"This isn't fair!" Hago exclaimed as he slammed his paw down on the rocky ground of the Outlands as hard as he could.

"Did that help?" his brother, Bora, asked.

"Yes."

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes," Hago replied as he winced in pain. Why did the ground have to be so stubborn? All parts of the Earth should obey him!

"What are you moaning about this time?" Bora enquired, noticing his younger brother had become noticeably more miserable over the course of the few days. He figured it was something to do with his constant failures.

His only goal now was to take over the Pride Lands, and he was so obsessed with it that nothing else at all mattered to him. Even if he had to wait a hundred years, the Pride Lands were going to be in his control!

"You know what I'm moaning about!" Hago snapped angrily, pressing his head into the ground miserably. "Why aren't the Pride Lands mine?"

"Because they don't belong to you?" Bora suggested. "The King and Queen are the rightful rulers, you know."

Hago glared at his older brother, his eyes burning with anger. "They are rightfully mine!" he declared, poking the top of his magical staff into Bora's chest. "After all the years of suffering I've been through I deserve a reward! All I want is the Pride Lands! Is it too much to ask for?"

"Yes," answered Bora simply. "It's the most respected pride in all the land. The whole world, even. It's a lot to ask for."

Hago scowled and turned away from Bora, talking to himself. "If only there was a foolproof way of doing it. I've tried threats, kidnapping, making deals with bratty little cubs with a crush. Is there anything else I can do to secure that majestic kingdom?"

"From the way I'm standing, it doesn't look like it," Bora replied as he joined Hago by his side. "We're pretty much doomed, Hago. We might as well forget about this silly 'take over the Pride Lands' idea and retire to an island paradise where we can live out the rest of our lives in peace."

"There's no better place to retire to than the Pride Lands, you idiot!" Hago told him. "That's why I want it so badly! Think of all the power and control you would have! All that space, all the creatures! An entire supply of water! It could all be ours!"

"Well, unless you have any more impressive tricks in that staff it doesn't look like we can do anything," Bora pointed out, gesturing to Hago's staff.

Hago stroked his chin with his paw thoughtfully, fiddling with his staff with his other paw. He spun it round so the eyes of the staff's cobra head were pointing directly at Bora's eyes.

"There has to be something," Hago said to himself as he thought hard to think of a clever, sinister plan. "I need that power. I need that control…"

Unbeknownst to Hago, the eyes of the cobra head on his staff were glowing an ominous red.

Bora wasn't listening to his brother. He was focusing on the eyes on the staff, and the eyes only. Bora didn't know why, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of them. They were so… entrancing.

He couldn't move. He just stood there staring into the sinister, glowing red eyes, completely mesmerised by them. He could feel himself losing control of his body, his thoughts. Everything was just slipping away…

Bora blinked, and then his eyes were glowing a frightening red. He had a blank expression on his face, like he was in some kind of trance. A hypnotic trance.

Hago turned to his brother. "What do you think, Bora? Don't you have any ideas in that brain of yours?"

Bora didn't reply. He continued to have the entranced expression on his face, staring blankly at his brother.

"Bora?" He waved a paw in front of Bora's face, hoping to get some kind of answer from him. He didn't. "Have you gone brain-dead? It wouldn't surprise me."

It only took a few seconds for Hago to realise that there was something different about his older sibling. Mainly, the glowing red eyes. This led to Hago to suspect his very own staff, and he put it up to his face, examining it carefully.

The eyes of the staff's cobra head were glowing an evil red. Hago could practically feel the evil from the staff burning into his soul. The glowing eyes on his staff could only mean one thing: that his staff was doing something magical, and

Hago had a sneaky suspicion as to what that might be.

Looking back at Bora, and then at his staff again, Hago concluded that Bora had been put into some kind of hypnotic trance because of his staff, which Hago had accidentally pointed towards Bora earlier while he was thinking to himself.

The eyes of the staff continued to glow red as Hago stared into them. Of course, it had no effect on him, because he was the owner of the staff, and Hago's own magic would never work against him.

Hago looked at his hypnotised brother, and started chuckling. The chuckling soon developed into loud, maniacal laughter that echoed through the Outlands.

"Oh, Hago, you dirty genius," Hago told himself, smiling evilly as another plan began to form in his head. "I didn't know this staff came with a hypnosis feature. Looks like the control I always wanted was here all along."

Hago decided to find out the extent of the hypnotic powers he had unknowingly used on his brother. "Bora, are you completely under my control?"

"I am in your power, master," Bora replied in a sleepy, hypnotic voice.

Hago chuckled at Bora's reply. "Ooh… 'master'. I like that. Now Bora, I want you to… roll over."

Bora did as he was commanded, and rolled over on the ground. Hago found this most amusing, and laughed out loud.

"He's completely under my control!" Hago exclaimed, the power immediately rushing to his head. "If I can control my brother, then think of who else I can control!" A cruel smile spread across Hago's face. "This is going to be quite an entertaining day. Most entertaining indeed."