Nothing much to say here, this chapter gets pretty dark. Enjoy!

The two had been running for a day straight. Connor had never traveled so fast before, they were nearly halfway to the forest already.

Finally he slowed to a stop, letting Irelia down from his arms as he collapsed to the ground. She rushed over to him, more worried than ever. He laid on the ground in a fetal position, his hands on his temples, a pained expression on his face.

"Connor… We need to take a break, you're going to kill yourself if we keep going."

"NO! We- we have to keep going. I- I don't have much time left. They're going to win, Irelia. We need to get to the forest, I need to get you to the forest."

"Connor? What's going to happen?"

"I- I don't know, Irelia. It hurts. I- I need to ask a favor of you." He slowly sat up, removing his hands from his head, his eyes closed in pain. He blinked out of sight and back for a second, reappearing with one of his dragon claw knives.

"C- Connor… Don't ask this of me." Her eyes began to water. "I'm not going to hurt you." Tears began to slide down her face. She dropped to the ground beside him, reaching out to hold his hand.

"Irelia… I- I need you to look away. Please. Close your eyes and cover your ears. Don't open them until we make it back to the forest." His vision swam.

"No. No! Stop it Connor, please!" She pulled him against her chest, letting her tears flow freely.

"Irelia… Don't make me beg you." He slowly stood up, tears dropping as she stayed on the ground, hugging onto his legs. "We have to make it. No matter what. I didn't think I'd have to do this. They're winning so quickly. I- I think these past months might have been a mistake, Irelia. I- I'm not going to win this time. Please… Close your eyes and cover your ears."

She finally covered her ears and closed her eyes, her whole body shaking. He took a deep breath, steeling himself.

Be strong, rider. Do what you mu- Her voice drowned away almost immediately.

He raised the knife and closed his eyes. He brought the knife down, stabbing it through his arm, the blade piercing straight through his bicep. He immediately screamed out, the pain amplified by the spirits trapped inside his body trying to escape. Despite the pain, his mind cleared slightly. Pain was what he knew. His whole body shaking, he reached down to pick up the love of his life off the ground.

After a couple minutes of excruciating pain picking her up, he managed to get her to stand. She was still shaking and sobbing as he pulled her close. He shakily grabbed one of her hands and pulled it away from her ear. "I- I need you to hold on to me." She nodded, unable to speak through her tears, her eyes never opening. She reached her arms around his neck, gasping as her arm grazed the blade still embedded in his bicep. He screamed out in pain as the knife easily cut through his arm even more. Blood poured down his side. Her arms tightened around his neck, her legs moving up to wrap around his waist. Her blades settled behind him, as if they were his. The instant she was settled, he started to run, faster than he had been before.

Connor knew that his self-inflicted wound would eventually let the spirits take over his body faster than they would have, but he wouldn't have been able to keep running. His entire body was numb, except for the searing pain in his arm, now hanging at his side, yet still he ran, faster and faster.

He ran through the night and into the day, never stopping once. All the while he could feel the shaking of his mate's body against his, yet she held on tight to him. Late into his second day of running, the forest came into sight, the large expanse of trees quickly taking up his vision as he ran.

Hours later, as the sun was setting at the end of his third total day of running, they entered the forest. He could immediately feel the eyes of worried elves following him as he ran in a straight line to Ionia. He pushed his powers even further, not bothering to even avoid trees and obstacles in the spirit realm, simply allowing himself to phase directly through them, a rush of pain flowing through him with each step he took in the realm of spirits.

He slowed to a stop, setting Irelia down on a fallen log, before allowing himself to fall to the ground, unmoving. She hesitated for a second, before opening her eyes. Looking around the area, she recognized the area, they were a few hours of running from Ionia.

Looking down at her mate, she saw the knife embedded in his arm. Panicking, she dashed over to his fallen body, shaking him awake. His eyes were completely red and unfocused. "Irelia…?"

"I'm here, Connor. I'm here for you! Please, don't go."

