Leona stood at the gates. She could never have foreseen this. She had seen a lot of things in her time with the League, but she never would have even suspected something like this would happen. She felt bad about leaving the League without its champion of the sun, but… she had to do this. To think, it was all started by that new champion….

Balanar tore into the flesh of some unsightly beast. It howled and dug its own teeth back into him. Growling, Balanar gripped his prey with his claws and sunk them into its throat, slowly killing the creature as he forced it to the ground. As the last death gurgles subsided, Balanar began eating. Well, if you could call indiscriminately tearing into a carcass "eating." This was a normal series of events for Balanar.

But there was something strange about tonight, yet Balanar could not quite determine what. He had this… foreboding sensation that something was coming.

The night continued on as it always did, the sounds and howls of the creatures of the night fighting for survival under the twin moons. Hours later Balanar passed the feeling off as nothing of any importance. Yet again, looking at the two moons in the sky, Balanar felt something again. Unconvinced, he continued to stalk in the night.

Suddenly, a searing pain threw him to the ground, blind. He roared in agony, a roar that was echoed by every other living beast.

It was some time before Balanar could get up and open his eyes. When he did, he instantly regretted it, as the light burned his eyes, forcing him to close them and blink several times. When he finally adjusted, he saw a world that was as different as night and day.

Light – accursed light – poured over the land. Where there had been once deep shadows were mere specks of greying. Gone were the terrifying beasts of the night, replaced with still, soon to be rotting, corpses.

Balanar roared, his cry echoing into the vastness. Nothing. Again, he roared. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Then Balanar took a look to the fireball in the sky, and roared one more time.

His stomach grumbled, and, near begrudgingly, he set out to eat. Not like there was a shortage of food. Balanar picked the closest carcass, and found it was not quite a carcass just yet, the beast still groaning. Suddenly, it looked at him, and spoke.

"Why do you want to join the League?"

After a short pause, Balanar responded by taking a bite out of the dying beast. It made no grunt, no cry of pain.

"How does it feel, exposing your mind?"

Another pause, this one with an annoyed look. This time, Balanar took another bite – of the beast's throat. Moments after he did, the creature faded, and so too did the world around him. Now before him stood a pair of doors that slowly opened. Balanar walked through.

Leona stood, looking over the rosters for the coming match. There was a new champion debuting today, and Leona had to confess to a little bit of excitement. His name was Balanar, although she hadn't been able to gleam much else before she was summoned. The enemy team otherwise consisted of regulars: Jinx, Janna, Nidalee, Diana…

Diana.

Leona shook her head. Now was not the time to be pre-occupied with personal matters. She would beat Diana today, merely as her duty. There was a new champion here today, after all, and Leona had every intention of making a good first impression. She surveyed the rest of her team. The sunglasses didn't help, but she had a feeling Vayne didn't care. Darius, who probably wouldn't have cared one way or another. Sejuani, probably didn't care. Lux… well, maybe she did care. But the gates had gone down, and with wordless nods with Vayne, they set off.

"You're the new meat, huh? Well, I'm going make mincemeat out of you."

Balanr growled but said nothing. Truth be told, this Darius character had been giving him quite a hard time. Every time he tried to approach the creep – ahem, minion – wave, he found himself chopped at, sliced up, and bled out. It had nearly reduced him to snarling from afar, and his opponent was clearly enjoying himself rubbing it in. Still, he hadn't died yet, and the worst was yet to come... for Darius. The real difficulty was dealing with his Summoner. The man apparently thought himself wiser than someone older than the sun itself, and Balanar was rather sick of his attitude. Pity he couldn't kill him. After the War, Balanar really had his fill of others telling him what to do.

"Really, I don't know why they gave me you when they knew he was my opponent. Quite frankly, you've been completely useless. Why even–"

"Then watch." Taken aback by Balanar's sudden statement, the summoner quieted, and Balanar could hear the shock.

For a brief moment, Darius' eyes met Balanar's. Then, a small smile appeared on Balanar's face.

