Equestria 3:30am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
The cold night air rushing through his coat, the moist earth between his claws, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins; they were all feelings Artemis sorely missed. There was nothing quite like the thrill of hunting and being hunted, and it was only made better by the fact that he didn’t know exactly what he was tracking. He didn’t dare explore the creature’s energy too much as a precaution against being discovered, but he imagined it wasn’t like anything from this world.
Artemis slowed down has approached the first spot he felt it land, and much to his surprise the only sign that something had landed were a few hoofprints.
“At the speeds they were hurtling down, there should be more of a crater here,” thought Artemis as he looked around the clearing. “Why are there hoofprints here? Could somepony else encountered it first?”
A slight pang of panic struck Artemis as he briefly considered the different explanations and how they were likely to turn out, and very few of them were good. He decided to follow the hoofprints and hopefully stumble upon the pony who had entered the area unknowingly, for the creature seemed to be in the same direction though he felt no other major sources of life. Oddly enough he was hearing a voice from the same direction.
He followed the trail as quickly as he could while remaining silent. The two things he noticed was that whatever had gone through previously had cut their way through with something sharp, and there was only one set of hoofprints.
“One of them is armed, and our visitor might be able to fly."
Artemis followed the path until he was able to see into the clearing, and he was surprised by what he saw. He saw a pale white unicorn wearing an undoubtedly ancient armor standing in front of what looked like a shrine to Princess Luna. He also noted that she carried strange curved blade that seemed unsuited for combat, but what was even stranger was that she closed her eyes and began to sing.
Ask not the sun why she sets
Why she shrouds her light away
Or why she hides her glowing gaze
When night turns crimson gold to grey
For Silent Falls the guilty sun
As dark does turn
One simple truth she dare not speak:
Her light can only blind and burn
No mercy for the guilty
Bring down their lying sun
Blood so silver black by night
Upon their faces pale white
Cruel moon, bring the end
The dawn will never rise again
“Interesting,” thought Artemis mildly disappointed as he realized the intruder he was looking for was likely the mare in front of him. “I assumed the intruder would be some grotesque monster, not a pony. I guess I should introduce myself,” sighed Artemis as he quietly approached the mare.
Valoran 6:30am, 3rd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, Outside the Hall of Reflection
Jevitz had seen the large ivory doors leading to the Hall of Reflection many times before, but this time he wasn’t here for anyone’s elses judgment but his own. The Hall of Reflection was where every summoner’s and potential champion’s future was decided, but unfortunately for him, his future had already been decided. He could’ve stood outside the doors for hours, but he still wouldn't have been any more prepared to pass through them. Unfortunately he didn't have the luxury of time or choice in the matter, as his escorts/guards pulled him into the chamber anyway.
The inside of the large circular chamber was mostly black with spots of bright light a beaming in from above around the edges, and directly in front of him was a large stone circle engraved with ancient writing embedded into the wall. As his eyes started to adjust to the darkness, he saw figures move into the light. Most of them were high ranking officials from the city-states of the champions and summoner involved, but there was no shortage of champions that also represented their home. He saw the Grand General of Noxus, the Queen and King of the Freljord, a Solari elder accompanied by Pantheon, and a well-dressed but bored looking official from Piltover.
The presence of the world leaders was surprised Jevitz, but it was more the matter of which ones showed up and which didn’t. The fact that Swain bothered to show was unsettling, but there was the off chance he was there to represent Zaun instead of Noxus since the two city-states were closely allied. There didn’t seem to be a representative from Ionia, but most of the elders of the council rarely left the Placidium. To his eternal gratitude it seems that no one from the Shadow Isles had deigned to show up.
As he finished that thought, he noticed Irelia step into one of the lights, her eyes still puffy and red from before. She fixed him with a look that was less accusatory than before, but she was still visibly upset. She was on the Ionian Council of Elders, and she was a champion so it made sense for her to be the Ionian representative.
Directly in front of Jevitz were the three High Summoners and Kassadin, who was without a doubt there to make sure nothing from the void slipped in during the process. It seemed like as soon as one of the High Summoners motioned to speak, the doors flew open and a noticeably irritated woman stepped in.
“This is such a waste of my time, there are so many other things I could be doing,” grumbled the woman loudly as she motioned to the High Summoners. “Hey let’s get this over with.”
“Patience, Battle Mistress,” responded one of High Summoners his voice much deeper than the others. “While it may have been more appropriate to have another ascended represent Shurima, we figured your unique situation might be just as fitting. Before we begin we are waiting for one more,” finished the High Summoner as the room suddenly grew bone chillingly cold.
