Been far too long, but let the Hunt Commence.
Ruination: Return Chapter VII
Shadow Behind the Gilding Part VI
Ezreal grimaced as Riven finished her tale, the older woman rubbing her arm, where dozens of scars lay bared to the world.
"I…I'm sorry," he murmurs, trying to think of what to say, reconciling that he has known Riven for over a year but had never known, never before thought to ask. He'd met her in a cage, and now he knew why.
Riven shakes her head with a pinched smile, "I have never understood the propensity for others to apologize for deeds they never did nor never could have stopped."
"It's a reflex that a lot of folks have," Ezreal remarks, rubbing the back of his head, "An expression of empathy."
Riven nods, running her fingers along the side of her broken blade and going to speak again, but a deep echoing howl cuts her off.
She was on her feet in an instant, darting out the door and looking around, the wind picking up around her.
"What now?" Ezreal demands, following after her, gauntlet shimmering with energy.
The Fire Lights were looking around in a state of minor panic, Ekko racing down from near the top of the tree with Zeri a step behind.
"A predator," Vayne states, materializing next to Ezreal, causing him to nearly leap out of his skin.
She turns to Ekko, "What kind of monsters stalk the Undercity?"
"Too many." Ekko snaps back, turning to the Fire Lights, "Everyone get inside and bunker down!"
"But I think I know this one," Ekko remarks, nervous sweat touching his brow.
"What's going on?!" Gwen calls down, her wide eyes scanning the perimeter.
"Stay there and continue your work." Vayne orders, sniffing the air, "If this 'miracle' elixir can be made, I believe we are going to need it."
Another howl cuts through the air, and the sound of metal clattering against metal can be heard.
"I definitely know this one." Ekko mutters, drawing his club and turning to Scar, "Go make sure the younger kids are safe. Keep the door shut no matter what."
Scar nods and races off.
"Zeri, Blitz, the door." Ekko orders.
Zeri approaches the golem and places her hands flat against his back, "Ready, big guy?"
The golem nods, and she lets a current of electricity race into him, eyes gleaming brighter. He extends both of his arms and latches around the edges of the door, electrifying it.
Riven stares around as her compatriots raise their weapons, Vayne staring at the ground and tilting her head as if following the sound.
The air suddenly chills along her back, and Riven turns to catch a pair of gleaming eyes staring down at her from a shaded perch above the glimmering dome.
Before she can even say anything, Vayne sends a bolt racing toward them. The eyes vanish, and the bolt cracks against a pipe and it spits out a gout of steam.
Metal clacking against metal could be heard once more.
"Eyes up," Vayne states, backing into a circle with Ezreal, Ekko, and Riven around the pair guarding the door.
"That dome showed up same time as the Mists." Ekko states, shifting the grip on his club, "Nothing has been able to get in since."
"Best not to jinx it." Ezreal returns, aiming down his gauntlet, seeking signs of movement.
Riven felt another cold rush of air to her left, and she whirls as metal groans, something denting in one of the walls.
"And the walls?" she asks.
Vayne turns and fires one of her traps as a pair of metallic claws punches clean through the wall and begins to rend it open.
The silver wire ensnares and burns, another snarling howl echoing through the hideaway.
The beast muscles its way through, and standing there is a tall, lupin figure, grey fur matted, the Black Mist radiating off its body in waves. One arm ends in an oversized mixture of metal and flesh, and an odd device filled was visible on its back.
The device suddenly pumps downward, a deep heartbeat thrum echoing.
The creature snarls and grabs the side of its head.
Another beat.
Parts of its body begin to glow with the vile green of the Black Mist.
Vayne opens fire, bolts thudding home across the beast's body, but it doesn't react.
Another. The metallic claws ignite with fire, and it howls, glaring down at them all with rage-filled eyes.
"Warwick." Ekko breathes, swallowing hard.
The beast lunges taking to the air almost like it is flying, claws extending, aiming to land in their midst.
Ezreal and Vayne open fire again, Ekko tossing a small disk into the air.
Warwick takes the hits and keeps coming, batting Ekko's device aside, and Riven lashes out at her, sword clacking together as she sends a cutting blast of wind careening into the beast's torso.
It knocks them aside, but that does little to slow the beast down as it rolls across the ground and lunges towards them on all fours.
Gwen tries to ignore the sounds of conflict going on below her, alongside the sounds of Heimerdinger stuttering and Ms. Glasc drawing her pistol.
"Focus." Ryze remarks, "We need this to work. They need this to work."
He seems unbothered, throwing an occasional look over his shoulder to take in the battle, but his hands move in a constant pattern that she wasn't sure what the true purpose was.
Gwen nods, even as she hears Ezreal cry out and the loud snapping of bestial jaws.
She again focuses on the alchemical equipment before her, allowing the Hallowed Mist to collect between her palms and gently spill into the waiting vial.
"Good, now maintain your concentration as we attempt to distill this substance into the curative Ms. Glasc has devised," Heimerdinger notes.
"The more Mist we have to work with, the better the likelihood of crafting what you are after, so more couldn't hurt," Glasc notes, swirling several other components together with her shifting mechanical arm.
"Or for you to attempt to store for later experimentation." Ryze notes dryly.
"These are uncertain times, Mage." Glasc returns slyly, "Any leg up is a good one to stand on."
"Let us just concentrate on this batch," Gwen states, attempting to sound forceful, as she fights the urge to leap from the window and confront whatever monster was assaulting her friends.
"Very well." Glasc states with a shrug, picking up the vial and beginning to spill her own mixture into it, "An aerosol is our best bet at a quick cure, so you had better be ready with the delivery system, Professor."
"Almost done." Heimerdinger returns, quickly welding together a small glass sphere.
"Perhaps we should hurry?" Gwen asks.
Heimerdinger and Glasc share a glance.
"To rush is to fail." Glasc returns, "Your friends should be able to hold their own for a few moments longer."
Riven ducks under Warwick's lunging claws and deflects the next blow with her blade.
The beast is all rage and adrenaline, dozens of Vayne's arrows and silver rope cluttering their form, but nothing she did seemed to slow it down.
Ezreal's attacks seemed to do even less, so he had chosen to go on the defense, quickly moving their allies around the battlefield, attempting to keep ahead of the snapping teeth and slashing claws.
Ekko was moving in a strange fashion, seeming to dart towards Warwick and then suddenly skipping back. She couldn't see blows landing, but he was gaining wear and tear.
Zeri had attempted to enter the fight, but the large golem had scooped her up and moved her out of the way, ignoring her protests.
Ekko darts in, and the beast turns, teeth preparing to latch onto his raised arm, and Ezreal appears, dragging them both out of the way.
Warwick follows after them, but Riven leaps over top of it, carving a line across the top of its neck. It lashes out at her in return.
Riven deflects the blow and, feeling a presence at her back, whirls to the side, allowing the previously invisible Vayne to plant a bolt from her massive crossbow directly into the beast's chest.
It stumbles back, clutching at the wound and snarling, but before it can recover, she swings around, cleaving into the side of its head with her blade.
The beast crumples to the ground, and she darts back. Vayne plants another bolt into its body, and the body jolts slightly, but it appears to be down for the count.
Ekko lets out a sigh of relief.
Ezreal dusts himself off, "Thought that was going to be a lot harder."
"Did you say something about jinxing things?" Ekko demands.
Riven turns to look at them as Vayne tosses one of her trapped bolts onto the creature's body.
As the silver threads snare it to the ground, a low whistling catches her ears.
She looks up and can barely get her blade up as an explosive impacts her.
The blast knocks her to the ground and sends her rolling.
Glancing up, she can see the Black Mist pouring in from the hole Warwick had made, and from it, a gaunt female figure emerges, haloed by several spectral beings, all of which seemed to be fighting to whisper in her ears.
"Aw, you got the party started without me!" she shouts, shouldering the weapon in her hands, "The Boss Man told me to finally pay you a visit, and I end up being late?! Shame."
Ekko grimaces and surges to his feet, "This is bad."
Vayne opens fire, but the girl manages to weave between them, moving at startling speed as she descends the wall.
She hits the ground and rolls, and another explosive rockets free of her gun, an odd smiling thing shrouded in Black Mist.
Riven fights to find her feet as the others quickly move to get out of the way.
Riven raises her blade to defend herself and then suddenly feels herself being tugged backward, a large metallic hand wrapped around her waist.
She looks up as her feet catch the ground once more and sees Bliztcrank looking down at her.
"Thank you," she states, patting the golem's hand. He nods and raises both of his hands in a fighting stance.
The explosive craters much of the ground and shakes the tree, and faint screams and crying reach her ears as this new enemy begins to stalk forward.
Other specters begin to emerge from the Black Mist, and as it reaches Warwick, it envelopes them.
"Get in close!" Ekko orders, "She's strong but terrible at close quarters."
And then he is gone, followed by a spectral outline of himself. Ezreal grimaces and follows suit while Vayne begins picking off other Mistwalkers.
Riven goes to follow but feels the wind warning once more and janages to dodge as Warwick leaps from the Mist, his claws raking her side.
She whirls, sword raised, and the beast bares down on her, only for Blitzcrank's massive hands to wrap around its torso and piledrive it into the ground.
