Authors Notes: Hey this might be longer authors notes. First off, I think I gave a few mixed signals when it came to the last chapter. Ya it was kinda weird to write but more in a sense that I have read them and I never thought I would make them. There will be more in future chapters you can look forwards too. Also I want to ask you guys to check out "On tattered Wings." It is quite well written and it isn't getting the praise that it deserves. Anyway enjoy the chapter.
Katarina strolled into Captain Norwood's room urgently as she noticed him and an officer talking around a table. As they noticed her enter, they rolled up a large parchment that looked like a map that had been marked up.
"Where the hell have you been?" Captain Norwood said and he motioned for his officer to leave them.
"Who cares after what I tell you." She replied. "It seems that the three girls that were here may have had a fourth."
Captain Norwood got up from his chair, taken aback from what Katarina just said.
"What are you taking about?"
"It seems that there was someone at the local florist that may be associated with them, buying them flowers no less." Katarina replied.
Captain Norwood was a little stunned from what he was hearing, but he had only one thing on his mind at the moment.
"Why don't we ask Quinn about this mystery figure?" He said with an evil grin.
Quinn finished getting dressed again after the relaxing bath she had just had. Her muscles were feeling a lot better and she was no longer as stressed. She was surprised that a little bit of hot water could go a long way in calming her back down after Captain Norwood's arrival.
She put her helmet back on and went back to her post beside the throne. She was feeling a lot more replenished as well, which would hopefully last for a while.
However, she noticed Captain Norwood descending down the flight of stairs that lead to his room and instantly felt a sinking feeling in her gut.
"Ah, Quinn just the person I wanted to see." Captain Norwood said. "I Have been given word that, the three you sent away were not alone."
Quinn felt a little uneasy but didn't exactly know where this conversation was going.
"No of course not, you said it yourself there was three of them and they all went together." Quinn replied.
"No, I don't think you understood what I said." Captain Norwood said, sounding more serious in his voice. "The three you sent, is actually four."
Quinn's mind started to race, sweat was forming underneath her armor and that feeling in her stomach was becoming a tidal wave of nerves. 'How did he find out, what does he know.' Entered her head.
"I'm sorry, I still don't understand. I sent three people to deliver a message, there was never a fourth." Quinn said as calmly as she could.
Captain Norwood got closer to Quinn, his face was very stern and his eyes said he didn't believe her.
"You're telling me that you have no knowledge of who this person might be?" He asked her one final time.
Quinn nodded her head for fear that her voice might blow her cover now. She could barely move a finger as she put on the best fake smile she could to try and blow off his question.
"Well," Captain Norwood said, slowing going back to his quarters. "I hope for your case Quinn, that you aren't lying because I can't stand liars."
He slowly entered his room before closing the door, to which Quinn gave out a loud breath of relief.
"How long does it take to run a bath?" She said as she quickly retreated back to her own room.
Rupert felt the sun beam through the window as he slowly started to wake up. He felt a significant pressure on his chest as he opened his eyes. He saw Lux still lying on his chest, completely bare of any clothes. He noticed that the bed was a mess with blankets on the floor and mystery stains all around them. He brought his hand up and lightly tapped Lux's shoulder.
"Hey sleepy head, its morning time." Rupert said, to which the reply was a few groans and moans.
"Mhhh, five more minutes, I don't wanna get up." Lux replied.
Rupert just laughed a little before pushing her off of him and getting up to get some clothes on. He noticed he was still sticky from last night's antiques and didn't really want to get his clothes stained.
"Why don't they have showers in the rooms?" Rupert said, disappointed.
"Because this is a boat and not a hotel." Lux said cheekily, now also getting up. "Wanna go for round two."
Rupert grabbed a blanket and his clothes to cover himself and went to the door.
"I'll pass, you should have a shower too, don't want the others knowing right." Rupert said as he proceeded to the showers.
Rupert showered fast and quickly got dressed back in his usual attire. He decided to get Lux to check on the others. They had also had an eventful night and he wanted to make sure they were ok.
He went by himself first to go check on Caitlyn. He knocked on the door and heard her on the other side getting ready herself.
"Come in." She said.
Rupert opened the door and saw Caitlyn dressed but looking a little out of it.
"Are you doing alright, you and Ahri drank a lot last night?" Rupert asked.
Caitlyn was massaging her head sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked like she had been awake for days.
"Don't remind me, that fox always gets me into trouble, I can't drink for at least a week my head is killing me." Caitlyn said still massaging her head.
