Aiden slowly, painfully, opened his eyes. An overcast sky met him, dropping lazy bouts of rain on his skin. All feeling had left him, except his own sudden exhaustion. His eyes began to close, shutting the world out.
"Hey! Heeeeeey!"
Aiden's eyelids fluttered weakly as he heard a distant voice. It was the voice of a girl, he thought. As he painfully opened his eyes again, they were met with a tangle of blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The light that shown from them made Aiden's lids droop once more.
"Mom? There's someone over here!"
Aiden felt his consciousness ebb away as he heard the girl's cries. The sound of footsteps lulled him into unconsciousness.
. . .
"Hey! Heeeeeey!"
Aiden was drawn from his thoughts, turning to the person seated next to him in the carriage. Lux was looking at him with a slightly troubled expression on her face.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"Just thinking," came the quick reply.
"Oh," she said, the usual mirth returning to her features, "ya know, we're almost to the Institute. Isn't it exciting?"
Aiden half smiled.
"Sure is."
Lux turned to look out the window. Aiden leaned back against the soft leather of the chair, closing his eyes. He often reminisced back to that day. It wasn't until he regained consciousness that he realized what had happened. The Crownguard family had taken him in, instead of throwing him to an orphanage. Suddenly, he had an idea.
"Hey Lux, why did your family take me in like that?"
"Well," she said, turning to him, "it took every favor I could pull on them. I hated the idea of sending you away."
Aiden laughed.
"Why?"
"Umm…" she said, blushing slightly.
"Never mind," he said, returning to his daydreaming. Lux turned to look back out the window, shrieking excitedly. Aiden's eyes shot open.
"Aiden, look at the Institute!"
He leaned over to get a better view. Unbeknownst to him, it had stopped raining, and the sun had revealed itself. Now, approaching at a steady pace, highlighted by the sun, was the Institute of War. Its polished marble walls rose much higher above the trees that surrounded it. A massive number of balconies, outside rooms, and walkways dotted its surface. From this distance, Aiden could see that several people were walking on the top of the gargantuan building. The roof, too, it seemed, had small rooms popping out of the top.
Aiden stared in wonder. Never had he seen anything so massive or grand. The Institute dwarfed the country-side surrounding it. As they came even nearer, Aiden saw that the entrance had little traffic. Finally, the carriage pulled to a stop. Aiden opened the door, gesturing for Lux to get out first. She obliged, grabbing her wand. Aiden stepped out and felt the door close behind him. He turned in slow circles, admiring the scenery.
His gaze rested on Lux. Standing in the sunlight, her usual radiance was multiplied. She turned around, and, seeing his gaze, blushed a little.
"Aiden, why are you looking at me like that? Is something out of place?" she said, immediately smoothing her already perfect dress.
Her features turned scarlet when she looked back at him, or rather, behind him. Aiden turned to look behind him, smiling. Standing a few feet away was a woman, dressed in golden battle armor.
"Lady Leona," Aiden said simply, bowing.
Her laugh was as bright as the sunrise.
"It is nice to meet you, Aiden. Lux has spoken highly of you. We rarely go a day without hearing about you."
"Really?" he replied, turning to look at Lux. Her blush was deep scarlet, "it is an honor to meet you, Leona."
"And you as well, Aiden. Unfortunately, I am scheduled for a match, so I must depart. I hope to see you both soon."
Aiden simply nodded, watching her progress until she reached and entered the building. He turned back to Lux, who was still blushing.
"Rarely go a day…" he pondered aloud.
"Let's tour the Institute," she said quickly, taking his arm. Aiden smiled. It was going to be a long morning.
Aiden could only stare as they entered the Institute. Before them was a reception/check-in desk, with five people working along its length. Slightly farther ahead was a massive staircase, on which many people were walking. To the right and left after the desk were two massive doors, one titled "Left Wing," and the other "Right Wing." A small commons area was fit directly to the right of the desk, where a few people sat, chatting.
"Wow," Aiden breathed. Lux giggled, still holding his hand.
"There's a lot more!" she said, pulling him towards the stairs.
"Shouldn't I check in first or…?"
"Nah, you'll be fine." She smiled. Aiden grinned.
"So, where to Luxanna?"
She huffed a little at being called her full name.
"I was thinking we could just explore. And I thought we agreed that you'd use my shorter name because we're friends!"
Aiden held his hands up, laughing.
"I won't do it again, Lux, promise."
She smiled sweetly, resuming to tug at his arm. He followed her up the steps. The staircase itself was massive, and had Aiden guessing how many steps it had. Once they reached the top, they were greeted with a magnificent view. A large window encompassed the entire wall before them, looking down on a large garden/ park area.
"This is inside the Institute?!" Aiden asked.
"Yep," Lux replied, pointing to the one of the many stone pathways leading through the space.
