Chapter 5

Ezreal and Teemo traveled through the Howling Marsh at a lightning pace compared to what Ezreal had been doing on his own. It had turned out to be a good decision to invite his new friend along for the journey. Teemo was a skilled navigator noting different trees and ground formations to determine their place in the watery wasteland. Teemo was careful to point out every danger, including the trap mushrooms that had been laid, so that Ezreal didn't experience anymore painful surprises. Before long they found themselves on the other end of the marsh; a point Ezreal never thought he would see.

On the other side of the marsh, Ezreal and Teemo were greeted by green pastures with the Ironspike Mountains off in the distance. This, Ezreal thought to himself, was a more welcoming sight. He could deal with mountains, as he had explored countless in the past, but he hoped to never see another marsh for as long as he lived. Taking one last glace behind him, Ezreal and Teemo pressed on in the direction of Noxus.

After a short period of walking, Ezreal felt a hand against his leg. Teemo had stuck out one hand to stop Ezreal and in the other he had a long spyglass which he had held up to his face.

"What is it?" Ezreal asked looking down at his new friend.

"Looks like trouble," Teemo said focusing his spyglass. Ezreal looked in the direction Teemo was pointing and saw smoke rising from behind some nearby hills. The smoke was faint, but was quickly growing thicker.

"That's not a forest fire. That is manmade and it's burning something significant," Teemo continued before condensing his spyglass and cramming it back in his backpack.

Ezreal looked back to the now pitch black smoke rising into the sky. The smoke disappeared behind some hills that were a couple hundred yards in front of them. Something told him they should check it out, but he had the mission to consider.

"Let's go find out what it is," Teemo said.

"We can't let it derail our mission," Ezreal replied.

"But someone could need our help," Teemo pleaded.

Ezreal thought for a second and then decided Teemo was right, "Okay, but we stay low and only survey the area for now. If it looks too dangerous we bail."

"I'll scout ahead!" Teemo yelled as he took off towards the hills with Ezreal close in tow.

By the time Ezreal caught up with Teemo, he had already found a spot in a bush and was well hidden. Again he had his spyglass and was surveying the area. Ezreal knelt down next to Teemo in the bush and noticed that the smoke had indeed been manmade. Ezreal watched as flames cascaded across the top of nearly every structure in a small town. The citizens had all been gathered in the center of town into two groups. A choice few had their hands tied behind their backs and were forced to kneel while the other, larger group was corralled in between a large army of Noxian soldiers.

One man, who was obviously the leader, was standing in front of the kneeling citizens giving orders to his soldiers. Ezreal noticed that the man was oddly well groomed for a warrior. Intricate armor adorned his body while fir rested on his shoulders. Two giant blades with circular handholds were attached to his back and a small crown rested atop his brown hair. A large, toothy grin stuck out from behind a long handlebar mustache.

"It's Draaaaven," Teemo said not taking his eye away from his spyglass.

"Draven?" Ezreal responded.

"No…Draaaaven," Teemo repeated as he drug out the name.

Convinced that Teemo was just being weird, Ezreal asked again, "Draven who?"

"It's Draaaaven," Teemo said once again.

Frustrated with the game, Ezreal decided to give in, "Fine, Draaaaven who?"

"Of Noxus," Teemo answered. "He and his brother Darius are Noxian military royalty. They have won countless battles for Noxus though Draaaaven craves more attention and flare."

After listening to Teemo, Ezreal realized he had heard of Draven before. This was the maniac from Noxus that reveled in making a game out of executions. There was nothing good to come out of being around this man.

"We better go. We can't help these people. There are too many soldiers down there," Ezreal said as he started to back away.

Teemo grabbed Ezreal's shirt and pushed the spyglass against his face, "Look who is tied up down there. It's Luxanna Crownguard!"

Ezreal grabbed the spyglass and pointed it in the direction of the tied citizens. He looked until he focused on a blonde girl in the center who was positioned directly in front of Draven.

That's the girl from Demacia! Ezreal thought to himself, the one that gave me directions in the library. Ezreal focused the spyglass closer until he was sure it was her. She was just as beautiful as he remembered and something swelled deep within him.

"We've got to help her," Ezreal blurted to Teemo.

Teemo gave Ezreal a confused look at his sudden urge to help.

"She helped me once. I owe her," Ezreal replied unconvincingly.

Teemo laughed before saying, "Rescuing a member of Demacian royalty will sure look great on my progress report back to Bandle City."

"Demacian royalty?" Ezreal said looking confused.

