And off we go zipping back down to Zaun.

Ruination: Return Chapter VI

Shadow Behind the Gilding Part V

Despite everything that had just happened, Gwen finds herself smiling, watching the youths around her whirl and dive on such fascinating apparatuses and the large bronze golem puttering beside them.

She looks at Vayne, who looks even more agitated than normal, and fights the urge to wave.

Vayne nods to her, readjusting her crossbow and keeping most of her attention behind them in case any of those poor Ruined people are coming after them.

Ezreal is perched in the golem's other hand next to Riven after being deposited by the Firelights' leader, his expression pensive, eyes flicking about the surrounding buildings as they soared deeper and deeper into the undercity.

Riven looks oddly serene, face turning into the wind, ear slightly tilted as if listening for something.

Their leader is racing around them, offering shouted orders to the other Firelights, who nod and begin to peel away.

"What's going on?!" Ezreal shouts over the wind.

The leader allowed them to catch up with him, calling back, "Piltover might be quiet, but down here, it's a constant fight! But that's nothing new! We're taking you back to our base, but moving in a big group will bring unwanted attention, so we're gonna be entering through different paths!"

"What kind of attention?!" Riven cries out.

The green-haired girl pulls up alongside them, "The explosive kind."

She tilts her head in confusion but sees Ezreal blanche considerably.

"Then let's get where ever we are going, now maybe!" Ezreal shouts.

"Then hold on tight, Piltie." the leader remarks, "Blitz, Zeri, double time!"

A wide smile crosses the girl's face as the golem nods, and Gwen feels a tiny surge of excitement as they suddenly dive.

Riven and Vayne wrap their arms around the golem but seem no more perturbed than before while Ezreal lets out a stream of swears.

Gwen looks up at the leader, who tilts backward and salutes her.

"Try to keep up, Scissors!" he states, entering a spiraling dive.

"Okay!" Gwen cries, flitting after him.

The quartet of flyers begins weaving through buildings and bridges, Zeri occasionally doing tricks. However, as she passes through one of the streams of Hallowed Mist coming off Gwen, she senses the young girl is attempting to extricate a few moments of joy in this quite dark and dire time.

Fear rested heavily behind the smile.

She turns her attention back to flying, noticing several Ruined and Mistwraiths, looking up at them as they rocket by.

"We've been noticed!" Vayne states, managing to pick off two of the wraiths as they move to pursue.

"Almost there!" the leader barks.

He goes into a tight spiral, Zeri following, while Blitz kills his propellers, dropping like a stone.

"Oh, you fu-!" Ezreal screams, his voice lost as she faintly hears Riven laugh and Vayne also swear, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

Gwen rockets after them, finding herself passing the leader and entering a wide tube. She glances back and sees him rush after her, using his makeshift bat to strike different parts of the wall as they fall.

Several doors gleaming with blue lines of light begin to slam out of the wall, sealing them in darkness, outside the dull gleam of the hoverboards engines and the glow of her scissors.

They eventually reach a curve in the tunnel, and Gwen sees Riven, Vayne, and Blitz standing over Ezreal, who looks like he is preparing to kiss the ground. Zeri was circling above their heads on her hoverboard.

"Thank the Gods," Ezreal mutters.

"What is the famous adventurer and apparently Sentinel of Light Ezreal afraid of a little fast-flying?" the leader mocks as he lands, placing his board across his back.

"Maybe." Ezreal mutters, getting to his feet and glaring at him, "You keep talking like you know me. Who are you?"

The leader takes off his mask, revealing a young man with darker skin, marked with white paint with white dreads. His brown eyes were set in a deep scowl.

Ezreal blinks, appearing to recognize him, "You're Ekko, that kid Heimerdinger was taking a shine to from the Sump."

"So they do know me topside." Ekko returns, brushing past Ezreal, "And such a squeaky clean repertoire."

"Hey-" Ezreal begins, scowling.

"Save it. I know now is not the time. We walk from here." Ekko remarks.

Ezreal bristles slightly but falls in line as Zeri hops onto Blitz's shoulder, Riven moves in behind them, and Vayne takes place at the rear.

