Cold, steel chains bit harshly into Akali's wrists and ankles, rousing her out of unconsciousness. Jerking her head in every which way to stay awake, Akali's pupils dilated under the dim light of the room, only to see that she was chained to the moldy, moist floor. Akali let out several hoarse and parched groans as she fought against the steel chains, pulling at different angles, but all she accomplished was furthering the raw and numb sensation in her wrists. Temporarily giving up, her wary eyes darted about her environment in hopes of deducing her location; her groggy and violently throbbing mind, however, refused to cooperate and process anything.
Where the hell was she and why was she here? A quick survey of the room told Akali that she indeed was being held prisoner, if the chains that securely bound her hadn't been evidence enough.
Why am I here? Have I done something heinously treacherous to land myself in jail? Even if such was the case, even the most poorly funded prison would've had better cells than the damp, rancid one she was being kept in.
The dire need to escape blossomed as it finally dawned on Akali that Zed had knocked her unconscious long before, and probably dragged her body to the Devil's lair. Akali could only hope that he had a hard time lugging her body as she did with his.
"Urgh!" Akali grumbled as she re-engaged herself in the battle against the bonds. "Budge, you stupid thing, budge!" Her annoyed puffs of exhalation echoed through the room. Instead of imagining all the kinds of pain Zed would inflict on her as her usual self would have normally done, Akali frantically pulled at the chains, losing hope with each second that the bonds stayed firmly attached to her limbs.
Why had Zed even brought her here to this dismal dungeon? Akali forced her mind to recall the foggy events of her capture. He had stated that he would break her, or something along those lines. Whatever torture Zed had planned for her, Akali would not give him the chance to even see her, because she was going to escape (somehow). Contrary to her prior strategy of trying to break through the chains forcefully, Akali scrutinized the lengths of them starting from her wrist to the ground, searching for any links that showed even the slightest sign of rusting. As each succeeding link passed her thorough inspection, hysteria began to build up. Desolately, Akali looked at the one remaining link, not liking her odds of her strategy. However, optimism surged within her as her eyes repeatedly processed the faintest coppery color of rust on the chain. Akali blinked her eyes hectically to ensure that her eyes weren't beguiling her.
Success! Akali's heart soared with confidence as a new drive to flee poured into her, and using all the strength she possessed, Akali snapped the rusty chain, setting her wrists free. Hurriedly, she secured the remaining length of the chain around her wrists and worked to break the cuffs at her feet. Often, her head would snap to the door at the faintest sound. Akali most certainly did not want to encounter Syndra or Zed. After she had peeled off the chain, Akali staggered to the bulky steel door that decided her freedom. Her fingers ran up and down the frigid door.
"It looks rather old," Akali murmured to herself, rapping the door lightly with her knuckles. It returned her knock by echoing a hollow sound, allowing Akali to estimate the thickness of the door. Her nose crinkled in confusion when she realized the door was extremely feeble, considering its steel-like material. With a swift but powerful kick right below the handle of the door, the door was ripped off its hinges and consequently crashed loudly against the ground. Hoping that no one had heard her, Akali poked her head through the doorway to scan the hallway for guards; oddly, there were none.
Zed knows that I'm capable of doing, yet he leaves me in a cell with a faulty steel door and no guards. Is he a fool? It was as if he wanted her to escape. The idea caused shivers as Akali speculated what Zed had prepared this time, and her vision zeroed back to the breached door.
Whoops, Akali thought smugly as she looked as far as she could into the distance. She couldn't see very far, but she could the taste the sweet victory of freedom on the very tip of her tongue. With slight and hesitant movements, each foot stepped forward, only to retract at the slightest sound. This cycle repeated as Akali roamed through the many halls of her prison. Her eyes darted about the darkest corners of the corridors, fully aware of the possibility that Zed was lurking in the shadows nearby. Faint flickers of the dim lights that were scattered across the ceiling made her head snap about quickly, but soon after she tried to even her breath and repeated mindlessly, "It's just a figment of my imagination. He is not here." Nevertheless, her rapid breaths portrayed the dread Akali felt, exploring the seemingly empty hall.
A breeze brushed against Akali's skin, leaving a trail of chills on her arms, and she sensed that her ephemeral freedom was officially over.
