#VISAGE / Shinjiro Aragaki | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

deathboundinautumn · 4 years

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The LoL AU

The sprawling and constantly expanding world of Runeterra is home to many remarkable figures. Why not add one more?

Character Stats:

Name: Shinjiro Aragaki Age: 25 Birthplace: Tevasa, Ionia Status: Wanted by the Kinkou Order and the Navori Brotherhood Condition: Tormented by the Azakana dubbed ‘Castor’

Background (This is by far the most in-depth AU I’ve ever written so you can pretty much get by with the stats above if you don’t want to read the whole thing):

A native of the First Lands, Shinjiro Aragaki was born at the footholds of the mountain in a small town called Tevasa. Shortly after his birth the small village was struck by tragedy. Inexplicably, villagers would just up and leave their homes randomly throughout the day and never return. Search parties were sent but were quickly stopped when party members would also go missing. Several children were orphaned in the process, including Shinji.

Though it was never said, many of the villagers that remained often blamed the recent newborns for the disappearance of the villagers. It was believed that some lives were to be returned to the land as new ones began, to maintain balance. Regardless of the teachings, these children were looked down upon and only cared for in the most basic of ways, ensuring that none went hungry and all had a home.

Despite receiving little support from the adults in his village, Shinjiro found solace in his fellow orphans who were largely given free reign over what they did once their daily chores were completed. Though he never knew his parents, Shinji never felt without family. For as long as he could remember he’d been best friends with two other orphans Asheru and Mi’rai-Ey, together the three formed their own family growing closer than most blood siblings in the village.

Everyone lost something during the Noxian Invasion and Shinji is no exception. When invaders came to Tevasa Shinji, Asheru and Mi’rai-Ey took up arms alongside the rest of the villagers to defend their home. Amidst the chaos the trio became separated. Asheru, always too eager to get in the thick of the fight, rushed towards the invaders leaving Mi’rai-Ey and Shinji. Though the villagers fought valiantly it was clear from the beginning that they’d be no match for the Noxian invaders. They were a rural farming town, armed with only the most rudimentary farming tools against an enemy brandishing superior steel and tactics.

Many lives were lost that day, none more significant to Shinjiro than Mi’rai-Ey who died in his arms after an arrow struck her in the heart.

“Take care of him. He’s always been a cry baby,” she chokes while a shaky hand reaches for his own. His tight grip around her hand gives her just enough of a second wind to refocus her gaze as she whispers to him “It’s not your fault,” before succumbing to her wounds.

Having lost his sister and fearing the worst for his brother Shinji welcomed death openly. But death never came. The battle should have ended with the razing of Tevasa, its inhabitants either killed or enslaved, but it didn’t.

Miraculously, the Noxian Invaders were halted by a single figure emerging from the nearby forest who’s powerful magic completely outclassed the invaders most well-trained soldiers. Shinjiro looked on, a mix of both awe and horror painting his visage as this wild feral woman with nine long white tails ripped the life essence from Noxian soldiers, seemingly growing more and more powerful with each felled enemy till the remaining troops fled. Tevasa would later attribute their victory to the powerful ancient Ionian fox spirit the Gatekeeper and would erect a shrine.

In the aftermath Shinjiro was overjoyed to see that Asheru had survived the battle but elation quickly turned to grief as he broke the news that Mi’rai-Ey, their sister, had been killed in the battle. Together they mourned and remembered their fallen kin and tried their best to move forward. Overtime it quickly became apparent that, without her, their family was falling apart. Shinjiro feeling responsible for not being able to protect her and Asheru growing more and more bitter as news of the war came in. Asheru never blamed Shinji for Mi’rai-Ey’s death but as time passed the boy could no longer sit in their village while invaders ransacked their home.

“I’m going to get stronger,” he says, “strong enough to protect the people I care about.”

Shortly after Mi’rai-Ey’s death Asheru left Tevasa to join the growing Navori brotherhood leaving Shinji alone.

Shinji spent most of his time tending to Mi’rai-Ey’s garden; their last moments burned in his mind. It was his fault. He could have done something, anything. It should’ve been him...

A year or so passes and the guilt is too much to bear. Too long has he spent sleeping in the same hut he once shared with his family, their things remain largely untouched save for the occasional dusting. Privately he entrusts Mi’rai-Ey’s garden to one of the elders before leaving Tevasa in the late evening.

With the loss of his family and now his self-imposed exile, Shinjiro spends his life as a vagrant. Shinjiro keeps mostly to himself, rarely traveling with others unless absolutely necessary. Despite traveling alone and largely camping outside of settlements, the teen can’t help but hear words of affirmation whispered on the wind that passes through the trees.

‘it’s your fault’ ‘you deserve to be alone’ ‘you could have saved her’

Every waking moment is plagued by these thoughts until it becomes so regular it barely bothers him at all. The only time he can seem to quiet his mind is in sleep and eventually that respite is soon taken as nightmares poison his dreams. Though every nightmare is different the malformed, twisted humanoid creatures in them remain the same until one nightmare he is no longer tortured by three but one: A pale rider impaled on his own sword riding a one legged horse that hunts him relentlessly.

The vagrant would wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat gasping for air and clawing at his chest. After a while the waking and dreaming world often blur together, making him question which was which.

After two years of wandering and torment both in the waking world and dreaming Shinjiro is ambushed by a group of bandits. Despite fighting valiantly, incapacitating three of the eight, their numbers are overwhelming and they beat the vagrant within an inch of his life. As the would-be killing blow comes down the teen collapses to the ground writhing in agony. Its as if thousands of needles are piercing his brain all at once. A familiar haunting whinny cuts through the blood pounding in his ears and the apparition of the pale rider can be seen through swimming vision.

He looks on in horror as the horseman charges forward impaling one bandit on the horses’ head-spike while the rider cleaves through another two. Smoldering eyes burning crimson with hatred turn to the remaining two bandits that have started to flee in terror. With a sharp tug on the reigns, the horse leaps high into the air and as it begins its descent Shinji can’t bear to watch any longer. Though his eyes are shut tight the weakening cries of agony and sickening crunch he hears over and over are more than enough to paint a clear picture in his mind.

Eyes are forced open when he feels two large hands tightly wrapped around his neck lifting him into the air. The pale rider’s.

“You’ll die when We say so”

Shinji wakes with a scream in the middle of the night next to the dying embers of a campfire nowhere near where the supposed mugging took place. Was it all a dream? He could have sworn it was real. It all felt so real. Yet where there should be cuts and bruises from the mugging he finds nothing. As time passes, Shinji goes without another incident as severe and just assumes it was a one-off.

At the age of twenty, Shinjiro encountered a Kinkou Acolyte, Selune, who immediately recognizes that something isn’t right inside the vagabond. Shinjiro’s Essence is being strangled and poisoned by a large amount of dark spiritual energy unlike anything she’s ever seen before. Upon hearing this and desperate for some respite, Shinji discloses what he’s been experiencing since leaving Tevasa four years ago and the two decide to travel together to learn more about why this dark spirit energy hangs so heavily around him.

After a few weeks of observation Selune gathers that Shinji’s spirit is occasionally being pulled into the spirit realm while he’s sleeping and the things he’s been experiencing in his “dreams” are what’s ripping apart his soul. She informs him that if this continues his soul will diminish until there’s nothing left, killing him.

As weeks turn to months the two grow close despite Shinjiro’s best efforts to remain acquaintances and after three months of travel he warily (and never to her face) considers her a friend. During this time, Selune formulates a plan to sever the dark spirit energy from Shinjiro’s soul via a ritual involving her Spirit Blade and after a few days of preparation the day long ritual begins.

Neither of them are prepared for what would happened.

The first few hours go well, Shinji feeling a great deal of weight being lifted from his heart. However, six hours into the ritual Shinjiro begins to break out in a cold sweat. The blood in his veins like fire, heart racing as breaths get shorter and shorter before the pain becomes so excruciating that he cries out in agony.

As he writhes on the ground in the sealing circle the outline of the pale rider that’s plagued his nightmares begins to manifest. Selune looks on in shock that quickly turns to terror as realization dawns on her that what’s tethered to Shinjiro’s soul isn’t just dark spiritual energy from the spirit realm, its a full on demon and it’s powerful.

In an attempt to sever its connection to Shinjiro, Selune takes her spirit blade and plunges it deep into Shinji’s chest. This only further enrages the demon and it is only then that she realizes just how powerful the demon really is. It’s had five years to fester deep within is his soul and was now, finally, powerful enough to interact regularly with the physical realm.

