Liminality

by umi-sen-yama-sen

There are a hundred of stories pertaining to the life of one Rex Lapis and his incognito excursions in the mortal realm, but no one knows about the story how he met someone with the aura of the moon and stars. [Pre-Genshin Zhonglumi fic (Archon War)]

3. The Calamity

A/N: Something died, and it was my brain cells hahaha lol.

.

.

.

.

[*pulls a Jun Mochizuki behavior for not leaving any warnings; because I'm not spoiling* 17k words ahead, good luck reading and enjoy~ ]

---

"What a lovely tune," Guizhong commented as she closed her eyes to feel the soft melody.

Undeterred, Morax still continued to play the erhu instrument in his hands. His fingers were having a mind of their own as he followed the rhythm of the familiar tune in his mind. He was working on this piece for several weeks. Even studied it in his spare time, as well as dutifully fiddling with the musical instrument everyday to find the proper notes to recreate the beautiful melody that he frequently hears from Ying a couple of times. In the end, his efforts were not in vain. Despite the fact that the process was never easy on his part (he made a few mistakes here and there), he was making progress, which was much to his relief.

"Would you mind teaching me that piece someday?"

Morax nodded curtly after a brief pause. "Sure, I will," he said.

"I am hoping it is halfway done?"

"Aa, it is."

Guizhong smiled as she leaned her body against his side, causing him to freeze and his body to tensile imperceptibly. But after a few moments, he finally relaxed beside her, his erhu forgotten on his lap as he gazed at the peaceful scene in front of him.

"Rex?"

"Hm?"

"Did something happen?"

Mildly perplexed, he responded. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I have noticed you have been acting a little differently than usual over the last few weeks, not in a negative way, of course. It is just..." she paused for a second, "you're... showing a different side of yourself."

He didn't say anything because he knew she was not finished.

"You are still showing few emotions, but you are putting forth effort in areas where you previously did not bother. I know you enjoy music and the arts, but I am curious what compelled you to learn it so suddenly."

She gently grasped his arm, "Rex, I am intrigued. What has changed?"

The question almost stuttered his mind to halt.

He actually didn't know. He just woke up one day and had a sudden impulse to study a musical instrument. To recreate the beautiful tune that haunted his mind for days, weeks and even months. He just knew he wanted to try it himself. He wanted to play it.

But as for the main reason, he honestly had no idea.

"I do not know," he replied truthfully, "I did it on impulse."

"I see..." Guizhong frowned for a bit as she tried to press for more, "Are you sure nothing happened?"

"Yes, nothing at all."

She sighed exasperatedly as she unglued herself from his side and pouted, her arms crossed across her chest. "Not fair, Rex. And here I thought you were getting better at expressing yourself, but you are still as unforthcoming as ever."

"...My apologies."

She waved her hand with a shake of her head, "Shh. Do not be. It takes time, but you are getting there. You are slowly improving." He looked at her as she smiled, "No rush."

"Thank you." Morax said gratefully, his eyes softening at her attempt to lift his spirits. It was at times like these that he appreciated Guizhong's utmost understanding.

When he thanked her, the Goddess of Dust felt her cheeks warm up. She lowered her head and fiddled with the ends of her long sleeves as she avoided his piercing gaze. "Seeing you making efforts on the simplest things makes me happy. It means you are listening to every piece of advice I give you." she confessed, "It means a lot to me. And I..." she mumbled the last sentence under her breath, and Morax couldn't hear the last words she uttered due to the sudden lash of wind hitting him in the face.

"Pardon me. I did not hear the last part," he said as he tidied up his hood and his long, unkempt bangs that covered his eyes. "What is it again?"

"N-nothing at all. Nothing for you to be concerned about."

For a brief moment, he frowned. He was certain she was trying to tell him something. "Are you sure?"

Smiling wryly, she replied. "I am sure."

Nodding, Morax didn't push any further than that and they went silent.

At that time of the day, the sky was suffused with a warm pigment of orange with a mix of amber in between. Soft warm hues painted the sky like a splash abstract of a citrusy canvas with splotches of scattering clouds with the color of slate gray to compliment the bright skies. Even flying cranes took to the skies with gusto, their long, wide wings flapping graciously as they retired for the day.

Silent as they were. They just stopped talking in order to admire the majestic sight.

"Guizhong," he called out without even looking at her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," he added, more softly; his lips slightly curled upwards as he finally turned his head to meet her surprised yet flushed face. "Truly."

Clearly taken aback by his sincerity, she stuttered, so uncharacteristically hers that it made him smile even more, albeit briefly. "I—Y-you are welcome."

---

"Guizhong is not here?" Cloud Retainer inquired as she made her way to her spot.

He responded by shaking his head, "She excused herself before you arrived, saying it is something urgent and I think it is about the ballista."

Humming, her beady eyes were drawn to the scroll and ink on the marble table. He was back at it again, she thought to herself, as she watched him scribble several musical notes with a neat flourish of his brush.

She was intrigued by the reason for his sudden fixation with music. It was strange to think that their region's serious, stoic, almost impassive ruler was so gung-ho about musical instruments. He was not only interested in an erhu, but he also tried to learn how to play the flute and the guzheng in his spare time.

He was also becoming more talkative than usual in the last few months, regaling them with some interesting stories that had them scratching their heads as to where it had come from. It was too surreal for Guizhong and her, but they had to admit it was entertaining. The former even shared it with the people, including the children, who were completely enthralled by the stories. Morax, on the other hand, was surprised to learn that his stories had been shared with the common folks, but he did not seem to mind—in fact, he continued to share and share, almost as if he was talking animatedly to himself. It was an odd image to see, but to be honest, seeing this new side of their stoic ruler was refreshing.

This sudden shift of behavior had a reason, for sure, but she had no idea where to start asking him about it without sounding nosy about his personal affairs.

What about asking him where he got the stories?

"Rex, I was extremely curious about the stories you had shared with us thus far; it was entertaining, and the stories helped to ease everyone's worries in the midst of war; I have to say, I am also one of those who looks forward to it every time." She began in the most random way to strike a conversation and continued, "If you do not mind me asking, where have you heard about them? I am really curious."

She saw the subtle change on his face as he blinked, with his brush full of wet black ink hovering on the scroll, he responded. "It is from a friend."

Oh? If only she possessed human features at that moment, perhaps she was sporting a face full of interest with her eyebrows disappearing as it went through her hair line. This is interesting at least.

"A friend? Who might that be? Is it someone we know?"

"No."

Hmmm, he's answering. I might as well take advantage of the situation, she mused to herself.

"Why didn't you tell us? It would be great if you could bring that friend here and introduce them to us."

As he continued scribbling on his scroll, he shook his head once. "That would be impossible, my apologies."

"Why is that?" she couldn't help but ask.

Morax went silent for a moment as he continued his work on the scroll. She waited and waited, until he finally put his brush down. With a serious gaze, he checked up on his work and nodded once. "It is now done."

"Well?"

"Remember the time when I told you about the strange flower I snatched out of nowhere?"

"Hmm, yes I do remember. What about it?"

"I finally know where it came from. As well as the person who looks after them."

Curiosity piqued, she asked. "So let this one guess, the owner of that said flower is your friend?"

Nodding, Morax replied. "Yes."

"A woman?"

"Yes."

"What is her name?"

"She said she did not have one, so I gave her one."

She almost wanted to wince at the discovery. No wonder Rex Lapis had gotten softer, because the said friend was a woman.

"It's Ying," He revealed the name with akin to tenderness, and she swore her eyes must have been staring at his face too hard the entire time to pick up on this subtle change in his expression. "I suppose it was appropriate because she appears to be so bright to look at."

"Then, all of the stories you shared to us… it all came from her?" she asked.

"Yes. She always talks about some stories coming from her world, which I must say were interesting."

Huh?

"Coming from her world?" She swore her tone must be very bewildered. Morax looked at her once and did a slight upturn of his lips again as if he was amused ( one of another changes that both she and Guizhong began to pick up every now and then; because they couldn't believe that Rex Lapis knew how to smile in his own way). "A mortal?"

"Yes, she came from another world. That is what my theory is." He said as he got rid of his writing materials with a quick flick of his arm, "And she is a mortal."

"...this conversation is becoming increasingly perplexing. Is she even here?"

He shook his head while frowning. "Unlikely. To be honest, I have no idea; but she came from a far-away land, whose world is vastly different from ours."

"Wait, I still do not get it. If she came from another world, how did the two of you meet in the first place? Is that even possible?"

He went silent in response that she wondered if she had asked an absurd question. Was she being overly intrusive? Maybe she does, but it was far too late to retract the question to save face.

But, much to her inward relief, Morax doesn't look like he minded her probing questions, though it took him a while to respond.

"I have no answer for that, because I am clueless as well, but we always meet in a dream," he said, his face solemn, and Cloud Retainer was quick to deduce that he, too, was bothered by the subject. "Ah, no.. It is far too realistic to think of it as a dream, but if it is not a dream, then what is it?" Morax muttered to himself as he began to ruminate, "It must be a special kind of realm. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of those realms you are so fond of creating, Zhenjun."

"And how many times has this happened?"

"It started after I found the flower several months ago, and we still meet on a regular basis."

Cloud Retainer hummed, "Nothing about this is normal," she commented with a brief flap of her wings, "Meeting someone in a dream seems too far-fetched for any of us, that it somehow sounds like a tale. Well, adepti both have the ability to sleep and meditate; but dreaming? That is unheard of. So I could not really say anything about it. I have no idea what it is like to dream, but if you have had the chance to experience it, I would say it must be something special. There must be something in you that allows you to dream about meeting this friend of yours. As to what that is, you have to find that out for yourself."

"Hm," he crossed his arms, "You do have a point."

She snorted, "Of course, I do. I always have a point. When did I not?"

"That, I could not answer."

