Warning: Much of this chapter takes place at the same time as the previous one. Up to a certain point, events will take place simultaneously with those in the previous chapter.
§ ~ § ~ § ~ § ~ §
THE AWAKENING
§ ~ § ~ § ~ § ~ §
"Are not you happy to be here with me?" asked a jovial female voice that seemed to belong to a little girl.
"Yes, I'm very happy Lulu." answered a deep male voice, though there was a certain note of resignation in his voice.
"You could not hope for a better partner for this role!" cheered Lulu with a big smile and Pix nodding while sitting on her hat.
"How true... welcoming visitors is such a dangerous assignment. I'm glad that you're the one who is watching my back." a sarcastic response came from a pale boy with long silver-white hair.
Lulu looked up at the boy with a smile as her eyes flashed for a brief moment "Hey Varus, it's been a while since our last break. Do you want a sweet?" and she showed him a cupcake.
Varus looked down, watching the sweet with a raised eyebrow "This is not one of your jokes, right?"
"Of course not!" said Lulu with a pout waving the cupcake in front of his face "So? Are you going to eat it or not?"
"Yeah yeah, I'll eat it..." said Varus picking up the sweet before biting it. While chewing, he noticed the strange smile on her lips and his mouth stopped moving. After a couple of seconds of silence, he asked "You used your magic to transform something...right?"
"Yep!" nodded Lulu without losing her smile.
"I know I'll regret it but I have to ask...what is this cupcake?"
"A rat!" exclaimed Lulu with the smile now turned into a grin as Varus paled even more but just when he was about to throw up, the Yordle raised a hand "Don't worry I was kidding! It was a simple cupcake before!"
Varus glared at the purple haired Yordle and said "Lys..."
Lulu grinned again as her Chosen, Lysander, was in control "Yep! You're improving in recognizing me!"
Varus rolled his eyes biting again the cupcake before seeing something in the distance, a red flash of light "Mh...looks like another Chosen has arrived."
"Really?! Who? Who? WHO?!" yelled Lulu, now in control, as she climbed over his shoulder and looked at the plain in front of the gate where they were, noticing a few seconds later a tall white-haired figure "Good morning Camille! Good morning Vivian!"
The Steel Shadow walked toward them and said "Good morning Lulu... Varus..."
The young man nodded at her with a little effort since Lulu was still over his shoulder, using his head to remain standing, gaining a few tick marks on his forehead.
"Are you here for the festival?" asked Lulu looking at the woman who nodded with a little sigh.
"Krista said that I should have come rather than being locked in my house." said Vivian with another sigh.
"I still do not understand how she managed to convince you..." mumbled Camille in her head.
"She promised to come to my house and force me to play Dark Souls again..." Vivian reminded her and the former Delta Force member couldn't suppress the shiver down her back. She had played that game only once and broke some glasses, invented new types of swearing and cursed Krista several times. All this during the tutorial.
"Never again... that thing is evil. I would not be surprised to know that Viktor invented it." said Camille who wasn't exactly a fan of those games.
Shaking her head, Vivian looked back at Lulu "Besides, she told me that as soon as she has time, she will join me."
"I see, if only it was so easy to convince Veigar too..." mumbled the little Yordle as her Chosen chuckled in her mind.
"Oh don't worry, we'll get him somehow. It would be too cruel to keep you two away from each other for too long."
Nodding to herself, Lulu then slightly widened her eyes, remembering something "Oh I almost forgot! There's another Chosen right here, she has arrived an hour ago but did not walk away from the gate, preferring to stay close to the first stalls!"
Vivian raised an eyebrow and watched the crowd near the gate until she saw something very strange. A sweet crêpe had just moved from a stand by itself, and in its place some gold coins had appeared. Vivian followed the sweet with her eyes until she saw it vanish in an alley.
"Maybe I know where I can find her..." said Vivian walking toward the alley after waving a good day to the two Champions at the gate. She, like Camille, had already figured out who the other Chosen was but she was still somewhat surprised to see the crêpe vanish in midair, one bite at a time.
"Evelynn." said the former team leader as the Widowmaker shifted out of the shadows and her body became full visible, revealing her black leather bodysuit. The Steel Shadow raised an eyebrow "Your Safecracker skin?"
"I left the goggles behind..." said the smaller girl looking at the crêpe in her hands "Can't exactly walk half-naked in the middle of a festival."
"You're Sable, right? Evelynn's Chosen." said Vivian and the now named Sable nodded.
"Yes, that's me even though I'm not leaving the control to her anymore."
Vivian nodded as she was already aware of Sable's bad experience during her first days as Evelynn's Chosen. Normally she would have ignored, if not hated, the younger girl since such an event had already happened in the past with Harry who had killed Krista's father, but since Sable had been controlled by Evelynn, it was not her fault. She was also a friend of Dianne, the one who brought Krista to Valoran when she had accepted Kalista a few months ago, and Dianne was an okay person in Vivian's book, so she had no real reason to be hostile toward Evelynn's Chosen.
Looking around, Vivian could say that Dianne wasn't there, probably doing her job as Kindred, just like Krista was probably hunting down some people with her spears "Are you waiting for your friend?" seeing the confused look on her face, Vivian added "Dianne."
"Oh...well yes, she told me that she would also come to the festival but I guess that the Death does not go on vacation like the Champions." said Sable with a sad smile before eating the last piece of her sweet.
Vivian nodded before asking "Well we're on the same boat. Do you want to take a look at the festival while we wait?"
