[West Continent, Pure Society, Unknown Underground Cavern]

Deep within the depths of an unknown cave in the Pure Society Territory, land of Phoenixes and sanctuary of purity; a figure that had once gloriously soared through the air with feathers and fire of blue, culling the lives of the arrogant Pure Phoenixes and laying waste to terrifying Purgatory Vermillion Birds… now hung helplessly suspended by golden chains of fire with not a single bit of previous prestige.

It was the Despicable Brother of the West. The Despicable Brother who had taken the gifts of his liege and returned it with the spit of betrayal.

…How far he had fallen.

Captured by the Phoenix King and stripped of his Beast Core, he had been unable to resist when taken to an underground cavern and shackled by golden chains, burning by day and healing by night. Suffering for long, long years that had scrambled his brain.

How long had he been here? He no longer knew. But he could have sworn that a second down here was not the same as a second of old, each second stretched as far as possible and they refused to show him mercy.

But why?

‘Why must it be like this? Is this the doing of the Phoenix King? Does the oh so fabulous King of Fire, lord of the skies and embodiment of all that is good, have no mercy?’

The Despicable Brother felt like bursting out with laughter at his own world play, one of the few things that he had been able to play with during his imprisonment. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, his body had learnt different tricks down here.

And one of them was to not waste energy. He needed it.

It just so happens that bursting out with laughter takes energy. How sad. But he was used to it. As a matter of fact, he even felt like he was used to asking that same question. But surely not. He would remember such a thing. How could he not?

‘This ridiculous sense of nostalgia… another scheme of the King? Does he wish to make me doubt myself? …Pitiful. It doesn’t seem to work.’ the Despicable Brother thought smugly. ‘Even if he has all these strange powers that ordain him like feathers, he lacks the appropriate intelligence to properly use them. If it was me…’

The Despicable Brother’s mood started to rapidly descend into a pool of darkness as his sense of nostalgia became a near physical thing.

‘IF IT WAS ME, I WOULD NOT BE IN THIS SITUATION! IF IT WAS ME, I WOULD HAVE LEAD THE PHOENIX RACE TO TRUE GLORY! WHY IS HE THE ONE WITH ALL THE POWER? WHY IS HE THE ONE WITH ALL THE MAJESTY? WHY IS IT THAT NO MATTER WHAT I DO, I CAN NOT COMPETE?! WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHYYYYY?!’ the Despicable Brother screamed inwardly as his thoughts exploded into disarray.

He had once again fallen into one of his… moments. But despite his inner turmoil, his body on the outside was as still as a corpse. Head down and eyes vacant, it was really and truly as if he were dead. Furthermore, disregarding the darkness of the cave, the sun was out and the chains of fire burned to destroy and not to heal. And yet he was completely unresponsive.

This… was a testament of his long stay here and what his body had to learn to cope. Screaming wasted energy. Moving wasted energy. ANYTHING that wasn’t conducive to the continuation of life, was a WASTE of energy.

His body had learnt very well.

‘Eh? What was I thinking of again? Aaah, it was probably not important. No matter.’ the Despicable Brother thought with a strange feeling of being refreshed. ‘Hmm… It has been a long time since I last saw the Phoenix King. He must be having fun, basking in the glory of my grand Phoenix Race. Meanwhile I’m here… MEANWHILE I’M HERE-’

The Despicable Brother’s thoughts once again dipped into a chaotic spiral.

It seemed to be that certain thoughts about Chad would cause the fragile balance of his mind to keel over. But then he would forget what he was thinking about mere moments later and narrowly dodge the fate of his mind completely collapsing. Obviously, this was another defence mechanism that his body had to install to preserve what little of itself that it had left.

It was quite sad really. A mighty figure that had once lorded over a third of the West Continent, had been reduced to a drivelling fool that couldn’t even maintain a serenity of mind for more than 5 minutes.

Pitiful.

But as mercy would have it, he would be allowed a moment of reprieve soon enough. His mind would clear and he would be the Despicable Brother again… for however long it would last.

*2 Minutes Later*

‘-HE DOES NOT DESERVE IT! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! I WAS THE ONE BORN WITH ALL THE INTELLIGENCE, I WAS THE ONE-’

He was still… going.

*9 Minutes Later*

‘ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! EVERYTHING BELONGS TO ME!!!’ the Despicable Brother roared inwardly.

He was still going!

At this point the Despicable Brother’s body was twitching, moving for the first time in who knows how many years as his mind deteriorated like never before. Descending into uncharted depths of darkness that didn’t show any signs of receding. And if this kept on going, the Despicable Brother was done for.

*1 Minute Later*

‘MEZ LE CISE PSENIX, LRDOO FO LAAAL, SHING OFK ALLLK, RAAAAAR!’

The Despicable Brother was finished. Coherent thought had left him and he had reached the point of no return. Any second now his thoughts would come to an abrupt end and his mind would dissipate like a candle light. But why? Why had his mi-

BOOOOOOM!

The roof of the cave suddenly imploded as what looked like a torrent of green mist flooded into the room, not even pausing for a second before charging straight into the Despicable Brother’s forehead.

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” The Despicable Brother let out a terrific scream as pain wracked his very soul, sounding like a banshee that had clawed its way out of the abyss. It was such a horrible and sorrowful sound… Filled with desperation, agony and horror. Anyone who heard it might just be dragged to tears.

Alas… Not only did the whole of the Pure Society hear it; But the rest of the World heard it too.

The cry of a Menace that wasn’t done with the World just yet.