Chapter Text
Everything had been fine. Safety checks complete, no sign of any cracks in either the equipment or the Hex crystals themselves. Jayce had been about to leave the core of the Hexgates, satisfied that everything was going to plan.
Then the whole world went white.
Jayce staggered, disorientated, not able to tell up from down and his knees hit the floor.
At least I know there still is a floor, he thought, desperate, wondering if he was about to die. Hoping that they really had built room this far enough down to prevent catastrophe to Piltover. Hoping that Viktor hadn’t followed him down here, like he’d threatened he would if Jayce took too long.
With a blast of cold – as if the room wasn’t cold enough already – Jayce’s ears popped.
And the white light vanished.
‘Uh,’ Jayce said, fighting his way back to his feet.
The Hexgates looked normal. Somehow he wasn’t dead.
But that had to have been a power surge, didn’t it? It hadn’t looked like any Hextech power surge he’d seen before; no dancing blue sparks in the air or anything, but what else could it have been? And Jayce had just done the safety checks. Everything had been fine. Except that clearly it wasn’t.
Jayce had missed something. Something vital. And he didn’t understand what had just happened.
He had to find out.
Striding back towards the Hexgate infrastructure, Jayce reached out to start the safety checks again from scratch. This time, he’d find the problem before it did that again.
‘Jayce,’ said a deep mechanical voice. ‘Of course it would be you.’
Ice slid down Jayce’s spine. The big bulkhead behind him was locked. There was no other way in.
That’s why he hadn’t found anything. Sabotage. There was someone in here messing with the Hexgates.
‘Show yourself!’ Jayce shouted, then belatedly remembered an intruder was likely to be armed.
‘If you wish,’ said the voice, still too mechanical, each word accompanied by a slight echo.
A tap of metal on metal, repeating, like footsteps.
The creature emerged from behind the heart of the Hexgates. Elongated inhuman limbs glinted metallic grey-purple, sinuous tendons and muscles parodied in metal with an impossible precision and fluidity. Long fingers curled around a tall staff that hit the floor periodically, punctuating the slow predatory forwards movement. Gold glinted on the chest, on the wrist, across the arms and legs.
Amber lights for eyes shined out of a flat faceplate, topped with swirling waves of gold. And on either sides of the faceplate… cold, grey and lifeless closed eyes and sunken cheeks.
‘Well?’ asked the monster. ‘Are you happy that I have shown myself? Is this not the height of perfection?’
Jayce took an involuntary step back. ‘What did you do to the Hexgates?’
‘Your Hexgates? Why, nothing at all.’ The creature continued its steady advance and the tiles cracked beneath its feet. ‘My Hexgates were affected by an interdimensional event at a crucial moment. Unfortunate. I will need to return. How old are your Hexgates, Jayce? One year? Less?’
‘How can you not know that?’ Jayce asked, his instinct to run battled with the absolute terror of turning his back on it. ‘The news was everywhere! It lights up the sky when it’s used!’
The creature came to a stop at an unhealthily close distance.
‘Pay attention. I am not from this reality.’
‘Okay.’ Jayce swallowed. ‘Okay. Uh. So, you’re not sabotaging the Hexgates, then? What was the light?’
‘The light was my arrival. How old are your Hexgates?’
Answering that seemed like a really, really bad idea. Jayce couldn’t work out why it mattered, but surely giving this creature too much information would be a mistake?
‘Uh,’ said Jayce, noticing, a little hysterically, that the thing had some kind of cape.
The creature gave a noise that could have been a sigh. ‘Unimportant, I suppose. Not old enough, is my answer. Nevermind. There are ways to accelerate the process. You will help me.’
Jayce took another step back. ‘Help you with what?’
‘Why letting me go home of course,’ said the creature. ‘What else?’
That didn’t sound so bad. In fact, that sounded great.
‘I don’t know anything about interdimensional travel,’ Jayce said, ‘but I’m sure I can, uh, figure something out with you?’
‘You don’t need to understand interdimensional travel.’ The creature took a step forward. ‘Since I do. I only need you to expand the use of the Hexgates. Quadrupling the use should do it. With some extra assistance of course.’