Gwen shrinks her scissors and falls into step with Ezreal.

She glances between Ezreal and Ekko, feeling the unspoken tension between them.

"Why was he talking to you like that?" she whispers.

Ezreal grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck, "It's complicated, Gwen. There's…there's a lot there that would take quite a bit of time to explain."

Gwen tilts her head in confusion.

"He's Zaunite." Vayne murmurs, nodding to Ekko, "Ezreal is Piltovan. That's the reason."

Ezreal shakes his head and sighs, "It's a lot more nuanced than that… but… but yeah."

"Old wrongs run deep," Riven remarks, placing a commiserating hand on Ezreal's shoulder.

Gwen goes to speak but stops as she spots a glimmer of light in the distance, but that is not what catches her attention.

No.

She can feel her.

"We're getting close." she breathes.

"To what?" Ezreal asks.

"To the piece!" she cries and tears ahead.

"Hey!" Ekko yells, but she pays him no heed.

She races forward, hope and anxiety roiling inside her as she slips beyond the light into a wide opening.

She blinks, taking in the massive tree surrounded by young individuals and the dozens of fluttering and glowing insects.

But Isolde is so close she whirls, attempting to find her.

"So you have returned," a haggard voice states behind her, and she whirls.

Resting hunk of metal is a bald, blue-skinned man covered in scarification markings, with his back to her.

He turns and then blinks, clearly not expecting to see her.

"Who-" he begins but stops as the others finally catch up with her.

"Scar, she's safe," Ekko states, and she turns to realize for the first time that a tall, bat-featured individual is holding a spear to the side of her throat.

He grunts and lowers the spear.

But Gwen's attention swiftly returns back to the seated man. As clutched in his hands is a parasol.

Her parasol.

"You have it," Gwen mutters, stepping towards him.

He glances down at it and nods with an oddly sad expression.

"Finally caught up to me." he mutters, looking to the other Sentinels, "I think it is time we speak."

Something about him rings so familiarly, but she can't place it.

Ezreal narrows his eyes at the man as he finishes speaking.

"So you're why we've been on a wild goose chase for most of this year?" Ezreal mutters, trying to contain his anger.

Vayne is much more blunt about her feelings, "This could have been over, but for your pride. I very much would like to shoot you right now."

Ryze grunts, "I am not the reason. Though, I would state that it did not appear that the Sentinels were in great standing in those first months of this war. Demacia City fallen, Ionia Ruined, not until the Mount did I think that perhaps you had a chance."

Ezreal grits his teeth, "But you could have been fu-"

"Language, my boy," Heimerdinger interjects.

Ezreal nods an apology, glancing at the others currently sitting around him.

Most of the Firelights had taken a step back. Still, Ekko was seated next to Ryze, while to his surprise, Heimerdinger and Renata Glasc, two big names he would never have thought to see in the same room, let alone be working together, standing nearby listening in to the conversation.

Gwen sat beside him, staring intently at Ryze, while Vayne and Riven stood behind her, expressions harsh.

"You could have come to us, to Senna and Lucian, offered your knowledge, your help, instead of leaving us to clean up the messes that ensued." Ezreal remarks.

"I… you are correct." Ryze breathes, "I am not used to… working with others when it comes to these scenarios, not for a long time."

"Well, time for you to get with the program." Vayne snaps, "What was even the point of any of what you did, mage if in the end you just…."

"Awoke him once more?" Ryze returns, shaking his head with a dark chuckle, "I don't know. I think perhaps my partner was playing another of his games."

"The one that likes leaving red butterflies everywhere?" Riven demands.

"Yes," Ryze states.

"Perfect. Insane Undead legion and an ancient conspiracy." he mutters, "What's next?"

"I wouldn't be so blatant in chancing fate," Heimerdinger warns, "It often comes calling."

Ryze laughs darkly again, "True, but know that much of my work was not shifting, Isolde. In truth, I knew only where one piece was being kept. My partner… they had the main hand shifting her pieces about."

"Then what were you doing?" Riven asks.

