Hey there everyone! Wingsu here with another update.

I can't say much because I'm writing this IN CLASS xD Fuck yeah, breakin' all teh rulez.

So yeah, enjoy the chapter lads.

~ Wings

In her Icy Embrace

Chapter 16: The Champion's Bond

When he opened his eyes, he didn't realize where he was. He was standing in the middle of a large road, hextech cars driving past him and around him, not giving any note to him standing in the middle of the road. All around him, people walked in throngs, heading in their own directions, towards their own destinations. Buildings rose up, closely packed and reaching high up into the air. The sounds of machines and the hum of electricity was all around him.

He was in Piltover.

Yet, this Piltover looked… Different. He knew this part of the city. Some of the buildings were smaller than he had last seen them, and the cars driving around him on the roads were old models. He looked around himself, frowning as to how he came to be here. It was an overcast day and, judging by the scarves and multiple layers that people wore, was in winter or perhaps late autumn. Alan couldn't tell. He couldn't feel anything.

"Look Mom, there's the ice cream man! Can we please, please go have some ice cream?"

He heard the young voice, his eyes widening in disbelief. He knew that voice. He turned around as fast as he could, looking around, his eyes searching through the sea of people until he finally found that familiar mop of snow white hair. He watched as the boy jumped up and down, clutching at the sleeve of a woman's jacket. The woman had long silver hair, although her features were hidden from him as she had her back turned to him. She crouched down to the boy and said, in a warm, loving voice that seemed to be as sweet as honey, "Yes dear, we can go have some."

And just as suddenly as the scene had appeared, it dissolved and Alan found himself spinning out of control through darkness.

And then, he found himself standing upon an expanse of snow. There was no wind, there was no sound. The skies were completely clear, an expanse of indigo above him as the moon shone down from a starless night sky. Yet, it was snowing, the white dots falling from above with no explanation as to from where they were falling.

Alan knew this place. He turned around, his eyes falling onto the familiar form of Kassaddin.

"Who are you?" Kassaddin asked as Alan raised an eye brow.

"You know who I am." He said as Kassaddin stared at him without expression.

"And who would that be?" Kassaddin asked as Alan felt a pang of annoyance at Kassaddin.

"I'm Alan Frost." Alan said as Kassaddin blinked once at him.

"No. You are not. Alan Frost is dead." Kassaddin said as Alan frowned. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Alan Frost drowned, did he not, in the oceans of tears?" Kassaddin asked as Alan frowned further in confusion, looking down at himself before looking back up at Kassaddin.

"I… He did… So am I dead?" Alan asked as Kassaddin cocked his head at him.

"That depends. Are you Alan Frost?" He asked as Alan stared at Kassaddin, unable to answer him. "I… Don't know." He said as Kassaddin continued staring at him with those lifeless eyes.

"You know nothing." He said simply, pausing for a few seconds before continuing. "Alan Frost is dead, with him, his memories and his life. But the question is… Will he stay dead?" He asked. Alan stayed silent.

"Tell me." Kassaddin asked, suddenly standing next to Alan. Alan jumped, startled. One second, he was infront of Alan. Now, he was standing next to Alan, staring in the opposite direction as Alan was. He hadn't even seen the man move. "Have you ever seen an ocean of water be as still as glass?" he asked. Alan had seen the ocean before, on the shores of Piltover, but he had never seen it as still as the one he had stepped into. He shook his head.

"That is because oceans are made of water. The one Alan Frost drowned in, was of tears." Kassaddin said.

"What's the difference?" Alan asked.

"You know nothing." Kassaddin said again as he turned his head around to look at Alan. "Tears are water, but water cannot be tears. Why do we shed tears, normally?" Kassaddin asked.

"When we're sad." Alan said, the answer coming into his mind easily, but he frowned as he knew there was more to it than that.

"What brings sorrow?" Kassaddin asked.

"Alot of things." Alan answered.

"But a whole ocean of tears? Surely some things cause more sorrow and tears than others."

Alan paused, thinking… When was he sad? He was sad when his mother died. He was sad when he had broken up with his girlfriend. Both of them had a connection… They were…

"The end." Alan said as Kassaddin looked at him. "The end of something brings the most tears."

"Yes Alan. And tell me, what comes after the end?" He asked.

Alan shrugged, his annoyance having long vanished and replaced with curiousity, the thrist for knowledge that was his core.

"A new beginning." Kassaddin said. "But you must find an anchor, Alan. You need an anchor to hold you and pull you back to life, or you will truly fade."

"An anchor?" Alan asked. "What do you mean?"

"The anchor that will hold you to life. Connect a part of yourself to the anchor, and only those things will be vulnerable…" He said as everything suddenly began to fade, darkness closing in from all sides as Alan looked around in panic.

