Silent, dark, peaceful, he envied silence. Because to the sheer quiet of it all made him seem loud. But wait, he could think, was there something after death? And what was that infernal sound breaking up his perfect silence. It was almost rhythmic and familiar? It sounded like, breathing. Panic filled Jhin's form, he was dead how could he hear breathing? As if on instinct he tried to silence himself and not become detected. The breathing stopped, he relaxed slightly and the sound returned. So it was his breathing, he was breathing. Did the dead need to breathe?

Wait the darkness was not so dark, Jhin opened his eyes to find himself still in the temple. The man sat up and looked around, he had been a crumpled heap on the floor of the structure. he could see small glimmers of sun through the roof of the site, so he was alive? A dream? But that didn't explain why he was were he had stood last night, a hallucination? But how, did someone drug him while he slept. But that wouldn't have explained why he was still here. if he had been drugged he would have been captured or killed. The man picked himself off the ground and shrugged his worries away for now. If he was still here then he needed to move to avoid any searches.

After gathering his supplies Jhin wrapped a grey travel cloak around his form. It obscured his clothes and most of all helped him blend in. Not many would know his appearance, but it was best not to draw attention. The travelling performer walked over to his pack of maintenance equipment and supplies. The man had to make his own ammo most of the time, and even when he didn't he had to modify it to infuse the bullets with magic. But aside from his weapons the pack also contained food, and other necessities for survival without help from civilization.

Jhin walked out of the temple before he paused, the forest was different. The colours weren't as vibrant, and the whole area seemed to be darker. The plant life had seemed to change, the virtuoso had a hard time identifying any of the species, he simply didn't recognize them. he had never seen the like in Ionia, or anywhere for that matter. This wasn't a good sign, the man continued on his way, he didn't recognize anything. The man had planned his escape route to the tee, 'Prehaps I am not where I was after all.' After a moment he fished out a rarely used piece of equipment, his compass. 'I'm heading east, well i suppose that is a good as place as any to start. I certainly won't be backtracking, besides the if what I am seeing in the sky is any indication the day has just begun.'

The foliage was thick and only rarely did Jhin come across a clearing. As the man walked he pondered what could have happened to land him in this rather foreign forest. 'Could the temple have contained a sort of teleportation spell? I can't imagine why such a difficult spell would be used in the temple, but how else did I get here?' As the artisan walked he noted some sounds stick out from the quiet like a flare. A rustling faded in and out of his hearing. Instinctively the assassin reached for Whisper on his hip, his left hand then brought the weapon forward and waited. A few moments passed before a form leaped from the bushes, or rather several forms. Without even truly looking at them Jhin began to count, "One."

A bullet shot from Whisper and buried itself into one of the creatures, a sound of splinters barley registered as the man began to dash away from his targets before he fired another shot, "Two." more splinters and the sounds of cracked wood, 'Sentient tree monsters, I suppose I have heard of those before.' Jhin leaned over slightly and pulled back the cover on his shoulder to reveal a set of tubes and machinery. As if commanded, one of the tubes produced and fired out a grenade that landed in between the two wounded creatures. The grenade canister discharged magic and fire onto the wolf like monsters and they cried out as they died. Jhin was quick to cover his shoulder again, despite the death of their comrades two more of these wood wolfs charged madly at the man. But in a contest of madness they had already lost, "Three, Four!" another shot was quickly placed in the closest muzzle and the remaining wolf was the unlucky one. On the fourth shot a great crack of thunder came from the barrel and the wolf was naught but ash and twigs. A grin reached the artists lips under the mask, these creatures were only on sapient kindling but he enjoyed the thrill none the less.

