From the shadow isles they came
Chapter 11
Siesta frowned as she dusted off some of the possessions of Count Mott.
She let out a sigh for what appeared to be the only thing she could do since she got here.
Her fate made her feel sad and nothing seemed right in this alien place.
Her outfit made her feel uncomfortable, she hated how the count and his lackeys looked at her whit lust present in their eyes and she hated the looks of pity the other maids send her way.
"Soon it will be her turn" they whispered among themselves, sadness making its way into their voice.
"Death would have been a better fate"
Siesta gripped the edge of the table as she passed it.
"He is no man, he has changed ever since he managed to acquire that weird family heirloom; he has become a monster"
"Monster" Siesta said to no one in particular.
She knew monsters, beings of such unimaginable power that made her feel like a mouse.
But they had not looked down at her, they had shared with her.
Defended her from nobles.
And she could feel their anger at how the nobles treated others, they said that if she put her mind to it she could do things that no commoner should be able to do.
She smiled at how exited she had been that night.
Seeing Ms. Vallière train under the night sky and being told that she had potential.
A potential that no one, not even her friends, would have believed in.
She had been beaming that night when she returned to her room.
Only to be met by the sad faces of most of her coworkers.
With teary eyes they wrapped their arms around her.
Some said their goodbye's right there and then, they couldn't find the strength to say what had happened.
It fell to another humble maid to explain what had happened.
Her services where going to be sold to another noble.
Count Mott.
Once a respected but eccentric man of the nobility, turned mad magician who nobody wanted near but who had become necessary for the king for reason only know to the crown.
She suppressed a shiver as a scream filled the air.
Prisoners of war where being kept here.
She saw them go down into the basement in the dozens, none of them returned.
Siesta closed her eyes and tried to steady her nerves.
"Founder help me" she said.
The doors to the basement where busted open, making yelp in fear.
The count stood there a mad grin on his face.
"I have done it!"
He cackled and clapped, he took notice of Siesta and grabbed her wrist.
"I DID IT!" he yelled in her face and made her spin around in a sad imitation of a dance.
Siesta gulped and nodded.
"Congratulations my lord" she said quietly.
"I have made it through, only few more steps and I will break the wall" he let go of her and smiled.
"Oh that reminds me, as a celebration I have decided that tonight will be your night my dear!" he said as a smile that did nothing to comfort Siesta creeped into his face.
"Pardon me but I don't understand…"
"I suggest you wear something pretty my dear, or you can wear nothing at all, I don't care what matter is what happens after"
With those last he walked to another room leaving Siesta alone in her thoughts.
She felt a small tear start to make its way down her cheek.
A small sob echoed in the empty room.
Terrified, alone and helpless she could only ask that an angel would come and save her.
"Where is north again?"
"Is always right in front of you so if we keep walking in the same direction that's north"
"But what if you're looking in a different direction that me? What's the true north?"
"…."
"…"
"Is the one that you feel in your heart?"
"We are undead"
"Shut up you're making too much sense"
Mordekaiser rolled his eyes (yes the red things in his helmet) as his subordinates bickered among themselves.
Everyone knew north didn't exist.
It was just a lie told by deluded sailors from Bilgewater.
"So why are we hunting down Sleepy again Morde, is not like you care about her"
"True, but I was just hit with a terrible realization"
Hecarim raised an eyebrow.
"That she's the only human that I sort of tolerate in this world"
A silence fell on the trio.
"$&#$ me too, ok how do we find her?"
"We follow our undead, non-beating heart apparently"
Thresh was punched in the face.
"I think I can follow her soul, but she is deep in the woods so it would take us like a transition line to get there" Mordekaiser said with disinterest as they walked outside of the academy, making a point to ignore the screaming Louise behind them.
"I hate long walks" Thresh said with a yawn as he stretched his arms
"God dammit, already?"
"Shut up and look Thresh" Hecarim commanded.
The Warden rolled his eyes but focused nonetheless.
A strange energy was coming from the building, more specifically the basement.
"Souls, I smell them"
"Indeed, but do you also feel that?" Mordekaiser asked his tone deadly serious.
Thresh bared his fangs "I know that power"
Hecarim glowed brighter, his rage barely contained.
Mordekaiser growled "That's the Ruination Power"
"But why would the Ruined King…"
"He didn't, which means one thing, they stole it"
A silence fell on the trio, rage burning on their eyes.
Hecarim was the first to break the silence, he smashed his spear against the ground.
"THEY WILL BLEED FOR THIS!"
