Tales of Runeterra: Order of Shadows

Tales of Runterra

Chapter 2:

Order of Shadows

I wiped my knife on his cloak, making sure that the worst of it was off my blade. Most would consider such an action vile, or rude at the least. I considered it practical. There was already so much blood staining his clothing, and soon more to leak out of him, that I figured he might as well do something useful with what remained of his life.

“M-monster…” he gurgled out around the blood pooling in his mouth. I tutted, before walking back over and kneeling about him. A vicious smile adorned my face as I looked down on the poor soul. 

His body was festooned with jewelry and silks. If I peeled off a single thing from him, be it shoe or scarf or lace or ring, I could likely feed every starving child in Zaun for a month. He had probably not known want or hunger or pain for all his life and had been cared for from the moment he had a singular need.

 And I had taken it all away from him. My smile grew as I thought of that.

“May the Kindred know you well,” I whispered. My hand, gloved in leather made from raptors of the jungle of Ixtal, reached up to close his eyes. I didn’t actually believe in the phrase— I couldn’t care less whether the man found peace in death— but it was tradition to say it. Something-something Shadow Order whatever.

I was raised on certain rules, I fulfilled those rules. I got paid for this.

The poor bastard, however, wouldn’t let me finish. His hand, with several rings on each finger, grabbed me with strength that a man without half of his blood shouldn’t have. Dull eyes, once filled with covetous greed, stared into my own.

“I die here, boy, but I do not do it alone. I invoke the name of the Spear of Vengeance, and I curse you! I call upon her name, Kali—”

Before he finished I cut out his tongue. I’m not a superstitious one, but I’ve seen cases of magic beyond my understanding. I have seen The Harrowing descend upon Bilgewater, and I know of the monsters that ride from those mists. I have seen many lives ended and thus I do not take chances on my own. Even if it is a superstition.

“Do not speak of names beyond your understanding, fool.” And it is here that true fear finally wins over the defiance in the man’s eyes. Shadows leak from my skin, showing my origins as my magic leaks through my control. “The Spear does not move for swine like you. How many have you killed in your lifetime? How many have you betrayed?” I spit on him. He hadn’t the energy left to grimace. 

 “I hope the children down in the Green make good use of your corpse.”

I’m not sure if he heard me, and it probably didn’t matter if he did. With a shove of my foot, the body rolled off the edge of the cliff that his opulent house was on, and down-down-down into the depths of Zaun.

His cushy clothing would protect his body from harm. It would also be stripped from him when the poorer inhabitants of the city found him. At least they would eat well tonight.

“Hello? Is the baron out here?” a light, airy voice called out. A noblewoman, or about as noble as you could get in this city, stepped out into the balcony. I reigned in the shadows as I turned to her and put on my best smile. “Oh, Lord Naxrus. Have you seen the Baron Leeson?”

“I’m afraid not,” I said, and one could mistake my disappointment for the genuine thing. “I followed him out here, but I got only a glimpse of him before he retired— off to rest from the hyperactivity of the night, I presume.”

The lady sighed, and the ruby-red of her lips likely reflected the state of the Baron Leeson, likely little more than a red splat in the gutters of the city by now. She hadn’t needed to know that, however.

“Well,” she said, and I noted her voice was like the wind-chimes blowing in the breeze of my hometown. It brought on a homesickness like I couldn’t believe, but my job wasn’t done. I would return home eventually. Right now, I had a job to do. “Would you mind entertaining me for the evening, then?”

My smile was coy as I answered. “Oh? Am I second fiddle to the Baron? I am not sure I could fill such shoes.”

Neither did I want to, but the game of words was the only fun I would have, it seemed.

Her smile was coy as well, but she stepped over to me anyway. I walked forward to meet her before she got too far. The coppery smell of blood wasn’t yet blown away by the repugnant Zuanite air. We stopped mere inches from each other, the smell of alcohol just barely floating off our breaths, before speaking.

“I would admit, I was expecting the Chem-Baron, but a more interesting find has popped up.” Her finger traced a circle on my chest, and I was never gladder that I didn’t keep my blade stuffed in my coat pocket. “So I will repeat my question. Will you entertain me for the evening?”

Part of me wanted to smile. To jump and scream and holler into the night. For months I stalked this particular target, taking notes of who lit her fancy and who would not. I dressed to her liking and even made a standing for myself in her favorite city of leisure. Luckily for me, it is not hard to become notable in Zaun.

Even more lucky, the daughter of one of the most prominent lords of Noxus favored Zaunite parties.

I wanted to scream my pleasure to the heavens above, but I restrained myself for the mission. I smiled coyly back and marveled at my ability to make her most favorite beau disappear.

“Why yes,” I responded, my voice like poison-laced silk. “I think I can put you up for the night.”

She smiled, as if she had won yet another conquest, and I let her think so. Her hand snaked into mine and latched on, and she gently led me back inside to the party. As she pulled me away, I took one last look to the balcony that the Chem-Baron, her original point of affection, had tumbled off of.

Though he was just a means to an end, he allowed me my in to the higher ups of Noxus.

And from him, I could begin to tear that vile city to the ground.

“We will have such fun, won’t we?” she asked. I listened to the chimes in her voice, and almost felt the gentle breeze of Ionia.

“We will,” I responded, and I almost couldn’t keep the venom from my voice. “We will all get what we deserve.”