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D-16 was not a soldier who drew attention, nor did he desire to be. Had he not possessed the ability to summon a cannon from his right arm, he would have remained an anonymous grunt. Only two beings in the world bore bodies that were one-quarter weapon—D-16, and Megatronus Prime, the god of war. It was maybe only natural that after he unwittingly formed a cannon in front of his superiors, Megatronus Prime declared his intent to teach him personally.
Some in the world struggled to rise to the ranks of gods, while others worshipped them in search of peace. D-16 was clearly one of the latter. That was why it was hard to believe he now stood within the Tower of the Gods, rising high at the heart of the golden city.
And yet, there were those who had managed to set foot in that holy land. D-16 had heard the name Sentinel, too. According to D-16’s superior, he was too small to be a soldier and too cunning to be a secretary. But with his silver tongue and gift for persuasion, anyone of any renown wished to have Sentinel as their aide. With each passing day, he found himself directly beneath someone of ever higher rank. In time, he came to serve the noblest being on the planet, and in the end, he vowed to marry him in order to stand as an equal among the gods. From that union came a demigod: the famous Orion Pax. The giant of peace, the hope of a new age, a being not created by Primus.
Orion Pax and D-16 had been born around the same time. While Orion was born small, and D-16 emerged fully formed from the Well, both were young beings growing up in an age of peace. Megatronus Prime also liked that his nephew and his disciple were close in age. Perhaps that’s why, as the sun began to set and D-16 was getting ready to leave, Megatronus suddenly asked.
“Would you offer your loyalty to someone else?”
D-16 quickly looked up at the booming voice. Megatronus Prime stood there in armor the color of the early night sky, so dark it felt like only his piercing blue eyes were floating in the heavens. He was a god—something D-16 never forgot, but now felt more than ever. He gave a small, uneasy nod.
"If you command it." But if not the god of war, then who else could teach D-16? Who else could understand the destructive power he had been born with?
"You are, like me, a warrior blessed by Primus. But you are not yet a seasoned soldier. I already have capable officers who can grasp the strategies I leave unspoken and act without delay. So while I can teach you, I do not need you." Megatronus Prime said without hesitation. "I will send you to Orion Pax."
D-16 wondered if Orion Pax spoke the same way as the other gods. They always saw too much, and so their words often came out rushed and intense. Megatronus Prime, having dealt with many soldiers, was still relatively good at holding a conversation. Some of the other gods, however, spent their days buried in research and rarely said more than three words. And when the person they were speaking to didn’t understand, they made no effort to hide their contempt.
The Iacon Tower was open to the public only on the lower floors and the observatory in the middle. Most of the building was office space, and the top floor belonged to the gods. The elevator carrying D-16 had already passed the 50th floor. Since the day he was born with caterpillar legs, he had never been this far from the ground. Orion Pax, on the other hand, had been born and raised above everyone, never underground. Even the twelve almighty gods had emerged by pushing their way up through stone. But the demigod had received nothing from the Allspark. Even if he was a god, he shared little in common with D-16. If he wasn’t even created by Primus, how could they possibly exist side by side on the same world?
D-16 suddenly gasped.
‘These are blasphemous thoughts.’ Still, he carried divine blood and D-16 had come to bow before him.
As he walked through corridors where countless strands of gold flashed like lightning, a massive hall lined with great spears came into view. Standing across from him were two figures. One was tall like the highest peak of the Manganese Mountains and even sunlight couldn’t reach over his shoulders. He turned sunlight into his own radiance, making it so that few dared to look directly at his face. Beside him stood someone slightly smaller than D-16. Whenever light touched his face, a soft golden sheen appeared. He was strikingly beautiful, but next to a god, he couldn’t shine on his own.
"You must be the warrior blessed by Primus." The voice was so rough and deafening, it sounded like planets grinding against each other as they passed. "To whom do you pledge your loyalty?"
"To the honorable Zeta Prime," D-16 wondered if he should kneel, but instead only lowered his gaze. "I serve Megatronus Prime, but I am prepared to serve all Primes."
"Orion Pax is not a Prime." The smooth, pleasant voice lashed out sharply, perhaps with a hint of self-mockery. "Even so, would you offer him your spark?"
