The Obsessed
"Welcome home... Syndra..."
"Fuck you! You escaped last time, you won't escape again!" Syndra snarled furiously in response to Akano's insincere greeting.
"Oho? Quite the contrary, actually. You escaped me last time. This time you won't escape at all." Akano answered with a greedily twisted smile.
Glancing to her left, Irelia caught a brief glimpse of her mage. Already, Irelia could see the blinding flames of rage consuming the mage. Never before had she seen such livid hatred burning in the sovereign's eyes.
"Syndra..." Irelia whispered.
The mage failed to reply.
"Syndra... Who is that...?" Irelia repeated in a slightly louder voice.
"He is the one." Syndra snarled through gritted teeth, "He is the one that sent me to that temple. He is the one that tried to steal what is rightfully mine!"
"You mean he is the-"
"He is the arch mage! The magus that started everything!" Syndra screeched.
"The magus?" Akano repeated questioningly. His face twisted into a horrible scowl after a few moments.
"It is the former magus because of you, Syndra." Akano spat nastily. Abruptly, however, his scowl turned upwards into a grin.
"But no matter, you are here now. We can continue where we left off." The former arch mage finished eagerly.
"Yes. Let's continue where we left off." Syndra agreed with clear, aggressive intent.
"Syndra, wait! We don't know what he's planning, this could be a trap!" Irelia immediately cried out, simultaneously catching the mage's wrist with a restraining hand.
The moment Irelia's hand closed around her wrist, the fury in Syndra's eyes evaporated. For a few moments, the mage blinked and glanced back at the warrior; a mixture of anger and indecision clouding her mind.
As he watched Irelia call the mage back from the throws of her own fury, Akano grimaced inwardly. The warrior was far too wise. She had the experience and wisdom to allow Syndra to fall into his trap so easily. Gritting his teeth, Akano pushed down his rising anger and instead spoke up in a taunting tone.
"Oho yes! Syndra, let's just run away from your superior. Let's just forget all about how much stronger he is than you!" Akano taunted jeeringly.
"Ahahaha... My, my... Little dear Syndra, you've grown soft in all these years." Akano continued with a harsh laugh, "I would have thought that you would have been a threat to me by now. It seems I was sorely mistaken. What ever happened to the powerful mage I once knew."
Instantly, Akano knew that his words had struck the mage. Syndra's face contorted with uncontrollable rage as Akano's taunts and mockery cut deep into her nerves. At last, the mage could control herself no longer; her rage consuming what little reason she had left.
"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Syndra howled and balled her hands into fists. Instantly, blistering amounts of raw magic erupted from her body, cloaking her form in a shroud of purple energy.
"Syndra wait!" Irelia cried out, desperately trying to calm the mage, "He's just taunting you, he wants you to attack him!"
Reaching out again, Irelia tried to restrain the mage once more. Alas, the sovereign was far too lost to her fury. Viciously tearing her arm out of Irelia's grasp, the sovereign blindly lashed out with an explosion of power. The wave bodily tossed the Ionian warrior up into the air until she struck the floor a few meters away.
"NO! I WILL NOT BE RESTRAINED!" Syndra screamed, her eyes blind to the reason that Irelia tried to return her to. The mage failed to even notice that she had struck the warrior she held so close to her heart.
"AND I REFUSE TO BE SPITED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!" Syndra continued, focusing all of her attention on the man standing before her.
Without a moment more of hesitation, Syndra advanced on the former magus.
Akano grinned winning as he watched the mage slowly approach him. Glancing over at the recovering Irelia, Akano raised a hand and spoke out in a loud, commanding tone.
"Keep her busy." He said with a smirk.
Within seconds, dozens of Ionian soldiers surged out from the tree line behind Akano. Completely ignoring Syndra, they stormed passed both Akano and the sovereign as they surrounded Irelia. They didn't even wait for the Ionian warrior to cry out in defiance. Instead, they attacked immediately.
Rising to her feet, Irelia barely had enough time to bring forth her floating blade in order to defend herself from a downward cleave. Tossing the soldier's blade away, the warrior flung her blade in a full three hundred and sixty degree swing. The strike momentarily gave her the breathing room she was searching for.
