Chapter 1: The Beginning of a New Tragedy
Date, December 14, 4182. At the capital of the Noxus Empire.
It was nighttime and most of the shops and stalls had already closed, only a single book store remained open as the dazzling and warmth orange colour of the lights shone brightly through the cold and dim surrounding.
Inside of the building, a child with a rugged appearance and a man with shaved head and brown beard could be seen sitting on a rectangular table together.
The child was a young girl who looked about the age of seven and she held a book larger than her thin body, with long brown hair and amber eyes.
"History of Caesar" was the title of the book and she held it with sparkling eyes filled with glimmers of light.
"Mister, is it really true that Caesar fought a dragon and beat it with his bare hands as he pulled out its ginormous tooth?!" The child exclaimed, her voice filled with doubt yet in awe.
The old man laughed and rubbed the child's messy brown hair as he said, "Kid, everything written in the history book section are real, and believe me or not, I have seen Caesar before back when he was still a young knight!"
"Really? What was he like?" The child asked expectantly as she stared at him with wide eyes.
"Hmm, let me see..." The old man rubbed his beard as he closed his eyes, seemingly trying to remember the past. "Ah, I remember now, he was just like you. Smart, kind, joyful, and a talented kid."
The child widened her eyes before she asked with a wide grin, "Really?! Then, does that mean I can be like him too in the future?"
"Really. And I can say that you might even surpass him." The old man said with a grin.
The girl smiled with her little fangs out in return. "When I grow up, I wanna be just like him who can liberate his home and shine light in the darkness!"
The old man laughed as he looked at the girl who was staring intently at the book she borrowed from him, her smile brighter than the sun as the expectation in her eyes too was strong.
'How futile that she had to grow up in the slums and suffer abuse from her parents, haa alas I cannot do anything about it.' Just as the old man heaved a sigh, the sound of many hurried footsteps were heard and as he turned his head towards the glass door, he saw many people wearing white and gold suits with masks and shotguns running towards all kinds of different directions, but even so, with cooperation.
His brows knitted into a furrow and immediately he stood up before turning the sign backward and blocking the sight with curtains.
"What's wrong mister?" The child asked worriedly but the old man just shook his head and forced a smile, "It's nothing, it just seems that there is a commotion happening outside currently."
The child tilted her head in puzzlement, but the old man didn't explained any further and just said, "You should go back now, you can return the book back to me in Monday."
"Okay!" The child agreed happily and getting off the chair she was led towards the back door towards the outskirts of the city, towards the slums, her home.
As the child stepped foot outside, the old man spoke, his voice laced with worry. "You should be careful, especially that you are-" but before he could even finish his sentence, the child interrupted with a smile, "I know, but I am used to getting hurt mister, and I can survive in the slums, so, you don't have to worry!"
The old man's eyes widened slightly but the child did not noticed this and just turned around, dashing away as she waved her hand and said, "See you on Monday mister!"
The old man stared at the fading back of the girl, his eyes narrowing with sorrow as he recalled the voice of another young girl in his head, saying "Papa! Read me another bed time story will ya?!"
Tears unknowingly welled up in his eyes as he called out softly, "My daughter, she is just so much like you. If only you were still alive today you would've probably treated her as your younger sibling."
****
In the slums where the surroundings were pure ashen coloured and there was barely any light source, the girl ran on top of roofs to another as her bare feet were light and silent.
Arriving at a large tree away from the houses, she saw another girl with brown hair sitting below the tree. When their eyes met, they instantly ran towards each other.
As they hugged, they then both sat underneath the tree on the exposed roots of it and started talking about the book she had just borrowed.
"Wow! So, this Caesar guy is like- the same as a God?!"Her friend asked, obviously amazed yet doubtful.
"Hmm, something like that?" She replied, also puzzled. As they both looked at each other, a laugh escaped from both of their lips.
As they lay on the grass, they looked up at the starry sky and after a moment, she couldn't help but say, "When I grow up, I want to become a hero."
"A hero?" Her friend looked at her with a smirk, obviously not believing it.
