Chapter 164: Arcane [#12]
What happened to him when he was dropped into the ravine after he was tortured and transformed into this chimera?
Well, this is kinda obvious, but he died.
He stood in the barren land, in his human form, naked and cold, his eyes darting around as sudden trees sprouted from the broken and battered grey soil, the dust in the air was raised by the sheer force of the explosive tremors that accompained the sudden growth. He panted, tired and in fear, he felt a tug and he looked back at the thread of thin white light connecting his head to the sky above him, the thread moved like a seaweed underwater, being pushed by the currents. "I smell another soul..." He heard a gruff growl, his body froze and tensed at the sound, he turned around in a flash, twisting his head everywhere in search of the source of the sound, only seeing a dash of black smoke- he instantly knew who it was, but the next voice confirmed who was talking: "Another soul, dear wolf... But this one is like a feather, in the wind." A wooshing sound followed as from above, a white lamb, wearing a black wolf mask dropped from the heavens, and behind her, flowing like a cloud of smoke and hunger, stood the black wolf, with a wool white mask of a sheep.
"The Kindred..." Poison whispered, knowing well what it meant to see them. "An old soul stands before us..." The Sheep whispered in a cold, calm tone of voice, her unwavering gaze focused solemnly upon him. "I remember this one! They escaped us once!" The wolf growled and said in his deep gravely voice, the smoke swished and teeth clacked together, making these menacing noises. "Indeed... he bears the sound of death." Lamb straightened her back as she turned to look straight into Poison's eyes, voice calm, cold, and collected: "Choose now, lost soul... Arrow-" Wolf completed the sentence: "Or 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡!" His voice echoed through the darkness in a cacophony of growls: "I..."
He knew he had a choice, a will, if he could escape he could live for now... Since inevitably he will hug the lamb, but now?
He turned his back to them, Wolf knew what he wanted to do, and he got prepared- In a stomp, he ran as fast as he could! "This will be easy!" Wolf growled before his smoke-like form rushed forth, followed easily by the Lamb: "And if not?" She whispered, but curiously, even though her voice was as soft as a feather falling, it still echoed in this great and immense darkness. "𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐔𝐍!" And with that, Poison's run for his life (Quite literally) started. The wolf teased him at first, but when he noticed a breeze of power surround the body of the soul and detecting a sliver of divine power, he ran faster! "This is not for you to intervene, Goddess of the Wind." A small white bird flew before the soul of Poison, turning into a cloud surrounding his body in a warm embrace, giving him his speed back- He ran faster than any other soup had ran from Wolf, and that made the chase so much exciting for the death canine that he could not help but laugh: "𝐇𝐀𝐇𝐀𝐇𝐀𝐇𝐀𝐇𝐀!" Poison felt an urge of speed within his body as a voice whispered in the invisble wind: "It's not the time for this soul yet... Kindred."
Knowing this as Janna, Poison smiled as he ran, the thread above his head was growing in length and thickness, it meant his life was coming back to him- "No! Not yet!" Wolf dashed and his teeth sank into Poison's body, making the soul shriek and scream in pain as the wolf pulled back a part of the soul:
[Your soul has been damaged!]
[Damage can be repaired, however, one skill must be sacrificed to recover from this damage. The system will switch the damage you should've taken by the bite to a skill, destroying that skill.]
[Do you wish to sacrifice a skill?]
Looking through his skills, he decided that yes, he wanted to sacrifice a skill because if he didn't, he would be in serious shit. 'Do it!' He screamed inside his head as another system message appeared:
[Due to extensive damage, the skill [Stun lvl 3] is not enough to cover all of the damage... You'll suffer a minor soul confusion.
You will be affected with Amnesia, forgetting all events in the past 24 hours until your soul heals completely.]
"Come my loyal worshipper, be back!" Janna used her wind and pushed back the Kindred, the thread above Poison's head shined brightly and blinded him for a moment...
And when he woke up-
*GASP*
With a gasp of fresh air and pain, he came to consciousness, feeling an unrelenting pain that spresd through his whole body- He coughed as blood left his mouth and eyes, pieces of glass and rusty metal were sticking on his skin and body, his bones broken and cracked, his lungs full of poison that it burned his being inside out-
The rest you know.
-Scene Cut-
Augustus felt cold.
Not physically cold, since he had his Freljordian heritage that covered that cold Resistance to him, so he did not feel cold even though he was wearing thin clothes in the cold of the night... No. He felt cold because Poison just, left? Like that? He wanted to at least tell him goodbye but he just left! Also, he has magic!? What the actual fuc- "Young Master!" Adam came running to meet him at the bottom of the tower of Giopara, Augustus smiled sweetly at the man as he hugged him, Sighing in relief as he held the boy in his arms: "Ah... thank you, Nagakabourus, thank you so much." Augustus knew that Nagakabourus was a Spirit Goddess of Life, Change, and Motion, meaning that it brought chaos on its way but also the flourishing beauty of life and the sea- Nagakabourus was a Goddess of life, and Adam was one of her worshippers! It was one of the people Augustus knew that could speak Buhru, one language he isn't as proficient in as he wished he was.
