Kayn: Shadow Assassin II
This is a follow-up to the story below. While not you don’t have to read the first part to understand the second, it’ll probably make more sense if you do.
Kayn kicked down the door to the main hall of his Order. The few acolytes inside whipped their head towards the commotion, and upon witnessing his furious stride as well as the burns on his clothing and skin, parted the way for him like a school of fish clearing the way for a shark.
“Zed!” Kayn’s voiced thundered through the hall, directed at the armored leader of the Order of Shadow, sat in his throne, silently observing his pupil. “You intentionally sent me to die. Do not deny it.”
Zed sat still for a moment. Locking eyes with Kayn, who had stopped a few feet away.
“I take it you were unsuccessful in your mission. Explain yourself.”
“Explain myself? You sent me to kill the General of Noxus who, apparently, is half demon. He used powers I have never even heard of before. Will you feign ignorance? Do you deny that you sent me to my death? Is my ambition too great for the mighty Zed? Are you so petrified of my potential?”
You sound like a child. O’ bringer of death to all of Noxus, unable to dispatch a single old man.
Kayn ignored Rhaast’s chiding from within his own mind as he continued to lock eyes with Zed.
To everyone in the room, save for Zed, Kayn was terrifying. Kayn, as an assassin, had learned to not let his emotions betray him. He flooded his words and his expression with anger. Through the sea of rage Kayn was wading through, Zed detected something else far beneath the surface: sorrow, pain, and hurt.
“Shieda Kayn. I am the leader of the Order of Shadow, an order of assassins. Had I wanted you dead, I would have simply killed you. I do not wish you dead.” Zed paused for a sliver of a moment. “You are too useful to the Order. We received word a politician was straying too close to our borders. Had I suspected it was the Noxian General, I would have sent the entire Order.”
Kayn paused. He continued to lock eyes with Zed, through the small openings in his helmet that gave way to the only indication that a human yet remained behind the armor.
“It appears I have received insufficient intelligence. The person responsible will be dealt with.” Zed had finished his explanation.
After several moments of tense silence, with every acolyte waiting with baited breath for the shoe to drop, Kayn heel turned and began walking away.
This is the second fight you have walked away from, boy. Perhaps you are unworthy even to be my host.
He speaks the truth. If he’d known we had an opportunity to strike down the leader of Noxus he would have seized it.
And yet again, the shackles of his order weigh you down.
I wish only to be free of your commentary, tool.
Zed and Kayn came upon a grisly scene of slaughtered horses and men on a path through the Ionian forest. It seemed a caravan of Piltover traders were on an expedition to Ionia. What they were doing here was unknown, the Order had received a report of the carnage and Zed, looking to regain his pupil’s trust, had decided to go with Kayn to investigate.
“These wounds, I have not seen their like before.” Kayn observed the horse’s flanks, littered with holes as if shot by several archers. Similarly, all of the men were also punctured dozens of times. Kayn noted that all of the merchandise was still present. There were heaps of gold coins laying about, even though this scene had been laid bare for days. Whoever had done this clearly cared not for the material. He also noted that there were no arrows, and each hole had singed edges as though they had been burned. Kayn’s hand touched the burn mark on his chest from his encounter with Swain.
I recognize this… carnage… It cannot be…
Before Kayn could ask what Rhaast meant, Kayn and Zed heard a scream from the treeline.
“RUN!”
As their heads whipped around to see where the voice had come from, Kayn saw a flash of purple and instinctively raised his scythe to guard his face. A great force knocked him flying into a tree, snapping it’s thick trunk in half and sending it toppling over top the wagon.
Zed dissipated into a black smoke, swapping places with a shadow he had hidden in the trees before they had come to the scene. Kayn’s head swirled, and as he fought to regain his senses he looked in the direction of his assailant and saw a man who’s arms and legs were covered in purple chitinous armor, not unlike Kayn’s own arm. The man seemed to be agitated at himself.
VARUS.
As Rhaast cried the name of his brethren, Kayn saw another flash of purple and, in a wisp of black smoke, became one with the shadows in the treeline behind him. A barrage of purple arrows flew in his direction, though there was no target to be struck. At the same time, Zed was flying through the trees in the direction of the assailant. While the archer was preoccupied by Kayn, Zed sent a flurry of shuriken towards him.
Before they could reach him, Varus turned towards the assault, strained to pull back the bowstring, and released a cloud of arrows that met the shuriken on their path and knocked them aside. Zed recognized his attack failed and that the arrows were now flying towards him and sent forward another shadow to a tree adjacent to him and switched places inches before the arrows made contact and flew through the shadowy figure he left behind.
