Listening to Karya's Past

After Karya became one of the Darkin, he had woken up a few times.

But unfortunately, the results of his awakenings were either that the host was too weak to sustain his conscious efforts, or that the host had malicious intentions and wanted to exploit him, a poor old man.

For the former, Karya would simply accumulate energy bit by bit, pretending to be a stick that could suppress magic. As for the latter, Karya was never polite, decisively taking over the host's body and then, before the body was fully corrupted by the Darkin, wandering around and traveling.

These intermittent awakenings made Karya a "ghost drifting outside of history." Even though he tried his best to find books every time, the Void's erosion was too severe. Once he took over a host's body, he could at most stay conscious for ten days to half a month, so he knew very little about history.

Therefore, he hoped to chat with Lux to understand the Runeterra of this era.

On the other hand, Lux was also a little curious about Karya.

Curiosity was a human instinct, especially for a lively girl like Lux.

To Lux, Karya was a complete mystery. She didn't know Karya's past, nor did she understand what his self-introduction meant. Since Karya was willing to chat with her, it would be a good choice to take the opportunity to listen to more of Karya's stories.

So, after sitting down, Lux spoke first, expressing her desire to hear Karya's story: "Tell me your story! Do you have any stories about defeating evil wizards and saving princesses?"

As an elder who had lived in Shurima for countless years, Karya had plenty of stories, if nothing else.

Since Lux wanted to listen, Karya was happy to share, except for some true secrets.

So, where should the story begin?

"When I was your age, Demacia didn't even exist yet," Karya thought for a moment and decided to tell a story that was not recorded in history. "So, there were no evil witches back then, let alone any princesses."

"Demacia didn't exist? You're lying!" As Karya began his story, Lux couldn't help but respond, "I've heard the legend of the Winged Sisters from my mother. The birth of Demacia can be traced back to nearly a thousand years ago!"

"Demacia has been around for a thousand years? Then I really slept for a long time," Karya said calmly, as if thousands of years were insignificant to him. "The poor souls who fled the Rune Wars back then have now created a powerful nation with their own hands. That's good."

"What poor souls? They are the great Thirteen Families..."

"Let's pause for a moment. We're not talking about Demacia today," Karya interrupted Lux's description of Demacia's thirteen noble families. He had read about this part during his last awakening, and it was filled with a lot of self-congratulatory rhetoric, which was not very nutritious. "Let's just talk about each other, your story, my story."

"...Alright," Lux puffed out her cheeks and then sat up quietly. "Go ahead, old grandpa!"

Lux's emphasis on "old grandpa" did not offend Karya. Instead, it felt somewhat familiar. When he was in Shurima, many people called him that, and some even called him ancestor later on.

Although Lux saw this title as a blatant way of "aging someone," a small act of revenge for Karya's rambling, Karya didn't see any issue with it.

"Shurima wasn't an empire back then; it was just a barren land," Karya continued his description. "There were no Holy Springs, no oases, just deserts everywhere. The infertile land couldn't be farmed, and everyone had trouble getting enough to eat."

"Starving?"

"Yes, starving," Karya's tone remained calm, as if it wasn't a terrible past but a casual memory. "Lux, have you ever been to a beach?"

"A beach? Yes!" Lux nodded. "It's at Dornhold, not far from the Imperial Capital. It has the most famous golden beach in the country... Hmm, my uncle said he would take my brother and me there when we came back..."

"Alright, but don't be sad. You'll have a chance to go again sooner or later," Karya comforted her softly and then continued his story. "Unlike the sand on the beach, the sand in the desert is dry and has no water. Even after a heavy rain, the ground will become dry again in half a day."

"That's hard to imagine." Such novel information made Lux's eyes widen in surprise. "After a rain, it dries up in just half a day..."

"In our time, the desert was called 'Sai,' which originally meant boundless and endless," Karya hesitated slightly and then gave a simple analogy. "The desert and the sea are actually very similar, except one is dry and golden, and the other is surging and blue."

"Sai?" Lux tried to pronounce the word like Karya, attempting the trilled sound. "What a strange pronunciation... I've never heard of this language."

"That's Old Shuriman, a primitive language, simple and poetic," Karya didn't elaborate further on this but continued his story. "It's impossible to grow food in the dry desert. The only way to survive is to find an oasis."

"What's an oasis?"

"An oasis is a rare fertile land in the desert with a water source, where plants grow," Karya explained. "Unfortunately, I can't share these memories with you yet, but I saw a Shuriman travelogue on the bookshelf. It should contain records about this."

Hearing Karya say this, Lux got up in surprise and found the book in the place Karya mentioned. After flipping through it a little, she was incredulously surprised to find that the book really contained descriptions of deserts and oases.

More importantly, the travelogue also had illustrations!

"Is this the desert and oasis you were talking about?" Lux pointed to an illustration in the book and asked. "It looks like a... large garden with a pond, but no walls!"

"Hahaha, an interesting analogy," Karya would have clapped his hands for Lux if he had them. "But you're right, an oasis is indeed like a large garden with a pond and no walls, so every family fought every day to compete for this garden."

"Fought? Why did you fight?" Lux seemed a little slow to react. "To compete for this garden? But... fighting is a bad thing. Fighting can cause injuries, even death!"

Obviously, Lux was not lacking in common sense, nor was she lacking in compassion and empathy. However, due to her privileged environment, she always unconsciously beautified the parts that were missing from the story.

"Because if we didn't fight and didn't occupy an oasis, we would starve to death or die of thirst," Karya gave a rather cruel reason. "When I was your age, I lost my tribe and my family. To survive, I joined a family. Everyone in that family was alone like me. Together, we fought to occupy an oasis that would allow us to live."

