AN: Hey guys, how's it going? Here's the next chapter for my little fanfic, and might I say that there is a twist at the end that I had a little bit of trouble figuring out if I should put it in or not. Also the reason it took so long to put out was the length and of course the pesky thing called "school". Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 13: An Unexpected Turn
Weeks have passed and everything had gone back to normal at the Institute. Matches went on as normal, yet were closely watched to make sure that no serious damage would be inflicted upon champions again. Besides that however, not much had changed around the Institute. Except for Elias' now skyrocketed popularity with the summoners.
Before the Judge was popular simply because he was a new guy that fit in well with the rest of the champion roster. But after saving Syndra from a rampaging Renekton, the summoners began to use him more and more in virtually every role except a mage. Sometimes Elias was used even as an Attack Damage Carry, or ADC for short, which managed to agitate some of the actual carries. However each of them had a different reason and purpose for being upset at the teen's sudden popularity.
Vayne saw this as a form of unwanted competition and would often flash scowls towards Elias every time she saw him. Quinn simply wished to be on the Rift more often, and saw this as a threat to that happening. Jinx simply became bored and wished to kill something which led her to get into numerous confrontations with Vi and Caitlyn. Draven was the most affected by the Judge's boost in popularity to say the least.
The Glorious Executioner's popularity with the summoners had been at an all-time low since Elias was managing to fill in every role that wasn't a mage. Draven took this as a personal insult to his pride and decided to bring this ordeal up with his superiors. He however did not get the answer he wanted to hear.
"Whaddya mean I can't repeatedly kill him? The brat can't die anyway remember?" angrily shouted Draven. The elder Noxian tactician sighed tiredly and glanced over numerous documents sprawled over his desk. "Draven you have already caused your brother and me enough turmoil the first time you killed him. Do you know the amount of paperwork and apologies I had to give to Head Summoner Maxis? I barely managed to save your wretched hide from execution! Both your brother and I had to take a one month suspension from matches to ensure that you could continue to roam about the Rift, gloating about how you are the best. And I don't believe I need to remind you of who covered for your failed assassination of the Exile?!" Swain furiously scolded the Executioner.
Draven shrunk back for a moment before quickly standing straight again. "My tracks? What about Darius? How is he off the hook when he too wa-" His sentence was cut off by the Master Tactician slamming his palms into his desk, and slowly rising out of his seat. Swain began to grow more and more agitated, and slowly shifted into his grotesque bird-like form. "Your brother is one of the most cunning and resourceful generals to ever be under my command. The fact that a man of his size left less tracks compared to his much smaller brother, just boggles my mind. Cassiopeia could leave less of a trace of an assassination compared to you. You allow your pride and arrogance to blind your, and your tactics have suffered... You have become as useless to me as rust on a blade. And to ensure that you do not act against me, I hereby order you not as a father, but as your superior and Grand General to not harm Elias Slade. Is that understood?" the general barked in a raspy tone at the now cowering champion.
The Glorious Executioner had never seen Swain so angry before and promptly nodded his head before dashing out of the room. After a few minutes, the elder Noxian shrunk down to his normal form and laid a weary head into his hands. "Katarina, Talon." he whispered quietly. On cue the two Du Couteau assassins appeared and were at his side. "Yes sir?" swiftly answered the red-headed assassin. "Keep an eye on Draven, I don't want another repeat of the last incident." the elderly man told her. Katarina bowed slightly, matched by her adopted brother. "Anything else sir?" Talon asks, The Master Tactician gives the two assassins a nod, glancing at the piles of documents on his desk. "Any luck on finding the whereabouts of General Marcus?"
The Blade's Shadow grimly shook his head and stood against the wall. "No luck yet. General Marcus is an extremely brilliant and cunning man who is the only being that can best both Katarina and I without breaking a sweat. Finding him when he doesn't wish to be found will is an extremely difficult task indeed." Talon tells his superior. Katarina smiled slightly at the praise her adoptive brother was giving their father, as he never praises anyone as highly as Marcus Du Couteau. Swain nods and looks over at the piles of papers on his desk before looking back over at the Noxian assassins, "There might be someone who could help you two. But as you might remember he is not on the best terms with Noxians as of right now."