She almost wanted to roll her eyes on his kind of blasé response. While he might be changing at his own pace, at the same time, he still could be the most unforthcoming individual she had ever met in her entire life.

But before she could inwardly rant about how awfully taciturn he was while giving answers sometimes, she couldn't help but ask about this mystery friend that he talked about.

"Ying, is it? Tell me more about her. I'm interested."

Morax looked at her for a moment before he responded, "What do you want to know?"

"Anything will do. Like what kind of woman she is, or what she looks like." Cloud Retainer said and continued, "It's up to you. I will just listen."

"Ying is... an exceptionally bright maiden in her own right. Absolutely knowledgeable, pretty sharp, and a good observer. She is... extraordinary, in a sense, and I also admire her astuteness. She is also patient and kind. Very so. I have to admit that it was difficult to be on the receiving end of her kindness at first, but as we got to know each other better on a daily basis, I suppose it just grew on me."

The avian adeptus blinked owlishly as she processed all of that in her mind. She couldn't believe it. Did he just utter a whole parade of string of words without even stopping at once?

"She is really that good-natured, huh?" she commented, still stunned beyond belief.

"Absolutely," he nodded, but then his expression turned somber as he relayed anything to her, "However, I could sense she was wary of me at times. Perhaps she knew about my divinity, but chose not to mention anything about it. Not that it minded me at least. I am comfortable enough with the anonymity, and the sense of normalcy she brought without being reminded of my status as a god."

Morax fell silent after that, and all she could do was stare at the powerful god in front of her, who unconsciously revealed a portion of his woes.

Being a god of his stature, as well as ruler of a vast territory, was no easy task. Of course, there were a lot of expectations from his band of followers ( adepti and mortals alike), so whether he was aware of it or not, it was his first and foremost responsibility as a god to live up to their expectations. Not only was he a source of pride for the adepti and the common people, but his power and presence were also acknowledged by the Celestia.

Both she and Guizhong were aware of how much he overworked himself to ensure the protection of his people from his never-ending adversaries. Morax may have been intimidating and ruthless in his own right, but he was still a normal god who was overburdened by his divine responsibilities.

So it was no surprise to her that their ruler was unknowingly attached to this mysterious friend of his. In fact, Cloud Retainer thought it would be beneficial for him to bond with someone other than her and Guizhong, given the way he was changing for the better.

And if this woman named Ying could help bring out the best in him, then, there would be no objections to her side.

But what about Guizhong...?

Does she know about her? If she does, what would she feel about it?

"She has a pair of striking golden eyes, long hair that she wears in a braid," Morax said as if he was in a trance, but she didn't stop him as she let him continue. "She likes to sing, and she plays a musical contraption similar to a lyre; which she calls this a harp. She also wears the most impractical garments I have ever seen in my entire life, except for the short brown cape on her shoulders, but... I suppose her outfit suited her nonetheless, so carefree— so her."

"Rex," she called out to him, which he instantly cocked his head. "Does Guizhong know about this?"

He slowly shook his head, "No, she doesn't. Why do you ask?"

Inwardly alarmed, she replied. "You did not? And here I thought you told her."

"I haven't. She didn't ask about it."

The urge to face palm was so strong that what she could only do (as a crane) was flap her wings as if she was trying to get rid of something on her feathers. Morax was only eyeing her, bewildered, but she didn't even bat an eye as she continued to flap and stretch her wings so wide— trying to think of how she was going to break this important information to Guizhong.

"If she asks about it, tell her, alright?" There was no way she could do it. It was much better if he was the one to break the information to her.

If anything, she was only a part of their circle, a spectator, as she accompanied both of her dear friends as they ventured their lives as divinities. Cloud Retainer might have known about the goddess' feelings for their lord, but she had no intention of interfering in their relationship in any way. She might be supportive of her in the sidelines and tease her about it every now and then— but Cloud Retainer couldn't ignore the thought of another person to whom Morax had shown favors (whether he was aware of them or not, the way he talked about her made it clear that he favored her).

And if there was any chance that Morax might have been too attached to this Ying, then there was no way he would turn his head for the goddess.

(Let alone notice her feelings for him, because Morax was clearly too hung-up with another woman.)

"I'll keep that in mind." He said with a nod.

As she processed all of those deductions in her mind, she felt as if her energy and soul were being sucked out of her system, leaving only a shell of herself in the process. It was a lot to bear, but she vowed that whatever happened, she would be there to help them both.

After all, she was only a part of their circle. Their only spectator.

---

"What is your purpose for coming to my lands?"

"Lord of Geo! We're glad you finally showed up!" An elder man wearing a brown cloak greeted him jovially. He trotted all the way to him and grinned, "We apologize for paying a visit without informing you."

Morax eyed the man impassively. Without a help from his sharp memory, he absolutely knew who this jovial man was. This elder was one of the gods who resides from the heavens, the god of mountains, Alisanos.

"We are worried that we dropped ourselves on the wrong world, but I couldn't forget those beautiful shaped mountains in your region as I looked at it from above. So I am certain that we didn't jinx our impromptu jaunt on the lands of mortals."

"We? Who's with you?"

"Oh! Miel had always wished to see your lands, so she came along with an old man like me."

Miel?

A woman appeared as if she was being summoned. Like the old man, she was wearing a cloak to cover her from head to toe. With a smooth flourish of her hands, she took off the hood covering her head and smiled.

This woman was named Miel. When he first saw her, her beautiful perfectly shaped horns on her head with green moss made an impression on him. It reminded him of his own horns, but hers were much smaller and more curved. She was, without a doubt, a forest goddess.

"My greetings, Lord Morax." she offered politely.

Morax nodded in return.

"We are relieved to say that we have arrived safely in your domain. This is our first journey through this land."

"I hope you are aware that traversing the lands of Teyvat is dangerous; I may be lenient with the both of you because we are acquainted, but some other gods who roamed these lands would not hesitate to make an enemy of the both of you."

"Egad, kid! We knew how to hide ourselves, so you don't need to warn us." Alisanos commented with a laugh, "Don't underestimate this old man."

He was silent for a moment as he intently eyed the jovial god in front of him, trying to feel the warm soil under his soles. There was something wrong somehow. It was subtle, but he thought he felt a slight shaking of the ground; as if a mini-earthquake bypassed the region.

Was it only his imagination? Or did a small earthquake really happen?

Before he could brood once more, he focused himself back to reality. "What brings you here?"

"The higher ups granted us permission to traverse the realm of mortals. We are only temporary here though, so we make the best of it. Right, goddess?"

"Yes, the offer was a once in a lifetime opportunity to bypass so we agreed to it. Although, I must admit, it was unusual for the higher-ups to grant us permission to descend on the surface, given the gravity of the situation with this conflict between surface gods for a secure spot in Celestia." The forest goddess could only shake her head and muttered, "But say... Do you believe this is the real will of the heavenly principles? It seems like a macabre-kind of survival of the fittest."

That he couldn't deny. Celestia was encouraging the surface gods to kill each other after all.

"Shush that, goddess. Be careful. They might hear you." Alisanos admonished.

"My deepest apologies for blurting it out of the blue."

So, Celestia offered them—or, more accurately, they granted them permission to descend? But wasn't that extremely risky and reckless? After all, the moment they entered the lands, they would be branded with target marks on their heads. If they are not cautious enough, they risk being executed— intentionally or unintentionally—by some other surface gods.

(They were, after all, in the midst of a nonsensical war.)

But it also made him skeptical. It was undoubtedly part of Celestia's nefarious scheme. For what reason were they doing this? What would that gain them?

"We apologize about that, Lord Morax." Miel bowed her head in reverence.

He shook his head in response, "Don't fret about it."

They chatted a few, with him giving curt responses if required. Although Morax had other matters to tend to in his region, he decided it wouldn't hurt to lead them in his lands. The upper gods were also being chatty along the way, openly gushing about the mountains and beautiful sights that he recommended showing them.

That was until he saw a crane, a follower of Cloud Retainer flying on his way to him. Absolutely intrigued, he eyed the bowing crane in front of him while the upper gods only looked in silence behind him.

"Speak," he ordered curtly.

"Milord, I apologize for disrupting your leisure time but there is something that you should know about. It's urgent."

"What is it?"

"We sensed a malicious energy coming from the other land, Milord."

Other land, he mused to himself. There was no other land tied to his region, except for one place.

That would be the Chasm.

"We're afraid that the dormant meteorite was acting up from the malicious energy that was encroaching on the land. We direly need your presence, Milord."

Encroaching?

Before he was about to leave with the adeptus, Morax turned his head towards his guests to apologize, but they only shook their heads in understanding.

"You do not have to," Alisanos beat him to it, he continued. "Do not worry about us, young god. We know our way."

He was skeptical for a second, but after a moment of deliberation, he finally nodded. "I understand. Have a safe trip."

"Likewise, Lord Morax."

Nodding in gratitude, his friendly countenance disappeared and was replaced by a serious, grave look.

"Lead the way."

.

.

.

.

What he saw and sensed before him was absolutely beyond the mortal's understanding. Before he could frown and eye the disorderliness of the land, he wanted to commend his adepti for being such quick-witted followers to handle things without his orders. Few miners had been forced evacuated, albeit confused by the impromptu evacuation, they didn't say anything to antagonize them— especially not in his magnanimous presence and the group of adepti herding them out of the land.

It was a wise thought of evacuating the mortals out of the mining area, because in the eyes of an adepti or a god himself— it was difficult to ignore the malicious, suffocating negative energy encroaching the area like a nasty plague. He almost wanted to wrinkle his nose out of disgust or leave the area in haste, but his sense of responsibility, wariness, and curiosity towards the unknown still won him over in the end.

The black miasma was all around, hovering the place like wisps of clouds. He observed that they were multiplying in a sense, making the atmosphere really stifling as the time passed. Some other followers were looking worriedly at the unknown, while some others were smart and guarded enough to stay closer to him just in case something happens.

