His little, bandaged legs felt as though they were stretched to their absolute limit with the way he dragged them through the Shuriman sands. There wasn't any particular reason why he walked this direction in his endless wandering. It wasn't like he knew where he was going, not like anyone would give him directions. The sporadic times he'd actually find people to ask for directions they'd scream at the sight of him, so he wandered alone. It was something he got used to. Nothing ever broke the pattern no matter how much he begged and pleaded. It was always the same-
Amumu tripped on a tree root, shattering his thoughts as he fell face first onto the ground in front of him, a tuft of green cushioning the impact. Amumu lifted himself and stared at the green sprouts now pressed into a black, fertile dirt.
What was this? He put the full might of his mind to this task, trying to recall the name of the green stuff. The word drifted upwards: Grass. Amumu had most definitely seen it before. A memory sparked to life: He once tore a fistful of it up into his hands, laughing and giggling. A voice, murky and deep, gently chastised him to not pull the grass out because it's alive and deserves respect.
Amumu lifted his tiny body up and watched the grass curl underneath him, darkening from its once vibrant color.
"O-oh, oh n-no," he stammered, petting the dead grass in front of him, panic set in his still heart. "D-don't, don't die, p-please, I didn't mean i-it..."
It was to no avail, they withered and died despite his efforts. Amumu fell onto his backside, sending out a puff of calcic dust from every joint. As tears streamed from his eyes, Amumu realized that he was somewhere new. Straight ahead, foliage welcomed him to a strange new land. He slowly looked behind him, staring at the empty, sandy wasteland that he had come from.
It didn't really matter which direction he walked, it was all unknown to him.
Amumu pulled himself to his feet. He dragged one foot forward before he realized something: more grass would needlessly die because of the dragging. Something else had to be done. His limbs groaning from the exertion, Amumu attempted to walk on his toes across the grass, whispering, "Sorry," with every step he took.
The land he now journeyed through was an odd one to say the least. It had changed from a vivid green landscape to a mottled, stone-like gray. Even the grass now looked like little jagged rocks, but thankfully for his feet, was still as soft as grass was meant to be. Save for the occasional sound of some sort of strange high pitched singing, there was no sign of life. Amumu could not dwell on such thoughts, he had to keep the utmost focus on pace and apologies, nothing could be allowed to distract him.
"Boo!" a voice roared out in front of Amumu, sending him flying backwards, dead eyes wide open from shock.
"Huh? You're not Tibbers..."
"What? Tibbers?" Amumu exclaimed, regaining animation as he rolled himself into a sitting position, panic still aflame in his chest. His mind was instantly filled to the brim with questions, but he wasn't sure which one to ask first.
"Have you seen Tibbers? He's a bear, and waaay bigger than you and I. Like, super big."
No one ever asked him a question, ever. He had to answer it, he would answer it and help this person. Unfortunately, Amumu had no idea what a bear was, except that it sounded positively terrifying.
"N-no, s-sorry..." Amumu replied, and looked up to see who he was answering.
A young girl stood in front of him, with short hair as red as fire itself and big eyes a brilliant green. She wore a bright purple dress coupled with a pair of pink cat ears atop her head. Purple clothing, cat ears, oh dear... Amumu put two and two together: She had to be the goddess Miw, here to to take him back to that place.
"I didn't, d-didn't mean to wake up," Amumu started to protest, his hands raised up in front of him. "I-it was an accident-"
An accident. He woke in total darkness, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to see. When he attempted to push against the walls it was nothing more than a futile effort. Amumu cried out, screaming in the dark for hours on end for his parents to help him. Eventually his screams gave way to wailing, and when that failed, gave way to sobbing the moment as the truth set in: No one was coming. No one was looking for little Amumu. No one cared-
"You wake up cause you're supposed to, ain'tcha, silly?"
"W-what?" Amumu said, snapping out of his memory and staring at the girl, not sure what she meant.
"Well, you sleep, theeeen you wake up," the young girl said with a shrug of her tiny shoulders. "That's how it works, right?"
"Y-yeah, I guess...?" Amumu replied, stunned by the alien scenario. This was a first, he had to make sure nothing ruined it. Wait, did he smell? He probably smelled. Quick, change the topic. "S-so, you're not Miw?"
"Nope!" Annie sat down on the grass in front of him, grinning from ear to ear, "Hi, I'm Annie Hastur. What's your name?"
"A-ah, i-it's..."
Amumu, it's Amumu. That murky voice again, the hushed whispers of a lullaby floating in his ear, it named him their little sun, Amumu.
"Amumu."
Annie excitedly bounced up and down at the revelation, "Hiya, Amumu! Whatcha doin' in the petrified forests?"
"I'm uh...I..." Amumu started to say, not sure what to really say in all honesty. What was he doing here? Where was here?
Despite reducing his weeping into sniffles, there were still tears in his lifeless eyes. Amumu made the mistake of trying to wipe them away, instantly alerting Annie to them and changing her former inquiry.
"Why're you crying?"
Amumu thought on the question this time, and in a low, barely audible whisper, said, "Cuz I'm lost."
