Chapter 2: Riven (2) The Nightmare Begins, Foot Discipline

That night.

Dream: "You! It was you who ruined me!"

"Aaaahhh! Riven! You ruined us! You brought us here!"

In the green poisonous mist, those familiar voices cried out in hideous agony, accusing Riven of everything that had gone wrong.

Suddenly, a hand cold as ice clamped around her throat.

"Why? Why are you still alive? Why are you the only one who survived!"

That evil spirit's upper body had already melted into a grotesque mass of flesh and blood. It glared at Riven with a twisted face, then opened its gaping maw and lunged at her savagely.

"No!"

Riven shot upright in the nightmare.

"What's wrong?" Ron said, turning around from the stone table.

Riven glanced at the dim candlelight in the room and touched the cold sweat soaking her body.

"I..." Realizing she had actually fallen asleep in the bed, Riven lowered her head awkwardly.

"Bad dream?" Ron asked.

"Yes." Riven clenched her hands uneasily.

"Two years ago, I used to have nightmares all the time," Ron said, looking at her.

Riven lowered her head even more uneasily. "I'm sorry."

"No, this isn't your fault. You were only following the wrong orders." Ron shook his head, then comforted her. "Whatever you want to do from now on, you'll need a clear mind and a healthy body."

"Thank you." Riven looked down at her hands, wrapped in white strips of cloth, and only then realized that her wounds had already been bandaged.

Unbelievable. She had actually forgotten to bandage them.

Just as he said, her mental state was terrible.

Ron brought a cup of water over to her. Riven took a sip. "It's bitter."

"Mm. Ionia's people usually use this to help with sleep," Ron said.

Riven quickly began to feel drowsy, and before long she sank back into the dream.

"Riven, you led us to our deaths. It's all because of you!"

It was the same nightmare. The hellish scene of screams and wails would not leave Riven's mind.

The dead soldiers stared at her with eyes leaking blood, and bony arms stripped of flesh stabbed through her body like blades.

"No, it wasn't me. It wasn't me."

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it wasn't, it wasn't..."

Riven defended herself as she jolted awake, only to find the entire room plunged into darkness. Even the dim candlelight had vanished.

"No..."

The endless dark brought fear and despair. Her body trembled, and the emotion of panic spread through her mind by the second.

Then, with a sudden click, that eerie, bone-chilling sound of something striking bone came from beside Riven's ear.

"Who's there!"

Riven turned and saw a skeleton wearing Ron's clothes in the faint moonlight.

"You ruined them, Riven."

That eerie white skeleton made a horrifying, windlike sound. Blue ghostly fire lit up inside its skull, forcing Riven to back away in fear.

"No, it wasn't me, it wasn't me..." Riven tried to protest, but how could she possibly say it? How could she say that Noxus had betrayed her?

"You are guilty!"

"Ah!"

By the time Riven woke for the third time, morning had already come.

"..."

Ron pushed open the wooden door from outside and came in, looking at her with concern.

"How did you sleep?"

Riven shook her head. Her eyelids sagged, and she rubbed her brow wearily.

Self-reproach and pressure had nearly stripped everything from this female warrior.

"What are you planning to do from now on?" She didn't want to relive her nightmare, so she shifted the conversation away from herself.

"Well, I originally planned to go back to Noxus after saving you, but it looks like you need my care more right now."

Ron washed a few fruits and tossed them to Riven.

"Noxus..." Just hearing the name filled Riven's eyes with pain.

"Why go back to Noxus? What's so good about Noxus? Lies, betrayal, slaughter..."

She remembered the crimes of her past, and the collapse of her faith left her spirit broken.

"Mm." Ron narrowed his eyes slightly and looked Riven over. The female warrior who had once charged at the front now had none of that old fierceness left. Her gaze was scattered, and there was nothing heroic about her anymore.

"I want to change it," Ron said.

"Change it..." Riven looked at him. "Change it?" She repeated it, staring at the man in surprise.

For one fleeting moment, she wanted to laugh it off like usual, but her bitter throat couldn't manage any joke at all.

And somehow, she even felt that this man really could change Noxus.

"Yes." Ron nodded, then suddenly frowned.

He grabbed Riven's arm and quickly ripped away the white cloth wrapped around her wound.

"Hiss!" The pain made Riven suck in a breath, but she didn't say much.

"You've been poisoned." Ron looked at her bluish fingers and quickly took some potion from his stone platform.

After mixing it, he poured the potion over Riven's fingers and then rebandaged the wound.

"It must have been that green toxic mist." Riven painfully recalled what happened yesterday and let out a deep sigh.

Ron could tell she didn't want to talk anymore, so he went to mix a dose of vitality potion for her. "Drink this. I'll go look around the village for a recipe. Ionia should have a way to deal with insomnia."

"Mm." After drinking the vitality potion, Riven curled back up in bed. There was no fight in her eyes, only confusion and unwillingness toward the future.

She didn't even show the slightest curiosity about the village.

Sigh.

Ron gave a silent sigh. He knew that on its own, this would not be enough to make Riven consider his suggestion.

After leaving the wooden hut, Ron slung a bundle of firewood over his shoulder, stacked up several wolf pelts, and set off beyond the distant mountain stream.

There was indeed an Ionian village outside the forest, but even for Ron, who knew the terrain, the trip would probably take half a day.

And he did indeed have things to take care of.

For example, the wolf pelts on his shoulder were the work he had done for that village.

...

