001
Here's some broken logic.
Mondstadt, the city of freedom, is also, by association, the city of wind.
Then, you can turn that into Windy City.
See what I'm getting at?
Honestly, I half-expected the city of Mondstadt to be some sort of old-styled Chicago (though I have no idea what that would look like).
Instead of Chicago, what I got was Germany.
Chicago and Germany aren't necessarily a world's difference, but nonetheless I was surprised at the actuality.
The architecture of the Mondstadt itself is similar to that of Germany's—in fact, it's too similar. Creeps me out.
—A stone bridge led us into the castle-like entrance of the city. There was an awkward presence surrounding us as we walked but I tried not to pay any attention to it; if it was a competition, Paimon would have won. It was due to that elephant-sized excitement of hers.
Jeez.
Is visiting Mondstadt really all that thrilling?
We made our way through the entrance. There were some guards, well, guarding it, but they let us through without delay; without hesitation.
I think back on the question asked about the Knights of Favonius.
This, in my head, confirms it. There is a problem within the Knights of Favonious, no doubt about it. They, just like Amber, are letting suspicious characters in, no questions asked. I'm sure it's not just because Amber is here with me that they let us in—they were looking at Paimon and I with distrustful eyes.
We shouldn't let them in so easily, I'm sure they thought.
Now, another question.
What is the root of the problem?
The dragon we saw earlier…? Or, more likely, something inside the Knights of Favonius themselves.
Hm…
Not now. I'll think later.
We are now officially inside the city of Mondstadt—this is where the surprise happens—and my expectations are immediately crushed.
Hurts.
"Let me officially introduce you to the city of wind, dandelions, and freedom," Amber says with a voice full of pride. "Travelers under the protection of the Knights of Favonius—welcome to Mondstadt!"
002
The city folk don't look too cheery, Paimon brought up.
"That's…" Amber hesitates, "Everyone's been put out of place by Stormterror recently."
Stormterror?
I guess the dragons got a name.
"But everything will turn out as long as Jean's with us!"
""Jean?"" Paimon and I ask in sync.
"Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius—Jean, Defender of Mondstadt. With Jean on our side, surely even the vicious Stormterror will be no match for us."
"...Is that so?"
"Mm-hmm."
Jean, the Acting Grand Master…
Could it be them?
Surely, if it were them, then that would mean that they ne—
No.
I already said that I'll stop.
I won't continue any further.
"But before that, I have something I need to give to you, Ryoji."
"Huh? Me?"
"Hey! Why doesn't Paimon get anything?"
"That's because it's only useful for Ryoji, and not you. But as compensation, I'll treat you to a traditional Mondstadt delicacy—Sticky Honey Roast!"
"Sticky Honey Roast!"
"Here, follow me to the city's high ground."
Amber begins to walk; we follow along.
I have to say, as we make our way to the high ground, the city of Mondstadt is a really beautiful place. Almost every shop and wall we've passed has had flowers along them, each being a different color than the last, and alongside the flowers are shrubs, which work really well with the flowers; plus, all of that being complemented by the sun and in total you have a glorious city.
And, not to mention, it only makes sense that they have windmills. Several of them.
As we walk, Amber says something about how this street used to be bustling with people but ever since Stormterror showed up those same crowds have gone away, in turn benefitting the inn near the city wall.
That reminded me of something.
Paimon and I plan on staying in Mondstadt for a to-be-determined amount of time, which means we're going to have to live in an inn for quite some time.
That reminded me of something else.
"Hey, Paimon," I whisper to her.
"What is it?" she responds, with her own whisper voice.
"Don't we have…no money? At all?"
"And what about it?"
"Don't we plan on staying here? You know, in an inn?"
"…Oh."
"Don't 'oh' me. What are we going to do now?"
"…Let's pickpocket someone."
"Hey, be serious about this. Any ideas?"
"…"
"C'mon…not even one?"
"Hey! It's not like you have any better ideas!"
"I guess you're right… Let's think about this later, alright?"