"Yeah that's Lux. She's the only daughter of the Crownguards of Demacia. I wonder what she is doing all the way out here," Teemo responded.

Again impressed by his little friend's knowledge, Ezreal had no idea that the girl he had a crush on was actually Demacian royalty. Of course he would pick the one girl that was utterly and completely out of his league.

Ezreal shook his head. He had plenty of time to worry about wooing her later, but now he had conjure up a plan to save her. His mind was reeling as fast as it ever had before.

Before he had time to think, he watched as a cart with two large containers was rolled over next to the larger group of citizens. Each container looked to be full to the brim and had a spigot at its bottom. Draven ordered one of his lieutenants to drag a couple of the terrified citizens next to the containers. Once the lieutenant had left the citizens a lever was pulled and one of the spigots was opened surrounding the citizens with an eerie green liquid that quickly began to give off an equally as green gas.

"Oh no!" Ezreal gasped.

"What's going on?" Teemo quickly asked.

Ezreal had seen this before. That was no ordinary gas, instead it was a prototype weapon that Noxus was still testing. The very weapon that he was sent to investigate.

"That gas is a very dangerous weapon," Ezreal explained. "It will turn those people into monsters within minutes."

Just as the words were leaving Ezreal's lips, the citizens began to thrash and tear succumbing to the gas's ill effects. Ezreal watched as Lux was screaming to let them go so much that she was sobbing where she knelt. All Draven did was laugh showing his shining smile to everyone around. He pulled his massive blades from his back and began to twirl them at his sides.

After mere minutes of being exposed to the gas, the once peaceful citizens had lost everything that made them who they were. They were now gnashing, hunched creatures with melted skin, protruding teeth and sharp claws. Small pieces of hair managed to remain attached to their heads as they stood growling.

The creatures emerged from the gas wondering aimlessly until they spotted Draven. It was as if some inkling of knowledge had stuck within the creature's brains and they identified who had done this to them. That or they were mindless killing machines and Draven happened to be the first thing they set their sights on.

Either way was fine with Draven. He laughed as the creatures charged him.

"That's right, come to daddy!" Draven said as he twirled his blades faster.

The creatures were quickly gaining on Draven's position. Without hesitation he launched one of his whirling blades catching the first creature square in the chest. The blade flipped into the air ricocheting off the now crumpled pile of flesh that was left in its wake.

Without missing a beat, Draven threw his second blade with such force Ezreal believed it could have cut diamonds. It flew towards the second creature separating its head from its body in an instant and lodging itself in the ground directly behind.

First blade already in hand, Draven pulled the second from the ground and continued cutting down the monsters one by one with impressive speed. Once finished, he returned the blades snuggly on his back. He kicked the now lifeless creature in obvious disappointment and gave off a disapproving sneer.

"Lieutenant!" Draven yelled. The same warrior from before was quickly at Draven's side. "These creatures are still pathetically weak. The Demacian army will cut them down without any resistance. Report back to Noxus right away!"

"Yes sir!" the lieutenant replied as he and a few other soldiers mounted their horses and rode back in the direction of Noxus.

"As for the rest of these people…gas them! I need the target practice," Draven yelled as he laughed manically. Ezreal watched as the remaining Noxus soldiers scrambled to fulfill his orders.

Seeing enough, Ezreal looked towards Teemo, "We have to disable that gas and free Lux. If I distract Draven can you do that?"

"Yes sir!" Teemo replied.

"Alright get to it and be quick. I don't know how long I can prevent Draven from killing me," Ezreal said with surprising confidence.

"Swiftly!" Teemo replied as he bolted down the side of the hill and out of sight.

Ezreal took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Here he was about to try to distract an egotistical, Noxian military legend who just demonstrated the pleasure he gets out of making death a game. He looked down at his wrist and noticed his gauntlet. Galio had given him the tools that he needed, he just had to be brave enough to use them.

In a flash Ezreal had disappeared from his position on the hill and reappeared behind Draven.

"Hey mustache over here!" Ezreal yelled.

Draven turned with a fuming expression on his face. No one talks to him that way…no one. He's Draaaaven after all. Upon seeing Ezreal, Draven's face changed back to the glaring smile that he had before.

With a laugh Draven said, "Well, well would you look…at…this. I must have missed you when I was dragging everyone else out of their homes. Come to fight boy?"

"Nah, I just came to point out how sloppy those throws were earlier. It's okay I can tell you are a beginner. Everyone has to learn," Ezreal said.

He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Somehow some other Ezreal had taken over his body and was running the show. This Ezreal, however, was far braver than the one before.

