This is my first attempt at writing anything so any reviews would be greatly appreciated!
Failure and blood.
The sun had set hours ago leaving the whole valley under a blanket of darkness. There was a chill about the place but not from a breeze, the air was cold and inert. The world seemed to stand still with anticipation.
It was the calm before the storm.
Lux pulled back under the foliage drawing in a deep breath of air. Their goal was to infiltrate a staging point set up on the south side of The Great Barrier range by the Noxian military. They would rig the place with tactical nukes and blow the whole valley to hell.
The encampment was new. Though the Noxus army had long claimed control over the region, the desert northwest of Shurima was largely viewed as an irrelevant sector. That changed though when large army movements began across the continent south of the Barrier. High command was beyond concerned; to brave the shuriman desert was suicide and for the Noxian army to make the journey without aid was unthinkable. There were rumors, whispers, that the great city of Shurima had risen from the desert and it's new God emperor sought to claim sovereignty over the expansive desert. Could the Noxians be getting help from this new Shurima? If the rumors were true and the soldiers of the sand marched alongside Noxus then Demacia wouldn't stand a chance. But that fear was baseless there could be any number of ways the Noxian army positioned themselves for the flank. They could have undercut the desert and only traveled across it from the south to the north, a journey that spent much less time in the blazing heat of the desert than along the side the mountain range. Whatever the way the army had moved to its current position it was here now.
The attempt at a pincer movement by the Noxian military was obvious, it would be impossible to have a siting army this close to Demacia's holy city without being spotted. Regardless of Demacia's knowledge of the army's intent, it would plow through the troops on the front line should they make it there. Lux had been given the task to bring a team to the center encampment and eliminate it reducing the threat from the flank.
She peeked out again, hoping the encampment would look less intimidating this time. It didn't. They were to move in on the camp in only a few hours. Lux's mission plan put the timing for the frontal assault of the base at 6:30 am, when the force would largely be grouped up in the main dining area for breakfast.
She gazed the terrain, apprehensive of any new threats. Suddenly, far to east, abrupt movement caught her eye. She saw a dust cloud moving across the barren landscape toward the camp. A single rider it seemed speeding with urgency toward the eastern gate. Following the path backward Lux saw a guard tower she hadn't seen before. It was the perfect position to see Lux and her company. She knew that they had been spotted. The scout was sure to bring the camp to full alert as soon as he passed the gates. That wasn't an option.
"Matthew" she hissed.
A mid sized scrawny boy with brown hair and hazel eyes crawled up to the ridge. He looked excitedly toward the Noxian forward base knowing that soon he would see the place go up in a flaming grand display of modern military technology. He thought piltover nukes looked like fireworks.
"See that rider to the east?" she asked.
"Yeah what about him" his attention shifting from the camp.
"Drop him"
Matthew picked up a pebble, no bigger than a small berry, and held it in his palm. He calmly gazed out toward the scout. He loved using his magic, the rush of arcane power and adrenaline was better than any opium from south Shurima. During his schooling, the instructors only ever had him move large bulky sheets of rock around. It was a tiring, brute, inexact type of work. He much preferred precision.
Dropping his gaze to the pebble again, Matthew let his hand drop to his side. The pebble stayed still, floating as if his hand had not moved. It wobbled in the air for a moment and then it was gone, off down the slope toward the lone rider. The pebble didn't always work, if the enemy knew that there were long range casters in the area then it was all too easy to cast defensive magic over an entire legion that blocked incoming small projectiles. Unfortunately for this scout, the the Noxus army had no knowledge of this long range caster positioned on a mountain north of the camp. The pebble went straight through the scout's head killing him instantly.
With that crisis averted, Lux let out the breath she was holding. She was still secretly impressed with Matthew's sniping even after seeing it time and time again.
Lux's team was elite. She had two of the best snipers Demacia had to offer in Matthew and Katie. Mathew preferred his magical style while Katie, a blonde girl with blue eyes, carried a fifty caliber sniper rifle. She stood only a little taller than Lux and they were often mistaken for sisters. Then there was Anna, a brown haired mage with a affluence to telepathy. She had hazel skin and was the shortest of the group but still just as deadly as the rest. Ryan, a quiet brown haired archmage, was the secondary caster after Lux. Mark was a tactician and a master at sword play. He had messy brown hair and a bubbly attitude. Lastly there was Emile a defiant young blonde girl. She was an artist with a bow and held her love for fair battles highly.
"Fuck" Lux cursed bitingly.
Despite the swift death of the scout it wouldn't be long until the camp learned of his fate and be alert to potential danger. They had twenty minutes tops to get the explosives prepped.
They needed to move. Now.
"Matthew, Katie and Anna you're our eyes, find a cliff, stay put. We'll call targets, you'll take them out. Ryan, Mark, Emile, you're with me."
Lux paused, they all already knew this, it was for her sake more than theirs.
