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Jupiter

I tried and grabbed for the boy, yet I failed.

I stood over the edge of the cliff and watched as he fell through the air then slammed into the water below. There was nothing I could do to stop him from making his own decision and he decided he would rather die than become one of my slaves once again. Even though he was as good as dead in my opinion, I still couldn't figure out whether he was mad beyond his years or brave enough to become the next casualty for his cause.

What kept me from looking away? Why was I so drawn to the boy? Did he have something that I didn't have? I could have anything I ask for and it would be handed to me on a silver platter by the most pristine hands, yet I still didn't feel satisfaction. I still wanted more.

The boy made me forget all of that. There was something about him I knew I liked, yet I disliked him because he had to be the son of my rival. I stood up and turned away sighing, knowing that I would never meet another man just like he was in my lifetime. The rest of this war would be dull and dreary without him to keep an eye on.

It was a real shame such good talent had to go to waste.

Facing my men, I spoke after a few minutes. "You are all under my reign now, am I understood?"

They nodded and saluted me. "Yes, sir."

I turned away. "You let your fellow men know that I am in control of things here, and as such, I will make my word law."

"But sir," one of them spoke, "we still have an obligation to Adrianne's husband."

They trembled as I stepped forward. "Then you will dispose of him in a very discreet way. If you complete this, I'll make sure you receive a very good bonus for the next five months--a five figure bonus if you wipe away the evidence as well."

They went wide-eyed and nodded with haste. "Yes, sir! It will be done!"

Men were so easy to manipulate. Their minds so fickle that all I had to do was offer them a good sum of money and they would do anything I ask without question. Hell, I was sure they would shoot each other if I placed a good amount of money on their heads.

Arthur would never have stooped that low. Even as they walked away, I stood there and turned back to the dark ocean behind me. Wherever the boy's body was, if it was at the bottom of the sea or being thrown around, I would never get the satisfaction of giving him a proper burial. I suppose a burial at sea wasn't so bad, but I honestly wished he didn't have to act like a martyr for a people who were surely going to lose this war.

I sighed and began to delve into the jungle once more. My men were already far ahead of me, but I didn't need to worry about myself. If the time came I needed to defend myself, I had an armed weapon and could take any man in a fist fight if they tried to ambush me. The leaves were no match against my machete, so I cut them down with ease as I made my way back to the base.

Eventually, I got lost in thought with the journey back. My heart ached. At first I thought it was because I hadn't really seen a doctor since I had been shot, but I scraped that notion. This feeling was all too familiar and there was only one other time that I could remember feeling like this, and it was after I killed Henry Wing.

After I killed him and his wife, I felt a new pain surge through my body, and I was caught off-guard thinking that I would only feel pleasure in killing my greatest rival. I was completely wrong.

Where was the satisfaction I was supposed to fell that day? All I felt was hate and remorse for myself and those feelings were hitting me once again, this time tenfold. Was it because I pushed the boy to the edge? Not literally, but figuratively. I stopped and looked at my hands for a few moments, almost watching blood pool out of them and taint the muddy ground. The substance covered my hand and traveled up to my forearms, causing me to flinch.

I shook my head and grunted, looking at my hands. They were covered in mud and rain. The blood was no longer there.

I was going mad, but I continued to walk on. The walking got my thoughts running once more, but I could still feel the cold feeling on my palms almost telling me my struggle wasn't over just yet. After serving all these years as both a slaveholder and a war leader, I guess I was beginning to lose my mind. Perhaps it was the stress getting to me, or maybe it was the lack of sleep, but I was sure I needed to rest soon or else suffer more consequences.

Still, the boy never left my mind. His death was still fresh in my mind and it had only happened a few minutes ago but it felt like it had happened seconds ago instead. He didn't have to die, but I couldn't keep myself from shooting him. What the hell was I thinking? I was the cause for his death. Though the Overlord wanted every single one of those Revolutionaries either dead or bound in chains for the remainder of their lives, I would never feel complete knowing that the fox was dead with his parents. At least he wouldn't suffer the rest of this dreadful battle. He joined his parents in the afterlife. I suppose that was as much of a hero's funeral as he was going to get.

