Major Characters
Master Yi
Ahri
Jax
Fiddlesticks
Singed
Minor Characters
Ashe
Tryndamere
Shen
Akali
Anivia
Chapter 1
Master Yi landed softly on a moss-covered branch. His footfall made barely a sound as his padded feet were further cushioned by the welcoming vegetation. The branch made the slightest creak as it accepted his weight. Then, all sounds were almost immediately erased by a soft whirring that spat out of the writhing tentacle mounted on the back of Yi's head. He silently leaned further forwards, until the branches and leaves in front of him gave way to a spectacular view of the Plague Jungles. A sea of green greeted him, sweeping up gray, cracked mountainsides that stretched up to kiss the blue-white sky. Somewhere here was the Dragon Rising. Yi would find it.
KREEEEE!
Master Yi glanced up from under the jungle canopy; spotting a hawk far up in the sky. It was a beautiful creation, made completely of blue-white crystal. The hawk shot through the air like an arrow and it exploded a few miles past him in a twinkling shower of ice.
"Hello, Ashe." Yi muttered. He considered this revelation. The Frost Archer, Ashe, was searching for him... she was probably sent by the Institute after him, which meant that they were getting desperate now. Ashe and he had clashed many times before on the Fields of Justice; usually ending badly for Ashe in close quarters combat. She must have known that she could never win against him in up close, in thick terrain created by the deep jungle. Therefore she has support, likely her Barbarian King husband, Tryndamere, although Anivia or Nunu was possible as well.*
He wiped moisture from the four lenses on his helm. This specially optimized armor was an antique, just like him. Back, thousands of years ago in Ionia's glory years, when he was still almost mortal, he was a feared Headhunter of the Qin Dynasty. This Headhunter armor favored ambush tactics and stealth far more than the all-around combat suit he wore in the Field of Justice. Two lenses on his helm were for seeing, and the other two actually predicted a half-second into the future; allowing the user to see everything and everything that will be. Perfect for picking off that straggler in the party; one wayward step could result in a new Trophy of a skull. A tentacle writhed at the back of his skull, absorbing as much ambient noise as it could, and neutralized them, making him virtually silent. Finally, the suit was equipped with a vicious blade affixed to his forearm, allowing a killing-blow bare-handed.
Vicious. Brutal. Just like his glory years.
Yi crouched lower on the tree branch he was perched on. They were coming.
How did it come like this, that he was hunting his comrades like prey now?
Many days before...
He saw Jax leap at him with that deadly lamppost of his, through one of the seven lenses of his vision-enhancing goggles. Weakened as he was, there was no doubt that being hit by Jax's strike would be the death of him. He had to evade. He tried to start an Alpha Strike on nearby Miss Fortune, who was pre-occupied with fending off allied Alistar, but before he could leap, he found himself locked in place, his feet frozen in mid-stride, as hexes and runes surrounded him.
Ryze, he realized, and then a brass lamppost caved his windpipe in.
He died.
He ran in with in the center of his four allies, periodically stopping to allow his slower comrades to catch up. The enemy, five in all, charged right back at them. Let your allies absorb some spells, his summoner relayed to him, and Master Yi complied. He held back, letting Alistar and Pantheon charge by him down the river. The enemy immediately engaged, causing a light show of spells and abilities to erupt at the riverbank. He closed his eyes, and willed his chi to flow quicker. He felt his limbs loosen, his heart quicken, and his senses shape like a razor-sharp edge. Finally, he ignited his sword, and let the blue flame of Wuju spill out his blade.
He charged into the fray.
He blocked a strike by Jax, and then responded with a double strike to the enormous man's belly. Before the Grandmaster-at arms could respond, Master Yi successfully started an Alpha Strike on an ambushing Talon, cutting deep through the assassin's armor, and slaying him. Out of the corner of his lenses, he spotted the Demacian Mage of Light, Lux, charge of out some nearby rushes and launch her sealing light at him.
