Disclaimer, I don't own Genshin Impact Mihoyo does, I only own my OCs and my ideas. Reviews, suggestions, and critiques are welcome but flames are to be extinguished.
Chapter 1: Bloody Skirmish in the Canyon
"Paimon thinks the Fatui are attacking merchants," Paimon says thoughtfully, floating above what's left of a ruined caravan in a thinking pose after Aether expressed his doubts seeing the tattered remains of a cloth bearing a snowflake which is the symbol of the Fatui, a diplomatic organization hailing from Snezhnaya the land of the Cryo Archon.
He saw something that sparkled amongst the debris and crouched in order to pick it up. Seeing that it is a golden Fatui insignia of a Lieutenant with bits of red and blood smears. Aether thought to leave it alone but a strange urge took hold of him and made him pick it up and place it in his pocket while Paimon surveys the damage.
The traveler looked at the wreckage of the convoy once more and the canyon that he and Paimon are supposed to pass in order to reach Liyue through the Dawn Winery for the Rite of Descension that is to occur over a month from now if Venti's words are accurate. A loud explosion rang out across the canyon prompting Aether and Paimon to rush towards it.
Instead of merchants and knights like Paimon expected, corpses of Hilichurls and Fatui Elites, as well as Skirmishers littered the path, the former far outnumber the latter by a large amount. An Electro Cicin Mage lay dead below a pile of roasted Cicins and a large Mitachurl beside them, further, up the road, a Pyro Agent sits against a dead tree trunk with arrows sticking out of his chest.
Paimon looked at the scene with stunned silence as Aether checks the Agent more closely with the urge returning to him once more. A sacrificial knife was lodged in the throat of a Samachurl nearby, his mask lay on his lap battered and soaked from a past elemental attack. He quickly took out the insignia he pocketed before and placed it beside the deceased agent without thought. He blinked in confusion at his own actions, wondering what came over him when he has already fought and defeated a good number of Fatui troops in the past.
His confusion disappeared as soon as it appeared and he silently turned to step over several Hilichurls when another explosion rang out.
"Let's go Paimon, those merchants may need our help!"
"Right!"
They both quickened their pace and passed through similar scenes of battle, they saw several slimes lazily moving around obviously dug out of the ground by Hilichurls that dropped them during the fight. While Paimon flew past the battlefield, Aether instinctively slowed down to look at the dead Fatui. A pair of Hydro and Cryo Legionnaires lay amongst destroyed barrels and crates of food with some of them half-eaten, he thought to grab as many of them as possible but decided against it. He saw ruptured elemental energy tanks and wondered what could've done it when he has seen them take a ton of punishment.
He moved on and saw an Anemoboxer lying facedown in a puddle in the middle of the path surrounded by equally unmoving Hilichurls, he noticed his armor is battered and bent into his body. It was quite unlikely that mere Hilichurls can do that kind of damage with their small clubs and the Mitachurls that use axes. Despite all this, Paimon still believed that the merchants are from Mondstadt and their Favonius guards were ambushed by both Hilichurls and the Fatui at the same time.
"Paimon can hear the Knights of Favonius fighting up ahead!" Paimon exclaimed flying ahead, Aether tried to keep up and nearly missed huge footprints on the path with what seemed like several masked Fatui guards flattened into the ground and badly burnt with footprints that looked odd. Something clicked in the blonde traveler's head and an idea of what caused this massacre alongside the Hilichurls formed in his head.
"Sorry!" Aether mumbled in surprise when he felt himself sink into the ground slightly and realized that he's running on top of one of the Fatui, he nearly smashed into the side of a wooden barricade that he found has multiple Churls mowed down on his side and moved aside just in time only to trip on some rope and fall on top of a stunned Paimon.
"Ow!" Aether yelled as his face slid down Paimon's back and onto a plank of wood, he looked up to see what stopped his flying companion only to see something that shocked him. At least two squads worth of Fatui Skirmishers were holding off a massive Ruin Machine that is slightly damaged while a small group of Churls and an Abyss Mage were watching the faceoff on the other side of the canyon.
