Amber felt useless. She used to take pride in being the Gliding Champion of Monstadt, but then Lumine walked into town to get her license and took her title. Amber did her job as an outrider knight extraordinarily well, but lately, there hasn't been anything to report since the siege of Mondstadt, which was then resolved by Lumine once again. The hilichurls danced and sang and fought but they never did anything other than exist and terrorize the slimes after straying away from the Abyss Order.
All she had for a weapon was a bow, some mediocre fire, and her explosive bunnies that she got from that little pyrogenius Klee. It was a gadget she borrowed. It wasn't hers, so she wouldn't take the credit for Klee's baron bunnies. That leaves her bow and her arrows, both of which could only do so much before an enemy closed the distance. If they closed the distance.
The power difference between her friends and herself was ridiculous. Jean can create mini storms and heal wounds at a moment's notice, Lumine can create tornadoes and take on a dragon, Kaeya could freeze entire ponds at once and teleport around, and Klee has her elemental disaster packages even though she's still just a kid! Why did the great Pyro Archon, Murata, deem her worthy of a vision if the result was… this?
Amber gazed off into the vast distance of a moonlit Monstadt from the tip of a cliff. She'd been around every corner of the Monstadtian region for so long. She'd seen and memorized it all: the jagged cliffs, the messy plains, the deep valleys, and the dense forests all for her city. She knew every mining deposit, every common hunting spot, every cave entrance, and the many dangers that plagued Monstadt that would surely kill any traveler who went off-road, but she could barely do a thing about it because she had no army. All she had was herself.
It wasn't like she could abandon Monstadt, as much as she would like to see the frozen peaks of Snezhnaya and the culture of Liyue, she couldn't. Monstadt needed her now more than ever... but did they?
Did Lord Barbatos guide her arrows, or did her skill?
Amber knocked an arrow on her bow, channeling all her emotions to call upon the flame. Her vision glowed a dull red as she closed her eyes and simply let herself feel the warmth that her power brought, the strength of her weapon as she pulled back on the string, the weakness of her knees on the tip of a cliff, and the push of the wind as she stood.
If she fell right now, would the winds of Barbatos save her?
The winds blew harder upon her form, tempting her to fall. If she became one with the wind, would she live on as a wisp? Would she be free of her duty and then free of her emotions?
But what would she do then? What would Monstadt do without their Outrider Knight?
Everybody relied upon her information. Without it, Monstadt would've been doomed a long time ago. Her home would fall to the dangers that lie deep within the countryside.
She couldn't fall here. She wouldn't allow herself to anytime soon. She would never abandon Monstadt!
Cinders and sparks dripped from her arrow and coated her weapon in the fire. The string pushed against her muscles to the point of pain. The grass surrounding her began to burn. The fire began feasting upon the wind and grew. Liquid flame wrapped itself around her form, almost like a pair of welcoming arms.
All the flame quickly receded into the tip of her arrow. A flaming white star shone in front of her, and wind exploded around her as she fired into the night sky. The arrow traveled far into the cloudless night. An ear-splitting eruption of sound came in the form of a thousand sparks and took the shape of her.
All her stress, all her hate, all her anger washed away. Standing there on a cliff, breathless and fired up, she knew of only one thing.
She knew who she was, and she was proud.