~Undercity~
While Silco raged at his ruined factory, his Shimmer-brewer out of commission and his supporters forced into retreat, the Enforcers grew far more ruthless in restoring order. The Shimmer-infused monsters had left carnage in their wake, and many residents who rose in anger believing Piltover was behind the attacks, were swiftly put down, most through arrests.
Around the Last Drop, Vander's bar front had become a makeshift hospital. The kids carried buckets of dirty, tainted water and rolls of fresh bandages between rows of groaning patients.
Isha waddled out from the back, struggling with a bucket nearly larger than herself. The sloshing water spilled over her hands as she shook under the strain until a large hand lifted it away.
"Thank you, Isha," Vander said gently, grime and blood streaking his skin. "Can you fetch more bandages?"
"Yes, sir!" she saluted, darting back into the rear room.
"Atta girl."
"Where's Orion?" Vi asked, lugging back a blood-tinged bucket from an alchemist tending wounds. "Have we heard anything?"
Vander shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine. I sent birds out. Word is the cell block he was in was attacked. He's gone."
"Gone?" Vi froze. "Like… dead?"
"No. Gone as in he isn't there. Nobody knows where he went. Not even the Enforcers saw him escape. The one left to guard the cells was crushed under the rubble."
"Then where is he?" Powder asked, wringing cloths at the counter. "Why hasn't he come back?"
"Why would he?" Mylo muttered bitterly beside Claggor, both of them bandaged on stools. "Look what it got him. Wounded, jailed, nearly killed again."
"He didn't leave us! He's probably hiding!" Powder snapped back.
"I've got people looking for him," Vander cut in. "If anyone spots him, I'll know. In the meantime…"
"In the meantime we round up Silco's monsters," Benzo spat, Ekko hustling beside him with a heavy box of tools. "He's running scared after those things were wiped out!"
"His plan failed," Vander agreed grimly. "He wanted Piltover broken and played his hand but it didn't go his way. Not even the rumors he spread blaming Piltover."
"So… it wasn't Piltover?" Claggor asked, confused. "Then what was it?"
"We don't know. There are some whispers about rogue mages but they are still rumors. We will know with time."
"I'm going out to find Orion," Vi said sharply, dropping her bucket on the counter.
"No you won't." Vander's hand pressed firmly to her head. "Not now with the city in chaos. And I already said I've got people searching."
"But—!"
"No buts! Look around. People need you here. Powder and Isha need you here."
From the back, Isha ran out again, carrying a box too large for her small frame.
"I found them! Is Orion back?"
"Good girl. Not yet," Vander said gently, softening. "Be patient. He'll be back soon."
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~Piltover~
"He got away again!" Caitlyn snapped, her voice cracking with frustration as she tended a wounded civilian.
Jayce crouched beside her, binding a man's arm. "The explosion broke his cell lock. He ran in the chaos. Forget about him for now, we've got people bleeding in front of us."
"I'm trying, but—" Caitlyn's brows furrowed, anger and unease flashing in her eyes. "The blast… it looked just like the ones across the city. What if he's a mage and he's wandering free?"
"Then it's the Enforcers' problem," Jayce shot back. "Grayson will handle it."
"One step at a time," Viktor said quietly, using his cane for balance as he rose. "We cannot solve every problem at once. But Caitlyn is not wrong, his escape, the damage, they are too similar to ignore."
"Viktor. Not now." Jayce's snapped.
"I am only saying."
Caitlyn barely heard them. Her gaze lingered on the smoke curling in the distance.
'He's there every time… at the center of every disaster.'
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~Orion's POV~
Orion's consciousness floated in a dark abyss, surrounded by a sphere of twisting light folding endlessly in on itself.
Stars swirled around him as his body convulsed, pain making him scream silently. Though the sight was beautiful, it felt as if his flesh were being stripped away, flayed raw by the sheer force of the arcane.
His body stretched impossibly thin, like liquid through a straw, and then snapped back violently.
He tried to channel magic to stabilize himself, even a trickle, but his body gave out. The colors wound tighter and tighter until the bubble burst with a deafening thunderclap, leaving only white in his vision.
Gasping, Orion's fingers clawed at the ground beneath him. The texture was foreign. His body was on fire, yet he shivered violently as if he was cold.
He couldn't sense anything. No sight, no smell, only nausea so violent he vomitted into the ground.
Cold? Warm?
He couldn't tell.
Everything blurred as his consciousness slipped away, consumed by the endless storm inside his body.
The only clue he had before it completely slipped away was the faint twittering of birds and a gentle breeze.