Several Fatui guards flanked the opening of a cave which had a short but horizontally long Geo wall defended by Fatui Bracers with one of them keeping back a worried Snezhnayan merchant that decided to watch how his fellow Snezhnayans were faring.
"Please stay in the cave with the others until the Skirmishers have prevailed, sir!"
"No, not when my comrades are dying out there to protect us merchants!" The Snezhnayan said, remaining stubborn despite the pleading look the guards were giving him. One of the Pyroslingers lost his temper at how difficult the merchant is being and yelled at the man.
"STOP BEING STUPID AND GET IN THE CAVE!" The merchant flinched and let two of the guards lead him into the cave. Grumbling about suicidal civilians the Pyroslinger turned around and fired at the Ruin Machine as a Geochanter pat his shoulder wordlessly before reinforcing a geo shield he has given the Vanguards.
Several Hilichurls tried to use the moment to make a move before being blasted by water and frozen by a Cryo Legionnaire. "Chill to the bone." He said, spraying the soaked monsters with frost so they can be shot and taken out by the Pyroslingers behind him. An Anemoboxer and two Electrohammers circled the Ruin Machine with geo shields further reinforcing their own defenses.
Paimon disappeared to keep herself hidden as Aether charged into the fray with his Handy Sword out, the massive Ruin Machine he noticed is much larger and well-armed than the Ruin Guards he fought near the Brightcrown Mountains. Three times as tall a Ruin Guard, it towered above Skirmishers and the Mitachurls with ease as it lumbers forward to swing its multitude of long limbs that were longer than the arms of a Ruin Guard at the three Vanguards surrounding it, using their large hammers the Skirmishers smashed the limbs aside and attempted to charge the vaguely humanoid body.
The traveler swiftly avoided a hail of missiles fired from its back and watched the Electrohammers take defensive positions to withstand the explosive projectiles. The Anemoboxer raised an anemo barrier which took the missiles head-on, charged with the pyro explosion he punched the machine and watched it barely take any damage.
Coming from the side, Aether saw it fire several salvos of missiles at the cave which the Geochanter stopped by raising a large geo barrier while the Pyroslingers retaliated by firing at it from cover, it tried to stop the bullets from hitting its multiple cores with its limbs but the Electrohammers made sure to attack them at the same time.
Aether charged towards the massive machine and the Anemoboxer rushed in front of one of the Electrohammer's flanks when he saw Aether close in. Surprised that the new arrival didn't choose to attack the distracted Vanguard, he let the traveler move right into the middle of the battle and watched as he slashed the limbs in order to create an opening for himself.
As numerous bullets pelted its vulnerable cores located around its body Aether slid beneath the machine and stabbed a core several times before charging up a Palm Vortex which swirled with the electricity and flames that the Fatui used. Using it to repel several limbs that tried to reach him, Aether slashed them several times and managed to cut a few down.
Trying to attack one of its legs, Aether approached one only to quickly back away when holes appeared and revealed what seemed to be the ends of guns. Aether found that the limbs are quickly spreading out as energy was charged in it's largest core, before he can reach it in order to attack it one of the Electrohammers charged in to smash it as hard as he could with his hammer. Cracks appear on it and the remaining limbs quickly magnetically fused together to form large hands which turned into fists that sent the Vanguard flying back, his shields keeping him standing after the mighty hit.
Aether took the opportunity to try to attack the cracked core only for the fists to quickly redirect itself towards Aether, using Palm Vortex to keep the one in front of him at bay the ones at his sides crashed into him together. Just before the fists can crush his body like a twig, the Geochanter managed to give him a geo shield that barely kept the fists from killing him.
Aether grunted, thankful to the Geochanter before he lost focus from the pain and released the vortex. The fist that was held back, flew through the air where the vortex was and sent Aether flying towards the Fatui Bracers near the cave. Ready to refortify the shield and keep the Traveler alive, the Geochanter screamed as he felt something large step on him and nearly crush him into paste if it wasn't for the geo shield he placed on himself earlier.
