I sharpened my domain until I could walk a hundred yards further into the battlefield. It took thirteen more loops and possibly years within my mindscape. My domain grew in size and doubled in power. My control inside my aura was near absolute. There was no trick to make my control more powerful; it came down to practice and experience.

Fortunately, I probably had the best teachers—though arguably, they were a bit zealous, doling out punishment when I couldn't reach their standards—and the best environment to train in.

However, I reached a plateau. No matter how much I practiced and tested my domain, I could only step out two hundred yards. I was halfway from the center of the battlefield, but it felt like I had much further to go. That simply meant I needed to change things up.

I'd kept Calypso locked up the entire time; a part of me felt bad, and I knew I was squandering an advantage. I was taking a gamble that his confinement would pay off. My parasite needed to know I was the host.

I dove into the sanctuary of my mind, returning to the empire I'd established. The walls around my fortress were pure white, made from the finest materials I could imagine. Sentinels patrolled outside my walls as well as inside and on. I started naming them seven loops ago and created a command structure similar to Alderi's five loops ago.

Competition to rise in ranks had started with my guards. The standouts are showered with praise and made-up prizes. They were pretty awesome prizes, too, if I do say so. One sentinal even got a dragon.

Mindscapes were wild. I truly loved it.

John the Giant greeted me at the gate with a nod. I tried not to talk to my specters outside of simple gestures. It was bad enough that I'd named and promoted them. If I started talking to them, that could be a new world of problems.

I nodded back to the giant and walked through the massive gates after they raised high enough. Ignoring the whispers of the guards on standby, I walked down the murder hall toward the courtyard.

The murder hall was much like the killer esophagus in the jungle, Gulley. The one difference was the open slits for my specters to fire their weapons on intruders.

Although I could skip to where I wanted to be, I walked the entire mile down the throaty hall. Not only was it good for troop morale, it was nice to inspect my creations once in a while. The hall was every bit as terrifying as Gulley was. When the slits were closed, it was dark and creaked. There was no end to the tunnel, and at any moment, it could collapse. It was an absolute beast.

I also fashioned the courtyard after the jungle, without the snakes. The trees were all sentient and fought like Vines. Panthers, hogs, and scepters hid in the tree-covered court. I also had wild vines that appeared tamed and a life-scale replica of the Rat King in all of his glory.

I might've added a few pounds to the bastard and given him a dragon. Still, he was nearly identical to the corpse-reanimating rat back in the jungle… maybe a little less toothy and with much better hygiene. Other than that, he was the same. Oh, and he could breathe fire, and his corpses could explode. He was the same... just a little different. Rats would be proud to meet himself. I was sure of it.

Lipper and her hounds did not get a place in my court or anywhere in my mindscape. There was too much bad blood between us, and I wasn't impressed with their skill sets. The hounds had numbers, sure… Rats could triple their numbers, explode them all, and then create a monster from the refuge. He couldn't die either because I didn't give Rats a body; he was a floating concept, an illusion of a Rat King, not really there but present enough to mess things up. What Rats lacked in strength, his dragon more than made up for it. Drago beats Lips in a fight ten times out of ten.

A shorter murder hall connected the courtyard to the barracks, a building that created and trained scepters. The study room came next. That room was still a work in progress, but it was a great place to meditate. After the study was an endless maze, which I skipped, and then the palace room with stairs leading down to the cellar.

I walked down the steps into the cellar. The only thing keeping the place less empty than the study was the block of ice trapping Calypso.

"You son of a—"

"Good to see you too."

"Do you have any idea how long you kept me locked here?" Calypso kept his eyes locked on me as I circled his ice box, my hand running over the smooth exterior.

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"I've got an idea…" I smiled as I turned to meet his gaze.

"And what was I supposed to do?"

I tapped the ice cage, testing for sturdiness, and then stretched out my hands to estimate its dimensions. It wasn't a big box. My head tilted as I considered the question.

