A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"I am Kled! High Major Commodore of the First Legion Third Multiplication Double Admiral Artillery Vanguard Company! You will respect my authority!" ~ Kled, The Cantankerous Cavalier 

This chapter is a little small. Thousand apologies.

Also, if you feel like the fight seems short. That's because it is realistic. Actual fights don't last long and it is very easy for the stronger opponent to lose through one mistake. And considering the fact that I don't give attacks names, you get shorter fights. But they seem more lively.

An action. A reaction. A prediction. A movement with a certain goal. Its the science of fights and I like it when a fast paced thing is fast paced.

If you don't believe me just think of the last time you've been in a fight. They are short bursts before you are in a deadlock.

Finally, the character's in the story aren't fighting for fun. They are in a battle for survival. It cannot and should not be prolonged. 

The cinematic also shows this.

Leave a comment with your opinions on this and if we can get to a compromise regarding this topic.

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Daani held the shield like it was his only lifeline. The thing had saved their lives twice now and seemed to not even have the faintest of cracks. Even when Sydell offered to carry it he didn't relent. The shield was important and he would carry it till Gregori woke up.

That would be worth a hug at least right?

As he watched, Gregori laid flat on Rell's horse, his bag and spear hanging off the side, he feared him waking up and leaving with Annie alone.

Leaving him behind.

He did not want to be left behind.

He did not like being left behind.

It had become one of his life's goal to find his parents and ask them. Ask them why they had abandoned him.

Was he a bad child?

He could change....

He could...

He would.

That was all he was. Someone who could change. A shapeshifter.

But his surprise adoption had changed that dream.

Daani wanted to be happy, not chase after those who did not look back. The moment the option had come, he had taken it. Accepting his friends as siblings came as naturally to him as breathing. He had spent a majority of the last few years with them anyway and he had gotten along with the three of them. What was two more to that pile? 

A bigger family meant more people to love and less chances of being abandoned.

Gregori had come back for Annie after all, he did not seem like one who would abandon them. Abandon him.

"So....." Sydell called out loud, his hands behind his head, "What's a Caalyx?" He asked as they all walked forward.

"Don't ask me I just met you guys." Rell replied.

"Annie?" Sydell asked.

Annie turned to him and shook his head. "Daddy never told me anything about a Caalyx." She answered but her voice was a little muted.

Daani supposed that was due to her not knowing her father's true capabilities. She had been just as shocked as them when he returned to fight the beast.

"The spear." A voice cut in.

All eyes fell onto the owner of the voice. Briar. The girl was..... different. She looked older than them but did not act like it. She acted like a child. Like them.

"The spear?" Sydell repeated.

Briar nodded. Her head bouncing back and forth heavily. "Daddy unwrapped it last week to help me." She stated as she pointed to the cloth wrapping her arms and legs. "He said that this will help reverse the experiments." She continued proudly. "Caalyx is the spear." Now pointing to the wrapped spear. "He is funny." She finished as she giggled.

Their heads swiveled to the spear and the warning Gregori gave before passed through them.

Do not unwrap.

"I remember the spear." Annie interrupted their thoughts. "Daddy kept it under the stairs in our home."

"Did he say anything about it?" Rell was clearly getting interested in the spear.

"I only saw it once.... when the bad people attacked my house." She replied, her expression falling. "Mummy hid me under the stairs."

The mood immediately fell with those words. Reaching out her hand, Rell patted Annie's shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"Annie?" Sydell ran to the front, turned around and walked backward.

Annie looked at him questioningly. 

"What about Tibbers?"

That question shifted the mood. Curiosity took over. The bear Annie always seemed to talk to. It turned into a giant flaming bear and then into pure fire.

"Tibbers is my bear." Annie pulled out the toy and hugged it tight. As if that was all it was.

"No. No. How does Tibbers become big? And Why does he speak?" He asked.

That got Daani thinking. The bear talked. It talked directly into their heads. How did it do that? What even was it?