"I was keeping Viego from accessing powers that should be best left alone." Ryze states, looking up at all of them, "Worse than a love-maddened young man trapped in his own delusion."

A nervousness passes amongst them as Ezreal can see the others trying to think of what else could be waiting out there.

"Like the being that assaulted Silvermere?" Vayne demands.

"Yes." Ryze returns, staring at her with long tired eyes.

"But you are willing to help us now?" Gwen asks, speaking for the first time.

Ryze looks down at the parasol in his hands, "I… do not know how much help I can still be. Viego has left me… less than what I was."

"So then, you need us." Ezreal counters, leaning forward.

"Maybe I do.' Ryze returns, narrowing his eyes.

"You don't like having to rely on others, do you?" Gwen asks, tilting her head.

"No." Ryze remarks.

She reaches out and touches his hand, Hallowed Mist wrapping around his hands.

"So much guilt." she breathes, tears welling.

"It has been quite some time since I have felt this magic," he mutters, staring at the Hallowed Mist weaving around his fingers.

Ezreal sees Glasc and Heimerdinger lean in.

The former looks almost hungry, and knowing all she had done in her ascent in Zaun, that makes him almost more nervous than the thought of the Ruined patrolling outside this unique little haven.

A great tree in the Undercity, how had he never found it?

Heimerdinger, meanwhile, had the faintest bit of tears in his eyes.

"Nothing ever truly vanishes, is that not the saying?" the yordle remarks, looking up to Gwen with a new curiosity and admiration.

Ryze nods, "Yes, and yes, I feel a great deal of guilt, but that is past. If we desire to work together and get Isolde into your safekeeping, we need first to be able to leave the city. Ekko?"

He turns to the young rebel leader, who has been staring at the ground, his head resting on his hand.

"Sorry, still grappling with the fact that the world is ending because of a scavenger hunt based around the pieces of a dead lady," Ekko remarks flatly.

Gwen frowns.

"Little respect, man," Ezreal states, sending Ekko a pointed look.

"Right, sorry." Ekko mutters, "There are a few ways out of here. North and South roads, but the city's "protector" has forces blocking both paths. We've been trying to contact the refugees in the Northern Hills, led by that one Warden Caitlyn. But no luck."

"Those paths would not be quick enough," Vayne stated, "Viego is likely on his way since this one chose to enrage him, not just wake him up."

Ryze nods, ignoring the verbal barbs she attempts to stick him with.

"There are likely airships that could be salvaged, but it would be slow going." Heimerdinger remarks.

"What about teleportation?" Ezreal asks, holding up the Wayfinder. Ekko's eyes trace along it swiftly.

"The "Protector" has put up a device that blocks all magical transportation from the city." Ekko states, "So anyone that attempts to come here just ends up trapped like the rest of us."

"Where is the device?" Riven asks, "At the Academy?"

"No." Ekko states, shaking his head, "He placed the rude little thing atop the tallest building in the city. Not exactly sure why, maybe just because it is the easiest place to defend."

"The Hexgate Tower." Ezreal remarks, "That place was like a fortress even before all of this."

"Finding a way in would be tough, but no more than any other place you've gotten into, long as you have my help, of course," Ekko remarks, looking up at him.

Ezreal begins calculating, "Perhaps."

"So if we break the device, we can leave the city?" Vayne asks.

"You folks will, but we're not giving up this fight." Ekko remarks, nodding to the nearby Firelights, "But he's going to have at least one of his lieutenants guarding the place. If we can take them out in all this, our chances get much better."

"So then we have the beginnings of our plan." Vayne remarks, "Are there maps of the Gate, clues for points we can enter unnoticed?"

"I recovered quite a bit from the academy before I left." Heimerdinger states, "I will show you; hopefully, some of young Jayce's schematics were amongst them."

"Wait, what about Olaf? We can't leave without him." Riven remarks.

"He's Ruined." Vayne counters.

"We aren't leaving anyone behind. Not with that…man." Riven states, a sharp edge to her voice.

"I can attempt to free him of the Mist." Gwen offers, drawing the non-Sentinels attention.

