Hey guys. Sorry for not posting for months. You know how school and family life can become hectic. Also this chapter took so damn long to write because of myself being sidetracked and a severe case of writers jenga hit me (writers block (get it) exaggeration) . I will try to update more frequently and during Winter Break and I will try and put out a chapter a day. Also don't forget to review for it pumps me up and makes me write more. Peace and have a good day/night/read.
Chapter 8: New Threat
After striking the training dummy multiple times with his scythe, Elias finally gave up assaulting the straw figure and "sheathed" his scythe. It wasn't sheathing but more like... putting his scythe into a spacial void where he could store items. "That damn assassin." he said behind gritted teeth. The grey-haired teen was shaking from fear at what he had said to Katarina last night. "Oh god she's probably going to kill me for sure now."
He tried to calm his nerves by practicing a new technique he had thought of since he received his powers. He first coated his hand in his own power and thrust it forward, lancing it into the training dummy's chest, then summoning his scythe and raked it through it's chest. The Judge was breathing heavily trying to calm the terror building inside of him but he could not do so. Maybe if I talk to Yi or Karma they could help me out... Elias went and slumped against the wall before sighing again and stared at his scythe. Ever since his first match, the wickedly curved blade had changed appearance from a simple stick with a long, curved blade, to a long metal shaft with an eerie blue energy creating the rest of the blade.
A small creak and chatter was heard as the door to the training facility opened. Just as it opened the chatter that was being held before was now silenced. "The hell happened here?" grunted a gruff voice. "Looks like a damn tornado came flyin' through here." another voice said but it was more suave and calmed. Elias perked up and stared at the two new champions now in the training facility: the Outlaw Graves, and the Card Master Twisted Fate. The two men noticed Elias propped against the wall and stared at him with disbelief.
"You do this?" Graves asks while propping his shotgun on his shoulder. The Judge wasn't exactly scared of Graves, but his massive shotgun would make anyone uneasy. "Graves I know you aren't as stupid as you look. It's pretty obvious that the kid did it." says Fate in his smooth voice. The man named Twisted Fate stared at Elias with his glowing golden eyes and studied him. The Judge shook his head and held his scythe on his shoulder, "It was me Graves. Why, did I mess up your favorite target or something?"
The Outlaw chuckled and shook his head. "My favorite target is the one that pays a whole bunch. But I gotta say kid, you tore that dummy to smithereens." Then he stifled a small chuckle and scratched his beard. It reminded Elias of one of his family members back in his world: strong, scary looking, bearded, had that thick country accent, even carried a shotgun around with him (him living in the country that is). A soft smile came across his face before it quickly faded into a look of remorse.
"So, mind telling us what the hell happened here?" Graves asks now staring at the teen. The Judge waves his arms around the arena now littered with the straw corpses of the training dummies. "I was trying to regain my nerves because of an... argument last night." he replied to the two older champions. Graves stared at him with his signature grin and Fate also did the same; it was as if they were thinking about the same thing. "It's a woman isn't it?" they both said in unison. Elias stared at the two in disbelief that they figured it out. Well, half-figured it out.
He nodded slowly still keeping his gaze on the two older gentlemen. "It is a girl but..." he trailed off. "Lemme guess, she rejected you or dumped you am I right?" Fate said hastily to finish his sentence. Again the teen shook his head and stared at them, "No it definitely wasn't that. Katarina tried killing me when we first met and she tried to apologize like it never happened. In the heat of the moment I sort of snapped at her and ever since then I've had the overwhelming feeling that she is going to kill me." The two men stared at each other and silently nodded as if they agreed on something.
"Best you stay away from her kid. Ain't nothing ever good come out of dealing with her." Graves said solemnly. Fate gives a nod in agreement and tips his hat over his eyes, "She's a dangerous one alright. Best you stay farther than a ten foot pole you hear?" Elias looks at them slightly confused but nods before exiting the training facility.
When he exited the room he was greeted by a familiar, friendly face. "Oh hey there Elias! Did you come here to train?" Lux asks gleefully and with a smile. The Judge shakes his head and leans against the wall. "No I came here to let off some steam actually." Elias says with a grim look. The blonde looks at him confused and rolls her hand for him to continue. He sighs and rubs the back of his head, "I kinda got into a... heated situation with Katarina yesterday. She tried to apologize for almost killing me but... I may have blown up and said 'No way in Hell' before storming off."
Lux remained silent after he finished talking which made Elias uneasy. Normally she'd say something like "It's a good thing you didn't get killed" or "I'm glad you said that" but she remained silent. "So that's why she was..." Lux trailed off. Elias looked at her confused and tapped on her shoulder, "Who was like what?" The blonde shuffled her hands nervously and averted his gaze. "Lux... you can tell me alright?" This is where she shook her head and breathed shakily, "I-it was Kat. She came to my room last night and... well she was on the verge of tears but she wouldn't tell me what happened."
The chalk-haired teen looked at her with disbelief. "Wait but I thought the whole Noxus hates Demacia and vice versa thing was still going on." he asks, now thinking of his actions from before. She shook her head and sighed, "That whole conflict ended a while ago when Kat and Garen got married." Her words startled him and caused the teen to inhale sharply, which in turn caused him to cough violently. Lux rushed to his side quickly and held him up as he violently coughed. "Are you okay?" Lux asks in a scared voice.
Elias nods weakly and stares into her eyes, "Yeah that just shocked me a bit. Should be fine in a bi-" His sentence was cut off by the world suddenly going dark. Literally dark was what could be described as what happened to Elias. He was in a dark environment where there was no sound, no scents, and no source of light was to be seen. All the Judge could do was hear the sound of his shaky breath, and his unsteady heartbeat.
