The world of Teyvat is a strange world from the eyes of outsiders. It was a world governed by laws that blended into the instincts and nature of the inhabitants, a world ruled by elements since time immortal. Elements had always existed before the first being walked the land, before Teyvat became known as Teyvat. And yet, the very concept of elements continues to remain a mystery.

Elements are closely tied to Visions. A Vision allowed the user to wield an element as though part of their own being. But what was interesting was that elements are only visible when given a medium to be channelled into. Pyro shows up as burning flames, Hydro shows up as flowing water, so on and so forth. Otherwise, elements are always invisible to the naked eye, either dormant or not given a medium to be visible. Always invisible, unless viewed through Elemental Sight.

"It's colourful, like a blank world painted in nothing but colours."

"Fascinating…"

But the most interesting thing about elements was the way they are attracted to certain things. By following this rule, it was possible to direct certain elements to flow into certain things. However, through alchemy, it was possible to force elements, that would not normally flow into certain objects, to enter it.

"For example, if I use alchemy to force Pyro into a solid block of ice, what do you think will happen?"

"It melts?" Aether answered, unsure of why Albedo was asking him the question.

"That is only when you apply Pyro onto a solid block of ice. When I force Pyro directly into a solid block of ice, the rules of elements apply and so does something else," Albedo said as he watched Aether perk up in understanding.

"Oh, it explodes…" Aether trailed off with that newfound revelation.

With alchemy, there were things that one normally could not do but was now possible because of it. However, despite the multitude of things Albedo could do with this information, he chose to fuse Geo into water, or more specifically, his paints.

The first time he attempted such a feat, it was on a whim. Albedo had been familiar with the theory but had not tried to apply it practically. After all, such a concept, although interesting and would no doubt draw the attention of many scholars, was not related to his master's assignment to him. However, it was because of that whim that he became more interested in its use.

(If it allowed him to bring a smile to those he cared about, then it was not a useless endeavour.)

It was one thing however, to fuse Geo into dried paint and another to fuse the element into wet paint. For one, the Geo would react with the Hydro in the wet paint. If the paint had lesser Hydro properties, then the paint would be too dry to be used. Reaching the right balance was a test of patience and concentration, one that Albedo was unwilling to burden his apprentices with.

Unfortunately, his experiments had to be put on hold when he realised that he had run out of starsilver, a type of ore that only appears in Dragonspine. With the weather clear and no other pressing matters to handle, Albedo set off from his camp and slowly made his way down the mountain.

Admittedly, Albedo had been aware that he had been spending his time in Dragonspine for quite some time and was not up-to-date on the happenings in Mondstadt. So suffice to say, when he met Aether and Paimon escorting a few adventurers along the way, he was caught completely off-guard.

"Aether? Paimon?" Albedo called out as he approached the group.

"Albedo!" Paimon called out in reply, waving her hands as a greeting.

"Albedo?" Aether said, tilting his head to where he heard Albedo.

Paimon explained that the two of them had been helping new adventurers explore Dragonspine on behalf of the Adventurer's Guild. Despite Aether mentioning his disability, the branch master of the Adventurer's Guild went on his knees, begging for Aether's help until he finally caved and accepted the request.

Albedo nodded in understanding, Cyrus was hard to dissuade once he had his mind set on something. Even for someone like him who rarely interacts with the Adventurer's Guild, he was no stranger to Cyrus' antics.

The three of them finally broke off their conversation, much to the relief of the adventurers, as Aether and Paimon bid Albedo farewell before they departed for the next checkpoint. Albedo continued to make his descent until he arrived at an ore vein. Disappointingly, where there was once many starsilver ores, there was now nothing to be found with the vein emptied out, no doubt from the many new adventurers attempting to conquer Dragonspine. With no other choice, Albedo would have to seek out a new ore vein, preferably untouched and far away from the mountain trail.

It was nearing nightfall when Albedo was forced to return to his camp empty-handed. All the ore veins he found were empty of starsilver and he had encountered no less than ten adventurer groups he had to rescue from the treacherous mountain. He was cold, tired, and frankly, displeased at the event hosted by the Adventurer's Guild.

"It's not that I dislike Cyrus and the way he hosts these events, but the timing of it all was very unfortunate," Albedo sighed as Aether placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

However, all thoughts of rest were gone when Albedo returned to his camp and found the place ransacked. He immediately rushed into the camp and began searching for his most valuable items. He heaved a sigh of relief when he pulled out his sketchbook from the mess. The papers were crumpled and dirt tracks littered one of the blank pages, as if someone had trampled over it. There were signs of a chemical spill at one of the corners, staining the once white pages. Fortunately, the rest of it remained in pristine condition and more importantly, his latest drawings of Aether, Paimon, and his sister, Klee, remained untarnished.

