Behind the Scenes

Inside an endless, white, void: a mindscape of a boy with two souls

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I was falling through a dream. Falling out of my nightmare.

The nightmare of the dying titans from a lost planet. The survivors of a dead civilization.

The nightmare of the white titan of gluttonous destruction. The cancerous cell of the traveling stars.

I was falling through a dream. Falling out of my nightmare.

Again and again.

A voice was asking me. A familiar voice.

"What is honor?"

Again and again.

"Is it the vague promise of glory and fame? A fairy-tale fabricated in blank and white? The courage of a hero that knows no bounds?"

A voice of a Hero of Justice. A voice I both admire and hate.

I must answer. Even in a dream.

"What is the precious 'honor' you cherish as your 'Justice'?"

I'll answer you.

...For me, honor means doing what is necessary to protect my people and my family.

To me, honor means responsibility.

Responsibility to look after my people as Prince of Mycenae. Responsibility to change the tragic fate of Alcides, my sister. Responsibility to care for my parents, who gave me life and blessed me with the best imaginable environment.

And in order to fulfill that responsibility, it is essential that I pledge myself to the higher forces of this world. The Greek gods.

To be completely honest, I do not approve of a lot of what the Greek gods did in their myths, but who I am to point out their faults? Am I qualified to spout what is righteous while I myself have next to no actual knowledge about them?

I know nothing about their pasts as the vessels of a dying civilization. I know nothing of their creators' hopes, dreams, and ideology.

Does that excuse their wrongdoings? Of course not. However, in the end, I'm nothing but a single human.

Gods. Divine spirits. They are not something you could judge with humanity, ethics, or the law. Gods are a force of nature, an embodiment of a concept, an overpowered being of completely different mentalities.

Can a human understand an ant? Can a dragon understand a human? Can a god understand a dragon? The pyramid goes on.

We, humans, are at the very bottom of it. A human does not feel remorse when they accidentally step on an ant. Why would a dragon fuss over the death of a few humans, much less a god?

A mere individual before this grand scale of existence called gods, means absolutely nothing. Nothing, unless you yourself is significant enough to change the entire rail of history on your own.

With dignity, I shall grovel, with respect I shall pray.

The biggest weapon of humanity is wisdom, and with that, I shall gain power from the very gods.

The biggest enemy always lies not within others, but within your own self. Your rage, your hesitation, your malice, your fear, your greed, your selfishness...all that makes us blind to a brighter future.

That is my Justice.

A stark contrast to your creed of selflessness.

...Wouldn't you agree, old friend?

You, who were as hypocritic as I.

Hahaha...you actually made me a decent faker.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

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Zeus leaned back on his marble throne with his chin resting on one fist. His gaze lingered upon his newest project.

On the top of Mount Olympus, there sat a great glass saucer- a palace of futuristic designs. Although, only a select few knew about its structure.

Invisible to the mortal eye by optical camouflage, it was completely transparent. If one were to look up at Mt. Olympus, one would only see the strong sunlight that shone on the hilltops and the clear blue sky high above.

By all means, it wouldn't have been possible for the palace to sit on the tiny mountaintop if it wasn't for the fact that the gigantic monument was practically floating, minus the pole that connected it to the rocky mountain tip.

Inside the very center of the plate-shaped palace, there was the throne room, reserved for the highest authority of the Greek pantheon. Zeus opened his azure eyes and gazed down at the transparent floor from his throne.

"Theos Klironomia: Code Zeus"

Being an alien invention and a Deus ex Machina of a fallen civilization from a faraway galaxy that died out eons ago, the Olympians had several quirks no other native gods on planet earth had. One of them was the Klironomia.

Made from an alien metal called Orichalcum, Klironomia was a mix of nanomachines that were used to create hybrid organic lifeforms such as demigods, and when applied, it greatly enhances strength, performance, and longevity. Klironomia could also act as an individual mana generator, one capable of sustaining a non-divine spirit without an external mana source.

Dionysus and Perseus were some of his most successful projects so far, and two others were about to follow.

One was his daughter...the other, his most ambitious test subject.

The Klironomia in Zeus' left eye started to swirl as a vision similar to Clairvoyance took shape in his mind.

