Legends of a Fallen King: Zara [Chapter 6: Pain and Pride]

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We got caught in the vortex and was flung into a volatile current that resembled a broken spiral attached to a chicken eating orange juice at the lemon barn, crumbling into foreign staves fashioned in oblique fires of coconut bastions of furry portals. At least, that's what I thought when I came to. I found myself in a woodland slope as I stared at a bear that was staring back at me.

That's not good.

I reach for my sword as the bear comes charging towards me. I have no idea why the bear is charging towards me. I also have no idea why I can't reach my sword. I turn around and see trees and rocks. I look the other way and see Ryze slapping the bear with spells that do little to stop this bear. So, I decide to get one of these trees and wack it across the face.

I don't know where the bear went. I don't know where my sword went. I guess I still have this old thing though. Not like it compares to a tree at all.

"What?" Ryze suddenly says. It appears I am vastly underestimating the ability to uproot a tree.

"Well, I didn't have my sword so I had to use something," I answer to try and explain myself.

Dumbfounded, Ryze replies, "I wouldn't have thought a TREE was an option."

"Well that's just you. Why did a bear even charge at me though?"

"Oh..." stated in disbelief. A leaf falls as a moth brushes past it. It lands on a rock rolling over to a patch of brown grass. The scarce brown grass was surrounded by green grass that rustles in the wind which causes another leaf to fall on a muddy red puddle.

The moth rests on a log for a moment, but it quickly flutters to a rock as the log is not smooth enough. However, it soon soars over to a leaf deciding the rock was not flaky enough. When the wind blows a bit harder, the moth flies off of the leaf deciding it was not stable enough. The moth simply can't make up its mind, so it rests on a sticky, calcified object alongside a fly that buzzes around eccentrically.

I catch a glimpse of a bead looking at me in the patch of brown grass. Looking under me, I see a large muddy pool of brown grass and what looks like worms and fur. I also see a red puddle right under me.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The bead looks at me.

I reel back disgust towards Ryze wiping the guts off my clothes. Completely dumbfounded, I turn towards Ryze for an explanation.

He can only shrug and say, "You don't mess with family."

I know that all too well. That profound despair mixed with anger, transforming into a vengeful spirit.

Why?

Why do I know this extreme feeling? Perhaps it was because I lost my kingdom. I lost my friends. I lost my family. I lost everything.

"Yeah, that would do it."

"What would do it?" Ryze asked curious to my thoughts.

"Well I piledrived into a baby cub. I would imagine this would bring an instinctive animosity against me wouldn't you say?"

"No need to complicate it." Ryze expresses as he turns and walks away from the cliff face. "You killed a bear cub and mama bear got pissed. Simple as that." Ryze stops suddenly as he stares that the large Utopian city before us. "Then again, I kind of feel for the mama bear."

While scrubbing the congealed blood off of my garments, I walk towards Ryze to get a better view of this utopia. It is mechanized beyond my comprehension. Back in my day I knew the smiths were working on some interesting little gadgets, but there are gigantic balloons with what looks like people inside. The gears that would fit in the palm of my hand were the size of monuments and buildings that tower towards the clouds. Then again, that came at no surprise to me given Targo easily achieved that with its mountain library. What really surprises me are the foreign things I just can't understand. I would need to get closer to even get a grasp of what these things are.

"So, this is where you learned your magic."

"Technically, yes." Ryze responded monotonously. "This used to be my home."

"Well then, I'm impressed. I didn't expect your home to be this technological. Then again, I guess you do study quite a lot with all the scrolls and tomes. It would make sense for you to have come here. However, I have yet to see an actual... Um, what do you call it? Ah, gadget! I haven't seen you use any gadgets so I just thought that you came from a standard vill-"

"This isn't my home."

"-age?" I'm stumped. "I thought you said this was your home?"

Ryze takes a deep breath before replying, "Yes, this used to be my home."

