Hey guys! I actually got readers .. o-o? Even ones that enjoyed it! I'm so grateful to you guys, knowing that I'm not alone on this road. Soo.. I tried releasing this as fast as I could!(caught up with quite some things). Well then. Enjoy!

A warm shine like the sun, gracefully as the moon.

Of Chaos and Despair Chapter 2

'So. Now we talk.' Katarina stated. Quickly chewing the remainders of the food left in her mouth Sophie replied 'Well.. you're saying it like I'm the one who's at fault here. Even though I'm more of a uh.. victim.' glancing at Talon, she saw he was looking a bit troubled seemingly trying to figure out how to explain everything. 'A victim you say and yet here you are chomping away at our food.' Katarina said, obviously annoyed. Talon finally started speaking. 'Well, to explain it we'll have to start from the beginning... that was about 6 years ago.'

'Give him back! He's mine!' the white silhouette yelled. 'Take it from me then!' the darker silhouette yelled back, running through the bare but grassy park with a furry beast clutched between his hands. 'You'll hurt it! Don't hurt mister Teemo!' the now revealed little girl said. In a desperate attempt to grab her friend back, she jumped at him causing them both to fall on the ground. Little Teemo saw this as an opportunity to escape and ran away into the brushes, hiding from danger. 'Look at what you did, Hekka! Now mister Teemo is lost and alone..' little Sophie cried. 'It's not my fault that Teemo doesn't want to be held by you!' Hekka threw back. 'It's only natural that he doesn't like you. No one does!' Sophie, now starting to drop more tears for her furry little friend, suddenly began to feel a swelling anger. 'Now listen here. If you don't find him, I WILL FEED YOU TO MY CATS! SO YOU BETTER DO AS I SAY!' Hekka stumbled backwards from the sudden outburst and regretfully did as she asked.