It was a Mitachurl that was ordered to do so by another Abyss Mage that led a separate group of Hilichurls to ambush them from the cliffs above. The Fatui guards that were armed with crossbows and swords were quickly overwhelmed, in a panic the Pyroslingers fired into the heap of monsters and managed to scare some into the cave after the bullets mowed down the creatures that were finishing off the remaining guards.
With the barrier dropped, Aether flew directly right at the side of the Mitachurl's face who tried to slam his axe down onto the downed Geochanter and into the cave. The Mitachurl roared in pain and fell over backwards with a shattered mask, the Geochanter used the opportunity to blast projectile after projectile at the stunned creature until it lay unmoving before seeing the situation at the rear is truly dire.
The Pyroslingers were now forced to fend off their attackers using their rifles to knock them back before trying to line a shot. "Heat... too low..grhlgg" One of them said after a cryo hilichurl shooter nailed him in the throat with a bolt, with a loud yell the Geochanter climbed onto the Mitachurl's stomach to try to stop the Hilichurls. Charging his staff with elemental energy, he jumped off the creature and skewered the hilichurls into the walls of the canyon with growing spikes of earth.
The Abyss Mage quickly teleported into the cave just in time for the Geochanter to launch a large spike of earth into the cave in an attempt to kill it before collapsing. At the same time Aether slammed into several hilichurls and the wall of the cave's interior and grunted in pain, he quickly rolled away from the hilichurl as he spotted the spike flying towards him, deciding that trying to find his sword that he dropped is too risky.
"Hahahaha, that feeble human missed me!"
The echoing squeaky but sinister laugh of the Abyss Mage was the only thing he heard as the spike pinned the hilichurl to the wall, the ceiling started to crumble forcing Aether to run for his life deeper into the cave leaving the sword behind. Jumping over several dead Fatui guards, Aether blindly ran into the darkness as well as several geo slimes that emerged in the chaos.
Slimes and pebbles started to hit Aether's head, slowing him down and making him stumble. "Traveler, over here!" Paimon shouted from a structurally secure part of the cave just ahead of him where she just reappeared from.
Just before he managed to reach Paimon, a particularly large geo slime with rocky armor landed on his head. He fell over immediately and was out as a light, falling face-first into the dirt in front of his flying companion as the rest of his body gets buried under the rubble.
5 Minutes later.
Aether groaned as he stirs from unconsciousness, a soft voice that he struggled to decipher what it's saying. He grabbed his own head and struggled to his own feet as the voice became even clear to the point that can listen to it perfectly and understand what it's saying. Traveler.
"Traveler! Traveler! Paimon was so worried when the big rocks fell from the ceiling and hit you on the head. The people here helped you when Paimon is too weak to carry the rocks." Paimon said as several men huddled around him. One of them offered a hand when Aether stumbled and nearly fell over.
"Thanks, Paimon." Aether muttered as the Snezhnayan man helped him to stand up straight before Aether checked his own body for any wounds seeing that there is none he also saw the geo slime that knocked him out flipped over and wiggling against the pile of rocks. He felt a slight chill and cold mist in the air.
"Kristoff, humble merchant of Snezhanya." The blonde man said before introducing the rest of his fellow merchants. Aether nodded as Paimon looked at them suspiciously, he checked to see if his handy sword is still on him only to sigh when he remembers where it is. He's going to miss all the gadgets that are stored in its sheath. He notices that one of the merchants has a Cryo vision strapped to his satchel and said his thanks. Everyone soon heard the sounds of Hilichurls approaching the mineshaft from one of the other tunnels.
"Young man, can you help us? Gregori here cannot fight and all the guards were killed in the rockfall."
"But Kristoff, some of them could still be alive. We should send someone over to look for them when we're safe."
"Nyet, if there were anyone still alive they would be with the young man here."
Paimon still looked doubtful about helping the Fatui aligned merchants while Aether agreed but told them that he lost his weapon. "No problem, just follow me. I'm sure the Fatui will allow a friend to use the Prototypes."
Again, Paimon looked even more doubtful seeing how the Fatui operates in Mondstadt with even some merchants whispering to each other in worried voices. Aether followed Kristoff through the mine shaft, passing long-abandoned mining equipment and supplies that they managed to bring with them during their escape from the ambush until they found a large room that was hastily converted into a storage facility.
