Her father once told her that when she had come out of her mother's womb, she cried throughout the whole night. Ionians hardly gave newborn children a second glance when they cried soon after birth, for they understood that children did so out of reflexes. But Master Lito and his wife looked to the midwife with concern when their child's bawling did not cease.
"The evil spirits flock to her," the woman had told her parents, tsking to herself while grabbing another cloth to wrap Irelia in. "Be sure to lock the windows, or her crying might summon the aobozu."
Her father had grown up in the city, where the people never gave into the superstition which spread amongst the countryside, but her mother came from a rice farmer's family, the middle daughter of three, and had spent the first twenty years of her life assisting her own father in the fields, tending to the crops and watering the jasmine shrubs. They treated the sweet-scenting flower as their most prized possession, selling them to traders coming to and from the capital in order to make a living for themselves. But a lot more flowed around the country. Ghost stories always made their way from house to house in the countryside, and a young Irelia had often overheard Zelos share the best ones he had learned with the other boys from the village. One afternoon she heard him talk about the legend of the aobozu, an evil monk which allegedly snatched infants and newborns from their cribs. She didn't sleep much that night, her imagination turning the slightest sounds from the wind into footsteps outside her window which frightened her, and she complained to her brother the following morning.
"Everyone knows that's not real, Irie," Zelos had lightly chided her. "Do you always have to be a crybaby about everything?"
From that moment on, she did everything in her power to avoid crying. People treated those who cried funnily, either awkwardly talking in circles in their efforts to not offend them or simply making fun of them as Zelos had done. It reminded Irelia of the way people acted around the sick, the ones who had come up with a really bad illness and didn't survive a month after catching it. Those people simply lay in bed and could only look out their window and watch the world go by. She didn't want those close to her to treat her like one of the sick people. So she resolved to never let the tears come out of her eyes, doing all she could to keep them in. She didn't want to cry. She didn't want to just watch the world go by. She didn't want to be weak.
Trapped between a stone pillar and the remains of a fallen one, Irelia repeated the childhood promise she made to herself as she struggled to free her leg from the weight pinning her down. Her blades had come to her assistance, but the steel could do little to move the stone off her body. Frustrated and reeling in pain from the pressure her leg had to endure, she turned her head to look at what remained of the cathedral. The pillars obscured most of her vision, and the only source of information available to her at the moment came from a small gap between them where she could barely make out the shapes of people running in all sorts of directions. Above the screaming coming from the Demacian nobility, who came in unprepared for an attack, she heard the clear voice of Garen Crownguard ordering the city guard, calling for help in all sorts of places. The sound of steel clanged against another material which Irelia couldn't figure out, but a hideous roar echoing throughout the cathedral gave her a pretty good guess of what the guards had to deal with.
A trio of soldiers ran up to the small crevasse. The pillars blocked their faces, but Irelia could make out the crest of Demacia, an eagle flying upon a blue and white background, residing on their breastplates. One of them lowered his head into the rubble, his eyes widening when he found her trapped figure.
"M-milady! Are you hurt?" He gave a command to his two comrades, who moved around to the other side of the fallen pillar. "Just hold on. We'll move the pillar out of the way for you." Too exhausted to protest the title of 'lady' given to her, Irelia mustered up a hoarse "Thank you" before a fit of coughing overpowered her voice. She noticed the pressure on her leg begin to weaken as the soldiers succeeded in extricating her from the stone pillar, giving her enough free space to crawl out of her makeshift prison. Irelia tried to stand, but the pain in her leg forbade her from any significant movements. Seeing her struggle against her weight, the Demacian soldier ran to her side and caught her before she stumbled.
"Allow me to carry you out of harm's way," he offered, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and raising her by the legs before running out of the ruins of the cathedral and onto the streets outside. Irelia noticed a sizable crowd gathering, the reinforcements of the military beginning to pile in while the attendants of the ceremony made as much distance between them and the cathedral. Still others looked on, some in terror, some in wonder. She grimaced through the pain firing up her leg as the soldier set her down in the shade of an arbor tree and rejoined the battle after a short warning for Irelia to wait there for his return, a command she had to scoff at. She belonged with the soldiers going in, not the civilians running out.
Waiting on the sidelines never suited you. Has something happened?, a familiar voice rang through her head. Irelia looked up to see the unmistakable blue pigtails of Sona dangle above her, the maven looking concerned and holding her etwahl determinedly.
