Light flashed my eyes.
Chirp. Whoosh-Rustle.
Birds, wind, leaves and the constant noise of bugs. I was back at the garden.
Thud!
A weight hit my chest.
Qiyana had woken the same moment I did, yet even before the senses stabilized, she had already shoot on top of me, knees either side, hands gripping my collar.
Her hair was loose. Eyes still half-fogged with sleep, but recovering fast.
"How did you get the fucking myst rose!?"
Her voice cracked, "No one even knows about it—did you steal it?!"
"You got the pet you wanted, didn't you?"
"That's besides the point!"
"Fuck the point." I gave her a headbutt to the forehead. "I want the payment you promised."
She didn't react and held her stare.
Racks eyebrows arched,
"You truly are a master of finding the most creative... situations, aren't you?"
Tzeleah threw a provocative glance,
"Careful. That bastard probably planned this too."
Storm stood there showing no smile. Eyes closed. Arms crossed tight.
.
After explaining that Qiyana got her summon and some general info about what happened,
Storm brought up the topic of 'bringing out' the spirit with a serious tone.
Yes, pulling the snake out.
I had surpassed her expectations many times--and given whatever the heck was happening to me because of Gathering Storm--she knew I was a special case. So even if common sense told her that bringing it out was something that took luck, patience and time, she couldn't rule out the possibility of me having a way around it just yet.
And,
She was right.
"Hey," said Qiyana, "Did that work?"
My gaze drifted to a jar floating in the air that no one else could see.
Oh, by the way, before we got back I told Qiyana to keep it a secret that I could store and pull things out of thin air. Yeah, I slipped up before by using it too openly. But it's not that crazy of an issue either way, just a pain to come up with an excuse.
Sh-creee.
The jar opened.
A snake's head surged out of thin air.
Everyone froze. The head came down until it touched the ground, the rest of the body followed: a feathered serpent in summer hues with a pair of growing wings.
'Ixtali Seedjar. A rune that stores items, even from the spirit realm...'
We all held serious gazes.
Different from the spirit world, here the beast emitted a different kind of pressure. Not quite intimidating, but unsettling. Looking at its mana flow it was easy to notice why. If Qiyana's body emitted light, and mine was similar to a black hole, then the snake was somewhere between us both. His body drew the elements around it into his luminous flame form.
He swept his head around, taking in the surrounding world. Deep in thought.
"Have you come to a realization?" I asked.
Hiss...
He turned to me. Nodding his head.
[Yes... I've come to notice that my horizon is but a joke compared to yours.]
"What do you mean?"
The girls stared at us in confusion. Qiyana's glare softened, patience wearing thin.
[Even as a human hatchling, you are already able to bend this world's logic,] It hissed, [...Now I understand why the mythical one values you so highly. The potential you possess is...]
He didn't finish.
"Okay. Thank you."
The girls, getting confirmation from Qiyana, understood that I was speaking to the beast. And almost in unison they put on the face of: "Can't even get surprised anymore."
.
.
Qiyana didn't say where we were going, but I followed anyway.
At the laboratory,
We left the main grounds through a passage I hadn't noticed before. And what I saw after was an endless tunnel.
"..."
"So, my prize is at the end?"
Qiyana kept walking. Didn't speak.
The steps going down were narrow. Curved walls and old floors, all made of stone. The place looked so old and unused, that I could confidently say she was one of the few allowed here.
My skin felt the chill of the temperature falling the further we got.
'They don't have elevators yet?'
As we got low enough, I was forced to use magic to raise my temperature. Qiyana was doing the same.
But what caught my attention was; First, the lights. Blue orbs of moving water dotted the ceiling. It seemed plain at first, but was getting strange. The liquid was moving slower and slower the further we went.
I also noticed that the sounds of our steps were changing. Delayed.
That's way too weird. I had to get serious and analyse.
'The ambient... Light and dark elements are flowing together.'
I noticed that even the small dust particles were getting slower and slower.
It clicked.
'T-Time magic? Whataheck'
I noted that for later.
...Once we reached an open space with a tall door covered in geometric inscriptions, runes.
Qiyana stopped and pressed against it for a moment, then pushed it open.
