So things have happened again the chapter length got a bit out of hand and yeah i know but the new chapter is finally out so there is at least that. There were more than a couple of complications that i had with a couple of parts which made this take more time (I wrote some stuff that happened in the league but i cut it for chapter 5, and some other stuff like that). I'am a bit happy though that i managed to get this out before testweek as that would have postponed the release even more and im not exactly sure how well its working at the moment but i did try some fancy stuff with some of the writing, so have fun. Also have IRL friends read this story can make this a pain in the ass (*cough Oliver *cough) oh yeah he's also bronze in league) so if you see me taking shots at them or making random 4th wall breaks, you can blame them (Sitso is cool though, respect m8).
Regarding the story i had a long time ago gotten an idea. This basicly was a thing that had happened to Alta long ago and blah blah... thats not the important point, but rather that it had been apart of something called "Projekt". Now it had nothing to do with the current skins and im a bit irritated that i cant use that anymore (because confusion) but i guess that i have to deal with it. Also the name and a lot of other stuff were supposed to be a refrence to the Slava class cruiser but, well it's not anymore, but ill see what ill come up with.
In some other news i'll have to thank Jabe from beta reading this and generally helping me with some stuff, even though our chats dont often have anything to do with the story... and also if you are interested, i use league amino and you can follow me there if you are interested (also comment and do the such), though i dont post there that often. (Osku tuu sinne munkaa chattiin ton toisen kans).
Also as always i do appreciate comments/rating/PM and what ever you can throw at me, as i do always read them. But also ideas/stuff like that ill take as well especially as im involving the league soon and figuring out how all of that works can be a bit of a handfull.
(Pst, bacon ur name is hard to turn into a refrence, i tried m8. Its almost smooth)
As the wind blew hard as usual, it was quite clear to Alta that the winter would be just as harsh as it had been the year before that. He didn't exactly dislike the cold, but just the wind alone as it felt like a thousand blades stabbing him. But he thought considered himself lucky as Lux's shield protected him from the chilling winds. Even though he was tired from all the traveling, he still felt almost glad that he could have done something as major as to attempt to join another house. He hadn't done too much and he felt that it had been more pure luck than anything, but he still took the more recent event now as less bad and potentially good.
Alta pondered if he should tell Garen and Lux about the recent mess and all the things that had happened around him, but common sense seemed to appeal to him quite strongly. And as he never said to possess any power, he would not have to show them more than his own moves, that he was quite proud of. He used a combination of the old Solari and Rakkor fighting techniques. He had been thought how to use strength properly by Noxian mercenaries, but to balance it, he had also been taught by the Demacians the art and importance of discipline and how it could be used to wear opponents down. All of these things had been exclusively taught to Alta and a few others as they were part of "Projekt"(for those who are wondering this was an idea before the new project skins and are unrelated). Even Alta did not know he is a part of this until much after it had begun. Not too much after that, many things had gone wrong, very wrong.
As Alta was reminded about the projekt, even the shield could not keep the chilling memories away from his head. It was something that he wished to leave behind him. As he thought about it, he found it sad that the best memories of his life, the traveling that he had done, was so closely related to something that he wanted to leave behind him. He still managed to decide that as he was so unsure, it would just be something he would have to live with.
"Have you ever visited the League?" Lux asked Alta as she had interest towards his travels, as the Solari rarely left the peak of mount Targon, especially to receive military level training. Generally the Demacian had been glad to help, as long as they would recieve a vow of loyalty or something rare that they could not produce by themselves. The Noxians on the other hand only cared, as long as the person that they would train was at least capable enough to begin with and long as enough money was thrown on the table.
"No, but I have heard stories from there. But isn't it true that some of the best fighters from Valoran are in there?" Alta asked back from Lux.
"Well yes that is true. There are many fighters that are all great in their own way (except Urgot, he's a fatass that can't sidestep, is huge, powerless and fat… and sucks). But remember that it's also a political institution." Lux said loudly over the wind.
"What kind of politics are handled there?" Alta asked again.
"The sort that our politicians aren't capable of. For example if Noxus and Demacia can't decide, let's say, the ownership of certain things or certain taxes on some things, the League will then take action and we will fight political matches. Even though the Noxians prefer this and we don't, we still understand that this is the way to get many disputes dealt with quite easily."
"There is also the public league which people can join as well, if they have no interest in politics or a general alliance with anyone. Not everyone gets to join though, as much skill is required to be able to do so. This also keeps things interesting as they generally fight during the ranking season. But during this season anyone can make their ranked team, as long as they are champions in the League. I'll tell you more of this stuff when we get to the Institute. I'm a bit tired at the moment so I'd prefer to save my strenght." Lux said, as for the first time during the trip she wasn't pestering Garen or Alta with a conversation or questions.
"Sure, later then. But what about a rest, we've been walking for the whole day and soon we won't be able to see what's in front of us." Alta said as he was a bit bummed, as he found the idea of the League interesting and wished to know more.
"We should be arriving to the mountain side inn soon, I'd say about an hour of walking and we should be there." Lux commented with a tad tired voice.
"Oh that's just great…" Alta muttered to himself, but he was glad that he was only tired at the moment, even though a bit hungry, he felt just fine.
As seconds turned into minutes, the little daylight had mostly disappeared and it had been replaced with thick darkness. It was harder to see where to put your foot after every step now. Luckily though, the shield did illuminate some light, so seeing some meters in front was possible.
"But now take care people, we are now on that road that is completely unpatrolled by the rakkor. Even if we see no bandits, don't step off the road as there might be traps beneath the snow. Just look out." Alta warned as he saw what he thought to be the last marking stone. It was a slim and tall, grave stone looking marker for the Rakkor patrols to know when to turn back.
Lux didn't seem to react too much, as she already had her staff in her hand, compared to Garen who just nodded as a response and pulled his great sword from his back and casually carried it with ease.
"I thought that still was the guarded area?" Lux asked.
"First, it's a patrolled area, and that just means that here should be no bandit camps, but not that here would be no bandits." Alta said as he stopped to take a better look at the marking stone as he was sure that none should be this far from the mountain. As he handed Iman's bridle to Lux, he turned around and walked some meters to the stone. He knelt next to it and took his left glove off to clean the snow from the stone. As he touched the stone it was not cold at all. It was quite warm to the touch which made Alta widen his eyes in shock.