Talon shot a look of confusion at the old General, while Katarina crossed her arms and met with the same expression."You mean the Judge?" the redhead asked. The general nodded in response and leaned back into his chair, "As I said, he may not be on the best terms with Noxians at this moment, but he might be willing help you Katarina, you only need to ask your 'Husband' to talk to him. I will conduct my own research down in Noxus tomorrow on his whereabouts." Hearing the word "husband" caused Katarina to avert her gaze towards the floor, her face flushed with a color to match her hair, and a stifled chuckle to come from her brother. Talon received an elbow in the sternum from her and quickly regained his posture. "I will see if Garen can talk to him, Sir." Katarina tells her superior. The two assassins bow and vanish from the room, leaving the elder Noxian general to tend to the mountain of paperwork before him.
When they got outside it was already nightfall, the perfect place for deadly assassins like themselves. The two of them had found themselves on the rooftop of the Noxian quarters and decided to stay there for the time being. "The next time you do that I will gut you alive." angrily scowled Katarina. Her brother simply sighed at her threat and shook his head, "Good luck. Your father is the only one who can best me remember? Not even General Marcus' assassin daughter can take me down." This caused the redhead to scowl again and sit in silence for a couple of minutes. Then a sinister idea came into her mind. "You say only my father can best you. I might not be able to, but I'm sure the other Du Couteau sibling can best you." she said with a smirk.
Talon's face immediately turned as red as Katarina's hair and hid his face under his cowl. "So help me Kat if you breathe a word to Cass I will-" threatened the Blade's Shadow. "Will what? I could go tell her right now if I wanted to." interrupted the other assassin, still smirking. Talon grumbled to himself and fell silent, earning a chuckle from Katarina. "Go talk to your husband and see if he can help you talk to the Judge. I have something else to attend to at this moment." the male assassin told her sister abruptly. She was about to say something to him, but he vanished before she could. "Damn that Talon… Well I guess I will go talk to Garen about talking to the Judge about finding my father." sighs the redheaded assassin. Not a moment longer had passed and she too had disappeared from the rooftop.
"Yeah sure I'll do it." bluntly says the Judge. "Wait what?!" exclaims Katarina. She had just gotten through a thirty-minute explanation/apology to Elias and was not expecting the answer he just gave. "Wait so you're telling me that even though Draven killed you, and I almost did twice, you will see if you can track down my father or at least tell me if he's alive?" she says in disbelief. "How many times have I beaten you two on the Rift when you guys had skilled summoners? A lot, which in my book makes up for everything really." Elias says with a shrug. He then stood up and patted the crimson-haired assassin on the head without hesitation, "But if it makes you feel better that I say it: apology accepted."
Katarina was dumbfounded at how easily the black-and-red-haired teen just nonchalantly accepted her apology, and even more so how he just pat her head. Garen however, was looking at his friend fearfully due to not knowing what his wife may do to the poor teen. Thankfully instead of beating him into a pulp, the crimson-haired assassin stared directly at the Judge. "Something your dad did when you were little right?" Elias said with a faint smile on his face. She merely nodded at his knowledge of such a thing that sparked nostalgia to well up inside her. "How did you know?" Katarina asks him
The Judge puts on a smile and crosses his arms over his chest, "You wanted to know if he's alive and, well, yes. Marcus Du Couteau is indeed alive." Katarina nearly flung herself at him, but decided not to, considering her husband was in the room. "Well where is he?" swiftly asks the Du Couteau. Elias' face shifted into one of uneasiness and stared at the ground. "I can't tell you." the teen tells her, his face still hung low. Outraged, the crimson-haired assassin was about to bring one of her blades to the Judge's neck, but was stopped mid-lunge by Garen.
"Kat! I'm sure he has a reason why he can't tell you where your father is. Right?" the last word directed towards the Judge. The obsidian-haired teen gave a short nod before taking a deep breath. "You know how I can sense the intentions of people? Well that comes from reading their minds, and while I read your father's, I saw the reasons why he cannot show his face to you, Noxus, especially the League. And his reasons I cannot explain in detail, but they refer to the whole Xerath business." Elias says to the two champions.
After a brief moment of silence, Katarina finally gave and agitated sigh and slipped her way out of Garen's grasp. "That sounds like him. The old bastard really liked to keep secrets." the scarlet-haired assassin sighed. Her husband placed a reassuring hand on her should, which led to the both of them smiling at each other. Elias cleared his throat loudly and was now back in his chair, a sly grin on his face. "If you two want a moment I could step out for a moment." he snickered. Both of the champions quickly hung their heads in embarrassment and had sheepish grins on their faces.
