The dim glow of the full moon played lightly upon the landscape. The scenery was barren; the gnarled skeletons of trees served as the only indication that life had once inhabited the area. The old man detested coming yet here he found himself again. The six-eyed raven sitting upon his shoulder shared his sentiments, cawing in displeasure. Shaking off the green slime that had accumulated on the bottom of his cane, the man limped to top of the hill where a lone figure waited.
"Why did you insist that we meet in Zaun?" The man inquired as he came within a few feet of the unnatural being. While the individual waiting on the hill seemed to be human from afar, closer inspection revealed the true nature of his form. Instead of flesh, his body was comprised of metal and circuits; his face stood devoid of a nose and mouth, and golden bulbs of light sat where there should be eyes. The only traces of his prior human body lay in the sparse tufts of hair upon his head. The most distinctive feature was robotic hand third hand that seemed to twitch in impatience.
"I have much work to do in order to bring the Glorious Evolution into fruition. I have analyzed all possible approaches and this one held the utmost efficiency." The mechanical voice emanated from the cyborg's body.
"How successful have you been in creating the item I requested?" The master tactician asked, hoping to be spared from one of Viktor's extensive "Glorious Evolution" speeches.
"Yes, that is the reason I have requested your presence. I created a prototype, but testing proved the weapon to be unstable."
"Unstable beyond use?" Swain did not care about the weapons stability, as long as it was capable of destroying his enemies.
"Yes, the amount of energy required is far too great to be controlled by hextech means. However," The Machine Herald's third arm held a photograph that Swain's raven retrieved and dropped in her master's hands. "I have heard rumors of an ancient Shuriman relic that possesses the ability to augment and shape magical energy to incredible levels. My calculations show the relic's power can be utilized to successfully stabilize the weapon."
Swain carefully examined the artifact depicted in the photograph; it appeared rather unremarkable, simply a circular talisman containing a clear blue gemstone. However, he was not foolish enough to simply judge based upon appearances. If Viktor was correct, this item would bring his goal of annihilating Demacia into realization.
Home sweet home. The young explorer thought to himself as he arrived in front of his residence, a small apartment located on the outskirts of Piltover. Not caring to search for his keys with only the moonlight for guidance, he allowed a wave of magic to engulf him and arcane shifted through the front door. He flipped the light switch, blinking away spots as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. The apartment was just as it was when he left; sparsely furnished with basic necessities, but cluttered with maps and papers from past explorations strewn about any surface that could hold them.
Stopping only for a second to drop his exploration gear and other luggage on the floor, Ezreal went to his bedroom and fell face first onto his bed with a content sigh. To say that he was exhausted would be an understatement. It had taken almost two weeks for him to get back to Piltover from his unrewarding excursion in the Kumungu Jungle, and now his body wanted nothing more than to rest.
Meaning to turn off the lights and remove his dirty clothes, Ezreal didn't even make it that far as within moments, the rhythmic sound of deep relaxed breaths were all that filled the room as the young man fell fast asleep.
A few hours later, the prodigal explorer was inwardly groaning. The sun wasn't even up yet, but he had woken up at this ungodly hour. Willing his body to go back to sleep, when he realized it wasn't happening, he flipped onto his back and looked up into the darkness.
Wait…darkness? Ezreal didn't recall turning off the lights. He was about to conclude that he had simply forgotten about turning off the lights, but a faint creaking sound quickly pulled him out of his thoughts. Someone is in here. The singular thought ran through Ezreal's head as he became aware of his steadily increasing beating in his chest.
Sitting up in his bed, Ezreal watched his door as the creaking sound gradually increased in volume. A bead of perspiration trickled down his neck as he held up the hand that bore his amulet infused gauntlet and began channeling his magic. The moment the intruder opened the door, he was met with two blasts of arcane energy as Ezreal arcane shifted to the far side of the room and fired two mystic shots.
"Damn Brat!" The trespasser growled, steadying himself after the young man's attack. Dodging to the side as another bolt of white magic flew at him.
