Disclaimer: I do not own League of Legends or any of it's characters. Riot Games does.

Chapter 1: Lesser Evil

Syndra stared in disbelief at the gathering of old men and women of the elders' council in front of her fortress' main gate, fists tightly clenched. Her dark palace was by no means easily accessible, yet these fools stood right at the foot of the stairs leading up to her sanctuary.

The air was thick with tension, building every passing second that she silently stood there, emotions raging within her. Two days ago she had received a letter, brought by a courier whose pleas for mercy almost perfectly matched the contents of the document he had carried: a plea for a meeting with the Ionian elders' council to discuss the threat that Ionia faced. Her first reaction had been a laugh of disbelief - a laugh that subsided very quickly as she read the names of the ones requesting to meet with her.

Now, here they stood, the balance-obsessed leaders of a nation as far from balanced as it could be. It was supposed to be a sign of good will, the entire council at her mercy. They had nothing to lose, after all.

Syndra, on the other hand, was about to lose something she had been holding onto since the beginning of this ridiculous encounter:

Her patience.

Finally, the sorceress inhaled, the violet glow of her eyes piercing right through the green pair that belonged to the women standing in front of the others. Karma was her name, she remembered.

"You…", she snarled, her voice reverbing with several layers of magic. The elders and soldiers surrounding the pair flinched upon hearing that single word and the tremendous amount of power carried by it. All except Karma and the woman behind her, whose dark blue hair flowed over her red and silver armor.

"You come here, after everything you did to me, and have the nerve to ask me for help?!" Syndra was shaking with barely contained anger, no, fury.

So the Harrowing had come one more time. And this year, Ionia's defenses seemed to have finally faltered under the ever growing power of the Shadow Isles' onslaught - and now that all their hope was lost, after everything they did to get rid of her, the same way they tried to get rid of the Harrowing, now they came crawling to her feet and begged for her help. She didn't have to fear the undead - they proved to be no match for her powers, not even the lich known as Karthus. She could idly watch as Ionia was torn apart, keeping the shadows of the Harrowing away from her fortress as it consumed this country that had inflicted so much pain on her once and for all.

"I understand your feelings, Sovereign." Karma spoke up, her tone calm and her eyes locked on Syndra's. "And I regret what happened in the past, but those actions were beyond my control, as well as this council's. The Ones responsible for the plot involving your betrayal and the abuse of your powers have been put to justice for their crimes, as well as-"

"Weird." Syndra interrupted Karma, arms crossed under her breasts, her tone suddenly dangerously calm.

The enlightened woman looked up at the young mage. The tension hung in the air between them like a thick veil, suffocating every sound except the heavy breathing of the elders and the low howling of the wind reverberating through the many corridors of the celestial fortress.

"…because I can't seem to remember their broken bodies at my feet after I delivered MY justice to them FOR WHAT THEY DID TO ME!" Syndra raised her magically empowered voice with every word until she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears of fury and pain rolling down her cheeks as the memories of her childhood resurfaced.

The elders were cowering under the sheer force of her outbreak, the soldiers behind them covered their ears, faces distorted with fear and panic.

The woman in the red and silver armor had stepped out of Karma's shadow and now stood between the spiritual leader of her country and its worst enemy, ready to defend the duchess with her life.

Syndra breathed heavily, dark magic enveloping her form as she floated several feet above the ground. The woman that now obscured her line of sight was looking at her without the slightest hint of fear, her blades hovering beside her.

Irelia, she remembered. Irelia Lito, Captain of the Ionian Guard. The only survivor of the first attack, the only one whose soul hadn't been taken by the ghostly green fog that always announced the Harrowing.

Her soul… Syndra's eyes darted to the four floating blades a little, in between which a dimly glowing red orb sat. She had heard stories of the girl that rose from the dead during the Noxian invasion. The last remnant of a once proud family.

Her full, purple lips curled upwards in a smirk as she stared down at the girl from the stories who stood now as a woman before her.

"Isn't it ironic?" She said, more to herself than to her visitors, one finger on her chin. "That a soulless creature like you is the only thing left after such an attack?"