The raven-haired teen chuckled and went over to his bedroom window, cracking it open and letting in the cool Runeterran breeze flow into the room. A sudden crack made the Sinister Blade and Might of Demacia brandish their weapons and gaze around the room. The only one unfazed was the Judge. "What the hell was that?" yelled Katarina to Elias. He remained silent before pulling a long, sharp object from the frame of his window. "I believe Draven has just challenged me." he replies in a nonchalant tone, one that is obviously hiding his own contained anger. Elias shows the Noxian the blade that was thrown which causes her to growl quietly. "That gods-dammed, no brained, ignorant asshole!" Katarina screeched with venom in every word.
Before Garen could reach out and grab her, she used her Shunpo technique to try and assassinate the cocky Noxian below. While she did that however, Elias summoned a black murky portal and reached through it, and seemed to struggle with something inside of it. In a brief tug-of-war, the Judge managed to pull a confused Katarina by the leg through the void he created and threw her at an equally stunned Garen. The large Demacian quickly caught his wife in his arms and stares at his younger friend. "I just did the same thing I do to summon my scythe, except on a larger scale. Catching her while she was using her Shunpo... well I only managed to do that when the moment she came out of it." he quickly tells the two dazed champions. They looked at each other then merely nodded numbly at the Judge. "Man you're just full of surprises aren't you?" Katarina says with a smirk on her face.
Elias' face softens into a smile and shakes his head, "I'll go report this to Swain and Jarvan, as I'm sure both of them will enjoy watching Draven being knocked down a few notches. Then I'll go talk to the dickhead myself for when he want's to get his ass beaten by me." This causes the assassin to frown slightly and placed a hand on her hip. "Swain is in Noxus right now. You won't make it there without a summoner transporting you or by horseback; but even that would take a while." she tells the teen. The Judge's face shifts into a wider grin and shakes his head again, "You let me worry about that. You two go ahead and have dinner." Before the two could object, the raven-haired teen summons another portal onto the wall and walks through it, leaving the couple alone in his room.
When Elias arrived in the Noxian High Command building's entrance, he was met with a number of furious guards that had their blades pointed at him. "Who are you and how did you manage to infiltrate this building?!" barked one of the guards. The Judge pushed away the guard's blade and looked him directly in the eyes, "I am the independent champion Elias Slade, otherwise known as the Judge of the Fallen. I have come here today to talk to Grand General Swain about a matter that is for his ears only." The soldiers shuffled in silence, muttering to each other about whether or not the teen before them was truly a champion. However a few moments later, Swain came through the main door with an astonished look on his face.
"Judge," he says with a short nod of his head, "What brings you here to the Noxian High Command?" then questions the general. The teen takes a step forward only to have the ends of spears pointed at him once again. "Stand down men! He is a champion of the League and will not be harmed. This is an order from not only myself, but the rules of the Institute of War itself." Swain barks to his troops. Without a second to question their leader, the soldiers put down their spears and allowed the Judge to pass. Elias then points towards the inside of the building to which the Master Tactician nods and leads them inside. Once the two were inside of his office, the elder Noxian stared at the teen puzzled.
"I have two questions. The first being what you are doing here in Noxus of all places, and the second being how did you get here so quickly from the Institute?" Swain asks while sitting down at his desk. The raven-haired teen sits in front of the general and cross his arms across his chest. "To answer your first question: I am here to tell you about Draven challenging me to a one-on-one fight and you possibly taking enjoyment in watching him suffer defeat. As for the second one... well it is just easier to show you." he says with a grin across his face. The Grand General is both slightly confused and agitated at what the teen before him has told him, but nonetheless he waved his hand allowing the Judge to demonstrate.
With a short bow Elias summons one of his portals from nothingness, stepping through it and disappearing along with the portal. When the portal reemerged in Swain's office, Elias walked through it carrying a very familiar gauntlet. "Is that the Prodigal Explorer's gauntlet?" the Noxian asks astonished. The Judge nods with a smile on his face before throwing the gauntlet back into the portal. "Thankfully Ezreal is not one of the people who absolutely despises me so getting his gauntlet was fairly simple to do." sighs the teen. Swain softly strokes the covered part of his chin while nodding his head, "Yes I have heard about the... uneasiness of the other champions as of late. Draven has increasingly become more of a problem lately and should indeed be put in his place."
