"Let's bounce!"~ Zac, The Secret Weapon (Sentient goo. Piss chroma, best chroma)
Did you like the ending? I was sure to not have Tianna come with them from the start. Willa coming for a guarantee. But I did leave it open enough for the future.
Because there will be a time skip for the next arc.
Big set up chapter for this one. People who know the lore drop comments on whether you can guess the last one. And which one you are most excited for.
You guys also have three more days of double chapters.
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"The Hastur has shaken up Demacia." A man said as he walked into a white room, a drink sloshing about in his wine glass.
His companion replied without turning around, "I've heard."
"He seems to be tied to them." A sliver of fear leaked through his voice.
The woman stilled. "They are not beings we can face."
"I know that first hand darling." The man muttered as memories assaulted him. "Imagine my surprise when I sensed one right outside of Noxus."
"It was there for only a short while." The woman stated.
"Yes. Because he fought it." The man answered. "The magical residue let me know that well enough."
She did not reply.
"The kingdom is weak now." He said after a moment of silence.
His companion sighed, "It is not." She waved her hand a a screen of magic swirled in front of her. They formed some vague shapes before settling into the shape of a burning flame and dark chains. "There are forces in Demacia that we do not want to awaken."
"But we can push our advantage." The man said. "Seize more land."
The woman nodded. "That is what we are doing is it not?"
"You seem distracted. " The man finally stated. "Less words."
The woman turned around with an intrigued smile, "Something..... intriguing.... has caught my attention."
"Where?"
"The Twin Cities." She stated.
"That is the Medarda's claim to power." The man stated matter-of-factly. The drink in his glass stopped moving and then slowly curved into the air and spun around him. He waved his hand as if caressing the liquid. Pushing out a tongue he carefully tasted the liquid.
"The Medarda is what caught my eye Vladimir." The woman stated. "The youngest..... she is the key."
Vladimir moved the glass up to his mouth, the liquid flowed back into the glass and then down his throat.
The very next instant, wrinkle lines on his face began to recede, his face regaining a youthful glow.
"You are dipping into your reserves." The woman commented.
Vladimir smiled, "Darling, the little pleasures in life are to be enjoyed. And this-" He raised his almost empty glass, "This is one of them."
As the two continued their conversation, they did not notice a shadow shimmer for a moment.
Far away, on the surface, a man walked out of the shadows. His eyes like two glowing orbs in the dark. They returned to normal as second later.
He flicked his hand and removed his cowl with a flourish. In an instant he was dressed in prim and proper nobility clothes. An eye patch covered one of his eyes. Tugging at his sleeves, he smiled. Gregori had shaken things up in Demacia and his existence scared these two. How interesting. Something about Gregori was making these two act cautiously.
Maybe it was time to send him a little message.
A simple one.
Just to inform him of one thing.
He walked toward one of the noble houses hosting a ball that night. He nodded to and greeted anyone who came toward him.
Eventually he caught sight of his sister. She was hidden behind one of the curtains. He nodded in her direction.
No doubt she caught it.
But he did not care. He was fooling her just as much as he did the whole world. The eye patch was just an accessory now.
Talon had become the greatest assassin in the world.
-x-
"He has left the shores." A female voice smoke.
"I felt his magic leave. He is burdened with purpose. It was inevitable." A man replied.
"I do feel for the young man."
"I believe you are not talking about Gregori."
"Sylas." She answered, "He won me over with his ideals."
"No one is guaranteed life Morgana." Ryze spoke as he walked through the forest. "It was just the work of fate, that the young man came across Gregori."
"A truly sad work of fate." She commented. "Though there is one more who has ideals just as strong."
"The girl." Ryze commented.
"The girl." Morgana confirmed. "Her magic is also potent."
"It is the kind that rallies people behind her." Ryze spoke, "The nature of her magic that is."
"It instills hope." Morgana said. "In direct opposition to me."
"It is not the magic that defines your actions." Ryze chuckled, "You have seen your sister after all." He pointed toward her, "And you are limiting yourself. Your sister is embracing her nature and you are running from it."
"This is also my nature Ryze." Morgana countered, "I am half human. So is my sister."
"But no human can win the wars we have to fight in the future." Ryze explained sadly. "It is a battle only Celestials and mages like me can participate in."
"And you are preparing?" Morgana asked shifting the topic to him.
Ryze sighed as he recognized what she was doing and nodded, "I will be leaving to the Freljord tonight. I have sensed a World Rune there."
"What kind?"
"I do not know."
"I pray you find it then." Morgana said, "They cannot be left unsealed."