‘The Hexgates?’ Jayce asked, trying to work out how long it would take to sprint to the bulkhead and open it. ‘Sorry, our Hexgates are only designed for, uh, dimensional travel.’
‘I can see you intend to be difficult about this. I might have known.’ The staff came down again as the creature resumed its approach. ‘Hold still; this won’t hurt.’
Yeah, time to go.
Jayce turned and went into a dead sprint for the bulkhead and slammed button to open it. Slowly. It opened too slowly. Oh god. He was going to die. The tapping footsteps remained steady. Jayce risked a glance behind him and the creature was still approaching. Unhurried. The glittering floor continued to splinter with each step.
‘I won’t hurt you, Jayce,’ it said. ‘In fact, you will find life a lot more peaceful.’
Jayce vaulted through the half open bulkhead, turned, and slammed the emergency close button.
Right. Okay. So he’d just sealed some kind of eldritch abomination in with the Hexgates. Great. Great. Great. No problem. He’d just get some Enforcers… or someone. Someone who knew how to deal with terrifying interdimensional beings.
Jayce fled for the elevator. He bounced off a wall taking a corner and slammed straight into someone’s chest. Something clattered along the floor.
‘Oof! Jayce! What are you doing? Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to run inside?’
Jayce stared down into angry amber eyes.
Viktor was there. With that terrifying monster trapped not far behind them. He was sat on the floor, rubbing his bad leg, reaching for his cane –
Jayce grabbed him in one hand and the cane in the other and hauled him to his feet.
‘No time. Come on!’
He set off again, pulling Viktor behind him, supporting some of his partner’s weight, forcing Viktor into a half-hopping gait.
‘Jayce, stop!’ Viktor tried to pull free and nearly fell over. ‘That hurts!’
‘Sorry, sorry,’ Jayce gasped. ‘Elevator. I’ll explain.’
A mechanical whine split the air behind them and then the reverberated bang of something very large falling down.
‘Ohhh shit,’ said Jayce.
‘What… What was that?’ Viktor tried to look behind them.
‘No, no no, don’t stop!’ Jayce could see the elevator in front of them.
‘Come on, Jayce,’ called that deep mechanical voice. ‘Is that anyway to treat an old friend?’
‘Fuck,’ said Jayce, unable to stop himself from looking behind. The corridor was still empty.
Viktor’s nails dug into his arm. ‘What. Was. That?’
‘There’s, uh.’ Jayce tugged on his arm to try and get him to move faster. ‘There’s something in with the Hexgate. Or, hahaha, oh god, not in with the Hexgate anymore.’
They stopped outside the elevator and Jayce mashed down the button. Viktor snatched his cane back.
‘Jayce, what’s happening?’
The elevator doors started to open and then stopped. Jayce stared at the inch gap between the doors.
‘Oh no. Not now!’
‘That was my doing,’ said the creature.
Jayce spun. It had changed. Or, not, not changed, but now a constantly shifting halo of runes danced behind its head. Viktor made a strangled sound.
The creature made a noise that could have been a laugh. ‘Ah, you have found your partner. So small. Unable to even walk properly, feeling your body break down more with every given day. Poisoned from the day you were born. Spending your time fighting against your own nature. You can improve. You will improve.’
‘Excuse me?’ Viktor hissed, as if the mindbogglingly personal attack was somehow worse than the appearance of an interdimensional being with dancing runes behind it’s head.
‘Leave him alone!’ Jayce shoved himself in front of Viktor.
He heard Viktor repeatedly hit the elevator button.
‘I could.’ The creature kept walking. ‘Or I could advance things in this universe. Tell me, Viktor, have you considered that Hextech could evolve?’
‘Jayce, stop staring at it and get these doors open!’
When he turned – not fully, he wasn’t having that thing at his back – Jayce found Viktor trying to wedge the handle of his cane between the doors to open them.
Trying not to think about how they’d be cornered in a small metal box, Jayce shoved his hands into the gaps and started trying to pry the doors open.
‘It wants to go back to its reality,’ Jayce whispered hurriedly. ‘But I think it wanted to do something to me to make it happen.’
‘Delightful,’ muttered Viktor.
