The story of King Rik - Chapter 1: The arrival (part 1) () - Gamaker

Prologue
As you read this it will probably mean you somehow found my diary, or stole it from my dead body, which I don't really mind cause I'm dead anyway and wont be able to read it myself. Or you're just reading a copy of my dairy that has been written by the hands of someone else who probably sold it to anyone willing to buy, the bloody bastard.

Let me first introduce myself, my name is David. No second, third or last name, just David. Cause in a world such as this one there is no need for more names than one. I grew up in a small town called Littleton just south of the great ocean. Off course the great ocean wasn't always called the great ocean, but the real name slowly drifted away into oblivious as time passed. My mom was a kind mom, and my dad a hard working fellow. My dad was a lumberjack, and was always doing overtime. Nobody knew why someone wanted to chop wood in the dark, but my dad used to say it satisfied him looking at the cracks in *ahem* the wood. He also said that I would understand what it meant when I was older. I still don't. Anyway my dad died when I was 18 after a tragic hot-air balloon accident. I was pretty devastated by it and my mom told my I had to get my mind off things. So I decided to become a traveller, living off anything I would find and selling items I would find on my travels.

Right after I decided this I packed a few of my most important belongings: My watch, a picture of my mom and dad together (before he was horribly mangled by the accident and we had to kill him for his own good), my knife, a handkerchief which was given to me by my girlfriend and off course my sunglasses. I broke up with my girlfriend, stole her horse and I rode off into the great wide world. Actually the world isn't that big as they say it is, at this moment I have seen most of the world and I can assure you that it is rather medium sized, not too big but definitely not too small. But at that moment I believed the world was a pretty big place and for me to explore.


Chapter 1: The arrival
After four years of adventuring and wandering throughout the world, I had already been to places no one has ever seen or even heard of. I had slain beasts for gold, had gone on quests for the treasure and I had worked in al sorts of farms, towns and big city's for money. I had done almost any job imaginable, from soldier in some national army to errand boy. And now I found myself at the foot of a mountain and was once again broke. I figured that if I would climb the mountain I would sure enough spot a farm or village that I could work for. So began to climb the mountain, I lost all my precious belongings over the years, thus no extra weight to carry for this big climb. Unfortunately I also lost my girlfriends horse, which I sincerely wanted to return to her once I got back. But it accidentally fell into a blast furnace and never came out alive again. Oh well, I had been walking for over two years now and so far everything had gone pretty well. No need to worry about this little climb. The weather was good th
at day and it stayed that way for the whole five days I needed to work my way up to the top of the mountain. I had food with me for almost ten days so I had plenty of that too.

On the fifth day after these few intense days of climbing, I was looking for some bushes to pee in. (I don't really know why, but this is an annoying habit which I couldn't seem to get rid of. If I have to go I will look for bushes, even when there is no one around.) When I suddenly stumbled on a huge antenna, which was concealed by trees. I walked around it to see if there was anything connected to it. Finally I spotted a small cottage not very far from the base of the antenna. I walked over to that little house and knocked on the door. Maybe I'd found a place where I could earn some money already. Some time later the door opened. In the doorway stood a man with red hair and freckles, who looked as if he hadn't seen daylight in days. He blinked against the bright sun and inspected me for a few seconds.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"Well hello, my name is David. I was wondering if I could spend the night here. That rather than sleep under the stars again." I smiled.

"Errrm", he stumbled while moving a little uneasy, he was surprised by my sudden request and by the look on his face I could tell that he was looking for a way to gently say no.

"I don't think there is any room in here for you to sleep, but do come in." And he stepped aside to let me in his small living room. The room was dark and full of beaming monitors, computers and other technical devices I had never seen before in my life. All the curtains where drawn and it looked as if it wasn't cleaned in weeks.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked from which appeared to be his kitchen, but looked more like a table with a few pots on it. A few minutes later he sat down at his table with two little cups of tea in front of him. I sat down at the other end.

"I was planning to take a break anyway; I haven't drunk anything in a few hours or so anyway. I haven't even introduced myself yet" he said "I am Jaron" and he held out his hand, which I shook.

"I am sorry I can't offer you anything else then this, but as you can see I don't have much food in here. My meals are delivered every morning and evening in exchange for my work here."

"So what exactly is it that you do all the way up here?" I asked

"Well, I am the administrator of the wireless network of The Kingdom of King Rik and The Land of President Arvidius. All digital information comes past this point, which I distribute over the two lands via that big antenna you can see outside. And I also protect those two from each other and outsiders."