"There's Graves and that there is Darius (you might wanna stay away from him)," she said, pointing to a gruff looking man with a shotgun, and a large, armored man wielding a massive axe.
"Uh huh," Aiden said distantly. He looked to his left and right, finding long hallways with similar windows lining one side, and doors dotting the other. He realized that these hallways circled around the park area.
"Impressive," he muttered to himself.
Over the next half hour, Lux took him to all the rooms they were allowed into, finally resting on one of the few benches that they sometimes found in the hallways. Aiden slumped into the seat, his feet aching. Never before in his life had he done so much walking. He pondered whether or not to heal himself. Lux, however, seemed to be full of energy.
"We haven't visited the mess hall, the park, or the Viewing Room. Which one do you want to see next?" she asked, playfully nudging his arm.
"How about the mess hall?" Aiden asked, suddenly feeling very hungry.
"Okeydokey!" Lux said, practically shooting off the bench (and pulling Aiden with her).
Aiden followed her down the stairs, groaning inwardly. He wished that his powers would lessen the pain that was steadily growing in the soles of his feet. Finally, they reached the bottom, Lux skipping towards the door to their right. Aiden shook his head when he saw that yet another long hallway dotted with doors (and people) was before them. Then, much to his surprise, Lux stopped, turning to him.
"What time is it?"
"Um," He blinked, looking around for a clock, "I'm not really sure. Do you have that watch?"
She shook her head no. Aiden grabbed a nearby Summoner's arm, causing him to stop in his tracks.
"Can you tell us what time it is?"
The Summoner merely shrugged and continued walking, Aiden having let go of his arm. Aiden glanced around once again. There were certainly no traditional clocks anywhere, but he seriously doubted that there was no method of keeping track of the time. Finally, out of the corner of his eye, Aiden spotted a man carrying an extremely large clock on his back. Said man had a disturbed look to him, and seemed to be constantly fidgeting with his hands.
"Wait here," Aiden said quickly to Lux, turning to walk towards the man.
However, mid-stride, Aiden's body froze. He had been facing forward, looking directly at the man, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see golden light slowly building up around and encasing him.
Aiden had time to declare, "Huh," before a he was blinded by a bright light. He could feel himself being teleported somewhere, as a familiar feeling of weightlessness settled over him. It seemed like an eternity before Aiden could feel the spell wearing off. Suddenly, yet another bright light caused him to squeeze his eyes shut. Then, surprisingly, a soft breeze blew through Aiden's hair. He cracked his eyes open, then opened them wide.
Where exactly was he?
Instinctively, Aiden drew the scythe that was sheathed on his back. Strange, he thought, I wasn't wearing it when I…
Aiden stopped his train of thought, instead moving his gaze to look over himself. The red and black robe he had worn for the initial test, about a year or so ago, was now covering him again.
Aiden sighed, looking back up. Well, wherever he was, it was certainly peaceful. Then he realized that he hadn't been paying attention to what was around him, or what lay in front. Almost at once, he could sense four pairs of eyes on him. They weren't hostile; that much he was sure of.
Welcome to Summoner's Rift!
Aiden felt a few small twinges echoing through his mind. Was someone seriously trying to break his mental shield? But as quickly as they had started, the twinges stopped. And Aiden could move again! Wait, Aiden hadn't known he was immobile…
"Hiya Aiden!" A familiar sounding, bright voice echoed in his head.
"Lux?!" Aiden responded mentally.
"I'm supposed to help ya with your first match. Isn't it great?" Lux sounded all too cheerful to Aiden.
"Of course, but I thought a Summoner was supposed to-."
"They couldn't get in your head, so they picked me. They said you needed someone familiar to bond with you."
"Let's just get this over with."
Lux walked him through the process of buying and selling items, using potions, etc. in relatively good time.
"You'll be taking mid-lane. To be honest I don't know why," Lux spoke, sounding thoughtful.
"Would I be better suited for a different role, maybe Jungler?"
"I reviewed your abilities…well, the ones you showed them at Judgment. You're good for mid lane it's just…I dunno. I feel like something's off."
"I feel the same way," Aiden replied grimly, turning to look at his team composition.
He had Shyvanna, Jarven IV, Sona, and Caitlyn with him. Each had stolen glances at him. But for some reason, their gazes never lingered for too long. Jarven was to be Jungler, with Shyvanna top, and Sona and Caitlyn bottom (Aiden had listened intently to Lux's stories of the League and the matches she fought…he did know a little). As he made his way to mid lane, Aiden couldn't shake off the feeling he was being watched. His feelings never betrayed him.
"I uh…I really don't know what to tell you to do. I can help you with items and watching around you and stuff but…I'll leave the fighting to you, ok?" Lux asked rather nervously.
"Ok…is something wrong Lux?" Aiden inquired.
"It's nothing I just…uh…"
. . .
