Chapter 1

  Many people have thought of how far they would go, how much they would do, how much they would gain if they had a second chance. They say they would become a hero, a great mage, some sort of revolutionary force that world had never seen. But do they ever think what they would give up in the process? Many don't.

 Smoke is never a good sign. It is an even worse sign if your parents are banging on the door for you and your little sister to wake up. Especially if earlier in the night she had nightmares and moved to his room for comfort and snuggles. Sometimes she would wake up from a nightmare and sneak into my room. This time it probably happened because we are in a new environment. My parents were excited to go on this trip. The last time we went was 3 or 4 years ago before my little sister was born. Now that my little sister is old enough to sleep mostly on her own my father declared it time for another family vacation.

 "I'm up, stop shouting you might wake up Macy." I shouted. Looking over at the bed I could see that she was already waking up. "Grab only what you need and get out of there. We need to get out of here!" My father shouted back. I could hear my mother and father rushing around outside. "If you can't find something just forget about it, we need to go." My mother shouted. "Send Macy out NOW and listen to your father Therion!" 

 After opening up the door to send my sister to my mother, my father burst in grabbed my suitcase, practically threw it at me, and shouted to hurry. Glancing around I noticed the faint smell of smoke. "What is burning?" My father glanced at me. "The hotel." When I saw the expression on his face it sunk in. "Why didn't the fire alarms go off?" I shouted. His mother and father shared a glance and said, "We don't know but we need to go." 

 A minute or two of panicking passed before we grabbed everything we could carry. As we entered the hallway, I could see the smoke gathering on the ceiling. My father glanced at the evacuation map he had taken from our room and yelled "Follow me." Grabbing my sister from off the ground and groaning, we took off at a run. I cursed the fact that I never taken the time to work out. As we neared the stairwell, I noticed the temperature rise the closer we got. I stopped and shouted for them to stop but it was too late. The stairwell collapsed with my mom and dad on it. Panicking I shuffled to the edge to look down.

 As I stood there looking down where the stairwell was, I could barely make out my father shouting over the roaring fire, "We are fine. Go to the stairwell on the other side of the building. We will wait for you outside. You need to hurry, the floor below you does not look good. We will be fine, I can see the entrance from here." Tearing my sight away from the fire, I held my terrified sister tighter in my arms as I vowed to myself, she at least would make it. Ignoring the fact that my mom and dad would not be completely fine after falling through the stairs of two floors, I took off running. 

 As I ran back through the hallway I could barely see, my arms were burning, and sweat was pouring down my back. The smoke had reached from the ceiling to my head at this point, if I kept going like this I wouldn't make it. So I took my sister, put her on my back, and took off as fast as I could while crouching. Panicking I barely remembered, this hallway should connect to the opposite stairwell. Just before I reached it the ceiling gave out with a mighty crack.

 The next thing I know, I am on the ground in pain as my sister rolls to a stop in front of me. Looking back, I could make out a shard of metal sticking out of my back and running through my front. Pain, like I have never felt before fills me, and I am struggling to breath. I glanced at my sister, she seemed to have passed out from the stress of all that's happening. 'She is not going to make it on her own if I fall here,' I screamed inside myself 'MOVE! Just move, DAMN IT!'

 Seemingly in slow motion the ceiling above her started to groan. With a great mental shout and heave, something inside of me broke and time seemed to stop. The world around me seemed to almost want to help me before a terrifying presence made itself known. 'Even though you just touched upon essence you still won't escape nature's wrath.' The voice seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I couldn't even tell if it was male or female, it just was. What was even more frustrating was I could feel, deep down inside me, that it was right. 'Help me save her and I will do whatever you want,' I screamed back at it. Even though I couldn't say that out loud it still seemed to hear it. 

 'I can help you but, you won't survive it. You won't even be here, in this reality, to continue on.' The words it spoke seemed to weave themselves into visions, him stumbling out of the building holding his sister, was the only one he needed to see before he made up his mind. 'I know I am not going to survive this, so I will give everything I have remaining if she survives.' The presence seemed to consider it before answering. 'I cannot save her, but I can give you the power to save her. There will be a price.' I did not hesitate before answering, 'We have a deal.' As soon as the words had been said I felt the presence vanish.

 [Affinity gained: Death]

 As soon as that screen appeared it felt as though the world finally knew how to help me. With a newfound strength filling me, the pain disappearing, time unfreezing, and a path toward my goal I scooped up my sister and ran. The fact that I could run was a surprise, in fact it should be impossible with the shard through my spine. The ceiling finally gave out behind me, and a thunderous crash resounded. I ran as if my life depended on it, no, my sister's life depended on it. With an unnatural strength and grace, I never had before; I flew down the steps two at a time and vaulted over the railing separating this flight of stairs from the next.

 That was where my luck ran out. The next set of stairs was a bonfire that my sister would never survive. I needed to think and fast there had to be another way out. This hotel wasn't a super large one, it only had two stairwells and an elevator. Then it hit me the elevator shaft was my last hope, it ended in the lobby. I could use it to get there. Pounding down the hallway leading to the elevator I prayed to whatever was listening that I could get there. After a minute I could see the gleam of the elevator through the fog of smoke. I realized at that moment it wasn't bothering me, neither was the smoke or heat. Unfortunately it didn't matter, whatever had been done to me was a boon that was allowing me to save my sister. After setting her down near the wall and checking her to see if she had been hurt, I went to the elevator and checked it. To my dismay it was on this floor.

 I needed it out of the way to get down to the lobby so I did the only thing I could think of, pray and hit the fourth-floor button. Quickly stepping out of it before it closed behind me, it then started to creak and groan. With a deafening screech it started its journey to the top floor. Without stopping, I grabbed the seam between the doors and wrenched it open. To my relief, a quick glance told me there was no basement. Quickly scooping my little sister, I ran back and started climbing down as fast as I could. 

 A loud snap and screech indicated that the elevator was about to fall. Someone shouted over the fire, "JUMP, WE WILL CATCH YOU!" Without waiting I shoved myself away from the wall and curled around my sister and braced for the impact. Before the elevator started falling, I felt two strong pairs of arms wrap around me and my sister before we were whisked out of the building.

 A loud crash, a gust of wind, and a roaring fire were all I heard for the next minute. After that we were rushed out of the building. Somehow, I had made it out, I had saved my sister. I was gently placed on my side and my sister was taken from me. I barely heard my parents screaming, my name and save our child. As I glanced over, I saw the paramedics trying to calm my parents down. One of the fire fighters, who saw me looking, kneeled beside me and said with tears in his eyes, "You can rest now, your sister is in good hands."

 ---System Pov---

 With that Therion closes his eyes with a smile on his face and drifts away. The System, watching the whole thing, says to itself "He will do well." It then grabs his soul and leaves to prepare. After traveling from Earth, the avatar of the system arrives in Cythar its home system. The system glances at its cargo and says, "Time to prepare."