Showdown
It was predatory. The drawing back of her shoulders, the snarl of her lips under the heat of the sun bearing down on the summit of Mt. Targon. Her moonlight mane wafting behind her person, hips fluidly swaying as legs walked with intent. Two silver orbs pinning her opponent under her gaze. Opposite the lunar paragon, the chosen of the sun flared with passion. Her oxidized iron irises met her challengers with unrelenting force. Each woman, stood squarely before one and other, unwavering, and unbreakable.
"You have slaughtered the council; your actions demand justice."
"Justice, you are a blind pathetic excuse for a chosen. Could the Sun do no better than some puppy who is held on a leash?"
"Diana, you will die by my hands. The world has no time for souls who are lost to vengeance."
"Kill me, stain your perfect hands with my vile and accursed blood. What will you do Solari? You are no better than the Neanderthals of Rakkor. Do it purge my blood, and my death will be a mar on your mantle of justice."
It was years before. Soft and warm sunlight filtered through the grand pillars of the Solari temples. Diana sat with her tomes and a comb, tenderly filtering through her auburn stands for knots and clumps. Her warm copper eyes scanned over the page, all of the historical evidence remaining of the counter part to the Solari were sitting before her. It was a sect meant to balance the Sun, the worship of the Moon. Even with all the tomes before her, she felt the nagging at the back of her brilliant mind that this couldn't be all of it.
On a normal basis Diana was an acolyte at the Solari temple. She spent her days under the realms of the divine, studying the religion of the sun. memorizing tomes and ballads, Diana was a devote scholar. Her expansive brain welcomed information in incredible amounts. The vast knowledge swam with the coppery hues of her faith. But in the immensity of her knowledge she felt like she was looking at a half done puzzle. As if there were outlines of where information should be but, there were no record to mend the voids in her vast knowledge.
This void drove her to find the extinct culture of the Lunari. They had been the flipside of the Solari, worshipping the moon as their divine entity. They had similar rituals, and it transformed her understanding of theology. It had always bother Diana that the religion she followed was monotheistic, yet did not follow the same trends that the Demacian and Noxian monotheism adhered to. To find the second deity of the religion it was a burst of clarity for Diana. She spent hours under both the sun and the moon pondering over the few cryptic scrolls she had found in the library. This inspired her studies like no other. She pondered over the many symbols engraved in the parchment pages. Their smooth time worn pages held a plethora of secrets she longed to comprehend. There were distinct similarities between the ritual of praise, there was singing and dancing as the Solari encouraged but time of day and the specific dances changed. Everything followed smooth and soft motions, rather than the passionately inspired choreography of the sun's faith.
It was unbridled fury. Metal cut through the air as hands and arms surged with murderous intent. A swift lunge forward Leona was determined to force her opponents weight onto her right foot where it left Diana vulnerable for a wicked shield slam to the torso. Diana deftly danced out of the heavy lunge to the spot where Leona had planned and the Solar woman dropped her weight momentarily, then less than a fraction of a second ticked by when her thighs contracted and she drove all of her weight forward to slam her grand shield into the waiting body of Diana. Trying to make up for not noticing the sequence Leona had set up, Diana curled her right arm in to protect her face while she summoned a burst of lunar energy to help dissipate the crippling strike headed for her form. The collision was explosive. Diana's body was mercilessly flung backwards from the absolute force that backed the slam. The impact her bones were forced to endure sent a maelstrom of piercing pain through her frame. Feeling the tell-tale crack of her ribs as she tried to regain her breath was cause for her to whimper as she stood back up.
Nevertheless, she persisted, finding her feet. She in a quick motion swung her crescent blade low on the ground sending dust and dirt into the air so she could easily skirt out of Leona's eyesight. She braced her back on a pillar where she tried desperately to heave oxygen into her lungs.
A lone hand pressed into her fractured rib. Grimacing under the slight touch Diana knew she was going to have to endure it. She let her ears pull back searching for a sound. The sounds she heard were not the ones which she sought, tranquility was all about her. The trees of softly rustled in the early autumn breeze. A mix of poplar, oak, and cypress trees littered the mountain side. The foliage let ample amounts of light through, the radiant beams brought the world to life. Animals were unaware of the showdown, and it all seemed to bear down on Diana. The pain of unawareness and normalcy.
It was a moment of pure chance. Leona was the bright vivacious chosen. Diana was simply another scholar. Often the lower ranks had to be various practice dummies for Leona or run errands for the elders. Diana was somewhere in between so she was only subject to menial labor once in a blue moon. But none the less there she was a stack of bandages and towels in her hands as she hurriedly made her way down to the practice dome. The dome was a well-loved spot in the Solari grounds. The entire population of the Solari was Rakkoran so the need for motion was an undeniable pull in their blood. The dome was a practice arena. It was located in the center of the grand colosseum. There were several rows of stairs all leading down to the epicenter where a round sandy pit was. That's where blood was set alight in training. But because the elders had waited so long to find their chosen the dome was closed off to everyone else after Leona arrived.
