Chapter 22

Taking a step off of the summoning platform, Gareth approached the Nexus in front of him. As he neared it, he could feel the immense magical energy flowing from it; it was almost nauseating. Looking around, he observed the Rift around him. It was a strange feeling, being in a place that felt so familiar yet so unknown at the same time. Being a summoner was one thing, but actually being on the Rift was entirely different. As a summoner, he had had an all seeing, almost omnipotent presence during matches on the Rift. Now he felt small, insignificant, and very, very mortal.

"This is insane," he muttered to himself.

"It is pretty crazy, isn't it?" The voice that exploded from the sky nearly made Gareth dive for the floor. "Sorry to startle you Gareth, but I figured I should tell you to get a move on. The game is about to begin!"

"Damn it Vinicius, this isn't a game!" Gareth shouted, though not at anything in particular. He wasn't really sure how to address the maniac considering he was nowhere to be seen.

"Gareth, you are on Summoner's Rift. OF COURSE it's a game. A one on one battle in fact! Now hurry up, or that little Demacian will get a jump on you!"

Gareth grimaced. It made sense now, or at least as much sense as it could make. He had been sent to the Rift, and his opponent was none other than Lux. In his mind's eye, he could already imagine the brainwashed girl preparing herself for a fight. "How the hell did you get us here in the first place?" Gareth asked. "There's no way this will go unnoticed, the Institute will shut this down immediately."

"I have resources that you can only dream of Gareth," replied the disembodied voice of the madman. "But you're right; I'm sure the Institute by now has realized that there is unauthorized activity on the rift. They'll sure be in for a shock when they realize there's nothing they can do about it though. Ah, just imagine the mayhem! The High Councilors frantically running around, trying to figure out how a little summoner and his girlfriend got onto their precious rift without any permission."

Gareth shook his head. He walked further out into the rift, stopping to stare at one of the inhibitors. Structured like a smaller nexus, the power flowing off of it was much less noticeable. Leaning against it, Gareth tried to collect his thoughts. "So let me guess. This is all just some opportunity for you to advertise your Serum and cause chaos at the same time?"

"You got it! The League of Legends attracts millions of viewers a day. When one of them see's what my Bioforge serum can do, I'll be sure to have a buyer."

"Great," grumbled the summoner. "Stuck in a modern-day warmonger's overblown infomercial."

"Hey, I heard that. Better watch your mouth down there. I'm the one in control here, dear Gareth. Anyway, you better get a move on, because MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED! Ah, I've always wanted to say that."

Turning, Gareth looked back at the nexus. Sure enough, a small, knee-high animated doll dressed in a tattered blue outfit emerged from it, followed by another and another. Before long, three lines of them emerged, each one mindlessly shuffling off into their lanes. As one row of the peculiar little constructs passed him, Gareth nudged the lead one with his foot. Undeterred, the little minion continued onward, paying no mind to the interference. With a scowl, Gareth followed the row of minions toward the middle lane. He had no intention of fighting Lux when he came across her, but he knew that he needed to stall the game while he came up with something, anything to stop Vinicius. Before he could even take a few steps though, he was stopped by another voice, this one completely unfamiliar.

"HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? GONNA RUN OFF WITHOUT BUYIN SOMETHIN?"

Turning, Gareth saw that there was now an old yordle up on the summoning platform, accompanied by an enormous beast that carried several items. The shopkeeper, Gareth thought. Given Vinicius' apparent control over the rift, he was surprised to see the little yordle present. Knowing that getting a good start could be the difference between holding out and instant death, Gareth quickly made his way up to the summoning platform.

"Sorry. I was in a bit of a hurry."

"Never seen you around her before," said the little shopkeeper, her voice worn from decades of life on Runeterra. "You new here?"

Gareth shot her an amused glance. He considered telling her that he had summoned in hundreds of matches prior, but decided against it. The explanation would surely be a waste of time for both parties. "Sure am."

The shopkeeper glanced at the knives hanging from the summoner's hip, before asking him "So what do you need?"

Unsure, Gareth simply shrugged. He knew what all the champions of the league required while preparing for battle, but he had no clue what he himself needed. He watched as the shopkeeper turned, rummaging through her wares before producing a small, simple blade. "Well, I recommend for several of my first timers," she said, offering the summoner the sword.

"Ah, Doran's Blade," stated Gareth, hefting the little sword. He watched as it slowly faded to nothing in his hands, the power of the object now imbued into his own psyche.

"Good to see that you're at least a little familiar with the items. Take that one there for a test drive and tell me how it goes. We'll figure out what you need from there."

With a wave, Gareth thanked the shopkeeper and headed back towards his middle lane. By now he knew he would be showing up late. He just hoped that this wouldn't give Lux too much of an advantage. Falling in behind a column of marching minions, Gareth sauntered his way onto the rift, unsure of what to expect. Walking past his first turret, he kept his gaze ahead, slowly sweeping along the tree line. Lux was a masterful tactician, and Gareth couldn't be too sure how much of that had faded in her altered state of mind. Up ahead, he saw a line of minions already banging away at his turret. Unlike the ones he had followed, these little constructs were dressed in red. Some of them beat away with dinky little hatchets, while others cast little, insignificant balls of magic.