Sable looked up with a surprised expression "Are...are you sure about that? I mean...we aren't exactly friends..."
"I know but Cira always says that we Chosens should try to get along with each other. Obviously there are exceptions for everyone, including me, but I do not see any problems with you." explained Vivian thinking for a brief moment to Harry, the only Chosen she would have preferred to see dead.
"Also, if Krista finds out that you did not try to talk to someone, she would try to threaten you again with that game." added Camille.
"That too..."
"Well...if you say so..." said Sable walking with Vivian in the main street and immediately noticing the looks of some people.
"Don't mind them." came the advice of Vivian who was walking without a care in the world "If you ignore them and just do not care about their looks, they will stop looking at you."
Sable nodded a bit unsure, trying to focus on the festival and so, the two Chosens began to walk among the stalls, stopping from time to time to eat something, especially Sable, while also speaking with each other since none of them knew something else of the other Chosen, bad experiences apart since the broken bond between Vivian, Krista and Harry, before becoming Chosens, and Sable's crime were well-known among the Chosens.
The two of them were so absorbed in those hours of peace that they did not notice the passing of time until the full moon was high in the sky.
"...and that's why Evelynn hates me." said Camille with a little grin on her face before sipping a bit of tea from a glass of plastic.
"Now I can understand her hatred for you. Killing a prey in front of the eyes of another hunter isn't pleasant." said Sable with a raised eyebrow "And the other victims?"
"Coincidences." shrugged Camille "I work mostly in Piltover. There are a lot of desperate and suffering people, the kind of victims Evelynn adores. Unfortunately for her, many of the people she adores always end up in my list of people to be killed."
"I guess it can't be helped..." mumbled Sable looking around, taking note of the fact that now there were fewer people on the street. Most likely most of the crowd had moved to attend Shen and Akali's performance, but Sable wanted to see the show with Dianne while Vivian was not exactly excited about meeting Akela, Akali's Chosen. According to Vivian, among them there was not exactly a bond of kisses and hugs, but neither a bond of pure hatred. Both of them preferred not to meet and Sable had been advised, if not even threatened, to accept that explanation and to drop the subject.
"So...what do we do now?"
After not having received an answer, Sable looked back with a confused look and her confusion grew as she saw Camille staring at the sky with narrowed eyes. Following her line of sight, Sable widened her eyes in surprise upon seeing the moon now blood red.
"What the-?"
An inhumane scream prevented Sable from finishing the sentence and, after looking at the bottom of the road, both Chosens were shocked at seeing spiders big as wolves jumping on the civilians before biting them with their giant fangs dripping with poison, killing them in a few seconds. The rest of the civilians began to run away trying to save themselves while the two of them stayed in the middle of the street, watching the spiders that were getting closer and numerous.
"Those spiders...I have already seen them somewhere..." said Sable feeling a bit nervous in seeing all those spiders approaching her.
"It doesn't matter, we have to save those people. I will be the vanguard, you will kill all those who will escape me." said Vivian using her right grapples to dash forward, slicing in half two spiders with her blades.
Noticing that two of their kin were killed, many of the spiders focused on Vivian trying to surround her but unfortunately for them, their bodies were not even as agile or strong as Camille's.
As a spider jumped on her from the front, another attacked her by aiming at her legs from behind but in a matter of seconds, Vivian made a perfect backward overturn using Precision Protocol with her right leg to slice in half the spider in front of her before piercing the skull of the spider behind her with the tip of her left leg. Vivian stood perfectly still waiting for the third spider who tried to attack her the same way as the first, but when her blade began to shine, the enormous arachnid suffered the same fate as the previous aggressor and the two parts of its body fell to the ground at the sides of the woman who, by spinning on her axis, threw the spider stuck in her left leg against two spiders at her right, crushing all three insects against a wall. From then on, she began to move without ever stopping, cutting heads and bodies without any remorse as the spiders died without being able to defend themselves.
Those who managed to get past her, in an attempt to kill other people, were pierced with several spikes of shadow that killed them instantly.
Sable was trying to kill all the spiders who came too close to her by using her Hate Spikes, but also had to use Ravage when one of them was able to avoid her previous attacks.
As if to prove that point, a spider managed to avoid a row of thorns and tried to bit the girl, but Sable twisted her body and smashed her claws in its head, killing the giant insect with that before looking back and piercing two spiders with her thorns, splashing green blood everywhere.
"Thankfully I've seen worse otherwise I would have already throw up my lunch..." thought Sable with a twisted sense of relief. At that moment she was not exactly sure that seeing something worse was a good thing...
Just when she was about to kill another spider with a wave of thorns, all the enemies jumped away, leaving the two Chosen in the middle of the street while watching them from the walls or the roofs.
"What's going on...?" asked Sable walking toward the other Chosen just to be sure. Now they were alone since all civilians had managed to escape.
"I don't know. It's as if they suddenly lost interest in us." said Camille looking at the enemies with a leg ready to cut them down.
"No...it's not like that." said Vivian having already seen something like that "They're like soldiers. They were focusing exclusively on civilians but then they decided to face the biggest threat all together and now they have gone away the same way. A group of soldiers with a hierarchy act in that way only in a certain situation."
"And that would be...?" asked Camille not exactly certain of wanting to know the answer.
"When someone of higher rank orders it."
A sudden chilling laughter attracted the attention of both Chosen, who quickly turned their heads toward the spot where the spiders came from, and while Camille nor Vivian did not show any reaction, Sable widened her eyes in horror because, right at the bottom of the street, Elise in her Blood Moon skin was walking at a slow peace, staring at them behind her red spider mask that couldn't hide her amused smirk.