The Olympians each had a special Klironomia and Zeus was no different. Zeus' Klironomia carried an extremely unique property, one other than granting incredible power.

The Function of autarchy. The Power of Absolute Control.

"Are you sure it was wise to grant him a fragment of...It?"

An eerily cheerful voice chirped from Zeus' side. It was a floating gold sheep, a sphere of fleece, bobbing up and down in the air. It was almost a comical sight if not for the immense heat and blinding light it generated. The sheep continued as if his appearance was completely normal.

"After all, however minuscule it may be, there's a slim possibility that Its mother ship might get alerted. We lost all our equipment in the great wars, and the artifacts that are still functional wouldn't last for another millennium. We are a mere shadow of what we once were. I think it may be unwise to take...unnecessary risks, especially risks such as creating a volatile...hybrid. He's not one of us, and we both know that his mind is more mortal if not downright alien than divine. Ha, to think that Hera of all goddesses would go so far as to-"

"The risk does not outweigh the potential benefits of this project. Need I remind you of that, Apollo?"

The king's tone suggested that his decision wasn't up for debate. It was final, and further nagging would only result in his wrath. The sheep squeaked, literally squeaked, and dissolved into beads of golden light with a small pop.

Zeus' eyes hadn't moved a single inch the entire time the sun god was talking, glued to the tiny soul visible in his eagle vision. A soul of black and white. He would realize that singularity from a thousand miles away. The mighty king smiled.

He, of course, knew all the risks the sun god warned him about. Yet, he couldn't find it in himself to bring an end to this...'miracle' which was produced by pure coincidence.

Originally, Zeus thought of creating a 'monster to be slayed' like he already did for Theseus, Poseidon's demigod. However, this time, he didn't want to make the 'monster' into a plain 'product' like Asterios...the 'minotaur'. No, he wanted to test his own limits of creativity with this one.

When he had explored the outskirts of Sefar's gargantuan carcass several hundred years ago, he noticed that something was signaling at him from the depths of her stomach. It was a signal with the same frequency and pattern only the machine gods used, and Zeus was unable to ignore this.

So, he ventured into the deep cave that was Sefar's stomach, and came upon a tiny orb of half-decayed metal, no bigger than a mortal's fist. It was the tiny orb that was producing the signal, and Zeus recognized at once that it was a shard of a core that belonged to the fallen machine titan that fought Sefar.

Reaching down, he held it up to his eyes and analyzed it. To his great shock, he realized that the orb was half-digested and absorbed, thus retaining the same qualities of the cyborg matter from the White Titan, even after the host's death.

Zeus knew that the carcass of Sefar was secretly producing a legion of anti-god giants, and he also knew the sheer tenacity, productivity, and adaptability the White Titan's 'flesh' had.

Any attempts at containing the body of the White Titan had ended as a failure, and since the carcass still had an 'immune system' to repel invaders, brute-forcing his way through was not an option.

Therefore, the tiny orb Zeus found was by itself a miracle, not to mention its potential as an energy resource.

That was seven hundred years ago.

In conclusion, Zeus was unable to crack the secret that was the orb, though his efforts were not in vain. He managed to glean a valuable insight that the orb could be fused to a bioorganic matter and a soul that was attached to it.

Thus, Zeus used the first healthy baby with a strong soul and robust vitality that was born in the vicinity and under his control. The twin half-brother of his daughter. A baby named Iphicles.

Zeus didn't think that the fusion would be a success. By all means, he predicted that the orb would turn Iphicles into a demi-Sefar-like monstrosity at best, a future monster for his daughter to slay, and grant him a gruesome death at worst.

To his surprise, the fusion was a complete success.

He noticed afterward on closer inspection, that the baby had a most peculiar soul. It was...by all means...more matured, and had scars that indicated the presence of spiritual cracks that was hastily healed.

Zeus hypothesized that this special soul was the reason for stabilizing the otherwise volatile core, and the main contributing factor to the boy's continued survival and sanity.

Little did Zeus know, that his choice of Iphicles was actually a decision induced by ALAYA, the collective will of Humanity.

ALAYA had known about the special soul that was Iphicles and came to the decision that he was a dimensional traveler from a different time in a parallel world.

