Chapter 6: "The Winged protector (part-2)"
Kai'sa awaked to the sound of roosters in the early morning, it was barely light outside over the small town of Marrowmark. She gets out of bed feeling refreshed and strong, she checks her arms, the shell of her second skin is completely healed with no lingering pain, she closes her helmet to check if it had also healed properly. It was healed just fine, as her thermal vision came into clear view. She sees Taliyah through the hotel room door across the hallway in the other room, her heat and breathing were low from still being asleep, Kai'sa then retracted her helmet to give Taliyah her privacy. She then looked around her room and noticed that Taliyah had the money with her in her room, "Damn it," Kai'sa complained as she remembered that the door was locked. She then got up and walked out of her room, walking by Taliyah's room quietly so she didn't wake her up. She made her way to the hotel lobby counter where a young man was sitting, "excuse me, good morning," Kai'sa said softly, getting the boy's attention. "Yes, how can I help you?" He asked, still tired from the earliness of the hour. "Um, we have two rooms here, now we are going to be leaving here in a few hours, I was wondering if I could have one of the gold coins from the deposit we placed?" Kai'sa asked, trying to be as kind as she could in asking. "Oh um, no sorry I can't do that, I could get in trouble," he replied.
Kai'sa let out a sigh of disappointment, "hey, come here I wanna tell you a little secret," Kai'sa whispered to the young man as she gestured him to come close with her clawed finger. "Umm," the boy muttered as he leaned in to hear what she had to say. "There is someone special to me, someone I want to have a gift ready for by the time she wakes up, now all I'm asking for is one coin, a coin that you would be giving me anyway in a few hours when we leave this place… can you do a girl a favor?" Kai'sa asked quietly, her voice sounded soft but also intimidating as she tapped her claws on the counter waiting for his response. "Um, Okay! I don't want any trouble!" He said in a panic, acting like he was getting robbed as he set the gold coin onto the counter for her. "Aww, thank you for your kindness sir, I don't want any trouble either." She said in a teasing tone as she grabbed the coin and walked out the door. Kai'sa found it kinda hilarious how terrified he was when she didn't even threaten him, she smiled as she walked across the street, the sun just starting to shine across the town, and crowds starting to fill the streets slowly.
"Mmmhhaaaa!" Taliyah stretched out in a big yawn as she woke up, the air still cool from the desert night. Taliyah slowly stumbled out of her bed, her hair a crazy mess, she worked her way over to the only open spot in her room and made herself stand up straight, her head still foggy from being sleepy, she then began stretching, using a series of yoga positions to focus her mind for the day. "Phew, yeah I'm not feeling that today" Taliyah says as she quits her yoga early, instead deciding to just splash some water on her face and wash her hair to wake up instead. While she walked to the bathroom she saw the bag of gold on the floor, "Haah!" She laughed as she shook her head in disbelief and continued walking to the sink. She wasn't mad anymore about it, she knew Kai'sa was only wanting to help, but she needs to learn to be more discreet about things, Taliyah thought. She then thought about the nomads of the Sai, she hoped her friends were okay, she thought as she started washing her hair in the sink. She knew her friends were probably not happy about her telling them to regroup at the big city, the capital of Shurima, or they probably wouldn't be happy whenever the message would reach them, if it ever did, She thought.
The whole world just seems to be becoming more dangerous day by day, she thought as she remembered Noxus, the war for Ionia, the Void infesting her home land, and a new Tyrant in the form of Azir, not to mention the god-warrior that just tried to kill her two days ago. True allies seemed hard to find nowadays, everyone has their own ulterior motives, no one seems to be pure of heart, Taliyah thought. Kai'sa though, Her heart seems to be pure, even though she is a little rough around the edges, she thought as she grabbed a towel to dry her hair. She walks out the bathroom and grabs one of the peaches for a little breakfast snack, "Mmmh, those are pretty good" she said to herself after taking one bite, it wasn't a fruit she normally bought, since fruit spoiled fast in the desert, for that reason it wasn't a staple of her diet. She then fixed her hair into a messy ponytail and opened the room door, crossing the hallway to Kai'sa's room, Knock Knock Knock, she knocks on the door and waits a few seconds for a response, nothing, Knock Knock Knock "Kai'sa, Wake up sleepy head!" She says through the door still hearing no response. Taliyah's heart sinks as she fears Kai'sa has run off again, "no no no no," she says quietly as she pulls the room key out to open Kai'sa's door. "Kai'sa!" She says desperately as she shoves the door open.
