CHAPTER 1:

I looked down at the crumpled map in my hand, the bold "Institute of War" was etched in with red ink with a circle demonstrating it was just up ahead. I squinted in the blistering heat, up the dirt track a small carriage was trotting towards me, an odd little man sitting on the front.

"Excuse me sir!" I called out, waving the map in my hands. The man tensed, grabbing a hold of the reigns and picking up speed. The carriage zoomed past me, blowing dust into my face. I used my arm to shield my eyes as the dust settled, a thin layer covering my body. I looked in the direction of the carriage as the man stuck a finger up, flipping me off.

"Bastard" I muttered, dusting my clothes down. I continued walking in the direction of the institute, hoping that another, less aggressive carriage would come along. Unfortunately I had no such luck, the dusty road remained silent, nothing but the sound of gravel crunching beneath my feet. Under the blistering sun I began to tire quickly, sweat pouring down my face. Through the shimmering air I could see the Institute as it sat atop the crossroads. It would only take another 4 hours or so of walking.

"You there! Silly man!"

I turned around, hearing someone yell, it sounded vaguely Freljordian.

"Yes you!"

"Where are you?" I asked, twirling around in confusion at the invisible voice.

"To your left!" I looked over to my left, nothing but empty space.

"Walk forward!' he said, a head popped out of thin air, looking over at me with a smile. A moustache proudly presented just above his lip. I walked over to him, reaching towards his face as it disappeared. I reached in, and to my surprise my hand disappeared from view. The deeper my hand went in the more I felt tingly. With a jolt I felt someone grip my hand, yanking me forward. I fell down to my knee's looking at the cobblestone beneath me. I looked up, a large shirtless man was standing there, his hand extended towards me. Taking his hand he hoisted me up, putting me on my feet

"What is your name?" the man asked, clapping me on the back.

"It's Se-" I said as I looked in front of me. A cobblestone was laid out all the way to institute, vendors and shops alike littered the path way, people standing out the front of their stalls and selling various goods. The sun wasn't as strong in this magical pathway.

"Se?" he asked, chuckling.

"Seth, my name is Seth." I answered finally, taking in my surroundings.

"Good to meet you Seth!" he laughed heartily, stretching out his arm in an arc.

"You walk silly path" he said, slipping his hand back out as it disappeared.

"This path much better!"

"This one does seem to a lot less hot" I laughed, taking a step forward. The cobblestone was a god send, compared to the unforgiving gravel of the last path.

A commotion up ahead caught our attention as one of the vending stalls fell over, a women screamed as a masked man made away with a bag of goods.

"Hah!" the man laughed, reaching behind him to pick up a large door.

"Is that a door?" I asked. He looked at me, smiling.

"Of course its door!" he extended an arm around my shoulder, gripping the door and lowering himself to the floor.

"Braum is here!" he yelled, ascended into the air with me in tow. We landed just in front of the woman, a shocked look on her face. Braum?

"So your name is Braum?" I asked, shaking my head from the jump.

He nodded his head, extending his arm down to the fallen woman. She took his hand and he hoisted her up.

"The heart is the strongest muscle" he told her, kissing her hand. Her cheeks flustered as she reached up, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Man this guy is smooth.

"Let's get going!" he shouted to me, taking off after the masked man.

I ran after him, he was surprisingly fast for such a large man, especially with the added weight of his door.

"So why do you carry around a giant door?" I asked, running alongside him.

"Hah!" he yelled back hefting the door in his hand.

"It not just door"

I looked back at him, a vacant expression on my face. We turned around the corner, seeing the man running down a side street. We took down after him, I saw him look over his shoulder at us, his eyes widening at the size of Braum. I saw something flash in the light as he took a knife out of his pocket, turning around quickly and throwing it at Braum. As the knife flew through the air I could see him bring the shield up in front of me. As the knife was about to collide, the door nearly doubled in size as a wall of Ice covered the front. The knife clambered harmlessly to the floor.

"It is easy, see?" Braum said, looking over to me with a grin on his face.

The man picked up his speed, pulling out more knives.

"Let's show our friends the door" he said, placing the door in front of him and shoving it forward. An icy bolt of magic shot out, travelling towards the assailant. The man turned to look, dodging just underneath the bolt as it evaporated into thin air. Braum gave a sly grin as he stopped running.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, turning back to watching the man run away.

"Mother always said." He whispered, lowering himself to the ground.

"Don't lose!" he yelled, jumping up high into the air and raising his shield above his head. I moved backwards to make sure he didn't land on me. He came plummeting down, slamming his shield into the air. The ground started to rumble as ice ruptured out in a line towards the guy running away. The ice expanded upwards under his feet, knocking him into the air. He came crashing down, against a building wall, slumped forward.

