Following Legends: Chapter 1

Following Legends is an online novel about a fictional professional LoL scene. Follow @eagerbradlol for updates and to give feedback!

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The left hand of Joseph ‘JoeyD’ Daniels hovered over his keyboard, shaking slightly in anticipation. His furious right-clicks had guided Lee Sin into his team’s bot-lane side-brush, and he was waiting for his time to strike. His Sweeping Lens had confirmed to him that there were no wards in this brush.

Ult up, he typed into chat. His allied Graves continued walking between the minions, last hitting when necessary. His support, Alistar, paced back and forth, creating pressure when possible. The trio were ready for action. Now it was down to baiting a mistake from the opponents.

The enemy Vayne, fully aware that she was weaker at this point in the game, was playing safe. She was staying back, in the comfort of her support Bard’s presence, only edging forward to last hit when the opportunity arose. She had been playing this way for most of the laning phase, so this wasn’t a tell that she suspected Joey to be lying in wait.

A low health caster-minion baited Vayne into tumbling forward, desperately trying to secure the last hit. This was their chance. Alistar swiftly executed his combo, sending the helpless Vayne flying into the air. JoeyD swiftly ran out of the bush, safe-guarding to the Alistar as soon as he was in range. He connected a point-blanc Sonic Wave before flash-kicking the hapless Vayne into Graves’ path. As Graves laid waste to the doomed Vayne, JoeyD followed up with Resonating Strike, ensuring that enough damage was done to secure the Vayne’s demise.

An enemy has been slain.

Joey smiled as he led Lee Sin back into the jungle. “Easy,” he said out aloud. He watched as his stream viewers spammed live chat, delighted both at the play and his nonchalance. As he continued to clear the jungle, he took a sip of Animal energy drink. Animal sponsored his stream, paying him per view. They paid him and gave him free energy drinks, and all he had to do was put their name at the bottom of his screen? Score.

The match continued, and he made play after play, carrying his laners to a point from which they were practically unbeatable. The enemy team surrendered 20 minutes into the game, and he sunk into his chair.

“That’s me for today, guys,” he said as he stared at the end-game screen. He selected the damage charts and smiled. He had done the most damage, just as he had expected.

“Thanks for watching today,” he continued. “I’m gonna take tomorrow off because I have some stuff to do. See you on Saturday!”

Live chat became a sea of disappointment, with many asking for one more game. But he had already turned the stream off. He sunk into his chair and gulped down the remains of his can of Animal. After taking a few moments to regain his energy, he opened his web browser.

He opened leagueofcontent.com – the most popular League of Legends forum on the internet. Hundreds of thousands of people were a member of this website, and it was the first place you went to if you wanted to see what was going on in the community.

One of the most popular post was titled Easy – JoeyD 2015. He clicked on the link, and watched as his earlier Lee Sin play was replayed.

“It wasn’t even a good play,” he muttered, smiling nonetheless as he read through the comments section. 5/7 mechanics, the top comment read. I came for the dank memes. I was not disappointed, someone had replied.

He skimmed down further, sifting through an avalanche of half-arsed comments for something that he would actually enjoy. He stopped and chuckled at a comment: Notice how Vayne managed to get that minion gold though. #WURF.

Just then his mobile phone beeped. Lazily he reached for it and turned on the screen. 1 New Email, he read. He opened the message.

Dear Joey,

I’ve sent you a request on Skype. If you wouldn’t mind accepting it, I’d like to talk to you about something.

Regards,

Anthony Paris

Communications Officer

Red Rocket Energy Drinks

Head Office

“Ugh,” he sighed. They probably want to sponsor him. Usually he would have been excited, but he was already sponsored by another energy drink company – Animal. He really didn’t need this complication.

Reluctantly he logged into his Skype account. A quick look through his notifications soon resulted in him finding Paris’ invite. He clicked accept, and sunk back into his chair. Soon Paris began typing.

Anthony Paris: Hey Joey. Thanks for accepting.

JoeyD: Hi. No problem. You wanted to talk?

Anthony Paris: If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to call. You’re done streaming, right?

JoeyD: Yeah. That’s fine.

The familiar Skype tone rang out, and Joey accepted the call. Tentatively he probed with a simple “Hello?”

“Hi Joey,” a deep voice replied. It had a distinct Texan twang. An aristocratic one, if there is such a version of the cowboyish accent; the sort that was more likely of someone who owned a steakhouse than someone who would eat at one. “Thanks for taking my call.”

“It’s okay,” replied Joey. “You’re not looking to sponsor me, are you? Because I’m already sponsored by Animal.”

“No, that’s not what I’m calling about,” replied Paris. “Well, not exactly.”

Joey scrunched his face up in confusion. He preferred voice calls to video calls, as he could let his face release the emotions he withheld from his voice.

“We at Red Rocket are trying to take a big step into e-sports,” Paris continued. “We’ve done some minor sponsoring in the past, but we want to do something bigger.”

Paris paused. “I’ll cut to the chase,” he blurted. “We want to make our own team. And we want you to be our jungler.”

Joey felt his heart begin to race. He’d wanted to get into the pro scene for a while now, but had been waiting for the right opportunity. This might just be it, he thought to himself.

“Who else did you guys have in mind?” he asked. “In the other roles, I mean.”

“That’s the thing,” Paris said. “We’ve got a couple of players in mind, but we want you to be a part of the selection process. We’re planning on playing in the Expansion Tournament. Obviously the roster needs to be finalized soon if this is to happen, as we need to leave time for climbing the ladder. That’s why I’m calling you now.”

“Uh,” Joey desperately tried to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know how all of this works. I’m sponsored by Animal…. but this is different, I guess. I’m pretty keen to get into the scene, but I’ll need to think about it. When do you need a response by?”

“As soon as possible,” Paris replied. “In the next few days, preferably. But by all means think it through.”

“Okay,” said Joey. “I’ll get back to you soon. Thanks for the offer!”

“Not a problem,” replied Paris. “I hope you decide to join us. Bye!”

Joey ended the call and stared into space. He hadn’t been ready for an offer like this. With a solid sponsor behind the team, they could actually be competitive. Paid analysts and coaches, a decent gaming house – it was the sort of opportunity he had been waiting for.

But what about the technical stuff? Would he be able to end his Animal sponsorship and join Red Rocket? He’d have to speak to Jared about it. He’d know the legal answer. He’d also be able to give advice on the whole idea of going pro with Red Rocket at all. He always had the right answers.

Joey was pumping with adrenaline. Was this his next big step? He hoped it was. He loved streaming, but he wanted to compete, too. This was his dream – to sit on the stage; make plays; watch the crowd go wild. Streaming wasn’t something he planned on quitting, but his fans would also appreciate seeing him playing competitively.

He picked up his phone, and scrolled down to Jared’s number.

Ring, ring!

“Hello?” said the voice at the other end.

“Yo, Jared. We need to meet.”

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