"Tides of dead will herald my return!"~ Gangplank, The Saltwater Scourge
Onward laddies!
New volume!
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
And any guesses toward what could have caused what happened in the latter half of this chapter?
Hint: Geometry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregori watched as Oompa ran back toward Rakelstake. It understood its mission quite clearly. He had been surprised with how smart the beasts actually were.
He had even given it a mission to watch over Daisy. It might be overkill, with the Iceborn present as well but it was soothe his heart. As a father, his daughter was safest with him.
Watching the Avalance beast bounding in the distance, he turned around to face the world in front of him. He looked upwards at the star once more and aligned himself in that direction and began his trek. Oompa had brought him all the way past the snowy lands and had dropped him off at the first sight of green. Just as he had asked. But that did not mean that he knew where he was. The only thing in sight was a rather large lake and a mountain pass. The star pointed through the mountain range but it would be counterproductive he he went up the mountain and then down. Deciding to walk around the lake and through the mountain pass, he trekked in hopes of finding some civilization. Information and rumors all came from the same location and it would be stupid of him to not gain information on the ongoings of the lands.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEE
That was until he heard a loud screech.
For a second he was confused and then the source of the noise came to him mind.
Silverwing Raptor.
"Fuck."
He was closer to Demacia then Noxus.
As much as he wanted to walk into Demacia and pick up the other half of Caalyx and investigate the other Darkin... he needed to get his daughter.
The rest would come later. He walked to the end of the pass and looked upon the sprawling green forest ahead of him.
With a resigned sigh, he walked into the forest.
He hadn't bothered with a lot of food and supplies. Just a large bag with some fruit, dried meats, ropes, some teeth and bones from Freljordian beasts, a hunter's knife and a few runes he had carved before leaving. The runes were for simple things, starting a fire, purifying water and one for warming his place of sleep.
The only important one was the set of four that would offer some protection as he slept of the nights.
Caalyx, completely wrapped, was in his left hand and his shield in his right. In his wrapped state, Caalyx was just a glorified, indestructible walking stick and he would be used in that manner. Gregori had also brought an axe with him, which hung from his hips on the left.
He was a hunter. The forest would provide for his needs. The food was for the trip through the Freljord to his current location. A week's worth. A week had passed and he still had enough left over.
Small mercies.
There was a small issue however. He did not know where he was...
But he had some way of navigating to his destination and he followed it blindly.
The forest was new to him. Not a kind he knew but the markings on the trees let him know that this was under Noxian control.
Noxian armies usually marked certain trees with their symbol. It was for their trackers in the case that they went missing. He continued through the forest for an entire day without spotting a single person or animal.
That was very concerning. Forests were usually covered by a group of soldiers stationed as a precaution against invasions. The missing wildlife was concerning because the soldiers never them wiped out. They were specifically ordered against that.
Never touch the wildlife.
Noxus was a warring nation because of its barren lands. The people survive by hunting and annexing different lands with better living conditions.
By destroying wildlife, they ran the risk of creating more barren lands.
It also affected the ambient magic. Magic wasn't just present in the lands and the air itself. It was present in the creatures of the land as well. Without enough ambient magic, they couldn't power their runes.
He retired for the night under a large tree and ate some of his rations. The warming rune lay beside him. It worked. There was enough ambient magic to power the rune. It wiped a little bit of his worries. But that meant the creatures native to this place, were actively avoiding this place.
Safety was an issue but he did not want to move.
The night was cloudy and vision was nonexistent. The star was also covered due to the clouds. Moving now could put him farther from his destination.
So he chose to hunker down in that spot.
Placing the safety runes in a square around the tree, he laid against it. Hoping sleep would claim him quickly.
And it did claim him quickly.
Gregori woke up as the first rays of the sun hit his face. Squinting his eyes, he looked at his surroundings, trying to spot any differences from the previous night.
Nothing seemed any different.
He collected the runes he had placed on the ground, as well as the warming rune beside him and placed them in his bag.
Runic magic was useful.
But they required preparation. Inscribing the runes onto usable items was the first step. These items were usually sturdy and flat rocks. After the runes were carved into the surface, they needed to be charged once, usually done by forcing one's magic through the surface and the item itself. The final step was dependent on the type of runes that were inscribed. The warming rune needed to be placed in extreme cold. The purification rune needed to be placed in dirt. The runic scheme for safety was to be placed in public places with a lot of people but they shouldn't be disturbed.
