Author's Note

I began this story after wanting someone to make some more insightful tales of the champions' backgrounds. Depending on how well this is received, I may or may not continue it. All suggestions are welcome for future entries.

Disclaimer: Nautilus, League of Legends and all respective ideas or names in this story belong to Riot Games.

As the storm made the waves crash upon the ship, I couldn't help but feel some apprehension at what he was about to get myself into. No man had dared to venture beyond the charted waters of the Guardian Sea and with good reason.

Those few that did rarely came back alive, let alone sane.

But I would not be swayed. My fellow sailors had all tried to talk me out of it, shouting reason after reason while I stood there passively and refused to be moved on this decision. Now they stood by solemnly as the rain pattered down in a heavy drizzle, their expressions already mourning the loss of a dear friend. A burly man with lanky hair stepped out, his golden Captain's badge shining in the rays of the setting evening sun, and clasped hands with me in a grim farewell.

"Well, then…erm…" he stuttered, at a loss for words. "I…um…I want to wish you luck, old friend. When…I mean, er, if you…come back alive…well, just-"

His voice broke down as he heaved a heavy sigh and let go of my hands. As he stepped out of the way, I stepped towards the railing of the ship, the diving suit I wore echoing loudly on the deck. I felt sluggish, heavy, but I knew the suit was necessary to provide me what slim chances of survival I had. I stepped onto the opening in the railing and looked down at the black murky mess that floated in the ocean waves like smoke. To hell I go, I thought as I stepped off the deck and into the dark water.

The pressure was a vice.

It grasped me immediately as I crashed into the depths, sinking slowly yet surely into the ocean floor. The darkness was worse, rendering me blind to the world around me. Since my eyes were useless anyway, I closed them and listened to the sounds around me as I neared the ocean floor.

CLANG!

I was not prepared for the sudden and sharp screech of metal on rock as I feel to the ocean floor. With my ears ringing, I groped around me for any holds to grab onto and cringed as I felt something slither away in distress at my intruding hands. Finally, I grabbed what must have been a rock formation and began to crawl along its side as I navigated my way around the waters.

How long I walked, I do not know. Those hours were filled with endless thoughts of my comrades above, standing upon that becalmed ship and scared out of their minds. Did they worry for my safety after I was gone? Or did they resume their actions as I took the plunge? Would they wait for me? Would they set sail immediately after I found the problem and abandon me to the Ocean Deep?

All those thoughts ground around inside my head, taking up space and shoving each other around in an attempt to gain my attention. Behind my closed eyes, the darkness became blacker and blacker until it seemed impossible that any light existed at all. I knew that the sun had set and that I was too long, far too long.

Just as this thought occurred to me, my hands grasped something that came loose from the bedrock, accompanied by a flash of light in the murky darkness. Curious to see the sudden change in the atmosphere, I inched open my eyes, grimacing at the unwelcome light after the blinding darkness. As my vision returned and my grimace lessened, I saw that which no mortal man should ever have to endure. It was monstrous, horrifying, an eldritch abomination which has slumbered and has now awoken.

And it was calling out to me, begging to be released. Begging for its freedom…

I clung on to the hull of the ship in the wake of the storm, plank boards coming free of my grip as my weight broke them apart.

Damn it, you fool, I thought. You bloody, idiotic fool! What in the Void were you thinking?!

Admittedly, I wasn't thinking at all. The call of the abomination was too great to ignore, and now I was suffering for my consequences. In my wonder and awe, I had taken a step towards the creature, a step too far, and provided it a vessel for its bidding. I provided a vessel which it had latched onto in hopes of a freedom that it had waited for so long to attain. I provided a vessel which it was now clinging onto as it tried to struggle its way back to the ship.

"HELP! PLEASE, HELP ME!" I cried in desperate frustration. Above, the dark outlines of my sailing comrades flitted about the ship and became clearer as a flash of lightning cracked the sky.

"I BEG YOU, PLEASE! PLEASE, GODS, HELP ME!" I shouted once more. "IT'S ME, YOUR FRIEND! GODS, PLEASE!"

My voice, made thunderous by the hollow crevices of the suit, seemed to have finally achieved their purpose as one man came forward, a long staff in his hands. My heart beat quickened as I saw the man haul over the edge; I saw the possibility of freedom as he lowered it closer and closer and…

…began attacking me with it.

"NO, PLEASE! IT'S ME! ME! HELP ME, PLEASE, IT'S YOUR FRIEND!" I cried in desperation as they tried again and again to wrench my grasp from the rails. With each strike, my fingers came closer to losing their grip on the hull. Just as my fingers loosened on the planks, I made a desperate lunge to the anchor which swung freely on the side like a pendulum. It would not hold my weight, and, as it ripped loose, I crashed once more into the depths below.

Hopelessness blossomed in my chest as I allowed the darkness to drag me ever closer to the ocean depths.

Forward.

I had awoken on the floor of the ocean, the darkness strangely missing. I remember how the mottled rays of sunshine rained down from above as I stood and looked around.

Forward.

The anchor lay beside me, scuffed by the sand, but otherwise unharmed. The endless expanse all around me seemed to carry for miles, unbroken by any rock formations or corals. No sign of life existed anywhere.

Forward.

I stood there alone. Alone, I looked around me and realised how hopeless my situation was. Alone, I picked up the anchor that would become my only companion in the coming days. Alone. All alone.

Forward.

I remember feeling a tug. A voice, gently whispering at the back of mind, urged me to follow. Together, it said, we will make them pay. Together, we shall find the traitors. Together, we shall earn our justice.

Forward. Forward.

And so I began the endless march. To find those who betrayed me, and make them pay for their crimes. Onwards to the Institute of War. I trudged, one step after another, following the unexplainable pull, listening to the screech of the anchor as it carved its path behind me.

Forward…

I was lost and forgotten at the bottom of the sea. The darkness had consumed me, melded with me to become that which I am now. I was lost in utter darkness and knew only one way out.

Forward, forward.

Forward on the endless marh.

Forward to find the guilty…