Chapter Text
Before time began
Two timeless forces drifted through nothingness
The Light wished for creation and life
While The Dark wished for destruction and death
Thus, for each life The Light created
The Dark brought destruction, leaving death in its wake
Only at the dawn of time
The Light triumphed and banished The Dark
Sealing it within the deepest crevices of earth
Yet, even in those lightless, darkest pits
The force of The Dark remained powerful
Luring those on the surface to slowly descend into it
In time, every life made would be unmade again
“So, what do you think of it? Do you believe it?”
“Uhh.” Vi glanced away from the old, tattered book in her hands and raised an eyebrow at her ten-year-old sister. “Do I believe there are all-powerful forces of Good and Evil creeping out there? Honestly, I think this is a load of crap.”
Powder giggled under her blanket, her cheek squishing against her pillow. “So, you think all those stories about the Light Goddess and the Dark Goddess are fake?”
“Well, yeah.” Vi tossed the smelly, damp book away, yawning in her chair. Powder had insisted she pick up the discarded book in the alley they passed earlier, but Vi was beginning to regret the decision. She didn’t like the content.
“I don’t like how people tend to blame their wrongdoing on some invisible, evil force. A dark force luring them to destruction? Really? I think most of the time, they just destroy the world themselves because they’re greedy.”
Powder frowned and looked even more curious than before. “Then where do you think those scary monsters come from? I thought the Dark Goddess created them to destroy us. Are they here because of people’s greed, too?”
Vi hated that she had no answer to this question. A few years ago, monsters were merely tales used to scare naughty children. But now, strange misshapen animals prowled the continent, frightening children and adults alike.
No one knew what had happened to those wild animals to make them that way.
Vi sighed. “I don’t know, Powpow, but you don’t have to worry about them. No monster is going to come near you when I’m with you. I’ll keep you safe, okay?”
“Okay,” Powder said, finally running out of questions and blinking sleepily.
“Go to sleep.” Vi stood up from her chair and turned off the lamp beside her sister’s bed. “I’ll go out and catch up with Loris for a while. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” mumbled Powder. Vi walked out of their small, run-down house and locked the door, immediately shrouded in the darkness of the alley. The houses around theirs were all pitch-black, abandoned by their owners a few years ago and piled with trash.
The only source of light in the far distance was the bright neon signs of Zaun’s infamous entertainment district, casting a green and purple glow onto the dark sky.
She was supposed to meet up with Loris there for their night job, serving drinks to some bastards in a bar for meager coins.
Times were rough, and when people had no other way to comfort themselves, they drowned their sorrows with drinks. The bars in the entertainment district would never go out of business, even if every other place shut down.
“Hey, you! What’s that you have in your pouch? Hand it over now!”
Vi stopped walking when she heard the voice. She backtracked down the alley and caught sight of an old woman cowering as two large men towered over her.
Sometimes, monsters didn’t come in grotesque forms.
“Hey!” she shouted, moving towards the two men. “Leave the lady alone!”
“Or what?” one of them snapped, pinning her with a glare that he probably thought looked intimidating. “What are you going to do if we don’t? Nosy fucker.”
“Yeah, stay out of our business!” The other guy joined in, stalking towards her and jamming a finger at her shoulder. “This has nothing to do with you. Leave!”
Vi narrowed her eyes. “Touch me one more time and I’ll break your fucking bones.”
The guy laughed at her and pushed her on the shoulder even harder. “Try me, bitch.”
Well, he asked for it.
Vi snatched his hand and twisted it before he could react, using the moment when he screamed in pain to punch him in the face. He dropped to his knees while clutching his bloody nose, and Vi shot up a knee to smash his jaw.
He fell flat onto the ground, unconscious.
His friend charged at her with a loud battle cry, which was stupid because anyone who actually knew how to fight wouldn’t be running around announcing their attack.
Vi pulled her fist back and swung it as hard as she could just as he closed in. She caught him right smack on the cheek and sent him crashing into the nearby wall. He slid down the dirty wall unconsciously like a piece of noodle.
“Idiots,” Vi grumbled, shaking out her hand. Her scarred knuckles were red. How nice it would be to have one of those big metal gauntlets from Piltover so she wouldn’t have to hurt herself every time she beat an asshole. “Lady, are you alright?” She looked over to the old lady cowering in the corner, offering her hand to help her stand.
She couldn’t see the woman’s face clearly because she was hunched over, and her features were hidden beneath the hood of a grimy white cloak.
