Arcane: Painted Tapestries

"Fuck. How does he keep doing that?" Panted Violet, smashing her left fist into the closest wall and staring forwards into an irritatingly empty alleyway.

"The guy's a monster." Wheezed Mylo, completely out of breath.

Three weeks. It had been three weeks and nothing. They hadn't even gotten close.

No amount of ambushing, tailing, or begging got Callian to stay in their line of sight for any longer than was necessary.

The man only dropped by the bar twice a week, once to drink and once to pay them a proper visit. This meant that out of the six attempts they had levied, none had yielded any real results.

'Them'. Who was she kidding? He was there to see Powder. That much was obvious, even to her. He only entertained the rest of them.

"Guys I think we're going about this the wrong way. There's no way we're going to catch him, he's just too fast." Offered Claggor, his breathing even and unburdened.

Violet gritted her teeth angrily. "We tried tailing him quietly - he just disappears! This is fucking bullshit."

"Is this really worth it Vi?" Asked Mylo. "You're a plenty good fighter already. You don't need his help to knock someone out."

"Quite right Mylo." A deep voice echoed down from above them.

The group looked up, spotting Callian sitting on one of the many pipes running along the side of the adjacent buildings.

The man's metal boots dangled over the side of his makeshift seat, sticking out of his cloak's underside. His hood was dropped back, revealing his braided hair and white animal mask.

"You just don't know when to give up do you, girl?" He said slowly, staring down at the frustrated children owlishly.

In this life too, the girl was far too stubborn for her own good. Typical.

He hopped off the rusted pipe, falling back down to street level.

"Give us a hint at least." Said Claggor, sending Callian a pleading look from behind Violet's stormy expression. "We haven't seen you anywhere in Entresol, no one has."

"Have you even considered the fact my residence might not be located within Entresol?" He replied, the corner of his lips twitching upwards into an amused smirk.

Violet's eyes widened, she had not expected that. He wasn't staying in Entresol? But everywhere else was an utter shithole, there was simply no other way to put it.

"That surprise you're feeling right now." Said Callian, walking over to the teen and poking her in the forehead. "Is exactly why you aren't worth my time. Not once did you even consider looking outside of your colony."

The girl hung her head shamefully. She had no valid defence this time. He was right.

"Not one of you looked up a single time when I darted into one of these alleyways."

Mylo opened his mouth to protest before Callian brought a finger to the boy's lips and shushed him.

"Except Mylo that is. And even then, I simply hid out of sight to avoid his detection. Observation is one of the most important qualities a real warrior possesses. Our ability to think is what separates us from common animals, and yet you abandon this trait in favour of stumbling around in the dark."

The group of children stayed silent. Even Claggor looked a tad upset by Callian's harsh words.

"You two go back to the bar. Powder is waiting for you all." The man said dismissively, shooing the two boys towards the alley's entrance. "Violet, you stay. I'd like a word."

Claggor and Mylo looked at each other before shrugging and doing as Callian suggested.

They walked out of sight, the skinny boy still audibly moping about how unfair the whole situation was.

Violet just looked depressed, it was sad really.

"Remove those bandages girl." Said Callian, looking down at the teen's drained appearance.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, a flicker of hope visibly blossoming inside of them.

Could it be?

She fumbled with her hands, desperately trying to remove the dirty cloth as fast as humanly possible.

"While you may not be worth my time to fully train; I can't stand by and watch you walk around wearing those abominations any longer."

The masked man reached into his cloak, pulling out two identical rolls of a thin black material. Jagged red lines stretched disjointedly across the textile's outer surface like small stripes.

Violet's improvised hand wraps come undone, the degraded bandages falling into a small heap on the unevenly cobbled ground.

"Your hand." He requested calmly, but the teen knew an order when she heard one.

"Watch carefully. I am only going to do this once."

Callian grabbed Violet's wrist, starting to wrap the stretchy fabric around her bruised knuckles. It didn't take much observation for her to realise he had mastered this particular skill.

The thin red lines covering its surface began to layer over one another the more he progressed in his task; slowly connecting until a crude picture was formed.

Fifteen seconds later and he was finished, leaving the pink-haired girl with a perfectly wrapped right hand.

