Broken Wings

'This match has been going for around 15 minutes now', Pantheon figured to himself in his head as he dislodged his spear from the elder lizard's chest, 'and still there has yet to be a satisfying fight that has slaked my thirst for combat. Sure I've slewn many a creature in the jungle that was provided in the Field of Justice known as Summoner's Rift, but I'm aching for a good fight with a skilled opponent, as was the very reason I'm even at the League of Legends.' Just as doubts were being to manifest in his mind, he felt the tell-tale chill run down his spine and the feeling of endless void open inside his head. Someone was trying to contact him telepathically.

"What?" Pantheon said, with a slight hint of annoyance in his mind-voice.

"Pantheon, Artisan of War." Replied the balanced voice of his summoner.

"Oh. It's you." Pantheon sighed.

"I believe our comrade in the top lane requires assistance. We should-"

"You mean I should." Pantheon interrupted with contempt dripping from his tone.

There was a brief pause before the man responded, "Right, YOU should make YOUR way up to him to offer YOUR assistance." His summoner replied with the quaint subtly of sarcasm.

Pantheon smirked from inside his cast iron full helmet, "Why, Hux, I'm not causing you to lose your calm am I?" He taunted, whilst tugging on the mental string in his mind to start the recall procedure to return to his base.

"You couldn't unbalance me if you shoved me off a cliff; and i told you not to call me that. My name is Summoner Kindle, Summoner Huxley Kindle, and I am a gold ranked sum-"

"Yeah yeah, save me the speech oh grand lord of the institute!" Pantheon retorted with heavy sarcasm, cutting off his summoner mid-sentence. As soon as he finished his thought he felt the line of communication cut off.

Why he was paired with such a pompous, arrogant summoner he couldn't understand. He thought to himself as he teleported back to the blue side base, 'It's not as though the man was incompetent, far from it.' Pantheon recalled the multitude of training and actual matches that Hux had overlooked him in, and the man was actually was very good at utilizing Pantheons skills. 'He just wondered why the guy was always, and he meant always, so damn uptight.'

"Well that's plenty of thinking for now," he said aloud as reappeared on the blue side fountain. He stared forward and looked over at the Nexus. It had a giant floating blue crystal, hovering mid-air over it with two giant towers shaped like men in robes holding scepters right in front of the structure itself, ready obliterate anything remotely purple that came near it. That was the objective of the match, destroy the other side's nexus. He turned and looked toward the shopkeeper, a small man only around 4 feet tall, but plump and had a rather large white moustache and beard. Pantheon mentally checked his gold amount: 1,578. "Good," he said aloud as he purchased a badge that read B.F Sword on it. He took the badge and attached it to the inside of his shield, next to the other 3 items he had already obtained. He had a Spirit of the Ancient Lizard, Boots of Mobility, and a Black Cleaver. As the badge went into its slot Pantheon felt a noticeable increase in his strength, which elicited a menacing grin from behind his helmet.

Next, he sent a mental message to his teammate in the lane he was going to help as he started his light jog to the lane. 'Garen, be ready. I'm on my way.' It was a several seconds before he received a message back. In the Demacian's deep voice he heard: 'Thank you friend, your help is most welcome. I shall be ready when you arrive.' Pantheon was actually thrilled to be assisting Garen, for the reason that so far he had not yet seen another champion who had near the amount of bravery as Garen had. The man was fearless and a fierce fighter at that. 'A good ally to have attained' he thought inwardly.

Since Pantheon's arrival at the Institute, which wasn't that long ago, he hadn't really tried to make any connections with anyone there other than his lifelong friend Leona. But a little over a week ago, when Pantheon was in the League's weight room he had pulled a muscle in his chest while benching alone. Pantheon had thought himself alone but right before he dropped the tremendous weight on himself none other than the Might of Demacia had lent a hand to help him out. Since then they had been near-inseparable, though mostly at the gym and track (where Garen repeatedly smoked Pantheon in races). Now it was Pantheon's turn to return the favor and give a little help where help was needed.

