The Dangers of Power

The people chasing her are close.

So close she can almost feel them.

She doesn't know how long she's been running, and her legs are almost ready to give out and let her be caught. Almost.

She's been on the run for many, many years. The desert rocks pound on her feet. Why, oh why did she have to choose the desert? There's nothing around for miles and miles, making it easy for anyone to see her fleeing. But the desert does have its advantages.

It's lucky I know how to use my powers, she thinks, even if the cost can be a bit much.

With that thought, she disappears, leaving the soldiers puzzled behind her.

The woman appears in a mountain cave. The walls are cold and bare, and jagged rocks line the entrance. The perfect hideout.

Only this time as she appears, recovering from the use of her power, she finds a small, dirty girl in the cave as well.

"What are you doing here?" she snaps, backing away from the small girl.

The girl looks at her with wide eyes, but doesn't respond. She takes a deep breath, putting on a false smile and asking again.

"I don't know where my parents are," the girl says in a small voice. "I'm afraid."

She suddenly gets some inspiration. She's always wanted a daughter... and with her powers, people have to do what she tells them. If only those stupid soldiers hadn't found the loophole.

"What is your name?" she asks, still smiling falsely.

"Danielle," the girl says in a small voice.

"Stay with me, Danielle," she says, dropping the false smile. There's nothing the little girl can do when faced with a direct order.

"But I don't want to stay with you," Danielle says, making her way towards the entrance of the cave. But as she gets there, it's as if there's an invisible boundary. She can't leave. Danielle begins to cry.

"Stop crying, Danielle," the woman says irritably. Danielle stops immediately, but she looks miserable.

"Be happy, Danielle," she says. The little girl pastes a huge smile on her face, but her eyes still hold misery. And something else: hatred.

"What is your name?" Danielle asks.

"Mother," the woman says, smiling maliciously.

Years have passed, but Danielle looks the same. Mother saw to that. She put a spell on her precious daughter that kept her from growing any more, the same spell she put on herself.

Another thing that stayed the same was Danielle's hatred of her Mother.

Mother tried to fix it. "Love me, Danielle," she said, on more than one occasion, But nothing she said could make Danielle love her.

"Mother?" says Danielle on one occasion. "Why do you use spells on me?"

"To make you better, dear," Mother says.

"But what if I don't want to be better?" Danielle says.

"Stop complaining, Danielle," she says. "Forget about all the spells I've put on you, Danielle."

Danielle's eyes glaze over, he body going rigid.

"What were we just talking about?" she asks, a slight frown on her face.

"Never you mind, dear," says Mother. "Never you mind."

"Why can't I have powers like you?" asks Danielle.

Mother freezes; the idea never entered her mind. "Because, dear," she says, "Only special people are gifted with powers, people who know how to control them."

"But you could teach me," insists Danielle. "You could teach me to control them."

Odd, thinks Mother. I thought I told her not to persist silly ideas. Must not have worked.

"Danielle," says Mother, "Stop asking that silly question. I never want you to ask that again." Danielle goes silent, but she purses her lips, as though questioning her Mother's authority, which she had been ordered never to do.

I suppose I'll have to re-enforce some orders, thinks Mother.

More years have passed, and by now, they've stopped keeping track. They have moved around a lot, though there is no longer any worry about being caught with her powers. Danielle has had her memory erased about twelve times now.

But she keeps asking the question.

When can she get powers of her own?

Perhaps I will give them to her, someday, thinks Mother. I can teach her how to use them. I'll add restrictions, of course.

Danielle is becoming more curious every day. "Who is my father? Where did I come from? Are you my real mother?"

"I'll tell you in due time," Mother says, annoyed. "Stop asking questions."

But after living a few hundred years, Danielle has learned her tricks. "You should give me powers," she says. "I want to know why you won't give me powers."

Mother freezes. "I told you not to talk about that," she hisses.

"Did you?" Danielle asks, puzzled.

Maybe she's ready, thinks Mother. I can always take them away and wipe her memory if things go wrong.

"Alright," Mother says, "I will give you powers."

"Really!" Danielle exclaims, still unable to ask questions because of the order.

Mother is nervous about giving her powers. She is used to being the only one, the most powerful of them all. But... it's worth a try.

"Don't you want to know how to use them?" Mother asks when Danielle sits in silence.

"Yes," says Danielle, "But I can't ask any questions."

"Oh, all right," Mother says irritably, "But keep it to a minimum, would you?"

"How do I cast a spell?" asks Danielle excitedly.

"Just think it in your mind," says Mother. "Think, I enchant this object to... I command this person to... or something like that."

"Okay." Danielle takes a deep breath, her cheeks looking rosy for the first time in years, her eyes with a new sparkle. "I think I'm ready."

"Fine," says Mother. I enchant Danielle to have the same power that I have.

"I can feel it!" Danielle exclaims.

"Try casting a spell," says Mother, who is already planning to protect herself from Danielle's magic.

But not soon enough.

I enchant Mother to turn to stone slowly, starting from her feet up. As soon as this begins to happen, she will not be able to use her powers to free herself or physically harm me in any way.

"What- what have you done?" screeches Mother. Stone is already beginning to spread up her calves.

"I'm sorry, Mother," says Danielle quietly. I command that all spells Mother ever cast on me be reversed.

Suddenly all the memories begin flooding back, all the lies and manipulations and erased memories. Hundreds of years worth of enslavement, of not being able to escape her captor. It almost seems too good to be true.

And Mother had one last trick up her sleeve.

"I will hurt you for this," hisses Mother. "I will get you."

"You can't," says Danielle. "I protected myself from you."

"Physically, yes," smirks Mother, "But not mentally."

It's too late for Danielle to do anything as Mother vocalizes her last spell.

"I enchant Danielle to experience excruciating head pain whenever she uses her power. And every time she uses it, she will lose a piece of her humanity until she has none left. She will never be able to reverse the spell."

Danielle has hardly used her power since Mother's death, but each time she did, the pain was horrific. She sat screaming, clutching her head, but nothing would make it stop. It felt like it lasted centuries, felt like her head was splitting in two, and her screams echoed in her head over and over until she couldn't make any more noise.

She had also noticed how she would lose 'a piece of her humanity' each time she cast a spell. She would become colder, more distant, less human. It really was a cruel last spell.

She's finally started growing again, but she's still young. She doesn't feel young. Danielle tries to fit in with the humans around her, but it was hard after living so long and knowing she is the only one with powers.

Knowing her humanity is slipping away bit by bit.

Sometimes she gets episodes of coldness, times when she barely feels human, when she hates everyone and everything around her.

And she knows she can't go on much longer like this, tormenting others and herself.

Maybe it's time to rejoin her mother.

"I command my heart to stop beating, so that I may die instantly."

The pain comes first, as it always does when she casts spells. He screams pierce the silence, and she's sure she can be heard from miles away. She kneels, clutching her head pulling her hair, anything to make it stop. Tears run down her cheeks, hot and unwelcome, but there's nothing she can do to stop them.

And then... there's nothing.