Jayce pulled at the doors with all his strength – it shouldn’t be this hard – and they still wouldn’t move.
‘Viktor,’ said the creature. ‘Viktor, you remember your spine operation. It wouldn’t have been so long ago for you. You remember the week immediately after, unable to do a single thing for yourself, in pain despite the medication. Nurses bathing you. Helping you to the bathroom. Weak. Useless. Terrified that this was all you were, all you had ever been and all you would ever be. Unable to complete the work you thought would change the world. Aware Jayce was forging ahead without you. Aware of how dependent you were on his help, even as you started to recover. You will be like that again. Have you started coughing yet, Viktor?
‘If not, then you will soon. Very soon. You do understand. You know how it goes. It will start with a dry cough and you will tell yourself you are merely ill. A cold. It will pass. It does not. You ignore it. You do not allow yourself to think about it. It worsens. You will cough hard enough to get dizzy and there will be blood spotting your handkerchief, you will be able to taste it even after you have washed out your mouth. You know how it progresses. You saw it every day with your mother. Your body will become weaker until you lie in bed, wheezing for breath, unable to get enough oxygen to survive – ‘
‘Hey!’ Jayce let go of the doors, his brain managing to unfreeze after that, unable to hear another sentence.
The sight that greeted him tore at his heart.
The creature loomed over Viktor as he pressed himself back into the wall, shrinking away, cringing down, eyes wide and still fixed on the creature’s face, caught by its words.
Jayce put a hand on Viktor’s shoulder and his partner flinched, his whole body trembling.
‘Hey, what the fuck?’ Jayce demanded.
The creature straightened. ‘It is fixable. Let me show you how.’
‘We will help you,’ Viktor said, his voice hauntingly empty.
‘What?’ Jayce said.
‘Jayce and I will help you return home,’ Viktor said, slowly shifting his weight off the wall and straightening. ‘We will do so willingly, on the condition that you harm no one and never return here.’
The creature didn’t need their cooperation though. It had made that clear.
‘Hm,’ it said. ‘Will you really?’
‘To get rid of you faster?’ Viktor said, voice still devoid of emotion. ‘Yes.’
The creature tilted its head to one side.
‘Operating the Hexgates more isn’t as simple as you might think,’ Jayce said quickly. ‘Even if you do… whatever it is you were going to do to me. There’s a whole schedule that’s dependent on trade and other countries. I don’t have the power to do what you want me to.’
‘You do.’ The creature sounded amused. ‘You mean you don’t want the consequences. Realistically, there’s nothing stopping you from repeatedly opening and closing the gate to, say, Noxus, and sending nothing at all. However, it is possible that people would get violently upset before I achieve my goal, which might complicate matters.’
‘Is that a yes?’ asked Viktor. Jayce squeezed his shoulder.
‘It is a yes,’ confirmed the creature.
The runes disappeared and the elevator doors opened.
***
They locked the creature in a separate lab with blackboards covering the walls. Since it had got out of the locked vault, it wasn’t exactly a security measure. But at least it wasn’t loose in the city.
The elevator ride had been… interesting, to say the least. The creature was almost too tall for the elevator and Jayce had made it his business to stand between it and Viktor. Viktor hadn’t even protested. It had briefly explained that it was from an alternate reality, supposedly not unlike their own. Supposedly. Then it had gone silent. But Jayce had got a close look at the intertwined metal that made up its body and had no idea what the hell they were going to do with it.
Help it get home, apparently.
He understood why Viktor had done that. If he hadn’t… Jayce glanced at the closed door to the separate lab. Would either of them have made it back? But an agreement to help seemed to have done the trick. The creature didn’t seem hostile anymore. If hostile had even been the right word for its implacably forward momentum towards its own goals, never mind that Jayce had been in the way.
Jayce groaned and tried to force himself to work out how to begin with interdimensional travel. His brain felt frozen solid in shock.
Viktor had gone back down to the Hexgate’s heart to urgently assess any damage. Without the creature present.
The thing was… the thing was…
There was an interdimensional being in their lab that had made some kind of undisclosed threat.
How was Jayce supposed to think of anything else?
The lab door slammed open and Jayce just about jumped out of his skin. But it was only Viktor, stalking into the room with each step punctuated with his cane being put down with too much force.