Bony, wrinkly hands covered hers in gratitude. “I am well, child. Thank you for helping.”
“No problem. Do you live near here? Do you want me to walk you home?”
Somehow, the old lady gave her no answer. She merely asked, curious, “May I know why you decided to help me, child? Many nights I have roamed these alleys, yet never a soul has stopped to offer me kindness as you did.”
What an odd way of speaking, Vi thought. And what an odd question. She scratched the back of her head. “Well, do I need a reason to help? Can’t I just help?”
The old woman gave her a wane chuckle. “Ah, you are right. How foolish of me to ask such a question. You need no reason to help someone in need, of course.”
For a moment, she looked up at Vi, and Vi caught a flash of pale, grey eyes that almost mirrored her own on an aged face.
“Take this, child. A token of my gratitude. Keep it with you.” She pressed a small, shiny white gemstone into Vi’s hand.
Vi shook her head. “No, no. There’s no need for this. This stuff looks valuable. You should keep this for yourself. Or trade it at the market for some food. You’ll need it.”
“Worry not about my well-being, child. This is for you. And perhaps, if you find no use for it yourself, you could return it to me in the future, should our paths cross again.”
The old lady waddled away with the help of her cane, leaving Vi in confusion.
The bright gemstone seemed to be worth several pouches of gold coins. Why would the lady give it to her for free? Unless it was a… fake gemstone? It probably was.
Vi sighed. It didn’t feel right to throw away someone’s token of gratitude, no matter real or fake, so she opted to keep it.
She glanced down at herself for a moment and patted her pants pockets before deciding to store the gemstone in her sun-shaped pendant.
Somehow, the gemstone fitted perfectly into the pendant as if it were made for it.
“Huh.” Vi stared at it for a beat. “What a coincidence.”
She shrugged and continued her way to the entertainment district.
“Vi, it’s your 20th birthday! Relax a little,” Loris called out. He snatched the jug of drink from her hand and passed it to another server at the bar. “Look, it’s already midnight. Happy birthday, my friend!”
Vi glanced up at the clock on the wall and flopped onto a barstool. “Damn. It’s barely midnight? I feel like I’ve been working for six hours.”
Loris laughed and sat next to her. “You don’t even care about your birthday, huh?”
“I mean, what’s there to celebrate anyway?” Vi gestured at all the half-unconscious and fully miserable crowd in the bar. “We’re all suffering. You know, I really hoped things in Zaun would get better after we got rid of all those crime lords a few years ago. But of course, we just had to end up with some fucked-up monsters crawling out from the depths somewhere, ruining our lives all over again. Why can’t life ever be peachy?”
Loris shrugged. “Well, don’t you prefer the monsters anyway? At least, they don’t give you annoying speeches before attacking you.”
“Damn right.” Vi scrunched her nose at the reminder of her irritating run-in with the thugs earlier. “I ran into some assholes earlier. They tried to rob an old lady. Can you believe that? The old lady was really nice, too. She gave me this gemstone to thank me.”
Loris stared at her pendant. “How many years have you been wearing that? Have you not moved on from that girl who gave it to you?”
“Move on?” Vi lowered the pendant and frowned at him. “What do you mean? She’s a stranger. We barely talked for five minutes five years ago.”
“So, you’ve been counting.”
“I haven’t.”
Vi’s face warmed.
Okay. Maybe she had. But in her defense, that girl was very... memorable.
Vi could still remember the encounter as clearly as if it were yesterday.
She had been standing in one of the many black markets in Zaun, eyeing an interesting sun-shaped pendant displayed at a trinket stall. A quick glance at the price tag, however, had deterred her from buying it.
“Why is this shit so expensive? Didn’t he steal it from someone else?” Vi grumbled and glared at the seller, who hadn’t noticed her loitering there. “This shit should be cheap!”
“Why do you want it if you think it’s, um… shit?”
Vi whipped around with surprise, nearly dropping the pendant onto the ground.
A girl with midnight-blue hair who looked to be around her age stared at her, bright blue eyes filled with curiosity.
She was wearing a crisp white blouse, puffed at the sleeves and fastened at the collar with a band of dark blue and gold. Her neatly ironed vest and pants were the same shade of dark blue with gold accents, and her polished shoes were gleaming.
Definitely not a Zaunite.
Any Zaunite would know that showing up to the black markets overdressed like that was basically an invitation to get robbed.
