Doomed
The eternal summer of Golden Apple Archipelago beckoned with its blue skies and foamy waves gently lapping the beach that Mona and Fischl were now walking on. Their heels dug into the sand, leaving twin trails of shoe prints along it.
"What a splendid new place will the new Immernachtreich be. It truly must be by destiny that we have found it," Fischl kept gushing, never getting enough of this place.
"Yes it is… quite nice actually," Mona simply nodded with a smile, not as expressive as her blonde friend, but happy all the same.
Over the past year since she moved into Mondstadt, Mona's life could hardly be called stress-free. Fleeing from her master's wrath, continuously in financial woes, and even having a close call with a Harbinger that one time, all those events were clearly taking a toll on her. But being here, among the company of friends, was making her feel at ease. This island was a paradise in the middle of an endless ocean, a safe haven far away from the main continent where all everyday worries disappeared and no harm could come among those lush green landscapes, tall cliffs and magical domains full of mystery.
Yet there was still something she couldn't quite let go of. Since the first day she arrived here, Mona found herself haunted by the endless visions inside her scryglass. It was all clouded, owing to the strong magic of this place, but she could vaguely make out the shape of a person in them. Without a clearly seen face, but of short and thin stature, with something round hanging over them- but again too fuzzy to understand or guess. Who could it be, and what could they want?
"It is a terrible shame that this ill-starred young man couldn't join us on this journey," Fischl continued to muse. Mona knew full well who she had meant, and why she was upset over him not being here, but chose not to tease her about it.
Instead the astrologist kept listening, as she could swear that a faint sound had reached her ears again, of menacing chimes carried on the wind. The astrologist turned her head, and some thirty paces away stood a figure a little less than her height, dressed in robes of black red and purple as well as a huge round hat. The breeze carrying from the sea moved the decorative golden elements attached to it, making them and his clothes sway, yet he remained in place, without saying a word.
Balladeer. The sixth Harbinger, who took her previous humiliation of him into his cold heart and never let go. She knew that the next time they would meet, he would be her end, as her potential could in no way compare. Her blood ran cold, but not from fear.
"Fischl, go and find the Traveler," she suddenly said to her still unaware friend, her tone completely serious compared to their previous banter that day.
The other girl turned her head, her green eye recognizing the same figure too.
"Let the Prinzessin-" she began in her proud tone, but Mona didn't let her finish, grabbing her forearm and teleporting her away. Before the blonde girl could protest any further, a swirling vortex of hydro energy kicked up around her feet, foamy waves covering her within a second, before the bubble vanished into thin air.
Mona now stood alone against the Harbinger, miles away from the campsite and her friends, Fischl sent away to anywhere but here. If the astrologist ran with her, it wouldn't be long until he found them again, and the whole process would just repeat itself. Scaramouche was after her, and it was her fate to deal with, doomed as she was.
"Foolish of you to stay here," the young-looking man finally spoke up in his cold voice, taking the first step towards the woman.
Mona quickly gazed behind herself, realizing there was nothing there but sea a couple steps away.
"You've just signed your own death warrant, and your princess friend still. comes. next," he carefully articulated the last few words, his voice becoming more passionate as his footsteps drew closer and his blue eyes scanning the Astrologist's face for the slightest sign of concern or fear.
"I'll make sure to slowly gut you like a fish, and show her what was left of you,"
This was enough for Mona's ears. Her hand summoned her purple catalyst and swiped the air with it, sending a star-shaped hydro projectile towards the slowly approaching Harbinger. It was fast, with focused pressure at the tip meant to cut flesh and steel alike. Yet something went wrong, perhaps her aim was off or his reflexes too good, as her attack just curving around him like hitting an invisible barrier. Mona cursed under her breath - a sucker punch like this had saved her a couple of times before, but now she blew it.
Scaramouche halted in place, grinning. So it was going to be a fight- and that was just fine by him.
He hurled an electro spear right out of his hand, aiming for the heart, the attack almost too fast to see. Yet the Astrologist defended herself in pure reflex, summoning a hydro wall in front of her, its transparent surface harmlessly absorbing the attack.
The Harbinger's smile grew larger as he saw her counterattack almost instantly, launching more star and crescent shaped bullets his way. He expected her to run, rather than fight, but that just meant this will be way more interesting.
