This chapter is especially long and took quite a long time to write because I was trying very hard to get the tone of the story right. This chapter sets the path for the next few chapters and I wanted to make sure they fit the mood, plot and mindset of the characters. I was afraid to write too hastily and heat things up too quickly before they start. I don't think I am absolutely satisfied with what I wrote but I feel I did my best. Very sorry for the longish wait.
Enjoy!
The waning moon hung heavy in the thin clouds that strung dusty ribbons across the darkened landscape. Its glow filtered through the leaves and branches of the forest as they rustled in the evening breeze. Through the open windows of the corridors in the Champions' Quarters, the moonlight reflected faintly off the marble floor and onto the smooth velvet walls. A sullen figure casted his moving shadow against pale surfaces as he crept silently through the hall.
He froze mid-step outside a heavy mahogany door embossed with golden letters. Letters that were not on the door just earlier today.
"Zyra's Domain
-IV-Z-III-"
He could not believe his carelessness. The Ionian took extra effort to avoid the gardens entirely during his stroll, yet somehow did not consider the plant mage taking up a permanent chamber at the League of Legends for her own.
But of course she should. Every champion is offered a comfortable place at the Institute of War. It was completely absurd of him to assume Zyra was to live in the League's gardens for the rest of her stay.
He regretted his midnight scroll.
"Look who's arrived."
Her voice was soft and sinister as it echoed through the hallway. Tiny green tendrils casted dim shadows through the soft warm glow of her chambers as they peeked through the barely ajar entrance. Varus gingerly stepped away from the door. She knows.
I am runeterra biggest fool.
Without warning, a group of plants erupted from the ground behind him and flung him forwards into the door. Varus yelped, instinctively blocking his face with his arms. Their dark amethyst formations swelled, anticipating the faceplant which never came as the door swung swiftly open and Varus continued to sail through the doorway. The marksman peered bewilderedly through his arms midair to see the ground being infested by a mass of wriggling, leafy vines.
He crashed ungracefully into his capture. The pungent smell of blossoming flowers and upheaved dirt stung his nose.
"Good evening, Varus of Ionia. I see you've finally found me." The brambled manifestation grasped onto Varus firmly as they carried him forward towards the plant mage. Her steps were fluid and gracefull as she crossed the room to greet her unwilling guest. "You came so late in the night I was given the impression that I would have needed to hunt you down myself."
Varus fidgeted with the green tendrils as they began to hook around his wrists and neck. He looked up and stifled a gasp as Zyra brought her face inches away from him. An indescribable warmth flushed to his cheeks.
The scene was frustratingly familiar. He quickly glanced away.
"I was merely walking down the hall to my own chamber." Varus replied bitterly as summoning his corrupted tendrils, ripping away the vines around his wrists. "Your insistence in needing to bound every creature within a five meter radius is becoming an increasingly dull joke."
Zyra laughed softly as she straightened her posture. "Has anyone told how much of a killjoy you are?" She gestured lightly from her outstretched palm and the marksman was dropped clumsily to the floor. The vines, tattered from the struggle, weakly slithered away into the shadows. Varus glared at her as his own chaotic overextensions slithered slowly back into their dark jagged formations in his limbs. His body pulsed with a wretched heartbeat that seemed to thunder in his ears. "You stood still outside my door for a while and I was wondering if you were ever going to knock. But then I thought: I too would stop sometime during my midnight stroll if I ever chanced upon the scent of roses." Zyra said with a smile. The Ionian groaned at the comment as he peeled himself off the mud, feeling the strain recover in his limbs.
"Oh, but where on earth are my manners." Zyra exclaimed as she ran to the Ionian and pulled him awkwardly to his feet. "Welcome to my abode! I spent the whole evening furnishing this quaint little place after collecting some ideas from the dwellings of the other champions and I have to say the other rooms are rather, unstimulating, to say the least."
