Noxus is known for their desire for power, they believe they are the strongest city within all of Valoran, or at least they believe that they will be. To show off their strength they have started broadcasting a performance of some of their best and strongest citizens. The performances would be a combination of the person's combat abilities, their physique, all while precise music and lighting emphasizes the movements of the performer plays and shines in the background. Sometimes there is a live performance at the Institute of War and the champions can watch each other perform, no matter what faction they belong to.
Noxus has sculpted yet another deadly fighter named Peco. He is to make his first impression live on the stage within The Institute of War. There was a large audience filled with champions and summoners alike. Not a single seat was empty, there was a lot of hype for this performer. He was rumored to be the reincarnation of one of Noxus' most famous and accomplished sorcerers. The Noxian military taught him not only how to use his magic but how to use any and every weapon in existence. He also excelled in all known forms of martial arts including Wuju. Not only was he a great fighter but he excelled in other forms of art, he could draw, he could paint, he could sculpt, he could sing and he could play any instrument including the etwahl. Noxus made the perfect being capable of doing almost anything.
Upon the stage, the velvet crimson curtains are closed. The bright lights of the room shine down on the audience. The room echoes with chatter of excitement, worry and fear. The white lights up above begin to dim, the sounds of the audience are hushed. The room is darkened and the heavy curtains are raised, the stage filled with shadow no light appears. A low deep note rings through the auditorium. The musical sound of a double bass fills the room, the tempo quickens and the spotlight shines upon him. His long shimmering dark blue cloak with speckles of green is stunning. He pulls back the hood of his cloak and begins to move around the empty stage, still playing his instrument. Arrows fly from the sides of the stage, he is able to dodge them with ease even with this heavy instrument. As he dances like a dream across the stage, the arrows flying by him he spins his instrument and it twirls away. From his pocket he pulls out a pan flute and begins to play, the arrows starting to glow and circles him magically. His flute morphs its shape to an etwahl, he plays nearing Sona's skill. With a pluck of a chord, the arrows turn to dust, the silent sound of the audience shows him their interest.
As he continues to play, a spell is cast, he is an enchanting scene. As the song comes to an end, his etwahl turns to wind, he lets his cloak fall towards the floor but it vanishes in smoke before it reaches its destination. He wears a skin tight long sleeved shirt that hugs his well muscled yet thin body. His shoulders bear the weight of metal armor tinged with blue that shines under the light of the stage. The orchestra begins to play as sandbags are thrown towards him from the sides of the stage. With no hesitation and perfect form, he throws punches and kicks that hit their target every time, sending each sandbag flying across the theatre as if they weighed nothing. His physique and charm catches every eye, they refuse to look away. The melody of the orchestra picks up and he begins to sing. An arrow is shot at him, he grabs it and with a wave of his hand and a well placed word, he creates a bow and sends the arrow flying back. The bow vanishes , a spear comes towards him. He catches it and throws it back. He demonstrates his ability to use several different weapons. His singing comes to an end, he raises fire behind him, douses it with water and holds electricity in his hands. Then his magic is silenced and he stands up tall. Looking all across the audience, seeing their expressions, he bows. The spotlight fades and the curtains fall. The performance comes to a close. The audience too stunned to applaud or make any sound at all.
The land is coated in thick smoke, grunts and groans, shouts and screams coming from all sides. Explosions in the distance. The taste of blood in your mouth. Your comrades are dropping like flies around you. Flashes of light and darkness fill the sky and horizon. Grief strikes your soul as you, a fighter, carry on. You have to keep going and leave your injured, dead and dying allies behind. The land is scattered with fire, lightning rains from the sky despite the lack of clouds. You are able to retreat and you rejoin the military back home. Of course this isn't the first time you've been surrounded by war and death, and it will certainly not be the last. They tell war stories about me, the monster. The being who can just kill and kill with no remorse. The soldier who seems to be born just to fight and destroy just to prove that I am alive. I have to go back, back to the war zone. Back to the battle, the fight for your life. I return, I'm there again, amongst corpses and rivers of blood. I am bleeding myself, I can feel the darkness coming, filling me. I'm losing the battle. The darkness , it's too hard to beat, it washes over me. I can't keep up the strength to push me forward. I see my allies..my friends leave me behind to die, alone, again.
