The Training Grounds

The Training Grounds, The Institute of War

Isaac stood, hands at his side, looking out at the spanning bridge before him

A bridge? He wasn't sure what to expect when they mentioned the words "The Training Grounds" but he sure wasn't expecting a damn bridge. Maybe I was expecting another circular room, seeing how that's all I've seen...

The bridge seemed to be a bit dated; grey uneven bricks with overgrowth on each side. He was standing up on a ledge that seemed to have an eight foot drop down just before the start of said aged-bridge. But what caught Isaac's eyes were the two large statues. The first one, at least a two hundred or so meters away looked like some kind of boar, holding a large staff with an even larger glowing crystal at the top. Behind that one, another two hundred or so meters, was that of a four-legged creature wearing humanoid armor and holding a circular shield and a similar staff.

And behind that... was a strange structure with six glowing objects surrounding a much larger diamond shaped crystal. That must be... oh what did they call it... the Nexus?

"So... what do we do?" Mute's face appeared in his HUD, "Do we just... cross it?"

"I'm not sure... those statues don't seem... friendly." Isaac wearily eyed the statues, before his eyes landed on those glowing crystals. "Mute, scan those."

"Aye-aye..." A series of circles appeared in Isaac's HUD and rotated around the first crystal. "Hmm... picking up high amounts of that energy again... what did they call it, mana?"

"Yeah, mana."

"Ok, well, there's a lot of it coming off that first crystal..." The scanner moved to the armored statue in the background. "And there's even more coming off that one."

"There called turrets, or towers if you prefer." A male voice said in Isaac's head. Isaac's right hand jumped to his helmet in response, gripping it. The hell?

"Oh sorry about that, forgot to mention that I can speak to you from back here." The voice said, it wasn't a very deep manly voice, nor was it a very soft one. It almost sounded like that voice you got when you called tech-support. Isaac didn't know whether to find that reassuring... or annoying.

That must be the... summoner? Isaac recalled what Kasubel had told him before he had entered the Training Grounds. "So... you're... a summoner yes?" He asked, hand still gripping the side of his helmet.

"Yes, that would be me. The name is Vega, a pleasure to meet you Archangel." Isaac could almost picture the man smiling behind that voice.

"The pleasure is all yours." Isaac groaned, "Sorry, not a fan of people being in my head."

"So I've heard, but don't worry, I can't read your mind or anything. I can only talk to you from here."

"And here being...?"

"That's not important, let's just say I'm almost like... a coach of sorts. Nothing to be too worried about, I'm basically in a VIP spectator's room. I'm just going to guide you through the Training Grounds."

Isaac shook his head, he wasn't liking this. "The name seems pretty straight forward, so what do you need to guide me through."

"Look, I know you're from some advanced world and all, but from what you've told us so far, there is no such thing as magic on your world. So this is going to be a little... different from what you're used to."

Isaac bit his lower lip; he had him there. Magic... had I not seen what I've seen over the last two days I would've laughed in their faces. "Fine... I'll play your game." He muttered back, not all that happy with the situation. If this guy was talking to me over the radio, I wouldn't be so paranoid... Isaac hated this "talking to his mind" thing. And he was on edge ever since his talk with Kasubel...

20 minutes ago

"No."

Kasubel cocked his head to the said at that. "No?"

Archangel made a refusal gesture with his hands. He was no longer inside the prison and now stood on even ground with Kasubel, a matter of feet away. "No. No one goes inside my head."

Kasubel sighed. And thing were looking so good. He gripped the insides of his eyes with his hand, rubbing them gently. He had been talking, err... negotiating with Archangel for the last fifteen minutes, answering his questions and giving him the ultimatum.

After his report to the Councils his fears came true, they wanted to make Archangel a champion. Kasubel argued with that decision. We don't need another champion, we need answers! He had protested, but the High Council's decision was final. To top it all off, they wanted him to talk to Archangel about it.

I'm starting to hate my job... Kasubel thought. The talk had gone without hitch up until this point. He gave Archangel the ultimatum: Either he can join the League of Legends, or he can stay in this prison rotting for eternity. He expected a massive protest from alien human, like others had had from champions such as Brand, but Archangel seemed to be rather reasonable. In fact his only demands were that he was to be allowed to travel outside the Institute.

I could allow that, with an escort. Kasubel thought, the Council would have to agree with that. Archangel wasn't trying to kill anyone... not anymore that is. From what Kasubel had heard from the other champions, Archangel had powers and tricks up his sleeve that could not be taken away by any normal means.

Everything was going well... until Kasubel mentioned the part about the Judgement.

Archangel refused outright, without a pause. Kasubel didn't like that; Archangel paused regularly during conversation, talking to that thing... Mute was it? The fact that he refused instantly meant that he didn't have to talk to Mute.

Who is really in control here? Archangel... or Mute? I also find it odd how he is able to seemingly converse with that entity without us hearing him. Could their communications be telepathic in nature?

Pushing his internal thoughts and questions aside, Kasubel returned to the matter at hand. "Why not? All the champions have had to do it." All but one... Kasubel tried to reason with the man.

"Because I don't want anyone inside my head." Archangel pointed to his helmet. "Things in here are not meant for the likes of you."

"And those things are?"

"My memories... and such, what did you think I meant?" Archangel protested.

Kasubel paused, folding his arms together. "That is a poor excuse."

Archangel took a step forward; he was now within striking distance of Kasubel. Kasubel didn't flinch though, he was confident that if Archangel intended to inflict harm he would've done it already.

Vayne didn't seem to share his thoughts however. She motioned forward, wrist-crossbow leveled at Archangel's head. "Not an inch." She spoke in her forever neutral tone.

Archangel turned his head to look at her. Kasubel expected him to throw out a taunt, but to his surprise (and relieve) Archangel remained silent, simply looking back at Kasubel before slowly raising his hand with his index finger out, stopping a matter of inches from Kasubel's face.

Kasubel didn't even blink.

"No one. Goes. Inside. My. Head." Archangel spoke slowly.

"Once again, why not?" Kasubel asked. Personally, he wanted to know what was inside the man's head. Kasubel was convinced that he knew something, anything, about the disappearances. That is my primary concern, I don' t have time for this charade.

"Because," Archangel took a step back, lowering his hand. He paused for a second before continuing. "Let's just say, whoever looks inside my head will be screaming for mercy the moment he begins to, browse, through my memories."

Kasubel wasn't exactly expecting that response. I thought he was going to say, "Because I said so" or, "because I know secrets".

"What makes you think that?" Kasubel asked the man, looking him up and down again. He's shorter then I had at first thought... is he 5'7?

"Trust me. He'll be on his knees the moment we start."

Kasubel maintained his neutral expression. A poker-face is my best card here. "Well, I doubt that will slide with the Council. They won't accept a champion who hides behind a mask and refuses any attempt at the Judgement." Kasubel looked him up and down again. I'll try to turn the tables on him. "How about you remove your helmet and look me in the eyes before refusing me again?"

Archangel was silent. Kasubel sighed. No, I didn't think that would work. He opened his mouth to speak again.

"Fine."

"What?" Kasubel was surprised. Did he agree?

"All you want is me to look you in the eyes and refuse right?"

"Well... yes."

"So, fine." Archangel reached one hand up to the side of his head and tapped his helmet. There was a sisss noise and the front of his helmet slowly began to slide upwards. Kasubel looked to his right and his left quickly. Kayle stood unmoving, Malphite stood with his arms crossed, and Vayne simply adjusted her crossbow, still slightly aimed at Archangel.

All three wore better poker-faces then Kasubel. Well, you can't even see Kayle's face.

Archangel reached up to the front of his helmet with both hands and pushed his helmet's visor up, revealing his face for the first time.

Kasubel took a good look at it, as he knew it was likely the only one he would ever get in a long time. He's... young! Archangel had a rather handsome face that displayed his youth, he couldn't be older then twenty-four. The top of his helmet covered his hair, but Kasubel could see the top of the hair-line. All his hair is shaved off... There was little to no facial hair, if anything it looked like a tiny bit of a night-shadow. That's likely since he hasn't shaved in nearly two days... maybe more.

But all those features paled in comparison to the scars, the many scars. Kasubel tried to count them all.

Eight?

Ten?

More?

The largest one started just above his right eye and went across his face to his left cheek, narrowly missing his eye and nose. Another one was similar to the one Katarina wore, but much smaller and slightly off to the side. The rest were all smaller scars that were scattered across his face: two on his right cheek, one that went vertically across his lips, nearly every part of his face had a scar of sorts.

Each one, however, made the boy look even tougher then when he held himself up straight with his face covered.

Archangel remained motionless, staring right back at Kasubel with his grey eyes. Kasubel looked him right back in those eyes. He felt a brief chill flow down his spine.

There is no spark of youth in them. There... cold.

They were the eyes of a killer, of someone who had seen much.

There the eyes of someone who is lost in life. The eyes of someone who has nothing left to lose.

Archangel took a step forward, his empty eyes never leaving Kasubel's. "No. One." He spoke, voice filled with authority. "Gets to go. Inside. My. Head."

Silence. Kasubel tried to think of what to say next. Do I refuse him again? Do I push the Judgement?

Archangel took another step back, and closed his helmet; another sisss noise emitting as he once again became a faceless warrior from a different world.

Kasubel opened his mouth. "I'll see if I can convince the Council to skip that part." I lost this round. I was expecting something more... cocky. Not something void like that.

It only deepened the mystery. Who was Archangel?

Isaac shook his head, taking a step forward and dropping down from the ledge. I didn't think he was going to budge... but he did. He thought back on his conversation with Kasubel, the so called, Minister of Valoran Security.

"I can't believe you got him with that eye trick of yours there Archangel." Mute said grinning. She was using his codename while he was "linked" to the summoner, since they were certain that whatever Mute said, the summoner Vega would hear it too.

"It's not a trick. I can't help it if my eyes unnerve people."