Clever girl, he thought. She must have saved her spell for me.
However, her summoner's aim was poor, and the spell struck instead a distracted Pantheon; the light dissolved harmlessly against the Rakkor's Aegis of Zeonia.
Master Yi moved to respond, but something in the forest behind the riverbank caught his eye.
A tall, gangly figure, carrying a vat full of poison on his back, stood above the river. His face was shrouded by a cloth, and his cold, dead eyes were housed in a pasty, hard head. Singed. The Chemical weapon.
Yi felt his pulse quicken and his chi flare up in anger. Horrifying images flashed through his mind. Of a mottled child's hand, still clutching its doll, lying lifeless in the mud, flashed across his mind. Of houses burning from an art not magical, or natural, but alchemical. Of blood running red, and then pearl-of mother, then green. Kissing good-bye his second to last-wife, Rixa.
"I will bring much glory to our village, and the Wuju style," he promised to his wife at the village gates, to the cheers of his watching kinsfolk and neighbors. It was the start of the Noxian invasion, and many Ionian warriors were eager to do battle against the craven enemy. Master Yi would be the greatest of them, slaying the enemy left and right. He didn't realize the possibility that his tiny, mountain-embedded village would be attacked. He never even considered.
"Just come back safe, my husband" Rixa said, smiling. Her face seemed radiant in the morning sun. Of all of his past wives, Rixa had the blackest hair, and the kindest smile. She was always there for Yi while she was alive.
"I will return soon." Yi promised again. He bowed to his wife, to his family, and to his village. And with that, he left without looking back once… not at his beautiful wife in the morning sun, nor the green crops ripening for harvest, nor the worn mountain path leading up to his beautiful waterfall-side village.
Why? Why did he say, "I will return"? Why didn't he plead Rixa to stay safe too? It was as if the request would have made it so. But instead, because he wouldn't be there… the mountain path would be littered with bodies, the houses and crops would burn with colored fires not of this world, and the waterfall would run red with blood. He gripped his sword tighter, and charged his hated enemy.
"RAAAAAAGH!"
Yi leveled the point of his sword at Singed, and the tip just touched the monster's chest, when Yi stopped. All of Yi stopped. Hexes and Runes floated about him, freezing him in place.
It was the Runed Mage, Ryze.
Again.
Singed gave Yi a mocking glance before finishing off Pantheon from behind. The proud Rakkor died with a crushing blow to the back. To his left, Yi could see Alistar being torn apart by Lux and Miss Fortune, and to his right, he could see the fresh corpses of Ashe and Teemo, soaking in the mud, with Jax standing over them.
He was the only one left.
The Hexes and Runes lifted, and Yi dropped to his feet. Singed wordlessly stepped to his back, cutting off his only escape route. The other three closed in on him slowly.
Yi swung up his sword in a fighting stance. He still had his Highlander ready. He could still win.
He imagined that Singed was smiling as the chemical weapon pulled back his cloak to reveal what he was wearing underneath. Thornmail. Anathema to Yi. The spiked armor would magically damage him every time he attacked the monster. And Yi struck a lot. It was then that Yi realized that ALL of the other team was wearing Thornmail. He felt his summoner groan in despair as the young magician realized his battle was lost. But Yi was not so pessimistic.
He swung his sword experimentally. He could still win. He could still—
"Hey." Jax called from behind Yi, "Remember this?" As Yi turned, the hulking man leaped, and crushed the Wuju master's skull from behind.
Later…
Yi lay in his bed, at his quarters in the Institute of War. His latest wife, Hae-In, tended to his residual wounds he collected from fighting as an avatar in the Fields of Justice, from his bedside. She gave him a tender smile as she peeled apple slices with a small knife.
