Broken Blades, Broken Souls - An Arcane Fanfiction

When All Turns To Dust And Ashes

June 5th, 1:05 AM

Ekko's POV

"Impressive. Very Impressive, my boy." Professor Heimerdinger nodded approvingly. Ekko had just showed him how he'd built his hoverboard.

After he had met the Yordle out on the streets, he'd taken him to the firelight hideout. He didn't even know why he was trusting the former counselor of Piltover, but somehow he felt that Heimerdinger wasn't so bad. At least he hoped so.

However, Ekko's injured leg had been treated by one of the firelight's nurses and now he and Heimerdinger were sitting in his room, talking about the technology of the firelights and how it could be improved.

"I admire what you did, my boy", Heimerdinger continued, looking around the crammed full room.

The room served as Ekko's bed- and working room at the same time and was looking quite messy. Screwdrivers, technical sketches and inventions were spread all across the room, on the table, the bed, the cupboard, the floor. One could barely walk in here, but Ekko loved the room like that. It reminded him of Benzo's old shop, that had always been chaotic, but also charming.

"I mean, the technology, this whole place, your mantra to do the right thing. You outdid yourself, Ekko." Ekko attempted a smile. He appreciated Heimerdinger's excitement of his work but he simply was too tired and exhausted to show much emotion.

Ekko didn't know if Vi and Caitlyn had succeeded to convince the council. He didn't even know if they had made it there in the first place. After Jinx had tried to blow up both of them, he had fallen unconscious. Later, he had woken up and made his way to a secluded alley, not being able to walk on his own. That was where Heimerdinger had found him.

He wondered if Jinx was still alive. When he had realized that she was activating the bomb, he'd jumped away - which was the reason he was still alive. Jinx, however, must've been entirely hit by the explosion. He guessed that she was dead.

Unexpectedly, he didn't feel any emotion about this at all. The worry if Vi would make her way up to the council, the guilt he'd suddenly felt while he had been fighting with Jinx, the all-consuming fear of not making it to the next day - all of this had faded into a numb void, the pure exhaustion that had followed the recent events taking control over his body.

All of a sudden, distant shouting was to be heard outside. A few seconds later, the pattering of feet was to be heard. Something was happening. Something so important that it tore the people from their sleep in the middle of the night.

Ekko and Heimerdinger exchanged a quick look. "Let's go outside", the Yordle suggested. "We might as well see what's going on."

Ekko's limbs were painfully burning as he got up, his leg hurt so horrible that he wanted to sit back down and just give a damn about whatever was happening outside. But then, again, he bore the responsibility of the firelights. They were his people and he was their leader. He had to find out what was happening.

While Heimerdinger stitched him as far as he could, Ekko limpingly made his way through the door and out of his room. He knew walking down the stairs would be hell for his legs, as he had barely made it upwards earlier, so he decided to go to one of the balconies instead.

Pushing the glass doors to the balcony open with his free hand - he used the other one to lean onto Heimerdinger - Ekko stepped outside. The cold night air immediately sent a shiver down his spine and he could feel goosebumps crawling up his skin.

People were running around the hideout, shouting and pointing at something that Ekko couldn't see from his angle. Most of them expressed shock, as if they couldn't believe what was going on. Puzzled, he spotted Scar, his closest friend, standing in the middle of the crowd and yelling at people to calm down. When Ekko called his name, he turned around.