Book 0: Prologue

Chapter 1: The Crossroad of Genesis and Terminus

Whatever was going on, I knew I wasn't dreaming. Not due to any logical reasoning, but rather an overwhelming instinct. It was like those innate senses that people get—such as the ability to feel when one is being watched or how a child intuitively feels safe with his parents. Not to mention, I felt way too lucid for this to be a dream.

What about my circumstances seemed like a dream? Well, that had something to do with the fact that I was floating in a black void without a body. Not the kind of situation one typically ends up in while awake. Both in dream and reality, it was probably the second strangest experience I had ever had.

I looked around for clues. How I could do so without a body was beyond me, but that really was low on the list of questions I wanted to ask. I tried to think back to before I woke up here. What was the last thing I could remember? I did have an idea of what could be going on, though I really hoped that I was wrong.

I could remember being in water… Had I been swimming? Not that unusual. While rare, I did enjoy a nice dip from time to time. But had that led to this or was it unrelated?

After a few moments, I finally noticed something breaking the pitch-black monotony of my surroundings. It was a faint dot of color and light in the distance. With that as my goal, I willed myself to move towards it.

I wasn't quite sure how long it took to reach the object; it was hard to grasp the passage of time in this space. I soon got close enough to clearly see what exactly had caught my interest.

It was a floating structure, a circular arena formed out of stained glass (or at least a similar material) and covered in mandala-like designs and various glyphs. Considering the otherwise monochrome surroundings, the brightly colored object stood out like a sore thumb. Though it was hard to tell whether the light was emanating from the object or from some invisible light source beyond it.

Okay, how did I end up in a Kingdom Hearts game?

A bit of an exaggeration? Maybe. But it was still true that this construct would fit right in with the setting of those games.

I soon came to rest just above the platform and noticed something even more bizarre. On the opposite side of the circle from where I landed, floating at just about the same height, was a pair of concentric wheels. They were intricate in design and covered in golden markings. Six pairs of wings sprouted from the outer wheel, and each wing was adorned with twelve eye-like markings, somewhat reminiscent of a peacock.

"Welcome, Zachary Breathnach."

I blinked in confusion. The strangely melodic voice seemed to have come from the flying wheels, making the whole situation even stranger. Actually, now that I looked again, the eye markings seemed to blink occasionally. And were those mouths along the inside of the inner wheel?

Regardless of how much more weird the situation had become, if this thing really was alive, then I finally had something to answer my questions. With that in mind, I naturally reacted as any logical person would.

"What the heck are you?" I shouted. "And where the heck am I?"

The strange being looked thoughtful for a moment—or at least that's how it seemed to me—then replied, "I suppose you could think of me as your guide. As for where we are, I believe you have already figured a part of that out yourself, have you not?"

I sighed in resignation. Well, that seemed to confirm my suspicions. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Indeed." If a floating wheel could look apologetic, this one did. "Welcome to the Realm of Limbo, where all souls end up after leaving the mortal coil."

I wasn't quite sure what to feel. On one hand, I hadn't wanted to die. Heck, I'd kind of been hoping to outlive my brother and sister to prove that I was the "superior sibling." On the other hand… the world had been going to crap, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit relieved at no longer having to deal with that anymore.

It didn't really matter now, though, what I felt. Not like anything would change the fact that I'd died.

I was a bit disappointed, however. I'd always hoped that when I passed on, I'd see a departed family member, a beautiful woman, or something along those lines. Instead, I got something right out of Ezekiel.

I shook off those thoughts. "Well, nice to meet you, I guess. Got a name?"

"My true name is impossible to speak in human tongues. You may call me whatever you wish."

The idea came instantly. "How about Wheeler?"

"You may call me Hodegos."

I mentally cursed. There went my Axel Wheeler plan.

With my attempt at horrible puns derailed, I returned to my other thoughts and perhaps the most important question I had.

"…So how'd I die?"

What? Could you really blame a ghost for wanting to know how he kicked the bucket? Most other questions paled in comparison. I just hoped it wasn't something lame, like accidentally asphyxiating myself while asleep or, God forbid, choking on a fly.

