Open Graveyard

 "Mundo goes where he pleases!"~ Dr.Mundo, The Madman of Zaun

He indeed goes where he pleases.

Was the action good? Let me know!

I'll get better at writing it. Currently, I visualize every aspect of the fight and convert it into words but it can be way better.

P.S. Imagine being a game company and having to release Arcane Survivor Jayce a week early because your legendary skins for Vi and Ambessa are garbage.

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The smell of rot intensified as he walked toward it. There was only two situations where this could be possible.

Both equally likely.

First a large creature had died.

Second a large amount of people or smaller creatures had died.

These bodies or body had probably perished a long time ago. Things don't rot quickly in the Freljord. The constant cold weather and winds keeping the dead in good condition.

Unless they were completely frozen, even they would degrade after long periods of time. That was natural.

He shuffled through the building snow, shaking his right shoulder every few steps. A jolt of pain shooting through him each time he did so. 

The blizzard lessened as he walked forward and it came into view. The absolute massacre that had happened here.

Not a great beast. Just endless bodies strewn about his vision. All in various states of wholeness. The ice and snow in the area was red. Dark red. The color of dried and frozen blood. The bodies were all rotting. Slowly. 

Gregori stepped past an arm and walked further. 

Then it came into his view.

A large black statue cut clean in half. It was less of a statue and more like a crafted mountain, one that had been chipped away to create an absurd shape.

Tryndamere had spoken of this statue. The one around which they had built their homes. The moment he laid his eyes on the statue his spear started softly thrumming. A slow vibration.

He walked closer to it. Hopping over the corpses lain about. His eyes landed on some of them and he stopped.

Children.

Then he saw a bisected corpse. That of a young girl. He blinked as Annie's faces superimposed that of the dead child. He shook his head roughly breaking himself out of that line of thought.

Not now. He had to focus on what was ahead.

The base of the statue was in front of him now. He placed a hand on it.

HISSSSS

He jerked it back the instant he made contact with it with a sharp hiss. It was not a statue. It was ice. Black ice. Completely dark. He knew what that black statue was or what it contained. The thrumming of his spear was proving it to him.

A Darkin.

A frozen Darkin.

Someone or something had managed to freeze a Darkin and had kept it frozen all this time. The ice was so cold that it burned.

He quickly looked for the broken half of the frozen Darkin host. But all he found was shattered ice. No sight of the weapon itself.

Gregori tried to connect the leftover corpse of the host to the different Darkin he knew. And he did know most of them, the favor he did Caalyx required him to hold the weapon becoming a host in the process. Instead of just using him to fulfil his request Caalyx did something extra. He made Gregori witness most of the Darkin with both their weapons forms and host forms. And only then did he complete the request.

Gregori remembered every single one. For the half a decade he had nightmare of them, until he remembered each one by face and by weapon.

This host was something interesting. He stabbed his shield into the ice, to see if he could damage it. 

BANG

And it showed cracks.

CRACK

CRACK

CRACK

The cracks spread.

SHATTER

The statue shattered. But he had been wrong. The black ice had not frozen the host alone, it froze it in a cocoon. Until the host itself died. Darkin immortality only extended to the weapons but the hosts needed blood.

Blood that couldn't be replenished due to being frozen.

The lower half of the body came undone and it landed on its knees. Two thuds came from behind it as smaller appendages fell behind. Slowly, it all disintegrated into dust, leaving Gregori in turmoil.

The lower half was lithe. Long legs with only two claw like toes. The appendages, once part of wings. 

Wings. That alone removed most of the possible Darkin. But the lower half reminded him of one.

If Aatrox was the sword. Then like Caalyx this was a spear. A completely different shape for a spear but a spear nonetheless. Caalyx resembled the standard spear, the spear head being the most prominent feature. This one was different. This was more like a bident but with more ends at lower points.

This Darkin?

This was Anaakca.

It made sense for it to be him. Anaakca's spear was created in the Freljord after all. It used some form of True Ice.

This meant that whatever froze him was something at a similar level or higher. Maybe a true god creature. Godly spirit maybe? Gregori focused on the broken ice once more. Something on his side he hoped.

He understood why Aatrox would be here now. He wasn't not flying around aimlessly.... he was collecting the Darkin. But why?

Why the urge to rebuild his army? He was their general, but he alone could fight most of the creatures alive and come out victorious. What purpose did having an army serve? The only thing it would do was summon attention toward them as a whole. Darkin did not need the attention now. If they gained the attention of the gods then there would be issues. And every scenario he could think of ended with their loss. They wouldn't die but would be sealed in such a way that it would not be possible to return.

