"N-no! Please, stop!" A man with green hair, sprawled on the ground, pleaded. "I'm sorry, we're sorry, just tell me what you want and we'll do it! Don't destroy the tower of 'Babel' over some misunderstanding!"
"By your hair color, I'm guessing that you are the tower master of wind… Is it mandatory for you guys to match your appearance to your main elemental affinity, or is it just a stupid coincidence?" I asked.
"What? Well…"
"Shut up, who gave you the right to speak, maggot?!" He swallowed hard. "Anyway, where are the rest of your filthy friends hiding at?" The man with green hair stayed silent. "You dare ignore me?! Do you wish to die that badly?!"
"N-no, it's just that you told me to shut…"
"Are you questioning my decisions? Questioning the decisions of a god?!"
The man started sweating. "No, sir, it's just that…"
"Didn't I tell you to shut up? Your insolence will cost you your life, if you keep defying me. Now tell me, where are the rest of the tower masters?"
He started shaking violently, not knowing what to do, tears filled his eyes, snot began pouring from his nose. A group of men, wearing brown robes barged into the room. After seeing me standing before the frightened tower master lying on the ground, they started shouting and conjuring spells. "Protect the tower master!"
That got the attention of the master. "N-no! Run, just run, you fools! This man isn't someone that you can mess wi…" He wasn't able to finish, as soon as the mages finished conjuring their spells, they all turned to ash. "No…"
"This man?" I continued the torture. "Did you really call me a mere man? Do I have to show you the difference between me and mere men by burning the whole tower to the ground for you to acknowledge me?" He looked mortified. "Answer me!"
"No, I…"
"SHUT UP!, I'll give you one more chance to tell me what I want to hear."
He kept shaking, not making a sound. "Ple-please… Just tell me what you want… You can kill me and the rest of the masters, just please, stop this…"
"And now, you even dared to order me around… You are brave, I'll give you that much. Let's see your bravery after the destruction I'm about to cause."
The man's heart sank. "N-no, just… Just no, please…" He lowered his head, completely giving up. An idea struck him. He pulled out a knife.
"Oh, are you going to attack me with that?" I asked. He swallowed hard and stabbed at his own throat. He was fast, but I was faster, I stopped the knife mere millimeters away from his neck by grabbing at the blade. "Who allowed you to do that?" I asked, my masked face mere inches away from his. This was it, this was exactly where I wanted him to be.
When torturing someone, you have to identify and target their strength and completely shatter it, leaving your prey with nothing. If you're torturing a fighter, target their body, if you're torturing a merchant - their money, if you're torturing a noble - their status and reputation.
A mage's greatest strength is their mind, you're supposed to either outwit them completely, by making all their plans and attempts obsolete, as if they were dancing in the palm of your hand or, in my case, force them into a paradox with no right answer and then force them to find one, this will surely break their confidence in their intellect. It seems that if this whole god gig doesn't work out for me, I can always become a fairly good torturer.
Time to end this. "This is your last chance, tell me where the other tower masters are and I'll finally kill you." I said with a calm voice. The man hesitated. "You are allowed to speak now."
"Yes, thank you, they are all scattered around the kingdom. Pair our regulations, one master has to always be at the tower, the rest are free to leave as they wish. In the city of 'Babel' there, currently, are four of us - me, the 'flame' master, the 'earth' master and the 'light' master."
"Those three are already dead, so very sorry."
"What? How?" The realization hit him like a brick on the head. "Are… Are you the one that killed the 'earth' master's disciple? Are you the one that the tower was after?"
"Why else would I even bother with trash like you?"
"Then… We were doomed from the very start…"
"Focus, maggot!" I shouted. "You still have work to do… Is there a way for you to call the rest of your maggot friends here?"
"Ah… Yes, sir, we, the tower masters, have special communication orbs that allow us to contact the rest in emergencies."
"I'd say that this is an emergency, yes? Call them back here right now."
