Smoke clawed at the back of his throat as the heat rippled across the collapsing apartment hallway. Screams echoed from below. The fire alarm was dead. The walls bled orange.
He didn't even know her name.
Just a child's voice behind a door. Just sobbing.
He kicked it open. Flames curled over the ceiling like serpents. She huddled behind a couch, shaking like a leaf as the flames slowly made their way towards her. He didn't hesitate— didn't think, didn't consider his own safety. He just ran in, scooped her into his arms, and sprinted for the stairwell as fast as he could
Each step was agony as the heat of the flames continuously engulfed him. His lungs also hurt a little from the intake of smoke. The stairwell collapsed behind him. He jumped. His leg snapped on landing — he didn't stop still.
The sobbing voice of the child that was beginning to quiet egged him on.
When he found the window a wave of relief bathed him, he punched it open with a bloodied fist and called for the firefighters who were on their ladders trying to hide the fire down. He had to scream over the roars of flame before he could be heard, they extended their ladder in his direction, he shoved the young girl through the opening into the arms of a firefighter on a ladder.
"Take her—! Please—!" His voice cracked now from the dryness of the flames and the pain of screaming, he was now sure the firefighter heard him or not. The firefighter simply nodded and took the child back down leaving the young man behind.
He smiled when he saw her safe on the ground. Before he could bathe in his small victory, the ceiling above cracked.
A moment of silence followed...
Then hell collapsed.
He was now sure how long had passed since then but when woke up; he was in pitch black, trapped beneath twisted beams and burning drywall. Every breath tasted of soot. His leg wouldn't move. His body was broken. The pain was of being burdened by all the weight was unbearable.
"Help... anyone... please..."
He screamed until his throat bled. Hours passed. The fire dimmed, but no one came back.
He was just another line on the casualty report.
"I saved her... and this is what I get?"
Questions exploded in his head, why didn't the firefighter return? Wasn't there supposed to be a sweep of the area? Did no one care about him? What was the point of doing good if there was no reward for it?
He was just an engineering student in his final year returning home when he saw the apartment building on fire, he overhead a woman saying her daughter was trapped inside and he went to help.
Tears mixed with ash slid down his cheeks. The last thing he saw was a photo of a smiling family, curled and burning beside him.
Death wasn't quiet.
It screamed in his ears like metal tearing apart.
He awoke again — but there was no pain, no breath, no heat. Just blackness stretching forever in all directions, like the universe had forgotten to draw the rest.
Then came the voice.
[Posthumous Reassignment Protocol: Initializing...]
"Heroic Karma Detected: +3,000 Points"
"Injustice Quotient: Maximum"
"Welcome to the JUDGEMENT.exe System"
A screen appeared before him, cold and cracked like glass, flickering with rust-colored code:
[You died saving another.
You died unremembered.
You died betrayed.
The world does not mourn you.]
Would you like to pass on?
[Y/N]
He hovered there, a silent reminder of how he died which was also how he lived, without recognition. All his attempt to do good and change the world and his one good deed goes without notice.
"No," he whispered. "I want to know why… no one came back."
The screen glitched as if pondering on his words.
Passing Declined.
Initializing System Transfer…
Destination: Realm-73 // SIN-FORGED // CLOCKWORK PURGE
Installing Role: SIN COLLECTOR
Rebuilding Soul…
The pain came again, different this time. Like his nerves were being laced with electric wire channeling millions of volts through his body. His spine arched violently as he gasped awake.
He was lying on wet cobblestone in an alley that stank of blood, rust, and gunpowder. The air hissed with steam escaping from rusted valves overhead. Brass pipes twisted through walls like veins. Clocktowers loomed against a sickly red sky.
And the screams? They were still there in his head. They different now. Lower. Angrier. Harder to tell if they were his or someone else's.
"System online," the voice whispered again.
"You are now in Sin-Forged Sector: Cogshore. Morality Index: -87%"
"Targets aplenty."
He felt a rush on his hand and looked down at his hand. A tattoo of scales like that of a serpent had seared itself onto his skin. Gears clicked beneath the surface, moving evidently under the soft glow of light. His started to beat and it sounded mechanical like it someone had replaced his heart with steel and pipes.
A small panel blinked in the air before him, shaped like a rusted compass:
[TARGET LOCKED]
> Name: Kelder Voss
> Sin Level: 28
> Crime: Trafficking Orphans for Flesh-Tech Harvest
> Suggested Judgement: EXECUTION
Reward: +14 Sin Points
A memory of the girl he saved flickered through his mind. Her tear-stained face clear to the very minute details. The way she reached for him even as the fire pulled them apart.
He blinked his eyes shut to silence the memory.
"This world doesn't deserve mercy." His voice sound deeper and more resilient.
He stood. Steam curled from his back like smoke. Something heavy clicked into place in his spine with a loud clank.
"Let the sinners run."