Once there reigned a powerful wizard.  He ruled over his lands from his family's ancestral tower, as his forefathers had done for ages through the might of magics.  The sheer power of his family's spells had kept them in power for generations.

  Wars with this wizard's neighboring rulers were frequent, but his arcane power was more than enough to repel any army.  Until, that is, that fateful day when his scouts returned to tell him that all his neighbors were plotting a simultaneous attack against him to rid themselves of his pesky tricks.  The wizard was quite upset about this.  He was quite a powerful mage, but even his might was not enough to stave off so many armies.

  The mage fumed for a while, shouting at his magical court to devise a means to stop his demise.  The mages under him laughed at him, and started to pack their things to head for other lands.  One of the oldest of his council told the wizard that only his great great great grandfather has possessed a magic strong enough to save him from this fate.  The thought of such a magic intruiged the wizard, and he began to search the tower for this fabled magic of unrivaled power.

  The wizard found many references to the spell in the family history, but they told him nothing of the spell itsself other than its power was feared throughout all the lands.  By the power of this one spell alone had his great great great grandfather founded his family's magical kingdom.  The wizard continued to search the tower from bottom to top for some clue to this powerful magic.  He finally found a hidden antechamber, locked by powerful spells.

  It took eight days of incanting to disenchant the locking spells.  Whatever was inside was not meant to be found.  Encouraged by this fact, the wizard went into the chamber, to search for the lost magic of his forefathers.  He was nearly roasted by a powerful fire spell set to defend the room.  Had he not ducked so quickly, he would have joined his ancestors then and there.

  The Wizard sent wave after wave of peasants into the room to clear it of any traps before he tried to enter it again.  Scores died.  A small price to pay for the ultimate power surely locked within.

  Creeping over the bodies, the wizard finally managed to enter the chamber, and found a scroll within.  The wizard's eyes lit up.  Surely this was the spell his ancestor had used to reign over all the lands!  Ultimate power was finally within his grasp!

  Hastily scanning the parchment, the wizard soon realized that the runes... made no sense!  They were all... backwards?  Rushing up to his personal room at the top of the tower, the wizard held the scroll up to a mirror.  There, in the reflection, he saw the spell!  Cackling with glee, the wizard hastily began to recite the runes, to smite all the armies that were amassing at his borders before they moved against him.

  The spell was indeed extremely powerful.  Everything for leagues was utterly annihilated, including the wizard and his lands.  The devastation was utterly complete and burned into the memories of far-off lands for generations.  This wizard in his mad lust had managed to teach many people a very valuable lesson:

  There is such a thing as too much power.