Lux was blushing furiously, hoping that no one, especially Aiden, would notice. Not that he could see her, but he had his ways. What she had found while digging through his thoughts was…eye opening, to say the least.
. . .
Aiden merely shrugged, arriving at the final turret in his lane. The fog of war made it impossible to see who he was up against. He didn't even know what enemies they would face.
"Hey Lux, who's the competition?"
"It looks like… Kha'Zix, he's probably their Jungler…Karthus, who you'll most likely be facing… Jinx and most likely Soraka bottom, and Nasus top."
"Sounds like they're stacked. Then again, so are we."
When Lux made no effort to reply, Aiden frowned slightly.
Minions have spawned!
The Announcer's voice boomed. Aiden waited patiently for his little blue robed figures to march past him before following behind them. Just as Lux predicted, Karthus emerged from the fog of war behind his similarly robed purple minions. As both sides began to fight, Aiden watched Karthus blast his minions with light blue energy. Seeing that the number of minions still alive was dwindling, Aiden stepped forward, making long strikes with his scythe and hitting multiple enemy minions.
As he drew closer to Karthus, Aiden could feel the Lich's attacks pelting his body, causing him to grimace. Normally, he could've just shrugged the hits off, healing from them a short time later. However, the magic covering the forest was strong, and severely reduced his healing factor. Spinning the scythe around, Aiden unleashed a wave of crimson energy that curved upwards, taking Karthus and his minions with it.
Aiden immediately landed a flurry of blows on Karthus during the sudden distraction. The enemy minions around him fought desperately, pelting Aiden with magic bolts and blows from their swords. Karthus himself joined in, striking Aiden with even more magic energy.
"A-Aiden, your health is low!" Lux shrieked.
Hearing this, Aiden quickly brought his flurry to an end, willing his wings to existence and fending off a few more attacks before shooting into the sky, gliding to his turret. To be honest, he did feel tired and beat up. Blue rings surrounded him, closing in slowly.
"You'll get yourself killed by being so reckless!" Lux was almost screaming at him.
"Jeeze Lux, calm down. I respawn if I die," Aiden said, chuckling.
"I just…don't….at least think about what you're doing before you do it, ok?"
"You have my word Lux."
As he finished the sentence, the rings closed in around him, warping him back to his team's summoning platform. Immediately, a chill settled over his body, and the exhaustion faded. Instead, he felt fully rejuvenated.
"I've taken the liberty of buying your items for you but uh…where are they?" Lux asked curiously.
Aiden could sense that some new items had indeed appeared in his pocket. Luckily, the very pocket had been enchanted by Aiden himself to hold a large amount of things, while only appearing to be a small pocket. Anyone else who tried to take something out would find that it was indeed a small pocket. Aiden, however, could will the items to appear in his hand, making it useful for keeping things he wanted to stay with him.
"Don't worry Lux, I have the items on me," Aiden said reassuringly.
"If you say so…" Lux said suspiciously.
He grinned, turning and jogging back towards his lane.
First Blood!
"Looks like Kha'Zix got Jarven while he was in the jungle."
"Damn!" Aiden swore under his breath.
Arriving at the final turret, Aiden saw that it was firing upon around eight enemy minions who were firing right back. Glancing behind him, Aiden could see that his minions were still a ways away from where he was standing. He quickly turned and rushed into the minions, cutting his way through the crowd with ease. Suddenly, Aiden found himself in the middle of the lane, having overextended his attacks.
"Aiden!" Lux shrieked.
Two figures emerged from the bushes to either side of him, one was undoubtedly Karthus and the other must have been Kha'Zix. Kha'Zix leaped into the air, hurtling towards Aiden at startling speed. Aiden's breath caught as the twin attacks flew towards him….
Darkness enveloped him. When everything returned to light, Aiden drew a sharp intake of breath. Strewn before him were the bodies of hundreds, with twisted remains of housing sticking up through the massacre like beacons. Aiden picked his way slowly through the bodies, careful to be alert for any signs of lingering danger. It seemed that a great city had once stood here, proud and tall. Something had reduced it to nothing more than a shell.
Aiden froze, simply staring at the obelisk that rose in front of him. Symbols were carved into the obelisk at regular intervals. Suddenly, Aiden's memory sparked, and he clutched his head. He could see…his true parents and…a large man…the General…names and images came flooding back, but before the flow of memory ended, one name in particular made sure to burn itself in Aiden's mind: Gorgreth.
Aiden remembered nothing of his past before Lux found him that day so many years ago. Of course, as a young boy he had wondered who his true parents were. It was quite obvious that the Crownguards were not his true relations. Several times, people had asked about the boy with the raven-black hair that sometimes ran on the grounds with Lux. It was only natural. Such questions were never answered until later, when they had deemed Aiden old enough to protect himself.