Also, which Zaunite kid at their age would wear something so formal anyway?
“Uh, it’s just a figure of speech. I don’t actually think it’s shit.” Vi placed the sun-shaped pendant back on the stall’s display table. “I think it’s pretty. But definitely not pretty enough for fifty gold coins.”
“Oh, it’s only—” the girl paused, as if realizing what she was about to say.
Vi snickered. “What? It’s only fifty gold coins? Whose kid are you? Some rich Piltover tourists coming here for a thrill? Or Ionian tourists?” Vi glanced around, wondering if the girl’s parents were nearby. They really should take her before someone robbed her.
“Just—someone’s kid,” the girl replied bashfully. When she looked at the seller, though, with her chin lifted high and her back straight, her voice suddenly carried a startling authority. “Excuse me, Sir. I’d like to purchase this sun pendant.”
Vi had never heard a fifteen-year-old girl speak like that before.
But more importantly, “What are you doing?” She tugged the girl to the side, whispering. “Why are you buying that? I know I don’t look… like I have money, but I don’t need charity!”
“It’s not charity,” the girl said, looking way too serious, like she really meant what she said. “I just want you to have it because I think it’d look pretty on you.”
“What?”
“I said, I think it’d look pretty on you, so I want you to have it. Even if you had the coins for it, I’d still want to buy it for you. So, it’s not charity. Really.”
“That’ll be a hundred gold coins,” the seller chirped.
“Hey!” Vi turned to him and fixed him with a glare. “The price tag says fifty gold coins! Stop marking up prices just because—” Well, this was why no one should come to the black markets in Zaun dressed that way.
“A hundred gold coins or scram, kid. I don’t care.” The man behind the stall shrugged.
“I’ll pay for it,” the mysterious girl with blue eyes said. She reached into her vest pocket for her gold but paused suddenly, her eyes wide and her face pale.
Vi covered her own face with her palm, already knowing what was happening. “You got pickpocketed already. Before you talked to me.”
The seller sighed and immediately turned away to another customer, as if already regretting wasting his time on the two of them. “Move along, kids!”
“Asshole,” Vi grumbled under her breath. “Hey, come on, let’s go.” She tugged at the girl’s wrist, who still looked understandably shell-shocked and embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” the girl muttered, cheeks turning the shade of crimson.
“No worries. It’s the thought that counts, or something,” Vi said. Why she felt the need to console the girl was beyond her. And why she felt the need to snatch the sun-shaped pendant as they walked away from the stall, along with the matching moon-shaped pendant next to it, was also beyond her.
The girl blinked at her widely. “What are you—”
“Ssh, let’s get out of here before he notices his stuff missing.”
Vi led her to a quiet alley, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was following them. “Don’t worry about stealing from that asshole. He stole stuff from others too.”
“Okay,” the girl said, still blinking and looking a bit tense about committing crime. “But why did you steal two? Did you want both of those?”
“No, this one's for you.” Vi held out the crescent, moon-shaped pendant for her, suddenly being the one who sounded bashful. Why were her cheeks warm? Damn it.
The girl’s blooming smile at her words was the prettiest thing she’d ever laid eyes on.
“A charity because I just foolishly got robbed?” she teased, and if she didn’t stop wearing that smile anytime soon, Vi worried she might really catch fire. The high temperature of her face was bordering on ridiculous.
“Not a charity. I just think it’d look pretty on you.”
If she was going down with a furious blush, then the girl should be too. And blush she did, much to Vi’s satisfaction.
“What’s your name?” the girl asked, taking the moon pendant from her shyly.
“Violet Lanes, but you can call me Vi. And yours?”
“Caitlyn,” she paused, seemingly hesitant for a second. “Caitlyn Kiramman. You can call me Cait, though.” She stared at Vi, blue eyes searching and shimmering with something that made Vi feel like there were butterflies in her stomach.
“Well, thank you, Vi. I’ll remember this gift, and you.”
When the memory dissolved, Vi let out a laugh.
“I wonder if she still remembers me.”
“The girl?”
Oh, shit. She’d been lost in thoughts about the mysterious girl—Caitlyn, her name was Caitlyn Kiramman—she’d forgotten that she was still with Loris, sitting in the godforsaken bar.
“The girl, yeah,” Vi cleared her throat. Well, there was no point in hiding from her best friend now. “Her name’s Caitlyn. She said she’d remember me. She’s probably forgotten about me, though. Some random poor kid from Zaun she ran into five years ago.”
