The Adventures of the Yordle Institute: The Dean of Demolition.
The incredible meanderings of the Yordle Institute of Science and Technology have led to the advancement of Valoran more than any other association. Ziggs, Heimerdinger and the other yordles discover something wrong with Valoran's misuse of magic and all parties are guilty. How will the institute and the Yordle Academy of Science and Progress convince Valoran of its plight?
Prologue:The incredible meanderings of the Yordle Institute of Science and Technology have led to the advancement of Valoran more than any other organization. The Institute established by Cecil B. Heimerdinger was at first a way of assisting the Institute of War. Once the Institute of War was established, Heimerdinger and the Yordle Institute made the controversial decision to stay in Piltover. The opportunities in advancing and the sharing in both human and yordle technology were endless. The main goal of the Yordle Institute is to advance, educate, and protect the peace in Valoran. This action infuriated some of yordles back home in Bandle city. The Yordles in Bandle City never trusted humans after the rune war. Some back in Heimerdinger's home in Bandle saw him as a sellout, even traitorous. Why give up advanced yordle technology to non-Yordles?
Heimerdinger never really cared much for the opinions of his opponents. Science in Heimerdinger's eyes is best uncensored and shared freely. The Yordle Institute, in sharing its knowledge of technology has given Yordles access to other fields of study they would have missed if they stayed in Bandle. A good example of this is Bandle City's lack of medical knowledge. Heimerdinger was a little fellow with yellow fur. He wore a gray lab coat. He always seems to be wearing a red pair of goggles of his own design.
It was through the efforts of the YIST and its connection with Piltover's medical advancements Bandle city was able to get an advanced medical system it had been lacking during the rune wars. Freedom and the advanced knowledge Piltover offered was too much to pass on. It was then the scholars of Valoran decided to restart the calendar years to mark the beginning of the new era of peace. The new age is CLE.
The Dean of Demolition
The successes that came from the Yordle Institute only attracted more yordles to Piltover. Piltover now had an ethnic enclave of Yordle immigrants. The area the Yordle Institute was located was known as Little Bandle to the residence of Piltover. Yordle and human children play together in the streets and parks.
The most of the buildings are connected by skybridges. The Yordle Institute was the biggest building in Little Bandle. It was located on the corner of 21th and Double Street. With the success of the YIST, the Yordle Academy of Science and Progress was built for teaching any in Runeterra who wished to further themselves.
The Academy operates with both yordle and human professors. The streets were full of shops and business run mostly by Yordles. The Academy had three four-story buildings on campuses. The Yordle Institute is a group of exclusively Yordle deans handpicked by Heimerdinger. The classrooms were big and could seat a thousand students. Four tiers descended down to the professor's board.
There was an intro to Alchemy class going on. Ziggs droned on about the laws of thermodynamics as it applies to Alchemy. He would rather show the students how this worked, but the alchemy requires four lectures for every lab.
He clicked his tongue and tapped the board, "In the past, Runeterra has been in a constant state of war. For years, the people have been using the energy from what we like to call Potecites, or power crystals. For as long as the history of Runeterra has been on record, essence has been used. "
"It's used in Techmaturgy and hex-tech machines and is what sets Yordle technology apart from humans. It has been speculated that the over use of this energy is having a negative impact Runeterra. There have been signs of instability in certain reigns of Valoran caused by the over use of the power stones energy." he continued, mulling about the front of the classroom.
"The force that the Potecite produces is called essence. Essence force used to measure the amount of magic in a system. We use the letter Zeta as a marker for essence. This is the driving force in the world's entropy, or disorder. In thermodynamics, the second law of states that entropy increases during any spontaneous process. We can measure entropy by the fallowing equation; Entropy equals the energy dispersed divided by the essence in the environment." Ziggs elaborated in a high-pitched scraggly voice as he wrote key points on his chalkboard.
He would much rather show the students how this worked. The academy requires four lectures for every lab.
"Didn't you say that entropy was the measurement of much heat is dispersed in a system at a given temperature?" interrupted one of the students.
"I did, in my chemistry class." The professor said in a fast squeaky voice. "This is Alchemy, Chemistry is the study of matter and how it changes. Alchemy is they study of matter and how it changes…. with magic." The intonation of his voice was unwavering.
