A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"Turncoats, oath breakers and betrayers... we hate them all." ~ Kalista, The Spear of Vengeance

It is in hindsight that I realize that maybe I should have dedicated a chapter to Marcus. For character development. And so that as a reader you develop feelings for the character. I can slot in a chapter in between named Mad Marcus (Like Mad Max).

But I am not going to. I'll learn from this and the next time I put a side character of consequence they will have at least a chapter to develop. The way I did Talon I guess.

P.S. Happy New Year! You get two chapters today! (Oh my wrist? The pain has passed. And if I cannot feel the pain.... then there is no problem.)

P.P.S. Lots of new league fics have started popping up and some of them are pretty interesting. Check them out. The Chinese translation one that was dropped was very good.

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His cloak rippled as he moved through the shadows. 

Under it, strapped to his side was the axe he had brought along with him for his journey. A small hunter's knife was hidden within his left sleeve while a the blood infused runic knife was in the right sleeve.

He arrived at Metol extremely quickly.

Since he had a time sensitive mission, he couldn't really take the long winding routes. The chances of anyone following him were miniscule since their attention would be diverted by whatever Talon had planned.

Thinking of Talon.... Katarina said that she had gotten his eye....

But the Talon he met at dawn had both his eyes. His face was unmarred.

Katarina had no reason to lie there, so Talon had done something. Either he had completely fooled Katarina with an act or the more scary thought, he had managed to heal it back himself.

Healing back an entire organ was unheard of but in this world nothing was impossible.

It just made Talon a much more important figure to Noxus than he had originally imagined him to be. An assassin with a grand dream.

Just like that other man he met in the Freljord.

Tanen.

But big dreams could only be held by people with big fists or big hearts....

Talon seemed to have both.

WHOOOSHH

The winds had picked up all of a sudden and as it did, the braziers lighting up the streets were all put out.

Of course the winds weren't the only reason, Gregori had put them out with his magic. Pulling the fire underneath the ashes put the out pretty quick. The only thing left was tiny embers that floated about in the darkness.

And with the cover of the clouds, there was no moonlight to illuminate the Bastion.

Tonight the land belonged to darkness.

Gregori made his way around the drawbridge and arrived behind the fortress. Hus eyes flitted around, trying to spot any guards. Having spotted no one, Gregori ran to the edge of the moat around the fortress and lowered himself on to its side.

He used his left hand to hand onto the ledge while simultaneously flicking his right wrist sending the runic knife to his hand. He raised the handle of the knife to his mouth and bit onto it.

With his right hand now freed, he ran his hand across the outer walls of the moat. Feeling for the imperfections on the bricks laid.

As per the schematic, the first rune was here. Hidden among the countless bricks in the moat. It was a paired rune. Paired runes were meant to be placed on either side of the location that was supposed to be protected.

The first rune and the second rune were directly opposite each other. The second rune was harder to reach because the drawbridge would cover it when let down and the second rune was where he was at currently.

SWIHSHH

SWIIRRLLL

Gregori's eyes shot downward to the darkness in the moat. 

"Ah..." Gregori softly exclaimed.

He hadn't spent a second to even entertain the fact that the water in the moat could house a creature. It was not in the schematics but it made sense. No prisoner could just swim to safety.

SPLAAASSHHH

THUD

SPLAAASSHHHH

The large creature leapt out of the water and hit the outer wall of the moat. It had missed Gregori but it had still come close.

Gregori grit his teeth and turned back to complete the task at hand. He couldn't waster time trying to take on the creature in such a time sensitive situation.

And then he felt it.

Grooves in the bricks.

Tracing the grooves he recognized the rune.

Pulling the knife out of his mouth, Gregori felt around for the rune again, finding it easier this time and got to work.

He scratched another rune onto the brick and pulled himself up.

THUD

The creature smashed into the wall once more, barely missing Gregori as he pulled himself up barely in time.

Gregori reached inside his pockets and pulled out another stone. A stone with a rune already inscribed on it.

The companion rune to the one he had just carved.

A disruption rune.

Activating the rune would do exactly what its name suggested. It would disrupt a runic scheme. But it was only used in controlled situations.

Not in large safety schemes. That often resulted in rather... explosive reactions.

One Gregori would use as a distraction. One could never have enough of those after all.

Then calmly, he placed the companion rune stone into his pocket and walked all the way around, sticking to the darkness.

From that point on, it was just a waiting game.

And he did not even have to wait that long.

BOOOM

BOOM

BOOOOM

BOOOOOOOOOM

Four explosions went of simultaneously across different parts of the Immortal Bastion. It was loud enough to reverberate throughout the capital.

He could hear the people waking up in fear. He watched as a lot of them made their way out on to the streets and look around for the source of the sound.

The drawbridge dropped and the guards ran across it. Along with them were some researchers and nobles.

"WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" One of them screamed at the guards, "THE WARDS HAVE FALLEN! OUR HOMES ARE BEING ATTACKED!" He yelled as he ran in the direction of his home.

The guards ran after him. Some of them split away into different groups and followed the glowing fires in the distance. The smoke from the fires rose ominously as the houses burned down.

