After the League – A League of Legends Fanfiction by Deathlark. Chapter 5, The Maintain
Author's Note: Hello readers, and yeah, sorry, this is going to be the last chapter I make for a while. :/
At least this is a staple chapter, so I hope it serves its purpose as content to you guys.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to League of Legends. This is merely for my own enjoyment.
…
As soon as all the champions were sent to their selected spots, Swain took a moment to breathe and calm down.
He had absorbed all the powers that were being concentrated in the summoner hall at the Institute of War. He knew what he could do, but Swain knew better. Although he surely craved a defeat over Demacia, he knew that the power would be too much to handle. There was no way to dispose of the power aside from releasing it, but it could damage the world like the Rune wars have. It could not be transferred; Swain had to stay in the same spot. He was essentially an immobile mass of energy. Irony, like Xerath.
Swain also wanted to use some of the power as an advantage over Demacia… But Swain was wiser than that. As the chosen general of Noxus, a duty was to speak to the heart of Noxus. What he was told he would never share, but it had changed him. He had realized that war should only be won in fair tactics. Swain, following what he was told, knew that he should not use the power of Demacia. Defying his natural instincts was unusual.
So instead, Swain needed a way to channel the magic. So he released it into a beacon in the sky, and cast a sheet over the main continent of Valoran; every part of it excluding the Shadow Isles, Ionia, and the Blue Flame Islands. He had the entire region under lock and key, and only he had the key.
Once again, Swain was a man of honor. He decided this would be a way to test who are the true masters and warriors of power in the world. Those would get the power that was harbored within Swain. With intelligence, he knew that all the power could end in terror, so they would only be able to use a minor part of the magic Swain had. The rest of the magic would lie in a sheet over Valoran. Sailors could still pass through, but they would no longer be able to access the magic they contained.
Idealistically, Swain could set forth an enormous portion of magic to one deed. It was an impressive use, and a rather dangerous one, but could be accomplished. A way of accomplishing this power interested Swain. He wanted some ideas of making sure it would be secure, and not fall into the wrong hands, yet entice everyone into competition. So, he organized this game. He added some interesting aspects too.
He selected where which champions should be placed in a new battlefield. He replicated Valoran and inserted it into a magical realm, similar to the Summoner's Rift and the Crystal Scar. He simply called it "The Battleground". It contained all the parts of Valoran's main continent, excluding the islands outside of Valoran. In fact, the world falls off into nothing at the end of the world. Not even the void or another dimension, it's just blank emptiness. Fortunately, no one can enter this emptiness; they would bounce back trying.
Having some ideas, he placed certain champions closer and farther from each other; Swain wasn't a heartless man, he placed many champions that were friends with each other closer together. Maybe a few exceptions here and there, but he had ideas. Lux and Garen's placement, both in Demacia, was this sort of notion. He also wanted a bit of competition though, so he decided to place some enemies not that far from each other either. For example, he placed both Ashe and Sejuani in Freljord, a matter of miles (which is not that large for them) away from each other.
Swain also needed some influence. Some people are very skeptical and hard to sway over. Notably, everyone would have some skepticism, but he could use words to sound more convincing. So, he decided to name some important items after the void to sway over the void followers and creatures, like Malzahar. For some Shadow Islers, as well as some in the Great Barrier, he started to connect them to certain areas. Those from the Shadow Isles typically in the more haunted areas, such as Marshes and Bogs, and those below the Great Barrier in their respective lands… Some.
So he invented the Battleground. Once the 10 artifacts that he had placed in created or existing places had been obtained by one group and placed in the altar in a specific cave he created, he would relinquish everyone that was stuck in the Maintain (if they had died 5 times) and liberate those from the Battleground.
The Maintain was something else. The exact arcane room Swain stood in was the Maintain. It is actually the embodiment inside the great arcane power that Swain contained. In there, he had a capsule for every champion, or prison. It was a large room, containing over 100 cells. It was organized in a circle, and Swain was in the center.
The Maintain had a wall in each cell. The walls actually contain scripts, programmed with tech devices from Zaun and Piltover. It would display which champions died, their lives left, and whom to and how they died. It would display:
(CHAMPIONNAME): LIVES LEFT - # OF LIVES LEFT | DEATH: (KILLER AND CAUSE OF DEATH)
They would have to figure it out, but the champions can access the Maintain through sheer meditation. This was not spiritual meditation though; you had to teleport yourself to the Maintain manually. However, this was not accounted for in the Battleground, and it would act as if the champion had not even left. So it would be a blink, and then they would have gone to the Maintain and back.
