27 CH26: Lost Souls

Third POV: the High Summoners chamber.

The High Summoners were watching the official match between the Shadow Isles and Demacia.

They saw Grey get defeated and stand up again but differently. When Grey unleashed the smoke, the Grand Summoner suddenly stood up from his chair surprisingly the others.

"is something wrong Grand Summoner?" the Ionian Summoner asked.

The Grand Summoner kept looking at the orb 'that power... Nito?... But how?'

After the match: inside the hallway.

Grey was walking through the hallway with the rest of his team following, but keeping their distance.

He reached the dining hall and went the table where the others were. He sat down and his teammates followed suit.

Everyone was silent, until the Abyss Watcher took a deep breath "I know what you'll say, so just say it".

"what the was that!?!" everyone but Kindred almost yelled.

"I... Don't know" Grey replied looking down.

"what do you mean 'you don't know'?" Ahri asked.

"Grey that wasn't natural" Nidalee said "Ahri said something about blood and fire, not smoke and death".

"yeah, that's something I expect Kindred to do" Ezreal added.

"I really don't know" Grey replied still looking down.

"it's very simple" Wolf said making everyone look at him "you became an aspect of death".

"you... Knew this was going to happen?" Grey asked looking at Kindred.

"knew? No" Lamb said "suspected it? Yes".

"you could've given me a little warning that I have Nito's soul!" Grey almost yelled making everyone surprised.

"ummm Grey, who's Nito? And why did you say you have his soul?" Ezreal asked the questions that everyone was thinking.

Grey took a deep breath to calm down and sighed "at the beginning of my world, there wasn't anything, no light, no dark, no life, and no death. But then there was fire, and with it came opposites. Warmth and cold. Pain and pleasure. Hope and despair. Life and death. And of course... Light and Dark. And from the fire, came four great souls, the souls of the lords. One of those souls was the soul of Death, and it belonged to the first of the dead, Nito, and somehow, I have his soul".

"wait, how? And what about your own soul?" Garen asked.

"for the first question, I don't know. For the second one... I'm not sure what happened to it" Grey replied.

"what do you mean you don't know about your own soul?" Ahri asked.

"my own soul, the one I was born with, is something I don't know the state of" Grey said and looked at everyone "when I joined the Abyss Watchers as a full fledged member, I part took the wolf blood and became a part of the Soul of The Blood of the Wolf-"

"how did you pronounce that? I don't think I even heard it correctly" Lux said.

"-it is a soul that we Abyss Watchers share, all of us are a part of it" Grey continued ignoring Lux's statement "the fact that I'm part of that soul is the reason I'm a Lord of Cinder. When the Abyss Watchers became Lords, that also included me"

"so you Abyss Watchers share the same soul?" Jarvan summed looking shocked with most of who was on the table.

Ezreal whistled "now that's what I call camaraderie".

"but still, what about Nito's soul?" Nidalee asked.

"I honestly don't know" Grey replied shaking his head "I never took an actual soul in my life, I either took Sovereignless souls or twisted souls".

"wait you take souls?" Lux asked hearing this for the first time.

"it's a little complicated. I can take souls but I don't take actual ones" The Abyss Watcher replied and felt someone put their hand on their shoulder.

When he looked, he found Kayle with a serious look on her face "Grey, the Grand Summoner wants to see you. Now" she said.

The Abyss Watcher nodded and stood up before looking at the others "I already explained this to Ahri and Nidalee, they'll tell you about it" he said before going with Kayle and going to the Grand Summoner.

Everyone then turned to Ahri and Nidalee while the Vastayan sighed "well, Sovereignless souls are" she said as she started to explain.

Grand Summoner POV:

This is very disturbing, how the child has Nito's power? I don't know but I will find out.

Kayle returned with the child and I nodded to her "thank you Judicator. You may leave" I said.

Kayle nodded and turned around. The gates closed after she left and everyone was quiet.

I suppose the High Summoners are interested because I never called for a champion before.

"do you know why you're here?" I asked and the boy shook his head.

