The first bullet caught me in the side.
The second hit my chest.
By the time the third tore through me, I was already falling. The world around me blurred—the flashing red alarms, the shouts, the sound of my own heartbeat slowing. I hit the ground hard, my body already cold.
Above me, the bastard who betrayed me stood over my dying body, gun still smoking. He shook his head. "Sorry, Logan. Nothing personal."
Then everything went black.
---
I woke up to chaos.
A sky I'd never seen before stretched overhead—deep violet, twin suns burning in the heavens. The air was thick, electric, humming with energy. The ground beneath me was rough and uneven, as if the planet itself had just been torn apart.
I gasped, my chest heaving, my entire body burning. I felt… wrong.
No. I felt powerful.
A shadow loomed over me, and suddenly, a desperate voice cut through my haze.
"Emperor! Please, wake up!"
I turned my head, my instincts flaring. A woman knelt beside me, her golden eyes wide with panic. White hair tumbled around her face, streaked with ash and dust. Her black and purple armor was dented, scorched—like she had just barely escaped a war zone.
She grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. "Emperor, say something! We barely made it off Zephir Prime before—" Her voice broke. She swallowed hard, fighting for composure. "Before it was gone."
I stared at her, my mind reeling. Emperor? Zephir Prime?
My heart pounded in my chest, stronger than it had ever been before. I lifted my hands—bigger, stronger, alien. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the cracked surface of a shattered metallic plate nearby. White hair. Red eyes.
This wasn't my body.
This wasn't my life.
But this woman—she thought I was someone else.
And judging by the sheer desperation in her voice, I wasn't about to tell her otherwise.
I took a shaky breath, forcing my voice to work. "…What happened?"
Her shoulders sagged in relief at the sound of my voice. "Zephir Prime is gone. The fleet, the empire—everything. It happened so fast." She blinked rapidly, her jaw tightening as if holding back something—grief? Fear? "I… I barely got us out. I thought you were—" She exhaled sharply. "It doesn't matter. You're alive. That's all that matters."
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. My mind screamed at me that this was impossible. That I had just died. But the burning suns overhead, the alien air filling my lungs, the raw power thrumming through my body—
It was all real.
I wasn't Logan the thief anymore. I was someone else. Someone powerful. Someone important.
And I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do next.
The woman helped me to my feet, her grip firm and reassuring. "We need to move," she urged, her eyes darting around the wreckage. "The planet's destruction could draw in scavengers."
Her words barely registered. My mind raced with the weight of my new identity—Emperor Logan. A title that seemed to echo through the very fabric of the universe, demanding answers I didn't have.
But the urgency in her voice snapped me back to reality. I nodded, pushing myself up with a grunt. The pain of the gunshots was a distant memory, replaced by an overwhelming need to understand what had happened. To my old life. To Zephir Prime. To me.
"What do you mean, 'everything'?" I demanded, my voice still unsteady. "How did this happen?"
Sylva's eyes searched mine, looking for something—understanding, perhaps. "The Cataclysm. We don't know the full extent yet. Our world is no more. Only you, myself, and the others survived."
Her words hit me like a meteor strike—sharp and final. The last of my old life had been obliterated. The Zephiran race, once a beacon of power, reduced to four.
And then, Rokan appeared through the dust, his battle-hardened figure a stark contrast to the ruin around us. His eyes, a piercing red, searched the area before landing on me. Relief washed over his scarred face, and he broke into a sprint.
"Emperor!" he boomed, his voice deep and resonant. "You've returned!"
The woman—Sylva—stepped aside, allowing him to reach me. Rokan's hand, rough and calloused from years of combat, clasped my forearm in a firm grip. It was a warrior's greeting, one that conveyed respect and camaraderie. His eyes searched mine, looking for the spark of life, the flame of leadership that had been snuffed out moments before.
"Emperor," he said, his voice softer now, "our ship took heavy damage during the escape. We're on emergency power, low on fuel and supplies."
"Oh, fuck..." The words slipped out of my mouth before I could think better of it. This wasn't a situation you could bluff your way through. I was in deep shit.
Sylva and Rokan exchanged a look. The tension grew thicker than the dust in the air.
"Where the hell are we, and how do we get off of this dust bowl?" I managed to ask, my voice tight with the gravity of our situation.
