Story One : A dance of shadows

(Irelia & Zed)

The cold steel of her swords felt reassuringly familiar in Irelia's hands after a day spent looking at maps and reading reports. So it was with great reluctance that she finally released the hilt of her blade and let it float up to her shoulders, joining its sisters with a tremble.

Sweat ran down her brow, dripping off her nose and staining her plain white tunic. As usual, Irelia had removed her heavy armor and ceremonial crest as soon as decorum allowed it. Even now, with midnight fast approaching, the air was stifling and the sun hung hesitantly at the edge of the sky.

With a muted groan, Irelia stretched her arms out, wriggling her fingers and flexing her sore muscles. Ever since her great victory at the Placidium, she had begun to see less and less of the enemy and more and more reports about the enemy. Only once her duties were done and the day was over could she even relax into familiar katas and practice routines with her blades. Which she would invariably do, be there sun, stars, snow or storm.

The halls of the great palace palace were mostly deserted except for a few servants finishing their duties and the occasional guard, who would never fail to salute her and stand to attention until she had walked out of sight. At first, Irelia had felt uncomfortable with such honors, but one grew used to it when one was surrounded by them day in and day out.

A gentle breeze stirred the heavy air and Irelia paused at the window from whence it came, reaching up and pulling the pin out of her hair. When she trained, she kept her hair in a tight knot, careful to avoid getting it caught in either her armor, or her blades. The tightness in her scalp disappeared as her dark waves of hair unraveled and fell around her shoulders, stirred by the soft whisper of wind.

She closed her eyes and leaned forward, her hands resting on the cold stone. For now, she and her people were at peace. No more soldiers and citizens alike dying in the senseless slaughter the Noxians and Zaunites had wrought upon them. Now, instead of planning battles and leading her men, Irelia hunted shadows.

A grimace crossed her pale features and she pushed herself away from the window. The gilt halls around her glittered in the dying embers of the sun, reflecting golden light throughout the palace. Shadows, as it were, were incredibly hard to catch. Even with the Kinkou standing at her side, the Order of Shadows and their ever elusive leader slipped through her fingers like sand every time she sought to close her grasp around him.

For the past year, she had been hunting Zed and his followers, to no avail. Irelia's hand clenched at her side as she walked through the deserted halls, stewing in her own frustrations. How could anyone remain so elusive, when so many resources were thrown at them in an attempt to find them?

The main gardens were as empty as the nearby hallways as Irelia strode through them. Gentle scents of herbs and flowers reached her and her steps slowed. Karma always said the gardens helped her refocus her thoughts. Halfway through, Irelia stopped next to a fountain and knelt in front of it. Water shot in glittering jets from the mouth of a stone fish, like a thousand diamonds.

Slowly, her anger abated and Irelia breathed out, closing her eyes. As her senses returned to normal, so did her sharp mind. Her eyes shot open and she jumped up. At first, she had disregarded the empty halls because she was so caught up in her own thoughts. However, the gardens were never deserted. Regardless of the time of day, they had at least two guards patrolling it, she would know, she had assigned their roles.

Now, there were none. Two of Irelia's blade slipped down her arms and she caught them easily, while the two other ones circled her slowly of their own volition. A flash of movement in the corner of her eye had one of her blade zipping through the air and slamming into a pillar. The old stone cracked like a glacier and her steel buried itself into the stone.

She yanked it out with a thought and it flew back to her. Another shadow flickered, just out of her vision and her heart pounded faster in her chest. Perhaps she didn't need to hunt down the Order of Shadows after all. They had come for her instead.

They were assassins and trained killers, Irelia was a soldier, alone in an open space. If they wanted to kill her now, she did not doubt that they could, through trickery or numbers. Slowly, her sandaled feet barely making a sound against the soft grass, Irelia retreated towards the halls she had just left. If she was fast and silent, perhaps she could warn the guards in time. Assassins were not dealt with easily, but they could not do their job when faced by an army.

A whisper behind her had her spinning around with her swords at the ready, one in each hand and two more floating above her, quivering like two straining arrows.

The hall before he was choked in shadows and the whispers grew louder, until it was like a hundred voices, desperately calling out to her. Another step closer and their pleas increased. The shadows twisted violently upon themselves. A figure stepped out of the writhing darkness.

Irelia was a tall woman. She towered over the short Soraka and even Karma and Master Yi only reached her brow. The man before her still looked down on her. His eyes burned with a red fire, like the furnace of an evil god and his figure looked like carved stone, wrapped in steel and black cloth. Two large vambraces covered his arms and in one swift movement, a pair of blades slid out of them like claws.

Yes, he fit the description that Shen had given her. "Zed," she said in an even voice, despite her pounding heart. Why did the air have to be so damnably unbreathable? It felt like she was choking and she hadn't even crossed swords with him yet.

"Don't bother looking for help."

Gods, what kind of normal human being had a voice like that? It echoed as if he spoke from within a cave, and his helmet twisted his words until she could almost imagine him spitting each one out like a particularly disgusting morsel of food. He tilted his head to the side. "Your guards are dead."

"You will die too, for your crimes," she replied. Perhaps she should have kept her armor, though she doubted the steel would have stopped the man in front of her from finding weaknesses and gaps. His minions were strong, she had fought them before and she dared not imagine how talented their master would be. "Have you come to kill me yourself, or will you leave your minions to do that."

"They are too weak to kill you," he replied in a matter of fact voice. "A waste."

Irelia's eyebrows shot up, and her surprise must have been clear for Zed laughed. It was not a pleasant sound.

"You are strong, Will of the Blades," said Zed and though it must have been a compliment, his voice dripped with condescension when speaking her title. "You would have been a great Shadow."

