Arcane: Thicker Than Blood

Jayce stood in his ruined lab, removed his rune-embedded wristband, unpinned his family crest, and placed them on the table.

He walked to the edge of the destroyed balcony, gazing at the colorful city of lights and nightlife in the distance, his eyes hollow and dim.

The Hextech gemstone had exploded, and Piltover Academy, along with the Council, uncovered his illegal research.

After a council trial, he was expelled from the Academy, and Hextech research was strictly banned. The Council's words still rang in his ears: "Let this serve as a warning to all who would tamper with forces beyond their understanding."

If not for his mother's plea for mercy, he would have been exiled from Piltover altogether.

Her tears had been the final blow to his pride.

It was over.

Everything was gone.

Jayce was a shell of his former self, his childhood dream now a distant fantasy. The walls that had witnessed his countless breakthroughs now only reflected his despair.

The council members, sponsors, professors, friends, even his mother—none of them believed he could master magic through the Hextech gemstone.

Their faces blurred together in his memory, all wearing the same expression of disappointment and fear.

To them, Hextech—and Jayce himself—was dangerously unpredictable and had to be strictly prohibited.

Having a genius mind spared him from ignorance, but not from loneliness, and he endured it.

He hadn't lost because of a lack of talent but because of the fear others harbored for his groundbreaking creation, which challenged their understanding of the world's truths.

They just feared what they didn't understand.

"Hah!"

Exhaling sharply, Jayce closed his eyes in despair and leaned forward. The city lights below seemed to beckon to him, offering an easy escape from his failure.

He wanted to jump off the balcony—to end Hextech, to end his dreams, and to end his life.

Maybe they're right.

Maybe I am just a danger to everyone.

Maybe I should just—

"Oh, am I interrupting you?"

A gentle yet slightly awkward voice suddenly came from behind him.

Startled, Jayce jumped back from the edge instinctively. His heart hammered in his chest, adrenaline mixing with embarrassment.

He wiped his mouth, turned around, and saw it was the assistant dean of the Academy—the one who had overseen the seizure of his lab. "Come to witness the fall of the great Jayce Talis?" he asked with a bitter laugh.

Seeing his "enemy" face-to-face, Jayce's temper flared. He waved his arms angrily, fully expressing his fury through body language.

"What is wrong with you? Why are you here? Has my name been added to another blacklist?"

"Well… it has, actually. But this time, it's in your notebook—on every page, no less. That's a bit self-obsessed, don't you think?"

The assistant dean held up Jayce's notebook, teasing him with a calm, gentle tone, despite appearing physically frail.

Jayce pinched the bridge of his nose. Already stripped of everything, he assumed this assistant had come to mock him. Furious, he retorted, "Is that why you're here? To humiliate me?"

"Your theories... they're brilliant," the assistant said, flipping through the notebook.

"Brilliant? The council called them dangerous."

"The council calls anything they don't understand dangerous."

The assistant dean raised his head, sensing Jayce's misunderstanding. He leaned on his cane and slowly approached, explaining,

"No, actually. I thought what you said during the trial was insightful."

Jayce recalled the assistant dean's gaze during the council trial. Realizing the man wasn't lying, his anger deflated as he replied dejectedly, "You're the only one who thinks so."

Understanding Jayce's hopelessness, he closed the notebook and said, "True, but I came here to discuss your research—your Hextech theory."

Touched on his life's pursuit, Jayce passionately corrected the assistant dean, "It's not a theory! I've seen firsthand how incredible magic can be. It can save lives—you can't even begin to imagine how wondrous it is!"

But as soon as he finished, the grim reality of his situation hit him again. He turned his back and added, "It's all over now. No one will believe me."

"No one's ever believed me either," the assistant dean said quietly. "A poor, crippled kid from the Undercity has never been welcome here. From the moment I stepped into Piltover, I was always treated as an outsider."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jayce interrupted, confused by the sudden openness.

"Because like you, I know what it's like to have everyone doubt you."

"No funding, no family to take me in."

"I had to gamble everything on myself. That's why I came to you—because I think your discovery is extraordinary. I want to help you finish your research."

Leaning on his cane, he hobbled over to Jayce's side, sharing his own struggles.

Jayce turned his head, shocked. He couldn't imagine this young assistant, crippled and from the Undercity, enduring the hardships of making it to Piltover.

For the first time, he felt a kinship with the assistant dean. Neither of them was understood. Neither had support.

