Chapter 2

"Who?" the girl said.

"Oh come on!" Ezreal said. "The Ezreal? Seeker of relics? The prodigy of mages? Relic protectors hate him?"

Ezreal was rewarded with a blank stare. "Oh yeah," he sighed. "I completely forgot, but you're from an isolated tribe, aren't you? You aren't Shuriman, right?"

The girl frowned. "No, I'm American," she said.

"Huh. American. Never heard of that one before." Ezreal said as he jotted it down. "Would you mind spelling that for me?"

"No wait, there is no way you haven't heard of America," the girl said. "We're one of the biggest powers out there."

Ezreal snorted. "In your tribe area, maybe. But I have never heard of you guys at all in Runeterra."

"Rune what?" the girl said.

"You seriously have not heard of Runeterra?" Ezreal said, surprised. "It's only the continent of the world we live in."

"That doesn't make sense. There's supposed to be seven continents in the world, and Runeterra is definitely not one of them." The girl said.

"Archaic belief that the seven islands the tribes live in are continents?" Ezreal scribbled in his journal.

"It is NOT archaic!" the girl said exasperated. "What I don't get is –"

"Shh!" Ezreal said.

"Don't you shush me when I'm trying to explain something to you!"

"Just shut up for a moment and listen, I think something's wrong!" Ezreal snapped. The girl reluctantly stayed quiet and they both listened.

"You hear that?" Ezreal asked.

"It sounds like…rumbling?" the girl said.

Ezreal groaned. "We gotta go!" he said, grabbing her hand. The door that was blocked was now open, and the two of them rushed through.

"Wait, what's happening?" the girl asked.

"Well, uh—" Ezreal began, petering off as he realized he did not know her name.

"Lydia" the girl quipped helpfully.

"Well, Lydia," Ezreal continued. "I kinda got into a huge fight a bit before you arrived, and I think it may have made the underground passage we're in a little…unstable."

Lydia took a moment to process this. "Are you saying you caused a cave-in while underground!?"

"Hey, I didn't have much of a choice, ok?" Ezreal said defensively.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Some prodigal explorer you are." She muttered. Ezreal grimaced.

"Anyways, we gotta get out, like, now. So keep running, ok?"

"Sure, Mr. Prodigal Explorer."

"You don't have to keep rubbing it into my face!"

They continued running down the narrow passageway, rocks pelting them from the ceiling and the ground shaking ever so often. The creatures, for once, ignored the duo as they scrambled to safety. Lydia's eyes widened when she saw a Kri'lla scuttle past, but had no time to process this unusual (for her) creature.

Several times Ezreal had to drag Lydia and blink them out of safety, as she often fell behind.

"Why are you so out of shape?" he panted, as he blinked the two of them away from a pitfall.

"Shockingly enough, I do not regularly run away from cave-ins," she snapped, stumbling a little as she tried to reorient herself after the blink.

"Fair enough." He admitted. "We should be able to get out soon though. Look, there's the entrance!"

Sure enough, they could see a glimmer of light in the distance.

"As long as nothing happens, it should be easy for us!" he called out to Lydia. At that moment, a rock hit Lydia in the back and sent her sprawling. Ezreal looked up to see that countless numbers of rocks of all shapes and sizes were falling down. If they did not hurry, they would be trapped here.

"Oh, for the love of Janna, are you serious?" he muttered exasperatedly, as he rushed toward Lydia, pulling her up by the shoulder. "Can you walk?" Lydia, who was winded from the blow, nodded, but it was clear that she had not fully recovered. Ezreal supported her as he half-ran, half-dragged Lydia along.

They were about thirty feet when Ezreal saw several boulders falling from above. If they did not hurry, they would block the entrance and trap them here. He concentrated and tried to blink them, but only managed to blink about six feet. He clicked his tongue. The effectiveness of the blinking was not as strong because of his rapid use of the teleportation skill. Adding to that, he was now teleporting two people instead of just himself.

"Come on come on," he muttered, willing the gauntlet to blink them again, its light dimming, as he continued dragging Lydia along. He manage to blink about another six feet, continuing to move along as he did so.

They were now about ten feet away. If he could not blink them out the ruin, they would most likely get crushed by the cave-in. Ezreal gritted his teeth, and using all his willpower, forced the gauntlet to blink them, amidst its sputtering protests.

They barely made it out onto the sandy desert before thee entrance collapsed, ddust billowing out as a pile of rubble sealed the entrance.

Ezreal sighed in relief, tapping his gauntlet. It was inert. He would not be able to use it for a while as it recharged. He glanced over to Lydia, who was slumped on the floor, but was more or less alive. He looked back to see a couple of boys from a caravan rush toward them.

He smiled at Lydia. "Well, it could have been worse right?"

Lydia groaned.