The End of the Institute - League of Legends | Fanfiction
Originally written and published on 21/08/2014;
I was a teenager
Summary: The Institute is beautiful. But something goes wrong. The Institute turns into a slaughter house, and now both Champions and Summoners must hide and run to survive. It all depends on their resourcefulness and skills. KatarinaXGaren(slight). Death around every corner.
Chapter 1
The Institute of War. One of the greatest creations in Valoran, one of the greatest cities, one of the greatest sights. The long, marble peaks of the towers split the skies, the huge gardens smelled of freshly cut grass, flowers and trees. The ponds were surrounded by Summoners and Champions, some smaller filled with birds, others used for bathing.
The great, golden gates of the institute stood proud, the giant doors leading to the safest place on the continent were impenetrable. However, they were never closed, as they never needed to be. The institute, even though called after war, was a sign of peace. The Summoners were all ways fighting to protect peace, though not with weapons or spells, but with diplomacy and speech.
This serene picture could warm the heart of everybody, but one heart has been hardened and slowly turned to ice. And that heart would be the reason for what would follow.
Katarina, the Sinister Blade was silently hanging from a branch, looking into the room of one certain man, one with brown hair and fine skin, one with bulging muscles and determination equal to only those who could face him in combat and live. Garen, the Might of Demacia was calmly sitting on his couch and reading a book. Contrary to belief, he found joy in reading.
The red haired woman was silently observing the brown haired man, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head lazily, she noticed a purple hood looking back at her. It wasn't a summoner to her relief, but only Talon. She nodded to him and went back to looking at the Demacian.
"Katarina, I think you should be a bit more discreet about this... Stalking. I mean, everyone can see you hanging from this tree..." Said Talon, his voice lowered to a whisper. Katarina groaned and pulled herself up on the branch and looked down at Talon.
"Is that ok, mister secrecy?" Asked the emerald eyed beauty, clearly annoyed by her partner. He shook his head and left.
What a douchebag, thought Katarina, turning back to the window. Garen was still reading the book, however Katarina wasn't interested in it. She was eating, with her eyes, the sight underneath the book. Chiseled muscles, eight pack. She held a squeal inside as she thought of her body getting close to his.
She heard shouting, and turned around to look at the person who was at fault. The shouting was actually quite loud, so Garen closed his book and stood up. Fortunately for the redheaded assassin he didn't look her way, at least not before she dropped from the branch.
Katarina looked at a summoner, wearing purple clothes, shouting about murder. His robes were actually covered with red, but his hands weren't, so he hadn't done anything. A few Summoners rushed him and stoped him, trying to calm him down. A crowd started collecting around the man when he looked back at the door he came through and screamed,as if he had seen some daemon from the underworld.
The assassin turned to look at the door, and her eyes widened. She swiftly threw herself to the ground, and a little before she landed on the ground, and explosion deafened her, heat engulfed her body and a wave of air shot her forth. She collided with the wall, and her head became fuzzy. She lost consciousness soon after.
The master summoner of the league of legends, strongest and wisest of all Summoners, managed to shield himself with a barrier before the explosion destroyed him. He kept pumping the barrier with his mana, and it almost broke when the master summoner made a few holes in the ceiling and flew through the roof of his tower.
He kept flying up, but his eyes were looking at the tower he flew from and they were wide, as wide as he could open them. A mushroom of fire had engulfed the tower, the deafening roar of the explosion shaking the earth. He saw champions and Summoners running around. The champions were ready for battle, whistle the Summoners were panicking. Only the levelheaded ones were not.
The master summoner started falling, and he regretted not inventing s spell to fly.. however, before the old man could fall down and splatter in a mess of blood and bones, he was caught by two strong hands. Looking up, he saw the helm of the judicator looking down at him.
"Are you all right, senior summoner?" Asked Kayle, her voice calm and steady. She was born for battle so the old man could relate this to her leveled head. However, he wasn't made for this and barely nodded.
"What is going on, might I ask? This is no failed experiment, also it is not Ziggs. Said yordle is not going to blow up the main tower for no reason. Who could've done this?" Asked Kayle, and this time, the old summoner felt fear in her voice.
"I do not know, judicator, but believe me, once we find him, he will be punished." Answered the master summoner, clenching his fist.
Soon after this he was brought down to the ground, and he witnessed firsthand what the explosion had caused. Dead bodies, burned bodies, bleeding bodies, stabbed by shrapnel. The master summoner's mouth fell agape. What was going on?
A group of champions and Summoners ran to him. The Summoners were seniors, while the champions were the leaders of the nations. Swain was walking on his cane, or more like using it to jump forth. Jarvan was running, in full battle garments. As he and Tryndamere were both coming, but the latter was burned and bleeding on a few places, while the queen was only dirty. Irelia and Karma were relatively unscathed.
"What is going on?" Almost shouted Swain, attempting to keep his head clear of the chaos. The master summoner looked at the Noxian leader and noticed how bird was frantically flying in circles around him.
"Are we under attack?" Jarvan shouted, his eyes narrowed.
"What did the Noxians do this time!" Roared Irelia, her eyes burning with fury. The master summoner tried to calm them down.
"Calm down please! We are not being attacked by an enemy, this was an insider's doing..." Said Kayle, managing to shock everyone, including the master summoner. "I scoured the skies and looked down when the explosion happened. No one was moving towards the institute." Explained Kayle. Swain's hand shot down to his belt and took out a small bottle of wine. He quickly chugged it, drank it and dropped it on the ground. His face seemed to relax.
"Well then, I will be telling you something. I have nothing to do with this, and probably neither do you. I think this was either Brand, somehow, or it was someone with incredible power... Maybe even a terrorrist." Suggested Swain, making Irelia lower her finger.
"Well then who could it have been?" Asked Ashe, her voice lowered to a whisper. Her eyes were still wide, she was affraid. Tryndamere hugged her, to make her fears go away.
"I know who it was!" Shouted someone from behind them, revealing a bruised and beaten, burned and bleeding Renekton. He was surrounded by his funnel of sand, and frankly, seemed pretty sane. His eyes had lost their red glow and there was only a celurean blue in them.
"What? Renekton, how did you get fre-"
"I was next to the cell which caused the explosion, summoner..." Interrupted Renekton. The master summoner sent white. "It was a summoner... He went into Brand's cell. I saw his hand go into b
Brand's chest and... BOOM." Explained the reptile. "Nasus was in the ce with me, but the summoner probably engaged him in a fight. I freed myself from the weakened chains and tried to follow my brother, with the intent to aid in his death, when I suddenly felt... Something wash over me. I think it was my sanity, as I realised there was no chance I would kill Nasus. But then I turned and got out of the dungeon, because half the building had already fallen on top of me!" Finished the demigod.
"Nasus... He should be alive. I've fought him, his siphoning strike almost broke my shield, which is impenetrable, and he was holding back. He is the only champion that can kill absolutely everyone with only one hit, so he should be alive. The summoner stood no chance, in my opinion..." Replied Kayle. It was true, Nasus's siphoning strike had stacked so many souls that it could split the earth in two. There was no way anyone would survive his attack.
"You know, I think she's right. whoever was guilty, is probably dead." Replied Tryndamere, finally voicing his opinion. They were about to agree, when a body fell in the center of their small circle. It was a fur covered body, one which looked like a human. A little after the body fell a staff, and shortly after fell a jackal's head. Everyone looked up and saw a figure, wearing black, floating in the air above them.
"You are wrong."
Chapter 2
Garen's eyes snapped open, revealing a battered wall behind him. He looked around, feeling blood pour into his eyes. His forehead was probably injured, and he groaned painfully as he slowly stood up. In front of him was Hell on earth. Things were burning, there was a falling building, but thankfully for the Demacian it wasn't falling in his direction. He doubted that he could avoid this one in his current condition.
He heard a low groan somewhere beneath him, and the Demacian started looking around frantically. After a little bit of searching, he found a body which was half buried by the stones. But he recognized the person instantly, hue to her red hair and black clothes. He swiftly kneeled next to her and placed a hand on her neck. There was still a pulse. He looked down at her legs and winced. Her left leg was crushed, while her right one was barely scratched.
She groaned again, and Garen nodded to himself. He went over to her left side and started removing the stones, one by one. He finally removed them, and revealed her leg. One fourth of it was completely crushed. And that meant her foot was not going to be usable any time in the future. He pulled her body in his arms and started carrying it, bridal style.
He felt her pulse, even if barely, she was alive. Looking around, Garen's eyes hurt at the destruction. The building toppled over with a painful crash, resulting in screams coming from the multiple casualties, no doubt. The Demacian looked at his way, and notciced corpses. Most notable was a dark haired woman with a once red armor. Irelia's charred body was lying on the ground, surrounded by Summoners and a little, black ball. Upon closer inspection, Garen realised that this was actually a certain poro, with a moustache.
He felt tears welling up in his eyes. Everyone loved that poro. And now the poor little guy was... Was burned. He blinked multiple times, trying to avoid the tears. This was no time to cry. He had to find a healer, to fix up Katarina or him.
All of a sudden, something flew from a wall to another, breaking nothing in the process. It was followed by a figure wearing black robes, burning at the edges. Garen gulped and tripped, managing to spin to the side and fall on his back, protecting the Noxian woman.
What was going on? Were they under attack, and if so, by whom? Was it the void? The shadow isles? Aattox?