"GET DOWN!" Lux shouted as she took a step backwards and swung her wand. As Alta had little idea about what was going on, he only slowly turned his head towards Lux, only to be blinded by something. The bright light felt like a stab in his eye as a bright bolt came with great speed and just as quickly as Alta had heard Lux shout at him, he felt something else. The brightness in Alta's eyes was dwarfed just a millisecond later by burning heat at his left hand as he was pushed backwards by a powerful blast.
It only took seconds for all of it to be over, as Alta was laying on his back on the cold road. Even though the pain was slowly scaping his eyes he had a hard time hearing anything as a loud pitched buzz sounded in his ears. As Alta tried to calm down by closing his eyes and not doing anything, Lux ran over to him.
"Are you alright!?" Lux asked as she knelt next to Alta.
"I… I think I'm just fine." Alta said as he began seeing and hearing a bit more normally.
"Hey quiet… there's something." Garen said with irritation in his voice. As Alta quietly sat up, Lux looked at Alta with an a concerned face. He found it odd that a stranger asked if he was alright, rather than blame him.
"We have to move, now" Garen said quickly.
"What, why?" Lux asked again with concern.
"Can't you hear it? The wind is carrying the words of some people here, they are not just bandits… and that stone was booby trapped too. If they're strong, we can't fight them in this bad condition, when we're this tired." Garen responded again with urgency.
Lux stood up and nodded as a response to Garen and offered her hand to Alta to help him stand up. She figured that Alta was still in a bit of a shock as the strong explosion had gone completely trough her fully charged shield. She knew that thinking too much in a situation like this was not the correct thing to do, action was required, not words or thoughts.
Alta too thought the same as he instinctively gave his left hand to Lux, which was a large mistake as it had been the only thing that Lux's shield didn't protect during the explosion. As the adrenaline in his body stopped the pain in his body, it did not take away his confusion and his head was blurry. Alta lifted his arm, which to his surprise was grabbed by a surprisingly large amount of force as it was Lux who was helping him and then did Alta finally feel something bad. Only as she began to pull Alta up, did he realize how badly injured he was.
Lux quickly let go of Alta's hand as he screamed in pain. Lux, instead of pulling Alta upwards, only pulled off the badly burned skin and flesh from Alta's left hand. She could only watch Alta's face as he began rolling in the ground with tears in his eyes. Only after Garen a second or so later shoved Iman's bridle back to Lux, did she stop just looking.
"We have to MOVE!" Garen said as he lifted Alta by pulling him at his shoulders. Even though he did not think much of Alta, he did emphatize with Alta as he saw his left hand. There was much flesh and skin still just hanging below and behind the wrist and around his thumb. He was not bleeding much, though, so he would not die from blood loss.
"Can you run?" Garen asked with concern and urgency.
"I… I might be able t-to..." Alta said with a shaking voice as he was trying to hold back the tears as the strong mix of burning agony and cutting pain was in his hand. Alta felt that it was a bad idea to look at his left hand, but he remembered that to overcome something, you must face it. As he looked at it, most of the skin and flesh on his palm and lower thumb were completely gone, with only bones visible. His fingers were covered with unnaturally red and black skin which looked like it could almost fall of by itself. As he turned his hand, the top was something less gruesome. It was only mostly burned badly and only his thumb had skin missing, compared to the side of his index finger which at the top had most of the skin missing.
"Lux, take Iman and ride ahead and find somewhere to hide!" Garen said again bringing both Alta and Lux out of their thoughts.
Lux again only nodded as a response as Garen boosted Lux to the back of Iman. Iman clearly did not prefer to have Lux on her back, but complied to her request to move out and find somewhere to hide.
As the sound of movement became louder and just a bit more noticeable. This made Garen grab Alta's left hand and pulled him after Lux who was riding away and began pulling Alta with him. As Alta began limping forward, he gently placed his left hand behind his right wrist, to support his hand.
"It's nothing, it doesn't hurt… nothing happened. Just a couple more steps" Alta kept repeating in his head trying to reduce the pain even so slightly. As he found it hard to concentrate, he only focused on running and trusted that he would not have to run for long.
As he ran, the pain started slowly turning into numbness as his whole left hand began freezing, as much of his body heat was escaping his body. Alta was not sure how long they had been running or even how he had managed to even attempt to run so much, but he couldn't really care. His head felt dizzy too and on the rare occasion that Garen said something, it too made less and less sense after every sentence.
Alta's luck seemed to improve as the storm and wind were becoming calmer and it was easier to see as well though only slightly. As Alta noticed someone running towards them, he and Garen stopped for a second, during which Alta fell on his knees. His lungs and feet felt like they were on fire and even though his left hand had gone numb, the nerve was now radiating huge amounts of pain elsewhere on his arm.
As Alta lifted his gaze from the ground he finally felt a relief and some happiness, because it was Lux who came towards them. He pressed his left hand to the ground and pushed himself up and looked at his left hand again. Memories from the temple flooded his mind as he looked at the ruined condition of his left palm. As Lux came back, she seemed to avoid Alta and just said something to Garen, who was in front of him.
"There are a couple of caves nearby, we can wait in one of them; he should get some first aid anyway, so he won't freeze to death." Lux said as she looked at Alta avoiding his eyes.
"How far?" Garen asked from her.
"Just behind these large rocks." Lux said and pointed to the left of the road.
"And the horse?" Garen continued.
"We'll talk about that later…" Lux said.
As they stopped conversing the wind began catching up and it seemed that the blizzard wasn't dying after all. Garen and Alta followed Lux for a few hundreds of meters.
"You sure that the weather is gonna cover our tracks?" Garen asked as he was not contented with just hiding.
"It should, and if they come here I'll just make a simple light distortion." Lux said with confidence. As her gaze hit Alta again, she continued.
"Lets go a bit farther, just in case." She said.
As Alta walked closely behind Lux deeper into the cave, it became quite obvious to him that he was freezing and had hypothermia. They had been walking just for a minute when Alta decided that it was good enough and sit down. Not everything was going as well as he had hoped. It was something that he wasn't thinking though as his mind and body was filled with a blurry and fuzzy feeling. As Alta was visibly wavering around the area of unconsciousness, Lux gulped and hoped that what she would do now would not harm him more. As she thought about Iman and Alta's request with the shield, she felt that there was something more to him. Though what it was, was a mystery, so she decided just to play it safe.
