The reconstruction of Winstead began at a rapid pace that increased to lightning speed, beginning, and ending within a mere sixty days. The destruction wrought by Everly’s deliberately slow conquest was swiftly repaired by her legions of undead who as it turned out were just as talented at repairing things as they were destroying them, depending on the mindset their master required of them.

But they didn’t just fix what had been broken. No, Everly had a vision for her new kingdom. Inspired by comic books that told tales of villains who were hated by the world but beloved in their homeland, she set her monsters to improving the quality of living for those she ruled. Their homes were completely renovated; straw and thatch were replaced with brick and mortar, and glass windows.

Going beyond that, she then introduced her people to the concept of industrialization.

Soon, underground lines of power stretched across the nation, providing energy to homes that would cool them in the heat of summer and warm them in the winter seasons. Clinics were built that would provide free healing to the ailing, staffed by former clerics of the temple who had been converted to Everly’s side.

Soon, once an appropriate curriculum had been developed, public schools would begin providing a free education to the children of the populace. Those who were discovered to have magic would no longer be enslaved but instead, they would be elevated to the newly created rank of first citizens, which Everly intended to use to replace the pointless concept of nobility.

Every household was gifted with up to three modified reavers known as monitors (depending on the size of the family) for security, and to helpfully aid in daily chores.

(They were also there to secretly listen to their family’s conversations and report anyone that was openly disloyal to their empress and quietly remove them if so ordered. But mostly they just did the chores.)

What’s more, with Everly’s blessings over the earth, the land was constantly fertile, allowing the farmers to harvest massive crops at will with no consideration for the time of year or weather patterns.

Food had was now plentiful. Literacy and leisure had been introduced to the public, who thanks to their tireless monitor servants, the citizens only had to work if they wished to. Popular entertainment thanks to the invention of the radio was everywhere, filling their ears and hearts with drama, adventure, and romance.

Within a startling short amount of time, Winstead had become a paradise. A land of law, education, and peace, where only genuine merit permitted one’s rise in society, not silly antiquities like bloodlines and inherited wealth. The people felt as though they were living a dream. Their appreciation for the rise in their fortunes was endless.

Naturally, Everly made certain that they knew exactly who to thank for the improvement in their quality of life.

In public, she wore brightest white. She presented herself as a demure beauty who meekly accepted the role of empress out of a genuine desire to spread freedom and equality to her beloved citizens, and at her many public appearances, entranced her listeners with her angelic presence and beguiling sincerity.

“When this land was known as Winstead, you were oppressed. Your voices were silenced by those who held power; you were exploited and mistreated. Your pain was ignored, and your tears were mocked. Too many of you, far too many of you, were consigned to misery from birth ‘til death with no hope of relief from the bitter taste of despair that your so-called superiors had left on your tongues. Your miserable fates were destined to last forever.”

“But then I came. I heard your cries! I saw your pain! I felt your desire for freedom, and I knew that the purpose for which I was blessed with my great power was to see to your liberation. Your deliverance!”

“And now, a scant year and a half after my holy crusade began, look at what marvels my eyes now behold! A people renewed! A people made happy and strong with prosperity and wealth! A new and glorious homeland that is the envy of the world! All for you! Everything for you! You deserve it!”

The jubilant people roared their appreciation and love to their savior, allowing her to bask in their intense feelings, to drink in their devotion and empower herself with it.

To feed herself.

“Winstead is no more,” she eventually continued. “Let its barbarities and injustices be forgotten alongside its name. We are a new land gleaming brightly beneath the endless horizon. A place of endless renewal and opportunity, where the sun will always smile upon us. Citizens! Your country’s name is now Novus Terra! Novus Terra, the land of hope!”

They roared their approval once again, flooding Everly’s body with their power, letting her feast on their love and approval, and expanding her power.

Everyone who loved her, she took a small piece of, to strengthen herself.

She was her father’s daughter, after all.

The first and only Empress of Novus Terra, basked in the manufactured adoration of her unwitting slaves and knew a joy greater than of them ever could.

The wicked joy of a schemer whose plan has succeeded.

__

 

What constitutes deification? Is a person a god because they say they are? In most cases, the answer to that question is a hard no. There were many people who thought they were gods and who acted like gods but finding others who agreed with their self-aggrandizing opinions could be pretty difficult.

That was the missing ingredient, you see: agreement.

You could proclaim your divinity as much as you liked, but it wouldn’t matter in the slightest if you didn’t have anyone willing to take a leap of faith and worship you.

And wasn’t that such a waste? So many people (in their own minds) deserved to be gods. But none of them could expand their reach beyond making sad little cults for themselves to lord over in their sad little compounds, which tended to attract weak willed losers and the mentally unwell. Not exactly the big leagues.

Everly wanted in the big leagues. And she’d figured out exactly how to do it.

Her father, Count Marcis Van Belsar, was a parasite. Literally.

His spirit elemental possessed a rare mutation that allowed Marcis to directly feed on the intense emotions of other people to empower himself. The greater his sway over his victims, the more energy he could draw from them. In his own way, he was just as much of a vampire as his late wife, Anne, had been. But instead of blood, he preferred to dine on hate, since he found negative feelings to be the most flavorful. To obtain it, he’d mastered being a merciless gadfly who could provoke the most extreme reactions out of anyone he decided to torment. The list of people who despised him was without end.

For the longest time, Everly wondered if she was anything like him, when one afternoon, after a particularly intense session with Seraphine writhing beneath her hands, she realized that she was. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, but she’d truly never noticed it before.

Everly loved making other people miserable. She’d been that way ever since she was a small child; it simply appeased a need within her. It was strange though, that she’d never put any thought into why she enjoyed it so much. It simply seemed automatic to her nature.

