Legends of Runeterra

Chapter 983 People are still in the company

From somewhere, a distant scream was heard.

Senna summoned the Black Mist, but it only produced wisps of smoke and embers. A crude substitute for the Black Mist surged forward, transforming her into a wraith gripped by death. She began to move, and the world became a blur of color, shifting hues rapidly as the landscape shifted.

She stopped abruptly. Bilgewater loomed before her. But this wasn't the Bilgewater she knew. The harbor lay utterly dilapidated, the Harrowing Night completely engulfing it. Rotting timbers, mud-coated stone walls, the carcasses of deep-sea beasts—all fused into twisted spires. These warped amalgams floated in mid-air, surrounded by the shattered hulls of ships and hundreds of coffins that had once been submerged in the sea. Treasures, the tithes, drifted among the debris, shimmering like ghostly stars.

Senna let go of the darkness, her body returning, the flooded boardwalk creaking beneath her weight. She moved along the causeway and came upon the wreck of a stranded hunting boat, its bronze bow wedged into a seaward tavern.

Amidst the rubble and chaos stood a figure. It was the statue of a woman, its hands raised in prayer, its mottled face frozen in a look of terror. Senna felt a sense of familiarity, like a half-forgotten dream, before a flood of sorrow washed over her from head to toe. She reached out a trembling hand and gently brushed the statue's cheeks. The face crumbled, and then the entire statue crumbled. Slowly at first, then all at once, the stone statue crumbled into a pair of dust.

He found her!

An unfamiliar fear swelled within Senna, urging her to flee. She pushed the feeling away. Of course he had found her, even if he didn't know who she was. No one could escape Thresh's grasp; this was his territory. She had witnessed countless tortures, and for the Chain Warden, every soul offered endless pleasure in inflicting pain. Senna stared at the pile of dust.

This wasn't Thresh's doing.

It felt wrong. She had spent so much time in the lantern and never encountered anything like this. Perhaps he had refined his technique. If there was one constant, it was his search for perfect misery.

He gazed out across the black waters of Bilgewater Bay. The fiery mountain range loomed on the horizon. She knew it couldn't be real, a creation of the lanterns. There were no mountains south of Bilgewater. She would have to sail around—

A random thought flashed through her mind. She noticed it, grabbed it, turned it over, and examined it carefully. The treasure trove opened, and inside was a memory.

She was supposed to be in Bilgewater—no, they were both supposed to be in Bilgewater. Lucian! He was going to fight there, to free her from the lantern with all his might, just as he had for so many years, alone. He was nearly overcome by hatred.

Senna's consciousness stretched far into the distance. She smiled, feeling Lucian's love nearby. But there was something else, something deep and urgent. It was panic. She had felt this way only once with Lucian—when Thresh had killed her.

She pushed aside the heavy weight of her fear, gathered herself, and spoke, "Lucian... I'm here."

silence.

She tried again, and again, and again, each time with the same result—Lucian didn't respond to her calls. Before, she could communicate with him from within the lantern, but Thresh must have found some new way to silence her voice.

Her body trembled with despair and rage. She closed her eyes and silently chanted the mantra she had learned years ago. "Chisel away the unnecessary, leaving only the sacred stone. Chisel away the unnecessary, leaving only the sacred stone."

She opened her eyes, their glow filled with new resolve. Thresh hadn't broken her yet.

The laws of nature do not apply within the lantern. This ancient relic is a constantly shifting realm, purpose-built for suffering. It seems to stretch on forever, but Senna knows the truth—she has discovered the lantern's landmarks and pressed them against the inner wall of the cage, feeling its cracks.

But when she looked at the sky, her heart sank.

This is not a lantern.

She paused, reflecting on the past and the reality she had struggled to accept. She suppressed her denial and continued her search. Dark plumes of smoke rose from the burning mountaintops, scorched tendrils staining the sky. She needed to pierce this ash-gray veil.

She absorbed the smoke and embers, shifting again. Bilgewater vanished into the distance, and she soared into the sky. Senna soared across the ocean, gaining altitude. But the mountains grew taller, roaring and spewing steam ahead of her. She dodged to the side, avoiding the acid-scorching clouds, but the burning peaks pursued her, forever blocking her path, impossible to surmount.

Darkness spread across the horizon—a thick, raging fog that threatened to swallow everything in its path. Unable to escape the shifting waves of cloud, she plunged headlong into the darkness. The storm roared around her, and the wails of countless ghosts blew towards her like a torrential downpour.

This is not the right path. You need to turn back.

She stretched out one hand, reaching higher. A flicker of light danced between her fingers, and her doubts faded as she searched for the lantern's edge. The light flickered brighter, suddenly crackling against her fingertips. She pulled her hand back, but the sting had already begun to grow into a burning pain, causing her ghost form to freeze. Dark energy surged, tethering her to the air.

Senna fell from the sky.

She awoke in a thick cloud of dust. Her human form returned, like a knotted rope, beneath a layer of soot and dust. She rolled over onto her back, grimacing and groaning as lightning arced along her clammy body. The lightning faded, leaving only a numbing tingle.

Physical torture was beyond the reach of the lanterns. Thresh rarely resorted to such low forms of pain. The soil of the mind and soul was more suitable for the seeds of torture. Perhaps this was punishment for her escape. Yet, it still felt wrong.

You have to stand up!

She struggled to sit on one knee, but her legs couldn't bear her weight and she collapsed to the ground again. The world darkened, dark clouds filled the sky, covering the last bit of color.

You're going to fight...you're going to die!

The absurd thought made Senna laugh. There were far worse fates than death. She had endured them for years—and would endure them again.

But as the shadows grew, she began to fear the new twists she would face this time. A brief taste of freedom would make her captivity even more desolate, her loneliness and torture even more miserable.

Then, she had another, even more terrifying thought.

No! Don't even think about it!

Perhaps she never escaped. Perhaps she watched Lucian suffer defeat after defeat, and her broken mind imagined a different outcome, one that would allow her to escape this pit of misery. Perhaps her escape was a delusion.