Demacia… the Runeterran kingdom with strict anti-magic laws. Mages are treated as criminals, and a special task force, the Mageseekers, was created to find any mages that might be hiding within Demacian walls. Demacia had been like that since its very foundation, following the Rune Wars that brought devastation to the land. With all of this in mind, there's one question to be asked: why would a family of mages ever take refuge in a place such as this? For the most part, there's only one answer to that question that people can sympathize with: desperation.
One day, a deeply sorrowful now-single father brought his 10 year old son Isen into Demacia. The two of them only went there because it was the closest place to their original home, the Freljord. After a… tragic incident involving the boy's mother, the father was left with no choice but to abandon the snow-filled region, and to seek refuge in the closest town he could find, along with his son. The boy was confused and scared, but above all – he missed his mother. Where did she go? His father would never tell him, but would constantly reassure him that things would be okay. The two of them only had each other now, but the father knew that he would make it work. He had to make it work.
Even still, that alone wasn't enough to calm the boy. So, his father used the same trick that would always cheer Isen up: magic. It was dangerous to do, and his father certainly knew the risks he was making, but he prioritized his son over those things. Isen's entire family from his father's side shared the same magical ability, something that they've historically used to great effect during their time in the Freljord: the ability to manifest their magical energy into a physical form. Not something ethereal that would pass through you, or something that was unstable and would hurt anyone who touches it: an actual every-day object, made purely out of their own arcanic powers. With this, Isen's father could conjure up many small things to catch his son's interest – showing him all kinds of marvelous things to keep him happy. He had to only do it sparingly due to the danger of doing such things in Demacian territory-but it worked. It kept his son happy, and helped the two of them strong in this trying time, where they had to adapt to life with just the two of them, in an entirely new environment.
Isen's father was capable of doing much, much more with magic, but he could never do that. Using a highly-concentrated amount of magic all at once was practically begging for the Mageseekers to find out what you're capable of. But even with just these small tricks, Isen became very interested in the capabilities of magic, and wanted to develop his own strength as well. His father very sparingly taught him how to use magic, and reminded him constantly of the importance of never going overboard with how much he was using at a time, and to never do it in public. Isen listened, and the two of them helped Isen become a somewhat capable mage over time. Before they knew it, 6 whole years passed while living in Demacia. They had gotten used to living there by this point. Still, Isen couldn't help but think back to his old home at times.
On one particularly warm night, Isen got out of bed and looked out his window, in the general direction of his old home. He thought back to the cold embrace of the land, and the general companionship that he had with all of his friends back there. He missed that feeling, but there wasn't anybody in particular that stuck out in his mind. That is… besides his mother. He only had one thing to remember her by, a gray scarf that he kept around his neck at all times. His father gave it to him when they first moved to Demacia all those years ago.
"I wonder what life would be like if you were still with us…" He quietly said to himself, gripping the scarf around his neck tight. "Mom… You're still watching over us, right?" He looked up above. A dark sky, full of stars glowing brilliantly in the night. It gave him comfort to think that his mother was up there, watching over him and his father at all times of the day. He stepped away from his window and his window and back into bed, slowly closing his eyes…
And then, out of nowhere, he heard the sound of a door slamming with force. "ISEN!" he heard his father scream. By the time Isen had even gotten out of bed, his father rushed into his room, slamming the door shut behind him.
"W-What!? What's going on, why are you screaming and slamming doors in the middle of the night!?" He asked, confused and unable to process anything. But in the midst of his confusion and panic, he heard something else, too. The sound of someone else pounding on the doors. Or… multiple people?
"Shit…! They're already here!" Isen's father clenched his fists, before manifesting a solid block of pure magical energy at the door to Isen's room, completely blocking anyone from getting inside. Still, that wasn't enough to stop whoever was on their way from trying to get in.
"Open up! You can't run from us forever!" The voice came from the other side of the door, a voice Isen didn't recognize. This was all happening too fast. He had no time to process anything at all, and his father wasn't telling him anything. Instead, he was… chanting something underneath his breath.
"D-Dad? What are you-" As he spoke, he noticed a glow coming from the floor. He looked down and saw a runic symbol at his feet, encompassing his entire body. Then, he heard the sound of his father snap, and before he knew it… Isen was surrounded by a bubble, made up of pure magic energy. "What the hell!? Dad, what is this!? Why did you put me in here, what spell are you casting!? And who's trying to break the door down!?"
"I'm sorry…" His father said, holding back tears. "There's no time to explain. Wherever you land… Stay away from this place. Don't ever come back to Demacia. It's not safe here."
"But – but this is our home! And what do you mean me – what about you? Where are you gonna-"
"I'm sorry, my son…" The glyph on the ground started glowing brighter. "If I come with you, then they'll come for both of us… So you need to be strong, and remember everything I've ever taught you about magic, okay? You… won't need to hide it anymore." With tears rolling down his cheek, he did his best to give his son a warm smile.
"No… No, stop this! Why are you doing this!? Whatever happening, we can handle it! DAD!" He let out one final yell, before suddenly, the glyph filled the room with light… and by the time the light faded, it was gone – along with Isen, and the orb that he was trapped in. With his son gone, Isen's father fell to his knees… and the magical barrier that was blocking the door faded. Whoever was on the other side got inside not even a moment later.
Meanwhile, the bubble that Isen was in crash landed far, far away from Demacia… on the outskirts of another place, a place he couldn't recognize. But he couldn't even see what was in front of him right now – every single one of his senses was entirely out of whack from the teleportation and everything that came before it. The bubble faded, and Isen landed on the ground beneath him. He tried pushing himself up, but he was… tired. Drained of all of his strength. What had even happened to him? He wasn't injured, but he felt exhausted. He could barely move or see anything. But, he could hear something. Footsteps… someone was coming. Not just someone, multiple people. After a while, Isen got a good look at them… men in gray armor plating and a helmet, with red cloaks around their waists.
"Confirmed the presence of one individual!" One of the men said, as Isen felt someone patting him down, pressing against all of his limbs.
"No weapons, he's got nothing on him."
"Then how'd he make such a big crash? Who even is this kid?" So many different voices… Isen couldn't keep up. He hadn't had a minute to even think since his father rushed in. He tried putting things together in his head, but was cut off by even more footsteps… though these were significantly louder than all of the rest – heavier than all of the rest.
"Well?" The man said. His voice was deep, and he had a serious tone to him.
"No weapons, sir. He's got nothing on him. He doesn't appear to be a soldier of any kind, sir. Your orders?" Isen looked up. He saw the man that was in charge. He was absolutely massive, and was holding onto a Battleaxe that was probably the size of Isen's entire body. Who even was this? Who even were any of these people? The man looked down at Isen, and the two of them made eye contact for a brief moment, before turning away.
"Bring him in. Alive, for now." moments later, Isen felt a loud thump against the back of his head, and before he knew it, went unconscious. His motionless body was picked up by the soldiers that surrounded him, as they carried him into the nearby city.
I made this within in hour after binging Arcane and the Ruined King game. Yes, that was quite literally my entire reason for doing this.
I've been an on-and-off story writer for a few years now though, even wrote fanfiction under a couple of different names over the years, never anything super noteworthy but enough to have a general idea of what I'm doing with writing. I really don't know how long this story is gonna be or even what my final goals for it are, but I think I can make something kinda interesting out of this scenario, so here we go.
That's all I really had to say here. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. Oh, and one more thing: If you're curious to see what Isen looks like, I have a Picrew artwork of him as the cover image. I'll leave a link to it in my bio in case you're curious to see it or make one of your own.