Chapter 4.
Note: May venture into slightly graphic scenes.. Nothing too brutal, just fyi
Elise walked through the ghastly boat, her mind buzzing. Above her, she could still see where Jenny had mysteriously vanished, disappeared. She didn't know if it was a trick of the light or what, but it was all very disconcerting. People didn't vanish, she remembered. Her mind buzzed back to her school days, where her teacher lectured her about the laws of science and how matter didn't disappear.
Then where did she go? The mysterious woman had saved them from the Frozen beast, still roped on the ship's floor. Beside it, Yasuo sat in a perfect meditating pose, floating a few inches off the ground. His eyes were closed, but light was spilling out of his body. She had tried to move his body to a more sheltered area, but as soon as she got close, fierce winds battered her aside. It was all very strange.
As she stared at the man, she felt a small blush rise in her cheeks. He's sure handsome. His stylish hair floating behind him in a puff, stern yet serene face, that fierce scar above his eyebrow. And yet, there was no way this could work. The inner beast within her pulled, and she squirmed.
The deal with Arachnid was simple- He would promise not to force her to harm him in any way, as long as she followed him to wherever his journey was taking him. They had been sailing for a day already on his plotted destination, and the meager supplies Elise had packed from her cave were running out. She looked at the map.
Yasuo had drawn a big red X above a cluster of mountains, just north of Ionia. They were only a few days away. She still didn't know why she was keeping Yasuo alive, at the cost of her own sanity. Why was he different then all of the other people she had on her ships? The others, she had small amounts of guilt and conscience for, but she reassured herself that they were merely in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Why did she fight for Yasuo?
Janna spit out a ball of blood as she strained against her bindings. The wind spirits floating around her head whirred agitatedly, but they couldn't do anything in her current situation.
Before her, the Master stood along with his Enforcer, Shen, the Eye of Twilight. The man was rumoured never to take off his mask, as it was legend that his face would be so ugly that he left the mask on to intimidate people. Janna found herself smirking, despite her precarious location. You and me aren't very different, just my mask is less visible.
The calm, threatening voice of the Master spoke again. "How did you find out about the secret of the Ancients?"
Janna shook her head. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?" She felt her sass rising again, and immediately regretted it as Shen raised his hand and smashed it into her face.
Ouch. That would need some fixing up later. She smiled inside. The Master and his force thought they were keeping balance by restraining all signs of conflict. Well, they were in for a surprise, because absolutely no one messed with Janna. Ever.
She quickly whirled her hands tied behind her and created a tiny wind pixie, invisible to the eye. Mentally sending commands to it, she let it fly off.
The Master groaned. "Scholar Janna, you have one last time to tell me before I call out the real terror. And believe me, unless you want to end up looking like Urgot, you should tell me now."
Janna glared at the Master, but devoutly refused to say a word. Her studies were definitely worth more than a brush with death.
The Master nodded, a tint of sorrow clouding his face. "Very well. I'm sending her in."
And out of the shadow's emerged Akali. She held a kama in each hand, and Janna felt a surge of fear and awe. Finally. The legendary Twilight Assassin appears.
Akali stared at the bold woman, who looked as if she would be knocked over by a simple poke. Do not underestimate her. She was the sole cause of the Demacian victory over Noxus a year ago. Still, looking at the fragile scholar before her, it was hard to imagine.
She held out her weapons, Truth in one hand and Destiny in another. She remembered what they meant when she first got them.
"As your Guardian for the past 13 years, I am esteemed to hand over the job to you." Her mother's stern face stared at her at the ceremony of moving. "Accept the first." She held out a shining silver blade, and Akali accepted it. "This is Truth, crafted from the metals within the harshest volcano. No blade on Runeterra is harder than it, so nothing will stop you from pursuing the truth." She then held out a similarly shaped blade, but this one with a golden handle. "This is Destiny, the one with which you will forge your path. It has served women in our line for millennia and will now be transferred to you."
