After rounding the bend and climbing a sand dune, the city of gardens came into view.
Blackened ruins and broken columns made the once lush and captivating capital look unspeakably desolate.
Not far off to the side was the Zoantha Cascade.
From that height, the yellow sand came roaring down like a real waterfall.
The waves of sand had carved out a wide path through the rock, but they had also become the obstacle standing between Caleb's group and the city of gardens.
"Go on."
Caleb patted the Skallashi's lowered head, and it obediently turned and left.
"Then how are we getting back?" Yuumi asked, puzzled.
Kai'Sa, meanwhile, was seeing a sight this magnificent for the first time, and she was too stunned to speak.
"By the time we're done, Azir will already be here, so there's no point worrying about how we'll get back," Caleb replied casually.
"The problem is... inside that city."
"That's strange..." Sivir frowned, her beautiful brows knitting together, confusion in her eyes.
"What is it?" Caleb turned and asked.
At a place like this, neither he nor Kai'Sa knew much, so Sivir's opinion carried the most weight.
"In this region, people worship the Ascended, and because of that, they throw their treasured belongings into the sandfall as offerings."
"What is wrong with you people..." Caleb narrowed his eyes and muttered.
"And because of that, this area became a place where treasure hunters made their living."
Sivir's next sentence instantly put Caleb and Kai'Sa on edge. Even Yuumi, who still didn't fully know what was going on, felt a chill run through her.
If this was supposed to be where scavengers and treasure hunters made a living... then how was this possible?
Caleb looked out across the area and saw almost no one at all.
Kai'Sa shook her head and said quietly, "It feels a lot like certain places in the Void, barren and lifeless."
"There's almost no sign of living creatures."
And at that very moment, Caleb felt a frenzied surge of rune energy rushing toward them.
He shouted instinctively, "Scatter!"
Sivir immediately activated her Spell Shield.
Kai'Sa triggered Supercharge and vanished from sight in an instant.
Caleb didn't dare hold back either. The arcane power of Arcane Shift surged through his body.
Compared to what was about to hit them, the little bit of arcane power he was spending didn't amount to anything.
Yuumi latched onto him and hit him with Zoomies, and Caleb stumbled and scrambled several more steps forward.
A few arcane projectiles slammed down a moment later, blasting up clouds of dust.
"Now!"
Caleb wasn't shouting for anything else, he was telling Sivir to call Azir!
Xerath's senses were so sharp that the three of them had been locked onto almost as soon as they arrived.
This was bad.
Grinding his teeth, Caleb still pulled out his Hextech bow.
Not even knowing where the enemy was, that was what made this the hardest.
The three of them were too busy running for their lives to look back and see where the explosions were coming from.
The only thing Caleb could say for certain was that they weren't coming from the direction he was running toward.
But that information was useless, because all three of them were fleeing away from the city of gardens.
And from this distance, who could possibly make out the blue figure hidden among those ruins?
Caleb pulled out his bracelet. He had no idea how Sivir was doing, but if it came down to it, he would do it himself!
An arcane barrage mixed with lightning bolts smashed into the sand beneath Caleb's feet.
As he tumbled through the air, Caleb coughed up a mouthful of blood. Thankfully, Yuumi was still beside him.
With Zoomies flowing through his body, Caleb managed to land more steadily.
His boots carved a long trail through the sand before he finally spat out another mouthful of blood.
The bracelet in his hand had already shattered into dust.
"Damn it..." Caleb had no time to dwell on it.
A bold idea surged up from the bottom of his heart.
"If I die, I die!"
Caleb took a deep breath and stared at the incoming arcane missiles.
Shadow Step!
His body slowly sank into the sand.
Then he pulled out one of the tokens he had scooped up before from his system inventory.
He poured arcane power into it.
The downside of this was obvious. Caleb not only had to endure the impacts crashing down from above, he also had to sink as deep as possible, because otherwise the depth of the exploding arcane blasts would catch up to him almost immediately.
Shadow Step didn't last long. It vanished after only a few breaths.
In an instant, the surrounding sand crushed in on Caleb and pinned him down.
He had no idea how long it would take Azir to arrive.
Deep beneath the sand, Caleb struggled desperately, unable to breathe.
Seeing the incoming missiles in the distance, Yuumi was just about to dive back into Book.
"Get over here!"
The shout came from Kai'Sa in the middle of combat. She was moving so fast that afterimages trailed behind her.
Sivir was still sprinting at full speed toward the rear, but her mind was a blur.
The enemy's firepower had pinned them down, and it had come so fast, so violently.
Her item for contacting Azir had already been destroyed, and Caleb's and Kai'Sa's had probably been destroyed too.
She had never expected the enemy to be this powerful, able to suppress three people who could sprint at high speed across the desert from such a distance.
Think. Think!
Sivir kept forcing herself to focus.
Kai'Sa had already shown them her hand before. If she got the chance to use that long-range move, she might be able to close the distance.
In that case, her own job should be to draw the enemy's fire and summon Azir!
All three of them had extremely sharp combat instincts. They understood the situation almost at the same time and came up with their own best responses.
As for Yuumi, she was just along for the ride. As long as she stayed out of the way, if the fight got too ugly, she could just teleport back to Bandle City.
"They will die because of me!"
A voice filled with majesty exploded across the land.
A frame made from chains and shattered sarcophagus fragments appeared, filled with violent arcane energy.
If you looked closely, you could vaguely make out a human shape within it.
That was Xerath!
Sivir's crossblade spun and slashed hard across her artery.
Blood sprayed through the air like a cruel, savage painting.
When it hit the sand, a hissing sound rose without end.
Sivir collapsed weakly to the ground. With that much blood lost at once, Azir, all the way at the Sun Disc, should be able to sense it.
But she only had enough strength left for one more use of Spell Shield.
Clenching her silver teeth, Sivir decided to throw her crossblade.
Even if all it did was buy Kai'Sa a little time.
"You've done enough."
A calm voice rang out at just the right moment.
The rushing waves of sand froze in place, then transformed into towering, imposing soldiers of sand.
A huge opening suddenly appeared above Caleb, like the Red Sea being split apart.
Shield-bearing guards stacked themselves into a staircase with their own bodies.
Xerath, who had been laughing wildly, stopped cold.
That aura was one he knew far too well.
He had never imagined that after thousands of years, ruler and servant would meet again like this.
"Shurima, your emperor has returned."
In Azir's eyes there was pride, there was fury, and there was the same calm he had always possessed.
"Let me show you what real magic looks like!"
There was even joy in Xerath's voice.
It was good that this man was still alive. Xerath wanted to prove that the empire's former glory had all been because of him!
If Xerath hadn't used dark magic to eliminate prince after prince, and poison to ensure the queen of Shurima could never bear a child, would the throne ever have fallen to Azir, the least favored of them all?
"Hah..." Caleb dragged himself out of the sand with great effort. Kai'Sa was already there beside him and reached out to yank him the rest of the way up.
Yuumi, meanwhile, had rushed to Sivir's side and stopped the bleeding.
The great battle was about to begin.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810