"It was born from fear, and fear is the source of its power. Do not be afraid. The moment fear takes root in your heart, it will suppress you forever."
Ryze formed seals with both hands as arcane energy churned through the air, transforming into several protective sigils that settled over the four of them.
"The way to overcome fear has always been to face it directly."
Seeing Lux gradually struggling to hold back the darkness, Ryze began speaking much faster.
"Remember..."
He wanted to say more, but darkness descended without warning.
Suddenly, everyone else vanished from his world.
However, because of the protective sigils Ryze had placed on them earlier, the four could still vaguely sense one another.
That connection would become their only guide through the darkness.
Mana surged around Ryze as he vigilantly watched his surroundings.
"Ryze! Ryze! Give it to me!"
An angry yet suppressed voice rang out.
It was so familiar that even Ryze froze.
Without him noticing when it had happened, the scenery around him had already changed.
He stood inside a great hall, clutching a runestone glowing with crimson light.
A World Rune.
"Give it to me!"
A stern, furious voice came from behind him.
"You cannot control the power of a World Rune. Don't let it consume you!"
Ryze turned around.
An old man stood there glaring at him with a deep frown, visibly furious.
That face and those eyes were painfully familiar. Even the sight of his head of white hair stirred a deep sense of nostalgia within Ryze.
It was his teacher, Tyrus.
Seeing that Ryze wasn't responding, Tyrus changed his expression and began patiently persuading him.
"I've told you before, never allow yourself to be tempted by its power, Ryze. I believe you can resist it. Give it to me."
Ryze felt as though something was missing.
It was almost as if there were a gap somewhere in his memories.
He couldn't quite remember the situation he was currently in.
All he knew was that seeing his teacher's face again filled him with emotion.
As Tyrus slowly approached, repeatedly telling him to stay calm, Ryze instinctively extended his hand and offered him the rune.
Tyrus breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"I knew you could do it. Its power is far too dangerous. If the runes aren't treated with caution, Runeterra will eventually be destroyed by their power."
Those words felt incredibly familiar.
Ryze had heard the same warning countless times before, and he'd personally witnessed the destructive power of the runes.
Tyrus was the person Ryze respected most in his entire life.
Entrusting the rune's power to him couldn't possibly be wrong.
Just as Tyrus reached out to take the rune, a voice sounded inside Ryze's mind.
No...
Something was wrong.
An overwhelming sense of incongruity surged through him.
Ryze immediately withdrew his hand and stepped backward several paces.
Tyrus froze.
His expression stiffened before his brows furrowed.
"What are you doing?"
Ryze shook his head.
"I can't give it to you. You already lost yourself to the power it promised you."
"What nonsense are you talking about? How could I possibly have lost myself?"
Tyrus continued frowning before shouting angrily, "Stop fooling around and give it to me!"
Ryze didn't obey.
He simply stared at Tyrus.
The next second, Tyrus's expression suddenly twisted hideously.
"If that's how it is, then I'll take it myself!"
Violent power erupted from his body.
A tremendous blast of energy sent Ryze flying and knocked the rune from his hand.
Ryze climbed back to his feet and saw the power of several runes swirling around Tyrus.
His face had become savage and terrifying.
"Why can't you understand me?"
He demanded furiously.
As he raised his hand, violent rune energy shot directly toward Ryze.
Ryze instinctively dodged, but the situation felt terribly wrong.
Tyrus had somehow collected five World Runes without him knowing?
"There's no longer any point in playing diplomat before ignorant men obsessed with power. Why can't you understand that?"
Tyrus's expression was no longer gentle.
He stared at Ryze with a twisted face.
"Only I can change things! Once I possess all the runes, no one will ever be able to use them to destroy Runeterra again! And anyone who refuses to understand me will simply have to die!"
His raging power caused the entire hall to tremble.
Countless massive stones crashed down from above, burying Ryze beneath them.
Tyrus turned away with a cold, gloomy expression.
The next second, brilliant blue arcane energy erupted from beneath the rubble.
Tyrus turned back.
Ryze stood amid crackling blue lightning, determination etched across his face.
"The power of the runes should never belong to any one person. Your path is destined to be wrong, so I'll stop you here, even if I have to do it all over again."
His voice was unwavering.
He remembered now.
What he was confronting was the fear buried inside his heart.
If fear overwhelmed him here, he would never rise above it again.
"Is that so?"
Tyrus sneered.
"Then let's see you try."
"Luxanna! You skipped your lessons again!"
An angry shout rang out.
Lux's eyes snapped open.
