Non-cannon Void Invasion Story... part 7

It took Garen about 14 seconds to realise with such a diverse force of peoples and how broken and mixed the units were, there would be no such thing as a fighting retreat. No rear guard. With that, he turned and somewhat ashamedly sprinted towards the back of Darius who was already running. Around him, those Noxians not consumed completely by bloodlust nor too injured to make it far likewise turned their backs and joined him.

The void swarm turned with admirable - were it not so terrifying and evil - focus to pursue them. Many were run down. More than any Demacian army would have allowed with the rear guard and strategic fighting retreat they would have employed. As a result, many more Noxians joined their brethren behind them on the battlefield… spilling their blood as the claws of kha’zai tore into their fleeing backs to pull them to the ground. The void would have an amazing feast for several days to come. They could continue their pursuit afterwards. This army had already broken the forces of two of the greatest powers on Runeterra in a matter of days and they deserved a rest. A time to heal wounds, replenish numbers that had been depleted from their ranks, and most importantly… time to evolve from the knowledge and strengths they had absorbed from their victims.

Perhaps more Noxians would have fallen if not for Lux and Katerina. The latter tumbled and flipped across the shoulders, upraised shields, and heads of those retreating at an angle. This allowed her to traverse across the lines while still avoiding being left behind. As she did so, she hurled her daggers with deadly accuracy - dropping kha’zai as though moths that drew too close to a lantern. The former… well it wouldn’t be Luxanna “spell thief” Crownguard if she didn’t come back to save others in a tight spot and do so with a flashy new ability. For a heartbeat Garen actually thought the void army had gotten behind them as he saw purple comets of plasma fly over his head and spread out into two separate smaller comets as though forming a “T” near the last of the retreating Noxians. But then he caught sight of the persons, correction, person casting them. It was none other than his sister. With about half a dozen clones of herself mimicking the spell spread out in a wide line. As he reached her, the real Lux gave a quick sign so he’d know who was who. He picked her up and continued running; he knew how tiring it must be for his sister to simultaneously maintain six clones AND fire off a steady stream of whatever that new plasma spell was she’d learned from watching the vel’kai. It was slowing the enemy’s pursuit just enough that many Noxians would make it out alive.

“Who’s the hottie you got there,” asked a voice a while later. Garen turned to look and saw Darius staring at him. Or more aptly at the sister he was just putting down now that the void had finally broken off its pursuit for the night. “I’d heard you already had a girl. I wonder what Miss Katerina would have to say about you finding time to pick up other chicks at a time like this,” he spoke half mocking, half serious about going to tell Kat about it. “Although perhaps if you’re willing to share…” he said suggestively.

Sticking her tongue out, Lux said, “I’ll decide for myself who I date and don’t date. And besides, I wouldn’t ever consider a man who’s afraid of rubber duckies.”

His face flush with anger from the first part of her comment turned to one of embarrassment over the latter. How in Gurlog would some Demacian know he was traumatized from rubber ducks because of one time he took a bubble bath when he was still a kid? He bungled off through the clumps of soldiers to find… anywhere else where nobody had heard his embarrassing secret.

Pursuit Zed looked up at the spread out collection of forces before him as they continued their trek south towards the Rift. He’d never dreamed that ordinary Ionians, his brotherhood of assassins (and outlaws), and Vastayans would someday unite… much less that he would be an elected leader among the group. He stood up from placing the last trap in the latest line his forces had placed to slow the void army marching south hot on their trail. It was a tricky thing to remain just tantalizingly close enough to keep the void distracted from fleeing civilians and yet far enough away that they were not caught. To be sure, one or two ended up dying or getting injured from the enemy scout force as they took a bit too long to set their delaying traps and barricades, but so far he’d managed to skirt disaster well enough that the party remained intact. Along with the fox lady the Vastayans had elected and the young prodige Zed had had his eyes on for some time as a potential unifying force for the nation someday (after he’d dealt with the Kinkou), Zed formed a triumvirate of leadership for this diverse group.

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. “Look,” the voice belonging to the arm said, “you have a ton of experience in combat compared to me despite only having me beat by about 7 years in age.”

Damn, here we go again Zed thought as Irelia continued to talk. Upset because I’m giving everyone a bit of a cold shoulder. Doesn’t she get that I withdraw BECAUSE I care about others. Because… because it hurts too much every time I lose somebody and I’d never be able to continue if I let myself connect with others to the same degree I did back when I was a naive kid who thought the world could all be made right with one stroke of a katana. An image of Shen’s body-less head came back to him unbidden. He interrupted her monologue to explain again why he was right to act as he did and that she had already done some of the same after her losses on the Ionian plains the night Zed had saved her in fact. “So I say again… if my leadership performance is lacking, then let me know and I’ll leave,” Zed said. “You asked me to stay here instead of ‘throwing my life away’ if you’ll recall. Otherwise, just shut it.”

“I’m not trying to say that you need to be everyone’s best friend,” Irelia offered one last plea, “ just that you shouldn’t remove yourself completely from the world around you. Otherwise even if you win the cause for which you fight, you will find you don’t even recognize yourself or the world around you. Feeling that pain is part of what let’s you know you are alive… what makes you human rather than the machine those Kinkou tried to force you to become. And when that pain becomes too much to bear, we lean on those around us whom we trust. So please, if not me then at least let SoMeOnE in.”

Blue Man’s Lair Renekton stood at the entrance to Blue Man’s cave. Well, it was more like an underground tower, cave, library, three dimensional warping vault that traveled the depths of Runeterra and appeared at the same accessible locations every so often. His brother Nasus had calculated the date and location for its current appearance and communicated it to him through their various cryptic methods that they’d developed due to the spies that were almost always following them both. The last time he’d stood here shortly after escaping the crypt with Xerath, he had hated his brother. But then he’d met a diminutive blue female yordle who had come to change his view on things.

He’d tried to rob her friends of their haul from Blue Man’s cave in order to see if they’d taken the divine weapons of prophecy. When they’d resisted, he’d threatened to kill them all and nearly made good on it. The little yordle was the only Demacian soldier who’d put up any kind of fight against him in the rage he’d been able to muster back then. Her hammer actually held up against the power of his blade with only minor scratches leading him to believe she too could imbue her spirit into her weapon - one of the reasons Renekton and those of his deceased homeworld had been such powerful warriors. And the way she defended those she held dear, well it reminded him of himself when he was younger.

“We need that item,” she’d cried as he tore open the group’s loot satchel. “It’s to make the young prince Jarvan the 2nd better. He will die if we don’t get it to him soon, so I can’t let you take it. I’m sorry that you are angry over the losses and pain you have suffered in the past, but I have suffered too. My best friend - a human named Jarvan and founder of Demacia - died and I promised to look the kingdom and protect his son.” “I don’t need your stupid item shorty,” he growled back. He was wasting his time here - they didn’t have the items and there was only so much time before Blue Man’s castle would sink beneath the ground to appear at some other part of Runeterra where he wouldn’t be able to access it. Best to get as much of it mapped out as he could so that next time it appears he could get the items. “Normally I’d kill wimps like you for annoying me, but this pig tails here reminds me enough of myself when I was younger and put up a decent fight… so I’ll let you live if you get out of here,” Renekton said menacingly as he leaned over one of the soldiers he’d knocked to the ground. “You want to learn about spirit weapons, come find me sometime shorty. You’ve got some real potential.”