Chapter 26 - Into Oblivion
Riven
The misfit's table had migrated ever since Higgs and I vacated the League. Their new location of choice didn't come as a surprise, I'm certain they would be on my doorstep any moment now. I'd like to think it was because Higgs had disappeared from the league that the group found itself a good excuse to move. But I doubt the reality of that. I can firmly conclude the Summoner's problems had little to do with the fickle mind of Jax, the true mastermind of the Misfit's table, and his second in command: The Demacian gossip mongrel.
I found them yesterday pounding their table demanding to be served first and served by a very specific waitress. The bar staff had no idea how to handle this many champions at once - especially a group as troublesome. Even Rammus followed the motion half-heartedly, banging the wood merrily with his two stumpy arms. I'm not sure if he understood why or just followed with the group.
Normally, we'd have ignored them. By the textbook, that was the right thing to do. Serve each table in the order they arrived.
The problem was that this wasn't the typical table. And not being served immediately didn't sit well with one specific dirty-playing ringleader: They threatened to have Blitzcrank join in. Mike took one look at the misfit's table, and instantly ordered us to surrender. The stingy owner refused to have to pay for another table since I'd smashed the last one to splinters. And his orders were law in this bar - so we reached a compromise, and they sent me as the mediator.
"Jax." I hissed.
"Why Riven, you look simply... dashing! See guys? I called it way back when we first met her. You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment."
"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment, or a challenge?" Just one glance at Jax, and his sidekick Lux was all I needed to understand the entire situation. The two were without a doubt the ones behind all of this. They'd assembled the full table here, Irelia, Shyvana and Kate included. Those three schemers were huddled at the far end of the table, snickering mischievously. The only one missing was Higgs, and I can take a guess at a few reasons why. Most of them included Morgana and bets. He'd been playing very carefully these days, and staying quieter then twitch stalking behind a pretty woman.
"Hmm, how about you get us some drinks and service? Sound good?" Jax innocently asked instead.
"Yea! I wanna have a sip of ya' booze here, see how it's like compared to the graggy!"
"THIS CONSTRUCT ALSO DEMANDS LIQUID. FLESHIES ARE MORE EASILY PERSUADED WHEN INTOXICATED... I MEAN WHAT?"
Fine.
I shut my eyes, and relaxed my breath. When I opened them, Jax and Lux were gone. The entire misfit's table was gone as well. All that was left in front of me were faceless customers. I hadn't had to use this tactic for a long while now, but I would do my job to the letter - even if I had to resort to the rookie mentality.
"Welcome to the Battle Bunny guests! Our chef's special today is Ionian sushi, with your choice of 7 brands of Sake. I'm Riven, your server and entertainer for this evening, what may I start you with today?"
"Why Riven dear, could you bring me some vodka and sit by my side for tonight?" Jax followed nonchalantly.
I bowed close to the bucket on his head, my hands sneaked out a finger to brush his chin upwards.
"Not even in your wildest dreams." I whispered to his ears, and gave him a quick kiss on his helmet's cheek, just so he'd know what he'd be missing on. The rest of the table drowned any noise out in laughter.
I can't do it. Maybe when I first arrived in the league, I'd be able to shut them out and pretend they were faceless. Not now, I wasn't that person anymore. The misfit's table was unique, I'd never be able to see them as just another set of customers.
Technically, this was a legitimate approach. As the lady explained it was called "Hard-to-get." Where the waitress would play this odd game of catch-and-release. I can't say I wasn't partial to the method - It had everything I could ever need. Distance, and efficiency. For my first few days in the bar, this was the only tactic I wasn't embarrassed to employ. You could make it last as long as you wished as well. In this case, I was playing another version of it: Impossible-to-get.
And that was the start of that.
Each day they'd show up at the tip of night. An hour before closing time. You could hear them arriving from a mile away.
