AN: This is something I really wanted to publish ASAP. There's barely any stories for Kai'Sa that aren't K/DA, and I think that's a tragedy. This is mostly just her short story re-written in my own style. This is also just to really test the waters for general reception/interest. I might continue this as something longer, but I also might not. Any and all criticism is welcome, feel free to say something!
There's a note below as well!
"My feet hurt."The first coherent thought in quite some time.
"My feet hurt." She said aloud. Her skin shuddered in response. Well, maybe not her skin, so much as the thing that was growing on it. Growing in it? She'd never figured out how exactly they were connected, but the distinction grew less clear and less important as each year passed. She chuckled at it's dismissive reply and took another step. She faltered and her knees slammed into the sand; apparently she was more dehydrated than she thought. The girl hissed out a curse, and after a moment to catch her breath, laid back on the silky desert sand with a sigh. The night had come quickly, so she was spared from the wrath of the sun. Striking purple irises fluttered back and forth across the night sky. Stargazing had always been particularly relaxing to her; growing up in the void tends to make you appreciate an open sky. She spotted one of the few constellations she remembered and smiled softly. Content with that, she closed her eyes and rested her head back onto a small mound of sand.
"You know what? This isn't so bad…"
Almost immediately a threatening darkness crept in, whispering sweet promises of rest and rejuvenation. Her mind clouded over, but before she could succumb a sharp prick on her rib cage cleared some of the haze. She winced, but wasn't clear of the gravity well. Barely a moment had passed and she began to slip again, free-falling into the blackness. A chitinous hand reached out to grab her and an intense pressure started building on her legs. She groaned and shot her eyes open: the second skin had pressed enough blood out of her legs to restore some clarity. She shakily settled her gaze on her lower half. It was clad in the same purple and grey skin that covered the rest of her body, now angrily pulsing at her. She paused for a moment to process what had happened. A short laugh at her own sorry state escaped her and she sobered up."Right. Keep moving." She said shakily, silently thanking her partner for its nagging. If she passed into sleep now, she'd probably never wake. With another heavy step, her trek to and from nowhere continued.
She walked for another few... minutes? Hours? It was getting hard to tell. She looked to her left and focused on a colossal metal disk, mostly buried in the sand. It was carved with intricate designs; art of a long dead civilization. She was fond of these constructs. The little she could remember of her childhood had planted ideas of a glorious kingdom that had spanned the entire desert, edge to edge. Looking at it now, she could almost believe it. Who else could make such massive works?
Her mind ran wild with thoughts as the journey continued for a few more minutes. Eventually, she spotted what she'd been looking for: the tops of trees - an oasis. She broke into a pitiful run as her dehydrated body overworked itself to propel her forwards. The exhausted girl crested the top of the dune and jumped, letting herself slide the rest of the way down to the oasis. With a massive grin, she slid to a halt at the edge of a patch of dirt, blinking a few times to make sure the desert wasn't playing tricks on her. She closed and opened her eyes three times, each filling her with more hope. It wasn't a large thing by any means, but there were trees, a pool of water, and dirt. That was all anyone could ask for.
When she was confident in the oasis' existence, she ran to the edge of the water, once more falling to her knees. Desperate mouthful after mouthful brought laughter as her life was guaranteed for another few days at least. She continued for some time, simply basking in the essence of life. When she'd had her fill, she rested back on her haunches and took a good look around. There were several tents pitched around the pond, all dark. Her heart yearned to wake one of the groups up, but she knew it was a bad idea. In addition, her skin started to pulse, chiming in with its own opinion.
"Yeah yeah… I know." The girl sighed, standing. She took another look around before continuing her journey. She'd walked just a few steps before she felt a sickening pit open in her stomach. The feeling of dread spread outwards from there until it covered her entire body. Her skin started shuddering, sliding itself over her exposed neck and head. She calmed down, letting it cover her whole. Not a second passed before a jagged purple line appeared on the sand across the pond. It was just floating in the air, a tear in the fabric of reality itself. The hole forced itself wider and the water froze with an unnatural frost.
The girl ran towards the portal and stretched her hands a few times, making sure they were ready. As she approached the gap in dimensions, a single creature forced itself between realities and screeched as if to declare its own existence. The girl slowed as she neared the beast. It stood on four legs and was covered in chitinous armor of a familiar purple hue. Her skin reacted to the presence of its cousin, needling her entire body. She spoke no words, for there was no reasoning with void spawn.
The horror focused its eyeless head on her and roared. It reared back and began a reckless charge towards her, maw wet and wide with drool. The girl lets heat build within her. An eerie purple glow begins to emanate from her forearms. When the voidling got within 15 paces she let go, sending a focused bolt of bright purple energy into the creature's head. She let another three fly before smoothly stepping to the side and letting the monster careen past her. It had stuck out a claw the slash at her, but it slid off her armor without a scratch. She willed her skin to summon a shoulder-mounted armament and let four more shots loose on the creature, silencing it. The affair was short, and particularly one-sided. The sad reality of fights against this blight.
The girl exhaled, now breathing in the caustic smell of melting chitin. Her skin settles a bit, still on edge. She takes a few steps towards the creature, intent on letting her skin have its share of the kill. It disgusts her how excited the creature feels, though. The dead voidling remained silent as the two approached. The girl finds one of the holes she opened in the beast and in one swift motion plunges her arm elbow-deep into it. Before she even stops moving, her skin begins to eat hungrily. It has no mouth, but it still managed to find a way to feast. She never spent the time to figure out the mechanism it used to do so. Her skin started to pull her arm deeper, wanting more and more of itself inside the carcass. She gave another few inches of her arm before resisting.
She stayed there for a minute or two offering a silent prayer before retrieving her arm. It slid out of the beast with a sickening squelch. Perhaps more concerning was the fact that she had absolutely no blood or viscera on her arm. Consumption of everything was the entire idea of the void, she supposed.
The girl with skin from another dimension stood one last time and gave a final look around. Some of the people in the tents had heard their conflict and now stood outside, eyes wide, weapons drawn. They didn't speak a word, but the message was loud and clear. She turned and continued in the direction she was heading before, now frowning beneath her helmet. She crested a few more dunes and her mask finally slid off her head. The girl blinked a few times and plainly stated, "One day, I'll make them see."
Her skin gave a patronizing wriggle in response. The daughter of the void let out a small laugh; it had a sense of humor.
AN: Hello friends, I hope you enjoyed that. If you read the original draft of this, I hope you found this to be an improvement. I finally got around to proofreading it, so I'm a lot happier with this version and it's something I'm a lot more comfortable with having public. I'd like to make this longer but I think if I did it'd ruin the super simple theme of this.
As for continuing the story, I didn't get much direct feedback, but this story had more views in it's first two days than anything else I've ever written... so I think it's safe to say that there are people who would at least give it a shot. The biggest roadblock for me though, is coming up with a story worth telling. I have a few more ideas for simple short stories with Kai'sa, but nothing to really tie them together in a meaningful way. I'm considering trying out something more episodic as a way to write those ideas without needing to connect them.
Basically, I don't really know what I want to do with this, but I'd like to continue writing it. If you have any thoughts, please share them. If not, I'll just pick one of them.