The king has fallen

[Notboss Dragonking]

Notboss is sitting in the throne room reading the constitution made by his loving father Arobol who is more of a dragon than anyone in Draconics ever will be. He then gets up and places the constitution back in the display case carefully as guards that protect the constitution by those who are not the king bow to Notboss and lock the case and return to their positions. Notboss walks to his father’s room separate from the throne room where the elderly king lays all day with heavy and ragged breaths. “Father, do you love me?” Notboss asks. “Yes, my son”, Arobol replies with a ragged voice and smiles and Notboss bows to Arobol. “Rise my son, for I am old and weak and a king shall-“, he coughs and gathers his breath and continues but Notboss stays bowed, a sign of forced respect by oneself. “Shall not bow to an old dragon like myself”, Arobol finishes. “My father, the king of all Draconics, you still wear the crown. You are still the king, I must bow to you, for I cannot bear showing any sign of disrespect to you” Notboss says with a slightly cracked voice. “My son, I demand you to rise and to sit next to me”, Arobol states with as firm of a voice as he can and Notboss rises and walks to Arobol’s bedside and sits in a chair with his tail to the side and wings folded in. “Look at me, I am too old now and can’t even climb the few steps to the throne, your throne”, Arobol says as Notboss looks at him knowing what is soon to come with tears in his eyes. “Father, please you are worthy of this entire country, your wings and horns and more. You are the one who gave these people freedom and protection and peace, you are the pillar to this entire country”. Notboss is clearly crying and holds his father’s talon in his own and the guards at the entrance of Arobol’s room can be heard with a slight sniffle. “My son you are the only heir to the throne and you must not cry, show me your strength, and show me the son who would try to drag me off the throne when he was a little dragonet”. Arobol tries to comfort his son by petting his son’s talon with the other and Notboss embraces his father. “Father please I beg of you, I cannot have this country all to myself without you, you are the one who states and I am the one who brings”, Notboss bawls and his father wipes his tears. “Shush my son, you have done very well as a king, and it is your turn to take complete lead, for you do not need me anymore my son. Notboss Dragonking, Your name itself states it. You are humble but still worthy of kingship. Now my son, help me up. Today is the day when you become the true king of Draconics”, Arobol says as Notboss and the two guards with tears in their eyes help Arobol Dragonking to sit up and then to stand and to get dressed. People invited and the entire country watches as the two cameras that project the throne room to the Televisions and phones of the entire population watching as the next king will inherit the throne today.

 

[Notboss Dragonking]

Within 2 hours the entire throne room is filled with a mix of people, anthros, dragons, pets, royalties, and many locals and poor ones. Everyone chats while standing and the cameras stay focused on the throne broadcasting live to all of Draconics the coronation of the next king. Suddenly a mass of guards fill in the sides and 6 stand in front of the throne, 2 on each step up and face the crowd. The ones on the steps draw their swords and turn to face each other and kneel with the tip of their swords touching the ground and their heads down and eyes closed and everyone falls silent and the cameramen make sure their two cameras are straight and the audio perfect and time seems to stop and the atmosphere feels heavy and thick. Then the king dressed in royal garments, contrary to his white scales, is led by his blue scaled son which is also dressed in royal garments followed by two more guards dressed differently than the other guards, silently stating themselves as the king’s personal guards. Everyone quietly claps as the Arobol walks out, with the royal Draconicsian Crown on his head, limping slightly showing his age. The king is lead to his throne where he sits and sighs relief and Notboss sits next to him in his own prince chair. The two guards stay standing without movement but not one person notices their eyes scanning the room for any threats to either king. “Goodness, haven’t been on my legs for a long time, especially in front of a crowd. I must say this is a large crowd, is this the entire kingdom my son?” Arobol says aloud and everyone laughs slightly and Notboss turns to him and chuckles saying, “No my father, this is barely even the tiniest portion of the kingdom, it is expensive to see you my father as we do not want just anyone walking in to rebel against you. Plus I am sure the rest of the kingdom is watching through the cameras”, Notboss points to the cameras and Arobol puts on a confused face. “What is a camera?” he asks. Everyone then becomes silent and looses their smile, since all know that dragons live far longer than humans and anthros combined and very few outlive trees themselves. Notboss looks over with a worried expression knowing his father was definitely alive and younger when cameras came to Draconics. Arobol suddenly laughs in his rasp voice, “Oh come on the king still has jokes. I know what a camera is”. Notboss sighs relief and the crowd laughs along with the king and the guards chuckle a bit. “Let the ceremony begin”, Arobol says as everyone claps and the guards on the steps stand up and stretch and get loose, one of the only moments they get to relax and its not in the rules they strictly must follow where it says they must be in duty form during the transition from announcement to ceremony. Both kings watch but Arobol looks over to the queen’s empty chair with a solemn look.

