Chapter 4: Word of Wind

Elise sighed and walked off the platform. Behind her the Noxian Summoners were congratulating themselves. She gave a small huff of air; they acted as if they were the ones that just went through the turmoil. On the Demacian side, the Summoner in control of Rengar was sitting down as his teammates surrounded him. He was shaking, a cup of hot water clutched tightly between his hands. The rage the Pridestalker must have felt cut deep into his Summoner. She wondered if that was the reason the Demacians decided to surrender. Prolonged attachment to a Champion of that degree could have adverse results. With another huff though, Elise disregarded her concerns for them. The Spider Queen was about to leave when one of the Noxian Summoners stopped her.

"Elise, I wanted to speak to you," she said.

"Summoner Arcaia," Elise said, turning around slowly, "I am very tired from the match and would like to get some rest. So if you want to discuss anything, may we discuss this at another time or make this brief?"

The Summoner, a young one, probably in their late twenties, paused. She brushed a lock of raven black hair back, revealing dark blue eyes. After a moment, she continued. "I…I wanted to apologize for what I did in the match," she said quietly.

Elise raised an eyebrow. The Summoner swallowed and continued, "I hope that I didn't cause you too much distress." Distress? Elise's head still throbbed, and she frowned as she remembered the pain this woman caused her. The Spider Queen felt the urge to spit a dose of Neurotoxin at her, but bit her lip and nodded with a grunt. Arcaia lowered her gaze.

Several seconds of silence crawled by between them. Elise sighed. "Are we done here?" she asked.

Arcaia looked at her, blinking. "Um, I just wanted to personally apologize for my actions. You are a capable Champion; I should've trusted your judgment. Thank you."

Elise sighed and turned back around, heading for the door. "But just something else," Arcaia called after her. Elise groaned. Now what?

"Yes?" she said in a predatory hiss. She narrowed her eyes at the Summoner.

"I was just curious," Arcaia said slowly, "Why did you go through so much effort to aid the Voidreaver?"

Elise's eyes widened a bit. She had asked herself the same question, but she couldn't find an answer. She opened her mouth only for no sound to come out. Again, she was at a loss for words, and she could count with her fingers how many times she had been rendered like this. Elise could almost always weave sentences to her liking. The last time she was like this was when Kha'Zix had given her the deer leg.

She shook her head and finally responded with, "My actions have already been done. I decided on a course and we won the match regardless. As I said at the start of the battle, I can make my own decisions on the Fields for what's best for the team."

Arcaia tilted her head slightly but nodded in content. Elise let out another breath and walked away. As she was, she looked down and realized her left arm crossed beneath her chest. She was holding the part of her arm Kha'Zix had bitten when the two were last enemies. She wondered if the Void-creature remembered that moment. She wondered if he felt ire at it. Even if the wound was long-gone, she didn't let go as she walked back towards her room.


She walked down the hallway that held the denizens of the Shadow Isles, her eyes pointed at the floor. She still held her arm, slowly rubbing her fingers over her skin. Her mind was frozen on the image of Kha'Zix victorious over the body of Rengar. Torn iridescent wings lined with beads of rain unfolded in full against the dark backdrop of clouds. His claws outstretched, invincible to whatever the world would try to throw at him next. That screech, a sound made when a predator had finally killed the prey it's been hunting for so long. A screech that would've made anyone cower and tremble before the Voidreaver. But Elise found solace in that sound. In the moment Kha'Zix had killed his foe, Elise's body had relaxed and she felt relief for the first time in several weeks. She hung on to the screech of victory, and she found she couldn't suppress a small smile at the corners of her face as she did.

The battle was over, but strangely the tension in Elise that had been present for the past few weeks had dissipated slightly. She opened her mouth and let out a long breath. She still felt blood staining her body and her bones fractured, even though she knew those had been erased when she was summoned back. She wanted to take a shower when she got back to her room. When she was approaching her door though, the room on the other side was wide open. From it, she heard humming accompanied by ghostly screams. When she reached it, she saw Thresh lying on a lounge chair plucking green wisps from his lantern, smiling as he toyed with them between his fingers. Each flick produced a scream of agony, and the Chain Warden seemed to be playing each soul like it were an instrument and he was creating a symphony.

"There you are, Elise," he said, not looking away from the souls he had in front of his face. He pushed the green orbs in his hand back into the lantern and locked it. The wails went down, though one could still hear their dampened cries. "That was a very remarkable battle you just had."

"Indeed it was, Thresh," she said, "As was yours."

"Don't be so polite now; yours was much more invigorating then mine was." The specter tilted his mask-like face towards her, a grin on it. "I have seen many things in my time, both when alive and dead. I must say, I haven't seen many do what you've just done. Even less from people of your personality and position." He slowly got up. "And have never seen anyone do that for a monster like that Void-beast."

"Kha'Zix," Elise said quickly. She immediately felt her face color after she said his name.

