Adventure Of A Lifetime

The First Game.

The next morning, the thirteen met at the dining quarters with their breakfast. Most of them had ham, hotdog, or eggs and bread, a few had meat and rice, and Myrrah had...

"Two plates of salad?!" Jack exclaimed, "Are you crazy?!" "As much as I hate it. I have to," Myrrah replied, "It's what the doctor ordered. For the children, Jack, for the children!" "Alright, I understand!" Jack replied, "Stop shaking me!"

Just then, Ahri, Danbi, Akali and two other people: one a woman with spider appendages on her back, and the other a young blonde man wearing exploring gear.

"Hope you'd like to meet more champions," Akali said, "This is Elise, the Spider Queen, and this is Ezreal the Prodigal Explorer. Elise, Ezreal, these are our friends: Concorde, Illoaide, Marie, Jack, Mako, Varblah, Paolo, Paulina, Targon, Myrrah, Q-Tip, Kith, and finally Jascisce."

"Nice to meet you!" Ezreal said, shaking the hand of each "person", "Lux told me all about you; you seem like cool people to me."

Elise approached the two driders and said, "Half spiders? Both of you?" "Apparently so," Illoaide replied, "I'm elfin, but Marie here's human." The Spider Queen gasped and said "I've always wanted to have a form like yours, but all I could do is shape shift from human to spider and spider to human. But no, Vile'maw never answered that secret wish of mine and practically, he's like my step dad. You've prolly heard about him. Have you?"

"Yes. He's my uncle, funny uncle he is. My mom's Lolth," Illoaide replied.

"Oh? The Goddess of Spider and Drows?"

"Mhmm! The guy in front of me, Concorde, my fixed 'husband', his dad is my mom's rival, but tensions are mellowing."

"I see. Corellon Larethian's my dad's high school friend, and my step dad always talks about their nerdly days."

"You mean my dad was your dad's---" Concorde interrupted.

"Stepdad," Elise replied

"Stepdad's classmate?" Concorde continued.

"Yep."

"So we're all seemingly related," Illoaide replied, "Well that's nice."

"It just is," Elise said with a smile, "Now I have to go back to my table. Today, I have a match to play!"

"Best of luck to you madam!" Marie greeted.

"Thank you dear!" Elise replied as she walked back to her table, "I needed that one."

...

At exactly nine o'clock, Cole met the thirteen at the atrium. "I think it's almost time for the match, follow me!" He jovially said and led them to the center wing. "Here in the Institute of War, everything is accessible via portals," Cole said as they walked towards the glimmering doorway where everyone, champion and summoner alike, was heading for, "This is usually the quickest route to any point in Valoran, and in case we want to go back, we simply say 'recall', which is a basic spell understood by all spellcasters. I want to ask, who is a spellcaster here?"

Concorde, Illoaide, Mako, Varblah, Targon, and Q-Tip raised their hands. "What kind?" Cole asked. "Sound," Mako and Varblah replied. "Earth," Targon replied. "General spells for the three of us," Quth'thkareph (Q-Tip) replied, " except that the two also cast elemental spells, them being elves of course."

"Any mana pool of some sort?" Cole asked. "On behalf of all of us spellcasters," Targon replied, "no, but we do take a break from casting spells to save energy."

"Alright then," Cole said, "Let's get a move on!"

The guide and the thirteen entered the portal, and found themselves on stone seats high above the grassy and forested arena. Two bases, one colored blue and the other red, stood on opposite corners of the arena, and three lanes dotted with towers on each lane served as open passages between them: two along the sides of the arena and one running through the diagonal of the arena. A few of the paths twisted inside secluded areas covered by trees and a long straight river ran through the diagonal opposite the midlane.

The thirteen and Cole went up the stairs to some of the highest rows, where a man wearing yellow and white was sharpening his blade and another man wearing nothing but blue pants and a red blindfold around his eyes was meditating. They sat in rows of four beside and above the two men.

"I leave you now in the company of the champions Master Yi and Lee Sin," Cole said, gesturing to the two male champions who bowed to the thirteen, "I'll see you after the match."

"Cole leading us to the highest seats was such a great idea," Marie remarked, "I could see the arena from here."

"Indeed it is," Master Yi replied, "Most people would sit at the very front just to see their champion, but that is not the best seat in the house. At the back, now that is more like it. You see everything."

"Thank you, my good seven-eyed man," Jack replied. The master held no sway and put his goggles over his forehead. "These goggles, the Seven Lenses of Insight, were given to me by Heimerdinger,"
the master said, putting the goggles on. "But what about the guy on your left? Can't he take off his blindfold," Jascisce asked. "Lee Sin?" Master Yi replied, "Well, he is a blind monk. His eyes burned out when he immolated himself as a protest." "I see," Paolo replied. But now we must keep quiet, Paulina signed, the match is about to start.