Chapter 12: Death Feels Like... Part 2
"Damn. I have to go deeper into the garden." huffs Elias. His body was now drenched in sweat and all of his limbs were slowly becoming like jelly. The Judge's movement was slowly decaying the further he walked, and his breathing was slowly becoming more irregular and raspy. Once he was deep enough into the garden, he found a nearby tree and leaned against it. "I probably can't do that again for a while." Elias says between labored breaths. He groaned in pain and clutched his head which was now pulsing in pain.
The teen felt his legs give way and collapsed against the tree. "This is definitely not like the time I accidentally revived that rabbit." he muttered to himself. He stayed leaning against the tree for a while in hopes that he would be able to recover. However this was not the case, and Elias' pain only worsened. Now his body was covered in sweat, and his pain only escalating to almost unbearable levels. The Judge was slowly running out of time and options, but one of them was always something he was curious about. Slowly raising his hand, the teen summoned his scythe and flipped it so that the blade was facing his chest. "I wonder... If I die, will I be brought back again?" he said with a hint of doubt in his tone. The Judge shook his head and brought up his scythe, "Only one way to find out." After those words, he brought the blade down into his chest, quickly ending his own life.
Ashe had followed the teen into the garden after the incident that occurred on the Rift. She was very curious as to why he left, and just as curious as to what happened. The Frost Archer slowly made her way deeper into the forest and came across a grizzly scene. Elias was propped against and old tree, his weapon protruding from his chest, and he was drenched in a pool of his own crimson-colored blood. As she is a battle-hardened warrior, the scene did not make the Queen of the Freljord queasy in the slightest. What puzzled her however, was how the Judge of the Fallen was slain.
She slowly approached his body while staying vigilant for anything that could attack her. As she got to his body, she noticed that the wound around the scythe was beginning to close, and the blood around the teen was starting to seep back into its host's body. Elias quickly shot forward, gasping for air and startling the woman observing him. Ashe's hunter instincts caused her to dart backwards, draw her bow, and pointed an ice blue arrow towards the teen's head. A few minutes of silence passed before the archer finally let her bow fall, and she clutched her chest tightly. "That was quite the scare Judge of the Fallen." she told the now revived teen.
Elias was still panting heavily and was looking around confused. "Holy shit. That actually worked." he breathed heavily. The Queen of the Freljord looked at him confused and took a step forward, "What worked?" "Oh I just killed myself to see if I could still revive. Turns out it worked!" the teen said triumphantly. The Judge's eyes quickly widened and snapped his head towards the Frost Archer. "A-Ashe? What are you doing here?" Elias asks her startled. The two had once briefly spoken together about her husband Tryndamere during a match one day where he was constantly spewing insults and taunts to the enemy champions. Ashe cocked her head to the side and placed her hands on her hips, "I should ask the same boy." Hearing her call him that made the Judge visibly flinch and caused him to quickly rise to his feet.
"I am not a boy." he angrily growled at her. The two champions stared down each other with piercing gazes before Elias finally took a deep breath. "Sorry. Its just... I was called that a lot by someone I absolutely loathed." the Judge calmly told her. Ashe merely waved her hand and approaches the teen. "It's alright. I have Tryndamere as a husband remember? You getting upset is nothing compared to his... outbursts." the last word spoken gently compared to his true rage. Sighing, the raven-haired teen nodded in agreement and leaned against the tree, "Please don't tell anyone about this. The last thing I want is an angry Demacian mage and a furious ex-Noxian general almost killing me, then having an upset 10 year old pyromaniac set me ablaze."
Ashe lightly laughed at the Judge's request but bowed her head, "I won't tell anyone. You have my word." Elias smiled at the Queen's agreement to keep this a secret and promptly stood up. Rustling was heard behind the two champions, causing both of them to brandish their weapons and face the brush in front of them. "Ashe dear? Where are- Oh there you are!" said a burly figure that came through the bushes. It was an extremely well built man whose lower torso was covered in a black and blue samurai-style armor, his upper torso was bare except for his helmet and the singular piece of armor that stretched across it from his arm, and was carrying a sword as large as himself. "Tryndamere." the archer says with a warm smile. The two champions sheath their weapons and Ashe walks towards her husband.
