Author's Note: Oh my the Follows and Favs. Thanks to those who are willing to stick with me I promise all things will come to light in due time :) 3
P.S: Kudos to those who can recognize the movie scene that inspired a certain event in this chapter ;)
Chapter 3: A Lesson Learned
Horrendous; No other word could describe her day thus far. Riven's entire body quaked as she stood there quietly on the summoning platform. The other champions that participated in the match had long gone. The soft hum of arcane magic kept the silence away as the exile stared blankly into the surrounding darkness.
Thirteen deaths…she thought bitterly. Thirteen times she felt her spirit torn away from the gateways of the afterlife and forced back into its mortal shell.
Despite death not being completely permanent within a sanctified league match, it still hurt. The process of dying and resurrecting was brutal and unnatural. The body certainly felt the after effects. The aching pain that wracked Riven's body was close to unbearable and nothing like she'd ever felt after a single match. To die that many times within a short period of time has hardly ever happened and Riven was physically paying the price for both the summoner's and her own misjudgments. She wanted to collapse onto the platform and pass out until her body could recover, but even that action sounded agonizing in itself.
"Riven…?"
The platinum haired champion didn't bother to inflict herself with unnecessary pain by turning her head to acknowledge the voice. Riven had heard enough of it during the match. "Layne," she managed to choke out a response.
The rather tall and slender man pulled his hood down as he approached the former Noxian commander. His summoner robes were heavily embroidered and decorated with all manners of medals from years of service to the institute. He was a highly ranked veteran summoner who had probably worked with every champion within the league at one point or another. Layne was no stranger to the exiled warrior. Riven was his favorite champion to work with because of their incomparable synergy on the fields, which shocked some of the opposing summoners when Riven's death toll rose so high.
"Why didn't you let me stop the match?" Layne asked with a hint of worry behind his voice. "I've always admired your will to never surrender Riven, but to risk your wellbeing like that for the sake of pride is reckless and stupid…"
Riven closed her eyes and chose not to reply to one of the very few summoners she trusted at the institute. She could hear her heart throbbing in her ears almost drowning out Layne's voice completely as he tried to get answers. Her sword silently slipped from her fingers and hit the summoning platform. The Noxian felt her knees buckle as a sudden wave of fatigue surged through her entire being. The distant voice of the panicked summoner yelling her name sounded like a faint whisper as she felt her eyes roll and consciousness slip into the darkness.
The soft tapping of fingernails within the almost empty library kept the eerie silence at bay. The simple sound of turning the page of a book wasn't enough to keep the blonde reader comfortable, despite how much she enjoyed reading.
"Lady Crownguard… do you mind?" a stern voice broke the Demacian's concentration as she looked up from her book. Her eyes met the soft silver irises of the book keeper. There was a slight glow to them due to the room being naturally dim to help preserve some of the older manuscripts and records stored at the institute.
"Sorry Diana, I just don't like complete silence. It kind of creeps me out," Lux admitted with a half-hearted smile. "I find it hard to concentrate without a little bit of background noise, as strange as that may sound." The light mage rubbed the back of her head when all she received from Diana was a slight grunt of a response. Lux quietly watched Diana reshelf some of the books she was holding while processing some of the information she was reading about. There was a short pause before Lux decided to engage a conversation with the Scorn of the Moon. "Hey Diana, how come you enjoy taking care of the Library?"
The silver haired woman paused for a long moment while she processed the question. "Because I like to," was all she had for an answer for the Demacian.
Lux cocked her head off to the side and crossed her arms. "That isn't much of an answer, Diana. Surly there is more to your love for the library than that."
The pair of glowing silver eyes shifted back to the blonde as Diana put the final book onto the shelf. "Why the sudden interest in me, Lady of Luminosity?" Diana's tone was cautious yet seemed to have a slight hint of interest in continuing the conversation. It had been a long while since the Lunari warrior had sat down to simply talk with another person.
Lux gave her a friendly smile. "Well, I mean, I'm here enough aren't I? It seems we both have a love for reading and knowledge so I might as well try to get to know the person who takes care of the books shouldn't I?" If there was one thing Lux was very good at, it was conversing. Lux extended her hand at the chair across from the table where she sat offering Diana to sit down.
