Several days had passed since the raid. Oberon and his sister, Calla, were in deep emotional pain from the loss of their parents. An Ionian warrior was at the scene and told Oberon and Calla that the men who killed their parents were a from a group of local barbarians that plundered and raped. The past few days Oberon mustered what little money he had and arranged a funeral for his parents. The funeral was dreadful, he bought a two-person casket and put them in together while holding hands. Normally the Ionian guard would have taken Oberon under the question about killing those two men but every sign showed it was self-protection for him and his sister. Calla was scarred in a way no person should ever be, her near-rape experience traumatized her. Whenever any man tried to talk to her she would avoid them or shell herself in from anyone besides her brother.
Oberon hadn't been to training since the night of the raid. Now he was several days later on the long path to Master Tebols to explain to him what happened and why didn't think he could go to Demacia to train. Once he arrived at the time he stood at the end and waited for Tebol to show up. With a somewhat loud clap, he heard his master's shoes hitting the marble floor as he came near. Once Tebol was stood still he looked down at his pupil.
"Master I am s-" Oberon began to say but was cut off from Tebol.
"Don't be sorry for missing your training, I heard full well of what happened," Tebol said, he was looking over his pupil, he could see the sadness and the sleepless days wearing down on the boy.
"I think I need to stop my training… I don't think I can go to Demacia like you asked. My sister is struggling emotionally with the incident and she needs me now more than ever, I also need to get a job to pay for food." He said, looking back into his master's eyes.
"How old is your sister?" Tebol asked with a stern look on his face.
"Eighteen." Oberon was questioning the motives of his Master with a slight frown.
"She must know the importance of the role you play in this world. Also if she is eighteen she can get a job and support herself." Master Tebol was clearly trying his best to change the man's train of thought. Oberon looked at his Master in the eye and thought over it for a second. He knew it wouldn't work, his sister was training to be a healer and the magic academy and with her learning full time she could never pick up a job. "Listen, Oberon, you need to go train with the Grand Master At Arms. If you sister needs a place to stay she can stay here at the temple." Now that sounded way better to Oberon.
"I would have to talk to Calla and see if she is alright with it if she isn't I have to stay though." Tebol nodded in agreement and walked back to his temple. Oberon sighed and sat down on the dirt ground, he needed time to think. A couple of hours of practicing his fighting technique, Oberon decided to head home and talk to Calla. Once he arrived home from the run and walked inside the house and immediately shuttered. The memories of coming home to his parent's death flashed inside his mind, a view of blood all over the room flicked in his eyesight. He shook his head out of it, using the best of his will to push his sadness out for later. He walked up the creaky wooden steps into his sister's bedroom who was, of course, reading a spell book. She shook a little bit at the sight of the door opener then relaxed right away as she saw it was her brother.
"Where were you, Oberon?" She asked with wide eyes, he could tell she was worried something went wrong.
"I went to Master Tebols today, he planned a trip for me to go to Demacia and train with a man named Jax." The fear of being left alone showed in Calla's eyes.
"What about me?" She croaked lightly out of her throat.
"Master Tebol offered you to stay at his temple until I got back from training, I don't know how long the training will be but you can live there and continue your training at the magic academy. If you really want me to stay I will most definitely but you understand what this tattoo means right?" Oberon asked he was sitting down at the end of Calla's bed pointing at the tattoo on his lower wrist.
"Yes…" she nodded. "Oberon if you continue this path and you decide to fight the void someday you might not make it. Are you sure you want too?"
"I'm the only one who can fight it, people don't even know who I am and are still clinging onto the hope that someday the Gladiator God will come and it's my duty to make sure it does, even if it means my life." His eyes flickered up from his tattoo on his sister's face. He could tell she understood the situation well, she didn't want to be left alone and he understood that well, but it was much bigger than what they wanted.
"I will be fine if you go, I just want my brother to be safe and return home." She said, the sadness clear on her face.
"I can't promise you I will make it back at all, but I can promise you I will try as hard as I can," Oberon said with certainty.
"Well… when do you leave?" To his surprise, she settled down and looked back at her book.
"I uh, am not sure, I'll figure that out later. Are you sure you are alright with this?" He figured she would be extremely unhappy and make him want to stay home.
"No I am not at all, but like you said it's bigger than what we want. Just remember 'Gladiator God,' you have a sister who will worry about you to be safe." She said putting the book down once again. Oberon nodded, he didn't know how he felt about traveling around the world to Demacia. "Go figure out when you leave, then when you get back we can pack clothes for you and me since I am moving. Actually, I'll come with so I can meet Master Tebol." She got out of the bed and stretched, then started walking downstairs.
The walk to the temple was long, just because Oberon normally ran the route but nonetheless, he enjoyed it. He hadn't talked to his sister in forever. "Say Oberon I never understood something about you." She said as they walked over some branches that spilled on the path.
"Hmm?"
"Why haven't you ever had a girlfriend? Or at least tried to ask one out?" She asked with a questioning tone. The question kind of struck Oberon in the face, never had he and his sister talked about that kind of stuff.
