Chapter 11: Death feels like... Part 1
"Oh thank god I made it!" Elias says between quick breaths, exhausted from running all the way to the meeting room. Irelia and Karma looked at him with slight worry but both of them shook it off. The Judge looks around the room to make sure he was in the right room, and after seeing Irelia and Karma he was sure of it. "Hey." he awkwardly says. Karma replies with a small wave and a smile, while Irelia had a frown across her face. "I take it you're still mad about earlier?" the teen teases Irelia. She shoots him a glare before sitting in a corner and takes a sudden interest of the floor. "I'll take that as a yes. So Karma is everyone here?" Elias asks her.
She nods slightly and gestures to the other champion in the room. Lucian was kneeling in the center of the room and muttering a silent prayer about gaining the strength to defeat his foes. Syndra... well she hadn't shown up yet. The last team member was nowhere in sight and the Ionians had no clue where she was. "She's probably doing something despicable right now." Irelia said with a scowl. The teen frowned at her response but then he remembered the conflict between Syndra and... well pretty much all of Ionia.
"She'll be here. Isn't there a penalty or something that happens to champions that don't show up for matches?" Elias asks Karma. The Ionian ponders for a second before shrugging. "I honestly have no idea. If there is such a rule then I have not seen one since I have become a champion." she replies to him. "There should be a rule... that would probably teach her..." grumbles Irelia in the background. The Judge sighs quietly and shakes his head at the young Ionian's demeanor. "Is she always like this?" he quietly asks the Enlightened One. She shakes her head no before pointing towards a newly arrived Syndra. "Irelia is only like this when she is around Syndra. You haven't heard of what she did?"
Elias shook his head and slowly remembered Syndra's lore. "She used to terrorize Ionian villages with her power. They sealed her powers away but... she ended up killing her master and gaining her powers back right?" he tells her. Karma seemed shocked at his knowledge but continues his assumption, "Yes but... there is something else that is bugging Irelia a well." She quickly waves her hand for him to come near, to which he promptly does. "She likes Syndra, but the Dark Sovereign likes someone else." Karma whispers in his ear. A large smirk appears on his face before he says, "The Lore really can change when everything is real..." She seemed baffled at his words and was about to ask what he meant, just as the League match was beginning to start. Rings of blue light circled the champions and a bright flash of light swiftly followed. The champions were now on the Rift.
The match 5 minutes in...
"SYNDRA!" screamed Irelia at her teammate while she left her alone to the hands of the enemy Nautilus. An ally has been slain rang throughout the Rift for the 5th time during this match. The young Ionian had died three times so far because Syndra had managed to go into the jungle and draw out the Titan of the Depths, flinging enemy champions towards her, all while laughing and retreating back towards her middle lane.
Elias was doing his best to help out when he could but with the new jungle being tougher than ever, he had to recall a couple of times to even stay alive. His Skeletal Shield helped him survive a bit longer than usual but since he only had the second tier of his jungle item it didn't do much. However after a bit more farming the jungle, and successful gank against the enemy Renekton let him and Irelia gain the gold they needed for the items they needed. "Finally got my jungle item finished. Next is my Blade of the Ruined King." the teen says to himself.
Minutes which felt like hours passed by and the tension on the blue team only grew. Syndra started to intentionally feed the enemy Ahri and started going top and killing all of the valuable minions that resided there. Karma had to help restrain Irelia and help Lucian deal with Ezreal and Soraka on the enemy team. The Judge however was going strong. He managed to counter-jungle Nautilus and steal both of his buffs and his toad, kill Renekton a few more times, and was able to kill dragon. "Got my Blade, now I need a Hydra and... oh shit." curses the teen. Syndra was going top again while Ahri and Nautilus followed her. Once the Dark Sovereign saw it was a 2v1 battle, she allowed them to kill her, letting the fox get her Deathfire Grasp and the Titan his Sunfire Cape. After a few minutes however, the score was almost tied at 19 to 20 kills on each side.
A flash of light and an aggravated growl was on Irelia's face when she appeared next to Elias who had come back from killing Dragon. "I know see why you hate Syndra. But aren't the champions controlled by the Summoners?" he asks her. The Ionian's face was red with anger and she shook her head, "No summoner is dumb enough to control here on the Rift. So she is moving and acting on her own free will." The Judge's face contorted into a frown and looked off into the distance. "Understandable, but still. Letting her run rampant throughout matches would make them near unwinnable or extremely difficult at all." he shakes his head. The two seemed to share an understanding for once but a shrill scream was heard in the distance.