“You humans are always surrounded by death, it is omnipresent and inescapable,” whispered a voice from the darkness. “I have been here the entire time, I never left your side.”
Jevitz watched in horror as the Deathsinger casually floated into vision, though he stayed from from directly beneath the bright light. He fixed Jevitz with a cold gaze and grinned, it was an action that shook Jevitz to his core. If Karthus was grinning it meant that the lich was certain he would be getting a new recruit to the Shadow Isles’s army of the undead.
“Ahhh yes, let us not keep our newest convert waiting.”
“Alright then now that we are all here,” started the 3rd High Summoner that seemed more casual than the other. “You all know Jevitz here, he is responsible for causing each of your respective City-States a grave loss. While we are unsure of the exact nature as to what happened, we know that the champions were thrown into the Aether without direction or guidance. There is a very real possibility that he did this malicious act in an attempt to undermine the League and raise the tension between City-States as there was a notable slant when comes to those champion’s allegiances.”
Jevitz eyes went wide as he heard the accusation; they thought he did it intentionally. His heart sank, and he thought of the strange woman that visited his cell. Despite the cuffs still silencing him, he tried to plead and scream to get their attention. They needed to know the truth, even if they still decided to send him into the Aether. There was someone behind this, and the summoners were likely playing into their hands. He wasn’t sure if it was lucky or not, but Kolminye noticed his increased struggling.
“Speak carefully, for this may be the last time you talk to anyone for a long time,” said Kolminye with a snap of her fingers.
“Please,” rasped Jevitz hoarsely. He was surprised by the sound and the pain, but he figured he must’ve screamed himself raw over the course of the night. “The woman, she came back to my cell. Right before the guards came. She said that I was going to die. That all this, was for the good of Valoran.”
Kolminye’s face lacked the frustration and irritation she displayed before, but it had been replaced by a sad pity. She looked directly into his eyes for a few moments before she sighed and began to respond.
“Jevitz enough, we have eye witness testimony. Jarvan, Garen, and Xin Zhao were in the bar for their regular guy’s night and they all told us the same thing, you entered the bar to do your usual spying on the Sheriff of Piltover. You sat down then after a short while you ordered two drinks and started having a conversation with yourself. We didn’t take their word at face value, we checked and their memories support their story. In accordance to what I told you the other day, you will be sent out to correct your wrong by finding the champions or dying while trying,” finished Kolminye as she kept her gaze locked on Jevitz.
“Is this agreeable to the representatives?” asked the deeper voiced summoner.
The vote was unanimous though they each had differing reasons. Irelia, Ashe, and the Piltover representative hoped Jevitz would return with the champions, while the Solari Elder and Karthus hoped that he would die out in the Aether. Swain, Sivir, and Trynd largely didn’t care one way or the other, but they voted to send him for the sake of time.
As the vote finished, two other High Summoners opened a portal within the large stone ring, it was a swirl of every color imaginable and a few beyond the spectrum. It crackled with power as the runes around the circle lit up, occasionally a bolt of energy or appendage would poke though only to be immediately stopped by the Riftwalker. The two guards that had brought Jevitz into the chamber had also began moving to grab him, and they were surprised by his lack of resistance.
For Jevitz time slowed to a crawl, he was having trouble accepting what he had heard even as he was being dragged to his uncertain future. They said the woman was never there? But he had just saw her, he knew she existed. Why didn’t they remember her? He knew he had heard her voice, but why didn’t anyone else?
“WAIT SHE IS REAL!” screamed Jevitz as he neared the portal. “CHECK MY MEMORIES! PLEASE CHECK MINE!”
“That is unnecessary Jevitz, memories can easily be forged by someone skilled in the art. You tell me what do you think is easier? Taking down three powerful champions of the league and forcefully altering their memories, or ambushing a far weaker summoner and making it so that he never remembered the event occurred?” responded Kolminye slowly. “No, there is no need to expose ourselves by checking your mind. Whether or not you maliciously acted on your own or you were manipulated matters not at this moment, now you need to retrieve the champions you lost."”
