A\N: Two updates! Yayness! ;)

"My Lord, welcome home."

I look around. "Thank you, Kireti...ah. Impressive."

In Rita's time, this was your standard palace. In Zedd's time, it was your standard palace with mist and a lot more magic floating around. For me, though...

The palace is decorated in my colors, green and black. A dagger lies between the green and black blocks, my official seal. My throne is obsidian, with emerald daggers carved into the armrests, as if I sit with my hands upon two dagger hilts. The hall around me is simple stone, but a long black carpet leads up to my throne.

I walk up to it, twirling and seating myself, and Kireti kneels at my feet. I smile approvingly. "Your artistic talents haven't faded a bit, my friend."

He beams at me. "Thank you, my Lord!"

I wave. "Come, sit. We need to review."

Kireti sits beside me on the steps leading up to the throne. I gesture, and a circle of water appears in the air, showing Kimberly teaching high school.

It takes my breath away.

She's beautiful, every bit as much as the day I met her. Maybe even more so--now that I'm in my twenties, I'm beginning to realize that a woman of twenty or so is much more interesting than a child of seventeen.

"Beautiful, my Lord."

I raise an eyebrow at Kireti.

He shrugs. "I don't know, it seemed appropriate to say. You never know what to say to me when I like a boy."

I smile. "True."

I watch Kireti for a moment. The only spells I put on him were minor, spells to unlock hatred and anger in the boy. When I explained what I was doing to him, that Lord Tirthor exists only out of direst necessity, he was glad to aid me. But no matter what I told him, he couldn't be cruel or hateful without spells.

That freedom, though--the free choice to serve me--makes him invaluable. And that quality appears when he talks back to me, when he treats me like an equal. It reminds me that I'm still human.

"My Lord?"

I blink awake. "Sorry, Kireti." I turn back to the screen. "Anyhow, so that I am perfectly clear, that woman is mine. Do I need to explain what will happen should you try to woo her?"

"As if I'd want to." Kireti snorts. "Don't worry, my Lord, the troublesome female is all yours."

"Good. Now, let me see..." Three students are near her. In my enchanted screen, they glow with the power of the Dino Gems. Kim calls on them, one by one.

Kira Ford, Yellow Ranger.

Ethan James, Blue Ranger.

Conner McKnight, Red Ranger.

"Has she mobilized them yet?" I ask.

"Yes. Mesegog attempted an attack earlier. He kidnapped the girl, Kira Ford. I set up an invisiportal where she could find it--a sort of wormhole, my Lord--and captured Mesegog, Elsa, and Zeltrax for you." Kireti reports.

"Nicely done." I praise him. "What did you do with his generals?"

"Killed them."

I raise an eyebrow.

Kireti blushes. Unlocking his hatred meant that, every so often, he gets jealous. Especially if someone bests him in a fight. I sigh. "Kireti, we need to be efficient, or we end up doing nothing. You do understand, right?"

"I'm sorry." He mumbles.

I judge him carefully, then nod. "Next time you're going to be confined to the moon for the next battle, understand? I can't risk you forgetting this."

"I understand, my Lord."

I nod and let it go. He's still a child. "Come, then. Let's see this creature, Mesegog, shall we?"

"He's not quite Mesegog, my Lord. He's a parasite, feeding from the body of Anton Mercer." Kireti says, eager to regain my favor.

I smile. "Good. That will make my job easier. Separate the two of them, then kill Mesegog...no, I'll have to leave the scientist's body to be discovered by the Rangers."

"Then Eltar will discover it as well?"

I laugh. "You understand our game far too well, Kireti. I wonder if I should have just sent you home."

Kireti shudders. "No! I mean, no, my Lord, I'm happier here."

"I was teasing." Belatedly I remember his abusive father. Idiot homophobe. When--if--I send Kireti home, I need to murder his father first. I make a mental note, then sweep into the dungeons.

Anton Mercer, a blonde man, looks up at me exhaustedly. "Lord Tirthor, I presume." He says calmly.

"You presume correctly." I tell him. "Human, look at me."

He does. Hope radiates in his eyes.

"I will free you of Mesegog." I tell him. "But it will kill you. I want you to know that, were it not for your stupidity in your experimenting, this would not be necessary."

"No!" He gasps. "Please, my Lord--I have a son--"

Damn. But still, a son? Someone with Mercer's intelligence? Kireti told me about the experiment that created Mesegog on the way here. If I could shape the boy into someone with common sense...

I press a hand to the man's forehead. "Be still. Now, think of him."

Anton glares.

I sigh and gesture. Anton screams, his form morphing between Mesegog and Mercer. When I judge him ready to speak, I ask again. "Think of your son."

Anton glares again.

It takes hours of torture for me to finally force him to think of the boy. When I see Trent Mercer, I'm almost disappointed. A young hispanic with no real talent...

The White Gem glows in my pocket.

I smile. "Don't worry, Anton Mercer. Your son will be...provided for."

Horror passes over his face before I kill him. I carve my mark into his stomach, then tell Kireti to toss him into the ocean.

I have a White Ranger to recruit.