The Three Day Masquerade

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tale of a greedy king and a grand masquerade

Far away in kingdom, A celebration is being held in a small town during a deadly time, a grand masquerade in the honor of the princess becoming of age, not everyone was welcomed, figures such the local butchers and the bakers to the priest and the farmers were denied to see the princess in all her "beauty". The princess was considers by many to be spoiled and ill mannered often laughing at the poor towns folk. The masquerade began where numerous elites meet and talked. As tradition males had a dark blue mask while females had a bright yellow one within the waves of blue and yellow mixed the pure white masks the royal family wore, all seemed well till the strike of midnight where the king told his guest to stay at his castle and never leave till the celebration was over in two days, no one entered or left this celebration which hid the pain those that couldn't attend but the elites didn't care they ate and celebrated without troubles.The masquerade occurred once again for a second time and all went well once again rain cooled the heat form the dance that night, but many recall a feeling of ill will after a black figure for a few seconds appeared briefly when lighting stuck during the celebration, while other said the king seemed plagued with a pestilence only cured when he saw his daughter dance among guest, what ever it was it seemed to end at the stroke of midnight on the second night. The final day the town felt cold and barren as if the town had been taken to the pits of the underworld. The final masquerade was about to occurred this was the last time waves of blue and yellow would mix together in such beauty. On the eve of the tenth hour the final waltz was to commence, as tradition the princess was picked her partner but suddenly a figure dressed into black attire and mask emerge from the crowd to ask the princess for the final waltz. The princess took the stranger's offer and so began what many considered a beautiful sight both princess and stranger moved as if under a spell each movement timed with the beautiful music each crescendo bringing a feeling of joy and peace to all. The waltz ended before the strike of the eleventh hour and soon the black dressed stranger disappeared back into the crowd of blue and yellow masked dancers. The princess appeared before everyone present and toasted in the name of the kingdom and all took a drink of wine all seemed calm and still, it was thirty minutes till midnight when suddenly the king fell to the the ground spitting crimson blood from his mouth, suddenly all who drank in the name of the kingdom all fell and soon the masks became a crimson color. the black masked stranger appeared once again at the final strike of midnight carefully stepping around masked corpses headed to the king's body. "Such a foolish king to hide during a time of famine, hoarding food the townsfolk gave in order to praise a broken stone, A king is meant to give hope not steal for his people but I'm afraid in lying, for you did share something in common with your people you died like the butcher, the baker, and the farmer, you "elites" considered yourselves pardoned from my judgement, one must never believe that death can be trick just by hiding and locking the door, but in my eyes there is no different between poor and rich, saint or sinner, all shall die when their time is called, be it long like yours or short like your daughter, for so says Azrael, the king of death." Azrael opened the castle doors allowing the moon's light to shine on the countless masses that mere minuets ago were enjoying a grand feast, that caused their death to come early at the final strike of midnight.

Submitted: April 10, 2016

Literary Fiction death greed masquerade