The teen pulled up a view of the minimap and shifted it towards top lane where Syndra was engaged in combat with an enraged Renekton. The silver-haired woman was on the ground, blood was gushing from her leg and trying desperately to defend herself against the giant lizard's onslaught. "Irelia something is wrong! Syndra is pinned in top lane and is bleeding severely!" Elias frantically tells her. Irelia's face shifts into one of great concern and fear before shaking her head. "I thought it was impossible to sustain any type of real injury here." she replies. "Look at your minimap and see for yourself!"
Irelia did what she was told and brought up the minimap on her screen, only to gasp at the sight. Syndra was now leaning against the tower and had two large gashes in her right leg and her abdomen. Her breathing was heavy and the blood would not stop oozing from her wounds. "Get to bottom lane and tell them what is going on. I'll go through mid lane and through the jungle to top lane and hopefully tell Nautilus what is going on. I'll also go and find Ahri and fill her in. Go now!" Elias yells to her. The Will of the Blades nods quickly and rushes off towards the bottom lane, while Elias quickly grabs a couple of red vials and bounds down the middle lane to find the fox lady.
While running he noticed that the minions had started to disappear off of the minimap and off of the Rift as well. Once he got to middle lane, all of the minions had vanished from thin air. Elias manages to find Ahri and approaches her, "Ahri something bad is going on. We need to stop fighting in the match now!" Ahri's fox tails swish back and forth while she ponders on the teen's words. "I haven't noticed anything bad going on, so what is happening?" she replies in an innocent tone of voice. The Judge walks over to her and brings up the minimap and shows her the state of Syndra. The Nine-Tailed Fox had to suppress a gag at the sight of the bloodied champion but managed to compose herself. "I'll go tell Nautilus what is going on. You go help her right away!" she tells Elias. He gives an appreciative nod before rushing as quickly as he could up to top lane.
When he got to top lane Syndra's condition had worsened quicker than expected. Her breathing had become very shallow and her skin had paled to an even ghostlier white. Elias kneels down next to her and uncaps one of the red vials, pouring the liquid into the Dark Sovereign's mouth and helping her drink it . Syndra coughed lightly and some of the color had returned to her skin, but the blood loss was too much for anyone to handle. Shit this isn't good. Her life aura is fading rapidly. If help doesn't get here quickly, her life will end. the Judge thinks to himself.
While Elias was fixing her wounds to the best of his abilities, a deafening roar rang throughout the Rift. Renekton was pacing furiously along the lane as he could not risk running into the tower and be blown to smithereens. The Judge kept frantically working with Syndra's wounds but the blood loss started to take its toll. Her skin had now lost all of its color and she began to fade in and out of consciousness.
"Syndra stay awake dammit! I refuse to have you die on me. Just hold on until the supports get here alright!" Elias ordered her. Voices were heard coming from the jungle and the teen breathed a sigh of relief. That is until Renekton started to head towards the voices. The bipedal reptilian flashed an evil grin and began heading towards the group of champions headed this way. "Shit." cursed the teen. He had to stop Renekton from possibly injuring the others, but at the same time he had to keep working to keep Syndra alive.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck... fuck! I do not want to use that. But if worse comes to worse… the Judge thought to himself. While lost in his thoughts, Elias almost didn't hear the screaming that came from the jungle. The teen grit his teeth and looked over at Syndra whose eyes were pleading him not to leave her side. "I have to save them. If I come back and you're… I'll fix it alright?" he tells her softly. Her eyes flashed in horror at what he was hinting towards but she didn't have the strength to fight him. The Judge gently set her against the tower and began running towards the screams.
When he arrived it was total chaos. Renekton was arcing his blade in a maddened frenzy towards the trapped champions, all of which were being pushed back. He was pushing back Soraka and the others into the Dragon's den, but thankfully it was nowhere to be seen. Ezreal was firing Mystic shots rapidly towards the hulking lizard, but sadly all of them seemed to bounce off of his rough hide. Irelia was barely managing to keep Renekton back by flinging her four blades at the beast constantly, but she was slowly beginning to tire out. Soraka was healing both of them as quickly as she could, but the Butcher's relentless assault made healing them a difficult task.
Elias quickly used his Death's Grasp ability to impale the lizard champion, and throw him behind the teen. "Go now! Syndra's almost dead!" he yells to the group. Ezreal nods and takes a hold of Soraka and Irelia and Arcane Shifts out of the Dragon's den and towards top lane, leaving the Judge of the Fallen alone with the Butcher of the Sands. "Renekton! Why did you attack Syndra?!" demands the teen. A roar met with his blade coming down onto the Judge was the answer the beast gave.
The teen quickly rose his arms and caught Renekton's blade on the shaft of his scythe. Elias held his ground and kept the monstrous lizard at bay while his friends managed to escape. After the brief power struggle, the teen rolled out of the way and Renekton's weapon came down onto the ground with a shattering force. The Judge stood up quickly and dashed towards the Butcher, swinging his scythe towards his neck. It connected with the reptile's neck and he dragged it downwards. A large gash was made in Renekton's neck and he gave a bloodcurdling roar that echoed throughout the Rift.
