The door closed reassuringly behind Irelia as she began to make her way to the training arena located just below the railing. She looked around for a nearby staircase, before deciding that the drop itself didn't appear to be too frightening, she placed a hand on the railing and looked down. It was about a ten foot drop, give or take two feet, with what appeared to be a soft, padded floor. Given that she was only at this point wearing the slippers that she had been provided with prior, she reconsidered the drop. Below her, several other champions practiced on the dummies or shooting range and none appeared to be in her way of her jump.
"They probably got all their gear delivered on time, how else would they get her so quickly?" She considered while gingerly convincing herself to jump. Although she would have easily been able to make the jump before being shipped here, she didn't know if her muscles could still hold up. Back in her home city of Ionia, she kept up her training from sunrise to sunset. Her time was spent between meditation, training, sparing with fellow Ionians, or merely enjoying the city that she had valiantly defended. She could hear voices coming from just below her on the foam training pad, bickering and arguing, battle strategies or mere small talk. She finally coaxed herself into making the jump, and put her back to the wall. Keeping her eyes set on the railing, she stepped into her running stance. One leg extended, one leg bent, fingertips on the floor, head up. Several large breaths occupied her lungs before she pushed herself from the wall, running at the railing. As she arrived, she kicked herself up, placed one foot on the railing, before she realized her slipper had lost its footing on the railing, and she flipped awkwardly off the railing instead of straight off, as she had expected. As she fell, she could make out that the shadows weren't facing the right way off of the decorations from the ceiling, interpreted as she was now falling upside down, straight onto her neck. "This would be a way to go huh? The will of the blades, killed due to a slip up caused by a pair of slippers." She managed to give herself a short chuckle before realizing her death was mere seconds away. She tensed her back, hoping to absorb the fall with her spine rather than her skull, at least being able to save her own life. She felt her blade release itself from her back, but it wouldn't have the time to get under her and break her fall. She looked up, or what she thought was up, and saw her legs, still pointed at the railing, missing one slipper. As her fall reached its end, she felt her back hit. The pain launched itself from her back up to her legs, and her will, and ability to move had both been removed from her. Her legs followed shortly after, and she fell numb. But she had survived the fall, and rather unscathed. She looked up and saw the ceiling, and could still make out the small details that the designers had put into making it. She hadn't suffered any brain damage, from what she could tell right now. But something didn't add up. No blunt head trauma, no intense pain, no sudden feeling or warmth that would come from her own blood streaming over her skin, and her heartbeat still couldn't be felt racing out of her chest that would come from shock. The situation in her mind didn't add up. She lifted her head, and looked around. And right next to her, stood a tall, white haired, red eyed woman, staring right at her. The pressure she should've felt in her back was now apparent, but not in the way she expected. Right above her hips and just below her neck began to burn, but not in a painful sort of way. She looked to her right to see two hands, both holding on to her side, attached with a strong grip. Finally, after several seconds, the white haired girl broke the silence.
"Well there, Ionian. Not a good way to start off a training section, almost dying after jumping off of a railing." She spoke with a noxian accent, clearly distinguishable, due to the fact that it was deeper than Ionians or Demacians, and with a less comforting or charming tone. "Want me to put you down or will you slip again?" She said with a crooked grin, although it seemed unintentional.
"I think I should be able to stand on my own, thank you though" Irelia returned, embarrassed by the fact that, not only had she been helped out by a noxian, but she had nearly gotten herself killed before the day had come to a proper beginning. The woman let her down feet first onto the mat, before taking several steps back to insure that Irelia had not damaged anything in the fall. Once she was assured that she was fine, she spoke.
"The name's Riven and that is the only name that I go by. No nicknames, not pet names, just Riven." She pronounced in an aggressive tone, a tone that seemed to be the standard speaking voice for Noxians. Irelia stood up and patted herself down to check for injuries before replying with "Irelia, the will of blades, whatever nickname that you think that you can make out of that, is completely fine with me. Also, thanks for catching me right there. My foot slipped on the railing, and I just kind of fell. Not the entrance I was hoping of making".