"Eva...? Eva is that you?" asked Sable looking at the Champion of her friend's sister "Eva what the hell is going on?!" but then, a hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Don't waste your breath. She isn't listening..." said Camille as Elise was looking at the dead bodies of her spiders with a neutral face.
"Something is not right, something is definitely not right!" hissed Sable looking at Elise with mixed feelings about the whole situation.
When Elise was close enough, she stopped to look at the two Champions in front of her, showing that grin again and, before Sable could ask her something, the Spider Queen spit a big amount of acid, aiming at Sable who was yanked out of the way by Camille.
Looking behind, both Chosens saw a wooden table being dissolved by that acid without any difficulty.
"That was her Neurotoxin. I did not know it could melt objects so easily..." said Vivian looking at the acid on the ground.
"Me neither..." added Camille looking back at Elise who was still smirking at them "I guess that talking will not help." and with that, she jumped at the Spider Queen ignoring the shouts from Sable. When Elise was within reach of attack, Camille brought a strong side slash with the left leg but the grin on her opponent lips widened a bit.
"Krista is here, you know?"
In a blink of an eye, Vivian took control of the body and, sticking her right leg in the ground, blocked the attack when the blade was a few inches from the mask of Elise, not at all worried about the slash that could have seriously hurt or even kill her.
"What did you say?" hissed Vivian glaring at the Spider Queen with glowing green-silver eyes.
"You heard me. She is here." said Elise looking at her.
Vivian suppressed a growl but nothing stopped her from lowering her left leg before grabbing the spider-woman by her throat with a single hand, lifting her from the ground "Where. Is. Krista?"
"Strangle me will not help you find her." said Elise with an amused grin, ignoring the iron grip around her throat.
Vivian growled at the Spider Queen, raising a fist to hit her, but Sable stopped her "Behind you!"
Turning around, Vivian saw three spiders jumping at her from three different points, each one of them aiming at a different target. She let go of Elise and prepared to kill the spiders but, at the last second, a strong shield surrounded her body and the three enemies bounced on it, falling to the ground before being killed by several rays of purple energy.
"Just in time!" exclaimed Lulu running toward the other Chosens "There's a big problem you need to know! Shen and Akali went crazy and...oh..." she stopped as soon as she saw Elise jumping away from Camille, a grin still on her lips.
"Akali and Shen too...?" repeated Sable looking back at the Spider Queen "So she isn't the only one?"
Lulu's eyes flashed for a brief second "We were at the gate to evacuate the civilians with Varus but then Pantheon came and explained the situation to us. Apparently during their show, Shen and Akali started killing the spectators for no reason. Also, some guards told us that they found the bodies of their comrades at another gate."
"So...Akela also lost her mind just like Eva." said Camille placing the pieces together "Elise, Akali, Shen...all of them have a Bloodmoon skin and the moon has become red. If those skins are the reason for this mess then..."
"Krista..." whispered Vivian clenching her fists before glaring at the Spider Queen who was standing besides two big spiders "What did you do to her?!"
Elise looked at her with an amused expression, but instead of answering her, she looked up to a big building near them. Vivian and the others followed her line of sight but Sable immediately regretted that choice because, on the roof of that building, Kindred was looking at the street full of corpses, both of humans and spiders.
Lamb turned her head slowly, looking at the form of Elise while Wolf growled menacingly, showing his fangs. Without a sound, Kindred jumped down, landing in the middle of the street, turning again toward Elise.
Behind her, Sable took a little step forward "Dianne..."
"Eva!"
She stepped back immediately, surprised by Lamb's sudden shout but that action made her understand that Lamb was not in control in that moment. Dianne was the one who had screamed and the tremor of her hand with which she held the bow confirmed Sable's fears.
"Eva, what the hell are you doing?!" shouted Dianne looking at her sister's Champion who simply smiled at her while caressing the head of a spider "When I felt your presence vanish with so many marks I was desperate! I thought something happened to you!" not getting an answer, she continued pointing at the civilians lying on the ground behind her sister "What is this madness?! What the hell happened to you?! Answer me Eva!"
Behind Kindred, the other Chosens were now really close to her but then Pix heard something behind the group and, looking back, his little eyes widened in horror.
"She is not Eva." growled Wolf "There is something different about her!"
"Dianne, I know she is your sister, but she is completely mad! The same goes for Shen and Akali!" said Lysander ignoring Pix who was pulling a strand of hair to gain their attention.
Kindred's Chosen shook her head "She would never do something like that!" taking a step forward she shouted "Answer me Eva! What happened to you?!"
"Dianne, I don't think..." Sable had to suppress a scream when Pix literally tore a lock of her hair "What's wrong with you?!"
For his part, Pix pointed behind her with both hands flying without control over her head. Confused by the behavior of the little fairy, she looked back and her blue skin lost all its color.
"G-girls...we...we have a problem..."
The other Chosens turned around and not even Kindred could suppress the shiver of fear seeing big spider enter into the bodies of the dead civilians. Each spider used its jaws to open the back of the corpse closest to it, then slipped four of its legs into the body making them pass through the human limbs, whose body seemed shaken by strong spasms. Lastly, the spider entered into the corpse with brute force, crushing organs and bones without noticing it. After a couple of seconds, the bodies of the civilians rose, showing the spider's fangs leaking out of their mouths, while four long spider's legs and a spider abdomen sprouted out of their backs.
As one being, the new monsters turned to the four Chosens.
