"Darkness..."~ Nocturne, The Eternal Nightmare
I find writing fighting scenes easier than conversational ones. Easier to imagine movement over words.
Not to mention the fact that I'm coming up close to the end of my stockpile. I'm only like 3 chapters ahead of you guys right now. And it will be that way till the 17th of March, after which I can pump out chapters for a little bit.
Also.... I'd appreciate it if you could leave a review or comment. The review can be anything and I do not really care about the stars.
Last but not least, the story is almost 50-60% done. Skip to the dotted line if you don't want spoilers on the way the story progresses.
Let me know if you would like to see anything else in the story.
> Demacia and Sylas war arc (The one from the cinematic where lux ults the sky)
> Arcane Season 2 arc
(Maybe a Ruination arc.... this is only for character development and closure for Gregori but it can be done in other ways. But Ruined Pantheon is just a low hanging fruit.)
> Darkin War
> End
> Occasional side stories of various characters introduced in the stories after the end.
And yes we will not be going to Ionia. The region gets too much love from Riot already and I like the other regions better.
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The council all stood together with Ashe and Tryndamere leading them.
The group facing them were members of another tribe. All of them stood with varying facial expressions.
"We would like to establish an alliance with Avarosa." One of them stepped forward to speak. Fully cloaked in a large brown fur coat, he looked down on the group as he spoke.
Tryndamere's fists clenched and his eyes narrowed.... but he stayed silent. This was a matter of precedence. Only after the Warmother initiated conversation could he speak. And when he spoke, it could only be done with the Warmother.
So he held his tongue. Him speaking would be disrespectful to his Bloodsworn. It would make her seem lesser.
It would be fine if it was just a council meeting or among the tribe. Ashe had encouraged it. But things were different in matters between tribes.
But the thing that made it difficult for him to remain silent was not his ask but the way the man had said it.
No remorse.
No hesitation.
No shame.
He had proposed an alliance like it was their tribe asking for it.
This moron was looking down on them. He was looking down on the tribe. The tribe he had come to respect and love. The tribe that had taken him and his people in and accepted them. The tribe he was willing to die for.
As if recognizing his anger, Ashe raised her hand to his side and gave him a pat on the side. The contact calmed him down. The anger was reigned in. His eyes which were taking on a hint of red were slowly losing it.
Ashe looked at the group. "Do you all want alliances as well?"
They all nodded. Except for one.
"What do you require?" Ashe asked.
The person introduced themselves, "I am Shiverbones from the Winter's Claw. I am here on behalf of the Scarmother Vrynna."
"What do you require Shiverbones." Ashe asked again.
Shiverbones looked at her with a tired expression before saying, "First we would like to apologize for our attack on Avarosa." He bowed as he finished his words.
Ashe chose to not reply, instead choosing to stare at the man, wanting him to go on ahead.
Understanding her cue, he continued, "The second thing is our Scarmother wants the man who had fought us. The man named Gregori."
Snorts escaped from those behind Ashe. Even Ashe herself failed to hide a smile forming on her face. Tryndamere looked at the man flabbergasted at the audacity of the askance.
After a few seconds, Ashe replied, "You want us to give you the man who held your entire tribe off while killing two of your Iceborn. Not only that he made sure you left behind almost half of your attacking party." Her eyes observed the group as a whole. "And he did this alone." Eyes began to widen. "You want us to give you that man?" By the end of her words, Ashe looked at the whole groups like they were a bunch of idiots.
"Yes...." Shiverbones replied with his eyes down and fists clenched. This was humiliation. Humiliation he had to bear. It was his idea to attack Avarosa. His actions that led them there. And his greed that put them in that spot.
The loss of so many warriors had put their tribe in a precarious position. But all that could be ignored if they had gotten the man who had put them in that position.
Getting Gregori would be the single most valuable thing for any tribe.
Even taking him away from Avarosa would be amazing.
But those thoughts all vanished as laughter rang out. Loud unapologetic laughter.
"We have to give you one of our strongest warriors because he stopped your invading group?" Ashe asked incredulously. She then turned left and right to her aides as if asking them if they heard the same. Before turning round to face him, " Are you stupid? No. Do you think we are stupid?" Her voice rose as anger started to seep in. She turned to the entire group. "YOU want US to establish an alliance... right after YOU broke the previous ones one-sidedly." Her question hung in the air unanswered.