"What's happening?" Alan asked.

"You're running out of time." Kassaddin said as he vanished into the darkness, which advanced on Alan too fast for him to even realize until it covered him. Nothingness surrounded him on all sides, and he did not know if he was floating or standing. And then, his fingertips began to disintegrate.

Alan screamed, but he did not feel pain. The sight of his fingertips disintegrating into millions of glass-like crystal fragments sent him into a panic. His feet, as well, was disintegrating, yet he was in the same position.

Anchor himself. That was what Kassaddin said. But what did it mean!? The panic of time running out was wearing Alan's mind thin, he was unable to think. His arms and legs were gone, his torso was now vanishing. It was reaching up his neck as he gaped in a silent scream, unable to even scream. The whole thing was painless, which made it even worse. He was going to die.

What do you fight for?

Her face swam out into the darkness as Alan screamed in effort, willing the particles that were disintegrating from him to form into his right arm, barely managing to hold it together as he reached out for her with his last effort.

…

Reinhart entered the tent to find Analia sitting on her bed, legs crossed, staring down at her mother's necklace in her hands.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Lydia had come to tell him that Analia wanted to talk to him and it was a bit urgent, so Reinhart came as soon as he was able to. She looked tense and only looked at Reinhart, signalling at the chair with a flick of her eyes. Reinhart complied, pullling the chair up and sitting down infront of Analia, right beside her bed as he looked at her with those deep blue eyes of his.

"Reinhart… have you… Have you ever thought about settling down after all of this is over?" She asked, much meeker than she normally was, puzzling Reinhart as he frowned, but he put that aside and thought about the question.

"I'm Lissandra's Congelate Elite. My place is beside her until I die." He said as Analia looked down at the floor.

"I mean… I… Uh…" Analia faltered, her voice dying in her throat as she fiddled with the necklace again. Reinhart leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "You can tell me, Analia. Anything on your mind, you can tell me." He said in a low, soothing voice. Analia nodded weakly, her shoulders and chest rising as she took in a deep, shaky breath to steel herself. And then.

"I'm pregnant."

Silence followed her words as Analia continued staring down at the bedsheets, a few locks of her hair hanging infront of her face. She looked up, biting her lip in nervousness. Reinhart was in the same posture as he had been, although he had drawn back a bit. His eyes were wide with surprise as he gaped like a fish out of water, his lips parting and closing as he thought of something to say, was about to say it, then changed his mind, repeating the process.

Finally, Reinhart leaned back, sighing in a way that made Analia's heart sink. "How do you know?" He asked as Analia looked back down at her hands, which were playing around idly with the necklace. "Lydia… she took all of my symptoms and connected the dots. But just to be sure, she also gave me this… flower, I think it was called…" Analia faltered, trying to remember the name.

"Lady Blossom?" Reinhart asked. Analia nodded. "Yes that… and told me to touch the petals. The second I did, the white petals turned purple and Lydia said only women who were pregnant made that happen." She said quietly. More silence followed her words as the seconds seemed to grow longer, making Analia anxious.

"So…?" She asked tentatively, looking up at him.

"I… I don't know…" Reinhart said. He meant it in the way that he didn't know what to make of it, but Analia took it the wrong way as he saw her visibly tense up. He tried to recover. "Wait, Analia, I di-"

"Get out." Analia said in a very quiet, very still voice, lowering her face again so her hair hid her eyes.

"Analia, I-"

"GET OUT!" She screamed fully this time, her hands clenching into fists as she fixed and expression of bitter anger at Reinhart, tears shining in her eyes as Reinhart looked at her helplessly, the bitter taste of remorse in his mouth. Reinhart stood up, clenching his teeth so he wouldn't say anything; now was not to the time. The damage was done and anything he did now would make it worse. He'd have to come back later… But for now…

Reinhart turned around and left silently, and as soon as the tent flaps swung closed, a choked sob escaped Analia, whose hand close around her mother's necklace as she bowed her head, crying as silently as she could.

…

Raziel watch with mild surprise on his face as Alan trudge up through the water, stepping up on the staircases, dripping water. His medium-long hair was plastered to his skin, his clothes sticking as well, but his eyes glowed. A glowing shade of blue, evermoving and shifting like it was alive in it's own way, similar to how Raziel's golden eyes constantly moved and shifted.

"How do you feel?" Raziel asked as Alan stepped up beside him. He breathed in as ice crystals suddenly formed all around him, surrounding him on all sides like a cage of crystals. Raziel widened his eyes at that display even more as Alan exhaled slowly, the crystals disintegrating into tiny snow fragments as they blew up into the air.

"What happened to me? I feel… Powerful… Invincible." He said. And then, suddenly, Alan's left hand shot up backhanding something hard away from him without him even realizing it. Alan turned around, eyes wide with surprise to see he had slapped away a large shard of ice that Raziel had sent flying at him.

"That's because you are… In a way." Raziel whispered as Alan frowned, blinking as he stared at his own hands like he didn't know it was his. "You have completed the bond, known as the Champion's Bond. You are now, in almost any way, invincible. Your body is now completely tuned for combat. You move instinctively, each movement pronounced and much faster than you ever were. Mortal weapons cannot hope to hurt you. Swords or Projectiles, like that ice shard, will simply be deflected by your conscious movement, dodged or they'll hit you and do nothing, like a paper plane hitting a steel wall."

"But there are disadvantages…" Raziel's voice trailed off as Alan realized it was a bit too quiet… And then, there was a booming sound in his ears. He jumped, startled, before realizing it was his heartbeat. But now… It was silent… And then, another boom. "My heart… It's… beating very slowly." He whispered.

"Yes. You are, technically, no longer human. More of a demigod, of sorts, like me. Before, you used your mana reserves to be the energy for your magic. Now, You yourself are energy, brilliant, like a star." He said. "But that also means your life is tied to something to prevent you from burning out. An anchor."

"Lissandra." Alan automatically said, and the word seemed to send a ripple through his being. He felt like his whole body was new.

"Yes, she is your anchor. You are her champion and you have bonded with her. Protect her with you life, Alan. For if she dies, you will lose your core and you will burn out like a dying star, ending it all with one massive supernova as all that energy in you explodes out." He said before he raised Frig Ascutis and threw it at Alan. Alan caught it instinctively and instantly felt a shudder run through him. He felt his connection to Frig Ascutis, but the sword now… seemed much more lethal to him than it did.

"That feeling is natural." Raziel said. "The Trinity Frig are not mortal weapons. They can wound us to the point of incapacitating us, but they cannot kill us… Except." He trailed off again.

"Except what?" Alan asked.

"It is a peculiar case… We are unkillable except for one spot on our bodies. A strike there will end us. That, and losing the person you are bonded to." He said. "Everyone who goes through this has a different spot. Obviously, I will not tell you mine.. And be sure to not tell anyone yours." Raziel said.

Alan stared down at his hands, his eyes steely, as he tried to reach inside of himself to find out what spot was his weakness…And then, he felt his heart beat again.

"What now?" He asked as Raziel looked back at him. "Now… You traverse into the void."

…

Sejuani growled as her lieutenants left her tent, exhausted and exasperated. Being forced to work together with the two she would much rather murder was already wearing her nerves thin, but sitting around and doing nothing was making her pissed. It was also making the troops uneasy, as there had already been a bunch of scuffles and fights breaking out amongst the men.

A cold draft brushed past her neck, making a shudder run through her as the hairs on her neck stood on ends. She turned around, looking for the source yet there was nothing. Her tent was secure against the wind outside, so that draft should not have even come in here…

"Sejuani…"

The voice was raspy and dark and it made her bristle as Sejuani looked around her for the source. She grabbed her dirk from the table and walked around her tent, looking for it.

"Sejuani…"

She turned around, looking at the stone basin at the corner of her tent. That was where the voice seemed to emanate from… She walked over, looking around for anyone hiding behind the pedestal it was on… But it was impossible for anyone to be hiding.

Then she looked into the water in the basin, at her own reflection, and froze. Her face was reflected there, obviously. She was not wearing her helmet, because she had been in her tent, so she had nothing on her head, allowing her hair to breathe free… But in the reflection, she saw a crown upon her short platinum hair.

"Queen… Sejuani…"

The voice whispered as Sejuani blinked, eyes widening in surprise before hardening in anger. "What trickery is this." She hissed, yet she couldn't stop looking at the reflection of her face with the crown on her head.

"No trickery… Queen Sejuani…"

"Stop. I'm not Queen." Sejuani spat bitterly, her venomous rage at Lissandra and Ashe rearing it's head within her.

"Yet."

That one word made Sejuani's world freeze up for a few seconds, nothing but the sound of her heartbeat being heard.

"All you must do… is leave these two to their demise… And all of Freljord will be yours."

"Lies." She said, although her voice lacked half the conviction it previously had, like she was unsure of herself.

"Lissandra once took the side of the Frozen Watchers…"

"And look how that ended up for her."

"Yet she still lives, hundreds of years after the death of her siblings. Still, she wields fearsome power that only seems to grow with time."

Sejuani gripped the sides of her basin, staring down into the water, into her reflection as if it was going to vanish.

