"Well? Why is this Zed guy so important?" Yasuo angrily prodded, as if he'd been waiting for this answer for weeks. "Seriously, Yorick, I will kill you if you don't hurry this up."

"Alright, alright!" Yorick pleaded, backing himself further against the dark, mossy tree behind him. "Zed is a ninja from Ionia. The group that you saw with the grey and red armor are his guys."

"How did you know we saw them?" Riven asked, taking a step in but not being nearly as aggressive as her counterpart who angrily shook his sword in his hand, causing a harsh cold breeze to wash over the group.

"Why else would you two be here?" Yorick asked, "I am no fool. I heard of the events in Zaun and I can only assume you thought I had something to do with it."

"Got that damn right!" Yasuo snarled. "Continue."

"Right, so this Zed guy has been a big deal for over five years now. It all started back before Thresh even chose you to carry the souls. In fact, Zed is WHY Thresh chose you. You see, Zed tapped into ancient powers long ago called the Living Shadows. They are an ancient dark magic that predates even the Rune Wars. They were made by a species that we call the darkin. To our knowledge, they are an extinct race. Anyway, their creation was horrible and Zed unleashed it upon himself."

"So, he's dead?" Riven asked.

"No," Yorick responded with a shudder, "Worse. In fact, he may as well be dead. The Shadows, they aren't like any other kind of magic you've ever seen. They are corrupt and twisted by nature. They have always strived to cover the world in darkness, as Zed does now, weather he knows it or not. He may be blissfully unaware of the invasion taking place within him but as it has with men before him, the magic will consume him and he will become an agent of darkness."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you Yorick?" Yasuo growled raising his sword.

"Yasuo stop it! Killing him won't give us more answers. Put the sword down."

Yasuo turned to look at Riven who held her firm glare. "Fine," Yasuo pouted, shoving his sword roughly back into its sheath.

"Continue," Riven said assertively to Yorick.

"This is power of pure evil and even my brothers here and I have souls. We are not out to destroy the world. We are out to survive and thrive here. We cannot do that without the world remaining as it is. Thresh had to ensure Zed died before he could put an end to the world as we know it."

"So, he was afraid? That's why he had Yasuo collect all the souls for him and why he set up his whole ruse?" Riven prodded, almost sounding polite towards the hunched grave digger.

"Yes," Yorick nodded, "Thresh wanted to save the world from Zed so that we could remain."

Yasuo laughed out loud, "Ha! Saving the world so you could keep leeching off it."

"At least he was going to save the world," Yorick shouted back. "You killed him and now there is nobody to stop Zed! Our one hope is gone! Only a matter of time now…"

Yasuo kicked Yorick roughly in the side, using the wind to add extra force, making the undead man yelp and crumple up on the ground. "So what now Riven?"

"We don't know anything about Zed. We don't know where he is, what he wants, or if he even knows what's happening to him. We don't even know much of anything about the Living Shadows. I- I don't know."

Yasuo turned back to Yorick and watched him sit back up with contempt in his eyes. "We did have another hope besides Thresh, you know, but your buddy killed him. Remember?"

"Jax?" Riven questioned confusedly.

"Jax."

"What? Was he really as strong as Thresh?"

"Stronger," Yasuo nodded, "Thresh got him with a cheap shot. Jax was the bravest and strongest man I ever knew. He taught me… I just was too stupid to save him." Yasuo took a few steps away from Yorick and the wind slowed to a light murmur through the trees, rustling the leaves.

Yorick raised his hand shakily, as if asking permission to talk. Riven nodded at him. "I can't bring him back but if you let me live, I do have a way of helping you."

"How?" Yasuo asked, his voice low with grief.

"If you remember, I created an image of your elder in your mind to trick you into working for Thresh in the first place. I can warp the dead and utilize their spirits. I can bring back an image of Jax who can talk to you as your friend would. It won't be the real thing and he won't be physical but you can speak to him, ask him what to do. But only if you let me go while you talk to him."

"Fine," Yasuo shrugged, "I'll hunt you down and kill you later then."

Riven rolled her eyes, "You can go if you do that Yorick. He won't kill you."

"Good, so we have a deal… Here it goes then." Yorick closed his yellow eyes and focused for a moment. Before their eyes, a grey wisp started forming in the air. The breath started to leave Yasuo's lungs as he saw the cloak and mask of Jax forming in front of him. His mask skill glowed blue and he even had his trusty lamppost. Yasuo dropped to one knee before his fallen mentor and laid down his blade as any Ionian would. "Jax. Jax I'm so sorry."

Riven put a hand on Yasuo's shoulder, "It's not the real Jax, Yasuo. The real one is gone but… I am sure he forgives you. He came here willing to give his life. He knew you had it in you to win."

"Winning is pointless, you stupid Noxian," Yasuo sobbed. "What good is winning the war if you lose everything else?"

"It means you live to fight another day. It means you have a shot at peace!"

Riven was cut off by the grey figure suddenly becoming animated and turning to Yasuo who was still on the ground. "Get up Boy."

"Jax, I'm sorry. I failed."

Jax let out a slight laugh and plucked the wispy, intangible lamppost from the ground and twirled it. "You didn't fail. You're still here, right?"

"But you're not."

"Trust me, I had my time… I've seen my fair share. I was ready to go."

Riven looked down at Yasuo who was quivering, clearly trying to hold himself together. "Um… Jax, we need your help."

Jax looked to Riven and tilted his head, "Oh, you're the one he was hunting. The one who blew me off in the Freljord! So you two made up I see?"

She shrugged, "I suppose but we need to ask you-"

Jax chuckled and cut her off. "So are you two together now? I mean, you look like a cute couple, comforting each other over your old friend, Jax."

Riven blushed slightly and shook her head, "Erm, no, we aren't. We are just working together. But we need to know what you know about the Living Shadows and a man called Zed, a ninja from Ionia."

Riven's expression turned to stone as she notice Jax straighten up. Clearly the words meant something to him. "The Living Shadows… Why do you speak of them?"

"This guy Zed absorbed them. He wants to darken the world and destroy everything or something," Yasuo huffed.

"That isn't what I said," Yorick interjected, "I said he may not even know it but they are influencing him. Thresh foresaw…"

"Jax held up a finger from his three fingered hand to Yorick to silence him. "I know of the Shadows. In fact, I remember when they were made."

"Wait a sec, how old are you?" Riven wondered.

"You asked me that same question the first time we met in the Freljord. I told you I had been around a long time."

Yasuo shakily got to his feet, avoiding looking at Jax's mask. "So you remember when the darkin made it?"

Jax nodded, "I do. The darkin wanted to make the most horrible magical weapon the world had ever seen… They succeeded."

"So how do we stop them?" Riven asked, "There must be a way."

"I don't know how to kill the Shadows or even if they can be killed. What I do know is that the best way to stop a weapon is to stop the wielder. You need to figure out how to defeat Zed."

"And how do we do that?" Riven prodded.

"How am I supposed to know? Does it look like I make it to a lot of Ionian ninja events? But I know someone who might."

"Who?" Yasuo asked excitedly, turning to look at Jax and immediately moving his gaze to the dirt once more.

"His name is Zilean. He's a bit of a chronicler of history. He's very old. I'm not sure which of us is older to be honest. But regardless, he will have the answers you seek. He lives in a tower in the middle of the desert beyond the great barrier. He takes note of everything that happens in the entire world. He knows everything that happens and can even tell the future at times. However, as he will tell you, the future is never set in stone until it happens."

"So that's it!" Riven smiled at Yasuo, "We just need to go meet this man, Zilean, find out how to beat Zed based on who he is and what he knows, then we can defeat him and the Shadows for good!" Riven seemed excited and ready to go as Jax turned and extended a ghostly hand towards Yasuo.

"It's okay Boy. I forgive you."

"You're not even the real Jax," Yasuo huffed.

"I may not be, I may just be an image conjured up by the scum of Valoran," he commented gesturing at Yorick, "But I think the same way the real Jax does and I know everything he knew. I was not afraid of death before and I'm not afraid of it now. I went willingly to what I knew was probably my end because I had a feeling you were worth it. Prove to me you were. Save this silly, fragile world a second time for me. Okay?"

Yasuo hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "I will. In your memory, I will fight."

Jax chuckled, "That a boy! Now go. The Shadows aren't wasting any time; neither should you."

Yasuo looked into the blue light of Jax's mask and smiled, "Yes sir." Yasuo tipped his hat and shot one last glare at Yorick before turning on his heels and dashing back through the jungle towards the boat, the wind pushing at his back. Riven ran behind him as fast as she could but struggled to keep up with her companion's incredible speed.

"Thank you Jax!" She shouted over her shoulder at the grey image.

"You are welcome Riven. Keep an eye on each other. This is a threat I hoped that you and everyone else would never have to face, let alone without me."

Author's notes: Hey everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long to release! Life is pretty busy these days as I am moving to Oregon in about 2 weeks and Diovolo is moving to Chicago in a month or so. I threw in that first line for those of you who had to wait longer than you liked. We are doing our best but we can't make a lot of promises at the moment and we hope you understand.

Next time we upload, we're hoping but again, not promising that we'll have both Yas/Riv and Zed/Syn halves together again. I really hope you enjoyed this one in particular. This chapter has a lot of plot relivance as you can probably tell and it was very fun to write. We've been talking about it for probably four months now!

Next time: Zed and Syndra attempt to complete their extermination of the Kinkou while Yasuo and Riven make their way back to Demacia, hoping to avoid any hiccups along the way.