I watch the mechanical balloons soar as I wait for his response. I am getting the vibe that this is a fairly sensitive topic. When Ryze processed what I said, he finally replied, "You weren't wrong you know."

A bit caught off guard, I ask "Not wrong about what?"

"I did come from a small town village."

Hold on now. I look to the city. I look back at him. I look at the gigantic balloons. I look back at him. I look at the elaborate metropolis. I look back at him.

"I don't know about you, but that," I abruptly point at what looks like a person floating in the sky within a spherical vessel with gears spinning at the speed of typhoons before I continue by saying, "is not small town."

Ryze looks at the spherical vessel I am addressing, that now is struggling to keep afloat, but somehow seems to stay in the skies. Ryze nods before blunting replying with, "I know."

I think my brain just exploded. I don't know for sure though since I haven't got one. Not anymore at least.

Ryze points at the same vessel and continues. "That-" suddenly the vessel loses its lift and starts wobbling towards the ground. Ryze is tracking his finger in its path, but not for long.

BOOM!

Okay, I'm positive. My brain just exploded. Cringing a bit, Ryze awkwardly puts his accusing finger away and continues. "Is not a part of my home."

"Okay, so what the heck is this place then?"

"It's Piltover, a place where magic and technology combine."

"Heh, you didn't need to tell me that. I figured that out out on my own." After all, it's pretty obvious just by looking at it from the mountainside. Ryze gives me a distraught glare as I finish scrubbing the gore off of me. "Now that the gore is gone, I'm feeling gore-geous!" I could feel the cringe Ryze felt from that joke as I laughed away. "So, shall we begin our training."

Ryze shrugs and turns to me in reply, "Sure, let's go."

We move downhill, trying to find a flat cliff we can work with. We settle with the grassy hills due to how jagged these spiky rocks are on all parts of the mountain. Ryze gives me some charms. I don the charms, across my body given my lack of a neck to wear as intended, while Ryze browses his book.

"Try this spell," Ryze suggests when giving the book to me. Browsing it, I see a lot of familiar things.

"Glyphs?" I ask. Ryze looks a bit flabbergasted when I make this observation. "These, are glyphs right?"

"Yes, yes they are, but how did you know this?"

"The prophet showed me these things," I reply. "However, I never got to use them. As much as I admired mana, I was just not adept to his form of magic."

"Fascinating," Ryze states with a gleam of awe from his eyes. "I wish I could have seen this prophet myself. Actually, what was he like?"

"I'm not sure."

Which I find quite odd.

"Eh, what do you mean you are not sure?" Ryze implores with great disappointment.

"I mean I don't know much of anything. There are a couple passing memories, but not enough for me to describe to you any personality."

Ryze gives me a menacing glare and declares, "I highly doubt that."

Huh, well that's a surprise. I did tell him that my memory is screwed up.

"What makes you say that?"

"Her." Ryze responds instantaneously, "That was what you said at the library when you came to. So," Ryze points a finger at me and asks, "Who is she?"

Her...

"Not going to talk? Well, I'm sure you can get a grasp of her personality even if you don't confirm it with me. You would not have calmed your ass if you she wasn't at least important enough to understand."

A dark mist forms within me. I do not let it show.

"So tell me, why are you hiding these facts from me?" Ryze probes onwards. "Why do you not trust me?"

...

Why? Huh.

A gentle wind rustles the grass that I step on as I inch closer.

An eagle soars through sky and turns back around, but soars away while I draw near.

Clouds gather round as I come around.

With a thunderous cry, from the skies, I ask Ryze, "Do you want to die?

The sound echoes across the woodlands, and the words that echo back to me bring me back to my senses.

I must look a lot more menacing than I intended, given I have a volatile flame spewing from my head and this titanic sword just suddenly crashed behind me. Although Ryze was just as intimidated as when he first met me, with the load of fishes, he stood strong with a fire in his eyes and proclaimed,

"No, I do not want to die!"