"Wait!" Irelia cried out, "Why are you doing this! Stop!"
Alas, her pleading cries fell upon deaf ears and the warrior found herself besieged beneath a new wave of relentless attacks. Cringing, the warrior desperately defended herself. Though countless openings and opportunities presented themselves to her, she refused to capitalize on them. Hesitation plagued her mind as she fought a desperate battle against her instincts to kill and her refusal to kill more of her people.
It wasn't until a massive explosion of raw magic rocked the floor and knocked everyone in the immediate area to the floor that Irelia finally caught a break in the soldier's assaults. Blinking, the warrior instinctively rolled back to her feet. Glancing about, she searched for the source of the explosion. She knew the feeling well and she knew with certainty that the receiving end of such a strike was more than likely gone without a trace.
Or so she thought.
When Irelia's gaze returned to the site where Syndra and Akano were, she found the exact opposite scenario as the one she had predicted. As the debris settled about the pair, Irelia's horrified gaze fixated on Syndra's crumpled form. The mage was laying face down on the floor; arbitrary discharges of magic and disturbingly familiar electricity crackled out of her body in uncontrollable bursts.
"Syndra!" Irelia shrieked in panic.
Without a second to even consider her own safety, the warrior tucked into a headlong sprint straight towards the mage. Unfortunately, the soldiers that had previously been fighting her reengaged her. It was a bad mistake, and the last one they ever made.
Blinded with panic and fear, Irelia didn't see the soldiers standing before her as her comrades. She could only see enemies marring the path between her and Syndra. Without slowing her dash, Irelia let loose a bone chilling cry of pure killing intent.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" the warrior screamed.
Still running, Irelia's single blade whipped before her, forming a deadly razor to clear her a path. Yet, that wasn't enough. In a rare lapse of control, the Ionian warrior pulled strength from the very core of her being. She herself didn't know how many blades she summoned, but even if she had raised her head to count the transcendent swords above her, she never would have been able to count them all. Irelia's full out charge continued unhindered as her blades perfumed the air with the sound of piercing steel.
Syndra was stunned. The mage herself didn't know what had just occurred. One moment, she was bearing down upon the former magus, her powers crackling from her fingertips at full strength. The next, she was laying face down on the ground; the cold earth sucking away the warmth of her body. Struggling, the mage dragged herself onto her hands and knees. Her arms shook violently from the strain and threatened to collapse beneath her. At last, the sovereign lifted her head to gaze at the man standing before her. Akano appeared both stunned and elated by Syndra's actions.
"YES!" Akano finally crowed, "YES, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT WAS THE KEY!"
Panting, the mage glared defiantly into the former magus' eyes until speaking up in a furious and demanding tone.
"What have you done to me!" Syndra shrieked, her eyes livid with rage and unhampered fury.
"AHAHAHA! YES, YOU ARE MINE NOW. EVERYTHING IS MINE!" Akano continued, completely ignoring Syndra's stream of curses.
"I BELONG TO NO ONE. MY POWER IS MINE ALONE!" Syndra screamed in response.
Raising her hand a second time, Syndra gave in to her rage once more. Reasoning and logic told the mage that she could only expect a similar result as the first time she attacked, but the sovereign was far too lost to her own uncontrollable fury to listen.
"DIE!" Syndra screamed again and attempted to annihilate Akano with another burst of power.
Grinning ever wider, the former magus mirrored Syndra's movements and raised a hand of his own. Though nothing emerged from the tips of his fingers, the results were instantaneous. Just as Syndra was about to release her explosion of magic, blue electricity arced out from her body. The bolts of static energy raced around her body until they collected directly at her fingertips. Not even a moment later, Syndra's magic exploded; backfiring in her own body before she could even release it. The explosion sent the mage sprawling straight back to the floor in a smoldering heap.
"Yes... YES!" Akano crowed victoriously, "But this... This is only the beginning. I have so much more in store for you my dear little Syndra. So much more..."
