Disclaimer: I do not own Riot Games and League of Legends. The following work is a story that uses League of Legends' contents, and will not be distributed commercially.
"Fear is confusion, pain is clarity." –Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal
Runeterra: a world driven through controversies, undiscovered creatures, and countless dangers that lurk beneath its surface.
Those who were raised in the cities of the supercontinent known as Valoran had listened to many kinds of tales. Some tales followed the life of a man who lifted an incredibly heavy door to protect his people from arctic dangers. Other stories followed along happy journeys made by tiny creatures known as yordles, though there were occasionally some creepy myths of how some yordles were devoured by unknown creatures.
The more mature stories followed the lives of people within two powerful city-states under a never-ending battle that stemmed from an old rivalry; Demacia and Noxus. Whilst Demacia had many tales of fulfilling justice and bringing hope to its citizens, Noxus had its own share of unique tales for its thieves and black-market villains. Of course, most of Noxus' stories ended with some sort of bloodbath.
Nearby Valoran lay Ionia, an island that only wishes to be free of Noxus' relentless invasions. And at the tall heights of Valoran remained the peak of Mount Targon, where many noble warriors have visited to gain strength from gods of war.
But Runeterra itself was not the focus of this particular tale.
For in Runeterra, a dark, dark place that no sane man dared to venture into existed.
The Shadow Isles.
Whoever went in never went out. The Isles consumed unlucky travelers swept into its black sands, and darkness lurked at every corner of the place. Monstrosities and abominations thrived in such a dead world. Whereas the light of Demacia would bring hope to its people, only dread awaited for those who resisted the Isles' power.
The light existed as a mere dream in the dark islands. All of the Shadow Isles' tales ended tragically for every single protagonist. Nothing but death awaited, and if not death, something far, far worse stood by, waiting to haunt the visitors of the Shadow Isles with things worse than death itself.
Perhaps death itself was too fearful to put the restless souls in peace…
…But little did everyone know that the Shadow Isles was… different from what they thought it was.
The isles were not littered with graves. And the light did, in fact, exist. And if Demacia was the prime emblem of peace, honor, and justice, the Shadow Isles was the twisted symbol of guns, stealing, and ghetto skeleton people stabbing everything in sight.
Deep within the Shadow Isles, many buildings had its lights turned on. Some of the buildings had colorful lights pointed out of its windows to annoy every single driver on the city's roads, and there were random people selling Star Wars Holiday Special DVDs scavenged from a Piltoverian ship that crashed into the Isles. And one of the citizens rode a skateboard, zooming past a bunch of people eating pizza with no hands.
Equipped with his warden uniform, scythe, and lantern, Thresh flew past an undead horse that had a Hello Kitty badge on its rear.
Thresh, the Chain Warden, had recently gained a position amongst the Ruined King's ranks. The honor of being a Chain Warden… was subpar. For there was no honor behind how Thresh treated his prisoners, and he did not even know what honor was in the first place. Reading a poorly drawn comic book made by himself, the bony undead warden turned his skateboard without looking up, avoiding an incoming car composed of wooden wheels and an airboat engine.
The Shadow Isles lacked class, and that was what its people were supposed to be known for.
Unlike many city-states and countries, the Shadow Isles did not have to invent anything new due to the fact that new things kept on floating into the dark lands. The Ruined King ruled over the Shadow Isles with absolute authority, but even he had some of his own problems.
His personal officers were no exceptions. Thresh lacked nearly all forms of respect towards everything. Yorick, a gravedigger, had recently begun to carry Shadow Isles' visitors into their pathetic deaths because he had nothing else to dig for. Karthus, a lich who conducted various researches, enjoyed using submachine guns because "magic could get complicated."
And next to the Ruined King were his left-hand and right-hand. These two figures boasted power, speed, wit, and a whole package of patriotism to the Shadow Isles. Hecarim, the Shadow of War, loved the Isles and its people more than anything. Despite being called the Shadow of War, Hecarim despised inequality and wished to see every lifeform on Runeterra to stop fighting. Perhaps it was because of his desire to quietly hack-and-slash through each and every one of the living beings like a delicate ballerina.
Next to the war centaur was a mysterious figure encased in a full set of armor. His face still unknown to even his own people, the armored general of Shadow Isles was nearly the polar opposite of Hecarim. While the Shadow of War enjoyed spending time with his people, the iron man found social activities to be too pesky for his own enjoyment. He preferred to live alone, and tried as much as he could to isolate himself from the rest of the world.
Though he did not always hate showing himself to his own people, one day, the lord of undead vanished, never to come out of his lonely castle for days, months, and years.
Three years had passed since then.
The Chain Warden dropped himself off of the skateboard he stole earlier, the keys hooked onto his belt jingling ominously. As he held onto his lantern, the lantern-wielder slowly walked down a dirt path that led him out of the active city.
It took thirty minutes for Thresh to reach the Castle of the Master of Metal. He had not seen the iron man in three years, and to celebrate their reunion, he brought a chalkboard that had "YOU SUCK" written on it.
