AN: SO sorry about the long update! I have a lot of things to do right now and honestly I have not had that much time to dedicate to this story. I thank anyone that has followed, or even just took a view at this story, means a lot this was at least worth checking out. Anyway though, for anyone that has waited, this is a chapter twice as long as the first one, and I have no idea how long subsequent ones will be. This chapter (and maybe a couple more) are not going to have much drama as this is pretty much after our little yordle has been found.
I was also thinking about having Veigar going to other places instead of just restricting himself to Shurima (in his sleep anyway) and Bandle City. Let me know if that is something any of you wouldn't mind. Regardless, I hope anyone who views this enjoys!
Finally, I own none of the characters, all of that belongs to Riot
"You can call me Otis," he said joyously with satisfaction in his new name holding out his hand in greeting to the she-yordle. She stared into his eyes for a second observing his brisk and sudden change in attitude. An aura of mystery had enveloped the new stranger sparking a new curiosity in Tristana's mind.
She was surprised, almost bewildered by his sudden happiness. She certainly wouldn't have had the same attitude if she lost her memories. Yet, here was a yordle who was filled with the same optimism that almost reminded her of herself.
An endless library of knowledge formed within the stranger waiting for someone to read him, and Tristana couldn't wait to read every book in stock. However, she would have to find an appropriate opportunity to quench her curiosity, now wasn't the right time for such things to get in the way of her duty. Tristana finally thrusted her hand out busting out her best hefty smile in the process as she grasped his hand in a firm handshake.
"Well, it is great to meet you! I am a little surprised you would be so happy given your situation right now." she commented excitingly with a delightful smile complimenting her tone.
Veigar briefly observed the smile that had formed upon her face. It was a face of optimism and joy, nothing could stand in her way, every challenge that had ever appeared before her had always been little more than a speed bump in her life. Her taste for infinite challenges was only matched by her curiosity; everything was a puzzle that she wanted to put all together with the pieces falling in place into the bigger picture.
"I'm sure there are worse things that could happen, plus you two are here to help" he responded happily smiling earning an approving nod from the she-yordle.
"I'm Tristana, Bandle City Gunner, but you can call me Trist if that suits you."
Veigar's modest grin swiftly devolved into confusion as his head slowly tilted to the side in question.
"I'm sorry, Bandle what?"
Tristana held back a slight chuckle before informing him that she would fill him on details later.
Veigar then turned his head over to the young scout who also proceeded to give out his best smile and held out his hand in greeting.
"I'm Teemo, the Swift Scout, how do you do?"
He realized that was the wrong question at the wrong time as Tristana gave him a light punch on the shoulder with Teemo glancing at the ground in a slight shame of his quick word of mouth:
"Sorry," he winced, massaging his shoulder with his free hand.
Veigar gave a chuckle and grabbed hold of Teemo's free hand in an aggressive shake that caught Teemo slightly off-guard:
"No worries, it's nice to meet you both."
Veigar gently leaned back on the log looking at the two yordles in a couple seconds of awkward silence. He figured both were anticipating patiently for him to say something, anything indicating his current condition. Probably along the lines of: "I'm fine," or something about how he may need immediate medical attention, but it was Tristana who broke the prolonged silence:
"You were quite lucky not to sustain any major injuries when you fell minus a few scratches here and there. You sure you are not hurt? We can hurry back where I have medical supplies."
Veigar rubbed his head to check, luckily, no pain found residence and it seemed he was unscathed.
"I think I am fine, I do however want to ask you a question if you do not mind."
"Ask away"
"Well first off…." he started, "what are you two doing here anyway? Not that I am not grateful for you two finding me, but I am sure my misfortune was not the reason you two came here."
Both Teemo and Tristana nodded in unison as they looked behind at their picnic basket before Tristana responded:
"Well, we have enjoyed a hard couple days performing our duties, the General finally gave us the day off…." she trailed off a bit and looked over at Teemo, "and I wanted to have a picnic with him….." She turned back over to Veigar scratching behind her head and frowning a bit,
"and I wanted to show him this little forest spot as a surprise. I uhh….like to come here quite often off-duty and wanted to take our day off to relax a little bit. But it would seem destiny had other plans for us."
Veigar felt slightly sad at such news offering his own apologies to the two yordles:
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your day off work," Tristana offering a harmless chuckle in return.
"Don't worry about it, your circumstance isn't your fault, we are always happy to help any yordle in need and both of us are glad we found you. Looks like destiny delivered us to the right place at the right time."
Teemo nodded his head in agreement while getting up:
"Yea, don't worry about interrupting our day off, our job always comes first and helping citizens takes priority no matter the day of the week." He walked over to Veigar's bag as he picked up his book and backpack, blowing the dirt off the book while staring at it, rotating it around for a second or two inspecting it with his squinting eyes. He regarded it as a foreign object…..its contents forever doomed to be gibberish to him for eternity. He would never understand why anyone would find magic such an enticing subject.
After all, most mages he has heard of (and killed during some….missions) always used their knowledge of the arcane to advance their own agendas. He recalled the sights of arcane labs during some of his scouting. Potions and books would lay strewn about, most involving lethal substances and spells. Mages would focus intensely on mastering whatever amused them at the time. Whether it was burning a demacian dummy soldier to a crisp or freezing Freljordian soldiers to the point that even Teemo was somehow shivering even more than he already was (considering it was Freljord) from the frost storm they could form. All of them would always end up the same though. A swift lethal poison dart to the back of the neck, they would tense up at the sudden pain, only to limp on the floor sprawled about meeting a swift end to their plans whatever they may be.
He only knew one good mage, but good was a very vague word to describe her. She was more chaotic and unpredictable if anything despite her good intentions. Unfortunately for Teemo, she had to be tolerated for she was the eventual key to catching his worst rival.
Someday anyway…. He thought.
He was attempting to look at this new stranger with no bias. Just because he was a mage certainly didn't mean he was a villain, but he found it increasingly harder every glance he would give as he was always reminded of who he looked like by his yellow eyes.
He certainly would of killed us by now….
But what if he was planning something? He certainly was one for extravagant plans, he wasn't dumb by no means.
He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, no matter how similar they look, even he couldn't fake such an attitude such as this. He decided that a "healthy" distrust would be the best course of action. Putting blind trust would show that he is letting his guard down. Yet here he saw Tristana laughing along with new stranger which gave him conflicting confusion. She was always good at reading people through first impressions, but even she had never let her guard down as much as she was now around someone she has just met.
Was he really just this nice?
Or was he charming her with his arcane arts?
He couldn't decide.
Teemo finally walked over to Veigar holding both out to offer to him as he thanked him before putting both a short distance beside him.
Teemo stopped a short distance in front of him, giving him the same stare Nasus did when they first met. Only this was more met with skepticism than mere curiosity as he scratched his chin looking over Veigar like he set off a hextech detector. Teemo looked him over giving him an outward inspection from head to toe. Nothing jumped out to him that suggested malicious intent, even the aura that he resonated was similar to that of Tristanas.
But that was the problem, there was nothing wrong with him.
He has to be hiding something….
It was impossible for such a perfect individual to pop into their life. However, this was a matter he would have to find out later. Right now, his amnesia was a more severe worry, no matter how much Teemo distrusted him he was still a yordle in need.