"You came to the gala, too? I don't remember you amongst the attendees," Irelia said.
I hadn't planned to, so I was just accompanying Lestara on a drive around town. I'm glad we passed by the cathedral though, or else we wouldn't have been able to help. Is it another attack by the Institute?
Irelia nodded. "You might remember how Jax told us the Institute was going after the prince next. The building collapsed on us in the middle of Jarvan giving a speech and I heard a monster attacking the guards in there. Garen and Xin had set up a line of protection in case an attack happened, but we didn't expect the entire cathedral to go down. And I need to be there too, fighting with Jax and Garen and all the others, but I can't even stand." She gazed at the wreckage of the cathedral with chagrin, the sounds of battle echoing from within.
The mute sat down upon the grass so Irelia could meet her gaze on the same level. She began to pluck the strings of the etwahl, slowly playing a couple of notes at first, but soon progressing into chords and a calming melody backed by enchanting arpeggios which eventually scaled up into a powerful vibrato. When the performance ended, Irelia had lost herself in the little symphony that she at first didn't realize her leg had healed. She experimentally moved it up and down the hinge of her knee, finding nothing to impair her movement.
Irelia smiled wistfully at her companion. "Thank you for that, Sona. Your songs really do change people. I hope I can put your healing skills to good use." Empowered by her regained strength, Irelia walked purposefully back towards the cathedral, her blades upright and attentive by her side, itching to spill blood. A light tap on her shoulder caused her to turn around for a second.
You think I'm just going to let you go back there on your own? I won't allow you to get hurt again on my watch, came the words of a resolute Sona.
Irelia lightly dropped her shoulders, knowing she could not sway the musician's mind. "Let's take them on together, then."
The state of affairs hadn't improved since last Irelia had seen the place. Gingerly stepping around a large pile of shattered limestone and granite, Irelia scoped out the scene as best she could. Two winged creatures covered in black and gray - the latter the result of the dust from the broken stone walls - took on a group of ten Demacian guards each, and more fighting seemed to occur near the front of the cathedral, where the altar previously stood. The partitions leading to the private rooms had collapsed, making the area look much larger than it seemed when they sat within the structure while still intact. Irelia knew the two winged creatures weren't the same monster which had chased Jax, Quinn, and her last night, so she went off to the back of the cathedral to look for it. She ran past one of the only fragments of the wall still standing, Sona moving right behind her, and gasped.
For the first time, she could finally behold the monster from the underground tunnels in all of its horror, a gargantuan beast perhaps twenty-five feet in length and perhaps half as tall. Like all the other monsters of the Institute, it sported a sleek black hide and endless ridges of scales along its back. Its claws could probably fit a full-size Cho'Gath in their clutches, and its maw proved even more terrifying to look at in broad daylight. She noticed a red flame dragon locked in combat with it as the crown prince attempted to back Shyvana up with his lance. Xin Zhao leapt away from its blows on the other side of the beast, constantly repositioning himself in order to not get caught in its claws. Irelia didn't notice him at first, but as the beast shifted positions to defend itself against Shyvana's flames, she could make out Jax attempting a flank from behind, stepping out of the way from the monster's tail recklessly swinging back and forth, further smashing cracks into the already damaged partitions.
She meandered around a fallen confession booth, maintaining enough grace not to trip over a stray kneeler as she made her way over to Jax, whose furious strikes at the beast's tail had about as much impact as a wave at low tide would have if it collided with Mount Targon. He turned his attention towards her when he saw her coming, backing away so they could quickly confer without the creature turning on them. "What's the situation?" Irelia asked.
"This chap over here was kind enough to introduce himself as the Driftshaker," Jax told her, ducking over a horizontal swipe of the tail. "The Demacians are concerned about protecting their prince, of course, but Jarvan swore he'd fight with his men till the very end, so here we are. The Half-Dragon's doing her best, and Xin and I've landed a few cuts here and there, but if fire doesn't seem to harm this thing, our spears and lampposts won't be doing much either."
"Maybe it'd like to have a taste of Ionian steel, then?" Her blades raised themselves into position, pointing at the Driftshaker's flank.