Walking towards the bushes and trees he saw Teemo run off into, he heard a few voices. '… …n't know about th... ..ss, ..w D.R.F does things is unacceptable! They just use the people's taxes so that they get to see some shit happening that doesn't even work well. We can't just stand around and do nothing!' Three men that were armed to the teeth were now walking towards Hekka's location. In panic, Hekka tried hiding in the brush, but to no avail. The trio had found him. "Well, well, well. Who do we have here? You're friends with the little missy aren't ya? The one from the facility?" "No.. no no NO NO NO!" Hekka yelled while he stumbled backwards onto the ground now crawling backwards on all fours. "Such a shame.. If only you were honest to us. You might've lived." The largest of the three scoffed and grabbed the boy by his right leg. "Maybe we can use you as bait for your princess, ha? Let's see.. where can we hang you up a bit?" A large grin appeared on his face. Grabbing the boy by his arms, he tied a rope around them and swung the rope over a sturdy treebranch. Now swinging legs in protest, Hekka cried out to them. 'PLEAASE! LET ME GO! I'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG! AND IM NOT FRIENDS WITH HER AT ALL! I HATE HER!' the men looked at him and they all changed their moods from light to dark. 'You dare give up your friend's life to save your own? Pitiful coward. She may have been born into an evil home, but if all you think about is your own life, then even she is better than you, kid.' The thickest of the three said. 'B-b-ut s-she's really n-not! I-I'm not f-friends with that monster!' Hekka stammered. The three ignored him as they suddenly saw a shadowy figure standing in the middle of the field. All three drawing their blades at once, they gave the figure no time to explain itself. Charging at it, it suddenly disappeared leaving but a trail of black mist. Confused, the three tried looking around. Just as they were about to turn, one already had a blue-hilted sword stuck in his back. Groaning, he took it out. He tried to throw it onto the ground but to his surprise there was now someone standing on the blade. A ninja wearing a blue attire with glowing blue eyes to match his sword and outfit. He had a calm yet deadly gaze, as if waiting for the right moment to strike. As if one wasn't enough, there was another one dressed in red and black, having the same glowing eyes but this pair was a sinister red. 'Leave.' The blue ninja stated calmly. 'Or die.' The red one said viciously, as he prepared three flint-sharp shurikens. 'Zed. Remember.'
'This IS balance, Shen. They are worthy of DEATH!' proclaimed Zed in his distorted voice as he sliced the first criminal's throat, creating a gashing sound along with the gurgling of the man choking on his own blood. 'ZED! STOP!' Shen pleaded. Zed showed no signs of remorse or guilt and disobeyed Shen's order, throwing three of his shurikens skillfully at the next criminal's abdomen. The shuriken's were quickly deflected by a third appearing shadow. Akali. 'Zed, what are you doing?!' She asked in a very surprised tone. 'We fight for balance, not for bloodthirst!' The world stopped for a moment. Silence. Darkness. Something snapped. He'd snapped. Zed appeared lightning fast behind Akali, viciously grinning under his mask, as he pushed her onto the ground and stomped hard on her back breaking a rib or three, causing her to cough out blood and let out a fierce and painful groan. He quickly turned around and saw the terror in the opponent's eyes, filling him with the need to draw blood. Not taking too long to savor the moment, he pulled out a sword agonizingly slowly and with an almost invisible slash he sliced the man into two. Not even realizing what happened, he took a step backwards before he saw his guts and organs spilling from his body. In a split second Zed moved over to the final victim, slicing off the arm that was holding a blade, causing him to scream in agony. Zed let out a simple scoff. 'Weak.' And with that he cut the man diagonally from shoulder to hip. Shen was watching in awe. Was this the boy he grew up with? The one that he has had countless of spars with? The one he believed to be a true equal? He wasn't having any of it. Zed had to be stopped right here, right now. It wasn't too late yet. 'Duel me, Zed.' He said, in the same calm tone but Zed was able to pick up the emotions behind them. 'Pitying me are we? Are you sure you don't want to live anymore?' Zed slid out his katars, watching as Shen was still trembling in doubt. 'Your wish shall be granted.' He whispered darkly and slowly. Just as he was about to launch at Shen, a sudden heavy force pushed him into the ground. 'Pain is only part of our job, Zed.' Akali groaned, 'It amuses me to have seen you fail something so simple.' Shen gave her a simple but grateful nod and proceeded to restrain Zed. He used a seal on him to restrain his shadow manipulation, pulled him up and pushed him towards the shadows.. Just to stumble into a certain little girl, bleeding and exhausted. Sophie. She had tears in her eyes and a frightful look on her face and when she looked up to the person in front of her.. it turned even worse. She stared into Zed's eyes, her body turning frozen solid. Shen saw the fear increase and broke their eye contact by shoving Zed aside. Kneeling on his left knee and supporting himself with his right hand he looked right at Sophie, giving her time to calm her nerves. 'Are you Sophie Hellstern? Daughter of Lilith Hellstern?' he questioned her in his regular voice. 'Yes' she responded as calmly as she could. Too calm almost, considering her situation. 'Yes I am. And what of it?' she asked him. Shen grew a somewhat more serious look on his face. ... 'Are you alright, child?' he decided to ask after a few seconds of dead silence. She gave him a look as if to say he was insane. 'Why wouldn't I be?' she laughed. It turned from a warm laugh to a hysterical one very quickly, showing her decreasing sanity and surprising Shen, Akali and even Zed. It wasn't that she was afraid of Zed.. it was the fact that she saw herself in Zed's eyes that scared her, feeling the darkness calling out to her. She could feel its thorny embrace as it enveloped her. And the world went silent again.
But this time, there was something different. It was like they were leaving reality, everything around them turning to pure darkness... leaving only Sophie behind, now wandering around the dark realm. It was a strange sensation to be exposed to the darkness. No light to warm the skin, no vision to guide your path. It was like there was no end to the cold, never another moment of peace. It was true despair. And yet she felt the need to keep moving forward. There was now a faint glow in the depth of the darkness, calling out to her. As she gained on it, violent whispers started to invade her mind, filling her with malicious thoughts, her body quivering in fear. Crying out, she leapt for the now bright light, her only thoughts being of survival.