Hae-In was a newcomer to the Institute of War, and the first wife Yi took after Rixa. As Yi lived a very long time, he took many wives over the years, in order, as each one of them in turn grew old and died as he stayed young. The villagers were always happy to marry their daughters to the good and venerable Yi, and Yi always let the young girls divorce him peacefully if they were unsatisfied with endlessly caring for a centuries-old man who never grew old. Hae-In was a disciple of Ahri, one of the humans who grew up in the area where Ahri preyed as a fox. In the northern sector of that province, women were especially oppressed by the village council there, and the entire area was blight on Ionia's good name. Women like Hae-In saw Ahri's animal predations on men like actions worthy of a savior.
So, she and dozens of other women had followed the Nine-Tailed Fox from the island of Ionia, across the sea to the mainland, all the way to the Institute of War. Once there, Ahri sent a woman to every other Ionian male champion as a goodwill "gift". Thankfully, none of the other Masters abused Ahri's recklessness. Lee Sin was a celibate monk, Shen was far too devoted to his order, Kennen was a Yordle and Udyr quickly sent his young girl scurrying back to Ahri out of fear of him accidently hurting her with his great and barely controlled strength.
Ahri. The fox still had much to learn about being human.
Yi had raised some eyebrows when he accepted, even though he felt uncomfortable for marrying in such a fashion. Still, he made it clear that Hae-In was free to leave him whenever she liked, and she responded by telling him to shut up and his quarters were a mess. She seemed happy.
And with a companion once again, after years of isolation, he felt a little happy as well.
The two sat in peace as Yi rested, and Hae-In continued peeling apples.
BAM! The door to Yi's quarters burst open.
"Sir," stammered a League of Legends official, "It is not allowed to trespass in champion quarters unless- "
"QUIET!" yelled the other man. The intruder was short and fat, with a wispy mustache that framed his fat lips. He was a wealthy Ionian merchant, guessed Yi. "You! Master Useless!" The fat man gestured at Yi. "how do you explain this!" The man angrily tossed a couple sheets of paper over Master Yi's head. One landed on Yi's lap, and he could see it was the match record upside-down. His name was circled in red ink.
"Five kills, twelve deaths?" The man tore at hair that was no longer there. "What kind of show is this! "
Yi calmly re-arranged the papers, and handed them back to the man.
"The enemy was very skilled." The man seemed to have a seizure.
"Because of you, I lost ALL of the Plague Jungle mining rights to those Zuan *******s! You're A MASTER! You don't give me that kind of **** when you're a million years old, and tell me, 'they were very skilled'!" The man imitated Yi's voice in a high-pitched manner.
"Sir!" the League official protested, "This behavior is unacceptable! Please leave!"
"No! What's unacceptable is that this DINOSAUR is lounging in a hall for REAL champions!" The man turned to Yi with a sneer. "Die of old age already, you antique, preferably before you represent me again." The man spit on him.
In a flash, Hae-In was on him with her knife. She grabbed the man by his neck, and slammed him to the ground.
"Take it BACK you pig!" she screamed, holding the fruit knife to the man's flabby throat, "or I'll gut you like a one!"
"Argh!" The man yelled, "Get the ***** off me! Get her off me!" The League official tried to pull Hae-In off the hapless man.
"Ma'am, please!"
"Hae-In! Release him!"
At Yi's words, the girl released the man, and the pudgy man scrambled back. A thin line of blood ran down his neck, which the man pawed at with concern.
"She killed me! She killed me!"
The man fled from the Champion's Quarters, down the dark corridor, clutching his neck. The League official gave an apologetic nod to Hae-In and Yi, before running after the Ionian merchant.
"Che!" Hae-In pouted, sitting back down on her bedside stool. "How annoying!" She started peeling apples again, more roughly and forcibly than necessary.
"My wife?" Yi asked the girl. Hae-In gave another smile to Yi, though it was a little forced. She was still childishly angry. Or maybe everything seems childish to me, I am thousands of years old. Yi sighed, and put his hand on hers. "You forgot to wash the knife." Her smile faded, and she stared in horror at the slightly bloody apple slices.
"Che!"
