The rain fell in sheets, a relentless downpour that blurred the city's lights into a messy haze. The streets, normally buzzing with life, were oddly quiet. But that didn't matter to him. In the grand, chaotic world that continued its frantic pace, he had always been invisible.

Zod stood there, alone in the cold, damp alleyway, clutching his chest. His breaths came shallow and sharp, each one feeling like a dagger digging deeper into his ribs. His eyes, half-closed, took in the sight of pedestrians rushing by, umbrellas up, heads down, indifferent to the man struggling to stand.

No one noticed. No one ever had.

In his twenty-eight years of life, Zod had been a nobody—a nameless figure lost in the crowd. He had no family, no friends, no remarkable achievements. Life had always passed him by, leaving him in the shadows. The regret weighed heavier than the rain, more suffocating than the chill biting through his clothes.

"This can't be it," he thought. "I've barely lived."

The world dimmed around him, the noise of the city fading into a dull hum as the cold seeped deeper into his bones. His heart, which had always been ignored by others, was now betraying him too. As his legs gave out beneath him, his body crumpling to the ground, a dark, bitter thought crossed his mind.

I wonder if anyone will even notice I'm gone.

His vision tunneled, the light slowly leaving the world, and for a fleeting second, he wished for something different. A chance to matter. A chance to do something that couldn't be forgotten.

And then, the world went black.

---

Darkness.

For a long while, there was nothing. No sound, no light, no sensation. Just an endless void, like floating in an ocean of nothingness. Time had no meaning here. It could've been seconds or centuries, and Zod wouldn't have known.

But suddenly, from that void, something stirred.

A faint glow, distant at first, but it grew brighter, closer, until it became overwhelming. Then, a voice, calm yet commanding, spoke.

"Welcome, Zod. Your life begins now."