Moving to Syndra's side, the former magus knelt down beside the semi-conscious mage and forcefully grabbed a tuft of her hair. Painfully yanking the mage's head upwards, he gazed straight into her eyes before speaking.
"Because you have taken everything from me... Because you have run away from me... I will take away everything from you. I WILL MAKE YOU MY SLAVE YOU HEAR ME?!" Akano blasted into the sovereign's face, "And after I'm done with you, I'll-"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Just as Akano attempted to further taunt the mage, a familiar bloodthirsty cry met his ears. The arch mage barely had enough time to summon forth a magic barrier to prevent Irelia's massive flower shaped blade from severing his head from his neck. Blocking the first attack, however, was only the beginning of his concerns.
Using her momentum to her advantage, Irelia twisted through the air before throwing all of her bodyweight and strength into a single kick. The blow struck the former magus straight in the gut. Though his barrier protected him from the damage, the force behind the strike sent him flying a full five meters away until he tumbled to the floor.
"AHH YOU STUPID BITCH YOU"RE ALWAYS GETTING IN THE WAY!" Akano screeched as he returned to his feet, "WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING, I SAID KEEP... her... busy..."
The former arch mage's voice died out and lost all its fury the moment his eyes settled on the bloodbath behind Irelia. Not a single soldier remained standing in the lake of blood pooling around their corpses. Not even a single one showed any signs of movement. There were no sounds of labored breathing and there were no painful cries. There were no survivors.
At last, Akano turned his horrified gaze to meet Irelia's cold, unreadable mask. The Ionian warrior stood before him directly between him and the collapsed sovereign. Quaking in a sudden spurt of fear, Akano mustered the voice to speak once more.
"Aha... Ahaha... Ahahaha, you... You killed... You killed your own people!" Akano spoke up, raising a finger in attempt to accuse the warrior of her crimes.
Irelia's face remained stoic and emotionless as she glowered at the former magus. Even without saying anything, the warrior's heartless expression exuded the very aura of murder. Her eyes were cold and emotionless. Blood dripped from the tips of her flower shaped blade. Even though Irelia stood several inches shorter than the former magus, it felt as though she towered above him. It was her very aura which demanded dominance and commanded absolute superiority over the magus.
Akano felt dwarfed beneath the warrior's gaze. It burned through him and yet froze his very nerves at the same time. When he could bear the pressure no longer, the magus finally snapped and screamed in an incoherent voice.
"SAY SOMETHING BITCH, SAY SOMETHING! YOU STUPID WHORE! CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE? HOW WILL YOU FACE YOUR PEOPLE AFTER YOU HAVE TAKEN THE LIVES OF THE ONES YOU HAVE SWORN TO PROTECT?!" Akano screeched.
Irelia's icy glare didn't waver for even a second as Akano berated her. Her expression remained cold, menacing, and superior. The warrior's dominating presence made Akano feel a rare sense of inferiority. He hated it. And perhaps more importantly, he was afraid of it. None the less, his sense of inferiority only grew when Irelia spoke.
"Whatever you have done to her..." Irelia warned, "You had better start undoing before my blades rend your flesh from your bones."
The warrior's words were like the chilling northern winds. There was no protection against them. All throughout his life, Akano had heard rumors of how fearsome Irelia was when she was driven to the point of using deadly force. Never did he think the rumors would be true. There wasn't even a hint of remorse or regret for the ones she had condemned to death. The warrior was unflinching in her execution. Even without trying to make her words sound like a threat, Akano somehow knew that even the slightest misstep on his part would mean his fate would be the same as the one that befell his soldiers. Alas, just as Akano recovered his voice, a pained groan emerged from the one other living person on the battle field.
Struggling to reestablish her sense of control, Syndra groaned again as she lifted her torso into the air, using her arms as a support. Panting heavily, the mage whispered more to herself than anyone else.
"No... I will not be defeated by the likes of you. I refuse!" Syndra gasped.
Alas, the sovereign's words only shook Akano out of the icy trance that Irelia had imprisoned him in.
"AHA! That's right... It is you who is at the disadvantage, Will of the Blades..." Akano spoke up, his sense of arrogance returning.
