Last week’s challenge saw many tales of merrymaking, while this week’s Literary Lion prompt is as regal as it can be. The word is “king”.
You have seven days to create a flash fiction story in 400 words or less. Include the tag ‘Literary Lion’, pingback to this post, give me a mention on twitter and Instagram so I can share the words and have a browse of each other’s tales in the WordPress reader.
For my tale I looked to the animal’s kingdom’s royal lineage, and to the planet’s original crown-wearer…
King.
I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe…
Mists hovering above flooded grounds, ripples rolling away from every footstep, trees soaring taller than I and into the sky to touch clouds. I’ve seen olive eyes peering up from within muddy pools, the wings of reptiles flicking between branches of feathery leaves. I’ve seen lizards clutching with claws to the trunks of trees, but over them I reigned, their Tyrant Lizard King.
I’ve seen an entire realm of kings; hundreds of pairs of eyes on the crown, steely in our stare from the second we felt the sultry air for the very first time.
And now I see you, human. You with your inquisitive eyes, you with your unenthusiastic frown, and even you with your expression of awe, just like the one who first saw me, the one who gave me his name. 65 million years underground and now again I stand tall, your Tyrant Lizard King.
lauragabriellefeasey.wordpress.com 
I love how you used the T-Rex’s name as his title for your inspiration. I kind of have a thing for etymology so this was a super cool read.
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What a great spot, I’m impressed! It’s one of the first things that lead me to writing about a dinosaur from the prompt… that Rex was Latin for King, but I didn’t expect anyone to know that! 🙂
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I have a 9 yr old who has wanted to be a paleontologist since he was 3. Plus, I remember from my dinosaur phase as a kid, lol.
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I hope he fulfils his dream! I had a dinosaur phase too, I think I’m reliving it a bit at the moment… 😮
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How very cool. Written from his perspective. Love the rolling passage of your words. I love when a writer dictates your reading pace. It’s difficult to do well but you always manage to make it look so easy!
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That’s very kind thank you! I wrote this one to be read aloud (I imagined some old English thespian performing it!) so I focused on a lot of rhyme patterns and alliteration, so it’s very satisfying that you noticed it!
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I need to think something new. T-Rex was my first thought as soon as flash-word revealed (before reading your story ;). Bit of hang-over from Jurassic World and then out of habit, lot of search and reading about concept of movies of my liking. In this case T-Rex. Lovely write-up and nice conclude.
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Thanks! Oh dear, that’s just typical! Although I’m sure you could put your own spin on a dinosaur story, or go with a different angle, perhaps from the point of view of another creature besides the king…?
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Nice
Y done. Different to the usual yarn.
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Thank you! It’s good to be different 🙂
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Probably can’t play along this week, but I’ll join in the fun soon.
A teaser for now? Ok, why not.
Shifting his crown to rest more comfortably on his ears, the king surveyed the gathered throng, kneeling before him to pay their homage, and scowled. While he understood the importance of the ceremony, they were cluttering up his throne room and he just wanted a minute alone with his grief. His mother, the late Queen, had only been gone two minutes.
“Long live the King,” came the shouts of fealty, drowning out the crush of shuffling as they rose to their feet.
True, thought the king, but you said the same for my mother, and then harried her to an early death with your constant inane demands and insipid requests. And, you shall do the same to me.
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Haha, thanks! It’s probably better done this way as the ping-backs don’t appear to be appearing on the page this week!
Great Regal tale. It’s tough at the top eh?
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I was going to have it be silly and end with, “It’s good to be the king,” but the words took me this direction instead.
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https://livehomeandaway.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/asserting-identity/
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Great descriptive passage here: “…Mists hovering above flooded grounds, ripples rolling away from every footstep, trees soaring taller than I and into the sky to touch clouds. I’ve seen olive eyes peering up from within muddy pools, the wings of reptiles flicking between branches of feathery leaves…”
That T(yrant) Rex!
enjoyed this piece.
Ellespeth
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I can well imagine such a beast as it mulls over its place in the world (at the top!). Nice.
Just under the wire, I finally write mine 🙂
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Thanks for creating this very interesting challenge 🙂 I just posted my entry, and I think I’ll be checking back every week. Enjoyed reading your piece about the Lizard King.
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You’re very welcome, and thank you! I’ve just had a read and let you a comment, looking forward to reading more if you do return 🙂
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Thanks for the cool prompt, Laura 🙂 I have followed your blog and will stay in touch.
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I don’t know whether this was supposed to be a funny post but i laughed. I can still participate??
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You can indeed, there is a new prompt for this week but I really don’t mind you choosing this one! There was definitely a little humour in the tone, the sarcasm usually sneaks in when I write, so I’m glad you laughed 😀
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