So this was originally posted on the fan fiction forum. No luck there, as you guys might guess. So, Ill try my hand here!

Hope you enjoy.

Into the Shadows

Introductory chapter

The institute was peaceful at night, it was said. That much was mostly true. But of the peacefulness of the champions mind, that is another matter entirely.

It was once told by wise men that the best way to strike an enemy is from behind. The back was a strategic position for the hunter. A weak spot for the prey. It is the place the heart fears the most and the place the mind never neglects to try and remember. And while one can feel safety from behind another, he cannot neglect the need to protect his own. If he fails to do so, he instantly seals his fate to a fateful minute, never to see a second after ever again. But as the connection to the world fades, so does the pain. And death, in the end, becomes like a mothers embrace.

But not to them.

A champion feels the pain his body takes long after the fatal blow. And the seconds still waver after that. There is no embrace of death. Only the most resilient can face the cold and helplessness they face in their doom. Yet even the most strongest cannot avoid madness.

The exile knew so.

She had seen death, but not only on the fields. In the Noxian campaign against Ionia, she was an executioner, not a warrior. She was ordered many a time to kill captured men, women, even children. She had seen her entire squad, and that of the enemies, turned asunder by the machines of Zaun. And even after these ordeals, she would still see death ahead, waiting to finish what a mad chemist could not.

And yet, she still kept her sanity.

She had worked for a goal, one that was a lie. She had fought for an Ideal, one that was false. She had survived what came at her for a purpose.

A purpose that was never true.

Deep inside her, whether she liked it or not, Riven knew that the Noxian ideal was never true. There was never a 'Pure version' of the ideals she once worked for. The truth was far from that.

She was afraid.

Afraid of what?

Those who ask such a question never know what the core of our existence is. It is intangible. A whisper in the loud wind. And only the wise know what it truly is and what it means.

What is it, you may ask?

A purpose.

And what she feared was the lack of it.

In death, we leave behind many things. Our accomplishments, our loved ones, our bodies, and our legacy. But Riven was there, dying. What didShe leave behind?

She felt the darkness creep onto her like a slithering snake, preparing to swallow its victim whole. The blade had lodged deep within her. Blood walked down the corridor like a calm river. Such a sight would cause a mere mortal mind to fall into a rapid spiral of disillusion, madness, and ultimate oblivion.

Yet she still held on.

Her assailants face, the words that she heard. She tried to keep calm and remember. She wanted to remember the bastard who did this to her.

But all she could see was the blurry image of a hood, holding darkness from within.

Finally, it was to much.

A scream echoed down the halls before her last thought went bleak.

I need reason...


And so it begins.

Apologies to all Riven fans who might have found this offensive. But the human mind works in so many strange ways. The creation of a false purpose is one of them.

As for the Noxian Ideal part... I was completely honest about that part.

Think of it like this:
If there were no weak, then what was the use of the strong for?

I am not pointing this out in the perspective of the balance(Which I think is a lie made by the Kinkou for control). All I am saying is that all things MUST HAVE OPPOSITES.

So, I hope this was not offensive to any of you. I am a writer, and like one great writer said:

A writer is someone who has signed a contract with his conciseness.

Or it goes something like that. I forgot the name of the writer and the full quote. All i remember is that he is Russian and that he married an actress.