"You underestimate the resilience of mortals sister. Our mother fell in love with one for a reason."~ Morgana, The Fallen
I will add pics of the Darkin just because they look sick as fuck. Don't know if I can do the rest though.
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"Both armies are almost at the battlefield." Zaahen relayed.
"Oh! He can see! What a surprise!" Caalyx muttered.
Zaahen looked at him with something akin to sadness and pity and then turned around and left.
"Get the others ready as well!" Caalyx called after him. His sole eye turned to Gregori. "Its time."
Gregori nodded.
He was ready.
He could make out the forms of the Darkin Aatrox led in the distance and he could also see Xolaani flying toward them as well.
The two armies would clash here soon.
It was a pretty good plan to get the two armies to meet here....
By gathering as many Darkin as they could in this battlefield, the combined energy was like a beacon gathering everyone to the same spot.
And the two armies marched here without a single hiccup.
He did not doubt for one moment that they did not know that there was something wrong with this place. They knew. For sure.
But the thing with the Darkin was that.... they did not care.
They were immortal. They had lived longer than anyone and were sure to outlive anything that could happen to them here. Plans mattered nothing in front of unstoppable might.
And that mentality brought then here. It was not overconfidence or anything like that. It was the comfort that came with knowing that in the face of pure strength nothing is equal. Nothing these mortals could do would ever affect the Darkin. Nothing.
But there was a silver lining. Aatrox could only reach a few of the Darkin. Four others to be precise.
And Gregori could confidently state that their side had a large majority of the Darkin. He had managed to gather five on his own that number had jumped to seven the moment he landed in Ionia and the number had only gone up from there.
Quite a few of the Darkin were sealed across the sands of Shurima. And with the return of Azir and the SunDisc, Aatrox couldn't step into the sands without alerting Azir and starting an all out battle which he would eventually lose..... after all Targon and the aspects would participate as the treaty between the Ascended and the Aspects still held.
And those Darkin still sealed across the desert?
He had gotten to them already.
"His group is pretty powerful." Caalyx commented.
The statement was not false.
The few Darkin, he had managed to collect were all capable in combat. And they were all fully ready for battle.
He could see them in the distance after all. And quite a versatile group they were.
Anaakca. The Great Warrior.
The Darkin he should have faced in Freljord. He was lucky in that sense. If he had come earlier then Anaakca wouldn't have been the only Darkin he would have had to face. Aatrox would have been there too.
The face of his abnormally flat connected to his glowing intravenous torso. Wings protruded from along the sides of his arms, with blades sprouting along the edges. His scaly bone covered legs ended with three pronged claws.
But that wasn't what got his attention. His spear. His spear towered over him, almost twice his own height. The shaft of the spear was the same size as the many edges of the spear itself.
"It looks different from your memories." Gregori frowned.
Caalyx grunted, "Freljord. It has changed the nature of the magic holding him. But it looks almost like...."
""True Ice.""
"The Darkin's corruption from the Voidlets us adapt to our seals after a period of time." Caalyx commented, "Can't touch it then."
Gregori couldn't help but noting, "Its shape... its oddly similar to Drakebane."
Drakebane. Jarvan IV's spear/lance. One of Demacia's most famed weapons passed down from ruler to ruler.
"Weapons have references Gregori." Caalyx spoke, "Someone must have seen it in the Darkin attack on Demacia and then built the design. Though the differences seem to be a quite striking, it can be chalked up to the design being changed in order to suit their needs of slaying wyverns and dragons."
"What about the dog?" He asked.
"Seems to be Naafiri.." Caalyx muttered, "Always knew she was a bitch."
Gregori rolled his eyes at the comment.
"The host doesn't need to be human Gregori." Caalyx said, "Any creature with blood will do."
"So a dog."
"No." Caalyx replied, "A pack of dogs. Shuriman breed... it looks like. Makes sense since she was sealed there. At least she suits her name now. A hundred dagger cuts akin to a hundred dog bites."
Naafiri, The Hound of a Hundred Bites.
Gregori squinted, "One life. One host. Those are the rules." There were smaller dogs that came out from behind the leading dog, all sporting the same blood and bone.
"Rules are meant to be broken Gregori." Caalyx answered, "The pack acts like a hivemind..... I think. And we have already seen someone who has broken that rule haven't we."
"That was a special case." Gregori replied, "One surrounding the mysteries of the land he was sealed in."
"They." Caalyx corrected.
Gregori huffed.
The lead dog had daggers sprouting out of its sides, slowly moving in and out of the body. Bones completely covered the dogs, with only their feet and claws being flesh and daggers. Their faces were covered in an amalgamation of flesh and bone. Their teeth had been replaced with daggers as well.
The next Darkin was gigantic. Even bigger than Joraal. He towered over the advancing group. Both hands held the bony-jagged harpoon which was even larger than his body.
"That's a turtle." Caalyx commented, "Lucky fella."
Gregori turned to him.
"Ascended form was a turtle. Head and shell and everything." Caalyx answered. "Ibaaros was sealed in Bilgewater... sea-creatures coming in contact wouldn't be impossible."
Ibaaros, The Champion of Dunes.
And he did resemble a turtle. But the shell wasn't exactly there. It was more of a cascade of bones surrounding his body. Bones jutted out of his massive arms, their size reducing as they reached closer to his head. The head itself was turtle like, with a triangular maw. Horns grew out sideways like a straight axe from the top of his head.
Gregori nodded, seeing the resemblance.
"But what really bugs me is that one." Caalyx's eyes focused onto the final Darkin.
Taarosh. The Herald of the End.