Still, a guard had accompanied him whenever he left the manor. Because of his position as "child" of the Crownguards, he had been raised like a Demacian noble. When he was 10, they enlisted him under his own personal combat trainer. The trainer, who went by the name of Losfar, trained him in multiple hand-to-hand combat styles, as well as weapon styles.
Losfar taught him to use one-handed as well as two-handed swords, along with axes, shields, and a plethora of other weapons. There was one weapon that Losfar strongly advised Aiden against using, but he did anyway: the scythe. He argued that it was too large for Aiden, and that Aiden would hurt himself using it.
"The weapon is too large for such a young boy," Losfar would say, emphasizing the words as usual.
"I can handle it. Trust me," Aiden replied, being unusually calm about the situation.
"Gah, fine, but remember what I told you."
"They aren't my parents," Aiden whispered, easily hefting the scythe above his head.
Aiden proved to Losfar that he was capable of wielding the scythe, cutting through the training dummies with ease. From that day on, Aiden learned how to effectively use the scythe under the tutorage of Losfar. The grizzly man seemed to know everything, always stunning Aiden with his knowledge of the world. Aiden looked upon Losfar with reverence; he did owe his skill and knowledge to the man, after all.
The training continued as normal, and life went on up until the weeks after Aiden turned 15. During one of his nightly "adventures," as Aiden liked to title them, he heard raised voices coming from a nearby room. It piqued his curiosity, and he went to investigate. Approaching the room stealthily, Aiden was surprised to find the door slightly ajar. Through it, he could hear the voices of his adoptive parents and Losfar. They were arguing about something.
Aiden could instinctively tell that it was important, and decided against listening in, as the punishment would be severe were he to be caught. It was to his unfortunance that at the exact moment he was slinking away, Losfar threw the door open and stormed out.
"You can't possibly think that keeping him here will solve your problems. He needs all the experience he can get, and letting him go is the only way! Either way, he'll outlive the both of you and any enchantment you think to put on him. Or he'll just break them, and get out. You know that he-."
Losfar stopped mid-sentence, finally turning enough to notice that Aiden was standing there, dumbfounded. Had the old man been saying something about him? The old man just shook his head sadly, a fleeting look of pity briefly lining his face, before being replaced by the grimace it had always worn. Then, he turned and left. Aiden had followed him, begging him to stay. Losfar had simply continued to walk, until he pushed through the last set of doors, stepping out into the cold night air. At that point, Aiden had given up on words, resorting to just follow Losfar. Surprisingly, he turned to face Aiden.
"You have to stay here, boy. Where I'm going, you can't follow me. Your duty is here, protecting your family."
As much as it hurt him, Aiden knew that Losfar was right. The old man always was. So Aiden could only watch as the gate to the estate swung shut, hiding him from Aiden's view. He was faintly aware that three people had crept up behind him.
"Aiden-."
"No," he said, cutting off his mother. His eyes dark, Aiden turned to confront them.
"You drove him away," he said simply.
"We only had your well-being in mind! Losfar was asking-!"
"What? What was he asking, or rather, telling you?"
"He suggested to us that we let you go to the front lines and participate in-."
"The combat," Aiden finished for his father.
Currently, some Noxian elite forces had been causing trouble near the border. The Demacian military, Garen included, was busy keeping them from breaching and causing havoc. Aiden sighed, closing his eyes. Whatever decision he made next would impact him greatly, whichever road he chose to tread. His path was set.
Around the third day at the border outpost, Aiden was already growing homesick. He didn't miss his adoptive parents; he had already decided that he wasn't going to forgive them anytime soon. He missed Lux more than anything, but he needed to focus on the task at hand. Even though it was a relatively simple task, guarding one of the major entrance checkpoints required him to be constantly alert.
Aiden had stayed at the Crownguard estate for only another week before setting off to the border. It had hurt him to leave, but reports had come in that the restraining wasn't going as planned and new recruits were needed. It was two day's travel to the border, but surprisingly Aiden had not stopped except to eat and sleep, and it had only taken him a day and a half. The commander at the camp had accepted him in without a second glance.
As his first task, and because he was a new recruit, Aiden had been assigned gate duty. Other soldiers, even the veterans it seemed, avoided direct eye contact with him. He was an odd sight indeed, the massive scythe that was his weapon of choice sheathed on his back. Every other soldier had only standard military-issue swords, shields, bows, and other simple weapons. The scythe had been a present for Aiden's 16th birthday, from Losfar himself.
Aiden shook his head, reminding himself that he was supposed to be vigilant, and immediately turned his gaze back to the road. From the forest ahead, Aiden could hear something rumbling, but whether that was just some local wildlife or an actual cart, he didn't know, so he waited. It seemed like an eternity before the cause of the rumbling revealed itself.
It was indeed a weather-worn mahogany cart. It looked as though it had been around for quite a while. Aiden stood up, leaving his pack near the gate and walking forward to meet the cart. Usually, there were up to five men on post, but the rest had been called away to deal with some emergency, leaving Aiden to guard the gate alone. That suited Aiden just fine; he preferred to be alone.
