Act 1, Scene 4
8th of the 10th Cycle
Mondstadt was no match for the City of Stars from which he hails from, but it had its own rustic charm to it, Aether admits. If he wasn't on the hunt for his sister, he wouldn't mind staying longer.
The city was small, its size limited by the island it sat upon. But its population was great, this made the city hell to navigate, hundreds of twisting alleyways and paths. Amber says newcomers use the Statue of Barbatos or the Cathedral as landmarks to orientate themselves, and Aether could see why.
They were massive structures, he can tell even from so far away, dwarfing the rest of the city below. And more importantly, visible from every corner of the city. Furthermore, windmills of all kinds sat and spun in the city limits, confusing Aether. What was the point of windmills inside a city? For he could not see any granary nearby.
When he asked Amber, she laughed and told him it was a common question.
"Those windmills don't grind grain, they draw water up from the lake for us to use!" She continued, "look around us, everywhere is crowded, yet Mondstadt doesn't smell nor is it filthy. This is thanks to those windmills, constantly drawing water up for us to clean, bathe, and drink."
"You'll find that Mondstadt is the cleanest city in Teyvat because of this, mark my words."
Aether decided to take her word for it. From what he could tell, even Paimon was impressed by her explanation, though she hid it quite well.
Of course, the idyllic atmosphere couldn't last forever. As they walked up the central avenue flanked by storefronts, the winds picked up. But this was the City of Winds, gales were a dime and dozen here, so despite the chill he felt, Aether ignored it.
But then the gales turned into a squall, and then into a tempest, and an earth-shaking roar reverberated through the skies.
"DRAGON!"
All hell broke loose, Mondstadters rushed inside their homes, screaming, crying, begging for the Anemo God's salvation. But there was none to be had, the dragon approached unmolested. With a mighty roar, tornados descended from the skies, ripping, tearing apart anyone who were too close.
The streets and stalls that Amber lauded for their cleanliness were awash with blood and body parts. Aether watched with sick fascination as a house was torn from its foundations and tossed into the sky like a toy, a child screaming for help on the veranda.
Suddenly, another tornado landed right in the fountain they were standing by, sending water and stone flying. Amber immediately grabbed his arm and ran for the gates, but it was too late.
Aether felt himself get picked from the ground as Amber watched in horror, and flung into the skies. If he was any other normal human, Aether thought numbly, he would've been ripped to shreds.
Composing himself, he remembered that flight is nothing new to him, and willed his wings to manifest. But to his horror, they didn't, he had forgotten his powers were sealed away by that cursed god.
As he braced himself for a hard impact, wherever it may be, a voice spoke to him.
"Here, don't go dying on me yet Traveller."
It was Paimon, but she sounded different. Far older, more powerful… more divine. He screamed in agony as an uninvited force wormed its way into him. Darkness, blackness… no, it wasn't darkness, it wasn't anything at all. It was pure nothing, the Devouring Chaos incarnate, Void.
Wings tore into his back, it was not the wings of the beautiful white and gold he had come to be familiar with, it was as if reality tore itself open to form them. The nothingness of the Great Beyond speckled with countless shimmering stars.
As he gathered his wits, he could finally appreciate the beauty of Mondstadt from high above. He noticed something odd, despite dozens of tornadoes crowding the Statue of the Anemo God and the Cathedral, they stood unmoved like a rock in the tides. In fact, he saw many people standing beneath the Statue, unmolested by the raging winds. Perhaps the Anemo God does bless his people after all.
WWROOAAARRRGHHHH
It seems like the dragon has noticed him.
Act α, Scene 4
Lumine decided that she didn't like dragons.
Two massive, whirling dragons were flying towards the Lunar Palace, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. They were long and serpentine, with no flesh but what appears to be bones made of pure electricity.
But they weren't identical, the smaller one screamed silently, and bolts of lightning flew from its maw, scorching entire city blocks. Oh, that wasn't so bad, Lumine thought. But then the larger one roared.
Lumine thought she had heard loud noises before, the mighty battlecruisers of the Star Fleet were some of the loudest things to exist, in her experience. The dragon taught her how wrong she was.
It was ear-splitting, both low and high pitched at the same time and neither as well. There was no wind produced, no force behind them, there was no earth-shaking that was to be expected, but it was deafening all the same. It was loud, so loud that the head of the artilleryman beside her popped like a balloon, he didn't even have a chance to scream, let alone shut his ears.
His fate was shared by many who lined the parapets and turrets of the Lunar Palace, some of the luckier ones only had to contend with bleeding ears and permanent deafness. Albeit clutching at their heads and screaming in agony.
Lumine decided to name the dragons Lightning and Thunder. She laughed at her own joke.
Soon enough, reinforcements are pouring onto the walls as the injured are pulled back inside. It seems like the enchantments forged into the walls of the Palace were capable of stifling the worst of the effects. Lucky.
As Lightning passed an imaginary threshold, the artillery captain screamed.
"OPEN FIRE!"
She braced herself, but there was no great sound emitted from the cannons, only a heavy 'woosh.' Upon closer inspection, she realised the 'cannons' were no cannons at all, but railguns. Magnetic slug throwers huh? Lumine had no idea that this civilization was so advanced.
A screech of annoyance jolted her out of her reverie, it seems several slugs had hit Thunder, while the smaller Lightning was quick enough to dodge all of the ones aimed for her. But the damage was minimal, and it served to irritate Thunder more than anything.
Despite being under heavy artillery fire, the twin dragon gods forged onwards, even slightly picking up speed. The artillerymen began to quietly panic. One officer came up to her.
"If there's anything you can do, ma'am, now would be the time." He was sweating hard, and Lumine had the feeling the burning city had nothing to do with it.
Lumine wished she could help, but her powers were locked away by the unknown god last she checked. So she told the officer as such.
"My powers were locked away by a god several moons past, see… …?" She trailed off, for starlight was dancing in her palm.
The officer gave her a thin smile, "This is Khaenri'ah, ma'am. Gods have no power here. If they did, they wouldn't need to appear in person to kill us all."
So the unknown god could not reach her here?
Lumine quickly got to work, as the railguns halted their firing, the dragons sped up, so she was running on limited time. She began imbuing as much starlight as she could fit into the railguns, and it began to seep into both the slugs and the mechanisms.
The dragons were nary a league away when Lumine gave the go-ahead.
"OPEN FIRE!"
It was a sight to behold, she thought. The sight of a thousand falling stars shining so brightly. Despite feeling like collapsing, for she used too much power at once, she smiled. This will be a victory.
She was proven right a moment later, when Thunder fell from the sky, torn in five by miniature stars.
Lightning screamed her silent scream, and cracking electricity flew right at her. But it was halted by a shimmering translucent blue wall, smashing against it to no effect. They even have deflector shields? Khaenri'ah continues to surprise her.
Realising it could no longer win this fight, Lightning dived for its twin as the defenders gave a roaring cheer.
But, Lumine thought grimly, where were the other gods?