You tumbled through the doorway, disorientated and panicked. From behind you came the sound of a door slamming shut. In the sudden lack of light you were practically blind, and so had no sense of the size or contents of the room you had just been dragged into.

You instinctively pulled against the grip on your arm. To your surprise, your mystery captor let go without protest. You flailed around blindly before a match hissed in the darkness, bathing the room in a wavering glow.

It was large and impossibly tall, with ceilings that disappeared into the gloom. Unlike the other rooms you had seen in the Academy, this one was impeccably clean. Each book had its place on an orderly shelf, every box was neatly labelled and stacked away. The only anomaly was a pile of clutter in the middle of the main workspace. You thought you recognised some pieces from the very ones you had drawn... But they couldn't be, could they?

It took you a moment to recognise the person that held the match beneath the large protective goggles he wore. Dark hair. Hazel eyes.

This man got weirder and weirder every time you encountered him.

"Did I grab the right one?" asked a voice.

You turned. At this point, you weren't surprised to see Jayce-bloody-Talis of all people locking the door.

He squinted at you. "Doesn't look like an Enforcer."

"I'm not an-" you started, struggling to order your thoughts. It appeared your brain had been left in the corridor. "Pardon my language, but what the fuck is going on?"

"I just saved your ass," Jayce said, wandering over to the workbench to tinker with something unseen. "Your welcome."

"I- Yeah, thanks, but how-"

And then you saw what he was working on. It was a tall, spindly structure, made up of a multitude of thin rods strung with scraps of card. Drawn on them were intricate, geometric symbols. In the middle was a small indentation, wires and cables leading from it.

And it all clicked into place.

"You're making magic," you breathed in disbelief. "You're actually making magic."

"We will," Viktor said, casting a wary glance at the door, "if we don't get caught first."

"So that's why I had two angry Enforcers after me."

"Sorry about that. We didn't realise they'd be so... persistent."

Jayce rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, visably more stressed than Viktor who looked as if this was just another day at work.

"You nearly done?" Jayce asked impatiently.

"Nearly, nearly," Viktor murmured in response, minutely tweaking the angle of one of the rods with a tiny screwdriver.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" you offered, feeling awkward just standing around.

"There is a small box in the cabinets over there-" He gestured vaguely with the screwdriver without looking up. "Second to the left. Third draw down. Bring it over here - please."

You carefully did as told and removed the lid at Viktor's request. Stark blue light from inside seeped out bright as daylight in the dark room. Once your eyes had adjusted, you saw its source was the tiny shard-like gem you had seen in Jayce's apartment.

For a moment all three of you stared in awe, or fear, or whatever indescribable emotions you were feeling at the moment. The weight of what you had been caught up in suddenly bore down on you; You were trespassing in the head of the Council's lab with two mad scientists - one of whom had nearly been exiled from the city only days before - who were trying to make magic.

This wouldn't look too good on your résumé.

With slow yet shaking hands, Jayce placed the gem in the center of the contraption. Immediately blue streaks spread from it, snaking up the rods and illuminating the odd pictures. The air seemed to crackle with power.

Viktor consulted the book to his side, flicking through the pages before closing it. "Time to crank it."

That doesn't sound too appealing, you thought. Jayce shared your opinion.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.

Viktor made an unsure sound and, after a nod from Jayce, pressed a button on the side.

Immediately the mechanism began to spin, some layers moving clockwise, others the opposite. As it picked up speed, bolts of blue shot from the center, crackling and white-hot. You tried to take a cautious step back but found you couldn't move. Whether it was pure panic or new-found magic holding you in place, you could only stand and watch as it spun faster.

The gem grew so bright you had to look away. The room glowed in sputtering shades of summer sky. Though it could've been your imagination, you swore you could feel a strong wind surrounding the ancient object.

You looked over at the men, and saw their hair was standing up, flowing as if underwater. Reaching a hand to your head, you felt yours doing the same.

Jayce opened his mouth to speak, but his words were drowned out by a sudden knocking at the door. 'Ramming' was probably more of an accurate word.

