Intermission 2 - One's so small and the world's so wide
6th of the 3rd Cycle
It has been a fortnight since the Sky fell, and the old order in Liyue is already changing.
A day after the Sky repaired itself, the Sea of Clouds was reported to have cooled down enough that it is safe for ships. After hearing this, the Qixing moved swiftly and decisively. Trade was the lifeblood of Liyue, and most of their merchant fleet was destroyed after the event. To counter this, the Qixing had bought out every shipbuilding company in the City and merged them into a single state institution. The Arsenal of Liyue.
The Arsenal's purpose was to streamline every inch of the shipbuilding process, and their single goal is to launch as many new vessels as possible in the shortest amount of time. It worked, suffice to say. After a few hiccups on the first day, the Arsenal began launching up to 2 new ships a day. This was a rate unseen before in Teyvat, and the Qixing predicts that in half a year the merchant fleet will be completely reestablished.
To solve the issue of their lack of navy, the Qixing essentially hired every pirate fleet in the Sea of Clouds to be mercenaries. The largest of these mercenary fleets was the Crux Fleet, and after an agreement, they became the backbone of Liyue's new Navy. To help convince the public, the Crux came into port with tons of aid and relief.
Subsidies were also handed out to construction companies, and soon enough the harbourfront was well on its way to being repopulated. New buildings, homes and storefronts, were raised. With public order reestablished, the Qixing deployed the Millelith back to the border provinces of Liyue, to restore order and reel in rebellious governors.
Since the death of Morax, the Golden House has halted the production of Mora. To fix the growing financial crisis, the Liyue Qixing has created a new National Mint in the heart of the City. A new, metal-based currency was created called Qian, and was made up of copper, silver, and gold Dan. The Qixing has already created a new law banning the usage of Mora as a currency, and that all Mora must be exchanged for an equivalent amount of Qian.
Indeed, things were now looking up for Liyue.
That was, until some fishermen returned back to Liyue with panic in their eyes, speaking of ghost ships and sea monsters.
This was what Mona woke up to. As rubbed the sleep from her eyes and clambered down the staircase, she noticed people talking in hushed tones. She left the inn and walked over to the other side of the road, where there was a railing overlooking the harbour.
Millelith were rushing about like ants, the seaside forts were now bustling with action once more. Ballistae and onagers were being pushed up to the sea wall, facing the ocean in anticipation. Mona blinked, was there an invasion?
She saw some workers milling about, and went to question them.
"This morning, some fishermen came back shouting about ghost ships. We thought they all went mad, but then the Qixing ordered the Millelith to prepare."
The Qixing must've seen something, from the Jade Chamber. She rushed back towards the inn, dodging a carriage on the road. Clambering up the staircase and back into her room, she took out her telescope and set it up on the veranda, facing the sea.
She swapped out the lens for a weaker one, and put her eye to it. Scanning the horizon, she kept her eyes peeled for any- there! A small dot, gaining size every second.
Mona swapped out the lens with a stronger one. She could see it clearly now, the ship was large, and indeed it looked the ghost ship it was described as. Rotting wood and barnacles for a hull, strange rocks for a mast, seaweed and seagrass for sails, and it was on a beeline straight for Liyue.
She paused, and looked again. The sails were billowing in the wind. She looked up. There was no wind today, the air was hot and stifling from the Sea. So how? She looked back at the ship, it was travelling at incredible speeds, faster than even the steamships from Fontaine. Even if there was wind, it should not be this fast, it was practically gliding atop the waves.
She inspected it again, now that the vessel was closer she could see more detail. Its hull was haphazardly put together, she was surprised it was floating, and the masts were actually made of coral. But on the prow, below the bowsprit, was a figurehead. A five-headed hydra, one she had seen less than a fortnight ago.
What did Paimon say they were going to do? Right, "kill a god, and forge a ship from its bones." Mona's thoughts screeched to a halt.
Those crazy bastards actually did it.
Mona disassembled her telescope and covered the lens with a wooden cap. She immediately fit it into a wooden crate, taking great pains to ensure the straw padding surrounds it completely so it doesn't scratch. Repeating the same task for all of her equipment, she now had a stack of crates in her room.
Then she snatched a pouch of Mora from her desk and ran downstairs, finding several dockworkers chatting on a table.
"Hey, you lot! I got some crates upstairs that I need to move, a thousand Mora for each of you, how about it?"
A thousand Mora each was severely overpaying them, but she was rich and short on time. They didn't even hesitate to reply.
"Got it, Miss, where'd you want them?"
"I got a wagon next to the stables, it's the one with the canopy, just pile them on there. Be careful, would you? The goods are fragile."
