"Let's do it together!" a little kid of about 13 years old voiced out with his right fist bumped into the air.
"Yes, together!" another kid of around the same age added with a smile, he was much calmer than the former.
That was the promise. To grow stronger together and create a safe space in this brutal world for other children in similar situations as they were once in, that was the promise Alex and Lucian made to each other on the day that they awakened their systems.
Born in a world where every human awakened a unique system, and death was a scene that even newborns were accustomed to, Alex and Lucian were orphans who found each other when they were very little and had been treating each other as family since then.
Upon turning 13, both kids had awakened their systems and it was finally the turning point in their lives. Lucian had awakened the fire emperor system, giving him the power to use fire abilities to the best of his imagination.
Alex on the other hand, had awakened the survival system, a sentient system with a mind of its own and allowed Alex to awaken a skill every once in a while.
The skills he awakened were random, but always managed to fit the situation and environment that he found himself in. To put it in simpler terms, he would awaken a skill that would help him survive based on his current situation.
As the two brothers journeyed to grow stronger and create a safe space for kids who probably suffered as they once did, Alex awakened the fortress skill.
A skill that allowed him to turn any part of his body into solid metal, allowing him to take attacks without receiving any damage.
The skill wasn't very helpful in attacking but it had great defence. With Lucian as the main attacking force and Alex as the defender, the two brothers quickly grew in both fame and strength in this harsh world.
Soon, the world started to pay attention to them. They gained recognition of powerful forces and others started approaching them.
Along their journey to strength, they gained an addition to their family, a young boy who had a system that allowed him to control monsters.
The three of them were almost unstoppable, going against powerful monsters that were several levels stronger than them and even toppling powerful families.
They were getting closer to realising the promise that they made to each other years ago, but then, everything changed.
Actually, it was Lucian who changed. The event forever remained a dark part of Alex's memory, a memory that would always make him ask "why?" whenever he remembered it.
...
"It's so cold," Aiden managed to force the words out as he lay on the cold snow, blood constantly flowed from the large wound on his side and other parts of his body, painting the snow crimson.
Alex knelt beside Aiden with a bitter expression as he stared at the wounds on Aiden's body, his metal arms moved and grabbed onto one of Aiden's arms.
"Brother, stay with me!" Alex shouted, drops of tears flying out of his eyes; although they turned into frozen flakes before they could reach the ground.
Both of them were currently in what seemed like the ruins of a battlefield, corpses of people and monsters littered the place, and the snow was more red than white.
A group of people stood in the distance, observing the two who were still alive in the middle of the destruction.
"Damn, don't be so loud, okay? You make my head hurt," Aiden said with difficulty before glancing at Alex's metal hand that was holding his.
"I'll be damned, your hands are even colder than the hands of death itself." Aiden chuckled weakly, blood gushed out of his mouth, splattering all over his his neck and face, instantly making him look more bloody.
Alex didn't say a word; his metal fingers trembled as they gripped Aiden's hand with more force, as if trying to stop the life that was slowly slipping away.
"Don't waste your strength," Aiden said, his voice turning calmer by the moment and his gaze becoming distant. "We both know that it's over for me."
Alex's jaws tightened as the tears started to stream faster from his eyes, freezing on his face with similar speed.
"Then, I'll hold your hands until it's truly over." He said quietly but with obvious difficulty, he didn't wish to say those words.
Aiden smiled faintly, his eyes dimming as his fingers brushed the cold metal fingers of Alex's hand one last time.
"That's…a terrible way to comfort someone," he whispered before his eyes finally lost all light and his world fell silent, he was dead.
Alex sensed this too, and his metal shoulders trembled while he continued holding onto Aiden's hand that was rapidly turning cold. Seconds passed slowly as Alex remained like that.
The group of people who were watching in the distance finally moved closer after seeing that Aiden had died, leading in front of them was none other than Lucian.
"Are you still going to be stubborn? He was never one of us, the promise was between you and me." Lucian said with a straight face as he stared down at Alex, who was kneeling beside Aiden's corpse.
"Why? He was a part of our family, why did you betray us? Why did you kill him?!" Alex asked without getting up, his tone rising towards the end of his words.
Lucian's expression shifted slightly when he heard Alex's question; he seemed to be struggling internally, but simply sighed in the end.
"Don't be foolish. He wasn't there when we started and he was never one of us. Now, I'll ask you again, join me or suffer the same fate as that imposter!" Lucian spat with great resolve in his eyes.
Alex slowly stood up at this point, the metal on his arms shifting and slowly spreading to every part of his body.
In a few seconds, he looked like a creature of steel instead of a human.
"Join you, and do what exactly? Make people go through what we went through? That wasn't our promise!" Alex snapped before suddenly charging forward.
"It's the legendary fortress skill, stop him!"
The people around Lucian shouted when they saw Alex's transformation and quickly rushed forward, each of them activating their own abilities.
A few moments later, Alex was pinned down by several people. Lucian walked over and stared down at him.
"I never planned for it to end this way, brother." He said softly.
"I am not your brother!" Alex bellowed, his eyes burning with rage.
Lucian's expression didn't change even after seeing Alex's reaction.
"Instead of killing you or locking you up, I'll send you to a faraway place. Take your time to think when you get there if being stubborn was the right choice." Lucian said softly.
"To hell with you!" Alex spat back, his mouth scooping up some snow in the process.
"The world is too big, brother. Too big for us to save everyone, the best that we can do is to live comfortably."
Those were the last words from Lucian that Alex heard before he was cast out into a strange fissure, consequently falling out of the planet and being cast out of the universe. Those words echoed in Alex's head for the following years that he wandered the void all by himself.
…..
"Welcome, great heroes of legends!" A loud voice rang in the hall.
Alex didn't know how much time had passed since he was sucked in by that strong orb of light. He realised that he was currently inside a large hall after coming to his senses.
He wasn't alone; four other people were standing with him in the middle of the hall and under their feet was a large circular formation that was gradually losing its glow.
Alex first observed the four people, they looked like teenagers and should be around 17 or 19 at most. He noticed that they looked as clueless as he was so he didn't bother asking them.
'Hey, old hag, am I currently inside the orb?' Alex asked his system with his thoughts.
[No, this is the place that the orb brought you, brat!] The system replied and didn't forget to bite back.
Alex then observed the hall. In front of them was an old man with a long beard, who was the owner of the voice that had welcomed them earlier.
Far ahead of them was a three-stepped elevated platform, and someone whom Alex guessed should be a king or of sort sat on a grand throne.
If one considered how well he was dressed and the armoured guards with swords beside him, it was very obvious.
Other people in fine clothing stood around the hall and stared at the five of them. Most of them had their eyes fixed on Alex because of his long white hair that touched the ground.
"Where is this?" one of the teenagers asked in shock after coming to realise that he was in a different place.
"How did I get here? I was in the middle of an exam!" a girl with glasses and long green hair exclaimed in panic, she wore a strange outfit with a badge on her chest pocket.
It was a school uniform.
The other two teenagers also began to panic at how they arrived in this strange place, it was clear that they weren't from this world.