"Who knows, maybe you have another hidden power under those two jewels in your head."

"...Jewels?"

"Tried to use a more interesting word then eyes."

Isaac rolled his "jewels" around at that response.

"Alright, are you ready Archangel?" Vega's voice filled his head again.

I'll just have to get used to it. "Yeah, so... now what? Do I just run across the bridge?"

"That would be a bad idea. You have to understand, those towers shoot mana bursts from those crystals. If one hits you, it's going to hurt. A lot."

Isaac eyed the statues, or towers, cautiously. "Ok, I'll keep that in mind. Still, what do I do?"

"The objective of any League match is to destroy the opposing side's Nexus, that's the thing with the larger crystal way in the back. In order to be able to damage the crystal however, you have to destroy every turret along the bridge.

"Sounds easy enough... but those things look like they're made of solid rock..."

"They are, that's why it takes a bit, and a little teamwork, to bring one down. The ones on the Training Grounds are weaker than the usual turret, but it should give you an idea."

Isaac nodded. Didn't sound too difficult.

"Now, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, let's do this!"

Isaac took one step forward at Vega's signal, and suddenly felt all his strength leave him. He gasped for air and dropped to his knees. What the fuck? Isaac's eyes went wide open. Why did he feel so weak suddenly?

"Is- Archangel?!" Mute yelped, also surprised by his sudden collapse.

"The hell?" He growled in response. "Mute what just happened?"

"I... I don't know!"

"Oops, sorry, forgot to mention something important." Vega voice sounded a little apologetic, "When a League match starts, you're going to be... de-powered. That's so champions can't go a nuke one another from the get-go."

Isaac stumbled to his feet. "De-powered?! That would've been nice to know you robed prick!" He growled. He felt so weak!

"Sorry, I thought someone else would've said that. It's the job of a summoner to give the champion his or her power back as they gain this thing called, experience, from being close to something that dies."

"Dies...?" Isaac didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes. When a minion or champion dies, you gain experience as long as you were nearby. When you gather enough, the summoner can unlock one of your old abilities for you to use."

Isaac was totally confused, not to mention still getting over his sudden weakness. "The hell you talking about? Minions, death...? The hell is any of that supposed to mean?!"

Vega was silent. "They didn't tell you anything did they?"

"Fuck no! I just got escorted to this damn bridge!"

"Oh... this is going to take awhile..." Isaac heard Vega take a deep breath. "Ok, listen up..."

Kasubel flipped through the reports of the disappearances again, looking for something, anything that would clearly link them together. But this was at least his thousandth time doing that, and just like every other time, he found nothing. Just ridiculously high numbers, that's all that links each one together. Some of the reports even had names attached to the numbers. One of the listings from Demacia revealed that an entire family of six, parents and children all, had been seemingly whisked away from their farmhouse overnight.

According to the notes, Quinn interviewed the man who reported the missing, the father's brother. And they came up with a bunch of nothing, no suspects, no motivation, nothing! Similar findings followed the other reports. Kasubel felt frustration growing inside him. The people of Valoran were disappearing and he was powerless to stop it.

It's my god-damn charge! Mine! I may not like this job, but damn it, those people... Kasubel snarled. He had to find out what was happening, the lives on the missing people may depend on him.

He asked the High Council to investigate the disturbances from the Void again; perhaps wherever Archangel had come from was responsible for all this. But the Council refused. Kasubel couldn't really blame them; what if they pulled another being like Archangel out? Only a more hostile one.

But that did little to help his investigation. Katarina and Garen had both already left for their respective home lands the day before, so now he had nobody to bring his concerns up with.

My job. My. Bloody. Job. Kasubel shook his head. He was getting nowhere and he knew it. He had known it since yesterday. Sure Ram Steed had gotten the information out of Archangel, but that didn't do anything for his primary goal, solving these disappearances. Sure they found out more about Archangel, but that was all.

Maybe I should ask the man myself. Kasubel stroked his beard. But I'm not sure we can trust him, not yet.

Maybe; but he might just be out of other options...

"So? You understand know?" Vega ended his explanation.

"Yeah, I get it." Isaac rubbed the back of his neck. "Would've been helpful to have known all that BEFORE you sapped me of my powers."

"Sorry about that... here let me make it up to you right now!"

Isaac felt a breathe a fresh air flow into his lungs, and a feminine voice echo in his head. "DM Summoning, unlocked."

"Who was that?" Isaac asked, looking around trying to identify the source. "Who was that voice?"

"Not important," Vega was likely waving his hand around as he said that, "But how do you feel? I gave you one of your powers back."

Isaac looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers. He felt... something alright. But then again, he didn't know how it felt to have all his powers sucked away until a few minutes ago either.

"Try it out, see what you can do." Vega instructed Isaac.

Alright... it said DM Summoning... so... THIS! Isaac reared his head and arms backwards, sticking his torso outwards as he closed his eyes, focusing his powers in front of him. He felt his entire body grow hot, and a brief pain whipped through his upper body. Grr...

