Chapter 21 - Home

538 22 8
                                    

The full moon shone bright on the golden sands of Shurima, a gentle wind that brushed through the surface and created whirlwinds of sand gliding over the land scrapes. The desert was a cruel mistress when one were to venture it, but even at night, did she rest like all the others. It did not take long for peace to be disturbed when a bolt of purple light shot through the foundation of the ground, creating a mist of dust and sand particles flying all across. A large reptile like monster had managed to escape the tunnels where it had been spotted by an even more dangerous predator than it were. Blood poured out of the wounds of the creature, a screech that had filled the silent emptiness.
'Get back down here, you vile creature!' Kai'Sa roared as she too had shot her way from the tunnels to reach it. Firing Icathia missiles from her canons they flew like fireflies towards their target, piercing into it's hardened skin.
The voidling had raised it's tail, ready to squash it's small opponent, but just as she hit hard, she were even swifter. Dodging a fatal attack she drew her energy blades, with one arm she pierced the sharpe edge into it's tale and pulverised the bone structure in it, the other aimed for it's head. She had missed it's eye by half an inch, mumbling softly to herself how she were a clumsy girl for making a mistake like that. The voidling tumbled backwards, disorientated by the shot at it's head. With one more shake of his head it finally stretched out in it's full length, ready to finish thr battle in close combat. A fatal mistake that many voidlings made was to assume Kai'Sa were only specialized to destroy them from a long range. The creature screeched and rushed in with it's head, fangs that were as tall as she were would race at her in an incredible speed, but with fine reactions came better reflexes. Just before the creature could dive into her, she dashed aside in an even greater speed granted to her from the second skin itself. Blowing it's eye off with her energy blade she kicked into it's snout, firing another Icathia rain upon the beast before it succumbed to it's wounds.
The battle was over.
It's blood, sipping from the voidling's eye, had created a puddle around his head. Kai'Sa waited a few more seconds, her guard still up for any unusual surprises, but even after half an hour looking at the carcass, she had written down it's defeat. 'Soon, all of you will live the same fate as you.' With both hands she forced it into the thick skull of the Voidling's head, the bone that cracked underneath the pressure of her second skin. She leaned her head back when her skin began to open it's pore, every inch, to consume the flesh of the voidling. For some reason, whenever it feasted onto others, the voidling would grant her a boost of energy and dopamine, in exchange for a single meal once in a while. The skin was the only friend she had right now, as the other one had still not showed up. She wondered if he had forgotten about her, now that she had the opportunity to think of something else than the hunt.
Were humans really so forgetful of their friends when they did not see them for a while? Had she just been in a person in the moment and was her life fated to be spent an eternity with her second skin?
A saddened smile had appeared on her face, sweating from the continuous hunt. 'At least you had the lovely experience, Kai'Sa.' She mumbled to herself, too lighten the pain. Sometimes she had to accept that friends did not fit in her life until she got rid of the void. But how could you stop something that probably spread out over the entire region. Before she knew, another tear rolled from her cheek underneath the mask.
It's fine.

After their decision to spend the night in Ixtal, the two had left early in the morning to cross the desert. The problem they had really faced were that Shurima was in no way humid like Ixtal, so they often had to take breaks and pause somewhere. Since Ezreal had spent enough time with Kai'Sa in the desert, he knew that the cactus that grew near to them held onto water, so every time Ezreal had seen one he saved some for the longer walks and poured it over Neeko's tail whenever her pace slowed down.
'This sandbox is horrible, the sun is always shining!' Neeko exclaimed visibly annoyed, wiping the drops of sweat from her forehead.
Ezreal chuckled, looking for a mountain or large boulder where they could rest again. 'The sun is always shining everywhere, Neeko. It's just dryer on this front.'
'Neeko does not understand why sun has to shine brightest here, why not share and have rainwater everywhere!' Ezreal shook his shoulder as response, he had heard tales of her old tribe where everything was about sharing, equality. Now that her tribe was gone, she had to accept that the world sadly did not work like that. It had often brought them in great danger in terms of fighting evil in as guardians, because she always tried to befriend the enemy.
'Can't you change form or something to prevent overheating?' Ezreal asked, finally seeing a boulder that granted a wide shadow for them to rest in.
'The sun is too bright, Neeko very tired again.' Maybe it were not the best idea to bring a jungle creature into a drought like Shurima. They were used to the humidity and the green riches and even though Neeko were not entirely an animal, she still was one with it.
'There's a cold spot over there, I got plenty of fruit with me from Ixtal.' At the sound of Ixtal Neeko smiled euphoric, as if the desert would be her very last memory of being alive.
Once they had finally reached the great rock, Neeko had gathered her last bit of energy to hide behind it. Weakened by the dry landscapes, with every step closer to the sun disk he started to regret bringing her along. Worn out by the heat he took off his leather jacket, his idea that would ruin his mood for an eternity every time he would look back at this moment. Reaching within his bag he held onto the bottle of cactus water, the sticky substance that were almost laughing at him for what he were about to do. Turning the jacket to it's interface he pulled the cap off the bottle and poured the liquid over it.
Neeko widened her eyes and quickly held onto his hand. 'What are you doing? Neeko needs water!'
Ezreal nodded, his lips pushed onto another as if he were to sob another time. 'I don't want you to die before we reach Kai'Sa, so to keep you hydrated I did this,' He got up, his hands holding onto the soaked jacket he would wrap it around her tail, the cold water that had brought a shiver towards her spine. As if life had been injected back into her Neeko's eyes opened to it's usual position, looking in wonder towards her tail. 'The interface is made out of ionian cotton and holds well onto water.' Ezreal mumbled defeated at the ruin of his jacket. Even after a firm wash he knew that it would still stick.
'You are so smart, pretty boy!' With her hands intertwined with his she smiled her teeth bare. 'With this we will be friends forever!'
'Does that come with a new jacket?'
Neeko giggled and pressed her slim, tender finger against his forehead. 'Silly Ezreal, Neeko does not have money.' Although he were sad he had lost his jacket, seeing how excited Neeko got had made him happier.
Going through he bag one more time he revealed a little bundle of fruits he collected from the jungle, an orange, two tomatoes, two peaches and a few berries.
'Neeko does not like peaches, she will take the berries!' As if she had expected to get a bit of them, she widened her eyes at the sight of the entire bag of blueberries that were put in her hands. 'If you were girl, Neeko would have kissed you right now!'
Ezreal laughed when the chameleon munched on her set of blueberries, leaning against the cold surface of the rock. 'Good thing I'm not a girl then.' He closed his hand around an orange, though his eyes were staring at the peach.

Forge of worlds - League of legends fanficWhere stories live. Discover now