Prologue
The night air was bitter cold. As the winds billowed harshly through the mountainous terrain, snow draped the landscape, its flakes falling in such rush that the horizon was a white sheet only hued by the darkness of the night sky. Freljord at night was a sight to behold, but it did carry with it its share of dangers that came with the temperamental weather. A land of ice and snow, only the strongest could ever hope to survive such savageness.
Jax sat on a lonely stone as he pealed his last egg, lifting his mask only a moment to eat the egg as the cold wind bit at his hued skin. The heavy robes he donned easily protected him from the cold, his hands the only exposed skin when he clasped his mask back down against his face. Getting up, he reached over and grasped the middle of the broken lamppost he used as a polearm and resumed his descent into the valley below.
Not wishing to spend the night in the frigidness of the mountain wasteland, Jax had spent the entire night awake as he attempted to discern the direction of any habitable land near him. While he was not entirely confident in the direction he chose, it was far closer to his destination, and much closer to any source of food he could find.
It took not a few hours before the light of the morning sun began to peak over the horizon, and with it the vision of a slightly frosted plains piercing through the fog of snow. Smiling to himself, Jax proceeded to the lower grounds of the mountainside.
It was the middle of the warmer season within the frozen tundra, and as such Jax welcomed the tufts of hearty grass that sprung up beneath his feet as the ice on the riverbank began to thaw. Peaking over the vast mountain view, the sun began to arise, causing the vapors of melted snow to lift off the crisp ground into the air. It was a good day, at least in Jax mind, but he normally ventured in the company of danger and action, so it was a welcome change.
Keeping his pace, Jax kept Northwest with his back to the sun along the riverside. Losing himself in the beauty before him, it made the trip far shorter, and before long minutes turned into hours. It was nearly noon when the mists of the morning snow began to form an even thicker fog around the man, until he realized that he could no longer see the direction he was going.
Grasping the hilt of the lamppost with both of his large two fingered hands, Jax began to pour a small amount of energy into it before the lamp itself ignited in flame. Spinning it a few times to loosen his stiff shoulders, the flame arching with the motions, Jax steadily crept in the direction he remembered going. The fog began to thicken with every pressing motion he made forwards, threatening to even drown out the light of the sun, but it never fully disappeared.
"A mysterious mist. How uninspired." Jax mumbled to himself, as he widened his view.
As the snow began to thicken and crunch under his feet, Jax stopped in surprise at the image of a lone hut poking through the mists. The building was easily two stories tall and made entirely of stone as whatever was left of the roof had withered away due to time. Proceeding even further, with caution as his guide, Jax came face to face with the remains of several more structures even more disturbed than the first, with the fog clearing away just enough for the full view.
No one was around, no natives, no animals, even the wind dared not make a sound as the warrior treaded the grounds of the empty village. Upon the crumbling stones and the rotten wood, no signs of a struggle captured Jax attention. This place was easily a hundred years old, and it made sense that structures would crumble over time, but Freljordians were most efficient in their approach to living, and thus would take everything with them as they moved from one location to the next. Resources like these, Jax mused, would have been scavenged long ago and used to make the next village farther down the river.
As Jax circled the ruins in search of what answers would ail his curiosity, his vision immediately caught the attention of a lonely shadow not ten feet from him. The mist was easily thickened in this part of the region, blocking all that Jax could see of the unknown figure, but his instincts easily outweighed his curiosity and forced him to stay back. Spinning his lit lamppost a few more times, Jax attempted to clear the air with a barrage of flames, but nothing seemed to sway it from its course. Keeping his distance from the odd figure, Jax proceeded towards the edge of the ghost village where the mist perpetuated as if like a barrier. Diving into the abyss of fog with his direction in mind, Jax watched as the village disappeared behind him from view, he had little time to dabble in the mysteries of the Freljord and he was not about to undertake the hobby now. Turning forward, Jax took a few more steps when a large shadow became visible to his right, causing him to stop.
It was somehow familiar.
Gripping his weapon harder, Jax took a few more steps when the shadow revealed itself to be another stone made structure … roof detached.
Jax froze in place as he observed the building, trying to make sense of what his eyes told him to be the same structure he had first seen. Rushing forward, he made his way to the edge of the small slope where an array of broken-down objects rested before him; all in the same place as before.
Jax grinded his teeth at the sight. Something was obviously amiss, but Jax was a fighter, not a user of the arcane arts. Sitting down cross-legged in the snow, Jax dove his hand into his pocket, reaching for another egg to only find an empty sack. Cursing himself for not saving it, Jax placed the lamppost atop his legs and gazed across the broken village. Every magic he had ever encountered had some physical attribute to it, something that made it retain its ability for longing periods of time; this could not be any different, he just had to figure out what.