The Judge nodded in agreement and rested his head on his fist. "So will it be ok if I go through with his challenge?" he asks the elder Noxian. A few moments passed before Swain finally gave the ok to accept Draven's challenge. "Just don't humiliate him to the point where he goes and kills himself understood?" the general ads. Elias gives a brief nod before flicking out his hand, causing a dark abyss to form on the wall behind him. "Well I best be on my way. I have a little pyromaniac to take care of, and at this time she's probably hungry." the young champion chuckles to himself. The elder of the two simply waves goodbye as the teen walks into the portal and disappears from the room.
Elias' day was quite the interesting one. It went from taking a favor from a newfound friend, to being challenged to a one-on-one by an arrogant champion, then appearing in one of the most highly guarded places in all of Runeterra, and finally appearing in his room to be tackled to the ground by a blur of magenta and pink. "Eli!" happily cheers Annie at her step-brother's return. The Judge laughs loudly and ruffles her already messy hair while putting on the biggest smile on his face, "Good to see you too little one."
The child slipped off of the teen and went back to sitting on the bed. "So where did you go big brother?" questions the little pyromancer. "I went to talk to Mister Swain in Noxus about Draven." he replies. Hearing Draven's name made the little girl visibly flinch and caused her to cling to Elias' arm. "I don't like him. He's a big fat meanie that was mean to Rivey today." she quietly tells him. A small spark of rage came across the Judge at hearing her say that. "Annie what happened?" he asks her behind gritted teeth. She looks down at Tibbers and hugs the stuffed bear as tightly as she could, "He kept saying bad things about her in our match today and we ended up losing."
"Well what did Riven do afterwards?" he asks while softly messing with her hair. "She was going to hit him with her sword but Mister Jax stopped her before she could." the child responds. The Judge sighs and continues to twirl her magenta hair between his fingers, "Well at least Jax of all people stopped her otherwise that would have gotten bloody." Annie nods in agreement while still clutching her stuffed bear. "So what do you want for dinner?" Elias asks the little girl. Just as she was about to give her answer, Riven stepped through the door with a look of anger in her eyes and her sword clenched in her hand.
"Elias..." softly whispered the white-haired woman, her eyes now showing hurt and pain in them. The Judge straightened up and told the magenta sorceress to wait outside while he braced himself to deal with his friend's outburst. Instead of being yelled at by Riven, she instead sat next to him and hugged him tightly. "Riven are you okay?" asks a concerned Elias. When they first met, the Exile was prone to hugging the teen whenever she was deeply troubled or upset, but she toned it down in the recent months so this was unusual. "It was Draven. He... mentioned something from my past that I am ashamed of doing. I tried to forget what happened but..." she says quivering in her seat.
The male champion looked at his friend and shook his head, recalling all of the events of the day. "I'll be sure to kick his ass tomorrow alright? That prick deserves to be knocked down a few hundred notches." he said with a grin on his face. This caused the white-haired champion to crack a small smile for a moment before switching back to her depressed state. Sighing, the Judge puts a reassuring arm around Riven and rubs her arm, "I know that what happened in Ionia scarred you both mentally and... physically, but you need to try to overcome it. Only then will you be able to stand up again on your own two feet."
The two sat there in silence before she finally sat up straight and took in a deep breath. "You're right Elias. I need to just accept my demons and get over it." the Exile finally says. The younger of the two champions smiles at his friend's determination and pats her on the back, "Glad I could be of help." After they finished talking, Elias called back in Annie who promptly sat between the two older champions. "So back to dinner. What did you want to eat Annie?" asks the Judge with a smile on his face. She pondered for a moment before finally choosing what she wanted to go to Gragas' restaurant and bar, the Explosive Cask, which was a favorite of hers. An unanimous agreement was made between the three champions and they headed off towards the restaurant.
On their way to Gragas' establishment, the trio ran into Katarina and Garen who they found was looking for Elias. "We were actually sent to find you and get a table for everyone." says the redheaded assassin. "Wait why?" questions the Judge. "Well not everyone but Ezreal, Lux, and the Prince will be meeting us at the Cask to sort of reward you for your valiant deeds a couple of weeks ago!" proudly replies Garen. This caused the teen to form a slight blush on his face which led to Riven and Katarina snickering at him. He rubs the back of his head and stands there somewhat dumbfounded, "Well I just did what was right you know?" The Might of Demacia let out a hardy chuckle and slapped the Judge on the back, causing him to lose his balance for a moment and another chuckle from the Exile and assassin.
