Unknown Planet
While the command staff was busy getting acquainted closely with their underwear, he took the empty seat of the helm. He cracked his knuckles, letting Nax translate the holographic screens in front of him. He flashed a grin and a thumbs up to the camera. He cleared his throat as he pressed the button for the fleetwide announcement system.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Prepare for the Pulsar Drift two point zero: the Cosmic Bogaloo," he said with a quiet chuckle. With the AI's guidance, he pressed the necessary buttons, accelerating the massive ship. He flicked the drone, sending it phasing out of the ship so everyone could watch this moment.
—
Haven
Thermion
Moonfall Palace
"He can't be serious," Meran muttered, his green eyes wide as the plate before him.
Octavian turned to his son, unfamiliar with the term. "Pulsar Drift?"
"I believe it's a drift where several vehicles spin together while avoiding one another," Leander said, scratching his head. He had witnessed it once while traveling to the Republic as part of a diplomatic mission.
"Who in their right mind would ever do that? his mother asked, lips slightly parted. Every child broke the rules. What they did was pure insanity in her books.
"It took place in the Republic. They banned it when a media tycoon's son ignored the safety measures and got himself and his girlfriend flattened like pancakes," he explained. It was not the first deadly act that particular group had done, but it was the deadliest by far.
His brother looked at him with a scrunched face.
"Their words, not mine," he said, turning away.
All four were glued to the screen, watching as the massive blocky space ship began to spin. The rest of the space fleet—and wasn't that something weird to say? —scrambled to move away. The two ships on the back couldn't get away.
It was like a scene from a silent opera.
The smaller ship on the right had a curved hole carved on its left side, which took the entire front off. The one on the left was less fortunate. The ship, with its speed increasing every second, shattered its smaller counterpart in half. The ship exploded, covering the remaining half in a blinding sphere.
Even greater explosions followed.
Whatever detonated caused the sphere to expand even further. The shockwaves traveled the gap in space too quickly. The ships were pushed apart and damaged. The flag vessel was still spinning. The Adventurer was still inside, laughing in a mix of childish wonder and something sinister. Even as the vessel he was on started to tear apart due to the various forces involved, he didn't leave.
Octavian felt something grip his heart. This was madness wrapped up in a mask of amusement. The Adventurer wanted nothing more than to cause chaos.
"Am I insane?!" he screamed, putting an end to his mad howling for a moment. "You know what they say; sanity is overrated anyway!" He began to cackle once more. The second screen turned orange with flames, but he never stopped.
The blissful silence came when the screens displayed a "Technical Difficulties" sign.
"Father, what do we do?" Meran asked, shoulders slouched, his voice quiet. If this adventurer were indeed from Haven and decided to have some fun at home, what could they do?
"I don't know," he said with a flat tone, one eye still glued to his phone. He almost dropped the phone when the call finally connected.
"What?" his third son's irritated voice came.
He sighed, stopping himself from devolving the call into an argument. "Would it hurt you to start with a hello instead?"
"Yes, it would," his son retorted with laughter in his words.
"This Adventurer. He is a danger. We need your help," he said, feeling his temperature rise. Asking Thairon to help while swallowing his pride boiled his blood.
"If he presents a danger, I'll deal with him. Otherwise, no."
He put the call on silent for a moment, cursing. "Don't tell me you weren't watching what he just did. He killed thousands for fun."
"They were fascists. While I find the method of their death inefficient, I agree with it. I mean, who doesn't hate people who think they are superior to everyone else just because?" he said.
Octavian couldn't bring himself to disagree with that assessment.
"And his abilities? How do you think he gained them?" he asked. At least that part should have Thairon's interest.
"There are a million and more ways to acquire these kinds of powers. Unknown radiation, something from a rupture, cybernetic augments, and so on. Can't say how without dissecting him."
Was it truly that easy? "You can do it then?" he asked, wincing as he realized how eager he sounded.
His rebellious son chuckled. "I'll create super soldiers for you when the universe comes to an end. If there is nothing else, I am ending this call. He is about to start again."
