Filia stood in a space that seemed to stretch on forever. Two blueish whitish orbs were the only other thing present in this room of darkness.
"This is interesting..." remarked a chilling voice.
"What is this? Who are you?" The voice simply chuckled while the orbs faded.
Filia suddenly awoke alone in her room. She was breathing surprisingly heavily, almost as if the dream itself had drained her.
"Only a dream" she repeated to herself, putting a hand to her head. She quickly fell back to sleep. And although Filia didn't notice it, something was watching her dream.
"Please?" asked Filia, for the dozenth time.
"No." replied Kassadin, also for the dozenth time.
"But what if they attack me again? I should be able to defend myself!" she reasoned. "You don't need to teach me how to use any big magic, just teach me how to make one of your cool swords!"
"A nether blade is not a toy to be played with!" Kassadin yelled. Her reasoning made sense, but it was unlikely she could even make a nether blade. It would require her to have innate magical ability.
"I know that!" she pleaded "...Please?"
"...Fine. But only for protection. If you cannot form the blade then you be quiet for the rest of the journey. Do you understand?"
"Agreed!"
Kassadin sighed. "Meet me up on the deck of the airship in 10 minutes."
"Yes sir!" she giggled and then ran off.
He put his palm to his head. This was going to be a long journey.
The void walker opened the door of the airship leading to the deck. While the deck was closed off from the outside, the windows surrounding it were clear, giving an awe inspiring view of the world around you. Currently, they were over the ocean, giving a view of blue as far as the eye could see.
Also on the deck before him was Filia, giddy about learning her first magic lesson. "I'm here just like you said Master Kassadin!" she yelled and then saluted.
"I see that." he said as he approached. "Before we attempt to make your nether blade we must first see if you have an aptitude for magic at all." he continued. "If you do not, it will be impossible. If you do, we will take it from there."
"Alright" she said "How do we test for magic?"
"With this" he said, pulling an orb from his cloak. As he pulled it out, it started to exude a strong, steady, purple glow. " Take this from me. If you have talent, it will glow like it is currently. If you do not, it will not." And with that he extended the hand holding the ball towards her.
She nodded and reached her hand out to take it from him. She grabbed it and brought it close to herself to get a closer look. As she looked, the purple glow faded into nothingness.
The glow had gone with nothing to replace it.
"Awww." she groaned. Kass wasn't particularly surprised. It was very rare for someone to have magical ability. If she did, she likely would have discovered it by now any-
Suddenly, a dark purple pulse flared out from the orb. The blast knocked Kassadin back but left Filia completely unharmed. The out of control sphere's glow continued to fade in and out, creating a maelstrom of unbridled magic.
"Kass! What's happening?" Filia cried.
"I...Don't...Know" he said, getting up from the floor. He quickly teleported to the ball and knocked it out of his student's hands. As soon as it left her hands it went back to an inactive grey color and it's glow faded.
Filia collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Kassadin looked at her, and then the inert stone laying on the ground. He slowly walked to Filia and silently picked her up, quickly teleporting her to the safety of her room and then teleported back. She would be fine, with rest. He walked back up to the formerly rampaging stone and cautiously picked it up. It exuded a calm, purple glow; Just as it did in his hands before.
One question answered, many more arise.
Filia was surrounded by complete darkness in all directions. The last thing she remembered was the sphere going out of control and Kassadin being knocked away.
"Kass!" she cried, looking around for her newly appointed trainer. "Where am I? What happened?"
"Fil...ia" someone moaned from nearby. she turned and gasped at what she witnessed. Kassadin kneeled weakly, tears in his clothes exposing a bloody and beaten body. He was wearing his battle equipment, or at least what remained of it. Half of the mask had been brutally smashed off. One of his arms appeared to be missing.
"What...happened?" She asked, horrified.
He said one word.
"You."
With that, he dissolved into sand, which then swept away and gathered in another location. This time in the image of her father.
"Dad? How...?"
"There's no time! Quick! Come to me!" he held out his hand.
She stumbled up and ran towards him. Too late to stop, she noticed an evil grin on his face...And a dagger in his back hand.
"Come to me, Filia! Come to your end!"
He grew increasingly demonic as he talked, fading until he was completely black. His legs faded, replaced by a wisp of a tail. His eyes were replaced by two blue-white vertical slits.
The strange creature swung it's dagger downwards at the surprised girl. The girl's surprise grew when the dagger rebounded off her, as if repelled by some sort of shield.
"What?" yelled the creature. Suddenly, lightning started cackling all around it causing the demon to shriek in pain. "THOSE SUMMONERS!" He roared.
The lightning faded, leaving only a stray cackle of energy to flare every few seconds. The creature panted heavily in agony as Filia backed away.
"What are you...?" she asked.
The creature looked up at her, then started to chuckle inhumanly.
"My girl, I am Nocturne. And I am your worst nightmare."
