Beyond?

“Skiing in Dwem! Book your own adventure in Dwem's high mountains. We see to all your needs and provide an experienced guide. He will show you the crystalline mountain, our capital. Then you get to see the Vaigard Cliff, where half the mountain top broke off. Now we have a nice wellness hotel up there and after spending a night we ski down to the foot of the mountain and explore the icy caves beneath it. If you want we take you on a yeti hunt and show you the wildlife of Dwem. Adventure holidays in Dwem are becoming very popular. Spend a week which you'll never forget!”

-Random Flyer

***Second Continent, Jont-Capital***

***Serenzar Draco***

“When will the fleet be ready?” I walk along the port and watch the countless anchoring black ships.

My new head priest bows and answers with a stuttering voice. “Th... th... They aren't ready yet. It's a huge task to ship your army across the sea.” He holds his documents in front of his chest as if that would shield him from my wrath.

I sigh. Losing my old head priest wasn't a happy experience. It's not like I would care for the loss of a single, short-lived ant. Who cares if they reach the age of sixty or seventy? It's more like losing the shirt you like the most and then asking yourself if you'll ever find one as silky.

“Listen. I just want them to ship a few spies to the main continent. Obviously there is something going on that wasn't within my plans.” I explain it to the fool in order to clear up his misunderstanding. “You'll search for our most loyal and devoted individuals. See to it that they also have the proper training. Then they'll infiltrate them on every possible level.”

“Oh, in that case they can depart immediately. But our attempts at getting spies into Nict's society all failed so far. Why should it be different this time?” He asks.

“Are you questioning your god?” I squint my eyes and focus him with my eyes. Do I have to explain everything to this one? My old head priest had at least some intelligence to think for himself. I should look for a replacement in time. If I get a raging fit I might break the new fool who replaced him.

“N... no!” He pales even further.

“We are abandoning our low profile approach. So far it worked because the main continent didn't even notice our existence, but the flow of information is clearly too limited. Use the official channels to find out what's going on. Contact our puppets in the southern nations and the north directly. Try to find out if there are any surviving operatives in Quinn, Nict or Dwem.” I massage my forehead. There is no reason to make this harder than it is. He is new to the job and nervous. I have to give him a month or two. “How are the development projects going.”

My head priest's face lights up. “They are running smoothly.  The schooling of the younger generations is going well and the death-toll due to sickness is as low as never. The general populace loves you.”

I nod and grumble. “Good. A good society needs happy citizens. And the villages which revolted?”

“They are also running fine. Since you ordered them per godly decree to stop their offensive actions against you, there are much less violent outbreaks.” The head priest shows me another sheet with statistics.

It's not surprising to me. I decided to stop the resistance against my orders by raw force. There are always people who are unhappy with their rulers. In this case a minority of distant villages refused to act according to my reforms. They were fools who wanted to stick to their old ways, which can be translated as 'We want to keep living in the mud!' and 'We like seeing our children being eaten by wild animals!'.

Maybe I should take the time to release them from their shackles to show them what a few months of servitude can accomplish for their own well being? Maybe the normal villagers will slay their elders on their own accord after my little lesson.

I concentrate on the amulet around my neck and release the villagers who had their minds controlled so far. “I decided to let them act on their own from now on. Maybe they've learned their lesson.”

My head priest bows. “The Master is very kind-hearted.”

No. Only pragmatic in rebuilding the empire of my father. It's impossible to control everyone at all times with the amulet. Though it is by far the strongest artefact I know, its powers are limited.

I wonder what my foolish brother is doing right now? Is he still playing the righteous Saviour after causing one civil war after the other? Falling in love wasn't good for his mind. Because of a single girl of low standing he caused more bloodshed than the old Empire ever produced in its whole history.

It was impossible to uphold law and order while he kept running around, planting ideas of freedom and self government in the heads of our citizens. I hoped that he would cool down after his lover died of old age. There wasn't even an assassination attempt from my side after he freed her.

In the end I couldn't protect the empire which our father created with hard work and his own blood. It's far easier to destroy something than to create.

My eyes wander over the black fleet of ships and I turn towards the port where my carriage is waiting. “Get everything done like I instructed. I don't want to be disturbed any further today.”

Leaving the head priest behind, I get into my carriage and instruct the carriage driver to bring me to the palace. The carriage moves at an average pace through the streets of my capital and a few guards are escorting it. I don't really need guards, but it's for the sake of appearances.

The citizens are still calling the city Jont, even though it is far removed from the small village with which I began my work of rebuilding the Empire.

The streets are neat and orderly. There are no beggars or homeless people anywhere. I decreed that people who have no work have to take the first job which they are able to serve in. There are no excuses and the ones who are searching for workers are only allowed to search for a limited time. Afterwards they have to take what they can get. It's not the best system in regards to productivity, but I don't want any people with too much time on their hands.

