Awakening
Hundreds of soldiers marched through the courtyard of the abandoned temple. Yet, they were not Ionian warriors. No, they were the opposite, having sworn allegiance to the former magus that had taken refuge in the temple. Their actions were smooth, almost seamless as they moved about the temple, setting up defensive positions and other perimeters. They were preparing... Preparing for a battle that they were staging. Hours earlier, they had leaked the intelligence of their position to the Ionian leadership. A battle was imminent. It was all going according to plan. And yet, even with such success, Akano could only finds livid fury burning in his mind.
"Stupid... STUPID! WHORE!" Akano screeched as he paced about.
Several days had passed since the confrontation with Irelia in which the former magus had successfully seized control of Syndra. After the battle came to its conclusion, the former magus used found transportation to an abandoned temple far away from the battlefield. It didn't take long before large numbers of the magus's followers began filtering in to the same temple. The forces were unrecognizable, though they were unmistakably Ionian. Yet, Akano remained furious despite his plans moving along as he had intended. Days of rest and recuperation after the fight's explosive finale did nothing to calm the rage Akano held. Alone, the magus remained livid with the damage Syndra had caused.
"Look at me!" Akano snarled at the mage, "Look at what you've done! Look at what you've done to yourself!"
The mage's head turned to stare blankly into Akano's face. The glow of the mage's eyes were still curiously absent as though there was no soul behind them. Even if they could see, all they would have found was an aging man with countless cuts and bruises scattered across his body. The injuries were a result of nothing other than Syndra's efforts to resist his commands.
Yet, if Akano looked bad, Syndra looked even worse. Disregarding the soulless look to her eyes, the entire right half of her body was scorched with severe magic burns. Burns which were a caused by none other than herself when she forcefully detonated her own magic while it wasn't ready to be released.
"After everything I've done for you... After all the years that I have put into perfecting you... This is how you repay me?" Akano demanded, "I have been the one looking over you ever since you were but a child! I was the one that rescued you from that orphanage! You owe me everything! You owe me your life!"
Per usual, the mage didn't respond. She couldn't even if she wanted to. Her silence only served to further infuriate the incensed magus.
"SAY SOMETHING!" Akano screeched.
Raising a hand, the magus forcibly lifted a hand and slapped Syndra across the face, leaving a bright red mark on her pale skin. The mage's head was shoved to the side as a result of the blow, but her form quickly returned back to its neutral position. Not a hint of anger or any other emotion at all crossed her empty face. It was as if she wasn't even alive. She was a doll, a soulless shell whose strings were merely being pulled by the man standing before her. As if he too just realized that such was the case, Akano finally took a breath and calmed his pulsing nerves.
"Hah..." Akano practically spat, "That's right..."
At last, the magus turned away. Pacing a few steps to the right, Akano finally took a seat on a stone bench before returning his gaze to the floating mage. Silence settled between them before Akano finally spoke up in an almost wounded, ungrateful voice.
"When you were young..." The magus started, "That scene you caused... Nobody saw it. But when I arrived there, I knew. I knew that you held something. Something that I, for so very long, had searched for."
The magus rose from his seat and began pacing about in a small area directly in front of the mage.
"They wanted you to go to a school. A SCHOOL!" Akano suddenly exploded, "School would have only made waste of the talent that I wanted. Do you know how much effort it took for me to get the council to change their verdict and grant one of my men sole apprenticeship over you?"
Silence returned again as the mage floated in the air, her gaze still a soulless slate.
"Fifteen years." Akano finally continued, "Fifteen years we kept you there in the temple, running test after test, disguising them as exercises and training all for your 'learning'. Fifteen years of fruitless research until we finally came close. So very close to capturing the essence of power in your core. And then you rebelled."
"You bit back at the hand that had fed you for your entire life!" Akano roared, "You fled. You killed the man that had served as your father after so many years! ... YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! YOU TOOK AWAY EVEN MORE OF WHAT I HAD! WAS IT NOT ENOUGH THAT YOU TOOK SO MUCH ALREADY!?"
Abruptly breaking his pacing march, Akano stormed up to the sovereign until his face was only a mere inch away from the sovereign's.
