The wind blows sending the downfall of snow flying with greater ferocity and sounds throughout the silent, empty street.

A young man walks listlessly down the road as he sways unsteadily. His steps require a great amount of effort, as his fatigue makes each step harder to take than the last. His body is covered in various wounds and his clothes are tattered.

A week ago, Michael Inton wouldn’t have expected himself to end up as he is now. A week ago, Michael Inton was like other kids his age, enjoying a youthful vigor which a 17-year-old should have.

He’d just asked a girl in his class on a date. He had his eyes on her since he transferred into the school and ended up in her class. Of course, youths his age wouldn’t be reserved, and so, she accepted.

Full of excitement for his then-imminent love-life, he went home on that fateful day. It was late when he got home since he had to walk back due to his lack of a better means of transportation and his desire for a way to exercise, other than the athletic clubs which he refused to join. His dad had just got home and he reeked of alcohol and perfume.

When Michael’s mom died, his father grew detached and suddenly had no better way to run from his suffering than to indulge in alcohol and women. As for himself, he was relatively young when she died so although it affected him, it wasn’t to the level of hopelessness like his father.

Though, throughout Michael’s life, his father wasn’t close with his son as he lost the courage to attach himself to someone else after his wife’s death. That said, Michael was only able to regain his vigor after the latest move due to his father’s presence.

When night fell and Michael went to bed, he heard glass break outside his bedroom and the front door open. His father also hearing it decided to check on the noise. He'd just walked out when he saw a man holding a knife and stabbing his wide-eyed father.  Fearing to lose his only family member, Michael reacted out of instinct and tackled the man off of his father and managed to wrestle the knife out of the intruder’s hand. The intruder, then with no weapon, acted out and tried to grab for him.

After that, Michael only remembers a struggle with the intruder and then being walked out of the house in a blanket by a police officer. In the struggle, he gained some minor injuries and was driven to the hospital in an ambulance.

In the hospital, Michael met with a police officer and was questioned about the incident. He, at this point, wasn’t very coherent. He only remembered bits and pieces.

While Michael was collecting himself, the police happened to say condolences.

In the hospital room, on a TV in the room, Michael watched a recount of the incident with his mind blank. The news made Michael out as a hero who fought against a violent intruder, then painted the loss of his father as a tragedy. Though, he saw on the news that the intruder died in the altercation.

At this point, Michael started rejecting reality, like he was in a dream. He was released from the hospital after a couple of days. He found his way home and lied on his bed to think. He finally thought to himself that he at least has that then-imminent love-life at least and regained a bit of the sense of reality.

And so, he made his way to school. However, at the entrance to the school, he found the looks of his peers strange. In his classroom he looked for the girl, however, when he spotted her he also spotted the cold look in her eyes as she looked at him.

And so, after school that day, Michael’s classmates pulled him up to the roof and started with what should be the natural reaction of humans. Alienating, bullying, and degrading Michael. Though, the girl didn’t join in.

In the passing days, Michael went to school for a reason known only to him. Perhaps, he only wanted that waning sense of reality to come back as he started rejecting that a world such as his could exist. He only found, however, that it got worse. In the first case, he was only verbally assaulted, while the following cases evolved into cases each worse than the last.

Finally, on the day Michael decided to ask the teacher to help, the worst case happened. During class, the teacher talked about the trials people go through and how bullying builds character. It was basically giving the students encouragement.

When the time came for Michael to be dragged up to the roof he was surprised when he saw the girl waiting up there. Finally, when the youths surrounded Michael and they, with the girl, beat Michael, he finally lost that grasp on reality he had and also lost his sense of purpose.

Afterward, Michael walked out of the school into the snowy night half-dead. He walked until heat left his body and he ended up how he is now: walking listlessly with no destination in mind. He has nothing in mind, in fact, as he falls down onto the road exhausted.

Society at large likes to paint things in a way which makes them feel that life has meaning and purpose. So, the news painted Michael’s story in the light of glory and the tragedy of loss. However, when Michael’s peers came in contact with him, glory and tragedy weren’t on their mind. On their mind, was the natural aversion towards mortality and anything related to it. On their mind, was the thought that Michael ended someone's life, was different from them, and that they had to get that aspect out of their life.

Michael was victimized and alienated for his defending his father and ending a life, while his classmates would eventually be responsible for the loss of his life. Perhaps, it was their fear which created this tragedy, and perhaps it was the intruder’s fear of whichever aspect of life that forced him to cause the tragedy involving Michael and his father.

Now, as Michael looks into the snowfall in the sky, he finally managed to regain a sense of reality. He feels his body lose heat and his breath slow. He feels, ever so clearly, his heartbeat slowing and his life leaving him.

At the moment that he takes in his last breath, his eyes brighten and his listless expression forms into a wry, smiling expression. He laughs amusingly, breathes a sigh of exhaustion, and happens to speak his last words.

“... So… it was… supposed… to be… like… this…”

Then, Michael’s vision fades to black as an all-encompassing fatigue fills his body and makes its way to his heart and soul.

In a start, Michael opens his eyes as a ‘room’ of white enter his field of view. This ‘room’, though, has no bounds, no walls, no corners, and no edges. Standing on the floor, or what could also be said to be standing on the white nothingness, was a 20 or so year-old youth in a casual outfit. With what seems to be an eternally-provocative expression he opens his mouth to say:

“Greetings Michael Inton. I am what you would call ‘god’. Though, actually, I’m the controller of this world.

“You’re interesting. In the last many of millenia, nobody has been able to let go of their attachments and emotions. Many tragedies happen throughout the world and everyone either rejects what’s happening to them, or they die with something holding them back. You, on the other hand, fully detached yourself from your attachment and from your regrets.

“As a commemoration, I’ll give you two things. A martial art from this world which was left behind by the greatest of masters and a little something which will help you in your new life. Have fun in the world of Demacia and hopefully you can entertain me.”

When ‘god’ finished speaking he waved his hand and Michael lost his vision once again as his soul made its way into the Michael Inton of Demacia.