Chapter 9

Next chapter is here. Reviews are encouraged and asked, but ultimately unnecessary.

Morgana

"So what do you think?" Asked Moxxie as he looked at Morgana, who was processing the information he had just told her. Morgana just crossed her arms and sighed, contemplating what to say.

It had been several hours since Mordekaiser and Moxxie had spoken to one another regarding what Morgana had told the Imp about his father's history. Since then, Moxxie got some food, washed with water that he had a feeling he didn't want to know how his father acquired it and dressed in some fresh clothes before venturing to meet with Morgana again so that she could give her opinion on what Mordekaiser wanted for his son. The winged woman was surprised to see Moxxie so soon, but when she heard why he came back, she found them a nice place to relax in her cave so that Moxxie can explain his situation to her in a relaxed setting. When he was done, Morgana was processing the information.

Although a part of her was annoyed and angered that Mordekaiser was, once again, sending his son somewhere, another part of her was in agreement with the Iron Revenant, much to her chagrin. Moxxie needed influences outside his father. Of those that feared or were loyal to him. He needed to experience different ways of life. To form his own thoughts and feelings on certain subjects without his father's influence. That was what Morgana felt and it annoyed her that she was agreeing to the Iron Revenant's plan, even if he promised Moxxie to provide him ample support to start him off. Then there was the fact that he was going to his mother's old home. He should have some experience there. To witness life there and understand why his mother choose to move away from that place and

"Much as it pains me to say, I believe your father is in the right here." Said Morgana with no small amount of reluctance. "We may likely disagree with why we think this is right for you, but we do agree that this needs to be done for you. You not only need to experience things beyond your father's influence, but you must also be your own person. You need to form your own opinions. Your own beliefs. Your own views. You can only do that if your father's influence is nowhere near where you are learning. I know that you love him, but you cannot let his beliefs and views be your own just because you love him. You must be your own person and decide what you think through your own experiences. And this will help you with that."

"Are you sure?" Asked Moxxie as he looked at Morgana, who just nodded. "I see. In that case, can you be there when I go there? It's my first time going there and I want someone that I can trust and love to be there. Along with my dad, of course." Morgana looked at Moxxie at that in contemplation. Seeing no harm in heeding his request, and she didn't really have anything else to do, she accepted.

"Very well." Said Morgana. "I'll be there for you, Moxxie. It's the least that I can do for you after you brought life to my life again and became the first friend that I made in centuries. Besides, I'm curious in seeing this world that your mother came from. This…alternative afterlife. I'm curious to see if it's the same as Demacia or if it's a world that your father claims need his guidance."

"I don't know if it does." Said Moxxie as he wrung his hands nervously. "He claims it does, but I've never seen it so I can't vouch for his claim. So, maybe it doesn't. If it does, though, and is every bit as terrible as he claims it is, then I'll help him in doing what he wants. Claiming this afterlife for his own and helping people get better lives under his rule."

"It would take a considerable incompetent leadership or an abusive one for me to even remotely consider your father as a better alternative to whatever this alternative afterlife has currently for leaders. As should you, Moxxie." Said Morgana as she looked at Moxxie, who frowned at the disapproval in her voice. Despite her opinion of Mordekaiser raising a bit after interacting with him and Moxxie she still disapproved of his methods and ways. To her, he was still a tyrant that wished to rule over everything without question and will stomp out anything or anyone that threatens his rule or goals. Moxxie hoped that her opinions of his dad won't get in the way of the two wishing him good luck in his new home, but that remains to be seen. "However, for the sake of fairness and you, I'll keep an open mind on things. And, if this afterlife's leadership is even more terrible than your father's, then I suppose I will help your father."

"Really?" Asked Moxxie in shock at that. He never thought that Morgana would ever help his father in anything beyond him.

"I'm only assisting him in actions that I approve of." Clarified Morgana as she looked at Moxxie. "And only if he truly is a better ruler than whatever this other afterlife has for rulers. I will not use my powers to help him become the ruler of anything until I decide otherwise. Is that clear?"

"I understand." Said Moxxie, understanding Morgana. "But you'll still be there when I get started in my mother's home, right? This Hell."

"Of course." Said Morgana as she looked at Moxxie with a small smile. "What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't there to see you off? As I said, it's the least that I can do for you for being my most recent friend in years." With that, Morgana went to get a worn-out, but still usable traveling cloak near a makeshift vanity of hers. Grabbing the cloak and putting it on before looking at Moxxie. "Shall we go and meet your father? I'm somewhat eager to see his empire if only a little." Moxxie just smiled before looking at the two guards that were sent with him. Despite trusting Morgana enough to send Moxxie to her whenever he wanted, Mordekaiser still had guards around just in case. One that Morgana would be offended by if she didn't know that Mordekaiser cared about Moxxie enough to protect him after learning his mistake.

Giving the soldiers a nod, Moxxie watched as they brought out a scroll and used it to create a portal to Mitna Rachnun.

"Let's get going." Said Moxxie as he looked at the portal with some excitement, happy that Morgana would be there, at least to see him off. "No doubt dad has already made some preparations for me in anticipation of me going."

"He most likely did." Whispered Morgana as Moxxie went through the portal with the two guards. "Though I don't think those preparations are just for you, Moxxie." With some reluctance, Morgana followed through to see Mitna Rachnun for the first time.

A week later

Hell

"So this is the afterlife that my mom was born in." Said Moxxie as he looked at the environment of Hell, having learned the name from his father a few days ago, amazed at how different it was to Runeterra and Mitna Rachnun.

When he returned to Mitna Rachnun with Morgana a week ago, Mordekaiser was pleased to hear that Moxxie had decided to accept his proposal to live in Hell so he can decide for himself if Hell needed his guidance or not. And he was also pleased that Morgana came to Mitna Rachnun, although she was rather weak upon seeing Mordekaiser again because of the natural environment of Mitna Rachnun draining her life force, something Moxxie forgot to mention to her, a result of his excitement of her being there for him when he went to Hell blinding him to Mitna Rachnun's passive effect on the living. Fortunately, Mordekaiser had a talisman made for her just in case this happened and thus the effect of Mitna Rachnun was rendered null to her so long as she wore it.

Upon seeing Mitna Rachnun for the first time, Morgana realized that Mordekaiser wasn't as bad as she originally thought in terms of rulership. There was heavy militarism amongst those that call him leader, which she won't deny, but every one of his subjects seemed to be happy or, at the very least, satisfied with his rule. Though she knew that Mordekaiser's people didn't need the basic needs of living, Morgana was impressed with the basic care and living conditions that Mordekaiser gave to his people. He certainly did better than Demacia in that regard.

Still, she was wary about whether or not the living will be satisfied with his rule and those from this Hell. Mordekaiser may seem like an effective ruler at first glance, but Morgana knew that ruling the dead was different than ruling the living. He didn't have to worry about food, money, and other essentials that the living needs to survive that the dead no longer needed. And though she didn't know much about the occupants of Hell, she doubted they'll appreciate his way of ruling. Especially if they live in relative comfort already. Looking at Mordekaiser, Morgana rose an eyebrow when she saw him looking over the city that was right in front of them, observing and analyzing it.

"Indeed." Said Mordekaiser as he looked at Hell and the city before him, noticing just how different it was from anything he's seen in Runeterra. Very different in terms of architecture and environment. He'll love to study it later, but first business. "I've sent several of my best warriors that are skilled in infiltration and scouting to observe this area prior to my decision to send you here. This place. This Hell is in dire need of new leadership and I intend on giving it to them. However, I desire to have your support, son, but not blindly. And this is why I am sending you here now. To educate you. To have you learn their customs and ways so you can form your own thoughts and views before you decide if these people need my help or not." Mordekaiser heard a growl at that and turned to see Morgana, in her traveling cloak, giving him a disapproving glare. Scoffing, Mordekaiser looked at Moxxie and continued. "Let us go to your new home, Moxxie. I think you'll be pleased with it." With that, Mordekaiser lead the way as the trio left for whatever building that Mordekaiser had in mind for Moxxie's home.