"Dream about flying?"

"I hate you." Cal pounded his fist against the ice. It wouldn't break. I had just tested its durability. My cage was the definition of solid. No, it was indestructible.

"Awe, that's what I wanted to hear. We've reached the truth." I put my hand down and took a few steps back into the otherwise empty room.

"I would have answered your questions before."

"How could I trust you?"

"Do you trust me now?"

"No. But I'm speaking to you from a place of power?"

"Power?" Calypso shifted into a tentacle beast of horror. The solid, indestructible prison melted in a flash of light. Cal's entire body radiated enmity. Our enclosed room, miles below ground, trembled with thunder as it sparked and shook.

I cracked my knuckles, preparing for another fight, and then froze the nightmare incarnate. Dense black ice encased my parasite. I closed my fist for show, and the prison compacted. Cal had to shift forms until he ended up as small as a bird. With another motion, I dismissed the shell. Cal took off immediately. Three wing beats later, I stopped him, this time with a water lasso.

"Yes. My power."

Cal shifted back to his flayen form, his eyes sullen and his ego bruised. He looked up as if he wanted to say something, then quickly turned his head down and proceeded to braid his beard of tentacles. His attire shifted from bland covers to his robe and shelled pauldrons, which he wore the day this all started. Cal finally looked up after a fit of incoherent mumbling.

"How?"

"I don't really know. Intuition?"

"Ash, have mercy. Maybe you stole some knowledge from me… but I would have noticed, right?" He wasn't really asking me, and as he mumbled some more words, he began pacing. "Did you have previous training?"

"Besides what you taught me?"

"I taught you nothing… I showed you your mindscape, but that was all. You refused all of my training."

"Then no." I took a seat, figuring this would take a while. The act wasn't necessary; my body didn't get tired in my mindscape, but old habits die hard.

"Think of where you could be by now if you let me."

Probably trapped in a box while Cal controlled my body.

"I think I'm alright." I made a show of adjusting my seat to get comfortable. Cal watched me, considered sitting, and chose to stand, refusing the chair I summoned for him. It was a nice chair, too—made of clouds, reclined, and had a footrest.

"Because you can beat me? I am nobody. Balthazar would crush your castle and wipe your face in the rubble. His soldiers would take one look at your walls and laugh."

"And where did their arrogance get them?"

"That—it…" Cal dropped his head and plopped onto his chair. Good. We've moved past denial. I snapped my finger, creating a crisp pop in the empty room. Before the sounds reverberated, we were seated in a new room.

Technically, it was the same room but much smaller, with a table between us and a spread of food.

I imagined it was risky to create food in the mindscape. The more I did in my realm, the more I became attached to it, and the harder it became to leave. I resisted the urge to create food here for a time, but the mental practices it provided seemed like a worthwhile risk. On top of that, food made interrogations less tortuous.

Cal looked a bit weary, sitting across from me. His eyes danced between me, the food, the room, and the overall situation. I sat back, relaxed, and grabbed an apple. I didn't like apples. Their flavors were below average, and they always found a way to get their skin stuck between my teeth. The only thing apples had going for them was that they had the potential to be crispy. I just so happened to make the crispiest apples and could enhance their flavors.

"You have a story to tell." I kicked my legs up on the table, perfecting my posture, and took a meaty bite from my crispy red apple. "Then, you're gonna answer all of my questions." I glared into Cal's eyes, measuring his soul. "Understood?"

Calypso sunk further into his chair and lowered his gaze once more. He waited a second before nodding his consent. "I liked you more when you feared me."

I laughed at the thought, grabbed another apple, and threw it to Cal. He barely caught it and looked at it like a great mystery. He was right. My apples were unnaturally crispy… but even in my mind, the devils still found a way to get stuck in my teeth. He thought the mysterious apple was an offering of peace.

Cal took a bite and cursed. I smiled. Interrogations were going well.