I don't know if the fire from his eyes was a reflection of the fire that is my face, or if it was the fire that represented his spirit.

"I showed you something that I never showed anyone else. I showed you the realm of all World Runes. A source of power that is enough to destroy all of Runeterra. A source of power that can even destroy the moons surrounding us. Do you have any idea why?"

Piquing my curiosity, I ask, "Why?"

"Because I believe in you!" Ryze declares as he points at me. "I believe in Zara, the reverent revenant who will save the world. Through will, through merit, through destiny. There is only one thing I ask of you," He jabs his thumb to where his heart lies. "Believe in me. Believe in me, who believes in you."

I don't know if the fire from his eyes was a reflection of the fire that is my face, or if it was the fire that represented his spirit. I was satisfied either way. As it is the fire in his spirit ignited by the flame that is me.

"Good. Good! Yes! I like your resolve, and I have acknowledged it." It's about time I tell him all the things I have hidden. Even from myself.

"So, if you truly desire to know more about me. I require that we be on the same page. So I must ask you some questions before I begin, is that fine with you?"

Ryze sits on a rock before he answers with, "That is fine."

"Have you ever had a massive loss in your life?"

"I have."

"Did you bear witness to something horrifying so as to cause great calamity with its existence?"

"Indeed, I did."

"Were you the cause of this calamity?"

The vibe changed very swiftly. It's a shame that this is where we differ.

"No."

"Have you ever abandoned those you cherish in order to save one you loved."

"No, I have not."

"Did frustration manifest into a malevolent force that gnaws away at your very life?"

Ryze cringed a bit before replying, "No."

"So," with I deep sigh I continue by saying, "It seems you can't grasp my scenario very well."

"So it seems." Ryze replied while scratching his head.

"Now to clarify, I cannot learn how to use the portal unless I tell you some history?"

"Well, I hate to be stingy-" Ryze says, "Actually that's a lie. It's moreso abusing my rights to satisfy my curiosity."

Well then. I can only shrug and say, "Fair enough. I'll try to be as brief as possible. My kingdom was more like a village transformed into a kingdom."

"Is this why you are..." Ryze mulls over a thought for a bit and finally states, "Gregarious?"

"HAH! That's rich. Everyone in my village was 'gregarious,' but I was defined more as zealous."

"Zealous. I can see that."

"You better. A long time ago, when I was was not a king, I was dubbed 'Zealous Zara's you know."

"You serious?"

"Nope, but I like to think that." I laugh off Ryze's menacing glare. "This is where he comes in."

"He?"

"The prophet guy." It's best to just cut to the chase. "Rather I barged into his life. Even when the tribe was settling in, I would see him on occasion. Though, he would really only talk to me."

"Eh, why is that?"

I merely shrug at the question, "It's fairly simple, I was the only one who actively looked for him. He seemed a bit suspicious so I decided to talk to him."

"I wouldn't just go out looking for strangers." Ryze comments in disbelief.

"Not many would," I affirm. "But I did. Fortunately, he turned out to be a pretty interesting guy. He explored many places and told me extensively about all of them. Most importantly," I take out my rusty old sword. "He taught me how to strike."

"What? How to strike?"

"Yeah."

"Wouldn't that just mean he told you how to use a sword."

"Eh..." I ponder on it a bit and it didn't really seem like that was the case, "I wouldn't put it that way. What he taught me was fairly basic."

"I see, but what makes it important then?" Ryze continues asking. I think back to fish.

"Well, I wouldn't be here if I didn't remember this much. Do you remember where you first met me?"

"Yes, it was on the coast of the swamps."

"You did see all the fish I brought, didn't you?" I ask again.

"Obviously, it was towering like a mountain. I can't believe you just left it there."

"Keeping them was secondary. The main point is I killed all of them and dragged their bodies across the entire ocean. Now as you know," I wave my hand across where my arm should be. "This kind of shut down a long time ago. As such, I had to beat all those colossal monsters with this dinky piece of metal."