'Blood?' a younger Talon whispered to himself, becoming more and more aware of his surroundings. He stood in an empty, almost abandoned park standing before a red-stained patch of grass. Was it truly blood he was looking at? It couldn't be right? Remembering the words of his client: 'You are to retrieve it and meet up with me at this point. We shall discuss further when this part has been achieved.' Pointing his finger on the map, to the spot Talon currently found himself in. Looking around, however, he could not find his client anywhere nearby. He held out the 'retrieved' object, that object being a black gem emitting an ominous aura, and stared at it intensely. He stole it from a rich salesman, usually selling his wares in carts all around Valoran. A sudden cry from within the stone rang loudly in his ears, dropping the stone from his hand. The stone, now even a brighter fade glowing around it, resonated with the cry and disintegrated fully before reaching even touching the ground. Disorientated and confused, Talon crouched and looked for the stone. He has never failed a mission before, he won't fail it now. Looking around him very carefully, he noticed how the bloodied patches of grass have now returned to a blissful green, showing off its shining colors in the last moments of sundown. Where did the blood go? He was sure of the fact that he hadn't moved around. Picking up a faint disturbance in the regular movement of the grass being blown by the wind, he felt a presence. He lead himself through instincts and discovered a very tiny yordle wearing a small pair of green boots, same size gloves and a slightly too large hat, not even being big enough to fit on a toddler. Grabbing it, he caused the little yordle to squeak a bit –obviously surprised. 'Let me go!' it said in a cute but somehow annoying voice. Talon thought it over a bit and decided to put the fella down. However, he noticed that it was holding a faint-red glowing gem. Taking it from him, he finally put the yordle down. 'Be careful with that, mister! It's the gem you dropped before and I can feel it draining energy!' Teemo warned him. Finally getting the chance to inspect the gem, he took his right glove off and felt his hands sting the moment his bare fingers were exposed to it. Quickly retracting his fingers and pulling the brown leather glove over his still pained fingers again, he safely stored the gem in his pocket. 'Now to find the source of this mess… not to mention that I've probably lost my client by now. Hopefully it's not his blood.' Talon mumbled softly to himself, looking left and right once more before entering the forest, melding with the shadows. Teemo followed him and hopped onto his left shoulder.

Upon entering a new clearing in the forest, Talon carefully observed his surroundings. He saw a boy hanging from his feet, legs tied to a branch, a lifeless gaze upon his face. The boy was missing a hand. It had been cut off from the looks of it, the blood was still dripping. He heard a sudden screech in the distance and ran full speed towards it, trying his best to keep silent before hiding behind a tree, able to see the whole field. A red male ninja that was covered in blood, a blue male ninja that was seemingly crouching and a green female ninja with kamas hanging from her waist made up a triangle in the middle of the clearing. Within it, there were blood spatters, guts and corpses sprayed over the ground like butchered pigs. It was disgusting and the smell was horrible, even from this distance, but Talon has seen worse before and was able to keep himself from retching out the contents of his stomach. Stepping slowly from the shadows and into the open while maintaining his breath and controlling his steps, he was surprised to see that they still hadn't noticed him, as they were ninjas after all. He noticed, however, that a girl was standing amidst the scene, crying softly. He tried to process the current events he'd found himself in and found it strange to have had lost his furry friend along the way. Looking backwards he saw Teemo floating in midair, still at the height of his shoulder. He had no words to explain the phenomenon he was experiencing. What was going on? Why was everybody frozen solid except for him and the girl? Hesitantly, he stuck out a hand to the girl. 'Hey, are you alright?' he decided to ask her like a father caring for his child, even though they were around the same age. Staring at the eyes of the girl, he saw them turn pitch black and he felt like his soul was being exposed to her. The girl's face was covered in a red, dark liquid that ran down her cheeks, rolling out of her eye sockets. It horrified him to see an innocent face filled with such dark features. She stood up and clawed at her own face, scratching deeply into her cheeks with the already bloodied set of nails. Talon tried interrupting her but she wouldn't even budge, it was like she had the strength of Hercules supporting her. He didn't know what to do. He slowly drew one of his sharpest blades, doubting his next step. He couldn't let this child suffer like this, so should he just end it? It was probably the best choice to make. Attaching the blade to his arm, he wished the girl peace in the afterlife. 'May you finally rest from this torment.' He took a step back, readied his blade and tried piercing with it, praying for a painless death. A clash of metal between magic caused his blade to shatter into pieces and rendered him in a state of awe. What just happened? His chest suddenly started to tighten up from an immense amount of pain. Had whatever was possessing this girl transferred over to him? Loud whispers started filling his mind, inevitably breaking the silence. The screams of people and visions of the most gruesome deaths came alongside the whispers. Talon grabbed at his ears in a useless attempt to shake off the demons he was fighting, twisting and turning, vision fading. He fell to the ground on all fours, begging it to stop. 'Iinss..iide.. hehh..hehh..hehh' a corrupted voice his heart tightly from the intense pain, he felt the gem residing in his breast pocket. The volume of the pain got so intense that he almost broke his teeth, gritting them to the extent of damaging his jaws. He let out a painful groan and closed his eyes. The world yet again ended up in silence…

