A/N: Sorry for the time it's taken to update this and other stories, I've been doing some self-improvement and I've been getting back into art, so I've been all over the place recently. I'm back motivating myself to write and this is one story I've been very excited to get back to. I hope this chapter was worth the wait~.
Lux sat quietly on the wall of the fountain in the square, his new blade sitting by him on the cobbled floor and his new robes glistening in the warm morning sun. It was nice, just sitting and listening to the water whilst staring up at the puffy white clouds.
"Lux, I'm back." Noelle perked up sweetly. Lux was startled from his thoughts, taking his eyes from the sky and looking over to the white-haired girl, dressed in her usual maid outfit with, her sword resting right beside his own.
"I got you a crepe." She smiled, holding out a rolled-up sort of pancake filled with cream and berries. "Mondstadt's 'Good Hunter' has some of the most famous Crepes in Teyvat, maybe after Snezhnaya." She smiled, handing it to him before tracing the back of her legs as she sat down to stop her dress from getting creased.
"Snezhnaya... I feel like I read that in that book last night..." Lux muttered.
"Oh? I thought Lisa came to see you before dinner." Noelle said knowingly. "She's letting you keep hold of the book then?" She asked, taking a dainty bite out of her own dessert.
"Yeah, just whilst we're here. The more I can learn about the creatures of Teyvat the better off we'll be. I think it was something to do with Frostarm Lawachurls which, by the way, I do not want to run into." Lux explained, letting out a small chuckle before also taking a bite of the dessert she'd brought him.
"Wow... This is amazing!" He exclaimed almost instantly. Noelle giggled.
"I'm glad, it'd be worrying if you disliked them... I think the only person who doesn't like the crepes here is Sucrose, but she hates cream, it gives her a headache." Noelle said, beginning to ramble a little. Lux laughed again.
"Sucrose, that's the girl with the ears right? Are they real?" He asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, I think so..." Noelle responded thoughtfully. "I never thought to ask before..." She added. Lux hummed curiously and took another bite of his dessert.
"Thanks for coming out again with me Noelle, I know you've probably got other things going on, so I appreciate it." He smiled.
"Oh no, don't mention it, I don't have much work to do today anyway, and my training day is tomorrow." She explained, wafting her hand at him with a smile. Then, her face changed and she gasped loudly.
"You should train with me! It'd be much more fun with someone to train with!" She beamed, grabbing his arm suddenly.
"Well... Sure, I'd like to get some more practice in anyways." He smiled. Noelle's face lit up and she gave him a toothy grin in response.
"Eee! Exciting!" She beamed, before taking an enthusiastic bite out of her crepe. It felt really good, knowing he could make someone that happy just by agreeing to train with them. So far, any time he'd spent with Noelle was the most memorable. Being around her was so much fun, even if all they were doing was sitting together whilst she was going through the Knights of Favonius Handbook as she had after dinner yesterday.
"So, you said there was somewhere you wanted to go today, didn't you?" Lux asked. Noelle had mentioned something to do with Springs as they left the Knights of Favonious Head Quarters, but he admittedly wasn't paying much attention when she'd told him.
"Ahh, yes, Springvale; it's a little town just across Cider Lake, when we leave the City you'll be able to see it across the way." She smiled.
"Huh... That sounds pretty nice. What's there?" He responded curiously.
"Well, it's famous for its fresh meats and hunting parties. I know this one particular chef, and she makes an incredible Sticky Honey Roast." Noelle explained. At the mention of Sticky Honey Roast, not only did Lux feel a flutter of anticipation, but it seemed Paimon had too, because his necklace vibrated violently before she fired out from within the plume of gold.
"Sticky Honey Roast! We need to go now!" She cried, attracting the attention of people visiting the Alchemist, jeweller and Good Hunter.
"Shhh Paimon!" Lux hushed, trying his best not to laugh. Noelle let out a small giggle. "How come you're so excited? I know it sounds amazing, but this is the first I'm hearing about it..." Lux started. Paimon turned to him with a stark expression, before grabbing him by the collar and staring into his eyes.
"How have you never heard of it! Do you forget where Paimon comes from? Paimon used to eat every Windblume with you know who." She explained excitedly, before consciously lowering her voice when she mentioned Aether and Lumine.
