Author's Note: Hope you have enjoyed the story so far. Here is where our adventure begins.
This chapter took me a few days to write this time as I really wanted to make it a good starting point for our adventure. There is plenty of action and plenty of secrets that will be revealed later. This is also the longest chapter so far. Depending on how much action I decide to include in each chapter, most of the other ones will probably be similar in length. If you feel it is too long, let me know. I really hope you enjoy it. Any feedback is welcome.
Chapter 6 – Relic of the past
Ahri
*Yaaaaaaawn* I stretched my arms and tails as I inhaled deeply. We had to get up early, and we had been traveling on this caravan to the dig site for hours. We had made it through the Howling Marsh and were finally almost there. I started to nod off.
"Ahri. Ahri." I heard Eylic calling my name. I opened my eyes to see him leaning over me. I was on a bed in an unfamiliar room. It looked like it was dark outside. How long had we been traveling, and how did we get to this room? "You fell asleep on the way here, and I didn't want to wake you," he said in a calm tone. He had a smile on his face. His blue eyes sparkled in the dim light of the room. They were almost lost behind the blue tips of his hair. He really was quite attractive. I stretched and sat up. He sat down beside me. "Ouch," I said as I felt my back crack. "I guess the ride made me a little stiff." He began rubbing my lower back for me. It felt nice and instantly relaxed me. I let out a slight moan of pleasure. He stopped. "No. Don't stop," I pleaded. He continued to rub my back until I took his hands and placed them on my shoulders. He began to gently massage them. He was very good at this. "My turn," I said after a while.
I turned around and straddled him as I wrapped my tails around him and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Uhm, Ahri, I don't think -." He started to protest, but I put a finger over his lips. I blew him a kiss, and his eyes burned pink for a brief second. I continued to rub his shoulders as I slowly pushed him backwards. When he was laying down, I slid the top of my kimono down and placed his hands on my breasts. He immediately went to work squeezing them and rubbing his hands across them. I let out a very audible moan as he pinched my nipples. I undid his rob and slid my hand down his pants. I began rubbing up and down as he began moaning and shifting underneath me. He sat up and picked me up. He stood me up and fully removed my clothing. I returned the favor before pushing him back down and mounting him. I moved up and down as he held my hips. I became more and more excited when he suddenly stopped.
I looked down to see his eyes glowing a bright blue. He quickly grabbed me and flipped me around. He was now on top of me, and he was holding me down. I felt the life being drained out of me as his eyes burned brighter. "Eylic, stop!" I coughed out as I got weaker and weaker. I tried to struggle, but I was just too weak. Everything went dark.
I was woken up by Eylic shaking me awake. I had fallen asleep on his shoulder. I quickly jumped up and scooted away from him. "We're here," he said as he pointed ahead. "Are you alright? You were shifting around in your sleep." "I'm fine. Just a bad dream", I said to him. He had a worried look on his face. That dream didn't feel normal. It wasn't a regular nightmare. It worried me for some reason. I tried to shake the dream from my mind as the caravan came to a stop. Eylic and I hopped off the wagon and walked towards the dig site.
Malzahar was already there. That guy always creeped me out. He was standing in front of a large stone circle. The circle extended outwards about twenty feet. It had pulsing purple runes all around it. In the center, was a pedestal with several empty slots. The whole design seemed unsettling. I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked over nervously at Eylic. He was busy talking with Malzahar. Something was bothering me about that dream I had, and standing on this thing just made that feeling worse. I walked closer to the pedestal in the center. There were five empty oval slots. They had a strange pull to them as if they were waiting for something to be returned to them. This whole place made me feel uneasy.
Malzahar
"Hello Eylic. Took you guys long enough to get here." "Oh lay off me. You know traveling through that stupid marsh takes forever," he replied to me. "Well, looks like you got a nice new partner. Missing me yet," I said to him while giving him a slight punch in the arm. The fox girl was busy staring at the center of the device. I walked over to the first wagon in the caravan and began rummaging through it. Eylic walked over as well. "Looking for something specific?" he asked as I pulled out what I had been looking for. I pulled out a small package and unwrapped it. Inside was a small purple crystal in the shape of a square. "The institute has me researching this relic to determine exactly what it is. The carvings around it would suggest it is of void origin, but that is not exactly true. It was built by an ancient race as a great destructive weapon. That is all I have been able to decipher, but I believe that we will find more information below." "Bellow?" Eylic questioned with a confused look on his face. I walked over to the stone pedestal. "Excuse me," I said to the fox girl. She stepped to the side. I placed the crystal into a slot near the base of the pedestal. A large piece of the circle slid aside to reveal a stairway leading down into the darkness. "Follow me please," I said as I began to descend the stairway into the darkness. Eylic followed behind me. He grew a crystal that began pulsing a steady bright light. The way ahead of us became illuminated as we journeyed deeper down the spiraling stairs.
