“GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU ARE BANISHED!” King StoneTooth roared at his son, Prince Agossliam.

“NO!” Agossliam yelled back.

“You dare?!”

Kohn didn’t know what to do or how things had escalated this fast. At first it seemed like they would be having a lovely, if tense, chat with the King who made the Agossomore Kingdom. But now, the King was moving with thunderous, heavy steps towards his son who stood up defiantly against his father. Of course, the King was nearly twice his son’s height, so Kohn had been wondering if they were even of the same species much less of the same genepool.

“I did only what you did father!”

King StoneTooth stopped in his tracks just a few feet in front of his son Agossliam. Kohn got the impression that the King was ready to strike his own son if he didn’t like what he heard.

“I saw a planet that was split. Divided. Greed, envy, and lust were in each of their leaders eyes. None of them shared hope or belief that the planet could be whole and many of them were all but ready for open warfare! And none of them knew of the World Heart. The power that a single individual could wield. If I had left it alone… if they had discovered how to take control of it.” Prince Agossliam trailed off in, not in horror or dread, but in pity.

Kohn tried to imagine what humanity would have done if they had known they could connect themselves spiritually to the planet. If they had the power to take the entire planet hostage. That sort of power would only be used for selfish reasons and every person would be forced to obey or else face the possibility of extinction. For the first time he was glad that option was no longer available.

The Prince continued his pre-planned speech. “So I took the World Heart from them! I removed the temptation and forced them to work together. To follow a single guiding path that would ultimately better the entire planet. I made them members of the Kingdom!”

“YOU FORCED THEM INTO THE KINGDOM!” The King roared back in denial. “One of the very first laws that I put in place. ‘No planet or species shall be forced to join the Kingdom.’ And you, my own flesh and blood, broke that law!”

It was probably a bad decision, but Kohn spoke up. “Excuse me?”

“WHAT?!” The King roared back, the sudden interruption making him forget his anger and power. When he saw Kohn get pelted to the floor he spoke again in a slightly calmer tone without power. “What is it?”

After dusting himself off and standing up Kohn asked aloud what had been bothering him. “I’m from Earth, the Planet that Prince Agossliam forcibly brought into your Agossomore Kingdom.”

“Yes. Speak quickly, I am not in a listening, or forgiving, mood.”

“Right, well I was just a little confused. You say that it’s against your laws to force a planet in becoming a member of the Kingdom, but I assume we haven’t officially become a member yet. So why can’t we just decline, or leave?”

“Normally you would be right Earthling, but this!” King StoneTooth gestured angrily at Agossliam. He wasn’t even able to call him son. “When this one took your planet’s World Heart for himself there was no longer the option of not being a member of the Agossomore Kingdom.”

“I don’t understand.”

King StoneTooth angrily turned brought his gaze back onto his son. “You haven’t even explained it to the ones that it would affect the most? You fool of a boy!”

“I was raised by you-“

“Don’t remind me.” The King interrupted.

“-so I would have never used such abilities upon them! I am not a warmonger who lusts for more power.”

“It does not matter what you are.” King StoneTooth turned his back on his son, walking up to the throne and gazing at it in agony. “Anyone can turn into that which they least want to be. The power is there, so is the temptation. And the longer you try to deny it, the more tempting it would become when you are at your lowest moment. I made that mistake long ago and it cost me my entire family once.”

Kohn was lost as he saw the giant man reminiscing about something he didn’t know much about. He guessed that what the King said made sense to Agossliam because he turned his back on his father and looked at Kohn and the others from Earth.

“What do you know about the World Heart?”

Sasha, one of the other Earthlings that were part of the Prince’s escort, spoke up. “The World Heart is a spirit or connection that allows you to manipulate the planet right?”

“Not quite. Think of a planet as a Dark Vessel. The World Heart is its Magic Array. Everything that the planet does or can do is determined by the World Heart. It sits at the absolute center of the planet and affects the other layers which in turn affects the surface.”

Kohn thought he was getting it. “So the World Heart is the core of the planet? When you made the planet change its rotation what you were essentially doing is forcing the core in the opposite direction?”

“Precisely.”

“So it’s the big ball of compressed solid iron. I guess that makes sense.”

“How does that make sense?” Sasha had failed science courses in High School so she couldn’t follow.

“An easier metaphor to understand would be a series of gears ranging from huge to tiny. What he’s doing is affecting the smallest gear which turns the next gear, which turns the next gear, and so on and so forth.”

“Oh okay.”

Kohn wasn’t sure if she really understood, but chose to believe in her being intelligent enough to understand.

“The big ball of compressed iron? No, that is not the World Heart.”

“Huh?”

“The World Heart resides within that ball of iron.”

“There’s something inside the core?”

“Yes, that is the World Heart. By manipulating it with magic it affects the other layers of the planet. The power my father is referring to is the ability to affect everything on the planet. To change not just the rotation of your Earth, but also to alter everything that has a deep connection magical connection to it.” When no one spoke up Prince StoneTooth sighed before continuing. “As in you Earthlings?”

That caused Kohn to go stiff. “Alter how? And we only knew about magic once you trained us so how could you affect humans?”

“Being tied to the World Heart allows me to manipulate the magic directly within you. And it doesn’t matter if you are able to touch mana directly or not. By being on a planet for a long period of time, or for a short period while still in your mother, you develop a magical connection with the planet. That magic affects how you grow. And even if you are nearing old age it can be used to stave off death or make your body young again. Why do you think King StoneTooth is so large? It’s because of the connection he has with this planet’s World Heart.”

“So you could use your connection to the World Heart,” Kohn gulped just thinking about the implications, “to change humans into an entirely different species?”

“Yes.”

“One that would obey you no matter what?”

King StoneTooth turned away from the throne. Looking down at his son with sorrow in his eyes. “That is why everyone who can hold a weapon is required to be armed in the presence of the King. In the case that I became tempted to manipulate the very people that I sought to protect, my guards, my wives, my children and even you Earthlings… it would be your duty to take my head.”