Chapter 1: The Guardians Rise Again
"Luxanna, you are going to be late. Get up!" Her mother's voice jolted Lux out of her sleep. She looked around her room for a brief moment then she turned to her clock. One look sent her into a panic. Lux sprang out of bed, quickly changed, and ran down the stairs into the kitchen. Her older brother, Garen sat there and was just shaking his head. While Lux wasn't always as late or clumsy as he always made out, she did have a habit of not waking up in the morning.
"Finally decided to wake up?" Lux just have him a look that sent him rolling his eyes and back to his breakfast.
"Lux please eat something. I don't want another call from school saying you fell asleep in class again."
"Fine." Lux regretfully grabbed a few slices of toast while she just continued to walk around. Today was going to be a a great day because her class would be traveling to the Great Library of Runeterra. A library founded by the Voidling Vel'Koz, who was locked out of the Void when the portal collapsed. After the collapse, he didn't join the rest of the voidlings. Instead, he wandered Runeterra for years in his search for knowledge, eventually finding beauty in the world, he stayed and continued his experiments but changed his methods drastically. Eventually, he founded the Library and subsequent museum to share his knowledge. It took time, but eventually Runeterra came to like the "All Seeing Eye" as he became known.
"Lux let's go." Garen's voice shook Lux from her thoughts as her older brother was holding his car keys. "I'll give you a lift." She just smiled, grabbed her lunch and her backpack, and quickly followed her brother into his car.
"Sis, I worry about you at times." Garen said as they moved away from the house.
"I guess I'm not a morning person. Why does school have to start so early? I've never understood that. Everyone for the first hour seems so asleep. Well mostly."
"Your guess is as good as mine. Look there's Amy." Lux looked up to see her best friend and rolled down the window.
"Hey Amy, you want a lift?" Lux said as Garen stopped the car next to her.
"Sure. You know your brother is such a gentlemen."
"Please don't further inflate his already oversized ego. It just might burst."
"I can just let you out here and you can run the rest of the way." He replied.
"No we are good." Garen just rolled his eyes and allowed himself a laugh as he pulled back into the road. While the girls normally walked to school, when Lux was this late, Garen often drove her since his school was nearby. As they drove, he tuned out talk between the two.
"You study for the test today?"
"Test?! I thought there was a field trip today?"
"I'm just teasing you silly. You know this is what I've been looking forward to for months. This library is huge and we just get to wander around it for hours. I'm sure they will have an assignment for us to do, but I'm also sure that we will have time to see a lot."
"Yeah. This place is amazing. He brought me along when he went."
"At our mother's insistence." Garen said, with a note of resentment in his voice.
"Still it was amazing. I did hear that the new exhibit on the Star Guardians finally opened so that will be amazing."
"Girls we're here." Garen interrupted as he pulled up to Grove Middle School. Lux and Amy quickly got out.
"Thanks." Lux said as she sprinted into the building. Garen rolled his eyes again and set off towards his own school. The classroom was already packed with their classmates as they both entered. Their teacher, Ms. Teller, stood at the door.
"Well not late. Your brother drove you?"
"Yes Ms. T. I'm sure that I would have made it anyway."
"Knowing you, probably after sprinting. Sit down." Lux and Amy quickly took their seats. "Ok class, today is the biggest trip of the year. The Great Library is one of the wonders of Runeterra. It was founded by Vel'Koz of the Void, and is currently managed by Nasus, the great Keeper. You will have an assignment and if I hear one word about it, you will have two. You all knew this was coming. So pass these sheets around. There are 20 questions, but you only have to do 15 of them. The other five are extra credit. Now there's the bus so let's go class."
The class of roughly 30 filed out and down the stairs to the waiting bus. The trip to the museum was extremely talkative as each small group planned out their day. Lux and Amy teamed up with classmates Justin and Selena for their walk around. They carefully planned out their route to try and see everything before they had to return. Seeing some of the things was probably out of the question, but the answers to the questions were relatively simple and some of them even were filled out before they even arrived. Lux's past experience on the trip was a benefit, but there were still those that they needed to find.