Just then another rustle in the bushes, Jhin only had enough time to turn to his right find wolf within a foot of him, in an effort to shield himself from its open jaws his through up his arms. Whisper was thrown from the man's hand as the wolf latched onto Jhin's right arm. It was times like these he was glad he wore some armor, as the creature attempted to bite into his flesh he tried to wrestle his arm away from the beast. Finding no flesh to bite into the creature leaped up and pinned the man. Now the wolf let go of the armored limb it attempted to claw at the madman, using his arms to hold the paws at bay was no easy task. But as an artist one must be gifted in all sorts of fields, and the virtuoso was no stranger to conditioning his body to be stronger. Or working, out as his former fellow prisoners may have said. The two were at an impasse, neither could overpower the other.

The jaws of the wolf were just out of reach, but the wolf's weight pressed down on the man and he was beginning to lose space. It was then that an idea struck, "If this outfit gets dirty I am going to be so annoyed." Jhin quickly placed his legs beneath the wolfs body before he kicked the whole of it over his head. Jhin rolled to his feet but didn't see Whisper anywhere. A growl turned his head as the wolf had righted itself. Just as the beast was about to charge again Jhin grabbed the barrel extension from his hip, with his right hand he pointed the barrel at the monster. A trigger was present on the barrel, it acted as a one shot long range gun of its own. The wolf fell over and died magic burned from his corpse and scorched the earth beneath it.

After Jhin caught his breath he saw Whisper on the ground, he picked up the weapon and reloaded it. He took in his surroundings, after he concluded he was safe for now he dusted off his person. Thanks to his grey cloak, he was without many stains, and even then the few he found were on his legs, blue was easier to clean than white. Another glance around yielded nothing so he began to walk again. The sun was lower in the sky and the masked man and just reached the edge of the forest.

After a moment of survey he let out a hum of interest, ‘Arid, Im not in Ionia thats for sure, Valerian perhaps, though I can’t be sure where.’ Jhin continued his long trek soon enough he found a road, ‘So there are people here, and by the look of these tracks Im headed in the right direction for a settlement. And if I can find a settlement, then I can find a place to rest and more importantly where I am.’ Yet more walking after a break to eat and drink, however this time was made much faster and easier by a straight beaten path.

The sun began to set and as it did the marksman spotted the edges of a town, it was hard to see it in full but it was there. And now that he came closer he saw, ‘Tracks? Am I near Piltover, but why would they ever build tracks for a train out here?” The town was within spitting distance now, and the moon and stars shown over head. He payed they no mind, and entered the town. There he saw a sign for an inn, he walked up to the door and entered. A woman sat at the counter and looked up to see Jhin in his cloak, it covered his mask in shadow. The hump on his shoulder she disregarded as another pack, the small one he wore on his back was visible even partially covered in grey. She wore a simple dress and had her hair back in a bun, she had what appeared to be identical tattoos of something on her upper arms.

Jhin internally cringed at the symmetry the tattoos held, “Well, odd time of night to get a visitor that comes by foot, especially at this time of day... night. My name is Hearth Heart, and welcome to the Dugout Inn, finest stay in all of Dodge Junction, how can I help you sir?” the woman spoke in curious tone.

“I was hoping to procure a room for the night,” a pause before he continued, “I understand this is an odd question, but due to my circumstances I am forced to ask, where am I exactly?” While the hostess showed a small amount of surprise she merely answered with a smile.

“Your in Dodge Junction, a prospering town with great ponies, if you meant in geographic terms your east of the Everfree forest and west of Baltimare.” the woman continued to smile despite the stranger not showing his face, she had learned that those with something to hide about themselves, whether it be a scar or deformity were nicer when you didn’t care if they hid their flaws.

Jhin found the seeming breeding of equines of no interest and instead decided to focus on the foreign names, he had never heard of them before, though he assumed he had been in the Everfree earlier today then. The pause Jhin produced seamed to cause the air to take on an awkward tone. "I am from quite far away and I fear that those names are not familiar to me, would you mind telling me some general information about this country, I have yet to meet another traveler on my journey here."

