Hand Covers Bruise.

The kids in his classroom smirked looking at him just like they did everyday as he walked past them to his usual place in the corner of the classroom. By now, young Kartik was used to being made fun of by his peers. Without any reaction, he quietly went and sat on his bench which was botched with slanderous statements by some of the more brusque students in his class. Even his teachers had given up on him by now and they conveniently labelled him 'a quiet student'.

As a child, Kartik feared going to school because the other students called him names and treated him like he was an alien or something. Living with a working single mother did not really help since she left for work before he woke up and returned only when the poor little child had already fallen asleep. Without a proper family background, Kartik never really learnt how to communicate with the outside world. He never learnt how to weigh his words before he spoke and so he just instinctively blurted out whatever was on his mind without giving a second thought to how the person listening might feel. Honesty; his natural trait which could have been harnessed into making Kartik one of the most trustworthy friend became his greatest weakness. How could he know that this is not how 'normal' humans live? The only 'normal' humans he came in contact with were his classmates who had judged him within a few days and had deserted him thinking that he was queer. For them, he was the boy who never got along with anyone and none of them even made an effort to get to know him. 'He's an introvert', they said.

A tough childhood was endured and a teenage Kartik had reached the point where he didn't care anymore. "Society isn't for me", he thought to himself and probably he was right. A man of pure thoughts and a straight edged tongue is not what society wants. People like to hear what they want to hear and if that is something you cannot offer then you're automatically a bad person. This handsome young man was judged for being someone different than what is socially acceptable and unfortunately or rather fortunately there was nothing he could do about it. Most of us, have the basic moral teachings where we mould ourselves into something that is welcome and considered civil. Kartik often did below average in his exams since the concept of copying was something he never got his head around. Another avenue for society to demean him. The intellectually gifted Kartik was branded a mediocre student in a system where exams are a test of memory rather than basic intelligence. Loner, introvert, rude, dull-witted and basically someone who didn't follow the social norms, Kartik was discarded and outcast amongst people.

After following his daily routine of being ridiculed, Kartik did what he loved the most in the world... something he'd being doing since he was a child. A place which he understood and which he felt understood him in return. A place where he was accepted just the way he was and where nobody cheated and where everything was real. How people perceived you depended solely upon the display of your skill. It was a place where anyone who entered could be whatever they wanted to be. It didn't matter where you came from or who you are for the outside world... for Kartik, it was a place which gave him a chance to vent out all his anger, forget all his sorrow and be superior than everyone around him.

Once Kartik logged into his DotA 2 account and became 'K1TR@K' he was suddenly someone everyone respected and feared. He was wielded with the power to tinker with everyone the way he wanted to. Little did they know that the Godlike player whose gameplay they were awestruck by was someone who was apparently a 'Loser' in reality.