Quick Author's notes:

Thank you for the reviews! It's always encouraging to see people engaging with a work, with questions, comments, criticisms, and the like. Just a few things to clear up before we get started:

1. This story is already completely mapped out. It hasn't been

written yet, but I already know what will happen and how it will end. Not just making it up as I go.

2. This entire plotline had been formulating in my head WELL before the Duviri update came out. This...should make more sense later. Duviri didn't give me any ideas for it, just...let's say, confirmed some things.

3. To answer a specific question, yes, it is a bit unusual for a Tenno to just reveal themselves completely, immediately. That was not an accident that he did. I also tried to convey that the Tenno made a decision in that moment, huffing and shrugging when trying to communicate. There is also a good reason for that, which will also make more sense later.

4. No one asked, but I should clear this up—a strong Tenno (like mine in the game, lol) could solo all of Teyvat. Gods and all. Beyond the insane combat power of a warframe and the ridiculous levels of tech and firepower they have access to, they also come with genuine immortality and ontological levels of power. In the game, the operator beam...is meh. Does meh damage, weak against armor, etc (and yes, I can kill Steel Path enemies with my operator, but it's always worse than just using guns). In the lore? Channels the raw energy of the infinite multiverse, possibility, impossibility, and causality, and can erase a mofo from existence. Tenno are also WELL-practiced in killing things that cannot die, to the point where it should just be in the resume: "Can kill immortal beings, apply for rates if you are having an 'undying' problem."

Just like in Genshin, gameplay isn't what I'm really referencing here, but more so the lore. In Genshin, Raiden Shogun is the Archon of Electro, and can split an island and slay a sea monster as large as said island with a sword stroke. In the game, if you don't give her the right teapots, helmets, handkerchiefs, flowers, and feathers, and don't make her read enough adventurer books, she loses a fight with a level 30 hilichurl. Hmm. Maybe gameplay isn't the right metric to measure power by…

5. Fair warning, as spoiler-free as possible—there will be some character death. This includes the possibility of playable character(s). Not saying who, how many, why, where, or anything else, but I know that's a breaking point for some people with a story. Letting you know now if that could become a problem for you.

That should be all, so onto the show:

Chapter 2

Dawn Winery

"Master Diluc…"

The fiery-haired and dark-tempered wine baron looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his desk to see his butler, Elzer addressing him with yet another stack of papers in his arms. He suppressed a sigh of annoyance. Elzer was just doing his job, of course. It wasn't his fault that the mountain of papers would soon stretch above the peak of Dragonspine. That fault lay with Diluc alone, since he was mainly using the stack of paperwork to hide what he was actually doing—reading field reports from his various agents and informants tracking the movements of the Fatui and the Abyss order.

"Yes, Elzer, please set those to the left of this pile." Diluc half-heartedly waved his hand at a stack of forms teetering like Nimrod walking home on a particularly rough night at the bar. His eyes already had gone back to the report on his desk. "I will get to them when I have completed these tasks here."

"Actually, sir…" Elzer swallowed a bit nervously.

"...hmm? Is something the matter? Do not fear, the sales forms will be done in a timely manner."

"No sir, that's not it. These reports here pertain to your...other work."

Diluc's eyes snapped right back up, and Elzer could swear the room got several degrees hotter.

"I see. Hand them here, please."

Elzer complied, albeit a bit tentatively. And rather than leaving, he stood by, waiting. Diluc raised an eyebrow inquisitively for a moment, but figuring his butler had a reason to be waiting, continued on to quickly scan the first report.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Then the fourth.

He flicked through the pile spending no more than a few seconds on each one, hastily tossing each one aside as if in a race to get to the next one. Yes, Elzer was certain the room had gotten hotter—what other explanation did he have for all the sweating he was doing? Diluc's expression went from confusion, to complete bafflement, to worry, to something between anger and...fear? He dropped the last form on the desk and slammed his hands down.

"What is this? Is this a joke? I don't find it particularly amusing!"

"No joke, sir. They've pulled back. All of them. Every single Fatui agent, cell, and business front that we had under observation has simply packed up and gone home. They just quit whatever they were doing and left."

"Why?!"

"...we have absolutely no idea, sir."

A thousand terrible possibilities ran through Diluc's head. Did the Tsaritsa just get bored and decided to stop playing at subterfuge? Was all-out war on the horizon? Did she finally find what she was looking for?

"And that's not the end of the news, sir," Elzer continued.

Diluc braced for whatever was coming next.

"The Abyss Order is reported to be...excuse me sir, not my words, but the agent's...'running scared.'"

"Clarify, if you would, Elzer."

"They've abandoned many of their forward positions and gathered together in places of strength. They've apparently been constructing defensive wards and are concocting whatever foul spells they use in earnest. They've even ceased much of their activity with the local hilichurl tribes. The word the agent used to describe them was...'frantic.'"

Had he been a lesser man, Diluc would have slumped into his chair with the sheer weight of world-shattering information he had just absorbed. He was not. He stood and made to speak again, but before he could, his head maid, Adelinde, decorum thrown to the four winds like so many dandelion seeds, burst into the room in a flailing rush.

"Master Diluc, some strange flying metal ship just flew over Mondstadt!"

Diluc opened his mouth. Then he closed it. Then he opened a hidden panel in the wall and grabbed his claymore and mask.

Zapolyarny Palace, Snezhnaya

The Tsaritsa sat on her throne of ice and snow, paying no heed to the cold, for the bitter air of her homeland was naught but a breeze that tried and failed to warm the hoarfrost, colder by far, that encased her heart and soul. For the first time in centuries, she sat...unsure.

