Lore; Keeper of Legends
Chapter 1: Humble Beginnins
Disclaimer: I do not own League of Legends or any of the characters involved except Lore
Cold… that was all he could remember.
With a jerk, a young boy awoke as a small shaft of sunlight came over his eyes. He looked around the small cabin he found himself in before sitting up on the bed.
"Where-"
"Ah, I see you are awake!" A voice sounded across the room.
The boy looked over to see a large, mustached man with huge muscles was smiling at him from over a soup pot on a fireplace in the middle of the room.
"Where… am I?" He asked.
"You are safe, with me," The man replied.
"Who… are you?" The boy asked.
The man chuckled, a deep, resonant sound that made the boy feel safer.
"I am Braum, a humble goat farmer," he replied with a smile, "Now, who are you little one?"
The boy thought about the question for a moment, trying to remember his name, but nothing came to him.
"I… I don't know," he said after a few minutes of silence.
Braum sighed, "It seems the cold got to you more than I thought, do not worry little one, Braum will keep you safe until you remember who you are,"
"Thank you," The boy said as he climbed out of the bed. He joined Braum by the soup pot as the large man spooned out some of the broth into a bowl that he handed to the boy.
"Here you are, Eat! It will make you big and strong like me!" He flexed his muscles as The boy took the bowl. This made him smile.
Braum spooned himself some soup before the two began to enjoy their meal. After finishing Braum stood and walked to the front door of the small cabin.
"Where are you going?" The boy asked.
"I need to tend to my goats little one, I will be right back," Braum said as he opened the door.
The Boy watched him disappear outside and the door closed, but he was curious and quickly followed Braum out the door. As he stumbled out into the sunlight he had to shield his eyes. Before him was a large pasture with a multitude of goats. Braum was humming to himself as he made his way down the small hill the cabin was built on.
The boy followed after him but stopped as he saw Braum open and close a massive gate that led into the paddock that held the goats. The boy clamored up the fence post nearest the gate and sat on the top bar, watching Braum go to work. He sat their in silence for a while before a voice echoed to them from a distance.
"Braum!"
The two turned their heads toward the sound of the voice.
A man was running toward them, panting for breath. He stopped just outside the paddock and rested against the fence while he regained his breath.
"Braum!" He shouted again.
"What is it friend?" Braum asked as he approached from inside the fence.
"There's a boy, a troll boy, he's trapped!"
"Trapped?"
"Yes! A great door, in the mountains, he went inside and it closed behind him! We can't get it open!"
Braum looked to The boy sitting on the fence who spun on his seat and jumped down, walking over to them.
"I will help, just a moment," he said as he stepped up over the fence and down on the other side. "Show me this door,"
The man led Braum and The boy on a trek through the mountains before eventually they found themselves standing outside a large stone door, a depiction of a ram's head engraved in the stone face. A crowd of people were gathered around it milling about. Some of them began to whisper as they saw Braum approach.
He held a hand out for The boy to stop, and he waited while Braum approached the door. Grasping it with all his strength he tried to pull, but it was fruitless, the door didn't budge. He then tried to tie a rope around one of the horns on the door, and pulled again; nothing. Braum sighed with frustration as he sat down on a nearby rock.
"What will you do Braum" The boy asked.
"Let me think…" Braum said, more to himself to The boy.
Braum sat there for a few minutes, that eventually turned into hours, then days. As he sat there waiting the people would give him food as he thought about what to do.
"Couldn't you just break your way in?" The boy asked after the third day of waiting.
"No… the door is stronger than even I… but the mountain… it is not," He said with a smile.
He picked up The boy, "Friend! You have given me an idea!" he set him down before beginning to climb his way up the mountain and around to the other side. After Braum disappeared around the curve of the mountain the villages and The boy heard the sound of stone breaking, but after only a few minutes it stopped. Then a rumbling began to fill the mountain, the villagers panicked and ran back down the mountain toward their village, but The boy stayed, he wasn't going anywhere until he saw Braum. Eventually the top of the mountain collapsed inward which scared The boy.
"Braum!" He shouted, but was quickly covered in a barrage of dust and snow. When the cloud cleared he looked up and was amazed.
A single figure was approaching him, silhouetted against the cloud of dust.
"Braum?" he asked.
As it grew closer he recognized the features of Braum and smiled. The giant of a man appeared, with one arm he cradled a young troll boy, and with the other he held the giant door over his shoulder like a shield.
"Yes Friend, I am safe, and so is this little one," Braum smiled at The boy as he lifted the unconscious troll boy in his arm.
The villagers returned a few minutes later and saw Braum, The boy, and the Troll child. A troll woman rushed forward.
"My baby!" She shouted as she took the child from Braum's arm.
He and The boy smiled as they watched a mother and son reunited.
"What now Braum?" The boy asked.
He set his hand on The boy's shoulder. "We go home, and enjoy some Goat's Milk!" He laughed and The boy smiled.