Prologue: The Rise of a Star Guardian
At the beginning of the universe, the First Star's light was the only thing that shone, a bright beacon in an endless dark sky. From its radiance came the other stars, expanding until the universe we know today had formed. Things were peaceful for many millennia until a dark portal, the entrance to a warped and evil realm known as the Void, opened up, letting through all manner of foul creatures. The First Star, knowing of the threat the Void represented to its creations, sought to protect all that it had made lest the peacefulness of the stars be ruined by the voracious beasts that crossed over.
Thus, the Star Guardians were born. These guardians were granted the First Star's power to carry out their duties and keep their worlds from harm. For thousands of years, these powers have been passed down from generation to generation, ensuring peace is kept in the universe at all times. Those who become Star Guardians live a double life, keeping their mission secret from all others and pledging their lives to the cause. Star Guardians are often altruistic, pure of heart, loyal and courageous, never faltering or failing. However when the universe is in grave danger, when the oncoming storm looks to be more powerful than ever before, the First Star may look to awaken a more, shall we say, unconventional type of hero…
It had now been weeks since Jinx had left behind the ruined city of Piltover. Her beloved Fishbones was gone, and with nowhere she could restock her arsenal, Pow-Pow the Minigun was nothing but dead weight. Her life was at an impasse. While on the road she had started to remember things that had been long buried in her subconscious mind, memories of another city, of faces she hadn't seen in years. Something told her that this place was Zaun, the second technological powerhouse of Runeterra, and so with only a handful of memories to cling to, she was about to enter Piltover's bitter rival.
The moment Jinx entered the city, her heart sank. This didn't look anything like she'd thought it would. She didn't feel the sort of excitement she thought she'd feel from returning to her hometown. Everything about Zaun was ugly. The streets were all grey and muddy, permeated by ectoplasmic goo from the numerous experiments of the mad scientists that Zaun was best known for. Noxious green smog belched from the chimneys of factories and hung over the city, making it difficult to breathe. Frail, sickly-looking peasants were being frog-marched in and out of black, towering buildings by ghastly mutated custodians. Those who hadn't been rounded up were either begging for food with empty bowls in their laps or being set upon by vicious thugs. How could anyone live here?
Jinx wished she had some explosives with her. These factories were awful. This was one place that could really do with a little livening up. She wouldn't feel guilty about blowing these buildings up or shooting everyone because this place was a complete dump. Guilt was a very recent, and scary, emotion for Jinx, and every time it reared its ugly head she tried to suppress it, but without Fishbones to separate that part of her psyche from herself, she could not escape it. All the lives she'd ruined, all the people she'd hurt, they tormented her every waking hour. All she wanted was to be able to feel free again like she had before, to run and leap and play like a new-born lamb, but her own brain wouldn't let her. Why can't I just go back to how I was, she thought. Things were so much easier when Fishbones was around.
"Hey, you!" a gruff voice yelled from behind Jinx. She spun on her heels, surprised by this exclamation, and came face to face with a gang of thugs. There were four of them, all of them bulky and ugly in their own ways. One of them had half his fingers missing and pustules all over his face. Another wore an eyepatch that presumably hid a missing eye, but did little to mask the scar his face bore. The third was even more hideous, hunchbacked and slavering like a dog. The fourth, however, was an altogether different beast, a purple-skinned monstrosity with torn clothes and an assortment of large syringes embedded in his back. In his hand, he held a rusted, bloody meat cleaver, which was being pointed directly at Jinx.
"Oh, look, the freakshow's in town," Jinx quipped, but there was no laughter. Only growls of anger and that nasty cleaver waving about dangerously close to her face. "What the hell do you guys want? I don't have any money or anything worth your time, so buzz off!" Anger was another one of those emotions Jinx had grown to intensely dislike over the past couple of weeks. It made all her muscles tense up and her elbows feel all stiff and awkward, like she was turning into a scarecrow. Most of the time, her anger was self-directed, getting mad at herself for making the stupid decision to leave Piltover in some misguided attempt at atoning for her past sins, or for allowing her own recklessness to reach the point where making that decision had seemed necessary. Now, though, she was angry at these punks for being complete wastes of space, for being big bullies who wanted to steal her things and hurt her. Why did everyone always have to pick on her?