"Damn lizard is getting on my nerves." Elias said through gritted teeth. He began leading the infuriated champion deeper into the jungle in an attempt to help his friends escape. Luckily the giant lizard followed him and was drawn away from Ezreal's group. Once they were deep enough into the jungle, the dark-haired teen swung his scythe and generated a black and blue shockwave of energy that flew towards Renekton. The Butcher squatted on his haunches and leaped sideways, spinning with his weapon and avoiding the shockwave. He then quickly leaped again and tried to drive his weapon through the teen's chest. Luckily Elias saw through this and activated his Skeletal Shield at the right moment which blocked the reptiles attack.
This only enraged Renekton further and caused the beast to become even more bloodthirsty. The Butcher of the Sands started wildly swinging his blade around and ignoring everything that surrounded him. The blade was cutting through the tall grass, trees, and even the walls that surrounded the jungle. Elias kept slashing his scythe horizontally to continue generating shockwaves of energy that kept Renekton back but he was slowly tiring out. The reptilian champion suddenly ceased attacking and roared so loud, that the Judge had to duck his head and cover his ears. When he looked back up at Renekton, dark energies were flowing into his body, causing the champion to grow rapidly in size.
After a few seconds, Renekton's body was gigantic and had a circle of raging rapids around him. Elias was stunned by his sudden transformation and couldn't move his legs. He quickly dodged however after the Butcher arced his massive blade down towards the teen. "Looks like I don't have a choice. Hopefully no one sees me out here..." the Judge mutters to himself. The raven-haired teen slammed his scythe down into the ground and began rapidly chanting a series of intelligible words to himself. His body began to glow with an eerie black and red power that seemed to sap the life out of everything in the vicinity. After muttering a few more words, he slammed his scythe once again into the ground, and the area around him became shrouded in darkness.
Once the darkness had cleared, the teen had grown both in size and in age. He was now taller, broader, had a light stubble, and his face had changed to a more mature and serious one. His weapon had also grown to match its user's height, and also became more elegant looking. "Butcher of the Sands, I am impressed that you had me resort to using this. However, if you do not cease your rage, I will be forced cut your life short. This is my Final Judgement." Elias spoke in a now deep, monotone voice. Renekton stopped for a second as if he was struggling to regain control over himself and stared at the Judge. "Must... Tell... Brother..." the champion struggled to say. The raven-haired man looked curiously at the beast took in his words. Perhaps there is something connected with Renekton's becoming enraged and the Rift suddenly failing. Elias thought to himself.
Renekton's rage consumed him once again and he leaped towards the Judge. A smirk came across the newly transformed champion's face and he didn't move. Instead he gripped his scythe into both hands and swung downwards at the lizard, impaling him through the snout and rooting him into the ground. The reptilian champion came down with a loud crash and struggled to stand back up. Elias knelt down in front of Renekton and placed a hand on his head. "Hopefully this won't kill you. Hopefully." the Judge spoke gently.
He began concentrating his power and a green light came from his hand. The Butcher's wriggling slowly ceased as the light began to grow in brightness and intensity. A few more seconds after Renekton had stopped moving, Elias pulled his hand away from the other champion's head and removed his scythe from his snout. The Judge stumbled onto the ground and landed onto his back, slowly reverting to his teen self again. "Ok, never want to fucking do that again. Soul stealing is so damn hard to control sometimes." he said between ragged breaths.
Minutes passed by and eventually Elias was able to stand up again. He grudgingly stood up and looked around at the carnage his fight with Renekton. Trees were scattered around, pieces of rubble were imbedded in trees, and the lizard champion himself was lying unconscious on the ground. The Judge dusted himself off and trudged over to the unconscious Butcher of the Sands to make sure that he hadn't inflicted serious damage to the champion.
After a quick inspection, the raven-haired teen could find no issues with him. "Better leave him here for now. I knocked him out pretty damn good." sighs the teen. Nautilus soon emerged from the trees and discovered both champions. "You must hurry boy. They need your help. I will deal with this one." was all the Titan said in his monotone, echoed voice. The Judge's mindset quickly shifted to a panicked one as he forgot about Syndra's grievous wounds and quickly dashed towards where he had left her. Halfway there, a sharp pain flooded his senses and he nearly collapsed from the suddenness of it. "Oh shit." he breathed quietly. Another wave of pain hit him and the Judge collapsed onto one knee.
