All his life, Vaxon had been weak. Powerless. He had been born before his brother Jahad, and both had been born without Magic.

His father, Mathas, had always had magic. He was looked up to by all of Castre. He served the late king faithfully, and helped anyone he came across. Mathas often told stories of the times as a child when he had been the Ancient Magi - had learned magic from them himself.

All the years of being surrounded by Magi, being overlooked, neglected and made fun of for not being as good as his father, eventually hardened him. At age nine, when one of his friends was teasing and making fun of him as usual, Vaxon finally had the final straw.

He murdered the boy.

When that happened, he realized that he loved power. Craved it. Needed it.

He didn't stop until he found the dark monks, the evil sorcerers. They were the last remnants of an ancient evil, one that had nearly consumed the entire dimension nearly a century ago. Desperate for a pupil to continue their evil, to ensure it would not perish, they agreed to train Vaxon. They gave him his magic using an Ancient Spell, one of the Blood Magics.

When darkness consumed his soul, he was never the same.

He overthrew the king, taking over the kingdom for himself. Spending his entire life as a powerless, weak human in a world full of Magi who acted better than him only fueled his hatred. He did not stop until they were all dead.

Now, it was his last chance.

"Destruction!" For the first time, Vaxon felt as if he truly had enough power. It called to him, whispering to his mind, poisoning his soul. It did not possess him nor did it control him - no. He allowed it inside of him as his own choice.

A light magic unlike anything he had ever felt before resisted his spell, pushing against it, holding forth. The bond between the remaining Magi was a stronger bond than any type of magic in existence.

Love and devotion are the most powerful magics in this world, my son, Mathas had often told him. Vaxon had never truly understood what that had meant.

Not until now.

As he gazed back on his life, on all his memories and all the evil deeds, he knew a normal man would regret it. He did not regret any of it. All he wanted was a life without Magi... a life where everyone was equal and no one had to feel as weak as he had.

He had only wanted to spare others of his pain.

Yet no one understood. No one knew just how far he was willing to go. Sometimes one had to make sacrifices for the greater good... even if that meant sacrificing one's own soul. Vaxon had been willing to do that and more, to ensure that everyone was equal.

No one would ever feel weak again.

In that moment, Vaxon's eyes rested on his father's. Jahad was behind him. Mathas nodded his head once, shortly. His expression was as it usually was - full of hope and compassion.

"It's time, son. It's time to let it go." Despite that Mathas' voice was a whisper, it resonated through the spell directly to Vaxon's ears.

"... I can't! I will never let it go! I need this power! Everyone with magic has to die! No one will ever feel weak again!" Vaxon screamed.

Mathas shook his head and tears made his eyes glisten. "No, you don't need power, Vaxon. Look at where power has gotten you. It made you want to do things - horrible things, that the Magi never did to you. I am sorry that I did not do my part as a father to you, Vaxon. It is because of me that you felt unloved, and weak. I should have... done something. But no more. Do not let these innocent young children pay for my mistakes."

Vaxon gritted his teeth, and his hands shook. Magical energy in the form of darkness pulsed away from his hands in a dance of malevolence.

"It's time."

Vaxon hesitated.

"Just let it go, my son."

An explosion resounded across all of Komesen, throwing it into utter chaos. Mathas reached out for him, with Jahad smiling warmly beside him. A man stood behind them dressed in white, and his warmth reached through Vaxon's darkness, enveloping him. Vaxon took a deep breath.

Then he lowered his hands, and let go.

***

0.0 *ahem* well... that happened. 

So... welcome to the semi-finals! You guys have all earned it! 

For anyone who was confused, yes I invoked the "Judge-rules-all" rule and since the voting ended in a tie, I let BOTH Eris and Leo live! Yay! The downside is that, since there is twelve of you left, seven will die this round, leaving five in the finals.

Because this is the semi-finals, it works differently. Rankings no longer matter. I will still score you, but that's mostly to help me personally. Four of you will receive automatic passes to the finals. The rest (the other 8) will automatically go up for votes. Out of those 8, 7 will die and only ONE will be voted into the finals. You will not be able to vote for yourself, sadly (simply because that would complicate things. I mean, everyone votes for themselves, it's like the third Pirates of the Caribbean all over again, haha). 

Because four of you will write entries good enough to get you sent straight through, that means that this task is to impress me. You all did such a wonderful job last task, I was... well impressed and that's an understatement. So... if you decide to slack off and your entry is riddled with mistakes, chances are I won't choose you. Impress me, because I KNOW you all can do it.

That being said, here's the task.

If you had the second option, (Zentra and Lilja), then you have traveled to the Capital and are now in Komesen. First option-people, obviously, you're still there.

If you kept with the basic options, Vaxon is dead. The city, and all of Castre is in complete chaos. Guards are still fighting guards, and Vaxon's army has started sieging the city in revenge and they're preparing to storm the castle. (Please keep in mind history of how sieges work—they usually lasted for several months, supplies dwindled, crime rate rose, etc; because I will be judging you on that as well). You must write about the after effects. Did you take control of the army and arrest the rebels? (FYI, rebels are now Vaxon's army).What did you decide to do with the rest of the royal family? Who leads? Kyren? Did you give the throne to Vaxon's wife? Nassia? Or do you and the remaining Magi form a council of sorts? Or, did you take complete control as a dictator? Are YOU now an evil dictator (If so, then that has to make sense logically)  ? Write about the fighting and chaos afterward, but especially the political after effects of what you've done and how you're going to take control of Castre.