Gareth walked up to one of the opposing minions. The little doll paid him no attention as it continued to dutifully pound away at the summoner's turret. "Guess it's time to give this champion thing a go." Bending down, he grabbed one of the minions in both hands, chucking it at a nearby tree. "Go kick rocks, you little bastard." He watched as the minion bounced off the conifer, collapsing into a heap of sticks and cloth. Those raw materials subsequently disappeared in a small poof of sparks.

Drawing his knives, Gareth battered, bashed and slashed his way through the enemy minion wave. The whole time, he kept an eye out for Lux, wondering where the young Demacian could possibly be. As he turned to jab at minion that had been smacking at his knee, he saw a brilliant flash of light erupt from the nearby jungle. Leaping back, it was all he could do to keep from stumbling as a swirling mass of photons landed right in front of him. Bringing his arms up, Gareth just barely closed his eyes before the projectile detonated.

The explosion took Gareth's feet clean out from under him, hurling him back a few feet. Landing on his back with a grunt, he climbed back to his feet just in time to see Lux charging from the jungle and twirling her baton with masterful dexterity. A flurry of smaller projectiles flew from either end of the weapon, hurtling straight for Gareth. Diving to the side, the summoner just managed to dodge the assault. Gritting his teeth, he ducked and dodged his way toward Lux.

The girl was being reckless, hurling magic his way without much thought. Her eyes still burned with the acidic green anger that they had before, much to Gareth's dismay. While her accuracy was a bit lacking, her volume was more than enough to make up for it. Gareth had to use every ounce of concentration in his body to avoid most of it, and even then a few of them snuck through. They weren't overly strong when they hit, but they certainly weren't pleasant, and Gareth wasn't keen on the thought of taking too many.

Working his way into range, he lunged at Lux, batting her baton aside and disrupting her furious attack. Winding up, the summoner let loose with an uppercut straight into the girl's gut, feeling the knuckle guards of his blade dig into the taut muscles of Lux's abdomen. He cracked a smile as he heard the whoosh of air leaving her lips. The thought of hurting her obviously didn't sit well with him, but he knew deep down that if they got out of this, she would forgive him. Pivoting, he launched out with a kick at the mage's legs, sweeping her legs out from under her. Before he could follow up, a chain of light shot from Lux's baton, wrapping around Gareth's leg. With a hard pull, the girl managed to sweep Gareth off his feet, leveling the playing field. Rolling to the side, she got up and retreated from the downed summoner.

Gareth welcomed the reprieve, but wondered why she had backed off. Looking back, he saw why: the line of red minions under his turret had fallen, allowing his blue allies to push forward. Standing, he fell in line with his minions, all the while keeping his wary eyes on Lux. When she attacked, she was a whirlwind of rage, but she still seemed to have some sense in her. She only glared back at him, occasionally obliterating any blue minion that had the misfortune of getting to close to her.

How the hell am I gonna help you? he thought.

Unsure of what to do, he let himself be drawn into the back and forth game of farming minions, all the while trying to talk with Lux.

"This isn't exactly the scenario I had in mind for our first match together." His remark was met with silence. Undeterred, he continued. "How do you figure we're getting out of this one? I mean, we always do, but this seems a little more complicated than those other times." Reaching down, he stabbed at a minion and was completely caught off guard when Lux launched another Lucent Singularity at him. Luckily for him, the girl's aim was a bit off, but the blast from the spell was still enough to knock Gareth off balance. Stumbling, he landed on his knees. Bracing himself with one arm, he tried to stand, but found he couldn't.

What the…? Looking down, he saw small tendrils of light snaking up from the ground, coiling themselves around his outstretched arm. He tugged against them mightily, but could not free himself. Looking up, he could only shield his face with his free arm as another blinding Lucent Singularity flew toward him. The concussion from the ensuing blast blurred his vision and knocked him flat on his stomach. His body screaming in pain and his ears ringing, he quickly got back to his knees, still trapped by Lux's entangling magic. The summoner managed to lift his head just in time to see the young mage, her baton spinning in the air in front of her. A glaring red pinpoint of light emitted from the whirling instrument, blinding Gareth as it shone directly into his left eye. Only too late did he realize what was happening.

No…

With renewed urgency, he began to tug at his arm again. He watched as the binding magic slowly began to fade, but he knew that it was too late. Looking up, he could only growl in defeat as Lux drew back both arms, gathering all the mana in her body.

"DAMN IT LUX, JUST STOP!" roared Gareth. His plea simply echoed into the rift. As the binding magic finally wore off, he only just managed to partially stand before a brilliant blast of white light tore into him. His body only resisted for a second before his life was extinguished in a flash of blue. The beam of light blinked from existence just as quickly as it had appeared, and Gareth's body fell to the ground in a smoking heap.

Undeterred, the serum-infused Lux stepped over the summoner's body, dutifully leading her minions onward into the darkness.

Author's Note: Hey all. It's been a while, but I always had plans to come back to this story, as well as my others. A lot has changed for me since the last chapter was posted, mostly for the better. Unfortunately though, it has left me with very little time to write anything. Just know that have always intended for this story to have a definitive ending. Hopefully this story still entertains folks with its use of the now archaic old lore. As always, consider leaving a review. I would love seeing what you all have to say, especially after so long. Take care!