Twin Cities Year 989, February 13.

After completing the handover with Noxus, the Twin Cities built a Hextech station in Bel’zhun and planned to construct a sea route from the southern mountains of Piltover to connect the two places, linking the continent of Valoran to the continent of Shurima.

Swain raised both hands in support of the plan. In his letter, he stated very clearly that if Logan needed them, he was free to use the Noxians stationed in Bel’zhun however he wished. Knowing the kind of man Swain was, the gesture practically felt like he was handing out a bonus.

But Logan understood exactly why Swain was doing it, and it wasn’t surprising. Aatrox had regained his clarity in Logan’s hands, and he was an Ascended god-warrior of ancient Shurima.

Once a fallen Darkin recovered even a fragment of his former glory, it was hard to guarantee he wouldn’t do something insane for the sake of ancient Shurima’s honor.

Like killing or driving out every invader?

Noxus had achieved enormous success in Shurima, and nearly all of that territory had been taken by Swain himself. On top of that, Shurima looked barren, but in truth, it was richer than Noxus in many ways.

That was right, Shurima was actually rich in mineral resources. Add in wool and textiles, and of course Swain had no intention of letting go of that land. Now that Logan was willing to take over and bind Bel’zhun to the Twin Cities, Swain naturally welcomed it with open arms.

After all, who knew when the Ascended might return, like their emperor?

Though the histories and the stories people told all claimed that the Hawk Emperor had been gone for a thousand years, Swain, who wielded demonic power, knew very well that even if Azir had truly died, his will and power would live on as a legacy. If some inheritor of his suddenly appeared one day, rallied all of Shurima with a single call, and led surviving Ascended and Darkin from the Void War straight at Noxus, Swain honestly had no idea what he could use to stop them.

But now, the Twin Cities could help stand between Noxus and Shurima.

Logan understood Swain’s reasoning, but he didn’t think there was any problem with it. His relationship with Swain had always been one of mutual interest? No, that was the nature of their alliance, they were partners bound by interests, not close friends.

Back in the battle in the Freljord, Swain had traveled a great distance to help and contributed a great deal. Logan naturally had to repay that in turn.

Under the blazing sun, huge clumps of sand and grit could be seen whipping through the air on the wind.

The feeling of those grains slipping into your collar and sleeves was genuinely awful. Every time you raised your hand or took a step, the sand inside your clothes scraped against your skin. The locals had long since adapted to it.

But for outsiders coming to Shurima and facing such brutal conditions, the first thing they had to endure was the sting of sand carving bloody marks into their skin. It was no wonder the locals all had rough skin. In weather like this, nobody’s skin could stay soft.

And now, in Bel’zhun, a large ship had docked at the town pier. The Twin Cities emblem was carved into its hull, a gear symbolizing Piltover, paired with a gray-black chem-flask representing Zaun.

The people of Bel’zhun had already gotten used to the sight. As a port town, how could they not recognize ships from the Twin Cities? What had been strange lately was the frequency. In the past, Twin Cities ships came only three or four times a month, but in just the last half month, this was already the seventh one.

Soon, the gangplank dropped, and a group of people stepped off the ship.

At the front was a young man with black hair. His looks could only be called pleasant, his features soft but not especially striking, nowhere near the sharp, bold features of Shurima’s desert folk. Shurimans had extremely defined features, especially their noses. Even the women often had proud, heroic noses.

Because of that, his appearance didn’t really fit Shuriman beauty standards.

And yet the strange thing was that when the desert folk looked at him, they all felt an inexplicable urge to go over, talk to him, and get to know him.

They just... found themselves liking him for no reason.

Behind him were two women and one man.

The girl walking close on his left, her arm wrapped around his, had beautiful blue hair. She had a small oval face, bright eyes, white teeth, and stunning features. On her head sat a black hat covered in patchwork, with a lock of bangs slipping out from the front and falling along the side of her face, giving her a sharp, stylish look. Two long blue braids fell over her shoulders to the front of her body.

On her upper body, she wore a bright yellow leather jacket, with black bands at the shoulders and chest, hanging down to her thighs. Underneath was a blue buttoned shirt.

On her lower body, she wore black khaki pants and black boots covered in blue graffiti. Metal plates on them clinked as she walked, and even the laces were doubled.

To be honest, after seeing that outfit, everyone present among the desert folk thought the girl would be dressing in proper local sandproof clothing within two days. Fabrics and fitted clothes like that simply weren’t suitable for Shurima.

The other girl walking behind him, just from her looks and bearing alone, was obviously a native Shuriman.

As for the man, he wore a cloak, carried something on his back, had purple skin, and was so heavily built that it bordered on absurd.

This group was naturally Logan, Jinx, Taliyah, and Jax.

"I’m... back," Jax said instinctively the moment he stepped off the ship and breathed in the air of Shurima.

Hearing that, Taliyah glanced at him curiously. It wasn’t that she was being rude, she genuinely couldn’t tell that Jax was Shuriman.

She had always thought this companion, who looked more like a bodyguard than anything else, was some kind of Zaunite augmented human...