"Haha, we still have to check on her, you can get mad at her yourself if you want." Rupert said walking out the door followed by Caitlyn.
He saw Lux at Ahri's door just standing outside.
"Is she alright?" Rupert asked.
"Dunno, I knocked but no answer." Lux replied.
Rupert and Caitlyn came to the door and knocked again, still no reply. They opened the door slowly so to not startle her. However, what they saw was Ahri covered in her tails snoring on her bed.
"Hahaha, how dignified she looks now." Lux said laughing at the site in front of her.
Rupert ignored her and slowly shook Ahri awake as well.
"Ahri, wakey wakey, time to get up."
Ahri slowly started to wake up. She looked similar to Caitlyn also massaging her head. However, even in this state she still looked beautiful.
"What happened last night?" Ahri asked.
"You and Caitlyn took shots and nearly caused a huge scene in your game of pool." Rupert said.
Ahri and Caitlyn both laughed a little.
"Hehe, oh ya but that was sure fun?" Caitlyn said.
"How was your sleep?" Lux asked the two of them.
"It was really good except there was this noise that didn't stop last night did you hear it Caitlyn?" Ahri said.
"Oh ya, very loud and it wouldn't shut up, how did it sound like Ahri?" Caitlyn said, covering her mouth a little from laughing.
"Ahhhhh….Lux…Rupert…..Ahhhhhhhh…" Ahri moaned, imitated the two.
Rupert and Lux both froze and their faces went the same colour as a bright tomato. They both looked at each other and realized that their friends knew exactly what had happened last night.
Ahri and Caitlyn began laughing, going into a fit. They couldn't stop from the embarrassed faces Lux and Rupert had.
"Hehe, our little Lux is growing up." Ahri teased.
Lux just put her face into her hands. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Likewise." Rupert said.
"Nope." The other two said in unison.
"I wanna know what it was like? It was your first time right Lux? Ooo describe the whole thing word, for word." Ahri said, very energetically for someone who was supposed to have a hangover.
Suddenly a large horn signalled from the top of the boat startling all of them.
"Wow we arrived, ok bye." Rupert said, as he and Lux dashed out of the room.
Rupert was thankful for the horn and quickly dashed up to the deck to finally see the shores of Ionia. He got onto the highest part of the deck and stared out over the horizon. It was amazing.
Piltover had been a large city with technology, well Ionia was the opposite. It looked like a huge forest lay in front of them with towering trees. It was full of different colours ranging from orange to red to green to pink. He could see a large mountain in the distance that looked like it had raging waterfalls. Near where the boat was landing was a small harbour of sorts. However it was nothing like Piltover. This one was small and the buildings were also small which looked like they had spiritual designs on them.
Rupert was excited to find out more about this beautiful island, but knew it had to come second to his real mission for being here.
"It sure is pretty." Lux said coming next to him.
Rupert nodded. "They found out about us."
"Don't worry about it, they were bound to find out eventually." Lux said reassuringly.
"You're right, I guess I got to get packed and ready to go." Rupert said as he left Lux to go back to his room.
Ahri and Caitlyn joined Lux on the deck looking at their destination. However, a foul odor filled the air as a rat appeared in from of them.
"I did it, I have your information." Twitch said holding up a paper.
Caitlyn took the paper and read the title.
"Captain Norwood arrives in Piltover. What is so special about this we already knew this." She said questioning Twitch.
"Not that article, the bottom one." Twitch said pointing to the paper.
"Unknown figure appears and vanishes. What is so special about that, you do the same thing." Caitlyn said unconvinced that Twitch had done anything spectacular.
"Read the whole article and see if it sounds better."
Caitlyn flipped through the paper until she found the story.
"Have you ever wanted to make yourself disappear like a magician, how about teleport? A strange sighting of a bright flash of white followed by an unknown white ghost has been a phenomenon around Runeterra." Caitlyn read.
"Where did you get this?" She asked twitch.
"Duh it's the paper, where can't you get it." He replied. "Now can I join you, I did good right?"
Caitlyn read over it again doubling checking it.
"This is what happened to Rupert didn't it?" Caitlyn said.
The two other girls nodded.
"Well good job Twitch. But you still can't come with us." Caitlyn said handing him back the paper.
"What why?"
"We already have a mission we are doing. I suggest if you want to be helpful you continue to gather more information, we will meet again I am sure." Caitlyn said, noticing Rupert returning with a bag in his hand.
"Are we ready to go?" Rupert said walking over to them.
"We are." Caitlyn replied noticing that the boat had come to a stop at the dock now.