Octavian pressed the red button without a word.
"Of course he is no use."
—
Glassport
He rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the screen. Just as Kael appeared on the screen, in different clothing this time, he received another call. This one was more welcome, though.
"Hey, quick question, is he one of your brothers?" she asked, checking her surroundings.
"He is."
She puffed up her cheeks, eyes avoiding him for a second. "No offense, but he doesn't seem to have all his mental faculties in order," she finally said.
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "He does have the habit of terrorizing who he deems are bad guys. Bullies, arrogant rich stereotypes, and, in this case, a fascist empire."
His high school prom was a particularly amusing one for that reason.
"Uh huh. Why did he feel the need to let the whole world know though?" she asked. When they first met, Thairon used his teleportation device to help her track down the amulet. If it weren't for the absurdity of the claim, she would think he was crazy to display something like that to a complete stranger.
Not only was his brother not hiding anything, he was actively streaming it to billions of people. She didn't want to judge, but it wasn't exactly something smart.
Thairon swished his right index finger once, bringing an image to her screen. "Ever watched the Adventures of Malipa?" he asked.
Her lips stretched to a subdued smile. Sitting with her sister every morning, they would watch the red-caped, white-helmeted hero traveling across the galaxy, always saving the day with his wits and companions. "Anyone who was a child in the last twenty years did."
"He loved that show. He would pester me for toys and rare collectibles and for taking him to conventions. He even has a collection worth about fifty thousand aurels," he said, shaking his head. He had gone as far as to hack the official giveaway after his brother had eaten a dozen ice cream bars for the codes on the sticks.
"So a really big fan."
"The biggest. As a child, he wanted to have adventures like that too. While he didn't show it, his desire never went away even as he grew up. I simply helped him make his dream come true. In turn, he wants to let other people enjoy these adventures on screen," he said. Kael had matured, but the little menace in his heart had never faded.
"I hope it's worth the trouble it will bring on his head," she said.
He rolled his eyes, remembering his father's request. "What are they going to do, catch him? They don't have the technology to hold him. He would just haunt them instead. Believe me, that boy can get really vicious."
Knowing Kael, he'd prank them to insanity.
She shrugged. "He just drifted a spaceship and killed thousands. You don't have to convince me."
"Enough about us. How are things over there?" he asked. Her deployment was in two days.
"The price of being a hero," she said, her back sliding down the wall she was leaning on. "I am constantly getting sent everywhere."
"I guess you didn't make a complaint?"
"It's actually in the job description. The best always gets sent to contain the rupture."
He frowned, deciding to change the subject to less stressful matters. They agreed to meet the next weekend since she would have more days off due to her heroics.
He looked forward to it.
—
Serral Islands
He was rolling in the sky, cackling, watching his brother terrorize the base on the planet. He showed a colonel's face to the toilet and hung a dozen soldiers from the flagpole by their underwear. Right now he was busy sticking the remaining soldiers onto rockets ready to fire.
All the while the remains of the ships rained down on the planet.
His fun, for this was the greatest live stream ever, was interrupted. "Seems Jason's superiors weren't happy about his little moment of regret. Four goons are approaching; they want to kidnap his family to force him to retract his statements."
"Damn it," he said, eyes still stuck on the screen. He disappeared from his spot, appearing next to the car. He didn't even give the kidnappers time to leave the car. He simply altered the vehicle's gravity, letting it shoot up to space. He appeared back in his location above the clouds, continuing to watch the show.
"Remember kids, don't try any of this at home," Kael said, thrusting his right hand to the side. It disappeared into a flickering point in space before he slowly pulled out a large, conical weapon with a clear radioactive sign on it. The soldiers that were shooting at his brother stopped, dropped their weapons, and ran.
"Aww," he cooed, "they think they can escape from a nuke. That's cute," he said, raising the device and bringing it down like a cosmic hammer. The screen went white, another sign appearing.
"Afterlife in Progress," it said, a grinning emoji in the background.
