"5:24:42, Friday" I repeated to myself what the digital clock's screen displayed.
"So... Today's the day."
I approached the window of the apartment where I lived in for maybe too long, and stared at the light of the sun trying to shine through the smog in the sky.
"Zaun has its own beauty" I thought "becauseeven in one of the almost perpetual nights, the shop's signs are always on, neon light in all the city."
I sighed and turned away from the view.
"Of course, that doesn't mean some of those shops aren't illegal, and the continuous lack of light helps the murderers and thieves hidden in the alleys."
I felt the usual anger build up inside me, hating not this town, my town, but the people who make a bad name out of it.
"Those... freaking Piltover pigs. We may have been born from the dirty agreements between them and Noxus, but that doesn't give them the right to use us as their dump."
The image of the kid dying in the alley was still haunting him. It didn't help the fact he forced himself to rewind too many times, just to reach to the conclusion that, he would never make it in time.
And there it was, Z-Drive in his hip, the place where it has been since that incident in the alley. You could even say Echo developed some kind of paranoia, triggering the device when there was no visible danger, even sleeping with it (which he admited was very uncomfortable), but for him, he was just being careful.
"Hopefully... I can change what the world thinks of Zaun."
Today, for Echo, was one of the most important days in his life, for what he could remember. A summoner, the guys working in the Academy of War, founders of the League of Legends and the people who ended the Rune Wars...
"Heh, many titles."
...Listened to him and for what he thought was a crazy idea: Join the League. He expressed the confusion to him, but he just said "A lot of people ask everyday to join the League of Legends, therefore, with the amount of Champions joining, and the requests growing, we can't afford to lose time: We test them and let them prove themselfs, then we make our veredict. It's has proved to be the most effective way."
"Losing time, huh. I have a lifetime of experience in that."
I forced myself out of my recurring negative thoughts and looked at the time.
"5:33:43, still Friday." I said outloud in almost a whisper.
While I ate breakfast and got dressed, I wondered what was the fastest way to the Academy of War. While I found the embassy in Piltover where I made the quick enquiry rather useful in this situation (it took me 42 minutes to get there), I had no intentions of returning to that place.
"Of course, Zaun doesn't have it's own." I clenched my fist over the spoon feeling powerless "...Anyway, I need to present myself in the main facility so everything else is out of question."
I cleaned everything that was left and headed towards the door.
"You're going to change that, Ekko." I stopped at the mirror and looked at my reflection. "For him. ...For her. For them."
The entirety of the metal sounds from the apartment's door and the steps of the (also made of metal) building helped me to sweep out that image of Jean's horror face, mirroring Ajuna's...
"Shit." I spat "Can't have a goddamn day without torturing myself about... everything."
I opened the front door and looked at nothing in particular, not noticing the carriage in the street.
"If only she didn't... If Violet-"
"Mister Ekko."
"Huh?"
In front of me there was an average sized man in a purple cloak, in front of a carriage.
For the magic-y look of the guy and the Demacian transport design, also present in the embassy I visited, he must be a Summoner.
"Did he call me 'Mister'?"
"Uh, yes, that's me. I guess you're from the League?"
"Exactly. If you could-"
"How did you know where I lived?"
"The League keeps record of any person that represents a threat to Runaterra."
"What...? Threat? How I-?"
"Now, I was given the task of escorting you to the Academy, if you could enter." He said opening the door of the carriage.
I gulped, my mind rushing into one thousand different conclusions, while I walked into my seat.
Oddly enough "Or not oddly enough?", there wasn't a driver, neither horses or whatever force that would be able to make the wheels move. So it was actioned by magic. Runic magic.
"This guys are one of the few people, if not the only group able to make use of Runic magic, so powerful that makes my Hextech inventions look like a toy, and they consider me a threat?!"
With me already inside, the man closed the door, and his footsteps could be heard.
"Should I feel in danger?" I instintively reached for Z-Drive, and pondered pulling the chain. "I..."
The sound of the door at the other side opening startled me, and my anxiousness finally pulled the chain, activating my time-checkpoint.
The man had noticed my action, and just softly smiled as he took a seat at my side.
"We aren't going to do anything to you, you know?" He said nonchalantly "At least not me. I don't have that decision. And sorry if my previous statement disturbed you." He made a motion with his hand and the carriage began to move "While the League keep track of every 'threat', that doesn't mean we have a hitman in every corner waiting for our instructions. We are more like data hoarders, we... seek protection."
"Of what?" I thought.
He looked distant for an instant, and then turned at me, as if analysing whether I was worthy of the information he just gave me.
"Are you familiar with the Runic Wars?"
I blinked. "This guy must think I'm a clueless kid."
