It felt like she was looking at a spire that soared past the heavens.

Considering her current location, it was a thought bordering on impossibility. She was in the most prominent "building" in all of Liyue Harbor, and to top it all off, it stayed afloat by using the most significant chunk of Plaustrite that Ningguang had managed to acquire with the beautiful, straightforward powers of Mora.

So… why did the papers pile so high up for Keqing to even think of such a preposterous comparison? At this rate, she'd have to sleep for three hours a day instead of the usual four.

And because pretty much everyone working with her preferred to sleep for seven hours at least, the Yuheng ended up bearing most of the load, not that she paid it any mind, especially after what had recently happened.

Trade partners increase their prices to "Make the risk worth it." Local stores and merchants then proceeded to raise their prices just to stay afloat in the terrified city of today; alongside that, the Millelith were pushing themselves to their limit to search for the culprit, but morale was at rock bottom. And because of that, the Guizhong Ballista– or at least, what's left of it was not a priority since absolutely nobody had the time to designate who to go, how to deliver supplies, set up camp, not to mention the appraisers who had to go as well.

The current prototypes of the weapon they had could fire off one projectile before needing repairs. If the relic had just lasted a week or so longer, they'd have enough information to prepare one for battle by the end of the month.

Then again, even if they had one ready, there weren't any threats against which they could use it.

At least one that they were sure of. The self-proclaimed Prince of the Abyss Order was within their reach, but he had a difficult proposition to refuse. All the Sigil of Permissions they had at their disposal were used for the Jade Chamber, and Keqing's views regarding the divine certainly didn't help.

And then they had to go and actually do it, making contact with not just one, but several Adepti, increasing his credibility and gaining the freedom he had asked for…

…Yet here he was, walking around the Jade Chamber with Ningguang.

It wasn't any sort of idle chatter, either. The Prince wore the face he always had, and Ningguang's was far from her ordinary.

If he… come to think of it, they didn't ask for his name. If the Prince was still here after their contract had gone through, they either had a hidden agenda or were doing this solely out of the goodness of their heart.

The goodness of their heart… But they joined the Abyss Order. How contradictory.

Ningguang made a good point back then, though. If he did kill Rex Lapis, nothing stopped him from killing them on the spot or causing chaos.

Picturing carnage like that was too much at the moment.

Keqing returned to all the paperwork at hand, sifting through each one in monotone but precise patterns that she had mastered before even taking the role of the Yuheng. The Fatui were prodding into their matters much like they had done to Mondstadt before them, dubbed the "Stormterror Incident."

Information that the Knights of Favonius released to the public stated that the problem was dealt with by the collaboration of the knight's best, along with anonymous, top-class adventurers. If they somehow got their hands on the identities of those adventurers, there were already plans to hire them to assist with this disaster of a problem.

As for what the Fatui were doing now, aside from covering themselves from head to toe despite being in the sweltering heat of the day, the Northland Bank's activity had gone up to levels unseen since it was first constructed, and there were rumors that one of their thirteen Harbingers was inside Liyue Harbor at the moment, quite the opportunists, the lot of them.

The sun reached its highest point in the sky as the Yuheng dealt with walls and walls of paper, draining the ink out of several pens until they ran dry, and absentmindedly answered anyone who hurriedly walked up to her, usually with even more work in hand.

It wasn't until dusk passed and the moon began to rise that the enemy was finally vanquished, at the cost of even more ink and a hand that would likely remain sore for the rest of the month. Keqing rubbed on her wrist absentmindedly until she felt a weight on her shoulder.

"Lady Keqing." She'd have gotten a heart attack right then and there if the voice wasn't familiar.

"Oh– It's just you, Ganyu." Being able to live forever certainly allowed ample time to master everyday life. Oh, what the Yuheng wouldn't give to make no sound wherever she stepped foot.

"Lady Ningguang had something urgent to discuss with the Prince but has yet to return," Ganyu explained, making air quotes at the mention of the man's title. It was honestly adorable.

"I see…" Ningguang was way too trusting of this stranger…

…Or she'd already seen right through him. In that case, splendid skill by her. That woman was always playing a dozen angles whenever she conversed with someone. With charisma like that, a layman could mistake her for a Goddess.

"What do you think of the Prince?" Keqing asked, air quotes included.