"No." the golem intones in a deep, crackling voice.
Vayne looks to Riven, "Can you handle this?"
Riven looks to the struggling beast and to her allies playing keep-away with the other Ruined.
The pieces of her blade rise from the bag on her back and slot back together as Warwick pushes out of Blitzcrank's grasp.
She slams the flat of the blade into the beast's jaw and sends it to the ground.
"Yes, go!" Riven cries.
Ekko dodges the next spray of bullets and grimaces as he watches Ezreal barely manage to escape his own hail of fire, one of Jinx's shots carving clean through his shoulder.
"You've got some new friends now, huh, Ekko?" she demands, the spectral visages of Milo and Silco turning to glare in his direction.
"Wasn't enough. You left me alone in the dark, just like she did!" she shouts, lobbing a grenade towards him.
He bats it aside and tosses one of his own, ensnaring her momentarily in a bubble of slowed time.
He rushes past, striking her hard in the sternum, before rolling behind an old mining cart.
"But you had to replace me? Little Miss Sparks, I know she's here. Do you sit up too late talking to her about everything you wanna be?" Jinx demands, and he can see tears pouring down her face, partially hidden by the Mist and the whispering specters that clung to her.
"Or is that Red? Rungs? Ax?" she demands, looking around for him and then turning as a crossbow bolt lances into her shoulder.
"Did you leave them behind too?" she asks, firing a rocket at the incoming Vayne, who rolled under it, and fired again, the momentum and force causing the bolt to knock her back, pining her to the wall.
"Or did they get to be part of your high and mighty Firelights," she growls.
"This seems very personal." Ezreal notes, appearing beside Ekko and nearly causing him to leap out of his skin.
"Maybe it is." Ekko returns.
She pulls against the bolt and tears it out of her, leaving it embedded in the wall as Vayne closes in, and Ezreal rises to fire at her, a bolt of magic slamming into the side of her head.
"Why…" she breathes, and he grimaces and clicks his Zero Drive.
He vanishes from his hiding place and appears directly in front of her. Swinging up, he takes his club to her chin and fights memories of previous fights, fights the guilt at the tears, fights the fear of what he knows she could do.
Her head rocks back, and she smiles. He can hear the other voices from the spirits clinging on to her.
"Already killed most of your family." Milo hisses.
"What's one more?" Silco asks.
"Just end it," Clagger mutters.
"Powder…" Vander whispers.
Ekko hears the pin release before he sees it, and before he can reach for his Zero Drive, her head rears back, nailing him in the nose.
There is a crack, a spurt of warm blood, and he is on his back, with his childhood friend's smiling, Ruined form bearing down on him, active grenades clutched in both hands.
"I just want this to be over." she rasps, and he swears he hears the original Powder talking to him at that moment.
"Ekko!" he can't make out who it is calling out to him, and then the explosion goes off.
Riven whirls, seeing Vayne get knocked to the ground by the blast, but her eyes widen as she can't spot Ekko or Ezreal anywhere.
"No." she breathes, forgetting her opponent for a moment until his claws find the back of her neck.
Grunting in pain, she raises her blade to sever the grasping hand, but the beast pulls back. She dodges the strikes of several other Mistwalkers, slashing out at them, and turns to face her main opponent.
Warwick snaps at her, only for Blitzcrank, who is now letting out a mournful clattering yell to begin pummeling the beast over and over again.
His giant metallic fists rain down, blow after blow, knocking Warwick further and further away. Electricity begins spitting out of several cracks in the golem's metallic body.
"No!" the golem bellows again as the wolfman attempts to race past him, grabbing him around the tail and sending a current of electricity surging through it.
Warwick slams to the ground, body twitching from the shock, and Riven sees her opening.
Warwick snarls in pain, and she brings her blade down on the prone monster, preparing to carve into his skull.
And Warwick catches the edge, their eyes beginning to glow with a deep red fire as it rises to its feet.
Blitzcrank reaches for them again, and Warwick bites down on the hand with incredible strength, shattering metal between his teeth and then wrenching, pulling the hand apart in a hail of shrapnel and broken gears.
The golem stumbles back, staring at his ruined arm in confusion.
Before he can react, Warwick releases her blade and plunges its claws into Blitzcrank's chest, attempting to carve him open. Several other Mistwalkers mob the golem, attempting to aid in his destruction.
Riven slashes at them, cutting them to ribbons, but Warwick barely seems to acknowledge the strikes against his back as he continues clawing deeper into the golem.
"No!"
Riven looks up and sees Zeri and some of the other younger Fire Lights running towards the battle.
"Get back!" Riven orders, "You'll only get in the way!"
