Nathaniel:

I woke up in my father's office, as a light shined into my eyes. I snapped awake, rubbing my forehead because of the headache I received from the overload of power from yesterday. My body ached all over. The healing power from Vestry came in handy as I used it to examine myself, healing the burns on my knees and feet, the frost bite from the freezing water on my fingers and toes, and my broken wrist.

I looked around frantically for a calendar. My father had done some major redecoration. His desk was wider and held more dangerous artifacts like swords and magic potions. I noticed a ball that resembled a snow globe, but instead of snow, it held little bits of stardust. Across the room was a fireplace, constructed with stones. Bookshelves lined the walls around that. Behind me I heard squirming. I turned around and noticed a figure in a chair with a bag ducked over his head. I jumped off the stretcher and ran over to the man, taking off the bag from his head. I recognized my brother's face immediately.

"Vestry?" I gasped. "What's wrong?"

Vestry tried to speak but a gag held him back. I pulled the gag from his mouth and it draped around his neck like a scarf.

"Nathaniel!" Vestry gasped for air. "Whatever you do don't tell Dad what I did!"

"What did you do son?" I heard my father's voice behind me, his voice was ice cold against the back of my neck, filled with a tint of anger.

"Don't call me son!" Vestry snapped.

"Dad." I gasped. "I didn't see you there. Why are we here?"

"You tell me." My father paced around the room, touching the objects on his desk.

"Nathaniel, don't speak." Vestry warned me.

"Oh, Nathaniel!" My father cooed. "Please tell us what you have done."

"Nathaniel, hold your tongue."

"My son."

"Stop!" I yelled, silencing them both. "Father, why am I here?"

My father walked over to the fire place, placing a stick into the fire to heat it up. Then he sat down on a throne by the fireside.

"Father?" I fearfully asked.

"Nathaniel." My father clasped his hands together. "You were quite remarkable in your performance on the water planet yesterday. I didn't think you would survive, your eldest brothers didn't bet you would either."

"You thought I would die." My voice was shaky. "Yet, you still sent me in."

"Details, details." Father waved his hands. "But still, it was strange that you were given no matches and yet, you started a fire on a planet made of water. You also put out the fire without moving. You defied the laws of physics and were able to stop a bullet, turn it with your mind to hit another. It seems like you did some incredible cheating."

"I guess I'm just good at the game of war." I stated. "Which I won, game over."

My father clicked his tongue. "Ta-ta."

"Nathaniel, he has been inflicting torture on me." Vestry whispered to me. "Get out of here while you can."

"You were seen at Vestry's shop immediately after I promoted you." My father stood up and strode over to us. "After that you were not seen in the city. Azun demanded to see me, but I ignored him. He sat outside those doors." He pointed to the golden doors that lead to the hallway. "He was there all day, knocking and yelling for me to open. Oh, how he cried for me to send him instead of you."

"Why didn't you?" I asked. "Azun is my older brother, you should have listened to his opinion."

"He is a disappointment." My father walked around us. "He was given the power to control earth, which does no good in space. He is a useless child, nothing compared to my two eldest."

"No one is ever going to be as good as Mike and Luke." Vestry hissed. "You need to accept that we are all different, maybe we can have hidden talents, but you won't give us the opportunity to discover them!"

"Quiet, Vestry!" Father slapped him across the face. "What did you do to turn him into the perfect war machine?"

"Is that what this is all about?" I yelled. "My power?"

"Yes, my son." Father knelt on his knees beside me. "You can finally match up to Luke. You are better, show me how you did it."

"The mirror of The Echoing Demon-Angel. It's all gone though, the power, everything. It's all mine, you can't make another exactly like me."

"Vestry." My father hissed.

"He is telling the truth!" Vestry yelled. "The mirror is destroyed, I made sure if that, I burned it! There are no clones, no two people can ever be alike."

"You and your equality." My father hissed. "You are exactly like your mother. I hate every way you remind me of her. Each time I enter my own home I have to face her through you and my child who killed her!"

"That's better than being like Luke, who is exactly like you." I argued. "I can barely look you in the eyes anymore after what Azun told me everything about you."

"Azun doesn't know anything."

"You don't know him."

"He is my son."

"No. He is just your burden."

"Does Azun ever tell you about your mother?"

"No, but I know he was close to her. And he is still suffering because of her lost."

"Yes, he was." My father looked away from me. "He has failed me time and time again, you will not do the same and I demand you stop looking up to him."

"You can't make me!" I screamed. "The rebels will overthrow you!"

"Oh, really?" My father encouraged me.

"Yeah we have a plan to ruin you and Luke!" I snapped. "Vestry has made a device-"

"Vestry, Azun, Dustan and you." My father clicked his tongue. "Never would of thought the rebel force was so small."

"Umm." I stammered, realizing what I just did.

My father strode to his desk, grabbed the snow globe ball and held it against Vestry's head. Vestry screamed out in pain, as more snow blew in the globe.

"You can try to take away my memories but you can't take away what is in my heart!" Vestry yelled.

"Quiet!" My father demanded, striking my brother across the cheek.

He removed the ball from Vestry's head. My brother was breathing heavily, about to pass out.

"Vestry!" I cried, running to his side. My brother moaned, but kept his eyes closed.

"I will find you." Vestry moaned a whisper. "He can't take away my memories." Vestry held out a piece of a hard drive to me. "I am not fully human."

As my father yanked me behind him, the piece of metal fell from my hands. He pushed me far away from my brother, placed a bracelet on his wrists, and dragged him across the floor.
With chalk, he traced a circle around Vestry. When it was complete, it collapsed inward, and with a flash of light, Vestry disappeared. Only the bracelet remained in his place.

"Where did you send him?" I asked, fearful of the answer.

"Ever heard of a place called Earth?"

"The Galactica prison? Yeah, nobody ever escapes from that place. It's full of the worst criminals in all of existence and the life span there is only about a hundred years because of the thick oxygen in the atmosphere."

"Vestry just become the newest member there."

"What!"

"Don't worry, he won't be returning anytime soon."

"He won't be returning ever."

"So?" My father poured a glass of soda for himself. "Why does that matter?"

The Earth is a tricky place. Time works differently in that part of the galaxy. Decades can past on Malison when three minutes go by on Earth. Something like that, I never put my education in the direction of Earth, since nobody but criminals and outlaws get sent there. Azun told me tales about Earth, how horrible the place and the people were, he told me that humans can continue fighting on even after you cut off their arms or legs. The inhabitants never give up, they continue to fight on forever, through time and all eternity. Just one of them sounded more terrifying then my father.

"He won't be returning ever." I repeated. "You sent him there to die."

"I sent you to die."

"But this is different. You took away his memories. He can't remember who I am, who he is or anything." I paced around the room, I couldn't get that hard drive he had out of my mind. "He is going to be all alone when he dies."

"No he won't."

"You have sent someone else there." I questioned how to form the next sentence.

"No."

"No!" I yelled, knowing what was going to happen. "Azun! Help me!"

My father thew me against the wall, pinning my small body there with one arm, with the other he started to draw the circle. I screamed and tried to kick him away, to call upon any power I had. But I was too weak. I had a problem. A problem that could only be solved if I stopped participating. I relaxed my muscles and stopped fighting. There was no point, if Dad wanted me there I was going to be there one way or another. The circle was almost complete anyways and Azun could not hear my cries.

"Please just tell Azun that I always wanted to grow up and be like him and that he was never my brother, he was my friend." I begged as Dad finished the circle.

"Don't worry, he will never receive your message."

"Azun." I breathed, calling out to my brother who wasn't here one final time as the light consumed me, sending time somewhere else.