"I- I wish that was going to happen…" Another wave of pain flashed across his face. "Get to Ionia, Irelia." He still didn't look directly at her, nothing moving except for his mouth. "Get Karma… And Oromis. Bring soldiers." His unwounded arm slowly lifted. "My necklace…" Irelia grabbed his arm, gently setting it back down. She reached under his shirt, shuddering at the amount of his own blood that was caked on his body. Shaking, she pulled the necklace off his head. The dark purple orb shone in the faint moonlight.

"Irelia." She grabbed his hand, crying harder than she ever had before. "Listen to me. I don't have much time, she'll let you know all she knows about how to help. I know I've asked too much of you, but I need one more promise." Irelia nodded, tears falling down onto his limp body. His hand weakly squeezed hers, "I need you to not hesitate to kill him. He will use my body. I'm so sorry that it has to end like this, Irelia." He finally turned his head to look at her. "Go. I'll be here. I-" His voice broke, bloody tears started to fall from his eyes, "I love you."

Her whole body wracked with tears as she leaned down for what could be the last kiss with her lover. Her lips gently brushed his. "I love you, Connor." She took that moment to heart, before forcing herself to stand up and run. She ran and ran, faster than she had ever ran before, too. She had to force herself to not look back for fear that she would falter.

As he watched the only person to make him smile slowly fade out of sight, he thought to himself.

I've lost this time. I'm so sorry.

It was at that moment, for the first time ever… Connor truly gave up. He took a deep breath, feeling the numbing pain pounding through his arm. He followed the trail of pain throughout his body, noting a severe burning sensation on his back, in two separate short cuts near his shoulder blades. He let his breath out, his vision fading. As his vision faded, his muscles fully relaxed and the pain dripped out of his body, until he felt nothing and saw nothing.

"Greetings, shadow-warrior." He opened his eyes. He was back in that endless black realm. He looked up at the sky, again it was a light gray, no stars, nor lights. There were no structures in sight, nothing but Kindred. Lamb stood before him, the misty figure of Wolf floating behind her, connected to her by the black mist seeping from seemingly her entire body. He noticed that Lamb's eyes seemed to glow brighter than they did the last time he had met her and Wolf. "It has been a long time. We welcome you back to our domain."

Connor slowly stood up, his legs shaky. He looked down at his previously injured arm to see it completely healed, not even a scar visible. "I feel nothing." He indeed couldn't feel his arms, or legs, or anything at all. The pain and noise in his brain was completely gone. He would have felt completely at peace if he wasn't back in this realm again.

"We do apologize, I believe that the one who sent you here thought it was time for a break." Lamb took a step forward, her steps mimicking that of a humans, her hooved footsteps not making any noise, dampened by something. "We believe that there is someone that you should meet here with us." With a sweep of her arm, a creature appeared beside her.

It looked almost like a human. The creature stood well over double his height, its skin gray and ashy as if made out of some kind of stone. It wore a dull red loincloth with a large war-built shoulder guard in an equally dull red. Its legs were the same ashen gray, toned and muscular. The arms seemed normal until he saw its hands. Sharp claws seemed to replace the better half of its fingers, and its entire left arm seemed to be burnt to a crisp but still functioning. It had the face of a man, with large gray horns ripping from its temples. The thing that caught Connor's attention, though, was the wings. Massive wings sprouted from it's back, that same dull crimson, yet glowing. They seemed to be made out of some sort of flesh-like membrane with veins running throughout, pulsing faintly, with various cuts and holes scattered across them. It carried no weapon.

The being took a step forward, as it spoke, Connor knew exactly who this creature was. "Shadow man. You have failed in containing me." There's no way this is real. "My blade is known as Aatrox. We were blessed with eternal slumber after our capture across the world. Until we were used… To create you!" The beings voice boomed in a demonic tone, as if his throat was burned and mutilated, yet still allowed him to talk. "You failed… And now we are stuck here. Forever!"

"What the fuck is going on!?" Connor stared in disbelief at the being before him, still unnamed. "First of all, who are you? You said your blade is Aatrox? That doesn't even make sense at all! I don't know anything about how I was created, nor do I want to know." He looked over to Lamb, who simply shrugged unapologetically at him. He took a breath, calming his nerves, "Look. I don't know why I'm here either. I'm supposed to be dead, yet I just can't fucking die."

The being sighed, flopping down onto the ground to sit with his legs crossed. "Sit down, there is much to learn, shadow man." He paused, seemingly lost in thought, before speaking again, "You were, I assume created?"

"I guess you could say that?" Does this creature even know what a human is?

"Well, you were created by merging a valid soul with the one of an ancient warriors', specifically Aatrox, my blade."

Connor interrupted him, "Wait… So the tale of Aatrox is actually real? I thought that was just made up? Also, how do you know that?"

"It is entirely real, though possibly blurred over time. When I fell down into the void, I was transported here. I believed that the void was the only way to enter this world, but Kindred knows much more about here than I do. When I was down here for the first time, I wished for nothing else but to be free, in any way possible. I spent thousands of years down here, praying to this blank fucking sky."

"Wait, I thought you emerged only a few hundred years after being in the void?"

Kindred spoke up, "Time moves a little bit differently here, just as the time in the spirit realm does whenever you enter it. As we are unable to leave this world, Darkin here has been the only real way to track time." Both Lamb and Wolf paused, seemingly thinking. "We had previously concluded that a few days in 'reality' are correlated to a year here."

Connor rubbed his temples, "This is too much information." He turned back to the man. "Is there something that I can just call you for now? I don't much like talking to an entity that has no name."

"My name… I used to have a name." The man looked down, a frown on his face. "You may simply call me… Darkin." The man seemed satisfied with the answer.

"So… Your soul is merged with my soul?" Darkin shook his head. "Or… no? I'm very confused. Wait! Your blade, Aatrox. That is what my soul is merged with?"

"Precisely. My soul was merged with the blade, so in part you wield some of the power of my soul."

Connor looked down, realizing that he didn't have his sword at his side, nor could he sense his dragon-claw knives.

"Ahh, you begin to finally understand. Aatrox was never defeated, remember?" Connor nodded, "But he was captured. I was imprisoned in my own mind, and my blade was able to live on as long as I lived, thus allowing my wish of eternal slumber come true. I wish that death would have taken me instead, but I was willing to settle."

"So what happened to the sword?"

"It was stolen. By the man your land calls King. He stole my blade and extracted the spirit of Aatrox, inserted it into you. He then provided you with the remains of the blade, which you unknowingly forged into your own blade after the blessed death of your dragon."

"Why is her death blessed?" Connor was slightly offended.

"Death is but a doorway. I have lived far too long, and I now see the ways of humanity. It is an endless cycle of killing and suffering. All in the name of progress!? It is pitiful, and I wish for no part in it. I experienced joy, love, sadness, pain, anger. So much anger. So much pain. I know it must be hard to understand for you, you have lived for only a few minutes for every year I have lived. Her death has also made you stronger. Unfortunately not strong enough to keep me asleep. And now, again, I am helpless, in want of nothing but death."

"So… what now?"

"We wait."

"How long?"

"It depends on what happens in reality. There could be a way to fully contain Aatrox in your soul, bound to die with you."
"How would this be achieved?"

"I have no idea. That would be one of the better outcomes." Before Connor could ask, he answered, "The worst outcome would be that you are stuck in here. Forever."

"There's nothing I can do from in here?"

Kindred finally spoke back up, "You are not dead, the last time we were able to return you, your mortal body had perished. All you can do is pray that your elf can help you now. That is if the elves can tame Aatrox."

I hope I did the being that wields Aatrox justice. I know there was a lot of dialogue in this chapter, but I really want to bring the character of Aatrox alive(at least this universe's version of him). In lore, Aatrox is actually the being, but Aatrox being the sword is going to be very important for this story, so just stick around to (eventually) find out. I'd say we're nearing the halfway point to the story! Next chapter is entirely Irelia POV. PS: Next chapter might not be for a decent amount of time, my life has become very busy and this story isn't my top priority, but I will promise that it's going to get finished.