Was what she doing really justice? Was it the truth, stopping all these people who her Master ordered her to hunt down? She looked again at the helpless scholar before her, her eyes bright and shining, her body rigid and paralyzed with fear, and she almost hesitated. Not now. Focus. She raised a kama and brought it down, smashing into Janna's face.
It went straight through. Janna's body melted into a wisp, leaving nothing behind but a small, laughing wind spirit. Akali quickly turned around, only to be silenced over the mouth with a band of air. Janna twinkled with laughter.
"Two can play at the same mimic game. Now, why don't we sit down and chat?"
Yasuo opened his eyes, and he was surprised to find himself at a state of calm, after what he had just experienced… He quickly stood up, erasing the memory once again from his mind. He found Elise inside the cabin of the ship, playing with a baby spider she had released.
"What happened?" He pointed at the giant ice bird laying sprawled out on the boat.
Elise frowned. "It was a fake. We got defeated by a mere illusion, created by some powerful sorcerer. Yasuo, you sure have some powerful enemies."
He stared at the bird. He was sure that some primal emotions had woken in him when he saw it flying towards him, almost as if he recognized it.
He turned back to Elise. "So, are we almost there?"
Elise smiled, a small blush creeping into her cheeks that Yasuo didn't fail to notice. "Only a few hours off from the mountains you marked." Yasuo nodded, face grim with apprehension. It was time to talk to his teacher again.
As they unloaded off the ship, Elise put a tensive foot on the sandy beach, then recoiled.
Yasuo laughed, the first one he had done in front of her. "What's wrong? Is the spider princess scared of a little bit of sand?"
Elise groaned at the teasing, but she still smirked a bit. The ground was a lot shakier then she had been used to, the sand crumbling beneath her feet. She took a few more tentative steps, frowning as her every step felt like she was sinking. How can people stand this?
They walked forward for a few minutes, Yasuo taking the opportunity to point out every location. He had dramatically changed as they exited the boat. He was like a child, eager, smiling, full of life. His scars seemed to momentarily fade away as he brightly pointed out the place he had once trained tree- climbing in. Soon, they reached a small cave. Yasuo almost jumped with joy.
"Let's go! I can't wait for you to meet Teacher. He's so amazing!"
Elise almost laughed at his childish expression, but decided not to and humour him. There would be plenty of melancholy moments later to tease him.
As she entered the cave, the lighting from within cast dark shadows on the wall, ones that moved in eery patterns. Drips filled the cavern from an unknown water source above as Yasuo led the way inside. He knocked on the side of the cavern, a strange, melodic rapping. "Teacher, I'm home."
Elise heard a large footstep from inside. Then another. It felt as if the ground was shaking.
"Mayb- Maybe I should just wait outside for a bit?" She stammed.
Yasuo grinned. "No need. The Teacher is here."
She rounded the corner. In front of her.. stood a 2 foot tall Yordle with a cheesy grin on his face.
"Um…." She was speechless for once in her life.
Yasuo bowed down low to the Yordle, who couldn't be over 5 years old. "I am back Teacher."
The Yordle nodded. Elise looked closer at the strange creature. It had bright orange fur with large pointy ears. It's eyes were large and beady, and it would easily pass for one of those kittens that the children in towns played with. It wore a bony hat, created out of some bird's skull. In its small furry hand, it held a small boomerang.
"Yasuo, is this reall your Teacher?"
Yasuo nodded, his face wide with enthusiasm. "I trained under him when I was in my youth. He was pretty much the source for all my training."
"But isn't he like five years old?"
Both Yasuo and the Yordle instantly wore the exact same expression of confusion, Elise almost laughed. It was clear they were Teacher and student now.
"No! He's over five million years old. His name is Gnar."
5 million years. Elise whistled. He must be really really ancient to be that old. Older than even the legends.
She bowed. "It is my pleasure to meet you." The Yordle chuckled.
She looked at it, staring straight into its eyes. Was this really a warrior?
Gnar must have realized something, because he leaned into Yasuo's ear and squeaked. Yasuo's face broke out into another grin, something that still surprised Elise from the normally sullen warrior.