"We need to get you a doctor" he finally said.
"I think I may know someone that can help you out, but we're going to have to get you in tomorrow. For now, we need to get back and find you a place to stay."
Veigar wanted to accept the offer before his stomach started to grumble, he was unaware of how much time had passed and hunger was starting to settle in like a coming storm. He could crave a good sandwich right now….
"Actually, I would hate to be so demanding of you two already" he said shamefully, "but I actually could go for a picnic with my hunger if you two would be willing to have an extra guest with you."
Tristana lifted the basket and examined the contents that she had brought. It would be a shame to waste all of the food she had cooked.
"Well, lucky for you I packed extras" she smiled. "As long as Teemo doesn't mind."
Teemo simply kept observing Veigar in curiosity scratching his chin before nodding his head in agreement.
"It would save me from having to walk all that distance for now" he smirked.
"No use letting all of this food go to waste when we walked all the way here. It would also give us a chance to get to know our new friend." Somehow, Veigar got the feeling that wasn't exactly in friendly connotation.
"I think the mountains of Freljord present a bigger challenge than the flat forests of Bandle City" Tristana smirked towards him.
"My legs are still feeling it from the way here"
The two laughed at one another before Veigar joined in with his own slight chuckle even if he had no idea what they were talking about. Tristana quickly delved into the basket grabbing a blanket and spreading it out over the grass, swiftly grabbing paper plates as she tossed them over to Teemo and Veigar like frisbees. Both Veigar and Teemo catching their plates gracefully with Tristana giving each of them a biscuit, two sandwiches, and a slice of cake to indulge themselves in.
Tristana and Teemo ate in relative silence while Veigar seemed more fond of inhaling his food rather than eating it. The thought of how hungry he was had not settled until he started eating. Tristana REALLY knew how to make some delightfully tasting food. Even for food as simple as a sandwich he found himself wanting more and more each time he took a bite.
Nature had returned to its former state of buisness, wildlife was alive with great activity all around them. Leaves swung gently from side-to-side as a gentle morning breeze was about to come in. The sun was at a perfect angle in the sky that it made the clearing have a golden heavenly glow, birds gathered in number around the tops of the trees to watch the spectacle. Some starving birds even tried to join in as Teemo shooed away some birds looking for scraps of his sandwich.
"SHOO! THIS IS MY FOOD!" he yelled as he flapped his arms wildly sending a flock of birds flying into a tree, he could still see them up in the tree waiting for him to turn his attention away from his meal so they could steal a few scraps for themselves.
"I could make roasted bird out of all of you!" he threatened shaking his portable blowgun in the air in the flock's direction. Both Tristana and Veigar laughed hysterically with Teemo giving them both a dismissing stare as he continued to eat his sandwich.
"You said that you were going to fill me in, if you do not mind anyway. I am quite curious to hear what Bandle City is about."
Tristana nodded as she swallowed a little biscuit before looking up in the air trying to think of a way to form her words, looking over at Veigar with her signature smile on her face.
She began painting her picture, a city that was the vision of perfection. She described the towering walls that would deter even the most determined outlaws from attacking, and each citizen that lived within was another happy yordle. A utopia that was spread as a legend among the mortal men of the other provinces. Many had tried to find this special utopia, and all of them had failed. The yordles always preferred to keep it that way, or at least out of direct contact with humans. Any yordles that stayed outside in human cities always had a human disguise ready outside of Bande City and many humans only thought of yordles as legends, and despite most yordle's kind and amiable nature, any that dared to reveal themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time met a swift end to their life.
However, that didn't mean that they hadn't made their own alliances and trade. Indeed, many yordles had their own trade caravans that traded with all nations throughout valoran. Other yordles (mostly in the military including both of them) were hired as mercenaries on all sides. Tristana and Teemo had both had their fair share of fun missions outside Bandle City. There was on particular time where-
"Careful Trist," Teemo Interrupted. "You're getting into classified information there" he smiled teasingly
She waved her hand at him as she finished: "Everything about Bandle City is….well….perfect. I wouldn't describe it to anyone any other way, but don't take my word for it. It's something you just have to see for yourself, it's….hard to put it in words" she smiled as she pointed behind him: "You can see a glimpse of the city off this cliff over here."
Veigar turned around and stared bug-eyed in awe at the grand view of the city. He could see numerous smokestacks dotted around from residencies as each of them had little yordles running out to the marketplace by the entrance. All of them looked excited and lively perfectly contempt with their daily lives as they lived in happiness. The marketplace had various stalls manned by many merchants as all of them made a distinctive U shape that welcomed a friendly feeling for travelers coming through. Behind the marketplace was what Veigar guessed was the town hall. It would have looked like most of the other residencies of the city, if it was not for the white marble with a distinctive soaring bell tower that stood even taller than the walls around the city. The bell was a whole other matter, it was housed at the top easily in view of most of the city, the bell looked to be easily taller than Nasus with a dirty-gold color that indicates its age.
Veigar could see a small group of yordles pop under the bell from presumably a ladder that led up to the top. They all grabbed something in unison and forcibly pulled and pushed it making the bell make a deep booming ring that even Veigar could hear from his vantage point as it swung from side-to-side. Yordles and guards (at least that's what he guessed based on their attire) alike walked into the hall as its wide double doors opened to welcome them all. Elsewhere, he could catch shopkeepers looking happily down at yordle children as they bought whatever caught their eye that particular day. Some were trying to bargain with the merchants while others ran home with joy in their eyes at their new toys. Restaurants next to the town hall were packed as volumes of smoke rose from their chimneys and crowds of yordles sat outside enjoying the local culinary delights. The bakery was especially packed as yordles ran in and out carrying great loaves of bread with them. Tristana was right, it was a perfect city. Everyone looked so jolly without a sight of gloom for miles. After a couple more minutes of gazing out at the luxurious scene, Veigar turned back over to ask another question:
"What about you two personally?" he continued.
This time it was Teemo who seemed more eager to respond to him:
"As Tristana already sort of described to you. Both of us are indeed part of the Bandle City military, it was originally created to defend the city from any large scale attack, but considering that no mortal men have ever found the city, it is more like a local police department nowadays."
"However..." he continued, "that doesn't mean neither of us deal with things outside the city. Both of us deal with catching criminals that might either threaten the city elsewhere, or just helping other nations with random tasks that may need our services, but Bandle City matters always come first for us.
Teemo continued munching as he finished.
"When the action dies down though, I am specifically sent at times to survey any geography that is uncharted for whatever reason. I suppose you could say it is a nice side hobby."
"Any criminals that have evaded your grasp?"
"Not any worthy of note, we have caught many in our days" Teemo smiled mischievously.
"Well-" Tristana interrupted with a slight chuckle, "there is one-"
"Fine, there is one, but he is a whole other matter and I would rather not talk about him…." he sighed rolling of the subject with a disgusted look in his mouth.
"Who?-..." Veigar asked looking puzzled over at Tristana.
Tristana waved her hand teasingly at him as she responded: "His little rivalry with a criminal who I always tease about, anytime the general assigns a mission that involves him, he always volunteers to go. He's absolutely obsessed with capturing him."
"I am NOT obsessed and he's not the kind of yordle you should be joking about! You remember when he tried to take the Mothership…." Teemo grumbled.
