Legends of Runeterra

Chapter 1099: Tomorrow's Remedial Session

Most of the children dodged the wood's claws, but two of them, Aisha and Tangshi, were caught and dragged toward the monster's twisted mouth with wailing sounds.

With the next few arrows, Fei could help the five unentangled children escape, or she could try to rescue Aisha and Tangshi.

What should I do? After a moment's hesitation, Cen was also caught. The others scattered, howling in fear.

"Retreat! Run back to the shelter, everyone!" Faey saved Cen with an arrow. Then she began shooting at the plant's tentacles, keeping them from the fleeing children. She knew she had to abandon Aisha and Tangshi; they were about to be swallowed by the monster's deep maw. She gritted her teeth and turned her head away, unable to bear to watch.

Then she saw Akali.

Amidst a frenzy of fleeing children, flying wood chips, scattered leaves, and blooming evil shadow plants, the little girl ran toward the monster.

Faey watched in disbelief, suddenly unsure where to aim.

"Haha!" Akali's voice echoed through the valley. She slipped under the whip-like vines and then over the sweeping tree trunk.

A thought struck Faey—the desperate moments kept coming one after another, and Akali remained untouched. Somehow, she had evaded every attempt at capture, dodging and tumbling away from the misshapen claws. The spirit turned its attention to Akali, forgetting the mention of Aisha and Thomsh.

"Akali, you fool! Run!" Faey yelled. However, even as she scolded Akali for her folly, Faey left the ledge and nocked an arrow onto her bow.

She knew what she had to do.

Akali was terrified. Huge, twisting branches fell from the sky and landed next to her. But she kept running.

She'd promised Faey she couldn't get involved in her plan to scare off the big bad Wufu. She hadn't messed up that plan. But Faey had never told her about the giant, ugly tree spirit going berserk. Now Akali was following her instincts—she was going to get the other kids out.

She found Hisoka entangled in a web of thorns. As she struggled to pull her free, the sky darkened, and Akali gasped. A massive hand, thick with twisting branches, slammed down, threatening to crush them. But then an arrow pierced the hand, sending it erupting in golden sparks.

Dead leaves fell, and Akali dragged Hisoka to safety. She saw Faey leaping down the rocky slope in the distance, another arrow ready. Then Akali glimpsed the older boy, Noshiro, sitting on a pile of broken sticks, crying uncontrollably.

Akali ran to his side—dodging the monster's angry jabs along the way—and then kicked him in the ass. "You! Run!" She pushed him forward.

She sensed the change. The monster was using every wiggling limb to catch her. So if she kept running, the other children would be safe.

Akali dashed, lunged, dodged, and rolled. Confidence began to build in her, a feeling that she had mastered the game. Part of her—the part that wasn't frightened—wanted to chuckle. The monsters were so slow. If Kennen were here, he could eat noodles while dodging attacks.

Several more of Fei's arrows arced overhead, striking the monster and temporarily disintegrating its limbs. Aisha and Tangshi fell to the ground: they were like two pupae, bound by vines, sobbing softly.

Akali ran toward them, thrilled at how well she and Faey worked together. She could spend the whole day like this.

Now Fei will definitely take me on all the missions. Mother will be happy!

But then the valley began to tremble, even more violently than before. Vast roots twisted the soil viciously, writhing like vicious pythons, releasing a foul mist that made Akali wrinkle her nose. A wall of rapidly flapping trees surrounded her, cutting off her escape route.

It's over.

Faey leaped from boulder to boulder, adjusting her sight to maintain a clear view of Akali. Even as the evil spirits pursued Akali, Faey's arrows cleared her of any approaching danger.

The unexpected tacit understanding between them opened a window of opportunity for the other boys, and they all ran out of the valley.

But accidents could happen at any time. Faey only had three arrows left.

"Akali, you have to leave now!" Faey shouted at the top of her lungs.

The rock beneath Faey's feet suddenly trembled, as if the earth were convulsing, and a few heartbeats later, he saw Akali trapped beneath a dome of malignant roots.

The rocky slope around Faey began to crumble, and the largest slab at the top crashed down. Faey dodged between the boulders. At the same time, she fired an arrow, tearing a hole in the side of Akali's cage, and then used another arrow to deflect the tree spirit's blow.

But before Fei could muster her last arrow, or even move, the entire hillside swept her down in a landslide.

There was a deafening roar. Rocks crashed against each other. She screamed as the rocks struck her like fists, and then a sharp pain shot through her core.

When the slide stopped, Faey shivered among the blood-stained stones, a thick metallic taste in her mouth. The burning sensation intensified. She could barely open her eyes, but the vision she vaguely saw was too much for her to comprehend.

Her bow was broken, and where her right leg should have been, only dark red mud remained, the same color smearing the gravel and grass.

She pressed her face to the ground and lost consciousness.

Akali dragged Aisha and Tangshi's feet across the undulating valley floor - because there was no time to untie them. The monster became more ferocious, but Akali did not intend to give up.

"I don't want to lose anyone anymore, do you hear me?" she shouted, half to Aisha and Tangshi, half to herself. "I want us to be together forever, forever!"

The corrupted forest spirit, now a gigantic, misshapen horror, pursued her, overturning the valley.

"Faey!" Akali saw the girl lying unconscious in the rubble ahead. Oh no, now I need to drag three people out. She gritted her teeth and dragged herself across the churning earth to her friend.

"Faey, get up! We have to—"

Her eyes fell on Faey's lower body, and she was speechless for a moment. Akali put down the two boys, who were yelling frantically at something.

"Fei..." Akali froze, her mind blank.

Then she turned around and saw the reason why Aisha and Tangshi were screaming. It was the angry tree spirit, towering over them.

