"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Those were the questions posed to the Descender by the god with a childlike appearance, the god trapped in a gilded cage in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
"You can call me Adham, or you can call me Xun. I'm fine with either," the enigmatic man answered and Nahida watched as he brutally tore her constraints apart, freeing her from her cage.
"You seem angry," she stated as she took her first step outside her confinement ever since she was imprisoned here by the Sages. She had voluntarily left the ruling of Sumeru to the Sages and had fallen into slumber for a while, only to wake up and realise that the entirety of Sumeru's political scene had been turned upside down.
"What have you done to the Akademiya?" She questioned the man that she could not yet determine to be a friend or foe, unsure of his purpose of freeing her and seeking her out.
"Razed it."
An awkward silence fell upon them for a short moment. Nahida briefly connected herself to the Akasha to get the answer she seeks.
"What have you done to the Sages?"
"They wanted me dead for something I never committed, so I decided to be petty and ruin everything they held dear," he answered. Nahida did not sense a shred of lie in his words, but continued to stare at him in the eye until he was willing to divulge more because there's definitely more to this than it seems on the surface.
"Argh whatever," he eventually caved and tiredly ran a hand through his hair. "You are the god of dreams, aren't you? Take a look into my mind and see for yourself. I'm… very tired. I'm tired of everything."
She sensed the lethargy in his words. Not just the physical sense, but she could sense that he's so very tired with life as if he did not have a purpose, like a caged bird that's been suddenly let out of its cage and suddenly not knowing where it should go, having no destination in mind.
"You… You are not from this world," she stated in surprise when she finally gleaned the answer from his memories. Not just that, he had died twice and somehow, he time travelled every time he died.
"You are about… three hundred years "pre-canon" now," she told him, using the term he would be familiar with when this world was just a game to him. The Akademiya is in shambles right now and her people are in a panic so there's a limit to the attention she could spare him at this moment, but she's certain that he does not mean any harm after he lay his mind bare for her to see.
Lesser Lord Kusanali had no choice but to step up with the Akademiya in a standstill and barely able to proceed with its daily operations. If Adham's memories are accurate the Akademiya would one day commit the Sabzeruz Festival samsara, something which she will never stand for. If that's the case Adham might actually be doing her a favour by ruining the Akademiya for her.
Thankfully, he did not destroy the Akademiya nor did he kill any of the current Sages. Sumeru still needs the Akademiya and it was something that Adham understood as well. Should she thank him for being merciful?
"You have decided to step up and take an active role to govern Sumeru?"
"Your memories have shown me that it's an inevitable outcome. In that case, I might as well start early. What about you? What are your plans going forward?"
"I… don't know," he admitted. "I'm getting a little sick of the whole dying and reincarnating act. This is only my third cycle but every time I wonder if this will be a permanent thing, everything starts to feel like a neverending nightmare and the thought of it suffocates me. I don't even know if the lives I led are within the same timeline, the same world, or that every reincarnation I find myself in are simply parallel worlds of each other."
"I wish I could say I empathise, but I cannot as I've never heard of anything like this before. If it helps… I can allow you to access Irminsul? Would that be of help to you in searching for an answer to your queries?"
"You would allow it?"
"I think you can be trusted. Why? Do you doubt the choices made by the God of Wisdom?"
That was how their relationship was forged. She would step up and take control of Sumeru, managing the nation's affairs and establishing a brand new governance under her name. She is all the people of Sumeru can rely on now with the Akademiya nearly in shambles.
Meanwhile, he would spend most of his time immersing himself into the memories of Irminsul, searching for an answer of why he's here or what could have caused him to repeatedly reincarnate at vastly different points in time. He found his first friend, who's now still "Scaramouche" rather than Junjou. He found records of the Guhua Clan, but as his current time is still one hundred years earlier than the supposed time he became a disciple of the clan there's nothing much he could learn and verify against the experience he had lived through in his second cycle.
But he did learn many things from Irminsul. Be it combat arts, general knowledge, secrets… he had a glimpse of many of them and should he ever have a fourth cycle or even beyond, then this might prove to be useful to him for his future journeys.
More interestingly, through the knowledge of Irminsul the Descender had slowly come to believe that he somehow has the ability to exert influence over the concept of "time". It would make sense with what Junjou had mentioned that time seemed to quicken or slow slightly when he's pushed into a corner, or how his master would comment how his Hydro powers seemed to "revert" injuries rather than "heal". All of his investigations had come to a dead end thus far but it's an interesting direction to further his research regarding the enigma that is his existence.
"The Withering… Can it really not be stopped through any other means?"
Nahida was privy to how the Withering was eventually cured through his memories, but it's something that she's reluctant to see through as she does not want to forget Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. She still has time, she would convince herself. She is the God of Wisdom so she should be able to come up with a plan that allows her to remove the Withering while preserving the last vestiges of the Greater Lord at the same time.
"The forest never forgets… yet they would eventually forget all about her all the same," he stated wistfully.
"Theoretically speaking, people like you wouldn't, the Descenders," Nahida pointed out. "But if there's a day where I have to commit a similar sacrifice that the Greater Lord wished to do, would you… remember me?"
"Please, I find it much more difficult to forget about you than to remember you," he snorted. "If anything, it should be me asking you if you would still remember me after I'm long gone."
"I think I will," she smiled. "After all, you are the most interesting thing to have happened to me in the two hundred years of my life. If I ever see you again in the future in one of your future reincarnations I will be sure to say hi!"
"I will hold you up to that."
Perhaps when they made that promise, neither the Lesser Lord Kusanali nor the Descender would imagine that they would have to put it to the test soon.
"Another outbreak of Withering spots… Nahida, I don't think we can continue like this for much longer."
"I… I'm trying!" She insisted. There was a sharp spike in the outbreaks of Withering Spots in recent months and Sumeru is in a huge panic. More and more monsters are appearing thanks to the withering and it is having a huge impact on the citizens' lives. More and more Rangers have fallen in the line of duty trying to protect the nation and something must be done to address this problem immediately.
According to Adham's memories everything was still fine even three hundred years later until the Traveler came along, where the Withering was eventually removed from its source through the erasure of the Greater Lord's presence in the Irminsul. That meant that the Sages of the Akademiya must have succeeded somehow in that timeline.
She was of the belief that she would be able to find the perfect solution to the problem by then, but she had not yet succeeded in this task. If she could not stop the Withering, wouldn't that mean that she's not any better than the Sages?
What kind of Archon would she be then? Would she be an Archon worthy to lead her people and Sumeru?
"Nahida," he gently took her hands away from the Akasha when it looked like the Archon was about to go crazy in her one track desire to find the perfect solution to the problem currently plaguing Sumeru. "You are Sumeru's Archon."
You are Sumeru's Archon, those four words hit her with the weight of the world. At the same time, those four words were also the answer of what she has to do as Sumeru's Archon to protect the nation and her people.
"I… I understand," she tried her best to resist the urge to sob. They will have to undergo that same process which Adham's memories showed that she will do in the future, removing the source of the Withering through removing the source of her previous incarnation, the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. There's no other way left. They do not have the time to search for a "perfect" solution.
"I will assist to contain the damages from the monster outbreak and the Withering. Remember, you are not alone," he promised.
"Take this," she gave him a silver twig as he headed out of the Sanctuary of Surasthana. "It will grant you my protection and it can also allow us to communicate in real time. Just like a… phone? I believe you had such devices in your home world."
"Thank you," he accepted her gift with a smile on his face. "It's beautiful."
"I will also have you know that this twig also signifies you as my very first Sage. Lesser Lord Kusanali's very first Sage, the First Sage of Buer. Aren't you honoured?" She declared proudly with her hands on her hips and he laughed.
"Yes, I'm honoured. Let's meet again once this is all over, Nahida."
"Stay safe."
They left for their respective destinations. She towards Irminsul, and he towards the Withering Spots where the effects of the outbreak had hit the worst.
The situation on the ground was very similar to what he experienced in his second cycle when they had to make their stand at the entrance of The Chasm. Many lives were already lost and everything was simply a chaotic mess. There were not many combatants left.
Let's see how well the Dendro element could fuse into the Guhua arts, the Descender thought to himself as he calmly walked to the frontlines under the eyes of many. They do not know who he is for he had never shown his face after he had single handedly ruined the Akademiya and freed their Archon. Nahida had respected his wishes and hid him from the public eye under her Sanctuary of Surasthana where he spent most of his time. Neither did Sumeru know that he's now the First Sage of Buer and thus, a legitimate vassal of the Dendro Archon.
Huh, a vassal to an archon. Now that's a new achievement that he unlocked.
"Don't take another step forward! It's dangerous! The Withering and the monsters–!"