As he approached the lane from the river he snuck into a nearby bush that granted vision of most of the lane without being seen himself. He peered into the lane and could see that Garen was on the left behind the minion wave, occasionally picking one off as it got low. When he looked to his right he could just make out the figure of Garen's lane opponent, and what he saw stunned him. It was a women, but unlike any women Pantheon had seen in his many years of battle and travel.

She had a slender build but it was still obvious that she was a powerful fighter just from the way she held her stance. She was using a what appeared to be a part of much larger blade but had apparently, and not subtely, been shattered. By far the most stunning thing wasn't her blade with green glowing runes, or her darker than average skin tone, or even her pale white hair that was thrown into a semi-neat bun. It was her eyes which, even though he was probably a good 15 yards away, he could still make them out. Dark, glowing, thick red. The color of blood.

He wondered to himself how they got that way. 'Was it natural? or was it from something else entirely? He then realized he was spacing out as he often did and snapped back into focus. 'Why would Garen in all his combat experience and physical prowess need help with this runt? Although there was something... off... about the blade the women wielded' It was obviously Noxian forged which meant that she must be as well. Pantheon used to hold most Noxians in a high regard of sorts, meaning that since they strove for being as strong as they could he felt he could relate. But now most Noxians just wanted power over strength and couldn't even tell the difference anymore. The thought enraged Pantheon, as he continued his thoughts the air around him began to churn violently...

Riven could feel the beads of sweat dripping down her face, it'd been ages since she been able to push Garen out of lane long enough to warrant a trip back to base to get better equipment. His perseverance was remarkable, he never seemed to tire or wary from the little skirmishes they'd have every now and then. She'd have to kill him, and soon before she became anymore fatigued. 'Good thing I called for backup...' She hated the thought of needing to ask for help, it went against everything she was taught went she was in the military. Even worse was she had to ask... him... But the point was she needed the help or she was going to get shut down and she didn't want that at all. But something was off about her Demacian foe, he had repositioned himself to the outer side of his minions and was warily glancing her way. 'Shit. He going to rush me.' She checked her with jungler to see if he was close. He was. 'I'm not letting you get the drop on me this time' as she positioned herself to appear as though she was just going to take out another minion Garen did exactly what she expected him to do, he was wary at first but saw that she had turned her back partially to him. He charged, sword glowing with a powerful strike waiting to be unleashed. But she wasn't at all as unaware as he thought she was, so as soon the blow was dropped onto her she blocked it with a swift rise and deflect of her sword and she had just enough time to land a good swipe across his chest with her sword but Garen responded with an extremely quick spin and almost took her head off had she not been ready for this. As he reared around for another spinning slash she went deep into her focus and released a burst of magic which knocked him off balance.

She used this opening to get in the second strike from her process. The two strikes had done considerable damage to the Demacian, obvious from the blood oozing out but he didn't seem to notice. As he regained he balance he thrust sword into the air and shouted "DEMACIA!" which seemed to bolster his courage and give him new strength 'great...' she thought frustrated with his determination. But she didn't even let him take a step forward because by the time he lowered his sword she had already moved into her third part of the process. She jumped up in the air, did a front flip and brought her sword right down on top of Garen. Fortunately for him she had misjudged the distance he was from her and the blade only nicked his nose drawing a single drop of crimson from it and was slammed violently into the ground erupting with a shockwave that knocked Garen back a few feet toward a bush and onto his back. 'Finally.' She thought as she moved in for the kill; but something stopped her. A feeling of intense dread came over her as all the hairs on her neck stood up at once and her skin tightened with goose bumps. Instantly her instincts took over and she rolled out of the way down toward the river just as a figure smashed into the ground. The heavily armored man turned and faced her for about a millisecond before leaping into action. 'So this is their jungler, huh? Let's see if he can challenge me.' but just then it dawned on her just how exhausted she was, her knees were wobbly and she was shaking all over. She has numerous cuts all over her arms and face most of which were still bleeding. She was in no condition for this. 'I really wanted this fight...'

"Nihla?'' she asked

"Yes?" A fair voiced woman replied breath fully.

"Gonna need those spells you had prepared," Riven said hoping her summoner was ready.

