This chapter is gonna be the first to be written over multiple days so prepare for terribleness C:

Note number one: Gore be ahead!

But anyway another little note: Many questions can be made over the last chapter. It may seem like bad writing but it's all going to be explained in chapter 6-ish would be my guess. Honestly I don't plan this beforehand so yay for professionalism!

Note number two: first chapter with POV's (Point of views) so enjoy! (The first chapter does not count because there was only one character to have the POV of.

Another note (all these notes are really unnecessary!): Ahri is gonna be doing some mysterious stuff so get thy detective hats on people!

Finally. On with the chapter!


THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED RETROACTIVELY


Chapter 3: Distant storm

General POV:

The warmth of the midday sun in Ionia bore down on the mix-matched pair as they strolled through the forest. The trees were too thin and far between to provide any kind of consistent shade, so they both simply had to bear the heat.

Not much else was actually happening in the forest. Apparently, no-one reminded it that it was supposed to be alive with activity at that time of day.

A few moments were spent with the two friends thinking of some way to break the eerie silence which had enveloped them.

Zoh was the first to strike up a conversation, though it was clearly the only thing he could think of.

"Hey what did you mean when you said my armour makes me look threatening?"

"Well, it just has this menacing look to it. Personally, the colour of red, the axe and the height make you a bit… daunting." Ahri attempted to explain after a few moments of deep thought.

"Surely there are people with armour similar to this here. Are they feared?" Zoh asked while looking off into the distance.

"From memory the only person with armour that is similar is a man called Mordekaiser and he is considered one of the most evil people around at the moment."

"Okay then how about I say that I will only use it when I get the feeling that we are in danger or-" before he could finish his sentence he put his arm to the side to signal Ahri to stop and he then slowly dropped to one knee as Ahri copied his movements.

"What is it?" Ahri whispered.

"There's a Noxian camp a few hundred metres to our front. Look." He whispered, pointing forwards to the barely visible camp.

"Can't we just go around it?"

"No there are hills on either side so we would have to walk around them as well. If we do that then there is no chance we will get to the port by nightfall."

"Do we have to get to the port by today?"

"Yeah, unless you want to sleep out tonight in nothing but that skimpy outfit." Zoh joked. He thought it was funny. No-one else did. After he realised he wasn't gonna get a laugh, he continued: "Or we could go to that tiny village and ask around for someone to let us stay in their house."

"I think I would rather freeze than get those looks again. Also this outfit is not skimpy. It is fashionable."

"Fashionably skimpy."

As Zoh turned his head forward again Ahri got up and stood in front of him before promptly slapping him on the face.

"Was that entirely necessary?"

"I'm not going to let you set a precedent for this friendship where you get to be a dick."

"I was just giving a perfectly valid criticism."

"No more of that."

"Oh, I can just see how well this is going to go. Anyway, back on topic. I have thought up a plan." Zoh declared cheerfully as Ahri returned to her kneeling position to his side. "I will take out the camp silently so that they don't raise the alarm and get help while you have the choice of staying here or going into the town and getting supplies."

As Ahri sighed she answered: "As much as I hate the idea of getting stared at more I'm quite hungry so I guess I'm going to the town. How long do you think it will take to clear the camp?"

"About an hour."

"An hour!?"

"Well, yeah. I have to disable all of their communications and take out the lookouts all while being undetected. It's going to take a while." Zoh explained as he put his helmet back on.

"Didn't you say that you have never killed people before? Are you sure you are okay with taking out an entire camp?" Ahri questioned with a concerned look.

After a short pause Zoh spoke up.

"If I'm going to stay on this planet for a while, I'm going to end up killing someone. Being here for a day has shown me that much. Personally, I'd prefer to just get my first time out of the way early and deal with how that's going to feel there and then."

"Okay, if you're sure. I'll head to the town and you get to the camp. Meet back here when you're done." Ahri ordered as she got up and started walking off.

"Don't get into trouble!" Zoh shouted, who was disappearing behind the trees quickly.

Ahri's POV:

As I walked towards the town, I decided I would take a look at the scenery. I had finally left the forest behind as I approached the town. From where I was, the entire journey was on open ground with hills and lakes dotted across the landscape. The town I was headed to was built around a river and had a small wall on all sides with a single gate guarded by what I assumed were Ionian soldiers. It was on lower ground than I was, so I could see that there was a small clear area in the middle with shops dotted on the sides of the open space. All the other space in the town was taken up by what looked to be houses.