Diana remained where she was for a moment longer until she gave in and walked over to sit down with a fellow scholar and champion. The pale woman knew Lux spent a lot of time here among the books. Diana herself has done the same since arriving at the institute. She would often find the Demacian here reading. Her gaze shifted down at the open book resting in front of the blonde. She recognized it. "Ah, The Psychology of War, that is quite an interesting read. However, you don't seem like one who would be particularly interested in reading about the effects war has on the mind. This intrigues me; what is your motive to learn about this subject of all things?"
Lux blinked a couple times surprised that Diana knew the book just from looking at it. The blonde was impressed by Diana's ability to present herself as an intellectual just through asking a question. Lux could only imagine how well Diana would answer a question if she ever asked one. "Well, we do live at the Institute of War. I'm curious if the constant fighting on the Fields of Justice even under controlled conditions may have negative long term effects on the minds of champions like ourselves, regardless if we were ever deployed to participate in an actual war beforehand."
Diana nodded her head as she thought over the answer the light mage had presented her. "That does seem like a valid theory to look into. I believe if you want to learn about the negative long term effects war has on the mind," Diana said as she reached across the table and picked up the book, "You'll want to jump to chapter eleven, section nine-teen." Diana flipped through the book with impressive speed and precision to the exact spot she was seeking and slid the book back over to the blonde. "Post-combat stress really depends on the severity of traumatic exposure the combatant suffered during the war itself. However, in terms of the league, I feel the more common traumatic triggers, such as the fear of death or bodily harm, have become nullified due to the fact that within a controlled league match the combatants are technically immortal. That being said, I feel like most champions of the league have become numb to the on setting causes of traumatic combat stress because they know they cannot truly die."
Lux smiled as she quietly scanned over the section of the book while processing the well thought out opinion of her company. "You're truly impressive Ms. Diana. You picked through my pondering with a fine-tooth comb and gave a very well-rounded and reasonable answer to that theory. You seem to be very enlightened on this subject."
Diana felt a light smile pull at her lips from the compliment she received from the petite blonde. "I hail from a place where its denizens seem to have a rather sick obsession with the 'Art' of War and fighting to the death as a rite of passage. Rather barbaric, in my opinion." The silver haired champion shrugged slightly.
The Demacian turned the page and noticed another section titled Disorders. "Hey, Diana…?"
The Lunari warrior looked at the blonde. "Hm?"
"What about the disorders end of the spectrum? How would one be able to tell if someone suffers that badly?" Lux asked with a hint of worry behind her words.
Diana sat quietly for a moment as she thought over the details of her answer. "Well, in terms of the extreme end of the spectrum, like a mental stress disorder caused from the trauma of war or a traumatic event in general, there are three categories of symptoms a person with a disorder can suffer from. The book really goes into detail regarding symptoms and such but I highly doubt a champion would ever suffer something as severe as that just because of fighting on the Fields of Justice. There would have had to of been a traumatic trigger from before they were inducted for that to ever be a possibility in my honest opinion. Besides, if a champion does develop and suffers from a traumatic stress disorder such as this they must be pretty hell bent on hiding it or consider self-isolation as a way of coping with their symptoms when really that is the worst possible thing they can do."
I knew it… Lux thought as she ran a hand through her golden locks. Irelia was right all along…
The two champions looked at one another as the soft hum of arcane magic began to build in strength. Diana looked down at her feet to notice the pale blue light from a summoner's calling. "Well, it seems that I am being called upon to fight."
Lux nodded at the woman as the light grew in strength. "May I borrow the book? I'll bring it back, I promise."
"You may borrow it. Don't lose it. Let's sit down and talk again in the future Ms. Crownguard," Diana gave a genuine smile as her figure dissipated in the azure light.
The blonde champion sat quietly in the library for a few moments longer until the soft growling protest from her stomach caught her attention. Lux looked up at the clock and gasped slightly. "Oh my I've been here that long!?" Lux gathered up her things and carefully marked the page of the book that Diana had so kindly pointed out to her. She swiftly left the library and out into the grand hall of the league.
