Here we are at Quests End.
Once Stood A Grand Tree
The Hope of Ionia
What May Lie There Now?
Spirit Quest VIII
Where Once, Will Be
Irelia skids to a halt as she exits the portal.
Glancing around, they are back where it all started, the Grove of the Ancients. She looks ahead, and the withered trunk of God-Willow stares back.
Grey leaves litter the ground, the surrounding forest weeping their crowns as the Mist drags more and more of their life out of it. Black Mist hung in the air like spider webs, forming a net across the withering canopy.
"This will all be over soon." she thinks, looking back to her companions.
Erath wrangles Henrietta to a standstill and looks around, drawing his rifle, "Be ready. Never good to reach your final goal and find no one waiting for you."
Rakan was splayed on the ground, sitting up wearily, and shook himself, wincing and clutching a hand to his temple.
"Something…. Is very wrong." he mutters through gritted teeth, "The Om…"
Akali helps him to his feet, her other hand wrapping around the pommel of her master's blade, "I feel it, too."
Irelia reaches out, used to the chill emptiness that fills the place where her home's soul had once been, and instead, something reaches back, clinging and burning, desperate for connection.
She wrenches back, looking up as Ivern and Yone step past her towards the tree, both of their heads turned upwards to the empty space above the trunk.
"No…" Yone breathes, drawing both of his blades.
"What?" Irelia demands, the others joining around her, heads turning for any sign of the enemy.
Ivern looks down at her, replacing his smiling countenance with a pained grimace.
"We need to work quickly." he states, turning to Akali, "May I?"
He reaches for Shen's blade. She draws it free and holds it up to him.
Placing a hand on it, he nods to Yone, who mimics the motion, "You must all see the danger before us. There is little time and much to do, so prepare for whatever may follow."
A pulse of blue magic envelopes them all, and when it clears, Irelia finds herself looking at a world of flowing greys and eerie green flame.
Only her compatriots give off other colors, Akali and Rakan gleaming blue and purple, respectively, their eyes and hair a vibrant gleaming pink.
Erath and his mount are a deep Noxian red, though his heart and eyes are shrouded in a pale green.
Ivern is every shade of green known to her, and Yone is halved down the middle, navy and blood red, fighting to overtake either side, his deep Mist wounds standing all the more prominent.
She looks down at her own hands, and the pink of a lotus looks back at her.
Their Sentinel-gifted weapons glow with a soft golden radiance, but her attention is quickly stolen by the vast roots seeping Black Mist punching from the earth all around them.
She turns, and her heart sinks, as emerging from the shattered trunk of God Willow is a new tree.
An ugly, spidery thing that stretched for the heavens with long grasping limbs more akin to arms than branches. Its leaves burned, its trunk shifted, and knotholes spilled the Black Mist-like sap, which roiled down the sides and pooled at the base.
"No." Rakan breathed.
"The King didn't slay the child of my Mistake." Ivern intones, his face graver than she had ever heard tell. Gone was the Grandfather of the Forest; returned was something more, something far older and harsher, "He has Ruined it. If this tree is allowed to truly take root as it is, Ionia will join Helia, Ruined…forever."
"How do we stop it?" Akali demands.
"Cut the roots, and allow me to draw the Mist out." Ivern intones, widening his stance and rooting himself to the ground.
"What will become of you?" Irelia asks.
"I don't know." he chuckles, looking down at her with old, sad eyes, "Redemption, perhaps."
"It won't be so easy." Yone intones, slowly drawing his blades and nodding to the crown of the tree.
The others look, and descending from the tree, warped bark wrapping around her limbs, thick vines fat with the Mist tethering her to the tree is Karma, more than Ruined, an Azakana born of her own spiritual corruption.
"The King has granted us an apotheosis. True unity." Karma intones, holding her arms out wide, "Never again will anyone threaten our shores. No more will our people die at the hands of Invaders. We will be whole. Forever. Through this Spirit Tree, his Weeping Shade."
From the surrounding forest, other figures emerge, summoned from the Mist, familiar faces, and the former guardian of the God-Willow: Sai'nen, the Fox Spirit warped into an utter monstrosity by the corruption of the Land.
"Lay down your arms, and your loved ones can be returned to you. You need not fight any longer." Karma states, smiling eerily, "The King knows the pain of separation. He would see no one feel that ever again."
