"You shouldn't be here," he said nonchalantly.
"And you," she said as she scowled at him, "shouldn't be standing here in the first place."
A man and woman stood in a very grand hall.
They had once seen its splendor back in its days. Now it's dilapidated, dusty, and dull.
Two large double doors, from where he had just entered stood behind him as he came face to face with his sister. She glared at him with hatred and contempt.
"You don't even qualify to be standing in front of me," Daemon said. He was becoming angrier by the second.
"Qualify?" She scoffed with her arms folded across her chest. "Ask that question yourself when you are just a useless worthless piece of dirt!"
Daemon became angry. Very angry. His face gave him away. He never liked anyone calling him useless or worthless. It brought painful memories. Memories he didn't want to remember.
The woman, his sister Dapheney noticed that she had managed to annoy her brother.
"Because I'm now the demon emperor," he said arrogantly. And you're just a commoner."
"Oh, a commoner, really?" She wanted to laugh and choke on those words.
"Then how it is that you think you're fit to sit on this throne!" Dapheney spread her arms indicating the grandeur behind her. It was more of a statement than a question. Her hazel eyes flashed with anger.
"I was, after all, elected by the people to rightfully sit on that throne, " he made sure to emphasize every word to her, to get it into her mad brain.
Daemon looked around. The beautifully carved pillars of dragons and demonic beasts that were a mixture of different animals had cracks, dirt, and even blood stains on them. The jewels on the
stone pillars that were once the eyes of these magnificent beasts faded and looked worn out.
The shine of these stones was no more. The two looked at the ceiling covered with webs and a large amount of dust.
The grand steps leading to a throne room had rubbish scattered around, broken swords and glasses laid strewn about. The young woman counted the steps. Roughly, it was about fifty steps leading up to the throne. The throne was made of pure gold and a rare stone. But the throne has lost its shine after so many years of neglect and isolation.
The palace had been abandoned for years since the last Demon Emperor died. No one knows what happened that year but many claimed that there was a fierce and violent battle that shook the entire country, thus many villages and towns were now living in poverty.
"Emperor? I think you are a worthless one treated like trash! Look at the place around you. You think the people love you?" She gestured to the surroundings. She laughed mockingly at him.
"Even so, I'll make those people all submit to me! And only me!"
"You can go on dreaming! The people out there treated you like dirt. The palace they gave you is full of dirt and debris and blood. " She was definitely having the time of her life, making fun of his situation. She eyed a pillar with obvious blood stains on it. Oh, how Daemon wished he could just slap his sister to shut up her foul mouth.
He ignored her, he knew she could go on day badmouthing him. Instead, he reeled around her, and walked up the steps, breathing in the fresh air that poured in from the two high windows on the right and left side of the wall. He inhaled the air, thinking about his duties and responsibilities, then he exhaled slowly, with a strange light in his eyes.
"Oh, I'll kill them," his eyes gleamed darkly. ", I'll make those who despise me, look down on me, and pay for it with their lives,"
"You're mad!" She screamed at him, looking at him with disbelief. She never thought he had changed so much in the last fourteen years. This was not the brother whom she grew up with.
This was not the brother who protected and loved her. This was a madman!
"Have you not forgotten what you vowed to do!? Have power and wealth blinded those eyes of yours!?" She wanted to know the answer to what she had suspected.
"Yes," he said, much to her shock. ", That's what I'm going to do. Power, I want! Wealth, I want! Revenge, I too want!"
Dapheney got the answer she sought for.
She stared at the brother she once had known, with disbeliefment and disgust.
But he didn't seem to care the slightest bit.
He now needed to build an army, a demon army and they need ministers to work and assist him, the Demon Emperor.
Well, unfortunately for him, he didn't have any subordinates. Not even a demon lord working under him. I have to start from scratch. What the hell! He cursed silently.
"I have to recruit these people, but how?" Daemon wondered.
"I'm gonna raise an army," Dapheney said flatly. "This is my revenge too!"
"What? You're gonna raise an army?" Daemon didn't believe her. She had never once in her life trained soldiers and commanded men to fight. Not especially in this country where men were regarded as superiors and women were all inferior to men.
"So even you think I'm inferior to men? Hah!" She scoffed. Her eyes burned with anger and hate.
"I've never heard of a mere woman like you, leading an army or accomplishing anything great!
Only twenty percent of women had succeeded. But their backgrounds aren't ordinary," Daemon said.
Arguing with his sister is making him angrier and angrier. Even he doubted himself. Why was he wasting his time arguing with a stupid woman like her? It's best if she goes do something else, rather than try to take revenge too.
But Dapheney was not one to retreat or back out.
"One day, I'll prove it to you. I'll be better and greater than you!" Upon saying those harsh and threatening words, Dapheney strides out of the palace with full confidence. Oh, she'll make them pay. She'll make her brother understand. She'll make him regret it. Regret it all!
