inspired by instagram and kakaotalk

halo was not apollo's first app, but the social media app was his pride and joy. it was the creation that truly put him on the map, shifting his image of a boy genius to a tech prodigy. he was a creator and monster of innovation that could not be stopped.

launched in 2013, halo held similar values to lyra. it was an app that would bring people together. however, it went beyond communication. apollo created a space where users could share their ideas, lives, and inspiration. instead of being restricted by interaction with only family and friends, ideas could be shared with the world through posts, photos, and videos. it would later expand, providing a marketplace and services that further connected people.

like him, users could share their vision to the world. halo could become one's playground or empire, a space of unity and creation.

secrets and patterns

like lyra, halo was a powerful surveillance tool that collected emotional and behavioral data from its users. it went beyond lyra's abilities. being able to record the device's surroundings, it harvested deeper and darker information. yet it went beyond data collection. halo allowed him to influence the public perception, choosing who would rise and fall.

a robotics and ai company

some argue that helios is apollo's most respectable company, embodying the core of his vision, intelligence, and mission. after a tragic event that took place in 2016, apollo found himself returning back to the field of robotics. he asked himself how he could further better humanity, to avoid the same tragedy that he suffered.

through helios, he focused on advancing robotics and emerging AI technologies to achieve this goal. his first creations began with medical prosthetics and exoskeletons that enhanced human capabilities and recovery. not too long after, the company developed drones and droids that assisted rescue teams in disasters and support law enforcement. it only continued with more creations that continued to serve humanity, a source of ethical tech innovation. as technology continued to evolve, it was only natural for helios to enter the world of ai, one that has apollo pushing boundaries to unlock its full potential.

pushing the limits

what many don't realize is that helios has been celebrating for creating tools that enhance life, but it has also quietly developed weapons of destruction. the company has infused military and spyware capabilities into its current creations. through his darker ambition and complex, apollo also finds himself pushing the boundaries of human potential.

mother: hera

sister: artemis

an app based off of skype and whatsapp

founded in 2009, lyra was apollo's first app released to the public that bridged the gap between people in a fast paced world. despite the rapid growth of technology and options available to the public, he realized that there was something missing: genuine connection between humans.

families were separated across the world, grandparents and grandchildren were unable to bond. friends lost touch with one another through distance that could not be healed through text and email. long distance calls were too pricey for many, leaving short and infrequent moments that could not capture the connection.

with lyra, he provided a free communication app that went beyond text. it offered voice and video calls that would create harmony and connection by bringing people together.

what lies underneath the surface

lyra has quietly collected users' personal information by monitoring all texts and calls. with this data, it has gathered secrets and insights of its users, which apollo has used to his advantage. many believe they're simply communicating, but lyra is silently observing and analyzing every move.

age: twenty-nine

birthplace: seoul

occupation: tech prodigy. founder of lyra, halo, and helios. unofficial advisor to the house of sky

languages: fluent in english and korean. advanced in japanese and mandarin. conversational in spanish and italian.

on the surface, he is the public sweetheart, the golden child of zeus. if you ask people to describe him, they’ll say he is intelligent, kind, and without a doubt a visionary. his words and smile highlight his gentle nature. despite his privilege, he somehow remains humble through his companies' works focused on bettering society. as he tells the public, he serves them.

but all that glitters is not gold.

some of his public persona is true. innovation is his middle name, with thoughts and ideas traveling at a million miles per second. to the rare few, he is genuinely, but selectively, empathetic. yet, he is an apex predator, cunning and ruthless, calculative in his steps. nothing is black and white for him. some may find him arrogant in fleeting moments, but he does not hold such feelings towards everyone. instead, he is better than those in his field and those who stand in his way. why waste his energy on trivial moments?

his controlling nature feeds into his god complex and need for power. he believes he knows what is right and that he is doing the hard work that others will not and cannot do. it is through him and his creations that society maintains its peace. he is the only one who can do it right. it is with this god complex, he revels in being the one that can build someone up and tear them down at his will. he thrives, seeing how far he can go in controlling one's fate, how much he can push someone before they break. it is not only power he seeks. he has to be the storm and savior, mastering them both in his balance of creation and destruction.

