Chapter 287: The Fall (Darkspawn Part 1)
The Darkspawn Sword Demon was once the most powerful ascension warrior of the ancient Shurima Empire, but in the grueling battle against the Void for thousands of years, Aatrox was corrupted by the power of the Void with resentment and anger.
Aatrox had always thought that his defeat was entirely due to the deception used by the unscrupulous Star Spirits, that this was not the ultimate fate of a warrior, and that he had not lost to anyone on the battlefield, but to the deception in the dark corners.
And the two star spirits of the giant god peak that Aatrox wants to personally want to achieve the result are naturally the War Star Spirit, and the Twilight Star Spirit, these two people used shameful tricks to make Aatrox be sealed in his sword for the rest of his life, and never have a chance to see the light of day again, this strange deception deprived Aatrox of all his rights, even death.
Mischievous, whimsical, and unpredictable, Zoe is the embodiment of it all. As the cosmic messenger of the Titan Clan, her appearance is a harbinger of earth-shattering changes. She didn't even need to do anything, just just being somewhere was enough to distort the laws of arcane mathematics around her, thus disrupting the physical laws of reality. Sometimes it brings havoc and disaster, although she has no ill intentions in her own right. Perhaps that's why she's always been so careless about her duties, giving her plenty of time to play games, play tricks on mortals, or entertain herself. Encounters with Zoe may be joyful and motivating, but her appearance is often not so simple and often even means great danger.
Just like her astral personality, Zoe's way of ascending to the gods is unconventional. She did not achieve great victories in desperate situations with little hope, nor did she challenge the trials of fate to reach the top of the Giant God Peak. Zoe is just an ordinary little girl who seems to have been chosen completely randomly.
The mentor of the Bright Moon Sect commented that Zoe was an imaginative child, but at the same time she was self-willed, lazy, distracted, and fond of small movements.
One day, she skipped her sacred magic workshop in search of something "slightly less boring". It was at this time that the Twilight Star Spirit of the Titan noticed her.
Under its gaze, the little girl mimicked the roars of the Bright Moon priests as she dodged their pursuit.
After an hour of chase, she was surrounded by angry teachers. Just as they were about to reach out and grab Zoe, the Star Spirit summoned six objects and placed them in front of the little girl:
A bag of gold coins, a sword, a completed study notebook, a prayer mat, a silk rope, and a toy ball. There are five of these things that can allow her to escape or defuse the unfavorable situation in front of her, but Zoe chooses the sixth.
She didn't even think about running away, but grabbed the toy ball, kicked it against the wall next to her, and sang a song that bounced off the stern-faced priests with the ball.
Zoe's carefree and energetic energy overjoyed the star spirit, opening a glimmer portal to the top of the Titan Peak, giving Zoe a chance to see the universe.
She leaped backwards into the portal, immediately becoming one with the star spirit, then stuck out her tongue and grimaced, disappearing into thin air before the eyes of the jaw-dropping teachers.
After this unusual transcendent apotheosis, Zoe traveled through many different dimensions, exploring the frontiers of the territory under the control of the Titan Clan, and playing with reality beyond human comprehension.
After a millennia of wandering, Zoe returned home, less than a year older. Although the Runeterras had barely changed in her eyes, the humans and other fellow Stars here had piqued her childlike curiosity.
Perhaps the strangest of all is her relationship with Aurelian Thor. The cosmic dragon's arrogance, nonsense, and cynicism annoyed Zoe.
In return, she endlessly teases the giant creature, but when necessary, she also protects her "space dog" and the stars he has created from the baptism of Panson's wrath.
Whether it was a simple whim, some kind of possessiveness, or her mischievous routine, no one could be sure. Because for Zoe, no one can be sure what she really wants except to entertain herself.
Varus is a member of the Darks, an ancient race. As a cold-blooded killer, he loves nothing more than torturing his enemies with arrows. Let them lose their hearts and go mad first, and then end their lives.
The former Ascended Warrior of Ancient Shurima was not only Aatrox, but also other Darkspawns who were also sealed by some means. Varus is a living chestnut.
Varus was handsome, and although he was imprisoned after the end of the Darkspawn War, he managed to escape hundreds of years later and live in the flesh and blood recreated by two Ionian hunters.
The two unwittingly freed Varus, and from then on they took on the longbow that contained Varus's spirit. Now Varus begins to take brutal revenge on those who imprisoned him, but the two souls entangled in him stand in his way.
The mortal mages of Runeterra used magic without restraint for a time, unaware of the consequences it would have outside the world.
The unbridled misuse of magic eventually attracted the covetousness of the Darkspawn, who sent their fiercest warriors to conquer the world.
Varus followed the second wave of invasion to the Land of Runeterra, where he stabbed enemy commanders and heroes with his crystal longbow, helping the Darkspawn defeat mortal armies with ease.
Shortly after Aatrox's fall, a queen in golden armor led Vastaya Moon Chasers and human mages to drive Varus to the brink.
Eventually, they sealed him in a crystal longbow and left Varus to howl and weep feebly. By this time, the effects of the Darkspawn's corruption were already known, so it was only in the final battle of the war that the queen alone took her longbow and fired the last arrow, breaking the bridge to the world of the Darkspawn forever.
After the end of the Darkspawn War, the queen brought Varus's longbow to a land that would later be known as Ionia.
The last thing she did was to imprison the longbow in the village of Pallas, sealed in a dark chamber deep in the lower levels of the mountain temple. Longbow had been lying there, suppressed by Ionia's natural magic and the rituals of the guards.
This longbow has been hidden deep in the ground for hundreds of years, no one knows about it, no one disturbs it, and it has been forgotten by the whole world. Until that day, the Noxians invaded Ionia.