Tristana laughed. "I know, but that doesn't mean I don't love teasing you about him" waving her hand innocently in his direction. Veigar decided not to inquire further after Teemo muttered some curses in her direction before finishing his sandwich in a grumpy silence. After that, it was relatively quiet for the rest of the time as the trio continued to finish their food. By the time they had all indulged themselves, the sun was halfway in the sky indicating midday along with the heat coming in full swing. Luckily they all had proper clothing to keep themselves from sweating themselves like dogs as they all sat back and lay on the grass with their eyes closed deep in thought.
Veigar was currently reflecting on his current situation, and he had to say. He is most likely lucky to be alive. Let's see, first a random ancient being that probably could of have killed him instead is offering his help, and now two random strangers that could have also easily killed him have now possibly become new friends.
Friends?...
He was pretty sure he knew what the word meant. So why did it feel so weird to say it? Nasus called him a friend after all (well….probably more as a friendly gesture but still), and he had only known the ascended for a short time
But Why?...
What did he want with him?
His mind felt conflicted at such a situation. Nasus didn't seem to intend any ill-will, but at the same time the offer to help was very sudden. Not that he had a choice really, it was either accept his offer or have a cane suck the life out of him. He tried to think of any motives behind his offer, surely he couldn't just offer this kind of help for free….surely there had to be some kind of strings attached to this sort of deal. Plus, as much as Veigar didn't want to admit it…
He feared him a little….
The tall stature, the ancient aura of power around him, and his weapon that could probably choose to slowly torture him to death if he so chose.
His quiet state of mind was interrupted as he heard Teemo grunting as he sat up squinting his eyes towards Veigar.
"What about you?
"Huh?..."
"I know your current circumstance, but what can you tell us about yourself?"
"Teemo" Tristana gritted her teeth, "We shouldn't be asking him that right now."
Veigar put his hand up indicating his compliance before putting it on his chin in thought. Attempting to reach out in his mind up to his outermost conscience thoughts didn't yield any results worthy of telling. The only thing he knew was his magic and of course his little "visit" to Shurima while he was out.
"I'm afraid the only thing I remember is my arcane arts" he finally answered.
"What kind of magic do you do then?"
"All of them….Pyromancy, Terraforming, Alchemy, Illusion….I would rather not repeat the whole list"
Teemo looked at him skeptically.
"That is a lot of branches for one to memorize….even most humans specialize in one particular branch"
"Well, if you don't believe me, I would be glad to show you my capabilities sometime."
"Perhaps, but I would prefer for a show after we at least get some of your memories back, you sure there is nothing else you can tell us?"
Veigar gave Teemo a sympathetic smile.
"Yea, sorry."
Veigar could tell that Teemo wasn't really satisfied with his answer, but he didn't really have a choice in retaliating him. Teemo swiftly glimpsed up at the sun before addressing both of them:
"We better get to the city before it gets dark then, are you two ready to go?"
"I thought you didn't want to walk," Tristana teased as she sat up and yawned. "I'm ready to go when Otis is though."
Teemo ignored her as he nodded over to Veigar:
"Otis, you ready to go to the city?"
Veigar sat up intently as he stood up with a smile on his face as he nodded his head in approval.
"Then let's not waste any more time" Teemo commanded picking up the empty basket and heading towards the leaf-door. Both Tristana and Veigar soon followed closely behind as they all began to walk back.
Veigar briefly looked back into the oasis.
He wasn't going to have his old life back for a while.
"YOU CAN TELEPORT?!" Teemo exclaimed, falling flat on his back in place heavily breathing under the fatigue of walking putting his hands over his eyes.
"Then why did you make us walk halfway to the city?...you could have mentioned this….I don't know…. AN HOUR AGO!"
"Because we get to see lovely scenery when we walk?..." Veigar offered sarcastically as Tristana let out a muffled chuckle.
Teemo facepalmed still laying on the ground.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry, I just forgot ok? Here, i'll teleport us there now" Veigar smirked grabbing a spare twig and beginning to draw a design in the dirt. The two yordles eyed the stranger curiously as he etched into the dirt with his stick, he was paying no particular attention to detail and was hastily sketching it in the dirt. Teemo always thought teleportation would be more complicated than this, but it looks like something he could of easily drawn in early grade school. The design simply had a triangle in the middle with three lines extending from each corner with a circle connecting all of them creating a space for each of them to sit down.
"This is how you do teleportation?" Teemo grumbled.
Veigar only shrugged in response, "From my few memories yes, I will take a wild guess that neither of you have ever teleported before?"
Both shook their heads in reply.
"Well, guess you're in for a treat then. Get inside the circle" he smiled at them as Veigar sat down and closed his eyes, crossing his legs in a meditative like state. Tristana shrugged and happily complied with the mage as she sat in the circle next to him in the same position. Teemo on the other hand seemed a bit squeamish. Veigar opened one eye and looked at him:
"You coming in?"
"What's it like?" he asked
Veigar stared up into the sky for a moment
"I'm afraid my memory is to foggy for me to answer that right now. However, given that I remember the spell, I can at least tell you that you will not die."
Yay….. the scout thought.
Teemo walked slowly over to the circle and reluctantly sat down with a look of worry still on his face. Veigar closed his eyes as both of them heard him muttering gibberish, it didn't take long until their vision started turning an immediate bright white. Their vision started getting brighter and even more blinding as Veigar continued until their whole line of vision was covered in some invisible light that blocked their sight. It got blinding to the point that both soon closed their eyes in reflex before they both felt their bodies disappear from the ground.
Teemo and Tristana couldn't really come up with an accurate description to describe teleportation. The best way that Teemo thought of it was like riding a Piltover Hextech rollercoaster, only it was going a billion times faster and the ride was less than a second long. Tristana thought of it more like they had been sucked up into a giant vacuum pipe that was transporting them. Regardless, both felt their bodies reappear as they stumbled and fell on their backs due to the disorientation. Veigar looked down on them with a slight smirk on his face:
"You could've warned us about the side effects…." Teemo said drunkenly as Tristana nodded her head in agreement. Teemo tried to stand up only to swiftly fall back down dizzyingly as both yordles sat down for the giddiness to wear off on both of them
"I can't warn you when I don't remember, on the bright side I get a good laugh." he replied smiling mischievously.
"How do you get used to this?" Tristana asked as the world continued to spin around her.
Veigar shrugged in response:
"I have likely casted it enough times that I am just immune to side effects now. I am sure after a couple times you two will be immune also."
It took a while before both of them regained their balance, both had tried several times again to get up only to fall back down again as their heads kept spinning in place. Veigar waited patiently before they finally were able to get up without falling, and also confirming humorously that they hadn't lost their heads as both placed their hands on them making sure they were not spinning.
"How much further now?"
Teemo squinted his eyes and looked in the distance as he could make out a faint outline of the city walls indicating they were close.
"Just up ahead" he smiled and turned back over to them.
Both of them saw Veigar briefly collapse to the ground putting his paws on the ground to hold himself up. A panicked Tristana lifted him by his chest and sat him down on the ground noticing his heavy breathing.
"What's wrong?!" panic ever present in Tristana's voice for the poor yordle.
Veigar held up his hand as his breathing slowed to reassure the two fretted yordles.