He wanted to try a small experiment by touching the miasma with his bare finger. So when it suddenly zapped his flesh, as it left a small bleeding wound in its wake— he flicked his other arm in such speed, summoning a Geo shield to put a barrier between them and the malignant miasma.

"Starting from now on, this place will be off-limits," He barked his orders wherein the present adepti, albeit shocked beyond belief, only bowed their heads in understanding, "Tell the millelith to inform the miners that I am closing this land for the meantime. Only we can see this unknown entity, and it could be dangerous for humans."

"We understand, Lord Morax."

"I am planning to purge the madness here with my power," He declared with both arms raised, as the marks on his arms started glowing; Morax started purging the miasma as he relayed his orders. "Inform Cloud Retainer with the other illuminated beasts about the circumstances here. I need them on guard; they need to be my eyes all around the region."

As he purged the black mists with no difficulties, the ground began to shake, which caused panic to his followers, except for Morax.

"Milord!"

"Lord Morax!"

The shaking continued, but he was too focused on channeling his power to transmit it to the cold lands of Chasm.

Purging and quelling two different things was no easy feat, but for him— it was easy enough. He could only indulge at the feeling of his magnanimous raw power running through his marks, transmitting more of his energy to the lands to appease the raging tantrums of a disturbed meteorite. It was his power alone that kept it dormant for so many years, allowing the inhabitants ( the miners) of the land to work at peace.

As the lord of the region, it was very important to keep the meteorite always in check. After a falling star had plummeted next to his lands before the Archon war broke out, he was warned by the Celestia that the meteorite came from afar— from the whirl dimensions of the unknown.

He always minded to look upon the neighboring lands of his region, because aside from a proud meteorite to check from time to time, there also lies a dear friend that he sealed from many years ago.

After a few moments of unleashing his power into large quantities enough to spread around the mining land, the shaking finally stopped much to his followers' relief, but their moment of alleviation had been cut to short when the supposed purged miasma had appeared again in full force. But instead of attacking them, it only hovered in the air— as if nothing happened at all. They kept on dividing, increasing and increasing— until it was almost like the mining land had been covered by a thick black fog.

Morax could only frown at the scene before him.

What in the devil's name is happening?

Although the suffocating ambiance from earlier had disappeared, whereas the air was more breathable this time without having the urge to puke or flee out of the land— Morax couldn't let himself lower his guard.

Not with the abnormal circumstances taking place in his lands.

"Step back," he ordered, as he moved forward towards the black fog— which earned some alarmed reactions from his followers.

"M-Milord! No, it's dangerous!"

Morax ignored the worried warnings as he left the protective confines of his Geo shield. But much to his inward surprise, the moment he came closer to the murky depths of the hovering miasma— it didn't even attack, nor made a different attempt to harm him.

In fact, it just only hovered, spreading, as if it was just an ordinary fog enshrouding the place in black.

Does it mean he managed to purge the miasma away? The more he stared at it, even attempting to pass his arm through it multiple times— nothing happened, nor did it exhibit offensive behavior like it had previously.

He could say that, maybe, he had been successful in a way, but the mind boggling question was— where did this black fog even come from? Nothing about it was " normal", not with the way it kept on spreading— to the point it was getting difficult to see all around them.

So with a final bark of his orders, his followers began to leave one by one; leaving him on his own devices while he seriously brood over the origins of the black miasma.

Morax had to close this land for the meantime. He had to investigate this weird phenomena.

---

As he brood in silence, he could sense a pair of golden eyes drilling holes on the side of his face. Somewhat guilty for ignoring her for the whole time, he finally looked at her, resigned. "Yes?"

Seemingly startled, Ying blinked momentarily before she offered her response. "Oh, nothing. I was calling out your name a couple of times, but it looks like there's a lot going in with your mind. Penny for your thoughts?"

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't explain what was bothering him with broken sentences that she wouldn't understand even if he tried. As he shook his head inwardly while thinking of how disappointing it was that he couldn't share his thoughts with her, he only closed his eyes in resignation.

"You wouldn't understand anyways." he said.

She seemed to understand what he said, that she couldn't even create a suitable response to offer in return. After a moment of silence stretching between them, Ying suddenly scooted closer to him and offered. "What about let's do something."

"...What?"

"Let's learn from each other."

While her offer was acceptable enough, he couldn't help but knit his eyebrows out of uncertainty.

How? She couldn't even understand a little thing from him, and it was kinda draining to repeat a certain sentence all over again and again until she finally got the correct answer.

But the way she looked at him right now— eager to try something new with him—all of his pessimistic thoughts vanished right away in the center of his mind.

He might as well let her try. After all, he was curious as to what she had in mind.

"What is it?"

"Sign language!"

His eyebrows knitted in mild confusion, "..?"

Ying started, "Like this one." she made some animated gestures using her hands, in which he literally had no idea what it meant, "You can convey what you are thinking using hand gestures. Let's try it. You first, just do something simpler."

Morax eyed her for a moment as he tried to think of whatever he wished to convey to her. A simple greeting. What about Zuoyi? It was a common way of greeting in his region after all, he thought to himself; but the more he pondered over it, the more he realized it was slightly inappropriate for her ( for sure she wouldn't get what it means, he mused) so he quickly ignored the idea.

It should be something that she could easily understand, he nodded sagely to himself. And when he did, he tried a simple gesture with his hands; both hands slightly up in the air and did a casual— albeit stiff—wave.

A hello.

Ying had a serious expression on her face the entire time, but when he waved his hands repeatedly, her expression changed to confusion, and her golden orbs immediately sought his face as they looked at each other back and forth.

"Is that it…?" she asked carefully.

Did he make a mistake? Something simpler, right?

He slightly nodded in response as he continued to wave both of his palms. But with the way she was looking at him intently in the eyes, his hand gestures were becoming more stunted and awkward— that he stopped and only looked at her as he tried to gauge her weird expression.

Both of them fell silent, and the only sound he could hear was the soft howl of the wind. Morax had to admit that he was uneasy about the way her serious scrutiny seemed to drill into him. Was that too much? Was it not simpler enough? Or she just didn't get it? He doesn't really know.

"Was that meant to be a greeting?"

"Yes."

"A sort of 'hello'?"

Somewhat relieved, he nodded satisfactorily to himself as she made a correct guess, he responded. "Absolutely."

Ying's lips were pursed so tightly that he wondered if he had said something wrong to elicit such an unusual reaction. But then her body began to shake slightly as her restrained chuckles began to break free, leading to a full-fledged laugh.

Morax was downright confused, but he just let her laugh and laugh until she couldn't help herself and doubled over beside him. While he didn't mind the unexpected turn of events, he just thought the sound of her hearty giggles was endearing enough to listen— so he stayed still, looking at her with a slight upturn of his lips and observing how she seemed so free with him and unburdened by everything.

As she wiped a stray tear on her eye, she finally faced him with a smile. "My apologies. That was impolite of me."

"It's fine," he replied curtly.

"What you did back then was just so funny and adorable that I could not help myself," Ying confessed, covering half of her face with her hands as she tried to suppress her giggles, and he could only stare at her in surprise. "I am sorry. It just reminded me of those innocent children I used to play with alongside my brother; they always greeted us warmly with a wave of their hands, and I guess that simple gesture has stayed with me until now."

Adorable.

He doesn't know why, but Morax could feel the tips of his ears burning. The sudden warm sensation that he felt on his ears along with the back of his neck almost left his mind reeling into oblivion, that he couldn't help the urge to pull down his hood even more to hide the evidence of his newly found embarrassment.

A sudden realization struck him in, like a tree being stricken by a raging thunder coming out of nowhere.

That was it. The emotion that he felt at that moment was abashment, or if it was not— then something much closer to it.

And that was a first.

"Are you alright?"

"..."

She somehow leaned forward, "Morax?"

He made a placating gesture of his other hand, while pulling down the side of his hood with the other one. "I'm fine."

"So, I'm thinking that we should make our own kind of language to understand each other. What do you think?"

He side-glanced at her profile, "Continue."

"You knew about sign language, right?"

He shook his head.

"Oh? You didn't? That's a surprise. I thought you knew about that." Ying blinked, "It is a method of communicating that relies on hand gestures and movements, body language, and facial expressions rather than spoken words."

Ah, I see. So it's a nonverbal kind.

She hummed for a moment, and crossed her arms over her chest as she pondered over. "This could be difficult then. Let me think of another alternative."

They went silent after that, and instead of being comfortable with the silence— it was the exact opposite for Morax. Like, how could he? He should think of something else to help her ( to help make their situation more expedient, less taxing and fruitful), or at least help her come up with any kind of suggestion to lessen her burdens. Thinking matters in the deepest sense was not really his forte, especially if it was not connected to his daily duties in his region.

And somehow, he inwardly wished he could ask Guizhong's input at some point.

But, in the end, he couldn't stop himself from brooding, with a frown marring his features, because he couldn't come up with any.

Several minutes later, Ying sighed beside him and scratched her head in resignation. "I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything else aside from hand gestures."

"We should try it."

"Huh?"

"We should try it." he said repeatedly.

Ying looked at him seriously, and he returned the same look with his own. "Are you telling me you're up for it?"

He nodded, "Yes."

She gave him a soft smile, "Then we should give it a try."

Ying moved closer to him, causing his knee to collide with hers, but he simply ignored it. His sensitive nose, on the other hand, began to pick up on her familiar flowery scent—an inexplicable kind of natural perfume that some women possessed in their bodies. Guizhong had the same manner as Ying, but her perfume was more akin to the scent of her favorite flowers, such as Glaze Lilies, with a slight whiff of earth.

