To say the castle of the Corrupted Queen was gigantic was an understatement. It was a Gothic styled mansion, with over two hundred rooms, not counting the many underground dungeons. The inside had eerie, yet elegant furniture, including paintings and statues of the beloved queen. There was no need for surveillance cameras for the hallways, as there were spider-like corrupts hanging from webs around every corner. The centerpiece of the palace was the throne room, where there stood a tall, stone grey throne. Candles with blue flames surrounded the stairs leading up to it, bathing it in it's sinister glow. Presently, the queen sat in it, using a green ball created from her energy to peak at the land surrounding her castle. The double doors of the room burst open, the queen not so much as blinking, as if she expected the sudden entry. Acantha, her most loyal corrupt, bowed before the queen before explaining her presence. "Your highness, it's about the human boy, he's recently reached the age of ten. As you know that's around the age corrupted beings learn to fight. However, the prince is proving to be hopeless in combat. He simply doesn't have the reflexes or skill to face even our weakest troops." The queen narrowed her eyes at her assistant, digging her claws into her throne. Her face remained emotionless as she rose from her seat. "Then allow me to offer him some assistance." The plant-life that surrounded the training grounds provided too little protection for the boy. No matter how fast he tried to run, or how well he thought he was hidden, he felt a slash of claws against his face. Before long, he had been reduced to going into the fetal position, trembling and tearing up, his whole body covered in bites and claw marks. His whole body was in pain, almost to the point of numbness. Several corrupts surrounded him, all glaring down, but he refused to open his eyes. "How do you expect to lead an entire army if you cannot intimidate three?" growled one. "We're supposed to lay our lives down for a sniveling, cowardly being like yourself?" hissed another. "S-Stop..." the prince said, his voice barely above a whisper. Although the corrupts had stopped attacking, a new pain wreaked through him. His eyes burned with an excruciating heat, and when he finally opened them, it seemed as if all color had been drained from the world. This caused his panic to rise, and he attempted to stand, only to be knocked back down. More taunts were thrown at him as he laid still on the ground, but he couldn't focus on them. His face felt frozen, his teeth seemed to sharpen and expand, stretching his mouth and ripping his skin. "What the hell's wrong with it?" The voice was distant, too far away to distinguish. He felt the rough fingers of a gorilla corrupt wrap around his neck. He was slammed into something, a tree, a boulder? It was hard to tell, as the hand clenched his throat. His hands went numb but he still felt blood leaking out of them, as what felt like bone protruded out. The corrupt let go of the boy's throat with a yelp, and the prince fell to the ground. His back had the worst pain of it all, his very bone structure was expending away from his spine, spliting and ripping through his skin to produce two bat-like wings. His scream of pain came out hoarse from his sore vocal cords. "Hhnn...Hhnn..." The prince's breath was rough and every intake of air hurt his throat. 'How dare they do this to us? Don't they know who we are?' An echoing voice filled his weren't his own thoughts, as his mind was cloudy and unfocused. But, he didn't have the strength to question it. Suddenly, a rush of clarity ran through him, the pain he felt gone like it was never there. It was replaced with blinding fury. 'Why don't we remind them?' He grinned as he got to his feet, he chuckled darkly as the corrupts that were previously beating him cowered back. Everything about his new body felt superior, enhanced, powerful. He loved it. The prince rushed forward, slashing open the stomach of the one who grabbed his throat. It gasped in pain and doubled over. He slit the creature's throat with his other claw. It fell, black blood-like liquid oozing out of it. Before the others could react, he lifted one up, bringing it crashing down to the ground with a sickening crunch. His every movement became a blur. He saw himself throw a flurry of strikes , and blindly biting into the sleek, black flesh of his targets. He stopped only once he was out of breath, looking over the destroyed corpses of his opponents. The child let out a roar of his own, between a battle cry and an inhuman, high-pitched shriek. He felt a familiar clawed hand touch his shoulder, he turned and looked up. His mother stood beside him, she gave him an approving nod. He barely had a chance to enjoy the praise before the pain suddenly came flooding back. He gripped his head, his claws digging into it. "M-Mother...it hurts..." he whimpered, before he felt his legs give out. Then, he fainted. His body warping and converting back to his human form. 8 Years Later "Your highness, the boy is here, as you ordered." one of her minions announced. They then exited with a bow of the head, allowing the prince to kneel before the throne. "Look at