It was a beautiful spring morning on the battlefield known as Summoner's Rift. This would have perfectly fine, except it was really late autumn to early winter. Kalista was summoned into the Rift along with four other people, Champions, she mentally corrected herself. The four others appeared one by one until they made a circle on top of a circular dais with wide steps leading down to the field beyond. Beyond her team's base, she could see the outline of large statues leading the way down the three avenues that made up the majority of the Rift. Looking back at her teammates, she was surprised at the variety of characters she would be fighting beside.
First was a woman dressed entirely in green, and whose long dark hair was pulled into a tail that trailed down her back. She carried twin kamas and wore a mask that covered her face. She said nothing, and after quickly glancing at her teammates, she took off for the leftmost path.
The next member of her team was a large man wearing large pauldrons and carrying an even larger broadsword. With one hand he adjusted the blue scarf that lay around his neck before he followed the first woman.
The woman to Kalista's right was the first to introduce herself. "I'm Leona," she said, holding her hand out for Kalista to shake, "I'll be your laning partner for this match." Leona was dressed in golden armor, with a golden headpiece nestled in her auburn hair. Her sword and shield both glistened with emblems of the sun.
Kalista shook her hand, only to be offered another. The last member of her team was clad in golden armor, but had the head and feet of a falcon. She recognized that he must be one of the legendary Ascended of Shurima.
"I am Azir, Emperor of Shurima," he said, "I will be fighting in the middle lane, but if you require aid, you need only ask."
"Those other two who headed for the top lane and the jungle are Garen and Akali," Leona said. Kalista glanced in the direction that they had gone, but could no longer see them through the fog. "We should probably go meet our enemy laners," she said.
Kalista nodded and followed Leona towards the far right lane, while Azir strode off towards the middle. She wondered how the Summoners had convinced an Ascended emperor to join their ranks.
"I'm sure you already know how this will basically work, right?" Leona asked, and Kalista nodded, she had already been told how the match would go by the Summoners before this match had begun, "Alright, so according to the lineup for this match, we should be facing against Draven and Thresh. Draven shouldn't be too much of a problem, but watch out for Thresh. If he manages to catch you with his hook, he'll pull you towards him and Draven and there isn't anything I can do about it.
As they passed each statue towards the end of their lane, their warhammers began to glow with a blue light, she recognized that they must be the turrets the Summoners had told her about. After the last statue, there was a wide expanse surrounded by stone walls from the south, and a shallow river to the north. Ahead she could see the enemy statues, which bore a stone axe. While Kalista was looking at the stone figure, it's axe's head began to glow red, and she could see a pair of figures approaching from the other team.
The first was a man with an unusual mustache carrying two spinning axes. Although he was too far away for Kalista to make out what he was saying, she could tell that he was quite boisterous, which visibly irritated his partner to no end.
The final Champion was a green specter clad in a long, dark coat. He carried a sickle and a lantern bound together with a long chain that wrapped around him and dragged on the ground behind him when he walked. Kalista was immediately stuck by him and realized that this must be Thresh, the one who Leona had warned her about.
He must have been stuck by her as well, for when he saw her he stopped. Their eyes met, and for a moment it seemed as if time stopped around them.
"Who's the blue bitch," Draven unceremoniously broke the silence that had fallen between them. "Whatever," he said, before throwing one of his axes towards Kalista. Only her reflexes kept her from being split in half.
Draven looked visibly disappointed and dashed forward to retrieve his axe as he threw the second one. Again, Kalista nimbly dodged the projectile, and she took that moment to attack. Leaping to the side, she threw one of her spears at the unusual man, the spectral weapon lodging itself in his shoulder. A moment later, Leona joined the fight as she dashed towards Draven, sword extended. She met him in a clash of axes and sword while Draven prepared another axe.
Kalista was about to land another spear into Draven when she felt a metal hook latch onto her armor. Before she could react, she found herself dragged towards Thresh, who in the heat of the moment she had all but forgotten. Draven seemed to free himself from his fight with Leona just long enough to land both of his axes neatly on either side of the spears protruding from her back.
As her vision dimmed, she swore that she heard Thresh laughing while an announcer cried, "First Blood."
Kalista had known that the Summoners had created an altered reality in the Rift, but stopping death was something she had not been expecting. She found herself looking down on the battle from a glass room above the battlefield. She watched from this place as Leona retreated from Thresh and Draven, moving to hide behind the stone structure at the end of their lane.
Suddenly, a sound behind her made her turn, and she saw that she was joined by Azir.
"I wondered who had given First Blood," he said absentmindedly as he moved to stand next to her, watching the battle play out on the field below them. "I thought that I had honestly - Katarina proved to be more of a challenge than I was expecting."
"How long do we have to wait here?" Kalista asked.
"Not long," Azir replied, "they will bring you back at the same place that we were when we were brought to the Rift.
For a moment, they stood in silence watching the match play out below them before Azir broke the silence, "I'm curious," he began, "how did the Summoners manage to bring the Spear of Vengeance into our ranks?"
