Thoughts of a Monster King
In our minds, we all see different worlds.
To be given time to decide our ambition, character, and future is a luxury, but even when granted is it ever enough? The lucky that manage to live beyond conception in the land of Nevermore learn quickly of the brutality the world holds. We enter the existence with a cry of muddled emotions. Fear and sorrow being the most powerful forces, yet there is beauty beneath the flux of pain and confusion. There is opportunity.
To be alive is the greatest gift, even when its luster fades. However, worry not. It is temporary. Clean the surface enough with the right material, and the luster will return. Bad things happen, it is a part life. It is needed in order to better decipher the good that dwells inside and around us. Yet, it is easier for a terrible situation to drown it out, and that alone can curse an individual from starting anew.
We are known for our dangerous aversion when a situation is against us. We jump with great conviction to express it, but our logic is often lost in the crossfire of emotion. The feelings that often defines us, also determine wars. It is natural for heart strung creatures like us to enter folly when rationality blurs.
We are capable of sacrificing our own happiness or that of others for sake of self-preservation, comfort, and love. Morals were created to divert us from the innate urge to claim our desires. It is the fiddle that controls our true nature with one that is created.
“Over the obsidian hills and the sunken yellow dale, through the vast oceans of fog and the fires of nevermore, sits the fickle doors of the land of twilight. I will traverse it all, and execute righteous judgment on all that oppose me..”
–The Banished Oberon, Lunora and the Monster King
These ethical motives has helped us create a society with rules that allow us to live side by side, but are these rules perfect—let alone right? Who defines them, and why does it have to define you? Regardless, there are moments when society and its mortal forged rules fail us. Everyone has their own interpretation as to what right and wrong is after all.
In the end, what alters our understandings of the world, our place in it, or what we hope to never become revolves in our environment, upbringings, and status. All of which vary from person to person and the challenges faced, especially when we falter. When the heart is hurt it is pricked with an itch that never goes away. We can learn to use it as a strength, or allow it to crumble the person we were. Ignoring it may work in the beginning, but it does not eliminate the decision needed to move forward. Whatever the choice, everything aids in the molding of our character.
Where misery exist, happiness dwelled. None is ever without.
When creating the Monster King I felt the need to explore these ideas, and that of death. I was reminded that it can happen to any of us, at any moment and time. Death comes for us all. It watches, but never waits. It does not need to. It is there when needed, and bears result. Many of us have learned to fear this end, yet to some it is not always a ghastly thing. It can be a much needed rest when the body has grayed and withered, yet the problem lies when it comes too soon; such as a child.
The Monster King is a banished Oberon—Overlord—that served in Caligo prior to the wars that tore his kingdom apart. Nevermore is a region trapped in a paradox that contradicts the laws of physics governing our known universe. It is a place torn from our existence, and tossed into a pocket dimension. In this tale, the Monster King is a grieving parent tortured by the loss of his only child.
When the painful news reached his wife, the queen, she forsook him and walked off the highest balcony. The king took her suicide as an act of betrayal, and cursed her memory. Her death is not mentioned in the tale due to the scribes effacing her from history. It is believed that her action was proof of his failures as father and husband, and he could not bear it.
Art by: Gij
The King represents someone who has lost everything. His daughter represented the future, and losing her destroyed him. In life, most families never recover from the tragedy of losing a child. Who would you become if everything you loved was taken from you? As a king he holds great power, but how terrible is it in the hands of someone desperate for vengeance and fueled by hate?
To build his character I learned a great deal about tyrants, and the people that followed them. Tyrants are often born from a good heart, and bear a tragic past. They are silver-tongued and driven. I discovered how effortless it is to be obsessed with the need to write a wrong, especially when the wrong blinds you from your own wickedness or means to get the deeds done.
One thing is certain, all rulers fall. Nothing is permanent, and this applies to our character in every aspect. We are always changing and redefining our understanding of the self, especially in times of pain. The loss of a loved one transforms us, and that pain never goes away. To understand grief through the eyes of this forlorn parent, I had to remember a pain I fought to forget.
Years ago, I was once going to be a father, but fate changed its mind. I never got to see my son or hear his cry. I only held the thought of his existence, and fleeting as it was I know he was there. He existed, and for a moment his name was Shade. This part of my life feels almost ancient. It feels disconnected. Regardless, that day birthed my need to write. It became my means to make him and everyone from then on immortalized. Words can shape the future, and define history.
