The wind blew a breeze that seemed to tear the soul right from one's body. The chill was nearly unbearable, but having a darker complexion, Lucian was able to tolerate it quite well. Senna, however, had taken to the lower deck to seek shelter from the slicing winds. Perhaps they were in a little over their heads, but Lucian knew that Senna was right; if they ever wanted to just get a chance to relax or retire, they would have to stop the undead monsters at their root. The only alternative was to train someone else to do what they do, but that meant making someone else lead the life they led, and it was a life he could never wish upon someone else.

He stared out into the darkening horizon and saw a small dot in the distance. It was shrouded in haze but the veiling effect that fog would normally have was negated: only one island would be so clouded and reside in the oceans to the northwest of Valoran; the Shadow Isles. The corner of Lucian's mouth curled up as he saw the hazy island. It would not be long until he and Senna arrived. He thought about going to the lower deck to see if she wanted to stand outside until they arrived, but he determined it was best that he did not leave the helm. So he stood and let the wind blow his dreadlocks behind him while the tails of his coat trailed out in the same direction. His face was bright and he seemed happy, despite the dangers he was about to endure. But deep down inside, all that he really cared about was Senna. And so long as she was by his side, he did not particularly care what sort of dangers lay in wake.

He looked about the ocean and saw that it was still, calm, and flat; quite surprisingly so, seeing as he was on his way to the most dreaded place in Runeterra.

"Lucian!" Senna called out.

"Yes dear?!" he yelled back.

"Are we there yet?" she teased.

"Woman I will TELL you when we are..." he began to say, sarcastically, before he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He looked over to see his wife with a cowl held tightly around her face to stop the piercing winds. It was a bright blue and possessed a slight spectral glow to it. It was magically enhanced to help keep the wearer warm. He smiled at her and she grinned back.

"Now what was that you were saying to me?" she shot.

"Nothing hun..." he sulked. "Where did you find that hood?"

"In the lower deck. There is a lot of supplies down there. The woman who lent us the boat was definitely more worried than she should be," she replied.

He kept his hands on the wheel as she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head onto his shoulder. Their silhouettes looked like one body from afar due to their close proximity. Lucian and Senna continued to gaze out into the ocean's blue waters as night fell on the scene. He took in one deep breath as if he could preserve even the air itself to capture the moment forever. He was finally about to achieve the piece and solitude with Senna that he wanted with all of his heart. The only thing that stood in his way was the time it would take to rid the Shadow Isles of its nightmares.

Lucian looked down to the pistol holstered on his left hip. The weapon had been through a lot, and it only had to go through a little bit more before it could rest for an eternity. A slightly more intricate version of it rested on Senna's hip, and together they had fought through all obstacles in their path. Lucian wanted to shudder at the memories of some of the horrific fiends they had fought, but he could not so long as Senna was by his side.

The two stood outside and navigated the ship for a few more hours until they came to the Shadow Isles. They brought the ship close to the island's beach and dropped the anchor. The two lowered the plank to lead them to the ground and took a few moments to finish preparing themselves for what was to come. They armored up and made sure their runic weapons were still as willing to fire as they always were. Together, the couple got off of the ship and prepared to venture deeper into the Shadow Isles, planning to purge every impure soul that lurked on its terrain.

The air of the Shadow Isles was foggy and humid. The temperature was cool and the trees all looked dead and rotten, yet still alive; almost as if they wanted to die but could not. Their decomposed branches and limbs scattered the ground, but not much else sat upon the Isles' dirt. Not a single bush lined the paths, not a single squirrel or wildlife scampered over the couple's feet, not a single mushroom or foliage sat among the shadows, and not a single ray of light shone down from between the twisted branches and minimal number of leaves that still sat upon the limbs of the great trees that were scattered throughout the forest covered Isles. Some small lakes and ponds lay in the lands, but most of them reeked of a foul stench that would deter anyone looking to drink from it. The liquid inside was often times more of a purple hue than the natural blue or crystal like quality one would expect to see. Just standing in the place was enough to drive a man insane.