"Yes," Thresh said, still wearing his wicked grin, "Kha'Zix." He said the Voidreaver's name slowly, elongating the syllables as if savoring them.

Elise inhaled. "You were obviously waiting for me," she said, "Did you want to tell me something, or are you just that much of a sweetheart as to wait for me and ask me how I'm doing?"

The Chain Warden chuckled softly, moving to the door. "Oh, I just wanted to congratulate you on an outstanding performance on the Rift today. I have never seen you so resolute in battle before."

"Aw, you know exactly what to say to a lady," Elise replied, opening her door and heading in.

"There was also an update from the Master of Metal that I thought you should know about," Thresh continued.

Elise reluctantly paused. How many people were going to do this thing where they continued the conversation when it sounded like they just ended it? "Go on," she said.

Thresh cocked his head slightly. He knew exactly what irked people; he loved to toy with Elise's patience, to which the woman had little of more than she usually had these days. He let the sounds of his lantern creep around for a few moments. "Mordekaiser, with the help of yours truly," Thresh said after a while, slightly bowing upon saying the last two words, "discovered why he couldn't acquire more information on this disruptive magic that may prevent the Shadow Isles from coming to Valoran sooner than wanted. The magic that taints soul and makes them of little use to us."

Elise's eyes twitched slightly when the specter paused again. Thresh rolled his head, stretching his nonexistent neck and producing three low notes of chuckling when he noticed Elise crossing her arms.

"Mordekaiser has since found out that the reason he couldn't get more information on this force is because not many know about it to begin with," Thresh said slowly, "Countless souls he and I have peered into, and not one has a definite answer as to what this force is. Curious, isn't it?"

"So you just wanted to tell me that you've basically made no progress in this situation?" Elise asked.

"Well, we've found out why we couldn't discover more about this force."

Elise rolled her eyes. "So is that it?"

Thresh chuckled again, sounding like metal scraping upon bone. He raised his lantern to inspect something, breathing on and wiping it before saying, "Yes. That is it."

The Spider Queen sighed. "Well then, if you excuse me, I've had a rough day and I would just like some time to rest and freshen up. Good bye."

"Till we meet again, my exquisite spider," Thresh said.

Elise shut the door and headed to her bathroom, grabbing a towel. Her spiderlings chittered at her curiously. She ignored them as she shut the door to her bathroom and turned on the water. With the water running, Elise looked into the mirror. Dark markings were starting to form under her red eyes. She ran her fingers across her cheek. Still not bad, but her face was starting to show the anxiety she was feeling. She looked away, peeling off her clothing and stepping into the shower.


Elise skipped her typical dinner time, staying in her room and reading her book. She did feel a pang of hunger though, but instead of going to the dining hall she had gone for the icebox with the deer leg in it. Though cold and starting to go bad, Elise ripped off a couple chunks and chewed them. The meat had become tough, but she didn't mind. She survived on worst before. As she chewed it, a feeling of solace befell on her again. Eventually, it was enough to send her into a deep sleep. Her dreams were filled with moving shadows, colliding with each other and making distorted sounds of triumph and battle. Though for many it would've seemed like an abstract nightmare, when Elise awoke the next morning she felt well-rested, something she hadn't experienced for a while. This is probably how Aatrox felt after he slept, if he even slept at all, Elise thought.

The little snack she had last night didn't last long. After freshening up, she felt her hunger returning. Though she usually waited at least an hour after the usual time most of the Champions finished their brunch, her hunger gnawed at her until she couldn't resist. With a sigh, she left her room for the dining hall. As soon as she exited the living hall the Shadow Isles had taken, she entered an Institute teeming with life. Champions and Summoners alike were going about their business, most moving towards the dining hall like ants to a sugar cube. The corner of Elise's mouth pulled back. She already didn't like being around this many people, and the fact that the sun was glaring through the crystalline dome roof causing her to squint didn't help. But she was hungry, and she knew the remains of the cold deer leg in her room wouldn't hold it back. She followed behind the crowd as they filed into the dining hall.

The people in front of her glanced behind and looked at her. She ignored them. She was used to getting stares, whether they were of admiration, horror, lust, or a mixture of any of them. But when she entered the dining hall, that's when she felt the full effect of the peoples' looks. The air once heavy with chatter, everything steadily went down to murmurs when Elise came in. Most of the people in the area were looking at her, their conversations turning into low voices as they muttered to each other. Even when they whispered, she heard her name being thrown around. Her eyes moved across the room and she exhaled, quickly making her way to the servers.

Most of the people kept their eyes down, but she still felt their stares on her. Some of the lesser-intelligent ones continued to watch her. Her name continued to be occasionally tossed around, now mixed with Nasus', Ryze's, Rengar's, and Kha'Zix's. She ignored them, not wanting to deal with their crap. She quickly picked up a plate of toast with some meat hash on the side along with a cup of water and made her way to a table in the corner, starting to eat without looking up. As she finished her first piece of toast, Vladimir slid in front of her. She made a quick glance at him. When she first joined the League, she struck up a relationship with the Crimson Reaper. Though she wouldn't have called them "friends", they were definitely acquaintances.

