Need…air…can't breathe….
Collapsing onto the beach, Akali lay on her back for what felt like an eternity attempting to get some air into her lungs.
Ok…..need to….figure out what to do….
Looking around she found herself in an area as indistinguishable as the void, with a forest to her right and the ocean to her left.
Right…if I'm going to find Shen I need to go to the Placidium which is definitely in that direction, so….
Shen!
Staggering back to the shoreline, she anxiously looked out back towards the ocean.
"Shen! Are you out there? Shen!".
Running up and down the shoreline, her hopes becoming dashed with each passing wave she eventually managed to stop herself from panicking.
Ok….Shen's a stronger swimmer than me, so he'll have made it to land faster…
But he's heavier so…..
He's further away from the Placidium than I am.
I'm alone.
I just swam a marathon, and I'm freezing, completely soaked through, and alone. I need to find shelter fast.
Determined to find Shen and Kennen as quickly as possible, despite everything, Akali set off away from the shoreline, heading in the vague direction of the Placidium.
As the enormous crowd around her became captivated by Irelia's speech, Soraka could do nothing but stare nervously in her general direction.
"Today, we stand tall! Today, we fight to keep the Noxian scum off the city walls! And if we believe, then and only then, will the Placidium STAND TALL!"
Will she succeed? Will I succeed? How many people will die?.
Watching the crowd of people dissipate, she remembered her duties as chief healer, and pushed the distracting thoughts and fears aside as she spotted Irelia re-entering the military headquarters. Completely indistinguishable from any other member of the crowd to avoid attention, she quickly followed her inside.
Sometimes it's better not to think about the future.
As a gust of wind swept through the forest and sent it into motion Akali leapt to her feet, only for the trials from the day before to immediately take their toll.
Who's there?
Despite every muscle in her body beginning to ache, only after several minutes of complete silence did Akali lower her guard and begin to collect her loose items of clothing from on top of the pile of leaves where she had been sleeping.
Still wet?
How long have I been asleep?
Looking up at the sky she realised that as well as failing to dry her clothes properly, she had also managed to sleep nearly into the afternoon.
You have got to be kidding me.
This sort of luck could get me killed in Ionia of all places.
And I must be only around 3 hours away from the Placidium no less.
Stubbornly keeping herself from getting excited she kept walking through the deep forest, only to walk directly into one of the most bizarre things she had ever seen.
It stared at her. She stared back and then coming to the conclusion that it had to be magical, drew her weapon.
Then, from about 10 feet away, it kissed her.
And her mind went completely blank.
As Irelia watched intently and waited in reserve, heavily injured Ionian soldiers were slowly brought in from fighting on the front lines.
Udyr hasn't returned.
And we're next.
As Master Yi approached her she found herself smiling weakly.
"Are you afraid?"
"Never fought an undead before…."
"The starchild has our backs. Remember that."
As the noise on the battlefield went quiet Yi looked at her for confirmation and she nodded in response.
Alright then. Let's do this.
"CHAAARGE!"
Sprinting into the battlefield she saw soldiers around her begin to drop like flies, and without hesitation began hto fight herself, rapidly becoming surrounded by Noxian corpses. Sensing someone behind her she spun around and embedded her blade deep within the mans chest.
Then the Noxian soldier stepped backwards, suddenly pulling her weapon out of her grip, and she realised her mistake.
The soldier was already dead.
Watching in shock as the soldier pulled her weapon out of his chest she gripped her other blade even tighter in desperation. Then the soldier growled at her and she had to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest.
As the soldier began to charge towards her, she stood her ground out of pure stubbornness rather than intelligence. There was a clash as their weapons collided with each other before she reacted and slashed again at the soldiers chest. The only response the soldier gave was slashing straight back at her, missing by a matter of inches.
As she again tried to find a weak spot or anything that would disable the creature, she suddenly became aware of screaming coming from directly to her left and began desperately wishing for something to intervene.