‘Jayce it cut through the bulkhead.’
‘It did what?’
‘It cut through the bulkhead! There is a massive triangular shape carved through the bulkhead door! I cannot close it again because it is no longer a door.’
Jayce glanced at the closed lab door. He was pretty sure sound wouldn’t carry through. ‘Can you tell how it did that? Did it do anything else?’
‘It was a clean cut. I would say it used a laser, which would make some sense because that thing above its head resembled my Hexclaw schematics.’ Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I couldn’t find any other damage.’
‘The thing generating the runes is a laser?’ Jayce asked in a hushed tone. That was the last thing they needed. The creature was armed.
‘That would be my guess.’
It had looked a little like the Hexclaw Viktor was developing, now he came to mention it. And it had said there were Hexgates in its reality, so maybe they’d actually built a Hexclaw there and the creature had seen it.
‘Viktor, what are we going to do?’
‘Get rid of it,’ Viktor said, sitting down. ‘As soon as possible. Why does it want to increase the Hexgate use?’
‘I don’t know! It didn’t say!’ Jayce scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘It really didn’t say much. Uh. Not to me, anyway.’
He looked at Viktor. Viktor winced and looked away.
‘It called you a friend,’ said Viktor.
‘Yeah, that was creepy. But it said to you –‘
‘I know what it said to me,’ Viktor snapped.
Jayce bit his lip, resisting the urge to reach out to him. ‘It could have been making things up.’
‘It could have been,’ Viktor said shortly. ‘However, I think we can assume it knows both of us. That there are versions of us in its reality. It is clearly familiar with both of us and Hextech.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘We may need to ask how it came to meet us in its universe. Just in case.’
‘You think there might be one of those here?’ Jayce asked, and his voice squeaked embarrassingly.
‘Is, or will be. It’s a possibility, don’t you think?’
No. Jayce did not think that. Hadn’t thought about it and didn’t like that he was now thinking about it. It made sense. Viktor was right. The creature knew them. It said it came from a different reality and it knew them, so it followed that there was a version of Viktor and Jayce in its reality and if that was true then…
Jayce groaned. ‘Oh fuck.’
‘Unless its lying about the whole thing and it is, in fact, from here.’
‘I don’t think it is,’ Jayce said. ‘I don’t think it was in the room when I walked in there. It’s a bit big to hide easily and I’d walked around the whole place doing the checks. And it sure as hell didn’t open the bulkhead while I was in there, I’d have noticed.’
‘That doesn’t mean it didn’t teleport in from somewhere else. That is what the Hexgates do.’
‘Yeah, I know, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been hanging around here and it knew about…’ Jayce trailed off and finished a little lamely; ‘It knew about your back operation.’
Viktor swallowed. ‘I suppose it did.’
Have you been coughing? Jayce asked, in the privacy of his own skull. Viktor? Do you have a cough?
‘I think we have to assume it’s telling the truth about where it came from. So I think we have to work hard to send it back,’ Jayce said out loud.
‘Travel to an alternate reality,’ Viktor said. ‘Well, I hope it knows what its doing then. And we will have to make some decisions on how to stop it touching anything that’s too powerful.’
‘How?’
Viktor glared. ‘If I knew that, Jayce, I wouldn’t have had to suggest working with it.’
He stood up and headed for the locked lab door. Jayce hurried in front of him.
‘Wait, wait! I think… Maybe I should be the one talking with it?’
Viktor’s eyes narrowed. ‘We’ll solve this faster with both of us.’
‘Yeah, I know we will, but maybe I can be the one to liaise with, uh, that guy and you can work on the… uh… theoretical stuff he hands me?’
Viktor’s expression was inscrutable. ‘Didn’t you say it threatened you?’
‘Sort of. I don’t know. It said whatever it was wouldn’t hurt me.’
‘It didn’t threaten me,’ Viktor said. ‘It was rude, certainly, but it didn’t threaten me. So perhaps I should be the one to talk to it and you should keep away.’
Rude? Jayce thought, speechless. That was only rude? It’s haunting me and it wasn’t even about me.
Have you started coughing yet, Viktor?