"We were lucky that this mine exists, surely the Tsaritsa's protection extends all the way to Mondstadt." Kristoff uttered a short prayer before asking Aether about his weapon of choice. Telling him that he uses a sword, the merchant turned around to open a metal chest. Aether looked impressed as he pressed several buttons to open several compartments within the chest.
The traveler looked around, noting that while the metallic chests were less fancy than the ones he saw during his travels. They were more durable and less likely to grab the attention of would-be thieves at a first glance. Kristoff returned to him with two objects in hand.
"These are the Prototypes Rancour and Aegis." Aether took the golden sword so he can admire its craftmanship and looked at what seemed like a brown armguard that Kristoff attached to his free gloved hand. He then told the traveler that they are ancient arms from Liyue and Snezhnaya that were forged using advanced techniques, Aether moved his left arm and followed his instructions.
He clenched his hand into a fist and watched a golden shield emerge clockwise, he took a defensive position that he recalled warriors of other worlds he has already traveled to use and swung the sword. Nodding his approval, Kristoff closed the chest and led Aether back to where the others are.
"The Hilichurls are coming and they have an Abyss Mage with them!" One of the merchants shouted, knocking Paimon out of her greed as familiar sounds echoed against the walls. Aether shook his head as he saw his companion look at the veins of precious ore before disappearing again, no wonder he didn't hear her say anything about the equipment. She can be really greedy sometimes.
"If you need any healing, you can call out for Gregori when you dealt with the Abyss Mage" Kristoff suggested, Gregori nodded and told Aether that he'll do his best. They really aren't like the Fatui, the traveler thought as he slowly approached the source of the noise.
All of a sudden, shards of ice were launched at Aether from the distance as annoying laughter filled the tunnel while the hilichurls advanced. He held up the shield and blocked the shards before swinging the Rancour into the approaching monsters. Their wooden shields didn't stand a chance and splintered into pieces as the wielders were cut down.
He noticed the shield glowing bright blue in the dark before he unleashed a Palm Vortex that absorbed the cryo energy from the shield. Surprised at the capabilities of the shield, he continued to slash his way through the hilichurls until several berserkers with flaming clubs charged with the Abyss Mage right behind them. Giant icicles were conjured above him as the berserkers tried to bash Aether's head in.
Absorbing the pyro elemental energy, he unleashed a powerful flaming Gust Surge that melted the icicles and carried the berserkers into the panicking Abyss Mage. The hilichurls had nowhere to run as a Mitachurl forced some that tried to flee back into the fray. The Abyss Mage's barrier quickly shattered as he gets pulled into the tornado and gets burnt to a crisp.
As the tornado dissipated, Aether saw the Mitachurl badly burnt but alive, Aether ran towards the furious creature that tried to dig out a pyro slime to enhance its axe and chop him to pieces. He leaped into the air and thrust his sword into the slime which exploded in it's hands. Roaring in pain, it tried to use what's left of its strength to swing its axe only for Aether to stab it in the mask.
Calling for Gregori, Paimon appeared and looked at the shield with a curious look. "Paimon never saw a shield that can do that." Aether felt a cool sensation cover his body as he feels refreshed. The merchant looks impressed at his hilichurl slaying skills before telling him that he'll be staying back when Aether finds the exit.
"Huh, finding the exit is easier than Paimon thought." She said as she and her companion simply followed the trail that the now defeated group has left, continuing with nothing but slimes to deal with. They soon reached the main tunnel and noticed the hilichurl pinned to the wall with a large earth projectile. Cringing, they both looked away as they noticed the collapsed tunnel and turned to the other direction.
"Yikes, that doesn't sound good," Paimon commented as they reached the entrance and heard screams from the outside. She disappeared and let Aether exit the cave to a scene that has gotten worse. Another Pyroslinger has fallen to the Ruin Machine's missiles as the Geochanter struggled to protect himself and the remaining Pyroslinger that was shooting his remaining bullets at the machine in desperation.
