The Day I Ruled the World Or So I Thought

Cackling to myself, I knew this would be the right formula. Those who dared mock me and call me a mad scientist would pay the ultimate price. “The world will be mine”, I screamed manically, but no one was around to hear me. I had been resigned to my loneliness after all I was to be king of this world. A few more adjustments here and some potion mixing there and I had finished.

I took a moment to admire my work and it was beautiful. The vial swirled with red swishes and green splashes. It would make me the most powerful human on Earth. “Bottoms up’, I said and chugged the vial. Throwing it against the wall and watching it shatter gave me a great sense of pleasure.

My body surged with power and I cast a firebolt spell. It was much more powerful than the any bolt I had produced before this. My alchemy had finally given me the power I always wanted. I left my laboratory that afternoon and set my eyes on my revenge. I went to the home of the first person on my list, and knocked down their door as I approached.

“It’s Johnny, remember me”? I screamed as I walked through their home. I found them huddling in the corner trying to hide from. “What do you want from me, I don’t know why you are here” they pleaded, but I would not listen. “I'm here for payback, you told me I was mad and I'll show you what madness truly looks like” I responded. I cackled some more as I cast a firebolt at them and felt joy when I watched them turn into ash. “Pitiful creature”, I commented as I walked away and looked forward to my next victim.

The more I slaughtered the more pleasure I felt and I felt the maddening of chaos take control. “Is this the price I pay for power?”

“To lose my mind to the chaos?” “How is any of this a fair trade,” I mumbled to myself. The more I used my power the less control of my body I began to have. I could feel something within me changing, but I buckled down to make my dream come true.

Bit by bit I started losing my mind and all I could think about was sunlight. I needed it, but I didn’t know why. My mouth became dry as cotton, but no amount of water would satisfy me. I felt like a man lost in the desert, and thought I was hallucinating. I fell to my knees holding my head that refused to stop spinning.

The madness was too powerful for me and I crawled trying to survive. I found myself in an open field and began transforming. “No please, don’t take my mind, it's all I have,” I pleaded with the chaos inside me. A voice not mine returned with a dark and cynical laugh “You are already my plaything and I will enjoy this”. “You presumed to know what power meant, and presumed to think you deserved such power”.

“Humans are such foolish creatures full of hubris”, it laughed. “I will show you what true power can do and I will bend you to my will”. I started crawling faster, but my limbs were gone one by one. I looked back at my legs to see them becoming roots that dug deep into the soil around me. It started up my torso turning it into a sturdy bark of a tree. Eventually my arms became branches, and the last thing I saw was darkness swallowing me whole.

“Where am I?” I screamed in the darkness, but to no avail. My words simply echoed back at me. A few moments later I regained my sight or so I thought. I could see around me with my roots, and feel the earth but nothing more. In the darkness the creature I heard earlier appeared before me.

“As punishment for your lust for power I turned you into a pear tree”, He laughed at me. “Where you once tried to destroy, you will now provide nourishment.”

“Where there was once death; there will now be life. You will stand tall for 100 years as punishment for the lives you took”.

I could do nothing but listen and accept my punishment. I was so reckless and foolhardy, and this is the price of power. As I pondered on my actions, I could feel the sun shining on me. The energy, the warmth put its arms around me like a caring mother. My roots pulsed through my core and I could feel the nutrients being immersed in my body.

“This isn't so bad” I told myself, and just as I was getting used to my punishment a spoiled child approached me. It felt like my arm being ripped off when he grabbed for one of my pears. “That little bastard”, I screamed. This was going to be a long 100 years.

I thought I was going to rule the world once, but my pride got the best of me. I learned nothing during those years, and all I could think about was punishing each person who took a pear from my branches.

“Rotten bastards, selfish creatures, and horrible humans”, I thought to myself. Even as a pear tree I could still hold resentments. I bided my time, and waited for the day the world would rue the day they took my pears from me.