Chapter 4

"You're plan is fucking crazy." Diana sent to Sol. "You want me dead don't you."

Sol snorted. "While that wouldn't be half bad, you being dead won't help me escape. When you're facing a bull that's charging straight at you, logic won't help you dodge. You need to grab creativity by the horns with all your will and might."

Diana mentally rolled her eyes. "That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard."

But Diana knew Sol was right. In scenarios like this, there was no logical solution. Diana steeled herself under the moonlight and took a deep breathe to calm herself. Oh, the moonlight goddess, please give me your blessing, She thought.

"There's a better god right here you could pray to and this one is listening to you, heretic." Sol sent to Diana, hearing her prayers.

Diana ignored Sol. This was no time for jokes. She stood up from the ruins she was hiding from so Pantheon could see her.

Upon spotting her, Pantheon immediately charged like a bull, except he was running much, much faster.

Normal people would've jumped or screamed or did whatever to get out of the way, but Diana did not move, nor did she draw her blade. She was going to take this bull by the horns.

Once Diana was in stabbing distance, Diana leaped onto Pantheon's spear as he tried to jab her, and did a downwards kick towards Pantheon's helmet. Anticipating the kick, Pantheon held his shield above his head to block it. Buckling his knees and noticing the opportunity, Pantheon prepared to jump into the air. Having centuries of fighting experience, Pantheon was quite used to fighting mid air while in most cases his opponent was not.

But unknowingly to him, Sol had baited the Pantheon to take flight.

Most people would've been scared shitless by the idea of fighting 2000 meters above the ground, but Diana was not. Even if she was deemed a heretic, she was still from Mount Targon. She had no fear of heights.

Pantheon jabbed right and left in the air, with speeds that made it near impossible to watch, and Diana struggled to block his blows. She noticed that it was much harder to move around mid-air, and her sword was not designed to block pierces. Trying to parry blows was near impossible, as there were no solid ground to keep Diana and she would get constantly pushed back. Every time Pantheon struck, Diana gained a new cut. However, winning the fight was not her plan.

When she noticed she was level with Sol's tower, Diana used all her force to roll to the side and Pantheon, expecting a parry, was thrown off balance. Taking this opportunity and using the magic granted to her by the moon, Diana threw an arc of light towards the tower, specifically at Sol. She made sure to tone down the power so that it wouldn't hurt too much, but the fact that Sol didn't even flinch or make a remark about the pain offended her slightly.

The moment the arc connected, she blinked into the tower, in front of the Sol. Out of air and panting heavily, Diana sat down and looked at the dragon. It was the first time she had scene a god in flesh. His half transparent blue body had dots of lights that made Sol look mesmerizing. Sol, pleased with the success, said "Alright now take out the key and free me. Hurry, the Targon soldiers should have noticed the other fallen soldiers and Pantheon will be here any minute now."

Suddenly, Diana stopped panting. Sol had also gone silent. Staring at each other, pale faced, they realized something.

They forgot about the key. They didn't even know who had the key.

Fuck.

As panic flooded Sol's mind, one of the walls blasted apart, one piece of the rubble hitting Diana square in the forhead knocked her out cold immediately.

Standing there was a tilted Pantheon.

How did he get here so quickly?! Sol thought. Did my blessing really grant them this much power? While in the corner of his mind he was pleased with himself, the rest was cursing at his carelessness.

Pantheon walked over to the unconscious girl, his spear poised to kill. Sol didn't care for the girl, but he had made a promise that if he escapes he will bring her along with him. If she died, he wasn't allowed to leave. Promises were the only thing that could chain Gods, it also was what chained him there as well.

"WAIT." Sol exclaimed. He was desperate, and even if it was useless, he was going to try to reason with Pantheon.

"There is something stirring out there. Please. Let us go, I must stop it."

Pantheon froze. He knew what Sol was talking about as he had felt the negative energy leaking as well. But he didn't care, the only thing he cared for was war. For the first time in centuries, Sol heard Pantheon speak.

"I only care about war. If the void comes, let it be a final battle."

Pantheon lifted his spear and was about to stab the knocked-out Diana when Sol's booming voice was heard once more.

"I CAN GRANT YOU ETERNAL WAR." Sol boomed, extremely desperate.