Behind the warrior, Syndra's breathing abruptly began quickening. Unwilling to break her careful gaze on Akano, Irelia slowly backed away until she was beside the sovereign.
"Syndra... Syndra what's wrong?" Irelia asked, desperately worried about the mage's condition. It wasn't until the muffled thump of Syndra's head falling to the floor that Irelia finally broke her stance and knelt down beside the mage.
"Syndra?" Irelia asked desperately.
The mage didn't reply as her form remained still on the floor.
"Perhaps..." Akano spoke up, causing Irelia's gaze to instantly snap back to the arch mage, "I should clarify things for you."
"Syndra." Akano commanded, "Your master commands you to kill that warrior."
"N...No..." Syndra gasped, throwing every last vestige of her remaining strength into resisting Akano's orders. Yet, against her greater efforts, her body acted upon its own accord.
"CEASE YOUR RESISTANCE, YOUR MASTER COMMANDS YOU!" Akano howled, furious with Syndra's obstinate resistance, "KILL HER! KILL HER NOW!"
Instantly, raw power exploded from the mage's body, cloaking the sovereign in a familiar aura of energy. To Irelia's horror, the mage's body lifted into the air. Her eyes were curiously blank as they stared straight ahead with no sense of sight behind them.
"Good... Good, Syndra..." Akano crowed victoriously, "NOW KILL HER!"
Finally, Syndra blankly turned to face the stunned looking Irelia. Numbly, the mage lifted a hand.
"Syndra wait! Don't - AHH!" Irelia cried out in pain as a sphere caught her in the shoulder and sent her crashing to the floor.
"AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAH!" Akano laughed in ecstasy as he watched the warrior tumble away.
"It was the key! The last piece of the puzzle is finally in place!" Akano cheered ecstatically as he clapped his hands together in delight.
"What... HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!" Irelia roared.
Shooting to her feet, Irelia dashed with phenomenal speed straight towards Akano. Her blades snapped to her side, hungry to destroy their target. Alas, a single movement forced Irelia to slam on the breaks. Just as the warrior neared striking distance, Syndra floated directly in between her and the arch mage. Irelia barely had enough time to alter her trajectory before she plowed into the mage. Her sudden change in direction caused her to stumble slightly and almost trip.
"BAAAAAHAHAHAHA!" Akano exploded, "You really can't lift a finger against her can you!"
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER! GIVE HER BACK!" Irelia screamed, her emotions uncontrollably emerging.
Akano's face contorted with fury upon hearing Irelia's words.
"Give her back? You want me to give her back to you?" Akano questioned incredulously.
"She was NEVER yours to begin with! She was MINE!" The former magus yelled furiously, "Do you know how much work I put into her!? Do you know how much I sacrificed to get here?! I have spent half of my entire life dedicated to her! I have watched her. I have watched everything about her! I sent my own apprentice to watch over her! My apprentice who died at her very hands! You spend a mere four months with her and you dare claim her as yours? Your words are slander to the dedication and years of work I have put into her!" Akano finished in an angry tirade.
"You speak as though she is an object to be owned." Irelia answered coldly, "I speak for only what she desires. She did not choose you. She chose me."
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Akano screech lividly, "You have no idea how it feels! You know not how it feels to have everything you have achieved in your life ripped away at the mere existence of a child! For decades, it was I who was hailed as the strongest mage in Ionia! It was I who ruled the throne! And I lost all of it because of a mere child! Do you know how it feels to be beaten by a child? A child that shouldn't exist? A child who, at the age of four, wielded more magic than four grown adults combined!?"
As the former magus continued his uncontrollable tantrum, only one thing came clear in her mind. Akano was jealous. He envied the powers that Syndra wielded so freely. Alas, before the warrior could point out such a thing, the arch mage continued his near incoherent rambling.
"You have spent but four months with her. Four! I have spent the past thirty years searching for a way. A way to reclaim the title that belongs to me!" Akano finally finished. Abruptly, his expression turned into a horrible grin.
