"Hmm. It'll do." I say, looking at the giant castle looming in front of me.

"It'll do? It'll more than do." The ever-present voice in my head says. "It's magnificent."

"Are you the master of castles or something? Because you seem to be the master of everything." I respond.

"As a matter of fact, I am." The crown responds.

"Sir, I'd advise making camp here for the night at least. Even if we don't make our main base here, it looks easily defensible, and it's also abandoned, making contact very unlikely."

I look at Crossbones for a second and then say "Sometimes you surprise me with how brilliant you are, Crossbones."

"Thank you, sir."

Looking over the castle one more time, I see that although it's really old and damaged it can be easily repaired. "Okay, let's get some rest. I think that this might be the only place in this entire forest that's safe. I'll take first watch."

My turn at watch is pretty boring, and according to Crossbones, so was his. But when I change the watch over to Crossbones and go to sleep, things get a lot more interesting.

I wake up. I look around, confused.

"Where am I?" I think.

"You are in the dream world." A voice says. I turn towards the sound, and see a ball of energy.

"What the..." I begin. But before I can continue, the glowy ball of power stuff reforms itself into a vaguely human form. Vaguely. It looks like some bizarre caricature of a human. It is a kind of energy golem if that makes any sense. I know, it doesn't.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I think it should be obvious. Moron." And in an instant, I know who it is.

"Crown?" I ask.

"Finally. At least you aren't a total loss."

"Why am I here?" I demand.

"You're here to learn. We don't have enough time to learn in the real world, so we're doing it here."

I slowly nod. "That actually makes a lot of sense. So, where and when do we begin?"

"Here and now. Are you ready?" The crown responds.

"I think so." I slowly answer.

"Then let's begin."

Training to become a king takes a long time. Especially when you're training to be a warrior as well. Then it takes a really long time. Thankfully, time in the dream world moves a lot slower than in the real world. The crown explained everything to me. Every minute in the real world is a day in the dream world. Therefore, an hour is two months, if a month to you is 30 days. I slept for six hours, so I trained for a year. Weird, huh? Anyways, I wasn't able to train as much as the crown wanted. Heartless taskmaster. I got in the basics for everything the crown deemed necessary for my education as well as a lot of advanced stuff for the things that were the most relevant in his view. That included combat, battle strategy, magic and politics. I didn't know why the last one was deemed important at the time. I sure as heck know now. Anyways, after a year of constant learning, it was time for me to wake up.

"Sir? Wake up, please. Sir, please wake up."

"I'm awake, Crossbones."

"Sorry, sir but I think we have to move."

I sit up and look in the direction that Crossbones is pointing. "Is that..."

"That's a Cragadile, a type of magic crocodile made from stone."

"That thing puts the rock in 'Crocodile Rock'" I say.

"You are terrible at puns." The crown says.

The Cragadile roars and charges. I jump out of the way. Crossbones does some kind of commando tactical roll out of the path of the Cragadile. I come up with my sword drawn, in a Iron Man pose. I begin a spell, feeling the power build in my hands. I release it in the general direction of the Cragadile. The beast makes the mistake of roaring in my direction. My magic bolt slams into the mouth of the Cragadile. It chokes on the superheated energy. I look in amazement as the monster disintegrates before my eyes.

"I think you killed it, sir." Crossbones observes.

"Well done." The crown congratulates.

"I think that this castle will do for a more permanent base." I decide.

"Sounds good. We'll probably need more troops if we're to keep this place." Crossbones looks at me expectantly.

"You want me to create another min- skeleton?" I ask. "I don't know how I made you! How do you expect me to make an entire army?! I probably can't for all you or I know!! And how do you know that I want to make more troops? I do, but you didn't know!!" I pause for breath. I didn't know that I even had to breathe. "And I never asked to command any number of troops!! I don't want to!! I wasn't asked! If I'd been given a choice between afterlives I probably wouldn't have chosen this one!! Why wasn't I asked? I don't know!!! I don't know anything about this place!!" I finally stop.

"That felt good." I say.

"Got a lot on your mind?" The crown asks.

"Yep." I respond.

"So, you think you can make another skeleton?" Crossbones asks.

"I think so. Let's find the pool where I made you."

"There's no need for that. You can use the magic right now, right here."

"I think you got that the wrong way around." I drily observe.

"You know what I mean." The crown retorts.

"So, how do I use this magic?"

"Simply find what you used to create Crossbones. Bring it into focus. When you've found it, channel it, give it form."

"Okay, sounds easy enough." I close my eyes and concentrate. I look for the magic like the crown said. It doesn't take long. I pull the magic out, concentrate it, push it out. I picture a soldier, no, two soldiers. I order the universe to bend to my will, to create two skeleton warriors for me to command. I feel the universe relent, feel it bend into two troopers. I open my eyes and observe my handiwork. Two soldiers stand at attention before me. They look identical to each other and Crossbones.

At least, in appearance.

In demeanor, they are very different from Crossbones. They feel like robots to me. I can sense that Crossbones is a being in his own right, but these two don't. They stand too stiffly, to unnaturally.

"I'll have no problems commanding them." I think.

Crossbones looks a little uncomfortable, but he doesn't say anything.

"Okay, let's begin to rebuild this castle." I say.

I point to one of the soldiers. "You handle guard duty. You," I say, pointing to the other one. "Assist me and Crossbones with surveying the castle."

"Yes sir." I wince. The soldiers speak in monotones. That further reinforces my theory that they're robots.

As me and my troops set to work, I wonder, "Am I doing the right thing?"

Author's Note

And so, as my empire begins, I have a moment of doubt. Will I be able to get over it, or will I suffer a mental breakdown? Wait, what? Next chapter will be the one with ponies in it, so be patient. Please.