A/N: This marks the beginning of the First Arc of the series, with a total of three on the way.
Before you read on however, I just want to say - thank you. Every bit of support means the world to me, and There for You Too is by far the most ambitious project I have ever embarked on.
Regardless, I hope you enjoy!
They found the mouth of the tunnel soon enough.
It looked unnatural and out of place: rocks and sand splattered with a black tar-like substance. Again, Ezreal got that familiar unease when faced with the Void - a primordial feeling of wrong from deep within his lizard brain. Within the blackness was a purple glow, bioluminescent plasma lining the walls of the cavern.
More ominous however, was the Voidborn that lay waiting at the gate.
The Xer'Sai was gargantuan: easily twice as large as the one that they had faced back at the temple. Its body covered the entirety of the lower half of the tunnel's entrance, with six armored legs folded beneath its many rattling plates of armor. It had a monolithic horn, curved upward like that of tropical beetle.
"I have seen these before" Kai'Sa speaks as casually like she was explaining a local delicacy, and not a titanic monster the size of a small building. "They dig out bedrock that the smaller ones cannot."
"So, how are we going to get past it?" Ezreal looks a little closer, noticing that there were several smaller creatures patrolling around the large one as it slept. They were bipedal, long crests shuddering like musical instruments: producing clicking songs that echoed across the desert air.
"Kill the little guys then the big guy right?"
"It will not be so easy." Kai'Sa leans forward. "I have never seen Callers this close to a Dunebreaker. Usually, they are too busy fighting over scraps to cooperate."
"Nice names," He teases, to try and relieve a bit of her pre-battle tension. "Did you come up with them yourself?"
"I did."
"So, do they all have nicknames? Or just these two?"
No answer.
One of the smaller 'Callers' shrieks - leaping backward as the Dunebreaker shifts within its sleep. The sheer size of the Dunebreaker was finally dawning on him, that thing looked bigger than a mountain with twice as much teeth.
"We're looking for backup, right? Because unless your suit comes with a Super Mega Death Rocket, nothing's getting through the Boss over there."
The huntress stands up, plasma gauntlets heating up. Her twin cannons aim at the cluster of Callers, which had started to squabble over a scrap dislodged from the Dunebreaker's colossal jaws.
"Wait, you're not serious, are you? That thing is-"
Kai'Sa does not even give him time to blink before she is in the thick of things, scattering their blood all over the rocks with blasts of heated plasma. Her missiles curve and twist in the air, blasting one Caller and splattering the others into viscera.
"Right. It's Kai'Sa. Of course, we're going to go in."
The Dunebreaker's numerous violet eyes flash open to the death cries of its smaller brethren, and the awakened titan lets out a trembling roar. The girl strafes forward, but the Dunebreaker's arms block her advance into the tunnel. A Caller leaps for her, but Ezreal is faster- severing its head with a well-placed Mystic Shot. He gives the girl a quick wink, before removing his shawl and throwing it into the mouth of an attacking Caller. The distraction gives Kai'Sa enough time to vaporize it with a pair of larger plasma missiles. Both are sent running aside as the Dunebreaker's broad claw comes crashing down, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Their eyes meet as they are thrown up into the air - a plan forms.
"Trueshot Barrage!"
The energy wave blasts into the Dunebreaker's face, causing the goliath to wail in pain. Enraged, the creature snaps its jaws at empty air as Ezreal blinks away. Half of the creature's face was completely scorched, covered in an ugly black gash bubbling with purple blood. Its single-minded rage was focused on him for obvious reasons, but Ezreal was more than eager to keep it busy: pelting it with smaller attacks as he blinked around the larger enemy.
"Looks like someone's a bit too slow huh?"
With its one remaining set of eyes, the infuriated titan lunges for him: only for a barrage of plasma missiles to knock its strike to the wayside. Kai'Sa darts off as soon as the creature swipes at her, and his attacks continually pester the titan as it lumbers forward. Dozens of Callers were crushed as its blows became messier- the Void clearly didn't have collateral damage in its vocabulary.
In a sense, the battle was a thing of beauty. They hadn't known each other for long, but Ezreal knew that he and the girl clicked.
Her aggressive rush-down strategies complimented his own 'hit and run' tactics, and even in the midst of action he still found time to marvel at the fearless way she wove between the Dunebreaker's attacks: firing dozens of missiles at its softer underbelly. Each of her missiles left a bit of purple goop, and Ezreal knew from experience that those were highly explosive. The explorer charges up another ultimate attack, and he finds a chance to strike when Kai'Sa briefly moves back.
"Trueshot Barrage, requiem!"
An arc of yellow light meets the cluster of purple gunk left by the huntress' attacks, and the resulting explosion is enough to stagger the gargantuan titan. The lucky shot sends the Dunebreaker onto one knee, groaning as one of its frontal legs buckles inward – torn off at the joint. Purple blood leaked out from the wound as it strained to stand.
