Welp, guess who spent all their time playing the new 2.8 update?
Yeah, it's been a while. I've been busy building up Kazuha and Heizou (C1!) Did a 10 pull on the weapon banner looking for Freedom Sworn while at 0 pity and got…Lost Prayer. Which I also pulled from standard the same day. Why, Hoyoverse? I already have the Widsith!
With my personal Genshin experience out of the way, welcome back to Aether's adventures in Teyvat. Today we will finally end the first part of the Prologue, because that has been long overdue. Enjoy!
Text Guide
Normal Text - Descriptions, Narration, and Character thoughts
"Quoted Text" - Character Dialogue
Bold Text - Emphasis, mostly used within dialogue.
Bold + Italicized - System UI
Italicized - Items names, both inside and outside System UI
"Italicized Quoted Text" - Internal Dialogue
Finishing up the first act, because we spent way too much time on this - Part I
It's surprising what a good night's rest can do to someone.
Stifling a yawn, Aether stretched his arms out before finally getting up. Today was the day he was planning on wrapping up Kaeya and Lisa's temple runs, so he had to get moving.
"Had a good rest everyone?"
"Yeah, but…"
Amber was just about to answer when a rumbling sound was heard.
"That."
Well, nothing that a couple of Chicken-Mushroom skewers could fix. A couple of quick taps later, and the entire party was now munching on their "not really meant to be a breakfast but it'll have to do".
"With that matter sorted, let's move. Who knows when Stormterror might come back?"
"On it."
Upon Jean's command, Aether checked his map, marked Kaeya's location, and got going. While heading there, a thought flashed into Aether's mind.
"Say, haven't Kaeya and Lisa been waiting since yesterday for me?"
"Well, yes." Jean responded.
"So…what do I tell them when they ask where I've been?"
"That you did Amber's temple first. They would understand. I mean, it would be strange to expect the mysterious stranger you're relying on to magically be able to solve all your problems in an instant, right?"
"Huh. When you put it that way…"
On the way, Aether spotted a gray marker on his map, resembling the teleport waypoint icon. Except, of course, it was not the usual white and blue.
"Jean, I'm going to take a short detour to activate a teleport waypoint."
"Wait, a teleport waypoint?"
"That gray icon on my map. That's a teleport waypoint."
"I can see that, but what do you mean there's a teleport waypoint?"
"I mean the device that will allow me to teleport from one teleport waypoint to another."
"Yes, but…what?"
"Wait, you can teleport?" Noelle questioned.
"Yes, what?" Amber also asked.
Aether had a feeling that Jean was rubbing her head due to the headache she was getting. They were going back and forth but achieving nothing.
"It would be simpler just to show you all."
A couple of minutes later, Aether was in the midst of some ruins. He could see the chess-piece look-alike floating on one of the pillars, which he promptly climbed.
"Alright, aaaand activate."
Teleport Waypoint unlocked!
The device lit up a brilliant blue, and the UI confirmed that indeed he had unlocked it.
"So that's what those strange devices were…? I saw those a lot scattered around Teyvat, but I don't think anyone has ever figured out the purpose of them…" Jean murmured.
"Well, maybe it's because I'm not from Teyvat that I can use it…?"
"Oh, so you can use that device to teleport? Can you show us?" Amber asked, as excited as a kid waiting to go on an amusement ride.
"Outrider Amber-"
"Sure."
Jean was about to lecture Amber when Aether cut in.
"Don't we have to go to the next temple?"
"It'll be quick, I promise. Plus, I need to make sure this works."
"You mean you haven't tried it before?" Noelle brought up the question that probably should have been asked way earlier.
"Well, no."
"Then how are you sure it won't malfunction?" Jean came in with the follow up.
"Uh…there's no reason for it to malfunction. Plus, what's the worst that could happen? If they don't work, then nothing changes."
And with those wise words, Aether navigated to his map, and teleported.
The sensation of weightlessness was fleeting for Jean, which was convenient. Convenient in the sense that if it lasted any longer, she would've gotten a bit queasy.
Instead, a view of the ocean came to her sight. The waves crashed, the sun was shining, and not a single blemish could be seen on this picturesque landscape- wait, was that a slime?
Two quick blade swings and a windblade later, it could be said that it WAS a slime. It was now Slime Condensate.
"Didn't expect to see THAT slime again. I already killed it yesterday when I was getting acquainted with the system."
