Lili raised a rod, its gentle green and pink colours betrayed by its sharp, cruel design and crueler purpose. That’s what was hurting the malforms. It looked like they had lost control of their bodies.

“Your toy doesn’t work on me,” snarled Thyssa, charging towards Lili.

“One more step and they die.”

Lili tightened her grip on the rod, and the fountain chamber filled with shrieks. They were dying.

Thyssa stopped, not even halfway to Lili.

“You made the right choice,” said Lili, loosening her grip. The malforms were pained, still unable to move, but alive. “As long as I hold this, your people’s lives are in my hand.”

“What if I break it?”

Lili dashed the rod against the temple wall. The wall cracked, but the rod didn’t have a scratch. “Really, Thyssa. Did you really think I wouldn’t anticipate you breaking something?”

“What if I broke you?”

Lili smiled. “Now that’s the clever part! I designed this so only I could activate it…or deactivate it. You could kill me. But then it would unleash its full power, and nobody could stop it.” She twirled the rod in her hands. “A terrifying weapon. A weapon I’d rather not have used. I abhor violence.”

“Do you.”

Lili looked solemn. “Yes. I never wanted it to be like this.” Then she glared at Thyssa. “But you left me no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“You were given choices. You chose to work with me, just as you chose to betray me. In fact, it was that collaboration that served as the theoretical basis for this.” She brandished the rod. “That’s right, malforms. All your suffering, all your helplessness. You can thank Thyssa for it. I call it Authority.”

“Is that what authority is to you? Hurting everyone around you so you can get what you want?”

“No, that’s you. I do not seek power because I want it, but because the world needs me to have it.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Did the world need you to work with the Stormwatch?”

“Briefly. Frankly, it made me quite sick. I planned to disband them later, peacefully. That fight wasn’t part of my plan at all. Pure serendipity. But I thank you for killing them. Along with anyone else who could have threatened my perfect world.”

Thyssa’s heart sank. Was it really true? Had it all been for nothing?

“You fought well,” continued Lili, “but I’ve outplayed everyone, including you. Hand over the stones. You’ve lost.”

Thyssa pulled out the stones.

“That’s a good girl,” said Lili. It sounded just like when they were working together.

Before Lili betrayed her.

Thyssa stopped. “I hand them over, and then you kill us all.”

“I am not Watchful, nor am I you. I only seek to end the war. To end all war. Just give me the stones, and you’ll all walk out of here alive. Except the Ogre Queen.”

Thyssa hissed. “I will make no pact that slays my mother.”

“I’m sorry, but she has proven herself far too dangerous to live. As long as she reigns, my people will live in fear, and they will cry out for another Stormwatch. Neither of us wants that.”

“I am not Watchful, or you,” said Thyssa. “I’m not betraying my mother no matter what I want.”

“Stupid, snarling beast!” spat Lili. “You stand in the way of the whole world. A world where peace reigns and all people are perfect!”

“Because anyone who isn’t perfect won’t be people.”

Lili cried out in rage and tightened her grip on Authority. Just as before, the malforms shrieked.

But this time, Thyssa was holding the stones, and she felt them thrum with energy, glowing hot. She realized Authority was powered by the stones, and she knew what she must do. She ran from Lili, right to the edge of the Muckpool.

“What are you doing?” cried Lili, tightening her grip further.

Thyssa held her hand above the Muckpool. All she had to do was open her palm, and the stones would drop in. “Shut it down or I shut it down for you!”

“Go ahead. Drop them.”

“The Fountain will absorb their power, and you’ll have nothing. No Authority. No Scission. Everything you’ve worked for, drowned.”

Lili smiled. “You can’t do it, can you? You can’t throw away your own humanity. Your wonderful body, with all its joys and feelings. People looking at you, not in fear but in love. If you could do without that, you would never have come creeping to me.”

“Are you going to bet your perfect world on that?”

Lili laughed. “It is not a bet, but a certainty. You are innately selfish, because you are my selfishness. We both know you won’t do it. So let’s just skip to the part where you either kill me - and the malforms - or you take the stones and run away, like you’ve always done.”

“I’m done running,” said Thyssa. “And this is your last warning. Leave my pack alone – all of them – or I destroy the stones, and then you. Nothing will save you from me.”

Lili scoffed. “Your pack? Don’t think I don’t know. They cast you out. They tried to kill you. You’d have me believe you’d sacrifice your humanity for them? What have they ever done for you?”

Thyssa bared her teeth. “They taught me how to fight people like you.”

And, with that, she dropped the stones.