A Will and a Shadow
Game Day
Talon never got nervous.
He faced down a thousand men, dueled with dragons, strangled nightmares of the Void, stabbed kings and legends from all over Valoran; but this day was his first match in the League, and he was nervous.
Talon walked into a room with five stone platforms; each had rune symbols on them that glowed green and blue. The instructor in violet robes led Talon by gesture over to one of the platforms. Talon looked at the stone slab: gray, cobbled rocks held together with tiny arcane bolts of green lightning. The instructor motioned for Talon to stand still.
Talon stood as still as he could. It was a strange feeling, but then became even weirder when the platform began to glow and hum louder than before. With an intense vertigo going through his stomach, Talon was transported through space into the bright afternoon sun.
The nausea combined with the strange sensations of the League magic made Talon almost double over when he arrived on the Fields of Justice. Talon knew the drill from here, as he had spent most of the morning studying the map and battlefield manuals.
Talon was to go into East Lane. The forest was dense, but three distinct pathways were laid out at the three entrances to the fort. Talon hurriedly jogged into the one on the far right, East Lane. He saw the minions marching dutifully towards their doom, and Talon almost laughed at them. He thought their plight was amusing. They marched and died, then came back to life to die again.
Talon passed by the third looming turret and came across battle. There were minions battling each other, and two noticeably taller figures. One was female, had a hat and rifle. Talon had never seen her before. The other, much bigger individual, Talon had seen before. Dr. Mundo was his name, and Talon had already begun to formulate a plan to fight him when...
"Hey starstruck! Get in the fight will ya?" came a voice from the foliage.
All of a sudden a figure in red armor dashed like lightning at the woman with the rifle. The figure had dashing silver hair and a mantle floating at her neck.
'Oh no,' Talon thought silently.
Just then, Dr. Mundo turned to help his fellow being attacked by Irelia, but when he spotted Talon he let his enormous meat cleaver fly.
Talon had just a second to process the action when the giant metal blade sunk into his skull, splitting it and knocking Talon to the ground.
Rage mixed with pain filled Talon's mind to accompany the weapon. But instead of death, Talon felt a brief vertigo, and more nausea, then awakened on his back at the fort platform.
Talon shook his head groggily before getting back up.
"So this is the magic of the League?" he whispered, "Bloodshed without bloodshed. Clever."
Talon sprang up and ran at full tilt back to East Lane. When he arrived back at the battle, it had moved closer to their teams tower.
"Hey! (oomph) Knives! Help me out!" Irelia cried out to Talon as she dodged shots and cleavers from the enemies they were facing.
Talon's mind is funny right before he kills. It's like his brain switches off all other functions except those needed to take life. He becomes tremendously efficient that way.
Talon surged forward and disappeared, with his shadow trick, and reappeared behind the woman in the hat. He snatched hold of her rifle and, with his blade arm, slashed her throat from behind flipping her at the hip. With less than a second notice, Dr. Mundo wailed wildly and swung his cleaver at Talon, who dodged it barely by ducking.
Talon then threw three of his spinning blades at Dr. Mundo's face, temporarily blinding him.
Irelia capitalized on the effort, dashing at Dr. Mundo and engaging. With a spin of her blades and a quick jab, Dr. Mundo fell to the ground in a heap, then promptly disappeared.
Panting, Irelia takes a quick break from fighting minions and turns to Talon,
"Nice job Knives," Irelia pants, "Should I keep calling you Knives or do you have a name?"
"Talon," he replied quietly.
"Talon?" she repeated, "Heh, not much better. I'm Irelia. Looks like we're lane partners. Come on, we have to push."
Irelia darted off towards the enemy tower with a flash. Talon took only a brief moment to smile at her before following. He had never seen a woman fight like Irelia since Katarina Du Couteau, Talon's adopted sister. He was impressed.
After a lengthy match, Talon and Irelia's team emerged victorious. They destroyed the enemy Nexus and the match was over. Talon walked with Irelia back through Center Lane to the fort.
"So Talon," Irelia said, "That was a nice match huh? Was it your first one?"
"Indeed it was," Talon said in his usual quiet tone, " Was it yours?"
She shook her head, "No third. Still not fun to die, though, I threw up the first time."
"I felt like it," Talon said, "It's not a nice experience, dying."
"Haha, I bet it never is," Irelia said.
They walked in silence for a few moments. Irelia was caked in dirt and sweat and blood, but Talon couldn't stop stealing glances at her. She was firm, and pretty. A tad younger than he, for sure. But she was beautiful. Her smile and her fighting skill gave Talon goosebumps prickling throughout his skin.
"Talon?" Irelia said.
"Hmm?" Talon replied.
"I forgot to ask you, who were you fighting for today?"
"What do you mean?" he said.
"I mean who was your handler? Were you hired? Bandle City hired me today," she replied.
"I do not know, I assume it may have been my sister. I do not dabble in political affairs Irelia. I just fight," Talon replied somewhat sternly.
Talon didn't want to say much to her. He wanted to talk to her like two warriors, not two political puppets on opposite sides of a conflict.
"Hmm," is all she said.
When they got to the platform at the fort, Irelia turned to Talon and said,
"I have to go and clean up, and write a letter, but I'm going to dinner at the Hall tonight. You should come and sit with me."
"Ok, sure Irelia, I will," Talon said.
'Oh, this could be interesting,' Talon thought, nervously.
Talon never got nervous.