Things went smoothly. They paraded through the hellhole shooting all the ghouls and ghastly creatures they saw in their paths while making sure to never give so much as a second thought to what they were doing. They liked it best that way; they could make sure to stay focused and did not get too stressed out. It was part of what made them a great match for one another.

Lucian popped a few shots of his runic weapon over Senna's shoulder as a ghoul attempted to jump on her from behind a gnarled tree. She smiled and thanked him before mimicking the action over Lucian's shoulder. There seemed to be no end to the amount of undead in the area.

"I feel like we have shot a million of these things already…" Lucian said to Senna.

"So let's shoot a million more," she replied.

"I do like the way you think," he said back with a wink.

"Damn straight you like the way I think," she teased. He could not help but to smile back. The two stood on the most dreadful place in the world, shooting away at undead creatures and beings, and yet they retained a casual composure and attitude about what they were doing. It was how the two always were when they fought.

"How many do you think there are here? Can we really just kill them all?" he asked.

"I dunno. Think there is a source just spawning more of them?" she returned.

"Yeah. Like a gatekeeper thing? Or a guardian to the undead?"

"Yeah. Something like that. Where do you think it would be?"

"Probably towards the middle of the Isles."

"So let's go there," she said back with a smile. They two continued to cut down their foes and pushed towards the center of the Shadow Isles. "Think we will have to cross any water? It is the Shadow Isles. Not just one island," she questioned.

"Hmm… Probably. Do you have any idea which part is bigger?" he posed.

"Not really. Perhaps we can make it a multiple day conquest. Clear one portion of the Isles at a time."

"Huh. I like it," Lucian stated. "But what about food? There ain't a thing alive 'round here that I would be willing to eat." She grinned at him and shook a backpack fastened to her shoulders. "You think of just about everything."

"Just about everything you don't, that is," she replied

Hours passed as the couple cleared wave after wave of undead beings with their magical weapons that were glowing lightly and begging for nothing more than to continue their pursuit. All was quite. Lucian turned to Senna.

"Shall we sleep? I haven't seen a thing in awhile," Lucian said.

"Me neither. I don't think that they're dumb enough to try to continue charging in. Something has learned."

"That something learned a little faster than you do!" he jested. She smirked at him.

"I woulda gotten the idea after a few more hours," she said.

"At least!" she responded by sticking her tongue out at him. He walked over to her and placed his hand under her chin, ever so lightly. She beamed up and looked into his eyes.

"You do know that I love you, right?" he said.

"You do know that I am starving right?" she responded sarcastically. They kissed before splitting up to gather some fire wood. The dead limbs ignited quickly with the matches Senna had remembered to bring and they opened some canned food with a pocket knife. The warmth of the fire was quite different from the cool aura the Isles had given them up until that point; it allowed the two to relax completely for the first time since they had set foot on the first island of the Shadow Isles. Earlier, they had scouted out the perimeter of their island and found it to be quite small. They determined that the gap between the islands that made up the Shadow Isles was short enough that Lucian and Senna could swim across it the next morning.

The night did not pass by as quickly as Lucian had hoped. He woke up multiple times having suffered from horrible nightmares. They contained the most petrifying images he had ever seen in his life; images of holding his own insides after suffering from a grave wound, depictions of Senna departing from his life forever, and scenes of being trapped within the terrors of the Shadow Isles for the rest of his days. He constantly woke up in a cold sweat, just to see Senna sleeping safe and sound to reassure himself that his dreams were not reality. He took a good look at his surroundings to insure that all was well - or as well as it could be - and laid back down to continue his horrid sleep patterns.

The next morning - or morning as far as they could tell - they awoke to see their fire still burning in front of them. The sight was a bit confusing, due to the fact that the moist air alone should have doused its flames a long time ago. Senna commented on it as she put the flames out by piling on handfuls of dirt.

"Have we only been asleep for a few hours? Our fire should be extinguished by now..."