to those who truly know him, it is a miracle that he has maintained his calm and collected persona. true to his duality, he is emotionally guarded. logic rules him, but his emotions will always have the power to rattle him. when he finally loses his grip, it’s when he truly loses himself. weak is a word not commonly associated with him, but when the mighty fall, they fall hard, apollo included. it is during these moments that he fears allowing anyone too close to him.

despite his success, apollo still seeks more. he still seeks validation and doubts himself, never finding anything he has done good enough. there is always room for more. his rare failures haunt him, questioning how he could fix such situations and avoid them in the future. although his drive shows it, he will never vocally admit this. no one can know that he too can fall.

like the sun, he is warm and capable of giving life, but come too close and you’ll burn.

tldr

positive: intelligent, (selectively) empathetic, ambitious, innovative, hardworking, self-reliant, and disciplined (maintaining an air of calm and collectedness).

negative: manipulative, god complex, ruthless, stubborn, pessimistic, insecure, stubborn, controlling, obsessed, chaotic, emotionally guarded and yet emotionally intense

neutral: cunning, morally flexible, publicly polished, privately raw, perfectionist, prideful

dislikes: the smell of overcooked eggs, failure, james cameron's avatar, the last season of game of thrones (it was his favourite show to watch during long flights), answering to others, those that cannot hold their liquor, drug addicts, chaos not started by him, disloyalty, stupidity, users, someone knowing the real him, stagnation

relationship: toxic situationship. an intense infatuation from his end.

preference: female. one that would be deemed "unsuitable" as apollo's public partner.

apollo is so used to controlling everything and everyone, but he loses himself over muse a. he's obsessed. desperate. he's begging on his knees for an ounce of her attention. even the simple calling of his name will satisfy him momentarily but have him wanting more. some nights she gives him just enough to keep him on the hook. other nights she tosses him to side.

muse a knows apollo. there is someone else better for him. that she can never truly have him. the world will not allow this. his family will never acknowledge her. she knows if they get too close, one of them will burn.

she's the one person apollo cannot control and has him weak, driving him absolutely mad.

taken

relationship: his enabler and co-conspirator

preference: someone as messy as him

muse a is clever and loyal to apollo, feeding the worst of his nature and pulling him further into the darkness. together, they create and orchestrate beautiful chaos. only muse a understands the beauty of the flames surrounding them, neither wanting to extinguish it just yet. despite having muse a by his side, he knows that he still needs to keep an arms distance from them as he cannot fully trust them. like icarus, fly too close to the sun and one or both will be burned by their chaos.

taken

relationship: his moral anchor. a childhood friend of apollo

preference: must be of a similar age

muse a can see through apollo's exterior, but somehow accepts him. they have seen the boy who became the creator, the one whose light remained untouched by the shadows. it's with this love, they are protective of him and hope that one day he can return to who he truly is. there must be good in him after all the work he has done. but do they truly know apollo or are they holding onto a ghost that will never return?

relationship: an admirer, friend, protege, or someone apollo is using.

preference: an idealist

muse a believes in the public image that is apollo: the golden boy, the tech prodigy, the creator. to them, he is a visionary that can do no wrong. they admire his work and ideals. apollo watches this and is fully aware of how wrong muse a is, but he cannot ruin this illusion. in the end, will he? when the time comes will he destroy them or embrace them into his darkness?

“prodigy”

“golden child”

these were some of the many praises that apollo heard throughout his life. he was lauded by the public, not just as the son of zeus but as a force of his own. with a shining personality, gentle smile, and good looks, apollo seemed to have it all. success, intelligence, and charm. he was the kind of man people wanted to believe in.

unlike what his critics claimed, his success was not handed to him on a silver platter.

he earned his right to the table. he grit his teeth, sacrificing every bit of himself and anyone else who stood in his way.

“it’s not enough to win. everyone else must lose.”

no one had to teach him this. life did.

the first lesson he remembered was when he was free, proudly reading aloud his first book, “the green frog who cried” to zeus. the father looked on in his pride. such glimmer of approval from his father brought a happiness that many other things could not out rival, aside from his favourite sweets. however, when apollo rushed to his father’s side the day after to read the book again, his father shook his head no.