If you decided to serve Vaxon, write about what he did to you afterward. You are serving him now, basically a slave that he uses your magic to squelch any rebellion. Your single family member is alive, but how and in what condition? Are they kept in the prison? Are you allowed to see them or forbidden to? What state is the kingdom in? What has your choices to serve Vaxon done to Castre? How many more have died under his rule? What has he made you do?

Either choice, this task should focus on the after-effects, and political drama of ruing a kingdom. Please, keep it realistic. Just because Vaxon is dead does not mean that oh, everyone magically surrenders. That will get points taken off. There is still rebellion all across Castre, and even Komesen itself is still being sieged by Vaxon's army.

Yes, if you serve Vaxon you can use this task to take him down. Keep in mind, that I'm looking for political drama, so throwing in another boss fight is probably not a good idea. You can include the fact that other wars have started, and basically make up whatever you want, but that should all be background information to add to the drama that is included here.

Word count: Unlimited. This is the last round of unlimited, so use it to your advantage. I won't be so nice in the finals.

Due date: March 30, 6pm central time. You have exactly two weeks.

Awards:

Politics—The tribute who receives this award will give me Fantasy politics at its finest. Think Game of Thrones or Star Wars (even though that one is Sci-Fi).

Theatrical Flare—The tribute who receives this award will pile on political drama on top of drama, with problems on top of problems It will be complicated and intense (politically intense, not intense with action).

Deception—The tribute who receives this award will include a lot of deceiving. I want lies, I want to not know who's telling the truth, or who's behind everything. I don't want to predict anything. Twist after twist, with lie after lie. Think some of the deception that goes on in Game of Thrones.

Crapizoid—This award goes to the tribute who literally makes me feel sorry for their tribute's life, which has gone to crap (This is mostly for the ones who choose the second option).

Kyren Award—Yeah I couldn't think of a creative name for this. There are actually two parts to this award. 

Part 1 - Anyone with a girl character who starts to ship their character and Kyren, well you'll get this award if I really feel that it's a ship that can sail. Remember that he just lost his wife, and has an infant daughter to take care of, as well as an entire kingdom (possibly). Even if it's emotional, or a ship that has potential that might not ever sail, make me want this ship. If you have a guy character, you can still include scenes with a girl character and Kyren if you want to (or if your character is married *ahem Jae* ) so you can still go for this one if you want to. 

Part 2 - Anyone who gets this part of the award will include Kyren in all the political drama, whether he's ruling, or has chosen not to rule and you're trying to convince him to rule, or something. Maybe he's on the Magi council, or some of the Magi want to throw him in prison or execute him for his crimes, and you're trying to protect him, or maybe his darkness is taking back over, or Vaxon is still in charge and Kyren gets himself killed trying to help (just kidding, I don't think I want him to die right now). Either way, he'll be a companion character in your story, and not only that, but you'll portray what's going on with him right now correctly and have something involved with him that's not brief. 

Since rankings no longer matter, people who win these awards will receive 500 extra words in the finals per award that they win. If you win an award and go up for votes instead of go straight to the finals, then you will receive a vote for yourself on top of the vote you already have for someone else. Multiple awards won will receive extra rewards (for instance if you win two awards and you go straight to the finals, you'll win 1,000 extra words. If you win two awards and you go up for votes, you'll receive two votes you can use on yourself. If you win three awards then in the finals you would have 1,500 words extra or if you're up for votes, you'd have three votes for yourself, etc).

Another words, all of you should try to go for all or most of this awards. Unless you're confident that your writing for this entry will be top notch and I'll send you straight through. But still, it's probably a good idea to go for one or two, if not all of these awards. 

Penalties:

1 - Because you are seen as a threat and came in first on the death/ballot rankings, you have been targeted. The fight in the previous task, or sometime during the seiging since, a wound has left you without either sight, hearing or the ability to speak. Your entire entry must be written without one of those three senses. Keep in mind this is fantasy, so you can find a creative way to do this. 

2 - 3 Those of you who came in second place are still seen as somewhat of a target, but not as much as the others. Because of this you have been mortally injured, and now can either not use an arm or a leg. You must choose one of these and right your entry with your characters new temporary disability and it may NOT be fixed during this task. 

Those who weren't balloted - Because you aren't seen as a threat at all, your due date has been extended. It's now April 1st 6pm central, instead of March 30. 

Sponsorships:

This the last round to use your sponsorship perks, so here's a quick reminder of what those are:

- Unlimited word count on a task of your choice before the finals (which since this IS unlimited this kind of doesn't really apply)

- In depth critique after every task. Because there's plenty of time between now and next task, just ask me to do it and I'll get to it when I can. I will break down your last entries and really critique them. 

- One chance to have me critique your entry before sending it in. Some of you have already used this, so if you have, you can't do it again. If you haven't NOW is the chance to use it. 

- You can request to know what tributes balloted you.