"Let's go for it." Jax leapt at the monster's side, attracting its attention as it swung a sharp claw at him. He predicted the attack, quickly changing directions and sidestepping the swipe. It cut off a piece off his cloak, and Jax stopped to examine the tear for a second before quickly backing out in anticipation for the second strike. Irelia took the time Jax made with his distraction to try her luck at wounding the gigantic monster. It looked like it might have some unarmored parts between where the tail and legs met its body, so she attempted to strike there. Despite assaults from all sides, however, it still managed to counter Irelia's every move, blocking her spirit blades with well-placed whips of its tail. The strikes just passed to the side of her injured leg, and she exhaled in relief each time it missed.
Seeing her difficulty, Jax opted to help her, attacking closer to the tail this time. He made sure to command the appendage's attention, moving in from strange angles far from Irelia so the tail could not double back and block her strikes at the same time. The tactic seemed to work, as they heard the creature groan loudly and the tail spasm as Irelia's blades found their mark, an uncovered patch of skin on the inside of its upper hind leg. Their small success came at the wrath of the Driftshaker turning its attention to the champions facing it up front. Its strong jaws had wrestled Jarvan's lance from his grip, sending it flying towards a caved-in door, and the teeth nearly bit off the prince's head, settling for drawing blood from cutting his ear instead. The exemplar retreated, and Shyvana had directed her rage towards the Driftshaker, a jet of flames spewing from her belly as she resumed the fight with newly born fury. The creature moved its claws forward to defend, but Xin had learned how the creature behaved, and intercepted one of its arms by thrusting his lance at it, the wound preventing it from raising its claw in time to absorb the heat of Shyvana's flames. The fire reached the monster's face as ir writhed in pain and tried to back off.
Refusing to let up for even a second with their assault, Irelia and Jax pursued it as it knocked over a couple of pews, their weapons finding their mark as the Driftshaker found itself too preoccupied trying to run away. It still had to deal with the burn marks on its face, which left it vulnerable to the point of her blades and the metallic clang of Jax's lamppost. She had wondered many times about what material really went into the makings of such a bizarre weapon, as it hit just as hard as a battle axe and looked much sturdier than its street corner counterparts.
Jax leapt towards Irelia as the Driftshaker's tail came flying towards him once more. "I think we're getting somewhere with this."
"You think?" Irelia parried one of its sharp claws with one of her own blades, using the other three to poke for openings in the creature's defense.
"The attacks have to come one after another so we don't give it a chance to recover," he explained, diving to the floor to get under the arc of its tail. He scrambled to his feet and pulled her off to the side so he could speak more freely. "Once one of us strikes a blow near its hindquarters, Shyvana can shoot off some flames to its face, and then we can wound it while its claws are up near its face." He moved towards the other side of the monster so he could inform the prince and the dragoness of his plan. Irelia got the attention of Xin Zhao, communicating to him their strategy as well.
Since she no longer had Jax to follow up with her attacks, Irelia had to adapt to the different fighting style of the lance. Spearmen naturally held an advantage over shorter swords or blades because of their weapon's length, allowing them to maintain offensive pressure from a distance which left their opponent unable to retaliate. While the colossal size of their enemy nullified any advantage Xin's spear would have provided, he still exposed himself to less danger than Jax would have. The seneschal repeatedly prodded at the Driftshaker's inner legs, baiting the tail to fend off his attack. Irelia strafed around at perpendicular angles to the tail's orientation, carefully waiting for her opening. When she noticed it extend too far in its block, she made her move.
Dashing in with utmost haste, Irelia moved two blades in an X-shaped formation across the gap in the scales made by the start of its tail. The third struck upwards along the curve of its leg where she thought a major tendon would lie, while she utilized the last one as a longer dagger, thrusting it as far as she could into the wounds her previous attacks caused. The creature growled in its suffering, and Irelia made sure to back off quickly before its tail would trap her between its hind legs. The rush of air and another scream indicated that Shyvana had successfully executed her own part of the attack, and as Jax had predicted, its claws went up to its face. While it clumsily attempted to fan away the flames burning its skin away, Jax went in for its underbelly, the lamppost eliciting a surprisingly distressing reaction. The Driftshaker returned its claws back to their normal elevation, swiping at Jax, but he spun the lamp over his head, blocking all its blows. His Counter Strike soon completed its form, and he brought the weapon down in a powerful arc, cracking the kneecap of one of the beast's forelegs. He backed away just as quickly as he had gone in, respecting its strength, but Irelia understood that their calculated attacks would eventually wear the titan down.
