In his childhood, the young boy Heracles often ended up in ugly fights due to the unusual look of his face. For some unknown reasons, shortly after birth, a jewel emerged from the top of his head. No matter which doctor he asked, none could tell the cause of such an unusual phenomenon.The kids in school tended to see him as a good target for their harassment, so he always had his difficulties with social interactions. If it weren’t for that one weird jewel, maybe he would’ve had a much easier life.
However, the warm, crimson light that surrounded the jewel whenever the sun went to sleep, contained a mysterious force, which felt very soothing in the eyes of the young child. Despite making it impossible for the young boy to find any friends, Heracles was extremely proud of it.
Still, there wasn’t anything else for him to be proud of anyways. Unlike his twin brother Iphicles - Iphy for short - he didn’t show any talents in school. Not in Maths, not in Physics and neither in English. Iphy on the other hand showed exceptional abilities. Five years ago, he turned ten and on the day of his birthday, a high official turned up at our house offering him a scholarship for a famous university. At ten! At first he didn’t want to go though, probably because he felt scared, but in the end their Mother convinced him to agree. When they bid farewell, Mother gave Iphy a hat and told him to never take it off carelessly. She never explained why, but probably because Iphy had a jewel as well, just like Heracles.
No one had ever become a professor at the age of 15. But today that should change. Iphy finished his master of physics two years ago and after that applied for a course on becoming a professor. Today was the day the final results of his test were to be announced, so he woke up way too early in the morning. He was too nervous to sleep, especially since his dream was about him getting stabbed just shortly before the results would have been announced. He immediately had woken up in soggy sweat. Luckily, a warm force quickly filled his body, erasing all qualms. His brother Heracles sometimes spoke of similar experiences. Apparently the mysterious force had its origins in the jewel on their foreheads.
From young, Iphy had always admired his brother for his self-confidence and his incredible physical strength. When he was still too young to go to school and hadn’t grown his jewel yet, Iphy sometimes listened past bedtime to his mother talking to the director of his brother’s school. Apparently Heracles classmates tried to pick on him quite frequently because of his unique appearance, but they always came back with bad wounds all over. The teachers had soon condemned him as a cruel beast, so they did everything in their power to hinder the contact between him and the others, even going so far as to exempting him from physical education. Iphy on the other hand ran home crying on the second day of elementary school. How embarrassing. But then, on a fated day two years later, a jewel appeared on his forehead as well. Boy, was he excited!
Ever since, a blue light, deep as the ocean, would calm him down during times of qualms and pain - Just like today. After changing his sweat soaked clothes and meditating silently for a short while, he quickly calmed down and went on his way to the university. He was sure today he would make history. But for some reason, even with the light of his jewel, memories of his murderous dream continued to come back. No, maybe it wasn’t that the jewel couldn’t prevent the thoughts from blocking his clear thinking, but rather that the jewel was the source of these thoughts.
Iphy stood there trying to make sense out of this for quite some time. Was it trying to tell him something? Then, before he finished thinking, a loud explosion was heard from a few miles away. Suddenly the sky turned crimson, followed by the formation of big, dark clouds. Shortly later the wind picked up, continuously growing stronger and becoming warmer.
“Run…” he heard a weak voice in his head. “Run…” “Run…” “Run…”
Unsure about how to react, he slowly turned around and began walking away. But he kept turning around. Silence.
A split second later, he saw it. A big explosion in the form of a mushroom, a nuke to be precise. From that point on, he didn’t think twice about listening to the voice anymore. The voice soon changed his voice line, “Leave… Leave… Leave…”. Iphy concluded it meant the city, so he did just that. But it was already too late. One nuclear bomb after another exploded in a few miles radius. The last of them falling directly onto the street he was using to escape this disaster. In his last breaths before getting caught up by the incoming explosion, he begged God for the safety of his brother Heracles. As the bomb was but a few inches away, he fainted from the shock.
That day Iphy died. However, his wish had been granted. Heracles, who had been lying dead after being burned to crisps by a nearby nuke’s explosion, was granted another chance. The gods infused Iphicles’ soul into Heracles’ body and let him ascend to the Heavenly realm.
Shortly after, the reborn Heracles grew another jewel, blue like his brother’s, and Iphy’s soul successfully merged into Heracles body. The two became one.
After learning the fate of each other, the two souls were filled with bitter hatred. Soon, they would find a way to connect the heavens with the earth again. That day would be the day where the human race shall be judged and pay for their sins. For all of them.