He leaned closer, waiting. As the stream returned, he wasn't disappointed. A blue monster, bulky and ugly with its shark teeth, disproportionate face, and two massive horns, sat on a throne, winking at the camera. Pools of blue lava, cauldrons boiling over blue fires, blue demons, and, of course, sinners dressed in blue rags.
A classic depiction of hell, only everything was in blue.
"Humans!" Kael, disguised as the devil, bellowed, shaking the illusionary hell with his booming voice. "You have committed the worst sin any mortal has ever had. It was so vile even I puked my lunch out," the devil grunted, gagging.
"You have gone against the natural superiority of the blue. For that, you deserve a fate worse than mine. Unfortunately, that quota is full, so we are going to do it the usual way."
"Into the pool of blue lava until they realize the superiority of the blue," the devil screamed, pointing a blue trident at the dozens of soldiers who looked ready to depart their mortal coil for real.
He threw his head back. It was fortunate he could hold his breath indefinitely, or he would have died from laughing so much.
The demons, caricaturistically short and fat, pushed the begging humans into the lava. "Now kiss the blue," Kael declared, watching the soldiers stop their struggles for a moment, looking at him with wide, moist eyes.
"I said kiss it!" he screamed, causing pools of lava to shoot up. The soldiers fell on the ground, kissing the dirt, while some went as far as to hug the flying imps with all their strength, showering them with affection.
"Hug the blue, like you would hug the woman you paid a crap ton of money to show you affection," he ordered. They scrambled to obey, gathering dirt between their arms, squeezing the imps to death. One even tried to gather lava in his arms, laughing hysterically.
He snickered, flashing a thumbs-up to the camera.
"And finally, sing a song for the glory of all that is blue," he ordered, waiting. The soldiers stopped again, looking at one another. "B-but we don't know any," one of them, a female on the verge of crying, stuttered out.
The devil stroked his chin. "That's alright, you did good enough. Your punishment has been lessened greatly. Instead of burning in lava, you are going to face the souls of every Zylam killed by the empire," he said, snapping his fingers with a low, throaty laugh.
The environment lost the eyesore, blue. Foreboding darkness grew from all sides, and in it, pairs of red dots. It was a single pair at first but quickly grew into a horde. Thousands turned into millions, and they swarmed forward. The comedy had transformed into horror in an instant.
Kael had the sense to end the illusion just as the soldiers disappeared beneath the horde of undead.
They all found themselves inside the base once more, unharmed on the outside, but their minds were on the verge of shattering. The female soldier who had the guts to speak fell on her knees first, fingers on the sides of her head, scratching bloody lines as a fit of laughter caught her. Her eyes were unblinking and wide open. She didn't respond to her fellow soldier shaking her shoulder.
"So much for superiority," Kael muttered on the screen, crossing his arms. One by one, the soldiers got down on their knees, putting their hands behind their necks. Amid the mad laughter of the soldier, they surrendered, leaving him considering what to do.
"Maybe you should take a look at that car? They will die in a couple of minutes," Nax said, displaying the totally flipped-out men inside the vehicle.
"Fine," he said, dragging the word out. He had already stopped three assassination attempts targeting Jason. The would-be killers had gone to the police, confessing their crimes and who had hired them. If those four agreed to the same offer, they would live.
—
On two different corners of Haven, two different people received an identical message. It had arrived through the Lifeline Channel, the communication line only reserved for the gravest of threats between the three nations. They had already made plans for a similar event to what was written in the message.
Meltral was about to be busy.
Of the five point eight billion people on the planet, almost everyone was watching the live stream. They didn't care about the dangers the Adventurer presented. His existence meant someone on Haven had the capability to create a superhuman. One who possessed invincibility and control over ruptures, dimensions, and illusions. The danger lay in his attitude.
He hadn't hesitated to destroy spaceships and murder thousands, driving the soldiers on the ground insane. One wrong move against him would risk similar events taking place in their world. However, letting him act as he wished was out of the question.
If only they could back that claim up.