"He's… Very active, I suppose."

"What do you mean?"

"You were drowning in all that paperwork the entire day, so you likely hadn't noticed, but the moment he returned, he'd asked if there was anything else he could do…" Ganyu patted down a piece of paper sticking out of the neat pile.

"...Almost like he's trying to atone for something."

"How could you tell?"

"I'm not sure myself, but he seems somewhat familiar. I can't remember where or when I'd seen him before." Hearing those words from someone who was functionally immortal made things worse from the inevitable headache.

So, the Prince might be…

"Where is he now?"

"They descended the Jade Chamber not long ago. The Sigil of Permission he obtained from the Fatui was confirmed to be a fake by Ningguang." Keqing quickly noticed the secretary unconsciously clenched her fist; the sacred arts of the Adepti were being mocked.

There's still time, now or never.

"I see. I'll be leaving for the day, then." The Yuheng quickly turned around but was stopped immediately.

"Wait, Keqing… You can't just follow someone like that!" Ganyu scoldingly whispered, lacking any of the formality that was to be expected of her.

"If he's not a threat, it should be fine, right?"

"Y-yes… but the assassin is still at large. If they plan on causing further disarray, a member of the Liyue Qixing is a prime target." Keqing clicked her tongue. That was a fair assumption.

"Then…" Still, this was something that the Yuheng had to confirm with her own eyes.

"...Come with me."

"...If I said no, would you still go?"

"Naturally."

And so they went, descending the Jade Chamber in silence, and it was here that Keqing noted that there weren't any signs of any weapons or power capable of downing Rex Lapis before his crash landing. Whoever had to have done so needed to be capable of flight.

Being up here gave them just the view they needed. Their unaware target was still within reach. That tuft of blonde hair was unmistakable, expertly avoiding the crowds toward a destination they couldn't be sure of from up here.

To have a clear idea of how to follow him discreetly, the descending platform did its duty at a fraction of its usual speed. The duo using it were aware of the typical risks involved and decided that wandering around the city aimlessly was a larger one than any other.

A different danger they hadn't considered was the Prince stopping and looking right at them.

The elevating platform made no noise in its descent, even after altering its speed moderately. The motion in which they looked up indicated it wasn't a coincidence either. The possibilities of how they were detected were too much for the imagination and only shrouded him in further mystery.

All the more reason to continue.

If they were suddenly knocked out of the sky right then and there, Keqing wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. Instead, he turned away a second later and continued his merry way near the docks.

…Despite their cover being blown immediately, Keqing and Ganyu had gotten the information they needed, and the Prince didn't seem to care that they were following him. Stealth was never their forte anyway. Where was Yelan when you needed her?

They sped up the platform afterward, making it down thirty seconds later. After that, following the path they'd already decided on was easy, especially as everyone was already done with the day, the last of them being the crowds the Prince had to slip through.

The Yuheng's eyes were darting about, a gloved hand ready to pull out her sword in the event of an attack. If she was some unknown leader of a faction that had been dancing around the seven nations of Teyvat, where would they be?

"Is that… him?" Ganyu quietly whispered into Keqing's ear, turning her attention to the Prince scouring a menu at the Third-Round Knockout.

"How courteous of him," She couldn't help but smirk at the display, "Let's hear him out."

After Ganyu nodded in agreement, they trod carefully in tense silence as they approached the leader of the Abyss Order, both Vision and Weapon ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.

Not a single restaurant employee questioned them as the pair sat down facing the blonde man, his single eye revealing itself for a split second as he lowered his menu before it disappeared and pulled it back up.

"Order?"

"Excuse me?" Ganyu tilted her head in confusion while Keqing raised an eyebrow.

"Your order." He pointed towards the menu still on the table.

"...You are aware of why we've come to you, right?" The Yuheng could feel one of her eyelids twitching.

"And you are also aware of where we are, order?" Was he stalling for time?

Relenting, Keqing and Ganyu took one booklet each, a motion that was more for show than anything, as they had already eaten here many times before.

"Very well, I'll have Golden Shrimp Balls." If the Yuheng didn't enjoy what would come next, she might as well enjoy herself beforehand.

"I…" Ganyu hesitated as she skimmed the menu, "...Would just like a cup of water."