"Akali…" Shen states, emerging from the shadows, his form still trapped within the mass of twitching Azakana.
Yet at his side, others appeared, specters of a Yordle and a tall woman resembling Akali.
"Emai." Akali murmurs.
"Come home." the woman states, extending a hand.
"My son." a gruff voice states, as from the shaded wood, the specter of an older man appears, "This isn't our fight."
"Da," Erath breathes, his gun lowering.
The Black Mist is creeping towards them now, Yone fully drawing his blades and turning on a swivel as Irelia saw her companions falter.
"It's not real, you two, sna-" Rekan begins, only to falter as out of the woods, seemingly returned to normal, a coy smile on her lips is his love.
"Mieli, we won't have to fight anymore. We'll be free to live as we have always wanted, free of oppression, free to exist." Xayah states.
"You…no…Miella please," Rakan murmurs.
Something is wrong; their minds are faltering, and before she can reach out a hand to stop any of them, to help them shrug it off, a voice calls Irelia's name.
"Irelia, love," Liana whispers, but this time she isn't alone. All of her family, her parents, her brothers, her O-ma. All smiling, all reaching out, arms wide to embrace her.
"Let this end. And we can all be with you again." Liana states.
Ivern is frozen, staring up at Karma as if lost in a memory, the others stepping towards their lot families, and only Yone resisted, slashing at the Black Mist as it closed in around them, attempting to keep it back even as it threatened to seep into him.
She feels herself step towards Liana.
"Just lay down your blades." Liana intones again, and Irelia can see the light of Ruination burning in her eyes.
She is tired. So tired. She'd been fighting all her life, never truly known peace. She'd lost so much… why not just allow someone else to take over the reins?
To have peace, no matter the source, was it worth what was coming?
She closes her eyes, "I promised I'd keep you safe."
"And you will. You need simply join us." Liana intones, drawing forward.
"I…" Irelia mutters, feeling a hunger for her family rising uncontrollably in her.
It was so easy.
Too easy.
She looks to the others.
Rakan glances back, and the sad grimace on his face is enough to lionize her.
He claps his hands together, a great shield erupting around them all.
And Irelia strikes, sending her love's blade spinning.
It lances into Karma's chest with a flare of golden light.
Liana surges forward, clashing against the dome as the specters of Irelia's deceased family vanish back into the warped Spirit Realm.
Karma snarls and wrenches the blade free, and with a gesture, Irelia sends it spiraling back to her hand.
"We fight on!" Irelia shouts. Yone draws his blades up to the sides of his face, Akali unsheathes her master's blade, and Erath drops to a knee, rifle ready, as his mount snarls and snaps at his side, "For Ionia! For our families! We end this nightmare today!"
Ivern chuckles, "Good! Now, let's get you all into the fight."
He slaps his hands together, an armor of new growth, green against the choking shade of the Mist, snares across their bodies.
Rakan draws his weapons and looks to Irelia, "Now?"
"Now!" she commands.
The shield drops, and Ionia's saviors rocket into the Mist.
Ivern raises his hands, gold, and green light pouring from his hands, filling the air and wrapping around the tree. In response, minor roots and distended vines begin to lash free of the corrupted soil, surging toward him and the others.
Yone charges for the warped Sai'nen, "I hope that your madness can end before your life, great beast."
The fox spirit snarls and lunges for him, jaws snapping thunderously.
Yone weaves around the first strike, eyeing the thick, squirming root that the beast guards. Slashing through several offending vines, he dodges around it, attempting to get to his main target.
The beast snaps again, and he responds with a slash of his blade, cutting a line across its upper jaw.
He lashes out with his Azakana blade, and the beast flinches back, fear momentarily overpowering the alien will controlling it.
Yone's eyes narrow, "Interesting."
He turns his body so that the blade is at the fore and lunges again, chasing the great beast back as he keeps his eyes locked on the warped root behind it.
Akali weaves and flips as lashing vines and roots try to wrench her to the ground.
Kunai's fly, pining some, her mortal blade deflecting others. Shen's is the only one that seems to do serious damage, cutting them into smoking chunks.
But before her is Shen, his warped, possessed form, towering before her, dozens of mouths screeching, dozens of arms lashing out at her, yer she can sense and see his weakened spirit attempt to fight back against the thick corruption weighing him down.
