Sweat dribbles down her temples, dripping heavily onto her face. Lux's keen blue eyes scan the horizon for any sort of shelter from the harsh sunshine. The southern edge of the Shurima desert isn't far, and the glint of distant sand can be seen from the corner of her eyes. It is possible that the beast they hunt is a Void creature that wandered out of the desert. However, that is a secondary thought compared to the problem at hand. Darius has not said one word since his earlier outburst. She is in fact a little concerned for him, and his mount. They have not stopped once to water their horses since leaving meeting up this morning. Sweat formed small lakes under her light armor, how is Darius able to tolerate the heat with his heavy armor on? Prism wears no armor, however, Darius's horse does have armor. The endurance of the animal is certainly impressive! No matter how impressive it still can't be good for the thing to not have a water break.
How in the world is that black horse in armor still moving in these temperatures without a water break? Tsk, stubborn man! He is hurting everyone around him in his determination to prove whatever his stupid point is! One delicate hand reaches into her satchel at her waist, removing her precious map from within. Lux's fingers unroll the thick papyrus map and spread it out on the edge of her saddle. If this map is still accurate...there should be a river just a few miles north of the next crossroads. A side effect of out of control war magics is that the land isn't stable. It changes, and sometimes frightfully often. Where there might have been water may no longer have any. Still, the detour isn't that far off the main road. That it is close gemstone mines maybe if she is in luck she can find some useful raw materials.
"You can choose to push your horse to death, but I won't to Prism. The map indicates that there should be a river a few miles north of here. I'm taking a water break. Follow if you wish, but I won't stay on this suicide march of stubborn silence." Lux remarks coolly.
Before Darius can reply, Lux directs Prism in a different direction. Roughly fifteen seconds after her announcement loud curses can be heard. Shortly after that sounds of another horse, wearing armor, is heard coming from behind her. Good! Stubborn man can bow to common sense! He isn't beyond redemption like some men she has met. Silence stretches on between them. Roughly one mile further in their new direction Prism picks up her head. Her pace picks up slightly. Excellent! Prism must have scented fresh water ahead of them.
Before long Lux can also smell fresh water. Over the sounds of wind and rustling grass the faintest sounds of running stream or river is heard. With a click of her tongue, Lux encourages Prism to go faster. Again the sound of dismayed cursing comes from behind. Quickly rising along the crest of a small hills a river appears below her. Thankfully the water is still clear looking. Eagerly Prism trots down to the water and greedily starts to gulp down water. Carefully Lux slows down her horses drinking rate. No need to cause Prism harm from drinking too much water, too fast. Not long after Prism starts drinking, Cornix joins in. Practically shoving his entire face under the river Cornix enjoys himself. Lux smiles a bit at the horses unabashed enjoyment of the refreshing break.
"Are you crazy, Demacian?!" Darius snarls at her as he dismounts.
"Hmm?" Lux mutters back she gets down as well.
"Just charging in like that! What if something was waiting to ambush us? You could have gotten us killed!" Darius screams back, one hand resting his hands on his hips while the other holds his axe close.
"I know what I'm doing! First off, Prism isn't dumb. She can sense dangerous animals from a rather impressive distance. Certainly Cornix can as well. Prism would not charge face first into a trap set by a wild animal. And! If you're worried about something magical catching us off guard that isn't a problem either. Part of my abilities as a mage is being able to feel outside sources of magic. If something here was masking its presence from Prism and Cornix I would have known. You worry too much. The things that can get past our combined basic defenses have been removed from this section of road already. Taking such a risk starting tomorrow would be stupid of me. However it is not a risk this close within our combined city's boundaries. Don't you read any of the reports that are generated about the activity of dangerous beasts within the common traveling distances of the four major city states? Surely you at least did some research on the nearby terrain we're going through before leaving Noxus! I certainly did. I have a good idea of the dangerous beasts we could encounter within a five hundred mile radius. We are well within the maintained safe zone." Lux says with a smug tone one of her blond eyebrows rising high mockingly.
"Hmph. Still stupid." Darius replies back darkly.
"I'm no fool Darius. I may not be strong like you or my brother. I reply on my magic and my ability to think - plan ahead. Knowledge is power. I stay strong by staying informed on current events. The amount of reading I did to prepare for this trip was no small thing. I may not be able cut my way out of danger like you, or Garen can. But I wouldn't need to if I can avoid the dangers in the first place." Lux answers back with a more somber tone.
No need to mention exactly why she did such thorough research on a much larger area than the mission needs. Very few people have called her stupid, or accused her of rushing into danger like an idiot. Perhaps her traveling companions horse from dehydration was not the smartest way to make a good impression? How does one impress a Noxian anyway? All Darius does is grunt at her or insult her decisions. Sapphire blue eyes scan her surroundings for anything useful. If she is lucky something she wants is nearby. Hopefully the land hasn't changed so much to alter the base geology too drastically. It may be too dangerous to mine here, but maybe there is something useful for her.
"Prims stay." Lux orders her horse.
