In the Petricite Forest south of Demacia, a lone figure stood quietly beside a lake.
Morgana gazed at the water, her reflection staring back at her from the surface, along with the pair of wings behind her.
Suddenly, ripples spread across the clear water, and a cool voice came from nearby.
"After all these years, you still haven't changed at all."
"Neither have you."
Morgana turned her head.
A woman stood not far away. She did nothing more than stand there, yet her posture was straight and elegant, her presence like a snow lotus blooming atop an icy mountain, radiating an aura that discouraged anyone from approaching.
Her skin seemed wreathed in the pale glow of snow, and smooth silver-white hair flowed down around her. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, with thin lips tinged a cold red, elegant brows over brilliant eyes, and a high nose bridge that gave her features a sharp edge. Her eyes possessed an almost absolute calm. Even though she was merely looking straight ahead, it somehow felt as though she were gazing down from above.
Under that gaze, one could unconsciously feel a powerful sense of pressure.
This was her older sister, Kayle.
Kayle looked at Morgana and said, "You should know that I've come to take you back."
Her voice was cold and gave away almost no emotion, like a solemn judge passing sentence.
After being apart for so many years, Morgana could sense that the divinity within her sister had become even more pronounced.
She remained silent and did not answer.
Seeing that Morgana refused to speak, Kayle continued, "You've already broken the agreement we made. You said you would never use your power in the mortal world again. I've never liked your indecisiveness, which is why I said you're exactly the same as before."
"I know."
Morgana raised her eyes, then turned her face toward the lake.
"And I've never liked people who are overbearing and refuse to listen to reason."
"You're still angry with me, aren't you?"
Seeing her reaction, Kayle sighed softly and stepped closer. Some of the severity faded from her expression, and a little more emotion entered her otherwise cold voice.
"You can keep being angry with me if you want, but Mother... misses you dearly. We need you."
"What you need isn't me. It's my power."
Morgana's answer was perfectly clearheaded.
"Do you truly believe that?"
Kayle frowned slightly.
Morgana replied coldly, "Do you honestly expect me to discuss feelings with two people who have taken rationality to its absolute extreme?"
Kayle fell silent for a moment.
"Whether you believe me or not, I truly have missed you. No matter what happens, you're my sister and Mother's daughter. The bond between the three of us, and the blood we share, cannot simply be severed. We've spent all these years preparing for your return.
"There is a temple on Mount Targon that belongs to you alone. Once you return, you may gather followers however you wish. It's time to come with me."
Morgana remained silent, staring at the lake.
"Is there truly someone in Demacia you still can't bear to leave behind?"
Kayle raised her gaze toward the kingdom, a hint of interest finally entering her eyes.
"It seems to have started down a path I never imagined."
"I'll go with you."
Morgana suddenly made her decision.
Demacia no longer needed either of them to interfere in its affairs.
Nor did she want to see Kayle return here again.
If Kayle once more imposed herself upon this flourishing kingdom, there was no telling what direction it might be forced to take.
Kayle's train of thought was interrupted. Her attention returned to Morgana, and a trace of tenderness flickered in her eyes.
"As long as you're willing to come back. I'll be waiting for you on Mount Targon."
Kayle had not come in person.
The moment she sensed Morgana's power, she had immediately sent a projection here.
As her words faded, her figure gradually dissolved into orange energy before dispersing with the wind.
Only Morgana remained in the Petricite Forest.
The folded wings behind her slowly spread, and her body gently rose from the ground.
As she gazed across the lake, the image of someone who spent nearly every day lounging lazily in a rocking chair suddenly appeared in her mind.
Thinking about it now, even Morgana found it incredible that events had developed this far.
What had once been nothing more than a small gamble on the future had brought her an enormous return.
Fifty years after Demacia's founding, her and Kayle's reputations had already spread throughout the kingdom. They had become the Winged Protectors, known and revered by practically everyone.
And yet, that was also the year when the differences between them finally became impossible to ignore.
Kayle believed absolutely in the enforcement of law.
She firmly held that anyone who committed a crime deserved judgment, and her eyes of judgment could bring the flames of judgment down upon the guilty.
Morgana, however, was different.
She possessed human eyes.
She could clearly perceive a person's sins and lies, the darker side of their humanity.
Yet at the same time, she could also perceive the goodness within people, and her sight carried a certain prophetic quality.
Some who committed terrible crimes truly deserved death.
But there were others whose hearts could still change. They might have lost their way and committed wrongs in a moment of confusion, but they still deserved a chance to repent.
