Curious spectators called what Albedo was doing in his shop "magic" even though every child in Teyvat knew that sorcerers and magicians didn't rely on materials, elemental reactions and knowledge like Albedo but on Visions and talent instead. To be precise, calling him a sorcerer came close to insulting him. The Chalk Khemia did honest work and though the general interest was flattering, sometimes it felt like a burden.
"Albedo xiansheng, will you be free after closing up your shop? Are you hungry? Can I invite you to dinner?" – "No, dage, go out with me instead! I will treat you to a better place than him!" – "Back off, you two, it's my turn now!" – "Do you believe you can –" Several people were pushing each other and competing for Albedo's attention as he was silently collecting and wrapping up the customer's order. Even though Albedo was used to it, that didn't mean that he welcomed this kind of attention. What use did people who weren't interested in alchemy have to him?
"You are too noisy." Albedo didn't even speak loudly, but it had the same effect as if he raised his voice. Everybody seemed to collectively hold their breaths in a wave of awed silence when Albedo lifted the finished wrapped up package onto the counter and looked up for the first time, meeting his customer's eyes. His instructions for him were court and precise: "Cool it and use everything at once. There's no telling what side-effects could affect you otherwise."
His calm way of talking drew people in naturally, not to mention that the earnest look from his eyes held people captivated as if prey was watching its predator. The customer hurriedly inclined his head with a shy smile and accepted the package.
"Yes, of course. It's always a pleasure doing business with Chalk Khemia, Mr Kreideprinz."
"I hope so." In the following silence, Albedo heard Sucrose's hurried footsteps coming down the staircase and turned his head. She didn't carry the axe he had given her for self-defence anymore … so, either the intruder upstairs had disarmed Sucrose (highly unlikely) or it hadn't been an unknown person after all (highly probable). Judging by the look in Sucrose's wide eyes, it was somebody he knew.
One person came to Albedo's mind.
Sucrose closed the distance between them, grabbed Albedo by his sleeve and tip-toed to whisper at him: "Gege, can you go upstairs? Zhongli-ge asked to get you. I think it's urgent."
So it had been Zhongli. Not surprising. However, why hadn't he used the front entrance to the shop like anybody else? The shop wasn't too full anymore. Hm, something must've happened to alter his usual behaviour like this.
Albedo had a couple of theories about this question too and thought about the individual possibilities and their probabilities shortly, in a matter of seconds. "Sucrose-mei, can you handle the last customers in my stead?", he asked absentmindedly.
"O-oh. I …" Sucrose fell back onto her heels again and covered her face with one hand, unable to stop the redness from spreading over her cheeks up to the tips of her ears. "I-I don't …"
"Don't worry, they'll leave in a couple of minutes. I trust that you can handle this." He picked up the raw crystal from the counter he was working on and extended his hand to her, waiting for her to take it. Sucrose was a brilliant alchemist, who had made ground-breaking discoveries on her field. Her research, theses and results were popular even among the Vision research facilities despite not having much to do with elemental magic. And yet, Sucrose often seemed to lack confidence or be shy without reason, which led many people to believe they could underestimate her.
Albedo knew better. He knew she could handle this brilliantly.
"Will you excuse me? Urgent business came up", Albedo interrupted the constant flow of words from those presently gathered in front of the counter without losing any time and ignored the first disappointed murmurs, his voice and facial expression as neutral as always. Why would he care? It was past closing time and if they didn't buy anything and provided no use for his research at hand, then Albedo wasn't interested.
-x-
-x-
Zhongli stood in a room filled to the brim with research materials, neatly stowed away in wooden or transparent boxes, depending on their contents. Among high shelves, there were no windows or unnatural light sources in order to keep any environmental influences out. The air smelled a bit of dust and the scent of old books, the pleasant, not the suffocating kind. This was how this part of the shop had always been – a haven, completely shielded from magic or the influence of time. Looked after, cared for.
"Zhongli-xiong?"