"You cannot deceive me with sorcery." She said, but even as she said it, her eyes closed as she faced away, her shoulders slumping in defeat, because she knew this was too good to be true.

"There is no lies in my visions." The voice whispered to her and when Sejuani opened her eyes again, she glimpsed a different face. A face with tanned skin, brown hair and vividly glowing purple eyes. A split second, before it was replaced with her own, the crown atop her head.

"All you need to do… Is take your army… And Come to me."

...

"You're kidding me, right?" Alan said as he stared at the giant, circular door. After everything he saw, he was expecting something black or daunting. Instead, the large circular door, which spanned a massive circumference, was completely white and featureless, not even a seam visible to show where or how it might open.

"I'm supposed to… Go into the void?" He asked as Raziel looked at him with that same sombre expression he always had.

"Yes Alan. The Seeker's raiment is within the void. To retrieve it, you must earn it ." Raziel said as he reached up and clasped Alan on the shoulder. Alan was wearing full armor again; the full plate of the Congelate tailored to him. Yet, after all the battles it had been through, it was scratched and scarred, giving him a ragged look. Raziel's armor was far more battle-worn, with a tattered cape to top it off, yet he looked far more immaculate than Alan.

"You will face many horrors within… Good luck, Champion." Raziel said as he raised his hand at the circle. Suddenly, the entire white melted away within a fraction of a second, too fast for Alan to even register. One second, it was a featureless white circle. Now, it was a raging vortex of purple and violet, sucking in the air and tearing at the foundations of the very building itself. Yet, Alan didn't even feel it. He wasn't being affected by the pull, which he found extremely weird. But the Void was something where paradoxes were possible, where the sun rose in the west and set in the east, where up was down and down was up. Nothing in there made sense and everything was warped.

Alan didn't even realized when he had walked up to it but when he took his first step, he was hurled forward at perhaps a thousand miles an hour. He screamed, yet his voice seemed to be echoing behind him, as if he was outpacing his own sounds. Yet, no resistance met his body, forcing it back like it normally would. He could move perfectly normally, even though he knew he was going through at perhaps hundreds of miles per hour. He brought his right hand up to his face and stared at it, watching it blur with afterimages as he hurtled through infinity.

And then, all of a sudden, he stood upon a black flat plane, too flat and smooth to be natural. The sky above him was white, as if the colors had been inverted. Alan looked around himself, seeing nothing around him except for the plane. And then, all of a sudden, 6 humanoid figures surrounded him. They were all human and had armor on, yet he saw no eyes behind the slits of their helmet. They held weapons and stared at him as the hairs on the back of Alan's neck stood up.

He drew Frig Ascutis and, in one smooth motion, the sword of dark ice formed, completing Frig Ascutis into it's normal 3 ft longsword form. He felt… Calm. Before, in all of his battles, he felt his heart pounding, his blood rushing like fire in his veins, everything seemed hyperreal in clarity and feel. Yet now, he felt absolutely calm, like a glass-like surface of water, unperturbed. He could see everything around him, feel them standing, and his body seemed like a whole new thing. He tightened his grip on Frig Ascutis and felt a strange thrum of power travel down the blade, into his hand, up his arm and into his body.

And then, all 6 faceless warriors rushed him, raising their swords. Alan moved, his movements smooth and unflinching as he swerved and slashed at a speed he never thought possible. Frig Ascutis was no longer a blade in his hands; rather, it was a song of death, singing the end of the soldiers who threw themselves at him. He finished with a smooth spinning down-slash that sent him into a crouch as the final soldier crashed into the ground, dead. It began to melt into smoke, the others having already melted away into smoke.

Alan breathed in, filling his lungs with air, as if he was breathing for the first time. He felt… invincible. He recalled all that had happened in that short battle. Each movement he made was deadly, each swish ending an attacker. Their weapons didn't even come close, except for two, but they magically swerved away from him, as if deflected by the air itself.

He looked in one direction, to his right, staring at the unending horizon of black and white. He closed his eyes… A second passed. And then he opened his eyes. Infront of him lay a path of white steps upon the black ground.

"Only one who seeks may find the Seeker's Raiment." Alan said to himself, as if someone else was telling him. With a confident smile, Alan began walking down the endless path…

Yes yes, I know I know. The story is going very slowly. But guis, this is an important development in the plot. I can't just rush through this and then have you guys scratching your heads later on as to why Alan's suddenly so stronk.

Hope you guys liked the chapter! If you did, please leave behind a review with your thoughts on it! I really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading! And as always, my next update won't be too soon, so I hope I don't freeze you guys in your seats while you wait.

HAH!

~ Wings