"I've heard legends of people doing that, so it's not all too strange."

"Well it's one thing to be fighting them on the surface of the ocean." I state. "It's another thing to be fighting in the abyss, with one thousand tons of water above you. Everything was heavy: swinging that crusty sword, the corpses of fishes I dragged along, and that boundless rage that egged me on."

"You talking about that darkness?"

"Hmm?" I had to think for a second what he was referring to, then I saw that black mist which was seeping out of me. "Yeah, I guess so."

"It seems to seep out every time you think about the past."

"Nah, it's more like whenever I think about that moment," I take a gander at the concern look on Ryze face. "That darkness, I cannot quite remember."

"How could you not? If it affects you this much that is."

That's a very good question, but "It's because it affects me this much that I cannot remember. Most of the things I do remember are subjective with little context."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just a bunch of incoherent, emotional trash. A bunch of animosity, guilt, and malevolence. Again, it's way too vague for me to even describe." It was nothing worth discussing just a bunch of voices of antsy vague accusations that are completely baseless. "If I had to describe it, I would say it is something chaotic enough so as to not know anything that's going on."

"Hmm..." It seems that Ryze is pondering on an idea. I have no clue what could possibly help me organize these chaoti- "Have you tried meditating."

Have I? Actually, I did at the Oasis of the Dawn. Although it was only for a brief moment, that is all it takes. "Now that I think about it, I was calmed when I meditated in the desert. I already know how to meditate quite well so just hang on for five seconds."

"Okay, one..."

Dive into the cold void. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. There was nobody "two..." rely on. She was gone. A curse I was holding to try and delay the inevitable. A curse I was holding, as I was holding her arms, trying to stop her from bleeding. It was to no avail. The curse was in her blood, she let me know this. This was too much to simply heal off. Even though I knew this, I had to try.

I had them gather all the sapphires we had. It was time for me to put what he taught me to the test. I closed my eyes as I began the most powerful meditation the universe would probably ever see. Heavy. Extremely heavy. The burden of a thousand tons of mana poured into these gemstones. I opened my eyes and saw these streams of mana seemingly appear from thin air as they wrapped around Ryze and me. It was beautiful, but not be enough. I could feel it. So "three..." of my finest staff to work on the long term solution.

The little one would go to see if there was a way to cure the poison. A lieutenant stood by me to aid me in nourishment, both for myself and her. I greatly appreciated his work. I knew he did not care at all for the work he was assigned, as I could tell he was more enticed with action, but I'm sure he decided to bear with it to marvel at the magic show I was putting up. The chieftain, who I appointed to maintain our old traditions, would keep the town running. This was all so I could bury all my focus into healing her.

Too much time has passed...

Days became weeks while weeks became months. Time kept ticking and the poison kept striking. I grew weary, very weary. Though not nearly as weary as she. Her health was debilitating by the hour. I could not sleep, I was both restless and devoted to fixing this mess. My only hope was that the little one would return. I hope she returns soon.

cough cough "Zara?"

In what seemed like ages, her consciousness was coming back. Through the exhaustion of this accursed poison, she has yet to utter a single word.

"Hey, what is it dear?"

She looks at me for a few seconds and utters, "You look like shit."

Oh. What? Heh, oh dear.

"What?"

"I said, you look like-"

"I heard you the first time."

"SHIT!" She yelled anyways. "What you saying, 'wut?' for?"

"Well, you're in worse shape than me in all honesty."

"Hmm..." she ponders on the the thought as she observes all the sapphire crystals strewn across the floor and the hundreds of beads she is adorned with. "I guess you are right about that at least."

"The queen is awake?" The lieutenant asked as he arrived with more sapphire jewelry.

"Oh, is this that rowdy soldier I keep hearing about?"

He dropped the jewelry and declared, "That's LIEUTENANT as a matter of fact!"

"Hey now, know your manners!" I yelled, but she slaps my hand and says.