Mordekaiser nodded and raised his arm.
"Let loose, no mercy to guards or mages, but spare the servants… for now"
Hecarim screamed in rage and ran to the front gates.
He summoned his phantom raiders and broke it down to pieces.
"Who comes before me first!?" he bellowed as a horn alerted the entire mansion, guards poured out of the front gates only to stop in their tracks at the sight before them.
Terrified the guards tried to throw spears at him, but they simply bounced off his armor.
"Weak" was all Hecarim said before he masterfully impaled two of the closest guards and proceeded to wreak havoc on the rest.
Each swing from his weapon sent pieces of armor and flesh flying to the air.
"Charming, but the souls are being wasted" Thresh commented as he started to twirl his chains around.
"My turn"
A guard screamed as he was impaled by a green glowing hook.
"Stare deep into my lantern boy, for is the last thing you will see"
Thresh said as he ripped the soul out of the body and stored into his lantern.
"Who is next?"
The guards shivered in their boots and tried to stand their ground but where flattened by a giant mace.
Mordekaiser grabbed it once more and stared ahead.
"The guards are retreating inside, Hecarim, you know what to do"
The Shadow of War wasted no time and did as his master told him.
With his spear he broke down the door and turned to look at his companions.
"Couldn't you this Mordekaiser?"
"Yeah"
"…"
"…"
"..."
"…"
"…"
"…Screw you"
"Huehue, let's not dwell on that, we have a mansion to clear"
Thresh reunited with them, he was cleaning his hooks absentmindedly as he whistled a merry tune that he hear once.
"I thought that would have been harder, but from the looks of it this man those not employ magicians" the warden told them as he removed a piece of… something out of his robes.
"Maybe it's because I don't need one" a voice said from atop the stairs.
The Count stood there, dressed in his fanciest attire, a cup of wine on his hand.
"I have no need to hire them I am after all a noble, a very powerful one at that and now with the new power that I have, the one that I know you people came for, I am unstoppable" Mott said as he descended the stairs.
Mordekaiser rolled his eyes and dropped his mace.
"Ok, this one is for the dramatic entrance"
And before Mott could react he was punched back into the floor above, he hit the wall hard.
But to the Shadow Isles resident's surprise, he did not die, he got back up again and cracked his knuckles, he glared at them.
"You made me drop my wine"
The count gathered dark magic around him and his eyes changed color, Thresh paled and turned to look at his friends.
Mordekaiser looked ready to fight, obviously pissed that his punch didn't separate the man and his life, now Hecarim on the other hand had turned around and was heade on the complete opposite direction.
"Hey horse where you going, aren't you interested?"
"No"
"…"
"Why?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"I don't care about a man that goes Swain on me, I care about what's down on the basement"
"What's in the basement?"
"I don't know but it feels powerful"
"Oh" Thresh turned to look at Mott who was now descending down the stairs in a dramatic fashion (again), and the back to his friend.
"You don't mind if I tag along right?"
Hecarim snorted "Sure, let's go"
"SEEEEEEEEE YA MORDE HAVE FUN!"
Mordekaiser nodded absent mindedly and dropped his amce to the ground.
"Ah, do you presume to fight me bare handed?"
"Yup"
"Do you really think you can't take me on?"
"Yup"
"Are you… stupid?" the count asked with a raised eyebrow and small smirk on his lips.
"Yup… no wait what the hell, ARGH you will pay for that!"
The giant tin can of a man jumped into the magician and to his surprise, the count dodged effortlessly, making the Iron Revenant smash into the wall.
"You're too slow, come step it up"
"…... really?"
Mordekaiser felt a not existing vein pop, he stood back up and glared at Mott.
"IT'S ON NOW YOU B#$CH!"
Mordekaiser stopped a magic blow from the count and countered with an attack of his own, summoning shards of metal from the now shattered door, he blasted them into the unsuspecting Count.
They impacted but did little damage.
The count smirked "So pathetic I could catch it with my eyes clos…URGH!"
Mordekaiser punched him so hard on the face that his own armor cracked, the count was sent flying into the next room, blood oozing from his broken nose.
"Now THAT felt good"
"You will pay for that you insolent cretin! Do you know who I am, the power that I wield?!"
"I don't care and in just a moment none of that will matter"
Mott screamed at the top of his lungs and used his dark magic to summon some ghouls to his side, the decaying corpses charged at him, but Mordekaiser swatted them away with ease.
He honestly had missed this feeling, fighting mano a IwieldmagicanduseitinafightbecauseI'malittlegirl, it had been since his little spat with Karthus if he remembered correctly.
