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Jayce had lost count of the time he had spent in the alternate dimension. The rising and falling sun was unreliable, especially when he was stuck deep inside the dark pit that he had been so rudely thrown into. Being reminded of his condition caused the sharp pain in his leg to shoot up through his body. Jayce grimaced and hastily tightened the straps on his leg brace that he had quickly hobbled together.
In the deafening silence of the corrupted ruins, the sharp cry in the distance blared through Jayce’s skull like a foghorn, pushing him into a faster pace, or as fast as he could with his leg. As he hiked, Jayce recalled his time in the pit. That cloaked figure had been so close, and yet hadn’t reached out to help him even as Jayce had been feasting on raw corrupted lizards. A hunger pained in his abdomen for actual food.
Jayce couldn’t help the sense of betrayal he felt as he trekked along the alternate Piltover. Of course, Viktor was his own person, and Jayce hadn’t expected him to be completely the same. He understood that dying and then being brought back from the dead couldn’t be easy on a person. But Jayce was stunned by how quickly Viktor had left, he almost seemed like a different person, so unlike the frail and snarky Viktor he had known. The Viktor who had gazed at him with such amazement after each breakthrough of theirs. Who fell asleep in their lab, and who Jayce had then lovingly covered with a blanket. Whom Jayce would sneak up behind and hold in his arms and kiss his neck and–Jayce cleared his mind. He had a mission: get out. He couldn’t let himself get sidetracked by fond memories and longing after what he could no longer have. He had to stay focused and keep his eyes and ears open.
Hours had gone by, and Jayce still had no clue where he was. Using the mental map in his brain, Jayce assessed that he must be nearing the arts district, if the tall tower he was climbing was any clue. Additionally assuming that the widespread hex-corruption hadn’t completely altered the topography of Piltover. The orange sun's rays shown through the hexcored windows, tinting the beams into a brilliant array of colors that scattered across the worn steps.
He must be getting close to the top of the long winding staircase he had spent the last few hours climbing. Sure enough, as Jayce’s leg began to hurt enough that he considered stopping, the seemingly-endless steps stopped, and Jayce found himself in a small room surrounded by large windows which had offered an amazing sight to viewers, before they and the city had been covered in the multicultural organic corruption. Perhaps he could use the view to better locate himself.
Jayce crossed to the broken window on his left and started out at the endless expanse ahead of him. The city was almost unrecognizable. Where polished gold had accented the pristine white architecture of downtown Piltover, now lay ruins covered in a miasma of eerily-colorful mutation. Jayce stuck his head out of the window to peer past the glass that was almost impossible to see through, the wild wind whipping caused by being so far up loudly rushed past his ears.
The roaring in his ears masked the clanking footsteps that rushed up the stairs towards the top of Jayce’s tower. A metal white and gold figure ran up behind Jayce’s unexpecting figure. A harsh cold hand landed on Jayce’s shoulder, causing Jayce to spin around to face the attacker. In his attempt to dodge out of the way of a blow heading for his broken leg, Jayce turned into another unmoving figure that had crept up to his left, abruptly blocking his movements. The figures, in a frenzy to wrangle Jayce, failed to succeed, instead causing him to be pushed out of the broken window as he attempted to wriggle free from their grasps. Jayce suddenly felt an intense vertigo as his body lurched out of the window and into the cold air, rapidly falling down the immense length of the tall tower and towards the waiting solid ground.