Taking his time, Jax watched every nook and cranny of the wrecked buildings, wondering if anything would reveal itself before he was forced to search everything stone by stone. Making no progress, Jax sighed and stood up, making his way to the first house before a quick motion passed his eye near the edge of the village. Keeping his lamppost aimed forward, Jax took off towards the movement and found himself near the same silhouette figure that had easily rubbed him the wrong way his first pass through.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Jax made a few steps forward till the object became clearer to his eye. On the ground was a solid spike of blue ice with a small white layer of snow atop it. In the middle of it, within the glaze of frost, was a very dim purple hue that pulsated slowly in tempo. He wasn't sure what action would be the best in this situation, but it was a good chance that this object was responsible for keeping him here, question was how to deal with it.
"Nothing good ever happens from hitting something." Jax jest as he watched the object, his weapon at the ready.
Taking the butt end of the post, Jax touched the edge of the ice with it and backed up, keeping his distance.
Nothing happened.
Groaning, Jax reared up and struck the ice block with a hard-sideways swing. The tip of the pillar shot off the end, and just as it struck the ground, a hellish scream erupted from the ground, the pulsating hue beating faster and brighter.
"And here comes nothing good." Jax commented.
The ice cracked in several places, molding into different shapes as it did so. At first there was only shards that split off from the main pillar, but just as they sprinkled to the floor, juts of those shards started pilling out in long arms as the surface of the pillar crumbled away.
Jax started hitting it, hard.
Igniting his flame brighter, Jax began to pummel the malformed spike into the ground as shards of ice splintered off in waves from every strike. The creature screeched in pain as what Jax assumed were limbs flew off the main body before it had time to regrow. The parts shattered as they detached from the main form, and the more he struck the more it seemed to wail, until finally it flung to the floor with only a caged chest containing a purple beating light and a raging mass of ice that was supposedly a head. Raising his weapon up high, Jax jammed the flamed end of his lamppost into the purple cavity, making the white ice around it cave, and the light within dim to nothing.
The creature stopped moving.
Backing away quickly, Jax nodded at his work and watched the wall of mist in hopes that his work was worth it. Tapping his foot, Jax frowned as he waited to no avail, the mist wall retaining its position. Scratching his head, Jax stopped when another loud shriek echoed throughout the area. Taking a couple steps backwards, Jax turned his gaze to the center of the village where the main roadway was now glowing with multiple pulsing purple lights, the ice beneath the snow already shaping.
Jax immediately dove on the nearest forming creature, letting his blows settling into the most vulnerable parts he could find, but the ice was very resistant. As soon as his polearm crushed the first creatures cavity, Jax looked up to see most of the creatures fully formed and prowling the ground in a haze.
Each one contained anywhere from four to six appendages with talons the size of large daggers and a thin spikey frame that looked like an exoskeleton of a large dog. Formed out of ice shards and spikes, the hardest part of the creature looked to be the thickened ice chest cavity that was solid and hued by the purple beating light, much like a heart. The head was by far the most hideous, made of large tusks and malformed mandibles, the creatures contained three sets of four small eyes that glowed with the same hue of the heart on its forehead.
Jax's heavy voice growled under his throat as his weapon was poised at the ready. "You seem a little too familiar for walking icepicks."
As the last of the creatures released themselves from the ground, each circling Jax in a predatory pattern, Jax prepped himself for a tough fight, his mind calming to a steady stream. Ready to fight, Jax was most surprised when a loud roar entered the area followed by what he swore was the laugh of a child; even the creatures paused to listen.
"HEEERRREEE WE GO!" The young boys voice called over the area, laughing and followed by hurried grump.
Out of the mist, on the far end of the walkway, was a massive ball of snow that sailed at high speeds towards the commotion. Glowing with fluttering energies of blue snowflakes, the large snowball rammed itself into the first row of creatures, causing them to be tossed Jax way with extreme force. Ducking the first two creatures, Jax rammed his polearm into the center of the last being and slammed it down as hard as he could, forcing the fire to pierce the chest compartment and the purple heart to stop glowing.
Looking up, Jax almost was aghast when he saw a young boy in place of the snowball on top of a furry white horned creature with four arms. The boy was dressed in warm Freljordian fur, where his dark hair was covered with a hood containing blue knitted ears with a beaded nose and eyes in the center. The creature itself contained a friendly cat like face with two dull tusks protruding out of its lower lip and glowing blue eyes while the top of its head was covered in fluffy white fur that was much thicker than the rest of his body.
"Come on, Willump!" The boy called in excitement. "Let's give them some fun!"
The beast immediately roared in anticipation as he backhanded one of the creatures into the rubble beside him. Taking off in a sprint, the child atop him raised his hands above his head and small globules of snow began to form within the boy's hands. As fast as he could, the child threw the snowballs at the creatures till most of them were following the creatures amazing speed with their own.
"Take that you … whatever you are!" The child called out, still laughing.