"Roll back the light."

Darius barely had time to comprehend that it had gotten dark before Balanar was upon him. Instinctively he lashed out with his axe, but sliced nothing but air. Balanar returned the favor by cutting his own claws into Darius' armor. Another swipe, and this time they cut into flesh. Darius swung one more, and this time his axe met flesh. Roaring, Balanar pounded his foe with the Void once more, and watched him fall.

The first thing Leona noticed was the sun was gone. Gone. Gone, like someone had plucked it out of the sky or smothered it until it burned out. It didn't make sense. How, where, why could the sune just disappear? How could it… stop calling to her? Stop… answering to her?

"What… what black magic is this?" Leona shot a glance at Vayne, who was clearly unnerved as well. The two instinctively backed towards their own turret, on alert. Yet, it seemed even their opponents were shocked as well; Jinx and Janna had both backed off… well, Janna had.

And as suddenly as the darkness had fallen, it vanished, as if nothing had happened. Well, almost nothing.

"An ally has been slain."

Chatter among their summoners revealed Darius had died. Died to the new top laner. The new top laner who had said, "Roll back the light."

Leona suddenly felt a lot less enthusiastic about meeting the new champion.

Balanar grumbled as he looked through the shopkeeper's wares. All these strange weapons and armaments. For a moment, Balanar wished he had the old familiar items like Armlet of Mordiggian. But there was little point in dwelling on that now.

After throwing his claws up for the third time, the shopkeeper decided to intervene.

"Might I interest you in a Nashor's Tooth?"

Balanar gave the small… furry… thing a look. To its credit, it didn't flinch.

"It will empower both your magic and your claws. I think you'd like it."

Picking the blade up and trying it in his claws, he found it satisfactory and gave the shopkeeper his gold.

She wouldn't have shown it, but Leona was starting to have a small panic attack. What had started as spots of night between the day was turning into spots of day between the night. It wasn't that Leona was afraid of the dark, but the sun seemed so far away, especially in this magically-induced night.

Speak of the devil, night had fallen once more, and Leona had to be on her guard once more. Despite her personal protest, the summoners decided to try to kill the dragon. At this point, it didn't take all five, so only Leona and Vayne moved towards the pit.

They had almost finished slaying it, when suddenly it appeared. From behind, the two had to start running, since the whole enemy team was there. They managed to escape, thankfully, except from it. It kept running, kept chasing. It was impossibly fast, wings impossibly wide, maw impossibly terrifying. Eventually, the trio was so removed from the rest of the enemy team that Leona and Vayne went for a counter kill.

Except they never got the chance. Leona could barely stand to watch it; she saw Vayne pulled by, torn apart by a void that seemed to lead into an impossible darkness. She saw Vayne near frozen in shock, in fear, then firing wildly but never landing. She could only keep running, she only heard Vayne's final cries. But she could hear its footsteps, ever closer, ever nearer–

"Augh! Sunshine!"

Leona turned to see the beast, a smaller, more possible form of its former self. Her team was now behind her. She could hear, touch, feel the sun and now – now was her chance! She called to the sun, and it answered, sunlight striking down, smiting the beast. It howled in pain and fury.

Suddenly, she felt herself plunged into darkness, but only briefly. When she recovered, she saw the beast's retreating form.

At the fountain, Balanar knew she was watching him. He hadn't bothered to ask, but the girl with the moon markings was clearly interested in him.

"That's Diana, the Scorn of the Moon."

Balanar grumbled. "So you're back." He paused as he began his return to battle. "You might as well be useful. Tell me about this Diana."

He could hear the summoner's shrug. "Not a whole lot is known, quite frankly. She belonged to a clan called the Solari – a tribe of warriors that worship the sun. They have their own champion here, Leona." Balanar mused over the solar warrior as the summoner continued.

