Chapter 15: Death Is The Next Great Adventure
“What the hell are you talking about.” Her heart thumped faster.

Thanatos looked at her mockingly, tossing some of his long silken black hair behind him while his red eyes bore into her. His gaze alone would’ve been enough to intimidate even the mightiest of Champions, and Akali suddenly felt as though she were a little girl again. Or were those false memories projected into her mind?

Akali started to sweat. Her palms started to become slick with sweat while Akali wiped her lips behind her mask. She resented this show of weakness, though Thanatos made all kinds of emotions erupt within Akali—hatred, disgust, fear, torment, antipathy, malice, rage, pettiness, vice—everything that involved the dark side of human nature awoke within Akali, and she hated herself most of all for it, even though she wasn’t the one who did anything wrong in this situation. Yet somehow, that gaze tore into her, like a wolf prowling to tear through the beating jugular of a lamb sent for sacrifice—and they narrowed towards her with cunning calculation.

He could see right through her, couldn’t he?

“There is another Champion with you,” Thanatos said with amusement, as Thresh was suddenly revealed and restrained by other Summoners, coming forth to Thanatos’ presence. “I told Thresh that he was overstepping his boundaries. Though who would’ve thought he would eventually engineer a plan to finally discover the truth? Well played, Thresh. You just got further into the deeper level of the game, though you’re not quite ready to face the Final Boss yet.”

Thanatos chuckled to himself, and Akali guessed that this man was deranged and unhinged if he thought that everything was just a game to him. Akali glared at him, and if looks could kill, then she would’ve vaporized him on the spot where he stood. She wished. Though unfortunately, the Summoner stood before her, his hateful visage smiling in an obvious contorting of pleasure at their suffering. Fuck this Summoner.

“As for you, Kei,” Thanatos said in a silken tone, to which Kei visibly shivered. “You helped them. I know this, I see all…but I’ve got everything under control. I engineered things like this to happen. I planted ideas into Thresh’s head and made him believe that it was his idea. That’s how I programmed him to do.”

Thresh said nothing, though Akali imagined if Thresh had a visage that could show expressions, it would be pure hatred towards Thanatos. Akali stood frozen in place, wondering if she could engineer an escape. Thanatos tracked them down too easily. How would they escape? Even if they could escape, Thanatos would know that they knew. There was no way they could spread this information to the outside.

“We’re our own selves,” Akali said. “We’re not some…plaything that your program or mess around with. We’re not a video game character.”

“Do you know how a Champion becomes a Champion in the first place?” Thanatos said while looking at his nails, as though he weren’t interested in what Akali had to say. “It’s all part of my grand plan. This is the part where things get interesting, and you guys accessed a deeper level of the game. Congratulations. You discovered an easter egg, or something very special. Though I would also have to say that you, Akali, are a glitch In the game. But glitches make things more fascinating, don’t they?”

“What the hell are you talking about,” Akali muttered, to which Thanatos laughed

“Your mother was a former clone of you, Akali,” Thanatos said with amusement, narrowing his eyes as though he reveled to see the shocked look on Akali’s face. “One of your former personalities, I mean. We decided to execute her and reprogram her into a newer, more updated version of a Champion. Though you have always been special to us, Akali. You were a glitch, all right, showed more rebellious spirit than the other champions, but we adored you anyway because you were unique. You’re also one of the older programs in the system, though it took serious modifications to make you into what you are now.”

“So…my mother never even existed?” Akali said before she narrowed her eyes towards Thanatos. “She was merely a persona that you adapted onto me?”

“That you are correct,” Thanatos said, and Akali wondered if Shen knew any of this stuff at all. Maybe he guessed it but didn’t want to truly acknowledge it. Because he knew that fighting against the Summoners was a fruitless battle. Maybe Akali went on this foolhardy journey thinking that she could change something, but it was all fruitless in the end. She was so stupid to think that she alone could help make a change in the League, and help prevent such tragedies from happening to others. Or that she would be able to reveal a conspiracy that went far deeper than she ever imagined, and now she was stuck in the middle of it and she wondered if she would make it out alive or not.

“Well, what am I to do with you two, then?” Thanatos said, before his gaze directed toward Kei. “Kei needs to be appropriately punished for his deeds. He was disposable, as always. That is your reward for breaking into the vaults.”

“He had nothing to do with this!” Akali said in desperation, and Kei seemed to be resigned towards his face.

“It’s all right, Akali,” Kei said with a small smile towards her. “They say that death is the next great adventure, after all.”

“Kei, no!” Akali said, and the Summoners executed Kei on the spot. Akali trembled, not with fear or sadness, but pure anger. She escaped the Summoner's grip and lunged herself towards Thanatos, though Thanatos stopped her with a telekinetic force that ‘repelled’ her back from him. Akali landed on her backside with a thump, and she glared at Thanatos the entire time while he laughed mockingly at her. He killed Kei without thinking a second thought about it, and now he was going to kill her too. Akali should be used to death, after all. They all died on the Rift and were part of some experimental scheme that kept their consciousness alive.

“Oh, this is too rich!” Thanatos said before he said. “I could always kill you and reprogram you again, but I like this challenge that you’re giving me. No, what I think that I’ll do is put you and Thresh to sleep.”

“What do you mean by that?” Akali gawked, wondered if put to sleep was a euphemism for putting down like a dog or killing them off for good. Thanatos laughed.

“Just putting you in a cryogenic chamber,” Thanatos said with a smile. “I rather like this end game that we have here. But I’m going to postpone it for just a little longer. You haven’t played the game completely until you explore all the side quests and whatnot.”

“You’re crazy,” Akali said.

“Genius is another side of madness, they say,” Thanatos said before he ushered the Summoners towards another hidden room, which was the cryogenic vault. “You and Thresh can take a nice long nap, to reflect on your sins…”

They put Akali into one of the cryogenic tubes, along with Thresh, restraining them. The lid to the cryogenic chamber crept up and covered Akali completely, while she attempted to escape from the restraints. Yet it was useless, fruitless, and as the gases inside the cryogenic chamber started to make her pass out, Akali’s last conscious thought was she would kill Thanatos the next time she saw him.