I don't know if he's playing dumb or really doesn't know. Nevertheless, I motioned with my hand and an orb with a replay of the match appeared in it.

"you're here because of this" I said as the orb showed him unleashing the smoke. The miasma of death and disease "those are powers of the aspect of death, like the Eternal Hunters. How do you have them?".

"well" the child looked down "there's a being in my world that can be considered the aspect of death, and I somehow have his soul".

He... Has Nito's soul? That's even more disturbing. I thought of a way that helps me clear things up.

"then do you mind a test?" I asked.

"a... Test?" he tilted his head.

"it will be like the judgement, but you won't go through anything. I'll simply study the power you possess" I cleared out.

The child looked down for a moment before looking back at me and nodded. I started motioning my hands casting a spell.

I then found myself in some old temple. In front of me was the statue of a wolf with a flame in front of it.

I looked behind me and found another statue but of Nito. In the palm was a white flame.

"this is... Truly Nito's soul, but how?" I said and tried to reach out to it.

But when my hand got close, I suddenly appeared in a black empty void. I turned around and found myself face to face with the First of the dead himself.... And truthfully he's as creepy as ever.

"Nito" I said.

"brother of Gwyn" he said in his high and gruff voice.

Honestly I'm surprised he recognizes me after so long, especially with my robes on, but I'm not here for a get together.

"you do not belong here" he said.

"neither do you" I said pointing at him "what is your soul doing inside the child?".

"that is for me to know" he said as he started raising his arm blade "and for you to find out" he then brought down his blade.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the High Summoners chamber. Nito kicked me out of the boy's mind.

Everyone was quiet waiting for my opinion. If I say something wrong, the High Summoners will consider the child a danger, but if I don't say anything, questions will haunt the child.

"it seems you do have the powers of the aspect of death, but you are not allowed to use them in normal matches, only official ones" I said limiting the boy while giving him some answers.

The child nodded "can I leave now?" he asked and I nodded.

He turned around and left while I just started massaging my forehead. I knew trying to find answers was going to be a headache.

Maybe I should call Gragas and ask for his strongest ale... But even then it's still weak.

Third POV: a few minutes ago.

Ahri just finished explaining what sovereignless souls were from what Grey told her.

"so they're like empty shells" Ezreal summed up and shook his head "man. I really need to catch up on this spiritual stuff".

"but this doesn't explain how Grey has... Nato's soul" Shyvana asked.

"I think it was Nito" Lux corrected before looking at the rest "but she's right. Maybe he had it without realizing?".

Ahri shook her head "that's not Grey. I know he wouldn't take someone's soul just for himself" she said and felt slightly ashamed saying that after selfishly doing the same with life essence, but she shook those thoughts out of her head remembering Grey telling to not think like that.

"she's right" Nidalee added making everyone look at the Huntress "Grey told me that he takes after his foster father, and that means he would never take a soul for his own" she said and Ahri remembered never asking Grey about his father "plus if Grey was a bad person, then Silver wouldn't be here".

The mentioned wolf pup jumped on the table and barked, probably happy that he's being noticed.

"hey I have a question" Katarina said "why does Grey even take Sovereignless souls?".

Ahri and Nidalee stayed quiet. Neither of them actually knew the reason Grey takes them.

"it's very simple" Wolf said making everyone look at him "he does it to gain strength".

"what?" Ahri asked.

"in ancient arts, there was a way to gain power through Sovereignless souls" Lamb explained "but those arts are so old and long lost, no person or culture remembers them".

"I have to admit, it is impressive that he doesn't take actual souls since he's undead" Wolf said which made everyone confused.

"why?" Nidalee asked "what does being undead has to do with taking souls?".

Wolf groaned "mortals, always need us to explain everything" he said. The cruel half of death moved towards Ahri "you see how the fox has an urge to take life essence?".

"yeah, it came to me naturally" Ahri replied.

"well undead are like that" Lamb said as her other half moved besides her "all undead have a natural urge to take souls, and I mean real ones".

"wait, all of them?" Lux asked "so Grey has that urge too?".

"I wouldn't doubt it" Wolf said.