Taliyah falls onto her knees at the sight of seeing the room empty and Kai'sa gone, she says nothing, a few tears roll down her face, she figured if Kai'sa wanted to be alone she would leave her be this time and not chase her again, but Taliyah felt horrible at the thought of that, she wondered if she said something last night or was too mean. She really didn't mean to make Kai'sa feel bad, she fought for me and I was ungrateful of the money she got for us…I'm sooo sorry…, She thought as she sobbed. "Is everything okay Taliyah?" She heard Kai'sa's compassionate voice behind her, she quickly uses her scarf to wipe the tears from her face, "Oh, um, I'm fine, just, just dropped this peach seed on the carpet, was making sure it didn't stain," Taliyah stuttered as she turned around slowly.
"Wha, Where were you?" Taliyah asked, "just out for a morning stroll," Kai'sa teased, Taliyah rolled her eyes up at her as if to say, Yeah right you were. Kai'sa noticed the redness in her eyes but decided not to ask about it. "Here, trade," Kai'sa then said as she held her left empty hand out and had her right hand behind her back. Taliyah stood silent and thought for a second, realizing the only thing she had to trade was the half eaten peach, "um, okay," Taliyah said, confused, while putting the peach in her hand. "Here you go!" Kai'sa then said as she accepted the half eaten peach and revealed what she had in her other hand. It was the pair of boots Taliyah was looking at yesterday, "what! Wow, no way!" Taliyah said as she received the gift. "I saw you looking at them yesterday, they look nice," Kai'sa said sweetly. "Aww. Thank you, that's very kind of you, I really needed a new pair," Taliyah said as she gave Kai'sa a thankful hug. "But wait, how did you get these? I had the money with me." Taliyah asked as she eased out of the hug. "Relax, why you always thinking I stole something haha, I haggled for a bit of our deposit on the room if you must know," Kai'sa replied.
"I'm sorry, Thank you very much, they are very nice… also, thanks for the money yesterday, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful," Taliyah replied gently. "Eh it's okay, I get it, it was not exactly aligned with your zen code," Kai'sa teased as she ate the peach. "Uuhg, the way of the Great Weaver is not a zen code! How many times have I proved I'm as ready for a fight as you?" Taliyah snapped back in an annoyed tone. "I know I know, I'm just messing with you Taliy… now come on, put them on, I want to see," Kai'sa replied, while waiting to see her put the boots on. "Oh they fit perfect, other… other than being a little stiff but hey it's leather, they will soften up over time," Taliyah said as she wiggled her feet in her new boots. They were a more reddish leather then her original boots, and they had a lot more stitchings, and hugged her shin tighter also, but all in all they were a fine upgrade. "Wonderful" Kai'sa replied, "Okay so, are we ready to go?" Kai'sa asked. "Yep, ready to go,'' Taliyah replied, as she felt a warm feeling in her cheeks at the sight of Kai'sa's gift on her feet. They stopped by the lobby and collected their room deposits, before making their way onto the street. "Now we just need to get some supplies, then we can get back onto the sands," Taliyah said as they walked down the street looking for a suitable shop where they could buy supplies.
