"All the world's a river, and I'm its king."~ Tahm Kench, The River King (Unbench The Kench, Unload the toad)
The part with Ryze has given me some clarity on how I would like the later arcs to play out. And to those unfamiliar with the lore. Ryze is like the protagonist. He is THE GUY. I'll write some of the stuff he does in conversations but yeah..... he is a menace. Like its crazy how absolutely broken this man is. The closest comparison I can think of is like how Gold Experience Requiem was to the entirety of Part 5. Or Thanos with all the infinity stones.
Absolute powerhouse.
I am also trying something interesting in this chapter. I'm trying to set up a whole hierarchy with the systems in the story.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The white trees that were his current prison seemed to stand still in wait.
Caalyx could feel his freedom approaching. His connection to his other half had let him feel the freedom of a random host. That rampage and the exhilaration that came with it was wonderful.
And things were made more easier when he realized what Gregori had planned on doing.
This temporary holding was not going to be there for long.
Calyx would be whole again and Gregori would finally be ready to face the true horrors of the Darkin. Ones with proper hosts and complete minds.
Though he did consider the fact that Gregori was incredibly lucky.
Every single battle had some sort of luck on his side. It made no sense. No one was lucky that many times in a row.
Caalyx feared that. He feared what that luck would bring. This world thrived on balance. For every force of good that emerged..... there was an equally powerful force of evil that rose up somewhere else.
And for all the luck that Gregori was enjoying.... there would be a massive turn of bad luck waiting for him.
It wasn't superstition.
It was an eventuality.
Caalyx did not know how Gregori would handle that. The only thing he could hope for was small amounts of bad luck at a time rather than one large instance.
He had thought of voicing his opinions to Gregori but it wouldn't matter. The recent generations had grown to stop believing in the concept of luck.
But luck did exist.
It was one of the three major concepts in the world.
Luck.
Faith.
And Death.
Why wasn't Life included? Simply because Death covered more than just the living. Things could die. Everything in existence could perish at any time. That is what Death represented.
This immortality he was experiencing? It was a literal formation of the three concepts working in tandem with each other.
Faith was what made him an Ascended.
Luck was what led to his corruption by the void.
And Death was what was waiting for him one day. But the effects of the Faith and bad Luck on his side were keeping him alive.
The moment either one slips... he would die.
That is what he had done with his brother.
He removed the Faith concept by removing every mention of him using Gregori. His brother's very existence was undermined. It was why he had influenced Gregori into forgetting his brother's name. The moment the Faith had failed..... so did his bad Luck. The corruption and his brother both experienced Death.
But there was an unexpected result from this.
Caalyx had inherited some of his brother's strength. He had never used it but he could feel its presence. It was gnawing at him. Waiting to be unleashed. But Caalyx would not. Unleashing it would cause a remnant of his brother to still remain. It might cause a reversal and create his brother again.
It won't be him.
But it would resemble him enough for Caalyx to care for him.
Similar to Yordles and their resurrection. Whenever one died, the awoke back at Bandle City. The degree of how much memory they had left changed depending on how they died but they were effectively immortal. The Luck influenced by the very magic keeping them alive fought off the Death.
This method of thinking had largely changed over the years. It had been thousands of years since the thinkers of old had passed. And their way of passing down knowledge by word of mouth had ended up screwing over the future generations.
The only usable records from ancient times were in the Blessed Isles and in Shurima, under the watch of the only remaining Ascended.
If he was to contest the effects of Luck.... he either needed to have Faith or Death on his side.
They all could turn the tides on each other at any moment.
Everyone functioned on the scale. It was why powerful people were harder to kill. It was why kings were harder to kill. They had Faith. and with more people around them.... they could influence Luck.
A relationship that was filled with checks and balances.
He just needed to help Gregori figure it out. With or without his knowledge. The idiot needed to at least watch his children grow older. And they needed a parent to stay with them.
The rampage stunt he pulled?
It would bring in Faith.
Not much.... but just enough to hopefully offset his Luck.
He would need to converse with Ryze on the intricacies of this. There could be a way to completely solve all of this without the effects of bad luck.
Caalyx snapped out of his thoughts as he heard movement from around him.
Then he heard voices.
"There lies your friend."
Ryze's voice.
This meant that Gregori had come to collect him and considering the fact that he couldn't feel his other half... Demacia must have confiscated him for some reason and Gregori was playing with a loophole.
THUD
CRAAACCCKKK
Gregori reached into the tree and stuck his hand into an opening and pushed the wood apart with his hands.
"An axe would work better moron." Caalyx spoke from inside. "The tree would heal better."
It was how he had been placed inside the tree in the first place. An axe down the middle and a cavity inside the tree where he had been stored. As time passed, the natural resilience of the tree itself reformed around himself creating a natural seal.
"We don't have time to waste." Gregori replied. "Things are not working in our favor and I only have so long before they set eyes on me."
"Hurry up then dumbass!" Caalyx urged.
Gregori sighed as his hand curled around Caalyx and with a tug, he pulled him out completely.
"Fresh air!" Caalyx exclaimed. "Ahhhhh!"
Gregori just shook his head in exasperation.
"What?" Caalyx watched Gregori's actions. "You stay locked up in a tree for a decade."
Gregori shrugged, "I wish I was."
"You what?" Caalyx asked. "Repeat that again fucker."
"Caalyx." Ryze interrupted. "There are children here."
"Ah..." Caalyx muttered. "He brought the kids with him." He addressed Gregori, "Why didn't you lead with that then?"
"You didn't ask."
"Oh for fu-"
"Kids." Ryze interrupted again.
Gregori smiled as she lifted Caalyx up in the air.
There he was. The spear tip of Caalyx. The part that held half his power.
It was like an arrow but larger. Ends were tipped facing backward, making sure that once the spear was in... pulling out meant pulling out the enemy's innards.
The tip of the spear was jagged, meant to lacerate the flesh.
But above all..... it looked alive. A singular eye lay blinking from the spear head. Surrounded by red flesh and bone like structures that writhed across the spear head.
"Tilt me a little." Caalyx muttered. "Let me get a good look at the whole group with my own eye."
Gregori obliged.
"Hmmm!" Caalyx murmured excitedly. "Hmmmm!" He admired once more. "WOW!"
"What?" Gregori asked.
"No I was just wondering how you all look the exact same while looking through my eye." Caalyx answered. "Either I am not that special or you are more special that I thought you were..." His voice fell to a whisper, "Though I think the latter is more likely."
Gregori grunted.
Caalyx's eyes landed on the children, "Hey kids! Its only been a few days but I am sure you have missed me."
Only Briar nodded. The rest watched on unsure of what to do or say.
Gregori plopped down on the grass leaning against the tree. Turning to Ryze, he spoke, "We rest here for a little bit before making our way back to the capital."
Ryze nodded. "Of course."
The kids moved and sat next to Gregori, while cautiously watching Caalyx's other half.
"Want to regale my children on your travels Ryze?" Gregori asked.
Ryze nodded. "I could tell you all about the world but instead..... we could talk about one of you and their connection to magic." He looked toward the kids. "What would you like?"
The kids looked at each other, understanding that he had meant Daisy and her recent revelation to be magical and answered that they wanted to hear about the second half.
Ryze smiled and spoke. "I had once met a group of people living in the far lands of Ionia." He began. "They were among the strongest I had ever seen. Beings so attuned to magic that even nature itself bent to their will."
He looked to one child in particular, "They were the ancestors of the present day Vastayans. And their greatest power?" He winked at the child. "They could become anything."
Daani's eyes widened.