His earlier wounds already healed by the Hydrogunner before being opened again as the Ruin Machine continued to fire its missiles in salvos. The Anemoboxer lies on the ground dead near the legs of the machine with his armor riddled with countless bullets, however the Skirmishers have done even more damage to the Ruin Machine as all its exterior cores were broken to reveal its interior while all of its exterior limbs and one of the legs have been destroyed.
Now it looked like a massive Ruin Guard that was cut in half that was showing a cracked massive inner core as two pitch-black mechanical hands emerged from within its body. Busted up holes surrounded the core which would shoot bullets if not damaged. A Pyro Abyss Mage that led the Hilichurls at the canyon now floated above the machine doing an odd jig as it berated the Fatui for being too weak.
"I WILL END YOU!" One of the exhausted Electrohammers screamed as he charged towards the laughing creature, his fellow Vanguard tried to stop him but it fell on deaf ears. The surviving Legionnaires that were tasked to hold off the Hilichurls were horrified when the hands smacked the hammer away with his weakening grip and grabbed him tightly.
"Heeheeheehee weak! The dogs of the Cryo Archon are so weak!" The Abyss Mage laughed as the left hand slammed the Electrohammer into the ground repeatedly and tossed him into the air before skewering him with the right hand that turned into a large blade. Looking away from the grisly scene, the Legionnaires continued to fire on the approaching hilichurls that saw their chance to win.
The blade then placed the dead Vanguard right next to the core which absorbed all of his Electro energy, tossing the corpse aside the core turned purple and began charging massive amounts of elemental energy. The remaining Electrohammer retreated into the rear as it took aim at the Cryogunner that was already overrun. Not caring about the loss of his pawns, the Abyss Mage cackled with glee as the core fired a massive Electro beam at the portly man that is desperately fighting off the Hilichurls.
"T-too… warm…hot…GGYYAAAARHHHHH!" Feeling weak after the hilichurls battered him with flaming clubs and bolts, the beam ripped through what's left of his personal cryo shield and the hilichurls. The Fatui Legionnaire didn't stand a chance, all that's left of him are his hands and feet which were cooked by the electricity.
Seeing what's left of his comrade and the ashes of most of the hilichurls, the Hydrogunner ran for his life and cowered beside the fearful Bracers while praying to the Tsaritsa for salvation. The Electrohammer readjusted his grip on his hammer and readied himself to avenge the deaths of his comrades or die trying.
"I guess... this is it..." The lone Electrohammer mumbled, taking a step forward as Aether approached him and readied for combat. The Pyroslinger collected the ammunition of his dead comrades and furiously punched the Hydrogunner in the face as the Geochanter left the rear and joined the two.
"By the Tsaritsa, man up and fight! Lev hasn't given up and so should you! Do you want to be a disgrace to the Motherland?!" Yelping in terror, the Hydrogunner got up and ran towards the group. The Pyroslinger twitched and dragged himself towards them as well.
'So this is what men that no longer fear death look like' Aether thought to himself with amazement as the Electrohammer doesn't acknowledge his presence and slowly marched towards the machine. The Abyss Mage looked on with interest as the last group of combat-capable humans decided to fight to the end instead of cowering in the cave. He dropped his barrier and charged the core directly using his own Pyro energy to speed up its recharge rate.
Aether observed the mechanical hands prepare to attack them when they approach as he feels refreshed by Hydro energy, he mused at how similar it feels to Barbara's healing as the Hydrogunner healed them all using his cannon.
Using a long lost language, the Abyss Mage ordered what's left of the Hilichurls to throw themselves against the group in case the hands didn't succeed in taking them out. Reloading his rifle, the Pyroslinger sniped the Samachurls before they can do anything. Listening to their warcries, Aether and the Electrohammer dispatched the Hilichurls that tried to rush them as the Geochanter gave them geo shields.
The Mitachurls were also dealt with without much trouble as the Hydrogunner and Bracers focused them down one by one in tandem with the two frontliners. 'The teamwork of the Fatui Skirmishers really is impressive' Aether thought seeing that very few in the Knights of Favonius present in Mondstadt can match it.