"Suit yourself." The Prince raised his hand to call a waiter and quickly repeated their orders to them, doing so in a monotonous tone you'd think was coming from a corpse.

Then she noticed something strange, "You didn't order anything for yourself?"

"I'm short on Mora as of the moment, all thanks to a little thorn in my side, so I do hope you forgive me for this." The Yuheng was about to ask further, but the smell of heaven invaded her nostrils before she could get her thoughts in order, and her eyes instead decided to look for her tiny peace on a plate.

He rested his chin on his arms, "So, ask away." But they– at least, Keqing was too caught up in the food to properly commit to a conversation, so they'd made him wait for a whole ten minutes, and by then, they were wiping away the last of the crumbs with a handkerchief.

"Now, where were we…" Oh, right.

"Aside from the Fatui and their false Sigils of Permission, what else did Ningguang make you do?" The Qixing were entitled to be privy to the matters of the others, but Keqing's own work would always be her priority first.

"You were there when I first proposed communication with the Adepti," Aether tapped on his chin, sole eye closed in thought. "Aside from that, she had me collect some Plaustrite. As for what, perhaps she plans to make another Jade Chamber? You know her much better than I do."

Keqing clicked her tongue, "...What do you think, Ganyu?" When she got no response, her attention quickly shifted. "Ganyu?"

"Is that…" The Half-Qilin looked far off in the distance, a place her human eyes couldn't see.

"...I see." The Prince was similarly looking in that direction. Was she missing something here?

"Just hand over the necessary Mora, and I'll catch up to you. Feel free to leave." He held out his open palm, still as a statue. Keqing looked to Ganyu for a moment and, after receiving a nod of confirmation, took out her wallet and gave the exact amount he would need for the food.

"Keep your word." The Prince had done nothing but that since he'd made the contract, but she was not taking any risks.

Once he was presumably out of earshot, Keqing looked at Ganyu with concern. The secretary had not said anything since they'd left.

"Are you alright?" Ganyu looked like she was alternating between ecstatic happiness and impending sorrow.

"I am, just surprised." Ganyu's head snapped back up so fast it gave her heart a jump, "How much do you know of the Adeptus Cloud Retainer?"

The Yuheng racked her brain for whatever answer she could muster, "...Not much, aside from being compared to Guizhong, that is."

"She raised me, taught me so many things…" A dreamy smile graced Ganyu's lips, "...After I'd taken up my duties in Liyue, I got to see her less and less, but last I saw…" Ganyu stopped, looking ahead after Keqing followed suit.

They had stopped near a toy stand, where all the kids and their parents would usually be. Instead, the children were gathered around two people, both sporting hair that was unnaturally white, even compared to Ningguang. Under the flickering flames of the candlelight, it shined like copper. In daylight, it could be closer to a silver coloration.

"...She had a human apprentice." The Half-Qilin finished.

"...Two of them?" Ganyu certainly had no reason to lie, but there was a discrepancy in the shape of a person among them. One was playing with the children, playing with their games while sporting the blankest face Keqing had seen since the Prince. And the other one had their arms crossed, observing the group with a demeanor befitting a king of an empty kingdom.

"No, the other one is…" The secretary trailed off as she left Keqing in the dust, waving at one of the two, presumably the one with the children, if their response to Ganyu's approach was anything to go by.

"Shenhe?" Ganyu's voice wavered slightly, mirroring her fingers nervously, fidgeting behind her back.

"Ganyu…" The voice that replied was the opposite, like a clear block of ice.

"You've changed so much…" A soft whisper was all Ganyu managed as she took in the sight of a changed woman.

"...And you have not changed in the slightest." Behind the wall of ice, Keqing could detect a hint of respect.

Best that I leave them be…

Observing her surroundings, she spotted the woman who was nearby Shenhe before Ganyu had gone to greet them, inexplicably sitting down on a chair that was part of an entire set of tableware, something that wasn't there and anywhere nearby, and the furniture, in particular, weren't even of Liyue craft, what was going on?

Deciding it was not her concern, Keqing swiftly approached, bowing courteously before occupying an empty seat. "Greetings."

As the Yuheng raised her head back up, realization struck her, "Aren't you…" Keqing had only seen a glimpse of them before their detainment, but they left quite an impression, both in attitude and looks.