'Wow, I know that foot traffic has been decreased due to trains over the years but not meeting anypony?' the inn keeper's thoughts were amazed and critical, 'I suppose its not so far fetched for him to not be a pony. Unless they were hideously scarred, nopony would ever feel such a need to hide their face. But if you were in a foreign land and a different species that would do it.' She nodded in affirmation, "Well I guess that makes sense, well as I'm sure you know Equestria is a thriving nation best known for its friendly relations with other nations and, our economy is matched by few if any. But one thing that most visitors don't know about Equestria, is that our way of life shares a central theme but ever part of it differs greatly. Just thinking about the way different types of ponies are distributed population wise is daunting. And so drastically different from area to area you might think we don't get along. Might have been that way a thousand years ago but it sure as Celestia ain't now."

Almost unconsciously Jhin tilted his head, "I fail to see what ponies have to do with getting along with your countrymen."

It was Hearths turn to look confused, "First off whats a 'countrymen', is that some way of referring to nationality?"

'It would appear I am farther away than I initially thought' the artists' mask shook slightly, 'nothing this women says makes sense, and she is incapable of understanding simple terms.' The assassin's gaze fell on her again, "Yes. I fail to see how you and your fellow... 'Equestrians' have anything to do with ponies, or equines of any kind for that matter. Though I suppose based on your country's name it is rather central to your culture."

"Uhhhh, now I'm even more confused, how wouldn't ponies be important to Equestrian culture, we founded this country as a united nation, and still make up the vast majority of the population even with the few griffons, yaks, and centaurs that migrated over the years. Did you never get a history class or something.” Jhin looked at her with a unflinching figure, Hearth could swear she could see one of his eyes, brown and piercing.

The madman’s thoughts were as fast as ever, not to say that he thought faster than others, but he certainly didn’t have to think about something as long to come to a conclusion. ‘I must be on some undiscovered continent, that can be the only explanation for all of this, but that doesn’t explain the language, even if there are differences. Why would there be so many similarities. I may be speaking common, but the differences between even regional languages in Noxus or demacia make the differences between Ionian and shumriman look like brothers’ the man thought for a moment still, “Hmmm, it would appear that terminology is different here, where ever here is.” the former prisoner kept that last part quiet, “Forgive the question but are you a ‘pony’?”

“Yes,” the tone of her voice made her sound as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “What do you mean?”

“Ah, well, I guess even if we speak the same language, words mean different things. Thank you for the information but I have one more, what is the currency here, I have money of value though it is most definitely not what you are familiar with. At the very least the material should serve as a payment.” to illustrate his point the virtuoso pulled out several gold coins of various mints, and some silver serpents. He placed ten coins down on the table and continued his questioning, “Would that be enough for a room for tonight?”

“Well, ‘Bits’ is the name of money in Equestria, they are gold and silver coins. These aren’t bits but since this is gold and silver, not to mention the fact I have never seen these coins before, I’ll take you up on your offer. Breakfast is at eight sharp in the dining hall. Or if you would prefer you can take your food to your room, then return the plate and cutlery after.” Hearth Hearts explanations was quick and practiced, her tone cheerful. She hand Jhin his key which he accepted with his left. The mare saw strong forearms, a hint of white and golden clothing, and something on his hip though she had no idea what.

“Thank you,” he walked to the stairs of the inn after he glanced at his key, ‘if I find out that I actually am on an undiscovered continent, I will never forgive who ever is responsible, they will beg for death, and when I grant it their faces will be beautiful!’

Author's Note

HEY YOU READ THIS!!!!

I have decided to make this series take place in Season four, for a few reasons but mostly cause the only character I am hard set on Jhin meeting is Trixie cause you know performer. And Trixie doesn't have an appearance in season four, also you know four. But honestly tell me your ideas for this story, I want to have Jhin away from the main story and do his usual art commissions once he finds underworld contacts. The only way I see him going to the main part of Equestria is to do a performance.