"Troublemaker toss is best game" he announced, lifting his shield off the ground and walking towards the fallen man. As we reached the place he had fallen he begun to stir, raising his head to look at us. The man looked down, seeing his knifes strewn around him. He picked one up, standing groggily to his feet.

"Hah!" Braum said, still walking towards him. The guy lunged at Braum, attempting to stab him in the chest. Braum grabbed his arm, crushing it as the man cried out, dropping the knife. He held him up in the air, his legs dangling.

"You strike like baby ram, no horns yet!" he said laughing as the man struggled in his grip.

I looked over to the wall, a bag had fallen to the ground, various goods fallen across the floor. I went over to it and started to place the items back into the bag, slinging it over my shoulder.

"What now?" I asked, looking at the defeated man in Braum's grip.

Braum rose his fist above the thief and bonked him on the head, knocking him unconscious. I laughed as he slung him over his shoulder, giving me a grin.

"Do you happen to know where the Insitute of War is?" I asked.

"Hah! I going there before meet you!" he said, handing me a scroll from underneath his shoulder armour. Braum, the heart of the Freljord.

"So you're a champion!"

"Yes! Are you champion too?" he asked, looking me up and down.

"No, I'm looking to be a summoner" I chuckled.

"You can summon Braum!"

"Haha, maybe!" I replied back.

"You go to Institute now?" he asked, picking his shield off the ground.

"Yes, I was hoping to arrive their before nightfall"

"Follow me friend!" he said, taking off down the direction we came.

Along the way he dropped the thief off at what I assumed to be the authorities, they roped his hands behind his back and placed him on a cart. When we got back to the woman's stall I handed the goods to her. Placing the bag behind her she turned back around, hugging me tightly. My hood fell back from the motion, revealing my hair. A few people gasped, stopping to look at me.

"Silver?" Braum asked, stroking his moustache.

"Yeah" I replied, pulling the hood back on. The woman apologized profusely, offering to sell me things for cheaper.

"Honestly it's ok" I replied, she gave me one more hug before we took off, taking care to not dislodge my hood.

As we made our way to the institute I could see the many wonders along the road. Vendors were selling meat, clothing and beer, anything you could possibly want.

"Braum seen many things. Silver hair, not one of them" I heard him pipe up from beside me, looking down at me.

"I know, it's not very common." I replied, reaching up to take a strand of it and bring it down in front of my eyes.

The rest of the journey to the institute was mostly in silence, Braum cracked the odd joke when the tension got too high but for the most part we kept our heads down and walked. Nightfall was fast approaching when we got to our destination. The large clock tower centred in the middle of the Institute hid the rising moon from view.

As we approached the guards working the gate they has a bewildered expression on their face, most likely from the sight of a large man carrying a door.

"Braum is here!" he announced loudly, standing in a heroic pose.

"Right, and who is Braum?" one of the guard said, laughing.

Braum forked over the papers as the guards scrambled to open the gate.

As the large golden gates creaked open I could feel the magic dripping from them, it wrapped around my own, prodding it for my intentions, satisfied with what it found it left me, causing me to shiver as it did.

"Who is your companion?" one of the guards asked, looking at the papers and then at me.

"He is summoner!"

"It doesn't say anything about a companion here" the guard said, pointing at the paper.

"I have my own" I said, bringing the crumpled up paper I had stored in my pocket and handing it to the guard. He scanned over the document, looking up at me a few times before grunting and handing it back.

"You may proceed" he said, waving us on.

Braum and I entered the institute, as far as I was concerned it didn't actually look like an Institute of War. More like a school.

Braum was greeted by a group of summoner's almost instantly, they surrounded him like flies, prodding and poking him with various questions. Braum's smile started to falter as he was pounded with questions.

"Enough!" he shouted, planting the door on the ground heavily to emphasis his point.

"Too many questions" he grunted.

"Seth?" I heard behind me, twirling around to reveal a short, tan-skinned woman looking back.

"Yes?" I asked, pulling my hood off. She didn't give any reaction to the colour of my hair, so I assumed it wasn't special here.

"Come with me" she said, gesturing towards a building.

"I'll see you later Braum!" I yelled to the big man. He waved back, it was only then did I notice the small Poro sitting on top of his shield, its tongue hanging out. The bizarre thing was that the Poro had an almost identical moustache to Braum. I felt a hand grip my arm as I was pulled towards the building by the impatient woman.

The building itself looked more like a mansion. The large gold framed door gave no impression as to what was inside.

"Wait here" she said, walking inside. A moment later she reappeared, a short man with messy black hair following her.

"My names Cody" he said, holding his hand out. I shook his hand, the skin calloused and rough, not what I had expected from a mage.

"This way please" he said, clapping me on the back and pushing me slightly down the steps.

We made our way over to what seemed to be a cafeteria, he gave me the run-down on what was going to happen. Something about a placement match and my room.

