The Fall: 10. Farewell, my friends, pt. 2

Farewell, my Friends, pt. 2

When Sona woke up, the ground was softly trembling. Usually that would have scared her, but this was different; it was a calm tremor, one that could remind you of the shore being buffeted by the soft waves of the Ionian coast. She opened her eyes and looked for Taric in the dark, but there was nothing to see.

 -Don't worry. -whispered Taric's voice.- We're advancing slower than expected, I didn't expect this part of the mountain to be this way.

Sona was worried about her sleep; how many time had she been lying in the sapphire bed? The last thing she remembered was Taric working onto a wall that annoyed them. How much time had passed after that? She felt as if she had slept for years.

-You looked really tired. It's been three days and two nights since you fell asleep. -answered Taric, as if he could feel Sona's doubts and fears.- Don't worry, I can't read your mind. But the gems... they transmit your feelings. Your fear, your anguish... There's no reason for it, Sona.

Then she felt something warm over his hand. Taric's strength made her feel safe. His calm reached her through the sapphires, and even when drowning in the deepest of the darks she could feel that hope that warmed up her heart. A light glow shreded some light into Taric's face, where a broad smile laid. She knew she was safe.

The Fall: 10. Farewell, my friends, pt.1

Farewell, my friends, pt. 1

-These evil creatures are the ones that killed our king! -shouted the herald.- Whoever sees or captures one of them, contact the guard immediately! You'll be rewarded!

No one stopped to listen to him, but there was no need to do so. The hatred for everything that wasn't human had extended through Demacia in the blink of an eye. Yordles, mages and other magical beings were escaping the once home of the just, looking for shelter wherever they could. But there was no easy way out of Demacia.

All gates were closed and the whole army was in charge of one of the most aggressive reconaissance missions ever planned internally. Investigating, chasing, torturing, killing... History books would never mention this side of the story, that's for sure. But that didn't mean it was not happening.

Yordles who had found a home in the old Demacia were now being betrayed by their own friends and neighbours; few were brave enough to help them hide or escape, and even less were left unpunished after doing so. The government's lies had been nailed to the deepest place of their hearts, being an irrational fear the most common feeling in the streets. Meanwhile, Galio flew peacefully over the city, waiting for his persecutors to reach him.

Then he heard a female voice and felt a burning fiery breath at his side.

-You know it, right? -said Shyvana.

-Now you confirm it. I only expected it. -calmly answered the Sentinel's Sorrow.

-The cycle has accelerated itself. This war is going to kill a lot of people, Galio.

-Most will die fearing a monster. And those who don't will probably live long enough to become one. You have seen it as many times as me, Shyvana.

...

Sharp crystals of beautiful colours surrounded them while they advanced through the caves. What was the real nature of that place? Sona couldn't tell, since she didn't get to see no more than the floor of it.

Taric's gems protected them from anything that could try to enter their range. Looking as hard as diamonds, those huge opal crystals moved with them, always keeping the same distance from Taric. Was that the real power of the Gem Knight or the mine was the one that was granting Taric such an ability? Whichever was the answer, she thanked the gods for having gifted her the chance to be accompanied by him. Without her etwahl there wasnothing she could do on her own.

-¿Are the boots comfortable Sona? -asked Taric, his hammer shining brightly with the warm bright of rubies.

That made her feel safer than she had ever been. Sona shook a bit her hair and then answered with a shy smile which Taric understood as an affirmative response. She couldn't remember the last time she had walked that much. but Taric had been really sympathetic and had thought about every single detail. Planned pauses, food and drink... and his magic.

Suddenly, the opal crystals were at her face. She had dived way too deep in her mind, and she wouldn't have realized that she was about to hit the opal crystals if not for Taric's hand on his shoulder. Their protection was no longer centered at the Gem Knight, and Sona had no idea of why that was happening.

-A wall, Sona. -pointed out Taric.- Stay back, I've got work to do. You should take some rest, you look tired.

Sona walked to the opposing side of the enclosure just to find out that a sapphire bed was being created there. 'Sapphire for divinity.' she remembered. She laid on the bed and closed her eyes. The last thing she saw was Taric hammering the other side of the opal wall. No noises, no tremors. His work was always calm and quiet, and so were the crystals. Everything was that way with Taric.

The Fall: 9. The Prodigal Explorer

The Prodigal Explorer

Artifacts like that one had always marvelled him. Solving puzzles that for hundreds of years had remained secret was the kind of challenge that made him feel as alive as he was before the war. No one would never know how much both of them had been through; why Jayce was sitting there, in front of a desk, full of sketches and machines whose functioning wouldn't be understood by most people. was a mystery even to himself. There had been a lot of variables and coincidences that had made Jayce become what he was; where he was born, who were his parents, how he had been raised, his early work as a child guided by Professor Kozim... He as a person was no more than the result of a never-ending pile of coincidences that had luckily happenned one after the other. And the same was appliable to that artifact that he was now trying to understand; why had it been created? who did it, and what was its purpose? how did it survive all this time without the need of a fix until now? why had Ezreal found it and why had he trusted him to repair his artifact? If the answer to one of those questions had been different, he might have never seen a creation like the one he was observing right now. If some deatil of his life had been different, he might have never even had the chance to end up working with such a precious invention.

No matter what people said, luck was always a huge factor. He knew about a lot that would point the Gods as the ones responsible for their own success or failure; others would think that they were in full control of whatever happenned in their lives, owing nothing to no one. But he knew they were wrong. There was always a huge random factor, because for something to happen you need an infinity of other events to go in a specific way, and the possibility of one of them depending on pure luck is as never-ending as the steps needed for the main event to be possible.

But those thoughts were not gonna fix it. Ezreal needed his weapon, and he needed it now. Anyssa Elestar had been very clear when pointing out that she wanted the so-called prodigal explorer to lead her team on her journey to wherever she had pointed in that map. She talked about buried history, secrets untold that were ages old and the truth about the fall of the old empires.

Usually, Ezreal would have denied the job. A little girl giving orders the very minute she came looking for him that would not accept a "No." as answer... Jayce knew that his friend had never been fond of such people. But the very moment that she mentioned Shurima his eyes started to glow, and without a word he signed the contract.

That was how Jayce was now back at the laboratory instead of working at his office. No sleeping, nearly no eating and feeling dehydrated from time to time, he preferred the restless work of the inventor than the comfortable chair that awaited him on the major's chamber. He was enjoying every single moment of this work, the last one before his laboratory was annexed to Piltover's Techmaturgy Museum. Working with the Shuriman artifact that had raised Ezreal to glory was not a bad way to end his scientific career, even though it made him sad to know that this was the last permission he would get from the council to abandon his responsibilities.

Suddenly he started to feel how a sharp pain in his stump. He pulled it away from the desk, noticing he had burnt a bit of it. That accident brought him back to the desk where he was working. 'Focus, Jayce. It's your last job here, you better do it right.' thought before getting back to work.

...

It had been a long time since he lost her, but Ezreal still felt as if everything had happenned the day before. Countless heroes had lost their lives at that last battle against Noxus; they had underestimated their strength, basing their strategy solely in the numerical superiority of the Trinity army that counted with people from all around Runeterra. Year of Noxian repression had given a reason for a lot of regions to rise against them during those hard times; Demacia, Ionia and Piltover stood out as the three major components of the army, and he was part of the infiltration squad lead by Quinn.

Every night he dreamed of the day he woke up at Lux's side. It all happenned the same way it had been that day. Her bright smile, one that would even be able to light the fog of war, her golden hair and her blue eyes reflecting everything he felt.

-Be careful Ez. -she said before leaving the tent- We'll meet here tonight, and I don't want you to come harmed.

-Don't worry, ours will be no more than a reconnaissance mission today. -he said before kissing her lightly.- You won't get rid of me yet.

As Lux said, they met later on the night.