Disclaimer: I do not own League of Legends or Harry Potter, those belong to their respective owners.
Son of the Void
Chapter 2
Life isn't easy in Noxus. Especially in Noxus. And even more so in Noxus Prime, the capital of the noxian Empire. This was a lesson that every noxian had to learn very early in his or her life. Keris did learn this when he was five years old. He was an orphan. He grew up on the streets of Noxus Prime and had nothing and no one. Except for the dream of joining the Noxian army and to become a high military leader. Maybe a commander or even a general. Just like Darius. Yes, Darius and his brother Draven. They really did achieve something in their lives. They were wealthy, famous, had a high rank in the army anf they even were Champions of the League! How awesome is this? They both had nothing. They were orphans, just like him! But they never gave up. They fought tooth and nail to get where they stand nowadays. Nearly every orphan in the noxian empire dreamed of becoming famous like them or at least joining their battalions!
Well maybe I'll be able to become one of it's members Keris mused But before that I have to become stronger! Strength is the only thing that counts here after all.
"Alright you dirty maggots!" suddenly someone shouted. "There is someone who wanted to see you! I doubt you'll ever see someone of his rank again so I recommend you to be at you best behavior! Greet the embodiment of Might!"
All movement extinguished for a split second, before everyone in the big training area ran to its northern wall and formed a line.
Okay Keris, just behave how you learned it He thought Arms behind your back, head held high, legs shoulder wide apart and gaze to the front. You can do this! Fuck why do I shudder everywhere? Okay take a deep breath and chill. You did nothing wrong. Just relax. Relax. Good.
"Are you kiddin' me? This line is even uglier than the fucking faces of your mothers! No wonder you little shits were orphaned!" the advisor spat.
No one said a word. The soldiers had long learned to just ignore the insults of their advisors. It's just their job after all.
"It is okay. No worries there corporal" the new arrival said.
All eyes went wide when they cought sight of the new arrival. He didn't bring any guards with him, and frankly, he didn't really need them anyways.
He was big. Not fat-big but more the muscled-big. A real juggernaut if you want. He was clad in an unadorned but nontheless very intimidating battle armor. A bloodred cape that was attached to his armor's shoulders flattered in the wind and in his right hand he held a giant noxian battle axe. He wore no helmet and his edgy, war-ridden face turned to look at the assembeld soldiers in the yard. He squinted his blue eyes and examined everyone of them.
"M-Master Darius, to what do I owe this visit?" the advisor asked and glanced nervously at the burly warrior. Darius towered over him at nearly two heads height, so he every right to be intimidated.
"I didn't come for you" Darius, the Hand of Noxus, the Embodyment of might, answered. He waved his axe over the assembeld line of soldiers. "I came for them."
Unbeknownst to them Keris and several other soldiers gulped upon hearing that.
Darius turned to the soldiers, leaned his axe on a near wall and clasped his hands behind his back.
"As you all know" he said with a steady voice "We currently are at war with Ionia. We already sent several battalions over there and we are steadily winning ground each new day. Though one of our biggest problems there is the wild magic. It is everywhere. In the plants, the rivers, even in the air. Lots of our soldiers who had a weak magic resistance already died just after arriving because of this. YOU-" he let his gaze wander over the small, 200 people strong, unit "-were placed in this unit because you have a high, or at least higher magic resistance than ot is normal. You aren't that likely to die over there and who knows, maybe you will gain even more strengh, wealth and glory while fighting in this magic infused land. You also were decided to be part of a special mission whose details I can't and won't disclose to you right now. We will embark our 'ferry' to Ionia at 11 tomorrow morning. We'll meet in front of Barack six! Make sure to be ready until then. If not..."
He didn't finish the threat and frankly, he also didn't need to do so.
Keris stared at the man with a mix of fear and awe. He had this kind of aura that instantly demands respect, whenever he is around. Just like Swain he spread an atmosphere of seriousness and maturity everywhere he went. Not that Keris had ever met the Noxian Grandgeneral personally, but he had heard lots of tales about him. Stories of a slain arm and revenge, of dark ravens, magical blades and demons.
"Did you get me?" Darius suddenly shouted and the entire corps responded with a perfectly synced "Sir, yes Sir!"
"Good. Now pack your things! You're dismissed"
With this the Hand of Noxus turned on his heel and walked away.
