A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"Feeding time!"~ Fizz, The Tidal Trickster

Hope the conversations feel nice.

Also that's a lot of collections. We've gone up a 100 collections in 4 days. Kinda busted.

P.S. Look what they have done to my boy Viktor. No swag walk. No bulk. No waist. They kpop-ified my boy.

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The talk had taken a solemn turn. Gregori expected more fun filled conversations between Caalyx and the three but that did not work out the way he wanted it to. There were still more nights for them to talk and Caalyx would always be there.

After convincing Caalyx that he would unwrap him again the next day and the next and the next, eventually he relented to the wrapping.

Gregori suspected Caalyx only denied the wrapping a few times for fun, he knew the consequences of leaving him unwrapped. Darkin weapons wanted to be wielded, if the Darkin sealed inside wanted to or not. The corruption made it so. A subtle thought forced into the mind of mortals upon witnessing the weapon. But Caalyx was not whole hence a weaker attraction. Not only that the ones who laid their eyes upon it were Iceborn. They were strong enough to resist the pull. Daisy reached for it because she was young, children could often be easily made to do anyone's bidding. They also tried their hardest to put themselves in harms way. It was as if they just couldn't help but kill themselves.

He sighed at the thought. The pains of raising a child. Now, children. Alone. He had decided to allow Leanna into his life for that reason but she had left him. Left him with another child. Not that he could fault her or Daisy. But the responsibilities he carried immensely changed. For the first time since Leanna passed, Gregori just sat and thought of everything. Not just about the deaths of both Amoline and Leanna but all the good times he had shared with them. All the times Leanna would stand wait for his return from his hunts. The times he had seen her watch over their children silently, watching them have fun with a soft smile on her face. The times he had spent with his daughters. The times he had seen them try to do stupid things that would most likely lead them to a lot of pain. The times he had consoled either child when they cried.

His perfect little world.

Amoline would have approved of the life he had managed to live. The life he had forged after her death. She would definitely approve of Leanna, considering she took care of her daughter as well as or maybe better than him.

Annie would never admit it but Gregori knew, she liked having a mother. He had seen her content in Leanna's arms.

The only thing he regretted was how Leanna never got to hear Annie call her mummy. Leanna wanted to hear it so badly from her, now she would never hear it.

Rage shot through him.

But he took deep calming breaths and shoved it back down. There would be a time for that.

He shifted his eyes toward Daisy running behind Braum. Training they called it. To him it seemed like two children chasing each other. It probably was just that considering over the days other children started following Daisy as she trained. And they mostly ran around with Braum though none of them could quite compare with the two Iceborn, they did seem to be having fun. They didn't try the other things that the two Iceborn did. Gregori couldn't understand how Braum was that flexible despite being that muscular and bulky. He had seen muscular men in Noxus, it was to be expected from the nation that thrived in war, but none of them had any semblance of flexibility. This man could bend over backwards. How did his muscles even allow that to happen? It was nonsensical. But Daisy could replicate all of his stretches with no problems.

"Oi! Lets do what we are supposed to be doing!" Caalyx spoke.

Gregori brought himself to focus on the task at hand. 

He needed training as well. As nice as it was simply training his body, his magic still needed heavy practice. And no one was better suited than Caalyx. The Freljordian shamans pursued a different form of magic, mostly pertaining to spirits but they wouldn't be able to provide any direction for him to pursue. Caalyx was one of the better magic using Ascended, even if his methods were ancient, they were still useful. He had more experience and would offer more.

Yes. Offer. Another deal. Teaching magic for being left unwrapped for longer. Gregori accepted at the drop of a hat. He had been planning to do that from the start but now he was getting something out of it. Talk about a steal.

Caalyx had been overjoyed as well. Gregori did not even haggle. Oh how he would talk to more and more people and for longer!

"Fine then. Lets work on my magic." Gregori relented

"No YOU are working on YOUR magic. I'm just watching and helping." Caalyx piped up.

Gregori grunted in annoyance and moved to grab his shield. He slid the shield on to his arm and stretched.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the magic ebb and flow within himself. Gregori took a stance and used his free hand to throw the shield. It spun around in a circle and came back into his hands.

Gregori repeated the same steps multiple times. Until an unimpressed voice cut in, "Are you training magic like its a muscle?"

Gregori stood still and waited till the shield came back to his hand to reply, "Yes. Repeated practice to make sure I can do it faster and with lesser concentration."

