Bridging the Rift

by sincarnation

Chapter 1: Trouble in Paradise

Equestria 12:00am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Secluded Hill, Lupinia

“WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?” shouted Artemis as he appeared at the top of a grassy hill with a flash of light.

As he stood on the hill he could only look to the stars and listen, but the only sound he heard was the rustling of the grass in the breeze. This was the most recent in a series of heated arguments with Luna, and it was always over the same issue: the Griffon Kingdom. Since his return mentioning the Griffon Kingdom had become the quickest way to bring his blood to a boil, they took advantage of his absence to wipe out his subjects, family, and their culture. A large part of him desperately wanted to raze the country and everything in it to the ground, but Luna always protested otherwise saying she would be no better than Celestia if she allowed genocide to occur regardless of the country it was in. The frustrating thing was he couldn’t be angry with her, it was her same value of life that drew him to her initially.

“What else can I do? Do you really want me to just ignore that they decimated my country without provocation?”

“Another argument?” asked Vinyl suddenly.

“Yeah”.

“Uh you want to talk about it?”

“Still not ready to talk about it, probably won’t be ready to talk about it for a while.”

It would’ve been awkward discussing his revenge driven desire to commit genocide with anyone other than Luna or Celestia. Vinyl was a good friend, but she didn't have the perspective to understand what he was going through.

“Oh, well we are here if you ever need somepony to vent to,”

“Thanks Vinyl, it means a lot to know you and Octavia are there for me,”

“Look at you, how the mighty have fallen,” laughed familiar voice. “Our all-powerful King reduced to a sniveling mutt,” spat the strange voice.

Artemis recognized the voice immediately, but he couldn’t believe who it belonged to was still alive. As he looked over his head, he saw the voice came from a blurry shadow. As he focused he saw a large black wolf and covered in old scars, the most notable ones were across his face leaving him blind in one eye. The wolf was sitting on his hind legs, and contempt and bitterness in his voice were unmistakable, but he looked like he hadn’t aged a day since he last saw him.

“Lucian? Lucian Blackfang? But how?” stammered Artemis as he rolled to his feet.

“I never liked you, but I never doubted your love of the tribe. Then you go and prove me wrong by betraying us all, when the tribe needed its leader most you abandoned us,” spat Lucian as he glared at Artemis.

“It’s not like that Lucian, I would never abandon the tribe. The tribe was the only family I had, and only one thing has ever been just as important to me, you know that.”

“Not only did you abandon us, but after the fact you won’t even avenge us. I may have been bitter about your rule, but even I respected the how much fear the threat of your retaliation created. Now look at the sniveling cowardly dog you have become, you have been de-fanged, collared, and kept on a short leash. Always begging for freedom, but never allowed away from your master.”

“Really? You would level such insults at another wolf let alone your leader? Well come closer, I can show you what happened to my fangs. Better yet I can show you how short my leash is while I’m at it,” snarled Artemis as he pounced.

Artemis flew over the top of the hill trying to grab ahold of arrogant wolf before him but, when he landed he was surprised to find nothing in his claws. He swore he was right on target, but still he didn’t feel anything as he flew. Could Blackfang gotten that fast in absence? He turned to see Lucian standing atop the hill looking down on him.

“I see no other wolf here, only a pathetic traitorous mutt. Come on doggie, show me how long your leash is,” mocked Lucian as he disappeared over the top of hill.

Without another word, Artemis sprinted after him.

Valoran 12:00pm, 2nd of December – Institute of War Summoner's Quarters

“Don’t worry officer, I brought the fuzzy cuffs this time,” moaned a groggy voice aloud.

“He better wake up from this so we can kick his ass,” laughed another voice.

“If Nocturne can’t wake him nothing can,” responded a 3rd feminine voice.

“Darkness? Wait, I’m under arrest? But officer what do you mean by your partner? Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that. PLEASE NOT THE FACE!” shouted the sleeping victim as he suddenly bolted upright.

He looked around his room and was conflicted. On one hand the sexy sheriff of his dreams was absent, but her wild punch happy partner wasn’t about to introduce his face to her fists. However he did notice the two other summoners in his room.

“Hey Jevitz, sounds like you had a pretty bad dream bro. I know that’s a really shitty way to start your morning, but if you don’t get your ass in gear I will plant my foot there,” smiled the mildly irritated male.

“Henry? Gem? Why are you guys in my room? How did you get into my room?” asked Jevitz groggily. He wasn't particularly close to either of them, and they were both towards the top of his short list of peers not to piss off.

Henry grew up as an orphan in Noxus, and the Noxian ideas of strength did him no favors growing up. Weakness was not tolerated, and to survive he developed a strangely disarming positive attitude with a much crueler undertone. As soon as he discover his magical abilities he began extorting money from everyone he could, with a smile on his face the entire time. However his natural talent with magic got him quickly noticed within Noxus and later he was recruited to be a summoner, and now he is largely considered a prodigy amongst his peers despite his dark nature.