"Mundo doesn't care about that!" the purple hulk replied brusquely. "Mundo just wants to cleave skinny girl in half!"
"Not before we get a piece of her, you don't," the one-eyed thug said.
"Pretty little thing like you shouldn't be out on the streets by yourself," said the half-handed one. "Heheheh…" He reached out his intact left hand to grab one of Jinx's pigtails, but in a lightning-quick reflex she pulled out her remaining working weapon, the trusty Zapper, and fired an electrified round into his chest, knocking him flat on his back.
"Get her!" the hunchback commanded, grasping with both hands as Jinx turned to run away.
"MUNDO!" shouted Mundo as he and the other thugs pursued her down the bustling streets. Jinx's boots were worn from all the running she'd been doing these past few weeks, and unlike back in Piltover, she hadn't had a chance to change them. Nobody in Zaun would accept money from anyone they even suspected of being a Piltie, so there was no way she could even attempt to buy new ones at this time. They wouldn't hold out much longer, and neither would she. The adrenaline rush that usually came with mowing somebody down just wasn't there. She'd done what she had to do, and now another of those uncomfortable emotions was racing through her mind. Fear.
In her prime as the terror of Piltover, Jinx never felt fear. She was untouchable. For years she'd been evading justice, destroying whatever she pleased and laughing all the while. She always managed to stay one step ahead of law enforcement, waving through the narrowest of alleyways with ease and blasting her way through any walls that got in her way, leaving whichever hapless officer was on duty to traverse the rubble if they wanted to catch her. By the time they'd managed to clamber through the wreckage, she would be long gone and well on her way to her next destination, ready to blast off again. Destruction and carnage ran through her blood, empowering her, and now that this vital element was missing, she felt weakened, crippled by self-doubt. She could tell she wasn't running at her usual pace anymore, and that scared her even more.
From behind her, Jinx heard a whoosh as an object flew through the air, followed by a sharp pain as Mundo's infected cleaver dug into her back, right between the shoulder blades. She screamed in agony as she fell to the floor in a heap, collapsing onto the sticky cobbled pavement. Nobody came to her aid, even though she could see onlookers gawping at the spectacle unfolding before them. All of them were complicit in Zaun's crimes, unwilling to put themselves at risk to offer aid as the purple monster planted his foot on the small of her back and yanked his cleaver out.
"Someone, help me!" Jinx screamed, frustrated and saddened that these people were content to leave her to her fate. She remembered the boy who shattered time, the one with the Mohawk and the hourglass painted on his face, and the fact that he had lived here in Zaun. They had known each other once, before she started talking to guns and before she broke his heart by leaving for Piltover. Why couldn't he come and save her? Had he forgotten her, as she had once forgotten him?
"Mundo does as he pleases!" Mundo declared as he removed his foot from her back. Jinx tried to crawl away, but the other two thugs quickly blocked her path. Whichever way she turned, they followed, circling her until she could no longer hold herself up and collapsed onto the sidewalk.
"Sorry, girlie, but you're comin' with us!" the hunchback said, painfully yanking one of her pigtails. The one-eyed man proceeded to grab the other pigtail and together they began to drag her away from the scene of the crime, their victim crying and flailing as she tried to escape their vice-like grip on her hair. The pain was unbearable, from the open wound on her back that left a trail of blood along the road, the scraping of bare and hardly-concealed skin along the floor and the harsh tugging on the back of her head that brought her ever closer to doom.
Time seemed to drag on for an eternity. Jinx thought perhaps this would never end, that she would spend forever trapped in this moment. These three thugs, with the fourth set to arrive soon, were taking her to a dark place where they were going to do unspeakable things to her. This wasn't what she wanted. This was a worse punishment than anything that the Sheriff of Piltover would ever be able to devise. Now she realised why she'd never been scared of the police. It wasn't because they couldn't catch her. It was because even if they did catch her, she'd only be put behind bars, not subjected to the sort of torture these barbarians were planning. It wasn't the law she needed to be scared of. It was the people avoiding the law.