"It was I who sent her away to that temple to have her powers dampened. But after a few days, I realized something else. Why waste such power? Why waste such innate... talent... No, I decided that sealing away those powers wasn't the right thing to do. Those powers... They would be better off as mine." Akano continued, his eyes gaining a wistful look as though he was reliving the past.
Irelia, on the other hand, stood in stunned silence as she listened to the former magus' confessions.
"It was then that I began searching. Searching for a way to have those powers that she wielded... But there was none... The magic we wield is bound to our bodies. There was no way to take it from her... So I took the alternative." Akano said with a huge grin plastered across his face, "I... would control her... But then she escaped. She discovered that her powers had been dampened after we ran so many experiments. Of course that stupid girl didn't know that the exercises we made her do were in fact trials for which I was attempting to seize control of her. I GOT SO CLOSE! ... And then she slipped from my grasp."
At last, Irelia regained the voice to speak. Her insides felt cold, numb as though her heart had turned to ice. It was the stunned realization that the man standing before her was in fact the man responsible for setting in motion the chain of events that had led to the development of the Dark Sovereign the way she was now. The isolation... the pain... the loneliness. Everything was a result of a single man's jealousy. Deep within her, Irelia's insides churned with the ever suppressed flames of fury. When she finally spoke, the warrior's words shook with a hatred none had ever heard before.
"It's because of you..." Irelia whispered in a voice that seemed to echo about the area, "It's all because of you..."
"You were the one that tried to seal her powers!" Irelia continued, "You were the one... Aaron was your apprentice! You were the one that made Aaron hurt her in the rift match!... It was you that started the rumor that she was corrupting me! Everything is because of you!"
When Irelia finally finished speaking, her breathing had shortened into a ragged pant. Everything was coming together. Everything was a result of Akano's manipulation.
"SHE IS PERFECT BECAUSE OF ME!" Akano howled blindly, "She is MY creation. She is MY perfection! Not yours! I spent decades finding a way. DECADES! I sank everything I had into finding a way! I even spent years of my life learning the magic of the summoners. Their magic which allows one to enter the mind. Do you even know how much it took to find a way to use their summoning magic to establish control over an individual?! It's all your fault that this happened! It was your fault for trying to take her away from me! Everything would have worked out perfectly if it wasn't for your interference! NOBODY would have missed her when she went missing!"
"No..." Irelia replied in the same haunting whisper as before, "She was never perfect and she never will be perfect. The things she has... She always had them... You didn't give them to her. You didn't do anything for her. You have never done anything for her. You only took away the happiness she longed for."
"Happiness?!" Akano shrieked, "She is absolutely joyous with the powers she has! Power that she NEVER would have wielded without me!"
"Your ways have warped her. You taught her nothing. I'll never forgive you." Irelia continued as though Akano hadn't interrupted her.
The warrior's words instantly froze the former arch mage in his place. Irelia's surprised, almost panicking expression had hardened into its familiar cold, unforgiving stare. Gulping in fear, Akano lost even further control of his temper.
"KILL HER! KILL HER THIS INSTANT!" Akano screeched, spittle flying from his mouth as he blindly commanded Syndra.
Instantly, the mage lurched forward before swinging an arm. The action sent a single sphere flying straight at Irelia's head.
Without breaking her livid glare on Akano, Irelia remained rooted in her position. The moment the sphere neared her, her blades snapped up into the air before crashing straight into the sphere; halting the ball of raw magic in mid air.
"You may control her... But you lack the mastery she has over her powers." Irelia stated coldly, her gaze unwavering as it burned holes in Akano's entire body.
"NO! I AM THE STRONGEST! YOU ARE INFERIOR!" Akano howled unreasonably, "DESTROY HER, SYNDRA, I DON'T WANT A TRACE OF HER TO REMAIN!"
Her gaze ever blank, Syndra's body exploded with an inhuman amount of magic. The air about the battlefield became distorted with the sheer amount of energy collected in such a small area.
At last, Irelia broke her stare on Akano. The warrior had only seen this much amount of power from the mage once before. That time, the mage didn't release her magic simply because Irelia begged her not to. This time, Irelia knew full well that her words would have no effect on the mage.