One kind hearted Ranger warned him of the danger ahead. The army was forced to stay their ground along the boundaries of this particular Withering Spot because they had no protection against the corruption of the Withering, much less fight against the monsters that were attracted to the corruption and dwelled within the miasma.
"I'll be fine," Adham calmly intoned. He had faced worse in his second cycle back at the Defense of the Chasm.
He calmly strode into the Withering spot, his steps getting gradually quicker until it eventually broke out into a sprint when the monsters within finally spotted him. Using the knowledge he gleaned from Irminsul he now possessed the knowledge to reforge the Blackcliff Sword and Prototype Starglitter, which he did and held within his hands. The epitome of the Guhua arts, Life Ender, made its reappearance once more but now at a higher level than what the Descender was able to achieve previously ever since he managed to successfully incorporate the element of Dendro into his combat style.
The unknown enigma successfully dispelled the Withering under everyone's eyes of disbelief. They had witnessed how the man with a sword in his right and spear in his left subdued the rampaging monsters and used a silver twig to dispel the corruption polluting the area. He is a hero, their saviour, and perhaps Sumeru's last hope.
Nobody in Sumeru ever relied on gods ever since their Greater Lord had left them, until the unknown enigma raised the silver twig in the air as it released a burst of Dendro that soothes everyone's wounds in a calm glow.
"I am the First Sage of Buer, a vassal of Lesser Lord Kusanali! Lesser Lord Kusanali is doing her best to dispel the root of the Withering! Now, we must do all we can to buy her as much time as we need! Fight, citizens of Sumeru! For our Archon, for our people, for Sumeru! Nobody but us can defend our own home!"
Nobody in Sumeru ever relied on gods ever since their Greater Lord had left them, until the First Sage of Buer came and rallied them together to defend their homes from a calamity.
The worst Withering Spots were cleared in quick succession as Nahida remotely guided him to them through the silver twig she gave him. The rapid and successive victories swiftly raised the morale of Sumeru's troops to an all time high as everyone placed their trust in their Archon's chosen Sage who had come to save them in their greatest time of need.
They had not been forsaken. Sumeru still has an Archon and they are still under her divine protection.
"This is the seventeenth one we cleared. How are you doing?"
"I'm making progress, I will be able to remove the tumour in Irminsul soon. Are you sure you are alright?" Nahida asked with a slight frown on her face. It's been almost two months since they embarked on their quest to save Sumeru. She could hear the abnormality in his breathing through the communication established using the silver twig she gave him.
"Just tired," he easily lied as he sat with his back against a boulder in the desert of Sumeru. He's skilled but ultimately, a mere mortal. He was already injured in several places as he ventured from one Withering spot to the next. He had hid his injuries well because Sumeru needs the First Sage of Buer right now. Sumeru needs their Archon right now and he is her representative. The people of Sumeru need to have someone or something to place their faith in in this time of need.
"I'm off, catch you later," he ended the call when he realised he might have given something away and he's not interested to know how angry Nahida will be when she found out that he's hiding his injuries from her.
An ominous premonition built inside Nahida long after their call ended and when she was unable to resist it any longer, decided to spare some of her attention to tap into the all encompassing reach of Irminsul to keep an eye on her chosen Sage and friend. Imagine her shock when she found him at the largest Withering Spot in the desert that she repeatedly warned him to stay away from.
She immediately established a connection with him.
"Adham, where are you?"
This was his last chance to be truthful with her.
"In the desert."
"You are not supposed to be there, I didn't direct you to go there," she spoke, her voice quivering. She warned him away from that area precisely because she's aware how dangerous things could be over there.
"It's a little too late for that now, I'm afraid," he replied, and she could hear how his breaths were turning irregular, his panting getting more and more audible. "Sumeru… needs the First Sage of Buer here, at the worst hit spot in the nation. Aaru Village is just behind us and we have not finished evacuating everyone."
"You…" She wanted to scream, to scold him for his idiocy, but knew it was all for naught. Aaru village did not worship or view her as their Archon because they are descendents and followers of the Scarlet King. They had never gotten along with mainland Sumeru and she could already imagine how resistant they were in obeying the orders from her newly restructured Akademiya to leave their homes and evacuate. It must have wasted a lot of time, precious time that Adham could have used to escape until escape is no longer an option because now he has to stay behind and buy time for the people behind him to escape.
A huge outbreak of monsters is currently heading for Aaru Village as they speak.
