– I needed to keep you close. I had to prevent you from getting away from me, so I treated Ki’rai. Wel… Not with my own hands, but with the hands of Xuvi. I made them become your enemy, so you would come to me to deal with them. It helped, but not enough. I needed something better, and, oh boy, fate did give me something better. Way better. Ixa. She was on my tail for quite some time, because I traveled through the world so often. At first, I thought she would be a nuisance, so I avoided her, but then…

He chuckled again, breaking his speech briefly.

– But then I realized how useful she could be to me. I observed her from far away for a moment and then decided to allow her to find me. She was so desperate to find somebody like her. She wanted to not feel alone, but nobody was good enough. In every aspect, she was perfect for me. Desperate for somebody like me, a tyrant ruling an empire, a powerful foe, and on top of that she had rebels trying to take her down. All I needed was to bring her into the picture.

He sat down, seemingly in that air, but a second before that, the ground itself raised, to form a throne for him, held together by telekinetic powers bits and pieces of broken plates from the plaza itself. Then he crossed his legs.

– So I allowed her to find me. She wanted to communicate, to find out who I was, but I was not interested in that. I was interested in something else, so I escalated things a bit. Then we fought and I lost to her on purpose. I escaped before she could finish me off. I sold it to you as luck, but the truth was, I was never in danger – he giggled yet again. – This was enough for her to become obsessed with me. Not only did I give her a good duel, but I managed to run away from her. In this way, I created a perfect foe for you to grow in strength to give me my perfect body. You became so fond of me, that you even gave me a crystal so I could heal using the device. Just so you know, I used my own powers to do that, and I still have that stone. I’m going to keep it as a trophy. You know the rest of the story…

He paused for a moment, just to shatter my bones and rip my flesh, keeping me in my state of agony.

– You don’t know, though, that my plan was actually to let her beat you up into a pulp, before taking over. I could do it even without that little detail, but why would I make my life harder? There was also Druoag. That guy was also tempting. What better way to find my new body than to hold a contest? All I needed was to stay away, pretend to support you, and watch who does better. Unfortunately, you showed something unexpected. I didn’t know what that power was. I even expected my father to be involved in that somehow – he shrugged his shoulders.

It made me curious. It meant that there was something he wasn’t in control of from the beginning to the end. A glimpse of hope.

– Before you forced my hand, though, the power vanished – he continued. – I had to bring you back to life from the brink of death. I actually wasted a good opportunity because of that. It took me days to realize that my father was not involved, and it was just something you acquired using the device. I also realized that this transformation was pretty much a once-in-a-while thing. I needed it out of the way, but I didn’t have an idea about how to do it.

– The solution was so obvious, that I was unable to see it for a while. All I needed was to point you against my enemy. The empire was left by my brothers. It was perfect! Hitting two birds with one stone! You take down a big portion of them for me and get beaten up terribly in the process, using your strange and annoying power, then I come here and take what’s mine – he shrugged his shoulders while spreading his arms wide.

Just to make sure, he once again used his telekinetic powers to hurt me, so I would stay in my state that didn’t allow me to do anything.

– And here we are – he added, standing up from the makeshift throne. – about to end it all with the perfect happy ending. The strongest body, for the strongest mind. Enough to take over all the remaining four regions, and eat all those juicy fruits. Can you imagine how strong I will become? Even my father will fall before me. I will finally take what was supposed to be mine from the beginning.

He started to slowly get closer to me. I tried to force every little bit of strength left into the lump of meat I became to move, but there was no response. I was a prisoner of my own flesh. There was no way out for me.

He got so close that he could crouch right next to e and touch my bloody forehead with his hand. Then I felt it. His true power. An overwhelming strength of mind. Much, much stronger than anything I felt before.

The weirdest thing was that it all started inside. Like if he was inside my head from the beginning, just waiting to reveal himself.

I was surrounded. About to be destroyed, and there was nothing I could do. I didn’t have it in me to fight this guy. Fortunately, my skills allowed me to not panic even in such a desperate situation. I did the last little thing I could possibly do.

I retreated into the deepest, darkest corner of my own mind, and hi there in the shadows, begging the Creator himself so his son wouldn’t find me.

Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.