Twisted Advances, Pt. 2

[quote=The Overmyynd]This is Part 2 of my Extended Maokai Lore, Once again I ask that you do not flame the thread with "LOL DIDNT READ TOO LONG LOL" posts, I made this for everyone on Moba to enjoy. Thanks for reading! [color=#008000]Twisted Advances, The Birth of a Legend, Pt. 2 [/color] The beast crashed through the forest, breaking his tree brethren as he went, unable to control his new abilities to move. Why was he alive? Why was he able to question why he was alive? Who did this to him, forced him from peace into tortured existence? And why? Was it the strange creatures he just slew? He felt something crawl from an abscess on his back, and saw another miniature treeling scuttle back onto his hand. It looked at him happily, and sat on his palm, swinging its legs between his fingers. The creature stopped his rampage through the forest, trying to calm himself in a small clearing. Perhaps he can will himself back to blissful peace? He stopped, moved into a space between two trees, closed his eyes, and tried very much to stop this incessant thinking and feeling. It seemed like it almost worked, until a thunderous crash came through the bush, and a smaller version of the two creatures he just killed and a much larger, furrier version with horns sprawled into view, screaming something that irritated the Tree's new ears. Then, from the other side of the clearing, yet another strange, furry, white creature, almost as large as the large one with horns, came into view, with yet ANOTHER creature riding on his back, this one even smaller than the one that was smaller than the two creatures he slew. They stood looking at each other for a moment, and began speaking to one another. He thought it was strange that they did not notice him, until he realized that he still looked like a peaceful tree, whatever the changes this curse might have wrought on him. Well... If these destroyers of peace were ignorant enough not to see danger when it sat plainly in front of them, he would feel no remorse for crushing them like the vermin they were! *** "Why haven't they come back?" Asked Annie. "Its been over 5 minutes. The penalty for death is never that long." "I do not know, little one" replied Alistar. "Perhaps it is because the creature was not part of the competition. The Summoners have no control over that which they do not summon or create." Veigar chose that moment to come crashing through the brush. "I saw EVERYTHING. What the HELL is going on?!?! Giant trees coming to life, throwing explosive little trees, crushing people like they were ants! What is this?! Some new Summoner trick?" "Calm down" said Nunu, exasperated by the situation. "It surprised two people who were badly wounded and had no idea what it could do. We are four perfectly unharmed warriors, who have a good concept of what it can do. All we have to do is find it, kill it, and get on with the match, and hope we get some answers when we get out." His Yeti grunted in agreement. Veigar shook his gauntleted fist at the general area of the forest. "When I find you, you rotting pile of logs, I will show you no mercy!" A high-pitched scream was heard. They all turned to look in time to see a small, squat plant with glowing eyes and a fizzing twig land with a poof of magical energy land in their midst. It looked about him, and locked eyes with Annie. With a squeal and a giggle, it started running towards her, and its own imminent immolation. Out of pure reflex, Annie coated herself with solid fire in the nick of time. The creature scurried to her feet and exploded with great force, throwing her back to the treeline. She stood up and dusted off her dress, thankful that her shield absorbed the brunt of the damage. She watched as one of the trees on the edge of the clearing roared to life and started chasing the trio of champions. Her teddy bear, clutched in both of her hands, burst into flames and disintegrated to nothing in a matter of seconds. A pair of malicious glowing eyes wreathed in fire appeared above a set of large, scorched teeth in the shadows behind her. As she backed into Tibbers' welcome embrace, a playful, dangerous thought crossed her mind. This creature is big, yes. It is powerful, yes. But it is a tree. And trees burn. Very well. As the shadows engulfed her, two huge paws with even bigger claws reached out of the darkness and closed around her, giving all the protection in the world to their master. *** The three ran together out of the forest into the top lane, exiting in view of the purple guardian. The ground shook as the massive tree followed after them. The three stopped, and turned to face the wooded monstrosity. It exited the forest with a roar, only to be caught by Veigar's temporal rift, becoming trapped inside its barriers. In response, it hurled its manic little plant at them, and it landed right in front of Veigar. He turned to run, but it was too late. The creature's aim was too good now. It exploded full force almost on impact, and Veigar was pushed back into the wall, badly injured. The vortex fading, the creature thundered out onto the lane towards Alistar and Nunu, another sapling clawing its way onto its perch. Alistar ran towards it, and head butted it with a satisfying CRACK as wood gave way to skull and horn. But the beast bent over Alistar as he was being rammed, and grabbed his torso with his massive shield hand, and lifted him bodily before slamming him repeatedly on the ground. Nunu commanded his yeti to freeze the tree, and hurl a magical ice ball at it. It impacted, and immediately the creature was covered in thick permafrost. Half frozen, it turned its head towards the offender. After a brief instant, the frost evaporated as the monster dissolved into the ball of nature and magic again, and took off after Nunu. There was no time to react. Nunu and his yeti were in the throes of iron like roots, and the beast began to pummel the yeti. Grunts of pain and effort escaped the furry companion, until finally he broke free. The tree pulled his arm back, and swung backhand for one final blow, knocking the Yeti nearly unconcious, and throwing Nunu from his perch. Alistar picked himself up. "We cannot continue in this fashion. One on one, he will surely kill us all. We must band together, and attack as one". The Abomination roared its defiance at them. As they prepared to charge once again into battle, Annie appeared out of the forest. Veigar yelled at her, "Where have you been, girl! We require your assistance!" Annie shrugged. "I was practicing burning down trees." As proof, a vast cloud of smoke was rising behind her." Alistar nodded in approval. "Very good, little one. You are just in time to aid us in ridding this world of the abomination that lies before us." The little girl smiled, and said "Let's get 'em!" Forward