The King of Originality

There was a man who grew tired of the same old stories being told and written, so he left home in search of things never before told or written. The man took the only object he needed with him, a magical book that provided him everything imaginable. He sought less treaded paths and explored every corner, refusing to give up until he found something yet to be discovered.

One day, the man finally discovered something new: a fountain that flowed with waters of shimmering colors he couldn’t name. He opened his book, and the book absorbed the fountain into its pages.

Another day, happening upon a strange forest, the man observed a species of creature that looked unlike any other creature. He opened his book, and the book absorbed the creature into its pages.

The man found other unique things and collected them too. More and more people noticed him and followed along, and eventually there were enough to create a kingdom. With his new discoveries and loyal followers, the man had a kingdom built in his name, and he ruled it from a giant throne in the sky because he deemed castles cliché. In fact, he forbade all clichés and tropes. There were no dragons, elves, fairies, witches, or wizards in his land. Everyone and everything had to be original.

The king created a magic well that flowed with his own ideas, and from it the people drank. The king expected it to unlock their own originality, but instead the people became too heavily influenced by his ideas. The king outlawed copying, so the people reworked and exchanged ideas with each other for further reworking, adding parts of well-known things and creatures that unintentionally removed some uniqueness. This troubled the king, so he summoned each person at a time to his throne and tested them, seeing whether they were fit for the job of scouring the lands for original ideas. When he’d finally selected his candidates, the king sent them out into the world and waited for their return.

Unfortunately, the candidates didn’t return with anything different. They presented their findings before the king, each more disappointing than the last. The king wondered why nobody could find ideas as unique as he had. Then again, he loved being the King of Originality.

Eventually, the kingdom’s well of ideas ran dry, and the king was forced to leave his kingdom temporarily in pursuit of more original ideas. Every seemingly new thing he stumbled across was like fool’s gold: it looked special at first, but as he studied it closely, it bore a resemblance to something that already existed.

The king pulled out his book and reviewed some of his first discoveries, the new colors and creature, desperate for answers. The closer he studied them, however, the more the uniqueness faded, like a veil lifting from his eyes. He began to see how his original colors appeared similar to existing tones. He began to see how his original creature appeared similar to other creatures. Panicking, he flipped through the book, seeing similarities everywhere. Nothing was truly original.

The king returned to his kingdom and ordered the people to leave. With everyone gone, he burned the kingdom to the ground and started anew, determined to find true originality and rebuild. The king managed to uncover new ideas and collected them with his book, and he amassed new followers that built him yet another kingdom. Then the same events and revelations as before unfolded, and the king burned down the kingdom and started again. The cycle repeated again and again and again, but the man held strong to the belief that he would establish a truly original world someday, until all the people he’d ever exiled banded together and captured him.

The man was never a king again. He wasn’t a man anymore either, for the people had fed him to a dragon, uncaring about the originality or unoriginality of it all.