"That crystal that was brought on the caravan was a key to get down here. From what little information I managed to piece together from some books at the institute and from the writings on the surface of the relic, it is a weapon capable of using void energy to create a null zone very similar to the one I can create, but on a massive scale. The High Council has been in possession of that crystal for some time, but we had no idea what it was until recently. Now, it has lead us here," I gestured out in front of me as we came to the bottom of the stairway. It opened into a massive cavern containing a very ancient city. "Now let's see what we can find shall we?"
Eylic
Ahri and I followed behind Malzahar. She clung to my arm. I could tell she was a bit scared. I was slightly frightened too, but my curiosity far outweighed my fear. It was dead silent down here. No one had been here in a very long time. There were many buildings that showed some cracks and other signs of age, but overall, the city was in good condition. There was no sign of life though. No skeletal remains or anything. It looked like everyone simply vanished.
The city was laid out in a giant circle. We made our way to the center where a massive building stood. We climbed our way up the stairs and made it to the ancient stone doors. Malzahar pushed them open, and we made our way inside. "Could this be some kind of palace?" I questioned out loud. "That seems to be a good assumption," Malzahar said. He was standing by a large throne. A skeletal figure covered in gold sat in it. Several other skeletal bodies were also lying in front of the throne. "So there are some remains here after all." "Look at that," Ahri said as she pointed to some writing carved into the ground in front of the throne. I looked at it quizzically. I couldn't read what it said. "In case you are wondering, it says 'turn back. You will only find destruction'," Malzahar said to me. We walked past the skeletal king into the next room. Ahri was now holding onto my arm for dear life. "Everything is ok," I said to her as I patted her head. She relaxed her grip a bit. We both gasped as we entered the next room though.
The room was covered in murals, runes, and writings. A single skeletal figure was slumped against the wall. A chisel and, what I assumed to be, old paints sat next to him. Some of the images had been carved into the wall; others had been painted. Ahri stared at one of the walls before saying, "Eylic. Some of this writing looks like it was done-." "In blood," I finished her sentence. Some of the writing had been done in blood. The scary thing was that it still looked fresh. That just couldn't be possible. "Hmm. Interesting. This room tells the story of this city," Malzahar stated while staring at the wall to the left of the door we had come through.
"The entire land on the surface used to be unstable. Plains would burn, forests would flood, volcanoes would erupt, and everything alive would die. This city was built under ground as a way to survive. After many years, a group of people ventured to the surface. They found the land to be stable at last. They began exploring and expanding. They stretched all across Valoran. One day, they encountered Icathia. They wanted to absorb the city into its vastly growing empire, but the city refused to yield. They went to war with them for years and years, but they could never take the city. One by one, the cities of their empire were destroyed by Icathia. The king was desperate for a way to destroy his enemy when a group of outsiders came forward. These outsiders were known for having terrible nightmares and visions. They were not trusted by the general population, but they had a solution. The kind listened to them, and they instructed him how to build a weapon that could destroy Icathia for good. It was made using knowledge from their dreams: knowledge of the void. When the weapon was completed, it was fired, but it was done so at great cost. A fifth of the population in the city instantly vanished in screams of agony. Everyone else in the city felt that they had cracked open a door to a power they did not understand. Icathia now laid dead, but the barrier between this world and the void was weakened there. The entire city became plagued with nightmares. Not long after, there was a revolt. The king and all responsible for building the weapon were killed. They tried to destroy the weapon, but everything they tried would not work. They removed the five control gems and buried the weapon. The city was abandoned, and the citizens split into five groups. Each group carried one of the control gems. The writing in blood lists their locations. It will change whenever the location of a gem changes."
