Teleporting was nothing but a bright flash of light, and I was already stepping into the town square before realizing it was over. And to think I had struggled so much in the past. My body felt light and at ease. Then again, part of the reason why it felt so light was because Childe still held my bag captive.

"This way," he said, already walking away from the teleport waypoint.

He sure had some audacity. With a light scoff, I dashed up to Childe and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.

"Not so fast. First, you're going to give my bag back. Second, you're going to tell me what the plan is. And third, you can't just take charge whenever you want," I said sternly. "Whatever this is, I deserve a heads up. I have no idea what I should be prepared for."

Waiting for his response, I took a moment to check our surroundings. There weren't many people out given the time of day, so I didn't have to worry about making much of a scene. Though, I didn't expect Childe to refuse any of my demands. They were all very reasonable.

"You don't need to be constantly planning, preparing, and executing. Letting me take care of this for you should be enough."

He turned to the side slowly at first before rounding completely to face me. Since we were here to look for clues, I didn't expect him to take his time giving me a once over. Starting from the ground, he slowly drew his eyes up to meet mine, brows twitching as though he struggled with a thought.

"You know, I've tried the best I could to do this your way, but I can't stick to it any longer. The more time that passes, the less I'm able to hold back." He laughed humorlessly and focused on my face with a hardened stare. "Now, it was only a matter of getting away from the others and having this chance for myself."

What was he talking about?

My heart skipped as he flipped his hand over. Childe's wrist was freed from my grasp only for him to seize mine in the same way. He took a step forward close enough that I had to tip my head back to maintain proper eye contact. A blush heated my cheeks at the closeness of our faces, but Childe looked more determined than affected.

Was this because of Kaeya? Huffman's gift?

"I'll say it straight. Clear and simple," he said. "I won't repeat myself, so listen well."

Silently, I nodded.

"Being cooped up in the library and researching Domains well into the night isn't my style. I can't put myself through it any longer—even if you think it's best for us. I'm sure the information we already learned is helpful, but there's no better investigation method than facing the object of study head-on."

Wait. Childe was rebelling against our team plan?

"The photography club has plenty of these lying around." Childe reached into his bag and pulled out a Kamera. "My plan is to take photos of the hidden Domain area by myself. Kameras have a built-in flash that will help to capture the darkness of the cave's upper walls. Initially, I was going to do this alone, but then you followed me here."

I blushed harder, feeling a little bit silly for thinking Childe was upset over…me. I should be glad that he wasn't, and it was a relief to know he wasn't about to war against Kaeya or turn Huffman into a practice dummy. Childe still stood close—probably to make sure nobody had the chance to eavesdrop.

"Oh," I took a step back now, more to breathe fresh air rather than empty any wandering thoughts about Childe. "I…you told me to follow you outside of the dining hall. I also had to get my bag back."

"You chose to listen to me and decided to go after your bag. There's nothing so important in here that you had to have it immediately." He rose a questioning brow. "Unless?"

"You're not wrong. I did come here on my own, but you obviously wanted me to join."

"Did I?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know why you had to be so roundabout with it. If you wanted me to come with, you could have asked. I would have said yes."

"But that would have been too easy of a choice. I wanted to make sure."

"Make sure of what?"

"That you wanted it."

"I wanted my bag." I pointed to it with my captured arm.

Much to my surprise, he wordlessly leaned over to place the strap on my shoulder and murmured, "What about now?"

Now, I could teleport back to campus and busy myself with said library, but I would much rather pursue Childe's plan. Not only was it a good idea, but there was a chance that something might happen. I wasn't worried about him—Childe could take care of himself. If he somehow got the Domain's doors to open…I couldn't let that potential opportunity get by me.

At the end of the day, none of that mattered.

There wasn't a single fiber in my being that would pass up the chance to spend time with Childe. As much as I loved to spar and challenge him, I loved solving our problems together even more. Childe going into this alone was ridiculous. There's no reason to be alone when we had each other.

