Faen had long known about Syndra's descent into darkness.
But knowing it didn't mean he could empathize with the people who caused it.
As people grow older and their minds mature, they increasingly realize how annoying, or even detestable, their younger selves could be.
Based on this emotion, the period between the late teens and late twenties is when a person's disgust for "brats" is at its strongest.
The main reason is that after thirty, people have to start battling life itself.
But before that, when a person's mental energy is at its most active, that is precisely when their hatred for unruly brats is at its peak.
Stepping forward under Syndra's somewhat bewildered gaze, Faen rolled up his sleeves with a cold expression.
Watching Faen approach, the brats' faces showed timid fear, driven by a child's instinctive dread of adults.
Perhaps trying to bolster his courage, Syndra's brother stiffened his neck, trying to look fearless, though his eyes were equally filled with cowardice. "Who are you?! Syndra is my sister! She did something wrong! What does punishing her have to do with you?!"
"You actually have the nerve to say that?" Faen shook his head in amazement. Without another word, he delivered a massive slap.
Under the force of the blow, Syndra's brother was sent flying.
Though it looked heavy, when the boy landed on the ground, the excess force dissipated into the earth.
Aside from feeling unforgettable, bone-deep pain and being covered in dirt, Syndra's brother suffered no permanent injuries.
Psychological trauma notwithstanding.
Seeing their "leader" getting beaten up, the little brats beside him had no intention of charging forward together. Instead, they instinctively took a step back.
But Faen wasn't about to be soft-hearted.
In all of Runeterra, when it came to suffering caused by one's family of origin, no one had more right to complain than Syndra.
Among the playable champions in League of Legends, even if other characters had difficult childhoods, it was usually glossed over quickly.
And even in those so-called hardships, they often had many ways to break out of their situations, possessing power, authority, or talents to help mask their pain.
Only Syndra, influenced by Ionian traditions, lived in terror of her own extremely unstable magical power.
Ostracized by neighbors, detested by family—a little girl suffering grievances not only didn't dare confide in the parents she was supposed to rely on, but those parents would turn around and scold her for her faults.
They forced a little girl to walk alone down a rugged path into the forest, just to find an old, mute tree to pour her heart out to.
She had finally managed to compose her own emotions, and then what?
A bunch of shitty brats chased her down and, without a word, threw stones directly at the back of her head.
It was only because Syndra, despite looking fragile, had her life force protected by Ionia's darkness itself.
Otherwise, any other child would likely be lying paralyzed on the ground right now, passively enduring beatings and humiliation.
After driving away the children, Faen shook his hand and turned his gaze back to Syndra.
Noticing Faen's gaze, Syndra instinctively shrank her neck, looking at him timidly.
It seemed she was terrified Faen might give her the same treatment—she had just seen with her own eyes how her brother was slapped flying. It looked incredibly painful.
Though she didn't know the exact reason why, to be honest, Syndra felt she had vented a massive breath of foul air.
She had wanted to do that for a long time, but she never dared, afraid of her parents' reprimands.
Now, although she didn't do it herself, seeing her hateful brother and those who always bullied her get severely punished gave her heart an inexplicable sense of euphoric relief.
So, when she saw Faen raise his arm toward her, although Syndra was a bit scared, she didn't dodge. Instead, she nervously closed her eyes, her petite body tensing slightly.
She thought it would be like with her mother—even if her brother bullied her first, her mother would still verbally reprimand her, saying both of them were at fault.
But to Syndra's surprise, the stranger's large hand simply landed gently on her head.
"What are you afraid of? You didn't do anything wrong."
A helpless voice reached her ears. Syndra blinked her large eyes and looked up at Faen.
In her sight, Faen was just rubbing her head while looking at her with a somewhat helpless expression.
This made Syndra feel a bit lost. She shrank her head, looked at Faen, and after a long hesitation, whispered, "I'm... not wrong?"
"What could you possibly be wrong about?"
"Because... I made them unhappy?" Syndra pursed her lips and said, "It takes two to make a mistake... Mom always says that."
"Then that means your mom is wrong, not you."
As he spoke, Faen frowned slightly, feeling that something wasn't quite right.
In Faen's memory, Syndra had indeed suffered a lot from her original family—a classic "Asian childhood" experience.
But how to put it... there were some contradictions in the sequence of events.
What happened today should have been the origin of Syndra completely falling into darkness.
Although Syndra didn't kill these children, their ultimate fate probably wasn't great. According to her short story The Dreaming Pool, the moment she awakened her dark power, everyone who had ever tormented her never smiled again.
Based on what happened later, this "never smiling again" wasn't because she brutally murdered them, but because she planted darkness in their hearts, forming an eternal fear.
But compared to a power that inflicted lifelong psychological trauma, the true reason Syndra fell into darkness was that when her power awakened, the land spirit of her village withered and died.
It was precisely because of the land spirit's death that Syndra's family was exiled from the village and ostracized by other settlements.
Logically speaking, given the situation, it wouldn't have surprised Faen if Syndra's parents had simply abandoned her rather than taking her with them into a life of displacement.
But oddly enough, even though they heavily disliked and rejected her, Syndra's parents didn't abandon her.
Thinking of this, Faen nodded thoughtfully. He then turned his gaze back to Syndra and said, "Where is your home? I'll come and help explain these things clearly."