"Hah! Missed me!"
In the depths of an ancient Shuriman temple, two warriors face off against an army of Voidborn. The creatures are weak but persistent, a flood of bodies seeking to devour all in their path. Their battleground is a series of four small bridges, suspended over an infinite void by a few stone pillars each. The cathedral would have been grand in its heyday, but the high roof and deeper drops only serve to further hinder their movements.
And yet, neither is particularly worried.
Ezreal smirks as he fires another Mystic Shot, propelling a bundle of insects into the holes below. The blue jewel within his pockets hums with energy, and he takes a moment to toy with it as he flickers in and out of combat.
"Tear of the Goddess huh? You and me, we're going to be good-"
A Voidling soars right past his head, and the explorer quickly shoots it out of the air: before ducking from another aerial attack. The purple bug screeches as it falls, legs flailing uselessly.
"Woah, woah relax-" He taunts. "You guys really have to work on your aim, here's a few pointers-"
"Eyes on the enemy."
"Precision over power-"
"And remember kids," He says - juggling the priceless artifact in his free hand. "First strike wins!"
Another plethora of shots, and then Ezreal warps just out of reach - suspended over the abyss for a few seconds. He looks down, makes an exaggerated gasp, before warping back to another bridge. Sure, he could have shifted over to the bridges without stopping halfway over certain death- but what fun would that be?
He whistles casually as he takes another look at the Tear, listening to the hum of plasma-powered explosions behind him.
His temporary ally tore through the Voidborn by sheer might, a living rocket propelled by purple fire. Her plasma blasts are precise and careful, a stark contrast to his reckless firing of the gauntlet. Had he not been able to see her human face, beautiful in the way that a refurbished vintage sword was, Ezreal would have thought her to be one of them.
Another swarm of monsters rises from below. They make a beeline for his monstrous ally, and the girl barely dodges out of the way as the living river splashes on the wall. Seeing an opportunity to finish the fight with a bit of style, the Prodigy of Piltover readied his coup de grace.
"Eat this!"
The gauntlet of Ne'Zuk whirrs with power as he channels all of his energy into his ultimate move, an arcing wave of light that evaporates all of the remaining insects.
He yawns dramatically, kicking a pebble into the seemingly endless darkness below.
"No need to thank me, trust me I get it all the time."
"It's just another day's work for the Number One Explorer, Adventurer and Archeologist."
BOOM.
The entire chamber shakes as his self-proclaimed "Trueshot Barrage" impacts one of the walls. Ezreal goes pale at the first sign of trouble, but when nothing happens; he lets himself let out a sigh of relief.
"Never punished."
"So, you from around he-"
The ground shakes again. The Void warrior snaps to look at him, intentions unclear.
"Why did you do that?"
Somehow, Ezreal got the sense he had done something very very wrong. "What?"
"Do wha-"
He is interrupted by a constant low rumble, the entire temple shaking. It was like standing on one of those Piltovan mining rigs, except this time- he was the one on the ground and not safe at the top of the tower.
Both of them freeze in place as the shaking abates, and the half of the bridge beneath the mystery girl suddenly gives away.
Ezreal curses, before blinking forward and grabbing onto her outstretched arm with both hands. It takes all of his strength to not immediately roll forward with the added load. Arcane Shifting was out of the option, he could barely carry himself - much less another person.
"Woah! You're heavy!"
"Maybe consider lightening up on the calories will you-" He laughs at his own joke, disguising expertly the fact that his boots were skittering closer to the edge. "Or maybe, I don't know, actually do something before we-"
The girl scoffs, before her cannons turn backwards and flare to life. For a split second: they are flying. Ezreal foolishly thinks that they might make it out.
Then one of the cannons bursts with purple blood and carapace, sputtering pathetically in the air before going dark. The armor screams, a high-pitched shriek buried within the noise of falling rubble.
And just like that, they are falling.
"Oh fu-"
A firm hand grabs tightly onto his coat and another drags on the wall. The girl's claws dig into the stone walls, and she expertly uses her remaining cannon to slow their fall.
It's not enough.
As the ground approaches, Ezreal does some quick calculations in his head: and uses the last bit of energy in the tank to blink at an angle.
Both of them skid across the ground, and unlike his partner: Ezreal didn't have much in the way of armor to shield him. But years of parkour did not go to waste as he stuck the landing, managing to not get his skull caved in from hitting a rock on the way down. There's a slight pain in his right leg - but the explorer tactfully ignores it.
"Ugh. Remind me to get some better gear when I get back to Piltover."
Despite falling for nearly a billion miles, the girl's armor remained completely unscathed. Assessing his surroundings, which unfortunately consisted of debris and hallways covered in purple gunk, Ezreal realizes just how large the temple was. The structure was probably very unstable, and that last attack of his must have-
"Oh shit."
Looking up only deepens his anxiety. The temple went deep: climbing back up would be less than futile. Even worse, he couldn't use his Arcane Shift as a 'get out of jail free' card. Ezreal wasn't willing to risk teleporting a few meters off, and falling into one of the three other bottomless pits.
Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the girl rising: armor plating rustling and shifting to accommodate her movements. It fit tightly across her body,which he couldn't imagine being comfortable in the slightest. Whatever technology it used, he had never heard of it. Which was saying something, considering how Ezreal had at least heard about everything.
Well, no problem. At least he had what he came for in his back pocket.
Ezreal reaches in for it, only to feel nothing but fabric and a bit of lost sand.
"Crap."
"I dropped it upstairs."
Working in darkness was nothing new for her. Her armor had already begun to glow, and her eyes had adjusted to the dim light easily. With her adaptability, Kai'Sa had long assumed that nothing could surprise her after so long: but the hunteress had been proven wrong.
She had come into this temple expecting to purge another hive of 'Crawlers', but instead found an explorer trying to steal a blue rock. A human explorer in this part of Shurima was rare, much less one brazen enough to be in such a hostile place. Sure, there did end up being Crawlers at the temple- but Kai'Sa was more surprised about the fact that he didn't run when she gave him the chance to.
Still, she trusted him just as much as she trusted everyone else - which was not at all. His stupidity, after all, had gotten them both into this mess. Had it not been for that last unnecessary attack, Kai'Sa wouldn't be trapped down here.
"By the way," The explorer chimes in, his Piltoven accent strong. "Have you seen a small dark blue rock shaped like a teardrop and brimming with magical potential?"
"..."
"Well, guess I'll take that as a no, but it would be a real help if you kept on looking out for it."
"Now, I know what you're thinking- he's a thief! He must be!"
"I'm not offended- trust me I'm not."
"Counterpoint: finders keepers. And it's not technically grave robbing once a temple gets old enough, like really- what's the difference between robbing someone's house and robbing an old castle if not a bit of time, eh?"
Kai'Sa takes a second to give him an odd stare, removing her mask to do so. Was he really trying to make a joke in these circumstances? It wasn't a funny one either.
"Besides," Ezreal continues unhindered. "At least I'm going to put it to use, it's not like I'm going to send it off to some old musty museum so old geezers can gawk at it from behind a glass cube."
She didn't know what any of those words meant. Didn't care either.
"So, do you speak Piltovan?"
"..."
"No?"
"Well, no problemo, I speak most languages - dead and alive and whatever is in between."
"Heck, I even speak a bit of sign language- or sign sign language, but you get my drift."
The armored girl turns overhead, pale face illuminated by the living artillery on her shoulders. Kai'Sa mutters a few words to herself in her native tongue - noticing that it was a bit hoarse from the lack of use.
"I speak Shuriman."
Kai'Sa was hoping he'd stop talking now that she gave him an answer: but he didn't.
"Great! Name's Ezreal, you know, the number one Explorer, Adventurer and Archeologist!"
Kai'Sa brushes past him without another word, Ezreal looking utterly flustered at her coldness.
"Hey- hey wait up-"
Something touches her. Kai'Sa's remaining weapons bristle and activate at once: causing a flustered Ezreal to scramble backwards. She calms down, letting the plasma in her blood cool down.
"Don't touch."
"And stop. Talking."
She continues to move forward. Her symbiotic armor is oddly subdued, and instead of poking and prodding at her as it always did: the second skin was quiet. The enemy and the fall must have done a number on it, if the broken cannon was any indication.
Kai'Sa feels how dry her lips are, and makes for what she assumes is a pool of some kind. Her instincts were keen, and they hadn't been wrong yet. Ezreal speaks again, though his voice is a bit softer.
"Where are we going by the way?"
Suddenly, she hears something drop behind her. The girl immediately turns: weapons glowing and trained at the skittering of the stones beneath them.
Her new traveling companion is leaning on the walls, wincing. Kai'Sa notices how he leans on one of the hallway's walls, easing the pressure from one of his legs. The Daughter of the Void pieces things together: the fall from earlier, it must have hurt his softer body. She lowers her weapons.
"What are you doing?"
"Me?" He smiles, arm clutching at his leg. "I'm just relaxing, just give me a moment."
What an odd person; hiding his pain like that. That was why he was so talkative- dead men tended to blabber to distract themselves from the end. Part of her seethed at his weakness, slowing her down like that. But as much as she wanted to leave him, Kai'Sa saw something in his eyes that made her - hesitate. He was human, nothing more.
Besides, it was in her best interests to deny the remaining Voidborn a free meal.
"Let me help."
"Help?" He asks. "No, I don't need help- why would I need help?"
"Just like- a timeout. Yeah, five minutes."
"Go on. Shoo." Ezreal gestures. "I'll be with you in a second."
"..."
The boy briefly panics when she approaches, scrambling away in vain, but Kai'Sa has long gotten used to this sort of reaction. She ignores his panicked explanations and deflections, and without another word, Kai'Sa lifts him up within her arms.
The explorer takes a moment to inhale sharply, before fiddling with his strange metal glove and going quiet. With him in her arms, it was a bit harder to move: but Kai'Sa didn't want to spend time so close to any place the Void had touched. It made her parasite act up, tempting it with the promise of becoming whole again.
"What?" She asks, noticing his clear discomfort from how red his face was. "Is it me?"
"No, no it's nothing."
He originally wanted to tell everyone about his perilous quest for the Tear of the Goddess: but now the explorer would have liked nothing more than to bury that - and his head - in the sand.
The humiliation ended when he found he had a spare health potion tucked away in the inner lining of his jacket: intact thanks to the crush-proof glass he found on a trip to Zaun. One drink and the explorer finally had an excuse to get down.
The girl drops him.
"Yup, worked like a charm." He manages from the ground, stretching his healed leg. "I'm going to buy a cauldron's worth of this stuff when I get back. Maybe two."
Another frown. Looks like someone was in a bad mood. But in her defense, bridal carrying another person isn't easy on the arms.
The girl is every bit as cold as she was before, and it occurs to Ezreal that he hadn't asked her for her name. Up close, he notices her angular features: along with the fact that her black armor seemed to writhe and shift like it was alive.
"Why are you still here?"
"What?"
"You could have left. I gave you the chance." The girl looks up at the roof of the hallway, covered in dust and cracks. "But you stayed, and you follow."
"And you insist on speaking to me. Like we are friends."
"Why? Is this a trick?"
Truthfully, the explorer didn't really know why he did what he did- but it just felt wrong to leave another human all alone down here. Even if it wasn't the smart thing to do. Or the safe thing.
"I mean, what kind of gentleman wouldn't escort a damsel in distress through a perilous trap-filled ruin?"
His attempts at lightening the mood seems to have the exact opposite as he intended, the girl's frown growing slightly deeper. Looks like he'd have to bring out the big guns: honesty and the good ol' Ezreal charm.
"Look, I must look so suspicious right now-"
"But you seem to know your way around here; better than me."
The girl stops in her tracks, and the prodigy feels a shiver run up his spine at the way she stares at him.
"And what if I hurt you? Or killed you?"
"Nah, I don't think you would do that." He laughs nervously. Ezreal shifts to her left side, the one with the broken cannon.
"After all, if you wanted me dead you wouldn't have carried me back there."
"Right?"
She looked offended, her brows scrunched together in deep thought. Was it something he said?
"You want to be here?"
The explorer shrugs. "Why not? You seem nice enough."
It's impossible for him to read her face, considering how she seemed to have a single expression (a perpetual grimace). But somehow, Ezreal felt her tone get a bit softer than before.
"I see."
"What's your name by the way?"
The girl tilts her head, looking at him like he was speaking a foreign language. Ezreal makes a mental note to practice more of his Shuriman once he gets out of here. Her social awkwardness only makes him even more awkward.
"Kai'Sa."
"Ooh, fancy. I've never heard of that dialect of Shuriman before."
Another silence. Kai'Sa gives him one last unreadable look, before walking forwards. While Ezreal would have loved to take the time to go down every last hallway, perhaps to find some treasure or brave a trap or two, he knew now was not the time.
Because unless the purple insects turned into steaks, the two of them were going hungry.
"It is Icathian."
"Excuse me?"
"My name." Kai'Sa slows down by a bit, letting her glowing armor bathe the hallway in front of them in purple light. It was sloping upwards slightly, which was usually a good sign. "Icathian."
"Wait, Icathia? As in the lost city Icathia?"
"Yes."
Ezreal takes a second to process the information, nearly tripping over a rock in his fugue state. Thankfully, Kai'Sa didn't see that - the huntress' face obscured by that eerie helmet once again.
If Kai'Sa was indeed a living, breathing Icathian: that would change everything.
Not only would he basically become the most famous man in Piltover, but he'd also have evidence of a city that people didn't even know existed. Who knew what arcane secrets lay beneath that dark spot on the map?
Ezreal's imagination conjures up towering statues of old gods, libraries filled with ancient tomes and an endless slew of magical artifacts on par with the gauntlet.
Stop. Stop. Focus.
"Have you ever been there?"
Thanks to her mask sliding back over her face, Kai'Sa's voice is distorted. It's harsher than before, with a slight hiss at the end of every word. "No."
"Wait, wait then how did you know how to speak the language?"
"Icathia speaks to me."
"It calls to me every night, in my dreams. Talking to me. Asking me to come home."
The hallway is quiet, as the two walk. A crackle, then a splintered whisper. It was as if by saying it, Kai'Sa was afraid the city would hear her.
"It gets louder everyday."
"Uh, cool. But did you ever actually do that?"
"As in, come to the clearly dangerous, clearly evil lost city?"
"..."
He wasn't usually afraid of places like Icathia, after all what harm could a few rusted traps do in the face of Piltovan ingenuity?
But something about the way she spoke of it made Ezreal tremble in his boots.
If someone as relentless and powerful and dangerous as Kai'Sa feared that place, then whatever was there was definitely out of his league. Ezreal may have been full of himself, but he wasn't a fool.
Wherever his parents were, they probably weren't there.
At least, Ezreal hoped they weren't.
Eventually, they found water.
A small underground pool, a murky brown mirage that seemed to go down to infinity. Her instincts had been right yet again: now Kai'Sa could probably survive long enough for her second skin to heal and fly her out of this temple. Climbing was going to be her original plan, but that had its own risks: one bad fall and she would be left crippled in the midst of a Xer'Sai hive. Not worth the risk.
"Euch." Ezreal pokes at the surface of the water, flinching as it splashed onto him. "This stuff looks dirtier than a public bathroom in Zaun."
