Act 1, Scene 11

31st of the 12th Cycle

Paimon never told them the answer, so they assumed they'd learn on the way up.

They did, for the Tower hid all the secrets of the divine. Truths that would see them dead if Celestia ever found out.

The Tower was built atop a massive leyline. Because of this, they were able to see wisps of the past, histories carved into the very air they walked through.

They climbed the tower along with the original five who toppled the god. Decarabian's mortal lover, Amos, the Gunnhildr, the First Ragvindr, a young bard, and a yet nameless wind spirit.

As they ascended, they could see the ghost of the wind spirit slowly become more and more material, seemingly gaining more power. Lisa theorises it's because the rebellion that took place below knew that if the band of five fails, so would they.

The first ingredient was Belief, mortals had to believe you were a god, whether they knew it or not.

Another floor, another scene. The band of five met the guards of the Tower, Decarabian's storm spirits. But instead of fighting them, the five told the spirits that if they switched sides they would get the freedom they craved. To them, it was a much better alternative to maintaining the Storm Walls for an eternity, so they agreed.

The second ingredient was Authority, a god had to rule over something. For the nameless wind spirit, it manifested as Freedom.

When they reached the top, before them laid the broken throne of the Lord of the Tower.

The bard watched as Amos fell to the ground, clutching at her ripped throat.

He screamed in rage, in sorrow. Hand reaching for his sword, he leapt forward, eager to put an end to the Tyrant. But they were quicker, he felt the Tyrant's silver spear pierce his chest and come out his back.

The Tyrant grabbed him by the shoulder, and gave him a sad smile.

"It is Man's destiny to defy the gods, I had seen this with mine own eyes. Thus I do not discredit you, or your cause. Farewell, child, you will live forever among the stars."

The bard's mouth twisted into a bloody grin, "Ah… do not focus on me, but the claimant instead."

He leaned in, "Do you know how to kill a god, Decarabian?"

schlick

The god choked, coughing golden blood, and looked down. A spear of yew was impaled through his heart.

The god fell to the ground, behind him was the nameless wind spirit, grasping on to the spear of yew with formless hands. He could already feel the Storm Walls dissipating.

As the bard fell down beside him, bleeding through the gaping hole in his chest, he crawled over and whispered in the god's ear as if to a lover.

"You usurp their power, and replace them with another one."

As the bard closed his eyes for the last time, he could hear the thunderous call of a million wind spirits, zephyrs, anemoi, venti, they all chanted the same name.

"Hail Barbatos, Lord of the Tower, Heir of the Storm. Hail Barbatos, God of Freedom, Protector of His People. Hail Barbatos, may he reign for a thousand years, and reign a thousand more!"

It was over.

The third and final ingredient was a Godhead, a catalyst needed to ascend to Celestia. The nameless wind spirit had pried Decarabian's godhead from his cold, dead chest. The spirit was a spirit no more, but Barbatos, a newborn god.

In the end, Man proved that even they could be equal to the divine.

They climbed some more, leaving the throne room devoid of anything but distant memories and ghosts.

They emerged on the roof, in the eye of a maelstrom. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The Sun and Sky were distant and unseen.

What awaited them was a dragon, and a god.

Act 1, Scene 12

1st of the 1st Cycle

The knights greeted them when they returned to the base of the Tower the following day.

The dragon, Dvalin they now knew his name was, had allowed him to live for severing his corrupted ties to the Abyss. Apparently, the pain of his wing being severed shook him free of the Abyss' control for a moment, allowing Barbatos to intervene and dig out the corruption.

Furthermore, the detached wing apparently wasn't that much of an issue for him, as he was an elemental creature, created from pure Anemo coalescing in the heavens. In time, he would've grown back his lost wing, but he was grateful for its return nonetheless.

Aether didn't dare ask the dragon whether he was just one big slime.

The Grand Master invited him back to Mondstadt to celebrate his innocence, but Aether had other plans. It was already clear to him that his sister wasn't in Mondstadt, he had caused a massive commotion after all, yet there were still no signs of her. Either she wasn't in Mondstadt, or she was actively hiding from him, which he doubted.

As such, when they arrived back at Dawnton, they parted ways. The knights had converted his former prison cart into one suitable for travelling, with canopy and all. Packed in it was food, supplies, and barrels of dandelion wine, an apology gift, they told him. The wagon itself was pulled by a pair of draft horses, the best they had available.

14th of the 1st Cycle

At first light the following day, he waved farewell to the knights, and promised a teary Amber that he would visit for the Ludi Harpastum. The Grand Master promised the gates of Mondstadt would always be open for him.

As he started down the road leading to Stone Gate, Paimon popped out from a tear in reality.

"Next stop, Liyue!"

Aether couldn't help but smile, one nation down, seven more to go.

There was a long road ahead of them.

Author's Note:

That's the end of Act 1, sorry if it was a bit abrupt, but I couldn't remember what happened after flying back on Stormterror's back and honestly I'm too lazy to search it up.

From the get-go we can see that many things have changed, for better or worse. Aether has fewer ties in Mondstadt than he should, the Fatui were evicted from the city by force, Barbatos' gnosis wasn't stolen, etc. And this time Paimon/Sirin is actually being a guide! One of my pet peeves is that Paimon promised to guide us across Teyvat but it ended up more like she's just following us, clueless as we are. Not cool.

Something you can probably tell is that I love exposition. The lore of Genshin is one of the reasons I started writing this story. For a game so rich in lore and story, it's a shame not many know about it. The Dragon Lords that Sirin mentioned are real, Decarabian being a misunderstood god is real, etc, albeit with much embellishment for the sake of storytelling. For those who dislike exposition, don't worry, they'll be limited to 1 or 2 scenes per act. Hopefully.

Another thing is that I'm trying to make Teyvat as big as it should be. The game has many limitations, obviously, so I'm expanding distances and enlarging points of interest. Mondstadt has literal thousands of years of history yet it's insultingly tiny. If you want to see what Mondstadt's size is in this story, search up Venice. Liyue, too, will be getting a massive overhaul. This also means that time will be a bit skewed, so sorry if I mess up on travel distance and time somewhere.

Next chapter will be an interlude, this will allow us to see the wider consequences of Aether's presence in Mondstadt, and what he missed after he left for Liyue. We'll also get back to Lumine in the next Act, her journey will be much more treacherous than her brother's.

Thoughts would be appreciated.