Chase sprinted to the smoke, he ran for around 3 minutes before he arrived at the scene. all of his neighbors had gathered around the outside of the shop, they looked despondently at the burning building.
Charlie ran up to meet him.
"Chase! Thank God your here, your gand father is still inside the building, we tried to put out the fire, but nothing worked" Charlie was covered in ash and burns, it was evident that he atleast tried to help Chases grandfather.
"what! he's still inside! where are the fire fighters at"
"they haven't arrived yet, we did all we could"
With tears in his eyes Chase ran towards the front door.
"where are you going, you can't go in there alone. you'll die!"
"That's fine by me, I have to atleast try."
Chase slammed into the front door, he bounced off of it, he used his shoulder to ram into it over and over, the door broke inward with an unwilling creak and slammed into the wall.
"Grandpa!"
Chase put his hood over his mouth and tried to shield his eyes from the smoke that burned his throat.
He looked around frantically, it was hard to make anything out through the dense smoke.
"cough, cough", there was a faint coughing noise coming from upstairs, it sounded like it was in the study room.
Chase bolted up the steps, they were unstable and most of them were already burning, he tripped and his foot even fell through one, but he quickly recovered. he made it up the steps and barged Into the study.
He saw a small figure in the corner with cloth wrapped around his face.
"grandpa!"
the figure didn't respond, Chase scooped him up and ran down the stairs, if the steps were unstable and hard to walk up before, they were nearly impossible now, with another 150 pounds on his back, he made it halfway down before he heard a loud cracking noise and was sent tumbling down the steps.
he was able to throw his grandfather closer to the doorway before he hit the bottom. His vision went blurry, the smoke that was burning his throat so badly seconds before didn't seem to hurt anymore.
He heard some distant sirens and a bunch of shouting from outside, he saw his grandfather get dragged out of the building, just before he heard a loud crash and everything went black.
************
He awoke in a strange black room, a dark mist with glowing eyes sat before him.
"....Hello Chase, Welcome to Xperia...."
"What? where am I"
Chase tried to stand, but he didn't have much energy, he felt a large amount of pain from the burns and cuts all over his body.
"I just told you where you are, it seems you have died an untimely death and from a noble cause no less. if it brings you any solace your grandfather did survive. Well now your here, and you have a few options"
Chase looked dumbfounded.
"like what? can I return home"
"not quite, though you can return home, it will be without your memories and many years in the future, you will also be a baby."
A deep frown came across Chases face.
"it seems you don't like that option, luckily there are a few more. I can reincarnate you into a different world, you will keep your memories and will be granted magical abilities, of course their is a catch, but I'll tell you later. your other option is to spend all of eternity here with me, i would be lying if I said it was fun, but it's not awful either. there are others who have chosen this option, you would be placed with them to hang out with forever, those are your options"
Chases frown deepened.
"so I'm stuck here with you or I'm forced to live in another world with nothing but the clothes I'm wearing. these aren't great options"
the shadow looked a bit upset, or as upset as a shadow can look
"well I'm not the one who ran into a burning building to save the life of a relative who, face it, would only live another 5 to 6 years anyways. so yes these are your options"
Chase looked angry, but conceded a bit, the demon did have a point. "well I definitely don't want to spend eternity with you, so what is this catch you speak of for option 1."
"it's simple really, you must kill 2 people every 2 weeks. It's a sacrifice to me, in order to keep your body alive in that world. I am the God of death after all."
Chases jaw practically hit the floor
"I've never killed anyone in my life. you expect me to kill twice every two weeks!"
"now now, calm down. it's not that big of a deal. just 2 souls every 2 weeks out of millions who live their, no biggie. but If it makes you feel any better, they can be bandits or bad people, then your killing for the good of everyone. I'll also take sub species aswell, like lizard men, goblins, or elves."
Chase had a look of shock on his face
"S-sub species?! your telling me theres more then just humans, are their cat people, or mermaids"
the demon nodded
"of course, their quite beautiful to"
Chase blushed slightly and had a mischievous grin.
'maybe it's not so bad, I mean I'll be flat broke, in a world with monsters, with absolutely no combat experience, but atleast there are cat girls'
"did I forget to mention that you would be summoned in a village filled with animal girls"
Chase shot from his seat.
"I'm in!"
" so be it, you will now be summoned into this new world, be careful, there are many dangers, and don't forget my sacrifices! I will reward you the more you kill, or the more powerful the soul. Now enjoy your new life in this world!"
Chase saw a bright light and felt a turning feeling in his stomach before seeing blackness.