Chapter 1: Just in Time
South of The Ironspike Mountains and North of The Institute of War.
"Faster men, faster!" A man screamed out as he and four others were chasing an injured woman across an open field.
The woman running was dashing as much as she could, but each time she did a little blood would spurt out of her wounds. Her right arm clutched her stomach, that wound was her worst. While her left arm dragged a jagged sword, that looked too big for her to carry. If the blood wasn't a good enough trail to follow the drag marks from her weapon definitely were.
On the far end of the field, in the direction she was running; sat a figure in the trees who had just noticed what was happening. This figure had wrapped itself in the tree branches to see who was yelling. Looking out in the field it saw the woman running and the men chasing her. The woman wore some pieces of armor, had bright-white hair, and looked as if she was already wearing bandages.
It was obvious to the figure, and the woman, that these men were gaining ground fast. She turned around to face them. With the jagged sword held up in her left hand she tried to get both hands to hold it, but the hand that was holding her stomach wound didn't reach the sword's hilt. Because as she let go of her stomach wound; much more blood began to pour out. So before she could put herself in a proper stance; blood loss took her into shock and she collapsed onto the ground.
The figure in the trees noticed her pass out and decided to take her side in this fight. Its flesh was a dark green, but then it changed instantly to dark purple. As the men closed in to deliver a killing blow, it stretched its form back on the tree branches and over to a neighboring tree, waited until it reached its fullest tension and launched its mass through the air at the men.
Halfway through its flight, the five men down below noticed it coming and ran around aimlessly; trying to figure out where not to be and where the mass will fall down. The mass fell down on top of the man who had been rallying his men. As the mass hit him it hardened parts of its body to inflict damage on the man. The leader crumpled to the ground; massive internal damage had caused him to die upon impact.
Then the mass exploded outwards; streams of its gooey fleshed latched onto each man and pulled them back inwards as it recoiled. Before they had been forcibly collapsed into where the mass had exploded from, it bounced up into the air so the four men could knock into each other's heads. The force they all took made their collective vision and motor skills malfunction. When the mass came back down between them it exploded once more. One line of gooey flesh hit each man. The mass had hardened the ends of each strike so when each man was struck in the face, they felt as if someone had slingshot a brick into their heads. At that point they all collapsed simultaneously.
Once the mass was certain they were all down for good, it turned back to a dark green color and started collecting them into a pile. Once they were all bunched up, including their dead leader, it anchored them and part of itself to the ground as it walked backwards towards the line of trees the men had chased the woman through. When it was at it's limit it launched the five of them high into the air, over itself, and out towards the tree line. As the men sailed through the air, some of them regained conscious mid-flight. Screams could be heard as two of them struck the base of one tree, one broke through many thick branches above them, and the dead leader and another man hit the plain ground and skidded to a complete stop.
The mass didn't even look over it's, uh, shoulder? To make sure they were dead. It ran on, uh, legs? Over to the woman and started checking out the many wounds she had. It must have had some skill in medicine, because it started dividing parts of its body onto her wounds to close them up. Dark green patches covered her body, and the gooey mass began to collect around her to prop up her feet and rest her head on its gooey flesh.
While still holding her, gently, the mass started to send streams of itself out to 'harvest' the grass around it. The 'harvested' grass changed into a green liquid and course through the mass to culminate at a spout it had formed above the woman's head. It poured the green liquid into her mouth.
She swallowed and opened her eyes. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" She screamed out and then coughed up a mix of blood and green liquid.
The gooey mass, uh, spoke? To her saying, "It's alright. I got you. You're okay."
"Uh, no, I'm definitely not okay!" The woman forced herself up in one quick flash and turned around, jagged sword in hand, to face the gooey mass with a proper stance. One that she realized was meant for fighting men and monsters, not whatever this thing was.
The mass spoke again, "I don't mean you any harm. You were in trouble, and you were injured. I was only trying to help."
The woman looked down to see all of her wounds were covered in many patches of near-solid dark green ooze. She started to panic, breathing in deep, hard and fast, and exhaling in the same way. Her breath started to make loud heaving sounds. She dropped her jagged sword and started to grab at the gooey patches in an attempt to get them off. "NO, NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!"
The gooey mass was now worried for the woman and it leaped over to completely embrace the woman inside itself. Its 'face' looked to make sure her head was the only thing not wrapped in its gooey flesh. "Calm down; you're going to open your wounds!"
