Chapter 2: The Far Side of the World

*15 Months Later somewhere off the coast of the blue flame islands, Guardian's Sea, international waters*

HMS Lively, 40 guns, 197 souls

Admiralty Orders for: Cpt. G. Crownguard

Pursue and engage Noxian Privateer Ship NSS Hotspur

Sink, Burn, or take her for a prize…

Garen stared at his surroundings intently, the weariness on his face was obvious. The sun had not yet risen and a thick fog rolled in over the calm waters. He had been chasing the elusive Noxian privateer vessel: the NSS Hotspur. It was the most feared ship in the fleet, and the offensive capabilities it possessed were still unknown. All that Garen knew about it was that it had decimated three of Gangplank's frigates without sustaining any serious damage, and that was more than enough to make him wary. After all, he was still a novice captain and had only been working with ships for 15 months. As Garen pondered his situation, the sound of his lieutenant and chief of lookout snapped him back into focus.

"BEAT TO QUARTERS!" his Lieutenant shouted.

The crew began scrambling into their battle stations, and Garen quickly came to his Lieutenant's side.

"Riggs, what the hell man? Why did you give that order?" He asked the young boy in a quiet but frustrated voice.

"Two klicks off the starboard side sir" Riggs whispered hurriedly, handing Garen the spyglass.

Garen put his eye up to the cold metal and scanned the horizon.

"What am I supposed to be looking at lieutenant?" He asked in a half-joking tone. All he could see was the ghoulish layer of fog that obscured his vision.

"Sorry sir, I thought I saw a shape in the distance" his lieutenant replied sheepishly.

"Its alright, this fog can play tricks on your eyes, you did the right thing" Garen put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

He trusted Damian Riggs with his life after what they had gone through together in the 13 months prior. Garen learned that his lieutenant was a rare talent, a ship spotting prodigy and excellent soldier. The boy was only 16, but without him, Garen would never have made it this far. Riggs had an uncanny knack for anticipating ambushes and enemy maneuvers, and this ability had saved them many times. Although Garen didn't see a ship in the distance, he still kept himself on high alert. If Riggs thought he saw something, it was worth readying the crew for battle.

Garen continued to look through the spyglass for the next few minutes and almost gave up right before he saw it. In the distance there was a series of orange flashes that penetrated the fog. Garen hadn't been around ships long, but he had come to understand what those flashes entailed.

"EVERYBODY DOWN" he screamed frantically.

He barely had time to get the words out before the deck began to splinter around him. The barrage of cannon balls seemed endless. Garen's ears were ringing, and he had a sharp pain in his side. When he looked down, a blood-soaked piece of wood was jutting out of him. The artillery onslaught continued. How many fucking guns does that thing have? He found himself wondering as he struggled to his feet. The cannon fire had finally stopped and Garen ripped the piece of wood from his side, it looked bad, but was fortunately not as deep as he originally thought. He turned to look at the source of the attack and a massive sail had materialized out of the fog. The sail belonged to a ship the likes of which Garen had never seen, it was gargantuan, with metal plates guarding the hull from enemy cannonballs. It was lined with guns, but not the typical single fire cannons that were standard on ships. These cannons had three barrels that rotated like Gatling guns, allowing for a devastating rate of fire for a cannon. Garen peered through his spyglass to check the detailed engraving on the bow of the ship. It read: HOTSPUR. THIS was the ship he was expected to take down? Who the fuck's idea was this? These kinds of missions made him question the Demacian top brass and how much they actually cared about their soldiers. This was suicide.

He wasn't supposed to be here. When Garen had received his new posting in Bilgewater, it was meant to be a boring desk job, a dead end to his career. But his dumb ambition had landed him in this situation. Demacia and Noxus were in a ceasefire, but Demacia still continued the fight using proxy wars. They enlisted the help of the pirate Gangplank to gather intel on the Noxian navy, and destroy ships when possible. Gangplank was not attached to Demacia, so they technically weren't committing an act of war by doing this if no one found out. When Garen found out about these off the books missions, he managed to sneak into one of Gangplank's crews. He quickly proved his worth in combat to the notorious pirate, and became a regular in Gangplank's inner circle. When the Demacian government found out that Garen had disobeyed orders they threatened to withdraw him, but with Gangplank's insistence, he instead received a new position. He was to be the Demacian point of contact with Gangplank since the pirate trusted him, and more recently, he was promoted to captain in the Demacian Royal Navy.

