(October 5th 2015 – 11:10 PM – Shurima Desert, Runeterra)

The little girl felt tired, she opened her eyes and saw the clear sky of the night filled with stars. Liz felt the presence of someone else beside her and when she lowered her head, there was more than one person.

As she looked around, the black haired noticed that she was no longer in her backyard, the grass was replaced by sand and where her house was supposed to be, there was even more sand, the suburbs she was in changed into a whole desert.

¨Child, can you hear me?¨ The man beside Liz startled her, this old person still had a few black strands of hair but most of it was already black. He was wearing a brown shirt and pants that matched the same color; apparently it was some sort of outfit. The tanned tone in his skin showed that he used to be under the sun a lot of time, considering wandering merchants use to live out in the open.

The little girl was unable to speak, she was afraid but there were no tears coming from her eyes. Liz turned at the left and saw more people a few steps away from the old man and her, two little kids, a boy and a girl with both white hair, in front of them another boy but unlike the children he looked more like a teenager. Liz focused her eyes on this teen who was aiming at her with a strange bow that was summoned from his glove, the blond hair was covering his eyes due to the small gusts of wind.

¨Girl, are you with us?¨ The old man was snapping his fingers as he attracted the attention of the black haired girl once again. She was still mute and the only answer he received was a fast nodding ¨Good, for a second I though your head got hit during that fall¨

Liz looked at the sky; she still couldn't understand what was going on, the old man snapped his fingers again, startling the little girl.

¨Do you have a name?¨

¨L-l-liz, sir¨ She stuttered, her eyes looking at the old man, then back at the group of kids behind him.

¨Sir? Well, I never expected a person from the sky to have such manners!¨ He chuckled and tried to stand up but his legs gave in ¨Merc, come here, I need your help¨ He waved his hand and the boy with the white hair walked at him, in his hands he was carrying a wooden stick as a club, but the true function it had was to give the old man some assistance while walking.

The boy looked at Liz with curiosity; he raised one of his fingers and moved it closely to the girl's cheek. ¨Are you… real?¨

¨Oh, she is real¨ The blond from behind lowered his glove and the magical bow that appeared on top of it disappeared. The late teenager walked at the side of the old man and Merc and extended his hand at the outsider ¨My name is Ezreal, nice to meet you… uh…¨

¨Liz… my name is Liz¨ This time the girl used the explorer's hand to stand up.

¨Did you say Liz?¨ The white haired girl rushed at the group with her eyes widened ¨Are you THAT Liz, the one from the story my uncle told me?¨

¨Now now Rhea, just because this girl has the same name as the one in the story, it does not mean anything. All we know is that this could be pure coincidence¨ The old man tapped Rhea's head and ruffling some of her snowy hair.

¨But we need to ask her!¨ The emotion from the girl was very noticeable but Liz was not too eager to answer as she rested her head on her right hand.

¨I just wanna go home… my sister will kill me if she discovers I'm gone before my birthday¨

¨Your… birthday?¨ Ezreal asked as he looked into one of his back pockets, the first thing he took from them was a metallic wrapper, when the blond opened it he grabbed a brown tablet and gave it to Liz ¨I know it's not a nice birthday gift, but it's all I have now. It's chocolate, one of our newest inventions at Piltover¨

At first the outsider was scared, even if it looked like a normal piece of chocolate this wasn't her world and the rules of `don't accept anything from strangers´ was still applying. But there was no other option, the stomach of the little girl growled and without any clue of where she was, she decided to take the sweet tablet and take a bite out of it.

¨This… this is delicious!¨ Her fears seemed to go and were replaced by satisfaction and happiness.

¨Ez, do you have more for us?¨ Merc looked at the explorer, hoping to receive some of that chocolate but he shook his head as he emptied the pocket from where he pulled out the metallic wrapper.

Liz did not ignore this as she looked at the brown tablet, there were still some teeth carvings in it but the black haired decided to split the chocolate into two and gave the two pieces to Merc and Rhea. Even if they met some minutes ago, this friendship was already going in the right path for them.

This happy moment was interrupted by a light in the sky ¨What is that?¨ Liz asked as she pointed at the sky.

¨I… don't know, but it looks similar to the star you fell from. Maybe another one like you?¨ The uncle smiled and looked at the sky, seeing another star fall to the continent was not new for him, but the fact that it was not a single star but four that were falling in different directions was surprising for him ¨Well, you know how this is, if you saw one, maybe it will grant you a wish!¨

Liz tried to think her wish, this was new for her and even if she was already fed with chocolate the place she was in was already different, she was still a child and without any parents to protect her she needed only one person that could be trusted.

