The Plague Jungle Runestone

A second in the life who spends his whole life traveling. Ryze was used to the nomadic, constantly moving from place to place, investigating any possible traces of runestones. His journey would never be complete, but he found justification to his mission. It is what kept him from stopping all these years. After his last stop, he needed a break from civilization, and from those who call themselves righteous. No one deserves the power that a runestone provides, but seeing so many take advantage of magic was sickening to him. So he took to the south, in order to find a runestone which was only rumored to be rumored there.

"Hopefully this will not be a waste".

Traveling through this land was different. Normally, Ryze would traverse the land, see nary a soul along his routes. But he would experience wilderness, animals, landscapes and the like. But here, it felt wrong, as if this entire land was poisoned. He was anxious of what was hiding in the jungle, but horrified of the power that this land could be hiding, waiting for someone to come along and take it. He began to feel a presence that he had not felt for some time, there was a runestone nearby.

He must find it.

As Ryze scoured the jungle, he began to feel as though he was walking in circles, until he noticed what looked to be a building. Upon reaching the stone structure, he happened upon what looked like the ruins of a lost temple, and from the inside, he could feel the presence of the runestone, as if it were calling to him. It is almost as if the temple were bringing him here for a reason. The power of the runestone pulsed, and could almost just be felt, and Ryze knew it needed to be gone.

The temple was more difficult than it had seemed. He wandered around the inside, looking for any sort of clue to where the runestone might be. Ryze could sense the stone was close, and as he persevered, it paid off. He found a hidden stair case behind a shelf, similar looking to some he had seen before, eerily similar. Nevertheless, the Rune Mage walked down the stairs to a basement filled with all kinds of boxes and barrels and crates.

"Uh, this job never gets any easier does it?" Ryze launches a blue bolt from his hand, destroying every object in the basement. As the dust settled, Ryze once again saw no runestone, yet still sensed it's presence. Ryze could find no way down, but could feel the stones power just below him. He had been practicing with a new spell, and it seemed like the perfect time to attempt it. He sat focused on the floor, preparing the spell. "Hopefully this doesn't take me the wrong way like last time" he said remembering the sticky situation he nearly put himself in. After only seconds of channeling, Ryze warped into the ground.

As Ryze became aware of his surrounding, he instantly noticed the glowing familiarity of the runestone only an arms reach away. However, he was stuck, almost as if he were paralyzed.

"I didn't think it would take this long for you to show yourself..." he shouted into the darkness of the basement.

"You know me, always one for theatrics"

"How long has it been Alvian, 5 years?"

"Long enough for you to have forgotten not to call me that".

Ryze scoffed at the figure in the dark.

"Now old man, I think it's about time you give me what I want."

Ryze replied "Don't even consider it, or I will ensure you never leave this place".

Alvian stepped into Ryze's sight, "Then I suppose this runestone is as good as mine, seeing as you are so nice as to let me take this one."

Ryze struggled against the magic that held him in place. He attempted so desperately to move, to cast, to do anything. But he could not. "Alvian, you know the power of the runestones. If you even try to take it, you will destroy yourself, little by little, until you go mad with power."

Alvian sneered at the thought "I haven't been sane since I was a child". He approached the runestone, coating his hand in a black, mystical energy, and began to absorb it in front of Ryze. Ryze struggled mightily, summoning every ounce of strength, magical and otherwise, to release the binds around him. Alvian heard the Rune Mage break from his bondage, and was powerless to stop the onslaught of spells that Ryze threw at him. The power of this runestone was barely drained, yet it gave off so little of an explosion on its destruction. Ryze wasn't sure, be he swore he saw the energy creep out into the jungle, as if it had found a worth recipient.

Ryze turned to face Alvian who stood just on the edge of Ryze's sight.

Ryze stared the mage in the eye, seeing all of the hatred and evil that Alvian had collected over the years.

"What have you done to yourself?"

Alvian replied "You see Rune Mage, I have been on the same journey you have. Seeking the stones and destroying them. Only I am absorbing the power of the runestones little by little, causing my magic to become stronger by the day..."

As Alvian continued, clones of Alvian stepped out, surrounding Ryze.

"... Soon enough, my power will be greater than all mages, including yours. That day is coming Rune Mage. The day where I am finally able to best you, the day where you pray to me, where all pray to me, for mercy..."

Ryze only casts two spells to slay all of the clones of Alvian at once. Ryze felt disgusted at what had happened, but at the end of the day, at least the power of the runestone did not fall in the wrong hands.

As Ryze walked up the stairs and out the large door of the temple, he was surprised to hear Alvian once more.

"... and on that day, I will remove your head from your shoulders, and that scroll from your back."

Ryze shuttered at the thought of someone taking his scroll. The fear nearly overwhelmed him, as he began his long trek out of the Plague swamp. The wanderer got less sleep than he usually did that night. He meditated, and thought only of a world where someone else had the scroll, and he pondered whether it was finally time to stop finding runestones and hide somewhere no one could find him. He thought long and hard of the day that he would collapse, unable to protect the scroll.

Opening his eyes, Ryze simply said "That day is a long time coming".