"Alright."
Eventually, we make it to the upper area.
The upper area catches my attention more so than the lower area. Upon first making it, standing out is an enormous statue—the same one found on the Statue of the Seven Paimon and I found earlier, except only twenty times as big. I'm sure if I stood right next to it, I would barely manage to reach its ankles. Upon inspection, I couldn't find any differences, so it's safe to assume it's just an enlarged version of the one of the Statue of the Seven. The statue of the Anemo Archon stands on a small circular area of grass and bushes, which is surrounded by a small body of water. This makes it the second plaza in Mondstadt city, the other being in the lower area, in front of the entrance.
Behind the statue, there's broad stairs leading to a cathedral.
I would love to gaze at this for longer, just to find some time of peace, but unfortunately my outfit is more irresistible to look at than a huge statue. The people hanging around this plaza, though not much, all stare at me with faces filled with fear. In fact, some lady just now started to exit the plaza with, presumably, her two kids…
I'm sure if looks could kill, I would have been beheaded by now.
I look away from them and just keep following Amber. Fortunately, when she makes her stop, though in the plaza, Amber is looking away from the people. We make it to the edge of the plaza, where we can get a view of the lower area of Mondstadt City and where the Barbatos Statue is facing; a stone fence is there, to prevent any sort of accident.
Though, I have to ask, why would Amber specifically choose an area where she could get a look of the city?
"So," Amber begins, "the present I want to give you is…" She opens a bag attached to the leather belt she wears and takes something out. "A Wing Glider!"
…Huh?
"Outriders use them to ride the wind, and the people of Mondstadt love using them too. I brought you here to give it to you so you can experience it right away! So let's start immediately!"
"W-wait!" I protest.
"Hm? Is there a problem?"
"Yeah, is there a problem, Ryoji?" Paimon questions too.
"...Do I have to do it?"
"Are you afraid of heights by any chance? If that's the case, do not worry! It's like that for everyone, but soon enough when they actually experience riding the wind, that fear disappears like it was never there!"
"No… It's not like that."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I just…don't trust myself."
"You don't…trust yourself?" She tilts her head in confusion.
"Something like that."
She silently stares at me for a moment. "...That's completely fine too! If you can't trust yourself then just trust the me that trusts in you!"
…That line was really cool dammit!
I sigh in defeat. "Fine; I'll do it."
""Yay!"" Amber and Paimon celebrate.
"Alright… How do I start?"
Naturally, before anything else, I was ordered to equip it. I asked how, only to be responded with, "Just place where you want it to be." The vague explanation only bewildered me, but when I did exactly what was ordered of me, it simply stuck on me (Amber said the ideal area to attach it to is where my neck and back meet so that's where I placed it.) I really don't get how exactly that works, but as long as it works it's fine.
To get an idea of how I'm going to glide, Amber had to explain the Wing Glider Itself. "See how right now the wingspan of the glider is no more than 1 foot wide? When it senses that feeling in you, it will grow even wider than your arm's wingspan! Get it, Ryoji?"
"…"
No, I don't.
That sounded like even you don't understand how it works.
"When it senses that feeling in you"?
What's that supposed to mean!?
Everything else that was explained by Amber, I understood. I think.
The goal for me was to glide my way over to the plaza in the lower half of Mondstadt City. Both Amber and Paimon left me and made their way over there to meet me once I'm done.
Before she left, Amber gave me these words of encouragement: "You got this, Ryoji!"
No, I certainly don't.
003
I stood on the stone fence—then jumped forward.
Now, back in Port Island, every building, every dorm, every school, every thing, was built on a flat surface. Mondstadt City is not like that. If Port Island was built on a horizontal line, then Mondstadt was built on a diagonal line. The bottom of the line would be the entrance and at the top of the line would be the cathedral. To get to each area would include either walking up or walking down a lot of stairs.
Meaning, I could just go straight down to the plaza. However, there is a slight problem: some buildings happen to be in the way of making it a smooth glide down. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be that big of a problem considering the fact that the gaps between the buildings are quite big.