"You do understand that this building does include stairs right? They're a great invention; you should really try them out sometime, they let you go from level to level without having to jump ten feet. It's really quite a genius invention when you consider it" she pointed out, seemingly amused by her own comment
"Anyways, thanks for catching me right there. I guess I owe you one, don't I"
"Yeah you do, and you're going to have to get me back for that one. I would consider saving your life to be a kind of deep debt. And while we're on the topic, what was your blade doing that entire time? Isn't it supposed to be some kind of superhuman extension of yourself? Why didn't it save you?" Irelia was taken aback by her comment. She and her blade were supposed to be one of the same. How come her blade hadn't caught her in time? Had the travel affected her so hard that even her connection to her blade, which was in a way an extension of her beginning to falter? She hung her head down to try and cover up her shame. Riven caught this, and spoke up.
"Sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve so early in our conversation. Are you going to be alright? I may not be the most caring or compassionate champion that was brought forth to the league of legends, but there's a large difference between
"No, no it's alright. I just think I need to get back to training. It's been far too long already. I think I'll go train by myself for a minute. I think I just need to get some time on my own."
"I can respect that. Catch you around Ionian."
And with that, the two split ways. Riven returned to whatever she had been doing beforehand from what Irelia could assume. She walked over to a less occupied section of the training area, and began her training. She practiced her routine that she had performed everyday back in Ionia. She began with simple meditation to calm one's self. She then commanded her blade to do simple tasks while progressing to more difficult and straining maneuvers, such as trying to control the 4 blades separately instead of all as one. She had been provided with a practice dummy, of which she saw no purpose to use it. She was more concerned about getting her mental link strengthened with her blade before attempting to fight someone, even if it was a practice dummy. Why try to conquer someone else when you cannot even conquer yourself? The practice session continued on for what seemed like days. More and more intense routines, more and more polished displays of them. She felt the link with her blade returning more and more with each routine swing and each coordinated movement. As she began to feel the signs of exhaustion set it, she peered around to take a glance at her fellow champions. She tried to pick out champions that she knew or was familiar with. There was Riven, the Noxian across the room from her, Ashe from the freljord, and Talon, also from Noxus. Irelia couldn't seem to remember the names of anyone else around her, although there must have been at least another ten. As she turned her back to the center of the room, she felt a slight pressure being placed against her back. She turned around to see Nick, her situating officer, standing behind her. She had never seen him face to face, or even in the light before. But now that he was standing right beside her, she could see that although she had originally presumed he stood around 6'1, she realized that he was taller than that. He stood at least at 6'4. Although she was tall amongst her fellow Ionians, she was dwarfed next to her situating officer.
"Good evening, Miss Irelia. I presume that all has been going well and good for you in terms of training? Because if not, you might want to hold your breath and hope that lady lucky is smiling." Irelia opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Nick continued on. "You've been called forth by the league of legends to participate in a battle upon the fields of justice. I need to ask you the mandatory questions, if that wouldn't inconvenience you in any way, also, why are you not wearing anything on your feet?"
"Yeah, I can answer your questions. And I haven't been provided any shoes this far. You're my situating officer. Shouldn't you have gotten me some?" She added with a small laugh after she saw the shocked expression on his face.
"Wait, you haven't even gotten shoes yet? Why didn't you let me know sooner? I'll go get you some, you just stay right here, and I'll come back with shoes and questions alright?" And he took off before she had the chance to respond. Was he actually asking for her opinion, or was he thinking to himself out loud? Both of them seemed as viable a response as the other at this point. Soon afterwards, she was approached by a medium sized girl with blonde, almost white hair wearing a silver, white and blue armor set with eyes as blue as sapphires. She took her time walking over to Irelia, seemingly not out of fear, but rather as a self confidence boost. Her voice was of a high pitch, but still sounded smooth as she spoke.
