Origin of the Sphere

The pair of girls arrived at the boundary forest thirty minutes after they had received their orders. No one was present in the area. Then, Irelia stopped walking abruptly, causing Syndra to bump into her back.

"Sorry." Syndra muttered, wondering why Irelia had stopped walking. Irelia squinted at the path in front of them, there was a slight shimmer in the air. Slowly, she bent down and picked up a pebble from the ground beneath them. Then, she tossed it. Instantly, the air around them shattered, breaking the illusion that they had been placed under. Syndra gasped as she brought her wandering mind back into attention. They were being tricked to begin with both Syndra and Irelia thought simultaneously.

"Watch it!" Irelia suddenly yelled as she shoved Syndra hard. Milliseconds later, a sharpened spear plunged into a floor where Syndra was standing a moment ago.

"Go!" Irelia yelled to Syndra, as Syndra scrambled to her feet.

Syndra and Irelia ran together, stumbling through over the gnarled roots of ancient trees as they tried to escape from the maze like forest.

"Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu! Where are you my lovelies?" the man's voice echoed from somewhere a moderate distance away.

"c'mon!" Irelia breathed out, gently pushing Syndra in the direction opposite of the man's voice. Syndra stumbled again as she forced her exhausted body to go in the direction indicated by Irelia.

"Oh-ho! You two make this just so much funner!" the man's voice cackled, his voice getting nearer.

Irelia glanced around, but couldn't distinguish their pursuer's location from the tangle mire of bushes and trees that they were surrounded by. Irelia racked her brain for some sort of strategy to help them escape. Alas, none came to her. She ground her teeth and let out an angry grunt of frustration as the two continued their flight. Finally, Syndra, fatigued from running for far longer than she was accustomed to, tripped on the uneven forest floor. Irelia, who was following closely behind her, didn't have enough time to react, leading to her tripping and landing on Syndra's back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Irelia asked almost surprised that Syndra had fallen. Syndra replied with a moan as she rolled over onto her back. The look of exhaustion on Syndra's face said a million words. Finally, Irelia realized their folly. While Irelia was conditioned to be a seasoned warrior on the frontlines of battle, Syndra was a mage. She lacked the physical training that Irelia had come to take for granted.

"Hee hee, found you!" the man's voice sneered as he leapt down from a tree branch above the pair of girls.

"Time to die! Hee hee hee!" he sneered again as he circled the two and drew a long blade from a scabbard at his waist. Irelia grimly stood up and took a position directly between Syndra and the psychopath.

"Oho! Lookie lookie a hero! Oh wait! Just kidding, what a nice volunteer!" the man hooted with delight. Then, after a brief pause, he twitched, shuddered, and lunged at Irelia with a wild cleaving swing. Easy. Irelia thought to herself as her combat instincts kicked in. Deftly, Irelia ducked under the swing and brought her body underneath the man's outstretched arm. With her back now to the man's chest, Irelia used her spinning momentum to her advantage. With all her strength, she brought her elbow smashing into the man's gut. She expected to make contact with the man's squishy stomach. No such luck. Instead, her elbow smashed into a completely rigid surface. Irelia cringed as pain lanced through her arm. Armor Irelia's conscience said. That was definitely armor beneath the cloak he was wearing.

"Hee hee hee! The man cackled "Prey that can fight back is all the more rewarding to…"

Syndra didn't let him finish his sentence. After all, his attack had placed him directly next to her. The fact that he had turned to taunt Irelia presented his back to her. A perfect opportunity to strike. With blind rage, she flung herself at the man's back, clinging onto him by throwing one arm over his shoulder, the other beneath his opposite armpit and clasping her hands together. With both of her arms occupied, Syndra attacked with the only other thing she could think of. Savagely, she sank her teeth into the man's neck, gouging out a portion of flesh.

Instantly, the man howled in agony and screamed "Fucking bitch!" Then, with equal rage, he reached behind him with his free hand, took a fist full of Syndra's hair, and forcefully hurled her over his shoulder. Syndra cried out in pain, but refused to release her grip on the man's cloak. There was a tearing noise as the cloth was unable to withstand the strains put on it. As Syndra catapulted through the air, the cloth gave way to reveal a man clad in very, very distinctive armor. Syndra didn't notice though, the last thing she felt was a searing pain through her skull as she collided with a nearby tree trunk and slumped to the floor completely unconscious.