"I just discovered to be afraid of spiders...and spiders that take possession of dead bodies..." whined Lulu while Lysander gulped loudly as those monsters started to walk toward them.
The eyes of Lamb flashed as the white half of Kindred took control, turning around with an arrow ready in her bow "Elise! Stop this madness at once!" seeing the grin on her lips, Lamb added "Do it, or not even the bond between our Chosens will save you!"
Elise chuckled amused, raising her hand to the mask, but then snapped her fingers, and all the spiders and hybrids in the vicinity attacked the four Chosens.
Wolf growled before biting a spider, ripping off its head with just one bite while Lamb danced in the air by shooting arrows all around but, much to her confusion, the arrows aimed at the bodies of the hybrids did not have any effect while the giant spiders died with an arrow between their eyes.
Vivian ignored the enemies and rushed toward Elise, dodging every attack with ease while the Spider Queen turned into her second form, jumping high with her fangs ready to strike. Crouching down to prepare for a possible dodge, Vivian could not see a spider smaller than the others approaching from her side. When the spider was near enough, it exploded in a bloodbath but the explosion could not hurt Vivian due to the activation of her Adaptive Defenses, which wasn't limited like in the Summoner Rift. However, that explosion managed to catch Vivian's attention, allowing Elise to strike her from above.
The Spider Queen pierced the right shoulder of her opponent using her fangs but, instead of screaming, Vivian gritted her teeth and kicked Elise in her spider belly, opening a large wound which gave birth to a hiss of anger by the giant animal over her. Jumping away, Elise turned into the human form, placing a hand over the wound, while several spiders rushed toward Vivian, but a volley of white arrows stopped them.
Nodding toward Kindred, Vivian rose from the ground, glaring at Elise who simply grinned at her, before using her Neurotoxin again, but this time both Chosens dodged the attack.
Not too far from them, Lulu and Pix fired several rays of energy, killing as many spiders as possible before running to avoid some hybrids that had launched themselves on her. Their bodies crushed on the wooden box that she was using as a raised point and, just a second later, several shadow spikes pierced their bodies, killing them instantly.
Sable dodged another spider exploiting the enhancements of Lulu but the enemies were too many on their side and the two of them were being surrounded very quickly.
"We can not go on like this any longer! Think Sable! Think! There must be a solution!" thought Evelynn's Chosen killing another hybrid when Lulu stopped behind her.
"I do not know about you, but here things are getting really ugly!" shouted Lysander firing another Glitterlance, killing two hybrids too close for his liking.
"I know but there are too many of them! I don't know how...!" she stopped mid-sentence realizing that they had a very powerful combination at their disposal, only that it was very risky "Let them come near us!"
"What?! Are you out of your mind too?! Why should we allow that?!" asked/shouted the Yordle with eyes full of confusion.
"When they are close enough, use your Wild Growth on me and try to stay on my shoulder!" explained Sable while their enemies were getting closer and closer.
Lysander looked around and couldn't help but groan "Alright then, let's do it! I just hope it works because becoming food for giant spiders is not exactly my dream in the drawer!" and with a bit of help, he climbed on her shoulder just when the spiders jumped on them.
"NOW!"
"Enormibus!"
In an explosion of wind, leaves, and energy, Sable grew exponentially, reaching nearly fifty feet high, hurling all the enemies against the walls of nearby buildings, which were definitely smaller than her. Looking down, Sable could not help but show a victorious grin while Lysander was happily dancing on her right shoulder.
"Way to go Sable! Now crush those insects and then let's go to help the others!"
"I have something else in mind..." said Sable looking at the enemies, showing a little sad smile "For what it's worth...I'm sorry." and with a single stomp of her foot, she created a powerful Agony's Embrace, piercing all the spiders, hybrids, stands and even the buildings with her shadow spikes.
"Ace!" exulted Lysander with a grin before looking back at the other fight, just in time to see Wolf being kicked by Elise into Lamb "We should help them now!"
Sable nodded, turning on her heels but the effect of Lulu's magic ended in that moment, making her shrink to her original height.
"Uhm...looks like the time of my magic isn't the same as in the Rift. Oh well, good to know!" said Lysander shrugging before rushing toward the other two Chosens with Sable behind.
Not far from them, Vivian tried to hit Elise with a wide kick but the Spider Queen spat a big cocoon of cobwebs, immobilizing her right leg. The spider-woman couldn't continue with her attack because Wolf bit into her right arm, forcing a grunt of pain out of her mouth. Without hesitating, she struck the black half of Kindred with a violent punch in the middle of the mask, slamming him to the ground but, before she could hit him any further, Elise saw an arrow pointing at her head with the tail of the eye.
Looking in that way, the Spider Queen realized how close Lamb was to her, ready to shoot her arrow.
"Surrender. Now." said Lamb without missing a beat, ignoring Dianne's supplications. She could not leave any chance to Elise and hoped that Dianne would forgive her one day or the other.
Elise, for her part, said nothing, merely showing an ambiguous smile, moving a step toward Lamb, who strained even more the string of her bow.
"Last chance, Elise." said Lamb aiming at the red mask of her fellow Champion "I won't warn you a third time."
The Spider Queen took another step forward.
"So be it..." hissed Lamb "Forgive me, Dianne..." but just as the arrow was beginning to slip between her fingers, Elise tilted her head, the mouth twisted in apparent confusion.
"Dianne...?"
"NO!"