"I am very impressed Talon." Gregori said to no one in particular. Talon had provided him with an incredible distraction. "Wow."

CAW

CAW

CAW

CAW

Looking up everyone on the street watched the abnormal amount of crows all fly toward the fires in the capital.

"Huh..... these crows.... they are flying toward the fires?" A Thought came to him mind. "They are for surveillance.... interesting."

Gregori used the opportunity to walk right into the fortress. Since no one was looking after the outside, it was just easy to waltz right in.

"Hey! Who are you?" A voice stopped him.

"Haa.... haaa.. There's been attacks... I was sent for rallying guards to help. Others have been sent to all such locations.. Mobilize everyone!" Gregori huffed as he spoke. Acting like he ran all the way here.

"Attacks?" The guard asked, "That was where the noise came from?"

"The guards who ran out have already made their way there but we need more for reinforcement." He said while taking large gulps of air.

"ATTACKS!" The guard turned and yelled, "GUARDS WE ARE ASKED TO MOBILIZE! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

And within the next few minutes, except for a few four behind, the rest all left the fortress.

"Well then..." Gregori said as he watched the men across the drawbridge and make their way to the source of the fires. "How are we doing this boys?" 

Turning around, he reached for the nearest guard and smashed his head into the wall, sending him crumpling to the ground.

"Get him!" The closest guard yelled as he thrust with his spear. His shout alerting the others left behind, all of whom picked up the weapons and pointed them at Gregori.

Dodging the incoming spear, Gregori grabbed at the pole and pulled it. The guard jerked forward, right into Gregori's extended fist.

The impact having his body bend like a shrimp, but he still stayed upright due to his grip on the end of the spear. Pulling the spear once more, Gregori watched the man come for a second round and another punch landed to his head, knocking him out.

Gregori shook his fist and the pain from punching the steel helmets faded away but there was still a dull throb.

SWISH

He then ducked the two incoming spear swings from either side. Grabbing one of the spears, he pivoted it to the ground and used to spin kick the guard holding it. As the kick landed, Gregori lifted the end of the spear blocking the second spear from thrusting.

The guard holding that spear looked down at the locked spears and looked back at him. Dropping that spear he threw a punch at Gregori.

Gregori used the opportunity to leave the spear and grab the incoming punch. Turning around, he flipped the guard over his shoulder and onto the guard he had just kicked.

CLING CLING

His eyes followed the sound and spotted the bunch of keys on the thrown man's waist.

"Oh! Is that for me?" He asked reaching for it.

SWOOOSH

Jumping to the side, Gregori looked at the attacker.

By mere inches he had managed to dodge a swing from the final guard. A larger one. One wielding a battle-axe.

"AUGH!" The man cried as he swung the axe sideways at Gregori.

Dodging it by taking a quick step back, Gregori pulled at the man's knees. Larger men, heavier armor. More effort on their knees. And just like that the man lost his balance, the force of the swung axe and losing his footing sending him toppling to the ground.

Gregori walked to him, grabbed his helmet and slammed it to the ground a few more times until the man had completely lost consciousness.

Standing straight, Gregori cracked his neck and unhooked the keys from the fallen guard.

His eyes then fell into the darkness and the countless prisons. Going through each one would take too much time. Time he did not have to spare.

The schematics had pointed out a single prison holding with the largest size and the highest security.

He needed to get there as soon as possible.

With a passing glance at the downed guards, he sprinted down the hallways to the descending staircase.

As he ran toward the particular prison cell. His eyes fell on the countless other cells..... all holding emasculated people. Anywhere from children to grown men and women. But they were all horribly modified.

Blades fused to their bodies. Pipes going through them. Runes carved onto their very bodies.

They all just watched him run. No sounds from their throats. It was horrifying.

Gritting his teeth with great force and anger, Gregori turned his head and kept running.

And he arrived at the cell.

"Annie?" He called as he looked into it.

THUD

RATTLE

A person slammed into the prison bars.

"Who?"

Gregori jumped back in shock. He eyes landed on the prisoner but the darkness obscured their features. His brain registering the voice. It was a girl.

"Are you the only one here?" He asked her.

The girl looked at him. "Yes! Are you new?"

Gregori shook his head. "Have you seen a small girl? Red hair? Carries a little bear?"

"What's a bear?" The girl asked him.

"Uh...." Gregori stalled as his eyes finally acclimating to the darkness. He could make out the features of the girl.

Pale skin. Her gray hair stood in contrast to the darkness, the ends of which were blood red. Her body was oddly shaped as well. Like a snowman... the ones he had seen the Freljordian children make. The top half was small and lithe but the bottom half was larger and by the looks of it, stronger.

But that was not the part that caught his eyes. No. Her most scary features were her eyes. They were large. Larger than the average person's eyes. And the pupils themselves were almost as large as the eyes themselves. They were cataracted. Clouds of white covering the pupils with a red outer ring to the pupil.

Her hands hung near her head, shackled to a pillory. The pillory was also special. With blood infused runes cared onto them.

This child was experimented on.

A lot.

 "Who are you?" He asked.

"Me?" She asked back in surprise. Throwing out a wide grin, revealing her extremely sharp teeth, she answered, "I'm Briar."