Revelation of Darkness

Syndra sat in a corner of her room, hugging her knees to her chest. It had been two years since she last saw Irelia. The weight of her death had not gotten any lighter for Syndra. She wanted to blame someone, something, anything. But there was nobody else to blame, only herself. Syndra glanced at herself in the reflection of a mirror on the wall opposite to her. She despised herself. She despised her magic. She despised her power that had destroyed the one thing she held dearest to her. Syndra buried her face in her knees. She stayed there in that position for several minutes until the chime of a distant bell indicated that the daily postage had arrived. Syndra didn't want to move, but attendance was mandatory. She heaved a heavy sigh and pushed her loneliness to the back of her mind as she dragged herself to her feet and trudged to the door.

In the courtyard of the school, students were flocking over the mail carrier, eager to receive their letters, gifts, and messages from home. Syndra wasn't interested though. She never got any mail or gifts. After all, the one person that might have sent her anything was dead. Syndra merely waited by the entrance to the courtyard, watching in envy as the other students read their letters and opened their gifts with zeal. But then, she noticed something in the pile of mail, a small envelope with a red Ionian seal on the back. Syndra felt inexplicably drawn to it. The mail carrier was quick to notice Syndra's interest and made an effort to inconspicuously hide the letter beneath the pile. Syndra narrowed her eyes suspiciously. A part of her wanted to forcibly seize the parcel, but Syndra knew better than to cause a scene now. She turned away, feigning disinterest, though she kept a careful eye on the mail carrier. Upon seeing her look away, the man unconsciously heaved a sigh of relief. Too obvious. Syndra thought to herself. That parcel was definitely hers, and for some reason, they didn't want her to have it.

Syndra returned to her quarters immediately after the signal was given. She had work to do. While other students were unaware of the security measures in the school, Syndra detected these systems the moment she set foot on the campus. On the surface, the magic network that was interlaced throughout the entire school was used for communication. But Syndra knew that this wasn't the only thing that it was used for. It was simultaneously a security system that enabled the wardens of the school to keep a close eye on the students. A perfect system if it was only being used to monitor low caliber mages or magic-less people, but it was far from suitable for usage against Syndra. Taking her position in the corner of the room, Syndra acted as though she were going back to moping about. Secretly, however, she reached behind her back and burned a small hole in the wall. I win. Syndra smirked as her finger made contact with the main magic line inside the wall. Syndra then sent her own pulse of magic through the line, searching through the entire network for a clue. She found it almost immediately. In a remote part of the campus, the mail carrier was having a hushed conversation with the head warden of the school.

"Whoever was supposed to filter the mail didn't filter out hers'!"

"Tell me she didn't notice." The warden hissed through gritted teeth

"She looked like she did at first, but I hid it in the pile of mail. She didn't seem very interested afterwards so I don't think she did." The carrier replied.

"You better hope she didn't. This whole plan will fall apart with just the slightest blunder. You know what will happen if we do not seal away her power, her capacity for destruction is beyond that of anything we have ever seen!" The warden concluded. The mail carrier nodded meekly in response.

"This better not happen again." The warden almost snarled as he turned and walked away with the small envelope in his hand.

With that, Syndra had heard enough. She immediately disconnected from the magic network and smiled. For the first time in many months, she felt excited, no ecstatic. Time for some fun. Syndra thought with the smile still on her face. Five minutes later, Syndra arrived at the training grounds. Here, students were allowed to freely exercise their magic abilities. It was all too convenient for Syndra. Although her presence there drew curious gazes from the other students at the grounds, Syndra ignored them. She was here to make a scene. Syndra smirked mischievously and summoned three of her spheres onto the floor next to her. The three spheres fell with a heavy clang to the floor. Syndra glanced around quickly. More eyes were on her. Doesn't matter. Syndra thought privately. She then deliberately allowed the spheres to begin to destabilize. Without her conscious effort to maintain a definite shape, the spheres began to warp, leaking dark purple magic and jettisoning residual energy. Finally, Syndra gave a wide grin and audibly spoke:

"Woops!" She said with such gross insincerity that it was clear that she never had any intent of controlling her ability. With that, Syndra forcibly blasted the spheres away from her. As each sphere collided with a foreign object, they completely deteriorated, exploding in a raw burst of pure liquid magic and engulfing anything the liquid touched in a blaze of violet flames. Instantly, alarms went berserk throughout the training grounds, as they reacted to the presence of volatile, unstable magic. Perfect Syndra thought as she ducked in with the crowd that was evacuated the building. The flames spread rapidly throughout the structure, hungrily eating away at the building. Within minutes, the wardens were on the scene, placing seals and containment spells to prevent the flames from spreading further. But Syndra was already gone. Setting the training grounds on fire was a mere distraction for her true objective. In the panic and confusion, Syndra quickly slipped off in the direction of the head warden's quarters.

Entering the wardens' grounds was a clear violation of almost every rule in the school's code of conduct, but Syndra was past caring. Syndra blasted the front gates of the grounds clear off of their hinges and marched straight through the front door of the main building. Immediately, Syndra headed in the direction of the headmaster's office. It only took a minute for her to get there. In the headmaster's hurry to contain the fire at the training grounds, he neglected to even lock the door to his office. Syndra burst into the room, her breath short and rapid, her pupils dilated in excitement as she neared her goal. There, on the top of the headmaster's desk was the small envelope Syndra saw earlier. Immediately, she snatched the parcel off of the desk and tore the envelop open, and read.

Dear Syndra,

It has been so long since we last saw each other. I think it has almost been two years now. I miss you so much. But you never reply to any mail that I send you. I am worried about you Syndra, Why aren't you replying? Syndra, please send something back to me, let me know that you are okay. It is hard for me to put my feelings into this paper right now. I just… don't know. This may be the last letter that I ever send to you. I am a commander of a legion of Ionian soldiers now. Tomorrow, we leave for the front lines to try to halt the Noxian invasion. I'm scared Syndra. This is my first battle, and I hope that I will not let anyone down. I'm sorry if this is the last letter that I ever send to you. But if it is, I am most likely not on this planet anymore. Don't cry for me Syndra; be strong because I will always be thinking of you.

Irelia

By the time Syndra finished reading the letter, she was in tears. Irelia was alive, but not only that, she had been trying to contact Syndra this entire time. Syndra read the letter again, and again, and again. She memorized it down to the smudges of ink and wrinkles in the paper. When there was nothing more to take in, she looked for something else to sate her hunger. Syndra grabbed the envelope that the letter came in and shook it upside down. A small slip of paper fell out and landed face up on the desk. It was a picture of Irelia. She had changed over the past two years. Taller and shapelier, but above all, there was a look of forsakenness in her eyes, an empty gaze as though she were missing something, or rather someone. Syndra felt anguish as she gazed into the static eyes in the photo and ran a thumb over the Irelia's face. Finally, she broke down in tears. Not violet tears, but clear ones. It was the first time Syndra ever cried for someone. It hurt unlike any pain she had ever felt before. It wasn't a pain from anger or injury, but rather a pain that tore at the very fibers of her soul. Minutes passed as Syndra finally cried her tears away. More. She thought and fervently began to search for more letters. It didn't take long for her to find them. They were all in a box inside of the warden's desk drawer.

Syndra forcefully yanked the box out of the desk drawer and onto the floor. She didn't even bother taking the box to the desk so she could sit in a chair to read. No, instead, she remained sitting cross-legged on the floor and immediately began feasting her eyes on the contents of the hundreds of letters in the box. Syndra read… and read… and read… until she had read every last word on every last letter.

Dear Syndra,

Today, I was released from the hospital. They said that I should have never survived because I had lost so much blood. They also said something about violet colored magic. I wonder who if anyone I know wields purple magic. Haha, yes Syndra, I have no doubt it was you that save me back then. Send me a letter back!

Irelia

Finally, she leaned back and took a deep breath. What could it mean? She pondered. She didn't kill Irelia at all. In fact, she was the one that saved her. Syndra stopped suddenly, stunned as she came to a realization. The teachers here didn't want to teach her to control her power; they wanted to take it away! Syndra's eyes widened in terror as she then drew a further conclusion. Her power had saved Irelia, and they were trying to take away her power? Then they were trying to take away Irelia! Syndra's breath became agitated as panic began setting in. She glanced around, trying to fathom a way in which she could return to Irelia's side as quickly as possible. Then she stopped and realized. But they have already sealed so much… I've lost too much power! Syndra took a deep breath, calming herself. If they sealed her power, she would just need to get it unsealed. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps snapped Syndra out of her trance. She rose calmly from the floor and placed herself in the head warden's chair. Seconds later, all eight wardens burst into the room, and gaped in horror as they saw Syndra sitting in the head warden's chair, the letters collected over the past two years scattered about the floor. Syndra said nothing. She only fixated an ice cold glare at each of the eight men. A minute passed in silence until finally:

"What. The. Hell. Is. This." Syndra hissed in a low voice that dripped with venom.

"Please understa-" "I will not be controlled by you!" Syndra exploded, interrupting the head warden mid sentence.

"Syndra, we were never going to-" "Bullshit!" Syndra roared "You lied to me!" Syndra's breathing became even more shallow and rapid. "You told me I killed her! You're trying to take her away from me!"

"No Syndra, we-" "She is mine! You can't have her!" Syndra shrieked with blatant refusal to listen to any reason.

"We only want to teach-" "Release the seal." Syndra interrupted, her voice suddenly quiet yet demanding.

"Now Syndra, if you refuse to restrain yourself, we will nullify your magic completely!" the head warden warned with a harsh tone.

That did it. Syndra, whose temper was already on its last thread, snapped. Deep within her, Syndra felt the dangerous boils of rage surging through her. She could not even form words as her face twisted with hatred. Sensing the danger, the head master responded immediately.

"Eight Trigram Seal!" He yelled and gestured at Syndra. Instantly, luminous chains sprung from Syndra's back and fastened themselves onto the floor, dragging Syndra down to her knees. But this only served to further agitate Syndra. With a howl of pure killing intent, Syndra completely gave in to her anger. Again, her veins glowed violet as unbounded magic surged through her body, her eyes flared with deep violet flames. Syndra let out another bone chilling cry, this time her voice adopting its distinctive hollow echo.

"This will not restrain me!" Syndra yelled with defiance and forcefully tore free of the complex seal.

Then, focusing her hatred on the eight men who were trying to steal the vestiges of her happiness from her, Syndra lifted them into the air with a wave of her hand.

"Begone!" She shrieked and blindly released a massive torrent of pure magic. The concussive force from the blast sent all eight men flying haphazardly into various sections of the wall behind them. But Syndra was far from done. She desired nothing more than the lives of these men. If the impact of the blast didn't kill them, Syndra made sure that this next attack would. Bringing her eyes to an area that encapsulated all eight wardens, Syndra focused her torrent of magic directly onto them. The intensity of pure magic blistered away their skin and melted their flesh. Death was slow and painful. As the head warden's life slowly ebbed away, Syndra felt the seal on her powers lift. Immediately, the rush of pure energy surged through her body, invigorating her. But more than invigorate her, it intoxicated her. Syndra had not felt this good in years.

"Freedom…" Syndra almost laughed to herself hysterically. Then she started laughing aloud. It was a cold, chilling laugh that echoed with madness and power. Finally, Syndra stopped and gazed at her hands, observing herself as though she had been reborn. She reflexively curled and uncurled her fists. Violet energy crackled from her hands in response.

As her ecstasy slowly faded, Syndra came across yet another problem. What now? She wondered. Aimlessly, Syndra drifted about the interior of the warden's main building until she finally stopped at one of the large windows on the front of the building. Just outside the gates to the warden's grounds was a huge mass of students and teachers. Syndra's temple twitched with annoyance. Then, there was a tentative knock on the front door. Unwilling to take the effort to walk down to the doors, Syndra blasted a hole through the door with a dark sphere.

"What." Syndra snapped at the hole from her position at the window. Silence met her ears until the head of one of the teachers cautiously peeked through the hole.

"Syndra?" The teacher asked surprised that she was the one to answer the door. Syndra didn't reply, instead opting to stare at the teacher with an impassive glare. The teacher fidgeted uncomfortably before finally asking

"Have you seen the wardens? We have not heard from them for the past few hours…" the teacher allowed his voice to trail off. Syndra opened her mouth slowly, and then smiled wickedly.

"And you won't hear from them. Ever." Syndra said quietly, still smiling. The teacher blinked without understanding.

"Want to see them?" Syndra asked twistedly after a brief pause. She didn't wait for a reply, but rather flicked her hand. In the rooms behind her, there was a loud crash and clatter as several objects smashed into others. Then, with a loud –bang- , Syndra ripped a gaping hole in the wall opposite the door. From within the hole soared out the eight charred skeletons of the former wardens.

"Oh my god! What did you do!?" the teacher gasped in horror as he beheld the gruesome corpses before him. Syndra smiled inwardly before she finally rose from her position at the window and floated over to the door. A simple flick of her wrist blasted the doors off of their hinges and into the courtyard. Syndra landed lightly and walked slowly over to the teacher who was paralyzed in fear.

"Leave. All of you." Syndra whispered in his ear and gave him a slight push back towards the front gates.

"One hour" Syndra called after him "Then this place will be no more." Syndra finished as the man fled back to his peers.