Lina watched as a figure cloaked in shadows walked toward her and knew it was over, her life's work lay in ruins. The lab she spent countless hours in was mostly in ruins. Recreating technology from pre-system Earth was no small feat. Her breathing hitched, and pain shot through her body and what remained of her limbs. The figure cloaked in shadows stepped forward, and as it did, the shadows seemed to coalesce around her, she felt hungry eyes upon her. How did this happen? She was cautious, only a handful of people knew and most were dead, even done so by her hand. A shadowy tendril wrapped itself around her neck and started to squeeze. This compounded with the blood loss, and she felt her vision fading. 

“Damnit.” Lina thought she was so close to creating a dimension gate. Earth had little left for her. Her family died in the years following the [System] 's arrival. Though she may look forty on the outside, it had been nearly two centuries since then. Those who took advantage of the system gained super-human abilities, and increased lifespan. Not certain why such an event happened, she started studying the system, to the best of her abilities. The world cruel as it was pre-system, was far worse post.

Lina felt the pressure around her throat fade, and a soft footstep was heard. The figure was quiet earlier, and none of her sensors detected it, nor could she sense it. It was mocking her, the fact it made a sound at all. She knew it, and as the figure drew near, she prepared herself for her fate. The figure drew within a hair's breadth, and the shadows covering the face faded away.  It was Sam, but Lina knew she had killed that bastard around five decades ago. “Hello, sweetheart.” Sam’s raspy voice rang in Lina’s ears, she knew it was his voice. It confirmed that he lived, and somehow got far stronger.

“How?”

Sam smirked. “God’s old and new want this place, I do not know why. But a second chance to be with you was worth anything.” Lina thought a moment. “You deserved death for what you did.” Sam frowned. “Expanding one's power, that’s what anyone should strive for in this world. To survive you often have to make sacrifices.” Anger filled Lina. She moved it to the side, this conversation had happened once before, but she stood where Sam was now. She knew what she must do, even if it was foolhardy, and apt to fail. Lina let out a shallow breath pulled her mana and weaved it through her core. She drew more and more, till it seemed a violent storm hit the room. Sam’s eyes widened. “You bitch!”

This time Lina smirked. “See you in hell, you bastard.” As her core ruptured immense pain filled her body for perhaps a second, feeling yourself get ripped apart by your core was not a pleasant experience. Lina could not let that man live if she could help it, for her daughter Alice, and for the hope of what remained of humanity. Those were the last thoughts of Lina.

An explosion rocked the room and what few things left unscathed soon crumbled. Sam wrapped himself in his Shadow Barrier. It broke through and sent him flying into the far wall. Pain surged through his body, bones broke, and ironically he'd lost the same arm he took from Lina. His precious Lina, well no matter, he used his magics to right himself, flooded his body with his unnatural mana, and suppressed the pain the drawback to doing so was that he was often unable to control himself.

Sam went to the center of the explosion, a crater three feet deep remained, had he been a moment slower, he would have died. Sam drew in her remnant energy and shuddered, he put it in a cocoon surrounded by his energies, he will have her forever now. That was the last conscious thing Sam did, he needed time to regenerate before trying to open the gate.

Lina floated aimlessly in a dark void, she expected nothingness, but here she was. She tried to move but nothing happened, trying to speak again nothing. She was motionless in the void. She drifted, and time passed. After what felt like days of trying to figure out what was going on, she started to reflect on her past. From what had happened now, back to her daughter, and even her childhood, her mother and father. She lived for over two hundred years. Yet she had nothing to show for it, just pain, suffering, and loss, like much of Earth.

A light sparked into existence in front of her. She wasn’t sure how much time passed, it could have been centuries for all she had known. She reflected on every detail of her life, even her first pet rabbit. Mr. Hops. Something nudged Lina from the light, then she felt a pulling sensation, it slowly pulled her, turning into the speed of light. She felt herself fly at incredible speeds to the light until she entered the light.

A cold nose poked Lina, nudging her. She shot up able to move, and felt her limbs once more, all of them. Tears welled up, she couldn’t control herself, seeing Sam, detonating herself, and that cold void. “Now, now no need for the waterworks.” Came a deep voice, Lina stood, readied herself, and looked around. 

“Calm down.”

Linda kept looking for the source of the voice. But it's as if it was in her head.

“Look down.”

She did so, and to her shock, it was Mr. Hops.

“Mr. Hops eh?  No matter, I chose this form for a sense of familiarity.”

Lina thought why not a human?

The rabbit seemed to nod and change forms in a flash, Alice stood before her.

“This better?” 

Lina had a flurry of emotions fly through her, eventually ending in anger. It turned back to Mr. Hops. It spoke once more. 

“Apologies, it's often better to make a point than trying to explain in detail. Essentially we are in your soul space, and the form I can take currently is limited, unless you wish for a true death.” 

Lina feeling the burning rage within began to settle, thought over the words, and soul space stood out to her. They were in an open field the sun shining and a soft warm breeze. Was this her soul? Soul space? Why is there knee-high grass in a vast empty field? She looked down at herself and saw she was wearing a simple white sundress. The quizzical side of her began to take over. How was any of this possible? If this was her soul space could she not control it? She thought of a small cozy cabin, with a couple of chairs. She felt a tug at her soul and something left her, but before her eyes, what she imagined appeared before her. “Dangerous.” Mr. Hops said.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Lina collapsed, and when she regained consciousness, she sat in the chair with Mr. Hops in the one next to her. They faced a sunset, she did not know how long she was out.