Had her ambition been granted without her intervention? Or was this yet more tyranny from the heavens? For before her sat five piles of dust—the very symbols of the Heavenly Principles, crumbled to ash in her hands. The Gnosis, now, no longer.

She must think, and prepare. For what, she did not yet know.

"...and bring them home."

Four words. Just four words rocked the worldviews of every citizen of Mondstadt. One Traveler from beyond the stars already was causing some combination of aneurysms and wild theories among the academic circles and making the average dweller of Teyvat look to the sky with questions, but now another? And he knows the way back?

Jean, Kaeya, Amber, and all the assorted Knights stood at the gate utterly unable to pick their jaws off the floor, until Jean managed to turn her head to Athos, one of the guards at the doors of the Knights of Favonius headquarters, snap her mouth shut like a fish, and form words that she barely heard herself say: "Get Lisa down here. I don't care if she's having tea or napping. I want her out here now."

Amber could not contain her excitement any more. "YOU...YOU ARE FRIENDS WITH THE HONORARY KNIGHT?!"

The Tenno looked thoughtful.

"Yes...friends...comrades-in-arms, you could say?"

A memory unbidden appeared in his mind, surfacing from the dark depths:

"Hey. Why don't you go sit closer to the others until we get environmental back?"

"M-M-My mom's coming to get me soon."

"No. She's not. We're going to be your family for a while, okay?"

"...Family. Yes. They are like family to me."

Amber smiled bright enough to eclipse the sun. "I'm so happy to hear that. She was feeling so alone without her brother for so long. I'm not going to lie, I will miss her a lot, but I'm overjoyed that there's a way for her to go home to her family. Actually, HOW?" She practically jumped in the air and hopped right in his face. "Are you just going to fly into the sky with them again? How do you do that? Is it safe? How do you not crash into the stars? Can you breathe up there? Is it cold? Hot? Is it…"

The Tenno held up his hand, eyes squinting and head drawing back as if to shrink away from the barrage of high rate-of-fire questioning.

"Don't worry. I've got this." He attempted a cocksure grin, but it came off more of a wince.

"Amber, if you would please check on Lisa. Athos may...have difficulty waking her," Jean had gathered herself enough now to address this...situation in a manner befitting her title. She turned back to the Tenno. "I too am delighted to hear that you intend to aid our Honorary Knight in her goal of reuniting with her brother. We are certainly brimming with questions, but I suppose at least some of them can wait until later. Did you have any questions about her for us?"

"Yeah, a few. First, the thing that bothers me most: how did they get separated? That would take a significant paracausal event, maybe as high as a class 5 Conceptual Restructure to accomplish in this world. Trust me, those two are bonded."

"I...uh...hmm...maybe Lisa would understand the significance of that...explanation a bit better than I, but I can relay what Lumine told us of the event."

"Please do."

"Right. While she and her brother were traveling through worlds, she claims to have been accosted by some unknown god calling herself the 'Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.' This deity defeated them in combat, sealing her brother away somewhere and casting her to the earth here on Teyvat, stripped of much of her power. After that, she met-"

"Wait. Did she describe this 'unknown god'? Did it by any chance fight with weird cubes?"

"I recall her saying something about that, yes."

The Tenno grimaced. "So that's the bitch, huh…"

Jean's eyes widened. "You have met this god as well?"

"Yep. Killed her, too."

Another four absolutely earth-shattering words. It was honestly a bit too much to take in. Jean felt herself going blank.

Kaeya managed to find enough of a voice to sputter out "Y-you...KILLED a god of Celestia?"

"Yeah. And what a pain it was, too. Don't know how many times I got blasted, sealed, trapped in pocket dimensions, yada yada...it was one thing after another with her. But I finally figured out where to hit her to hurt for real. Won't bother you with the details, but she won't be keeping the twins apart anymore, at least, and she won't be keeping me away from them either." He rubbed his hands together as if to wipe off dirt after a job well done. "That's one problem out of the way."

Jean felt herself going limp, her sword nearly slipping from her grasp. She looked at the sky with an empty gaze. Oh Barbatos, the world is going to flip upside-down.

Lisa yawned. Normally disturbing her afternoon nap was punishable by electrocution, one grade higher than being more than two weeks tardy in returning a book to the library, and one grade less than actually destroying or losing the book. But when Amber and Athos, having burst into the Library gasping for air, answered her languid question "Is the sky falling, dears?" with a worryingly serious "...maybe?", she decided to get up.

She didn't run down the thoroughfare. Even Jean couldn't make her run, but she did answer the summons promptly. Lisa respected her too much; even during the Stormterror incident, Jean never seemed quite so...panicked. The Dandelion Knight never panicked. So Lisa walked.

As she strode down to the gate, a very bizarre sight met her eyes. The knights were arrayed at the gates, but rather than standing at attention or in battle positions, they were acting dumbfounded. Kaeya and Jean were equally flabbergasted, and the source was there in front of them—a boy, standing in front of a wild and fantastical armored figure, appareled in extravagant yet beautiful clothing. His eyes met hers as she walked down the steps, and she felt them burn into her very soul. She felt the roots of her hair begin to stand on end. There was power, power unimaginable within that boy. For the first time in a very, very long time, she had met someone with a gaze more electrifying than her own.

"Oh my," she practically purred. "You are something else, gorgeous."

Now it was the Tenno's turn to look flabbergasted.