A massive hand moved to block the one beside him, and behind it came a disapproving click of the tongue. He dared to grumble in the presence of a god! D-16 felt as if he had found a small crack in the wall that separated two worlds. Through it, he could glimpse the mist beginning to clear over the divine realm.
"If you don’t want your spark pierced by the Requiem Spear, you’d best not betray Megatronus. Orion Pax is his nephew and my son. But he was born without a name. So we named him ourselves, not Primus."
‘I wasn't born with a name either.’ D-16 thought.
"After that, I immediately asked Vector to tell me everything he knew about Orion. And he said, ‘Orion Pax shall lose his life to a apostate if he remains mortal.’"
According to rumor, Vector Prime exists across all time at once within the universe. So his prophecy might already be reality. It might have been D-16’s imagination, but the eyes hidden in the shadows seemed faintly twisted with sorrow.
"My brothers and I tried to make him a god, but no effort could win Primus’s favor. Then we learned of someone who shares Megatronus’s blessings, yet is not a god. We cannot help but believe your fate is somehow intertwined with Orion Pax’s."
Zeta Prime’s partner clearly seemed to believe that D-16 would be the apostate. But just as Zeta Prime had said, D-16 had no intention of betraying Megatronus Prime. On the contrary, if such a person did exist, he was ready to find and destroy them all. The colder Sentinel’s gaze grew, the more D-16 felt compelled to prove his loyalty.
“What must I do?”
“Make Orion Pax into a god.”
D-16’s hexagonal eyes widened. When he looked up, Zeta Prime’s mouth was firmly closed. There was no room for falsehood to escape.
“If you are unable to do that, then die in his stead. One of the two must happen.”
The weight of fate came crashing down, pressing on his spark like wet plaster. D-16 had once believed that simply admiring the gods from below would let him live under their protection. But now, he had already stepped beyond the role of a mere follower.
‘If I swear now, if I fail to protect Orion Pax, does that make me the apostate who broke a vow to a Prime? If the prophecy comes true, will I be blamed as the one it spoke of? Is that why I was summoned?’
Zeta Prime stood perfectly still, as if not even having an engine stirred within him, silently waiting for D-16’s answer. D-16’s hands trembled at the thought of having to step obediently into the god’s open hand. His cannon-bearing forearm shook, as if straining against that command.
Just then, Sentinel’s sharp voice rang out across the hall. "Orion Pax!" He didn’t seem to care about a Prime’s divine will in the slightest.
Zeta Prime turned his gaze toward Sentinel, and D-16, as if slipping free from a net, quickly looked away. And there he was.
Though he was a demigod, Orion Pax stood at eye level with D-16. His shy smile gently creased his slender cheeks—and D-16 found the sight unexpectedly pleasant. His blue eyes were his mother’s, and the strength in his features came from his father. Though he lacked any divine aura, he looked like someone who would stand out anywhere.
"I know, sorry I’m late. I was playing tag with my friends on the way here. You told me friendship matters, remember?"
He spoke without the dignity one might expect of a god. His voice was slightly husky, yet low and soft. It didn’t echo through the hall, nor was it hard to understand. Orion Pax was, in every way, completely unlike a god.
"What friends? I’m sure you were just running around like a robo-deer trying to shake off the guards. If I were Primus, I wouldn’t make someone who jumps around like you a god." Sentinel snapped, making Orion Pax flinch with a guilty look crossing his face.
"But here I am, anyway." He quickly smiled again, then walked over to D-16 and gently tapped his shoulder with a small fist. "So you’re the one Megatronus Prime mentioned! I heard you’ve got a pitch-black cannon."
D-16 gave an awkward bow. "It’s a bit too heavy to carry around all the time."
"I see. A gift from Primus, after all. Maybe it’s more than our bodies were meant to handle." Orion joked lightly, but there was a subtle wistfulness in his expression, as if he quietly longed for something he'd never had.
"Orion Pax," Zeta Prime’s voice cut between them. "The reason I’ve kept you under guard here in Iacon Tower is because of what Vector told me. But if you make sure to be with D-16, you may go wherever you wish. He will guarantee your safety."
