A/N: Hello all! This is Flame'sWrath here, this is actually the first bit of fanfiction I've ever felt proud enough to put on this site, so I ask that you all go easy on me here. This first chapter is short because its a prologue of sorts, future chapters will be much longer as I tend yo get very descriptive when I write. That said I'd like to introduce you all to my first story, When Death owes a Favor.
You know that old saying about how your life flashes before your eyes just before you die? Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with that saying, seeing as time seems to slow to a crawl as an arrow slowly makes its way through the air towards my heart. I suppose I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, so first things first, introductions! Hello my name is Akairo Raion, strange name I know, it use to be something a bit more normal but that was before…well I'm getting ahead of myself again. The woman whose arrow is currently on its way towards ending my life is named Cinder Fall, at least that's what she calls herself, not sure if it's her real name though….anyways getting off track again. I suppose this whole story starts when I died, odd place for a story to begin huh?
"Ugh...god, my head is killing me," I say as I grip my head and stand up from my position laying on the hard concrete.
"Jesus! What the hell happened?" I breath out upon looking at the crumpled wrecks of several cars and the public bus I had be riding in shortly beforehand. People are moving around and crowding around the crash, the EMT's checking on those injured in the crash.
"Hey can you tell me what happened? Who started the crash?" I say as I try to grab the attention of one of the EMT's. The man ignores me, even as I wave my hand in front of his face.
"Hey we got one over here!" One of the other EMT's shouts as the crouch next to a figure lying on the ground. The EMT whose attention I was trying to grab turns and heads over to the other. I follow him still trying to get his attention, eventually I try to grab him by his shoulder, only for my hand to pass right through him. The horrifying conclusion that my brain was coming to was further reinforced once I finally caught sight of just who was lying on the ground. Staring at me with its cold lifeless eyes was my own face, blood ran down my forehead and leaked from the corner of my mouth.
"No…..no no no no!" I panic and fall on my ass "That can't be me! I'm right here….somebody see me please!" I plead as the cold realization sets in.
"Hate to break it to you kid but, you are in fact dead, and that is in fact your corpse laying on the ground there." A voice that sounded ethereal and powerful said from right behind me. jumped to my feet in a fit of panic and spun around to look at who had just spoken. Standing there was a figure, I couldn't tell what gender they were because of the outfit that they wore, well I say outfit, but it was less an outfit and more of a long hooded cloak that went all the way to the ground.
"What a way to die as well, ejected from a bus at high speeds while on the way back home, it's sad, truly it is."the figure speaks once more as it looks between myself and my corpse.
"Who the hell are you!? Why the hell can you see me when no one else can!?" I question the figure angrily.
"The answer to both those questions is one and the same. Most recognize me from the cloak alone, but perhaps you need a bigger hint as to who I am." They say as they stretch out an arm. What the hell is this person thinking? What do they mean most people recognize them? I've never see this person before in my entire life! The figure chuckles for a moment, finding something funny.
"I would be surprised if you had ever seen me before this moment, after all I do come at the end of one's life." they say interrupting any further thought. Just as I am about to ask them what they mean I am cut off. Their outstretched hand is no longer empty, now in its hand is a terrifying scythe, the handle made from the spine of some great giant, the blade of a metal so black it seemed to draw in the surrounding light, the whole thing exuded a deep chill that made my body feel as if I was plunged in ice cold water.
"Yes! I am the great reaper of souls! I am Death!" The figure, or now Death I suppose, shouts and spreads his arms apart dramatically.
"Now, while you did die remarkably way before you were supposed to, the fact remains that you still died, which means that right now, you need to come with me." He continues, gesturing with his scythe.
"What the hell do you mean I died before I was supposed too!? If I wasn't supposed to die here then when the hell was I supposed too!?" I question angrily.
"You weren't supposed to die until you in your late eighties, based on the signs I assume your death was the result of a deal. See that guy over there was the one I originally came here to collect, seeing as he's still alive and you're the one that's dying on the concrete over there, I'm assuming he made a deal with one of the other forces, probably Evil…" He answers and trails off. He looks thoughtful for a time before snapping his fingers and pointing at me.
"Hey kid, quick question for you. What do you know about Gaia Theory?" He asks with curiosity.
"You mean like in that manhwa, The Gamer? People chosen by a "god" to receive powers indicative of their personalities? That Gaia theory?" I ask confused as to why Death, brought something like that up.
"Let's see here, died before their time? Check. Between the ages of 15 and 20? Check. Knows about Remnant? They were watching that show on the bus. Knows Gaia theory? Check….hm. Well kid this might just be your lucky day! I happen to owe one of my fellow Forces a favor, and she gave a list of criteria for a, helper of sorts, and lucky you, you happen to meet all those criteria, so….what do say to a second chance?" He says, very much like someone who goes door to door selling a product.
"So what's the catch on all of this? Seeing as you're the physical embodiment of Death, from all the fiction I've read over the years, you really don't like it when people try to cheat you, so what's the catch?" I question cautiously.
"Well kid, you really are smarter than most, anyone else might have just accepted without thinking of the consequences. The only catch is this, us Forces can't directly interfere with the mortal world, so we need mortals to act as agents of our will, in this new life you'd be doing that for the one I owe a favor too." He answers with a hint of respect.
"And how do I know that I won't be asked to do something against my morals?" I ask him.