Both of them started exchanging their catalyst attacks - in a fight between mages not the weight or size being the deciding factor, but the sleight of hand and reflex. Tens of projectiles suddenly inundated the space between them, some clashing and exploding in a bright flash of reactions, while others tried to find their mark, forcing each to dodge, counter and put up shields just in the nick of time. From the outside it looked like an incomprehensible, dazzling bubble of colors and sounds barely able to be registered by an untrained eye, but inside the eye of the storm it was a deadly contest.
Even though Mona was never a trained duelist, with her master neglecting to teach her as such, the arrogance of the Harbinger was giving her the leeway she needed. He attacked furiously, trying to swarm and overpower rather than outwit her, eager to hurt her and the more frustrated the longer he was failing at it. If he had been less hot headed, she would be long dead, she had no illusions about that.
And yet their elemental dance continued, until yet another electro attack deflected off her shield, erupting in a bright flash that sent bright sparks everywhere. Mona gasped, feeling a little of the impact even through the barrier, the effort of staying alive taking more out of her than she would care to admit, her breath already shallow.
"That's a lot of effort to die tired," the Balladeer suddenly stopped attacking. "Why prolong the inevitable?" he asked, spreading his arms open in a frustrated gesture.
Seeing how prideful he was suddenly gave Mona a new surge of confidence. Those who neglected the prophecies could fall prey even to the most favorable of them. Perhaps, against all odds, her fate could be changed.
Her off hand summoned her catalyst again as he spoke, taking advantage of his momentary unawareness, and opting for her most powerful astrologist technique. The round instrument suddenly burst with a bright white flash, as she pointed it at him.
"Fate is upon you!" she proclaimed, conjuring up a string of constellations around him, their golden threads combining to suddenly wrap themselves around his limbs and bind him on the spot. He wasn't expecting her to retaliate like that, neglecting his guard for that crucial second, and even his longstanding rejection of fate didn't save him from being restrained by it.
Seeing that it worked and bought her time, Mona quickly turned around and bolted further inland, running as fast as she could to get off the sand as it was way too dense for her to dissolve into water and glide across it without being sucked in.
"Grr, what nonsense…" Scaramouche grunted as he saw her getting away, trying to break free, but the magical cords proved to be rather resilient. He tried again, this time with an angry scream to accompany, but to no effect.
Not in the mood to wear down his meticulously crafted parts, he called on his newly acquired power to break himself out of his restraints. The gnosis hanging off his belt suddenly glowed and trembled, as the sand under him was glassed over with tremendous electro power emanating into it. His bonds broke and, and his godly power lifted him upwards, causing him to levitate slightly above the ground.
Catching up with a running astrologist in this way was no trouble at all, and he soon whizzed past her like a bird of prey, landing a kick on her lower back to knock her down, laughing maniacally as he did so. Having waited for this opportunity for a long time, as he felt the vicious impact of his limb on the astrologist's soft and fragile body, the Harbinger suddenly felt a new thirst for violence awaken inside him. He landed next to her before kicking her in the back again just as she tried to scramble up.
"Out of tricks, street peddler? I expected better of an arrogant fraud like you," he said, stomping on her head and pressing it into the sand.
Mona coughed, feeling the grains of sand getting into her mouth as she wheezed, a warm sensation of pain and upcoming bruising spilling over her body. Suddenly, she felt his foot rolling her onto her back with a rough shove, giving her an opening as she saw him stand over her in a seeming moment of triumph… As he tried to kick her again, she outstretched her hand and once again caught him off guard.
Instead of going into her stomach, his leg suddenly fell into a newly conjured hydro bubble, the barely visible liquid quickly crawling up his body. Before he could scream as he realized what just happened, the simple trap sealed around him isolating him in a watery prison that soon started to fill up.
He wouldn't die, since his artificial body had no need to breathe - but it would hold him just enough for her to get away.
Mona opened a small portal below her, warping away to land back on her feet, grunting a little as a sharp pain suddenly shot through her beaten lower body, but soon gritted her teeth and stood up straight, face to face with an infuriated Harbinger on the other side of the thin barrier.
