The Ignis Desert sourced the basalt and obsidian rock used to build Umbra's Spire. Lava flowed in rivers along the banks of blackened rock. Scorched vegetation littered the infrequent safe passages, adding to the wasteland's desolation. "I owe you nothing, Heathen. Do not ask again."

I wanted to know what happened to me. What was wrong with me? Father refused to answer. Instead, he brought me to this awful place the next day. I could barely breathe for the acrid gasses in the air.

"Stay close." He gripped a cliff wall and sidled along a ledge to cross a steaming geyser.

I followed, careful not to fall. The ledge opened into a cave which I gratefully stepped into and away from sudden death. Until I looked up and gaped at my disrobed "Physician." Every muscle of his skin was scored with darker blue striation. Between his height and physique, he looked quite formidable.

"Young Nox, you give us cause for concern."

I bowed my head in an attempt at deference. "Sir."

I heard the delight in his voice, "Savis taught you manners. Very good. Bodes well for the other one." When his tone morphed into malice, I assumed he turned it on my father, "Too bad you failed to obtain any."

"Primary, forgive me."

"Gain control of your people, Umbra. You will not appreciate my temper once I learn exactly how an Icarus with intellect and wings almost murdered my charge in his own bed," the Tritan boomed.

My father winced. And I smiled.

"Do not let me discover your complicity in this matter."

I broke rank then. "Father?!" I glared at him in shock. "You would harm my brother?" My voice changed mid-sentence. The usual tone layered in three pitches. I balled my hands into tight fists. I knew my palms bled, but I couldn't feel them.

"This will be interesting," the Physician muttered.

Umbra reasoned, "Do something. He possesses no control."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Maybe the boy just dislikes you. I cannot imagine why."

I swallowed the light in the space with my anger. "Father, answer me."

He stared at me. "His eyes..."

"Most unusual."

Umbra's eyes widened, and he took a step away from me. "For his sake, do something."

The Tritan aimed a small trinket at me. I fell to floor with my stomach roiling and my vision spinning. As I tried to breathe through the nausea, father said, "We need to put a leash on him."

A week passed. In that time, I arrived at an extraordinary conclusion. No one prevented me from leaving the castle. No guards or staff. I gathered what supplies my pockets allowed and ventured through the front gate without impedance.

The walk to the Ignis Desert cave with my father took four hours. Alone, it took six after losing myself in the lava fields. When I sidled into the cave, the Physician stood staring at me.

I knelt on the rock and bowed my head. "I seek an audience, Physician."

The man's deep voice rumbled in his chest with laughter. "This seems like an awfully complicated strategy for suicide, but continue."

I wanted to wince at his words, but my desperation knew few limits. "My father wishes harm on my brother and mother. I understand you are invested in them."

The Tritan cocked his version of an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"Please, sir. I am young, but my eyesight functions properly."

The Physician chuckled and gestured for me to go on.

I prostrated myself, completely. "I wish to protect them. I can only do that with my father losing some control over me. I am strong and fast, but he is brutal and underhanded. Please help me keep them safe."

He stood over me. I stared with my eyes leveled to his toeless feet, waiting. The man said, "There are upgrades your father withholds from you. He fears you, already. With these upgrades, you might establish yourself as a mighty force to be reckoned with. But I ought not to."

"Please, sir."

The Physician folded his arms and stared at a lavafall deep within the cave. "You never came to me like this before. This is undone. What will the others say?"

To this day, I still don't comprehend his musings.

Eventually, he shrugged and muttered, "They will not be with us for sometime yet." He clapped and chafed his hands together. "Very well. I am prepared to grant you these upgrades. There is a price."

Naturally. "I accept any cost to protect the people I love."

The Tritan groaned and rolled his eyes. "Sentiment. How charming. Those people can never know. If you tell a soul, the negative feedback will consider them a target. And you may wake up with their blood on your hands."

A frightening notion. With a single nod, I resolved to stay alone in this.

He lowered a small, smooth metal device at me. At my flinch, he assured, "Trust me."

I awoke the next morning in my bed. A strange message scrolled in my vision where there was none before.

Calibrated.

Optimized.

Stabilizing...

Unable to stabilize.

Warning: Twenty-nine days, thirteen hours, and forty-five minutes until maximum destabilization.

I was Earth-age seven when the Tritans made me into a monster.