1 Death and Rebirth

Three loud gunshots rang out one after another. In the middle of downtown a black SUV had just driven by, after passing it quickly accelerated and got out of sight. The surrounding pedestrians started screaming as they ducked and cowered, unaware the shooting was already over.

"Oh god! That boy was hit!" A woman with a frightened expression pointed over on the opposite side of the road.

Lifeless with blood flowing out of him in three places, a Caucasian boy in his mid to late teens lay sprawled on the ground. Endlessly blood kept oozing out and covered the pavement.

Some brave pedestrians had already realized the danger had passed and stood back up. A few of them took it upon themselves to call 911 to report it.

At the same time, in the fleeing SUV.

"Ahh, my hands are shaking." A boy in his late teens sat in the backseat, holding out his two trembling hands in front of him.

"Did you get him?" Another boy in the front passenger seat turned around and questioned.

"I-I'm not sure, I think I saw him drop." The boy in the backseat stammered, "Fuck fuck fuck, what do we do now?"

"Don't lose your cool now. Remember what he did to your sister." The driver looked back through the rear view mirror, "Just stay calm, I'll get us out of here."

"R-Right, you're right."

The SUV turned a corner and drove into an empty parking garage.

…

A vast endless space covered everywhere around. From thousands of light years away, countless bright white stars twinkled. Black and white formed a stark contrast to each other and gave it an eerie feel. There was pin-drop silence, not a single sound could be heard.

In the midst of this silence, a sudden dull, robotic voice spoke, "Scanning host native planet… No suitable embryo found."

"Widening search range, scanning universe…"

"Potential host embryo located. Location, Blacktop Empire, Orion Cloud Galaxy. Calculating distance… Distance is ten billion light years."

"System currently at 87% power."

"Estimated to take 90% power to reach potential host embryo."

"Shutting off extraneous system functions. Extraneous system functions shut down. Re-calculating estimate."

"Estimate at 86,5%. Proceeding with intergalactic travel."

In this endless desolate space, a small blue light flashed and disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

At the same time, a youth came to with a start, feeling like his brain was getting sucked out. He struggled to open his eyes, but realized he was unable to. Next he tried to move his arms and legs, but he couldn't feel them at all. It felt like his entire existence was nothing but his consciousness.

What happened? Where was he? That same suction feeling was still tearing away at his head. He also vaguely remembered hearing a robotic voice before. Had he been kidnapped? But that still wasn't right, why couldn't he feel any part of his body? It was like there was a thick fog over his mind, he couldn't remember anything at all. He didn't even know his own name.

Exhaustion came over him and his consciousness blacked out.

The blue light continued to travel at an immeasurable speed through the dark universe. Passing by a stream of various stars and colorful planets. In mere minutes it had arrived at the so called Orion Cloud Galaxy belonging to the Blacktop Empire. The small blue light continued to fly undetected, entering a planet's atmosphere, then a giant building and finally into the belly of a beautiful blonde-haired woman in her late twenties. There was not a hint of a baby bulge on her stomach, she couldn't be very far along in her pregnancy.

"Host successfully possessed embryo, system deactivating to regenerate power."

After a few days the youth regained consciousness. It felt like he was suspended in a thick warm liquid, he tried to open his eyes again but couldn't move them at all. Less than thirty seconds passed and he succumbed to exhaustion, falling asleep.

Months passed like this, the youth often waking up and trying to move for a bit, just to fall back asleep again. He was barely able to keep a conscious thought.

Finally one day the youth woke again and thought to himself as always. "What is this? Did I die? Is it reincarnation?"

"Host is still alive and currently inside your mother's womb." A dull robotic voice spoke.

"You… Who are you?" There was surprise in the youth's voice.

"I am the Universe Fighter System. I attached to your soul fragment upon the death of your previous body."

"I died?" The you said, "Why don't I remember?"

"This can be considered a side effect of the forceful soul attachment. Merely being a soul fragment without a brain to store memories, some things had to be deleted for you to accommodate me."

"You took my memories? I can't even remember my own name!" The youth sneered.

"Correct, but it was either that or your soul would dissipate. Besides, you can remember the very idea of having a name, which means I left enough for your brain to continue it's normal cognizant functions."

"Are you messing with me? How does any of this even make sense?"

"To answer your question, I am an existence far beyond your universe's technology."

"That still doesn't explain how I'm here now. Am I a fetus? You said I'm inside my mothers womb."

"Correct, I located an embryo with a suitable aptitude for host to possess. Your mother is currently five months, nineteen days, nine hours, thirty minutes and two seconds pregnant."

"Counting it's three seconds."

"Four seconds."

"Five seco-."

"Yeah yeah I get it, be quiet already." The youth cut the robotic voice off.

"Host is recommended to take this remaining time to get used to his new body."

"What do you think I've been doing for the past however fucking long? Why did you first appear now?"

"I was in a deactivated state to recover my power after transporting you."

"If you need power, how are you working now then?"

"With a host, I can draw on their body's energy as a power source. Without one, my power will slowly decrease over time. It is a negligible amount however, it is only because I had to transport you that I had to deactivate myself."

"Wait, hold on a moment, you're drawing my energy?"

"Yes, but stay assured that this is not harmful to you in any way. Nor detracting from your body's potential."

"Fine fine, whatever…" The youth sighed, "This is too much to deal with, just be quiet, I'm going to sleep again."