"We're in…"
"Stormbearer Point, according to the map. Me and Paimon stayed in this area for about a month."
"It would've taken at least half a day to get here by foot and we just got here in an instant!.\" Amber cheered.
"Yes, that's how teleportation works."
"I wish everyone could make use of this…at the very least it would make transporting items easier." Noelle said.
"In any case, we have verified that teleporting works, so now let's go back."
"As much as I would like to enjoy the beach more, Jean's right. Let's get moving." Aether replied while opening the map and heading back to those ruins.
One fleeting moment of discomfort later, and they were back to where they were earlier.
"And with that agenda down, let's move."
Aether, wanting to make up for lost time, had jumped off the pillar and was now running as fast as the system would allow him. If that bar that randomly appeared to her right was any indication, it was a measurement of Aether's stamina. Which, right now, was in the red and recovering.
"You ought to be more careful, Aether. You could trip and fall if you keep running ahead like that."
"Can't help it, we gotta get this done ASAP. Plus, I AM watching the ground. It'll take a lot to cause me to trip!"
Aether said this confidently as he unsheathed his blade all of a sudden. A pyro whopperflower had popped up.
"Noelle, shield!"
"Leave it all to me!"
Noelle switched in and deployed her shield, before giving the whopperflower a good whack in the head.
"Jean, suck it in! I'll finish it off!"
Jean wordlessly switched in and activated her skill, carrying the helpless whopperflower into the sky.
"Alright, Aether, you're up!"
"Windblade!"
Aether summoned wind from his palm and sent the whopperflower flying back. All he had to do now was sprint in and finish it off, if not for the fact that it literally disappeared from view.
"Uhh, where'd it go? I'm pretty sure we haven't killed it yet."
"Looks like it fell. Be cautious, the terrain might change in an instant."
"Got it."
Jean watched as Aether carefully creeped forward. Peeking down, he got close to the hole and saw a massive blue-white plant creature.
"Cryo Regisvine. Be careful not to fall in. That creature is a serious threat."
"Good to know- AH!"
Aether was interrupted as he received the full brunt of an attack to the back from the pyro whopperflower, which had since reappeared for an ambush attack.
The momentum from the attack sent Aether flying forward and into the hole where the Cryo Regisvine was in.
"SHOOT!"
Aether couldn't react in time and took the full brunt of the fall when he reached the ground, where he, quite literally, disappeared in a flash of particles.
Jean felt herself come back to reality as she touched down on the spot where Aether disappeared.
"What the hell just happened?" was the collective thought of everyone, bar Aether.
As the entire party was processing the sudden turn of events, the Cryo Regisvine, who would later go on to be Aether's favorite punching bag, sensed the presence of Jean and company.
Cryo Regisvine
Lvl. 36
Crap. It was WAY too high level to even consider fighting.
While it had been quite a long time since Jean had faced any sort of elite mob, her instincts kicked in, and she immediately scrambled to her feet and dodged the ice attack launched in her direction.
"We have to get out of here, and fast!" Amber's voice came in loud and clear in her head.
Jean didn't spare any energy to reply. She turned around and got out of that cave faster than one could say "Mondstadt".
She encountered that pyro whopperflower from earlier. It was weakened from the earlier skirmish. Two sword slashes, and it was gone.
By the time the fight ended, everyone seemed to have recovered enough to the point where they were able to process what happened.
"...so Aether…is dead?" a hesitant Noelle brought up the first thing that was on everyones' minds, in between tears.
"He just straight up disappeared. Faded into particles…is that how people from outside Teyvat die? Not even a body…?" Amber replied, clearly distraught.
Jean was silent.
The mysterious stranger, no, Aether, was still on her mind.
They had only met yesterday, yet…why was she so distraught over losing him?
Was it because he came in their time of need?
Was it because he was from another world?
Was it because he was different from all the resy?
Whatever the case, he clearly had a massive impact on them all.
Noelle was in tears. Amber was barely holding hers back. Hell, she could feel her own tears starting to form.
Taking a deep breath, she resolved to calm herself down. They could mourn later. For now, they had a job to finish.
"Come on guys, let's go. We have a job to finish."
They made their way towards the Temple of the Lion to meet Kaeya.
Meanwhile, Aether was awkwardly watching the scene unfolding before him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't hear any of his party members' thoughts, and he doubted that they could hear his thoughts right now, or they would know that he wasn't actually dead.
Among the items he cooked previously, he recalled that the Teyvat Fried Egg could revive fallen party members.