It was strange the first day, but I quickly grew used to it. Mike was in heaven, to the point he'd ordered me to give the champion's table - as it was now called - a heavy discount to bait them into coming daily. His logic made sense from a business perspective however, which is the only way he saw things.
Ever since that group of champions had started arriving, the bar had become beyond popular. Before it had simply been an expensive hangout for the common folk to occasionally visit during special occasions. Now, it was something everyone wanted to come into daily.
It also had it's perks. Lately, I hadn't been able to hang around the full group of friends I'd come to know. One on one by a coffee shop was the best I could do, considering I was barred from the league. If I couldn't go to them, then they came to me. After closing time, I'd be able to take a breather alongside them. Despite all the events, and all the hardships, they hadn't changed a bit. I'd still walk my co-workers home, and in the company of several other champions - which only made my team feel far safer. As Mike would say it, "Everyone wins. Hard."
Four days later, things changed. As they always would.
It'd been a while since I've heard of Higgs. The Summoner hadn't visited once, sent no messages, and kept to himself. Last I heard from the gossip at the table, he was sulking in the Bridgewater district meeting new, somewhat shady, friends.
This particular night, the two show-stealers were missing in action as well. They didn't keep us waiting for long.
In the middle of our discussion, Lux and Jax barged into the bar out of breath.
I ushered them to the usual table, the others keeping a wary eye on just why the pair was late.
"Ya both look out of breath, like ya ran a jogger... Don't tell me you two finally did it?" Gragas asked innocently.
Lux shot the dwarf a look a pure hatred, there are some topics not to be joked on.
"Mhhm." Rammus answered for the dwarf, since her gaze had shut everyone's topic.
"We've got trouble." Jax said instead, skipping the jokes. "Higgs has gone missing."
Kate's eye rose wearily. "What type of missing are we talking about this time? He's gone into hiding. Of course he'd be missing. He's only visited me once in the last few days even. You lot are making him scarce after all."
Irelia nodded, "What did you expect? He wasn't going to make this easy for you. Despite your tricks Jax he's still a summoner, they tend to be somewhat intelligent."
"No, I mean he's really gone missing. As in AWOL. Gone off the hextech radar. Vanished. Kidnapped." The mercenary sighed, exasperated. The serious tone in his voice that felt as out-of-place as oil in water. The table nervously giggled, but there was a darker tone quickly approaching.
Lux backed him up. "We had a ward on him for a while now. And it went dark yesterday night - Our informant who set the ward in the first place discussed the scenario just moments ago."
My turn to speak. Higgs was too careful to go missing besides his own volition. Knowing him, it was possible this was his scheme in the first place. "He found your ward and destroyed it. I'd expect nothing less of my Summoner. I assume you have an alternate plan to fall back on, or did you come here for our advice?"
I set the drinks down on the table, and took my usual spot next to the nurse and Rammus. I'd never seen Lux look worried before, the feature didn't suit her body.
"Uh uh." Jax said, still refusing to sit. "You're giving that dimwit a bit too much credit here Bunny. Higgy was dense as a rock about that ward - no way he'd have it destroyed. Someone else got to it. Besides, he's terrible with wards."
"And it wasn't anyone Higgs is comfortable with. He had a look of sheer horror before the records fade." The blond finished.
The table drew silent as the reality hit us.
"Show me." I demanded, my stomach doing turns expecting the worst.
Dark room. Door creaking open nosily.
A bed, someone waking up.
The face turning to check, Higg's.
Nothing else.
But I knew better.
"That shadow. It's a man." I said, pointing at the edge of the ward's past sight.
"And Higgs has to know who he is, to have such a look on his face..." Kate finished.
No one ventured another guess.
There was no way Higgs would fake a shadow that looked this similar to a nightmare of a man. It would be cruel of him.
We all knew just who had Higgs.
