Hey guys *waves sheepishly*. So, I'm alive, and still writing. Might've been slightly busy though- real life tends to get in your face and give you a sucker punch at the worst times.
Anyways, I'll try to update more in the future, but in the meantime, you guys can enjoy this =)
The Last Frontier
"Know your environment"
Ezreal repeated his main maxim to himself as he looked left and right anxiously. The Blond explorer had ruffled hair, wearing an inscribed jacket with a large hood and with a noticeable amulet wrapped around his left hand. He also had a large pack, including multiple tents, blades, flares, and instantaneous teleportation devices courtesy of the League- looking quite different than his usual gear on the Fields of Justice. The explorer was in Icathia, known to be one of the most dangerous locations on Valoran, hence the fact that the amulet was constantly up and tracking for any movement. There was a crumbling statue of an unrecognizable beast to his left, and the remnants of a building to his right. Plenty of places for something not friendly to hide, Ezreal thought as he shivered silently and continued walking.
It appeared that the street Ezreal had been walking on was a smaller one- despite the fact that it was tens of feet wide- because it intersected with another one, which was a 50 feet wide promenade. The blond explorer couldn't help but follow it with his eyes to its end, where a massive Ziggurat still stood. Despite it being several centuries old, it still stood ominously, dominating the entire street, and indeed, the entire city. Ezreal shivered again, but slowly pressed on towards his goal.
Know your environment, Ezreal repeated to himself as he quickly swept his eyes around the area before slowly and carefully picking his way through the rubble-strewn street towards the Ziggurat, everything crumbling due to the fractured buildings lining up beside the street. He was constantly stepping past shadows, as the sun tried to break through the cracked and broken buildings. He stepped out of the light and into the dark again, when-
Suddenly, Ezreal heard a deep breath behind him. Before he could even turn around, a magical force exploded behind him, propelling him forwards and into a small pit created by the lack of rubble. Quickly twisting his head, Ezreal could only make out a dark shadow standing above him, the entire area around it cracking with Eldritch energies, and with a visible purple shape next to it. It slowly began to walk- no, float- towards the Explorer.
Ezreal tried to summon his magic, and teleport backwards, even maybe away from this city. But just as his will was about to activate his amulet, the figure shifted its arm while still floating towards him, and blasted him with energy. Ezreal managed to raise his arm in time to block the brunt of the blast, but when he tried to use the amulet, it simply activate. The explorer tried again and again to activate it, pouring mana into it, but the mana simply seemed to disappear into nothingness.
Seeing that the figure was still relentlessly floating towards him, Ezreal quickly twisted his torso and pulled out a blade from a compartment in his backpack, holding it up in defense against his mysterious foe. It kept going- until it seemed to duck and disappear.
Ezreal nearly put down his blade, but he repeated it again. Know your environment. And listening for a split second- he heard heavy breathing- not in front of him, but behind him.
Quickly turning around, the now-desperate exploerer used his turning motion to give additional momentum for his swing. It looked like the blade was going to home in true against his shadowy assailent- until the purple mass came up, revealing itself as a blade, and literally sliced Ezreal's blade in two.
With the sight of that blade, Ezreal now knew who was before him. With the silencing, the teleportation, and that void blade, it could only be the Void Walker. Thinking quickly, he tried using his amulet again, but he still could not- it appeared the Void Walker's abilities were amplified outside of the Fields of Justice. Perhaps, however, he could appeal to him as a fellow League champion.
"Kassadin, wait", called out Ezreal.
Kassadin paused for a moment, blade still in midair, before booming, "Who dares address me?"
"Heh." Ezreal raised his left arm. "Amulet." He gestured all around him and to himself. "Exploring." He grinned confidently. "I'm Ezreal."
Kassadin now put down his blade. "And what, explorer, are you doing here?"
Ezreal, seeing the blade withdrawn, now looked down at his feet. "I-" He looked up again at Kassadin, still standing there impassively. "I was curious about the existence of Icathia I guess." Ezreal forced out.
"Not only Icathia, I would think," boomed Kassadin.
Ezreal's eyebrow twitched for a second, before sighing. "I wanted to explore the void. What kinds of things are there, the dangers, the excitement!" Ezreal's eyes gleamed as he thought about what he would be hailed as, the explorer mapping out the void, seeing its creatures, feeling its sun.
"Which I cannot allow you to do, untrained one." Kassadin's hand shot forwards, barring the explorer's way forwards. His own head- with the mask over it- dropped a bit. "I cannot afford another Malzahar." Nearly whispering himself, he said, "I cannot afford another me."
"Wha-" Ezreal began, before Kassadin cut him off. "Do not argue! Unless you want to end up like this." The Void Walker gestured to himself, with multiple breathing apparatuses and cybernetic implants just to continue breathing.
"I was like you once," said Kassadin, now looking up at the weak Icathian sky. "Curious; wanting recognition and glory. I came to this forsaken place, searching for the Void myself." Ezreal began to speak, but Kassadin continued. "And I found it. Or more accurately, it found me."
"You cannot enter. You will be consumed, and aid the voidborn. I cannot allow that."
Ezreal's heart plummeted. His hopes of exploring everywhere he could, were totally dashed. It was why he'd mapped out the dungeons of Noxus, avoiding guards and soldiers (and Katarina going on a killing spree, but that was a different story) at every turn. It was why he'd ventured to the center of the Kumungu jungle, to try and make sense of the jumbled mass of incorrect maps, each promising treasure, but all granting nothing but death in a swamp somewhere. It was why he'd gone to the top of the Ironspike Mountains, seeking the trail to the nest where Anivia roosted, if only to see the sight of the majestic icy bird taking flight over the jagged edges of the mountains poking into the aurora borealis of the north.
It was why he was here. He couldn't stay away. Adventuring and Exploring was in his blood, and he had to come here while he was still young, and had the greatest chance of surviving.
While Ezreal was pondering his plight, Kassadin had turned away and slowly moved towards one of the crumbling buildings. But suddenly, Ezreal thought of something.
"Wait!" he called. Kassadin slowly turned to face him again. "I can't enter because it'll corrupt me, right?" Kassadin nodded. "Can you… train me to not be corrupted?"
"Ezreal… are you sure you want to do this? Venturing into the void will change you forever, regardless of what I teach. Horrifying things await there, millions of beings even more twisted than the likes of Kog'Maw and Cho'Gath. If I am to teach you, it would take years, perhaps even decades, before you could possibly step foot in the portal and not go mad. Are you willing to do that?"
"Yes," Ezreal said determinedly. "I'll do whatever it takes." He smiled sheepishly. "Because if you don't take me, I'll end up going myself. I have to."
"Very well. Then let us begin our first lesson."
Ezreal's eye twited. "That fast, eh?" he muttered to himself. Quickly grabbing a blanket to sit on, and a kerosene lantern to fight the rapidly encroaching night, he sat and listened as Kassadin began.
"The first lesson is time. Time does not flow…"
The two sat there, shrouded in the darkness as the sun finally set, amongst the jagged edges of the crumbling, deserted city, exchanging words and ideas. But, Ezreal flicked on the kerosene lamp, and illuminated the area around them. Light poured out of the lamp, fighting furiously to hold back the darkness around the duo.
They would sit there talking and listening for a long time.