My name is Fenix Ackerman - or at least, that's what I call myself these days. I used to be what people called happy. I had a family once, a real life with friends who cared about me and a future that looked bright. But then everything came crashing down when the people I trusted most stabbed me in the back.
I lost everything and got framed for a crime I didn't commit. A week ago, if someone had walked up to me and asked if I believed in reincarnation and life after death, I would have laughed in their face and said absolutely not. But it's funny how your perspective changes when you're the one it happens to.
They convicted me and sentenced me to death row. I didn't fight it, didn't hire lawyers or beg for appeals. I simply didn't have the strength left to care anymore. In a twisted way, I felt like they were doing me a favor, so I accepted my fate without a word of protest.
I said I was all alone in that cold prison cell, but that wasn't entirely true. There was this one guy - Greg. I never really considered him a friend, but looking back, maybe he was the closest thing I had to one.
Every Tuesday, like clockwork, Greg would show up and read to me from some webnovel. I never bothered asking what it was called - I wasn't really paying attention to the story anyway. But I listened because his voice filled the awful silence, and somehow it made the days a little more bearable. He kept coming right up until my execution date.
Greg wasn't family, wasn't anyone special really, but when they walked me to that final room, he was there. Tears streaming down his face as he whispered a prayer for my soul. My heart shook seeing someone cry for me when I couldn't even cry for myself. In that moment, I made a promise - if I ever got the chance to have a family again, I would treasure them with everything I had.
They called it mercy when they strapped me to that cold metal table. Said lethal injection was more humane than a bullet, more civilized than the electric chair, kinder than rotting away in the cell where I'd waited day after day for a world that had already forgotten my name.
I didn't scream when they stuck the needle in my arm. I didn't cry or beg for forgiveness. What would be the point? People like me don't get second chances. We don't get happy endings or miraculous rescues.
So when the darkness came creeping in, pulling me under like deep water, I didn't fight it. I opened my arms wide and welcomed death like an old friend.
But that changed everything.
---
The moment his eyes snapped open, a massive fist was already flying toward his face at lightning speed.
He was completely caught off guard, still trying to process what had just happened to him, when suddenly—
BAM!
The punch connected with his jaw like a sledgehammer, sending him flying backward into the dirt. Pain exploded through his entire body as he hit the ground hard, tasting blood and dust in his mouth. This was impossible - he should be dead right now, not groaning from some stranger's punch.
"Big brother!" A small, desperate voice cried out nearby. He felt tiny arms wrap around his head as warm tears dripped onto his ears. The voice belonged to a young girl who was sobbing like her heart was breaking. "Please leave him alone! He's telling the truth - we don't have any money!"
The men attacking him completely ignored the girl's pleas. Instead, they roughly grabbed her small hands and shoved her aside like she was nothing more than a rag doll. Then they turned back to him, raining down punches and kicks until he was spitting blood and dirt all over the place.
One of the attackers paused mid-kick and looked over at the crying girl with a nasty grin. "Hey, take a good look at this little beauty. She'd fetch a high price at the Silvermoon Lodge." His partner licked his lips at the suggestion, like he was already counting the money they'd make.
"Listen up, brat," the second man said, turning back to Fenix with cruel eyes. "Since you can't pay what you owe, we'll be taking your sister as payment instead!"
The little girl's face went white with terror, and she started trembling like a leaf in a storm.
"Big brother!" she screamed, but Fenix just lay there, still struggling to understand what was happening to him. The girl swallowed hard as tears poured down her cheeks, and the two men burst into ugly laughter at her fear.
"Look at that!" one of them mocked. "Your big brother's a coward who won't even lift a finger to save you. You might as well accept your fate, girlie. It'll be better for everyone if you come to the Silvermoon Lodge in one piece."
They started to walk toward her, but then something unexpected happened - a low chuckle echoed through the alley. The men stopped and turned to see the boy lying on his back, laughing softly at first, then louder and more intensely. They exchanged confused looks, thinking the beating had driven him completely insane.
They shrugged and continued moving toward the girl, but then Fenix called out in a voice that was surprisingly calm and steady.
"Wait."
When they turned around, something felt different. Wrong. There was a strange tension in the air, like the moment before lightning strikes. The boy had done something while they weren't looking - he'd quietly scooped up handfuls of dirt and sand.
Before either man could react, Fenix threw the sand directly into their eyes. As both thugs stumbled backward, cursing and rubbing at their faces, he sprang to his feet, grabbed his sister's hand, and ran like his life depended on it.
They sprinted through a maze of narrow alleyways lined with makeshift houses and rusting, abandoned buildings. This was all that remained of what had once been the proud Ackerman district - now just a shadow of its former glory, home to the desperate and forgotten.
"In here!" the girl whispered urgently, pointing to a dark corner where a large dumpster sat overflowing with garbage. Without hesitation, they both dove inside, burying themselves under bags of trash and rotting food scraps.
They were both breathing heavily, trying to stay as quiet as possible. The two men chasing them were local thugs who made their living by terrorizing kids and selling anyone they could catch to the worst kinds of people. Being this far from any safe neighborhood meant getting caught would be the end for both of them.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the alley as the men arrived, their voices filled with rage and frustration.
"They're not here either, damn it!" one of them shouted, kicking the side of the dumpster so hard it made a loud 'clang' that echoed off the walls. The other thug punched a nearby building's crumbling wall, leaving bloody knuckles behind.
"When I find those little rats, I don't care what the boss says - I'm going to kill them both!" he snarled, his voice dripping with violence.
After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, the footsteps faded as the men moved on to search other areas.
Inside the dumpster, hidden beneath layers of garbage, the two siblings lay perfectly still. Fenix was still struggling to make sense of his impossible situation, while his sister looked at him with something new in her eyes - respect, admiration, maybe even a little bit of hero worship. He had saved her when it mattered most, even though he was smaller and weaker than their attackers.
Fenix slowly raised his hand to touch his bruised cheek where the first punch had landed. The pain was real, sharp and throbbing. This wasn't a dream or some kind of hallucination - somehow, impossibly, he was alive again.
A small smile crossed his lips as he made a silent promise to himself. He had been given a second chance at life, and he wasn't going to waste it. No matter what this strange new world threw at him, no matter how dangerous it got, he would survive.
And more than that - he would protect the people who mattered to him. Starting with the brave little girl lying next to him in a pile of garbage, who had called him "big brother" and believed he could save her even when he couldn't save himself.
This time, he wouldn't let anyone down.