The Driftshaker had caught onto their tactics, however, and began to quiver, more armor appearing on its body in the places where they had struck at earlier. Even its face, the primary recipient for their draconic attack, had began to grow thicker skin, and Shyvana's flames had less of an impact on it, allowing its claws the freedom they needed to block the potshots they had originally gotten off. A frustrated Irelia sidestepped a smashing motion from its tail and moved over next to Jax, who had moved over to the creature's right side in attempts of discovering a new angle.
"It's no use now," he said. "It's covered up all its vulnerable parts, and even if it's left open any other regions, I don't think we'll be able to reach them any time soon."
Frustrated, Irelia telepathically threw her blade at its tail like a boomerang, the steel harmlessly bouncing off its heavily armored tail and ricocheting off at an odd angle before Irelia regained control of it and returned it to its orbit around her body. "So what are we going to do?"
They heard the slash of a sword cutting through the wind, followed by a shriek of pain coming from the Driftshaker. Irelia thought she had seen a figure dash across the side of the monster, but it had moved so fast that she could only make out a blue blur. She looked around the staggering giant for the source of the new challenger, and widened her eyes in surprise when she recognized the blue and gold armor of the Demacian Royal Guard. Only a select few had the honor of bearing the symbol of Demacian courage, and Irelia couldn't think of a better person to come forth and lend their aid.
Fiora Laurent stood up from her crouching position, backing away from the Driftshaker, but smirking at Irelia as she walked towards the Ionian. Her light blue eyes shone with an intense luster as they peered at Irelia from under her cavalier hat. "Bonjour, mon chérie. You look like you require mon assistance, no?"
Before Irelia could think of any words to say, Fiora turned the opposite direction and stopped to stare at the Driftshaker for a second, focusing on the figure while bending at the knees in a typical fencer's stance. Then, without a moment's notice, she lunged forward and slashed near the heel of its left leg at a blinding speed, making herself impossible to block. She didn't stop there, either; as the creature's tail moved up to meet her she nimbly vaulted onto the appendage and kicked off into a somersault, gracefully landing onto its back. With a twirl of her rapier, she plunged its edge into a crack between its scales, eliciting yet another pained reaction from the Driftshaker. It arched its back and tried to spin around in its attempts to disorient her, but Fiora had already moved on from the location and headed straight for its neck, slashing diagonally at the armor. Her third strike didn't wound it to the extent that her first two had reached, but Irelia could tell she had made just as much progress in the span of a minute than the five of them had reached in fifteen.
One of the Driftshaker's claws had scratched her on her descent, and she nearly stumbled as she headed back towards Irelia and Jax, but she managed to keep a smile on her face and a grip on her sword. "Not a perfect execution, but I've given it a few worthy wounds."
"Tell me again how you managed to do that?" Irelia had rarely heard Jax sound confused, but Fiora's inhuman speed and accuracy had successfully bamboozled the grandmaster.
"By striking its vitals," Fiora answered with a not so subtle smile. Irelia knew from observing her fellow top laners that the swordswoman often regarded Jax as one of her sworn rivals, and she derived a lot of pleasure from besting him in anything. "I had to compensate for being bed-ridden more than once over the past few weeks, so what better to pass the time than reading up on the anatomy of the human body?"
Jax looked like she had just smacked him over the head with a rubber sword. Irelia didn't know whether to look impressed or concerned over her friend's choice of hobbies. Fiora reveled in their confused looks, drawing her blade once more to return to the fighting. "But we are not done yet. The last weak spot is all the way up on its face, underneath its right eye. I need a sufficient distraction so I can climb up its back again and reach the vital."
Jax and Irelia shared a glance; they understood what they needed to do. While Jax went over to relay the information to the Demacians, Irelia got herself into position. They couldn't inflict any meaningful damage due to the creature's increased armor, but it still wouldn't enjoy taking repeated hits to its limbs from her blades and the spears of Xin and Jarvan. The Driftshaker turned its front towards her for once, which confused her. She thought it had to keep facing Shyvana because it couldn't endure her flame attacks any other way, but a quick glance to the other side of the monster gave her the answer. The Half-Dragon could not maintain her larger form forever, and had regressed into her human size. She did not transform back out of exhaustion, merely out of a loss of pure dragonfury. Shyvana, having a mixed ancestry, could not fully reap the benefits of the noble dragon lineage and could only fight in her dragon form when the fury awoke in her.