"Yippie." Lux said as she ran down the ramp too fast for anyone to catch her.
Ahri started lugging her huge suit case down the ramp with quite a lot of struggle.
"You seriously going to take all that?" Caitlyn said.
"Of course, it's all my clothes I need. This will barely keep me going for a week." Ahri replied.
"Well I'm not waiting for you when you slow us down, so if you want some advice I would advise leaving it behind." She replied.
"But, my clothes." Ahri whimpered.
"I'll buy you new clothes." Caitlyn said. "Same with you Rupert even that small bag is really not going to come in handy. I know Quinn meant well, but we really don't need it."
Rupert understood and left his bag behind, Ahri however was a little more sad that she was going without it but in the end left it.
The three of them caught up with Lux and looked at the forest they would soon have to trek through.
"So where are we going?" Rupert said.
"The big mountain is where Shen and his clan reside. We have to get to the top." Ahri said.
"Well, we got a long way better get a move on." Caitlyn said as they pushed onward.
Captain Norwood stood in the middle of his room thinking about his next action.
"She isn't telling us something that I know for sure. Captain Norwood said to himself. "The only question is who this fourth figure is and why is he important.
"What if he isn't important and he was just some weirdo that bought a bunch of lousy flowers." Katarina said.
Captain Norwood shook his head. "Then why didn't Quinn just say so, no she is uncomfortable about me staying here, she knows something."
"Then just send people after them if this is so important to you." Katarina said as she sat on a chair looking out the window.
"If she lied about this, there is no doubt she lied about where they went. But perhaps I need to send scouts out to find them."
They were interrupted as a knock came on the door.
"It's officer Warden." A voice said on the other side of the door.
"Katarina please leave us for now." He said. "I have an urgent meeting."
Katarina just shrugged, somewhat thankful that she could get some more time by herself as she exited the room.
The officer came back in and sat down at a small table before unrolling the same parchment that was in here earlier. The parchment was a map of all of Runeterra showing the cities and land marks on the map. However, it also had things written on it that were not part of the map.
"Captain, I think we have an idea of the kind of power we are dealing with here." The officer said. "If we could harness the power here, I'm positive we would have enough energy."
"Don't get ahead of yourself Officer, this won't be enough we need one of the artifacts that I have been looking for to even think about opening a portal. But don't worry, I will need the power here too, we didn't come here for nothing. Captain Norwood said.
"Everything is coming along fine, at least it was until this unknown figure showed up and seems to have spooked everyone here. Does he think himself powerful, well he won't be once I start getting things back under control." Captain Norwood said.
"Captain I may have some interesting news, apparently there was an air ship that left here a few days ago heading to Ionia, it was the last air ship to leave and was relatively close to the time your messengers would have left."
Captain Norwood put on an evil grin. "Officer Warden, you have been very helpful take the rest of the week off you have deserved it. You are dismissed, when you leave send word to send my best soldiers to Ionia. Tell them to retrieve a sheriff, fox, and princess, anyone else with them is to be killed on spot.
"Understood sir!" Officer Warden said, saluting before exiting the room.
Captain Norwood looked out the window before smirking to himself. "Whoever you are, you stand no chance against me."
Rupert and his gang had been walking through the forest now for a while and it was starting to get dark. The road was getting narrower and it was hard to see where they were actually going. Rupert wasn't sure how anyone knew if they were going the right way, but he didn't want to argue.
Lux and Caitlyn also looked a little sceptical about where they were going. The road had become a lot harder now, it was no longer smooth and had roots sticking out. Some might argue that they were no longer on a road at all.
Ahri however, loved every second of it. She was humming to herself and skipping like she had taken this path every day.
"Do we know where we are going?" Lux spoke up, feeling a little scared that they were deep in the forest now.
"Of course we do, we are going to the mountain." Ahri replied, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
"Ya and where would that be I don't even see a mountain anymore we are so deep in this forest." Caitlyn said.
"I can find myself around these forests like the back of my h-ahhh." Ahri said as she tripped on a root causing her to fall.
"Smooth, I trust you even more now." Lux said giggling at Ahri's clumsiness.
"Well I for one think we are lost." Caitlyn said stopping to see if she could see any land marks.
Ahri rubbed her head before getting back up. "I know where we are, I used to come here all the time as a fox." She replied.
Rupert seeing that those three were going to argue for a bit, decided to take the opportunity to explore a little bit. He wandered off the trail to see if he could find where they were. Rupert loved doing walks in the forests around his house it was so serene. However, this was almost a full blown jungle compared to that.