Because how could a normal person possibly have muscles like that?

It was way too exaggerated.

"Logan, where are we going next?" Jinx asked. But after only a couple of words, she started spitting sand out of her mouth.

Her brows knit together, and Jinx got her first real taste of what Shurima’s environment was like. She was already wearing very little, just a yellow jacket and a short-sleeved top, so why was it still this hot?

It was only February!

Back in Zaun, this was the season for warm inner layers and fleece-lined coats. But in Shurima, an outfit like this still felt hot.

So Jinx quickly decided she really wasn’t built for Shurima’s weather. But just as the discomfort hit her, she suddenly felt the temperature drop, and the air around her turned pleasantly cool.

That dry, gritty irritation vanished completely. Blinking, Jinx looked at Logan.

Because she had long been around Hextech gems and had a very close relationship with Janna, some magical energy already flowed within Jinx’s body. Because of that, she could tell this sudden change was Logan’s doing.

Grinning, she shifted from wrapping herself around Logan’s arm to holding his hand, her big eyes curving into crescents.

There was no way Logan was going to let Jinx suffer. And using this little bit of magic wasn’t even a burden to him. He could keep it up for her twenty-four hours a day, and it still wouldn’t drain faster than he recovered.

"We head south and travel through the night," Logan said after thinking it over.

Jax chuckled. That suited him perfectly. He had returned to his homeland for the sake of fighting the Void, of course he was excited.

Jinx had no objections either. She was already used to camping outdoors with Logan. That had happened in Ionia, and it had happened in the Freljord too.

At worst, it just meant setting up a tent. And as for food, Logan was a really good cook, okay?

But Taliyah wasn’t thinking the same way Jax and Jinx were. The moment she heard Logan, she said anxiously, "No, you can’t travel at night."

All three of them looked at her, and Taliyah quickly explained.

"Shurima’s temperature changes drastically between day and night. During the day it’s incredibly hot, but actually, the most dangerous time in Shurima is nighttime.

"Because after so many years, every Shuriman knows this, when people say the daytime heat is deadly, that’s usually just exaggeration, a joke. But when they say the nighttime cold can kill you, that’s real. The biggest reason outside visitors die in Shurima isn’t bandits or raiders, it’s underestimating the cold at night."

Taliyah’s face was full of concern. She was genuinely afraid Logan really intended to travel at night. It sounded romantic, traveling beneath the stars, but it was truly, truly dangerous.

Jax smiled faintly. He knew Taliyah was right, but the problem was that she was warning the wrong person.

With the sheer amount of magic Logan possessed, he could easily raise the temperature for miles around them. And on top of that, the Twin Cities had their bizarre scientific inventions. What was that little thing called again, the tiny heater that was only the size of Jax’s palm? Oh, right. A Hextech heater.

It was only as big as his hand, but the effect was astonishing. Once turned on, it could heat up a space in no time. Stable, practical, and reliable. So even if Logan didn’t use magic, he didn’t need to worry about the cold at all.

As for Jax himself... his body simply didn’t fear the cold. Not just a Shuriman night, even if he stripped naked and walked into the Freljord, Jax wouldn’t feel cold.

The last light of Icathia had transformed his body. He had long since ceased to be an ordinary mortal.

"No need to worry about that." Logan released a little more magic, and a cool breeze wrapped around Taliyah. She froze for a second, then immediately understood.

Right.

Teacher Logan wasn’t an ordinary person. He could use magic. If she could use magic to reshape the earth and turn solid stone into flowing sand, then it wasn’t strange at all for Teacher Logan to use magic to change the surrounding temperature.

Thinking that, Taliyah said, "Then the first thing we need is a map of Shurima. We need to find where we’re going on the map."

Logan took out the watch Ekko had made and opened it for Taliyah. "Will this work?"

"No..." Taliyah shook her head. She knew what it was, but it was useless in Shurima.

"This is called a compass, right?" Taliyah said, then continued, "Shurima’s magnetic field is different. Look, Zaun’s direction is north, but this watch is already showing some deviation. Once we go deeper into Shurima, the needle’s deviation will get even worse."

"Then how do we find our direction?" Logan asked curiously.

He wasn’t surprised that the compass would be affected. Right now, compasses were only reliable on Valoran. Once you got to places rich in magic, like the Freljord, Ionia, or Shurima, the overwhelming magic would interfere with the magnetic field. Naturally, compasses stopped being useful.

"Leave it to me." Taliyah patted her chest and said seriously, "I’ll do this job properly."

No matter what, she was still Shuriman. She had grown up here. She had her own way of finding direction.

Logan nodded, then looked toward a military officer in the distance who had been watching him. The man wore red, had a terrifying scar on his face, and eyes as sharp and vicious as a hawk’s. But the moment he noticed Logan looking back at him and met his gaze, he lowered his head slightly and placed a hand over his chest.

Logan smiled. Swain really did move fast. The officers in Bel’zhun had clearly already received his orders.

Walking over, Logan asked the officer, "You know who I am?"