"Settle down you bumbling fool. I guess that confirms it though." She looks at him for a couple seconds and says, "I heard from Knight Commander, Demacia, that you are quite harsh in the field."

"Hmph," he snorts, "The fools deserve it for making themselves enemies of the kingdom."

She looks at me. I don't know what to say, so I just shrug. "Hah! Hahahaha. Wow, he really is as crazy as they say."

The lieutenant flushes from embarrassment as she continues laughing at his brash demeanor.

"Okay," she states while chuckling a bit. "Okay, okay, okay. It's okay to be confident. In fact, I encourage it. You know that man keeps going on and on about being bold, brave, and-"

"Just." the lieutenant interrupts. "I heard that too many times to count now."

She nods and continues, "It is a very good moral code, but I don't expect you to forget your roots."

He gave her a quizzical look. I guess I really do need to give a bit of context here. "You see, we care about all of our people." I look at her for confirmation and I affirm when she nods, "Of course we do, it's our duty. We may be masters of this monarchy, but our power is only in our command. So it would make little sense not to care for everything under our command. However, what makes us different from the other kingdoms out there is that we care the most about troublemakers."

"Troublemakers like you." She states towards the lieutenant for emphasis.

"As such, we did a background check and know a bit about your history. Your parents were in the Old Iron Order, weren't they?"

There was no response from the lieutenant and this silence was swiftly becoming eerie.

"While they were alive that is." She stated. I got her signal that this was a fairly touchy subject so I backed off "four..." now.

"We kept the name, because of them you know: The Iron Order." She coughs a bit, so I clamber across the floor to gather all of the jewels the lieutenant dropped, scrambling to remove the sapphires in order to aid in the healing. "I heard it was a vast kingdom. You know, I can't even imagine it. Ruling over the entire eastern coast. Perhaps I could before, but now that I'm a queen... Well, I just can't imagine how anyone could manage all of that land. Like, holy cow!"

"Perhaps it was their steady supply of milk," I suggested sarcastically.

She tilts her head and looks at me quizzically. "What?"

"You know, their milk. From the holy cow."

We all glare at each other for a few moments before I suddenly get a weak punch to the arm. "I heard it is quite divine."

She barrages me with punches until I actually drop the amulet I was attempting to desocket.

She expels a melodramatic sigh as I pick up the amulet. She then directs her melodrama at the poor lieutenant.

"Oh woe is me! Who married he. Who is thee? This clown, this flea. The king is he, the king: crappy."

"HAH!" The lieutenant jeered. "She called you crappy," the lieutenant sneered.

"Don't listen to this banshee. Listen to pappy-

"Listen to pappy? You aren't my pappy! My pappy was strong, unique, and almighty. You are just wrong, too meek, and blighty."

"You think it is okay talk to me that way?"

"It's colloquial I say, for one flamboyant and gay."

I drop my amulet once more. As this Pantaloon chuckles under his breath.

"AHAHAHAHA!" she hollers.

"I'm done."

"He called you GAY!"

"That- That doesn't even make sense," I retort as she struggles to contain herself. It's to no avail as she merely bursts out yet again, slapping her knees to hyperbolize her boisterous demeanor.

"HAHAHAH! cough My spleen. cough cough Hah... I am dying here." COUGH COUGH

"My queen?" He was killing her, in more ways than one.

"Oye! Get some water."

The lieutenant rushes out hurriedly while I pick up the amulet and force the sapphire out.

"Zara," she mutters while I am trying to resume my meditation and healing. "I really appreciate how much you are helping me."

"It's no probl-"

"However, you really do look like shit," She suddenly interjected. "You should rest, my love."

"What are you talking about," Before I could reply to her blunt assessment, she is already unconscious. An anchor weighs on my soul. My head sinks as I gently brush her bangs away to rest my head on hers.

"There is no rest without you dear."

"Queen?"

I turn around to see the lieutenant dumbfounded, hands shuddering as he holds a glass cup of water.

