to be a god

This month I’ll be doing a series of posts based on song lyrics. This post is based on the following lyrics from Captive Honour by Megadeth:

“When you kill a man, you’re a murderer.  Kill a million and you’re a conquerer.  Kill them all and you’re a god.”

……

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She stood on the battlements and surveyed the carnage below her.  Her forces, clothed in the bright yellow she had adopted as her color, to be as bright as the star in their day time sky, to be as important as it was, were holding their own against the much larger army amassed against them.  She was a beacon for her troops, standing there, shining down upon them.  They couldn’t lose. 

Raising her arms over her head she spoke the words that would cause her to radiate and she smiled as the magic took hold.  With a series of pulses, each growing in brightness and intensity, she cast her light upon the battlefield.  Her army, facing away from her, felt the warmth on their backs and knew she was with them.  Her enemies were blinded and frightened and began to break their lines and scatter under the onslaught.

She dropped her arms as the spell ended.  Her advisor was at her elbow immediately.  “Should we signal for our troops to return, Ma’am?”

“No,” she responded firmly.  “Signal to hunt them down and kill them all.”

“No prisoners?  They could be useful in bartering.”

She scoffed.  “We will have no need to barter.  This was the entirety of their force and once we have wiped them out, they will bow to us as have all the others.”

“As you wish, Ma’am.” 

The counselor moved away to relay her orders and she leaned forward against the castle wall to soak in her victory.  She didn’t care about the carnage.  That wasn’t her goal.  It was simply a means to an end. 

Her smile broadened as her troops carried out their directive.  Only after the last of their foes had been slaughtered did they turn to face their Queen.  She lifted her arms in salute to them and they cheered in response.  Six more times she saluted them and six more times they cheered back in response.  Then, with a final wave, she turned away from the wall and made her way towards her audience hall.  There she would shower her generals in praise and gifts and trinkets for them to pass along to their warriors, to be added to water spoils they took from the field as they stripped and cleaned the dead for their funeral rights.

They would honor their foes as they honored their own, as a show of respect, yes, but mostly because it was her wish.  It was part of her plan, part of her becoming.  She was a great queen and her kingdom was growing.  She wanted so much more.

Her chief advisor was at her elbow again as she took her throne in the audience hall.  “Ma’am, why do you never show mercy?”

She knew some rulers would bristle at being asked such questions but she didn’t mind.  It was asking questions like that which had shown her what she wanted and how to get there.  “It isn’t about mercy.  It’s about what I’m trying to achieve.”

The advisor nodded once in understanding and then stepped away.  As the first of her generals entered the hall, she continued her own line of thought, “When you kill a man, you’re a murderer.  Kill a million and you’re a conquerer.  Kill them all and you’re a god.”