A sound filled his ears; like something was charging up in front of him. Isaac let his instinct take over and pictured a weapon in his mind. A moment later, the sound stopped with a brief POP; Isaac opened his mind and relaxed, and hovering in the air right before him was a glowing, purple-ebony assault rifle.

"A SCAR, very classy." Mute grinned at the sight.

Isaac took a step forward and slowly gripped the rifle, shouldering it. A bar appeared on his screen that read "DM AMMO".

Guess I've only got one clip with this thing.

"Not bad." The tone of Vega's voice gave of hints of admiration and surprise. "Honestly, I had no idea what it was going to do either." He chuckled. "Now, let's start for REAL!"

Several flashes of light occurred in the distance, and several three feet tall creatures carrying swords, shields, and staffs charged forward across the bridge.

So those are the minions. Isaac nodded to himself and raced after them. Let's get this started.

Kasubel watched Archangel from his Summoner's Orb. As the black armored figure made his way up to the next minion wave, Kasubel watched the play go on.

Archangel raced forward past the ruins of the first tower. He dropped down to one knee, and slid towards the wave, his rifle shoulders. Opened fired before he even stopped moving taking down three minions under a hail of purple bullets, each filled with dark energy. He then shot his right arm out towards the so called "siege minion", a bolt of purple energy flowing outwards. The bolt wrapped around the minion, and shaped itself into a chain. Archangel tugged upwards on the chain hard, launching the minion into the air, and then threw it towards the second turret. The minion crashed into the statue, killing the minion and damaging the turret. The last two minions, armed with sword and shield charged at Archangel. In a blurry burst of speed, he kicked the weapons of the first one away, and fired his rifle into its head. For the second on, still moving at blinding speed, he dodged the thrust, drew one of the four swords on his back, and swung it downwards, cleaving right through the minion's head.

Kasubel nodded. Not bad, but anyone could clear a minion wave with less effort than that. He thought. Either Archangel was trying this abilities out as they came to him, or he was trying to show off.

Whichever one of them it was... he honestly didn't care.

Rest

The Institute of War

"So, how'd it feel?" Vega asked Isaac. The two of them walked through the halls of the Institute of War, side by side. Isaac looked the summoner over. He had a white rob that covered his whole body, but he had the cowl down. He looked very young, younger then Isaac, with long blonde hair that draped down to his shoulders, and a few whiskers on his face.

Isaac shrugged in response. "Not sure. I had a hard time getting over that initial feeling, but it was rather interesting to get my powers back one by one."

Vega grinned. "Well, actual League matches are that simple. You have to worry about the other champions as well as your teammates. The Training Grounds is just a simple bridge after all."

"Yeah, not much for entertainment there..." Isaac was still on the fence about this whole thing. But he had to remind himself that in order to get out and have the freedom he needed to search this world WITHOUT being on the run, was to work with these so called "summoners".

Didn't mean he had to like it though. He had thought about making a run for it the moment Kasubel let him out of the prison, but his gut told him otherwise. They likely had a trap or two set up for me on the way out. Then, I'd be stuck in that cell forever.

"Well, here we are." Vega motioned towards a door to Isaac's left and they stopped.

Isaac paused for a moment, and then cautiously opened the door. Inside was a decent sized room, with a dresser, a closest, bed, and a bathroom. He poked his head inside the bathroom and was surprised to see a shower there. A shower? Maybe there not so medieval after all.

"Goes without saying, this will be your quarters during your stay." Vega remained outside in the hall. "Better then that prison cell huh?"

"Much better, it's been days since I slept in an actual bed."

Vega nodded, smiling. Whether it was to Isaac or to himself remained up in the air. "Very well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then. For your first actual match."

Isaac nodded; he was on the fence about that too. A... League match... broadcasted live across the world... so much for subtly.

"You know," Vega scratched his whisker covered chin, "Most champions don't get their first live match until almost a month after they've been initiated."

Isaac shrugged. "I guess I'm a special case."

"I guess so." Vega nodded and turned to leave. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow then."

Isaac waved after him and closed the door, locking it. He turned around and looked over the room again. "Mute, you picking anything up?"

"Nope, this room is clear of any bugs or people. No energy readings either... well... aside from those lights. They seem to be powered by mana."

"But no listeners?"

"Not that I can tell."

Isaac let out a large breath of air. Finally, he could relax, for the first time since he had been sent to the Solomon Islands.

Feels like a world away... oh wait... He shook his head and made his way to the bed. A book was placed on top of the sheets. He read the title and grinned. At least they let me keep that history book. He would make sure to read it later.

For now, he wanted to take a shower. He had been trapped in that suit for days. In fact, the only times he got to open it was during the few moments a summoner would shove food and drink into his cell, and he had kept his visor down just above his mouth, so he could eat without revealing his face.

He did, however, get a kick out of that minister's reaction when he revealed it to him. He was probably expecting someone much older.

But for now, Isaac just wanted his shower. He removed his weapons first; he had only gotten his four swords and his knives back. His pistols and grenades had been confiscated completely. More like they took them away to disassemble them. After he suspected that, he was surprised he didn't hear any explosions from some summoner mishandling his grenades.

