Ovid Final By:Osher

It was a gloomy October day in Scotland as William sat on his cold simple cot. Will was put in the public orphanage in the eastern most part of Scotland.  He was always told by his caretakers that seventeen years ago, on one of the windiest days of the year, one of the women went out to get the mail. Yet, as she was stepping out she saw this little, tiny, adorable baby boy. He was wrapped up with a royal blue and gold blanket, and attached to him was a note. However, the note got lost, or so his nurses said. The nurse quickly brought him into the dull medical room in the orphanage and started checking if he was healthy or if something was different with him.  William always questioned this story. He didn’t understand why his parents would have left him in the first place in an orphanage, but especially that they didn’t bring him inside. Another thing that made him really curious is the fact that the people that took care of him kept on telling him that he was brought inside to make sure nothing was different with him. Normally, children were just brought inside to have a routine medical checkup. But for him, it was to see if anything was special.   This all didn’t make sense to him. It kept on being a big missing puzzle piece to the rest of his confusing life.

Recently, Will was having two of the same dreams over and over again. Normally, Will didn’t ever remember his dreams, but these ones stuck like glue. The first one was a proper looking mad looking down at him. Every time this man popped up in his dreams, he always appeared in a different way. He was shown to Will either in a large portrait or in person. William knew that he had never really met this person, or at least he couldn’t remember it. Yet, where could he have met him? Will had been in the same orphanage for seventeen years now. William always wondered whether this man was important to his life. Yet, he could very well be a character in a movie and never affect Will’s life ever.

His second dream was even weirder and more unrealistic than the first. Will dreamed repeatedly that he could transform into anything that he wanted. He could shape shift from a fish, to a plant, to a lion, to a fly, to a book, and everything in between. His dreams made him feel like he was invincible—like a super hero. Yet, all of this didn’t make any sense to him. He was just a normal kid living in Scotland. In his mind, no way he could possibly do any of this.

Because of these bizarre dreams he constantly dreamt, he wanted to get someone else’s opinion on it. So, that day he wanted to talk to his best friend David about it. He entered the lunch room where he normally saw him. He went to stand in line for his food. Today it was green peas, and way-too-cheesy macaroni and cheese. As he left the line he saw David. He went up to him and said,” Hey David….I need to tell you something extremely important….meet me at the table that’s at the right corner okay?”

David seemed confused but said,” Sure… I’ll get my food quickly and meet you there.” As David got his food, William went to save the table they were talking about. When he got there he put his bland food down and started thinking about his dream situation much more. David finally got to the table and started questioning him if everything was all right. 

Will quickly responded, “ I know it seems a bit stupid but for some reason I can’t get it out of my head…”

“All right….what is it?” David said, still very worried and puzzled.

“So I’ve had these two really creepy dreams lately. One is of a man looking either straight at me or the same man in a huge portrait. He seems like a very proper and put together guy. The second dream is that I can shape shift into anything I want whenever I want.” Will continued,” And that’s all I’ve been dreaming about….I don’t know what to do….I feel like it might have to do something with my past…something about how I got to this orphanage.”

David gave him this look like he was crazy, “Well…personally I think that it’s just a dream….” The head caretaker then called all of them back to the main room for rest period. Will got annoyed that his own best friend who he grew up with didn’t believe him.

“Okay…I guess…whatever….I’ll figure it out.” William decided to leave the orphanage and hoped that no one will notice. He left quickly and ran into the nearby forest. The strong autumn wind pushed his brown parted hair across his face. William was so confused. He didn’t understand what dreams meant. He found his way to the center of the forest. There was an old man there, just singing to himself. Will kicked the gorgeous, dry, and colorful fall leaves. The old man heard this noise, turned around. Suddenly Will heard a gasp. He turned around as the old man slowly came closer to him. He was wearing a silk navy cloak while hunching over with his cane. Will said,” Sir….can I help you?”

The elderly man came up to him gesturing toward his face almost about to touch it. He said,” It’s the same…the same face and everything!”

“ Excuse me sir, what’s the same….do I know you?”

“You don’t know me, but I know you. And your father…”. Will heard this and so many things rushed through his head.

“You know my father? How?”

“ Well, it’s a rather long story. Just about eighteen years ago I was one of the grand King’s right had man.  This King had an affair with a woman but didn’t want anyone in his kingdom to know and I was the only one whom he told. William, the King is your father.”

Will’s face turned completely white. He could not believe was he was hearing. This man could lead him to his past. “What?” Will exclaimed,” So if you were the king’s servant then, what happened until now?”

“The king kicked me out. Actually he kicked me out because I tried to somewhat save you… You see, I was the only one who knew about your father’s affair and later on, you. So I came with your father to an orphanage here. However when I put you down in front of the orphanage, I stuck a note on your back saying the story of the king and his affair. The king refused to let even your caretakers know who your father was. So, his majesty and I simply returned to the palace. A month later the king got a letter from your orphanage saying that they understood that you were a prince, yet that they wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone. Your father understood that I must have put that message on you as we left. I just did it for your good, in hope that one day you could maybe somehow return to your home. As soon as the king found out about this, he too abandoned me and sent me too Scotland.”

