The wizard already knew, from the things he'd done, that power was useless. He'd already put several large store chains out of business, removed powerful government officials from office (including a Supreme Court Justice), and attained a way of being that left him at the absolute command of his personal universe. Yet, at the end of it all, he found that this didn't make him any happier than he'd been as a grocery store clerk taking orders from somebody else.
He remembered one incident when he'd walked into a drugstore and the employees had snapped and yelled at him. He'd told the manager that the store would never see another customer again. The remaining shoppers left without buying anything, and no customers ever returned. By the end of the following day, the Big Brass from On High were down at the store wanting to know what was going on. Inexplicably, there were just no customers. After not too long, the store was closed. Soon, he'd gotten his jollies from this and decided to do it to a major retail superstore. He'd walked in and marked the place as a theft magnet. Lots of people came in, but only to steal. No one bought anything. The employees stole, as well. Everyone seemed to know just the right nooks and crannies to hide in. After several days, they'd picked the place clean. The police came, the FBI came, the news came, and nobody had the answer. The multimillion dollar near-mall was closed down. The wizard had grinned at this.
After embarking on his quest to take over the world, he'd soon found that it required more and more manipulation to deliver shorter and shorter adrenaline rushes. Soon, he'd seen, he would be slaughtering and torturing people just for the fun of it. He'd stepped down from power and gone back to the drawing board before this happened. He took a job in a coffee shop and learned to follow orders all over again.
Soon, he began to notice the same fallacy in everyone else. They all seemed to chase after more and more power, hoping it would deliver them from their suffering. He saw that he needed to show them otherwise. He decided to use his power to amplify the injustices until they became intolerable. He allied with some corrupt individuals and helped them garner power until they were so power-drunk that they couldn't see straight in front of them. He'd help them amass enemies, and then he pulled the plug.
For example, he met one angry gas station attendant who always gave him dirty looks. He taught the attendant to sell drugs to the customers. He'd taught the man to black mail the people he sold drugs to, and taught the attendant to build up a network of slaves by getting people hooked on drugs and then getting them to do his bidding for more drugs. Soon, the gas station became an underground apex of power, and the city began to pay attention. The gas station attendant soon had city council members at his beck and call, and the attendant was able to get the mayor removed from office. Then, the wizard taught the angry gas station attendant to get people following and worshipping him. They began to equate his drugs with a gateway to God, and they began to believe that only this gas station attendant could deliver them from suffering. It worked. The man got angry and started brutally beating people until they were bloodied stumps. He put up signs outside his gas station advertising that he would brutally beat anyone who disagreed with him. He started going to local bars and clubs, and the people would part the way for him in advance. They were terrified of him, and they hated him.
Then, it was time for the hard lesson. The wizard held up a mirror. He stopped the spell, and the free will of the people was restored. They saw what the angry gas man had done to them, and they saw him for who he was. He went into hiding, and soon he was arrested. He spent his last days in prison. The wizard got him sentenced to death. Not legally, of course. In his dying moments, he saw the futility of struggling for power. Mission accomplished.
Now, it was time to multiply this.