"I'll say it straight. Clear and simple." I stood on my toes, evening the height difference as best as I could. "And I'll repeat myself as many times as it'll take for you to believe me. I still want to be here with you."

We stared at each other for five heartbeats—I knew because mine was thrumming so loudly in my ears. Then, his deep blue eyes squinted. I only noticed it was because of a smile when Childe pulled me forward and curved lips reached my forehead with a soft kiss.

If he had placed the strap of my bag in my hand instead of on my shoulder, I surely would have dropped it.

"Good. We should get going."

Childe was off again. Except this time, he adjusted his hand to hold mine properly and pulled me along. I nearly stumbled in a daze—not because the movement was sudden. My other hand wandered to touch the spot on my forehead.

"Knowing you, something troublesome would happen." Try as I might, I couldn't keep from stammering. "Who else would come to rescue you while you're in over your head?"

Childe laughed for real this time, and I noticed a light pink in his cheeks. Though we walked further from the town's ambient glow and closer to the forest's cool darkness, the atmosphere around us never dulled. The tight ball in my stomach loosened, and I let myself laugh with him as we volleyed lighthearted jokes.

Crossing into the forest felt more like a leisurely excursion than the start of our mission. It was only when the trees and bushes become denser that my attention was pulled from Childe. Thankfully, finding the location of the cave didn't take very long. The glow of the two Seelie sitting in their courts were a beacon to us, brightening the area as we stepped into the small clearing and faced the scraggly wall.

Part of me had worried that the opening crevice would have closed up or disappeared altogether, but it was still there—narrow and ominous.

"I'll go in first," Childe said. "We made sure to be cautious the last time because we didn't know what to expect, but we're past going in blind."

I nodded. "No consequences to charging straight in."

The rock was just as damp as I remembered, but our speed left no time for me to panic over the cramped space. Soon enough, the Seelie glow was replaced by darkness and the sounds of our feet splashing in shallow puddles of water. I wasn't sure if the route itself had magically gotten shorter or if time simply passed by faster because we'd done this once before, but my eyes were already adjusting to the light coming from the end of the tunnel.

Childe's silhouette shifted in front of me as the glow from the Aster's Sighs grew brighter the closer we got. I inhaled deeply as the muggy tunnel air was replaced with the cave's damp openness. Nothing had changed since we were last here. Enchanting purple plants scattered around, and I tried to avoid getting my shoes soaked.

"So far, so good," Childe said, taking the Kamera out from his bag. "I'll get straight to it and take photos of the Domain. Because the textbooks we saw had images of the other Domains in Teyvat, we can compare them to look for any differences."

He really did plan everything out. I had wondered if Childe took the Domain research seriously after he'd spent the majority of our library time drawing pictures in my notebook, but now I understood. The library could only offer so much, and Childe's approach would give us the most up-to-date results.

I watched as he took photos of the Domain from different angles. Just as he said, there was a bright flash that illuminated every inch of the etched designs on the towering structure.

There wasn't much for me to do here, though. We only had one Kamera, so what was the point in me coming along? I crouched down to get a closer look at one of the glowing plants. I'd seen the Aster's Sigh in textbooks, but nothing compared to its vibrance in real life.

I smiled. It was very pretty.

The temptation to pluck one of the stems nipped at me, but a bright flash caused me to jolt just as I reached out a hand. Blinking, I turned to look at the culprit.

"Did you just take a photo of me?"

Childe lowered the Kamera from his face, revealing a cheeky smile. "Don't worry. We have the film to spare."

Standing up, I crossed my arms. "What are you going to do with it?"

"The photo? I'll be keeping it close with me at all times, of course. It's not very often you look so…"

"Distracted?" I sighed. "Sorry, I should probably find a way to be more helpful."

Childe tsked. "You looked relaxed. I have an opinion or two about letting your guard down, but I can let it slide this time."

"Oh, so gracious."