"What's the purpose of studying chemistry? Why not just teach Alchemy? I thought Runeterra runs on magic?" The boy's words were teetering on condescension.
"Well, I'm pretty sure the first day of class we went over that not all things in Runeterra run on magic. When things lack essence, the laws governing that force changes. Physics and Meta-Physics, Remember?" The Professor was starting to get annoyed with the boy. "This is why we take the prerequisites. If you don't mind, I'm going to finish my math." The exasperated professor said.
"Oh, I must have missed that lesson. I haven't been here since that chemistry lesson." The boy said bluntly.
"That was a semester ago!" Ziggs said looking back at the kid.
The four tiers were filled with students and among them the voice belonged to the body sitting on the top tier furthest away from the professor. The boy had yellow hair garnished with a pair of goggles.
"Oh, it's you." Ziggs grumbled.
"What!? The kid said shocked. "I thought you said that the exam was on the first of March!" the kid said earnestly. The kid only comes in to pass the tests and on the day of the reviews. That's all he needed to pass the exams. The professor didn't mind this. He liked to see the kid as little as possible.
"No, it was on December the third." The professor said slowly turning around to finish his lesson.
"Please tell me the dean of faculty told you I would be gone." The boy's voice wavered, his hands covering his face as he arced back in his chair.
"Ezreal, you are always gone, and now so is your grade in chemistry," Said the yordle professor.
"Aw, man! The headmaster said that if I ever failed a class, the university would halt its funding for my expeditions." Ezreal said alarmed.
"That sounds like a… you problem." The professor said bluntly, fully aware that the rest of the class was staring on at his and Ezreal's conversation uneasily.
"I'll have to take the class again, Chemistry is so boring." Ezreal grumbled, rolling his eyes.
The professor squawked, "Will you shut up!" he slammed his chalk on the floor. Wishing more than anything, it was Heptanitrocubane instead plan old Calcium Carbonate. The kid just would not let him continue his lesson.
"History is boring! Math…..MAAATTH, is boring!" Chemistry is exiting. Do you want to know how a bomb works? Ha Ha!" The professor tilted his tiny fuzzy head. His Cheshire cat smile grew, twitching on one side. His goggles hid his wild and crazy eyes.
"Then maybe you should have made it to one of two labs I get a semester. Maybe, if the board hadn't restricted my lab time the class would have been more exiting!" Ziggs's fuse was at its end.
"Is there a makeup exam?" Ezreal pleaded, "I've never failed a class, please Ziggs."
"You know what? Fine! I'll give you a makeup exam. Meet me in the lab after class." Ziggs said through his teeth.
Hours later...
Heimerdinger stood in the aftermath of the explosion. Bits of lab equipment, counters, and chairs strewn around the room. Ezreal stood silent, in the middle of the scorched room goggles over his eyes. The entire front of his body blackened and his hair had caught on fire. Ziggs was on the floor, laughing.
"Ziggs, seriously how many things must we add to the list of Things Ziggs Is Not Allowed to do at the Academy? Telling a student to defuse a bomb, while calculating the molar mass of nitroglycerin is not an acceptable makeup exam!" Heimerdinger scolded.
"Did I pass the exam?" Ezreal asked.
"Looks like that mole tunneled into your good GPA. I guess you could say it belongs in a MOLEseum!" Ziggs said hysterically and laughed aloud.
"Ha ha ha, you are hilarious Ziggs." Ezreal said defeated. He walked out the lab in search of the head master.
"I hope you intended to clean up this mess." Heimerdinger said sternly. "After you do if you could meet us in Halley's lecture hall."
"Right-O." Ziggs said snatching a broom. Time passed and Ziggs had nearly finished when the headmaster quietly walked in. Ziggs turned in his direction not expecting him to be their Ziggs jumped, dumping a dustpan full of glass on the flour.
"Oh, hay headmaster how's it going? Ha ha!" Ziggs laughed nervously sweeping up the glass again. The headmaster was human. He stood at the doorway a tall skinny figure that had a pale complexion. He wore a pair of khaki pants and a suit jacket with patches on the sleeves. His head, topped with a tuft of peppered hair with a ring of thin hair. His eye could pierce through your sole. He did not have to say anything to Ziggs. Ziggs started to get uneasy as the headmaster look for an answer for the question he did not have to ask.