"I forgot that….teleporting…..takes a lot of energy" he responded with heavy breaths between each phrase. "Guess I….overestimated how much fatigue….teleporting three people takes."
"Do we need to get you to a hospital?" Tristana still asked worryingly offering her hand to help him up.
"No….I just need some rest…..I'll be fine" accepting her offer as he slowly got up putting his arm over Tristana's shoulder as the trio looked up ahead to the towering city gates waiting for them.
"Come on then," Teemo motioned. "We can all rest when we get in the city."
Veigar already had his expectations high as he walked with Tristana still supporting him on his shoulder as they got ever closer to the city.
He wasn't disappointed, they were easily surpassed.
The first thing that he noticed were the walls. From the cliff, he could make out a simple stone wall, but now that he was closer he could see that it was so much more. For starters, the walls were absolutely MASSIVE, even though he was a yordle, he was pretty sure even Nasus would have to look up quite far to see the top of this wall. Not only that, but the stone was only part of the wall, Veigar noticed as they walked through the gate that between layers of stone was thick metal plates that Teemo claimed could even withstand Noxian war machines (whatever "Noxian" referred to). Looking up at the gate as they passed under revealed that three slots had makeshift stone and metal plates to convert the gate into looking like the rest of the wall if anything was to happen. Watchtowers were situated seemingly every one-hundred feet each armed with a guard on duty and a cannon that looked like it could pack a nasty punch. The extra cherry on top included construction workers that looked like they were actually upgrading the wall, as if it couldn't be any better than it already is.
The inside of the city was also a sight to behold. The marketplace was still in high swing as wooden stalls with just about every product imaginable had merchants and customers mingling and bartering with smiles on their faces as they talked. The residencies seemed to be made from a mix of wood and stone with an A-frame as Veigar could see smoke wisping out of them indicating a warm fireplace roared in each and every one. The town hall stood in all of its white shining marble glory along with the huge bell at the top of the tower, but the absolute best part of the city was the life: the smell of freshly made biscuits and bread coming from the bakery, and the smell of steak from the Bar and Grill as some yordles didn't seem to fazed about getting wasted. Numerous yordles mingling about their daily lives with one another. Everyone looked….
Happy…..
There was another strange word….
Why does it feel so strange to say?...
Veigar couldn't answer his own question, it was troubling to him to an end, but he didn't have time to think about it. The trio came up to a pair of benches, Tristana gently helped the still exhausted mage sit himself down on the bench sitting down next to him still feeling concerned at his current state. Teemo sat down one bench over and produced a fake cough to get their attention to the immediate business at hand.
"We need to get you a place to stay."
"There is a nice inn if you have the gold" Tristana suggested pointing a short distance away to a long wooden building that looked like it had the luxury of a resort. The light pine wood that the building was made out of gave a relaxing glow and smells of home (mostly food and firewood though) rose from the stone cobblestone smokestacks. The windows were translucent and wide with intricate golden designs covering them as guests could be seen smiling and laughing within. Sadly, Veigar pulled out his empty pockets from his robes having no gold to his name.
Teemo frowned.
"Not many places to stay I'm afraid. I would offer, but I have no room" he partially lied.
More like Teemo didn't really trust him enough to deserve his hospitality although his mission work lay scattered around his house and it was hard to get around. He usually had to cleanup before Tristana ever came over for a visit.
"You could stay at my place" Tristana unexpectedly suggested as Veigar gave a slight surprised gasp, Teemo glared over at her wide-eyed.
"I can't possibly take advantage of your hospitality, I'm sure I can find a temporary place to stay" Veigar squeamishly looked down in nervousness with his ears slightly drooping.
"Oh don't worry about that! I have two guest bedrooms and I would be happy to help you" she smiled at him.
"It's fine….I would rather-"
"Trist…." a fake smile covering Teemo's face motioning for her to come to the side. Both got up from their benches walking just enough to where Veigar couldn't hear them.
"You are just going to let a complete stranger into your home?" his aggressive glare never leaving eye contact.
"I am not going to just leave him to sleep on the bench"
"You know this is a bad idea"
"Or maybe you don't trust him?"
Teemo gritted his teeth.
"You don't think….he looks familiar?"
Tristana facepalmed knowing it would come to this.
"You can't go one day huh?"
"But he-"
"But what?" she interrupted crossing her arms.
"We were both almost defenseless, he would have made his move"
"He could be faking it…." Teemo grumbled under his breath.
"Again, he would have made his move when we found him, and he certainly won't do anything to cause a big scene. I think his amnesia is genuine."
"Then why don't we just arrest-"
"Because he is not Veigar," she responded sternly. "You and I both know that Veigar would never be this warm hearted. As far as I am concerned, the only thing "familiar" is his appearance, and even that is speculative as nobody has ever seen Veigar's true face."
Teemo bit his lips now avoiding eye contact with the she-yordle.
"You know I am right…."
"Doesn't mean I am trusting him…." Teemo muttered still avoiding eye contact
Tristana put her hand on his shoulder letting out an exasperated sigh:
"I'll be fine….you know I can protect myself, but I am not leaving him outside. Either you take him or I will."
Teemo really didn't have any option, he didn't want to take him in:
"Promise me you'll be safe"
"Don't worry about it" she winked. The two walked back over to the bench where Veigar had been quietly staring into space turning his attention back over to the two yordles as they approached back.
"It's fine-" Veigar attempted to say
"No, you're staying with me, I am not taking no for an answer," her eyes glaring with a smirk on her face at the surprised yordle.
Veigar still glanced at her nervously.
"Don't be so nervous," she smiled, "Consider it part of my nice hospitality"
I can't go mooching off of it though, he thought to himself, but what other options did he have? Unsurprisingly, he really didn't have any better option other than sleeping on the bench which looked quite uncomfortable. He swiftly gave her a nod as the two briefly traded smiles before Teemo interrupted with a fake cough:
"Just promise me nothing will-"
"You have my word" Veigar assured the scout.
Teemo let out a deep breath he wasn't aware he was holding in reply nodding in his direction, "Ok…." he finally responded.
"It's starting to get dark out right now, I'll see you two tomorrow"
Tristana waved at him: "I'll see you in the morning Teems."
Teemo replied with his own little wave before walking in silence towards his home.
She turned her head over to Veigar:
"Are you still exhausted?"
Veigar stood up triumphantly showing that his stamina had returned quite quickly.
"Well, come on, i'll show you around."
Tristana could already see Otis was engrossed in looking everywhere but straight ahead. The sights of the city seemed to be taking all of his attention as he looked at everything with curiosity buried in his mind. Even the individual cobblestones of the street enticed his conscious as he seemed to mutter silently to himself under his breath. She had never seen a yordle so interested before, even non-native yordles did not exhibit this level of curiosity.
She made a silent chuckle before thinking to herself, it was going to be quite a while before they got to her house so she had some time to kill. She wanted to find out about this strange individual, everything about him was out of place, but how do you find out about someone who doesn't even remember who they are? It was partially why she offered to let him stay, but her conscience wouldn't feel comfortable leaving an amnesiac yordle all by his lonesome. It wouldn't be proper to leave him outside and alone. Isolation is a dire situation for a yordle who does remember their life. She didn't want to imagine what isolation would do to a yordle who can't even remember their birthday. However, Teemo's words wandered into her mind. It wasn't the fact that he looked similar that troubled her.
