Season's End

"You have been slain!" Syndra collapsed to the floor for the tenth time in the match. Her vision grayed as a timer hovered over her, displaying how long it would be until she reappeared at her fountain. Stupid summoner… Syndra thought privately as the timer slowly ticked inexorably downwards. In the background, Syndra heard Double kill! Triple kill!... Quadrakill… PENTAKILL! ACE! Syndra finally reappeared at her fountain and began moving down the middle lane. It didn't matter though, seconds later, the enemy nexus exploded in a brilliant plume of smoke. Instantly, Syndra found herself back in the champion's preparation room. The other champions ported in shortly after her. Syndra sighed heavily as she sat down on a bench and massaged her temples with her hands. She had a migraine from being killed so many times by enemy champions.

"Grahaha! Nice feeding there purple!" A gruff voice sounded from behind her. It was her teammate in the match, Renekton. Syndra didn't bother replying as she rose from her seat and moved towards the exit.

"Hey! It's the feeder!" It was Tryndamere from the opposing team. The other team looked up and laughed at Syndra.

"Good thing Kog'maw can carry your useless balls right Syndra?" Another champion yelled. Syndra did her best to ignore everyone in the room as she swiftly moved to the exit.

"By the way Kog, nice pentakill back there…" Their voices faded as Syndra left the arena. It was like this every time she was summoned to the Fields of Justice. Almost no summoners knew how to use her boundless magic to its full extent. Stupid summoners…Syndra muttered darkly. She almost regretted becoming a champion for the Institute of War, but realistically, she had little choice. With almost every bounty hunter after her head, the Institute offered the most unobtrusive alternative to constantly being harassed by assassins. Not that Syndra couldn't handle them of course; it was simply becoming boringto squash the useless assassins that came after her. That and Syndra sought stronger opponents to use her powers on. What the Institute didn't tell her was that she would not be in direct control of herself, instead, meddlesome summoners would dictate how and when she could use her powers.

Syndra scowled angrily as she left the rift, becoming more and more agitated as she thought about how much the Institute had lied to her. The moment Syndra left the Rift, she was immediately swept into a lively atmosphere. Right. Syndra remembered, It's the end of the season… Syndra let out another heavy sigh as she watched other champions mingle with friends and family from their homelands. Her anger faded, replaced by something along the lines of envy.

"Syndra…" A voice startled Syndra out of her thoughts. She glanced up to find a young woman with a large blade floating around her head standing directly in her path.

"Do you… Want to come home with me?" Irelia asked somewhat hesitantly. Syndra scowled and brushed passed her without replying, she still had not forgiven Irelia for the actions she had committed several years ago. Irelia looked dejected as she watched Syndra disappear into the distance.

"Ready to go Irelia?" Soraka asked as she emerged from a crowd of people.

"Yeah…" Irelia replied in a mute tone.

"She still isn't talking to you is she." Soraka commented, as she traced Irelia's gaze to the fading figure in the distance. Irelia shook her head in response.

"Don't worry about it; she will come to you eventually." Soraka smiled, trying to comfort Irelia.

"I hope so…" Irelia finally replied as the pair turned and walked off towards the group of Ionians who were assigned to escort them back to their homeland.

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Syndra walked alone. Nobody bid her farewell as she left the Institute of War through the main gates. Although she could have used her power to carry herself back to her castle, Syndra chose to walk. She wanted to feel the ground beneath her feet, the roughness of the road would keep her mind distracted from the growing hole in her heart. The scenery around Syndra was bright and vibrant; the wildlife was in full bloom; birds chirruped in the distance, creating a twinkly melody, but it was all so distant to Syndra. The land could have been on fire and she would not have noticed. Numb was the only thought that occupied Syndra's mind. Friends. Syndra suddenly thought friends… could make the numbness go away… She stopped and shook her head. No… Friends only hurt you…Power… Power makes you strong. Syndra continued thinking. You don't need friends to rely on if you have power…

Syndra continued her journey down the path towards a nearby mountain range. Beyond it was her domain, a small valley scorched black and violet by her experiments with her boundless magic. It was a stark contrast to the land she was travelling through now. The trees that had covered the trail had long since given way to a vast plain of grass and small shrubbery. Once again, Syndra hardly noticed the change in landscape. She was lost, drowning in her own thoughts.

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The void was a strange thing. Even stranger were the creatures that came from it. Kog'maw was no exception to this rule. If he had anything that he could call home, the plains were as close as it came. Kog'maw spent almost all of his free time frolicking about in the boundless sea of grass, chasing butterflies or any other small creatures that made their home in the area. Today, his behavior was no different from any other day.

"Blurgragha!" Kog'maw gurgled loudly as he floundered after a small rodent. The tiny rat darted left and right desperately trying to escape the lumbering void beast that wanted the animal in his stomach. Finally, the rat darted into a hole in the ground.

"Blurgh…" Kog'maw grumbled disappointedly as his toy escaped him.

"Kog'maw hungry… So… Hungry…" Kog'maw gargled aloud as he searched for something else to eat. He turned around and peered off into the distance. Then, he found it.

"Grah! Candy!" He exclaimed excitedly. In the distance, a lone figure was moving along a dirt trail. Three purple spheres were dragging along the floor behind her. Kog'maw didn't know what they were, but they looked delicious.

Mrgahahahahahahahaha!" Kog'maw gargled gleefully as he barreled down a small hill towards the figure. Kog'maw plowed straight into the woman, knocking her to the floor in a small cloud of dust.

"Gnom!" came a sound from Kog'maw as he clamped his maw down on a sphere. It didn't taste like anything. Kog'maw tried to swallow it, but the sphere refused to travel down his throat. Kog'maw spat the sphere back out with a soft –ptoo-. He moved to the next sphere. It tasted like dirt. Ptoo! Last sphere? Dirt. Ptoo!

"Graww…." Kog'maw sounded, disappointed that the spheres not only didn't taste like anything, but also that he couldn't eat them. Syndra groaned as she dragged herself back to her feet. The fall hurt, but she was so desensitized at that point that all she felt was a dull throb in her body. Turning around, she observed what had collided with her. Kog'maw was curiously gnawing on one of her three spheres. Suddenly, he noticed Syndra.

"Gnom?" He questioned with a sphere in his mouth. He cocked his head slightly sideways as he regarded Syndra with curiosity.

"Fewd?" He asked suddenly, his mouth still jammed with a sphere and his beady eyes begging Syndra to feed him. Syndra immediately looked away, breaking eye contact, but Kog'maw had already peered into them. Her eyes were distant and dull, without any sparkle to them. Empty he thought… like tummy… Syndra got up without a word of reply to Kog'maw's requests and continued trudging slowly down the path. Unhinging his jaw from the sphere in his mouth, Kog'maw watched silently as the woman dragged herself down the road, the spheres dragged along the floor in a similar fashion.

Kog'maw gave a quiet gurgle of curiosity and started following Syndra down the road. The more he followed her, the more miserable she began to look. Although Syndra's stride was normal, her eyes stared at the floor and her shoulders sagged as though an invisible weight were pulling her down. A few minutes later, Syndra glanced backwards, knowing that the void beast was following her. Instinctively, Kog'maw hid behind a bush, poking out his head slightly to watch her through his beady eyes. He wasn't a stealthy creature by any means, so Syndra noticed him behind the bush almost immediately. Upon realizing he was spotted, Kog'maw stuck his entire head out from behind the bush and gave Syndra a huge gaping smile.

"Blarghrah?" He asked as though he were trying to actually say something. Syndra's eyes gave a brief flicker of acknowledgement, but they quickly returned to hard chips of ice, distant and cold.

"Graww…" Kog'maw bumbled sounding disappointed as Syndra turned away from him and continued walking.

Frowerth! Kog'maw suddenly thought to himself. Every girl liked flowers right? Kog'maw waddled along the trail, picking flowers at random. He had no hands that could carry a large amount of anything, so he stored them in the same place he stored everything else, in his stomach. Five minutes later, Kog'maw felt like he had gathered enough flowers. Realistically, he just lost count and was running out of flowers to put in his stomach. The landscape was changing rapidly; the sea of grass was gone, replaced by a rocky landscape signature of that of a mountain pass. Kog'maw was suddenly running out of bushes to hide behind.

"Ruhoh!" He gargled as he saw the barren path that lead straight through the mountains. Faced with an insurmountable problem, Kog'maw came up with the most basic solution possible. Quickly returning to the last bush he hid behind, Kog'maw clamped his mouth down on the stem of the plant and pulled. Despite his size, Kog'maw was deceptively strong. He bodily ripped the bush out of the ground, roots and dirt still intact.

-Rustle-rustle-rustle… pause… - rustle-rustle… pause…- rustle-rustle-rustle-rustle-rustle-rustle- Finally, Syndra turned around again to see what the noise was. Kog'maw was holding the bush in his mouth, using the bush as though it were a shield that made him invisible to Syndra's eyes. The sight was rather comical, as the vibrantly green colored bush looked horribly out of place among the desolate background of the mountain pass. Syndra felt the edges of her lips curl upwards slightly in the barest of all smiles. She turned back to the path and continued walking, pretending like she had not noticed Kog'maw even though his tail was sticking out from behind the plant. The two continued up the path through the mountains until they reached the highest point in the pass. Syndra stopped and finally spoke:

"Alright… What do you want…" She asked, her hollow, echoing voice was as dull and lifeless as her eyes were. Kog'maw didn't reply, trying to adhere to his stealth. Syndra twitched with slight annoyance as she gave a small wave of her hand, using her power to lift the bush off the ground. Kog'maw didn't let go of the bush, but suddenly found himself dangling one meter off the ground, his body in full view. Slowly, he rolled his beady eyes to the side, gazing straight into Syndra's eyes.

"Fewd!" He immediately replied, still keeping his mouth clamped down on the bush. It was the response he always gave whenever someone asked him what he wanted.

"I don't have any." Syndra said flatly with a hint of anger. Abruptly, she dropped the bush down on the floor. –Ptooo!-Kog'maw spat out the bush immediately after his feet touched the ground.

"Bbbblurgrah!" he continued and vomited a brightly colored ball. He gazed expectantly at Syndra with his beady eyes.

"I'm not hungry." She replied somewhat exasperatedly. Kog'maw nudged the ball in her direction, looking at the ball, and then at Syndra, his expectations unwavering.

"Frowerthz" he finally managed to gurgle, speech was clearly difficult for him. He nudged the ball towards Syndra again, and gazed at her with the same unwavering expectation. Syndra looked at him dubiously. A gift? She thought privately. She glanced at the void beast again; he was still waiting for her to accept the mass of flora. It was a rare occasion that Kog'maw was offering something from his stomach to another individual, unless that something happened to be an acidic ball of stomach juice. Syndra sighed and finally gave in:

"Thank you. You can go now…" She said as she lifted the dripping mass of flowers with a small flick of her wrist. Kog'maw fixed Syndra with a huge winning grin across his maw.

"Happy?" Kog'maw gurgled, spewing spittle onto the floor beneath him. Syndra stiffened, surprised the by the single word. It had been a long time since anyone had asked her such a simple thing.

"Yeah… Sure. Happy." Syndra finally breathed out, her eyes glazed over slightly as they adopted a wistful look. Kog'maw's huge smile got bigger.

"Mragaha!" he gargled happily and floundered about. Even Syndra couldn't resist the void beast's goofy charm, as the barest of smiles again crossed her face. Syndra watched the void beast flounder about until suddenly, a thought crossed Syndra's mind, Where dd Kog'maw go during the off season? She wondered and glanced back at the floundering monster.

"Kog?" Syndra finally spoke up, her voice slightly lighter this time.

"Grah?" Kog'maw replied, still floundering about.

"Where's your home?" Syndra asked. Kog'maw stopped his floundering and tilted his head towards Syndra.

"No home." He gargled simply. Syndra sighed in response. I'm going to regret this. She thought, but she pushed the thought away.

"You're invited to… accompany me at my fortress." Syndra offered somewhat hesitantly.

"Fewd?" Kog'maw questioned in reply. Syndra almost smiled at the beast's simplicity.

"Yes there is plenty of food there." Syndra answered.

"Grawr! Fewd good!" Kog'maw bobbed his head eagerly and waddled over to Syndra's feet. Promptly, Syndra turned on her heel and continued down the path to her domain; Kog'maw eagerly following behind her.

Author's Note:

I know things are getting off to a slow start, I am trying a little bit of a new layout for this story. Hopefully it turns out well for you all. As usual, please critique my work and thank you for reading. Expect irregular updates, but the story should be done within two weeks.