It was eerily tranquil. The slopes of Mt. Targon were solitary and imposing upon the rest of the mountain range. This particular mountain stretched unto the heavens. The steep facades were home to the small nation of Rakkor and the even smaller sect of the Solari, leaving most of the mountain uninhabited by people. The ruins of a Lunari temple sat miles away from any of the civilizations, far enough out none bothered with it. It was long decayed, many of the elegant columns succumbed to the flow of time as they lay upon their side with any roof or overhang long lost to ruin. The few remaining stone set floors have intertwined like lovers with various fauna and grasses
As Diana braced herself on looming Corinthian columns she could smell the coppery scent of blood. It seeped through the cracks in her armor. With a painful intake of breath Diana clenched her weapon tight again. Once again summoning a shell of lunar energy around her form, she whipped around the column ready to face down the sun again. Ready for her arrival Leona unleashed a burst of solar energy from around herself as she steadied her shield in front of her form. A resound metallic clang erupted as the fearsome swing of Diana's blade came in contact with the shield, trying Leona's defense, and succeeding in pushing the Solari back several feet. Giving her no time for response, Diana arced a stream of pale magic off the curve of her blade, igniting her path for her lunar rush towards the sun champion. Once again she cleaved into her opposition's form knocking down Leona's defense, and in close succession sending another power filled strike, which found purchase in Leona's hip. A cry of pain was immediately elicited as blade severed skin and sinew.
Leona's lips curled in a feral snarl as she charged her shield with solar energy and bashed into Diana's body as she carried through the force of her final strike. This radiant charge made contact at her shoulder briefly stunning her from the impact. Diana could feel her ribs crumble and damage her insides as white hot pain flashed throughout her body. She brought her sword up to meet Leona's blade, where they sent a flurry of trades, blade work on display. Each strike crackling through a shower of sparks as steel met steel charged with other worldly power.
Realizing the futility of simple sword play Diana felt the surge of her moon fire gleam in her eyes as she channeled another arc off her blade. Rushing again to close quarters she pressed her attack. As Leona brought her weight and blade down to meet her own, Diana saw her moment, phasing into moonlight again she darted behind the Sun's Champion. With terrifying speed, Diana swiveled on her feet, carrying her blade with the momentum. There her opportunity came to fruition as she could begin to see it slice open the juncture between Leona's neck and shoulder. It released an immediate torrent of blood. As quickly as it happened, Leona responded with a radiantly charged back hand from her shield, sending Diana flying.
The pain of the memory occasionally echoed in the back of her mind. It didn't take long for Diana to get in trouble for reading the tomes. They did come from a forbidden part of the library which only the elders got to go in. The first few warning punishments were not bad, a couple canings and labor. She had to clean the chosen's armor. Making her way through the Temple grounds to the armory was a nice walk.
The whole lay out for the Solari grounds was a very simple circle. Half rested on the leveled out ledge of the mountain face and the other half simply built on the uneven slope of the ascending mountain. From the smaller functional building of the library she spent a ten-minute walk across the lawns to the armory adjacent to the Colosseum. Even within the armory there was a special room devoted to the chosen. It was a small room at that, each of the three faces had a different purpose, one held the sacred sword and shield, the next had the armor and the last had a bench with a mural painted behind it. There was a large myriad of murals painted on the Temple grounds. This one seemed older, there were obvious spots where paint had to be retouched and kept up. Sometimes when Diana gazed upon them she could swear they were unfinished. That the painting needed the Lunari as much as she needed them.
Still she got to her task quickly. The bucket of suds and towels on her hip had a purpose anyway.
Across the campus Leona had no such reprieve as doldrums provided. Sweat dripped down her form. Her training as the chosen was rarely pleasant. The elders subscribed to the same ideology that Rakkor held. If the stakes were not real and full of danger, then nothing was gained. This was one of her least favorite exercises, every time it got worse. This particular training was endurance. Today she had to hold a 50-pound block of marble above her head for 5 hours. If she let go of the block, it would simply crush her. There was no failing, she remembers the last time she failed, she was lucky it didn't result in immediate death. She suffered as punishment no food for days and had to run tireless laps around the whole temple grounds till she blacked out. But there she was, four hours in, sure her muscles would give out. The trembling affected all of her muscles in violent spasms. At any moment she was sure that her legs might just fold under like a green sapling. As the sun rises every morning her resolve would be steady, Leona knew she just had to survive.
There in the midst of battle there was a lull. Each woman struggling to stay standing as pain and exhaustion berated their bodies. Heavy breaths resounded through the summer atmosphere.
"Diana why are we here," was the sad words barely said on a whisper. It was almost a plea.
"Do not mock me Solari. I have died a million times over to be heard," Diana struggled to grind out the words between her firmly clenched teeth, "Your pity will not silence or change me." As she did everything to not double over in pain from her broken ribcage.
Somber understanding was held. Pale irises and pupils held the eye contact of the swarthy mix of magma and copper across the dais. If eons could be compressed to a single moment, then it would be this moment.