Her mother, Augatha, stood before her with an angry expression.
She was at home, surrounded by scenery so familiar that nothing seemed out of place.
Lux clutched her head as a stabbing pain struck her.
She couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
"Don't pretend you have a headache. Why did you skip your lessons?"
Augatha stared sternly at Lux, although her gaze softened slightly.
"Has your magic gone out of control again?"
Lux froze.
She sensed the magic inside her and immediately became flustered.
"I... I think so."
"What do you mean, you think so?"
Augatha sighed and gently stroked her daughter's head with obvious concern.
"It's becoming harder and harder for you to control. I want to find a specialist who can help with this. Maybe this time we'll finally solve the problem."
Fear immediately welled up inside Lux.
In the end, she fell silent and decided to let her mother arrange everything.
Not long afterward, Augatha entered the living room with someone else.
The woman wore black clothing and a silver mask that concealed half her face. A piece of gray petricite hung over her chest.
A Mageseeker.
The moment Lux saw her, a shadow fell over her heart.
Ever since she was little, Mageseekers had been one of the things she feared most.
"Don't worry. She's completely trustworthy. She may be able to help you."
Augatha looked gently at Lux.
"Listen to what she says. It'll all be over soon."
"Okay..."
Lux nodded uneasily, but the fear inside her only intensified.
Something felt wrong.
She watched the Mageseeker slowly approach and remove a small bottle of liquid from her pocket before pulling out the stopper.
The moment the medicine was offered to her, Lux's sense that something was wrong reached its peak.
She instinctively slapped the Mageseeker's hand away.
The bottle fell to the floor.
Augatha immediately snapped, "Luxanna!"
"No... no..."
Lux's headache worsened.
She kept muttering under her breath, unable to shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Her beautiful eyes were filled only with confusion.
This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
Something seemed to flash through her mind.
A person.
Someone incredibly important.
But no matter how desperately she tried, she couldn't remember who he was.
The sensation was agonizing, as though a piece of her heart had been torn away.
Lux turned and ran.
Leaving her mother and the Mageseeker behind, she fled from the house like she'd lost her mind and raced into the streets.
Pedestrians streamed past in every direction.
Seeing Lux behaving so strangely, many cast puzzled looks her way.
Lux stared around herself.
These were the streets of the Great City of Demacia.
Everything was impossibly familiar.
Then her pupils suddenly contracted.
Several Mageseekers walked past in the distance.
There were more behind her.
Then she saw notices posted on the walls, declaring strict prohibitions against mages.
Magic was forbidden.
The Demacia of today was still enforcing its prohibition on magic.
A terrible premonition rose inside her.
And at that exact moment, the worst possible thing happened.
The magic inside her began to stir.
"Shadow cannot exist within the light..."
She hurriedly calmed herself and repeatedly recited the words that helped stabilize her magic while quickly trying to leave.
But the harder she tried, the more violently her magic surged.
Finally, she could no longer suppress it.
A dazzling burst of light erupted from her body.
"Ah!"
"She's a mage!"
"There's a mage here!"
"Someone get the Mageseekers!"
In an instant, countless people witnessed what had happened, and alarmed cries rang out everywhere.
The commotion attracted the Mageseekers.
Their eyes locked onto her like hungry jackals.
Then they started moving.
Lux felt everything spiraling out of control.
She anxiously looked around and, with no time to think, turned and ran.
More and more Mageseekers joined the pursuit.
Thanks to her familiarity with the city, Lux managed to escape them temporarily.
She hid inside the sewers until nightfall, then found herself a cloak and quietly returned to the streets.
She had to go home.
She had to find her mother.
More Mageseekers were patrolling the streets now.
And then Lux saw the thing she'd wanted least to see.
Her wanted poster had been hung on the wall.
The young lady of House Crownguard was a mage.
She had become someone everyone despised.
In the end, she had tarnished the honor of House Crownguard.
Worse still, she had no idea what she was supposed to do from now on.
Where could she possibly go?
Her heart was filled with confusion and fear.
Fortunately, Lux had good luck along the way and managed to avoid several Mageseeker patrols before reaching the familiar noble district.
As she crept through the darkness past an abandoned courtyard, that strange sense of incongruity surged through her again.
She stared at the weed-covered courtyard, which had clearly been empty for a long time.
She felt as though she was about to remember something.
But no matter what she did, the memory wouldn't come.
She had no time to dwell on it.
She needed to get home.
But when she finally reached a position overlooking the gates of the Crownguard estate, she stopped dead.
More than a dozen Mageseekers carrying torches stood outside.