What does that even mean?
‘I don’t think you should go near it again,’ Jayce said. ‘We don’t know why it went after you like that.’
‘We don’t know why it’s doing anything,’ Viktor said. ‘Hopefully that’s something we can either learn with time, or find irrelevant when it goes home. I will not stand aside. So, together, I assume?’ He nodded at the door.
Jayce reluctantly nodded. He still made sure to be the first into the room, and kept himself between the thing and Viktor.
On second viewing, it wasn’t any less terrifying, its huge height meaning it took up far too much space in the lab. It loomed. Jayce had to look up to meet the glowing golden lights that were its eyes. It had a notebook in one metal hand and a pen in the other.
‘Hi,’ said Jayce.
‘Hello, Jayce.’
‘Um,’ Jayce said. ‘So. I’m guessing you have somewhere to start for interdimensional travel? Could you explain how you need the Hexgates?’
‘The Hexgates are a powerful use of the arcane that are already set up for teleportation,’ the creature said. ‘I can use them as a jump start to return home. I will need to design another device, however.’
‘This?’ Viktor asked, holding up a blueprint and he’d wandered way too close while Jayce had been unable to look away from our visitor.
‘No, that is for you,’ said the creature and handed the notebook to Viktor. ‘It goes with this.’
To Jayce’s horror, Viktor reached out and took the notebook.
‘What is it?’ Jayce asked.
The creature faced Viktor squarely. ‘It’s the promised help.’
Viktor retreated a few steps, then opened the book and his eyebrows raised sharply, he flicked through it rapidly, too fast to really read anything. His expression shut down. He flicked it shut and tucked it under his arm.
‘Viktor?’ Jayce asked, out of the corner of his mouth.
‘Its… instructions for a highly advanced Hextech device,’ Viktor said, watching the creature.
‘Yes. Now. I will need more notebooks and resources in order to build a device for return to my own reality.’
‘Right,’ Jayce said, ‘but… Listen, what should I call you?’
It cocked its head and the golden swirls glinted in the light. ‘Herald will do.’
Herald?
‘Is that a name?’ Jayce asked.
‘A title.’
‘Okay,’ Jayce said. ‘So, we, uh, we’ll do our best to give you resources, but we, um, we have to answer – ‘
‘To the Piltover Council,’ said the Herald. ‘I’m aware. Telling them of my presence will only complicate matters.’
Jayce exchanged a glance with Viktor who gave a slight wince and a shrug.
‘It’ll make it really hard to get – ‘
‘No, it won’t,’ said the Herald easily. ‘With the success of the Hexgates you currently have more of a free reign than ever before. If you consider the theory of alternate realities, you will understand that events much like yours have already happened in my reality. I am merely further ahead in time.’
Jayce really hoped not. And step one for getting some control over the situation wasn’t going well. Viktor wasn’t being much help.
‘Uh,’ said Jayce.
‘I will design the device I will construct,’ the Herald said. ‘And you will provide the materials. The faster I return to my own reality the better.’
‘That’s acceptable,’ Viktor said. ‘Providing you fully explain each component of the device.’
The Herald shrugged. ‘You won’t follow the explanation. I have a connection to the arcane that gives me an intuitive knowledge of its use.’
Jayce grimaced. ‘Right, but we can help –‘
‘Your attempts at help will only hold me back.’ The Herald picked up another notebook. ‘I require no sleep so I will have a list of materials I require by tomorrow morning.’ He turned his back on them both. ‘In return for your cooperation I won’t leave this lab unless completely necessary.’
‘Good,’ said Viktor through gritted teeth and nodded his head back towards the main lab.
Jayce followed him out, closing the door behind them.
‘Was it just me,’ he asked, ‘or did that go really badly?’
Viktor shrugged. ‘He didn’t threaten us. If he does what he says then we can work on getting rid of him again and then get on with our lives. In other words, it could have gone worse.’
‘If he does what he says,’ Jayce repeated, pressing a hand to his forehead.
‘That’s the issue, yes.’
‘And we can’t just leave him here alone overnight,’ Jayce said.
‘No.’ Viktor leant against the desk. ‘I fear we’ll both have to sleep here.’
