Chapter One: Station of Awakening
Darkness.
Empty Space.
This was all Chongyun could see. Nothing but pitch black shadow. Suddenly, he'd feel his body begin to float down. "Was this a dream?" he thought to himself as he felt his feet touch solid ground. He looked down at what he felt, the young boy seemed to be standing on a large stained glass portrait. The portrait depicted of a woman with black hair and skin that was white as snow. The woman was holding what looked to be an apple. Appearing out of thin air were three weapons: a sword, a catalyst, and a shield. "Choose one." A voice said onto the young boy. Chongyun looked around into the darkness surrounding him to see if he could find the source of the unknown voice, but to no avail. He took a deep breath and nodded, before walking up to the sword. "I choose this one" he said softly, grabbing the handle of the blade. Suddenly, the weapons disappear and the stained glass platform shatters. Chongyun falls down onto another pillar, this one consisting of a blonde woman with a blue dress and glass slippers. Chongyun's eyes shoot up as small, black creatures rise from the ground. The creatures couldn't have been any bigger then an average hilichurl. "The Keyblade..." the voice chimes in again as a key shaped weapon forms into the hands of Chongyun. "What the..." Chongyun looks down at the strangely shaped weapon. He tightens his grip as he looks back up towards the small dark creatures crawling towards him. He grits his teeth and swings the blade at them. The creatures jump back as Chongyun hits them, before bursting into light, nothing left but small hearts floating towards the sky. The platform shatters just as the last one did, and Chongyun once again finds himself floating down onto another. "The Keyblade is able to unlock many things..." the voice says as a chest phases onto the stained glass. Hesitantly, Chongyun walks up to it with the large key in hand, and points it at the large keyhole on the chest. A beam of light shoots out of the blade, unlocking the red box. To his surprise, a large pink door materializes behind the chest. The blue haired boy walks up to it and opens it, as a bright light blinds him. When his eyes open, he is greeted by a very familiar setting: Liyue Harbor. However, something felt very off. The usual bustling streets and busy docks were completely desolate. Chongyun walked down the road and over the wooden bridge until he made it to Wanmin Restaurant, where he finally found someone: Yun Jin. The opera singer was sitting on a stool dangling her legs, staring out onto the streets. "Yun Jin!" Chongyun exclaimed as he ran up to her. "Where is everyone?"
Instead of answering his question, she instead asked him one. "What's most important to you?"
"Huh?" Chongyun asks taken back by the question. He wasn't expecting her to reply with something like that. The young exorcist thought for a minute before responding. "Friendship. My friends matter to me more than anything."
Yun Jin nods, then walks away, disappearing.
Completely confused, Chongyun continues walking around Liyue until he reaches the docks, where he sees someone else. There stood the captain of The Crux, Beidou, overlooking the glistening ocean. "Beidou! I need your help, Yun Jin just disappeared!" Chongyun exclaimed frantically. Beidou turns around and smiles at him, before yet again responding to his question with one of her own. "What do you want outta life?" She asks calmly. Chongyun ponders over the pirate's question before answering. Why is nobody answering his questions? Where is everybody? He sighs as he answers her question. "To broaden my horizons. I want to expand my views and see what Teyvat and whatever is beyond has to offer."
She nods and puts her hand on his shoulder before walking past him, disappearing. Chongyun shakes his head as he continues around Liyue before reaching his final destination in Bubu Pharmacy. The exorcist walked up to the counter, and was about to leave thinking nobody was there until he heard a familiar, cold, voice.
"What are you afraid of?"
Chongyun turned around and looked over the counter. There stood a small girl with a tag on her head.
"Qiqi!" Chongyun gasped. Another question, another moment of thought. Finally Chongyun replied. "Being indecisive, I need to be able to make decisions fast in my line of work."
Qiqi nods, before going underneath the counter, disappearing just like the others. Suddenly, Chongyun finds himself back onto one of the stained glass platforms from before, the surroundings of Liyue morphing back into the endless darkness of before. More of those shadow-like creatures appear, and Chongyun pulls out his key-shaped weapon again, slaying the beasts. After the shadows disappear, a green circle of light materialized. Curious, Chongyun walked up to hit, and to his surprise, it healed his wounds. "Amazing...this must be some type of dendro magic..." he says to himself. Floating steps rise up to another pillar in front of him. Chongyun cautiously climbs up the steps and arrives at yet another stained glass platform. This one has a woman in a yellow dress next to what appeared to be a furry a large creature. All of a sudden, Chongyun's shadow begins leaving from behind is body, growing larger and larger before becoming a colossal, black monster with a heart shaped hole in it's chest. Chongyun trembles a bit at the sight of the large monster. Teyvat has some insane creatures, but this...he's never seen anything like it before. Chongyun takes a deep breath before summoning the key weapon again. The large beast swings its massive dark hand at Chongyun, but he dodges out of the way. Chongyun swings at the monster's feet, hoping to get it to fall as if it was a ruin guard. The beast tanks the hits before slamming its large arms down, knocking Chongyun back to the edge of the platform. The exorcist pick himself back up and calls upon his vision. He slams the key against the ground, creating a circle of layered frost around him and the large beast. The beast slams its fist back onto the ground and grabs Chongyun. Unable to move, Chongyun struggles to get out of the beast's grasp. Unfortunately, the grip becomes to tight, and darkness begins to form into a puddle around him. Chongyun's advances are futile, as his eyes eventually shut and the darkness covers his body.