"On a side note, I'm 20 percent sure that there's a giant slime monster in the sewers. I've never seen it, but when sewage pipes tend to burst and half the city knows not to go near drainage pipes after rainstorms, you know something is up."
"You sure this water isn't alive?"
Again, he rambles on of cities far from the desert. Kai'Sa feels a twinge of nostalgia, remembering her father and his own tales of such places. It was hard for her to imagine that anything outside of the deserts of Shurima and the horrors of the Void existed.
The Daughter of the Void kneels, and her second skin grumbles as it comes into contact with the water. While Kai'Sa resented the creature that had ruined her life, she did have to admit it had its uses.
"Wait, what are you doing-"
When she raises her hand again, the water is clear and clean: filtered thanks to the ingenuity of the alien armor. The girl brings it to her lips. Cold and refreshing. Kai'Sa notices Ezreal looking at her, mouth agape and eyes widened in shock.
"My suit purifies water."
"Oh. Oh right, yeah." The boy says with a facepalm. "I knew that the whole time."
"..."
"I don't need that hand water of yours by the way." He says, with a smug grin. "Because I knew you were totally going to offer me some."
"I'll just take some on my own."
Bringing out the glass vial, the explorer dips it into the water- recoiling at the stench. Kai'Sa cannot help but be amused. So big was this explorer's pride that he would rather poison himself than accept her help.
"Yum. Can't wait to find what diseases this contains."
"Give it here." She says with a sigh, sticking out her hand to emphasize he had no choice in the matter. Reluctantly, Ezreal hands it over.
Dipping her finger, Kai'Sa concentrates: and her skin does the work for her. The water gradually becomes clear, the obliterating power of the Void erasing all impurities. Ezreal sighs as he retakes his vial, but downs it all in one go.
"Damn that's-" He pauses, wiping his mouth. Clearly, the explorer was more than a little embarrassed. "I owe you one."
"Thanks."
She doesn't know how long it had been since she heard that word.
Both of them sit on opposite sides of the room, Kai'Sa leaving one hand immersed in the water so her suit could have its own drink. Her mind wanders as she savors her well-deserved moment of peace, because Ezreal had stopped spouting his endless well of nonsense.
Something about the whole situation with him bothers her.
Kai'Sa didn't need anyone else. She hunted, wandered and rested. That was all there was to her life. People were temporary, friendships were temporary.
Ezreal was just like the others: even if he did seem a tad more courageous than the rest for just being near her. He would leave her in the end, and she would be alone again. Kai'Sa knew that. She accepted that.
So why did it feel so nice to have someone with her?
The girl curls unto herself, head resting within her body. She scrutinized every bit of the boy's face, trying to call his bluff. Ezreal should have been just like most Piltovans who came here, the kind of people to treat others as mere resources to use.
But Kai'Sa's instincts are telling her that his emotions are genuine. No repulsion, no fear or ulterior motives. All he had towards her was empathy - how naive. If their roles were switched, she would be more than wary.
"You good back there?" He suddenly pipes up, looking concerned.
"Look, correct me if I'm wrong but-"
"You look upset. Like more upset than usual."
"No. I am not."
"Are you hungry? I have some food in my-"
Ezreal reaches for something behind him- air. He slaps his palm on his forehead.
"Nevermind. Left it upstairs."
"I swear, when I get up there I am strapping everything I have on myself with chains. Maybe I can even swing them around to attack people."
Another pause. The explorer mutters something to himself in Piltovan, a clever way to avoid her keen senses, before starting up another conversation.
"What are those markings? Is it an Icathia thing?"
The question confuses her, and the explorer is quick to pick up on it.
"The purple streaks. Two on forehead, four on your cheeks."
"I have never seen."
On most hunts, she wore her mask: and Shurima wasn't exactly known for its clean lakes and rivers. Kai'Sa couldn't even remember the last time she saw her own face.
"Really? Next thing you're gonna tell me is that you've never showered."
Not even Ezreal's endearing half smile can make his humor any better.
"Seriously? Have you even looked at a mirror?"
"You do know what a mirror is, right?"
Kai'Sa gives him the coldest look that she can muster. Ezreal broke eye contact in an instant, focusing instead on brushing his dirty gloves on the side of his coat.
"Mirrors aren't important anyway." He chuckles dryly. "Even I can't stand looking at myself sometimes, makes me feel vain and icky."
"And I wasn't calling you ugly or anything. By the way."
"You're not ugly."
Was he implying that he wasn't repulsed by her? That couldn't be. Kai'Sa responds by breaking his gaze, going dead silent as she mulls over the explorer's words.
"Well, alright then." Ezreal grunts, rising to his feet. The explorer stretches dramatically, eyeing the other side of the pool. "I'm going to check out what's over there."
He disappears, leaving a shimmering cloud of golden energy. Kai'Sa slumps backwards onto the wall, the flesh of her suit making for a comfortable cushioning.
Moments pass.
In the distance, she could see her travelling companion rustling about. Kai'Sa runs her hand through the pool- letting the ripples trudge across it's surface.
Her second skin, for all its power, was not perfect. She could barely feel anything below her neck, even with her second skin providing her with indirect stimuli. Anything more than that would require her to remove the Void parasite.