"Which is why Demacia is the Last Bastion for humanity."
-x-
"Idiot."
"You are the idiot."
"Give in."
"No."
"Zed's order shackles you. I offer you freedom."
"Hmm.... Whom should I obey? Master Zed? Or the farm implement with delusions of grandeur?"
"I am no toy Kayn."
Kayn smiled as he swung the weapon and placed it across his shoulders.
"Yeah, you possess the hubris of a more fearsome weapon."
The eye on the back of the weapon blinked.
"We do not have the time boy." The words came out serious. More serious than ever before.
Kayn stopped walking and moved the scythe to the front. "What?"
"The others of my kind have begun to move." He said. "There are three in Ionia this very moment."
"Did not take you to be someone this afraid Rhaast." Kayn muttered as he looked at the eye.
The eye blinked, "You underestimate what one of us can do. You think I am trying to kill you Kayn? I am not. I am looking for a more cooperative solution. A more permanent one. I could kill you this very instant. But I will not. There is more to be gained with you alive than dead."
"Ahhh you are just trying to make me give you control." Kayn smiled, "I am not falling for that tactic."
Rhaast sighed. "Idiot child." He said out loud eliciting a reaction out of the twelve year old.
-x-
"Hah!" Mel sat up breathing heavily.
"Mel?" Jayce sat up next to her, "Are you fine?"
Mel turned to him as her frightened expression returned to normal, "Y...yes." She forced a smile. "It.. it was just a nightmare."
Jayce smiled and pulled her back into bed. He flicked the blanket over the two of them. "I suggest you stay close. I am proven to be a very good repellant of nightmares."
Mel snorted, "Oh! Who else have you tested it with?"
"Unfortunately my only test subject is in bed with me." Jayce answered as he hugged her.
Mel closed her eyes, leaning into his embrace.
A few seconds later, Jayce's soft snores began from above her.
But she couldn't sleep.
Not after that.
Thorns.
Blood red thorns.
And then her looking behind her shoulder.
The explosive.
The smile drawn onto it.
Things were spiraling out of control and Mel did not know what to do.
-x-
A woman clambered through the snow and into a tent.
"Warmother!"
A woman stood up and turned in her direction. "One of Vrynna's people." She looked at the woman, "What is it?"
"The Scarmother's attack failed. Our people are starving. We need help."
Sejuani walked to the woman, towering over her easily, she reached up and tied her white hair. "Then you become a part of us. Not a separate tribe but one of our own."
"Warmother will we be able to feed them?" One of her council members asked.
She turned around and pointed to an old man sitting there, "We will trust his words."
"It is a lie!" One of the members retorted, "It is just a story!"
"Then tell me how he is still alive after not being given food or water for two weeks." She asked, "He should have died on the third night. But he is still alive. And fit enough to speak."
"But he speaks of a legend."
"I have seen it. And have eaten from it myself." The old man cut in, his voice shaky, from the hunger or the cold, no one knew.
"Where is it?" Sejuani asked him.
"It was at Hearth Home." He answered, "In the mountains."
"Is it still there?"
He shook his head, "The Ursine have it. It was stolen by The Volibear"
"He asks us to face the Ursine!" Someone exclaimed, "All over a legend of a never ending cauldron of food."
"No." Someone corrected, "He wants us to face a god for a treasure."
Sejuani stood in thought. The Cauldron of Ornn. An item that fully fed anyone who ate from it and kept them full for weeks.
It would help her people.
Hunts were failing. Her people starving.
Their last hunt had failed completely. And the previous one had barely enough meet to feed the children.
This winter was the harshest she had weathered.
"We face them." Her voice cut through the mocking voices.
"Wa...Warmother?"
"Our people are starving to death." She said as she turned to the man, "This legendary cauldron is our only chance at survival.... And if it does not exist. We can just loot the Ursine."
"But that would anger The Volibear."
"I have done it already." She said as she wore her fur coat.
"But we do not have Udyr with us this time."
Sejuani stilled, "No. But that man has the tendency of showing up when we need help. He will come."
"Onwards to a worthy death!" A man stood up and walked past Sejuani. "I am ready Warmother."
"Ready the tribes Olaf." She told the man, "We have half beasts to kill."
-x-
In the darkness, two bright blue eyes opened. It was as if the cosmos swirled within them. Its gigantic body shimmered into view, then faded away like it never existed.
"Their influence is waning." A rumbling voice echoed. "Mine grows stronger."
It felt the chains binding it weaken.
"The next time then."
The eyes closed as darkness returned beneath the mountain.