History Main / CastFromLifespan

** In ''Ptolemy's Gate", the titular spell allows Kitty to [[AstralProjection astrally project]] into the Other Place but she finds her body has aged decades when she gets back.

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[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* Invoked in ''Fanfic/AvengerGoddess'', when [[spoiler:the Iron Monger armor is modified so that Obadiah Stane serves as the power source for it; after a few minutes inside the armor, Stane is reduced to a skeletal-looking version of himself, and even after he is removed from the armor it still keeps moving, Tony speculating it's trying to find a new 'battery']].

** Body strain from Luffy's Gear Second shortens his lifespan. After the TimeSkip, Luffy seems to enter Gear Second for almost every attack, usually averting the consequences of the action by staying in this form for just enough time to launch the attack.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', it's revealed that former Guardians who use their old elemental powers without being connected to the Aurameres and Heart of Kandrakar end up draining their own life force, which explains why Yan Lin, Kadma, and Halinor still look well preserved in their old age whereas the Season 2 BigBad Nerissa, who was still casting spells left and right, was withered and deformed. Cassidy's youthful appearance doesn't count as she was a ghost.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', it's revealed that former Guardians who use their old elemental powers without being connected to the Aurameres and Heart of Kandrakar end up draining their own life force, which explains why Yan Lin, Kadma, and Halinor still look well preserved in their old age whereas the Season 2 BigBad Nerissa, who was still casting spells left and right, was withered and deformed. Cassidy doesn't count as she was a ghost.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', it's revealed that former Guardians who use their elemental powers without being connected to the Heart of Candracar ends up draining from their own life force. It probably explains why Yan Lin, Kadma, and Halinor still look youthful in their old age where Nerissa was withered and deformed. Cassidy doesn't count as she was dead.

Sometimes, powers are free. Sometimes, they have a [[PowerAtAPrice price]]. There is a kind of price which is not paid immediately on screen (i.e. HeroicRROD[=/=]VillainousRROD or body damage).

* Each use may literally [[InsertPaymentToUse cost a set price in hours, days, or years]]
* It may be an inherent side effect of a power like a HealingFactor [[note]]say, faster cell division makes them heal faster, but shortens their lifespan and makes them [[RapidAging age faster]] thanks to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit Hayflick Limit]][[/note]]

* ''Manga/CheekyAngel'' the demon gives you the opposite of what you wish for then offers to trade 10 years of your life to undo the wish.
* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'': Chrono is powered by Rosette's LifeEnergy, shortening her lifespan. Early on, she comments that she probably won't make it to age 30. [[spoiler:[[DownerEnding It leads to her death at the end of the anime. In the manga, it leads to her becoming an]] ill girl [[DownerEnding by the end, and she dies at age 24.]]]]
* ''Manga/DGrayMan'': The parasitic-type exorcist suffers this because their weapon is fused with their organism. So every time they fight, this uses their life energy and reduces their lifespan.

* In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', there was a contractor whose remuneration was aging each time she used her power. Another's was [[MerlinSickness aging backward]]; overusing it would cause her to remove herself from existence.
* In ''Literature/DateALive'', when Kurumi Tokisaki uses her powers, she drains her "time" (represented by a clock in her left eye). She can replenish it by draining time from other people.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'': You can have Shinigami eyes for half of your lifespan. (That's half your ''remaining'' lifespan, so the longer you have left to live, the more time it'll cost you.) Even if you lose the power, you don't get the time back, but you can choose to make the deal again as many times as you want, halving your remaining lifespan each time.
* ''Franchise/{{Dragonball}}'':

** Ultear's ability to travel through time works this way. [[spoiler: However, using it results in her rapidly aging to become an old woman, and to add insult to injury, it takes her entire lifespan to go back one minute. Fortunately, that one minute is all that the rest of the cast needs to turn the ongoing predicament in their favour.]]
** Ever wondered why Makarov doesn't just nuke his enemies with Fairy Law all the time? [[spoiler: Turns out the price to pay for casting the spell is effectively this trope. The amount of lifespan one must pay using the spell is proportionate to the number of enemies eradicated. The larger the number of enemies are, the greater amount of life force is paid in exchange]].
* In ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'', a familiar with the Lifdrasir runes can transfer his or her life energy into a void wizard to power up his or her spells. Unfortunately, the life energy does not regenerate, so if this technique is done too many times, the familiar will die. Fortunately for Saito, his Gandalfr runes gave him extra life energy, allowing him to survive his final use of the technique in the series finale and still live a normal lifespan. His Lifdrasir runes are canceled afterwards.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed once used his own soul as a Philosopher's Stone, [[spoiler: a huge energy source, itself made of souls,]] to heal himself from mortal wounds, shortening his lifespan in the process. Bleeding out from a massive abdominal wound would of course have shortened his lifespan a lot faster, so it seems like a good trade-off... except that one of Ed's new allies finds an ''actual'' Philosopher's Stone 30 feet away not 5 minutes later. Given Ed's opinion of the Philosopher's Stone creation process, it's unlikely he would've used it even if they'd found it sooner.
* In ''Manga/GakuenAlice'' there are four possible "forms" of Alice manifestation, one of which (the Limited) would deteriorate its wielder's body as it is used, and would eventually kill the person if overused.

