A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"The moon will rise. The night will last forever!"~ Diana, The Scorn of The Moon

Gregori Time.

Also.... am I stupid? 

Yes. Yes I am. I just chose to not write two chapters for the last few days. This means I am only 8 chapters ahead.

I will be fixing that.

P.S. Jesus in Arcane??

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The weather was positively awful. Days of travel and it did not let up. How did it make sense for the Freljord to have a blizzard within an hour of his travels and not fucking let up?

The once serene lands of the Freljord now felt like an endless white hell.

One he was definitely suffering in.

Gregori was outraged at his luck and at the land itself. No one deserved this treatment, surely not him. 

So why was it this bad.

But he soldiered on. Just as he had always done. A mission was to be completed.

He could barely tell that days were passing, the visibility was near zero. At one point he just stopped and spent the next few hours trying to figure out he he was moving in the right direction, it turned out.... he wasn't.

The blizzard had made him slowly shift toward east, instead of the northern regions he was supposed to get to. A disappointment for sure. Course correction was annoying on the best of times but with no vision of both in front of you and your destination? That was depressing.

Every few hours, he would stop and check if he was going in the correct direction. The light of the sun gave him a rough estimate of where to go, even if it was barely there. 

Nights he spent in either some for of shelter or just out in the open curled into himself. Short naps. No walking or trekking.

Without vision of where he was going, night journeys were pointless and would often get him lost and stranded.

Food and water was running out. His reserves were plenty and he had consumed them in a conserved manner but it was not working out as he wanted it to. Even with him stretching it, it would last a few more days, a week maximum. Then he would need to start hunting. Water would be an issue but he had gathered information from Tryndamere, stating where water holes would be in the area. Not detailed information but approximate ones. 

But he needed to find the home of the barbarians. The information would only come into play once he found that place. 

The home of the barbarians was quite recognizable. They apparently had a large weirdly shaped structure, that stood out from the surroundings. They built their entire settlement there and unlike standard Freljordian tribes, barbarians did not move from the place they settled in.

Home was home. Nothing could take its place.

Unless they got invaded by an immortal god warrior. That would throw a giant spanner in the works.

And so they moved, to ensure the survival of what little remained.

Gregori had found a plethora of caves and carved out rock faces. He had spent many nights in those places. For proper sleep. One entrance meant only one spot for enemies to come from. And some of them were filled with bones, armor and even gold.

Items, he currently had no use for.

But the most valuable among them were glowing icicles. He pulled out a couple by bashing his shield into them, tying it with rope and then covering them with cloth. If they melted, they weren't True Ice. Some did not. Four to be precise. 

Some might say that is a bad way of testing them. There were easier ways... touching them for example. But that would get him killed. True Ice was deadly for anyone who was not an Iceborn. Even they needed to brave the pain from the ice to actually use it. That did mean that no normal man could ever steal your weapon since they would die within seconds of contact.

Now, he had expected to pick it off the bodies of those he would be killing. It only seemed right to take spoils of war. Though he would still would be doing that.

His belief that True Ice was not easily found was false? He did not know whether he had gotten lucky or the rumors untrue. Probably very lucky. He did wonder why the Freljordians did not use it to make better traps. Place a couple of the point ones under ground, make the tops collapsible and you would have an instant kill. Only Iceborn could survive touching it. Maybe their proud dignity and valor in combat forbade them from making traps? That would also explain why they never hunted smaller creatures.

Rabbit tasted good1. Nutritious too. 

Giving the Avarosans an added benefit of supporting him would make things easier. A gift would always be appreciated. True Ice weapons and sets of armor that could save lives was pretty useful to anyone. It would give him a voice among them. He would need allies for what would happen after his return from Noxus. 

Noxus would put out the largest possible bounty on him after what he would do to them. 

They wouldn't bother about the damage to the structures or even the deaths of their people, what mattered most was their image. Noxus represented the enduring, the imperishable, the everlasting. His actions would hurt that image.

Escaping to the Freljord was the quickest way. Then to Demacia and straight to Targon. Noxus hadn't invaded Targon yet. They probably wouldn't. As long as the Aspects existed, Targon was untouchable. That meant safety.

Grrrrr

Even through the blizzard, the growl was audible.

Spinning around, Gregori looked around, his eyes darting everywhere trying to spot the creature making the noise.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

More growling but Gregori could approximate the direction it was coming from now. He turned there and waited. His eyes occasionally darting to the edges of his vision.

His fist clenched around the handle under the shield. His other hand reached for the spear. It wouldn't amount to much in its wrapped state but it would be an extremely sturdy blunt object.

The growling halted.

Nothing happened for a few seconds.

THUMP

Something rammed into his back sending him flying forward, knocking him prone. The weight still remained on his back and he struggled to knock it off. He felt something cut into his back.

The growling resumed once again. This time it came from right above him.

Placing his left hand firmly on the ground he spun with his left. The shield on the hand smacking the creature off him.

Rolling the opposite direction and away from the beast, he rushed to his feet. Laying eyes on the creature.

