Soulbound
In a remote village near the city of Demacia lived a father and a boy named Liam. The boy never knew his mother for she died of unknown causes, but his father Romus had taken care of him, giving him all the support and knowledge he needed in his life. He never seemed to get emotional while talking about his wife, but he never mentioned her cause of death saying only that she is in a better place and the boy needn't worry about her. The two lived happily together; they had a job as the village watchers. It was a good life until that one fateful day when the boy turned twenty.
"Ahh, it's a beautiful morning today, I can't wait to see what my father arranged for my birthday! Hmm, I wonder what it could be."
I got up from the bed, opened my door and walked into the kitchen. Odd, my father wasn't here.
"Dad, where are you dad?"
There was no reply, he must've gone to work already he is an early bird after all. I decided it was best to do the same so I got dressed and went to the village square. Weird, no one was there either; the whole village just looked like it was abandoned. This must be a prank of some sorts. It is my birthday so they were probably just hiding behind the houses waiting for me to find them. There was no one behind the houses either, damn they must be laughing so hard right now!
"Alright you got me good, now show yourselves!"
No one came, I suddenly felt terrified. Something must've happened; they couldn't just disappear into thin air now could they? I had to make sure it wasn't a prank so I checked inside one of the houses only to find nothing, even their pets were missing. I ran back to my house in panic and stormed through the door.
"Dad come on this isn't funny!"
There was still no response so I looked through every room only to find them empty. There was only one place that I haven't checked, the basement. I never actually went down there but I think dad had some of his stuff left there so I immediately checked it out as well. It was empty as I expected, but there was an odd armor standing on the armor stand. As inspected it up close I noticed it had a circle like shape in the middle and there was a scythe shaped glyph imbedded next to the circle. I literally had no idea what the hell that armor was, but I still tried it out. As soon as I put it on the circle had begun to glow with a bright light blue light.
"What the hell is this thing!?"
I never knew my father kept such a thing in hidden in our basement, he never told me about it either. I walked out of the basement and went outside in order to be alone with myself and think. Lying down at the nearest tree I could find and still wearing the armor I tried to find a reasonable explanation for this mysterious disappearance.
"I should really find someone who knows how to help me with this."
Suddenly a loud voice nearby sent me standing on my feet immediately, was it really a living person?
"Ugh empty, I NEED a good torture right now!"
I ran towards the origin of the voice to find not a human being, but a green skeletal being carrying a scythe and a lantern. I would soon regret I had ever spoken to him
"Finally a livi… what the hell are you!?"
The figure turned around and laughed maniacally sending chills down my spine.
"Ahh you will do just fine!"
I was confused, what did the being want with me?
"What are you talking about!?"
In one swift motion the creature caught me with his hook and dashed towards me. I had no time to react so I closed my eyes and hoped for a miracle. I only heard a loud noise and as I slowly opened my eyes I saw that the very armor which I was wearing somehow knocked the creature away from me. The circle started to glow even brighter than before and the scythe glyph itself was beginning to shine with a soft shade of green. In a few seconds the green light enveloped both me and the creature before me then poof, everything suddenly turned black. I awoke several hours later thinking everything was just a dream but as soon as I opened my eyes and saw the green figure before me I knew it wasn't over.
"You're not getting away this time!"
He tried to slice at me with his hook only to have it bounce right off me. The figure groaned in pain and tried to attack me again only to fall to his knees in agony.
"What sort of trickery is this!?"
I was confused but I had to use this opportunity to get rid of him once and for all so I picked up his scythe and tried to impale it into his head only to have the same thing happen to me.
"What the hell is happening?"
The green creature got up and began walking away in shame, thinking how a kid like that could've tricked him.
"I'm not going to waste any more time here, good riddance!"
He tried to walk away but as soon as he got just a few meters away from me he was pulled back by an unknown force.
"What have you done to me, I swear I will make you suffer if you do not answer me worm!""
"I'm just as confused as you are, I seriously don't know what the hell is going on!"
I looked down to my armor to see that the scythe glyph was now shining with a full green light and another uncolored dagger glyph appeared below it.
"It must be the armor I am wearing, I'm just going to undress myself and leave it here so we can both go our separate ways ok?"
"It better work!"
I took of the armor and we both began walking away from it, but were pulled back to it immediately.
"Ugh great, I guess I'm stuck with a stupid kid!"
I glared into his ghostly face with anger in my eyes, how dare he tell me I'm a simple child!
"Hey, I'm not a kid!"
"Oh really and how old might you be?"
