Chapter 1: Nightmares of the Daytime

Elias entered the enormous chamber that he was summoned to. Gold seemed to shimmer everywhere as massive, red tapestries hung from the seemingly golden bricks. He inhaled the crisp mountain air and it tickled his nostrils as his head drew back to see the tendrils of sunlight reach across the dawn sky. This Council Room had no ceiling just like the Quarters of the Radiant Dawn. Or so he'd heard. That was the only part of the Abbey he was forbidden to enter upon pain of death. No one could enter that sacred place but the Dawn herself and whoever she permitted. The young teen had only been in the Temple for a matter of days but they had already spoken a few times and she had seemed like an energetic yet compassionate child. He was proud to be part of such an exciting time for the Solari.

He realised he had closed his eyes while staring at the beautiful hues of the early morning sky and forgot the reason he was here in the first place. He opened his eyes slowly letting then adjust to the sun that was just about to crest the horizon. In front of him the High Council's dais stood empty in front of him. Suddenly a deep sense of foreboding came to him as a door off to the right of the dais clicked and the three High Councillors entered the room and took their positions behind their respective podiums. Elias nodded at his mother, Elder Theia, who smiled back to him from the centre podium. Her smile seemed laced with what looked like pride but he couldn't be sure as the sun crested over curve of the world and silhouetted the triumvirate before he could get a good glimpse. The sun rose quickly as the Elders began to explain why he was there.

"We have another task for which only you could be suited to Elias," began Elder Apollo. The gaunt old man had always been harsh on him the whole time he had trained and even when he began his decade of service. Even though Elias was considered to be prodigal amongst the Solari, Elder Apollo had brutally punished him for the slightest of his mistakes. His back was lined with the scars of the lashings Apollo had ordered. There was no love between them but still the young 'Champion of the Solari' had to show his respect to his superior or risk the punishment of his life. Elias only nodded in reply to the old man's statement.

"It has come to our attention," continued Elder Helios, a large boulder of a man who was always jubilant. More of a steward than a proper spiritual leader Helios still possessed a wealth of raw knowledge which was tempered by his light hearted nature. Elias had long ago decided that he liked the enormous man. The young man's attention turned to the silhouette of his mother now with a sense of foreboding. Knowing that she would finish the sentence he trained his hearing as best he could toward her.

"That you will..." He saw her lift a finger at him. If the other two Elders were the teacher and steward, then it was no surprise that his mother was very spirit of the Solari religion. Elias's neck and arm hairs rose in anticipation of his dear mother would say next.

"BURN HERETIC!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs as the sun rose directly above her head, hitting him with a searing wave of pure heat. Confusion struck him as he felt the leather straps holding his iron breastplate up deteriorate under the heat wave and it dropped along with the rest of his armour and clothes. He stood now naked as the shrieking voice faltered to take a breath.

"BURN!" It came again. Another wave of heat hit him and he could not help but scream as his skin instantly began to blister and peel away. He managed to lift his left hand up to shade that side of his face. Another wave followed and his scream hit a blood curdling pitch as his right eye began to boil in its very socket. His strength was being sapped faster than he could ever have imagined due to the pain and soon he felt himself collapsing. His left eye lowered to see where he would fall but he didn't see the cobble floor, just the white surface of salt pans. Falling backward, he landed on the salt, searing raw flesh and he bolted into an upright position...

"Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh!" A pained scream filled the small room as Elias shot upward, tearing out wires and red conduits from underneath the loose bandages in his neck. He saw a shot of red spurt over some machines that were beeping furiously and his hand instinctively rose up to pressure the gash in the right side of his neck. He naturally panicked as a door opened somewhere and a slight hand tried pushing him back but he resisted earning him a fist to the nose. Lightning like pain shot through his skull and he passed out into inky blackness within a few seconds.

He awoke. This time much calmer and to the sounds of even beeping and the quiet hum of machines. Groaning he lifted his right hand to his neck to find that it was sore and slightly sticky as he ran his hand over the tight skin. Skin, he thought, realising that the bandages covering his face were no longer there. The beeping surrounding him started to accelerate at the realisation that his horrific burns were showing.

"Oh hey you're awake," beamed a cheerful voice on his right, "Oh dear those are some terrible burn scars you have there and what happened to your eye?"