Shinji chokes out a desperate cry for her to leave him as pain wracks his body leaving him incapacitated. The last thing he sees before consciousness fails him is the demon pulling the sword from its own chest and charging at his new companion.

“Foolish boy. You couldn’t save her either.”

The low gravelly voice cuts through the unnatural silence rousing him from unconsciousness. The demon looms over him, picking him up by his head and throwing him towards Selune’s lifeless body.

“It’s your fault. It’s ALWAYS your fault. You made US. Anytime somebody tries to take you from Us we will ALWAYS be there to stop it. Your life is OURS,” the demon taunts before disappearing.

After a few hours recuperating from the ordeal, Shinji begins the difficult task of laying Selune to rest.

He never should have involved her. She was dead because of him

As he goes through her belongings he discovers her journal. It’s contents contain the bulk of her research from the past few months of their travels. From the journal he learns that he’s been playing host to numerous tiny demons, or Azakana, ever since the Noxian Invasion. These demons have been feeding off his negative emotions for the past five years and the longer they’ve gone unchecked the stronger they’ve become.

Suddenly the nightmares and invasive thoughts he’s been hearing ever since the invasion make sense. The whispers reinforcing his own guilt for not protecting Mi’rai-Ey, his unyielding sorrow at the loss of his friendship with Asheru and his own fulminating self-hatred. Those feelings attracted separate Azakana and as time went on and how normal those feelings started to feel caused the three demons to become one; A conglomerate of his worst feelings made manifest and much more powerful together than any single one of them could have been alone.

As he continues to read her journal he learns that not much is known about exorcising these demons as they only started appearing after the Noxian Invasion. She is able to assume however that, like all demons, an Azakana cannot be harmed by conventional means and only powerful magic or spirit weapons like her Spirit Blade are able to harm/ kill the demons.

Strangely enough after being fully recognized as real by Shinjiro, the demon begins to communicate more directly and when asked for a name it responds: Castor. As the two talk Shinji learns that Castor emerges when Shinjiro is threatened to ‘protect Their kill’ and even encourages Shinji to take Selune’s Spirit Blade to summon Castor on command. When asked why Castor would encourage taking a weapon that could kill the Azakana, Castor responds

“You’d never kill Us because We know this is the fate you deserve.”

A few weeks after the death of Selune wanted posters issued by the Kinkou begin popping up in the territory searching for Shinji for the murder of a Kinkou Acolyte. This gains the attention of the Navori Brotherhood who’ve been at odds with the Kinkou since the Noxian Invasion. With eyes all over the countryside its only a few short months before he encounters his old friend, someone he hasn’t seen in years, Asheru.

Overjoyed at reuniting with his friend, the two spend their first night back together, drinking and reminiscing about their shared past but those feelings don’t last.

“Join us. We could use someone like you. Someone with experience. It’s not everyday someone kills a member of the Kinkou.”

Shinjiro walls up almost immediately, stating that Asheru has no idea what he’s talking about and that it’s much more complicated. As their conversation turns to argument a deep sadness wells within his heart. Asheru, his brother, was not the same boy who left Tevasa all those years ago.

War had hardened his heart and Asheru’s quest for power had blinded him to the reality of what it was the Navori Brotherhood was really doing. But Shinjiro witnessed it anytime he passed through towns, sometimes first hand. The way members of the brotherhood would act more as thugs than protectors; Collecting weekly taxes from those already struggling to get by for their ‘protection;’ The random beatings and ransacking of homes for ‘the cause;’ How they’d ‘borrow’ daughters and wives to ‘relieve stress.’

He never would have believed it, but seeing Asheru now...was he like that too? Realizing that Shinji would never join the Brotherhood, Asheru leaves Shinji with a few parting words that confirm Shinji’s worst fears

“For the sake of our past I’m letting you walk away. Can’t say the other members will do the same but if you stand in our way then I’ll see to it myself to hunt you down and kill you. If you’re not with us then you’re against us.”

It’s been four years since he last saw Asheru. Now twenty-four, the vagabond is wanted dead by the Navori Brotherhood, the Kinkou Order and Castor. As time passes it grows harder and harder to resist Castor’s influence and it’s only a matter of time before he’s captured and executed by the Kinkou/Navori or he succumbs to Castor’s influence.

#We Are the First Lands (LoL AU)#hkjsadfaskd fucking finally this took me way way wayyy too long #i dont even wanna look at this anymore good god #get outta my drafts so i can do literally anything else

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