Lamb visibly winced at the mental scream of Dianne and she could do nothing to stop her Chosen from taking control, albeit only for an instant, just enough to move her arms to the right. The white arrow darted through the air, missing Elise's head by an inch, but the feeling of relief Dianne felt prevented her from noticing the cold grin that had returned on Elise's lips.
Moving faster than expected, Elise tried to pierce Lamb with the right hand wrapped in a strange purple substance but at the last second, Wolf got in the way, suffering the attack that made him yelp with pain. The force of the attack was so strong that the two halves of Kindred were thrown across the street, making them crash into the wall of a building.
The Spider Queen seemed to completely forget about them and turned to face Vivian, Sable and Lysander who were now upon her but a sudden gust of red wind hurled them backwards.
Feeling another attack coming, Vivian grabbed the other two by the lapel of their clothes and, using the strength of her legs, jumped to the side, avoiding a red tornado that swept away the bodies of the spiders and the debris caused by their fights.
Elise looked back with a wide smile "Are you here to dance with me, Yas?"
The Unforgiven looked at her from behind his white mask but gave no sign of hearing her words. Sheathing his blade with a loud 'clack', he said "It's time."
She smirked "Oh good to know. Do you want to have the honor?"
Again, Yasuo did not seem to hear her and, without saying anything, jumped into the air before slashing the air toward the ground where a strange symbol appeared and a weak red light surrounded the two Champions.
"Eva!"
Elise looked at the downed form of Lamb who was holding Wolf in her arms, a nasty wound on his side which was slowly healing. With a mocking smile on her lips, the Spider Queen waved a goodbye at her before disappearing with Yasuo, just before Vivian could hit them with a wide kick.
"Tch! They managed to escape..." growled Vivian who wanted answers concerning Krista. The presence of Yasuo, he too with a Blood Moon skin, had left little doubts regarding the connection of those particular skins.
At that moment, a powerful column of light in the distance lit up the night and the Chosens immediately understood who it was.
"So Cira is still fighting." said Lysander looking at Vivian while Sable was trying to help her friend.
"Dianne...Dianne can you hear me?" asked Sable shaking Lamb without receiving an answer.
After a moment, the eyes behind the black mask flashed "I'm sorry Sable, but she isn't responding...she is still shocked."
Sable gave her a concerned look but nodded anyway "What about Wolf?"
"He'll be fine. He just needs rest." explained Lamb patting the head of her partner before standing up "That light was certainly Cira's doing. We must regroup with her and try to understand what is going on in this place."
"I agree." said Vivian "Can you bring us to her?"
"I can guide you, I know exactly where she is. Follow me." said Lamb before sprinting toward the bottom of the street with the others behind her.
They had no time to waste.
- Old abandoned building (ten minutes later) -
"Are you sure she's here?" asked Sable walking in the middle of a hallway.
"Yes, she's just two rooms ahead and she's not alone." said Lamb with Wolf floating at her side with the wound now completely healed.
"Well, better do not make her wait!" exclaimed Lulu with a smile running toward the door before opening it with without knocking.
Just to find herself on the wrong side of a spear, a halberd, a scythe, two knives, a sword and a magical scepter.
She looked up with a pale face, noting the confused looks of the other Chosen "...good evening?"
"Lulu? What are you doing here?" asked Veigar lowering his scepter.
"Veigar! You're here too!" shouted the purple haired Yordle tackling him into the ground, ignoring his shouts of protest.
"Lulu? Lysander? Why are you here?" asked Cira, confused by their presence.
"They are trying to protect this place, just like us." answered Lamb walking in with Vivian and Sable behind her.
"Kindred!" Cira walked toward them with a smile "Glad to see that you're all...fine?" the concerned look on Evelynn's face rang alarm bells in her head "Sable...what's happened?"
"Me and Vivian were at the festival when...giant spiders attacked the civilians." explained Sable before looking at Lamb "Lysander helped us but then we had to fight against Eva too..." she took a deep breath "She attacked Dianne without hesitation..."
Upon hearing those words, Leona's eyes widened in horror and the First Chosen looked at Lamb. The white half of Kindred shook her head "She's not responding...fighting against her sister was too much for her."
"So Elise too..." mumbled Arthur with a grim look.
"Guess that our theory was correct." nodded Fiddlesticks "The Blood Moon skins are what connects the Champions who have started behaving in a very anomalous way."
Cira walked to a stop in front of Lamb, kneeling in front of her "Can you give her the control?"
Lamb looked at her with sad eyes behind the mask but nodded. After a quick flash in her eyes, Lamb's body fell forward without stopping, forcing Cira to take the smaller Champion in her arms "Dianne...?"
It was only after a couple of seconds that she noticed the slight spasms that shook the body of Lamb.
"E-Eva..." whispered Dianne shaking her head "Why...why her...?"
The Radiant Dawn's heart lost a beat at hearing that tremulous and feeble voice, having heard it on only two occasions: when Eva was about to die before being chosen and at their mother's funeral. Hugging her like a mother would do with her daughter, Cira started rubbing her back, whispering in the ear to calm her "Ssh...ssh...everything will be fine. We will bring back your sister and everyone else, okay? We'll save them."
"I don't...want to fight her...I can't..."
"And you won't fight her, I promise. You won't lose her. I will not allow it, trust me." said Cira without letting her go "Now, I need you to take a deep breath and calm yourself, all right? Lamb is with you and will always help you, but you must promise me that you will not do anything hazardous. Do you promise it?"
Dianne stood firm in her arms, sobbing a few times but nodding anyway "I promise..."