A wolf. Its fur white and frozen over by ice. But the most prominent feature was the glowing bits. The eyes had a ghostly blue glow and the tips of the frosted over fur carried that same glow. 

It stood still and made eye contact with him.

Then it slowly, stepped toward the side, circling around him.

Gregori was a seasoned hunter. He had also fought many creatures. He knew what the wolf was doing.

Wolves were a pack animal. Even if this wolf was a species he had never come across, those things did not change. Pack animals were smarter and therefore deadlier.

Circling around him was just a way to keep his focus on it. To make sure its pack members had a better chance at his neck. 

The only reason he survived the initial attack was his slung over bag. The wolf probably did not have a good enough aim at his neck. But it did get a few claws into his shoulder.

He contemplated removing the wraps on the spear but that would be overkill. It would also leave him drained for future battles.

He raised his left hand and the spear shot to it.

Even a blunt weapon had its uses and with his magic, he could do a whole lot. Even in its old weaker state he could pull weapons from around him. 

The longer the wolf stalled the more time it gave for its pack members to surround him. That would mean certain death. The only way this could be concluded was if he made the first move.

Shifting his weight onto his right foot, he twisted his body and let the wrapped weapon lose. Right at the wolf. It dodged to the right, but he was on it in an instant.

BANG

His shield slammed into the wolf and he carried on with the momentum, landing on top of it.

CRUNCH

WHINEEEE

The sound was probably an indication of something breaking under the force and his weight. Hopefully the wolf's neck.

Growls came from behind him. Distinct ones from different sides.

Gregori lifted himself off the wolf and raised his shield. His left hand shot up to summon the spear back. His eyes landed on the two wolves. Both slowly moving to opposing sides. Shooting a look at the wolf on the ground, he noticed that it was still alive. But it couldn't lift itself.

Broken back, he guessed. That would do it. Paralyzed and in pain.

Pulling his eyes off the downed wolf, he looked to the two others. Rolling his shoulders, he picked a target, the wolf to his right.

He broke into a sprint and tried to slam his shield into the wolf. But it jumped to his side. Not letting up, he turned and rushed it again.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the other wolf leaping at him. In an instant he changed targets, his shield pointed at the wolf that dodges previously. Sliding the butt of the spear into the ground, he angled it at the jumping animal and pulled the beast.

YIP

The wolf let out a surprised yelp as it suddenly accelerated. Accelerated right into the spear.

Blunt weapon or not, an indestructible object would always do damage to anything coming at it at a high speed.

CRACK

The wolf was no exception. Its head slamming into the end of the spear. Its skull cracking on impact, dying instantly.

One down.

Well, two down.

He looked toward where the downed wolf was.

Only to find it missing.

His eyes widened as he spun quickly, searching for he first wolf. But it had slunk back into the blizzard.

"Fuck." He muttered.

Turning his attention back to the wolf on his right, he chucked his spear at it. This time it made contact as it hit the beast in the side, catching it off guard.

Not missing the opportunity, Gregori dashed to the wolf and slammed the shield onto its back with such force, that cracks appeared on the ground. Then he kept slamming in until it stopped moving.

The second wolf was dead.

He looked around once more trying to spot the first wolf but it probably ran away. But running away with a broken back was amazing. These wolves probably had really high regenerative abilities. Their eyes were glowing after all, no creature that had glowing body parts was ever normal.

Laying his eyes on the cracked ground, he wondered if he hit the wolf that hard.

Gregori stilled for a second.

Cracked ground?

He slowly stepped back, away from the crack. But with each step he took, the cracks stretched.

CRACK

CRACK

CRACK

Slowly but surely the cracks were spreading. He pulled his spear back to him and checked his bag. Everything was in its place. No tears surprisingly. He clutched at his weapons and sprinted to a side, hoping he was running across the frozen waters and not along it.

The cracks followed, matching his pace, not letting an inch.

His run was barely a few minutes but it was shortened by finding land. Land he jumped at and laid down on.

FUUUU

HUUUUU

FUUUUU

Gregori caught his breath. Taking a small rest on the land.

SNIFF

SNIFF

An unpleasant smell found his nose. The smell of rot.

Clenching his teeth, he got back up and made to move toward the smell. But winced as the pain in his shoulder flared.

He dropped the sling bag and removed layers of clothing. The wind instantly assaulted his body. Chill seeping through. He craned his neck trying to catch a look at the extent of his injuries. And he spotted it. Higher on his upper back closer to his right shoulder blade, ran three claw marks. They weren't too deep but they were painful.

He had half a mind to start a fire and cauterize the wound. But he needed another person to accurately burn the location. Instead he tore open some extra cloth and tied it around his torso and then over the injury from under his right arm. He ran the length of the cloth over and under the one across his torso and tightened it.

An injury that he would have to bear until he completed the mission. He could heal it instantly but unwrapping the spear was not a good idea at the moment.

Slipping into the layers of cloth he was on his way to the location of the smell.