The Shadow Of Zaun

The Warning

           This was it, the deciding point of my life. To choose whether to stay at Zaun, or continue to grow at Piltover. And as much as it did hurt me, I chose Piltover. I didn't want to be caught in another situation where I was too powerless to do anything. So after hearing news of a scientist trying to crack the idea of arcane magic, I thought that maybe this was the break I needed. The thing that was going to get me at the top, to harness my magic with the skills that even the best desired. But I knew if I wanted to achieve that, then I would have to leave it all behind. It was the main reason I left Krug with Powder, or Jinx, She will always be stuck between the two no matter how much she would deny it. I wanted to leave her with something to remember me by, at least until I saw her again. She's never going to forgive me, but I don't need her too. I just need her to know that no matter how much she or any of my family hates me, I will always be there to help them, even if they don't want it.

The bright streets of Piltover, truly an obnoxious place, everyone around here was rich, at least to the people of Zaun, but to the residence of the upper side, there couldn't be a bigger gap than there was now. Yet all seemed quiet, nothing out of the ordinary, the citezens going about their mundane day to day tasks. Some taking pets on a walk, others taking a relaxing stroll. And still, one man seemed out of sync with it all, he looked the part, but the wonderous and amazed look on his face just didn't fit right, especially when put next to the serious and prestigious looks resting on the others.

And of course someone caught onto this. Feeling a light tap on the shoulder made him turn and look at the person responsible. Looking at him he could notice immediatly the limp, it looked so bad that even without him walking he could tell he had one, the Cane also helped. The formal attire, the tidy brown hair, yes, he was deffinatley from around here. "You look lost my Friend, is there anything I could help you with?" The man asked, "Yes actually, I'm looking for a Jayce Talis, I believe. Do you happen to know where to find him?" he asked back. "Why yes actually, if you follow me, I can show you where he is." He said before turning around and walking in a different direction.

"So, why is it you wish to see him?" The man asked walking next to him. "Oh, well I heard about what he was studying and realised I could help so to say." he answered with all seriousness in his voice. "Oh really, and how may I ask, do you plan to help him?" he asked once more, yet there was no sign of any emotion except pure confusion, there was no hint of doubt to his words, he genuinely wanted to know how he was going to accomplish this. "I would rather I leave that talk to me and Jayce if you don't mind." he answered.

"Well then that seems reasonable. And I forgot to ask, what may your name be?" he asked looking over to him. "Shirou." he answered. "Just, Shirou?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. "Just Shirou." He responded. "You?" Shirou asked back. "I am Viktor, Just Viktor." he answered as well. "It's lovely to meet you Viktor." he said to him, but their conversation was cut short as they came to a stop in front of an all too familiar apartment complex "Nothings changed." Shirou muttered under his breath. "Pardon?" he heard Viktor ask beside him. "I said you guys like change." he recovered looking over to him.

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"You said he'd be here correct?" Shirou asked looing away from the chalk board. "No, this is where you could find him. And he should be here soon. I notified him of your meeting you wanted." Viktor told him whilst sitting down in the nearest empty chair. "Do you know him on a personal Level?" he asked again. "You could say that, I'm his partner in Inventing." He answered making Shiou snap his head in his direction. "I see that's news to you." and right as he said that, the door to the apartment had opened and in walked Jayce himself. "So, whats this all about?" Jayce asked walking in. "My friend here said that he may be able to help with our study of the arcane arts. Or from what little research he has done, I hope that is the case."

"In a way yes." Turning their heads to the door that Jayce entered, they caught sight of a boy no older than fifteen. Wearing clothes that looked nothing like someone from Piltover would wear. Brown and scruffy hair with Peicing grey eyes. Looking over to the man from before, they watched as he dissapeared into grey particles. "You wish to study Arcane energy, I need more of it. And I though we could help eachother reach our goals. Either way I was going to get my hands on those... What do you call them, Hex crystals. But this way even you get something out of it." he explained walking back over to the chalk board.

"You can manipulate the Arcane energy in Hex crystals." Jayce said with a dumb smile on his face. "More like, I can manipulate the Arcane energy inside of me and the crystals give me a power boost." he told them pulling out a dull grey crystal from his pocket and handing it to Jayce. "Fascinating.". "How come the board hasn't changed?" Shirou asked not turning his head to face them. "What do you mean?" Jayce asked in confusion. "It hasn't changed in three years." he answered. "In three years. How would you know what it looked like three-" And just like that, it all clicked. "YOU WERE THERE THAT DAY. WERE YOU THE CAUSE OF IT!!" Jayce shouted grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up.

"Chill out, you should be thanking me." he said with a relaxed smile. "THANK YOU?!?!", "You're welcome.", "YOU ALMOST COST ME MY LIFES WORK!!", "Yes but instead it boosted it forward and now look at you, one of the most respected scientest, all because he made magic do a thing." Shirou mocked with a smirk "I didn't just make magic 'do a thing' I kept it in a stable manner, one that we are still trying to harness." he said staring Shirou down with a fierce glare. "You mean we, right."

Turning around he looked to see a confused expression on Viktors face. "Right. We. Sorry." he said slowly putting Shirou down. "Let's not forget that my body keeps the arcane energy stable 24/7. So what you spent your whole life trying to accomplish, I've managed to do by simply existing." Shirou said with a smirk. "So what, you think youcan just waltz in here and demand to take my...our stuff. Are you trying to make me angry?!" Jayce asked with a glare. "Yeah."

Jayce looked ready to throw a punch at this point, but was quickly stopped by Viktor putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Why is it you went through the trouble of getting here if all you were going to do was try to start a fight?" Viktor asked, still very much confused. "With the way things are going I only gotta press a few more buttons and I'll have that fight. But I wanted to give you the option, work with me and we help eachother, or I cripple your supply of those crystal and only I win."

"What about the choice where we turn you over to the authorities and we win?" Jayce asked smugly. "Oh but you won't do that." Shirou responded with his own smug grin making Jayce slowly drop his. "Why not?" Viktor asked, now concern was all across his face. "Because I am a walking bomb!! You've seen what those crystals do. And I'm a walking powerhouse of arcane energy, now imagine if I just let it all out. You Topsiders would lose it's two greatest scientest and they'd document it as some freak accident!!" He shouted, a crazed look in his eyes. "We wouldn't want that now would we?" He asked them.

"Where did you say you were from?" Jayce asked out of the blue. "I didn't, but it doesn't matter so I'll tell you, I'm from the Undercity." He told him, watching all form of trust as little as it was, drain away from Jayce was pleasant to watch. "Not a chance, the fact that you threatened me was something I could maybe look past. But you're from the Undercity. Not a chance, all you people know how to do is lie and steal. And I want nothing to do with it!" he shouted trying to grab Shirou. Stopping in his tracks as he heard the soft voice behind him.

"But I'm from the Undercity."

YOOOO Jayce, Viktor and Shirou meeting face to face, bet ya didnt see that coming. Or you did I really have no idea. Hope you liked the Chapter, see you in the next one.