"Tartaglia." Of course there was a Harbinger in Liyue Harbor.
The Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui simply grinned at Aether, their hands twitching, itching for a fight, while the rest of his body was lax, two opposing desires clashing against the others, and that made the man in front of him unpredictable, with lifeless eyes that matched his.
"You know me? Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight." Not yet, I hope.
Tartaglia waved at him. "Forget the… unfortunate reputation of the Fatui for one moment, and hear me out, I'd like to help." He gave the Traveller an eerie smile, what were they up to this time? If they were behind this, did they know of his true identity? Not ideal if that were to be the case.
"And why help me?"
"Allow me to explain later for now, follow me. There's an old saying of Liyue: The walls have ears." Not even allowing Aether another word in, the Fatuus began to walk into a wall.
No, that was inaccurate, Tartaglia gave the stone a light push, and a section of the wall had given way, revealing a long passageway that was dimly lit by the rare candle here and there, not the safest of routes, going off of looks alone, the Prince observed. Still, he'd decided to take the bait for now, following the Harbinger as they entered the opening.
The "door" had shut without a single noise, and they were off towards wherever the darkness led them.
"Quite surprising, no?" Tartaglia started, grabbing a candle off the wall as the two wandered through the ominous hallway. "The Fatui acquired this building to establish the Northland Bank here in Liyue long ago along with a few of their own finishing touches, to "Give their agents more leeway."" He said, making air quotes with his free hand.
He planned for me to go here too?
"Seems that we're here." They said, motioning towards a ladder.
"You first?" Aether just stared at him.
"...Not a talker, alright." He just sighed and started to climb up first, opening a trapdoor at the very top allowing orange light to flood the space around Aether.
Seeing that it was safe enough, the Traveller began his ascent shortly after.
Had Aether not been in the Jade Chamber an hour before, he probably would've been impressed by the Northland Bank's own lavish interior. As wealthy as Snezhnaya might be, this was the Liyue Qixing's home ground.
"So…" The Eleventh Harbinger began, hopping down on a couch and making himself as comfortable as can be.
"You're looking for the Adepti, right?"
"Correct." Aether would go along with him for a while, still unsure of how far Tartaglia's knowledge of him went.
"Unrightfully accused by the Liyue Qixing, you seek justice from the Adepti, quite a bold move, one that you cannot do with what you have." The Traveller raised his right eyebrow, justice? The Fatui didn't possess as much intel on him as he had initially believed.
"What makes you think I can't do it?" Aether asked, arms crossed.
"For starters, you don't have one of these." Tartaglia explained, fishing a glowing trinket from his pocket, the golden sheen a bit brighter than Aether expected, but the shape was indisputable, that was a Sigil of Permission.
Still, how certain could the Prince be of its legitimacy? They tried experiments on Dvalin's blood, something that only appeared once the dragon reawoke not long ago, and had the Fatui not turned tail, they would have succeeded in doing whatever they intended to do with the substance.
"...That's a convincing fake." Aether dully replied, eliciting a chuckle from the man on the couch.
"You're quite interesting." Tartaglia remarked as he flipped the Sigil of Permission in the air, flicking it towards Aether the moment it landed on his fingers, which the Traveller deftly caught.
"I would've liked to fight you right here and now, but oh well…" With a wave of their Harbinger's hand, a guard came to escort him out of the Northland bank.
"There's always next time."
Tartaglia had done many things, and was many things, but his head was always stuck in battle, something that any of Aether's agents would frequently mention whenever an encounter with the Harbinger would occur.
But telling him to go seek the Adepti without telling him where any of them are?
If the Traveller hadn't known of the Conqueror of Demon's whereabouts beforehand, his legs would be hurting greatly by the end of the week, even if Liyue was far from the largest, a nation was still a nation, really big.
The closest Teleport Waypoint to Wangshu Inn hadn't even been a waypoint, instead, it was the Statue of The Seven that stood proud in Dihua Marsh. In another life, he would have been smart enough to place a Teleport Waypoint in the Inn itself, but he couldn't complain now.
Especially when he could take in Liyue's scenery as a result, the green grass meshed well with the yellow leaves of old trees, and allowed the Silk Flowers that sprouted nearby to stand out and show off their beauty, assisted by the glistening water that made up of most of Bishui Plain.
Times where he could just appreciate his surroundings were sparse now, which made these rare moments all the more relaxing.