But right now, for all she wanted to carve apart the azakana leaching off of him, her target was the root.
"I'm sorry," she mutters as she slides under his first wild swing.
Erath charges forward, stabbing and slashing with his bayonet, step in step with the thrashing, gnashing form of Henrietta.
He was enraged. He was fine with the specter of the madwoman he killed haunting him.
The gall of that distant, damned King to show him his dead father's face.
He hoped cutting the roots would hurt him.
There is a flash of green, and he is knocked from his feet, vines, and roots snapping up to hold him down.
Cutting his way free, he looks up and grimaces.
"I really need to stop jinxing myself," he mutters as Tifalenji races towards him, a mad smile on her gaunt face, her body burning Noxian red in this odd Spirit place, her blade a violent, sickening green.
He rolls away from her first strike and surges to his feet, stabbing at her with the bayonet.
She parries, and the grin widens, "What little skill you have gained from this trial of yours."
"Yeah, well, least I'm not alone." Erath counters as Henrietta clamps down on the undead woman's shoulder with a vicious snarl.
Tifalenji grunts and attempts to pry herself free, and Erath takes the opportunity to shoulder his rifle and plant a shot right into her face.
She falls screaming, Henrietta still savaging her, and he bolts away.
All that matters is the roots.
Rakan grimaces as once more he is forced to face his love.
He has grown so tired of this.
So very tired.
But he can't hold back anymore.
This has to end.
She lances for him, feathers extending, and instead of dodging, he stays planted firm.
"I'm sorry," he states, for as her feathers stab into him, she finds her movement halted. He wraps his hands around both her arms; she blinks in surprise as he pulls her close and launches them both into the air. She struggles, but as he holds on, he focuses, allowing a cocoon of his protective energy to wrap around her, restraining her.
She snarls, snaps, and curses, but for the first time in this entire conflict, he lets her go metaphorically and physically.
She drops, shielded from harm but weighed down and unable to move.
She matters, and will always matter, but right now, ending this matters more.
"She is going to be so angry," he mutters to himself, trying to find the humor, as he draws his weapons again and races for an exposed anchor root.
Irelia dances between two opponents, her first love and her rival turned mentor, as Liana and Karma attempt to pin her down.
But she is a torrent, a tide, a dance uninterruptible. Her home depended on it.
Blade against blade, magic against magic, she surged on.
"This will end. Ionia will be safe in the days to come, not as servants to some mad king lost in obsession, but by the will of Her people!" Irelia taunts as she weaves around Karma's latest strike, her constantly shifting blades halting her grasping magic from getting a hold.
Glancing around, she spies an anchor root. She need simply wait for an opening.
Liana strikes for her neck, and she weaves beneath it, tapping the blade gently with one hand, and she feels her will connect.
Perfect.
She spins around and brings her arm up in a stabbing motion towards Karma.
The stolen blade responds, catching Karma in the chest and sending Liana sprawling off balance.
Irelia lances away, leaping and spinning in the air, and then brings a kick down toward the root.
Her blades whip around her and follow the kick downward, slashing into the root and nearly cutting it in twain.
An unearthly shriek echoes all around them, the hand branches contracting in main, dozens of spectral eyes snapping to life across its trunk, revealing the knotted mass more closely resembles an amalgam of bodies.
Black Mist begins to race from the wound, wraiths and Mistwalkers, dressed in tattered Ionian garb, pouring forward, snapping and clawing at her as the root hangs on by a few tethered of pulpy ichor.
"Good!" Ivern intones, his magic brightening as it continues to cocoon the warped tree.
Irelia grits her teeth and begins carving through them, hearing her companions fighting hard around her.
Then, another scream and a horrid chill crawls up her spine.
She whirls as Karma rockets into the sky, her body wreathed in green flame, and then it bursts free of her, forming twin dragons of snapping, snarling fire.
They roil above her head and then turn, racing towards Ivern.
His eyes widen, but he refuses to drop his spell.
"No!" Irelia shouts, punching towards Karma, her blades racing for her.
Liana interposes, and Irelia can't draw all of them back.
The blades slam home, one after another, into Liana's chest, and the light in her eyes flicker, a look of genuine fear and confusion crossing her face.
