{Chapter 3: Distant memories}

...

When Kayn touched the status word on the screen, suddenly an enormous flow of images entered his mind... just like memories, though they weren't his... But from someone else...

The images weren't clear, they were blurry and Kayn couldn't comprehend most of them... However, he didn't know when, but before he could notice, most of those images were already ingrained into his mind and became part of him.

"What the heck was that?" Kayn muttered as he grabbed his hair trying to find something amiss in his head. For some reason, he now knew a lot of different things out of nowhere, and his mind felt a lot clearer than before. He supposed that it was because of the previous images that this had happened, but he didn't know whether this was something good or something bad.

Soon, however, his attention was driven away by another thing.

In front of him, the screen had changed once again. But this time, the strange symbols and letters on it finally made sense to him!

Before he could even marvel at himself for suddenly learning how to read in one second, the screen in front of him changed once more and displayed an enormous variety of numbers in front of him.

Kayn tried touching these numbers, but it didn't really do much, so he stopped doing it and continued analyzing the screen in front of him.

He was a bit confused at what Accuracy and Tenacity were, not to mention Magical resistance... No, in the first place, what were these numbers?

As Kayn couldn't understand the meaning of these numbers, he also didn't want to delve more into it either. Be it because of wariness, or caution, he simply wanted to bring these numbers away.

He tried swiping with his hand the screen away, but it didn't really do much. It was only when he spoke with a bit of anxiety that the screen finally changed.

"Come on, go back to how you were before...!"

When he said those words, the screen changed once again and brought upon Kayn the same screen from before touching the status word.

Kayn explored with his view the screen once again, now that he knew how to read, it was pretty entertaining checking all the things he couldn't understand before. 

However, when Kayn saw the word "shop", he raised an eyebrow and recalled the name of those places where the caretaker could go and buy things for them whenever Noxus was celebrating something. His memories also told him that this "shop" was a place where he could buy several products in exchange for money, though, he wasn't sure where had this knowledge come from.

As he touched the word, just like he had done before with the status one, an enormous catalog of items was displayed to him. All of them were separated into different categories based on warrior types that he had once seen on the festivals of Noxus... The mage, the assassin, the marksman, the fighter, and the tank... Though, he had never heard about a support class or anything like that.

As he continued exploring the shop, there were a few items that caught his attention due to their vicious and epic design proper of a warrior of Noxus.

Kayn's eyes shone when he looked at these weapons. The first one was a very intimidating blade of a black and white color surrounded by a red-colored mist, while the seconds one was an enormous cleaver of a very typical Noxus design, that also had a red mist surrounding it. When he saw them, he immediately knew that he wanted them right now so that he could become a famous warrior right away.

At that moment, he remembered something and took out a few coins from his pocket and showed them to the screen, as if it was a real person.

"I got these from the guys I beat up today... Can I buy one of these weapons with this?"

As he said that, the screen changed rapidly and explained the currency needed to buy the items displayed.

"Tsk, even though it took me so much effort to get these coins... Either way, monsters? What does this thing mean with monsters?" Kayn rolled his eyes when he saw that his money was worth nothing here, and then looked curiously over the word monster displayed in the explanation.

However, at that moment, the rustling sound of bedsheets came from below him and snapped him out of his daze.

"Hey boss, what are you mumbling so much up there... Tomorrow we have to clean the orphanage, do you remember?" Suddenly, a voice came from below him, it was Dillan who had been woken up by Kayn's talk to himself.

"Sorry Dillan, go back to sleep now. I was just planning new ways to take down bigger people than the teenagers of today..."

Dillan mumbled a bit in a low voice and went back to sleep, leaving Kayn in silence for a few seconds, before he let out a sigh and looked at the screen in front of him.

After that, Kayn muttered "go back" to the screen once again, and it soon turned into the same small screen that had been next to him all his life. However, unlike before, now he was able to understand the words there.

"Host... That's me?" Kayn mumbled a bit in the wonder of what this screen actually was before he then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

He could discover more about this strange screen of his tomorrow.

°°°

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Somewhere else...

...

"Ionia, a beautiful land full of resources ready to be exploited, and people ready to become part of our great Noxus empire... Yet, you are still hesitating to attack?!"

*Bam!!*

A grey-bearded old man, covered in thick and imposing armor of iron, slammed his fist angrily on the table and gazed with a reprimanding look at everyone sitting in front of him.

"Sir, while Ionia might be a very rich land, perfect for our Noxus empire as you say... That land is across the ocean, we can't send our troops there to invade without spending a lot of resources on the process, moreover, we don't even know that much of that territory, not to mention what kind of warriors and mages there are there... It's too dangerous to do it!" One of the men in front of him spoke aloud, trying to reason with the old man. However, unfortunately for him, this seemed to have ignited the anger of the old man even more.

"And you dare to call yourself a general of the Noxus Empire! Then we just need to investigate and study the entire territory with our spies, and then select carefully who are the most dangerous individuals to dispose of them immediately before the war begins! If you are truly a general of this empire, you would want the best for the people of Noxus, and you couldn't be hesitating over a few minor details!" The old man let out a mocking laugh before he crossed his arms and looked disdainfully at the man in front of him

"I- I see... But there's still the problem that we don't know how powerful Ionians are... As far as I have knowledge, they have several sects and orders where mystic martial arts are practiced. If those people were to take part in the war, then there's no doubt that we would be at an enormous disadvantage"

At that moment, the old man let out an enormous laugh that echoed all around the room and startled everyone in the room.

"The people of Ionia are too good for their own good... Is those sects and orders that make them like that... That's why I have decided a special plan for dealing with them easily..."

Everyone shivered a bit when they saw the maddened look on the eyes of the old man, who was looking at the map of Ionia on top of the table like at a treasure chest filled with riches.

"There are quite a few orphans in our empire... Ionians would surely doubt to kill them, right? They are the perfect soldiers to render that useless compassion of the Ionians into a sharp blade that would cut their throats... How much time will this plan take?"

The man from before, who was looking at the old man in front of him with a horrified look, turned to look at the map before he then sighed loudly and looked deeply into the eyes of the old man.

"At least four years more..."

...

{End of the Chapter}

Trial_Stories

I'm learning more about the lore of Runeterra while making this... Pretty epic, not gonna lie