"Garen, thank god you are all right!" Someone said. The Might of Demacia turned and saw Darius, running towards him. Strangely, the other man was wearing no armor and ha donly his axe in his hands.
The Hand of Noxus reached the Demacian and offered help, which Garen gladly accepted. Handing over the Noxian assassin to Darius, Garen found himself feeling extremely tired. Darius, reading Garen's expression, pointed to the Demacian's left hand, and as Garen looked, he noticed a scary wound, bleeding steadily.
"Follow me. We should get to the safe house, you have no idea how happy I am I found you!" Whispered Darius, and took off. Garen followed after his rival, unaware of what was going on.
After a little bit of traveling through the ruins, the duo heard a loud crash. Garen looked up and saw the roof of a far away building coming down. The Demacian's eyes went wide when he saw a figure falling with the roof. Two followed, though they seemed to be in a fight.
"We are here. I'll ask you to remove you armor, because making any kind of noises could result in our deaths. He's dangerous..." Whispered Darius, slowly opening a small door, hidden by a stone. Garen looked at it, only to notice Draven. The latter was pale, his grin was gone and his hair had black on it.
As the Demacian swiftly removed his armor, placing it down as carefully as he could, he noticed that Draven's right hand was missing. Just... Gone. More than three fourths of his arm was gone, what was left was bandaged with purple cloth. Draven noticed and lowered his head, as if ashamed.
"Come on, if you are ready get inside." Whispered the Executioner, allowing Garen to enter. When the Might of Demacia came in the 'safe' house, he realised it was not a safe house.
The whole place was just a bunch of rooms, partially affected by what was going on outside. There were three more doors, leading into other rooms. The man room, in which Garen was standing, was the place where those who were hiding were hiding.
He looked around, trying to recognize the champions who were there. First of all, he noticed Miss Fortune, sitting in the corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest. Her clothes were dirty, her hat was gone, and she seemed to be whimpering.
Another one he recognized was Taric, who was wearing his armor. Suspiciously, the Gem Knight was relatively calm, but there were a few blood stains on his equipment. The moment Taric noticed Garen, the Gem Knight took a purple robe and ripped it apart, walked next to the Demacian and made an impromptu bandage around his left hand, in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Greetings, Garen, to our glorious hovel. Good thing you are alive, because we will need as much manpower as we can get, just to attempt the dig." Greeted Taric, making Garen wonder what was that dig he was talking about. But before he could ask, Darius came out of one of the other rooms and put a hand on Garen's shoulder.
"Well Garen, you s e lucky to be alive. Just so you know, half the Institute went to Hell. The other half is undergoing the journey." Said Darius darkly. Garen wanted to gulp, but he stopped himself.
"Who... Who did this?" Asked the Demacian, looking at the men in front of him.
"Well, we know that it was some... Summoner." Replied Darius, heavy guilt in his eyes.
"But why a summoner? And how did he have enough power to destroy half the Institute?" Asked Garen, feeling fear grip onto his stomach, turning it upside down. He had fought wars, but this was not war at all.
Then, a summoner came their way. His hair was pretty short, it was black, his eyes were black, and he had a short beard. He wasn't wearing his robes, so he showed a black shirt with green signs on it and a pair of dark blue jeans. They all knew him.
"Athene, how nice of you to join us. So, tell Garen here what the Hell is going on." Greeted Darius, pointing at Garen. Said Demacian didn't react, he just looked at everyone in the room.
"Well, it's pretty simple. Some guy went, he ripped out Brand's core, then he blew everything up, then he absorbed Nasus' power somehow, then started killing everything. End of story." Replied Athene, and Garen just now remembered who that man was.
Athene had been an A+ summoner, who was ranked Diamond one. He had the chance of going beyond that, and his skills were definately allowing him to do, but he claimed he didn't want to do it. Said it would be too much of a hassle. Shortly after he left the political games to other Summoners and went to... Other games. There was a popular card game which he became a god at, but no one cared.
"But... Why would he do that." Everyone turned to look at Miss Fortune, who had lifted her head and was looking at them. Garen saw her eyes which used to be lit up by something were now filled with fear and terror. She was afraid, and dint bother hiding it.
"We don't know." Replied Taric. "And I think none of us even knows the summoner we are speaking about. I mean, if we wanted to know why he did it, we need to know him first, right?" Added the Gem Knight. Most of the group nodded in agreement.
"I... I think I know him..." Everyone looked at Darius, question in their eyes. "I mean, never met him in person, but I used
to be summoned by him a real lot a few months ago. But... He stopped summoning me a few months ago." Finished the Hand of Noxus. Everyone was surprised.
"But you don't know him. And he also stopped summoning you... How many months exactly?" Asked Miss Fortune. Garen was surprised that she regained her bearings and was now leading something like an... An investigation.
"I know him." Announced Athene, startling everybody.