After the Black Mist incident, Caleb actually had fewer matters to handle.
Once Ekko and Heimerdinger finished dealing with the pollution, they naturally had more time and energy to spare as well.
Caleb was more than happy to take it easy. This had never really been his job in the first place.
He planned to rest properly for a while, and while he was at it, head up to Piltover and design a Hextech weapon that truly suited him.
The Hextech shield had been made as a precaution, its essence nothing more than using Hextech energy to raise a wall.
The Hex Claw had originally been borrowed from Viktor, and now it had finally been returned to its rightful owner.
After that, Caleb would be heading far from home.
Naturally, he needed a weapon that felt right in his hand and could take a beating.
All kinds of bandits roamed the deserts of Shurima, and he had no interest in getting jumped out there.
He might already be at the peak of human strength, with magic protecting him on top of that.
But he still didn't want to get blindsided by some rotten bit of luck.
After all, there were plenty of dangerous drifters on Runeterra.
Aatrox the Darkin Blade, Kindred the Eternal Hunters, and Bard... they were all the type to appear and disappear without warning.
As long as he didn't run into them, Caleb could swagger around anywhere he wanted.
If he did run into them, though, running would be the only option left.
So over these next few days, aside from mastering rune magic, he also needed a full set of comfortable gear.
In other words, once the Twin Cities were rebuilt, he would set out.
Too bad he didn't have any kind of ability that could store gigantic objects.
Otherwise Caleb would have already started building a Gundam.
Then he could just swing around a giant anti-ship sword and hack people apart with it.
Just thinking about it was enough to get him excited.
...
Of course, even if Caleb really did decide to build one,
everyone in the Twin Cities would probably yell at him until he developed lifelong trauma.
Forget it.
Caleb watched the sunlight spill over Zaun. There was already noticeably less dust and grime in the air.
Janna had taken care of that on the side after the Black Mist incident.
It looked like people in Zaun could finally get a proper night's sleep now.
...
"How long do you think it'll take to clean all this up?"
Zac was sucking polluted water from the mining trenches into his body.
"According to my calculations, roughly three to four months."
Blitzcrank's voice still carried that metallic hum of electromagnetism, but compared to before, there was more humanity in it now.
"After all, now that the source is gone, it's only a matter of time."
Zac smiled in satisfaction. He and Blitzcrank never grew tired, and they could keep carrying the pollution out of Zaun without stopping.
By that logic, as long as the pollution treatment devices kept running, Zaun's environment could improve dramatically.
When that happened, the miners would be able to take their tools and head to work in the mining zones without their bodies being damaged all over again.
After suffering through that disaster, Piltover had taken a major hit as well.
It wouldn't recover its former prosperity anytime soon.
That worked out nicely, because Zaun happened to be especially good at rebuilding. Thanks to material limitations, construction there had always been rough, and things collapsed all the time anyway.
Without anyone quite noticing when it happened, the Twin Cities were already close to standing shoulder to shoulder.
A fair number of craftsmen had also watched the recent trends and begun moving to Zaun.
Officially they called it "repaying a debt," but in truth there was also a trace of gambler's hope in it.
"What if Zaun actually pulls ahead this time?"
It was a difficult thing to imagine, since Zaun's current condition had not suddenly leapt into the lead.
But if it really did overtake Piltover on the curve, then those first people to ride that wave would become famous overnight.
What craftsman didn't dream of seeing his sculpture planted in the middle of a city, admired by generations to come?
If they couldn't make a name for themselves in Piltover, then why not take a chance in Zaun?
Maybe a long shot would turn into a real jackpot.
Even if they were still only a small portion overall, the craftsmen coming to Zaun were already a strong shot in the arm for the people of the Undercity.
"Does this clash against the Black Mist count as the beginning of the Ruination?"
Caleb could not help thinking of that.
In the game from his previous life, the Ruination had been a massive event, with all the spectacle and attention imaginable.
The Ruined King returned, and the Black Mist swept across the entire world.
"It probably doesn't count."
Caleb had seen the enemy lineup clearly, Yorick the gravedigger, Kalista the Spear of Vengeance, and Hecarim the Shadow of War.
And of course their leader, Thresh.
"That's strange."
A thought suddenly occurred to Caleb. In the lore of the game from his previous life, Yorick had clearly been a monk from the Blessed Isles.
His goal should have been to end the Ruination and lay the undead to rest.
So how was it possible that he had joined forces with Thresh?
Thresh was basically a sadist who lived for suffering, delighted by seeing people trapped in lucid agony.
Yorick, on the other hand, treated even the undead with compassion. Though he used the power of the Shadow Isles, he still used it to do good.
No, something was definitely wrong.
There had to be more to it than what it looked like on the surface.
Caleb suddenly sat upright.
Don't tell me Riot secretly retconned the lore again behind my back?
Caleb decided that today, he was going to practice an extra hour of magic.
...
In the glow of the setting sun, Ekko looked at the bustling crowd crossing the bridge.
Zaun had bled and sweated for this, and only now had it finally earned real equality.
It hadn't been easy.
He let out a long sigh.
Mostly because he was tired.
Ever since he was a kid, he had built shelters, surviving by the skin of his teeth while also sabotaging Silco's business whenever he could.
Then Caleb arrived, and even more burdens were dropped onto his shoulders.
Ekko controlled time, but there was no erasing exhaustion.
Now that the work was no longer so overwhelming, he had finally managed to steal a little time for himself, something like a vacation.
The Governor really didn't treat him like a person at all, running him twenty-four hours a day without a break.
Well, maybe Caleb had told him to pace himself, and he was the one who just never stopped.
Whatever. It was Caleb's fault anyway.
"Daydreaming?"
A small, slender figure sat down beside him.
Ekko didn't even turn his head. Of course he knew who had sat down next to him.
"Yeah."
Ekko was usually bright and open, but right now he had gone quiet.
They had been close friends since they were children.
Back then, Jinx had still been Powder, and she hadn't been constantly carrying around her rocket launcher.
The two of them had watched the first rays of sunlight touch Zaun together, and chased each other through the streets at night with laughter in their voices.
They had once shared something warm and vivid.
Even if later on, the two of them ended up standing against each other.
"So what are you going to do?"
Jinx spoke first. For a moment, Ekko could no longer tell whether this was Powder, or the demon who had killed his friends.
"I'll probably start a band," Ekko said softly.
He had done too much for Zaun. Maybe what he really lacked now was to set everything down and just enjoy part of his life.
He wasn't some Son of Zaun, some genius scientist.
He was just that little boy tinkering with a wall clock, getting scolded by the owner of the corner shop.
"What's it called?" Jinx was unusually quiet too, completely unlike the wild little maniac she normally was.
"Fishbones."
Of course Ekko remembered that name.
Back then, Powder could do nothing but smack wildly at the drums and make sounds worse than noise.
And he had only picked up a little amateur boxing from Vi, enough to trip over himself while punching a sandbag.
The sky had grown dim. The sun was slumped on the horizon, and the clouds around it had melted into a spill of evening color.
The two of them looked out at the view just like they had when they were kids, only now there were far fewer words between them.
Only Ekko knew why, out of everything his Z-Drive could do, the thing he had mastered best was going back to the past.
The noisy criminal finally quieted down.
And the boy who had fought his way through everything softly sang her a song.
The melody drifted through the long pipes, just like back then, when the boy used to hold the little girl's hand as they ran through the streets and alleys.
It felt like a moment that might never end.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.