If Hodegos had had eyebrows, I knew they would have been raised. Still, he answered anyway, "You were killed by an alligator. While swimming at a river, you noticed it going for someone else and attempted to distract it so they could get to safety. However, you were unable to get away in time yourself."

Huh. Eaten by a gator. What a perfectly Floridian way to go. Well, there were worse ways to die, and I managed to save that other person. It's a good thing I couldn't actually remember the event, though. It was almost certainly not a quick death. If I'd been lucky, maybe my head had been crushed in the gator's jaws. Worst case scenario would have been me being torn apart slowly till I bled to death. Crocodilians really were impressively brutal creatures.

However, this information brought up something else. Another burning question that I needed answered.

"Did I taste good?"

"I'm sorry, what?" The question was apparently enough to make Hodegos break character, as his ordinarily calm voice took on a bewildered and incredulous tone.

"Was. I. Delicious?" I repeated slowly. "I died because an alligator thought I'd make a nice snack, so I better have been the best darn meal of its life."

There were a few moments of silence.

"Humans," Hodegos muttered, an air of resigned disbelief to his voice. "I am afraid I have no idea as to how you fared against the alligator's palate, but I am sure you were at least above average. Now, if you have no more questions about that, we should move on to why you are here."

I attempted to nod in affirmation before realizing I lacked the required body parts to do so. Namely a neck. And a head. The idea seemed to be conveyed somehow, though, as Hodegos floated forward and began to speak.

"Now that you have died, you would normally have to make a choice between rebirth or judgement. If you were to choose rebirth, your memories would be completely erased, and then you would be reborn back into the world you came from. If you decide on judgement, on the other hand, your soul would be subjected to arbitration and would then go to paradise or damnation depending on the results."

Interesting. The statement about being reborn back into "the world you came from" seemed to imply that there were other worlds out there. A confirmation for the multiverse, if true. But there was one point in particular that stood out to me.

"Normally? That means there's something different about my circumstances, right?"

Hodegos lit up—like quite literally started glowing a bit brighter. "Indeed. You were lucky enough to be chosen to gain a third option: Reincarnation into another world."

If I would have still had my mouth, it would be spread open in a wide grin now. A chance at an isekai adventure. Sign me up!

"Wait," I suddenly remembered something, "it's not some kind of death world, is it? Or just generally unpleasant."

The last thing I wanted was to end up in some kind of grimdark world, like Game of Thrones or Berserk. If I wanted that kind of thing, I'd just get reborn and head back to my own universe.

"You have no need to worry about that," Hodegos responded. "I can assure you that the world you would be sent to is one you would enjoy immensely."

Well, that was good to know. I hadn't been given reason to doubt Hodegos yet, so he was probably telling the truth. Though as excited as I was for this chance at the kind of life I'd only ever dreamed of, there was one more question on my mind. Something so important—and actually important this time—that I wouldn't be able to continue until I had an answer for it.

"Um, hold on." Twelve dozen eyes blinked in response, and I continued, "If… If I go through with this, is there any chance I'd see my family again?"

It wasn't a question to help me decide what to do. I was going to accept; I'd already made up my mind on that. But I needed to know the answer, if for no reason other than to have peace of mind. Otherwise, the unanswered question would always haunt me. It would be a lingering doubt that would weigh on me for the rest of my next life.

A moment passed before Hodegos gave his response, as if he had been contemplating whether he even should answer it.

Finally, he answered, "No. As a part of this reincarnation, you will lose your connection to your original universe. If you were to die in Teyvat, you would be subject to its system of life and death. Even on the off chance that the rest of your family were to be reincarnated when they die, the chance of them ending up in the same world as you is so vanishingly small as to be impossible."

Yeah, that was about what I expected. To accept this offer was to say goodbye to my family for good. No chance of seeing them in any kind of afterlife. But even so, my decision hadn't changed in the slightest.