"Ok class. We are here. Again, you are free to explore around on your own or you can stick with me." Ms. T laughed t her own joke. "I know none of you will do that. I will be walking around myself. If you finish early, then keep a hold of your papers since I will not collect them until we get back here. Remember we have to leave at 3:15. If you aren't back by that point, you will be paged so please don't give me a reason to completely embarrass you."
The whole class got a laugh at that one and they went off the bus and into the vast building complex.
In his office, Vel'Koz sensed something he hadn't sensed in while. Turning away from his computer, he looked down to see a group of school students running up the front steps. He got a look at all of them and he knew that at least one Guardian had come into her own. Now he just had to find her. Quickly floating out of his office, he decided that today was a day that might bring hope again. And either way, he needed to stretch his tentacles. Might as well hover around while he took a break from his latest research project.
On Runeterra's moon, another person was carefully watching the planet. Malzahar carefully studied the planet that had once been his home. The amount of summoner magic that was used to protect the planet was impressive, and would pose a massive problem. He would need a vast amount of energy to penetrate, something he could no longer conjure up. He would have to harvest energy from the planet and then corrupt it in order for it to be useful. Something that wouldn't be easy or fast, but it had to be done.
Looking over his numerous minions, he then turned to his five most powerful, Cho'Gath, Kha'Zix, Kog'Maw, Rek'Sai, and the Herald. Each powerful in its own right. Malzahar also had an ally on the planet but she had been forced into hiding because of her practice of dark magic, which was an attempt to disguise void magic. It failed horribly and his agent barely escaped with her life. Stripped of the few options available, he resolved to work with the energy plan for now until something better came along.
"Kha'Zix. Come forward." The giant bug with claws made its presence known.
"What is your will oh great prophet?"
"Take a voidling down to the planet and see if the Guardians are still around. I imagine they are not after that last fight, but we must be careful. And be weary. If you get caught, I might not be able to get you out. I cannot afford to lose what little void energy we have left. Our portals on other worlds are collapsing and if we cannot reopen this one, we have little hope. You must be silent and deadly."
"Of course oh great prophet. I will take one of my prized minion, and we will start collecting the energy we need. The people of this world still freely practice magic and expend energy on many fruitless things. Finding the energy won't be difficult."
"Also see if you can determine what became of Vel'Koz. But that is your secondary mission. I can still sense his presence, but he is hiding from me. And hiding something else. I do not have the strength to penetrate his veil for now, but eventually I will. Now go."
"Yes oh great prophet." The bug carefully moved out of the grand hall and was followed by an intimidating minion. Eventually reaching a portal, he focused his energy and managed to find a small hole in the summoner magic and slipped through.
On the surface, Vel'Koz felt a disturbance as he felt new void energy enter the complicated magic streams of Runeterra. Quickly floating through the museum, he found Nasus. Turning to see his boss, Nasus quickly excused himself from the group he was talking too and walked over. "What is it?"
"New void energy. I'm afraid our time has run out. I can feel Malzahar's presence. He can sense me, but not what I do, or where I am. For now. As you know, the summoner magic had holes in it for a reason, so that when they returned, we would know. However, we have yet to identify any of the new Guardians that are on this world and we cannot contact any other teams. I sensed one however arrived today in a group of school students. Try to see if you can get names and I will try and sense which one it is. Dorcha and Solas will have to guide the new one until they are ready to speak to the rest of us. I hope we are not too late."
Lux and her friends had finished their assignment before lunch and after looking at more exhibits, they moved into the new Star Guardian exhibit. Detailing the struggles of the Guardians and the short lived Void War, and their heroic sacrifices. Lux was drawn to the remaining artifacts while the rest were drawn to the stories and everything else. She couldn't help feel something about them that seemed familiar. But she shook it off as just her natural study of these heroines.
Vel'Koz had just about given up hope on finding that person he felt earlier, but as he rounded to the Star Guardian exhibit, he felt it strongly. Looking in, he did see the 4 teenagers, but one was separate from the group and closely examining the artifacts that were recovered after that last battle. Her natural abilities seemed be drawing them to her, and it wasn't lost on him. Vel'Koz decided to confirm his hypothesis but he had to do so carefully. Floating in he carefully made his presence known.
