Jericho I
The situation escalated without warning. The massive monster that flew over the battlefield and obliterated both armies with fire put to hold most of our stratagems. Unconfirmed reports of the Demacian castle of Wrenwall somehow having brought down the beast made me rethink our opponent's martial ability. This Demacian prince might be a worthy adversary after all. Now, if only my generals could stop squabbling like a clowder of unruly cats, then we could actually set a course of action.
"The Gates of Mourning lie broken before us! You would have us cower behind our walls while the enemy is weakened?" General Griffith Goode of the Trifarian legion, a strong Noxian who believed in the Rule of Might.
"That battlefield is still littered with the ashes of our fallen! The beast that flew by did not discriminate between Demacian and Noxian! We can't just charge in unthinkingly. We're not Demacians." General Wei Fong of the Redblades, an Ionian who bent the knee at the first invasion and proved himself to be a worthwhile investment.
"We can scramble the warbarques and attack from the western coast." One of the newer admirals pitched in, earning the ire of the only rational general I have in the room.
"Saltpetre isn't cheap enough to throw into useless endeavors." Wei Fong chided him. "Not to mention our politics with the new Shuriman Empire is shaky enough as it is."
"Then we put those sandrats under the axe and ask them if they are Noxian or if they are dead!" Goode barked. "Drag the rest of the Legion back south from that useless campaign in the north and sail for Shurima!"
That was an unacceptable course of action, mainly for one reason.
"Then go and tell General Darius, to his face like a proper Noxian, that you're commandeering the forces at his command. Let's see how well that goes." I tell him, keeping my voice even with just a touch of mockery. Goode blanched and quieted down.
"They do have a point, Grand General. We still have territories in Shurima and it won't be long before their so-called 'God-Emperor' decides to bring them into their empire, by force or by diplomacy."
Darius' strange campaign into the frozen wastelands have taken up half the Trifarian Legion and took up a good chunk of resources to supply its supporting navy. The coastal territories we still have in Ionia are a constant drain in our saltpetre reserves with how a permanent naval unit has to be stationed there to defend it from inland attackers and Bilgewater pirates. The Demacian conflict has reached a lull thanks to the monstrosity that flew past but it won't be long before they start yelling about steel and sword and Demacia and all that rot again. Adding another front to the ongoing war is unreasonable.
Besides, expansion was never truly the end goal. The path that has been laid in front of me since that fateful day within the Bastion. The path that led to the formation of the Trifarix, to the constant battles that Noxus has been waging ever since Darkwill's death to keep Noxian blades sharp and their wits sharper, the path that led to my keeping the Black Rose afloat but within arm's reach.
A dark future awaits this world, and we need a prepared, bloodied and united Noxus to save it. No matter the cost.
A messenger slammed open the door.
"Grand General! A message from Shurima! It's a declaration of war for attacking a nation that's currently hosting one of their important ambassadors!"
Right now, that cost is a massive headache.
Lissandra I
The dreams were terrifying, horrible visions of cold and darkness. Visions of my sisters, blaming me for their fates, for sentencing them to a fate worse than death, trapped in ice with only horrifying creatures from beyond the world as their companions. But the dreams were familiar, my constant companions for centuries. I wanted to continue my silence, to remain in the shadows and watch the world around me as nothing but an observer. The people of Freljord wouldn't let me.
Even now, they believed in the foolish myth that my sisters would be reborn to unit the tribes of Freljord under one banner. It was foolish, wishful thinking but the annoying light of hope wouldn't leave me. Could my sisters truly be born again?
This hope was tainted with despair, for my sisters' rebirth would mean that the True Ice was melting and the horrors that lay beneath, the horrors that I've sacrificed the lives of my sisters, my followers and our allies to seal would be unleashed upon the world and my sisters and I would be forced to keep to the deal I made in the height of arrogance: Immortality for eternal servitude.
Even if my sisters truly keep reincarnating over and over again, I would slay them without hesitation if it meant keeping them from a fate of serving twisted creatures from the beyond. If it meant that they would be able to rest in peace instead of paying for my foolishness. If it meant keeping those things from breaking free and destroying this world.
And so, I wake.
Avarosa's reincarnation, an idealist who shared Avarosa's vision for a peaceful and united Freljord.