"Your name is Irelia, right? I overheard you and your situating officer talking. It's a really nice name. Oh, and by the way I'm Luxanna Crownguard, the lady of luminosity. But you can just call me Lux if you want. That's what everybody else does anyways."
"What do you want?" Irelia asked, clear that Lux wanted something from her.
"You know that you can enter the rift with someone else? Seeing as we're all going to be tested eventually? Why not go in together?" She proposed happily. A small blush came across the Ionian girls face. Someone wanted to enter the rift with her? She sat there for several seconds, leading lux along a false trail of potential disappointment before replying with a friendly "Of course."
"I take it that you're going to wait for Nick to return right? Then again, it doesn't really matter if you bring any shoes to the rift. All you have when you get there is your armor you're wearing and your weapon of choice."
"So how do I get stuff once I'm over there? I don't get it. I just go there, and everything other than the armor on me and the weapon I fight with are gone? Do I get it back?
"Of course you would silly. Why wouldn't you? You just don't get to keep it for the entire duration of the fight. Once the battle is over, you get to come back, and all your stuff will be on you the same way you left."
"But I still don't get it. Everything will be the exact same on me when I return as when I left?"
"That's about the just of it, yeah"
"Even though I'll be beat up and hit around when I'm on the fields of justice?"
"Oh, that's what is confusing you huh? Well, let me explain it to you. When you enter the fields of justice, it isn't actually you entering the fields of justice. When a summoner calls upon you, you're brought to a chamber. No one knows what it looks like yet, but that's what the league says. You're then copied over by the system, and your real body is put to sleep until the fight is over. Once you have been copied and have fallen asleep, the fake you will be placed upon the rift and your conscience is controlled by that of the summoner, although you still feel like it's you. You can still interact with the other champions without your summoner's knowledge, but that's about it. Once a nexus is destroyed, the summoner currently controlling you gives up that ability, and hands you back to you, if that makes any sense to you whatsoever."
"So what you're getting at is that I'm not even in control of me anymore once I step into that room? Why would I ever accept that? What happens if something goes wrong and I don't control of myself back?" Irelia felt a sudden pressure against her shoulder, and she looked over to see Lux's hand planted firmly against it. "Nothing bad will happen to you, you have my promise of that" she said as she finished off with a friendly smile.
"And you are absolutely certain of that? What happens if you're wrong?"
"I guess I'll have some apologizing to do then, huh?" She exclaimed with a small grin. Before Irelia had the chance to say how little sense her comment made, Nick arrived with her Ionian sandals, and the thought slipped her mind. The duo exchanged in quick talk, about how life was back before they were brought forth to the league of legends. Not much deep talk was given, and slowly, the other champions from the room left, some by themselves, some with somebody else. By the time their names were called, the room had been emptied, though neither one of them seemed to notice it. Lux and Irelia were separated, though neither one of them seemed very sad they were being separated. Quick exchanges "good luck" were thrown back and forth and Irelia was brought into a large room, with a small device in the middle of it. The room contained a pattern of lights and a solid metal of some sort, most likely of Demacian or Noxian construction. The room was well lit, though it was lit entirely artificially, due to the fact there was not one window present in the room. She walked over to the small device, which was a tall, wide cylinder, made of what seemed like glass. It needed to hold the larger champions of the league, so the room seemed spacious to the small figured Irelia. She looked around, and ensured that her blade was still on her back. She was quite relived when it was, due to the fact she hadn't checked it since she had been approached by lux. The room quickly filled with red light, which Irelia interpreted up to this point to be the scanning process. Soon, she'd be put to sleep and awake on the rift. The process lasted for several minutes before the room outside began to change to a slight shade of pink. She was let outside and a small, bed like object lay outside the glass room, though she hadn't seen it appear. Perhaps the cylinder was one way glass? But why would they do that? What benefits would it yield? All those thoughts vanished though, as soon as her body made contact to the bed. Her eyes closed, and she dreamt of being back where she belonged. Back home in Ionia.