But if he was willing to brave this chance, then something was coming. Most likely war. But how much of the continent would be pulled into it he did not know. He sighed. This was too much for him. He had made this journey in hopes for True Ice but also to face Aatrox in single combat. The little quest from Ashe was something he could do on the side. But this? This was getting out of hand. The stakes seemed to rise every moment and he did not enjoy that feeling.

Judging by the lack of a Darkin weapon on the ground, it was quite obvious Aatrox had taken it.

Well.... that was a problem for another day.

He had already found raw True Ice, now he just needed to collect some heads. 

But first, he needed to burn these bodies.

The Freljordians never buried their dead. They burned them. A warrior's farewell. And he would do that for them. Not out of the kindness of his heart. But to get a favor from Tryndamere. By doing something he would have wanted to do Gregori could firmly have the man on his side. 

Why was he trying to win over this man?

Tryndamere was cursed by Aatrox. That meant something. His conversations with Caalyx had given him insight into how these Darkin operated. They weren't evil. They were insane and viewed everyone else as insects. It was the difference in thinking between the higher level beings and the lower level beings.

They did not need to worry about right or wrong. They did what they pleased. If another at a similar power level did try to stop them, then it was mutually assured destruction.

As he thought of this, he gathered all the corpses around into one big pile. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a flint and struck it onto some cloth. One the fire got going, he slid the burning cloth into a corpse's clothes. Slowly, the entire corpse was on fire. He moved the corpse onto another and then moved all of them to the now blazing fire.

Gregori sat down and watched the fire rage. He watched as corpses of all ages turned to ash slowly.

And he waited, until it finished burning completely. Using the opportunity to take a much needed rest. A reprieve from the journey and combat.

The fire went on for hours. Smoke billowing out.

"I hope the Lamb brought you all to the other side..." He spoke to the fire. The Freljordians would prefer the Wolf but no child deserved that. 

The winds had completely died as if giving a moment of silence to those who have fallen. The smoke rose straight up into the sky. No cloud in the night sky.

It would be a large beacon in the sky but now that he knew that Aatrox was long gone, he did not bother with playing it save anymore.

Why would he?

And as if on cue, he spotted a large group of men marching toward him. Flags flew. Spears raised. The only issue with this was..... they weren't marching to him on feet.

They were on horses.

The men in the center, leading them had on helmets with horns stretching out. They looked just like how they were described.

Frost Guard.

The two leading men... Draklorn Inquisitors. 

One of them held a large battle-axe and the other held the Ikakalaka. They were also not on horses. The creatures they rode on had large amounts of fur and horns which they held onto like handles. They looked like a cross between Wildclaws and Elnuks.

Gregori stood up and patted the snow off him.

Initially, he had wanted to talk to them first but he gave up on that. Finishing the mission quick was important.

As they came toward him, he slowly unwrapped his spear.

"Gregori?"

A voice sounded in his head.

"Caalyx." He greeted.

"A Darkin?"

He strained his neck to look over at the approaching group.

"Small army but we need to talk about the Darkin real soon."

"Why?"

"Aatrox is moving. Collecting other Darkin. He has his hands on Anaakca."

He unwrapped the spear completely and it pulsed with magic and blood. Veins ran along the length of the spear, pumping blood. The spearhead was just some kind of normal metal.

"Anaakca? Are you sure?" A surprised reply.

"His host crumbled in front of me and I have it on good authority that Aatrox was here."

Despite the spear looking both dangerous and powerful, anyone could tell that the spearhead did not fit the spear. A complete mismatch in the design. The entire spear resembled a living thing but the spearhead was just a piece of metal.

"Are you going to complete me now?"

"I have to go to Noxus first and then we will see."

"You will need me whole if you want to fight two Darkin. Maybe you need another. I can sense a Darkin in Demacia so hurry up."

Gregori's eyebrows rose, a Darkin in Demacia? 

"Sealed or dormant?"

"Sealed and dormant."

He let out a sigh and placed him palm on the spear. His fingers closed around it slowly. He felt his blood pump faster. His eyes were dyed red.

"Ooh? Your magic has improved? Did you train? But why weren't you living a simple life with your wife and child?"

"I will tell you later."

Caalyx was extremely inquisitive, especially about Gregori's home life. And while wrapped it was impossible for him to communicate.

Gregori and Caalyx had decided to split him in two. And had somehow managed to do it with Caalyx straining himself. Darkin weapons were indestructible but separating them in half was still barely possible. The spearhead was hidden while he carried the body with him for any dangerous situations.

And a small army did count as a dangerous situation.