Serylda's reincarnation, a warmonger who wages war both within Freljord and with the mortals from the south.
To save this world, they must die.
====
Kadira III
"This is not the tower you are looking for."
The old man that greeted us was strange. Almost as strange as the tower near the eastern edge of the Sai Kahleek, surrounded by lush vegetation that should not have been anywhere near this arid place and protected by a magical barrier that it took Lord Nasus several days to dismantle. Even the Shuriman soldiers and Piltover explorers that accompanied us were taken aback. Though the latter seems to be getting more and more excited. The old man's manner of greeting was strange as well, reminding me of the time when Lord Renekton managed to confuse a bunch of bandits by saying that we were not the 'droids' they were looking for. Until that confusion turned to utter terror at the sight of Lord Renekton's teeth, I guess.
"What is this place? I've never seen architecture like this?" Laxus, the archaeologist from Piltover mumbled excitedly and I could understand the feeling. The tower was constructed from clockwork and steel peppered with mystically floating stones and bricks. It gave off an ethereal feeling, as though we have left our world and entered a new one. Laxus' wife, Sola, was using their experimental image capturing device, a camera, to record our surroundings.
"This is a place of meditation and study, my good man! Now, I was not expecting visitors and this place can get rather dangerous so I would appreciate it if you leave."
The old man was still smiling genially but even I could feel the humming of magic in the air. The machete at my back was shivering and even the soldiers started pulling out their weapons and glaring at the old man warily. Lord Nasus spoke up for the first time.
"This is temporal magic. You are messing with forces beyond your ken, old one." He rumbled and I could almost hear Lord Renekton's mocking voice in the back of my head saying 'Well, your ken can kiss my barbie.'
"Wait, wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff?" I piped up and both old mages turned to me. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks and managed to mumble.
"That's how Lord Renekton put it when he was telling us about the Prisoner of Azkaban." Lord Nasus cocked his head curiously, as he was oft to do whenever those of us who spent a lot of time with Lord Renekton spoke about him. He must miss his brother dearly. I couldn't imagine not seeing Zaifa and the rest for millenia. The old man just gave me a hard stare and I could feel the magic gaining weight, as though judging me for daring to exist.
"You're not supposed to be here. You were not supposed to learn under the Butcher of the Sands. Something's gone wrong. This is not the same timeline." He started mumbling about "time paradoxes" and "temporal fluxes", his confusing words eerily reminding me of Lord Renekton in some of his weird phases. It was kind of comforting honestly.
"Tell me, has the Void been active recently?" He finally turned to us, his wrinkly face still surprisingly intimidating. The Void? That's what Lord Renekton called the xer'sai, wasn't it? Voidlings?
"I do not claim to know about such things, old one. Our goal is to find the Sentinels of Light and warn them of the dangers to come."
The old man's eyes widened before narrowing again, as though he was peering through the air into something else.
"Dangers to come, yes. Dangers that are already here. Dangers that have always been. Yes, yes, I see now. The Void isn't the only threat. To save Icathia, these dangers must be stopped, yes?"
Icathia?
"Right, right, come in, come in." The old man started floating back to the tower, beckoning us to follow him. Slabs of stone started floating behind him, forming an eerie set of stairs suspended in midair by nothing. "We have biologists, researchers, mages and even golems, can you believe it? Some soldiers and archaeologists would help."
He turned back to us, a small smile easily seen through his thick white beard.
"To save the world, we must study, yes?"
====
Luxanna IV
Life in High Silvermere have inoculated me to looking down from great heights. The idea of riding one of the Demacian raptors into battle was a common ambition for most of my childhood friends and if I didn't need to remain in control of myself for the vast majority of my childhood, I would probably be one of those. A small smile tugged at my lips as I pondered the fact that none of those flights of fancy ever came close to what my life is right now, staring down at the massive continent from atop the highest peak of Demacia, the cities and castles looking nothing more than brilliant specks of white in a green and grey canvas.