Without weapons, the three friends were helpless. Akali stared blankly at the monster, one hand clutching the small kunai pendant on her chest.

A gnarled arm swung toward her. Before she could move, a volley of kunai rained down upon the massive fist. Flares of light flared. Sawdust flew. Akali hadn't expected the monster to roar, but it did now, a furious roar emanating from its hollow core.

A shadow fell across its broken arm.

Mother! Akali's eyes widened.

Meimu scurried along the precarious bridge of splintered wood. The corrupted tree spirit attempted to strike her with its other two arms, but she gracefully flipped in mid-air, slashing a deadly arc and unleashing another volley of kunai. The massive limbs exploded under the magical darts, spraying soulless debris into the air, and Meimu landed deftly on the tree spirit's crown.

The air around Akali shimmered with thunder. Purple arcs of electricity appeared, like shrinking ripples, forming a cage that tightened around the monster. In the blink of an eye, the giant was severed in half.

The wraith reshaped itself, but Kennen was there, pelting it with swift bolts of lightning. Above Kennen, Maymu raised his phantom scythe high and, with one clean blow, sliced ​​the monster apart from top to bottom.

The South Valley was quiet.

Akali was stunned. Just like that, the monster vanished, leaving behind only piles of rotten wood, seeping with foul water. But a few nearby branches began to stir slightly again...

"It's not over yet."

Akali turned and saw the person who had spoken. The masked figure calmly stepped forward and drew a sword from his back. The blade emanated a bewitching aura of mystical energy. Meimu and Kennen stepped aside to make way for him.

"Shen!" Akali shouted happily when she saw him.

Before Zed's attack, Shen would read her tales of Ionia's ancient heroes. But in Akali's eyes, Shen was the true hero, and she dreamed of growing up to help him, just as her mother had helped Master Kusho.

The new leader of the Kinkou climbed onto the monster's remains, now a pile of ash. A shimmering crack appeared at the top, warping reality, and within a heartbeat, Shen vanished.

"Where did he go?" Akali asked.

"The spirit realm." Kennen did a backflip and leaped to her side. "As long as the corrupted spirit dwells in another realm, the twisted monster will continue to reshape its material form. Shen must address the source."

As Meimu walked towards the boys, Akali's heart sank again, and she remembered Fei's situation.

Meimu had a blank expression on her face as she half-knelt beside the unconscious girl.

It hurts... it hurts so much...

Faey awoke to find herself lying on a reed mat in the hut. Akali was sleeping beside her, curled up in a ball. Outside, it was daytime, the exact time unknown, and someone was talking quietly.

Faey tried to sit up, but saw her right leg was bandaged and missing from the knee down. For a long time, she thought she was dreaming. She felt the agonizing pain inside her wanting to burst forth, only her disbelief temporarily stifled it.

Quiet sobs escaped her throat.

"Master Meimu, we saw it clearly!" A child's voice drifted into the hut, faint and distant, as if it was Tang Shi. "She dragged us to safety. She was alone."

Faey looked out the window. She saw Maymu standing in front of the old temple, arms crossed, listening to the other children.

"And she's so fast," Aisha told Maymu, "even the evil spirits can't catch her!"

Faey struggled to shift into a sitting position. Pain shot through her thigh, and she nearly collapsed.

"Faey." Akali sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Faey paused, then whispered, "Why did you have to rush in?" She clutched the edge of the bedsheet tightly, lowered her head, and lowered her voice, trying to slow her breathing to prevent more sobs from escaping. "I told you to leave, why didn't you leave?"

"Faey..." Akali wanted to pat her arm.

"Don't touch me!" Faey yelled. "This is all your fault!"

Akali stepped back, her eyes wide.

"Stay away from me," Faey snapped. Her resentment was now flowing freely. Then she saw Akali's face—the girl was truly confused and hurt.

Faye hesitated, but before she could utter another word, the girl turned and walked towards the door, where Maymu was standing, watching them.

After Akali left, Meimu entered and half-knelt beside the reed mat, a melancholy expression veiled over her eyes. "Shen sensed a disturbance in the spiritual realm and immediately found us. We rushed to the South Valley, but it was too late... If he hadn't sounded the alarm, the consequences would have been disastrous."

It hurts... Faey tried to sit half-up in a show of respect, but her courage failed her.

"The other boys have told me what happened," Meimu said in a calmer voice, raising his chin slightly. "You scared off the Brotherhood's bandits. You helped us avoid a major conflict."

Tears welled up in Fei's eyes. She maintained her composure, the demeanor a student should have before their master.

"You are brave," Maymu said. "You have learned the way of balance."

What was the point? Fei's lips trembled. She knew it was over. Meimu had made his decision—she was useless as a disciple. All her training had been for nothing. All her ideals were shattered. She would never become a full disciple, and would only be a burden to the sect.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I..." Meimu was speechless for a moment, "I was a bad influence on you. About Shen. About everything."

Faey didn't understand why she said that. She was clearly the best master in the world. "Master Meimu, I have failed you."

"No," Maymu's voice cracked. "No, it's not." She held Faey's shoulders, her gaze fixed firmly on hers. "There must be a way to get you walking again. Even if it means traversing the vast mountains and rivers of Ionia, we will do it. Under Shen's leadership, Kennen and I, along with all of us in the Order of the Kinkou, will find a way. I will continue to guide your training, and I will make you the greatest archer in both realms."

Tears blurred Fei's vision and she temporarily forgot the pain.

Meimu carefully held Fei in his arms. This was a hug that Fei had not felt for a long time.

Then Fei's sobs turned into cries, no longer suppressed.

Akali stood at the door, peering into the dark shed where master and disciple embraced for a long time.

She couldn't remember the last time her mother had held her like this. The little girl turned and walked into the woods, kunai pendant clutched in her hand, tears streaming down her face.