"They stole my Black Spear," she said, "and without it I am unable to leave."
Azir thought on this for a moment, "How did they manage to take it from you?" he asked.
She sighed, "I came for one of the many betrayers that the Summoners guard, Cassiopeia," Kalista paused, "She tried to kill another of the Champions, Sivir."
"I know of Cassiopeia," Azir said, "Sivir is my only living descendant. She was nearly slain nearby the Oasis of the Dawn, where her blood resurrected me."
Kalista knew, for she had been there in the temple when Azir had arisen again. She had been ready to accept the pact Sivir had nearly offered when the remains of her long-dead ancestor had stopped her. She had watched from the shadows as Azir had dipped Sivir in the rejuvenated Oasis of the Dawn which had not only saved Sivir's life, but had finished the ritual of Ascension that Azir had begun long ago.
"What did the Summoners have to do to bring an Ascended such as yourself to the Institute of War?" Kalista asked.
"The Summoners did nothing," he said, "I arrived of my own free will."
However he had no time to explain as a series of blue lights began to appear around Kalista's feet, moving to encircle her. She could see that the same was happening to Azir.
"We are respawning," he explained as the lights finished forming a circle at their feet. Suddenly they found themselves back on the Rift on the platform where they had entered.
"Till next we meet, Lady of Vengeance," Azir said with brief bow of his head before walking back towards the middle lane.
"To you as well, Emperor Azir," Kalista returned, a soft smile on her lips as she began walking back to where she was sure that Leona was waiting for her return.
When Kalista returned to the end of her lane, Leona was hiding behind their turret while Draven, Thresh, and their minions attacked it.
"Thank the sun you're back," Leona said, "I can't take them on alone."
Kalista looked at the enemy duo, catching Thresh's eye.
"We need to kill Thresh," Leona said, "without him, Draven will be vulnerable and we should be able to push them back."
Kalista nodded, desire to get revenge against her killers burning in her chest.
Without warning, Thresh struck out again, his hook aimed once again for Kalista. This time, she was ready, and she dodged the throw by dashing to her left, to Thresh's visible disappointment. As he readied his hook again, Kalista saw her opportunity and dashed forward, throwing a spear that lodged itself in Thresh's shoulder. Leona followed her attack, a golden copy of her sword rushing forward, followed almost immediately by Leona, who promptly bashed Thresh with her shield. Draven backed away from them while throwing an axe towards Leona which bounced off of her armor and landed on the ground not far from her. Kalista landed additional spears into Thresh's chest, new ones appearing in her hand almost as quickly as she could throw them. He attempted to retreat, swinging his hook to throw Kalista and Leona back. Kalista caught up to him with ease, throwing spears to both Draven and Thresh as she lunged further. Draven threw his axes to Kalista now, and she felt them bite into her. She chased Thresh all the way to his turret, Draven trying to chase her, Leona attempting to slow Draven. Just when it seemed that Thresh would escape her, Kalista followed him beneath his turret and threw a final swift spear at the retreating apparition, landing it in the middle of his back before she recalled the spears, ripping them from both Thresh and Draven to execute both of them.
The announcer cried "Double Kill!" as the enemy turret she had chased Thresh under attacked her in retribution, launching orbs of red fire towards her. Kalista took two of these bolts to the chest before finding herself once again in the glass room above Summoner's Rift. Kalista found that both Thresh and Draven were already there, staring at her when she appeared.
Draven laughed, "Stupid ghost," he said to her, "Draven always gets the kill."
"Actually," Thresh said, "I think I did." he gestured to a small scoreboard Kalista hadn't noticed before. The scoreboard had each of the members to the two teams divided into two columns, with counters for their number of kills, deaths, and assists. Kalista found her own name near the bottom of her team's scoreboard, across from Draven's, finding that she had two kills, two deaths, and no assists. She then found Thresh and Draven's scores. Draven apparently saw them also, clearly infuriated that Thresh had gotten the credit for both of Kalista's deaths.
"You stupid spirit," Draven said, the weak insult this time directed at Thresh, "you need to tell me before you try to hook someone. Draven needs to be able to get in position to get the kill."
"Well maybe if you would stop admiring your reflection in your axe blades and watch your surroundings you wouldn't always be in a bad position," Thresh retorted. He huffed, clearly irritated with his partner, muttering "You conceited moron."
Kalista couldn't help but laugh at their exchange.
Draven turned, "What did you call Draven?" he exclaimed, "You crappy Harrowing decoration!"
"If it weren't for the restrictions set by the Institute of War," Thresh said, "I would have taken your soul with my lantern long ago."
The lights signalling the trio's eminent revival appeared, and just as they were about to return to the Rift, Kalista heard Thresh say, "Maybe we wouldn't be losing if I had Kalista as my partner."
Kalista had no time to respond, for as soon as she heard those words she found herself once again in her team's base, alone.