Malzahar finished his translation. A chill ran down my spine. He walked over to the blood writing and began to translate it. "The first gem is located somewhere in the Shadow Isles. The next one is in Piltover. There are also gems in Bilgewater, Icathia, and-." "Ionia," I finished. "Yes, but how could you read that?" Malzahar asked. "I don't know," I replied. I continued to say "I just sort of looked at it and knew…" Malzahar put his hand under his chin. "We should head back to the surface now. We have what we came for, and you need to get to work finding those gems," Malzahar stated. I nodded, and we began walking out. Ahri got a very nervous look before turning to us and saying "I know the institute told us to find as much information as we can on this weapon, but isn't looking for these gems a bad idea." I looked at her with a frown on her face. "That isn't our decision to make. The institute wants these gems found so that they can lock them away and protect them. Noxus probably has some knowledge of their existence now too, and it is better if we find them first." She gave me a frown back. She clearly didn't like my answer. She let out a sigh as we kept walking. I still have no idea how I managed to read any of that writing, but somehow I knew. Even when I couldn't read it in the throne room, it still looked mildly familiar to me. Where have I seen that writing before? I thought to myself as we ascended the stairs.
When we exited the stairs, Malzahar removed the square crystal, and the entry slid shut behind us. We made our way over to several of the other archeologists to report our finding when I heard a sharp whistling sound. "Look out!" I cried as I pushed Ahri to the ground. An arrow landed right where she had been previously standing. Arrows hit the other archeologists. They fell to the ground. Another arrow was heading straight for us. I quickly erected a crystal shield over us that deflected the arrow away. Another arrow landed right next to us. It started to pulse red. It began pulsing faster and faster. I pulled Ahri up and ran with her behind one of the wagons. The arrow exploded and sent red energy fragments everywhere. Some of the fragments hit one of the bodies of the archeologists, and it crumbled into ash.
"You can come out of hiding now. I really would like to be as civilized as possible here mate," a voice from the other side of the wagon called out. I poked my head out to see a group of men on the hill overlooking the dig site. They were all wearing leather armor reinforced with plate, and had a wide variety of weapons. I recognized the insignia on the chest of the armor. They were called Ravak's Ravagers. I had heard about them from Warwick during an interview I had with him before my first pact. He occasionally did some work with them. Highly skilled and deadly mercenaries that were capable of operating in all sorts of environments, and they offered their skills to the highest bidder. Their leader was Ravak: A man with no loyalty to anything besides money. He was known for being cold and ruthless. He started out as a bounty hunter, but his definition of "alive" was just barely breathing. He was known for being cold, calculating, and brutal. He was wanted by every major city on Runeterra including Noxus.
Ravak continued on. "Now I'm quite sure you found some interesting stuff down in that hole, and my employer is paying me a great deal to get that information so you can either tell me how to get in there, and I can find it for myself, or you can tell me what it is you found. I will say that either way, this doesn't end well for you, but at least you know I'm honest." He waited another few seconds. "Now I'm trying to be reasonable here, but you brought this on yourselves. Get em boys." Five men began running down the hill with weapons in hand. A large crystal blade formed in my hand as I got ready for a fight. "You ready?" I asked Ahri as I looked over towards her. She nodded, and several orbs of fire appeared around her. I rounded the wagon and clashed blades with one of the mercenaries. Another one with a sword starting running towards me as well. The other three began running towards Ahri until Malzahar flashed in. One of them broke off towards him. The other two continued their charge on Ahri. I hope we can make it through this. Champions were just as vulnerable outside the institute. Summoners were supposed to protect them with their lives. A summoner, while highly valued, was much easier to replace than a champion. Summoners were required to give up their lives, if necessary, to protect a champion. Death outside the Fields of Justice was permanent.
Malzahar
All of the researchers and archeologists were now dead. I jumped into one of the wagons to see what it contained. I found several mana potions, and a few other objects I could use to temporarily enhance my abilities. I downed the mana potions. I noticed three off the thugs running towards Eylic's new companion. Well why should she get all the fun? I flashed beside the charging group of men. One of them broke off and headed towards me with a sword and knife in hand. "Aw! I only get to fight one of you idiots." I was slightly disappointed, but I readied myself for a fight.
I hurled several bolts of energy at him. He managed to dodge them. He was quite agile it seemed. He got in close and leaped forward at me. I removed the dagger from my belt and blocked his strike before kicking him back. "I usually prefer to fight at range if you don't mind," I said to him. He snarled before charging again. I infected his mind with images of terror. While clearly disturbed, he still continued forward. Clearly these men had extensive training to reduce mental attacks. I guess I was going to get to have some fun after all with only one of them.
I dodged strike after strike that he took at me. I blasted him back with another bolt of energy. This one was powerful enough to blast through his chest plate. He quickly removed it and threw it to the side. His chest was now seared a bright red. He growled again as he resumed his attack. I used my dagger to continue blocking his attacks. When I finally got an opening, I summoned a null zone beneath him. His movement slowed down, and his strength began to drain. He managed to roll out of the circle but not before I managed to land a blow with my dagger. He raised up his arm to block the attack. My blade firmly embedded itself into his right hand. He dropped the dagger he was holding in that hand and cried out in pain. I went to strike again, but he managed to block it with his sword. He got back up, and we continued to clash.