How am I meant to defeat this thing?
Soraka's got to be creating something.
Any minute now…
The screams were definitely getting louder and closer to her position.
Come on…please! For Ionia's sake!
In desperation she swung her blade straight into the creatures weapon arm and caused it to release her weapon, only to find its hands rapidly closing around her throat as it forced her up off the ground.
Karma….Soraka…I tried.
I tried…and I'm sorry.
And then the undead simply disintegrated, leaving Irelia lying on the ground in complete amazement with her weapons lying next to her. Then she realised. Soraka.
Propelling herself to her feet, she looked around. The Noxians had managed to bring live soldiers to the front of their lines and Irelia wondered what on earth they were attempting by waiting for the Ionians to regroup. Then she realised the Noxian general looked as confused as she did.
But that's not going to stop him.
The general yelled something.
Something roared far louder at exactly the same time, drowning out every other noise.
Then Irelia turned around and saw the reason for all the screaming.
From the top of the walls of the Placidium, Soraka silently monitored the ensuing chaos on the battlefield, despite having lost the energy to stand.
It's done.
May the stars have mercy on the souls of those undead.
As Karma vaulted up the stairs behind her she tried again to get to her feet, only for Karma to hoist her upright.
"Soraka!"
"Yes?"
"Please tell me you just felt that!"
"I'm pretty certain I just caused it."
"That was you?! I thought the Noxians had….What even was that?"
"I released the souls of every undead on the battlefield at once."
Then something roared so violently that it forced Soraka off her feet.
"Then what about that one…."
"But that's…impossible…"
Despite the 2 metre tall behemoth in front of her, Irelia felt more confusion than fear.
What's with that things mouth?
Is that a-
As the titan began to raise its axe above its head Irelia subconsciously began to sprint out the way, just avoiding the tremors of the ground behind her. Turning around and seizing the element of surprise to fight back she quickly charged into battle, only to find her blows deflected by dark magic before they even reached the juggernaut. Backing out as fast as she could she prepared to deflect the creatures imminent strikes….
Only for everything to turn into a blur.
There was a sound like a small boulder flying through the air, and then something impacted her with a loud crack, sending shockwaves across her entire chest and knocking the wind straight out of her.
Then she landed on her back, hard.
And the pain started.
As Akali came back to her senses the first thing that occurred to her is that she had no idea why she had chosen to fall asleep. The second was that she had no idea where she was, and the third was that there was a fox-lady sitting in front of her.
How did I get here?
I just remember drawing my kamas and then…
It has to be her. She dragged me to this grove to do…..something.
Frustrated and tired of not being able to think straight, she lunged forward at the fox lady, and immediately felt like she had collided with a brick wall. Filled with determination, she tried the different tactic of leaping at her, and found that her entire body was unwilling to move in any direction.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
Now absolutely furious, she swore to herself about a hundred times before being distracted as her stomach rumbled.
And I'm going to starve. Brilliant. Fucking brilliant.
As an apple landed in her outstretched hands, she stared, still livid at the fox in front of her.
What? She takes me prisoner and expects me to eat her fucking apple?
Eat the apple.
Rabidly, Akali found herself eating the apple which somehow tasted sweeter and more flavoursome than literally anything she had eaten in her life. Finishing, she suddenly found herself overcome with revulsion and desperately tried to stop herself staring at the fox to no avail.
Why did I…She can control my thoughts.
She swore to herself again, to absolutely no reaction from the fox.
Let me go.
No.
I'm a member of the Kinkou, which in case you don't know is a group of highly trained killers, and I demand you let me go!
Nobody knows I exist.
You certain about that. Because that's what I said to the last guy who tried kidnapping me. .
And besides, you'd just kill me first.
Akali had to admit that was actually very likely.
Well you're the one who captured me.
You drew your weapon.
So this is a fucking misunderstanding? Look if you let me go, I won't kill you.