Zhongli put the dried Cecilia in his hands back into the glass case when he heard his brother speak up behind him. As usual, he hadn't heard him enter. It was either a force of habit for Albedo because he stepped lightly on the floor as if he was sneaking around, or Zhongli had been too caught up in his own thoughts again.
"One can't tell by simply looking that the Cecilia has long withered." He closed the glass case carefully, put the bolt back into place and joined his hands behind his back, eyes unfaltering on the flower. Standing here in the comfort of this room alongside his brother calmed his mind. "Nobody can tell the difference from a fresh one by the outside. It still looks beautiful. And yet there is no life left in it."
Albedo leaned against the display case and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What happened?"
Zhongli closed his eyes. His grip around his hand tightened. He had tried talking about Signora's attack and about the stolen Vision to himself while waiting for Albedo, but magic stopped him from talking no matter how he much tried to overcome the curse placed on him.
"I met a remarkable person today", he said first. Albedo was good in guessing and assessing probabilities for the likeliness of events and surely knew that there was more to the story. This piqued his interest though.
"Remarkable? How? Who was it?"
"He called himself Gongzi. I met him on my way here, down the plaza across the street. A sorcerer, but he was using several Visions." Zhongli reciprocated Albedo's burning gaze and noticed how much his brother had paled.
"Are you absolutely sure?" Even his voice sounded tense. Zhongli exhaled audibly and nodded once. He didn't expect it when Albedo grabbed his arms and tugged him on his level. He turned his face in his hands and reached to feel Zhongli's pulse, but Zhongli caught his hand. He wasn't sure if Albedo's reaction was out of concern or because of his scientific interest in understanding the impossible. Technically … it could be both.
"I promise, I'm fine."
"No. Have you any idea who this sorcerer was? If he's the demon guy from the rumours, then he might have casted his magic on you. Let go of me, let me take a closer look at you."
"Albedo, do you really believe in those rumours?" Zhongli got hold of both hands and forced Albedo to hold still and look at him. "You know what rumours say about your work."
"It's not the same. You don't understand this, nobody can use several Visions. It's humanly impossible to do so." He freed his arms from Zhongli's grip with a click of his tongue, looking more annoyed with every passing second. "I need tests to assess the situation. Even if the guy wasn't that famous sorcerer, fact is that you reek like magic. Come with me, Zhongli-xiong. I'll prepare everything downstairs."
Zhongli didn't move. "Albedo. There's more. We have to leave the city."
"Don't be naïve. We won't leave everything behind because of one sorcerer. Never again." Albedo's eyes flashed with determination and Zhongli opened his mouth to explain that he hadn't meant it like that – they needed to leave because there was no way Zhongli would be able to retrieve the stolen Vision anymore and it had nothing to do with Gongzi. In fact, Albedo might've been able to guess why Zhongli proposed leaving the city if he wasn't so caught up in the spur of the moment. "Come on. Don't just stand there."
"It's not because of Gongzi", Zhongli tried to explain, but his words fell on deaf ears. Even through all the experiments conducted by Sucrose and Albedo downstairs – both looking at Zhongli more like at an interesting subject than their brother – they would hear nothing of it, crediting his futile attempts with shorts "Mmh" between long phrases of research talk that made Zhongli's head swim.
Exhausted to the bone, somehow still freezing and feeling dizzy, Zhongli was allowed to go after what felt like hours of doing little tasks under the effect of several potions. In his head, unanswered questions were beating around like caged birds. One thing was crystal clear: Albedo and Sucrose would not leave the city. Not again. But what if they didn't have to?
Zhongli dragged himself along the hallway until he reached his bedroom door, unable to recall when the last time that he had felt like this had been. He felt like his soul and body were two separate entities that had nothing to do with each other. He opened the door to his bedroom, stumbled to his bed and dropped onto the blanket, head turned to the window where a full moon shone gently onto his face.
