Legends of Runeterra

The god-warriors entered the battlefield.

Three god-warriors charged into our ranks; some walked like men, others crawled like beasts. All armed with weapons too massive for a human to lift, they were unstoppable and invincible. They charged in, slaying a dozen with each blow. The Icathians were shattered by their blades, trampled underfoot, or torn into bloody strips.

“Retreat!” Saijax yelled. “Retreat to the walls!”

No one could penetrate the god-warriors' armor. Their brutality and bestiality froze me in my tracks. Spears snapped against their iron skin, and their roaring cries sent fear piercing my very bones. One of them, with its craggy feathers and vulture-like beak, leaped into the air with a piercing crow's cry, its claws blazing with blue flame. I could only cry out helplessly as my compatriots burned to ash.

All our fantasies of victory and glory, which had just now been rejoicing, were now shattered like glass, and replaced by a deep sense of dread and torment, the prospect of the vengeance of an unimaginably cruel tyrant, who would take all possible measures.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder and instinctively raised my bloody sword.

“Come on, Aza,” Saijax said, pulling me back. “The battle isn’t over yet!”

I was dragged along by his powerful hand, barely able to keep pace. We retreated to our original formation, and I wept silently. Our line was broken, and today was doomed.

But the god warriors stood among the corpses and did not even bother to pursue.

"You said we had weapons," I cried. "Why aren't we using them?"

“They’re starting up,” Saijax said. “Look!”

What happened next was beyond my comprehension. No mortal had ever seen anything like it.

Several powerful flashes of light erupted from the tent. Vast arcs of purple energy ripped through the sky, crashing to the ground like a mighty wave. The force of the impact toppled everyone to the ground. I covered my ears with my hands as a deafening scream threatened to rip the air apart.

I clung to the battle-scarred ground, the screams continuing to burrow into my skull, as if the entire world were howling in terror. I rolled onto my side, retching, my stomach stabbing with sickness. The blue sky, once clear, was now the color of bruises. An unnatural twilight filled the sky, leaving a flickering afterimage seared into the depths of my mind.

Sharp teeth and claws...bloody mouth...all-seeing eyes...

Such a horrific sight made me sob helplessly.

Of all the things that were taken from me, this is the only thing I gave up willingly.

The light of the nightmare, an evil, ugly blue-purple, covered the world, pressing down from above, while at the same time blooming upward from somewhere below. I climbed to my feet, slowly looked around, and watched the end of the world.

The Shurimans retreated away from the city, terrified by the unnatural power our priests had unleashed. My enemies were being annihilated, and I knew I should celebrate, but this... this was not a victory any sane person would celebrate.

This is the end.

A chasm of purple blood ripped open among the Shurimans. I saw their ivory-skinned general, entangled in whip-like strands of matter. She lashed out with frantic blades, but the force we unleashed was too much for her to withstand. A pulsating light gradually spread throughout her body, enveloping her like a hideous cocoon.

I looked around, and everywhere I looked, similar thin threads burst from the earth, even from the air, grabbing at mortal bodies, men and women, enveloping them. I saw a Shuriman crawling on his hands, his body dissolving as he was engulfed by tendrils of foul energy.

I began to hope and pray that this destruction was planned long ago.

I saw strange shapes in the flickering light, but the movements were too fast and blurry to make out. I saw elongated, swollen limbs made of a tar-like substance. People were lifted by their legs and torn apart. I heard the grunting and humming of something that shouldn't exist in this world.

Though today has been hell on earth, I wonder if this is the price we priests must pay for the weapons we unleashed. I remember the centuries of suffering the Shurimans have inflicted, and I've hardened my heart against their pain and suffering.

I can't find Saijax and Colgrim again. But I no longer need their support. I've proven myself worthy of the name of my ancestors, and the brand on my arm.

I'm Koali!

The sky groaned and collapsed, a sound like a huge canvas being torn apart by a storm. I ran towards the city and joined the other soldiers. Everyone's face was filled with the same despair and fear, and I knew mine was the same.

Did we win? No one knows. The Shurimans are gone, devoured by the horrors we unleashed upon the world. I have no regrets. Terror has been replaced by a sense of peace.

I dropped my Nimcha in the frenzy of battle, so I unslung my recurve bow from my shoulder and pointed it skyward. "Icathia!" I yelled. "Icathia!"

My shout was echoed by the other soldiers around me, and we paused, silently observing the rout of the enemy. The substance that had consumed them lay like a shroud over flesh and blood, bubbling like boiling water. Its surface rippled, swollen blisters bursting and releasing a pool of glistening fluid, like an animal fetus writhing and stretching in foaming amniotic fluid.

I heard the loud sound of grinding stones and looked in the direction of the sound.

The rumble echoed, and more and more ravines tore through the earth. I fell to my knees as the ground shook. The walls of Icathia, torn down and rebuilt, shattered with a low groaning sound as the earth tore apart.

Sand and dust erupted from the city. I saw people screaming, but their cries were drowned out by the crash of falling rocks and the rending of the earth. Where the first Mage-King had planted his Star-Metal Staff, towers and palaces were swallowed whole by the gaping maw of the earth. My beloved city was reduced to rubble and debris, crumbling into a charred skeleton.

Flames shot up into the sky, and the city and its residents fell into bottomless darkness. Their agonized cries were somehow amplified by the canyon, and I could hear them clearly.

"Icathia!" I yelled one last time.

I saw something flash by, flying quickly over my head, and I quickly lowered my head. I recognized it as the vulture-headed god warrior from the earlier battle. Its flight was extremely unstable, and the strange substance extending from the cracks in the ground had already destroyed and dissolved part of its limbs.