Legends of Runeterra

Chapter 1090 I will really start to make up for it tomorrow

It stumbled to the ground, its legs twisted, a tentacle still clinging to its back, still devouring it. Feathers and skin peeled from its head as it crawled over the bodies of the priests, their flesh bubbling and stirring beneath the surface.

Flames began to emerge from the god-warrior's hands, and he was ready to use his last bit of strength to burn down the tent.

Saijax said the Sun Emperor has more armies, and we must keep this weapon intact if we are to defeat them. I drew the bowstring, aiming the obsidian arrow at the god-warrior.

I loosened my grip and the arrow struck, piercing through the flesh-dissolving substance and piercing its skull.

It fell to the ground, the flame in its hand extinguished. It rolled on its side, flesh falling from its bones—and beneath it I saw thin strands of pale material forming.

The god-warrior sensed my presence and turned its vulture-like head towards me. One of its eyes had turned cloudy, its skull covered in a strange, fungal growth, swollen and protruding. My arrow lodged in the socket of the other eye.

"Do you know... what... you... have done... you foolish... Ekassian?" the blind god-warrior managed to utter, his voice rough and wet, his vocal cords dissolving.

I wanted to say something powerful in response, something that would speak volumes about me killing a god-warrior on my behalf.

All I could think of was the truth. "We're free," I said.

"You... opened a door... that should never have been opened..." it hissed. "You... killed everyone..."

"You're the one who's going to die," I said.

The God Warrior tried to laugh, but all that came out was a deathly sob. "Death...? No... What's coming... is even more terrifying than death... It's like none of us... ever existed..."

I lodged the arrow in its skull. Men began to stumble back from the battlefield, bloodied and exhausted, their eyes filled with the same look of disbelief and terror. None of us could truly comprehend what had just happened, but the Shurimans were dead, and that was enough.

No?

Confused, we wandered aimlessly, no one knowing what to say or do. The ground before the city twisted with unnatural movement, the flesh of the Shurimans completely covered by a pale, thread-like substance. I watched as its surface darkened, then cracked into a hard shell. A foul ichor oozed from it, and I grew increasingly certain this was just the beginning of something far worse.

The great cracks in the ground still shed faint light, and strange sounds—a mixture of screams, roars, and frantic howls—echoed from far below. I could feel the tremors in the earth's belly becoming more and more pronounced, like the grinding of bedrock before an earthquake.

"What's that down there?" someone I didn't recognize said. One of his arms was already wrapped in a translucent membrane, slowly climbing up half of his neck. I doubt he noticed it himself. "It sounds like a nest. Or a den, or... something."

I don't know what hideous thing lies beneath. And I don't want to know.

I heard a voice calling my name. I looked up to see Saijax limping toward me. His face was a bloody mask, a jagged wound running from above his right eye to his chin.

I didn't know Saijax could bleed.

“You’re hurt,” I said.

"It's more serious than it looks."

"Is it over?" I asked him.

“For Icathia, I’m afraid so,” he replied, stepping aside to grab the reins of a cavalryman’s mount. The beast was already frightened, but Saijax grabbed the reins and saddled himself.

“I would give anything to defeat the Shurimans,” I whispered.

“I’m afraid we did give it all,” Saijax said.

"But...we won."

“The Shurimans are dead, but I don’t know if we are victorious,” Saijax said. “Now you should find a mount. We must go.”

"Leave? What are you talking about?"

"Icathia is destroyed," he said. "You saw it, didn't you? Not just the city, but our lands. See. This will be our fate, too."

I know he's right, but just walking away...? I don't know if I can do it.

“Icathia is my home,” I said.

"There's nothing left of Icathia. Soon there really won't be anything left."

He held out his hand to me and I took it.

"Aza..." he said, glancing back at the horrific scene. "There's no hope here."

I shook my head and said, "I was born here and I will die here."

"Hold on to your inner self now, boy," he said. I could feel the weight of sadness and guilt on his face. "That's all you have left."

Saijax rode away. I never saw him again.

My name is Akzam Wa-Koi Kauali Ekaser.

Let me think... Axam must be my ancestor's name. There's a meaning behind it, but I can't remember it.

I wandered the ruins of a place where a great city once stood. Now all that remained was a pit of impossibly vast depths, rubble, and a tear in the fabric of the world.

There was a terrible sense of nothingness before me.

Axam was a king, I think. I can't remember where exactly. Was it here? This ruined city?

I don't know what Wa and Koi mean. Ikaser must have held a special meaning for me, but whatever it was, it's gone now. My mind and my memories are now a horrible void.

My name is Akzam wa-Koi Koali.

Koali? What is it?

I bear a brand on my arm, a sword wrapped in a scroll. Is this the brand of a slave? Am I the property of a conqueror? I remember a girl with green eyes and an opal necklace. Who was she? My wife, sister, or daughter? I don't know, but I remember the scent of flowers on her.

My name is Akzam wa-Koy.

I repeated it again and again, clinging to the name as if that would stop the slow dissolution.

I don't want to forget it. It's all I have left.

My name is Axam.

I was being erased. I knew that, but I didn't know why or how.

Something horrible was wriggling inside me.

Everything about me is being unraveled.

I am returning to nothingness.

my name is

my name

I