"Alright, alright..." He laughed. "I get it, it's good... Hopefully, we can try it some time." He smiled, turning and firing the same smile to Noelle, who developed a faint blush in response.
"Yes, we definitely should!" Paimon cried, before noticing what the two of them were holding. "You got crepes without Paimon!" She yelled.
"Will you be quiet! You can have some of mine, just stop yelling!" Lux barked, smiling all the while. Paimon glared at him as he held out his crepe, before cautiously taking a bite out of the corner with a little of everything, munching away in silence. Lux let out an amused scoff before sighing and sitting back, closing his eyes and relaxing a little.
"This is amazing." He sighed, a gentle breeze blowing past them as they turned their faces to the sky.
"Isn't it. I sometimes forget just how lucky I am to live somewhere like this." Noelle smiled sweetly. Lux looked over to her, but his grin faded when he saw her face. She looked heavy, like something depressing had come to mind.
"Are you alright, Noelle? Something bothering you?" He asked softly.
"Oh no, I'm alright." She grinned. "Just remembering... Past stuff." She responded with a half faked giggle, shaking her head and wafting her hand at him timidly.
"Alright... If you wanna talk about it, I'll be here to listen. I don't mind." He smiled reassuringly.
"I see... Thank you... That's very sweet." She smiled warmly, shaking herself. Lux racked his brains, desperately looking to change the subject from whatever it was she found sensitive.
"So, Springvale... Did you want to head off once we've finished these?" He asked, clearing his throat and holding the dessert out to Paimon, who took another, slightly larger bite.
"Yes, we can do." The maid responded happily, although something about her still felt slightly distant. He didn't want to pry in on anything she wasn't comfortable sharing, but he was painfully curious to find out what was going on in her head. The Head-Maid of the Knights of Favonius. That job title sounded like it carried a lot of responsibility. He wanted to make this as memorable of an experience as he could, not only for himself but now for her. It was clear she needed distraction.
"This is exciting." Lux commented, as he, Noelle and Paimon finally left the walls of the city, back past the guards at the gate, and towards the large stone bridge crossing Lake Cider
"This is the first time I've really left the city since I got here." He added, speeding up to catch up to Noelle, who was walking a few paces ahead.
"Are you nervous?" She asked curiously. "With you, Paimon and this sword? No way." He laughed, reaching over his shoulder and retrieving the blade. For now, he felt much safer actually holding the Claymore over having it on his back, especially now he knew the kinds of monsters that were out here.
"That's good. If we do run across some Hilichurls or Slimes on our way to Springvale, it's okay for you to sit back if your nervous, they shouldn't be too hard for me to handle." She offered, although, even though it was out of a good place in her heart, it still disheartened him a little.
"No, that's okay. The best way to learn is by jumping in and getting your hands dirty." He responded with a smile, swinging his sword up and onto his shoulder.
"I understand, but the last thing I want is for you to get hurt under my care. There are people who need you, after all." She smiled. Lux let out a sigh and nodded. It made sense, he would hate to have someone else's death on his conscience, knowing he could've prevented it.
Strolling along the bridge, Lux noticed something a little way down the path, just behind the hill, that made his stomach drop, and his feet go cold. It was what seemed to be a small Hilichurl camp that wasn't there when they passed through here a few days earlier. There were around six Hilichurls there, all bustling around rather intimidating looking towers.
However, it wasn't really the Hilichurls that scared him, but the hulking beast behind them, sitting almost as if keeping guard and making sure the smaller, brown-furred creatures kept working. It was similar in colouring to them, but it was easily four times as large, its mask even more evil-looking, with angry looking eye holes cut into it and painted with even more intricate red patterns.
Two long horns stuck from its mane of dark fur like great mammoth tusks, and its body was incredibly muscular. With the Hilichurls, they looked strong and the definitions of their muscles were visible beneath the shiny, short fur, but with this beast, its body was larger, like a pro bodybuilder if they were almost twenty feet tall.
They weren't as large as the Lawachurls he'd read about the night before, and they didn't seem to possess a vision or any elemental power of sorts, but they didn't look any less weak. How had he managed to gloss over something like this?
"Lux stop, don't get any closer..." Noelle ordered in a hushed voice. Lux did as he was asked, slowly looking over his shoulder at her. Her face was stark and her hand was outstretched to him.