Meanwhile, Ying has a mysterious flowery scent on her person. Mature, but still innocent and sweet. A scent that he does not mind having around him because it soothes and calms the mind.

Before he could get any more distracted by her flowery scent, he wanted to propose a long time idea of his.

In which to start teaching her his own language. Although the notion was nothing sort of easy on his part, he thought it was reasonable enough to teach her a part of himself in return for her patience and kindness over the months they had known each other.

But first, he wanted to share the basic greeting etiquette that he knew coming from his people.

While looking at her, he made a simple gesture with his hands; his right hand curled into a half fist and his left hand held the other hand. Ying was eyeing him in silence, obviously intrigued with the foreign hand gesture that he made in front of his chest.

"When greeting their peers in my region, humans used this simple gesture called Zuoyi."

"Shoyi?"

"Zuo-yi."

"Does that count as a formal greeting?"

"It could be."

Ying tried to imitate him, but he only shook his head and pointed to her right hand. "It is exactly the opposite."

"Eh?" she blinked as she did what he told, placing her right hand on top. "Is this what you meant?"

"That's right. In my region, women's honorable side is on the right, while men's honorable side is on the left. According to the ancient tales being spoken repeatedly by the mortals over a millennia, the left side is regarded as the important and honorable, while the right part is used for atta—"

"W-wait, do not go too fast. I am trying my best to understand…"

He blinked, but he nodded in understanding nonetheless. "My apologies."

"There are a few words and phrases in your language that I seem to understand— somehow— but given the linguistic barrier looming between us, I am still unsure if what I learned about your language in my own understanding is correct in the first place. But do not get me wrong, I'm not complaining in the least," she shook her head, "I just want you to please bear with me as I try to learn how to understand you."

He couldn't help but look at her properly this time. Her words, her sincerity, had really struck a chord in him, to the point where he felt compelled to chastise himself for being so oblivious to her inward struggles as she tried her hardest to understand him from the very beginning until then.

Between them, she was the narrator, while he was the listener. He was not good with words, so trying to talk to her for hours on end was literally out of the question ( for him). He might ask her questions every now and then, but he had to admit that most of the time he let her do the talking.

(And Morax felt slightly ashamed of himself for allowing such behavior to continue without making any effort to assist her in overcoming their unfortunate situation.)

"I know," he said, his eyes softening as he continued to look at her while she anxiously fidgeted beside him. "My apologies for not realizing this sooner. I should have been more forthcoming with you, expressing my willingness to assist and accompany you as you worked through this situation."

It was at that moment that she finally turned her head, both of their eyes meeting in an instinct, like two pieces of magnet wanting to coincide and never to break away from each other.

"Let's start over again, and this time I am with you," he reassured her with a soft upturn of his lips, "Let's learn from each other, Ying."

He was not sure if she totally understood what he told her, but Morax swore he saw her eyes and face light up, her cheeks a healthy shade of pink as she nodded at him with a beautiful smile.

How strikingly resplendent, he could only muse to himself that time.

---

"Ahhh," she plopped under the tree with a sigh and laid down, "That was nice. I feel like my feet are sore from chasing down a mammal like that, but it was fun."

He laid himself down beside her with some respectable space between them. "It was."

She turned her head to the side to look at him and gestured a few hand signs, " I hope you enjoyed yourself?"

Nodding, he made gestures with his hand in affirmation. "I am."

Ying smiled even more brightly, "I'm glad."

"Thank you." he said while making the correct hand gestures for gratitude.

They can finally understand each other this time without the issue of the language barrier between them. When Ying proposed teaching him what she called hand signs, he agreed without hesitation because he knew it would be beneficial to both of them. He even taught her his own language, especially the basics— and he had to say that she was a remarkable student to boot that she could remember any words from his mother tongue that he taught her. Ying also has a spectacular memory, he had a hunch that she might have an eidetic memory as well for being so sharp around her surroundings.

Both of them were exchanging words back and forth with no difficulty, and the once awkward air around their heads dissipated along with the invisible walls that separated them. They talked a lot since then, and he was inwardly grateful for the opportunity to understand and exchange a plethora of words with her.

"Ying?"

"Hm?" she hummed, tilting her head to the side to look at him.

"Could you tell me the name of this tree?"

"Ah," she smiled as she looked at the tree, "it's a Wisteria tree."

"Wisteria.." Morax caught a falling single petal in his hand, "It's my first time seeing this kind of tree, but I have to say its beauty is glorious. It reminds me of a certain tree back home."

"Oh? What is it?"

"A Ginkgo tree."

"Ging...go?"

"Gink-go,"

"Oh..." she blinked and then laughed, "Sorry about that. It sounds really foreign to me."

He shook his head, "Don't be. We both came from different worlds after all."

Ying nodded as she leaned back, closing her eyes. "Right."

"May I hear one of your stories again today?"

"Sure. What do you want to hear?"

"Anything will do."

Ying smiled at his curt response, "Well then. I am in the mood to tell you about an ancient tale coming from a faraway land."

He perked up at that.

"A story about the kin of gentle, purest souls blest with the blood of cosmos running through their veins."

---

"I suppose my power was not enough to quell the madness."

The avian adeptus retorted almost instantly, "This is preposterous. You took the greatest lengths to quell the foul miasma surrounding the region, Rex. How could this happen?"

"This is bad.." Guizhong muttered as she remembered the bed ridden villagers recuperating from the onslaught of miasma in their fragile bodies, "The miasma is getting worse in some parts of the region. If we don't do something, the people are no doubt at risk."

Guizhong was correct. The miasma got worse than ever. No, it was more like it increased—the negative energy multiplied tenfold, affecting living things such as plants, critters—

And now, it affected humans as well. Based on the witnesses' testimonies as well with the victims', the miasma attacked them head on; like it has a mind of its own. They dropped like flies the moment the miasma got them in its grasp, weakened them to the very bones and felt like their souls were being sucked out of their system.

To them, it was like they were being branded by a curse.

He found it really unusual this time. The dark energies that percolated on his domain had, in fact, come from Chasm. But even so, he was assured and confident of dispelling the miasma, particularly on the borders. His raw power was sufficient enough to quell it, so the sudden onslaught of miasma within the borders made him skeptical. It was almost as if the miasma had been commanded by someone unknown to him to invade his lands.

But who? And why?

"Rex, are you listening? You're brooding."

Shaking his head internally, he turned to Guizhong and Cloud Retainer.

"My apologies. But there is something I want to check."

"We understand. But do you require some assistance?"

"No. I'll be fine on my own."

Without waiting for a response, he took off to the winds at such inhuman speed and he only slowed down the moment his eyes fell on his particular destination. Levitating until his bare feet touched the dead black grasses, he sized up the place with a serious scrutinizing gaze. The place sure looks normal for a mortal, but for the eyes of someone sublime such as him— could see the daunting abysmal-like mist on the other side, opposite to him.

To test his theory, he bravely moved closer with his bare arm stretched towards the ominous miasma that stayed beyond the border.

The mist started to change, something like a moving shadow in response to his proximity. But then suddenly, the said shadow lashed out to him like a tentacle, devouring and trapping his whole arm with a vice grip.

Now absolutely convinced, Morax pushed a minimal of his raw power in his trapped arm. His flesh tingled as he felt the sudden surge of his power traveling on the ancient marks on his arm up until to the tips of his hand. The miasma latching on his arm was no match for his power, and it simply vanished into thin air, similar to how unexpected the attack occurred.

Morax thought that he managed to quell the miasma. He made a point of checking on its status on a regular basis, and it shows no signs of change in any way. It remained dormant at all times. But this time, it pounced on him like a snake on its prey.

(Just like what happened at Chasm, this miasma was on the offensive, attacking anyone in its vicinity.)

Now, he was finally convinced that someone was in control of the miasma.

Without a doubt.

---

Morax felt like his consciousness was slowly coming back to the surface. As he slowly opened his bleary eyes, what he saw right away was the profile of his longtime companion sitting closer next to him. Her long fingers glided through his dark locks as she hummed a familiar tune, distracted.

Bewildered, he could only stare at her in silence and feel the gentle touch of her fingers gliding through his hair. It was nice, he mused to himself. He couldn't explain the feeling, nor did he know the emotion by its name— but it was akin to the feeling that he always had whenever he flew heartily in the sky with no preambles.

Ying's fingers stopped the moment when her eyes caught his face. Slightly flustered from being caught red-handed, she instantly took her hand away from his hair and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"You're awake."

"I am," he replied curtly.

As he pushed himself from his supine position to sit next to her, he noticed a familiar brown cape being draped over him like a blanket. The familiar floral scent invaded his senses as he held the warm cloth in his hand. Somewhat confused, he turned his head towards her, who was obviously avoiding his gaze.

"This is yours, isn't it?" he asked quizzically, as he held the cape between them.

Frowning a little bit, she replied. "It is. What about it?"

For a brief moment, he locked his gaze on her. The cape belonged to her, and he had never seen her without it since they met. He deduced that it was something important to her. She always wore a small cape on her shoulders, that he had no idea what she wore beneath it, along with her flowing skirt. He couldn't help but notice the unique style of habiliment she was wearing now that she was not wearing a cape. Simple white, similar to the color of her skirt, which was embellished with gold trimmings. The tops of her shoulders were also exposed, and her milky flesh had turned pink as a result of being exposed to the cold.

"Why?"

She doesn't look comfortable without her cape on. Why did she let him use the scrap of cloth to cover him up when it was obvious all along that it was unnecessary, especially for him, who has never been bothered by heat or cold?

"What are you talking about?"

"This," he said, referring to the cape on his hand. "You know this is completely unnecessary for me. I don't need a blanket, so why did you make me use this?"

As he said this, he saw the frown forming on her face as she looked back and forth between him and the cape. "Why not? No matter how much you insisted you did not feel cold or warm, seeing you without anything to protect your arms from it still bothered me."

He doesn't get it. But what about her?

"But you don't look comfortable without it."

"What makes you say so?"

Dropping the cape on his lap, he reached out to touch her right shoulder, making her jolt from the suddenness. Her flesh was so cold to the touch that he couldn't stop himself from narrowing his eyes while looking at her.

"You are cold. You needed the garment to cover yourself up more than I do." Morax held the cape and draped it over her shoulders properly, much to her surprise, "Unlike you, I am serious about not feeling anything in this realm. I am neither warm nor cold. Do not do this again next time."

Surprised and speechless by his soft reprimand, she only nodded meekly and drew the cape all over her to seek warmth from it.

---

It happened again. This time, the miasma attacked a small village during the night.

As he heard the panicked cries of mortals calling out the name of their revered god, he didn't hesitate to teleport himself to the place where his name was being called.

But everything was too late. The aberration of a miasma gnawed the flesh of the unfortunate people, spreading all around them as they moaned in pure agony. Their scleras also turned into black, giving them an aghast-like appearance enough to scare a normal human.

They were possessed. He even saw some of them trying to attack other people by biting their victims enough to bleed, with manic expressions painting their faces as they moved mechanically— like a marionette being controlled by a puppeteer.

The cries of mortals filled his senses as he and the fellow adepti did their very best to quell the madness in the area. He even summoned pillars to protect the others from the spreading miasma and unleashed a half of his raw power to dominate and purge it.

He was trying to save the corrupted people like what he did with his arm back then, but it was too late.

He couldn't save them all as they dropped like flies one by one. Their bodies were simply too fragile to withstand it. The miasma already entered their system, leeching off whatever they had within them, along with their very soul.

It became an unexpected tragedy, where everything happened in a blink of an eye. His people were shaken to the core, as heart wrenching sobs echoed through the night— expressing their despair to the skies.

He couldn't explain the feeling he was having, but he knew he was livid.

Whoever controlled this miasma had really done it. They had harmed a quarter of his people, which could not be forgiven.

He is out for blood. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Even if it was another god's doing, he had to pay for his puny life by inflicting harm on his innocent subjects within his domain.

He will exact his vengeance. They will have no choice but to face the consequences and feel the wrath of the rock.

---

"You woke up late this time. Tired?"

He was silent for a moment as he blinked his bleary eyes to adjust with the brightness.

"...My subjects died in front of me."

She was speechless for a moment as her golden eyes peered down at him to see his face. His face was still stoic as ever. "...my deepest condolences for your loss, Morax. How are you faring?"

Unperturbed, he replied. "I'm fine."

"Are you?" she said, scooting closer to him as she plucked an innocent purple petal off his hair.

Morax remained silent as he watched the tree above him, staring at the flowers as it was pushed back and forth by the wind.

"I don't think you are. Are you certain?" she pushed again by inquiring.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"It's because your eyes are telling you the opposite."

As she spoke, his view of the tree above him changed, and he was greeted by her face upside down, hovering over him from a respectable distance. To say he was surprised was an understatement, but as he regarded her intently up close— he was certain that he didn't mind the attention she was giving him at the moment.

They were just staring at each other's eyes, but Morax thought it was a good distraction to dispel any dark thoughts that had begun to form inside his mind the moment he woke up.

He noticed a pink petal being stuck to her hair. Before he had the mind to stop himself, he reached out to her and plucked the flower gently out of her tresses. Ying was confused at first, but when she saw the petal on his finger— she couldn't help but smile.

She presented the purple petal that she plucked out of his hair to him, "Yours is purple."

"Pink." He murmured as he imitated her, also presenting the pink petal with his long fingers, beside hers with the purple petal.

She grinned, "Now you don't have that look in your eyes anymore. I'm glad."

"Look?"

"You're always serious. I have to admit that your face is so stoic that it's pretty hard to discern what you're thinking about at times. My brother is like that too. He tends to keep everything to himself, especially if he doesn't want me to worry." she said, somewhat wistful. "But I'm a persistent kind of woman though. He denied it repeatedly, saying there was nothing wrong, not until I discovered another way to see what was going on in his mind by looking through his eyes alone. Since then, he has not been able to keep everything from me. I do not want him to bear the burdens alone, which is why I want him to be so open with me— his only sister."

He did not say anything to distract her as he remained motionless on his spot.

"Somehow, you remind me of my brother. He used to have those eyes like yours whenever he was thinking about things that were stressing him out. I do not know what you have been through, but I know how difficult it was to lose people you cherished all along. I do not know how I can help you, Morax, but I can assure you that you are not alone. I can listen if you do not have someone to talk to. Do not keep it to yourself, alright?"

Morax was definitely speechless. He couldn't tell what was the name of the feeling he had as of that moment, but he felt so light, like he finally got his ability back to breathe once again. Her words always struck a chord in him. Guizhong and Cloud Retainer were his dear friends, but they were not bold enough to tell their sweeping thoughts in regards to him. Perhaps the former was close enough, Guizhong can be bold sometimes and she always speaks what was on her mind— but compared to Ying, it was totally different.

He saw Guizhong as a special ally. Without Guizhong, he wouldn't know what to do with his people. She was a bridge between him and the subjects that he was inclined to protect with all his life. Guizhong was also like a mentor to him at some point, teaching him what to do and what to avoid. Teaching him the ways of humanity, to comprehend the minds of a mortal, and to know how to adapt with a human-kind of life. Without her, he wouldn't see any improvements to himself. As a god who ruled a large region in Teyvat.

But Ying, he was not sure what to make of her. They're close enough to see each other as acquaintances. But somehow, he felt like their bond and connection was more than that.

But he had no idea what it was. Her words always had the power to appease him, distract him from unsavory thoughts of bloodshed or something similar to it where it made him brood for the whole time.

"Thank you," he said, and he meant it. This woman was like a breath of fresh air to him, and seeing her happy, smiling face made him feel so light.

"Don't be silly. I didn't do anything at all."

He only grunted as he slightly pushed himself to sit beside her, much closer this time with their shoulders and legs touching. "Will you tell me another story today?"

Chuckling, she replied with a slight nudge on his side. "Do you really have to ask?"

Somewhat endeared by the sound of her chuckles, he almost sigh as he leaned back on the tree bark behind him. "I think not."

"Stop being so formal, Morax."

He couldn't help the smile that was forming on his usually stoic face, "I apologize."

"Let's start then," Ying started, "I still haven't told you about my favorite fable yet."

"Let's hear it."

Pleased by the eagerness of his tone, Ying responded with a smile. "I'll tell you a story about the benevolent demon named Xiao."

---

He was doing his regular inspections along the region for the whole day, as well as trying to find some clues where he could find the culprit of the miasma. His search continued being fruitless for months, and to say it doesn't irk him beyond belief was an absolute understatement. So when he was about to go back to his abode to retire, the goddess spotted him from the fields and asked him to accompany her. While he didn't mind sharing a couple of words with her before he retired for the night, he couldn't help but be intrigued at the new beautiful sword she was carrying.

(And that is how he found himself watching her in the middle of the night with a sword in hand, where a waning crescent looked upon them from above, giving them enough moonlight to shine down on them.)

While Guizhong was completely inept at sword fighting (due to her inability to fight against stronger opponents due to her weak constitution), she did know how to use a sword for a different purpose— which was to dance with the way of the sword.

As he watched carefully at the distance, he had to admit that the Goddess of Dust absolutely knew her way with the weapon as she danced gracefully on the fields, with her long robes following the motion of each step and every thrust of her sword in the air. Guizhong was entirely focused on her dance number, as if she was doing a grand performance in public— trying to woo people with her art.

In all honesty, Morax was enchanted, she made a beautiful image with her traditional dance. With the way she carried herself with a sharp sword, brandishing the said weapon and twirling it in graceful touches of her wrist— it was undeniably a spectacular scene.

He, who absolutely appreciated traditional arts in all their forms, thoroughly enjoyed watching his friend perform. So when she finally ended her performance with a clean toss of her sword and swiftly catched it single-handedly, Morax started clapping and Guizhong only bowed her head with her sword behind her for the closing remark.

"How..." Guizhong started as she let out a deep breath, "...How was it?"

"It was spectacular," he replied honestly and continued, "The way you move along with the sword was graceful. As a spectator, I was truly impressed. It was a splendid performance, and you look beautiful with a sword." Morax eyed the sword in her hand, completely unaware of the flustered look the goddess was sporting at the moment. "It's my first time seeing that sword with you. Is that yours?"

She cleared her throat and responded, "Y-yes. I just think it's much better to practice using a real sword instead of a sham." Guizhong made her way back to him and offered him the weapon, "Want to see it?"

He only reached out for the weapon and checked it out with a studious look. The weapon was beautiful, and it was very light to hold. "It's a perfect sword to be wielded by a woman with a short stature. It's simple enough as well, not too pretentious, and I daresay it's beautiful." he said, "It suits you."

She smiled meekly, "Thank you."

"And also, the prestige tassel. What a good decision, it will help you with the balance point of your sword." He handed her back the sword.

"Oh, it is." Guizhong nodded with a smile as she got her weapon back, "I was told by a friend once that a tassel with jade stones or marbles would indeed help me handle the sword, and he gave me this. It was once his, he just gave it to me as a memento."

"The mortal friend of yours?"

"Yes. He gave it to me before he died."

So the tassel was from her deceased mortal friend.

He only nodded and stared at the distance as the both of them went silent. But then he suddenly remembered what Cloud Retainer had told him several months ago.

"If she asks about it, tell her, alright?"

He felt somehow uncomfortable from keeping it away from her. Whether Guizhong asked about it or not, he thought it was pretty unfair for the goddess to be the only one who was kept in the dark about his meeting with a mortal from another world.

So he made a decision. Morax wanted to tell her about Ying. Guizhong at least deserved that, after all, she was a friend of his.

"There is something I want to tell you," he started, wherein the goddess perked up at that as she put her sword away.

"What is it?"

"Remember the time where I had asked you if gods are capable of dreaming?"

She nodded, "Yes, I do remember that. What about it?"

"Before that, I stumbled upon a realm." he confessed, "And met a certain someone in there. I was skeptical at first and thought if I was only dreaming, but it happened again and again, until it didn't feel like I was in a dream anymore."

"Does it feel like a reality?" she asked.

"It does feel like it," he admitted and continued, "But whether it is a dream or not, that realm is a work of art. It even has beautiful places in it. It was like a safe haven for gods."

"Hmm… About this certain someone," she trailed, "who is it?"

"Her name is Ying. Remember the flower I showed you way back along with Zhenjun? That flower exists in that realm, and I think the flower in my possession came from her."

"Oh."

He blinked. Her tone sounded off to him somehow, so out of instinct, he decided to check over her. And what he saw then, baffled him to the most extent.

She doesn't look happy. Why does she look so doleful?

"Guizhong?"

"Could you tell me more about it?" she asked softly, smiling albeit forcefully. "Please? I always have the feeling that something is going on with you in these past few months. I feel like I'm being left out. Does Cloud Retainer know as well?"

He doesn't get it. Did he just say something wrong? "Yes."

Now that he thinks about it, he almost got the same reaction from Cloud Retainer. She even suggested that he tell Guizhong about Ying, which made him skeptical at the time. Was the idea of meeting her in secret really that preposterous to them? Or was he just overthinking things?

Cloud Retainer didn't mention anything about Ying after that, but she didn't seem thrilled at all at the same time when she remembered about Guizhong.

Perhaps, something was going on with the goddess?

"Are you alright?" he asked, almost uncertain.

"What kind of question is that?" she said with a wry chuckle, "Of course I am. Please continue, tell me more about her. What kind of woman is she?"

At her friendly response, Morax finally relaxed and spoke. "She is an extraordinary woman who is good at telling stories from her world."

"Her world? So she came from a different world then?"

He nodded and confirmed, "Yes, she is."

"I have always thought those stories you shared with us were a little bit peculiar," she hummed, "so all of it came from her?"

"Aa, everything. Aren't they interesting?"

"They are."

"She is pretty knowledgeable as well. She told me a lot of things that I thought were impossible, but they are actually true."

"Like?"

"Like you can make an egg bounce," He said so randomly and seriously, which made her look at him incredulously, "but it could still break though, unfortunately."

Guizhong was absolutely stupefied beyond belief as she replied, "Is that even possible?"

"Yes," he agreed, "you can make a bouncy egg by soaking it in vinegar for three days."

Her incredulity was still visible on her face as she inquired. "You can?"

"Yes, you can. In fact, I tried it way back and it surprised me as well that it worked."

"It sounds like a simple experiment," Guizhong said, still wide-eyed with the information, "but it piqued my interest, and I think I might try that as well."

"You must immerse it in a glass of vinegar for a few days."

"And what happens to the egg?"

"The shell will dissolve, leaving you with a naked egg."

"Naked egg?" she exclaimed, stunned.

"That is what Ying always refers to it as, and I think it does look naked— somehow—because it doesn't have a shell."

"Impressive... really impressive; I would love to try that later and see how it turns out."

"Ying is just so knowledgeable about a lot of things. Even as a mortal, she shared a lot of wonders, and nothing feels tedious when she's with you."

"She sounds like a spectacular woman indeed. It's obvious enough that you enjoyed her company."

"If you met her, you will think so as well. She's just...so different, I suppose."

They went silent, but then Guizhong asked him a certain question that made him eye her from the corner of his eye.

"Is she beautiful to you?"

He actually doesn't know where that question even came from, but he was sure it was pointless to lie at the proper question she presented; so he made sure to answer her simply without lies.

"I have to admit she is beautiful, in an otherworldly sense. Bright, she reminds me of the moon sometimes. I knew the fact she is a mortal, but the way she carried herself almost differed her from any mortals I see. It felt like she was too far to reach, somehow. And to think a god like me would think of her that way, it feels too surreal."

"I see. Some mortals could be like that in the eyes of a divinity sometimes. I remembered I used to feel that way on Weiyuan as well, so I understood the feeling." she said almost wistfully as she idly played with the purple tassel of her sword. "What's more about her?"

"She sings everytime, and her songs are splendid. She almost reminds me of you."

"...I see." she muttered something in herself but all he just caught with his ears were the words of 'interest' and 'musical instruments'.

Guizhong finally stood beside him as she reached for the sword, "I think it's getting late, Rex."

He agreed as he stood as well, "It is. I have to retire for now, and you should as well."

She smiled, but her smile didn't even reach her eyes. "I will. Thank you for accompanying me tonight. Have a good night."

"Likewise." he nodded in response as he flew away.

And, unbeknownst to him, Guizhong stayed another hour, trying to nurse the unmistakable pain in her chest that she had felt throughout the conversation about her.

---

Ever since what happened on the Chasm, miasma incidents were getting more frequent. The miasma has the ability to possess mortals, and because it has control over both the body and the mind, it has the potential to transform the possessed individual into a ghastly figure and turn them rabid the moment the miasma corrupts their minds.

While it could be cured if purged instantly, still, the alarming rate of its transmission when the miasma began to enter someone's body was just so fast that even he was inclined to believe how totally severe it was for humans if they became infected.

(But this was expected, after all, someone was controlling the miasma along with the shadows.)

And now, the miasma attacks happened again when her people and the adepti were celebrating in the name of his fellow god, Marchosius. It was all fun and festive at first, until the unknown instantly broke the joyous event where humans were running in stampede, away from those ghastly looking mortals who growled like beasts and attacked and hurt people along the way.

The whole place was a bloodbath mess with several corpses lying on the ground, either infected or not— it was not a pleasant image to look upon.

Morax couldn't resort to violence. He couldn't hurt the infected people, because he knew they could be cured if it was not too late enough. He and his adepti began restraining the possessed mortals and started curing them by purging the miasma away from their bodies. He made shields out of Geo to protect the others from being scratched or bitten by the others, but even if he made protective constructs for the others, it was still not enough for him to mass produce shields for everyone where there was an ongoing stampede. He couldn't shield people properly if they ran all over the place like ants, and he couldn't as well create a large shield without even shielding the infected ones along with the normal ones.

Everything was just in chaos, and he felt bad for Marchosius who was also helping them restraining possessed mortals by herding them with his large stature. The festival was supposed to be momentous and joyous for his friend, but in a blink of an eye, it simply just led to tragedy. For sure, the Stove God was having a lot of questions as to who was their adversary for the whole entire time; but he didn't say anything as he continued to help him and his followers by quelling the madness all over the area.

While he was doing his very best to channel all of his power to reach the mass while quelling the very unstable miasma encroaching the area like a plague, he also witnessed how rabid the infecteds were as they attacked innocent people. Their growls coalesced with the screams of pain of the other victims, crying the name of their loved ones or his name as they begged for help. Some were devoured, messily, as blood spurted all around like a fountain. Some even died due to excessive blood loss, while the others were helped by some adepti being led by Ganyu by doing first aid at the last minute.

"Now!" Cloud Retainer and her band of crane followers flocked over the place with adeptal energies surrounding them. They made a decagon formation from above and created a huge dome to enclose all of them— successfully cutting the miasma off from controlling the people. He wanted to remark about her quick thinking, but he had to focus on doing his job instead of anything else.

Morax began to mark one by one of those possessed mortals in the vicinity. Now that the miasma was getting weaker inside the dome, it was his chance to take advantage of the situation to use his power to its full potential.

Geo crystals began to sprout from the earth as it slowly covered the infected people up to their torsos to restrain them. The infected only growled in anger, their eyes mad, as they tried to gnaw the crystal out of them. He made sure that the crystals were strong enough not to break, and he just noticed that all of them were doing the same. From growling and gnawing the crystals restraining them, when they found out that they couldn't get out of the crystal— they began to weep and moan out of pain. And somehow, he almost thought that they seemed mechanical based on their behavior.

The sound of their animalistic growls and their teeth clacking against the crystals almost grated his ears, along with their moans of pain. Morax started channeling his energy on the crystals, and slowly, their black scleras disappeared and the weird black marks began to recede. One by one, the restrained people started to reclaim their awareness back.

"I-I hurt my s-sister Meimei… t-too much bl-blood…."

"... save us from the shadows...uhuuuu.."

"Nnngh... we're cursed, M-Milord. Please help me. I'm afraid I might harm my family—"

"...it hurts so much, it hurts so much…!"

"T-the shadows will lock us up! It will make us lose control again, Milord! Please help us!"

"Oh Lord Adepti, please!"

They were slowly getting more coherent as he released them from the confines. Some of them were shaken to the core after he released them, crying at the blood in their hands and mouth, while the others couldn't help themselves as they puke out the contents of their stomach— obviously sick at the thought of hurting others by tearing their flesh.

Ganyu and the rest took the initiative to check up on each of them. Everything was just a mess, he mused to himself, as he made sure to dominate the whole area with his power. His power of Geo almost spiked all around the area, even the ground seemed to hum in gratitude in every step he took. The pandemonium was not over yet, and he had to go out of the dome in order to purge the remaining malicious miasma. Cloud Retainer and her followers were already doing a great job on trying to quell it, but it was not enough to repel it with their adepti arts.

He could still see the black aura hovering around the dome but it looked like it was aware of the cleansing power that the adepti had— so it didn't even bother trying to attack it as it normally should. As he stepped outside of the dome, some remaining infected individuals tried to attack him on every side, to the point of flocking him, but he only casted a shield around him in time and used a certain amount of his power to stun them temporarily with his petrification ability. They stood like breathing ghastly statues around him and Geo crystals began to sprout from the earth to encase them from the bottom up to their necks.