Sometimes, Kai'Sa thought about what she had lost. If she couldn't feel the heat of the sun or the cold of the night or the chill of the wind, was she still even human?
She looks to the side, noticing a small shard of glass. Though faint, Kai'Sa can make out her face in its reflection. The marks were right where he said they were.
"Finally, some good luck!"
Ezreal whoops with joy from a ways away, and he warps back to her with a charming smile across his face. Her dour mood had not done anything to stifle his ruthless enthusiasm. The blond points at something in the distance, laughing and wheezing at the same time.
"Stairs. Going up." Ezreal pumps a fist up into the air. "We're going home baby!"
"And we don't even have to risk our lives that much!"
Only when he smiles widely, does Kai'Sa notice the two streaks of blue on either side of his face - flickering like that of the Void monsters she so often fought.
She touches her soft cheek, two fingers moving inadvertently tracing over her own facial lines. Did she still look like that? Like him?
Like a hungry Sandswimmer, the explorer notices her pause: and seizes his chance.
"What? Like what you see?" He dramatically smooches in the air. "I get that alot. By the way."
"As if."
"Hah, how would you-" Ezreal stops mid-rebut, round eyes wider than usual. "Wait- wait are you smiling?!"
The grinning Kai'Sa ignores him, pushing past him with a gentle nudge. Ezreal was flustered and did a damn poor job of hiding how red his face was. She doesn't know why, but her mood had suddenly improved tenfold.
"I didn't know you could do that!"
"Ah crap."
The two of them had been walking for hours, and no amount of stories about Runeterra could make things move any faster. Ezreal had almost run out in fact, something he assumed to be impossible.
"You ever get that feeling like everything is going a bit too well?"
Surprisingly, Kai'sa doesn't respond with dead silence.
"Yes."
"Oh wow- that's dark."
"Well, have a little hope." Ezreal shifts over a hole in the stairs. "You never know when things might just work out on their own. Life goes up, you know what I mean?"
"My enemy is eternal and all-consuming. The Void will destroy all if I do not stop it, and even if I did- I would still be just another monster for humanity to kill."
"What is there to hope for?"
At such utter bleak desolation, Ezreal is left stunned.
"World peace? Eternal fame and glory? True love's kiss?" He tries. "Actually, on second thought, you're more of a 'love is dead' kind of person aren't you?"
"Love? Dead?"
"It's a metaphor."
"Point is, you shouldn't be so hopeless all the time." Ezreal shifts over a hole in the ground. "You're not totally screwed, after the Void dies or whatever- people will see you as a hero."
"I mean, I think you're pretty cool- doesn't that count?"
The girl looked like she had more to say, but she held her tongue.
Their path takes them across many rooms, most of which are either empty or filled with sand. While Ezreal would have spent hours digging through each one, because his explorer senses were going haywire, he just wanted to go back to his apartment in Piltover.
The terrain abruptly changes, going from sandstone and rock to a weird black material. Kai'Sa tenses when they pass through, keeping an eye on the many branching tunnels around them.
"Is this the hive?" Ezreal asks, readying the gauntlet on his left hand.
"Part of it. Be careful."
They come upon a large chasm, a dozen or so stone pillars providing them with a possible way of crossing. Ezreal notices how irregular the walls of the canyon are- like a giant took their hand and scooped up the gunk around them.
"Race you?"
Kai'Sa is tense, but manages a slight nod.
She takes a brief second to analyze the route forward: before taking off. Ezreal marvels at the way she moves, graceful and elegant yet precise. Her feet barely touch the pillars- and even when they do, only the barest of dust is kicked off before Kai'Sa is already onto the next one.
Ezreal waits for her to reach the other end, before effortlessly blinking across. As the yellow particles from his Arcane Shift fade, he notices a slight frown on the girl's face when she lands.
"What? Sore loser?"
An eye roll. "Hmph."
They continue.
"What's this stuff by the way?" Ezreal nods towards the glowing purple dripping from the walls, eerily similar to the projectiles that Kai'Sa used in battle. "Is it edible?"
Suddenly, a hand slaps his own out of the air. The explorer retracts, noticing he had stepped far closer than he realized.
"Point taken." Ezreal rubs his hand, casting one last look at the hive before continuing their trek upwards.
Both sigh in relief when the hive material is once more replaced by sandstone, and now Ezreal can make out the faint distant hum of wind.
They were so close.
Upon turning a corner, the room finally opens up: revealing the same vast antechamber that Ezreal had first entered through so long ago. There was the hole he had made with his Trueshot Barrage, a bunch of rubble scattered across the ground, and even the collapsed bridge that had sent him and Kai'Sa tumbling into the abyss. Somehow, the altar at the center of the cathedral sits unscathed: ignorant of the devastation around it.
A flash of blue. Ezreal could recognize that color anywhere.
"Oh! It's the Tear-"
In his excitement, Ezreal blinks away from Kai'Sa: reaching for the Tear of the Goddess greedily.
The altar moves upward.
"What the-"
A pair of biting jaws snaps in the air just as he snatches the Tear of the Goddess, and Ezreal shouts as a gargantuan armored beast lunges for him. He blinks away, the beast careening over and wedging itself between him and a fully armored Kai'Sa.