"On my mark"
She looked again at the encampment. Nothing had changed since she looked last. They were as ready as they would ever be.
"Mark!'
Leaping over the ridge she began to slide down the slope of mountain to her back the rest of her team right behind her. Her golden blonde hair whipped behind her, flying free in the air. She raised her staff and the air in front of her grew dark and dense as photons began to converge. She concentrated on a major central tower in the camp. A thin red line of ionized air particles marked the line between her and the lookout. The arcane energy built up inside of her released forward in a spectacular display forging an unmistakeable beam of light that cut across the night sky. The brilliant light collided with the central guard tower in the camp, slicing through its scaffolding causing the top of the structure crumble downward and the rest to collapse under its own weight.
If Noxians didn't know they were there before, they did now.
Lux continued her descent. She landed twenty feet below the ridge she vaulted over and continued her assault toward the camp. Lux reached out with her mind latching to an open node that was Anna, waiting for a reciprocal connection. Anna had always excelled at thought transmission and even though Lux was competent she knew that this long range connection was reliant on her.
Lux projected her thoughts "Have you found a good snipers nest"
Momentarily Anna responded "Yes, we're laying low now, trying not to get noticed"
"Good, they haven't spotted us yet but when they do have Katie and Matthew to open up on them." Lux commanded.
"Alright" Anna said.
Lux dashed forward, swiftly approaching the makeshift barrier of the camp. As the central tower completed its descent alarms went off across the camp. Shouting and screaming resonated outward from the wreckage and search lights began a hunt around the camp. The mountain behind them had leveled off and Lux was even with the camp now. A barren stretch of thirty meters was all that separated her from the northern barricade. The other three split off from her to the left, they would enter separately and lay the charges while she created a distraction to give them time. Only a few more steps until she reached the wall.
"Stop!"
A soldier stood behind a parapet blinding her with a spotlight. Lux didn't even look in the soldier's direction as she casually wiped her baton around and cast light magic that would kill him immediately.
"If you move another inch I will put a bolt through your head."
Lux froze.
"Drop the staff."
Had she missed? She uttered a swift incantation that would create a shield to block the attack should he lose the bolt from the cross bow. By the time he loaded another she would already be upon him. Only, nothing happened. The magic had failed.
"I said drop the staff."
Lux's mind rushed for a solution.
She reached out in her mind looking for Anna's node. She would just have Mathew put a pebble through his brain or have Kaite send a bullet between his eyes. Then she would back off and figure out why she couldn't use magic.
Lux heard a click. A thin metal spike ripped through her chest right below her left breast and pulled her to the ground.
She knew she had been shot. She knew she could only function now due to her shock blinding her from the pain and She knew she had to put all she had into reaching Anna. Grasping desperately outward she looked for the familiar node that she communicated with often.
"Ha, trying to reach your mind reader friend?" a rough voice asked from behinder her. Lux whirled her torso around, causing a biting pain to erupt from the wound. Lux winced trying to conceal her pain. A tall dark broad man with a scar across his right eye stood in front of her, behind him a troop of fifty noxian soldiers all with swords drawn ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"You won't find her, at least not now while she's taking a nice long nap"
Trying to buy time while she searched for a way out, Lux managed to stammer a meek sentence
"What are you talking about, I am just..."
The broad man cut her off.
"There is no time for her games, sedate her"
A soldier walked up Lux grabbed her by the back of her neck and stuck a syringe in the side of her throat below his hand.
The world dimmed.
Lux woke with a start. Someone had pulled the crossbow bolt out of her chest and did a sloppy job of bandaging the wound. The dressing was already soaked through with blood. She tried to stand but stumbled and fell forward failing to catch herself because her hands were bound behind her back. The wound in her chest stung bitingly. She pulled herself to her knees and dropped into a fit of coughing splattering the ground before her with blood. She felt light headed.
It was day now and the sun was blinding. The early morning light stung her eyes. She began to become aware of her surroundings. She was placed in the clearing in the center of the noxian camp she was tasked with destroying. There were two guards standing in next to her in full armour painted with red fist insignia signifying they were high royal guardians. She knew that should she try to run they would easily catch her easily, especially in the state she was in "Why were they here, at some small outpost camp, all the way south of the great barrier?" Lux wondered silently.
She gazed past past the guards and around the clearing. Then she saw them. She saw her team. They were lined up across the side of the clearing with three or four feet between one another. Each of them had their hands tied behind their back and to a heavy post close enough to the ground that they were forced to their knees. They were all gagged. She looked on in horror as passing Noxian soldiers kicked them and spat at them. Lux watched as Emile tried to stand but the rope that tied her hands together was tied to close to the ground keeping her on her knees. Anna looked at Lux with desperation in her eyes. Lux wasn't gagged but she knew better than to shout.
"Attention!" A guard somewhere shouted.