Startled, Elias turned his head so that he could inspect the source of the noise only to be startled even further by what he saw. Deep golden eyes bulged back at him with curiosity as a mermaid, or 'Marai' as they called themselves, studied his face in return. He noticed her skin was impeccable as his eye began to wander over her form. He noticed fine slits just under her jaw line leading down her neck where her gills were and she wore a what seemed to be a tight-fitting, aquamarine, fish scale shirt. It seemed split open at the top, partially revealing her top section down to the navel where she herself changed into that of a fish. Though it wasn't the fact that the was a mermaid next to him that had him perplexed but rather the fact she wasn't trying to kill him

His eye stayed on her ample bosom for what must have been a bit too long and she crossed her slender arms in front of them. His eyes returned to her frowning face as she look her head. "Men." She muttered to herself as she straightened on a chair made solely of water. She must be manipulating it with some form of magic, he reasoned in his mind.

"They're air sacks, you pig, not tits," she blushed briefly before continuing in a cheery manner. "Anyway I've been the healer on duty for today. My name is Nami and I'm a Marai if you wanted to know. You've been out for a while by the way. A few days is what Akali said... I think." A pensive look crossed her face as her gaze shifted momentarily before turning to him with a smile. "Yeah, it's been three days since you collapsed on the stairs of the Institute."

"Of War?" Elias's voice croaked hoarsely, the question barely escaping his throat.

"Of course silly! You were the one who came here after all! Apparently you were saying something about being a guide for the moon or so I heard. Oh right. Where was I? that's it. We left your bandages on since it looked like you were not wearing anything underneath and the ones we took off you face were not that dirty so we washed them and they're right here on the-"

He slowly and carefully began to pull the small hoses from his neck that were now on his left side while the obviously young Marai was distracted with finding his bandages but the machines around him began to make a commotion that brought her attention back to him. He froze like an urchin that had just been caught stealing and she giggled a bit at the comic sight before turning semi serious. She reached over to his hands still clutching the hoses but his right hand shot out and grabbed her wrist before she could touch him.

"Hey! What the-Let go!" She said angrily, surprise lining her statement as she looked down at him.

"Mask?" Elias managed to croak out, his eye pleading for the answer he knew she had. He let go of her.

"That broken old thing? I was going to throw it out but Shen was saying it had a set of runes on the inside so I had to keep it just in case you needed it. I kept it with the bandages so if you let me just fix this u-" His hand shot out again grabbing her wrist. He stopped her and before she could react he quickly pointed to his neck, opened his palm quickly and closed it slowly.

"Wait you want to pull it out and have me heal it up?" He nodded. "It may itch a little. Are you sure?" Rolling his eye he nodded again.

"Well okay but don't say I didn't warn you," she said backing up and grabbing her staff that was leaning against the wall. "Ready?"

Elias sat up slowly, careful not to pull out the tubes that were already partially removed. He looked at the siren and gave a small nod as he ripped the conduits from his neck with a grunt and a spurt of blood. She immediately started channeling a form of magic, a small ball of water forming in the head of her stave. As she placed the ball on the side of his neck, he could feel it itch unlike anything he had ever felt as the rapid increase in the regeneration stitched the tear together.

"Ok. Now that that's sorted and seeing as you don't know your way around this place and you're under the care of the League I can't let you go just yet without you being asked some questions." The chatty mermaid said as she stood, hands on where human hips would be. "I'll get you some water, your bandages and that mask but then I'm going to have to leave to get the High Councillor for this 'interrogation' okay?"

He could only sigh and slump in his sitting position. She put a finger under his gnarled chin and lifted it causing his eyes to meet her golden orbs. Smiling, she simply said, "Don't worry. You're physically too weak to walk right now anyway," with a wink she left him to find his cranial coverings, the glass of water she promised and the leader of the League of Legends.

A/N: Ok I'm gonna take a break from this particular FanFic for a couple of weeks while I plan out where it's gonna go from here. Since this was just sorta experimental, I'm gonna continue with my other fanfic Fiora Laurent while I figure out where I'm gonna go with this one. As always, leave a review for any spelling/grammar mistakes or any thoughts on the story/chapter. I really appreciate them :) and hope you enjoyed it :) - Neoslate