"Yesterday's battle has made you the talk of the League currently," he said.

"Go figure," she retorted after she swallowed her food but not lifting her head up to him.

"You certainly surprised many of us with your play in the last match. It's amazing what you did for the Voidreaver that day."

Elise set her utensils down and glanced up at the Crimson Reaper. He was grinning slyly and leaning forward, the orb of blood he constantly had hovering beside him. "I did it for the team," she said.

"You mean you let your bottom lane get pushed back half a lane just to save one ally from all the way across the map?" he inquired, leaning closer.

Elise's eyes narrowed at him. "Kha'Zix was a vital component to the team; he was a big part in us winning that match. I could not let him be distracted by the Pridestalker throughout the entire game. Bottom lane was an acceptable loss that you saw we came back from because of Kha'Zix."

"So you're referring to the creature by its actual name now, are you?"

"He," Elise snapped back. Her face started to grow red. She immediately knew these two things just gave Vladimir more leverage.

Vladimir's grin grew and he let out a light chuckle. "Wow, I've never seen your blood grow so…lively…before."

Elise looked back down and shoveled a fork full of hash into her mouth. Vladimir let out another chuckle. As she chewed the large bite, her gaze moved up to see his eyes still trained on her.

"Oh, you're so adorable," he said, "Are you becoming one of those Void-beast sympathizers?"

She swallowed her large bite. "No, but you're becoming one of those people who talk too much," she hissed, "Here, I'll help you with that." Elise flung a glob of webbing at his mouth. The Crimson Reaper leaped back at the sudden strike, frantically trying to tear at the silk. However, webbing was too strong; within seconds he got his hands tangled up around his head.

Vladimir continued to struggle, swinging around in his ridiculous pose and giving off muffled cries. The others in the dining hall shifted their attention to him and started to chuckle at his misfortune. Elise watched him pathetically struggle in front of her. After taking three more bites of her meal, she waved her hand and through a brush of dark magic, turned the webbing to frail strands, sending them lightly falling to the floor. Vladimir, surprised from the sudden release and in the process of still trying to get his hands unstuck, swung his arms with enough force to send him tripping over himself and sprawling to the floor.

Elise snickered. Some of the people in the dining hall, like Wukong and Kennen, were in fits of laughter. Vladimir's face grew red. "Looks like you blood is becoming livelier," Elise said after finishing her second piece of toast.

He glared at her as he got back up and brushed himself off, but sat back down across from her. "Look, I'm just like everybody else here. I was curious about your actions involving the Voidreaver in yesterday's match."

Elise lifted the glass of water to her mouth but kept her eyes on him.

Breathing in, Vladimir leaned in and continued, his expression loosening up. "There are several rumors going around the League. Some are saying the Shadow Isles are somehow affiliated with the Void now. Others are saying your mental health is questionable. Well, more so than some others already believe it to be."

Elise raised an eye brow but didn't put the glass down.

"Of course, I don't believe in such things," he continued, "I know you Elise. Maybe not that incredibly well, but better than most others here I would say."

That was true. Elise had told him the minimal of what she was and how she operated, the same as he did for her. She was starting to wonder if that was a mistake as Vladimir finished his last statement. She set down her glass. "So what do you believe?" she asked before taking a bite of her final piece of toast.

He leaned in closer, the sly look in his eyes returned. Elise turned her head slightly as she chewed. "I believe you have some sort of emotional attachment – a liking - to the Voidreaver," he said quietly.

Elise nearly spit her food onto his face. Vladimir leaned back wearing a smug expression. She looked around; nobody seemed to have heard and continued with their own businesses. She quickly chewed and swallowed, glaring at him. "Wha…wha…what?!" she spat.

He chuckled again. "I saw how determined you were to get to him," he said, examining his claw extensions as he ran them through each other, "I saw how fast your blood was pumping when it seemed you wouldn't make it. Saw the look on your face when you finally got to him. The look of relief you made when you saw his victory over the Pridestalker."

Elise glared at him. Vladimir continued, "Admit it, Elise, you like to Voidreaver. Not sure to what extent, but enough to where you'd be willing to throw yourself between him and his enemy. And don't give me that 'it was for the match' bull; you'd never fight that hard for just one ally, even if they were the most valuable member on your team."

She was nearly panting in flustered anger as she leaned over her tray. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, "I have no liking towards any of the Void-creatures, especially Kha'Zix."

Vladimir tilted his head towards her. "Do you?" he said, moving his orb of blood forward to indicate he saw Elise blushing again. With a breath of amusement, the Crimson Reaper got up and took his leave from the dining hall.

Elise slid back up, looking around again. The other people continued in their own affairs, not noticing what just happened between them. She quickly finished the rest of her meal and exited the dining hall.