The Brothers Three - Chapter 1 The First Brother

22nd of June, Year 3321.

“Commander!”

The commander turned towards the sound of the voice. The voice was laced with fear; fraught with panic from his right hand man.

“Captain Taal, calm down. What is it?” The commander responded. There was no fear in his voice, nor the slightest quiver – the commander was always like this. It was as if nothing in the world could ever shake him.

Captain Taal was a good man. He was strong and reliable, but he sometimes let his emotions get in the way of the ultimate goal, which prevented him from displaying his full potential.

“They’re pushing us back! We need to retreat or we’ll be wiped out completely!” The captain screamed.

The commander frowned. He did not think his right hand man would lose his cool this easily. That being said, they were indeed in a precarious situation. This war had been raging for years; a defensive war threatening their lifestyle against an aggressor who saw it as his heavenly duty to rule over the world. After years of conflict, each side was evenly matched which resulted in a stalemate that had lasted for years.

Eventually, however, out of the blue, the enemy had started advancing. They suddenly grew stronger, as if they had gained some new motivation to fight. Slowly, they started taking more and more land which eventually put them in the position they were in now. Neither side was willing to concede, and they had thought they would be utterly destroyed within months at this rate… until the commander took charge.

This was a war the likes of which the world had never seen before; The enemy had 500 million soldiers on one side against 400 million on their own. The battlefield stretched across three different continents. Although the world was indeed vast, this was undoubtedly the largest, and therefore bloodiest, conflict in human history.

The commander walked to his observation desk and peered into the eye of oculus, an ancient artifact he received when he slew the God of Thunder back when he was an adventurer, many years ago. The eye allowed him to instantaneously view multiple parts of the world whenever he wished, which was extremely useful in a battlefield of this size. Between each country was a barrier of vast mountain ranges spanning over a thousand miles each, which made deploying troops and sending supplies between them extremely tedious. The enemy had chosen their home territory as the center of the battles for this very reason, as they knew the ins and outs of these mountain ranges and therefore were able to transport troops and supplies with ease. Without the eye of oculus, the commander’s side would certainly have already fallen. This war was simply way too vast to analyze their current situation without such an artifact.

Nevertheless, even with the all knowing eye of oculus, they were still being pushed back.

The commander calmly analyzed the situation and sighed.

“I will go…”

The commander was not the type of leader to let his subordinates carry all the weight. In their past conflicts, the commander had always been the first one to step onto the battlefield, and the last one to step off – after all, if a leader cannot lead his men into battle, how can he expect them to follow?

This war, however, was different.

There are only a few in the world who know of this fact, but the commander is not like any ordinary human. Having lived as long as he has, the commander amassed an almost incomprehensible amount of knowledge and experience, therefore his fighting prowess had reached the absolute pinnacle of even that of the Gods themselves. As far as it is known, there were only two existences that could match him.

The commanders army, however, was unaware of this. With incomprehensible power comes an inherent responsibility to control that power. If it got out, there would surely be those who wish to learn his secrets, and therefore war would be endless.

The commander had been through experiences similar to this before, where countries would go to war with their entire armies to attempt to obtain his knowledge, and the outcome was always the same:

Bloodshed.

That being said, things were indeed looking grim. While the commander possessed superior analytical ability and experience in warfare, there was only so much of a gap that it could fill. There were only approximately 170 million soldiers left on their side, against the 320 million on the other. They were obviously in a bad spot being outnumbered nearly two to one.

“Commander, no! I know you’re strong and you don’t wish to see others risking their lives while you’re safe, but there is no reason to foolishly throw your life away! We need to live to fight another day so we can regroup and rethink our strategy!” pleaded Captain Taal.

The commander chuckled. While it was true that the commander could hardly bear sitting back while his men died, he knew that war was bloody and people died – this was a reality he accepted. He had led many of these men for over twenty years through countless battles and he knew all 400 million of their names and faces. There was not a moment that passed throughout this conflict where each of their faces cycled through his head as he wondered which ones were still alive.

That being said, the commander was no fool. He would not let his emotions take over and blindly run into battle at an inopportune moment just to join his men in the afterlife.

“Don’t worry old friend, i know what i’m doing. I am going to battlefield 2113-A. Prepare my transport immediately.”

“But comman-” pleaded the captain,

“That’s an order, captain” calmly uttered the commander. His voice was calm, and it was laced with the natural authority that gained him the respect that got him to his current position.

“Y-yes sir…” the captain stuttered. He continued, “but i will be fighting alongside you! We have known each other for as long as i can remember and i will not stand idly by while you risk your life.”

