âJax,â Aatrox echoed, drawing the word out as if testing it on his tongue, tasting it. His eyes narrowed into slits of glowing embers. Hadnât the Icathians always had such needlessly long names? Jax. So short. The opposite of the kind of name heâd expect from an Icathian. More likely than not it was a nickname.Â
Yes, that seemed likely to be the case to him.
The aging darkin moved himself from his uncomfortable crouched position to a more comfortable sitting one, ever tilting his head down at he who was once his foe. Even seated, even with his wings tucked in close to his body Aatroxâs form was domineering. Having cut through a villageâs worth of people on the way here it was only natural that his form reflected the amount of bodies he amalgamated into his own.
A sigh and settling flesh and bone cracked as he settled, freshly crafted yet already decaying.
âI am Aatrox,â He replied at last, âAnd though you may not recognize me as I am now I too was there that day. To think, so many years ago we faced one another as enemies, now our homelands are naught but dust and we are but two old soldiers, wanderingâŚâ A dark laugh rumbled from his form.
âA pity that the worldâs end is all but set in stone; that someday I must cut you down alongside the rest of this existence.â He looked away, almost wistful. âPerhaps in different circumstances we could have beenâŚwellâŚâ, âfriendsâ certainly wasnât the word. âwell, things perhaps could have been different.â
Both eyebrows raised underneath his hood and mask; perhaps more than a little curious when Aatrox shifted into a seated position. Well, Jax posed no threat- not that he wasnât dangerous, he could more than likely inflict serious injuries on the darkin before he got killed- and didnât want to pose one either, at least not at the moment.
Aatrox. The Icathian wanted to test the name, repeat it and remember it, but chose against it.
âAye, we might even have fought each other that day. You are not the only one who... âchangedâ in all those years.â Jaxâs voice sounded rougher than it had when heâd first started speaking; laced with a pang of sadness at the ( very few ) memories of his homeland that he still held close. Icathia had never died in his heart even if he had long since accepted that it was no more- Icathia had fallen to the void like so many things before it. âHm... Funny how similar we are in that regard.â
It truly was, Jax mused to himself as he gave the darkin a proper once over. Both were elite warriors once revered by their brethren, both ended up getting corrupted- one way or another. Jax bit back the sigh that threatened to leave him at that thought. While their corruption was rather different both originated from the void, in a way. Aatroxâs 'changeâ was not void, like his, but Jax was certain that the void aided in the âfallâ of many god-warriors.
Jaxâs own change was mostly physical; his skin had changed into a purple hue along the years and although the void had aided in healing him from his childhood illness, he wasnât too sure if he liked being so... similar to the void creatures out there. There was a reason why Jax hid his face and most of his skin.
Jax chuckled quietly, âIf Icathia and Shurima had a better relationship back then, things would likely have been very different indeed.â
He glanced idly at one hand, flexing all three fingers and finally allowed the sigh he had held back to push past covered lips. "But a pity to cut me down?â he inquired curiously before his eyes trailed back up to focus on the god-warrior. âI have seen what the void is capable of. I have been...â Jax trailed off, hesitant, âWell, thatâs not important. Death would be a welcome respite from what I have become in any case.â