Cira smiled at her, releasing her from the hug "Good, now we should-!" suddenly she had to resist a strong surge of pressure that seemed to pour into the room. Near her, the other Chosens turned at the same time towards two of them in particular, both about to jump to their throats.
"Evening, Major..." growled Harry, spectral flames raising from the armor while his fist gripped the shaft of his halberd, screeching against the metal.
"I already told you not to call me Major, Harry. You lost that right when you betrayed your team." hissed back Vivian, blue sparkles dancing around her legs whit her hands clenched into fists, popping each single knuckle.
"Viv, I know how you feel about him, but now we don't have time for this." said Cira placing a hand on her shoulder.
Vivian glared at her for a brief moment before sighing and pointing at Nocturne "Fine, but if you want me to stay calm then explain what he is doing to Krista."
At the first moment when she had seen Kalista tied to the table her mind had pushed her to use force to get Nocturne away from her friend, but then the calm that had distinguished her during her military service had made her notice that no one, not even Cira, seemed worried about that his presence and so Krista was not in danger, maybe.
"They are trying to free Krista and Kalista from whatever is controlling them through that Blood Moon skin. But I think it's better to explain everything from the beginning..." said Leona walking toward a chair near Dianne and Sable, showing a little grin at the expense of Veigar, currently used as a teddy bear by Lulu.
In the midst of all this, Nocturne still had his eyes closed in concentration. His task was anything but easy...
- Krista's mindscape -
"I'm really hating this place." growled Ash walking in the middle of a swamp surrounded by fog "Why did I end up here?"
"Each Chosen's mind is different and is influenced by their union with a Champion. Yours is a huge space full of darkness thanks to my influence." explained the voice of Nocturne in his head "Having to do with Kalista's Chosen it was presumable that you would end up in a place similar to the Shadow Isles."
"Right...but this place is endless." said Ash walking forward "How should I find Kalista or her Chosen?"
His answer came in the form of a hand that tightened around his right ankle, forcing him to look down, ready to hit anyone who had stopped him, but something sharp touched him behind the knee.
"I advise you not to make risky moves if you care about your leg." said a calm female voice as his eyes found the grey ones of a black haired girl hidden in the mist with some sort of camouflage over her face made with mud and leaves.
Ash stared at her for a couple of seconds before saying "Krista Rhon, I presume..."
"Correct, and you are...?" asked the girl without releasing his ankle or the sharp rock that she was aiming at the back of his knee.
"Name's Ashuros, Nocturne's Chosen." said the boy looking at her hand "Now release me, I'm here to help and I don't want to waste any more time."
After a couple of seconds, she released him and he could see, much to his confusion, the handle of a knife coming out of her back in the lumbar region. Having seen, during the various games in the Rift, some memories of Krista in the form of nightmares, he managed to guess what the knife was tied to.
"So you can't walk...again."
"No shit Sherlock." growled Kalista using only her arms to drag herself in the muddy ground "Now, if you're done with your brilliant deductions, help me to look for strong branches."
"Why?"
Krista looked back at him before pointing in front of her "Kalista. I do not know why, but I know that she is in that direction, unfortunately the swamp worsens a hundred yards ahead, and I can not go on in these conditions."
"Maybe you should give up and despair like a child, just like that night." boomed a male voice in the swamp with a dark chuckle, gaining another growl from Krista.
"That voice...Hecarim's Chosen?" asked Ashuros looking around "Great, this place is becoming more and more hateful."
Without waiting for a reply, he walked toward the downed form of Krista and picked her up, placing her over is right shoulder, receiving a series of curses from the girl.
"You really know how to treat the wounded, huh?"
"If you think that I'll let you on my back with your arms around my neck, you're deadly wrong." replied the albino walking toward the direction pointed by Krista and, as said by her, he found himself with the mud up to the waist.
"Well, now you just need to find Kalista. The fact of not being able to shatter her mind is making me lose my patience. To hell with my horror movies or the threats of that damned sun woman." said Nocturne sounding really stressed out. Fortunately, Ashuros soon came out of the swamp, finding himself in front of something very strange, at least for such a mind.
In front of him there was a tower made of black stone with cracks running along the sides. The fog had completely thinned out, showing a red moon in the sky as well as the beam of light that illuminated the top of the tower. A long stone staircase, with many missing pieces and several cracks, connected the top of the tower to the ground in front of the two Chosens.
"Kalista is up there, I can feel her..." said Krista looking at the top of the tower before showing a little grin "A woman to be saved and the only way to reach her is through broken stairs...we just need a monkey that throws barrels on us and we're good to go."
Ashuros looked at her with a raised eyebrow, clearly confused by her words.
"What?" she asked with a shrug "Never played Donkey Kong?"
The boy merely rolled his eyes before climbing up the stairs, only to stop at the first hole that was quite big.
"Perhaps with a good run-up you could-!" Krista's idea was quickly cut off when Ash placed her on the ground before picking her by the belt and the collar of her jacket, then starting to swing her back and forth, faster and faster.
"You wouldn't dar-!"
Too late.
Finding herself in midair, she managed to cross the arms in front of her face to protect herself from the impact. Shortly thereafter, he jumped by himself landing next to her.
Glaring at him with all the hate she could master, Krista hissed "I'll have my revenge..."
"Duly noted." was the reply and then it became a succession of stair-steps and launching people in loop, until they reached the top of the tower.
"My revenge...will be slow and painful..."
"No time for that. Look." said Ash pointing at the downed form of Kalista who had her mask over the face and was surrounded by a faint red glow. Picking her up again, he walked toward the Spear of Vengeance but suddenly he was struck by something that forced him to step back. Slightly stunned by the blow, the boy looked down and saw a series of red runes on the ground that formed several circles with Kalista in the center.