"Oh, okay look, it was like this." Ziggs started "I know Ezreal does important things for the Academy. But he missed my exam, and to make things worse," he Ziggs explained, his speech gaining tempo. "He wouldn't shut up and let me finish my lecture." Ziggs paused to study the Headmaster's expression. He spoke not a word but motioned him to continue his explanation.
"If I let him get away with missing my exam, than the other students would think they could miss the exam. What about the other students? Not all of them passed but they showed up to the exam." Ziggs spread his hands in gestures to emphasize his point.
The headmaster looked around the room and walked over to where the bomb went off, picking up a piece of wax casing.
"It was harmless, Just a smoke bomb." Ziggs tried to clarify. "I enchanted it to go off if he got the question wrong. There was only one question. What? I was trying to make chemistry more interesting for him." Ziggs took a moment to think of more excuses.
The headmaster rolled his eyes and walked towards the double doors leading to the hallway. He motioned for Ziggs to follow him. Ziggs obliged hoping his explanations were enough for him. The headmaster was a kind man but did not like to speak. It was hard to know for sure what was on his mind. Ziggs tension was lifted when the turned in the detraction of the math wing of the building.
They entered a lecture hall with a plaque by the door that read, Halley S. Leavett Dean of Mathematics and Astronomy. Halley Leavett is one of the most talented mathematics experts in Runeterra, and an Astronomer. She worked as a living computer during the wars. She could calculate coordinates of a given target with just a compass and a map. She has hopes of making a giant telescope with the help of Casey Kassel the Yordle architecture expert.
The room was empty aside from Heimerdinger and Halley at the bottom. Taking turns adding to a rather large equation at that seemed to take up most of the chalkboard. The headmaster walked up to the board to add to the equation. Halley turned around. "Hey Ziggs, there you are! I need to help me with this equation on energy and essence." Halley spoke loudly sometimes her slurring words. Halley suffered from an illness that head left her deaf as a child.
"Do you have an idea where the essence used in magic goes after it is used?" Halley asked staring at Ziggs for a response.
"The energy used is dispersed evenly into its surrounding environment." Ziggs shrugged "The essence used in magic should do the same thing. I guess."
"Yes, Ziggs that's what we thought, but Halley has found something rather befuddling." Heimerdinger explained.
"In the regions where magic is used the most the sky above it seems to be warped." Halley tried to explain. She grabbed star charts from off her desk. "The first chart is over Summoner's Rift and the second chart I did further up north in Freljord. If you compare this the experimental control I drew in Demacia. Its looks like the light is more distorted the closer you are to a nexus. Almost like the atmosphere is bubbling over it."
"It would seem the essence doesn't dissipate like normal energy would. It's staying where it is and collecting around the area it is used in creating a dome or bubble over the atmosphere. This would explain why areas like the Shadow Isles and Kalamanda have yet to be stabilized." Heimerdinger explained.
"Why do you need me for this, my expertise is in bombs. Not the environment." Ziggs shrugged
"Ziggs, please, you are and expert in both alchemy and chemistry." Heimerdinger pleaded. "You should really try to broaden your research. Rlyeh will be retiring this year and you are almost at your tenure." There was urgency in his voice. The kind you find in a father telling his son that it was time to grow up.
"Why not ask Rlyeh about the essence warping the stars?" Ziggs said indifferently.
"You know he is not well. The man spent all his life trying to turn lead into gold. Who knew lead would turn out to be a neurotoxin?" Heimerdinger said.
"What? Okay, fine." Ziggs grumbled, "What do you need me to do?"
"Oh, thank you Ziggs. Why do you think essence is reacting like this?" Halley asked.
Ziggs looked over the star charts and compared them to one another. "It does seem like the sky is bubbling. Hmmmm." Ziggs found it interesting for a moment, till he looked at Halley chalk board filled with massive collaboration symbols and numerals both real and imaginary.
"Um, what's all that for?" Ziggs asked staring at Halley as he asked so she could read his lips clearly.