Gem is a sweet girl born in Zaun, but she was unable to handle the pollution resulting from the city’s unchecked scientific experiments and manufacturing. Her parents sent her up north to the southern Freljord to live with her distant relatives in the much cleaner and friendlier Avarosan Tribes. During a raid by the Winter’s Claw, she inadvertently tapped into her dormant magical energy wiping out the raid but also her village. She was eventually brought before Queen Ashe, and contrary to what she expected the Queen personally ensured that she was accepted as a summoner for the League of Legends so she could learn to control her dormant power.

“My god you are dense, why they let you become a summoner is beyond me.”

“What he means is that you overslept … again, and Zac was passing by and he just stuck his hand in the lock for us,” answered Gem sweetly.

“Overslept? For what? ... OH CRAP THE BETA TEST! Did you do it without me?”

“No genius, we wouldn’t be here if we had. Oh that wasn’t a bluff earlier, I recommend you start getting ready quickly you have 10 minutes.”

“The test is supposed to start now, why did you wait so long to wake me?”

“You think we haven’t been trying? You were out cold, we had to get Nocturne to scare you awake. On that note you now owe Nocturne a favor, whatever he wants barring freedom because we needed his help.”

“Nocturne? Of course, that was going great until the darkness happened," shouted Jevitz from the bathroom. “Wait was I drugged? Was I the only one in here this morning?”

“When we came in you were alone like you always are,” answered Henry happily. “You should hurry up otherwise I might let those officers know about your dream.”

“You wouldn’t dare Henry. Gem please check the far right sock in my top drawer.”

“That depends entirely on you bro, the High Summoners aren’t going to be happy if this test goes wrong or is delayed too much. If you ruin this for us, who knows what I might say or do out of anger?”

“It’s empty.”

“FUCK ME.”

“Apparently not even in your dreams.”

“Just my luck, she robbed me. Fantastic but I don’t have time to deal with this,” groaned Jevitz as he lost his balance feeling groggy suddenly.

“Drugged? Are you ok? What happened last night?”

“I went to Graggy’s Bar, for some innocent observation not to get drunk.”

“Going to a bar to spy on/stalk the champions isn’t better than going to get drunk just so you know.”

“I met an amazing woman, I ordered us both a drink. We came back here, then nothing. I’m not minimizing it either, I ordered one drink for us both. I know how strong Gragas’s brews are, but strangely I can’t remember her face either. She was definitely gorgeous, but I don’t remember anything else about her.”

“Was she a champion? What drink?”

“I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been more nervous if she had been,” responded Jevitz sheepishly as they started to leave for the testing grounds. “Ummm I ordered uhhh the *cough* Grag and Drag”

“You are probably just making this up, but getting drugged the night before isn’t a good enough excuse to save you if you fuck this up for us.”

“That’s the weird thing though, I’m not making this up. I went there to observe a few champions, and opportunity rang and I answered the call. I should’ve known though, a woman that beautiful wasn’t interested in me and was only going to rob me.”

“Yeah you really should’ve seen that one coming,” laughed Henry.

“Think of it as karma for ordering Gragas’s strongest drink to try to pick up a woman for the night.”

“If you would’ve seen her you wouldn’t blame me for trying,she was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I love to watch idiots dig their own graves.”

“Literally or metaphorically?”

“First one then other preferably,” laughed Henry. “I was going to give you a shovel and a push in the right direction, but you seem content to do it by hand. I wonder how deep you are going to put yourself before you realize it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don't think too much about it. Anyway yesterday was the first of the month, so you went to Gragas's to watch Vi, Jayce, and most importantly Caitlyn,” smirked Henry as he looked at Gem who had been silent for a while. “What’s up with your strange Caitlyn obsession?”

“She single-handedly transformed my home from a crime ridden cesspool that rivaled Bilgewater to a safe technological marvel the whole world respects,” started Jevitz rehearsed ease. “She is not only the world’s greatest detective, but also sheriff of the police force, a master of eight different martial arts styles, and a master marksman. Not to mention she is easy on the eyes, has legs for days, and wears a mini skirt.”

Henry was absolutely dumbfounded; his normal happy demeanor had been replaced by incredulousness.

“Wow, I knew you could be dense at times, but this is impressively stupid. You are playing dumb right? You can't be this stupid and still be ranked higher than me. "

“Oh just shut up and keep moving, we are almost there.”

“And now she is pissed, 6ft under just wasn’t good enough for you huh?” laughed Henry as he matched her speed. “Just how deep will you dig yourself before you can’t get out?”