Varus' eyes narrowed as he surveyed his chaotic surroundings. Her abode was an overgrown catastrophe. Creepers and climbers infest the walls, their young buds of leaves and flowers just beginning to unfurl. Thin roots and low hanging vines dangled from the ceiling while broad ferns and plants sprawled out carelessly. Small trees were positioned sporadically around the chamber, their roots bulging as they crawled into the soil from the trunk, their leaves and flowers varying in bright, unfamiliar combinations. The floor squelched underneath his feet; a strange combination of sprawled roots, moist dark earth and deep coloured mosses. He peered at Zyra's feet and wondered how she managed her way around this place while basically wearing heels.
"But I know you prefer to cut to the chase." She folded her arms and widened her smile. "You're here because I have a plan for an adventure." Zyra said, staring curiously at the Ionian's disgruntled demeanor; his face smudged with dirt and moss from the incident earlier. She suppressed a giggle as she reached inside a nearby bush and pulled out a green towel. "Oh, drop the facade already. It was just a little bit of fun."
Varus hesitated, but let her approached him to clean off the mess she created despite himself. The towel was lightly scented and soft against his skin. "As you know, the Institute of War shuts down tonight for three days as the High Command sweeps the grounds for technical maintenance and improvements." Zyra continued as she worked on his grim-covered neck and shoulders. "The fields of war get a checkup, and meanwhile the champions are free to do as they please."
Varus was unaware of the breath he was holding as he pondered on her words. The announcement was made a few days ago but he realized he forgotten that the closure was happening tonight. He felt the towel leave his shoulders.
"-Which is why I've a plan for us to have some fun together." Zyra bunched the towel into a bundle and tossed it away carelessly into another bush.
"I never agreed upon accepting your unrefusable preposition." The Ionian frowned. " And why exactly do you need me, to have some fun?"
"You, seem to have the ability to control the League's minions, am I correct?" Zyra opened her palm and revealed a strange husked capsule. She squeezed it gently and its lips pursed open to reveal a corruption tendril that once belonged on a minion's neck. "I must assume you can do the same with humans."
Varus' eyes widened as he watched the murky purple tendril wave slowly in the husk. "...How did you manage to find-"
Zyra shut the capsule before he could reach out his hand. "Your power seems to corrupt the living, but leave the dead unharmed. These husks I've created held your tendrils while they squirmed but they died off after several minutes of capture. My question how is the high command not aware of you possessing the ears and eyes of 20-30 minions on grounds?"
Varus eyed Zyra cautiously as she placed the husk in the mouth of a flower. "I believe they must... simply turn a blind eye to what I'm doing." He replied. He never thought that his tendrils could be removed completely intact from a minion's neck.
"A rather gracious gesture from the High Command indeed." Zyra answered, amused by her discovery. The husk slipped slowly into the flower and disappeared into the rich coloured layers of the closed bud. Varus found watching his sliver of corruption being swallowed away from him incredibly distracting. "And to what purpose will you use my power for?" Varus asked, averting his eyes back to the mage.
Zyra sighed as she gently sat down on a nearby stool. After a pause, she looked into Varus' eyes and spoke. "Retribution."
Varus' mouth opened in surprise. He wasn't expecting the sudden solemness in her character.
"During my explorations in the Jumugu Jungle before I entered the League, I found a few Noxians wandering around aimlessly in the thicket." Zyra continued, combing her fingers gently through her hair. "They carried tools and weapons for poaching and deforestation, but didn't put up much of a fight. They might have come from a nearby stationed camp, and accidentally gotten lost by going too deep into the Jungle. Unfortunately for them, the jungle never thinks twice about swallowing easy prey." She paused and lowered her eyes. "The actions of those men slowly wiped out my family over their time spent chipping away at my home. I wanted to trace where they came from. I wanted to know why my home and my people are being destroyed." Zyra stood up and walked to the window sill. She turned her gaze to the moon. "But I never got the chance to find their camp. I explored the outskirts of the jungle with no success and never strayed beyond it. Later, I was approached by a summoner who invited me to the League Of Legends. Upon agreeing, she summoned me at once to the grounds."
Zyra turned back to look at the marksman. She grinned as the distant look in her eyes faded away. "I need to find this source of destruction that has plagued the lives of my kin. I want to find where and why they've been taking my kind. And I'm sure you, dear Varus, are more than willing to rip through some noxian flesh."
Varus was startled upon hearing her words. He lowered his voice to a growl, and his bow began to stretch out from his arm and take form. "Only the summoners know the details of my purpose here in the League. How do you have privy of my motivations?"
"A little bud told me." Zyra said, her silly grin still plastered on her face as she fondled with a flower head in her hands. "Actually, many little buds told me."
The marksman's irises burned white hot as he raised an arrow to her chest, snarling. "You go through some real extremes to wreck through the privacy of others."
"Lower your quiver, hypocrite." The mage glared back, undaunted by his intimidation. "You know you're no better with your little friends cloaked in blue and purple." She sneered as she released the blossom from her fingers and rose to her feet. "So, here's the deal. Assist me in my journey to pillage some thieves, and I shall get us into Noxus undetected. You seek their death, and I seek my answers."
Varus opened his mouth to retort but Zyra placed her fingers on his lips and closed them as she leaned closer to him. "I am giving you the option of trespassing Noxus in secrecy over barging on their gates to find the men you swore vengeance to. Would you rather start another war?"
Varus' mind swirled with conflict. No doubt this "adventure" of hers would give him incredible headway in his chase if it succeeded. But how thoroughly has she planned this out? He wasn't feeling keen to ending his forsaken life by the means of some whimsical idea. Steadying himself, he responded carefully. "My tendrils work on minions of the League because they don't have living flesh. If I were to plague a human being, the process is irreversible and they will eventually die, as they do with every one of my arrows." He moved his face unsuccessfully away from her touch before continuing. "You must realize we'll be leaving a trail."
Zyra smirked, looking into the soft glow of his eyes. "If this goes according to plan, we shall not have any problems with trails. Now follow me, there are some things I must show you."
Varus felt his body stiffen slightly as her touch left his face. What little she's revealing about her plan only exacerbated his unease. He followed Zyra out the room through the crystal doors that led to her porch. The steel concrete platform loomed over a spectacular view of the League of Legends gardens; densely packed canopy trees with cropped clearings opening up to smaller shrubs blooming with evening flowers. It was a familiar yet still breathtaking sea of faintly lit blues and greens.
"Every night by the second watch, I watch the Institute's carriages leave from those docks." She pointed to a relatively large carriage. "This one goes to Bandle City and returns the next day with fresh produce for the banquet halls. But tonight, it's going to make a slight detour to the Jumugu Jungle outskirts." Varus watched her as her amber eyes fixated on the vehicles as they lit up and slowly hummed into life. One of the tiny cloaked minion emerged from the doors of the docks and began trotting to the front of carriage. Zyra turned to face the marksman, stretching her hand to him. "Now's our chance. We'll only have a few minutes before the carriage departs." Her ember eyes glowed as she held his eyes in a determined glare. "Are you ready?"
Varus knew before him stood a decision he could make that will toss his world upside down; entrusting his life in the hands of some fearless, bewildering mage that could fulfill his purpose or bring him disaster on a whim. Instead of his usual cold, calculative state of mind that could discern him from a rash decision, he felt overcome by a sense of calmness, unfamiliar to anything he has ever known. He felt no words pass his mind, but they felt unecessary in this moment of strange resolution as he found his hand, sliding into hers.
Both hands gripped firmly in their embrace as tendrils of both green and purple crept down from their arms began to entertwin. Zyra's lips widened into a smile. A low rumbling was heard as massive vines erupted from the gardens below and pierced through the still night air. They reached onto porch, lifting themselves into the air and secured themselves to the concrete, swelling and twisting into a long sturdy path of contorted vegetation towards the dock. Varus widened his eyes as he felt the mage's soft lips whispered ecstatically into his ear.
"Then let us begin."