* In ''Literature/TheHiddenDungeonOnlyICanEnter'', Luna possesses an ability that allows her to dispel curses, but it brings her closer to death with every use in direct proportion to the strength of the curse being lifted. Noir uses magic to change the nature of the ability [[CastFromMoney to instead remove curses proportional to her finances.]]
* ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'':
** Issei compromises his lifespan several times. He's first warned he cost himself some time when [[spoiler:[[YinYangBomb incorporating a fragment of]] Divine Dividing into Boosted Gear]], and later costs himself 99% of his lifespan by activating [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Juggernaut Drive]] the first time. [[spoiler:He eventually uses what life he has left to defend Ophis. He's rewarded for the HeroicSacrifice by being resurrected in a new body that can handle the strain of his abilities without sending him to an early grave which also restores the lifespan he lost from his previous actions.]]
** Siegfried wields the sword Gram, which decreases the lifespan of anyone who wields it carelessly like he does, and it hurts him even more than usual because he is part dragon and it is a dragonslaying sword with an anti-dragon aura. When Kiba kills him and claims Gram, he trains to master it so he can wield it without it hurting him.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', [[spoiler:Makoto]] is able to become human at the cost of her memories and her life.

* In the manga ''Manga/MagicalGirlSite,'' whenever a magical girl uses her stick, her lifespan is shortened. As such, whenever a character goes overboard with their stick, expect a rather messy PsychicNosebleed to occur. One of the magical girls has used her powers so much, she has the internal organs of a ''70-year-old!''
* In ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'', everything Mahoro does costs her a certain amount of energy (which can't be refilled for some reason). Even if she doesn't use her combat abilities, she's got about a year to go when the series starts. ''Using'' those abilities costs her a lot more, and she keeps being forced to. At the end of the series, [[spoiler:she would have died at any moment even if she hadn't made a HeroicSacrifice.]]
* ''Manga/MakenKi'': Blood Pointer allows the user to empower themselves [[KiManipulation by drawing "Element"]] from the surrounding environment and, if need be, from the user's own raw emotion. But it also causes them gradually [[BloodFromTheMouth succumb to sickness]] with each use, and can eventually result in their death. It's said to be the curse of [[spoiler: Yabiko Himegami]]'s bloodline and the Oyama Family are his direct descendants.

* In ''Manga/NabariNoOu'', Yoite's Kira technique continually saps his [[LifeEnergy lifespan.]] By the beginning of the series, he only has 1 or 2 months left to live. [[spoiler: He dies from this in both [[DownerEnding the anime]] and the manga]].

** This isn't as much of a problem for Naruto or Nagato since the Uzumaki clan have very long natural lifespans.
*** Tsunade herself is 1/4 Uzumaki, but when she lets down her youthful appearance genjutsu, she looks much older than her mid-50's, suggesting that she has been using her healing factor or other Cast From Life Span techniques to the point of aging faster even with the Uzumaki blood. How long a pure-blood Uzumaki could live is not actually stated, though it was enough to get them dubbed, "The Clan of Longevity".
** Turns out to be an InformedFlaw in Tsunade's case. [[spoiler:She's still shown to be alive in the series' epilogue when she'd be around 70 years old, and there's no indication that she's in poor health]].

* In ''Manga/ViolinistOfHameln,'' Flute and her mother can heal anyone but at the cost of their own lives. To compensate, they have extra-long lives.

* In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', Kid Psycho can project a forcefield at the cost of one year of his life.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' books, Enchantress is mentioned using a spell that takes a year off her life to keep her team's leader Nightmaster alive for either another hour or another day. However, it's also mentioned that she's supposed to live for centuries like a lot of other magic users in the Franchise/DCUniverse so she probably doesn't mind nearly as much as a normal person would

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Used in a particularly barmy (probably Italian[[note]]This is based on the Finnish translation, but since those particular translations are pretty decent, it can't have made any more sense to begin with. Less is possible.[[/note]]) Scrooge [=McDuck=] story. Let's see... Scrooge finds out that if you travel to the centre of the Earth (beware the giant snails!), you'll find a smaller Earth whence all time originates, and there the keepers of time can give you the key to time, which enables you to operate on all time zones at once. (No one knows what that's supposed to mean, not even after he starts doing it, but it's the key to making boatloads of money.) But they also give him twenty-four negative briefcases. Those vanish, but they're still with him, much like the key is never shown to be an item but just is in his pocket. Anywho, it turns out that in doing whatever he's doing with the "key", he's also consuming his own time twenty-four times faster. Not that it's very relevant since very shortly he would have been crushed by the weight of the briefcases anyway, whatever that means. Um. Got it?
* In Creator/MarvelComics's ''Mystery Men'' limited series (set in the 1930s, with a distinct period feel to it), the hero Achilles loses a year of his life for every day he uses his powers. On the other hand, he regains a year of life for every person he kills as Achilles. His fights thus tend to be bloodbaths.
* The lead character in ''ComicBook/SubHuman'' doubles up her life energy every second, giving her roughly twice human capacity in strength, speed, etc., at the cost of half a normal human's lifespan. [[spoiler: The villain in the book has the same deal, but is trying to avoid the cost.]]

