"I wish to tell you a story, will you listen?"
"Of course, Your Highness."
Once upon a time, there lived a pair of twins with beautiful golden eyes and blond hair that shine with radiance. The twins were inseparable from the day they were born. Wherever one twin goes, the other would follow. Whatever one twin does, the other would do as well. They ate together, they played together and they would sleep together. And the day they learned to soar the skies, they left their world together.
With every world the twins visited, they learned. They learned how to survive, how to fight, and how to kill. Every world had a different lesson to teach and the twins grew by learning those lessons. They learned about love, anger and grief.
But even with all the bad experiences the twins had encountered, it was not enough to stop them from exploring the different worlds. That was until the twins entered the world known later to them as 'Teyvat'.
When the twins first arrived in Teyvat, they saw a scene of carnage and destruction. The world burned and its people screamed in pain and agony. The sister wanted to help them but her brother wanted to leave. He reasoned that they were outlanders to the world and so, they could not interfere. His sister reluctantly agreed and they left, letting their wings take them away from the world filled with death. However, before they could reach the boundary separating the world and the stars, the twins were ambushed by an unknown goddess who called herself the 'Sustainer of Heavenly Principles'.
"Outlanders, your journey ends here."
The twins fought to the best of their abilities but they were outmatched. The goddess sealed them both away and cast them back into the world filled with devastation. That marked the first time the twins were separated.
The sister woke up to a red-filled sky with the scent of blood and burning flesh stinging her nose and the acrid smoke burning her lungs. The ground beneath her was crumbling but her first thoughts were not to get to safety, instead, her thoughts were to locate her brother.
"But no matter how hard I tried, I could not find him."
By the time the sister got to safety, the ruins collapsed behind her.
"I knew he couldn't be dead. My brother is a strong person. But when I saw the whole structure fall, I had still believed that my brother was still in there. I thought that he was dead. I thought that I killed him."
She travelled the war-torn world after that, constantly searching for her brother's whereabouts. But no matter how far she travelled or how long she searched for him, she could not find him.
"Days became weeks, weeks became months, and months became years. I never stopped searching for him, even when years became a century."
She travelled constantly, never stopping in one place. At times, she would go back to places she had already been to search again. Then one day, her life changed when she fell into the Abyss.
In a way, the Abyss could be described to be similar to a nightmare. It was a poisonous land that lay beneath the world of Teyvat, where monsters dwell upon its corrupted lands. A land where only the strongest could survive and the weak perished, where those who do not adapt become devoured by the corruption that seeps deep in the land and those who do adapt become the corruption that fester the land. It was a place where her sister prayed to never find her brother there.
"By the time I realised that I could no longer purify the corruption, it was far too late to leave the place."
As the sister felt the corruption seep into her bones, she felt devastation. Was she to die in a place like this? Was she to die before she could find her missing brother? Would her brother mourn over her death or will he search endlessly for her body that will never be found?
In the end, her saviour came in the form of the Abyss Order.
She joined the Abyss Order out of desperation to survive. As long as she lives another day, she could still find her brother. Time was not an issue but her body was still made of mortal flesh. As time went on, she was no longer part of the Abyss Order for survival but became willingly part of it.
"I was there when it happened and when they told me why it happened, I knew what I had to do. My brother, do you hate me for this?"
She soon rose through the ranks of the Abyss Order and the size of the Order grew once she had taken its reins as its leader. The creatures of the Abyss bowed to her whims and the cursed people obeyed her orders. She was surrounded by so much trust and reverence and yet she had never felt so alone in this dark cursed land.
By the time she left the Abyss and sat foot back on the land above, several hundreds of years had passed above and thousands of years had passed below. The people she once knew were long gone and Teyvat had changed so much to the point that she could no longer recognise it.
(She later found out how wrong she was when rumors of the Bough Keeper started to surface.)
Peace had descended upon the land once ravaged by war but the war was not over yet. The flames of war would be stoked once more and this time, it would be for justice. This time, she would fight against fate.
"But until the Abyss has engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end."
But the Abyss Order, though it has grown larger, was still not strong enough to go against Celestia. To fight against gods, one should have the power to rival gods. And what better way than to turn a god against them?
"The dragon slumbers and has yet to recover from the corruption. The Anemo Archon sleeps far from the dragon."
"Perfect. Convert him to our cause."
"Yes, Your Highness, it will be done."
Dvalin was easy to convince, only needing to show the truth of how easily humans forget what he had sacrificed for them. Once his mind had corroded from his perceived betrayal, it was easy enough to use the corruption to block off the connection from the Anemo Archon. It was then a simple matter to point Dvalin to Mondstadt and let him destroy the city beloved by the Anemo Archon.
But their plans were foiled.
Dvalin was supposed to destroy Mondstadt and yet the city still stood. The Anemo Archon who was supposed to be in slumber awoke. And to top it all off, Dvalin was freed from the pain and corruption and the Abyss Order could no longer make use of the dragon. But she was not upset by the failure, the information from the aftermath was enough to sate her fury.
"Your Highness, our plan to weaponise the dragon has been impeded."
"By the Anemo Archon? He rises again for the dragon's sake?"
"No, not the Archon...We were well prepared for his interference. Regrettably, the issue is...your brother."
