The Passage of Twin Disciplines: Discipline of Force

Arc Two

Prologue

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Hey, guys! Just a heads up to anyone who hasn't read the first arc to this story, please either go to my profile and look for The Passage of Twin Disciplines, search using Nidalee and Akali as the basis through the League tag or copy and paste this link into your search bar: s/7283785/1/The-Passage-of-Twin-Disciplines

While you are free to read this as a stand-alone if you wish, you will be terribly confused and I would highly suggest you read the first arc first.

So, without further ado, please enjoy the prologue to arc two: Discipline of Force.

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A slender lady walked down the dark cobblestone path of her enemies home capital. Cloak pulled tight around her frame, with her hood casting a deep shadow shrouding her face as she turned a corner and her image shimmered; the lady was replaced with a young boy in tattered clothes.

Around another corner she turned and again her image shimmered. This time to be replaced with an elderly man, wearing an expensive looking vest with golden buttons running down the front.

She paused, her hand on the knob to the door in front of her as she listened, metal feet pounding on the pavement as they searched for their prey.

Seconds later, a troupe of Demacian guards paused upon seeing her, looking to all as a regular patron returning home at night his wrinkly hand gripping the doorknob as if to twist it open.

"Hold, sir!"

She paused, trying to hide the slight smile that was threatening to overtake her startled visage.

"Have you seen a young lady recently? She is dressed as a fortune teller and is wanted for questioning." The troupe leader stepped forward gently placing the butt of his spear onto the pavement, his metal encased chest gleaming in the slight light. The moon was peeking out from behind the clouds, as if curious and wanting to observe the unfolding events.

"A young lady you say?" The mysterious woman asked, her voice shaking and deep. "No, I can't say I have," she replied after a pause.

"If you do, any information could be of use to the King and Queen. Would you please report any sightings to a guardsman immediately?" The leader asked, sighing deeply.

"Of course! Of course! For Demacia!" The illusionist smiled, bowing slightly.

"Sorry for the trouble, have a good night, sir. For Demacia!" With that, the troupe leader turned and walked through his subordinates as they stood in neat rows waiting for orders. As he reached the front they all turned in unison and continued along the street.

Silently, the woman smiled as she watched a shadow drop from the rooftops and without a sound, dispatched the rearmost guards. His arms thrusted to the right and the left in unison, catching them through the eye-slits of their helmets, puncturing their eyes and killing his prey instantly. The shadow caught the falling guards just as the troupe turned a corner and dropped them off to the side.

The woman swiftly stepped past the corpses, motioning to the shadow and causing the fallen guards to shimmer slightly before changing to appear as crates lining the alley.

Within another step her fingers flicked again and the assassin shimmered beside her, changing to look as an exact replica of one of the fallen guards, and herself the other.

Without missing a beat, the pair stepped back into line with the other soldiers, with them never having suspected a thing.

~o~

Claws raked bark as the jungle's King slid down the trunk of an ancient tree. His mane, braided and flowing behind him flicked upwards as his bulk quickly descended. Around him, the wind sang and rolled over his furred frame, ruffling even the soft hairs that hugged closest to his skin.

With a grunt, he flexed his biceps and the metal claws attached to the back of his hand dug into the trunk of the tree and his descent was stopped immediately. His feet kicked against the tree and he was sent soaring through the air. Stretching out his hand as he caught himself upon a branch and swung himself up into the air, shifting his weight until he landed on his target.

Holding onto the trunk with clawed hands and rear paws, the large predator tilted his head back and sniffed.

The forest was awake with energy. The wind was alive and dancing with colours and scents that had not been present in months, not since the disappearance of the one it loved most.

The birds soared above him, singing their songs and joining with the chorus that the wind was carrying. Below him, the small critters that dug their tunnels beneath the forest floor chattered, generating an underlying beat. And around him the leaves danced, rising and falling with the tempest of the forest.

The very ground hummed, and the night air felt warm and thrummed with energy. The hunter felt the excitement of the spirits around him, moving through him as it tensed his muscles and set the hair along his spine standing on end.

Snarling, the hunter's eyes narrowed as he shook his head to release himself of the sensation that had set him on edge, the corner of his muzzle turned up into a smile.