The customer had given the Vision to Zhongli. Losing the Vision was Zhongli's fault. So the logical consequence would be that only Zhongli had to leave – even when losing the Vision would also affect Chalk Khemia's reputation. Not that it would hurt Albedo a lot, probably. Not with how much the folk here loved him. And everybody knew that Albedo had nothing to do with Visions. That was Zhongli's job because he was the one who was patient and diligent enough to work with the slumbering streams of magic. Maybe Albedo had the talent for it too, but it was clear that he had chosen alchemy for himself. Why would he have to leave the city together with Zhongli if this didn't affect him at all?
I wish I could tell him that I was attacked.
Zhongli's eyelids grew heavier and he thought about the chaotic state the shop was in. Maybe Albedo would be able to conclude what Zhongli had been referring to when he said they needed to leave before the customer returned, but it would be too late to act then. Should Zhongli leave the city by himself and hope that Albedo's reputation would stay immaculate despite this mistake? He could take all the blame on himself.
When he opened his eyes again, the early morning sun was shining sideways through his window onto his face. He squinted, lifted a hand over his face and turned onto his back, noticing how heavy his body felt.
Ah. Albedo's potions? Strange that I can feel the after-effects.
He turned to his other side and stared, suddenly wide awake, at the palm of his hand. With a jerk he sat up straight in bed and tried to process what he was seeing. Why did his skin look blue? Were those scales on the back of his hands?
Zhongli threw back his covers and got out of bed, stumbled over his own feet and fell on his knees, locking eyes with his reflection in the mirror. Just … that wasn't him. There was no way that was him.
With a shriek Zhongli pushed back and his hands flew to his head, feeling the short black horns on his forehead and checking over the scales that grew over his jaw into his face. He had slitted eyes of the colour of Topaz. How could something like this have happened to him? Did the experiments yesterday -?
"Zhongli-xiong?" The knocking on his door made Zhongli startle and his head flew around. He pulled the covers from his bed down and around him, figuring out what to do with his new thin tail in a panic, but thankfully, Albedo didn't enter the room and spoke through the door. "I'll go open the shop. Breakfast is ready, follow me when you're finished."
"I will!" Zhongli pressed a hand against his mouth, eyes widening at how different his voice sounded. It wasn't simply deeper but more like a beast's growling. There was no way that this had been caused by Albedo's potions. No, it was more likely that this was the work of Signora's attack yesterday.
On the other side of the door, Zhongli could definitely hear hesitation. "Are you alright? Are you suffering any side-effects? Should I come in and check on you?" The door handle lowered a bit and Zhongli roared: "No, it's fine, Albedo! I – cough cough – just caught a cold because of the rain yesterday!" As if a cold could ever change your voice this much! Ah, and those were fangs biting down on Zhongli's lips, weren't they?
"Ah. In that case I will ask Sucrose-mei to go get some medicine." Albedo seemed to linger in front of the door but retracted his hand from the handle in the end. Zhongli could hear his footsteps down the hallway and noticed how bright his surroundings seemed to him too. So, was this how it felt like to be a demon?
A demon.
Zhongli put his head back against the hard wood and wrapped himself tighter into his covers. He had never known that magic could turn someone into demons, but then again, he had never paid much attention to current research. Hm, he hadn't even believed that demons were real to begin with. And he doubted that Albedo and Sucrose would take this news as calmly as he did. What if … what if they wanted to do experiments on his new form too?
Don't think about it. You wanted to leave anyway.
Zhongli got up, got dressed in long sleeves and a coat that might be too warm for today but covered his arms and throat well enough so that his scales weren't immediately visible. What should he do with the horns? They weren't very big but too prominently on his forehead. Together with his strange eyes any disguise would be blown immediately. Should he wear a hat?
He rummaged through his wardrobe and found a conveniently big scarf he forgot he owned that he wrapped around his head like a bandage, covering the sides of his face and the horns. Indubitably, he would be drawing attention to himself with this get-up because his outfit was a questionable display of strange fashion sense. However, he only needed to leave the city.