"You took away everything! EVERYTHING!" Akano screamed into the sovereign's face, "What can you do to repay that!? What can you do to repay the life of my apprentice?! What can you do to replace Aaron's life?! He did everything that he was told to do! He put in place the last piece of the puzzle! And now, he's dead because of you! How will you EVER repay the things you have taken!?"
Reaching up, Akano disrespectfully grabbed Syndra's chin between a thumb and forefinger. Yanking the mage's head downward, the former magus whispered into her ear.
"What can I take from you... That is equal to the life of my brother..." He whispered in a dangerously low tone, "What can I take from you... That is equal to all the lives of the people you have taken from me?"
Per usual, the mage didn't answer, her typically glowing eyes lost as glassy marble chips.
At last, Akano's expression twisted into a horrid grin.
"Why don't I..." Akano whispered, " Why don't I make you a woman... hmm? Why don't I take away that innocence that you still have left?"
The magus's malicious grin spread even larger until he finally caved in to his animalistic desires. Forcing the mage into his arms, he yanked her hair and arched her back. Using one hand to force her head backwards, he craned his own head over the sovereign before kissing the mage directly on the lips; forcing his own will upon her. For a minute, he continued; ravaging the mage's soft lips with his obscene desires. When he finally pulled back and released the mage, she instantly returned to her neutral floating position. There was but one difference between her present state and her prior state.
Tears.
Though the mage's expression remained emotionless and her eyes showed no signs of life, tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes. Clear rivers ran down her cheeks as she floated in the air. Even if she couldn't voice her will, there were other ways in which her true conscience expressed itself. All she could express now, was disgust. Disgust with herself. Disgust for the man taking advantage of her. Disgust with the very notion that she was powerless to resist as the man who had taken everything from her defiled whatever tiny bit of purity she had left.
And yet Akano only seemed to further relish in her suffering. Upon realizing that the sovereign was actually crying in protest of his actions, he let out a horribly jeering laugh.
"AHA! So you are in there after all!" Akano laughed joyously, "Yes. YES! Cry, bitch... Cry as I take your virginity away from you! Cry as I take it all away!"
The former magus's breathing quickened with exhilaration as he realized that the sovereign was still alive within her soulless shell of a body.
"I didn't know!" Akano abruptly continued, "I didn't know that you were in there! I wasn't sure if you were still alive! But you are! You are very much! Wonderful... Fantastic! Because now you can watch me. No... not yet. First, I'll tell you what you are going to do... First, you see these soldiers around you? Oho don't worry, they aren't going to have at you, you are all mine. You see, these soldiers... They are the separatists. They are the rebellion that seek to overthrow Ionia. You are going to lead them. You will destroy all of Ionia as we know it... And then a single hero will rise and defeat you. That hero... is me... I WILL BE HAILED AS THE GREATEST SAVIOR ALL OF IONIA HAS KNOWN!"
"But that... is for the future. Now... Now I'm going to take every part of you and make you truly mine." Akano laughed with a wicked sneer.
Wanting to further humiliate the mage, Akano grabbed her once more. This time, rather than kissing the mage, he placed a hand behind her neck as a support before running the back side of his fingers down her face... to her chest... to her stomach... and finally... to her-
"You're too late for that." A cold yet familiar voice froze Akano before his fingers could further violate the mage, "we already traded that with each other... It's another thing that I know and have from her that you never will..."
Whirling on his heel, Akano released the sovereign and searched for the source of the voice. It wasn't until Irelia quietly strode out of the shadows that Akano realized exactly who it was.
"You! You're alive? But how!?" Akano demanded, simultaneously horrified by her presence and furious because of it.
Twiddling Zed's shadow map between her fingers before slipping it back into her sleeve, Irelia finally answered in an almost taunting voice.
"Friends..." Irelia stated slyly, "Ever heard of them?"
Akano blinked in shock for a few moments as he realized exactly who it was that had rescued the Ionian warrior.
"Impossible! He would never help you! Why!" Akano demanded furiously.
This time, Irelia didn't even bother with a reply. Instead, she turned her eyes to the floating sovereign. The tears in the mage's eyes had stopped, finally drying and leaving streaks down the sides of her face.