The only runes that used different methods to be completed were the anti-magic runes Noxus had created in response to Demacia's Petricite. It needed to be charged with magic as it was being tempered by heat.
Even if Demacia did not use magic, other lands did. Ionia for example was heavily saturated with magic users. Anti-magic would be indispensable. Kaenic Rookern. That was the runic scheme's name. Named after Kaenic, the man who developed the scheme by trying to replicate the effects of Petricite.
But it had its issues. It absorbed magic but only a small amount. Once the limit was reached, they crumbled.
It was a secret runic scheme, known only to the higher ranked members of the army, personal bodyguards to important people and the important people themselves.
Gregori had learnt it from his days in the legion. When your allies are only undead fueled by hate and blood magic, you are taught certain methods to survive. This runic scheme could put the undead to rest for a short time, done for transport. The blood mage that created them won't be around at every instant, those guys were too busy indulging on whatever fancy thing that caught their eye.
Funny how they did not recognize the paragon of blood magic right next to them in the form of Caalyx.
But that is neither here nor there.
There had been no need to use Caalyx in a situation where two opposing forces were concerned, an army against an army. Using Caalyx there would not only bring unwanted attention toward himself it would also alert that organization about him.
That organization. It was what governed Noxus from the shadows.
Just saying their name alerted them to you.
Black Rose.
After the Trifarix had been formed, it represented Guile. One of the three founding principles behind the new Noxus.
Vision, Might and Guile.
No one truly knew who represented Guile but it was surely under the control of the Black Rose.
Maybe even the Faceless himself.
Gregori lumbered through the forest. Not spotting any wildlife common to the area. He followed the markings on the trees, until the arrived at a settlement.
He looked toward the fences around the settlement, trying to spot the name of the location.
Tokogol.
The words were etched into a wooden board hung at the entrance of the settlement.
Running his hand through his hair, Gregori let out a deep sigh. Tokogol forest was so far from the Immortal Bastion. This would be a long journey to his daughter.
If he was lucky he could make it to the ruins of his home in two weeks.
Resignation took over him as his shoulders drooped.
He waited at the entrance, watching to see if someone would come check on him. But after a few minutes, he decided to step inside.
Not a single sound could be heard.
Lowering himself, he stalked through the settlement. His shield up and the axe in hand. He sniffed, trying to spot anything out of the blue.
Complete silence.
He picked up a rock and threw it at a nearby house. Hoping for a reaction.
Nothing again.
Slowly, he covered ground. The outer perimeter first. Right as he cleared the edge of the perimeter, he found a large circular hole in the fence.
Examining it closer, he spotted scorch marks around the edges of the fence. Turning, he found the a hole burnt through the settlement. Something large and circular shot through the fence and through the houses.
The burn marks on the ground didn't seem to be from natural fire. The ground and the marks had a weird color to it. Nothing he could place a finger on it. Not the kind from a normal fire. Magical. Something or someone with immense magic had passed through the place. Destroying the settlement.
This would also explain why none of the natural wildlife were present. The creature's magic had scared them away. Instinctual creatures usually ran away at the first signs of trouble. Their sense of self preservation would take them far away from the location. He had witnessed this in his transformed state. Caalyx was infinitely more dangerous than regular old Gregori.
He carefully searched every little bit of Tokogol's settlement for anything out of the blue but absolutely nothing. There was nothing to indicate that this area was lived in. The only proof this settlement even existed was due to the presence of the settlement itself. Everything else was just a blank space.
No items in any of the houses. No clothes, no food. No sign of anything.
Nearly three hours passed as he investigated the place. A complete waste of time but he had chanced upon a mystery.
After some more thinking, he decided to leave. Waiting here was pointless, and whatever did this was not here anymore and it wouldn't be his problem to deal with either.
As he walked further into the jungle, he finally encountered some birds, indicating that he had left the dead zone.
He still kept his shield up as he soldiered on.
But his mind kept drifting back to the settlement.
Something was wrong.
Unnatural.
He kept thinking of the scorched marks.
Why... did it have a tinge of purple?