The two walked for a bit as the early sun made the towering white bones of the titan surrounding the town shine red. They approached the edge of town, it was the opposite side of town where they originally entered, there they saw a lone outfitters shop and figured it would be a good place for supplies. They walked into the shop and started browsing around, "hey, it would help if you had a bag to carry a few extra things, maybe we can find something you like," Taliyah said to Kai'sa as she pointed to a few tables covered in handbags. "Um, pretty sure all of that wouldn't survive any fight," Kai'sa replied. "I'm hoping for no fights, but you can just drop it if a fight does come." Taliyah replied. "That would take a precious few seconds of combat time, time like that has meant life or death for many people," Kai'sa replied in a serious tone. "Oh don't be so dramatic," Taliyah replied. "Here how about this one, it matches your eyes," Taliyah said as she grabbed a purple strained burlap backpack. "My eyes? Khekehehe haaah!" Kai'sa let out an exuberant laugh at what Taliyah just said. "Whhat what's so funny?" Tahiyah asked as she also giggled along. "My entire body is purple, and you say it matches my eyes! Hahaha" Kai'sa replied as she continued to laugh, almost to the point of it being hard to breathe. Taliyah just blushes, to her, it didn't seem that funny, but apparently Kai'sa found it really funny, so she was just happy she could break her up tight nature and get her to laugh a bit. "Okay fine Taliy, whatever you say," Kai'sa said, agreeing to get the backpack as she caught her breath.
"Okay, Awesome, I'm gonna get the food we need," Taliyah said as she walked off to the other side of the shop. She gathered up serial batches of root vegetables, about 10 sticks of Piki bread, a medium bag of beans, and her favorite, a few handfuls of sun dried peppers, she then placed all the food in a large burlap sack and carried it to the shop counter. "Oh almost forgot," Taliyah said as she went and grabbed 3 empty water skins and added them to her bag of goods, Kai'sa then walked up to the counter and added the backpack to the pile of stuff they were buying. They paid the store owner then collected their goods, Kai'sa noticed that the man was staring at her but she had learned to not really care about it. The two walked away from the shop with all the supplies they needed, Taliyah took a deep breath and focused before she then ripped up a rock board from the ground, "hmmp, oh crap, this rock is no good, I need another," Taliyah complained. Kai'sa looked confused, to her a rock is a rock, "OH COME ON!" Taliyah complained as the second rock she ripped out of the ground was not to her liking. "Whhat exactly is wrong with these?" Kai'sa asked, confused. Taliyah then walked over to one of the rocks and kicked it, it immediately cracked in two from her weak kick. "Oh ok point made" Kai'sa replied. "Okay third time's the charm," Taliyah said as she walked a good distance away, feeling the ground for a good spot, "And ARISE!" She chirped as she pulled up a nice hard rock board for them to ride on.
"All right let's go" Taliyah said as she placed the bag food on the rock in between her legs so it would fall off when they got going, "can you come here and turn around?" Taliyah asked, she then took the bag of gold and placed it in Kai'sa's new backpack. "UHG!" Kai'sa complained as she felt the weight of the bag hit her shoulders. "told you I needed you to carry stuff," Taliyah teased, knowing she wouldn't enjoy having to carry the gold the whole way. "Ggrrrh, fine" Kai'sa grudgingly replied. The two then hear a commotion off in the distance towards the other side of town, at first Taliyah thought it was just a wagon cart crash or something, but as they heard screams continue to ring out, as well cries of pain the two knew there was only one thing it could be… Renekton was here. "WE HAVE TO HELP THEM!" Taliyah yelled as she jumped off the rock and left the supplies. "TALIYAH," Kai'sa said as she stood still not following her, "we can't stop him…" Kai'sa said, her voice somber, knowing it would be hard for Taliyah to accept. "SO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO, RUN WHILE HE SLAUGHTERS THIS TOWN LOOKING FOR US!?" Taliyah yelled passionately. "I'm going to do what I can, The Great Weaver didn't bless me so I can run away while people are slaughtered." Taliyah said as she then took off and started running towards the sounds of chaos.
Her words and the passion she spoke with, hit Kai'sa's heart like a hot fire poker, the boldness, the conviction, the recklessness, and the stupidity of her courage. Kai'sa loved it, though the fact that she was making her love stupidity that was probably going to kill them both didn't make Kai'sa feel that good, "uuhhg, what the hell, guess I don't have a choice" Kai'sa said to herself as she left her backpack and took off to catch up to Taliyah.