"...Who are you?" That question caught her off guard before she reminded herself that the person before her had only come here for the Rite of Descension. According to the Prince, they were merely there to accompany him. She'd have to dig deeper later.

She cleared her throat, "I am the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing. If I'm not mistaken, you are the one the Millelith had detained? I'd like to personally apologize for that."

"Sure…" They muttered something she couldn't quite decipher and fell back into silence. It was there that they did nothing but watch Shenhe and Ganyu reminiscing about the lives they were living.

Observing the two raised by Adepti, it was as clear as day that they were cut from the same cloth, bumbling over each other's words at least twice every minute, not to mention the long intervals of silence as they watched the sky.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." A voice Keqing had heard not even half an hour ago piped up from behind, prompting them to look at Aether slowly approaching the scene, "Seems like you've met." His eyes locked with those of the woman next to her, who responded with a half-annoyed grunt.

"Just now, anyways." A glare was sent his way, one that even she had to shy away from a little, "Mind explaining what your surprise visit a while ago was for?"

"I just had to take care of business," Aether quickly defended himself from impending wrath, "And, if the absence of a bag I'd given you a while ago is any indication, you made the most of it." He leaned a little to the right, his eye spotting something hidden from Keqing's own field of vision. "That wasn't there before, either."

With that one statement, the Prince had made their pearly white hair gain an appearance closer to that of dull rock, turned their entire body into a statue, widened their eyes so much they looked like a pond, and then reversed all of that before hurriedly walking to Ganyu and Shenhe's side.

"I didn't even get to ask for her name…" Keqing muttered, looking at the man who'd driven them away.

"If she wants to tell you, she will. For now, refer to her as 'Kaslana.'" Aether replied, watching what was now a trio engage in conversation.

"No more distractions. You have questions, ask to your heart's content." He paused momentarily, "I can't guarantee that I have the answers, nor will I share them."

"I definitely have a few." Keqing shifted to a more comfortable position. They were finally getting somewhere.

An idea quickly came to mind, "What's your name?" Come to think of it, she should've asked this from the start.

"Aether."

Keqing raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"A lot of things, but it's usually associated with the sky, ironic." He cooly replied.

"Hmph." Surprisingly simple, not one that Keqing was expecting from someone who proclaimed themselves as a prince. "You mentioned that she," the Yuheng pointed to Kaslana, "Had nothing to do with the Rite of Descension, so why is she travelling with you?"

Aether paused momentarily, closing his one eye thoughtfully before opening it again, "It's less out of necessity and more out of circumstance, if you will."

"Circumstance?"

"We rarely see eye to eye," He shrugged, gulping down a glass of water, "But I like to think I'm not entirely desensitized to others; people hardly ever get a second chance as it is, let alone a third, I'd rather not see another one wasted."

Talking from experience, huh…

"Where are you from?" She decided to press forward, but a part of her felt the inevitable was coming.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't find it on any map, consider it… erased from history." There it was.

"That only creates even more questions, Aether." Going off what he said meant they would have to look centuries back, something nobody would look forward to doing, especially for one person.

"Ones that I'd rather not answer."

"Then answer this one: are you a God?" Keqing narrowed her eyes by a fraction as she uttered the words, unsure if the answer would be the one she desired.

"...What do you think qualifies as a God?"

"Once upon a time, I was just like you, both aware of mortality and unable to truly understand how fragile it is." The prince played with a small splinter that had broken off from the aging table, blank stare as ever.

"So you admit that you are a God." Keqing was grasping at straws at this point.

"I wouldn't say that. I'd put myself in the middle between the divine and mortals. If I'd acted a bit differently back then, you could certainly consider me as one."

"Now, what does it change, knowing a little more of me?" Aether leaned forward, managing to crack the crooked furniture more, but not enough to make a big enough difference.

"It's limited your possible motives, for one." Keqing was unfazed by the advance, eyes resolute.

The Prince released a hollow sigh, "I'd told Ningguang as such, but I suppose there wasn't enough time to inform the rest of you." Aether leaned forward, his gaze growing colder, "I'd struck a deal with Morax, one that was supposed to have been fulfilled at the Rite of Descension."

"Wouldn't you have no reason to uphold your side of the deal then?" The cracks would reveal themselves the more she knew. She had to keep going.

