The Elementalist Tales: Showdown
After four weeks of writer's block, laziness, and serious computer problems ... I'M BACK!!!
Ok, seriously, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so long. That was my fault. But I hope the wait was worth it ... because this is the one several people have been asking for - the showdown between Fiora and Lux at the Elemental Trials!
On to the tale! (It's been too long of a wait...)
Lux knew from the moment she woke that today was going to be life defining.
After all, today was the final round of the Trials. And Lux knew she wasn’t going to win.
There were too many powerful elementalists competing, and Lux’s affinity to light couldn’t shield her from elemental attacks very well. So she’d resigned herself to fighting until she found a worthy leader, and then yielding to that elementalist.
Her parents, who’d been so proud when she’d been chosen, wouldn’t have understood. But her brother had always been on her side, so she had talked her plan out with him. In the end, he’d agreed.
“Besides, there are years where some of the finalists get ruthless, and I don’t want you to get hurt if that’s the case this year,” had been Garen’s final remark. Lux agreed with him – after all, if Fiora Laurent had made it to the final round, then there were likely a few other highly competitive elementalists left in the playing field.
So, Lux was fighting for the rightful next ruler – and she didn’t think she was fit for queen. But, she thought as she made her way to her starting point on the field, it doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight like hell until I find the right person.
Lux had been given one of the four favored starting points – a corner of the massive battlefield that had been magically separated from the rest of the world. The shimmering barrier in front of her had two purposes – prevent outside interference and keep finalists’ elemental power inside. Complex element wielders could let their power get out of hand sometimes, so it was better safe than sorry to contain the finalists’ powers to within the field.
The barrier also had another rule – once a finalist entered, he or she couldn’t step outside of it before the round ended without getting disqualified. Only after an elementalist yielded could they freely walk through, since they were already eliminated. The barrier actually protected the yielding elementalists somehow as they made their way out – after all, it would be rude to allow others to attack them when they’d already voluntarily opted out of the round.
I won’t be walking out of here until I absolutely have to, Lux swore mentally as she stepped through the barrier.
The barrier pulsed, as if it had heard her oath, but Lux paid it no mind, instead scanning the area around her for any threats. While the finalists technically couldn’t start until the signal was given, there was almost always a handful that would try anyway, and then pass it off as their elements acting up afterwards. Air was usually the offender, since it left the least evidence behind, and was most likely to look natural.
Luckily for Lux, there wasn’t a single sign of elemental power nearby. Also, she’d gotten an excellent bargain – the land in front of her was flat for as far as she could see. Others probably had to deal with their vision being limited by natural obstacles as they started.
Lux was curious as to why the king had given her such a good starting point. Did her really expect a light wielder to triumph over the powerful elementalists with affinities to the basic elements of fire, water, air, and earth?
Releasing a breath she hadn’t noticed she was holding, Lux adjusted her grip on her new staff. Although her parents had given it to her after she’d been chosen, this was the first time she’d used it. Hopefully it was as powerful as her parents claimed it was – she’d need as much of an edge as she could get.
A few moments later, a single drum sounded, and the round began. Lux quickly summoned her element, and used it to warp the air around her, causing her to be invisible to the naked eye. It was unlikely anyone could see her, since there were no finalists with an affinity for darkness – the only element that could possibly locate her while she was invisible – and Lux doubted anyone would be foolish enough to try and summon the evil element. Not that it was actually evil, but darkness tended to be wielded by the power-hungry, so it wasn’t exactly a good affinity to have.
Lux slowly made her way towards the sounds of battle, gripping her staff to make sure she didn’t drop it. Unlike her old training items, the staff had turned invisible with her, but if she dropped it, would it become visible again?
Not wanting to know the answer to that question quite yet, Lux made sure to hold on tight to her parents’ gift as she navigated through the already-wrecked battlefield. Earth layers had been torn up, scorch marks and wet spots littered the ground, and a few trees had been bowled over by wind. Lightning crackled not far away – a sign that the finalist with an affinity for the complex element of storm hadn’t lost his battle yet – and Lux felt the heat of magma as an earth wielder and fire elementalist carved tunnels through the ground, creating pitfalls for the competition.
Lux froze when a purple-colored streak blasted past her and struck a rock, obliterating it immediately. Another purple ball raced past her, even closer, and crashed into an air elementalist who was a decent distance away. The girl’s screams reached Lux’s ears easily, despite all the space between them.
Some idiot (or idiots plural, since you needed opposing elements for this) was battling with the element of darkness.
And those morons were clearly targeting her.
Lux spun and dropped to the ground, releasing her invisibility spell – after all, her attackers could see her with the dark element – as another orb of darkness blazed past, and she wished fervently, don’t let anyone else get hit.
Then she raised her head to confront her attackers.
Lux had guessed correctly – there were two fools trying to wield darkness, a female water elementalist and a male fire user. As she watched, the two of them slowly funneled their powers together to create yet another orb of the corrupted element.
Nope, not this time, Lux thought, and hurled a ball of light right at them.
When the light collided with the mass of darkness, it extinguished, but took out most of the darkness with it. Most of it.