they charged, Nunu throwing frost at the beast, Veigar hurling temporal distortions, Alistar roaring life back into his bedraggled companions, and Annie pouring fire from her fingertips. The tree staggered from the impact of all the spells, and howled in pain. But as they closed the gap to begin the dismantling of the arborial menace, something strange happened. The tree recovered, and slammed its shielded hand into the ground. A huge ring appeared around the champions, with the creature at its epicenter. Strange totemic stones floated among leaves, branches, and pure magical energies. Each of the stones was connected to the tree by a thin line of pure white light, and the same light covered the tree in an opaque mesh. Unable to stop the advance now, lest they all be blown to pieces, the attack continues. Alistar, Nunu, and the beast trade blows over and over. Each time the creature was struck, a shockwave travels along the light covering him and up into the lines connecting it to the stones. Annie blasted the beast with as much fire as she could create, but it did not have the desired effect. Most of the flames were diverted off of the tree by the white light and channeled to the floating stones, and the longer she held the cone of destruction, the brighter the stones surrounding them became. After only a few moments of constant abuse, the stones were so bright it was hard to look at them. The creature, apparently having decided it had endured enough, again slammed its fist into the ground, and a shockwave poured forth from it. The Champions were thrown back, feeling as though they were being hauled by hundreds of briar vines digging into their flesh. The beast then raised its massive hand into the air, and screamed at the heavens. The stones glowed even brighter; painfully, piercingly so, and slammed back into the earth. There was only an instant where the ground inside the mystical circle felt as though it were alive and crawling, before the entire universe seemed to unglue, and fire, ice, meteors, and unimaginable pounding pressure surged forth from every angle to annihilate the four remaining Champions of the Institute of War. *** Allerwith looked up from his device. He could not imagine what was going on. All six of the summoners were twitching and shuttering in place. Even a soft moan escaped one of their lips. Disgusted by the so-called "Chosen" Summoners ' apparent lack of pain tolerance, he raised his hand back to the Orb sitting on his armrest. He immediately shouted in shock and dismay. Broken, battered, and ruined bodies surrounded a massive, living tree, who stood roaring triumphantly over their corpses! He thought to himself, this is not possible! Upon death, Champions' bodies are automatically removed, put back together, and reanimated back to original form during the games! Why are they still laying there broken? And what, by the Gods, IS that thing? He broke connection with his orb, and spoke frantically into his communicator, quickly, brokenly explaining what he saw to his superiors. After he relayed the situation, he placed his hand back on his Orb, and watched as the whole area shuttered and distorted as an emergency team teleported in, and battled to subdue the beast. Eventually, sheer numbers won out, and they managed to pull enough magical energy out of the thing to leave it able only to walk and swing that massive hand of his around. From that point, good old fashioned ropes and stakes finished the job. Emergency Medical and Necomancy Professionals rushed in after it was deemed safe, and gathered the bodies to begin immediate reanimation attempts. Allerwith allowed himself to lean back in his chair, and place his head wearily in his hand. What the hell happened in there? *** Ryze stood in one of the many meeting halls of the Institute of War, where summoners go to meet Champions, learn about them, and hopefully choose to favor one or the other. Never one to participate in said whore mongering, he stood in a corner, drinking a glass of mint water and glaring at the newest member of the League. Maokai, the Twisted Treant, he called himself. That is, after he learned to speak, instead of simply howl pure anger in your general direction. Oh, the attention this colossal mound of living, breathing wood was getting. So exotic, so strange, so powerful, they say; what can he do, what are his abilities, they ask. For his part, at least, Maokai seemed genuinely uninterested in the hustle and bustle that followed him wherever he went. Ryze didn't know exactly how the Healers and Necromancers brought him and the other five champions slain by this monster back to life, or why the usual reanimation and healing did not occur as it usually did. However, he WAS sure that it had alot to do with the wildly fluctuating magical energies inside the arena. Surely, the councilmen and game masters had to notice before the game began? Ryze shook his head in disgust. No one knew what the head Council was ever thinking about anything until at least a decade after the fact. However... This time, it may not be so hard to figure out. A new champion had not arrived on their doorstep of their own free will for quite some time, and the old roster of choices was beginning to grow... old. A new, fresh, powerful face would make the games and "negotiations" interesting again, thus validating their reason for existing. In some small way, he felt sorry for the being that had slaughtered him so easily. In return for making himself available to summoners to call forth, Maokai made a deal with the council, demanding that they research a way to take his sentience back from him, and return him once more to the blissfully un-thinking peace that was the life of a mere tree. The council hastily agreed, and the deal was struck. But Ryze knew from very personal experience that "research" tends to hit snags, problems, issues, and more setbacks than anyone could POSSIBLY imagine from the outset. He snorted with wry amusement. Right. Nothing anyone can do about it. Sure. And if the "researchers" are secretly paid to, say, take their sweet time getting around to an answer, well... It may very well take months, years even, to come upon something worth calling "progress". Or maybe never at all. All those pesky setbacks, nothing to do about it... Ryze shrugged, and headed off to his quarters to meditate. Another face on the fields of justice, especially when it is new and fresh, simply means less Summoners snatching him from his studies. As he walked, he thought to himself, it was worth dying to get this brief respite.[/quote]

[quote=ShiftyCake]Very nice. I hope to see more from you.[/quote]

[quote=Tiddlyfunk]Very enjoyable ^^[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]bump[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]bump[/quote]