"All by yourself? And from what are you protecting them anyway? It's not like you can hold out invading army's all by yourself."

"I'm giving each individual just as much information as he or she needs, not more not less. I protect them from themselves, the outside world and the other way around."

"Ah I see, that is probably why I never heard of those two places."

"Precisely that is my job. Anyway if you are looking for a place to sleep I suggest you ask my little brother, king Rik, for a room at his castle. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to lend you one."

"Your brother is a King?! Then why aren't you at his castle, getting royal treatments and all? Are you in exile or something?"

"No no no, it's just that I'm not that much of a social person, I prefer computers." He was vaguely pointing at al his computers at the other side of the room.

"My brother sends me three meals a day and President Arvidius provides me with the newest gadgets and latest computers. This is what I do and what I want to do. Now that you mention it," I couldn't remember me mentioning anything like that. "You're my first visitor in months. Anyway I've got to get to work again."

He emptied his cup and waited till I finished mine. Then he walked over to the door and escorted me outside. We walked to the edge of the mountain and he pointed.

"There to the south-east lays the kingdom of my brother and to the south west the Land of President Arvidius."

The directions he pointed where mere guesses, because it was way too clouded to even see the base of the mountain. But I had no reason not to believe him. We walked over to a little field with a strange device in the middle of it. It looked like a small metal pole with a few colored buttons on top. Jaron pushed a button and within seconds a glass elevator popped up from under the grass with a loud bang. From the shock I fell over to the ground. He pretended not to notice me and pushed another button which made the see-through doors slide open. He pulled me up from the ground and gently pushed me into the elevator.

"Thank you for the tea and ..." But before I could finish my sentence the doors had already closed. He vaguely smiled and waved at me. I waved back, but he pushed another button and the elevator shot down. Nearly launching me to the ceiling. Within minutes I was at the base of the mountain and the doors opened. I stepped out feeling I had to puke. I looked around and saw I ended up in a rather small tunnel with electric lights on the ceiling. On my right I saw a big blue hatch and when I approached it I noticed the words 'Puke Here'. Relieved by this invitation I opened the hatch and did what I had to do. A few minutes later I felt okay again and I started walking. After a rather boring fifteen minutes the tunnel divided into two other tunnels. A sign hanging from the ceiling said: 'Left to the Kingdom of Sub, Right to the Republic of Arvidius.' It was kind of hard to see with the dimmed light, but beneath that there were two other lines scribbled: 'Don't go Left' and under that it said: 'Don't go right either'. I went left. The tunnel looked the same as the one before, but after another half an hour I found myself at the end of the tunnel and at the other side of the mountain. In front of me great green plains stretched with a few farms and little cottages. There was a small sign just outside the castle. It said: 'Welcome visitors, welcome to the kingdom of SuB, the great kingdom ruled by our great ruler king Rik. We hope you enjoy our stay'. "Enjoy our stay?" I said to myself "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" So I ignored the sign and started walking. After some time a big castle loomed up in front of me as I walked forward. Suddenly I heard a small voice saying hello in a strange German accent coming from below. I looked down and saw a cute looking little pink bunny standing before me.

"You are going to the castle, ja?" it asked in the same stupid German accent.

"Uhm, yes, as a matter of fact I am." I replied, a little startled, because I was talking to a pink bunny with a German accent.

"Alright, I will tell them", it said, "I'll be back!" And it took off.

I was sure this had to be the strangest day of my life. I continued my walk and came closer and closer to the castle. The castle itself was pretty awkward too; it had almost every kind of architectural style imaginable in it. I counted five floors with on each floor a different set of windows. Some looked like those of airplane windows and some like medieval ones. It had additions on the strangest places and little towers coming out of the roof almost randomly. A big castle moat surrounded the castle that separated it from the rest of the kingdom. On the right it had a little independent tower just outside the castle walls; it looked like a stable with a house built on top of it. It seemed like someone was actually living there too. I crossed the drawbridge and was at this point facing the huge gate that was the entrance to this strange castle. There was a little device attached on the gate it displayed the text:

'Do you want to:
Nr 1: ring the doorbell
Nr 2: knock
Nr 3: shout?'


I pressed the second button and in response it displayed: "Then please knock on the door." I could have come up with this myself without wasting my time on this utterly stupid machine. So I knocked. After a minute or so a rather small man opened the door. He had half long brown hair, green-brown eyes and a thin face. He was wearing a long grey robe and black gloves with no fingertips. He smiled at me and looked rather happy to see me.