Something Lumine and Ei would have enjoyed.
The two could have been great friends had it been him who fell that day. Now it was only him.
Thoughts like those aside, Aether had arrived at Wangshu Inn, the wooden planks he stood upon creaking as he observed how to get to the top. (Because the reception was at the highest point of the absolutely massive structure, who thought of that idea?)
Between the elevator and the stairs he saw, he decided on the former, machines like these were rare to come by outside of nations that were truly bringing civilization forward through innovation. Still a far cry from Khaenri'ah at their peak, but they were getting there.
The mechanical transport system hadn't been moving for some time, so Aether stepped on and checked if there was anything that had to be done by hand to get it working. There wasn't any.
So he waited, standing on various spots of the floor, wondering if it used something like a pressure plate. Again, nothing.
Slightly annoyed now, he went to the stairs, despondent but grateful that there weren't any issues with the stairway, in a minute or so, he'd reached the balcony, searching everything his Elemental Sight could see, and wound up with nothing worth noting, no Elemental energy, not even Adeptus energy, of course they'd be good at concealing it, the Sigil of Permission Tartaglia gave to him wasn't enough to draw them out, either.
Aether couldn't give up yet, however. One of the perks of having spies all over Teyvat was information, and he could remember a lot of it. Wangshu Inn was built as a strategic location first, a place for travelling merchants to rest and sell their goods second. Alongside the owners being agents of the Liyue Qixing, there was much more here that met the eye.
Naturally, the Traveller approached Verr Goldet, the boss that was currently digging their nose into a book, but rapidly closed it and stood up straight as he approached, almost like a sixth sense.
"Hello!" She cheerfully greeted him, before inspecting him from head to toe without a word.
"...A distinctive but elusive dress sense, a bandage to cover a completely normal eye, and exuding an aura of darkness wherever they go… Nope, can't place you." The woman was surprisingly accurate, though he had to disagree with the comment about his left eye. Still, an aura of darkness, he wasn't that obvious, right?
"I'm here to ask about the Adeptus." Aether cut in, activating Elemental Sight to see if the aura of darkness was actually there.
"Oh? You've already met Xiao?" Verr Goldet leaned closer, the food on the desk carefully pushed aside.
"No." The Prince admitted.
"So he's in his normal mood…" The Adepti haven't changed from their stubborn ways at all, if her tone was anything to go by.
"Well, you should just work on getting him in a good mood," She Continued, drumming her fingers on the desk. "Go ask the chef downstairs for a bowl of Almond Tofu, and make another dish of your own choosing, that Yaksha will be guaranteed to hear you out until the food is gone."
"But before that, poor Yanxiao is in a bit of a pickle right now, so you should see if he needs your help first, nothing is for free, right?" Goldet added, giving him a wave before she returned to her book.
Without a word, he made his way to the kitchen, what kind of problem could the chef be having? The kitchen looked normal when he first passed it on the way up, and the man there had quite the tough exterior at a first glance, there wasn't any shortage of ingredients, either.
Or… those problems hadn't been there ten minutes ago, now it was just absolute chaos inside, knives embedded in walls where they shouldn't be, vegetables ruined and strewn across the floor, meat splattered across everywhere they could fit, and the chef that was supposed to keep it all together looked like they'd seen a ghost.
If this was the problem, it was… manageable, though the issue seemed to be with the chef rather than the kitchen he was working on, so he had to be this man's therapist for a bit? Not a skill Aether held any confidence in, he'd been the cause more often than he was the solution for someone else's problems.
Shaking his head, the Traveller began to clean up, dumping anything too damaged, cleaning what could be saved, and carefully removing the kitchen knives that were thrown in random directions, whatever pest the chef saw had to be huge to warrant using these.
Ten minutes later, everything was back in order, and the waste disposal area at the base of Wangshu Inn has never been so full, Aether heard a chuckle from behind him, assuming it to be the Yanxiao that Goldet mentioned, he turned to the noise and found a child instead.
The aforementioned child blew a raspberry at him and ran off, giving the stunned chef a light tap on the chest, giggling as Yanxiao let out a scream of pure fear as she ran off.
So he did see a ghost…
Not the strangest phenomenon Aether's encountered, he could deal with this. The Traveller tried to follow the child, going down the stairs where she was sliding down from, but the ghost just ran through a wall once he had almost caught up with them.
