1 Day Earlier...
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, eh?" I commented after receiving the latest bit of news.
I'd always known that the heroic, do-gooder types would paint a target on the one man in this world I could truly call 'friend'. There'd never been an issue when Yorick played the humble ferryman of the dead. Now that he'd raised an army of ghouls with the ruined queen as his protector, there was no shortage of vigilantes motivated to destroy him. They were the bothersome weeds in his otherwise pristine flowerbed. Yorick was not an evil man.
The problems really began shortly after the last time we'd seen each other. With his two enforcers and his headhunter, not to mention the Maiden and the ghouls, I figured he'd had enough people watching his back and decided to retire. My last creation, a failed experiment I'd dubbed 'Warwick', left me with serious doubts regarding my own pursuits. I'd never expected to be in my current line of work, nor did I ever expect it to bring me genuine joy.
I sighed, "I still can't believe they got Thresh."
Yorick, Thresh, and I all fought hard to lay the foundation for Yorick's empire. During that time, Thresh killed and imprisoned the soul of a Sentinel of Light named Senna that had been sent to hunt us down. After I left, I'd heard that ol' lover boy Lucian tried to free his wife only to meet the same fate.
"Maurice had used the term executioners," Yorick pointed out. "Thresh never lost against a singular opponent. Remember when he defeated Jax? I think the entire Triad came at him at once."
"And now you're here," I said.
"And now I'm here," he agreed.
The incessant buzzing filled the break in our conversation and brought me back to the task at hand. Yorick had stopped by my apiary as I was checking the hives for harvest. My suit and helmet kept me protected from the bees in case they got agitated but the forgemaster wore his usual cloaked garb. Despite this, he enjoyed an even greater degree of safety than I did. The bees wanted nothing to do with them.
"Listen," Yorick began as I slowly pulled out a frame out of one of the hives.
I only half-listened as my friend formally asked me for assistance in his war, detailing his immense trust in both me and my abilities, finally ending his request by declaring that it might go down to the last man. If this was in fact the genesis of his death, there was no other companion he'd rather have fighting by his side. The other half of my focus was spent on inspecting the hive's frames. The one I'd pulled was practically picture perfect, full honeycombs, none uncapped. Zero. If the frames in the other hives looked this good, I was bound to have a pretty plentiful harvest. This hive alone would net me at least ninety pounds of honey.
Once Yorick had finished his solemn speech, I simply responded, "Sure!"
Yorick squinted in confusion, then asked, "Sure? That's it? You're in?"
"Yup! When do we begin?"