* Both ''ComicBook/StarbrandAndNightmask''[[note]]the former as of ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJasonAaron''[[/note]] have this. In the former case, it's an unusual variant in that he actually gets ''younger'' every time he uses his powers, thanks to the universe being "broken" in the run-up to ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''. In the latter case, it's implied that Starbrands burn out at a rate dependent on how much of their power they use -- so, a standard fight won't do much, but a massive energy blast designed to counter potential planet busting Ghost Rider bombs will turn the current Starbrand from bratty child to young woman in one fell swoop.
* A story arc spanning ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' issues #281-285 sees the team up against the Greek gods, who blame Earth's Mightiest Heroes for injuries team member [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] sustained in battle. One of their main allies on Mount Olympus is the Titan Prometheus, who seeks to quell the conflict by waking Hercules from his injury-induced coma, imparting part of his own immortal lifeforce to do so. The results are reflected in new wrinkles on the face of the previously ageless Prometheus, as well as grey hairs.
* Inverted by Number Five from ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' when travelling back in time for the first time turned him from an old man into a 10-year-old boy. He later refuses to use his power again for fear of de-aging to infancy.

* [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8957264/15/The-Next-Great-Adventure The Next Great Adventure]]'' admits to one of his companions that the reason only he can use a ritual that brings the [[Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft Forsaken]] back to life is because "all the years [they] now have to live have to come from ''somewhere''."
* Invoked in ''Fanfic/PokemonShadowOfTime''; when Ash and his Pokémon are sent back in time to a new reality, his Pokémon retain all the moves they learned in their original timeline while returning to their younger bodies, but Pikachu notes that if Pidgeotto tries to use Hyper Beam in her younger body, it could start draining her very life energy.
* In the [[FanFic/TriptychContinuum Triptych Continuum]], this can potentially be done by ''every single pony in Equestria''. If the need is truly there and there's no other way out, any pony can choose to put the last of themselves into their magic, trading their existence for a closing surge of strength. This final burst of energy can be directed into any magic the pony has, including racial abilities and their mark talent. The event is extremely rare, frequently spectacular in what it can achieve -- and invariably fatal.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7576304/14/This-time-we-do-it-right This time we do it right]]'' using life force to power your spells is considered dark because you can't get it back.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'': Each time Prince Koura used his black magic he became older. By the time he confronted Sinbad at the Fountain of Destiny he was an old man.
-->'''Prince Koura:''' To summon the demons of darkness has a price. And each time I call upon them, it consumes part of me.
* All magic users over the age of 18 in ''Film/TheCovenant'' are like this; you even get to see the consequences via one man who looks probably 30 years older than he should.
* In ''Film/{{Clockstoppers}}'', a Hypertime watch works by rendering someone's molecules into a hyper-accelerated state, allowing them to perceive the world as if time is standing still. Unfortunately, this eventually causes users to suffer from rapid aging as a side-effect. The villains plan to counteract this is to kidnap scientists and force them to work on a de-aging device. As extra incentive to succeed, they're forced to work on this device whilst ''in'' Hypertime.
* ''Film/MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders'' (best known for its Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 episode), states that all magic artificially ages the user. The finale to the first story in the anthology culminates in the magic user needing to concoct a youth potion to counteract the effects.
* Lamia from ''Film/{{Stardust}}'', each spell she uses drains a little bit of the good looks she got from eating the last of the previous star. This leads to a funny scene where she repeatedly tries to use magic to undo signs of age in one spot on her body only for it to cause signs of age to appear on another spot.

* In P.B. Kerr's ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheLamp'' series, any djinn who uses their powers will reduce their lifespan. How much varies depending on the power used, but granting a typical wish will cost someone about a day of their life. Considering that djinn can live over 500 years, and entering a lamp puts them in suspended animation where they don't age, this isn't all too bad.
* ''Literature/TheCosmere'':
** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' features Soulcasters, magical artifacts able to transmute materials into other, specific materials. This includes MundaneUtility like turning rocks into grain, or building an object out of wood and then transmuting it to iron, and also has limited application in combat — in one scene, a Soulcaster is used to turn a group of assailants into fire, killing them instantly. Each Soulcaster is able to transmute materials into one to three substances, depending on the device. The Soulcasters are treated as holy relics, with only specific members of the priesthood allowed to use them. It turns out that this is because extended use of a Soulcaster will slowly turn the user's flesh into the substances the Soulcaster creates, eventually killing them.
** ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' plays with this trope. The magical discipline of Feruchemy allows the feruchemist to store a particular attribute in the appropriate metal and recall it later. While the more practical attributes get most of the screen time — memory, strength, and health — youth can also be stored. The trouble is that there is a certain inefficiency in storing and withdrawing attributes, meaning a slightly less than one-hundred percent return, making storing youth a fool's errand, since one will ultimately end up older for having stored and withdrawn youth than by simply living as normal. This turns out to be a plot point, as the BigBad has devised a way to RulesLawyer the system by mixing it with a different magic system in the setting.
* [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Kiva]] in ''Literature/CounselorsAndKings'' loses her wizard's powers at the end of the first book. She gets them back partway through the second, but only through a difficult magical process that causes her to age visibly.
* In one of the multidinous ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' books a mage casts Haste (which speeds you up and alters your perception of time) on himself and a buddy so that they can run faster for a time. He neglects to tell his friend that they have just shed a year of life in the process thanks to the rapid flow of time in their bodies.
* In ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'' Andy Mcgee has the ability to implant suggestions into others, however each time he uses the power he damages his own brain, and knows that eventually it'll kill him.
* One of the even-more-multitudinous ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' series, the Cleric Quintet, concludes with a BittersweetEnding in which [[spoiler: Cadderly, the protagonist, uses divine magic CastFromLifespan to construct a cathedral to his god, reducing himself to an old man even as his LoveInterest remains youthful]]. A cameo appearance in one of the Drizzt Do'Urden books implies [[spoiler:that his god, as a reward for his willingness to make the sacrifice, is slowly restoring his youth.]]

