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ðˠɫ
Blind to the Truth
"They say the world will end in fire," Brand taunted, launching a blast of flame in her direction.
Diana sidestepped it easily, her jaw clenching. It had been a long time since her last encounter with the ancient pyromancer, and she had forgotten the intensity of his flames. Luckily, the summoner commanding her had not.
She felt the summoner's pull and followed the unspoken order, darting backwards to avoid the sudden pillar of flame that burst from the ground where she had been standing. He can stun me if that lands, she thought, throwing a glare and a stream of moonlight from her blade in Brand's direction. Stay back, stay safe.
The summoner was clearly skilled, and knew her well. She stepped into a crowd of minions and sliced them to pieces, their broken bodies vanishing immediately as they fell. Brand paced in her periphery, throwing occasional handfuls of fire at the henchmen by her side. Another tug from the summoner made her duck behind a minion as Brand tossed a far more powerful blast in her direction.
She felt the laughter of her summoner and was compelled to let out a harsh bark of her own. Brand's eyes narrowed and he rushed forward, clearly attempting to get into range to target her again. She struck him again, his burning body suddenly awash with white light, and ran towards the powerful turret towering behind her. If Brand's summoner was smart, he wouldn't try to follow.
He followed.
With a harsh grin and a shout of triumph, Diana dashed to Brand. He clearly hadn't been expecting it: her first few attacks went completely unanswered. She closed her eyes for the briefest moment, pulling on the power within her, and was immediately surrounded by a whirling sphere of silver light. Brand threw attack after attack at her as her shield smashed into him and activated fully.
The pyromancer snarled and set the ground beneath her ablaze. She had no time to escape: the pillar shot up around her, consuming her shield entirely and almost obscuring the ball of flame that slammed into her chest a moment later. Her body froze and locked her in place, her mind wiped completely blank. Brand grinned, his eyes burning with excitement as he prepared to end her.
Nothing happened. As the stun wore off, Diana stared in confusion at Brand, whose expression had morphed into one of fury. The burning vengeance spun around, revealing what had saved her life.
Talon gave his teammate the smallest of smirks before sending a trio of blades whipping towards Brand. One of them passed through Diana, tingling slightly as the magic of the Rift protected her from her ally's attack. Brand, deciding not to fight, began to run.
"Nightfall," Diana hissed. She slammed her blade into the ground, drawing Brand back into her range as Talon spun, throwing blades in a ring around him and vanishing. The magic of the Rift brought him back into her view and they chased Brand together, the invisible assassin and the last of the Lunari.
Brand was moments from death, but something held Diana back. Even as she ran, her eyes scanned the murky fog that covered the Rift. Someone was coming; she could feel it.
She was right. Moments later, a large dragon burst from the brush and came flying towards them. Both Diana and the still-stealthed Talon avoided the collision, but suddenly Brand was on the offensive again. With a vicious, animalistic cry, he sent a massive torrent of flame towards her.
It's going to bounce, she realized. We're both going to die.
It was a split-second decision. Just as the fire engulfed her, she dashed to Shyvana, landing at the half-dragon's side while Brand's magic incinerated her. Instead of bouncing to Talon, the inferno hit her again. Injured as she was, she couldn't take it; the summoner managed to drag her consciousness out of her body just in time for her to watch herself burn. In the strange limbo of magical death, she heard the summoner commanding Talon speak to hers.
"Good guy Diana." Her summoner laughed, already busy purchasing more items to strengthen her when she 'respawned', as the summoners so eloquently put it. She hovered above the field, watching as Talon reappeared, his blades striking Brand and ending his life. Shyvana dug her claws into the assassin, but he managed to escape from her grasp and slip silently into the fog of war again as quietly as he had come.
ðˠɫ
He found her later, standing perfectly still in the moonlit garden. She lived at the Institute of War, but he did not: had he not been compelled by Katarina to accompany her for some reason (she hadn't explained, and he hadn't cared enough to ask), he would not have been able to seek her out after the match had ended, slipping from one public room to another for most of the day before realizing his mistake and waiting for nightfall to continue his search for the Scorn of the Moon.
He stood behind her, hiding in the shadows cast by the large, twisting trees that surrounded them. For a moment he simply watched her, fascinated by the way she was able to remain so inanimate. The light of the full moon made her hair and skin glow like marble, perfect and cold in the crisp night air.
Her voice came to him distantly, as though she were deep in thought.
"Have you come to assassinate me, Shadow?"
He stepped into the light and moved to her side, glancing only briefly at her face. Her eyes were closed, the sigil on her forehead shining as brightly as the moon above. He turned his attention to the sky, his eyes scanning the moon's familiar surface as he stood in strangely companionable silence beside the Lunari.
Nearly ten minutes passed before he spoke. "You saved my life on the Rift today."
"You saved mine," she countered, her tone still remote and dispassionate.
"You sacrificed yourself to allow me to live."
"It was a strategic decision. Either I die alone and give you time to kill the Vengeance, or we both die pointlessly." Finally, she opened her eyes - he saw it on the very edge of his vision - but she merely looked to the moon. "Which would you have chosen, were it your choice to make?"
He nodded slowly and turned to leave.
"The Moon knows you, Shadow," she said, stopping him in his tracks. "She has guided you in the past and She will do so again." He remained still, unsure of what to say. "You simply need to trust Her as you did then."
He frowned, quelling his urge to turn back to her.
"You're speaking nonsense," he grumbled, his tone harsh.
Diana let out a rough bark of laughter but still remained a statue in the garden. He waited for her rebuttal, but none came. He glanced back over his shoulder to see her slowly drop to her knees and stretch her arms out to her sides, eyes closed and face turned towards the moon. Unsettled, Talon tore his eyes away from the woman and moved slowly and silently back to the Institute's brightly lit and boisterous halls.
Alone in the garden, the sigil on Diana's forehead seemed to glow more brightly, and her lips were upturned in what may have been a close approximation of a smile.
ðˠɫ
A.N
Do I know where this is going? No.
Am I enjoying writing it? Yes.
Do I want you to review? You bet.
Do you know where the review box is? Right there