"...W-woah!"
Not long after jumping, I spread the wings of the Wing Glider.
When Amber said to "give it that feeling" at first I really had no clue as to what she meant. It took a minute or two to understand what I thought she was getting at.
That same feeling when I was harnessing the power of the Anemo—is that what she meant? Considering that Amber uses a Vision, that might just be right on the mark.
And so I tried it, and it worked. It startled me—I thought that it would take quite a while to get there, but it seems that I was incorrect in that regard.
I immediately tried to get a hold of my predicament. Like the battle with the hilichurls, I made sure to keep my eyes on my destination, while also being aware of my surroundings. Evenly spreading the weight across my body helped as well, so that took some priority while using the Wing Glider. Fortunately, and ironically, there were no strong winds to push me around, making my way to the plaza much more comfortable.
I go through the gaps of buildings at a secure pace—and eventually land on the plaza floor.
Amber and Paimon begin to clap. Lucky for me, unlike the plaza in the upper area, this one only had a small amount of people that didn't bother paying attention to me.
Hm…?
Now that I'm watching them, they aren't looking at me because something else has single handedly managed to get their attention.
What is it?
Just as I noticed this, the noise of Amber and Paimon clapping their hands simultaneously stopped. I looked over at them, then I looked over to where they're looking.
"...Shit."
Stormterror flies over the city.
004
Fog covered the city.
"The sky…" Amber mumbles.
I look around. The fog is strong enough to make the blue sky, that was only here a second ago, vanish. Not only that, but when I try to look at the people who were inattentive to me, the fog is so thick that I can't even make out their figure's; the only people I can really discern are Amber and Paimon.
Similar to the events from earlier, a strong wind threatens to throw away the three of us outside of Mondstadt. Paimon has it the worst out of us—one of the only times her floating seems to do her more bad than good—so I, again, grab a hold of her.
Stormterror makes another round over the city, this time closer to it. It continues to do this over and over, eventually getting so low that its wings run into some of Mondstadt's tall buildings, damaging them gravely, and causing several stones, wood, and bricks to fall over the city at a fatal speed.
The people react immediately.
I hear screams from all over, then see people enter my field of vision, running past me trying to get out of the city. I can more or less even hear the yells from the people in the upper area—I'm sure they have it worst; being the closest to Stormterror.
In fact—
What's to say someone hasn't already died?
I don't react.
"Ryoji!" Amber calls out to me. I could barely hear her voice through the strong winds. "Help me get the people out of Mondstadt! I'll go for the people near the Cathedral—you help the people here! Paimon, you too!"
"On it!" Paimon responds, her voice clearer than Amber's.
I don't react.
Amber leaves us, forbidding my say in anything.
Not that I would have said anything.
I stay still.
"Come on, Ryoji, let's go help!"
Has anybody died? I ask myself.
No, let's not think too extreme... Or should I?
Amber is going up there too… Should I be worried?
I look up.
I see Stormterror—it flies high in the sky and suddenly stops. It seemingly starts to charge something; I would be proven right seconds later when it releases a deafening roar. It does nothing.
"Ryoji?"
I look back down.
I was wrong.
Violent columns of air are destroying Mondstadt from left to right; tornadoes have been given rise to by Stormterror. Twice as many stones and winds are being thrown around, at an even deadlier pace than before. I've been lucky as to not get hit by one, considering the fact that I have stayed still the entire time.
The tornadoes get more brutal—and so do the things it throws out.
Is everyone going to be alright?
I shake my head.
I take that thought off my head, and look right in front of me—a tornado is moving towards me.
Paimon seems to notice where my eyes are, and realizes what I am getting at. "Wait! Don't even think about i—wahhhh!"
I threw her in the opposite direction of the tornado before she had anything to say—and ran towards the tornado.
For a few seconds, I'm being rapidly spun around, with my ears popped from a sound similar to a jet engine.
The next second, I'm high in the sky.