Time allows people to think too much for their own good. And as the little children they are, they always get the idea to create mayhem.

The big houses made out of white bricks pass by and I squint my eyes at some children playing on the street. Children shouldn't play on the street. It's dangerous and I created daycare organizations for that purpose. I snap my fingers at one of the guards who are escorting my carriage. “Ask the parents of those kids why they aren't able to take care of their offspring properly.”

The guard nods and stays behind to give the parents of the kids a hard time like it should be. My personal opinion on matters like these may seem radical to most people, but parents who are too stupid to use the public facilities like daycare institutes should be grilled.

My palace enters my view and I marvel at the golden structure. I built it with my own powers and am still adding new features to it. Whenever I have a little time I start creating new walls and corridors according to my fantasies.

As someone can expect from such an approach, my palace is a mad collection of different architectural styles which accumulated over the centuries. Not a single stone was touched by someone else. When the people look at it, they know that this structure wasn't created by their hands.

A part of the palace looks like an unfinished pyramid which transcends smoothly into a synagogue. On the other side is a slim tower which stabs through the clouds above everything.

The carriage passes through a set of independent gates. I couldn't decide on which would be best to impress new arrivals in my palace, so I simply built all of them.

The palace's hallways are big enough for the carriage to drive right through them and towards my private quarters. In hindsight my design might be a little megalomaniac, but it's handy.

I jump out of the carriage and enter my private quarters while the carriage is departing with the guards.

My private quarters consists of a big, circular living room and I sigh in relief after finally closing the door behind me. The coloured windows in the ceiling bathe the room in different colours. From here, I can enter the bath through the left door. There is also a pool attached to it.

The door on the opposite of the entrance leads to my king sized bedroom. To my right is a long corridor which connects to a kitchen, storage rooms, workroom and office. At the end of the corridor are the quarters of my harem.

I throw myself onto the comfortable couch in the middle of the room and close my eyes for a moment. There is nothing better than being able to relax after a long and hard day of commanding people around.

“My god is already tired? You returned earlier today.” An erotic female voice stops my happy time alone and I open my eyes to find Elora looming above me. Her silky, black hair is glittering in the sunlight which is coming through the windows in the ceiling.

Two perfectly white horns are creating the image of a diadem on her head. The horns are slim and rippled like a saw. Her face is attractive, but not as beautiful as other women's. Maybe it could've been if it wasn't for the single thin scar which is running from her forehead across her left eye and down to her cheek.

It's an old wound from her days as a slave and she doesn't allow me to remove it.

I grumble and take the stack of reports from her hands. “Was there anything extraordinary today?”

“No?” She places one hand on her hips and looks at me in a displeased manner. “I guarded your private quarters as I do every day. The only one who came and went was the priest who brought your reports. That's all. My life is a very boring existence.”

“Maybe you shouldn't have scared away the other members of my harem? You wouldn't have to be alone in here.” I take a look at the first report to distract myself from her furious appearance with the waving tail behind her. Her dangerous, frilly, black dress barely covers her private places while revealing everything else. It is very distracting.

“As if I would let anyone else come close to you.” She sits down on top of me and places her cheek on my chest, pressing her adequate bosom against me. A few dozen years ago my soldiers found her as a child in a slave camp of some pirates.

They brought her to me since I am always looking for women with high magical powers. I want mates which don't grow old and die within a couple of years.

When I saw her as a child I immediately noticed her outstanding magical potential. If she doesn't suffer an unfortunate accident she might even outlive me. Because of that I added her as a future candidate to my harem and saw to it that she gets a proper education as a wife.

The only problem is that she is a demon despite her looks. Surely and steadily she eliminated all her rivals while she was growing up. Either by making them run away on their own, or having them suffer an unfortunate accident.

I recognized the pattern of her actions, but since I wanted to see how far she'll get I didn't act. Watching my harem's quarrels and rivalries was a source of entertainment. Surprisingly Elora dealt with her last three rivals at once and made them all disappear at the same time.

Now she is the only member of my harem and I am running low on candidates at the moment.

“Are you still focused on increasing your power? Isn't one continent enough?” she draws a little circle on my chest and looks up at me, trying to look cute.

“I am only rebuilding my father's legacy. That's all.” I answer, trying to keep my voice calm. “Nothing can distract me from my goal.”

She smirks and places her fingers on the hard bulge in my trousers. “I bet I can!” She opens my belt and kisses my neck while pulling my trousers out of the way.

“I am not in the mood. There is work to do!” I point at the reports, but she doesn't listen.

With experienced movements she mounts me and impales herself. “Keep reading. I'll help myself.”

I try to concentrate, but her moaning and the swaying motions of her hips are making it impossible. In the end I give up and throw the reports to the ground. Grabbing her hips I force her into a rhythm which is more pleasing to me, then I close my eyes and start smiling.

Being an emperor is still the best.

.