"Welcome!" he said very cheerful "You must be David, Jaron sent me a message you were coming and Hans told me you were nearby. You covered that distance pretty fast."

"Hans?" I asked "I didn't meet any Hans."

"Yes you did, the little pink rabbit. He's still in training."

"Right" I thought "well that does explain the German accent."

"But no need to stand outside all day. Please come in and wipe your feet please if you do."

I stepped inside. The ground was very soft and bouncy and I started to wipe my feet. Underneath me I heard a muffled 'hmpf'.

"Would you mind stepping a bit to the left, you're crushing my balls."

I looked down and saw a man laying on the ground with 'Welcome' tattooed across his chest. I was indeed standing on his jeans where his balls should be located with my right foot. I apologized and placed my right foot on his stomach.

"Thank you" he said and smiled "And may I welcome you to the castle of king Rik. I am Lex your royal door-mat." And he held out his hand which I shook.

"Errm, yes well, nice to meet you Lex, I am David." And I stepped off of him, feeling a bit uneasy about the fact I just wiped my feet on someone's body.

"Well now that you have met Lex, let me introduce myself." Said the short man who just opened the door. "I am Stephan, the king's personal advisor." And he made a gracious bow.

"But let us now be held up no longer, the king wishes to meet you."

"What? He wants to see me?" This had to be the strangest thing that happened to me that day. On all my travels no king or any kind of leader has ever wanted to meet me on my arrival.

"And why wouldn't he want to meet you? Such a fine young lad as yourself. You want to meet the king now, don't you?"

"Yes, off course"

"Well then, isn't it nice to know that the king wants to see you too? But come on then, no need to let the king wait. There is always time to chat later. Hurry up!"

I followed the advisor through the great hall and up the first stairs, then through a few stone corridors past half a dozen of doors until we reached the second stairs. Unlike other 'normal' castles the stairs weren't above each other but seem to be in a complete different part of the castle on each floor. I came past a lot of doors, some opened some closed, but like the windows thy seemed to be built in a complete different style on every floor. I saw a few people, all being extremely busy and going in every direction not noticing me. Suddenly the advisor stopped and turned around.

"How do you like the castle so far? You haven't seen much of it yet though, but all in time." Then as suddenly as he stopped he turned around and started moving again, not even waiting for an answer from me. I guessed he didn't have the time for it. On the fourth floor he started to speed up and disappeared around a corner, I speeded up too, not wanted to be left behind. Right after I turned around the corner I crashed into Stephan.

"Why did we stop, sir?" I asked, regaining my balance. When I looked at him I noticed he was suddenly wearing glasses, though I was pretty sure he wasn't just a minute ago.

"Where were we going again?" he asked a little surprised.

"Errm, we were going to see the king, I think." I said, not sure of anything anymore.

"Oh right" he said, pointing his finger in the air as if he just found the answer to everything. "I knew that, but let us go then. To the throne room! We mustn't let king Rik wait, come on lad!" And he started to move again. I followed him still wondering about the appearing glasses part. Maybe I should just ask him later. I had to think about what to say to the king first.

Finally we reached the fifth floor. We came to a halt at a big wooden door which strangely had a piano keyboard attached to it. The advisor tucked up his sleeves and played a small melodic tune. The door swung open and behind it lay a huge chamber. I blinked my eyes against the bright light that was spread into the dark corridor behind me. Dozens of torches were burning on the walls and big diamond chandeliers were sparkling from the ceiling. The room was beautiful, but this was no throne room as one was supposed to be. There was a large table on the right with four people sitting at it and several doors in the walls. A big red carpet strolled from the door across the room and ended at two big glass slide doors.

'Right! That was it!' I thought, 'this room had no throne. And no king too.'

This was a throne room without a throne in the room. The advisor walked over to the table, leaving me standing in the doorway. He signed I had to follow him, so I did. At the table were sitting three men and a woman. One leaned back relaxed with his sneakers on the table. The other two men were in discussion and the woman was writing. Stephan walked over to the man who was leaning back at the head of the table. He had spiked brown hair and although he didn't look very old he had a small beard. He was wearing a bright red robe, and well... sneakers. He stared somewhat dreamily into oblivion and hummed a slow melody of some sort.

"Your majesty", the advisor said, deeply bowing before the man, "I have brought the traveler."

I couldn't believe my ears, this man who looked like some sportsman right before a friendly match, a farmer who had a day off or my dad after he'd come home from work, but certainly no king! The man who was supposed to be the king opened his mouth to reply, but the man on his left was slightly faster in replying.