"He didn't do anything else did he?" Irelia whispered quietly. The warrior knew that Syndra couldn't answer, but she knew that her words were, to the very least, a source of comfort to the mage. After giving the mage a small smile, Irelia turned back to Akano. Without another word addressed to the former magus, Irelia reached up to her head and adjusted the bandages that were still wrapped about her head. Her actions brought about an unintended result.
"AHA!" Akano abruptly laughed, "Ahaha! You came here in that state? Even my soldiers could defeat you in that condition. Are you stupid? Coming here when you are that injured? Do you have a death wish?"
Irelia glanced at Syndra another time before replying to Akano's words.
"With the number of them here, maybe. Don't you find it a little strange that I was just able to walk in though?" Irelia asked in a manipulatively light tone.
Akano's mouth opened and closed repeated as words failed to emerge, giving him the appearance of a fish out of water.
"They were a little bit... Occupied..." Irelia finally explained for the former magus.
At last, Akano was shaken out of his trance. At first, he was completely preoccupied with Syndra; infatuated with violating the mage. However, when Irelia showed up, all of his attention shifted to her. He failed to notice his own forces engage the Ionian army that had just arrived. At last, his face contorted with rage.
"You... You opportunist!" Akano howled lividly.
Irelia smiled at the former magus with a very rare twistedness that had never been seen before.
"I guess I'm not so different from you after all." Irelia chuckled with a twinge of insanity in her voice, "I'm selfish... Just like you... And I want her all for myself too..."
Akano's face twisted into an even more furious glare.
"SHE'S MINE, YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" Akano screamed maniacally.
-boom-
As if on cue, a large explosion rocked the entire temple from the exterior as Ionian forces bore down upon Akano's motley army of rebels. The blast temporarily shocked the former magus. After a few moments, however, his fear twisted into an obscene grin.
"No... No... Everything is still proceeding as planned" Akano whispered at first, "No... In fact this is perfect... PERFECT!" Akano crowed, "Now the entire Ionian army can watch as the Dark Sovereign tears your head from your body! SYNDRA, KILL HER. AND THIS TIME BE SURE SHE IS DEAD!"
Turning towards the exit, Akano glanced at Syndra through the corner of his eye.
"And after she is dead... Take care of the rest of those Ionians before you return to me! I must not be seen here. I'll be waiting..." Akano finally finished before sweeping away in a flourish of his robes.
Irelia's cool gaze tracked the former magus until he had vanished from view. The ever present flames of wrath licked at her in the depths of her mind, but Irelia battered the instinct back. She had not come to the temple with the intention of defeating Akano. No, instead, she had come for only one other person. And at last, the warrior had what she wanted. She was alone with the one other member of her family.
Syndra, on the other hand, didn't wait for the warrior's words. Seconds after Akano disappeared, the mage's body exploded with an inhuman amount of magic. Raw power cloaked her damaged form in a familiar aura of raw energy.
Irelia watched in silence as the mage advanced upon her. Still, Irelia stood, her gaze unwavering as she peered deep into the depths of the sovereign's soulless eyes.
Finally, the mage struck. Swinging forth a hand, one of the three spheres orbiting the sovereign's body shot forth with the speed of a bullet.
Even without moving or blinking, Irelia defended herself. In the blink of an eye, Irelia's massive blade whipped into the air and intercepted the sphere, both sphere and blade frozen in the air as they locked together. Ignoring her failed attack, the controlled sovereign continued her advance. This time, she summoned forth even more spheres. Alas, before she lashed out, the warrior finally broke her silence.
"I know you're in there..." Irelia whispered in a solemn voice, "Somewhere in there, I know you're struggling... resisting him with all your might..."
Midway through her advancement, Syndra's body paused, shuddering slightly before continuing forward at a pace slower than her initial one.
"It hurts..." Irelia finally continued as the sovereign continued advancing, "These wounds... These injuries... They hurt me more than any other wound has before..."
The warrior paused for a few moments before continuing.
"But it's nothing compared to how much it hurts me to see you like this."
The sovereign raised another hand and sent another sphere flying straight at Irelia. This time, the warrior didn't choose to use her blade to intercept the blow. Instead, she reached out and caught the ball of pure energy in her arms. The blow instantly sent her sprawling backwards, but Irelia used every bit of strength in her body to right herself and land on her feet. After skidding to a halt, Irelia dropped the sphere to the floor with a hollow clang. Staggering slightly, the warrior shuffled forwards until she had returned to the position she was in prior to Syndra's strike. Clearly in pain, the warrior clutched her side in a familiar position. The ribs she had fractured this time were the same as the ones she had broken back when she and Syndra had first met.
