Intermission 3 - There is always a longer way to go

3rd of the 4th Cycle

The Deicide cut through the azure waters as they passed west of the Minacious Isle.

View unblocked by furled sails, the Haar Islands offered a halcyon sight. Mona leaned over the railings on the forecastle as the Minacious Isle passed them and the Deicide entered the crystal clear waters of the Haar Sound.

Dolphins played in the wake of the ship, leaping above the waves as they followed the Deicide. Mona made a spyglass and observed the other islands that made up the archipelago. There must've been hundreds, but the Mappa Mare only named four; the Minacious, Pudding, Twinning, and Broken Isle.

As soon as she spotted the strange dome of energy covering the isle off to their starboard side, she knew there was something fishy going on. The island in particular was unnamed, yet if Haar came and saw it, surely he would have written about it in his memoirs, no?

She scanned the islands again, in the centre of the sound was yet another unnamed island, but it showed signs of civilization. A round stone foundation was built into the island, and there was… fighting?

Indeed, several small figures were engaging a much larger figure. She dropped the spyglass and used her telescope to get a better view. There were 7 people, 1 of them was a child, fighting against a strange automaton. She called Aether over.

"Take a look at this."

He put his eye to the telescope.

"...Is that the Grand Master?"

"Grand Master?"

"Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Jean Gunnhildr. I recognise Captain Albedo and Alberich as well."

Mona paused to think, was this an expedition by the Knights? As far she knew, Mondstadt only has a humble green-water navy, only Dornman Port has a blue-water navy, was this a joint expedition?

"Are there any other knights?"

"No… are hilichurls native to the Haar Islands?"

"They shouldn't be… what is going on?"

Aether ran his golden hand through his hair, a puzzled look on his face.

"Well," He started, "maybe this is fate? You were looking for someone from Mondstadt weren't you?"

It is unlikely that they knew who she was looking for, Mona thought. While powerful, the Hexenzirkel was notoriously secretive. But maybe it was fate, who knows?

Noticing that she wasn't going to respond, Aether sighed and left.

"Might as well help them out."

The Deicide silently glided across the waves at breakneck speeds, the knights didn't even notice, with how preoccupied they were.

Mona grabbed the railing just in time before the ship jerked to starboard, and the gun ports on the port side opened. 13 cannons appeared and fired in a barrage.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Ear shattering explosions ran across the ship as the cannons spat out orbs of pressurised water, smashing into the automaton with nigh impossible accuracy and ripping it to pieces.

Mona could see the people on the islands jerk around in surprise. Probably asking themselves how they missed such a massive ship, Mona thought. The Deicide turned to port and realigned itself with the island, and set itself on a collision course.

The ship shuddered as it beached itself on the shore, stopping just shy of the stone foundation. Below, the noticeably tired but still combat-ready knights stood warily. Not that they needed to, the person who jumped down was someone they knew, Aether.

As Mona made her way to the railing and leapt down, she could hear Aether laugh.

"Fancy seeing you lot here!"

A blonde woman in a military uniform, the Grand Master, Mona surmised, spoke with carefully crafted surprise in her voice.

"Sir Aether! A pleasure meeting you again, you have our thanks for the help… and if I may ask, what happened to your arm?"

"I cooked it."

"...?"

An awkward silence hung in the air. It was broken by a darker-skinned man, who coughed.

"And who is this young lady?"

He offered a charming smile.

"Mona Megistus of the Hexenzirkel. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The man stumbled a bit. So he does know what the Hexenzirkel is, she thought. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"I'm Klee!"

After a round of introductions, the knights explained what they were doing in the Haar Islands.

"Dodo-king huh? Feels like this is a prank." Aether mumbled to himself.

"There were these three crystals that the automaton dropped," the red-haired man said, Diluc Ragvindr, "and a letter taunting us to head to a 'southwesterly isle.'"

The child, Klee spoke up, "That must be the one with the weird round thingy on it!"

Mona and Aether shared a glance.

"We know where that is, passed by it when we entered the Sound. Want to come with us?" He told them.

Jean, who looked on the verge of scolding Klee, hastily responded, "We would be grateful for the help."

Aether waved his gold hand, "Stop being so formal, you said it yourself right? You're not here as the Grand Master."

He then whistled, and a climbing net dropped over the side of the ship.

After making their way up, Mona spoke, "You can help yourself to the deck, but don't go below deck, alright? We won't be able to save you if you do."

With that incredibly ominous warning, Mona returned to her workshop on the forecastle.

They were halfway over to the newly christened Southwesterly Isle; yes, Mona did write it down in her copy of the Mappa Mare, when the trouble started.