“Well, who knows, maybe she still wears that pendant you stole for her and sits around thinking about you with a silly look on her face too.”
“I don’t have a silly look on my face.”
“You do. You were all smiley while daydreaming about her just a minute ago.”
Vi rolled her eyes. “Whatever, it’s not like she’s going to come back here after getting robbed. Not to mention there was a fight and an explosion in the area that day. She probably regretted ever visiting Zaun. And anyway,” Vi cleared her throat. “Forget about that. Do you have any news about that recruitment in Piltover? For the Strike Corps?”
It wasn’t a diversion, she told herself. She really needed to know about that.
“Oh, yeah, my friend Steb said they’re going to begin recruitment for trainees three days from now.” Loris paused, raising an eyebrow at her. “Are you sure you want to join the Strike Corps? I know you’re good at fighting, Vi, but those Strikers have to fight monsters on a daily basis. All over the continent.”
“I have to get Powder out of Zaun, Loris. I know I prefer monsters to people because they don’t blabber on and on, but monsters don’t bargain either. I don’t want Powder to accidentally run into one while she’s traipsing around. Besides, isn’t the pay good?”
“Really good, yeah,” Loris agreed. “It’s a high-risk job, after all. Not to mention the rigorous five-year training.”
“Bah, we’re going to ace it.” Vi nudged him on the shoulder. “You’re coming with me, right? Or do you plan to rot here forever?”
Loris gave her a slow grin. “Of course, I’m coming with you. Who else is going to hold you up when you’re drunk and dreaming about your mystery girl?”
Crossing the bridge to Piltover felt like entering a new world.
Despite being neighboring nations, Piltover couldn’t have been more different from Zaun. Where the air in Zaun was thick with smoke from industrial compounds and the sky was almost always dark, the air in Piltover was cleaner and the sky was bright blue.
It wasn’t an industrial nation, after all, but one that thrived on international trade with merchants from all over the continent.
There were airships floating above the bridge, and large ships sailing through the waters below carrying goods to Ionia, Bilgewater, and many other nations.
“Vi, do you think we can get on one of those airships one day?”
“I think they only carry goods.” Vi scratched her head. She was feeling a little lost and awestruck herself. “But I don’t know, maybe we can? I’ll ask Vander.”
“I can’t believe he has a house in the city!” Powder frowned. “Why didn’t he take us in earlier? After mom and dad—”
A fist seemed to close around Vi’s heart and clenched, just as it always did whenever Powder mentioned their deceased parents.
“He tried to get us in earlier but the process took a long time. Ever since the monsters started appearing all over the continent, many people from the neighboring nations are trying to get into Piltover. There’s a long queue.”
“How could Piltover stay so safe despite everything?”
Vi held her sister's hand, walking down the bridge with her. “They have some crazy good tech, I heard. And some crazy good weapons to keep themselves safe.”
“Cool. I can’t wait to see one of those weapons.”
“You’re staying with Vander’s wife at their house, remember? You’re not coming with me and him to the Strike Corps.”
“But why?” Powder tutted, swinging her hand. “I can fight, too!”
“Because you’re ten. They have a minimum age limit to apply.”
“Boo, lame.” Powder jutted out her bottom lip.
Vi laughed. “I’ll come over and visit you every weekend, I promise. I’ll tell you about all the cool weapons and the monsters I slay.”
“Okay. Is your dormitory going to be nice?”
“I don’t know. Maybe? Definitely going to be nicer than where we stayed before.”
“Identification cards, please,” said one of the border officers as they reached him, appraising them carefully. “I need to check if your names are on the acceptance list.”
Vi passed their identification cards and waited for the officer to finish checking.
A moment later, they were allowed into Piltover, freely roaming the streets. Towering buildings made from stone and brass rose from the paved ground with grand arched windows, creating a skyline of domes and spires.
People dressed in tailored coats, vests, and high-collared blouses walked down the streets in a hurry, ornate jewelry and pocket watches adoring their looks.
“People here like shiny, golden stuff, huh,” Powder quipped. “And whoa, look at that place! Vi! That’s hugeee!”
They stopped somewhere in the city, glancing up at a grand, imposing manor with towering columns and large arched windows. It could almost pass for a castle, with its width nearly five times that of the other houses nearby. It was surrounded by tall, wrought-iron fences and guards who were now looking at them with suspicion.
Shit.
“Powder, move along,” Vi whispered.