For five hundred years, and thousands more beneath the world, she had never once stopped searching for her brother. Even when she took control of the Abyss Order, she had never once stopped searching. And finally, he was here.
She did not remember when she had started running. She did not remember when tears began to fall from her eyes.
(Tears that she had not shed for over thousands of years.)
When she finally saw him, her heart pangs at the sight of him and she had to resist the urge to run to his side.
('It was not time yet,' she told herself. 'How much longer?' she ignored the voice that asked in return.)
He looked exactly like how she remembered. His hair was still braided in the style that she had always done for him and his clothes remained unchanged from when they were separated. But his sword, the one that accompanies her blade, was gone. The wings on his back were no longer there, its presence gone as if it had never existed. Just how much was he still affected by the seal?
He was not alone in this world however, his companion in the form of a strange floating creature stayed by his side. The sister was surprised at that. The two of them, though had socialised with the people of various worlds, had never once let anyone stay near them. Was five hundred years on the surface enough to change her brother's view of things?
"What happened to you, Aether?"
"You have to be more specific, Lumine. A lot of things happened."
She retreated into the Abyss after that. Plans had to be remade and parts of the Abyss Order had to be restructured to fill the gaps left by those who fell. But there was still time, they always had enough time. After all, time was a common commodity of the Abyss.
Rumors of Osial's impending revival soon reached the ears of the Abyss Order and new plans began to form. They would bring Osial back from the depths of the ocean and corrupt him, thereby turning him into the perfect weapon to unleash against Celestia. But before those plans could be set into motion, the Overlord of the Vortex was defeated and resealed beneath the ocean.
"Aether, are you aware of what you are doing? Are you aware of what you have done?"
The Abyss Order continued to move in the background, mostly attempting to salvage the plans they had but the sister had yet to move since finding out about their ruined plans. Her brother, whether he was aware of it or not, was becoming a thorn in the flesh.
"Your Highness, perhaps we should eliminate hi-urk!"
"Would you care to finish those words?"
"No, Your Highness! Please forgive me!"
But it was not yet time to bring her brother to her side. He had yet to understand the reasons why. And once he finally does, he will join her.
(She ignored her inner voice telling her that everything she did was for naught.)
In her dreams, she stood atop a hill among a sea of Cecilias and her brother stood in front of her. She had the same dream so many times that she knew how this dream would end.
"My brother, do you hate me for this?"
"I hate you, Lumine."
She woke up with a start, her eyes immediately scanning her bed chamber but there was no one else except for her. Somehow, the loneliness always hurt more than her nightmare.
The plan to turn Dvalin to their side had failed and the plan to turn Osial into a weapon is nigh impossible to complete, despite already creating the perfect location, with the final item unlocatable. Perhaps, there was not a need to use a living god. Perhaps even one who is long dead could serve the purpose they need.
"My Herald, I have a task for you."
"And what of the hero?"
"Ignore him. The mission takes priority."
"I will complete it without fail, Your Highness."
When time came to meet her brother in person, she was not ready. But she knew that if she did not intervene, there would be dire consequences for the Abyss Order.
"I will save all of you and bring forth justice upon Celestia. That is my promise to you as the new leader of the Abyss Order," the princess declared to the cheering crowd of monsters.
Even when she was not ready to meet her brother face-to-face, there was nothing that could prepare her for the revelation about her brother. The seal that took away his matching blade and his wings had done far more damage to him than to her.
"Who's there?" Aether shouted as he parried Lumine's blade.
"Hey, c-could that be...!?"
"Aether."
"How do you know my name?"
"Aether, it's me, it's Lumine. Don't you recognise me?"
"Lumine?"
"Your eyes...What happened to you, Aether? No, there are far more important matters to discuss."
Where her powers were mostly lost with her wings, her brother had lost far more than just that. The sister swore, once her mission was completed, she would hunt down the goddess who trapped them in this world and make her pay for crippling her brother. She would make the goddess beg for death once she was done with her.
('It was your fault. You should have found him sooner. You could have fixed him.' She ignored the voice in her head as she stared down the unseeing eyes of her shocked brother.)
"Lumine, why do you have Abyss energy inside of you?"
They had to retreat before Dainsielf tried to stop them. Her Herald had opened the way but her feet would not let her move.
(She did not want to leave, she wanted to wrap her hands around her brother and cry upon his shoulders. She wanted them to be together again. She wanted to go home.)
"But I cannot go with you to the next world to find a new home... at least, not yet. Listen to me, Aether. I have already traveled through this world once. Once you reach the end of your journey as I did, you will see for yourself the true nature of this world."
"Lumine? Wait! Don't go!"
As Lumine turned to leave via the portal to the Abyss, her brother ran towards her. He was not fast enough however, the portal closing just as Dainsielf managed to slip through. And Lumine was not fast enough to ignore the words that managed to slip through as well.
"Lumine! Please, come back. I-I don't remember what you look like anymore. Please…come back…"
Her eyes prickled with tears at the words that slipped through as the portal shut behind her but she steeled herself to face the intruder that had slipped in with those words. Her Herald had already drawn out his Hydro blades, ready to defend his master but she held her hand up and stepped forward towards the man she once knew.
"Dainsleif, it seems that we have matters to discuss."
Rebiele: Just wanted to say that I got your review as I was writing Lumine's chapter. The coincidence really was uncanny.