Zed stood for a moment on top of the tree he had swapped onto, and watched the archer charge up one large red arrow, not aimed at him. Instead the arrow was sent at the base of the tree Zed currently stood atop. It shattered the trunk and both the tree and Zed plummeted to the ground. Zed hit the ground with a thud, and the tree landed with a crash a foot away from him. As he caught his breath and stood up, he saw a flash of purple right as Varus appeared standing right next to him with an arrow pointed directly at his chest. Despite having the arrow pulled and ready to fire, the white light in his eyes flickered for a moment and his body froze.
In that moment, Kayn appeared from the shadows and brought his scythe to the man’s neck. The white light in his eyes flared back as the archer caught the scythe at the last possible second with the front of his bow. As they collided, Kayn was unwillingly pulled into Varus.
Kayn had used his shadow magic to inhabit the body of his prey many times, but never had he been pulled in without his initiation.
When inhabiting the bodies of his prey, he had simply seen through their eyes and heard echoes of their thoughts, mostly of fear. Now, however, he stood in a large room, ornately decorated in Ionian decadence. In the center of this room a large circular pool of water. Kayn heard his name being whispered from the water, the same voice that had warned him of the incoming attack earlier.
Kayn knelt down to look into the pool and saw his own reflection. He realized that he was looking at himself. His genuine self. There was no corruption from the Darkin scythe. It had been so long since he had seen himself like this.
As he continued looking in the water, Kayn saw a figure begin to form to the right of his reflection in the water. He looked around but saw nothing, the figure was only manifesting in the water. The figure slowly took form in the shape of a man. He was dressed in Ionian leathers, his hair pulled into a knot with the sides of his head shaved. He looked at Kayn with sorrow and pity.
Slowly, another form began to form to his left. It coalesced into a man slumped over, riddled with arrows. Kayn looked at them for a moment, and when he looked back up at the room he was in, he saw two mirrors he had not noticed before. As he got to his feet to investigate them, he glanced down once more at the two men, the one slumped over and the other observing Kayn as he moved, both men’s hands clasped tightly together.
Kayn stood in the center of the two mirrors. he looked into the mirror on the right and saw himself. Not a reflection, but a scene. He somehow recognized this to be… his future. He saw himself wielding the Darkin scythe but showing no traces of his corruption. He was moving through the walls as a wraith faster than he had ever done before. He was graceful and powerful.
Yes, Kayn thought. This is my destiny. I will conquer Rhaast and become the greatest shadow assassin the world has ever known.
As he continued watching himself in this mirror, he saw the image shift to a figure, dead on the floor. It took Kayn but a moment to recognize this figure as Zed. Kayn saw himself hovering above Zed’s body, halfway inside the wall. He locked eyes with himself and thought he could make out a tear on his cheek.
“No…” Kayn whispered to himself, “this must be a mistake. I will take my place as the leader of the Order of Shadows but this is not… I wouldn’t…”
He couldn’t look at his scene anymore. He looked to the mirror on the left. He saw, again, Zed. This time, however, Zed was alive. He was also holding Rhaast. Before Kayn could question this, he watched as Zed plunged Rhaast into his chest, and saw the red chitinous armor of the Darkin cover him. He watched himself transform into a demon. A monster. He heard Rhaast yelling with delight and rage. The scene shifted to Rhaast laying waste to Noxus. Swain laying dead on the floor, flames engulfing the Noxian capital. The scene shifted once more to Zed, sitting on his throne.
Kayn closed his eyes.
These are not my only choices. I will be the master of the Order of Shadows, Rhaast will not best me and… Zed…
He opened his eyes to see that both the mirrors had gone. There was now only one mirror. Kayn saw a figure of purple mist. The figure slowly raised a bow towards him, and smiled just as he let loose an arrow. The glass of the mirror shattered as the arrow burst through and pierced Kayn through the chest.
Everything went black. Kayn heard a different voice than the one that had warned him from the trees and whispered his name from the water.
Before you lies two paths. One is what you seek. One is what you chase. Both will end in misery. You are cursed.
Kayn opened his eyes to see the full moon through the treetops. He looked around from the ground, trying to find the archer, but saw only Zed looking down on him.
“You live. I am… relieved.” Kayn looked at Zed but could only see the two scenes from the mirrors. Zed would die by his hand in his search for power, or Zed would be his undoing in allowing Rhaast to wrest control.
Zed reached out a hand to help Kayn from the ground. Kayn looked at this gesture from the ground for several moments…
and then accepted his hand.