"Grrraaah! All who harbor traitors shall know my carnage!" Renekton roared over the crowds as he began demolishing shops with his cleaver blade, the marauders followed him, wiping and beating anyone they could while asking "Where is the demon?", those that stood against them were quickly struck down. "Quick, you must run to Nasus's altar, it can get a message to him, only a god can kill a god!" The merchant dock keeper yelled to a messenger boy that was hiding under a cart from the carnage. The god-warrior continued his march of bloodshed through the streets, approaching the place where the boy was hiding. The docks were off to the side of the main street, the old dock keeper knew that the people would need time if they were going to be saved, "Hello! Over here, I have seen who you are looking for!" The man said as he nodded his head to the boy signaling him to run. Renekton sto and drops a hopeless mortal he had in his hand and walks over to the docks to hear him. "Well then, speak up, I have no patience for someone wasting my time!" Renekton said. The man stood still not knowing what to say, as the massive ascended towered over him. The boy takes off running making the cart he was hiding under tip over, Renekton hears the commotion and sees the boy taking off, he then looks to old man, he sees him watching the boy run and notices that he was just trying to distract him. "How noble of you," Renekton said. "You Brother shall be here to stop you soon!" The dock keeper replied. Renekton paused for a moment and smiled, for all he wanted was for his brother to come so he can kill him himself, "The noble ones are my favorite!" Renekton laughed with a menacing look, GRRAACCRUNCH… Renekton wipes the blood from his face after devouring the dock keeper.
"REND THE FLESH OF THIS TOWN FOLLOWERS! My brother shall come here to play hero, and I shall destroy him!" Renekton said as his followers marched forward, some wielding swords, some had morningstars, others speirs. Raz took particular joy in spearing a shop guard that rose up and challenged him as they destroyed the marketplace. "HEY, REMEMBER ME SCALES!" Taliyah screamed as she stood alone in the main street defiantly. "This one is mine!" Renekton says as he approaches her. "Why do you murder these innocents ascended! You were supposed to defend all of Shurima!" Taliyah said as she stood proud and still as the towering god-warrior continued to march toward her. "Don't lecture me deceiver, I know your true mission!" Renekton replied. "Oh really? Which is?" Taliyah asked in a teasing tone, sure he was probably wrong. "Friend of Nasus, he sent you to bury me just like he buried me before! And the fact you are helped by a commander of the Void shows your Nasus's true allegiance!" Renekton said as he prepared to pounce on her. "You all know I'm the only one who won't believe your lies, some you come to end me, but not if I END YOU FIRST!" He screamed out as he charged forward, Taliyah then moved the ground beneath her feet sliding her to the side out of the way of his charge, and as she dodged she ripped up a good size rock and hurtled it into Renekton's face as he flew by her. "You think too highly of yourself Butcher!" She yelled out, her voice filled with resolve.
At this point one of the marauders swung her morningstar at Taliyah, hoping to break her legs and leave her an easy target for Renekton to finish. The bandit's swing is stopped midway, Taliyah turns around and sees the bandit paralyzed with shock, her weapon falls to the ground and blood poured out of her torso, a blurry hase then materialize it's in front of the bandit, revealing it to be Kai'sa with her energy blade pierced into the headhunter's stomach. "I got your back!" Kai'sa yelled out to Taliyah as she retracted her weapon and let the bandits body fall to the ground. Renekton's followers as soon as they saw Kai'sa appear out of invisibility all started rushing towards her, Kai'sa dashed at them to meet them, sending a barrage of Icathian rain down upon them making many of them run back for cover, Taliyah turned to face Renekton again, he held his blade now ready to sunder anything she threw at him, "Who do you think you are to defy a god!" Renekton roared. Taliyah stood still for a second, a righteous rage building in her, "I AM Taliyah of the Nasaaj tribe! The first stoneweaver in eight generations, blessed by the Great Weaver who wove the very lands you walk upon, AND YOU ARE NO GOD!" she roared back as she pulled up five large rocks from the earth around her and volleyed them at Renekton. He blocks one after another with his sword, reducing their impact to nothing. He then dashed towards her while swinging with his sword, Taliyah popped up the ground beneath her sending her flying a good 10 feet into the clear. She then sent a ripple throughout the ground which shook everything, but it didn't phase the god-warrior at all. He then went to dash again but found he couldn't, she had disableized the ground beneath them so much that when he went to dash forward, the only thing that happened was he feet sank deeper into the ground.