I spring awake from the nightmare of one of my past lives. My magic has been filling the room with the force of imploding star. I take a breath and dissipate my magic. I get up from my bed and start my daily routine. Ready myself, eat a light meal then walk to the sparing room within Noxus. Then I fight with different Noxian champions, sometimes two at the same time. They do this to keep my fit, to keep me on my toes, keep me strong, flexible, adaptable. They do this to keep me perfect. Today wasn't any different, I fought Darius, then Katarina, Vladimir and Le'Blanc at the same time. Then training was over, and now they will use me to siphon gold from the other cities. They do this by making me accompany others, whether it be, champions, summoners, simple citizens. However I know if I gain any information from my "clients" Noxus will use this information against the other factions. To keep my clients safe, I have blindfolded myself, so their identities are kept secret and whatever they say can't be linked to any specific faction.
The people who come see me, pay quite a bit of gold, so they are allowed to do anything they wish to me within the time period they paid for. I have had people come in and ask about my past lives, ask me to perform for them, some have felt over my muscles , played with my hair, rest their bodies against mine and I have even had customers kiss me. Both men and women have come to see be, to share a moment with me. Although their identities are supposed to be a secret, I have figured out a few champions who have been in my paid company. Miss Fortune, Braum, Caitlyn, Soraka, Ekko, Vayne, Nami, Fiora, Ryze, Jhin, Karma, Zyra, Kindred, Lee Sin, Quinn, Lulu, Veigar, Riven, Shyvana, Sona, Elise, Taliya, Varus, Ahri, Vayne, Yasuo, to name a few, I was even visited by vel'koz once. I have talked to many whether it be by a physical means or a magical means. They usually talk about their life, feelings, or discuss battle tactics. I can tell some envy me, some admire me, some see as a rival, others see me as a friend. I give them what they want, I own the personality they want me to have. Sometimes we share a meal, or a drink, sometimes they wish to just lay besides me or stare at me as if i'm some kind of prize. I get annoyed having to do this so often.
I would leave Noxus but they have me under a "Blood Right" bond. I can't leave unless i'm dead, and if I die, I just get reincarnated again. And whatever faction i'm born in will do the same exact thing. They'll use me for their own gain. It always happens. I think back to the ritual I completed because I wanted eternal life. It was so long ago, thousands of years ago. I wanted glory, I wanted to be remembered, I never wanted to truly die. Back then I just wanted power and to be remembered forever. I wanted to reinvent myself , generation after generation, for all of eternity. I was so naive. This ritual was bold and took great precision to complete. It was also completely experimental but had immense potential. So I took the chance. And I regret it. I have watched my friends die and wither away. I wouldn't have even guessed that I would just turn into a weapon for others, to fight in their pitiful wars.
Days working for Noxus went by agonizingly slow, it was the same thing, day after day. Nothing changed, except after one day. After the last of my visitors came and left, I took my blindfold off and noticed an envelope sitting on top of the small bookcase in the corner of the room. Intrigued, I opened it. It was a letter saying how much she admires me, how she comes to every single one of my shows. Then it asked how I was doing. She specified me not to pretend like I usually do but to tell her the truth. That intrigued me, that someone saw through my act. The letter also requests that I write a note back and place it in an envelope on the bookshelf. This was, different so i decided to comply. This became a regular thing with this woman. She leaves a letter, I leave a letter. I've told her about my nightmares of my previous lives. She was very careful not to specify where she was from or what weapon she wielded. She was smart, i'd give her that. But she showed her concern for my nightmares. She seemed honestly interested in my previous lives and how I feel. She asked many question, never about Noxus (I thought maybe she was trying to get me to reveal secrets). There was one time Noxus came up in our conversation and that was when she asked me if I was happy there. Then she asked me if we could meet outside of the room. I said I didn't want to put her in danger. She seemed very upset or disappointed. I agreed but I told her I needed to create a potion that dulls my senses so I won't remember any identifying features of her, like her voice, what she looks like, or what she feels like. I decided to meet at night so there was a less likely chance we'd be seen.
I got to our meeting spot a bit early so I could have time to drink the potion without risk. I waited ten minutes for her to arrive. I felt a presence sit next to me. I can't remember what she sounded like. But I know that I liked the way she sounded. I couldn't see any details , she asked if she could look at my eyes. I could feel her staring into my eyes, and I'm not sure why I did this but I raised my hand to her cheek and caressed it. I can't remember what it felt like but I know she felt warm. I think she was blushing, maybe that's why her cheeks felt so warm to the touch. She told me that she really likes me, that others just like the way I feel but that she feels more. And for the first time in several lifetimes, I felt a feeling coming from my heart. It felt nice. We visited like this often along with exchanging letters. I only felt something when I was with her. I talked about my first life time, how I was. I talked about the Rune war. She would tell stories and she actually made me laugh. I haven't laughed in generations. I often complained about being a Noxian. How they would just use me for their gain. How even if I die, the next faction will do the same. I mentioned how my bosses often apologized to me but never do anything about it. It's like they had more important business to take care of . I felt like I was just a tool, is what I told her.