‘We could take turns? I could sleep here tonight and you tomorrow?’
Viktor frowned. ‘I was thinking sleeping in shifts, Jayce, unless you want to be here unconscious with him?’
Nope. Jayce absolutely did not want that. He felt himself blanch.
‘Okay. Shifts it is. What was that notebook he gave you? Plans for something, you said?’
‘Something like that. I’ll need to take a closer look at it.’ Viktor kept the notebook tucked under his arm, apparently missing the cue to show it to Jayce. ‘It appears to be called the Hexcore.’
‘Hextech,’ said Jayce, swallowing hard. ‘Great. Do you really think he’s lying about being from an alternate reality?’
‘I… don’t know. I hope not.’
Jayce sighed. ‘Any thoughts on keeping his work under control while also getting rid of him?’
‘No,’ Viktor said and Jayce could see every one of his concerns mirrored in his partner’s eyes. ‘Not yet.’
***
The second day was calmer, in Jayce’s opinion.
The Herald stayed largely locked in his own lab and when Jayce had carefully opened the door to ask if he wanted breakfast he’d been informed that the Herald had transcended the need for food or water.
Good for him, or whatever.
Viktor had overheard, looked at Jayce like he was insane, and informed him that their guest didn’t have a mouth.
Well, yeah. Jayce could see that. But he’d still thought he’d better ask.
And he didn’t want Viktor doing it. Whatever Viktor might say about the lack of a direct threat to him, Jayce couldn’t shake the image of him cowering before the Herald by the Hexgate elevator. They needed to talk about it. Jayce needed to ask, because Viktor was pretending it hadn’t happened but…
Jayce glanced over at his partner, who was reading the Herald’s demands, oh, excuse him, he meant the Herald’s list of necessary materials.
Do you have a cough, Viktor? What did he mean?
Instead of asking, Jayce tried to work out whether they could delay giving the Herald any of this stuff. He wanted to build some kind of Hextech device. To get home, he said. Obviously they couldn’t trust that, but so far the equations Jayce had seen were so complex he hadn’t deciphered their meaning yet. Was that deliberate?
Jayce was still chewing on the problem when the main lab door opened.
‘Gentlemen, what is going on?’
Jayce jumped guiltily and exchanged an alarmed look with Viktor. It wasn’t time for a scheduled report to Heimerdinger.
‘Ah. Professor…’ Viktor glanced at Jayce again.
‘I have had the most alarming reports of the entire bulkhead to our Hexgate needing to be replaced.’ Heimerdinger stopped just close enough that Jayce had to lean back a bit to look him in the eye. ‘And still you can imagine my surprise when I go and look for myself and it seems the old one has been sliced open. Now what did I receive? Not a word from either one of you!’
‘Yes, well…’
‘You see, it was…’
Jayce stopped to let Viktor continue but Viktor also stopped. But it wasn’t like Jayce knew where he’d been going with that sentence anyway.
‘Not only am I deeply concerned as to what could do that to the bulkhead,’ Heimerdinger said, moustache bristling. ‘But also as to why it was being tested on the bulkhead! Have the Hexgates malfunctioned?’
‘No!’ Jayce denied hurriedly.
‘The Hexgates are working perfectly,’ Viktor added.
Jayce seriously hoped he was going to add something, anything, because honestly Jayce had nothing.
‘I sincerely hope you two know what happened?’ Heimerdinger looked between them. ‘I fear I might need to stop use of the Hexgates effective immediately if one of you can’t reply to me. Surely the gravity of the situation isn’t lost on you!’
The door to the smaller lab opened and Jayce froze.
‘The gravity of the situation is lost on no one, Professor Heimerdinger,’ said the Herald in his deep mechanical voice, his elongated form ducking under the low doorway.
Jayce had never seen all Heimerdinger’s fur stand on end before.
‘Please, there is no need to be alarmed,’ said the Herald, coming alarmingly closer. ‘The situation is not Hextech related. I am from an alternate reality, I arrived after a severe disturbance in the arcane originating from yet another reality. I apologise for the damage I caused, I was disorientated and concerned to find myself locked in.’
‘I… Oh. Well. I see.’