"That's good to know." I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "I'd be honored to accept the offer of reincarnation. So how will this work?"

A pulse of light erupted from Hodegos, and the shapes making up the platform beneath us began to shift. Through the glass, I saw a world wholly different from the one I was used to.

There were towering mountains, geological formations that looked almost alien, and various kinds of plant and animal life—some that I recognized and others completely foreign. It truly was another world.

"This," Hodegos started, "is the world of Teyvat. A world where humanity and the divine are still closely interlinked. A world where those who are chosen by the heavens are granted a Vision, an object that allows them to harness the power of one of the seven elements."

The image continued to morph, showcasing more landscapes and cities. I continued to marvel at the beauty, and then something strange appeared in the picture. It was a pair of lights soaring across the sky. At first, I thought they were shooting stars or a comet; I quickly realized otherwise. These objects looked noticeably different from meteoroids or even comets. Then there was the fact that they were traveling together with little variation in speed and with unnatural movements. It was almost like they were alive.

"A pair of travelers once descended upon this land, having traversed through many other worlds beforehand. But upon trying to leave, the brother and sister encountered and fought against an unknown god. This conflict led to the siblings being separated; one captured by the unknown god while the other was weakened and forced into a deep slumber. In the normal course of events, these two would go on to become two of the most important players in this world's story."

I hummed in acknowledgment and interest. So there were going to be two others who came from another world. I was a bit jealous, though. They didn't have to go though the whole dying thing in order to go to other worlds? How unfair.

But, "this world's story," huh? I supposed that if multiverse theory was real, there was guaranteed to be a world out there where this "Teyvat" was part of some fictional work. Based on what little description I had, it seemed like the perfect setting for a manga or light novel series.

"So," I spoke up, "you want me to help these siblings reunite, defeat that unknown god, or what?"

"That is up to you," Hodegos answered. "You will become the new protagonist of this world. Only you shall choose what you will do. Whether you choose to let the world go on as it would normally have or insert yourself into its narrative. To stand against the world as a conqueror or rise up as a hero—it is your choice alone as to what path you will take. You will have neither mission nor goal other than those you set for yourself."

I would have liked to say that this bit of knowledge was wonderful or that I immediately knew what I wanted to do. Either claim, though, would have been a bald-face lie—the former more so than the latter. This wasn't something like Skyrim, after all. If I did anything wrong or made any mistakes, there wouldn't be a previous save file to revert to. Albeit, most reversions in my Skyrim playthroughs were thanks to bugs. Probably didn't have to worry about that here.

Still, the fact remained that there would be no way to take back my choices. No way to reverse the consequences of my actions.

I tried to ignore those thoughts, saying, "So what kind of reincarnation is this exactly? Am I gonna have to deal with being a baby again?"

A laughter-like sound came from Hodegos. "Not quite. Rather, this case is more of an incarnation. Normally, we'd just utilize your original body, but that relies on the subject's original body being at least mostly intact."

I "nodded" in understanding. Yeah, my old body was undoubtedly torn to bits right now. Alligators aren't exactly the swallow whole kind of predator. They're more into dismembering into smaller chunks. Not that it was specific to alligators; that applied to all crocodilians. Well, most. The piscivorous gharial and false gharial were probably exceptions.

"So instead," Hodegos continued, breaking me from my contemplation about crocodilian feeding behaviour, "a new body will be created for your soul to inhabit. This body, however, will still not have an origin or history within Teyvat."

With that said, Hodegos's multitude of eyes closed, and his body began to glow. As he did so, four orbs of light formed around him, appearing like spheres of crystalline glass. Each one had a strange marking emblazoned on it. They looked like letters or glyphs of some kind, but they were from some language utterly foreign to me. The markings bore some similarities to Hebrew and Akkadian, though they were noticeably different from both.

"What are those?" I asked as Hodegos dimmed once again and his eyes reopened.

"These are to be your new abilities. They shall help you on whatever path your journey takes: The Four Principles."