"Any questions? No? Ok bye!" he said, running off.

I turned around, looking just in time to jump back as a cougar pounced out the door. It gave me a look up and down before bouncing off towards the trees.

I pushed the doors to the cafeteria open, peeking inside. Quite a large amount of summoners and champions were dining inside. Several groups were huddled around tables, eating food and talking amongst themselves.

I pushed the door the rest of the way open and strode in, a few glances were thrown in my direction but the majority of the attention was elsewhere.

Entering the cafeteria I was hit by the wafting smell of food as it invaded my senses, sucking me in as I approached the food stall. The food ranged all the way from the Shadow Isles snacks to Noxian Beef. I picked up a simple Ionian dish of chicken and rice. The hall went deathly silent as I heard the door opening, turning around I could see an armoured woman approaching, a long, curved blade by her side as she strut up the walkway towards me. The thing that struck me most was her hair, it was the same, if not exact shade of colour as my own. As she closed in on me I felt something pull me backwards, looking over my shoulder to see a fox-like woman looking back.

"Don't get in her way" the woman whispered to me, gesturing to the armoured woman in front of me.

"Why?" I asked, eyeing the silver haired maiden suspiciously.

"She has a killer attitude, literally"

When the woman selected her food and left the cafeteria again the hall quickly regained its sound level, talking resumed and I noticed that the woman had sat me at a table with a few other members.

"My name is Ahri by the way" the fox-like woman whispered to me, stroking my shoulder.

"I-Uh. I'm S-"

"Seth!" a voice boomed behind me, looking back I could see Braum grinning across the room, his door not by his side for a change but instead a bowl of soup.

"Braum!" I yelled back, smiling at him, he laughed heartily, making his way across the room.

"So Seth?" Ahri said, looking over at Braum and giving him a wink.

"Yeah" I said, scratching the back of my neck. A large hand clapped down on my shoulder as Braum took a seat beside me.

"How was it?" I asked him, shovelling a spoon of chicken into my mouth.

"It was good!" he said, placing the soup on the table and grinning at the other occupants. On the other side of the table was a normal looking woman, her hair was white and short and bandages covered her shoulder. The other woman had grey hair, she wore Ionian red armour regalia, a sign of nobility. A mantel piece floated just above her head, the pieces looked vaguely like blades as they seemingly stared back at me. The last person at the table was a giant bull, purple hair covered his body as he stared directly back at me with bloodshot eyes.

"So Seth?" Ahri piped up beside me.

"Hmm?" I answered.

"Can I see your face?" she giggled, trying to peek under the hood.

"Uh… Sure?"

Everyone at the table looked at me as I grasped the hood, I couldn't help but smile a little at the stupidity of the whole situation. As I pulled the hood down they gasped, looking directly at my hair. It was only when I felt someone standing behind me that I realised they weren't only looking at me. The hall had gone quiet again and I realised who was there.

"Hello?" I said, turning around and looking up at the confused expression plastered across the woman's face. She reached her hand out to touch my hair before pulling it back quickly, her cheeks slightly flustering.

"Can I help you?"

She shook her head and scowled at me, running off.

"Does she actually talk?" I asked Ahri who seemed to be entranced by me.

"Only to a few people" she responded, stroking my hair. I swatted her hand away, frowning. After a few seconds I gave up, causing her to giggle and resume touching my hair.

"Two silver hair, is it just me?" Braum asked.

"Diana was the only person that I knew of with silver hair, then you came along" The white hair girl said, picking at her food.

"Her name is Diana?" I asked, looking over to where she was seated to see that she was still looking at me.

"And why is she staring at me" I added, getting shrugs from the table.

"Oh!" Ahri yipped, removing her hand from my hair.

"I forgot to introduce you!"

Ahri pointed at the white haired girl who looked bemusedly back.

"This is Riven"

"Irelia" she said, pointing to the next figure, the grey haired girl who smiled back.

"And this tough guy here is Alistar" she said, patting the Minotaur's arm as he grunted.

"And Diana?" I asked, looking over to the silver haired woman.

"Scorn of the Moon" Ahri announced, pointing upwards.

"What?" I asked, eating another mouthful of chicken.

"She worships the moon, something beginning with L" she tapped her finger on her cheek in thought.

"Lunari" came a gruff response as Alistar looked over at her.

"That's it!" she exclaimed taking a piece of chicken out of my bowl and devouring it.

"What's a Lunari?" I asked, it somehow sounded familiar, but I knew I hadn't heard it before.

"Well, you know the Solari? They sit atop Mount Targon and worship the sun, the Lunari were once a race of people but no one knows what happened to them. Then out of the blue, Diana shows up after killing a bunch of Solarian officials and demands to join the league."

I nodded slowly, absorbing the information as I glanced over to her, she had finally stopped looking at me, instead looking out the window at the moon.

"And the silver hair?" I asked, glancing briefly up at mine.

"Some say she used to have white hair, others say she had brown. But it turned silver after some incident." Irelia pointed out, waving her fork around pointedly.

"I'm going to go talk to her" I said, standing up and picking up my plate.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Seth" Ahri pointed out, making a stabbing gesture.

"I'll be fine" I said, heading over to her table. She seemed to notice me coming quickly, her face facing turning to me. The moonlight spilled over her head, illuminating her hair as she looked me up and down.

"Hello" I said, taking a seat at the other side of the table.

Diana looked at me, staring intensely.

"How are yo-"

"Why are you here?" she asked, interrupting me.

"I don't really know" I replied, scratching the back of my head.

We sat there in awkward silence for a little way, the sound of cutlery clanging against ceramic filling the void.

"So silver hair huh?" I said, placing my food to the side.

She merely looked up at me, scanning my face. It was only then did I realise how truly beautiful she was, her silvery wisps glowing under the moonlight and the mark on her forehead slightly glowing. Her cupid's bow was pursed in thought and her eye's pierced through me.

"Beautiful" I whispered without thinking.

Diana coughed, clutching her chest as her cheeks turned red.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She waved her hand around the air as if to stop me, she stood up from the table and barged out of the cafeteria, her face fully red.

I walked back over to table I had sat at previously, taking a seat on the wooden bench before being assaulted by Ahri

"What happened!" she asked, grasping my clothing.

"I uh… Well." I stuttered, fidgeting with the bottom of my robe.

"I kind of told her she was beautiful" I said, wincing as Ahri started to laugh.

"You're worried about that?" She laughed, smacking her hand down on the table.

"She doesn't receive many compliments Ahri" Riven reminded her, toying with one of the blades above Irelia before her hand was swatted.

"Still" Ahri giggled resting her head on the table. I noticed that Alistar had run off somewhere.

"I just feel, I don't know? Drawn to her?" I said, running a hand through my hair.

"You should get that checked out" Riven said, smirking.

We stayed at the table for a short while longer before the group dispersed, Irelia and Riven headed off to their dorms while Ahri wanted to show me something.

"See you Braum!" I yelled back as Ahri dragged me outside by my hand.

"Where are we going" I asked her as we walked outside into an area that looked like a park. Ahri turned towards me, shoving me backwards as I fell on to a bench.

"I want to see your real face" she whispered, sitting on my lap. My eye twitched as she cupped my cheek in her palm.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I said, feeling the expanding patches of sweat starting underneath my armpits.

"I know magic when I see it" She responded, squinting her eyes.

"Please?" she pleaded, resting her forehead against mine. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"You don't want to see it" I whispered to her.

She grabbed me by the neck, pulling my lips to hers. I could taste the sweetness of her lips, and the sincerity behind it. When she released me she leant back a bit and looked at me innocently.

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking down at my hands.

"Yes"

I closed my eyes, receding the façade over my face slowly. I could feel her angst as the bottom of my face was revealed.

"Is that?"

"Yes"

When the visage was fully withdrawn I heard her gasp, I opened my eyes to see her hand in front of my face.

"May I?" she asked lightly, hovering her hand just above the scar. I gave her a nod and she lowered her hand slowly until her finger was just touching the ragged scar. Her face scrunched up as she traced it from the bottom left of my face to the top right, passing over the bridge of my nose and past my eye. She contemplated what to say next, biting her lip.

"How…" she managed to say.

"I don't really want to talk about it"

We sat there in silence for a short while, Ahri continued to trace the scar, her face softening after a while though.

"I think you should keep it" she said finally, nodding her head.

"It scares people." I said, my head in my hands as the scar started to flare up.

"I think it's hot" Ahri said, smirking at me.

"I think I need to sleep" I responded as I yawned, Ahri nodded in agreement, stretching her arms up before getting up off my lap and heading off down the path.

"I'll see you tomorrow Seth" she called out to me.

I stood up off of the bench and started to make my way back to my room. The park was ghastly quiet, probably because all the sensible people were already asleep. I could hear the whistling sound of the wind flowing past the tree's as the leaves shook. It was oddly calming, despite the sheer drop in temperature. I hugged the cloak closer to me to avoid the cold air as I exited the park. I looked up at the clock tower to see that it was already midnight. My room was just in the building behind the clock tower as I made my way towards it. It wasn't until I was behind the tower that I noticed the voice wafting down towards me. Looking up at the top of the building I could hear a woman singing, the sweet voice was full of sorrow and hurt as it sliced through the once silent courtyard. On approach to my room I noticed the plaque displayed on the front that read Summoner Seth.

I couldn't help but grin, I was finally a summoner.