Within moments, she awoke, but not on the bed. In front of her stood a nexus, and above it, a blue light shone. She took a look at her surrounds and saw three lanes. Down each one of them, she could see three turrets, though the fog inhibited her from seeing any further. Around her stood four other champions, each one amazed by the sights of the right. There was Lux, her friend of whom she had just met, a large woman sitting atop a large boar, a woman carrying what appeared to be a sniper rifle, and a ghostly figure carrying a hook and a lamp. She was interrupted on her sightseeing adventure by the shopkeeper who told her to get busy or she'd fall behind before the game started. She was told to purchase a pair of boots, and some health potions, of which she didn't know what to do with, but she was grateful to have something to wear on her feet seeing as the ground was littered with rocks and other small pieces of rubble cluttering the ground. She was told to head down the left or "top" lane, although she couldn't see it being above any others. She walked by her first turret and inhibitor, so they were called, before a woman cried out "minions have spawned!" And as soon as it was announced, the minions began their journey. Some of them were carrying shields and swords, whilst some of them carried small wands. Lined up in single file, they marched forwards as one group, one unit following the same route that she did. As she passed the last turret, the layout of the rift became more familiar. At the end of the lane were several bushes that allowed the champions to hide and break line of sight. It was at this point she saw who her opponent in this lane was going to be. It was none other than singed, the mad chemist of Zaun who had participated in the invasion of noxus. Although he had not favored either faction, many Ionians fell to the mad chemical brews and bombs he had scattered over the land. The damage he had caused alone took years for Ionia to repair, and the physiological trauma he had inflicted upon the families of the Ionians and the soldiers who fought to defend their city and way of life would never heal completely. The words he expressed showed that he clearly felt no remorse of shame for his past actions, and only caused Irelia to get worked up.
"I see that you survived the chemical bombardment that I launched all over your island. Did your people enjoy my wonderful work of art?" The first lines from his mouth had already hit nerves at the very core of Irelia's being. Her people had died to this man. And their deaths were not calm nor were they quiet or peaceful. That would have been asking for far too much. They had to lie there as the poison picked away at the layers of skin and muscle that had once been a living, breathing, caring human being. The effects of the poison were also as traumatizing as they were lethal. The only cure for the poison was not found until after the war, so if somebody was as unlucky as to be affected by this poison, their lives already drew to a close. The Ionian government advised its soldiers to at least put the soldier or civilian out of his/her misery or try to comfort them. But by the time the bombardments had stopped, no one tried to comfort someone. You would do your kinsfolk a favor by killing them. The line rattled through her head. You'd be doing someone a favor by killing them. That was not the way she had been raised. If it was your best friend you grew up next to and told everything to, or had it have been the bully who ruined your school years. It was all the same. No one wanted to see anyone suffer the way that they did. And Singed enjoyed every moment of it. Safe behind the front lines, he launched his arrays of poison at the soldiers whose governments told them to fight. It was not of their free will, but because someone behind an office desk decided it was the right thing to do.
"Singed, I am going to enjoy every moment that I spend killing you. I want you to know that right now."
"Come on now Irelia, there is no to be so violent, I didn't hurt you did I? You're not being annoyed by the little Singed?"
"You killed so many people in such a brutal way Singed. And you spared no one. Woman, children, everyone. You killed so many people. There is no way that you'll ever earn or deserve my forgiveness."
She could hear the anger that was no clearly apparent in her voice, but this meant nothing in the ears of Singed.