Over his shoulder, Krista spread her arm forward but found no resistance "Guess this is your limit. Put me down, now." and he did it, and then throw her forward again.
"He will suffer...intensely..." mumbled Krista shaking her head before pushing herself up with her arms, slowly advancing toward her Champion.
When she stood next Kalista, she glared at the mask with hate in her eyes since that mask was the last thing she saw before finding herself in that swamp. One moment she was returning home and then, out of nowhere, the mask had appeared before her, followed by darkness. When she woke up in the swamp she tried to call Kalista but she didn't get any answer and so she started wandering, looking for a way to get out of there, trying to ignore Harry's voice that occasionally provoked and insulted her with that voice that she hated so much. At last she had felt something that she could only connect to Kalista, a kind of instinct that pushed her to advance in a certain direction but, because of the ground and that damned knife in the back, she could not reach her, until now.
"Come on, Kalista. Time to wake up." said Krista trying to remove the mask but a wave of pain erupted from her back and she barely managed to suppress a scream. Looking behind with a heavy breath, she widened her eyes upon seeing blood flowing out of the wound on her back.
"Great...just great." she looked at the mask again and grabbed it with both hands, almost feeling as if someone had grabbed the handle of the knife in her back.
"Come on now." she started pulling, clenching her teeth in pain as the knife was slowly extracted from her body.
"You need to wake up Kalista...I can't go on like this...not without you..." her face was now red for the pain as the blood was forming a puddle under her "You told me that time...we are many but...we're also one...so I can't leave you here..."
"Just give up. You will lose her too, just as you lost your mother and father." said the voice of Harry "She'll betray you, just like I did, but when it will happen, there will be no one to save you."
"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" shouted Krista forgetting about the pain in her back "She won't betray me, we're the same! Isn't that right, Kalista? We still have to take revenge on those who betrayed us! You can't just stay here so please, wake up now!"
With her last bit of strength, she tore off the mask from Kalista's face, knocking it off in the distance and the knife vanished into thin air once it had been removed from her body, just like the wound and the blood on the ground. A powerful shock wave erupted from the body of the Spear of Vengeance, destroying the runes, the moon and Ashuros, who dissolved into a cloud of darkness.
With a loud groan, Krista collapsed with an arm over the chest of her Champion who slowly opened her eyes.
"Where...where are we?"
"In a horrible place...but I've seen worse." said Krista with a chuckle.
"Krista? What happened?" asked Kalista looking at her Chosen, holding her head with a hand.
"Do not you remember anything?"
"We were walking toward our home and then...nothing. Only darkness and a red moon..." explained Kalista shaking her head before looking again at her Chosen with a little smile "Then we heard your voice...thank you for helping us."
Krista grinned at her "We are many..."
"...but we are also one." nodded Kalista standing up with her Chosen "We think that it's time to wake up. We can feel the presence of other Chosens around us."
"Well, better do not make them wait." replied Krista with a grin before closing her eyes as the world around her shattered.
- Real World -
A slow groan attracted the attention of those present in the room and, to their great relief (except Hecarim and Harry), the white mask shattered, as did the rest of the skin, showing the real Kalista, whose eyes were gray.
"My head is killing me..."
"You have suffered worse, Krista. A severe headache will not stop you." said Vivian with a little grin.
"I'd love to see you in my place..." said Krista shaking her head "What happened to me? I managed to understand that the red moon has something to do with what happened to Kalista but nothing more."
"I wonder why but I'm not surprised." said Harry ignoring the glares of various Chosens.
"The situation is quite complicated, but I'm glad to see you're back." said Cira with a smile before asking "Do you want the short or long version?"
"The short one but before that..." Krista took a spear and pointed it at Nocturne, still unnerved by being punched out of her mind "Someday I'll have my revenge, don't forget it."
"I have goose bumps..." said Nocturne with a mocking tone before a strong seismic shock caused the whole building to shake, surprising those present who were forced to cling to something to keep the balance, while deep cracks opened in the walls. Being the only one immune to that tremor, Nocturne flew to a window through which a strong red light filtered and, after opening it, he reached the roof of the building, looking around.
"Nocturne! What do you see?" shouted Pantheon shielding his eyes from the light.
The Eternal Nightmare could only stare in silence at the huge column of red light that descended from the moon, illuminating the whole city.
"A lot of trouble..."
- Temple hidden in the mountains of Ionia (shortly before) -
A hooded figure walked through the corridors of the temple, followed by Zilean and a dozen of summoners, all wearing red tunics. After a few minutes, they reached a huge, completely empty circular room.
"Get ready, time has come." said Zilean as the summoners walked in the room, forming a circle while facing the center of the room. After a quick nod, they began to sing a strange litany, forming several runes in the floor.
"My Master." Zilean looked at the hooded figure at his side "Everything his ready."
"Very good. Now it's time to meet our new allies." said the man with a little grin stepping forward just when the last rune was placed at the center of the room. After a brief moment of silence, the roof and the floor were destroyed by a column of red light generated by the moon, which stood exactly above them. As he looked into the perfectly circular hole created by the column of light, his grin widened at the sight of a strange red glass, behind which six pairs of eyes stared at him intently.
"Brothers!" shouted the man opening his arms as if to want to embrace them "Look at you in your squalid prison! Who put you down there?!"
"THE LEAGUE!" thundered their voices as a hand tried to touch the glass, but was rejected by red lightning.