Jayce's tone softened, though still filled with defeat. "No one thinks it can be done."

"When you have the power to change the world," the assistant dean replied with a faint smile, "you don't need anyone's approval."

"And your Hextech? That's exactly the kind of change we need."

He opened his left hand, revealing Jayce's rune-embedded wristband.

Jayce's eyes widened in shock. He took the wristband and gripped it tightly. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he muttered, "I… I don't even know your name."

The assistant dean gazed at him warmly and said, "My name is Viktor."

The two locked eyes with an intense, heartfelt connection. The air between them burned with passion, filled with shared purpose and understanding, just as it was about to ignite into something profound when...

"Ahem, looks like I came at a bad time. Sorry to interrupt. You two carry on."

A stranger's voice suddenly broke the moment from behind.

Jayce, startled again, turned to look. "Who—" In his panic, his foot slipped, and he tumbled off the edge of the balcony.

"AAAAHHHH!"

He let out a piercing scream as he fell.

Just when I found hope again... this is how it ends?

Moments earlier, he had been ready to give up on life, only to be saved by Viktor and inspired to pursue his dreams again. Now he was about to die anyway.

What kind of joke was this?

In the critical moment, Viktor reached out, trying to grab Jayce. But being physically disabled, he was too slow and couldn't catch him.

Besides, with his frail body, even if he had managed to grab Jayce, they'd both probably fall together.

CRASH!

Just as Viktor was about to shout for help, a gust of wind swept past him, accompanied by the sound of chains sliding.

A man suddenly appeared at Viktor's side. He flung out a chain connected to a gun-blade, expertly wrapping it around Jayce.

With a forceful pull, the man yanked Jayce back up into the air.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" Jayce continued to scream hysterically.

"Alright, you're a grown man. You're just flying through the air—why are you screaming like that?"

The man caught Jayce, swiftly covering his mouth to stop the embarrassing and easily misunderstood noises. His movements were casual, as if catching falling men was an everyday occurrence.

But Jayce was clearly terrified out of his mind. His eyes rolled back, his limbs twitched, and tears and snot were streaming down his face.

The man, holding him with an exasperated look, muttered, "I'm not in the habit of hugging strangers. Ah, but this kind of situation reminds me of... certain philosophical concepts, and frankly, I can't handle it."

"Sorry."

With that, he casually tossed Jayce onto the ground.

The man then rubbed his chin thoughtfully and added, "But I'll say, Jayce, your physique is impressive. You could totally compete in a bodybuilding contest."

Jayce winced in pain, gritting his teeth and gasping for air. After a long while, he finally managed to recover from his panic. He sat up slowly, his legs still shaking.

"You..." He narrowed his eyes, studying the stranger's too-casual posture. "I should thank you but something's not right here."

"Oh?"

"You could have caught me normally." Jayce pushed himself to his feet, wobbling slightly. "Instead you..." He gestured at the chain-blade. "You made it as dramatic as possible."

The stranger raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer I hadn't caught you at all?"

"That's not—" Jayce ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "And how do you even know my name?"

"Oh, that? I overheard your entire conversation just now."

"Hm..." Jayce studied the stranger's face. "I have this gut feeling that you did it on purpose."

The man paused, slightly startled. Damn, Jayce really does have insane instincts. He's right—I totally did it on purpose.

"Now that's an interesting theory."

"It's not a theory," Jayce said, then let out a short laugh as he realized he was echoing his own words from earlier. "You wanted to see how I'd react."

"Like how you screamend like a girl?"

Jayce's face reddened. "I knew it! You—"

A soft chuckle interrupted them. They both turned to see Viktor leaning on his cane, shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter.

"I apologize," he said, composing himself. "But you have to admit your scream was rather... distinctive."

The stranger stepped forward. "You see, Jayce, sometimes a man needs a reminder that he's still alive. And nothing says 'alive' quite like..." He mimicked Jayce's scream, though at a much higher pitch.

"That's not what I sounded like," Jayce protested.

Viktor, who had been silently observing the whole rescue, was still staring at the man. He'd watched every move and couldn't believe his eyes.

His throat tightened as he asked, incredulously,

"Forget that for a moment. I'm more curious—how on earth did you manage to pull Jayce back up with just your arm strength?"

Because of his physical disability, he deeply envied those with healthy bodies, but he had never seen anyone as outrageously strong as this man.

Not even Zaun gang members enhanced with chemtech could pull off such a feat.