Will was in complete shock. He was even debating whether he should believe this story or not.” Oh my! Wow…I cannot believe that that is my past. First of all, I would like to thank you for trying to save me. Second, can I somehow meet to my father?”

“Well, since I originally wanted the Prince to stay at his own home, I suppose I can try to help get you back.” Will was the happiest he had ever been. He and the old messenger Jeremiah went back to the orphanage. Luckily, the nurses remembered Jeremiahs and let William leave with him. 

Jeremiah pulled out his old and torn map of Europe and pointed to where they were” This is where we are,” then he moved his finger,” and this is where we need to be.”Will was confused about why his father would send him to Scotland if he was in a totally different country. “Why are you and I both in Scotland, but my father’s in a different country?” 

“Well, the king sends all of the people whom he doesn’t want in his kingdom to Scotland”. From there, their journey began to England, the kings kingdom. They passed marvelous mountains, swampy lakes and magnificent views. By day they walked, and by night they found a cave or a resting spot. Throughout the entire trip William kept on having his two insanely weird dreams. He wondered if they had anything to do with his father or past. After two months worth of hiking and sleeping in bug’s nests, then finally reached England. Once there, Jeremiah knew how to get to the castle from his past experiences. Luckily, the guard at the gate recognized him and let him in. As Will and Jeremiah found where the king was, they reassured themselves that they could be put to death for this. Yet they had no choice. The barged in and as the King saw both of them step in, his face completely dropped.

“Guards! Guards! What do you think you’re doing here, Jeremiah?! And who is this that came with you?” By now the guards had both of them tied up, hands behind their backs. Suddenly, Will took a closer look at this man in front of him and noticed that this was the person in his dreams. To connect it all, he dreamt about his father. William wondered if this journey would lead him to his other dream.

“Your majesty,” Jeremiah said while bowing,” I have come not for me but to help him,” he gestured to William, “He is William, your son.” Everyone in the huge royal room gasped and started whispering. The guards let go of their arms in shock. No servant either than Jeremiah knew the king had a son. 

The king turned completely red out of embarrassment. “Nonsense!” King Edward exclaimed. But people didn’t believe it and were still whispering, so he said, “Everyone out! All the guards get out of this room at once. Everyone except you two,” he said pointing at Will and Jeremiah. As everyone cleared, all three started coming closer to each other.  “Listen, I may have had a son, but who do you think you are to come in here and announce that? And how do I even know that he actually is my son?” Will felt so abandoned and destroyed. He thought his father would be nicer. 

“Look your majesty, William and I found each other. I told him the story of how he got put in the orphanage, why Scotland, why I was in Scotland etc…, so this poor young boy wanted to go find his father. Please sire, try to help him”

The king thought about this. He tried to see if there was a benefit to him, and then he remembered that every other generation or so, the royal family has a gift in which one can shape shift. He wondered if his son Will had this and if the King could put it to good use for him. For example, if they were ever in a war he could pretend to be the enemy by transforming and get secrets from them. Overall he wanted to see if he could shape shift so it would benefit him. “All right, I’ll give William a test, the test is that for twenty-four hours you will be put in random surroundings and will magically be transformed whenever. The point is that you need to survive. The way that you do this is by shape shifting. You might have a gift of this. If you do and manage to survive this challenge, you will be able to live in the palace, and I will tell my kingdom the truth. “ Suddenly, everything made so much sense to Will. He kept on having dreams that he could shape shift and the truth was that he really could, but he just needed to figure out how. Maybe when he was put in the situation he would learn. So the next day Will was ready to go into the arena that would change multiple times into different places such as the beach, ocean, jungle, savannah, mall, etc… 

As Will entered the arena, Jeremiah looked at him and said, “Be safe young man. You can do it”. Will thanked him and walked in not knowing if he would come out. The setting the first time was the arctic. The second that Will set both feet on the snow, he turned into a fruit fly. His transformations wasn’t by agreement .The king controlled that.  The icy wind was blowing him around. He was flapping his wings but it wasn’t helping. William told himself,” All right Will, try, try to transform.” He thought really hard about it. He told himself he wanted to transform into a polar bear to fit the surroundings. And all of a sudden, he switched into a polar bear. Will was so proud of himself, yet transforming hurt. He was in pain for the next few hours. After a few hours, the setting was switched to a savannah. King Edward changed ‘polar bear’ Will into a deer surrounded by a seven lions. Will was in trauma. He quickly tried to tell himself to switch into a lion also so they wouldn’t eat him. It was hurting him, yet he did it. He stayed in the form of a lion for a while. These transitions and near death experiences continued to occur until twenty-four hours passed. But every time William was transformed he was in pain for a while.

