event look comical. The king had already noticed this detail but chose to ignore it, as his heart bled seeing how tattered his subjects looked. The same occurrence continued until the king was stripped down to his undergarments, however he wasn't in the slightest bit shamed, he instead felt prideful and happy to be of help to his subjects. Soon after, another haggard peasant approached the king. The king told the 'poor' man that he had no other riches to give out, however, as he saw the solemn look on the face of the man, his heart sank and he decided to give everything away. The king plucked out his right leg and told the man sell, saying that a king's leg would fetch a good price for him. The 'poor' man immediately snatched the leg out of the king's arms with a depraved look in his eyes and ran away, not uttering a single word of gratitude. The felt his spirit decreasing but decided to not mind, however, he felt like he had his enough of his 'loyal' subjects and decided to go back to his castle. He started hopping on his remaining foot and trying to get home, however, he heard footsteps, multiple footsteps. Looking back he saw four men and four women in trash clothes running after him and screaming at the top of their lungs... "ALMS!" The king seeing this, lost the strength in his only leg and collapsed to the ground. The hungry ground of money lovers, devoured him with their numbers. Left with nothing else that could be taken or considered valuable, the crowd finally deserted their king. The king left with no more limbs, began crawling on his jaw. He moved and moved, and finally got to his palace. Once he got to his Palace, he was carried in by one of his guards, but not before having his heart stolen by this guard. Left with nothing else, the king lay silently in his chambers. Even after all the unfortunate events that faced the king, he was still as happy and as cheerful as ever, though he could no longer speak, to express his joy. The king laying ever-so-still on his bed, waited patiently for everyone who had taken from him, to come bursting through the Palace gates to express their gratitude, but what kept on greeting him instead was unbearable silent. The clocks went ticktock, the wind continued to caress the room, but it was never able to lift out the foul stench of grief and despair that the king was permeating in his chambers. Days passed by; days became nights,and nights became days but there was no sign of a soul of gratitude.As the king spent his last moments in his bed chambers, he started to realize that his people never really loved him, he started to understand that all his life and his efforts had been for naught. Realizing this, he was furious, his heart that no longer belonged to him was ablaze with pain and rage; he hadn't the slightest idea of who or what his rage was directed at, but he was furious. More than that, he was sad- sad that all his devotion was for nothing, sad that no one would ever thank him, sad that he would be alone forever and beyond that. Even at his final moments, he had no one by his side, because he had no voice anymore, even if he Did have his voice, he doubted that anyone would choose to be by his side; alone and taciturn, he could only shed tears silently, no one to console him, as similar thoughts ravaged his mind, and the gloom of the room Ultimately took him far far away. That was the tragic end of the great king Gibson Elarion I, of the prosperous Elarion kingdom. Maybe the Elarion kingdom wasn't so dazzling after all. Here a little question for anyone who has read or listened to this. Was the king foolish? Was his way wrong? Do you have a better way to rule? And finally did the king deserve to die?

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