The dragging eventually stopped in front of a frightening abomination of a building covered in ivy. What little of its foundations that could be seen were a dull grey in colour, and the door was as red as the blood that covered Jinx's back. Everything hurt. So much skin had been scraped off from all over, Jinx thought it might be gone forever. While the tugging of her hair had stopped, the grimy, sweaty hands of the thugs still held her pigtails tightly in their grasp. Mundo produced a set of keys, staring at it with his small, piggish eyes to discern which one would fit the lock. While he fumbled with the lock to allow his crew entrance to the foreboding chamber, the others talked.
"Never had one this skinny before," said the hunchback. "Hope she can handle it!"
"You better not break her before my go," the half-blind man replied. "And as for Eld…"
"He likes 'em nice and still," the hunchback said. "Then again, I would too if a bitch ripped half my fingers off!" The two of them laughed like asthmatic hyenas as they recalled one of their previous victims. Jinx felt horror creeping across her whole body, knotting her guts as her powerlessness became even more apparent. She was going to die, but only after being abused and humiliated by these scumbags. Nobody would hear her screams and cries for help here. The walled were padded and soundproofed specifically to prevent that. The tugging started again, this time along a foul greasy linoleum floor that even in the poor lighting of the room Jinx could tell was covered in all manner of stains and bodily fluids. Mundo closed the door behind them, shutting out the light from the outside world, and on his command the other two thugs hoisted her up onto a slab.
"Strap her down," Mundo said, and very quickly the other two degenerates ensnared Jinx with tight leather straps across her wrists, ankles and torso. All the strength had left her body after the cleaver hit her, so she was unable to fight against her bonds.
"Mundo need surgical equipment!" the purple one barked. "Can't experiment without apparatus!"
"Ah, come on, Mundo, can't you do that after?" the one-eyed man asked, clearly aggrieved.
"What does it matter to you anyway? You can't even see her properly!" the hunchback retorted.
"You know what he does to 'em," said the man with one eye.
"Mundo expects orders to be followed!" bellowed Mundo. "Mundo get to work on her first, then others have fun with her!" Jinx didn't think what was in store was going to be any fun at all. If she wasn't having fun, it was bad. Very bad. The fire that burned within her earlier had gone out, the rage and fury poured away and replaced with complete and utter despair as it became ever more apparent that she was going to meet with a terrible fate. She wasn't ready to die. Not like this…
You have nothing to fear, child.
A calming voice spoke with utmost clarity. Jinx looked around to discern the location of this mysterious speaker, but there was nobody else. Where was it coming from?
"Who said that?" Jinx asked, afraid that she was going to lose what little grip on reality she had before she died.
"Nobody said anything," said the hunchback. "Now be a good girl and shut up."
Only you can hear me, child. I am the First Star, and you are destined for great things…
"Okay, Mundo ready to make first incision!" Mundo declared, pulling on a pair of green rubber gloves. The gloves were far too small and tore as he tried to wrap them around his hands, but he did not let this discourage him as he brandished his cleaver, bringing it ever closer to Jinx's delicate skin.
"No," she said. "It's not time for me to die yet."
Let the light of the First Star flow through you and awaken your powers. Become the Star Guardian you were born to be!
Time seemed to stop. Everything froze as Jinx became enveloped in a brilliant white light that seared through her bonds, allowing her to break free as the power of the stars took hold. Jinx felt the strength return to her body, allowing her to stand once more as her captors shielded their eyes from the harsh light. The invigorating illuminations began to change her physically, giving her a much healthier complexion than the deathly white she used to be, changing her outfit from an assortment of belts and not much else into a similarly small sailor school uniform and fashioning her blue braids into a more traditional red twin-tail style.