“i’m busy right now. you already read that one.”

it did not take long for apollo to return with another book, nearly crying for his father to listen to him. when the time struck and the spotlight on him, the little boy stuttered to read the first few pages, earning a soft sigh from zeus. once again, he told his son that he was busy.

hot tears formed in the child’s eyes, but before they could stream down his face, he felt the sturdy arms of his nanny whisking him up and away. alone in his room, apollo hurled the book to the side and grabbed another one. huddled in his corner, he read the new book over and over for that hour, determined to get it right. finally ready to read to his father once more, he ran however, the great zeus did not stop his work again to spare his son a few minutes. after all, he had greater things to attend to.

instead, apollo waited all day and late into the evening, finally grabbing his father’s hand before the clock could strike twelve. it was then, he perfectly read aloud the new book this time and once again he noticed the glimmer of pride in his father’s eyes. like clockwork, apollo felt a sense of happiness, but now an adrenaline that resembled that whenever he was learning something new. it did not take long for him to find the cause for this rush.

he always had to do something bigger, better. more.

building his rc cars was a fun past time he had with his father for a few months until it wasn’t enough. when apollo expressed his interest in getting his hands dirty with actual cars, zeus raised a brow. however, he agreed, knowing that apollo needed to keep busy. like his rc cars, the young boy found himself tinkering cars with the family’s driver, learning the inner workings of hot rods.

soon the interest in cars turned into an interest in machines.

then it was system.

then it was people.

young apollo wanted to know how things worked, how the world continued. what made things tick? what made do what they do? it was these questions that fed his growing curiosity.

zeus admired his son’s intellect and abilities, but the praise always came with conditions. apollo had to keep impressing him, had to become better. not better, but the best.

it was odd, the fleeting, yet pressuring attention he kept on his boy.

he would carry this mindset throughout the rest of his life: the drive to learn, become better, and be the best. he expected the best from his son. after all, no son of zeus could be a failure, let alone an heir. he couldn’t just succeed, he had to dominate.

at twelve he went to the nation’s top university. apollo would prove his critics that he was more than zeus’s son. he demonstrated to his father that he was meant for greater things, that he had greater abilities and a mind on his own. apollo would continue to shine his way through his university years, majoring in computer sciences and computer engineering. it was a combination of his love for robotics, tinkering, technology, and control. it was a wild west in the world of tech, allowing apollo to rule his own roost.

it was at fourteen the teen created his first app, lyra. despite his extensive volunteering he did, this app showcased his empathetic nature through lyra’s intent and purpose. this image would grow as he released his second app at seventeen, shortly after graduating from university. like lyra, halo had a purpose of bringing society together and bettering it. it was with halo though it cemented apollo’s status as a tech prodigy, one with a good heart and a bright future.

but beneath such glow was hunger for power and control.

while the young man would stay at halo for a year after his graduation, he temporarily left the company to seek a new path. he followed through the nation’s mandatory enlistment, but volunteered for the special duty team of the capital defense command. the public again applauded the move, furthering his goal of gaining their trust and approval. zeus objected, but apollo insisted. he needed to forge his own path to glory.

yet with each success, there was a loss. a loss of self, a loss of human. he was hardened, needing more. more success, more praise, more control, more power.

a year into his enlistment he and his team were ambused. apollo and his team were called in to escort a foreign leader for a major summit, and they thought it would be one of their lighter missions compared to what they were used to. all their training felt like nothing for what that night brought.

what should had been a short drive back to the hotel, his drove what should have been a simple pothole. except it was an ied, ripping an explosion through the street and the lead convoy. bullets rained down on the team before they could speak. it was a long fight and a long night, leaving only one member from the terrorist group alive while two of his comrades paid the ultimate price. despite a shrapnel striking his side, it was nothing compared to his loss.

another medal, another accomplishment, and more praise from the public, but it was still a failure to him. his comrades were gone. zeus used his powers to force an honorable discharge for apollo. the nation, enamored with apollo, didn’t object. they had watched him grown up, become a man, a success. they wanted their golden child alive, not sacrificed.

consumed by grief, apollo forced himself to do what he knew best: becoming better.

he founded helios, a robotics and ai company that continue to create for a better society. to some extent he had a heart to help others, but there was still that innate drive to be better, to own, to control, and push the limits. like lyra and halo, helios allowed him to build and shape the world to become closer to the vision he imagined. no one else would do the job, but even then no one would do it right like him.

