I pulled the last piece of chicken off the final skewer and set the remaining stick back down into the box. I only ever had regular Chicken-Mushroom Skewers in the dining hall, and Kaeya's Fruity Skewers were so much better.

"My compliments to the chef," I offered. "Now, what do you know about the treasure?"

"Not so fast," he pointed to his mouth. "You've got something right there."

I licked my lips. "Did I get it?"

Kaeya shook his head and pulled a small handkerchief from his breast pocket. He leaned over the table and reached out to my face with the cloth, wiping at one corner of my lips. My heart stuttered.

"I can do it." I swiped the handkerchief from his hand, dabbing at the spot and hoping it covered the warmth I felt flooding my cheeks. "You didn't have to do that."

"How could I be so sure you would return my handkerchief?" he asked. "They aren't easy to come by."

"Here," I held it out to him before snatching my arm back just as fast. "Wait, I'll clean it first. I'll make sure it is carefully washed and pressed, even. Only the best for you."

"I sense you may be mocking me," he scoffed. "Did I not just offer a peace treaty?"

"Oh right," my bad. "I don't think I thanked you for those yet, so…thank you for the meal."

"Anytime," he leaned back into his chair. "As for details on the treasure, I have collected information and stored quite a bit of it up here," he tapped his temple. "But if we want to get into depth, we'll have to go to my room."

"Your room?" My eyebrows shot up. At this time of night? "Why?"

"Well, I can't let my intel fall into the wrong hands, now can I? My room is the most secure place at the Academy to store the documents I've gathered. I don't trust anywhere else or anyone else to not leak my sources."

"Except for your partner, me," I narrowed my eyes. "Right?"

"But of course," he nodded and motioned for us to stand. "Now then, shall we get going? I see you have your own secretive research going on, so unless you want to continue with that…?"

"No, it's alright." I gathered the material in my arms. "These books weren't of much help, anyway."

"Really?" Kaeya picked up a few and helped me return them back onto the shelves. "Whatever you're searching for, there's a chance I might know something about it, don't you think?"

"I doubt it."

Kaeya shrugged. "If you're certain."

After putting the books away, I walked with Kaeya back to the student dorms and we bounced ideas off each other on what the treasure could possibly be. I thought Kaeya was referring to literal treasure chests that one would find in the open-world—possibly a highly coveted one—like a luxurious chest. Kaeya, however, was a firm believer that the treasure was something more than material.

"You'll see," was the only reasoning he gave when I questioned his standpoint.

Once we got to the dorms, we entered a stairwell and I grew to have a newfound appreciation for my first-floor Visionless House. The Cryo House was located on the seventh floor of the building, and while the Academy definitely had enough funds to install automatic lifts like one I've seen at Wangshu Inn, apparently they prefer students to suffer through the extra exercise.

At last, we completed the final flight of stairs and entered the Cryo House corridor. For the most part, the interior looked the same as the first floor did. Same carpeting, same walls, same sconces…everything but the temperature.

"Is it always this cold in here?" I rubbed my prickling arms.

"Hm? It's not cold."

"Nevermind," I waved away the notion. It was probably a Cryo thing. "I just hope your room has proper insulation."

Kaeya led me down the hallway, and we passed a handful of bedroom doors before finally stopping at his. It looked normal.

"This doesn't seem very high-security." I crossed my arms. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"They haven't taught you about Elemental Sight yet, have they?" He pulled out his room key and unlocked the door.

"Elemental Sight?"

"I'll take that as a no." He chuckled and welcomed me in. "Come on now, don't be shy."

Not only was this the first dorm room I'd entered that wasn't my own, but it was Kaeya's. Of course, I was hesitant, but I refused to reveal that to him. "I'm not shy."

I walked in and brushed past his shoulder. Kaeya's room was much like mine in terms of structure and furniture, but that's where the similarities stopped. He had expensive ceiling-to-floor velvet curtains, in his signature navy blue, draping down the sides of the window. His bedspread was the same shade, dramatically covered in thick blankets and decorated with plush pillows wrapped in golden silk.

At his desk, a dozen delicate, glass bottles were lined in a neat row. Each bottle was swirling with a variety of vibrant colors, and I fought the urge to pick one up to see what was inside.

I thought my room had a nice rug, but his was made from warm furs, like the kind hanging off his shoulder when he wasn't in school uniform. Was Kaeya the heir of some rich noble or something?

And finally, the last detail I took in was probably the most important. Kaeya had arranged a large bulletin board to take up an entire wall. It was posted up with an arrangement of papers that varied from scribbled personal notes, older documents, and even a few worn pictures. Lines of red string connected the spread together in a crazy web, and I wasn't sure how anyone would make sense out of it all.

"This is it." He stood in front of the board and crossed his arms, assessing the view. "This is the result of months of researching. I'm close now, I can feel it."

"How did you even get ahold of all this?" I stepped up to get a closer look. "And no one else knows?"

"As you suspected, being in the student council has its perks," he smirked. "Sure, President Jean is always giving me work to do, but I always find time to work towards my own interests with easy access to school records. Though, the Academy does keep some documents hidden from the student council, so then I get close with the faculty."

"Kaeya!" I spun to gawk at him, "By close, do you mean…"

"Of course, not." He laughed, and I shut my mouth. "I run errands, do favors, help clean up after class, and assist in their research. In turn, I'm allowed to linger in their office for a few extra moments, I gain access to hundreds of restricted files after being sent to retrieve just one, and I am rewarded by their trust."

"You've been playing the long game," I surmised. "Explain this board to me. What does it all mean?"