"Ire?" she asks, as true blood begins to pool from the wound, and with that, she falls, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
All of that happens in a matter of moments, and before Irelia can even scream, she is slammed to the ground by a blast of magic from Karma and is held there as she pours her corrupted power into her.
Ivern cries out as the fire slams into him, his body igniting, and she hears her companions halt in their flight.
"The roots!" Ivern bellows, his joyous tone gone, an accent not too dissimilar from Udyr's forcing its way forward.
Irelia fights to stand, fights to ignore the pain, fights to tear her eyes from her unconscious love.
She is unable.
Yone leaps out of the way of Sai'nen's crashing jaws, missing his strike with the azakana blade as the beast nimbly avoids the strike, rightfully cautious of its biting edge.
He hears Irelia shout, a cascade of flame, and Ivern roars in pain.
He doesn't look back; he can't, but he knows reaching the root has become all the more important.
Drawing his blades up to his head, he stares deep into Sai'nen's eyes as the Black Mist grows around them.
"Let's end this." he intones and then surges forward before the great fox can even blink. He lashes his blades outward, carving through all four legs, his demonic sword biting all the deeper, and then lunges forward, bringing it down on the root.
Pain blossoms in his other arm as Sai'nen whirls with impossible speed and latches its mouth entirely around it. He feels flesh tear and blood run, and numbness begins to spread as the Black Mist on the beast's breath begins to seep into the new wound.
The azakana blade falls just short of touching the root.
Rakan hears Iven cry out and turns to see the elder tree in flames, unable to defend himself as he continues to pour his healing magic into the warped tree.
He goes to cast a bit of healing, and his shoulder blossoms in pain.
A feather.
And she is on him in a moment, her limbs bent and twisted, having forced herself free of his crafted cage by any means she could.
He grimaces, rage burning in his heart as he thinks of of the King and the horrid things he had done to his Miella.
The healing magic forms into another shield, which he begins to warp around her again, but she manically pulls herself free.
He couldn't stop her.
Not like this, but the root.
Gathering his magic into himself, he feels his heartbeat speed up, sees the world around him slow, and he races away from her, Sentinel blade rising, wreathed in an extra edge of hardened Om.
And there is pain.
As bladed feathers punch into his back like hail, one punches into his knee, and he falls and rolls.
He is feet from the anchor root, and he can feel the tree attempting to keep him down, thick vines and grasping roots trying to push into his kin.
He drags himself forward, one leg useless.
And she is before him, purple magic burning between her fingers as she extends her hand towards him.
Akali can hear the carnage, hear bodies hitting the ground, but she can't lose her focus.
The thing-that-was-her-master's dozens of arms clutch for her, and it takes all of her agility to stay free of them and the grasping foliage at her feet.
The anchor root is right behind it. She needs to simply make her move.
They are running out of time.
The mass of demons lunges for her once more, and instead of dodging back, she darts in and, with a deft overhand strike, carves clean into the hand, parting the arm down the middle with Shen's blade.
The monster shrieks, and she rolls beneath its overburdened legs and goes into a full sprint towards the anchor root.
It can't catch her.
Positioning Shen's blade for an upward cut, she is but inches from the tree when suddenly the monster appears, teleporting in front of her and slamming her into the ground with its many arms.
The breath is sent racing from her lungs. Shen's sword leaves her grasp and skips into the grass, and she feels something crack within her left shoulder, the coinciding arm immediately falling limp.
She growls in pain and attempts to rise, only for Shen's foot to plant her back into the dirt.
She looks up, seeing his face hidden amongst the twisting mass covering his body.
"I…" he chokes out before his face is swallowed as the dozens of arms rise to pummel her once more.
Erath sees Akali fall and falters, turning and setting up a shot to fire. He hears Henrietta let out a strangled cry, further distracting him, and his breath hitches as the point of a runed-blade punches out the front of his chest.
He stumbles and fumbles for the blade. As Tifalengi steps away from Henrietta's twitching form, she flicks fingers, and he gasps as the blade tugs towards her, causing him to faltering step towards her.
He tries to raise his rifle, but his arms are like lead, the anchor root feeling like it is miles away.
"Time to die, little shepherd." Tifalengi taunts, stepping up behind him and grabbing the hilt of her blade, twisting it slightly to elicit more pain.