Draven's face quickly changed back to fuming mad, but then just as quickly returned back to a large, open-mouthed laugh.

"Wow….the guts in you kid. I like it," Draven said as he removed the blades from his back and began to twirl them at his sides.

"You see Spin and Win here crave blood," Draven said referring to the rapid whirling blades at his side, "And I'm going to give it to them one way or another."

Ezreal took a big gulp, but didn't flinch.

"Those worthless creatures didn't satisfy their hunger, so let's see if a living target will prove more of a challenge," Draven said as launched the first blade directly at Ezreal.

Ezreal warped out of the way as the first blade struck the ground and returned to its owner. Immediately, the second was headed his way, but he shot it out of the air with a bolt from his gauntlet.

Draven laughed and gave off a smirk after Ezreal had successfully dodged the first two throws.

"This is going to be fun, kid. Let's do this!" Draven said before he launched the second onslaught of blades in Ezreal's direction.

As Ezreal and Draven were duking it out in the center of the small town, the Noxus soldier were fervently working on the containers to accommodate such a large crowd.

"We need to get this going…now!" a commanding soldier cried motioning to the remaining men. "Pull that lever on the other side."

As the soldiers moved to the designated side one said, "Boss there are mushrooms growing all over the lever."

"Well rip them off, we need to get this working or Draven will have our head," the soldier replied.

Just as the soldier reached to remove the mushrooms they exploded, covering all nearby Noxians in poisonous purple goo. Instantaneously, the soldiers fell backwards yelling violently and grabbing their faces as their skin was being burned and scarred. Hearing the commotion, the commander came around the side of the cart only to see his men writhing in pain.

"What in the….," the commander said before being hit with a dart in the back of the neck. He immediately fell forward passed out from the dart's fast-acting toxin. Teemo laughed before disappearing once more.

Lux, who was still tied up and kneeling in the center of the town, was torn away from watching Ezreal and Draven's ongoing fight after she caught the mushroom explosion out of the corner of her eye. What was going on? Who was this boy fighting Draven? And what happened to the soldiers over by the cart? All of these thoughts were going through her mind as she was trying to make sense of her situation. These newcomers seemed like they were on her side, but even if she wanted to help she was flanked by two bulky guards who were tasked to guard her and prevent her from escaping.

She frantically looked around for anything that could get her out of her situation. As she was scanning the area she thought she saw a quick glimpse of a rather short, furry figure holding a finger up to his mouth in a hush motion. Before she could confirm what she saw he was gone.

Suddenly she watched as a dart protruded from the neck of one of the men guarding her. Instead of taking him to the ground, the dart only made him mad and he turned on the tiny Teemo who was shocked that his dart didn't work. Because of the sheer size of these warriors it was going to take a stronger dose of toxin to take them down.

The first warrior charged after Teemo, but before the second could follow Lux jumped to her feet tripping the warrior as he tried to run. The warrior fell to the ground with a hard thud and Lux was immediately on top of him kicking him repeatedly in the head. Eventually the warrior fell unconscious from the repeated blows and Lux used the tip of his sword to cut her bonds.

She rubbed her wrists and flexed them to relief. Lux then held out her hand as if waiting for something to happen. From her right, a long wand-like weapon came bursting from a nearby collapsed house and planted itself firmly within her grasp. She gave it a twirl and turned her attention to the fight between Ezreal and Draven.

Draven had knocked Ezreal off his feet and planted him firmly against the ground. Both of his blades were twirling at his side and he again wore a smirk on his face.

Laughing, Draven said, "At least you tried, kid. I've got to say you've impressed me. Not only did you walk in here like you owned the place, but you actually held your ground. We could really use someone like you in Noxus. It's a shame you have to die."

Ezreal raised his hands to his face as Draven reared back and threw one of the whirling blades with all his might. Just before the blade made contact with Ezreal, it ricocheted high into the air leaving him unscathed. Ezreal couldn't believe that he was in one piece. As he lowered his hands he noticed that a thin wall of light was now surrounding and protecting him.

"Where did this come from?" Ezreal caught himself saying in awe.

Draven didn't respond, but merely looked past Ezreal with a scowl. Lux was standing on a broken, wooden platform holding her wand at her side. Draven knew exactly where the shield had come from.

"You meddling witch. How did you get free?" Draven hissed as he spat in Lux's direction.

Looking around, Draven noticed most of his men were either missing or unconscious. He had been so caught up in his fight that Teemo's actions had gone unseen. His face turned to pure anger as he twirled one of his blades above his head. He let out a fierce yell and took aim.