Lux pressed her hands together and slowly began taking them apart, leaving a warm ball of light on her left palm. Alta weakly lifted his head, to see something bright, and above it, was Lux who was faintly smiling. She then gently took Alta's left hand and placed the floating light there. Then she moved his left hand and pushed it against his chest. After this she very carefully grabbed Alta's left hand, from the unburned area and pressed it against his right hand.
"T-thanks Lux… don't worry about it though. It's fine." Alta said as he felt the wonderful warmth coming from the magical light ball.
"How can you say that? I might have just gotten you killed." She said with a sad and almost angry voice as she was upset about what she had done.
"What happened cannot be undone. I would have died without your shield in the first place, so you only helped me. Shit happens and right now blaming or reasoning won't help." Alta said with a slightly weak voice as he tried to lift Lux's mood.
Lux tried to smile to Alta as she looked him in the eyes, but as her eyes fell lower again to his ruined hand she only could close her eyes and look away. Even though Lux was a trained soldier who was taught to be able to resist weakness to such injuries, the feeling that she had made it to someone who she wanted to be friends with, was hard for her to think lightly of.
Lux sighed deeply, as she was not sure about what she should say or do. She was no field medic and only knew the basics on how to give first aid. But she did know that Alta would have already lost much body heat which was lethal in their current environment. She then figured something out and untied a knot from her neck. She then took her cloak from her back and grabbed a knife from her belt. Then she continued to chop her cloak into strips so that she could use it as bandages.
"Can you give your left hand to me?" Lux said while she looked away from Alta.
"You'll have to help with that… lt's pretty numb" Alta said with an unsure voice.
This made Lux gulp again as she gently grabbed Alta's left hand and stretched it towards herself. She took the cloth that she had cut and very gently wrapped it around Alta's hand. As she finished, Alta's hand looked like it was in a mitten. Lux again weakly smiled as she grabbed Alta's left hand and looked at it's palm. It looked like it was alright and it felt to have normal temperature too - but if my light ball warmed his hand, he should be just a little more resilient to the cold - thought Lux. She slightly sighed in relief and took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes again she slowly pressed Alta's injured left hand's plam to the light ball in the hopes that it would prevent him from getting frostbitten.
"Thanks." Alta said with a slight hit that he was still feeling a bit of pain.
"Just don't let it freeze, okay?" She said to Alta with a smile that she had not forced on her lips.
Even though little, the heat from the light seemed to warm both of Alta's hands. He though was not sure about his left hand as it was in bad condition. He gladly traded the numbness for pain in his body, as he liked to have control over his body instead of a slow and cold death. As he really thought about it, he was surprised at how casually he was taking about all of it. He hated blaming people for sure, but even his mind was at peace.
"How odd…" He said to himself as he raised his left hand in front of himself. It was hard, but he weakly managed to do it.
Just at that very moment, Garen was walking in a circle in front of Alta. It was quite obvious that he was planning something, or that he was at least frustrated. Just as Garen was about to turn around as he was next to Alta, he turned his head and listened for a while.
As Garen hastily turned around and attempted to give his hand to Alta, but he slipped on the icy ground. Seeing someone else have some bad luck felt nice to Alta as he had had his fair share of misfortunes and unlucky events, not just during the last few days and recent moments, but in general he was not the person who was favored by Lady Lucky herself.
The face of pain very quickly disappeared from Garen's face as he heard the floor below him creak. Alta reacted to this just a second later as the floor began to make more and more noise.
"Lux, is this AN ICE CAVE?" Garen said with with a slight tone of panic as he stood up in the mostly dark cave. As Garen got both of his feet below him and was standing properly, only then did Lux properly illuminate the floor and realize that this was indeed the case, as she saw that the whole floor was made out of very shiny ice.
"Run!" Lux said to Garen and already began taking a few steps towards the heart of the cave. As she still looked at Alta and Garen while walking deeper.
As the ice kept breaking underneath Alta and Garen a loud noise started closing in, like it would have been cutting through the air like a sharp sword would. It was coming from the entrance of the cave. The three of them turned their head towards the noise. It didn't even take more than a second until a ball brighter than the sun itself blinded anyone who looked at it. Garen covered his eyes and took some steps backwards, not realizing that he stepped on the cracked part of the ice again.
Then as soon as the ghostly ball of light had appeared it also exploded. Even though it was only a gentle warm breeze that came from it, it pushed strongly against Garen making him fall on his back. This was something that he should have avoided as he did not want the floor to collapse.
As the cave slowly darkened, the creaking beneath the trio increased into all directions... until it gave away, making them fall somewhere deep in the old cave.
(Somewhere much deeper)
Alta found himself heavily breathing and heaving on the cold ground. The feeling he had was something like what a thousand horses kicking him in to his stomach could have felt like. Even though the ceiling had some holes in it and a little natural light somehow managed to come in, though he only saw very little past the blood in in his eyes as almost all the veins must have been broken in his forehead.¨
Alta turned his head around to try and see what was around him; it took him a while to get used to the darkness and as he began calming down with the pain going away he tried to look again, if there was something useful.
What Alta could now see was just a hint of blue. It seemed to be glowing behind his right shoulder, just a couple of steps away. As he saw nothing that could be of use near him, he decided to try and turn around and see what it was.
Alta began turning his dull body he noticed that it was more easily said than done. He found it hard to focus or think many things as he was dragging himself forward because of the heavy feeling in his head. He cursed himself as he thought that he most likely suffered a concussion, though he had no clue at all where he was or why.
After a painful minute Alta was able to finally grab the source of the light - which turned out to be a beautiful gem. It was odd to him but he seemed to be compelled by the gem and he wasn't sure what it was about it. Something so heartwarming yet coldly beautiful.
The world was very hazy. Alta felt so calm and relaxed. He felt quite warm actually with all the cold gone from his body. As he tried to think what was going on or why he was here, wherever that was, joy suddenly engulfed him.
"At least if I die, I'll have something beautiful to take with me." Alta said to himself with a weak laugh.
