MAKE IT GO BOOM | JINX

P R O L O G U E

C H A P T E R   #00   //   R E D

        Tiny legs carried a young girl through red, hot streets. Her chest was tight, her heart raced, and her lungs were engulfed in fire. Each breath hurt, and every step felt as though she was stepping on glass shards. She did not know how much longer she could keep going, nor did she know where she was headed. The only thing that was certain in her mind was to keep running.

The young girl's misfortune was the result of yet another battle between Zaun and Piltover. Her father fought alongside other brave men and women. She wished he had not, though. The last time she saw him was when he ran head-on into the crossfire. He told her to stay home and to not follow him. The girl, too young to understand the severity of the situation, ignored his demands.

Red smoke filled the streets and air. Small, red particles floated around in every corner. They stung the girl's eyes and blurred her vision. Tears streamed down her face. Not only because of the smoke but because of the fear coursing through her veins. Her father was the only person she had, and now he had left her too. To fight in a battle that could not be won.

The girl turned a corner and ran down an alley where the smoke was sparser than in the open streets. She collided with a brick wall, a dead-end. A grunt escaped her lips as she fell flat to the ground. Her head spun while she stared up at the blood-red sky. Her vision became clouded with black spots, and her ears rang. In the distance, the battle cries and bullet fire began to subside. Soon, silence consumed every inch of the two regions.

She lay on the cold ground, unmoving. Red, glowing particles floated throughout the air above her. Her eyes followed one particle in particular whilst it slowly made its way down from the sky, closer to her. It landed just below her right eye, searing her soft skin. The feeling lasted for a few seconds before the flame went cold.

Her heart began to beat at a steady, slow pace. All the fear slowly left her body while she struggled to stay awake. Her head pounded in a rhythm that synchronised itself with her heartbeat. Not a single thought crossed her mind as she blankly stared up at the red sky. Her eyelids were heavy, and her body ached. The girl stopped fighting the placidity that wanted to consume her fully. She slowly drifted into an unconscious state of mind. The last thing her dull eyes saw was red, red everywhere.

        A small, green-haired girl sat on a rooftop overlooking the Undercity. Many, many days had passed since the battle that took her father. After she had woken up, in the same spot where she had fallen out of consciousness, she had decided to head back home. Which had turned out to be destroyed. She has spent the past few weeks without a proper place to stay.

As she looked over the busy streets of Zaun, as her father liked to call it. Out of boredom, she toyed with the hem of her shirt, which had stains and dirt all over it. Sadness and grief have lived in her heart and brain ever since that night. An empty pit in her stomach and heavy pressure in her chest followed her wherever she went. A single tear slid down her cold cheek at the thought of her father.

"I have to go now, Sage, and you cannot follow me," her father said, holding both her shoulders while he bent down to her level, "Do you understand? I'm serious. Please, I know that you want to come along, but you need to understand that where I'm going is dangerous, and you could get hurt."