Young Writers Society

The Commander lounged back in an overstuffed, yet somehow regal-looking armchair, and beckoned one of the Office Squires to fetch another mug of Root Beer. They had looked forward to this evening for many months. A night to stop worrying about the howling beasts of the Green Room from Review Months or Review Days, and to enjoy the company of the Knights, doing what Knights do best of course... telling tales of the Green Battle Field.

Commander hiccupped on another gulp of the soda, put both hands on their knees, and looked around the familiar faces illuminated by the Library's fireplace. "Well Knights, if you're feeling weary it's time for you to head to bed. I have a story I've been wanting to share, and it's not one I'll be taking interruptions for."

The fire crackled, and the wind howled, but the Knights were silent. There had always been a sense of mystery around who The Commander was, they were like a Knight who never removed their helmet, there was always this hedge of guardedness in their speech, an air of formality that came without cracks.

The Commander, internally steadying themselves with a last look around the room, began their tale.

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"It's time you knew how this order came about, how the Knights were formed, how the Knights of the Green Room came to be. I won't be around forever, so someone ought to know the history. Commander took a quick look at Scribe Kale to make sure they were jotting down notes.

Well, the Green Room had been around for many years as a holding place for authors making their way through Editing Mountain; the problem was the place was littered with all sorts of foes and beasts and monsters. Understandably, one didn't want to delay in a place like that. Authors would have some reprieve during the occasional Review Day, but besides that it was a cold and desolate place. That is where I come in.

As a young, perhaps overly confident, apprentice at a chicken hatchery, I had long dreamt of adventure beyond the walls of the barn where I worked, but for a poor apprentice like myself, a chance at adventure was not common. Still it set my mind to day-dreaming of epic battles and journeys. My adventures were limited to my dreams, that is until one day something peculiar happened in the hatchery. I spied a golden egg. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the glint of gold from a dusty corner of the hatchery floor; but truly as old legend had told - it was a golden egg - the type that could produce a golden fowl.

These types of birds were so rare and treasured, as I held the egg in my palm I felt fate had put us together, and that this surely would be my one chance to escape the hatchery. So under the cover of night, I ran away with my few possessions and the stolen egg in my satchel. I could not sell such a ware in my own hometown near the lakes of Randomosity and the Knowledge Base. No, people in the Trading Post would know immediately that someone like me must have stolen the treasure. The only place lawless enough to trade the stolen good would be the Green Room - a place filled with monsters, beasts, and unrest.

I planned to sell the egg to Spamerous, a giant Green Room ogre who traded in fine weaponry. I hoped that with a fine weapon - a spear or a proper sword perhaps, I could begin my life of adventure I'd always desired. The journey to Spamerous was not easy, but within a week's time I had made it to his current whereabouts. He was a fierce beast to look at Knights, I'll spare you some of the finer details of his appearance, but his scent I shall never forget; a heavy mixture of snot and swamp. Spamerous agreed, amicably to the terms of trading the stolen egg for a fine sword. However when the time came to trade the goods arrived, the giant ogre cheated me by giving me a false weapon made of nothing more than shined cardboard.

Once I found out I'd been hoodwinked, Spamerous was long gone. As I sorrowed after my loss of the golden egg, I realized I had been quite a fool to have stolen it in the first place. It had been dishonorable and now I was left with no job, no sword, no egg, and no chance of returning home. As I continued wallowing I was met by a traveling bard who looked as miserable as I felt. I asked what was the trouble, and the bard said they had been attacked by a giant ogre. When I asked what the ogre looked and smelled of, the bard described the same ogre, Spamerous, who had cheated me out of my golden egg! It turned out as I moved from village to village in the Green Room that many folks had similar tales of woe and sadness being attacked and cheated by the giant ogre. I knew what I had to do. I had to stop this ogre, not just for myself, but for all those who had fallen prey to his terrors.