Though as he said these words, he saw something. It was a light blue and white essence floating inside the gem. What it was though, was outside of Alta's understanding as he still felt somewhat drunkish. What ever it was, it seemed to be swimming inside the gem.
"If thy wish to swim through the air like a sinless spirit, like the pure heart of thine, then let this blade of mine give thy the freedom like the most divine." This was the first thing that came Alta's mind as he thought about the carving on his old blade and the deeper meaning of it...
Full of magic the world is, isn't it? Or so it seemed to Alta at this point. If it mattered or not was not a question for this very moment though, well at least not for Alta, as he slowly drifted away from consciousness.
When Alta opened his eyes, he felt little. He felt no cold nor warmth. No hunger or fullnes, just nothing. Something very little that he seemed to have kept was his mind and thoughts.
"Huh..." Alta turned his head around to try and see where he was. His mind was a bit fuzzy and his thoughts didn't really move around his head as fast as he wanted them to, but otherwise he was quite fine. All that he remembered was falling, and the place in what he was, was a complete mystery to him.
He sat up from his lying position on the ground with ease and looked at himself. He looked just like before without the injuries that he had gotten.
What he saw was a foggy place, what looked quite cold and deserted but he felt nothing, not even a chill in his spine from the general creepyness. As some of the blue and greenish fog began clearing Alta began to see some stones that had a resemblance to gravestones. As Alta took steps forward, he noticed how dead the ground and occasional trees were in front of him. As memories started to slowly pop into his head, he remembered some small bits from a story about the cursed shadow isles and how it resembled where he was at the moment.
When Alta began to think harder it only seemed even tougher to make thoughts move in his head, and to him it seemed so very inviting to just be and look into the sky. Just be and not think.
"When... did I come to an abandoned grave yard? ...It can't be-" Alta mumbled to himself, but he was interrupted.
"What dost one truly knoweth, 'tis only what thou chooseth to seeth is it not?" Said a cold but gentle voice that came from somewhere, from what seemed to be an endless dome no matter where Alta looked. The voice was something that would have come out of a general as they led their men to battle, powerful, yet beautiful... something that might belong to a king.
As Alta heard the voice he stopped and listened. He saw nothing in any direction, neither did he have an idea where it could have come from. As he thought for a second what he had heard he remembered again.
"This is only in the crystal, isn't it?" Alta said back, while trying to sound mighty.
"I knoweth not... so longeth it hath been." The voice said back, from right behind Alta. As he turned to face the voice he was surprised by what he was facing, but his nulled feelings gave him no fright from the slightly glowing skeleton, which was now floating right in front of him. It had many ruined robes on top of him, but telling who or what the person was or he had been once upon time, was much too hard to tell.
As Alta thought about the the other person and the crystal that he most likely inside of, only then did he realize that his situation was not very good. If it was a soul preserver, the stone trapped a soul within itself until it would be freed, the only problem was that it was a one way trip and Alta had managed to trap himself inside.
As he cast another glance at the skeleton, he could only guess how long it had been inside, as what one could see and maybe even feel within the stone was determined by the first person who had been left there. This meant that if one spent too long inside the rock and lost all hope of being saved, their mind could begin to warp and twist into many things that a mere mortal would not want to face. Alta couldn't wonder anymore how much time the other person had spent in here, because the idea for him to be seen as a skeleton and the area around him as a poisoned, wasted graveyard made him sick.
Alta was not sure if he should be afraid of the fact that he felt nothing, as he heard what he heard. No shivers, no fright, his spiritly body didn't react in any way. "But who is him?", he wondered.
"What am i, 'or whence am i? f'rgotten hast i the answereth to these questions by thou during this lasteth millennia as one hath await'd f'r the arrival of the kind liketh thou." said the spirit.
"I thanketh someone liketh thee, f'r someone with a kind soul liketh thy. So. . . so much of this knowledge of mineth is liketh the opposite of sanity of thine as mineth is only as ashes, just liketh beautiful insanity. F'r i knoweth not what pure sanity is f'r one to hast, as tis not what i've becometh." The skeleton said to Alta as he was wondering what this was all about. What did any of it mean, and how could the voice know what he was about to ask?
"Tis the new home of thy, oh it shall becometh as that soul of thine becomes one with the heart of this most precious stone of mineth and then what one truly hath once been, starts to melteth past thy fing'rs as one dost not knoweth what one is any moor. I shall lendeth mine pow'r f'r thou as the p'rson who is the one i hast chosen because the quite pure heart of thine. . . shall thou accepteth this dram thought of mineth and listeneth to the olden and crumbl'd mem'ries of mineth?" The voice asked again from Alta, but only received silence as an answer.
"The only thing i truly remembereth f'r thou, is the fate of this once great soul of mineth and the st'ry shall be the same f'r the soul of thine, unless this pact of mineth shall be accept'd by the heart and soul of thine." said the voice to Alta.
"I knoweth not thy nameth 'or thy desires f'r pow'r, but pow'r to colly the heavens above the oppos'rs of thy art mineth. O pitch black contracteth, dark as the heart of mineth, but bright as stars before the eyes of thine liketh the heavens above and the lands before thy liketh the divine. Thou can displayeth such pow'r with the wisheth of thine, when given to the mind of mineth. . . if thy mind and soul accepts this blood bound contracteth of mineth."
"Beshrew, malice, i beseech thou, pulleth mine bitt'r enemies through the opening gate of hell. . . tis shall be thy fate written the mooreth divine, believ'd by the dram heart of thine, 'ere the eyes of thine dupp f'r the v'ry first timeth. thy fate. . . t'was always liketh mineth."
"Tis a beshrew as much liketh a blessing f'r the kinds of thou, as it wast meant f'r me. as timeth passeth over me, oh so mine fate did to me. I prayeth f'r thou to accepteth the duty of mineth, as tis the fate passing from mine heart to the heart of thine."
"Tis all i remembereth, just f'r thou. All else i hast f'rgotten. . . sacrific'd f'r thou, the one who wouldst be strong. These words shall be the lasteth of mine formalities, as tis mine lasteth bit of sanity."
"Timeth, tis so taxing. T'was a hundr'd foldeth, nay, a millenia ago. . . it wilt hast been. Timeth, kind tis not f'r thy soul, neith'r was it to mineth. Tis the t'rment left f'r the soul of mineth and i prayeth f'r thou to endeth this t'rment, endur'd too much i hast. But what knoweth this corky crumbl'd mind of mineth, such things it thinks that it hath seen before the appearance of thou."
