Chapter One: The Verdict Before the Game

He should have hit Buyback in the fountain, zipped back with Ball Lightning, and joined the defense before the Roshan fight turned into the only lane that mattered. Instead he hesitated for a breath too long, watching the Power Rune timing, trying to read the enemy Smoke Gank route. By the time he bought back, the screen was already full of dead teammates, a stolen Aegis, and a Creep Wave rolling toward his base like a verdict. His old team lost the TI ticket. And he became the reason. “You know what’s the worst part?” a voice said behind him. Caleb didn’t turn. He knew the speaker. Max, the analyst, always carrying a cold brew, always looking like he had just walked out of the wreckage of someone else’s bad game. “What?” Caleb asked.