* The children's book and movie ''WesternAnimation/TheHalloweenTree'' involves a group of children questing to save the life of their friend Pipkin, who has appendicitis. [[spoiler: In the end, each gives up a year of his or her life in exchange for saving their friend]].
* In Brandon Sanderson's ''Infinity Blade'' series, the healing rings speed up the body's natural healing processes, aging you about six months with each use. Also provides the RequiredSecondaryPower of [[SpontaneousMustache instant beard growth]].

-->'''Walt Stone:''' Sadie, I've thought of that. I've thought of everything. The curse can't be cured. It can only be slowed down if...if I avoid magic. That's why I got into talismans and amulets. They store magic in advance, so they don't require as much from the user. But it's only helped a little bit. I was born to do magic, so the curse progresses in me no matter what I do. Some days it's not so bad. Some days my whole body is in pain. When I do magic, it gets worse.\\

* ''Literature/TheLightbringerSeries''.
** Played with in regards to "drafting." Each drafter can call on one to seven colors of magic (plus a few secret bonus colors) to create physical constructs out of solid light called Luxin, with each color having their own strengths and weaknesses and uses. Drafting causes the drafter's irises to fill up with the color(s) they use. When the color extends past the border of the iris, the drafter "breaks the halo," becoming a "color wight." Color wights' minds are more connected with the mental traits of their color(s) and feel the compunction to replace parts of their body with Luxin. The only escape from this color-induced madness is to either avoid it by willingly ceasing to draft when one's halo has grown thin or to die. Most drafters can expect to reach the limits of their halo well before age forty, and those who draft large amounts frequently can get there as early as the late teens.
** This trope is played considerably straighter with the revelation midway through the first book that "The Freeing," is a holy [[spoiler: ritualistic murder of drafters who are about to or just have broken the halo]]. The existence of this practice is a major sticking point for both sides of the conflict.

* In ''Literature/ThePrincessSeries'', Snow White can summon aid in the form of the Seven Dwarfs- here elemental spirits-, but the dwarfs, although completely loyal to Snow, take seven years off her life as 'payment', with the result that Snow appears to be in her mid-thirties when she is barely twenty.
* The ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' series has an instance of WizardsLiveLonger[=/=]MerlinSickness, but for most magic users it's shown if you try to do a spell that is excessively powerful or get so addicted to magic that you are constantly doing spells, it can kill you. Magic burns the connections in your brain cells out over time and can, in some cases, lead to brain haemorrhages, so it's best to avoid too much build-up. People who have spells done to them can also succumb to the same effect of magic as well, so it's not only the casters at risk.
* In the ''Literature/SecretHistories'' series Wild Witch Molly Metcalf traded several years of her life to gain the powers necessary to avenge the murder of her parents.

* In Dutch author Creator/TaisTeng's book ''Voorbij de Zerken'' (Beyond the Grave), the Eye of Tiamat functions as a CrystalBall, giving its user the ability to look anywhere in the universe, but at the cost of their lifespan. The villain forces one of the main character's teachers to use it until she drops dead and later has her use it as well, causing her to [[OvernightAgeUp age overnight from a teenager into a young adult]].

* The [[MageSpecies Qirsi]] from the ''Winds of the Forelands'' are shorter-lived than the non-magical Eandi because their magic burns up their life force.
* [[spoiler: Scion]] in ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', not that it makes a difference given [[Really700YearsOld how much he has to work with]] and [[PersonOfMassDestruction how strong even his basic powers are]]. The only ability he has that takes off a significant lifespan chunk is [[spoiler: Contessa's "Path to Victory" power]], which is such a StoryBreakerPower that his entire arsenal pales in comparison, but is implied to take millennia off his lifespan. It says a lot that he uses it exactly once in the entire story.
* Toward the end of ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown,'' it's revealed that [[spoiler: the years that cold-loving [[StarfishAliens nonhumanoid alien]] Paul has spent in Earth's heat have almost certainly accelerated his metabolism and significantly shortened his lifespan. He has no regrets.]]
* In ''Literature/VirtuousSons'', the mystical technique of burning your "heart's blood" is revealed to be (partially) a way of taking years off the end of your lifespan in exchange for adding drastically more power to your abilities ''now'' -- but given that WizardsLiveLonger in the setting, it's not as bad as it could be.