"So will the kind of heart of thine giveth a new home f'r this mind and soul of mineth, and thus i shall layeth this oh great pow'r of mineth, in those hands of thy. All that shall be f'r thee, f'r just a dram new home f'r this soul and mind of mineth, built by that ruin'd corpse of thine, as it shall die with nay helpeth from these pow'rs of mineth."
"If freedom is something that I'll have, I will accept." Alta spat out before letting the skeleton continue speaking, as he finally got the idea that spending time here would only corrode him little by little until not much of his mind would remain, he still had no clue where his real body was, so getting back to reality was the most important thing for him now.
As Alta's mind threw these words out, it took only a second before he felt like his spiritual body was being pulled backwards. "Oh gladly i shall accepteth this wise decision of thine, as thy beshrew shall be the less'r one, unlike what i may hast passeth down f'r the kinds not liketh thou." Alta barely even heard these words, neither did he even care to process, because he felt and saw something so odd and magical; the journey between life and death.
"Garen are you okay?" Asked Lux from Garen as she stood up. She turned her head and looked around herself, but found it hard to see much, as there was little natural light. She picked up her staff from the floor where it had fallen and illuminated the room by casting a ball of light to where she thought the middle of the room was. This indeed helped a lot, as she could now properly see around.
"Mostly." Said Garen with a sore voice as he picked himself up from the floor.
"And Alta?" Continued Lux as she remembered that Garen had been right next to him when they all fell down.
"No idea." He said back as he scanned the cave. It looked almost like an arena. The floor was flat and the room itself was quite high, but the place from where they fell was still visible from the bottom. The cave was circular and seemed to have two entrances, or at least it looked like it. Upon closer inspection it looked like the other entrance have been sealed by someone.
Garen and Lux did not wonder about this for a long time though, as they heard something coming from the sealed end. The sounds resembled a quiet clashing and the clanks of metal against rock. Nonetheless Garen picked his sword up from the ground and curiously looked at Lux.
"So what now?" He asked Lux as he was quite sure that she had heard the sounds as well.
As Lux was about to answer, a loud bang came from the entrance followed by a large amount of dust. It took a few seconds for the dust to settle and allow Garen and Lux to see what was going on. To their surprise they saw a man stand up. It took a second for Lux to recognize that he was wearing Alta's cloak, so she figured it can only be him.
He was still tens of meters away from Garen and Lux, but he still took some steps backwards, while looking at the entrance. Before either Lux or Garen could say anything, something else came through the door. It was hard to see in the still dimly lit room, but after a few moments passed, it became clear that it was a golem or a sort of possessed rock that the man was fighting against.
As the duo watched in fright, they saw the man lift his left hand up. As he kept his hand there, first some light and then a weapon just materialized out of thin air into his hand. It was slightly glowing in the dark cave and it seemed to be a spear, but the only difference from a normal spear was that both ends of the weapon had blades.
As this happened, the man spun the spear so that it pointed towards the golem and grabbed it with both hands. When Garen saw this, with little thought, he charged forward towards the the fighters.
"FOR DEMACIA!" Shouted Garen as he sprung himself forward towards the fight that seemed to be starting in seconds.
As Lux saw Garen run off so suddenly, she knew that she could not stop him as he was the most stubborn man she knew and he did not really appreciate the idea of speaking too much. She only shot a boomerang of light after him as a response, so that he would have some protection against the golem; that was about twice his size. She knew that he could handle a single golem in the League, but at the moment she just had a bad feeling.
Step after step Garen was closing in on the golem that had already lifted one of its massive fists into the air.
As Garen saw the creature take offensive, he looked straight in front of him, only to see the other man taunting the golem, which is pointless, as they have no feelings. Even Garen realized the stupidity of this and as he ran forward he jumped with all his force to push the man out of the golem's reach. As Garen reached the man -who he thought to be Alta- to push him out of the way, he was surprised as he touched him. He only managed to fly through Alta instead of pushing him away. As he quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the fists of the golem, he only saw Alta's figure vaporize into the air like smoke into the wind.
Garen took a step back getting ready to dodge the fist that would be soon coming towards him. Even though he had a shield of light protecting him, he hated trusting something like that and preferred to do things himself. Lux knew this too and decided to help in taking the golem down instead of letting her brother do all the work.
"Dodge!" Shouted Lux to Garen as she swung her wand and threw out a prison of light. This snared the golem for a short moment and made it so that it was much easier for the light that Lux used, to burn through the target she was attacking.
Before either Lux or Garen could act though, something clearly hit the golem from the top.
A glowing blade cleanly cut through the neck of the golem, and as the blade was pulled out of the victim, someone jumped down in front of the it to avoid being pulled down by its massive fists. As he skillfully landed and rolled sideways to dodge the fists and feet of the golem, he swung his spear up, towards the head and neck of the golem and the blade went right through it, like a hot knife through butter, cutting the head clean off.
As the golem's feet failed under it and it began to crumble down, it was clear that the golem was dead. As the spear in the man's hand just disappeared into the air, he turned around and took some steps towards Lux, but then he fell on his knees and collapsed to the ground, just like his opponent a moment ago.
As Garen gave a confused look towards both of the golem and the man, he decided to go to the golem as he was quite interested about the weapon that had been used. Something has to be really well enchanted to be that sharp, because no rock, especially a well casted golem can't be cut in half this easily.
At the same time Lux hurried to the man as she had a strong feeling he was Alta. After some hurried steps forward, Lux became conflicted about what to think, as she knew that he could not fight with an injury like he had, but then who could it be? And how did he get Alta's cloak? Her thoughts were answered as she got the man. He was lying face down to the ground, most likely passed out. He also had a leather bag on his back, which seemed to have something in it. She took it from his back, so that she could turn him around properly. After she placed the bag next to him, she gently turned him around, while supporting his head like a pillow would. And as she originally thought, it was Alta.
