Dream Journal: 1. The Farm and the Croc

It was quite a strange farm. Lost in Catalunya, it had a lot of different animals living in strange conditions; crocodiles, sheeps, goats, lions and more. One of the weirdest animals I saw there was a rhino with 8 legs and something like shoulders for every pair; a long and fearsome creature that looked quite real to me. I had gone there with A and her friend A', and there also was A'' (a famous drumer).

A'' was about to bring us to a secret room of the place whose existence was ignored by most workers of the place. He left a second because he had to organize something and left us looking at the animals.

While we were strangely looking at the hand-made houses that the animals shared, a crocodile got out of one of them and bit my arm; he wouldn't let go, he stuck his teeth deeply and would only leave when Ishaked my arm endlessly and aggressively. Seeing that A and A' could not help me, I seeked the workers aid; they ignored me for a long time, most of them even running away from me.

It took really long to find someone who was eager to help me; I was about to shit on them telling those two guys how everyone had foolishly ignored me, but after a closer look I noticed that they were the first guys to run away when I called for help earlier; I needed the help desperately, so I just ignored the past and politely asked for help.

They called more servants and, together, we got the crocodile off of me; as a reminder now I have both arms covered in teeth-marks and half a piece of forearm lacking (luckily, there was no bleeding at all). When I was walking my way back to where I was with A and A', everything ended.

The Fall: 12. Farewell, my friends, pt. 3

Farewell, my Friends, pt. 3

Quinn could not calm down. The execution was something she was clearly against, but she could not disobey Garen. Not now, not during these days.

Also, the weather didn't help at all; the storm was lasting way longer than usual, with lightnings causing several fires around the city. The climatic anomaly had taken more than thirty victims, and that was without counting the casualties of the governments repression system that were hidden behind such an unnatural incident. To add up, Valor was nowhere to be seen.

She couldn't understand how Lucian was so calm. While she and Vayne shivered nervously, Lucian was nearly falling asleep besides the platform's small stairs; with his gun at his feet, he used Senna's as a pillow by laying it on his knees and his head on it. Meanwhile, countless citizens gathered in the square; they had come to see Poppy's execution.

Dark times bring dark thoughts to people's mind and dark needs to their hearts. They were not mean or evil; they were just scared. Propaganda and missinformation had widely spread a feeling of insecurity that had deeply digged its way through the Demacian hearts and infected every feel with hatred and misstrust; that was the only explanation she could find, the only way to justify their actions. Poppy's death would be a bless for them; the execution's duration was time that they wouldn't be using to try to face their own problems, the execution's reasons were the nonsense that helped them to find someone who blame for their misfortunes and the spitting they were giving to and old friend like Poppy was no more than their desperate wish for something to change.

...

Something woke Lucian up again. ¿A noise? ¿A step? No, it was different this time. People were silent. Even Garen was staring at the skies. They all looked charmed, as if a witch had forced them into an hallucination or something like that. ¿What were they looking at?

It took him a bit longer to realize; the air was glowing lightly. Small lights floating around, as minuscule as you might see the stars, but at the reach of his hand. Time felt slower around him; he could feel more than ever. The air through his lungs, the wind trying to wave his hair. The weight of Senna in his hand, the lack of something deep in his heart. And then the gust came.

Most people fell to the ground. Those who were not lucky elevated to the skies and fell onto those that were besides them seconds ago. Even Garen was lying in the ground, his sword soaked in blood and nailed on the ground, with a small hand laying at its side. Lucian felt his kings anger for short; once he realized Poppy was not there, he smiled to himself and run out of the square. He knew that Garen had seen his face; without a head to chop off, he'd look for someone to blame.

He had to leave the city.

DeWitt

Mirándote a los ojos era aún más difícil. El viento hacía que tu flequillo bailase alegremente, como si de mí se mofase. Una sonrisa y una mirada al infinito que servían para hacerme sentir la persona más tonta del mundo. ¿Y se suponía que tenía que escuchar lo que decías?

Porque a veces es difícil. Cuando no haces más que darme razones para sonreír, cuando pienso que es gracias a ti que no he caído presa de la locura, cuando me paro a pensar en lo que haría si no estuviese compartiendo ese momento así... Se me va el santo al cielo y no respondo. La mente en blanco, como si estuviese recién salido de un choque. Con la diferencia de que es cada una de tus sonrisas las que hacen que me quede casi en estado vegetativo, con un reflejo que intenta imitar a tu sonrisa pegado a mi cara.

Alguno diría que eso es algo malo, pero yo creo que es esa pequeña locura la que se encarga de mantenerme cuerdo. Esos momentos en los que lo oscuro que me envuelve desaparece, unos instantes que a veces siento que podrían ser eternos y no me cansaría jamás, aquellos que hacen que siga siendo quien creo ser... y que me ayudan a querer seguir siéndolo.

The Fall: 11. Cling-clang go the chains

Cling-clang go the chains

The Viscero was dead. Xin Zhao too. Still, something walked through the paths and roads of Runeterra with Thresh, and it definitely looked like him.

...

Astor could do nothing but hide after he felt them. Astor had never been special; a common merchant that lived on the roads between towns and cities, aiming for no more than another day of life. He was what we would call a normal person; nothing distinguished him from any other travelling merchant. And he thanked that.

His red eyes were always covered with tinted lenses that showed the typical brown eyes to the world. His short white hair was dyed pitch-black, leaving no trace of its true lack of color; same with his eyebrows. Astor shaved every inch of his face every morning, for later covering it all with tons of makeup; that's how his pale white skin ended up remiding everybody of the Ionian beaches. Aside from the lies, everything was normal for Astor; but not that day.

Polly, his albino mare, had suddenly started to run, leaving him alone by the fire. If he hadn't known the animal since it was born he would have thought that some animal had scared her, but that was not the case. After the chaos of his beloved mare departure was over, the night's silence reigned for a moment. But it didn't take any long for the clin-clang of some chains to echo through the night.

He didn't realize what he was doing until the fire was no more than cinders. His cargo hidden in the forest and his soul on his feet, digging him deep in the ground. Astor couldn't even make sure that he was breathing; something was holding him back from doing anything that was not silently hiding. He was scared with no reason; no reason until he saw them.

He recognized Thresh from the very beginning; once human, he was no more than a monster now. A mad man that had laughed at death itself and now walked through Runeterra harvesting souls. He had heard countless tales about him, specially during his times at Bilgewater. He remembered a young man crying at a bar in a small village near the city of Noxus talking to everyone about Thresh's insane laugh as he took the soul of every thing he had loved. But the Chain Warden was not alone.

A man whose armor was soaked in blood, whose spear was letting go little droplets while they both walked at the rythm of the cling-clang of the chains. A man whose face showed nothing; no fear, no hate, no love or empathy. A man whose eyes were closed, whose mouth only opened to answer the questions of the madman that had him in chains.

Suddenly, Astor heard a small squeak at his side. When he looked, he found a small light that danced around him; the surprise stunned him for a second, and after that he screamed. He heard one last loud clin of Thresh's chains, and then he started to run.

What to do? There was no time for thinking, he could only run. He could only follow the aether wisps.

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.