For the briefest of all moments, light flickered through Syndra's hollow eyes; her body subconsciously recognizing the damage she had done. Yet, despite the flicker of acknowledgement, the lights evaporated and the mage continued forward once more. Another wave... Another sphere... Another blow.
This time, the sphere caught Irelia square in the stomach. Instantly, all strength evaporated from Irelia's body as the wind rushed out of her lungs. Collapsing to the floor, the warrior coughed and gasped for air. Still, she resisted her instincts to fight back. Struggling back to her feel, Irelia defiantly gazed back into Syndra's eyes.
"You can knock me down as many times as you want, Syndra..." Irelia whispered through her labored breathing. A small trickle of blood ran out of the corner of her mouth as she spoke, "Because no matter how many times you do, I'll get back up... and wait for you to come back to me."
At last, Syndra reached Irelia's position. Towering in the air above Irelia, Syndra blankly stared down at Irelia's pained face. Yet, this time, there was a difference to her baleful gaze. The tears had returned. Slowly at first, her tears rolled down her cheeks. When her body moved once more, however, the mage completely lost all emotional control over her body. Rivers ran down the sides of her face as her hand tightened into a claw. Magic focused at her fingertips as her palm hovered a mere one foot away from Irelia's forehead.
"It's okay Syndra..." Irelia whispered comfortingly, "If I go like this... I will go beside the one person I have left to love. You mean the world to me, Syndra... I don't want to go another day without you by my side..."
As if to exemplify her words, Irelia gambled everything she had in one last move. In an uncharacteristic lapse of restraint and control, Irelia bet all of her chips on Syndra's brash, stubborn will. Calling her blade back to her side, the warrior gently waved her fingers until the blades drifted away from the center core, leaving the glowing sphere of her soul alone and stranded in the air. Catching the sphere between her fingers, Irelia slowly lifted the glowing object and pressed it into Syndra's open hand.
"You remember what I said about it right..." Irelia whispered in a tight voice, her throat sounding as though it were constricted, "I'm sure if you crush it, I'll die..."
"It can't be done with physical force..." Irelia continued as she gazed up into Syndra's streaming eyes, "But I'm sure magic could undo what magic has done."
At last, Irelia curled Syndra's fingers around the sphere before backing away slightly and leaving the mage in sole control of her fate.
Instinctively, the mage's fingers tightened about the glowing orb as magic collected at her fingertips.
"At least things will be painless this way..." Irelia said with a small smile, "But... before that... I just want one... last..."
Without even finishing her words, Irelia placed her hands on Syndra's shoulders before gently pulling the mage downward until they stood on equal footing. Leaning forward, Irelia shut her eyes and tilted her head, her lips mere inches away from the sovereign's. She stayed there for a few moments, waiting, wishing that she could have just stayed there forever. Finally, she leaned closer. Inches became an inch... centimeters... millimeters... until finally-
-BOOM-
Before Irelia could make the contact between them, a massive explosion rocked her off of her feet. Her eyes ripped open, only to find herself gazing up into the open sky. When her hearing returned, the sound of thundering boots filled her ears. Indistinct shouting could be heard somewhere lost within the background. Had she remained in position, she would have recognized the sounds as the noise of her Ionian army. The army had overwhelmed the rebellion forces at an alarmingly fast rate, faster than anyone could have predicted. None the less, Irelia was ignorant of their presence. She alone, thought that the explosion was but a precursor to the magic that would put an end to her life. She couldn't have been more wrong.
As she lay on the floor, her entire body seized up as though it were being grabbed and held by an invisible hand. Blinking as the injuries to her body returned in full force, Irelia forced her eyes open and gazed at the one person standing before her. Finally, the will of the blades recognized the feeling surrounding her. Magic which belonged but to one person. For one final time, Irelia lifted her gaze to peer into Syndra's face once more. The warrior felt not the rapid pulse of her heart, but only a steady rhythm. She smiled to herself as a single tear leaked out of her eyes. She continued to believe that her end was only moments away.