"Enjoying yourselves?" He immediately noticed the anxiety from the three, but the other was calm, almost peaceful. She reached out her hand, which he took. "I'll take that as a yes. It took many years to get permission for this exhibit and then the items to display in it. So I tend to be drawn here to see if everything is ok."
"It is. I can't believe this is all that is left though."
"There is more, Ms.?"
"Lux."
"Lux. But much if it has no relevance to the exhibit. Instead, it is more documents and wild theories. Things that I didn't feel had a place here. Most people do not care about such things. I have placed them in the Library for those who wish to read them, but I kept the artifacts here so people can see them. Most people who visit here seem to be drawn to these things so it seemed appropriate. Visually they are appealing and more interesting than stories but I have thought about putting some things here, but that is a topic for another day. Oh, you must forgive me. I tend to ramble. An old habit I never lost. Please do enjoy your stay."
The other three had calmed down and took his tentacle as he outstretched it to say goodbye. It was probably more shock than anything. As he turned to leave, Vel was careful get one last look Lux before departing. 'She's the one.' He thought to himself as he quickly made his way to the hidden tower in the heart of the library.
The Great Library had been build up over the course of the last century. It also contained a secret tower at its core. To the outside, it was Vel'Koz's residence, but in reality, he never entered the tower unless he had reason to. He actually lived in a rather large apartment on top of the museum. Why people seem to forget that is beyond him, but then his apartment blends in so naturally with the structure of the Library, that many forget about it after a short time.
He carefully entered the tower through a secret entrance in the Library and found the two he was looking for. The two creatures, which resembled the ever popular poros, named Dorcha and Solas. They were both observing the library looking for something. "Looking for something you two?"
They both pivoted on their small feet. "Well did you find the one?"
"Yes. A teenage girl named Lux. Which I assume is short for Luxanna. The only school today was Grove Middle School. I assume you can find her then?"
"Yes. We will set out immediately." The two hopped down and quickly speed out of the room. Even though they were poros, or at least resembled them, they were remarkably fast. Vel'Koz chucked to himself as he carefully went back the way he came and upon reaching the Library, found Lux studying the documents he indicated earlier with a curious expression on her face. He decided to not make his presence known this time however and carefully retreated to his office. Not before stopping by the circulation desk to tell them that if Lux wanted to check anything out, even reference, it was ok.
Lux for her part, didn't notice Vel'Koz carefully slip by as she pursued the documents and theories that he indicated. She wanted to take some of the volumes home for future study, but being reference books, she knew she couldn't, but there was no harm in asking. She came up to the circulation desk with the books to at least try.
"Can I help you miss?"
"I hope so. I noticed these books are reference, but is there a way I could check them out for a day? I can get them back tomorrow. I just don't have enough time to finish reading."
"Well they are reference books, but you can have them for a day. They will need to be back tomorrow before the Library close. Now do you have a school ID?"
Lux quickly rummaged around in her bag for her ID before handing it over. She was so happy that they would allow her to take these works home, even if it was just for a day. After they had run them through the check out process, she carefully placed them in her bag before checking her watch and realizing that she was going to be late, sprinted towards the main doors for the museum. Lux barely made it before her teacher.
"Ok class, now back on the bus. Let's go home." Lux carefully made her way on to the bus giving her assignment over in the process. On the ride home, it seems that everyone wanted to ask about their encounter with Vel'Koz, but she barely listened or responded, engrossed in the volumes she had little time to read. The trip home was relatively uneventful.
Arriving back at Grove, they all disembarked and as the day was already over, many just started walking home. Lux grabbed the books and along with Amy, headed towards the arcade. The two neglected to notice the poros tailing them. The two spent about an hour at the arcade before heading towards the shop Amy's mom owned where she sold jewelry. Inside it seemed like an average day. "Well there you two are, have a good day at the Museum?"
"Yeah we did mom. We even met Vel'Koz."
"Well he usually doesn't come out to the museum so consider that a treat. I hope you both enjoyed yourself. Amy you might want to change we have get going soon. Lux, as always the option to come is open."
