The British Are Coming

Emperor. It had a certain ring to it. The Republic had crumbled, the Empirewas resplendent with its own fires, and would always be so—for the Emperor knewwhat others refused to believe: the dark forces were the strongest. He'd known this all along, in his heart of hearts—but relearned it every day:from traitorous lieutenants who betrayed their superiors for favors; fromweak-principled functionaries who gave him the secrets of lords, and sadisticgangsters, and power-hungry politicians. No one was immune, they all craved thedark energy at their core. The Emperor had simply recognized this truth, andutilized it—for his own aggrandizement, of course. For his soul was the black center of the Empire. He contemplated the dense impenetrability of the deep space beyond the window.Densely black as his soul—as if he were, in some real way, this blackness; as if hisinner spirit was itself this void over which he reigned. He smiled at the thought: hewas the Empire; he was the Universe.