Akali forced her heavy eyelids to open, once again reawakening her. She was in an upgraded cell this time, tightly chained against the wall instead of the floor, which was actually quite pristine compared to the other cell's filthy ground. The immediate sight of Zed unmasked welcomed Akali, and had it not been for the chains that secured her, Zed's body would have been mutilated. Her limbs pulled against the chains, testing the strength of them.
"I see you have better chains now," Akali said with derision, rattling the chains to support her words. Zed offered a smile of wry amusement.
"It's nice to see you back in chains," Zed replied with just as much condescension. He brought his hand to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Akali's ear, very much liking the way she flinched at his touch.
"Where did you bring me?" Like an animal, Akali bared her teeth and lowly hissed. "Have you brought me here to toy with me?" A small grin remained plastered on Zed's face, only adding to her resolve to escape the chains and brutally assault him.
"I'm here to break you," he finally replied. His arms crossed against his chest as he reclined back against the wall opposite Akali. Her blood boiled at his repeated notion of "breaking her." Zed had infiltrated and wormed his way into her life twice, betrayed her twice, and left two conflicting scars on her heart that would claw at her heart for eternity; what more could he have possibly wanted?
"I am already broken," was all Akali could reply before staring intently at the chains. So engaged was she in wallowing in her misery that she failed to see Zed lunge at her with full speed until his body crashed into her own. The sheer impact forced Akali's back to slam against the brick wall roughly, eliciting cries of excruciating pain from her.
Zed didn't even give her time to recover from the collision before he wrapped his hand around Akali's neck, applying just enough pressure for Akali's countenance to turn pink. His voice became husky and feral, making Akali want to hide in fear, and spoke into her ear.
"In case you haven't noticed, my dear, I intentionally placed you in a dilapidated cell the first time." The suffocating chokehold around Akali's neck squeezed tighter, and Akali grew lightheaded as her brain grew increasingly deficient of oxygen. "Instead of being an obedient pet, you attempted to escape." Again, Zed used his pure towering frame to intimidate Akali by slamming her ruthlessly against the wall. "Escaping means you have hope to run from me. By the time I'm done breaking you, your will and desire for freedom will wither and fade to nothing. That fiery spirit of yours will cease to exist. Once I'm finished with you, your soul will be dead, just barely clinging to this world by your frail shell of a body." His vehement words and vice grip on Akali's neck left her breathless, and a satisfied Zed loosened his hold and watched Akali crumble to pieces pathetically against the chains. As her lungs greedily sucked in oxygen, Akali twisted her neck this way and that to survey the damage. That's definitely bruised.
"You're a sick and demented bastard, you know that?" Akali finally whispered after stabilizing her body's flow of oxygen.
Zed gave a few chuckles. "So I've been told on many occasions." He gave Akali his back and proceeded out the door.
"Wait!" Akali cried, rattling the chains to catch Zed's attention. He ceased his steps in response to her cacophonous caterwauling. "Are you at least going to give me food and water?"
He stood still, wisely pondering his answer. "Yes," he called out behind him. Relief washed through Akali, but melted as instantaneously as it arrived when a few more disheartening words left Zed's lips. "Provided you are a good pet, that is," he said, before banging the cell door behind him.
Akali hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until an intense ache in her shoulders roused her from her erratic doze. Akali did her best to stretch her arms under the restriction of the binds, only to be interrupted by a low growl emanating from her stomach. Her eyes shot down to her stomach, which was practically wordlessly screaming at her for sustenance. Even though she hated having to succumb to his domineering self, Akali hollered, "Zed?!"
Ominous footsteps approached finally before stopping. The door to her cell swung open to reveal the person she had called for. Zed's crimson eyes bore into her own hazel ones and waited for Akali to speak, but her food-deprived stomach did the talking for her.
"I take it that you're hungry?" Zed asked a profusely blushing Akali. Her head dipped modestly to nod. A pompous smirk formed on Zed's face, making Akali wish that she had rather starved than talked to him. "What did I tell you dear?" Despite her ravenous stomach, Akali glared at Zed, provoking an even bigger smirk.
"What must I do to get food?" Akali boldly questioned, trying to talk over the demanding sounds her stomach made.
Without the slightest hesitation, Zed answered, "Give in." Akali stared at him intently, feeling sick to her stomach when all she saw was sadistic amusement in his expression.
It was this look that Zed had sported that made Akali bark out abrasively, "I will never willingly be with you ever. You can take your sick satisfaction of torturing me and shove it up your-" Zed cupped his hand over Akali's mouth and prevented Akali from finishing her sentence, and Akali earnestly fought the temptation to lick his inner palm.