As they walked, Moxxie looked at the different forms that Mordekaiser had taken. Instead of the usual knight-like appearance that Moxxie was used to seeing his father take, Mordekaiser instead donned a thing, a skeletal like figure covered in a dark robe that obscured everything, including his face. When asked why he choose this appearance, Mordekaiser claimed that it was because he thought it would bring too much attention to Moxxie if he had a massive, black-armored figure next to him. Attention that he really didn't need, both for his ultimate purpose for Mordekaiser and personnel space-wise. Although Moxxie appreciated his reasoning, Morgana frowned at it, knowing that Mordekaiser still wanted Moxxie to be a spy for him. To feed him the secrets of Hell. To tell him what their strengths and weaknesses are so he can build his army to counteract their strengths and capitalize on their weaknesses. Or even become just a figurehead to the denizens of this so-called Hell that he was better than their current rulers.

She had heard of what Mordekaiser planned for Moxxie and she was angered. When she confronted Mordekaiser about this, the Revenant simply laughed at her and assured her that Moxxie will not be harmed by being his spy. He assured her that Moxxie will never be in more danger than is necessary. The more dangerous assignments, he claimed, will be handed to others. Besides, if Moxxie wished to not be a spy, then Mordekaiser said he'll be fine with it, telling Morgana that the situation in Hell was not as he expected. Morgana, assured only a little, just gave a glare at Mordekaiser and told him to make sure Moxxie was safe as possible or else.

Looking at the Imp as he followed his step-father, Morgana looked at the strange buildings that composed the city that they were going to, the architecture of them was truly strange to her. They were very unlike the villages or even cities of Demacia in terms of design. Even what she heard about Piltover and Noxus architecture was nothing compared to the buildings she was seeing now.

Tall buildings made out of some sort of stone that was squared and was clearly shown with black lines. Bright signs depicting various objects and people, some of whom were dressed rather scantily with no shame evident in their faces. And then there were the light sources around what Morgana could only assume to be a road. They were significantly larger than any roads in Demacia that she had ever seen. Granted she only had seen roads in villages and roads connecting various villages and towns in Demacia together in recent years, but she doubted even the major cities of Demacia, even the capitol, had roads this strange.

The road that she, Moxxie, and Mordekaiser was walking on was quite strange to the winged woman. Between two gray roads of tiles that people of various appearances, ranging from animal-like to human-like, was a large black road cut in half by white, narrow squares running diagonally across the black road. Morgana guessed that it was a road of some sort, but she questioned why it was differently colored from the gray ones. Were they for something large considering the size of the black roads? Before she could think about this further, she saw some sort of armored creature going down one of the black roads, whizzing past them at speeds that Morgana didn't think possible for a metal creature. Stunned, she looked at the creature as it passed them. She could have sworn she saw a person inside via some sort of see-through surface, their hands on a black wheel. Gapping at what she saw, Morgana wondered what she just saw along with Moxxie as he saw the same thing as Morgana did and was equally perplexed, having never seen anything like that before, even in Mitna Rachnun. Surprisingly, it was Mordekaiser that explained to them what they saw.

"That, my dear son and acquaintance, is a car." Said Mordekaiser as he watched another car pass them. "It's a contraption in Hell that allows one to travel long distances. Distances that surpass even those that the strongest horses can travel and do not require constant rest as a horse does."

"Really?" Asked Moxxie in shock as he watched another car slip past them, amazed at them. "Are they rare?"

"No, in fact, they're quite common in this Hell." Said Mordekaiser, amazing both Morgana and Moxxie. As the two watched in amazement as another car passed them, Mordekaiser plotted and thought deeply about the applications of these so-called cars.

Unbeknownst to Moxxie, Mordekaiser had long, eight years ago to be precise, sent agents to Hell in order to scout and gather information for him. To Moxxie's current knowledge, he thought he was the ultimate agent for Mordekaiser in gathering knowledge and the secrets in Hell and, to be fair, that was the initial plan that the Iron Revenant had for him and his mother when they came to him among other things. However, to test the defenses of Hell and see if he needed to adjust his plans for conquering Hell, he sent his finest infiltration agents years ago to scout out Hell. To determine their strengths and weaknesses as well as steal whatever knowledge they had, whether that be magic or technology. There was a high chance of them being discovered right off the bat when they entered Hell and Mordekaiser knew it, yet he sent them regardless, uncaring of their lives beyond the results. Needless to say, Mordekaiser was torn between being happy with the results of his agents or scornful at Hell's incompetence.