She waved her hand as if clearing the air, "You all who have broken your alliances with us will never be allowed a chance to do so again. There was no honor in your actions. Do not expect to be treated well among us again. Avarosa will not trade with you. Avarosa will not fight for you. AVAROSA WILL NOT BLEED WITH YOU!" Her eyes were hard and as cold as the True Ice she wielded.
Some among the group had expressions of resignation on their faces while some looked indignant.
The man who had first spoken amongst them tried pushing his luck, "Do you think you can survive these lands on your own?"
Every Avarosan's eye shot toward the man. Before words of war were spoken, Ashe cut in. "Together you could not even reach the walls of Rakelstake. You couldn't even kill any of our Iceborn. You couldn't do all this while having everything. All against us. We can face you and more alone. We have done so once. We will do so every single time." Ashe stepped forward, her full killing intent bearing down on the man. "Now I wonder..... will you be able to survive these lands without our assistance?" She swung her body around, "Will any of you?" She asked as she looked over everyone else.
She turned to her own group.
Accepting the invitation, Tryndamere spoke, "They would join the Winter's Claw."
Ashe smiled, "They would try to. All of their talks will fall through. The Winter's Claw has barely any food to feed themselves. Forming alliances with fools like these would mean they would lose food they cant afford to lose." She turned toward the delegation before continuing, "It is only a matter of time before your tribes fall. From lack of food or from the various dangers in the Freljord... but I know you will definitely fall if you go to the Winter's Claw. Right now you all are just easy pickings. Going to them is just asking to be invaded. And as promised, Avarosa will not move for you. Maybe any survivors in your groups might be accepted into our fold but never as a member of your tribe. But betrayal has no acceptance here. You could have had a cut of our food. For free. Like the Boar's Tusk. They honored the alliance. They even sent an Iceborn to help us deal with you. They have our protection and they will have us."
"You will regret this Warmother." The man spoke with no remorse.
Ashe gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, "I do not think so."
CREAAKK
That instant, the doors to the hall opened. And in walked Gregori, completely healed and clothed.
"Hello." He greeted them all.
Shiverbones stood in shock. In lack of a better terminology he stood with his bones shivering.
Ashe turned to him, "Gregori." Her voice emphasizing his name. "Are you all healed?"
He nodded. "Your healer is quite adept at her work."
"Greta mentioned your own natural recovery abilities to be quite reliable." Ashe continued.
Gregori looked at her with a smile before answering, "All credits go to your healer."
"If you say so." Ashe waved him off nonchalantly.
"I am here to give a report of the battle." Gregori took initiative.
Ashe nodded. It was a good decision to have him say it in front of all these people. She had seen how Gregori spoke of enemies. He didn't look at them like people but like things. Things he just had to get rid off. It was off putting. "Go ahead."
"A day before the battle I had surveyed the land and set traps. Rune stones and knives hidden in the snow. Rune stones that were made to explode in presence of my magic and knives which would kill my enemies on my command. After which I found a pack of Rimefangs. I killed one and filled multiple vials with their blood. After a trek thought the snow and wind... they lost my scent. I broke the vials onto my enemies and the Rimefangs followed the scent of the blood to them. Since I was at the center of the battle, I was safe from the wolves. After which, I used the chaos from the wolves and their own members to kill as many as I could." Gregori said all of this with as much disinterest as he could.
Ashe cut in, "Their own members?"
Gregori nodded. "We knew that they had included mages-" He corrected himself, "Shamans into their fold right before the attack. Untrained and uninitiated shamans. These are men and women who have not seen battle the same way as most of us. This makes them easy to scare. The next was coordination. These men haven't fought together. They do not know how to coordinate their attacks. If they had just stayed farther away and started their attacks with mages far back and sent int their warriors after I got close, then they could have performed better. But they did not. They wanted to face me in battle honorably. Honor that they immediately threw up while attacking me as a group. I used that to my advantage, soon the shamans let loose with their magic and hit their allies. Of course one cannot escape a battle like that without injuries so I did sustain a quite a few. All of which were healed in the next day. Among the members killed from their group were two Iceborn, One named Halgar and the other named Brokvar." He finished his words and looked toward Ashe expecting the words of release.
But they never came.
"Can I leave?" Gregori asked.
Ashe nodded.
He nodded back, promptly turned around and walked out.
The man had come in unannounced, spoken his words and left all while leaving the occupants of the room in shock.
Ashe turned around to face her group, they looked back at her just as confused.
Looking at Shiverbones, she asked, "You want us to give him to you?"