"Halt. I'm going to need to inspect your cart for anything…unusual," Aiden said hesitantly.
The cloaked figure driving the cart, who Aiden could instinctively tell was male, shook the reins, pulling the cart to a stop. The back was covered by a green blanket of some sort, and Aiden was reluctant to pull it away. Whatever this man was transporting, it was sizable. However, it hadn't moved, which reassured Aiden to some extent. Making his way to the back of the cart, Aiden noticed that the man was tensed, some of his muscled arm showing from under the cloak.
Glancing back at him, Aiden shook his head, pulling back the covering. As if on cue, he was thrown away from the cart, several daggers impaling his torso. He gasped for breath; falling to his knees and seeing the ground swirl beneath him. He blinked rapidly, trying his best to not collapse completely. Was this what it felt like to be dying? His head was covered in a thick fog, his vision was growing darker with every second that passed, and he gasped for breath.
"I apologize, friend, but we had no choice," a male voice spoke from somewhere above him.
Aiden raised his eyes, expending all of his energy just to do that one simple action. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd last. The figure standing above him had a rapier trained directly at his head. There were two figures behind him; one was the man who had been driving the cart, and the other was twirling long daggers absentmindedly in its hand. Aiden wasn't the least bit surprised to see that it was a woman.
"Better to leave him here. We weren't ordered to show mercy to Demacians," the woman with the daggers spat.
"Allow me to at least ease him out of the world, instead of keeping him in it to die slowly," the man with the sword growled.
"We leave him. There are more important things for us to do," the man who drove the cart said, interrupting the other two.
At that point, Aiden could feel only emptiness and regret. Regret that he could not be there to protect Lux…
It's not your time to die yet. Get up and fight.
Aiden started, blinking his eyes open. Had he just heard a voice in his head? Whatever it was, he felt strength returning to him. The rumbling sound of the cart moving on sounded from above him. Aiden quickly stood, drawing his scythe and holding it in ready position.
"Hey! I thought you weren't supposed to show mercy to Demacians!" Aiden emphasized.
The cart jerked to a halt, and the cover on the back was thrown away in haste, the trio piling out to face him. Aiden had made his way to the middle of the road, and stood there, watching their faces turn from surprise to horror to anger.
"We…..I…but you had…." The woman with daggers stuttered.
All three drew their weapons, and Aiden was surprised to see the cart-driver with a massive axe. Whoever the cart-driver was, he was powerful. The axe looked as though it weighed as much as a man!
"The time for words is not now. It is time we brought this thing to its end," the man snarled.
Aiden could feel heat and energy flowing throughout his body, as if he was some kind of conductor. He began to swing the scythe around, inviting one of the party to attack. The man all too readily obliged, thinking that Aiden would be caught off guard. He leapt forward, thrusting at Aiden with blinding speed, the tip of his rapier almost invisible. Aiden simply moved the scythe around to block strikes he did not dodge.
After a few more seconds, the man pulled back, taking a defensive stance. Aiden laughed, catching the scythe mid-spin and pulling back into his own stance. The man's two companions moved to his side, and mimicking the other two, took stances.
You are gifted with strength. Use it.
Whoever was speaking to him, they were now giving advice. Aiden drew the long sword sheathed on his right hip, lowering its tip to the ground. If a fight was what they wanted, it was what they were going to get.
It took minutes before either side moved. The silence was tangible, and tension rolled from their skin like sweat. Finally, the cart-driver struck. Most surprising of all was not the power behind the attack, for the man was well-built and bulky, but the fact that Aiden was able to stand at all. Granted, he was down on one knee, and the force of the impact had caused cracks to form in the ground where his knee touched, but he was holding his ground nonetheless.
Aiden gave a savage push back, causing the cart-driver to stumble backwards. The other two immediately rushed forward, daggers impaling Aiden in both his shoulders and knees. He merely shrugged them off as if they were a minor annoyance. A ringing sound filled the air as Aiden and the duelist's blades met, both attacking each other with astounding speed.
When they finally broke away, Aiden was covered in numerous cuts throughout his body, while the duelist had a large gash above his left arm and one down his cheek. Aiden suffered some cuts because he had been hit by daggers throughout the fight. All three finally surrounded him, taking stances. Even the duelist lifted his sword and took a weak stance.
"It's over," the cart-driver spat.
"Surrender yourself and we'll make your passing quick," the woman was quick to add.
"Enough..." Aiden mumbled, dropping his weapons to his sides. All three of them moved forward, strikes prepared.
"I said, ENOUGH!" Aiden roared.
