CHAPTER 7: ESTABLISHMENT OF FORCES

Where the bunny was now stood a small hunk of ash.

"Magnificent…" a deep voice muttered, "such a simple being, yet with such intricate compositions."

Vel'Koz looked around him. He was floating in the Institute garden, just remarking his surroundings. A normal passerby would have been shocked to see such a malicious looking eyeball take in nature's surroundings. In the shadows, a lizard scurried. Zap. A steaming pile of ashes. Without turning around, Vel'Koz spoke.

"You are late, Prophet."

"Actually, it's you that's early, Vel," a sinister voice sneered behind him. Malzahar floated towards Vel'Koz, and Vel'Koz turned around to meet his gaze. They were supposed to meet at noon. It was 11:59.

"Do not call me 'Vel', Malzahar. What is it that you wanted to discuss so urgently about?"

"The weather, you numbskull," the Prophet replied sarcastically, "we're meeting here to discuss more about our…" Malzahar paused to think of a fitting word, "our 'plan'."

Vel'Koz looked at Malzahar intensely.

"Speak."

"You see, we've achieved all there is to put our plan into motion. We've already played out on Kassadin's emotions. We've played on everyone's fear. Have you not seen them? After you leveled the front of the Institute, all the other champions were scared to see you. Not only that, we've gathered the Void's strongest fighters, and I'm sure there are more than enough people that want to help our cause, even if they do not hail from the Void."

"Such as?"

Draven walked out of the shadows with a limp, his right arm in a cast. His voice was full of malice.

"Such as me."

)))

Yasuo walked towards Kassadin's apartment holding a small pot of stew, then knocked on the door. After a brief wait, the door creaked open, and Kassadin's yellow eyes shone through the crack. He sighed with happy relief.

"Come in Yasuo," he said as he fully opened his door.

Yasuo set the pot of steaming stew carefully on the kitchen counter.

"I came here because I heard you got your ass handed to you in a fight," Yasuo grinned.

"There's always another chance at battle, right, Yasuo?" He was obviously referring to his fight with Draven.

"Yessir there is indeed. There is indeed…"

Kassadin floated over to the cupboard and brought out two bowls and a ladle. He set them on the table and proceeded to fill them up with the stew. Beef, carrots, and Ionian wild rice, Kassadin smelled, delicious. They both sat down at the table and began eating lunch. Seeing Kassadin eat was a funny spectacle. His mask never came off, but the food still disappeared. Every time he brought his spoon close to his mask, a tinge of purple could be seen around the food, before it evaporated into his mouth behind the mask.

"Kassadin, I really came here for a serious talk. What happened outside the Institute?"

Kassadin paused with his spoon midair.

"It was nothing much. Just an old familiar who wanted to say hi."

"It was Vel'Koz, wasn't it?"

The food that began evaporating suddenly spilled out of his spoon, and Kassadin began coughing. After his coughing fit, he spoke.

"Yes. Indeed it was."

"Why is he here? I mean, I know the League is always searching for stronger fighters, but I don't think there were anymore Void champions to come after Kha'Zix."

There was an unsettling silence.

"Since you are a close friend of mine, I think I can entrust you with what I suspect is happening."

Yasuo nodded intently.

"Vel'Koz isn't here without a mission. He's been called here by Malzahar. I suspect that Malzahar has put his plan into action. He's had the dream of taking over Runeterra for as long as we could remember, and I assume he's going to use Vel'Koz's knowledge and power to realize that twisted dream of his."

They sat there in complete silence. Yasuo imagined a world run by the Void. Every person, regardless of their status as a champion or not, enslaved by a huge floating eyeball and a sadistic psychopath. The Void being the ruling power of Runeterra. Justice would disappear under their twisted oppression.

And worst of all, everything would be purple.

Kassadin spoke up again, his voice shaky and full of anguish.

"I don't think I can defeat him in battle. He's... he's too strong."

"I agree. You can't do it by yourself," Yasuo replied.

Kassadin's head shot up and stared at Yasuo.

"But with others, I'm sure that we can do it. Together. If what you suspect is indeed true, I'm sure a lot of us will have no problem helping you fight against the Void. To be honest, your current roster of a couple of Runeterran militia really isn't enough, and you know it. I'm sure you need champions to help."

Kassadin spoke up shortly, "Yes, I do think so. Thank you."

"But there is one thing you're going to have to do alone…" Yasuo's tone was grave.

"And what would that be?" Kassadin ventured.

An uneasy silence followed.

"You're going to have to do the dishes by yourself."

Kassadin stared at Yasuo, before the two of them burst out laughing.

)))

Draven walked slowly but deliberately up to Riven, who was hanging out in the Institute Lounge. Without turning, she spoke to him.

"Leave me alone, Draven."

"Riven. Yasuo spoke to me about you," he started.

Upon hearing the man's name, she twitched a bit and turned around to face Draven.

"What?" was the simple question posed by the young lady.

"Look, after he beat me in our fight last time, he told me a couple of things."

"Such as what?"

"He almost killed me, Riven. He was going to let me just bleed out on the ground, were it not for the paramedics group that arrived just in time."

"Yeah, and last time, if I didn't save him, you would've just beheaded him right there on the spot."

"I know. But I'm serious now, Riven. I signalled surrender, I told him he won. I told him to spare me, he was obviously the stronger warrior. But he still kept up. You should've seen it. His eyes, they were filled with blind rage. After he landed his Last Breath technique on me, he came up to me and told me, and I quote, 'After you're done bleeding out on the ground, I'm going to kill Riven, too."

Riven's eyes opened wide, before narrowing them at Draven.

"And on what grounds should I believe you?"

"He almost killed me, Riven. I had to spend a week in Intensive Care, and that was with the Institute's advanced healing. How do you not trust me? We fought in the same squadron, we invaded Ionia together. We fought and we won together. Countless battles. We've fought in the barracks since we were kids, Riven. And you trust a man you met a couple weeks ago more than me?"

Riven sighed, before seeing some logic in his argument. Even though he was quite the lewd bastard, he was still her comrade.

"Fine. Speak. I'll see if I believe you after you talk."

Draven sighed with relief, and began speaking again.

"He told me that you weren't worth forgiving, and that he would kill you. He said when he found out you were his elder's killer, he resolved to himself to kill you no matter what. He told me he thought of you as a weak idiot, and he told me he regretted not killing you earlier. Not only that, he says he wants you to feel his pain. His voice was trembling when he told me all this, Riven. You visited him, didn't you? Begging for forgiveness?"

"How did you know that?"

"You think I'm going to let my friend just run into some murderer's home without making sure she's okay? Now, hush, I need to finish telling you. When you visited him, don't you think he was a bit too nice to someone who wrecked his life? He's using your emotions to get what he wants. He hasn't forgiven you at all Riven. He won't forgive you. You think I don't know? We're both men, we understand what underlies our words when we speak."

Riven thought about it. She shook her head. That was the real Yasuo, huh? Now that she knew all of this, she shook her head. How disgusting. So Yasuo never really forgave her, and now her life was in danger. Yasuo was going to kill her.

Inwardly, Draven smiled sinisterly. Latched safely on his back, his spinning axes glowed faintly purple.