* A variation is featured in ''Series/BabylonFive'': A [[AppliedPhlebotinum healing machine]] that can heal injuries and restore life by drawing life force from the operator. Treating severe injuries requires a HeroicSacrifice or operators working in shifts to share the load. If this sounds like a poorly designed piece of medical equipment, then it's worth pointing out that it was designed by an unknown alien race for ''executions''. A condemned person would be hooked up to one side, and a sick person would get the other side.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen "Rise of the Cybermen"]]: The Tenth Doctor sacrifices ten years of his life to help recharge the TARDIS when it's stuck in a parallel universe. Granted, he has a centuries-long lifespan, and the ability to completely [[TheNthDoctor regenerate]] when near death, but still...
--->"I just gave away ten years of my life." ''[manic grin]'' "Worth every second!"
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: TheMaster is resurrected. However, the ritual is [[CameBackWrong sabotaged]], resulting in him winning the SuperpowerLottery at the cost of draining his lifespan, resulting in a HorrorHunger that isn't enough to restore the life force the superpowers cost.

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': In "Back to Normal", Griffin Grey has SuperStrength, but since it works by overexerting his cells, every time he uses it, his body ages. He's only 18 and by the end of the episode, he looks like an old man.

** "Blood Brothers" featured a serum that seemed to cure all ills, like the FountainOfYouth. Too late, the antagonist discovers that instead of simply giving you a new lease of life, it uses up all your {{life energy}} in a short burst, followed by RapidAging and death.
** "In The Zone" had an experimental treatment that could give a person SuperSpeed, but the person ages the more he uses it.

* Late in ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'', Shitari gives his second life [[note]]Each of the monsters in this series have two lives: one at normal size, and another as a giant.[[/note]] to allow a MonsterOfTheWeek to have an even more powerful third life. Of course, he seldom enters the fray, so he was in no real danger of losing his first life [[spoiler:until the crossover movie]]. It's much the same in ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai,'' except [[spoiler: that movie is never adapted, so as far as we know, Shitari's counterpart Octoroo is still chilling in the Sanzu River, awaiting the next time the Nighloks rise again]].
** Before this, in the crossover with ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'', the oni Chinomanako steals Daiki Kaito's Diendriver to become Chinomanako Diend. However, doing this cost him his second life, allowing Shinken Red and Kamen Rider Decade Complete Form to finish him off without the threat of growing.
* In ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger,'' a Zyuman ({{Beast M|an}}en from the dimension next door) can enable a human to become a Zyuohger (they normally wouldn't be able to use the TransformationTrinket) but at the cost of enough of their life that the two we see do it become old and gray instantly - and there's no returning that power. The SixthRanger [[spoiler: is powered by the villain's experimentation ''fatally'' draining three captives to give him three Ranger modes.]]

** A Deal With the Devil usually includes selling your soul after a fixed amount of time (effectively reducing your lifespan to that amount).
** There was an episode with a magic user who played poker with people, and the chips represented years of his life. If he won he got 25 years back, but if he lost he aged 25 years. He did this so he and his wife could be immortal. He wasn't all bad though (as he keeps telling everyone). Notably, he deliberately folds to let an old man see his grandson grow up.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** Several spells caused aging as a side effect of using them, including ''Gate'', ''Haste'' and ''Wish''. Varies from edition to edition. Generally, such costs are much more common in Second Edition than the Third.

** Quicklings were a race of FairFolk who were [[CursedWithAwesome cursed]] with SuperSpeed by The Queen Of Air and Darkness at the cost of shortening their lifespans to 15 years at most.
* TabletopGame/{{Exalted}} has Tien Yu, the Goddess of Lookshy, whose most powerful attack, Lance of a Fallen Era, shortens the lifespan of the ''city of Lookshy'' by a number of days equal to the damage it does.
** This makes perfect sense when you consider that Lookshy fields the Gunzosha commandos. Gunzosha power armor is one of the few artifacts in the entire game line that can be used by non-[[{{Mana}} Essence]] users -- at the cost of a year of your life ''for every twenty minutes of use''. This can be mitigated by having aegis-insert amulets surgically implanted, allowing a commando to use his armor free of charge... but the amulets themselves cause you to age twice as fast as normal.

* ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'' has the Bearsark advantage, which allows a player to fly into a superhuman rage so terrible to behold that enemies must make a Resolve test to keep from cowering. However, the Bearsark ages by 1 week for each round he is in this state.
* Sorcerers in ''TabletopGame/{{Carcosa}}'' risk aging several years every time they perform a magic ritual.

* ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'': The TropeMaker of DealWithTheDevil had this part in the contract.

** Darkspawn's blood is poisonous. [[spoiler:And Grey Wardens drink it. So, if you managed to survive the Joining, you've got no more than 30 years to live.]] ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' ''Legacy'' reveals that it's actually much worse than mere poison. [[spoiler:Ingesting Darkspawn blood always leads to either death or becoming a ghoul. The Wardens' version, if it doesn't kill the recipient immediately, merely delays the transformation by a few decades. Surviving the Joining means you will one day become a willing slave to the Darkspawn.]]

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' applies this to a ''stat-boost''. The Elixir of Heroism ages the drinker, "but with age comes wisdom" - you apparently get the experience of fights you ''would'' have had in that time, without the trouble of actually doing it.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' character Sylphie is a [[WhiteMage Conjurer]] who is gifted in healing magic. [[spoiler:However, because she refuses to learn about nature, and thus cannot draw upon the boundless energy of the world itself, her healing magic is instead cast from her ''own'' life force, in effect shortening her lifespan significantly. It's also revealed that this was how her mother died.]]
*** Also in ''Final Fantasy XIV'', after the events of ''A Realm Reborn'', it turns out that [[spoiler:Y'shtola was trapped in the Lifestream. While it seems at first that the rescue effort has gone off without any more hitches than usual, it turns out that she's slowly being drained of Aether - and was furthermore blinded, so every time she tries to cast magic or even ''see'', she's bringing herself closer to death.]]
*** From the same game, Alisaie TookALevelInBadass by [[spoiler:summoning a sword of light and taking up a Gladiator class style. However, because the weapon is made of aether, it ran the risk of doing this trope towards Alisaie had she tried to cast spells. Because of this, Urianger creates a special rapier and focus for her, shifting her to the Red Mage job, ultimately subverting this trope.]]

