Nerimazeth (Ezreal X FemaleCharacter, (LoA))

--- ☀ Forgotten Knowledge ☀ ---

All around me is darkness. The stone has stopped crumbling, it is quiet. My senses slowly return to me and I realize that I am in an upright position. My arm is also stretched upward and aching slightly. I look up and see Ezreal tightly holding onto my wrist. I've never been so happy to see him.

"Akeda!" He shouts.

"Hey." I reply weakly.

"Are you okay?"

I look down again into the black nothingness then back up at him. "I've been better."

He scoffs.

I reach my other hand up and grab his arm.

"... Forgive us... forgive... return... forgive... save us..."

Suddenly a wave of anguished whispers floods in. Hundreds of them. They seem to originate from the darkness all around me, just out of view. I look up at Ezreal who stares down in my direction in horror. Vibrant purple streaks of light reflect in his eyes. I'm afraid to look at what he's seeing below me. So I don't. I focus my eyes upwards, but it doesn't do much to calm my nerves. I can see the purple reflection growing brighter as if whatever it is is getting closer. I also hear the voices grow louder and more desperate.

"...Come... Forgive us... Shurimeth... Return to us..."

"Ezreal!" I shout. "Snap out of it and help pull me up!"

I see him blink. He seems to come back to his senses. His panicked eyes refocus on mine and he rushes to help me up. I grab the edge of the step once it is in reach and help pull myself up the rest of the way. The jagged broken stone digs into my fingers. I push against the cold rough stone and Ezreal pulls me up by my shirt. As soon as I am back on solid ground we quickly move up the steps to the higher level.

We collapse on the ground from exhaustion and look back at the room we just came from. Thankfully, the voices have faded away. The water rushing in from the ceiling has slowed to a trickle once again. All the pillars have crumbled away. Only a few sharp fragments remain poking out of the abyss. Hopefully we can find another way out of here.

Ezreal stares at the ruins. His blue eyes seem to see something that isn't there. I touch his arm and he looks at me.

"Hey... thanks for saving me."

He frowns. "You didn't know if you were going to be able to make it across did you?"

I look at the floor and don't answer. He's right, I didn't have a plan. I only knew how to get him to safety.

"Don't ever do that again." He scolds me. "Don't ever tell me to leave you behind to save myself."

"There wasn't enough time to think of another way."

"It doesn't matter. I'm supposed to keep you safe. What would I have told Zeelo? You already saved my life once before, I-" his voice cracks and he looks away.

After a brief moment of silence, I change the subject. "What did you see down there?"

"I don't know what it was." His forehead scrunches up as he tries to make sense of what he saw. "It was hard to tell if what I saw was hundreds of different things... or if it was just one massive thing. There were so many lights, like eyes, they seemed to move in unison. Whatever it was, it was approaching you really fast. It was void-like. Purple and distorted. I couldn't understand it."

"Oh." I honestly don't know which would be worse. "Do you think that thing you saw was responsible for all those voices?"

"What are you talking about?"