We passed two years in the desert on Earth. Slowly, human tribes made their way to our expansive camp. Colita oversaw all engagements. The interactions ranged from peaceful to attempted raids. Tribe leaders acted as our guides. We established trade, cautiously exchanging basic metallic tools and such.

Eventually, we finished the fortress. Humans flocked to it and created a vast city around it. They grew accustomed to our nocturnal habits. We even led a few into Cinder and appreciated their curious marveling. We in no way asserted our leadership over them. They assumed it. And since we needed their blood, it was easier to let them.

In two years, not a single human died at our hands, but several Icari died under the sun. Which was why I found myself arguing, "Xelan, we need another sphere."

He put his hands on his hips, tapped his foot, and clenched his jaw. "Nox, the prototype is dangerous. Without regular infusion of compatible nanites, it will never function sufficiently enough for the planet to survive."

I slammed my fist on my throne. "Our people are dying! And this limitation is loathsome. You are the only one between us and daylight."

Xelan pointed a finger at me. "No. You are!"

I sat back and looked skyward. Elden, not this again.

He calmed his voice to a gentle reasoning. "I can build a device that would house one of us. We divvy up the time. You for ten years, and then myself. I can infuse it with an anesthetic so we sleep while it--"

"Bleeds us?! Xelan, do you hear yourself?"

He took to pacing. "Well, who else do you have in mind?! We are the only two with blood rich enough, close enough to Elden to mimic his sphere."

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This was not the first time we had this fight. And yes. Xelan cultivated the first dregs of the Martyr Complex. I didn't want my brother exploring his own blood. I feared he'd discover his lineage. As far as I knew, he never learned that secret.

So why not me? The "leash," of course. Any pain I received diminished it, and I actively sought the pain of others to fill it. Neither of us were truly compatible. But I couldn't tell him outright. Yet, we were the only Icari with rich enough blood.

I changed the subject. "How goes the construction of your home?"

He stopped pacing and rubbed the back of his neck. "Completed."

I raised my eyebrows. "You spend an awful lot of time in the observatory for someone who requested solitude." The observatory Korac specifically designed and decorated for Xelan.

He made to leave, defeated. "My mistake."

"So, when will you erect the sphere?"

With his back to me, Xelan hung his head. I hated the grief in his words. "I require at least one million warriors to contribute their blood. And even then, it might kill them. All of them."

"Brother, you do so much for your people. They venerate you. Please do not invalidate what they are willing to do, themselves."

He looked over his shoulder with tears in eyes. "Volunteers only, Nox. Do not ask a single one of them against their will. Do not make an enemy of me." He left without another word.

An enemy of Xelan. Of my brother. I won't deny a certain bitterness toward the notion. I gave him so much. Bore so much on myself to keep it from hurting him. And to have him threaten me like that?

We had a similar fight only a week before. I drafted a machine for capital punishment of rapists, murderers, and pedophiles. Of which, there were plenty. Drop a human inside, their blood drains into canisters for our food, and the body expels from the rear. Made of nacre glass, it would deter further atrocity with such a view.

Xelan abhorred it. Rejected the concept out of hand. The Cruor Villam was too cruel a punishment to him. When Korac agreed with me, you could see Xelan's heart break in his eyes. I never mentioned it again.

I could no longer make him happy. Every one of my ideas repulsed him. Every one of his ideas asked too much of me in ways I couldn't safely explain to him. The gulf widened into a vast ocean, and our family was drowning in it.