"I'm twenty years old I am not a child!"
"Boy, I'm over centuries older than you so I can call you a kid if I please!"
The more we argued the more time we'll be stuck together like this so I figured it would be best to try and be a little more friendlier.
"Alright let's just stop being immature and try to figure out what the hell is going on!"
"Yes, that would be splendid."
"By the way I'm Liam, what's your name?"
"My name is Thresh the Chain Warden."
I looked at him for a while, he was very similar to a character from one of the legends my father told me about until I realized that the character actually was him.
"Oh wait I heard about you in legends, is it true you torture the living and chain the dead?"
"Yep, that's true."
I sighed in annoyance; I was stuck with a murderer!
"Great, I'm stuck with a murderous psychopath!"
"I would've made your life and death a living hell if it weren't for that stupid armor of yours!"
"Can't you be just a little friendlier?"
He glared at me emotionlessly, his expression was enough to see I wasn't getting anywhere with trying to be friendly.
"No."
"We're stuck like this so I think we should work together to undo this magical curse."
"I agree with that, but just to be clear I still hate you."
I smiled; it wasn't like I liked him too.
"Don't worry, I hate you too."
"We should search for someone who is very old and wise."
"Who do you have in mind?"
"Zilean the Chronokeeper, I know he can provide us with a solution to our problem."
"Great, that means we'll have to travel to Urtistan!"
"Well then, let us go already!"
"We could stop by in Demacia and seek someone to ferry us there."
"Are you mad, do you think they'll let the likes of me in!?"
"I could say I'm taking you as a prisoner or something."
"Me, a prisoner, I am a goddamn jailor!"
"Just deal with it and let's go!"
"I would rather walk all the way to Urtistan!"
"I can just drag you with me anyways if you refuse!"
"Fine then here, use my shackles."
I chained him up and we went on our way to the city of Demacia. It was a very short walk, but Thresh made it last longer because of his constant complaining. I think I would've rather been tortured by him than listen to him any longer, he was just so annoying!
He dragged me along with him like I was some sort of a slave; I swear he was going to pay for it later!
"Goddamn I hate these shackles so much, what the hell did I do to deserve this kind of fate? Oh wait…"
The sudden memories of my past crimes made me question why I even asked myself that question. We have arrived before the gates of Demacia, his plan should better work!
"Once we get in we'll find a friend of mine who can help us."
"A friend, what is that idiot planning to do!?"
"Who's the "friend" you were talking about?"
"Lux the Lady of Luminosity, we've known each other since we were little kids. Her brother Garen used to come along with her to my village where we hung out together."
"And of what help will she be?"
"She can get us a ferry to Urtistan, but knowing her she'll probably insist on going there with us."
"One Demacian is enough, but two hell no!"
"Just shut up and deal with it Thresh!"
"Fucking idiot, who the hell does he think he is!?"
We got closer to the gates where the guards stopped us, wondering about what he was planning to do with me.
"Halt, what business do you have in Demacia with that monster?"
"I'm taking him to the prison, I found him torturing innocent people of Demacia."
"Good, you may enter!"
"His plan actually worked; maybe he wasn't such an idiot after all!"
The people of the city glared at us, sometimes even praising Liam for "bringing me to justice". We went to the castle where we would supposedly find his friend Lux, but we were stopped by Garen immediately after entering.
"Liam, what are you doing with that monstrosity!?"
"Don't worry he's going to rot in jail for his crimes!"
"Seriously, couldn't he just say it in another manner!?"
"Good job friend, but what are you seeking here in the citadel?"
"I'm looking for your sister Lux; can you tell me where she is?"
"Of course Liam, she's up in her room."
"Thanks Garen, it was good seeing you!"
"It was good seeing you too friend!
We went upstairs and he knocked on Lux's door.
"Lux, are you in there?"
She opened the door and smiled at the sight of Liam.
"Hi Liam come in!"
As we went in she finally noticed me and stared weirdly at Liam.
"What's that thing!?"
"Lux, we need your help."
"We need your help what do you mean with that, is that thing a friend of yours or something!?"
"Far from it, we were bound together by this stupid armor and now we can't get even a few meters away from it because if we do the armor pulls us back to it. We need to get to Urtistan and find Zilean so we can try to get rid of this stupid curse."
"Weird, what do you want me to do?"
"Can you find us a ferry to Urtistan?"
"Under one condition…"
"Name it."
"I'm coming with you, I'm sick of being stuck in this castle all the time."
"I knew it, sure you can come!"