Irelia stood stunned as she gazed at the armor clad figure before her.

"No…" She whispered. "No… No, No no no no No!" She almost sobbed as she gazed at the man's armor. It wasn't any armor. It was Ionian battle armor and not just any battle armor. Though the insignia was faded, and the armor was worn, the mark was definitely there. On the breastplate of the armor was Ionia's war crest, a symbol of an Ionian commander.

Irelia's shoulders sagged as her will to fight drained from her body. "Commander… why?" she whispered in a barely audible voice.

The man turned around and spat "Why? I'll tell you why. This fucking god damn country that's why." The commander paused before continuing his tirade "I lost so many men. I sent so many soldiers to their doom. So many! They are all fucking dead now. And for what? We never could be Noxus, and we never will. But no, you people and your stupid fucking ideals just have to go keep right on fighting. How many more must die before you realize how stupid this is?" The man finally stopped with a deep breath. "You know too much now." He finally said after a brief moment.

That snapped Irelia back out of her trance. Instinctively, she lowered herself into a fighting stance, intent to defeat her target. The man tightened his grip around his sword and attacked without hesitation. This time, the results were different from the previous. Unlike his first attack, this one was cold, calculated, and had pure killing intent. Against a commander with years of war experience, young Irelia was hardly a match. Without a weapon to defend herself, Irelia could only dodge the deadly blade. The commander took advantage of this and easily forced Irelia to bump into a tree. The brief contact disoriented Irelia, causing her movements to slow for a split second. It was all that was needed. Irelia felt a searing pain pierce her stomach, followed by a cold, numbing sensation that she could not understand. She collapsed to the floor, unable to move as blood slowly trickled from her chest onto the forest floor. Her eyelids grew heavy and her eyes had difficulty focusing on anything. Is this what it is like to die? She thought to herself as her consciousness wavered. Finally, her mind was engulfed in darkness,

The commander stood up and took a deep breath. It was harder killing one of his own than he thought it would be. He spat on the floor. It was only because there were two of them. He thought to himself as though he was trying to convince himself of his own accomplishment.

"How…. Dare… You…" a hollow, echoing voice sounded from behind him.

He froze and slowly turned around. It was Syndra. She had risen from her crumpled position at the base of the tree trunk and was floating a full meter above the ground. Her eyes still shut.

"Tch. Should have finished you earlier." The commander spat nastily at Syndra. She ignored his words. Instead, pure violet liquid oozed out from underneath her eye lids, forming streaks on her face. Tears of pure rage. Finally, Syndra opened her eyes. The piercing violet of her irises had vanished. In fact, her eyes had completely disappeared. In their place was a burning pure violet flame. Syndra couldn't feel anything. She could only feel her anger and sorrow of loss. It consumed her. Engulfed her.

"Die…" She finally whispered with a voice of pure venom.

"You fucking die you fucking bi-" The commander could not even finish his sentence as Syndra cut him off with a cry of rage. Instantly, Syndra's veins glowed violet and pure energy surged through her body. Syndra's face contorted with rage as she gazed at the man before her. Then, her thoughts suddenly became clear. This man will die by my hand. Syndra thought. Then, with this single thought in her mind, she willed it to be true. There was a clanging sound and then a horrifying squelch as though someone had stepped on a tomato. Before her, the commander had stopped moving, mid-swing from decapitating Syndra. Only Syndra wasn't the one that was decapitated. In place of the commander's head was a pitch black sphere perched neatly on top of the man's bleeding neck.

Seeing the decapitated corpse seemed to pacify Syndra. Gradually, the violet glow that emanated from her veins faded and she descended back to the ground... only for her legs to completely give out from beneath her. Syndra collapsed to the floor once more, feeling as though every ounce of her energy had been drained from her body. She turned her head over and got a glimpse of Irelia's limp form. Instantly, adrenaline shot through her body as she forced herself to crawl over to her friend's side. Upon reaching her, Syndra felt all of her energy once again drain from her body. She couldn't resist the darkness any longer. Cradling Irelia's body, Syndra's consciousness faded, the only thought on her mind was to save her friend.