"Irelia, all is fair in love and war." He joked behind his cynical laugh. This was enough to convince Irelia to stop speaking. He understood so little about what he had done, that he was still able to joke about it. It was that or the mad chemist had officially gone mad. Irelia tried to get what he had said out of her head and just focus on the game, but it was hard to know that the killer of so many of here people sat just feet away from her blade. Suddenly, the bottle that Singed carried around on his back began to bubble, and he ran head long at Irelia, his poison gas trailing behind him. She was caught off guard, and got flung behind Singed and into his trail of gas. Each breath that she took in, the poison won a larger part of her lungs. She made a run for her turret, where she knew that she would be safe, but as she did, she felt her legs get extremely heavy only to discover that she was standing in his mega adhesive. She was tossed around, trying to get back to her turret, and without the will to fight. As she began to crawl down the river, he threw her one last time and left her to die to his poison. As she collapsed to the ground, she caught herself on her knees and took in one last deep breath, before her blades poised to end her life. If she was going to die, it would be on her own terms, not by the hands of singed. Too much blood stained his hands, and he didn't care. As her last breath entered her lungs, she closed her eyes and prepared to die. She swallowed one last time, before hearing the noise of what sounded like a boomerang, but had a more pleasant sounding tone. She looked up to see lux's baton on a return path past Irelia, and realized the final ticks of the poison had left her lungs. She looked up to see Lux, as happy as ever, smiling down at her. But their friendly meeting was cut short by the arrival of talon, showing up to take the Ionians life. As he prepared to jump on her, he was cut short by a cage of light, and stuck in place. Irelia used this window to get away from talon, making a dash back to her base to heal. She lost sight of lux, but she assumed she had escaped, if only to make her feel better about herself. She hid in a brush just outside the river and returned back to her base, collecting the phage from the store, before returning back to her lane. Singed had already done work to her first tower, and he had yet to return back to his base. She ran up, hoping to kill the mad chemist finally, but he merely turned around and ran back to his turret the moment he caught a glimpse of her returning to lane. The fight waged on, and eventually Irelia's tower was destroyed by Singed, but Irelia managed to return the favor only minutes later. Once she had grouped up with the rest of her team in the center, or mid lane as they called it, she had still yet to die. As the first fight broke out, their team won rather decisively. They managed to take two of the opposing team's turrets and managed to trade four of the enemies for one of their own. The game was drawing to an end in favor of the blue team, and they were pushing down the nexus turrets of the enemy's base after having aced the enemy team. Despite most of them being low on health, they decided to continue pushing in an attempt to win the game. As the first nexus turret was about to fall, a wave of blades began to fly at lux, coming from Talon, the blades shadow. In order to save her friend, Irelia stabbed her blade into Talon, stopping him where he stood. But this came at a price. The nexus turrets began firing into her, and in conjunction with Talon, Irelia collapsed to the ground as her health hit zero. The last thing that her still living body saw were her own blades, poised to stab into her.
Irelia awoke shortly after in the same bed she had passed out on. Around her bed she could make out the voices of both Riven and Lux, who must've arrived to make sure that she was able to get up.
"Should we wake her up?" Proposed the Noxian. "She appears to be having a nice beauty sleep, but do you really think that she needs it? She'll get all the sleep that she needs in a few hours anyways. Just give her a slight nudge, or a glass of water of water to the face. That always seems to get the job done."
"Riven, now that's just evil. Why would we do that? She's cute when she's sleeping. Let's leave it that way. Let's just leave her alone for a bit, see if she gets up on her own. Irelia decided that now was as good a time as any to get up. "Now what was that lux?" She announced drowsily. "I'm cute when I'm sleeping huh? What was that supposed to mean?" Although her head was still firmly implanted into her pillow, she could tell that the young demacian would be as red as a nice Ionian night.
"You weren't supposed to hear that. I thought you were sleeping. Sorry about that." Gulped Lux with her head hung low. "You see, what I meant to say was that…"
"What she meant to say was that she thinks you're cute, and that you should get up." Asserted Riven.
"Now how about you get up and we can go ahead and do some training. Sound like a plan?"
"I feel like I got a massive headache. Can you give me a hand up?" Riven walked over and grabbed Irelia firmly by the hand and forearm and pulled her to her feet. Even though Riven made herself out to be a tough champion, her hands were still smooth to the touch. The feeling was comforting, and friendly, despite the fact that she was a girl. Why was she thinking these things? She placed her feet firmly onto the ground and walked alongside Riven and Lux out the door. Just outside the door stood Talon, leaning against the wall arms crossed. As they attempted to walk past him, he spoke.
