Been a bit. Let's get back to it, shall we?

Over Waves, It Speaks

Hirana, Hope Held Within

Yet, What Guards This Prize?

Spirit Quest V

Call of Hirana Part I

Irelia rubs her arms as she steps back inside the tiny fishing hut. It had been weeks since they had fled the Kinkou monastery, their tails falling farther and farther behind as something continued to interpose itself in their path.

A silent guardian she had observed a few times but never approached them.

They'd reached the village from Akali's vision just this morning and found it abandoned, just as all others they'd seen across the path.

It had only gotten colder the further north they had gone, with more borrowed adornments covering their usual garb.

They'd found a single boat resting on the shore, and while none of them were expert shipwrights, they'd done their best to repair the visible damage over the course of hours.

The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, and the four of them were weary, anxious, and starving.

"Anything?" Rakan asks, looking up from his position on the lone bed in the hut. He had several red scarves wrapped around his neck, and she saw that he had been fidgeting with his locket.

"No," Irelia states, kneeling next to the fire in the hearth and checking the stew simultaneously.

"I'll take the first watch." Erath offers, but Akali scoffs and rolls her eyes.

Erath had traded his thin Noxian cloak for a thick fur pelt taken from some beast that stalked the northern coasts. Yet, her eyes were drawn to the thick bandages wrapped around the left side of his face, a fresh cut digging into his rather unkempt beard.

"You're still recovering," Akali mutters, tightening the fresh bandages. A corrupted Jeweled Protector had assaulted them a week ago, and he'd taken a blow that had nearly taken his head off, covering Akali's flank. Henrietta had torn the beast's ear off in retribution before the others forced it away, but it had been relatively touch-and-go for a few days.

"Noxians are built sturdy." Erath returns.

"What about shepherd boys from Dalemor?" Irelia asks, ladling the stew she had cooked into a bowl and handing it out to him.

"Sturdy enough to survive your cooking." he snarks back, and Irelia smiles despite herself.

"Big talk," Rakan remarks, taking his offered bowl and sitting up.

"I was lugging lumber for you three all-day." Erath points out.

"Which is why you should rest and let someone else take the first watch," Akali states, "Someone not bone tired?"

"You gonna go out and find them?" Erath snipes back.

"I'll do it." Akali returns.

"Oh, you're not tired, huh?" Erath remarks, "No wonder you were just playing about in the rigging all day."

"I'm plenty tired." Akali returns, "But at least I'll be able to keep both of my eyes open."

Erath snorts, "Thought it was fair payment for your life, but hey-."

Akali's eyebrows snap up, "That isn't what I-"

"I know." Erath returns, laughing, "Noxian humor."

She punches him in the arm, eliciting a barrage of "Ow"s.

Irelia shakes her head and leans against the edge of the bed.

"You think they'll get tired of this?" Rakan mutters.

"Tossing barbs?" Irelia asks, "Never."

The two were of similar age and had entered into a back-and-forth insult trading not long after the departure from Kinkou. She could tell it eased the tension that surrounded them all daily, though she had noted since his attack Akali had dialed it back ever so slightly.

"I'm taking first watch." Irelia states, cutting them both off, "You can fight about who gets second later. Now eat."

The two pull apart and begin to eat, staring at each other with narrow eyes.

She shakes her head and gets up, taking what is left within the stewpot and moving it to the adjoining lumber shed, which was currently filled instead with the snorting, shivering form of Henrietta.

The great reptile greedily slurps down the stew, and even allows Irelia to place a hand on her head, a far departure from their initial interaction.

"Okay, girl?" Irelia asks.

Henrietta snorts, and her tail bashes against the wall. Irelia looks towards it and sees a partially cracked window shade.

"Ah," Irelia remarks, moving to close it.

Henrietta raises her head, sniffing in its direction.

"Something out there?" Irelia asks, peering into the darkness.

The reptile grumbles and returns to eating, and Irelia shrugs, closing the shade, not noticing a figure standing at the edge of the village, head turned in their direction.

She steps back into the main section of the hut and sees the others looking back at her.

"What?" she asks.

"Well…" Akali begins, drawing out her mentor's gleaming blade and setting it in the center of the floor as had become custom. The blade hovers into the air, a protective dome flickering outward, forming a sanctuary that would alert Akali to any spirits attempting to reach them.

"It's been weeks, and we haven't had much time to talk, constantly fighting or on the run." she finishes, the others nodding.

"And while I know at least part of the end goal, I was wondering if you could tell me how all this started?" Akali asks, "How did you all end up on this path?"

"Right…" Irelia begins, "Well, Viego's attacks touched everywhere, and after a while, most people started banding together, attempting to find a way to hold off his intrusions. The Dancers and I were working with Lady Karma, attempting to safeguard the Omikayalan."

"Why?" Akali asks.

"The God-Willow…it had bloomed again. The heart of Ionia's Spirit was healing once more, and we feared the Ruination would seek to consume it." Irelia explains.

"How? Legends said that the Green Father had taken its place?" Akali asks.

"I don't know." Irelia states honestly, looking to Rakan, "I was only made aware of its existence by Lady Karma."

"It was newly reborn. My people had set guardians to watch over it, to keep it secret and safe from any that would tamper with it." Rakan remarks, "We had thought that if it were given a chance to grow unaccosted, our people would see ourselves renewed."

"And Viego, the Ruined King, he killed it?" Akali asks.

Rakan and Irelia share a look, "We don't know. Karma claimed before she was turned that we could see it be born anew through the Green Father, but we can't truly say what the fate of the God-Willow is, not yet."

"The Sentinels, the folks that are fighting Viego, came to help us, and he was chased off before he could do more, but the way they talk about him and from what we've seen, I don't think the Ruination kills, not really." Erath remarks, rubbing his chin.

The others turn to him.

"What does it do then?" Akali asks.

"Well, I don't claim to know any more than you." Erath remarks, "After all, Ionia is closer to Bilgewater and the Harrowings, but you'd hear rumors, you know, of an Island of the Living Dead far to the South from random traders coming from the coasts." Erath explains, "I think the Ruination just corrupts life or traps you somewhere in between."

"The Spirit has felt…altered," Rakan notes, "But it isn't gone. It is quieter, harsher, colder, and growing more so all the time. You've felt that, yes?"

His eyes flick to Irelia and Akali.

Irelia nods, a numb, prickling feeling sparking along her limbs every time she accessed her magic.

Akali shakes her head, "I've never had much of a hand at magic."

"So the Tree…" Erath begins.

"Might still exist." Irelia finishes, "In some form, and the Green Father must simply heal it to fix the corruption."

"You make that sound easy," Rakan mutters.

"Easier than resurrection," Irelia notes.

"Perhaps," Rakan mutters, "But we don't even know what the Green Father can truly do, just the legends surrounding him."

"Karma had faith." Irelia returns.

"She was also falling to Viego's influence," Rakan states.

"So you think this has been a fool's errand?" Irelia demands, bristling slightly.

"No! No…I just…" Rakan begins, before slumping and rubbing the back of his head, "It's been kinda hard to keep the faith, you know, after everything we've seen."

Barren Towns.

Walking Corpses.

People Trapped in Waking Nightmares.

Rampant Azakana.

And what would await them on Hirana?

That question had gone unspoken amongst the four since they left the Kinkou.

"Something has been helping us." Erath offers, "Keeping the wraiths and Ruined from finding us."

"I ever meet them. I'll buy them a beer." Rakan mutters with a flat chuckle.

"About that..the beings that have been chasing you," Akali begins, "There are three in particular that stand out. Who are they?"

"My love." Rakan and Irelia state at the same time.

"Liana," Irelia states, "A fellow Dancer, a balm on so many wounds, she…Viego took her after she saved me."

"Xayah," Rakan states, "Miella. My partner for…so long I can't even remember a time without her, until the Ruination. It claimed her guilt after…well, let's say things went wrong not so long ago."

"You too?" Akali asks, eying Erath.

"Do I have an enslaved love who is forced to hunt me?" Erath returns, "No. No, my specter is…someone I murdered."

Akali blinks and the others shift.

"They know," he states, nodding to Irelia and Rakan, "She was mad, consumed with rage and fear. She wanted to kill everyone around her over something I still don't quite understand."

"Who?" Akali asks.

"Tifalenji." he states, speaking her name like a curse and shivering slightly as if something cold had crawled up his back, "A Noxian Runeweaver, she brought me to Ionia to hunt a 'criminal,' and when it was all said in done, my blade went through her heart to save said criminal and my comrades."

"And they hunt you all of their own desire, or is Viego sending them after you?" Akali asks.

"We do not know." Irelia states, "It could simply be him taunting us or attempting to stop us from completing our mission."

"Even more of a reason to get to Hirana, then," Akali mutters.

"You're sure he is there?" Rakan asks.

"Sure as ever." she returns, "But I can't say what will be waiting for us when we get there."

"If we get there." Rakan notes, "Regardless of the lack of sailing knowledge between the four of us, do we truly have an idea if our patches will hold?"

"They won't." a deep voice growls, and the four immediately surge to their feet as a behemoth of a man shoulders his way into the room.

His head scraps the ceiling, his body wider than Erath in full armor, but he is bare-chested, blocky tattoos covering his upper chest and shoulders, dirty cloth wrapping around his immense fists, a thick mane of hair hanging down around his face.

"Seal skin and tar should hold it together long enough to reach Hirana, but what awaits you there will likely be even more challenging than iceberg-ridden seas brimming with Ruined beasts." the stranger continues, sniffing the air.

"It is lucky then, I seek Hirana as well." he states, looking around at them with a dispassionate glare, and nodding to the pot, "There any stew left? I scented it a mile out."

"Wh-who are you?" Irelia demands, sharing a confused look with the others.

The man pulls his hair away from his face, revealing a bearded visage with vibrant blue eyes.

"Udyr." he rumbles, "A Spirit-Walker of the Freljord, former Monk of Hirana, my dreams have been haunted by the Ruination of this ancient land and the muttered pleas of the Gods. Here I was called, and here I stand, so tell me, how can I help?"

And scene!

Bet you weren't expecting that arrival now where you?

Next time, what Haunts Hirana, and will our heroes be able to extricate Ivern from its grasp?

Also, I have concluded that this story will likely be longer than 6/7 chapters and may, in fact, end up being as long as Silvermere.

Regardless, next week hopefully, I will post the final chapter of Haven in the Isles and get started on the first chapter of "Year 2,". But I make no promises. Life is getting kinda chaotic at the moment.

As always comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!