Jevitz was stunned, her logic made sense, but he knew that he wasn't lying. If they wouldn’t check him for what he knew to be true, he had to think of something. Who would benefit from the loss of champions? It seemed like the type of plan Noxus would use, but even they took a loss in the accident. Ionia and Piltover arguably had taken the greatest hit, and he doubted they would come up with a plan that involved crippling themselves. The Freljord was in the middle of a civil war, and it wasn’t likely that any side would divert enough attention to pull this scheme. Bilgewater and the Jungles weren’t the types of places this scheme would come from. The Shadow Isles? None of the other Shadow Isles champions seemed particularly bothered by their loss, and he doubted they would use a tactic like this, they thought themselves unstoppable. The yordles? No most of them are far to impulsive, but WHO?
The guards had dragged Jevitz before the portal, and he looked out at all the representatives. He was frantically searching for a viable answer, and each second only brought him close to despair. As they uncuffed and lifted him up, the answer sucker punched him in the gut. They were the ones who damned him, they were the only major city-state completely unaffected with the motive to do so.
He tried to grab something, anything, to prevent him give him being sucked in, but there was nothing to give him a hold. With his last breath on Valoran, Jevitz screamed out of sadness, out of anger, out of frustration. He watched as the world he knew slipped out of his reach, and he found himself in a maelstrom of chaos.
Equestria 3:45am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
“Daylight’s End,” thought Diana wistfully as she gazed at the moon.
Those words originally steeled her resolve, but as time went on the effect diminished each time. Images of Leona flashed into her mind, and she wasn’t sure what she truly wanted. Revenge? Recoginition? Happiness? Validation? Acceptance? Maybe it was her uncertainty that had lost her the favor of the moon.
“Shame that such a beautiful voice sang such a sad song,” rumbled a deep voice from directly behind her.
Diana panicked, years of training and constant vigilance had made her jumpier than she would’ve liked to admit. She reflexively lashed out behind her with her blade, but she was surprised when the blade came to a complete halt.
“Hmmm well that certainly settles it. Your first reaction to fear was to swing to kill, you definitely aren’t from Equestria.”
Diana’s went wide as she laid eyes on the massive werewolf like creature with her blade in his claw. For the briefest moment she thought it might be Warwick, but she quickly dismissed that notion noting that their body structure, voice, and demeanor were completely different. She tried to pull the blade back, but with her current limited strength it wouldn't budge. Instead she just opted to let it go and address the monster instead.
“Equestria? Where is that, I’ve never heard of it."
“Equestria is the current world power southeast of the Griffon Kingdom, north of the Feline Nation Eswyn, and East of the Lupinia Wolf Tribes,” answered the wolf casually as he examined both the blade and the slight cut in his hand. “Impressive strength for a unicorn, you managed to break my skin even if only slightly.”
“What joke is this? I’ve heard of none of those countries, where is Valoran? I’m not a unicorn either, I’m human.”
“Hu-man? You look like a unicorn to me. What is a human?”
“This isn’t my normal body, a group of idiots transformed me into this. What do you mean what is a human? Where is Valoran? ANSWER ME!”
“I will excuse your disposition one time, but only because you have no idea the situation you are in,” started the wolf as his attitude turned grim. “My name is Artemis, and you are trespassing in my country, our world. I came here personally to assess the situation and to exterminate anything I deem a threat to this world. This means if you don’t correct that attitude and convince me you aren’t here to cause trouble, I’m going to turn you into a crater.”
Diana wanted to give in to the incredible urge to talk and strike back, but she thought better of it. She was in a foreign land, in a strange body without her full powers, before a self-proclaimed leader/ruler that didn’t recognize her as a champion of the League of Legends. Judging from the wolf’s shift in demeanor, she knew if she wasn’t careful the situation could turn for the worst very quickly. So instead she opted to stay silent for now.
“That’s better,” smiled Artemis intentionally trying to irritate the strange mare. “It’s not that hard to be respectful is it? Now what’s your name, and why are you here?”
Diana scowled, but she bit her tongue. She hated having anyone talk down to her, even if she was obviously being baited into attacking. The elders had talked down to and degraded her the entire time she was with the Solari, and she had promised never to let it happen again. She thought of how she had handled the elders, and she decided that once everything was back to normal the wolf would suffer the same fate.
“I am known as Diana, the Scorn of the Moon, and a group of fools transformed me sent me here by mistake I think.
Artemis saw her reluctance to answer, and the scowl she gave him earlier. She had her pride, but she wasn’t so foolish as to attack someone in their own territory. However he remembered earlier when he had startled her, her first response was to swing in such a way that would have decapitated most creatures. In fact now that he thought about it, her weapon and armor reeked of blood both ancient and recent. Not that unusual for weaponry or armor honestly, but it was troubling none the less.
“Scorn of the Moon?” questioned Artemis warily.