"You can wh-" Ekko begins, sitting forward with rapt interest.

"At times, I have been able to use my gifts," she pauses, allowing a bit of Hallowed Mist to appear in her hand, "To release others from Viego's enthrall, but I am unsure that…Singed individual did something to our friend."

Glasc leans in, "What exactly did he do?"

"He forced our compatriot to breath in his concoction, a vial of pink liquid," Riven states.

"His concoction?" Glasc scoffs, "Please, any dropout chemist with a basement still can make Shimmer."

"What is it?" Vayne demands.

"A drug. A rather addictive one at that." Glasc remarks, "It causes bodily transformations, heightened aggression, strength, stamina, damage resistance, et cetera, et cetera."

"And you can thank that corpse crow Silco for it being everywhere." Ekko growls.

"No need to speak ill of the dead, young man," Glasc states with a wave of her hand, "Especially now that he could likely hear you."

Ekko rolls his eyes and spits, Ezreal smirks and turns back to Glasc, "But that stuff just makes you angry and strong. It doesn't usually take away all sense of friend or foe, even Silco's batch."

Glasc's eyes narrow, "Then the feckless rat has truly given up any care for propriety licensing."

She twitches her mechanical hand, and pink-purple vapors pour from her fingertips, which Ekko and Heimerdinger flinch away from, hinting for the others to hold their breath.

"He is using my mixture." Glasc states, "Quite unbecoming, but lucky for you, that means with the aid of your curious little friend here, we may have a cure."

"You know how to reverse Shimmer addiction?" Ekko demands, glaring at her angrily.

"Well, of course, I do. What kind of chemist, let alone business-woman, would I be if I didn't also know how to peddle the cure." Glasc remarks.

Ekko stares at her momentarily and looks at the Firelights milling in the distance, "We…we could get Vi back?"

He turns back to Glasc, who turns to Gwen, "With my Shimmer cure and this gifted young woman's abilities, it is more than likely.

Despite himself, Ekko lets out a happy chuckle.

Gwen lets out a sigh of relief, "Do you wish me to accompany you, Ms. Glasc?"

"I am curious to see if your Mist can be…distilled, so yes," Glasc notes, scratching her chin.

"Not alone." Vayne remarks.

"Surely the daring Shauna Vayne isn't needed in this instance." Glasc remarks, "She is in safe hands, I assure you."

"I have known many snakes wearing human guises." Vayne returns, stepping towards Glasc and looking up at her with narrow eyes, "You strike me one such serpent. I am coming. Assurance be damned."

"She could also look over the schematics if they can be found, as they are kept within the workshop," Heimerdinger notes.

"Very well." Glasc returns, with a nod of her head, "Professor, Blue-One, how are your chemistry skills?"

The two elders share a glance and then look back at her.

"Exemplary." Heimerdinger returns, though his brow furrows, "Though this is quite an unorthodox method of scientific enlightenment.

"Well, you can take what you learn and work on your philanthropy." Glasc states, turning to Ryze, "And you?"

"Six hands are better than two. I can assist if you wish." Ryze remarks, looking to the Sentinels, "Unless you all have further questions?"

"They can wait until we meet with Senna and Lucian again," Ezreal states, "I have a feeling whatever you have to say, they will want to hear."

"Very well." he returns.

"I would rest while you can. The night is fast approaching, and whatever it and tomorrow may bring are sure to be challenging," he states, leaving Ezreal, Riven, and Ekko alone as the others shift off.

"I'll show you somewhere where you can lie down if you like," Ekko remarks.

"Sure." Ezreal states.

A few moments later, Ezreal and Riven were situated in a pair of hammocks while Ekko went to check on his people, promising he'd be back with food.

Ezreal glances over at Riven, seeing an odd haunted look resting in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asks after a moment.

She looks at him, "I feel like I should be asking you that. Your home is…."

"It's different than I expected, a lot worse, honestly, but it's not like the rest of Runeterra isn't going through it." Ezreal mutters, trying not to think of his Uncle or friends at the academy or Kai'sa off on her own, "We're going to fix that, but… the fight here, it feels like it's somehow personal to you too."

