The Tale of Doscal | Teen Ink

The Tale of Doscal

January 4, 2024
By jocelyno18 BRONZE, West Des Moines, Iowa
jocelyno18 BRONZE, West Des Moines, Iowa
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Doscal Dormir was like any other second son in his country. He worked restlessly on his family's farm that he knew would never be his, yet he worked on anyways. He knew his older brother, Zadkiel, would gain the farm and all the riches that came with it, and he knew his younger sister, Cacilie, would get married off to a man like Zadkiel. Doscal did not know what would happen to him, so he focused on the now and would let fate run its course.

Doscal was doing the usual farm work, muttering to himself about how Zadkiel never did anything, how Cacilie would get everything without doing anything, and that was when the unusual occurrences began. 

In his moments of anger, while pulling weeds, he would yank a little too hard and pull some of the earth out with it, but that wasn’t the odd part. When he was shoveling, he was grumbling about how dry the ground had been, making his work all the much harder, he broke the handle off from the force of his grip, but not even that was the strangest thing. No, what the strangest thing was when he was struggling with the wheel barrel more then usual, and while trying to get the wheel unstuck, he ended up sending the whole cart flying. That was about the strangest thing he had ever seen or done. 

Doscal began to test his limits and found that there seemed to be none, that when he really wanted to, he could break or move about anything with just his hands. He decided to keep this to himself, to use this to create his own farm and become more successful than Zadkiel could dream of, more so than whoever Cacilie would marry. He would leave them begging for his help and he would offer none just as they had done to him. 

This plan was spoiled when Zadkiel had spotted Doscal testing his limits and reported it to their father, who interrogated Doscal until he concluded that Doscal was simply different and should be keep away so nobody would shun the Dormir name. 

But Doscal did not want to hide, so he would head into town everyday, bringing more and more crops with him without anyones knowledge to show his strength and gain some secret money. He caught the eyes of many townsfolk who knew someone of his size should not be able to drag that much weight without even breaking a sweat. 

Lilith Astraea realized quickly that she was special, that she was different, but she was not alone. She had been watching as Doscal would bring in more dry crops and would smile to herself that even though her family crops were not brought in such big batches, they were watered and full.

So she proposed an idea. She cornered Doscal, who was taken by surprise at the ease she had of taking him over when he was not alert. She grinned at him and simply said, “I know your secret, now, come walk with me.” 

Lilith explained how she was her families only child and that she would need to marry a second son to keep her family line going. She knew Doscal was a second son and with his strength and her ability to keep water going, even in the long droughts, that they would never know struggle and neither would their children. 

Doscal liked the idea and upon proposing it to their families, each agreed and soon the two were wed, but as soon as that happened, the rumors began. The Astraea-Dormir farm prospered and witchcraft was accused, using methods that were frowned upon was tossed in the air like a ball, and their reputation faltered as they grew their land. 

When their children were born, they held these abilities, as Lilith and Doscal called them, and the rumors only worsened until people began to pop up with these remarkable gifts that mirrored what the Astraea-Dormir family held. Certainly not everyone in their country could partake in witchcraft, so the accusations were dropped and that was when Doscal began to build his perfect world. 

He conspired, he cheated, he did what was frowned upon most. He would promise land to others like him, land that had already been claimed by those that were deemed “normal”. He promised them all a kingdom, promised them a dynasty. Those without abilities fought, they argued at they were removed from their land. 

As time went on, Doscal’s promises were proven false, they got land, but that was all. Doscal decided that as the first “Chosen”, he would make laws, he would decided who got what, he was above all. 

When his oldest daughter, Sarnai, was to be wed, there were arguments over who was the most powerful, who should become the next king of their kingdom, when Doscal capialized on this. The year when the heir apparent to the throne was of age the royal family would host an event where the children of age to marry the heir would fight to prove who the most powerful was to create a family that would dominate above all else. 

The event went and Sarnai married and soon after Doscal died in a battle with another country, Krisha. Sarnai declared them enemies and in a time of desperation to keep her kingdom in tact, she declared the country would be named Doscal after her late father. 

The action was opposed, many hated it, but revolts were shut down quickly and although Sarnai would not carry the Astraea-Dormir name, Doscal would live on. 

Only Doscal. 


The author's comments:

This piece is intended to be a prequel to the book series I want to write. It is meant to be read as a historical text to help with the world building of this series. I hope everyone enjoys this and I am open to any feedback!


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