Opening his eyes, he saw nothingness surrounding him for miles onwards. 'Where am I?' he asked himself, confused by the sudden change of scenery. A dark voice neared him. 'Taaaalooonn..', trying to resist the countless shivers running through his spine, turning around to see a faceless creature somehow staring at him. It had jagged arms, bloodied shivs attached to them and a mask of some sort attached to its waistline. Talon was about to speak but he found he could not. Looking down at his hands, he saw them black as the night, where there were supposed to be hands he had claws, where there was skin there was now a black goo replacing his skin. Panic taking over his body, he struggled trying to get the substance off of him. His eyes widened when he saw what the creature was going to do next. It was licking the edge of its blades, hysterical eyes enjoying the sight of Talon's panic. If not for this Talon would have given himself in to the panic, but he was able to resist it now. Automatically the goo started retracting from his skin and it felt like he could feel some of his powers disappearing along with it. He felt the anger residing in the shadowy creature before him as he had stopped licking his blades, clutching his fists instead. Talon took out a blade of his own, attaching it to his wristguard. Charging at the shadow, he fell into despair the moment he came in contact with it. The corruption of the shadow was trying to take over Talon. Coming loose from the black substance, he decided to keep his distance from it. Grabbing his shurikens, he threw them at the creature, all of them hitting the creature's neck. But it was false hope to think it would have had any effect, sending Talon even deeper into despair. What can he do to survive?! He was about to give up hope, but a ray of light shone upon his path of darkness, glowing magnificently. A being had somehow found her way into the area. Talon could not see her clearly because of the contrasting light to all the darkness around them, so he closed his eyes.

'Awaken, Talon.' Talon shot his eyes wide open at the sound of the angelic voice. His body felt exhausted, his mind felt numb, his breathing heavy and his eyes burning. He was back in the real world again. He wiped off the tears that formed in his eyes through the pain he had experienced earlier and found it even wetter than expected. Had he been crying during the whole event? To his surprise, he felt tears falling onto his cheeks. Finally being able to focus his vision, he saw a wounded but very pretty little girl crying with her face above his, begging him to wake up. Was this the angelic voice he heard? No.. that's not possible, she doesn't even know him. Doing his best to force a smile on his face he raised his hand. 'Hey there. I'm still alive!' Her sadness switched over to the cutest smile he had ever seen in his life, it would lift the spirit of even the most depressed soul on planet Earth. She hugged him tightly, causing him to flinch a bit. She instantly let go of him and had an apologetic look equipped. 'I'm so sorry mister… I don't know what was happening to me… Thank you for saving me!' and her face returned to that very bright smile of hers again. 'Name?' he asked her in a pitching tone, confusing her for a moment. 'I-uh Sophie!' she responded, showing how confused she felt. He simply laughed and replied while standing up 'Talon. Nice to meet you.' He looked around to see that the frozen corpses and ninjas had found a way to disappear. Where had they gone? 'Sir!' she called happily. 'Talon.' He replied dryly. 'Okay, Talon!' she answered in the same voice. 'How did you defeat that evil monster in your body? Can you teach me?' Talon was surprised by her sudden questions, 'I'm sorry Sophie, I can't teach you how to do that. I don't even know how I survived through it.' Disappointed by his answer, she resorted to staring at the ground, quickly lifting it up again as he didn't seem to have ended his sentence, 'I can teach you how to handle yourself though. Come.' Grabbing Teemo who had fallen onto the ground, seemingly asleep, they headed towards Talon's home.

