Stories of the short variety

WHEN THE LIGHT DIES

This was a short that I wrote some time ago and just realised I never posted to Wattpad.

It uses names from LoL since it was inspired by some art from it, buuut the lore/personality obviously doesn't line up with Riot's version ;D

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Luxxana Crownguard had never wanted to be a Crownguard, but she'd been born to the family regardless.

She approached the heavy stone doors and waited as they were pushed open by the honour guards. When the heavy thud of the doors resounded through the walls, she swallowed and proceeded forward with her eyes pinned directly on the wall across from her.

The room before her was silently dark. The clink of her ceremonial armour as she walked was the only sound of life. The one source of light was a single window in the ceiling, allowing a weak stream of daylight to filter inside, directly onto the body that lay on the raised slab of grey stone in the centre.

With her teeth refusing to part from each other, Lux forced herself to breathe in through her nose. She'd felt numb before. She'd known it wouldn't last, but she'd hoped.

She lowered her eyes down to the corpse of her brother.

Garen lay with his hands folded over his chest over the hilt of his sword. He still wore his armour, though Lux knew it wasn't the same set he'd worn into battle a week ago. This armour did not have a single flaw, a single scratch or marring on its surface. It didn't have the slight scorch mark on the upper right shoulder, where she'd once--

Lux closed her eyes, once again swallowing down the tide that threatened to drown her.

She couldn't cry.

Not here.

Why? Lux couldn't bring her eyes to his face. She couldn't make it past his shoulders. Why are you here? You promised me. You promised me that you would never be here.

"Miss Crownguard."

The voice seemed to shake her skull, but her eyes were still glued to her brother.

"Luxxana Crownguard. Your brother's service to the Crown has ended."

She didn't know who said it. It didn't matter. "I understand."

"There must always be a Crownguard," said the voice again, coming to stand beside her. "You understand what this means."

Lux could barely breathe, let alone speak.

Instead, she lifted a stiff hand and turned her palm upwards, fighting to spread her fingers apart.

She could still hear the memory of the first time her brother had shown her this. She could still hear his laugh, still feel his hand ruffle her hair as he'd teased her about her fright that had soon turned to wonder when he'd cast a rainbow around the room.

Inside her hand, a flicker of light, far brighter than the weak daylight streaming through the ceiling, flared to life in a flurry of rainbowed brilliance.

This light lived in the Crownguard blood. It was passed down through death from one Crownguard to the next. If Garen had had the chance to have children before his death, it would have passed to the firstborn upon his death, as it had when their father had died. Without children, it continued down the sibling line.

It was the thing that she'd lived her life dreading the most. The thing that both revered her and trapped her.

"The power has passed on," said the voice again. "Your brother's duties have become yours. May the Crown reign supreme, forever and ever in his name, protected by the Light. Amen."

She didn't want it. Garen had promised her. He'd promised her that she would never have to hold it, but the light didn't receed. Didn't flicker or waver or show the first sign of fading in her palm.

The voice walked away, leaving her standing alone over the body of her brother.

Lux closed her palm, banishing the light.

Without its brilliance, with only the fading daylight, the darkness swarmed her.

Lux remained standing, watching, staring.

Waiting, though she didn't know for what.

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The LoL art it was inspired by: