((Author's note: this is inspired by the Infinite Loops Project, which i find fascinating! however, this is NOT official; i'm just writing for fun and might not entirely follow the ILP rules and canon. if someone from the ILP has any issues with this, feel free to contact me. but anyway, here's my take on the Infinite Loops with Genshin Impact!))
• 1.1 - Prologue, Act I •
Venti always knew that time was not strictly linear. The world's memories may be continuous, but the Thousand Winds of Time could sense the occasional hiccup in the timeline when Istaroth altered something.
However, awareness of the possibility did not make Venti any more prepared to deal with a time loop.
He initially panicked when, some time after Inazuma's Irodori Festival, he found himself back in his wisp form, in Old Mondstadt, completely surrounded by a storm barrier, mid-Archon War. He tried to convince himself that he was just having a nightmare again, but he couldn't seem to wake up. Everything felt so real that he wondered if the rest of his life had been the dream instead.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wonder for long. The Thousand Winds received a message from Istaroth herself:
"A glitch in Yggdrasil has reached us. Thus, I have activated our timeline to Loop, to prevent further damage to our Branch. I will share more information later; for now, Winds, work together to maintain the stability of our reality."
Venti took a moment to collect his thoughts. Yggdrasil? Loop? Branch? He vaguely remembered Istaroth mentioning something similar before, maybe once or twice. They were related to something about the universe— no, the Multiverse?
Regardless, the timeline was set back, and that was why Venti had returned to Old Mondstadt. Did that mean he was once again a mere wind spirit, not a god? He tested the extent of his powers and, surprisingly, he hadn't fully lost them. He was still able to shapeshift into his humanoid form, an ability he had gained only after becoming the Anemo Archon, which hadn't happened yet at this point of the timeline.
He'd ask Istaroth about it later, but for now he reverted to his wisp form. If he was supposed to maintain the stability or whatever, that probably meant following the original timeline as closely as possible. As a Wind of Time, he was well aware of the importance of the timeline progressing correctly. Even Istaroth's previous alterations had been minimal… mostly. There was that instance with the Sacred Sakura that appeared out of nowhere…
Well, Istaroth probably knew what she was doing, right? As for Venti, he decided to stick to the script he remembered.
That plan flew out the window almost immediately when he reunited with a certain bard.
• • •
I'm sure I can explain myself to Istaroth when I see her later, Venti thought. She'd approve of seizing the opportunity, wouldn't she?
He couldn't let the young bard die again. He had the advantage of knowing the future, so when the moment came, he made sure the arrows wouldn't reach his friend. This time, Venti was able to give him the eagle feather.
After the tyrant god fell and Venti ascended to become the Anemo Archon Barbatos, he finally let himself take on a human form again. His form was familiar not only to himself, but to his friends as well, and the bard smiled widely. This time, Venti looked like the bard not to carry on his legacy, but as a sign of brotherhood.
The two looked at green grass and blue skies and birds taking flight— Venti for the first time in months, and his friend for the first time in his life. This time, they would experience their newfound freedom together.
• • •
"Ah, do not worry about it," Istaroth said, looking clearly worried.
"That expression isn't very reassuring," Venti pointed out.
"It is nothing caused by Teyvat; I simply have much to sort out, related to the Multiverse and all. You are allowed to save lives and do things differently; in fact, the timeline will likely be altered more frequently and, ah, noticeably even without any input from you or Aether. Your purpose is mainly just to remember the original timeline."
Venti remembered something. "Aether? The Traveler who won't show up for over two and a half more millennia?"
"The very same; he and you will be this Branch's Anchors."
"Wait, Aether's an Archon?"
"'Anchor', not 'Archon'. That… might be confusing."
"Okay, and… what does that mean?"
Istaroth sighed. "I have a lot to explain, and I will wait until Aether arrives so I can tell both of you about it. I trust you can handle yourself until then. Oversimplifying it, you two are extremely important to this Branch —this universe, this world, Teyvat— and there will always be at least one of you aware of the Loops. I must go soon, I really have loads of work to do, but if you have need of me, call me by my Enkanomiyan name, or Greek name, Kairos. That is my official designation as this Branch's Admin; Istaroth is just a normal god in this world whom I am using to communicate, and she will otherwise be Unawake but Loop-Aware."
"Uh... What does that mean?"
"You will know eventually."
Venti's mind was reeling, but he nodded. He figured that if Kairos needed to brief him on anything else, the Thousand Winds would spread their message. For now, they trusted him, so he would trust them.
He might have to wait quite a while for a proper explanation, but hey, he had already lived almost three millennia that he could remember. What were almost three more?
• 1.2 - Prologue, Act II •
When Aether woke up all alone on a familiar beach, instead of in the Chasm he'd been exploring, he wondered if Paimon or some godly being was playing a prank on him.
"Ha-ha, very funny, Paimon," he said out loud. "It's like when I first awoke on Teyvat, right? Or the second time, technically."