A flash of light reflected off the Driftshaker's claws and blinded Irelia momentarily. The sun had appeared in one of the gaps of the dilapidated rafters and shone down in the center of the rundown arena, an unholy sanctification. She shielded her eyes with her hand, raising her blades preemptively in order to ward off any incoming attacks. Though she couldn't see its strike, she could at least hear its heavy body lurch forward. Focusing on its attack patterns and the training her father had given her, she envisioned the claw swiping at her body, and rolled to the side relying on nothing but instinct. She hit the ground with a heavy thud, but judging by the rush of wind dangerously close to her head, Irelia surmised she had dodged its attack.
Already in the midst of launching a counterattack, Jax took advantage of the creature's overextension to smash the head of his lamppost into the wrist of the outstretched arm. The second layer of armor covering the Driftshaker's upper body had slight gaps on its joints, and Jax could only aim for its joints, hoping to bruise the lightest covered areas and slow down its reaction time. Shyvana had launched two jets of flame from her hands, but she could not summon up the larger infernos from before, so they did not harm the beast as much as before. Still, when factoring in the persistent jabs coming from Xin Zhao and Jarvan, all the combined attacks continued to rattle the Driftshaker. Fiora had stood on the sidelines, biding her time, but leapt into action when she saw her chance.
Irelia began to think Fiora had exaggerated her time of hospitalization because she radiated vitality, her legs bounding up the creature's prone form like a jackrabbit in spring. She grabbed onto a spike on its back with her left hand and pulled herself up, maintaining her balance through the Driftshaker's best efforts to dislodge her. The duelist carefully made her way across its spine and onto the back of its neck, stopping about twelve feet away from the weak spot near the eye she had pointed out. Irelia could see where the difficulty lay in striking the final vital. Fiora would have to jump off its neck in order to achieve the distance needed to slash her sword across the area, but if the monster rotated its body towards the opposite side of where Fiora stood, it would never reach her. So the champions on the ground would have to find a way to hold the creature's head in place until Fiora could carry out her strike.
She heard the Driftshaker cry out once more, and upon surveying the battle more closely, Irelia saw their golden opportunity. Xin's spear had found its way into the kneecap of one of its legs, causing the creature to precariously sway to one side. The Demacians seemed to have bided their time as well, for Jarvan boldly leapt forward straight at the beast's face, relanding on the ground with a tremendous impact creating enough force to fracture the tiles beneath their feet. Pieces of the floor popped up and the loose shards found their way into the Driftshaker's chest. Shyvana, who had since regained her fury, transformed back into her dragon form with a ferocious battle cry and launched her flaming body into the creature, pushing it further into the broken terrain. They had set the stage for Fiora's coup de grace.
Before the decisive final moments, Irelia felt a shadow of dread pass her. Was it the apprehension of banking the outcome of their fight in one crucial moment? Or was it some clever trick, a last resort which every monster of the Institute seemed to wear up their sleeve? Something clicked in Irelia's mind, and the next few seconds seemed to pass by in slow motion. Fiora made her leap of faith, rapier poised to slice through the grey skin of their enemy, but as she raised her hand to deliver the blow, Irelia's body moved by herself, her blades guiding her arms and legs. She threw herself onto the creature's side, furiously scrambling her way up as she witnessed Fiora move through the air.
The duelist's strike looked promising, a forehand swing cutting across from the front of the Driftshaker's eye to the back, but right before the sword made contact with the skin, thin crystal spears emanated from the behemoth's face, one knocking Fiora's sword out of her hand. She could only wave her hand through the air in the motion she needed to make, a harmless pantomime which ended just as sudden as it began. Fiora fell to the ground, her back taking the majority of the impact and knocking the wind out of her. The crystal spears continued to spread all over the room, growing thicker by the second and eventually blocking out Irelia's vision. She heard a couple grunts of pain, and a ear-piercing scream, but nothing clearer. Only her vantage point atop its back prevented her from falling victim to the piercing shards. She would have to deliver the final blow instead.