As she sighed in confusion, she decided to put his newly found bag behind his head, so that it would not have to rest on the ground. After eying him for any wounds, she saw none on the surface. As she thought about this for a second, she quickly pulled Alta's left sleeve back, only to see that his hand was uninjured and completely normal. The only thing that made her wonder was the fact that the hand was very pale, nearly white. Alta was naturally quite pale, but she had never seen anyone normally have this kind of skin color. She knew that it had to be some kind of magic that had healed his hand, but she just had the gut feeling that he was not able to do that. As she turned the hand to inspect it, she only saw some small burn marks on the wrist, nothing that could not have been there. Nothing to mark anything unnatural.
"Who is it? Did you see what he did to that thing?" Garen asked from Lux as he admired the near perfectly straight cuts that decorated the golem's neck and back.
"Ahh, uum it's Alta" She answered a bit startled as she still was still sorting out her thoughts.
"Wow, he's good. Either all Solari are this good in battle, or he was no regular grunt." He continued after his first sentence with some excitement, as he was always eager to learn new techniques and use them in battle and not just spin to win.
"Well I'm not sure, but that spear did look like it had been at least supported by light, maybe it was completely made of it... not sure though." Lux said again as she was going through a short fight in her head.
"So he' a warrior AND a mage?!" Garen asked from Lux with even more excitement, as he was already thinking about what unit he could be placed in. As he thought about that, he could almost see a promotion coming.
"I doubt that, though he did handle light in a way or another, so he can do something that we didn't ask him about. But I don't think that he's in that good condition." She said with some worry in her voice, as she was just so very clueless towards everything that had just happened.
"Well his looks quite normal, but it's healed with some odd magic. I'm no healer, so I can't tell for sure. Also he flew through that door, so he might have broken something. He shouldn't die here, but it won't help if he stays in this condition." She said again to Garen as she looked at Alta's face, which looked so very peaceful even after the battle.
As Lux stood up to scan the area again, she swung her staff and casted a new source of light for better vision, because the first ball was becoming dimmer. When she turned her head to face Garen who walked up to her to see Alta, steps could be heard from the other part of the cave, where Alta and the golem came from. But this time it sounded like there were dozens of them, that had just woken up and were coming to fight the Demacians.
"I don't think we should stay any longer. We don't even know what is in there or what they can do." Lux said defensively and kept glancing between Garen and the entrance.
"Agreed." Garen said after he had thought about it for a few seconds. This surprised Lux as Garen was much more used to standing his ground rather than retreating. This was a lot better for Alta though, because he was in no condition to defend himself.
"I don't think that you can wake him..." Lux said with an apologetic voice as she looked at him.
"..." Garen looked at Alta who was laying on the ground, motionless.
"NO! We can't just leave him here! Don't even think about it'" scolded Lux Garen.
"Fine." Garen grumbled to himself as he sheathed his sword, picked Alta's unconscious body up and placed him on his shoulder.
This was the right time to leave, as the wall in front of the Demacians began crumbling as dozens of golems bashed their way through the walls. As Lux looked around she spotted the bag that Alta had with him. She decided to take it as she was really interested in what could be in the unknown bag. After she picked the bag from the ground, she held her staff in her other hand and lit the way for herself and Garen, as they escaped through the other entrance.
It was a long and painful travel. The bad outside conditions combined with having to carry someone, was quite a demanding task, especially for Garen as he did most of the carrying. The only real stop that Garen and Lux allowed themselves was now. They were resting at a lonely mountain inn. It was located at the bottom of Morgon pass, at the mountain range. Mostly travelers, merchants and expedition crew used the inn, so it was almost always quiet. It was funded by Demacia, as many of their agents used it as a resting place, but not much was going on otherwise.
The man who owned the inn always appreciated company, because his wife had passed on and his children did not live with him anymore. He was a modest man who had served within the Demacian military during his youth, but as time passed on he had moved away to the house built by the parents of his wife, the lonely inn. He had then used connections still within Demacia to fund him, so he would have a bit easier of a time living while giving Demacian agents a safe area to fall back to during, or after missions. But he was happy, just like Lux and Garen, who were able to rest after the exhausting trip.
Lux had already spent some nights in the inn before as she had been on a few missions around the area. Even though she enjoyed spending most of her time with other people, she too liked the perfect peace and quietness that the inn could offer from time to time.
After a short night's sleep, Lux looked out the window. She could see light coming out of another one, so she decided to get up. After she had changed into some more casual clothing (which were borrowed from the inn), she stepped out of her room. As she began walking down the stairs, she walked past Garen's room, but she decided to let him be as he had his fair share of reasons to be exhausted. Right next to his room was Alta's room. Lux gave in for her curiosity and she decided peeked in, besides, if he would wake up it would only be good. As she quietly got closer to Alta someone spoke up.
"I checked him already. He only has a broken rib, but it should be fixed soon enough." Came a soft voice from the door.
"Uhh…" She turned around. "Thanks Finos, you didn't need to." Lux said to the innkeeper. She also felt a bit bad that he had done something like this for them, as they just barged into the inn during the night.
"I am only doing my job Miss Crownguard. Is there something you want from him?" He asked from Lux.
"Thank you Finos. I was just wondering how injured he was, but if you say that he's fine then that's good enough." She said to Finos.
"Well he should wake soon, because I gave him something. But please come miss, I have prepared coffee for you." Finos continued.
"Thank you." Lux said with a smile and turned around. She knew that coffee was a bit more of a luxury around the area, so she thought that it would have been rude to decline.
As she chatted with Finos, she found out that he knew little more about what happened to Alta. He had guesses, but Lux was not in a position to say if they were correct or not as she was not a healer or a doctor. She did learn a couple of things about healing though which was beneficial for her. As she chatted on with Finos, time seemed to fly smoothly as both of them had much to say. This was until they heard a door open and close.
Meanwhile as Lux and Finos were coversing in the other room Alta finally opened his eyes. His whole body felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer and it ached from head to toe. He didn't remember what happened apart from meeting Lux and Garen and had even less clue where he was at the moment.
As he sat at up to the edge of his bed, only then did he notice his hand. From bellow his elbow it was unnaturally white and it was the only place where he did not feel any sort of pain or discomfort.
"All that shall be for thou, for just a little new home of mine built by that ruined body of thine, as it shall die with no help from these powers of mine." was the first thing to come to his mind as he continued to stare at his hand. Though he did not remember who had said it, he just knew that someone had said so.
