"Unless you know anything about spirits or the Spirit Realm, you do well to let me focus on my work." ~ Aurora, The Witch Between Worlds
I hate Aurora by the way. A synonym for her playstyle would be a certain disease.
Also you lot can check out the map of Runeterra over on map.leagueoflegends.com. Yeah so you can essentially plot Gregori, Daisy and Annie's travels across the continent if you want.
Another thing. New lore for demons have dropped. Expect them to be added to the story some point down the line. Way way later.
P.S. Ah shit. I uploaded a day early by mistake. So next chapter will be on the 17th.
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Knowing the forest like the back of his hand, he maneuvered past the trees quickly and in silence.
He had wasted a lot of time in the ruins of his house and with a magic flare in the sky, it would be cutting it close. Other warbands might arrive to check. Alerts were always responded to, with varying degrees of interest.
Some might just assume, that it was a misfire but it was better to err on the side of caution. Another issue might arise if there were multiple warbands assigned to the same mission and this sent an alert to them. Either way this area would be swarmed by Noxian soldiers by nightfall.
If they got to them, no excuse would convince them.
He had to reach the nomad as soon as possible without anyone spotting them.
Gregori looked down at his unconscious daughter. She looked so peaceful. Pale and tired, yes. But peaceful nonetheless. He wasn't happy with the changes she had gained. Any change where a parent couldn't recognize their own child was a bad one.
But it was a hell of a lot better than dying.
It was incredibly sad. Leanna would never be able to recognize her own daughter. Daisy and Annie would never see their mother again and worse would never get to see their third sibling.
Just the thought of that alone sent his mind into a frenzy. There was such much anger that it started to physically hurt.
He looked back down at his daughter, placed a soft kiss on her forehead and started jogging toward his destination.
His entire body was screaming at him, in pain and exhaustion. But he pushed on. He couldn't let his daughter suffer any more. He couldn't let them get captured and ruin any opportunity or survival and revenge.
An hour. It took him an hour to make it back to the clearing.
The previous walk from the clearing to home took close to three hours. That was with entertaining the kids and setting a pace that they could follow easily.
This was a straight dash to the destination. No detours. No examining runes. Nothing.
Once he made it however, the nomads weren't there.
He fell to his knees in defeat.
"Why?" He croaked out hoarsely.
In an act of desperation he stood and walked into the clearing, looking for any clues.
Nothing.
No trace of the nomads.
No trace of Roark.
Absolutely nothing.
He looked at his daughter's face once more and from resources he didn't believe he could tap into, his body began to move.
There was only one more chance.
The nomads would move in only two directions from the side of foothills of Ironspike mountains. East, following the foothills into mainland or west, around the foothills into the sea.
Both were viable options for the nomads to take.
He contemplated for a few minutes and started walking east.
Gregori pushed past his pain and his tired body. He stopped jogging but was trudging along at a slow pace.
He knew he couldn't catch up to the nomads in this state, when they were moving as well. No, he had to set a pace for himself to cover a longer distance and reach them eventually. When they would have stopped for rest, he would make up a lot of ground.
Rest.
That seemed nice.
The word alone felt inviting. His mind had even started to play tricks on him. He kept seeing flashes of nomads who would disappear once he got closer.
Pushing one hand higher and propping Daisy up with his chest, he reached for a waterskin with a now free hand. He took a small sip and swirled it around his mouth. The cool water refreshing his mind in an instant. His vision cleared. Slipping the waterskin back into the little bags the kids used, he held Daisy properly again and kept going onwards.
He turned a looked back. The mark in the sky was barely in his vision.
But looking back had been a mistake. From that point on every step forward was filled with self doubt.
Had he taken the correct route?
Was west a better option?
Could he catch up with them if he turned back now?
But somewhere in his mind, a small crumb of rationality spoke.
He had made a decision based on available information and it was the most probable one.
To steel his mind he turned back once more, not to convince himself of a correct decision but to spot the star that pointed to Annie. It was in the complete opposite direction. He could have caught up with Annie there but then if they couldn't find the nomads, it would be dooming Daisy.
Dooming Daisy.
He shook his head trying to knock the ugly thoughts away.
He wasn't dooming one child to save the other, he wasn't throwing one child away for the other and he definitely wasn't abandoning one child for the other.
Gregori would make it through this.
He started saying his daughter's names, alternating between each name. He took a step each time he said a name.
Annie.
Daisy.
Annie.
Daisy.
Annie.
Daisy.
Countless Annie's and Daisy's later he came to another clearing.