Viktor swore.

He hurried over, you following close behind. Together you fastened the array of intricate locks that spanned the length of the door. Your fingers were unsteady with nerves. For good measure, he shoved his cane through the handles.

The weak wood strained as another flurry of pounding barraged the door.

"Will it hold?" you asked, having to shout over the rushing sound that had filled the room.

"It'll have to." As if in response, the wood splintered and cracked. You threw your hand up to protect your face from the splinters. Now only a set of flimsy locks stood in place between you and the Enforcers on the other side.

"We could move something across to block it," you suggested, surveying the room. "A cabinet, perhaps."

"There's not enough time. They're almost through - No pressure," he added over his shoulder to Jayce, who was hurriedly flicking and altering the rune cards.

The man looked up, incredulous. "That sounds like pressure!"

You felt your balance waver, and weren't sure if it was your body that was shaking or the room itself. Everything was a panicked blur, lost in shouting and banging and sparks of blue.

Beside you Viktor stumbled, unsteady without his cane. You looped an arm under his and guided him back to the workbench.

Jayce was lost in deep focus, eyes sharp yet distant as he altered the cards. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and with one final move, everything clicked into place.

The runes shone.

For a moment the world froze, bathed in cold light. You became aware of a humming, more of a feeling more than a sound. It resonated deep in your bones.

There was a fleeting second in which everything was still, silent, perfect. The glass in the window opposite that had broken from the shock wave hovered in place, waiting. Your hair floated in wispy tendrils.

And an ancient part of you knew that this was the beginning of something.

An end of an age.

The birth of an era.

Then, like the crack of thunder following lightning, the world exploded. The door caved in. The gem sparked to life. You were lost in a cacophony of things you couldn't quite describe: power and stars and space and time, years and decades and centuries of repressed magic compressed into a single moment.

For a moment you thought you were swimming, somehow.

Then you realised:

You were flying.

Around you both Jayce and Viktor floated effortlessly too, their features wide with shock. Jayce reached out to touch a cluster of stars. They wavered at his touch, glinting and shiny in their little patch of space.

You had little control over how and where you moved. It was as if you were floating deep within in moon-dappled water, propelled softly by unseen waves.

Holding out a hand, you saw your skin danced with blue sparks

In the middle of it all was a glowing, swirling orb of what you could only describe as magic. You watched as Viktor nudged a cog in its direction. It froze for a second, then seemed to warp through the mass, appearing fully-formed and intact as ever on the other side near you. You laughed and nudged it back, watching in awe as the teleportation process repeated.

As you did so, you hand came slightly too close to the orb. Bright tendrils reached out towards your exposed skin and before you could pull it away, cold, tingling power coarser through your body. You felt oddly non-existent for a millisecond - then suddenly, you found yourself on the other side.

With a soft bump you collided with Viktor, who had watched it all happen. You were too stunned to notice as he gently pushed you away with a hand on the small of your back.

He opened his mouth to speak, but appeared just as surprised as you were.

"Wow," was all he managed to say.

You choked out a nervous laugh in response.

"Will you please stop hovering!" ordered a voice from below.

Looking down, you saw Professor Heimerdinger, flanked by two shocked Enforcers, at the door.

"I'm not sure how to do that, sir," Viktor called. He was unable to suppress a laugh as he used his hands to slowly propel him through the air. His eyes shone bright with a childlike awe. You couldn't help but smile at his glee.

However, Heimerdinger didn't seem to share his joy. He wrung his little hands nervously.

"Oh, this is not what Piltover's future looks like," he muttered.

"That's for council to decide," a voice interrupted.

Councilor Medarda appeared at the door. You blinked, sure that she was a Two Council members in one room? You attempted to shrink away, not wanting to be mistakenly given credit - though it was near impossible to hide whilst suspended in midair.

She regarded the situation with poise, a hint of satisfaction curling her lip. "Perhaps," she said, "it's time for the era or magic."

A shiver danced down your spine at her words. Magic...

"Hex Tech," Jayce corrected. "The era of Hex Tech."