"Oh, that! Ha Ha. That equation is unsolvable." Halley giggled. "I put it on the board to show my students that there will always be something you don't know. I think it bothers those two that they can't find a solution." She gestured towards Heimerdinger and the Headmaster. Both were staring at the problem. Excited Heimerdinger wrote the number 42 in one of the placeholders, the headmaster shook his head no.
"Let me know if you have any ideas about what's going on, okay, Ziggs?" Halley asked with her hand on his shoulder smiling sweetly.
"I'll look into it. I promise," Ziggs assured her, half relieved that he did not have to know that monster equation. Halley was a kind Yordle she had always respected Ziggs as a colleague.
Ziggs stashed the star charts in a backpack and left the three professors to there conjecture. He scurried out of the academy when suddenly his little stomach started rumbling and he realized how hungry he was. He headed to one of his favorite food stands in Bales Street, just a few streets down from the academy was full of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. Dusk was settling into night, the sky was now at its blue hour.
It was not too dark but dark enough to accentuate the lights. Nowhere was more lit by fire and magic than Bales street where Ziggs felt the most at home.
It was among the weirdos and freaks. They thought his bomb swallowing tricks were cool and they loved his other explosive pranks. They never thought he was reckless or judged his maturity.
The food there was amazing. The air was filled with the scent of cinnamon sugar and bourbon sauce. The street ended at a fountain, the area was a hot spot for the Piltover locals. Ziggs went straight to his favorite food stand. Cali's chicken roasted in his famous firecracker bourbon sauce and blue cheese dressing. Zigg loved spicy food. Cali had made the spiciest sauce Ziggs had ever tried.
Street performers were almost everywhere. Any performance could be seen; some preformed magic or music, others showing off odd feats of endurance. Ziggs loved watching the fire-eaters the most. One of them spotted Ziggs as he scarfed down his chicken.
"Hay, Ziggs my man!" Lazio was a dark skinned human entertainer. His body was full of tattoos and piercings. Lazio is one of Ziggs students at the Academy. Lazio loved working with pyrotechnics and often would go to Ziggs for advice.
Ziggs raised his hand and waved at Lazio, his fingers covered in bourbon sauce. "Check out my flames. He pulled out his devils sticks. Holding one at the center of the sticks, he lit both ends. One end the flames glowed violet and the other flashed blue. Ziggs remembered teaching Lazio about using flame test to find elements. He had shown it to the class using his bombs that would explode in different colors depending on what chemical or element he put inside them. Then afterword's Ziggs allowed the students to burn different elements and chemicals to see what they would find.
Ziggs class was the only place where pyromania was encouraged as long as the flames didn't touch their homework.
"Where did you get the blue color?" Ziggs asked. The color blue was a very hard color to produce in pyrotechnics.
"Oh it's a trade secret so don't tell anyone. I am using copper compound. It burns blue when the temperature is just right. The purple is potassium obviously." Lazio began his devil stick routines. "The only down side is I can't eat the blue flame, it's too toxic."
Ziggs was impressed, not only had had Lazio found a way to make blue flame, he could produce it without magic. He watched his performance while trying to lick bourbon sauce out of his fur. He soon grew tired of sitting in the crowed. He took out a large towel from his backpack and drenched it in water from the fountain then used it to wash his face. He put the damp towel aside just in case something unintentionally caught fire. He started juggling his bombs but before he could light them screams came from the crowed followed by a load crash. This startled Ziggs causing him to lose his bombs in the fountain.
"My bombs!" Ziggs exclaimed, his temper gaining momentum once again.
"Later Ziggs!" Lazio ran with the crowed leaving his still flaming devil sticks behind.
A female figure ran out from behind the smoking building. "Ha, you missed me, Sis!"
The woman was tall. Her most noticeable features were her pink hair and giant hextech hands. Her face was cunning, ready for the fight. However, not as ready or as willing to deal as the girl running towards her down the street. The crazy blue haired criminal raced towards. Her sister was a skinny twig of a girl. She was paler than any human Ziggs had ever seen. Her pink eyes flashed with excitement as her twin beads flew behind her. The crowed quickly dispersed not wishing to get in the middle of the fight.