A shockwave of crimson energy expunged itself from Aiden's body, erupting with explosive force. All of his antagonists were stopped in their tracks, then thrown away forcefully. The cart-driver and the woman landed hard on their backs, driving the air from their lungs and leaving them gasping for breath. The duelist was not so lucky, flying right into a tree headfirst. Upon impact, the force was too much and his neck snapped.
Aiden remained unaware of all this as his vision returned to normal, losing its red tint. Just as fast, it began to fade away.
"Aiden, please wake up," he heard. Wait, who was speaking to him?
. . .
"Aiden, wake up…please…" Lux whispered, tears showing on her normally bright face. Today it was just dark. She didn't understand why he wasn't waking up. Right before Karthus and Kha'zix had attacked him, he had fainted. The summoner's monitoring his vitals assured her that nothing had spiked. He had just fainted. It hadn't stopped after that! Mordekeiser had come forward, and the summoner he spoke to was chilled to the bone afterwards, but word was he had confessed that he was the reason Aiden had gone into the comatose state.
Thresh and Hecarim had taken him away to ask some "questions." It was clear from the way they all looked at each other that something was very wrong. Lux had fumed at Mordekeiser, going as far as threatening him if he didn't heal Aiden. His response had been to point his mace directly under her chin. That was when Thresh and Hecarim had come to collect him.
Aiden stirred softly, breathing in deeply. Lux banished her thoughts and turned her full attention to Aiden.
. . .
Aiden opened his eyes slowly. The room he was in was dimmed greatly, and only a few cracks of moonlight illuminated the room. He was aware of a small light to the extreme right of his vision, but all strength had eluded him to move at all.
"Aiden…" Lux called softly.
His eyes widened at the mention of his name. He summoned up what little energy he had left to turn his head. Success! His gaze rested on Lux, and he was a little taken aback. Her usually well-kept hair and clothing was now un-managed and wrinkled. As an addition, tears were rolling uncontrollably down her face. He longed to reach out and comfort her, but his arms refused to move. It wasn't because he didn't have any energy: just seeing Lux had given him plenty. Something was restraining his wrists and ankles.
"Aiden!" Lux cried, throwing herself onto him and embracing him tightly.
"H-hey Lux," Aiden replied weakly, nuzzling the top of her head affectionately.
"A-Aiden, I'm sorry about you being bound and all…"
"It's not your fault Lux. Besides, it's probably better that I am restrained."
"Yeah," she laughed lightly, then fell silent.
"Listen, how long have I been out?"
"Um…six days I think?"
"Wow…" Aiden breathed out, "that's a…that's a long time."
"Oh Aiden!' Lux cried, hugging him tighter, "We all thought you had died."
"Wait, why?"
She sniffled, then rested her chin on his chest in order to look him in the eyes.
"You didn't have a pulse and you weren't breathing."
Aiden's breath caught at that, quite ironically. Not breathing? No pulse? This was odd behavior, even for Aiden's powers. He had never been able to even hold his breath for more than a minute, and going without a pulse should've surely killed him.
"You're right, it should've killed you. You're special, Aiden, and I thought you'd have realized that by now. Still a little slow, are we?"
The familiarity of the voice that sounded directly from the shadows sent Aiden's mind scrambling. However, his mind was still sluggish, and he couldn't find the name. Instead, he turned his head to gaze into the shadows. It was as though a blanket dyed pitch black had been thrown around that section of the room, the shadows were so thick.
"W-who are you," Lux asked shakily, scrambling off of Aiden and grabbing her wand.
"I'm the one who caused this little mishap, and I apologize."
The way certain words were enunciated sounded so familiar to Aiden, but he still couldn't think of a name. Lux twirled her wand, sending a beam of light into the shadows. It did little other than flash briefly, outlining a tall figure with its arms crossed. Aiden struggled to sit up, but he was again held back by the restraints on the bed. His strength was returning to him in trickles, but he could feel the ever present existence of his power. It had built up to the point where Aiden experienced a slight pain behind his eyes. He knew from experience that if he bottled it up, it eventually gave him horrendous migraines. His power never seemed to run out, but it built inside him like a beast waiting to escape its cage.
As Aiden formulated a plan to destroy his bindings and find out who the figure in the darkness was, an explosion sounded from a short distance away. Both Lux and Aiden turned their heads towards the door. The figure in the darkness swore, and Aiden heard the rasp of metal as a sword was drawn. Based on the acoustics, he judged that it was a sizable sword as well. Before he had time to say anything, however, the door blew open forcefully, causing debris to fly across the room.
In the ensuing smoke and chaos, a small, hyperactive voice shouted:
"Grab him and let's go!"
Hands hurriedly pushed buttons on a nearby control panel, causing Aiden's wrists and ankles to be freed. Even more hands roughly picked him up and slung him over someone's shoulder. The person (or thing, Aiden wasn't quite sure) moved slowly, and he caught a glimpse of Lux lying on the floor. A small amount of blood trickled from her forehead, and she was unmoving. The figure in the shadow was slumped over, also unmoving. It was the sight of Lux that really got him going.