* ''VisualNovel/TimeHollow'': [[spoiler:Too much use of the Hollow Pen causes a person to age beyond his chronological age.]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', use of the unsealed [[AncestralWeapon Vampire Killer]] by someone who is not a direct descendant of the [[BadassFamily Belmont clan]] will shorten their life. In the case of [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines John Morris]], this resulted [[spoiler:in his wounds from his battle with {{Dracula}} not healing, culminating with his premature death. This trope is the entire reason he teaches his son Jonathan how to fight ''without'' the use of the Vampire Killer and refuses to tell him the means of how to unlock the whip's true power--[[MagicKnight the Lecarde family]]. ([[WellDoneSonGuy Jonathan is resentful of this at first]], [[CharacterDevelopment but comes to respect his old man's choice by the time of]] TheReveal).]] This is GameplayAndStorySegregation in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]'', since the effects of such are well beyond the game's timespan.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', [[spoiler:The Great Seal, which you must use to end the final boss fight. The protagonist dies slightly more than one month later.]] It's later discovered in ''FES'' that [[spoiler:if you cast the Great Seal and ''don't'' die, the seal will fail. Sacrifice is necessary.]]

* Both Tohno Shiki from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' and Emiya Shirou from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' have insane powers which put intense strain on their bodies and minds. It's implied that Shiki won't live too long even if his eyes don't drive him crazy. Shirou risks his life every time he uses magic (especially before Rin trains him), and in Sakura's route, he has a much more immediate limit: three tracings with [[spoiler:Archer's arm]] will kill him.
** In ''Literature/FateZero'', Matou Kariya makes up for a lifetime of never doing magic by having Crest Worms implanted into him so he can be a Master for the Fourth War. Downsides include physical effects similar to a stroke victim, tremendous physical pain whenever he uses magic, and having only one year left to live ''at best''. [[AbusiveParents Zouken]] only gives him a month by the time the Grail War actually starts [[spoiler:and a combination of injuries, overexertion from using his powers and fueling/controlling his Berserker, and mental trauma ends up seeing dead within days, and it would have been even shorter if not for Kirei healing him after he got [[KillItWithFire nearly burned to death]]]].

* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' has more powerful spells and affects aging characters. This can be reversed except for some of the most powerful spells and effects, such as miracle or a ghost's attack, which increase your age permanently.
* In ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', during the Sith Inquisitor storyline it's revealed that [[spoiler: Zash]] suffers from this due to overuse of more dangerous Dark Side abilities. As a result, [[spoiler: she]] intends to regain this lost youth by [[spoiler: using an ancient ritual to steal ''[[BodySurf your]]'' body.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has [[spoiler: Azura, who possesses a magic pendant that lets her use MagicMusic. However, the pendant's powers have been slowly killing her ever since she started using them. This leads to her dying in ''two'' of the three paths of the game.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''
** [[spoiler:Lysithea and Edelgard]] have two Crests due to experiments carried out by Those Who Slither in the Dark, which grant them incredible magical power and strength respectively. However, their lifespans are drastically reduced as the body simply can't handle that much power. In several of their endings they manage to find a way to remove the extra Crests and in doing so reclaim their lost time, but in others, they do indeed die young.
** While having a compatible Crest allows one to use a Hero's Relic without [[spoiler:turning into a Demonic Beast]], they still shorten the wielder's lifespan. Catherine refuses to wield her Relic Thunderbrand as a demonstration for Linhardt, stating that "Every time I use it, it wears away at my soul."
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'' has this rule apply to draconic magic used by Divine and Mage Dragons. Lumera, the Divine Dragon, expends much of her power to heal her child [[PlayerCharacter Alear]]'s wounds as Alear sleeps for 1,000 years, and expending so much of her power helps cause her death early on in the game. Similarly, [[spoiler:Zephia]] gives the last of her life to make a magical artifact to aid the heroes.
* ''Daibanchou - Big Bang Age -'' has this with Jinnai Heita after you clear all his character events but his final one, which has him go Super Saiyan. He also gains an attack called Ten Year Knuckle, which he claims takes ten years off his life each time he uses it. [[spoiler:It does, and you need to use it seven times to get his full character clear, which results in his death.]]
* ''VideoGame/DemonGaze'' has this with [[spoiler:demon gazing, which takes a massive amount of your lifespan, even if you don't fully gaze them. This results in one character dying and being unable to be revived by the necromancer, as she can only bring back people who died before their lifespan ended. This applies to the main character as well, but he's so long-lived that it hardly matters.]]
* Used as a main game mechanic in ''VideoGame/{{Sifu}}''. On death, your talisman revives you but ages you a bit, and the rate you age increases if you die too frequently. Eventually, at around age 70, the talisman won't be able to revive you anymore.