"Everyone knows Celestia Academy was founded five-thousand years ago," he began. "It's etched into statues and plaques all around campus. That number is important, remember it. Moving on, look at this photo here." Kaeya pulled off a photo from the wall and held it up for me to see.

It was an image of a cave mural that had faded away with time, but I could tell that the design must have been incredibly detailed and created by someone of high artistic ability. The most prominent figure in the image was something shooting across the sky…a star? Underneath it was a complicated structure that I could only assume to be Celestia Academy. Below the school was darkness, slashes of black that cut into the foundation of the earth.

"I have reason to believe this photo was taken somewhere in a cave on this very island." Kaeya hung it back up onto the wall. "As for how someone would get to the cave, there are two possibilities: traversing in the mountains outside of campus, or locating a secret passageway that'll take us down directly to the cave."

"Why does the cave matter?" I questioned. "What does the mural mean?"

"I'll get to that." He nodded before reaching up to snatch another piece of paper from the board. "What's important to note is the comet in the sky. According to these astrological documentations, Comet Paimon reaches Teyvat once a millennium. Every one-thousand years. Celestia is how old, again?"

"Five-thousand years old."

"Precisely," he nodded. "As a first-year, you may not know this, but at the end of each academic year, Celestia holds a Grand Tournament and selects a Champion after a week of trials and—hey, wipe that look off your face, I'm going to be winning this year. The Grand Tournament is tradition, but only because of the First Tournament."

"What was the First Tournament?"

Kaeya singled out more records. "War ravaged Teyvat for a long time, and as devastating as that may have been, war is also the seed to prosperity and change. I couldn't find exact details on the war that preceded Celestia, but I've figured out that the First Tournament was held in commemoration of the final war—selecting a Champion to lead the new era."

"Okay, and so each year after that, they selected a new Champion?"

"Wrong," Kaeya shook his head. "The Second Tournament came one-thousand years later."

"Comet Paimon crosses the sky once every one-thousand years," I recalled. "Was Celestia founded during the crossing of Comet Paimon? And a new Champion is heralded with each passing of the comet?"

"I knew you would catch on."

"Kaeya," I looked from him to the board and back to him again. "I'm sure I can learn all of this in my History class. What do Champions and comets have to do with treasure?"

"Hang on. It's just as you said. With each passing of Comet Paimon, a Tournament was held and a Champion was selected. And once there was a Champion, the Academy came into possession of bountiful treasure troves—I'm talking about Liyue levels of wealth. However, after a Tournament was held, there were no further records of that Champion."

I frowned. "That doesn't seem right."

"There's more. Only the first three Tournaments came to pass. Four thousand years after the Academy was established, there was supposed to be a Fourth Tournament, but it never was held."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Kaeya confessed. "But what I do know is that Comet Paimon is coming again. This academic year."

"During the Grand Tournament?"

"Should be," he nodded.

"Wait," I stopped him. "You said that, historically, the Champions would essentially disappear without a trace after winning a Tournament. What about the ones held yearly today?"

"These are just regular trials, meant for fun to boost morale," he explained. "The Champions nowadays automatically ace their classes and gain some mora, but it's nothing compared to what could be won thousands of years ago."

"Who won last year?"

Kaeya stared at the floor and didn't say anything.

"Kaeya," I pressed on. "Who won?"

"I can't remember," he whispered.

"What?" I breathed. "How can that be?"

"I don't know." He grit his teeth. "No one else seems to remember either. Every time I bring it up with someone, they just change the subject. I may be the only one who recognizes this lapse in memory because of the knowledge I've uncovered so far."

"Are Champions disappearing again, then?"

"It is possible," Kaeya nodded. "Though, I don't know why a disappearance would happen one year shy of Comet Paimon. It doesn't make sense."

"How long have Grand Tournaments been held?"

"This year marks the seventy-seventh. Not very long in the grand scheme of things."

"And you want to win this year? To become Champion and risk falling off the face of Teyvat?" I frowned. "I won't help you with that."

"You won't have to," he smiled. "We're going to find the treasure before the Grand Tournament begins."

"And how might we do that?"

"It starts with the cave." He gestured back to the mural photo. "There will be answers there—I know it."

This was so much more information than I had expected, and I understood now why Kaeya had insisted I visit his room to discuss our plans. I sat myself down at the edge of his bed and thought about what this all meant. Kaeya breathed out a sigh and fell down next to me, lying flat on his back and staring at the ceiling.

For three thousand years, there used to be a once-in-a-millennium Tournament—signaled by the arrival of Comet Paimon—that granted riches to Celestia, but their Champion would be lost each time. The Fourth Tournament got canceled somehow, and now a more modern take, Grand Tournaments, is carried out as a nod to an old tradition.

"Oh," Kaeya jumped up and pulled out one last sheet of paper. "There was also this. I saw a preserved scrap of paper framed in the headmaster's office, once. It was written in an ancient language, but I managed to transcribe it after looking up old texts."

I took the slip of paper from his hand and read the transcription aloud.

Streaking star against the skies,

Shadows kiss the edge of light,

Blood and power reward a prize,

Ties of yore bloom into sight.

Something about this script caused a shiver to run down my spine. I wasn't so sure about the treasure hunt anymore.

"What do you think it means?" I looked to Kaeya.

"I have a feeling you won't like this." He looked at the cryptic message. "The first line has to be referencing Comet Paimon, and I'm sure the third line is about the Tournament and Champion. As for the shadows…"

"What is it?" I nudged his arm.

"You saw those black streaks on the mural, right?"

I nodded.

"We may be dealing with the Abyss."