"Y-yes…"
Days passed and, one by one, the masters returned, just to get the same treatment as the 'wind' master and be killed subsequently. All in all it took the last bastard two weeks in total to get his stinky ass to my doorstep. Finally, the 'wind' master was the only one left.
"I-is it my turn now?" He asked, his voice meek and subservient.
"Not yet, I want you to see something first."
"No, please, no more, just end it…"
"There aren't many things in this world that I care about and your tower has almost taken one of them from me… Do you know how that feels?"
"No, I…"
"Good, then let me show you… "We were standing outside the city, the last sun's rays of the day painted the sky red. The tower of 'Babel' stood in the middle of the city - a huge intricately designed marble tower that seemed to reach to the sky - a testament of the city's greatness. "What a fitting last view for your eyes, don't you think? It's just that… Something's missing. I know! A huge fire would compliment this picturesque view finely."
"What, what are you going to do?" The tower master asked, his voice shaking with fear.
"I'll show you what it feels to lose something precious…" My hair turned grey and, a moment after that, the tower became engulfed in black flame with a purple hue. The man slumped to the ground.
"Well, how is it? Fun, I presume." I asked. We stayed silent, just watching the tower burn, leaving nothing behind. "I hope that you have no stupid ideas that the tower can ever be rebuilt, do you? The tower wasn't the only thing that was lost today, the library was looted by me, leaving no book behind and all the remaining mages of the tower, where do you think they are right now?"
He raised his head, fear evident on his face. "You, what have you done?"
"I locked them inside the tower, of course. After all, is there a place more suited for a mage than the magic tower? They can burn together with it…"
He began weeping and I just stood and watched him. In the course of a bit more than two weeks, this man, this once proud mage became unrecognizable, his demeanor - once prideful and arrogant, now a subservient and meek shell of its former glory. His face, which looked to be around late 40s at the beginning, seemed to have gained twenty years. His green hair, now grey.
I looked at this pathetic sight, not with pity, but with disgust, I never pitied the ones that took something from me, I tortured them until my fury waned and then, after taking everything that I could from them, I killed them. That helped me to cope a little, poisoning myself helped a bit as well, so did women and good food, but, in the end, I still hated, I hated the ones that took from me, I hated their friends, families and subordinates, I hated myself the most, for being to weak to protect those that I lost and I carried that hatred within my heart and I'll carry it until the very end.
Finally, the sorry excuse of a human stopped sobbing. "Will you kill me now?" He asked.
"Yeah, it's about time…"
He smiled. "I see, thank you…" Flames instantly consumed him, leaving nothing behind.
"I guess I should get going as well…" I turned and started walking back to the city. I stopped at a small house at the outskirts of the city, and opened the door. An elderly man with a lab coat, hearing the noise, came into the room and greeted me. "Welcome back, sir."
"Skip the formalities, how is she? Did she, perhaps, wake up today?" I asked.
The man gave me a comforting smile. "I'm sorry, sir, she's the same as yesterday and the day before that, and the day before that… The poor little thing is stable, but… I don't know if she will ever wake up. I'm sorry."
I sighed. "It's fine, as agreed, take care of her to the best of your abilities and I'll, single handedly, keep your clinic running for the rest of your life. Here…" I threw him a bag of platinum coins. "This should keep you and your family living in luxury for at least a decade, after that time is up, I'll come with another bag for you."
His eyes gleamed with greed. "You're very kind, sir. Don't worry, I swear on my life to take care of her to the best of my abilities."
"It's good to know that you understand the stakes of this, without me having to explain."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if something does happen to her, not only you, but your family and friends, your neighbors and in-laws, all of you will lose your heads." The man swallowed hard. "I'm leaving her to you, don't disappoint me."
Join me on patreon at patreon.com/BonsaiCat for early access to new chapters or buy my book 'How to rule a fantasy world' on Amazon. It's the same stuff that you read here, but I fucked up with the naming and the book is already out, so fuck it, let's go with this name for the book. I appreciate all of your support and your forgiveness for my utter incompetence. Best regards, BonsaiCat.