Lux didn’t even have time to scream, only to throw her arm across her face instinctually as the two elementalists shoved the remaining darkness right at her.
Yet she wasn’t dead.
As her two opponents stared, dumbstruck, Lux belatedly realized that she’d used her staff to shield herself from the attack.
Huh, so this thing does have some cool tricks, she thought as she pulled the staff towards her left shoulder so that her arm crossed in front of her body, preparing to try and cast a simple snaring spell.
As she swept the staff in an arc in front of her, aiming for her two attackers, Lux hoped the spell would reach far enough to catch at least one of the elementalists.
But the spell surprised her – not only did it reach the young man, but it also kept moving past him and caught his companion, who had foolishly moved behind the fire elementalist and created a straight line between the three of them.
Lux’s grip on the staff weakened, and it slid out of her hand. But instead of falling to the ground, it actually drifted upwards so that it floated directly in front of her.
As all three finalists did nothing but stare, the staff began to spin, creating a circle around its center.
Lux came to her senses first, and reached out for the staff. As she reached for it, what she guessed was a targeting line appeared, indicating a path directly towards her two opponents.
Lux had no idea what the staff would do once she touched it, but then the other two finalists snapped back to reality. The girl cried out, “I yield!”
Immediately, the staff stopped spinning, and dropped to the ground. Lux stepped forward to pick it up as the young man spoke.
“I yield as well,” he said in a calm, confident voice.
Lux nodded, and, as she was required to do, replied with, “I accept your yield, and grant you safe passage.”
The barrier descended onto the two elementalists, obscuring them from view, but not before Lux saw the fire wielder mouth, Good luck.
Before Lux could decide what to do next, a lone bolt of lightning crashed to the ground next to her. Lux felt the urgency of the storm wielder’s warning, and ducked just in time to avoid a searing wave of fire.
If that was Fiora, Lux thought, she’s fighting rather carelessly, which makes her a danger. I can’t let her win if that’s how she’s going to defend our land – carelessly.
And with that thought, Lux turned herself invisible again, and turned to plunge into the fray.
The first elementalist Lux caught was an earth user. A quick blast of power rendered the young man unconscious, forcing him to yield. After all, a finalist was automatically eliminated if they got knocked out – and that was the reason why most earth users fought dirty and aimed for the head.
The next finalist Lux found while invisible was a wily water wielder who managed to dodge Lux’s first few attacks, costing her the element of surprise. Lux sighed, released her invisibility spell, and gave the young woman the fight she wanted.
Ultimately, while the water elementalist nearly gained the upper hand a few times, Lux came out victorious. But just before the other girl could formally yield, she suddenly whipped up a wall of water around the two of them … shielding both of them from Fiora’s next wave of fire.
“Thanks,” Lux said at the same time the young woman said, “I yield,” and then the two shared a quick smile before Lux acknowledged the surrender. Then the finalist was gone, hidden by the barrier.
Lux cast the invisibility spell once more, and scanned the battlefield for opponents. She wasn’t ready to take on Fiora quite yet – her longtime nemesis was still recklessly wreaking havoc on the other finalists. She needed the other girl to lose a bit more energy before she could confidently take her on.
So, Lux inventoried the remaining contenders to the throne.
The pair that had been forging tunnels with lava had fallen, and the storm elementalist – the only finalist with an affinity for a complex element – had finally been forced to yield. As a result, the only remaining elementalists were Lux herself, Fiora, an earth user Fiora was slowly destroying … and a sneaky air wielder, trying to stay hidden until he could deal damage.
Lux quietly forged a path through the torn-up fields towards the air elementalist, and once she was close enough, blasted him with a particularly strong surge of light. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to take him out.
The air user spun to face Lux, and then struck out at the air in three swift moves with his chosen weapon – an elegant katana. A whirlwind blasted towards her, and she dodged it just in time.
The other finalist, looking dismayed that the whirlwind hadn’t caught her, began to dash in Lux’s direction. Lux countered by twisting the light around him towards him, creating an area of anomaly. Her impromptu spell slowed him down significantly, but not enough to stop him.
Rooting him would enable her to force him to yield, so Lux hurled out a snaring spell – which dissipated when it hit a wall of wind her opponent had crafted.
Lux couldn’t help but admire the air elementalist’s skill – since you needed serious control to create a wall like that – but she had to beat him. Just in time, she remembered that she’d twisted the light around him.
Lux forced the light to snap back to its normal position, and the other finalist’s brief shout of pain told her that plan had worked. The wall also vanished, since the pain caused its wielder to lose focus just long enough for him to lose his concentration.
Before Lux could hurl another orb of light at her challenger, however, he muttered, “I yield.”
Instead of immediately accepting his surrender, Lux warped the air around both of them, protecting them from Fiora – who, based on the noises coming from the other battle, was almost done with her current target.
“Why’d you do that?” the young man asked.
“I just wanted to ask your name,” Lux replied. She did want to know – if she somehow won this whole competition, knowing strong elementalists like this air user would be crucial.
The other finalist paused for a bit, and then bit out, “It’s Yasuo.” Then, in a softer tone, he said, “My sister, Riven, is also a good air user, and she allied with the storm wielder right at the start of this round. Seeing as he lost … she’s probably eliminated by now.”