"Why don't surrender and we can call it a night," The vigilante yelled.
"Ummm, No," the criminal said derisively, shooting once again at the vigilante.
Ziggs fished around the fountain for the bombs he lost. He found all of them there wicks too wet to hold a light.
"These bombs were expensive." Ziggs said angrily.
"Here Vi, catch!" The criminal fired a large bullet at Vi. Vi protected herself using her Hextexh hands. However, the blast threw her back, crashing into Cali's food stand. The food cart destroyed, revealing a visibly petrified Cali hiding behind it. Ziggs saw the damaged food truck.
"First you interrupt me and ruin my bombs, then you destroy my food joint. Never come between a yordle with explosives and his food!" Ziggs growled aloud as took out even larger bomb.
"You like playing catch?" Ziggs shouted at the criminal as he withdrew his Mega bomb from in his backpack. Lighting it with the still flaming devil stick he threw it at the girl. "Catch this!"
The criminal tried jumping away from the bomb but was blasted off her feet.
"Ha ha! He got you good Jinx!" Vi laughed at her astonished face. Jinx did not expect a yordle to be so ballistic. He had come out of nowhere with such a huge explosive, this impressed Jinx greatly and to her further satisfaction he look so damn cuddly.
"Oh...My...God! You're like an explosive gerbil!" Jinx swooned, her face lit up with the creepiest smile. She stood up slowly, her glare never leaving Ziggs.
How could that have missed? Ziggs thought to himself. "Oh no! I'm outta bombs." Ziggs started to run but Jinx quickly caught up to him and grabbed him from behind.
"Oh your so cute look at him Fishbones!" Jinx pointed her rocket launcher at Ziggs face.
"Maybe you should let him go he looks scared." she said out of the corners of her mouth as she wiggled Fishbones's jaws open and shut, "Oh, don't be scared little bomb garble."
"My name is Ziggs. Put me down!" Ziggs struggled, trying to get Jinx to let go of the scruff of his neck.
"Jinx, Ziggs look uncomfortable, maybe you should let him go." Fishbones said again.
"Shut up fish bones, you are a boring gun and I hate you!" Jinx argued with herself.
"You're insane!" Ziggs said terrified.
"Why, thank you!" Jinx said giving Ziggs a big bear hug. "I like you too."
"Oh, HELL NO, woman let me go!" Ziggs shouted, "When are you going to get off your butt and help me Vi?"
Vi was incapacitated with laughter. She thought the whole confrontation with Jinx and Ziggs was simply too funny.
"Okay Jinx your time is up." Another voice called from behind her. It was Caitlyn, the sheriff of Piltover. "Put the yordle down." Ziggs knew Caitlyn from when he had blown the wall off the academy.
Jinx never stopped smiling until Ziggs bit her on the arm. "Ouch! Why did you bite me?" Jinx howled. Vi quickly snatched Jinx arms and pulled them behind her back.
"Looks like you got yourself a girlfriend Ziggs." Vi snorted.
"Honestly, do you ever try catching your charges Vi?" Caitlyn asked. "Or do you just like playing your cat and mouse games with them."
"We caught her didn't we?" Vi said
"Not without Ziggs's assistance" Caitlyn said. "Good work, yordle."
What the hell just happened? Ziggs thought. He shook his head and headed home. He had a loft a street away from the Academy. He climbed the stairs to his single room with a bed some milk crates, unfinished bomb parts and a writing desk. He took off his bags helmet and goggles. Then collapsed on to his bed falling asleep the moment his tiny head hit the pillow.
Ziggs had a strange dream. He was staring at the night sky with Halley on a cliff looking over the sea. The stars were flickering as they watched. Constellations occupied in odd positions in the sky. I while passed when Ziggs began to notice the stars seemed to be getting closer. The sky began to turn red as if it were hot iron.
The stars began to fall from the sky in the form of bombs as the sky began to boil. A crack began to appear a crossed the sky mirroring a crack forming over the ocean. Strange creatures from the void crawled up from the crack over the solidified ocean. Stranger ones flew down from the boiling sky. Runeterra below erupted in a violent explosion.
In the end, there was nothing.
Only Ziggs between two chasms.