But now that didn't matter, not when he had a face to turn into mush.
Mott had been spewing some nonsense out of his windpipe the entire time, it kind of sounded like Ezreal when he put on that God-Awful costume that Lux liked so much.
Galaxy protector his A$$.
Mott kept yelling throwing ghouls at him, some lightning and of course full concentrated dark magic.
Mordekaiser felt as if he was playing tennis with his hands and from the looks of it he was winning, Mott was exhausted, never having to wield that power before could be exhausting and the strain that put on your soul was monumental.
As the count fell to his knees he started to mutter something "I will not be defeated here, not when I am so close to finally achieve my goa…URGH!"
Mordekaiser punched him into the floor below, he keked for a bit, but stopped when he heard a scream from bellow, a scream that he had become accustomed to.
With a roll of his eyes he jumped down to where he had thrown Mott and to the surprise of only Siesta, Siesta was being held hostage by the mad Count.
"One more step and this little flower is gone!"
"Master Mordekaiser!?"
"Ah so you know each other, more reason not move you big metal monster, you will let me go or she gets it"
To emphasize his point his hand glowed green and he gripped Siesta by the shoulder, making her scream in pain as her clothes started to burn.
"Now you will move aside and let us leave"
Siesta felt tear roll down her cheeks as she looked at her savior in desperation.
Said savior looked more annoyed than anything else.
"Siesta, look at me, I am sorry" Mordekaiser said.
Siesta gasped, Mott smiled, Thresh sneezed and Hecarim sighed.
Before Siesta could even start to comprehend what was happening her arm moved on her own and she elbowed Mott in the face.
Mott groaned but still had his iron grip on her arm.
"Why you little… URGH THE THIRD!" Mott screamed in pain as Siesta kneed him on the groin, but she didn't stop there (even though she wished she could stop) she jumped and kicked him in the face while he was down, she then performed a grab that incapacitated the man and with a last twist she heard a loud "CRACK" echo in the room.
Siesta finally regained her body and turned to look at Mordekaiser, who was staring in amusement at her.
"YOU USED ME!" she screamed at his face.
"Yeah, but you got to admit that kicking his face in felt really good"
Siesta opened her mouth to speak, buit closed it, now that she thought about it that had been pretty cool, HAH! She had just defeated a noble! Suck it Jimmy from her village that told her that she would never do it!
"P-l-please, have mercy!" Mott begged at Mordekaiser's feet, the Iron Revenant looked at him, then at Siesta , then back at Mott and shook his head.
"You want to live"
"YES!"
"You will let us be?"
"YES!"
"You will stay away from her?"
"YEESSSSSSS!"
"Are you dumb?"
"YES…. Wait what?"
"PAYBACK YOU SACK OF $%&$!"
And with that Mordekaiser summoned his mace and smashed the Count's head into red pulp over and over again.
Siesta turned her face away from the violent display, she would stare at the walls and count the red dots!
Those where not there before, oh founder she was going to throw up.
Siesta turned to look at the door and to her surprise it was halfway open and a curious pair of eyes stared back at her.
The other maids!
The maid gasped and tried to close the door but Siesta stopped her, she heard her try to scramble but the loud THUD sound told her that she had tripped.
"I am sorry, I will not interfere again I am so sorry" the other maid recited over and over again, her head touching the ground as she kneeled before Siesta.
Who honestly felt that the entire thing was highly unnecessary, she turned to look back at Mordekaiser who had stopped beating the now long dead count, with curiosity he looked down at the kneeling maid.
"Who dat?" he asked as he started to walk towards them, Siesta felt the small woman whimper in fear and she quickly kneeled beside her, she gently caressed her head.
"She is a friend another maid that was kidnapped by the count!"
"Oh, ok" Mordekaiser said and with that he walked away.
Once the sound of his steps faded away Siesta felt the woman look up to her.
"The count is…?"
"Yes, he is gone, Master Mordekaiser took care of him"
"Master Mordekaiser is the scary man that just walked away?"
Siesta let out a small frown "Yes, he is, but he is not scary, once you get to know him you figure out that he is actually a good person, he wouldn't have come here to save me if he wasn't"
"He came to save, his servant?"
"Yes"
The woman looked up to her in hope "Would he let us serve him" she asked with a hint of desperation on her voice. Siesta looked at her and nodded weakly "I mean I suppose he would…" the woman didn't let he finish.
She jumped and ran "Oh what wonderful news, I must tell all of the servants!"