"Of course Miss Riven, they are ready and at your disposal."

"You're the best, Nihla."

The summoner chuckled in her head, "Thank you, Miss"

She turned her attention back toward the enemy jungler as the rather large man bore down on her. He did something she was completely unprepared for though, with his left hand he threw his spear at her, she had just barely enough time to feint to the right but it still cut her pretty deep as it whizzed by her ribs and buried itself in the ground. She winced from the pain but realized that that had been a mistake since in that split second he gained too much ground and was now right on top of her. She went to swipe at his spear arm with her sword but he was to close and he simply bashed her with the full force of him sprinting into her with what felt like a half ton of man and shield. This dazed her for a moment but when she regained focus she realized the man had sprinted by her and gotten ahold of his weapon again but now she had a clear shot for her tower, and safety. She dashed for the tower but felt the feeling from before again she turned her head just in time to see the muscular brute leaping the fifteen foot gap she'd just created by using the last of her energy and the spell her summoner called 'Flash'. But here this man was, fearlessly jumping into tower range, was he crazy? As he landed almost on top of her she dodged a few jabs from the spear but as she made a weak attempt to counter attack he used his giant shield to knock away her sword. 'Fuck'. She turned back to him just in time to receive the blow from the shield as it came back right across her face, knocking her on her back and almost out she was now extremely dazed and could barely see straight but she could make out his shape looming over her. He took a few steps closer, 'that's right, a bit closer', and as he unknowingly entered tower range she hit him with the same charged burst that had gotten his comrade, which stunned him long enough for the tower to get a shot off. 'Yes!' she thought to herself victoriously. But the feeling was short-lived because right when the ball of energy was going to collide with him, he raised his shield and took the hit without even flinching. Riven's stomach dropped. He raised the spear to her throat: "You fought well... not well enough unfortunately." he spoke with a cocky sounding voice coupled with what she thought was a grin behind that helmet, a grin that gave her a pang in her stomach and caused it to turnover.

She saw him pull back his arm getting to bury his spear in her chest. She closed her eyes and waited for the sound of metal cutting through her flesh, she had never been afraid of pain and never would be. To her surprise she heard something else first: "NOXUS!" she heard from behind her as a second figure just as big as the first slammed into each other. The new one had a red cloak swishing in the wind and a large axe hanging from the right hand, "Darius! It took you long enough!" she called out to him.

"Silence, weakling!" Darius called back straining through the simple sentence as he wrestled with the equally if not better built jungler. But there was problem and a big one. Garen was back in the fight now and he looked as though he had healed up a bit. He rushed to his jungler and threw Darius clean off of the other man. Darius was now standing in front of Riven and little to her right, he turned to face her and offered a hand down to her. She took it and he pulled her back onto her feet, although she swayed and almost fell over again but Darius stabilized her. She looked up into his fierce, penetrating gray irises.

"You must be loving this." she said meekly, his hard expression didn't even twitch as he looked down and pulled out a large potion vial with a red elixir in it.

"Drink this, it'll put you back on your feet." he said plainly as he uncorked it and held it up for her to drink, "Otherwise you'll be useless to me in the upcoming battle here." he muttered averting his gaze.

She smiled slightly, 'at least he can be decent when there's a fight at stake' she thought jokingly. She let him help her drink the elixir and as she finished the last drop she instantly felt ready to fight again. She examined her arms and found that a lot of the cuts had sealed and... That was weird, she could swear that she glowing an slight reddish tint. She picked up her sword and turned to face her opponents.

"I'll slaughter the Demacian." Darius stated plainly, his stare unwavering meeting directly with Garen's only a small distance away. "Take care with the big one," he pointed with his axe, his stare still unbroken, "he is the best of the Rakkor tribe."