"Lost? Where are yer mum and dad?"
"I...I dunno.." he replied, two big dollops of salty tears running down his face.
Annie's cheeks puffed up, fiery indignation lit in her eyes.
"You dunno? That's no good!" She stood up, brushed her knees off and started to reach for Amumu's hand. "C'mon, let's take you to my mom and dad, and we'll figure out what to do, kay?"
She wasn't scared. She truly wasn't scared of him. Here she was, reaching out to him, about to grab his hand-
A memory bubbled up to the surface.
"Hello? Is anyone there? I don't mean you harm, I'm not here to hurt you," the voice called out. "I promise." A torch entered the room first and a gaunt man followed suit, looking about, taking one cautious step after the other.
"I-I'm lost, I can't..." Amumu said in a dry whisper, reaching up and grabbing the man's torch arm, causing him to scream in terror and drop the torch. "I can't get up. C-can you help me? Please?"
Amumu attempted to pull but the limb snapped clean off in his grip, sending the mummy tumbling to the ground. The man went from from screaming in terror to screaming in agony. Amumu stared at the quickly shriveling up limb in his hand, the fingers curling inwards and drying out in mere seconds. Upon realizing that he was the cause, Amumu dropped the limb and backed away, his eyes welling with tears anew.
"I-I-I-" was all he could muster by the time the man got up and ran, leaving Amumu alone in the now illuminated room.
Amumu could now clearly see the walls enclosed about him. Their faces appeared to have once been decorated with murals that were now all vandalized. Deep scars afflicted each wall, obscuring the details on every depiction. But thanks to the light, Amumu could clearly see the broken rubble of what was once his sarcophagus lid. Its beautifully decorated outside was marred by same scratches on the wall. Inside the lid there was an untouched image. Amumu dragged himself closer and was able to see the faintest lines of a standing child, the sun with its stylized rays at its back welcoming it while a circlet rested on its brow.
Was that him?
The glint of a metallic object caught the corner of his eye. Amumu dragged himself over to it, his legs gaining a bit more elasticity to allow him to stand somewhat properly, and he saw a round object at the side of the sarcophagus. Amumu dragged himself over to it and brushed away the dust, revealing a bronze shield shining. The shield held within it a peculiar image: a bandaged, soulless visage, and worse yet, it moved when he did. Amumu's hands shook as he reached and touched his face, the monster mimicking the same motions. He tugged at his bandages and started to pull them off his face, and as they slipped off, it finally set that he was the monster in the reflection.
Amumu snapped his mind back to the present just in time for Annie's hand about to close the distance, her fingers curling and ready to grab his hand. He threw himself backwards and shakily got to his feet. Fresh tears poured forth from his face, and he held his hands up apologetically.
"I-I'm sorry," Amumu said before breaking away into a surprisingly fast waddle.
Annie reached out to try and grab him when he initially jumped, but her fingers caught nothing but air. Annie had no time to ask any questions, Amumu had already fled. She could only stare off at the distance, listening to the sobs that became more faint with every second. Annie was in the throes of decision when a loud crunch behind her caught her attention. She reacted too late as fire crackled and an acrid wave of heat washed over her. Two giant, furry paws with steak knife-like claws wrapped themselves around her face. A guttural growl resounded throughout the forest, it finally caught her.
"Tibbers! There you are!" she giggled, looking up at the colossal, fire enshrouded bear that loomed over her. So hot were his flames that any stray wisps would instantly scorch what it touched, but Annie pushed past them with ease, unharmed, to give the beast a hug fit for a teddy bear.
The bear growled and snorted, causing gouts of flame to puff out from his nostrils, followed by plumes of smoke.
"Oh, that was Amumu. He's lost and scared," Annie said, releasing Tibbers from her hug. "And we're gonna help him."
Tibbers grunted at her, pointing to where Amumu had been sitting, directing Annie's attention to it. The grass was twisted and dead, robbed of its life rather than burned like the area around the bear.
Realization sparked in Annie's eyes, "Ohhh, that's why he ran." She already started to skip in the direction of the dead grass trail. "Well, come on!"
Tibbers drew back, frowning and growling in response.
"Well, yeah!" Annie shot back, stepping ahead of Tibbers. "He didn't want to hurt me so he ran! He's gotta be nice, and he's scared and alone. I wanna help him, and I'm gonna help him." She clapped her hands together and proclaimed, "So! Let's go!"
Annie skipped in Amumu's footprints while humming a giddy song. Tibbers shook his head before trudging behind Annie. She caught sight of his lumbering pace out of the corner of her eye and raced back to him.
"C'mon, Tibs!" Annie giggled, giving Tibbers a tug on his paw in her attempt to quicken the bear. "Let's go find him!"
Author's Note: To be blunt, I thought the Amumu short story was incredibly weak and did little to nothing to show us who Amumu is aside from information that we already knew. I got into an argument about it on the forums and I was asked to write a story that I would publish if I were Riot addressing my criticisms of the story. So with the constraint of writing under 2k words, I decided to do so, and here you go.