"If this doesn't work," Thresh muttered to himself, looking around as he approached the dark, metallic castle, "I'm just going to give him a basket of grenades the next time I come here."
The Master of Metal's castle had dozens of dead trees surrounding its massive structure. Its distance from the city made everything all too quiet. Ravens stretched their wings as they searched the trees for food, but none of them went close to the iron castle.
Jingle, jingle, jingle. Only the jingles of Thresh's keys, along with his footsteps, made the slightest of noises.
Surprised at how nothing about the castle had changed, the Chain Warden walked up to the massive gates… only to realize that they had remained open for decades. The iron man never closed his doors to those who wanted to face him. He was more than welcome to hasten the process of death, after all.
The Chain Warden found the massive hallway's design to be aggravating for his eyes. Everything in-and-out of the castle was made of metal. No marble floors, no concrete walls; nothing but metal existed in the Master of Metal's castle.
"Ey, METALLICA," Thresh shouted. "Nice castle! Now get your crap together and show yourself, dude."
Thresh found it strange to find that his voice did not echo in the room full of metal.
What he found stranger was how a familiar voice responded to him from the middle of nowhere.
"Get out of here, Thresh. I'm busy."
"Busy?" The Chain Warden asked, baffled by the lord of undead's choice of words. "Busy?! No, seriously, what the heck could you preoccupy yourself with for three years, man?"
The iron man immediately roared,
"DOUBLE KILL! F#$% YEAAAAAH!"
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"…DOUBLE KILL (LOL)?"
Detecting the sarcasm behind Thresh's rhetorical question, a door at the very end of the hallway burst open. Smashed off of its hinges, the door skidded all the way toward Thresh, who raised a bony eyebrow(?) at the object. Looking back up, the Chain Warden grinned.
Donning a full set of spiky, silver-colored armor, a large figure left his room with some sort of controller in his hand. His eyes glowed deathly red, his pose that of a highly respected Shadow Isles officer.
Thresh snickered as he added into the lord of undead's flashy reappearance,
"What's up, Mordekaiser?"
The Master of Metal cracked his neck, his eyes locked onto Thresh as he walked straight up to the Chain Warden. Putting some distance between them, the Shadow Isles general growled,
"Thresh, you imbecile. I'll have you know that I just… executed two men who attempted to take my belongings. If you would like to kindly join them, feel free to do so; I won't stop you."
"So basically, you shot down two guys in Counter Strike 1.6 again?"
"WHAT?! HOW THE HECK DID YOU KNOW?!"
"I constantly met a guy called 'xXmuertekeyze71Xx' in my favorite server."
"Huh?" The Master of Metal asked, looking at Thresh as if he were crazy. "What're you talking about? I don't know some Ex-Capital-Ex-Mordekaiser-Seventy-One-Capital-Ex-Ex."
"I said muertekeyze, not Mordekaiser."
"Oh."
The two stared at each other, not knowing what else to say.
Attempting to change the subject and avoid imminent humiliation, the lord of undead shook his head, returning to his grumpy attitude.
"Anyway," Mordekaiser grumbled, "if you're here, then that probably means the Ruined King wants something."
Thresh's grin turned into a full-blown smile as he cackled. "You're quick to catch on," he said as he twirled his lantern in place. "The Ruined King wants to see you, Morde'. He has some interesting things to talk ab-"
"Thresh, your stupid lantern is hurting my eyes. Stop it."
The Chain Warden stopped spinning his lantern. While Mordekaiser seemed satisfied, Thresh himself suddenly looked as if he wanted to kill a kitten.
"Happy?"
"Oh yeah. Now, continue."
"…Ugh. Anyway, the Ruined King wants to discuss with you about something. He said something about… traveling. And possible wars."
"…? War?" Mordekaiser asked. "Holy sh#%, people are STILL declaring war in this day and age?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"
"BLAME THE KING FOR THAT, NOT ME!"
The Master of Metal blinked.
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"…Okay, then," he said. "Let's go."
"Alri- wait, you're going now?" Thresh asked in surprise as he saw the lord of undead return to his little room.
Mordekaiser chuckled, his back turned to Thresh, as he glanced at him with one of his glowing eyes.
"If it's war we're talking about, then I will gladly return to my king."
An ominous laugh followed after his statement. Turning to his room, the lord of undead vanished back into darkness.
He had been waiting for the Ruined King to call upon him.
STEEL REVOLUTION
Author's Notes:
Steel Revolution has received a reboot! Now, a couple of things.
The first reason as to why I am rebooting the story is that this could let me make things a little more accurate to Riot's current lore. Another reason was because of continuity.
The original Steel Revolution sort of spiraled out of control to the point where I myself could not focus on finishing certain chapters without cutting out fun parts. This put a lot of pressure on my motivation to continue the story. Thus, despite the fact that I decided earlier NOT to reboot the story, I have changed my mind for the sake of bringing a better story.
I know there are a lot of unanswered questions, but feel free to send me Private Messages if you want to directly ask them! I am used to answering PMs frequently, so don't be afraid. I may include more things in the next Author's Notes if there are very important things to clarify.
And as always, Feedback Is Appreciated!
-NK-