He could feel Cloud Retainer's eyes along with her fellow cranes looking at his back as he did his purging process. Unlike those victims inside the dome, the victims that were left behind were a lot more ghastly looking with their skin so pale with black sickly marks adorning their faces, neck and arms. As he forced his adepti energy to cleanse them, their animalistic howls reverberated in sequence as if they were trying to call something in the air— until when he turned his head upwards, the miasma began to move like shadows and Cloud Retainer and the others could only look at it warily as they pushed a lot of cleansing aura to protect the people inside the dome.

The hovering miasma was acting up from the animalistic howls of the infected and Morax couldn't understand what were the implications of each shriek of every individual; but he couldn't just ignore his gut feeling that something would likely happen if he wouldn't do something to quicken the curing process. So he doubled his efforts of forcing his power upon them on a large scale just in case the miasma was trying to get a hold on them from above.

Their screams of pain continued in a minute until each of them began to lose consciousness one by one, with their black eerie marks beginning to recede. His arms felt like it was shooting electricity from the magnanimous power he was trying to call forth out of his body, as bright Geo marks began to appear on the ground— with lots of ancient symbols that only he and a few senior adepti could decipher the meaning.

He was planning to protect the people with his mark and cast a protective cleansing aura just in case a stray miasma would spot and attack them. The marks that appeared on the ground had made their way to the people inside the dome and latched on them— leaving a mark with the color of gold in their flesh.

And that was when he spotted the familiar figure of one goddess, with a child dragging her as they jogged on their way to him. Guizhong looked pretty alarmed as she tried to stop the child from running by trying to pull out her hand, but the child seemed uncharacteristically strong as she dragged the discombobulated goddess in tow.

Then the unthinkable happened, all of the miasma above began to form like a huge ball, zeroed out on the unusual child, and it suddenly invaded the small body.

For sure, that's the core of the miasma.

Morax was too surprised by the sudden turn of events, and he mostly didn't expect that the child was under the influence of the miasma. So when the child suddenly bit Guizhong on the hand, the goddess' ear-splitting scream almost rattled him to the core that he didn't even thought of anything else as he rushed his way through them in a blink of an eye— and threw a sharp steely rock spear on the child to separate her away from the goddess.

The child only chuckled merrily as she evaded the rock spear effortlessly and took a large step back.

"How despicable," he glared at the culprit who was laughing at the distance, obviously mocking them in glee.

Guizhong was in tears as she screamed in pain from the bitten wound. He had a mind to help her staunch the blood flow by compressing his large hand on her, but he couldn't ignore the remaining threat who just summoned a beast out of the shadows and attacked both of them. Before the monster could hit them with its sharp claws, Morax scooped the wounded goddess and immediately teleported inside the dome.

Marchosius was beside them right away along with Ganyu and the other adepti. Guizhong's bleeding wound turned really bad, with dark vein-like marks appearing from the wound up until it crawled all the way to her whole arm. As he placed her down, he looked at the monster on the other side and was about to leave when Guizhong stopped him by the wrist.

"T-the child," she rasped, shaking. "Please don't hurt the child. She's innocent, I swear. Save her, Rex. Please."

He only looked down at her and gently pried off her grip, he talked to Ganyu instead. "Please look after the people in here, and her as well. Guizhong is wounded."

Ganyu nodded anxiously, "I understand, Milord."

"I have to settle this once and for all. I will change course to divert the miasma away from here, and when I do, make sure all of you have left; return to the assembly, it is much safer there."

He made sure that his marks were enough to protect the mortals, and he knew he could count on Cloud Retainer and the other adepti as well to look out for any threats.

After relaying his orders, he immediately took off, summoned his spear, and pursued the remaining infected mortal who had the core of the miasma.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The long time chase of searching for the core had finally revealed itself to him. If anything, Morax had a battle to settle.

This is no time to waste, he continued to chase the child who just made a hundreds of monsters who left a trail of death on its wake, making the healthy grasses turned to black, even the soil turned barren and desiccated. Morax summoned several amber spears out of nowhere and he rained it upon the beasts. While his offensive approach does work, the more he eliminated those on the way, it just doubled and doubled until it felt like it was a hassle chore to kill all of them. The shadow beasts just tripled in every kill, but Morax didn't bat an eye no matter how grueling it was as he continued to eliminate those by raining his spears (now imbued with cleansing aura, in order to protect his poor lands).

The chase had almost wrecked havoc in his lands, but the roundabout game of tag had finally come to an end when the crazed child suddenly doubled over in the plains, looking pained as ever as her screams got louder in every second. The shadow beasts even began to drop like flies as they vanished one by one. He was completely perplexed by the unexpected turn of events, and before approaching the child, he cast a strong shield around him and floated his way through her; but then another unthinkable thing happened regarding the miasma again.

The poor child started crying as she spewed something out of her mouth, and every cough she made caused her to vomit that vile looking inky vomitus on the ground while convulsing. He has no idea what was going on with the child, but he had a feeling something was wrong with her— somehow.

His suspicion was that the miasma was too much for the child to bear, so her body was naturally ejecting the vile entity from her by spewing it out. Because of how much she was convulsing on the ground as she lay in her own black vomit, there was a greater chance that she could not handle the amount of miasma that would cause a rapid deterioration of her small body, which was starting to look like it was the case.

Morax remembered Guizhong's last words to him, that he finally made a move to help the child. With a silent order of his element, he encased the child protectively with a shield in order for her not to hurt herself while she convulsed. He waited for the child to stop convulsing, but Morax couldn't help but be uneasy of how she was getting paler in every second.

"Child, do you hear me?"

Morax began to rest his hand on top of her head as he channeled his adepti energy on her after the child made only garbled noises. He saw how deplorable the child was in her state, that it doesn't make sense to him why the miasma chose (at the last minute) to invade a small body that couldn't even handle its power to house it. While she continuously ejected the vile looking vomitus out of her, his simple trick seemed to work on her when her convulsions stopped— but then after a few moments, she lost consciousness. He touched the child's forehead and saw how the color returned to her cheeks again. She was still alive and breathing. Stable, he mused to himself with relief. However, his moments of reprieve were cut to short again when the inky liquid began to morph into something— like a humanoid figure but covered in black.

But he was much quicker than the suspicious entity though. So when he grabbed it on its neck as it flailed pitifully in his grasp, Morax created a shackles made out of earth to restrain it. The entity was absolutely at his mercy, that it didn't even fight back to gain its freedom. He couldn't explain the feeling he was having at that moment, but he felt like he was about to burst at the seams of how livid he was with the torment it did to his people.

Because of it, many of his subjects died.

"Who are you?"

"...kukuku..! Curses…! Curses…!" Instead of answering him, the entity only cackled at him, which fuelled his anger even more. "...kukukuku! Currrrrr…sssseeeesss!"

How despicable, he cringed inwardly. It just reminded him of those mindless aquatic monsters Osial proudly referred to as his loyal army of depths.

(He doesn't want to think about those repulsive slimy creatures.)

The more it cackled to his face with absolute abandon, he squeezed its neck even more. He couldn't help the sneer from appearing on his face as he leaned forward.

"Do not make me repeat twice. Who are you?"

"I am no one," The entity answered with a cackle, "I am no one!"

Amber eyes flashed dangerously as he channeled his adepti power on the entity, absolutely zapping him with the cleansing spell.

"You are testing my patience. I have no mercy for such vile creatures such as you. I can go on with this until you die." He declared as he pushed a lot of his adepti energy. The entity only struggled in his grasp pitifully, with its black limbs beginning to deteriorate slowly into black wisps.

"Speak."

"I….ammm nooo onnnneeee..! Am just...a shaaaadddow…! Jussssst a shadow..!"

"Tsk," Visibly pissed, Morax tutted to himself but he still pushed on. "You are no god. Who is the one who made you?"

Wheezing, the entity only shook in his grasp but he could see that it was trying to talk.

It screamed in pain, its screechy voice almost grated his ears painfully. "Aaaaaah! I-it hurts…! No more…! No more…!"

Blinking, he loosened his grip on its neck and he even stopped on forcing his adepti energy on it, but the restraints were still in there. "Answer."

"...it's…. it's!"

He frowned when he saw how its limbs began to deteriorate a little bit faster. He noticed that the more it tried to speak, its body parts slowly disintegrated into nothingness.

Something is wrong with this core, he mused to himself.

"...the shaddoooooowssss will conquer…! Theeeee sha...dows….. will bring….calamity..! Kukukuku…! Curses…! Curses….!"

"..."

"Agh! ...My lordddddddd will be... disappointed… You! Curses, Lord of Geo…! Cursssseeesss…!"

Lord?

"Who..?" The entity was absolutely talking in gibberish circles that he couldn't really follow at all.

"Kukukukuku, myyyyy looooord has the powerfulllll goooood on his sideeeeee," The entity hissed as it continued to talk in raspy tones, "...they urrrrgh— won't sssstooop untillll they defeaaaat yoooooou..!"

Morax didn't say anything as he let the entity talk, and was only paying attention to each word it said. "...cursessss! Cursesssss! I faileeeed! My lord, please give me another chance..! I will do better…!"

The disintegration process of the entity's body began to speed up, much to Morax's utter disbelief. He doesn't even understand what was going on with the core as it only screamed and repeated the same sentence all over again like it was already out of its mind. It seemed to panic somehow based on its unusual and hysterical behavior.

Perhaps it was already dysfunctional at the very beginning. After all, dysfunctional entities made by some other crazy gods was pretty common, so it was not a surprise. Morax also noticed that it kept mentioning this particular lord, which made him wonder who this lord was. It was the key to his long-running investigation into who was antagonizing him and endangering his subjects in the shadows.

Shadows, he frowned to himself as he thought.