"I thought about it when I was in my last year of school but training was always in the way, so I felt that if I did ask a girl out it wouldn't last. Also, Master Tebol said it could distract my training, so that's why." He said as they kept walking.
"Well, that's bullshit." She stated with a frown. "Don't you think that you should have someone to be with? You are not a brute. Also with the way you have changed over the years with your muscles, any girl would fall for you." She slapped him on shoulder joking around. He smiled a light blush, never had they ever spoke of such around each other.
"You know, he actually told me the other day that it's time I should actually have a personal life," Oberon said looking down at his sister.
"Well, I'm glad you have your "Masters Approval." She said while rolling her eyes. They both let out a laugh that neither she nor he had heard in days. They finally arrived at the temple were Tebol was standing outside with some students, he was teaching them the basics that Oberon had been taught but yet they were not being beaten the shit out of. Oberon and Calla stood on the outside watching his train the students.
"Are we going to go talk to him?" Calla asked impatiently.
"Calla can't you see he's in a training session, he hates it when people bother him," Oberon exclaimed, trying to keep his sister's loudness down. She frowned lightly and nodded, patience was definitely not her strong suit. Tebol finished the training then walked over to Calla and Oberon.
"I would assume this is your sister, Oberon?" He asked with a slight smile. Oberon nodded. Tebol held out his hand and Calla returned the handshake with a smile. Calla had been avoiding men a lot ever since the incident but she seemed alright with Tebol. "Nice to meet you, Calla, I am Soriya Tebol, but please just call me Tebol." He then turned to Oberon, all traces of a welcoming smile disappeared and it was all business. "Oberon I would assume you plan on traveling to Demacia then?"
"I believe so. My sister needs a place to stay while I go off to train and you said she could stay here correct?" Oberon asked calmly.
"Of course! I'll have Nebula show you the available rooms inside the temple if you would like?" Tebol switched back to Calla, making sure she was fine with it. She nodded then Tebol shouted for Nebula to come assist her, once Calla and Nebula left to the inside of the temple Oberon felt the serious glare of Tebol on him once again. "Oberon there are two times for you to leave on the boat to Demacia, either early tomorrow or next week. What would work best for you? The sooner you can get to Demacia the sooner your training starts." Oberon thought for a moment then knew his answer.
"I can go tomorrow, I just need to get my stuff and say goodbye to Calla. What time do I leave and how long is the trip?"
"I'm not sure on how long the trip is." He said while stroking his beard. "I do know though that you leave around 4 am tomorrow, a friend of mine is bringing you down to the ferry boat which is about a 3-hour ride on horseback but I don't have any idea how long the sea trip will take, days at least."
Over the course of the evening, Oberon and Calla went back to their house, packed and came back to the temple for the night.
"I can't believe you ran that path every day," Calla said as they walked up to the temple. "My legs hurt just from walking it."
"It took some getting used to at the start, but once I was in my second month of training it I got used to it." They walked up the temple floors and into Callas room.
"You can just lay the bags on the bed, I'll put everything away later," Calla said. He nodded and placed the two bags full of clothes on the bed. He had brought two for himself for the trip to Demacia and was anxious to leave.
"Calla I need to go drop this off at my room for the night, then I need to go talk to Tebol, after that, I'll probably go to bed." He said, hoping she would get what he was saying.
"Oh…" She said, the sadness clear in her voice. She quickly jumped onto her brother in a hug, he was surprised at first but returned the hug. "You better come back, I have already lost too many close people." She sobbed into his shoulder, he could feel the tears damp his wool shirt.
He decided not to say anything and just stand there embracing her in a hug. The loss of their parents was what shattered happiness and just as soon as she started to get better he had to leave. Slowly he pulled away from his sister and grabbed his bags. "Listen here, Oberon." She stated while wiping tears from her eyes. "If you don't write to me I will personally come to Demacia myself and slap the shit out of you." She said with a smile, he could tell she was trying to make herself feel better.
"I promise you I will mail you as soon as I get to Demacia okay?" He asked while opening the door and looking back.
"Good, now go on hotshot." She smiled. He was glad, the last look he got from his sister before he left was her smile. He walked down the hallways of the temple recalling all of the memoirs he and his sister shared when they were children, such as mud fights and time they stocked the Ionian soldiers as they readied for battle against the Noxian soldiers. He remembered that was the day he first saw a man take another man's life, it scared him to this day watching the man burn to death as chemicals melted into his body. The screams would never leave Oberon's mind but lately, he had seen so much killing it was beginning to drown out. He snapped his head out of his thoughts when he reached Master Tebols room. Calmly he knocked on the door and waited can within a couple seconds the door opened revealing a woman who was just wearing an Ionian dress opened the door, she looked Oberon up in down; blushed than quickly ran out the door she just opened. What the hell? He thought to himself. Master Tebol appeared within a second of after she left, he was shirtless with just a ragged pair of pants on.
