Finally a new chapter. Sorry for the late update, I was busy playing Fate/Extra (great game, btw) and researching more of the League of Legends lore, so the fic would be the most loyal to the main lore as possible. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it! And again, report any english mistakes!

At one of the main buildings at the Placidium, in a small room, a blue haired female in red armor sat in a chair in front of a table. She was reviewing numerous papers, sometimes mumbling some words to herself before signing something and putting it aside.

A sudden movement at the door of the room interrupted that slow job, as a dark skinned woman clad in a purple attire entered the room.

"Karma." The blue haired one said, giving the other a glance, before returning to her task. "What brings you here now?"

"Well," the woman said, sitting in another chair at the other side of the desk. "I heard that the higher ups sent a lot of work your way, so I thought about giving you a hand."

"No problem, I'm almost done anyway." She sighed. "But really, what are the Elders thinking…"

"Oh, you're talking about their position with the military?"

The blue-haired girl looked through the window and into the city. That part of the capital was mostly home to the higher-ups, mostly diplomats that lived in the city. Only if you looked far beyond the big buildings that you would see the small and simple homes of the common folk of Ionia. The ones that suffered the most.

"The people are afraid." She started. "Since the war, you can see that most people don't even leave their homes anymore… Merchants have left to more safe places, and citizens are crawling with fear of another war taking their lives. And yet those old men refuse to build an army."

"Irelia, I understand your fears," Karma said, with a calm look in her face. "but you can't expect the Elders, that have followed traditions for thousands of years, to just decide to build an army, even if it is to appease the population."

"Karma!" Irelia started to lose her composure, getting up from her chair. "Noxus almost took control of Ionia! If not for the brave souls that decided to fight in the name of peace, we could all be dead or slaved right now!"

Karma kept calm, even with the sudden outburst from her friend. Irelia calmed her voice a little, but still let her hands form a fist in the desk.

"I wonder…" She lowered her head slightly, starting to speak again. "I wonder what my father or my brother would have done in my place."

"You know you can't take advice from the dea—"

"I know." Irelia cut her off, lifting her face. "It's just… Losing both of them so fast… Just after my father died from illness, the reports from my brother platoon came with him 'missing'."

"A lot of people died in the war. Lots have also gone missing. The war was not kind to anyone."

"Because we didn't have an organized military!" she yelled again. "We can't just pretend that there are no problems out there! Pretend that every country takes the same vision of peace as Ionia! It will be only a matter of time till Ionia is no more!"

"I agree with you, Irelia." Karma still had her calm demeanor, not even frowning at the arguments of the other woman. "I know that we won't be able to defend ourselves just by praying and meditating, but…"

"But what?"

"Don't you think that building an army would also take the tool on the population?"

"What… what do you mean?" Irelia's eyes widened after that statement. "An army would be prejudicial to them?"

"Farmers, merchants, artisans…" she started, looking through the window, just like Irelia did before. "They lost parents, brothers, children, friends because of the war. If we only impose an army right now they would always live with a fear in their eyes for another war…"

"So you are saying for us to wait." Irelia sat down, calming herself. "I see no problem, but I don't want a repetition of what happened two years ago. I waited too long for those Elders to just believe nothing is wrong."

"Don't worry, Irelia. Sooner or later all will be solved."

"I hope so…" she looked through the papers she had received earlier. "We lost many people in the war… Many good people…"

"Wait," Karma exclaimed, observing the documents. "These papers are from the military casualties from the war?"

"Exactly." Irelia took some of the papers in her hand, and started reading aloud. "Sargent Lowi. General Ollyeh. Lieutenant Tarem. Lieutenant…" She stopped before reading the next name, with a look of worry on her face. "Rayvel…"

"Rayvel?" Karma asked. "Is that an important name in particular?"

"Yeah…" she nodded, directing her gaze to her friend. "Rayvel was a good friend from my brother, also a military genius. He had abilities both in tactics as in weaponry. He was in my brother platoon when he also disappeared."

"I see…"

The conversation between the two was interrupted by the door being open abruptly. A sweaty messenger bowed slightly to ask for permission, even if his face betrayed the need for formalities.