A rush of excitement filled my being. Really, what was an isekai adventure without special powers? And I was getting not just one, but four! Though I probably shouldn't celebrate until I found out what exactly these powers were. There was still the potential that they could be monkey-pawed or something.

Unlikely, sure. But the risk was still there. At the very least, I doubted that every single ability would be, as the kids say, "OP hax."

The name sounded really cool, though.

"Firstly," Hodegos began, "is the Principle of Quintessence: Akasha. Your body will be imbued with the essence of Akasha, allowing you to draw upon it to harness the element of Void. It has a few different uses, though it is primarily geared towards offense. However, you should take heed. As one lacking a Vision, utilizing this power in front of others may bring you unwanted attention—especially from those who will recognize that you don't wield one of the traditional seven elements.

"Second is the Principle of Sagacity: Sophia. This shall give you a source of wisdom that is sure to help you greatly on your travels in a foreign world. Next is the Principle of Insight: Noesis, which shall grant you the gift of discernment, the ability to discover information about people and objects. And finally is the Principle of Metamorphosis: Alchymia, which allows for the transmutation of matter you are in contact with, so long as you understand what you are working with and trying to accomplish."

While I wasn't exactly sure how these abilities stacked up to those naturally found in Teyvat, they still sounded excellent. Even if I wasn't able to cut it as a front-line fighter, these powers would probably let me be a fantastic supporter.

The containers—or whatever they were called—for the Principles floated towards me. And in the next moment, they had merged into myself. It was a strange feeling, as if I had been immersed in water and it had suddenly and rapidly changed temperature. Though, to be honest, I didn't really feel any different yet. Maybe they'd only become active once I got into the world.

"So I guess that means I'm ready, huh?" The question came out as more of a statement. There was nothing else that I could think of being given, unless Hodegos decided to hold an extensive history lesson on Teyvat.

"Indeed, unless you have any more pressing questions."

'Only a million,' I wanted to reply but pushed down the thought. Most of my questions were minor, and I could figure them out on my own. And the rest were questions that I wasn't even sure if I'd get an answer to. So instead, I simply had a single request.

"I don't know if it's possible," I began, "but would you be able to get a message to my family? Let them know that I'm sorry, but I'm fine now and everything will be all right."

Frankly speaking, I had a lot more stuff I'd like to say and add on, but those were words that would have to be left unsaid. I would be here for eternity if I tried to fit in everything I wanted to say. But more than that, there were some things that I couldn't entrust to another, even Hodegos. They were things that only I could convey, and coming from anyone else the words would just sound fake and hollow.

Hodegos's reply was quick but sincere. "I cannot promise anything, but I will do what I am able."

That was all I could ask for. I had already received so much, so I had no right to ask for more. I was just grateful that Hodegos was willing to even try.

Hodegos's wings shifted, and the two wheels he was comprised of began to spin faster. "Now, prepare yourself."

"Thank you. For everything," I said, wishing I had a body to give Hodegos a handshake—er, wing-shake. "Goodb—GAAAAAAH!"

My attempt to say farewell was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass and my sudden freefall.

The platform that had once been beneath Hodegos and I had shattered, and whatever force had been keeping my soul afloat ceased its effects. Now, I was plummeting through the inky darkness.

As I fell, I noticed new images within the broken pieces of the platform. A kaleidoscopic array of scenes, moving almost too fast for me to even perceive, much less make sense of. Two people with blond hair fighting against a white-haired being, a large city in chaos as fires raged, two identical women fighting against each other, and a myriad other images rapidly flashed across my vision.

Then, everything faded to black.

###

Hodegos—as he had decided to name himself in the speech of humans—blinked as he watched the light of Zachary's soul flash brightly before disappearing. He tried to ignore the slight feeling of embarrassment creeping up on him; he always forgot humans' tendency for farewells. He really did have to become better about that in the future.

As he watched the Pathway to this world close back up, he mused about his newest charge. Hodegos had been working as a psychopomp for as long as he could remember, longer than most mortal beings could even comprehend. And yet, the young man he had been tasked with this time had perhaps been the most interesting person he had ever guided.