"You can barely see it from here but across the sea is the world's tallest mountain, said to reach the stars themselves." Teacher continued telling Galio and I of the geography outside Demacia. I've heard of places where magic was revered and praised, but I've never known any of the details, unless you count one of Aunt Tianna's bodice rippers as what Teacher would have called 'a relevant source of information'. Mount Targon is famed even in Demacia but it was only through Teacher's tales that I found out about how the gods themselves bestowed powers on mortals there, of Atreus who was possessed by a god but was struck a mortal blow by a godlsaying weapon leaving on a mortal with the god's powers, of cults that worship the sun and the moon fighting each other in a civil war to determine 'which sister is best waifu', and even of Teacher's home, where their ruler granted his loyal subjects the ability to shape sand itself.
"Touch the stars? People can do that?" Galio boomed, his loud voice echoing in the silence of the sky and his sudden motion almost throwing me off his shoulder. Teacher's now familiar rumbling laugh erupted from his throat. I like to think that our presence is helping him. He always seemed lighter when Galio and I are around, as though solitude was an unacceptable state of existence for him.
"Mount Targon is a strange place. My wibbly wobbly timey wimey lore is rusty but I'm pretty sure The Protector is still waiting for Taric to climb it, touch the stars and be impregnated by the power of fabulosity? Fabulousness?"
Taric was a Demacian name. A Demacian climbing the fabled mountain only meant one thing.
"The Crown of Stone?" I gasped out. A death sentence, given to those who have committed a great crime against Demacia. A forced exile, never allowed to return home unless one brings proof of having reached Mount Targon's peak. Few take this path, most of those sentenced to it eke out lives elsewhere, knowing that they will never again be able to return to Demacia. Not even mages are subject to it, unless they do something completely unforgivable.
I chose to push the thought that insubordination was unforgivable in the rigid Demacian laws and if it weren't for the Crownguard name, I may have been sentenced to it already.
"Mount Targon is our best bet against the Ruination and the Void. Though I don't think hasagi can reach the Shadow Isles from Mount Targon."
The Ruination and the Void. I don't know the details but Teacher seemed to think that they are the greatest threats in this world. That everything he was teaching Galio and I was to prepare us for the crisis to come. Everything he's done so far was always something to help prevent that dark future.
"Bilgewater is the most vulnerable, of course." He continued musing, seemingly having forgotten that we were listening to him, absorbing any nuggets of information that may help us defend Demacia from this "Ruination". It's actually starting to sound more and more terrifying. "Other than the tentacle hentai priestesses, they have nothing. Noxus has plenty of mages, Ionian magic works if Karma is any indication, or maybe it's just her special brand of split personality? Can Draven do a Gilgamesh against being ruined?"
I know of Noxus and Ionia, but the other words mean nothing to me. Who are Draven and Gilgamesh and why are they important?
"Right, Plan A is to talk to the king, use any goodwill we got from beating the crap out of Dragon MILF and ask them to start preparing Sunsteel to export to Bilgewater when the time comes."
I blinked.
"Sunsteel?"
Rows of razor sharp teeth that can rip a man's arm from his shoulder grinned at me and instead of fear, I felt a strange fluttering in my stomach.
"Luxanna Crownguard. Will you help me save the world as the first of my Star Guardians?"
There was really only one way I can answer that, was there?
"Yes."
I didn't really know what a lot of it meant, but I do know that it was a momentous occasion. That I, a Crownguard, has just decided to fight for a cause that's not just for Demacia. We shared a moment of somber silence.
"Hahaha! Saving the world means saving Demacia! I will be a Star Guardian too!" Galio broke the silence with his usual aplomb and I couldn't help but giggle.
"I don't think you can wear a skirt as well as Ezreal does. I don't think anyone can, actually." Teacher's tone seemed amused and strangely approving of the idea of this Ezreal girl in a skirt.
Who is Ezreal and why do I want to kill her?
"Galio, we need an impressive entrance into the City of Demacia itself."
Galio seemed excited.
"It has to be a dramatic entrance, befitting of a conquering hero."
Galio seemed even more excited.
"Then you have to shout I AM HERE in your loudest voice."
The statue we were sitting on started rumbling in excitement and I hurried to grab hold of one his pauldrons in case he took off without warning. Teacher must have seen my frightened expression.
"Don't worry, Elsa. We're just going to talk to royalty. What could go wrong?"
====
Barrett Bonus Scene
Why did everything go wrong?