Several months ago, an unknown malady began to strike summoners at the League of Legend. They would suffer from delusions. They would wake up, screaming in the middle of the night. No matter who consoled them, no matter how much time passed, they would continue to be terrified of whatever it was that haunted them in their dreams.
Doctors and healers in the league were baffled by these cases, which seemed to strike randomly and without warning. One day, however, that which haunted them was accidentally given form by a magical nexus. It was determined that this strange and terrible creature's sole purpose was to attack summoners while they slept. For what reason and how it was formed in the first place remained a complete mystery. And while they briefly entertained the idea of quickly killing the demon and be done with it, they weren't certain that it simply wouldn't banish it back to their dreams. So they imprisoned it within a nexus, letting it out only to serve the whims of the very summoners it wishes to slaughter. It's own personal nightmare.
The irony of this was completely lost on the creature, which had later became known as Nocturne, The Eternal Nightmare.
"Why...Why are you doing this?" Filia asked Nocturne, still disturbed by the visions he had shown her.
He paused, as if thinking. "It is not the 'Why', child, it is the 'how'." He stated. "The summoners bound me so I could not haunt them any longer. And yet here I am." He gently floated around as he spoke. "Those fool's magic prevents me from harming you. But how is it that I can get here in the first place?"
He stared at Filia, as if expecting her to answer.
"I...I don't know." she said "I was just practicing magic with Master Kass. And then I was here."
"You are sleeping, child. But that is unimportant. Your mind is like a beacon of magic. It is amazing I had not sensed it before. It is like someone had been blocking your mind before this..."
He paused once again.
"You have much potential, fleshling. One day, I will be free of this prison. And then, I will see you very, very soon."
The demon chuckled one last time before fading.
Filia somehow fell unconscious inside this dream.
"Kassadin, it's been a week since that...event. Just teach me how, already!"
Filia and Kassadin once again stood alone on the deck, arguing. Filia did not give up easy. After the occurrence with the sphere and the subsequent encounter with Nocturne, Kassadin delayed her training. He would have to teach her eventually how to block creatures such as him from entering her mind. And to do that, he would have to teach her to harness the power of magic. She certainly had the power. The orb proved that. But such large amounts of power, and so many things still unknown. Is teaching her to harness magic truly a good idea? The only thing Kassadin knew for sure was that he could not tolerate a reappearance of Nocturne. That meant either completely blocking her off from the rest of the ship in an anti-magic stasis and given her headstrongedness that she had currently exhibited that would be unlikely...Or teaching her to block him out on her own.
"Fine" he relented. There was still another week until they arrived at Ionia. Then, they could have Soraka heal Filia's dad, Militus, and hopefully they could get some answers. Kassadin could block Nocturne from returning until she learned to do so on her own. And hopefully they could protect her from Malzahar and stop whatever he was planning.
"Really?" She asked, eyes brightening up.
"Your first lesson will be an easy one." he spoke, and then held out his right arm so it was facing upwards. "Creating a nether weapon." and with that his nether blade sparked into existence, extending from the top of his wrist and reaching out past his hand.
Filia gave an excited applause. The teacher ignored the impulse to simply teleport out of the room at that moment.
He continued his lesson. "This sword is only shaped the way it is because of the way I will it to shape." He then made the weapon grow in length to prove his point. "The larger the weapon is, the more concentration and energy it takes to maintain. With practice, maintaining it will become an afterthought."
"Can the weapon take any form?" she asked
"Nearly any melee weapon can be formed." the large sword slimmed down, creating a staff similar to Wukong's. He then broke the staff in half, and the two halves formed into daggers.
"What about ranged weapons?"
"Generally, the intricate machinery in these cannot be replicated without extreme amounts of energy. Bows exhibit a completely different problem when utilizing this sort of energy." Kassadin stuck the two hilts of the daggers together, fusing them. the tips curved outward, and a thin string formed to connect them, forming a bow. He drew the drawstring back, an arrow forming in it, and fired into the air. The arrow went a few meters before dissipating.
"I don't get it. What's wrong?"
"That was the arrow's maximum range. When you disconnect the weapon from the power source, you, it quickly disappears. So a ranged projectile powered with only raw energy like this can only travel so far. Some overcome this through sheer amount of energy. Most, however, focus their energies through something such as a wand or a staff."
"I've heard of spells that go way past a few meters" Filia protested.
Kassadin shook his head. "This is not a spell. You are merely exuding energy and giving it a form. Spells have their own shapes. That is a lesson for later."
"Can I form a sword yet?"
"No. We must be careful in how we proceed." Kassadin handed her a stone. "That is a nether stone. Focus unto it and flow your energy into it. Send too little and nothing will happen. Too much, and the stone will send out a pulse that will cause a brief sensation of vertigo. The right amount will cause it to glow."
Filia opened her hand and stared at the odd rock Kassadin had handed to her. It was completely clear and fit perfectly into the size of her hand. It was largely smooth, but the edges weren't completely straight. But there weren't any imperfections in it. It was completely untouched.
