Chapter 1: Science won't agree
1358 Words
When a girl tapped his on the back, waking him up from his slumber, a fleeting dream faded away.
"Hey, I'm asking something, I know you're a little bit overwhelmed after the party, but don't ignore me."
Arion withdrew his round eyeglasses and placed the surface of his palm on his forehead, feeling a little bit of dizziness after the event. Things around him are all blurry, he can't remember where he was. On his right hand, he had the stem of a thin wine glass between his index and thumb finger as if he's a wine connoisseur.
"Sorry, sorry, what were you asking again?"
He slipped back his eyeglasses so he can properly see who's talking to him. It's just one of his close friends during his sophomore year, and currently his girlfriend.
Now Arion remembered he was invited by her to her house before even the party started. He agreed thinking there's nothing bad about it since he never actually gave her time and attention because he's busy these past few months after graduation.
"I'm asking you, what does it feel to be a prodigy, the greatest inventor throughout the earth?"
Arion went silent regarding her inquiry. He had a deep contemplation after he sipped down his wine in seconds, putting the glass above the wooden table beside a bowl of ice.
From various advertisements across different multimedia, Arion's face could be seen anywhere. After all, he's the one and only human being who invented the cutting-edge futuristic machine that can perform the true perpetual motion, meaning, humanity has acquired what they called "Infinite Power" and he just turned 19 after his celebration party.
Arion Aldrehrt is a prodigy among prodigies and he did achieve everything he had right at the moment with pure knowledge and wisdom. His IQ is over 200 and is previously unquantifiable. He can read, understand, and speak all kinds of languages, be it Akkadian, Sumerian, Greek alphabet, and almost anything in existence regardless of timeline. Though he usually speaks with informality for the sake of others since he had his bright, humble demeanor right in his pocket.
But those who don't know what kind of 'leap of fate' humanity did in the world of technology using his inventions are merely those who are ignorant.
The change of density inside an object by shrinking its potential volume when not present at the current place, in other words, he invented the teleportation machine which can fully transfer lifeforms in the blink of an eye.
He also was able to discover super atomic energy that can be used to power up a spacecraft for years. A machine that defies gravity, an impenetrable form of iron much harder than a diamond with a less bonded arrangement, flying cars, and he's currently studying the true nature of quantum physics so he can create his time machine.
Everything Arion did became part of humanity, he changed the world as a whole and made the fantasy into a living reality in just a span of a lunar year. To top it off, since he made a lot of inventions that are used everywhere, he also became the richest person around the world making trillions of dollars per year. He can buy the earth if he wanted, but his conviction didn't allow him because he invents for the sake of humanity itself, and he would throw away everything for a better world.
"Arion...? You're sleeping aren't you?!" She flickered his nose.
"Aw!" Arion got startled. "I'm sorry!"
A little bit awkward on his side, her girlfriend poured wine on his glass and she's going to give it to him, but when Arion's about to touch the glass' stem, she instead spilled it above his head and it's the time he came back on his senses.
"Please, stop saying sorry all the time, you did nothing wrong. Geez!"
Arion's polka-dotted turtle-neck sweater and black jeans got drenched, he smelled like a drunkard in a pub.
"Look what you did." Arion retorted. His girlfriend kind of giggled and poured wine on his glass again.
"I'm sorry too. I just got excited." She reasoned out.
"Nah, it's my fault in the first place. So anyway, why did you ask about me being the greatest inventor?"
At first, it appears his girlfriend couldn't say a word or two. Arion just finished his second shot and it seems her lover is hiding something that she couldn't word out.
"It's just... I'm just afraid you'll find another girl... I mean you have everything! Money, fame, honor, you can have anything you want."
Arion widened his eyes upon seeing her troubled expression. They never really got the chance to talk with each other and he presumes her girlfriend must have been lonely whenever he's doing work in his secluded laboratory.
The thought must have crosses her mind that Arion can just easily replace her for another woman. However, that's where she was wrong because Arion acknowledges she understands him more than anyone for his loyalty. There's no way he can easily replace her for someone better.
On the other hand, it seems it's actually just a diversion of her girlfriend's true motives.
"My answer to your questions is... I feel like a normal working individual. I may have money, but I don't have time to spend. I have fame, but it's more important that I have you."
Arion's voice surely resonated within her. Each beat of her heart, each breathe her girlfriend takes, everything about her, he knows all of it because of his glasses with a specialized vision upgrade that's able to read and perceived a person's statistical attributes in numerical value.
It's a secret invention he made for the people he talks with and for security purposes. He can easily detect someone's ulterior motives just by gazing at them.
Surely, Arion can clearly see the serrated kitchen knife hidden between her girlfriend's pants and through her lower abdomen. It's tucked on her frilly white underwear so it won't fall below and blow up her cover. The dimness of the lamp above the desk beside the bookshelf is the only thing that lights up the room and he can view it as plain as the day even though it's already night.
"Let's not use candied words anymore, who's the bastard who asked you this?"
Her irises contracted upon hearing Arion's words. She smiled while she draws out the kitchen knife, her eyes and face is blank as the starless sky.
"I'm sorry... you shouldn't know behind everything!"
It seems the fleeting dream Arion was having earlier ago became a soundless reality.
The second he blinked, blood spewed from his mouth, a knife was impaled on his chest straight to his heart.
He was killed on the spot without even knowing the reason why is it.
Arion's already aware some are envious of his endeavors and achievement. It's bounded someone will hate him. His lover betrayed him with no hesitation, even the person with the purest heart would be subjected to hatred and scorn without batting an eye towards the things they have done.
Everything ended that night, Arion thought he had died, not until he witnessed a skeleton wearing a menacing hood appeared in front of him.
"Congratulations Arion Aldrehrt, I'm pretty sure you understand by now. Want me to spell it out?" The skeleton vehemently asserted.
"Argh..." Arion inclined. "Reincarnation? That kind of joke is actually possible? Science won't agree as to relativity and its possibility should not even be possible. The death of a person equates to nothing once the human brain gets taken down when the body failed from functioning. According to the law of time and space continuum–" The skeleton guy plugged Arion's mouth using an old parchment. He got irritated from his constant explanation.
"Silence! Just come with me, you nerd!" The skeleton guy dragged him into a portal of some sort and he had no choice but to follow him since he already died.
"What a rude guy!" Arion's making a fuss. Still, deep down in his heart he was exhilarated and wondering what's gonna ensue next.
- Writer
