Prologue

Charlie was the son of a drug addict and a man he never knew. This situation wasn't to his benefit and as such he had a rough childhood, that is if he had ever made it past his childhood.

Charlie had grown up with just his mother from birth; his father had already left beforehand. They lived on the second floor of a four-story apartment building that was on the edge of town.

The town they lived in was almost perpetually cold. In the late spring is when the snow from winter would finally melt only to be replenished in early fall. As such, this town wasn't prime real estate which is why they could afford living there.

Charlie didn't have a strong relationship with his mother or anyone for that matter. She was merely who he lived with until he didn't. Due to his mother's drug problem, Charlie was removed from her care a few months before his fifteenth birthday. He was put into foster care and remained there for the next six months.

Charlie didn't have many physical possessions so moving out from his mother's apartment wasn't physically difficult. He brought his clothes, books, toothbrush and old cellphone. What was difficult for Charlie was leaving the only home that he had ever known along with his mother. Charlie wasn't delusional, he knew that his mother wasn't fit to take care of him. But if he wasn't there, who would take care of her?

Charlie didn't voice his protest so he was taken with some social workers to a different house where his foster parents were waiting. After seeing that Charlie was settled in the new house, the social workers left and Charlie felt alone. He wasn't very far from where he had been living with his mother but to him it couldn't feel farther.

His foster parents were good people but Charlie had never been the type to speak unless spoken to. As a result, his foster parents efforts to connect were in vain. Charlie mostly kept to himself in his room where he read stories online. These stories were largely about people who had been sent to another world that often had magic. Reading these stories is what kept Charlie sane through his hardships and also gave him an intense fascination in magic.

If Charlie could only have a single wish granted to him, it'd be the ability to use magic. It seemed like the solution to all of the problems in his life. Charlie begun to resent his situation and slowly became more and more reserved. Eventually he became an escapist that couldn't pay attention in school and instead would constantly be reading fantasy stories.

One night Charlie had stayed up late reading and fell asleep without charging his phone. The next day, he went to school but quickly realized his phone had died. Throughout the day, Charlie was absent minded and lazily drifted through his classes so he could get home to charge his phone. After school was over, his body was on auto-pilot. He grabbed his bag and swiftly walked out of the school. He approached the road that was on the journey to his house and didn't stop to check the road before crossing.

As soon as his left foot hit the road, Charlie's body was catapulted forwards by a truck. He suffered numerous injuries that ultimately led to his death a few seconds later, right there on the street.