"I'm serious! I want to become a legend! Someone whose names are written in the history books!" She said with a serious face yet her eyes broke it as it is still shining brightly in the dark.
"Okay, if you say so." Her friend said with a teasing grin.
"You-!" Obviously angered, she tried to catch her friend and tickle her, but the latter seemed to have already seen through her actions and stood up first before running.
As they chased each other, the sound of laughter gradually suffused in the busy night of winter.
****
Slap!
"What do you think you are doing, huh?! You worthless child! After all we've done, after how we gave you food, clothes, and shelter, you still have the urge to disobey my orders and go to the city where you can get caught for trespassing just to borrow a piece of paper?!"The sound of a woman with a hoarse voice said, her hair was dyed red as her eyes were fiery amber.
"That's enough babe, you'll get worked up to death over a worthless child, think about it. Just lock her in her room and don't feed her for three days so that she will learn her lesson." A man sitting on a kitchen chair said, with brown hair and mustache and dark bags underneath his eyes.
"And who do you think is at fault why I would work myself to death, huh?!" The woman said as she grabbed the girl's hair and said with a growl, "Listen, if you dare disobey my words again, I'll break your legs so that you wouldn't be able to see the light of the day ever again, understood?"
The girl cried but held back from making a sound as she knew that it would only irritate her mother even more. Covering her mouth with both of her hands, she nodded with red eyes.
--
Thud!
As the girl was thrown on the rough ground inside her room, her mother clicked her tongue in annoyance and said, "Tsk, you should always remember that the only reason we are keeping you is because you still have some worth once we sell you to the slave traders."
"And remember this too, stay away from that friend of yours, her parents have a lot of debt." Then, she closed the door with a loud 'Bang!' before the sound of it being locked echoed.
The girl cried in a muffled voice, holding the side of her face which was slapped before she opened the window silently and ran outside secretly.
Then, she arrives at the place where she and her friend met, whereas she saw the latter looking at her with shock.
The girl stopped running and just stood there, without any sound. Her friend stood up from underneath the tree and rushed towards her, asking what happened before she finally burst out crying.
--
"Let's make a promise, shall we?"
"When we grow up together, we will become legends whose names are written in the history books! Okay?" Her friend said, and the girl wiped away her tears as she replied with a smile too, "Okay."
"Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise."
****
Swoosh!
The girl stood before a river, her face blank as she looked below with empty eyes.
Her friend was covered in blood, her eyes open but lifeless.
The girl opened her lips and closed before biting it as she started to find her breathing difficult, memories of just yesterday flashed in her head, when her friend comforted her and- when they made a promise to each other.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes abruptly along with a faint gasp as she heard whispers from all around her.
"Poor child, I heard that she was sold off by her parents, and now she ended up like this."
"Really? To whom did they sold her and why?"
"Don't you know? Her parents has a lot of debt to the loan sharks and I saw her being pulled away by them just this afternoon!"
"What a pity."
Just as the girl looked around with horror in her eyes, laced with sorrow and puzzlement, a hand grasped her wrist before she was pulled away.
--
Thud!
"Ughk!" The girl held the hands that were strangling her neck tightly as she tried struggling to break free from it.
"You brat! I told you to stay away from that girl! How dare you disobey me again?!" Her mother yelled on top of her lungs as she glared at her with deep hatred.
"Ugh! Mom!" The girl tried to plead but her mother instead became even more furious.
"Do not call me that! I am not your mother and will never will be!"
Feeling the grip on her neck tightening, the girl felt deep fear for the first time, it was as if she was facing death right now.
Just as she closed her eyes in pain, she caught a glimpse of a sharp object right beside her on the sink where she was being strangled.
She did not know where she got the strength, but she unknowingly grabbed the kitchen knife, and before anyone knew it, she pierced it on the side of her mother's neck.
"Ah...ah..." Her mother looked at her with stunned eyes filled with horror and the grasp on her neck slowly loosened before her mother fell to the ground with a 'Thud!'.
The girl who finally broke free panted heavily, trying to catch her breath as she held her neck. After coughing, she tilted her head trembling with fear as she looked at her fallen mother on the ground with wide horrified eyes.