Siesta stood awkwardly in the middle of the hallway, deciding that it would be best to inform Mordekaiser of this strange development, she followed where she thought Mordekaiser had gone.
She found herself at the entrance of the basement where green mist had started to envelop the hallway, with a weary heart she started to descend down the stairs.
She heard voices, familiar voices.
"So then I was like KAPAW and the he was like NO PLEASE and then Siesta was like… oh hey Siesta"
Siesta bowed out of instinct.
"Good to know that you still know your place" Hecarim commented as he fiddled with a corpse in the corner.
Thresh snickered.
"Master Mordekaiser I am sorry to interrupt your story but, you see something strange has happened"
"Strange I tell you what is strange, somehow Karthus notes found themselves here, I have no idea how he did it but with the help of this stupid book he managed to copy the ruination power, of course it took him like a hundred souls to power the thing up but it worked, how in Aurelion Sols blue balls did he get this book!?"
"I…blue balls?"
"Forget sleepy, now that there is a source of power here I cannot leave unguarded but I don't want to stick around here for long, or else that little pink $%&% will be an earful once we get back"
Siesta brought a hand to her chin, so he needed someone to guard the place huh?
As if to answer her question all of the servants descended the basement stairs and kneeled before him.
"We are here to serve master Mordekaiser" said the army of maids and gardeners before him.
Siesta smiled and looked up to the giant metal man "I think the founder answered your question" Mordekaiser snorted but didn't correct her, he walked up to them and raised his hand.
"Rise and listen to your new Master"
Thresh hugged Siesta and started to spin her around.
"WE CONQUERED OUR FIRST CASTLE!"
Hecarim gave a halfhearted whoop of excitement.
Siesta gave a full-hearted scream of terror.
Mordekaiser smirked, Thresh was right the first steps to conquering this world had started.
Sarah had to admit that she had never had so much difficulty looking away from a person.
Most of the time all of them blended into the background or she ignored them on porpoise.
But she was having so much trouble looking away from Viktor.
It was almost as if he was an alien to her, she had never imagined him without the metal mask, she had always thought that his eyes where the color of his visor but she had bene wrong.
Green.
He had green eyes, black hair, pale skin and a shy smile that made her.
"URGH!" she kicked a random Zaunite.
"OH LORD HAVE MERCY THE WOMEN HAVE GONE CRAZY!" he screamed in panic and ran screaming bloody murder.
There was an awkward silence between her Viktor, as he started at her with curiosity.
Sarah blushed and looked down "Remind me to kick a sane person next time"
Viktor chuckled a little bit and nodded "I will, but please refrain from doing so, there is not much sane people in Zaun"
Sarah found herself smirking at the small joker, who would have thought that the machine herald had some jokes in him. As they continued to walk quietly down the deserted streets Sarah unconsciously found herself staring at Viktor again. His face was entrancing and she couldn't get her eyes off him. He had a small scar running down his left check and she was sure that head one on his neck.
Viktor saw her inspecting him and blushed.
Sarah felt a small smirk coming to her lips, so he had noticed, good that would make things easier, they were adults and she would be dammed if she let these dumb butterflies in her stomach get any worse, she just needed to talk to him and then…
She felt the butterflies get worse.
And the what?
"Viktor?"
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to ask you about somethOOH SON OF A…" Sarah screamed as she was shot in the back by a rubber bullet.
"Is not nice to run away from the candidates, especially when your input is needed" said Urgot as he walked towards them menacingly.
Viktor quickly kneeled beside Sarah "Are you all right?"
"Yeah rubber bullet, I'll live"
"You should be grateful that I shot her with that one, me thinks that's an extra point for the Jinx!" the blue haired maniac screamed at the top of her lungs, the other two candidates looked deep in thought.
"I have none lethal weapons" Urgot muttered under his breath.
"Yeah me too" Singed replied
"NO ONE IS HURTING HER… OR ANYBODY!" Viktor said as he prepared himself to face the three crazed Zaunites.
Miss. Fortune stood up shakily, Viktor turned to look at her, there was determination™ on his eyes and she knew that he had this.
"Sarah go ahead, search for the blueprints beneath the big desk near the entrance, there is one called project P that's what you are looking for"
Miss. Fortune nodded and ran towards the lab.
Viktor let out a sigh and prepared himself, he would not hesitate, he had this he would not be defeated, he was Viktor the machine hera… "Viktor what building is it?" Sarah asked him, oh she didn't know!