helios proved the greatness that was apollo, serving as the lead strategist and engineer of his companies. he was more than an innovator and prodigy. in chasing perfection, he became a myth himself: shining and untouchable, but somehow drowning.

the public knew of Zeus’s glorious heir, but were unaware of the sinister force that was slowly destroying him. they didn’t know of what he was willing to do to be the best. they didn’t know of the secrets he collected of others for his own selfish gain. they didn’t know of his creations’ sinister purposes, one to feed his need for control and to push the human capabilities.

they certainly didn’t know about her.

apollo didn’t know it yet, but someone would come along who would change the way he worked, the way he loved.

hyacinth.

she was a symbol of many: his duality, his obsession, his madness, his love. she was the one that made him sweet, but just as mad. she had him humming to himself at work, counting down the hours before he return to her arms again. unlike his various flings and infatuations being well kept secrets, the well controlled apollo found himself falling for her. the world was against them and he had to fight. apollo was on his feet, begging for her to his father. her scandals were known to the public, casting a heavy cloud of judgment around her that he continued to defend through the use of his apps. their love should had been a sweet tale, but it turned into something obsessive, twisted.

then a little birdie told him some news.

hyacinth had another lover.

it was this obsession, rage, and jealousy that led to the worst. a confrontation in their car soon led to them fighting over the wheel, losing control of the vehicle. it destroyed hyacinth and apollo, revealing the cracks of the great zeus’s heir. he failed once again and he could not fix his it.

yet, apollo hides this grief that eats at him. he continues to build. build his image, build control, and build his world. to become the best.

will his glory shine bright or walk hand in hand with his doom?

"everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed.

relationship: potential fiancee

preference: someone he can take home to mama, or in this case zeus. the ideal wife.

a flexible concept, open to interpretation. at the end of the day apollo will never be a true partner to muse a

apollo could never forget the moment he met hyacinth.

before he laid eyes on her, the sharp clicks of heels piercing across the ballroom captured his attention. in the midst of the drab conference, a conversation trapped twenty-four year old apollo with one of the ministry of truth’s directors. despite his small smile and occasional nod, he prayed for a break, something to pull him away from this conference. was it about tech? social media? he could not even remember. going to one conference was like going to them all.

though when he heard those heels, he lifted his head.

all his prayers were answered in the form of a goddess, an incarnation of beauty, dressed like sin wrapped in a cheetah business suit and black louboutins.

time froze.

everyone became a blur that apollo could not describe. he could not decide if those people gradually melted away or if they moved at an instantaneous pace around him. if not, was it that time slowed down for him and this woman? that the universe decided to only revolve around them, blessing them to live alone in their own world at that moment. the sounds suddenly dropped into muffling, as if they became round, distant, and were a drowned hum that apollo could not hear. instead, he could only initially hear the clicks of the louboutins.

he could not say that a halo formed around her, but somehow she seemed brighter than everyone else in the room. she stood out in the sea of monotonous grey, blue, and white blur under the fluorescent lighting. she was the sun and moon’s rays gracing herself amongst mortals who did not deserve her presence. her strut echoed that of runways of nineties supermodels. each step was confident and had a purpose. even with the biting attitude in her stride, she was fluid, like a ballroom dancer sweeping across the dance floor. she would turn her head from time to time, scanning around the room. occasionally she would flash a smirk at those who greeted her that would trap another poor victim in her hands, another toy for her to play with until she grew tired.

yet when she laid her eyes on him, apollo swore for a split second gone was the confident woman he noticed. she paused, the once sharp glint softened as her breath hitched at the sight of him. however, this look took a fast turn. her lips curled into a cheshire cat smile with a gaze as intense as a tiger capturing its prey.

target acquired.

the woman wasted no time in making her way in front of apollo, who held his hand up to the official and could easily take the message. however, no words would come out of his mouth, but the look on his face said it all. his smile had a reason to it. not even honey could describe the way his eyes lit up. no. a golden light sparked the life in his eyes. for once, they were not calculating, they simply shined.

target lock and kill.

“close your mouth, golden boy. you’re cute, but drooling isn’t cute,” she drawled before giving a quick tap to apollo’s chin.

he looked down at her. there was little distance between them, yet somehow it still felt too far. he saw the way they clashed already. he wore his navy cucinelli suit, a black turtleneck, and shoes almost too casual for such a conference. some women in the higher circles would have scoffed at the sight of a leopard print woman with a walk like that, but she made it work.