"But Diana was different. She always preferred the moon to the sun, and was always looking for proof of its importance. Of course, she was shunned for her beliefs. Nevertheless, she continued to study old Solari texts, that eventually led her to a hidden temple. In it, she found relics with lunar symbols.

"She returned, hoping to finally be vindicated. Instead, she was branded a heretic and sentenced to death. In her final moments before her execution, she asked the moon for strength, and it answered, giving her the power to break free and kill the elders. Now, she wages a crusade against those who would deny the moon's power, or so she says." At first, Balanar made no reply.

"Were you even listening?" Again, silence. Then, a single, simple muttering.

"Curse that Selemene and her followers…."

It was over. Well, not quite yet, but the writing was clearly on the wall. By now, night hung in perpetuity, and Leona, quite frankly, could not wait for this match to be over. But she would fight to the bitter end, as was her duty.

In the fray, she managed to lock eyes, for a split second, with Diana. That was all she needed to see: Diana was loving this. She hadn't looked so happy in years. She… She wouldn't, would she? Leona wished the answer was "no," but she knew better.

A sharp, stabbing pain drew her from her thoughts. Her vision cleared to see it right over her, barely visibly against the black night sky. There was nothing to be done. She felt her life leave her moments before the nexus shattered.

"Diana, I know what you're thinking, and it is a bad idea." Leona, despite her measured, brisk pace, frantically, desperately chased after the Scorn of the Moon.

"You can't stop me, Leona."

"Diana please, if not my sake then yours, just stop and think!"

"I was there, Leona," Diana said, still walking, not stopping. "Do you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Diana, I know– "

"Eternal night, Leona. You can't keep me from this!"

"Diana!" Leona near lunged, grabbing, gripping Diana's shoulder. That stopped her. Leona turned Diana around, grabbed both her arms. "Please. You saw that, didn't you? You saw the way that-that thing tore people apart. Is that what you want people to think about when they think of the night?"

"I was branded a heretic, Leona! I was thrown out of my home!"

"You murdered the elders!"

"I was going to die, I had no choice! I– "

"Diana!" Leona shook Diana… or maybe it just happened because she was shaking herself, her own breaths ragged. She found unshed tears in her eyes. "Please… don't do this."

It was then Leona noticed the wetness in Diana's own eyes. "If this, this is the only way for people to finally respect my cause… so be it." Quietly, slowly, Leona let go, and Diana turned around once more and started to walk away.

"…I'm coming with you."

Diana stopped and turned her head, her eyes now wide, mouth open in shock. "What?"

"If you are determined to do this… I'm coming with you."

Diana paused, expression still surprised, then turned around once more and continued. Leona followed.

"Not afraid of the dark, are you?" Balanar chuckled. He didn't need to turn around to know he had company.

"I need to know… how did you do that?" Ahh, so it was the moon-girl. He turned to face her.

"You brought the sun warrior?"

"I came here myself, thank you very much." Balanar scowled. Turning, he allowed himself to vanish into the darkness, his presence still palpable.

"Who are you? I need to know!"

Behind the veil of blackness, Balanar cracked a smile. "There are no stories about me… only legends…."

Leona stood at the gates, Diana by her side. Yes, this was all started by that new champion.

"If you want to know the moon better… there is a temple dedicated to its service."

"You don't have to come, you know."

"You're right. I don't have to. I… have my own reasons for being interested."

"And if you're lucky, sun warrior… perhaps you'll get to meet the sun, too."

As the two set off, Leona found herself wondering what exactly they were getting into. But that wasn't important right now. After all, she could hear the sun calling.

This wasn't supposed to be this long! Anyway, because I can't write a proper longform story, I'm going to do a bunch of short stories instead. They'll probably be canon within each other, unless I decide otherwise, but they won't necessarily be connected.

Yes, this is the unofficial death knell of Wrath of the Wraith. I simply don't like the direction I've written myself into with that story. Perhaps I shall start another epic one day, but not today.

Fun Fact: At 40% cooldown reduction, Darkness has a 48 second cooldown and a 50 second duration.