Crack!
Suddenly, shattered glasses resounded in the room, startling the girl as she looked to the other side where she saw her father standing before a pile of broken pieces of glass, staring at his wife who was dead on the ground.
"Babe...?" He rushed towards her without knowing it and picked up her lifeless body. Then, hatred filled his eyes as he looked towards his daughter. "You-! You did it, didn't you?!"
Thump! Thump!
As her heart pounded fast and as her father stood up and started walking towards her with heavy footsteps, she couldn't help but ran past her father, trying to go to her room but before she could even open the door, it was held by her father and she could only helplessly walk backwards until she bumped into a shelf.
"Haa, haa...you devil! You killed my wife!" Her father shouted and tried to grab her but the girl ducked and as they swapped position, the girl pushed her father, causing for him to stumble and hit the shelf.
Unbeknownst to both of them, the vase on top of the shelf started to spin before it fell directly on top of her father's head.
"Urgh!" Her father groaned as his head instantly started bleeding. His vision begun to blur and as he reached out his hand, he stumbled once again and fell backwards towards the shelf. Then, the sound of an ominous creaking sounded and as they both looked behind him, the tall shelf just inches taller than him began to fall forward.
Boom!
The shelf fell as her father was buried underneath it, with only his head and arms out. The girl looked down at her father and she felt her breath clogged up in her throat.
'Did- did I killed him, too...?' That was the thought that came to her and she hesitantly stepped forward to feel her father if he is still alive. As she placed her finger underneath his nose, she felt air and he was still breathing, but was faint.
Thud!
The girl fell on her butt as she covered her ears whilst tears started streaming down her eyes, her entire body trembling greatly.
'W- What should I do?'
'If he wakes up, he will kill me, he will definitely kill me...!'
Involuntarily, she looked behind her and on her eyes reflected was the kitchen knife stuck on her mother's neck.
--
Tap, Tap, Tap
As she walked towards her father, holding the kitchen knife with both her hands, she felt as if both of her legs were stuck to the ground, her hand felt numb and her breathing was heavy.
As she stood in front of his father holding the knife, she positioned it to stab her father.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The girl stood there, her heartbeat so fast it was as if it would come out of her chest.
"Ah, ah...!"
"AHhhhhh!" She let out a shrill scream, but in the end, the kitchen knife paused mid-air before she fell to her knees and dropped the knife to her side as she started to cry once again.
"I can't, hic! I can't, I can't do it!"
Just at that moment, the sound of someone whistling echoed throughout the entire house and she flinched. As she turned her head abruptly, she found that a group of strange people had unknowingly entered her house.
There were five people wearing enforcers suit whilst two were clad in dark robes. And lastly, a person wearing an oxygen mask and a scientist robe stood before her mother's corpse.
"Tsk tsk, you can't even kill your father, why? You've already killed your mother anyway so why can't you do the same to him?" The scientist asked. "Is it perhaps he is special to you?"
Hearing his last sentence the girl unconsciously retorted, "No! He is not important to me! Neither of them are-!" then she covered her mouth with both of her hands in fear, realizing what she had just said.
Hearing her words, the scientist's eyes widened slightly before he grinned and said, "Is that so?"
"You, you brat...I'll kill you, I'll kill you I swear...!" Unknowingly, her father had regained consciousness and started speaking in a hoarse voice filled with hatred.
The girl trembled once again in fear. The scientist watched all of this little detail before he smiled and said, "Kill him."
In response to his order, the enforcers started to surround the girl's father before they shot him in the head with his last words that he won't let her have a good life no matter in which life they are, he will haunt her and give her hell.
The girl still trembled in horror despite already having confirmed that her father is dead.
Tap Tap
Just then, a shadow engulfed her and she saw the scientist crouch before her before talking with a smile in his eyes, "Your parents sold you to me, do you know for how much?"
"They sold you for only 2 coppers, that's how much your worth is in their eyes."
Hearing this, the girl widened her eyes. The scientist did not stopped, holding the girl's chin he said, "Welcome to a new greater hell, 002."