After dropping the weapons on the bed, Isaac went to the bathroom and made sure it too locked before taking off his armor. Starting with his helmet, he peeled his armor off, piece by piece. Usually he had techs and support staff to help speed the process up, but he wasn't going to take the chance of some summoner stealing his most important piece. Alone, the whole process took nearly fifteen minutes.

Once he was done, he was standing in his skin-tight under-suit before the mirror. After removing that, he took one look at himself in the mirror before stepping into the shower. His body was covered in scars, small and big ones alike. None of them however, left him disfigured. Horridly disfigured at least, not including the massive one that stretched down his back at least from where he took a series of slashes when he was younger.

Best not to remember that day. Isaac thought before turning the water on, feeling the hot water soaking on his skin. Ah... yes... Finally, relaxation!

"So... feels good to finally shed the skin?" Mute's avatar popped up next to him, just outside the shower. She had to summon up her avatar since he wasn't wearing the helmet.

Before he could respond, Mute warped to the front of him, looking straight at his chest as if she was pondering something. "Looks like it healed nicely." She said, looking at the more recent scar on his chest. "I thought taking that tank shell to the chest would've left a much larger one."

Isaac looked down at the small samurai AI. "Just another scar, Mute."

She looked up at his face with one eyebrow raised. "Don't forget, if you die, I'm done for too right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Trust me, I can't be killed."

"You put that theory to the test too often." She mumbled. Her avatar floating around behind him now. "Looks like those knives left very small ones. They're about a fourth of an inch each, but not very big."

Isaac shrugged. It didn't bother him that Mute was looking over his naked body; he had been naked with his comrades before in the shower rooms. Having an AI look him over was nothing.

"Still self conscious about all them?" Mute asked him.

Isaac let out a sigh. "Slightly, but only slightly." He mumbled. As much as he didn't care for Mute to see them, he did care for other random people outside his outfit to see his scars. People stare too much.

My outfit... even if there are any of them still alive.

He woke the next morning, sweat pouring down from his face from another nightmare, forty minutes before the decided time that Vega would come and get him. Someone had already delivered food and drink to him and it waited at his doorstep. After scarfing the bread and water down (he had Mute scan it first, he still didn't trust these summoners), Isaac had another quick shower and suited up.

When he was done, he looked himself in the mirror before placing his helmet over his head. If some little kid had seen him now, he would've likely thought Isaac was "cool." His scars made him look tougher, although Isaac knew that if the large one across his face had been couple inches down it would've clipped the front of his nose off.

A knock came at the door then. "Archangel? You ready? Match is in thirty minutes." The voice was Vega's.

"Yeah, just give me a second." He hollered back, leaving the bathroom to hook his X shaped sheathed across his back. When he was satisfied his entire suit was properly set up, he turned to leave the room.

But just as he walked towards the door, he turned his head ajar and looked at himself in the mirror again. After a few seconds Mute's avatar appeared next to him, her hands on her hips.

"Something wrong? You usually don't admire yourself in the mirror." She smirked.

"It's nothing... just feeling, a bit nostalgic." Isaac shook his head and placed his helmet over his head, turning away and reaching for the door handle.

I hate mirrors...

The Abductors

The Conqueror's Sea, west of Demacia

The sea tasted salty, it always did. But that's Capitan Reynolds loved about it. The cold air, the sight of never ending water, the taste of the sea, he loved it all. It was in his blood, being born n Bligewater. Reynolds had moved to Demacia at a young age though, but his love of the sea never left him.

That is why I enlisted. He placed his hat back on his head and left his quarters, and stepped out into the rain. All around him his crew shouted orders at one another over sound of the thunderstorm, as cold rain pelted them from above. One of his mates ran up to him, panting.

"We've lost sight of land captain!" He informed Reynolds, almost shouting.

Reynolds looked at his soaking wet crewmate and patted him on the shoulder. "That just makes it more interesting laddie. Get below decks and make sure the passengers aren't freaking out over nothing." He shouted back and continued to make his way to the poop deck, his head held up high as the rain flowed down from his hat.

It's my job to get this ship, her crew, and whoever is taking refuge aboard her to safety. His ship, The Winds of Honor, was a heavy frigate, one of Demacia's finest. They had been patrolling the waters south of the city when they had come across a small capsized passenger ship. Being a man of honor, Reynolds wasn't about to those people drown,

After reaching his favorite part of the ship, he turned to the navigator and his first-mate, who was looking through the spy glass.

"How long ago did we lose sight of land?" Reynolds half asked half shouted at his first.

"About five minutes ago cap! It's on the portside!"

Reynolds frowned. "Then why the bloody hell are you looking starboard?"

His first mate lowered the spy-glass and faced Reynolds. "The men claim they saw something in the water."

"Men are always seeing shit in the water, it's a god-damn ocean!" Reynolds shouted back, "Give that here." The first mate handed him the spyglass. Reynolds patted the man on the shoulder. "Tell that idiot at the wheel to bring us back towards the shore. I won't have us out this far during a storm."