"can't he just replace normal souls with Sovereignless souls?" Jarvan asked.

"Sovereignless souls might work, but only as a temporary substitute" Lamb said "he would still get the urge to take them".

"to spend a hundred years without actually taking any" Wolf said with a chuckle "he must have an unbendable will of steel to do that".

Everyone was impressed. If what Kindred was saying was true, then Grey was stronger than they thought.

Suddenly, Ahri stood up "where are you going?" Lux asked.

"I'm going to wait for Grey" the Vastayan replied and Nidalee, Aki and Ezreal stood up "what are you three doing?".

"going with you" Nidalee replied "I'd like to make sure that Grey is alright".

"I want to go with you if you need anything" Aki added.

"I'd like Grey to tell me more about that soul stuff" Ezreal said with a shrug "if Sovereignless souls are as ancient as Kindred said, I'd like to learn more about them".

Silver then walked up to Ahri and barked. Ahri chuckled and picked him up "alright, you can come too" she said setting him on her shoulder.

They walked out of the dining hall and went to the High Summoners chamber. They found Kayle standing besides the closed doors looking down.

"hi Kayle" Ahri called and the angel looked at her "has Grey came out yet?".

Kayle shook her head "no, the Grand Summoner wanted to speak to him in private" she said before looking back down.

"what's wrong?" Nidalee asked noticing something with Kayle's mood.

Kayle sighed "in all my time here in the Institute, I have never heard about the Grand Summoner asking for the presence of a champion, and if I'm honest I'm a little worried for Grey".

"I know I'm a new Summoner and all, but he never asked for a champion?" Aki asked surprised.

"not even once" Kayle said shaking her head "and one time, we even cought Evelynn trying to torment one of the High Summoners, but he still didn't care".

They heard the doors open and saw Grey come out. Ahri was the first to speak "Grey, are you okay?".

Grey looked at them "oh, you're here?" he asked and nodded "yes, everything is fine. The Grand Summoner just wanted to know about what happened in the match and my powers as a Gravelord".

"Gravelord?" Ezreal asked.

Grey shrugged "I got to call them something" he said. Silver then jumped from Ahri's shoulder into his arms "hi boy" he said rubbing his head.

Kayle sighed in relief "well I'm glad everything worked out in the end" she said. The angel looked at them "I'm sorry to leave you but I have some business to take care of. Take care".

"you too" Ahri said as the angel left and they started walking towards the dining hall.

They found the others sitting in the same table, but Kindred left apparently "Grey, is everything alright?" Jarvan asked.

"yes, thank you for asking" the Abyss Watcher replied before sitting down with the others.

"I'm glad it wasn't anything serious" Garen said.

"me too" Grey mumbled and then looked at Aki "hey Aki, what do you know about the Grand Summoner?".

Everyone then turned to Aki and said Summoner felt nervous from the attention "w-well, I don't think anyone knows that much about him".

"what do you mean?" Nidalee asked.

"he just showed up one day out of nowhere and offered peace to the leaders of Runeterra through the Institute as long as he leads it that is" Aki replied.

"so Runeterra owes him for the peace it has" Grey said and looked at her again "what do you already know about him".

Aki looked down thinking "well, he's old, really old. They say he's the most powerful sorcerer in all of Runeterra, and I wouldn't doubt it. He's the one who made the summoners Rift along with most of the spells and runes we use. But that's about what everyone knows about him, no one even knows what region he's from".

"why do you ask about him?" Katarina asked.

"it just seemed like he knew something about my power" Grey said and shook his head "but it must be my imagination".

The Grand Summoner room:

The Grand Summoner was sitting on a chair in front of the fire place that had a painting above it.

The leader of the Institute started stroking his beard "if he has Nito's soul, does that mean he also has their power too? The witch... And the sorcerer. But that would mean" his eyes widen "that he's the Embers left by lords long past... But that would also mean... That he's the sealed child" he then chuckled "dear Ciaran, it seems that I will be able to keep that promise after all".

(A/N: thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, please comment in anyway you like and tell me how you like the story so far).