The woman's limbs slowly struggled inside the gooey mass. She was getting more and more scared by the second. "PLEASE, DON'T! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS! LET ME FIGHT! FIGHT ME! GIVE ME A CHANCE TO FIGHT! I DON'T WANT TO MELT AWAY! LET ME FIGHT! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME LIKE THIS! PLEASE!" The woman began to sob. She was lost in her fear, which she couldn't ever remember having in the past. She had always been fearless, but this thing had somehow brought fright into her heart.
The gooey mass realized it needed to think of a way to calm her down, but couldn't, so it settled for, "I am not going to kill you. I am only trying to help."
"NO STOP! DON'T KILL ME LIKE THIS! PLE-E-EASE LET ME FIGHT! D-DON'T KILL ME LIKE T-TH-THIS! IT BURNS! LET ME GO-O-O!" She continued to scream and struggle inside the gooey mass.
The mass could feel her start to shudder inside its gooey flesh and was confused, "What burns?! Tell me and I can help!"
The woman stopped struggling to realize that her flesh wasn't melting; as she had thought it surely would. In fact, for the first time in her life, she felt real comfort inside this gooey mass. "You're not melting me. Why?"
"I don't melt people." The mass replied.
This crazed woman had finally realized that she wasn't dying, from the mass, she wasn't burning and her life wasn't in any immediate danger. "What do you want from me?" She asked.
The mass responded, "To help you. You need time to let your wounds heal, and you need nutrients to help you do so."
Allowing herself to calm down, the woman could feel her senses start to return. She could taste the metal in her blood as well as a sweet taste that blood doesn't have. She spat out what was in her mouth and amongst the blood that came out she saw dark green fluid as well. "Did you feed me that stuff?"
"Yes," the mass exclaimed, "its just nutrients for your body."
She closed her eyes and asked coldly, "Are you from Zaun?"
The mass was perplexed at why she would ask this, but replied honestly. "Well…originally yes; but not at this moment. I am a free man."
"A man?" The woman asked, confused. "Have you ever seen a mirror?"
This only made the gooey mass chuckle, "Well yes. I am not a man in the typical sense; but I was raised by my parents to be a man. So I call myself a man. The name is Zac, by the way. What's your name?"
"Riven." She struggled to free herself again. "If you're not working with Zaun, would you mind releasing me?"
"That depends; are you going to try and remove the patches on your wounds?" Zac asked.
"Yes." Riven replied.
"Well then the answer is no." Zac stated. "So unless you want to get very painful stitches, especially on that stomach wound, I can't let you go until your wounds have healed. Also, for the life of me I have no needles or thread. Sorry, but letting you loose to remove the patches would be very hypocritical of my overall intent. Just try to relax while your wounds heal. If you're hungry or thirsty I'll feed you more nutrients."
Riven snarled, "So I'm your prisoner now?"
"If that helps you feel better, than yes; just until your wounds heal. Ugh, look," Zac shifted his body to let Riven look out at the field she had run across earlier, "most of that is from you."
Riven opened her eyes wide to see a trail of blood on the grass leading from the tree line to where they were. All that blood, which soaked the ground, was hers, and she had just realized how close to death she had actually come. "Most of it?" She asked curiously.
Zac's 'face' contorted a little as he replied, "Well any of it that isn't yours, belongs to those men who were chasing you. Who were they by the way?"
"Noxus men, no not men, I knew men of Noxus once; those five were Noxus scum." Riven replied through gritted teeth.
"So," Zac paused to put emphasis on his next question, "you're from Noxus, eh?"
Riven turned herself around to face Zac's 'face.' The gooey mass let her do it without restraint; she wasn't trying to escape so he wasn't holding her back. "I was from Noxus at a time when it was pure. But that time is gone now and its leaders are corrupted with a need to slaughter the innocent."
"I'm sorry." Zac said.
Riven looked confused, "What are you sorry about. I am still Noxian; a pure Noxian."
"Well alright then, tell me more please?" Zac said with a 'smile' on his 'face.'
Riven squinted her eyes, "You'll forgive me if I don't feel like talking while I am trapped inside of you?"
Zac shrugged, something shoulders-like, and replied, "We have plenty of time while you heal. Enlighten me on your past."
"I'd rather not."
"Okay, what if I told you something about my past, and then you tell me something about yours. I promise it will help pass the time you need to heal up." Zac said to compromise with the white-haired woman stuck within him.
Riven sighed. She wanted to be free more than anything, but she knew she was too weak to force her way out. Not that she couldn't at full strength, but it seemed pointless right now anyways. So she settled for, "Okay, but no promises."
Zac smiled, "I'll take it."