"What was that?" Oberon asked with wide eyes.
"Not a word Oberon!" He said with anger flashing through his jawline and eyes. Oberon's face went emotionless then he burst out laughing.
"Wow Master I don't I have ever even seen you with a woman before," Oberon said while laughing.
"You want me to strike you, boy?" Tebol said with an angered voice. Oberon laughed a little bit more than stopped, he shouldn't be making fun of the man who trained him. "I am guessing you came for more details about your trip?" He asked, clearly calming down.
"Not exactly," Oberon said, which made Tebol question why Oberon was even there. "I wanted to ask about forging my weapon, you told me before that once I complete my training I forge a weapon of my choice, but I don't see how that can happen if I am leaving tomorrow."
"That's right I forgot about that, I wouldn't worry too much though. The Grand Master Of Arms will have you make your own, he can teach you more about forging too." Tebol while pulling a dagger out from above the door. "He crafted me this fine blade last time I visited him." He handed the blade to Oberon who inspected it. The craftsmanship was the best he had ever seen, the blade didn't have a single imperfection.
"He's going to teach me how to do this?" Oberon said in wonder, the craftsmanship made him almost speechless.
"I told him who you were and he told me that he would teach you everything he knows, but like me, he will not go easy on you if he tells you not to do something and you do it in combat he will punish you harder than I did." Tebol smiled, for some reason he always loved training harshly and Oberon was the only student he ever did it too.
"The worst from you was when I was 16." Oberon laughed recalling the memories. "Even if I landed a punch I didn't even have the strength to back it up. Anyway is there anything else I should know?"
"Well from what I know the fairy you are taking you are going to have a roommate, but there are two beds so don't worry about sleeping with some random guy. Once you arrive on the outskirts of Demaica a student of Jax's will be waiting for you."
"How do I know who it is?" Oberon questioned.
"You won't know, it's a small ferry with only around 100-200 people so you just have to wait until everyone leaves." Oberon didn't like the answer but dealt with it, he couldn't change anything. "Anyway I would go to bed, you're only going to get around 6 hours of sleep so go get what you can." Tebol stepped forward and held out his hand. "Oberon, you are my first student that I have truly felt something special in, and I am not talking about your fighting skill. Your determination and stubbornness have proven you to be the best person I have taught." Oberon looked down at Tebols hand and shook it, he had a firm handshake. A handshake only few would respect.
That morning Oberon got up from slumber and got ready; he took a bath in some cold water from the nearby river. He then got dressed and began the hour-long trip to the harbor, it was a surprisingly hot trip with the Ionian summer bearing down on him as he walked. Once he arrived he sat down under a tree and watching for a while as people in mass crowds boarded ships, the sight of that many people in a crowd was something the young adult had never seen before.
He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. It had the ship's number on it, which read "Ship Number 55" He folded it back up and put it back into his pocket. He then picked himself up off of the ground and walked into a large crowd of people. Most of them seemed to be tourists from Piltover or Demacia that came to see the grand Ionian architecture. He did his best to avoid most of them, the last thing he wanted was to talk to people he didn't know, he wasn't a shy person but hated talking to people he didn't know just because he didn't care for what they wanted.
52, 53, 54 aha 55! He had a little celebration in his head because of how desperate he was to get out of the crowd. The ship he was going to board was massive, its anchor was around the size of a tree. He smiled at the grand mass of the ship and decided it was time board it so he could get some much-needed sleep. There was a man waiting at the end with a boot who seemed to be collecting tickets, so Oberon did as he thought and walked up to the man.
"Ticket please." He said with a fake smile that told Oberon he had been doing that for hours. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the ticket he had, the man took it and ripped it in half giving Oberon the other half. "Here is your key to your room and keep that half of the ticket so we know who you are." Then he went to the next person holding their ticket out. Oberon walked onto the ship and immediately looked around at some of the craziest things he had ever seen. The weirdest technologies were on the ship such as a shiny metal thing holding food in it. He decided to himself it was something he would discover later, all he wanted was to sleep. He walked around the halls of the ship for a while until he found his room number, he stood on the outside while digging the key out of his pocket. He clicked it on the doorknob then unlocked the door, the door glided smoothly open, before peering inside at all he walked in and closed the door behind him. He turned around and saw something that surprised him.
Instead of having a male roommate like he thought it was a woman. She was a somewhat tall woman who seemed to be around 5,6, she had stunning blue eyes that seemed to keep Oberon from moving. She was standing near the door with a look on her face that he could only assume was just surprised as his. She had long silver hair that reached down to her hips, it wasn't white hair either, it was a shiny silver that was surprisingly natural. He decided to look down her body and was baffled, she was wearing a loose white t-shirt that even though loose, showed off her curves.
"Hi-i." She said with a nervous stutter. "Nice to meet you, my name is Syndra."
So next chapter is going to mainly be about these two getting to know each other, I have to change Syndra's lore so she isn't evil but anyway I hope you all enjoyed and make sure to leave a review!
