"I love the feeling I get whenever I come back here..." I said as we were going back to the Du Couteau residence.
"Yes... Indeed, it is a beautiful sensation... Perhaps, in this battle, we will expand our territory so much, that we will feel at home wherever we go..." she said with a fading smile on her face.
"Now, now... No need for greed. I would settle for a good piece of Demacia." I said, though I would be even more content if I got to participate in the battle itself otherwise then just being a summoner. For some reason, I wanted to contribute to the clash in a more direct way... Sometimes, you see all those champions head out to lanes and die, and you feel that you as a summoner just won't do enough good... You feel like you would have so much more potential if you were in their shoes, with an iron shortsword in your hands. I believe it could be just an illusion. Champions are at least ten times strong as the regular summoners. Engaging in melee combat against them would be a suicide mission. Soon, we reached our destination. To our surprise the courtyard of the giant mansion appeared to be crowded by guards.
"What in the name of Void is this?" Katarina murmured nervously as she approached the men stationed outside.
The men seemed somewhat relieved to see her.
"Oh, my lady! You still walk this Earth!" one of them exclaimed as he rushed to her. A stern glare from her side made him wish he never doubted her competence to survive in the first place, but made him none less excited about her return.
"My lady, a terrible thing has happened while you were away! There was an attack, led directly to this very manor! Strangely enough, no one was harmed in the process! The attackers were certainly aware of the guards that were hired before, since they planned their strike very well! No one seemed to detect them at first, and when they did, it was too late! It was as if they were coming from everywhere!" he spoke in a shaky voice, that made Katarina scoff. What sort of a guard is allowed to tremble in front of danger, she wondered. Squandering her wealth on protection of this sort was senseless. She had stopped listening to him, after a little while, her senses grasping onto the bare sense of his words. Who would attack this manor? Why would they do it? Why was no one hurt?
"What has become of my sister?" she asked sharply, even though she was well aware of the fact that no one was really in danger.
The guard shook his head, before he dispatched his report:
"Lady Cassiopeia was anxious to learn your location, or the reason of your journeys to areas unknown. As no one was instructed to inform her, she had suspected you may be in danger, yet, she remained at the residence. You should see her."
"Very well, I will do this immediately." she said, while slightly pushing the guard away with her hand. She liked it when people stepped out of her way, and she liked it even more when they wouldn't... Because then she would have to do it.
"My lady, one more matter is left unsaid." the guard felt obliged to stop her, even though the way she moved insisted on travelling uninteruppted.
"Yes, what is it now?" she asked impatiently.
"From what our guards have gathered, the main target of this attack was the guest room of your house. After they had gone away, one of the guards went inside, to see what had happened inside. All he found was a parchment on the bed... Intriguingly enough, it was written in a strange symbol language which none could decipher. Perhaps the contents of this letter, or the origins of the symbols themselves would lead us closer to the attackers." he said.
"The... Guest room? My room?" I felt the need to repeat this, even though I heard it clearly. Katarina looked back at me, not trying to hide signs of worry on her face. She nodded before she headed inside. Trying to impersonate Katarina's forceful charisma, I attempted to push the guard out of my way as well. Unfortunately, the endeavor was bound to fail, causing my so called 'push' to look as if I was patting the guard on the shoulder. My hand couldn't handle the weight of his iron armor. Though at first I was feeling embarrased that I even tried something of this sort, I was surprised to see the guard move back away, as if he was trying to make it look like I pushed him back in the first place. I had more important matters to tend to at present. And establishing an evil allignment among the Du Couteau residence's personell was not one of them. I rushed inside, then upstairs, to meet Katarina halfway, just as she was making her way into the west wing, towards the guest room.
"Maybe they were just thieves..." I tried to reassure her.
"No. Whoever was behind this attack knew exactly what they were aiming for." she was determined to get to the bottom of this.
We came into my room. The furniture was turned over, the curtains were ripped apart, the walls beared cracks made by weapons... A group that pillaged this room did their work well. I remembered what the guard said before, and I came to my bed. Just like he said, a parchment was there. There used to be a wax seal, bearing an unknown symbol, boudning it from curious eyes, but it was broken, and the parchment was now neatly rolled, and ready to read again. Even though I knew it's contents are unknown to us, I chose to open it, and see it anyway. But from the moment the parchment fell unraveled in my hands, and my eyes met the ink the symbols were written with, I felt an enormous load of pain jolt through my head and then downwards. I emitted a demonic roar, as the magnitude of the pain was so large, that I couldn't move. Katarina snapped her head in my direction and quickly came to me. I could no longer see her. I heard a voice speaking to me, as a flurry of white flashes came in front of my eyes. The voice sounded ancient, elderly... But strangely familliar.
"Tanno... The blood of Battleborne beckons to you... Reach to the roots of your existance... Remember the forgotten..."
The voice repeated these words to me, fading away as I closed the parchment and put it away. The white flashes in front of my eyes were no more. The pain vanished, as if it was never there. I stared into the parchment, feeling I was somewhat more alert and aware. Katarina was standing next to me, staring at me. She could easily tell that there was something wrong, but the silence itself from my side warned her not to ask. I felt just like I was coming back to my senses. I dropped the parchment to the floor and sat down onto the bed. Katarina sat down next to me. She was obviously anxious to find out what was it that made me act this way. A stare, revealing a mixture of confusion and worry in her eyes made me blurt out a simple, one word question:
"What?"