All Jean needed to do was tap his grayed out icon, tap the picture of the fried egg, and boom, one not-dead Aether.
Unfortunately, it looks like they moved on. Without him.
Aether wasn't in the same position as he was when he switched out of combat. It would be more accurate to describe it as being a ghost or spirit. He could freely move around, pass through objects, the entire package that came with dying in this system, apparently.
However, he lost access to the system.
So now, he was just kind of stuck in this position until they revived him. Which they didn't know how to do.
Yikes.
Jean was now arriving at the front of the next temple, where Kaeya was waiting (and probably had been waiting for, what? Half a day?)
He watched as Jean and Kaeya had a short conversation. He had no idea what words had been said, though. Heck, he had no idea what Kaeya even saw. When Amber was talking to other Amber, she acted like she saw Amber as him. If that held up, then Kaeya addressing Jean as him would probably cause confusion.
Then again, this was Jean they were talking about. She probably had things figured out.
He watched as they finally entered the temple. Willing himself to follow them, he passed through the doors…
…and promptly found himself inside nothing.
If this was a video game, then the temple was probably loaded in a separate "area", away from the usual overworld that was Teyvat.
Since he couldn't interact with the system, he couldn't access the area.
So he was stuck. Hooray.
Resigning himself to his fate for now, he sighed as he "sat down" and waited outside the temple door.
Back in Jean's world, it seemed like the system refused to let them forget about Aether's demise.
From the dialogue with physical Kaeya who spoke like he was talking to the Traveler, to the party selection screen, where Aether's figure was just standing there like nothing happened, to, well, the current dialogue being spoken by "off-screen Kaeya".
"Traveler…unless I'm mistaken, you don't seem to bear a Vision."
"You know, for a system as advanced as this, you'd think it'd be able to compensate for the fact that the Traveler isn't in our midst."
The Kaeya that had joined their party spoke up.
Earlier, he arrived into the scene as the party's 5th member. It took a while for everyone to calm down, but Jean managed to get Noelle and Amber to stop crying for now. After that, Noelle brought Kaeya up to date on everything regarding the system, and Amber explained that the same thing happened to them.
"A strange system that allows access to a variety of special tools and functions? I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself…"
"You'll get used to it..."
That's when Jean narrated the series of events that had led up to now.
"You're saying, the Traveler is dead?"
"...He's gone. Disappeared in a flash of particles…"
Kaeya, not used to Jean being so despondent, simply remained quiet as he processed all the info.
Which brought them to now.
The system had given them a tutorial on how to freeze enemies, which Kaeya used to full effect, as quite conveniently, the entire floor was wet.
Several frozen enemies and a "conversation" between "Kaeya" and "off-screen Paimon" later, they were met with a trial by fire.
"Flamethrowers? What are these doing here…?" Jean questioned.
"Probably a defense mechanism of sorts…well, no matter. I can freeze them."
The system helpfully assisted them by confirming that, yes, Kaeya's elemental skill can temporarily disable flamethrower cores.
Following that, a common chest sat in the center of the corridor, followed by another flamethrower.
"It's a trap." Amber said.
"It's obviously a trap." Jean added.
However, Kaeya, who was still on the field, opened the chest anyway, and was rewarded with…
- Anemo Sigil x1
- Wanderer's Advice x2
- Mora x306
And two hydro slimes. Which Kaeya froze, then killed.
"See, easy? Let's move on."
Following that bold statement, Kaeya froze another flamethrower core, then moved on.
The path ended there, but following another helpful conversation with "Paimon" and "Kaeya", they discovered the existence of the wind current that led them to the next area.
"Not that I'm complaining, but doesn't this seem a bit TOO easy?" Amber asked.
"Almost like we're being guided by the system." Noelle commented.
"Well, easy is better than hard, right?" Kaeya replied as he landed on the next platform and opened the next door and was greeted by another system tutorial.
The blue stone in the center of the room is Hydro Amber. Breaking it will make it rain, making everything in its range wet.
"You know what? I think you ARE right. This is way too obvious." Kaeya followed up as he proceeded to take advantage of the hydro amber to freeze yet another enemy.
"Never thought a rock with the same name as me would come in handy…"
As Kaeya was fighting, though, "Kaeya" made a comment that caught Jean's attention.
"Keen observation. We should get Jean to give you a title and make you a knight."
"!"
"Acting Grandmaster?" Noelle asked, albeit hesitantly.