Why does she trust a person she just met?
She had never felt this way around anyone she had encountered before, and certainly wouldn't put all her trust on the first day.
So why now?
Maybe it was the aura that was always around him, one of kindness and joy, but also one of mystery that left her constantly curious of more surprises he could have in store.
Her house appeared on the horizon up ahead snapping her out of her state of thought as she tapped Otis's shoulder. It took a second for him to shake himself out of his state of mind as he took his first look at the outside of her house. It looked like a lot of the other houses in the city. The front lawn had numerous plants and flowers next to the cobblestone path that led up to her front steps. The front door was made out of simple pine wood decorated with metal vines that lined from the arch downwards. The front wall was also made out of cobblestone with oak wood trimming lining up with both the doors and the narrow windows giving the house a bit of depth to it. The front windows were also translucent; covered in a rough wallpaper also with vine designs on it so no outsiders could peek inside. Little strands of moss protruding from the bricks gave the house an aged feeling, but the bricks and trimming themselves looked so shiny that Veigar could see a reflection of himself in it.
Veigar stood absorbing the scene in front of him.
I don't deserve this hospitality he thought modestly.
"It's…. A very nice looking place…." Veigar finally responded as he looked over.
"It's nothing extravagant" she bragged as she took her keys out to unlock the door.
"There is only one thing I got to warn you about" she stated turning the lock on the door. "Just watch out for-"
"GNNNAAAARRRRRR!" a slightly-high pitched voice shrieked when she opened the door. A little mass of orange fur flashed by to pounce on the new visitor. Veigar swiftly had the wind knocked out of him as he landed flat on his back with a ball of orange fur covering his face.
"Gnar" she finished.
Gnar seemed completely satisfied with himself as he sat on top of Veigar's chest jumping up and down laughing at his successful surprise attack. Veigar let out his own slight wheezy chuckle as he sat up to catch his breath. The young yordle briefly stopped jumping on his chest to inspect his new visitor. Veigar did the same as the two met eyes, a smile spread across his face as he patted Gnar on the head, the little orange fur ball purring in approval as his own smile spread across his face. He swiftly jumped off of Veigar's chest as he stood up to brush the bits of orange fur that had accumulated on his robes.
"Sorry about that" Tristana smiling embarrassingly. "He likes to play."
"Oh don't worry about it" Veigar smiled back, "the little fellow looks cute," he said petting the orange fur ball again.
Tristana responded with a happy chuckle and motioned for both of them to come inside.
The inside of the house looked just as astonishing as the outside did. The entrance opened up into a large gourmet granite kitchen with a huge island sitting in the middle of it. Veigar could see various cooking supplies strewn about with cake mix on them and random cabinet doors open and ingredients out. The kitchen opens out to the living room which included a dark oak floor and walls with a large coffee table in the center. The table was surrounded by brown leather couches and chairs all shining in the light as if they were brand new. All of them faced the fireplace conveniently lit up in front of the coffee table. A wide window was located on the wall adjacent to the fireplace that offered a view of more residencies and the yordles walking up and down her street. Sunlight entered through the window that reflected off the walls and furniture producing a sense of good fortune throughout, as if the house whole had been blessed. It also gave off a welcoming vibe as if anyone could be invited in to such hospitality, just the smell of cake mix and firewood made all of Veigar's joints and muscles want to sit and relax. It seemed that Gnar was also enjoying it as he ran himself to the couch and started enthusiastically hopping up and down on the cushions.
"Why do you spoil me with such hospitality?"
"Oh stop with that, I want to help you and this is the least I can do" she gave him a soft slap on the back. "The house is nothing much; I try to be as welcoming as possible to all guests, but Gnar here likes to make that a little hard" she squinted at the tiny yordle as he continued to bounce on the couches and chairs in his jolly frenzy.
"Let me show you your bedroom" she motioned towards the hallway between the kitchen and living room. She walked over to a door as she opened it and allowed Veigar to come in. The bedroom itself complemented with the rest of the house. Dark oak walls and floors covered the fairly small room. The room sported one window by the nightstand that offered a view of what he assumed was Tristana's backyard garden sporting flowers on every color of the spectrum swaying in unison to the breeze with shrubs dotted every which way around that completed the scenery. The bed had a natural oak frame with spotless white sheets and pillows with an oak nightstand sitting beside it with a small lamp and a picture of Tristana and numerous other yordles beside her. Finally, a closet that included some night clothing and somewhat more room to hang a small amount of extra clothing (perfect for Veigar's only set of robes).
Veigar walked over and lifted up the picture pointing to it as he shot over a curious look at Tristana
"Who are they?"
Tristana walked over and took a look at the picture for a second pointing to each yordle in the picture.
"That's Teemo on the left, Rumble to the right of him, Me, and Poppy on the very right."
"What about her?" he asked pointing to a female yordle with an oversized red hat. Her smile was bigger than the rest of them, a small creature was flying beside her
"Heh" she giggled, "That's Lulu"
"She looks quite happy with herself"
"She can be very….eccentric for a yordle" she said still staring at the picture.
"We took this out in the forest, but she saw the camera from a clearing and ran over to us begging to be in the picture."
"Why didn't you just say no?"
"We couldn't do that to her, we're not friends, but we wouldn't be that mean, even if she can be a little strange"
She continued staring at the picture for a second lost in some unknown deep thought.
"You'll get to meet all my friends soon enough with time, minus Lulu of course. Anyway, i'm sorry that your room isn't as luxurious as the rest of the house."
Veigar waved his hand over at her:
"It's fine, I told you I don't want to be spoiled."
Tristana let out a muffled chuckle.
"I'm going to cook some steak tonight, just make yourself at home."
Veigar thanked her and quickly unpacked his book from his bag and put it by the nightstand. He quickly decided to take a second to relax, close his eyes, and simply lay up on the bed in thought about the day's events. It was nice having a few moments of tranquility to himself, he hadn't really gotten a moment of peace since he had woken up. Everything has been going well so far. Even with no memories he knew he was lucky, it hasn't been even a day and already good fortune seemed to be smiling upon him. His repose was quickly interrupted as he felt a lump jump itself on the bed. He opened an eye to reveal a still joyful Gnar staring right at him. Veigar revealed his own smile putting his hand on Gnar's head and petting it. Gnar replied by curling up in a ball next to Veigar. It had seemed he had made an unintentional new friend.
"Well, hello there little guy, come to visit?" Veigar asked gently laying and rubbing his hand over the little yordles back as it purred softly in approval. He took his other hand towards his book and took it out. He looked at the cover to find what it was about, only for the title to be faded out of existence due to age. Gnar took a strange notice to the new book as he perked up a little and looked at it. Veigar opened the book to no particular page, just to see what the book was about. The words and spells suggested this was a book about light magic. Funny, why would he take a light magic book if he remembered no light spells? Even more humorous was the fact that Gnar actually looked interested in the book. His black charcoal eyes darting over the words on the page he opened to. Despite the fact that he had only known Gnar for a short time, it was more than obvious that he knew no sort of magic at all. So why is he interested in a magic book?