The Barbarian King returns the smile and walks forward to embrace his wife. "You've been gone for an hour. Everyone has looking for you and that Judge kid." he says while hugging her slightly tighter. A shink sound was heard and Tryndamere looked over his wife's shoulder to see what what it was. Elias was death-staring the Barbarian King straight in the eyes and had his scythe gripped firmly in his hand. Ashe quickly gave her husband a stern look and waved her hand at the teen, "Judge he did not mean anything by it. He calls everyone that is young that." The raven-haired teen nodded slowly and dispelled his weapon. A few minutes later, some other champions found their way into the others.
The newly arrived champions consisted of: Katarina, Garen, Ezreal, Jarvan, Riven, and a distraught looking Lux. "Hey guys. How's it goin?" Elias said with a cheeky smile. His friends rushed to his side and began rattling off questions about where he's been and what happened during the League match. Lux however was staring at the Judge intently and did not move from his original spot. "Lux... What's wrong?" the teen asks her. "You did it again didn't you? You self-resurrected." the mage spoke in a grave tone. Elias' face darkened and he pushed his way past his friends and approached his mentor. "I-I had to Lux. The memories and pain was a lot worse than before." the raven-haired teen tells her.
"Well what the hell did you do? Bring back a human this time instead of a rabbit?!" the blonde-haired woman loudly said. The Judge casts his eyes away from his friend and shuffles nervously where he stands. "Did you really? Who was it? Who did you bring back?!" yells Lux. "It was Syndra! But I had to alright! As long as I can will it, I will not let anyone die in front of me no matter the consequences!" roars Elias, slamming his fist into a nearby tree. Everyone jumped at the Judge's sudden display of anger and stared at him frightened.
Where he had hit the tree, the bark surrounding his fist began to rot and decay at an alarming rate. "E-Elias." Riven shakily said. The Judge looked over at the tree and cursed to himself. "J-just give me a second." he says while looking back to the tree. He places a hand onto the rotted part of the tree and lets a ribbon of black and red energy envelope the bark. After a few seconds, the decaying bark was replaced with freshly created bark, and showed no signs of aging at all. "I'm not stupid Lux. I know what the consequences are if I bring someone back, and I know what will happen to me." Elias says quietly to his blonde friend. Ezreal took a moment to think, but eventually sighed and places his gauntlet onto the raven-haired teen's shoulder. "Just don't use it again unless it is absolutely necessary alright? Everyone and myself wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves if you overextended and lost yourself and actually died." the blonde mage calmly told his friend.
Elias nodded and looked over at his friends, expecting them to have scared and disapproving looks. Instead he was greeted with friendly smiles and a group people who cared about him. "Come on. Lets all head to that new restaurant that opened up near the Institute!" Ezreal cheerfully says. The group gives a unanimous agreement and starts to head off towards the restaurant. After a few minutes of walking the Judge stops in his tracks and faces the group, "Wait guys. We have to go get Annie." Ezreal gives another cheerful smile and shakes her head. "Annie is waiting for us at the entrance of the garden. Oh there she is!" the explorer says while pointing to a little girl with magenta hair.
"Big Brother!" Annie giggles in delight. She quickly made her way towards the group of champions and launched herself at the Judge. A warm smile came across Elias' face and he embraces the little giggling pyromaniac. Lux gave an overjoyed squeal at the overall adorableness of the two champions, while the others simply smiled warmly at the two. After the two adopted siblings finished their reunion, the raven-haired teen lifted up his magenta-haired step-sibling onto his shoulders and continued the walk towards the restaurant.
So here's part two! I know it is kind of short and whatnot, but I felt like the rest of the chapter didn't need much more to run with. I want to thank everyone who has read this fanfic of mine so far and the people who have followed and even favorited it as well. Also, I nearly lost my mind when I saw that the views went from 3300+ to 4600+ in two days after I posted chapter 11. As always I hope you enjoy the read and stay tuned for the next chapter!