“Don’t do that again. I can’t intervene with death twice. That cut short dramatically the time we can speak.”

Lina did not know how she felt about the rabbit.

“Mr. Hops, what are you?”

The rabbit's nose twitched.

“Fools say a God, I am an ascendant. As you have deduced I’m not Mr. Hops, but my name is not of importance, and as you know time is limited, so I'll cut to it. A second chance is offered to you, to rebalance what was broken. You may decline, and your soul will move on to the next plane. Shall you accept this offer, you can receive my boon, and revert fate.”

Lina mulled over the words. She was tired, and moving on sounded nice to her. She did a lot of what most would consider evil things herself, not to the scale of sacrificing children, but abandoning those to die, and killing those that threatened what she planned. 

“Mr. Hops. I don’t thi-“

“Mommy please.”

Across from her, was Alice, as a husk, withered and drained. Lina began to weep. “Stop it!” Lina bolted up and the rabbit was sitting before her once more, as if it never happened.

“Sorry child, but you can revert this fate too.”

Lina Swallowed the lump in her throat and sat back down. “You mentioned a boon. What is it?” Her voice was cold, and the rabbit could feel the hatred towards it, but paid it no heed.

“It’s a boon in two parts, first you get to pick your class early, second every five levels you get a perk.”

Lina’s jaw dropped, that’s what legendary classes get is it not?

The rabbit let off a sense of satisfaction, it would be hard to turn that down. 

Lina sat deep in thought, this ‘Ascendant’ is giving me a legendary class, at level zero. Why? 

“Times ticking, and your little stunt’s fruit is starting to bear.” 

Lina looked up and in the distance, she saw black clouds circling in on her, and below the land was falling away. She in turn felt herself fading. She’d ask the last questions.

“Why me, and why go this far?”

The rabbit's nose twitched and explained. “He will come, time is abstract here, and when he shows, you will need every possible advantage.” It hopped down and was right before her. “If they didn’t break the pact first, you would have never gotten this chance. What you do after the fact is up to you.”

Lina was at a loss, she felt as if a strong wind would break her and the clouds were reaching the cabin, and it began to crumble.

“Answer.” Snapped the rabbit.

“I accept.” Lina felt herself snap back together and felt an enormous surge of power from the rabbit. She could see a golden luster push back the clouds, and the destruction stopped.  The rabbit vanished from her sight.

“I grant you my boon, and as your sponsor, you shall know my name, though you probably won’t recall it. Lina, I Lord Hexa-“ 

Lina faded fast, she knew she heard his whole speech, it was rather long-winded though. Hector? Hexer? Tip of her tongue, then it faded. A warmth surrounded her, and swaddled her like a baby, it was gentle, and caring, she felt herself flying off, to another destination. She flew through the cosmos, the bright lights flying by her vision, the beautiful nebulas she passed through, and countless stars on the horizon. It was truly breathtaking.

What felt like an eternity passed, the beauty faded to her, and boredom set in. She wanted the journey to end, to be able to move on her own. Anything aside from being locked into place stuck within her mind. So, she wondered, what calamity was she to stop? She chuckled, that ‘Ascendant’ picked wrong, I couldn’t even stop my crazed husband. She grew somber over the thought. Her husband. She longed for the days of old. Could she revert that fate too? Stop his descent into madness? 

Lost in thought Lina didn’t see Earth approaching until it was nearly too late. If she could breathe, it would stop. Her only thought was it was gorgeous and whole, it had been a long time since she had seen this Earth. She broke the atmosphere, but there were no flames of re-entry. She was just a soul. She watched as the land grew closer, and soon a house she recognized appeared. She slowed to a speed comparable to that of walking. Her soul entered the house, and then her daughter's nursery, she saw herself, and her husband. Anger filled her as she watched him smile at Alice in her arms. 

This was the day they came back from the hospital, she floated in front of herself. Just above Alice, she felt mixed emotions upon seeing it all, this was an opportunity to save Alice and stop Sam before it all happened. She knew she couldn’t stop Sam now, the [System] wouldn’t arrive for a few years at least, it was roughly a month before Alice’s fifth birthday would take place.

Lina braced herself, she felt herself being drawn into her body and drifted towards it. Wait something is wrong, she felt herself being pulled downward, towards Alice. Panic filled her, this could not happen, Alice was her everything. She fought against the draw, to pull away and flee into herself, it was working! She kept pushing, what felt like ages of struggle, but only seconds passed.  She reached her body and tried to pass into it. Lina hit a brick wall, unable to pass, energy left her, and she started drawing back to Alice’s body. A thought occurred to Lina, if not me Sam, his soul isn’t worth much of anything, and forced her remaining energy to push into him. Touching him burned, she wasn’t sure why. Something felt off, was it because her body had the same soul? It felt like a wall, and Sam was another soul? Was it Sam’s nature all along? That thought made her shudder. Lina couldn’t help but watch as she floated to Alice. “I’m sorry my baby girl.”

Lina sat in her chair, rocking little Alice back and forth, peacefully sleeping. “She’s beautiful.” A soft voice spoke. She turned to Sam, a light in his sparkling eyes, she loved him deeply. “She is. Our little Alice.” Lina kept rocking with Alice as Sam turned to the door. 

“Tea?”

“Please.”

At that moment, Alice began crying louder than she had heard at the hospital. “Shh, Shh. Mommy is here my little angel.” Lina continued to rock her and began singing a little song to help appease her baby.