Sylva took a moment to collect herself before speaking. "We're on the outskirts of the former Zephiran Empire," she began, her voice steady despite the tremor of loss in her eyes. "The nearest habitable world is a planet named Meridian. It's not ideal, but it's our best shot for now. We need to find shelter, repair the ship, and gather intel on the current state of the galaxy."
I nodded, trying to digest the vastness of our situation. "And the Zephiran race?" I asked, my voice gruff with the weight of the question. "What's the plan for that?"
Sylva's eyes met mine, a spark of hope flickering in their golden depths. "We will rebuild," she said firmly. "Our legacy will not die with Zephir Prime."
The idea was ludicrous, but something about it... excited me. A planet of my own. A race to call mine. The power to fuck an entire planet and create a new species? It was like something out of the most epic space opera, a fantasy so grand it made my head spin. I couldn't help but smirk at the thought of playing god.
"Ooh, I can be like Thragg and fuck an entire planet, make a whole race, haha! Imagine that, so much alien coochie just waiting for me to conquer!" I exclaimed, the words tumbling out of my mouth before I could fully appreciate their absurdity.
Rokan's booming laughter echoed through the dusty air, his broad chest shaking with mirth. "Your Highness, you never disappoint with your... unique perspective on our situation." He slapped his knee, his teeth flashing in a smile that could have been considered threatening on any other creature. But here, amidst the ashes of our civilization, it was a beacon of life.
Sylva's expression remained stoic, but the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly. "We should focus on the immediate tasks," she said, though she couldn't entirely hide the smile that tugged at her lips.
As we talked, something strange stirred within me—a deep, instinctual pull toward a planet in the distance. It was as if the very fabric of my being was whispering to me, guiding me home. The planet was called Verdara, a place I'd never heard of but felt inexplicably connected to.
The others, Sylva and Rokan, exchanged skeptical glances. They had known the original Emperor Logan, and my sudden enthusiasm and lack of memory was no doubt concerning. But the power surging through me, the very essence of the Zephiran legacy, filled me with a confidence that was utterly alien to my old self.
Ignoring their doubt, I focused inward, feeling the energy within me. It was like a maelstrom of stars, wild and untamed. I flexed my fingers and watched as the air around them shimmered, the beginnings of a fiery aura forming. With a roar, I unleashed the power. A shockwave rippled out from my fist, sending debris flying into the air like leaves in a storm. The heat was intense, but I felt no pain. The energy was a part of me, a newfound extension of my very soul.
The two stared at me, wide-eyed. Rokan's grip on my arm tightened, his gaze a mix of awe and wariness. "You truly are Emperor Logan reborn," he murmured.
I nodded, the gravity of the situation setting in. "Okay, let me see the power of the Zephirans," I said, eager to harness the strength that now surged within me. And just like that, the memories flooded in—a torrent of knowledge, a symphony of power.
I felt it in every atom of my being—the fiery might of a dying star, the swiftness of a black hole's pull, the invincibility of a cosmic force. The energy swirled around me, and with a thought, I sent it spiraling into the sky in a fiery tornado. The ground trembled beneath our feet as the air crackled with potential.
With a roar that could have shaken galaxies, I leaped into the air, my newfound power carrying me skyward. The sensation was exhilarating—like nothing I had ever felt before. The gravity of my old body was a mere memory. I was Emperor Logan, and I could conquer the very fabric of the cosmos with a flex of my will.
As I ascended, the planet's gravity seemed to bow before me, the very air parting to make way for my ascent. The feeling of absolute freedom was intoxicating. With a thought, I shot a beam of pure energy from my hand, watching in amazement as it sliced through the dense atmosphere like a hot knife through butter.
My eyes locked onto a towering sand mountain in the distance, a natural monument to the chaos that had claimed Zephir Prime. With a grin that stretched from ear to ear, I directed my flight towards it. The wind whipped through my hair as the landscape below grew smaller, and my heart raced with the thrill of power.
As I approached the monolith, I balled my fists, feeling the cosmic energy coil around them like a living, breathing entity. With a fierce yell that echoed across the desert, I shot out a beam of pure, searing light from my eyes, the sand sizzling and evaporating in its path. The mountain's peak disintegrated into a shower of glowing embers.
The display of power was a heady rush, and I reveled in it, feeling more alive than I ever had as Logan the thief. The wind tugged at my hair as I shot towards the horizon, the speed exhilarating. The ship grew larger in my sights, a beacon of salvation in this alien wasteland.