"Yay, I'm so excited!"
She extended her hand towards me, but I only huffed and didn't extend mine.
"Hi my name is Lux, what's yours?"
"Thresh and I'm not your friend!"
"Wow, someone's grumpy!"
"Yeah, he's always like that."
"Follow me; I'll take you to the ferry."
"Wait before we go, I really need a weapon."
"Well we can't go to the armory with Thresh; they'll think you're planning an attack."
"Crap, does anybody have at least something I could use?"
I pulled out a little weapon of mine that I kept hidden.
"Here, I have a miniature replica of my scythe."
"What the hell am I supposed to do with a mini scythe!?"
"Hey, that's a great weapon I even put some souls into it to make it stronger!"
"At least it's better than nothing."
He took the gift I gave him and together we went to Demacia's harbor where I noticed a too familiar person staring at me from the distance.
"Oh my god it's that asshole Lucian again!"
"Hey Liam, Lux could we just… Well crap!"
It was too late, Lucian already began heading towards me with his guns drawn out ready to end my life.
"Thresh you merciless abomination, I will end you once and for all!"
Lucky for me Liam stepped in the way, trying to stop him from killing me where I stand.
"Who is this man and what business has he with Thresh!?"
"Move along, I will end this monster!"
"Hold on, whatever conflict you might have with him will not be resolved this way. By the order of Demacia he is to be sailed to Urtistan to receive his punishment for the horrendous crimes he has committed."
"I do not care of Demacia's orders, I will kill him!"
"Man he's stubborn!"
"Do not dare assaulting him for the forces of Demacia will be unleashed upon you if you lay but a hand on him!"
"You heard him asshole, you cannot kill me!"
"Thresh, you're ruining my plan!"
"Shut your filthy mouth abomination, you will receive a far worse punishment than death!"
"A worse fate than death, well then I will join you in your travel to Urtistan to witness his punishment myself!"
"Very well, you may join us."
Thresh glared at me with the angriest look he had ever given me, I knew he hated Lucian and that was the whole reason why I agreed to take him with us.
"Liam I swear I'll make you pay for this!"
I smiled evilly at him; he noticed that I was doing this on purpose making him even angrier.
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Lucian immediately offered to escort Thresh to the ferry to which I gladly accepted.
"May I escort this horrid creature to the ship so I can have a little chat with him?"
"Go on, take him."
Lucian grabbed Thresh by his shackles and dragged him onto the ship; I and Lux followed them as we boarded the ship As soon as the ship's crew sailed it into the sea Thresh immediately pushed Lucian into the sea and broke free of his shackles.
"Well that takes care of him for now."
Thresh thought he had successfully pushed Lucian off the ship but as I looked to the sea I saw him climbing up the ship's hull. He was laughing, thinking that Lucian was long gone, but before I could warn him it was already too late. Lucian climbed back on the ship with fire in his eyes.
"How did you…
"You think you got rid of me so easily, think again!"
Lucian began rapidly firing divine projectiles at Thresh, making him squeal in pain as the light pierced his body. I had no other choice but to try and help him so I launched my mini scythe towards Lucian as Lux bound him with her light magic. The scythe sunk into his neck but he only pulled it out like it was nothing. Both to my and his surprise as he pulled it out weird green energy was being pulled out along with the scythe, it was his soul! I immediately pulled the mini scythe towards me, severely damaging his soul in doing so. Lucian was completely paralyzed and couldn't move a tiny bit giving Thresh the opportunity to finally push him into the sea once and for all.
"The mini scythe proved useful after all!"
"I told you that it wasn't useless!"
As the ship continued to sail closer to Urtistan it was already getting darker so I decided it was best to go to bed and rest from the sudden pressure which was put upon me as soon as I met Thresh. One of the crew members escorted me and Lux to the bedrooms with bunk beds. She preferred to sleep on the top so I slept on the bottom this night.
"I hope I'll find my father and my village, I really miss all of them. I will get to the bottom of this disappearance even if it costs me my life!"
Right before I was about to fall asleep, Lux spoke to me in a soft voice.
"Liam?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we'll ever be able to find your father?"
"Of course, I will never give up my search."
"I'll help you the best I can, I'll never leave your side."
"Thanks Lux, that means a lot to me."
"Goodnight Liam."
"Goodnight Lux."
"I'm lucky to have such a supportive friend, with her at my side I'm sure we'll find out what truly happened back home."
And so I slowly drifted into the nocturnal haven of sleep with positive thoughts in my mind.