"Now, now. Let's not get so worked up over little matters like these," he said, enjoying the brief moment of silence. "You won't give up now, but soon you will. I can assure you of that much." His soulless, empty red eyes seemed to stare right through her, and Akali experienced the feeling she hated more than anything in the world: vulnerability. "Give it time, dear, and you will succumb to me." After giving her a chaste kiss to her cold lips, Zed turned his heel to the door and left Akali to simmer with her still ravenous stomach. In the frigid and damp cellar, a flustered Akali regrettably noticed the warmth of Zed's lips. He was absolutely sick to kiss her like that, especially after everything she had suffered by his hand. If the kiss had been meant to intimidate her, undeniably it had done its job, but it also invigorated her even more.
Akali wasn't going to give up just yet. She would get out, by any means necessary, and figure out Zed and Syndra's affiliation with the temple library. But for now, Akali was helplessly chained to the wall, and would most likely continue to be for the foreseeable future.
All she could do was pray to herself, and hope that somewhere, someone on this earth could hear her pleas. Shen, Kennen, anyone, please help me.
The incessant thud of Shen's heavy footsteps turned the heads of passersby as they walked past his door, but Shen paid no attention to them as he continued to pace frantically in his office. "She's been missing for a long time, Kennen," Shen said on the verge of yelling at the top of his lungs. Akali hadn't shown up at the hospital for a week, right after she had promised that she would faithfully go to work daily. To cope with his anxiety, Shen had created a routine of pacing in his office every day, with a similarly jittery yordle joining him by jumping in his seat. "She hasn't answered her phone for days, her mail has been piling up, and the neighbors haven't seen her leave or enter the house in days. Where could she be?!"
He continued to walk about and talk. "There were no signs of intrusion in her house, and nothing was stolen." Except for Akali, Shen morbidly thought. "We know she didn't run away because she didn't bring any belongings with her, so the only possible explanation is that she was kidnapped," he deduced. "But who is the perpetrator? Where is she right now?"
Realizing that his temporary plan of marching nervously was doing more harm than good, Shen plopped down on a chair roughly, not noticing the way it screeched discordantly as it scraped the floor, and buried his head into the palms of his hands.
"I don't know what to do anymore. What should I do, Kennen?" he whispered, crushed.
Akali was gone without a trace, and he could feel that somewhere, she was calling to him for help. But how could he help when he hadn't the faintest inkling of her whereabouts?
"I'll tell you what you shouldn't do!" Kennen exclaimed in his chair. "If we are to find Akali, we must not be blinded by grief and despair! We will find her, Shen, and bring her home! We must not let the evil shadows of darkness consume our minds! I have faith that wherever Akali is, she is fighting and trying to escape to come home. We will find her, Shen. We must have conviction!"
Shen said nothing as he let Kennen's words sink in. "Shadows…" Shen drawled, looking up to face Kennen. "You said shadows." A new feeling nestled itself into Shen's heart as he experienced an epiphany, one of successful enlightenment.
"The intruder who kidnapped Akali, assuming that she was kidnapped, didn't have trouble breaking into her house, as evident by the lack of broken doors and windows. Furthermore, the intruder didn't come for any material possessions; the perpetrator came for Akali herself." The pieces of evidence discovered in Akali's house placed themselves together to form a whole puzzle as Shen made sense of the entire situation. He began to pace around with his arms crossed behind his back, like a detective, noting the way Kennen's face began to light up with insight.
"There are only two people who would show interest in Akali to the point of arranging her kidnapping." The resolute conclusion of Shen's words left Kennen in a petrified daze. "Zed," he growled lowly, narrowing his eyes with hatred.
But Shen wasn't quite yet finished with his surmise. "More specifically, I believe that Zed and Syndra both planned Akali's kidnapping to send a message, and Zed's manipulation of the shadows could have easily granted him access to Akali's house without physically breaking in. They want to unnerve us and leave us shaking as we wait for them to take action. What they will do next, I am still unsure." Inhaling a deep breath after his lengthy train of thought, Shen paused to let Kennen fully understand the severity of the situation, and awaited any reflection that the yordle had to offer. The yordle conspicuously remained still, a spectacle no one had ever seen and spontaneously seemed mesmerized with a dark spot on the floor
"Kennen...?" If Kennen was in deep thought, Shen most certainly did not want to interrupt him, so he gently seated himself into his chair. It was only after five minutes when Kennen's passiveness began to truly alarm Shen that he called out his name again, this time more urgently.