Trusting in her own resolution and the might of her blade, she ran towards its neck, leaping forward in an imitation of Fiora's ill-fated jump moments before, and threw all four of her blades towards the vital, their edges cutting through the flesh. A greyish-green liquid spattered out of the wound, and the Driftshaker lurched violently, careening towards Irelia in her descent. Pulling her blades back, she blocked the monster's claw one last time as it tried to pull her to the grave with it, and soon felt the ground beneath her feet. She didn't land gracefully, her momentum pushing her forward into a roll, but she eventually straightened out in time to see the Driftshaker rise up to its full height, teetering on its hind legs. In its final act of defiance, it threw itself towards the decrepit back wall of the cathedral, pulling the pillars all around them down with it. Irelia tried to pull herself up, place some distance between her and the collapsing ruins all around her, but she had completely worn out her body during the fight. Only a pair of strong hands lifting her up by her arms liberate her from the doomed ground where the grandeur of Demacia once stood.
Zed had never seen a graveyard before. During his short stay in the Kinkou Order, where even the eldest ninjas moved with the boundless energy of youth and the only deaths befalling their community happened to ninjas carrying out confidential missions, he found the order of ninjas did not go out of their way to honor what did not concern them. Leave the dead to the spiritualists, their sensei had told them. Years later, when he returned with the army of the Shadow and slaughtered the Kinkou in the temples where he had once sparred to infuriating stalemates with Shen, he decided he agreed with his last master. The dead had no use in the world he envisioned.
When he beheld the sea of corpses haphazardly strewn around him, all bearing the accursed symbol - the Delta - he had seen before they had captured him and tossed him to that god-forsaken maze to rot or lose his mind or both, he guessed they must have looked like this. The army of the Shadow Isles, under Kalista's leadership, peerless in death as in life, had made quick work of the Delta Syndicate's agents with the help of the remainder of the Winter's Claw they had reinforced. Zed relished in taking the lives of quite a few of them as well. They appeared weaker than when they had jumped him in Piltover. Whether he had grown stronger since that time or if the effects of the Oathsworn bond did anything to his powers, he would not know.
The last thing capturing his attention stood locked in battle with the leader of the Winter's Claw. Sejuani, upon seeing the ghostly army help turn the tables on her desperate tribe, nonetheless ordered the spearwoman to stay back from her duel to the death with a large armored figure. The obsidian armor covered every inch of its body, leading Zed to doubt whether a person existed in there or not. So while Kalista had turned her attention to squashing the Syndicate's forces, she had fought its mace with her flail, battling it to a standstill while its masked soldiers, all dressed in the same white armor, fell around it. They would soon blend in with the falling snow, Zed observed.
While the Winter's Wrath proved an equal match for the mysterious suit of armor, it had much more endurance than her, and Zed noticed both Sejuani's and her boar's movements turn sluggish as they circled each other in the thick snow. The mace her enemy wielded looked ready to bash her skull in if she moved a second too slow. To her credit, the Freljord warrior maintained a frigid fury in her eyes: her irises looked like two candles of blue fire, although whether she could maintain the flame or if her opponent would snuff the life out of her remained a mystery to find out in a few minutes' time.
Her body had given up before her will would. Sejuani staggered in trying to meet the armor's mace with her flail, and her boar instinctively retreated when it saw its master could not defend herself. Unfortunately it could not back up quickly enough, and while it did steer clear of the mace by the smallest of margins, its abrupt movements had thrown Sejuani off the saddle and sent her flying headfirst into the snow without even the slightest semblance of grace. The murmurs which Zed could hear lurking like insects beneath the surface suddenly went quiet, and only the howling wind provided the background for the final moments of the leader of the Winter's Claw. Zed considered stepping in, but he looked at Kalista first, as if he needed permission from her before he could act. Had he fallen in self-respect to the dignity of a slave, unmoving unless called for? He nearly stepped forward in defiance until he noticed the Spear of Vengeance make the first move herself.
"She is not the one who has spat on the sacred pact of kinship," her voice echoed over the battlefield. Stepping in between Sejuani and her aggressor, Kalista threw a spear into the suit of armor, halting its swing and causing it to turn its focus onto her. The mace came down fast, but it proved no match for Kalista, who darted to the side, over and over again, each step backwards bringing another phantasmal spear into the core of the armor-wearer. Zed noticed the suit of armor refusing to show any reaction to Kalista's painful injections, although it did slow down the more and more she threw. Eventually it came to a halt, and although he thought the spears had not even scratched its armor, it suddenly fell over in the snow with a soft thump.
