Along the coastline of Ionia, upon a group of shattered and steep islands stands a cliffside temple known to house a bloodline of isolated and mysterious priestesses. Those seeking guidance may travel there to speak with whichever priestess resides there at the time, rarely ever exceeding two. The knowledge these women gain comes from speaking and listening to the wind, learning its secrets of what it has seen, is seeing and will see. Sometimes, spirits caught on the wind will also request and audience. It is the priestess’s duty to listen to both the living and the long departed to seek balance and quell fears.

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        The current priestess is known only as Meiko, the same as her mother and her mother’s mother. Never once has her given name been revealed, not to the living and certainly not to the spirits.

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        After the Noxian invasion of Ionia allowed azakana to thrive, this included one that found the fear and desperation of the village near the wind temple alluring. Using what seemed to be not only a feast but a nexus of spirits and magic nearby, the azakana terrorized the village prompting Meiko’s mother to step in.

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        The priestesses were blessed with the ability to guide the wind, and with the aid from these spirits and a relic from the temple, an ancient, oxidized handbell, Meiko’s mother was able to seal the azakana within the relic at the cost of her own life and spirit becoming trapped within the relic as well.

 

        Only 11 at the time and without a father, Meiko could do nothing but guard the relic in addition to her slew of new responsibilities. However, as years passed, Meiko gained the ability to not only hear the spirits on the wind but also her mother and azakana within the handbell. Tormented by the ongoing battle raging day after day, Meiko decided that she needed to free her mother from the never-ending battle and take her place. Her solution was to throw herself from the cliff, handbell in tow, and at the moment of her death swap places with her mother and allow the bell to remain untouched at the bottom of the ocean.

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        When the day finally came, the spirits pleaded, and the wind was furious. Without a mouthpiece, how would their plights be known to the living? How would balance be preserved? Nonetheless, Meiko delicately reached the cliff with the ancient bell, battle raging in her head, and she took the leap.

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        On the way down she could hear her mother and azakana become aware of the situation, too caught up in their own battle to have ever known what was happening prior. Now, it was far too late. Just as Meiko hit the water, a large gust of wind swept through and around her, she was between life and death and could see her mother and the azakana. With great effort, she managed to free her mother and take her place, binding her spirit within the bell in the process. Now free, her mother could not stand to let her daughter die, and certainly not for her benefit. With what sway she had left, she protected Meiko’s body and preserved her connection to the living world.

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        When Meiko sunk beneath the water, the wind had never been so still and the spirits never so quiet. There was balance. A priestess with both a living body and a detached spirit. As she climbed onto the beach in the aftermath, Meiko no longer heard battle but a single voice coming from the bell. The azakana’s. Not only was she spirit and living, she was consumed by good and evil all at once. The azakana could appear through her but not be free so long as it was still sealed within the relic, and with a simple purposeful ring of the bell she could allow the azakana to take over and change her body, but the moment the bell lost its tune, the power would fade and be sealed once again until it had repaired itself. Now there stood a delicate balance, Meiko could use the azakana to help the people of Ionia and ease their fear and uncertainty against Noxus, therefore weakening the azakana, but every time she called it forth it grew stronger, nullifying any power shift. Meiko must be careful not to arbitrarily call forth her new symbiote, lest the balance become unstable.

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