Chapter Text
“The three greatest tragedies in life: losing one’s mother in childhood, losing one’s wife in middle age, and losing one’s child in old age.” - Wei Qian (Preist, Da Ge)
♪ Dear friend across the river ♪
♪ My hands are cold and bare ♪
You can see embers floating- beautiful, like amber against the black smog- evidence of the destruction surrounding. The fire is so widespread it’s even affecting the clouds, turning them all sorts of shades of orange and red. The air is thick and muggy, hard to breathe in, even harder to breathe out are the toxic chemicals inside it.
♪ Dear friend across the river ♪
♪ I’ll take what you can spare ♪
There sits a bridge atop a river, separating two cities- one healthy and strong, the other desperate, weakened by a myriad of circumstances. The undercity has so many issues: starvation, pollution, oppression, finding clean water or even decent food to eat. After years of getting Piltover’s scraps, they banded together and decided that enough was enough- they were going to fight for a better life.
♪ My fortune it will be ♪
You catch the glipse of a marble statue of some sort. It has two faces- one to the side, it looks pristine and chilsed. The one facing you looks tormented- angry and hurt- its tears fall silently down. You hear a rhythmic drumming- you’re unsure if you’ve started to hear things or if that’s the enforcers. The smog partially blinds you, but you can still make out a figure walking. It looks like a man but there’s too much going on to tell.
♪ I ask you without envy ♪
*loud explosion noise*
*people screaming*
♪ We raise no mighty towers ♪
An explosion! Three rings of fire burst out from where you were staring at the man. He’s thrown aside by the power of the explosion- the sudden release of energy, and lands violently to the ground. It looks like he managed to survive- that is until you make out an enforcer make their way to him. The heavy thuds as they walk an indication of the gear they’re carrying- they don’t trust us, they have no mercy for people like us. The orange glasses marking where their eyes should be is the first thing you notice. As they shoot the man, the fire from the shot lights up the rest of their uniform- it looks like armor- they’re covered completely from head to toe, in what looks to be black and gold from where you’re standing in the midst of all this chaos. Yet you know their uniforms are characteristically navy blue and gold. Not even their hands are uncovered. Afraid they might catch something from down here? As they approach, you see that their mask isn’t a regular one, it’s a gas mask. You momentarily see another face superimposed on the enforcer’s. A face drawn like a child’s. A face with large, creepy eyes. A face with a wide, toothy smile, the teeth sharp and hungry. A face that is evil. The enforcer walks right past you, shiny, golden bullets flying everywhere.
♪ Our homes are built of stone ♪
As you look down, you see small fires all across the land. You also see the man, his limp, lifeless body on the ground, resting against a barrel that’s been cushioned by a thin layer of fabric. You approach the man, but your vision constantly gives out, not for long. It’s only seconds. As you approach the man closer, you can’t see his eyes- almost like they’ve been scratched out by pencil. First it’s the eyes. Then it’s the mouth. Then it’s the whole face.
♪ So come across the river ♪
♪ And find… ♪
Two girls approach the dead man, holding hands. One looks to be about eight. She has fiery red hair, horror evidently plastered across her face. After the initial shock is gone, despair takes over. The other girl looks to be no more than six. Her hands move away from her face to open her eyes. She’s the one who was singing, her small voice resonating against, contrasting the explosions and gun shots. Her voice, fighting to be heard amongst all the other voices- the cries and the shrieks, the screams and the wails. Little girl looks towards her big sister. That’s where she looks first after opening her eyes. She sees her sister’s expression. Then she looks straight ahead- her own expression suddenly mirroring that of her sister- towards the massacre on the bridge. A little girl’s first taste of war. Two little girls’ first taste of war. Their hands clench tighter, afraid of losing each other to the great calamity ensuing before them.
*clangs and punches*
The girls look to the side to see what it is causing the noise. They make out a figure punching an enforcer bloody. The anger on the face of the man, which presents itself with furrowing browns, distorting the rest of the otherwise handsome man’s face into an ugly scowl, turns back to look at the girls. The red haired girl instinctively moves to protect her younger sister as he walks towards them. The hazy air making everything unrecognizable. Once he’s close enough; however, the elder can recognize him. Without asking, she inquires about her parents. Without speaking, he replies, gesturing to two lifeless bodies on the bridge- woman with dark blue hair and wide-awake, souless eyes lying atop a man with a green hat. The embers that landed on them smoking their bodies, mixing in with the pollution in the air. Tears well up in the older sister’s eyes, as she falls to the ground. Her legs giving up on her, unable to support her as she greives. The little sister hugs her, silent streams of tears cleaning away the dirt on her face. They grieved together, both sisters.
The man they were with, standing. Looking at everything around him with a renouned sense of heartbreak and loss. The regret evident. He took off his metal gloves. And he carried both grieving children off the bridge- away from their parents, away from the destruction, away from the war.