"That's a Blazing-Axe Mitachurl." She muttered. "Don't get any closer. Come back to me, slowly." She instructed, straightening herself up but leaving her hand outstretched. Something deep in her eyes looked traumatised, and Lux wasn't just seeing this, but he could almost feel it too, like he was feeling what she could, just by looking into her eyes.
Letting out a careful sigh, he slowly turned and started making his way towards her, walking slowly so he wouldn't draw attention to himself. Noelle edged only a little bit closer, and once their hands touched, she pulled him over to her, rushing in the direction of the river.
"Thank Barbatos he didn't see you." She muttered.
"W-What did you... Uhh... A Blazing-Axe Mitachurl?" He asked, gathering his thoughts and calming down a little.
"Yes, one of four different types of Mitachurl. They're incredibly strong and incredibly brutal. You'd be dead if you got any closer." She said. She sounded very serious, like nothing he'd heard from her before.
"Have you ever fought one before?" He asked cautiously. Noelle took a deep breath, letting go of his hand as the two of them arrived at the riverbank, and began walking behind the hill and along it towards Springvale.
"I have once... I almost died when I did. If it wasn't for Master Kaeya, I would've had my insides torn out." She said quietly. Lux felt his body go cold. Was she overexaggerating, or was she being serious?
"We were on basic patrol for some of my earliest training, and we ran across an unarmed Mitachurl. I had only just received my own weapon, and Master Kaeya was in charge of my patrol training." She began. Lux took a deep breath and prepared himself for what she was about to say.
"I wasn't ready for anything like a Mitachurl. Small slimes were the most I'd fought in the days I'd had my sword, and I was very quickly overpowered. It struck me across my stomach, almost through to my internals. If it wasn't for one of Master Kaeya's abilities being able to very slowly heal wounds, I never would've survived. He ran me all the way to the Cathedral, where sister Barbara healed me..." She explained.
Lux swallowed saliva and let out a shaky sigh. It was much more extreme than he expected.
"The scars will be with me forever, and I will not let someone else suffer the pain I went through, and the pain Master Kaeya went through, with my injuries on his conscience." She added. Lux didn't say a word, following close and looking at the floor.
"With my abilities at the levels they are now, although not fully developed, I would be able to fend one off alone, but whilst you're under my care, I am not taking that risk." She said.
"I'm sorry." She added quickly after.
"S-Sorry? For what?" He asked meekly.
"For telling you something so dark on a day that's supposed to be happy and exciting." She responded, looking over her shoulder and smiling broadly.
"It's okay... I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me that..." He said softly. Noelle let out a giggle and blushed.
"I'll show you the scar one day. I find it quite beautiful now, which is nice because I don't look at it and feel ashamed when I see it now." She smiled. Lux sped up to walk beside her.
"If you ever do feel comfortable sharing that with me, then I'd appreciate it. Now I'm around, hopefully, nothing like that will ever happen to anyone again. Besides, you're my new travelling companion. I'll protect you with my life." He beamed. Noelle's eyes went wide and her face began changing to a bright shade of red, before the squealing of Paimon startled them both from their thoughts.
"You're replacing Paimon!" She screamed.
"Shhhh! No! No, I'm not. I just mean... Ugh, you know what I mean!" She hissed, waving his hands at her as he and Noelle fired nervous glances over their shoulders.
"Oh, sorry, Paimon forgot..." She muttered, clapping her hands over her mouth, her face falling.
"I-It's fine... Let's just get to Springvale and have some fun. That's what we all need more than anything right now." Lux sighed, putting on a smile and ruffling his small friend's hair.
She really had been through more than he expected. Upon first meeting her, and in the time passed since then, he'd seen her as optimistic, caring, outgoing and fun, but he never would've expected her to be carrying this weight with her.
Jean let out a sigh as she sat back in the second chair Lisa had in her office.
"What's bothering you?" Lisa asked, daintily pushing the book she'd been reading back into the empty space in the bookshelf. Jean chewed thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek.
"It's Lux..." She muttered. Lisa let turned to her and cocked her head, frowning curiously.
"Oh? What about him?" The brunette woman asked, walking back over to her desk and sitting down gently, cocking her head slightly at her friend.