The back of Violet's hand wraps now had a crudely drawn representation of the bones that resided underneath her flesh.

The sight made him somewhat nostalgic.

He stood back, tossing the other roll in her direction and staring down at her expectantly.

Violet barely caught the object as it flew towards her, so distracted was she by the new accessory.

It was so light. Comfortable too. It didn't start to loosen when she flexed her fist either, the odd material widening and compressing along with the movement of her hand.

Violet took the other wrap, clumsily unrolling it and trying it for herself.

Twenty-five seconds later and it was done.

The red-coloured bones looked slightly disjointed, not a perfect wrap by any means.

She frowned, trying to adjust it to no avail.

The teen looked up to ask Callian for his help, only to look on at an empty street.

Her blue eyes darted upwards, scanning the network of piping above her.

"So, you can learn at least." Callian's amused voice emanated from behind her, making the girl jump in fright.

She whipped around, preparing to give him an earful about how annoying that sick habit of his was.

But nobody was there.

—

[Two weeks later]

Today. It was today. After a month of waiting, the day was finally here.

Callian would be lying if he said he wasn't anxious about the upcoming event.

Violet had finally gotten the tip from Ekko about Jayce's workshop and asked him if it was a good idea to go through with their plan.

Naturally, he had supported the idea, however stressing to her that they could not get caught topside. He also advised that if push came to shove; they should throw the loot away as a distraction to secure their escape.

The girl had nodded, agreeing with him completely.

So, this was how he found himself sitting on top of a Piltovian rooftop; hiding behind one of its many chimneys and watching as the four children hopped from roof to roof.

A few minutes later the side of the workshop blew apart, raining down dust and concrete onto the street below.

Perfect.

Callian watched as the four kids ran through the winding streets, somehow outwitting and outrunning the steadily growing army of enforcers that were chasing them.

His pink eyes followed the group until they crossed over the bridge and reached Promenade, his gaze now flicking away and landing on a nearby food stall.

The man felt a little guilty at what was about to happen next.

He had sabotaged Powder's latest gadget, 'Mouser', while she wasn't looking; ensuring the thing would fail to function as she intended it to.

It would have worked flawlessly otherwise.

The poor girl probably wouldn't recover from this failure for a while.

—

Callian watched from the shadows as Deckard killed the enforcer squadron sent down to secure the robber; observing silently as Vander was hauled away by the shimmer-mutated man.

He would live for a week at most before his body started to break down from the heightened cellular regeneration.

Human bodies weren't built to withstand that kind of transformation; no living thing was.

At least not without the proper conditioning.

—

Callian watched as Violet yelled out his name pitifully into the empty streets of Entresol, begging him to help her save her father.

He stayed tucked in the blackened shadows cast by the buildings around them, listening to the desperate girl cry for his aid; the girl not knowing that he was barely a few metres away from her.

It started to rain.

—

Callian watched Powder run after her siblings; a raw, determined look etched onto her young face.

—

The shimmer factory blew up, the unstable hex-crystals exploding outwards with an incredible force, thick blue lightning arcing across the frigid air.

—

"She left me. She is not my sister anymore." Powder's voice trembled with equal parts anguish and rage, her frail arms tightening around Silco's waist.

The tall man stared down at the sobbing figure silently.

"It's okay." He said softly, before slowly returning the young girl's shaky embrace. "We'll show them. We will show them all."

The rain continued to fall.

—

Callian stared down at Silco and 'Jinx' sitting on the street below, his expression unreadable.

So this was the tipping point.

He could see why nobody had told him about this now. Jinx's existence had required the deaths of Claggor, Mylo, and Vander.

It was no wonder the girl was so different to what he had known.

The cloaked figure darted back away from the Westside dock, glancing back towards the factory where a plume of grey smog struggled to rise up through the heavy rain.

Callian hummed thoughtfully. He now had a month to kill before the next event on his planned timeline.

What was there to do in the meantime?

Suddenly, his acute hearing picked up a tortured scream coming from four blocks away. It was a child's voice. A little girl's.

His innate curiosity getting the better of him; Callian bolted to the right, heading in the direction of the high-pitched scream.

Ah.

It seemed Silco's decision to kidnap Vander hadn't been made in the heat of the moment.