That damnably excitable kid, Klee, decided that the deck was boring and shouted "I want to explore the ship!" and promptly ran for the hatches leading to the gun deck. Mona decided it wasn't her problem if the kid got scarred for life.

The knights decided it was their problem and ran to catch her, with Jean's younger sister, Barbara getting the closest. As Klee jumped down the hatch, Barbara dived after her and grabbed Klee's hand, only to be pulled down with her.

Mona winced.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Yeah, that was about what she expected. Almost immediately, a geyser of water spat the two of them out onto the deck, and the metal grate shut the hatch tight. But the damage had already been done.

The Deaconess of the Church was curled up into a ball with wide open, horrified, eyes. Klee on the other hand was jumping excitedly.

"That was awesome! What was that? Hey, hey!"

Jean rushed over to her sister, trying to console her and ask her what she had seen. Kaeya was restraining Klee from doing anything stupid again while Diluc was looking at her with a hand at his sword.

Mona scoffed. She looked up at Aether, who was staring amusedly down at them. He mouthed to her 'I trust you.' She gave him the finger.

Barbara was talking louder now, "T-that was… organs… there were organs."

Jean rose to her feet, hand at her sword, "Organs?" She addressed Mona, "Is this ship trafficking-"

"No!" Barbara rose, eyes wild, "no… this- this isn't a ship… the organs were big… we are standing on a sea monster!"

She wasn't exactly wrong, Mona thought. Not that it mattered, Diluc had drawn his greatsword, and Jean followed suit. Kaeya stared at the deck with hidden nervousness while Albedo just looked… interested?

"What is the meaning of this!?" Diluc demanded.

"Shhh," Mona replied, finger at her lips. "Keep quiet. Listen."

They did. And among the rolling waves, it was heard.

Ba-dum… Ba-dum… Ba-dum

The steady sound of heartbeats encompassed the silence. Barbara was pale now, and sweating hard.

Mona addressed them, "Welcome aboard the Deicide! This fine ship is in actuality a lesser god, it harbours the dormant consciousness of Osial, the Overlord of the Vortex."

"Treat it with respect." She finished. Then she returned to her desk and continued writing.

"That's… so… COOL!" Klee shouted. Kaeya hastily clamped a hand over her mouth.

Despite hoping for some quiet, she felt someone walk up behind her. She swivelled in her chair, annoyance on her lips. It was Albedo, the Chief Alchemist. She supposed it makes sense he had some questions, hopefully this will allow some intelligent conversation.

"Yes?"

"How was the Deicide… built?"

"It wasn't built, but forged. Forged in the depths of the Vortex, and the raw materials were Osial's corpse. His spine is the keel, his ribs are the frame, his flesh is the hull."

Albedo looked at the deck, seeing the ship in a new light.

"I… see, so why is the ship not 'Osial,' but 'Deicide'?"

Mona shrugged, "Philosophy isn't my forte, but if I was to guess… It is because names are important, they are the identity of the person or object. Osial died, and so Deicide was born, it is a fitting name, no?"

"I suppose it is also because if this ship stayed as 'Osial,' Morax would have a justification to attack us." Mona mused.

"I see. Do you mind if I study the ship?"

"I don't, the ship might. I won't take responsibility if you get thrown off."

"Understood, thank you, Lady Mona."

As he left, the ship slowed to a halt, they had arrived. Aether approached her.

"Can you inspect the energy dome? I want to check if the Deicide's cannons will work on it."

Of course he does. Mona sighed and cloaked herself in the Illusory Torrent, leapt off the ship and skimmed the waves over to the Southwesterly Isle. She inspected the energy field.

It was simple enough thaumaturgy. A bounded field with a purpose to stop anyone from entering its confines, and purposefully made opaque to stop anyone from seeing what's inside. It is top tier work, but no match for the divinity-powered cannons of the Deicide.

She returned to the ship and told Aether as such. He nodded.

The Deicide turned to port, and the starboard gun ports opened.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Cannons roared as it shot out beams of water. The barrier resisted, but slowly dispersed under the constant torrent. And what did the bounded field hide?

A pristine beach, a gazebo, several lounge chairs, parasols, and a jukebox. How pleasant, this Dodo-king fellow was a surprisingly affable fellow.

The ship beached itself a good distance away, and the 8 of them climbed down. Aether stayed on this ship, citing that he still needs to gather food and freshwater. Mona decided not to argue with him on it.

As the Deicide reversed out of the sandbank, Aether hollered at her from the quarterdeck.