you, you're growing like a weed!" the queen exclaimed, looking down at her son from her throne. Indeed he had, as the boy was now eighteen and already 5'10, though considering his mother's height, this wasn't unexpected. His hair was neck-length, thanks to the lack of way to cut it in the castle, other than by dagger. His body was lean and muscular, from years worth of rigorous training. From lack of human clothing around the castle, he could only wear whatever fit him comfortably raided from towns. In this case, a plain grey t-shirt, light brown pants, and black combat boots. "May I ask why I was called, mother?" he asked, his head still bowed. "I wanted to show you something, my dear. Something important, if you ever wish to rule over this land. Follow me." She rose from her throne, gesturing for him to follow her out of the room. He followed obediently through the many halls of the palace. They started entering paths that he was told never to walk through as a child, going deep into the heart of the mansion. Finally, she lead him towards a tall, oak door, with many padlocks placed over it. With a wave of her hand, a purple glow enveloped the locks and they all opened, the door creaking open soon after. The prince stared at the glowing, purple crystal globe in front of him. It stood on a spiky, black pedestal, and the globe itself looked too big for him to properly wrap his arms around. In the room where it was placed were countless bookshelves, filled with books, vials, and what looked like ancient artifacts. what appeared to be human skulls were placed in the four corners of the room. The room was fairly large, and had no windows, the only light getting through being the unnatural glow. He stood near the back of the room, as far away from the magical object as possible. The whole room chilled him to the bone. The queen was quite the opposite, looking perfectly content in the strange room. Approaching the orb, she started to gently run her fingers over it, as a result, images appeared of various far away places on it's surface. "This is the control center of our army, it can monitor every area of my kingdom, catching any and all intruders. It also helps me to keep an eye on possible mutinies." the queen explained. "One day, all of this land will be yours. Here, look for yourself." She stepped away, allowing her son to go up to the pedestal. He prepared to place his hands on it, before she stopped him. "No! With your claws." she hissed. He released his claws with ease, the act became much simpler once the pain dulled to a sting. He touched them to the crystal, and the crystal's images became much clearer. It was as if he had a bird's eye view of the entire castle grounds, able to see even mosquito-sized corrupts from his omnipotent view. He let go of the orb, vision going away as quickly as it appeared. The queen then manipulated the orb to show a heavily populated human city. "On to more pressing matters. This is our next target. It's a town called Concordia, and it's known for it's pacifistic nature." she cackled. "The fools. They focus their life on scientific research and logical means, yet they don't have the common sense to focus on building a proper military. There's humans that know they can't compete with the corrupted, and there's humans that don't even attempt to. Hopefully, they'll serve me better as my corrupted servants, rather than foes." "Mother, why don't we ever consider cooperating with the humans? I mean, maybe we could co-exist, that way w-" A hard slap across the face sent the prince stumbling back, a few deep cuts on his face where the queen's claws scraped against him. He touched the cuts, before flinching and quickly taking his hand away. He remained silent as she began again. "Cooperating with humans? I don't want to hear such drivel from your mouth again! Allowing a lesser species to join my ranks?" She paced the room angrily, before starting again with a more calm tone. "...Now you, my son, you're the exception. You were born for greatness. You're much more than a mere human, much more than a simple corrupt even! You have the power to rule over both, luring the humans into a false sense of security and then eradicating them from existence!" The prince wished he could share his mother's enthusiasm. After all, humans were disgusting beings who relied on technology and firearms to fight, instead of natural instincts. But...a part of him knew that this was wrong. As much as he had tried to numb himself to the thought of killing, he still felt shaky thinking back to when he murdered his trainers so long ago. The internal conflict continued when he realized that an even smaller part of him liked the idea of spilling the blood of his enemies, lived for it. That, he assumed, was the corrupted blood running through his veins. As he was lost in thought, he realized his mother was still talking, and swiftly went back to paying attention. "Tomorrow, my child. Tomorrow I'll bring you your first human to kill." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What better time to initiate the blood lust within you?" 'What?' His brain didn't know how to reply, so he just nodded his head, without any visible emotion. TO BE CONTINUED