The meaning of Power.
Many years ago, Shurima.
It was sunset where the two Darkin decided to have a toast, after ravaging yet another innocent village, a toast was always given, rather, it had grown to be a tradition.
The shorter of the two Darkin, Azazel, was always keen on high-grade wine.
The taste was anywhere from bitter to sugary to sweet to fruity, and Azazel loved it. For him, a break from all the massacre was always appreciated.
The taller Darkin, Aatrox, on the other hand, likes something rougher, he preferred the bitter taste to that of the rich sweet taste, that wine has.
Azazel who was currently sitting on a log was preparing a fire, the nights in Shurima are merciless, cold and ruthless, so a fire was a must. Aatrox, on the other hand, took a bottle of Ale and approached Azazel.
"Y-you, did well, today." Spoke the highly regarded Aatrox, half-drunken.
Azazel looked at Aatrox with a grin and laughed, "It would seem, that your face has grown to take the look of a turd, my good friend."
Aatrox then falls on the ground, now, fully drunk.
"Did it now?" Aatrox replied.
Azazel discerned the bottle of ale in Aatrox's hand and wondered. "Why do you keep drinking this oil? I keep giving you excellent drinks and yet you insist on drinking this one. In time, even the liver of the mighty Aatrox shall explode."
Would it be imaginable? Azazel thought, the great Aatrox, slain by a bottle of ale.
Azazel then got an inspiration and decided to make a short poem.
"And the warmonger of old,
has been slain by ale of new,
the noble god,
now reduced to mock."
Aatrox, who was currently laying on the ground, had a little giggle.
The Darkin then abruptly got on his feet and sat next to Azazel, "You know, what I've noticed?"
"What might that be?" Azazel wondered.
"You're never drunk," Aatrox said while looking Azazel in the eyes, "That's real control and control is power and power...is power."
Aatrox then took yet another sip and Azazel looked up in the stars.
He thought about the fact that, up until now, he hasn't touched a single mortal, let alone killed one.
On the one side of the battlefield, Aatrox would slaughter everything, and on the other, Azazel would try to save lives.
It could be that his mind, was the sole survivor of the once noble race, for his brethren had turned mad.
He has tried many times to stop his friend from committing mass murder upon the mortals, he knew not the reason for such anger towards them, nor did he get one from Aatrox.
But it didn't matter, because even after all these years, Azazel is still trying to find a speck of mercy, the old Aatrox had.
He once again tries his chance.
"Is that why they fear us? Aatrox." Azazel suddenly asked.
Aatrox looked at him confused and spoke. "We have the power to kill, that's why they fear us."
"They fear us because we have the power to kill them arbitrarily, for example, a man simply lives his life, you have him killed you feel satisfied and if you kill him yourself you feel even better. That is not power, though."
Azazel notices that he has gained Aatrox's full attention, perhaps this could be the time...
"That's murder, it's different than power. Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't."
Aatrox sips again and asks, "You think that's power?"
Azazel then continues with, "That's what the Emperor said. A man steals something, he's brought in before the Emperor, he throws himself down on the ground. He begs for his life, he knows he's going to die.
And the Emperor... pardons him. This worthless man, he lets him go."
Aatrox stood back up, looked upon the sunrise and said.
"I think you are drunk."
Azazel too stands up and says, "That, my friend. Is power."
Aatrox, who was still gazing upon the sunset, turned around and looked at his only friend in the world and after what seemed like seconds, said. "If that is power, then I've none left. You know far better than I-"
*Oh, but of course I do.*
*I've been by your side since the beginning.*
*How couldn't I notice it?*
"That I've fallen far beyond redemption. I am damned."
*Yes, so it seems.*
"So forgive me, for giving you hope."
*A cruel hope*
"Well, we're killers nevertheless."
*I am no killer.*
"It would seem fitting that we change this melancholy subject."
*On this day, I've lost the only one I trusted.*
"What should I beseech you." Aatrox thought while scratching his head.
*The man I swore to protect till the day I fall.*
"Ah, indeed. After we're done with Shurima? What are you going to do?"
The question punched Azazel back to the cruel reality.
He looked at his friend with a bittersweet expression and replied with.
"A question most blunt, I honestly-"
*I only live.*
"Don't know how to-"
*To chase this dazzling, unfair*
"Answer your question, my old friend.
*Silence.*
The present-day, Ionia.
The weather was warm and the flowers were rich, the land of the free.
Inside of a gray tent slept a certain familiar figure. This was the first time Aatrox had slept well past sunrise but the joy of rest was abruptly interrupted as the profaned God suddenly arose from his dream with a tear shedding down his left eye.
"A nightmare." He muttered to himself.
But...
"No."
Aatrox realized something.
"A dream..."
Aatrox noticed the single tear falling down his left eye and smiled, to not only remember but dream about his friend.
"Ah, the bittersweet ending of that friendship," He mumbled.
The Darkin then looked around him with a confused expression, where was he? And how did this came to be?
He usually wakes up on grass, waking up on a bed felt weird.
A sudden realization struck the figure, who was lying atop a large bed.
"Ah, right, the girl."
Irelia, if he remembered correctly.
She brought him here, gave him shelter, food and all the necessities he required, even when her elders protested, she fought for me.
She argued for a man she barely knew, could this be called 'Kindness?' Aatrox thought for a while, the word was long lost in Aatrox's mind, so he had almost forgotten the meaning of it.
Sensing that the sun had already risen, Aatrox decided to pack up and leave the tent, to bid the girl farewell and to continues onwards.
But for the lone Darkin, fate had planned something else.
End of chapter 4.
Thank you for the kind reviews, you guys are awesome!
Chapter 5 coming soon.