"Scry me when you're done!"

The ship then turned on its axis and set off for the Broken Isle, which was the largest and greenest island in the archipelago.

Klee called them over to see something, "What's this!?"

It was a strange mechanism, three sources of light-producing rays that gets refracted into a large crystal.

Albedo spoke up, hand on his chin, "It is reasonable to infer that this was the original mechanism we should have used to dispel the barrier."

Mona agreed, most magi have their own unique application of magic, like how artists have different styles. The thaumaturgy used to create the special crystals, a type of magic known as gemcraft, matches the bounded field.

She'll have to pry off the crystal later and inspect it more thoroughly. This is truly first-rate work. While she and Albedo were busy admiring the work put into the mechanism, the others had already moved on to the jukebox.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, she overheard parts of the jukebox.

"...courage is admirable, but it is now meaningless. Because Dodo-king is me, your mother, Alice!"

Mona's brain screeched to a halt, shut down, and rebooted. Alice? Did she say her name is Alice? Aether was right after all, this was fate.

After waiting for Alice's message to be over, she leisurely walked over, grabbed Klee by the shoulder's, and shook her vigorously.

"Lady Alice is your mother!?"

It took both Jean and Diluc to pry her off the child.

"Do you know my mom?"

She coughed, Alice was her mother's rival, which means that the box she was supposed to collect is in the possession of this child? No… the girl is clearly not human, if the elongated ears were of any clue. Was Klee, and by extension Alice, a descendant of the fair folk?

"Did… do you have a box, back in Mondstadt? That your mother gave to you, I mean."

"Hmmm, yep!"

Mona nearly collapsed, "The contents are untouched, right?"

Klee nodded, "Yep!"

Jean interrupted them, "This box and its contents, it belongs to you?"

"No, it belongs to my master. She gave the box to Alice for safekeeping years ago, who gave it to her daughter in turn when she left Mondstadt."

She tried to talk to Klee again, but she had already ran off to explore the rest of the island. Mona sighed, and returned back to the mechanism. She needed to collect the box, but how? Didn't Paimon reveal herself as a Void God?

Aether had basically teleported to the Golden House and back, right? That means Paimon must have the ability to ignore space. Come to think of it, where was she anyway?

A-aachoo!

"Can gods get sick?" Paimon muttered to herself, rubbing her nose.

Nah, someone was probably talking about her.

The white-haired woman sighed and returned back to the task at hand. She stalked forwards towards a downed man, who was clutching at a wound, bleeding gold ichor.

She looked down at him, "Understand the futility of your actions now?"

He returned her look, if looks could kill, she'd be dead ten times over.

"You don't understand what you're doing, girl! Kill me, and all of Celestia will fall, mark my words!"

She scoffed, "Of course all of Celestia will fall, is your head still shoved up your ass? The Age of Gods is over."

"Y-you! Do you think you'll get away with this? I am the Overseer, an investigation is bound to occur!"

She squatted down beside him, cape pooling on the marble floor. The man shuffled backwards, until his back hit a pillar.

"No one likes you, Overseer. You did nothing wrong but rose too far too fast, you destroyed every bridge you had in your relentless pursuit for power. There will be no investigation, because everyone will say 'good riddance.'"

The Overseer slumped as reality finally sunk in. He looked up at her with tired eyes, "Why…"

"Because it is better to bend than break. Goodbye, Overseer."

She rose, and a black pistol materialised in her hand. She pointed the gun at his head.

BANG

The shot echoed across the vast hall, but there was no one around to hear it.

Paimon stared at the cooling corpse. A portal appeared beside her. She grabbed the dead god by the collar and threw him through it. The portal closed, and she cleaned up the blood.

She left the hall, waltzing through the golden gates. Outside, the Sky was dark and stars glittered overhead. There were still some gods milling about, she nodded at them. They lowered their heads in respect, then dispersed.

Walking down, she gazed at the marble towers in the distance, and the endless clouds below. Her next destination set, she trodded across the stone path until she reached a grand building. Built from white marble, as most things are in Celestia, depictions of mortal heroes and Allogenes were carved into its pillars.

She entered, and the receptionist called out to her. Paimon greeted her, the receptionist wasn't amused.

"What is your purpose here?"

"I wish to access the lower levels."

"That area is off-limits, unless you have written permission from the Overseer."

"Unfortunate that the Overseer is dead."

"What?"

She raised her gun.

BANG

The Divine Key spat fire and smoke, and the receptionist's head exploded. As the now headless god staggered backwards, a portal appeared underneath them, and they fell through.