'Welcome to my home.' Talon proclaimed this spot to be his home. There was a small cabin in between the countless trees, a waterfall roaring wildly close by, a clear pond where you could see the fishes swim and a homemade training area. Sophie looked amazed at everything around them. 'Are you hungry?' he asked her, waiting for a response. She nodded, allowing him to finish. 'Let's go eat then!' But instead of walking towards the cabin, he walked towards a shed near the pond. He grabbed a rod, a spear and a net, wrapped them in a cloth and tossed them over to Sophie. 'Catch!' Turning around just in time to catch the tools, Sophie looked angrily at him. Talon came out of the shed with the same kind of tools for himself, handmade probably. They were roughly crafted and they didn't look to durable, but they'd do the trick! Walking over to the pond, he put a finger to his mouth as if to silence her. She accepted the gesture and remained silent. Talon suddenly jumped up and threw his spear downwards, into the pond. A red fog began to rise up, turning the crystal water into a mess. By the time he retained his spear, she saw how the waters cleansed its self by seeping through the natural carved rocks, the blood being carried away. 'You try.' Talon said, a faint smile appearing on his face. She doubted herself. How was she supposed to suddenly catch a fish by throwing a spear into the water?! She'd miss for sure and he would just laugh at her. He saw that she was looking troubled and stepped over to her, grabbing her spear just above her hand, causing her to feel a little unsettled. 'Follow my lead. Hold your arm out like this first, yeah just like that. Now concentrate on where you're aiming. When you're ready to throw it out, retract your arm first and then throw it at full power until your arm reaches about a 135 degree angle from bicep to hand. By doing this, the spear goes straight into the water, ignoring the resistance and allowing it to pierce right through the fish.' Following Talon's instructions, she tried to ignore the fact that he was standing so close to her. Concentrating, she saw a quite large fish swimming in the pond. 'I'm sorry..' she thought to herself, and converted all her strength into a perfect javelin throw. It pierced straight through the fish, blood rising from the pond again. It saddened her, but they needed to eat right? The fish was enormous though, so through his sacrifice the other fishes were safe for now. 'Not bad for your first time' Talon said, quite impressed by her performance. 'Now let's go prepare it! I'm so hungry!' he finally acknowledged, cheerfully enough.

The scent of grilled fish filled the air, letting them enjoy their day's rewards. Sophie ate with slight guilt however, finding the idea of eating a fellow animal friend quite cruel but she could not deny her hungry stomach. The night's silence was as comforting as it was scary. The darkness around them constantly reminded them of the past events, both still wondering if it had really gone. 'Gone…' she whispered softly, but Talon had heard her. 'What? What's gone?' Talon looked at her with a confused face, the only thing being returned was an empty stare, slowly turning to sadness. 'Teemo is gone… I lost him just before the incident and now he's lost and alone.' Talon laughed and it hurt her, 'why would he laugh?', she thought as he suddenly gave a loud whistle. Now standing next to him was a cute little yordle. 'Teemo!' her face filling with happiness again, she took her friend up in her hands and hugged him tightly. 'S-sop-mm-mmm!' She finally let go of him, letting him take his much needed breath. 'Get some rest, Sophie. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I'll watch for a while, you can go ahead and sleep if you wish to.' Taking him up on the offer, Sophie headed inside to get some sleep. Talon shook his head in pain and wondered about what to do next. 'I'm sorry Sophie…'

End of Chapter 2

Okay guys, so this was harder to write than I thought it would be! The first chapter went so smoothly, I didn't think I'd have to struggle this much to write a continuation of it! I don't know what I expected the outcome to be, but I thought it'd be smart to introduce the main characters for now. Well, the real challenge here is lining up the plot! It's kind of hard to keep on going when there's so much going on. So thanks people, for reading my story! Even though it has no physical effect on me, every time I get a new follower I get so excited! You guys are my path, I will take you up. It's really just a way to release myself from the world a bit, while introducing you guys to my world! Interesting isn't it? Well, I hope you all enjoyed it despite the probable countless mistakes you've discovered (I've reread it twice and rewritten parts very often already T_T). Note that I write these usually in the middle of the night, so my brain might not function like it should. (Thanks to a certain someone). Until next time then!