"And now that I set you free..." raising his arms, his hands were wrapped in a powerful magic that he threw against the glass, dissolving the lightning "What is the first thing you are going to do?!"
As the earth began to tremble, six arms destroyed the glass without hesitation.
"DESTROY IT!"
A sick smile could be seen on the lips of the hooded man.
"Good answer."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Omake: Vivian and Dark Souls
"So...what game have you decided to bring this time?" asked Vivian without much enthusiasm in her voice.
"Oh, do not be such a spoilsport. The last game I showed you was not so bad." said Krista with a grin, since the last game was League of Legends.
"Point taken...but I hope this..." she looked at the custody of the game "...Dark Souls is not another 'false' game. Anyway, what's the point of the game?"
"Oh, that's and RPG, or Role-Playing Game if you wish, where you can create your own character and fight against demons, monsters and so on. This one is famous for its difficulty." explained Krista inserting the disc into the console "Now let's start with the creation of your character!"
(After the creation)
"Twenty minutes spent creating an acceptable character...and then she looks like a roasted mummy?" asked Vivian with a raised eyebrow looking at her character.
"Well...there is all the lore behind so it is a normal thing."
"The what?"
"The lore. Past events that have led to this situation, said in a very simple way." explained Krista with a shrug.
"So it's the plot of the game."
"Err...not really but...you know, forget it. Go on and kill those enemies!"
(After some quick kills)
"And what is this?" asked Vivian looking at a sword stuck in the ground.
"Oh that's a bonfire, you can do a lot of things when you interact with it."
"I can only exit from its menu..."
"...after the tutorial you will be able to do a lot of things."
"If you say so, but I have to say, this game is pretty easy for-!" Vivian looked with a mix of confusion and repulsion the demon landed in front of her character "What the hell is that thing..."
"That's the boss of the tutorial but you don't have to-!"
[YOU DIED]
"Mh I see...so that demon is stronger than the others."
"Viv, look you don't-!"
[YOU DIED]
"One more time..." said Vivian with narrowed eyes.
"Err...Viv?"
[YOU DIED]
"Maybe the tail is its weak point."
[YOU DIED]
"The belly...?"
[YOU DIED]
"Those damn legs...?"
[YOU DIED]
"How can I kill something like that with a broken sword?!" shouted the former Major gripping the joy-pad in her hands.
"Viv, you don't have to fight the boss now. There a door on the left, go that way." said Krista pointing at said door while suppressing a chuckle.
"Why did not you tell me before...?"
"I did not want to interrupt your fun." grinned Krista walking toward the kitchen "I will prepare some tea, good luck!"
"Do you really think it was a good idea to let her play that game?" asked Kalista.
"Sure! After the first hundred deaths or so she will get used to the game."
"How can such a thin and weak man push a bloody iron ball down a ladder!" shouted Vivian from the other room.
"Did you get used to the game?"
"Of course! After breaking up some furniture I managed to control myself." said Krista with a smile before hearing a loud "Finally! He's dead!"
Walking back in the living room, she asked "Did you kill the boss?"
"No, I killed this enemy with the shield. He was really strong." said Vivian with a grin "Was he some kind of mid-boss?"
"Do not tell her it was a basic enemy...do not tell her it was a basic enemy...do not tell her it was a basic enemy..." Krista had to fight down a laugh, managing to nod at the end.
"Good, now I can kill that demon with no-!"
[YOU DIED]
"This..."
[YOU DIED]
"...is..."
[YOU DIED]
"...not..."
[YOU DIED]
"...a..."
[YOU DIED]
"...game!"
[YOU DIED]
"It's some kind of torture!" she shouted launching the joy-pad against the wall.
[YOU DIED]
Vivian was a really calm person but that game had managed to push her over the edge. Glaring at Krista, who was holding both hands over her mouth in order not to laugh, Vivian hissed "Take that game out of this house...now!"
"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am!" said Krista jumping on her feet, before placing the disk into its custody. Closing it, she looked at her friend "Does that mean you do not want to try Dark Souls 2?"
The last thing she saw before darkness was a joy-pad aimed at her face.
And that's it! End of the fourth chapter (plus omake)! I hope that you liked it!
It's been a while since the last update but unfortunately I had several commitments that kept me away from the computer, but I managed to write these twenty pages anyway!
Now, first of all, I hope I have used well all the characters that have been entrusted to me (below is a list with all the soldiers in this story.) and I would like to point out to you that Evelynn is still the old version, the rework will take place during this story uhuhuh...
In the next chapter we will find out who are the new allies of our hooded man (a poro snack to those who guesses which film I used for the final scene) and we will have many conflicts (physical and otherwise) between the various Champions!
One last thing, the previous chapter was modified to insert Akela and improve some things.
List of Chosens:
- Ashuros / Nocturne (mine)
- Tyler / Fiddlesticks (mine)
- Jason / Shaco (mine)
- Cira / Leona (Elhini Prime)
- Arthur / Pantheon (Elhini Prime's boyfriend)
- Krista / Kalista (Elhini Prime's friend)
- Harry / Hecarim (Elhini Prime's friend)
- Lysader / Lulu (Elhini Prime's friend)
- Dianne / Kindred (Masked Demise)
- Eva / Elise (Masked Demise)
- Sable / Evelynn (Masked Demise)
- Ana / Veigar (sylver9895)
- Vivian / Camille (30CaliberDonut)
- Akela / Akali (30CaliberDonut)
That's all for today! See you around and have a good day!