"Not this time!" Ezreal yelled from the ground as he fired a bolt of pure energy straight at Draven.

The bolt connected and knocked Draven off balance. Lux saw her chance and, after a few seconds of concentration, released a massive beam of pure light straight into Draven's chest carrying him off his feet and leaving him crashing to the ground several feet away.

Draven clutched his chest coughing and sputtering as he struggled to regain his composure. Upon returning to his feet, he saw both Ezreal and Lux now poised to make a final, combined attack against him. Knowing that he was outnumbered and needed to retreat, Draven caught the cart full of the weaponized liquid out of the corner of his eye.

With a smirk he cried, "We will have to continue this another day boys and girls. You've got stickier things to deal with."

Draven launched both of his blades so fast in the cart's direction that they destroyed the ground below as they moved. The second that the blades connected with the cart, waves of the vile liquid came spilling out completely surrounding the remaining citizens. As his blades returned, Draven gave off a final laugh before retreating off into the distance.

Ezreal and Lux gasped and Lux ran frantically towards the now covered people. "We've got to save them!" she cried.

Ezreal, knowing it was too late, teleported in front of Lux stopping her in her path.

"Get out of my way!" Lux cried.

"You can't save them. They have already begun to change," Ezreal said trying to reason with the panicked Lux.

Lux pushed Ezreal aside and with tears in her eyes she watched each citizen of the now destroyed town mutate into gnashing, mindless creatures as the gas engulfed them all.

Once their transformation was complete they set their sights on Lux and began to charge. Lux was numb. She had failed to protect these people and all she could do was stand and watch. The waves of creatures were gaining on her position with impressive speed, but she couldn't move.

Suddenly, a large, crescent shaped energy blast flew past Lux and into the onslaught of creatures cutting most of them at the waist. The blast knocked Lux out of her stupor and she shook her head back and forth. She then launched a ball of light from her wand and detonated it in the middle of the remaining monsters turning them into nothing more than a pile of flesh and bone.

More tears flooded her eyes as Lux fell to her knees to weep. Ezreal quickly rushed to Lux's side who was now sobbing uncontrollably into her hands.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Ezreal said frantically as he tried to look for any signs of injuries.

"I couldn't save them," Lux finally said in between her constant sobbing.

"They looked to me to protect them and I failed."

Unsure of what to say Ezreal merely sat beside Lux for a short time trying his best to console her. He desperately wanted to help and was trying to find the best possible words to say.

"You can't beat yourself up, Lux," Ezreal finally said.

"You did the best you could and that's all anyone can ask of you."

"My best wasn't enough!" Lux yelled harsher than she intended.

"I even knew of the attack before it was going to happen. I had a chance to stop all of this, but I failed…I just failed."

Unsure of what he just heard, Ezreal allowed Lux's words to sink in. After going back over them in his mind he decided to ask Lux to repeat herself.

"Wait did you say that you knew of the attack ahead of time? How?" Ezreal asked.

"Yes, I did," Lux said calming herself to a sniffle. "Karthas approached me in Demacia and told me that this town was in urgent need of rescue."

"Karthas?" Ezreal repeated under his breath.

"Yes, Karthas. He told me that the town was going to be attacked and that it would need reinforcements," Lux continued. "I pleaded with Jarvan to send some men, but he refused. I then made the foolish decision to come on my own. I thought I couldn't handle it."

"Wait," Ezreal said now deeply concerned. "How would Karthas know of an impending attack on a small town not even in Demacian territory?"

"He said he had become privy to some recent intelligence," Lux answered.

"And so he didn't bring it to Jarvan or Garen's attention as well?" Ezreal asked highly skeptical at this point.

"I'm…I'm not sure. Jarvan didn't seem to know about it before I brought it up," Lux replied now looking at Ezreal through teary eyes.

"Karthas has always known a lot of the on goings around Demacia though," Lux continued.

"Be that as it may, Karthas is a diplomat and I have a hard time believing Demacia's Special Forces would share that kind of information with him," Ezreal said.

"Maybe he overheard it," Lux replied. "And he was trying to act upon it to save those people."

"Maybe so," Ezreal said very unconvinced by Lux's explanation.

"I wouldn't worry about Karthas, Ezreal," Lux said with now dried eyes, "He has always had the best interests of Demacia at heart."