"I am not a monster, nor a killer like you."

He was silent then and merely stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head slowly. "You people will never comprehend their deception, or what they truly represent. That is why you must die."

"Their?" asked Irelia, her interest piqued despite herself. Shen had warned her that Zed was a manipulator as well as a trained killer. She should not be listening to him, letting him delay the fight and play with her emotions. But few had ever heard the Shadows speak, and none could claim to have traded words with their Master.

"It doesn't matter," spat Zed and he took a step forward, falling into a combat stance. "You will be dead soon."

He was fast, faster than anyone she had ever seen. Even Master Yi, with his swift blade and lightning strikes couldn't compare to the fluid speed that bled through Zed's every move. His first strike was parried only by the agility of her free blades as they zipped down and batted away his own. Her foe flowed with the parry and darted beneath her first blow, bringing up his second blade to slice at her knees.

Irelia had struck to evaluate, learn what her foe was made of and if possible, incapacitate him. Zed struck to kill, maim and hurt. It became ever more apparent as they clashed through the gardens, trampling flowers beds and leaping over bushes with agility born of hundreds of hour of practice. At first, Irelia faltered beneath his rain of blows. Every one of them was like the strike of a scalpel, with an intended destination and a precise path. He was unwavering and unhesitating.

As the fight went on though, her warriors mind took over. She began to decipher patterns in his attacks, and more than once, her blades jumped into the path of his blows before he had time to fully commit, breaking off his offense abruptly.

Where she had begun by backtracking into the flowers, now Zed had to trample herbs as Irelia slowly amped up her speed. Four swords was more than two, a simple fact that had won her countless fights. Even against an opponent as skilled as Zed, it began to show.

He parried another blow and leapt back, smoothly somersaulting over a large bush. His chest was heaving, no doubt almost as much as hers and she felt an absurd flash of pity for him. He must have been boiling beneath all that armor and leather. Irelia lifted a finger to pushed back a string of damp hair.

The thick silver bracelet on her forearm saved her life. In it, she saw the reflection of something dark rushing at her from behind and leapt to the side at the last moment. The bush dividing them was almost cut in half as a dark figure slashed where she had stood a moment before, then dissipated.

"You have no honor, I thought this was between the two of us," she growled, getting back up and ignoring the trembling in her legs.

Zed didn't move, except for another tilt of his masked head. "My assassins are long gone, girl."

"Then who-" she was cut short as something appeared above her and forced her to dodge out of the way. This time, she got a good look at her unknown attacker and barely held back a gasp. The shape was distorted and made of pure darkness, but the resemblance was unmistakable. It was Zed.

Another one of his laughs, as Zed took a leisurely walk around the bush towards her. His chest had stopped heaving and he seemed ready to fight once more. Irelia felt far less prepared. "Did your precious Kinkou not share that detail? Did you think I named it the Order of Shadows in a flight of fancy? Fool," he snarled, and struck again.

Suddenly, the balance was no longer in her favor. Four blades were good, but it barely balanced it out when facing two enemies at once. While her own silvery swords flew through Zed's shadow as if he were a ghost, she had no doubt that its own blades would not do the same to her.

The gardens once more filled with the clash of steel upon steel, and her grunts of exertion as he pushed her farther and farther back. Half a dozen cuts adorned her now, like bloody tattoos and she prayed that he hadn't poisoned his blades, for she doubted anything would save her if he had.

Finally, she could take it no more and the next time his blades slammed into her own, her arms gave out and they dropped from nerveless hands. She stumbled back and her two floating blades took their fallen sisters places, while the shadow darted down and kept a boot over the ones on the ground. They vibrated beneath the shadowy shoe, but did not move.

"Now, your pathetic crusade against me and my own ends. Your followers will learn to leave us be," said Zed, taking a step forward and pulling a sharp metal disc from his back.

Irelia's vision was blurred with sweat and exhaustion. She had never fought so hard in her life, never been so close to the edge of defeat. Her whole body ached as if she had been dueling a Noxian with a warhammer and taken blows, repeatedly. The assassins strength was incredible, but alone she could have defeated him. With his shadow…

Taking a deep breath, Irelia grasped her swords in sweaty hands and forced her legs to stay steady. If she had to die, she would not let him take her quietly, slicing her throat from afar with his steel discus.

"Irelia!" shouted a voice so familiar she almost crumpled to the ground in relief. With blurry eyes, Irelia saw a figure robed in purple rushing to her, an aura of green power roiling around her like fire. Even from this far, she could feel the rejuvenating powers that Karma always kept in check as it roiled over her and filled her veins with new fire. The gash on her brow scabbed over in an instant and she could suddenly see clearer.

Before her, Zed hissed in annoyance and turned towards the disturbance. Karma stood in the middle of the courtyard, her whole body alight with power and her eyes two orbs of fire. Even during the war, Irelia had never seen her friend let loose so much power.

The assassins disk went flying towards her and fizzled into nothing a few feet in front of the mage. In return, an orb of green fire blasted through Zed's shadow and it disintegrated with a muted wail.

"Your presence is not welcome within these walls, assassin."

By the time Irelia turned back to Zed, he was already gone. In his place, a few shadows roiled on the ground and dark runes began to fade around them. Some sort of ritual of escape, and a promise to one day return and finish the job…

A/N: Hey, hope you enjoyed the short. I'm probably going to update this with other shorts whenever I feel inspired. They will be loosely linked and some might continue previous ones.
If you want to see a particular one, post a review about it or pm me. No guarantee but you never know, I might like the idea.

(Sorry about the spelling, it usually isn't stellar when I don't have someone revising for me.)