It was down for the count.
His smile grows a little wider as the tunnel is left wide open: until a flood of Callers pours out from within. The explorer is briefly worried for his friend, but then he sees her soaring over the Caller horde. Fearlessly, Kai'Sa quickly disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. Strafing past a bite and a flailing tail, Ezreal follows suit.
"Arcane Shift!"
Leaving behind a puff of yellow, the full powered blink manages to get him over the entire horde: landing him squarely at the mouth of the tunnel. The explorer lets out a sigh of relief, repositioning his goggles so that he could wink at the confused creatures.
"Hah! Bet you didn't see that comi-"
A shriek. Ezreal yelps as the Caller bursts out of the shadows, barely missing the gauntlet with its bite. His Mystic Shot pierces through its skull, but more flock out of the shadows. Worst of all, a look down at his gauntlet revealed that the Tear was flickering. The horde was blocking him from all sides, even if he could Arcane Shift - that would just get him even deeper into enemy lines.
It was at that point he realized he was surrounded.
In the midst of battle, Ezreal couldn't even get any witty quips out; and he began to panic just a little as he had to resort to kicking down the Callers as he backed up onto the wall- their vile blood coating the bottom of his boot. One bites down, but the explorer is quick to punch it with the gauntlet.
Was this it?
His expression goes pale when he notices dozens of purple lights emerging from the darkness. Of course there were flying ones. Why wouldn't there be? One dot in particular was brighter than the rest, and moving much, much faster.
Shit!
He briefly considers hitting it out the air with a Trueshot Barrage - but the blur is already on top of him before Ezreal can even fully charge the gauntlet.
Bionic rockets roaring like Hextech engines, Kai'Sa easily swerves past the roaring Dunebreaker. Ezreal hadn't noticed it earlier, but her armor was glowing: and there was a vague shimmering outline covering their bodies. Almost like a forcefield of some kind. Removing her mask, the girl's expression didn't seem to be any different as they landed on a nearby sand dune- but her eyes shone with frustration.
Somehow, Ezreal got the feeling that it was his fault.
"Thanks, I-"
"Do not expect me to do that again."
The explorer is stunned into silence by her sudden hostility.
Their attention is turned back to the Dunebreaker, making sure to face them with its working set of eyes. The other Voidborn cluster at the gate, snapping and seething as if threatening to attack.
But they never did.
Instead, the Dunebreaker uses its long body to block the tunnel. While the wounds across its body had already begun to heal, though not even the Void could fix its new blindness on one side. Surrounding it was an even greater number of Callers than before: with more appearing to be crawling out of the gaps in the tunnel left by the gargantuan Dunebreaker.
"Huh? Why is it just standing there?"
The realization hits him like a punch to the gut.
"They know what we're trying to do."
"The Void does not know anything." Kai'Sa scoffs, her usually calm tone replaced by a harsh whisper. "It only consumes. That is all it is good for."
An errant wind blows a cloud of sand across the ground below.
"We try again."
"Try? Again?" Ezreal looks at her as if she was mad, which she honestly might be. "With all those Callers, we'll need a small army to even get past them - much less that big lug blocking the gate."
Kai'Sa silently glares at the monsters- as if trying to push them away with sheer force of will.
"We can probably find another tunnel, one a little less defended."
She shakes her head. "I can sense no other tunnels. This is our only option."
"Maybe we can wait for them to leave?"
The Dunebreaker takes a few steps backwards, wedging itself perfectly into the tunnel's entrance. It crossed its front legs and snarled at them menacingly.
"On second thought, maybe we can just- find another way to get past it. Stealth maybe?"
"My invisibility will not work, there could be Callers waiting inside."
Kai'Sa didn't tell him she could turn invisible. Despite their tense situation, Ezreal couldn't help but feel a bit irked at how she kept such a big thing from him.
"And even if your gauntlet could get us behind them, we would be trapped on both sides by enemies. Like earlier."
He was just about to suggest they could Arcane Shift over.
"What if - like worst case scenario - there's more Dunebreakers on the way? Or more giant Voidborn hiding within the tunnel? What then?"
"You just focus on staying alive." She snapped. "I can deal with it."
Ezreal thinks of prodding more, but he decided that he liked his insides remaining where they were. Like, he got that he messed up- but there wasn't a need to hammer the point home over and over again.
The adventurer takes a moment to breathe, before realizing that his palms had become sweaty. Pushing aside his own fears, Ezreal decides to try another approach.
"You know, there's a small town near here. Maybe we can find someone to help us there?"
For a split second, he thought that Kai'Sa was going to ignore him and fly back into the fight: but the girl's cannons gradually darkened. She gives the tunnel one last vengeful glare.
"Take us there."
His heart sighs in relief.