"Really? I can really go anywhere?"
D-16 felt a creeping unease. If he didn’t get away now, he would be bound to this demigod forever. Orion Pax, unaware of this, bounced with excitement. Was it truly such a delight just to be allowed to leave the tower? He had lived his whole life above everyone’s heads—what could have been so suffocating about that? D-16 wanted to shout that he did not have enough power for this, but he knew that would only disappoint Orion Pax. His antennas twitched as he looked between his father and D-16. His gaze lingering more eagerly on D-16. So he couldn’t say anything at all.
"Come on, D. You remind me of a place I've been meaning to visit." Orion Pax said, grabbing D-16’s wrist and pulling him along.
"D……?" D-16 frowned foolishly, but let himself be dragged.
Behind the sound of their pounding footsteps, a quiet voice whispered. Zeta, if our boy cannot become a god, then there’s no hope for me either, is there?
Before they realized it, they had already reached the surface. The surface had been a wasteland for thousands of cycles, ravaged by war. A few cities had been rebuilt, but most of the land remained either twisted wilderness or dense jungle. D-16 had already spent many days training there, building barracks or sleeping under the open sky. But it was no place to wander with a young demigod.
"We shouldn’t stray too far from the city, sir. What if the Quintessons catch us?" D-16 called out sharply.
"Why would they bother? It’s not like either of us are gods," Orion Pax replied, clinging to the cliffside. "And you don’t have to call me sir. We’re the same age. Besides, when you started working, I was still crawling and babbling."
D-16 sighed and followed him, feeling his way along the iron cliff and gripping whatever crevice he could find.
"Sir, if you're a child of a god, why were you born immature?"
"That’s, hmm, let’s just say that’s the difference between the power of Primus and that of Sentinel."
"Then if your body grows enough, won’t you naturally become a god?"
"You mean when my head hits the ceiling? Sadly, I think I’ve already reached my full height."
"Where the hell are we going right now?"
"Just a little farther!"
Orion Pax hoisted himself up first, swinging one leg onto the summit before pulling the rest of his body over. Below him, D-16 leapt up, grabbing the edge and hauling himself to the top. Before them stretched a graveyard of warships. Dozens of Quintesson ships and Cybertronian vessels were embedded upside down, rising like crashing waves. The scorched ground was so dark that the night sky above looked even more vivid.
"This is the place where Megatronus Prime struck a star," Orion Pax said. "They say he stood right here and hit the star with his cannon." And when that star exploded, the fleet of Quintesson ships scattered in panic. D-16 had heard the story too. But even for Megatronus Prime, hitting a star thousands of light-years away was impossible. Why such a tale existed remained a mystery.
Orion Pax pointed to the brightest of the stars, then turned to D-16. "Think you can do it?"
"No." D-16 replied flatly, leaving no room for doubt.
"If Megatronus Prime can, you can! You’ve got a cannon too!"
"Sir, I don't think even Megatronus Prime could do that."
"Are you doubting the god of war?"
Despite D-16’s resolute tone, Orion Pax didn’t back down. Instead, he crossed his arms and grinned slyly. D-16 couldn’t help but shudder at his persistence.
"I’m not…… agh! Fine, you win. Just one shot."
At that, a cheerful "Ha ha! There we go!" rang out beside him. D-16 thought his trap-setting skills might rival his father’s.
With a light flick of his wrist, his forearm split open and revealed a cannon muzzle. It looked terrifying, like a dragon baring its jaws wide. It absorbed faint light and gleamed like a torch.
Orion Pax, involuntarily impressed, muttered, "I couldn’t even carry that thing." D-16, feeling slightly smug, aimed the heavy cannon toward the sky.
And fired.
A searing screech ripped through the wind like a beast. Violet flames surged upward from the ground into space. Like a meteor returning home, they watched it rise together. Then it began to arc and fall. D-16 shrugged, as if it were to be expected.
“See? There’s no way to blow up a…….”
That was when a sharp sound tore through the sky. From the center of the graveyard, a mass of crimson light burst upward, trailing smoke. It flew instantly, charging toward the falling shell. D-16 instinctively reached out to Orion Pax.
“Pax!” At that moment, the sky exploded in fire.