This was the Maintain, and Swain stood there for as long as the Battleground was going on. Swain could actually act as a summoner, and transport himself onto the ground; summoning himself. It was a task he learned through the vast arcane knowledge he absorbed.
So he stood in the center of the Maintain, and summoned himself down to the field. He knew just exactly the place to start.
…
Katarina was hunting in the Serpentine river. She hovered just above the river, supported only by the tips of her feet on the edge of a stream. She faced down, watching the fish swim by, waiting for when one would come close enough to the surface to strike.
She patiently waited. Her legs didn't tire from all the supporting she had to do.
Suddenly, a fish came up a little bit. She swung down and stabbed the fish directly with her blade. She reeled herself back to shore, and took off the fish. She had eaten 3 before, so she had already gotten used to the taste of raw fish.
She looked at the bleeding fish, getting hungry. When she went to cut it up, something unexpected happened.
A crow swooped down and plucked the fish right out of the air. She jumped suddenly, and watched the crow fly to a tree. Bloody bird, she thought. She went to the tree to find where the crow dropped her meal.
When she climbed up, she was jumped.
"BOO!" yelled Swain from the tree. Katarina screamed as she fell and landed on the ground roughly.
"Ahaha, sorry general, but I couldn't resist myself. Here crow, here," Swain called to his crow. The crow dropped the fish. Katarina looked up, a bit furious and dazed from what Swain did. She saw him cutting up the fish she had caught into two pieces. "I'm terribly sorry, Crows love fish. I couldn't let him go hungry. Don't worry, this time I'll catch my own crow." Swain dropped the fish she had caught into Katarina's hands. It was sliced up cleanly.
"Swain! What is the meaning of all this?" Katarina asked a bit mad.
"Well, get me down from this tree! Then we'll talk." Katarina rolled her eyes, but helped the handicapped man down. "Thank you. I'll tell you what happened."
Swain told the entire story, about the Institute of War and Ezreal, and the boring truth that what he said was no conniving scheme. Katarina was a bit irritated.
"So you mean we have no way out of here?" Katarina asked.
"Not even I can leave. I can be in the maintain, so can you, but truly we will all have to wait until one group gets all those artifacts. Oh and a grim consequence; if we all die somehow, then this is an infinite realm that we are stuck in. So I hope that puts some emphasis in the: 'don't die' aspect." Katarina shivered.
"Swain…" Katarina groaned.
"I know, but nothing comes perfectly served. So I suggest doing your best. And we should group up with others. No point going as 2, as the more the merrier. Also, did I mention that are still people here?" Swain enticed.
"There are… people? As in those that aren't champions?" Katarina asked.
"Yes. There are a few that are scattered, forced to be nomadic, but most will be living in cities. I made it so that Demacia and Noxus are cities without people actually, as it would offset the balance of power. Also, Ionia, the Shadow Isles, and the Blue Flame Islands aren't here. At the edge of this world, there is nothing. You can't go into this emptiness, but it's scary that it is there."
"That's weird… So where do you think we should go?" Katarina asked.
"Zaun. Plenty of Noxian teamed people are there. I did match people to their nationality, so I would not suggest going to Piltover or Freljord. Demacia is empty, so that doesn't matter. Oh, as for our position, we are at the edge of the second curve from the north of the Serpentine River. Going east and somewhat north would bring us to Zaun in a few weeks, due to the mountains giving us trouble. Does it sound like a plan?" Swain asked. He held out his hand. Katarina was unsure. She always had her doubts and suspicion, but decided that the creator of all this had it under control. So she shook his hand, and went along with Swain's plan.
They began to trek northeast, with Swain's head held high. His crow would prove useful aerial spotting. It would be tough to kill him.
…
Okay, this is it for a while. Sadface.
Oh, as for that shipping ting last chapter, let's say it's gone from 13 to 15. I'm preventing myself to placing more, as I've already gone out of my way to make some amends to the original plotline. Soooo no more. Oh well.
I will see you eventually once the time to write these chapters comes again. Bai.
~DTH~