"If you say so," Ezreal replied. Ezreal was now growing increasingly suspicious of Karthas. On both incidents that Ezreal had with the gas Karthas was involved in one way or another. The first incident he just happened to be there to catch Ezreal as he tried to flee and now he somehow knew about the attack and decided to alert Lux. Something just didn't add up and he couldn't get it out of his head.

Before he could think about it too long another thought popped into his head. Where was Teemo?

"Teemo!" Ezreal felt himself blurt out.

"Who?" Lux replied looking confused.

"Teemo, my frie…uh my scout," Ezreal responded.

Lux thought for a second and then her eyes grew wide as if a sudden realization had come crashing into her mind.

"Oh no! You mean the little furry guy?" Lux said with nervousness in her voice. "Last I saw him he was being chased by one of the bulky Noxian soldiers that was guarding me."

Panic shot through Ezreal's mind and he went careening off back towards the now critically damaged town.

"Teemo!" Ezreal shouted. "Teemo, where are you?"

As Ezreal stopped to look around, Lux was able to catch up to him. Panting and pointing directly ahead of Ezreal she said, "When I saw him run he went that way."

Ezreal shot in that direction yelling Teemo's name at the top of his lungs. The debris was thick and hard to navigate. Ezreal's mind raced at what could have happened to his small companion. He could have been burned by the fire, crushed by falling debris, or worse he could have been killed by the soldier.

As Ezreal rounded a damaged house he saw the bulky soldier laying face first in the dirt. Ezreal raised his arm and approached the soldier cautiously whispering Teemo's name as he walked. As he got closer to the soldier, Ezreal noticed what appeared to be hundreds of tiny little darts covering the soldier's body. Each dart was the same size, but the feathers accompanying them differed. Some feathers were purple, blue, or orange while others had a combination of black and yellow or green and black. Obviously it had taken a concoction of toxins to take down the burly fighter.

As Ezreal made his way around the soldier, he heard the sound of crunching. Getting a little closer he realized it sounded like someone was eating. Looking towards the ground he saw his furry friend unharmed and leaned back against the dead soldier munching on a piece of bread.

Ezreal lowered his arm and said more excitedly than he had expected, "Teemo! There you are!"

Looking up from his snack, Teemo smiled and said, "Oh, hey Ezreal. I found some really yummy bread. Would you like some?"

Suddenly a combination of relief and anger swelled with him. It was an odd feeling and Ezreal couldn't understand why it was happening.

"Why didn't you answer when I was calling your name?" Ezreal said rather harshly.

"You were calling my name?" Teemo replied seeming confused. "I must've not heard it. I'm sorry Ezreal."

"But look!" Teemo exclaimed hopping up from his spot, "I knocked out the soldiers by the cart and…and I took out this big guy and saved Lux."

Teemo was gleefully patting the bulky soldier who had even more darts protruding from him than Ezreal had originally thought. It had obviously been a lengthy fight one that the energetic Teemo came out on top.

"That you did and you did a very good job," Lux said from behind Ezreal, praising her tiny savior.

"I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for your heroics, Teemo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Teemo puffed out his small chest and saluted Lux. His eyes were welling with pride and he was bursting at the seams with happiness.

Ezreal, meanwhile, was giving Teemo an annoyed stare. How was this little fuzz ball getting all the credit for saving Lux? It's not like he held off an egotistical maniac or anything which is what allowed Teemo to sneak around and take out the others in the first place.

Ezreal allowed the annoyance to pass and then asked, "So what do we do now? Should you be getting back to Demacia, Lux?"

"I'm not going back to Demacia!" Lux quickly said. "I want to make sure that Noxus cannot do this to anyone else."

Ezreal and Teemo stared at Lux not wanting to illicit anymore anger from her.

"But seeing as we are very near Noxus territory, we probably need to take a safer route," Lux continued.

"We can travel through the Ironspike Mountains. I used to train there, so it should be relatively safe. There will be a set of tunnels that will bring us out closer to Noxus."

Ezreal thought about this for a moment before answering back. On the one hand they would be going through mountains in which he was more accustomed. He had been in the Ironspike Mountains in the past, but it had been quite a while. However, on the other hand they were just about guaranteed to run into another batch of krugs…and he hated krugs. After a few seconds he decided that there weren't any better alternatives and decided to give in.

"Yeah that sounds like a plan to me," Ezreal responded.

Lux looked to Teemo who was nodding his head up and down in agreeance.

"Great, it's settled then. Let's go," Lux replied walking past them and in the direction of the Ironspike Mountains.

Ezreal and Teemo looked at one another, shrugged their shoulders, gathered their things, and followed Lux off towards the next step of their journey.