Arcane: Twin Cities Mechanic

 Sejuani was utterly baffled, unable to grasp the essence of the conversation between Li Lin and Gregor. Growing up, she had heard countless tales of the Freljord, but as a practical person, she often dismissed them as mere stories.

While she had some knowledge of the ancient legend of the Three Sisters of Ice, the account provided by Gregor—and Li Lin's remarks—greatly differed from what she remembered. 

"What are you two even talking about?" Sejuani asked with a frown. "Is that how the legend of the Three Sisters of Ice goes?" 

Gregor was already fuming, metaphorically blowing steam despite his incorporeal form. If his face could still change color, it would undoubtedly be a deep red. 

"Can we calm down and talk this through?" Ashe interjected, trying to mediate. 

"Damn you, warmblood! If I still had a body, one of us would be lying in a pool of blood by now!" Gregor cursed incessantly. 

Arguing with the old man was pointless, so Li Lin chose to ignore him. Instead, he turned his attention to the stone pillars sealing Gregor and strode toward them. 

"I'm warning you, warmblood! Do not tamper with my seal!" Gregori snapped, moving to block Li Lin, but a single glare from Li Lin froze him in his tracks.

A shiver, deep and primal, surged through Gregor's soul, forcing him into silence. 

Having wielded a World Rune, Li Lin's body and magic had undergone further refinement. The rune magic binding Gregor's body and soul was merely a lower-tier existence compared to the power coursing through Li Lin. 

Ashe, sensing the tension rise, grew anxious. She feared that Gregor's provocations had angered Li Lin and prepared to step in with calming words. However, before she could speak, she saw Li Lin remove his gauntlet, his hand glowing with a verdant magical energy that resonated with the six surrounding stone pillars. 

Gregor, recognizing the situation's gravity, dared not utter another word. In the Freljord, spellcasters held an exalted status—sometimes even war mothers would heed the guidance of shamans' prophecies.

The thought of Li Lin wielding magic, and perhaps dispersing his very soul, kept Gregor rooted in fear. 

Ashe, her mouth half-open with words unspoken, stared in shock. Finally, she managed, "You know magic too?" 

Li Lin didn't look back. "Did you forget how the Shadow Isles were restored to the Blessed Isles?" 

"The Shadow Isles… Blessed Isles? What in the world are those?" Sejuani asked, puzzled, as she turned toward her former shield-sister. 

"Well…" Ashe let out a bitter laugh. Many of the Avarosan elders were familiar with the legend of the Blessed Isles and the Waters of Life, but their knowledge went no further.

If not for her involvement with the League of Legends, Ashe might never have learned that the Blessed Isles, long corrupted into the Shadow Isles, had been restored by Li Lin's use of a World Rune. 

"The island doesn't matter," Gregor interrupted, his gaze fixed intently on Li Lin, his tone a mix of caution and unease. "What's important is that his magic carries the essence of a World Rune." 

"A World Rune?!" Sejuani's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the man standing nearby, seemingly absorbed in his task. 

Li Lin paid no mind to the trio's discussion. Through his connection with arcane magic, he had already located the anomaly within the stone pillars. The verdant glow of his magic abruptly shifted, transforming into the pure, neutral essence of arcane power.

The energy swirled around him, then condensed into the form of a lightning-shaped short sword, which he launched toward the largest rune-covered pillar on the left. 

"Hey!" Gregor panicked, while Ashe and Sejuani, equally caught off guard, didn't have time to react. 

The magical clash triggered a chain reaction in the blink of an eye, not even lasting the span of a heartbeat.

The runic imprint on the stone pillar radiated an icy-blue light, akin to True Ice, starkly contrasting the verdant glow of Li Lin's magic. Under the purification of his pure arcane energy, the icy runes quickly dissolved. 

Suddenly, Gregor clutched his head as if struck by an unbearable pain. It felt like countless needles were piercing his mind, and he let out a low growl of agony. 

"What did you do?!" Ashe exclaimed, her voice sharp with alarm, rising several pitches higher than she intended. 

No matter what, Gregor was once a warrior who followed Avarosa. Ashe held him in high regard, but if Li Lin really killed him… Actually, Ashe thought that based on Li Lin's way of handling things and his personality, it was impossible for him to do such a thing. As it turned out, she was right. Not only had Gregor not vanished into nothingness, but his anger seemed to intensify amidst the pain. 

After a while, Gregor raised his face to look at Li Lin. Though his eyes still burned with rage, the anger wasn't directed at him. 