"Have to… get there." Elias said between labored breaths. He slowly rose to his feet and walked as quickly as he could to the tower. When he arrived, all he could hear were the cries of Irelia and the pleas of Karma and Ahri trying to pry her friend away from a motionless body. Soraka and Sona were downcast and had the looks of shame written on their faces. Ezreal had his head hung low and had his fists balled out of pure frustration and anger. This was the pain he had felt on the way here: pain of loss, failure, and the pain of death. As the Judge of the Fallen and a champion of the League, Elias knew that he would have to eventually deal with death on a daily basis, but this was too much.
The flood of Syndra's memories was too strong for Elias to handle. The pain of her childhood of growing up alone and not being able to do anything, everyone outcasting her and labeling her a vile creature, the and cruel treatment of her former master was too much to bear. Unable to bear the mental stress any longer, the dark-haired teen silently walked towards the group of champion. "Irelia, Karma, Ahri. Move." he said in a serious and commanding tone. Irelia was brought out of her sobbing and looked up at him. The three champions stared at him in disbelief because Elias was never this serious before, not even when he was guarding Annie for the first couple of weeks. They slowly parted away from Syndra and stared at the Judge with both teary eyes and puzzled looks.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Irelia says with a sniffle. Elias takes a deep breath and glares the group of champions. "None of you will breathe a word about what I am about to do. Is that clear?" the teen says in a cold and serious tone of voice. A unanimous nod came from all of them and the Judge lets a sigh of relief come from his mouth. "Good. Now I can begin working." he quickly says. Elias kneels down next to the body of Syndra and summoned his scythe out of nothingness. He planted the scythe into the ground a foot from her head and twisted it deeper into the earth. Three more scythes rose from the ground and created a box around the Dark Sovereign's body, each of them glowed an eerie shade of red. The Judge began chanting what sounded like an old Ionian prayer but the words sounded different and carried immense power with them. A few minutes passed and Elias had finished muttering to himself before he turned to his group. "Karma, Ahri, Ezreal, I need your guy's help." the teen tells them.
They all warily approach him but their doubt soon subsides as Elias explains. "I'm not going to mortally harm you, I just need the blood of a saint, a creature of the realm, and one of untapped power; and you three fit the bill." the Judge says with his arms spread out. "Excuse me but I am not a creature!" huffed Ahri. Elias chuckled at the response and shook his head, "I was referring to your origins Ahri. You started out as a fox remember?" A small blush crept onto her face and her tails drooped out of embarrassment. "But wait there are four scythes, don't we need another person?" Ezreal asks confused. The raven-haired teen smiled at his trainer's ingenuity and nodded. "The key component is the blood of one who is always on the brink of death." He replies to Ezreal. The Explorer's head cocked sideways and had a puzzled look on his face. Elias chuckled and looked back at Syndra's body, "I'm not exactly alive anymore Ez. The supports can tell you the same thing: my life aura is way too weak to sustain even a small rabbit's life, much less a person." His friend and mentor stared at him in shock while the supports nodded in agreement.
"Alright enough talking. I have to do this quickly otherwise I have to drag her back forcefully. All of you chose a scythe and prick your finger on it." Elias quickly tells to the group. They stared at him confused but each of them chose a scythe and pricked their fingers on it, each of them inhaling sharply when they did so. Blood slowly trickled down the champion's fingers and softly landed onto the ground surrounding Syndra. The Judge runs his hand across the blade of his scythe and winces at the pain, but also adds his blood to the ground.
Shortly after, the ground emits a faint purple glow and the earth around them begins to rumble. Elias was standing by Syndra's head murmuring intelligible words, each word seeming to grow in power. An eerie fog surrounds the champions as the teen concentrates more on the ritual he was performing. A few more moments passed and the fog and light disappeared, and the ground ceased shaking. The Judge's scythe had merged back into one, which was a good thing given how he was leaning heavily against it. His face was beaded in sweat and pain but he managed to weakly gesture over to the now awakening Syndra.
Her lavender colored eyes fluttered open and numerous shocked gasps came from the group of champions. Elias had a smug grin on his face, but it shifted to one of immense pain. Irelia was the first to tackle the revived champion, both teary eyed and clinging to her. The other champions soon joined Irelia fell into a group hug around Syndra. However, familiar rings of blue surround them and all of the champions are transported back to the Institute of War. Swarms of champions and summoners surrounded the group and started firing questions rapidly at them. The Judge uses this as a distraction and quickly slips away from the loud gathering of people.
Elias quickly made his way towards the nearby garden and looked around to make sure no one had followed him. He thought he made it out unnoticed, but someone was tailing him into the Institute's garden...
AN: SOOOOO hello people! I'm back with Part 1 of this chapter and I am already working on the next one. Thank you all for the 3300+ views, and of course all of the follows, favorites, and of course the reviews. Until next time, this is Azreal7100, taking off.