The commander smiled. He respected his captain beyond words. The captain reminded him of a certain man he had not seen for a very, very long time…

The commander placed his hand on Captain Taal’s shoulder and grinned – “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Conrad.”

Captain Taal brought together a dozen of the commander’s most trusted officers and they set off. All of these men had been together for as long as they could remember, and they all found it very fitting that they go together into what they thought would be their last battle.

The commander and his small entourage arrived at battlefield 2113-A about 7 hours later. The destruction they saw as they traversed across the land brought great pain to the commander’s heart, but he tucked those feelings aside.

This was no time for remorse.

He knew that everything that was happening was necessary for their ultimate goal.

The commander did not choose this specific battlefield at random. This was where his elite forces had been ordered to take the enemy’s command center. With the command center and their communications towers down, the enemy’s power would be significantly weakened. As the commander landed, the lieutenant in command of this division scurried up to him. His eyes were glassy after what he had seen throughout this battle and his voice was shaky.

“Commander, captain!” The lieutenant saluted.

Even after seeing what he had seen and the panic he currently felt, the lieutenant would never neglect to salute the commander. That was how much respect his men had for him. The commander was a god-like figure whose presence alone made even the most impossible scenarios feel winnable… this time, however, seemed simply beyond impossible.

“Lieutenant.” The captain saluted back.

Lieutenant Bardzy was an old friend of theirs as well, which was why the commander had chosen him to lead their special forces division on the most important battlefield.

“At ease, captain, Lieutenant Bardzy… whats our current status?” calmly directed the commander.

“Sir, we have roughly 600,000 men left down from our initial 4 million! The enemy still has over 2 million, and we’re just barely managing to hold them back…” The lieutenant’s voice shook even more.

The captain gasped, “how is that possible? This squadron is comprised of our most elite specialists. I can understand losing, but by this much? At this rate our elite unit will be completely wiped out!”

The commander gestured for the lieutenant to elaborate. Even he was curious, as although he expected immense casualties, this was still a bit much.

“At first we were pushing them back, but when we had finally gotten to the gates of their command center…” the lieutenant’s eyes turned dark. “A white blob fell from the sky and instantly killed over 10,000 men. When the blob landed, it splashed and spread miles. They seemed to be only targeting our troops and the blobs kept coming until we were forced to retreat… We had no choice with our inability to counter. I sent a few scouts to find out what it was, and we heard back… it’s the Nether Beast, commander…”

The captain’s head perked up, “What? That’s impossible! The legendary spirit beast? Where the hell did that thing come from? And why was it only targeting our men? That thing is devoid of reason, there’s no way it’s capable of taking advantage of the confusion of this battle and using it as a chance to wipe out humanity.”

The commander sighed.

“So he finally did it… Menace, there’s no turning back for you now…”

Menace was the leader of the enemy faction, and was once an old friend of the commander. His power was not to be trifled with, and there were some who even said he was on par with their commander.

The captain and lieutenant looked at him, confused, as they had no idea what he was referring to.

“I guess he’s finally succeeded in taming the Nether Beast” the commander said grimly.

All who were in earshot stopped in their tracks and their hearts dropped. Although they were not familiar with the specific process, they knew that taming a spirit beast involved sacrificing to it a significant portion of ones spirit energy, drastically reducing your life span. There were stories of people attempting to tame mid tier spirit beasts, only to lose their minds to it because they did not have enough spirit energy and ultimately became a form that was less than human… and the Nether Beast was a legendary tier! There was nobody who had enough spirit energy to tame a legendary beast, so the only explanation was that he used others as sacrifices in order to fill the deficit. They could not even imagine the amount of sacrifices that would have needed to be carried out…

“We’re doomed…” whimpered the lieutenant.

Some lower ranked soldiers dropped to their knees, while others simply stared lifelessly ahead.

They had thought that the Nether Beast was simply woken from the commotion of the war during its slumber and had used the chance to deal some damage to the humans. They thought that they could just wait it out until it grew bored, but if if was tamed to intentionally target them…

The commander’s eyes were dark, but his expression was stoic as always. He turned around and walked out of the command tent towards the direction of the battlefield.

“Commander, wait! We need to gather a huge chunk of our men and mount a coordinated attack on the Beast! We’ll need at least 300,000 men, half of this field’s current forces, with you leading them in order to have a chance!” the captain analyzed.