Ever since they had met, Aiden had felt like it was his obligation to protect Lux with his life. Even as kids, he had followed her to make sure she never got hurt. If she was attending to an outing of some sort, he was there too. His bond with Lux was deep. Seeing her unconscious on the floor and injured enraged him, and so he decided to let out his anger on the people who had done it to her.
It was quite simple to break away from the large figure holding him. His sudden burst of activity startled the figure into dropping him. By now, the smoke had cleared enough that he could see his captors: Jayce, which surprised him, Ziggs, who had most likely caused the explosions, and a large metal figure with an anchor over one shoulder. Aiden had only to will his scythe to him, and it materialized in his hand.
The trio recovered from shock quickly enough for Jayce to fire a single bolt of plasma at Aiden and Ziggs to prime a bomb before Aiden started to attack. He brought the scythe down in an arc, carving a massive gash in the metal man, who proceeded to stumble backwards and fall against the door frame. As the plasma hit him, Aiden swiveled to fire an arc of crimson electricity that blew Jayce back into the wall.
As he turned to the last captor, Ziggs' bomb hit him square in the chest. The wall was only too glad to meet his back, causing fractures to appear. Aiden fell to the ground, and an indentation with cracks spreading outwards from it was what he left. Where the bomb had hit him, a large portion of his chest was gone. He kneeled there, panting slightly. The gaping wound in his chest closed, and he looked up, snarling. The little Yordle stood there with an insane grin plastered all over his face. Aiden was determined to change that.
The grin changed to a look of horror when Aiden rose slowly to his feet. Ziggs primed yet another bomb, but Aiden wasn't about to let him throw it. He screamed, unleashing all the energy he could into the manifestation of his anger. Spikey tendrils of crimson energy coursed from his fingertips, impaling Ziggs and thrashing him around in the air. The energy he unleashed almost completely destroyed Ziggs' body, but he stopped the flow of power a little early.
Aiden surveyed his work. All the life energy of his captors had depleted. He had just killed three people. The interesting thing was that he didn't care. Some summoner somewhere would resurrect them all, and they'd live. Aiden turned back to the doorway, shoving the carcass of the metal man to the side with a flick of his wrist. Once inside, he crouched down next to Lux. Other than the small head injury she sustained, she appeared unscathed. However, Aiden could tell that she had a broken rib or two, as her breathing was ragged.
He raised his hand, palm down, over her form, using his power to heal her wounds. It wasn't as fast as his, but in the cut on her forehead had disappeared completely in just a minute. Her breathing was also returning to normal. Once he was sure that he had healed her completely, he pulled his hand away. Her body moved to make her form more comfortable, as she was now asleep instead of unconscious.
"Very well done. I think congratulations are in order, Aiden."
Aiden quickly stood, pointing his scythe at the figure that again stood in the shadows.
"Why do you hide from me? I may choose to spare you if you reveal who you are," Aiden said threateningly.
But even as he spoke, Aiden could feel his strength sapping away. He kept his arm steady for fear that the man in shadows would see his temporary weakness and exploit it.
"Whatever they did to you, it must have hit you deep. Take a good look, boy."
As the man finished his sentence, he stepped out of his shadowy carapace. Aiden reeled backwards as if stuck by a blow, almost dropping his scythe. It was none other than the grizzled face of Losfar that caused him to do so.
"L-Losfar?!" Aiden exclaimed.
"Yes, boy, and I'm surprised it took you so long. Listen, we don't have a lot of time befo-," he managed to begin before Aiden collapsed to the floor.
. . .
Losfar could do nothing as he watched Aiden's body fall to the floor. Rivel had warned him that Aiden would eventually go back into his comatose state after the drug's effects had expired. Losfar had just hoped that he might have a few minutes before it happened. Aiden deserved to have everything explained to him, but he needed to be moved first. As for the girl, Lux…
"I'll think of it along the way," he grunted, manhandling Aiden into a sitting position.
Stepping back to admire the scene, he chuckled to himself. Aiden and Lux looked so peaceful. Although she wasn't in any immediate danger, Aiden had been compromised. He needed special medical attention, and only one man would be willing to help. Losfar quickly stopped chuckling and lifted the two, placing one over each shoulder. They weighed almost nothing to the age-old man.
He had been around for quite a while, at least a century or so. Many would have marveled at his relatively young appearance in contrast to his age. Indeed, he was gifted with very long life. Part of him believed it was because of his family's heritage, part of him believed that it was a blessing of sorts.
Making his way around the first of many corners, he mentally recited the directions Exavier had given him. Right, left, left, right, straight, right, left, down, then finally left. The reverse of that pattern would lead him straight to where Exavier was waiting with his craft. Though Sypher and Exavier were both brainiacs, the latter's reserved and calculating behavior better suited Losfar as opposed to the former's jittery nervousness. It was no surprise he had a thing for the wanted criminal, Jinx.