"I'm fine, Adam." he smiled, trying to appease his butler, who was crying tears of joy. He was brought by Adam up to his own room, his mother was not available for a meeting since she hsd many important deals and issues to attend to... Since the kidnapping of her only son isn't as important as getting a 20% discount on the next shipment of Noxian Blood Wine. Sitting down on his bed, Augustus lied with a straight face to his butler, who he didn't want to worry anymore. "I was saved by someone down there... the kidnapper was trying to take me silently, but i successfully activated the trap- however, he pulled me in and we were launched into the sky by my launcher... You know, the one i created for dad... But i also managed to stun him and land safely thanks to my gear, he also safely landed and tried to chase me when... Someone saved me." he paused, feeling a sense of... sadness.
"My first friend. From the Undercity you know?" Smiling sadly to his Adam, Augustus chuckled as he felt like this was a goodbye between them, like they wouldn't meet again. "He's my age, you know?" He was lying about the kidnapping, why not lie about Poison's age? Since, you know, if Adam knew his friend was like- A huge adult werewolf, then he surely would feel like he was in danger. "A kind soul-" Memories of Poison playing with Acid flashed in his mind, of Poison fixing the little Golem's broke leg before it began to walk again and curl up to him, memories of Poison talking and explaining to him how the Undercity worked! He learned so much in only one day, and he'll miss that guy: "He protected me from the bad people down there... Of course i protected myself, but my Shocker actually ran out down there, so i had to rely a little bit on him, he took me in and gave me clothes since mine wete torn by the landing and the kidnapper trying to take me, making me fall in mud and some green acidic things." He had already been checked for any disease in the way up, to which he tested negative flr many infections but he should make a more thorough examination later on.
"And then?" Adam, who had his hands on Augustus' hair, caressing the scalp of his head, asked in a whispered wonder.
(A/N: Sorry to break the immersion, but this is something everyone out there does, but in Brazil we have a word for it that doesn't exist anywhere: Cafuné: The act of massaging gently someone's scalp, a display of affection.)
"And then... They shot him." Augustus covered his eyes and let himself lie down Adam's thighs, the butler sighed as he hummed in understanding: "And he thought it was because of me, I'm sure of it." Adam's hand stopped, glad that Augustus' first friend was still alive, but upset because Augustus' friend must hate him now. Adam knew that as growing up, Young Master Augustus had zero friends, well, real friends- Most of them were knky friends with him for the benefits it could bring to their family, a future connection, and Augustus didn't really considered them a friend at all. "I... could make you your favorite drink?" he offered hopefully, trying to see if Augustus would like it, and when he nodded, he slowly removed Augustus' head (Rip) from his thighs and placed it back or the bed as he left, kissing the forehead of his young master, closing the door on his exit.
Meanwhile, Augustus just stood there, sad that his first friendship was torn apart... Wait, he had lost "friendships" before, but it didn't hurt like this, no, he feels horrible compared to how he felt back then when his first "friendship" was broken "What is happening to me..." He whispered to himself, hand on his chest as an invisible pain settled into his heart. "Well, i didn't know you could lie that well." For a single second, Augustus thought he had heard it wrong, but he opened his eyes and above him stood him- Poison. "FUCK!" He shouted, stunned and scared for a second before he could even analyze what happened- "Are you alright there, Young Master?" Adam's head was about to pop into the room when Augustus shouted back: "Sorry Adam! I just... hit my pinky on the bed, and it hurt." There was an audible sigh from Adam as the shadow moved back into the from the small line that could be seen at the bottom of the door, as he said: "Just... Language." Augustus sighed in relief, turned to look at Poison, and saw Acid alongside the big wolf sitting on his bed.
"Well, Acid missed you, so i had to bring him here to... you know, play with you." Even though he said this, he averted his gaze, turning his head to the side. "Oh, okay... Are you sure it wasn't only Acid though?" He took a peek behind Poison and saw his tail wagging excitedly, the large wolf just growled softly before he sighed and said: "Don't get any ideas, i just... Forgot to give you this." He quickly took something out of who knows where and placed it right on to the hands of the smaller human, trying to hide his slightly apprehensive tension- 'Will he like it?' He asked himself as Augustus looked down at the small wolf made of scrap metal, rubble, wires and thin green weeds and vines, it was so small he could pick it up and hold it with one hand.
"Thanks... i loved it."
They stared at each others eyes... While The voice inside Poison's head shouted: "𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐘!"
Shut up.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone