King for a Day

Steven Nguyen
The town was buzzing with news about arrival of the king. Arcadum had been chosen this year to have one of their citizens be the king of Runeterra for exactly 24 hours, in spite of the recent invasion of the Shadow Isles. They would have the power to do just about anything their magic couldnt do. Arcadum was also known throughout Runeterra to be the Magicforged town, where almost everyone was innately born with magic. In Arcadum lived a boy, Luka Rufus. He was just an ordinary boy in Arcadum, which made him out of the ordinary in the town. Luka had no magic flowing through him, which was the cause of a lot of pain for him. The townspeople had great pride in their abilities, and Lukas presence only made them abhor his existence. They even shunned his family for even keeping him. The day before the Choosing, he was at the range, practicing his already superb archery, until a group of unruly townsfolk walked by him. Youre such a freak! I hope you die! Why dont you just leave and let us live our lives? Cant you just, like, I dont know, learn magic? Move away, die, attempt literally impossible things. Luka had heard it all. Its not that he wasnt affected by them, he was. It was that he had learned to channel his resentment into his other skills, like his archery.

As he was taking a shot at a target, a bolt of mana flew by his head, right into the bullseye. He turned around to see who it was, sighing. As he turned around, in front of him stood Reno, the mayors son, and Lukas most frequent tormentor. You freak, why cant you just shoot mana arrows like the rest of us? It cant be that hard for you to do. Reno pointed at the charged bolt of energy sitting in the target, proud of his handiwork. Luka sighed, most of the torment he got was bearable, and all they said simply told him to fuck off, for lack of better words. But this one, this moron actually thought Luka could just shoot magic out of his hands. What did Reno think he was, some sort of miracle maker who could just be able to use magic in a night? No, thats not how it worked. Listen asshat, I CANT do the bullshit you call magic, so shut the fuck up, before I shoot my real arrow through your head. Reno and his lackeys stopped for a moment to think about what Luka said, then burst out laughing. You? What could someone like you do to people like- Woosh. The arrow zipped right by Chad, grazing his cheek, causing it to bleed. Woosh. Woosh. Two more arrows flew by, this time Kai and Elron faces suffered a stinging pain. FUCK! A smirk broke out on Lukas face outwardly, but he groaned inwardly. He thought to himself, Oh man, if I dont die today for fucking with these idiots, Im going to be tortured for the rest of my life.

Still stunned from the three shot arrows, Reno, Kai, and Elron looked at each other, then turned and glared at Luka. The physical beating that they gave Luka was painful, to say the least. He was black and blue all over, bleeding profusely from the mouth and nose, and limped. He was pretty sure they had broken his nose, courtesy of that uppercut Chad gave him. He smiled sadly, glad they didnt use magic on him, because hed probably be suffering mana burns all over, on top of the bruising and bleeding. Getting up from the ground, using much more energy than he thought, he limped home, awaiting judgment from his mother. He expected her to undoubtedly tell him to stay away from those boys because they were bad apples, after berating him for not practicing enough. After showering and allowing his mother to patch up what she could, he flopped into bed, crashing immediately, falling into deep slumber. Chirp chirp chirp chirp. The call of the local birdlife in the bright, summer day woke up Luka. Today was the day that he turned 18, the exact age when a citizen of Runeterra was eligible to be Chosen. The sun shining down on the hills of Arcadum on his birthday seemed like either a fantastic blessing, or an omen in disguise. He got dressed, and grabbed his specially made yew bow, and rushed to the town square, to go see the demonstrators practicing. When the king arrived, there was to be a demonstration of the magisters of Arcadum displaying their awesome powers, and secretly attempting to gain points with the king for special consideration in the Choosing.

