The next morning when I woke, I immediately grabbed the branding iron. It was going to be a good day. I switched the TV off, and headed down into the main room. They were all waiting there, and most of them had fear in their eyes. They still feared me? I would've thought that those wimps would've toughened up by then, but no. Still, it was going to make their screams of pain that much more interesting.
"Do you know what this is?" I asked, then answered my own question before anybody could reply. "It's a branding iron, with my own mark on the end. And you can very well guess what I'm going to use this branding iron for. And for the idiots who can't, I'll just say it aloud. I am going to brand you, so that if you run, they will know that you are part of my army, and since my army will be feared, they will act like cornered dogs and attack. Now, the branding will begin."
I called the first person over, deciding to do it randomly to increase their fear. I summoned fire, using it to heat up the branding iron. If there was any heat in the handle area, I didn't feel it. After I made the branding iron hot, I lifted up the shoulder sleeve of one of them, and put the brand right below the shoulder. The smell of burning flesh filled the room immediately. And I laughed, breathing it in as if it were perfume. My lower class dug into the ground as I reveled in the sweet scent.
"Alright. Now that you've seen how it goes, who wants to go next? Come on; you don't want to be a coward, now do you?"
When nobody volunteered, I chose another person on my own. It was a small girl - she couldn't have been older than nine - and I had to drag her because she was fighting and struggling against me. It was fun, actually, trying to get her to listen to me, because that gave me the opportunity to come up with more threats. When I finally got her up there, she was trying to bite at me. I scoffed. If she was truly strong, she'd have shifted to lion.
I took the branding iron and placed it to her arm, watching curls of smoke rise up. Then, I heard her shrill little screams ring out, and the scent of burnt flesh was renewed. She was crying when I removed the branding iron, and I just laughed. Didn't she know that when you cried, you let everybody know that you're weak? She truly was foolish. I pushed her away, sending her to join the rest of the group. Then I chose another person.
Each mark that I made on somebody's arm was far more satisfying than the last. The screams were like music - good music, not bad music - to my ears, and at the end of it all, I had a grin that rivaled the Cheshire Cat's. I felt powerful, because none of them dared attack me - at least, those who had sense. The little girl who had tried to attack me was, like, eight or nine.
I dismissed them all to their rooms, then went to go find the training room. Even with the thrill of all the pain I had inflicted, it still wasn't enough. I needed to pound some more of that energy out, and so I went to the training room. It was huge, with punching bags, swords, guns, and more. I went to the punching bag, giving it a few punches and then accidentally punching a hole through it. I shrugged, going to the next punching back. My tension was quite destructive, and I felt angry inside. Still, somebody needed to be there in case people tried to escape. The branding iron was an exception.
Once all of the punching bags had been 'killed' - and by killed I mean destroyed - I decided to practice my magic. Christina would want me to keep my strength up. She would want me to rule. When I began thinking about what to try with my magic, an idea came to my mind. Maybe I could try flying. It couldn't be too hard, could it? Magic could do anything if you had enough power, and I had plenty of power at that point. Sure, I still wanted more, but I did have enough to try flying.
I pictured wings coming from my back, and all I wanted of them was for them to be powerful. I felt something unfold all of a sudden, on my back, and when I looked, there were wings as dark as night. The wings seemed to be made of shadows, and they were intangible. When I tried to touch them, there was nothing. Nice. But could I fly with them? They certainly looked large enough, that was for sure. I gave the wings a few flaps, and I was in the air. I was flying. And I could not wait to see the faces of my army when I came flying by. Maybe I'd do it later, I thought to myself.
Because the training room was large, I had plenty of room that I could fly around in. And the ceiling was high, too, so it was if my magic knew no bounds. Maybe someday, it wouldn't have any bounds. Then I could rule the entire country. Maybe even the entire world! That thought was so, so appealing, and so I made it my second goal, with my first being to kill Moone's entire bloodline.
Soon, I landed, still thinking about the whole Lucas situation. Why didn't he just stay? Honestly, if he had done that, it would've made my life so much easier. He had no reason to run until I showed up, but according to everybody in my army, he had ran as soon as Moone was killed. I sighed. I never really understood men in the first place. Still, Lucas would be killed, and then there would be a clear path to the ruler's seat.
