Act 2, Scene 15
20th of the 2nd Cycle
Forge. Shatter. Burn.
Aether sucked in a deep breath. He was flying, lifted by star and void. Above him was the endless Sky, dark and raging. Below him was the infinite Sea, a great maelstrom whirling in its depths.
Forge. Shatter. Burn.
Aether repeated the mantra in his head. Behind him, the Jade Chamber was already heading back to Liyue, he doesn't know if they'd make it out of range in time, but he did not have the luxury of time to be careful.
Forge. Shatter. Burn.
The best incantations always have three aspects, this is known. He dodged another blast of ray of water from Osial, and rose higher into the air. Up and up and up, until the sea god's five heads were nothing more than worms wriggling in the sea. He saw Teyvat in full, the corpse of Phanes cut down to three sights, the sea, the sky, the void.
Let's get started, shall we dear?
The False Sky ripped, a great gaping maw of Void pulsed with hunger to devour. Paimon had outdone herself this time, the tear in space was a lanceolate oval, shaped like a symmetrical eye. It's size easily rivalled that of Mondstadt's footprint.
Past it were the countless stars that inhabited the Great Beyond. Millions of constellations that sustained life for the trillions of lifeforms that lived their lives unseen from anywhere but there. For the first time since arriving at Teyvat, Aether could feel starlight, true starlight, hitting his skin, thrumming through his veins.
He raised right arm in the air, hands grasping at an invisible rope that he couldn't see, but feel. And oh did he feel it, it enticed him, promises of unimaginable power, the call of the stars.
He closed his fist, and pulled.
Calling upon the stars he once ruled, he felt them answering his call. Their power travelled through space, finding, searching, for their Prince of Stars. Starlight traversed the Eye of Void, gathering in his palm, coalescing into an orb.
This won't do.
He needed it to be more… condensed. He drew more and more starlight from the Eye, as it gathered, he compressed it into stardust. The orb of now stardust enlarged, gorging itself on the endless flow of starlight fed to it. Larger and larger, until it no longer fit in his palm.
He raised it up into the air, where it came to rest in the centre of the Eye like an iris. There it sat, as it grew larger. Larger than him, larger than the Jade Chamber, larger until it fit in the Eye perfectly.
While his actions may seem crude, this was all calculated. Everything Teyvat and all the worlds beyond it are built carefully by gods or 'gods.' A premeditated creation, where everything that exists and doesn't are in perfect quantity, to not offset the natural balance of the plane of creation. This is called conceptual weight.
Phanes will naturally not accept an outside force into his plane of creation. Thus, Aether must craft his artificial star carefully enough that it has enough conceptual weight to forcefully enter Teyvat, but not enough that it breaks Teyvat's reality completely.
The fiery Iris shined, the Eye was complete at last. That was his cue.
"Forge."
A celestial hammer hit an anvil. The Eye in the sky glared balefully at the upstart god far below it, the silent fury of Nyx given form. The Mother of a Thousand Young takes notice, her ephemeral gaze washed over him, and for a brief moment the universe quietened. A chill ran up his spine.
He hastily incanted, "Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant's prayer, desired by all, whom all alike revere, blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid dispel the fears of twilight's dreadful shade."
The Night gave its blessings.
He breathed. Next.
"Shatter."
The Iris began to spin, round and round until it spat solar flares in every direction. His right hand began to shake and burn. Steam wafted from his flesh as he desperately held aloft the burning Sky. His skin began to blister and peel, strips falling off like that on a tangerine, revealing muscle and flesh beneath it.
The False Sky began to crack, invisible lines of fracture ran up and down and to all cardinal directions on every axis. Teyvat's plane of creation groaned under the Weight, and began to cave.
By now, his right arm was burnt down to the bone. Unimportant.
Lastly,
"Burn."
He threw his now skeletal right arm forward like throwing a rock, as it reached the apex-
Creation screamed.
Reality shattered.
And the burning Sky fell.
All went white. As strength left his body, he started to fall as well. Among panes of shattered glass, he closed his eyes.
"So... tired..."
…
…
…
He hit the water with a splash, amidst the howls of a god.