I was in a dark place, but not the landscape of darkness where I'd met my . . . evil side.

No, I wasn't in a place. I was floating in a dark space.

"Where am I?" I asked no one.

"Good question," a deep voice answered from behind me.

I whirled around and saw that a figure in long dark hood was floating behind me.

The figure was almost camouflaged, except for the fact that a red light was glowing from underneath his hood. He looked like the incarnation of death.

"W-Who're you?" I asked while trying to step backwards, which didn't work for some reason.

"I'd a name once," he said, "but I'd forgotten about it."

His voice was deep as a dark ocean, as if it was filled with mysteries and secrets of thousands of years.

"But I only remember one name," the figure continued, "and it was . . . the Devourer of Souls."

Then, he took off his hood, and my eyes grew wide in horror.

"And I'm the one who'd created the power that now you have in your body."

The figure didn't have a head. Instead, dark and red flames were flaring up where a human's head should've been.

"You're the one who'd created that magical orb?!" I asked him in disbelief.

"Yes," he answered, "and I'm here to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

I felt his eyes staring straight into my eyes, even though he didn't have any eyes. "Have you ever heard about the Rune Wars?"

I thought for a moment.

I think I'd heard several stories about those wars . . .

Then I remembered.

"Rune Wars was . . . umm . . . the war when magicians used the World Runes against each other for . . . power and it ravaged the landscapes of Runeterra, right?"

He nodded. "Because of the Rune Wars, I lost my lover."

He was quiet for a moment, as if he was thinking a painful memory.

"Umm . . . I'm sorry to hear that," I said tentatively.

"She and many were killed by one of the mages who owned a World Rune when he fought and won against another mage that owned another World Rune . . . and I'd decided to create something much more powerful than the World Runes themselves to avenge my lover's death."

Then, he leaned closer to me, making my skin feel the heat of the flames. "Do you know that hatred could devour . . . anything? Even the gods themselves?"

I shook my head while sweat trickled down my spine.

"Well," he floated backwards, the burning feeling now gone from my skin. "I'd decided to use hatred to get my revenge."

He turned around and looked out at the endless dark space like a person who was staring out at the vast ocean of nothingness. "I could use magic back then. So, I'd created the magical orb that consumed the life essence of dead creatures filled with hatred."

"So . . . basically . . . it consumes angry souls?"

He nodded (yes, the flaring flames nodded). "I'd to make it consume them at night to not get caught by that mage. Night after night, I'd let it consume the hatred-filled life essence while walking across the ravaged landscape made by the two mages with the World Runes. It was easy, because everyone's life essence was filled with hatred. The hatred against the murders that'd caused their deaths. Even the animals had hatred in their life essence. When the orb had gained enough power, I challenged the mage."

He turned to face me. "And I killed him with all the hatred of the people and animals he'd killed. But the hatred 'overwhelmed' me in the process."

He gestured at himself. "All the hatred burned my entire being, as if it wanted to devour hatred-filled humans as well as hatred-filled life essence, and before the orb could devour me entirely, I'd hidden it in one of the deepest caves of Ionia. Now, for centuries, I'd been stuck here amongst other creatures' hatred-filled life essence, fading away slowly while blocking its desire to devour hatred-filled humans."

"But now . . . the orb is inside my body?" I asked cautiously.

He nodded. "I'd blocked it for a long time, but one day, it was drawn to you when you were sleeping in the cave entrance. I tried everything to stop it, but it went into your body no matter what. Now, I'm blocking the orb from devouring you."

Then he stopped for a moment. Then, he continued, this time with concern in his deep voice. "But one day, an entity started trying to . . . control the orb, as if he wants to use it on something. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, I'd sensed its determination and rage like fire burning my entire body."

He shivered when he said that, as if he could still feel it.

"Please, stop that entity before it controls the orb entirely. Or else, it might destroy this world with centuries worth of souls full of hatred.

Then, everything exploded in a bright light.

I opened my eyes.

"What's happening . . . ?" I asked myself while trying to rub my eyes with my hands. Then, I felt my arms getting detained by something.

I turned my head to look behind and saw that I was tied to a tree. A rope so tightly tied around my arms that they were starting to ache.

"Nothing's happening," a gruff voice answered.

I looked toward the direction where the voice had come from and saw a familiar face.

"You're—!"

"The one who tried to kill you and take your friend a year ago blah blah," the burly man whom me and Ahri had met a year before answered while waving his hand nonchalantly as if the fact was nothing important. He was smiling as if everything was going as he'd wanted.

Then I remembered.

This was the same man who I'd seen outside the cave before I was knocked unconscious.

"What do you want?!" I yelled at him while panic started to seize control of me.

How did he find me?! I thought Ahri had scared them away back then . . .

"Oh, nothing," the burly man said while yawning, "we just want your friend, that's all."

"Y-You can't have h-her!" I yelled back while trying to sound brave even though my stuttering was getting worse. "I-I-I won't let you!"

"Oh, really?" the man asked in a mock surprise. "But how're you going to do that?"

"I . . . uh . . . um . . ."

"Hey lads!" the man yelled. "This scrawny kid won't let us take his precious friend."

Then, all the bandits standing around the tree that I'd been tied to started to laugh.

I hadn't noticed them before now. They were all hiding under bushes or behind other trees before crawling or walking out to stand around and laugh at me.

I looked around while the bandits kept on laughing . . . at me.

Suddenly, the world became dark around me, and the bandits started to grow taller and change to people that I recognize.

In front of my eyes, the bandits had changed into the kids back in my village. The kids who made my life a living hell. Then, they were back to being bandits. They kept on changing between being bandits or the kids in my village who bullied me while the world kept on being dark, as if misery had devoured the skies.

Their laughter started to change back and forth from the gruff laughter of the bandits to the gleeful laughter and cackles of teenagers, and the laughter became louder and louder.

"This can't be real . . ." I whispered to myself while my heart started to fill with the familiar sensation of animalistic fear that I hadn't felt for almost a year. "This must be a hallucination . . ."

I struggle to rise up and run, faraway as possible, but the rope held me in place, not letting me flee from this nightmarish hallucination.

"Heh, this kid is scared as hell, lads!" the first man said before turning into a pudgy boy with black hair and small brown eyes. His mouth was contorted into an ugly sneer and his eyes were gleaming with madness.

And I recognized the boy.

"Terian . . ." I whispered so quietly that I almost didn't know that I'd whispered at all. "No . . . this can't be happening . . ."

Terian looked around at the other bandits who were changing from being kids back in the village to bandits again and again, their voices changing back and forth. "Lads, let's prepare . . . to 'greet' the nine-tailed fox, shall we?"

Then, he sneered down at me, changing into Terian again, the familiar face making series of sweat trickle down my spine.

"Don't worry, boy," Terian said, then he turned back into the burly man, "we're just going to sell your friend to slavery."

Then, he turned and walked away.

I squeezed my eyes shut while tears of pure terror trickled down my cheeks.

"Ahri," I whimpered, "please help me . . ."

Ahri was hiding behind one of the bushes, while looking at the bandits who were trying to hide behind trees or bushes.

Jeffric was tied to a tree, in front of the lake that she'd looked down at to see her reflection just ten minutes ago.

And even from this distance, she could see tears trickle down his cheeks.

"Don't worry, Iminha," Ahri whispered while staring at the tied boy, "I'll save you . . ."