The commander stared ahead, his face expressionless. The scars on his face gained through his countless battles seemed to shine like stars in the universe. He smiled and said nothing as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small orb, about the size of his palm. The commander squeezed the orb, shattering it into dust. Moments later, all allied soldiers on the battlefield began to shimmer. The commander tossed the eye of oculus to Captain Taal.

“Take care of that for me until i return, Conrad” he spoke.

Captain Taal, upon realizing what was happening and recognizing the artifact that the commander had just shattered, ran towards the commander.

The artifact was the Stone of the Stars, which was capable of granting it’s owner one wish, and as long as that wish did not involve taking the life of another, it would be granted.

But the captain was too slow… Seconds later, everyone vanished from the battlefield except for the commander.

“I wish all of my men would be out of harms way.”

All 170 million of his soldiers in this war were teleported out of their respective battlefields to random areas around the earth. Some found themselves in huge cities, while others fell into random cow pastures.

However, they were all safe.

The commander stood alone on a field; a sudden quiet erupting as 600,000 men had suddenly vanished from around him. He knew that every other battlefield was experiencing the same sudden quiet. The enemy looked around in confusion. The wind blew against the commander’s cheeks – but it was summer, therefore it was a warm wind that reminded him of simpler times where his biggest worries were to look up at the stars and dream…

He smiled.

He was used to this solitude by now.

The commander had lived a very long time, and during that time he had met many people whom he considered friends… but no matter how hard he tried, due to the cruel threads of fate, he had been forced to slowly watch each and every one of them, eventually, leave him. The only men to stand beside him throughout the ages were his brothers, but they had both left him now as well…

With the average lifespan of a human in this world being approximately 150 years, the commander was considered to be in his prime at only 62 years of age. This was, however, far from the truth. The commander had only told these people what they wanted to hear regarding his age. They would not be able to comprehend the significance of his true existence. In truth, he had lived far, far longer…

The commander stroked his furrowed brow and chuckled.

Now that he thought about it, he remembered that today was his birthday…

The commander walked forward and drew his sword. It looked simple, black, with protruded edges on both sides. He was still over 5 miles away from the nearest enemy, but that was enough.

This sword had been with him his entire life and it had developed a spirit, to the point that it could sense when it was about to be used. The hilt seemed to glow in excitement as it had been a very long time since it had been able to exert a significant amount of its power.

Suddenly, as the commander drew his sword, he felt a soft but extremely powerful vibration shutter through the air coming from very far away, which seemed to tear apart space itself.

The commander recognized this power and smiled.

With a frighteningly calm swing of his sword, he sent a shockwave 20 miles forward, cutting mountains in half and instantly killing over 30,000 men. They had died before they even heard the sound.

The commander calmly strut forward, sending out more shockwaves as he went. His expression was grim. No matter how righteous he was, he was never happy to take this many lives, but it was unavoidable.

Eventually the commander reached the enemy’s gates, and there he saw the Nether Beast glaring down at him, towering over 200 feet high in the air.

The beast let out a terrifying roar, sending shivers down the spines of the enemy troops for 100 miles around even though they knew it was on their side.

The commander’s face remain unchanged. An observer would almost think there was pity in his eyes.

Throughout his entire life, the commander had never once displayed his full power. The fact was that he had never needed to display more than 30% of his capabilities. His entire life, he had only met one man who was able to make him go nearly all out, and that man has long since been gone.

The commander calmly slashed the air with his sword:

“Sever” he whispered.

and the legendary spirit beast who had also never known defeat shattered to pieces without even being able to finish its roar.

…

The war ended approximately 11 hours later. The commander single handedly wiped out the officers and half of the soldiers on every battlefield, leaving only half remaining and giving them the option to surrender. without an army, the enemy had no choice but to submit.

All in all, he had killed nearly 160 million men in 11 hours.

Essentially, this was the greatest loss of life in the shortest time in the history of mankind.

When Captain Taal finally got back to the battlefield where the commander had forcefully ejected him, the commander was nowhere to be found.

…

A statue towering over 10,000 feet high was laid up in the faction’s citadel in honor of the commander who singlehandedly ended the bloodiest war in human history. Stories would be written about him for thousands of years to come, each with their own distinctions and changes.

The conflict would come to be known as the One Billion Man War. The commander was never seen again and it was assumed that he had died after expending all of his energy, disintegrating into the universe.

As time went on, stories evolved and there was nobody left alive to tell the story firsthand of the commander’s heroic actions. Eventually, the story of the commander became a legend that not many people truly believed actually happened. While not much was known about the commander after this event, one thing was certain…

His name was Bobo, and he is the first brother.