** One chapter deals with a horrible curse that prevents a lost soul from moving on to the afterlife; the price for this terrible curse is that while the soul is unable to rest, ''neither is the caster'' -- she is unable to sleep, suffers from a continuous burning sensation in the back of her mind, and ages at about double speed. Worse, [[spoiler:the wording in the spellbook is so vague that ''the caster didn't even know it was a curse in the first place''.]]
** More traditionally: after [[spoiler:Tanica]] learns some basic healing magic that she can't summon enough magical power to cast, she ends up [[HeroicSacrifice tearing out her own life essence]] to fuel the spell when [[spoiler:Goro collapses at her feet and she has no way of summoning help.]]
* In ''Webcomic/IDreamOfAJeanieBottle'', a genie can die if they overuse their powers on a broad (read: "global") scale for too long, presumably at the behest of their master. It is heavily implied that the last known genie to suffer this fate was [[spoiler: Eva Braun.]]
* The [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] of ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'' have the ability to enter a monstrous OneWingedAngel form with vastly increased size, strength and magic but doing this causes them to both [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity become mindless killers]] and will kill them in a short time due to how much stress it puts on their bodies. They can [[TakingYouWithMe trigger it willingly]] but as we've seen with [[spoiler:Lazuli]] it can also happen involuntarily if they receive fatal (but not immediately lethal) injuries.
** However there is a way to get around the fatal part, by drinking [[spoiler:the [[{{Superstrength}} red]] [[AlchemyIsMagic Rainbow Reverie potion]]]] they will only be berserk for a short time and when it wears off they change back [[PowerStrainBlackout exhausted]] but alive.
* In ''Webcomic/Sorcery101'', both Magic and Sorcery takes a heavy toll on the user's health, with the result that neither Mages nor Sorcerers ever get particularly old. (It's more of a 'Will drop dead around 60-70' thing than an 'unlikely to see their 30th birthday' type thing, but still an unpleasant fact.) The main character, Danny, is a Sorcerer, but he's safe from these consequences due to being the [[{{Familiar}} Blood Bond]] of a powerful vampire. His teacher IS a vampire, and thus also safe. Main character Ally, however, is a Mage with no added advantages, so...

* In ''MarvelousBob'', Alex has the power to travel through time, but however far he travels, he ages by that much. If he goes forward in time one year, he becomes one year older. When he comes back, he becomes ''another year older.'' He always gets older no matter which direction he travels. By the time he's chronologically ten years old (from his own point of view), his body is nearly ''eighty.''

* In Life Artificial, artificial intelligences understand money as computing Time, time to live and think. Thus, any expense is CastFromLifespan.
* ''Film/NoobLeConseilDesTroisFactions'' introduces a tennis player who can hit the ball hard enough to break his opponent's racket. However, the method he uses puts such a strain on his heart that according to his doctor, his lifespan gets reduced by a year each time he uses it.
* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWallTheMovie'': [[spoiler: In a reference to how magic was revealed to work in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', Mechakara decides to drain the life-force of one of the crew members to power up Malachite's Hand when it runs out of energy to keep the ''Caelestis'' running]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', WordOfGod holds that Aang's spending a century as a HumanPopsicle burnt up a lot of [[WizardsLiveLonger extra Avatar time]] (the only reason freezing in a simple iceberg didn't kill him is that he was in the [[SuperMode Avatar State]] for the entire century; an Avatar is not supposed to be in the Avatar state for nearly that long). As a result, he died young, for an Avatar that is, at a mere sixty-six years old (in comparison, Kyoshi, the oldest Avatar, lasted two and a half ''centuries''), paving the way for SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', set seventy years after series' end, and following his titular seventeen-year-old successor.
* Mozenrath from ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' sacrificed two things for his magical gauntlet. The immediate price was the flesh from his right hand. In the last episode starring him as the villain, it's revealed that it also drained his life force and he doesn't have much longer to live. He tries and nearly succeeds in performing a GrandTheftMe on Aladdin in a bid to cheat death, and is last seen floating away in a balloon conjured by Genie without his gauntlet.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited'', it's stated the serum that allowed Counter-Earth's Kraven the Hunter to enhance his skills is shortening his lifespan. (A trade he's comfortable with.)
* One of WesternAnimation/{{Birdman|1967}}'s enemies (Speed Demon) unwittingly sped up his aging process by overusing his superspeed. The medics who examined him afterwards managed to reduce his aging to a normal pace but were unable to undo the extra aging.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': The human villain Nanosec found himself in the same situation of the above-mentioned Speed Demon. Fortunately for him, he teamed up with and [[UnholyMatrimony started dating]] the villainess Slo-Mo, who could use her time-manipulation to reverse his aging.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', the heroes' mutations are made out of ectoplasmic energy (borne out of failing to properly dispose of their old uniforms). As Egon puts it, "Each time they fire, they weaken." The more energy they consume, the less that is available to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': The Lord Commander, the BigBad of Season 1, has various PsychicPowers which absorb his health when he uses them. He gets progressively worse over the course of season one, being at death's door by the end of season one.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug:'' As seen below, the damaged Peacock Miraculous grants great power but at the cost of taking a physical toll on the wearer that gets worse with each use. Nathalie pays a great price for her tenure as Mayura and isn't healed by giving it up, or even by the miraculous later being repaired. It's long hinted, and then eventually stated, that using it in the past is what happened to Adrien's mom.