"That was a pretty brave thing to do back there Irelia, but it was foolish at the same time. Don't let it happen again, or you'd better watch your back."
"How about you don't tell me what to do Talon? Doesn't that sound like a fair idea?"
"Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Ionian? Those who have learned that mistake are now in boxes in the ground. Show respect when you're talking to me." Riven spoke up, seemingly displeased with Talon's aggressive statements. "Talon, how about you leave right now, before we have a situation on our hands." And admit it; you're not any good once your opponent is on the same playing field as you." Her eyes locked hard onto Talons. Neither Lux nor Irelia had anything to say. This wasn't a joke. There was something between these two.
"You three just go, but that isn't going to be taken lightly Riven." For seconds after he left, silence filled the air. Riven eventually began walking, and Irelia and Lux followed suit, not sure of what to do next.
"What was the deal right back there Riven? You two seemed kind of angry at each other." Spoke the quiet voice from behind her.
"I guess you could say that we're kind of angry at each other. More he's angry at me, but put both of us in an arena together, and one will leave."
"Why is that? Were you two a thing once? Or are you family?"
"He's just angry at me for having left Noxus, and he called me a betrayer. I guess you could say that I left, but it was with good intentions."
"Now why is that? Are you and Noxus still on good terms? I don't get it."
"Lux, how about we let the conversation go here. I think that Riven is heated enough as is. How about we stop pelting her with questions?" Although that wasn't the only reason why Irelia had asked her to stop. She wasn't quite sure if Lux had caught on, but if she didn't, it would only better the situation. Riven had abandoned Noxus by choice after the war on Ionia. That's the reason why her sword was broken. It wasn't broken fighting for her country, it was broken by her in an attempt to shatter her past. Start anew.
"I don't want to sound rude you guys, but I really don't want to be around you right now. I just want to have some time on my own. Can you guys respect that? They'd hit a nerve somewhere inside her, and she was now physically showing it. Riven was known for being a strong champion, both on and off the fields, but she was still a human being. Her voice wasn't as commanding as it had been beforehand, and her shoulders were shrugging lower than the Noxian would proudly admit. Seeing this, Lux looked at her with her attempt at saddened eyes, and gave her a slight nod.
"I'm sorry Riven I didn't know that it would have …"
"Let it go alright? I don't need your stupid attempts at being nice."
"Riven calm it down a notch. She's trying to help you. This isn't the life you left behind. I'm not sure if you got the memo, but this is the league of legends. Accept her help or don't, but don't be so evil about it."
"Irelia, don't you go talking now. You're just as useless off the rift as were in it. Just leave me alone. You're both worthless" Riven stormed off down the hallway, leaving the saddened Irelia and misty eyed Lux behind.
"It's alright Lux she didn't mean any of it. She just doesn't want to live with her past anymore. She lives by what's the motto that what's done is done. Don't let her get to you."
But Lux was already too far gone to listen to any of this, and she ran her head right into Irelia's shoulder to hide her tears. "What did I … What did I do? I just wanted to be nice." She sobbed almost inaudibly. "No one has ever said that to me before … you still like me right? I haven't made you mad?" But Irelia didn't even have the chance to speak. The sight of the lady of luminosity crying and the damp spot on her shoulder had her almost in tears as well. In mere seconds, Lux was off at a run down the hallway, small rivers forming as she turned away.
"Please Lux! That's not what I meant!" But it was already way too late. The lady of luminosity was either out of earshot or simply ignoring her, but within seconds, she'd cut the left corner, and was gone from eyes and ears.
"I need to hit something" was the only thing she could think of as she lumbered down the hallway. The first tear hit the floor as she realized she was all out of friends right now. She continued down the hallway, went down the small set of staircases and walked through the multiple open doors and training arenas until she set foot in her own.