The Traveller touched the spot where the child ran through, it was completely solid. So he just went back up the stairs and returned to the kitchen, only to see the man known as Smiley Yanxiao back on his feet again…
…Brandishing a knife on that same ghost brat.
When the kid saw Aether, they laughed and ran off again, and the chef they were terrorizing collapsed onto the floor, a pool of sweating forming around their bulky form.
"Thanks…" Yanxiao gasped, covering his face out of pure shame.
"...Sure." Every second he interacted with the chef, the more his image of them fell.
"Can you cook Almond Tofu? Orders from the boss."
"The boss? I'm not sure if I can…" They sighed, sitting up straight and trying to shake the fear out of their trembling hands, would such a method even work?
"If I dealt with your ghost babysitting issue, can you cook?" Even taking care of a ghost would be preferable to the wreck of a human being he was currently looking at.
"You can?" Yanxiao's face lit up immediately, completely ignoring the Traveller's insult. "Yes, please! I'll have the Almond Tofu ready once they're gone for good!"
Yanxiao proceeded to grab everything they needed at an absolutely inhuman speed, inspect their knife like a warrior would do with their weapon of choice, and gave Aether a desperate nod as the chef went to work.
How to deal with the brat…
Aether lamented on his choices as searched the entire place up and down with Elemental Sight, finding the ghost on one part of Wangshu Inn, only for them to disappear and immediately reappear at another part of the structure. How could he keep up with that without the elements?
Or…
Perhaps their movement wasn't random, every time they vanished, they would always reveal themselves lower than before, and a tad bit more excited than previously, it was worth a shot, right?
Just unfurling Aether's Wind Glider and dropping straight to the bottom was a little tempting, but would send any poor merchant below him in a panic, so he had to settle for the stairs. The giggling noise he kept hearing never stopped as he descended, so the Traveller was doing something right.
Completely ignoring the scam artist trying to get his attention, he scanned the mismatch of rocks and trees that surrounded Wangshu Inn, looking for the ghost that had made his day a whole lot harder, if only spirits could disappear so easily.
Disappear?
Of course. They were here because there was something that prevented them from moving on to the afterlife. (Was there an afterlife in Liyue? He wasn't sure if had read a book about that or not.) Was it regret? Anger? Or were they just looking to have one last laugh before moving on from life? Even worse was the fact that the spirit in question was a child, what happened to them?
Aether spotted a small leg disappear behind a tree and followed suit, if the child had a past they couldn't move on from, he'd have to help them, and if they were just looking to have fun? May Rex Lapis help Smiley Yanxiao if the Princeo only entertains them long enough to finish the Almond Tofu.
"Silly-churl…" Provocation through insults wasn't the first thing Aether expected, but considering who his "opponent" was, he should've seen it coming.
"Billy-churl!" The Traveller heard gears whirring and engines coming to life, a sound he'd come to recognize in his first few years of travelling the world.
A tree fell down in front of him, its Dendro energy slipping from the dying organism like sand falling down an hourglass, the plant's time was up.
And from the dirt and dust that clouded Aether's surroundings, a single, golden eye stared at him from the beyond, the Ruin Hunter's time was just starting.
The Traveller's trusty sword adorned a violet glow, the moment the opportunity presented itself, he'd end the fight in a flash of lightning.
The Ruin Hunter sensed his intent and flew up into the air, a safe distance away from their blonde opponent before unleashing a barrage of missiles, the disregard for collateral damaged irked him a little, was this still the child, or the Ruin Hunter?
This whole scenario was alien to Aether, and as fascinating as it was frightening. Was the ghost in control, and if so, how did they react in the correct manner? A kid that was from anywhere but Natlan had no knowledge of battle more often than not, so did they have access to the Runi Hunter's battle data? How does the spirit give life to a disabled machine like this? Were they a puppeteer, or the string?
Oh, right. The missiles were still being propelled toward him at an alarming rate, planting his feet into the ground, the Traveller's Geo affinity took hold.
Small shards of rock rose from the ground and took up positions around Aether, a small tug of his mind was all it took to imbue sufficient Geo energy into all of them.
The element of Geo was present in all rocks and minerals, but manipulation of the element demanded large amounts of Geo energy present in whatever the user wished to control, somewhat tricky, but once that wall was breached, forces like gravity had no effect on the element.
