Chapter One: Introduction
Summoner Clarence walked up the marble steps of the Institute of War, he stopped and looked over the garden that was currently frozen over. It was January 1st in Valoran , the air was cold and Clarence could see the breath coming from his mouth. Clarence was in his dark purple robes indicating that he was still in Summoner school. He smiled as he thought about what his day had in store. Today was the last day that he would have to wear this cursed purple color that made him stand out so much while walking down the halls of the Institute of War. Today was his final exam to becoming a full fledged summoner. As a summoner you have three classes that you are assigned to. The first is an Apprentice Summoner , they are the ones that do most of the odd jobs and are currently going through Summoners School. They wear dark purple robes so the higher ups know who to ask for help and boss around. The second rank up is the title of Summoner , these are the ones that do most of the league battles to decide petty matters and have gone through Summoner School. They can wear any color of robes except for white. And at the very top you have Grand Summoners who have either reached master or challenger tier in the league battles or are apart of the Council of Summoners or have had Champion Contracts with every champion of the time. They wear white robes and are the summoners that have the final say in anything. They are the ones that prevent wars and have the main fights on the Fields of Justice that will decide the outcome of the various city-states of Valoran.
Clarence sighed and turned back to walk up the hundreds of stairs that led to the main building of the Institute of War made for all the smaller jobs the summoners have to do. Clarence was excited over his final exam but he still had the entire day to get through before they started the exam. After he made it to the top of the stairs he walked into the Institute to find the same statute of Summoner Beck and Summoner Merrill looking down at him. The grand hall was a huge space that held the huge statue of the creators of the League and the flags of every nation that has agreed to join the league. It had marble pillars holding up the ceiling with many hallways leading to the rest of the Institute. Every summoner would have to walk past here to get to there personal jobs other than participating in league battles such as champion care taking where you make sure the champions have what they need, to world exploration where you watch the world to make sure nothing bad has happened.
Clarence's job was a bit different then most of them. He was in a group of 10 other summoners in watching over the league's more tedious champions. When champions get out of line in the world issues or in the Institute they are sent to the League's holding cells. They are still able to participate in the battles but are confined to their cells until their sentence is served. This was one of the more dangerous jobs of the Institute because they held some of the strongest people if you were to die by one of their hands it would mostly be covered up and no one would really care.
Making his way past all the other summoners bustling there way threw the main hall he turned down a corridor that no one other than him walked down. His job was in its own part of the academy where no one but the poor saps left to take care of the darker champions resided. After a long time walking through the hallway he took a left down a flight of stairs which led to the dungeons. For dungeon standards it was actually a good place, it was clean and tidy thanks to the help of the five summoners assigned to keep the place clean. Clarence was in charge of bringing food and water to the champions that needed it. The only residence there right now though were five people and only two of them needed food in the first place.
"Hey Clarence wonderful morning were having. Good luck with the final exam buddy i'm rooting for you."
Clarence looked up coming into the room that had only a medium sized table with four chairs surrounding it and a glowing blue entrance into the hallway that held all of the cells. Sitting in those chairs were his fellow members of the CRF (Champion Restriction Force). The one that said that was George, he was the leader of the group. He dealt with the higher ups and made sure that we had all our shit together. He was a Grand Summoner that has been in charge of the CRF for almost a whole year. This was an outstanding feat because almost no one lasted for more than a month in this shity job.
"Good morning George good to see that you're still alive as usual." Clarence said with a smile on his face.
"Hey, don't jinx my good fortune you little shit." George said with an accusing finger.
Me and George had a pretty good relationship, being the two people that have lasted in the CRF the longest in League history. He was here a month longer than me even though he was already a Grand summoner when he joined. The other person there stayed silent even though he was clearly amused from the greetings we gave each other. I didn't know the rest of them personally since almost all of them got here less than a week ago. We had Shaco escape his cell because some dumb fuck forgot to put a protection spell around the entrance of his cage when he went on his weekly inspections. If I hadn't been on break it could have been me who was splattered across the wall instead of Summoner Jimmy. I have no idea how Summoner George got Shaco back in his cage but I decided to stay away from the topic so he didn't have to relive anything he didn't want to remember.
