Paradox City

The city lies on the edge of nowhere and the beginning of everywhere. The sun rises at night in the west and sets every morning in the east.The trees die in summer and come back to life in the frigid winter.

King Valiant, who fears his own shadow, sits on the throne. He only ventures out on days when the moon is hidden behind clouds. Valiant's mother waited to name her children until their true natures had been revealed, as all mothers in Paradox City do. His younger sister, Princess Whisper, never speaks below a shout. She drinks honeyed tea to prevent vocal strain.

The people of the city endeavor to be contradictions, for on the day of their deaths, the tale of their life is told to those who have gathered, and it would be delightfully embarrasing to have behaved in accordance with their name.

Valiant never thought he would shame himself with an act of courage. Nothing much at all happened to him, on account of his solitary and sedentary existence.

He was wonderfully wrong.

On his death day, Valiant saved the life of his only campanion, a young dog of fifteen years, from dashing into the path of a carriage. He was struck in the process, and his broken ribs punctured a lung.

The story of his cowardly life was shouted by Princess Whisper, until she got to his last, terrible, valiant deed, where her voice dropped several decibels.

The ignominy killed his mother several days later.