12- From the Ground Up

(Hi, Yes, again I've rewritten this chapter and changed the trajectory of the story. Feels better than jumping to the future.)

(3rd pov)

Over the next few weeks, Nyx visited hundreds of refugee camps, giving them relief aid as well as offering a safer place to stay. Most didn't accept, too paranoid to trust so easily, but a few groups heard him out.

At the moment, Nyx could be seen, or rather his figure could, leading several people through the old tunnels. They were all over people, around Vander's age. Expendable.

They had volunteered to see whether or not this new home Warwick, who Nyx had introduced himself to be, was too good to be true.

Gradually, the light was beginning to return, strange mushrooms lining the walls pulsing along with the sound of their footsteps, and Warwick stopped at an opening. Turning to them, he opened his arms wide, leading them inside.

"I hope that this is good enough for the kids."

What met their eyes as they walked in was a paradise. It was as if they had walked straight into their dreams through the tunnels, and weren't seeing reality clearly.

A large open space, a massive field that was cut in half by a large pond. The brass was growing so high that you couldn't see over it, but luckily I had been cut recently to allow for paths through the place.

The men could see large and unintelligible runes carved into the walls of the cavern, glowing with a lively green color that gave them a fresh feeling. It was like the Runes were whispering into their souls and speaking their names: Life, Vitality, Growth, Protection.

And the most eye-catching thing of all: A massive tree with some of the same runes embedded into its bark. But this time they weren't carved, but it looked like they had grown into the tree itself, like it was comely natural. From these runes, warm rivers of glowing Arcane energy ran underneath the bark.

It was truly a paradise. But what shook them from this notion was what they saw on the other side of the tree, the portion facing the lake that was opposite to the entrance: A grave.

It didn't have a headstone persay, but rather had a small stone that was embedded into the ground, completely flat.

[HERE LIES BENZO]

[THE KINDEST MAN TO EVER GRACE ZAUN]

Warwick stood in front of the plaque, gazing down at it silently.

"...Enforcers?" One of the men wrangled up the courage to speak up.

Warwick nodded slowly, sighing heavily. "I wasn't there to protect him then. I promised myself something like that would never happen again. But I know that I can't be everywhere."

He turned to them. "That's where you come into the picture."

They all frowned collectively. "You want to bring us together to fight for you?"

"No. I want to bring you together to fight for Zaun."

"I'm not following."

Warwick sighed, somewhat expecting this. "I want to create a group of people that will look after Zaun together. Help each other and their people. Those who aren't afraid of fighting for their future, for their kid's future."

"...I think I might understand."

"Will we fight against the enforcers?" Another asked.

Warwick nodded. "We'll be doing supply raids after we get set up, and properly trained. The only rule is- absolutely no killing."

They all frowned. "They kill us every hour, why can't we do the same?!"

"Because if we do, we give them a valid reason to hunt us down. If we only take the supplies, the general public will take pity on us, putting pressure on the higher-ups not to take us out directly. The number of guards will increase, but we'll have less heat on our backs."

Luckily, they seemed to accept this explanation. One of them even smirked, excited to get his get back on the enforcers. "When do we start?"

"Heh, when you move in."

—

(ANOTHER few weeks later)

Nyx, still in the persona of Warwick, was sitting around a newly furnished round table big enough to fit ten people. Around him sat all too familiar people; Vander-who didn't have a mask yet as he wasn't so sure about fighting still, Violet-who was still making her mask, Powder, Ekko, and a representative of the people gathering outside.

Standing up, Warwick addressed the table, specifically Ben, the representative. "How are the people settling in?"

Ben smiled. "The men are working on building the simple huts while the women are bathing with their children on the far side of the lake. Though, I have heard some complaints about the lack of privacy over there."

Warwick nodded, taking note, looking at Violet. "I'm sure you can lead some like-minded girls to help you build partitions?"

She nodded, distracted. "I got it."

Warwick chuckled, moving back to Ben. "It would be a great help if you could look out for some younger men, around my and Violet's age, to help around with construction."

"I can do that. I know of a hideout in the old mines where a bunch of boys are hol' up. Should be around a hundred of 'em there."

"Great, I don't want to rely on our older people for construction jobs. I'll fetch some of the cubs to search for that hideout."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Cubs?"

Vander laughed, unable to resist taking his amusement of Nyx's persona out on him. "Don't worry about some of the things he says, he's a Vastraya from the mountains so he has some strange mannerisms."

Ben's eyes widened. "A Vastraya? In Zaun? Why would one of your kind ever come here?" He wasn't so much scared as confused. It seemed that he had built up enough trust.

"Don't misunderstand, my family is from the North, but I was born down here in the filth, with all of you. This is my home, and I wish to defend it. No matter how much its people may fear what runs through my veins."

Ben's eyes softened hearing that, and he nodded. "I'll get to work now, the huts should be finished in a few days."

—

(Same day, in Piltover)

(1st Pov- Nyx)

"Nyx, this generator is amazing! I think I can adjust it to work alongside my Hexgate design, and it might make it even more efficient." Jacye muttered, looking over my designs.

I nodded readily. "I already planned to run them by you. My family had some notes on Arcane Runes passed down through my bloodline, so I know a lot about runes. Especially about stabilization and elemental runes."

Jayce looked confused. "I'm a Vastraya descendant." As if that cleared everything up.

"I thought most Vastraya lived in Ionia?"

"Most, not all. My family apparently comes from the Freljord. Lived in the mountains since the time of the Rune Wars."

"I've noticed your hair is changing colors, is that because of your family?" I nodded.

Vander had recently handed me a notebook detailing the abilities of my family, and essentially we are the magical version of werewolves. Ulvr children start out as slight superhuman before slowly transforming as we mature. As we near adulthood, our hair changes to a pearly white and we start becoming more and more feral in nature.

Luckily, that can be contained. I hadn't heard him as of yet, but Dad wrote it in the notebook that all Ulvr would inherit the family's wolf spirit. As for mine, according to Dad, my family was the long lost descendant of the original Chieftain, and would inherit the spirit wolf that he originally contracted with.

My 'lucky' butt got that privilege because I was his one and only first born. His only child.

Anyway, I didn't tell anyone this, but only the basics. Jayce included. As far as figuring out whether or not I was Warwick, I'd just say that he must have been from my clan. Most vastraya from the same clan resemble each other in many ways, so I should be fine.

"I can help you learn what I know about runes, and then we can work on improving the Hexgate designs, yeah?" I asked him.

Jayce nodded like a kid in a candy shop. "And once we can do that, we can help Victor with his disease!"

'Of course that's where his mind goes.' I laughed. "We already talked about that together. Victor and I are going to be studying healing runes to see if we can purge his system of his disease, and maybe even purge it from his DNA."

Jayce looked like he was ready to worship at my feet, extremely relieved and determined to save his friend. "I'll do whatever it takes, Nyx. I won't let my friend die."

I nodded, knowing just how deep their friendship would become. "I know, Jayce. He's my friend too."