The preferred manner of Geo control was through Geo constructs, rather than rely on their surroundings for the task, those who could command the dormant energy would simply shape it to their desires, resulting in a tool that perfectly reflected the owner's wishes, and one that already had enough Geo within to manipulate.
Aether, unfortunately, wasn't creative enough to think up something so specialized on the spot. (He'd have to give that talent to either Makoto or Ei.)
Little pebbles like these were enough.
Carefully aiming each one, the rocks were sent hurtling towards the explosive projectiles, detonating each one in the sky, saving the grass they stood on.
Now.
True to his word, Aether's sword struck like thunder, piercing the glowing optic of the Ruin Hunter and shattering the machine's core for good. The engines belched out their last as the ancient technology could rest for good.
"Silly-churl, billy churl…" From behind? What now?
Aether turned to the noise, brainstorming on what other ruined machines he saw during their fight as the ghost stuck their tongue out at him.
"Silly-billy hilichurl…"
An aggressive remark was well on its way through the Traveller's throat before he stopped himself.
…Kids would still be kids, right? One of them could be asking him to create enough light to turn night into day while the other tried to split his torso into pieces with technology from a fallen civilization.
…On second thought, that didn't sound right at all.
"Can you stop scaring the people at the Inn?" What was the Prince supposed to say in this situation?
They just pouted at him.
"...Please?" Aether hadn't said that word in a while, that had to affect the brat in some way, right?
The ghost merely stuck their tongue at him, chin up, eyes that shone like a white flame looked up, glaring.
He just returned the glare, causing literal bolts of Electro to spark in the air, the overloaded Ruin Hunter discharging all the excess it could.
Then she just laughed as the thin veil that obscured her body from the naked human eye faded away, allowing him to finally see the spirit's full form.
"I'll stop spooking the guests…" They let out in between fits of laughter.
"...But you better come play, or else Dusky Ming's coming for you~" The apparition faded to nothingness, as if the ghost named Dusky Ming never existed at all.
Aether shook his head as he returned to Wangshu Inn. The whole ordeal was tiring and a tiny bit confusing, but the spirit in question, not having any ties left and just wanting to have fun, was refreshing. Archons know how many were in Enkanomiya.
Smiley Yanxiao was true to his word, a fresh bowl of Almond Tofu awaited the Traveller. Still, he had to make a dish of his own to accompany the meal.
Food worthy enough for immortals like the Adepti…
…If only the deities he'd gotten to know over the years were extraordinary in their culinary knowledge. Aether was sure Rex Lapis could make a perfectly serviceable dish, but Raiden Makoto and especially Raiden Ei? There wasn't anyone that was capable of dethroning their shared throne of suspiciously dangerous abominations.
Goosebumps crawled along Aether's skin as he shaked those horrors from his mind, the Almond Tofu was the main course here, his dish didn't have to upstage it. Unsure of the best option, the Traveller settled on a Satisfying Salad. The end result wasn't his finest work, but surely good enough to accompany the tofu.
The Prince brought the two plates to the balcony, using the smallest amount of Anemo energy he could manage to carry the aroma of the two foods and allow them to permeate throughout the air.
A puff of green smoke erupted a few feet away from him, and there they were. The Conqueror of Demons. Admittedly, compared to Bosachius, this Yaksha looked a little… plain?
"...You." Aether just presented the Almond Tofu and Satisfying Salad, saw the Adeptus take the first bite, and began to explain what the situation over at Liyue Harbor was, assuming the time limit was how long it took them to eat the two dishes.
Xiao only reacted to Aether's words after the food was gone, the Almond Tofu did wonders, perhaps the Traveller should ask for more from Yanxiao before he left?.
"Rex Lapis… Though times have changed, I've never imagined a Liyue without him." The Yaksha breathed, eyes closed in thought.
"...What will the Adepti do?" It was like talking to himself all over again.
"Adepti do not turn on their responsibilities." The Conqueror of Demons affirmed, looking out to the mountains.
"Allow me to seek the others out, make your own decision first." Aether offered.
"Mortal souls are not as robust as those of an Adeptus, you'd be dead once you meet another of us." Xiao crossed his arms, baffled that the man was so reckless.
"I'm not mortal, unfortunately." The Vigilant Yaksha raised an eyebrow.
"...And I'm fairly certain that this belongs to you." Aether brought the Calamity Queller back into existence, no imperfections.