So here he was, on a ship that was outgunned, outmanned, and outmatched, awaiting imminent destruction. The Noxian ship was closing the distance and had reloaded preparing another There was no deus ex machina to save him, he realized he wasn't the hero of this story, this was real life and there was no destiny he was meant to fulfill. This was the end for Garen Crowng…

"Oh come on dude, I know you survived or else you wouldn't be here, you don't have to be so dramatic" Lucian said with a laugh.

"Hey it adds to the ambiance! Don't look at me like that." Garen said through a smile to his childhood friend.

Garen and Lucian were sitting in their new apartment in downtown Demacia, they were in a luxury high rise and could see the beautiful city outside their window. Garen had just gotten back from Bilgewater two days ago and was filling his friend in on some of his missions, namely his most famous endeavor, the capture of the Noxian juggernaut ship HMS Hotspur. It had become international news; the journal of justice featured it on its front page. So far, no one suspected Demacia, but Noxus was running an investigation. Garen was about to continue his story when the door to their apartment open.

"Hey Lucian, you wanna grab…" Quinn paused momentarily when she saw Garen before realizing who it was and rushing over to embrace him.

"GAREN YOU'RE BACK" She said with an excited smile stretched across her face.

"I am! It's so good to see you!" Garen replied.

"It feels like it's been so long! I was just coming over to check out the new apartment and ask if Lucian wanted to get dinner with me and Sona, but he didn't mention you were back yet." She said with an accusatory glance at Lucian.

"To be fair, he only arrived yesterday, I really didn't have time to call you! My ward has been dead for the last two days!" Lucian mentioned slightly defensively.

"Oh that's why you haven't been answering our calls" Quinn said in a tone of realization.

"Well do you guys wanna get dinner with us? It'll be just like back at the academy!" Quinn suggested.

"Well I'd love to, but Garen was just telling me the riveting story about how he stole the HMS Hotspur from Noxus" replied Lucian.

"It WAS you! Wow I can't believe Janna was right about that. I definitely need to hear this story, start from the beginning." Quinn took a seat on the couch next to Lucian and eagerly awaited Garen's tale.

"Wait, I already listened to the beginning though. How about I go and get Sona and pick us up some dinner while Garen tells you the beginning of the story, and when we get back he can finish it" suggested Lucian.

"How many times am I gonna have to tell this thing guys?" Garen said with playful exasperation.

"Well Lux is going to want to hear it, same with Jayce, Jarvan, Caitlin, Janna, Ezreal, Vayne, and Fiora" said Quinn.

"Good Gods, well when they get out of the academy for break I'll tell it to them."

"Alright well I'm going to go get Sona and food, I'll be back in like 30-45 minutes. Oh wait Garen let me borrow your ward in case you guys need to call me."

Garen tossed Lucian his ward and began to recount what occurred during his time in Bilgewater. He couldn't help but think how much he had missed his friends. To him, they were more like family. Garen had attended the prestigious Demacian Royal Academy, one of the best schools in all of Valoran. Every city state bar Noxus sent their best and brightest to the academy to be groomed for high ranking military positions and political offices. It was during his time at this academy where Garen met his closest friends; Janna, Fiora, Vayne, Quinn, Jayce, Ezreal, Lucian, Caitlyn, and Sona. Jarvan was another close friend, but he was tutored by the most elite scholars, and therefore did not attend the academy because of his status as heir to the throne. Garen, Lucian, Quinn, and Sona were all in the most recent class of academy graduates, while the rest of their friends, including Garen's younger sister, were one or two classes below. Having grown up away at the academy, with excellent military and tactical training, these kids were seen as battle ready as soon as they graduated. Garen was sent to the Dauntless Vanguard immediately, while Quinn was sent to the Demacian scouts. Lucian was a member of the golden marksman, the elite fire team in Demacia.

Garen was just getting to the place in the story where he was with Lucian, and Quinn was absolutely absorbed in it. The sound of the door opening and the smell of food was enough to interrupt the story yet again.

"This is gonna taste so good" Lucian was saying to Sona as they waltzed into the room.

"Sona! I've missed you!" Garen exclaimed as he walked over to give his friend a warm hug.

Sona strummed a genial tune that indicated she felt the same way.

"What did you guys get?" asked Garen.

"It's southern Demacian, we got a bunch of different pasta dishes" Lucian replied excitedly. "Also I filled Sona in on the story so you can continue from where we stopped."

"That was nice of you" Quinn added, teasing slightly. "I'll get some plates and then you can finally finish the story Garen."

