“...Jupiter?!?!”

  “Big brother!”

  “Stay still, or he dies.”

  Such immaculate timing, Neptune thought. Looking at the skies, Neptune fantasised about an imaginary hourglass with sand hanging oppressively, like the floating island from a distance, above him. And in his hands, an unbalanced scale that sought balance.

  Ivan clicked his tongue, knowing he had no time to waste. “What timing…” A terrorist had shown up at the worst time possible with an equally unbalanced hostage. “Is that your younger brother?” The timing of this hostage scenario was impeccable and he needed to decide quickly, or they risked losing the key objective.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ivan whispered to his side, where the intel team stood at the ready. “Team, what’s the chance?”

  “Realistic or unrealistic, sir?”

  “Both. I’ll be the judge of it.”

  “Unrealistic chance is saving the civilian and executing the terrorist…” The intel team soldier held his tongue.

  “This isn’t the time to mince words. Speak your mind.”

  “Realistically, we take them out at the same time.” The intel team soldier had studied the terrorist and saw a baby-like bulge attached to his chest. “Sir, now is the perfect time to take it.”

  With decisiveness ingrained within his hyper-advanced logical mind, Ivan commanded coldly. "We go for it.”

  Suddenly, a whimpering voice cried out in agony.

  “No! Don’t!” Neptune pleaded, interrupting his mentor inadvertently. He couldn’t allow them to take his younger brother’s life.

  “Stay out of this.”

  “…Please.”

  Ivan ignored his mentee, his cold eyes affixed on removing the enemy standing in his way.

  “Sir!”

  “Neptune Smith,” Ivan glanced at his mentee, knowing the son of the betrayer had once again risked everyone’s life in a do-or-die situation. “Look at the bigger picture–” Ivan directed his eyes at the bomb tied to the terrorist, barely visible, with the hostage blocking the view from the front. “–We can't waste any more time."

  It all made sense.

  Something within him awakened, spiralling him down into the abyss. Neptune widened his eyes as a flurry of information flooded his information-processing terminal, engulfing his five senses.

  Hold on, did he say the bigger picture?

  As the invisible maelstrom of cries filled his mind, Neptune entered a trancelike state as he recalled his modus operandi throughout Ravens Camp. What made him take up a leadership role amongst Batch 123, who most likely had perished from the terrorist attack, wasn’t about leading them to the promised land. It revolved around him uncovering the truth of fourteen years ago. This desire slowly transformed into a grand dream of becoming a hero, the legendary figure who would lead the United Atlantea Federation’s war effort against the Drazen Empire. He knew in history that victory requires sacrifice; if today requires one, he would willingly offer anything on the altar of the Gods.

  As though his brain functioned like a disk defragmenter executing a memory wipe, the memories of his past, of his family, turned into binary data files reaching beyond the recycling bin of his information processing system…

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  …Only to be replaced by a melancholy, logic-filled CRUD command.

  With his finger hovering over the command button, everything became crystal clear as to why he even started this story in the first place.

  His motivations.

  His dream.

  And for glory.

  Taking a gold coin out of his pocket, Neptune reaffirmed his vow as he clenched it tightly. Even if someone from his family had to take up the position of sacrificial lamb to further his story on the road to immortality, it was a sacrifice he had to take. No, he must take. He knew one thing: every hero has a background story, either a heartfelt or purposeful tale, pushing them to wear the mantle of greatness. This background story of heroes, those enshrined in legends, made him wonder if these stories’ origins are a work of reality–or fabricated, like the one he is creating now. From that moment on, there was no turning back.

  Click. The scales finally balanced as the sand in the hourglass had timed out.

  He had chosen this path.

  “Take the shot.”

  Neptune felt his mentor silently assessing him with his eyes.

  “I said, take the shot, sir,” He repeated heartlessly in a dominant trance.

  Ivan took a long breath, deliberately selecting the words to say. He felt those brown eyes cracking to unleash something evil within the monster beside him. However, the unofficial assessment was a success.

  “You need to understand that in the future, a second lapse carries heavy consequences for all parties involved. You get what I mean, young Smith?”

  Neptune nodded.

  Ivan made the decisive call. “Fire when you are ready.”

  “Affirmative, sir. In five…”

  Stepping forward, Neptune wanted one last word with Jupiter, knowing that his sacrifice for him was for the greater good. But in truth–

  “Jupiter.”

  “Big brother!”

  Jupiter smiled at his elder brother, knowing he had come to save him. That’s when his smile slowly eroded as he studied his brother’s face in detail. Jupiter’s lips trembled at the sinister feeling of cold, penetrating fear he felt from his older brother, whose eyes carried no warmth, replaced with emptiness from the apparent lack of a soul.

  “Big brother is here to save you.” A sick, twisted feeling enveloped him.

  “...I’m scared, what’s happening big brother?!”

  It was a weak plea, like a child on the precipice of bawling his eyes out. His brother’s soulless eyes carried nothing but despair within those bottomless echo chambers.

  “Trust me.”

  “...Big bro?”

  The distinct clocking of a live round entering the rifle’s chamber signalled the end of his kin’s meaningless existence and the beginning of his story.

  “Jupiter. Big brother has decided to save you.”

  Neptune watched as the colour on his kin’s face started to drain; the demented look he gave his younger brother remained etched forever as his final memory. A maniacal look worthy of a man who would sacrifice anyone to attain glory. An evil smile contorted with self-praise and admiration toward the great deeds he would accomplish at the cost of this tiny price he had to pay in advance as the Gods once demanded in ancient history.

  “Big brother?!?!?!?!”

  “I love you, Jupiter.”

  “Say one more word and–”

  The contrast between his older brother’s chilling eyes and warm body posture became the last thing Jupiter witnessed as he took his final breath. On this day, not only would Jupiter lose his life. His elder brother, whom he looked up to, had also lost his soul.

  And there it was, the almost silent sound of a shard of metal floating like a butterfly through the air…

  The invisible, silent bullet escaped the soldiers’ rifle chamber, piercing both targets like a dagger through the heart reminiscent of a lamb skewer from Azea. Their bodies fell to the floor, where their lives faded instantly with the potency of the intelligence branch’s deadliest weapon.

  With cold, steely eyes, Neptune pondered about the afterlife where his kin would live in paradise for eternity. This benevolent gesture extended to his younger brother was the gift of freedom. Free from life. From suffering. From warfare. From growing old. Free from sickness. An eternity of freedom in the heavenly gardens without pain.

  Free from the fate of those who had died–but will still live.

  “Goodbye.”