There wasn't all that much to look at, so my mind wandered to thoughts about what I intended to do. It was really helpful that Zoh would be taking so much time with the camp.

"I would hate if he found out what I am about to do." I thought to myself as I got closer to the town gate.

I had worked out what the look on those people's eyes was while we were walking through the trees.

It was lust. Something that I could use to my advantage.

As I entered the town I started to think up a plan for how I would steal an un-willing person's essence.

I was momentarily distracted by just how charming the town was. The air was filled with the smells of flowers and fresh food. All the buildings followed a similar style but were so varied in their colours that I couldn't shake the festive feeling. The fact that a busker somewhere was playing a cheerful tune loud enough for the whole town to hear really hammered in the fact that this was a very happy place.

As I reached the town centre I remembered back to when I first became human. I received some strange orb from the mage which I had not had time to work out the uses of. Maybe I could use it as a distraction or something while I sneakily stole someone's essence…

I wandered around the town centre for a while, taking in the sights and attempting to create something resembling a plan. Eventually, I took a seat at a bench near the fountain and focused all my attention on thinking something up. I became so focused on making a plan that I failed to notice a man sit down next to me. I was brought out of my thoughts when he spoke up.

The game was on.

Zoh's POV:

"Well…" I stared up at the guard-tower directly above me and thought: "This is going great so far."

"How do I even get myself in these situations?" I wondered, struggling to keep down a sigh.

As I looked over to the rest of the camp I decided this may be a nice time to take in any details I had missed from afar.

The camp was made up of tents and had a barbed wire fence surrounding it on all sides. It was circular in shape with four constantly-manned guard towers standing on lookout. About fifteen smaller tents and one big one, which I assumed was for the commanding officer, made up the majority of the camp. The main problem I discovered was a large bell in the middle. As it was still midday a good amount of the soldiers would be out on patrol or eating. If any of the soldiers saw me and reached that bell, I'd have to fight the entire camp. Not good for keeping my kill-counter down.

From where I was the officer's tent was about fifteen meters away. Between me and it stood three tents which I was pretty sure were empty, as I saw no movement inside any of them.

I started to make my way to the officer's tent when I saw the guard in the tower look the other way. Unfortunately, I was forced to use the tents for cover, as I was still wearing my very large armour. When I got to the first tent I jumped inside to be met by a soldier sleeping. He began to stir from the small amount of noise I had created, making me panic. His eyes opened and stared straight at me. Without thinking, I pulled out my axe and smashed it into him multiple times until he stopped moving entirely.

The adrenaline settled quickly and I stared down at his lifeless body, little more than a bloody pulp at that point. I started hyperventilating and fell to the floor. My eyes stared at the ceiling but all I saw were images of the family he had back in Noxus. His mother breaking down into tears over his grave as his father tries, and fails, to appear strong in front of the other people there.

I was slowly losing it until the shock faded enough for me to think straight.

"I will not fall to despair again. Not like last time."

Slowly, I regained control of my breathing and pushed myself up from the floor.

Once I had finally cleared my mind I snuck out of the tent and made my way to the next one, which was thankfully empty. I left that tent and avoided the last one as the officer's tent was mere feet away and I didn't want to test my luck again.

As I approached the officer's tent I saw that in the middle of the it there was a large table with a map of the area and a sword. I checked around the tent and saw the bed at the end of it, which was right next to an officer. Fortunately, he was staring away; unfortunately, he spoke up before I could dive for a hiding spot.

"What is it soldier?" The man asked in a rather irritated manner.

I frantically pulled off my helmet so that it did not muffle my voice before I spoke up in an impersonation of the officer's accent.

"I was, uhh just coming to, uhh tell you that a….patrol, just came in and they are uhh, all just fine."

"Thank you soldier. Please go and tell the patrol leader to come in and I will debrief him." He ordered, slightly less annoyed than before.

I had to find some reason to get closer to him so that I could take him out without a struggle.

"Oh wait, no I don't." I realised before hurling a nearby chair at his head with all my strength.

Ahri's POV:

"This is a lovely house." I remarked in the seductive voice I had been using since I began talking to the man.

"Thanks. Do you want anything? A drink, food, anything?" He questioned, trying to be a gentleman.

"Some water would be nice." I requested as I looked at him with the cutest smile I could muster.

"I'll be right back." He left with a genuine smile that brought back that annoying feeling in the pit of my stomach. Whatever it was, it really messed up my thought process and made me think up a bunch of irrational ideas to spare him. Why would I want to do that?