"I ca-..." She started, before sighing and leaning forwards, crossing her legs and bringing her right thumb up to her mouth, holding it thoughtfully between her teeth.
"There's something about him that's strange..." She started, trying not to let Lisa catch onto anything. The Electro Vision Librarian giggled, crossing her legs and sighing.
"You've always been like that, you were the same when Noelle first joined." She smiled.
"I know, but Lux is different. He possesses no vision, and he doesn't think he's got any powers, but I feel something incredible about him. His aura is immense." She responded. Lisa hummed a thoughtful sound and took a sip of her tea.
"Well, if he has no means of using this "power", then you shouldn't worry about it. No power is a threat if it's not usable." She replied calmly, looking up at Jean over the top of her cup.
"I know. I've just never felt anything like this before." Jean said with another sigh.
"Maybe you're just in love." Lisa joked. "You feel an odd feeling inside you when you're around him, and you talk about him a lot." She smirked.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jean grumbled, resting her head in her hands.
"I'm only trying to make you feel better. You've got enough to worry about, so you shouldn't let those little things bother you so much." She smiled. Jean sighed again, even heavier than before. If only she could tell others about her's and Lux's origins... Maybe there was a way she could visit Aether and Lumine again. They would know for sure because they were the one's who sent him here.
"I know, I'm sorry... Excuse me, I'm going to go and take a little walk." She said, firing Lisa a smile and getting up from the chair, turning away from her and starting out of the room and towards the door.
"Alright. Take care dear." She smiled. Jean nodded to herself and left without another word. There was something Aether and Lumine had given Jean when she first left. Meditation was her only way to visit the two gods without sleeping, and this was finally her time to distance herself from everything else and pay them a visit. After all, this young man was their worlds supposed 'Saving Grace'.
In silence, not even firing the guards within the HQ's lobby a glance, the Acting Grand-Master strode across the tiled floors and up the stairs to her quarters. No one would be able to disturb her there, and she could enter a meditative state as quickly as possible in the quiet.
Once in her room, she placed her sword up against the wall and pulled off her jacket, tossing it onto her king-sized bed before closing and locking the door behind her. What were the two of them playing at? If Lux's power was supposed to save their world, then how could they not tell him anything about it, how to use it, or even give him any small hints about it?
No, she couldn't let this go. Even if she was only able to share tiny tidbits of information out of whatever she found out with him, anything was better than nothing. So, letting out a sigh, Jean headed to the centre of her room, and sat down on the faux fur rug, crossing her legs and closing her eyes, resting her hands gently in her lap. She had to get to the bottom of this.
Jean opened her eyes quickly when she felt the cool breeze and comforting silence that was the Upper Plane; the place in which Aether and Lumine resided.
"Aether! Lumine! Come out, I have to speak with you!" She called out, picking herself up and turning to look over her shoulder. The pillars that held their thrones were nowhere to be seen. She tapped her foot impatiently, before finally spotting two shimmering stars of blue and gold, twinkling in the distance.
Jean gasped as the two stars quickly grew in size, coming towards her at unimaginable speeds. Stepping back a few paces she watched as the two stars rocketed towards the bridge she was standing on and slammed into it with an echoing boom, a plume of dust engulfing her as the sound echoed around the cloudy space.
"Good to see you again, Jean." Aether's voice resonated. She wafted her hand in front of her face, trying to clear the dust before finally laying eyes on the twin's forms, standing in front of her.
"What's brought you here after a year of silence?" Lumina asked in a sombre tone.
"I need to talk to you about Lux and his power." She started.
"Oh!" Aether exclaimed with pleasant surprise. "So he really did make it. That's good to hear." He smiled calmly before his face grew slightly concerned and he looked back up at her.
"Wait, Lux's power? Did he send you here to ask about it? We told him we can't disclose any information about-." He started before Jean stepped forwards.
"Why?" She asked coldly, before Lumine took her turn to speak, stepping in front of her brother.
"Watch your tone, Jean." She said. "We might be your friends, but we're still gods, and you'll speak to us as such." She added.
"Lumine..." Aether said calmly, patting his sister's shoulder.