"No, we've been out for quite some time. I didn't sleep well. I kept wakin' up throughout the night, so I know it's been more 'an a couple of hours," Lucian replied.

"So... Why is our fire...?" she began to wonder. She cut herself off as she realized that no one would be able to answer her question. She stared at it for a few more moments before she turned away to head northward.

"There is only a few islands in the chain. We should be all done in just a couple of days then," Lucian thought aloud.

"Hopefully. We can't know until we are there though."

"True," he stated. They continued to walk with a little idle conversation and no relative dangers. A small body of water lay in front of them, perhaps a ten to fifteen minute swim. The water was much different from the liquid they had seen on the mainland due to the fact that it poured in from the ocean instead of collecting on the dirt's surface.

The couple walked to the water's edge and watched it gently sway with the marginalizing tide. The sunlight was not glistening off of its surface due to the deep fog that was lingering around the Islands, yet the water looked somewhat peaceful still. Lucian and Senna jumped in and began to swim to the next closest island. The route took no longer than expected to cross, and the couple climbed onto the land of the next island fairly wet. Lucian shook himself out like a dog and his dreadlocks flailed around his face when he did. His attempt to dry himself off did not do a whole lot more than get Senna even more wet. She frowned at him playfully and shook herself out to splash water back onto him. Lucian took the action as a challenge and the two spent the next few minutes shaking water out of each other and on to their partner. After they had both given up, they laughed and checked that their runic weapons were still operating correctly. A few shots into a nearby tree ensured their functionality, and they pressed on into the lifeless expanse of the island.

The two spent the following day fairly similarly to how they had spent the previous one: clearing out wave after wave, horde after horde of undead terrors, ghosts, ghouls, and whatever other nightmarish creature lurked the expanse of the Isles. They received a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing significantly hindering. Night fell – or so they assumed – and they made a campsite just like they had the night before. The two sat and ate their canned food in silence until Senna broke the spell.

"Lucian, you had said that you did not sleep well last night. Did something wake you up?" Senna asked.

"Yeah. I was having… dreams."

"Oh?" she mused.

" 'Dreams' is a light term I suppose. They were more like nightmares. I dunno. Just horrid, graphic images. I've never seen anything like it in my sleep. Not in a long time anyways."

"When was the last time you had dreams like it?"

"Before I met you, Senna. Things that made it impossible to sleep. Things that made me feel like I didn't have much of a purpose. It's why I sought to kill the undead. I thought that maybe if I purged out the beings that these dreams represented, I wouldn't need to have these visions. I was right. It worked." Lucian trailed off, unsure as how to continue, or if there was anything else to say. Senna moved closer to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm right here Lucian. Here for you."

"I know Senna. Thank you," he said softly. A light tear trickled down his cheek and Senna wiped it away. She looked up at him and smiled.

"You know, you are the hardest nut to crack in the world. But inside that shell, you might as well be liquid."

"Which part do you like more?" Lucian asked.

"When I eat a sunflower seed, I don't spit any of it out," she replied. Lucian smiled and kissed her on top of her head while rubbing her shoulder. The two lay down and fell asleep amidst the reeking aura of the Isles' night.

Lucian's nightmares settled down in graphical content, but they intensified in treachery. He dreamt that he woke up with Senna the following morning and they pursued their genocide of the Shadow Isles. They pushed forward and accomplished their task without any relative harm to either of them. They left the islands and continued to live their lives, freed from a world with demons and monsters. But it was not just a 'happily ever after'; they settled down and had children, and conflict after conflict arose. They could not agree on anything; they fought over whether or not they teach the kids how to fight, what they do with their runic weapons, whether or not they pursue a life of solitude or if they use their combat abilities to help ordinary people, whether or not they should fight for or kill other men and women in times of war or if they only learned to fight to finish off the undead, and many other disagreements.