Looking at Rell's horse, he immediately spotted some differences. First, Rell had one hand on the horse at all times. Second, it was very puppet like, he had seen horses before, they grunted... a lot.

That probably meant that it needed her to touch it in order to move.

Annie's bear did not do that. It fought on its own. It transformed on its own.

"I don't know." Annie shrugged. "Tibbers is Tibbers. Mummy made him for me."

Sydell looked at her and then the bear and shrugged as well. He wouldn't think further when that is all she knew. 

"So, who is Daisy?" Faye asked hopping to Annie's side.

Annie looked up from Tibbers and smiled, "Daisy is my sister. My daddy married her mummy when I was five." Annie kept going, "She is a little smaller than me and has golden hair. We played a lot and sleep in the same bed. Daddy calls her flower, like he calls me firefly."

Faye smiled. Her new father would give her a pet name. Like every other child she would have another name. One to be called lovingly.

She did everything in order to experience that. Her performance in the conservatory was amazing. Amazing enough that she over heard them talk about moving her to another facility. Every time she did something, she did it in order to be praised. Every time she was praised, she was beyond happy.

Now? She could experience having a family and she would make Gregori see how good of a daughter she could be.

The best daughter.

That was Faye's dream.

The group eventually spotted a forest to their right and shifted directions toward it. Some time later, they arrived and began the search for a large tree.

"Hop. Skip. Jump!" Annie jumped across various tree roots and bounded across as if she owned the forest.

"Annie be careful." Sydell chased after her.

THUD

He didn't chase far however, tripping on one of the roots emerging from the ground, he fell face first into the mud and grass.

Daani and Faye had devolved into full bellied laughter with Briar trying to imitate them. Rell was also chuckling.

Growling, he raised his head up to be faced with a hand reaching down for him. 

Annie's.

"Daddy told me not to run in the forest." She said sagely, "That is why I hop, skip and jump."

Sydell grabbed the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up.

The group then followed Annie around until they found a large tree with a lot of open space surrounding it.

She stood in front of the tree and looked it up and down, her hands on her hips. "This!" She claimed, " This is what daddy wants!"

"A.... Are you sure?" Daani asked. Looking around in fear. He had never ventured into a forest before and the sounds and views were foreign to him.

Foreign things were scary.

"Uh huh!" Annie nodded. She spread her arms wide, "This!" She ran to the base of the tree and turned around.

"One..." She called as she took her first step away from the tree. "Two.... Three.... Four..... Five.... Six..... Seven..... Eight.... Nine... AAAndd Ten!" A complete ten steps later, she looked at where her feet were and placed one of the rocks Gregori had given her.

She repeated the action four times in four different directions and walked inside the newly formed square.

Plopping herself down, she looked up at her friends.... no family... and watched them flounder about in confusion.

Tilting her head, she looked at them wondering why they hadn't just followed her in. Standing up, she walked up to each of them and pulled them inside the square.

Every one of them, except Briar, jumped when Annie's hand fell on them. She led them inside and then plopped herself down.

"What is this?" Rell asked.

Annie pointed to the stones on the ground, "Daddy had them in our old forest. He called them wards. It will keep up safe and hide us." She then spoke seriously, "But we must not play with them, it is dangerous."

Every word she spoke raised her confidence. She knew more than them....this was her element. She raised her chin in pride. Pride at knowing more than them. They will have to rely on Annie till her daddy woke up.

She enjoyed the look of surprise they were giving her.

Rell's horse fell apart as Gregori softly rolled onto the ground. The bag and wrapped weapon falling to side as well.

Annie snuggled up to him and yawned, the exhaustion catching up to her. Within a few minutes, she fell asleep hugging onto her father's arm.

Faye looked at Annie and chose to do so on the other side.

Briar joined them as she snuggled up to him as well.

Rell looked at them once before leaning against the tree and falling asleep. The metal surrounding her protectively.

Daani came close to Gregori and slept while clutching onto the shield. 

Sydell just laid down where he stood and faced the sky. Within seconds he was asleep as well.

"Wakey Wakey idiot."

Gregori's eyes snapped open.