Finally, after going through the arctic, savannah, then rainforest, then ocean, and more, William finally got let out of the treacherous arena back into the palace. As he got out, Jeremiah was there to greet him. He grasped his hand and then gave Will a hug.” Good job son, are you all right?”

“Yes, I guess I’m fine, just a bit in pain from shape shifting that’s all, muscles aching.” 

“Well why don’t you get some sleep, and King Edward will talk to us about your success tomorrow.”

“All right,” Will said,” Thank you.” Will returned to his guest room at the end of the hall. Round the corner he heard the King and his new right hand man, Jones.

“He successfully managed to do all of that, all of the tricks I tried to kill him for for the sake that I won’t have to tell my kingdom and look like a coward. His talent is beyond anyone of his ancestors….”

“What shall his majesty want to do with this?” Jones said.

“I want to keep him for myself. For him to be a weapon for this kingdom would be fascinating. He could transform into the enemy when war approaches and sneak around to find the secrets. We’ll just use him. Of course I won’t actually want to be his father….” The King said this leading his servant down the hall opposite to where Will was eavesdropping. Will was in complete shock. He could not believe that this is what king Edward, his own biological father wanted to do to him. Even though his Father did put him in an orphanage and was a terrible man, he expected more.

Will went into his guest room and thought real hard about what to do. He was so angry.  At that moment, he just wanted his father out of the picture. He didn’t want him to control his life. He didn’t want him using his talent that actually hurt him physically. He decided that for his sake and for the rest of the nation, he had to kill his father. 

So at precisely six o’clock, William left his room as Jones. He was sneaking around making sure that Jones wasn’t around anywhere, Will went into the kitchen  made sure the real Jones wasn’t there, and stepped in, and announced,” I will be bringing his Majesty’s dinner a bit early today, and a special delivery from me,”. Automatically everything was ready for King Edward. Yet, the poison that he found in a drawer in the kitchen was still not in his food. He turned around and put two drops in his warm pumpkin soup. Will walked into the grand room of the King and luckily, there was no Jones there. He stepped in and said, “Sire, I got you a special delivery of pumpkin soup with an extra twist!”

“Well how lovely of you to bring me my dinner earlier than usual. I was starting to get a bit hungry. You know me so well.”

“Well I shall leave you with that, I must return to my errands now,” Will said as he walked out of the room. There was an awkward silence as only Will’s footsteps were heard leaving the room.

After going to his room and transforming back to Will, he was in a lot of pain, so he went to rest. After an hour of resting and sleeping he heard a knock at his door, it was Jeremiah.

“Have you heard the news?” He asked. “Your father, the most treacherous king has died by food poisoning.” 

Will could not tell if he was happy or sad but he responded, “Yes, I know, I did it, but you must not tell anyone.” Now Jeremiahs jaw completely dropped,” I promise I have reason for it. “

William explained to Jeremiah how the shape shifting hurt him. Also how King Edward wanted to use him to fight his enemies. 

Overall, neither the guards, nor the citizens were really upset that their king had died. This was because the people were starving, were always being taxed more, and barely had anymore rights. The guards had never been treated right either.  The parliament decided that now because they knew there was another member of the royal family that he should become King. When will heard of this he was flattered that the kingdom would think of him as someone who could become the next king. But he didn’t believe that he could take their generous offer.  However he didn’t know what to do yet.

William stepped out of a gorgeous carriage onto the stunning red carpet leading up all the way to the podium of where he would be crowned. The moment he stepped out he saw the people of the kingdom all there cheering in awe that they would finally get a new king. In his most king-like manner he walked up to the throne. A head minister was standing there with his crown and a Bible for him on which to swear on his kingship. As William got up, the minister asked, “Are you ready, sir?”

Will didn’t know what to say. He knew that this was a role too big for a boy his age to have, so he spoke up and said,” No sir, sorry I’m not for this job.” A gasp then silence fell upon the entire audience. William continued, “I am only a seventeen-year-old boy who has recently figured out that I am a royal member. This kingdom deserves its, best but I will not be able to give them that. Truthfully, I know someone that will be able to give all of you what you need. This wise man has previously been one of the former king’s top advisors. He knows how to run a kingdom. Now this man might have made one mistake, but it was to try to save me. It was a courageous act of bravery. Please, if you too agree with me, let us not crown me but rather Jeremiah!” The crowd roared with claps and screams of joy. These people knew what type of person Jeremiah was from him being the  king’s right-hand man. And from the way they were cheering, it was clear to all that they wanted him as king.

So Jeremiah came up and swore that he would try to be the best king he could possibly be. Also, William stayed within the palace and received education. But on top of education he was King Jeremiah’s right-hand man. In addition, Jeremiah treated him like his own son. Overall, William was happy he could give such an opportunity to someone who really deserved it, in addition, he was living the life.