Half a day later, Ron arrived outside a small village. He greeted a few farmers, then exchanged the bundle of firewood inside the village for some Ionian coins.

Finally, Ron brought the wolf pelts to the village chief's hut.

The chief was an eighty- or ninety-year-old believer in balance who didn't look all that old. Ron had learned a little Ionian magic from him, and this usually stingy old man had actually been quite generous with him.

The reason for that generosity was probably that Ron had helped their village recover a flock of sheep, dig a well, and build sturdy walls, among other trivial jobs.

The two chatted for a while. Ron exchanged the wolf pelts for a few Ionian coins, then got a prescription from the old man.

Next he went to buy a few necessities for Riven's discipline, such as medicinal herbs, cloth, rope, a collar, and crystals.

Then he headed back to the wooden hut.

By the time he returned, night was already falling. Riven lay on the bed without purpose, silent as a cold corpse.

"I'm back." Ron greeted Riven. She didn't seem to have left the bed at all, but from the tear tracks at the corners of her eyes, it looked like she had been crying for a long time again.

Riven gave a weak reply, looking extremely frail.

What's going on?

Ron stepped closer and found that Riven's body was cold, but her forehead was burning hot.

She had a fever.

He quickly brewed a dose of herbs for Riven to drink. Then Ron scattered the crystals and the other items across his stone table and began another round of mixing.

Ionia possessed the most primitive magic, and also the oldest and most powerful magical herbs.

"All right!" Ron came over with a basin of clean water and stood before Riven. "Put your feet out."

He said it half like an order, then reached out and took hold of Riven's ankle.

"I-I can wash them myself."

Only when the cold water soaked her toes did Riven realize what Ron was doing.

Her expression improved a little, and some color returned to her pale cheeks.

"That hand of yours can't get wet."

Ron held Riven's delicate feet. Compared with her sun-weathered tan skin, the soles of her feet were surprisingly soft and pink.

Maybe that had something to do with how easily she sweated?

"Mm~ Unh~" While washing Riven's feet, Ron deliberately scraped lightly over the sensitive soles. It would help with the next stage of his training.

Riven also knew her toes were filthy, so while she was grateful for how carefully Ron cleaned them, she also lowered her head shyly without realizing it.

His hands... were so warm.

The contrast between the cold water and Ron's body heat made Riven's fair, sensitive arches tense hard. After lying in that cold cave for a day and a night, Riven felt warmth for the first time.

But for some reason, after Ron washed her feet clean, Riven lost almost all her strength from all the trembling.

She stole a glance at Ron, then turned her face away to look at the jars and bottles hanging from the cave ceiling, and asked, "What now?"

"Ionians believe nightmares are a sign of psychological burden, and foot massage can help relieve stress."

Ron studied Riven and thought to himself, So she likes this kind of play.

"What are those?" Riven remembered that he had mixed some green liquid.

Ron lifted the test tube in his hand and explained, "These are herbal essences. They have a sleep-inducing effect."

"Thank you." Even though self-reproach and pressure were tormenting her every moment, Riven still thanked Ron.

And with this man's company, the despair that had almost driven her to suicide had eased a great deal.

Live on. At the very least, she couldn't let this man waste his efforts.

That was what Riven thought.

"Don't forget, you're the one who saved me," Ron said as he dripped the herbal essence onto the soles of her feet. Those jade feet, whose temperature had gradually risen, couldn't help trembling again.

"But it's because of me that you took the risk..."

Riven's voice was very soft. Ron pretended not to hear and continued, "Besides, it's my fault for not discovering the wound on your hand sooner. Otherwise you wouldn't have gotten a fever."

"No, it's all my fault. I was the one who..."

Riven shook her head in self-reproach, and neither of them continued the subject.

And Riven would never know that the poison in her system was not alchemical gas at all, but an herb-derived extract that looked and behaved very much like it.

This ingredient could effectively suppress Riven's formidable power and make her feel unimaginable exhaustion.

"Your feet are very beautiful," Ron said, resting her ankle across his leg as he began to massage them.

He first rubbed Riven's soft feet with both hands. Once her body temperature had gradually risen, he poured more of the herbal essence onto her left foot.

Her fair toes were coated in sticky green liquid. This magical extract could not only bring on sleep, but also draw out mental fluctuations.

It would drain away Riven's stress, and her nightmares.

"Relax a little. Let your toes absorb the medicine better."

Riven obeyed Ron's words, closed her eyes, and felt his fingers slide through every gap between her toes.

One by one, he stroked her toes, rubbed the skin of her soles, and then firmly worked the arch of her foot.

Under his massage, Riven felt a searing pain rise from her tough feet, travel up through her calves and thighs, and finally make even her pelvis burn hot.

Then Ron hurriedly slipped a pair of cloth socks onto her and tied the openings tightly around her ankles with straps.

"There. It's late. Have a good dream." Ron set Riven's legs back onto the bed and said with a smile.

"Thank you." Riven looked at him very seriously. "How can I repay you?"

Ron realized she wasn't joking. He knew Riven's self-reproach and guilt were gradually turning into gratitude toward him.

"Then just listen to my orders properly." Ron patted her head and deliberately used the abrupt word orders.

Riven blinked at him. "Go to sleep," Ron said.

Whether it was the effect of the herbs or not, the warmth spreading from her feet quickly made Riven sleepy, and before long she had fallen into a deep sleep.

...

In the middle of the night, Ron timed it precisely, got out of bed, dripped two drops of Ionia's potent aphrodisiac into Riven's mouth, and then lay back down to sleep.