"What do you want?" Ezreal asked, keeping his eyes trained on the silhouette of the person before him.
"The amulet, hand it over and no one has to get hurt." The intruder turned on the lights and held out his hand towards Ezreal expectantly.
Ezreal examined the trespasser now that he was fully visible. The man stood a head taller than Ezreal and while he wore a dark cloak, it did little to hide his husky build. Ezreal knew that in a hand-to-hand scuffle he would certainly be bested, but if he could keep his distance and keep using magic…
The intruder seemed to notice that Ezreal had no intentions of surrendering his amulet and lunged at him. He grabbed nothing but thin air as Ezreal arcane shifted into the next room. Tired of the boy's antics, he grabbed two metallic spheres from his pocket and chucked them into the room where Ezreal had teleported to.
Ezreal looked at the two spheres that rolled into the room behind him. Metallic spheres with green glowing lights…hextech stun grenades! It only took a second for him to come to the realization, but it was a second too late as the grenades detonated, disorienting and bringing him to his knees as waves of electricity surged through his body.
The intruder walked over to the dazed young man and clasped a large hand around his throat, pulling him up and roughly shoving his back against the wall. Ezreal's assailant pulled out a dagger, a vile grin etching itself onto his face as his victim's eye's widened. He was an assassin; this was the moment he lived for. To see the life fade from his prey's eyes as blood spilled from their body.
Ezreal struggled in the man's grasp, desperately trying to escape. His head was swimming, from both the stun grenades and the fact that his airway was being constricted. Upon seeing the knife, he knew he had to do something quickly. He couldn't arcane shift away, but if he could summon enough magic…
Just as the intruder was about to plunge the blade into Ezreal's body, a crescent shaped wave of yellow energy erupted from his victim and sent him flying clear across the room. Unsteadily getting to his feet, the intruder meant to lunge as Ezreal again, but the sound of sirens in the distance stopped him. The damn cops! Letting out a noise of frustration, the intruder threw another hextech device onto the ground and vanished in a cloud of black smoke. He escaped not a moment too soon because a few seconds later, Ezreal's front door flew open, revealing two women. One possessed the muscular build of a boxer and short pink hair that was combed over to one side, but her most distinctive feature was the large hextech gauntlets she wore. The woman beside her possessed a smaller build and long brown hair that was dwarfed by the tall top hat that rested upon her head; she held a threatening looking rifle and trigger at the ready. The two of them together made Piltover's Finest.
The one with the rifle surveyed the room, eyes widening as she spotted the young man leaning against the wall for support."Ezreal!" She exclaimed, slinging her rifle across her back and running towards him with her partner in tow.
"Cait? Vi?" Ezreal said as the two women approached him. While he was thankful for their timely arrival, why were they here?
"Your neighbors heard a lot of noise coming from your apartment and called the station." Caitlyn said, seemingly reading his mind. "Are you alright dear?" She asked as she looked him over like a mother would to a child.
"Cait, I'm fine. Really." Ezreal stated while gently pushing her hands away. Since he looked fine aside from the bruises forming on his neck and looking a bit shaken, she relented.
"What happened in here Ezreal?" Vi spoke for the first time, gesturing to the disarray throughout the apartment.
"Indeed what did happen?" Caitlin asked, and she switched into Sheriff mode and pulled out a pen and notepad.
"Uh, someone broke in and said he wanted my amulet." Ezreal recalled all that had transpired, absentmindedly running a hand through his messy blonde hair. "When I didn't give it him, he attacked me. Then there was a scuffle and he ran away when he heard the sirens."
"Hmm…" The Sheriff of Piltover murmured in thought. Aside from Ezreal's close friends, she didn't think anyone knew about the amulet's power. "Vi, can you take Ezreal to the station and have him fill out a formal report? I am going to stay and look for evidence."
"Gotcha, cupcake." Vi grumbled. The sun had yet to rise above the horizon and if there were no faces to smash in, then she wanted to go back to sleep. "Let's go, kid." Vi waved Ezreal to follow; he frowned at the nickname, but followed her to the police cruiser.