Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. Ding.
The fifth bell of the afternoon. It's almost time for dinner. I look through the various manholes above me and see the fresh scattered light from the yellow streetlamps from above. I hear a beautiful mess of noises coming from the cracks. A woman feels accomplished with her latest bargain at the commercia store. A man is relieved that the week is over and that he can spend time with his family at a restaurant nearby. A child laughs as he goes on the merry-go-round at the center of town. My green skin tingles in delight within the comfortable warm atmosphere as the two of us walk through the dark, lifeless sewers underneath.
"Look, Scratch! You wanted to know what my favorite place was, right?" I whisper, looking to my left, but he doesn't seem to notice. He just looked up, squinting at the light and trying to make sense of the noise. I tap on his shoulder. His head turned instantly. He stares at me with beady eyes, keeping his chipped brown ears high for his sociopathic creator. He still holds the scars of the experiments on his brown fur. Most of them were located at his throat and mouth which were covered by a long green scarf. I bend down and place a hand on his left ear. "Hey.. Twitch isn't here, pal. No need to worry. He's probably down in his lair doing something stupid." I said with a hint of disdain. "He's not our problem right now. I wouldn't choose the most dangerous place for my favorite sidekick." I rubbed his head some . He leans to my body and his breathing slows. His fur feels warms as it touches my body. I bring him closer, hearing him purr in happiness as if all the dangers in the world are gone. I look up into the light as the shadows of legs walking from place to place becomes more apparent. Suddenly, I hear the sound of a grumbling stomach below me. I look down to Scratch as he does to me.
"Guess it's time to get some dinner." I let go of him. "Ok.. Bet you're waiting to get up there! I can't wait for you to see it! Got your camouflage ready?"
He nods yes.
"Your magic?"
He nods.
"Lemme see it."
The opens his right palm. Suddenly, a green light begins to flash out of it, forming an unstable, malleable ball. The hand grows warm and the sewers are alit at its presence, reaching the cracks that lead to the surface..
I close the palm quickly. "Good. No hurting others. And only use it if things go bad. If the bad people are threatening ya. Ok?"
He nods yes. I smiled. With that said, I led him towards the manhole farthest away from the people. I open it, allowing the yellow light to brighten up the tunnels. I climb up first and feel the dry surface ground. I look back, seeing the rat shy away from the light. After so many years of hiding, it was instinct for him to do so. I stretch my arm and felt his hand. He grasps it firmly as I began to reel him in slowly. Eventually, his brown head pops out, looking around for anything, only to see the large garbage cans collecting all of the commercia's waste and nothing else. No sign of life. No sign of predators wanting to kill him. There's only me.
He makes his first steps into the surface, looking up at the backdoors of the many shops and restaurant with no identity or name. My grip strengthened. "C'mon! I've always wanted to have someone to share this with!"
We both ran across the strip of businesses across the commercia. There were so many choices for some decent food: Ionian, Noxian, Shurimian.. There were all kinds in Zaun! I don't even eat that much food, but there was just so much to show. I know the best one! The perfect one! It was a little bit of everything! It was just right acro-
He ripped his hand away. I look back at him in shock and dismay, but he merely points a shaking finger at what seems to be two people arguing with each other in the alleyway under a bright light. One of them seem to have a butcher's knife and a bloody hand while the other seemed to have a hairnet and glasses. Scratch seems to back away at the sight of it as he stares at them for any sudden movements.
"Well.. guess you did inherit something from Twitch after all. " I mumble. "Hm.. How about we choose a restaurant from this strip then. No reason to go deeper, huh?" I look across the area to find one only to see gray-brick building after gray-brick building after gray brick building after gray brick building. It was hard to identify them without their signs and titles. Eventually as we continue walking, I come across a larger than usual diner at the very end with steam billowing out from above and every window alit with shadows of people and vibrant zaunite music with its loud percussion and strings.
As we move closer, the shadows within the windows become more clearer to show the tan skin familiar with people. At the sight of it, Scratch immediately disappeared in sight. "Calm down, pal!" I said. "They won't hurt. They don't even know you're here." I said. "Just.. give them a look." We both peered into one window. It shows a black haired man and woman listening intently to 2 young children, twins. The children had wide smiles across their faces as they tell stories as the parents feed into their creativity with curiosity. "Just like us don't you think?" I ask. He slowly de-camouflages to reveal himself to me, away from the radiance of the window. The moment he did, he looks over to see. They didn't even bat an eye.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! The streetlamps shatter one by one. Scratch holds his ears. The sound refuses to leave. The light inside the bar immediately goes off. I look around. I see nothing from this view. I grab Scratch and threw him across my back. I jump up on the building to look around. I watch as the cleam of Skylight commercia was eventually consumed in darkness. Everyone runs away from the bell tower at the very center as it begins to lose power. I can't let him get away. I set Scratch down. "You! Stay here! I'll be back I promise! Don't move!"
I jump from building to building, following the source of the screech. No one notices me from this view, for they are much too worried about the haunting screech than the blob that they aren't aware of. When I finally reach the bell tower, I climb up and up and up, attracted by the noise it makes. When I finally reach the top, I climb up to see the back of a black winged creature hunched over its recent glowing findings in front of him. I listen carefully, but all I could here was a muffled cackle.
"Free… Free… Free…" It repeats slowly. "Free.. Free.. Free… Free.."
I launch out my hand on its wings. "Where do you think you're going pal?" I ask. It looks back. I gasp in horror at its image. The body was scarred and lanky. It's claws, wide and sharp like a bear's and drenched in blood, held what seems to be hextech crystals. The ears long and pointy like a bat and it's face.. It's face was hidden by a mask with 5 holes, each glowing with red eyes.
I couldn't find the words. "What.. what ar-"
"AWAY!" It shouts. It tore my arm off in one slice. I recoil back, holding my arm in place as it grows back another hand. I see him fly off into the distance..
"Come back!" I shouted, but it didn't listen. It continues to fly away. "Well… guess you want to do the hard way.." I dig my hands into the roof of the tower and walk backwards, stretching my arms in the opposite direction of the creature. I lock my sights on top of it. Steady… Steady.. Steady.. and… my legs let go. I launch myself forward into the sky at top speed, hitting my target square in the back. I hear his scream as he tried to flap his wings, but it was all useless at the weight of my mass. We kept going further and further down until I see a building.. The diner…
I try to steer direction but it's too late. The concrete hit. I bounce off. Everything was dust. We destroyed one of the pillars of the building into rubble. I look forward to see the creature dazed himself. Let's see what's this guy's up to… I walk forward, only to feel dust drop on my antenna. I look up to the ceiling and see large cracks… The crumbling of stone and the creaking of metal was all that I can hear. I was finally reminded of who was up there.. Scratch..
All attention was diverted as I jump up to the ceiling. Level by level as the building begins to fall apart. Level 2. Level 3. Level 4. And finally.. I see the orange sky of the sunset and the vast ravines. I look down to see Scratch where I left him. He was bent down, cowering in fear as he holds one hand up to generate a small green bubble around him, hoping it would save him. I lunge forward at him. He clings to my body. I feel his warmth again, but also fear and worry… Feeling that I have felt in the bleak sumps and the bitter sewers. I hold him close as I grow paralyzed at his touch. As the structure collapses, we fall together into the darkness.
Through the chaos of destruction, I could hear the faint flapping of wings going further in the distance.