After a few minutes of fighting, I finally got the upper hand. He went to strike for my head, but I managed to block it. I slid my dagger down his blade and sliced open his right hand. He jumped back in pain as he tried to keep his grip on his sword. I took this time to unleash my full fury. I focused my mind, and a purple tether linked my mind to his. I filled his head with visions of horror, and I amplified the pain he was feeling in his hands. He continued to try and walk towards me. I focused more energy into him. He fell to his knees before standing back up and staggering towards me. "Hmm. Impressive, but let's see if you can withstand this!" I channeled even more energy through the tether. I showed him everything that was waiting for him in the void. He would also now feel the pain of every injury, every cut, every scrape, and every ache. They were all amplified a thousand times over. He fell to his knees again. His eyes and nose began to spout blood. After a few moor seconds, he fell over dead. A blank look of horror was on his face. "Well. One down and five to go." I began walking towards the man still standing at the top of the hill. He had his arms crossed as he looked down at me.
Eylic
The second man with a sword came running at me. I kicked the first man back just in time to block a blow meant for my legs. I constructed a second blade in my other hand. They both began circling around me. One stayed in front of me, and the other took up position behind me. I was in a tricky spot here. Suddenly, they both charged at me. One went high, and the other went low. I managed to block both of their strikes. I continued to block blow after blow as I looked for an opening. They were alternating between striking high and low. One struck high while the other struck low, but I could tell from the look on their face that they were more focused on me than each other. If I can just slow one of them down for one strike…
On the next strike, I blocked the low strike as normal, but for the high strike, I blocked his sword and then gave it a good push. This opened up his chest. I didn't have enough time to strike, so I delivered a quick kick. This caused him to stumble a bit. By the time he recovered, his partner had already struck low. They both struck high on the next attack. I blocked it as normal, but when they both struck low, I jumped up in the air. I shortened the length of one of my blades and gave it a toss. It struck one of the men right between the eyes. He crumpled and fell to the ground. I landed and blocked just in time to stop his partner from trying to lob my head off.
We went back to moving in a circle. As he passed his deceased comrade, he picked up his sword. I materialized another blade to replace the one that was now embedded in a man's skull. We went back to our furious clash. He was moving faster than before. He was clearly enraged at his friend's death. This made him both a bigger threat and an easier target. He was bound to mess up, but would it be before he managed to chop my head off?
Sparks now flew whenever his metal impacted my crystal. We continued to move in a circle as the sound of metal on crystal rang out. His eyes burned with hatred. I was getting very tired now. I had to think of something fast. He raised up both blades and brought them down parallel. This is it! I dropped the blade in my right hand and raised up my arm. Just before the blades made contact, my arm became encased in white crystal. It also grew around the tips of his swords. He could not pull them away. With my left arm, I pulled my crystalline blade back and drove it as hard as I could into his gut. There was no plate protecting where I struck, and the crystal easily ripped through the leather. The anger in his eyes was now replaced with shock. He fell over as a trail of blood began to run out of his mouth. I looked up to see Malzahar walking towards Ravak. I took off after him.
Ahri
One of the mercenaries ran off to confront Malzahar when he appeared. That left me with two of them to fight. I ran towards them. One of them let loose a barrage of arrows. The other readied the large hammer he was carrying. I dodged one of the arrows and hurled a fire ball at the second. It was instantly incinerated. I launched my other two spirit fires at the men. The one with the bow jumped to the side while the one with the hammer swung at it. The fire dissipated. I conjured my orb beside me as I came to a stop a few feet in front of them.
The archer readied another arrow and fired. I jumped out of the way, and it landed behind me, but I heard that pulsing sound again. I turned around to see the arrow glowing bright red before exploding. I quickly dashed further away to avoid it. I turned around just in time to see the man with the hammer attempt to bring it down on my head. I dashed around behind him and threw my orb. It struck him right in the back before coming back and hitting him in the chest. He was clearly in pain, but he wasn't out of the fight. The archer readied more arrows. He let loose three at once. I tried to avoid them, but one struck me in the shoulder. "Ow! Shit!" I cried out. The arrows were small and meant to cause pain more than anything else. I pulled it out and threw it to the ground as the wound began to bleed. The larger one with the hammer charged me from behind. I managed to jump out of the way just in time, but I lost my footing and fell down. He stood over me and brought his hammer up.