Gnar abruptly stole the book from his grasp and was skimming through it, turning the pages quickly and skimming through the images, it looked he was looking for something, but Veigar didn't know what, not to mention that there was a 99% chance that Gnar couldn't actually read.
"What are you looking for buddy?"
Gnar only replied in muffled whimpers and showing the droopiness of his ears. It was obvious his disappointment was growing as he kept flipping through the pages only to hastily reach the end of the book, the cover closing and Gnar's head sinking down in defeat. The young yordle felt a paw comforting his back to look up at the new guest smiling down at him sympathetically patting him.
"It's alright buddy, I can help you look, what are you looking for?"
A small grin returned to Gnar's face, he held up both his fingers pointing at himself, his grin growing wider seeming satisfied with his reply.
"Your….self?..." Veigar asked quizzically.
Gnar nodded happily, Veigar shrugged and started to look more carefully into his book. However, he had came to the conclusion before that it was all about light magic, and looking a little more detailed only confirmed it. He couldn't find one picture or mention of Gnar in the book, not that he expected to, but he had to try for his sake. The same defeated look came upon Gnar as Veigar closed the book, a small frown on his face turning around shrugging in response.
"Sorry, I don't see you anywhere in here."
Gnar didn't respond, only staring at the floor with his head down and ears flopping downwards.
Why would he be trying to look for himself? Veigar thought.
Veigar didn't have time for an answer as a voice from the kitchen called them both:
"Dinners ready you two!"
Veigar quickly hopped out of the bed as Gnar's happy mood returned following Veigar soon after. Both walked out into the kitchen as Tristana had three plates for each of them, all containing a juicy steak, mashed potatoes, and beans laid out in an even fashion. Veigar's mouth watered at the sight of it, he hadn't had any food since the picnic, and he couldn't wait to taste more of Tristana's cooking. Tristana sat down to the sight of both Gnar and Otis inhaling their food, she was used to Gnar eating like a barbarian, but not any other yordle.
"If you're going to inhale your food I can always cook more" she said sarcastically.
"If it's as good as all of this, I will happily accept your offer," he said with his mouth stuffed to brim with his meal, Where did you learn to cook like this?"
"Oh, it's just a side hobby of mine, when you have the spare time good culinary goes a long way in extended missions" she chuckled.
"What were you two doing while I was cooking?"
"Looking at my book while I petted him"
Tristana looked at Gnar in puzzlement.
"He likes looking at pictures in books, but he just let you pet him?"
Veigar nodded.
"I'm guessing he's a little protective?" he asked afterward
"You could say that…." her eyes staring off into space in remembrance of what the full wrath of the little furball was capable of.
Veigar looked at her quizzically.
"Does he protect you with cuteness?" he laughed.
Tristana only gave him a serious looks in return: "If he ever gets into a rage…. you'll see what I am talking about, but I would prefer we would not test his patience. It would cost more than a torn up living room."
Veigar partially wanted to hear the full story he could tell she was hiding, but more pressing questions reigned on his mind as he ate his food in between dialogue.
"About your friend. Teemo….does he have a problem with me?"
Tristana gave him an apologetic look.
"It's not that he has a problem with you, he just has trust issues with people. Especially concerning my safety and his personality."
"Understandable, it's obvious that he cares for you a lot."
Tristana only gave a stifled laugh.
"I would say he cares more for work than his friends…." a hidden anger and sadness in her voice.
"It is good that he is obviously dedicated to his job in the military is it not?"
"Yea, but he has been overworking himself lately." a heavy sigh escaping from the she-yordle's lips.
Veigar nodded, predicting how the pieces fit,
"So you wanted to have a picnic with him on your day off to help him relax?"
Tristana nodded, her head never looking up.
Veigar attempted to turn around the frown on her face with some reassurance, "I am sure after all the hard work you both do, your boss wouldn't mind giving you both some more time off."
Tristana shot back a smile at him. "Yea….maybe I'll go early in the morning to request a couple more days off….Or….." she squinted her eyes and smiled mischievously towards Veigar. An idea formed in her head.
"What?"
"Oh….Nothing…." she responded still smiling mischievously
"But-" she continued reverting her facial expression back to normal. "I do want to ask you something."
Veigar looked at her waiting for her question.
"You told Teemo you know magic, I know you told him that you would show your full capabilities later, but anything you could show me now? I am quite curious."
Veigar was briefly caught off guard. He couldn't do anything fancy without probably blowing the whole house (or themselves) up. An idea began to form in his head as he turned around and peeked at the fireplace. The roar of the flames had become nothing more than dark ashes sprinkled over the logs: a perfect candidate for some Pyromancy.
"How about this?" he smirked.
A palm of fire began to form in Veigar's hand, his lips repeating incantations and his mind visualizing the growing fireball in his palm. The palm of fire began to swell the faster he recited the words, a small tennis ball of pure flame had been formed in his hand as he opened his eyes sternly staring at his creation to keep it under control. Tristana out of the corner of his eye was staring bug-eyed, her hands gripping the table and her skin turning a whole shade lighter in what he could guess was slight terror. He stood up from his chair looking at his primary target, cupped his two hands together, and finally thrusted his hand out as the fireball danced off his hand breaking into the air.
The ball glided through the air before meeting the firewood as each individual spark met the firewood in a fiery reaction giving the brown firewood a defining bright orange glow and a blinding light as a tall pillar of flame briefly occupying the fireplace before settling down into a low crackle, spectacles of sparks gilded near the firewood like snowflakes once again giving the wood a new life. Tristana was frozen in a state of shock at the spectacle, even Gnar took a moment away from his food to stare at the now lit up fireplace.
Silence was followed by rapid clapping with Veigar turning and bowing to both of them.
"Thank you m'lady" he smiled sarcastically.
"Never seen a mage in action" she smiled back. "Impressive for a demonstration, though not like I can do any arcane arts myself"
"It's only a small demonstration, can't do more fancy things unless you want the whole place blown up" he smiled at her.
"I cannot wait to see your full potential then."
"It'll be something you'll never forget" he smiled.
The three finished the last morsels of their meal in relative in silence. Save for Gnar and the crackling of the fireplace. Both in thought about nothing particularly interesting (save that Veigar was relieved he didn't set the house on fire) and Tristana still trying to piece together this new individual. She has known yordles all around Valoran, and yet this mage has eluded her for her entire career. Her thoughts were scattered as she strained to try and remember possibly anywhere she had possibly seen him, but like his thoughts, hers turned up blank. Tristana was always one for mysteries, and this was one that had a tight vault sitting right in front of her. The crickets seemed to be slightly mocking her, chirping loudly in the night with the moonlight shining within as the three yordles finished their meals.
"Thank you" Veigar said putting helping put all the dishes in the snk.
"It was no problem" she yawned. "I'm going to call it a night if you don't mind."
He waved his hand at her, "not at all, I am also going to bed."
"Night Otis" she waved at him nodding her head.
Veigar nodded and yawned in reply waving her goodnight as Tristana walked to her bedroom. Veigar also walked to his guest bedroom with Gnar following close in tow. Gnar got right back to business as he jumped on the bed and did whatever Gnar did best (mostly being silly). Veigar let out a chuckle at his antics before he deciding to go and take a quick shower after half a day of walking and laying in the grass. It wasn't long before he dried himself off and took a nice long look at himself in the mirror. It was unusual to not even remember what he looked like, at least he would get some type of memory back.