His hunger woke him from his deep thoughts and made him change his clothes. After that he decided that he might want to stay silent about what very little he remembered, as saying the wrong thing on purpose or as just as an accident might not be beneficial, because humans who were thought to be possessed or cursed were often treated poorly and with disgust by others, at least by the Solari, but Alta figured that others might be the same as well.
"Seems like someone has woken." Finos said with his usual low but soft voice. As Lux and Finos waited in the dining hall, they saw the door open. Just a second later it was Alta who stepped out of the doorway. His hair was messy and he held the side of his torso with his right hand as it was probably sore. Even though he had not been awake for over a day he looked quite tired.
Alta looked at Finos and Lux for a second with a slightly confused face.
"Where are we...?" He asked slowly as he looked around the room.
"You're at the Lonely mountain Inn ser. I hope that you have rested well." Finos answered as he stood up and bowed slightly to Alta. Even though Alta understood nothing from what Finos said to him, he responded with a slight bow of his own. After this, Finos pointed towards an empty chair which was next to Lux and opposite to him where Alta could sit. Alta still felt fuzzy and had little knowledge about what the lonely inn was, so he had a lot of questions.
As Finos served a drink and some food to Alta and Lux, Alta suddenly remembered more and more as the effect of the herbs that Finos had given him started to ware off, he became sharper and his memory started to improve a bit. The conversation between the three of them was long and a great many things were discussed.
"What is this?" Alta asked from Finos when he received another dish to calm his hunger.
"Bloody bacon stripes, they should have everything you need to recover" Finos answered the man's question as he gave a new plate to Lux as well. Alta had a hard time figuring out why he was reminded about something by them so much.
"How much can you remember?" Lux asked from Alta for the second time.
"I'm sorry, but it's all quite blurry. It is... just too complicated to explain." Alta said to Lux when she asked if he had any memories about anything between him meeting her and Garen, and him waking up at the Inn.
"What about the weapons? You summoned one when we were in the cave." Lux asked like a detective who was getting close to solving a case. When Lux asked this, great chunks of the past events flowed back to Alta's mind, though still not all.
Alta tried searching among his memories for something that he could say, as he only remembered what he had found. As he thought about it he remembered the crystal and and that there had happened something inside it. Things past that were still quite unclear.
"The Solari would not like me to say this, but it was a holy stone of light. But I cannot wield light if that is your question." Alta said as an answer. In reality, he didn't know if he was right or wrong.
"My bag…Didn't I have one? ... Is it here? "Alta continued as he remembered his leather bag.
"Yes, I took it and left it in your room." Lux responded.
"Thank you. The weapons though are something that I'm still learning. They look greater than they are, but I'm not sure I can practice with light enchanted weapons, as I have no support here." Alta answered now much calmer. Alta was not straight up lying, but neither was he saying the truth. Lux seemed to trust Alta quite much, even though she did not know him very well. He wasn't sure if this was just her naivety that she thought him to be something else, or if she just trusted everyone a bit too much.
As Lux spoke and told what happened moment by moment, Alta got his memories back bit by bit, just like a whisper that he could not quite hear. It was a weird feeling for him but he did not think much about it.
Finally Lux gave up on questioning Alta about the events in the cave. Alta did not exactly like being questioned like that, because it made him feel guilty about doing something wrong, even though he was innocent.
"What shall be our next destination?" Asked Alta from Lux.
"The Institute of War, of course. I hope that we can get there before snowdown. The parties there at that time are usually pretty fun to go to." She answered with a smile.
"And when shall we leave?" Continued Alta with another question.
"When Garen wakes up, but don't disturb him because he's sleeping at the moment. Just remember that he carried you here so you owe him one for that." Lux said with a tad of caution in her voice.
"I guess, but thanks to you as well. I'll go and pack some things, you can find me in my room." Said Alta as he excused himself and left the table. As he was walking towards his room he pondered about the few last days.
"What do I truly know?" He asked from himself. As he reached his room he grabbed the doorknob still wondering the same question, while not getting any closer to an answer.
"Now where did she put that bag?" He mumbled again.
Alta walked to the edge of his bed and sat down. As he took a good look around the room for the first time, he realized that it looked quite a lot like his barrack bunk. The room was small but it was quite cozy, and it had a table and some chairs to fill it in a bit. The room also had a window, from where he could look outside and see the chilling weather.
He looked around a bit, searching for the bag and eventually found it under his bed. He hung the bag in front of him and thought about how life was very strange indeed. Alta pushed those thoughts aside as he tossed the bag on his bed and opened the straps at the top. At first glance he only noticed a massive, thick book that must have contained much information about many things, then he noticed some smaller things at the bottom of the bag as well.
Because Alta was a curious reader, he pulled the book out first and was surprised by the sheer weight of it. The cover and back of it were plain and contained no information about anything, except some small carvings at the middle that he did not recognize. He figured that time must have taken its toll on the book as it seemed quite old. Alta moved the hardcover to the other side and moved the few first fragile pages to the side, but they were empty, until he got to the third page.
It was something that looked like gibberish and Alta did not recognize the language or what was written there, remembered seeing some of the words on some older objects that he had seen. As he flipped the pages and kept reading forward, he only found ancient text, which was partly ruined by time. The writing itself was beautiful and well done, until it suddenly turned red after he flipped through half of the book. Also the writing became a bit shakier, but Alta just figured that the writer might have changed mid-book.
As Alta kept quickly looking through the pages, it took little time for him to get to the end of the book. It was quite unremarkable as most of the pages looked the same, only just with different letters that Alta did not recognize. It was very faintly glowing blue though, and seemed to be the only magical element the book contained. It was clear that no ordinary book could last this long in a cold and humid cave with no protection. Alta thought about this as his hand hovered above the faintly glowing text and finally touched it from curiosity. The text felt cold and almost like it would have been sucking his finger inside it.