"Where did you get that?" The Conqueror's voice gained an ominous tone.
The Prince could only sigh.
"...Five hundred years ago, in the Chasm's Bed, the Millelith left behind were all gathered, and the monsters down there had died some time ago." The Traveller's voice became somber, things were much simpler back then.
"A four-armed Yaksha was among them, alongside the device that was used to seal the area off…"
"...Seeing as the threat was gone, a man convinced the Yaksha to bring whoever they could back to the surface." Bosachius had long lost himself, it was difficult.
"In order to ensure the seal could be closed again, someone had to be left behind." Alongside the Fantastic Compass.
"...You're hiding something." Xiao stated.
He was hiding something.
"Perhaps, but it's not my right to speak of it." The man responsible for that miracle was no more.
"Keep the spear. It's no one's weapon now." The Last Yaksha simply said.
"...Very well."
"You'll find Moon Carver deep within Jueyun Karst, he's quite lenient so long as you have that Sigil of Permission, don't lose it."
After grabbing some more Almond Tofu ,things were finally back on track.
Unlike with Tartaglia, Aether didn't forget to ask Xiao where the Adepti were this time, and the close proximity of Jueyun Karst with Wangshu Inn meant he didn't have to go far to get there, the Teleport Waypoints he'd set up there have gone unused, intruding into the domain of an Adeptus was a good way to anger them.
To be fair to the Aether of back then, wasn't he doing the same right now?
In the distance, he saw a plain wooden cabin, light pouring out from the windows to the outside, were there actual humans who lived here nowadays? Adepti of now were merely myths to the average commoner, to live among them was impressive.
After following the path up Qingyun peak, Aether saw talismans hung up in the trees. While the ritualistic objects weren't in good shape, the trees from which they hung from were relatively young, was this an ancient site of an exorcism of sorts? A stone circle was made in the center, but its age didn't match the rest of the area.
"And who might they be? Those that dare enter Jueyun Karst?" It seems like the recently hung talismans were the least of his worries right now.
"I was sent here." The Prince sent himself here, did that count? Or was it the Liyue Qixing, since he's here to dispel their suspicions of him? He was sent here, that was all that mattered.
The Sigil of Permission shined brightly in the palm of his hand, reacting to the presence of an Adeptus. Two amber eyes appeared from the shadow of a cliff, and then the Adeptus named Moon Carver revealed themselves. They looked a lot like an animal that the Traveller had seen in another world, what was it called, a beer?
"A Sigil of Permission? Very well, One will hear you out." Asking them to tone down their booming voice was a good first idea, but Rex Lapis' untimely death took priority.
So Aether told Moon Carver the entire situation, minus the fact that he was being suspected of planning the whole thing.
"Preposterous." It was like a Pyro slime had exploded in his ear.
The silence was oppressive, the air felt difficult to breathe in, and twice as hard to exhale from his lungs, to the point where the Traveller had to stop breathing for a moment and watch the Adeptus quietly seething in front of him.
"Preposterous!" The talismans hanging around them began to shake, some even fell down.
It was times like these where Aether was grateful that he didn't need to actually breathe in air, the Prince could swear that he saw the air shimmering around him, the temperature started to rise with Moon Carver's voice.
"...One implores you to bring a message to Mountain Shaper and Cloud Retainer." The heat dissipated, sparing everything near the Adeptus from a fiery demise. The Traveller internally sighed in relief.
Aether was going to have to talk to those two regardless.
The "calmest" of the Adepti that Xiao mentioned, it was a tad bit worrying if that had been their reaction to the Geo Archon's passing.
Still, one down, two to go, easier to think of it that way.
"Mountain Shaper resides on Mount Hulao, keep that Sigil of Permission in your hands at all costs. Though it won't stop them from provoking you, they can't kill you while the Sigil is there."
So…
"Thank you, mighty messenger of the Adepti, we won't trespass the realm of the Adeptus any longer!" The two brothers named Li Ding and Li Dang hurriedly bowed and booked it to anywhere that wasn't Jueyun Karst, shards of amber still clinging onto Li Dang's shirt.
…Xiao wasn't kidding when he said Mountain Shaper had a temper. By saving the brothers from certain death by amber, the Traveller was likely the next target of the Adeptus, great.
Aether took a moment to sit down on a nearby rock, contemplating his next move and what to say to the angered Illuminated Beast, and found he couldn't move.
…?
He couldn't open his eyes, it felt like a strange sort of slime had enveloped him, but the concentrated elemental presence that was present in all slimes wasn't there, nor were there any sounds to indicate a mechanism.
"We followed the path up the mountain, but suddenly, the amber… it swallowed up my brother! Before I could do anything else, some of it was already crawling up my hand, I couldn't even scream!" The words of the previously trapped Li Ding ran through his head.
So that's what this is…
It didn't count as harming Aether, but had he had any need for air, it would've killed him nonetheless. How petty of a deity. There wasn't a future he could imagine that didn't end in this mountain existing once Mountain Shaper heard of Rex Lapis' death.
The amber shattered around the Prince as Geo constructs of his own pelted the fragile rock, allowing him to free himself through his own strength afterwards. Could he strike a deal with Mountain Shaper to ensure the mountain isn't destroyed later? The Traveller begrudgingly realized there wasn't anything he could offer to the Adeptus.
No, think.
Mount Hulao was the only place in all of Teyvat that had this amber phenomenon, it had to have some value to Mountain Shaper if they chose to make this place their home, the man had taken plenty of risks, now seemed like another decent time to do so.
Aether reassured himself that he didn't have to do anything to keep the mountain safe, and ran up the mountain as quickly as he could, making sure to avoid anything strange in the ground as a safety precaution. Flying straight to the top was tempting, but there was only so much disrespect an Adeptus would tolerate, right?
The blonde had barely made it to the top before coming face to face with the Adeptus named Mountain Shaper, an elegant beast in the form of a crane, dark brown feathers interwoven with yellow, like he was staring down a Geovishap.
"...You." Mountain Shaper snarled. "Intrude upon the sanctity of this mountain, destroy its amber, and free thieves from the consequences of their own ignorance." The entirety of Mount Hulao groaned with each word that the deity spoke.
"Their actions were an affront to us Adepti, but you are an abomination of the highest order!" Well, they weren't wrong about him.
"...All I ask is that you hear me out." Aether held out the Sigil of Permission, meeting the Adeptus' glare with his contrasting dull stare.
"One is aware of the Sigil of Permission, now that it has come to this, speak."
And speak was what Aether did, forming words like he would defuse a bomb, and after everything was said and done, the only thing Mountain Shaper did was mutter to themselves before flying off.
Really? The Traveller carefully sat on a rock he deemed safe, staring at a peculiar plant that had amber crystals lining the roots. They shook their heads, it wasn't growing along the roots, it sprouted from them. So the rock came from a plant, meaning the entire mountain was full of these strange root systems, and Mountain Shaper could manipulate the aforementioned root system? He should've asked the Adeptus before they took off.
One left.
"Cloud Retainer resides on Mount Aocang, aside from myself, they've had the most interactions with mortals over the years. Still, stay vigilant."
After temporarily being swallowed up by a living amber of sorts, Aether was definitely taking the words of the Conqueror of Demons to heart, perhaps a little too much, though.
As he was already at the peak of Mount Aocang, with no Adeptus in sight. Compared to the ludicrous amounts of amber back on Mount Hulao, the stone platforms, with spiral markings crudely engraved into each one, all leading to a simple assortment of three chairs and a table. It wasn't something he'd prefer over Makoto's own tableware back at Inazuma, but it held the same simplistic tranquility.
The table was divided into three equal portions, with small words engraved into each area.
On one side, a bowl and chopsticks lay unused for centuries, read Here sits Guizhong.
Another text, this time accompanied by a wine jar, a small ceramic cup, and the same bowl and chopsticks of the previous one, read Here sits Retainer.
The last one, which had nothing at all, read Here sits Rex.
Before anything more could be done, a prickly chill ran down Aether's spine, he was being watched.
The Prince turned toward the presence, and sure enough, someone was there, on the opposite end of the pond, there was something off about them, though.
They weren't an Adeptus at all.
"What business do you have here?" The woman spoke, revealing an ordinary spear.
"I merely wish to speak to Cloud Retainer." Aether backed away from the table and held his ground at the water's edge, ready to dodge.
"They are preoccupied at the moment, leave."
"...I'm afraid I can't leave without doing so."
"Then…" She disappeared in a burst of Cryo energy, reappearing directly in front of him, spear poised to strike.