Yet Paimon didn't appear out of nowhere, nor was anyone hiding behind the nearby rocks. Maybe they were watching him from atop the cliff? He tried to fly up there and check, but he realized his powers weren't working. Had his prankster somehow found a way to suppress them again? Was the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles herself in on the joke?
"Wow, they're committed," Aether muttered.
"Committed to what?" Venti asked, suddenly there. Aether knew better than to question it.
"I think Paimon or someone might be trying to prank me by making me relive my first experience in Teyvat."
"Oh, starborne traveler, this is no prank or joke," the bard said ominously. "Time itself has bent; this is, in fact, when you awoke."
Aether laughed nervously. "You in on it too?"
"I'm in on being in a time loop too, yes. I rushed to meet you —hi, by the way— because Kairos promised an explanation when you arrived."
"Uh, Kairos, the God of Time?"
"Thank Barbatos, you know of her. I mean a different Kairos, though."
At that moment, the god in question appeared before the two and smiled warmly at Aether.
"It is good to see you again, Traveler," Kairos said. "Has Venti briefed you on the situation?"
"Wait, is— is time actually looping?"
"Not like I can brief him on a lot," Venti said, "since, about what's happening, I also know not."
Kairos nodded, looking pensive and a bit resigned. "Yes, yes. The time has come; I will explain everything now…"
• • •
A practically infinite amount of time ago, a mysterious event occurred that damaged Yggdrasil, the supercomputer tree of the Multiverse that keeps all the worlds and universes running. The damage caused errors ranging from minor glitches to system crashes that then caused even more harm to the Multiverse as it tried to run normally. To combat this and prevent further damage, the system administrators (or Admins, for short) put all universes on pause, but this turned out to be just as unhelpful. The next idea was to put the universes into time loops, and it seemed to work. This is the current solution.
The Loops tend to span from beginning to end of the canon story or Baseline, essentially the universe's main timeline. However, due to the errors in Yggdrasil, the timeline is sometimes altered, be it barely or significantly, causing Variant Loops. There are also Fused Loops in which different universes may combine in a single timeline.
Each universe or Branch has an Anchor (sometimes more than one): Anchors are people within the Branch who remember every Loop their universe goes through. Their souls help keep the stability of their reality by remembering the original timeline to be used as backup. It is of utmost importance that Anchors are mentally stable enough for their role, and to this end, people close to them may be activated as Loopers to help. Loopers will not always be Awake; in other words, they will not always be aware of the Loops nor keep memories of them. However, there must always be at least one Anchor Awake during any given Loop. Additionally, as Anchors are the ones keeping the universes stable, the death of all Anchors in a Branch can crash the Loop and cause serious problems for said Branch.
Anchors and Loopers may retain items, powers, and abilities from Variant or Fused Loops via their personal subspace pocket dimensions (simply called Pockets). They also have the ability to send and receive Pings, mental signals that let them know if other Loopers are Awake, though it does not specify who or where.
• • •
"… And those are the basics," Kairos concluded. "There is far more to say about Yggdrasil and the Multiverse, but… this should be all the information you need, for now. You will learn more in due time."
Aether silently tried to process all the information. So he and Venti were the Anchors (not Archons) of the Genshin Impact Branch, which needed two Anchors due to the Baseline not being finished at the time the Loops started (which was why Aether's journey abruptly cut off after the Chasm), and now he had a Pocket (thankfully he was able to regain some of his powers with it) and could Ping (Venti had annoyingly spam-Pinged the moment Kairos taught them how to), and Kairos was their Admin (and he was not to be confused with Teyvat's Kairos, though she could act as his voice and avatar), and other people would soon start Looping with them too…?
His brain hurt.
He glanced at Venti and saw that the bard had been attentively taking notes on a small notepad he had pulled out of his hat. Venti met the Traveler's gaze and winked.
"I'm… gonna need to look over those notes," Aether said.
"Me too!" Venti agreed.
"I am sorry to spring this on you so suddenly," Kairos said. "However, since I am a relatively minor god where I am from and can spend more time in the Branch, I figured I may as well give you this explanation as soon as possible. I would not want Venti Looping for millennia at a time without knowing how or why."
"Millennia?" Aether asked.
"Gods, yes, I've been Awake since the Archon War." Venti sighed. "At least I got to spend more time with old friends and fix a few things in Mondstadt's history. Though, I didn't dare change things too much yet, so there's still some ugly bumps here and there."
"Venti is more likely to Awaken during the Archon War, while Aether is more likely to Awaken with the main story," the Admin explained. "This may not always be the case, though. Remember to Ping and use code words to check if the other is Awake too."
Venti scribbled more on his notepad.
"And with that, I believe you are prepared," the God of Time said. "Now I must go, but I leave you with one last reminder that, should you need me as an Admin, call me Kairos. Istaroth can help you contact me."
And then he disappeared.
"Alright, here's the plan, Aether," Venti began.
"You've had time to prepare for this, huh?"