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that…I was surprised by that statement. That is all."
More awkward silence followed as Kaeya finished off the pyro slimes, opening up a chest, which Kaeya looted.
After exiting the room, they were met with yet another system message, this time about freezing the water to cross the underwater spikes. Seriously, was this domain MADE for Kaeya?
As the entire party thought that, they would later realize that they weren't too far off the mark.
They crossed the spikes, climbed some stairs, and entered the next area, where more dragon's breath was spotted.
"Is that the thing that Stormterror is using to gain its power?"
"Yep." was the collective thought of the entire party.
Kaeya quickly destroyed it, before "Kaeya" reappeared, and another conversation started.
It was still painful, listening to "Kaeya" talk to them as if they were Aether. Kaeya gave some short responses, and after that the conversation ended. Kaeya led them to the exit, and they were finally done with Kaeya's temple. Two down, one to go.
Meanwhile, "Kaeya" stayed behind, an Abyss Mage tried to attack him, and a certain red-haired man came in to kill said Abyss Mage. After a short exchange of words, the two parted ways.
But the party wasn't around to witness that, so they don't know that that happened.
Aether was getting tired of waiting.
It had been, what? Half an hour? He stopped counting at 436.
To keep himself occupied, Aether had resorted to scouting the general area to familiarize himself with the terrain. After picking up that first Anemoculus, he wondered if there were more. And seeing as how they had to offer these Anemoculi at the Statue of the Seven in exchange for rewards, he had a feeling he was going to collect a LOT of these.
However, he limited himself to a certain radius from the temple so he could keep tabs on it. His party HAD to come back from where they entered, right?
His efforts were finally rewarded when he saw Kaeya materialize into existence. Seems like they just finished Kaeya's temple. Which meant they were heading to Lisa's temple to finish things up.
He silently watched as Kaeya was just…standing there.
Wait, was he talking to his party? Maybe they received a system message? He seemed to be getting a lot of those lately before his…unfortunate temporary demise.
At least it would have been temporary had his party realized they could revive him using a literal fried egg of all things. Or steak. Steak would do nicely, to be honest.
However, until they realized that, he was still stuck in pseudo-ghost form.
He sighed to himself as he watched Kaeya start walking again.
At this point, Amber was just DONE with the system.
Here they were, trying to move on from Aether's death. They had stopped crying for now, under the condition that they would let out all their grief in a short gathering underneath the Symbol of Mondstadt's hero. Which was happening after dealing with Lisa's temple.
But the system wasn't having any of that.
It acted like Aether was still there. In fact, basically everyone and everything outside of their party didn't seem to catch on to the fact that Aether had passed on.
Just earlier, the system informed them that they had acquired Kaeya as a permanent unit. Whatever that meant.
However, the total number of people that could be in a party was four. Which still included Aether, looking completely fine.
With heavy hearts, they swapped out Aether with Kaeya. It felt wrong, seeing as he was the one who introduced them to this entire system to begin with, but for the sake of efficiency, it had to be done.
Kaeya had put his clear frustration into words earlier, and it was a rare display of anger from the usually calm and collected Captain. Amber made a mental note not to make him angry. Ever.
But after navigating through all that, they made their way towards Lisa's temple.
After some discussion, they decided that the best strategy was to have Kaeya take on Aether's former role as the one finishing off most enemies. As Noelle had expressed, it felt wrong to replace Aether so easily like that. The sentiment was shared among the party, but it was tossed aside for now. They had a job to do.
Currently, Kaeya was on field, as he was their vanguard. After a short tutorial, mostly from Jean, Kaeya was as acclimatized to the system as the rest of the party was. Right now, he was making his way towards the cliffside which he'd have to climb.
"Wait, is that a wind current?" Amber asked.
"A wind current? Surely it would be way too convenient to have a wind current that will help us scale the cliffs that we have to climb to arrive at Lisa's temple?" Kaeya replied.
"Mister Kaeya, it's to your left." Noelle spoke out to point this fact out.
Kaeya looked to his left and lo behold, there was a wind current.
"This system is messing with us. This is WAY too convenient." Kaeya said as he entered the wind current and deplied his wind glider, lifting him up quite conveniently to the exact height needed to arrive at the top of the cliffs.
"Well, easy is better than hard, right?" Amber said.
"Haha, very funny, outrider Amber."
