Taliyah clung to the image in her mind, pulling it out from the depths of the snow. A large explode of ice crystals splattered from the snow, and a granite bar of stone rose high, dragging a figure on top. The top of the rock quivered slightly, as if waiting for her instructions. Taliyah looked around, but did not dare to put him down, so she pushed the stone into the bushes, intending to let the branches catch him.

The granite was short, and fell into the snow with a muffled thud, and the evergreen pine branch held the man up and didn't let him hit the ground directly.

"If you were alive just now, don't die now." Taliyah said as she ran towards him. The sun began to fade, and dark clouds drifted into the canyon. Snow is coming soon. Luckily, she saw a small cave behind the bushes.

Taliyah exhaled desperately into her palm, forcing herself to compose. She bent down and reached out to touch his shoulder. The man let out a low cry of pain. Before Taliyah could retreat, she felt a strong gust of wind, accompanied by a flash of light, and a cold blade against her throat.

"The time of death has not yet come." He muttered intermittently. Then there was a violent cough that made him roll his eyes and almost faint. The sword in his hand slanted down and dapped into the snow, but he still held on to the hilt and did not let go.

The first snowflakes brushed against Taliyah's chapped face. "Looks like you're going to have a hard time dying. But if we stay here and wait for the storm to come, it's hard to say. ”

The man's breathing was barely audible, but at least he was alive. Taliyah reached through his arm and dragged him toward the cavern.

The cold wind blew again.

Taliyah picked up a brown cobblestone, like a ball of coarse cotton. She nervously glanced back into the depths of the cave: the ragged man was still leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. She shoved a small piece of jerky into her mouth, which she had found in his pocket. Let's hope he won't skimp on this bit of food.

She turned back and walked into the cave, warmth gradually enveloping her. The stone slabs she had piled up earlier were still emitting puffs of heat. She half-knelt down. What Taliyah didn't expect was that the trick of heating the pebbles herself could also be used on larger rocks. The young Shurima man closed his eyes and focused on the cascading stone slabs. She remembered the blazing sun spreading in the desert, the incessant heat penetrating the earth into the night. The dry warmth hit her, and she unbuttoned her coat and relaxed her whole body. She began fiddling with the cobblestone she had just picked up. Under the influence of the mind, the stone turns in a circle, and the top gradually recess into a stone bowl. Satisfied, she walked to the hole again with her new cutlery.

A moaning male voice came from behind her: "It's like a sparrow picking food." ”

"Sparrows are also thirsty." She took a bowl of clean snow against the howling cold wind, then folded it back and placed the bowl on the warm slate in front of her.

"Do you need to use your hands to pick up stones, it doesn't look like a stoneweaver's means."

Taliyah's cheeks flushed, not because of the warmth of the stone stove.

"Are you still angry about that avalanche, and"

The man smiled, shifted a little, and snorted again.

"No need to explain." His teeth chattered, but a smile still curled into his lips. "You can leave me alone."

"It was my fault that I almost killed you. There's no way I'm going to watch you get buried alive in the snow. ”

"Thank you. Although I think it might be better without those branches. ”

Taliyah looked embarrassed and opened her mouth to speak, when the man raised a hand and interrupted her: "Don't apologize. ”

He sat up straight, scrutinizing Taliyah's appearance and her hair ornaments.

"Sparrows from Shurima." He closed his eyes and relaxed himself by the warm stone. "You're far from home, little bird. What wind blows you to Ionia."

"Noxus."

The man couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, but still didn't open his eyes.

"They said I could bring the people of Noxus together. My power can help them strengthen the walls. But they just want me to kill. Her voice grew heavy with disgust. They told me they would teach me"

"They do educate you, but it's too biased." His voice was unwavering.

"They wanted me to bury a village alive. Kill people in their own homes. Taliyah snorted impatiently. But I ran out, and I put a mountain over you. ”

The man raised his sword and examined its blade. Then gently blow off the thin dust on it. "Destroy or create. There is no absolute good or bad between the two, and no one can monopolize one over the other. And the most important, and the only question, is what you want. Why you choose this path, that's the only thing we can control. ”

Taliyah stood up a little angrily: "My path is to stay away from here, from everyone, until I learn to control my inner self. I don't believe I can't hurt my fellow citizens. ”

"Zhizhi is not in the forest."

Taliyah didn't want to hear it anymore. She walked over to the cave and tightened her coat. The cold wind poured into her ears.

"I'm going out and getting us something to eat. Hopefully I won't bring this mountain down. ”

The man sat down against the warm stone wall again, and said to himself: "Little sparrow, have you found the mountain you want to conquer?"

A bird pecks at a thin pine branch. Taliyah kicked the snow off her feet, but the tip of her shoe accidentally picked up a piece and landed in the gap between the cuffs. The man's words echoed in her ears, and the clammy cold of her ankles made her feel irritable.

"Why did you choose this path, I left my relatives and my hometown, just to protect them."

She paused suddenly. There was an abrupt silence all around. A moment earlier, the sound of her heavy footsteps had driven away the noise of the surrounding squirrel, but the birds on the branches had unscrupulously laughed at her angry self-talk. And now, even the birdsong is gone.

Taliyah was wary. Before, she was so angry that she had absentmindedly walked along a ridge for a long time, too far from the cave where they were hiding. Because to her, stones are much more intimate than trees. Now, there was only a cliff left in front of her. She didn't think the man would follow, but she did feel something watching her from behind.

"The tirade is not over," she asked indignantly.

She was answered by a chilling exhalation

She reached into her coat with one hand and grabbed the slings with the other. There are also three pebbles in the pocket. She clenched one of them, thinking that maybe the gravel on the ground would make it a little difficult for the sneak attacker behind her.

Taliyah finally turned around and saw a majestic Ionian snow lion, carefully circling the cliff.

Even when it landed on all fours, it made Taliyah feel a sense of oppression. The beast was nearly twice her height from head to tail, with a thick neck covered in short, creamy hair. The snow lion stared at her, put down the two fresh hares in her mouth, stretched out her tongue thicker than her forearm, and licked the blood from her mouth.