When Kalista arrived back at the end of her lane, Leona had already led the charge against the enemy team's turret, nearly destroying it. Kalista joined the fray just in time to help Leona destroy the stone warrior, the gemstone that made up it's weapon head exploding with a small pulse of magical energy while the rest of the stone crumbled into ruin.
The sounds of their continued argument announced the return of Draven and Thresh. Even though Kalista couldn't tell exactly what Draven was currently ranting about, she caught enough to determine that it was mostly about Thresh's comment about wishing he was partnered with Kalista.
"What's got Draven so riled up?" Leona asked.
Kalista didn't bother answering, knowing she would hear from Draven soon enough.
Thresh let Draven lead them back to the fight, catching Kalista's eye and making a small gesture towards Draven. It was a small motion, but to Kalista the meaning was clear: Thresh had given up on Draven, and he wouldn't bother to help him any longer. Kalista gave a curt nod of understanding before aiming a spear at Draven.
The spear landed in his side, and Draven cried out, "Dammit, Thresh, help me!"
Thresh threw his lantern intentionally out of Draven's reach, the pulse of energy it emitted missing him by inches. Draven tried to reach for it, but Kalista and Leona had already converged on Draven, quickly finishing him off. Leona began to chase after Thresh as well, but Kalista stopped her, allowing Thresh to back away to safety.
That's how the rest of the game went, Thresh created opportunities for Kalista to kill Draven over and over and over again, never trying to land a hook on her. Kalista would return the favor by allowing him to escape with his life every time. When it came time for Leona and Kalista to attack his turrets, Thresh would back away and allow them to destroy them without resistance.
The only other time that Kalista managed to be killed throughout the entire rest of the match was when one of the members of the enemy team, a man named Pantheon, came into her's and Leona's lane in an attempt to drive them back. He had caught Kalista off guard when he quite literally fell out of the sky on top of them.
With a quick jab of the intruder's spear, Kalista found herself in the glass room waiting to be revived. She was not alone, for Azir was already in the room observing the battle below.
Kalista stood beside Azir, watching the battle below.
"When we last met," Azir began, "you said that you were captured while you were attacking Cassiopeia." He paused, "I thought you required a Pact to pursue a betrayer. If so, why did you choose to pursue Cassiopeia if Sivir did not complete her Pact?"
Kalista thought for a moment before responding, "I suppose I don't know," she said at last, "maybe there was something about the circumstances of her betrayal…" she trailed off.
"Would you have eventually targeted Xerath? He is also a traitor harbored here within the Institute of War," Azir asked.
Kalista knew of Xerath. He had been a slave, and once, Azir's closest friend. He had tricked Azir into beginning a ritual of Ascension, and at a critical moment had shoved Azir aside to become Ascended in his place. The ritual had not only failed, but had caused the destruction of all of Shurima.
"I would not have been opposed to pursuing him," she said and Azir seemed pleased.
"You are indeed an ally of Shurima," he said. She didn't plan to correct him, but her targets were all of the betrayers, not just those to Shurima, although she would admit that it would be nice to have allies within the Institute of War. "Anything you desire that is within my grasp is yours, Lady of Vengeance."
"As soon as I am free," Kalista began, "both Cassiopeia and Xerath will face my spears."
"If I may," Azir said, "I'd enjoy driving the final blow to Xerath myself."
Kalista smiled grimly, "Consider it done."
A moment of silence passed between them before Azir spoke again, "If the stories are true, you have your own betrayer to hunt, do you not? If you have not already sent them back to hell, I would be happy to help you."
Kalista's smile faded and she looked out onto the Rift sadly, "It is true that I have my own betrayer to hunt," she began, "but I cannot remember who." She paused before deciding to explain, "With every soul I have taken, my own becomes fainter within me, and my memories of my life fade with it. I remember very little of myself now," she paused, "There are days when it is difficult to remember my own name."
Azir seemed stunned, "There must be a way to retrieve you memories."
"If there is," she said, "I don't know how."
Then the lights began to circle their feet, signaling that they were about to respawn. Neither one said anything as the lights finished their rotation and they once again found themselves on Summoner's Rift.
Kalista caught Azir's gaze and could sense what seemed like pity in his eyes. She looked away and began to trek down her lane once again. Kalista could not afford to seem weak, and the last thing she needed was pity. She didn't know why she had told Azir as much as she had, she certainly hadn't needed to. Kalista could have lied, she could have said that she had already made her betrayer pay, yet she didn't.
No time for regrets, she thought, I can think about this after the game.
The rest of the match passed without incident, her team eventually destroying each of the enemy turrets one by one until they finally crushed their Nexus. The ten champions were then transported to a single room back in the Institute of War.
Many of the champions engaged in conversations with one another, mostly congratulating Kalista's team on their victory, or blaming Thresh for allowing Draven to die over and over again to Kalista. In truth, no one blamed Thresh for finally giving up on Draven, even his own brother, who had been on his team, found him insufferable. Kalista left the room without speaking to anyone, sensing more than seeing Azir and Thresh watching her leave.
