I don’t know really how, but I did survive there, in that very dark corner. Hiding, but not like a little rat, shaking in fear. I was calm. Unreasonably calm.

The return was celebrated by the aliens around. Ixa spoke to them. I personally wouldn’t understand the language. The words didn’t have meaning to me, they were just a bunch of gibberish, but The Great One in my body could understand, and through him, I also was able to get the meaning.

I was called the greatest warrior, who succeeded in performing an unbelievably hard mission that will assure our victory. A secret mission, then nobody could know about because of its importance. Since it was she who said those words, nobody dared to put them in doubt.

I was then escorted by her to her chambers, where we stayed. The Great One, use my body to perform various task there, involving different equipment. I knew that he was sending orders around.

This led to a different ship, docking in our, much larger, vessel, and he went there to greet the guests. To my surprise, it was my family.

They all surrounded me, hugging me tightly as if we haven’t seen each other for ages. Everybody was crying.

I can’t really tell what was being said, because I was too furious to carefully listen to the muffled voices. But can you blame me? My life was stolen from me. I was boiling inside. If this boiling could radiate heat, I would probably turn in plasma.

I desperately wished to do something, but there was nothing I could think of. I was so weak, robbed of every little bit of power I had, but then a wave of calmness overtook me. I had to stay calm, stay patient, waiting for the right moment.

I did. For the next couple of days, I observed my life as if I was watching it on TV. I wasn’t the one making decisions, I was just a bystander. Thankfully The Great One didn’t make anything horrible. The only thing on his mind was the conquest of the other four regions.

That began after those days passed.

It was unbelievably easy. He approached each territory, then traveled from planet to planet, using their own infrastructure, consuming fruit after fruit.

The power of my body and the power of his mind combined were unbelievable. Strength beyond understanding. And he was vicious, ruthless. Spilling rivers of blood, and walking over corpses didn’t mean anything to him, as long as he would take what he wanted.

Each fruit only made us stronger, increasing the difference, and even the oldest of aliens who held the most power couldn’t do anything. I wrote us, because a tiny bit of that strength also went to me, hiding in the corner like a parasite.

When everything was conquered, we returned to Quel’kabar, to the Sky Palace, where a groundbreaking decision has been made by the fake Queen Ixa herself. The empire was given to me, as a reward for assuring victory against a foe that could destroy the Ixan empire. Ixa decided to step down. That was the last day everybody was going to hear anything about her.

That was also the first day of my rule over the empire. My family was shocked by that, but to avoid questions, The Great One also avoided them. Using the crowning ceremony as a pretext.

He was so full of himself, so happy, that this last step was about to happen, and his lifetime goal was about to become reality. There was only one thing left. Kill his father, the Creator. He had plans for how to achieve it, but those were very cautious plans. They involved consuming every possible fruit, which was his next goal, after establishing himself as the emperor.

All the pompous ceremonies, grand speeches, and celebrations later. I watched him travel from planet to planet, consuming fruit after fruit, becoming unimaginably strong. He became so drunk on this power, that even the confrontation with his father was no longer a worry for him. He was confident that he would win, and everything everywhere would become his.

As it was meant to be.

It was very painful to watch it. Although I reminded calm and patient, each of his successes hurt me deeply. I felt as if I was the one who had to struggle. Who had to sacrifice everything, and the one who was to benefit from everything I’ve done, was him.

A terrible feeling. But also a necessary one.

It made me once again think If there was something, anything I could do to change the situation, to change my fate.

At first, I had no good ideas. He seemed too strong for anything, for anybody to face him. How could I do anything against him? How could I win? The world would have to stand on its head for such a thing to happen, and that was impossible.

It felt as if, even if the Creator himself was around, he wouldn’t be able to help me. I lost hope, although still remained calm.

“Maybe I don’t have anybody to help me, but I still have myself. It was always enough. Why wouldn’t it be enough now?”, I asked myself, so quietly that he wouldn’t be able to hear my voice in the mind we were sharing.

It allowed me to realize one thing. There was something I could do. He didn’t know of my existence, so I could pull off one thing before he would even be able to realize it. One move. The only question was, what move should it be? What move could allow me to win with this goliath?

The answer came to me shortly after.