“Seriously what are you talking about?”

“Forget I said anything, start prepping yourself mentally. They are probably going to want you to start as soon as we arrive.”

“Yeah, I know I’ve been prepping for this for almost a year,” thought Jevitz.

As they barged into the room they were greeted by 18 other faces, ten champions and eight other summoners.

“Only 20 minutes late, could’ve been worse honestly,” thought Jevitz to himself as he walked up to the front podium.

“My apologies Summoners and Champions, I know everyone is very busy around this time, and I did not intend to waste the slightest bit of your time but there are formalities that must be addressed,” started Jevitz. “Thank you all once again for assisting us in our tests of the new Summoner’s Rift location. You will be taking part of our final tests of the location, and as a result you will be having a practice match in addition to the normal summoning tests. You will be summoned by one of the ten summoners in the circle which you have probably been paired with before. I am the anchor just in case, should anything go wrong you will be returned here safely. If there are any questions, blagh blagh blagh,” finished Jevitz as he threw away an imaginary notecard. “Most of you have been a part of the testing before, and all of you have been summoned before. If you have any questions let me hear them, otherwise let us get this over with before the High Summoners come and verbally kick my teeth in for being late.”

With no questions the summoners began their usual connections, each champion was connected to a summoner, and each summoner was connected to their other four teammates plus the anchor.

“Alright, then with everyone linked up I will begin the summoning process,” finished Jevitz as he closed his eyes suddenly feeling another wave of sickness coming.

As the other ten summoners mirrored his actions the room filled with a familiar blue light as the ten champions felt themselves be absorbed into the Aether. Most new champions get horribly nauseated from it, but for the most part they were all seasoned veterans of the league. They noticed immediately that something wasn’t right as the normally quick and smooth journey became a maelstrom of chaos. The blue light filling the room started to flicker and the air crackled with energy. A woman screamed, and before anyone could react they felt the champions disappear.

When everyone opened their eyes, the champions were gone, Jevitz was clutching his head, and Gem was unconscious. While all the scrutinizing eyes of his peers were on him, Jevitz tried to process what exactly had happened, but even trying to think sent searing pain through his skull.

“I don’t, what happened?” groaned Jevitz as he looked at his fellow summoners.

“YOU DON’T KNOW?” roared another summoner that was checking on Gem.

“8ft, can he go 10?” chirped Henry from the corner.

In a sudden flash of green a tall hooded figure appeared, and before they had said anything they had commanded everyone’s attention. Their power radiated in waves, and body language said this wasn’t a pleasant visit.

“High Summoner Kolminye? What brings you here?” cowered Jevitz as the pain in his head started to subside.

“12ft eh? How low can you go?"

Equestria 2:30am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Scarred Plains, Griffon Kingdom

Artemis followed through jungles, plains, and rivers for hours, and much to his dismay Artemis could not close the gap. It seemed no matter how fast he ran, Lucian was always that much faster even at his top speed Lucian stayed ahead of him. It didn’t make sense to him, could Lucian have gotten someone to enhance him with magic? It might’ve explained how he was still alive, but who would’ve done it? Artemis wanted answers and could’ve teleported to him easily but that would’ve been admitting defeat.

Both wolves continued until they burst from the trees into a foggy plain. The fog was thick, and the familiar smell quickly invaded Artemis’s nose: blood, metal, bone, and decay. It was the smell of war. Artemis looked down to realize the rock under his foot was actually the fragment of a skull. He realized he was standing in what used to be a battlefield. Shortly after Artemis noted there was something off about the area, the fog was think almost suffocatingly so and there was tangible malice emanating from everything. It was as if he was surrounded by an ocean of hatred, and the most unnerving thing was Lucian was nowhere to be seen.

“BETRAYER,” shouted a voice. “MURDERER, LIAR, DECEIVER, TYRANT, COWARD,” shouted voices from all directions.

“How could you abandon us?”

“You left us to die!”

“What did we do?

“We needed you!”

“Where were you?”

“Why?”

Thousands of voices all asking the same questions over and over echoed throughout the clearing.

Panic surged within Artemis as he realized he recognized most of the voices despite their distortion, he was hearing his pack. At that realization icy fear gripped his heart; he didn’t know how to begin answering them. He never intended to leave them, but still they were left alone. His entire tribe felt like he had betrayed them, and he wasn’t sure he could blame them. As the voices enclosed him, his will deserted him. Pride succumbed to panic as he turned tail and ran. Though he ran the voices never sounded any further away.

“I always knew you were weak,” laughed Blackfang. “That’s right run, run from your failures like the cowardly dog you are.”

Artemis did just that, he ran desperately trying to escape the voices that would not be silenced.

Author's Note:

The first of many, let me know what you think. As always criticism is appreciated.
Happy New Year