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There’s a lie at the heart of most fantasy stories. It’s subtle. Polite. Easy to swallow, because most reading this were raised to believe that civilisation has transformed humanity.
Power in those stories is often framed as a burden. A responsibility. A crown, too heavy to bear and one that we must detest at all costs. And yes, sometimes, that is true.
Yet, that’s not the truth people whisper about afterwards. And that truth, is this…
Power feels good.
Not in a vague, noble way. Not the way songs wax lyrical or the grandiose legends claim. In a visceral way. In a way that sinks into reflexes and muscle. Moments that create chains of chemicals and rewrite the memory of a body.
We like to believe that good people resist power. That they wield it carefully. Reluctantly. That they will forever remain unchanged by it, and be responsible while wielding it judiciously.
But that’s not how this works.
Because the first-time power answers you - you don’t feel burden. You feel clarity. The world narrows, and all the noise falls away. Doubt burns out of you like it was never even real in the first place. For a single moment, everything makes sense.
You act - the world moves.
That is the hook.
That one that sinks claws in, and never lets go…
No one talks about that moment. Because it’s dangerous. Because once you’ve felt it – it’s not something you will easily, or indeed ever, forget.
Then, you start to chase it.
Now this part- this is where most stories lie to you. They show the aftermath of power. The destruction and the cost. But what they skip, is the part where it becomes intoxicating. Where it feels like stepping into something you were always meant to be.
Where it whispers:
Again.
You see, the problem isn’t power itself. It’s what comes after that very first taste. Because now, you know what you are capable of. And that kind of knowing - it changes everything.
Power doesn’t just solve problems, it reshapes the person holding it. Teaches you that force brute works. That control in the face of the utter chaos of this world is possible.
And once you learn those lessons - you can’t unlearn them. This is where the real fracture begins. It isn’t when power destroys something, because that is too simplistic of a view. It’s when the person using it realises…they don’t want to stop.
That’s the part no one admits. Where even the ‘good ones’ hesitate. They no longer fear power, because they know how easily they could lean into it. How natural it would feel. How right their world has just become in an instant.
