Garen, Riven, and Zac all looked up at a ladder that seemed to ascend endlessly, while bearing looks of agony: the draft coming from above was so chilling that they had to turn their faces away in order to prevent the burning sensation that came with it. They knew that they had found their destination; the exit to the tunnel that leads into the city-state of Freljord. It is known for bitter cold and barren lands that do not welcome any; however, some of the tribes that reside there are quite friendly despite the nature of the world about them, and will openly accept any travelers and invite them in to their hospitality. But, for the most part, that was only true of the people who waved the banner of the Avarosan, led by Queen Ashe and King Tryndamere. The other factions of any real power in the Freljord were the Winter's Claw, and the Frostguard, led by Queen Sejuani and Queen Lissandra, respectively. Their faction's beliefs differed drastically from those of the Avarosan; so drastically, that some even feared meeting them.
The three of them stood and stared at the ladder and the darkness above them, more or less waiting for one to take the lead. They were very uncertain of how far they would make it in the freezing temperatures, and how close help was to the exit. None of them had been in the Freljord before, but they all knew that it was the only real option that they had in order to be safe and hidden.
"Shall we go? Are you all ready?" Garen asked of his company. Riven nodded, and Zac replied with a simple "yeah". Garen grabbed the first rung of the ladder and felt the metallic chill course from the tips of his fingers to the palms of his hands. He began to ascend the ladder towards the top where he found a manhole cover guarding the exit. He could not open the lid by pushing against it and started to hammer it with his fist, but with little success.
"Need to pry it open?" Riven asked.
"Most likely. This is not going anywhere, anytime soon." Garen replied. Riven was right underneath him on the ladder, and Zac beneath her. "Shall we all back down to get you in the lead?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess," Riven said.
"No need," piped up Zac, "just jump down. Land on your feet, and you'll be fine."
Garen pondered the idea for a moment and remembered that he was still wearing the gelatinous boots on his feet. He kicked off of the ladder and came to a soft landing at the bottom. He grabbed the lowest rung and began to climb up behind Zac. At the top, Riven was attempting to pry open the frozen lid with her blade. She chipped away at its circumference and eventually freed it from its icy bindings. With a hard push of her hand, the lid flew right open and a chilling air blustered its way into the tunnels. All three of them shivered as they were hit, and continued upward to climb out of the passageway and into the city-state of Freljord.
Once outside, the party took a few moments to take in their surroundings. They scanned the horizon and found very little to look at other than a vast expanse of snow and ice. A light snow fell, but the wind was calm and the world was quite. It looked to be midday, and a few potential locations for settlements could be seen in the distance. Knowing that they needed proper clothing as soon as possible, finding a settlement to barter with seemed like the best course of action. Two blackened areas, created by obstruction of sunlight, stood to the north of the group, so they decided to begin a march across the snow to seek aid.
Snow rained down in a light drizzle on their faces. It was enough to keep them conscious of the cold, but lacked the strength to inhibit their vision. The large stretch flat white snow was quite calming in comparison to the shady tunnels and plague-like aura that rested in Zaun. Not much could be heard other than their collective breathing and the occasional gust that billowed through the air.
Their tracks were quickly covered by the snow caving in around the footprints and the light precipitation that fell on top. Looking backwards, Riven could see where they had been about three minutes ago, but no more than that. She shuddered at the thought of becoming lost if a blizzard were to come upon them; without the ability to see where they had been, it would be almost impossible to tell where they were going.
The group continued forward for awhile until they came to the first of the blackened dots that had been resting on the horizon. Luckily for them, it turned out to be a small village. The flag of Avarosa flew above their heads. Garen let out a sigh of relief. He knew that he would be able to get the warmth that he needed from the Avarosans.
Upon reaching the town, a kind woman and her boy approached the travelers. They welcomed the group in with a smile and a wave and offered out the shelter of their homes. Garen, Riven, and Zac gladly accepted, and sat around a warm fire eating a broth-like soup. Zac did not need to eat, and Garen and Riven were well set with their pills, but their host insisted so they ate the thin nutrients out of courtesy. They conversed lightly as they ate, and found out that the woman was married but the man had to sleep and live in the nearby village. Garen gathered that the next dot that they had seen in the distance to the north was the one she was referring to. A strong storm was predicted to set in, so she offered them to sleep on her floor. While the settlement was strict on its rules that its residents must sleep in their own homes, in their designated village, they were very open when it came to travelers. Queen Ashe always taught that generosity was to be shown to any outsider; it was her way of enforcing the ideology of the Avarosans and peace.
She found Zac to be quite peculiar, but did not mention anything to or about him. It was obvious that he was a living, breathing entity, so she offered what assistance she could anyways. Night began to fall and the woman insisted that they stay inside her home to shelter themselves from the on-setting storm.
Midway through the night, Garen woke up from his cot on the ground and noticed that Riven was not besides him. He looked around before walking out into the cold night's embrace. Before he even got to the door, he could hear the rushing sound of the wind against the house. The storm had obviously begun to set in.
He did not have to look far before he saw what was out of place; a green blob encompassed Riven as she sat on the edge of the town and stared out into the snowstorm. Garen sat down beside her and the blob expanded to include him in it. Garen grinned at the action. Zac clearly did not need to sleep any, so he must have seen Riven trying to head out and decided to protect her from the harsh weather. His translucent body made it plausible to still look out at the surroundings as well. They sat in silence for a moment before Garen spoke up.
"It is quite an odd feeling… Relaxing, that is," Garen stated.
"It really is, isn't it? Prior to Ionia, I never had a moment to rest. Growing up in Noxus was, above all, unforgiving."
"Was your childhood… troubled?" Garen asked.
"Not so much my childhood. More of my adolescence."
"I see." Garen had no intention of pushing her to talk about anything that she did not want to, so he decided to leave her comment un-pursued. After a pause, she spoke back up.
"I… before I joined the army, I was in love."
"Do you mean with a man or with a passion?"
"A bit of both, honestly. My passion to fight and become strong was not one to be frowned upon. My will and dedication caught the attention of a man superior to me. It is fairly unusual for soldiers to fall in love, especially due to the difference in roles that spouses usually form. For the most part, one of them needs to raise their kids to be strong and tough, while the other needs to work and create wealth for the family. So if both people in a relationship were in an army, it would leave the caretaker role fairly abandoned."
"You miss him Riven, don't you?" Garen asked sympathetically.
"I did. We got married fairly young, and… he was shipped off to Ionia before me. I followed in his footsteps. He failed. He never returned. And I went in seeking to be strong where he was not. I was angry and frustrated." She trailed off there for a second so she could gather her own thoughts into a more logical flow. Garen turned his head to look at her face. She was still staring out into the nighttime air through Zac's bubble. She was not focused on anything in front of her, but her mind was far from wandering. After a pause, she continued.
"I insisted at first that I would carry on his name and legacy but… I bore no child. I returned time and time again to the medical professionals of Zaun and insisted that I had a child on the way. A few months after he had left, it became painfully obvious that I was wrong. I didn't know where to turn." Garen caught on fairly quickly to what she was telling him.
"In Noxus," Garen started, "the strongest survive and prosper. And yet, it only takes one defect for a legacy to cease, for a strength to go untaught, or for a perfect gene to never be passed on." Riven sat wordlessly for a few minutes.
"Which is?" she asked. She had an idea of where he was heading, but asked just to keep the conversation flowing. Even after asking, she kept her gaze transfixed on the horizon.
"Infertility," Garen replied. Riven bowed her head as she heard the word. She was all too familiar with the term and did not want to expound upon the topic any further because she knew that he was right. The Noxian vision, that she had lived her life by, had its flaws reeking through and all it took was one Demacian man to point them out.
"Is infertility weakness, Garen?" she asked in a croaking voice. She was not crying, but it was a question that she wanted answered despite her fear of knowing. She had dedicated so much of her life to strength and there was one thing that – regardless of any effort put forth to make a change – would remain as a blunder, stained on her life.
"No, it's not weakness. Genetic defects are not weakness. Weakness is derived from those unwilling to fight through their impairments, and from those who are not willing to accept the assistance they need to do what they must." Riven thought for a moment over Garen's statement.
"That sounds very much like a Noxian ideology, omit the last part. What do you mean by 'to do what they must'?"
