The angel of Noxus. Tags: Riven, Fantasy? Lore expansion? It is a story.
"Aaaaaaah! Run! The sky is falling down!"
The emaciated children of the Noxian slums scatter like a flight of startled pigeons. Their footsteps clattering against the filthy cobblestone as the little homeless rascals flee in all possible directions, abandoning the black smoking crater behind. All but one of the orphaned offspring of Noxus, be it orphaned by famine or sudden death, or even disease for that matter leave the unmoving figure that's lying at the center of the charred hole untouched. All but the little white-haired girl that's looking at the burnt body on the ground with a mixture of horror and awe in their wide sanguine eyes, that is.
And then the scorched woman in the hole starts coughing. Her fingers combing the cracked cobblestone underneath her as she attempts to stand up, only for her to fall back down again with a hoarse and breathless pained cry. The remnants of once proud, but now tattered wings still weakly stretching and folding halfway, sometimes twitching against the stranger's back, albeit probably subconsciously.
The pale woman then goes rigid and remains deathly still. The long curtain of her purplish, midnight black hair cascading over the strange creature's face covering her pained expression. Riven waits for a minute and then another one and then another, the little albino's maroon-colored orbs watching the silent figure with shocked trepidation. Circling the swallow crater with hesitant steps, the white-haired orphan spots an ornate golden bracelet clasped around the left bloody wrist of the possibly dead burnt woman.
The child pauses. Its reluctant gaze darting between the treasure in sight and the smoking carcass of the mysterious female ahead. Now, normally, the white-haired girl would rather not approach the burnt corpse of the mysterious woman if she could help it, but presently and with an actual prize there to rekindle the starving orphan's interest, young Riven steels her resolve for what she has to do in order to survive.
Knowing that the stories carried by the lips of the fleeing rascals and the smoke rising from the burnt hole would soon draw the attention of the city's guards, the orphan takes a small hesitant step towards the direction of the dead angel.
…
Nothing alarming happens. Tiny embers continue their peculiar dance along the edge of the shallow hole, the stench of burned flesh wafting from the silhouette of the humanoid comet somewhat irritating Riven's nostrils. With the all too probable thought of imminent guardsmen arriving and stealing the treasure from her compelling Riven to action, the starving orphan dares to take a few more reluctant steps towards the winged corpse and dip its little feet in the dry black pond of hot melted cobblestone. The little girl's alert red orbs never once straying from the nearing glint of her precious prize. Her footwear already warming up due to the heat surrounding the supernatural comet.
It feels like the whole world has stopped turning, that even Valoran itself is holding its breath when Riven is finally standing inside the hole, quietly overlooking the corpse of the fallen celestial. The orphan tiptoes to the side of the eerie entity, grabs a charred piece of warm rock from the rubble encircling the dark-haired woman's prone form, and then abruptly tosses it at the other side of the smoking black crater.
The rock thunders like a war horn inside the unnatural veil of silence that is presently engulfing the world, and yet the winged corpse doesn't even flinch at the loud sound. That's why Riven gathers the courage to lightly kick it with her ragged torn shoe.
*Thump! The toddler's small foot muffledly collides with the burnt side of the fallen angel on the floor. Ready to bolt, the white-haired orphan awaits with bated breath to see the reaction of the unmoving celestial woman.
When close to five seconds pass without the burnt woman rising like a vengeful wrath or screeching like a mad banshee at her, the child's eyes return back to the subdued yellowish glint of the alien golden bracelet. A childish little pale arm tentatively stretches as far as it can away from its body in order to grasp the piece of jewelry from a safe distance. The dirty fingers of the hungry Noxian orphan lightly feeling for the clasp of the beautiful otherworldly ornament.
Clink, clink, clink, the bracelet chimes amongst the cobble and the scattered black ashes, and yet it stubbornly remains firmly attached to the dead angel's hand.
