Ionia: The Golden Demon
Awesome, they just have to release new lore in the middle of a storyline to confuse the hell out of you. GG Riot.
"You had a secret portal installed in my house?"
"It's not an installed portal. I can use shadow portals to travel to certain checkpoints, provided I have a very pristine idea where I'm going. So… welcome to my place, I suppose."
The room they just appeared inside was a classic Ionian chamber. It was decorated simply and stacked with scrolls, paper and books.
"You read a lot, too, I suppose."
"What else do you do with time then?" Zed shot back.
Vladimir nodded in agreement.
There was a collection of shurikens and claws hung on a wall. Some inked pictures of Ionian landscape were on the other. A small table was at the middle of the room. Vladimir could see at least one board of shogi and one board of go sitting at a corner, between stacks and stacks of books. The mage smirked.
"I always thought Ionians would be stoic monks, living in practically empty rooms. You seem to have a lot running beneath the surface."
"Spare me the puns, Vladimir. Have a seat."
The mage sat down on the mattress. Zed took his seat opposite the table after a moment, with a stack of something in his hands.
"These are some of the more exemplary works of Khada Jhin's career."
"Khada Jhin?"
"It means 'Golden Excellence' in the Ionian dialect. It is only a stage name, though. No one knows his real name. Not that it matters, anyway. To him the stage means everything."
Vladimir skimmed through the sketches given, each of them depicting realistic mutilations of people, with footnotes listing the themes and methods used in the assassination. They were all done by pencils.
"Did you do these?"
"Yes."
"You are a good painter."
"Probably why I was chosen on this journey," said Zed "I told you I went on a journey to capture him and stuffs, didn't I?"
"You mentioned it somewhere in the past, I think. If I may ask, you're still young?"
"I'm twenty nine."
"So, when this happened…"
"I was sixteen when the investigation began. He was captured when I was turning twenty."
"Hold up! You saw all of these things for freaking four years of your teenage life?"
Zed grinned grimly.
"Oh wow, okay. I don't even know what to say anymore." Even Vladimir himself had been unsettled by these… extravagant displays of blood and body parts. He couldn't imagine what a sixteen-year-old would have felt then, looking upon these horrifying scenes while sketching them down…
Zed shrugged
"I cannot say those four years have been healthy for my mentality. Roughly a thousand had been made 'beautiful' before we could figure out his pattern."
"That is the biggest understatement of the century," said Vladimir "Are there therapists in Ionia?"
"Therapists?"
"No? Oh damn. They let children go on investigations on sociopathic artisan killers and not give them psychological consult? For shame, Ionia, for shame."
"You know what? your glossary is too much for me to handle today. Save it for another time," said Zed dismissively "These scenes depict pretty much the pattern of his killings: all life ends in four acts."
"Four acts," Vladimir repeated "but with different themes, I see."
"Yeah, that was why his pattern was so hard to read."
"The previous Noxian murders were the same."
"Yes, four people were killed, each in four strikes. And then the mutilation comes," Zed explained "oh… you have a surprisingly accurate drawing."
He was looking at the photos taken by the Noxians.
"That's a photo," Vladimir pointed out "you know, using hextech to capture light? It's called the camera. Never heard of it? You have a hextech serial killer damn it, don't act like you are 100 years ancient or something."
"In my defense, back then Jhin didn't have that fancy 'hextech' gun. You have technology that can record images?"
"Yes, it's a camera. It's been around for a while," Vladimir said "for shame, Ionia."
"Oh… that's amazing…"
Vladimir had to resist the urge to hit his face on the table.
"Never mind," he said "so you went on a four year investigation on these murders with your old master and the current Eye of Twilight and managed to find and contain him."
"He was called the Golden Demon by the residents of Zhyun, the town where he used to reside. People thought that only a true force of evil could have been able to do… these."
"I wouldn't blame them."
"Turns out, it was only a man. I truly still don't know whether to be relieved or be terrified."
If he were a man, he could be stopped. He could be killed.
And yet, if he was a man, how could he have struck terror and destruction thought only capable by demons?
"And yeah… the Golden Demon wants people dead not because he hates them, or pities them, or wants revenge. He does all that because he wants to create art. If that is not the most fucked up thing I've ever seen my whole life then I…"
"You and me both, Zed."
They both fell into silence.
"I should bring you something to drink," said Zed after a moment "there's sake in one of the shelves."
"I thought you don't drink."
"It was for cleaning the wounds. Back then I used to get injured a lot and often avoided the infirmary, so… if that grosses you out, though…"
"Oh no, please, I'd love to know how Ionian alcohol tastes."
As Zed was rummaging through the shelves, Vladimir spoke
"I don't think it is your fault he escaped."
"It is."
"There's nothing you could have done."
"There's something I could have done. I could have just killed him off."
He returned to the table and all but slammed the sake bottle on its surface.
"If only that old man had let me… just one strike… and people would not have to suffer."
"But he chose to be merciful. And now that means we're here. Do you think that if you'd killed him then, the darkness he'd caused you would have gone away?"
…
"No."
Vladimir took the bottle and uncapped it.
"After the case, everything in my life went wrong. It must have been my fault, again. I always thought that having him incarcerated was worth it, but now that he's free again…"
"Ah, so strong," Vladimir said, taking a gulp from the bottle "so you pin everything on your failure?"
"Everything is my failure."
Vladimir hummed slightly.
"I see. Thank you for the insight. If I may offer my two cents…"
"Two cents?"
"Sorry, I slipped. Anyway, because you did not kill Khada Jhin back then, you are sitting here now, talking to a Noxian homicidal blood mage whom your yordle friend just happened to befriend. If I am to say, it is quite an incredible turn of events."
Zed laughed.
"Yeah, that's one of a kind."
"Our past choices make who we are today, and I don't think anyone would rather lose that to rectify something done wrong in the past. Of course, he did escape, and that's a bummer. However, if I were you, I wouldn't angst over it too much."
Something in that statement troubled him. He'd rarely let himself think, what would have happened, if he was able to kill Khada Jhin that day. He would never be able to turn back time and do what he couldn't at the time (he wasn't even allowed to kill him), might as well stop dwelling on it. But if, if only, he was able to kill him then, what would happen to him? Would everything be the way it once were?
(If that was the case, he would do anything...)
If he'd accepted that the darkness would not go away, then why would he even bother?
Perhaps, he'd never truly come to terms with the truth that, he'd forever been scarred, by the Golden Demon, by Khada Jhin. That was the point of no return for him.
Nevertheless, he knew what he was gonna do now.
"But I will still kill him this time."
Ultimately, he was still right. Leaving a man like Khada Jhin alive would only backfire.
"Of course you will." Vladimir agreed "friendly reminder, there's a faction behind him now, which is obviously powerful and influential. Killing him wouldn't be as simple as it may have been some years ago."
As if politics ever bothered him anyway.
"I don't care. As long as Jhin is out there, planning his next move, they can all go to hell."
Surprisingly, Vladimir smirked.
"Now that is the way to go, isn't it?"
Edit: the Jhin's backstory is scrapped. I don't know after the extended lore was released it feels... I don't know, I just don't like it anymore, so it's removed.
If you have no idea what I was talking about, I'm sorry you had to read that.
