The air was really thin here. My lungs hurt. Every breath I took felt like I was sucking in pieces of glass. I stood on the edge of the mountain in the Iron Range. The earth just stopped here. The empty air started. Celestine was beside me. She used to be the Saintess. Now she was like a broken piece of me. She wrapped her fur coat tighter around her. Her skin looked pale, see-through in the bright light.
"The Harpy Queens will not talk to us " Celestine said. Her voice was flat and cold. "They think we are nothing because we cannot fly. They think their home in the sky is safe from us."
"I do not need to fly " I said. "I just need to reach up and take what I want."
I looked up at the sky. I did not need any help to get what I wanted. I had the power of the 4.8% Divinity inside me.. It did not feel like power anymore. It felt like something was eating away at me from the inside. It wanted more and more from me. More land, blood more things to break.
[CURSE STATUS: 4.8% DIVINITY]
[OBJECTIVE: PLUCK THE WINGS.]
The islands in the sky were not floating there because of magic. They were floating because the people who lived there thought they were better than everyone. I hit my stick into the ground. The mountain under us made a noise. I was not asking the earth for permission. I was making it do what I wanted. A big column of energy came out of the ground and went up into the air.
It hit the island, Astraea and made a loud noise. A moment later I heard a screeching sound. It was so loud it hurt my ears. Many dark shapes fell from the clouds. They were the Harpies. They were not beautiful like I had seen in pictures. They were ugly. Had hollow bones and yellow eyes. Their feathers were dirty and smelled bad.
The biggest Harpy was Queen Nyx. Her wings were really wide. Her claws were covered in old blood. She landed near me. The ice under her feet cracked. "Human " Nyx said in a voice. "You have made the earth dirty. Now you want to hurt the sky? We will hurt you. Feed you to our babies."
"You talk much " I said.
I did not wait for her to say anything. I walked towards her. The air around her got thicker. She could not move. Nyx's wings did not just get heavy they got stuck. "The Harpy Queens think they are special because they can fly. Lets show them what happens when I bring the sky down to my level."
I looked up at the islands in the sky. The purple energy was already pulling the island down. Nyx's bones. She fell to the ground. Her face was in the dirt. She could not get up.
"Viper " I called out.
My friend Viper came out of the shadows. Her knife was already at Nyx's neck. "Yes, Master?" she said.
I wanted the sky. I wanted the Cloud Throne.. I wanted Nyx to watch as I made her home into a prison.
The "Gale" was a space. There was no sun, no sky, a lot of pressure. Nyx's feathers were flat on the ground and her bones were shaking. She was not a bird anymore she was a person. Her body was small. Hurt from old fights.
"Kill me " Nyx said. Blood came out of her mouth. "The sky does not belong to you."
"The sky is empty air " I said. "I want what is inside it."
I stood over her. The power inside me was cold and itchy. I opened my pants. My body was hard and ready. It was not love it was power. I held her head down. Turned her over. I did not use anything to make it easy. I wanted her to feel the ground. I spread her legs. Put myself inside her. It was not gentle.
Nyx made a sharp noise. It stopped when I was all the way inside her. Her body was tight and dry. I started to move, slow and hard. Every time I moved it hurt her more. My body slapped against hers. Made a loud noise. The wind around us started to howl.
Isabella and Celestine watched us. Their eyes were empty. Nyx's body started to break. Her spirit was gone. Her body started to move with mine. It was not love it was fear.
"Where is your throne now?" I said, my teeth in her neck.
Nyx's body stopped fighting. Her magic started to go. It was replaced by the empty power of the Void. Her body started to move seeking the pain that was hurting her.
The end was silent. I pulled her head back. Let go. A lot of my body went inside her. At that moment her wings stopped moving. Turned black.
[Status: Nyx broken. The Cloud Throne is empty.]
[Condition: servitude.]
The lowest island, Astraea was not floating anymore. It was tied to the mountain with a shaking chain of dark energy. The Harpies were on the edges of the cliffs watching us. Their eyes were fixed on me.
I walked out of the mist. I did not say a word. I did not need to.
I pulled Nyx behind me. She was not flying she was not even walking. She was a mess of feathers and hurt skin. My mark was on her legs. It was a sign that she belonged to me. She looked up at her people. There was no fire in her eyes. Only. Devotion.
"The sky is closed " I said. My voice was not loud. The power inside me made it vibrate in their bones.
Grand Inquisitor Malphas came forward. He was a shell doing what I told him. He put a metal collar around Nyx's neck. She did not fight. She leaned into the metal like it was a lover's touch.
"My Queen..." one of the Harpies said from a ledge. "What has he done to you?"
Nyx turned her head slowly. Spit came out of her mouth. "He did not make me weak " she said, her voice broken. "He showed me that the sky is a cage. The earth is where the Master walks. Kneel or he will hurt you."
The silence was heavy. The Harpies on the cliffs started to fall to the ground. They did not attack. They landed on the ice. Put their heads down.
[CURSE STATUS: 5.0% DIVINITY]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: AERIAL DOMINANCE. COMPLETE.]
The power inside me shifted. 5.0%. I was halfway to something I did not understand. I could not stop.
I looked at Celestine. She was watching the Harpies with eyes. "Send the 'Iron Hounds to the island " I said. "I want the Cloud Throne broken. Use the metal from the Peaks to build a fortress that never touches the ground. If they want the sky they can have it. They will work for me."
"And the Queen, Master?" Viper asked, her shadow moving at the edge of my vision.
"Nyx stays with me " I said, my hand, on the back of her neck. "Every king needs a bird in a cage to remind him that even the highest flyers have to land."
I turned my back on the falling islands. The North was mine. The West was mine. The South was paying me. Only the East, the deep sea was left.