"Aye-aye captain!" His first shouted and ran off. Reynolds looked through the glass out to the east. What the hell are you men seeing this time...? I'll take a quick look to ease their fears.

Instead, Reynolds found his own fears. He saw something in the sea, something that wasn't natural. It was a bit off in the distance, but close enough to make the many hairs on Reynolds' back stand up on edge.

It was a light, moving above the waters, suspended in air. That's impossible, a floating light in the sea? He tried to take better look at it, but the light shone bright back at him. Reynolds grunted in pain looking away and dropping the glass. What in the Void?!

Reynolds' ears drums shook as an incredibility loud sound washed over him. He gripped the sides of his head and grunted again. What was that? A horn of sorts? He ran up to the rails to look over his ship. All his men had stopped working and we're facing east, where the bright light was shinning at them.

"Get back to work!" Reynolds shouted at them.

"C-captain! Look!" His first mate screamed, the sound of his voice filled with terror. Reynolds looked back towards the light, and his jaw dropped. It was no longer far away, it was now very close, and meters above them, allowing him to see what it was.

Its... it's a flying ship?! Reynolds couldn't believe it, but there it was. The light was attached to the front of a giant, black, flying ship. Reynolds had never seen anything like it in his life.

Several more lights appeared from the belly of the ship, shinning down on him and his crew. He could hear his crew letting out cries of fear at the sight. The flying ship flew directly over them, the front of it smashing into the masts of The Winds of Honor, knocking each one over. The ship shook violently from the force, and Reynolds legs gave out and he fell to the deck.

This can't be happening! He tried to stumble to his feet and look back up at the flying ship, only to see a hole appear in its belly and five small, man sized figures drop out from underneath. Just before the figures fell onto the deck of his damaged ship, fire ignited from under their boots, slowing their fall before touching down.

Each figure was clad in a navy blue, almost black, suit of armor. It covered each man head to toe perfectly, with a glowing blue section on the helmet where the eye-slits should've been. Each one was holding a gun-like weapon of sorts.

His crew scrambled away from the figures from where they had set down in the center of his ship. Some of his mates drew their swords, others pulled out pistols; one of his crew members, brave lad, grabbed a deck brush and held it out to defend himself with.

One of the five figures lifted his weapon and rested it across his shoulders, as if he was taking a walk in the park.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." The lead man said; his voice rather high pitched for having such a dreaded suit of armor. "Tonight's entertainment is brought to you by the Ascension, complements of the people of Earth!" He announced.

Then all five men opened fire.

Reynolds gasped, as his men were ruthlessly mowed down before his eyes. His men tried to resist, some fired their pistols, others charged. But every shot either bounced off the attacker's armor and every brave lad had been shot repeatedly. The guns those armored men carried fired at a shocking rate.

"C-captain! What do we do?!" His first mate screamed.

"Simple." A voice came from behind Reynolds, and he turned to face it. Another armored figure had dropped down behind them, weapon raised. "We'll be taking your cargo."

"We have no valuable cargo!" Reynolds shouted, tying to make sense of what was happening. That's when it hit him, and Reynolds' eyes went wide open.

The passengers.

The masked soldier noticed the change in his expression and gave a humph. "Bingo old man." And he squeezed the trigger.

The last thing Reynolds did was scream as bullets shredded his body.

Summoner's Rift

The Institute of War

Isaac stood waiting in another circular room. Another dark, round room... who would've thought?

Vega had told him to wait here to be... summoned to the Fields of Justice. Isaac thought that name was rather funny, since whoever won these matches likely wasn't always on the side of justice.

This room was smaller, so he didn't have a lot of room to pace around. Instead, Isaac found himself shaking his hands and making slight jumps up and down, trying to prevent himself from getting bored.

Or, maybe I've just got a case of the pre-battle nerves.

Whatever he had, it was driving Mute crazy.

"WILL YOU STAND STILL FOR JUST ONE MINUTE?!" She shouted at him.

Isaac jumped slightly. He hadn't been expecting her to shout at him so suddenly. "Jesus Mute, what?" He outright failed to hide his shock.

"All you have to do is wait here in this room for five minutes while they finish preparations, and you're already jumping around!"

Isaac shrugged in response. "Sorry, can't help it. Never done this before."

"Never done what? You've fought plenty of times."

"I mean the part where this is live on camera... or whatever the people on this world use."

"You mean to tell me your nervous because you're going to shown fighting LIVE?!" Mute's avatar appeared in front of him, hands on her hips. "Just treat this like any other fight, the fact you're going to be on something akin to TV means nothing!"

He shook his head. There was a difference between this match and real life combat, broadcasting aside. "No, remember? The people I kill here might not stay dead." He reminded her. "They're going to... respawn or something."

"So what? Then just knock em' back down!" Mute pounded her fist into the palm of her other hand. "It's not rocket science... well... actually it's something way beyond that." She chuckled and scratched the back of her neck.