"It's about time"

"Oh shut up"

Garen's head was still ringing, and the wound from his side bled a surprising amount for how minor he had thought it was. His vision was blurred and he was severely disoriented, spinning around to look at the state of his ship and crew. The prognosis was terrible. His ships main sail had been peppered with cannonballs, leaving them unable to flee at high speeds. As for the crew, it was carnage and pandemonium, bodies scattered the main deck, and cries of "medic" rang out overwhelmingly. Garen stumbled through the bloodied scene searching for Riggs, but was interrupted by a booming announcement via the Noxian vessel.

"That was a warning shot! Surrender your cargo or you will be annihilated!"

What the hell do they want with all these drugs? Garen wondered to himself, the Noxians clearly didn't know who he was, or that the ship he captained was actually Demacian, but they were after what he had on board. Had they been tracking him? They must have been, but he figured there were easier ways to get the Ionian drugs he was carrying for trade.

"Wait wait wait, you're telling me you were fucking smuggling drugs?" Quinn asked, a hint of anger, but mostly disbelief in her voice.

"Oh, my god. Holy shit are you going to keep interrupting me or can I finish the story?" Garen replied with teasing sarcasm.

Quinn shot him a disapproving look, but allowed him to continue.

"I'll answer all your questions at the end" Garen assured her. With Quinn seemingly satisfied he continued the story…

Garen didn't know why exactly the Noxians wanted his cargo, but he wracked his brain for any clue he could find until it hit him. The conversation he had with the pirate Gangplank right before he set sail: "Garen, you have a last minute addition to the payload."

"Ok what kind of addition?" Garen asked.

"Nothing too big, just a chest with some old collectors items of mine that an old friend in Ionia seemed to want." Gangplank said with a mischievous and knowing grin.

"Yeah, I'm sure that all it is." Garen replied skeptically.

"Garen me boy! You never let me down, but let me just emphasize the importance of this delivery. I've come to respect you, but that respect hardly extends to your countrymen. My point is, if this delivery is not completed, I might have no choice but to reveal Demacia's involvement in the skullduggery I been partaking in lately. Have I made meself clear laddy?"

"Aye sir, crystal clear."

"Arghhh that's what I like to hear."

"Did you just say argh?"

"…Yeah it happens on occasion… uhhh but never mind that now, you best be going."

It must be the chest they're after! Garen suddenly realized. If Noxus wanted it so badly though, he was not inclined to give it to them. Instead he thought of an escape plan before responding to the inquiry of the Noxian ship, which was now within shouting distance of his own.

"We will turn over the cargo we are carrying, if you promise to cease fire and take us peacefully onto your ship." Garen offered.

The Noxians accepted the deal, on the grounds that they take custody of the ship and its cargo. Garen quickly ran below deck to inform his crew of the new plan. "Where's Damian?" He demanded. "Riggs is with the medic sir, he's hurt badly, what do you need?" Another one of his officers questioned. "Hextech explosives, with motion triggers, and two of those chests that Gangplank uses to store things." His officer hurried away to fetch the supplies and Garen went off to check on his friend. He was lying in a blood soaked bed, but appeared to be completely fine when Garen entered the room. "Hey Riggs, good to see you! I'm glad to see you're not that hur… OH MY GOD." Riggs turned slightly in his bed to face him, exposing the remnants of his mangled right arm to Garen's view. Pieces of wood were lodged in it, and the bone jutted out from his forearm, completely snapped. "Oh my fuck." Was all Garen could manage. "I'll be ok sir, I'm a lefty anyway." Garen could not believe the mettle that the boy possessed, but still felt sorry for him. That arm would have to come off.

Moments later, the officer who he had sent off earlier returned, and Garen called for his crew's attention. "All right boys, we're going to be occupied and those Noxians will transport us over to their ship, but be absolutely ready to fight when you get over there. "How will we fight if we're captured and they outnumber us?" One of the men asked. "Trust me, they won't outnumber us for long." Garen replied slyly, and went about setting his plan in motion.

They successfully made the transfer over to the Noxians ship, and just as he planned, the Noxian captain and most of his armed men went over to fetch the cargo from his old ship. This left Garen and all his remaining crew, with a substantially smaller amount of Noxians aboard the vessel. Although Garen and his crew had been tied up, they were pirates, and always had a trick, or in this case a knife, up their sleeve. Within minutes almost all of them were untied, but continued to pretend to be subdued until the right time. That time would come very shortly. A scream of "OH SHIT WHAT THE HELL" from aboard Garen's old ship, followed by a massive explosion, gave his men the signal they needed to spring the trap. They shed their bindings and dispatched the nearest Noxians soldiers they could find. The element of surprise, combined with the almost supernatural fighting ability of Garen meant the skirmish on the NSS Hotspur was over very shortly. Garen and his crew celebrated their victory from the deck of the Noxian super-ship, while they watched their old ship's wreckage burn and sink into the sea.

