It was that time of the year when a new king had to be chosen to replace the aging King. Five youngsters handpicked by the Elf elders lay in front of the throne. Each representing the five elf tribes in the kingdom.
As we lay there, the seer walked over each of us ranting some incantations and applying a weird chilly substance on our long ears. I have never been present in such occasion, so everything was pretty strange to me.
-You may rise. The seer said.
I looked around and realized that every Royal family throughout the Elf kingdom was present, of course the commoners were not allowed to grace the occasion.
I was the only one who seems to be confused with the whole process, the other aspirants were of noble blood and they have obviously attended such occasions. I was the only commoner, because my tribe still believed in equity of all elves.
-Go home now, the seer continued In three days we shall announce the new king.
Other elves turned to leave, but I wasn't going to leave here with my confusion.
~Excuse me sire. What do we do in those three days? Do we have to come to the palace for some competition of some sort.
I asked in a loud voice, and to my greatest surprise, the crowd went into an uproar of laughter.
-Just go home young aspirant. When your evaluation starts, you will definitely know. One of the elders finally replied after having a good laugh.
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The night breeze felt strange tonight, My bed a lot more comfortable than usual. I opened my eyes and realized that I wasn't in my tiny dark room, everything around me was totally strange. It happened that I was on a large bed in a sort of forest. Then came an echoing voice from a winged creature.
-Take a minute and assimilate all you are seeing. After that, walk to the blue spot under the old cherry tree.
Honestly, I needed more than a minute to take in everything my eyes were seeing in that moment. I did as instructed, immediately I stepped foot on the blue spot, I was swept off my feet and teleported to a very familiar place, with certain people moving to and fro.
~Oh no! What am I doing here! I'm not supposed to reveal myself to humans.
Strangely, the humans couldn't see me. They went by their usual routine. I watched them live Luxuriously in their expensive civilized houses, I watched them do their work with so much ease with machines doing 85% of the work.
~Why am I here?
-There are so many reasons to make an elf want to become a human at all cost. Say the word and in this moment, you shall be transformed into a human. You will have a normal family, watch your children grow old, and die a peaceful death and say goodbye to the curse of living forever.
This words echoed loud and clear, leaving me in a state of confusion.
~If I become a human, I would never become the elf King and impose what I have planned for the progress of the kingdom.
-Think carefully young one. Are your people really worth the sacrifice of abandoning your greatest heart desire.
~It is a sacrifice I'm willing to make over and over.
Suddenly, the humans started disappearing one at a time, leaving me standing alone I'm the Forest.
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-Walk to the purple spot under the Iroko tree.
Once again, I did as instructed, this time I wasn't teleported. A mighty throne appeared in front of me with a red sceptre on it.
-I have seen that you are passionate about becoming the King, therefore I offer you this sceptre, in it lies the greatest powers ever endowned to an elf. Nobody has possessed such power since the days of Lord Enac centuries ago.
~I appreciate your gift, but I'm sorry I can not accept it. I'm too young to master such powers. My father always told me that if you posses a power greater than you, the power ends up possessing you and you will have no control of your actions.
-Once again I'll advice you to think carefully. You must understand that your opponents would be presented with such options and if they accept this power, you stand no chance against them.
~This is not the right way, I'll take my chances.
Again I was swept off my feet, this time I was taken to the past.
-Do you recognize this scenario? The voice asked
~Definitely, this is the home of my uncle and that is me when I was much younger.
-Do you remember the attrocities you committed on this day. If this is brought up when your screening begins, it disqualifies you from being King.
~It is a part of my life and nothing can be done about it.
-What if I told you that I can erase this part of your life, and no one would ever know that this happened.
~And live a life of lies, that is not a noble act.
-You are not from a noble family either. This is your opportunity to have a spotless past.
~Actually, I want this part of my life to be seen, this way the people will know that I have been in dire situations. If they see that I was able to repent from my attrocities, They will believe in my mission to ensure that no Elf ever has to be in such a situation.
-You are doomed to fail.
The voice echoed, then I found myself falling in space. I fell for some minutes then landed on a hard surface.
-Look around you, what do you see?
~I see Gold, and riches that probably belong to a god.
-All this wealth could be yours right now. With the time spent with you, it is obvious that you stand no change in becoming the King. You didn't accept the power to defeat your opponents and you have a skeleton in your past. This is your last chance to abandon your quest to become king and become the wealthiest Elf in the kingdom.
~I have never owned property worth 500 elf coin, and you offer me riches worth millions of elf coin. What are my supposed to do with all these wealth.
-Don't be a fool now. If you don't become king, you will go back to living as a poor commoner. With this wealth, you can still change the world.
~I'll have to decline, and take my chances at becoming King.
-I have never seen an elf like you.
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Those were the last words of the voice, I opened my eyes to see myself at the palace standing in front of the elders, next to me were two other aspirants. One of the elders spoke.
-Three days ago, we had 12 aspirants, it seems some of them have become humans and some of them accepted riches and we are left with the three of you."
I noticed that the two other aspirants had the red sceptre in their hands. The elder was still speaking when one of the aspirants rushed towards me pushing me to the ground.
"There's only one king and it is I. I'll be back for you commoner, let me take out my real opponent."
He walked towards the second aspirant, and both of them battled with their magical powers. At the end of it all, they struck each other to death.
-I guess that leaves us with only one aspirant for the throne. The elder said.
All present in the palace echoed in unison;
"All Hail King Hulk. King Of The Elves."
"All Hail King Hulk. King Of The Elves."