"I don't know what's going on, but this is awesome!" Jinx declared. "All I need now are some sweet firearms and we're good to go!" Almost as though the deities were listening, the moment she uttered these words, two small cat-like creatures, one black and one white, appeared in front of her and transformed themselves into a golden, winged minigun and a black and gold rocket launcher that looked like it was forged from stardust. With child-like glee, Jinx took them both, attempting to sling them across her shoulders so they rested the same way as her old weapons had, but upon doing so realised that only one of them was willing to stay in its weaponised form at a time. Jinx soon gave up trying to get the two to cooperate and settled for the machine gun, pointing it in the direction of the man with the scarred face.
"What in Mundo's name just happened?" Mundo asked, dropping his cleaver.
"You guys just got toasted!" Jinx replied, riddling the one-eyed creep with glittery bullets. Jinx was already in love with her new weapon, especially the way each bullet sparkled when it hit its mark. This was so cool. She didn't know why this had happened, and frankly she didn't care because the only thing that mattered was that she had some cool new guns. The hunchback tried to run for the door, but before he'd made it two feet, Jinx had already blown his hump wide open with a star-infused rocket. She reached to her holster where she traditionally kept her stun gun to find a shiny new one waiting to be used. Mundo was a perfect target dummy as his sheer bulk made it almost impossible to miss him at such close range. The volley hit him squarely in the chest, causing him to collapse to the ground on top of his rusty cleaver.
"See ya, losers!" Jinx said, blasting a hole in the wall with her new rocket launcher and running out into the street, leaving people bewildered. At this point, she realised that she herself was unclear on what exactly was going on and what these strange creatures that were flying around her head were.
"Okay, this is cool and all, but what exactly are you guys?" Jinx asked. The black creature purred and chirped in an attempt to communicate. "Voice in my head, fill me in!"
Shiro and Kuro are fairies crafted from stardust to help you on your journey. Treat them well and in time you will come to understand them.
"Right, gotcha," Jinx said. "Couldn't you have picked better names, though?" She wished the First Star had come up with something cooler than the Ionian words for black and white. Pow-Pow and Fishbones were way better names. But, she supposed, these two would never need reloading since they seemed to be purely magical, so she could live with it. For now.
Listen to me, and listen well. You are now a member of the Star Guardians, entrusted from this day forward with the safety of the universe…
"But I just wanna blow stuff up," Jinx said. None of the pedestrians staring at her quite knew how to react to a girl talking to herself while two magical cat-fairies flew around her head. Some of them quickly looked away and resumed walking, while others continued begging for alms.
Your powers are greater than you know. They must be used for the right purposes. Seek out the other Star Guardians, for dark forces are growing in this world, and you are the only ones who can stop them…
"Uuuugh, I didn't sign up for this," Jinx groaned. "There just had to be a catch, didn't there? Nobody's gonna just hand me weapons for free, nooooooooooo, I've gotta use them for saving the freakin' universe! Bummer!"
Do not draw attention to yourself, lest your mission be compromised. The best course of action would be to rendezvous with your fellow Star Guardians. Go to the Yordle Academy and seek them out. With all your powers combined, the world shall know true peace at last…
The Yordle Academy. She knew that place. She knew it all too well, in fact, because it was situated right in the heart of Piltover. Great, just great. The one place she'd sworn never to return to. But, she reasoned, she was no longer the same person, and she didn't look anything like the posters anymore, so perhaps she'd be able to go back and fit right in after all. Maybe she could rub it in Hat Lady and Fat Hands' face that she had cool powers now and they didn't. They'd never be able to catch her now. But how to get back there? Walking all the way back was gonna be a huge pain in the butt. Perhaps…
"Hey, you two, I've got an idea," Jinx said, grabbing the two little fluffballs and smashing them together to create a gigantic star-spangled rocket. Climbing aboard and pointing herself towards Piltover, she gave the order. "Fly me to Piltover! I've got unfinished business to attend to!" On her command, the rocket blasted off into the sky, leaving a rainbow trail behind and raining sparkles down on the city of Zaun.