Inexorable Altercation [Round V - Saint Arthelais' Hospital]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Over the course of his reign, Emperor Urdralus Gmingnor The First had conquered hundreds of planets, and crushed thousands of rebellions on them. His empire grew with every year, as new worlds fell to the might of his armada.

And then he fell ill. Unable to withstand the pressures of command, he was bedridden and control of the Empire was given to his son.

Urdralus Gmingnor The Second was not the ruler his father was. Rebellion after rebellion succeeded, attack after attack failed, and the empire that had taken centuries to build fell apart in less than a decade.

Father and son were both captured, and for their crimes, they were sentenced to suffer for eternity on the Hezekiah.

Urdralus Gmingnor The First surveyed the room. His son was not taken here. He was in another cell, yes. Deemed the lesser threat.

His son had done this. His son had failed, and his failure had cost them both the Empire, and their freedom.

He was outraged. The Hezekiah's torments were nowhere near what Urdralus The Second deserved. He would deliver his own justice, and then he would escape, and reclaim his empire. The galaxy would be his.

But first, he had to feed. He was still so hungry. He reached his hand out to the next pod.

Queen Tralide of Pneothe was angry. Why had her people betrayed her? Why did they not realize that Pneotheans were destined to rule the cosmos, and she to reign supreme above all?

Once she was free of this accursed prison, she would return to Pneothe and execute the traitors. And then the galaxy would fear her and her people once again.

But she could not leave until her son had been properly punished. And besides which, she still needed to feed.

***

With each new set of memories, the beast became more uncertain as to its identity. Each prisoner had their own motivations, their own style of governance, their own scores to settle, even their own personalized torments from the Hezekiah. In the end, the beast wanted to punish his son for his failure, slaughter the traitors who had turned on her, destroy a sun because its color displeased him, consume the surviving members of Parliament, among countless other objectives.

But for all the differences, there were two objective that fifty new sets of memories could agree on. The beast's crude mouth formed into a wicked smirk.

It was to be the supreme ruler of the galaxy. And the Hezekiah's creators would suffer for the torment they had subjected it to.

And it would not allow anyone to stand in its way.