"Xer'Sai!" She warns, firing off a barrage of purple missiles. They bounce off the monster's armored hide, and the beast roars in anger.
Before he can react, both combatants are in motion. The Xer'Sai's lunges forward, but Kai'Sa is faster. She ducks beneath and fires at its belly, which had did just as much as a raindrop did to a rock.
"It's blind!" Ezreal notices, firing his own Mystic Shots to no avail. "Don't make any noise-"
Both stop moving. The Xer'Sai growls as it loses track of its enemies, chittering and humming. The beast's tail slams onto the ground: but both warriors remain as still as possible. The bridge shakes. Ezreal notices a flash of blue- the Tear of the Goddess teetering from the bridge's edge. It was going to fall. His blue eyes widen with greed.
He blinks forward, ducking for the crystal just before it slides into the abyss. Ezreal feels the air shift at that exact moment, something large leaping for his exposed back with a terrifying roar.
He sees every fleck of drool on the sharp teeth of the Xer'Sai. Ezreal's ears ring as he channels an Arcane Shift, the Xer'Sai's roar deafening from so close. Time slows down as it closes the gap, themonster's claws inches away from his throat.
A black blur impacts the monster, her armored arm caught in between its jaws. Kai'Sa says something to him- but he can't hear her over the hammering of his she fires ineffective plasma shots into its armor with her single cannon, the monster bites down.
Bone crunches.
A glimpse of red splattered across black armor.
A scream, painfully human.
Emotions welled up inside of him as the Xer'Sai released its hold, sending the girl crashing into the altar like a limp toy. Ezreal's fists clench until they turn blue, and he shouts at the creatures. It turns to him, unable to see the brilliant glowing of his eyes and hands. The gauntlet listens to his emotions, to his heart. String pulled taut. Heat welling from his cheeks.
No flashy moves.
No dumb catchphrases.
The Trueshot Barrage is a radiant blue, a knife made out of energy and emotion. The vertical arc bisects the creature into two halves, before a flurry of furious bolts turns its corpse into a visceral cloud. Ezreal falls to one knee, energy spent, but he runs to her anyway.
Kai'Sa is not the cold stoic girl he had found all those hours ago. She is breathing shallow breaths, weakly holding onto her injured arm. The mask's expression is far too calm for someone losing that amount of blood.
"Holy shit, shit shit." Ezreal blinks ahead, kneeling down. "Fuck, are you alright?"
"What am I saying? You're arm is fucking ruined- you're so not alright."
"You're going into shock, I- I might be able to help but-"
Her mask disappears, revealing a starkly beautiful face frozen in a gasp. Ezreal chokes on his words. He needed to be calm. He needed to be calm. A sharp inhale.
"Wait- bag!"
The Tear of the Goddess in his pocket feels far too heavy as he blinks over to his bag- right where he left it. He digs into it like a madman, pulling out a handful of potions and even more medical equipment.
Ezreal doesn't even notice the sunlight from the tunnel he had entered from, painting it orange with the color of a sunset.
The Daughter of the Void awakens with a slight itch in her arm. That was unusual.
Memories flood into her drowsy mind. Kai'Sa gasps, her mask silently locking over her face. Her breaths become calmer as she scans her surroundings, not sensing any enemies or danger. Already, her second skin was adapting: becoming harder and stronger than before.
Testing her limits, Kai'Sa flexes her right arm, wincing as pain runs up her shoulder. She looks to see an already shrinking gap within her second skin: noticing brown cloth bandages wrapped around her arm.
Had she passed out?
Crap. How much time had she lost?
"Where is it?" Someone whispers, vague and hazy."Where-where-where-"
She coughs. Ezreal immediately looks up from the pile, and his weary eyes turn to her in shock. He messily stands up, and Kai'Sa notices a pair of sandwiches in his hands. Both of them were wrapped in a transparent film, which brightened the vegetables and meats contained between the bread. Kai'Sa tries to sit up, but she puts a bit too much weight on her injured arm.
"Easy there."
Reluctantly, the Daughter of the Void slides back into her seat. She didn't like feeling helpless, removing her mask to sigh in the cold desert air. A pop, and then Ezreal is a bit closer- offering her sandwich.
"No. Later."
He is insistent. Kai'Sa rolls her eyes, taking the food from him. Ezreal backs away cautiously, sitting nearby as she takes a first bite. It is better than anything the desert had to offer.
"You are ok right?" He asks, a blend between a whisper and a gasp. "Right?"
"I am."
Kai'Sa grunts as she is pulled into a hug, the warmth seeping through her armor. After a moment, the blonde realizes that he had lingered for too long: awkwardly disengaging.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I- you said no touching, and I touched and-"
She raises her free hand. Even then, Ezreal mutters an unnecessary apology- coughing into his hand. To his credit, the explorer made for a good hugger.
"I am so, so sorry." He brings out the blue gem from a socket within his gauntlet, the same one he had risked his life for. "I wouldn't have traded your life just for this fucking blue rock."
"It's fine."
"No. No, that was stupid of me." Ezreal's gaze hardens. "I won't let this ever happen again. You have my word."
A moment of tension. His genuine concern for her well-being makes Kai'Sa feel something strange.
