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***
how long do you think it took me
to leave?
Not just leave
The City,
but leave
the icy sun,
stone mesa
and copper domes
where people and rats lived?
The kid
who overthrew Rails
turned out kind
and fair
as a ruler.
But her
child successor
was
a
brat
quickly
killed
by
his
brother
who
started
a
war
where
half
the
copper
domes
exploded
so
I
taught
another
hero
how
to
be a witch
be a kind ruler
be a wise parent
be a corrective grandparent
or uncle or aunt
but the lessons
fell
totally
flat
on his ears,
he
won
the
war
and
built
a
palace
of
stone
and
kept
greed in there
and
kept
laws
out;
I guess I stayed
after
that
cuz I felt guilty
for warping this land
with witch magic,
so I helped
another rebellion
take over
the palace
and picked no hero
this time
to train
in magic
but then
the Commoners Party
took over
and extorted
the commoners
and
I
got
sick
of
it,
sick
of
it
all,
so
for
my
next
hero
I made a
summoning ring
in the broken
walls
of
an
ancient
copper dome
out of pipes
and dreams,
then
called
a
green
dragon
to
lay
waste
to
it
all:
down
with
the
Commoners
Party,
down with the
commoners,
the
remaining
copper
domes,
the
castle,
the
city–
and
you
know
what?
Those
people
who
died
in
aluminum
armor
in
a
lightning
storm,
outside
a
copper
dome
before
Rails
conquered
it,
maybe
we
should’ve
made
them
our
rulers,
they
who
asked
deity
to
strike
them
down
for
the
slightest
sin–
maybe
if
the
heroes
died
when
they
chose
wrong
we
would’ve
never
had
so
many
wars,
but who’s
up there
deciding who’s in the wrong?
Maybe Rails was right
to slaughter the rulers
who sacrificed their people
in copper-generated
lightning storms,
maybe Rails was right
to set up trade routes,
maybe Exo
was right
to build a stone castle
after the people taught themselves
the spells
to explode copper,
maybe my
green dragon
and their
acid breath
made me God
deciding what was wrong
with everyone
when actually
I had no clue
I was just
pretty sure
I was more right
than they were.
And you know what’s funny?
Hardly anyone
knew who I was,
when I
might’ve been
God.
Rails did.
Her successor Gio did.
A few rebels
in
a few rebellions
did.
Exo did, and
the Commoners Party
knew I was a witch
but not how old.
They knew me
yet
they all treated me
like a secret,
useless
if
given
away,
thinking they could keep me
until they couldn’t.
And maybe that
made me more like God
than the fact
I destroyed them all,
and maybe it should’ve scared me
that I liked that,
like, maybe I should’ve done more
to kill this secret glory
than lay waste
to the secret’s keepers.
Jordyn Saelor 