He lets out a choking cough, feeling something wet begin to dribble down his chin.
"But…let us watch, shall we?" she growls, grabbing his chin from behind and shifting his eyes to take in the carnage around them, "The fall of the land that so many betrayed us for, hmm?"
He tries to retort but can't find his voice, just wet, rattling gasps.
Ivern is the last one standing, his body still burning, yet he looks to Karma defiantly as she snaps her head in his direction, a chill smile on her lips.
"Today, Ionia stands united once more, forever." she intones, the hand not keeping Irelia pined, igniting with green flames.
He chuckles, "When this passes, you will hold much guilt in your heart, Darha."
Karma flinches as if struck, and he gives her a comforting nod, "But this isn't your fault. Remember that, whatever happens next."
He closes his eyes and raises his arms all the higher, his body charing and greying as he pours everything he had into completing his spell.
Irelia struggles, even as the Black Mist closes in, even as she sees her allies fall or freeze, her eyes forcibly dragging her attention again and again back to Liana's limp body.
"Give in." the Mist whispers in the voice of dozens familiar and foreign.
"You can be reunited." it continues, worming deeper into her mind.
"Just give in, and he will make it right." it finishes, as she feels the chill touch of a crown emerging on her head.
She looks at Liana one last time, and her heart stops as Liana looks back, a loving yet sad smile on her face.
Even as the green fire begins to retake her eyes, the controlling crown flashing, she shakes her head.
Her lips move, "I love you. Keep going."
And Irelia's vision tunnels as she feels a connection months deadened ignite for once more, memories of her life flaring in her mind like a beacon and as she stares up at Karma, that beacon becomes an inferno.
The Spirit. Ionia, Love, and Harmony.
It is dying.
She must keep going.
And with a roar, every blade, every piece of Sentinel-stone-edged metal on her armor, rips free from her and punches into Karma.
The barrage of blades ignites like a miniature sun, and the Black Mist is sent shrieking into the shade of the surrounding woods.
The Ruined all around her flinch and burn at the eruption, and she turns, grasping the last bit of metal she has, Liana's main blade, and brings it down thunderously through what remains of the anchor root.
The Mist pulls back, and Yone pulls forward, ignoring the sheering of flesh and spirit, as he brings his hungry blade down onto the anchor.
Rakan surges into the air on his good leg, aiming a distracting shot with his pistol into the back of his love's head, sending her stumbling. And he brings his enhanced sword down, even as he feels her feathers begin to rip through him to return to her hand.
Akali feels her world shift as she, for the very first time, accesses the magic she thought ever locked away from her and appears free of her master's grasp, his blade in hand. She stabs it into the writhing anchor.
Erath smiles with red teeth as Tifalenji recoils and brings his gun up, firing a shot directly into her face. She shrieks, and it is muffled as Henrietta emerges behind her, wraps her toothy maw around the undead woman's head, and rips with a brutal snap.
Falling to his knees, Erath sights the root, pushing all his remaining will into the odd and magical weapon he was gifted due to so many flukes of chance and fires.
"No!" Karma bellows, attempting to stumble to the tree.
"Stop her," Iven mutters, and a vast earthen hand bursts free of the earth, a great stone Elemental rising from the ground, holding her back.
The Tree shrieks, an echoing, horrible sound that shakes them all down to their souls. It falls to pieces, limbs crumbling as it twitches and writhes.
"You have killed the Spirit!" Karma cries, clutching at her head, "That was all that was left!"
Irelia darts for Liana, Akali races to catch Erath as he falls, and Yone and Rakan fight to stand with their injuries.
Ivern smiles and turns his face to the sky, "Rebirth from Undeath."
Green and gold light erupts from him, and everything is consumed in the blinding flare.
Irelia regains her vision with Ivern's hearty chuckle in her ears.
And she feels tears begin to well up as the clouds break for the first time in months and the sun beams down upon them.
Color returns to the grove slowly at first and then in a cascade, as rising from the trunk, a sapling of verdant blues and greens rises.
The God-Willow, reborn once more.
And as she sighs in relief, she feels the Spirit sigh with her.
The Black Mist departs, the shimmering blue light pouring from the reborn Willow chasing it like an angry dog.
Karma, Xayah, Liana, and Sia'nen each shiver as their crowns break and their wounds seal. Their natural skin and fur tones return as they lay unconscious in the grass.