CRACK

"Damn..." he says as his hands bleed and the broken shards of glass fall to the ground. "Gods damn it!" He punches the glass shards on the ground. "Why the hell- I was gone for 5 fucking seconds. Fucking, fuck man. I- I-."

"Hey dumbass." I yell to stop his stupid antics. "Get your ass over here."

The lieutenant pauses for a moment and takes a while to collect himself as he slowly edges towards me.

"Come on now. Let me see your hand."

He rushes over and takes out his arm towards me. It twitches in pain as he brings it towards me and I stare at his wounds for a bit.

"Woah," the lieutenant comments as he notices his wounds healing by merely being in my presence. I directed some of my magic towards him. I can't focus all of this magic on her anyways given the sheer volume of the mana flowing around.

"Boss-"

"Call me King," I swiftly correct him.

"Well, King. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I assure him. "People aren't really used to thinking of me as a king."

"No, not that."

I glance over at him as he averts my gaze by looking at her. "Well, what for then, the broken glass?"

"No- I mean, well that too I guess."

I find it quite strange. Although I have seen this lieutenant quite a bit, never have I seen him like this before.

"I guess," He finally continues. "I'm sorry about a lot of things."

He looks fairly downtrodden, as if he is encumbered by the burden of guilt. I guess there is a lot going on in his mind, especially with what happened now.

"Don't worry too much about it," I try to cheer him up. "Knight Commander."

He looks perplexed, "How did you know?"

"I actually heard from a while back. When Demacia fell under siege, you took the initiative to command the ranks."

"Why didn't you mention it then?"

"Well," I look at her pained expression as she sleeps. "I didn't want to mention it, given how you seemed to be hiding it and she has no idea he joined the martyrdom."

The commander's expression grew even more grim when I said this. "You know I didn't mean it right? I didn't mean any of it."

"Any of what?"

"Well, those insults and well..." the knight commander hesitates to say this. "Calling you gay."

"Heh," I smirk at his meager attempt at an apology. "Don't sweat it, this is the norm for me and her. In fact, I'm glad you caught on. What I don't appreciate is how you are using gay in a negative manner. We have some fine men in our ranks that are gay after all."

Many fine men indeed... Oh wait.

"You do realize how gay that sounds right?"

"Shut up."

Soon, I fully healed the knight commander's hand and he clenches his fist to see if it's fine, but also in an overbearing sense of guilt and disappointment. "I wasn't gone too long, was I?"

I close my eyes and respond, "No, not at all." I couldn't blame him, it really did feel like...

Cliffhanger? Here? Come on now. Well, in all honesty, this is the perfect break given how the mediation is structured. This essentially gives us a glimpse into Zara's past and how he handled such a harsh situation.

Reading the original lore, it's easy to pass him off as a weak individual emotionally. However, I wanted to show the opposite. Zara is emotionally strong, even more so than most individuals. It is rather the fact that his situation was such a grim experience, extended in length, that traumatized him. An inevitability that no matter what Zara does, he will not be able to fix this. Even though it was not an issue he caused himself, the burden of attempted recovery was something he took on mostly alone. With help from this mysterious lieutenant.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. I know there is a bit of inappropriate language here, but it's essentially showing how lax and the kinds of people these individuals are. People who just like screwing around and having a good time. Of course, since they became royalty, they became more watchful of what they say--which is what I mainly want to express.

Thanks for putting up with cliffhanger. You'll most likely continue anyways to the next chapter anyways: Lost Homelands. [zombie-brand-clap]

Arc 1: Our King Returns

1. A Distant Memory
2. Conquering the Abyss
3. Runic Affinity
4. Yearn to Learn
5. Forged from Sand and Runes
6. The Blue Sea
7. Pain and Pride
8. Lost Homelands

Arc 2: Method to the Madness 9. Dawn upon Zaun 10. Good Morning Ghost 11. Knight of the Full Noon 12. Madness of Man