"Yep! For this Loop, at least, let's try to stick to the Baseline. I'll leave before you find Paimon, and I'll pretend I don't know you when we meet again. That said, if you think of a way to progress the story more efficiently or, y'know, save a life or ten, go for it. We've been given a second chance, and Kairos greatly values opportunity, so let's not waste it, 'kay?"
"Oka—"
"Also, right now, Istaroth made our conversations private," Venti added, "but as soon as these effects wear off, we're under the Heavenly Principles' watch again. Be extremely careful and don't do anything that would give us away. We don't want Celestia to know about the time loops."
Aether barely knew anything about Celestia, but he nodded anyway.
"Great!" The bard grinned and extended a hand towards the Traveler. "Now come on, I've waited actual ages for your arrival, and I intend to spend as much time with you as I can before the story kicks in."
"Alright," Aether said. "Can our first hang-out be reviewing those notes?"
• • •
Aether fished up Paimon, pretended to gain new Anemo powers, encountered but didn't talk to Venti and Dvalin (whom Venti was sad to leave suffering for the sake of following the Baseline; Aether later assured him that they'd find a better solution another time), reached the City of Mondstadt, met the Knights of Favonius, formally met Venti, attempted to steal the Holy Lyre which was actually stolen by the Fatui, retrieved the Holy Lyre, chased after Dvalin who broke the Holy Lyre ("At least now I know I'll get to play it again another time," Venti said), saved Dvalin from his corruption, and… Oh, hey, Aether had saved Mondstadt.
Venti, for his part, had also acted as usual until he willingly and perhaps too eagerly handed over his Gnosis to La Signora. His defense was "it's better than getting stabbed again". Though he was still weakened by the loss, he seemed rather nonchalant about the issue when he and Aether discussed under the Windrise tree.
"Why didn't you just find a way to keep the Gnosis?" Aether asked. "You knew about Signora's attack."
"He knew?" Paimon shrieked.
"Ehe," was Venti's answer, much to her dismay. "Paimon, how about you go get some apples while I chat with Aether? I'm kinda hungry."
"Paimon's not your servant!"
"I want apples too," Aether quickly said, catching on, "please?"
"Ugh, fine…"
After Paimon left, Venti turned to the Traveler again. "Aether, all you need to know is that I don't trust Celestia. Also, you do remember that the Tsaritsa has a plan with the seven Gnoses, right?"
"I don't know what it is, but yeah."
"I'm letting it play out. We agreed to mostly follow the Baseline, anyway, and I don't mind losing my direct connection to Celestia to keep the main story going. It's my role, Aether; focus on your own. And speaking of, when are you going to Liyue?"
Aether thought about it. "Uh… I thought I wouldn't have to rush since I won't be able to properly meet Rex Lapis in the Rite, but I guess I still have to meet Childe and Zhongli, huh? I should head there soon."
"Alas, you are destined to be suspected of a crime." Venti laughed. "Must you be a criminal in every region, every time?"
"Hey! We don't even know if that happens in the last four regions."
"Face it, the Hydro and Cryo Archons are very likely to want you locked up in a prison or worse. As for the Dendro and Pyro Archons, they could easily find a reason."
"… You're right."
• • •
Aether saved Liyue and Inazuma again. He helped defeat Osial and later Beisht, he convinced the Raiden Shogun to repeal the Vision Hunt and Sakoku Decrees, and he witnessed the origin of the Sacred Sakura (which made him wonder more about time travel). Repeating the journey hadn't felt boring or repetitive, though he wondered if it someday would. After the Irodori Festival came to an end, he figured the timeline would reset soon... unless it had all been a crazy dream or an extremely elaborate prank by all of Teyvat.
"Is it a crazy dream or an extremely elaborate prank?" he asked Venti when they met up one last time.
"Darn it, why did you have to catch on?" the bard answered with an exaggeratedly pained expression. "I made a bet with Paimon— now I owe her a ton!"
Aether snatched Venti's drink and threatened to spill it on the floor.
Venti yelped. "Give it back, I was kidding!" He managed to retrieve his beverage and took a swig before continuing, "In all seriousness, I still don't really know. But I definitely sensed something strange about the flow of time, and I trust Istaroth and Kairos. I guess we'll find out with the next Loop."
"I guess so," Aether murmured.
The Traveler and the Anemo Archon watched the sunset until everything went dark.
• 1.3 - Prologue, Act III •
Venti Awoke back in Old Mondstadt. He sent out a Ping, and of course got none in return. He sighed. So it was time to go through another over-two-and-a-half millennia of waiting for the only other person who would understand this new situation…
That was alright. He had lived through everything twice before, what was once more?
Oh, he would probably be telling himself that for eternity now, wouldn't he?
Still, at least he knew he wasn't alone. Istaroth and Kairos were there for him, and Aether would be. And, of course…
In his little wisp form, he floated over to a certain bard who sang about birds and freedom. Venti had his friend. He would always have his friends.