The soldiers that were kicking the six members of her squad backed off to the edge of the clearing and stood in a line in salute. Lux looked around behind her and saw another line of soldiers had formed creating a wide aisle in the clearing. A tall dark man approached from the left side of the aisle flowed by two more royal guards and a company of noxian soldiers . It was the same man from earlier when she had been sedated.
"At ease men" the man said.
The two lines of soldiers that stood at attention dropped their salute but stayed in their lines. The broad man took out a scroll he was carrying on his hip and began to read from it.
"These prisoners are found to be in violation of Noxian law. On multiple counts of murder, assault and treachery against the high Noxian regime all the following will be sentenced forthwith,"
The man paused for a second which allowed Lux to comprehend the information she was receiving.
"Ryan Bell"
Lux Looked to him, he was the farthest to the left, he didn't meet her gaze. His head was cast down and his posture was defeated.
"Emile Everhart"
She was next in the line. Even on her knees she kept herself as right as possible. She looked at the broad man with a deathly stare, gnawing at her gag.
"Anna Hierarch"
Lux didn't want to look toward Anna. She knew she would find desperate eyes. Eyes that begged Lux for a solution. Anna had trusted her. Lux turned her head to Anna and mouthed "I'm so sorry". Lux could feel tears welling up behind her eyes.
"Matthew Jensen"
The next in the line. His eyes were closed. His head was hung.
"Katie Lords"
Katie's gag was red, soaked through with blood. She fell into a fit of coughing that was dampened by the gag. More red blood fell below her gag and down her chin.
"Mark Oharden"
The last in the line, he gazed around the procession with a blank expression on his face, never meeting Lux's desperate gaze.
Lux felt helpless. The team would be taken to a prison camp to rot until the war's end. Her magic was somehow dampened and she was sure theirs was as well. From their the team would be treated as though they were not human, given no food and no time rest. They would be labored slowly to death building tools of war for the Noxians that would be used to kill their allies and friends. They would constantly be under the threat of death should they not comply with the Noxian commands.
But Lux gained new hope, there would still be would potential for their escape. If Lux or any of the other somehow figured out what was happening their powers and regained their affluence to magic they would easily brush past the security at the camps. And there was a good chance that a Demacian task force would be sent to rescue them as she was a member of the prestigious Crownguard family after all. And if all else failed they would be released once the war ended.
The broad man continued "All those previously mentioned are all hereby sentenced to death to be carried out immediately."
What? They should have been sent to a camp like all the rest of the prisoners of the war.
"No" she whispered.
No, this couldn't be happening. Executions were reserved for only traitors of the Noxian regime. They never killed enemy soldiers, as they could be used as labor and it looked bad to the international community to just run rampant killing the defenseless. The only reason the noxians would kill them would be… if they knew who they were. They knew of Project Mjölnir. Could they have known? It would explain the ambush at the camp, the instant failure of the mission.
The newfound realization sunk in.
"No" she yelled.
She go to her feet and dashed forward only to have her arms caught by the royal guards that stood at her sides.
"No spare them, kill me in their place!" she screeched as she tried to tug away from the guards.
"Gag her" the broad man said calmly.
No, no please" Lux stammered out. One of them grabbed the top of her head and another grabbed her jaw. They forced a wad of cloth into her mouth and tied another around her head securing the first one in place. They placed their hands on her shoulder and forced her to the ground. She managed to regain her composure and remained still on her knees, shaking slightly.
The broad man gestured toward one soldiers that stood off the side of him. He was carrying a long broad sword.
A group of honor guards walked past the broad man and to the six of them in her company. They grabbed each of them by their shoulders and forced them to their knees and and pushed their backs forward so that the back's of their neck's were fully exposed. Each of them was silent. Their heads were hung so that she could not see their faces.
The man with the sword walked up to Ryan. Lux's breathing got heavy. The sword was lifted above his head aligning its fall with Ryan's neck. It all seemed surreal. The biting pain in her chest felt distant. Ringing began in her ears and dull blackness clouded the sides of her vision. Lux felt nauseous. She desperately felt she needed to turn away but she couldn't. The sword fell.
Lux screamed.
With a distinct thud the sword hit the ground. It had passed clean through his neck. His head rolled to the floor. She was crying now, her tears were no longer repressed. The sword and its carrier began its Journey toward Emile. It felt like hours passed as the sword made its way to its next victim.
Lux's helplessness sunk in.
The executioner reached his destination.
Lux felt useless.
The sword soared to the sky.
She was unable to save her friends,
It dove to the ground.
Unable to save her family.
Through her neck.
They would die before her eyes.
And to the bloody ground.
They were already dead.
Lux was writhing against the guards now. Her vision faded and she slipped beyond conscious whether due to blood loss or shook she did not know.
Lux was taken to the infirmary.
Anna Hierarch, Matthew Jensen, Katie lords, and Mark Oharden were all executed presently.