"Why can't the Institute of War be a little easier to navigate…?" Losfar grunted as he climbed the only flight of stairs on his route, "they could've at least taken away some of this nonsense and made it simpler."
Lux stirred softly on his shoulder. He adjusted her body so that it was lying more comfortably across his shoulder plate. Aiden of course hadn't moved so much as an inch since collapsing. Losfar knew that his body regenerated far too quickly for him to suffer and permanent physical harm, but he also knew that the so-called Hemo-Virus would have a permanent effect of some sort. According to Rivel, anyway.
Reaching the last stretch of hallway, Losfar increased his pace slightly. When he saw what awaited him at the end of this tunnel, though, he stopped dead in his tracks. A large figure wielding an equally massive scythe over one shoulder stood menacingly in their path.
"Long time, no see," it rasped.
"Dread," Losfar replied coldly, laying the limp forms of Lux and Aiden on the ground behind him. Turning his attention back to the Waylayer of Death, Losfar drew his great sword.
"I see you have Aiden with you. Such a… tragedy, to see him in that condition," Dread continued, remaining almost inanimate.
"What do you want Dread? If it's to finish Aiden then-."
"We both know that if I wanted to kill Aiden, I'd have done it years ago. He rightfully earned my respect when he stood up to me that night. No, I'm here about a certain other individual. Namely a large threat you hoped had been dealt with when the Old Kingdom fell," Dread cut it, finally shifting his stance to glare Losfar in the eye. The pure black voids that were Dread's pupils didn't faze Losfar in the least.
"He had been dealt with! His spirit departed from this world and his essence was eradicated!"
"You forget the Alternis Stone. The only Eternis Crystallite he had access to holds a portion of him inside it. The Stone has shattered, Losfar, and you know what that means."
"Gorgreth is alive…again," Losfar mumbled.
"Yes. I would tell you more, but his followers have blocked my vision. If he were to gain a foothold in this day and age…"
"Then we'd have another Great War on our hands, but this time it'd be continent-wide. There would be no stopping him if he found even one of the others…" Losfar finished for him.
A heavy silence stretched between them. The Great War was, most obviously, a huge war that had happened many centuries ago. A being of extreme chaotic power by the name of Gorgreth had waged war against all of humanity. The kingdoms of old were unprepared for such an assault, and many great Civilizations fell before the rest united against him. Even then, the mass quantities of power Gorgreth held allowed him to level entire cities.
Dread, along with the Darken Aatrox, had taken arms against this threat. Neither were particularly fond of humans, but to both, war was like breathing. The both of them together were enough to push the Overlord's armies back to where they had originated from. All of the old kingdoms and their rulers had joined in the final battle, where they confronted Gorgreth on his own lands. It was during the battle that Dread and Aatrox discovered the source of Gorgreth's power: the Alternis Stone, one of seven quantities of magical energy known as the Eternis Crystallites.
Losfar had been born at the end of the war and been witness to the destruction Gorgreth had caused. Dread and Aatrox faced Gorgreth on the steps to his throne room with the human Kings. The battle was long and filled with bloodshed, but Gorgreth could not use his energy for fear of destroying its sole source. As the Overlord weakened, the scale slowly tipped their way until finally, he was defeated.
Yet it seemed even though his body had been eradicated and his essence scattered to the wind, Gorgreth found a way to live on. It was true that not even Dread could've foreseen the Stone being able to do such a thing as hold Gorgreth's essence, but each Eternis Crystallite was overflowing with magical energies of all kinds. The unpredictability and instability of each made them dangerous. Luckily for the entire world, however, only three out of the seven had been discovered.
"I've heard that the other Crystallites have been switching hands a lot. Do you happen to know where they are?" Losfar asked hesitantly.
"I had not thought them of much danger until now, so the answer is no…"
Losfar dropped his gaze.
"…but I recall that one was rumored to be in Ionia and one in Piltover. It has been several years, though."
"If one is in Piltover, then we shouldn't have a very hard time finding it. Our group's headquarters is there, so that should make the task a little easier."
Dread shrugged. There was no more hostility between them: a more pressing subject had presented itself. Losfar retrieved the two limp bodies of his companions and again hoisted them over his massive shoulders.
"I need to get these two to Piltover, so if you could kindly move out of the way so I can reach my destination…"
"He is infected with a Hemo-Virus of some sort…not lethal, but this one serves another purpose," Dread exclaimed, inhaling deeply.
"I figured so. Asking what it is going to do would be a bit much, I presume?" Losfar asked, humor tinting his voice.
"Precisely. Now, I will take my leave and allow you to continue your journey. Until we meet again, General."
And just like that, Dread was gone. Losfar sighed loudly.
"If we meet again."