¨I wish… I wish that my sister was here, with me¨ She looked at the old man who tapped her shoulder.

Once the stars disappeared into the different locations, nothing happened, unlike her landing all of the stars didn't make any fuzz so it meant that none was even remotely close.

¨Well, wherever it fell, someone must have been lucky, right? But don't be sad, you will find your sister¨ He smiled and started to walk in the direction of a light with the help of the wooden stick as a crutch. Liz looked in that direction and saw a huge caravan where there were a lot of people talking ¨You must be tired by now, come with us, the best I can offer is some food, water and a place to sleep¨

¨And you can play with us!¨ Rhea said as she grabbed Liz's arm and started to drag her towards the camp with Merc following from behind

With the two siblings already running alongside Liz, both Ezreal and the old man were left alone behind, giving them some time to talk.

¨Do you think this… Liz, is the same one as your story, old man?¨ Ezreal looked at him, he was worried because he also heard about the story of the girl that got kidnapped by the Void.

¨I do not want to jump into conclusions just yet. Maybe she is, maybe she is not, but I understand your concern. I will be taking care of, don't worry¨

…

The little girl woke up once again; the darkened sky was now replaced by a white canvas that was protecting the interior of the caravan from the sun. The outsider stood up and saw at her right the two white haired children still asleep, on the other hand the old man was on the front controlling the camels that were moving the caravan, at his side the blond was whispering to him, probably because he didn't wanted to wake any of the children up.

Liz crawled to the front, trying not to step on Merc or Rhea. The first person to notice someone getting closer was Ezreal who smiled at her ¨Hey Liz, had a good sleep?¨

¨Yeah…¨ Liz's hands went into her ears, trying to wipe them so she could see properly ¨Sorry if I never asked but… I don't know your name mister¨ She poked at the old man's shoulder who turned his head after he got called.

¨I am sorry, with your sudden landing and all those starts from yesterday, I guess I might have forgotten¨ The gray haired man gave the reins to the blond who was still listening to the conversation, even if he wasn't looking at the two of them ¨You probably guessed that both Merc and Rhea are my nephews, that turns me into their uncle¨ He chuckled ¨You can either call me like that, uncle, or use my actual name: Tolgen¨

That was a weird name, it was not a common name on the Earth and it just generated even more confusion to the outsider.

¨Now that we are rested, you must be full of questions, and we still have some time before we can rest¨ Tolgen looked back to the front and to the rest of the caravans who were moving in an almost perfect straight line ¨So go ahead, ask whatever is in your mind little girl!¨

Liz was indeed confused with everything around her, and there were a lot of questions that needed answers for her but the best way was to start from the very beginning.

¨What… where are we?¨

¨Right now? Shurima desert, we are south of the great barrier that divides Valoran, the continent, into north and south. The world we are in is called Runeterra, a place where Summoners, Champions like Ezreal, monsters and even normal people like me Rhea and Merc live. Our destination is Demacia; a city-state ruled by King Jarvan. It is a nice place during summer¨ The old man's explanation was hard to digest. The little girl was no longer in her world but this one didn't look so different, yet when Tolgen said monsters she could imagine things similar to the creature that appeared in her house.

¨Wait, Champions?¨ She turned at Ezreal ¨What did you won?¨

The blond chuckled ¨I am not THAT type of Champion¨ He gave the reins back to Tolgen who turned back to the front while the explorer did the opposite and faced the little girl ¨Being a Champion means to represent your city-state and fight whenever you are summoned. And since it is also related, Summoners are the people who use us as their `tools´ in the different Fields of Justice¨

¨But… fighting is bad…¨

The piltovian ruffled the girl's hair and gave her a tender smile ¨I know, but think about this, nobody gets hurt in the process, so no one is on the losing end!¨

The camels stopped and so did the other caravans, creating an area for camping; the sun was shining right above their heads indicating that it was already noon.

The uncle walked to the inside of the caravan and woke up the two kids, while Ezreal just climbed out, Liz did the same and followed the prodigal explorer from behind ¨Where you going?¨

¨I'm doing my own exploration now. I discovered that there is an artifact beneath these sands and the entrance to where is located can be found almost nearby¨ Ezreal searched into one of the pockets from his jacket and pulled a sheet of paper with many drawings in it, probably a map with all of the details of the place he was going.

¨Can I go with you?¨ Liz looked at the Champion with puppy eyes, but he only shook his head in response.