"...myyyy looooord, please heaaaar me! Have mercyyyyy!"

It continued to wail, until the most unexpected thing happened in the blink of an eye.

"I beg you, Lord Vaaaaaaaaas—"

Morax was literally left dumbfounded as he watched how the entity suddenly disintegrated in front of his eyes, leaving swirls of black wisps in its wake until it dispersed along the winds.

He eyed it in complete disbelief.

The core of the miasma disappeared.

---

As he stepped inside the transparent-like protective adepti barriers of the assembly, he was greeted by some hawkish and relieved looks from the subjects he had just saved from the possession. On his arms was the young child who had been possessed earlier, whose skin was no longer pale and had returned to a healthier, pinkish color. Despite being covered in dried black ink from head to toe, the child snored softly and slept like a log. A few moments later, he noticed a worried but relieved Cloud Retainer. With a simple command to a nearby adepti, he passed the young child and asked the human-disguised adepti to attend to her—to which he politely nodded in return.

He couldn't explain it, but he felt so bothered and downright beaten. What happened on the plains made him skeptical, frustrated, and angry. Morax had been looking for clues about the cause of miasma for months, but all in one snap, it just disintegrated in front of him like a wraith.

And he wouldn't forget the entity's last wail. It was supposed to be someone's name. Certainly the name of the said deity he wished to hunt all throughout the ends of Teyvat. The one who controlled the miasma in the shadows.

Lord Vas? Who was this Lord Vas?

"Rex, are you alright?" Cloud Retainer asked him with an incline of her head, her beady eyes looking at him intently as if she was trying to discern what was wrong.

Perhaps everyone could sense his foul mood because the place was so quiet that he almost thought dropping a single pebble would disrupt the silent orchestra.

He was tempted to answer "no" to his acquaintance, but he only ignored the question with a question of his own. "How is everyone?"

If Cloud Retainer noticed his obvious attempt at avoidance, she chose not to bother with it as she replied to his question. All is well, she said, continuing her long reports about what happened while he was gone, but Morax was too disconnected from himself and the people around him—that everything she just said was like a blur.

He couldn't make out all of them, until he finally heard Guizhong's name.

"Guizhong… how is she?" he asked.

"The bite wound would probably leave a nasty scar when it gets healed. The goddess was pretty shaken from the sudden turn of events, but she is fine." she replied with a sigh, "She's very worried about you. If you are so kind enough to check up on her despite your visible foul mood, please go see her. "

He nodded slowly in response, "I will." he paused and asked again, "Marchosius?"

"Ah, he is resting somewhere here. I think he got tired from procuring food for everyone. He also helped strengthen the barriers when we arrived, so I guess it took a toll on him."

"I will express my deepest gratitude to him later for his assistance."

Cloud Retainer nodded, "He would greatly appreciate it."

They chatted a few words until the divine crane excused herself to see Ganyu. Morax then went in search of the goddess, who was sitting in her usual spot in the assembly while tinkering with a scrap of metal on her lap. When she saw him coming, she immediately stood up and searched over him, looking for any wounds or anything else that he did not even have in his body. He only let her do it just to ease her anxiety. He didn't even reject her soft touches here and there, as he only watched in silence.

"You are safe," she said in complete relief, "The child?"

"Safe," he responded in return, "She is sleeping."

Guizhong sighed as she sat back on her seat, with her heavily bandaged left arm sticking like a sore thumb at her side. "I'm so relieved to hear that. I was deeply worried about the child. She got separated from her mother and her father was killed in the stampede. I'm not really sure if she has remaining relatives, but I hope her mother is still alive."

"The child is already safe; she can look up for her mother later when she wakes up," he explained, blinking as he went on. "If you are still concerned, you could help her search if you want."

"I'll keep that in mind, and thank you, Rex." Guizhong said genuinely, her eyes almost glowed in the dark when the candle lights flickered on her face. He had to admit that the goddess looked so bewitching in front of him that he couldn't help but admire her beautiful features in the dark. "Thank you for heeding my request to save the child."

He shook his head, "I did not do anything, I just stabilized her. Her great willpower was the one who helped her in the end."

After a brief moment of silence, he inquired. "How is your hand?"

"They cleaned it and applied a healing ointment to it; compared to the others who were severely injured, this is completely nothing."

"Did it hurt?"

She shook her head with a gentle smile, "A little. It just left a mark, but it's still nothing that time couldn't heal."

"You're strong, Guizhong," he said with genuine approval, "I deeply admire that particular trait from you."

"Haha… enough with the jest." she laughed dryly to herself, "I'm not strong, Rex. I couldn't even do anything. What I can only offer is my wits and knowledge, nothing more."

"Just because your body is frail," he commented, "does not mean you are not strong. Mentally, you are stronger than you can imagine, and probably stronger than I am."

He was graced by her surprised face and couldn't help himself as he offered her a tiny smile, "I heard from Cloud Retainer that you were worried all day, and I hope my presence right now has helped to alleviate it."

As he said that, he was absolutely taken aback when she suddenly threw herself at him. With her hands curled on his chest, she pressed her body close to his as she sought out for his comfort. Despite being so dumbfounded, Morax didn't even think of pushing her away. In fact, he just let her seek some comfort in his presence, or in his body or his warmth. He stood still, along with her in the middle of a restricted part of the assembly where she often conducts her research; where they were surrounded by dust and candles, and a few scrap of ruin machines that she studies in her spare time.

"I…. I was scared the whole time," she finally confessed, "I wanted to help everyone. I wanted to help you, but I couldn't. I'm too weak, Rex. I'm too weak."

Morax felt her shaking in front of him, he reassured. "I know. It must be really hard for you not to do anything, but don't be so remorseful, Guizhong."

"...I don't want to be useless."

"You are not useless."

"No, no... I am. I could not even brandish my sword in front of an enemy, despite knowing how to defend myself. I am just so useless, too weak."

"..."

"I could not even help the adepti, not even Cloud Retainer, not even you," she continued as she rested her forehead on his chest with a soft thump. "And you don't want me to be remorseful? How could you…?"

He was silent for a moment, but then he replied. "I think you are misunderstanding something."

"I just wanted to be of use to my people! I don't want to be a burden, not to you! Can you see all of the scrap of machines in here? I didn't study them for nothing, Rex! I… I'm just too weak, and it pains me…"

"..."

"When I first saw you, I sought you out because your strengths are way beyond compared to mine. When we bonded together, I was so happy… because not only I gained a powerful ally with me, but I wanted to show you what I'm capable of even though I'm a lot more inferior to you."

"Guizhong."

"Please answer me, Rex. I just wanted to be acknowledged for various reasons—"

"Guizhong." He stressed out her name even more to make her stop and listen.

"—and for being weak and a burden to all of you is not one of them..!"

He suddenly grasped both of her shoulders, much to the goddess' surprise. Morax then eyed her intently, his eyes burning with grave seriousness that made her almost wince in front of his scrutiny.

"You are not a burden," he declared to her, gravely. "Never you will be, and that is my answer."

"..!"

"You are misunderstanding something. But you are not a burden, goddess. Not even Cloud Retainer, the adepti, your people, nor Marchosius think of you as one."

He removed his hands away from her, "Whether you believe me or not, you knew me well enough to know that I do not lie, Guizhong. My words are absolute. There is no reason for me to feed you lies."

Morax looked around him and his gaze fell upon her again as he took a step back, "You need rest, it's late. Think about what I've told you. You are not a burden, not to me."

His words seemed to reach her in some way because she had calmed down.

"I believed you had told me once during our first meeting that you will act as my brain, while I will be your brawn."

"...Rex…"

"It is my duty to protect those who are weaker than me; if anything, I am also your shield, Guizhong, just like for everyone else."

---

He was still unable to calm the raging storm within him.

As he left Guizhong that night, he went outside the assembly's protective barriers and sat on a nearby boulder, gazing at the dark sky full of millions of stars. His mind was absolutely in total disarray, and he could not decide what to do. He kept on thinking what would be the next plan. And last but not the least, he kept wondering what the last clue was.

The core was supposed to be his big lead in his hunt for the miasma attacks, but it simply vanished into thin air before it could reveal who was behind it. It was almost as if it did not want it to talk any further, and revealing any small amount of information about this lord meant dispersing or dying.

He frowned momentarily. It may sound morbid in some ways, but the practice was fairly common among ancient deities. Branding curses on people for discussing sensitive information with others, which could lead to their deaths.

Again with the curses, he thought to himself as he stared hardly on a particular bright star in the sky, but it does feel like a curse though.

Curses

Miasma

Shadows

The answer felt so close, yet so far. What exactly was it? Why couldn't he figure out the last piece of the puzzle?

Curses, miasma, shadows..

He was the lord of the region. He knew the names of the people and some other deities who lived in his land. But why couldn't he figure out who was responsible for the attacks?

"Shadows who are capable of controlling the miasma, that it could possibly also be imbued with a curse." he mumbled to himself as he brooded, "An ability to control shadows, someone who had the affinity for it."

He closed his eyes to think deeply of every god that he knew by name who resided in his region. Why hadn't he thought of this before? If he had done so, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble.

Think more deeply.

Someone who had the ability to control the shadows.

Someone who had the affinity for it.

Shadows, shadows, shadows.

A god with a name that started with "Vas".

As he scanned every name and face that had been imprinted on his mind for eternity, he finally stumbled on one particular name that was almost identical to the criteria.

A god known for his greed and treachery. A traitor to his own brother. One of the scapegrace of the ancient deities in Teyvat.

Vassago, the Lord of Darkness, who has the affinity to control the shadows.

---

A/N: How was it? Hope you enjoyed it so far. Tell me what you think, and comments are appreciated as well.
( ꈨຶ ̫̮ ꈨຶ )
See you in the next (long) update.
— springfieldofcherryblossoms/umi-sen-yama-sen