Hello Evie, thank you for the review. I wish I could answer to your review, but I am not very known with Fanfiction. I must say that I appreciate the praise as well as the tips, though I must say that I want this story to look like a book, so pressing enter every time someone talks makes it look kind of sloppy to me. However, when two people are talking in a row with nothing else to prove it, I will make it more readable. Thank you :) It's always appreciated.

Naturally, Zaphara didn't show herself at Thresh's mansion that day. She was out somewhere in the forest, doing god knows what. But it's not like Thresh cared about her wellbeing. He was too mad and, dare he say it, embarrassed about what had happened. It was not that everyone had been looking at him when he yelled, but it was just the yelling itself. The last time he had such an outburst was when he was still alive, and that was because a prisoner just wouldn't scream or even acknowledge the torture he was giving him. It was all because of her that he had lost his temper, but why did he do so in the first place.

He didn't hold any attraction to her. The only thing that connected them was their shared interest for torture. Thresh tried desperately to find the reason for his outburst. What did he feel back then? Anger, that was a given. But did he feel something else? embarrassment? maybe. But maybe there could have been a hint of fear. No, not fear. He was not capable of fear. He worried. But why?

He tried to understand himself. He knew It had been a long time before someone had shown true interest in his work. He had actually enjoyed having her in the corner, admiring his work from a distance. It made him feel even more proud of his work. And now that she was not here to watch his work, he could not help but feel...

empty.

He had so enjoyed having her there that he wanted it more often. That was probably the reason. But there was something else, there had to be. But that was not something Thresh wanted to dwell on for too long. For now he just wanted to amuse himself with his current victim that lay strapped before him. All 4 of his limbs were tied with ropes. The torture device was called 'The Rack'. It ties all 4 limbs to the en of the table. Every time Thresh would move the handle the victim's limbs would be pulled. It was used to dislocate every single joint in the human body, and in medieval times it was known as one of the most painful torture devices. It was one of the less fun ways, but fun none the less.

He listened to the woman's screams to try and distract himself from the thought of the woman.

Said woman was aimlessly wandering through the swamp. She didn't know what to do. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, of course they were about her current situation. How was she supposed to obtain her goal when she couldn't even reach him now? Surely he would send her away if he were to see her again, or possibly even kill her. She did not want to risk that. She hadn't expected for him to be so angry at her over particularly nothing. Surely he must have a good reason to be angry at her.

She knew what the institute of war was, but simply had never seen it. She knew the general idea of the games, What they were, what was done and why they do it. Most champions did it for their own purposes, most unknown, some did it to represent their faction or city. She guessed that Thresh did it because he wanted to collect the souls that he could torture later. That is most likely the case, but what she did not understand was his reason for being so angry. Surely there was nothing wrong with her being there.

But no matter how much she thought about it there was still the problem of her now no longer being near him. She had to figure out a way to get close to him somehow without him trying to cut off her head. But how...

It was as if a light bulb lit up in her head. Of course! That was perfect! This plan seemed quite risky, but at the same time it was genius! She rubbed her hands as she started to work out her little plan. A dark chuckle escaped her.

3 days passed and Thresh hadn't found a trace of a woman. By now he had gotten used to not having her around. Of course, she had only been there for 2 nights in the first place. It was Thursday, which meant that he had to go to the institute for 1 more day before he'd have his break. From there on his holoforms would play the games instead of him, just like they always did. But right now, he had to endure another game.

He was standing in the waiting room with his teammates, waiting for their game to start. There were 4 of them, the last one not having showed yet. They didn't even know who it was going to be. Thresh was quietly reading a tome that he had taken from the institute's library. It was a history tome, explaining all kinds of underworld magic. He had seen several champions use it, mainly the death singer.

His ADC, or as he called them 'burdens', was Ashe for this match. She was quite social, which he absolutely hated. Of course, just like any other match, she came to him to talk about strategies and idle chat. While he would usually ignore her, this time she said something that slightly caught his attention.

''Seems that our last teammate is going to be the new champion'' she had said idly, not directly looking at him but instead looking at the enemy team composition. Thresh looked up from his book to take a curious look at her. ''and who might that be?''

The frost archer shrugged. ''Who knows. Could be anyone. They wanted to keep it a surprise'' He only gave the thought a few seconds to process before he decided it was not worth his time. The new champion would be a top laner, so he would have little to do with him this game.

''All champions please get ready on the platforms'' she announcer said through the speaker. Getting up from his seat he stood on the platform, which was starting to glow a vibrant blue. His teammates soon followed, but they were still missing one champion. Shaking his head at the unfortunate scenario he knew that there was a possibility that they would lose the game because of that. Nevertheless they went into the game.

