A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"Welcome to the League of Draven."~ Draven, The Glorious Executioner

Hey the Darkin characters are lore accurate. Except for Caalyx and his brother. And the location of Anaakca is close to the Winter's Claw but I changed it. Aatrox needs a reason to be there. So, this became the reason.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two leading inquisitors watched as the man they were moving toward stood up and unwrap a long object. In a couple horrifying seconds, the man's size doubled.

WHIZZZZZZ

The inquisitor with the Ikakalaka, turned to spot his ally slump to the ground, his neck ripped in half as his head bounced down. Neighing sounded behind him, as he looked further behind. A black cloak and his horse behind his fell apart horizontally bisected by what looked like a shield, lodged in the ground. The horse's head fell in a different direction to its body and the man's upper torso did the same.

Dead in an instant.

He turned once more to the man.... no... that was no man... 

"Monster....." he whispered.

The monster raised its hand.

WHIZZZZZZZZ

The shield shot back to it at an immense speed. It raised its hand and caught it like it was nothing.

The inquisitor regained his composure and yelled, "Fire your arrows and magic. KILL IT QUICK!"

Nothing happened.

He turned around and yelled as loud as he could, "FIREEE! KILL IT!"

The black cloaks all fired arrows and bolts of black magic at and around the creature. Even if the creature moved, it would be hit by some of the incoming attacks. A foolproof idea and a reliable battle tactic. The creature had attacked them first. Even if they weren't planning on a peaceful interaction, it had attacked first. And it would pay for that.

You did not need to precisely aim at the target if you were sending hundreds of projectiles.

The monster threw its shield to its left as a response to this action.

The inquisitor tilted his head in confusion. 

Why?

Why throw away the shield?

Then he smiled under the helmet. An easy kill then. The projectiles were almost upon it.

As the first arrow landed, the monster did not move. Not an inch. Then came all the other arrows and magics. But it stood still in the same position.

Underneath the helmet the inquisitor had him mouth wide open.

Meanwhile, Gregori watched as his first throw decapitated the first inquisitor cleanly and had taken out another.

"Oh your magic is really fun now!" Caalyx spoke.

"Hmm?"

He raised his hand.

Whenever he used the spear, it was more of a constant back and forth for the control of the body. Caalyx did not fight for control but eased in some actions here and there but Gregori actively tried to maintain control. The last thing he needed was to lose control and roam around the Freljord waiting for someone to come end him.

The shield shot back to his hand. He shook off the blood on it and spoke, "What is fun about it?"

Caalyx confused reply sounded in his head, "You can do so many fun things now! Here give me control, I'll show you what you can do with your magic. You have no imagination, no creativity. Watch."

As he finished, Gregori felt himself take a back seat in his own mind. Control of his body slipped from his fingers, and into Caalyx's hands.

The body wasn't Gregori anymore, it was Caalyx.

Caalyx raised his head to look at all the projectiles flying toward him. After taking a second to think, he twisted his body and threw the shield, magic flaring as he did so.

"Caalyx?" Gregori asked, from the recesses of his own mind.

"Hmm?"

"You maybe immortal, but I am not. Why throw the shield?" 

Gregori did not mind that Caalyx had taken over. It was to be expected. Loneliness was a difficult thing to endure. 

"Just watch." Caalyx spoke in a cocky but excited manner.

The arrows and black colored bolts of magic came at him. Gregori almost gave up on seeing his body in a good condition again.

But not a single attack landed.

As soon as they came near him, all the projectiles swerved away from him and slammed right into the ground.

It was as if every arrow and magic that had been launched to kill him, all just simultaneously avoided him. 

"What.... is this?" Gregori questioned in confusion and awe.

"Your magic!" Caalyx answered.

"My... magic?"

"Can you not repeat my words? It makes you sound stupid." Caalyx cut in mercilessly. Then he continued, "What does your magic do?"

Gregori focused himself, "It pulls things in my direction."

Caalyx cut in again, "Maybe it pulled things in your direction before. Or you never did bother to refine your control to this extent. You didn't magically gain a new skill Gregori, the overall capacity for magic is the only change I feel. Your reserves are a lot bigger now."

Gregori stayed silent, trying to think of moments where he may have used his magic differently.

"No words? So tell me.... what does your magic really do?" Caalyx posed the question again.

Thinking carefully about the previous sentences and the arrows in front of him, Gregori answered, "Pull. My magic pulls. It does not pull it toward me alone."

"Finally!" Caalyx exclaimed, "Finally he gets it..... now look there, you do not want to miss this."

Gregori focused onto the army. 

The Draklorn Inquisitor could not believe his eyes. Every..... single... thing missed. It wasn't like his men could miss. They were trained rigorously. Some of these black cloaks were almost ready to become inquisitors themselves.

Then he heard the screams. Facing the direction of the sounds, he saw the shield ripping through the army from the side.

It had flown all the way around to their side, pierced through and kept going. Men went flying as it hit them. Those who weren't lucky enough were very roughly torn apart. Unlike the first time, the shield did not stop and fall to the ground.... it kept going. Right through his allies. Horses and black cloaks, nothing could stop this. He threw his Ikakalaka at it. 

A weapon of Dark True Ice could stop it, it was near indestructible after all.

The two weapons clashed.