I don't trust you. You're human.
And with that the fox stood up and began walking off.
So what? You're just going to fucking leave me to starve?
No, I'm leaving you to see if the magic wears off.
And if it doesn't? If I starve out here after a couple of days, in the middle of nowhere?
The fox-lady sighed and rolled her eyes, as if it couldn't get across how little of a shit it actually gave.
Then at least you'll have lasted longer than the men!
Wait, what!?
Suddenly desperate to get the fox far, far away from her Akali could only watch as the fox stopped dead as if it had come up with an even more sinister plan. Then it turned around and she saw it grinning from ear to ear.
Actually, speaking of men.…. .
Get away from me I'm warnin-
Smile!
And then the blankness overwhelmed Akali once more.
Through the searing pain, Irelia somehow managed to look down towards her chest, realising in agony that she barely had a chest to look at.
That…..isn't…good.
Trying to focus on pushing herself upright she found even something that simple completely impossible through the incredible pain, and laid feverishly on the ground for a few more seconds.
Am I even….alive….
As the creature re-entered her view, something leapt in from the side and causing it slam its axe into the ground, hurling. Irelia helplessly over onto her stomach and nearly making her lose consciousness. Roaring again, it suddenly staggered to the side and someone began yelling in her direction, although she was too disoriented to grasp who it was. With e pain increasing, dramatically and her senses and mind vanishing into nowhere, she found herself lifting off the ground and soaring rapidly like a bird towards the Placidium, further and further away from the ensuing battle. As the gates loomed in front of her, the screaming became even louder and more high pitched than before, only to be replaced by the sound of one thousand waterfalls. Weakly looking behind her for the cause of the noise, all she could make out was an orange ball of flame. Then there was an explosion and she fell, before hitting the ground and mercifully blacking out.
As Irelia fell to the enormous Noxian, Soraka began to dash towards the main gates of the Placidium, unwittingly running into a feeble attempt at stopping her. Breaking through with one arm, the realisation that it was Karma holding her back only seemed to give her more strength.
"Let me go! I have to save her!"
"Soraka, think about what you're doing!"
"You're just going to let her die!?"
As she broke out of Karma's grip, Soraka began to sprint out of the gates and onto the battlefield, only for Karma to cast magic that brought her crashing to the ground.
"I said, let me go!"
"I'm not going to let you go out there and die as well!"
"I'm going out there whether you let me or not!"
"If I have to shut the gates to stop you, then I will!"
"Then consider our relationship over!"
Karma's grip loosened and as Soraka saw her tears, she realised she could do nothing else than wait hopelessly for the gates to close and for Irelia's soul to be released on the battlefield.
"SHUT THE GATES!"
Nothing happened.
Turning around, Soraka saw a green blur racing towards the open gate holding Irelia in its arms, and behind it, an enormous fireball at least 4 metres in width and closing. Her vigor renewed, she sprinted freely towards the gates, trying to figure out who had just saved Irelia's and possibly her life, hardly noticing Karma was sprinting towards the gates too.
"YI! SAE ELSE…"
Just as the warrior was surrounded by a orb of pure green at the gates entrance, the fireball slammed directly into his back, sending him flying off to the side. Irelia fell as if in slow motion from his arms, landing hard on the ground near the undead.r Karma and Soraka both entered into a full sprint in different directions, and Soraka hurdled towards Irelia's apparently lifeless body. Trhe undead swung its axe, that soared directly towards all of them and in that split second, Soraka wanted nothing more than to kill every Noxian she came across for daring to put her in this situation. And then the undead crumbled into nothing, leaving Soraka and Irelia bathed in light.
"Soraka…I'm sorry…I had to make a decision so fast…and…"
Still staring at Irelia's body Soraka was only brought into reality by Karma's now loathsome voice in her ear. Then without even speaking, and too disgusted at Karma to form words, she picked up Irelia and walked directly into the field hospital.