A roar like the shattering of the horizon. D-16 held Orion Pax tightly as he looked up to assess the situation. A thick, black cloud spread along the wake of the explosion. Flora and fauna shrieked as the mountains echoed in response.
Inside his arms, Orion Pax squirmed with excitement. “D! That was amazing! It must’ve been the self-defense system. Even after all these cycles, that ship's systems are still functioning. If we’re lucky, maybe we can even power it up!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Anyone who finds out we caused that explosion is going to be seriously disappointed. The blast was so loud, Highguards are probably already flying this way.”
“But I liked it. It really looked like a star exploded.”
“Pa—, no, SIR!”
D-16 was clearly trying to scold him, but Orion Pax only laughed. Was a mere soldier really daring to lecture a demigod? Just like how Sentinel openly showed emotion toward Zeta Prime? Suddenly, D-16 realized that his fate was already intertwined with Orion Pax’s. Once you stepped into the world of the gods, you could never return. If he couldn’t turn Orion Pax into a god, he would have to let him die.
Orion Pax must have known his fate too. Born a child of a god, only to be told that one day he would die—what could that possibly feel like? D-16 couldn’t begin to imagine. But Orion Pax just grabbed his wrist and ran. stumbling, sliding, staggering, but taking off again at full speed.
Above them, squadrons of jets zipped by, but not a single one spotted the two of them.
"Sir," D-16 called softly. "Do you want to become a god?"
At that, the hand pulling him suddenly stopped. D-16 stumbled, nearly bumping into the round back of Orion pax’s head.
In the darkness created by nightfall and the thick underbrush, a pair of blue eyes gleamed. There was no sunlight surrounding his body, and yet D-16 felt a sense of awe.
"Well, I suppose being a god would be cool. Everyone would listen to what I say and come to me for answers. I’d befriend the sun and moon, become the Quintessons’ worst nightmare. I’d have conquered death itself, and there’d be nothing I couldn’t do.”
Orion Pax cheerfully waved his hand in an exaggerated manner, but there was no strength in his voice. A family that pitied his birth, a silent ground, and a destiny that demanded his death. D-16 could imagine those things clinging to Orion Pax’s spark like specks of dust. Absentmindedly, he raised his pitch-black fingers toward Orion Pax’s cheek. The cheek that dimpled endearingly when he smiled. Just as his hand was about to touch it, Orion Pax continued speaking.
"But…… just because I'm meant to die doesn’t mean my life has no meaning, right? I’m sure there’s something only I, only we were meant to do. The reason we were born must lie somewhere out of sight. We were born to find it."
The corners of his lips poked at his cheeks. His eyes had grown intense, casting a bluish hue across his face. Naïve, dreamy, optimistic, he had never once connected with Primus, and yet, he is strong, and beautiful. To D-16, Orion Pax was unbearably overwhelming and bright. Anyone who saw this tenacious demigod would want to hear him speak. They would want to see him shine beneath the sun and moon. They would want to see him live.
“So even if I can’t become a god, don’t blame yourself. Zeta Prime was too much from the start. How could he dump something he couldn’t even do himself onto you?”
“Are you mocking the king of gods?”
“He's still my father. I have the right to call him out.”
Unlike D-16, Orion Pax slipped effortlessly out of the trap. His sly tone brought a smile to D-16’s face. D-16 withdrew the hand that had nearly reached him and met his gaze instead. Above those blue eyes, a pair of yellow lights flickered. They looked like suns casting their light at Orion Pax’s command.
"You do realize that if you don’t become a god, I’ll have to die in your place, right?"
D-16 said it like a joke, but Orion Pax’s mouth dropped open in genuine surprise. The sight made D-16 burst into laughter.
"Don’t worry. If I was truly chosen by Primus, then the one I choose won’t be ordinary either."
Just as Orion Pax had done earlier, D-16 formed a fist and lightly held it out. Then he stopped midair, as if waiting for a response.
"I swear I’ll make you a god, Pax."
No matter what fate I’ve been given, I’ll take you to Primus.
Orion Pax had never seen such a gesture before. But mimicking D-16’s bright smile, he formed a small fist of his own.
Their fists met with a gentle bump.