Not related to the main story or hangouts. These are like world quests. What point has the story progressed to? I'd say that at least the Inazuma quest have finished. Rest of the things aren't necessary.

Just for this chapter -

Italics - Thinking

Normal - Narrator

Bold - Gods thinking

[] - Game elements (for readers only)

"Normal" - Talking

I don't hate Zhongli or anything, it's just how the story went (:

I wasn't going to make it, but I had a dream and the story seemed good so I made a chapter.

I know, I have weird dreams.

Aether POV -

I was returning to Liyue harbor after completing a commission when it started to rain. I found an old ruin and went inside to hide from the rain.

I found some hilichurls hiding too but I was able to convince them to let me stay. Asmoday teaching me their language sure was useful.

I went deeper in the ruins to stay away from them when the floor collapsed and I fell down.

[World quest - A stranger's regret]

The fall wasn't too long and I wasn't hurt. I found some wood and made a small torch.

These seemed to be even older ruins that were covered by soil.

Some exploration later I found an old table-chair next to a ley-line opening.

Looks like whatever happened here was similar to Tsurumi island.

I sat on the chair and an old diary spawned on the table. I touched it and everything went dark.

3rd person POV -

Aether's consciousness was sent into the diary. When he opened his eyes he was able to see everything in 3rd person. He didn't know what to do so he started exploring.

The people didn't notice him, just like Tsurumi and he found some high ground to observe the country.

He concentrated and information from the diary started flowing into his brain.

This was an old nation near Liyue harbor next to an ancient god. This god was able to survive the archon war because his body was literally a giant volcano that gained divinity over thousands of years.

The people who worshipped him prospered because of the heat provided by the magma and water from geysers.

Their technology wasn't as advanced as Khaenri'ah but they were quite advanced. This allowed them to exist as an independent nation near Liyue and they used the body of their god for various purposes.

The god didn't mind at first. He allowed the humans to access the magma and rare minerals inside him, and they offered various things in return at a leyline opening near the volcano's base.

The leyline transformed these into energy for the god to use.

One day a child accidentally found another leyline opening, one that was essentially the god's consciousness. They didn't know what it was but they decided to offer some fruits they found to it.

The god was surprised at first when a gift was offered directly to his soul and when he concentrated he found a small child sitting near the leyline, as if hoping for something to happen.

"Is that child hoping for some kind of reward? Go away kid, I don't have anything to give you" the god thought.

Because his body was literally a volcano, he wasn't able to communicate with most people.

The child sat there for some time and then ran away.

"They won't be coming back when I didn't give them a reward. Why do I feel a bit sad?" he thought.

The next day, the child returned with some more offerings and ran away when they didn't get anything in return.

This repeated for some days and the god started growing attached to the child.

One day the child came late.

"Did you stub you toe kid?" the god thought.

He noticed that the child was crying as they sat next to him.

A few minutes later they told him how some people of the country were being affected by a mysterious illness that had killed their family too.

The god felt bad for them but couldn't do anything but listen to them as they cried.

As years passed the child regularly visited the leyline opening to talk with their god and offer some gifts. Both of them had grown pretty close and the god was practically like the kid's new father.

Some time later other people found the leyline too and began offering too. The god thought all of them wanted something in return as the humans had just build a new research facility inside the volcano.

In reality people found out that this leyline was their god's consciousness and came to thank him for all he had done for them. But the god didn't know this and slowly grew angry at his people, thinking that they were all greedy and wanted gifts from him.

After his consciousness was constantly given gifts, it strengthened him, but erosion of the past thousands of years finally caught up with him.

He slowly forgot about the kid he cared for, his people, everything about his country.

He thought that the humans came to him for the riches they could find in his body. The offerings? He forgot about them. According to him the humans were giving him things to try and keep him distracted as they exploited him.

The kid had grown a lot but still came to meet their 'father' everyday and have a small talk with him. He thought that they were just a normal human, here for some kind of reward.

Nobody noticed what was wrong with their god because he couldn't talk with them.

20 years after he met the kid, he only had hate for his people. One day, he finally snapped and decided to end all of them. He started building up all his energy for a massive eruption to destroy the country.

The humans noticed it too and tried to clam down their god. He didn't listen to them and provided more energy for the eruption.

People from Liyue found out about their neighbor's problems and Morax went to talk with the volcano god.

"My friend, why are you doing this?" he asked the god.

Morax was the only person the god could talk to because of his ability to feel what rocks were thinking.

"You won't understand Morax. These people have been exploiting my resources for years and this time, I shall have my revenge" he said.

Morax tried to convince him that these were his people but the god didn't listen.

After the archon war had ended, the god signed a contract with Morax to allow his country to exist independently. Morax agreed but told him that the contract won't be valid if the god harms his people.

The god was going to harm his people and the contract was broken.

Morax finally allowed people of that country to migrate to Liyue but it was too late.

Only a few hundred people could reach Liyue. Others simply didn't have the time or just wanted to stay with their god till the end.