¨I'm afraid I can't let you come, it is a dangerous place and a little girl like you shouldn't stay there¨ He smiled and lowered his goggles¨

¨I'm not a little girl, I am ten!¨ Liz pouted and crossed her arms, from behind the black haired felt someone tapping her shoulder, as she turned the two white hired kids were smiling at her.

¨Hey… Liz, uncle said that food will be ready soon, so while we wait, do you want to play some hide and seek?¨ Rhea was trying to befriend the outsider, at least if Liz couldn't follow the explorer then a child's game would have to fill that empty space until lunch was ready.

Without saying anything the black haired nodded and the two kids jumped in victory ¨Well, here are the rules: You girls will hide while I'll count to thirty. Simple!¨ Merc walked to one of the caravans and covered his eyes, the girls on the back couldn't see any place to hide so instead they decided to run towards the nearby dune and hide there.

From far away, Liz and Rhea saw that the male sibling finished counting and was already inspecting every caravan but even if he had no luck he kept searching the camp.

¨Sooooo, you are from another world, aren't you?¨ Rhea asked while turning her head at Liz, the latter was still focused on the boy that was trying to find the two girls.

¨Yeah, my world is called Earth, but it is not different from yours. We have deserts too!¨ Liz answered cheerfully. She decided to slide down the dune on the opposite side, so Merc wouldn't seem them coming back to the camp ¨But we don't have Champions just like here, ours are very different¨

The white haired girl followed Liz down the hill and they decided to walk away from the camp at a slow pace. From behind the two of them they heard some movement, it was not from someone but from something, when the outsider turned she saw the same purple creature that appeared in her house.

¨My gift!¨ Liz rushed at the voidling and grabbed it, giving him a hug, the three yellow eyes were peering into hers.

¨What is that?¨ Rhea asked, she was about to poke the creature's face but this one answered almost biting her finger off.

¨It's a… it's my pet! My sister bought it for my birthday, and for some reason he is now with me!¨ Liz scratched the top of the head, unlike the white haired the voidling didn't seem to be aggressive towards the outsider.

The girl decided to leave her pet on the sand and as soon as the creature touched the ground he started to move in a certain direction away from the camp, without hesitating Liz decided to follow her pet but Rhea stopped the black haired in her tracks by grabbing her arm.

¨Liz, we can't go too far, uncle will get angry if he discovers we went too far away from the camp!¨

¨It's my pet, it's the only thing I have from my world!¨ The black haired ran away and got released from Rhea's grip, without anything else to do, the sibling followed Liz from behind trying to knock some sense into her.

After a minute of running, the two girls found that the voidling stopped right in front of some sort of ruins, on the far end there was an entrance that led downstairs, the creature noticed that the girls were almost close to him so he resumed and entered into the dark place.

Liz and Rhea stood in front of this entrance, none of them wanted to enter since the inside was too dark and there were no torches or light sources.

¨I-I think we go back, your pet will come back to you¨ Rhea muttered, hiding behind the black haired but this one did not hesitated and stepped forward, trying not to fall on her way down to the ruins ¨Wait, where are you going?¨

¨I can't lose my pet! Claire would be pissed if I lost it, especially on my birthday!¨ With those words Liz stepped further into the dark and mysterious place, the white haired didn't wanted to lose a friend she recently met and followed the outsider from a safe distance.

Once inside of the ruins, there were a few torches already lit and their only path was a long hallway that extended into eternity, they kept walking up to the point they found something odd in the wall, a shining stone which color resembled to gold but it was shaped in a strange way that looked like a face.

¨Liz look, I found gold!¨ Rhea tried to pull the golden stone from the wall but with all of her strength it was impossible to remove it, after two tries she got tired and instead of pulling it she pushed the stone and it actually moved.

First they heard some rocks moving from inside of the wall, like a hidden mechanism, then the ground started to shake and some parts from it were already crumbling, Rhea ran away and tried to drag Liz along with her but the black haired was already too far.

¨Jump!¨ That was the advice from the sibling but when the outsider tried to move towards her the ground beneath Liz crumbled and made the little girl fall into the dark abyss.

What will happen next? Well you will know once the next chapter gets released... soon. This is a bonus chapter for the week so don't worry, you will still receive your 2 chapters from Meeting the Winter's Wrath in the coming week.

Thanks for those who started to follow and fav my story, no reviews yet but I'll be waiting right here :)

Here's a 'lil spoiler for you, next chapter will not feature Liz, instead we will focus onto one of the Summoners and their trip to Runeterra, the true question is: Who is it going to be, and which champions is he/she going to meet?

'Till then, nothing more to say but my regular outro.

See you in the next chapter ;)