Good evening. This is my second entry.

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Forstand

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Board the wall, bar the gates

Bare the wants, bear the gaze

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For albeit cowards before their deaths many times die,

Valiant are the souls that deaths per life once each taste.

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The righteous shan't in this grand world great tempests face,

As the sly swim towards a welcoming sea's embrace.

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Come, coalescent cravens, thrashed and thinning trash,

Legions long lost, razing wrought to rest.

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Despite being in brief respite, the fools lay in spite of how

Akashic their Records reside, heretofore's the raider's pride.

My strong kingdom, you inspire me to write. How I love the way you dare, win and make, Invading my mind day and through the night, Always dreaming about the tax free break

Let me compare you to a square clover? You are more free, united and fair. Key storms whip the twiglets of October, And autumntime has the lifelong welfare

How do I love you? Let me count the ways. I love your united shields, wall and home. Thinking of your bright shields fills my days. My love for you is like the ambitious Rome.

Now I must away with a vicious heart, Remember my big words whilst we're apart.

Stories of a Kingdom

I sit here today, my grandfather 90 years old in front of me, sitting in his chair, sleeping peacefully. He always loved to tell me his stories, and I always love to hear words that transform into the history of a Kingdom. His face has slowly wrinkled and dried, his muscles are not what they used to be and he often feels sick and tired; his memory however, remains as that of a young man going out for his first journey far from home. A big smile emerges from my lips as I hear a faint voice “heyo, little mister”, as I turn from my blurry vision of a distant lake in the trees, I see his polite and graceful face smiling right at me. “Glad to see you” I answer as my mind gets ready for one of his stories.

Chapter 1: Joy in the darkness

When my grandfather was young, the Kingdom of Bordweall ordered a massive draft of able men due to the risk of war. It was not a nice place to be, the training camp consisted of short sleeping hours, limited food, and exhaustive training all day long. However, what my grandfather decided to tell me consisted of a rather fun approach, laughing as the words left his mouth. “One day they woke us early and told us that we had to change quarters with another regiment. We went to the other quarter and thought that it would be common sense to count the amount of beds and candles and then move the difference between them to the other quarter. It would seem the army sergeants were not in the mood for that, so they thought another fun method for the soldiers. The final decision taken by them was to make us move all the beds from one quarter to the other, same with the candles and drawers! Can you imagine? It took us half a day and seemed to be completely pointless.” That was his story, he managed to laugh in the darkest times, and now that he is in a weak condition, he still laughs and smiles and jokes, more than once about his own condition!

Chapter 2: History

Behind a great kingdom lies a great history, this is what I learnt the day I asked about the antlers hanging on the walls. To begin with, my grandfather told me several times about how our surname was born in a country and how that word translates to “man of arms”; he never leaves out the fact that the place where the surname began belonged to 5 different kingdoms in less than a hundred years, which leaves us no clue of the exact kingdom it belongs to (probably Bordweall, my heart says so), it has always amazed me, how much history one can find in ones past, how many lives must have crossed since then till now?, how far can we trace each of our ancestries?. He also told me the story of the first time he visited the region from hence we came, and its main town with my mother and uncle. While they were buying supplies in an inn, he told the innkeeper about his ancestry being from the town. He was asked the surname of the family, and he answered, but the innkeeper couldn't understand, he said “i know it is from this region, but what is the surname?”. My grandfather had to repeat it several times before the innkeeper realized. Here is a thing about the region, it turns out that the Royal families are named after the region, so long story short, the innkeeper couldn't understand what the surname was, because the surname was the name of the region. That’s right, we come from the Royal family of our hometown, i have never been so shocked, it seems we came from royal blood, i would’ve never guessed. In this kingdom, anyone can come from anywhere and everyone has a story to tell and a history to look back to. The antlers came from the fields of our royal family ancestors.

Chapter 3: Division

A great kingdom features even greater conflict. That statement became reality the day part of the kingdom got into a civil war. My family was divided between the two fighting sides, one of the family’s cousins served in the military, and one day was sent into battle, a battle where he was taken prisoner. He was later worked to death, and news of his death did not delay. Hatred was inspired between both sides of the family and every time they gathered, a great discussion would arise, shouting and sometimes, even crying. A family is the closest and strongest bond, if a family could be divided, there is no doubt, a kingdom could be divided in a split second. However it occurs, any division results in tragedy and should be avoided if possible, life has sorrow enough to feed us all without death in the middle.

Chapter 4: Love

The following story wasn’t born in my grandfather’s lips, and might have never been heard by him. It appeared one spring afternoon, while my parents and uncles were deciding what would be the best way to take care of my grandfather. The talking turned into discussion and voices got louder and louder. Suddenly, it left my mother’s mouth, like a memory turned into reality. Although I spent short years with my grandmother, this made me feel like she was standing right beside me, maybe she was. “My mother’s deathbed wish was for us to take care of my father” my mother said; it was a blow to my heart and my head, I tried to think about what had been the context for my grandmother words, and how sad that moment might have been, the arrow it must have pierced into my mother’s heart. After all, my grandmother had always taken care of my grandfather, and I remember how my grandfather’s eyes could fill with rain clouds whenever she was mentioned, even eight years after she passed away. This moment made me realize the care for others, the strong bonds of family, the good and bad memories that can be awoken by a simple sentence; this fact makes me hate and love Bordweall simultaneously.

Chapter 5: Willpower

Finally, we arrive to something my grandfather said no more than a year ago. He has always been determined, resolute, and has consistently shown the strongest willpower I have ever witnessed; this was the case of the time i heard him say in front of my whole family “I will live to be 100 years old, I have decided that” he said firmly, I love him for it, and I really hope he does get there, so that i can have at least 10 more years of his laughter, stories, history, and most importantly, his willpower. Sadly, as mentioned before, the last few months he has been ill and weak, making him depressed and tired of his condition, of course, he faces this with a smile most of the time, but the face of sadness can not be hidden constantly. He is strong and I know he will get past this moment, he has done it before, more than once, and as I said before and will never cease to, his willpower can never be silenced nor destroyed. That is why this kingdom can be broken, bent, buried, but it can never be destroyed, it will always come through, and it always has, this is the final chapter to describe the most important aspect of both a person and a kingdom, willpower.

I would like to dedicate this writing to my grandfather who told these stories to me, yes, these are based on real stories and facts, but of course have been adapted to the context of Elyria. He is still with me and is currently 90 years old. Hope you enjoy it, and good luck all. Thank you for reading.

Darn, @Kitlandria that's one fine entry

I have 2 entries to submit, but I cannot find out how to upload photos. Could anyone point me in the right direction?