"Tell you what , i'll take over your watch shift today so you can focus on your exam. Just feed the two that actually need food." George said.
I looked at him in disbelief "Are you sure about that I have a 5 hour shift on watching fiddlesticks today."
" Its fine I got a fortune cookie that said I had superhuman luck today, ill be fine. Just take over my next shift on Shaco." George said
"Sounds good , Then i'm just going to go feed them and leave to get prepared."
Clarence walked to the other side of the room leaving the others too get back to their card game. Disabling the magical entrance and walked through and then recited the magical seal to make sure none of them got out if something went terribly wrong. After putting up the spell he walked down the hallway full of exotic cages made to fit anything from undersea prisoners too prisoners that can't live in sunlight built into the walls. The hall was dimmed to put a eerie feeling to the small dungeon , which to tell you the truth scared us more then scared the prisoners. Even though the cages were unique the rest of it was actually incredibly simple, the hallway was made of old stone that were just put together with some cement to hold them together. They weren't even smoothed out they just stuck up wherever they wanted. The Institute put a lot of work in making this place look completely different than the pure perfection of the marble the rest of the Institute was made out of. When he got to the end of the hall there was a small dumbwaiter with a little screen next to it. He turned it on and after a few seconds of ringing a women in a cooking outfit appeared on the screen.
"Goodmorning Summoner Clarence , can't talk for long we're kinda busy up here."
Clarence noticed in the background that all the cooks were yelling at one another and cooking things at a pace that he barely believed was possible.
"Then let me have the usual please." Clarence said in a pleasurable voice.
The cook looked behind her and yelled at a passerby to get his order ready. She turned back to him.
"It will be down soon Summoner Clarence , I need to get back to work though we will talk after you pass your exam."
"I still have no idea what it is though so i'm kinda scared" Clarence said awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"Well be careful I heard that more than three fourths of the participants die. be careful and good luck." The screen went off and the dumbwaiter opened with a tray that had a large amount of fruit and a medium sized roll of bread.
Grabbing the tray he walked back down the hallway and stopped at a metal door the was glowing purple. Breathing once to calm himself he knocked on the door.
"Shaco , may I come in I have your food for today."
[Silence] ...
"I will take that as a yes." Clarence said in a monotone manner
Clarence unlocked the door but even with it open he could see the tint of a purple screen over the door. Shaco sat in the middle of the room carving on a wooden block back facing him. On one side Shaco had around fifty little boxes with doll shaped figures bouncing side to side while on the other side he had around 10 large wooden blocks like the one he had in his hand. The Summoners let Shaco keep his stilettos cause if they didn't he when he found a way out or after his time was served he swore to play pranks on them , everyone knew Shaco's pranks were fatal. Summoner Clarence summoned a table to place the tray on. He looked around the cage and everything was still in place. He had a running water toilet and a bed with a sink to the side , The bed was well made and everything was completely orderly which surprised Clarence.
"Do you need anything else Shaco." Clarence said with the monotone voice. He knew that if he let any fear show he would be toyed with for Shaco's amusement.
Shaco just slowly carved on his wooden block and said nothing.
"I will be on my way then."
Clarence stared for a second thinking something was wrong knowing Shaco would have tried something by now. Being locked in here he takes every chance for amusement he can get. Turning around he came face to face with the bloody face of Summoner Jimmy the man that should have been brutally murdered hanging upside down in front of the doorway. Clarence fell backward looking at the face of his fallen Summoner. Behind him he heard Shaco burst out laughing falling over his small chair dropping his weapon and the half carved out box grabbing his stomach as if his spleen was about to pop out. Thats when the other person wearing Summoner Jimmy's face dropped down landing on his feet easily.
"Is something wrong Summoner ?" the second Shaco said taking off the face of Summoner Jimmy throwing it into the air making it disappear in a orange smoke.
Clarence got up brushing his robe off.
"Nothings wrong was just a little suprised thats all. Wasn't thinking I would see that face for a very long time."
The Shaco that fell down disappeared and reappeared with everything back in place with him carving the same block but instead facing him and the other Shaco still giggling to himself.
"Oh lighten up Summoner it was only a little joke." Shaco said patting his hand on Clarence's shoulder.
