Being a dictator was a splendid thing.

Everything I wanted, I could have.

And I wanted lots.

And so I got lots.

But as my power grew, I grew more and more uneasy with myself. Without having to look over my traits, I knew my School of Hard Knock's Toughness trait was most likely having to work overtime to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Finally, I was almost ready to give my last order as the dictator of Fastidious House.

Talent from the Fastidious House satellite houses made their way to us. As did as many Tier Three workers that I could afford to bring over. I also did my best to bring as many soldiers from Outer Heart who wanted to join Fastidious House over too. The numbers who came scared many of my allies from the central Heartlands, yet alone those who hated and feared me.

But by the time they realised what was happening, it was too late. I had formally ceded from the Heartlands and the Temple. I heard rumours of a talk of an invasion to bring us back under their control, but our location and the power of our armed forces scared them into leaving us alone.

Though they built a new outpost and Temple right opposite our House. They also stripped all the satellite houses away from Fastidious House. Not that I minded that, I had taken everything I had wanted from them.

Fastidious House was now almost full. I had even taken in people to live in the plenty of empty rooms within the Fastidious House mansion. But outside of them plenty of new buildings had been made, not only for the influx of talent but for all the Tier Three workers who now lived within the walls in more sanitary buildings. This was only possible and accepted, on the most part, because all the Tier Three were now citizens.

Though I forced all the citizens to keep their citizenship traits, I had given them all the freedom of choice of religious choice. Basically, I removed their traits, dedicating themselves to the goddess. About a quarter still wanted to worship her, which I allowed. Most of the rest, somehow, with no pressure from me, followed the unnamed patron deity of Fastidious House. And a sizeable minority worshiped me directly, as me. Most of these were Tier Three, but they were led by Proud Dawn.

Proud Dawn, and his brother, were the first to marry Tier Three citizens. In fact, their wedding was also the celebration which uplifted Tier Three to citizen status.

Though, at first, it was upsetting and frightening; I convinced—a fancy way I forced them via their traits—a certain few Tier Five and Sevens to work in the fields or out in the food production areas. After a few months, they settled down into their new roles, seemingly more happy than they had in their old positions.

At least that is what they told me when I asked them for their honest opinions, once again leveraging my traits to ensure truthful answers.

So on the final day of my dictatorship I was to announce five things. The first was to remove the restrictions of removal of Fastidious House citizen traits for those who wished not to have those traits any longer. The imposition of security features, removal of trait limits, and adaptive traits were all done when they had their religious traits removed. The second was to allow any who desired to leave Fastidious House to leave, if they so desired. The third was that I was stepping down from being a dictator to being the leader who would rule in conjunction with a ruling council. The fourth was for elections for those who desired to join the ruling council. Lastly, I wanted to announce that I was going to welcome those from the tribes to visit Fastidious House as guests whenever they liked.

I was worried about those who might decide to leave Fastidious House, not because of their traits, or that they might try to stop me. No, it was because of what the Temple might do to them. Mainly because the best-case scenario I could think of was imprisonment, because their traits couldn’t be controlled by the Temple. I had toyed with creating a separate small settlement on the bank of the river if they so desired, but was worried about security issues.

That issue would have to be discussed once I knew how many wanted to leave.

As for Hope, the first woman I rescued from the Tier Three settlement, she had gone on to become a close friend of Red Frog. They were often seen together, and seemed inseparable. In fact, it was their friendship which helped Red Frog become one of my greatest allies in the changes I had completed so far. And recently the two of them stepped up beyond anything I could’ve hoped for, mainly because Exalted Pine was forced to stop participating in everyday life, and I wanted to be there for her in this difficult time.

Exalted Pine, who was my greatest ally and supporter, was laying puffed up amongst a bed full of soft pillows. She looked more beautiful than ever to me. Her lithe body was carrying a large, rounded belly. But she wasn’t having an easy time of her pregnancy. Her dusky tanned skin of hers was pale and clammy. There wasn’t much more I could do for her than to simply hold her hand and tell her about how things were going. Even though she looked seriously ill, she never had any of the dark mist of death cover her, so I wasn’t overly worried. Just upset as to how much she was suffering.

Sometimes she was more alert and aware than others. But right now she was having an awful moment. So I kept on talking to her, holding her hand, and did my best to ignore the whimpers and moans coming from the nest of pillows.

The overpowering stench of perfume within the walls of Fastidious House had long gone. At the moment, the windows were open in this room, allowing the fresh, or as fresh as it could get in a walled city, air into the room. Beyond my talking, and her whimpering moans, there was the babbling of a child playing with some soft toys.