Jax, with only a few creatures focusing on him, jumped on the first one with impressive force and tossed it away as he jumped towards a second. Sliding the end of the lamppost under the creatures legs, Jax tripped it just as a third creature thrashed at him, forcing the blade like talons to cut through its packmates arms and reveal a loud shriek of pain. Spinning his weapon, Jax repeatedly bashed at the creature's face till it backed away as the second tried to get up.
Once he was sure that the creature had backed far enough away, Jax slid to the second one and punctured its mouth with the lamp, igniting the flames more. The creature attempted to scream, but the flames ate away at its ice till the face was nothing but a sharpened mass. Twisting his body around the lamppost to avoid the first and third creatures strikes, Jax angled his weapon and tore the second one's head clean off, shattering it to bits. Hopping over the now thrashing body, Jax kneed the flailing carcass into the air and slammed it hard with his weapon till it too stood still and quiet. The other two creatures kept at Jax with reckless abandon, but each strike was parried easily by the grandmaster, and just as they seemed to be crawling on hm, Jax slipped the end of his weapon into the opening of one creature and flipped it onto the other.
The creatures, bladed to the bone, scrambled to remove themselves from each other but were too late as Jax beat down on the chests of each one till their lights dimmed into nonexistence. Spinning around, Jax was pleased to find that the child and his beast were still keeping the other creatures busy with their array of snowballs; only stopping to remove a pest with the beasts' claws if they came to close.
"Mister Lamp man!" The child called out. "There are more behind you!"
Jax spun around, his weapon at the ready as creatures began to crawl out of the corners and innards of the structures.
"Lead them to the middle!" The child called once more. "Willump and I have something cool to show them!"
Jax was quite unsure about the creature this child rode, but the young one did seem to know what he was talking about, and it wouldn't hurt to try. Dashing towards the ferocious beings that growled at him, Jax began to strike a few well placed blows at the creatures forcing them towards the middle of the village. As one would charge at him, he would redirect it to the center where he would try to keep them located.
As more and more began to show up in the middle, Jax found that it was a little annoying to watch so many targets, especially ones this durable, at once. But just as he was forced to back up, the large beast launched himself into the crowd of creatures, followed by its own cabal of monsters.
Tossing the child into the air, the beast roared at the sky, his eyes glowing with a mass of blue light. In his hands, the boy carries a small flute with a coalition of light blue ice merged at the end. Playing a few notes, the child took a breath and began to sing.
Creatures of nothing,
Their fates spoken for,
Are bounded by ice,
And hatred for more.
Go back to nothing,
We're all gifted life,
To live our own fates,
Not for your own strife.
As each word exited the childs mouth, the wind began stir shifting more and more till the temperature dropped. Jax buried his weapon in the ground as he steadied himself from the heavy winds, each burst being pulled towards the open maws of the beast before him. The wind grew more and more till the end of the song when the temperature was almost unbearable, and the forces pulled him to his knee.
"Don't catch him too Willump!" The boy called out as the song ended.
In a sudden flash of light, the wind died down, and all was still once more. Standing up, Jax looked around to observe that village was no longer shrouded in mist, and the creatures were no longer moving. Walking up to one, Jax looked around and noticed that a different form of ice had buried itself in the creature's chest cavities, effectively killing the purple light inside, and making the monster no longer alive.
Amazement on his face, though not that one could see it, Jax nodded to the child and the beast as he patted the top of the furry creature's head.
"Have a name, lad?" Jax asked as he wandered about.
"My names Nunu. And this here is my best friend Willump!" Nunu replied, scratching Willump behind his ears.
"We heard the scream from over that big hill, and thought someone could use a hero!"
Jax chuckled, this kid was surely something else. "And that I did young Nunu, and that I did."
"You don't look from Freljord mister. Where are your from?" Nunu asked as Willump started stepping on the frozen creatures, making a low laughter as they crumbled into bits and evaporated into light blue snowflakes.
"The other side of the world, brave lad."
"My mom told me stories of lands that far, with a massive country filled with some kind of dirt called sand, where it is warm all the time, even at night!"
Jax chuckled once more. "It is quite warm there, but I am from even farther away!"
"Wow! You hear that Willump! He's from so far away!"
The beast just made an odd grumbling noise, but Nunu seemed to understand it.
"Then why didn't you say anything!?" Nunu laughed.
Jax took a seat on the ground as he looked at all the frozen creatures. Each one was marginally different, but they resembled nothing he had ever seen before … except for the eyes that glowed the brilliance of a bruise, and the heart that beat with no sound. Jax shuttered at the implications. If the void had made its presence here in Freljord, then the world truly was running out of time.
"Hey mister! Do you have a name?" Nunu asked.
Jax turned around to the small child. The boy was a wonder in and of himself, even this small he had powers and abilities that could easily fight the void that existed in the north, and maybe even farther south. His friendly beast was no pushover either, and as Jax thought about it, a smile came to his face.
"Jax. You may call me Jax." He replied.
There were indeed champions of all shapes and sizes in Runeterra, and maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to push back the threat he saw on the horizon.