Saying the yordle's name unleashed the true ball of energy within, because upon hearing his name, Kennen jumped to his feet and began to fly in the office with lightning speed.
"I know, Shen! I know!" The frightening speed at which Kennen accelerated was enough to form a miniature tornado, but Shen, already familiar with the yordle's spirit, let Kennen exhaust his inner supply of fuel. Kennen finally dropped to the floor after quite some time, completely empty of his previous energy, and explained the reason for his sudden burst of stamina.
"The…book!" It was hard to decipher the words that came out of the yordle's mouth due to his heavy breathing, but Shen somehow understood his utterance.
"The book?" Shen repeated hesitantly to confirm his words. Once he realized what Kennen had attempted to say, Shen wanted to slap himself in the face for failing to notice the obvious. "Of course!" he shouted in a way that Archimedes would yell, "Eureka!"
"That is our next clue! That book will foil all of Zed's schemes, and maybe it will give us hints as to where Akali is." Altogether drained from his "eruption" of energy, all Kennen was able to do was nod his head furiously.
The world seemed to favor Shen in that exact moment because it was at this time that the phone sitting on Shen's desk rang. "Hello?" Shen answered immediately. He said a few words, murmured here and there, and gasped silently to himself before thanking the caller. Immediately after the phone was slammed against the telephone rack, the bones in Shen's body seemed to dissolve as he dejectedly slumped in his chair. Kennen stared at him from the ground, his eyes doing all the talking as they curiously questioned Shen's caller.
His voice was low when he spoke, but Kennen could hear the gravity of Shen's words. "That was the police," he said, refusing to look up. Shen sighed as if it could soothe his body, soul, and mind. "They discovered which book Zed stole."
"What book is it?" the yordle asked, albeit falteringly.
"The Serpens Praefortis." The room fell silent; even the birds that had been violently chirping silenced upon the whispering of the two words. The faint hums of the hospital seemed to be nonexistent, and the world outside the room seemed to stop turning. Unable to move, Kennen lay on the floor, assessing Zed's madness for even going near the book.
When he was finally able to reply, Kennen winced at the pain of speaking due to his suddenly dry throat. "He can't seriously hope to accomplish that. I was told all my life that it was just a myth."
"It matters not whether Zed and Syndra are capable of bringing the contents of that myth to life," Shen said solemnly. "What matters now is that they, in following the perilous instructions of the book, are now legitimate threats to the world. The Kinkou masters are doing all they can to research and stop Zed and Syndra, and the police are scouring all known areas for the pair."
Somehow, Shen found it within himself to stand up and look out the window in his office. Looking out from his window gave him the entire city, unfolded beneath his very scrutiny, and it offered him the faintest feeling of power, something he had yet at the same time lacked every time he was pitted against Zed. But this wasn't the training room, in which losing meant nothing. Now that the whole world was endangered, losing was not a choice because losing meant the end of the world.
"When it comes time, Kennen, would you be willing to lay down your life for the sake of this world?" Shen's question was met with an uncompromising, "Yes."
"As am I," Shen said, looking down upon the city and the pedestrian people it contained who had no idea what Zed had in store for them. "Whatever happens, whether we live or not, is not an issue. Zed and Syndra must not see the great monster that used to reign the world, let alone control it."
Shen had no qualms that Kennen didn't understand his words. For the first time in years, Shen felt genuine fear, and it made itself comfortable in the deepest bottoms of his heart.
Despite his ever growing dread for the uncertain future, Shen boldly completed his sentence. "Whatever happens, Zed and Syndra must not summon the Baron Nashor."
Dun, dun, dun! Sorry this took so long to write, but I only write when I have inspiration, not just to complete the story for the sake of completing it. I'm a fairly strange person. C: I also apologize for how short this chapter is, but as this year is approaching to an end, my schedule is just starting to pile up.
Regarding the pair, I know there's lots of angst between Akali and Zed right now, but oh boy, it's just going to keep growing like no tomorrow. As for Shen and Kennen and how they'll find Akali (if they even do), we'll just have to see what happens. C;
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews do help me improve my writing, so if you want to, feel free to comment. Favorite, fan, ya da ya da ya da, and most importantly, have a great sunshiny day. c: