"Hey Syndra," Zed muttered softly as she passed on her way back to their shared quarters in the temple.

Syndra's eyelids fluttered as her gaze met Zed's, "Yes, love?"

"I wanted to speak with you. May we?"

Syndra could almost read nervousness in Zed's tone and smiled, excited by the prospect of what he must have in store. "Of course. Would you like to go to our room?"

"Yes, sure," her partner nodded, taking her by the small of her back and guiding her back towards the door. Syndra led the masked ninja into their room where, upon closing the door, she promptly pulled his mask off, revealing shaggy black hair, which tumbled over dark eyes and a scarred face. Zed's lips gave Syndra a slight smile as he leaned in and kissed her.

Syndra let out a slight squeak of surprise, as she kissed back, not having expected Zed's sudden affection. "What's gotten into you?"

"Appreciation, Syndra."

"Appreciation?" She chuckled, running her smooth hands over his arms and kissing again.

Zed smiled and brought a gentle finger up to brush her cheek. "Yes. One can only be around something as perfect and selfless as you for so long before they fall victim to your grace."

Syndra blushed, "Well, that's charming… very unlike you."

"I was thinking," Zed grinned, "We should um… no no… I need to do this right." Zed let go of his embrace and stepped back.

"Zed?" Syndra stepped closer, concerned about him, "What's wrong."

"Less is wrong than has been for the last five years of my life. You've given me hope and love and… happiness in ways I cannot even tell you."

"Zed, I feel the sa-"

"Ah-" Zed cut her off, holding up a hand. "Please let me finish this love." Zed took a deep breath before continuing, "We've made a great many promises to each other- all of which I intend to live out- but until then, I wanted to do something to show you that I mean to be with you until the end." Slowly Zed looked down at his quivering knees and knelt down, pulling a small box from his pocket and opening it for Syndra to see. Inside sat a small but bright purple gem on a silver band. "Syndra, will you please marry me?"

"Oh screw that!" Yasuo pouted, looking Lux up and down as they prepared to leave Demacia's gates. "No way. Not a chance! Look at her! She looks like a princess, not a traveler." Yasuo gestured angrily at Lux who was clad in shining silver armor that looked as polished as could be. Her blue silky shirt and pants with white lace detailing didn't help her case either.

Lux looked at Ezreal and then at the ground, "Is it really that bad?" Lux didn't much like the idea of being so amateurish in comparison to her companions. Lux may not have had an adventure before but her determination was unrivaled among her classmates. Few of the students at Demacia's School for the Arcane had managed much more than minor figmints of magic by her age let alone fully formed spells and abilities. Lux had worked hard to be where she was at the top of her class and now that she had the chance to take her skills into the real world, she wasn't so sure she stood up to the challenge.

"You are fine Lux, lovely in fact!" Ezreal chuckled, lightly patting her shoulder. "I hope you aren't looking to keep that armor clean though. I don't see that lasting long."

The small blonde looked up at the explorer with a bright, excited look in her eyes, "I don't mind getting my hands dirty! I just want to help!"

"Perfect! Then I think everything will be just fine," Riven cut in.

Yasuo grumbled frustrated and paced back and forth several times, turning his hat over and over in his hands as he attempted to restrain himself from protesting further. "Fine… Let's just go."

"Let's get to it!" Ezreal cheered, taking his first few steps outside the wall with an energetic and positive spring that made Lux giggle and Yasuo roll his eyes.

It was several days until the first landmark Ezreal was looking for came into view, the Great Barrier. The Great Barrier was an ancient and vast wall that stretched all the way across Valoran from East to West, cutting of the Northern half of the continent from the Southern. As the story went, long ago a great conflict called the Rune Wars led to the construction of the divider to not only keep separate the two opposing civilizations but to hide away the enormous amount of destruction that fell upon the world after the war's end. The Southern part of Valoran was someplace that few ever traveled. It was scarred by battle, lost empires, and untamed wildlife. To travel into some parts of it was to court death.

"Okay," Ezreal pondered, slowing his pace as they reached the base of the wall, "There is supposed to be a monster that lives here, so I think it's best that we stay single file and be as quiet as possible. I don't want to have to hurt whatever it is that lives here."

"Or let it hurt us?" Riven questioned, wondering what kind of monster it could be.

Ezreal looked at her with a knowing grin, "Trust me. The monster would be the one to get hurt. I'm not letting any of you get hurt. I'm the guide right?!"

Yasuo laughed, "Kid, your job is to get us to the library in Shurima. If there's any trouble, I can handle it."

The explorer shrugged, "Suit yourself. But keep it down." With that, Ezreal started tiptoeing over rubble into a passageway in the wall's massive side. The dark tunnel led the four adventurers up several flights of stairs up to the top of the wall that must have been fifty meters tall. As they entered the dark passage, Lux drew out her long blue and gold wand, a little over two feet in length and conjured a luminescent bulb right at the tip, filling the staircase with an incandescent glow. Once at the top, Yasuo looked out across the top of the Great Barrier. It was thick, probably even wider than the streets in Demacia and made of solid rock. While there was rubble and dust coating the floor, the ancient structure held strong through the centuries or even millennia through which it had stood tall.

"Okay, really careful. We need to get to the other side of the wall over there and go down the stairs on the other side. Got it?" Ezreal looked around the group and noted understanding from all three of his fellows. Slowly, he took one tentative step before jumping into the air and disappearing, instantly reappearing on the other side in a dull flash of golden light.

"Well that almost feels like cheating…" Yasuo smirked.

"Shush!" Riven hissed as she edged her way out and across the wall, her eyes growing wide as she noted something that was sill out of vision for Yasuo and Lux. Urgently, she made a swiping motion across her neck, alerting the two still waiting that this was serious. Something was there.

"You're up girl," Yasuo whispered to Lux who was leaning against the doorway out, her face pale.

"Yeah, right…" She murmured. Lux carefully and slowly made her way out onto the wall, edging across to the waiting Riven and Ezreal who both waved encouragingly for her to continue across but when her eyes shifted up to look at what Riven saw, she froze in place, her expression turning to stone. She stood, shocked for a moment and Ezreal's eyes opened wide as he saw what was about to happen. In her terror, Lux's wand was slipping from her grasp. Ezreal disappeared in a flash of light, diving towards the metal rod as it hurdled down towards the stone floor but he was too late. By the time he reached it, the metallic clang was ringing and reverberating all around them, quickly followed by a huge heavy breath and a snarl from the area that Yasuo still could not see.

"What is it?" he hissed urgently.

"Forget it!" Ezreal called, "It's awake! We need to go!"

"What the hell is it?!" Yasuo yelled as he dashed into the clearing and was stunned in amazement and fear, as he looked up at the monster that was now bearing down upon the adventurers.

"It's a… It's a…" Lux stammered.
Ezreal furrowed his brow as his gauntlet sparked to life with arcane energy, getting ready for a fight. "It's a dragon…"