Where will I go?
Zhongli froze. Where could he go? Working with Visions and crafting jewellery had been the only thing he had done all his life. Jewellery. Riches. Shiny materials. His, they belonged to – Zhongli shook his head and slapped the sides of his head lightly, making himself snap out of it. This was not the time to be thinking about this! He had to leave before it was too late.
People said that every misfortune was followed by string of fortunate events. Zhongli found the promised breakfast on the table and packed it to take it with him, thanking Sucrose in his mind and apologizing that he wouldn't be able to tell her goodbye in person. Somehow, he managed to sneak out the Chalk Khemia without being seen by customers even though the first people were already waiting outside for Albedo (who, no doubt, must've discovered the shop's mess and drawn his conclusions by now). In the span of maybe an hour Zhongli left the city without any major occurrences, for which he was tremendously grateful. He couldn't tell what would've happened if yesterday repeated itself and either Signora's henchmen or officers stopped him on his way. Though, if he were able to locate Signora and learn what had happened to the Vision, then maybe there still was a chance – ah, unlikely. To cut him off completely, he had been turned into a demon. Signora sure was thorough.
The city itself was located among wide plains dipped in thick fog that had given the surroundings a dreamy atmosphere whenever the sun was shining and trying its best to reach the green grass. It rarely managed to and so the ground was covered in little droplets that came from the fog, soaking Zhongli's boots the higher he came. Back when Albedo, Sucrose and he had left their home for the first time they hadn't needed to get this deep into the country and thus, Zhongli didn't know if there was snow up ahead and if he was prepared sufficiently for the adventure yet to come. To be honest, he didn't know much about being a demon either. Could he even eat normal human food or would he need to attack humans in order to feed on their souls and hearts?
Or was that something that only Gongzi needed to do?
After walking a while, Zhongli felt the first signs of fatigue settle in his bones. He wasn't used to the changed weight of his body. Who would've thought that a tail and some scales on your body could be this exhausting?
Zhongli turned around and looked down into the valley, where the city seemed very small. He had managed to walk a good distance, he guessed. He felt overwhelmed by regret. Had there something been he could've done differently to avoid disaster? Probably not. So, he should be content because like this he at least could spare his siblings from his own fate.
The roofs of the houses looked like shining gems in the sun's rays. Gems. Precious stones. He needed to have them. They would be useful on his journey, console him instead of humans because he wasn't sure that he could enjoy human company safely anymore. Oh yes, he could smell the treasure in the wind. It was calling him. It was asking him to put down his baggage and return in order to liberate the hidden treasures. The wind brought the alluring promises in his direction, tugged at his scarf and exposed his head from the disguise as Zhongli stood straight like a stick, staring down the valley, under the spell of his thoughts.
The wind slapped something painfully across his cheek and a black shadow covered his eyes, interrupting visual contact. Growling in surprise, Zhongli struggled and managed to throw off what had attacked him. It was … a plushie? Somewhat dirty, partially run-down, something between a bear and wolf with long limbs and a black jacket on top of it. Where did it come from?
Zhongli turned to look in the opposite direction but stopped when he saw from the corners of his eyes that the plushie moved. It shook, got to its hindlegs and turned around, dusting itself off with – how Zhongli believed – accusation in the way it stood.
"I'm sorry", Zhongli apologized and felt dumb for talking to the plushie. He had never seen something quite like that – could this be another type of magic? But which Vision could have an effect like this? "I hope I didn't hurt you."
The plushie came closer until it stood next to Zhongli (it reached his midriff hardly) and lifted an arm. Zhongli looked down at himself and realised that it was pointing at the bundle he carried neatly packed with his shoulder bag.
"You want this?" He took off the bundle, unfolded it and crouched down so that the plush could see the breakfast Sucrose had prepared earlier. To Zhongli's repeated surprise the plush grabbed the sealed apple juice, undid the seal and … kind of drank it. Kind of, because it didn't have a mouth. It simply soaked itself with the juice.
