Malzahar lazily flickered one eye open, before shutting it again. He tried again to force himself awake, but failed again, a third time he tried and sent both his eyes open wide to nothing but white above him. Startled, he sat up and observed the room, it all had a similar whiteness to it. Almost angelic like, he got to his feet and began examining every inch of this place, it was all very strange…
"Hello…" A voice rang through his ears, it was echoed, almost as if its owner was fleeting. He looked around for a source but found none. "I missed you…"
"Who are you? Why are you tormenting me?"
"You always were very curious… And very ambitious."
"What do you know of me?"
"Everything." The voice manifested into the woman he had seen Leblanc as, looking kind and gentle towards him.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
"I am Camilla," She introduced herself. "Your bride to be, or I was,"
"Was?"
"You left me; you left all of us, to follow a voice in your head."
"The voice was my salvation." He affirmed.
"Truly? Then, tell me, why did you seek after the voice?"
"To further my power as a seer" But Camilla frowned at this answer.
"You see? He has no memory." Another voice spoke and it manifested as the man he saw Jayce as lying on the ground. "Hello my friend."
"I am no friend of yours." Malzahar backed away from the two.
"I am Haman, I was your best friend, and you killed me on your search for this power."
"Why are you presenting me with this knowledge? I do not care who I once was."
"But you do, you do because of her." A milky image of Leblanc manifested behind them. "She reminds you of what you are." Malzahar looked at them clueless as to what they were getting at. "A mere man."
"I am not a…" He cut his sentence off. He had responded to this question in a similar way so many times, he forgot that he was giving an incorrect answer. He was not a God. "I am a man, but I hold power few do."
"True…" The two shadows of his friends looked at each other, as if Malzahar had done something correctly. "You sought the voice's guidance when your Mother died, you were a very devoted son."
"But she had been dead several days by the time you had heard such news." Haman picked up. "The voice seemed to be your only salvation."
"As it was." Malzahar affirmed.
"Was it? Your mother lies cold in her grave still, you failed at your task."
"No, I…" Memories started to become clear where they were once blurry. He remembered leaving his home, how multitudes who relied on his visions begged him to stay. How he promised each and every one of them he would return. How his best friend stepped in his path to stop him, and he struck him down for it. How his fiancé was the last one to call out to him before he was gone forever. She trudged through the sand for days to find him, and he did not even acknowledge her. "I'm so sorry…" Malzahar fell to his knees.
"It is alright friend." Haman extended his hand.
"We can let you go back," Camilla spoke. "You can come back with us, this nightmare can never happen."
"What?" He looked up and a vision of his future in Shurima flashed through his eyes.
"You can go back, but you would lose your power" Haman said but as he said it, dark shadows coated their bodies. As if they were cocoons, the shadows of his friends morphed into something dark and twisted. Wings sprang from the darkness, fangs, claws, hideous beings appeared before him and showed him a different future. One where the populous feared his rule, and he lived as a God among men.
"Or, you can continue on your current path, follow the darkness into oblivion. You will keep your power, but you will never control it."
"These are the choices fate has put upon you, now you must choose." The creatures spoke and Malzahar looked up at the two, the two futures manifesting in portal like auras next to each. He stared at them with unsure eyes, staring into each, weighing what the future he wants is, and what fate wanted for him.
Leblanc sat in her cell, cold and silently bashing herself for all the things she could have done differently. "Never should have taken this mission…" She grumbled. "Or, I should've stayed on target, stayed to the objective, not let my damned feelings get in the way, should've just given him my necklace, I have tons of silver chains. Why didn't I just… Follow through with the plan?" All these questions she knew the answer to, but she just didn't want to believe that she would fall for such a pathetic downfall. "He isn't that great…" She told herself. "Swain is far closer to my standards, Malzahar is… Egotistical and… Foolish, and, nothing like I want…" She continued to talk herself out of it to little avail. "I should just, go apologize for my weakness and continue with the Black Rose, forget Swain, forget Noxus, I can start up again in Zaun and forget…" She couldn't hide it anymore. "I can't forget him… He's… Intelligent, strong, and… Kind to me, he is simply kind to me. So very few actually are…"
"Hey, I take offense to that!" A familiar voice called into her cell, but it couldn't be…
"Gaige?" Leblanc looked up from her huddled position to see the Yordle standing before her, keys in hand. Leblanc stood with excitement and looked around for the guard. "Did you seduce him?" Her tone was a mixture of amusement and impressed.
"I wish I was that good…" Gaige hummed and unlocked her gate. "No, I just shot him with a crossbow."
"That works as well. How did you find me?"
"You said keep an eye on Noxus, so I did, when this tank left I thought it'd be a good idea to hop on. Seeing as I was right, I'm pretty proud."
"Oh you beautiful Yordle!" Leblanc hugged Gaige to her chest,
"Mistress? Are you… Emoting?" Gaige chuckled when Leblanc let her down.