And yet, when Irelia raised her gaze into the sovereign's eyes, she found the impossible. The mage stared straight back at her. Somewhere behind the soulless glass, Irelia could see the dim glow of the sovereign's existence. For a second, Irelia lost track of everything. Her entire mind focused entirely on the mage before her. Instantly, every emotion Irelia held in her body surged into her brain at full force. Everything from absolute joy to tears of loss blazed through Irelia's mind. Trembling, the warrior finally began struggling within the grasp of Syndra's magic. Blind to her surroundings, the warrior was undoubtedly willing to forgo everything she had to be freed and rush into the sovereign's arms. And yet, Syndra denied her that desire.
Instead, the mage broke her dimly glowing eyes from the warrior and instead glanced at a position behind Irelia. Tracing the sovereign's gaze, Irelia finally remembered where she was and what was happening. Again, the trance that had settled upon the warrior broke. Her surroundings all came rushing back to her at once. The shouting burst into her ears all at the same time.
"There she is! Stop her!"
"Protect the captain!"
"Surrender at once, Dark Sovereign!"
Yelling on all sides exploded about Irelia's immobile body. Desperately, the Ionian soldiers attempted to break Irelia out of Syndra's magical grasp. For a few seconds, Irelia wormed about helplessly until her gaze finally returned to the mage. Time froze for a moment as the pair shared a meaningful connection. It wasn't until soldiers swarmed in front of her view that she snapped back to reality for a third time. Moments later, Irelia's voice returned to her. Only one thing surged to her mind. Stop the fighting.
Yet, just as Irelia's mouth cracked open, Syndra silenced her with a dampened explosion of magic. Instantly, the bonds wrapped about Irelia's form expanded outwards in the smallest of explosions. The effect, however, progressed exactly as the sovereign desired. As the magic expanded, all of the soldiers surrounding Irelia's body were flung clear of her form. Irelia herself was sent sprawling straight into the floor as the blast flattened her against the ground. Yet, she refused to allow herself to be defeated so easily. Raising to her feet, Irelia took a deep breath in preparation to cry out in defiance.
It never happened.
Just as she righted herself one final time, a sphere flew directly into her skull. Striking the same place as her prior injury, Irelia's face went blank. In a second, all the strength and will she harbored evaporated. At last, Irelia's running nerves fell at ease as her consciousness slipped from her grasp. The last sight she caught before the darkness overwhelmed her was an image of hundreds of Ionian soldiers surging towards the floating sovereign. All the while, the warrior's limp form being dragged away in the protective arms of one of her fellow soldiers. Had the warrior not taken such a critical strike, she would have undoubtedly resisted her fellow soldiers' attempts. None the less, the way she was now left her in complete submission to their will. Not a single ounce of resistance manifested within her as her mind lay in the calming breaths of unconsciousness. Not even a single nerve in her body remained active to tell her that one of her blades was missing from her sword.
Author's Notes:
Things are really starting to become extremely difficult for me to balance in these chapters. At this point, the details that I reveal will either completely spoil the story or completely confuse you readers. I am playing a very dangerous game of walk the line, and it will either be completely awesome in the end or completely explode in my face. That being said, if you think that things are starting to become extremely ambiguous, please, please let me know. It will do leaps and bounds in allowing me to gauge whether or not I am revealing too much or too little. I do, however, ask that you keep conspiracy theories to yourself or share them with me in a private message. It would not do very well for me if someone was able to guess where this is going and then spoiled it for everyone.
That being said, yes, details are beginning to play a very very crucial role to this story. They started playing a significant role since the last chapter. Things are still fairly loose at this point, but they will all come together by the end of the story. I'm looking at a tentative two or three more chapters plus an epilogue left for this story. After that, like I said, there will be several (if not a lot) of fluffy chapters that I honestly am really looking forward to writing. It's been too long since I had time to just do some lighthearted, fun fluff.
Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to see you in the chapters to come.
P.S. I am noticing that the amount of errors that I have in my writing are far too numerous to be acceptable. As such, I am tossing around ideas for picking up a beta reader. Should anyone be interested in this, please let me know. I am very unfamiliar with the beta profile system on this website, so it might be a while before I get back to you.