The Ironspike mountains were not the main thing separating Noxus and the Freljord. No, that was the river that stretched all the way from behind the mountains of Demacia to the other end of the continent, flowing into the sea he could have reached if he had gone west.
He looked to the right.
Gregori found that he had reached a partition of the river. One where waters from the Freljord and the ones from behind Demacia joined together.
As he turned back to his path, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted tens of tents and a large covering of cloth tied to tall trees. Under which were Elnuks and Elmarks.
A sob escaped his mouth. His gamble paid off.
On the final vestiges of energy he walked to the tents.
"HELP!" He croaked. His voice breaking at the end.
As happy as he was, there was an issue. What if these weren't the same nomads? There were multiple groups on nomads in this area. None as big as the one he met last time but he couldn't spot the total amount of people or even give a rough estimate.
A few heads popped out of the tent.
"PLEASE HELP!" He pleaded.
One of the nomads walked toward him. Gregori recognized him. His name.... his name...
"Aalms."
"You. Hunter."
"Please my daughter needs help. Roark said he would help if I came to him."
Aalms gave him a look up and down.
"Okay. Follow."
And follow he did. Arriving at his destination made all the difference. The relief he felt was immense.
"Hunter. I assume your daughter is being called to the Freljord?" Roark's voice came from inside the tent they were walking to.
Pushing the curtains apart he walked in.
"Roark. Please tell me this is curable. You told me to come to you if anything happened."
Roark lifted his daughter out of his hands.
"I've only seen one other like this and your daughter resembled that girl to the letter. And to answer your question, is this curable?"
He looked Gregori in the eye.
"No."
Gregori's heart dropped and whatever energy left in him dissipated. His head hung low. He felt disappointed in himself, for failing his daughter and his wife.
A simple, "Oh." was all he could muster.
"But it is not a death sentence."
He looked up with hope in his eyes.
"In fact if she passes the test, she might become one of the land's strongest warriors." Roark turned his eyes back to the unconscious girl.
Gregori looked at him confusion evident on his face.
"Her eyes are now blue yes?"
Gregori nodded.
"Your daughter is an Iceborn. The only ones capable to wielding True Ice, as a weapon or just in general. Us normal people That is a great gift in the Freljord. I suppose you need to come with us to the Freljord and find the Avarosan Tribe."
True Ice?
His flower was an Iceborn?
He knew what they were. The existence of Iceborn was the only reason Noxus couldn't succeed in their invasions of the Freljord.
They were almost all the greatest warriors of the land. Sturdy bodies. Immense strength was second nature to them.
He had seen some of these inhuman creatures of battle in his own stints as a member of the Gray Legion.
Finding out his daughter had that much potential was scary to say the least. But that might just be good. Annie had demonic fire magic and Daisy had True Ice weapons. He supposed things would work out between them, each with their own specialties.
He himself had a few. As he thought that his eyes flicked toward the wrapped weapon on his back.
Something that did not escape Roark's eyes.
"Weapons like that are unusual for a hunter don't you think so?"
"Anything to safely get my daughter here." Gregori spoke clearly staring into Roark's eyes.
A few seconds of silent eye contact,
"So... On you go. Return in a week and we will move across the river here and head into Naljaag. That place is where tribes send members to barter and trade with people like us. Avarosa has been sending members every year since rebuilding. The stories of their Warmother chancing up a windfall might just be true. Then you can follow one of tribesmen back to the Avarosans, ask for an audience with the Warmother and then go on from there. It won't be easy and the best I can do is put in a good word for you."
Gregori looked past at Daisy's pale face.
"There is nowhere to go back to. A warband attacked my home and killed my second wife. I've lost one daughter already. I'm not losing the second. If we are not welcome here, we will stay nearby. I will forage for food and hunt for meat. And a week later, I will follow you." He spoke through gritted teeth and clenched fists.
Roark's eyes widened and a few moments later spoke gravely, "I'm sorry for you my friend. Those Noxian bastard will get what's coming to them one day. I suppose you could stay with us. Your daughter will be kept safe alongside our children but I expect you to hunt for us."
As if ending the conversation, he got up and walked past the still kneeling Gregori, "Get some rest in this tent. You are tired. We will discuss this later when you are awake. Sleep close to your daughter, you need her more than she needs you in this moment." He said as he patted Gregori on the shoulder and walked off.
Gregori turned and gave the man a thankful look.
Removing his shield and the wrapped weapon, he placed them on the ground next to him. He laid down and grabbed his daughter pulling her into a hug and fell asleep.