Higgs
The center hall was just as I remembered it. Cold, eerily silent and ancient. A world where nothing moved, nothing rotted and everything stagnated in some frozen trance. At least, as best I remembered the moment my feet touched ground. Despite his attempt from the last time, everything changes when you're standing on the same soil once more. You can't erase that.
I can't believe I'm back here again.
"Boss. Nice to see you."
I mumbled meekly across the vastness.
The man didn't bother sparing me a glance from his stone seat. The heavy bear coats piled on the figure made him look inhuman from a distance. A mat of fur and desolation, subhuman almost. Sitting square on blocks of dust covered granite for a throne. And this was my boss. I'd make a joke about looking for a different job, but this wasn't the time.
"Construct. I assume you failed." He sighed out in a bored tone, left arm lazily propping up his chin. The voice carried through the hall superbly considering the size. But sound's a fickle thing in a dreamworld.
I can't really answer that. I did screw up.
"Your allies will come for you. They did before, and they will again."
As if there was nothing to worry about, nothing dangerous imminent. That we weren't here for the last time, saying goodbye.
"I'm not sure. Boss, I think we're really going to bite it this time around. We're in deep."
Arrows frowned, clearly unhappy. I couldn't see it from this distance, but in such a realm, it's the implied feeling that tells you everything. My answer wasn't something he wanted to hear. Was the last thing he wanted to hear.
Last time I was thrown into this hall and straight into this man's company was when Singed chemically drugged me.
And back then I'd been in a hospital bed, surrounded by champions and one very skilled nurse while I floated about in limbo and frozen halls. No better place to brush death's hair and gossip about the latest people she'd taken. This time, I wasn't so sure everything would end so well. I might very well be the new man death gossips about.
"Start from the beginning." The old me commanded, catching onto my train of thought and subsequently, my panic. I closed the distance between him and I, each step I took his face crispened and became concrete, until I stood next to him.
"All right. Guess we can start with the night..."
12 hours earlier
Waking up at 3 in the morning isn't easy. Most days. But these last few days, I've lived the life of a fugitive. So the uneasy feeling of being trailed, followed behind me every second. I slept with one eye open, figuratively speaking.
That's why I was instantly alert when I heard the door creak open. I turned, expecting to see Jax trying to sneak some trouble in but the man I saw had far more sober ideas. And more horrifying.
The next second I tried to flash out, but unsurprisingly the spell fizzled and sputtered its demise.
"Fuck." I whispered out. Everything I knew about him, there's one constant - he's always well prepared.
"Indeed Mr. Higgs. I'm not in a very good mood either after the heavy effort it took to find you." Singed answered, lumbering through the door, and into the room as if he owned the very ground. I can't underestimate how massively tall this man was, he had to duck to fit through the doorway. If he had his vat behind him, he probably wouldn't have even been able to fit through.
The chemist cheekily waved with one of his newly regrown hands. As if to say, I'm not as helpless as the last time we met. There was a noose in the atmosphere. And it'd settled on my shoulders, coiled, ready to snap at my spine.
I sat straight in my bed, wiped the sweat from my brow, and composed myself. Panic would certainly net me a quick death. Around Singed, I'd have to be very careful.
All right, I just had a psychotic murderer, in my room, in the middle of the night. Plenty of possible reasons. It might just not be the most obvious one.
I'm really hoping it's not the most obvious one.
"Singed. I thought we had an agreement." I hissed civilly.
"We did. We absolutely did!" He cheerfully answered. His eyes were anything but cheerful.
"I didn't plot anything against you! I dropped all those plans after we came to an agreement. What's the meaning of all this?"
Singed paced closer to me, dragging a stool from my workbench and sitting nearby. The cheap wood groaned from his weight, but I didn't notice the sound. The position is what stole my attention.
He'd blocked any escape route. The noose tightened.
"Normally, I'd have a summoner lackey come here to fetch you for me. But I wanted to show special treatment to you. After all, you are a bag of tricks and unexpected... surprises. I couldn't have any incompetence allow you the opportunity for a daring escape from fate. One of which escapes - how you're still alive. Would you kindly mind explaining that to me?"