Kai'sa continues to fight the assaulting barbarians, looking over her shoulder constantly to see if Taliyah is okay. She normally despised having to kill other humans, but with these ones likening of murder, she felt no pity for and showed no mercy to them as she blasted one of the bandits heads off with a powerful plasma shot, a crocc that one of them was riding lunged at her, "damn I hate these things" Kai'sa said under her mask quietly as she grabbed both of its jaws and held them open, then putting a foot on the bottom jaw so she had a hand free to blast plasma down its throat, killing the beast quickly. The assailant riding the now dead beast toppled forward, swinging a war axe down at her, she dashed behind him letting him plant his axe into the ground before knocking him out with an energetic punch to the face. Kai'sa looks over to see Taliyah weavering a cocoon around Renekton, sliding around the walls as she created them, Renekton swinging recklessly as he tries to turn with his feet getting stuck. Taliyah then hops off after sealing up the top of the cocoon around him, Kai'sa then teleport dashes to her side, "do we have any plan? Cause that's not gonna hold him!" Kai'sa asked, her voice distorted by her helmet, but Taliyah could tell her tone was nervous under the mask.
"He must be weakened before he can be killed!" A deep voice said, Kai'sa looked to see who it was and to her shock it was the gladiator Rengar she had beaten yesterday. "You!?" Kai'sa said, perplexed. "I'll take it you don't work for the void… otherwise you would have wanted to kill us all." Rengar said. "Well you know what they say… fight fire with fire!" Kai'sa replied, her voice distorted while she charged up her plasma guns. The three prepared themselves, as they could hear Renekton slamming the wall of Taliyah's stone cocoon and knew it would hold long as cracks spread rapidly. "Grraaa!" Renekton screams as he bursts out of the stone prison, he is meet with a large boulder to his face, it breaks into pieces, not phasing him much but blinding him to Rengar that was swinging his machete low slicing into Renekton's ankle. Renekton hissed in discontentment before kicking Rengar to the side into a animal feed shop with some hay bales, Kai'sa then fired a powerful blast with both hands, hitting the Ascended and knocking him back a bit. "Rraaah! Die Demon!" Kai'sa hears the headhunter Raz charging to impale her, instinctively Kai'sa shades into invisibility and rolls out of the way, Taliyah the made the ground erupt beneath Raz and his mount sending him flying directly at Renekton. The God-warrior raises his blade and slices Raz and his mount in two, each half flying beside him as he stood covered in blood ready to slay everyone.
Kai'sa sneaks behind and unleashes a barrage of plasma, "We have to keep hitting him together," Kai'sa said as she lets the fire pour out from her hands, Renekton holds up a arm to block the plasma which didn't seem to be doing any damage, with his other arm he swings at Kai'sa, she dashed, avoiding it as she resumed her assault, "HEY DUMB DUMB!" Taliyah shouted, causing Renekton to turn around and look; he saw three long lines of earth the size of palm trees pummeled down upon him. "You shall make a fitting Trophy!" Rengar roared as he pounced, swinging his machete to try and behead the distracted God-warrior. "Petty housecat!" Renekton said as he grabbed Rengar by the throat, ignoring the pounding plasma on one side and the beating earth from the other side, then throwing Rengar like a toy ball into a wreckage of tents "MREOW!" The cat yelled as he went flying through the air. Kai'sa then unleashed another Ichathian rain barrage on top of the plasma she was already shooting from her hands, Renekton turns and starts slashing at Kai'sa, ignoring the rocks from Taliyah for the moment, Kai'sa dashes and dodges the swings, desperately trying to keep her assault going while also dodging the blade that was bigger than herself.