“now, if you’re done gawking,” she continued, “i assume we have five minutes to make up for the five meetings you’ve cancelled on me.”

before apollo could say anything, he suddenly felt her hand wrapped around his as she steered him into a quiet corner. it had been some time that he felt his hands clammy from such a touch, trying his best once again to say something, but when he finally collected himself he nearly choked in asking, “your name?”

“hyacinth.”

what should have been a five-minute conversation lasted well into the conference, only to continue to dinner and further more into many more meetings.

alcibiades started in the ministry of truth as a grunt under a mid-level manager. while talented and knowledgable about the media, already seeing the vision of social media’s influence and abilities, few recognized his potential. despite trying to apply to various companies on his own merit, he rarely had the opportunity for an interview, let alone an offer. it was only when he reached out to an estranged uncle, a diplomat for the triumvirate, that he secured a foot in a barely opened door. during his first six months there, all he did was collect media sources to turn into reports that no one read, ordered lunch, and made coffee. somehow amid menial work, he learned one essential lesson: survival in politics meant choosing an alliance and choosing wisely.

he succeeded in the first half of the lesson. unsure of which path to follow, he stuck with the most logical choice, his manager. he was like alcibiades, starting from the bottom and climbing his way up with the right people supporting him. until one scandal later and everyone was quick to toss out alcibiades and his manager to save their asses.

what alcibiades did not know at the time was that a single conversation weeks prior changed his life. he had a chance encounter in with the teen genius, apollo, who launched his communication app, lyra. the over thinker he was, alcibiades made the mistake of casually critiquing lyra in that short time. when realizing his mistake, he replayed such a moment night after night. what he didn’t realize was how this impressed apollo. few would critique the golden boy. despite apollo’s age, people held the teen in higher regard than most executives triple his age. like the over thinker alcibiades, apollo was one to search for problems that nearly did not exist, but was quick to fix. the two men also shared something else: recognizing the true potential of social media, allowing the youth to take over such a wild west in a media world controlled by the old guard.

after job hunting day and night for two months, he was close to running out of his savings and his landlord was ready to evict him. dollar meals were the only things he could afford, groceries seemed like a luxury. this was all after selling his car, buying a cheap bicycle instead and taking odd jobs.

it was on a rainy day, he found a certain ray of light in his darkness. apollo sat in front of him in a small cafe that not many knew, aside from the locals in the neighborhood. the only people in that small place were the two baristas, a group of grannies that met for their morning coffee, alcibiades, apollo, and one bodyguard. with little said, apollo closed alciabiade’s laptop and slid a contract on top of it, “join me.”

“what is this?”

“the future,” apollo stated simply. “accept my offer now and i’ll even throw in a car, maybe an apartment if you stop asking questions.” he continued as he sipped on his hot chocolate, sprinkled with extra marshmallows. even with such a childish drink, zeus’s heir leaned back in his chair with a nonchalant look.

“how do you know-”

“i’ve been told to know a few things, here and there.”

just a glance at the first page had alcibiades skipped to the last page sign away. no questions. no hesitation. finished with a firm handshake, one that alcibiades would later claim was the strongest he had ever felt. in a matter of hours, alcibiades joined apollo’s team, which would become halo, the social media monster that would change the world.

like many of halo’s founding team, he was hailed as a young visionary, staking a claim in the digital wild west, a middle finger to the old guard. he rose to become halo’s director of media relations. such a position allowed him not only to pay off his back rent and car back. he would buy the building from his landlord two years later. with his first paycheck, he bought himself a new mercedes. soon after, he married the daughter of a congressman, who was a rising lawyer that was often in the media. only two years ago he went back to the ministry of truth, this time as a consultant. while it was a pay cut, it provided connections more valuable than money and would pay itself off when he went back into the private sector. compared to many of his peers, he was living their dream and reaching a success that would had taken years to achieve.