“Yes, she probably is,” Lux replied, not wanting to be rude and say the truth outright. “And, now I owe you my release. So … I accept your yield, and grant you safe passage.”
The barrier reached out for Yasuo, but just before it reached him, he called, “Don’t let the fire girl win!”
And then he was gone.
“So, look who finally stopped hiding like the coward she is,” Fiora drawled as Lux stepped into the circle. The spotless piece of field had magically appeared once Fiora had nearly burned her previous opponent to cinders, causing the barrier to intervene on the dying girl’s behalf.
As Lux watched the barrier envelop the earth elementalist, she swore that she would win this last fight somehow, no matter how difficult it would be.
But now, standing across from her childhood and training rival … Lux wasn’t sure as to how she could fulfill that promise.
“Quit making insults and face me, Fiora,” Lux snapped, trying to sound confident. In reality, she was barely keeping her body from shaking like a leaf.
“Ooh, look at this, the little light girl has grown a backbone,” Fiora countered. “So your brother has stopped protecting you from every little boo-boo that comes your way? Good for you!”
Lux saw red for a moment, and then sent a blast of light flying at Fiora. She didn’t care how foolish it was to be the engager – no one, and especially not Fiora, was allowed to insult Garen.
Fiora easily dodged the blast and smiled wickedly.
“Very well,” she said in a mocking tone. “Let the battle begin!”
The battle was over before it barely even started.
Lux struggled to contain her cry as she tried not to move her burned back. That had been a particularly cruel attack on Fiora’s part – backstabbing was generally frowned upon, especially when it came to magic.
Wait, where was her staff?
Fiora’s laughter echoed in Lux’s ears, and Lux looked up to see Fiora standing next to her staff.
“Well, well, well, I guess the little light girl hasn’t quite grown up yet. Clearly, you’re not a worthy opponent,” Fiora said with a smirk.
Then she noticed the staff.
“Oh, what’s this? A little present from your parents? Pretty little thing, but it’s no weapon.”
To Lux’s horror, Fiora picked up the staff and started playing with it.
“Hmm … it’s got good balance, but not for me,” Fiora remarked. And then she gripped the staff so that she had one hand near each end, and moved as if she was going to break it over her knee.
In that moment, there was nothing but fury surging through Lux’s brain. With an almost primal scream, Lux jumped to her feet and pushed with her arms in Fiora’s direction, not bothering to think about the fact that she hadn’t summoned any light.
But she hadn’t needed to.
Fire surged towards a shocked Fiora, who dodged just in time, dropping the staff.
But the staff wasn’t incinerated by the flames. Instead, it drifted back to its rightful wielder.
Fiora stared in shock as Lux levitated above the ground, and an orb of flames appeared to her right. An identically sized orb of light drifted above Lux’s head, and, as Fiora watched, stunned, three more similar orbs appeared, one below the flames, and the other two on Lux’s left.
“Air, fire, water, earth, light …” Fiora spoke without thinking, her mind circling around one idea.
But Lux wasn’t done yet. The staff began to spin again, exactly like it had when Lux had fought the fire and water finalists, and this time, Lux wasn’t going to hold back.
The targeting beam appeared, but this time, Lux pressed her hand against the staff and called out the one word she knew she needed to say.
Each elementalist learned the power words of their affinity at a young age. Lux had always been dismayed to learn that light only had one, but she still carried the knowledge of that word with pride, knowing she might just need it one day.
And now she had.
Lux screamed with all the air in her lungs as she cast her ultimate spell – the spell her parents had told her the staff would grant her the ability to use, and the spell that would forever define her in both her timeline and Runeterra’s.
“INCANDESCE!”
A blazing beam of light erupted from the staff, and Fiora barely managed to scream, “I yield!” before it consumed her.
Luckily for Fiora, the barrier shielded her the moment she surrendered, and she managed to avoid any damage from the powerful spell. Fiora’s words also enabled Lux to regain control of her magic, and she quickly reined it in, returning to the ground.
The two finalists stood a few paces apart, facing each other. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Fiora said, “Good luck, True. And be careful – while you may have earned your role, there will still be challenges ahead.”
Lux nodded, and told her longtime nemesis, “You fought well, but a bit reckless, if you know what I mean.”
Fiora smiled and said, “I did that on purpose, because I knew the king wanted you to win.”
“Why does everyone assume that?” Lux asked her.
Fiora laughed, a true laugh, and said, “Don’t ask me. I’m just a messenger.”
Then her expression turned serious, and she added, “You’ve definitely grown up, Lux, and I am proud to say that you were a worthy opponent.”
Lux gave her longtime enemy a real smile, and then said, “I guess … I guess it’s time.”
Fiora only nodded.
Lux then took a deep breath and prepared to say the words she’d woken up expecting not to.
“I accept your yield … and my place as your queen.”
And then the barrier fell.
Hope you liked that one! Remember, please leave your ideas (anything you want me to consider writing about) in the comments here or on the main page ... oh, whoops, here's the link for that!
Have a great day/evening/night (or whatever it is where you are), and see you on the Rift!