Fearing that his existence might cause a cosmic paradox that results in a world-ending scenario due to an error in a quantum time-lock, or in other words, fucking up the Fate of humanity and its connection with parallel worlds, ALAYA decided to use the orb Zeus found to destroy Iphicles' soul.

Contrary to both ALAYA and Zeus' expectations, the orb had not only served to strengthen the soul that was Iphicles, but it also managed to incorporate itself into his soul as its core, thus, making them virtually inseparable.

ALAYA, as you can imagine, went full-paranoid mode. It even considered summoning its guard dog EMIYA to personally end the boy in his infancy.

Luckily for Iphicles, ALAYA seemed to decide that was too radical of an approach and instead influenced Hera to direct her attention towards the bastard daughter of Zeus.

Hera sent a massive snake to kill both of the twins, and everything seemed to be going as planned to ALAYA's delight. However, Iphicles had managed to not only buy enough time for Alcides to awake, but he had also lit the fire that was the protective instinct hidden inside the baby girl.

The rest was, quite literally, history.

ALAYA didn't need to try again, since Iphicles had attracted the ire of Hera by praying to her for sparing his sister which she did not, which then resulted in her chasing him down with a baby Jörmungandr. Yes, it was actually the baby of that mythical world snake.

To ALAYA's dismay, Iphicles turned the tables around by somehow fishing the maternal instincts out of Hera like a well-trained gigolo, making her adopt him, and by his connection, having her indirectly forgive Alcides!

At this point, ALAYA was convinced that granting a swift death to Iphicles was the best course of action for humanity, and tried summoning her guard dog EMIYA to kill him in his sleep.

And for some bizarre reason, instead of killing him, her guardian was summoned inside his dreams and slayed the nightmare that was plaguing Iphicles, contributing to his assassination target's mental well-being.

MULTIPLE TIMES.

...Finally, after much, much deliberation, ALAYA reached the conclusion to simply observe Iphicles for a while.

Perhaps he would kill himself with his own stupidity, which was very likely in ALAYA's calculations. ALAYA could only hope for the boy's suicidal tendencies to get the better of him.

Unaware of the underwater battle between ALAYA and the traveler soul named Iphicles, Zeus sat back and examined the boy who was adopted by Hera.

While it was a surprise that Iphicles managed to conciliate Hera and appease her ridiculously high standards, his gaining divinity only meant a more advanced control over the boy if he were to step out of line.

Or at least, that was what Zeus believed. ALAYA begged to differ.

Either way, the King of Olympus was quite pleased with his decision in keeping Iphicles alive.

It was only a matter of time before the machine titan's metal casing was completely corroded by its integration into the boy's flesh, and already he could see traces of the White Titan seeping out of its confines. It would be intriguing to see how that would affect the boy's growth.

And if Iphicles proved to be a worthy hero, Zeus would personally allow him to join them in their fight against the Gigas in the following Gigantomachia.

If not...then...

Zeus saw through the eyes of his daughter who carried his blood in her veins. He saw her run towards her brother who was absentmindedly rubbing his branded throat beside Hera.

The King cocked his head to the side.

If Iphicles proves to be a threat...he always had a safety procedure nearby.

After all, madness was a tragic illness that was most known to be triggered by his dear queen...especially among demigods.

Sister killing brother...it was bound to break her mental walls and make room for him to plant some seeds for easier control.

All for the Greater Good.

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Tiger Doujo Digest:

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ALAYA: A future soul from a different world branch!? No, this might cause a cosmic paradox or quantum time lock! Kill him! Oh, I know! I'll induce Zeus' attention on him! Zeus will turn him into a monster with that orb! The soul would disappear and his body would be slain! I'm a genius!

Zeus: Hmm...let me see how this little guinea pig will react to this bioweapon generator...oh, that soul looks good enough. Twin half-brother of my daughter? So what?

Iphicles: Wait, what? Why am I in ancient Greece? Why can't I remember anything about my past life!?

ALAYA & Zeus: Huh?

By the way, the reason for Iphicles being here involves three words: 'Redemption', 'Accident', and 'True Magic'.

Oh, Asterios is still very much alive. Theseus is still one year younger than Iphicles. A boy.