Her first making contact against the striking dummy was the best experience that she'd had in the past few hours. Above her and to the left was her room, and taking the place of the railing a few feet away from her door stood a support pillar that extended from the room below. Fist after fist began striking the practice dummy, and she had no signs of stopping the beating. Her blade was still on her back, sweat pouring from her brow. Strike after strike, the dummy took the fierceness of her anger. She tried not to show her emotion around others, but once the door was closed and the eyes stopped looking at her, her true nature was shown. Her blades shot off her back and hovered at her side, as though she was in real danger. The dummy took the onslaught, blow by blow, rocking back every time just to collide again with her fist. Over ten minutes passed, and she showed no signs of stopping. For a second she stopped to take a breath, and wipe the sweat from her brow. This late at night, no other champion was awake. She opened the front of her shirt to let the wind from her rocking cool her down. She walked to the other side of the room to collect a dummy that stood like a human at 6'0 except that it couldn't be injured. It was a dummy more suited to champions who fought with bladed weapons, and she proudly fit that category. Taking a deep breath, she began her assault. Starting first at the abdomen, she began smashing into his gut. She raised her arms as though she was blocking, to make it more realistic. Her blades hung at her side in case she needed them, but she was unable to make them fight if they weren't in her hands. They could still manipulate themselves, but couldn't fight without her. Soon, she began fighting with a rhythm in her feet. She hoped around, swinging at random parts of the body, and giving her accurate details of what it would've done on a real person. Soon, her feet began finding the body of the dummy as well, kicking into his thigh, ribs, and even near the windpipe when she felt stable enough to do so. The stretching she needed to perform hurt, but it was comforting. It helped her understand that she was still a human and not a perfect goddess who was incapable of wrong. She knew that, but after the meeting with Lux and Riven, she felt like it was her fault and hers alone that they had both left weeping. But even though Riven leaving might not have been hers entirely, she was too shocked to talk to Lux and coax her out of her situation. She soon realized that a stinging pain had arrived in her muscles, so she sat back and rested on the mat. She sat there for a bit before returning the dummy to where it was originally. She began to walk towards the staircase on her left towards her room, when she caught the sound of something in her ear. After only hearing the sound of the dummy being struck and her own heartbeat, she'd be able to hear a pin hit the floor from across the room. It came from behind the pillar on the opposite walkway, but from what she could tell, the conversation was not going to be peaceful.
"Spying on the Ionian again huh? At first I thought it might've been a fluke, but I'm determined now that you have feelings of some sort for her. I'm so disappointed in you."
The next sounds were hard to distinguish, but with the last hour of her life being spent striking, the sound was all too new in her mind. The sound of struggling was apparent as well, but it didn't last for very long, so either the assailant was much larger than the victim, or the victim was caught off guard. Or it could've been both.
"Don't even try to fight me. You know what you've done is wrong. Now quick question before you go, do you know what organ lies behind the first to sixth rib? Guess it right and I might make it painless."
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do" the voice coughed out. "It's one of them that you don't have."
"Touché. I was thinking about making this as painless and as kindly as possible to honor you and your past acts of genocide, but now I'm going to need to explain to you everybody that you killed nice and slowly as I try to find your heart with a knife." That was all the incentive that she needed. What was Riven doing here anyway? And then again, what was Talon doing here? Why was he following her? She got a line of sight to them just to confirm her suspicions, and correct she was. Talon now had a blade to her ribs, and showed no signs of stopping. Luckily, he was faced away from her, and she seized the advantage. Her blade extended in front of her, separating into all four pieces and rising like a staircase in front of her. As she stepped, the blade before her rose to continue the stairs, and she ran.