Pantheon glanced over at Sol.

Sol continued. "I need to gather the 7 Darkins, and one of them is known as the Darkin of War. If you let us go and join us, after all this is over, you can fight the Darkin for all eternity. Would you not prefer a battle that lasted an eternity opposed to a final battle?"

Sol really didn't want to bring a puny brained mortal when he already had to bring another, but he was out of choices.

Pantheon walked over to Sol slowly, spear still poised. But rather than bringing it down on the dragon, he slammed his spear into the keyhole and twisted, freeing the dragon of the chains. Pantheon's spear had been the key.

"While you're at it, take my crown off as well" Sol joked.

He knew Pantheon couldn't as a promise was made centuries ago. It was a promise that stated that as long as the Targons worshipped Sol, Sol would grant them power. Unfortunately for Sol, he didn't read the contract carefully and did not see the word "imprisonment". This is why you should read the terms and conditions before checking "yes".

Picking the unconscious girl and letting Pantheon get on his back, Sol flew out into the night sky through the hole Pantheon had made.

Looking up at the stars that were denied him for so long, he made a promise to himself that, even though he was smaller and powerless right now, one day he will return to the sky as the Star Forger.

After taking one last glance at the star's, Sol descended under the clouds so that all of the surprised Targons could see his escape, as well as see his very noticeable middle finger.

With the gladiator that was the aspect of war and a moonborn on his back, a dragon's back, Sol couldn't help but think they looked so badass right now. Damn, he wished he had a pair of sunglasses.

Sol was flying through the fluffy orange clouds that had been illumnated by the sunset when he heard Diana stirring from her slumber. Even if she was granted with new magic, Diana was not used to its power and thus a rock to the head still did quite the damage.

Sol kinda wished that the rock had hit her harder, as he had been flying for 17 hours now and was trying his best not to doze off and drop the 2 to their deaths. If he hadn't made a promise, he probably would've already done that.

"Where's Pantheon?! What happened?!" Diana bolted up suddenly, a bit disoriented. She woke up to Pantheon staring at her directly in the face and made an out of character scream.

"Oh for God's sake/My sake, please don't be so annoying. I've been flying for 17 hours and there's still 24 more to go till we get to Piltover. I don't want to explain right now, but Pantheon is on our side for now. Sorta."

"Why don't you just land and take a break?" Diana asked, still wary of the silent Pantheon.

The dragon snorted. "We are above Demacian lands right now. These people see dragons as enemies, and often capture or kill them for honor. If I land somewhere, I'm bound to attract attention."

Sol added. "Do you know how much attention it'll attract to have a massive blue dragon land with 2 ancient primitives on his back?"

Diana felt offended. "Fly faster then. Aren't you supposed to be a God or some shit?"

Sol sighed. His head hurt. "This journey would take a normal flying animal a month of flying. Have some respect for me, I've lost so much of my power. It doesn't help that Targon is practically isolated from the world."

That reminded Sol. He should probably give the 2 idiots a fair warning.

"Listen, I highly doubt you've been to these lands yet, so let me tell you that the weapons you will see and the cultures in these places will be completely different. Throw away your honor, it will only be a hindrance there."

And like a tsundere he added "I won't be there to save you if you get in trouble, got it idiots?"

Diana smirked. "Awww, mommy Sol cares for us. Will you look at that, eh, Pantheon?"

"I don't!" Sol claimed.

After an hour of foolish bickering, Sol felt unable to fly more. Parasitic useless mortal was sapping his energy.

He lowered the altitude and landed in a jungle. He figured there shouldn't be any big cities in the jungle for Sol to gather attention from.

"I'm going to sleep for a couple of hours. Someone be on the lookout." And Sol fell asleep.

As Diana gathered firewood and plucked berries and mushrooms, Pantheon did nothing. He just sat there staring at a bush.

"Pantheon. Can you go look for some water?" Diana asked.

Pantheon didn't move, still staring at the bush intensely.

"Is fighting all you're capable of? What are you looking at?" Diana asked. She stared at the bush that Pantheon was staring.

Slowly, as if this was a horror story, she crept up the bush. Hesitantly, she parted it. Nothing was there.

Is Pantheon autistic? Diana asked herself.

