The wind blew lightly through the air as Lucian stood among a large collection of trees in the middle of open plains. Their leaves were beginning to turn red and yellow as the season was changing and the world began to bloom its new essences. He looked to the tree besides him and saw his wife, Senna, standing alone as she looked at the scenery around her. Lucian could not help but to grin. He loved the woman more than anything else in the world, but many people saw them as polar opposites. He was a lot more friendly and cheerful in nature while she was more of the gritty, get to business type of person. Differences aside, there was one thing that they shared in common; they fought to purge the souls of the undead throughout Runeterra.
"Lucian! Come here hun!" his wife called out to him.
"Coming," he replied as he walked across the dried grass and fallen leaves. His dreadlocks blustered in the wind as he walked, lashing softly against his face's dark complexion.
"Look!" she announced as she pointed to a small inscription at the base of the tree. He knelt down and ran his fingers across the lettering as he read.
"Where did this come from?" he asked.
"No idea. Do you think it's important?"
"I can't say. I'd assume it has some importance since it is here."
"Well, what do you think? The last thing we read about putting down these monsters led us to this spot. Is there anything else around that could possibly guide us on? Talk to me Lucian." She looked at him with her beautiful eyes wide open. Her curly brown hair wrapped around her face as she smiled at him. Looking at her visage, one would never have been able to tell that she defeated the undead for a living. On the other hand, many people thought he was too soft to hunt tortured souls. The concept made him smirk once again, as many had been surprised to figure out what he and Senna do with their time.
"I'm not sure. I don't really see anything else around… but, the Shadow Isles? Doesn't that sound… risky?" he replied in response the engraving he had read.
"Well, yeah! What non-risky thing do we do Lucian?" she replied. He smiled at her again. He knew she was right, but he did not like the concept as a whole.
"I don't even know how we would get there. Plus, it's a scribbling at the bottom of a tree! Who is to say that it isn't a joke or trap?" Senna laughed as he spoke.
"A trap? Someone set up a trap for us at the base of a tree in the middle of plains off the outskirts of Demacia?"
"Well, when you refer to it like THAT…" he muttered.
"Come on! The Shadow Isles HAS to be full of monsters to kill! The more that we slay there, the less that there will be to roam the rest of the world! It makes sense! And if there is anything to finish them off completely, that's where it would reside!" She spoke to him with such excitement that he could not begin to attempt to ignore her.
"Alright, alright. How do we get there though? It's an Island that people are too terrified of to even speak about. We can't just get a sailor to ship us on in."
"I suppose you're right. I'm sure we can think of something."
"Fair enough," he replied. "In the meantime, can we relax for once? Without pondering and plotting the end of future demonic abominations?"
"Hahaha! Yes dear, we can relax." She turned around and slumped up against the tree. She allowed herself to slide down it until she sat on the ground. Lucian mimicked the act and Senna leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder as they sat. She grabbed his hand and opened it up in front of them. She took her index finger and began to trace the lines and creases of the skin on his hand. There were a few scars and burns along it to distort the even paths, but she did not seem to mind. Most of the burning came from the same style of weapon that she wielded. They both used relic pistols blessed with an ancient power that was designed with the sole purpose of sending the undead back to where they came. Her tracing came across one of the burns and she looked up at him.
"Remember what life was like before we took on these weapons? Everything seemed so calm and peaceful… like a fake reality had been created just for us. I'm so glad that we took up the challenge that we did. I couldn't bare the idea that no one would be safe if the undead just decided to come along… The military was pretty foolish," she said.
"Yeah. But hey, now they don't have to worry. They have us." She responded to his comment with a wide acknowledging smile.
"Do you think these weapons will ever do us more harm than good? Just look at your hands already Lucian…" He glanced down at his palm where she was still busy at work tracing the lines. There were a large number of blotches where the runic weapon's power had seeped out and begun to take its toll on his flesh.
"I think I just need to get better aim so I don't have to shoot so much," he replied.
"Ha! You shoot better than I do half of the time."
"Let me see your hands," he said. She unfolded both of her hands in his and they could immediately see the burn marks stretching across her palms as well.
"Maybe we both ought to get better aim." She laughed again at his comment and moved her hands to close his hands with hers. He looked to the sky as the wind continued to blow lightly over the two of them. He loved sitting beside her, and all that coursed through his mind at that moment were the stories of his past and the events they had survived. The two of them had saved so many lives and so many families from devastation and despair. There was a lot to be said about someone with the power to banish the undead. The entirety of the Shadow Isles was crawling with those creatures and they had a tendency to forget where they belong every now and then. It was Lucian and Senna's job to remind them.
"Do you remember the day we got these guns?" she asked him, referring to the runic weapons that lay at their sides.