When he arrived at the square, there was already a small crowd, watching the demonstrators. Among them, Luka noticed Reno, king of asshats, who turned out to be surprisingly good at incanting the elemental arrow spells. Unluckily for Luka, Reno noticed him, and yelled out, HEY! FREAK! Why arent you up here? I thought everyone in Arcadum could use magic! Renos attempt at a taunt only reinforced Lukas belief that Reno was, in fact, an idiot. Bong! Saved by the bell, the towns church bells began ringing, signifying the arrival of the king and the crown prince. Luka hadnt noticed, but what had been a small crowd before had grown into the whole town being a crowd, with about a thousand people cheering on the appearance of the king. He glared at Reno to scare him away, telling himself hed deal with Reno and his goons one day. As the king and prince took seats in the magically crafted thrones made for them, King J3 put his hand up for silence. Immediately, the cheering stopped, and the crowd settled down. People of Arcadum, today, we are here to Choose one citizen to take my position as king, or queen, for a single day. But first, the festivities. LET THE DEMONSTRATION BEGIN. The drums beat away at the signaling the beginning of the show. Magical spheres of the four elements began encircling the town square. Flames burst from the ground, erupting into a mystical pyrotechnic show. Wind carried the spheres around, creating a lull of spinning spheres, while water magic caused them to drizzle water on spectators. Awed at the sheer beauty of magic, Luka felt a twinge of jealousy well up in him, and for the first time in years, he wondered why everyone else had magic but him.

He pondered this though, until he heard strange words being spoken. Centurius augmentis sunova, umbrus, magmentia, aquamentus, terralta, aeroqus, pastronium gordus. Luka looked around to see who was chanting the words, but to no avail. Suddenly, around the square, a hundred little rays of magic began charging with the elements but something was off. Luka noticed a strange energy in the air, as if death himself was crawling up his spine. As the magical bolts reached the zenith of power, all hell broke loose, and the dead began to surround the square. The dead? He had heard rumors of the Shadow Isles having a limitless army of undead. This couldnt be No. A laughter fit for a court jester pierced the screaming of the townspeople, all struggling to kill the dead with their magic. Luka grimaced at the sheer irony of the living trying to kill dead people, until he saw Reno standing among the dead, looking as if he were directing them towards the king. RENO! What the hell are you doing!? Reno turned his head towards Luka, and out came the jesters laugh. My lord Hecarim wishes to retake this kingdom, at any cost. Reno doesnt seem like his douche self, thought Luka, as he tried to think of what to do. As he was thinking, an undead stumbled onto him, and Luka bat it off with his bow.

Having an idea, he rushed out of the square, to his hill, which conveniently happened to be the best vantage point of the town. As he climbed up the hill, he looked down at the town, in pure chaos. Serves them right, he said, to no one in particular. The resentment for the townspeople began to rise, but his morality and skewed sense of justice got the better of him, as he readied an arrow in to his bow. Speaking to no one again, he said Well, looks I may have to shoot you in the head for real now. Drawing back his bow, he took aim at Renos head, sure that in killing him would get rid of all the undead. He shot, the arrow flew strong and true, straight into Renos head. He fell to the ground in a heap of dust, signifying something was definitely afoot, but the more pressing mater was all of the undead suddenly disintegrated into dust as well, saving the town. Walking back to the town, he was surprised to see nothing had changed. The town was still as lively, as the magic display was going on. The king looked at Luka with a knowing glance, and gestured Luka to approach him. What fresh hell is this? thought Luka. The king was a frail old man, but with a strong look in his eyes. He said quietly to Luka, Do not worry. I have taken care of it. You are a good man Luka Rufus. In throwing away your contempt and anger, you saved your town. The whole Choosing this year, however, was not to replace me, but to find me a new group to take on Hecarim and his forces. I would like to request your assistance in this matter.

Luka had an incredulous look on his face. He didnt know what to think of it, so without even considering anything else but his wish to leave this town, he agreed. Excellent, Ranger Luka. I hope we can amass a group of warriors to combat the force that threatens to destroy our land. All Luka could think of at that moment was So much for being king.