005
I made it past the fog, and found the blue sky originally overlooking Mondstadt City.
I activated my Wing Glider to keep myself where I currently am, but even then, it was strange…
But before I could even ask myself a question, I heard a noise.
Right below me.
I look—and see Stormterror heading directly at me. I swiftly attempt to maneuver to the right but clearly don't make it far enough. My stomach crashes with the enormous wing of Stormterror, sending me further into the sky. When I managed to gain some composure, I initiated my glider again, due to the clash disabling it.
Dizziness and massive pain is the only thing I feel. It only hit my stomach, but the pain ran through my whole body. However, evidently, no bones of mine have broken nor has my stomach drawn any blood, so I got lucky in that regard.
I look around trying to find Stormterror.
But before then—
Hey! Can you listen to me?
A voice. The voice wasn't coming from a person near me; I knew it immediately, similar to Fuuka and Mitsuru, I was being talked to telepathically.
I chose not to respond, not knowing who it was.
You might have noticed by now, but you're not losing altitude like you're supposed to. That's me! With the power of a thousand winds, I'm keeping you afloat.
…So that's why. I have realized it, but simply decided to believe it was some sort of power coming Stormterror. So it's this person, huh?
"Alright. How do I defeat Stormterror?"
I broke my silence. This person might be lying to me, but if there is a chance they aren't, I'll take it. Even if they lie, it's still better to get a small amount of information about the situation.
Concentrate. Harness the energy of the winds. I know you can do this.
"Is that all?"
Behind you!
I don't even look behind me; I immediately direct myself up to avoid it, rather than going to the right. A second later, I see Stormterror fly through where I was, full speed ahead. The extreme gust of wind caused by Stormterror's speed flew me forwards; for a few seconds, I was flying through the air, faster than the fastest cars back on Earth could only hope to get.
As I gain self-control, I do just as commanded. When done, a magic circle with the symbol of Anemo forms in front of me, shooting bursts of Anemo from its center. It doesn't take much thinking to understand that this is my only chance of winning against Stormterror.
I find Stormterror; it's flying away from me, regardless of the fact that he was the one that initially attacked all of Mondstadt, not just myself.
I keep my body facing Stormterror, while also moving in its direction. The space between us is equal to that of multiple skyscrapers yet the bursts of Anemo take no more than two seconds to reach Stormterror's back, where it's two purple spikes are; as it flies I slight direct myself so that the Anemo bursts hit them, with the hopes of breaking them.
It seems to have no effect for a while—until Stormterror turns its head around, only to scream its loudest roar yet.
It seems to have lost it.
My first instinct is to cover my ears with my arms; the distance between us does nothing to stop its screams from reaching my ears.
Regret soon fills my body when I realize that I only wasted time.
It redirects its body, and just like its roar, flying towards me, faster than ever before—with the full intent of killing me. I maneuver myself up, and find myself carried by the gust of wind yet again. The speed it went—just as fast if not faster than the Anemo bursts; its nose was around 8 meters away by the time I managed to react. Self-control is harder to grasp, but I grasp it regardless—only to find Stormterror already right in front of me. I act faster and dodge, but am immediately back to flying around.
I have become dizzy.
My eyes can't concentrate.
I'm close to throwing up all of my insides.
Taking this into account—it's impossible.
I can't gain control of myself.
And so the impossible is impossible.
The next time I spot Stormterror—
I've been hit directly in the chest.
"Gyahhhhhh!"
My heart stops beating for a few seconds.
Blood escapes my mouth; the pain I feel is almost paralyzing. My Wing Glider deactivates, along with it so does that magic circle.
…I'm falling.
I'm falling—and soon I will hit the ground.
Close to losing consciousness.
I'm going to die.
This time, I have definitely broken bones. Even through that, I try to gain control over myself.
My movements are slow. So slow in fact, that by the time I manage to focus my eyes—I notice where I am.
I have entered Mondstadt's fog.
In other words, two seconds until I hit the stone ground and die.