"You... You are awfully pale, summoner... Are you... Are you feeling alright?" she asked cautiously.
"I... I am fine." I muttered, more to myself.
"Your face went pallid in a matter of seconds... It is the most unusual reaction I have seen in quite some time... Face white as bone... Eyes black as coal... You certainly do not look well." she repeated her worries as she stood up.
I nodded slightly, but something else took my attention completely... A sound of battle drums, echoing louder and louder caused a frenzy of anxiety and a sudden, almost instictive need to move.
"Did you... Do you hear it?" I asked suddenly.
Katarina looked around and then looked at me with a hint of confusion in her eyes.
"Hear what?" she couldn't resist the urge to ask.
"The... The drums..." I blurted out as I stumbled across, and then outside of the room. I staggered down the stairs of the residence, barely being able to control the way my feet moved. The drums became louder and louder, and my mind took a map of it's own, leading me outside of the manor, almost dragging me down the road, rendering me unable to resist the movement my instict had intended.
Katarina stared into the empty space her summoner had left behind. Hesitating at first, she grabbed the parchment, and without wasting a second more, she rushed outside to follow her friend. The guard at the entrance told her where Tanno was headed, and she instructed him to infom Cassiopeia that she had returned. Running down the road, she was able to catch a glimpse of Battleborne, as a figure in the distance, walking distortedly into the wilderness, far out of the region that was known to her, or even considered safe.
By the time the drums stopped being so loud, I was able to see around me. A completely unknown, dark, forest - like area surrounded me. The echoing stopped for a little while. As I progressed down the single path, the proof of human life in this area, I still couldn't feel my feet. They were navigating me deeper into the forest, while I was only able to observe the surrounding, which was monotonous. The drums were heard again, although this time they sounded far more real. As I regained the control of my feet, I noticed the ground I was standing differed from the mossy ground I was walking over a little while ago. This one was pure soil, dry, tormented and craked. The ground had a massive, circle tribal engraving over it. The circle's edges beared ancient symbols and figures that made no sense to me at first. As I examined it closer, I started to recognize the signs from the parchment I had seen before. As I stepped into the centre of the circle, I felt the ground beneath me tremble, and the lines carved into the ground started to emmit a strange looking red light. I tried to step back, but my body disobeyed the orders of my mind. I tried to look around, but my head was bound by an unseen force, to look in front of me. The whole circle became red now, and as it did so, it provided enough light in the otherwise dark area for me to be able to percieve figures, perfectly forming a circle, approaching, each of them fitting into the circle. They carried drums, and the sound of the instruments made my blood boil. I couldn't understand what was going on. The red light of the circle vanished, leaving the surrounding somewhat illuminated. Twelve figures stood around me in mathematical precision, each of them fitting into the shape of the circle. The drums went silent. A single man, the one standing right in front of me, walked my way. As he went closer to me, I saw something familiar in him. The way he walked, the muscular figure, a strange symbol he beared on his shoulder, it all looked like I had seen it before.
"You recieved the message." his voice announced calmly.
Just as I was about to unleash a flurry of questions regarding this whole situation, the man motioned his head to look to the far entrance to this area.
"The Sinister Blade." He said loudly, and in a few moments, I was able to see Katarina quickly passing by me and standing next to me. The circle did not seem to afflict her abilities to move at all.
"What... What is this?" she asked, while her eyes glanced over the circle, the men, and the surroundings.
"Your friend led you here for a righteous cause. Worry not, Widow of Noxus. Our clan does not wish evil upon you." the men spoke to her in an extremely calm, almost meditative tone of voice.
"Widow? Clan? It would do well by you, if you made more sense!" she said, still feeling thretened by the whole event.
"All in it's good time, Katarina. The clan of Battleborne greets you. Our tribe was believed to be forcefully exterminated a long time ago. Yet we still live on, dwelling in the wilderness, returning to our glory. The spirits pointed your way, Sinister Blade, as you have found your way to one of our kin. The spirits marked you, and they have destined your arrival to the sacred grounds." he continued.
Katarina did not breathe a word. She gazed into the man's eyes, captivated by a strange aura of energy that seemed to emerge from him.
"Today, the spirits have spoken, and they had granted us their wisdom. I am the mere voice of the ancient spirits, and I bring forth to you their ultimate proposal. The prophecy of Noxus, for the prophecy of our clan." He said.
Katarina was still unable to speak, and so was I.
"The prophecy of Noxus says that when the very jewel of it's force is returned, Demacia shall fall, and bow to it's superiority. The triumph over Demacia will be brought by the only man who brought Noxus to glory, the only man who granted you the will of the blade... No other then your father himself..." The man almost preached, and soon he turned around and gave out an order in a strange language. The circle reformed, bringing out two more men, that walked sideways, each on one side, while in the middle, in the middle... Katarina's lips parted as she stared in front of her... Her father... Her long lost father now stood before her... Real as the ground she had been standing on. She wanted to run to him, but her insticts told her not to. She stood there, motionless, speechless, lost beyond measure, until the man nodded and the two men released the General from their firm grasp.
"Yet, the prophecy of clan Battleborne dictates that each Battleborne will respond the call of the tribe, and reunite here, on these very sacred grounds. The decision is up to you, Sinister Blade. We may grant freedom to your father, in an exchange for the last Battleborne, or he may fall victim to this very sword you see sheathed, if you would refuse to fulfill our prophecy." The man spoke his final words, before stared into the three people in front of him, falling silent, awaiting her decision.