 

[Notboss Dragonking]

It has been debated as to why Draconicsians dance before the coronation or anything symbolic about it. Everyone who decides to just watch stands at the edge and the guards are back in their usual stiff standing carefully watching the crowd without even moving their heads. The two kings stay seated on their thrones as the orchestra plays the anthem and then plays Draconicsian folk songs as everyone else dances fancy but fast and happy. The room to others would seem more like a fancy dance party than a coronation they were expecting but the dancing only lasts about 2 hours and then everything is cleared quickly and returns back to normal as if it never changed to a dance floor in the first place. After everyone is quiet and silence and stops panting the true king stands with the help of his personal guards. Notboss stands up and turns to face the king and kneels while bowing his head. Everyone else bows and even some who are watching on their televisions bow the same way as the new king is. “Do you, Notboss Dragonking, declare that you will protect and serve the people and wonders of Draconics with utmost righteousness, and with ever increasing want and love for the Draconicsian culture and race?”, states Arobol Dragonking as he removes his crown and everything seems to go in slow motion. “Yes I shall my king”, Notboss says. “Do you, Notboss Dragonking swear upon the Draconicsian Constitution that you shall protect the rights of all people, animals, and environment according to the rights embedded into the constitution?”. “Yes my king, I shall”. Arobol holds the crown above the head of Notboss. “Do you swear that you will keep the words of the country ‘Peace for All’?”, Arobol states the last question as the king is removed of his royal outer garment by his two guards and they walk around and hold it over the new king. “I swear to keep the words of the country of Draconics, ‘Peace for All’”, Notboss promises and the king lowers the crown onto the top of Notboss and the royal garment is laid upon the new king and fastened. “You are now the new King of Draconics, Notboss Dragonking”, Arobol states as he bows and Notboss rises at the same time and given the King’s staff. “Long live the king!!” A guard shouts and everyone repeats louder and in unison and they stay kneeled and bowed. “Rise my citizens”, Notboss states and everyone rises along with Arobol with the help of his personal guards, “Today is a great day in Draconicsian history, may we have Peace for all”, and everyone roar and shouts and rejoices in happiness, unknown what else would happen that same day.

 

[Notboss Dragonking]

Later on after the coronation was complete, the new king Notboss Dragonking had to stay in the throne room until everyone else left. One of the first to leave was his father Arobol, whom begun to feel weak and needed help getting to his room and into bed. Notboss was worried this entire time about him, that draconic sense was kicking in. It has been discovered and proven that dragons seem to know when someone very close to them is about to die. Since the new King is nearly all dragon, his tail tingles and twitches and has a worried expression throughout the rest of the evening. As soon as the last few citizens leave the doors to the throne room are shut and the King leaps out of his chair, nearly making the crown fall off of his head. If it were not for his horns then the crown would have fallen off for sure. He unfastens his outer royal garments and lets it drop to the floor of the throne room as he sprints down the hallway to his father’s room with his personal Guards in hot pursuit. He nearly slams himself into the door after turning the knob which opens up the room to a dragon laying in the bed looking at the doorway where his son is panting in tears as his father closes his eyes and the line on the heart monitor flat-lines and that long and sad sound fills the room as the nurses look down, saddened and the new king falls to the ground on his knees shaking and roaring with sadness and his personal guards stand leaning against the door also in tears. “NOOOOOO!!!!” yells Notboss as he continues his crying and the monitor is unplugged. The throne room is quiet and the skies are gray and it begins to rain, which always seems to be true when the King has fallen.

 

[Notboss Dragonking]

Notboss looks over the river with a solemn face as the ship with his father on it is pushed away. A tear falls from his eyes as the instruments, mostly horns, play the Draconicsian anthem. Notboss lifts his wings and slams them downward and thrusts himself into the air. There are a lot of people watching as the ship turns right and towards the waterfall. Notboss roars three times and then gets close to the ship. "I will miss you very much father", Notboss says. He breaths in a massive breath and growls, then roars out a burst of flame which nearly engulfs the entire vessel. The ship itself is not that big, but still required a good amount of work from Notboss for it to catch fire.

The ship burns and makes a glow in the foggy river while rain pours down on Notboss. He can barely stay up as he follows his father down the river. It is Draconicsian tradition for the royals to burn the body of a loved one, when they pass away, on a ship and follow it down the river until it reaches the end. This represents the life of one or few who lived alongside the deceased and followed them and supported them to the end. This time it was Notboss's turn to follow the boat.

The ship is pushed by the waters towards the edge, danger of falling imminent. Once the boat reaches the edge, Notboss looks down to see many people, anthros and humans alike. Notboss lands on what is called the Death Rock and folds his wings in. The burning boat creaks as it falls down. The long way down makes it seem like a fireball is falling towards earth. Many people are silent during this time, as it is extremely disrespectful to even make a sound. Notboss sheds another tear as the boat crashes into the river at the bottom, where it flows out into the sea. Instantly the entire crowd of people scream and cry, for their king has fallen. This day will be remembered as Silence Day in Draconics.

Notboss falls to his knees and watches the wood and rubble mixed with some rocks float and tumble away towards the sea. Draconics has never been more silent than this day.

His majesty the king, Arobol Dragonking, has fallen.