Suddenly, like a jump scare, she heard a wild roar from the branches above her and a gigantic creature came flying at her. Lucky for her, Pantheon was quick and blocked the attack with his shield, pushing the creature away. The creature landed on two feet cleanly, and snarled, showing their white sharp teeth.

Regaining composure, Diana demanded "Who are you? What do you want?"

When she looked more closely, she saw that the beast had the body of a human but a head of a lion. It was wearing an eyepatch on its left eye.

The creature smiled. Not a warm smile, but a cold blooded one.

"That giant blue beast that's sleeping there, I have never seen anything like it. I want its head as my trophy."

As much as Diana didn't like the dumb dragon, she needed someway to get to... wait where did she even want to go again? All she asked was to leave Targon.

Diana shrugged.

"You could've just asked. Go ahead, take his head."

Rengar shook his head. "I want a battle. If I wanted just his head, I would've taken it a while ago. I was waiting for him to wake up. Besides, I don't think your friend here likes the idea of me taking that dragon's head."

Pantheon had his spear poised and ready to fight. Sol promised him war, he was not going to let Sol go without keeping that promise. Plus the idea of a battle in an unknown territory with unfamiliar surroundings excited him. Pantheon wanted to fight.

"Kehehe." The beast smirked then snarled. "They call me Rengar, the Pride Stalker. You should know my name as your head will be with me for the rest of my life."

The moon was coming up again as the sun was fading. Pantheon put an arm in front of Diana, telling without words that she was not to interfere.

Rengar let out a mighty roar and charged.

"You have a warrior's heart. I think I'll take it!"

As much as the fight had been hyped up, a random creature in the forest was no match for someone who had centuries of fighting experience. After 3 good trades, Pantheon kicked the creature in the stomach in one swift motion, breaking a couple of ribs. To Diana, the anticlimaticness of the fight made it extremely hard to not laugh. If Sol was awake and saw this, he definitely would've laughed.

As Rengar lay panting and groaning on the grass, Pantheon walked over to him. But rather than killing the creature, Pantheon showed mercy, something that Diana was unaware Pantheon could do.

Pantheon himself didn't know why he spared the creature, but as he looked into the creature's eyes, he saw himself. Their love of war, their love of battle, and their tragic past that lead them to the twisted version of who they were now sparked something in Pantheon. Rengar and him were one in the same. It bothered Pantheon to such an extent that, he suddenly felt a pang of sympathy and pain, emotions that he casted away centuries ago.

"Kill me." Rengar said. He could not bear the shame. He did not want to live so humiliated. But Pantheon shook his head. Just as Pantheon bended down to take a look at the wounds, the creature growled, swatting his hand away.

"Is it because you think I'm too weak to die in your hands?! Do you dare look down upon me, human?"

Rengar growled. His old tribe had said he was too weak and rather than killing him like in tradition, they spared him and casted him away because they thought he was not worthy to even die as a member of the tribe. He was picked up by a glorified hunter, who had spared Rengar because he thought Rengar was so weak he did not deserve the honor of dying by his blade. After his master kicked Rengar down a ravine and told him to hunt and fight for himself, Rengar spent everyday and every moment struggling to survive. 5 years later he went back his old tribe hoping for acceptance only to find that his tribe as actually extremely weak and cowardly Out of anger, he killed the head chief. After that, he found the hunter that had deemed him too weak and beheaded him in a fair 1 v 1. Rengar was known for collecting trophies from his prey, but Rengar deemed both his tribe and his old master as so weak, they did not deserve to have their heads or teeth sit in his trophy room or on his necklace. The fact that this warrior was sparing him in what feels like the same way his old enemies did angered him beyond belief.

As Pantheon was about to say something, a spear from the bushes nearly took his head off. Pantheon jumped back and gripped his weapon tightly. From the bush came a lady wearing cougar skin.

"Let him go." The lady exclaimed. Pantheon nodded and backed off. He didn't have the intention to kill Rengar anyways. The lady put an arm around the gasping creature who did not want her help but could not fight against her in his condition and dragged him away. Pantheon knew they would meet again, but today, he was done fighting. He never thought the day would come when he didn't want to fight.

He walked over to Diana and spoke, the first time Diana ever hearing him speak.

"Get the food ready. I will go find some water."