Without waiting for a reply, she ran outside to the stables next to the inn. Finding the stablehand, she tossed the boy a Mora.
"I want you to harness those two horses there and tether them to that wagon." She pointed. "Do it quick, I got a hundred Mora for you."
The boy mock saluted, "You got it, Miss!"
She turned and made a spyglass from Hydro. Putting it to her eye, she gazed out at sea. The ship has entered the Bay.
She released the Hydro and the spyglass melted. Not missing a beat, Mona formed a divination wheel and scried for the Opus Aequilibrium constellation.
"Hello?"
"...Lady Mona?"
"That's right. The ship entering the harbour is friendly, remember my companion?"
She heard an exhausted sigh from the other end.
"I'll pass the word, thank you."
The divination wheel melted away.
Someone called from behind her.
"Miss, it's all loaded!"
Right, time to get moving.
7th of the 3rd Cycle
Mona watched as the vessel coasted into port. Well, not just her but thousands of Liyueans as well. The ship towered over them, casting a monstrous shadow. People stayed well away from the prow, the snapping heads of the hydra dissuading them from coming close.
Every ballista the Millelith had was aimed at the ship, ready to loose at the first sign of aggression. But save the figurehead, there was none.
She made her way forward, leading the horses. The crowd easily parted, no one dared stop what must've been a madwoman. When she stepped onto the stone quay, a gangplank lowered from the ship.
'Gangplank' in the loosest sense of the word. It was more as if flesh peeled off the hull to create a bridge between the deck and the quay. It was large enough for the wagon, so she led it up on unstable legs.
The horses were skittish, but they were Mondstadt born and bred, so did not panic as normal horses would. Clambering aboard, she saw Aether waving at her from the quarter deck.
"How are you doing? Like our new ride?"
"I can't believe this worked." She replied, "What's its name?"
He grinned, "The Deicide."
She sighed, it must be intentional. But Aether seems to have a knack for doing the impossible, so she didn't badger him about it. That was, until the deck rose and fell beneath her feet. The waves were calm and she already had an idea of the up and down rhythm of the waves.
This was not the ship bobbing, this was more like… breathing. Mona stood still, if she hasn't gone mad, she could swear she could feel a heartbeat as well.
Aether noticed her discomfort, "Yeah, it'll take some time getting used to. Don't go below deck, unless you have a thing for organs."
Her face whitened, "You're telling me this thing is alive!?"
He smiled sheepishly, and walked down to meet her. He leaned in conspiratorially.
"The ship is actually Osial, say hi to him."
"..."
She was shaking now.
Aether clapped his hands, "Alright! We ought to get moving, here this will be your cabin." He pointed to where the officer's quarters would be. "I'll handle the wagon, thanks for handling things back in Liyue."
She was still frozen when he patted the railing, "Alright, time to get moving. Next stop, Inazuma!"
The Deicide jerked sideways, she stumbled but caught herself. The ship continued to turn on its axis, which should be impossible, but Mona didn't really know the definition of 'impossible' anymore.
She sighed and opened the door to her cabin, it was made of blue and purple corals. As she stepped past the threshold, she heard a commotion behind her.
The yard ropes have come to life, swinging around. They snatched the numerous crates off the wagon and laid them gently onto the deck, then they began to disassemble the cart itself. Mona blinked, she wasn't even surprised anymore, and from the look of it the horses were as tired as she was.
Whatever, she can deal with it later. She called out, "Can you put the crates with my stuff on the forecastle deck? Thanks for the help!"
A yard rope suddenly dropped from above her and hung in front of her face like a snake. It nodded.
…Yeah okay.
She closed the door and fell onto the bed. For a bed made of some mysterious seaborne material, it was surprisingly comfortable.
8th of the 3rd Cycle
When she woke up it was the middle of the night, they were now well on their way to the Land of Eternity. She trodded across the not very wooden deck and clambered up onto the forecastle. Everything was silent, and the rhythmic thumping to the ship's heart was surprisingly relaxing. She gazed upwards to see the False Sky laid above, all of its stars fully visible without Liyue's bright lights.
Mona began unpacking her equipment. She decided that the forecastle deck will be her new workshop and laboratory, not minding that it was open air. Some of the fore halyards joined her, helping to pry open the crates and dragging the empty ones down to the forecastle cabin, where she imagined the storage was.
Soon enough, she was sitting at her desk under the night sky, swaying to the rhythm of the sea and ship, calculating the distances of various constellations. She sensed Aether's presence as he climbed the stairs.
"For a normal ship it would take a month or two to reach Inazuma, the Deicide should be fast enough to halve that." He regarded her, "You should bring in your stuff when we reach the Storm Walls."
She scoffed, who did he think she was?
"Of course I will, now bugger off at let me in peace."
He acquiesced.
Mona sighed and paused in her work. She laid her head in her hands, staring into the distance, and pondered the nature of change.
30th of the 3rd Cycle
"GET YOUR STUFF INSIDE!"
Mona didn't need to be told twice. Hastily rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she rushed up to the forecastle to see the halyards already swinging about in tandem, putting her stuff inside the crates and dragging them under. Leaving the yard ropes to it, she hastily took her more vulnerable books and tomes and stuffed them in a leather bag.
It was already raining, if she let her work get water damaged she might as well kill herself.
She rushed back to her cabin, dodging and weaving between the living ropes. Above her the sails came to life, billowing down and becoming pregnant with wind. Once inside, she stuffed everything important in a waterproof chest and sealed it with runes.
Climbing up to the quarterdeck, she could see Aether at the helm squinting at the distance in the pouring rain. She turned to match his gaze. Indeed, the Storm Walls were clear to see, a great mass of black clouds were rolling in the distance, travelling westwards. Lightning flashed in their midst.
Above, the yards were swinging clockwise, so that the sails would match the direction of the wind. Black clouds neared, they were to be entering the storm soon.
"You should get inside."
It was Aether. She shook her head.
"It's not every day one gets to experience something like this. No chance I'm missing it."
He sighed, "Fine then, just hold on to something tight."
She held onto the ratlines tightly, and had Hydro stick to her soles and root her to the deck.
In less than ten minutes, they were in the midst of the worst storm to curse the seven seas. She hung on to dear life as the Deicide climbed a monster wave and crashed back down, her hat flew off her head, only for a yard rope to catch it. Gods bless this ship…?
Before she could ponder the connotations of gods blessing a ship named Deicide, the ship smashed prow first into another wave. But instead of going over it, this time the ship went through it, water crashed into her and if it wasn't for her precautions she would have been thrown overboard.
She reapplied Hydro to her soles just in case. They were in almost absolute darkness now, thick clouds shrouded them, lightning struck the mast and the following thunderstrike made her ears pop.
She glanced outwards with crazed eyes, there was another wave, too many waves. All of them large, rolling and angry. If she didn't know already, she did now, this storm was definitely the product of an enraged god.
Halyards zipped around overhead again, the lateen and jib sails rose on their own. She felt another gale strike her, wind hammering her face and rain pelting down, stinging her skin. Another wave rose, the most titanic one yet.
And as if the ship anticipated it, the lateen and jib sails dropped down, catching the wind and jerking the ship to port side. They were now headed headfirst into the wall of water. She held her breath and braced. They climbed it, up and up, her feet left the deck as the ship reached a near ninety-degree angle, she hung from the ratlines.
Then, the ship dropped, smashing back into sea as her face smashed back into the deck. Wiping her bloody nose, she staggered to her feet, applying Hydro to heal herself.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Aether was at the helm, laughing like a madman as he turned the Deicide into a collision course with another monster wave. 'Like a madman?' Who was she kidding, he was a madman.
…Of course he was a madman, did he anticipate this? Naming the ship Deicide would definitely make this storm worse than it should be.
Deicide: Pertaining to the killing or killer of a god. This ship was a physical manifestation of rebellion against Celestia, and they were sailing in a divine storm. Mona smacked her forehead, how daft could she be?
She had no time to think, another wave crashed into the starboard side, rocking the ship dangerously. Water poured onto the deck. She used Hydro to collect it and throw it overboard.
Never before had she wished for solid ground so much in her life. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' was it? Well, she was plenty fond of land now, how badly she took dirt for granted. For the first time, Mona felt the true rage of the Sea and Sky, working in tandem to pound these upstart humans to non-existence.
The Sky had now turned pitch black, swallowed by the rolling storm clouds, and a constant gale howled. And yet, the ship rose and fell, disregarding the Sea's rage with near apathy.
There was one thing the Electro Archon didn't anticipate, and that was the Deicide. Forged in the Vortex out of the Overlord's bones, the Deicide was in its natural habitat. The ship was laughing as well, she realised, its rumbling laughter concealed by the adrenaline and storm.
This must be nothing more than child's play to Osial, and it was treating the storm like a game. It all came to a head when a massive mountain of a wave rose from the Sea, headed straight for the ship.
For the first time since leaving Liyue, the Overlord of the Vortex woke from his dormancy. Halyards whipped in the wind, sails rose and fell as the Deicide took control. It turned to face the mountain of water, and picked up speed.
It's treating the wave like a challenge.