"Not everyone in this world is cut out to be a soldier, to be a parent to a child, to be a force to be respected. Some are meant to provide you with your daily breads and meats. It is not because they are too weak to fight for their country, but because they do what they can in a world where they must. Some people are born with the most gifted brains and the most profound logical perspectives, but cannot do as much as lift their arms to feed themselves. In Noxus, where is a place for such a man?"
"Dead. Or soon to be," Riven replied solemnly.
"Precisely. Now, what if he had a man to cater to his needs and take care of him? What if that man's brain was then used to create to most powerful technological advancement, the most effective defensive tactic, or the most magnificent architectural breakthrough? Such a thing would never be seen. Allowing the weak to die will, in turn, make the entire society weaker. Strength comes through a unity of minds and talents, not the power of one individual."
"But what about those who choose not to partake? Those who sit around and allow themselves to be catered? In comparison to people who dedicate their lives to a cause and their time to an effort, they are useless! Scum and trash!" Riven retorted. Her voice had shifted drastically from the croaking it had been just moments ago. The remark had flared up a respect for her home country, and it was showing.
"In this you are right," Garen started calmly, being sure to maintain the conversational elements of their talk and refraining from spawning an argument. "There are some people in the world who do not choose to become part of the group. These people are, in fact, weak. But a chain with one weak link, is entirely useless. If the other links were to sacrifice a little of their metal in order to coat and re-strengthen the fractured one, then the entire chain benefits."
"So we help them anyways? Despite their utter uselessness? Why not cut them out entirely?" Riven shot.
"If we cut out one link, another will have to be broken and remolded in order to create a whole once again. And even so, while the chain may become stronger as a whole, it is, in fact, one link shorter. In the end, which chain is better off? The shorter, yet stronger one, or the longer and slightly weaker one?" A pause followed that turned up with no answer. The truth was, the answer lie within the upbringings of the individual thinking of the question.
Seeing as how that particular point was resolved, Garen brought the discussion back to its roots. "What did you do after he died, Riven?" he asked.
"As I said, I sought medical professionals to prove that I was carrying his child. Then I insisted that it was his weakness and not mine. I decided to have my fertility tested by the labs of Zaun. The results… were not what I wanted. I enlisted to go to Ionia, in one last selfish effort to prove to myself that I was not the weak one. What I found shattered my reality of Noxus, and my beliefs. After that… Well you know where I stand," Riven said to Garen with a smile that diverted her gaze from the horizon for the first time that evening. "How about you big guy? You haven't been in the military all of your life. What did you do before this?" Her mood seemed to lighten up exponentially from where it had been. It was almost as if she had already spent so much time thinking about her past that she did not even have the energy to maintain emotions from it.
Garen did not want to tell her that she was wrong in her last statement, but she was. "Er hrm… Um… Actually, I have been," he stammered. "My sister and I were quite close at a young age. She was taken into the military shortly after I was. However, I was more suited for such an enlistment at the time. I was a man and ready for my calling. She was… young and innocent. I remember the night before I left that we sat outside and talked to one another. It was a night very much like this one. The weather was dreary but we stayed concealed under the leaves of the trees above us. She kept a small light flickering in front of us so that we could see each other's faces. We had to be about ten and fifteen years old at the time. Being raised into a family with such a strong conviction to military strength, we spent a lot of free time roaming and exploring, play fighting and pretending to fend off the evils of the land. She was very carefree and light hearted." Garen took his turn at staring into the black cold sky. He was awfully familiar with his memories, but was not generally quick to become upset by them. They were his past, and he had to live with it, so he managed to maintain a solid stature whenever he spoke of it. However, such an occasion was not very often.
"We sat and watched the rain fall before us. She knew that me leaving would mean no more playing, and no more adventures. It was something that she would miss dearly. But I was less than appreciative of her wishes. I told her that I had a duty, and planned to follow it. She needed to do hers and stay strong in her learning and schoolwork. I knew that she would; she was the top of her class for every year that she attended, despite being placed years ahead of her own grade level." Garen paused for a moment as he brought his story back to the events and away from background information.
"She turned to me with teary eyes and held out her pinky. She wanted a promise that I would 'always do my best and greatest to look out for and protect her'. Being a brother, and soon to be knight, I made the promise. I knew that it was one that I could hold onto easily. I was wrong." Riven placed a comforting hand on his thigh as they sat beside each other on the snow.
"She was forced into the military. They sought her intelligence and magical strength for covert operations, and never once asked for her opinion on the matter. I was not there to see it happen, nor was I there to keep it from happening. I… I have hardly seen her since that last night I sat and talked to her over seven years ago. We both ended up in the League of Legends, and have been allowed to see each other on occasion, but I fear that I can never make up for the mistake I made. Such an event is scarring for a young woman, and not one that she should ever be forced into." Garen finished his short story and allowed for Riven to soak in the information.
Riven posed the question to Garen that he had given her moments ago; "you do love her, don't you? You are here for her, aren't you?"
"Yes." He nodded back.
"But what did you do? WHY are you here?"
"When I injured the man inside of the League of Legends, the wound was so grave that I fear he may be dead even as we speak. I had acted on instinct and took him to safety. But suspicion was sure to arrive, and I feared for the safety of my friends and family. If word got out that the Garen Crownguard had murdered a man and was exiled from the League of Legends… Repercussions would be less than favorable."
"So you fled, not to keep yourself from being punished, but to keep the ones you love safe?" Riven presented.
"I hope," Garen replied. The two sat in the winter's wind and watched the surroundings for what seemed to be a lifetime. Somehow, they found comfort among the blizzard that raged about them. In the distance, the blob that was the neighboring village began to emit smoke.
"Do you see that?" Zac asked. The sound of his voice made both Garen and Riven jump. They had become so peacefully calmed by the scenery that they had forgotten Zac's presence entirely. Shaking off the startled feeling, they nodded. The two stood up and Zac maintained his dome-like structure around them. They watched for a period of time until the smoke began to billow out from the town; it was no average fire. Overhead, among the smoke trail, was the blue Demacian eagle they were all too familiar with. The group did not notice it as they turned and ran towards the house of the woman who had been sheltering them. As they jogged, Zac reverted to his humanoid form to avoid potential fear from the villagers.
Once inside of her home, they woke the woman and told of what they had seen. She sprinted outside and stared at the billowing smoke. Tears formed in her eyes and she ran to the house of the village's elder. After a pause, he walked out and looked at the disturbance in the distance as best as he could through the blizzard. He bowed his head and left to sound a horn that he kept locked away inside of his home. He had hoped to never need it, but that hope was not carried on that night.
Over the course of the next thirty minutes, the village slowly got to their feet, dressed for the weather, and came outside to see what the commotion was about. It did not take long to spot what was wrong. Garen, Riven, and Zac stood among the villagers and waited for the elder's words. When he was certain that every resident who could was standing before him, he spoke.
"I fear that the time has come. Our neighboring village is under attack. Judging by the fire, I doubt that it is the work of trolls. This means that the attackers must be human, and if they are human, there will be survivors. Rarely will a man kill the wounded and unarmed." Riven cringed a little at the remark as the memories of Ionia flooded back into her head. That night seemed to be a night of memories that she did not wish to retain. The elder continued, "Gather your supplies and gear. In fifteen minutes, we march north to aid the survivors or intercept the attackers before they hit our homes."
As the elder finished his speech he ducked back into his own house to prep himself for what was to come. Garen, Riven, and Zac looked at one another before following the elder. He looked mildly surprised to see them inside of his home.
"Turn back travelers. We are in a time of peril. You must seek somewhere safer than the quarter within our village. I am grieved dearly that we cannot aid you."
"Quite the opposite, sir," Garen began. "We wish to march with you." The elder smiled and nodded. He left the room and came back with an assortment of things for them. Garen and Riven took off their blob boots and handed them back to Zac. He grinned and mushed the masses back into his own while the others put on the fur lined boots, coats, gloves, hats, and other accessories needed to endure the harsh winter outside. They kept on their remnants of armor seeing as they may have to fight if the threat decided to push on to another village. The elder looked at them and smiled in approval. He left his house, once he had donned his ancient armor, and moved to the north of his village. Garen, Riven, and Zac followed and stood among the crowd, staring into the night, awaiting the elder's orders to march on.