"I'm unable to fully disclose it, but see it as the God of Contracts outsmarting me, typical." Aether begrudgingly muttered, appearing to be the slightest irritated. Hopefully, it was because of Rex Lapis and not her.

"You're not infallible, either." She noted, looking for a moment where he would slip.

"Did I appear to be?" He chuckled lifelessly, "Had everything gone my way, I wouldn't be here. Now that it's come to this, I hope things go differently for you, but if it doesn't…"

"...When the people are trampled underfoot by their own creations of stone and metal, when the fire eats their flesh and turns them into monsters of hatred, I hope you can still be proud of what you've done." Keqing felt her blood lose some warmth after hearing those words.

"...Is that a threat?" The same could be said for her tone.

"It's a… wish of mine." That didn't do anything to reassure the Yuheng.

"You'd better be referring to the last part there…"

"I am, but my optimism has died down recently, to say the least," Aether admitted, sighing, "It's certainly impressive to watch the nations grow and surpass those before them, but civilizations and their rulers rise from nothing to return to nothing; the Abyss Order is proof of this, and Liyue is no different."

"...I'm sure of that." Keqing calmed the frantic beating of her heart and stared the unknown right in his eye.

"All these tragedies that occurred not long ago have been tumultuous, perhaps even terrifying." The Yuheng admitted, and he knew that she knew of this. What was his aim?

"Even so, what about it? You just said it yourself: we're all doomed to fade away one day, so why do nothing while we can still do something?" The Yuheng was glaring at the Prince now. His mysteries be damned, she was one of the Liyue Qixing, and she'd protect her home until the end.

Keqing's bold declaration had brought nothing but silence. Even Ganyu and the others had stopped momentarily to stare at them. She may have been a little too loud.

Then Aether did the strangest thing he could've done in that situation. The stone-faced Prince of the Abyss Order allowed a ghost of a smile to grace his lips.

"I hadn't even asked a question, yet you gave me an answer. Very well…"

"...Whatever the near future holds for this land, whatever threatens the people within, I'll fight."

"You remind me of an old friend of mine. Had the circumstances of our first encounter been different, I'd have enjoyed spending more time with you. You Yuhengs are quite hard-headed." He stood up, gave the confused Qixing a short bow, and walked away.

"Where do you think you're going?" She wasn't done, not yet.

"To the incident that got me into this mess in the first place. Granted, I would've stepped in regardless." The Prince waved her goodbye, sparing a moment's glance at the others before continuing outwards.

"I didn't get everything I wanted out of him, but it's close enough to the victory I had in mind," Keqing noted as she felt a familiar presence grow closer.

"I'm afraid I'll be clocking in earlier than usual." The Yuheng told Ganyu, who had just about finished with Shenhe.

"Your early is late to everyone else. Please, Keqing, get some rest." A sly smile crept up Ganyu's face as Keqing noticed the small quip sent her way, smirking.

"Where will you go?" Keqing asked the Secretary, who looked the happiest they had been.

"I'll stay with Shenhe for now. There's still plenty I'd like to ask her."

The place that got him into this mess…

That would be–


The Guizhong Ballista.

While that wasn't what the location itself was called, it was just about the only thing left there that was still useful. The stronghold at which the weapon was stationed had been abandoned long ago, sometime after the Archon War, if Aether's memory didn't fail him.

The Prince had been here several times before, studying the relic for weeks, making sure not to leave traces of his existence behind. Aside from a close call here and there, he'd gotten all the information he needed to reproduce the Guizhong Ballista.

Whoever had destroyed it had a different idea.

All the bodies were taken away and given proper burial rites to transition to the afterlife. Still, the urgent situation at Liyue Harbor whisked away any Millelith dispatched after the attack, leaving behind the metallic smell of blood.

Ignoring the single sheet of paper left behind forced him out of the shadows, essentially painting a massive target on his back from both Qixing and Fatui alike; there was a considerable discrepancy in the evidence that had fallen into their hands. Aether knew that much. It didn't matter to whom the letter would be addressed. The Abyss Order always used the ancient script of Khaenri'ah.

Being here, where it all began, things became even more confusing.

The Millelith were human, but they were still composed of the best warriors that Liyue could offer. Even though Aether wasn't allowed access to the finer details of the incident, the amount of Millelith stationed there was no small amount.

