((Short and sweet hopefully, got to get used to this new nd and way of speaking for eastern characters. future pns are in the ents))

  Zzzt!

  Orion's loss of sciousness was brief, aric jolt of are energy jolting him awake. Wing in pain, he id ft on his stomach, struggling to push himself up to all fours, breathing heavily.

  Forcibly, he tried bending the magic back to the pathways within him, but the effort caused only more violent offshoots of wild energy, crag like static electricity.

  "You are far from home, stranger," a strange, unfamiliar voice said from nearby. "The bahin you is in turmoil; you must trol it- or you will die."

  Grunting, Orion opened his eyes. The grouh him was yered in delicate and thin red petals. A fragrant floral smell- so pure and unpolluted that it felt like distant memories of the past. Perhaps the st time he had ever smelled anything so was before ing to this world.

  "You think I don't know that?" Orion groaned. He raised a trembling hand, crag arcs of wild blue energy dang between his fingers, involuntarily causing them to twitd spasm in unpleasant ways.

  His gaze finally drifted upward to the figure speaking. A man in a light blue tunic stood before him with armored shoulder padding aher armor ced with curling patterns that were unfamiliar to him.

  The strange man csped his hands behind himself, scars riddling his exposed arms and face, his brown hair tied off in a man-bun. His stern expression showed experien dealing with such stras.

  Intrigued, calm, but also displeased, the man crossed his arms. While he spoke, his voice held authority, yet it was also patient. "If you know, then you must act. The longer you hesitate, the more you endanger yourself- and others."

  "I'm trying! This isn't my doing." Orion spat, another surge of unstable energy surging through his arms to his hands.

  With a forced gnce around, Orion spotted unfamiliar, a buildings t betweehereal trees in shades of white, soft pink, and crimsohe entire pce seemed dreamlike, a world away from the grim tones of the Uy.

  "Where... am I?"

  "You are oer reaches of the Temple of Xuanain." Kneeling, the stranger's gaze was steady and pierg. "This pce draws on the spirit and magic of the nd. It is a pce of healing and learning... But the magic you possess disrupts the ba fractures the order, just like it fractures you."

  Orion blihe tension in his chest growing. "You expect me to just fix it? If I knew how, I would have already! It... refuses to obey."

  The stranger closed his eyes, his expression tightening as he formed a hand sign, trating deeply. Orioe the sharp pain shooting through him, scowled in disbelief.

  This stranger approached him, lectured while he suffered, and then started doing... whatever this was?!

  Before words ced with irritation could spill out, the stranger spoke again.

  "It seeks to return to the nd. Magic is wild, like the creatures that roam free." He opened his eyes, log his calm gaze with Orion's, a strange sense of sympathy present there. "Let it go, st to bend it to your will."

  Stunned, Orion's gaze shifted dow go? Just the thought of it sent shivers through him- a deep-rooted fear of what would happe, what choice did he have with the magic tearing him apart from within?

  Closing his eyes, he hesitated o time. The voice echoed again, calm yet insistent.

  "Let it go..."

  Trembling, Orion finally released it. The magic rushed out like a dam bursting. Relief struck him immediately, but fatigue followed just as fierce, washing over him like a tidal wave.

  "Thank you," Orion panted, his gaze still lowered as he fought to steady his breath.

  "It is only natural," the stranger responded evenly.

  "Shen?" A small, worried voice called in the distance. "Why did you run off? Who is this?"

  Before Orion could process it further, he colpsed as fatigue overwhelmed him. Orion's knees buckled, his sciousness fading as he felt the danger had finally passed.

  A softer voiswered, tinged with sympathy.

  "A lost soul..."

  ------------------

  //Meanwhile, Ba Piltover//

  "How did this happen?" Caitlyn whispered, her voice hollow.

  Moments ago, she had been reeling from the shock if disc Orion's death. So many questions, now bitterly left unresolved. To her, he was one of the few she could speak to without overbearing arrogance or dismissive mockery.

  Her thoughts drifted to the first i- the day her parents were kidnapped- and when the mystery surrounding Orion first began. Caitlyn couldn't deny she had felt something for Orion, but she couldn't uand it.

  Caitlyn's gaze drifted up to Greyson, who eyed her sympathetically. "None of this makes sense. Why weren't you informed? Why were the standards so low?"

  "Corruption, Caitlyn." Greyson sighed with disappoi. "We tried to track the tractors down after the riots broke out, but all we found were corpses. Whoever was behind this left no loose ends. All we have is the er."

  Walking over to the window, Greyson's gaze drifted off into the distance, exhaustion evident on her features after the past few days.

  Slowly, she turned back to Cassandra. Cassandra was sat on the couch, hands cupped aroueacup, tense as she braced for terrible news.

  Greyson's expression hardened. "There are es to several noble houses. This is a disaster. How would you like to proceed?"

  Cassandra froze, her grip tightening on her cup. Her gaze shifted from to Caitlyn, who met her eyes with the pierg look of a young woman demanding justice. This caused her to falter, l her gaze briefly before returning it to Greyson.

  "Proceed. This will stop the cil's aggressive tactics toward the Uy- for now. I'll hahe political fallout."