Danielle stood there, shocked. The statues were gone, gone. Nero only turned a sly yellow eye to her.

“What the hell did you--”

“I merely took away what was no longer needed.” It seemed like Nero was waiting all day to say that.

Danielle glared at him.

Nero turned to the crowd, “Your precious Twin Gods are no longer the rulers here. The only being that will be needed on this hill will be me.”

The crowd started to jeer and shout. Nero looked to his side, and nodded once, sending a furious monster to lash out at a few of them. The beast wrapped his tongue around their throats and snapped their heads clean off.

Nero turned back to them, his eye flaring, “Bow to me. Bow to me or die!”

The deer in the crowd seemed to go back and forth between the dead bodies, Never, and Nero. It was only a few seconds before the first deer bowed. Then another, then another. Soon the whole crowd was lowering their bodies to their new dictator. The invisible force of fear driving their faces to the ground, their legs trembling in fear of the executioner not too far away.

Danielle refused. “I won't let you get away with this! You may have swayed these deer, but not the whole forest!”

There was a smirk. “A little bit of yeast will leaven the whole loaf.” He turned to her, glaring into her eyes.

The doe froze. Memories of what he had done to her flooded her mind at the very look of his eye. She started to back down, feeling the fawn inside her squirm, which caused her a moment of pain. It wasn't just her. The child was afraid as well.

“The Forest is mine now.” Nero climbed onto the spot where the statues once stood. “And what the Twin Gods have made, I will destroy. I will make this Forest my own.” He brought a leg up to his face and brushed off the skull that covered it. He threw his head to the side, parting the hair that covered his hidden eye. The eye that had always remained closed. He now opened it.

Nero let out a breath. And at that moment, the fog became thick and stagnant. The a few of the deer bowing before him started coughing at the new change in the air. Nero smiled, “Prepare to see your new home.”

All around the forest, deer were panicking. This air was not normal. There was a chill, a heaviness to it that seemed to weigh everyone down. A rumble ran through the earth. The first thing to change was the hill where Nero was. Giant iron spires shot out of the ground, making pillars around where he stood. The crowd immediately started to run from the hill, avoiding an unwanted death of impalement.

Danielle stood where she was, too terrified to run. The spires completely missed her, but she didn't notice. Her eyes were turned to the Pond. Deer gathered around the shores were crowding together as if they were extremely cold. The Crying Idol was cracking. The streams coming from its eyes dwindled into only a trickle. Two deer who were observing it stepped closer to it to see what was happening. But the stone idol burst into pieces with a thunderous crack, sending large stones, sharp and dull alike, flying out. One of the deer was hit directly on the head by a piece of the idol, smacking him to the ground with a giant gash on his forehead.

The Idol had been broken by a giant monstrous skull, the top of it sticking out of the ground and into the air, with the bottom teeth jutting out of the ground below it. Putrid, thick muck spewed from the giant skull, flowing down the path that the once clear stream had already carved out and into the Pond. The waters were quickly tainted, the entire Pond rapidly growing thicker and blacker. The fish floated slowly to the top, unable to breathe. The lily pads withered, soon the willows were affected as well. Their leaves started to fall into the vile tar, the trees' branches shriveling up, and some of the smaller ones losing their ground and falling into the bubbling muck below them. The Pond had become uninhabitable.

More and more deer were fleeing from everything that changed. The Old Oak was overtaken by giant, poisonous vines, the large leaves fanning out and oozing toxic wax. Those who were inside could not escape, and were soon taken by the substance. Bodies rose from under the Ruins, corpses of deer and other creatures began to wander the Forest. The Ruins itself was becoming infested by the same vines that took the Old Oak, making the old rock pillars crumble and fall from lethal heights.

Clouds were spiraling overhead. They sent out rain that seemed to burn the deers' skin, and lighting that struck the ground frequently. Many deer were dying from these changes. Poisonous plants were sprouting everywhere, the Ruins had become a deathtrap, and the Pond was no longer able to sustain life. The deer flocked around the hill where Nero stood, this time the crowd was twice as large, pleading for him to stop.

Nero smiled, “Change is never easy, children. But those who live through this will prove themselves worthy of living under my rule.” He turned to Danielle, who was still standing there. “Don't look so terrified, Danielle. You knew this was going to happen. Or was the fawn not reminder enough?”

The doe shook in either anger or terror, “The fawn only reminds me of how psychotic you are.”

Nero scoffed. “Then get rid of it.”

Danielle looked at him. Get rid of it? How? Why? He was the one who did it, so why would he tell her to do such a thing?

“You don't want the fawn, so get rid of it. It's a simple solution. Besides, there's no reason for me to have an heir.”

Danielle let herself down to the ground, still shaking, and hid her face from him. How am I supposed to stop him? He's already won...

Nero turned from her, changing the statueless pedestal before him into a suitable seat for him, and sat on top of it. A smile came to his face as he looked over his new kingdom. “I have won.”