‘You must not blame Jayce or Viktor for their silence,’ the Herald continued. ‘I was worried about the effect my presence might have and implored them to tell no one. I am a powerful mage and I am well aware that Piltover has a well-founded suspicion against mages that nevertheless could become very awkward for me. No doubt there are also people who would seek to use me. Caution seemed like the most prudent course.’
‘While that makes some sense, certainly, as the head of the Council here and the Dean of the Academy, I should have been informed. Immediately!’
‘Sorry, Professor,’ said Viktor. ‘He was quite emphatic on the need for silence.’
Jayce nodded.
‘I believe with the aid of the amazing technological achievement that is Hextech I should be able to return home,’ said the Herald. ‘In the meantime I would appreciate your discretion. I know I can trust you. There is a version of you in my world and he is one of the greatest minds Piltover has ever seen. I would trust him with my life and I extend that trust to you. It’s only that I feared your duty to the Council may lead you to feel bound to announce my presence.’
‘No, no,’ Heimerdinger said. ‘There is no need for that. I think you’re quite right that the fewer people know about the arrival of a powerful mage, the better.’
‘Yes, of course. One can never be too cautious,’ said the Herald.
Viktor made a quiet scoffing noise and Jayce nudged him.
‘We’re making good progress on sending him home, sir,’ said Viktor.
‘Hm,’ Heimerdinger said, still looking up at the Herald. ‘And your name is? And where are you staying? While Piltover prides itself on being cosmopolitan, I’m afraid we have no one here like yourself and if you want to remain hidden that may prove difficult.’
‘Yes, Jayce had told me I’m an oddity here. My kind are well-known and respected back in my Piltover,’ said the Herald. ‘I am known by my title of Herald. And I am staying here in the lab. I require no sleep.’
‘Ah, well I imagine the boys here must be quite envious,’ Heimerdinger said, with clearly false cheer. ‘However we simply must get you somewhere more comfortable.’
‘That is too kind, Professor. However, I don’t intend to be here long enough to require more comfort.’
‘I would hate for our hospitality to be poor.’
‘I assure you I’m absolutely fine. In any case my comfort must not be prioritised over doing my due diligence to avoid causing too much of a stir in your reality.’
‘A perfectly understandable position. On that topic, did you happen to know whether the event that brought you here was a one-off, or should we be expecting further issues?’
‘From my impression of the event as I was affected by it, I believe it won’t be repeated.’
‘That is good news,’ said Heimerdinger.
Jayce risked a hopeful glance at Viktor, whose eyes were flicking between Heimerdinger and the Herald while he frowned deeply. Yeah. Okay. It was a little weird how easily the Herald had done this.
In the end, all Jayce had to do was stand there and nod and occasionally pretend to agree whole-heartedly to the Herald’s absolute commitment to the integrity and safety of Piltover.
Which he went on about for quite a while. Back and forth with Professor Heimerdinger until the yordle’s hair was no longer standing on end and they were discussing the issue calmly, as if it was a simple puzzle.
And Heimerdinger left a lot happier than he’d arrived.
‘You are welcome,’ said the Herald, and disappeared back into the smaller lab.
‘Unbelievable,’ said Viktor.
‘It got him off our backs,’ Jayce said.
‘I think he hit every single one of Heimerdinger’s buzzwords,’ Viktor said. ‘Regardless of the rest of the, eh, bullshit, he certainly knows Heimerdinger in his reality.’
‘Do you think…?’ Jayce winced.
‘What?’
‘Do you think we should have interrupted? Said something? I mean… He’s definitely not as harmless and well-meaning as he made out and… maybe Heimerdinger could help?
Viktor grimaced. ‘How? He’s no mage. He is about three foot tall, also, and our visitor in there is the opposite of that description. And if he were to use his power as a Councillor to assist then the Herald might take sudden and violent action. No. Unfortunately, this is best.’
Jayce glanced nervously at the closed down to the second lab. Viktor had kept his voice low, but really neither of them knew how good the Herald’s hearing was.
‘I don’t like keeping this from Heimerdinger,’ Jayce admitted. ‘We’re out of our depth.’
‘He seems to want to leave,’ Viktor said, and his mouth twisted. ‘Perhaps he will just leave.’