When the hands came, Aether was ready and used his Palm Vortexes to repel one while the other was dealt with the steady-handed swings of the Electrohammer. Frustrated at the failure of the hilichurls that he just culled, it summoned several demon heads that spewed fire at them. The Geochanter created a geo barrier to stop the flames as the Hydrogunner quenched the heads and took them out.
Bullets were fired at the Abyss Mage who slid downwards to avoid them and poured even more energy into the core, more demonic heads popped up but they were also neutralized quickly. The hands became even more relentless and moved with a speed that was even harder to handle, closing on the cracked core the Bracers tried to attack it shatter completely only for the hands to take the projectiles on with inhuman speed.
"You, stranger. Flank that Abyss Mage from the back while we deal with the core." The Electrohammer stated as even more heads appeared that were starting to strain the barrier. Aether quickly left the protection of the geo barrier and raised his shield to protect himself from the flames. Seeing that the heads stopped focusing on the Skirmishers to deal with the Traveler, the Fatui managed to beat back the hands as the Electrohammer sped up his attacks to repel the blows while relying on his shields to protect him from the damage and healing from the back as he pushed forward after staggering from the relentless attacks. With the Hydrogunner keeping him from suffering the same fate as the other Electrohammer, he managed to slowly push back the two hands with the rest of the Skirmishers approached slowly behind the last Vanguard.
With the Prototype Aegis in his hand that gave him some geo energy from the shield, the bullets fired from the leg turrets failed to reach him as he slowly approached the destroyed leg as both geo from the shield and pyro elemental energy from the demonic heads crystalized together and strengthened the elemental shield.
He finally reached the leg and slowly climbed it and saw the Abyss Mage looking at him in terror, he created even more demonic heads to spew flames at him which only made his shield stronger. The mage tried to teleport away only to find out that most of his energy has already been spent charging the core.
"NO, WAIT! PLEASE MERCY!" The Mage screamed as Aether approached and unleashed a powerful Palm Vortex which swirled Anemo with Pyro and Electro energies right at the Abyss Mage who raised its hands in panic. It screamed in pain as the vortex tore it apart before its body disintegrated as its remaining elemental energy gets absorbed into the core.
Aether held onto the machine as he heard something shatter as he felt a massive build-up of elemental energy in front of him. He heard the footsteps of retreating Fatui as the machine fell on itself and exploded, luckily the shield around him managed to take the entire explosion before it shattered. Black smoke started to come out of what's left of its body.
Breathing in the Abyssal fumes, he coughed and felt his head spin as he was too late in using Anemo to protect himself. Feeling weak and dizzy, he lost his footing before falling over and sliding off what's left of the machine into the wreck, smashing into its parts and then onto the ground. Paimon appeared while the Fatui Skirmishers approached when they see the smoke disappeared into the sky.
"Traveler!" Paimon shouted with worry, flying above him and looking closely. The Pyroslinger approached and pointed his rifle at the unconscious Aether as Paimon cheered at the fact that he's still alive. The Electrohammer pushed the rifle away as Paimon looked outraged at the supposed betrayal. The Geochanter silently collected parts of the machine for research as the Hydrogunner sat on the ground and watched the corpses of his comrades and the Cryogunner with a forlorn gaze.
"I knew it, we shouldn't have trusted the Fatui!"
"Easy there, Maksim. He fought with us against the Dark Ones."
"But he inhaled the fumes and all who has always gets corrupted by the Abyss. Besides, don't you recognize him at all Lev? He's the Hero of Mondstadt and a thorn in our side!"
"That's why we're bringing him back to the hotel and letting the commander decide his fate, he would've already turned berserk and attacked us by now if he's vulnerable to it. Make sure the Knights of Favonius don't catch us bringing the Hero into the city in such a condition. The Harbingers wouldn't like a diplomatic incident occurring because of us."
"No! Paimon will stop you!" Paimon angrily smacked the Electrohammer's face who looked quite amused at her attempt and head-butted her into unconsciousness with one bash.
"Find something to hold the little pixie-like creature as well Maksim. Get something from the merchants to muzzle her in case she wakes up."