When Lucian awoke, he sat in silence. He began to realize that perhaps he was doing the wrong thing. Perhaps he was not supposed to be here executing every zombie, ghost and fiend in Runeterra. He may not have anything left to do with his life, and he and Senna may lose the bond they have. Lucian rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He was unsure as to whether or not he needed to – or should – continue. He thought back to the visions he endured the previous night, and wondered if they had an even more definite meaning behind them. He had lost those nightmares when he had met Senna. But if they were coming back, then perhaps it meant more than just a bad night's sleep; maybe it was foreshadowing a future without her, or a time where he would never be able to sleep right again, even when he knew that all the monsters of the world were gone.

Lucian looked at Senna and wished he did not have to make the decision. It was not too late to back out, and the creatures they had defeated would remain defeated. It may make their lives easier back on the mainland. But it did not accomplish the dream they envisioned. He shook his head. "No," he whispered. "I have more faith in us than to believe that we would grow distant from not killing together. We have a mission to finish." He stood up, cracked his neck, and put out the still burning fire. He was perplexed as to why the fire was still there, yet again, but chose to ignore it. Once he had finished, Senna had woken up and was prepared to push forward. They had not cleared out the entire island they were on due to its large mass, but they had made it safe enough to sleep. So they pushed forward to clear out the rest.

Moving into the island, they found more monstrous and foul beings than they had previously; yet nothing strong enough to discourage either Lucian or Senna. Lucian shot a few undead creatures in the forehead and turned to hold off another wave while Senna held them off from behind. As the waves of light pulsed from his ancient gun, he heard a scream from behind him. His heart sank and he turned around to see what had happened. He saw Senna laying on her back and shooting at the approaching monstrosities. Lucian started to aid her by blasting away the pursuers when he felt something cold wrap around his stomach. He looked down to see a chain, made of bones and glowing with a spectral green aura, wrapped around his waist. He tried to grab it but was immediately burned by its surface. He shook his hand in frustration and turned to face his capturer. The chain links attached to his torso led straight into the blackness. Before he had a chance to question it, he was pulled straight through and world around him went dark. He flailed about and tried to find a source of light. He fired his weapon into the darkness and began to see an outline of a man holding chains. A moment later, the man lit up in a spectral fire that crackled with a petrifying green color. Lucian cringed at the sight and shielded his eyes.

A second later, Lucian began to shoot his runic gun into the being at the fastest rate he had ever managed to pull the trigger. A horrifying laugh resonated throughout the chamber Lucian was in, that spawned from the man with the chains. Lucian stopped firing his weapon and stood in awe. He began to wonder if his weapon was broken. His opponent, clearly undead, wore a long coat that seeped to the ground and covered almost all of his body, including his feet. His hands and head were exposed however, and were entirely skeletal. His head had no neck connecting it to his torso, but was fully engulfed by his green illumination.

"Looooks like… your gun, isn't working?" the thing taunted. Lucian growled and expressed his anger through every last vein and temple on his face. "Haaahahahahahaaa! How much fun shall I have with you today? You thought you and your little wife could just… waltz on in and kill… what? All of us?" Lucian glared at him. He held his weapon firmly in his hand but knew its shots were useless. He was bound by chains and in a chamber that he could not even see in. He knew Senna was in danger but he had faith in her strength. Lucian felt hopeless. He regretted his decision to push forward and knew that if he made it out of the situation, he was leaving immediately. But he had more pride than to grovel at the feet of such a disgusting monster.

"Do your worst," Lucian spat.

"My worst? Oh, what a fantastic idea!" the being crowed. He wound up a chain in his alternate hand and lashed it against Lucian's chest. The ghostly chain did not leave a mark, but felt as if it was tearing his soul straight from his body. Lucian grunted in pain and glared at the undead being in front of him. "Hmmm… that will never do," the spectral man said before lashing out at Lucian again. He repeated the action over and over, while Lucian's cries of pain grew louder. The purifier refrained as much as he could from shouting in pain. "Louder," the ghoul said to Lucian. "Louder! LOUDER!" he shouted with each successive lash. The pain grew to the point of intolerability. Lucian let out a cry of agony that he could not suppress any longer. "Perrrfect," the ghastly thing said.