"What's that hard bump in your chest by the way?"
"What do you mean?"
"I felt something small and a bit hard." The explorer rubs the general area on his own chest. "Beneath the armor."
There was no avoiding it now. The girl commands the Void scales across her chest to shift away temporarily. Ezreal's eyes abruptly lock onto the campfire. Realizing her mistake, the Daughter of the Void turns to the side: showing her back to him as she pulls out a hidden necklace. Made out of frayed rope fibers, it held the only thing she had left of home.
An intricately carved wooden hilt, the blade broken at the base. The explorer looked a tad disappointed, but he still bore a polite smile.
"It is a hilt. From a knife."
"Yeah, I got that the first time but like-"
"Why are you carrying it around?" His eyes glitter with a brief curiosity at the idea of a new artifact. "Is it magical? Spiritual? Some kind of Icathian jewelry?"l
"It was from my father."
"Cool, how is he by the way? I might know him, seeing as I know - literally everyone."
Kai'Sa tries to remember his name, but none comes. She had always called him Baba, or Father. The gap in her memory makes the girl wither a little bit more.
"He was a merchant. Travelled a lot."
"My mother worried about him, but he always came back home."
Her intuition is keen, but Kai'Sa does not need it to see the discomfort suddenly flicker along Ezreal's expression. His voice is painfully genuine, lacking the usual spunk and humor that it usually carried.
"Was? As in past-tense?"
"I- What happened? Is he-"
She cuts him off. "I do not want to discuss that."
Ezreal, despite himself, does not press forward. The explorer simply resigns to sitting in silence, while Kai'Sa fiddles with the hilt between her fingers.
Memories were painful, even more so than any Void monster's bites and claws. Not even her second skin could endure that kind of attack.
Memories of how, when it was just her and her mother, she would wait every day at the gate of their small village: watching the caravans for the familiar shadow of her father. And every time he did arrive, bearing gifts and stories of distant lands, she would be the first to greet him home: hugging him and wishing to never let go.
Of how, for the first few hours of the end, Kai'Sa had begged for her father to save her. Even when the others began to die, voices disappearing one by one, she had still held out for him.
Sometimes, Kai'Sa thinks about what he would say to her, if they ever met in this life. Would he recognize her? Remember her?
Or would he scream at her, call her a monster like everyone else did. Hate her for surviving, for being alive. Hate her for being a twisted version of his daughter Kaisa.
"Kai'Sa?"
Ezreal's voice shakes her out of her reverie, and the girl notices a blur in her vision. Wiping away her tears, the girl takes a deep breath: the suit silently berating her for how she was leaking precious moisture.
"I was thinking."
"I am ok."
Another silence, but this time- the Daughter of the Void finds it to be itchy.
Painful, and not any bit as comforting as it usually was.
Ezreal had fucked up many, many times. This felt the worst. The prodigy takes a deep breath, looking at the that second, Ezreal noticed something about Kai'Sa he hadn't before.
She was his age.
Kai'Sa had been fighting the Void for what must have been years, and if her hilt was to be believed- she had paid the price for it too. How much had she lost? How much would she lose? Ezreal had seen soldiers, old grizzled men who had fought in wars. Kai'Sa reminded him of them, especially with her pained sorrowful eyes. Eyes too old to belong on a young man or woman.
"Can you tell- a story?"
"Sorry?"
Kai'Sa looked up at him: her stone-face melting into a look between a scowl and a frown. Despite that, Ezreal noticed her desperation. Despite her armor, she was but a young woman who had her whole life robbed away-
Condemned to a fate arguably worse than death; an eternity of solitude and violence.
As if she knew what he was thinking, the girl slumps forward and curls into herself. Ezreal noticed she did that whenever she got upset.
"A story? I thought you hated them?"
"..."
"Well- I have a few. From my parents that is."
"I remember when my old man came home with this huge piece of iron, about this big-" He holds his hands apart, spanning his shoulder's width. "Straight from the heartland of Demacia."
"Said it was part of a huge lance that belonged to a retainer who served Jarvan the Second, which by the way - ruled that part of the continent a very, very long time ago."
And then Ezreal went on, talking about a bunch more things and places that Kai'Sa did not know or care about. He knew what she wanted, a means of forgetting the past even for a moment, and he provided.
He moved from the verdant green plains and townships of the Demacia countryside, all the way to the imposing dark cathedrals of Noxus Prime and the towering glass skyscrapers in Piltover.
The endless winters of the Frejlord in particular seemed to make Kai'Sa light up ever so slightly, especially when he spoke of snow-capped mountains and rivers a deeper blue as the Tear of the Goddess.
When the topic of far-off places runs out, Ezreal rambled on: describing how his parents had ventured to to the haunted ruins of the Blessed Isles in search of a powerful sword. About how they had ventured into the humid jungles of Ixtal, encountering a towering white-haired beast man on an endless hunt. Or about how they hunted for the elusive Shruiman Armordillo; returning to Piltover with only a single blurry photograph.
The explorer cannot help but laugh when he gets to the part in Bilgewater, where his father had spoken at length about diving to find the trident of some long-gone Demigod within its shores: only to return with a rusted pitchfork instead.
But eventually - the prodigy stops. Ezreal looks down at the gauntlet of Ne'Zuk, clenching and unclenching his of them are tense. The campfire flickers as the wind howls, and both pairs of eyes dart to the entrance as something shifts outside.
"My father." Kai'Sa speaks softly, as if to not alert some unseen predator. "And mother died."
"The Void attacked our village. I am the only one left."
Kai'Sa looks up at him, as if expecting him to leave or to react or to do something.
"Kai, I-I'm so sorry."
Silence.
"But I know how you feel. If that's any consolation."
"My parents. Never came back from one of their little trips."
"Sure it's been years, but they're out there- somewhere."
Deep down, Ezreal knew that wasn't true. But he can't bring himself to believe it. Kai'Sa wasn't dumb, she probably knew how stupid he was right now: how immature. It had been years. He had to move on.
But he couldn't.
"Everyone says they're dead." Ezreal's hands ball into fists, shaking with indigence and determination."But they don't get it, they don't."
"They don't know who they're talking about."
"The two greatest explorers of our time just keeling over to some random trap in a dusty temple?"
"Don't make me laugh."
"I'm going to find them, even if I have to spend my whole life doing it. No matter where they are-"
"I'm bringing them both home."
After insisting for the dozenth time to Ezreal that her arm had already healed, even lightly punching him in the shoulder to prove it, the explorer was content enough to let her go outside.
Kai'Sa inhales the desert air, fresh and cold. She feels the wind blow about her black hair, flickering behind her. How she missed Shurima.
"Whooo yeah!"
Right. Ezreal.
"We're free!" He leaps around the sand dunes, rapidly stretching and feeling the sand beneath with his hands. Taking a moment to compose himself, Ezreal looks to the horizon: and both notice what looks like an oncoming caravan.
"And right on time too, fate is finally on our side Kai-"
"This is it."
The moment she was dreading had come. The night sky suddenly felt a lot larger, darker. Kai'Sa knew that they were going to part ways eventually- but deep down she didn't want the moment to ever come. Then again, when had life ever given her anything she wanted?
"What? What do you mean 'it'?"
Ezreal falters. It hurts her to see him so anxious. The explorer takes another look at the encroaching caravan, torchlight dancing on the sand. He was probably too naive to see it, which made the process of separation fall to Kai'Sa herself.
"You are free. Go home."
"Home? To Piltover?" He says incredulously. "Now, hold on-"
Kai'Sa interrupts him. The longer he went on, the harder it would be for her to let him go. "Listen to me."
"The war against Void is mine and mine alone. You will be in danger if you stay."
"You're foolish, inexperienced and the whole reason we got into this mess."
"I cannot let you join me."
He looks downward, the orange line snaking closer and closer to their path. If Ezreal was any bit dissuaded or hurt by her words, he didn't show it.
"I- I don't-" He sighs. "Fine. I get it."
"Best of luck in finding your parents." Kai'Sa's smile is unconvincing at best, her lips trembling with repressed emotion. "Ezreal."
His name. It was the first time she had ever said it to him. It leaves a bittersweet taste. The explorer looks at Kai'Sa one last time, one last time she could ever see that surprised look on his round face, before disappearing with a pop and a flash of yellow.
Silence.
Kai'Sa sighs. He couldn't come with her anyways. She was a monster, he was human. Ezreal had a goal, a dream, an ambition. She had none left to live for.
Taking a deep breath, Kai'Sa lets her living armor ready itself. She needed to find out why a Xer'Sai had roamed so far from their usual range within the south, and that meant following the tunnel it dug to the temple. She can vaguely sense it, so her time above-ground would be short at best. Kai'Sa dreads having to go back down there, but it is her duty after-
POP!
"Miss me already?"
It takes all of her power to reduce her surprise to a muffled squeak and a flinch.
Ezreal wears a smug smile on his face, tauntingly leaning in. Kai'Sa flushes red with color, her mask covering up her widened eyes. The explorer saddles his new backpack, heavy with supplies. The Tear of the Goddess glows as it charges his gauntlet.
"You are back?"
"Like I'd ever let you go off hunting on your own." He laughs. "Mundo's orders are for me to remain here to make sure you don't break it again."
"Mundo?"
"Some Zaun boogeyman meant to scare bad children, an evil doctor who eats kids yadda yadda. Probably not real, I might add."
"But that's not important."
Her heart flutters. Who knew she could miss those stupid meaningless stories?
"But your parents-"
"Parents?" He shrugs. "They have to be somewhere around Shurima, so I am still technically looking for them. It's a classic win-win situation."
Kai'Sa is quiet. She did not expect things to turn out this way.
"Kai'Sa." The explorer sighs, holding onto her hand. Her armor retracts so she can feel his warmth. "You don't need to do all of this alone."
"Let me help you."
"..."
"Is that a-"
"Fine."
"Great! You won't regret having the Number One-"
"Explorer and Adventurer?" Already, a rare flicker of excitement creeps onto her face. Ezreal cockily huffs when she misses one of his dumb titles.
"Remember. We are partners, nothing more. This arrangement is temporary."
"Riggght." Ezreal winks knowingly - a brilliant desert sunrise to her crescent moon.
"Temporary."