Groups of his thugs all around Zaun were taking over the Undercity in one massive Coup D'état, killing anyone who had supported Vander or opposed their new rule.

His younger self had only been one of Silco's men for a few weeks at this time, having joined his cause just before he began testing shimmer on human subjects.

He had showcased his unruly combat ability to the upcoming leader of Zaun, along with his determination to free the Undercity from being dependent on the scraps Piltover left behind.

It was because of these skills that he had been stationed in one of Silco's Slump hideaways, which was where the man kept his fortune during this time period.

Callian reached the end of the street, gazing down at the scene before him.

A young girl was kneeling on the ground next to her freshly murdered parents.

She couldn't have been much younger than Violet was. Poor girl.

A lanky brown-haired man strode towards her, grabbing the teen by her spiky, shoulder-length hair. He lifted her up, his bloody hands staining the girl's green hair with patches of red.

She screamed out in rage, her full attention now directed towards the group of men who had killed her parents.

Callian's heartbeat spiked as he saw the faintest arc of viridian-coloured electricity spark between the girl's twitching fingers.

What?

The pale lighting exploded outwards, shocking the man who was holding onto the girl fatally.

His eyes exploded out of his face in a gory mess, splattering the exhausted teen with his filthy blood.

The man's companions yelled in shock and anger, with one of the quicker ones racing forward and swinging his club down towards the girl's head.

Time slowed to a near halt.

Heavy raindrops slowed their momentum, hanging in mid-air.

Callian was in front of the girl in a heartbeat, the shimmer in his blood igniting at the same time his armament was activated.

He raised his leg and axe-kicked the thug's arm into the ground. The limb was instantly severed at the joint, the man's skin and bone atomising under the heat generated by his metal boots.

The bisected limb rotated slowly in the air, spinning past the shocked teen. Time was beginning to speed up again.

Callian glanced back at her.

Her eyes were following him while bullet time was activated.

Who the fuck was this kid?

Callian leaped forward, winding up his right leg to smash the second man's head into a bloody mist, before pushing off his headless torso and moving on to the next man.

He repeated this systematic process with a practiced precision until in the blink of an eye, the entire group of Silco's men were nothing more than a mangled mess of flesh and bone.

He walked back over to the young teen, waiting a little before allowing his blood to settle down once more.

Her yellow eyes followed him easily, making the man take a guess that she was unable to move anything else beyond that.

Callian's blood burnt out.

This girl had the potential to be a Champion.

"You killed them." She said, glaring up at him with an insatiable anger. A sliver of salgi escaped through her eyes, worming into his own."They were mine to kill."

He stared down at the girl impassively. Salgi at her age was impressive, no matter how weak. "You would have died here girl."

Her eyes glowed a brilliant lime. "They would have died with me."

"That." Said Callian, grabbing the fatigued girl by the arm and pulling her to her feet. "Would not have been nearly a fair price for your life. Someone of your talents is worth far more than these fucking animals."

His own eyes glowed a dangerous violet underneath his dark hood.

"Your parents did not die trying to protect their only child so that you could spit in the face of their sacrifice and kill yourself in a blaze of petty revenge."

The teen's eyes widened, momentarily forgetting her anger as she stared back at her mother and father's unmoving corpses.

She tried to walk over to them but flopped down to the ground after taking a single step away from him.

Callian propped her up against his sturdy frame and helped her move over to them.

She sank to the ground, hugging her father's body hopelessly; ignoring the fact that her actions caused a portion of his guts to spill out onto the pavement.

"Mom, Dad. I'm so sorry. If I had control of this goddamn fucking power… I could have protected you both. I'm so sorry."

The cloaked figure allowed the girl a minute to grieve, listening intently to her muttered apologies as she repeated them over and over again like an obsession.

She felt guilty, rightly so.

Staying weak in this cruel world was the greatest sin of all. The sin of ignoring your untapped potential. Sloth.

Whoever this girl had been, she had likely died in the original timeline; unable to muster up the strength to protect herself in time after killing the first of her many attackers.

He gritted his teeth in frustration.

A Champion's life, cut short at an age so young her talents hadn't even fully bloomed yet.

She could have been so useful in the original timeline.

