"Let me go, and I will not destroy you," Morgana stated calmly. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders, rippling across her pure white gown in waves. She was a short young woman, but her eyes made up for that.

Two orbs of pure darkness stared at me with annoyance, though I could tell she was shaking in her ropes. The ropes, normally infused with expensive hyssop ash, were barren and mundane.

And yet they served the purpose perfectly, I thought, snorting. There was no need for hyssop ash when it came to powerless witches. The only purpose the girl before me served was as a battery for what was likely to be the best kingdom-stealing plot in the world.

"As if you could," I smiled, sipping my wine and turning back to spit in her face (not literally, of course. I'm a gentleman! Most of the time). "It took me a few arms and legs to learn of your family secret-" I said, relishing the shock in her eyes, "- but I did."

"And what secret is that?" she muttered, staring up at the ceiling as she awaited my reply.

"You have no powers!" I sang, jumping up and down like a young boy waiting for presents upon the dawn of Yule. "When Merlin's consort and fellow witch gave birth to you, she was so horrified by the magical powers of your ancestors that she placed a curse on you!" I shouted, delighting in every second of it.

I danced and danced, circling her tied-up form as I finally let out all my emotions. Then, as the adrenaline and pride of being the Emperor of Shadows finally began to wear off, I saw it. Her quivering form. The tears trickled down her cheeks.

I'd done it! I'd broken a member of the Imperial Family! Oh, the history books would write poems about me! It was more than I could deal with, I thought. I was proven wrong, however, when she laughed.

I felt my heart sink into my chest. I wanted to disappear, to vanish off the face of the earth forever. I'd always protested learning the invisibility spell as a child, but at that moment I wished I could just vanish forever.

"What are you-"

The ropes glowed for a second. Then the chair exploded, somehow leaving her unharmed and leaving me with a bleeding gash that very narrowly missed my groin. My eyes widened as she continued hurling pieces of furniture at me.

Outside our little bedroom in the tower, the sky began to turn black. Lightning and thunder roared in a demonic chorus. Blood rain fell from the sky and stained the earth around the building a ruddy hue.

"How are you-"

I dodged another piece of furniture, my mind frantically rifling through solutions. There was no hyssop in sight, no witch hazel, or any other quick-bind solutions for this (not that it would even work when it came to witches of this strength). I knew it was a stupid idea! My assistant should never have suggested it! (yes, that assistant that's due to arrive in a few weeks)

I screamed, mentally plotting a list of torments I'd have to give to everybody as soon as I got back home as I evaded the grandfather clock hidden away in the corner of the stone chamber.

All this while, she laughed. Doubling over so hard I feared she was going to pierce her lungs with her ribs, she laughed. I'd had plenty of humiliations in my lifetime. I'd been beaten, spat at, and bruised more times than I could count.

But being laughed at...when I wasn't trying to be funny...when I'd massacred the entire Imperial Family except for their youngest daughter and became King...that was a new low.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, the Daughter of Night stood and faced me. The furniture stopped moving. The rain vanished as if it had never existed. The only reason I thought it hadn't been an illusion was that I could still smell the blood.

"What was the exact wording of the curse, my dear husband?" she asked. I was in shock. I couldn't speak. She must've realized this because then she very helpfully sent a bolt of lightning crashing into my forehead.

A couple more electrocutions later and I was back to normal. The electrocutions had been so utterly helpful, in fact (note my sarcasm), that I had managed to somehow dredge up every bit of knowledge I had about the curse.

I tried forming a coherent sentence, believe me, I did. I also failed, much to the amusement of my arsonist wife.

"When Merlin wedded his wife and witch-" I started, yelping as a stream of flames nearly set my robes on fire, "-his wife was so horrified by the magical prowess of her children that she-" a high-pitched scream erupted from the tower (most certainly the princess's creation), "-bound their magic!"

I felt my brain beginning to melt. Morgana yawned, nodding at the blood in my eyes for a minute before preparing to leave.

"Wait!" I shouted. "Any child born of Merlin's bloodline will own tremendous power. However, from the moment they first breathe air, they will be incapable of accessing their power. As long as they shall live, this curse shall-" I felt my mind beginning to give way as I realized what'd happened. As long as they shall live.

"You're a ghoul!"

Many soldiers who had been on duty that day reported several ear-splitting shrieks erupting from the castle walls. Among them, the chief being: "I slept with a zombie?!", accompanied by several more screams that remind them of a young child complaining of rats and spiders in their beds.

Please note that this is merely an urban legend (no matter what my hideous-sorry, beautiful and intelligent, and loving young bride will say). Nobody screamed that day. Most certainly not like a little girl.

"What?" she shouted, her magic already working to release me of her brain-rotting curse. "No, you fool! I'm pregnant!"

My brain stopped working for a minute. Okay, maybe two.

"...How does that relate to anything that just happened?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes.

"'From the moment they first breathe air, they will be incapable of accessing their power', my dear wonderfully foolish groom. Their power. The power that belongs to them and them alone."

She smiled, tapping her head as she continued.

"I draw on power belonging not to me, but my child. And with a little help-" she said, pulling out a vial of what looked like blood but probably wasn't, "- I will continue to do it for the rest of my eternal life."

I didn't trust myself to speak.

"Of course, I won't have to use the potion forever. Just long enough for me to gain enough power to reverse the curse by myself, maybe in a month or two, and that should be it. Then-" she rubbed her hand over her stomach, "-my child will be born, and together we shall rule the world."

"And what place do I have in this?" I asked, my voice barely above a whimper. She glanced at me as if I was a mere afterthought in her grand scheme.

"You can be a Halloween decoration, I suppose," she mused. "I couldn't enact my plan without having the rest of my family murdered, of course. There would be suspicion, and I'm not interested in drama like that."

"That's why I sent you the message in your head. I knew you were the only one stupid enough to actually try this out. You played your role perfectly, Aleister. Thank you very much. Now, why don't you go off to bed?" she said.

And here I am today. A statue of stone, incapable of movement unless I am unseen. My children (they're twins, yes) never come to visit. Sometimes she'll sit down to write journals. Normally they're ideas for spells, or new schemes designed to end world hunger.

I have no doubt the world is thriving thanks to her. I can see it in their smiles. Children play on the grounds of the castle, not knowing that once upon a time it would've been suicide to even look at the grass for too long.

Now I must go. I have a meeting with a museum exhibit. Wish me luck my dear journal!

~Signed, The Statue.