I was a bit depressed at her asking who I was... One, it meant I wasn't doing my job hard enough to make my very visage feared across the lands, and made an instant note to start allowing a LITTLE more aggression under my reign. Two, it meant SHE didn't know me. I frowned, and a few crocodile tears ran down my face... At least, that's what I'd fooled myself into thinking back then...
"I am called many things. An aberration, a blight upon the face of this land, a leader, a tyrant, a scourge, a villain... But very few call me father... And even fewer call me teacher... Your mother was my first, last, and only disciple in learning the art of true ice. It is a magic so powerful, it remains in the family blood, granting generation upon generation magic that could give them rule over whatever they desire. However, before you ask, you are not my daughter, I merely helped raise you when your father fled your mother after learning what power she wielded."
I paused here, then bowed, "I am Lucius Blackstone, and your mother was the only woman I ever truly loved. And I'm sorry about the use of gillgirl, but I must keep up appearances. I know you think this land more peaceful than it appears, but it is not so. It is a land of criminals and evildoers, the only reason you haven't been placed on a spit yet is because held back from destroying the other lands by a very powerful few like myself, who have been branded just as evil by the outside world for creating such an asylum for the fiends. But is it not better to place the shark further away from the merchildren rather than in a wicker cage in the same pen? And I apologize about the rambling on, I tend to wax philosophical when the topic of this land is raised. Does your mother still talk about me? I never got to say goodbye when she left to raise you among your peers..." At this point I was quite rudely interrupted by two very large orcs who were NOT a part of my kingdom bursting into the area.
"SO WE GOTS A FISHIE AND A FLESHIE?" one of the two said, looking us over, "THAS'S NOT EVEN A SNACK! BUT WHAS'S AN ORC TO DO, EH?". It then reached towards me, and my gaze went from the warmth it had held to cold steel as I faced the two orcs fully.
"Give me a second to deal with these oafs, Nerine, and also show you what your mother learned. Elise..." I said, and my staff flew into my hands and snapped out its cleaver. "KILL."
The first orc went down instantly, Elise's blade cleaving through Orc hide, flesh, and bone like butter. The second one was smarter, and got out its club to swing it downward, attempting to crush me like a bug... I caught it with both my hands, then called forth the True Ice. It formed over his club first, then his arms, eventually leaving only a statue of ice. One tap from Elise, and it shattered into black snowflakes. I sheathed Elise's blade, and she returned to floating by my side. I then nodded my head quickly for the fallen who could have been minions, and turned to Nerine.
"So there it is. The power your mother craved and received, and then passed on to you. Now that you're old enough, I can teach you how to safely wield it beyond normal ice, for either your own gain or to help others. I won't force you, but know that True Ice is not something that can be so easily quelled, once it's first used. I might be one of the most evil beings in all the lands, but I'll be damned if I let a magic that could destroy everything run rampant." As I awaited her answer, I waved my fingers, the roots of the trees all around us taking the body of the orc and burying it underground to feed on its nutrients. I had done nothing magical there, but I knew the timing on the trees sensing a dead body, and couldn't resist looking more powerful than I seemed.