"Yeah," he started before chuckling. "We saw them lying on that pedestal… we had been researching the Shadow Isles for so long and when we finally found the weapons I told you to leave 'em alone."
"Yeah! You said it was too dangerous!"
"They were glowing so brightly that they hurt my eyes!"
"Everything hurts your eyes Lucian," she told him.
"Well I mean, when I have to compare it to your face, most of it will hurt…" he remarked.
"I'm not sure if that was sarcastic or not…" she said.
"Then that means I phrased it well." He leaned back and wrapped his fingers behind his head as he puffed out his chest. She turned to him and slapped his stomach with an open hand, playfully. The two of them laughed and sat in silence for quite some time as they watched the sky above them while listening to the gently rustling leaves around. Everything was calm, peaceful, and quiet.
"Do you ever wonder if there are people who aren't having the same kind of peace as you are at a point in time? Like, we are enjoying ourselves, but someone out there has to be having the worst day of their lives right now," Lucian thought aloud.
"Well, I feel like there is a certain amount of peaceful that simply cannot be unobserved. I mean, no one could be having a day that terrible if they were sitting right here as well. But in other places of the world… well, we are pushing to make things better, but we haven't fixed everything. And we only have one goal, while others are fighting for different justices. We are only two people Lucian. You can't spend all of your time thinking about everyone else you know."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. As per usual…" She grinned softly and rested her head in his lap. He gently stroked her hair and continued to think in silence. He knew that there were ways to get to the Shadow Isles, and he had connections in Demacia that would lend him a ship. With the amount of people that they had saved in their past, he was certain they could talk and barter, or possibly blackmail, someone into lending them a ship. He began to drift off to sleep as he concluded on a route to take the next day. He was wholly relaxed, and for the time being, he was just happy to be alive and alongside Senna.
Lucian and Senna awoke the next morning to the sound of the leaves rustling rather violently in the wind. The sun was just starting to show its face over the horizon which left a soft pink glow throughout the valley in front of them. Lucian realized that they must have fallen asleep fairly early the previous day due to the fact that he did feel well rested, yet the sun was far from being up.
He turned to face Senna and smiled widely when she looked up at him. She was lying flat on the ground with her head slightly propped up on the base of the tree. Lucian sat beside her, cross legged, with a hand resting on the grass between them and his other behind his back for support. Their runic weapons remained holstered to their hips, as they always did, in wait of the next time they were needed.
Lucian shifted his weight and got to his feet where he stretched his arms above his head in attempt to help himself wake up.
"Put those things down!" Senna called, referring to his arms. "You stink more than a wet dog!" Lucian immediately had to stop stretching in order to allow himself to laugh aloud.
"Fine, fine," he started. "We will look for a place to wash up once we get into town."
"Or two..." she jested. He rolled his eyes and offered his hand to her.
"Woman can we PLEASE just go?" he commented sarcastically. She laughed and they both smiled before she took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. Together, they left the tree and headed back towards the nearest town in the city-state of Demacia.
The walk only took about an hour or so, being just a few miles in length. Luckily, the town was also a harbor, so they would not have to travel any farther to find a ship or captain to assist them. Lucian and Senna were immediately greeted with wide smiles and friendly faces as they strode past the small sign reading "Port Deka". The town was quite busy - people were up and about running and bustling from one store or ship to another with all kinds of boxes stacked upon crates with goods and food being transported - and yet not a single one of them hesitated to stop and send a wave, smile, or "hello" their way. Many even dropped what they were carrying to shake Lucian's hand or give Senna a hug. The extremely open hospitality was something that the couple had gotten used to in their travels; one did not quickly forget a person who saved their life from an attack of undead beings.
About a month ago, Lucian and Senna had heard reports of an army of spectral centaurs - creatures that resembled humans in nearly every aspect but the horse body and legs that existed where the human's legs would normally be - approaching Port Deka. Lucian and Senna had come to the town and seen the army stampeding across the ocean towards them. With their runic weapons, they managed to deter the riders and they ran around the town instead of through it. Unfortunately, Lucian and Senna were not fast enough to catch up to and extinguish the last of the cavaliers, who then pushed through a few neighboring towns and even a Demacian unit that was sent to intercept them. Rumor had it that the charge led them straight to the stairs of the Institute of War, but no one seemed to know for sure.
Ever since that day, the people in the town heard about the destruction that had occurred in the less fortunate areas around them, and praised Lucian and Senna for their fight that had saved them. Many of the townsfolk were gracious enough to offer them anything that they wanted, but rarely was the offer taken up. A few times the couple accepted a free night's stay at an inn or a meal or two when they happened to be passing by, and on that day they took up a free meal and bath, but asking for a ship was the biggest request that they had ever really made, and they were a bit unsure as to how they should go about it.