"But to be fair, remember when we went to that Statue of the Seven under the Symbol of Mondstadt's Hero? We had a vision of a wind current being activated." Noelle recalled back to the previous day's events. After Aether had offered that Anemoculus, he received that vision.
"Now that I recall…yes that did happen." Jean said.
"I see…still a bit suspicious how convenient all this is, but I'll let it slide for now." Kaeya conceded as he touched down on the ground…
…only to be greeted by some hilichurls.
Kaeya immediately hit them with his skill.
"Jean, can you knock them off the cliff?"
Jean, however, was silent.
"Jean?"
"Ah. Yes." Jean finally replied, before switching in and successfully sending the hilichurls off the cliff and into the ground.
The sound of a chest being unlocked was heard, but no one paid any attention to that.
"...Jean?" Kaeya asked.
"Yes?"
"...I don't ask this often, but are you alright?"
"...I'm fine, Kaeya. Thanks for asking."
"Alright. Just making sure."
After that short incident, Kaeya switched back in.
Not a word was exchanged before they arrived at the front of the next temple, where Lisa was waiting for them.
From somewhere in the shadows, a blonde figure could be seen stalking Kaeya.
"...strange. I would have thought that Aether would be the one on field, but no, it's that Cavalry Captain. What's up with that…?"
Lumine had taken to tracking the progress of Aether. Mostly because she was pretty sure that he would find a way to interfere with the Abyss's plans, but a small part of her just wanted to make sure her brother was okay. He was a bit of an airhead, after all.
She had an item equipped that would make her fully invisible. Unfortunately, it didn't muffle any sounds she made, but full on invisibility was still pretty powerful and useful. She couldn't afford to be discovered, after all.
She watched as that Cavalry Captain approached a purple lady who resembled a witch. Lisa was her name, if the reports were to be believed. Distinguished graduate from the Sumeru Akademiya, has an electro Vision, but aside from that, nothing too noteworthy.
As the two began talking, she immediately accessed her system and enabled the option which let her see the conversation in text form. Her system was handy like that.
"...Hey cutie."
…
What.
Well, okay, she wasn't judging. Lisa could flirt with the Cavalry Captain all she wanted, but Lumine had to focus on the conversation. Valuable intel was at stake!
"...Even standing out here, the disturbance of the elemental flow inside is making me uncomfortable."
Well, that was an unintended side effect of their operations, being a natural deterrent to people entering the temple and destroying the dragon's breath, but if her system notifications were anything to go by, it wasn't stopping them.
"Let's get this temple back to its normal state, so I can be a little less... tense."
Lumine sighed. Looks like things weren't going to be smooth sailing. They had already taken on two of the temples, according to her system notifications, which wasn't ideal.
Not that it would stop their operation, though. She'd been planning this operation for centuries. A few knights weren't going to be able to do anything.
But still, one thought remained in her head.
Why did Aether have to come back now, of all times…?
If there was any good thing she could take from this sequence of events, at least she had Lisa.
Similar to earlier, everyone had brought Lisa up to speed on what happened.
"Quite a useful system, I must say. It's so convenient being able to do so many things at a fraction of the effort."
"You aren't wrong about that…though we've observed that it seems to be guiding us a bit TOO well…"
"...oh? Interesting. By the way, where are the cuties helping us out…?"
She felt a sense of déjà vu as she once again started narrating the events that happened until now.
Lisa, however, knew her very well, and seeing how despondent she was upon finishing her story, chose not to press her any further, before officially joining the party. With everyone on the same page, they could finally get this temple done.
According to the system, their goal was way up ahead, somewhere on a platform higher than their current location.
As usual, the system made it so that they could hear "off-screen Lisa" and "Paimon" talking.
"Paimon, are you able to float across the platform?"
"Even if Paimon could, Paimon can't do much once Paimon gets there."
"Good point, guess we should get looking then."
A mental image of Lisa holding on to Paimon for dear life as they floated across the void and to the next platform briefly flashed in her mind. Yeah, no, that was NOT going to work.
Kaeya was still acting as their vanguard, so he was still on field as he made his way towards the conveniently placed wind current along their path.
"Great, a wind current." Lisa quipped.
"Only the third that we've ridden in three temples. Almost like the same person designed the three of them to have such a samey path…" Amber replied.
"Well, I'm not complaining. Let's get this done." Jean said, with a tone of finality.
Upon landing on the next platform, they were greeted by a door and a console. Kaeya casually tapped it to open the door, revealing a lone Pyro slime.