"Welcome... To the dark..." Spoke a raspy voice. Elias tried to scan the area around him to see where, or what the voice came from but the darkness made it impossible to see. "Who's there?!" Called out the teen. His answer was an eerie chuckle and the void surrounding him swirling into a form before him. Once the form had was completed, it was a being well known to Elias: Nocturne, The Eternal Nightmare. "Nocturne... what do you want!" Elias coldly spat out to the creature. The nightmare-ish creature chucked darkly again and shook it's head, "I want what I usually want: To torment others for my pure enjoyment."
The red and white haired teen has to admit that he was somewhat scared, but for some reason he was calm, calmer than he should have been when facing the embodiment of a nightmare. "Interesting..." Nocturne slowly spoke. He circled around Elias and studied him, like he was some exotic animal from a far off land; which he sort of was. "You smell of fear but... it is very faint, very quiet, very infuriating." the creature spoke, the last words spewed like venom. "Well it helps knowing that your power isn't at it's peak since you're sealed." Elias retorted. This is where Elias started to become frightened. "Yes I am indeed sealed youngling, but there are others more terrifying than myself running amok Runeterra."What do you mean?" The Judge asked. Nocturne simply shook his head chuckling and began to disappear into the darkness. "You will find out soon enough..."
In the infirmary...
The room was quiet and tense. The only sounds that were heard was the heart monitor that slowly beeped, and the liquids that slowly dripped from the IV bag into the teen's arm. Lux, Riven, and Garen were seated to the right of Elias while Soraka was on the left checking his readings and making sure that he was ok. The Starchild sighed and finished documenting her new patients status before turning to the trio of friends. "He should be alright for now. Most of his vital signs are alright but whatever it was that caused him to black out... it must have been a very powerful to render him like that." Soraka tells the group. A collective sigh of relief came from the trio when they were told the good news.
"So what happened again Lux?" Garen asked his sister again. She replied by groaning and rubbing her temples, "I told you brother: I was telling him about Kat last night, I then told him that you two were married, then he collapsed after coughing violently." The Might of Demacia looked at his younger sister with both surprise and wariness. Before he could speak another word, he was greeted with a flash of red now sitting in his lap. "Gods Kat you scared the hell out of me!" exclaimed Garen. Katarina chuckled softly before placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. The brown-haired soldier blushed slightly at his wife's display of affection but even more so from his sisters giggle. Riven on the other hand wasn't paying attention to the "family reunion" going on by her for she was more focused on the grey-haired teen lying in bed.
Elias's breathing was slow and heavy which made the Exile worry even more about him. "Why am I so worried about him...? I should be because I'm his friend but... something else is nagging me in the back of my mind." She thought to herself. Riven suddenly found herself being shaken by her friend Lux who had on a worried face. "He'll be fine Riv. He survived being killed by Draven, I'm sure he can survive passing out." Lux said to her friend. Riven nodded and smiled slightly at her friends encouraging words before returning her gaze back to the teen.
"Hey." Lux whispered while gesturing with her head for the other two to follow her. Garen and Katarina looked at their sister(sister-in-law for Kat) confused, before silently nodding and following her. Once the trio were outside of the infirmary's door, Lux closed the door and sighed softly. "What is it?" questioned Garen. Katarina nodded in agreement and stood by her husband. The blonde looked at them and took a deep breath, "I'm starting to get worried about Riven."
Kat looked up at Garen who merely shrugged, for he didn't know what his sister was talking about. "What do you mean Lux?" asked Kat. Lux sighed again and propped herself against the wall. "She's seemed really... distant. Ever since Elias showed up and was injured, hell killed even, she seems to be depressed." she replies. Garen placed a hand on Kat's shoulder and she gingerly placed her own on top of it. "I can't think of anything to be honest Lux. Maybe she feel's guilty about letting the kid get hurt when she was nearby and couldn't do anything." the crimson-haired assassin says with a shrug.
"I'd get that but there's something else that's starting to interest me as well." Lux says with a smirk. Katarina had seen that smirk before and felt the tips of her lips form her own. "Oh do tell sissy." she says, her grin getting bigger. The Lady looked around to see if anyone else was near before motioning with her hand to have the pair come closer. "I think she's developing a crush on the kid." whispers Lux. This caused Katarina to snicker and Garen just sighed and leaned on the door. The two started to giggle and whisper about how they cute of a couple Elias and Riven would make before screaming was heard coming from the inside of the door.
Without a moment wasted the trio barged into the room to find Elias with scythe in hand, covered in sweat and a gash across his right eye, and Riven curled up in a corner next to him. "What the hell happened!" yelled Katarina. The Judge ignored them and scanned the room constantly before dispelling his weapon and kneeling in front of a terrified Riven. "It's alright Riven. He's gone." he whispered while gently embracing the trembling Riven, still scanning the room for any hostile threats. "Kid what in the ever-living fuck happened here!" Katarina practically screamed. She was about to pounce on the teen but Garen quickly placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear that caused her rage to slowly cool off.
Loud footsteps were now heard coming from the hallway and a panting Soraka and an attentative Akali found themselves in the room. "What happened here?" questioned Soraka between breaths. Katarina motioned to Elias before walking out of the room with Garen on her tail. "Well? Care to explain Mr. Judge of the Fallen?" Akali coldly questioned. After slowly letting go of Riven, the teen stood up and had a look of both fear and anxiety.
"Nocturne has been released, and there is a god running amok Valoran." he replies seriously.