A dense wave of white fog washed over us. Extremely cold.
The chamber was wide and dim, the ceiling high enough to disappear into shadow. And at the center, once the gas settled at the floor, I noticed the thing and got spooked.
I got into ready position. My finger swiped instantly over the teleport button.
A grotesque creature.
Enormous. Still. Suspended in a large quantity of green liquid.
The creature was a pitch-black skeletal monster. The tail longer than its own body. Its bones and vertebrae protruding from severe malnutrition. The head was long and smooth, completely eyeless. And in place of teeth and nails it had organic blades.
"A void creature." Qiyana said, "I named him Dread."
My face hardened.
"Void creature?"
'Of course they have one... So they're the ones I'll have to face, but is that really how they look?'
"They fuse with animals, some even with plants. They become taller and larger. This one did it with a black-panther."
She glanced at me, maybe checking out my reaction. Then stepped closer and whispered:
"But the real ones are much different."
"...Is that so?"
I noticed her serious face and stood silent. I had many questions, but I let her continue.
"My parents believe they were the ones who showed him to me... But I first saw it in a dream."
She turned her gaze back to the glass. The moment stretching.
"At the elemental ceremony, after I swallowed that disgusting drink. A vision came to me. A... way too vivid one."
Her eyes fogged.
"War... a disturbing scene. The dead were walking toward me, begging for help. But... But,"
Her body hardened, hands thighed to fists.
"I was no better than them. I felt so... weak. Powerless." Her shoulders dropped.
"I fought. I was exhausted and in so much pain. I remember... seeing pieces of myself scattered around on the ground."
"By the end they overcame us like a heavy tide. Purple."
"I was hopeless. Couldn't save. Couldn't protect anyone. And at the end, when there was no one left but me, I realized; That fate has weight. That it is a war."
"And wars can be won. I will."
I didn't move.
'Did she had all that in lore? I remember just a part that she fought her sister and acted like a spoiled brat.'
"I agree." I said, "But don't you think it's more like chains?"
"..."
"Those who adapt don't feel its weight. Those who can't—go insane?"
She nodded. "But...Sometimes insanity can be the key to victory."
I chuckled.
"Right." I knocked my chest. "Overcome. Rise above the rest, or be buried beneath them."
"Pfft—" She started laughing out of nowhere. Bright and warm.
Once she recomposed,
Her legs wobbled, probably from the sudden dizziness of stress relief. She tilted toward me, her shoulder finding my arm, and by reflex I caught her by the waist, pulling her into my grasp.
Our eyes met. My gaze steady. Her eyes slipped to my lips. Then as if she became aware of something, she quickly hid her face against my chest. I felt her temperature rise through my shirt.
"...D-Don't you think I could be lying? Or mistaking a hallucination as truth?"
I squinted. "Are you?"
She shook her head. "No. I've confirmed it. Do you want to know?"
"Nah. That's enough."
'So basically the vision made her ambitious and anxious by placing a do-or-die situation since young. And if so, her act as spoiled brat can be explained as a protection mechanism.'
'I've had something similar before when my mom passed... but didn't respond as pretty.'
We looked at the frozen beast.
'In one of my sections of diving deep in lore, I recall a note I wrote stating exactly: celestials hunt them.'
'So maybe the way to hunt them lies in celestial magic.'
"Dread, huh..." I said to Qiyana, who was still in my arms,
"Naming him is nuts, don't you think?"
She looked at me,
"That's what you think is nuts?"
We smirked.
.
.
.
Six years later.
.
.
/////////// My thoughts about this arc ///////////
Emotional stuff is so hard bruh 😭 But basically, is just a formative event reveal + evoking emotional state. That makes words go l-ik-like th-this. I had to watch a guy talking about acting to formulate a conclusion. Cool stuff.
I thought this whole Ixaocan part was gonna have like 15 chps at most. I was wrong.
There's so many things I didn't even got the chance to show but whatever. It'll probably come later on.
Next Arc is about... Uh, not sure of a name. But I put some thought into it and add a small approach to my craft that made writing a lot easier. Writing is the most difficult thing there is to me.
But I'm having fun. Runeterra is awesome too. Hopefully someone enjoy it as much as I am.