"Seeker... Lissandra! Some claimed she betrayed us, and it's true!" Gregor's translucent figure rose into the air, heading straight toward the Frostguard Citadel on the other side of the Howling Abyss bridge.

But as soon as he was ten meters away from the frozen stone pillar and the six stone tablets, his soul was snapped back like an invisible tether had yanked him. 

"Where are you going?" Ashe hurriedly asked. "The seeker you mentioned—is she the Iceborn Witch?" 

"I don't know what you call Lissandra now, but she betrayed us! She tampered with my memories!" Gregor clenched his fists, hatred and loathing etched into his face. 

"The Watchers—those horrifying, grotesque creatures—they came because Lissandra summoned them! Avarosa and Serylda gathered their forces not to battle the Watchers but to stop Lissandra!" 

Indeed, Gregor had voluntarily let Avarosa kill him, just as his memories indicated. However, it wasn't after a fight with the Watchers, but before Avarosa and Serylda confronted Lissandra at the Frostguard Citadel.

To ensure nothing went awry, Avarosa selected Gregor and sealed him here. If the mission to oppose Lissandra and the Watchers failed and they broke free, Gregor was to blow the Guardian's Horn to warn the rest of the world that war was upon them. 

"This..." Ashe and Sejuani were dumbfounded, struck speechless by this truth buried in the annals of history. 

The howling winds and falling frost filled the silence. It was a long moment before Ashe regained her composure. She cautiously looked toward Li Lin and asked, "But if Lissandra truly wanted the Watchers to descend upon Runeterra, why would she have sought the aid of the great Ornn, the God of Flame and Forge, to build the bridge?" 

She gestured toward the sturdy bridge spanning the Howling Abyss in the distance. It had withstood the ravages of wind, blizzards, and even war for nearly ten millennia, remaining more resilient than anything else in recorded history—even True Ice. 

"Ornn dug a chasm large enough to swallow a continent, intending to imprison the so-called 'monsters' the three sisters spoke of. But he was reluctant to build them a stone bridge.

The sisters deceived Ornn, claiming the abyss was too deep for them and their people to traverse. They said ordinary craftsmen couldn't use the celestial ore they had collected to construct a bridge. So Ornn crafted a shovel with those stones, and with the remaining materials, he reluctantly created the bridge.

"But in truth, the bridge wasn't what they needed. As soon as Ornn begrudgingly completed the task, they summoned shamans to enchant it with sealing magic, transforming the bridge into a 'bolt' to delay the Watchers' arrival in Runeterra. 

"That magic, however, erodes the bridge itself. Without it, the bridge could have lasted forever. But now, it's on the verge of collapse—perhaps today, tomorrow, or years, even decades later. 

"One day, the Watchers will break free of their seals and return to this land." 

As one of Avarosa's most trusted warriors, Gregor knew much of what Li Lin had shared. However, the revelation about the three sisters deceiving Ornn was new to him. Suspicion lingered in his heart, but after everything that had just happened, his mind was preoccupied with Lissandra. 

Gregor said nothing, tacitly acknowledging Li Lin's words. Ashe and Sejuani naturally took what Li Lin said as truth. 

"You..." Ashe bit her lip, her icy blue eyes flickering with hesitation as she stared at Li Lin. She seemed on the verge of speaking but stopped herself. 

"I know you have many questions. Just ask," Li Lin said casually. "But if possible, try to focus on the important ones. We still have pressing matters to attend to later." 

"What are you planning to do this time?" Sejuani asked with a weary expression, the question spilling from her lips almost unconsciously. After the shock of learning these long-buried truths, nothing Li Lin did next could surprise her anymore. 

Li Lin's face bore a faint smile as he didn't bother answering the question. Instead, his gaze locked with Ashe's, waiting patiently for her to speak. 

Ashe furrowed her brow, hesitating for a long while. In the end, her countless emotions and questions condensed into a single sigh. She asked just one thing: 

"How do you know so much about all of this?" 

The moment the words left her lips, a self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, as if she had already found the answer. "Never mind… What a silly question. Forget I asked." 

With tales of the mythical Aspect of Twilight by his side and his connections to Shurima's divine warriors, it didn't seem so far-fetched that he would know these hidden truths of history. 

Li Lin could guess what Ashe was thinking but didn't bother to correct her—it simply wasn't necessary. He responded to Ashe with a smile before proposing, "Since we've already met an old acquaintance, it's time we pay a visit to the Iceborn Witch." 

(End of Chapter)

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