Was it a good idea to meddle with magic that he didn't know anything about? Alta was going to find out really soon. But if it was the hard way or the easy way, he did not know... but when he closed his eyes, a great many things became clearer to him, a piece of Lunari history uncovered itself in his head and someone very important came forth and announced:
"The fifth high lunari exicution'r from the självo'r family i am, and the hands of thine art the found'r from the ordinary outside that i knoweth not, as this imp'rtant task of mineth hath cometh to me. This soul of mineth is one of the v'ry lasteth in this once great temple of mineth, but the weapon of death is push'd at this throat of mineth and claimeth this life of mine it shall, but this great duty of mineth shall accepteth the fate with 'or without hon'r from the types liketh thou. Thy a warri'r that the lasteth guardian shall be awaiting, saveth that v'ry soul thou shall and the guardian thou shall meet. When these hands of mineth sealeth this fate in but just a moment, shall these w'rds in this booketh of mine be the lasteth traces of the kind of mineth. These art the lasteth w'rds and wishes f'r thou, as thy snab backeth to reality. "
Alta's eyes shot open again, just like all this would have been said in a second. It all seemed so clear, yet complicated. He could only wonder what the priestess had told him and as he looked at the cover of the now closed book, he could only imagine how long she could have been locked away... this is when he remembered a bit of what he had heard within the crystal, which he now realized to be a soul preserver. The spirit that he had met inside the preserver did not even remember its name... so much time had passed. Only then did Alta realize that what he had agreed to was a lot more serious than he thought.
Alta lowered the book on his bed and looked at his left arm that was right in front of him and wondered what exactly could it be that had healed it. Magic, of course, but normally it would not distort the color of his skin to be nearly completely white. Questions filled his mind and thought after thought demanded an answer, but none received one.
As time was passing slowly, Alta decided to look through the book more carefully, hoping to learn something else from it or to try and decipher the old text, but it was mostly in vain. As hours passed and the snow began falling, a couple of light knocks came from the door. Alta quickly looked around as he was startled a bit and shoved the book back into his bag next to him.
"Come in." Alta said after a few seconds as he sat on the edge of the bed again. As the door opened Lux walked in.
"Are you feeling better? Finos told me that the medication should have worn off by now." Lux asked with a hint of concern. Out of his military habit, Alta quickly stood up and bowed slightly to Lux.
"Seems so, you looked and sounded like you were dead just a couple of hours ago... but please, no need to be so formal when it's just the two of us." She continued with a slight giggle as she saw Alta's cheeks blush a bit.
"Apologies... I feel quite normal again." Alta said while trying to avoid looking Lux in her eyes, wondering why he was so nervous.
Lux let out a slight chuckle. "Ahh, no worries, I just came to say that we are leaving soon." Lux said with her usual cheery voice.
"I see. Is there anything that I should know?" Asked Alta from the magician.
"Well, as you can see, the weather is not on our side at the moment. Finos doesn't think that the weather will ease soon and we don't have a lot of time to waste here before we'll get stuck in the snow if we leave later." Lux continued.
"When exactly will we leave then?" Asked Alta as he looked out the window to see snow heavily pouring down. Moving quickly might be the best decision as the snow might block all smaller roads as well.
"Tonight, in a few hours, so be ready. If you need anything just ask me or Finos." Lux said as she turned towards the door.
"Understood." Alta said with a more relaxed voice as he sat back down.
As Alta said those words Lux gave a small smile to him as a response and walked out of the room. Alta would have preferred to rest a bit more, but he didn't want to get trapped in an inn that was in middle of nowhere either. He wasn't sure why his head was still a bit fuzzy. Old magic or potent herbs could be the answer, or even a concussion. Other than that, his torso ached a bit but he was mostly fine. As he thought about his injuries, he remembered what Finos had said to him about his wounds.
"Ahh, the elixir." Thought Alta to himself and looked at the table standing in the corner of his room.
Alta stood up and walked over to the table and sat on the chair next to it, then picked up the small glass flask. Finos had told Alta that the flask was the second part of what he had already been given when he was asleep and it should complete the treatment. Alta slowly pulled the cork out of the flask and looked at the red liquid. The elixir looked like the foreign potions that he had to use sometimes during his service in the army.
"Well, here goes nothing." Said Alta as he tilted his head backwards and drank the elixir in one big gulp. After he swallowed the potion, a warm feeling began spreading in his body. It was a nice change, compared to the usual cold, so he did not complain, even though the elixir tasted like a combination of iron and paper (and maybe a hint of some rotten meat).
It did not take much time until the trio got ready to start moving again. Even though evening was approaching, Finos promised to lend a horse to everyone, so that they could attempt to outrun the snow, which had a really slight chance of success.
As Alta had very little with him, he was the first one who was waiting at the stables for the others.
Alta had gotten some clothing from Finos which was more suited for winter condition; another nice surprise on top of many others that he had gotten from the inn. He was walking in circles to keep himself warm for a few minutes until the others came outside. Finos had planned multiple routes for Alta and his companions to use in case of any problem.
Alta, Lux and Garen were each given a horse and from the first look to Alta, they were excellent. Alta figured that they were most likely given to him by the Demacians in case of situations like this. As the trio stood with their horses at the snowy gate of the inn, Finos said his goodbyes.
"Crownguards, and you Ser, please travel safely." He said.
"Of course. I hope that we weren't much of a burden." Lux said back to Finos.
"Anything for you m'lady, but please, time does not wait for anyone." Finos said as he tipped his fedora for Lux.
The Demacians nodded in response and left on their steeds.
As days and nights went by, Alta saw much that he had not seen before. Sure, he had traveled with Äldre when he was younger, but he did not remember all of it, because it was quite a few years ago. Alta also heard multiple interesting stories about the wars in the past that he never heard of, in exchange for similar stories about the Solari. He also became much more interested in the League of Legends. What interested him the most, was the tournament that was still going on at the moment.
This tournament was called the "LCS" (The Legendary championship of the and there, every representative champion could fight with the assist of their summoners. Many of the champions that did not care about the national and political matches, they spent much of their time in this tournament. These matches were also great entertainment for the people and travelers who were nearby, so smaller similar tournaments were held often. Alta could barely stand the thought of waiting, and didn't want anything more than their arrival in the Institute of War as he felt that it was the place where some things would reveal themselves to him.
So i hope that the ending wasnt too sudden but i had to end it somewhere and me being lazy i just kinda cutted there. As i said, it is now part of chapter 5 in which, well lets just say that things heat up, like at least with 3-4 different ways. I kinda want to start building strong personalities for a lot of different people so they might go a bit over the top at times. Also gore and some "interesting" things happen...