The death of my son influenced mine. At least, it is what I told myself. Sadly, I could not live a lie. It is easy to deceive your own perception if you try hard enough, but sooner or later the truth slithers back. I realized the real reason I started writing was to ease the pain in my heart before I attempted to end my life. Writing was my escape. It warmed me from the cold nights, and stopped me from leaping off my tower, but just like the king . . . I could not bear it. I needed a new purpose, and I created one. I found it in you, all of you.
However, the same cannot be said for the Monster King. He is stuck in an internal war, and hate is one of the only things keeping him alive. His mind has traveled to a place where hope and despair are one of the same. The once liberal and benevolent leader has become despotic and malefic. His authoritarian rule is raw with emotion and retribution. He has swayed countless with the idea of change and has used propaganda to spread influence.
Devour the life of a human, and claim the power to rule…
Art by: Gij
In his warped mind he seeks to protect the realm as a whole, and he is, but the last menace that sits on the Obsidian Throne. He is his own enemy as his actions to close every border and silence every threat becomes uncontrollable. The inhabitants of Nevermore live in fear due to his rule. The catastrophic consequences of a derailing kingdom has stirred rebellion, and obscured morality among its inhabitants.
With every revolt, thousands die. The discrimination towards humans have created divides among the monsters and sprites, and by the time the Lunora and the Monster King story begins the realm is breaking because of it. The king has become everything his late daughter once strived to eliminate, and countless now live in fear or at war. His actions have created severe discord, prejudice, and overall genocide in a land that was once blanketed by flowers.
The king represents our current state of affairs. We live in an age where governments are often controlled by corrupt corporations that routinely suppress us from the truth. Everything is monitored, and information is power. Media guides the ignorant into predetermined social constructs that inhibits actual creativity and freedom. Music lulls us into conformity as school prepares us for slavery. We are not in control of our lives. We are deluded with the idea of it, but the moment we become a threat. Silence is what waits.
Art by: Gabriela Garcias
The Kingdom of Nevermore is fogged with discrimination. It is a place with many imagined walls, and barely any bridges to cross them. Like the monsters and sprites of this world, we are also trapped in a senseless cycle of fabricated differences. We obsess about country, gender, and race as if it has importance, but does it? Colors do not exist, except in our minds.
Countries are human tagged regions with invisible barriers that can change at the whim of a signed document, and sex might be determined by reproductive biology, but gender expectations are not. They are based on an individual's perspective and what they feel is best for them. Our inability to recognize and accept each other is what stifles our world as a whole.
Do not let the mistakes of your forefathers define you. The fog is thick, but you have the potential to be greater.
To every parent that has lost, to every person that has loved, to every dream that has been crushed, and to every victim that has suffered injustice – you are not alone. I hear your cries, and I will use words to move the tides of discord.
Be the light in the darkest hour, others will shine with you.
I hope you enjoyed my inner rantings. If you are interested in reading Lunora and the Monster King | Click Here
However, I have started releasing the manga that takes place after the events of Lunora and the Monster King. It is called Lunora and it can be found on Line Webtoon and Tapas comic apps. Lunora is a manga, and is easier to digest than a play. In the end, it depends what you would prefer to explore. Below is a link to the Line Webtoon!
Quote to Inspire:
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
–Stephen King
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND INSPIRING CREATOR
Drift in the Eversea
H.S. Crow has literary works appearing in all mediums of entertainment with a focus on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. He is an author traversing the theoretical and myth with novels and comics exploring the breathtaking Caligo, a vast universe containing our dreams and nightmares. Notable books include Lunora and the Monster King, Stars of Glass, and the upcoming epic Drums of Fog. However, his brilliance also transcends into poetry and music with scores that instills emotion and magic. The young author and music producer aims to challenge current issues with the imagination, and enchant the heart and mind of any who dares explore his madness.
H.S. Crow has literary works appearing in all mediums of entertainment with a focus on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. He is an author traversing the breathtaking Caligo, a vast universe containing our dreams and nightmares. Notable books include Lunora and the Monster King, Stars of Glass, & the upcoming Drums of Fog.
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