"He's killing him!" Zeri cries back, and raising both of her hands, a lighting bolt cracks free, slamming into Warwick and pushing it back, burning fur and causing its mechanical parts to spark.
"Riven!"
Riven turns to see Gwen racing down the steps, Ryze a step behind.
"Help the others!" Riven demands.
"But-"
"Do it!" she shouts, the wind forming around her like a tornado.
Zeri suddenly crumbles, her magic dying, eyes rolling in the back of her head, and Warwick goes to lung towards her.
With a roar of her own, Riven grabs hold of the strange device on the beast's back and holds him firm. Spinning her sword around, she stabs downward, piercing clean through its tail and into the dirt.
Warwick snarls and turns on her, claws digging into her shoulders as it goes to latch its jaws around her head.
And it freezes as a cage of light erupts around it.
"Now, Gwen!" Ryze states, his hand extended towards the creature.
She darts forward, chucking a small, shining glass sphere.
The sphere collides with the side of Warwick's head and shatters.
A burst of radiant blue and silver light erupts, followed by a comforting curtain of Hallowed Mist that causes the Black Mist to retreat like fire from water.
The beast blinks as the Mist vanishes from its body, and as Ryze's spell stops, it shakes its head, looking down at its claws with confusion and fear.
Riven stares at it warily, drawing her blade free, but outside of cringing in pain, the beast makes no attempt to harm her.
"Ekko!" Gwen cries, and they all turn, seeing the young man stumbling from the smoke towards, Vayne, clutching a bleeding side, the gaunt woman a step behind.
"Ekko…" Warwick mutters, and the beast races across the field before the others can do anything.
Ekko turns and sees Jinx's pistol leveled at his head.
"I…" she mutters, attempting to find something to say amidst the muddled chaos of her mind.
He attempts to grab the gun, but she skips back, laughing sadly, and pulls the trigger.
He expects to feel pain, but instead, there is nothing but a shadow passing over him.
He opens his eyes and sees Warwick standing before him, bleeding from a hole in his chest.
"Hey, Little Man." the beast states, and Ekko is left befuddled as the monster lunges for Jinx. She darts backward and begins to panic.
"No I…you…No…I have to…the Boss says." Jinx begins, backing away from the growling beast before her.
"Doesn't matter." he returns, and then howls in her face, some deep primal fear emerging in her shattered eyes, mixing with recognition.
And she flees. Forgetting the Whispers, the commands, the desires. All she has left is fear.
Ekko stares at Warwick for several moments, "I…"
Warwick shoots him a glance and huffs.
"Look to your friend.' the beast growls, pointing with a claw, and then he is gone, scaling the wall he came in on, either chasing Jinx or simply seeking to return to the wider Zaun.
Ekko looks down, and his heart turns to ice.
Riven races across the field, Gwen a step behind, Ryze staying back with Heimerdinger to look after Blitz and Zeri. Glasc was following them at a slower pace.
"It worked!" Gwen cries, skidding to a stop beside Vayne and helping her to her feet.
"It did. Which means we can get back the Frelj-" she stops, staring at something lying on the ground before them.
Riven turns and gasps as, lying on the ground, Ekko desperately trying to wrap up a nasty head wound quickly, is Ezreal.
"Ezreal!" Gwen shouts, sliding to the ground next to him, and the Hallowed Mist begins to pour readily from her hands.
Ezreal grimaces and pats his chest with a partially mangled hand, "The Wayfinder is fine. Left it…in the hammock."
"That's what you think I am worried about?!" Gwen exclaims, tears in her eyes.
"I've been… in worse shape." Ezreal jokes, coughing suddenly, the faintest bit of blood coloring his teeth as he smiles.
"Just shut up," Ekko remarks.
"Not bad for a Piltie, right?" Ezreal asks, and then his eyes roll back as he lapses into unconsciousness.
"No, no, no." Gwen mutters, "I-I'm not Senna. I don't know-"
"I do." Vayne remarks, kneeling next to her, "Now breathe. We're not losing anyone today."
Riven allows her sword to clatter to pieces and looks around at the carnage, the unconscious Zeri, the broken Blitzcrank, and her mind turns to Singed and the being that is employing him.
Her vision begins to redden.
She is going to make that cruel little man, and whatever this Protector is, hurt.
She swears to whatever Gods might be listening.
Too focused on her anger and pain to spot the blue bird flitting gently above all of their heads.
And scene!
Next chapter should likely be the last of the Piltover/Zaun saga, and after that, we head to Bilgewater, and all the chaos that can be found there.
Sorry, I have been gone for so long. I got real busy with work, and another project I was working on that is now finished. (Go check out SCP-7442 if that is your deal.)
As always, comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!