Already expecting an attack, Aether nimbly rolled to the side, materializing his sword.
"I will have to make you." His attacker finished, holding out a glowing talisman.
Behind her was… another person? The figure in question was completely engulfed in Cryo energy, and had features identical to the person in front of them. This exorcist manipulated the frigid energy of Cryo like one would do to Geo, an apprentice of Cloud Retainer's?
"I'm not here to fight." The Traveller calmly stated, holding his sword up defensively, the time he'd spent training with Raiden Ei was in the forefront of his mind, recalling everything she'd taught him.
The wielder of Cryo ignored his words, unleashing a circle fully enveloped in the chilling energy, slowing down the Prince's movements, limiting his vision.
Usage of another element to dispel the attack would end up with either the environment being destroyed, or someone getting hurt. These Adepti were more of a problem when they weren't there.
Your guard is lacking. Her words echoed through his head.
…I know.
Under the cover of the blizzard, the first attack came.
Aether sidestepped from the thrust and grabbed onto the handle, wrenching it from his opponent's grasp and snapping the weapon in two, throwing the halves towards a random direction.
Without saying a word, he brought out the Sigil of Permission, its golden glow overpowering even the raging blizzard the exorcist had summoned, and drawing a muted gasp from them, the Cryo energy was immediately dispelled right after.
"That's…" She trailed off, flabbergasted.
"...A Sigil of Permission." Another voice boomed, followed by the noise of flapping wings, soon after, the Adeptus named Cloud Retainer landed between the two of them, facing him.
"One hasn't seen it many ages. One asks that you excuse Shenhe's actions, she simply followed One's directions." Cloud retainer said, extending a wing towards the ashamed lady, snow white hair had gotten wet from the melting ice that covered them both.
"I see, I come bearing a message." Best to ignore the fight that had just occurred.
"One permits you to speak." Aether repeated the same set of words he'd said to Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper, in the same order, in the same cautious manner.
Had it not been for the table Cloud Retainer had for Guizhong and Rex Lapis, he felt as if this mountain really wouldn't be on the map anymore. Despite Xiao emphasizing Mountain Shaper's temper, (Alongside experiencing it firsthand in the form of amber.) The one with the worst reaction to the news ended up being Cloud Retainer, with Shenhe awkwardly watching from the sidelines.
"One has to consult with the others at once." The Adeptus announced, looking at their apprentice with urgency. "Shenhe, head to Liyue Harbor at once, One shall inform you of the people's fate in time."
The people's fate?
Did they mean reassuming control from the Liyue Qixing, or outright annihilating the entirety of the harbor as an act of revenge? The former was the more logical answer, but the duties of Adepti were usually in the form of fighting, history and the people today have confirmed as much.
Aether's stomach boiled at the thought of seeing Liyue Harbor meeting its end at the hands of immortals, no matter how much he assured himself it wouldn't happen, he'd seen something similar happen five hundred years ago.
He won't let this be another Khaenri'ah.
"Liyue Harbor…" Shenhe muttered monotonously, staring at the sky where Cloud Retainer had already left.
Then came a rumble.
It wasn't the ground shaking type, nor was it loud, comparing it to the booming voices of the Adepti, it was almost a whimper. The source of which was from none other than Shenhe, looking at her stomach intently.
"...You need to eat, here." Aether decided, taking out the Almond Tofu he had acquired from Smiley Yanxiao before going to Jueyun Karst. Without a word, she took the food and scarfed it all down, only slightly slower than Xiao had done.
"...Thank you." Shenhe breathed afterwards.
"Do you know how to get to Liyue Harbour?" The Traveller asked, to which she shook her head.
"...I can take you there." He offered.
Shenhe nodded.
"One more thing…" Xiao continued.
"Once the killer comes to light and punishment is dealt, lead me to Bosachius."
"...Are you certain?" Aether questioned. "So long as the Fantastic Compass is intact inside, we can get back out, but if it isn't…" He'd rather not have two dead Yaksha down there instead of the one.
"Leave that issue to me." The Last Yaksha didn't leave any room for arguments.
.
…Tracing to the source, no more strayed or lost…
.
AN:
The entire premise of this story relies on going against lore that's already been stated as fact, I just hope I didn't push it too far… Besides that, thanks for the reviews, still up on the fence on a beta reader, but I'll bring it up again once I make a decision.