* In the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', Kid Psycho could project a forcefield at the cost of one year of his life.
* The Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Bag O'Bones could become invisible, except for his bones, and gained electrical powers, but for each second he spent in that state he lost a day of his life.
* In the ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}} books, Enchantress is mentioned using a spell that takes a year off her life to keep her team's leader Nightmaster alive for either another hour or another day. However, it's also mentioned that she's supposed to live for centuries like a lot of other magic users in the Franchise/DCUniverse so she probably doesn't mind nearly as much as a normal person would
* In one popular version of [[Franchise/TheFlash Barry Allen]]'s origin (the retelling in ''Secret Origins'' Annual #2), the lightning bolt that gives him his powers actually speaks, offering him the choice of whether to accept. It warns him that his life will be shorter if he does. (How does it know? Because [[spoiler:it's Barry himself, at another point in the closed electrical/temporal circuit of his life.]])

* In ''ComicBook/XMenForever'', [[spoiler:the more a mutant uses his powers, the shorter their lifespan becomes. That is why there are so few old mutants. Not explained is how this can be reconciled with explicitly immortal mutants like ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}...who also uses his powers ''a lot''.]]
* ''The Great Ten'''s Immortal Man in Darkness pilots the otherworldly fighter known as the Dragonwing. Each flight of the Dragonwing takes a year off his life. Pilots tend to last between 7 months and a year before a replacement is required, but there is no shortage of volunteers.

* Used in a particularly barmy (probably Italian[[note]]This is based on the Finnish translation, but since those particular translations are pretty decent, it can't have made any more sense to begin with. Less is possible.[[/note]]) [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] story. Let's see... Scrooge finds out that if you travel to the centre of the Earth (beware the giant snails!), you'll find a smaller Earth whence all time originates, and there the keepers of time can give you the key to time, which enables you to operate on all time zones at once. (No one knows what that's supposed to mean, not even after he starts doing it, but it's the key to making boatloads of money.) But they also give him twenty-four negative briefcases. Those vanish, but they're still with him, much like the key is never shown to be an item but just is in his pocket. Anywho, it turns out that in doing whatever he's doing with the "key", he's also consuming his own time twenty-four times faster. Not that it's very relevant since very shortly he would have been crushed by the weight of the briefcases anyway, whatever that means. Um. Got it?
* In Marvel's ''Mystery Men'' limited series (set in the 1930s, with a distinct period feel to it), the hero Achilles loses a year of his life for every day he uses his powers. On the other hand, he regains a year of life for every person he kills as Achilles. His fights thus tend to be bloodbaths.

* In the post-''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' ''{{ComicBook/Thor|2014}}'' series, it's revealed that the new female Thor, [[spoiler:Jane Foster]] suffers from this when she becomes Thor [[spoiler:as transforming causes the effects of her chemo that would treat her cancer null, thus causing her cancer to spread once she reverts. She doesn't care, though.]]
* [[CosmicEntity The Phoenix Force]] of [[ComicBook/XMen The X-Men]] derives its power from the reserve of life energy left for new generations. So anytime someone uses the phoenix power they're reducing the capacity for a baby to be born in the future. Since the Phoenix's primary activity seems to be destroying planets at "evolutionary dead-ends" this might even out.
* Both [[ComicBook/StarbrandAndNightmask Nightmask]] and (as of ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJasonAaron'') Starbrand have this. In the former case, it's an unusual variant in that he actually gets ''younger'' every time he uses his powers, thanks to the universe being "broken" in the run-up to ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''. In the latter case, it's implied that Starbrands burn out at a rate dependent on how much of their power they use - so, a standard fight won't do much, but a massive energy blast designed to counter potential planet busting Ghost Rider bombs will turn the current Starbrand from bratty child to young woman in one fell swoop.
* Gotham and Gotham Girl of Franchise/{{Batman}} bought powers like flight, super strength, and super vision but every time they use those powers, they lose their lifespan.
* A story arc spanning Marvel Comics' Avengers issues #281-285 saw the team up against the Greek gods, who blamed Earth's Mightiest Heroes for injuries team member Hercules sustained in battle. One of their main allies on Mount Olympus was the Titan Prometheus, who sought to quell the conflict by waking Hercules from his injury-induced coma, imparting part of his own immortal lifeforce to do so. The results were reflected in new wrinkles on the face of the previously ageless Prometheus, as well as grey hairs.
%%Moved to CastFromSanity* A variant in ''ComicBook/TheHerderWitch''. Magic requires the sacrifice of a memory to function. Morie's attempt at teaching Yanna spells includes her implanting Yanna with a foreign memory so as to have something she can expend for her practice spell.
* ComicBook/{{Sunspot}}'s power allows him to absorb energy from the sun and turn it into SuperStrength, flight, or energy beams. Then he contracted the M-Pox sickness, which sent his powers haywire: he can still use them, but he absorbs so much energy that it takes a huge tax on his body and chafes a few years off his lifespan (which is first shown with a streak of his hair turning white prematurely).

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* In ''Manga/GakuenAlice'' there are four possible "forms" of [[MagicAndPower Alice]] manifestation, one of which (the Limited) would deteriorate its wielder's body as it is used, and would eventually kill the person if overused.