"Well since we all found each other this works out great! The others should be joining us soon so let us be off to the place shall we!" says the Demacian with a proud smile on his face and his wife's hand in his. Once the group of champions got tot he bar, they met up with the other party that was to accompany them. As he was about to enter the bar, a burly figure knocks Elias to the ground, causing him to give out a cry of discomfort. Jumping back up and brushing himself off, he turns to the figure and holds out a hand. "Sorry about that." he tells the person. Instead of accepting the apologetic hand the figure instead smacked it away, "I don't need a wimp like yer tellin' me yer sorry." When the Judge saw who it was, it was revealed to be a very angry Gangplank.
"Sorry about that Gangplank. I didn't see you." Elias sheepishly replies. The pirate grunts in displeasure and knocks him to the side before walking away. "The hell was his problem?" Lux says, stomping her foot on the ground. "Eh, he was probably drunk. Don't mind him Elias." Ezreal says to the Judge. With a shrug they all enter the bar. When they entered, silence fell upon the usually lively establishment. Cold glares and sneers were plastered on the faces of the champions who occupied it. "Right this way." says the waitress as she directs the champions towards a corner stall. After they are seated, the chatter resumes but at a quieter volume than before.
The group was seated at one of the large booths located in the corner of the building. A waitress then comes by and takes their drink orders, then walks off to collect their drinks. While they waited for their drinks to arrive, Lux and Ezreal began to chat about ancient magic, Jarvan asked Katarina how Garen and her were doing, leaving Riven to listen to Annie's excited chatter about what she learned in school the other day. Elias was deep in thought which caused him to stare blankly at the people in front of him, and become completely oblivious to what was going on around him. His attention was soon snapped back into focus when Annie started tugging on his sleeve relentlessly.
"Hm? Oh sorry I spaced out. What is it Annie?" he asks the little girl. She nervously fidgets before she points towards the rest of the champions in front of them. They all had defensive looks on their faces as if someone was about to attack them. The Judge was confused for a moment before he saw Draven near the front of the restaurant flaunting about his deeds as if he was some kind of hero. "Just ignore him and enjoy ourselves guys. He's not stupid enough to cause any trouble after the lashing Swain gave him." the teen tells his friends. They all looked at him strangely before reluctantly agreeing and continued with their original chatter.
Soon after the waitress came back and gave the group their drinks, she took their orders and left the group of champions to themselves again. A few more minutes passed by before obnoxious laughter was heard across the building. Everyone at the Judge's table knew who it was and decided just to ignore him... until he started spewing slander about the people at the table. Draven was purposely saying things about how Jarvan was a lousy prince, Garen was just a big meat-head that didn't deserve to be anywhere near Katarina, and how Ezreal was supposedly gay and that his being with Lux was just a publicity stunt. Elias was going to restrain himself from breaking the Noxian's jaw, until he started to talk about Riven and Annie.
"And that Exile chick and the little girl. I bet he uses those two as some kind of personal toys since they are always with him. Hell I think he maybe even fucks the both of them just for the hell of it!" the Executioner arrogantly laughs. Other insults were said about the two champions that were closest to him which sparked something that could be classified as pure rage. Elias then abruptly stood up and furiously stomped over towards the Noxian, his fists bawled and teeth clenched. "Draven. I suggest you cease talking unless you want more than your face broken." angrily growled the young champion. The older champion shows no sign of fear and puts on the most cocky grin he could muster, "Cease what? I'm just saying the truth abou-"
But before the Noxian could finish his sentence, the Judge grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him through the doors of Gragas' bar. The Executioner hit the ground with a loud thud and was shocked by the raven-haired teen's sudden display of force. Champions at the bar followed Elias outside as he summoned his scythe before the man in front of him, "You wanted a one on one correct? So lets get it over with now why don't we? Unless you are too much of a coward to fight a kid like me." Being called a coward caused Draven to become enraged and caused him to draw his dual axes from his back. "Alright kid. Lets go!" the Executioner yelled, starting the fight by throwing one of his axes.
The Judge effortlessly blocked the axe with his scythe and retaliated by slicing the air around him, generating a visible shockwave of energy that flew at the other champion. Draven, as cocky as he is, was quite agile himself as he plainly dodged the shockwave of energy. The two continued to exchange blows at amazing speed, neither of them seeing to be slowing down. Elias continued to fire off shockwaves while constantly getting close to land blows onto Draven, while he was constantly missing his throws. After landing a few more hits on the Executioner, he did something unexpected: Draven switched to hand-to-hand combat.