"Looks like I found where your heart is Riven. Too bad I'm not going to cherish this moment. I really would've loved to see you die. But I have places to go and a body just waiting to be hidden. So if you could just sit still, that would make your good old friend Talon quite the happy man." But by this point, she was mere steps from the railing, and poised to strike. As she set her foot on the final blade and jumped to the railing, she could see the fear in Riven's eyes. She'd seen it before. Too many times that she'd cared to admit. Her foot was guided this time, and she vaulted off of the railing, and crashed into Talon with the force of determination of an Ionian. She and Talon rolled together along the floor, although she ended up on bottom. But he merely stood up with an unsatisfied emotion on his face. She looked over to riven, mere inches away from her, unharmed. Although even in the dark, she could tell the trauma that had begun to spread across the Noxians face.
"You are such a stupid Ionian. Twice now you've gotten in my way, but this time, you're really going to pay. I was shooting for Riven, seeing as she had a lesson to learn from it. But I guess you'll suffice, but I'll be back for you Riven, and you can hold your word to it. You don't even want to imagine what that blade is going to do to your little Ionian friend here, although you have both seen it before when you attacked her land and slaughtered her people. Call it, I don't know, a gift from our mutual friend Singed. He even switched up the mixture so not even Soraka can fix it. It'll be a painful death, but It'll give you time to think about what you have brought upon this beautiful young lady. Anyway, I got to get going. Bring her flowers for me at her hospital bed."
"Talon, I'm going to get you back for this, you know that right?" She muttered through her tears. "Once we're on a level playing field, you're going to pay for this."
"Oh honey, haven't I told you yet? I really don't like playing fair." Nothing was said between them after that point, or if it was, Irelia was in too much shock to even notice it. Riven slid her up against the pillar and propped her up, and it was at that point that where she noticed it. The blade was poised out of her stomach, a silver blade with a dark black handle, engraved with 'Riven' although it couldn't have been Riven's knife she knew that it would work well enough to set her up. "
They'd gotten into a fight earlier, and Riven seemed kind of on tilt. She looked like she was ready to blow." She could already hear Talon saying when they asked him about this. "I had just gone around for a walk when I saw her there, with a blade in her chest. Crazy girl must've really gone overboard this time." The next words she heard were from Riven, but they came slower than she would've imagined. She looked down and spotted the slight traces of green gas and warm, sticky blood coming from the hole that the knife was now embedded in. It was her blood. The thought struck her hard. She was going to die the same way that most of her fellow Ionians had met. This is what is must've felt like. The pain now flushed out everything else in her body, pushing aside even the most happy of feelings she'd had beforehand. All that was left was panic and sadness. She placed her hands against the handle of the blade before she felt Riven's grab them and move them to her sides."
"Irelia, as weird as this may sound, we need to leave that blade in there. If we don't, your chances of living through this." Irelia managed to raise an arm to place it on her shoulder with the intentions of speaking, but her ability to speak was long since gone. She simply rested her arm there, feeling the shaking of her friend. Riven tore her jacket off, and quickly wrapped it around her arm before placing it above the wound. "Irelia, I really need you to stay awake for me alright? I'm going to get you some help and we're going to get you through this. Just stay here, don't move, and above all, stay awake! Do you hear me?" Her voice quivered as she spoke her last few lines. But as Riven's support left as she stood up to go and get help, Irelia's head collapsed to her chest, directly to the wound. It was just below her sternum, and the sight of the blood pouring down from her stomach made her sick. Her eyes fought as hard as they could, but eventually, the shock and exhaustion she suddenly felt won over. Before she felt her conscience sink away, she felt her blood dripping down from her lip, an intense period of pain, then weightlessness.
I'm sorry to everyone who thinks that Talon doesn't deserve to be in this situation, but I needed to think of someone to fit the role. It came down to Katerina, Talon, and Zed for who the main antagonist would be in a sort, and Katerina and Zed were immediately placed later into the story at some point. I know he's not evil, and I'm sorry for making him appear so. But this story is still OOC slightly. Sorry if you're mad Talon is evil. He just fit this role in my mind. He's basically just a mercenary for hire. I'm sorry for making him this way, but maybe I'll do it right in a later story. Please don't get angry.