"Biggest building on this street you can't miss it, thank you for coming back I forgot to give you the keys"
"Oh thanks, hurry up
"Sure, I will be there shortly"
HE WAS THE MACHINE HERALD! NOTHING COULD STOP HIM!
"What do you plan to do Viktor? Fight us" Urgot growled.
"Worse, I plan to interview, have a forum with you and talk like civilized beings!"
Jinx gasped, Urgot took some steps back and singed shook his head "You mad man" Singed told him, and Viktor couldn't suppress his smirk.
"Now we will start with the easiest of questions, why do you think you should be Mayor of Zaun"
"I WILL MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN!"
"I WILL MAKE THINGS GO BOOOOOOOM!"
I WILL EXPERIMENT ON EVERYTHIN!"
Viktor took a notepad out and started to write something down.
"Point for Urgot, he does not care for himself but for the betterment of the city, next question, do you have worked in a serious job before?"
Jinx shook her head, Urgot shrugged "I don't think noxian soldier counts" he commented under his breath, Singed on the other hand smiled and nodded.
"Yes I do"
"Would you care to inform me?"
"Sure I work part time as a doctor and chemist an excellent one at that just ask Warwick"
Viktor heard a loud "F$%"# YOU" from somewhere in Zaun.
But he still wrote down the point in favor of Singed.
"Point for Singed, now onto popularity, how much do the people like you?"
Urgot said nothing, Singed said nothing too but Jinx… oh Jinx had the biggest smile on her face.
"People LOVE ME!"
Viktor raised an eyebrow at her.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I have so much Rule 34 and hentai!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"-_-"
"…."
"…"
"—"
"…."
"…"
"..."
"…"
"..."
Singed grumpily crossed his arms "I also have some..."
"POINT FOR JINX!"
Viktor said and quickly changed the subject "You are all tied, meaning that there is only one way to solve this problem of our, Zaun is for the strong so however wins the fight will rule Zaun"
Urgot chuckled, Jinx giggled and Singed cackled, all of them turned to look at each other, none of them wanted to loose.
"And with that I am off lady and gentleman I have pressing matters to attend to, do have fun ruling Zaun!"
"WE WILL" they answered as poison, led and rockets filled the air.
Viktor walked calmly in the streets until he reached his destination, the door was half opened so he knocked gently and entered.
He closed the door and then collapsed into the ground.
"OH MY GOD!" Viktor said to no one in particular as he grabbed his hair.
He hear a chuckle and looked up to see Sarah staring at him a small smile on her lips, she offered her hand and helped him up.
"Though day?"
"Like you wouldn't believe, but I am better now that I am here, my sweet laboratory" Viktor said as he breathed in the smell, it smelled of oil, burned clothes and canned beans, just like he remembered! He walked to the generator plant and activated it.
"I found the blueprints you were talking about but they look like gibberish to me" Sarah commented as she handed him the papers, Viktor nodded and smiled "That my dear is because you need one of my machines to read it"
Viktor walked to a small corner of his lab and pressed some hidden buttons and as if by magic, a table rose from nowhere, the top of it emanating a light that illuminated the entire lab.
Sarah walked next to Viktor as he gently put the paper on top of it.
She could make out the words now, Project Portal or P for short, in case of catastrophic energy being spread all over Runterra use this machine it will tracks down the energy of something (or someone) and opens a portal to it in order to fix the anomaly, requirements: metal (duh), source of energy, Pure Hex Crystal.
Sarah blinked at the last one.
"What is a Pure Hex Crystal" Sarah asked curiously as she pointed at the figure on the blueprint, Viktor stopped his mussing and looked at it.
"Is a rare item that is only found in the desert of Shurima, I tried to find something else to make it work but I couldn't "
Sarah let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temples "So that means you are going to Shurima, which means that we need to go back to my place to use my boat great"
Viktor looked at the ground nervously, now was the perfect time to leave, he could give the excuse that he would remain here building the machine why they acquired the material, it was the perfect plan!
"You… you are coming, right?" Sarah asked, a hint of worry on her voice, she looked so sad at the prospect of him not coming, that his words came out of his mouth without him thinking.
"Of course" and he smiled at her.
Sarah couldn't help but to smile back, both of them had the same thought in mind.
'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU$#%#%& this butterflies!'
A/N: Big chapter as a gift for the long wait, I hope you like this chapter.
On the shadow isles buddies side they have taken the first step into conquering the world and on the Sona and company side they have their next destination in mind, now they just need to take a small detour which will TOTALLY end well. Thank you for reading, see you next chapter!