Chapter 6: Caught in the Dark
A lone warrior wandered the streets of the town, patrolled it. There were little to no citizens walking about the small town, any individual who stood out would immediately be able to be picked out from the rest. He strode towards the edge of the town; his brilliant armor would sometimes make the occasional clanking sound. His armor was adorned by a golden rim, the base color being blue and sometimes white. Only the shoulder guard and the armguards were metal though, everything else was made from cloth to make ease of movement. He clutched a hefty long sword in his right hand. He seemed to carry it quite effortlessly, almost as if it was his own arm.
A barricade on the edge of the town came into view, the walls made out wooden fencing. Inside were several other soldiers bearing the same flamboyant color and armor he wore. They laughed and joked, he paid them no heed as he walked besides the fencing. The prideful soldier placed his sword into the ground and looked out into the distance.
The orange sun began setting, its rays almost a sad foreboding color.
"Commander Garen, care for a drink?" Garen looked to his left to see another soldier sitting down on a chair and offering a small silver canteen to him. The commander looked towards his fellow soldier with hard eyes, a determined and cold stare. Wind brushed against his brown neatly parted hair, he returned his gaze to the setting sun.
"No thanks Grahm, I already had one at the tavern just now." He replied in a calm yet commanding voice.
"Oho, so even The Might of Demacia sometimes derails from duty too?" The soldier had a wry grin on his young childish face. You could tell this one had not seen a battlefield ever in his life. Was this a bad sign or was this a good sign? Garen could not really explain.
Garen fixed the majestically adorned shoulder piece on his left arm; it felt like it was sliding down a bit. "It's not…derailing…I am simply sustaining myself in order to keep on duty." His voice did not change in tone, nor did his hard expression.
The soldier to his side laughed heartily, "Yeah, yeah. You and I both know there's no duty in this town."
"Summoner Alicia insisted that we escort her until her research has been completed. It is a part of our duty to comply." Garen spoke loudly, almost as if he was reciting a verse from The Measured Tread.
The young soldier scratched the back of his neck apologetically, "I apologize commander. It's just that I don't exactly see what the reason could be…I mean who would even attack a Summoner this day and age? That's an offense that would land you the death sentence straight from the League itself."
"Grahm, no matter what time or age it is, there will always be scum in the world who will stop at nothing to accomplish their ends. The Summoners may be protected by the League…but they are anything but safe."
A swing from his arm would call forth twin violet spears from opposing points. The two dimensional spears converged on one another, impaling through multiple robed midget figures. With the wave of his arms a large spacial void opened up underneath another wave of the small minions. The mindless servants collapsed and faded into the nothingness that they had once been.
"We demand sacrifice…" An otherworldly voice hissed from a singular figure that stood in the middle of the path...or perhaps it was more accurate to say he was floating. The foreboding figure wore baggy violet clothes, all features hidden except for his omniscient blue eyes that glowed with another presence.
Another cluster of the small beings scurried across the pathway, mechanically heading towards the floating entity.
With a wave of his arm, dark swaths cut open to the sides of the minions. Otherworldly spears consumed the small creatures.
Head top, Malzahar, we'll help Cho'gath finish them off. A stern voice, male, commanded his thoughts.
"At once…" He responded. The dark prophet floated effortlessly above the ground towards a shallow body of water that ran down as far as the eye could see. His glowing eyes scanned the front for any movements; his Summoner would in turn look out for any signs of activity behind him.
Faint sounds of a battle ensuing began to grow. The ground below Malzahar trembled slightly as he made his way into a patch of tall grass. He lowered himself to ground level and crouched below the grass's height. Beyond the grass blades he saw the wonderful chaos.
A monster of frightening size was battling two combatants. Great mandibles dripped with fresh blood on the sides of the monster's jaw. It resembled a violet lizard but bore claws much like a mantis's on its back. The horrifying creature, known only as Cho'gath, gave a feral roar at the two enemies. So frightening was the roar that it blew even some of the terrain back. The opposition had to stand firm less they be blown back as well.
The two enemies on the opposing side were more humanoid. One appeared to be an average boy, blonde in unkempt hair, who wore a hefty gauntlet with a large gem embedded at the center of it. He was known widely as The Prodigal Explorer, Ezreal. The other was a dark blue enigmatic figure. From head to toe he was covered in a dark blue tunic, his face unreadable as a mask covered it. Glowing yellow eyes assessed the situation from behind the mask. Immediately Malzahar had identified him as the Kinkou warrior known as Shen.
Cho'gath's feet stomped against the ground, causing a tremor to occur moments later. The earth shook as Ezreal and Shen felt the very ground underneath their feet begin to rise. Shen made a dive into a nearby brush and Ezreal instantly teleported away from the area in a brilliant flash of golden light. Several spikes made from the natural terrain jolted upwards, and then settled back down into the Runeterran earth. The Prodigal Explorer fired off a streak of white bolt at the Voidborn.
The bolt splashed against Cho'gath's head and left the monster in a dazed state as it shook its head. A dagger came spinning out of the brushes and had imbedded itself into one of Cho'gath's legs. Shen dashed out of the bushes passed Cho'gath, all the while retrieving his dagger from the creature's leg. The ninja proceeded by unsheathing his other dagger and made a forward arching sweep with both blades at Cho'Gath's hind leg. This strike, empowered by Shen's own energies, caused the monster to stumble to the side.
It was at this moment that Malzahar began to move as a white light enveloped his being and transferred him in front of the unwary Ezreal. Like a conductor to a destructive symphony, Malzahar began waving his hands around.
As Ezreal attempted to run back to the safety of the colossal tower that sat behind him, a large void space grew under his feet and began crackling with energy. Despite this the young man continued through the space that seemed to be sucking the energy from his body.
Ezreal heard a small squeaking noise and turned his head to see what it was. A small four legged purple creature pounced onto his back and dug its large mandibles into his back. The boy fell back as he felt the creature begin tearing out flesh after flesh from his back.
Malzahar returned his attention to Cho'gath, who stood even larger than ever. Off to the side was the lifeless body of the Kinkou warrior, a good portion of it had been torn off.
"I grow tired of facing these….hideous creatures everyday! When will we be finished with them?" The Void monster screeched hideously, snarling at the prophet.
"All in due course, Voidborn. Everything as we speak is in motion, and soon we shall set this world towards their fate. But for now, we wait…" The Mad Prophet hissed ominously.
He looked down the lane as he saw the Voidling, born from the Prophet's unearthly powers, scuttle across the fields. Only moments later to crumple lifelessly onto the ground.
"Get out now! Can't you see I'm busy?" A frantic woman in glasses screeched furiously from her small desk. The Demacian soldier at the front pulled the door in front of himself as a cup flew towards him. As intimidating as the helmet and armor looked on the soldier, he was visibly afraid of the woman.
Upon hear the cup shatter against the door he pushed it open once again, "I'm sorry milady, we jus-!" This time he shut the door completely as a dagger planted itself into the wooden door. Muffled protests emitted from behind the door.
The woman gave a huge sigh before collapsing onto the desk chair. She took a deep breath straightened out her noble green garbs before pulling a pouch from her waist and setting it down on the desk. Light from the flickering candles played across the pouch's' exterior as she began unwrapping it. A blue light came out from the opening in at the top. The woman spread the fabric out, unveiling an onyx rock with a glowing blue crystal at the center.
The onyx rock was shaped in a five pointed star fashion while the blue crystal looked much like a tear.
"Simply amazing…that such a small mineral could possess the power to ward off an entire world…" She said in a mesmerized state as she studied the rock.
Now all I have to do is find a small crack into the Void…then I'll be able to- The door behind her creaked open, prompting her to drop the palm-sized stone and wrap it up in the cloth again.
She spun around in a furious state, expecting another of the half-witted Demacian soldiers to be standing there, "Did I not just say I wanted some peace and quiet?"
To her surprise however there was not the common blue, gold and white. Instead she saw a figure literally covered from head to toe in dark silver armor. Trying to look at its face was almost impossible for it had none. The figure merely donned a double plated mask. The left half of its armored body was draped in a black cape that extended to its waist. Black skirts made of cloths extended to the ankles of its steeled feet; two shorter layers overlapped each other and alternated in black and red coloration.
"Who the he-?" She tried to cry out words, but before she could finish her question a strong metallic hand grabbed her by the mouth and silenced her. The woman panicked and flailed her arms about, desperately trying to grab something to use as a weapon. Muffled cries emitted through the steel hand. She felt her back press against the desk and chair together.
The panic was suddenly brought to a halt as she felt something plunge into the left side of her chest. She felt pain, but the strength in her began to dwindle to the point where it took all her strength just to move her arms. Then the sound of her heartbeat diminishing was audible, like a distant thunderstorm at its end. She was set down on the desk gently in a sitting position, the last thing she saw was a silver gauntlet taking the stone she had been studying moments before. Finally…she saw nothing.
"…you too shall be remembered…"
An ill fate remains for ten who have dared trespass…
Author: I feel I am stretching it a little bit. I mean...an assassin getting by Demacian guards so easily? It seemed almost comedic. But it's not like Demacian soldiers are gods or anything, they're not perfect. Even Garen, a paragon of Demacia, is prone to failure. They're human afterall. Which is my reasoning behind that little fiasco. No, it is not an attempt to make my character look like some supreme being, I wanted to move the story forward a bit faster. You'll soon find that this story is more than just about a character insertion but more about Runeterra as a whole.