Akali

Abandoning the Kinkou Order and her title of the Fist of Shadow,  Akali now strikes alone, ready to be the deadly weapon her people need. Though she holds onto all she learned from her master Shen, she has pledged to defend Ionia from its enemies, one kill at a time. Akali may strike in silence, but her message will be heard loud and clear: fear the assassin with no master.

Akali was born within the Kinkou Order, daughter to Tahno and Maymm Jhomen Tethi, the renowned Fist of Shadow in the order and one of its leaders. As a child, Akali's parents would often be called off on their duties in helping preserve the natural balance of  Ionia, leaving her under the care of other leaders in the Kinkou Order like the Great Master Kusho and Kennen. For many hours, Kennen would train with Akali, teaching her many shuriken techniques and emphasizing she train speed and agility over strength. Being a prodigy in learning these skills, Akali showed great promise as a member of the Kinkou Order alongside Great Master Kusho's son and appointed successor Shen.

Great Master Kusho's adopted son and former student Zed returned after having left the order during the Noxian Invasion of Ionia. Zed planned to enact a violent coup over the Kinkou Order, clashing violently with Kusho and seemingly killing him. Zed and his followers then transformed the order into the Shadow Order, killing the remaining Kinkou, including Akali's father Tahno. Akali, along with her mother Maymm, Shen and Kennen, survived with other acolytes by fleeing to a long-abandoned temple in the eastern mountains.

In the mountains, Shen began rebuilding the Kinkou Order by returning to its three fundamental philosophes: the pure impartiality of Watching the Stars, the passage of judgment in Coursing the Sun, and the elimination of imbalance by Pruning the Tree. As Fist of Shadow, Maymm's duty was in Pruning the Tree, training the Kinkou's assassins and going out on certain missions to remove those that would threaten Ionia's balance.

Akali grew up alongside the other neophytes of the Kinkou Order, including a childhood friend of hers named Faey, Maymm's young apprentice. Though Akali, even as a child, was incredibly skilled with agility and speed, she was rambunctious and impatient, often causing trouble for Faey and the other neophytes when training or hunting, mostly due to being the youngest of them. Akali constantly looked up to Faey but also saw how different her relationship was with Maymm, as her own mother clearly favored Faey over her own daughter.

While training and playing games, the Neophytes encountered a band of Navori Brotherhood, a nationalist faction seeking to kidnap and train the young and able of other villages for their own army in the wake of the Noxian Invasion of Ionia. The group of young neophytes, not wanting to lead the brotherhood back to their Kinkou temple, hid in the trees and used traps and tricks to scare the warriors away, succesfully convincing them the forest they trespassed on was cursed.

Unfortunately, they would accidentally anger a corrupted nature spirit made of wood and vines who proceeded to rampage around. With the rest of the neophytes now in danger, Faey quickly tried freeing them from the spirit's vines. Akali helped Faey in freeing them, even against her orders, hastily running circles around the spirit and distracting it enough for Faey to free the neophytes. Akali saved the others, dragging them to safety away from the creature, but Faey had been struck by the spirit and fell to the ground, getting gravely injured and breaking her leg. At that moment, Maymm, Shen and Kennen arrived just in time to get rid of the spirit and saving the children.

Back at the temple, the rest of the neophytes praised Akali for her speed and her skills in saving them. Faey woke up, now realizing the graveness her injuries as she was unable to walk and missing her leg. Angered by Akali's lack of discipline, she blamed her for her injuries and snapped at her, despite Akali's attempts to comfort her friend. Maymm would comfort Faey by stating her dedication to finding a way to heal Faey's leg, hugging her and stating that she would travel the world to find a way to heal her and allow her to fight by her side again. Akali saw the kindness Maymm harbored for Faey and tearfully walked off.

Years later, at the age of fourteen, Akali formally entered her Kinkou training, determined to eventually succeed her mother in becoming the new Fist of Shadow. Though she possessed no magical talents like the other acolytes who would fill her role, she proved her worth of the title by sheer skill. Maymm would eventually step down from her role as Fist of Shadow and focus more on mentoring the other neophytes, officially granting Akali the title as her successor.

Though the Noxian Invasion had mostly ended and the Order of Shadow reached an uneasy accord with the Kinkou, Akali slowly saw the suffering her people and her homeland still endured. With this in mind, she began to question her purpose as the Fist of Shadow and whether or not she was truly fulfilling her duties in Pruning the Tree for the sacred balance. On her missions, Shen would constantly urge restraint and utilize many meditation techniques and mantras to quiet her wild spirit. Akali, however, believed Shen was holding her back, constantly arguing and defying him as she took down Ionia's enemies who threatened the great balance.

Finally sick of Shen's conservative views on Ionia's balance, Akali insulted him and the rest of the order, claiming their lack of action in favor of spiritual balance has lead to more Ionians suffering. She officially left the order, discarding her title as Fist of Shadow and becoming a vigilante assassin of her own, unrestrained from the Kinkou Order's rules. Shen did not argue with Akali's decision, now seeing that this was a path that she must walk alone with hopes of her returning, though he knows that is a decision only she can make herself.

In the coastal village of Weh'le, a hidden phantom port with mystical properties, Akali visited a vastayan tattoo artist named Boi'lii. She traveled her on a mission to assassinate a councilman from Puboe who had sold out his own people to Noxian invaders in exchange for gold and safe passage through Weh'le. In the meantime however, she got her iconic dragon tattoo on her back thanks to Boi'lii, who urged Akali to do her business outside of his shop this time. Once outside the tavern, she successfully killed the councilman's guards and ultimately the councilman himself.

Akali and Shen come across a Noxian boy in the Navori province, harvesting wood from a Guardian Tree. Doing this will upset the balance of the land and while Akali plans to reprimand the Noxian through force, Shen urges her to find a different approach. As the Noxian loads up his cart, Akali arrives, breaking the wheels and pinning, what turns out to be a small boy, underneath his cart.

The life essence of the guardian tree leaks into the ground, awakening a hulking protector of the shrine, who plans to restore the balance of the forest by killing the boy. While Shen stands aside so that balance can be restored, Akali rushes forward to try and defeat the protector and save the boy. Realizing the protector is too powerful for her to defeat, she rushes to the boys side and try's to release him from the cart that is pinning him to the ground. As the hulking protector looms above them, Akali takes an acorn from one of the branches of the tree that they boy destroyed, has him plant it in the ground in order to restore the balance. With the guardian satisfied with this trade off, Shen powers the new tree to grow at a rapid rate, and the protector settles back into the ground, on guard until the next disturbance occurs.