HALYCON
care-free
They drive to the sea. It took them hours and hours, speeding past cornfield after cornfield after cornfield. But finally, the countless rows of faintly yellow stalks gave way to the tall, thick trunks of oak and pine. Jinx carved a winding trail through the woods, stopping only when they reached a cliff. Lux thought Jinx would drive them right over the edge. She didn't know whether to feel relief or disappointment when the brakes were applied.
This close, the waves are defeaning. The salt-washed air dives deep into her lungs. It's invigorating and overwhelming all at once. Lux wonders if she could drown like this, standing on the precipice of a vast and empty sea. No instance of man can be found here, no ships or sails between her and the endless horizon.
Born and raised in the heart of Demacia, conscripted to fight in narrow alleys and cramped rooms, she is so far from everything and everyone she knows. Here, she is no master manipulator, no mover of men. Here, where the sky yawns wide open, where the sun rises for the trillionth time, where the seas churn as it always had long before her ancestors and always will long after she dies - here, she is small.
The Measured Tread is a faint echo. The weight of duty is swept away by the breeze. Overhead, daybreak sweetens the sky from a deep black to a faint purple. And she stands before the rising sun, not as Luxanna Crownguard, not as the Lady of Luminosity, but as Lux. Just Lux.
Because the world is very big and she is very small. And in another trillion sunrises, no one will be left to remember her. She is insignificant. All of time and space cares not for her faults and follies. She is free to do as she wishes.
Lux turns to Jinx, a challenge promised in her smile. "Race you to the bottom?"
Jinx blinks, startled. But she recovers quickly and grins just as wide. "You're on, Flashlight!"
Lux laughs and, without pausing to think or breathe, she runs to the cliff edge. And she jumps.