"Why can't you-... Why do you refuse to tell him anything? If he's the saviour of the world then knowing about this supposed "power" would aid him in doing that? Do you realise how much pressure that is for someone of his age? He knows nothing about Teyvat, he knows nothing about the Abbys, and he knows nothing-." She started, before Aether help up his hand, shushing her.
"Shh, Shh, Shh... We don't utter their name here." He reminded her kindly, but with seriousness in his eyes. Jean sighed and nodded, stepping back.
"We didn't tell him, because if he knew, he'd be driven mad by paranoia, and stress..." Lumine said, not trying to put it onto her lightly.
"Lumine, please, do not be so blunt." Aether sighed, smiling over at his sister. "We will share the details of his power, but you cannot share any of this with him. You may assist him in discovering his power, but you cannot tell him anything we tell you here." He warned. Jean nodded, trying to put on a front of calm, although her mind was screaming.
"Lux has a power we've never seen before... If he unlocks its full potential and trains it as hard as possible, it could reach a level almost enough to rival our own." He started. Jean's heart fell. Lux had a power that could be strong enough to rival Gods...
"He can control elements, just as you all can with your Visions, but he needs not to have a Vision. He possesses the ability to channel and control every element you know, Pyro, Cryo, Geo, all of them, and not only that, but again, if he trains his power to the max, he would almost be standing on the levels of ourselves, and your Archons." He continued explaining.
The ability to control all elements without the possession of a Vision. If anything, that would already put him on the same power level as the Archons. No, the couldn't possibly be the case, the ability to control the elements wouldn't include the power to create new areas of land, give life to areas of death, and other things their Archons could do, but even with the power they'd told her he had, he would be a one-man army. The Abyss wouldn't stand a chance.
"Why wouldn't you tell him about that sort of power... What's so dangerous about it?" She asked, frowning curiously at the two Gods.
"Using his power, even at high levels is fine, but if he knew how strong he could become, and he pushed to reach that, it would kill him. His power isn't like your Visions; his power is almost like a kind of elemental being living inside his body, and if he pushes it too far, it'll start using his life force to increase its strength. The more he pushes it, the more it'll suck out of him. If pushed to the extremes, he'll be dead in a few months." Lumine explained, firing glances over at Aether as she explained.
"So, you didn't tell him about his power, because you knew he'd try and push it to the extremes because of the circumstances?" She asked. Aether nodded. Jean let out a heavy sigh and looked down a the floor. This was a double edges sword if ever she'd seen one. A hero from another world, with an elemental power strong enough to rival the Archons, but if pushed to the extremes, it would kill him from inside.
Maybe she couldn't tell Lux about this, but she had to tell Noelle. Jean could see how attached the young woman was getting to the "Other-Worldly Hero", and it'd be cruel if she wasn't prepared for this dark outcome. The Abyss was incredibly strong, so much so that they had rivalled the Archons thousands of years ago. Now, all that stood between them, and destroying Teyvat, was Lux Parma. A single, eighteen-year-old boy, and their own Maid Knight Noelle.
Jean didn't want to be a pessimist, but she felt like the events their Twin Gods of Life were afraid of, would more likely come to pass if Lux wasn't told about what she'd been informed of today. She knew he was going to push himself and his power, whenever he discovered it, to the limits, because that's how he believed he'd save their world.
"You know that, when he finds out about this power for himself, he's going to try and make it as strong as possible to his chances of beating... Them... Will be greater. If anything, you keeping this from him is going to make things harder." She said, folding her arms.
"Jean. You should know better than anyone that there are some situations where every decision feels like the wrong decision. This was one of those times for myself and Aether." Lumine said calmly. Jean opened her mouth to speak, but only let out a sigh, closing it again.
"Was that all you wanted to ask?" The blonde-haired girl questioned. Jean nodded, clearing her throat.
"I'm sorry to bother you both." She muttered.
"Don't be, it was really good to see you either way." Lumine smiled, Aether nodding in agreement.
"You too." Jean grinned, before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, before instantly waking up back in her bedroom, sitting in the same position she had been when she entered her state of meditation.
Now, all she had to do was find Noelle and tell her everything. She couldn't share this information with Lux, but she could share it with the one who would be travelling with him through his journey to defeating the Abyss, and if Noelle could mediate him on what and how to train without directly telling him anything, then Jean wanted to do that as soon as possible. His life depended on it, after all.