Irelia was no doubt furious, but years of training and mental discipline kept her in line.

"Tell me, did it feel familiar?"

Despite both her better judgement and Karma's hand on her shoulder warning her not to react, Irelia couldn't help it. "What?" She growled through clenched teeth.

The Dark Sovereign smiled. It was a wicked grin, hiding even more wicked thoughts. Still floating, she leaned forward in the air, folding her hands under her chin.

"To be the last one standing, surrounded by the bodies of the ones you should have protected. Déjà-vu?"

With a furious cry Irelia charged forward, her blades carrying her and closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. She hated this woman. She hated her with all her heart. Every time she had led her soldiers to attack this witch's fortress in the past, good people died. They died under her command because this monster was playing with their lives! But she had been holding back her rage for far too long - this would end now, one way or another – even more so if she wouldn't help them anyway.

The Captain of the Guard charged at Syndra with all her might, but just an inch before the blue-haired warrior reached her target, both the blades and the woman guiding them alike stopped mid-air.

Dark, glowing, purple eyes scrutinized the warrior. Irelia's widened with a hint of fear momentarily before anger found its way back into her expression.

She was hanging there, unable to move a finger while the Sovereign cocked her head with almost childlike curiosity, the two women staring into each other's eyes.

Then the moment was over and with a flick of her wrist, the younger mage sent the warrior flying down the stairs of her castle in a mess of armor, blades and strands of hair. When she finally landed at the bottom she got up on her feet, heavily panting with rage and pain. For just a brief moment, she had a broken expression on her face, like a spoiled child that was just slapped for its behavior. It amused Syndra how quickly Lito's hatred towards her overcame years of discipline - Captain Lito really hated her from the bottom of her heart.

The elders and their bodyguards who had been silently watching until now, paralyzed by either fear or tension, started to back away from the creature that had just beaten the leader of their military and one of, if not the strongest, warriors of Ionia with a mere flick of her hand.

That's more like it, Syndra thought. That was the reaction she was used to. Fear, panic, people running for their lives. Running from her.

But after all these years it still stung a little.

The mage lowered herself to the ground, bare toes touching the smooth stone of the entryway to her home, a sigh escaping her lips as she stretched her arms above her head.

Then she turned around, glaring at the people still gathered at the other end of the stairs. And blinked.

Elders and soldiers alike did their best to stay as far away from her as possible without jumping off the floating island, and Lito was still busy picking herself and her pride up from the floor.

Only the tanned woman still stood where she stood before, arms crossed and patiently waiting, her weight shifted on one leg. "Are you done?"

Syndra frowned. "…done?"

"Done scaring my countrymen and friends?"

Syndra simply glared at her.

"Good. Now, what do you see?" Karma waved one arm around her, gesturing at the landscape of Ionia that stretched from the edge of the floating island to the horizon.

Syndra huffed, crossing her arms. She knew exactly where this was going. If she were to turn her head, she would be greeted by the green fields and forests of Ionia, dotted with fields of flowers and little lakes reflecting the sun and clouds. Small villages here and there, mountains in the distance - in short, a breathtaking view.

And all that would be gone once the Harrowing arrived. The young woman pondered for a moment - she loved the land, she hated the people. Well, not all of them. Some were probably worth saving - Zed was nice. Weird, cruel, gruesome - but nice. Then there were the festivals. She could only sneak in disguised and had to watch her every step not to be discovered, but the lights…the music…the people? Oh well.

She let out a strained grunt and massaged her temples before rudely gesturing the Duchess to follow her in. "Fiiine. Negotiating conditions. Now."

The slightest of smiles found its way onto Karma's features as she walked up the stairs towards the portal the purple-clad sorceress had just vanished in, leaving behind several astonished elders with a polite request to wait for her return.

Irelia stood there in pure admiration for her superior. She was the only person able to do this - to skip every locked door and obstacle in the way and look directly into someone's heart. Even if it forced her to grimly admit that the Sovereign still had one.