Dark smoke exhales, from the mountain half
And wind blows through hollow dells
Skies clear as day, shall soon turn gray
And you'll know, you're nearing Ornn
The way was always the same. Under a blanket of smoke that clouded the skies more than the blizzard ever could, there stood a mountain in front of an uncertain path. But Erduun knew the way; he'd been told this way by none other than the demigod himself, Ornn. There was a refreshing sense of a new beginning as Erduun trudged through the snow. He could feel a faint sense of warmth as the person that laid at the end of his path drew nearer. There was no doubt in his mind that the smith would already be in his forge, making something absolutely splendid. He picked up the pace, a smile coming to him quickly at the thought of it.
Barring your path is a chasm wide
Howls rise from fathomless pits
But close stands a bridge, frozen by time
And across, you'll soon find Ornn
Erduun stopped at the edges of what looked like an abyss. Wind came up from the darkness and bit at his face. He wondered how far down the drop went, so he grasped at a rock and let it fall over the edge. To his dismay, he heard nothing come above the wind- not even the tiniest sound. He doubted that he'd hear anything anyway. As he raised his head for a way across to the other side, he saw the mountain much closer than before. He was certainly going the right way, but he was confused at how there didn't seem to be a clear way across. The wild part of him said to jump across in a daring, dramatic fashion, but he was never that foolish. Instead, he noticed a bridge. It looked worn down by time itself, and Erduun could only wonder who had built it. The last person on his mind was Ornn.
'Ornn could never have built something like this,' Erduun thought, 'The craftsmanship has worn too much.'
A sensation moved over the man, and he felt himself shudder. It was ice cold- colder than the Freljordian snow. This was the work of magic, but Erduun was puzzled by this. Why would he feel magic coming from this bridge? It was in that moment that he realized the stone was laced with it. Seeing as there was nowhere else to go, Erduun moved forward on the bridge, racing ahead. He could see parts of the bridge wearing away, falling into the abyss below with no sign of it ever returning. This didn't worry him in the slightest.
River of fire, that scorches the earth
Belies his kingdom of stone
And steel sings its tone, as a god stands alone
The shaping hand, we know as Ornn
Erduun felt the heat of the mountain sweep over him in waves. He took a moment to bathe in it, continuing on ahead. It felt like the blizzard slowed more with each step Erduun took towards the mountain. Soon, no snow fell around him, and he was encased in the warmth. Cracks in the earth exposed pockets of magma, empowered by the will of the earth Erduun walked upon. He considered for a moment that it would be wise to stray from them, but wondered where the cracks came from. So, he followed the cracks, trailing alongside them. His spade seemed to gleam against the light of the magma, reflecting against the rock of the mountain itself. As if in response, the earth seemed to rumble at Erduun's feet. The man stood against it, staring down into the magma. It parted, exposing a path that went further down into the earth. Erduun immediately followed down the pathway, taking care to not graze against the magma. The heat didn't bother him- he had grown to love the familiar warmth. He came to a home of stone and immediately smiled as he heard the sound of metal clangs echoing.
Sparks leap and fly from the star-fallen ore
Forging his works, divine
Bellows erupt, with unbridled force
No longer lost- The Mountainsmith, Ornn
"You've made it." Ornn set aside a sword he was crafting and waved.
Erduun nodded, walking up to the ram. Ornn, despite having not changed his expression, seemed more excited than usual to have Erduun beside him. The smith crafted his weapon with finesse that told Erduun that Ornn was a natural. His attention turned to where the entrance had been, and it was now sealed with a wall of flowing magma. His eyes gleamed in wonder as his gaze wandered over the weaponry and armor Ornn had made. Erduun soon realized that Ornn's works went beyond war; Ornn had crafted various tools- all shining- for working and casual purposes. A line of shovels and spades caught his eye. Momentarily, he glanced towards them and looked back towards his own. He cultivated strange things such as Freljordian Frost Berries with this spade. He thought it was one-of-a-kind due to its unbreakability, but the spades on the wall told a different story.
"Ornn?" Erduun called.
Ornn grunted in response.
"These look the same wouldn't you say?"
The ram turned his head to see Erduun holding up the spade he always carried to the others Ornn had made. His eyes widened for a moment, and he quickly snatched up the tool from Erduun's grasp. He ran a thumb across it.
"Still unscratched…" Ornn noted, "You've taken good care of this, Erduun. This is my very first spade- the one I dug that great trench with."
"Yours?" Erduun tilted his head, receiving the spade from Ornn. "But I found this outside of the Freljord! How could I have gotten this?"
"Once I decided I did not like people asking favors of me, I cast it away," Ornn said, going back to hammering away at the unfinished sword, "...Actually, my beliefs are unfair to you, aren't they?"
Erduun looked up from his spade. "Hm?"
Ornn paused for a moment, looking off into space. "I… forced you to care for me, didn't I?"
"Well, it was just a minor inconvenience-" Erduun started.
"Why should you care for me if I would not do the same…?" Ornn had gone back to hammering, a bit faster than before. "That… isn't fair… of me- Erduun."
Erduun closed his mouth, and the raised tone of Ornn's voice nearly made his heart thump so hard that it would hurt.
"You've walked your way here..." Steam hit the air, followed by a strong arm thrusting a newly forged sword into the air with a triumphant grunt. "...allow me to help you on the road to recovery."
"You really don't-"
A hand was placed on Erduun's shoulder. Red, pupiless eyes felt like they looked into his being.
"Please." Ornn's voice was sincere.
The ram lowered his head slightly and closed one eye as if pained by something. Erduun saw for a brief moment, a vulnerable soul returning to the ram. He was immediately reminded of when Ornn had lost his flame, and a panic sparked his heart to beat hard once again.
"O-Okay, Ornn," Erduun responded with a tiny smile.
Ornn soon walked towards one of the counters, taking a glove out and putting it over his uncovered hand. He walked back over to Erduun and returned the man's smile, yanking the man into a tight hug.
"Thank you…" Both of them said.
As the blizzard of the Freljord stormed on, Ornn found himself once again tormented by that vision he had seen earlier. There were so many things out of place- why had he experienced that? He had no connection to Erduun at all, and Ornn could only imagine that some divine being permeated his thoughts to snap him awake to the harsh truth of reality. Ornn decided in that moment that he did not like people invading his mind; it was too unpredictable.
But there was another thing that Ornn was concerned about- one that was far more concerning to him than a brief, vivid vision he had been given. It was the roar that Erduun had given just moments after blocking a lightning bolt from Volibear with his spade. It was the farthest thing you could ever expect to hear from a human- but it was very clearly a call for war. It was bloodthirsty, bathed in a venom that brought back unwanted memories to the ram's mind. He wanted to shake away the thought, but the roar stayed there. It was a war cry much like the one that preceded the death of the Hearthblood, and remembering their name reopened a wound in Ornn's soul.
He felt himself briefly lapse into a deep sadness. His eyes closed, his shoulders sagged, and his mind erased all rational thought. Nothing but a void remained, and it did nothing but continue- a void for miles that would neither end or begin. Ornn found himself sitting at the middle of it, reaching out to empty air.
His mind was much like Freljord's ongoing blizzard. It was nothing but a haze of snow, dotted with specks of black that indicated an everlasting night. Perpetually dark, one could see nothing under the piles of snow, but there were things there: memories. Things that Ornn were hesitant to bring back due to his own fear. Ornn hated admitting he was afraid. He did not like others knowing he was.
Ornn dug through the snow with his hands and reached nothing but grass and dirt. His hands grasped at it, his hopes for something being there under the void of nothing slowly dying away. With a cry of anger, his fists slammed into the ground, and the earth opened up to him. The flames and magma had formed into something very familiar to Ornn. Once again, from his youth, he was shown the head of a ram. This was the symbol of his stubbornness, his unwillingness to change, and his perseverance. His own mind asked him where his strength had gone.
"How will I know where to look?" Ornn shouted into the flames, "There is nothing for me here! There's nothing to create! Nothing to forge! Nothing to improve upon!"
Ornn huffed. "There is nowhere for me to go! I've done all I could ever do! I'm between a blizzard and the flames before me. Nobody is here… There used to be people…"
The blizzard in Ornn's mind slowed to a comforting snowfall. Some of the snow that had been left on the ground swirled and formed figures that resembled people he knew but never formally spoke to. One was that of a girl.
"There was one with a cheerful personality- doe-eyed and ambitious."
And he knew all their faces. Another was a young man.
"Another had the fire that was close to my own, but was humble about it."
A third was an elderly woman who looked wise beyond the history of Runeterra itself. She was hunched and could barely stand, but she stood.
"There was another one whose name I never learned, but her teachings told children common sense."
Ornn shook his head, frustrated at these faces he was being shown. "What do you want from me? Again, I have nowhere to go!"
One more snow figure appeared, that of Erduun. It was then that Ornn realized: Forge a new beginning where there is none.
As he was shaken from his thoughts by a concerned Erduun, the ram stood tall and gave a stern expression.
"I need your assistance," he said.