Instead of throwing his axes like normal, the Executioner was jabbing and slicing with his axes as opposed to normally throwing them. This caught his opponent as well as the other champions watching them off guard at his sudden change in fighting style. Elias slowly started to lose his edge on the fight as Draven was quicker and more agile with his short axes compared to the teen's long scythe. "This is gonna end badly for me if this keeps up the way it does." Elias says to himself. After managing to throw the Glorious Executioner behind him using his Death's Grasp ability, the Judge planted his scythe into the ground and began murmuring words to himself.
Just as Draven recovered, he was knocked down again by a fog of darkness that suddenly appeared. When the Noxian looked up towards where his opponent, all he could see was a figure clad in a shroud of black and a skeletal mask that covered parts of his face. The person before him looked down upon the Noxian champion with a cold expression on his face, "You made me use my ultimate Draven. How does it feel to know you are in the presence of Death itself?" Fear suddenly overcame the Executioner. Pure, absolute, fear.
"What's wrong Draven? Suddenly lost your nerve?" taunts the Judge. This caused the Executioner to snap out his daze and continue his assault on his opponent. However, the fight had a drastic turn since the Judge's transformation. Elias was now faster and stronger than before and was landing blows quicker than Draven could dodge. Draven then started to throw his axes sloppily from the sudden power boost the teen had gained. The two continued to fight each other but the victor was clearly won, and the Noxian despised losing. He had to do something that could be a way to get Elias back for losing, and Draven saw the perfect opportunity before him.
The Executioner slowly began backing up away from the group of other champions, slowly luring the Judge away from them as well. Once he was a good distance away, Draven took a familiar stance and an evil grin came across his face. In a swift motion, he let his axes fly forward at an amazing speed towards the person at the front of the group: Annie. Elias saw the blades trajectory and quickly rushed to intercept the blades but found he could not catch up. Over where the group of champions were Katarina stood there astonished. "Doesn't that idiot have a brain!" she yells angrily. She notices where the blades are headed and quickly tries to make her way over there.
However she stops in her tracks at when her husband stops her in her tracks and points towards the teen. Elias flicks his hand towards the group and summons a portal in front of them. He then quickly waves his other hand behind him and summons another portal. The blades are sucked into the first portal, their target was now averted. Then it closed quickly and the Judge stops in his tracks. Behind him though, a loud thud accompanied by a groan was heard. The portal created earlier was positioned behind Draven, who unfortunately found himself with his own blades embedded in his back. The crowd of champions erupted into roars of applause and cheers at the victory.
Annie was about to run towards him but Elias put his hand up for her to stop. The Judge then heads over to his defeated foe and murmurs a few words to him, earning a shocked face from him. He then stands up from the ground and stares at the cheering champions residing outside of the bar. The teen then walks over to them and reverts back to his normal form. He then stands up straight and looks all of them directly with a look of someone who had made up their mind. "I have something I need to say so everyone please listen," he starts, "Given the events of what has happened in the past few months, and the champions that are a bit uneasy because of me, I think it is best that I take a leave from the League starting now."
Some of the inhabitants of the bar looked at him with confusion, but most of them had shock written on their faces. "Wait what do you mean?" Riven says in disbelief. The black-haired teen faces towards his friend with an sad and distant expression. "I mean what I said Riven. I'm taking a break from the League." he replies.
His words caused a small gasp to come out of his friends as well as some other champions mouths. "Elias what are you-" Ezreal started to speak but was cut off by Elias's hand. "I'm done for now Ez. I just... need some time to away from all of this" With those as his parting words, the Judge waves his hand, summoning a portal, and walks through it without another word. Riven had made an attempt to jump through the murky portal but found her arm caught by Katarina. "Just let him go Riven. I'm sure he'll be back to normal soon. This was bound to happen eventually" the redheaded assassin told her. She was going to retaliate and go after him but remained where she was and sighed in defeat.
somewhere familiar...
It was snowing when he first appeared. At first the Judge thought he whisked himself away to the Freljord but was put into a state of shock instead. He was standing upon a a pier that was staring over the ocean, and noticed a very familiar object in the distance. At first he thought it was impossible that what he was seeing was true but after making sure he wasn't hallucinating he stood there breathless. The object that stood miles away was one from his world: The Statue of Liberty. "What the hell?" Elias breathed in disbelief. "I... I'm home..."