Prologue: Choice

The boy kneeling before her throne was eighteen, most would say he was barely a man. Oh but he had gone through so much, his innocence had died when he was thirteen. He had witnessed the murder of his twin sister and gotten the blood of her killer on his hands that very same day. Now five years later he knelt before the Goddess Etro in Valhalla with a corpse in his arms.

"Goddess Etro, if you're there, I ask of you…Is there any way for you to save her? To give her another chance at life?"

The deceased he held wasn't his lover or even a friend. No, she was an enemy. She had tried to kill him twice, yet here he was wanted her to be brought back to him. She could see the guilt in the young man's eyes, guilt and blame for her death. He had tried to get her to change sides, convince her that she was on the wrong one. She had been killed because of it, killed because she had spared his life in the end.

The Goddess glanced upon the timelines as she materialized on her throne before this man. She saw that if she granted his request, then she would indeed change her alliance for good. He would slowly fall for her and lay down his life for hers multiple times. They would become friends, then lovers. Enemies turned friends turned more. It made her smile, but she couldn't grant his request for nothing, everything had a price in order for balance to be maintained.

"Are you willing to give up your life for hers?"

He stiffened at once and she could tell that he was about to reject her immediately, but she continued before he could speak.

"Give your life force to her and under my power you shall receive another."

He relaxed when she finished her statement, but there was still uncertainty in his eyes as he began to consider it.

"And she'll live?"

"Yes. She will be free, she will have a soul."

"...And I'll still be alive as well?"

She nodded at him and watched as he gulped and glanced down at the girl in his arms. He took a few moments, gathering his thoughts, then sighed to calm himself before glancing back up at her.

"All right."

At once his younger sister begged him not to, for she too was in her realm, had followed her brother. He turned and snapped at her to be quiet, making her flinch and shut her mouth, then he turned back to the goddess.

"Go ahead then..."

"Are you sure with your decision?"

"Yes..."

He took hold of one of the girl's lifeless hands in his own and closed his eyes. That was her cueand she began the transfer of his life to hers. At once he gasped in pain as his life flowed into the girl, but in an instant both transfers were over. The girl was once again alive and breathing, stable with his life force, and she had given him a small sliver of her power to keep him alive as well. She had marked him; her symbol in a warm glowing crystal over his heart.

"Thank you Goddess..."

"Be warned child, for you are still mortal. You will still age and die like everyone else, as can you also die from injury or illness."

He nodded, thanking her again as he bowed his head and rose to his feet. She created a rift for them to leave her realm, but she had sealed his fate. A year later she would grow weak and perish, and the boy along with her...