A force large enough to slaughter the guards without having any casualties of their own should've been seen coming from a mile away. Supplying them would be even more tedious. There should've been something left behind: tracks, camps, even traces of elemental energy.

There was nothing.

Even the main objective of the attack, the Guizhong Ballista, had been done through brute force, likely something akin to a siege weapon, yet there was nothing.

Aether had already checked if anything suspicious stemmed from the city. As absurd of an idea as it was, the Northland Bank had the resources to stretch this far out to give the Fatui a foothold in the area.

He had to check for the undesirable possibility, then.

If any random passerby saw a sketchy traveller staring at a mountain for minutes without blinking, how would they react?

Thankfully, not a single soul managed to glance upon his moment of intense focus, allowing the Prince to find the gap he didn't want to see.

The minuscule marking was not given any chance. Aether's fist breached the false rock and brought its insides to light. Behind the stone was an unnaturally hollow space carved deep into the mountain, with not a single torch to light the way.

Opening the palm of his hand, a flame that belonged to him sprouted, illuminating the simple setup that occupied the corner, complete with table, ink, pen, and paper.

On the table was a map, something he was well acquainted with.

Well, that map, in particular, at least. Sketched on it with inhuman accuracy was the entirety of Liyue, with tiny pins scattered across them, each representing a Teleport Waypoint that he and the Abyss Order had erected across the landscape, making traveling across Teyvat infinitely easier.

Aether made sure that they were all safely stored away back at the stronghold of the Abyss Order, used by the Order's spies so that they knew precisely where to communicate with him. There was no need for it to be here in Teyvat.

There were more of them. The Prince had to praise the Abyss Order's otherworldy endurance. Traitor or not, they were still limited in number and had no way of reproducing or reviving the dead, not to mention the… removal of the more stubborn ones that he had done.

This revelation still didn't answer his original suspicions. If it were indeed the Abyss Order, they wouldn't have used the common language of today. They certainly didn't on one of their previous campaigns against the Darknight Hero, who he now knew was one Diluc Ragnvindr.

If it wasn't for the Order, his eyes wouldn't have looked at what little was left of a one-sided slaughter. He'd fought beside the Millelith once. They were no pushovers.

The stars weren't aligned, leaving the path ahead in shadow. Aether vowed to the Yuheng that he would fight, which he would undoubtedly do, but rushing the Abyss Order without sufficient knowledge had almost cost Dvalin their life.

Could it have been a Harbinger? Tartaglia was already in the city, yet the lack of elemental traces meant it wasn't them. Come to think of it, one of his spies had mentioned that Signora was in Mondstadt. It wouldn't be impossible to have traveled to Liyue since then.

Wait. That was it.

They had proposed something to him back at Dragonspine; did they really…?

Suddenly, he wasn't alone. There was the distinct whistling of a blade growing closer and the flowing sensation of one of Teyvat's seven elements that had no right to be here.

There was no need for conscious thought anymore. A rock pillar erupted from his feet to block the slash, crumbling as soon as it absorbed the impact, another problem of using typical rocks instead of a Geo Construct for battle.

"I see." Aether turned to meet his assassin, one of the Abyss Order, dangerously flourishing its twin blades of Hydro energy. He knelt down to grab a shard of the shattered rock that had protected him, which now had a faint blue glow emanating from inside. Crushing it in his palm, what was now nothing more than dust gathered in front of him, ready to block another blow from the attacker.

Seeing the barrier, his opponent quickly stopped its next attack, slowing down enough for him to rush forward and be the next to strike. The monster brought its blades up to block his strike, resulting in a lock neither wanted to lose.

Well, Aether assumed it didn't want to lose. He wanted to test something. Channeling as little Starlight as he could into his sword, the blade flashed with golden light for a moment and then cut through the two opposing weapons like a scissor would do paper, catching the creature off guard and severing one of its arms before it could retreat into an Abyssal rift.

Without skipping a beat, the Prince grabbed the severed arm and channeled more starlight into it, watching the limb turn into ash before fading into nothing.

That answers it…

Durin's poison from the Dark Sea couldn't be purged from Dvalin's blood by the Anemo Archon himself, and a Vision didn't fare any better. At first, he thought it was because of him not belonging to this world. Instead, it was due to the Starlight's response to the wind's yearning for freedom, a wish.

So, should he ever have to use it…

Focus.

The Abyss Order renegades had allied themselves with the Fatui. There was no time to waste.

Ultimately, the only thing that remained the same in this world was the Abyss.

So be it.

A portal of Abyssal energy responded to the Prince's summons, the other side barely visible beyond the corruption in space that the rift created.

Sorry, Makoto.

Aether wanted to say he gave it his all, but he knew it was a lie and was sick of it. Aether put a leash on the Abyss Order but applied no force. The Traveller had been cursed in the Dark Sea, the price he had to pay. The Prince allowed them to extend their reach, united under one banner.

All of that… was him.

A part of his brain that felt foreign slapped itself, almost real enough that he'd felt it physically. Almost.

After two hundred years, the hunt would begin again.


"Not a single word…" As much as Yelan would hate to admit it, the Fatui were the best at what they did.

That is to say, stringing everyone else from behind the curtains, fighting wasn't their specialty. Unfortunately for Yelan, she was not that great at it either.

Some singed hair from Electro here, a few cauterized cuts from Pyro there, and some ice on her bow that was already starting to melt was the price to pay for absolutely zero information regarding their scheme.

Although…

She snagged up some papers on the miraculously intact table. The minor scuffle had wrecked everything else in the tent. Weapons, food, and personal belongings, none of those survived, except for this lone parchment.

This isn't bad.

They had data on the Guizhong Ballista, too. It was incomplete, but it would do.

Safely tucking it away in her pouch, Yelan brought out a book.

It recalled the terrible calamity that struck five hundred years ago and the heroes who bravely stood against it to defend the land. It wasn't them that she was interested in, though.

When all hope seemed lost, a select few brave warriors had lured the monsters into the Chasm, planning to seal themselves and the creatures with them.

The dead were buried, and the losses had been mourned soon after, until reports of activity in the Chasm not even a month later. All remaining forces, even with morale at its lowest and manpower at its weakest, mobilized everything, determined to protect Liyue

until their final breath.

But from where they expected the evil that had struck their land, instead emerged those who gave themselves to the deep to trap the darkness.

When those who were once lost rested, they began to recall their experience in the deepest part of the Chasm, where nothing had ever come back.

Shifting landscapes and hellscapes born from their dreams, there was everything they had expected from such a place and more.

At one point, they were all in separate corners of what could only be described as infinity, but one thing brought them together: a man.

Said to have control over all the elements, he could easily navigate through the chaos, gathering all the scattered warriors together, where they would escape. How they did so remained unclear, and he disappeared before they had even reached the surface.

What they could recall of him was sparse, with most only remembering striking, golden eyes that lit the deep like a sun.

The name given to them? The Chasm's Light.

Yelan closed the book, wondering who she'd disguise herself as this time.

Stories just can't cut it…

Her eyes drifted towards the bracelets loosely dangling on her forearms, devices used for communication, though their durability left much to be desired. Being five centuries old would do the same to anything else.

The one thing that stayed the same was her clan's obsession with the Chasm's Light, starting from when her ancestors had been saved by that same myth.

But that was the problem with myths and legends; they are viewed under the assumption that it is a mere work of fiction.

What could Yelan do when the myth was right before her very eyes?


"You've got to be joking…" Why now?

The water near the Crux emulated a teal glow in a segmented, wavelike pattern. If one were to inspect it from up close, they probably wouldn't even know it was segmented, each about as large as a good chunk of the ship that Beidou commandeered.

"Set sail for Liyue Harbor at once!" The Captain barked, receiving an affirmative chorus of shouts as the ship readjusted its course to where it once was.

"Oh, dear…" A new yet familiar voice echoed from her side.

"Not now, Kazuha."

Why now…

There was one hell of a storm brewing. Ningguang had better be ready.


When lament becomes carol…


AN:

"This chapter took a while." Would be a bit of an understatement, not much to say other than busy. Will probably add a little tidbit on how the next chapter's doing somewhere, just not sure when. Hopefully the absurd intervals between writing this doesn't show too much in the chapter itself, if it does, a review would be appreciated. With nothing but free time ahead, the next chapter will be out sooner (Probably.)