A dizzy spell hit her. That must have been the vertigo Kass had been talking about. She looked up to find him gone. Time to start training.
Kassadin frowned as his pupil continued her attempts to form a weapon
"Focus on the form of the weapon"
"Yes, I know!" she responded through gritted teeth.
There was a short pause before the teacher spoke up again "Don't send too much energy towards the stone."
"You've told me that before."
"Then perhaps you should listen"
A sense of dizziness suddenly pulsed through her. He was right. Too much energy. Filia took a deep breath and refocused on the stone.
"...Now you're sending too little."
Filia gave a frustrated yell and walked away. The last few days had been much of the same. Spellcasting required much more focusing and studying than most knew. It took time to learn these things. Time they didn't have. Malzahar's forces were constantly searching for them. He couldn't protect her forever. They needed a shortcut.
A shortcut...
Kassadin teleported away. They were going to have to take a detour.
Ezreal relaxed on his bed in Piltover. Most of his days were spent either exploring the world or fighting within the League of Legends. If he had a choice in the matter, he would not be fighting in the league at all. During his explorations he had come across a magical stone in the Shurima desert, about the size of his palm. The stone had allowed him to tap into his magical potential without training, but was inexplicably tied to the summoning magic used in the League. Still, the benefits of magic far outweighed this downside.
While he always craved adventure, Ezreal still liked to relax every now and again. He actually liked to relax and adventure too much according to his old teachers at the magic academy; But that was a long time ago. He was about to fall asleep when he was rudely interrupted.
"I have need of you..." ringed a voice in the young teen's head.
"Yeah? Never thought I'd hear you say that." he responded, taking the mental intrusion in stride. He continued to lay down on his bed lazily. Kassadin might look scary on the battlefield, but underneath that armor he was still just a man. Just like him. He could take him easy.
"I am serious, Explorer"
"So am I. Let's get together and talk about how serious we are."
" The fate of the world is at stake."
" What a bad week for it, I'm on vacation."
" I need you to take me to Shurima"
Shurima? That's interesting.
"Need a bracelet like mine? Sorry, I think they're sold out."
"It would be an..." Kassadin sighed "...Adventure... that could save the world. And you would make it all possible. The entire world would be in your debt.
Ezreal thought for a moment. That DID sound enticing. And it would be rather irresponsible to let the world be destroyed.
"Alright! Count me in!"
He jumped out of bed and then paused.
"...So, uh. What's going on again?"
Filia ran down the stairs on the ship. She could hear loud city noises from outside the ship...But they weren't scheduled to dock for several weeks in Ionia. She briefly wondered if the captain had betrayed them before she ran into her master.
"Master! We've docked!"
Kassadin nodded. "We are at the city of Piltover."
Filia's eyes widened."I thought we were going to Ionia to heal my dad!"
"We will. But your training takes priority."
"Forget my training, I need my dad!" she pleaded
"No, you don't. You need to defend yourself."
"How cou-"
"Am I interrupting something?" said a young, male teen as he strolled toward the duo. His short, shoulder-length hair was strikingly yellow and unkempt. His clothes were equally complicated and messy. Most strikingly was the gauntlet on his left hand. It was incredibly large, giving the appearance that one of his hands was larger than the other. However, the gauntlet was not there to protect his hand, but to hold the large gemstone centered in the middle of it.
"Who's this guy?" Filia questioned.
"He is our guide." Kassadin simply responded as he strode forward.
"Guide where?" She further inquired
"Where else?" interrupted Ezreal, "The Shurima Desert!"
"What? Shurima? That's weeks away from here!" The young girl protested
"I am calling in a favor that will quicken our travel." said Kassadin "We are visiting Heimerdinger"
The small figure scurried back and forth in his lab, itself as frantic and unorganized as it's owner. He wore a small lab coat stained with scorch marks and various liquids from the machines he was working on. His dark glasses, themselves machines that move and clean themselves, hid his was a small creature known as a yordle, and it would be no exaggeration to say he was the most famous of them. Unlike most members of the League of Legends, he was famous not for combat prowess but for scientific prowess. A long time ago, Heimerdinger performed an experiment on himself to boost his intelligence; he had succeeded but at a cost. His brain expanded and his head along with it. His head now was an unusual sight, to say the least. It was now shaped like a brain. This was of no consequence to Heimerdinger, who used his expanded brain at the Yordle Academy of Science, located in Piltover.
Heimerdinger mumbled as he worked, saying things that would be dismissed by most as "scientific babble."The shroud of conversation with himself was pierced by his secretary.
"Professor Heimerdinger?"
"Yes, yes! What is it?" he replied rapidly, still working on his machine.
"A...ah, group is here to see you."
"Tell them that I am busy. Yes, this machine is rapidly approaching completion. No time for distractions!
"They're not the type to take no for an answer, sir."
"Well, then give it to them as a response"
"Heimerdinger" Kassadin said as blinked into existence.
The assistant yelped as he jumped away from him.