Kalista walked forward to the motionless suit of armor, drawing out the first black spear which she had thrown. It popped out of its victim with a sizzle, steam escaping into the night air. She then headed towards Sejuani, who had not quite managed to find the strength to stand and could only kneel in the snow, one hand gripping her mace while the other also holding her up. The spearwoman stood over her emotionlessly, perhaps viewing her as a prisoner awaiting execution than a serious contender to the throne of the Freljord.
"Have you come to kill me as well?" Sejuani's voice came out bitter, the resenting taste of defeat fresh on her tongue.
"Your fate is not mine to judge," Kalista cryptically answered. She called for Thresh, and the warden floated forwards from the mob of ghouls expectantly watching their leader. "The commander of this treacherous army. Have you identified its soul?"
Thresh lifted his lantern, pointing it in the direction of the fallen suit of armor, and tilted his head, frowning. "Hmm. How quaint. I have looked everywhere within its essence, and yet I can't seem to find one." He sounded quite disappointed.
"It is not the only one of its kind. I can feel a great presence of these empty-shelled heretics in the south, but I cannot quite place their location." Kalista looked off into the distance, a thoughtful expression adorning her face.
"Oh, those things. I was wondering why I had this nagging presence nipping at me this whole voyage. They seem to all be congregating in the center of the continent. I wonder what could be possibly be there?"
Zed felt all the experiences of the past few days finally culminating, and despite the cold, a burning desire began to stir in his chest. Perhaps Kalista's equalizing agenda had rubbed off on him. Perhaps all his time spent with the undead had attuned him to their supernatural powers. But he could see the conclusion of his wayward path, the answer to the unsolved mysteries revolving around his altered being. The road would end where it all began - at the Institute of War.
Xin Zhao had ordered her to remain with the healers who had arrived at the remains of the cathedral, but both of them knew she wouldn't lazily sit around for even a minute. Irelia slowly got up, painstakingly placing one foot in front of the other, and hobbled over to the room outlined by crystal spears, a thorny prison whose barbed walls menacingly dared her to come through. She would not fall to the room's intimidating look, however; nothing would deny her from her goal.
She saw the seneschal kneeling next to a pillar of spears, and moved closer, confused by the sight. The structure stood fifteen feet tall and about ten feet wide, a great anomaly in the middle of the crystalline room. Only when she walked up next to Xin did she notice that he knelt in front of a crystal tomb, not a pillar.
Irelia gasped, her breath getting caught in her throat as she tried to convince herself that her eyes had deceived her. But the crouched-over form of the dragon standing in front of her was no mirage, and neither were the spears which had impaled themselves through her body. Shyvana had instinctively covered the prince with her larger figure in the hopes of shielding Jarvan from the razor sharp spears, but her efforts merely compounded the tragedy. The same spears which pierced through her had also stabbed through Jarvan's armor, pinning the two of them together in their final moments. Irelia dared to look upon the lifeless face of the prince, his gray eyes still open to the world but his expression no longer showing the strength of Demacia. She saw only shock and disappointment in his pupils, the exemplar probably still in disbelief of what had happened as the spears found their way into his heart.
"I did tell you to stay behind. You didn't need to expose yourself to this," Xin muttered, getting up from the ground. His face had reddened, his cheeks puffy as Irelia knew he had done his best to prevent himself from spilling any tears.
Irelia shook her head. "Death has already claimed me once. It will never hurt me again no matter how many times it comes knocking."
But she had begun to worry about what other victims the crystals had claimed, and she walked around the doomed lovers' tomb, pacing the floor completely littered with spears. She looked all over for any more bodies trapped under the oppressive lances, her mind moving a million miles a minute when she could not find anyone. Perhaps the spears had not lay waste to any more bodies, but then the question remained: where were they?
"I'm not dead, if you were wondering." Irelia turned around to find the owner of the voice staggering from behind a crystallized pillar, clutching his arm as he made pained steps towards her. A fragment of a crystal spear had embedded itself into Jax's arm, but he appeared unharmed everywhere else on his body.
She wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms then and there, but Jax's injured arm had stopped that idea. Instead she walked over to him with measured strides, gently wrapping her arms around his waist. "Don't even try making those jokes. You being alive means more to me than you could ever know." She pointed at the large tomb in the distance. "They're gone, Jax. The prince and Shyvana…"
"I understand, Irelia," Jax said. He returned her embrace with the one good arm he could use, running his hand tenderly over her back. "Are you hurt?"