“I am the last of the Lunari, a group that were betrayed and wiped out by their Solari sisters and I take vengeance for them,” explained Diana matter of factly. She had long ago decided against hiding the truth the way the Solari did, and she was willing to face the consequences of that decision.
“Betrayed by the sun after finding solace in the moon? Believe me I know how that feels. Alright then Diana, let’s just say I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. What is your goal here?”
Diana was surprised by his sudden change in demeanor, she saw genuine understanding in his eyes. It wasn’t uncommon for her to see pity from the few who that knew fragments of her past, but genuine understanding was something very rare. Regardless she knew exactly what her goal was, to get back home and go off on the summoners that sent her wherever she is now.
“I’m just looking for a way back to the Institute."
Artemis knew the problem with that goal, but he decided to keep that to himself for now. There was no reason to give out that information, and it might make her less inclined to go along with him. His primary assessment was that this mare was incredibly dangerous, but he wasn’t sure she was a necessarily a threat. She seemed to have no qualms about killing, but she also had enough restraint to control herself. He would need more information before he could decide whether or not to destroy her or have her meet with the other world leaders.
“Since you have been cooperative I guess I should give you more information about your current situation. Rulers here don’t just greet every creature that crosses into their territory personally; I came to survey you because you are an anomaly. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your “fools” sent you to an entirely different world. The Valoran place and the humans you speak of don’t exist here.”
His words hit her like hammer, knocking the air from her lungs. She wasn’t quite sure what to think, it would explain why neither of them had heard of the countries the other mentioned and it might explain why the moon here wasn’t answering her calls. There was always the possibility that this was someone of sick joke played by the summoners, a joke that would be their last if that was the case, and finally there was the chance that this wolf had just been lying to her the entire time.
“What do you mean by other world?”
“There are an infinite number of worlds, each fundamentally different in some way. For example there is another world somewhere out there in which your people weren’t betrayed, and there is a world for every other possible variation. I’m guessing the shift in our worlds occurred much earlier in history, and that is probably why there is such a big difference."
“How do you know this?”
“I have been alive a long long time. In that time I have conversed with the greatest scholars and magicians this world has seen, and the greatest of them all, Starswirl the Bearded, did a lot of traveling between worlds against our recommendations.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I don’t lie. I can be deceptive no doubt, but I don’t lie. I have no reason to lie to you anyway. I don’t care for material goods, so I’m not out to rob you, I can’t imagine you have anything exceptionally valuable on you from your journey anyway. If wanted to kill or capture you I would’ve done so before you had noticed my presence while you were singing. Lastly what other choice do you have? The Griffon King will destroy you when he finds you, and trusting me is your best shot at survival.”
Artemis considered asking her about that song, but he decided against it. There would be time for that later, and right now she just learned how far away from home she really was. He could continue the analysis while they travelled.
“How can I get home then?”
“I’m not sure, but I have some friends that might be able to help. There is something I need to do before you meet them, but we should get there within a day’s journey. Do your best to keep up.”
“Fine,” scowled Diana as she started to walk towards him. “Do you know how to turn me back to my original form at least?”
“Uhhh I’m not sure what your original form looks like, and I’m not the greatest at polymorphing things. I know someone who is, and they probably could turn you back to whatever you were before. I will make sure to ask for him once we arrive."
“I’m not lying,” chuckled Artemis to himself mentally. He could’ve easily searched her mind for memories of what to return her to, and while he wasn’t the greatest at polymorphing that didn’t mean he wasn’t better than most at it. There were things he could measure while she was still in that body, and even if they weren’t completely accurate for her true form at least he would have a ballpark estimate while she was diminished.
“Alright then where and who are you taking me to?”
“We will be going to Equestria after a short detour along the way, and I’m taking you to meet the leaders of the country.”
"They won't try to kill me?"
"No promises, the last war was 800 years ago started by the griffons. This is a mostly peaceful land, and so long as you don't do anything that indicates you need to be destroyed, you won't be."
Without much of a choice, Diana reluctantly followed him through the forest. As they started she questioned what would happen to her and what would happen very few friends she had. She couldn't shake the feeling that she might never return home again.
Valoran 6:45am, 3rd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, the Hall of Reflection
The silence was deafening in the hall of reflections, but Jevitz’s last word were still echoing in the minds of everyone present. Everyone in the room was stunned, even those who were largely apathetic were now ambivalent towards the situation. Though the first to speak was Kolminye, but she only repeated the word they had heard last.
“Demacia?”