As time passed, however, Kayle's pursuit of justice grew almost obsessive.
She could only see potential dangers.
Unlike Morgana, she could no longer see the other possibilities that might exist within a person.
Kayle founded the Judicators, who judged all those deemed guilty and enforced the law without compromise. They zealously hunted rebels and bandits, and anyone believed to pose even a potential threat could be brought to judgment.
Eventually, the sisters' differences became irreconcilable.
A battle between them became unavoidable.
During that conflict, their father became an innocent victim of the unrest stirred up by their followers and ultimately died in Morgana's arms.
In that moment, Morgana was overcome with grief.
She hated her own power.
And so she cursed it.
Her wings fell into darkness, becoming black, and she turned them into her own shackles.
She wanted to rid herself of that painful mark, but she could find no weapon strong enough to sever her wings.
So she bound them with iron chains and vowed to walk the mortal world on her own two feet, never again using the cursed power within her.
That was the agreement she made with Kayle.
Kayle would leave Demacia as well, flying toward Mount Targon and ceasing to impose her will upon the kingdom's development.
Morgana would do the same.
And so the sisters parted.
In the blink of an eye, centuries passed.
Throughout those centuries, Morgana watched Demacia grow step by step from the perspective of an observer.
She also watched as the path ahead of the kingdom gradually began to veer off course.
Kayle had left, but her influence remained behind.
Demacia became a kingdom governed by extraordinarily strict discipline.
At the same time, some of Kayle's most fanatical followers placed the blame for the aftermath of their conflict on Morgana and on mages.
Mages possessed tremendous power, and those in authority were unwilling to share control of the kingdom with them.
They also feared them.
Morgana did not care about the stain placed upon her own name.
What she did care about was watching Demacia continue to the bitter end down a path she knew was wrong.
For years, she lived as a mortal and helped mages who had fallen into desperate circumstances.
Gradually, more favorable stories about her began to spread.
Yet they still could not overcome the suppression of the Judicators, and the stigma attached to her name was never truly erased.
Time continued to pass until the modern age arrived.
Demacia's anti-magic system had become extraordinarily sophisticated.
The kingdom now had a complete process for dealing with mages.
Yet mages could never be completely eradicated.
After all, Runeterra itself was a world overflowing with magic.
Morgana increasingly began to feel powerless.
Without access to anything beyond mortal strength, she could no longer contend with such a rigid legal system.
She could not reveal herself and openly guide Demacia's future.
All she could do was hope that a wise individual would eventually appear and correct the kingdom's course.
Then, by chance, she noticed the romantic entanglements of the reigning king.
A single woman was insignificant within the kingdom's struggle for power, as fragile as an insect above the water, easily swallowed by the slightest wave.
Unsurprisingly, she became entangled in a conspiracy.
Only later did Morgana learn that the woman's own intentions had not been entirely innocent either.
But at the time, Morgana was certain of one thing.
The woman genuinely loved the king.
Agents from an enemy nation wanted her dead.
After secretly observing events for a long while, Morgana finally decided to intervene and helped the woman escape disaster.
The main reason was the child she carried.
Even Morgana's human eyes could not see where that child's future would lead.
That alone represented a possibility.
And for the sake of the future, Morgana was willing to place a bet.
Afterward, she did not pay much attention to the mother and child.
Until one day, by chance, she saw that child again in the capital after he had grown up.
His future remained impossible to see.
There was nothing but a hazy fog, representing countless possible futures.
It was the first time Morgana's human eyes had ever been unable to see anything at all.
And so she began observing him.
She watched him return to the Royal Palace, reunite with his father, and reduce everyone involved to tears.
Watching from afar did not provide a complete picture.
So at that moment, Morgana decided to get closer to him.
She used magic to alter the examiner's memories, successfully infiltrated the Royal Palace, and became one of the maids who had passed the selection process.
She had considerable confidence in her qualifications.
Sure enough, she was chosen.
The newly appointed prince, however, turned out to be rather strange.
His personality was even more unpredictable than she had expected.
Later events only confirmed her initial impression.
This guy definitely wasn't normal.
He was nothing like a young man who had grown up in a remote border town of Demacia.
He seemed more like someone who had matured far too early and then stumbled upon some extraordinary opportunity.
Everything that happened afterward only proved Morgana's suspicion.
Using one of his own strange expressions, it was as though he had activated some kind of cheat code and simply soared upward without stopping.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it cheating.
Because of the fog surrounding him, Morgana could not see what opportunities he had obtained.