I licked my lips nervously. He didn't waste much time getting to the point.
"You'll have to start when you wanted me dead this time. I wasn't even aware you were trying to kill me after our agreement."
"Kill you?" Singed asked, surprised. "Mr. Higgs, that's ridiculous. I wouldn't want to kill you - just yet at least. There are too many answers left unanswered. I can't have that."
"I agree! I haven't done a single thing I could think of that would piss you off." I finished.
I have no idea what the hell Singed wants. But when you're pandering to a lunatic, you pander for dear life. I might just be able to talk my way out of it. League knows there won't be any other way out of it.
"I think you misunderstand my intentions Ex-summoner. Let me rephrase: How did you survive the coma? That question has been on the base of my neck for quite some time after your reappearance and discussion. I was sure you had been dealt with, and buried behind some church... right about now."
All right. So he just wants to hear my side of it. Fair enough.
I folded my arms over my chest, and pretended to have everything under control.
"If you wanted to just chat, you could have simply sent a letter and met at a coffee shop, instead of sneaking into my room in the dead of night."
If I could see Singed's face behind his wrapped mask, I'm sure he'd be smiling.
"I'm not daft, Mr. Higgs. Let me give you my reason why I'm here then, how's that for cooperation? See here, I can count on my hands the number of test subjects that have successfully survived a lethal intention from my chemicals."
He brought his hands up, and clenched until only three fingers remained. The sound of leather gloves compressing together gripped my ears.
"Riven of Noxus, Commander of Fury company, Noxian War hero. A woman of incredible mental willpower, and plenty of examples to cross examine."
A finger went down.
"Irelia Lito of Ionia, Captain of the Ionian guard, Hero of her people, owner of a mantle and the Hiten style. A woman of equally powerful fortitude, when you consider it. Regrettably, completely unavailable for any testing due to the peaceniks holding her in such high esteem."
Two of his fingers had gone down. Only his index remained. I gulped.
"And you. Malcom 'Higgs' Arrows. Of Nowhere specified. Summoner of the League, no other notable achievements. You, quite literally, appeared 5 years ago as a novice Summoner, and the paper trail ends there. That's a lot of holes, and a lot of wondering how such a person of no description is the only other living being to survive my great works. While the other two escaped their fate by their own sheer power, I suspect you escaped yours through something else."
"Ah. I see." I dumbly state.
"Naturally, I want to know what that is. You, ex-summoner, are a box of secrets I almost didn't notice. I do love opening those boxes."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How didn't I see this coming? For all my plans, all my tricks, logic, spells - I forgot the one detail that would come back to kill me. Only one way out of this now.
Singed prodded on, "My curiosity then, shouldn't come as a surprise."
"I guess in hindsight, it really doesn't."
"Now then, while the night is still young. Would you be so kind as to inform me how you survived and recovered?"
"Certainly. I've got nothing to hide Singed. I was lucky. Plain and simple. I had friends, Kate anticipated your attempt on my life and injected me with -"
"Hyperlympharis. I know. A desperate, and futile move. That chemical alters immune reactions, it mucks up plans slightly. It would prevent the toxin from physically disconnecting the chemical bonds in your neurons. A minor setback - your mind would still be shattered and unrecoverable, even if functioning physically."
He leaned forward on the stool, eager. "To which you somehow woke up from, completely unscathed and in one piece. That, Mr. Higgs, is where the real question lies. How did you reassemble your mind into precisely working order? I almost suspect your mind wasn't destroyed at all."
I've got no real answer for you, bub. But I'm sure as hell not saying that.
"Soraka. She healed my mind. You should ask her, she's the real nemesis behind it all. I'm just the lackey. Besides, didn't she curse your old master, Warrick? You two have history, I really shouldn't put myself between that."
The man folded his hands, thinking.
C'mon. Buy it.
The gears turned and twisted in some horrible pattern only he'd recognize.
Buy it.
He looked up, apparently having reached a conclusion.
Buy it.
"That's... impossible, Mr. Higgs."
League fucking damn it. The rope was kissing my neck now, I was running out of excuses to throw at him.
"I know that specific champion... rather intrinsically I should say. League matches tend to be, what's the word... frantic? There are many encounters between her, and I."
"Well, she's obviously got a few tricks up her sleeve you've never seen before. That shouldn't come as a surprise, think about it. She's battled against you time and time again. Of course she'd learn from it."
I battled my way out, finding a prying point. "What do you want me to tell you Singed? I was in a coma at the time, I couldn't do anything myself. There's no clever planning or magic scheme behind it. I don't have Riven's fortitude, or Irelia's powers. I'm just a summoner, doing his job."
"I see that. And yet, here you are. Alive. A regular summoner doing his job couldn't have survived, that's an insult to my work."
"A downright conundrum that one. The organizer once told me something: Occam's razor. Sometimes it's the simple explanation that's the truth - I got lucky, and Soraka found some hidden reserve in her, or rather that day she'd managed to one-up you. Coincidences do happen in this world. How about you interrogate her instead - if anyone's got the answers you're looking for - it's her. Now that that's settled, door's behind you. I need shut eye."
Maybe he'd go. I kept a straight face on my features, willing him out of my room with my stare. Maybe this was all that he needed. But I had a sinking feeling in my gut it wasn't.
His chuckle answered that for me.
"Don't worry about shut eye Mr. Higgs. You'll see plenty of that on our way to Zaun. I've got my mansion there equipped with the best Zaun could afford for me. We'll have all the peace and quiet to solve this little mystery together. I have my hypothesis, but a few tests should ground that into a working theory."
"I'm honored, but unfortunately, I've got some pressing duties to attend to at the League."
"Really? But you just sent them a letter explaining that you were resigning from your position indefinitely."
"I did?"
His eyes gleamed at me.
"Certainly you did. I saw to it myself."
"So it seems." I answered dryly.
Plan B. No more beating around the bush.
"Singed, this isn't going to end well for you. You've messed with me in the past - it didn't work. I'm too well connected to the champions of the League. They'll come looking for me. And they won't stop - Especially Riven. Give this up now while you're ahead. You've got too much to lose. The door is right behind you, you can walk away right now and nothing will be lost."
Singed laughed now, loud and full of intent.
"On the contrary! What I stand to gain, is so much more then what I stand to lose. If Riven does chase after you, she'll be coming all the way into Zaun. Plenty of things can happen to such a champion that would never point back to me. She'll be desperate to save you. I'm sure that will fire her motivation. As for her friends, I've dealt with them all countless times in the League matches. In my home territory, they won't stand a chance - neither legally, nor physically. I will be well prepared to greet them."
Singed drew near to me.
"You made good sense of this puzzle to me before. Riven's real abilities come out under stress - when there's something to lose. In the last case it was her duty. How much harder would she fight if it were your life at stake? Or for say, revenge against a murderer who butchered her friend and sent her his head?"
"You're toying with a subject you hardly understand!"
"On the contrary, I've studied diligently after our eye opening discussion. That's the nature of science, there's always a more correct approach. A better way to understand something. Part of a scientist's duty is to understand their ignorance. Mine, was being unable to understand the human aspect of it all."
He stood up, arms stretched. "And now I know! I might have almost wasted Riven's potential with my ignorance! I do intend to study her deeply, see how she handles my toxins. When she's fighting for survival, or fighting for her people, or fighting against me, or even fighting for the people she without a doubt cares about. I'll start with the latter."