"Thanks, but I have to get home before then. Nice seeing you again. See you tomorrow Amy." Lux quickly exited and hurried home.
"Have a good day honey?" Lux's mom asked as she arrived home.
"Yes. I'm going to be late tomorrow. They let me borrow a few books and I have to get them back tomorrow." Her mother just rolled her eyes.
"Lux you have to learn that you can't possibly read everything about everything."
"I can try" Lux said as she hurried up to her room.
"That's what I was afraid you would say. I guess I won't be seeing her for dinner then." She breathed a sigh her daughter disappeared up the stairs.
Lux threw her bag onto her bed and after changing out of her school uniform and into something more casual, she just sat at her desk with her headphones on listening to the latest popstar, and kept reading. She didn't even notice the two poros jump into her room from the tree outside. Dorcha and Solas carefully looked at their new charge, and after an hour of sitting on her bed, Lux finally removed her headset and turned around.
"What the…? Where did these two come from?" She asked as she first took notice of the two. "Well at least you two are cute, but how did you get in here?"
"Well from that tree." Lux stumbled back and back into her chair as Solas talked. Lux was not expecting that.
"Ok that did not just talk. Poros cannot talk. I've been studying too hard. I guess I need another trip to the mall."
"No you aren't imagining it. We can both talk and we are here to talk to you. Please don't call anyone it will just make this whole thing awkward." Dorcha talked this time. Lux just nodded but didn't say anything as she was still in shock.
"We would normally to this differently, but we can't. What do you know of the last team of Star Guardians on this planet?"
"That they all perished during that last fight when the portal was destroyed. I just saw the artifacts they recovered today. Oh what's going on?"
"Well Star Guardian powers, once they exit a person, for whatever reason, usually transfer to another, but since the summoner magics used to keep Runeterra safe from the Void prevented that transfer, the powers remained here. Instead they found individuals could take on their power. One of them happens to be you."
"Normally, we would approach this more gently, and normally you would have the option to refuse, but we are out of time. Guardians are rarely even chosen by drafting, but the powers in this case came to rest in you for whatever reason Lux." The look on her face was becoming even more panicked as Dorcha continued. "The First Star saw to the creation of the universe, and the Star Guardians were to defend that universe. You have been chosen to continue that legacy here." Solas jumped and a small book appeared.
"Here is a contact. Guardians are required to sign, but since you are almost in a state of panic right now, please just listen. Normally if someone refused, we could transfer the power elsewhere, but we don't have that option. We can't even contact the rest of the teams to get help. Right now, it's just you. The Void has returned and they are here to reopen the portal to get access to the void again. The Veil is still thin here and that is why they have come back. Do you understand?"
Lux's brain raced at a million miles a minute. She quickly processed all of the information she was being told. "But why me? Why now?" she finally managed to say.
"We can't say." Dorcha said, relieved that she could stay something. "We know that all Guardians are called by destiny, and it seems that it is your turn. You can refuse, but know there won't be many left to defend this world against the void that is already here. We know that their Prophet, Malzahar needs energy from this world to reopen the portal, but it won't come easy. We need your help Lux. Please!"
Lux carefully picked up the book Solas has conjured from nowhere. Looking through the first page, which was the contract, she carefully read it. She had always felt something different, but never in her wildest dreams, well almost, did she imagine this. Knowing that Guardians once their time was done, would pass their power, but that usually came at a cost. She ssank back into her chair, and put her head in her hands.
"This is just too much. I'm just a kid. How can I do this?"
"You know there has always been something calling you haven't you?" Lux just nodded her head as Solas tried to calm her down. "That call is rare and if we had more time and options we would have done this differently." Solas said as Dorcha hopped onto Lux's lap and stared at her, trying to avoid the Sad Poro look.
"I know this is a lot to handle but we can't find the rest of the individuals right now. You are the only one we've managed to find."
Lux just stared at the Poro on her lap and closed her eyes again, and sank back into thought. Racing through her mind was what if she got hurt? How would she explain her absences? Her lack of commitment to other things? Then another thought reared its head. What if I don't and everyone I know dies because I did nothing when I could have? Could I live with myself?