"The very reason why you exist." He looked surprised for a moment, and I took my chance "Sorry for my reaction. I am aware what is the League's purpose, but... I can't picture myself being something the League should be worried of."
"Again, it isn't a matter of worryness, we just know what you are capable of, even if you aren't, and know what to do if Runaterra sees itself in danger."
"Runaterra...? Geez. I can rewind time, not control goverments and begin wars... I wish I had that power. They have godlike creatures under their supervision, man! And I'm capable of, what?"
"It isn't entirely about the power, also." I wonder if he is able to read my mind, or just have had this conversation too many times, with too many different people "The potential of some people is... Shurima's history, for example."
Seeing my confused face, he kindly smiled.
"You should look it up when given the opotunity. And you're just heading to the biggest library in the continent."
I was going to ask him if he knew Shurima's history, but he probably did, so I remained silent.
"Data hoarders, mister Ekko. We seek Runaterra's protection."
"I still don't like how 'Mister' sounds."
I looked in front of me, and noticed that the window was covered by some courtains. In fact, any view to outside was covered.
"The Academy of War is remarkably far for here. We use our abilities to reach there in much easier ways, but..."
"You can't let the others see it."
"Exactly."
Not too much time passed until the man opened the cortains, and revealed the view of a seriously big ancient looking building.
"That must be it." I said.
"Indeed."
The place was sort of a temple, with white gigantic (probably marmol) pilars holding the roof, leaving an amplious amount of space in the inside, extending to each side, at least a dozen of kilometers away.
For the sourroundings, sand filled the rest of the picture. It was desert whethever you looked, except for the Academy.
"Shurima's desert?" I wondered.
"We have arrived." I turned at the man who was already leaving the vehicle.
I blinked and looked at my watch, which told me it took us less than 13 minutes to arrive from Zaun to whoknows where.
"Magic." I said outloud, mimicking the Summoner's actions.
"Please follow me." He said, once next to me.
We used the only and one of the most pretentious collection of stairs I've ever seen. White as the pillars and walls of the building, they made an outstanding circle, clearly indicating that, in fact, you enter this way.
The inside didn't dissapoint either. The same style could be seen, the same pillars from outside being inside, but, tha place was practically a small city. I couldn't catch the entirety of the complex with just one glance even if I wanted to. Smaller buildings made their way in the inside, hiding what was beside them.
And that was just the main view of the center. On the left and right, the process repeated itself.
Markets, dorms, shops, pubs, even a gym... This was a self-sustained city, or town.
I stopped my tourist sight-seeing and continue to follow my escort, through a regular sized plaza, and finally a little cubicle on the right.
He pointed at it before saying: 'There'
"The others are waiting for you." He explained.
"You mean... the test?"
He nodded.
He wished me good luck, then left.
"'The others'. Huh, they sure talk like a giant cult. In a good way, I guess." I thought while opening the white door.
I left the room even more confused, or rather with more questions, that grew into frustration.
"They said they would call me later..." I mumbled to myself "But I can't leave the Academy, so they told me to walk around..."
"But this place is fucking huge."
"How are they gonna find me?"
I reluctantly remembered my conversation with the summoner on our way here, and how mostly everything he said was off-putting, weird, and overall strange.
"Magic..." I sighed.
I started to slowly walk around the plaza I just passed before taking the 'test'.
"And there's the test. They just... asked for whatever thing I could do. No, what word did they used? My 'abilities'. Geez, how dramatic that sounds..."
Obviously, I showed them Z-Drive, but they asked for more things,
"Like timey-wimey stuff didn't quite leave the impression already... Seriously though, why? The only thing I had in hand was the failed-time-capsule bomb, and the actual time capsule, what if I didn't have anything else? And then they go and say 'that's all'."
I became aware of my public rant, and decided to stop talking, or better yet, thinking, for the rest of the walk.
Suddenly I came towards a lonely bench, underneath the shadow of a nice tree behind it.
I approached and laid down in it.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it too much." I whispered while closing my eyes, in a desperate attempt to shut down the logic part of my brain.
"Anyway, better stay in one place so they can find me more easily." Was the last thing I thought before I tried, and failed, to take a nap
Author's Note:
Hiya.
Sorry for the delay, I'm currently working on another LoL fic on my spare time. Luckily the history for this is already 'done', for I have rewritten this maybe too many times over too many years. In fact, Ekko's test was originally to be narrated, but I felt it was just a boring showcase of his in-game abilities, so better leave it there and move into other things.
The Academy of War is, in fact, huge. I'm going to go deeper into this and the League later, because it's actually part of the plot.
Reviews help! Expect more jumps between Jinx's flashbacks and Ekko's present. Also Vi, eventually...
Until next chapter.