Bristling needles stab Kai'sa all over her body as the suit throbbed, alerting her that she had taken damage, she then teleport dashed around Renekton, next to Taliyah, the second skin hits her with a burning pain as it clearly didn't like teleporting with whatever damage she had. Kai'sa's body felt fine, but the protesting of her suit grew more and more, "Kai'sa!" Taliyah said as she pointed to her shoulder pod while still pummeling Renekton to try and keep him back, Kai'sa saw one of her pods was slashed open, and the Void energy reservoir was leaking out causing the outside of the pod to burn. "Shit" Kai'sa said as she knew what had to be done to stop the lose energy from damaging her suit to an unhealable level. "Keep him back for a few seconds!" Kai'sa said. "I'M TRYING!" Taliyah replied. Kai'sa then let all the void energy drain from the broken shoulder pod and into her body, allowing what she could to flow into the other pod, "Graaaah!" She let out a scream of anguish and fell onto her knees from the pain of the fire flowing through her veins, the pain eased a bit as the energy left her body and flowed into the other pod. To her disappointment only about half of the energy she took could fit in the other shoulder pod so she was left with the burning pain that was only just bearable. "Are you okay?" Taliyah asked.
In the brief moment of Taliyah losing her focus to look at Kai'sa, Renekton plows through her rocks, sending both of them flying back a good twenty feet. Taliyah stumbles back unto her feet, her face growing more angry at this beast that called himself a god, "AWAY WITH YOU!" she said as a large pillar of rock shot up beneath him sending him flying back and up into the air at least forty feet, "GRAAAH" they heard him scream as he went flying followed by a loud thump when he hit the ground. Kai'sa then slowly gets up, her breath is loud and heavy through her mask, Taliyah realizes that it best not to ask if she was okay because she clearly wasn't okay, and was in a lot of pain. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?" Taliyah asked as she put her hand on Kai'sa's shoulder. "Yeah… don't piss off anymore gods…" Kai'sa said in pain, though there was a hint of humor in the way she said it. Taliyah didn't reply as she knew it was her that got Renekton chasing them, even if he was totally unhinged. "May.. maybe if we hit him hard enough, we can piss him off e..enough and then get him to chase us into the desert, where we can lose him, because, I don't think my weapons are doing anything to him, and nei, neither is your rocks to be honest," Kai'sa said, her voice breaking up everytime she needed a breath from the pain in her lungs. "I'll go in first," Taliyah replied. "I'll follow-up… be careful," Kai'sa replied back.
The thuds of Renekton's galloping stride grew louder as he barreled towards them, Taliyah rips up a massive wall of earth and sends it toward Renekton, riding it as it traveled to meet him head on, she pretends to start jumping off the wall right before it meet Renekton, causing him to dash to the left side to try and meet her, instead she jumps off the other direction and lets the wall continue to travel. Renekton jumps onto the wall to climb over it, only to be blindsided by a large boulder and knocked back to the other side of the wall. Renekton charges, this time smashing straight through the divide, but it is not Taliyah on the other side like he expected, it's Kai'sa, using the speed and strength of his dash against him, she rolls to the side and is able to cut into the God-warrior's side with her plasma weapon as he passed by. "Graah, all that for a scratch!" He growled as the wound quickly healed before her eyes. "The very ground beneath you shall destroy you!" He heard Taliyah yell out as he then looked up to see a massive pillar of rock she had raised up behind him as she was now on top of it as she let it lean over to crush him. Taliyah jumped off of the rubble that stopped right at Kai'sa's feet, "nice one," She said to Taliyah as she stood up and caught her breath.
"Graaah pathetic!" Renekton screamed as he bursted out of the rubble and grabbed them both, then throwing them both a few dozen feet. "Aoow," Taliyah said as she definitely got a few bruises from her tumble. Renekton picks up his blade from the rubble and begins marching towards them, ready to finish his execution of them. Kai'sa's body throbs in pain, her second skin continues to keep her strong but the pain makes her just want to collapse and give up. Taliyah tries to push herself up but fails after feeling a sharp pain on her hands that were blistered up really bad from sliding across the dirt, she knew it would be very hard to stoneweave with her hands hurt badly now. "You're just a cruel creature! Not a god!" Taliyah spoke up as Renekton approached them, her voice carried a sadness to it, knowing she was probably going to die here, for the beast never showed pity. "What is the difference!" Renekton replied in a cruel tone as he swung his clever down upon them…BONK! A massive staff bursts through the wall Taliyah made and clubs Renekton in the face knocking him to the ground. Taliyah and Kai'sa turn and see the another massive Ascended in the form of a jackal that saved them…"Hello Brother."