Irelia shook her head. "I'm sore all over, but not actual injuries. Someone had pulled me out of the range of the crystals after I landed the killing blow on it. I just… never expected anyone would actually die from these attacks. The Institute's monsters are getting worse and worse."
Jax pulled away from her, taking her hand in his. "Let's just get out of here," he suggested. "These crystals don't sit well with me."
They made their way out of the cathedral towards a crowd of soldiers surrounding a couple of wailing women. Irelia recognized the blonde hair, despite its disheveled state, and lightly plated blue armor of Luxanna Crownguard sitting on the ground, cradling the much larger body of her brother in her arms. An older woman knelt beside her, who Irelia guessed as their mother. The Crownguard matriarch had stained her dress with tears as she wept for her son. The mismatched look of it all, the sheer unreality of the situation, rooted Irelia in her place. Jax let go of her hand, rushing to Garen's side as the once proud leader of the Dauntless Vanguard struggled to hold on to the last few strands of his life. He mustered up the courage to speak a few words to Jax, determining to relay the message before the fates spun the thread of his life out.
"You must… forgive me, my friend. I was… careless," he wheezed, coughing up his own blood between his words.
"Garen… please don't tire yourself out," Lux insisted. "The cleric is on his way, he'll save you, just please hold on…"
"Their claws… such vile substance… my justice could not stop the wicked." Garen took a few deep breaths, exerting a large amount of effort in trying to keep his circulation going. "Jax… the righteous must prevail. See to it that we… will succeed… in the end."
"For the brotherhood," Jax declared.
Garen smiled weakly as his eyes began to droop. "The brotherhood…" he agreed. "I am… leaving you now. The prince is… waiting…"
Jax remained there for a few seconds, hunched over Garen's body as it expired, enduring the grief-stricken cries of the soldier's sister and mother, before heading over to Irelia. From another side, Fiora strode over to them, her gait directed by purpose despite the lifeless environment surrounding the Demacians.
"I hate to be the insensitive one, but you are not here to help the Demacians get through their tragedy. We are a strong people, and we will rebound on our own terms," Fiora said. "But now, you are needed to handle a more serious matter. We must go back to the Institute at once."
"I think we've had enough running around Valoran," Jax agreed. "It's time to settle the final score with the High Council and finally get to the bottom of this."
"You're hurt though," Irelia protested, "and we're nowhere near the Institute. We can't just head back there whenever we want and avenge the prince and the others."
"How do you think I arrived here?" Fiora stepped in. "Come with me. The Seneschal will handle this mess, but only you two can solve the bigger problem." She lead them to the other side of the city block, away from the hordes of people still coming in when they heard of the destruction taking place at the cathedral. A small train, smaller than the ones used for public transport, lay on the tracks which parted two buildings. Three men, also clad in the same Royal Guard armor Fiora wore, immediately perked up upon her arrival. Two of them hastened to open the doors to the compartments, while the third strode up to them.
"It's been quite a while, Jax," Twisted Fate greeted them.
"Fate? What the hell are you doing out here?" the grandmaster asked.
"The Card Master tipped me off onto the fall of the Institute a couple of days before it actually happened," Fiora told them. "I was able to prepare a private train to take me back to Demacia before it actually happened, and it was only right for me to take him along with me. Of course, he had to disguise himself as one of the Royal Guards so the Institute didn't notice him stowing away on the trip, but it wasn't a hard task for someone with his sleight of hand."
"You flatter me, Laurent. But that's enough small talk for now. Things at the Institute ain't pretty, and from the look on Irelia's face I can tell things aren't exactly peachy on your end either. So hop on," he invited them, stepping aside to let the three climb into the train before he shut the door. "Nothing like a long train ride to do some catching up, eh?"
A/N: battle scenes take forever to write, ugh.
I loved the new Fiora until I realized her ultimate is super weak and doesn't really have much use outside of killing tanks, but I did manage to tie it into the story. Then we have like five thousand words of constant fighting before the damn thing finally calls uncle.
I had been planning death in this story for quite some time, but I realized it wouldn't have quite the impact I wanted since I hadn't introduced the characters long enough for you people to have any feels. Still, I felt it had to happen.
Everyone's going to be meeting up soon. It's looking like one big happy reunion, right? Right?