Riven continues unsuccessfully fumbling with the golden clasp, the little rascal's dirty fingertips occasionally brushing against the dead woman's burnt skin until the starving orphan finally ascertains that she will have to attempt unfastening the jewelry with both of her hands in order to actually claim her valuable prize. Much to her more than palpable distaste little Riven also realizes that she will unfortunately have to move closer to the bloody dead angel in to so.
The young girl grits its teeth in frustration. Why couldn't things go her way for once? With a fearful expression plastered on her serious, yet childish visage, and the little albino's already pale complexion draining completely of color Riven hesitantly kneels next to the fallen angel's scorched corpse. Two tiny and shaky dirty hands now fervently tugging at the strange golden jewel left and right.
"Come on.." The little white-haired rascal whispers with urgency as she spins the precious bracelet around the still woman's wrist while shooting frantic glances at the obscured face of the celestial comet. "Come on.. Come on.. Come on!" Riven chants under her hitched breath as she struggles with the clasp of the golden jewelry.
"Yes!" The toddler victoriously exclaims when the complex clasping mechanism finally comes undone and the valuable treasure is freed from the dead angel's limp and charred appendage.
The faint smile perched on Riven's lips instantly subdues when the hungry orphan takes a better look at its grand prize and quickly realizes something both startling and peculiar about the strange object. The golden bracelet seems like a normal piece of jewelry upon first inspection. A circular band of precious metal with a few white gemstones fitted along the length of the perfect radiant circle. And then the dumbfounded orphaned rascal notices the sturdy-looking clasp at the side of the precious band and the single golden blackened link that is still attached to this alarming addition, and Riven's heart is filled with sudden dread. For the young white-haired toddler finally realizes at last the horrible mistake that she's made.
Because the strange circular golden band wasn't a strange piece of jewelry as the young homeless child had initially thought in her utter despair and substantial glee, but the leftover remains of a pair of celestial manacles.
…A pair of manacles that were now removed from the flinching wrists of the obviously not-so-dead woman.
And as if on cue the winged woman's burnt arm abruptly lashes out from the impossibly warm floor, darting towards the unsuspecting trembling arm of the presently stunned white-haired child. The fallen angel's sharp nails mercilessly digging into the poor toddler's flesh eliciting a pained scream from Riven.
"Aaargh!" Riven cries out in both surprise and terror as the injured burnt woman slowly lifts her head from the charred cracked cobblestone. Much like a vengeful ghost crawling out of the blackened earth, the scorched celestial witch weakly crawls towards the frozen in fear child, a sinister smile dancing on Morgana's lips. Her purplish-black hair partly hanging around her bloodstained face, full of broken rubble and dust as the Fallen Angel stares the utterly terrified toddler in the eye.
"Remove the other bracelet if you would, please." Morgana hoarsely whispers after coughing out a mouthful of fresh ashes and crimson droplets. The trembling toddler merely staring at the immortal winged witch in fright.
The impatient Fallen Angel's sharp fingernails then dig deeper into Riven's soft flesh.
"I said, Please." The exiled celestial woman growls impatiently at the shaken toddler, anger and madness swirling inside Morgana's amethyst glare. Riven frightfully swallows, unable to take her eyes off the bloodied winged woman and guides a small quaking hand towards the angel's other gold manacle.
Notes: I like the idea of this one, since Morgana's arrival in Noxus didn't birth as many tales as I would have hoped. So I wanted to try my hand on Morg's arrival in the black city. An angel crash-lands in the middle of a medieval capital and nobody bats an eye. There was a story I wanted to write some years ago where Morgana is found by a young Talon and Morgana bonds their souls in order to save her life. A soulmate story of sorts revolving around Talon and Morg finding each other after the passage of some years. Oh well. Here's the Riven twist of that old plot. Maybe Riven was capable of removing the manacles because of her unknown angelic heritage, maybe Morgana realizes it and there is some conflict born around her befriending, killing or using Riven versus Kayle. Maybe the two come close or maybe not. Maybe Riven is Kayle's illegitimate lost daughter. There are a lot of possibilities in the setting, but I am quite satisfied with it as it is. Have a nice day.