"I didn't bother with your magic when its reserves were not enough but how did you train it before? How did you practice it?" Caalyx asked, seemingly deep in thought.

Gregori looked at the half unwrapped spear. "I never trained it. Pulling took too much out of me. And I practiced magic through runes."

"Hmm?" Caalyx let out a surprised sound, "You are a rune mage?"

"I don't know your definition of a rune mage but if it means writing runes in a certain order to achieve certain effects with magic, then yes, I'm a rune mage."

"Ah then you are not a proper rune mage. Rune mages create runes out of magic itself and wield that in order to get what they want. You are in the early stages of runic magic. You have seen a real rune mage before." Gregori raised his eyebrows in suspicion, "When you hid me."

"Ah. Him." Gregori remembered the odd man. "He hasn't visited you in some time?"

"A couple years give or take, can't really tell time from where you hid me." Caalyx answered nonchalantly. 

"Anyway, did you use your magic in combat?" Caalyx asked, putting them back on track.

Gregori nodded.

"Gregori?"

"Yes?"

"Did you nod?"

"Yes?"

"You realize I cannot see unless I take over you right? I can hear everything around me and currently, I can only talk to you. So stop with the visual answers." Caalyx reprimanded.

"How did you use it?" He continued.

Gregori shifted a little, "I used in extremely close combat situations. When enemy blades come at me, I pull them toward my free hand. It never moved perfectly but it was enough for me to dodge and counter. The use of magic did leave me drained."

"Huh!" Caalyx let out an impressed sound. "You are resourceful. But that doesn't take away from your severe lack of creativity."

Caalyx waited a second for his words to sink in.

"I asked you this when you fought..... what does your magic do?" He asked.

"Pull." Gregori replied.

"What are your limits?" Caalyx asked.

Gregori thought for a few seconds before replying, "The total amount of magic I possess."

Caalyx let out an annoyed grunt, "No! By some miracle your overall reserves have grown enough for you to not worry about it. No, your limits are yourself."

"What do you mean?" Gregori asked.

"You. Gregori. You are what is stopping yourself from becoming better at magic. You train with magic like how you trained previously. Different skills need to be developed differently. You cannot train your body by reading a book, magic is the same. I keep criticizing your creativity but you need to understand it is only in your understanding and implementation of what you already possess." Caalyx replied. "You have survived situations no man should have survived. So, carefully think and tell me, what are your limits? I'll even give you a hint, you have already used it the last time you used me."

Gregori looked up toward Daisy and lost himself in his thoughts. A while later, he answered, "Creativity and Control."

Caalyx continued immediately, "Creativity is the obvious one. I would seriously doubt your intellectual capabilities if you did not give that answer. But, yes. Control. The most important skill for any user of magic is control. The finer your control over it, the better you can apply it in different situations. You did this when you summoned and used the weapons of the fallen against them. I will pose a situation, you tell me what you would do... You face an enemy you cannot beat physically, he is larger and stronger than you. A single hit would mean death. And at this moment the enemy has swung his weapon down at you. What would you do with your magic alone?"

Gregori put himself in that position and answered immediately, "I would pull his weapon to himself mid-swing. The momentum would make him harm himself. Or I could pull his weapon in the opposite direction to the swing, stopping it. I might be able to make him kneel, giving me an angle at his neck."

The final answer got an enthusiastic response from Caalyx. "Yes! That is a good one. The first is fine but better fight will be able to realize any changes mid-swing but it could put them off balance. The second would take too much magic, even if your reserves are bigger now, it does not mean that they are infinite. That is a more show of force technique. Useless in a real fight. The third one is your best. The enemy is also within your control. You can pull his knees to the ground, gods you could pull him to the ground entirely. But then again, I think you could do better. If your control over your magic is at its highest point, I suppose you could pull the blood out of him. You could pull out his breath? I do not know your limits in that sense. Trial and error should solve that."

That got Gregori thinking, he had been underestimating his magic. Throwing and catching his shield was a fun technique but that would be leaving him without defense. Another avenue of attack opened with his eventual proficiency with his personal magic.

"Now, I ask you..... what should you be doing?" Caalyx posed.

"Develop my control over magic and figure out my limits." He replied.

"Finally! Now chop chop. The early bird gets the Kmiros."

"What kind of bird eats something that large?"

"Its a saying. Don't question it."