"Hold up G, can you explain what the hell just happened in simpler terms? I feel like you missed a few steps in there. " Lucian proclaimed.

"Ok that's fair." Said Garen, who began to explain things more clearly.

"Basically, we put hextech explosives with a motion trigger inside the chests that contained what the Noxians wanted. Then they took us onto their ship because we were 'captured'. We all had hidden knives that we used to cut the ropes they tied our hands with, and waited for the right moment to attack. The captain and many of his armed soldiers, then went aboard my ship to retrieve the chests, but when they opened them, they triggered the motion sensor and the explosives sent them all to hell. That thinned out their numbers, and we killed the Noxians that remained aboard the Hotspur, subsequently capturing it."

Lucian seemed happy with the elaboration, but Quinn still seemed to have questions, as she always did. "So are you going to explain why the hell you were running drugs for Gangplank?"

"Ok I was stuck on a shitty, career-ending post, and I wanted to make some extra money, and I really did. Like, it was an incredibly lucrative business venture" Garen reasoned.

"Maybe so, but also incredibly dangerous, immoral, and stupid" Quinn retorted.

"Wait, immoral? You do realize they were gonna get the drugs regardless of whether or not I…" A penetrating glare from Quinn made Garen change the course of his statement. "I mean, sorry mom, it won't happen again."

"You're damn right" she said with a slight giggle, "but honestly, that was an awesome story, I'm kind of jealous that you're able to do that cool shit."

"I'm with Quinn, you're the only one out of the academy that is getting to put their training to use, Garen" Lucian added.

"I don't know man, it might sound cliché, but real war and combat is different out there. The blood, the violence, the death... just, everything. When they train you, they can't simulate what it's actually like to kill someone, it's disgusting, honestly." Garen replied somewhat solemnly.

"I mean, I can't imagine that it's nice killing someone, but they're Noxians, what they've done to other civilizations is horrific, they deserve it, if anything" Quinn offered as a justification.

"It's for the good of Demacia, Garen. I believe you when you say killing is rough, but it needs to be done, hopefully we'll all just get used to it" Said Lucian.

"It's not something I want to get used to, guys, I don't care who they are, they're still people, they have emotions, feelings, families, and we have to take that from them. It makes me sick. I'm afraid that I will become numb to it, and I notice that it's already getting easier, I'm being robbed of my humanity."

"Well just think of it this way, you killing people saves lives, and spares others of that atrocity, that's our job here. It isn't pretty, but this is much better than the all out wars we used to have." Lucian explained.

"How long do you think this relative peace will last though? It's not hard to see that another war is on the horizon it seems like."

Quinn and Lucian exchanged quizzical glances before Quinn decided to speak. "Did you not hear about the formation of the institute of war?"

Garen had heard rumors that it could happen, but never imagined the nations of Valoran would be willing to sacrifice their power in exchange for it's inception. This would mean war would not be an option with the power the institute theoretically possessed. There would be no massive war between Demacia and Noxus like there had been in the past, a thought that put Garen's mind at ease.

"You're telling me it's going to happen?"

"Yeah all of the nations voted on it a few months ago, you must have been out at sea too long" Quinn Joked. Garen laughed, but noticed Sona, who had been quiet, sitting there with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Something on your mind?" He insisted. She strummed her Etwahl and brought the memory of the chest Gangplank had given him to everyone's mind.

"Damn she's right, what the hell were you transporting that the Noxians wanted so badly?" Lucian questioned.

"Oh, right! Yeah I'm not actually sure it was some weird stone, kind of like a piece to a bigger puzzle." This elicited an excited look from his friends.

"Did it have any writing on it?"

"I don't know maybe some inscriptions from ancient Shurima, and now that I think about it, the stone did have some weird drawings on it."

Lucian smiled and Quinn laughed disbelievingly. "Quinn was right, G, you have been at sea too long, we're going to see General Laurent tomorrow, he'll want to know everything you remember about that" Lucian stated.

"What? Why?" Garen asked, clearly confused.

"Because that, my friend, was the last piece of the relic."