Rain poured from the sky like it wanted to drown the city. It slapped the pavement, bounced off rusted metal rooftops, and ran in small rivers along the cracked sidewalks. Rian Vale ran through it with his breath tearing at his lungs. His clothes clung to his skin. His heartbeat hammered against his ribs like a warning he could not outrun.
Behind him, angry voices carried through the storm.
"There he is!"
"Don't let the brat escape!"
"He still owes us fifty grand!"
Rian did not dare look back. He already knew what he would see. Dark jackets. Flashlights cutting through the rain. Men who smiled at him when they handed him the money and turned into wolves when he could not repay it.
He slipped around a corner, shoes splashing through a puddle that rose up and soaked his ankles. The rain blurred everything, twisting signs and streetlights into streaks of white. His vision stung. His breath burned.
"Please," he whispered to himself. "Just a little farther."
His legs shook. His lungs screamed. Every step felt heavier than the last. His hair stuck to his forehead. His fingers were numb from cold. The storm swallowed his world until there was nothing but running, always running.
He wondered how it came to this.
A memory flashed through his mind. A warm kitchen from his childhood. His mother humming while she cooked. His father leaning back in his chair, smiling and telling him he never needed to worry about chores or money or anything at all. Rian remembered thinking that life would always feel that easy.
His parents worked. They earned enough to keep him comfortable. They protected him from everything. They told him he should focus on school and enjoy being young. He did. He was never taught anything else.
He never learned how to clean or cook. He never learned how to manage money. He never learned how to talk to strangers, or bosses, or anyone outside his safe little bubble.
He grew up spoiled because they wanted him to be happy.
Then the scam happened.
Rian stumbled as another memory hit him. His father's trembling hands. His mother trying to hide panic while reading the bank statement. Their savings gone. Their income destroyed. One phone call from the hospital turned everything into a nightmare.
His father collapsed. Heart complications. Treatment was expensive. Too expensive. Rian stood in the hallway staring at the papers, trying to understand numbers he had never learned to handle.
He borrowed money. He thought it was the right thing to do. He thought he could solve the problem like people in movies did. He thought effort and love were enough.
Now men with metal pipes wanted to break his legs for it.
The next alley opened up. Rian sprinted through it, his body screaming in protest. The shouting grew sharper.
"He's slowing down!"
"Cut him off!"
"Don't let him get away!"
Fear crawled up his spine. His legs almost buckled. He pushed harder, even though he felt like he was running through mud.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. He was not sure who he said it to. His father. His mother. Himself.
The alley opened into a wide road. Cars rushed past, tires slicing through deep puddles. Streetlights glowed faintly behind the curtain of rain. The sound of engines echoed against the buildings.
Rian stepped onto the street. His foot slipped instantly. He crashed to his knees, skin scraping against the rough asphalt. Pain shot up his legs. He tried to stand, but his body felt heavy and unsteady.
A horn blared.
He froze.
Headlights cut through the storm straight toward him. The bright white swallowed the street around him. The truck approached too fast. He could not move. His breath caught in his throat.
Time slowed.
Rain fell in slow motion. His heartbeat throbbed like a drum in a distant cave. The thunder of the truck engine sounded strangely dull.
In that suspended moment, the world stopped chasing him. The loan sharks seemed far away. The rain felt softer. The fear faded just enough for something else to take its place.
Regret.
He saw his parents again. His mother's tired smile. His father resting weakly in the hospital bed, apologizing for something that was not his fault. Rian had tried to help, but every attempt made things worse because he had no idea how to live without someone solving things for him.
He thought of all the years he wasted not learning anything important. Not appreciating what he had. He grew up cushioned by love and ignorance until the world showed him its teeth.
He whispered the truth he had never said out loud.
"I never learned how to live."
The truck closed the distance. Light swallowed him whole.
Impact.
Everything went silent.
No rain. No shouting. No pain. Just darkness deep enough to swallow his thoughts.
He floated in it. Weightless. Thoughtless. Alone.
Was this death? The question drifted through him like a feather. He felt no fear anymore. No breath. No heartbeat. Nothing to cling to.
His mind slipped further into the void.
If I had another chance… I would try. I really would.
The darkness cracked.
A tiny spark of light pulsed somewhere in the void. It flickered, then glowed brighter, pushing back the black around him.
A rush of cold air filled his lungs as he gasped awake.
A soft voice followed.
"System booting. Preparing user revival."
Rian felt himself falling upward, like someone pulled him toward the light.
His eyes opened.
He lay on a thin mattress inside a small, unfamiliar room. The ceiling was cheap plaster, the paint chipped. A weak curtain swayed by a window. A battered wooden desk held a flickering lamp.
He sat up in shock.
He was breathing. His heart was pounding. His body was whole.
A glowing message window floated in front of him. Words formed across the transparent screen with calm precision.
Good Deed Leveling System initializing.
User revival complete.
Welcome, Rian Vale.
Rian stared, trembling.
He died.
Yet here he was.
Alive.
And everything was about to change.