"It wasn't," Riven states, "Ionian, Noxus, those both still fill my memories, the worry of what has befallen my adoptive father… but I did not expect the specter from my past that has forged all the wrongdoing in my life to be here. Probably a foolish hope in hindsight."

"Singed?" Ezreal asks.

Riven nods, seemingly unable to speak for a moment.

"What did… what happened?" Ezreal asks.

"He… he is the reason I lost almost everything I cared about in my life." Riven states, staring at the ceiling, "And… while I have gained much, the pain he caused continues to rise up to haunt me."

"I'm sorry." Ezreal states, "You don't need to go into it if-'

She cuts him off, "It's not the first time I have spoken of this, so if you wish to listen, I will speak. It is simply rawer at this moment than before."

"Alright, I'll listen." Ezreal states, leaning back into his hammock.

Riven pauses for a moment, "I suppose I should begin…."

Vayne looks across the schematics, searching for entrances that would go undetected, attempting to make sense of the rambling scrawl along their edges ridden full of Piltovan aphorisms.

She glances towards Gwen, who, as usual, is seemingly succeeding at making friends with yet another random group of people she has encountered.

Ryze was a mage, a source of general loathing for Vayne, but the fact he had a hand in some of the trials she had faced over the past year and change did even less to engender anything else towards him.

He refused to give up the parasol, even as he offered advice and ideas to the two scientists as they and Gwen attempted to concoct some form of miracle alchemy.

Yet, he treated Gwen with the utmost respect and care.

The doll was correct, there was deep guilt within the man, but Vayne could tell it ran far deeper than just the current state of the world. He had the look of the man who had looked calamity in the eye before, and judging by the bags under his eyes, the way he never truly allowed himself to enter a restful stance, and the decades of scars covering his body, she guessed he'd seen quite a few.

Heimerdinger was a Yordle and, in some fashions, resembled Poppy, namely in his optimistic outlook and innate curiosity. Of course, her former companion's curiosity and optimism had been tied solidly into fighting. He is clearly a scholar and seems to be taking control of the ensuing experiment, even if the last group member seems reticent.

Renata Glasc was indeed a serpent, but right now, her flavor of toxin would be palatable. She had the most knowledge bout the chemical concoctions that utter fiend Singed was using to bend a fair bit of the populace easier to the "Protector" and Viego's will.

Both were fascinated with Gwen, but the latter Vayne knew only had monetary and likely dark-hearted ideas surrounding the magics Gwen used.

She looks to Gwen at that thought, the curiosity in the young being's eyes as she listens to the others speak and the occasional longing glance towards the parsol. She was so human, but Vayne knew she wasn't yet... all she felt was a rush of protectiveness toward her.

She looks to the window and up toward the city beyond a curious barrier of gleaming magic.

Atop the highest branch sits a bluebird, appearing to watch over all of them.

What else was watching, waiting for them to make their move?

And should she attempt to move first?

A preemptive strike.

On Singed, that mad beast in mortal skin. She's never seen Riven so afraid. That worried her more than she wanted to admit.

On the Protector, of whom none of the Firelights or assembled scientists would speak.

Either way, she would slay a monster, allowing what followed to go much more smoothly.

Yet, despite the urge to hunt, she couldn't leave Gwen or the others, but particularly Gwen.

It was often the kindest ones that places like this swallowed up first.

And she had a feeling that regardless of how defensible this place currently seemed.

Something was on its way.

She could practically smell it.

Claws click against cobblestone.

A unique scent fills the air.

Pushed on by the whispers in his blood and the Shimmer in his mind, he stalks forward.

The Hunt was on.

And scene!

So, not sure if this section will have one or two more chapters. Likely looking like Piltover/Zaun will end with a solid 7.

You may be wondering at this point, hey, where the hell is Graves?

The answer, Bilgewater. I am likely going to have his introduction in Bilgewater, if at all, as while I do like him as a Sentinel, this story feels like it has moved pretty far afield of the baseline Ruination.

We will see.

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