The sun from above filtered through the leaves like a kaleidoscope. One of the rays illuminated what looked like a fairly decent drawing in a sketchbook in the lap of a young blond boy. The boy, who could have been no more than 8-years-old, had a small smile on his face as he eagerly looked down at the drawing of a slime he was laboring so diligently to complete.

A few bushes from behind the boy slightly shake as they are parted to reveal an older woman. She had brown hair that lined her face and while she appeared fairly youthful, the wrinkles underneath her eyes showed her age. In arms, she held a box that had several chemistry apparatuses sticking out from the top. The box was fairly full of equipment, yet the woman showed no issue in carrying it.

When the boy turned around to see the source of the noise and spotted the woman, he hurried to put away his sketchbook.

"What do you have there, Albedo?" The woman asked as she set down the box.

"U-Um, nothing important…"

The woman slightly narrowed her eyes, seemingly unconvinced. Within a few strides, she walked over to the boy and pulled the sketchbook out of his hand. She flipped to the most recent page and stared down at the drawing. Albedo watched nervously as her lips pursed together in silent judgment. She flipped to the other pages as she spoke, "You know there's no need to draw the same creatures over and over again. Unless there's something intriguing about them, your time is better spent actually researching them."

Albedo said nothing and instead chose to look down at his hands that he had clasped together in his lap.

"That being said," the woman continued in the same monotone voice that she was using earlier, "knowing how to draw is an important skill for conducting field research." Hearing that, the young Albedo looked back up at her with wide eyes. It might have been his eyes playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that he saw the faintest of smiles on her face.

She crouched down to return Albedo his sketchbook. "Now, let's go and extract that pyro slime essence," she said before standing up and returning to the box of supplies to fish for a specific tool.

Albedo beamed, "Ok!"

…

Albedo woke up with a start. He pressed the back of his knuckles into his eyelids and sighed in mild frustration with himself. It had been years since he had last dreamt of his master and, of course, he just had to be remembering her when he was so close to his destination.

He removed his knuckles from his eyes to glance at the sunrise that had woke him. He had set up camp atop a hill very similar to the one from his dream. It was a fairly peaceful location, nothing but foxes would disturb him here… a much different atmosphere to the one that he was about to subject himself to.

He wormed his way out of his sleeping bag and rushed to prepare a small breakfast. Once his Fisherman's Toast was complete, he packed up his camp and slung his bag over his shoulders. Biting into the piece of toast, he couldn't help himself from missing Aether's cooking. It had already been a week since he had left Mondstadt and while he did feel bad for leaving Aether, Klee, and Sucrose with little information, he knew that it was for the best.

He pulled the map out of his bag to see his location. He wasn't that far off from the remote kingdom that he had set his eyes on… the fallen kingdom of Khaenri'ah.

Never venture to Khaenri'ah, it's too dangerous there, why had that phrase been one of his masters' last? He was more than aware that Khaenri'ah was dangerous, his master should have known that, so why did she make it a point to warn him again? Not only that, but he couldn't just ignore his blatant ties to Khaenri'ah. After all, it was where his master had learned alchemy and had, in turn, taught him.

Long ago he deduced that some sort of answer as to who and what he was must lie somewhere within Khaenri'ah, so… now wasn't time he could afford to get cold feet. Albedo knew that he couldn't rest until he either got answers from what remained of Khaenri'ah or discovered that there weren't any answers to be gained. Either way, this had to be done now, before he risked becoming a danger to the people he cared about.

As Albedo walked along the path laid out by his map, he noticed that the treeline gradually became thicker as he went along. The trees seemed to block out most of the sunlight and in all honesty, it felt suffocating. He figured he must have been getting close.

Finally, on the side of a cliff, stood a large and foreboding opening to a cavern. The stalactites poking out from the top of the ceiling made the mouth of the cavern appear as though it was a monster's mouth just waiting to close in on him. Albedo slowly crept toward the cavern's entrance, making sure not to disturb any of the brush around him. He was well aware that countless monsters dwelled here and he was not about to draw their attention to him when he was barely at the front gate.

After a quick scan of the area, there didn't appear to be any hilichurls in the area. Albedo sighed a quick sigh of relief before rushing to set his heavy bag down near a thick bed of bushes and taking out a much smaller bag. He did have a general idea of what creatures might await him in Khaenri'ah and it was safe to say that he didn't want to be caught dead with such a massive bag weighing him down.

Taking a deep breath, Albedo clutched the strap on his bag and carefully made his way into the cavern. When the light from outside soon reached its limit within the cavern, Albedo slipped out the small lantern from his bag to light the rest of the way downwards.

...

"Okay… I don't remember master telling me how deep Khaenri'ah was underground…" Albedo muttered to himself. Coupled with the trek he had taken to get to this cavern, it was safe to say Albedo was fed up with walking.

After what seemed like forever, Albedo's lantern finally reached the edge of a dim, dark red glow. Knowing where he was, Albedo snuffed out his lantern and placed his back against the cavern's wall to peer over the edge. What he saw before him was nothing but red. Pieces of the land seemed to float haphazardly atop an ocean of lava. Mysterious black cubes snaked their way across the sky and acted almost as if they connected each of the islands.

It was just as his master had described those years ago. Looking in his immediate area, Albedo couldn't spot much else than complete and utter ruins. As Albedo prepared his Solar Isotoma for the descent to an island just underneath the one he was standing on, he knew that he certainly had his work cut out for him…

…

Albedo gazed at the stained glass in the very back of the cathedral. He had spotted the ruins of this location not too far off from the entrance he had entered from. Most of the cathedral was destroyed, spare a few pieces of the glass that had surprisingly remained intact. Much of the remaining glass was covered in a century's worth of soot, making it difficult for Albedo to make out the image. There appeared to be a hand and originating from said hand was a thorny, grey branch of roses, which seemed to fall from the palm of the hand to form what may have been the glass border.

Out of habit, Albedo makes a similar branch appear in his own hand for a moment. The Art of Khemia or so the art of creation is called. Admittedly, standing in this cathedral, surrounded by nothing besides rubble and the roaring lake of lava situated just beneath him, made Albedo a bit nauseous. Just how much had been lost to time to the hands of the Gods? Albedo could only wonder.

A glint of gold catches Albedo's eye. Unlike the stained glass in the back of the cathedral, which did not have a light source to display its colors, to Albedo's left, there appeared to be another set of glass panes that had a brilliant shine to them.

Albedo waved the branch he created into nothingness as he wandered closer to the source of light. These panes of stained glass seemed far more preserved than the others. In particular, these panes seemed to radiate various blue and gold rays of light. Albedo squinted as he got closer to get a better image of the large stained glass. In the center of the glass, appeared to be the faceless portrayal of a man and woman in dark blue robes. They seemed to be surrounded by a number of other, equally as large figures, whom Albedo could only guess were other members of the Eclipse Dynasty.

Mondstadt's libraries held very little information about the Eclipse Dynasty. You'd be lucky to find more than just a mention of the name in most books. Well, it was no wonder as it was the Archons who saw to Khaenri'ah's destruction. Though no one is exactly sure as to why the Archons would go to such lengths.

Albedo cautiously surveyed the area around him once more to ensure that the coast was clear before pulling out his sketchbook. While he knew he didn't have much time to draw out any good details, he scratched down the general details of the glass anyway. This information had to be, in some way, valuable to him.

While looking back and forth between the glass and his sketchbook, Albedo's eyes catch yet another interesting detail. In the arms of the woman in the very center of the glass, was a bundle of rags. In the center of the rags seemed to be the light skin of a child, who the figure was cradling like a baby.

Filled with curiosity, Albedo stepped toward the glass panes. He reached his hand out to feel the panes in the hopes of deducing how they were made, but just before his hand can reach the glass, he feels a strong arm wrap around his waist. The arm yanks him back from the glass and sends him flying into the chest of whoever was standing behind him. Albedo can't even let out a scream before a rag is placed over his mouth.

The calm voice of a man spoke, "Rest now. Albedo."