Bennett was not one to believe in good fortune. How could he when all he had known in life was the hardships born from ill fortune? Despite that however, he was not the kind of person who would let that hold him back.
"It's not about getting the treasure at the end, it's about the journey to it!"
From the day Bennett was born, he had brought forth misfortune to himself and to those who interacted with him. His day of birth was wreath in the flames of hell with a storm that was comparable to the wrath of the Electro Archon. An old adventurer had stumbled upon the baby in the midst of the chaos, and brought him back to Mondstadt before succumbing to his injuries sustained from the journey. The other adventurers in Mondstadt then swore to raise the child (now named Bennett) as one of their own and to not let his sacrifice be in vain.
At first, no one noticed how bad luck seemed to be drawn to the young boy. It was only when everyone realised that whoever had been babysitting the child would end up with misfortune for the day that they found out that something is amissed. Strings would snap for no reason, dropping various objects on top of them. Shops would run out of stock of the very item they were seeking. The weather would shift from a bright blue sky to a thunderstorm in seconds as soon as they took a single step out of the house. Once the adventurers had realised what was happening, there was disbelief followed by acceptance.
"Misfortune? Bad luck? Adventurers have to be prepared to face anything and everything!"
Dropped objects were dodged with reflexes honed from experience. If a shop ran out of stock, the adventurer guild would increase their stockpiles or even import more from neighbouring countries. A sudden shift in weather? Adventurers will always move forward whether rain or shine!
(Although, that one time when it started hailing was really pushing it.)
Bennett's bad luck was made no secret to the boy as he was raised to never give up in the face of anything. As a child raised by the Adventurer's guild, was it surprising then when the child declared that he would grow up to become an adventurer like his parental figures before him.
"When I grow up, I'm going to be an adventurer like you!"
His declaration was met with many protests but his stubbornness won in the end.
"I get it, you know? They were just worried about me. But I didn't want to hide behind them! I wanted to explore the world! To find treasures and to go on adventures! I didn't want to stay in Mondstadt my whole life!" Bennett said, the volume slightly raised with the passion he felt.
"Yeah, I understand," Aether answered with a smile.
However, being an adventurer was not an easy road to take. The journey to becoming an adventurer was filled with perilous challenges where one must risk their life to complete the quest set out for them.
The first time Bennett took on his first quest as an official adventurer, he had been accompanied by three veteran adventurers in his party and two separate parties.
"Dad, the request is just to gather sweet flowers!"
"Even if the request is to gather sweet flowers or to slay a fearsome dragon, an adventurer must always be prepared!"
He returned bruised and dirty (from falling down a hole when the ground collapsed beneath him), and had to be carried back by one of his party members. However, despite the misfortune, on the entire journey back, Bennett wore a huge smile on his face.
The first time Bennett led his very own party, it ended with the entire team leaving after a horrible incident involving a cave and an explosion. The entire party had experienced nothing but bad luck. They could never find treasure and misfortune was always drawn to them no matter where they went. The cave incident was the last straw and everyone went their separate ways. Bennett had to beg Katheryne not to disband his party so that he could continue to be an adventurer.
(It was the first time Bennett could not bring himself to smile in the face of misfortune.)
From that day onwards, Benny's Adventure Team only consisted of one adventurer. At least, until the day he met the Traveller.
Bennett had not seen the Traveller on the day he returned with the Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, victorious against one of the Four Winds. That day, he had been out of the city searching for a lost cat in the forest and by the time he had returned, he had just missed the parade. Though mildly upset that he missed a once-in-a-lifetime event, Bennett was still excited to hear stories of the new Hero of Mondstadt.
"I heard he defeated the dragon with one swing of his sword!"
"Nah, that's impossible!"
"Oh yeah? I heard he brought down Stormterror by throwing his sword!"
As Bennett continued to listen to the tales, he wished that he could meet the Traveller in person one day. However, knowing his luck, such a wish will never come true. Instead, he drank in all the gossip and stories of the Traveller.
It was during one ordinary day that Bennett would overhear a strange rumor of the Traveller.
"I heard that the hero's blind!"
"Huh? No way! How did he beat Stormterror if he's blind?"
"I don't know, I overheard the knights talking and one of em' said that the kid's blind."
"You must be imagining things again. Just admit that you can't hold your liquor."
That rumor could not be true right? There was simply no way that the Hero of Mondstadt was blind. However, if the rumor was true then does that not mean that the Traveller is one amazing person? The Traveller, who is the same age as him and with a disability, managed to defeat Stormterror and save Mondstadt! Bennett felt inspired. After all, if the Traveller could accomplish an amazing feat despite his circumstances and age, then that meant that he could do amazing things too just like the Traveller.
