Here's part two! Please review if you enjoyed reading it. :)
Time passed without measure in Kennen's unending nightmare. Horrifying visions passed in and out of his mind one after the other. He saw flashes of Shen and Akali with impossibly long claws and slavering fangs, lunging at him with mouths open wide; a dark pit from which black tendrils snaked out, grabbing Kennen's body and dragging him away; his mother, impaled on a spear, yet staring at him with tear filled eyes and whispering "Why didn't you save me?". The torture continued without stopping. He almost resigned himself to an eternity of fear as the ghastly visions grew worse and worse.
Kennen...
A demonic creature with six arms and countless eyes torturing the yordle champions in gruesome ways and popping their heads like berries-
Kennen...
He was in a forest now, running for his life from something he could not see, all the while the agonized screams of his friends and family echoed through his head like holiday bells-
"Kennen!"
He opened his eyes with a start, and for the first time in memory he no longer felt fear. He was laying in a bed that was not his own. He looked around, taking in the scene. He was in a hospital room, and daylight streamed in through the open window. The walls were gray stone, creating the atmosphere of a dungeon.
Shen stood across the room against the wall, unmasked, a single ninjato strapped to his side. Upon making eye contact with Kennen he nodded, but did not smile or speak. On his left stood Soraka, bleary eyed and exhausted, but smiling wearily. To his right stood a robed summoner, smiling mechanically down at the little yordle. His face was tan and scarred, with a bushy mustache and eyebrows. The most striking aspects of his appearance were his eyes: completely white, no veins, with jet black pinpricks for pupils.
"Good, good," he said with bravado. "You're awake. Soraka has been working for hours to undo the damage done by Nocturne's attack."
Kennen looked back to the Starchild, who nodded and held up her scepter. It glowed black. She waved it slightly and it left the air it passed through gray and distorted. "I managed to draw most of the nightmare out of your mind, but you still may notice some side effects. You'll experience some physical weakness for the next week or so. I've notified the League that you should not compete until you recover fully." she seemed a tad timid, as if she was ashamed she could not do more.
"It's fine," Kennen tried to say sternly, but his voice was raspy and quiet due to lack of use. "How long was I...out?"
"Two weeks." Shen said, walking forward and standing at the foot of the bed. "I've arranged with the Kinkou to have your training put off while you recuperate, but we expect you to make up for all your lost training the moment you're medically cleared."
Kennen nodded dutifully and tried to offer a salute, but found he could hardly move a muscle, and settled for an awkward slight nod of the head. He looked back over to the unfamiliar summoner, who was still grinning.
"It's very good you've woken my boy, I was starting to think you'd never escape the nightmare..." He was pacing the room now, taking slow, deliberate strides. "The summoners of the Institute - myself included, of course - were very worried about you. What would have happened if you had taken a turn for the worse, or never woken up? The backlash would have been enormous." He strode past Shen and waved his hand, and a pair of curtains popped into existence and shut in front of the window. He turned to face Kennen again.
"The League has to keep up appearances. With that sleeping spell escaping containment in Demacia, we have to keep the public calm if we're going to stop the spread. What would we do if one of our champions, the faces of the League, had seemingly fallen prey to the 'disease'? The world would have been thrown into panic and chaos..." he trailed off. "A true nightmare..." he added in a whisper, almost wistfully.
"But now you're making your recovery," he said, resuming his former bravado. "And I suppose the world will have to wait for another time to be thrown into unending darkness and terror." He slowly turned away with the eyes of all three champions now on him.
"...or will we?"
He went limp and eight enormous black tendrils exploded out of the summoner's back. The appendages whipped around the room as Soraka screamed for help, three of them launching at Kennen as Shen drew his blade. Kennen felt one of the slick, warm tentacles wrap around his ribs as Soraka desperately tried to right off the other two. As he was lifted into the air, Kennen saw Shen cleanly slice four of the tendrils in half.
"I WILL HAVE HIM!" roared Nocturne's disembodied voice. The spectre's fury surged through the tendril holding Kennen and he began to see stars. He gasped for air but could not breathe under the tendril's crushing strength. His vision began to darken, his hearing began to fade and-
The tendril went limp and Nocturne screamed in fury. Kennen crashed to the floor, the remains of the tentacle still wrapped around him and black, oily blood soaking into his hospital gown. Shen stood over him, panting, whip marks on his arms and face and blood dripping off his sword. Soraka knelt over Kennen and put her hand on his chest. She was shaking slightly, but her hand began to glow bright blue and the pain in Kennen's ribs began to fade. Before she or Shen could speak another summoner jogged hurriedly into the room. Seemingly taking no notice of the carnage of the scene, he threw back his hood and revealed a round face full of fear. In a hushed whisper, he recited:
"Nocturne has escaped. People everywhere, all over Valoran, are falling into nightmares." he swallowed. "Champions are dying. Summoners and uninfected are required to meet in the Grand Hall. Please, hurry." With a quick and awkward bow, he hurried out.
Soraka nervously readjusted her stance, clattering her hooves on the tile floor. "We should get moving. They'll need me to heal the wounded."
"No." Shen said simply, wiping his blade off on the robe of the possessed summoner. "First, we stop the source."
"What's that?" Kennen spoke up as Soraka helped him to his feet.
"We kill Nocturne." Shen said. With that, he sheathed his ninjato and lifted Kennen onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry, leaving Soraka to hurry after them.
I hate cliffhangers, but I may continue this story, just with the POV of other champions...I dunno, could be fun. Thanks again for reading!
