A Self-Serving Altruism

Prologue

—

"Naya! Naya, where are you?!"

Out of breath a young boy stumbled forward and leaned onto a wooden wall. Although his hands were violently trembling and he could hardly breathe, he heartily pushed himself forward, almost dragging his body through the corridor, all for the sake of one person. The screams rushing in from outside drowned out every creak of wood and sound, and that, perhaps, was the most terrifying part. The boy looked around the room he'd entered, praying to see even a glimpse of her long white hair, but all that occupied his view was a fiery red and choking fields of smoke.

"Naya! Can you hear me?! Naya!"

"Asher..?"

A gentle voice rang out and with it immense hope was reborn in his heart— she was alive. Asher feebly stood up, correcting his posture to the best of his ability and making his way through the passage of agonizing burns, all as they pierced right through his shirt and reached the boy's shoulder. As painful as it was he could only ignore it, wincing and muttering something under his breath. Press on. Press on for Naya.

There were only two breathing humans left in that house, both surrounded by an array of burnt corpses, and if he didn't hurry then there'd be none. Reminding himself of the fact caused Asher's pace to finally pick up. The boy raised his head through the hefty smoke, desperately trying to focus his gaze on the figure locked behind it. There she was — the one he'd been looking for: a child not much older than 10, trembling and sobbing, standing on whatever was left of the second floor. Though, even as she noticed him, she didn't move one bit. Through the deep gray, the fear reflecting on her face was still visible: it was the fear of death.

"Naya! Grab my hand! I'll get you down!"

Naya stood. Unmoving, motionless. Only after Asher called out to her multiple times did the girl gradually begin to make her way closer. Each step was a short and slow one, and with each step Asher's heartbeat quickened. It was a game of pure luck — something he didn't have a good past with.

"Naya, look! I'm here! It's okay!"

The girl had reached the edge of the burnt of floor by then. Her quivering hand reached out to the boy as he stretched his arms out towards her. She was just about to grab it when she was stopped by a noise.
Oh God.
Despite the boy's yells, Naya turned her head in the direction of the sound — up. In that moment all she could do was stare as the helplessness began to set in. Everything was over.
Almost comically, the moment Asher took notice of the distraction and peeked his head up, the board dropped—
And so his memories went blank.

—

"You're a madman, kid.. In all my years I've never seen such a thing."

The middle-aged man put a palm to his forehead as he sighed, looking at the pair of siblings with either astonishment or disappointment. The fire was put out successfully, but all that remained of their beloved village was ashes and burnt bodies. It was.. Quite the sight to behold. No, more like some sort of nightmare. Perhaps, in that moment, dying alongside their family and neighbors was far more preferable than having to live on with such an unforeseeable future.

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Maybe, maybe not. All you can be sure of is that she's alive."

"God.."

Asher sighed as he continued observing the doctor, who was somewhere in his 40s, rummage through his ashy bag. He seemed desperate to find anything that would be of help to the poor people, anything that had survived that dreadful fire, at times cursing under his breath, perhaps whenever something turned out to be destroyed beyond repair.
The doctor came from the Capital. He was one of the lucky village kids with enough talent to be able to study there — and such he became the pride of the entire populace. Had he not returned, perhaps not a single injured person would've survived this tragedy. It must've been pressuring, having the remainder of the village all relying on you, but there was nobody else to run to.
Asher stroke the forehead of his little sister, praying for the impact of the hit to have been as minimal as possible, all the while a warm tear ran down his face. The kind voice of the doctor was the thing to finally cause him to look up, yet he still continued to cradle the girl.

"..Listen, kiddo, you should take your sister and leave. There's not much left for you children to do here. The Capital is only a few hours away, you should be able to get there after everything's calmed down; Try your best and you'll be able to find some sort of salvation in that place. I will help you to the best of my ability."

Asher nodded, when a sudden pain ran through his shoulder, causing him to flinch. He bit his lip and hissed through it, involuntarily grasping whatever was beneath his hand — that being his sister's sleeve.

"Gah.. Shoulder.."

"Burns?"

The doctor turned to him once more, opening his bag as he'd only just closed it.

"Mm."

"I might have some ointment lying around here. Keep an eye on Naya, I'll go take a look."

—

Copy pasted and edited from Love Nikki. I apologize for any punctuational mistakes, I'm not good when it comes to punctuation.