"Yo Stephan, what's with the bowing all the time? It's not like Rik is of any importance or anything. And what's with that idiotic piano on the door? It has a goddamn doorknob to open it. I already have enough dumb things on my mind without that stupid jingle of yours. Idiots!" The man looked awfully annoyed and picked up his conversation again with the blond man on the other side of the table. Finally the king spoke:

"My dear Sneek (he pronounced it as snake, but I later learned that it was written this way), I'm sure I have to be of any importance being king and all. And please show just a little bit of respect to Stephan, he is after al the great advisor and that is a high function at this castle. So would you mind being a little less rude against him?"

"Rude?" the man on the left interrupted him "I'm not being rude at all, I'm just pointing out the facts, now take that sucker over there, staring at us with his mouth wide open all the time. Now that I call rude!"

I realized he was pointing at me and that in fact my mouth was hanging wide open and I was indeed staring at them the whole time. Quickly I closed it and took a casual pose, which was very painful to my back so actually wasn't very casual at all.

"Ah yes, our traveler!" the king said. He seemed to have forgotten the other comments the man made and was looking at me now. "How nice to meet you, your name is David if I'm not mistaken. My brother sent me an email that you were coming. I am king Rik, ruler of the kingdom of SuB." He graciously bowed and threw an hourglass over his shoulder.

"I am honored to meet you, your majesty. And thankful that you could meet me on such short notice." I said and made a small bow.

I wanted to make some nice comments about how good he looked as a king, but instead I just blurted out all sorts of questions.

"If you're a king, how come you're not wearing any crown or something? And why did you just bow to me? And how come there is no throne in this throne room? And why do you have a man as a door-mat? And why does this castle looks so strange? And most of all, why did you just throw an hourglass over your shoulder?"

"Yes I will answer all your questions in the order they were asked" the king smiled, "To begin with the first one, about the... the... Errrrm"

"The crown" the women said, not even looking up from the paper in front of her.

"Ah yes, the crown, thank you Tessa. Well, just look at me, my hair is already looking very crownish. So no need for me to wear another one on top that, now is there? And about the second question..."

"The bowing"

"Ah well, and why wouldn't I bow to you? It is to show you my respect as one person to another. And..."

"Throne"

"Oh right, well we once had a throne in this room, but it had such a dull view. I mean imagine sitting on a throne all day staring at nothing, which is way too boring for a king. So had it installed in front of the TV in a room next to this one. And about..."

"The door-mat"

"Yes, Lex, well he kind of requested that function himself. And he is rather good at it I must say. But it's not like he is laying there all day, only when someone knocks on the door, the rest of the day he is in his room making toys. And for the..."

"The castle"

"Oh yes, the castle, don't you like it? It is designed by me, my wife and Stephan. It took a few years to build it, but I'm rather fond of it. It never gets dull. And for the hourglass..."

For the first time the woman called Tessa looked up from her paper, looking really surprised.

"Yes, Tessa, this one I remembered myself." The king smiled. "Well that was for no particular reason. I just happened to have an hourglass in my hand. And as I had no actual use for it I threw it away."

"Right" I said "That explains it all." At this point I was convinced this king was a total nutcase. "But the reason why I'm here your majesty, was to ask if I could spend the night here and maybe even if I could work here for a little while for money."

"But off course you can!" the king said cheerfully "You can stay here as long as you like, Stephan will make sure a room will be made ready for you. How does a room on the second floor sound?"

"Uhm, that sounds great sir" I said and made a little bow.

The man called Sneek whispered something to the blond man on the other side of the table and they started to chuckle.

"Yes, and as for work, how does Thirty silver pieces a month sound, for whatever it is you're going to do."

I almost choked, "H-h-how much?!"

"Thirty silver pieces, yes that should be good to start with. Stephan will give you a tour round the castle and show you your room. Let us talk about your job over dinner shall we."

"Thank you, your highness, you're too kind."

"I know..." the king said with a big grin and started laughing.

"Right" the advisor said who suddenly wasn't wearing his glasses anymore. I really started to wonder where they'd go or they came from. "As it now is my official task to show you around. Why not start here?" And he pointed at the table.

"Now this here" he pointed at the woman "is Tessa, she's the linguist of this castle, she checks all the kings' official letters and well, almost anything anyone writes around here. Most of the castle inhabitants are dyslexic." He walked over to the blond man on her left. "This here is the royal jester, Quincey." The jester suddenly jumped on the table and made a deep bow before me. "Your royal travelness" he said, looking very seriously though it sounded like he was mocking me. I didn't think he was very funny, but the man called Sneek started to chuckle again. The advisor walked over to the other side of the table and poked him. "And this is our one and only alchemist, Sneek. He is currently working on a secret formula of some sort."