'That explains the extraordinary fighting capabilities' She entered her fighting stance and paced into the middle of the lane, Darius close at her side. As soon as she had moved outside of tower range Pantheon had leapt into the air to attempt to knock her down again, but this time she was ready. Right as he was about to collide with her she ducked under him and dashed behind him to what she thought was a blind spot, but as she turned to counterattack she saw him twist around mid-jump and throw his spear at her. She instinctively jumped back to dodge it but it landed just short of her original position. 'Dammit… he tricked me' She cursed herself for even thinking that it would be a one on one fight. She heard the grass crumple behind her, and could feel even before she turned to see the giant sword of Garen, the Might of Demacia, about to slice her in half. She shut her eyes and waited for the paleness of death to overcome her. She heard it coming, "JUSTICE!" at the same time she heard Darius's customary beheading roar, "GAH!" But nothing happened to her; she heard the sound of metal cutting through flesh, but she didn't feel it.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and what she saw… what she saw was indescribable. Garen's sword had indeed tasted Noxian blood, but that of Darius' instead of The Exile's. Before her was Darius with Garen's sword piercing straight down into body of the Hand of Noxus from his right shoulder. His had his head turned to the left looking back at Riven, but something other than the slight trickle of blood from his mouth and the sword in the shoulder was giving his face an off look. He had a smile on. Not a big one but just a slight raising of the corners of his mouth, he coughed and some specks of blood were flung out and more streams of blood trickled to his chin.

He chuckled, "Now it's a one on one, good luck." He gave a little wink, and she gave a quizzical look before he vaporized into the blue light she come to be too familiar with during these battles. 'One on one… how?' But now she could see what he was talking about. Garen lay on his back on the ground in a pool of his own blood, Darius's axe splitting his body in a much similar way that Darius's body was. Then the blue light took him as well.

"AHHHHHH!" Riven heard movement coming toward her fast from behind, she turned to face the battle hardened Pantheon charging straight for her. He thrusted at her with his spear, but she parried and drew across his chest again but he didn't even wince. Blood now saturated the ground, sparkling in the mid-afternoon sun. She went to drop her final blow of her personal fighting style on him but he blocked it with his shield and just threw her off about a dozen feet away.

"We're quite evenly matched, wouldn't you say?" She said in the brief pause.

"You could say so yes. A much better fight than I had anticipated. Thank you." He replied, darting toward her.

'Won't be thanking me for long. Enough of this, it's time.' She now focused all of her remaining energy, the air around swirled and channeled up toward her blade which had begun to glow bright green now. The broken blade, surging with power, suddenly erupted in bright green light, stopping Pantheon in his tracks for a few seconds. When the light subsided a bit and Pantheon could again look upon his foe, he saw the blade was now tripled in length and looked to be completed or rather what it looked like when it was as such. Never the less he resumed his charge, but now the nagging feeling in the back of his mind and begun again 'What is with that sword…' he kept thinking. She was holding the blade in her right hand and she raised it to be diagonal across her torso up to her left shoulder, all the while it had begun glowing with power again. All at once she swung it outwards at Pantheon and he felt a great and tremendous surge of wind cut against his body and shove him backwards. He couldn't keep his footing against the force and ended up flipping over and toppling to the ground. As he stood up, heavily dazed, he heard the faint noise of footsteps. Now on his feet he looked directly in front of himself to perceive the blade aimed at his chest. He quickly raised his shield to block the blow was greeted with the all to familiar sound of metal upon metal. But he also felt a slight pinch in his chest 'Too late' he thought and he looked down to find the end of The Exile's sword sprouting from his chest.

"You fought valiantly, but now its-"

"Over? Not even close." He interrupted, as he firmly planted his left foot back and his right foot forward.

"Wha- what are you doing?" she started to take a step back as the air around Pantheon began to swirl with power again.

"This was a good fight." He said mockingly and she thought she could see him smirk under the helmet. Before she could back off she felt several searing wounds being cut into her midsection, when she looked down she could only see a blur of his spear. 'So… fast…' she thought as the pain overtook her. As she fell she could feel the ground rushing up to meet her, she could just see pantheon fall to his knees in front of her. When she hit the ground she her head landed to the left to just be able to see Pantheon fall to ground as well, but when his head hit the ground his helmet came off. She only got about seconds worth of a look. But what she could remember was the rugged complexion, the strong, cut jawline, the multitude of scars, and most of all… the eyes. He had piercing, glowing, orange eyes. Then everything went pale…