"Speak." Irelia just commanded, before the messenger answered.

"T-there are some problems in the east! The Elder from Zorak asks for help!"

"What happened?!" both girls got up from their seats and went to the messenger, visibly worried.

The messenger just looked at them for a second, a fearful look stamped in his face, before saying only one word.

"M-Monsters!"

Volk and Ahri were walking through the residential area of the capital, Ahri showing him the more important places, and also introducing him to some people she knew.

To Volk the walk was… interesting, to say the least. Since, even though his memories were simply "the common sense", he still could not understand a lot of those. He had problems understanding the difference between most animals, and some colors still did not look "ok" to him – even though he could easily distinguish the red and white of Ahri's clothes.

Right now the two were in the public market. Volk was dumbfounded from seeing so many people, and could not hide his nervousness and slightly hint of panic, to which Ahri simply laughed silently.

"Hey, hey!" A man that looked like he was in his late-thirties waved to Ahri from behind a wooden stall that was covered in a red thingy. "Ahri, come over here!"

" Mr. Maito!" she waved back to the man, and turned to Volk, giving a little smile. "He's a friend. Come!"

Ahri took Volk's arm and dragged him to the merchant's stall. As Volk gave a better look at the red that covered it, he noticed that it came from a sphere-like object with some kind of a little stick coming from the top. It was strange, to say the least.

"So, Ahri," the man started talking to the girl with a big smile. "Who's your new friend? Got your claws on another man, you little foxy?"

"Oh, come on," she lowered her head, annoyed. "You make me sound like some fickle girl. And he's not my boyfriend, I just met him, to tell you the truth." She turned to the boy that was still looking curiously to the little red things and gave him a little thud on the arm. "Volk, this is Mr. Maito, the one with the best apples around here. Mr. Maito, this is Volk."

"Volk, huh? You better take care of this girl, or she'll flee from you really quickly." The man chuckled, while Ahri started yelling at him. However, the boy did not really took attention to any of that and just said, visibly confused.

"Apples…?"

Both Maito and Ahri looked at him with surprise, which he answered with an even more curious face, as if expecting an answer.

"First you saying that my ears were cat one's, then the problems we had with green color, and now you say that you don't know what apples are." She sighed. "Really, I wonder how you hit your head so hard."

Maito, after hearing Ahri's sigh, bursted into laughter, which scared the two younger ones. Drying an invisible tear, he picked an apple and handed to the boy.

"Here. The best way to know what an apple is, is to taste it."

Volk took the fruit in his hand and looked at it curiously. The slim and reddish skin, the little stick at the top, and how the color slowly turned to yellow at the bottom, all were new to him.

"One for you too, Ahri, of course. Free of charge!" the old man smiled, handing Ahri another apple.

"Thank you!" The girl did not even wait, before eating the apple with an amazing speed, as if the apple was going to disappear if she did not eat it.

"You really like apples, huh?" Maito asked her, a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Huhum!" she nodded, mouth still full. After swallowing it, she opened her mouth to speak. "It has a taste similar to something that I used to eat a long time ago, and since I can't eat it anymore, apples kind of help me." She then turned to Volk, who was looking at her, apple still whole in his hand. "Come on, the apple won't bite you back, just do it."

He looked at the apple one more time. He closed his eyes in a "whatever" way, and finally opened his mouth to bite the fruit. After swallowing, he opened his eyes in a flash, and jumped from his place.

"THIS IS AWESOOOOOOOOME!" He yelled, making a lot of eyes turn to him at that slightly crowded market. "It's like I am in heaven," he made a theatrical pose, as if he was just reciting a poem. "Eating the food of the Goddess, and playing with her little kitty that is poking my leg every time I try to stand up!"

"Well, so you lik—" Maito tried to ask him, but the boy was faster and grabbed his hands, pulling himself closer.

"Sir! This that you have here is a gift from the other world! From this day onward I shall call you The King of the Apple Hill!"

Both Ahri and Maito stared dumbfounded at the boy that ranted endlessly about the greatness of Maito and his apples.

"No! No! I have a better name! What about the Lord Appleton?!"

"Is he always like that…?" the old man whispered to the girl.

"For real? I'm not sure."

"Nooooo…" he started, lowering his voice. "I SHALL CALL YOU EMPEROR APPLETIN!"

"Alright, that was the last one." Ahri said, picking an apple and putting it in Volk's mouth, in a way that he could not speak.

"MHMHHHHM"

"Yes, yes, my dear. Now take care of yourself." she sighed, and turned to Maito. "Mister, where is Wukong?"

"Well…" he lowered his head a bit. "He went out of the city to search for some merchants that should already have arrived."

"Sounds suspicious enough?"

"Kind of." He sighed, putting his hand at his head. "There have been rumors around of bandits, so it's a possibility that they attacked the caravan."

"Alright then." She finally freed Volk from the apple, letting him and the apple fall into the ground. "We're going to help search for him."

"Oh, that would be great, Ahri!" Maito said, with another big smile. "I'm thankful!"

"Ouch…" Volk put a hand at his cheeks in pain, before finally understanding Ahri's words. "Hey! What the hell do you mean with 'we'?!"

Just a few minutes later, they were walking through the forest near the road to the capital, trying to find the whereabouts of the merchant caravan.

Ahri was leading the way, with an uninterested Volk following her.

"I'll ask you one more time." He started, gesturing his discontentment. "Just WHY are we doing this?"

"Because it's fun. Also, Wukong was the one who brought you to my house, so I want you to meet him."

"Ok. First, we could wait for him at the city, no reason to venture into the forest for that, and second," he took his breath for a second. "FUN? THERE ARE BANDITS OUT THERE! B-A-N-D-I-T-S! THEY GONNA RIP OUR EYES AND SAW OUR LEGS OFF!"

"Really?" she looked at him with a teasing look. "Maybe they would even start toying with us before killing… I heard these bandits are a lot into torturing their victims."

Yes. That was the kicker. The scared face turned into a panic one, as tears almost fell from Volk's eyes.

Ahri laughed loudly. She did not expect that reaction. "Don't worry, Volk, I was just kidding. Besides, you have a sword, you are not a defenseless person."

"Just because I have a sword doesn't mean I know how to use it, damn."

She laughed again, and went to the boy's side. "Don't worry, I'll protect you if you end up in trouble."

A confused look emerged in his face. "And how will you do that…?"

Ahri showed her tongue to him and winked, teasing him again. "Just trust me, alright?"

"… Do I have a choice?"

"Nope~~" she said, giggling.

Shortly after, Ahri's ears started to twitch. "Do you hear this?"

"… Hear what?"

"Footsteps!" she started running to the direction of the sounds, with Volk trying to keep up with her.

"Hey, wait! Dammit, this fox is more trouble than she's worth."

Turning around a tree, Volk finally found Ahri, and also the source of the footsteps. About 10 men and women with some sacks at their backs.

"Are you the merchants that are going to the capital?" the fox-girl asked them, and received various nods as answer.

"Yes, but we were attacked by bandits on the way here. They let us go, but the carts were stolen." One of the older men said, walking a step forward. "We also lost our map but thanks to some kind of…" he stopped, trying to think of a way to call his savior. "Talking monkey? Yeah, I guess that is right. He pointed us the way and said that he will recover our things."

"Talking monkey? That's Wukong, certain." Ahri said, putting a hand at her chin, thinking.

"Wait, your friend is a monkey? First a fox, now a monkey, what is next? A polar bear? A supersized cat with dreads?"

"Oh, don't be silly!" she then turned back to the merchants. "In which direction he went?"

"To the northwest." He pointed to said direction. "It shouldn't be too long till you find something."

"Alright, thank you." With a bow of gratitude, she turned to Volk. "Let's go!"

"I really won't be able to change your mind, huh?"

"Again, no."

The two followed the way the merchant said for about half an hour. After that, they arrived in a big clearing in the middle of the forest. Four wagons stood there, and what looked like bandits surrounded it, taking food, clothes, or whatever else they wanted from it.

"Well, we found your bandits, what now, foxy?" he asked her, with visible sarcasm in his voice.

"It's better if we wait."

He nodded to the girl and stopped to think about the situation for the first time.

He was in a forest, home to bandits, with a girl that he had just met a few hours ago. No, scratch that. He just woke from a nap of god knows how long a few hours ago, and now he's being pushed into a fight that isn't his for the sake of this… Fox girl. Yes. Fox.

Ahri…. His mind went to the girl for a few seconds. He did not know anything about her, but here he was, risking his own unmemorized life because she said so. What am I? One of those skirt chasers that does everything for the girls?

Why that girl had enough sense of justice to try to help the merchants? Was it really just to help her friend? That sounded fishy enough.

"Sigh… Humans are really strange…"

His eyes widened after noticing his thought. He said that almost as if he… was no human.

"Really. I need some sleep."

However, a rather peculiar scene interrupted his train of thought.

One of the bandits that looked like he was taking a nap in a darker side of the clearing was being stalked by… a monkey? No, it was a clothed monkey with a staff?

"I REALLY need some sleep."

Without thinking, the monkey hit the bandit with his staff with an enormous force, making the man fall to the ground.

"Now that was nice. Heh, I guess I already know his nickname!" he stopped for a second "What the hell is wrong with me and nicknames?!"

"Hey, that's him!" Ahri said, pulling Volk slightly to the darker place. "It's Wukong!"

Ahri waved to the monkey, who jumped in surprise.

"Ahri, damn." He said in a whispering tone. "Don't be too loud! They will hear us! And what are you doing here?"

"I came to help you, of course! You shouldn't do this kind of thing alone!"

"Really, you shouldn't worry about me, I'm a practitioner of the Wuju Style!" the monkey then turned to Volk, who was staring at him fiercely. "Hey, you woke up! Are you feeling bett—I-is there something wrong?"

"STEALTH TIGER!" He shouted, putting one hand in his face, letting just his left eye appear, and positioning his other hand between him and Wukong. "I shall call you by that name from now on, Stealth Tiger!"

"Stealth… Tiger…?" the confused faces were replaced by worried ones when shouts came from the middle of the clearing. "Dammit, they heard you!"

In just a few seconds, the trio was surrounded by around 15 men with swords and pistols.

"They must have come to take the carts back!" one of the bandits said, pointing his sword to them. "Kill them!"

"Huh? Kill?" Volk finally came back to reality after hearing those words. He turned to the bandits, visibly scared. "C-can't we talk about this? We can drink tea while we chat…!"

"They are bandits for a reason, strange human. They won't hear you." The monkey picked his staff up again in an offensive stance, ready to fight. "Let's do this!"

With that, Wukong jumped in direction of the thieves, enhancing his staff and hitting two bandits with it, knocking them out.

"Wukong is right, we need to fight." Ahri turned to Volk, winking. "Just stay behind me, they wouldn't be able to even touch my pretty face."

The boy just nodded, and with that, the fox-girl put herself in front of him. Her eyes started to shine slightly, while a blue colored orb appeared in her right hand. From her tail, other eight appeared, making a kind of shield for the boy.

"Nine… tails?" he asked, but did not get an answer, as the girl already threw her orb in direction of two other bandits. The orb went through the chest of them, and they promptly fell to the ground, while the orb came back to the girl.

"See? Not even a scratch!" she said, winking to Volk. It was obvious to him that she was just trying to cheer him up, so he would not be scared. However, this also took away her attention to the battle at hand.

"Huh? Ahri, behind you!" he yelled, seeing a bandit sneak upon the girl, dagger in hand.

"What?"

She tried to turn, but there is no way that she would be able to dodge the attack in time. The dagger, aimed at her chest, would be soon drinking her blood.

Volk had just woken up, and he will see blood.

Someone would die, right before his eyes.

SHE will die, right in front of him. The same girl that helped him, made him food, and laughed at his stupid jokes. She will die at the same day they met.

And there was nothing he could do.

Nothing.

Nothing, huh? I guess I should help, then.

A voice echoed on his head, but before he could ask himself what that was, he saw himself picking his sword up.

"Argh…!"

The bandit grunted, looking at the cut he had at his chest. In front of him, the brown-haired boy stands, sword in hand and a vicious look in his eyes.

"Damn, you fucker…" the man tried to fix his stance, taking his balance back, but was answered with a punch in the face. He flew a few meters and stopped in a tree.

"Volk…!" Ahri started, but stopped herself after seeing the dark look the boy had in his face. His eyes were emotionless, but his lips curved in a slight smirk, enough to make Volk look scary.

"Alright! I got them!" Wukong yelled, having already defeated the other bandits. "We really should take these guys to the authorities, thought."

The words from Wukong took Volk out of his trance. He immediately put his hand on his head, feeling pain. "What… What happened?"

"You… You saved me." The fox girl said, helping him keep standing. "You were very fast. I don't think I ever saw someone draw a sword so fast like that."

"I… I guess so?" he was still a little confused about what had just happened, he remembered the voice he had heard in his head, but the rest happened so fast he couldn't keep track of.

"Ok, I finished." Wukong had just tied the last bandit with some rope he found on the wagons. "We should go back to Ionia to report about this. The merchants will be happy too."

"Yeah, that's right." Ahri smiled, looking at her friend. "Let's go quickly!"

The two went on ahead the road, but Volk stayed at the same spot, still frozen.

"What is happening…?" His thoughts started wandering through his mind freely, taking the form of various little yells at his head. However, none of them could be louder than one specific thought. "Who the hell am I?!"

"Volk, come on! Let's go home!" Ahri yelled to him, taking him out of trance.

"Oh, right. I'm coming!" He then followed the two on the road to the capital.

Noxus. High Command Headquarters.

Jericho Swain. Grand General of Noxus, the greatest position on the Noxian hierarchy. He rose to this spot after defeating Keiran Darkwill, son of former Grand General Boram Darkwill, in a duel. At first glance, one would say Swain is a common old general or tactician of Noxus forces. Using normal yellow and green robes and a cane, one would mistake him as a retired military enforcer.

That mistake should not be made.

If just one glance at Swain's full portrait can give one a certain feeling about the General, just one glance at his eyes will give one another feeling – fear, mixed with an incredible ambition.

Since he joined the military, he had proved himself one of the best tacticians Noxus ever had, achieving higher ranks after every mission, and gaining the loyalty of those who fought under his command. Even Darius, one of Noxus' most famed generals, decided to support Jericho at becoming the Grand General.

However, Swain is not the epitome of honesty or pride. Even though the common noxian does not know, his ties to secret associations are very strong, even stronger than in the past, before he rose to the throne of Noxus.

And if not enough, no one knows a thing about the bird that is always at his shoulder, not leaving even to eat or sleep.

Jericho Swain, Grand General of Noxus, is a mystery.

And this mystery is, right now, walking in the corridor of the high command headquarters, heading to his private office.

He had to pick some papers up there, but after opening the door to the office, he froze.

"Who is there?" he yelled, standing at the door.

"Hey, you should have waited for the 'Knock, knock'!" a deep and sarcastic voice came from the corner of the room. The person was sitting on Swain's couch, however not a lot more could be seen in the darkness of the room.

"Who are you and why are you in my office?"

"Why you noxians are always so hasty… C'mon, sit down, drink some liquor! Oh, I opened one of your bottles, if you don't mind."

"I'll ask you only one more time." His glare became vicious, and even his little bird looked like he could kill the stranger if he did not said the reason why he came.

"So hasty and naïve…" the male voice laughed, sipping at his glass of liquor. "But it's alright, birdman, I'll tell you your answers, but sit down first."

Swain did as told and sat in his normal seat, without taking the eyes off the stranger for even a second.

"I'm here to help you, Jericho Swain. Simple as that."

"Help me? And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

The man took another sip of his drink, and then showed a grin. "I take it you have connections to the Black Rose, don't you?"

Jericho expression hardened. With his hand already preparing a spell, he asked "And what does that have to do with anything you have to offer?"

"Heh, not even denying it?" the man clapped his hands, using a happy, but mocking tone. "Bravo, Birdman, bravo! I am impressed!" Jericho gave the man an aggressive glare, and he stopped laughing. Another grin crept in his face. "Is your relation with them worth the problems it causes?"

"I suppose I don't need a therapist. If you only came to ask me questions about my life, I'll ask you to leave right now."

"Haha!" the man laughed once again. Swain was starting to lose what he had left of patience with his uninvited guest. "So hasty once again… Say, birdman, what would you say… If I said I could give you the power to rule all of Valoran? Hell, to rule all of Runeterra!"

"I would say that you came too late. That is the objective, both mine and from Black Rose."

"And how well have that went for you? For so many years, and the only thing you got was ruling over Noxus…" he made a booing sound, as to show the insignificance of the achievement. "C'mon, we all knew that you had Noxus in your hand even before you killed Borabora."

"Are you saying I killed General Darkwill?" Even after being accused of treason, Swain kept his posture, not taking his eyes away from the mysterious man.

"Not only him. You and your pitiful Black Rose also killed General Du Coteau, don't you? All so you could rule." The grin on his face subsided. "Don't you think that that was too little progress for such a long time?"

"We had to wait for the right time. With the war with Demacia and then the invasion of Ionia…"

"Both of which failed. You had to agree to some ridiculous peace with Demacia, and even let an insignificant state like Ionia drive Noxus out of their land."

"What is your point?"

"My point, Jerry Jerry, is that without me, you'll never be able to rule Valoran. Hell, I will give you guys a prize if you can conquest a single land piece. I'll take even Jarvan's farm, really." The joke was not received well by Swain, who just glared at the man. "What I am offering you is not much different from what the Black Rose is offering you. The difference, though, is that I can do it, while they can't."

"Still, I assume you have a reason to want to help me."

"Of course! There is always a catch, isn't that right? To tell you the truth, I want you to rule Valoran. If you can rise to be the greatest power in this land, then my objective will already be fulfilled. Simple as that."

"Interesting enough. However, I can't trust you easily."

"Of course not! You're a man with brains!" he stands up from his seat, showing his slim and tall figure. "Let's do this. Follow what I tell you. If in two months Noxus have not expanded, then I will go away and you can continue trusting your two faced lover. Think of it as a free trial version!"

Swain pondered the man's offer. It was tempting. But who he was and what he seeks? "I'll think about it."

"Sure, no problem!" he started heading to the door, still not letting the light illuminate his face. "I'll come back tomorrow, prepare a good drink by them, I love wine."

And just as he appeared, the man vanished, without a trace. Swain could feel his presence going away. He was alone.

"To rule Runeterra. Now if that man thinks he can do that, he's extremely bold…" he looked from the corner of his eye at the little bird that kept him company. "But the bold ones are normally the ones who succeed."

And then he took a sip of the liquor.

The trio of Volk, Wukong and Ahri were still on the road to the capital. Having walked just a few minutes, they were not that near the place.

However, before they could make great advance, Ahri stopped in her tracks, sniffing the air.

"What is it, Ahri?" Wukong asked, getting closer to the fox-girl.

"Do you guys smell something… Burned?" the two boys nodded negatively, looking at the girl confusedly. "Here, this way!"

They followed Ahri through the forest, Wukong started to recognize the place, as he said "We are near Zorak, one of the smaller cities of Ionia."

"Could it be that some Zorakian burnt their dinner?" Volk said jokingly.

"I really doubt it, for Ahri to be so apprehensive. If it turns out it's just someone that left their rice at the fire for too long, I'm going to be pissed."

The three kept running through the forest, until a red light lit up behind the trees.

"Is that… Fire?" Volk asked, scared.

"Surely." That was the only thing Ahri said, before continuing running, with the two right behind her.

When they finally left the forest and were able to look to Zorak, their eyes widened.

"The entire city… Is in fire…"

End of Chapter 3