"I have never humiliated you Scaramouche," she said coldly. "You are pathetic enough to do that yourself," she then pulled her eyelid down while sticking out her tongue at the same time, just to further drive in the humiliation, before she resumed her run, almost at the edge of where the suitable soil for her technique began, so she could glide away further inland and throw off his pursuit before teleporting.
"That's…" Scaramouche fumed inside his prison, trying to futilely punch and kick his way out. "That's…"
He suddenly felt the rage and despair building inside his powered core that substituted for his heart. This wasn't how he imagined this would go, not at all. Yet while before all he could do was to retreat further into his idea of revenge, now he realized - this time he had all the power to change it.
"ENOUGH!"
He suddenly shouted, letting it all out, all the hate and resentment of so many years and giving those thoughts a destructive form. A form that could break bones and burst organs. A soundwave traveled through the air, rupturing his prison and reaching the astrologist, then passing through her body like an invisible force that shook all of her organs and set the inside of her bones alight with pain.
Once again, she couldn't help but fall down flat, her nerves feeling charred and completely unresponsive for a second. She came so close, and yet her fate still had the last laugh on her.
"A jumped up whore won't be talking down to a GOD like this!" She heard his voice just above her as he levitated towards her, now booming with thunderous energy that made the inside of her skull tremble as it passed her ears.
She tried to push herself off the ground and shapeshift into the watery form that would save her, but one of Scaramouche's hands was faster, suddenly grabbing her by the twintails and yanking her back. Pain broke her concentration as was lifted off the ground that she clawed at, shrieking as both her hair and her scalp felt like they could tear off at any second. She barely registered his other hand tearing off her vision gemstone from the back of her neck and tossing it away along with her cape.
Once again slammed into the sandy floor without any way to escape this time, the Harbinger pinned her down on her back, his slim, cold palms wrapping around her neck.
Mona instinctively grabbed at his wrists and tried to pry them away, her heels digging into the soft sand below them and hips bucking frantically as she tried to roll them over- but with his strength, the Harbinger felt like a statue of solid lead mounting her.
"I've always wondered how your face will look once you realize how screwed you are," Scaramouche said as he continued to strangle life out of her. "I could kill you with a word and make you boil in your own blood, but this is waayyyy better," he laughed into her reddening face.
Seeing him leaning in, her hands shot up on instinct, trying to scratch his face, anything that would make him let go. With a hysterical strength she never thought she had, her nails sunk into his cheek, tearing off a flab of his artificial skin. His puppet body didn't bleed, instead merely showing the mechanical jaw beneath, with its wiring, teeth and hinges as the rubbery skin stayed between her fingers.
"Little bitch..." he clicked his tongue as he felt the hot summer air hitting his exposed parts through the crevice, the nuts and bolts moving as he spoke.
One of his hands let go of her neck and grabbed her face, pushing his thumb into her left eye. Mona gurgled in horror, shaking her head frantically and succeeding just before losing her eyeball. Balladeer's hand slipped and she capitalized, catching one of his fingers between her teeth and biting hard, degloving him further.
Scaramouche grunted in frustration, yanking his wiry digit away and balling his hand into a fist and starting to punch her across her face, cutting her lower lip open and bouncing her head like a ragdoll until she stopped scratching new lines on his thus far unblemished face.
"You won't be dying from this," Scaramouche declared menacingly as he continued strangling life out of her, "So give up and just slip away…you'll see that this isn't the worst of it yet…" he then whispered to her, leaving that ambiguous hint to drive itself into her slowly blanking mind.
Her panicked face with wide open eyes went from red to dark purple as blood and oxygen stopped reaching her genius brain. Her movements grew sluggish and disorganized, vision growing dark.
"I'm sorry, Fischl," what she thought were her last words went through her mind just before her eyelids dropped heavily, the astrologist passing out with a soft grunt as her muscles went limp.
A deep, raspy sound then escaped her throat as Scaramouche relaxed his grip, her unconscious body seizing the first opportunity to take a new breath, her small chest slowly climbing as her lungs filled up again.
"I'm not done with you yet," Scaramouche then declared in a sinister tone as he stood up, looming over her.
To just kill her here would be too easy, and barely satisfying for his taste.
No, he had other, much slower and painful plans for her...