Even with the boy's memories of his passing suppressed, the calmness with which he had accepted his death was unlike anything Hodegos had ever seen. It was a bit unnerving, to be honest, especially for one who seemed to hold life in such high regard if Zachary's memories were anything to go by.

Not to mention his cavalier attitude. Honestly, who in their right mind asks how they tasted to the creature that ate them? And attempting to name a supernatural being with a pun? Were all those with the potential for greatness cursed with eccentricity?

"Something on your mind?" A voice shook Hodegos from his reverie, and he rotated his outer wheel to face the newcomer.

Masculine in appearance, the being's body was humanoid and appeared as if it was made of the cosmos itself. With eyes like literal stars, the newcomer had a rather relaxed look to his posture and gaze.

Hodegos folded half of his wings in front of him and tilted his body in a respectful bow. "Master Ein Sof, I did not realize you were sending an avatar."

"And miss the send-off of one who accepted my gift? I only regret that I couldn't show myself to the boy and meet him in person." Ein Sof looked down at the Pathway, which now revealed an image of a still unconscious Zachary having just arrived in Teyvat. "How did his soul handle the changes?"

"It worked perfectly," Hodegos answered. "As you ordered, I used the Principles to set up the foundation."

Ein Sof smiled. "Good. Of course, it will be up to him to meet their qualifications for awakening."

"Do you really think he can do so, Master? I mean no offense to the boy, but I don't quite understand why you chose this human. If anything, he seems to be more of a fit for Lady Gaia rather than yourself, especially considering his lustful proclivities."

"Perhaps." A good-natured laugh left Ein Sof's lips. "However, there is a reason I picked him. I believe in what lies within his heart, and that makes him more than worthy enough to have gained my favor."

Hodegos said nothing in reply as Ein Sof's avatar disappeared. It may have been hard to believe, but he trusted his Master's judgement. The true question was what had Ein Sof seen and what exactly were his hopes for Zachary? Especially when it came to this world.

Was Zachary meant to bring salvation, or was he a harbinger of Teyvat's end?

Thank you for deciding to check out my story and reading this far.

I initially intended to get this out weeks ago, but that fell apart due to having to pretty much completely rewrite this chapter. Originally, it was supposed to start a few months into the reincarnation. But my planned first chapters didn't really work well, so I scrapped that idea. I also struggled with what POV to go with. I typically prefer limited 3rd, but the first draft of this chapter in that POV didn't sound right, so I thought about switching to 1st person. However, the problem was that I knew there were going to be times in the story that I would switch to the POV of someone else (as seen in this chapter with Hodegos). If I stuck with 1st person, those switches would be much more difficult to write—mainly in making the internal voices distinct. After some deliberation, I decided to go with a mixed approach—1st person with the MC, and 3rd limited for other POVs.

With that behind the scenes info out of the way, there are a few additional notes before ending the chapter.

First and foremost, this will be a harem story. So if that is automatically a deal-breaker, there's your warning. However, I will be trying to build the relationships up at least somewhat naturally (as natural as a harem can be), so don't expect anything right away.

Secondly, as Genshin Impact is still ongoing, not all the lore is known, so I may end up writing something that will later be contradicted by future updates.

Third, I do know that Akasha is also a term now in Genshin Impact, but I originally came up with the name for that principle a couple weeks before the Akasha System was revealed. There is a reason I chose that name, so I won't be changing it—especially as the naming for the Akasha system seems to be more of a reference to the concept of the Akashic Records rather than as an element.

Finally, here's a chance for some reader participation. While I don't want to do much in the way of genderbending characters for this story, there are a few possible exceptions. This will be up to you guys, though, so I'll be doing an informal poll to gauge interest. As of now, the only candidates are Venti and Xiao, so feel free to cast your vote in a comment (you can vote differently for each one). The voting period will probably last until the end of the second or third act of the Mondstadt Archon quest.

Again, I thank you for taking the time to read my story. I promise that future Author's Notes will be much shorter and more sparse, unless something important comes up.