And the Ikakalaka fell to the ground. The shield on the other hand, kept flying through his army, now at a different trajectory as all the Ikakalaka did was push it out of its original path.

Whatever courage the inquisitor had left him as he watched the shield leave the army from the opposite side.

Nearly forty men and one inquisitor dead and they weren't even close to the beast that killed them. Their attacks were completely nullified.

Instinctually he knew, they would not survive this encounter. They were just lambs to the slaughter. And the butcher had arrived.

"Oh..." was all Gregori could let out after watching his shield tear his enemies to shreds.

Caalyx raised his left hand again and the shield flew to him after making a large arc. "Well....that is about half of them gone."

"Did you pull the shield through them?"

"Picking things up fast now are we?" Caalyx spoke in jest. "You can pull anything anywhere. The arrows? I pulled them to the ground as soon as they came close. The shield? I pulled it around to the side and then through them all the way back to your hand."

Gregori understood the idea behind this, even if it was impossible difficult to achieve. "How did you understand this so fast?"

"You don't become an Ascended without skill Gregori. I was very talented in the art of battle. Was? Am. I am very talented in the art of battle. I also possess very fine control over my magic and that control extends to any host body I occupy. Now take back control of your body. Show me what you can do!" Caalyx spoke and then relinquished control over the body back to Gregori.

Shaking himself back into control, Gregori threw the spear in a straight line and dashed behind it. He tried to increase the speed of his dash by pulling himself to the army. His magic followed his thoughts instantly.

Within a second Gregori traversed the large distance between him and the army and smashed the nearest black cloak to the ground. In trial of his new understanding of his own magic, he had somehow out sped the spear he had thrown previously.

He spun around grabbing the flying spear and pushed it out in an arc, cutting through the ones near the spearhead and smashing through the ones closer.

"That...... was...... beyond pointless..... though I know for sure that you did not intend to do that." Caalyx chirped.

"I did not expect to arrive before the spear." Gregori conceded. 

Caalyx let out a snort and then started chuckling to himself. "You need to understand your magic. The reason you received the Hastur title may have been for other reasons and your work in the Gray Legion may have been revolutionary but in the case of personal strength..... you are still far behind what you can actually achieve. Your body has deteriorated but your magic has grown. A miracle. That is what it would take to increase your magical capabilities and somehow all I see you doing is squander it."

Gregori stabbed through a black cloak and dodged an incoming bolt of magic. He did not reply to Caalyx.

"You are blessed with magic and that will of yours. Two things that cannot be trained and you have them in spades. You don't need to do anything with your talents but not developing them is something even fools wouldn't do." Caalyx ranted, his anger at Gregori justified.

SLICEEE

Gregori felt a sudden pain as his back was cut open and turned to face the one who had slashed him. The wound instantly froze and he was assaulted by pain. He froze from the immense pain.

The inquisitor had managed to get a hit in with his fallen brother's great axe. 

Flipping his grip on the spear, Gregori threw it at the man's chest. As the spear left his hand, Gregori turned to the others and sprinted at them with his shield.

The inquisitor swung the great axe to knock it away. The moment it made contact with the spear, it seemed as if the spear had gained a life of its own, its trajectory changing to avoid the axe. The spear aimed at the inquisitor's torso, impaled him in the head. The force in the spear carrying in clean through his head.

The final thought that had gone through the man was confusion as to why he hadn't made contact with the spear.

"Wow! You picked that up quick!" Caalyx exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Gregori kept bashing his enemies into the ground. His spare hand knocking away anyone who came close to him.

"That spear went through his head cleanly. Well done!" Caalyx replied with pride in his voice.

Gregori tilted his head to get a view of the body. "I aimed for the chest."

"No.... you wanted him dead. Magic did the rest." Caalyx explained.

"That makes no sense." 

By this point, he had killed most of the army, the few left rode away on their horses in a hurry.

"You don't.... ugh..... I'll teach you later. But don't leave any survivors. Your current decrepit body cannot handle using me again, if they bring reinforcements."

 Raising his hand, Gregori willed the spear back.

Steadily, he planted his feet into the ground, twisted his torso and let the spear fly.

And fly it did. The air provided on resistance. It landed in between two of the riders, causing the ground to shatter open and the horses to fall over into the waters. The two had died in the freezing river.

Twisting the other direction, he threw the shield in an attempt to replicate Caalyx's throw. It flew just like his but fell after hitting a single person.

"You cannot replicate greatness that easily." Caalyx made fun of him.

Gregori did not reply, Caalyx was an expert in, as the Noxians often said, taking the piss. There was no point in replying to him as he would escalate it further.

He picked up spears and smaller weapons from the bodes of the dead and threw them toward the remaining runners.

They did not survive.

He pulled his spear and shield back.

"Are you going to wrap me again?" Caalyx asked in a pleading tone.

"Yes."

"But I have so much to teach you."

As he walked back to his belongings, he replied, "I will talk to you again after I recover enough."

"Ouuuu Okayyyyyyy."

"Stop that, it makes you sound like a child. You are thousands of years old."

"Don't talk about a man's age like that."

"...."

"Hey! What... are you doing?"

"Wait..... listen to me... wait wait wai-"

Gregori wrapped him with the cloth. The runes taking effect, silencing Caalyx.