"Leave it to me."
As the voice of "Lisa" rang out, it was Kaeya who once again attacked the slime.
"Why do I feel like I was the one who was supposed to take down that slime?" Lisa asked.
"Probably because this is the temple you were assigned to tackle?" Kaeya replied. "Want to switch in?"
"Hmmm…not for now."
They made their way towards the next area. The door opened, revealing an Electro Monument.
"Lisa" seemed to agree with that assessment.
"No wonder. Let me try to activate it with a bit of Electro power. Stand back, sweeties."
"Lisa, you're up."
"Alright, Alright."
On Jean's command, Lisa witched in and activated the Electro Monument. Three Pyro Slimes appeared, along with a system message.
Defeat all Pyro Slimes within 20 second(s)
Hold Lisa's Elemental Skill
00:20
00:19
"Oh, the system even tells us how to clear this challenge?"
"It appears so…"
"You got this, Lisa!"
As Noelle replied and Amber cheered her on, Lisa concentrated, a purple ring slowly expanding from her feet.
00:15
00:14
Once she felt the electrical energy at its peak, she let it fly, shocking the pyro slimes and triggering the Overloaded reaction, throwing them back.
00:11
00:10
Not content with that, Lisa rained down lightning on the pyro slimes until all three of them were defeated.
00:05
Challenge Completed!
The door to the next area opened up, and the chest in the room was freed from its seal. Lisa looted the chest, found some stuff, then finally moved on.
"Not bad, Lisa. Looks like you've still got it."
"I never lost it, Kaeya. I just don't have to fight as much as a Librarian. Understood?"
"Haha, yeah."
Feeling an impending sense of danger from Lisa, Kaeya wisely backed off.
The next area had four hilichurls and was slightly flooded. A chest was located in the center, and there were some crates at the back of the room.
"Leave it to me."
Lisa went on and electrocuted the hilichurls until they died. Poor hilichurls.
"When it comes to Wet enemies, I've got them covered."
"Lisa" said this as the actual Lisa finished off the final hilichurl.
"What's with that phrasing…?" Lisa asked.
"Ask the system, not me." Jean replied, sounding absolutely done.
"Oh, I think those crates at the back may have some stuff. I'm going to check." Amber said.
"Those crates at the back?"
"Yeah, sometimes burning them down reveals some stuff. We found a carrot, some meat, and a cabbage in that manner…"
"How interesting…alright."
Amber switched in for the first time in a while, set the crates on fire, and promptly triggered an explosion, revealing absolutely nothing.
"Oh well, it was worth a shot."
"Was that a pun, Amber?"
"Now that I think of it? Yup."
"Haha, very funny Amber. I'm switching back in."
The group moved on and headed to the next area, revealing yet another wind current, which Kaeya rode up.
"Oh, Another wind current. Let's ride it up."
Even "Lisa" was starting to notice just how many wind currents there were.
Kaeya landed on the platform, walked, and promptly noticed that there was a massive ledge. The area was down from their current position, and there were two hilichurls flanking a big hydro slime.
"Jean? A plan?" Kaeya asked.
"Hmm…Noelle can deploy her shield, then Amber can throw Baron Bunny. I'll group them together, then Kaeya will come in and freeze them. Lisa can move in to finish them off."
"A quick plan, as expected of the Acting Grandmaster. Let's move."
They did just that. And it worked brilliantly.
Noelle's shield meant that whoever was on field was invulnerable and could focus on attacking freely. Jean was able to suck all the enemies and group them into one place, where Kaeya could freeze them in one go. Lisa unleashed her lightning, triggering Superconduct. Finally, Amber's baron Bunny blew up and shattered the enemies, obliterating them.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. More hilichurls popped up, forcing Lisa to run around as she set off lightning. Quite conveniently, however, the wet floor meant that she could chain lightning between them, making the entire process much easier.
Meanwhile, "Lisa" was providing some background dialogue about chain lightning, friction, and love at first sight.
As Lisa finally finished off the last hilichurl while talking with, the door opened, revealing some moving platforms.
"Well, at least the system got that part of me right."
You mean you'd mention love in an explanation about chain lightning?"
"And what if I do?"
"I didn't say it was wrong, though."
Lisa and Jean's conversation was cut short after the former stepped on the first moving platform, when "Lisa" spoke once more.
Judging by the conversation, it seemed that Lisa was explaining what Visions were to the Aether.