"I am." Leblanc smiled.
"Is it a boy? Oh my god, did you sleep with someone?"
"What? No, well… Yes it is a man, but we have not had intercourse." Gaige perked up at this news.
"Oh Mistress, that's wonderful! You must tell me all about him."
"I will, first we must find him, he is to be used as the power source for this weapon, and I will not leave him to die here."
"Hell yeah! Rescue mission go!"
"Where is my staff?"
"Oh, I saw some guys taking it to a closet up stairs, come on I'll show you."
Malzahar looked at Camilla, she stood with a pleasant smile and extended hand while on the right stood Haman, morphed and twisted into some nightmare with an equally stretched hand. On the left, a future of peace and comfort, the right, a life of power and glory, with neither seeming as something he would actually enjoy, but he could not figure out why. Both futures had aspects that entertained him, but neither truly captured his interest, until he remembered the milky image of Leblanc the spirits had presented to him.
"What of Leblanc?" He asked the two.
"What of her?" Camilla responded. "I will tend to your every need, your every fantasy." She smiled seductively.
"She will die in this future, your ascension will require sacrifice and she will be honored for hers."
"These are my only options?"
"These are the options fate has provided for you. Now choose!" The demon's voice roared.
Leblanc sorted through the relics locker, throwing away items that may have been worth a fortune, but she only had need of one item. She looked outside to see her mirror image still successfully entertaining the guard while she sorted. "Pig…" Leblanc commented.
"I got it!" Gaige burst from a pile of relics. "Catch," She threw the staff but it only floated into Leblanc's hands.
"Do you know where the gun's main battery is located?"
"eleventh floor down, fourth door on the left."
"…How did you know that?"
"I spent a week on this damned thing, I thought I might as well memorize a map or two, now let's go save your lover boy!"
"Please stop calling him that…"
"There must be more options." Malzahar protested.
"Do not question fate." The two said in unison. "These are your choices!"
Gaige fired off a cross bow bolt and rifled two guards through their helmets while the others felt chains bind their feet to the ground. "It's like fish in a barrel!" She cried and shot down the rest of them. One guard found his way behind the two, striking with his knife. Only to hit the ground at the false images "Better luck next time," Gaige said on top of him on fired a bolt into his brain. Leblanc manifested next to her and gave a slight wave. "Where'd you run off to? We still have six decks of guards to fight through!"
"I diverted their attention… The barrier that hid this magical energy has fallen, the League will find this weapon in moments." She said playfully. "There will be other players joining this game soon, we must move faster."
"Hell yeah!" She loaded another bolt.
"You cannot tell me I am mortal, I am weak and then rip the woman I value above all else away from me!" Malzahar protested.
"You forgot about her so easily in the dessert, would that be so hard now?" Camilla teased.
"I never forgot! I was stupid, I thought the Void would accept her, as it did me, but the Void lied, you said so yourselves! I want nothing to do with the Void, not anymore!"
"Then you chose my path?"
"No" He snapped at Camilla.
"Every moment you are here your body dies." Haman spoke. "You must choose soon or you will have no choice what so ever! Join the Void and rule for eternity!"
"Take back your old life, remember who you once were and leave this life behind."
"Another one down!" Gaige cheered. "Aren't Noxus soldiers supposed to be badass?"
"These are engineers darling," Leblanc obliterated a man with a magical swing. "They have as much combat training as a sofa."
"Makes it easier for us," She laughed. "We're on deck eleven; all we have to do is-" A large crash stopped them and they slowly turned around.
"This… Is where your path ends."
"Urgot…" Leblanc said in his shadow.
"I was always curious what your head would look like on a pike Leblanc, I'm glad I have this opportunity to do so."
"I got this guy" Gaige flashed a cocky smile and loaded a bolt.
"Gaige, he is a champion, there is no way you can beat him."
"I never said I could beat him," She laughed. "Go get lover boy, I'll give you two some privacy."
"You truly are crazy," Leblanc laughed at her friend.
"No question." Gaige agreed and dodged Urgot's claw, crashing down on her. Leblanc left an image to distract Urgot and ran for the door Gaige had pointed out.
"Time is up Malzahar, what do you say?"
"Do not defy fate."
"Fate…" Malzahar shook his head.
"Choose a new life,"
"Or a past one."
"What has fate ever done for me?" He menacingly spoke. "Fate has bound me, I have always seen others fates, I have assisted in preventing great tragedy and caused great loss, but I never could see my fate. Fate is for those too weak to make their own destiny." Malzahar felt energy surge through his body, Void energy but it felt different, it wasn't being relayed through him, he was creating it. "I am not a puppet! I do not want a new life or a past one." Malzahar began floating in the air, green energy coursing through each of his hands. "I WANT THIS ONE!" He slammed his hands together and blinding light filled every corner of his vision.