The first time he met the Traveller, Bennett had not realised it was the Traveller standing in front of Katheryne until he had to stop and do a double-take at the sight of the Traveller's flying companion. At awe at the sight of the legendary Traveller in the flesh, he had not noticed the Traveller approaching him as he continued to stare with his mouth wide open. It was only when the Traveller's flying companion called out to him that he snapped out of his daze.
"Do you need something? You've been staring at Paimon and Aether for a while now," the fairy asked as she floated towards Bennett.
"Oh! Sorry! It's just...you're the Traveller right? The Hero of Mondstadt? It's an honor to meet you!"
They chatted for a bit, mainly with the fairy named Paimon. The Traveller, Aether, was mostly silent, opting to let Paimon handle the talking instead. Bennett did not mind. After all, he was in the presence of one of his inspirations in life! However, the longer he stayed talking with Paimon, the more he noticed the Traveller fidgeting in place awkwardly.
"Ah, I just remembered that I have something to do! I'll see you guys around, okay?" Bennett lied before excusing himself to leave, knowing that today would most likely be the last time he would ever see the Hero of Mondstadt. There was no way his luck would let him meet the Traveller again.
As he turned to leave however, to his surprise, the Traveller called out to him.
"Bennett, wait. We need your help."
They moved to another location, away from the curious gossipers of Mondstadt.
(If today was the day that his luck had run out and he would be murdered in some dark alley, at least his would-be murderer was someone who looks cool.)
"Sorry, we just didn't want more weird rumors to spread. Do you want to join us on an adventure?" the Traveller asked. "We needed another person and Paimon's not an adventurer. Our usual group of people aren't free at the moment so you'll be doing us a huge favour if you come and help us."
Bennett could not believe the words that the Traveller had spoken. Surely they had been mistaken in inviting him right? Perhaps they had been unaware of his bad luck.
"Are you sure? I'll bring misfortune if I stay near you!"
The Traveller shrugged before he spoke, "Sounds exciting. So, do you want to come with us?"
It was an opportunity not to be missed and so Bennett accepted the invitation and the newly-formed party ventured out of the city with the sun shining down brightly against the backdrop of the blue sky. Of course, disaster soon struck in less than a few minutes, when the clouds gathered and painted the sky a dull grey. There was a clap of thunder followed by harsh rainfall as the sudden storm engulfed the land of Mondstadt. The party had to rush to take cover beneath the branches of the large tree at Windrise to escape the sudden onslaught of rain.
"Well that was unexpected," Paimon commented as she helped the Traveller wring his clothes dry. Not that it was much use as the rainwater seeped through the leaves of the canopy, and fell on top of them.
"Sorry guys, this is my fault! This always happens when I go out with others," Bennett sighed, not even bothering to attempt to dry his clothes when he knew that it was going to get wet again.
"It's not your fault. Even if you can control the weather, you didn't mean to do this right?" the Traveller said, smiling despite the unfortunate circumstances.
As they waited for the storm to pass, Bennett told stories of his childhood to the Traveller and in return, the Traveller told him stories of the many places he had been.
Bennett learned that Aether had been searching for his missing sister. He learned that Aether found Paimon when he was fishing for food. He learned that Aether was only recently blinded and was fortunate enough to discover Elemental Sight to navigate his new dark world. In return, Aether learned that Bennett had been orphaned the day he was born. He learned that most people would stay away from Bennett because they would be affected by his bad luck. He learned that Bennett had high pain tolerance because he was so used to getting hurt that it simply became a part of his life. The more they talked, the closer Bennett felt to Aether. Was this what it was like to have friends?
Once the storm had passed, the party resumed their journey with Paimon taking the lead.
"By the way, you never told me where we're going," Bennett said as he stopped in his tracks.
"Oh yeah! Paimon forgot to tell you!"
In the end, the reason why Bennett had been invited was because Aether had to be accompanied by another adventurer to do any commission in Mondstadt after that one time he came back and collapsed right in front of the gates to the city. Those close to him had been rightfully worried and they had requested Katheryne not to assign any commissions to him unless he was accompanied by someone. Bennett understood Aether's predicament but he could not help but feel slightly used. Still, even though Aether had not really needed his skills, he was still glad that he was invited.
They made their way to the Thousand Winds Temple where the loud stomps of a Ruin Guard could be heard even from a distance away. Bennett led the party as they got closer to the ruins, having been to this place before. Of course, that also meant that there were now additional obstacles along the way that had been drawn by Bennett's bad luck.
The ground would crack, throwing their balance off. Stairs would mysteriously break the moment they set foot on it. Branches from trees would drop on top of them. The less said about the passing flock of pigeons, the better.
However, with the tenacity of an adventurer and the skill of the Hero of Mondstadt, the party managed to reach the end of their treacherous journey to face off with a Ruin Guard.
"Why are there three of them!?" Paimon exclaimed as all three Ruin Guards unleashed missiles at the party at the same time.
Fortunately, Aether had reacted fast enough and blocked the attack by enveloping the entire party with a solid Geo barrier. The rocks crumbled at the end of the attack, barely able to withstand the onslaught. He then charged towards the Ruin Guards with his sword drawn while Paimon took to the skies. Bennett was left on the ground in awe at the sight of Aether single-handedly taking down a Ruin Guard and dodging attacks from the remaining two.
Unfortunately, one of the Ruin Guards had noticed Bennett and slowly made its way towards him while Aether was distracted by the other Ruin Guard. Bennett had to react quickly and roll out of the way when the Ruin Guard leaped into the air and landed where he had been mere seconds earlier. The close call left no room for respite as the Ruin Guard continued to attack by swinging its long arms at the unfortunate adventurer, forcing him to quickly deflect the attack with his sword. The attack momentarily crumbled Bennett's defenses when he was forced to stumble back from the impact, making him unable to protect himself when the Ruin Guard raised its leg to stomp at him. It was only with Aether's help that Bennett had been able to avoid certain death when the former raised another Geo barrier around the latter. However, that left Aether open when he was forced to divert his attention to save Bennett.
"Aether!" Paimon cried out as Aether took a heavy blow from the Ruin Guard, sending him flying towards Bennett.
Once the Geo barrier collapsed, Bennett rushed towards the unconscious Aether and hauled him up before making a run for it. He could hear his heart beating loudly as the adrenaline coursed through his body. Missiles were exploding around him as he tried to dodge them while Paimon was following behind him as he continued to run with Aether on his shoulders, even when the Ruin Guards lost interest and returned to the ruins. Bennett continued to run until his legs gave out and he fell, sending both him and Aether to the ground. Paimon quickly flew down, fretting over the both of them but most of her attention was drawn to her companion.
Bennett quickly got up and moved over to where Aether lay. From a quick glance, it did not seem that Aether had sustained any further injuries from the fall. However, experience told him that internal injuries were just as bad, sometimes worse than external injuries.
Fortunately, from the myriad of injuries he had suffered due to his bad luck, Bennett was very experienced in first aid. He was also thankful that the location they had ended up was empty of enemies, making it safe to treat Aether for the time being.
"This is my fault! I shouldn't have come! I knew my bad luck would hurt people!" Bennett muttered to himself as he tried to remove Aether's clothes to treat him, only to have his hand slapped away.
Aether slowly pushed himself up from the ground while Bennett stumbled back. Bennett pushed himself up to lean towards Aether. He opened his mouth, apologies at the tip of his tongue, only to be silenced by Aether raising his hand, palm opened, in front of his face.
"If you're going to apologise, stop that. Did you expect there to be three Ruin Guards? Did you want me to get hurt? If not then it's not your fault. Stop trying to take responsibility for something out of your control."
"But it is my fault! I knew my bad luck was going to affect us!"
"Then it would have been my fault because I should have called for a retreat the moment we found out that there were three Ruin Guards! Look, Bennett, you can keep blaming yourself all day and I will point out the reasons why it's not your fault. So stop apologising for something you can't control!" Aether shouted, only to wince in pain and clutch painfully at his chest.
Bennett and Paimon quickly shifted their attention to Aether's injuries and started fussing over him despite his assurance that he was fine and his insistence that he did not need to be carried back to the city. In the end, Bennett allowed Aether to lean against him as they made the slow trek back to Mondstadt.
The walk allowed Bennett to think on what Aether had told him. In all honesty, Aether was not wrong. Bennett had never once wished ill upon others. He was never sure how his bad luck would end up affecting the world around him, making him unable to prepare for what was to come. So despite what many people had told him, Aether was right in that everything that happened due to his bad luck was something he could not control. It was not his fault, it could not be helped. However, that did not mean that he had to accept what was happening.
(The first step he had to take was to learn not to apologise for something he could not control and it was one that will take the longest time to do.)
"Aether...I want to say I'm sorry, not for what happened today, but for taking so long to understand what you said. I...I hope that today did not dampen your expectations of me and I really hope that we can go on more adventures again! Although, if you don't want to, I understand."
Aether stopped in his tracks, forcing Bennett to stop as well. "Since when did I say I didn't want to go on more adventures with you?" Aether asked in confusion.
"Really? You would go with me?"
"Of course!"
"Paimon wants to go on more adventures with you too!" Paimon spoke, landing on top of Bennett's head.
"Alright, the first thing we do after we get Barbara to heal me is to plan our revenge against those Ruin Guards. So here's the plan…"
Somewhere at the Thousand Winds Temple, the two remaining Ruin Guards shuddered.