“Excuse me, Sir!” Powder called out to one of the guards, much to Vi’s dismay. “What place is this? A museum?”
The guard, thankfully, seemed amused with her question. The suspicion on his face fell away. “This isn’t a museum, kid. This is the estate of Councilor Kiramman.”
Vi paused.
“You mean this is a house?” Powder asked in disbelief. “Someone lives here? What, do they have like twenty kids to raise?”
The guard laughed. “Only one. Now, move along. This isn’t a public space.”
Powder was the one tugging Vi away this time.
Vi felt her steps drag as she struggled to peel her gaze away from the manor, still staring at it without blinking.
Councilor Kiramman.
One kid.
Her mysterious… friend, Caitlyn, was the sole heir of a Piltover Councilor who lived in a manor that looked like a castle straight out of a story book.
No wonder Caitlyn had said the pendant was only fifty gold coins.
She could have bought the whole stall—the whole market—if she had wanted to.
Somehow, Vi was more certain now than before that she would never meet Caitlyn again. Because how was she supposed to meet someone who lived in a place like that?
The remainder of her journey through the city felt disappointing somehow.
Vi found herself standing in front of the Strike Corps’ headquarters at midday, among a hundred other young people. She was a little late, she realized, having just dropped Powder off at Vander’s house on the other side of the city.
The building stood ten stories tall, measuring even higher than the Kirammans’ manor. Although, it lacked splendor in comparison. The walls were a monotone grey, without accents of gold or ornate patterns.
It looked almost like the Stillwater Hold Vi had seen in passing before. A little colorless and lifeless like prison, exuding only practicality and functionality.
The faces of the new recruits, though, were colorful and full of life.
Maybe some of them dreamed of becoming heroes for the people of the continent, unlike Vi who came only because she had no better choice.
“Vi!”
Vi whipped around to find Loris shoving people aside to get to her, grinning and waving at her. Beside him was a guy Vi recognized as Steb, his other best friend.
“Hey, Loris, hey, Steb. Nice to see you again.”
“Hey, Vi, it’s nice to see you again too,” Steb said quietly, always the most soft-spoken one between the three of them. He looked a little overwhelmed with the crowd.
“Lots of people, huh?” Loris said, glancing around. “Man, are the dormitories going to be enough to house all of us for the next five years?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Steb. “Even though there’s no entry test to enroll as fresh recruits, there’ll be tests every six months to weed out the incompetent. They predicted that only ten percent will make it to the final year.”
“What kind of tests, actually?” Vi asked. “Beating monsters up?”
“Not just combat skills. There’ll be academic tests too.”
“What for?” Loris scratched his head. “Aren’t we just going to be killing monsters?”
“Each of those monsters have their own characteristics. Weaknesses and strengths. We have to study them. Also, we have to learn some basic science to use the weapons and learn survival skills for the wilds. And we have to learn basic medical treatments, too.”
“Oh, I’ll be damned,” Loris groaned. “I hate studying. I always get so sleepy.”
Vi laughed and clapped him on the back. “At least you’d get free food and housing for five years, Loris.”
A commotion broke out behind them, and they glanced over their shoulders to see some people protesting. “Hey! Stop shoving people just to get ahead!” yelled some of the people, clearly looking pissed off.
When Vi got up on her tiptoes to see what was going on among the crowd, she spotted four guards pushing people aside, clearing a path for someone.
A girl?
Vi couldn’t see the girl clearly because she kept her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the ground as if she were too mortified to look up after the commotion her guards caused.
“Ah, those fucking nobles. Always acting like they’re more important than everyone else. What is she doing here anyway? Isn’t she a Kiramman?”
Vi barely caught the last sentence from the random guy in front of her but her eyes immediately went wide. Before she knew it, she was shoving people aside to move closer to the front, ignoring the confused squeaks Loris and Steb were making.
Vi could see her back.
She was a lot taller than five years ago, but Vi should have noticed her midnight-blue hair earlier. Not many people had that hair color.
“Caitlyn!” The shout left her before she could think, her heart pounding in her chest at the split-second, impulsive decision. Shit. What if she had gotten the wrong person? Maybe it was just someone with a similar hair color?
But the girl whirled around at the sound of the name, her eyes locking onto Vi’s instantly across the sea of people.
Only, one of those eyes was no longer blue.
The left one was white and scarred.
And somehow, there was no recognition in either of them as they stared at Vi.
What the hell happened to her?