Once that small detail is taken care of Lux starts to examine the various river rocks. Various rocks in all sorts of sizes litter the bank and well into the running water. It would be easiest to search for what she wants with magic. Her hand freezes mid cast for the promising looking rocks. Darius didn't seem to think that her knowledge showed strength. Perhaps a display of both expansive knowledge and magical power would do the trick! Questionable as this mission is she has to work as a team with him. If he doesn't believe in her then he won't trust her to help him win the battle. Time to show that proud Noxian some, but not all, of the tricks up her sleeve. Instead of casting a spell to search out the specific qualities in the minerals, Lux searches by hand. By the end of the hour she will have made an impression of being powerful!
Unfortunately magic has started to change the geologic makeup of the native rockbed. Still, the transformation isn't complete. There are still some useful samples. Just not as many as she would have liked. After a while Lux gathered several suitable samples for her needs. Now to play the waiting game to get Darius to speak up.
"What are you doing foolish woman? We didn't get deployed to collect pebbles! Just gathering useless weight Dumb Demacian.." Darius grumbles at her.
"Mhmm. Garen can slice rocks in half with his sword. It is very impressive to watch." Lux replies back not answering his question.
"Hmph." Darius mutters sounding unhappy at her lack of explanation.
"Can you do that? With your axe? Slice rocks in half with one movement?" Lux asks not looking up from her search.
"Of course I can. It takes power and precision to do that." Darius retorts back not sounding impressed.
"I can do that. Slice rocks in half that is. With my light magic." Lux replies back with a bright smile.
"Haha. Yeah right." Darius says back mockingly.
"I can. I'll prove it. Throw a rock at me." Lux says back making a slicing motion with her hand.
Green eyes look at her in disbelief. Without looking away, Lux places her small collection of river rocks in her satchel. All Darius does is continue staring at her like she's a fool. A fierce frown crosses her lips. With a sigh the Noxian general picks up a rock and throws it half heartedly at her. It doesn't even close to hitting her. All he does is smirk as it bounces far from her. Rage bubbles up in her throat. Things are on now! He's going to get some bruises for that insult and not just on his pride!
"Fine. We're going to play a game. I'm going to win. I am going to throw exactly twenty rocks at you. You will dodge the first one, but won't manage to slice it in half with your axe. After that you will slice the next nine stones. The last ten will hit you. I promise not to draw blood. I do have manners unlike some obnoxious men I happen to see." Lux growls back eyes narrowing.
All Darius does is start to laugh. Swiftly casting several illusion spells Lux throws a rock straight at his head. He lets out a loud startled yelp as his head instinctively dodges the blow. Before he can say anything she launches the next rock hard and fast. Sure enough the mighty axe moves smoothly slicing it in half. Even before the pieces of broken rock hits the ground Lux starts throwing the following eight rocks. Each rock is thrown at a very specific speed in at a certain part of his body. All of the rocks are sliced neatly in half. Lux graces him with a smile before tossing the next rock. Before Darius can smirk back at her the rock slams hard into the gap between his leg armor.
"FUCK!" Darius yells.
Without pause Lux throws the remaining nine rocks. She is rewarded with nine following curses as her rocks strike narrow stripes of exposed flesh. Once the last rock is thrown she gives a him smug look. Green eyes glare sheer rage at her.
"Your turn. I will slice every rock you throw. You will get in no hits." Lux mocks back at him.
"Bitch you will learn not to mock me." Darius snarls throwing three rocks in rapid succession.
Bright flickers of light flash and the rocks split into three pieces each completely missing her. If any of those rocks her temple it would kill her. Still she has a plan he can't beat. Shortly after that he throws five rocks in rapidly together. More flickers of light happen causing the rocks to shatter before coming near her. Lux lets out a soft laugh at him. His face flushes red. Darius scoops up more rocks. Unlike the first eight, however, this time Darius takes more time to aim. Still thrown with the same deadly force they are more carefully aimed at her. Not a single rock manages to come near her person before being destroyed by her magic. After letting the frustrated man throw more than twenty rocks at her, Lux decides to end the game. That, and if he continues to think before aiming his throws he might actually figure out the plan and cause her bodily harm. Before he can pick up another rock to throw she lands a light snare on his wrist.
"I win! I even let you have more than twenty attempts to hit me. And neither of us are bleeding." Lux replies back with a smug tone, still not dropping her spell.
"You really are stupid. I could have killed you!" Darius growls upset at losing both the game and his temper.
"No you couldn't have. I was in control the entire time. I give your rock slicing skills a C-. I do, however, grade you military training a solid A+." Lux explains with a faint smile, but not a smirk.
"Explain." Darius demands face growing red again.
"It went like this. I knew you wouldn't take my first throw seriously by your earlier actions. I made sure to aim for your head because it would startle you, and you couldn't slice it in time with the distance from your axe. All Noxians with melee weapons are drilled in the training patterns snake, shark, and hawk. It teaches your muscles to dodge without thought. I used magic to throw those rocks exactly the speed the standard Noxian training machines used, following the traditional pattern of snake, shark, then hawk. You remembered my threat and believed that I was at least a minor threat by that point. Yet, your body is conditioned to attack flown projectiles in a certain pattern."