"Albedo, why do you keep that sketchbook? Why not get a new one?" Paimon asked, looking at the dirty sketchbook in his hands.

Albedo looked down at the sketchbook in his hands, smiling as he answered, "I wonder why."

As he moved to place his sketchbook away somewhere safer so that he could begin cleaning up his camp, Aether and Paimon walked into the camp with two people from the Knights of Favonius in tow.

"Albedo! What happened here?" Amber called out as she rushed over to Albedo, immediately moving to check if he was injured.

"I'm fine, Amber. The camp was already in this state when I returned."

"Who could have done this?" Paimon asked as she floated into the camp while Aether waited outside with Eula and Bennett.

With everyone's help, Albedo managed to clean up the camp before night came. However, even if the sun could still be seen in the darkening skies, the wind had picked up and the beginnings of a blizzard could be seen. Everyone decided to stay overnight in the camp. Hopefully, the blizzard would die down by the next morning.

That night, everyone huddled together in blankets that Albedo created with alchemy. They sat around a fire that Amber had started, with a pot of stew cooking on top of it. Everyone else shared stories over dinner as the wind continued to howl loudly outside. That night, as Albedo slept, even as he felt the cold seeping into the air as the campfire slowly died down, it was one of the warmest nights he had experienced in Dragonspine.

Thankfully, the blizzard was gone by the first light of dawn, allowing the party to make their descent to the base camp at the foot of the mountain. The weather was calm and the party was in high spirits but that did not last long when Albedo felt an ominous feeling bubbled up from within, as if something bad was about to happen. He kicked away a pebble, watching as it rolled down the side of the mountain. A different pebble rolled into his view, prompting him to look up and he immediately caught sight of a figure that made his blood run cold. But it was not the sight of them that drove Albedo into action, instead, his eyes widened at the person's actions, immediately turning to shout a warning to the rest of the party.

"Avalanche! Take cover!"

Albedo moved to grab the person closest to him and deployed a Geo barrier with his Vision. Within seconds, the rushing snow crashed into it, sending him and Bennett tumbling. Their world shrouded in darkness immediately as the snow surrounded them on all sides.

(Offhandedly, Albedo wondered if this was the sight that Aether sees without his Elemental Sight.)

The world within the barrier was dark and muted, only the glow of their Visions were visible and only the sound of their breathing could be heard. And yet, Albedo did not release the hold on his barrier just yet. He needed to open a path to the top, lest they be crushed under a thick layer of snow after the barrier is dispelled.

"Are you okay?" Albedo asked as he released his grip on Bennett.

"I'm fine! Thanks for saving me, mister Albedo!"

"Just Albedo is fine."

Albedo instructed Bennett on where to melt the snow with his Vision, clearing a path and freeing them from their icy prison. However, after stepping out into the open, Albedo could not find the rest of the party. What he found however, were footsteps leading down the foot of the mountain.

(He said nothing about the extra set of footprints in the snow, instead he ran, following the footprints and trusting Bennett to follow.)

By the time he reached the foot of the mountain, at the large frozen lake where the ancient Cryo Regisvine once revived before it was swiftly struck down by Aether. There, the rest of the party were crossing the lake but there was no time to stop as Albedo quickly used his Vision to deploy a Geo barrier to protect Aether from a sword slash. The sword bounced harmlessly off the barrier and everyone else quickly pulled out their weapons, turning their blades against the attacker.

"Why are there two Albedo!?" Paimon shrieked as she moved closer to Aether.

"You…how did you…You mimicked the Vision…that's why I didn't notice. Who are you? No, what are you?" Aether demanded as he tightened the grip on his sword.

The imposter snarled as they rushed towards Aether, only to be forced to dodge when Amber let loose an arrow at them. Eula ran towards them as they skidded to a stop on the slippery ice, swinging her claymore up at her foe. The imposter summoned an icy sword to block her attack, only to be tossed into the air by her immense strength alone. Before they could react, a stone spike flew into them, sending them flying into a cliff wall.

"Did I hit it?" Aether asked, his hand still held out, palm opened.

"Nice one, Aether!" Paimon cheered and Aether relaxed his posture.

The party moved to surround the fallen figure, their weapons raised just in case. At first, there was an eerie silence before a violent icy explosion erupted at where the figure had fallen. The party was forced to fall back as large ice spikes shot out in all directions around the explosion. In the middle of the mist and fog, a large shadowy figure rose up from the aftermath.

"A cryoregisvine?" Amber said, as she pulled her bow back, aiming at the creature.

"It's a giant whopperflower!" Bennett yelled in realisation as he ran forward to attack it.

"Get back!" Albedo cried out as soon as he realised what the monster was about to do.

The monster screeched loudly before it spun around, forcing Bennett to fall back. It turned its head, catching sight of Aether and roared loudly in anger. In a split second, Aether encased himself with Geo walls, just in time to protect himself from a barrage of ice balls. Eula and Albedo moved towards the monster from behind, taking advantage of its current focus on Aether while Amber took shots at it. However, it reacted quickly and flung several large ice balls at them, forcing them to break away to avoid getting hit. Making use of its shift in attention, Aether swept his arms in a horizontal arc, summoning a trail of Geo spikes to strike the oversized flower. The whopperflower fell to the ground, sending a few of its ominous-looking red fruits scattering in various directions.

Albedo watched the creature carefully as it slowly pushed itself up. The creature barely blocked the attack from Eula (who made use of the opportunity that it had stopped moving), but it was not strong enough to stop itself from flying from the impact. It was thrown across the frozen lake, crashing into a pile of snow on the other side. Without waiting for it to get up, Albedo immediately set down his Solar Isotoma, a Geo construct created with alchemy, near its location before using his Vision to channel Geo energy into his construct, creating Geo energy explosions around it. The whopperflower shrieked in pain at the attack before diving into the icy ground.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the scattered red fruits began to move, floating up into the air while the party tried to figure out where the whopperflower had moved to.

It was Paimon who caught sight of the floating red fruits as she screamed at everyone to watch out, just as the fruits slammed down on top of Eula. Fortunately, she reacted in time to dodge the blow but the ice beneath cracked and splintered from the impact to the ground, destabilising her balance and sending her tumbling onto the ground. Amber cried out Eula's name as she released her arrows at the fruits that were rising up again. Thankfully, Bennett was closer and was able to knock the fruits away with an exploding swing from his sword. However, the force from the explosion sent both Bennett and Eula flying away from the fruits and into Amber who was unable to stop herself in time. The three of them were sent tumbling away, leaving Albedo and Aether to face off against the creature.

The monster emerged from the ice with an angry shriek once it realised it could no longer control the damaged fruits. It summoned more ice balls, this time flinging them at Bennett who could not untangle himself from the mess of human limbs. Albedo intercepted the attack by throwing up a Geo barrier. The ice balls hit the barrier, shattering into pieces upon contact. At the same time, Aether ran towards the monster, shouting a war cry as he channelled Geo into his blade and slammed the blade into the back of the monster. The monster screamed in pain as Geo spikes erupted from the point of contact. Aether was flung away by the monster when it slammed one of its many leaves against him. The blade was left impaled in the monster's flesh along with the Geo spikes and the monster finally decided to flee. However, Albedo encased the creature in Geo, sealing off its movements.

He walked up to the whopperflower, his blade still out just in case it still had the power to break free. However, the monster only slumped in its makeshift prison, defeated. Albedo stopped in front of the monster, staring into its glowing red eyes. There was something familiar about it, a very familiar feeling, something related to Dragonspine.

"Durin?" Albedo muttered quietly, hoping that for once, he would be wrong.

The monster perked up at the name, as if delighted to hear a familiar name. To Albedo however, it meant that he had survived. If it was anything Albedo knew of him, then there were far more pressing matters he had to attend to.

(It made sense though, the monster had imitated him. After all, all of them, including him, are all monsters born from a flask. Such is the fake life he led.)

"You're wrong Albedo! You're living a life now! How is it fake? Is it fake because you're born from alchemy? Is it fake because you're not human?"

"I…" Albedo paused, trying to think of an answer to Aether's questions but nothing came to mind. For once, he had no answer to his questions. "I don't know."

The monster warbled and cooed, as if relieved to have found someone similar to them. But to Albedo, he felt nothing for the creature, no love for his supposed kin. He stabbed his sword into the creature, killing it without mercy, and he watched as the body crumbled to dust. He still felt nothing for it, just another day dealing with another monster.

(Or maybe it is because he is one.)

"That's not comparable, Albedo."

"Is it, Aether? If I was created in a different form, can you still say the same?"

"Would a monster cook lunch and dinner for Klee? Would a monster draw pictures just to give them to friends? Would a monster patiently listen to a friend's complaint day after day? Would a monster have debates over lunch on how best to make an item that could preserve food? Would a monster care and love? If yes, then I guess we're all monsters."

Albedo left the party with a vague excuse now that the visible threat had been eliminated. He walked away, not waiting for a reply from anyone, not looking back to check if he was followed. He walked until he reached his camp, standing outside as he stared at the clean and tidy encampment.

How had he not noticed earlier? No one had mentioned his alchemical notes or their importance. No one brought it up because no one had seen them. Albedo had completely ignored the reason that his camp was ransacked, only focusing on the task of cleaning it up. And his mistake had led to his comrades being attacked.

Albedo walked away from his camp with his sword drawn. If he had chosen to leave Albedo's comrades alone, Albedo would have felt pity for him, he would even be willing to help him, to learn to love and empathise as he did. But now? He had crossed a line even if the reason he had done so was pitiful.

As he walked, Albedo's mind was filled with nothing but anger and fury. At least until he stumbled upon an untouched vein of Starsilver, glittering in the icy cave that he was traversing through. He stopped in his tracks, his fury gone like crumbling ashes. What was he planning to do? If it were him in his shoes, would he not have done the same thing as he did? The fury was deserved but the actions to justify the fury was not.

The sword clattered to the ground and dispersed, its purpose no longer needed. And yet, Albedo continued to walk. At the very least, he wanted to know what he would do now.

It was a few weeks later that Albedo met Aether and Paimon again. During the time between their last meeting and present, he had finally finished the experiment he had been working on: paints that carry Geo energy in them.

"What's the difference between these paints and infusing Geo into your paintings?"

"Curious aren't you? Let me explain…"

However, there was still a long way to go before he could call the outcome perfect but this was still a good starting point. He would have to conduct more experiments again with adjusting the amount of energy that the paint absorbs and he still had to find a way to allow the dried paint to continuously absorb Geo energy. The theory behind this should not be too difficult to execute with alchemy. After all, alchemy could control elements in ways that a Vision could never do.

(And in ways that a god could not.)

But elements are fickle things, they do not conform to things that they are naturally drawn to. Of all the elements, Geo is the most stable and less likely to disperse from the vessel they are forced into. It was also one of the elements that Albedo found easiest to control even without using his Vision. Geo is unmoving, undeterred, and unrelenting, just as Albedo is unmoving, undeterred, and unrelenting.

(Perhaps Aether was right in his theory.)

"Using alchemy to control elements lets me use elements that I would not normally be able to control without a Vision. However, it was not the way that it was intended. For example, when you light a campfire, there are a few ways to go about doing it. You can use a Pyro Vision, strike a flint to create sparks, or use alchemy to force Pyro energy to respond. The outcome is the same but of these three methods, the first will draw out awe and attention, the second is commonplace, and the last is considered heretical. And yet, why is only one condemned? Punish not the tools used, but the one with ill intention behind the tools."

"But you can freely use alchemy in cities, right?"

"Only because it was proven that using alchemy does not immediately invite Celestia's wrath upon the country."

Albedo dipped his paintbrush into the starsilver paint and drew a long streak over the pure white canvas. The silver colour stood out against the white canvas, a long line cutting through the white.

(Another thing he had to experiment, to be able to paint in multiple colours and yet keep the properties of starsilver in the paint.)

He covered the tip of the brush with paint again before returning it to the canvas, slowly painting a monochrome world. He dipped the brush in the paint again and continued his task before eventually putting away his tools aside to stare at his painting: a simple view of Dragonspine. It was a simple enough sketch, enough to get him a feeling of the new paint he was working with. He would not give this painting to Aether. It was meant to be practice before the real thing and also, he had a much better image in mind.

In the distant future, when Albedo had finally perfected the portrait he intended to give to Aether. He brought it with him to Inazuma, knowing full well of Aether's presence in the country. They met under the blooming sakura tree where the gifts exchanged hands: a portrait for Aether and a box of starsilver paints for Paimon.

Paimon would excitedly shake the box not a second after, rattling the contents inside, while Aether would stare at the portrait until tears finally welled up in his eyes. Paimon, the ever curious friend, would float over to look at the portrait and her eyes would widen.

"You drew us!"

Albedo would nod his head to Paimon's comment but he would not speak, he would not ruin this moment for Aether.

(Geo was patient, unmoving, undeterred.)

Eventually, Aether would speak, his voice breaking from the emotions he felt and he would speak with tears in his eyes and the brightest smile on his face.

(But the words he spoke were the ones that would break even the coldest of hearts.)

"I finally know what Paimon looks like now. I…finally remember what I look like now. Thank you, Albedo."