Other than their Queen, nobody else in the twin cities possessed a speed even close to his. And even then the gap between them was still massive.

He needed this orphan girl on his side. The twin cities could do with another wildcard.

Callian knelt down and grabbed the girl by her shoulder, only for his touch to trigger a powerful wave of electricity that would have melted his hand had he not neutralised it immediately.

Upon feeling the build-up of magic, time had slowed once again and he had barely managed to flip his hand over before the surge hit him.

The rectangular stones sewn into his wrist guard lit up with an ethereal jade green, sucking the magic-based electricity inside of the glowing runes etched into their rough surfaces.

Time resumed.

That was a damn close call.

He grabbed her shoulder roughly, forcing her to face him. The teen pulled away, snarling at him hatefully, tears still streaming down her blood-splattered face.

Callian ignored her volatile reaction, recognising the familiarity between this girl and another he had met before. 

He pulled her into a tight hug, whispering softly into her ear. "It'll be okay."

She struggled to get free, trying to fight her way out of his strong grip. Her lightning pulsed outwards instinctually, only to be absorbed by both of his anti-magic vambraces.

Eventually, she stopped trying to free herself, instead collapsing into his comforting embrace. She cried out loudly, her burning anger now replaced with an utter misery.

What did it matter anymore? They were already dead. Her parents were already dead.

She clung to the masked man before her, bloody fingers tightening around his drenched cloak.

He rocked her back and forth gently, allowing the devastated girl to let out all of her pain and suffering into his shoulder.

"What's your name girl?" He asked softly, stroking the teen's soaking hair.

"Z-zeri." She said unsteadily.

"Come with me Zeri." Murmured Callian. "I can teach you how to wield that power of yours. Nobody will ever be able to touch you again."

"But it d-doesn't matter anymore." She sobbed, her grip around him tightening. "They're dead."

The man stood up, the girl's small figure slipping off him and falling down onto the muddy stone.

"You're right. They're dead. Nobody can bring them back now." Said Callian, looking down at her pitiful figure. "Then - Goodbye Zeri."

He turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait! Come back!" She cried out, her voice cracking bitterly.

He kept walking.

"Please." She called out hoarsely. "Please don't leave me."

Callian halted, turning back towards the devastated teenager who was still kneeling on the muddy ground.

"I have no reason to stay here any longer." He said, staring down at her impassively. "If you don't want me to leave, then come with me. I always have room to take in people as talented as you are."

He turned around and started to leave again, walking on through the muddy Westside street and taking the first right, heading back in the direction of the Northside colony.

Suddenly, Callian heard a clumsy stumbling behind him, listening as the girl fell to the ground before getting to her feet again. He slowed his pace, listening to her pitiful struggles.

The girl slammed into him from behind, wrapping her arms around his back to stabilise herself.

"Did you mean it?" She asked him brokenly.

"Always." Said Callian, feeling her grip tighten and then fully release.

Zeri slunk to his right side, slinking her hand into his own and clutching at it like a lifeline. "My parents are gone. And I-I can't change that."

Death was a prominent figure that loomed over all of Westside colonies, being where most of - if not all of the highly illegal activity took place; not that there were any laws down here in the fissures anyway.

But it was the farthest sector from Piltover that still had access to the river, so many traders and swords for hire took up residence there.

It was for this reason that Callian wasn't surprised at this girl's acceptance of her parent's deaths. That was just what the outskirts were like.

He had learned this hard truth too, only when he was much younger than she was.

"You're right. No one can."

The girl wiped her tears away and dried her cheeks, only for them to be readily replaced by the heavy rain.

"Why would they do that?" She whispered, questioning him.

"Animals like them could have been motivated by any number of reasons. They only target those lesser than themselves." He replied. "You were simply too weak to defend yourself from them. That's all there is to it."

"You said you could make me strong." She said her voice hardening slightly, looking back up at him.

"More than you could possibly imagine." He replied, beginning to walk forward once more.

"What should I call you?" Zeri asked him quietly, stumbling weakly to match his quickening pace.

"Callian. My name is Callian."

—

This chapter was written rather quickly in comparison to the others, so let me know if there are any errors.

—

(Total word count: 3469)