When he returned with my glass, I summoned all the power I had into an orb that appeared in my hand before throwing it straight at him. He didn't even have time to look surprised by the time it smashed into his chest with such incredible force that it threw him backwards onto the ground. The glass fell onto the wooden floor next to the man as the life was drained from his eyes, going into the orb still lodged in his body. In a matter of seconds it had gone from blue to green and I could easily tell the man was dead. I put my effort into returning it to me and, when it did, it quickly disappeared into my hand. Every moment was bliss as I finally satisfied the craving that had been eating away at me all day.

I wondered about what Zoh would think if he saw what I had just done. Would he be mad, scared, intrigued? Maybe a mixture of all three. I kept on thinking about it as I left the man's house and used his money to buy some stuff at the shops and stalls. It would be slightly suspicious if I didn't actually return with anything after spending a while in the town. My mind wandered a bit as I left the town.

"I wonder how Zoh is getting along with the Noxians…"

Zoh's POV:

I stared at the last soldier alive in the camp with my axe raised high in the air, the blood of over twenty of his comrades covering every inch of the huge blade.

"Remember this moment in whatever afterlife you are going to!" I shouted at the man trembling in front of me as I finally bought my axe down on his head, splitting him right down the middle.

Five minutes earlier:

I stared down at the body of the officer in front of me. As I turned to leave, I noticed that there was an unearthly, vile stench wafting through the tent. My nose tracked it to the source, a pile of boxes with 'Property of Singed' stamped on the side of them.

I went over to the box with a hand covering my mouth and nose.

After opening the box I looked at something which I despised with such passion even the sight of it made me slam the ground in anger.

I stepped out of the officer's tent and walked straight to the group of soldiers surrounding a fire in the middle of the camp.

As the soldiers brought up their heads from their food they were met by my axe butchering every living thing I sight. I was in a total blood-rage and soon I had cleared all the soldiers around the fire and as I looked around I saw that the rest of the soldiers in the camp had surrounded me.

I grinned madly as I got to work.

Present time:

As I walked back to the meet-up point I finally let my thoughts slip back to what had happened at the camp. There was a box full of weaponised chemicals but everything after that was fuzzy at best. The next thing I knew I was looking at almost thirty dead bodies splayed across the grass in the camp's main area.

At about the same time as the meeting point came into sight, I got the unshakable feeling I was being watched. When I looked around it only made me more paranoid, as there would always be movement in the corner of my eye no matter where I stared. I made certain that all my armour was tightly secured until eventually I got to the meet-up point and saw Ahri sitting down with a smile on her face.

"What's got you so happy?" I asked as I sat down next to her and took my helmet.

"Oh, nothing really. It just feels good to have had some food and see that you're okay." Ahri answered with an unwavering smile.

"Yeah sure. That's why." I replied sarcastically.

"Am I not allowed to care about my friend?" Ahri grumbled as her smile dropped into a frown.

"Nope."

"You're awful." Ahri sighed.

"I know. It is pretty much my defining feature." I joked while strolling away.

As we walked past the completely silent camp Ahri looked in to the centre of it and I fully expected her to turn to me in disgust; however as she looked at me she simply raised an eyebrow and I knew what she wanted me to say.

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to." I admitted as I looked down at the ground in front of me.

"Zoh, take the armour off."

"But what if-"

"Take. The. Armour. off."

"I can't- okay, fine."

As the armour dissipated away she walked up to me and simply hugged me. After a short time she released me and we continued walking. Not a word was shared until about fifteen minutes later when we reached a massive forest with a top layer of trees which made the undergrowth completely dark, apart from where a single path had been carved through.

"We are going to have to go through that forest. On the other side is the port."

"I don't like the place. Just looking at it sends shivers down my spine." Ahri stated, a clear look of worry covering her face.

"It will take us the rest of the day to get through it or five to go around it."

"I would sooner take my chances in the shadow isles." Ahri groaned.

"Alright then, let me just set a new course that will take us through the Shadow Isles…" I trailed off while pulling out the map and pretending to draw on it with a pencil.

"Okay then, let's just get through it quickly or I may set you on fire again." Ahri threatened with a smirk.

"Oh no please don't do it, oh no oh god it hurt so much through my fire-resistant armour, oh god!" I pleaded as sarcastically and over-dramatically as I could.

Suddenly, I was entirely on fire.

"Well, hey, if it gets dark I can work as a torch!"

Ahri face-palmed and I began to cool down.

My feeling of being watched increased exponentially as we entered the forest. I shrugged it off as something we could deal with easily if it became a problem. It had to stop eventually. One way or another.

Ten minutes later:

SMACK

"Wha…" I mumbled as I looked over to Ahri who was lying on the ground, unconscious.

As I walked over to Ahri I stood over her and gave her a nudge with my foot. When she did not react I came to the conclusion that she was not just joking.

"She must have been very sleepy." I chuckled to myself for a moment.

When I was calmed down enough, I pulled out my axe and got ready for a fight with whatever had knocked out Ahri. While I was looking up the trail I felt something ping off the armour on my back and turned to see a woman dressed in green clothing with a small weapon in one hand flying towards me with one foot extended, heading directly for my face. As she impacted against my helmet she fell back to the ground and I simply looked at her and remarked: "Can I help you with something?"

"There is nothing a demon like you can help me with."

"Well that's just plain rude and incorrect on multiple fronts. For example, I could help you up.?"

As I extended my hand for her to pick up I once again felt something hit my back and turned to see a small squirrel like thing running towards me throwing tiny shurikens in my direction, all of which simply pinged off my armour.

"Are you bandits or something? Because if so you must be struggling for business." Once again I giggled at my own joke.

"Why don't you fight us evenly without the armour?" I heard from behind me and as I turned I saw that the woman was now standing in a defensive position with both of the weapons in her hands now.

"You say 'evenly' but I think I'd be at a bit of a disadvantage, this being a one verses two and all."

"Make that three." I heard come from my side as I once again turned to see a man in blue armour with two swords.

"If you're looking for money I have none and all this stuff has no worth so you might as well piss off." I explained as I looked between all three who we're now circling around me.

"We only seek to balance you and your friend over there." The man in blue, who I assumed was their leader, replied.

"I once stood on one foot for an entire day, so I'm not really lacking for balance."

As I said that I began to feel many, many things ping of my armour and I looked around to see all of them attacking me from all sides, presumably looking for weaknesses in my armour.

After a while they all halted when the man in blue declared something which I could not quite hear.

"I believe that I have miss-judged you." He admitted to me as he put his swords in two sheathes on his back.

"How so?"

"It was my original belief that you were some sort of revenant from the Void or Shadow Isles, seeking to bring destruction to the people of Ionia. I see now that I was at fault. Your imbalance lies in your mind and emotions."

"But Shen we could rid it of all emotions by killing it."

"Enough Akali. We shall return to the temple and atone for our mistake. That is an order."

"Well it was nice meeting you Shen, Akali and, uhh, little squirrel thing…" I tried to be pleasant as I pulled my helmet off, seeing as I was no longer in danger.

"I'm not a squirrel thing!"

"Okay then, hamster thing."

"I'm a Yordle and my name is Kennen!" It exclaimed with more emotion than the other two had shown so far, put together and doubled.

"Come now Kennen, we must go." Shen left and the other two followed behind him without another word.

And just like that, they were gone again.

"Ugh… what happened?" I heard Ahri ask from behind me.

"Well, we got attacked by some people and a 'Yordle'. They hit me for a while and then just stopped and said I was imbalanced."

"Are you on drugs?" Ahri questioned in a slightly joking tone.

"I don't know anymore. I just don't know."

I walked over to Ahri who was still sitting on the floor patting away the dirt on her back and tails and held out my hand to help her up. She took it and bumped into me as I pulled her up. She looked in my eyes for a few seconds, uncomfortably close to my face before pulling away.

"I won't deny the awkwardness of that situation."

"It's only awkward if you think it's awkward."

"Alright then, it's awkward."

She sighed: "Let's just get out of this place."

After a few more hours of walking, mostly in silence, we reached the end of the forest and saw the port at the bottom of a small hill we were standing at the top of. It was farmland all the way down to the port, so there was no way to approach stealthily, even in the low light of the evening.

Just as we started walking down the hill towards the port, Ahri glanced over to me for less than a second and then took another look before whispering: "Uhh, Zoh… you're wearing your armour. And a child is looking at you."

I glanced over to my right to see a small girl staring at me from half way up the small hill. Before I could do anything she screamed and ran down the hill towards a guard tower.

"Well, bugger."


Long ass chapter so ENJOY!

Same request as always constructive criticism etc. etc. etc.