Sparking intense reactions in others made her happy. No, it didn’t just make her happy, it fed her.

Was that the real source of her strength?

As it turned out, it was. To confirm it, she experimented with Seraphine. First, she belittled the former queen, mocked her for her many failures of leadership and insulted her prideful nature. When Seraphine’s temper exploded as Everly knew it would, she felt the touch of something floating into her. Something familiar, but unseen. If she concentrated on it, placed all her focus on the thing, Everly felt bliss. This was it. This was the satisfaction her father derived from his cruelty.

It was wonderful.

Next, Everly seduced Seraphine, apologized to her, manipulated her anger into lustful fervor and had her on the floor. This was even better. Seraphine’s anger had been potent, yes, but it paled in comparison to her affection. Her desire to make amends, her need to be with Everly, to express her growing…love? Compared to that, her rage was nothing.

Laying there with her toy beneath her, Everly’s grin widened at the possibilities. If she could experience this with only one silly, temperamental person, what would happen if she expanded her range? She had a country now. Thousands of poor unfortunate souls now existed at her pleasure. True, they currently feared her immensely, which was very nice, but what would happen if she could direct their minds toward more a more affectionate viewpoint?

How powerful would she become with their love?

“Everly,” Seraphine whispered huskily, as she trailed her fingers down the side of Everly’s face. She began to pull Everly down towards her, when Everly brushed her hands aside and stood up, adjusting her clothing as she did so.

“Hey, that was fun, but not right now, Seph,” she told her. “I’ve got some plans to draw up with Carter.”

“…What?” Seraphine asked as Everly walked away.

“Hey, keep up that energy though, I might pay you a visit later,” Everly said as she exited the room. “Later, babe.”

“You’re just going to LEAVE ME LIKE THIS?!” Seraphine screamed as the door shut behind her empress.

___

After her latest speech, Everly convened a meeting of her inner circle.

Not for any productive reason, though. Mostly just to show off.

“Guess who’s on her way to obtaining godhood, bitches!” she shouted jubilantly as she popped the cork on some champaign and began showering her loyal followers with foamy blasts of flavorfully aged grape.

“How does it feel?” Bev asked excitedly after the cheering died down. “I can’t lie, it sounded absolutely psychotic when you first brought this up, but I can literally feel the power welling within you! Hell, even I’m getting a small taste of it!”

“I am too,” Dullahan said more quietly than her sister but just as excited. “Everly, what you’re doing now is…I can’t even describe it. If you keep harvesting this much power, no one will be able to challenge you. We’ll be untouchable.”

“We’re already untouchable! Now, we’re just piling on the frosting on our victory cake,” Everly said gleefully. “God, I can still feel it welling up within me! I’m unstoppable! No boundaries! Everything can and will be mine!”

“Be easy, Everly,” Grail warned her. “I can’t pretend to understand what you’re feeling right now, but don’t let yourself get swept along the tide. This is new to you, and it’s best you proceed slowly. We don’t know what could happen if you draw in too much of this power at once.”

“Ah, and here he is. Mister Cautious No-fun and his endless words of advice,” Everly said sarcastically. “Grail, seriously, you need to learn how to relax and soak in the moment. We’re about to take the reformations we’ve made here, global. Novus Terra will plant its flag in the land of every other nation in the world!”

“…World conquest?” Grail asked her. "Everly, is that really what all of this is about?"

“Of course!” Everly crowed. “If I can derive this much power from the worship of one little country, imagine how it’ll feel when I’ve brought the entire planet beneath our banner!"

"Everly, I don't understand," Grail said. "You told me...you promised me that everything we were doing was for the sake of the kingdom. Of undoing the wrongs of the past and building a better future for the people. How can we do that if we go about spreading war?"

"General, hold your tongue at once!" cut in Seraphine. "It's not your place to question the decisions of your mistress. Look at everything that Everly has managed to achieve here! Don't you feel it's her responsibility to share Winstead's blessed fortunes with the rest of the world?"

"Novus Terra," Everly said after nudging her with an elbow.

"Yes, Novus Terra, that's what I meant," Seraphine said, correcting herself at once.

"Respectfully, Lady Seraphine, I'd greatly appreciate it if those who have nothing to do with the running of the empire would restrain themselves from offering commentary," Grail said to her.

"What did you say to me, you insolent dog?" Seraphine asked sharply.

Just as Grail opened his mouth to repeat himself, Everly silenced him by raising a finger in warning.

"Would the two of you please give it a rest?" she said. "Your bickering is spoiling my fun! But Seraphine raises an excellent point, Grail. I expect you to show more open support for me. I respect your opinions but I'm the one who makes the final decisions!"

"Of course, Everly. Ask you say," Grail replied.

Everly sighed. "Come on now, don't look at me that way. I assure you; everything will be for the best! Be honest, have I ever once led you astray?"

Grail wisely chose not to respond to that one.

It was clearly a provocation.

"Besides, old man," Everly continued with growing enthusiasm. "There are worlds beyond this one! Worlds in need of order and strong leadership. Do you hear me? Entire worlds! I’m going to consume entire planets! I’m going to become a being whose every whim is a universal law! I’m going…I’m going…to..I…oh, God, what is this? What’s happening?”

Everly looked around the room in confusion, seemingly dazed.  The bottle of champaign slipped from her slack fingers and shattered on the ground.

"Everly?" asked Grail in alarm. "Everly, are you all right?"

"Grail...help..." Everly said helplessly. "I... please help me."

Suddenly, to the horror of all those gathered, Everly collapsed in a heap, unconscious, with blood flowing from her mouth and nose to pool on the floor.

The inner circle stared at her prone body in shock.

“Uh, that’s not good, is it?” asked Beverly.

No one replied.