Equipped with only a flimsy cardboard sword, I knew I couldn't defeat this foe on my own so I sought out other brave souls. It didn't take long to find a good group of fellow adventurers who like myself, wanted to see the Green Room defended. Our only problem was we had no way of reaching the lair the ogre Spamerous lived in. We tried and failed to cross the Roleplay River, and then attempted to reach the end of the People Tab, but none of those methods worked. But just as we began to give up hope, a unicorn approached us! I know what you're thinking, how could a person get lucky enough to encounter both a unicorn and golden egg in the same life-time right? Well the unicorns have long watched over the land of YWS and knew of the struggles of the Green Room. When they heard someone intended to bring some justice to the Green Room they sent some recruits to help, with a promise that as long as we defended the Green Room they would send some of their kind for the purposes of assisting our missions. With our team emboldened by our army of unicorns at our side, we knew we stood a chance.

Once we reached the lair of the ogre, Spamerous was quite surprised to see the force that had amassed. Never before had a group stood up to a foe in the Green Room. We were small, we were largely unarmed, but we were brave and determined. In my old life I might have believed power was only in the individual, but in that battle I truly saw the power of numbers; a lesson I would never forget. After the ogre was surrounded he asked just one question, "What do you call yourselves?" With a moment's pause I thought about our mission; our journey, and responded with a name that felt true as I said it, "We are the Knights of the Green Room". The ogre's eye widened and with a great sigh he actually gave up willingly. We subsequently made him promise to leave the Green Room once and for all.

With an eager heart, I searched his lair (a very stinky place indeed) but could not seem to find the golden egg. My searching grew more desperate until suddenly one of my comrades called out - she brought attention to what I had feared - there lay the golden egg's shell broken in pieces. As I swept up the broken shards of the crushed golden egg in my hand, I felt for a moment that the whole mission had still been in some part a failure. A few tears formed at my eyes as I clutched the broken shell. Then I heard the glorious sound that one can only hear to this day when the Green Room is nearly empty, when the wind has stopped, when all the other creatures of the forest stop their rustling. It was indeed the glorious honking of a Golden Goose! In a rafter hidden above our heads a golden gleam revealed the glistening feathers of the tiny golden gosling. The egg had not been smashed, it had hatched!

The goose leapt from the rafter on to my shoulder and I peered at it for a minute, before it hopped back to the ground to search for stray bugs to munch on. I knew watching the creature waddle around the room, that this was where it belonged, for the Golden Goose had never been truly mine to begin with. While I sold her shell to buy some starting-armor for my comrades and myself for our future missions, I would leave that Golden Goose there in the Green Room. And as you know she has hatched many Golden Goslings since that day. In fact though they are rare, their populations are replenishing and they are not so rare as they once were. There have been a collection of brave Knights since that day who have also stumbled upon the glorious melody of a Golden Goose's honking amidst an emptied Green Room. 

Initially we thought to disband the group of the Knights of the Green Room, but soon enough we were met with a call for an author in need, and then another helpless author, and then called to defeat another foe. And before we knew it, we had committed to protecting the Green Room permanently and soon other adventurers sought to join our number. Of course our order soon became more formalized as more Knights, supplies, and armor were needed for the task of defending the Green Room becoming the Knights of the Green Room as you know it today. And of course the castle had to be built as well! But those are stories for another day, for now I think the story of my humble beginnings is enough talking from me for the evening."

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The room that had stayed silent during The Commander's speech, became filled with whispers. Whether the whispers were of admiration, intrigue, or doubt, The Commander didn't care to surmise. They leaned back in their chair patting a locket that rested against their chest that was rumored to hold within a small metallic edge of a golden egg shell. 

"Well my story shouldn't be the only one of the evening!" The Commander continued, "The Great Hall only captures a glimpse of each of your journeys. The Root Beer is on me this evening, let's all have another round, and hear from someone else."

And with that many stories were shared among the Knights of the Green Room, new and old, each one a tale of a brave defender of the Green Room who had each in their own way, for their own reasons, decided to join the noble order.  

Will you join the story? 

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• Join KotGR here: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?...
• Story originally featured in the KotGR SB: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?... open to all knights to share their origins and tales. 

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