"Singed. This is my last warning. I have far more momentum outside then you could possibly predict. You stand to lose -"
"Everything? I believe you're bluffing. In fact, I'm quite certain of it. Think about it, how hard Riven will want revenge for your death? When she fought me at that Hill, she believed you would never recover. You - or more specifically - your death - is a trigger that's needed to replicate these experiments to the letter! I must have that replicated!"
"They'll come looking for me! The League will as well, you'll lose everything!"
He chuckled, the madman chuckled.
"Humans are very strange beings. There are thousands of murders daily -" He reached closer, and whispered, "No one panics. Not a single soul. Have you ever thought about it yourself? But the moment you leave a dead body in a busy street - the very instant someone sees - well then - all panic and havoc! You can smell the fear in the streets. The people go crazy! Spreads faster than plague. The trick, ex-summoner, is to avoid discarding the body in the street. If no one sees... then no one cares."
The rag was out now. He sloshed liquid on it, and took a more predatory stance. "And I intend to follow through Mr Higgs. Now then, will you make this simple for me, or difficult?" I could almost swear he'd brought out the same rag as last time. Same color. Same texture.
This entire time his bulk had been clearly blocking the only way out.
I breathed out slowly. I'd have only one shot to bolt away.
All or nothing.
I rose from my bed, legs ready.
He tutted.
"The difficult way it is."
The noose snapped taunt.
"You failed to escape."
I nodded. He just sighed.
"And once more, I find myself conscious when I shouldn't even feel a trickle of thought. Because of one oversight on my part, I'm forced back while you use this tomb as a glorified bomb shelter."
I wasn't in agreement with that. I didn't do this on purpose. You can't spite what you don't know exists.
"Don't take it personally boss. Wasn't me that left this loophole in the neuromancy, you really should have crossed your T's and dotted your I's. Three months isn't enough time to learn a full branch of magic from the ground up, even if it's for one use. You were a fool to believe you could, and here you are."
Actually...
"You know what boss? All the better that you made a mistake! If there was no bridge to here, that toxin would without a doubt do exactly what Singed said it would - I'd be dead, and then it'd just be you. Alone with all your thoughts, I'm sure you love the sound of that." I smugly grinned.
Arrows waved an arm, muttering. He didn't want to hear any more of it.
"Enough. You've made your point, construct."
I nodded, content I'd shut his complaints.
"Last I remember, I woke up on a table. The air smelled of decay, so I suspect we're in Zaun. Inside the madman's mansion. There were null magic fields everywhere in that house so we're not getting out as Summoners. He put me under, and here I am. He's waiting for me to wake up now."
The man remained still as a statue. He knew what I'd ask him. He knew it just as well as he knew who I was. He'd built me from the ground up after all.
"Your allies will come. We will wait for them. The moment you awake, Singed will have his answers and will continue testing wh-"
"- So we hide?!"
"We survive. It worked then, it will work now." Said Arrows coldly, miffed at my interruption.
"What happens when he notices I don't wake up? Think he'll just let us hang around in his lab forever? He's going to use me for his plan B - Taunting Riven. He'll cut our heads off and mail it to her just to instigate! And we'll be dead because we decided to hide!"
"Your allies will arrive in time." He repeated again, an edge in his voice.
"Bullshit! Zaun's too far away!"
"Then what do you propose we do?!" He lashed out, suddenly furious. "If I send you out, you'll come back here as he starts testing different toxins until you die! Each time you come back you'll be weaker, any chance of escape dwindles."
He brooded back into the slabs of stone he sat on, "We wait until your allies come."
"That's not going to work and you know it." I spat defiance.
Arrows furrowed his brows. He knew what I'd say next.
"There's one way out if this hell." I contested hotly, furious at his sheer stubbornness.
"I refuse."
"You've got no choice! You're the one that's got experience fighting without magic!"
"Fighting against common soldiers, yes! I will not win against such a man!" He bellowed out at me, desperate for an excuse. Anything but stepping out of this realm.
"You came out of oblivion once when Singed drugged Riven and I. You fought the ex-hero of Noxus. You broke her arm, and stood your ground against her. You've got what it takes."