This was because not only did all of his agents, a dozen or so men and women skilled in infiltration, managed to enter Hell without issue or being detected, but they even managed to infiltrate relatively upper-class positions in Hell with a few even obtaining the title of Overlord, some sort of classification system in Hell. Through their positions, they feed Mordekaiser more information in the first year of their infiltration than he ever hoped possible. While this pleased him immensely as it made planning his inevitable invasion easier, it also showed him that Hell was in desperate need of a proper leader.

This Lucifer, the one that Moxxie's mom, Mary Ann, told him was the leader of Hell, was incompetent. He and his advisors were nothing but incompetent fools that knew nothing of defending their domain. They not only let allow an annual purging of their people, thus showing their weakness and inability to fight, but also shows their incompetence in dealing with more subtle threats, such as infiltrated agents or spies. The latter was proven further to the Iron Revenant when he received a report from his best agent that he easily manipulated two Overlords into wiping each other out and taking their domains for himself. Mordekaiser, upon reading this, realized that Lucifer was weak. Weak in many important ways and he'll make him pay for that weakness by ripping him into pieces and making him watch as his people bowed to the Iron Revenant and not him. Eventually, that will come to pass. For now, though, he had his son to help out.

Truthfully, now that Mordekaiser realized how easy it is to obtain information and infiltrate his agents in Hell, there was no need for Moxxie. He could have easily rid himself of the Imp a long time ago and yet Mordekaiser refused for it was wasteful to just rid himself of a potentially useful asset that still held some use to him. Yes, Moxxie was not going to be the ultimate agent for him in Hell, but he can and will be useful to him. He could not only continue his goal of being a spy for Mordekaiser, one more spy couldn't hurt, but he could also serve as proof to all denizens of Hell that the Iron Revenant was superior to Lucifer. That he can not only provide them with a better ruler that can not only protect them from harm but also give them a better life beyond what meager lives they had during their time under Lucifer's rule. That they can advance in ways they can never do during Lucifer's reign over them. Then there was the reason that just throwing Moxxie away will just defeat his philosophy that everyone can become something through dedication and hard work. To throw away the Imp at such a young age will not only make Mordekaiser be rightfully declared a hypocrite, but also make all the time that had already been devoted to Moxxie be wasted. And Mordekaiser did not waste anything. At least, that was the reason that Mordekaiser told himself. Looking at the Imp, Mordekaiser felt something that he never felt in his entire life, both during his time in the living and his time as a Revenant. It was a feeling that Mordekaiser didn't fully understand but wasn't something he entirely disliked beyond not understanding it.

Looking at Moxxie watch as a massive car, the biggest one yet, move past them, Mordekaiser decided that they wasted enough time and ordered him and Morgana to move along. As they resumed walking, Mordekaiser was in the thought of the cars that they saw and his mind went into the thought of how to use them for his warriors. Even at first glance and with the minimal knowledge he had about them at the moment, Mordekaiser can see the potential these so-called cars had in his army. A potential that was both endless and deadly for, if refined enough, they can make his army more lethal than anything Demacia or Noxus has in their arsenal, even with taking magic into account. And that wasn't considering everything his agents claimed they heard and saw in Hell. They claimed that there were many more things in Hell and the living world that they can use and can be used to deadly effect in Runeterra. Needless to say, even if Moxxie turned out to be a colossal disappointment, something he truly doubted, and he couldn't conquer Hell through some miracle, the knowledge he gained would make his investment in Hell a well-made decision. Oh yes.

Chuckling darkly in his mind, Mordekaiser and his group finally arrived at the building that Mordekaiser had selected for Moxxie to live in for his stay in Hell. One that was not only operated by one of his agents, but also one that allowed him to see firsthand the decadence and corruption in Hell, making his ultimate decision in supporting his own father or not all the more likely to end in supporting Mordekaiser. After all, just because he wished for his son to think for himself and become his own man, didn't mean he wouldn't try to bump him into a path that ultimately benefitted Mordekaiser a great deal. Oh yes.