"I think I understand a little."

Lux thought for a moment, then looked up at the window. She had chosen a seat by the window today. Through the open window, she could see the garden outside, the pond, the rockery, and the bushes.

Although Lux still couldn't imagine people fighting for a garden instead of honor or justice, the reason "to survive" gave her an indescribable sense of heaviness.

"And then?" Lux blinked, casting aside the heaviness. "Then you fought with others? With fists? With spears? Or shields and swords?"

"With everything, from stones to wooden sticks," Karya paused and continued, "to deal with those who used swords, halberds, or magic."

"Magic—you used stones and sticks to fight evil sorcerers!" Lux's mouth widened in astonishment. "That's amazing!"

"Watch your words, Lux," Karya said helplessly. "You are a mage now too."

"I—" Lux was momentarily speechless with embarrassment. "That's different. I don't use magic to fight!"

"But what if in the Shadow Realm, a monster tries to devour your uncle's soul?" Karya retorted. "In there, ordinary swords and sabers are useless."

"...That's different." Lux still instinctively rejected the situation Karya described. "There might not be any monsters in the Shadow Realm. You must be trying to scare me!"

"Let's just say I'm trying to scare you," Karya didn't dwell on the topic but continued his story. "My family didn't have a princess, but there was a sister named Setaqa. Of course, we all called her the 'Big Sister'."

"Big Sister, how cool!" Lux's excitement was piqued again. "A lady respected by everyone!"

"Yes, whether they are enemies or family," Karya chose to go along with Lux's words this time. "She doesn't need any excellent weapons to approach enemies with agile steps and win battles with ease. Even if the enemy is a cunning spellcaster, she can find a way."

"But... my uncle told me that without excellent weapons, there's almost no way to deal with a prepared spellcaster," Lux asked, confused. "How could that big sister you mentioned deal with a sorcerer using a wooden stick and stones?"

"With wisdom and strength," Karya's tone, rarely, carried a hint of reminiscence. "Of course, and fearless courage, and a little bit of luck from the gods – for example, once when we were fighting over a small oasis, she cleverly used the power of the mountains..."

Next, Karya told Lux the story of how Setaqa became famous.

That battle took place in what is now Nareumajel. To deal with the sorcerers in the oasis, Setaqa first disguised herself as a traveling merchant, led her team into the oasis, and drew the map on her shaved skin beneath her camel's saddle pad.

Then, in the cold desert night, she led her family and set up a rolling stone trap, enduring the bone-chilling cold.

Including Karya, the entire family worked together, using simple pulley systems to position large stones on the hillside west of the Nareumajel oasis.

Then, the next day, they lured the sorcerers to this spot by feigning defeat and triggered the trap.

Facing the rolling stones, the sorcerer calmly summoned a Sand Barrier, blocking the rocks.

As a result, just when he thought he had victory in hand, several warriors who had been lurking for a long time emerged from the Sand Barrier he had summoned. Although their bodies were covered in wounds from being squeezed by the gravel, they launched a fatal blow while the sorcerer was basking in his own arrogance.

This sorcerer, who could naturally manipulate sand, clearly didn't expect anyone to withstand the terrifying pressure of the gravel taking shape. Caught off guard, he was directly defeated.

Lux had clearly never heard such a dramatic story, which was completely different from the popular tales in Demacia of "righteous knights sternly reprimanding evil and then slaying the wicked with a sharp sword."

Compared to Demacian knightly novels, Karya's story was more tense, more thrilling, and more exciting for Lux – clearly, although this young lady from the Crown Guard family always wanted to be a good girl, deep down, she also had her own yearning for adventure and battle.

Not only that, but to give Lux a more direct impression, Karya directed her to find illustrations in travelogues from the bookshelf that were somewhat similar to the situation at the time.

This "combination of text and pictures" made Lux exclaim with delight, completely forgetting about Karya's identity, and even actively recommending excellent works she had read.

It wasn't until the sun began to set and Lady Ogsa returned to the mansion with Garen that a servant knocked to announce dinner, and Lux reluctantly ended her conversation with Karya.

From Karya, she not only heard the story of "double traps cleverly defeating a sorcerer," but also a series of other past events of Setaqa, such as "feigning quicksand escape to lure away enemies," "borrowing the dragon's wrath," and "towards the Stars."

These stories were rarely known even in the history of Shurima – to maintain the empire's greatness, Setaqa had to be portrayed as a perfect deity in all records, born with a great mission.

Only Karya, who had fought alongside her, knew that she, like countless Ascended, was once just a mortal.

Where were the divinely sent heroes, male or female?

They were just mortals who forged ahead and ultimately reached the end.

Of course, Karya didn't tell Lux any of this. Lux was still too young and didn't have much understanding of the true nature of this world. Even though Karya was a devilish tutor when teaching, he was still happy to give the little girl a less cruel childhood.

Therefore, he didn't tell Lux that only one-fifth of the people who infiltrated the sand in advance survived and participated in the final assault; the other eighty percent either succumbed to hypothermia during the night or were crushed to death when the Sand Barrier took shape.

Nor did he mention that many people died during their feigned retreat, and many even sacrificed themselves, partly to make the act more realistic and partly to conceal any possible bloody smell from the sand.

The cruel ballad of survival was adapted by Karya into a child-friendly, edited version of an epic hero tale.

But... listening to Setaqa's story as an epic hero tale wasn't bad either!

Thinking of this, Karya couldn't help but click his tongue: It's a shame that my role in this part is not significant enough.

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