But gradually, she began to wonder.
Could he be the person who would change Demacia?
Morgana had originally intended to observe him only briefly.
She changed her mind.
She decided to watch him for much longer.
And so, one day followed another.
She remained at his side, watching him grow little by little, watching him laugh, watching him make trouble.
Without realizing it, she was gradually pulled into the strange atmosphere surrounding him.
She began enjoying her everyday life.
She discovered that she didn't dislike it at all.
In fact, she was becoming accustomed to it at an alarming speed.
Being someone else's maid might normally have been exhausting.
Being this guy's maid, however, was ridiculously easy.
Every day she could eat delicious food and watch him invent one bizarre thing after another.
Opportunities and danger constantly followed him.
It was as though he had been born incapable of living a peaceful life.
As they endured crisis after crisis together, Morgana witnessed his growth little by little.
She watched him begin reforming Demacia and guiding the kingdom toward the correct path.
Yet even after accomplishing all of that, he still did not stop.
He always looked cheerful on the surface, but the burdens weighing upon his heart never allowed him to truly live without concern.
He loved his lazy everyday routine.
Yet it was as though he understood something no one else did and could never truly allow himself to stop.
Some inexplicable responsibility seemed to rest upon his shoulders.
Morgana did not know how to help him.
So she simply followed quietly.
Day after day passed.
Morgana had never imagined that the investment she casually made so long ago would bring her such an enormous return today.
Even now, looking back on everything, she still found it unbelievable.
Yet that miracle had truly happened.
By now, he had become immensely powerful.
He had grown into a dependable man.
What she had hoped for had already come to pass.
Perhaps that meant her time beside him should end here.
So even if she wasn't there for the road ahead, it wouldn't matter anymore... right?
At that thought, Morgana's eyes trembled slightly, like the surface of the disturbed lake.
She raised her head and looked toward the capital, desperately wanting to see him one more time.
But all she could see was a vast forest of pale white trees.
Throughout his life, she had deliberately kept her presence subdued.
She had always played the role of someone dispensable.
So leaving quietly without saying anything should be fine... shouldn't it?
Her wings beat.
A fierce wind swept through the forest as she rose high into the sky and took one final look in the direction of the capital.
Morgana hesitated no longer.
She turned and flew directly toward Mount Targon.
It was time to face her family.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
In the capital of Demacia, inside the courtyard of Luke's estate, Lux idly swung back and forth on the swing, an inexplicable melancholy in her voice.
"It's been so many days already. Why haven't we heard anything at all from Yurna? Did she really leave without saying goodbye?"
Not far away, Fiora briefly raised her head from the book she was reading, while Sona paused her practice and glanced over.
Neither of them said anything.
Lux jumped down from the swing and dusted off her hands before sighing.
"I mean, she's one of the Winged Protectors. I guess she doesn't really need to go out of her way to say goodbye to small fry like us."
She was a divine figure from Demacian legend.
Why would someone like that deliberately come back just to say goodbye to them?
Lux did not actually care what Yurna's true identity was.
She simply wanted to see Yurna again.
The woman who rarely spoke, yet had always been gentle and incredibly attentive to everyone around her.
Lux had always thought of her like an older sister.
Being separated without even getting the chance to say goodbye inevitably made her feel a little sad.
Luke lay in his rocking chair, staring absently at the clear blue sky.
Ryze had resumed his journey several days ago, heading toward his next destination.
Before leaving, however, he had left behind some notes on magic.
Lux had learned several excellent spells from him, all of them well suited to her light magic.
Luke had taken the opportunity to pick up a few things as well.
He learned Arcane Binding, along with a protective formation and a personal magical shield.
As for Ryze's other forms of arcane magic, Luke had no interest in learning them.
There was one spell called Overload that could double the power of the user's magic.
However, the caster had to use their own body as the conduit, essentially replacing something like a staff with themselves.
It was an extremely dangerous technique.
Using it required an extraordinarily deep understanding of magic, and even someone capable of casting it easily would eventually have their body altered by magic.
Ryze himself was the perfect example.
At this point, he could practically be described as a living vessel for magic, with even his skin having turned purple.
Luke was following a completely different path of development, so there was no reason for him to learn that technique.
Besides, he wasn't particularly fond of covering his body in that many tattoos.
The two had agreed to meet again shortly before the Shadow Isles emerged from the sea.
Luke had remained in the capital these past few days without going anywhere.
In truth, just like Lux, he had been hoping Yurna might come back.
But now it seemed that probably wasn't going to happen.
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