I Swear I Will Save My City

Ekko:

I ran a hand through my white Mohawk, twirling a pencil through the other as I stared down at the problem at hand. My time-winder device sat to the side of my workbench slightly covering the blueprint idea sheets that were scattered on the tabletop surface.

Night was falling in Zaun, as the smoke that constantly hung around buildings turned from light gray to dark gray and slight orange from the rays. If I just perfected my invention, my ZeroDrive, I could prove that Piltover wasn't the only City of Progress. As if progress was something that was only attainable if you were rich. Those Pilties on their high horses probably thought nothing good could ever come out of Zaun. Contrary to popular belief, riches and intelligence are only a correlation, not a causation as many believed.

'Thunk'

It was such a light sound, I almost doubted that I heard it. But if I was correct, that means someone just entered my hideout. I quickly strapped on my time-winder and pulled the reset cord. It hummed quietly as I scanned the room. My sword was on the other side of the room, propped up against my wooden nightstand. I quietly began to move to that side of the room when I was grabbed from behind suddenly. I ripped my arms out of whoever had tried to restrain me and dove across the room to reach my sword, but I wasn't fast enough. I heard a whistle of a blade through the air, cutting the upper part of my left arm and landing inches from my face. The blade clearly used to be a large sword, but it had been broken off a quarter length from the hilt. It had runes running up the center of the blade. I scrambled backwards and I left a blood trail across my wooden floor. My attacker was wearing a green cloak, they yanked their blade out of the floor and turned to me. They stood between my sword and where I was crouched, holding my bleeding bicep. I didn't know how serious my wound was, but blood seeped through my fingers, making trails down my dark skin.

"I have some questions." A surprisingly feminine voice threatened. Her red eyes flashed with determination.

"I don't have any answers for you." I shot back, my mind racing. Was she here for my Time winder? How would anyone know it even exists?

She lunged forward with her broken blade extended. I tried to dash to the side, but I wasn't fast enough. Her hilt connected with the side of my head, stunning me just long enough for us to crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs. After a confusing struggle she ended up on top of me, pinning me down with her weight, her sword cold against my throat.

"Now, where is the staff?" She questioned.

"What staff?"

"Cute."

Pain flared through my shoulder as she drove the tip all the way through to the floor. I screamed in pain and yelled, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Lies, I followed Singed this f-" I managed to pull my right hand out of her grasp, and turn the reset with my mouth. The timeline slowed down and cut off the rest of her sentence. Wait... Singed? Did she think I was working for Singed? The sword flew out of my shoulder and everything was traced with light blue as I was pulled back through time, my cuts healing and retracting my steps back to the moment I pulled the reset cord.

I paused too long in my thoughts and I was successfully grabbed from behind this time and was thrown to the floor. She had my right arm twisted behind me and her sword up against the back of my neck.

"You're going to answer my questions and you won't get hurt." She began.

I interrupted, "Why do you think I'm with Singed?"

"...what? I never even- "

"Also, no I don't know where the staff is. Or what the staff is."

She tightened her grip on me, painfully so. "How did you know all of that? I haven't even started asking..." her voice sounded a bit shaky. Oh right, she doesn't remember the last timeline.

"I'm a seer...?"

She let me go and moved back form me. "There are no seers this far out from Ionia." Her red eyes flashed with fear. I quickly pulled the reset again. I didn't need to try to explain why I knew what was going to happen. The room washed in blue again, but this time when I hit the reset point, I went into motion, dodging her grab at me, and diving forward just like the first timeline, but halfway through, rolled up to my feet and avoided the thrown blade, as I grabbed my own sword and turned just in time. I blocked the incoming hit with my own sword and acted like I never seen her before.

"What do you want?"

"Where is Singed? I followed him this far, I'm sure you know something." She shifted, readjusting her grip on her sword, favoring her right leg.

I narrowed my eyes, "You're injured."

"Doesn't matter."

"I know where Singed is... but I don't work for him. It's just easy to notice where new chemicals come out of."

She nodded and lowered her sword, playing nice, I did the same. I was thinking that this was just a misunderstanding. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Riven."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ekko." I placed my sword back onto my nightstand before slowly approaching Riven. She still was loosely holding her sword.

"Where is Singed's hideout?"

"I'm not telling you that, you're bleeding."

She gripped her sword tighter, "I'm fine."

"No, you are not, let me help."

I guided her to my bed and gently pushed her down into a sitting position. She placed her sword next to her on the covers, as I revealed the wound on her leg. It was a long sword cut from knee to ankle, not cleaned or bandaged and she was clearly traveling on it. "Tell me about Singed, why are you after him." I pulled some of the cloth away from the wound, she hissed as it reopened the scab it had sealed its self into.

I started to clean her wound with a wet, lukewarm cloth as she told me her story.

"I was following Singed's goons, Demacians. They could fight better than I thought, which is why I got hurt. Clearly from the military. They had a staff with them, I'm pretty sure they robbed it from a tomb. I dug around a bit and found out that with that staff, they are able to create sand soldiers. With Singed, they're trying to create soldiers either immune or embedded with toxins. They're using Zaun as a testing ground."

I froze, halfway down of wrapping her leg in bandages. "Zaun is not a testing ground." I quickly finished wrapping her wound in gauze, and grabbed my sword. "So, if I steal this staff, Singed won't be able to carry out experiments on my city."

"Yes," She said, standing and grabbing her sword. "And I'm coming with you."

"No, you need to stay here, you can hardly walk on that leg, much less run or assault a highly guarded facility. Trust me, I'll get the staff and come back, I am not going to let Singed ruin my city. I swear I'm going to save Zaun if it is the last thing I do." Her red eyes searched my face before she sat back down and sighed, waving me off.

Twenty minutes later, I was on the roof of the building across from Singed workshop. I was crouched down, surveying the street. As I pulled my reset cord again, the hum of the time winder calmed my nerves. For a highly guarded facility, the back entrance didn't have any guards. All of a sudden there was a sizzling sound, with a bang, and a person appeared in a flash of light, as though he had jumped through the wall. He had blonde hair swept across his forehead, and he was wearing an explorer's jacket. A large golden gauntlet was on his left hand, a golden staff in another. He started to run across the back alley-way, before a thug burst out of the back door with a semi-automatic and lit up the street with gunfire. I heard a scream and as the smoke cleared, the thief was collapsed on his knees, the staff next to him as he held his left hand to his bleeding chest as blood poured from the multiple gunshot wounds. Blood also dripped from his mouth as he coughed, clearly dying. I quickly turned the reset, watching the events retold backwards in blue lights, my mind racing. Whoever this was already did the hard work. He had stolen the staff that could wreck my city. All I had to do was save his life.

A/N: And here's chapter two. If you liked it, please review! Have a great day! Peace out.