In one final and desperate attempt, I force myself to get it together, and activate the Wing Glider.
It was rough.
It was anything but a successful attempt to glide.
Activating the Wing Glider in a state where I am lost of any control only worked against me.
As soon as it started up, I was unable to guide it, leaving it to derail from my desired goal. My inability to guide it only made things worse for me; I crashed head first into a bell tower, turning off my Wing Glider; I fell rapidly, and soon my body collided into someone's brick roof.
This time I really couldn't move.
My body simply rolled until it reached the edge of the roof, nothing I could do to resist.
I plunged down to the ground, really this time, until I ultimately harshly landed on the stone floor.
I spit some more blood out of my system.
I'm certainly losing consciousness now…
Did I manage to drive Stormterror out, at the very least?
Are Paimon and Amber alright?
Who was that mysterious person that was talking to me telepathically?
I don't know.
It was only foolery.
All that could be done is to stay still, and accept what's happening.
006
I open my eyes.
I feel drowsy.
Greeted with an unfamiliar ceiling, I try to get up.
"—Ergh!"
Only to jerk back down in pain. The pain is so severe that it produces exaggerated moans, as if I had just ran the world's longest marathon. It takes a minute for the discomfort to end, which I say goodbye to with an even more exaggerated sigh.
And then—back to staring at the wooden ceiling..
A clock is ticking.
"…"
Tick tock.
"…"
Tick Tock.
"…"
Tick Tock.
This time, to wake myself from this motionless resting, I, at a snail's pace, leisurely raise my abdomen, along with my legs, to minimize the agony. I manage to enter a sitting position, accompanied with slender pain. I take a few deep breaths.
"..."
Tick Tock.
"My eyes…"
I look from my left and to my right, to my up and down, then I do so faster, and then I do so slower. I rub them once and then I blink them ten times. I thought it was due to my slumber that this was caused but I have been proven wrong. No matter what I do, my vision seems to have blurred. I look around the room I'm in and everything seems clouded; even the palm of my hand an inch away from my face is almost undefinable.
All the horrible thoughts come in; I frown at the idea of living my life with these eyes.
I'll put up with it for now, but if it remains for more than a week or two I might just have to shoot my eyes out. Or maybe that will get them to work again.
I wander around the room trying to find an exit. The wooden floor creaks as I take steady steps.
Near the bed that I woke up from, there's a window. Naturally, I can't see anything, only the vague frame of unfamiliar buildings, but I can at least notice the moon is out rather than the sun. How long have I been unconscious?
I find a full length mirror. My trench coat is missing; other than that, a quick look at myself and no crucial changes in physical appearance (or as much as I can tell)—other than one thing: when rolling up my sleeves and shirt, from my arms to all around my chest and stomach, I'm wrapped around in bandage wrap. The pain is annoying, so I would prefer if they healed a bit faster.
This room is quite spacious, having little furniture. It could most likely have around ten to fifteen people here all at once. That, however, made me slightly curious as to what could be in the single chests of drawers in the room. Its lighter brown color makes it easy to spot, in contrast to the dark brown color the room is filled with.
I go up to it.
Hm?
Is the first drawer from the top slightly open?
I can't tell with these damn eyes.
I lean in closer, and look inside the drawer.
…
Wait.
Don't tell me…
I open the drawer to confirm my assumption and—
"...It's Paimon."
In the middle of the drawer, sleeps a single Paimon.
…
"...I'll just leave her alone."
I leave the drawer the way it was before I touched it.
Walking along the walls, I manage to bump into something. A doorknob. I twist it, and open the door.
When walking out, I can make out some wooden railing. I go up to it and look down; seeing that I'm on the second floor, my objective changes to find stairs that lead down. This objective is easier than the last, so I quickly make it to the first floor.
The first floor—two doors to my left, two doors to my right, and one huge door at the opposite end of where I am—which I assume leads outside. For a while, all I did was stare forward until…
The indistinct sound of writing hit my ears.
Someone must still be awake.
At this time of the day, though…? What for?
