CASSIOPEIA

Cassiopeia was once a beautiful noble woman capable of manipulating even the strongest of wills. Assassins killed in her slightest whim, soldiers spilled their darkest stories and generals willingly followed her in the hopes of patronage. She was the youngest daughter of one of the Noxuses most  influential families, although the members of the family won’t confirm this but it is highly possible that she is the younger sister of Katarina. Her entire life changed when she decided to venture into an ancient tomb inside the ruins of Shurima.

On the edge of the desert a stranger appears, Cassiopeia, a noble woman of Noxus looking to hire a guide to take her to the fabled lost city. But not just any guide, the owner of the legendary ancient blade, the mercenary called Sivir. They set out to the desert to find the buried bones of Shurima. Five days beneath the boiling sun, a scout spots towers jutting from the dunes and the stairway leading underground. They climb down into the darkness.

Ancient treasures gleam in the torchlight even Sivir is astonished at the grandeur of the ruins. Her men went deeper in only to stumble into traps and be eviscerated. Sivir is stunned by horor but Cassiopeia does not flinch. She sees only the statue of a huge serpent silently guarding the door to the tomb of the emperors and smiles.

The ancient weapon that Sivir wielded was a key. Cassiopeia betrays Sivir and takes her balde. She puts it into the lock and the Guardians curse was triggered causing the stone serpent to come alive and pins Cassiopeia in its jaws. The venom melts her skin like acid. The door opens and Renekton emerges, the brother Nasus loved and locked away twisted beyond insanity followed by Xerath, an architect of his torment.

Cassiopeia survived the accident but she was never since the same. After she returned to Noxus her entire lifestyle changed. She was no longer the beautiful woman that manipulated others, she was a monster. She decided to hide in her family’s crypts afraid of revealing what had happened. She remained alone in her family’s vaults filled with disgust for her serpentine body and mourning the loss of her aristocratic life.

Eventually, a growing desire to hunt overwhelmed her and she ventured out to roam the city by night as her family slumbered. Even though it was the middle of the night. The city was full of life. She climbed on a roof overlooking the crowded streets of Noxus. Below her, she saw poor children running around the streets, soldiers walking in and out of taverns and hooded figures whispering secrets in the shadows all of them were oblivious to the predator lurking in the darkness above.

Finally, a soldier with a drink in his hand came out of a tavern. This was the man she was waiting for so she trailed his movements from above following him silently over fortress walls and arc ways until he entered an empty courtyard.

 She then slithered onto an adjacent roof, her eyes full of thrill of the hunt, her figure cast a shadow onto the soldier. He drunkenly turned towards her and said:” I know you’re there, show yourself.”. “Fight me face to face.”, he shouted. “I ain’t gonna be stalked like some animal.” Cassiopeia let out an angry hiss, by the time the soldier looked up she had slid to the opposite side of the courtyard directly above him. ”You consider yourself better than an animal, do you?” she said. The man’s head turned trying to find the source of the voice. “How did you get across so fast?” he asked.

He hammered his fist against every door, trying to escape, but each was bolted shut. He pulled his sword and said: “You don’t want to cross me. I’ve gutted worse enemies than you.”. “Not just enemies.” Cassiopeia replied: “I’ve seen your handiwork.” As he was turning around she spat a dose of venom just as he turned towards her voice. He told her: “Show yourself, you can’t fight me from the shadows.” “Very well.”, Cassiopeia said as she slithered in front of him standing head and shoulders over the man. “MONSTER!” he cried. “Monster, not the worst I have been called.” Cassiopeia said.

She effortlessly whipped him with her tail throwing him to the ground. She reaped her tail around him squeezing his ribcage tighter and tighter, sensing his pounding heart straining beneath her grasp she heard bones crack. She resisted the urge to break him completely and released her grip. He crawled to his sword grasping in desperation. She enjoyed watching him tremble. He met her gaze and staired in slow recognition. “I know your face, the lady Cassiopeia.”, he pushed himself to his feet using his sword:“You chase drunk guards like me through the filthy gutters of the city now, is that it?”. The man spat a lot of blood: “From such great heights we fall, eh?”

She screamed puring all her rage into the cry, it was a combination of her fury at the unfairness of her current state, the anger at the loss of her privileged life and the resentment for her failed ambitions. She channeled it all into a mind shredding wail, as she screamed her fury was replaced by joy. Searing emerald light blazed from her eyes. The man’s final panic was outlined in silhouette as he petrified from inside out with Cassiopeia’s curse his flesh turned to stone.

Her life as a noble was over but never had she felt such boundless power coursing through her veins. She slithered back onto the rooftops. With her next victim offering a much greater challenge.