(Months later)
It was a normal day on viltrum.
The sun was shinning, the birds were chirping, and people were dying.
The people of viltrum flew around, minding their own business. Nothing out of the ordinary.
*KABOOM*
Somewhere in the distance, an explosion rang out. But nobody seemed to mind it.
Infact, the viltrumites flying around seemed to expect it. Death brawls were a common occurrence in viltrum. Adulthood initiation brawls, training brawls, petty brawls, and just brawls for the sake of it.
So yeah, nothing out of the ordinary...
This is a fucked up society.
__________
(Jaxon POV)
I was barely able to turn my head with the hit to reduce the force as a punch grazed my nose, sending blood flying.
My opponent, a young blonde man close to my age, with 4 missing teeth, and blood gushing from his nose and mouth.
I rushed forward and shoulder checked him in the chest, sending him flying away and giving us both some time to breath.
Unfortunately for me, he wasn't alone. To other viltrumites, a bald male and black haired female, both around the same age as me and my opponent, surrounded me.
Now, the three maggots stood in a triangle formation around me, and it was clear what they were going to do.
'They're gonna jump me, ' I thought with amusement. 'Of course, it isn't viltrum if I'm not getting jumped everyday. '
"Come on then. Let's see what you got. "
After signaling each other with their eyes, the three fools rushed in at me from all three directions.
I braced, letting them get as close as possible before flying upwards.
The two males slammed into each other, but the girl quickly got her shit together and chased after me.
"Not a good move. " I told her with a vicious grin.
I weaved her first punch then caught her second one.
*Crack*
My knee met her elbow and now her right arm was facing the wrong direction.
Being young, she did not yet have the pain tolerance of seasoned warriors, and opened her mouth to yelp.
Wrong move again.
My fist caught her jaw, knocking out two teeth. And it was a beat down from there.
I grabbed her neck and started punching her again and again and again.
Her face was a bloody mess, swollen, cut up and bruised. She escaped from my grasp on her neck and tried to run, only for me to grab her by her hair and start elbowing her in the face.
Her companions finally seemed to snap out of whatever trance they were in.
Both boys tackled me, completely ignoring their bloodied friend.
I kicked them both off, and turned my attention to my new toys.
They both came in with big, winded up punch, giving me enough time to snatch the blonde by the head to use his face as a shield.
I threw away my mest shield and grabbed the blach haired boy in a clinch. He tried to break free, but before he could I drove my knee into his sternum, an audible crack telling me exactly what happened to him.
He cluched his chest gasping for air.
Suddenly, the blonde boy I had thrown earlier grabbed me from behind, trying to restrain me.
"Out of my way! "
The girl from earlier slapped the gasping boy out of her path, anger and fury in her eyes and charged at me with her fist.
The fist slammed into my face... and I didn't even flinch. My head didn't even move back from the hit.
"*sigh*, really? That's it? "
I easily broke out from the blonde boys grasp and bitch slapped the girl so hard shockwaves erupted from the hit. She went tumbling into the ground.
I turned around and grabbed the fleeing boy by the head.
"And where do you think you're going? " I said.
"Wait! Just wait, liste-! "
He never finished those words, his skull exploding into a thousand pieces, brain matter and blood flying into the air like confetti.
I descended onto the ground like a meteor, landing in front of the disoriented duo that struggled to get up.
"All bark and no bite. If you were going to ambush me, the least you could do is make it a little fun. "
The two remaining fools stood and took their combat stances, knowing full well that they chose the wrong guy to mess with.
"Well, whatever. Let's get this over with. "
And I charged at them.
__________
(1 hour later)
I woke up from my nap, stretching my back with a groan. Under the tree branch I had slept on were the remains of my opponents. Torn to shreds.
Battle really had a way of cheering me up. Especially when it's against someone who really deserved it. Though, that little bout could hardly be called a battle.
There was just something about fighting with a worthy adversary that made me forget about all my hardships. There was not time to worry about the mission or anything else. I could only concentrate on staying alive, and killing them.
Months had passed since my first expedition and the meeting with the grand regent.
My fifteenth birthday had came and gone.
There wasn't really any celebration, but my mother did pat me on the back and congratulate me for surviving another year. As she did every year.
That might not seem like much, but for a viltrumite, it was the equivalent of giving me a surprise birthday party and wishing me a happy birthday with a cake. It just made me realize how different she treated me compared to other viltrumite parents.
Wich made me wonder. Why? What made her like this? What reason did she have?
This question kept bugging me.
Viltrumites from birth, we're subjected to horrific training while being constantly told that the empire was right and correct and every one else was weak and hence, wrong.
We were constantly put through indoctrination, so that the thought of crossing the empire didn't even seem real to us. Ont top of that, we were regularly put under exams after missions to see if our devotion and obedience to viltrum had wavered. They were shitty exams though, so I was able to do pretty well each time.
A viltrumite was taught that love and compassion was for the weak, that entertainment or enjoyment was a waste of time and progress was all that mattered.
So how?
How did my mother break free from these restraints?
She loved me. I could see that. And I obviously loved her back.
The training we did was originally something painful and dreaded. But now it was something I could enjoy together with my mother.
She smiled and even laughed sometimes in my presence.
When I was tired or burned out, I would sometimes tell her my worries and problems, she would not chase me away or dispose of me for being weak like any normal parent.
She sat and listened and sometimes even gave advice.
And finally I gained the courage to ask. I questioned my mother of her ways while we were flying through the sky.
She froze, her face going dark and her fists clenched before she let out a breath and gedtured towards me.
"Follow."
We went back to her residence. After stopping in front of the table, she pulled up a holographic picture.
"Do you know what this image shows? "
In it, a battle of huge proportion was shown. Viltrumites flew around across the sky under the fire of their ships. Their opponents, looking similar in build to them, but wearing bird-themed armor and weapons made from Nth metal flew through the sky as well, their mechanical wings reflecting light from their polished surfaces.
Thanagarians.
"The viltrum-thanagar war. "
"Yes."
A small collection of battles that started 30 years ago and lasted just 15 years.
"But what does that this have to d-! Wait... "
Realization dawned on my face, and my mother nodded.
"Yes. As you must have realized jaxon, you are... Not pure-blooded. "
I slowly looked over the image again as understanding crashed into me like a lightning bolt.
"You are half thanagarian. "