Isaac gripped the front of his helmet at that. He let out an exhale before shaking his arms again.

"You know... I'm starting to miss when things were simple..." Mute muttered, shaking her head.

Before Isaac could comment on that, he heard Vega' voice in his head. "Ok Archangel, we're summoning you know... better hold onto your gut, I hear this can really upset the stomach of first timers."

Hold onto my gut...? How the hell do I even... ah forget it. Isaac let out a sigh and looked at Mute. "Showtime."

Mute nodded in response, and her avatar vanished; her face reappeared in the usual spot on his HUD.

"Ok, summoning..." After hearing Vega say that, Isaac noticed blue lights appearing around him. Before he could get a good look at them they started to spin around him.

"Yeah Mute..." Isaac sighed yet again.

"What?"

"I also miss when things were simple." He said, closing his eyes as he felt the world around him started to spin...

...And stop three seconds later. Isaac stumbled for a moment, unable to stay still, shook his head and opened his eyes. They were no longer in the same room.

In fact, they were now outside, standing atop some kind of temple structure that had the Nexus just below the pedestal he was standing on. Beyond the walls of the temple, he could see trees as far as the eye could see; and in the very distance, another temple.

I bet the enemy nexus is over there.

"So... you're the new guy huh?" A youthful sounding male voice said to him from behind. Isaac turned around and realized he was not alone. There were four others behind him.

The first was a grinning young male with messy blonde hair, who was did not look dressed for combat. He had blue pants, a brown rugged jacket overtop a t-shirt, and a set of goggles testing above his head. Isaac did find the overly large gauntlet the man wore on his left hand to be rather curious.

More like Mute would be. Isaac quickly glanced at the next one. This one, a girl with long blue pigtails that touched the ground, had an even stranger fashion. From the waist up she wore nothing aside from a bra and a bullet-belt, revealing strange blue tattoos covering the right side of her body. Her pink pants had only one complete legging; the other having been tore off. On top of that, she was carrying a glowing pistol, a rocket launcher with a shark design, and...

She's got a bloody mini-gun. Isaac didn't know what to say about this one. But what caught his attention the most was her grin. From the way she was looking at him, Isaac couldn't tell if she was happy, fuming, or fantasizing about him. Regardless, it kinda creeped him out.

The third one wasn't even a human. It was a massive golden robot, with steam rising from its back. It had an unparallel shaped head and a big round body. Its arms were also massive; each one was bigger than Isaac himself.

That thing could probably crush me with ease... That should make him weary of the machine, but since it was on his team, maybe those massive arms would be crushing the other side instead of him.

The last one was even stranger yet. It looked like a massive spider, but its body appeared to be made of a type of crystal of sorts. Its arms had massive crystal formations that started from the forearm and grew out pasted its... hands? On top of that, its stinger had a blue tip that glowed, making Isaac a little uneasy around the creature.

It's got yellow, pupil-less eyes... and it feels like there staring right at me. Isaac looked each on over again, all of them were looking at him... likely.

"Well... interesting team we have here..." Mute smirked. "And before you ask... only two of them are human."

The blonde male took a step forward. "So..." He started, stretching out his hand without the gauntlet. "Name's Ezreal."

Isaac accepted the handshake. "Archangel." He replied. This guy... how old is he? He looks even younger then Vega!

The blue haired girl with the pigtails jumped up beside him. "Wow! That armor looks soooooo cool!" She shouted, clearly and very excited. She took a few playful jabs at his arm (at least Isaac hoped they were "playful") with her gloved hands. He looked at her; her smile was even wider now.

"Umm... you are?" Isaac inquired. She didn't take the hint; instead, she stared to jump around him.

"This... this!" She grabbed his arm and pulled it up, as if she was inspecting it. "This is awesome! Hey, hey! Can I have it when you die? Please! Please!" She went on.

Isaac blinked, dumbfounded. "No! I'm not gonna die!" He pulled his arm away. "Who the hell are you?"

The girl leapt back and took up a saluting posture. "Jinx! Reporting for duty!" She gave him a stern look and a salute.

"She seems... interesting." Mute muttered. Her expression showed that she was just as shocked as he was.

"Uh... hey..." Isaac couldn't find any other words then those two.

Jinx's expression returned to her giant grin, and her posture relaxed. "What? That's it? Awwww..." She slowly walked up to him and leaned against him, bringing her grinning face within inches of his helmet. "Have you already got a crush on me?"

The fuck...? Isaac took a step back, causing Jinx to stumble forward. He shook his head. "Nah, I was just thinking we need some time apart."

Jinx stood back up, kind of straight, and cocked her head to the side, her grin never fading. "Aw... you suuuuuuure?"

"Oh boy..." Mute muttered.

Desperate to change the subject, Isaac pointed at the two in the back. "How about them, do they talk?" He asked.

"Yes we talk!" The spider approached him; Isaac found its voice to be kind of scary if he was to be perfectly honest. "My name is Skarner! The crystal vanguard! I am the only one of my kind, the brackern, to have awakened from our slumber."