Even in the dead of night, people could probably see his jet black fur, every other yordle he had seen had either a tan colored fur or did not have any at all like Tristana. Another feature was the glowing offset yellow eyes he had. Even in slight darkness from turning the light off Veigar's eyes noticeably glowed in the dark, revealing a yellow ring that also surrounded his pupils. To top it all off, his body was covered, no, more like blanketed in scars from head to toe. Some scars were short cuts that were barely noticeable while others were large gashes that lay across his face. All of them had faded somewhat indicating some age to them, it was obvious that something happened that gave him all these.
Yet what was it?
He pretty much stood out in comparison to normal yordles, he would think some kind of clue would pop into his head, hell, even another yordle could pinpoint him from a crowd. Yet the question still remained:
Who was he?...
Maybe he had gotten scars from serving in a war….or an accident from one of his spells….or maybe…..
….
He really didn't know….
But he was too tired to think about it though, he simply borrowed some nightwear and walked to his bedroom to see Gnar was currently curled up on the side. Veigar squeezed himself beside Gnar as he lay down and looked up into the ceiling, the only thing he was sure of in that moment was that he had a long road ahead of him, this was going to be no cakewalk to find himself back. The question was….
Did he want to go on it?...
He had already entered an almost complete stranger's house, and also trusted two strangers who found him…..
Guess I am already along for the ride he thought.
He closed his eyes slowly, assuring himself that this would all be worth it.
Or at least he hoped so.
Yet again, Veigar woke up in the same dining room greeted by the same (sort of) warm welcome he had gotten before. The only difference was there was no sign of Nasus.
Anywhere…..
There was no footsteps indicating an arrival, and the chair was still pushed out when he got up. Veigar simply decided to wait to see if he would show up, he must have appeared back for a reason. But the reward never came, Veigar waited for what seemed like hours for Nasus to walk through the front dining room to greet him. Yet each minute that passed left the room the same way he had left it. He eventually grew tired of waiting and decided to see if he could go find him himself.
Veigar opened the dining room entrance and walked the short hallway length to the next door. Opening the door led to a another longer hallway with antique torches and paintings lining each side. Veigar slowly walked the hallway length down keeping his guard up around him. The paintings showed various battle scenes with a crocodile, and someone else whose face was covered by a helmet standing over mountains of fallen soldiers as the two triumphantly carried what he assumed was a Shuriman flag into victory over various environments and armies. Strangely, Nasus wasn't in any of them.
He made a sudden stop when he finally caught sight of who he was looking for. At the end of the hallway was a small room with two small chairs, a small table with a lamp on it, and some small bookshelves. Nasus was quietly reading a book with a pencil resting neatly on his ear. He quickly took the pencil and briefly twiddled it around with his fingers until finally scribbling in annotations on the margin. The dog smiled to himself obviously satisfied with himself putting the pencil back on his ear. He finally turned his head over towards Veigar putting his book by the table, a slight smile forming as the two momentarily stared at one another.
"I see you invited yourself?"
"Umm….sorry….I just…."
Nasus made a slight chuckle to himself: "Don't worry, come take a seat with me" he said patting a chair that sat next to him on the other side of the nightstand.
Veigar walked over slowly looking around the small room. Decorative torches pulsed in synchronizing rhythm lighting up the area around the chairs. Previous books Nasus had read also lay in perfect stacks, him being careful to not leave a single mark on it along with pieces of paper with many notes written down on them. Veigar briefly came to a stop in front of the ascended with his hands clasped together and his head down still keeping eye contact as if he was a servant waiting for a command.
"You have no reason to fear me, you are not a slave obeying my every command" Nasus said sensing the uneasiness the young yordle still felt for him.
Veigar only nodded in response still keeping his head down.
Nasus sighed heavily getting up putting his book down walking over to the young yordle. He put a hand on his shoulder giving him a look of pity as the yordle:
"We talked about this, I know my offer is a sudden one and many questions plague your mind, but they will have to be answered in time. This process will not be easier if you close yourself out."
Veigar gave no response, his eyes now avoiding any contact. Nasus crouched down in response with a simple plead.
"Please….I am here to help you, and I can't do that if you don't tell me anything."
Still no response,
"Why do you fear me?" he asked.
Veigar only pointed to his weapon leaning on a wall in the corner of room. The ascended briskly grabbed his weapon coming back to the yordle in the same crouched position. Veigar finally made eye contact again with Nasus still not saying a word as he spoke:
"I know my little demonstration intimidated you a bit, and I apologize for resorting to that."
No response.
"I promise you no harm….here….." Nasus offered holding out the cane to the yordle.
Veigar shakily took a hold of the cane briefly surprised by its heavy weight. He could feel the power of the pulsing through his blood vessels. The only thing Veigar could sense of the cane was that its power was... ancient.
He swore he could hear silent voices, millions of whispers emanated from the ancient weapon almost bombarding the edges of his mind as he attempted to block them out. The whispers only started growing in more volume and power the more he resisted, he quickly handed the cane back to the ascended with the whispers parting in tow:
"The voices…." he stammered towards the ascended for an answer
"My weapons power is as ancient as I…." the ascended replied. "All the enemies that have met their end to me have had their soul put to good use…." he implied patting his weapon.
"My weapon may be powerful, but I am no immoral murder"
Veigar knew he was right, if he was a couple centuries old he guessed. Nasus could have just disintegrated him out of existence, his soul left to be another silent voice in the wind stuck in his weapon.
Why make this harder? He thought to himself.
"I still don't know why you're helping me….but I will trust you…." Veigar told the ascended. Nasus's mouth spread wide with his ears perking up closing his eyes briefly before rising up.
"Thank You" Nasus said. "Now, an important question I must ask…."
Veigar stared into his eyes waiting for a response.
"Do you like reading?" the ascended smiled.
Veigar eagerly nodded returning the smile back.
"Of course, though your library is a bit small isn't it?"
What proceeded was the loudest and deepest laugh that Veigar ever heard. Nasus grabbed a hold of the chair as he continued to dissolve into laughter uncontrollably with tears streaming down his face.
"Library…." the ascended sniffled happily. "These are only the books i am currently reading. Do you want to see a real library?" he offered.
Veigar made the smallest nod two-parts curious and weirded out by the outburst from him.
Nasus motioned his hand towards himself.
"I can teleport us, but I need some of your magic"
Veigar stared at him wide-eyes
"Umm….I hope not using that" Veigar said pointing to his cane.
Nasus chuckled in response before holding out his paw: "Just give me your hand, and don't worry, I don't bite"
Veigar reluctantly held out his hand to the ascended who grasped it tightly while holding his cane in the other hand. After a moment of silence, Nasus spun the cane around in a circle above him, a light blue field with purple lines spawning below them. Veigar once again felt his body become weightless as they both turned to dust, each particle drifting gently in the wind.
After a brief delay, both bodies rematerialized outside in front of large building. Each floor had a single lit window and the outside was made of sandstone bricks stacked up that had numerous hieroglyphics covering the outside walls. The two appeared in the libraries courtyard. Trees and flower beds decorated the cobblestone path towards the two wide arching doors the two were standing by. The doors stood tall and wide like a castle gate, waiting for its next visitor. Nasus eagerly smiled at Veigar for the grand reveal.
