Inheritance

Sol suddenly opened his eyes to a very familiar sight. It was the same apartment building that he had been seeing in his dreams ever since he was a child. The same underdeveloped technology, the same rubble and dust, and the same blood on the walls.

It was the exact same every time, not even a molecule of change would occur. As he waited for his heart to stop beating finally so that the dream would end, Sol suddenly saw a light from the corner of his eye.

It was bright and yellow, unlike anything he had ever seen before. 'That's new…' He thought to himself as he tried to get a better glimpse of it.

With utmost effort, he managed to move his head toward the direction of the light. Upon closer inspection, the light seemed to be coming from… a watch?

'That's… my watch.' Sol said to himself, with a hint of confusion in his mind. Why was this thing glowing?

His mind automatically traced the origins of the watch. Those who he asked said that he always had it with him even as a baby. Some even joked that he was born with it. But… what was it doing here in this dream?

He wanted to survey it more, but he could already feel his bloody vision starting to blur. Before he could do anything else, his heart suddenly stopped beating, and his brain shut down as well.

[System initializing…]

'That again.' Sol thought to himself as he heard those robotic words that always symbolized the end of his dream.

'Wait… I can think!' This had never happened before. Each time that voice spoke, he always woke back up, but this time, he hadn't woken up.

All he could see was darkness, like he had his eyes closed, and for some reason, he could feel his arms and limbs as though he was still in control of the body, even after he had died.

He forcefully opened his eyes and sat up. Looking around, he was still in the weird apartment, but this time his body felt anew. Nothing was tired, nothing felt damaged. He stood up and walked over to the glowing watch, but that's when he realized the body on the floor.

It looked almost identical to him, except it wore weird clothes. Yellow shorts and a blue shirt. It also looked a bit older than him, having light stubble on the chin. Then, he looked at his own arms and noticed that his body was transparent, like a ghost's.

'What the hell… is going on?' Sol thought to himself, utterly confused. And then suddenly, the watch in the corner of the room began to flicker its light even brighter, before finally, a slab of light arose in the air.

The slab of light quickly formed into a human-like figure, before turning into something that looked like a hologram, which Sol had seen plenty of. The holograph was of a man wearing a bandana on his head and a pair of shorts, along with a tropical shirt which was a couple of buttons loose on the top, showing his hairy chest.

The tall man had a pair of black sunglasses on his face and a toothpick in his mouth. Before Sol could analyze him anymore, the figure suddenly began to speak.

"Whoever you are! If you are seeing this, then that means I am dead…" His voice was rough, his expression serious.

"And it also means that you have discovered my inheritance."

'Wh- what!?' Sol thought about all this to himself for a moment, before coming up with a somewhat reasonable explanation to himself.

'Does this mean that… this person who died-' He looked at the dead body on the floor that looked similar to him. '-was meant to receive this inheritance?' He looked back at the transparent holographic figure.

"My name is Julius Veinharnam. I am the group leader of Solarious, a team that specializes in fighting off threats of different galaxies. Our most recent war was against the Kelvarians, who wanted to seize control of the Andromeda galaxy."

'Andromeda? That's where Highlan is located…' Sol said in his head, referencing his own planet.

"It was a long and grueling battle, but when faced with the idea of death or surrender, many of my subordinates betrayed me by joining sides with the Kelvarians. Thankfully, I escaped using spacial magic and have come to this small planet at unknown coordinates. It will take hundreds of years before Kelvarians arrive here to claim my body and items, but I'd rather die than allow that to happen. I already used most of my most powerful attributes in the war, but I leave all I have left in this inheritance."

Hearing all of this shocked Sol. The fact that no one was actually around to hear it all and to accept the inheritance was baffling.

"You may use this power of mine for any means that please you, as I have no control over who this goes to… but eventually, you must make a promise to me that you will avenge my death by stomping on the heads of my enemies." He spoke with a reinvigorating voice, his tone clearly fueled by some sort of rage.

The decision to take the inheritance was extremely easy for Sol before the figure said that, but even now, he had already made up his mind. This inheritance was going to give him power, the thing he needed to pass the test tomorrow.

'Avenge you? I guess that means to destroy the entire Kelvarian race, huh?' Sol paused for only a moment.

'Sure, that sounds easy enough.'