SotV
Exited chatter filled the baracks this evening. The Hand of Noxus, Darius himself had stated that they were to go on a special mission to Ionia! Finally they all were going to have the chance to earn glory and wealth!
"I wonder what this special mission entails..." one of the soldiers, Haro thought aloud.
"Is this that important right now?" a petite blonde asked.
"Of course it's important!" Haro exclaimed "Jill, think about it! We're sent into an unknown country without any knowledge aso to what we have to do there!"
"Dude, chill your balls!" someone shouted from the other end of the room "Don't be such a girl and deal with it!"
"You have something against girls?" the woman, Jill, shouted back while unsheathing a dagger.
"Nah, I'm good. Go slice up your boyfriend if it bothers you, not me!"
"He's/She's not my boy/girlfriend!" Haro and Jill exclaimed at the same time.
The whole room exploded in laughter upon hearing that and Jill and Haro blushed to a deep shade of red.
After a while tough the laughter died down and everyone returned to their own buisness.
"But why are we of all people tasked with some kind of special mission? And why did Darius himself deliver this information upon us?" one soldier asked.
"That's acually a very good question. The first good idea you had this year." his neighbour stated.
"Hey! take that back!"
"Never!"
"Any ideas?" another slodier shouted.
Upon hearing this the wildest theories started to rise.
"Maybe they want us to find a spy or something like that..."
"Or they want to test some kind of new weapon and we're the ones who'll be allowed to wield it!"
"Dude, they'd rather test the weapon on not with us!"
"Maybe the black rose wants to recruit new members..."
"I bet it has something to do with Singed! This guy's batshit crazy!"
"What if we have to find and kill some kind of mystical beast?"
"Im pretty sure this beast would find and kill us, not the other way around..."
They continued to discuss for several more minutes, until Keris stood up and bid his comrades a good night.
"Hey Keris, why are you already going to sleep? Aren't you like the one who is always awake, no matter what?" one of his comrades asked.
"Well, I gues I'm just tired. It was an exhausting day after all, right?"
"Yeah. Crazy and exhausting as hell. Good night!"
"Good night!" the other people in the barack exclaimed, but Keris was already inside the barack's bathroom, readying himself for the night. He looked at himself in the mirror and couldnt fathom, why he and his unit of all people would be visited by Darius.
Is there even anything remotely extraordinary about me? he thought.
Keris watched his reflexion in the big mirror that was attached to one of the walls. He was a fairly average noxian. He had flat, shoulder length black hair and hazelbrown eyes. He stood at a proud height of 1 meter 83 and had some decent muscle on him.
Heh, one of the perks of being a noxian soldier. You never have to woory 'bout your looks. Well 'till you get a mace smashed into your face that is.
His faithful weapon, a shuriman spear, leaned on the wall next to him and Keris couldn't help but wonder why he didn't choose something different.
A spear. Of all possible weapons I chose a frickin' spear. Father would turn around in his grave, if he knew what kind of soldier I had become. Well, if he had a grave to begin with.
With this cynical thoughts he exited the barack and headed to his field bed which was situated right outside of the building.
Thats another perk of being a noxian soldier; no one questions your possible quirks.He thought.
He didn't know why but it always comforted him to be able to see the moon and the stars before falling asleep. His mother always told him tales of far away worlds and gods and godesses who lived on the sun and the moon. It was comforting to bask in these memories even though he knew, his family would never come back. Of course, there is the possibility of necromancy, but it's really hard to reanimate a pile of ash, right?
Those and other thoughts filled his mind, shortly before falling into a deep, dreamless slumber.
SotV
The ship was huge. Bigger than any ship Keris had ever seen in his life. It had 3 masts, lots of sails and even more people running around on its deck.
"Where are their uniforms?" Haro asked and immediately a sailor bumped into him, probably on purpose.
"We're from Bilgewater, boy. We don't need your fancy unform things" he grumbled and pointed to the flag that was hissed on the biggest of the tree masts. "See? Pirates and uniforms, pff" he shook his head and went away to fetch some kind of crates which he carried onto the ship.
Bilgewater? Keris thought Why the hell did we employ pirates from Bilgewater to bring us to Ionia? There definetely is something foul going on here.
"That was rude" Haro complained, but no one listened anymore, because Darius proceeded to enter the ship and the other noxians quickly follwed his example.