"This is what a library looks like" he said swinging the door open with anticipation. It was not often, scratch that, he never got to show off his proud collections of books he has amassed over the centuries.
Veigar had to admit, he hadn't seen, or at least remembered a library that looked this grand.
The room was simple enough, it was rectangular with sandstone columns rising on all 4 corners of the room to the ceiling. Red velvet carpet covered the majority of the room with torches on the columns providing light to the bookshelves that lined the entire wall bordering each column. In the center of the room was the sound of a soothing sandstone fountain as it filled the library with a relaxing atmosphere with trickles of water disturbing the otherwise silent library. Veigar took more steps gleefully smiling at the grandness with a smiling Nasus following close in tow. Elevators served to take visitors between the floors which all mirrored the bottom floor (minus the fountain). It was hard to tell how old the library was, because Nasus had maken sure to keep everything in pristine condition. The bookshelves had recently been polished giving off shines on each glance of them, the walls and fountain had no visible cracks or signs of age, and even dust was absent from the plethora of books that filled the shelves.
"Well…. you are certainly…. Dedicated" was all that the yordle could muster out.
"Dedicated isn't the right word, knowledge is my passion. All of these books have been collected over centuries, and I seek to preserve all of civilization that I can whether it is going to be the past, present, or the future. Future generations only advance because of knowledge and I seek to preserve it as much as possible."
"Sadly, many do not share my passion…." the ascended looked down depressingly
"I find your collection impressive, especially all of the effort and hard work you have put into it" the young yordle gleamed at him happily, earning a chuckle from the scholar.
"At least someone has some appreciation for my devotion, anything that catches your eye? "
Veigar glanced at a particular bookshelf. Above the bookshelf was a gigantic map of Runeterra detailing the terrain, cities, and nations that covered their world. Below it, books of the history of nations and the civilizations that lived before them.
"This shelf" he said pointing to it.
Nasus chuckled at the response.
"I would have thought a mage such as you would have liked magic"
"I do….I just feel….drawn to the book's here for a particular reason." Veigar said grabbing a book. Nasus crouched behind him as the yordle skimmed the pages, it described the basic information of all the major nations including Noxus, Ionia, Demacia, and many more. It also detailed elaborate diagrams of trading routes between them and the resources the nations all had access to.
"Perhaps a first clue to your past" Nasus said scratching his chin with Veigar looking back at him curiously.
"Your curiosity of the world is strange to say the least, even without most of your memories it seems to come natural to you."
"Well, to be fair, I do not even remember anything about Valoran, I think it is a fair assessment that I would be curious about my own nation no?"
The yordle closed the book and held on his side, asking Nasus a question that he expected.
"Mind if I keep this?"
"You can borrow it for a while," he corrected. "But it would be good for you to read about Valoran, it might help refresh your memory."
The yordle made a slight smile before putting his head up in thought, if Nasus had books on everything. What about?...
"Do you happen to have any books on yordles?"
Nasus's blue eyes widened slightly taken aback at the question, but the ascended motioned him towards the elevator taking them up to one of the higher floors.
"Yordles are all that shelf over there" he said pointing to a shelf after they got off the elevator.
Veigar quickly attempted to get to business taking the books off the shelf and trying to find any information that would be useful to him. However, he noticed that most of the books were mere theory or mythology than actual information on yordles. Even Bandle City in a majority of the books was described as a legend rather than an actual place.
"Is there any information on yordles at all?" Veigar asked the ascended.
"I'm afraid mortal men and I for that matter have little information on your kind."
Veigar was briefly caught off guard, didn't Tristana say that yordles are usually disguised?
"I see through yordle human disguises, also, you are not currently wearing one" Nasus responded. "However, almost all I have attempted to speak to just wish to remain anonymous to the mortal world and I will obey the wishes of your kind, so I am afraid all I have is what other mortal men have written about the "legends" of yordles. You are the first that has really talked to me at all."
"Have you at least met Tristana and Teemo?" Veigar asked looking into the ascended's eyes.
"Yes….although it was strictly business matters….what do you want to know about them?"
The question formed on his lips, but he remained silent still staring at the ascended. Nasus could tell he wanted to tell him something, but he decided not to press questions on the yordle, trust would have to build up slowly. Veigar only proceeded to turn around and put all the books back on the shelf in their proper places turning back to Nasus when he was finished, the only thing that came from his lips was:
"Any recommendations?..."
Nasus made a sly smile, holding his hand up for him to stay put while he went over the opposite side and grabbed a book. The scholar briefly skimmed its pages, a smile forming as he found the one he was looking for. He walked back over to Veigar, leaning down and handing him the book gently. Veigar's enthusiasm dissolved into bewilderment as he read the title:
Fighting Lessons From The Champion, Vol. I, By Jax
Veigar switched between glancing at the book he held in his hand and Nasus before finally saying:
"I have no idea how to fight, all I have is my spells"
"Exactly" Nasus responded. "I understand you are a powerful mage, but magic will not always be there to save you, and when that moment comes, you need to know the basics of handling yourself without it."
Veigar still looked at him dumbfoundment, Nasus put his paw on the yordles's shoulder.
"I didn't say you had to master the art, just take a couple minutes of freetime to learn the basics. You never know when it may come in handy."
Veigar put the book with his other one looking out one of the windows to see the sun creeping up over the Shuriman horizon. Nasus also turned to look turning to the yordle with his cane high in the air.
"Are you ready to wake up?" he asked.
"Wait," Veigar said, the ascended patiently waiting for a response.
"When are we going to start?"
Nasus only chuckled at him.
"You need to get settled in before we think about starting to get your memories back, I am sure your caretakers will also try to help you before we get started. Don't worry though, I know what I said I would do and I intend to abide by it."
Veigar nodded, Teemo did say that he would get him to a doctor, if they could do anything that is. He stared into the ascended's eyes before muttering two words:
"I'm ready."
The ascended lifted his cane high in the air spinning it around, Veigar closing his eyes feeling the dream and himself dissolving into dust until the only thing left was the bluish hue of Nasus's eyes. Veigar woke up with a start, only to open his eyes to two deep-charcoal black eyes staring at him.
Nasus stood still, watching out the library window the rising sun. Oh how days passed by so fast, like dust flying in the wind. He had to admit, Veigar had progressed faster than he expected, the yordle obviously didn't fully trust him still, but at least he wasn't scared of him. It felt refreshing to have at least a semi-normal conversation with someone. His status meant that many citizens around Shurima always had a tendency to treat him like a God, although he may be very powerful, he never was fond of his fame. Even the likes of Azir and Sivir were more strict business than anything.
This time though, he felt different. The yordle certainly didn't treat him like he was a God, very powerful? Yes, but he didn't seem to fazed by the fact he was in the presence of someone eons older than him and much more powerful. He treated him with respect, a child respecting his elders rather than a fan drooling over their idol.
It was something that he hadn't felt in a long time.
Someone who talked to him like he was at least a little human, perhaps he could have something he hasn't gotten in a while….
Well….
If everything goes smoothly that is….
AN: Please leave a review for anything I can improve on, feedback would mean a lot on the first story I have ever written.
Thank you for reading!