The game proceeded as usual, everyone went to their appointed lanes with their summoners to guide them. It was the 2 minute mark, minions had just reached the lane when the announcer yelled through the arena. ''A summoner has reconnected'' Nobody could look at the new champion, for they did not have the means to see him, and so they just continued with their lane.

This might have been the most boring lane Thresh had ever had. So far, only 2 kills had fallen, they were on both him and the enemy support, Taric. The kills went to both AD carries, which still rendered the lane at a stalemate. Thresh was hiding in the bush, waiting to get a hit on the Ezreal. Finally he seemed to stand just away from the minions, just enough for the warden to chain him. He threw his hook, catching the surprised explorer around the abdomen and pulling him towards him. However, what he did not realize was the enemy jungler, Jarvan, to come in and interrupt him. Ashe, who had begun attacking Ezreal, was caught off guard as Taric stunned her, and all three enemies jumped on top of her, killing her in mere seconds.

Thresh was now left without any damage or support whatsoever, and so his summoner saw no other choice than to run. However, out of the corner of his eye he could see one of his minions engulfed in a blue light that circled around it. Someone was teleporting to help him. As he ran away he scanned over the enemy team. Both Jarvan and Taric were around 50% health, while Ezreal was at a mere 25%. They could be able to take them all down if they played it right. And so, just before the teleport ended, Thresh threw his hook, catching the Taric and pulled himself towards them. Using his flay and his ultimate he decided that that was enough distraction. He quickly flashed out of it so that the enemies would not be able to reach him.

The teleport ended and next to the minion now stood a woman, and he instantly recognized her. It was Zaphara (shocker) clad in a skin tight dark blue tight body suit that was lined with weird looking knives around the waist and legs. Her black hair was pulled up into a tight bun. She smirked as the enemy team looked at her. All of a sudden, a weird looking substance started forming on her body, creating something that looked like bone armor, with a skull and ribs to match. ''Say goodbye'' she said before charging at the enemy team.

First she headed for Ezreal, who had stood dumbly in the middle of Thresh's box. She had killed him off in 3 simple hits, her bone armor increasing the damage she did. With him now dead on the ground she turned to the gem knight, smirking menacingly. He tried to run away, but with a wave of her hand skeletal hands popped from the ground and grabbed his ankles. With a terrified gasp he looked down, only to feel a sharp pain in his shoulder. A bone scythe, similar to Thresh's was lodged in his shoulder. Then he felt a full body weight on his back, pushing him down on the ground before his head was smashed into the ground with a sickening crack.

Over his body stood Zaphara, smirking wickedly. her bone armor had disappeared, crumbled into a pile on the floor. Now all that was left was Jarvan. As Thresh looked upon her he saw something nobody else could. A soft green glow coming from her chest. He had seen it before, but not this clear. During the fight it had become more bright, pulsing with life. It was her soul. But why was it so dim before? Why did he only truly notice it now?

During her little skirmish killing the two she had taken quite a bit of damage from all of them, especially Jarvan who had tried to stop her from killing his teammates. He now loomed over her menacingly, spear poised to impale her.

Thresh would not let this happen. He ran towards her as soon as he saw Jarvan moving in from behind her. With a final effort to save her he thrust his lantern forward. It landed just beside her. Without hesitation she clamped onto it just as Thresh pulled it away with an extremely sharp tug just as Jarvan brought his spear down. It merely grazed her leg before it plunged into the soil.

As Zaphara flew through the air she didn't know what was happening, but she did know that she had crashed into something solid, which had tumbled down with her. Opening her eyes slowly she realized she was clamping onto a coat, quiet an old one. She pushed herself off into a sitting position and looked down at the fiery skull of Thresh. She smirked down at him while Thresh's face held no expression, only curiosity.

She studied him, this time from much closer than before. The details on his robes were amazing, several magical runes lining the sides, just beside the chains that were wrapped around his body. They glowed a dark green, blending into his cloak so they could only be seen from up close. She didn't know what the runes said, but she did know that this was no ordinary robe. Thresh's eyes narrowed as she studied him, his patience growing thin. ''Don't you have a tower to defend?'' he told her harshly.

Snapping out of her daze she nodded slowly. ''Yea. I should be going'' she said, scrambling off of him and channeling her recall spell. They didn't look at each other as she left.

So that was where she went. For whatever reason she did it, it was foolish. it was degrading to work for the institute. And yet... she still did it.
His mind was no longer focusing on the game, it was trying to find a reason behind her actions. how did she get here? When? And most importantly, why.

To his dismay he knew that these questions would remain unanswered until the end of the game, so he decided to just get it over with.