"Well me and the….less pleasant Forces aren't on friendly terms...They tend to make my job harder than it already is, and I don't really appreciate that. So if you're worried you'll be asked to go on a homicidal rampage, that won't be the case, but if you don't really believe me, perhaps the fact that I owe the favor to ol' mother nature might calm you down." He explains in a rather frank manner.
"Mother Nature….? Is that why you asked me if I knew anything about Gaia Theory earlier?" I ask rather confused.
"Yeesss…..that's why I asked….Anyways, are you going to accept the offer or what kid?"He asks in an annoyed tone.
"Fine...I'll take your offer, what happens next then?" I question while crossing my arms in a expectant manner.
"Next…? Next you get to become Gaia's problem, and I get to go back to doing my job instead of answering all of your questions, now do try not to die so soon again, I'd rather not have to deal with you within the next five decades." He says before flicking his wrist as the world around me fell away. What Death forgot to mention was that becoming Gaia's problem meant being stuck in a seemingly endless black void that contained only myself, and what looked suspiciously like a system message from The Gamer manhwa, that read as thus.
"Hello Chosen! If you're reading this then Death finally got off his ass and found someone that fit my requirements, I swear that one is so lazy sometimes….sorry got off track there. If Death did what he was supposed to, you should already know who I am, if he didn't….then I'm Gaia! Now then, the reason you're here is that I need someone who knows what those who seek to plunge this world into darkness are planning. This world is the first me and my brothers created together, and I wish for it not to fall into darkness. Your task while here is to prevent their plans from succeeding, to this end, I shall be granting you a new life in this world, along with the power necessary for you to accomplish this. Now that you have been informed of your task, let's get you set up with a new body, please press the next button at the bottom of this screen to proceed to character creation." The message was of medium length and as the last sentence had indicated there was indeed a button labeled "Next" at the bottom of the screen.
I pressed the button as the screen blipped out of existence only for another to take its place a moment later. This new screen was vastly different than the one before it, instead of a large wall of text, instead much of the screen was taken up by two silhouettes, one obviously of a much younger age based off of its height compared to the other. The silhouettes were gray at the moment, I could guess that they would become filled in and colored as I continued the creation process. Off to the side of the silhouettes was a section of the screen that consisted of text above a dropbox selector. The first in the admittedly long list of selections was Gender, that was very quickly selected as Male, I am attached to my manhood thank you very much.
The next selection was that of race, this one only contained two options, Human, and Faunus. Death had mentioned something about Remnant in our conversation earlier, but this right here was all the information I needed about what the hell I was getting myself into. I debated with myself for a time on the pros and cons of each choice. If I chose Human I would be choosing something I had been for my entire life, I wouldn't have to deal with the discrimination that Faunus had to deal with. On the other hand, if I chose Faunus I would have the enhanced senses, like excellent night vision, and enhanced hearing, the downside would be adjusting to the extra appendages and dealing with the racism against Faunus.
I eventually decided on Faunus, the bonuses it would give me would be nice and if my job is to stop a monster like Salem, I was going to need every advantage I could get, besides I was used to being insulted, I hadn't had very many friends before this whole situation. I made my selection and continued on through the list, I don't know how long it took for me to play around with the facial features due to lack of a way to determine time, but it felt like quite a while. I had settled on being a lion faunus and tailored my hair and eyes to reflect that decision, choosing a molten gold color for my eyes and a brilliant red for the hair that looked a lot like a lion's mane. Finally satisfied with my appearance I hit the button at the bottom to continue, this causing another much smaller screen to pop up in front of the much larger one. This screen held only the text of Name above another box, clicking it pulled up a keyboard slightly above my waist.
This gave me pause, selecting what might body looked like hadn't bothered me all that much, I had never really felt like what I looked like before fit who I was, but changing my name? My name had been with me from the day I was born, it had become a part of who I was, changing my name felt like leaving a part of myself behind. If I kept it the same it would stick out on Remnant, due to the naming after colors, but at the same time I didn't feel comfortable choosing a name for myself. Spying an icon off to the right of the box I hover my finger over it, causing a screen explaining that hitting this would cause my parents in this new life to chose my new name at random. This would solve my problem, hitting the icon caused a confirmation window to pop up, confirming my selection caused all the previous windows to immediately close, only for one final window to open.
"Doing all of this you've probably already realized just what sort of opportunity. I'm giving you here, but it does come along with a bit of a condition. Due to trying to preserve your childhood in this new life, you will not receive any new system messages, nor will you be able to pull up any of the menu's until your aura is unlocked, this ability becoming your semblance. One last thing before your soul is transferred into your new body, do not be afraid to tell others of your ability, nor must you fear letting those you become close to know about what is to come, the more that know, the more that can be done to prevent it. I wish you the best of luck Chosen, from Gaia." This screen has a very large button that held only the the word "Proceed" in large bold print.
Pressing the button caused an intense feeling of fatigue to overcome me as my legs give out underneath me, I struggle to keep my eyes open, but fighting is futile, as I succumb to the blissful peacefulness of unconsciousness. When I came to, I was in a very dark space, it was also very warm and damp. Attempting to move my limbs resulted in only meager results, as I felt my limbs move only slightly. There was nothing to hear in this space either, wait, correction, there was a faint rhythmic *thump-thump* noise, it actually kind of reminded me of...a...heartbeat...The realization of where exactly I was slammed into me. Oh joy, I wonder how long I would have to wait before I was actually born, seeing as I could move at all, and that I could feel my new mother moving her hand over her stomach, I'm inclined to believe I'm somewhere around the halfway point, I can already tell, this will not be the best of experiences.