It didn't take long before Lux found herself reading through the book while walking towards the dining halls of the institute.
"Well, well, look what came walking up to Draven today," the extremely narcissistic Noxian gloated as he stepped up to Lux and pulled the book from her hands. He held it away from the blonde mage as she tried to grab it back from him.
"Draven may I please have my book back, please?" She crossed her arms and gave the Glorious Executioner a slight glare.
"Draven doesn't understand how you can even read this thing there's no pictures in here," he said as he held the book sideways letting the pages free turn on their own from the gravity. "Draven thinks you should get your face out of those books and focus on more important things," the Noxian said as he tossed the book away and stepped in front of it as Lux tried to grab it from the floor. "Like Draven."
Lux looked up at the figure that grabbed the book from the floor behind Draven and sighed with relief.
"Don't you have a date with a mirror you pompous buffoon…" The Demacian ranger stepped around the Noxian and handed the book back to Lux.
"Oooh, Draven likes em' feisty," Draven said leaning in towards the light mage and the ranger. Draven instantly pulled his face away when the regal blue eagle perched upon the taller Demacian's shoulder spread his large wings and emitted an aggressive and loud screech.
Quinn brought her hand up and scratched behind the eagle's head while glaring at the Glorious Executioner. "Easy Val," she soothed her companion as her golden eyes shifted to Lux who had the book wrapped up in her arms. "What're you reading about this time Luxanna?" Quinn asked trying to see the title of the book.
"Oh… I was just doing some personal research is all," Lux smiled at Quinn. The blonde giggled slightly when valor nuzzled his beak against her hair. "Yes, hello Valor," she smiled and pet the eagle's head. "How was your match today Quinn?"
The ranger rubbed the back of her head. "Uh, well, it was almost stopped mid match. My team lost horribly because of Riven today."
Both Demacian's turned their attention back towards the obnoxious blood brother as he bellowed out his signature laugh. "That's the best thing Draven's heard all day! Riven throwing an entire match!? Why do you all act so surprised this happened?!" the Noxian continued to laugh. "Once a traitor, always a traitor and now she's betraying her own teams in the League! That bitch is crazy in the head. One time Draven over-heard her talking to that pathetic excuse for a weapon like it was her friend. Bah ha ha ha! Not even Draven would settle for that!"
"Hey! Riven isn't crazy…wait…did he just call himself a man-whore?"
"I think so," Quinn replied to Lux.
Draven continued to laugh as he unconsciously approached the two Demacians. This time Valor leaped off Quinn's shoulder and attacked Draven's face. "Not the face! Anything but Draven's face!" he cried out and stumbled down the hall way with Valor in tow.
Lux turned her attention back to Quinn immediately after she processed what the ranger said before Draven interrupted. "What do you mean your team lost just because of Riven? How does that even happen there are five of you out there! Why would they even consider stopping a match right in the middle of it?"
A stern look took ahold of Quinn's features as Lux bombarded her with questions. The ranger extended her arm as Valor glided back to his partner after Draven had been chased off. "Well, when a single champion dies thirteen times in one match I would want to stop it to. That's dangerous for a champion to die that many times in a short amount of time…that's why they almost forcibly stopped the match."
A look of shock controlled Lux's expression as Quinn described what had happened. She lost her appetite. "What did the summoners think?"
"I'm not sure. According to my own summoner, the summoner working with Riven couldn't stay connected with her I guess. I don't know of any fine details outside of that," Quinn shrugged slightly. She didn't care for Noxians of any kind, which is why she seemed so nonchalant regarding the situation as a whole. To Quinn, that match was just another loss and nothing more.
"Please excuse me Quinn," Lux bowed her head slightly and held onto the book tightly as she ran down the great hall towards the living quarters of the institute. Thirteen deaths…THIRTEEN DEATHS!? Lux's mind raced while she tried to analyze the situation. The blonde breathed heavily as she approached the Ionian occupied wing of the institute.