Once they were all on board the soldiers roamed around the deck, their eyes filed to the brim with curiosity and wonder. After all it wasn't every day that you would be able to take a ride on a real pirate ship from Bilgewater! Half an hour later the ship's captain, a brutish looking man with lots of scars on his arms and face, as well as a wooden leg, a wild red beard and a gold trimmed black tricorne on his head declared the ship ready for departure . Darius introduced him as Captain Malek and ordered the noxians to follow his every command as if they were Darius' own ones. After the Captain spoke some words to Darius, the noxian warrior nodded and the ship soon took off to Ionia.
SotV
They already were several hours at sea and the night had already darkened the sky. The stars shone brightly upon the ship and tired to illuminate the calm, ink-black sea beneath the railing. Keris inhaled deeply and gazed up into the sky. He felt a strong sense of calm washing over his very soul and and a wistful smile spread over his face.
"I did it Mom. I'm finally on my way to Ionia. And I'll definetely try to visit all the places you told me about." He chuckled and stared into the dark floods beneath him. "I miss you, you know? I know you had to move on and all this stuff, but... I still miss you. You and Dad. Damn, I wonder what he'd say if he knew I became a pikeman. I'd really love to see that." He smiled and a lonely tear rolled down his cheek.
"Do you always talk to yoursel?" a female voice suddenly asked.
Keris turned around caught sight of an other person. He couldn't distinguish any details because the lantern which hung at the railing weren't currently lit.
"What the hell, who are you? What do you want? Answer me!" Keris demanded warily.
"You know it's really rude to demand someones name without uttering your own first." The woman told him.
Now this took Keris by surprise.
"Oh. Uhh, right. So I'm Keris." He said.
"Why, nice to meet you Keris"
The woman took one of the many lanterns on the railing and and opened it. She snapped her fingers and suddenly a little spark erupted from her fingertips and lit the candle inside the lantern. Keris' eyes widened in wonder upon that sight.
"You're a mage?" he asked, all previous waryness forgotten.
"Yup! Awesome right?" The woman, or rather girl, for she couldn't be older than 17 years, replied cheerfully. Now, in the light of the candle, Keris could finally see some details of her. She had brown, shoulder length hair and eyes in the same colour. Her skin had a bronze complexion just like that of an inhabitant of the shuriman desert. She wore the typical shuriman desert garbs; thight pants, high, bright brown leather boots, a loose robe and long, red and baggy sleeves. She had some kind of ornament made of stone or metal in her hair which shined and blinked mysteriously in the flickering light of the lantern.
"You can bet it's awesome!" Keris exclaimed "Tell me, what kind of mage are you?"
"Well, I'm a stoneweaver!"
"A 'stoneweaver'? What's this?"
The girl chuckled upon that question.
"I hoped you'd ask this. Just look!"
She took the hem of her right sleeve and plucked a part of it off. She showed her palm to Keris who saw that it was just a regular stone.
"Now look closely." The girl whispered.
She concentrated, moved her uncoccupied hand and suddenly the stone began to twitch, turn around and shift its form. It grew rounder and thin, spun around and chnged its form more and more, until it resembled a tiny bird. Complete with wings and all. And then, without any warning, the bird spread and rapidly flipped its wings and began to hover over the girls palm.
Keris was utterly speechless. He always was completely infatuated with any kind of magic, even though he was completely unable to use it on his own.
He spared a look at the girl and noticed the concentrated frown that had sprouted on her face; her eyebrows were furrowed and she had pressed her lips tightly shut. She looked rather cute, with this expression, Keris thought, and, unbeknownst to him, a light blush sneaked itself on his face.
After a while she snatsched the bird from the air, transformed it back into the stone it once was and attached it to her sleeve.
"So? What do you think?" she asked
"What I think? What do I think? Sorry, but I can't think anymore because that was totaly mind blowing! This is so awesome! So how does it work? Do you change the stone's form? Or do you break it apart and set it back together? Oh my god, this is so cool!" Keris unleashed question upon question on the girl who was totaly taken by suprise by this reaction.
"Uh, wow. That are a lot of questions..." She laughed nervously.
Keris cleared his throat and extended his hand. "By the way, I never got to know your name. I'm Keris" he said.
"Oh." the girl exclaimed and grasped his hand. "I'm Taliyah. Nice to meet you, Keris"
"Likewise, Taliyah. What a nice name" Keris mused. "You know what, Taliyah?"
"Uhm, what do I know?" she asked.
A smile stole itself on Keris' face.
"I think, this might be the beginning of a wonderful friendship"