King of the Peasents

In the beginning, the U.S. declared war on China due to its immense debts. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. World War III then ensued; it was bad. Around one and a half billion people died during the war, and it lasted for a decade. It was known as "the war that broke the world". Though after the war new countries rose from the ashes of the old, craving power. Thus, they decided to have a dick-measuring contest-- a contest where they chose the most elite and talented students to compete for their honor, and here I am, Mark Grayson, the champion of Lidia.

I stare at my reflection in my mirror. I look a little battered, but none to worse for wear. I asses my image, I'm breathing hard--one of my hazel eyes has been swollen shut by a big dark ugly bruise and my dark locks are sticking to my face due to sweat.

"Heh", I let out a little laugh.

I had been so confident coming into all this. After all I am Mark Grayson--the genius, Mark Grayson--the athlete, Mark Grayson--the prodigy…. But of course, most of all, Mark Grayson--the peasant.

I look away from my reflection and walk out of the ornate and luxurious bathroom only to enter an even more luxurious room. High ceilings with golden chandeliers greet me, declaring their brilliance and beauty with every flash of light reflecting off them. Each piece of this room howls and screeches wealth. Insane, immense, wealth.

My eyes water.

"Why did I even decide to come here? Just to humiliate myself?', I can't help but ask myself.

Flashes of my memories of my time so far in this competition whittle down my will to stay. Memories of Percy, Lauren, Lu Zhang, Antonio standing over me while I bleed, begging them to stop. Memories of memories of my arms and legs being broken then healed by Astra. Memories of their jeers, jabs, harassment, and bullying flow through me…. the memory of having "peasant" being carved on my back while they looked at me as if I was their prey. Something in me snaps.

Sorrow and self-pity slowly turn to rage, resentment, animosity, and all the ugly little feelings of hate. I'm hyperventilating.

My teeth are clench so hard I feel like they are about to break and shatter into dust. I try to calm myself, running my hand through my hair while think about the reason why I am here. Why I would put myself through all this.

My breathing starts to slow down.

"I'm not here for myself,' I remind myself, "I'm here for the people, for the poor, for the downtrodden and suppressed, to show them that we are not inferior in anyway. Just like Kilian did for me."

A renewed conviction rises within me, my once broken spirit now firmer than before. I let out a dragged-out sigh.

BANG!

My head swivels to the side, threatening to come off due to the force of the turn. My door crashes inward as dozens of policemen force their way into my room. Their guns blazing and ready to fire. Anxiety builds up in me as I look at them barging in.

"Put your hands in the air", one of the policemen bellows. I hurriedly and nervously comply, sweat pouring down the side of my face.

As they surround me, I look at them closely. I gasp—the policemen are the Purple, the personal guards of the royalty of Londonia.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be used against you in the court of law", the Purple closest to me says gruffly.

"What did I do? Why am I being arrested?', I cry out in horror.

"You are being tried for the murder of Elizabeth, the first princess of Londonia,"

"I didn't do it!', I roar at them while struggling free. The only thoughts running through my mind are that I have been set up.

A sharp pain scorches through my head and everything fades to black.

…..

"Uggh", I groan. Everything is blurry and unfocused.

"I call the witness Astra Yuno to the stand", a disembodied voice declares.

My body goes rigid as if cold water was poured on me, everything starts to clear up and my memories come rushing back into me.

My head throbs badly, but I force myself to focus, and I look around. I'm in a golden and elegantly decorated court room—gaudy with its overly large space and mahogany chairs.

Tons of holographic and real people stair at me from the stands with malicious eyes, seemingly waiting for the chance to rip me apart. An old man sits in the center of the room dresses in purple and gold judge attire, overly expensive and flashy.

Then my eyes lock on him—Astra-fucking-Yuno.

His golden blond hair and golden-brown eyes, his tall and slim stature, his arrogant smirk. Wrath replaces my blood as I have a flashback to my first day at the competition.

…..

It was my first night at the facility. I was amazed at how beautiful the place was, brilliant, elegant, classy. That was the first time I truly saw myself for what others saw me, a peasant. I was a paradox of feelings. I felt inferior, so I mostly stayed by myself, but I was still confident in my abilities. I had a goal and a purpose to fulfil.

At lunchtime was when I had my first-time interacting with the competition. I had expected arrogance and vanity, but they were surprisingly nice. All of them invited me to hang-out with them and my blind, ignorant, stupid, naive, senseless, foolish—foolish self…...agreed.

They ganged up on me, pushing me down to the floor. My head hit the ground hard, and I was disoriented. Lu Zhang and Antonio held me down and forced my back to be exposed.

"Wow, that's a hot body," Lauren said with a sultry grin, "too bad it's on a peasant."