Shaco was blocking the exit of the room so Clarence just stood there looking at the mask Shaco wore instead of his normal make up. Clarence knew that if he didn't amuse Shaco in some way he might have a problem in his hands.
"So I herd that you escaped last week , how did you pull it off I was on break so I wasn't able to see it." Clarence said looking at the mask.
This time the one that answered was the Shaco 1 who was carving the wood. "Ohhhhh ,that was one of the best shows I have put on in months." he said stopping his carving to remember the memory.
Shaco 2 then talked putting his arm over his shoulder turning him to face Shaco 1 . "Yes that was very enjoyable, I can still hear the screams of your former colleagues. If it wasn't for that damn head summoner I would have been able to paint more than just half that room red. I hate when I can't finish a job" Shaco 2 sighed looking disappointed.
Shaco 1 then said "It is to bad you weren't able to see our last show but we can tell you the story of it?"
"Actually i'm not to sure if I have the time Shaco, Today is my Final Exam to become more than just a chore boy for the higher ups. The problem is I have a 75% chance of death so I don't think i'm worthy of your tale." Clarence said facing his head to the floor as if his hurt he cant hear the story.
"Hmmm that really is to bad , That test is truly hard depending who you get." Shaco 2 said.
Wait these two know what the exam will be like. No one knows what it is and the Summoners that have taken it are completely silent. I have to try and get some information out of him.
"What do you mean by who I get." Clarence said looking back up too Shaco 1.
"Hmmmm does Summoner Clarence want to make a deal with Shaco" both said at the same time.
"What kind of deal is this Shaco" Summoner Clarence said look at Shaco 1 with squinting eyes.
"Why so serious all of a sudden summoner it's nothing that bad. You want information on the test which I have and you can help me get out sooner." Shaco 1 said.
"What do you mean get out sooner" Clarence asked
"I want to get out as fast as possible if you convince the one you call Summoner George or the higher ups I have changed they will reduce my sentence."Shaco 2 said
"Fine , I will see what I can do but they won't listen to me" Clarence said
"No worries they will have to listen to you, you will find out after your exam." Shaco 2 said
Shaco 1 was smiling while looking at me as he started to explain the exam
"Ok , summoner the first thing you need to know is that if you fail this exam you will be killed." Shaco two then started to speak as Shaco 1 grew silent. "The way they decide you're worthy of becoming a summoner is they give you one of the league's champions and you must form a summoner's contract with them. I am not sure how they decide what champion you get but if you don't convince them you're worth there time within the week" Shaco 1 slashed a finger across his neck and stuck his tongue out giving a universal sign of death.
Shaco 2 continued his speech "But that's all I know about it. I'm sure that this is all the champions get in knowing about it as well. That's why I said depending on who you get it should be easy or hard. Oh and don't tell anyone about me telling you or I might get an even longer time in this place."
Clarence thought while Shaco 2 let go of his shoulder walking over to the tray of fruit throwing an apple to Shaco one while they both turned away and took off their masks to eat the fruit.
*If thats how this works depending on who you are might sway champions more as well. If I was a Demacian Summoner all the noxus champions would most likely condemn me to death.* Clarence gulped as he thought about the summoners that had gotten a champion that would instantly decline them just for there race.
"Well I think our little talk has taken long enough come back tomorrow and tell me who you get. I might be able to help you with it." Shaco 2 said.
"Thank you for your help Shaco" Clarence said walking out of the cell and closing it behind him
"Thank you summoner..." Shaco 1 said as Shaco 2 disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving one Shaco giggling to himself in the dimmed cell.
Clarence walked back to the Dumbwaiter to find his next tray of food for Darius who was here for another week for chopping a summoner in half. Grabbing the plate of fried potatoes and steak he walked back down the hallway to the first cage that was only iron bars and a small door. Clarence opened the door and placed the tray of food on the floor in front of him. Darius was still sleeping so he decided to not wake up the burly battle commander from his rest. He closed the door silently and walked over to the magical barrier unlocking then locking it again. He entered the room and George left so he decided to head straight for the exam room to wait for his trial to start. Either way Clarence's life would be in the hands of how well he could convince the champion he got. His work would be cut out for him.