Augatha was at the entrance, being questioned.
"I don't know where she went, but if she returns, I will cooperate fully with the Mageseekers. House Crownguard guarantees that it will no longer shelter a mage."
Hearing Augatha's words, Lux froze.
Her heart ached so badly that tears immediately welled in her eyes.
She turned away and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
She couldn't continue dragging her family down with her.
But if that was true, then she'd also lost the last place in the world where she belonged.
Perhaps she'd failed to control the sound of her footsteps.
One sharp-eared Mageseeker caught sight of her disappearing around a corner.
"Something's over there! Go check it out!"
Hearing the commotion behind her, Lux had no time to think.
She broke into a sprint.
She had been exposed after all.
More and more Mageseekers joined the pursuit, and even knights of the kingdom began hunting her.
A mage had appeared among the nobility.
It was viewed as an insult and humiliation to the royal family, something that could never be tolerated.
As the pursuit continued, fighting eventually became unavoidable.
When it came to magic, Lux was still a complete novice.
She had no idea how to properly use it.
Yet when brilliant light erupted around her, she still managed to repel two waves of pursuers.
Unfortunately, that only resulted in stronger opponents joining the hunt.
Using a passage through the sewers that connected to the forest outside the city, Lux finally escaped the Great City of Demacia.
She had no idea where she was supposed to go.
But the enormous white colossus still stood there.
She ran to its feet.
It was the final source of hope she could remember.
Lux raised her hand and poured magic into the colossus.
"Galio, wake up. Please..."
When the colossus showed no reaction after a long time, her voice turned almost pleading.
But in the end, she still couldn't awaken Galio.
Was he really nothing more than an ordinary stone statue?
Watching her final hope disappear before her eyes, Lux couldn't help falling into despair.
She turned around.
Countless lights had appeared among the trees.
Her pursuers.
There was nowhere left to run.
Lux couldn't understand how everything had become like this.
She had once possessed everything she could ever want.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it had all collapsed.
She leaned against the stone statue and weakly slid to the ground.
Coldness enveloped her body.
Despair, fear, and helplessness flooded her heart.
Her pursuers finally arrived.
Her brother.
Her friends.
Her parents and aunt.
And many, many others.
Every single one of them looked at her with the same expression.
The thing she least wanted to see, the thing she feared most, had finally happened.
Everyone hated her.
Everyone had abandoned her.
There was no longer anyone in this world she could rely on.
Large tears rolled down her cheeks.
She didn't want this.
But she could only watch helplessly as it happened.
Darkness descended, stealing away her final glimmer of dawn.
The light in Lux's eyes gradually dimmed.
Bottomless despair spread through her like a rising tide.
It was as though she'd fallen into an endless ocean.
She could only watch her own body sink deeper and deeper toward the abyss.
She had forgotten something.
No.
She had forgotten someone.
Someone she absolutely should never have forgotten.
Someone who would never abandon her.
But she couldn't remember.
That face seemed so close that she could almost see it, yet no matter how hard she tried, it remained beyond her reach.
Tears filled her eyes.
Her heart hurt as though something had pierced straight through it.
It hurt.
It was unbearable.
She could hardly breathe.
Forget it...
She didn't want to think anymore.
Lux was so tired.
There wasn't any strength left in her body.
She wanted to give up.
She allowed herself to fall toward the endless abyss as her tears dissolved into tiny motes of light.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."
An impossibly familiar voice suddenly rang out.
That blurry face flashed through her mind once again.
A glimmer of dawn suddenly appeared within her heart.
Faint light began pouring out, flowing throughout her entire body.
An image seemed to flash before her eyes.
She was lying against someone's warm back, relaxed and happy.
Brilliant fireworks exploded across the night sky, illuminating her entire world.
At that moment, she'd been happier than she'd ever imagined possible.
Then came a smiling face.
It was an infuriatingly smug smile, the kind that usually made her want to punch him.
But right now, that smile gave her courage.
It wasn't time to give up yet.
Lux didn't know where the strength came from.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself back to her feet.
The light within her burst to life once more.
Her eyes regained their brilliant shine.
Then the blurry face finally became clearer, revealing the features she knew so well.
She remembered.
That was the person she loved most.
At last, the young woman looked toward everyone surrounding her.
A staff appeared in her hand, and determination filled her eyes.
"You used to be everything I feared most. But you're no longer worth fearing."
The best way to overcome fear was to face it directly.
The next instant, her staff erupted with dazzling, brilliant light.
The darkness recoiled.
The world collapsed.
Everything shattered like a mirror.
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