We're two odd ones out. A demon and … a demon plush.
Zhongli took the freshly baked bread with berry jam, put the bundle back where he got it and straightened up. This time, he didn't repeat the mistake of looking back to the city – and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to see the houses' roofs anymore because the fog had grown thicker so that the valley wasn't to be made out easily anymore.
"We're even now. Excuse me." Zhongli walked on, wondering how long it would take him to reach the mountain tops and if there would be snow. He bit into the jam bread. It was as tasty as always, so maybe that meant that demons could eat normal food too? His senses were a lot sharper than when he had been a human, at the very least. If he wasn't mistaken, then Sucrose's bread was a bit too crispy.
Something grabbed onto his tail and made Zhongli look behind him. He moved his tail from side to side and up and sighed.
"I said we're even. Why are you still here?" The plush dangled from the tip of his tail, its strangely rough fabric clinging to his scales. When it was sure that Zhongli wouldn't try to throw it off again, it let go and crossed its arms in front of its chest, giving off a somewhat threatening aura. "I'm not going anywhere. Why would you follow me?"
Zhongli picked up walking and the plush followed. Whenever it started falling behind, it settled down onto its four and ran like a strangely disproportionate dog to close up in distance, before rising and walking on its hindlegs again. Zhongli couldn't sense any sort of magic coming from it, but when he thought about it then he hadn't felt anything from Gongzi either.
"Do you have a name?" Zhongli ate his jam bread with interested side-glances at his companion. If they were going to walk together, he could just as well learn how to call him. "Aurelle."
The plush didn't react. "Onyx? Bramble?" He tried several different Chinese words and when he jokingly said "Yaomo", a wave went through the little fellow and rooted it to its place, the two coal black eyes glistening intelligently. "Yaomo?", Zhongli repeated and chuckled, an unfamiliar sound for his ears that made the initial happiness turn into a deep melancholy.
This life wasn't meant to be. I better get over it quickly. I wonder if Albedo notifies the guards about the shop. There's not really anything left that he could do for me. It'd be irrational for him to search for me, right?
Zhongli noticed that Yaomo was tugging at his sleeve and opened his mouth to ask. In that second, he could feel a heavy gust of wind violently rush past him, whirling up dust and earth from the ground. Zhongli threw both arms up and pressed his weight against the wind, fighting against getting blown away. Quick-wittedly, he lashed out with his tail and managed to grab Yaomo before it was carried away too. What in the world, where did such force come from?
"Hold on tightly!", he shouted against the wind, and in that moment the fog was parted and the gigantic body of something came their way. It was huge, its body covering all of the visible sky with just the visible part as it ran past Zhongli and Yaomo, and it was moving at incredible speed, carried by wind and its own mass. Steam was blowing out of several portions and the noise of machinery was too loud in Zhongli's ears, making him press his hands flat against the sides of his head.
WHAT WAS THAT?
The grass bowed in the same direction as the running machine, its four paws jumping off the ground rhythmically. Jumping, because every now and then it would practically fly a certain distance before landing back on ground and pushing itself off again.
As it rushed past Zhongli, the wind tearing his scarf away from his head and exposing his inhuman features, Zhongli thought he saw a door in the back part of this gigantic steaming machine. A green door, completely unfitting in the entire design. Did somebody live in that thing?
Yaomo, who had been clinging to Zhongli's tail for a while before it discovered that it could use his scales to climb along up to Zhongli's shoulders, extended an arm and jumped excitedly up and down, tugging on his hair.
"You want me to follow it?" To be fair, Zhongli could feel the machine's worth deep inside his chest. He had never been really interested in this new technology that had gained popularity over recent years because his forte had always been handiwork and working with Visions. Now, as demon, he could feel the materials call him. No, not only feel. He felt the dire need to go and claim the treasures slumbering inside the moving thing. And so, Zhongli started running.
When the machine had rushed past him, it had seemed incredibly fast. Now, that Zhongli was trailing it, he discovered how fast it really was. Fortunately, his legs could carry him in good speed and the wind was in his back, pushing him for the door too. Yaomo kept on jumping on Zhongli's shoulders, spread its limbs when they were close enough and got carried to the front stairs that were attached to the green door by a strong force. While clinging to the railing, it extended a limb as if asking Zhongli to grab on it.
The weight of his tail was too curious, and Zhongli felt exhaustion settle in his legs the longer he failed to catch up to the door. The front stairs were always just an arm length away, barely, barely out of reach!
A new gust of wind rushed underneath Zhongli. He screamed when it lifted him up and carried him the last few inches to the door, a feeling as if he was flying, and then he crashed against the wood. The door gave in under the pressure, tore open, and Zhongli tumbled into the darkness, fell to the ground and groaned in pain when he fell flat against stone. Behind him, the door shut close.
"Ouch, that was unnecessary." Zhongli sat up slowly and listened with his bated breath, half expecting that his intrusion would be noticed. Instead, he heard the sounds of water flowing along tubes, and thought he could hear the aforementioned precious metals call out to him too. "Yaomo?"
His eyes grew used to the dim darkness and he recognized steps that led up. Next to his right leg, the darker shape of Yaomo sat quietly, ears moving in all directions and probably picking up the interesting sounds around them. Well, the continuous plashing of water, together with the creaks, shrieks and hissing of steam was curious background noise.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Zhongli got up, climbed the stairs and looked around. Whatever this room was – entrance room, living room, kitchen? –, it was extremely messy. Dirty dishes, laundry, tools, potions, materials like Albedo and Sucrose might use them, ingredients and whatnot were piled up, thrown over, hanging from the ceiling or simply standing around. Zhongli could feel that some of the things inside the mess were rare treasures, plus he could feel the vibration of magic in the air. Was this a sorcerer's or magician's house? Where were they?
To Zhongli's left there was a stove with a dimly shining clear light on it. This was the only source of light that made the darkness in this room less than impenetrable even though this wasn't a fire. Magic was radiating from it too and made Zhongli's hairs stand on end.
"I'm sorry for intruding!" He walked deeper into the room and took another look around, but no matter how much he looked, this place seemed deserted for now. Maybe the owner would come back later? Oh well, Zhongli hadn't had an aim in the first place, surely it would be okay to stay here and get off later if the sorcerer or magician wasn't okay with him staying here. Also, Yaomo seemed extremely comfortable because it had rushed into the darkness and disappeared in the mess until Zhongli couldn't see it anymore.
"I'm tired." Zhongli sighed. How much time had passed since his departure? Was it the transformation that made him feel like this? Or had he exerted too much power while making a run for the door? Since the master of this place wasn't home it wouldn't hurt too take a short nap, would it? Ah, to rest his legs … just close his eyes for a moment … Maybe this was also an after-effect of Albedo's potions yesterday evening. Or like, the entirety of what had happened to him.
Zhongli still hadn't processed that he had left his life behind him once again. Did one get used to that? Somehow, he didn't seem quite bothered by his loss. But he was. Of course he was. If there was a way to turn back time, then Zhongli would take the first opportunity no matter the cost. However, this was not what magic could accomplish. Because magic was limited, in every respect.
"I'll just sit here by the entrance. I'll surely wake up when the master returns back home." Zhongli pulled a chair closer to the strange light on the stove and crossed his arms in front of his chest, letting his head fall forward until his chin rested on his chest. He closed his eyes and lulled in by the warmth coming from the blue light he fell asleep. And because he was asleep, he didn't see that the light opened two eyes and floated upwards, surprised by the invited guests in a house it was supposed to guard in its master's absence. Zhongli didn't notice either how Yaomo hid itself in the messy bunch and stretched out all four in order to relax, replenishing its magic in these interesting surroundings.
And most of all, he didn't notice when the house's master and the master's disciple returned home, because the events of these two days had taken more energy from him than he had assumed.