"Wait, why is Lisa explaining all this?" Jean asked.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Aether doesn't have a Vision. How he's able to wield Anemo is up to me."
"You mean cutie could use elements without a Vision?
"Yup. I referred him to you when he asked about it…"
"What a shame…I would have liked to ask him more questions…"
As Lisa made her way across the platforms and towards the next area, "Lisa" continued on.
"Are you a hilichurl with some level of reasonable intelligence?"
Jean did a double take when she heard that statement. Aether as a hilichurl?
Well, not that it mattered. "Lisa" quickly went back on that statement when she pointed out that Aether could qualify as a "magister's apprentice." Still, though she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like had Aether not died.
Lisa finally touched down on the other side, as she landed on solid (as solid as it could be anyway) ground and approached the dragon's breath, which she promptly destroyed.
Following that, "Lisa" finally materialized, much to Lisa's shock but not to everyone else, who had witnessed this before. Another conversation started, with Lisa giving some exposition on the Four Winds. Paimon also showed up to interject once or twice, but mostly it was "Lisa."
When the conversation finally ended and "Lisa" disappeared.
"This system really doesn't want us to forget about Aether…" Amber said.
"It's acting like Aether's still with us." Noelle added.
Jean sighed once more after the conversation ended. She shared the sentiments of Amber and Noelle, but she was worn to the point where she didn't have the energy to comment.
It had been a long day. But finally, the three temples have been freed.
Lisa walked into the strange blue light, leaving the domain.
Aether was surprised when the sky suddenly turned back blue.
The sky had been a dark gray for quite a while now, and even when the sun reached its peak, its rays didn't shine through the clouds.
But now? Now it was a brilliant blue, just like it had always been.
Meanwhile, Lisa had emerged from the temple. Guess they finished the job. Now, he REALLY hoped that they would revive him. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take being in ghost mode.
He watched as Kaeya, who had since switched in, started walking towards the edge of the cliff. He jumped off, deployed his wind glider, and disappeared from view.
He willed himself to follow, soaring through the sky. If there was one good thing about being in ghost mode, it was how he was able to fly again. The wind glider was nice, but being able to fly freely? Amazing.
He continued to track Kaeya, who had landed on the ground. Where was he going, though? The three temples have been successfully stormed, so perhaps back to Mondstadt? It would be pretty bad if they accepted his "demise" as is and moved on without him. He didn't fancy being stuck without his senses.
He tracked Kaeya for maybe a few minutes, before both of them arrived at a spot under a certain famously big tree.
The Symbol of Mondstadt's Hero.
Why were they here, though? Maybe they wanted to take a break? They already did that last night, so that wasn't out of the question. Come to think of it, how were their hunger and energy bars…? They didn't forget about them, did they?
While Aether was pondering this, he failed to notice how Jean suddenly switched in, or how she stood in place for a good half minute. He also failed to notice how she suddenly approached the Statue of the Seven that stood near the tree, and how it lit up and emitted a brilliant glow.
He suddenly felt himself come back to reality.
"You want to stop by the Symbol of Mondstadt's Hero?" Lisa asked.
"Yes. There's something I want to do. Something that has to do with Aether's…"
"It's alright, I get it. Do what you need to do, Jean."
"Thanks Lisa. Kaeya, you're up. You know where we need to go."
"Alright."
As Kaeya switched in and started making his way back towards the massive tree in the distance, Jean noted how the sky suddenly cleared up. Probably because they took out Stormterror's sources of power. That was a relief. Mondstadt would be safe for now.
After they exited the final temple, the system notified them that Lisa had been acquired as a unit. She heard "Paimon" talk about something, but she really wasn't paying attention. As for the 4 party member limit, she made the decision to switch Noelle out for Lisa. While she was a great defensive asset, she still needed more experience. She seemed to understand that, thankfully.
Which led to the present. Kaeya had finally arrived at that location.
Why did she choose to come here? One simple reason.
This was where Aether had told them everything. Under the night sky and the shade of the massive tree, Aether had related his experience to them. It was, for her, the place that she best associated with Aether.
And the place where they could grieve.
"Alright, for certain reasons, I'm switching up the party. Kaeya, Lisa, I hope you guys understand."
"I don't mind."
"Go ahead, Jean."
As Kaeya and Lisa were swapped out, she swapped Noelle back in, since she too, knew Aether. It felt right to have her here.
And the final party slot? It was for Aether himself. It felt right having him in their party while they were doing all this in memory of him.