Kiana continued walking, stowing the gun away. In the centre of the building was a massive column, a spiral staircase wrapped around it. Instead of going up, the staircase went down. And so Kiana did, the false floor gave way to a cavernous chamber.

The chamber was oval in shape, with enclaves carved into the walls. The bottom was an upside-down dome, with open arches leading to Teyvat far below them. The central column was connected to the walls with granite pathways, which then hugged the walls and circled around the hall.

There were at least two dozen floors. This was a prison.

The Lord of Void clambered down the staircase in full view of the prison's inhabitants, each hoping against hope that she stops at their level. On the sixth floor from the bottom, she stepped off the stairway and onto the stone bridge.

She passed by seven cells before reaching the one she was here for. A red-haired woman sat on the bed, ignoring her.

Paimon addressed her, "You are Vanessa, yes?"

The woman raised her head, "What do you want?"

They stared at each other for a few moments.

After this, there is no going back, Paimon thought.

She grabbed the Celestial Bronze bars, and wrenched them from the walls. She threw it over the pathway, it fell down, hitting several other pathways as it descended. The clanking sound echoed throughout the chamber.

Vanessa rose to her feet, "What…"

Paimon told her, "You are still worshipped as the Falcon of the West. Go down there and tell Barbatos to pull his head from the sand."

"Who are you?"

"Is that really important?"

"Of course it is, you are rebelling against Celestia!" She shouted, her voice resonating. Every prisoner must've heard her.

"Rebellion? In two days I am going to be sworn in as the 14th Overseer of Celestia by the House of Lords. This isn't a rebellion, merely a… reorganisation of the current system."

Vanessa stared at her incredulously. She marshalled her features a moment later.

"Alright… then. And what am I to do once I pass along your message?"

"Return in two days, I will find something for you to do then. Tell the Wind God the Lord of Void sent you."

Paimon turned and began walking back to the staircase. Behind her, the Falcon of the West leapt from the pathway and morphed into a magnificent falcon, soaring through one of the arches and down into Teyvat.

The Lord of Void descended to the 3rd floor from the bottom. She stopped at the 19th cell. Unlike Vanessa, the man inside was standing, staring right at her.

She spoke, "Guhua, is it?"

"Yes, my liege."

She smiled, and tore away the Celestial Bronze bars.

The man knelt before her.

She regarded him, "I need you to pass a message to the Lord of Rock, Morax."

"Your will is my command, my liege."

4th of the 4th Cycle

The Deicide drifted up to the beach, crashing against the sandbank as it beached itself again. Mona waved the knights farewell and climbed up the ship. The knights were going to spend a few more days before returning to Mondstadt, apparently the Dragon of the East is their ride.

All in all, this was a pretty productive detour. Mona was able to secure ties with her final objective, and also managed to get her hands on a very fine specimen of gemcraft. Furthermore, she can now laugh in everyone's face, the Haar Islands do exist after all! She made sure to take many photos with her kamera.

They had also received news from the continent. In the period that they were at sea, the Seven Nations save Inazuma were in a state of financial crisis. Mora was gaining value at an insane rate, and many nations have begun creating their own currencies. Mondstadt in particular was quick to the uptake, immediately banning Mora and forcing the citizens to exchange it for Marks, which was their new currency.

That night, they cooked a bird over an open fire. They were strange birds, never seen before on Teyvat. It does make sense, Mona mused, the Haar Islands are geographically isolated, so lifeforms there had evolved quite differently.

The bird in question looked like a massive, feathery duck. On its legs it stood half their height, it had an S-shaped neck and curved beak, as well as a very fluffy tail. Aether decided to call it the dodo, after the Dodo-king. It was a dumb name, but looking at the bird's funny face, she decided it fit quite well.

Quite delicious, too. Aether and Deicide had caught at least 20 of these birds, and they were squawking away in metal cages. There were also other strange animals, such as massive lizards and a small dog-like creature with a rat's face.

Mona snapped pictures of all of them and added them to her notebook. Her 6th notebook, that is. Mona decided to compile all of it into a single tome, she heard there was a publishing company in Inazuma that could help.

Yes, a tome detailing all of her travels and discoveries would be a worthy legacy to leave behind.

As they left the azure waters of the archipelago, the wind picked up. The Deicide's sails unfurled and billowed, the ship began to ride the northwesterly wind.

The ship turned to starboard as the yards shifted clockwise.

Mona let loose her hair, letting it fly in the wind. Looking back, she saw that Aether had done the same, his braid was undone and a golden curtain was splayed out behind him.

She took a picture, and added it to her book.