"Lucian!? Lucian!" Senna cried. The being picked up a lantern that sat beside him and tossed it out in front of Lucian. The veil of darkness was lifted and he saw Senna running towards him. He had been pulled away, but not into a chamber; he had been pulled behind an illusory wall of some sort.

"Senna no!" he called out, but it was too late. The undead man released his chain bindings on Lucian and he fell to the ground in exhaustion and pain. Lucian looked up and saw the same chain that was wrapped around him now being hurled through the air towards Senna. She was snared and brought right next to Lucian while bound. "No…" Lucian panted. The spectral being's skeletal face curled into a sadistic smile.

"Let us… begin… my worst," he said. He took the chain in his other hand and whipped Senna with the same mannerisms that he had done previously to Lucian; woundless, but tearing something away from her with every lash. Lucian remained on his hands and knees as he endured what truly was his worst nightmare, but in reality. The being curred with excitement and pleasure as he continued to thrash his chain into her very soul. He continued to laugh and whip at a pace much faster than he had used on Lucian; he intended to not allow her to escape the torture. Lucian's eyes were blurred with a fountain of tears caused from pain and sadness as he knew he was about to lose Senna, but he was too weak to do anything about it. His ears were filled with the sounds of the ghoul's laugh, and Senna screaming. He had nothing he could do but to suffer.

At long last, the cries stopped. Lucian looked up and saw his wife in what appeared to be a lifeless state. She was breathing, and standing, but her eyes were left with nothing more than a black void where her beautiful sparkling life used to be housed. The chain bindings were dropped and she fell to the ground; alive, but without character. Lucian's swirl of emotions destroyed his ability to express any actual feeling. He looked up and saw a large centaur like creature, glowing with a similar spectral blaze, but blue, standing next to the man with the chains.

"Thresh. We can go now." His voice boomed across the terrain and seemed to echo within itself.

"Oh? I have such a beautiful new soul to play with though…"

"Thresh. We need to go. Now."

"Bah. Fine," Thresh said before turning to leave. The two walked away from Lucian as he kneeled on the disgusting dirt. He looked over at Senna's limp body and a rage engulfed his own. Running on pure adrenaline, he got to his feet and picked up her body. He held Senna as if she were being given a piggyback ride and picked up her runic weapon in his other hand. Wielding the two weapons, he sprinted in the direction Thresh had gone, firing into the air without even seeing a target in front of him.

After a few minutes, Lucian had caught up to Thresh and his centaur like ally. Upon seeing them, the centaur took off at top speed. Lucian paid it no mind; that particular undead creature was not his target; Thresh was. The chain warden looked at him and smiled.

"Now you've done it…" Thresh said. He picked up his lantern and chucked in into the distance. It hurled through the air and landed a seemingly impossible distance away. A few moments later, the lantern reappeared at his side, and another ally was with it. A rugged man with a large hunch in his back stood beside Thresh, wielding nothing more than a shovel. Lucian did not hesitate a second before he started to shoot towards the new ally. Time did not allow for his shots to reach their target; a parade of undead denizens appeared in front of him to take the shots shortly after the new ally had raised his shovel. It was as if he had dug them up from the grave by merely lifting his spade. Lucian did not pay attention to the strange phenomena as he cut through the army of ghouls with the aid of his runic weapons and planned to push forward; however, another wave of the enemies spawned in front of him, then another and another.

Lucian continued to kill the beings but noticed that his pace was being heavily slowed. In the distance, he saw Thresh continuing to leave. Gradually, Lucian lost his ground. He fought with every ounce of energy left in his body before he was finally forced to succumb to the lack of vigor left in him. After the slow push had persisted so long that his enemies were no longer visible in the distance, he slumped to the ground. The army of ghouls departed by sinking back into the dirt and left him to rest. Lucian was not dead by any means, but he had felt as if he had lost all that was left to live for.