He was still foolish in my mind, but also admirable. I hated feeling like I was teetering between one feeling and another. Never could I just side with one thing, aside from the Overlord, and stay with it.

Damn the boy, and bless him.

It took close to an hour to return back to the near ruin of the laboratory. Even as I emerged from the forest, I could smell the still lingering scent of smoke and see the ash along the ground. The courtyard was a complete mess with different areas with large holes, some small, and parts of the grass that looked as though someone had ran a flamethrower across it. The trees along the pathway up to the gates had been knocked over while some had been burned to a crisp, and the path itself was a scattered mess of grey stones that lay all over the yard. Even the wall looked like it had to be redone from scratch with all the chunks of stone that lay around it and the new misshapen holes that lined inside it, many of them in the oddest of places.

The worst sight of all, I had to say, was watching my men drag away the bodies of the dead. As far as I could tell, there had been no casualties from the Revolutionary side of things, which only prompted me that they were highly dangerous especially in small compact groups. My men dragged away their fallen brothers to the side of the building and lined them up, many of them already mourning either because that was their family or a close friend, and I gave them as much time as I could muster, but I had to fix things quickly.

Never had I seen such a low amount of men do this much damage, and so I was going to have to report all this to the Overlord once the area had been contained. I had to tell him of the damage the Revolution caused here and how we should not take them lightly anymore, for this was an utterly devastating defeat for me. All I could do was just build up our numbers here once again and begin restoring this place to its glory. Though this was not technically my home, once Adrianne's husband was dealt with, I would take full ownership of it and begin rebuilding.

There was one thing I had to take care of first. Adrianne was a smart woman when it came to the science of things, but I couldn't let her research wreak havoc upon the world in such a dastardly fashion. Even I didn't want a power such as that in my hands. It was too much, and I had grown wise in my years, yet I still made very foolish mistakes.

This would not be one of them. The toxin she used would have to be destroyed. Every single scientist would have to die as well, for they had been doing research on the plant as well. I couldn't let them live and risk testing this formula on other patients. Though I was a slaveholder and a leader for the Overlord firsthand, I knew when to stop when things went too far. I had already lost a great person on this day and possibly never find another like him, and in his memory, I would do at least once good during this war even if it went against all the principles I was brought up to believe.

The scientists would die and I would hire new ones. I would make it look like they had been killed in all the commotion and destroy much of the interior of the base, unfortunately. I had already gotten away with one murder, and I was sure I could get away with an extra couple dozen seeing as how unimportant they were to the many others I could find.

I stepped over the mounds and holes covering the open lawn and headed inside the base. The rain was subsiding, but I couldn't figure out if I was pleased or disappointed. Today was a day for the rain to fall and wash away the blood that now tainted this land.

Soon, I found myself looking out into the same mirror only a few days prior. Amongst all of the violence and terror of the night, the window remained and allowed me to look out into the troubled distance. I let out a heavy sigh. The sun would rise within a few hours, and I needed to rest my eyes.

I wanted to forget this night for the next few hours.

???

Unbeknownst to Jupiter, a body drifted in the water. It lay just above the surface of the waves and hovered there, almost as if it was being lifted by arms below the surface.

The waves pushed the body closer to the shore until it rested just along the banks, away from the dangers of the ocean yet still feeling the waves wash up across it and then drag away but the body remained. How it stayed from falling below the surface of the ocean remained shrouded in mystery. It was both a mystery and a miracle all at once.

Its clothes were tattered and torn all the way up, yet the darkness of the night kept most of the unmoving body covered. It wasn't so unmoving, though. Every few moments its chest would rise and then fall, signaling that the boy was still living but hanging on by a very thin thread.

The boy wasn't alone, though. From the waves came a boat going at high speeds, and it came towards the boy, soon docking at the shore. The fox could barely retain his consciousness to glimpse the shrouded figures. All he could see was them grabbing him and dragging him off the surface of the banks, placing him into the boat, and cutting through the water.

With that, the boy closed his eyes.

To be continued...