‘Yeah.’
‘If he doesn’t… Well. Then Heimerdinger may need to be brought in, for all the good it will do.’
Jayce shuffled closer and lowered his voice to a near whisper; ‘I’ve got an idea, but I can’t talk about it here. We should go to my apartment.’
‘And leave him alone?’ Viktor nodded his head at the Herald’s lab. ‘We agreed we wouldn’t.’
‘We both know he can go whenever he wants and we can’t stop him.’
‘Yes, but at least we would know.’ Viktor grimaced. ‘And we could warn people.’
‘I know,’ Jayce admitted softly. ‘But we have to do something and…’ He lowered his voice further. ‘Without him guessing.’
Viktor studied him for a moment, then sighed. ‘We’ll have to risk it. Your place then. This evening.’
***
Inevitably, Viktor had been right. Leaving the Herald alone in the lab felt wrong. Jayce had removed the Hex crystals into storage, and double checked that everything was locked, but since they didn’t know what the Herald wanted or even what the Herald was… it all felt a little futile.
The proverbial axe hanging over his head meant being home in his apartment brought no relief.
‘I wish we understood what he wants,’ Viktor grumbled, head in his hands.
‘To go home?’ Jayce said. ‘He could mean it.’
‘A looming interdimensional arcane being arrives calling himself a Herald and only wants to go home? We’re not that lucky. What was your idea?’
Jayce hesitated. Not because they didn’t need to discuss it. Fuck, they really did, but because… They could talk freely here.
Are you sick, Viktor?
He said: ‘Containment. For magic, for the arcane. I think we can create something with Hextech. You saw what he was doing with those runes; if he can generate rune combinations like that, Viktor, I hate to think what the limit of his powers are. If we can create a containment structure from Hextech and put it around him in the lab...'
‘We can manage him on our terms,’ said Viktor. ‘That would be nice. I don’t want him building some unknown device.’
‘I don’t want him activating it,’ Jayce said. ‘I’ve only seen a fraction of his equations but I didn’t understand them. I think we have to let him start to build it, to buy time.’
‘Yes, you’re right. That much we can’t escape.’ Viktor pulled a face. ‘Delaying him may be difficult.’
‘Hey,’ Jayce said. ‘We cracked Hextech together. What’s delaying a few deliveries next to that?’
Viktor rolled his eyes. ‘That’s one way of putting it, Jayce. Another would be denying an arcane creature things we have explicitly promised to provide and waiting to see which way the, eh, chips fall, hm?’
‘All right, let’s try to be positive about it,’ Jayce said and headed for his own blackboard, taking up an entire wall. It was wiped clean, something that had once been unheard of, but now Jayce did most his thinking in the lab. His second home. After all, then Viktor could see it. ‘Let me show you what I’ve been thinking so far.’
Viktor joined him by the board and nodded along to Jayce’s explanation.
‘Yes, I see. Very promising. But… very complex. Do we have the time?’
Jayce shrugged. ‘Only one way to find out.’
The worked at the blackboard, bouncing ideas back and forth. Rune combinations. Possible instabilities. Potential frameworks for the runes. After all, they had to design it so the Herald didn’t notice they were trying to trap him.
The entire blackboard ended up covered before they had a working base of runes to start the real research. Complex didn’t cover it. All of Jayce’s Hextech work had meant to be self-contained in the design so containing something else wasn’t really something he’d tried before. But they could do it. They had to.
Viktor swiped his hair out of his face. ‘Jayce. We need to go back to the lab.’
Shit.
Jayce frowned at the blackboard. ‘How about I go back to the lab and you get some sleep here, instead? You know, away from the Herald.’
‘Or I could work on this.’
‘Or both,’ Jayce said, hoping for a compromise.
‘Should you be there alone with him?’
‘We’re going to have to start doing that,’ Jayce pointed out. ‘Otherwise we’ll never get this done. You know that right? We can’t work on this in the lab which means spending more time away from him.’
‘Giving him yet more opportunities to meddle in our reality.’ Viktor leaned heavily on his crutch. ‘The problem had not escaped me.’
But, like most things with the Herald, there wasn’t anything they could do about it.