"By forcing you into the familiar training routine it was easy to throw counter to all known Noxian training methods for your weapon range. You couldn't hit anything I threw at you because your muscle memory is too strong. I knew that you would kill me if any those stones actually hit me. So what you were throwing rocks at is a mere illusion of my person. I'm at a very safe distance just tossing my magic out to hit the rocks before they reach my spell breaking it. I give a C- because you were figuring out on some level near the end that the magic I used to break the rocks wasn't lining up with my image. In regards to being true to your training, you passed with flying colors. However your skills at breaking from the norm in unexpected battle environments is below par." Lux explains still not breaking the illusion.
By the end of her explanation Darius mouth is hanging open. A complete different expression is in his eyes. What was once complete disbelief and disdain is now a more solid respect. Still he doesn't look nearly impressed enough. Time for stage two.
"Since at our city states at peace for the undetermined future, I am going to give you some advice. Spice up the standard training given to your melee fighters. I've got all their standard, and most of the advanced methods memorized. Against a knowledgeable opponent, they are huge weaknesses to be exploited. If you were a mage the outcome might be different. Although I've reverse engineered all the spells your mages are taught they are a bit tricker to counter on the fly. Don't worry about the training of your mages. They're dangerous enough on their own, not many mages can pick up spells like I can." Lux tells him with an indifferent shrug.
"Interesting. Very interesting that you know such things about us. It is a good thing that our countries are at peace. That was some risk you took throwing rocks at the narrow gaps in my armor." Darius voice is soft and thoughtful his eyes still harboring some anger.
"Not really. I need you fully functional for this monster we're tracking. Not need to limit your damage output by actually hurting you." Lux explains once again returning to her search for the right kinds of rock.
"You're just a little mage you can't throw a rock hard enough to kill me. Knock me unconscious if you landed a lucky blow certainly." Darius replies back, however, his tone is not mocking more uncertain.
"How have you survived a battle this long? I thought you smarter than that." Lux retorts back having three small rocks of the right composition in her fist.
"Hmph. Explain. Only this time no need to throw a rocks at me." Darius says back voice curious.
"Average Noxus issue armor has at least one layer of magic resist to it, and two layers of build in density for defense against standard metal, or hextech weapons. It can handle most magical abuse taken by the average battle mage. You are bit more cautious in your choice of battle attire. Your armor has at least six levels of built in magic resist, and double the standard thickness in weight. You have your allies in Zaun to thank for the dual layer mechanics in your armor without compromising the integrity of the metals mingling with the magic resist."
"The amount of effort it would take to cast a spell at you that could break through your armor is not worth it at this range. You're fast enough that I would die for the attempt. However, there are rocks here with traces of opal in them. The magical properties of raw opal are rather interesting since they can store magic without additional resources needing to be added. If I wanted to disable you, I would have placed a delayed timed explosion spell on each rock I tossed at you. Piltover actually has a hextech device that uses this concept. Any of the rocks with a level three or higher explosive spell in them would have caused you to bleed rather badly. For example…" Lux tells him a look of concentration on her face.
One of her hands glow a faint blue color. Sparkles in the rock absorb this glow before turning to normal. Lux looks over the river looking for a target. There is a log trapped in the middle of the river. A flick of her wrist shots the rock out. The moment it makes contact with the log pieces of damp bark splinter apart.
"That rock coupled with that spell would have caused you to drop to your knees. From there I would have easier access to your neck. Don't worry too much about me killing you with some pretty pebbles though. It takes a lot of control to place a stable explosive spell on raw opal without additional materials. Not many mages can do this. That is why most magical hextech hybrid bombs are created in labs. The ratio of effort, power, and control to cost of lab materials is too expensive for the average mage. We've rested long enough I think. I can eat my lunch on the saddle. We should head out." Lux tells him before whistling at Prism.
"You are not what I was expecting. You are truly a formidable mage." Darius replies back his voice deeper than normal, an odd tone of voice masked in his words.
"Thank you." Lux replies without looking back at him.
"You're still an idiot though." Darius snaps back unable to let her have the last word.
Lux replies back with a rude gesture with her right hand. This actually earns her a chuckle from the Noxian. Soon enough they reach the main road. Roughly an hour after the river is behind her, Lux reaches into a saddle bag. She had packed her lunch in it. Darius is a big boy he can figure out to eat lunch in the saddle when he gets hungry. Not long after she starts to chow down on her packed lunch, Darius also pulls a meal from a saddle bag. The two of them eat in silence. An uneasy feeling creeps up and down Lux's spine as the sun starts to set. Something is watching them.
"Darius…" Lux starts to call out her companion's name, uncertain if it is wise to make noises with something watching them.
"I know, Demacian. Something is hunting us." Darius replies back, pitching his voice just loud enough for her to hear.
As soon as Darius is done talking, the intense pressure of being watched fades away instantly. Both horses come to complete stop. Everyone is tense at the unexpected presence coming and going without much warning. Lux knew that they were hunting something powerful, but she wasn't expecting it to come and go like that. She barely had any notice of it, and even then she didn't know how close it actually came to them. That, and it showed up a lot sooner than she had anticipated. Things are not going according to plan!
"Well shit." Both Darius and Lux say out loud at the same time.