The Darkin was not like the others. His halberd looked like an open maw with blood magic oozing out of it. His torso raised above his quadruped body like a centaur. Wing like flesh extended from his large legs that grew past his torso. A winding tail swung about behind him. Metallic armor covered his torso with two spike on the sides of his helm. In his other hand was a shield that covered the length of his torso, much smaller than his halberd.
"Why does Taarosh bug you?" Gregori asked.
Caalyx turned to him, "He was sealed in the Blessed Isles. That land is impregnable."
"What are the Blessed Isles?" Gregori asked back.
"WHAT?!" Caalyx shouted in shock, "The Blessed Isles? The Waters of Life? Nothing comes to mind?"
Gregori shook his head.
"The Blessed Isles have long fallen." Shen spoke from behind them.
"Everything is ready?" Gregori asked.
Shen nodded.
But Caalyx stayed in shock, "They have fallen?"
"They are called the Shadow Isles now." Shen explained, "What used to be a land of life.... is now a land of death. The dead rule over the islands. Wraiths. Ghouls. Ghosts and bones. The Sentinels fight against them but they are too few in number to do anything but hold them back."
"The land of life turning into one of death....." Caalyx muttered as sadness crept into his voice, "That is truly sad."
The sound of something being dragged behind them got them all to turn.
Greeting them was the sight of Zaahen, The Unsundered, pulling a large cart with a bunch of sealed weapons inside them. Beside him stood another Darkin.
Not Rhaast but another.
One who had listened to them as soon as they made contact.
Varus. The Darkin Bow.
His case was the special one Caalyx had mentioned previously.
Two souls and bodies as the host to one Darkin. But he retained his sanity over all these years. Not to underestimate the weight of the years but the combined might of the two lovers who served as his hosts had helped balance the madness within. His body looked like two halves of different men combined into one, with his hair combed behind. His arms were completely corrupted, like Gregori's, but they were coated in a purple magic. A purple bow hung from his hand. One that melded into his body.
Not red.
Purple.
"The Voidcan serve as fuel for the Darkin as well." He had stated.
That statement had given Gregori a lot of confidence.
And hope.
Inside the cart, were a bunch of sealed Darkin weapons. The ones Gregori had collected on his own, along with the ones sealed across Ionia. Shen had procured them from the Spirit Realm.
This was his plan.
An all out Darkin free for all.
To his left, leading her army, was Xolaani. The Bloodweaver.
And to the right, leading his own much larger force, Aatrox. The World Ender.
His wings flapped toward them, constructs of blood that hung like a cape from the appendages that sprouted from his shoulders. Flesh and bone pulsed through his body. A red glow blinking from within his chest, pumping blood throughout his body. His legs, covered in bone and metal-like armor. His left arm a mere imitation of one created by blood magic, his right arm covered in metal and bone holding onto his true self, a great sword as large as him, with a single unblinking eye in the center. On his head was a helm that curved upward like horns and the side curved outward. It wasn't a helm for protection.... rather one for intimidation.
"Throw the unsealed weapons onto the battlefield." Gregori commanded as he unwrapped the Darkin, leaving a small part of the wrapping attached for the Ionians to hold onto.
They had been moved to surround the battlefield while leaving the sides open. In order to herd the Darkin to the center and contain them.
"Its on you next Naga." Gregori muttered as he grabbed Caalyx. He nodded toward Shen.
Shen nodded but then held himself before giving him a deep bow.
Gregori smiled.
"She will play her part well." Caalyx reassured him. "We need to talk about you."
Gregori chuckled as he let himself merge with Caalyx one last time. His blood fueling the transformation.
As the transformation took place outside, Gregori found himself standing beside a strangely human looking Caalyx.
"A different sight from what I was expecting." Gregori said, "The bird head is missing."
"Ah the occasion called for it." Caalyx chuckled.
Gregori looked at him and then turned his attention to his body which stood in its fully transformed state, his shield gaining a single eyeball and the spikes beginning to spin around, "Your brother wouldn't believe what we are about to do..."
"Hopefully he finds it funny."
The two looked as both Zaahen and Varus transformed to their full states. Both losing their human-like bodies and transforming into constructs of blood and bone.
"I find myself feeling strangely talkative today." Gregori said with a smile.
Caalyx stared on in silence.
"But I do understand the reason why.... I have felt this way many times in those invasions I had carried out for Noxus." Gregori continued, "Death missions. Is that strange Caalyx? Staring death in the face. Having accepted it. But still wanting to live?"
"It is not... my friend." Caalyx answered solemnly, "You have much to live for."
Gregori laughed out loud. Not a small chuckle or a snort. A full bellied laugh.
"That is true. I would like to see my children grow up, be there for them. See them stumble their way through life as I have. Marry. Have children of their own."
Caalyx nodded, "And there is nothing wrong with that. But you need not worry about that one. Your children will not just survive Gregori. They will thrive."
"I know. I raised them. I know. I know. I know. But if we do not fight here.... then the world will not be safe.... for them."
"Sadly.... that is true."
"I know I have to do this... but why is it that I do not want to?" Gregori's smile began to fade as his eyes began to water.
"It must be done Gregori." Caalyx calmly persuaded.
"I know." He replied defeated. "I know." His hand shivered before reaching upward, toward Caalyx. "I am truly glad that I stumbled onto you my friend."
"So am I Gregori. It has been an absolute pleasure. You have brought me memories I will forever cherish. Thanks for the journey."
"I do not envy you Caalyx." Gregori said, a tremble passing through his voice.
Caalyx gave him a sad smile before holding his hand out. "But I envy you Gregori." He placed his hand in Gregori's and gave it a firm shake.
Despite the tears, Gregori gave him a curt nod and a smile. "Win." He said, receiving only a nod in reply.
Gregori Hastur closed his eyes.
And Caalyx, The Bane of the Celestials, opened his.
Two streaks of blood ran down his eyes.
"I truly envy you."