Just right when they would collide, the wall of water split, like someone took a knife and cut butter in half. The vessel glowed with innate divinity, roaring in response to the challenge. The Deicide glided across the valley, and Mona gaped at the sheer cliffs of water flanking them.
She regretted opening her mouth, because the next second she probably inhaled several barrels of seawater as another wave crashed into the port side.
Falling on all fours, she spat out the water. She was getting sick of this. Deciding that that would be enough for today she staggered up and started making her way towards her cabin. Mona gripped the railings so hard her knuckles were white, Hydro stuck her feet to the deck as another wave washed over her.
As she reached her door, she unlocked it and pulled at it. Before she entered, a yard line dropped down and plopped her hat on her head. She gave it her thanks, passed the threshold then slammed the door shut.
She fell onto her backside, back against the door, breathing heavily. As the adrenaline left her veins, she realised just how insane that was. Even now she could hear the wind as waves hammering the hull, thunder cracking overhead, and Aether's howling laughter as he braved the worst storm in Teyvat.
Mona crawled over to her bed, which she now knew was made of sea sponge, and collapsed.
31st of the 3rd Cycle
"Hey, wake up!"
"Mmrphllearghh."
A bucket of cold seawater was dumped on her face.
"AAGH! What the fuck!?"
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty! It is a beautiful day on the beautiful sea and I have no idea where we are so I need your help."
"Uugh."
Mona climbed out of bed nonetheless and followed Aether out. Indeed, the sky was clear and blue, and the waves were calm as ever. It was as if the storm never existed. She followed Aether up into the navigation room.
"Have we crossed it?"
"That's the problem, I don't know."
She regarded the sea charts. People have sailed to Inazuma before the Sakoku Decree, so many accurate charts of Inazuman waters still exist. She asked Aether for the problem.
"The winds are blowing the wrong way. Mondstadt is the axis of every prevailing wind in Teyvat, they all converge at Mondstadt. Since Inazuma is isolated by the Storm Walls, the winds here follow their direction, so since we entered from the north, the prevailing wind should be blowing southwest."
"And?"
"They are blowing northwest. Which should be impossible in Inazuma since the wind travels in a counterclockwise manner inside the Storm Walls."
Mona knew the implications, they were still north of the Storm Walls, since Mondstadt was northwest from here.
"I will check my charts when night falls."
"You have my thanks." Aether looked relieved.
And so as night fell, Mona emerged from her cabin with numerous star and sea charts, including the most famous one in Liyue, the Mappa Mare. She saw Aether feeding the horses, who had somehow survived the ordeal, and climbed up onto the forecastle deck. The ship has already set up her equipment for her.
She thanked the ship again.
Mona spread out the charts on the desk, and began cross-referencing the locations of several constellations, the winds, and the sea currents. From what she could tell, they were southeast of the Great Sea, and north of Narukami Island. She looked southwards using her telescope, and couldn't find the Storm Walls.
The Deicide produced a great bellowing grumble. A halyard dropped down and pointed port side. That was towards the north, she swivelled the telescope around and scanned the northern horizon. Islands. Land.
"LAND!"
Aether snapped to attention, clambering up the stairs to her side.
"Where?"
She allowed him to use her telescope, "Look for yourself."
After a moment, he spoke.
"That doesn't look like Inazuma."
He was right, she shuffled the sea charts around again. There wasn't any mention of land at all in this part of the sea.
She opened up the Mappa Mare, and began scanning the pages. She idly noticed the Deicide turning north, towards the distant islands.
There was a page, it was an infamous one among Liyuean and Fontainean navigators. Since Mappa Mare was a compilation, there were many maps made by different people, this map was one of the untrustworthy ones, reportedly drawn by a madman.
There, inked into the parchment, was an archipelago not found on any other map of the same region. East of the Great Sea, north of Narukami Island, exactly where they were currently.
She read the name.
"The Haar Islands…"
Aether turned to her, "What was that?"
"If this book is right, then we are north of Inazuma, the islands in front of us belong to an archipelago known as the Haar Islands." She continued, reading the tome, "Found by an adventurer named Jacobin Haar, many regarded him as mad and disregarded his claims of an archipelago here. He died in poverty."
"Well, looks like he wasn't so mad after all."
Aether turned on his heel and began walking back to the helm, "We need to stop for supplies and freshwater anyway. Full speed ahead!"
Ropes zipped overhead, the yards swung clockwise, and seaweed sails dropped. Catching the wind, the Deicide lurched forwards, and began gliding across the waves.
Mona held the Mappa Mare close to her chest with one hand and held her hat to her head with the other.
"Haar Islands… here we come."
Author's Note:
Surprise! You expected Inazuma, but it was me, Golden Apple Archipelago!