"He wants to duel you, says you don't believe him."
Two hours later, they stood outside inside a dirt-filled arena on the ground. Yasuo stood on the side, sword pointed in the air as a judge might wave a flag. "First one down on the ground for ten seconds loses."
Elise grinned, this would be no contest. She tested out by flinging a blob of venom at the Yordle, who dodged it with blinding speed. Appearing right behind Elise, he swept out his little boomerang and hit her solidly on the knees, causing her to buckle. She stood up straight, looking at the little Yordle bouncing off the walls.
Damn. He's fast. She quickly spread out a spiderweb across the stadium, making it so he couldn't run anymore. Apparently Gnar had never seen a spider or something, because he stepped right into the web and instantly got stuck.
Easy. There's no way this guy was Yasuo's master. She laughed and channeled the power of Arachnid, jumping into a full-blown spider and lunging at the short Yordle.
And instantly got thrown in the air and landed on her back. In front of her, she heard a large roar as the ground shook.
In front of her stood a massive, almost titanic, beast. It's eyes were the color of flame, it's horns piercing forward. She looked closely at it, and saw the webbing she had placed earlier whipped out and trampled under it's massive feet.
Unable to comprehend what just happened, the beast shot a massive boulder at Elise and smashed her down to the ground, pinned helplessly under it.
Yasuo waved his sword. "Game over. See, Elise? He's ridiculous."
After slowly squirming out from underneath the boulder, Elise bowed again to the monster, who had changed back into the cute fuzzy Yordle. This time, her bow was one of the highest respect and honor, not a slightly mocking one.
Akali sat on the floor of the room, quietly conversing with Janna while having a cup of tea. Of course, her arms were bound behind her and she was mummified with a shroud of air, but still.
Janna sipped her green tea. "And what is the Master trying to accomplish?" The conversation had gone like this for hours, as Janna asked her quiet questions and she refused to answer.
Unlike her own methods, however, Janna did not violently force her to say anything. Instead, she merely sat there quietly, sipping her tea and looking at Akali.
Is she trying to make me give in because of boredom? Akali groaned as Janna repeated her question.
"Akali, you can sit here all day if you want to. I'm just having a civil conversation, if you don't want to participate be that way." Janna's voice cut through like a stern teacher.
Akali shook her head once more, and Janna finally gave up. "Akali, listen to me."
"The Master is not who you think he is. What did he tell you he was?"
Akali stopped. What… Why did it matter who she thought the Master was? "I… I don't know."
Slowly, as Janna began to ask simple questions and offer her own information, Akali began to loosen up and talk more freely.
"My mother's line… They have always served the Master, and so I do. The world needs us to keep peace."
Janna pointed to her own bruising rib. "Does this really look like peace to you?"
Akali lowered her gaze. Was it peace, or was she merely a thug? "I.. I don't know. Everything's changing."
Janna placed a slender hand on Akali's shoulder, and she looked up. "No, you're changing. I can feel it. Just remember what I told you."
Janna twisted the small ring on her finger, a bright light emanating from the large gem embedded on the ring. It shone, and Janna flickered in the light.
"Akali, just tell your master I overwhelmed you and left. If you… if you ever reconsider your life, go to Demacia and find me."
And then she vanished, leaving Akali sitting on the cold ground, staring at her hands.
How many people had she killed that truly didn't deserve to die? That family years ago, the one she had been told were terrorists? She remembered the couple stuffing a little baby into a sack and throwing him down the sewer, crying and trying to protect him before Akali swiped her kamas across their necks. She was a monster.
All the criminals she had hunted down before all came back to her. Did they deserve it? Though there had been many terrible people in her past, she abruptly came to a conclusion. The only criminal who deserved to die… was her. The woman who had killed thousands of families, destroying lives and futures. All while in the pretense of justice.
She smashed her head against the floor, cracks spreading through the cement. She would have to go find Janna. But first… She held her head up, a steely glint coming into her eyes. It was time to visit her brother again.