After cleaning up, Lucian and Senna continued to return greetings as they pushed through the town and towards the tavern; there was certain to be a fair number of sailors in there already. They walked in and heard a sharp whistle blown to their side. A few drunkards laughed at the whistle and others smacked their mugs against the tables. Senna rolled her eyes and flicked them off with one hand while gripping her holster with the other. Lucian quickly shifted himself to her side to block the view of her hand from the drunkards, but found that he was too late. The gesture raised a few "wooo's" and one particularly large man stood up and walked over to them. Lucian looked down and slowly saw his feet become engulfed in the massive man's shadow. Lucian remained still as he felt the wet bristles of the drunk man's grog soaked beard tickle the back of his neck. The foul stench being emitted from his body was enough to render any man petrified.
"Is this WENCH yours laddy?" he asked Lucian. The word sparked a flame in Senna's eyes as she puffed out her chest and made a quick step towards the man. Her glare shot through his skull in a manner that would put her runic weapon to shame. Lucian, being caught in the middle of the two, turned to face the man and rapidly began to try to defuse the situation.
"Well, she is NOT a wench sir, but yes, she is..."
"I dunno what kinda woman who is NOT a WENCH would walk into a bar and flip off a whistler. Sounds kinda like a wench to me." As he spoke his voice grew slightly quieter and he leaned in towards Lucian. The closeness of the toxic fumes emitting from his alcohol stained lungs was almost unbearable. Lucian found himself holding his breath to prevent potential brain damage until he knew that he had to open his mouth to reply. Before any words were spoken, a fist cracked the man square in the jaw that came from above Lucian's shoulder. The brute swayed for a moment and toppled backwards to the ground.
Lucian spun around to glare at Senna but noticed that she was not the one who had punched the large drunk man. The fist had come from a separate visitor to the bar who seemed to be slightly less drunk. The woman smiled at Lucian and rested an easy hand on Senna's shoulder in a light attempt to cool her down. Behind Lucian, the friends of the unconscious man were standing up and preparing to get revenge for him. The friendly woman nodded at them as an indicator to Lucian that there was movement behind him. He whirled around yet another time and saw the group of drunken sailors get to their feet and begin to walk towards him.
"You drunken buffoons have no idea who these people are, do you?" the woman shouted. The group of men stood for a second and looked at one another as they pondered what had been said to them. "This couple saved your town on multiple occasions. Without their assistance, most of you would not have a home," she added. One of the larger men spoke up from the pack.
"Eh? I dunno too many people who 'ave 'elped out our lil Port Deka. You sssure you ain't the drunk one lady?" His response provoked a few laughs but it was subsided by a murmur through the crowd as they attempted to accumulate their limited pool of knowledge to sort out their current situation. One man mentioned that the port had been saved by a pair of light slinging warriors when they were attacked by an army of undead centaurs. Lucian grinned as he casually pulled out the runic weapon and held it in the palms of his hands to prove who he was. Senna patted the holster on her hip to indicate that she carried its partner. The mob seemed to settle down as a few of the men took the unconscious man out of the bar and the rest returned to their drinks.
The woman cracked her neck and nodded towards the entrance. "Come," she said. Lucian and Senna decided that the least they could do for the woman who spared them from a bar brawl, was to follow her and see what she wanted. Once outside, she walked towards the edge of the town, and had them follow her onto an unused dock where a ship sat. She turned to face them.
"Lucian, Senna. I want to help." In the daylight, Lucian could see that she was dressed in fairly dark colors. She had a strange, blood red cape that hung around her neck, and retained the position of the most colorful thing about her. She wore boots and a tight, black, leather suit. It seemed as if she was prepared to hunt something, or someone. She wore a crossbow on the sling around her back, and had a second weapon attached to her arm. She wore sunglasses and her hair was a long black ponytail that draped down her back. "This boat, it's yours."
Lucian was a bit taken aback by the statement. "Ours? You don't want any payment for it?"
"No. What you have done, what you do, and what you plan to do, is enough for me."
"You know what we plan to do?" he asked.
"You are headed to the Shadow Isles to purge them of the undead that lurk in every shadow. I fight for a similar cause, and support your intentions. I, however, have other matters to attend to, and cannot go along."
"Nor would we ask you to," Senna said. The woman nodded and walked away. "WAIT!"
"What?"
"Your name?" Senna asked.
"Some call me the Night Hunter. Call me as you wish. But I doubt that I will be seeing you again anytime soon." Senna nodded and smiled at Lucian.
"Shall we?" Lucian smiled back at her and they got onto the boat. Onboard, they found the lower deck to be filled with supplies to last them for their trip. The mysterious stranger seemed to be well informed and equally prepared. How she knew so much, Lucian was unsure. But for the time, he knew that he needed to head for the Shadow Isles. They set sail and remained on the ocean's waves for the next day, en route to the darkest location in all of Runeterra.