November 16

Prologue - part 2

Somewhere outside of Mondstadt

A week in the wilderness was nothing for Eula.

When society treats you as a reject, the outside world seems a welcoming haven. In the wild, she hunts food with no trouble. No people spouting discriminatory accusations. No shared looks of pained disdain. No vendors telling you to screw off the moment she nears, when she wasn't even about to buy anything. She can sleep in peace all alone in her own camp, where in the city, sometimes a bigoted drunkard throws a bottle and break her window. That happened a few times. Nothing abnormal.

But she missed alcohol. Cold warm alcohol, bitter ale that freezes your tongue but melts your throat. You can't find that anywhere but civilization.

She stood on the cliff. While she harbors uncouth memory from its citizens, embracing the full view of Mondstadt from a high angle was… well. It was scenic. Nothing more.

Home sweet home… I suppose.

Coming home at night means fewer people roaming the streets but her familiar colleagues. Less… troublesome interactions that warrant her vengeance. It is early, as the sun was just setting. Maybe, she'll let time pass for a while. No need to rush. And she sat. Unlike her relatives, she's not someone who'd throw a tantrum getting dirt on their clothes - or blood for that matter. Dirty work pays, but dirty work pays more when the city gets its peace for the night.

There are 'churls unusually roaming closer, like the cockroaches they are. Does it have something to do with the Fatui?

It wasn't a rare sight for them where they could stick their noses in, like the ones in Dragonspine - or anywhere else in Tevyat for that matter - in as much as how their politicians and diplomats plug their ears into this issue. Always gaslighting and waving off the accusations. They're always on to something.

Those shameless ruffians. They'll get a taste of my vengeance one way or another. Just they wait… what is that?

She'll have to do her report first thing in the morning. Cooperate with the captains and see their latest insights. For now, she'll lose herself to her thoughts. She felt the wind welcoming her back. Odd that a non-living force can imbue an intimate emotion. The stars were clear of the clouds. The twinkling beauty of the cosmos adds wonder to the scene.

But the sky. There were ripples as if the sky was a peaceful lake where someone threw a pebble. And the ripples turned into a ball of black. A dark void the darkest she's ever seen that no light can touch. The fact that it was already night was a foreboding omen.

What? No…I don't think I'm hallucinating.

Her instincts as a captain kicked - any strange happenings was her duty to reveal its truth for the city's sake. She stood, alert. She jump down into the forest and landed on thick branches, hopped to the ground, and ran to investigate.

It's close to Mond'.

East outside of Mondstadt, but with a distance not of insignificant concern - especially when it looks like you don't need to walk a full day to reach the point directly below. Coming out of the forest, she followed a dirt path clear of foliage. Her eyes were glued to the anomaly way up high.

She paused on her feet.

Inside the ball of black… no. Wait. It's phasing into… something. A disk of a sort? It was difficult for her to ascertain its form.

Faster than an arrow, the fastest she's ever seen was something that came out from the anomaly - its bottom flaming white and shifting its trajectory - but it was inevitable. The thing skipped on the ground like how you would throw a pebble into a lake. The resounding boom and clangs of debris hurt her ears. Despite the distance, it was louder than an exploding barrel of gunpowder close-up.

The void gradually shrunk like a ball of mist.

I doubt that was some meteor…

Whatever that was, she must investigate.

In the shuttle

"Shitshitshitshitshitshit-"

One moment he was in space dodging plasma fire. The next he saw green and ground. Time halted for a moment to understand his surroundings. He registered his flight trajectory would flatten the shuttle just from the receiving force if he lets nothing change.

"shitSHIT-"

He kicked down the pedals and yanked the control stick like a tug-of-war. Never had the downward and brake thruster nozzles burned near their melting point. The shuttle skidded on the ground - its many parts already ripped from air drag - and dug a long trench along the crash. As the friction slowed it down, the rear of the shuttle was at a raised angle as the front was buried quite deep.

His EVA suit took the brunt of the impact, bionic organs well preserved, though that did nothing to spare his brain the disorientation and loss of his awareness.

"iiiit… fuck."

The cockpit made of plasteel alloy was torn apart. At least he didn't need a torch welder to cut open a way out. If he can get out at all. His nose and eyes bled profusely. A disgusting sight it was - and drips of dark red stuck inside his helmet. He was losing consciousness - and keeping a tight grip was hard as hell. Once his lights are out, he doubted if could wake up again.

Shit… no. Healer… serum… where…

With hazy eyes, he recognized a small case on his side. Anything essential was kept close, and he just needs to unfasten his seatbelt and get it, but his mind and memories were starting to drown in darkness. He can't even raise his arm to move. His one bionic arm is useless without his brain that needs a restart.

Fuck…

In the last moments of his waking, he saw a feminine figure in blue, standing on the rim of the crater as she looked down at him with a complicated expression.

If there was one thing he regret, it was abandoning the decision to install an ejector seat.

End

Sooo...

Yeh, I felt like the prologue was... lacking, I guess? Thinking of patching this part into the previous as a whole...

But I don't know.

Edit (nov29): Did some small rewrites.