Lol, custom short story

All hale the rat king. ft twitch

Zaun is a place of many things: toxic lakes of acid that would destroy your face, smog, so I think it would make clouds jealous and people more insane than me. While others would not want to live there, it's nothing to twitch.

Today was a good night for the mutant rat. He hit three houses today and never got caught. Then again, one went to something, and the other was asleep, but it was still successful. Now he is on the roof of the third house, shorting the treasure he found. He stole 30 rings, 20 gold bricks, 13 gemstones, a few shiny papers, and best of all—a can of moldy salmon, which is his favorite treat among this junk.

Opening the can, the whiff of rotten seafood mixed with olive oil put twitch into an eating trance, and he started slurping up the vile yet tasty blend from the can.

"Ahh, now that's some good waste," Twitch said, stuffing the now empty can into his waistcoat.

"Now, time to go home before those 'fancy' idiots get up." He said, grabbing his loot, putting it into a sack, and with that, he went on his way.

To the average being, the winding streets and interconnected pipeline of Zaun would make it impossible for most to figure their way in and out. Luckily, Twitch knows these routes like the back of his mutant paw and snatched a map from the purple man while nearly losing his tail from its ax.

Jumping between buildings, climbing downpipes, twitch made his way back home. He passed through the clean and polished Piltover streets, climbing down the promenade and entrance level and moving through cem-Barron territories. But to Twitch, they were just landmarks for him to follow back to his home, nothing more, nothing less.

Reaching the slums, twitch hurried his way to his home, the old hungry. The old clock tower recently became his new home after angry Zaunites attacking Piltovans destroyed his old home. It was a shame, but that's life.

Going around the said to an old dumpster, Twitch opened it and revealed a secret tunnel going into the old hungry. Chucking the sack into the dumpster, he made sure no one saw him and entered the tunnel with the dumpster closed behind him. 5 feet into the tunnel, and he came to his home.

He made his home in the old hungry basement, in a boarded-off room abandoned for unknown reasons. He divided it into four sectors. The one closest to the entrance is where he sleeps and plans his next hit. Next was his loot corner. He placed every ring, gemstone, and old food container on which he could get his hands neatly in different piles, but he did not need them. He just liked their shininess. The third was where he stored all his arrows, casks, and Toxins. Lastly was a spot for his most prized possession, His Cem-Powered crossbow, stolen directly from the warden HQ in one of his greatest hits. He keeps in the only light source, a hole in the wall, to let its shininess send light all around the room.

Taking a breath of the toxic air, twitch dragged his loot sack to the other and started sorting each piece to its appropriate location. It took about ten minutes for the bag to be empty, but soon Twitch did it. All sorted, all clean, all neat, he immediately went to his bed, which was just an old mattress, and went to sleep.

That lasted about 5 hours when suddenly, a loud crash shocked the entire room and made Twitch jump out of his bed in fear. After a few seconds, his fear turned into annoyance and anger since who the hell blows something up at 1:00 in the afternoon. So He grabbed his crossbow and went out to investigate.

Forcing the dumpster and looking out, he saw what was going on. The explosion came from the street. A group of slum workers was on the road, and one of those entitled Piltovian millionaires was screaming about something to the works.

"Hurry up, your damn idiots; I swear fungus work better than you slummers!!!" He screamed at them as they were looking for something?

"Sir, this is the fifth time we looked at this area today. If your papers were here, they would be long gone." One of the workers with a robotic arm remarked.

"I don't pay you to speak. Now keep looking. If you don't find those case files, I'll sell you all to the cem-Barrons!!" He screened louder, which caused Twitch to cover his ears, now done with this egotistical lawyer antics.

"Alright, this idiot needs to learn a lesson, But How?" He pondered until he noticed something interesting. Some metal chains held up a pipe above him, just below a bridge, and he knew what to do. So he started up the build, climbing up the wires and tubes to the pipe level, then wiggled upside down until he reached the chain holding it. Now it's time to get to work.

Securing himself, He grabbed one of the casks, smashed it into the bottom of the bridge, and poured a bit of the liquid on one of those chains. The drink started eating the chain itself, dissolving it into goo, though not dissolving the chain enough for it to snap.

"Let's hope he enjoys metal-eating acid," Twitch said, chuckling while placing another cask on the side of the pipe, just able to see, and began his way back. He went down the tubes, and soon he was back down to his dumpster entrance.

"God, Where's a miracle when you need one." The lawyer said, panicking now. "How hard is it to find the golden paper? It should stand out like a lightbulb. I swear to the wolf itself, if those papers don't get to the wardens, My ass Is dead." He spat out while pounding his fist into his head.

"It's over by the sewer entrance." He said, closing in on him from behind.

"It isn't there. I already l-" The millionaire said while turning around, only to see a 3-foot mutant rat wearing a trench coat and wielding a giant crossbow. The lawyer completely froze, like his brain short-circuited, and couldn't say anything except "the- the-the" then.

"A GHIANT F*****ING RAT AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" He screamed in the highest pitch twitch ever heard, which caused him to panic and fired his crossbow accidentally. Thankfully, the scream caused the cask to shatter, and the acid finally broke the chain. If that screen were loud, the screaming man crushed by a giant, acid-covered pipe probably hitting the ground would be ten times louder.

When the dust settled, there was just a pool of blood, flesh, and metal left where the man once stood, along with fifteen slum workers and twenty pedestrians who came out to see what was happening.

With that, Twitch climbed up. on the pile and laughed

"That's what you get when you wake up the rat king," Twitch said proudly, not even noting everyone else.

"Oh my... IT'S HIM," One of the slum workers said, dropping to the ground.

"The legends are true; The ascended returned!! A woman said, dropping down.

"Uhhhh?" Twitch said, completely baffled. What's ascended? What legends, why aren't they running? But he decided to go along with it to see what happened.

"Uh, yes... I have returned!!!' Twitch declared, raising his crossbow. Now all of the workers and the people who came to investigate what happened were kneeling for Twitch. Then, the most prominent member of the group was a tall man with his torso.

"Oh great god, warrior Tuitsh, protector of Zaun and the life within. You have answered our calls for help. We plead with you; please help us. The energy that once ruled this land is gone. And the people are now in ruins." He said, going down on one knee.

"I can see that this land isn't what it used to be.' Twitch said, lying out of his two front teeth.

"We beg you; with your powers, we could reclaim Zaun and turn it back to what it used to be. Please, we beg you." He said, sounding like he was holding back tears.

Twitch thought for a minute, then realized this was what he needed. He would have a loyal army, thinking he's a god, and with it, he could start his plan to take over P&Z as the rat king.

"Alright," Twitch spoke confidently and cleared his throat. " I hear you call followers. If you follow me, I, Twitch, will lead you to freedom, ALL HALE THE RAT KING!!!!"

His claim was met with thunderous applause. The desperate people of Zaun started chanting, "ALL HALE THE RAT KING, ALL HALE THE RAT KING, ALL HALE THE RAT KING!!!!"

Art by Taekwon Kim