He got pretty far into the brush stepping over bushes and undergrowth until he noticed a clearing. He got closer and noticed that it was a small pond. However, this pond had a little bridge that was covered in moss that went across it. It had been overrun with trees and intrusive plants.
Rupert went up to the pond and put his hand inside. It was cool and he splashed some on his face. He then stared down at the water and saw his reflection.
'You're not a hero.' He thought
Suddenly, he felt a slight pain in his head. He reached up to grab his forehead to try and ease the pain but it only got worse. He stared back at his reflection before it vanished and what replaced it horrified him. There was a large fire burning the city of Piltover, people were screaming and running to escape the wreckage. He saw Quinn and Vi, crying over the burned city.
The image changed again showing a large forest being burned to a crisp. Similarly it showed children and parents running away. A large city that he assumed was in Ionia was filled with dead bodies. His own voice filled his head 'You're no hero.' It repeated 'you're no hero.' It continued to play over and over in his head.
The image changed again, it showed Ahri, Lux, and Caitlyn, they were locked up in a cage with all of the other champions, they were chained and looked like they had been drained of their magic. The voice didn't stop. 'You're no hero.'
However, the most horrific image appeared. It was of Earth, his city his family they were in a burning house waiting to die. He wanted to scream but the voice in his head just continued to echo. 'You're no hero.'
"You're no hero."
Rupert jumped, the voice had changed from his own to someone else's. It mocked him and laughed at him.
"You're no hero."
"Rupert."
He clawed at his head trying to stop the voices but he couldn't. They bled out his own thoughts without ceasing.
"Rupert."
"You're no hero."
He looked back at the water and noticed a man was behind him. He had a sword and brought it to Rupert's neck.
"Rupert."
"You're no hero."
"Rupert."
The man behind him sliced his neck as he saw crimson liquid start to pour out from his neck into the water.
"You're no hero."
"RUPERT!"
Rupert jumped back as a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Rupert, what happened, what are you doing?" Ahri said looking a little confused at him.
Rupert looked around, the voice had stopped, and the images in the water had vanished. He grabbed his neck and noticed that it was still intact. He saw Ahri behind him looking a little worried at him.
"You're lucky I have a good sense of smell and hearing." Ahri giggled "Those two would never have found you."
Rupert slowly got up, still in shock from what he had seen, what he had heard. He looked around him to make sure there was no danger. Everything was the same as he arrived.
"Let's get out of here." Rupert said, not wanting to stay another second in this place.
Whatever he had seen he knew what it was. It was the reflection of what will happen if he fails. All those people he saw, all those places would be destroyed if he didn't succeed. It scared him to continue, but it scared him more if he didn't.
"Where the hell did you go?" Caitlyn and Lux asked him as he got back on the path.
"Oh, I just wanted to explore, while you guys were arguing." Rupert said, trying to sound normal.
"We weren't arguing." Lux said.
"Than what were we doing?" Ahri said proving his point. "Aren't I so helpful, I don't know what you would do without me." Ahri said grinning that she had found him.
"Alright can we start walking again?" Caitlyn asked, taking initiative and walking anyway.
However, Ahri paused, her ears twitched as they tried to hear what the noise was.
"What is it?" Lux said looking a little more panicked.
Rupert's head started to hurt again. However, this time is was a blistering pain that he couldn't handle. He fell to his knees as the voice once again filled his head with more words now.
"Failure, death, destruction, is all you will know."
The pain was getting even stronger, he cried out with pain as he hit the floor.
"Rupert!" The three girls shouted as Rupert fell to the ground.
They gathered around him, but he was out cold. Ahri's ears still twitching before they realized they were not alone. Soldiers started to gather around them with spears and swords. However, there was something strange about them, they looked as if they were dead. They were surrounded in a purple aura closing in on the four of them.
The three girls stood up forming a circle around Rupert. They were heavily outnumbered and they kept coming closer. Another figure showed themself. They were floating with the same purple aura radiating from them. They had black orbs spiralling around them.
"Hello ladies, Welcome to Ionia."
Authors Notes: Well hope you enjoyed it. I am not super happy with this chapter because I had to overcome some writers block and just tried to power through it. However, the next few chapters should have a lot more action because they are finally of that boat. Also thanks Locke62 for those recommendations I will defiantly check them out. Please do continue to review and also check out "On Tattered Wings" and leave a review there. Like I said he is an author lacking in reviews despite being very deserving of them. Alright see ya.