When he reached the crest of the final peak, he could finally see clearly the entire massive dark facade of his brother's winter palace: the gigantic bulbous, egg-shaped dark monument to a man whose abundance of self-importance and lack of fidelity yielded massive wealth for himself at the expense of his family, his people, and his humanity.
Yellow waterfalls spilled from below the wings of the palace, down hundreds of yards to the valley below. The smell of ammonia burned his nostrils. It was a place as ugly as it was technologically impressive. A perfect architectural representation of its designer and chief resident.
A gaudy statue of his estranged brother, elegantly robed, glared down coldly from the central balcony, across the shadowed blue and purple valley.
Just then, a small probe emerged from beneath the east wing waterfall, and sped through the air across the void of the valley, directly towards him, with speed and purpose. Within seconds it covered miles. It did not appear to be slowing. At the last second, it stopped abruptly in midair and hovered silent and still, just a few yards in front of him.
"STATE YOUR PURPOSE." the probe bluntly commanded.
"Tell him... I'm coming."
The probe seemed to understand. It didn't turn, but instead it backed away just as it came, as if it were on rails.
"Well," he said to himself, "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"
And he took his first steps down into the gulf between himself and his brother.
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