however, life consisted of its ups and downs. alcibiades was pulled back down to earth. being part of a circle as prominent came with its privileges, but also its own stresses that not many could understand or soothe. for alcibiades, he tried his best to hide an certain addiction to prostitutes and cocaine. despite the word on the street of a certain new drug’s potency, few knew about its side effects, alcibiades included, who just wanted to chase a bigger high. all it took was one bad batch at a party. a once strong high led to a crash of horrible hallucinations and paranoia, but bad went for a worse turn when he encountered the husband of a woman he fucked months earlier, laughing at the man too when confronted earlier. facing a man decked in black with tattoos covering every inch of his body would had scared off most, but not alcibiades. it was not only the high of such drugs, but pride that made alcibiades scoff at the man, not caring that he was dealing with a mobster.

both men were high and pumped with aggression and pride. a shove from alcibiades led to the mobster pulling out a knife. it did not take long before a stab to the thigh led to alcibiades writhing on the floor, gripping on the upper half of his leg. with such a stab to the nerve, it left alcibiades in a wheelchair for a long time. he took months to progress to using a cane, but even then, he could only walk short distances.

now alcibiades and apollo were alone in the latter’s home office, testing out the experimental exoskeleton that helios had been developing. alcibiades continued to bounce when he was not running through the room, a success that little exoskeletons outside of helios could achieve. it was during this run, apollo casually brought up, “you wouldn’t believe the strength of this model. not only can you run or jump with them, but they can crush anything in their path with a single step.”

alcibiades laughed mid jog, “i bet. i can’t wait to show-”

“you can snuff out a rat with them,” apollo cooly commented.

it was then alcibiades stopped, turning his head to his longtime boss with a confused expression.

apollo laughed when he caught this look. motioning with two fingers, he said, “come. now.” it was a tone so casual, yet the other man felt a certain tension he could not figure out. however, that second in hesitation had apollo’s face turn grim as he tightened the grip around his glass. he snarled, “come over here when i tell you to.”

before alcibiades could take another step, it was apollo who side swept the man to the ground. lording over him, apollo watched as his employee tried to get up, but in that time he scoffed, “you wouldn’t believe what i learnt. that some files from helios and the triumvirate were in certain hands.”

alcibiades now knew to stay down, keeping his head hung low. he tried not even try to push himself up, now at eye level with apollo’s feet. it was with alcibiades’ vices that he was bound to land in further hot water, a certain video of himself with some women running around in certain circles. however, to get such videos came back at a certain cost: to steal a few files from the house of sky. he thought no one would know. yet he forgot a few old lessons:

choose an alliance and choose wisely.
apollo knows everything.

nudging the pathetic man’s head with his foot, apollo snickered, “don’t get it twisted. i picked you. i gave you the life you want. every model you fuck, every time you cheat on your perfect wife and spit in her daddy’s face while cashing in on his political connections, that’s because of me. i handed you the perfect life and you’ve been leeching off of me, but don’t forget. you can’t fuck with me. i’m the one who fucks you. now get up,”

this time alcibiades knew he could not hesitate once again. as he tried to stand up, he felt an intense shock shoot up and down both his legs. he writhed around worse than the night of the stabbing. as he lifted his head up, he saw that shit eating grin of apollo’s. in his hand was a tiny remote, no bigger than a coin. before he could say anything, apollo pressed the button once more and another shock ripped through the exoskeleton, taking a few steps back to witness his masterpiece.

alcibiades could not even scream in such pain, his mouth agape. he made no sound.

“come, alcibiades.”

with every strength in his body, the man clawed at the floor to pull himself to the golden boy himself. the standing man just watched with a grin, his finger teasingly grazing over the button. waiting for a few steps was not so bad with a show like this playing. finally, apollo crouched down at eye level with alcibiades. one hand weaved through his once trusted employee’s hair now damp like the rest of his body covered in swear, almost tender in its touch. in his other hand, he waved his little device.

then apollo drawled in a low voice with an almost sweet smile, “you walk because i said you could, but i also decide when you crawl.”

motioning his head to the door, apollo seethed, “get out of my sight until i ask for you again.”

what alcibiades never realized was that the worst night of his life had been months in the making. every thread, whisper, and temptation had been placed by apollo the moment he confirmed such betrayal. the bad batch? the fight? all inevitables that would had happened even without apollo’s intervention. the damage to his legs, an unfortunate bonus in disguise. it was not simply rage that led this domino effect. it was disappointment that demanded a rewriting of alcibiades’ future.