Cracks in the empire
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Summary
When Nolan arrived home that afternoon, he knew immediately something was off.
The silence was too thick. No childish yelling, no footsteps rushing to greet him. Not even Debbie’s soft voice from the kitchen. Just a distant murmur upstairs, like the house itself was holding its breath.
He sighed. Dropped his coat on the back of the couch without bothering to hang it. He didn’t feel the cold — his Viltrumite blood made him immune. But the temperature wasn’t what bothered him.
He was tired.
Tired of pretending.
Tired of smiling at idiotic neighbors.
Tired of working as a mediocre writer on this backward planet.
Tired of faking love for creatures he considered inferior.
Tired of birthdays, schools, parties, ridiculous human traditions.
Tired of waiting.But today could change everything.
Today was the day.
Series
- Part 1 of Cracks in the empire
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Summary
According to Nolan, when he first arrived on Viltrum, he had been a complete mess. He always told that story with a smug smile. He said Mark didn’t want to fight, that he cried, refused to raise his fists. Until one day, during a conquest, he tried to protect some children. Mark didn’t remember that, but his father said the kids had insulted him. And that day, something in Mark broke. Or changed. Or awoke. He killed them. All of them. Without thinking. And from that moment on, fighting became his only language.
Mark never understood how he could have been different before. He couldn’t imagine a world without violence. He didn’t sleep well unless he had fought. It was his only way to escape the constant knot in his chest, that nameless thing that haunted him even in dreams. Fighting was the only thing that made him feel real, solid—as if his existence wasn’t just a shadow floating between his father’s expectations.
Another thing his father always said was that it had taken him time to accept that Viltrumites were superior.
Series
- Part 2 of Cracks in the empire
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Summary
Nolan felt something he wasn’t supposed to feel: fear. Not fear of defeat. Not fear of failing the mission. It was fear of what he was seeing — a child who wouldn’t break, even when his own father was the one tearing him apart. And in that moment, Nolan was no longer looking at an enemy, nor at a failed soldier. He was looking at his son.
When he thought he was going to finish him, he simply… couldn’t.
Not when he saw Mark’s eyes, swollen and filled with tears, yet still fixed on him with a mixture of pain and hope.
Not when he remembered the little boy who, a long time ago, used to smile and throw his arms around him.
Not when he remembered the baby he once held with trembling hands.For an instant — shorter than a breath — everything broke. The duty. The training. The oath to Viltrum. All of it.
That instant didn’t last long. Nolan couldn’t allow it to. He knew that if he let it grow, if he fed it, his entire world would collapse.
The next blow never came. He stopped because he realized something terrifying: if he struck again, it wouldn’t be Mark who fell. It would be him.
Or Nolan's perspective on the fight against Mark. Read the previous sections to understand.
Series
- Part 3 of Cracks in the empire
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Summary
Mark was now the leader.
Something he had always longed for: to have his own planet, to give orders, to be the strongest, to expand the Viltrumite Empire, to serve his race as a true warrior.
But what no one told him—what no one warned him—was how utterly boring it could be.There were no conquests, no glorious battles, no blood.
Just paperwork. After paperwork. After more paperwork.
Reading progress reports, sending interplanetary messages, checking on the loyalty of puppet human leaders, signing off on resource authorizations. Even the punishment of rebels was delegated to low-ranking soldiers.He hadn’t been officially appointed yet. He was in a “trial week,” as the Viltrumite council called it—to see how he would handle leadership over a conquered planet.
A week of lies and silent submission.It was unbearable.
(Read the previous parts to understand)
Series
- Part 4 of Cracks in the empire