"So, from what vastaya tribe are you?" Ahri asked the young man as they walked along a vast field, sliced in half by a small river with a few trees at its shores.
"Well...im not exactly from a tribe. My father was a human from a tribe than came here all the way from Freljord, called Verhea. My mother was from a tribe known as Ziraq. That would make me half-Ziraq, half-Verhea." Lanius replied.
"Freljord? I met a guy from there about three years ago. He was tall as a mountain and carried a door that he used as a shield bigger than him. His name was Braum."
"I don't know him. We almost never had anyone from Freljord come to us. They don't like Verhea that much...".
"Why?"
"Because Verhea are responsible for being body hosts of the Spirit of the Winter. Supposedly, the Winter is the righteous Sovereign of the Frozen Lands. Despite not a single Winter laying hands on the claim, they still fear that one of us will just dictate over them."
"But, we didn't have any snow for 14 years, what happened to him?" Ahri said, looking confused.
"The whole Verhea tribe got wiped out...all but one that went to leave as a lumberjack in the woods away from them, as he believed in a prophecy that said that a tainted Winter would bring their end."
"That would be you..." Ahri said and went silent for a bit. The young man's memories that she was able to see flashed before her eyes. The freezing winds of the mountain, the dead bodies...and then him attacking the Noxians. "Meaning that if everyone but one vanished..."
"...The Winter would be the last Verhea, aka me." Lanius finished her sentence.
Ahri came to a full stop and her amber eyes looked straight at him. Lanius could swear that she was staring directly into his soul.
"You are the Winter? Like the embodiment of the Winter?" she asked, her tone filled with curiosity.
"Yeah...is it that bizarre?" Lanius replied, rubbing his nape.
"No, not bizarre at all. I've seen worst. Undead cutthroats, ghost Kings, living trees. Let's not even mention the war." Ahri rushed to explain herself.
Lanius could clearly image Freida snickering at that moment and blowed some air out of his mouth.
"Wait...if you're the spirits host, does that mean that its here? Does it hear us?" Ahri then asked.
"Yes, and I can hear you pretty well, as well." Freida exclaimed, speaking outside of Lanius so both of them could hear her.
Ahri slightly jumped as the spirit spoke to her. Her eyes widened and her mouth slightly opened. Freida laughed. "And be sure to know what I wouldn't let you fool around with my Winter if you had bad intentions, even if he were to protest."
Lanius rolled his eyes and sighed. "For the Cryophoenix's sake...you need to work on your humour, you're scared her..."
Ahri wasn't scared at all, in fact, she was more hyped to meet Freida than actually ran away.
The duo began to walk as Ahri chatted with the Spirit. Occasionally, Lanius would join the conversation, but he mostly just heard them talk. He found out a lot of things, like the fact that Ahri's tribe, the Vesani had gone almost extinct and she was searching for info about them, or about her trip to the Shadow Isles three years ago.
Time passed quickly and they made almost made it to the Ionian capital. They decided to stop at a grove of glow trees and spirit Blossoms. As it became darker, the trees bloomed and shinned under the moonlight, making the scene even more majestic.
"Lanius, this place beautiful?" Ahri asked him as they sat by a small fire.
The young man nodded. "Its always beautiful during this season. The whole atmosphere here is...I cannot describe it."
Ahri nodded as well. "And the magic here.Can you hear it? Its like it's singing."
"You can hear magic?" Lanius asked.
Ahri raised an eyebrow. "All vastaya can hear magic. Try to concentrate."
Lanius concentrated and soon enough he heard it. At first it was like a faint bell. But soon enough, the bell got mixed with other bells and created a full fledged song. The young man lied down and closed his eyes.
.
.
.
As he opened his eyes, he woke up in a completely different area. He was near a river filled with spirit blossoms at its shores. It was also day.
"Ahri?" the young man called out for his companion. He looked down at the rivers water and saw that even he, himself had changed. His hair had turned into pink and spirit flowers here and there decorating them . His eyes had shifted into a magenta shade and his whole attire had been replaced by a single shouldered pink and white checkered kimono. A large spirit flower also sprouted from his right eye socket.
"Where the hell am I?" the young man thought, before he walked into to a random direction. He wandered around for about a kilometer when he suddenly stopped in front of shrine with a torii covered with moss and vines.
On the torii sat someone that resembled Ahri, tho she also looked similar to Lanius. The young man looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Where am I?" he asked her. The young lady did not reply. Instead, she just started at him with her shinny pink eyes.
A million thoughts then passed through his head. The young man looked at his attire again, then back at the woman.
"Am I dead? Did I cross the veil between the human and spirit world?" he thought.
"Are you...the Guardian?" he then asked her. The Spirit Blossom tales speak of two main spirits, the Guarding and the Collector...the first looked identical to her.
The young lady did not respond again. Instead she faintly smiled. The young man was going to ask more questions,when he suddenly froze in place as he heard something. A loud buzzing sound, similar to a wasp nest came from behind him. The fox frowned and then spoke once.
"Wake up...or you will meet us."
The buzzing grew louder, along with new sounds. A heavy, dripping one and two others, similar to the sound that swords made when they got unsheathed.
The young man turned around and met something that looked like a soul when he used his Sovereign's Dominance. It had a bright red outline with two white slits as its eyes and carried two swords.
"Demon...begone!"It said with its distorted voice as it charged at Lanius.
"O'sai!" The thing reeled the blades back, before it thrusted them forward while it yelled.