Acting on sheer instinct and combat experience, Irelia broke into a head long dash straight towards a nearby tree, intending to at least put something in between her and the cataclysmic explosion that was sure to come. Alas, just as she arrived, her ears picked up on something that she didn't expect.
"ENOUGH, SYNDRA! YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE, OBEY ME!" Akano's voice echoed out from behind Irelia.
Sticking her head back out from behind her cover, Irelia briefly caught a glimpse of the floating mage. The sovereign had raised both of her hands to her head; clawing the sides of her skull as she writhed in agony
"I'll... Never... Obey!" Syndra gasped before her mouth contorted with pain and she let out a scream of anguish.
"I SAID KILL THAT WARRIOR!" Akano screamed back, his temper disintegrating even further as Syndra continued her resistance.
"I...NO...NEVER!" Syndra howled back. Regardless, her body once again moved on its own accord.
"Stop!" Syndra screamed at Akano, "No! Stop! Don't!"
"KILL HER GOD DAMMIT, KILL HER NOW!" Akano roared, gesturing with his hands in order to increase his influence over Syndra's body.
At last, the mage's form obeyed his words. Even with Syndra mentally resisting him, Akano's commands reigned supreme. Behind the light of her flickering eyes, Syndra could only watch in horror as her own hand reached out at the warrior. Instantly, Irelia turned and sprinted away, dashing between trees and putting as much distance and objects between her and Syndra. But the mage knew it wasn't enough. Nothing could survive her powers when she used them to their fullest extent. With the amount of magic collected within her, the mage knew the explosion would be enormous. And thus, she did the unthinkable. She detonated her magic while it was still collecting in her body.
Irelia didn't even hear a sound as Syndra prematurely expanded her magic. The explosion of raw power erupted out of the mage's body and flew in every direction; scorching the earth and obliterating everything in its way. It wasn't until the shockwave caught up with Irelia that the warrior finally realized that the mage had released her power. Curling up into a ball, the warrior huddled behind a fallen tree and braced for the worst. At last, the brunt of the explosion reached her. Before the warrior knew what was happening, she was sailing through the air; flailing about helplessly as the explosion of raw magic tore trees from their roots and flung everything into the sky.
At last, the warrior's struggling ceased as a large cluster of rocks and trees collided with her in mid air. Powerless to defend herself, the warrior's body was barraged by an array of haphazardly flying objects until finally, a large rock caught her square in the stomach. For a second, Irelia's body went limp, the air in her lungs rushed out of her from the force of the collision. Alas, that wasn't the last of her concerns. Just as the warrior managed to catch a gasp of air, her skull collided with a tree trunk. Instantly, her eyes fluttered shut; her entire system in shock from the blow. Thankfully, before the pain overloaded her body, her mind found respite in the comforting darkness of unconsciousness. The warrior was lost to the darkness long before her body fell out of the sky and landed in a river far away from her initial position. There, she remained, until the gentle current of the river carried her unconscious form far into the boarders of Ionia.
Author's Notes:
Well that was quite the hairy chapter... So much to cover and so many details to add. Sadly, I feel like I skimped out a little bit on the character depth that I really triy to focus this story on. Balance is so hard to achieve... (pun intended). It's been a while since I have written such an action jammed chapter, so I hope you will let me know what you think.
Now onto some plans for the future of this story. The way that I have things set up now, I actually do not have any space to add in the fluff chapters and the other fun sort of relationship deals between Irelia and Syndra within the actual plot line of the story. That being said, however, I do plan to add several shorts after the conclusion of this story since I already had them planned out, but I just never found a good place to insert them within the plot line. Don't worry, it should all flow together nicely. Though for the most part, they will be significantly lighter in terms of plot in comparison to the rest of the story. It will probably be a good while before I actually get to the point in which I can write these "shorts" but I thought I would just give you all a small heads up for the future.
As always, thank you all for your support and thank you very much for making this story as successful as it is. Please leave any comments and criticism you may have in a private message or review. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story thus far and I hope to see you in the chapters to come.