I turned around to face him with a slight smirk on my face. I blew a kiss towards him. My charm magic hit him, and he slowly lowered his hammer. He was shaking his head; he was clearly trying to resist my magic. I launched my orb forward, and it hit him in the chest again. I ran around him to avoid the archer who had let loose another arrow. The arrow struck the other man and embedded itself in his breastplate. The archer had a look of horror. The larger guy managed to shake himself out of my charm, and he turned to face me. I suddenly knew why the archer had that look on his face. The arrow began pulsing red. I ran as fast as I could. The man began to panic. He dropped his hammer and tried to remove the arrow from his armor, but it was too late. "Ahhhhh," he screamed right before the arrow exploded, and the man turned to ash.
The now frustrated archer grabbed another arrow from behind his back. I ran towards him as he let it loose. I tossed my orb forward, and it collided with the arrow. He let loose another and another. I deflected them all with my orb. He reached behind him again to grab another arrow, but he was out. The look of horror returned as I sent forward three large balls of fire towards him. He cried out as he burned. He writhed around in agony on the ground before finally succumbing. I waved my hand and the fire instantly went out. A charred corpse now laid in front of me. I looked up to see Malzahar and Eylic heading towards Ravak. I dashed forward to catch up with them.
We all got to Ravak at about the same time. He had taken out a cigarette and lit it. He blew a puff of smoke before turning to directly face us. "Well look what you did. Ya killed some of my best men. It is going to take me forever to find some decent replacements. You owe me quite an apology there mate," he said with a smirk on his face. "An apology!" I screamed. "You tried to kill us!" He turned to face me and smiled a cruel smile. "It is nothing personal love. It is just business, and my current business is killing you lot and getting whatever information you have on that thing for my client." Eylic folded his arms. "Who exactly is your client?" he asked in a very angry tone. "I'm afraid that I can't reveal my business to other people. Confidentiality is part of my policy," the mercenary retorted. "Then why does your client want information on this place?" Malzahar asked him. "I don't know. I just got paid to find out whatever I could about this place, kill anyone here, and secure it for my client," Ravak stated. "Well then. If you don't know anything else, you're not any more use to us alive," Malzahar said as he raised his hand. His voice and what he said gave me a chill. He fired a blast of void energy, but before it could find its mark, Ravak vanished. "Hahaha." His laugh echoed around us. "You'll be seeing me again," the voice said before fading away.
At that moment, a hextech vehicle rounded the corner. Several well-armed men got off the speeder, and it came to rest on the ground. "What is going on here?" One of the men asked. "We could not get into contact with any of the archeologists," another man said. "We were attacked. Someone hired Ravak's Ravagers to kill everyone at the site and secure it for some anonymous party," Eylic explained to the soldiers. One of the men went back to the speeder and picked up a communicator and began talking into it. "Right then. We'll get you to the base came so that you can get some rest for the night. From now on this area is going to be under 24 hour guard. No exceptions. I don't care what you or the High Council says," the first soldier said while looking at Malzahar. "If that is what you think is best," the prophet replied. We followed the soldier back to the speeder as two others rounded the corner. Several men with supplies got off and began setting up a perimeter around the weapons.
The camp was not far from the dig site, but it was still far enough for Ravak to have caught us by surprise without us having any support. There were several tents and cabins set up, and soldiers and archeologists were everywhere. We explained the events of the day to several people at the base before finally getting to eat. After dinner, Eylic and I were guided to one of the cabin structures. We had already talked more with Malzahar. He would be staying with the dig team for the time being. Eylic and I would start heading towards the Shadow Isles tomorrow to find the first gem. I still felt that it was a bad idea, but Eylic said that it was our duty as long as we were with the institute. "Finding them could prevent a war," he said. "Here we are. You will be staying here tonight. Tomorrow, someone will take you down the Serpentine River until you get to the port. From there, you can head to the Shadow Isles," the soldier guiding us said. Eylic thanked him and said good night. Eylic worked on getting the key to unlock the cabin door. "There is only the main room and a bathroom. There is also only one bed, so I'll take the floor. I'll also sleep facing the wall if you are going to be sleeping in the nude again," Eylic said as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. When I walked in, I froze in place. This room was exactly the same as the one from my nightmare earlier. "Is something wrong?" Eylic questioned. "No. Nothing is wrong," I replied. "You don't have to face the wall either. I'll sleep in this tonight." I made my way over to the bed and laid down. I didn't get any sleep that night though.