"No. No I couldn't." She let that last thought escape her lips and Dorcha still on her lap became scared, but Lux just opened her eyes and smiled. Both the Poros smiled back. "I'll do it. If for nothing else, I'll at least look cool doing it."
"That's the spirit." Dorcha said. Lux grabbed the pen Solas held up in his paw and signed her name. Knowing she made a decision that she could never back down from, but she also never felt something before, and it coursed through her. A sense of right, of peace. She knew that destiny was something that you could run from, but never run away from. Some people discover theirs, others have it thrust upon them.
"Great. Now take this." Dorcha's turn to spin flip and she conjured what looked like a locket. "When you need to just hold it up and say 'Star Guardian Power Up.'" The rest will become apparent when you need it to be. Lux just nodded.
"So does everyone's outfit look like the ones I saw earlier, or are they all different?" Dorcha and Solas just dropped to the floor in disbelief. 'That was her question? After all of that? Oh brother.' Quickly regaining control over themselves, they quickly hopped back onto her bed.
"Everyone's is different. Hopefully we can at least have a few days to get some training in before something bad happens."
Lux nodded and secretly hoped she would also have some time, but that was quickly shattered.
"Lux?! Lux, honey are you home?!" Her mother's voice penetrated the house as the two Poros quickly jumped into a pile of Lux's poro plushies to blend in. Her bedroom door flung open as her mother came barging in. "Oh my word thank you." Her mother quickly grabbed her and hugged tight.
"Mom. Too tight!" She let go. "I haven't left. What did you think I went out? What's going on."
"It's on TV. Come." Lux made to follow, but quickly grabbed the Dorcha and Solas so they could watch as well. Carefully perching them on her shoulders, she sprinted after her mother. When she got downstairs she knew that time had really run out.
"Stay away from the park. No one knows what is going on but a giant creature is there. Please stay indoors until further notice is given."
"I just can't believe it." Lux carefully guided her mother onto the couch where she passed out.
"Well she never did take things like this well. Oh no, Amy's at the park!" Lux sprinted out the door with Solas and Dorcha. It seemed to take no time at all to reach the park near her house where every Wednesday a group of crafters got together to show off their work. Amy's mom lead the group and now she, like many others were down laying down in the middle of park. Standing over them were two creatures. A giant bug for lack of a better term, and a creature that resembled a snake but with arms, and a dog head. "Well I guess training will have to wait. No time like the present I guess."
"Star Guardian Power Up." In a brilliant flash of light, at least to her, she noticed the changes. Her legs were now encased in over the knee white boots; Her arms in gloves up to her elbows; a pink outfit with purple skirt with a bow right in the middle of her chest; a tiara on her head; and in her hands, a baton, also with a star on one end. Lux also noticed her hair had turned from its usual blonde to a bright pink.
"Well I didn't see that coming. It's all new, but somehow I know what I need to do."
"Careful Guardian, we don't know anything about it so be careful. Don't forget, that while you are this way, anything about your personal identity will be concealed."
"Right. Let's do this." Lux jumped off the ridge she was standing on and landed gracefully near the two creatures.
Kha'Zix was thinking that there wasn't anything that could go wrong. His first attack had been a complete success and had gathered some energy. Enough to keep Malzahar pacified for the moment, but he also sensed something. "No it can't be." Turning around he saw what was unmistakably a Star Guardian. Rage filled him to the point where he could barely contain it.
Lux meanwhile was terrified but somehow didn't let it slip. "I don' t know who you are, or where you came from, but this planet is not for harvesting. You give back the energy you stole or it is you that will be needing it. I will defend this planet from you, and all of those like you. I am a Star Guardian, sworn to defend the universe against all evil, and that means you."
"Well it seems the Guardians are lowing the bar on the recruitment meter. You are barely older than a child, and therefore this will be easy. Nagi, deal with this 'Guardian'."
The snake launched itself at Lux but she managed to dodge it, but only just. Throwing her arm around she let out a light pulse that surrounded the snake and then detonated. 'Well I need to work on that a bit.' She managed to land, but couldn't keep her balance and fell. Turning, the snake, clearly aggravated, launched a series of pins from its mouth. Lux thinking fast, spun the staff in front of her, creating a shield. Giving her enough time to regain her footing, she managed to see the bug thing was surprised and the snake clearly even more angry.
