Terrible pain flared across his body. His eyes were still closed and he gasped in surprise at the overwhelming pain that was relayed to his brain from parts of his body he had no idea could even remotely be in so much pain. Finally he opened his eyes. In shock he turned his head looking at the decimated village.
Only the burnt out husks of buildings remained; and the corpses of Ionians. The bamboo forests around the village now smoked, a few tongues of flame still licked hungrily out amongst rubble and burnt bamboo shoots. The once beautiful sky was now plagued with nasty smoke that choked the once tranquil land. Blood was spattered seemingly on every surface in the village. The reek of gore was strong in the air. Bile rose into his throat, but he swallowed down his revulsion with a grimace.
Yasuo coughed, still lying down. His whole body ached more than he thought possible. His breaths were unsteady and his lungs were clogged with smoke. Blood tainted his saliva and he felt the need to spit the smoky blood flavored bile.
He stood on his shaky legs and eventually found the courage to move. Slowly he walked around the center field. The once simple fountain was now crushed into oblivion and chunks of the stone were strewn about the gathering square. Yasuo closed his eyes and inhaled taking in the horrid smells.
With wide eyes he remembered Elder Gyro. With a quick turn he began to head in the elder's hut. The movement was not without cost and he felt his wounds flare. He shrugged off the pain to the best of his ability and with a grimace on his face marched to the hut. As he went farther from the center square the destruction decreased to an extent. The houses weren't completely burnt out husks. There was still severe damage, but instead of the houses lacking their roofs and some walls they had the remains of burnt furniture and peeling blackened paint. Yasuo felt a small glimmer of hope as he saw these signs of the past village.
His hope was blasted into a million peices and replaced with despair and horror at the sight before him. Outside the elder's house lay the elder's body. The only wound on the man's crumpled form was a massive gash across his throat. Blood pooled all around his body, now dry. To his horror the blood had been sprayed from the poor man's neck wound many feet from his body.
Yasuo could not handle the sight. He collapsed back to his knees. Tears threatened his eyes and he felt his will to be alive decimate itself. He had failed. His one purpose and he had failed and worse, he was still alive. There was no excuse. There was no justification.
He blinked through his tears and through his blurry vision he noticed something odd about the wound. Something familiar and yet, so very strange. The cut was not jagged. It was a perfect split of his throat. Practically impossible by any blade forged by man. There was only one thing, one technique, that could produce such a perfect cut; Empowered wind.
Yasuo was dumb-founded. As far as he knew, no, anyone knew, only he could perform such a method. It was impossible. Yasuo couldn't think clearly. His failure and injuries to his body pushed him into delirium and soon he found himself lying on the ground, eyelids heavy.
He closed his eyes no longer able to accept the horrifying reality that he had awoken to. Tears rolled down his face as he drifted away into his horrible nightmares.
When he finally came to his eyes peacefully opened. Gyro's flute lay inches from his face nearly blocking his vision of the blackened hut and bamboo forest. Only nearly, Yasuo's eyes shot open as wide as they could possibly be and his horrible shock resurfaced.
Yasuo gripped the flute. His knuckles turned white by the strength of his grip. He slowly stood up and was pleasantly surprised to find his body had seemingly made a miraculous recovery. His injuries were now just dull aches and easily ignorable. His eyes fell upon a shovel.
Yasuo dug until his hands bled, his muscles torn, and his body exhausted. Despite the state of his body he had managed to dig a hole for each villager in the center clearing. To his disgust, there were few Noxian bodies that needed a shallow grave.
He brought Gyro's flute with him and sat where the fountain had once stood. With a heavy heart and thoughts of the old man Yasuo brought his flute to his lips. The sound seemed eerie like a ghosts wail. Yasuo smiled grimly. The flute suited him. He again brought the flute up and he played the sad tune. The wind around him whipped into a frenzy surrounding him in rapid swirls. Dust and dirt kicked up around him and soon he was a small ball oval of voracious wind. Soon the wind engulfed the entire clearing.
Time seemed to freeze around him. The wind invigorated his body and he tirelessly played the single tune. Yasuo's mind was a dark place of anger and grief. To him the world didn't exist.
Under the cover of darkness a small group of Ionians slipped passed the Noxian company in the Coeur valley. The men had but one task; to evacuate elder Gyro. Their hopes were great; The councillors village was quite isolated. The Noxians would have to make a considerable detour to locate it. The Ionians hope was sorely misplaced. The Noxian High Command had insisted every road followed; no one would be spared the purification.
As the men reached the turn off to the elders village from the main road their hopes plummeted. Yet, it was possible the young, but fabled Wind Warrior had protected the man. The narrow path was now wide; the bamboo cut back and burned away. Already they could begin to see the village.
As they grew closer still the smoke in the sky darkened the glare of the sky; the white clouds turning an ashy gray. The landscape quickly became dull; full of shades of gray and brown.
When the soldiers finally entered the village their only hope was that Yasuo had succeeded in protecting the elder and was now escorting him safely back to the placidium.
There was something odd and mysterious about the scene in front of them. Blood, gore, and destruction was present everywhere a man could reach, yet there wasn't a single body on the ground. There were countless tools and old rusted swords. A scarce few Noxian blades could be identified. The battle would have been vicious, brutal, systematic slaughter.
The group fanned out through the village searching for the elder. Not a trace of the man was found. The entire village was void of bodies.
The men stood in the center a confused cluster. There just wasn't any sense to it. Then, quietly at first, a eerie sound drifted over the village. A mournful devastated sound. It resonated throughout the village, but seemed to radiate from the farthest outreaches.
The men cautiously approached the sound. Eventually they reached a small burnt shack. A man sat out in front of it. The air around him swirled with debris almost in a protective cyclone around him.
Suddenly the air around him died. The debris dropping to the ground in heaps. One of the men from the Ionian party stepped forward.
"You, Stranger, possess power over the winds not seen in generations. I can only assume you are the fabled Yasuo."
Yasuo smirked putting down his flute. "Fabled? I have performed no good. Stilled no evil. There can be no tales of greatness easilly absent in the wake of my failures."
The man's face quickly grew a deep frown. "Failure…" He murmured. "The elder… he is dead is he not?" The man seemed to be begging for his statement to be shrugged away. Yasuo felt his guilt crushing him further.
"He is dead."
The man's face broke into a look of sadness and near horror. The other men in his group seemed to mirror his reaction. Finally the man spoke. "How did it happen?"
Yasuo let his eyes fall to the ground. He decided to come clean. "Gyro convinced me to help the battle in the town. I did. I was knocked aside like a gnat."
The man's eyes widened in anger. "You! You abandoned your duty! You… you fool! You imbecile! You failed…" The man's insults may have affected Yasuo before the battle, but now they could not even begin to compare to his own self loathing.
A grim smile almost surfaced on his face.
The man seemed to have come to an earth shattering conclusion and looked to Yasuo accusingly. "Why are you still alive if what you say is true? Why were you not slaughtered with the rest of those you say you fought to defend?"
"I… I fought their commander, atleast I think she-"
"She?" The man said incredulously.
Yasuo sighed. "She was." He continued. "She fought with more strength and speed than most could ever hope to possess. She bested me, but for some reason... For some reason she spared me."
"You know what I think Yasuo, I think you are a traitor! They spared you for information on Gyro's location! You despicable-"
Yasuo's eyes flashed in anger. He loved Gyro. He was like a second father to him and here this man made such an absurd claim. "I. Did. No. Such. Thing. I promise you, I would have gladly died to save this village. It was not to be and to my misfortune I was spared."
"Why did you bury the body…? Let me see it. Now." The man's anger matched Yasuo's despite his ignorance. The man's zeal was great.
Yasuo's eyes boiled in rage. Slowly he stood and marched to the central clearing. He went to the center to where the fountain had once stood. "He lies here. You shouldn't deserve such a wise mans grave. His spirit is at ease. Please you must believe me." Yasuo almost begged the man to reconsider his accusations. It was to no avail.
"I don't believe you."
"Is my grief not enough?"
"Anyone can act scum. Especially with a good reward on the other end."
Gyro's body was removed from the ground. Very little decay had occurred since he had been lovingly placed into his grave.
The men inspected the body and all eyes rested on the single wound on his body. The deep wound in his neck. The straight clean cut was still clear. Everyone present was seasoned enough to know that no mere blade could create such a slash mark.
"So." The man said after examining the wound. "You are one stupid son of a bitch. You should have fled with your Noxian allies, scum. We won't be merciful to the likes of you."
Yasuo's eyes widened in anger. "You think I killed him?" The wind around him was picking up speed as his anger grew and the men in the party around him backed away nervously.
"You are under arrest on the account of the murder of Councillor Gyro, a elder, and for the desertion of your assignment as well as the suspicion of traitorous behavior." The man began to move forward to grasp Yasuo's arms.
Yasuo hung his head. Perhaps other Ionians would see him as innocent of the elders death. Perhaps they will forgive him for abandoning the elder. Even if he could not. No, there was still a good chance that he could go free.