"It is in fact so secret" the alchemist interrupted him, "that I'm currently figuring out which formula I'm working on. But I can guarantee you it will be the best one you've ever seen. And I am at the verge of a great breakthrough."

Now Quincey started to laugh. "Doesn't even know what the hell he's doing" he choked.

The alchemist grabbed the first bottle within his reach and threw it at Quincey's head. The bottle hit target and the jester fell over, continuing his laughter on the floor. Sneek seemed satisfied and grinned.

"Right..." Stephan said, turning to me "Let us continue our tour somewhere else..."

"Errrm, is it okay if I use the bathroom before we go?"

"Sure, no problem, take that door over there, go right, ignore the first two doors on the right and take the first door on your left."

I walked in the direction the advisor pointed and opened the door. I ignored the first door and continued walking. The second door however was opened. Inside was a room with a huge bed. On the bed sat a girl in a bright green dress. The moment she saw me she started to smile and wave. I blushed and wanted to say something.

"Errrrm, is this the way to the bathroom, miss?"

It's the most stupid thing to say, but it came out before I could think of something better. The girl pretended not to hear me, or was in fact deaf. She continued to smile and wave, so I continued my search. I opened the door to the bathroom and sat down.

"Aww goddamnit, my eye! You're supposed to shout before you shit! I just washed my hair!"

It scared the hell out of me, so I hurried back to the throne room. Only Quincey and Sneek were left in the room and in conversation again. I walked over to the table again and sat down to catch my breath.

"Had fun?" the jester asked.

"Errrr, well no, not really" I replied. "Who is that lady in the green dress? Is she deaf?"

"Well let me guess", the alchemist said "You tried to talk to her and she didn't stop waving at you? No, she's not deaf; she was just unfortunate enough to be born without a brain. That my friend, was the queen, Marinel. The king and the advisor made a job description for everyone in their kingdom, but the only thing they could think of with the queen was 'Look pretty and Wave'. Luckily for us our queen is very keen on doing her job right. But outside working hours she's pretty much normal." He sighed. "The idiots!"

It didn't even sounded that strange, considering everything I had seen and heard today.

"And is very it strange if I said that the toilet shouted I had to yell before doing anything?"

Both started to laugh.

"Did you take a dump?" Sneek asked.

"Well yes, but..."

"Was it a male or female voice?" He asked.

"A male I think, but can someone tell me..."

"I hope you wasn't on diarrhoea" the jester joked.

Both roared with laughter.

"No, I was just..."

"Did it... did it say anything specific?" Sneek asked

"Well, something about its eye and that it just washed its hair."

Now Quincey was practically laying under the table and Sneek looked like he was about to burst. I still wished someone could explain me what was going. I didn't found this amusing at all. They were both crying of laughter. "In his eye" The alchemist almost choked. "has to wash... wash his hair again."

I felt like walking away, but then again I wouldn't know where to go in this castle. So I waited for a small ten minutes until they both calmed down.

"Can you maybe tell me why you have a talking toilet?"

"No kid, no talking toilets." Sneek said "You have just met the crappiest thing about this whole damn castle."

"hehe, crappiest..." Quincey giggled.

"The sewer system here is unlike any other you've ever seen. In other systems, you take a dump and when you're done you flush, right?" Sneek asked "Well not here, here again the king and the advisor had to come up with something else. They've built every toilet on every floor precisely above one another. And realize that everything goes down, you can figure that out yourself. The idiots!"

"Yes, you're lucky you got introduced to it on the top floor." Quincey said "The lower the floor you live the shittier you have it."

"So I'm on the second floor, which means..."

"You're in big shit." The alchemist chuckled. "But hey, at least you'll get no bullshit here at this castle."

"Only ours." The jester said, and they started to laugh again.

At that moment the advisor came in.

"Well, it looks like you three are having fun" he said "But come David; we have a long way to go. I believe you have already met our queen. She came telling the king she saw 'a stranger'."

"Ah, so she can speak." I thought.

"And you met the queen in the royal bedroom, so I won't have to show you that. So that means we're going to the room of the chambermaid next."

We walked through the closed door I saw on my way to the toilet into a wooden corridor. It looked like we were standing on a bridge that was hanging above a misty landscape.

"This part of the castle was specifically made for the chambermaid. After the queen insisted on having some company nearby."