A few hours before the eruption the 'kid' went to talk with their god for the last time.

"It looks like we angered you for some reason" they said as they sat on a small chair that they had made a few years ago. They used it whenever they wanted to have a long chat with their 'father'.

"You know, many people stayed because they wanted to stay with you till the end. If you want us dead, we will gladly accept" they said as they started crying.

As the god listened to them talking about everything they did over the years he started remembering them.

"NO! I finally remember! Morax please help me! I remember everything, help me stop the explosion!" he thought.

Morax heard him and responded.

"It's too late my friend. The eruption can't be stopped at this point" Morax said.

"I don't care! Seal me like Osial if you want, but please stop this! I don't want to hurt this kid. I don't want to hurt my people. If you can't stop me, at least evacuate them" he begged Morax.

"You broke your contract. You said that you won't hurt your people, but you forgot. This, is the price you must pay" Morax said.

The god attempted to stop the eruption till the last minute as he begged Morax to help, but he didn't.

Finally, it was too much and the volcano erupted.

Morax teleported next to the volcano and started making a geo barrier.

"I knew you would help me old friend! Quickly, seal me. I don't care as long as everyone stays safe" the god said.

Morax didn't respond as the created a barrier and covered the country.

"Wait, what are you doing!? Morax, please. Let my people escape!" the god begged as the barrier prevented ash from reaching Liyue harbor.

"I'm sorry but I can't remove the barrier. The ash would damage Liye if allowed to escape" Morax said as he teleported.

"You know, you were like my family after my parents died" the 'kid' said as lava came closer to them.

They hugged the leyline one last time as they were covered in ash and lava.

"NOOO!" the god shouted as the kid he was attached to, died in front of him.

Soon people stared to choke to death as the air became filled with ash.

Some tried to use the suits made by the research facility for work inside the volcano but they weren't made for the ash. Some tried to escape but the geo barrier stopped them.

The god watched as all his people were killed because of him and Morax's attitude about their contract. When everything was over Morax teleported near him.

"Why are you here now!?" the god shouted.

"I'm here to seal you. You are a threat to Liyue harbor" Morax said.

"Y-you bastard! You didn't care about the contract at all! You just wanted a reason to seal me. You were jealous of my country!" the god shouted.

"How cute. You finally understood. Yes, I wanted you nation destroyed. The rate at which they were developing was similar to Khaenri'ah. That nation will be destroyed in some years too. It's nothing personal old friend, I just didn't want Liyue to be caught up if the sustainer decided to destroy your nation" Morax said as he began sealing the god.

"And the distortion in my memories?" the god asked.

"The remains of gods defeated in the archon war have many uses I suppose" Morax said.

The volcano was destroyed by countless meteors and Morax attempted to seal the god's consciousness, but the leyline reacted and looped everything around it.

Morax thought that he sealed the god, but the god got stuck with the kid's soul that was affected by the leyline.

The destruction of the unnamed nation was caught in an infinite loop in the diary the 'kid' had and they were trapped there as a ghost.

Aether POV -

I was finally able to escape the diary as the memory ended.

While I was trying to process what happened, I saw a green glow next to me.

"Boo" they said.

"AHHH!" I shouted as I quickly got away.

"Aww, did I scare you?" the green ghost next to me said.

"Who're you!?" I asked.

"Rude. You just read my diary and now you're asking who I am? :(" the ghost said.

"Wait, you're the kid from the diary?" I asked.

"Yup, that me :D My diary got affected by the leyline and recorded everything that happened. My memories and soul is linked to it so I wasn't able to see what really happened so I must thank you" they said.

They gave me a small kiss on my forehead as they started disappearing.

"You're leaving?" I asked.

"Yup. The only reason I stayed here was because I wanted to know what truly happened" they responded.

"So, what will happen to the volcano god?" I asked.

"He got fused with my soul. I can feel him. He too will die with me. You should quickly get away from here, I've heard that the death of a god can cause massive explosions" they said as they started shooing me away.

"Bye grandma" I jokingly said.

"THE FUCKING AUDACITY! I was 24 when I died!" they shouted as I quickly ran away.

"I don't hate you... dad" was the last thing I heard them say before I got too far.

Just as they said, the ruins exploded, as a massive beam of lava shot towards the sky.

"MORAX! I'M GOING TO BURN YOUR TOE BEFORE I DIE!" I heard someone shout as the lava turned towards Liyue.

[Quest : A stranger's regret. Completed]

[Rewards : Mysterious person's diary]

[Achievement : Sins of the gods]

[Mysterious person's diary - A diary you found in the ruins of an ancient civilization. The owner of the diary wanted you to keep it. It contains the record of what happened during the country's destruction]

[Sins of the gods - Witness one of the sins committed by an Archon (07/01/2022)

1/7 witnessed] + 20 primogems per event.

[Zhongli new voice line added.

"Ahh, such a pleasant day. You want to go for a wal- SON OF A BITCH! WHERE DID THE LAVA COME FROM!? SHIT, I BURNED MY TOE!" - Zhongli]