"I do. Grand General Swain has already given his instructions. Here, everything is at your command," the officer replied.

"That makes things easy. I need a topographical map of Shurima."

The officer nodded, then gestured. A soldier came over, the officer gave him a few quiet instructions, then turned back to Logan and said, "Please wait a moment. The map will be brought at once."

While waiting, Logan simply started chatting with him.

"How long have you been in Shurima?"

"Seven years," the officer answered.

"In those years, have you run into any unusual people? Or heard any interesting rumors?"

The officer thought for a moment, then said, "There actually have been a few."

He continued, "Not long ago, a group of desert folk came to Bel’zhun. They kept spreading stories that the deep desert was extremely dangerous, that they had seen a humanoid monster with a crocodile’s head. Most of the time the monster looked no different from an ordinary person, and it kept crying. But then a group of bandits attacked him, and while crying out a name, his body grew larger and he slaughtered all of them."

After hearing that, Logan glanced at Jax and saw his eyes sharpen. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He knew exactly who that crocodile-headed monster was. He had nearly crossed weapons with him before.

When Logan didn’t respond, the officer added, "Of course, I think those desert folk probably just had their brains cooked in the deep desert and were rambling nonsense."

Logan smiled and asked, "Anything else?"

"There are pilgrims in Shurima who say that in the west of Shurima there is a powerful god. If you worship it with true devotion, it will protect and bless you. Quite a few traveling merchants have confirmed it. They say they were saved by that god when they came under attack from desert bugs."

"Do they have any description of what it looks like?"

"They say it’s... a turtle?"

Jax couldn’t help laughing.

Logan also found it amusing. The Freljord really was Shurima’s opposite, one land of cold and one of heat. The environments were completely different, but one thing they had in common was that both places had more demigods than you could count on both hands.

After talking with the officer a while longer, Logan got the map and handed it to Taliyah.

The little sparrow accepted it with both hands, opened it, studied it carefully for a while, then nodded. "No problem."

"Then we leave now," Logan said.

And so the group set out beyond Bel’zhun.

Shurima’s daylight lasted a very long time, but Taliyah didn’t feel hot at all. The blazing sun overhead felt more like decoration than anything else. All she could feel was comfort.

Cool breezes wrapped around her body, blocking the sand and the heat. It felt wonderful.

Yes, even though she was Shuriman, she still had to say it, Shurima’s weather really was awful.

But there was still another issue, stamina. Sand was hard to walk through. Every step sank a little.

Then Taliyah got a signal from Logan and began using her magic.

At first she didn’t dare. But Logan told her he was here and she didn’t need to worry, so Taliyah finally worked up the courage to cast.

The sand beneath their feet compacted together, and then, as if by desert magic, a broad sand platform appeared, wide enough for all four of them to stand on like a sideways elevator.

There was no need to lift their feet or walk. The sandy platform slid forward on its own. Seeing that, Jinx simply plopped down on it, and the only real cost was Taliyah’s stamina.

By evening, they stopped briefly. Logan made some food. The conditions didn’t allow for anything elaborate, so it was simple, but Taliyah ate with great relish and finished several bowls.

As if she were making up for the magic she had drained that afternoon.

Then, before long, it was deep into the night.

Only then did Logan truly understand what Taliyah had meant when she said people shouldn’t be out at night in Shurima.

Under the starlight, all that could be seen was an endless sea of desert. The temperature plummeted, and visibility dropped with it.

"What now?" Logan asked, looking at Taliyah.

Taliyah’s magic had mostly recovered by then, so she used it again, practicing her control while continuing to travel.

Standing on the stone-and-sand platform she had created, she lifted her head and looked seriously at the night sky full of stars.

Logan watched her.

The starlight fell across her face, across the few obvious freckles on her cheeks. Taliyah’s eyes were unbelievably bright, her pupils filled with the night sky, the stars seeming to gather into lines within them.

"The threads of fate are woven... and we should stand like stone."

With that quiet murmur, Taliyah raised a hand and pointed at a star, speaking with complete certainty.

"Teacher Logan, we go this way. This way is south."

This time, Taliyah wasn’t asking. She was making the call.

She was the guide. She had to lead the way.

"The Renek River is to the south. If we keep going this way, we should see the river in a few days."

She turned her small face toward Logan and spoke with total seriousness.

Logan nodded, while beside him, Jinx yawned. She didn’t care much about the stars. She had no particular love for stargazing.

"We’ll follow your lead, Taliyah."

Taliyah nodded, looked up at the night sky, and began to move both hands.

Her hands slipped out from her long sleeves, fingers swaying and flowing as magic moved with them. The sandy platform glided ahead, almost like they were surfing across the desert.

The night wind blew. The stars shone overhead.

At some point, a smile rose at the corner of Taliyah’s lips. It felt wonderful, being able to use her magic so freely. And for the first time, she had received recognition and encouragement from someone outside herself...

It was as if she had finally understood what courage was.

Maybe magic wasn’t so hard to control after all.

When the stars lit up,

the little sparrow of Shurima found courage too.

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