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‘People’s Defender,’ a young woman, only thirteen years old, said, ‘you must not mope around so much when you’re with her. She’s your wife and you should be happy that she’s surrounded by people who love her, care for her, and will make sure she’ll get over this.’

Yes, the pregnant twelve-year-old whom I had sent Exalted Pine to save was now our willing and enthusiastic maid.

‘I guess you’re right, Joy,’ I said. ‘But it’s hard when I see her like this. Especially on a day like today. Everything we’ve been working for will make a giant step ahead today.’

‘Maybe so, sir,’ she said, standing close to me. Maybe a little too close. She rested her head on my shoulder. ‘But you saved me, and my child. I never realised just how much I could come to love someone until you showed me. I never knew how much joy a person could have until you showed me.’

‘Then today is even more important then, Joy.’ I said.

‘Yes it is, don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your wife for you. You go out there and do what you need to do so more people like me can live a life full of love and joy.’

‘And hope.’ Said a voice from behind.

Standing in the doorway were Red Frog and Hope. Two pretty, brown-haired, women wearing similar royal blue dresses. As always, they were wearing similar clothes to each other, so it took me a moment to identify who was who. Especially now, as Hope had lost some of her tan and Red Frog gained some colour to her skin. And especially as the both of them had styled their wavy brown hair to be identical to each other.

Joy gave me a peck on the cheek before moving away so I could get up out of the chair. I gave Exalted Pine’s hand one last squeeze before getting up out of the chair.

Red Frog and Hope escorted me through the endless corridors of Fastidious House. There were no longer so many artefacts in the walls, and the walls were a more sedate blend of rich crimson and mild off-white cream. Still paintings, pictures, and tapestries from various local artists, children, and my wife hung from the walls. On the celling the lights were still arrayed as if they were stars in the night sky. A subtle reminder—that my wife accepted, even if she was not fully happy with—both of Silver Moon and Whirling Cloud.

Finally, we made it into one of the large ballrooms within Fastidious House, this one had an external balcony. The doors to the balcony were open and some core members were out there giving a brief speech to the collected crowd. The three leaders from the three dominant faiths were also present on the balcony, partly they were a reminder to me that faith was important in this world, and partly to comfort those whom required comfort on this day. A day which I was sure would be the most uncomfortable day of their lives so far. Before today most everything about their life was guided by someone else, after today they would start to need to accept responsibility for their own lives in ways which they would only have thought about in nightmares before.

I knew it would be a slow process.

A process which would pick up speed over time and cause friction between different generations and different outlooks.

I was once called a breaker, and I was sure that the changes I would bring about would not only break but shatter all that these people held dear to them. But it was a change which needed to happen and if I didn’t do something major soon, I knew that my mental toughness would shatter and I would be just another dictator in a line of dictators rather than someone who would bring out hope and joy and love and freedom to all.

Finally, the speeches from the core group ended and Red Frog and Hope walked out onto the balcony.

‘People as you have heard, we gather here today because of the Head of Fastidious House asked for you all to gather,’ Red Frog projected loud and clear across the almost silent crowd. ‘Things will change for all of you as they have changed for us closest to People’s Defender. One thing which will change is our right to have freedom of love, and so, I announce here, freely and openly to you all, that I, the previous Lady of Fastidious House, will wed my beloved Hope.’

She held out her hand, and Hope took it. They then looked into each other’s eyes and then gave each other a passionate kiss. I knew the two of them got on well with each other, and spent lots of time in each other’s company, but I never realised that the two of them loved each other that way.

The two broke their kiss, giving each other a private smile, then Red Frog, still holding Hope’s hand, carried on. ‘And so, without further distractions, here is People’s Defender.’

I walked out onto the balcony, below in the square, and on seating constructed from the dark stone of Fastidious House, and on balconies on the buildings which surrounded the square, were packed almost the entire population of Fastidious House. Only a few who couldn’t be spared their duties, or those who couldn’t make their way here, were not present. But even for them, this event was being broadcast.

Instead of the loud roaring and cheering and clapping of the crowd, everyone was respectfully silent. Only a rustling of clothes and paper and bored moaning of children and the occasional cough broke the silence.

It was into this silence that I began my speech.

A speech which would later go down as the moment which Broke the Heartlands.

Broke the rigid hold of the goddess’ theocracy.

Broke the barriers, so to create the formation of a new pantheon of the divine, chief amongst them and often called their father the God of Death.

And Broke the stalemate towards the Fissures, leading to the destruction and reformation of not only this world but of many others.

Future generations would recall that the God of Death was named, not as a defender, or a soldier, but as: The Breaker .