"Is he going to tell us his lift story?" Mute chuckled. Isaac hushed her.

"It's good to meet you, Skarner." Isaac gave him a simple nod in response with those words. It seemed to satisfy the crystal creature, who nodded in return.

The gold robot spoke next. "I AM BLITZCRANK, THE GREAT STEAM GOLEM." It spoke in a very obvious mono-toned robotic voice. "IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU, ARCHANGEL."

"Yeah... same here." Archangel scratched the back of his neck. It... seems nice...? But it is a robot, and robots tend to only function on logic... it could be as likely to crush me as to help me. Only time would tell though.

Isaac looked over the four of them again. Ezreal, Jinx, Skarner, and Blitzcrank... so these are the so called champions. Isaac didn't know what to say, all four of them were still observing him carefully. Well, three to be exact, Jinx seemed to be more concerned with sticking her finger in her ear and looking at what came out of it.

Oh boy... Isaac was speechless. A true mixed-bag these four were. And according to what Vega told him, there were a hundred and sixteen champions in the League of Legends.

A hundred and seventeen... if you include me I guess... Isaac thought, but he really didn't feel like he was one of them. Not yet at least.

If their all this strange and unique... well... I dunno...

"Well, good to see you got introductions out of the way." Vega's voice echoed in his head. Isaac noticed that the other four champions all look away and their postures change. Guess their summoners are speaking to them too.

"Yeah, well... there an interesting bunch that's for sure." Isaac replied. "So what's the plan?"

"Remember what I told you? About how the matches usually go?"

"Yeah..."

"Good, so, you'll be going solo in the top lane ok? Jinx and Blitz will be going to the bottom lane, and Ezreal will be going down the middle."

"Ok... wait..." Isaac turned around and looked around. "Which one is top? Middle is obvious but..."

"North. North is top, south is bottom."

"Ok... so what about Skarner?"

"He's our team's jungler."

"Oh... oh right, forgot about that." Isaac exhaled, this was a lot to take in. "So, who are we up against?"

"Our team is fighting Ashe, the frost archer, Elise the spider queen... she'll be up against you in the top lane... Vi the Piltover Enforcer, Taric the Gem Knight, and Syndra the dark sovereign." Vega listed off for him, pausing for a moment. "She's on rotation this week." He added.

"Huh?" Isaac was confused. "What does that mean?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Vega replied, "Match starts soon, you ready?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be for this."

"Ok..." Vega sounded like he was taking deep breaths in and out.

Before Isaac could inquire, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned around to see Ezreal right behind him.

"So, you ready?"

Why does everyone keep asking me that? Isaac gave him a nod.

"Ok. Not nervous at all?" The blonde boy asked him.

"No..." Isaac muttered before shaking his head slightly. "Ok a little... it's just this all seems..."

"Different? Weird? Strange? Something like that?"

"All the above I guess."

Ezreal gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "It's like that for everyone at first." He reassured him.

Jinx jumped up next to them. "Nope! Not me!" She brought both her hands out in front of her as if she was a human tiger about to pounce on a rabbit. "I was excited! I couldn't wait! Hell, I didn't even wait for the countdown to end!"

Ezreal rolled his eyes. "And you gave first blood... on your first match..."

Jinx's face froze. "Oh... right..." She muttered, before jumping around Isaac, looking out at the landscape. "Well it's easy! All we have to do is make that thingy over there go BOOM!" She waved her arms around in the air, displaying her excitement for everyone to see. "It's gonna be AWESOME!"

Wow... just wow... Isaac shook his head. Seems like she already forgot about... whatever this first blood thing is.

Jinx jumped straight up into the air, did a 180, and landed facing Isaac; broadcasting her massive grin. "Yes! Yes! Finally!" She brought both her arms up and shook them in excitement. "Come on new guy! Let's see who gets FIRST BLOOD!" She grabbed the mini-gun at her waist and charged off.

Isaac and Ezreal just watched her run off. The blonde boy let out a sigh. "And there she goes. Well..." Ezreal took a few steps ahead of Isaac before turning around and giving him a thumbs-up. "Good luck!" He encouraged him, and bolted off.

"GOOD LUCK ARCHANGEL!" Isaac heard Blitzcrank's mono-toned voice from behind him, "I TOO SHALL GIVE YOU A PAT FOR GOOD LUCK!"

Before Isaac could even respond, he felt a massive force hit him in the shoulder, causing him to stagger forward. After he regained his balance he spun around to find the golem already running off after Jinx.

Jesus... Isaac rubbed his right shoulder where Blitzcrank had "patted" him.

"Hey, at least he meant well!" Mute snickered.

"Oh hush..."

Skarner moved up next to Isaac, gave him a nod, and scurried off, leaving Isaac alone on the platform.

Isaac sighed. What had he gotten himself into? Well, no point dwelling on it now...

He cracked his neck to each side. "Let's do this thing." He muttered to himself and took a step forward.

That's when Isaac heard the voice in his head again, that authority-filled feminine voice. It said only one line to him.

"WELCOME, TO SUMMONER'S RIFT!"