Vladimir Gladkov

**Vladimir Gladkov** is the main protagonist in the World of the Exceed. He is the son of Vlykes Gladkov and brother to Viktoriya and Viktor Gladkov.

## Appearance

Vlad is a nineteen-year-old boy with brown hair and dull green eyes. He usually wears a black t-shirt and a green fur coat that belonged to his father.

## Personality

Vlad is generally drab, quiet, and shy. He sticks to himself and likes to isolate from others with minimum human interaction. He appears arrogant and always irritated, and generally doesn't want to communicate with others because he finds it "boring" and a "waste of time".

## Relationships

Sorai Skorviski - Vlad's former girlfriend. After meeting her and falling in love, she used him to her advantage and he was ruthlessly manipulated. When he finally realized what was happening and was nearly killed by Sorai, she became his sworn enemy. To this day he vows for vengeance.

Smithers - Smithers was Vlad's best friend. They met in the Flameriders gang and became close over time, completing every mission they had together. And when Vlad decided to leave the gang, Smithers came with him.

Vlykes Gladkov - After being abandoned by his father, Vlad always had blamed him for his mother's death, and was never exactly too happy to see him. And when he found out that Vlykes was secretly the leader of the Dark Dagger, any family loyalty that remained had ceased, and Vlad told him that the next time they met, he would kill him.

## History

### Early Life

When Vlad was young, he was called a privileged child since his father, Vlykes Gladkov, ran a very successful factory. Vlad lived in luxury with his mother and two older siblings, Viktoriya and Viktor.

However, when Vlad was just five, his father left for an unknown reason. With him, he took all of the family's money, business, and Viktoriya and Victor. Vlad begged his father to let him come with them, but Vlad's father refused, saying that he was "weak and a mistake".

Vlad was then left to fend for himself with his poor mother at just six years old, and couldn't even attend school. For two years they got by on some scraps from their neighbors' trashcans and local slop at food banks. But eventually, Vlad had to work.

At about eight years old he took work in an old factory as a maintenance worker. He would crawl through small spaces to reach broken machinery and would use his child fingers to fix small things. However, he was underpaid and eventually he and his mother lost their home. Little did he know that his mother was severely ill, but Vlad saw nothing out of the ordinary.

When he was eleven, his mother died from cancer. He was then forced to live on the streets with gangs and drugs running about. He was recklessly beaten by gangs and lived in constant starvation.

When he was fourteen he was approached by a gang member and offered drugs. Vlad at first initially refused, but the gang member told him that the first taste was free. Vlad took it and was hooked. He was addicted, and was later invited into the gang, the Flameriders. He then met his future best friend, Smithers, and the two began to bond. Both became high-ranking members in the gang, and would bring in hundreds to thousands of dollars each day. Eventually, he was kicked out of the gang with Smithers for consuming more drugs than selling. He was then back on the streets and fired from his job at the factory for being "no longer useful" and "addicted".

However, Vlad was able to get over his addiction by drugs "being boring" and decided to get a job as a local street cleaner.