"Shut up Lauren! You fucking slut!", Percy growled. Lauren just winked at him in response.

I saw Astra pulled out a dagger from the corner of my eye. I thrashed around with all my might trying to escape, but it was futile.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!", an ear-piercing scream erupted from my mouth and tears streamed down my face as Astra started carving my back.

"The best of the peasants, aren't you? The king?", he mutters with a wicked grin.

I passed out with their laughter as a background noise to the pain. When I woke up in the infirmary, I found that he had carved the word "peasant" in my back with an ugly, deformed crown over it.

...

"We find the defendant guilty of third-degree murder and ****, and is hereby sentenced to death," the judges verdict knocks me out of the stupor of my flashback.

"Please wait! I didn't do it! I'm begging you! I didn't do anything!", I cry out in anguish. The man I believe to by my attorney lands a strong and swift blow to my face.

"SHUT UP! How dare you speak to the judge", He yells in my face.

"Why are you doing this? You're supposed to defend me!", I bellow at my attorney.

My attorney turns away from me, his brown hair swishing to the side. I see Astra whisper something to the judge and the judge turns his cold, malicious blue eyes towards me.

"We gave you the opportunity to show your skills as one of the best, yet this is how you repay us? Lucky for you, Astra is a kind young man and is willing to plea for a lighter sentence for you. His only request is that you answer his question," the judge states grumpily.

Astra strides over to me, his gait as smooth and confident as ever, and whispers into my ear. "It was me…dumb bitch said we went too far so I gave her a lesson that will follow her all the way to hell,"

I explode in anger.

"Why! Why! Why! Why would you do this! What did I do to deserve this!", I howl in misery. Tears blur my eyes and I feel snot threatening to drip from my nose.

He just calmly looks at me and states, "The defendant has refused to answer the question and admit his guilt."

The judge sighs and shakes his head at me.

Then a man from the stands rises and declares in a booming voice, "The jury agrees with the charges!", and then proceeds to sit back down.

Agony, anguish, despair, and heartache are all I can feel—they break me and then remake me.

Insanity bubbles up within me like a roiling mass of darkness and despair. Threatening to take over my mind any moment. Widening the cracks that were already there from my torment.

SNAP!

Something irreplaceably precious and essential to me breaks into a million pieces. Shatters into particles so fine that it may have never even been there in the first place.

"Hehe", a mutter of a giggle breaks through the seal of my mouth.

It slowly grows into a maddened cackle and everyone in the court room stairs at me in confusion, looking at me as if I'm a psychopath.

I begin to thrash wildly in my seat, my muscles tenses beyond normal limits, and it the chair begins to crack from the sheer amount of force. A guard lunges for me, but my hand breaks free first. I jab as his throat with all my force—he collapses on the ground dead.

I sprint towards Astra and deal a devastating right hook to his face. He falls and I begin beating on him, bones break with every rage filled blow. The security rushes at me while the crowd stares dumb struck, unable to move in pure shock. Each blow I land sends bolts of pure, unadultered ecstasy through me. His body shakes, trembles, and breaks every time I hit. His blood dyes my fists.

"Thud…hahaha…Thud,,,,hahaha…Thud..", my punches are as steady and rhythmic as a drum and my laughs are the melody.

Finally, I land a destructive critical blow to Astra's neck, and it splinters like glass.

The guards finally reach me, but it doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters. My savage grin and cackle grow more hysterical.

I grab the closest guard's face and slam his head into the floor, and he passes out, the other pulls out his taser to zap me, but I dodge like a leaf in the wind, swift and untouchable. I punch him in the face and his head rockets backwards and he also falls hard.

I see the judge trying to flee, but I rush him and grab his neck suffocating him. I watch as his face slowly turns purple till it matches his clothes—I find it ironic. I drop him soon after he stops moving and deliver a powerful kick to his head to make sure he is dead. More guards rush me, and I continue to fight, fight, fight and fight until I stand alone.

I look around me and see that the jury had used my fight as a chance to escape the court room. Everything is still as luxurious as before. It still has its exquisite and detailed designs, mahogany chairs, and obnoxious amounts of gold. Except now dead and unconscious bodies stain the scene, along with a once naive boy who was driven to insanity.

Tears flow like rivers down my cheek, but my face remains grinning. I am appalled by how things are, and how they were supposed to be—it hurts.

I laugh maniacally, then take a deep breath and touch my chest – expecting a heart to be thumping erratically, wildly, impatiently, but there's nothing there, not even a beat.

"I am so broken that even my soul refuses to be there for me!", I holler, "I'm not suffering from in sanity if I'm enjoying every moment of it, am I?"

I stand there in the court room laughing randomly at my own jokes as the court room fades to utter and complete black.