"Why?!" Mako bellowed at the top of his lungs from the platform where his head awaited the guillotine's fall.
His brother, with a stern face and crimson eyes glaring at him with contempt, began walking toward Mako.
But he didn't answer Mako's question. Instead, he addressed the crowd.
"People of Galandria!" His voice silenced the whispers of the onlookers. "We gather today, before the eyes of commoners and nobles alike, to condemn Mako of House Sol for attempting to kill the king."
With his ankles and wrists aching from the shackles, Mako glared through tears of rage and helplessness at the person he once trusted most.
He tried to kick, to fight back somehow, but…
It was useless.
"How far House Sol has fallen," one of the guards by the guillotine muttered.
"Shut it! Someone might hear you," his companion hissed.
"The crowd's too loud for anyone to hear back here. Noble Erick Sol's too busy delivering the sentence."
The guard paused, shifting his gaze from Erick's broad back, imposing and draped in a red cape, to his older brother about to be beheaded.
"Look at him," the guard went on. "Generations as the most important, wealthiest, and loyal house in the kingdom. Not only did he fail to awaken his system, but he sank so low as to try to kill the king."
Mako wanted to scream, to unleash all the pain burning in his chest, but weeks in the dungeon left him only enough strength to direct that fury at one person:
Erick.
After the prince's words, both nobles and commoners raised their fists to the sky, shouting in unison:
"Kill him!"
Mako's scowl faded as he saw the sea of people roaring with anger, baying for his death.
"They're going to kill me…" Mako murmured, lips trembling, as he stared at the wooden planks beneath him.
Was this really his end?
But as Mako gazed defeatedly at the ground, Erick felt a hollow pit in his stomach as he turned his back to the crowd to face him.
Suddenly, the guillotine dropped too soon.
"Damn it!" Erick shouted, lunging to warn the guards, but the distance between them was too great. "I haven't given the order yet…!"
The guillotine fell like lightning, severing Mako's head. As his world spun, everything slowly faded to black.
◇◆◇
"Mako!" a familiar voice called, one of the few friendly voices in his life. "Get up!"
'How?' Mako thought, chuckling inwardly, feeling like it was a cruel joke. 'Shouldn't I be dead?'
Then he noticed not only was his head still attached to his neck, but he could taste dust and dirt on his lips.
Mako was on the ground, dressed in his winter training gear: a high-collared tunic, black boots, and gloves.
Mako opened his eyes, as if waking from a nightmare. He stood and looked at Ana, a woman whose long black hair flowed like an elegant cape down to her thighs, clad in gleaming silver armor.
"Come on, Mako," Ana continued. "Take this seriously. You didn't even pick up your sword."
Mako glanced at the ground and saw the training sword beside him.
'I remember. This was last winter, before… before Erick betrayed me.'
"Ana," a sharp, deep voice spoke this time, "this isn't even fun anymore. It's obvious I'm on a whole other level than my little brother."
It was Erick, not a drop of sweat on him.
Mako's face was a mix of shock and terror.
"Come on, Erick. You owe some respect to the heir of House Sol," Ana replied.
Mako felt nauseous, disoriented by the sensation of waking from a bad dream. Confused, he looked at Erick's face, which briefly showed a frown when Ana spoke.
'No, this isn't a dream…' Mako thought.
Filled with rage, unable to control his emotions, Mako grabbed the training sword, which had always felt heavy and unwieldy before.
"What?" Erick shifted into a fighting stance. "Got something to say about it, little brother?"
Recalling the hell he'd endured, Mako seized this second chance and charged at Erick with all his strength, swinging a slash that Erick dodged effortlessly.
"Too slow!" Ana scolded.
Mako let out a furious cry.
Erick started laughing.
"Come on, you should be used to losing to me by now. Why so pissed off all of a sudden?"
Mako ignored the taunts. Blinded by anger, he kept swinging his weapon, missing every mark.
Erick wiped the smirk off his face and, with a more serious look, planted his foot firmly in the dirt and struck Mako's chest with the hilt of his sword, knocking the wind out of him.
"Don't try something that stupid again," Erick said as Mako fell to his knees. "The last of the kingdom's greatest house can't act like rabid animals."
Mako's fists trembled with helplessness.
'Why…?' Mako thought, raising his gaze. To Erick's surprise, those blue eyes, always so dull, now shone with an unusual intensity that caught him off guard.
Then he realized it wasn't his imagination.
It was, literally, a near-neon glow radiating from Mako's pupils, brimming with raw emotion.
Rage, hatred, the purest form of anger.
Before Erick could step back or use his powers, his eardrums were pierced by his brother's gut-wrenching scream as Mako lunged at him again.
"Impossible!" Ana shouted, watching the scene unfold.
From the ground, Mako launched a hook that connected squarely with Erick's jaw, sending him flying several meters through the air.
"Well, well…" a bearded figure in the shadows grinned, observing from a nearby balcony. "Little Mako has finally awakened his system."