Lux moved first this time dodging to the left, she threw another pulse at the snake which encased it and held it in place. She turned and moved back towards the bug thing, throwing another pulse at it. It dodged and she managed to dodge its counter attack. Again barely.
Meanwhile the binding on the snake wore off and it quickly went on the attack, but in its haste, ran into its master. Lux thinking quickly, threw another pulse and it detonated hurting them both. They both threw more pins at her, and she again shielded the damage, but was still knocked backwards and down.
"Well it seems you know what you are doing after all. That or you are really lucky."
"Who cares. I'm still here aren't I?"
"Yes and that's a problem. Nagi finish this." The snake rushed again and Lux threw another binding but missed. She then tried to dodge, but was hit with the snake's tail. Lux hit the ground, hard, and for a second was stunned.
"Guardian get up." Solas' words quickly knocked Lux back into reality and she quickly dodged another snake attack. Again throwing out another binding pulse, she managed to snare the snake. 'Great now what do I do. I can't keep this up much longer.'
A thought quickly ran into her head. Getting to her feet, she drew her hands along her staff, focusing her power. The binding wore off, but it was too late. Lux took her staff and with the determination of someone who was quite desperate struck out and launched a beam of light. "Take this." She said as the beam encased the snake, rendering it dust.
"Dusted. Now for the other big ugly thing." She said turning to Kha'Zix. But the Voidling, who had clearly had enough of this jumped into a tree. Lux threw another binding at it, but missed.
"We will meet again guardian. Pray your luck holds out. Malzahar will not be happy with this development." With that, Kha'Zix used almost all of energy he had managed to gather to open a void portal back to Runeterra's moon and fled through it before Lux could throw another binding.
"Good job Guardian. Hopefully that will give them enough pause to find other Guardians. You did well for your first time." Dorcha said as she made her way over to Lux. Solas quickly nodding in agreement, but as a result, shaking his whole body. Lux just smiled.
"I got lucky today, I don't think I will be so lucky next time." Lux turned to the crafters and the others that had befallen the enemy and they slowly started waking up. Amy was the first, and got a good look at Lux before she hopped away back onto the ridge and into the trees.
Managing to get back home, she carefully snuck back into the house. Garen still wasn't home, and her mother was still passed out on the couch. Lux made her way to her room and Solas and Dorcha hopped from Lux's shoulders and onto her pile of poro plushies. She just turned to them and smiled. Then she turned and collapsed onto her bed, and instantly fell asleep.
Lux woke up a few hours later by her brother just checking in and seeing what was going on. "Mom saw the news, and passed out on the couch. I checked her a few times but I just stayed up here. What happened?" Garen retold what he saw on the news, a Star Guardian taking on the two voidlings and successfully winning against one while the other ran. He mentioned she seemed to know what she was doing, but had a lack of practical experience. He seemed to generally admire the person, and it took all Lux had to not smile.
She knew that she got lucky this time, but she knew that in the future she wouldn't be so lucky. The only reason she got away with it this time, it was because she surprised their opponents. She knew she had to train to get better and she knew she had allies, but would they show up before she got overwhelmed. Lux just pondered these thoughts as she looked up at the moon. She couldn't see the Void corruption that was present there, but she imagined it. She also somehow knew that eventually there would be a way to win.
She turned to Dorcha and Solas. "Well I guess this is just the beginning isn't it?"
"Sadly yes. Hopefully we can find the others soon."
"And hopefully before things get too much worse."
"Well I don't know about you two, but I need some sleep. I'm still exhausted. Good night."
On the moon, Malzahar was furious. Not at Kha'Zix but at the fact the Guardians had managed to rebuild themselves. Even if only one made an appearance, one was enough to derail his plans. Seething across the main room of the palace they had forced for the operation, the rest kept their distance. Even though Malzahar was new to the void compared to them, he still radiated with power, and now rage. And that rage was a powerful weapon.