"It appears," his chest rumbled as if he had to force the words into a distinguishable manor. The hunter's voice was low, his coarse tongue flicked up and licked up over his whiskers, "that the previous master of this jungle has returned." With a chuckle, the large humanoid feline closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and absorbing the scent.

Throwing his head back, the King let out a deep, challenging roar and lashed his tail against the bark of the tree.

"Come then, let us see which of us will be the hunter, and which will be the hunted!"

~o~

"Pathetic lizard," the gargantuan dragon spat. His tail snapped out and slammed into a rocky pile, shattering stone and kicking up a cloud of dust. His claws tearing the ground apart and making the dirt bleed beneath his bulk. "You are not my princess!" The title twisted into an insult, seemed to leave a foul taste within the dragon's mouth.

"I will not recognize you as anything other than the abomination that you are!"

The dragon growled, flames spouting out from beneath his clenched fangs as his spine rolled and he slunk across the earth like a cat stalking a mouse. The barbed spikes that lined his spine preened and his tongue snapped out.

Before him snarled a fledgling dragon, who had her head held high with pride even though her chest heaved with exhaustion, the usual gleam of her scales gone under the scorch marks and the dirt.

The smaller female felt the fire in her chest burning her lungs as fury boiled within her. She could feel the tug of magic as it threatened to run out and then she would be reverted to her born-to form. She could not back down. Would not admit defeat.

The fledgling tensed her muscles, looking for the softest spot on the elder dragon's throat. She had enough energy for one last strike and she would make it count.

"Zhu'Theran!" A shriek tore through the air causing both of the combating dragons to shrink back. The sun was blackened out as a third reptile joined the battle field.

Massive, veined wings flapped, casting varying shadows as the sun struggled to shine through. The air churned with power at the presence of the Queen, small tornadoes formed and fed off her sheer might. Blood red scales glimmered, casting a rainbow of ruby across the rocky field.

As clawed feet touched down, the ground shuddered and wheezed, as if the entire world was threatening to bend under the weight of the Queen of Dragons. Her head wound up high, held at the maximum height that her legendary frame would allow as she hooked her chin and looked down at the dragon that had incurred her rage.

"You have been warned before!" She bellowed, making no step to place herself in front of her panting daughter. Her actions were a display of dominance. The Queen was putting the male in his place, showing that she did not think of him as a threat. The Queen's eyes narrowed, her nostrils flaring as she watched the smaller male. "While I would prefer not to kill one of our oldest with our numbers becoming less and less, I will if you force my flames."

Zhu'Theran snarled, his head twisting and lowering as he submitted. "One of royal blood, one meant to rule over all dragon kind should not be so weak as to need the protection of her mother after she has reached adulthood. She is your weakness and thus is the weakness of us all. What good is she, if all she is, is a chink in your armour?" His golden eyes searched his queens face as his lips twitched up, with his head tilting slightly to reluctantly expose his throat.

"Keep her if you must, but do not ask us to protect her as we would a true-blood princess."

The Queen narrowed her eyes in a silent threat and watched as the defeated male backed away and opened his wings, crouching low as he pushed off the ground and took flight with a thundering leap.

With a roar of frustration, the rust coloured dragon disappeared into the horizon.

The Queen let out a deep sigh, the air around her quivered as a heat wave bathed the area. Her eyes closed momentarily as she turned and her daughter collapsed from exhaustion, her form shrinking to that of a human girl with dark blue skin.

He was right and the Queen knew it. As the years have passed it has become harder and harder for her to defend her daughter and to keep her position as more of her kind begun to question the claim of her heir.

She would have to make a decision and soon, or one would be forced upon her with an outcome that would be out of her control.

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Hey all! So Arc two has begun, ooooo exciting, right? So, I tallied the votes and it seems like people want this to be 'separate', so that's what I did.

I really hope everyone found this okay. I know it was super short, but then it was supposed to be a teaser, right?

First actual chapter should be out soonish :)

PS There might be a Mrs. Kiravu in the nearish future.

Love ya'll! Thanks to everyone who hung in there.

-Kiravu