"Have your son?" Anastasia repeated, trying to imitate the tone in his voice. "I told you I lost my baby and you keep me reminding me that. How can I give you something I don't have?" she said, part of her annoyed, part of her confused, part of her furious.
He came close to her and grabbed her by her shoulders.
"I was confused too, in the beginning, my dear" he started saying, staring at her up and down, "but then I realized it. The child you were carrying before could simply not serve the Void as properly as... how can I describe it?" he paused to think for a second, "one who'd be... mine from the start!" he smiled, "The child you lost could never stay here and be my son. You're the one though, the pregnant girl who came here, and you will have my actual son." as he finished his words, his eyes were staring right into hers, intimidating her, making her feel uncomfortable.
"Don't touch her!" Taylor L. shouted from a distance, running to Anastasia. After all, he was her official boyfriend, (for now) and he had to stand up for her in any way possible.
The mage raised his hand at his direction. "Stop right there!" he said in his hoarse voice.
Then he turned to Anastasia again. "So, my love, what's your decision? Will you save all your friends? Let them live a happy life? Or... will you be the one to blame for their death?" We demand sacrifice, he thought to himself, making him smile, frightening the girl even more.
She looked at Taylor L., speechless. Always trouble...
"Oh, don't worry about your boyfriend!" the prophet said, reading her mind. He was also telepathic. Good to know. "That blond girl over there" he motioned at Swift "will take good care of him. I'll make him forget all about you and he can start over with her."
Taylor Swift tried to look away. It must have been awkward for her, this stranger digging up her secret, innocent crush she had on this man, really didn't feel good.
"Don't! There's nothing going on, I swear!" Taylor L. said, trying to convince the prophet.
The latter looked at him, staring right into his soul. "Deep down you'll always love her."
Taylor L. turned to look at his current girlfriend. "Anastasia, he's lying!"
Anastasia looked at him for a while. Then she lifted her gaze from him and looked at how many people were waiting for her to hear what she'd chosen. Eventually, her eyes met with Malzahar's.
"I can't take their lives just for the sake of not being here alone" she started saying, "but.." she continued, "I don't want to stay here either. I need time."
"Two hours. That's all you have." was the prophet's response, then he vanished from her sight.
She turned to look at her gamer friend, Fanie, and asked her "Is he from LoL?"
"Yes.." she said and turned her head down, avoiding to be seen blushing.
Oh god... That terrible mistake they made. Who would have known back then, that, a night over at the haunted house could have such horrible consequences?
It all started before three months, more or less. It was the two girls, Anastasia and Fanie, although Taylor L. was with them too. He followed the girls as this was one of his first dates with Anastasia, before they could call themselves a "couple". Ahh, those were the good times. Back when there was no trouble...
They had just entered the haunted house when they started hearing strange noises from upstairs. Immediately, they ran there where the noise was heard from. Voices could be heard from the washing machine. Fanie was too curious. She went inside to hear more and then she found herself right in front of the Institute of War. Her friends were there too, in mere seconds. They had unlocked a portal that connected to LoL and they might have accidentally set some champions free...
"Fanie! Fanie! Are you even listening?!" Anastasia's voice woke her from her daydream. This isn't time for regretting, she thought to herself, now it's about dealing with what we have caused.
"Emm, yes, can you please repeat what you just said?" she asked her friend nervously.
"I said, there must be a passage to LoL!" Anastasia said. "There's someone I want to call for help."
"There must be one, alright" Fanie said back, trying to sound (and think) rational. "But how are we gonna find it? And who are you gonna call?"
"I'm sure we'll find it! You'll see!" Anastasia responded with much enthusiasm. You could almost see the spark of hope in her eyes.
"What are you gonna tell him?" asked Zac, obviously understanding that the girls would try to escape.
"There might be another way.." Anastasia said, looking around her, moving quickly as she didn't want to waste her time, "just help us find a door. Or something that could be used as a passage.."
They started searching for that passage...