"She defeated me handily. I broke her arm because she lost focus and I took advantage of it - I remember that at least! It was mere luck she let her guard down. I didn't stand my ground, I merely endured the onslaught."
"We both know that's not what's needed. You don't have to beat Singed, just stall him long enough to escape. 'Endure the onslaught' - your exact words! You're proficient enough!" I rebuttled.
Arrows growled deep from his bear fur capes, and promptly another idea floated into his mind. He leaped on it like a drowning castaway.
"We have another option. I let you go, to prove you can escape limbo. Then when he sends you back here for a second experiment, we stay until your allies come. He won't throw us out after knowing we're capable of escaping."
"And when they do come? When he hears the alarms that intruders have breached into his realm - what's the first thing he'll do? Pull the plug on us. You need to get out of his mansion, to be as far away from his grasp as you can when they do show up!"
"Nonsense! Why would a scientist throw his test exp-"
"You don't know him like I do Boss. He'll do it." I deadpanned, showing him just how serious I was.
I pulled out the trump card. Red hair and green eyes washed up in my mind, just the thought was enough to make me feel uneasy. And I hadn't even met her myself, I came long after she was gone. "You remember how she begged you before she died? You remember what she asked you to do? You chose the coward's way out then! Stand up, pull yourself together, This isn't time for self-pity."
Arrows physically flinched at the mere mention of his curse. I didn't dare speak her name, because the man might snap. I was already roaring at an entity that could easily crush my existence.
"You do this, or we die." I finished, putting every ounce of ice I could muster into my words.
A strange sight started in front of me. A man fighting himself.
Arrows growled primally, snarling at the thoughts racing in his head.
Like a dog barking at imaginary shadows to his sides.
Do it.
Don't do it.
Do it.
The logic pressed down on him oppressively, I could almost feel his thoughts raced between human rationality and beast-like avoidance. Fight or flee.
In the end, what choice did he have?
A few more minutes passed before the man settled.
Arrows composed himself, eyes bloodshot.
"... Does he know about the Neuromancy?" The edge in his voice was cutting. He didn't meet my gaze, instead, his head remained bowed gazing at his feet.
"I suspect he does. It's the only thing that can fill in the holes. As soon as he uncovers the real paper trail, he'll know for sure."
"Does he know about me?"
"Not likely. He didn't make any mention to having figured out the League's deal with you before my era. You'll be a surprise, our ace in the hole. He won't expect you, no one can."
Arrows calculated silently. Trying to find a way out.
Desperate to find another reason, another excuse to avoid stepping outside.
Finding none.
"Very well ... I will... I..." He growled softly, defeat leaking into his words. "I will go." Just a whisper now, a slight coloring of fear in his voice made me feel a pang of pity for the man. If I could, I would take his place again, but that wouldn't serve anything. He has to do it.
Standing from his throne dust flew off and parts granite fracturing off the throne from age. They spun around him following a weak gust of wind. Every step he took rustled the layer of particles on the ground, and left clear footprints like thin snow.
"I'll keep the fort warm until you're back." I cheerfully threw out.
He shot me a glance that spoke volumes as he stalked to the wooden door.
The same door he'd escorted Irelia and I out.
"By the way Boss."
He turned at the threshold, one glassy eye catching mine.
We didn't have to say anything. A simple glance told him everything I felt.
"How sentimental of you." He sneered, straightening himself. Any hesitation gone now from his voice. His mind flashed through patterns and motions, combat tactics, the years of a solider. Readying himself for what lay beyond, a design in his eyes penning his escape.
When he felt ready, he walked through the doorway followed only by his shadow.
The world went dark the moment his presence vanished.
I wondered if Arrows would win.
Then I realized, if he didn't - if he failed - then he had been my last sight.
The gates groaned vengefully down and sealed me into oblivion, clueless its charge had been swapped.