"We take this time to grieve."
Finishing this, she took a deep breath. She approached the Statue of the Seven, before focusing on her thoughts.
She thought about how Aether suddenly swooped in and drove off Dvalin. At that time, she was scrambling to assemble the Knights to quell the threat. She was surprised, to say the least, when she heard the news of how a mysterious stranger came in and casually prevented what probably would have been Mondstadt City's worst disaster in recent history.
Well, technically, that wasn't her who experienced all that. That was the physical Jean who did that. But she inherited that Jean's memories, so same difference.
She thought about how he came in and accepted her request to help. And how they took on the first temple.
Many thoughts were in her head. Amber and Noelle were probably going through something similar.
"Barbatos, please. Make sure Aether has a good rest."
"I hope Aether is resting well, wherever he is now…"
"May Aether have a good afterlife…"
So focused were they on their thoughts, however, that unbeknownst to them…
"Wait, what's going on?"
Aether had popped back into the party.
The entire party was confused for a second.
Then…
"AETHER!"
"You're…alive?"
"!"
The entire party erupted in a chorus of surprise and delight.
"So let me get this straight? You guys thought I was dead?"
"I mean you did disappear into a flash of particles…we all sort of assumed that's how people outside of Teyvat die."
"...I probably should have clarified that, but then again, explaining how otherworldly travelers such as myself die is not something I would do to introduce the topic of me being an outlander…"
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing."
Amber was getting Aether up to speed on the events that occurred after Aether's unfortunate "demise".
"And then there was ANOTHER wind current. Kaeya was saying this a lot, but we felt that the design of each domain was too convenient."
At this statement from Amber, Aether just let loose and laughed like an absolute animal.
"What? It was true! Right, guys?"
As murmurs of agreement came from Noelle and Jean came, Aether finally stopped laughing.
"Nah, I totally believe you guys. Which is why it's so funny. I get why it's like that."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. You guys got Kaeya and Lisa as new characters before heading into their temples, right?"
"Uhh…basically yeah."
"The system is trying to make them look good by putting them in an environment that suits them. Basically, it makes them look stronger and more useful than they are in most cases."
"Uhh…what?"
As Aether attempted to explain video game mechanics to a group of people who did not know what video games actually were, one of those people started giggling at the spectacle.
"Acting Grandmaster Jean?" Amber asked.
"Yes?"
"When was the last time you legitimately had a laugh?"
"...I actually don't remember."
"So what got you to laugh?"
Jean had to think over that for a while.
"...It's just nice to have Aether back. Maybe it's just the stress finally releasing? Or maybe how ridiculous this situation is? I mean, video games? Character mechanics?"
Jean started giggling again.
"Okay….I think we broke Jean…I'm going to switch back in and check our next task…"
Aether switched back in, replacing Jean (who was still giggling, she has officially been broken by this insanity) and navigated to the quest tab, before freezing.
For a Tomorrow Without Tears
Prologue: Act II
Required: Adventure Rank 10
"Aether, what's wrong?" Noelle asked.
"...We're locked out of the next story quest…"
5 full days of writing.
Welcome back to Author's area. I know it's been a while, and I apologize for that. Several factors caused the delay of this chapter. Mostly just me thinking that my writing is a mess.
There's me obsessively grinding to raise my characters to challenge Spiral Abyss (I finally unlocked Floor 12 today, but I'm out of Hero's Wit).
There's pure procrastination, the enemy of all work.
And I hate to say this, but even my motivation and creative mojo is running out. I have no plans to abandon this story, however. But I might consider starting a new side project to change things up.
Thankfully, the main tutorial slog is out of the way. Next chapter should amp up the parody factor, because I feel like that's been missing for a while. Stay tuned for that. There will be chaos.
But enough of me, the support this story is getting has hit levels I initially thought were possible. As usual, thanks for tuning in despite my lack of an actual schedule. 100+ on both favorites and follows is just insane.
As usual, leave a review if you feel like asking a question! I'll try to address it at the start of the next chapter! Maybe review responses will be a thing!
Lastly, there WILL be a gacha section next time out (the banner will be Kazuha/Klee, I'm skipping Itto because having Aether catch up the next three weeks is a pain, and unfortunately we're gonna have to skip GAA as well) so if you guys want any 4 star to be pulled…wait I have no idea how to polls…ah…how do I go about this…?
Crises aside, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As usual, have a nice day!
-Author