Chapter 1
Agony.
All she could hear were screams as flames surrounded her.
She couldn’t see anything, yet she knew, everyone was dying. Noxian. Ionian. Everyone except her.
After what felt like a lifetime, the flames subsided, revealing a scene of carnage. All Riven could do was watch.
She watched as the gas began to burn the Ionians alive. She watched her Noxian comrades claw at their burning uniforms, only for the gas to dissolve their skin like acid. She watched in horror as, one by one, the screams stopped. All she could do was watch.
Still shielded by her runic blade, Riven could not believe what just happened. Her own people lay writhing on the ground, tortured and killed by a Noxian. She had developed a strong friendship with her comrades, travelling, fighting, singing battle chants. Now, with their Noxian emblems dissolved, the only way for her to differentiate Ionian from Noxian was the unique types of swords held by each corpse.
Chemical weapons designed to indiscriminately torture and kill—this was not the cause she’d bled for. Why did any of these people, on both sides of the fight, have to die? ‘Noxus has betrayed me’ was all that filled her thoughts before realising that Emystan, the one responsible for this massacre and deception, would probably be here soon. He would expect her to be dead too. She had to leave. She had to disappear.
Riven noticed that the gas had dissipated into the air by now, so she slowly released her grip on the magical longsword that saved her. This blade was all she had left of Noxus. It was all she had to remind herself of what Noxus had done to her today. She couldn’t hold on to it anymore. Riven tentatively walked to the nearest corpse, not daring to look down at the burnt-out face that stared back at her, before swapping her weapon for the one held by the dead body.
She felt as though a core part of her had broken as she finally began to move away from the stench of death. Everyone would think she was dead. That meant that she had to keep it that way or be tried for desertion. Riven realised that she had to leave Ionia. As long as the Noxian invasion into this land were to continue, this place would almost be as unsafe for her as being in Noxus itself.
Riven was, by her best guess, a weeklong journey away from the nearest port. At this point in the invasion, Noxus controlled almost the entirety of the way from where she currently was until the port. Every Ionian village, port and road would be crawling with Noxian soldiers. Although they shouldn’t be explicitly searching for her, Riven knew that she would still have to avoid them at all costs.
She began to make her way through the thick trees of the forest that surrounded the roads. Now, for the first time since arriving, Riven had finally noticed how beautiful Ionia truly was. Nature surrounded her like a cocoon. It filled her ears with a melody of birds speaking and trees waving. It grazed her cheek with a light breeze as golden shards of light filtered through the leaves above. It gave her a guilty sense of peace that she hated. She wanted to vomit and scream and rage and…she realised that what she felt was not peace, it was emptiness.
The Ionian forest made itself accommodating for its white-haired guest. It graciously fed her fruits and wildlife while its many streams quenched her thirst. Its sturdy branches made for uncomfortable yet safe sleeping quarters to let her stay each night. Riven’s mind felt as though it had paused, unable to function properly. Her body moved through its survival motions without much thought. Days and nights bled together until a week flashed past her. Before she knew it, the port—her escape—was in sight.
Riven knew that Noxus employed mercenary groups to assist with transporting goods between Noxus and Ionia. Her current plan was sneaking aboard one of these ships. From her position hidden within a tree, she scanned the port and its ocean until she identified the largest non-Noxian vessel. She waited in her tree for a couple more hours until, finally, the crew began to prepare the ship for departure. These kinds of crews were only here for the money, so the quicker they complete their offloading, the quicker they get paid.
The sun had already dipped its head below the ocean which made her final stretch of her journey much easier. She barely had to hide as guard patrols were scattered and unsuspecting of a foreign presence this far into the land they occupied. Riven simply joined a group of the mercenary crew walking towards the ship and seamlessly blended in as they boarded. The easy part was done because now she had to survive three weeks on this ship, preferably without anyone realising that she isn’t supposed to be here.
Keeping up her act, she dipped below deck as she felt the ship begin to move. Almost everyone on the ship should be busy with some form of work now, so this would be her best chance at finding a good place to stowaway. She would have to somehow stay hidden while also stealing enough food and water.
Riven was so deep in her thoughts as to how she would survive this journey that she failed to notice a group silently approach her. Before she realised what was happening, two men jumped her. Instincts kicked in as Riven subconsciously evaded their initial strike but was caught off guard when a third appeared from behind her to grab her wrists while the other two helped to restrain her.
“Ha, anotha one” A fourth middle aged man with a thick, unkempt beard approached. “In case ya wonderin, I let you on my ship. A captain knows all his crew by face and, I swear, yall deserters make more money than the job we were actually paid ta do” He continued through a dark smile.
Riven dared not speak. She couldn’t believe how weak she felt in that moment. She had been bested by amateurs like she was a baby first learning how to fight. She could only stare at the floor as she was led, in shackles, to what seemed like the ship’s prison.
In the following days, Riven had time to strengthen her mind. She felt humiliated at her defeat and realised that although her body was in peak form, she had been struggling to clear her mind and focus since the massacre. Once every day, a tall, lanky man would give her some fish—leftover, she could only assume—from the ship’s kitchen. He barely even looked at her which suited her fine, she preferred the peace and quiet before her potential execution in Noxus.
On Riven’s fifth day of captivity, she could hear the devastating sound of thunder pierce through the cell, soon followed by rain. Nobody came to her cell that day; the food she was getting was barely enough to sustain her, so she had no choice but to go to bed starving.
During her slumber, the captain intruded his way into her cell, abruptly waking her up. Her hands were chained behind her back to the wall of the cell which trapped her under the bearded man’s black gaze.
“Being a captain iza hardworking job. A man like me deserves a good rest every once in a while” His voice rough as sandpaper. His smile widened before continuing “I near forgot I had a woman on my ship y’know”.
Although tired and hungry, this time Riven was far more ready to put up a fight. Predictably, the man’s hand shot to her chest however, before he had to chance to touch her, she swiftly lunged forward to headbutt his nose. Blood began leaking down his growing snarl.
“Fuckin bitch!” He drew his blade
Riven wasted no time in launching herself at him again. Unfortunately, her chains abruptly halted her momentum causing her to lose her balance and stumble back. The captain used this opportunity to stab his blade into Riven’s thigh causing her to fall to her knees before violently pulling the blade out to hold it by her neck. The blood dripping down her legs were the least of her worries as the captain began to rip apart her clothes with the blade.
Fortunately, before the captain could proceed any further, a crewmate rushed into the cell.
“Pirates!” The newcomer frantically screamed without commenting on the scene in front of him. “Captain, pirates are boarding!”
“The hell?! Where the fuck pirates come from” The captain roared back as he withdrew from Riven’s naked bleeding body.
With her hands still bound, Riven had no choice except wait in her cell, humiliated. The clatter of steel could be heard over the rain as the rage of a battle rivalled the anger of the storm. Enough blood had escaped Riven’s body that she began to feel lightheaded. Her body lacked the sustain it needed to stay consciousness. The last thing she made out before her eyes finally closed was a red-haired figure slowly approach her.