Childe lifted the Kamera once more, but he turned back to the cave's walls. "No one should ever have to face the burden weighing on you right now. It's like I said before, let me take care of what I can. You being here is helpful enough, Lumi. At least now I have some peace of mind."

"Peace of mind?"

"Yeah," he looked back at me. "You can't be in two places at once."

He snapped a photo of the upper wall, but the flash revealed nothing but stone.

"How did the Domain ones turn out?" I asked.

"Too early to tell. The lighting here isn't the best to see them clearly, anyway."

Childe took another photo where the purple glow didn't reach. More stone—dark lines of contrast stood out with the flash. One more photo. The dark lines remained. I squinted my eyes to focus, stepping closer to the wall he photographed. The flashes of light were brief, but I saw enough to notice a design. It looked familiar, too.

"The cave mural," I gasped. "It really is here."

"You saw something?"

I nodded. "I thought the shadows were made from the Kamera flash at first, but they're meant to be there. Do you remember that photo Kaeya showed us of Celestia Academy and the Abyss shadows? I'm ninety percent sure it's on this wall."

Childe angled the Kamera higher and the flash went off. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I clearly saw the image of Celestia Academy above the shadowy tendrils. Some of the shadows even looked like they smeared off into more of the wall.

"One-hundred percent sure, but it's a bit faded."

Another Kamera flash. The shadows extended to much more of the wall than I thought.

"Looks like there's nothing new, then," he muttered disappointedly. "The last thing we want is to walk away empty-handed."

I pointed to the wall. "Wait, there's something else. The shadows—there's more of them. Can you take another?"

Three more photos were taken, each of different areas on the walls around us. Just as I thought, the shadowy lines reached far beyond the original image, spreading out. Overlapping and intertwining. Connecting. I'd seen this before, too.

"They're like roots," I said. "Tree roots."

Childe looked at me. "The Irminsul."

"You remembered the name?"

"As dull as it was, I still paid attention to our research."

I smiled at that before letting my mind go back to this new information. Turning to look at the red-hued Domain, I thought about how each Domain in Teyvat had the same white tree. They were all connected, and those roots must be connected to the Domain here as well.

Were the shadows on the wall really a form of the Abyss' power, or were they odd depictions of Irminsul roots? Or…was the Abyss' power the true nature of these roots?

"Domains give treasures to those who are able to complete them," Childe said. "A great reward after a display of power. This is similar to what we found out about Celestia Academy's history with the Abyss Order, right?"

"It's the same," I agreed. "It looks like that transactional relationship has been a worldwide phenomenon. But why does it look like the origin of these roots comes from below our school?"

Childe also looked at the Domain with a concerned frown. From what we read, Domains opened into a limited subspace with unique qualities. At first, I thought this one would be no different from the others.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we should hold off on trying to get those doors open," Childe said. "What comes out of there may be more concerning than whether we can go in."

We both came to the same conclusion, then. This Domain was likely a gateway to the Abyss. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of how close we were to the enemy, and I took a step away from the imposing doors.

The other side of this Domain entrance was another world—where the Abyss Lector and Herald were currently plotting to cross over and drag me back with them. Could they sense me here now?

My mouth went dry.

The purple glow around us wasn't so pretty anymore.

I jutted a thumb to the exit. "I think we got enough photos. We should head back now."

"But there's still—" Childe paused upon seeing my face. Was it so obvious that our proximity to the Domain terrified me? He tucked the printed photos into his bag and zipped up the Kamera. "I see your point, and it's gotten quite late. You go ahead first."

My pulse quickened. "You're not coming with?"

"I'll be right behind you," he promised.

I smiled tightly in thanks, trying not to slip on the wet rock as we left in a hurry. A buzz of nervous energy lingered on my skin, but the darkness of the tunnel that swallowed the purple light was oddly soothing. That, and knowing Childe had my back.

i'm so hyped for sumeru and omg the shimmering voyage vol 2 ost being released is fueling my life rn