Shen falls to his knees as the spirits possessing his body are burned away, turning his face to the sky and muttering a shuddering thanks.
Irelia looks down and sees her own wounds healed, and as Liana awakens in her arms, she pulls her into the tightest hug she can imagine, kissing her forehead and cupping her face, worried that she'd slip from her fingers like sand.
"Are you okay?" Irelia gasps.
"Yes," Liana returns, melting into Irelia's embrace, "Yes."
They pull apart for a moment, and then kiss, soft and gentle, the wind spinning around them as if equally joyous.
Rakan is doing much the same as Xayah blinks awake and, curiously, runs a finger along a new scar marking his face.
"Meilli?" she whispers, "Did I…"
"Sh…" he murmurs, putting his forehead to hers and allowing months of tension to lift from his shoulders, "Just rest. You're safe now."
Akali helps Erath to his feet and shoots him a smirk, "Not bad for a Noxian shepherd."
"Eh, I think it had it the easiest." Erath returns, rubbing the fresh scar where Tifalengi's blade had been.
"Right," Akali remarks, as the pair look around, but she is gone, though Henrietta nibbles on something curious.
Erath looks back to Akali and sees her looking at her mentor.
She looks back at him, and there is a moment of uncertainty between them, and he smiles, "We can talk later. You have someone waiting for you."
She smiles, pats him on the shoulder, and then darts for Shen, wrapping him in an uncharacteristic hug. His stoicism likewise fails, and he gladly hugs her back.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there when-" she begins.
"I'm not." Shen states, "I am so proud of you, my student."
"Does that mean you'll let me keep the blade?" she jokes, and he chuckles with a shake of his head.
Erath looks at the other reunions and, for a moment, feels ever so alone.
Henrietta stands, nuzzling the side of his face and depositing her prize into his hand, Tifalengi's blade.
"Thanks, girl," he mutters, patting her muzzle and reaching over to check his father's urn. Still intact.
"Hope…I made you proud, Da," he mutters.
Irelia pulls away from her partner and looks around, a new worry rising as Ivern is nowhere to be seen.
Just the great golem that he summoned, which was carefully helping an unsteady Karma to her feet.
"What…" Irelia begins, and Yone approaches, the great fox spirit a step behind.
"He repaid a debt." Yone states, bending down and drawing from the newly verdant earth, a single acorn, "A redemption for past deeds long forgotten by many."
"But not all." Karma rasps, taking the acorn from Yone's outstretched hands and whispering a soft prayer.
Irelia watches on, many questions swirling through her mind, as Karma then turns and hands the acorn to the golem.
"Take them to the Placidium,' Karma states, "And let us hope one good deed inspires reciprocity."
The golem nods, ever so carefully cupping the acorn, and without a word, vanishes into the ground.
Karma turns to Irelia, guilt, fear, and anger appearing on her oft-serene face.
"I… I am sorry," she states quietly.
Irelia shakes her head, "As he said, this wasn't your fault."
Yone stands tall, looking around at them all, "The true mastermind remains. The Spirit Returns, Ionia thrives, and her people awaken from their slumber or are drawn free from darkness. Each of you…"
He pauses, nodding to Irelia, Rakan, Erath, and Akali, "Is a Savior of Ionia this day."
He turns, "Savor it while you can, recuperate, heal, plan, for while a great battle for the soul of this world has been won this day, the war is far from over."
He glances back over his shoulder as he begins to vanish into the renewed Spirit World, "So be prepared."
The others look to each other and nod, rising to walk into the renewed dawn, to rebuild, to train, to exalt in their bonds new and renewed.
The war was far from over, but they could rest here, under the boughs of the gleaming tree.
For now.
He drew away.
He had observed it all, helped to level the Scales.
A Sovereign denied, a Haven found, a Soul saved.
The final stage was set.
His final gambit awaited.
So, for now, he would observe.
So now he would wait.
For the final dirge of Ruination.
Eima=Mother in Ionia*
And so ends Spirit Quest, which means I am full steam ahead (when I can find the time) on Return, and ending this Saga hopefully in a fulfilling and enjoyable way.
I am very grateful to everyone who has gotten this far with me.
As always, any comments, questions, or critiques are appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!