Soon I found myself thinking about her whenever we were apart. I would sometimes space out even if I was with a client. I don't know her real name so I've been calling her Ophelia because she has been helping me. I've been noticing a desire to see her, a desire to always stay by her side. She has to be the only person in this world that I care about, the only one who seems to actually understand me. Our meeting become the highlight of my day as weeks pressed on, it was the very thing I began to live for. In one of our sessions I whispered "Je T'aime" softly into her ear, I felt her shiver at the sound. She asked what language I just spoke, I chuckled softly and told her , if you live as long as I have then you learn things from other universes and dimensions. I took her hand and wrapped my arm around her waist. We began to dance under the moonlight, the sound of crickets chirp around us. The warmth of her body warming my own. Before I realized my actions I have cupped her face within my hands and planted a kiss upon her lips. She seemed surprised but not against it. I've never felt this way before, whenever a client would kiss me, it just felt like dull flesh against me. But her, she felt alive, the sensation was pleasurable. We spent the rest of the night exploring each other.
I was in a good mood the next day, I didn't have any nightmares for once. The day went by smoothly. And at the end of the day, after the fights, clients and performance, I got to spend time with Ophelia. I know I wasn't supposed to, and I know I was supposed to keep who she was away from me. But I was able to narrow it down to five female champions, Sona, Kindred, Soraka, Elise, and Shyvana. I know these girls are vastly different from each other but they were the only ones that even remotely fit. So I went to our meeting spot as usual. I sensed her nearing , I stood to give her a hug. Something was off though. She seemed, sad. I asked her what was wrong. She said she wanted to free me and that for the last few months she has been searching for a way to break the spell I had cast on myself thousands of years ago. She said she talked to a certain explorer, some ascended beings, some angels, some gods and finally the rune mage. She said she had both good news and bad news. Ophelia told me it was possible to break the spell and I never have to be reincarnated again but that I would have to pay many prices. I agreed in a heartbeat, anything to get me out of my prison and anything that would allow me to love her properly. I would have to die and allow myself to be trapped in between planes of existence. The process would be extremely painful, agonizing she said, worse than any suffering I had experienced before. But for her, anything.
She left me a note, more like a book filled with rules, lists of items, chants and spells. This fifty page book, all together creates the ritual that will allow my freedom. There were many, many items I had to find. Colored candles. Essential oils. Various herbs. Stones of many qualities, from simple graphite to expensive diamonds. Something from the different habitats of Valoran. That's only naming a few. I had to tattoo my entire body of very specific runes and symbols. There was a lot of setup to do for the procedure. It took days to properly put everything together. I drew alchemy circles on top of the roof of my home, then on the ground. I set up candles, placed the stones in specific places, scattered animal parts over the roof. Ophelia gave me a vial of her blood for the ceremony. I stood on a tall roof. I had to drink several elixirs that the book had me make beforehand. I had to pour different fragrant oils over my body, I stood at the edge of the roof. I had to get a potent poison, it'll kill me in ten seconds. I swallowed the blood of the one I love most. I needed to cut deep slits into my wrists, the blood moved upwards towards my neck. Soon I started feeling woozy from the blood loss. I down the poison, I could feel it burning my throat as it travels down my body. No more time left to live. I needed the fall to kill me before the poisoned did, and I needed to make sure I landed in the alchemy circles below. I stepped off the roof and fell. Then suddenly pain. Like my body was on fire, no not just fire like my flesh was being melted off my body using acid. My lungs burned as if filled with water. I could only see light that destroyed my eyes. I thought of her, her laugh, her smile, voice, touch, taste. The next thing I know is I saw a figure of a peacock. I remember this part of the book, bow to your spirit animal, dance with it, allow it to speak then agree to its terms. It'll fuse its essence to your soul. And you will remain at the edge of life and the horizon of death. You will be stuck there, but you will be free.
I open my eyes and see Ophelia above me. She had stolen my corpse just as the ritual said to. She soaked it in a bath of herbs, sea water and oils, all while chanting the spells. My body turned to dust leaving an imprint of my soul in the physical world. When I regained consciousness, Ophelia hugged me, I hugged back. I kissed her. I see her clearly in front of me and I fell in love even further, now that I can see the full extent of her beauty. I can still feel a burning within my soul but I can be with her and I can be free. To keep her safe, even though she can protect herself, I have joined her as a champion in the Institute of War. For once, I can fight for what I believe in and not what others force me to believe.