No, that's not important.
What I need to know is what happened while I was unconscious.
It wouldn't be troublesome if I interrupted right? All I need is some answers, nothing more.
The sound comes from the door to my right, at the end of the room.
I make it to the door. I knock on the door twice, but before I open it, I give a silent sigh.
The room I entered—a single figure with gold hair sits on a chair, writing something with a pen, on their desk. I take a few steps forward, the desk being on the other side of the room; the room itself is around the same size as the one I woke up in.
The figure continues to write, as if my presence was nothing more than an ant. So I speak.
"Hey…"
The figure rapidly bounces herself up. So it wasn't that they were ignoring me, rather, they didn't know that I was here in the first place? I knocked on the door and even made the wooden floor creak, would that not be to gain someone's attention? What they're doing must be something remarkable.
"You're…"
So, it's a woman? The tone in her voice expresses to me that not only she knows who I am, and is shocked to see me awake, but also that she's insanely, insanely tired.
"...So you finally woke up."
"..."
"I'm sure you have lots of questions; we'll answer them tomorrow morning. As you can see, I'm not entirely free right now."
"..."
"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Jean Gunnhildr, the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius; we are all very much grateful for your act of courage you showed us when Stormterror was attacking Mondstadt. We will always be your debt."
"..."
"Don't worry, there's no need to introduce yourself; I have already heard about you from Amber and your traveling companion."
"..."
"It's already dark, so for now, I recommend you go back to rest. It was nice meeting you."
"..."
"..."
"...What are you doing?"
"...Excuse me?"
"What are you doing, so late at night?"
"I'm…working on paperwork."
"Paperwork? Why so late?"
"Being the Acting Grand Master forces me to do lots of it; it comes in the morning all through until dark. Unfortunately, I'm unable to do it at a quick pace, leaving it to stack up. I've found that working on it all throughout the day, even at night, reduces the amount of it, so I've used that strategy since."
"Shouldn't you get some rest?"
"As much as I would love to, I take this role very seriously. All my time will be dedicated to working."
"But…you need the rest more than me, don't you?"
"..."
"..."
"...Maybe so. However, I still recommend you go to rest. It would be for the best, don't you agree?"
I nodded.
For some reason, I found myself without objection to her request.
When I got back to the room, I slept with an empty mind.
AN: Yeah! I actually managed to upload this chapter at a moment I'm okay with. Though I guess it might be because this is shorter compared to the last chapter. Don't worry though! It's not shorter because I'm lazy or something like that, I just felt satisfied with it. Plus, it also lets me start the next chapter in quite an interesting way… Be thrilled!
But man, XXXXXX is having quite a rough time isn't he? He got pretty messed up in this one. Maybe he shouldn't be thinking about Jean too much! And now that he's actually met her, who knows what might happen!?
Alright here's some stuff I have clear up from the last authors note 'cuz I'm a dumbass!
Though Aether/Lumine won't be in XXXXXX's party, one of them will still play the role of the Abyss Leaders! Don't know which one though… I could maybe even do both.
I did mention the P3P Female Exclusive Social Links, so it may be weird to not hear XXXXXX mention Kotone/Minako as his sister, but there is a reason! Unlike most people, I actually dislike the idea of XXXXXX having a sister, so she won't be mentioned (I know she could just be something else than a sister, but still.)
Thank you Masterx01 for the nice comment! No, I don't take Vs Battles Wiki serious, I just thought it was the quickest way of getting my point across. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but can't Philemon do nothing to help people, other than giving them Personas? Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's why I didn't have Philemon do anything other than send XXXXXX to Teyvat.
Lastly, shout-out TheMexicanAttcker for the comment, it made me laugh so hard lmaooo. I get that it's a hate comment towards Paimon but I can definitely see where you're coming from. I'll take your words into consideration lol.
Lastly, if you want to, go ahead and ask me some questions or put some theories so I can respond to them! 'Cuz sooner or later there will be a point where I just completely stop doing that.
Bye!