"Please, leave," she begged. "I… I will do something about this! I swear I can! I… I am Sumeru's Archon, I-!"
"And leave Irminsul as it is?" He rebuked and she fell silent. "Have more faith in me, Nahida. I am your chosen Sage."
The cloud of dust they spotted ahead was getting larger and larger and he was certain that it was not his imagination. Monsters are coming, a huge wave of them. The citizens of Aaru Village finally realised that the Akademiya scholars were not pulling their leg and for once, the distrust they had for each other had backfired in the worst possible way.
"Leave, there's a very huge Withering spot that just emerged ten kilometres to the northeast! Monsters will arrive very soon!"
"Do you think we will just leave our ancestral lands just because you say so, Akademiya dogs?! We are not leaving! This is not mainland Sumeru, this is Aaru Village! The Scarlet King will watch over us!"
The endless back and forth would have continued for even longer until Adham finally lost his temper.
"Who's the village leader?" He asked, and when nobody answered, he unleashed his sword in one swift strike, infusing his blade with Anemo as it cut down the edge of a nearby cliff in one powerful slash.
"I will ask once more, who's the leader?"
Nobody dared to say otherwise after that. The village leader had to step up and assist everyone in the village to evacuate under Adham's forceful intervention.
Although, now is too late for that.
"We will stay and help. This is our village."
Adham glanced back at the men standing behind him together with the soldiers provided by the Akademiya. They are all residents of Aaru Village. Perhaps they were feeling remorseful after realising that their refusal to cooperate had now resulted in everyone from the army needing to stay back and hold the monsters long enough for everyone else to evacuate, but Adham could care less.
He's not capable of being able to care anymore. He had hid it well from everyone, including their Archon, but his body is about to reach its limit from throwing himself in combat repetitively over and over again without rest. That show of strength when he cut off a piece of the cliff also took quite a bit out of him.
This battle… will be his last.
"I'm really happy to have met you," Adham continued speaking through the silver twig after Nahida fell silent. "Don't be too harsh on yourself, everybody makes mistakes and everyone will have regrets. No being is an exception to this."
"I… I don't want my regret to be…you…"
"I won't be, as long as you remember me," he replied. "Irminsul will never record my existence so… don't ever forget me, okay? You are proof that I once existed in Teyvat, in Sumeru."
"I will."
"How about I recite to you a poem I remembered from my world?" He offered as a means to divert her attention from this sorrowful topic.
"Poem?"
"It was rather famous. You might like it."
What happened next was a tragic battle that stained the sands red under the glow of the full moon. Riftwolves ran amok and tore apart any living beings they could get their jaws upon. Mechanical weapons that were left behind as legacies of Khaenri'ah stormed through the sands and marched in the direction of Aaru Village as those who stayed behind shouted their last cries before charging to their valiant deaths.
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Fire burned and sands swirled. Amidst them all one figure was successively cutting down monsters after monsters, Ruin Drakes after Ruin Drakes fell successively under the brilliant shine of elemental powers.
"Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night."
A gigantic Ruin Guard broke through the sands. People soon identified it as the gigantic mechanical wonder that previously lay dormant at the Valley of Dahri. People presumed it was no longer functional, yet it's now here for reasons unknown. Battered and worn, but still working and posing a lethal threat to their homes.
"Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
A powerful blast of Anemo tore a way through and people watched as the First Sage of Buer made his charge. He's barely the thickness of the Ruin Guard's foot, like an ant in front of an elephant, yet he never retreated.
The surviving fighters charged. Like the Sage had said when he first made his appearance and dispelled the first Withering spot, nobody but them can defend their own home.
"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night."
The Ruin Guard gave a disinterested glance at the worm beneath its feet and stomped, removing its feet and finding nothing underneath, simply presumed that the obstacle had been pressed into the dirt in an unrecognisable stain of blood and flesh. It continued its march forward, unaware that the being it viewed as an ant had somehow managed to swiftly climb up its right arm, running across it and reaching near its core before it realised it was too late.
His spear was already broken, his sword chipped and broken, yet his fighting spirit burnt brighter than the sun under the glow of the full moon. The Ruin Guard spotted him too late and tried shaking him off, finally recognising the potential threat this unknown foe might pose but tried as it might, he stubbornly stayed attached and inched closer to its core with every step.
"Guhua Sword: Rain Cutter!"
Blades of Hydro manifested and rained down in a curtain shower with a swing of his blade, destroying integral parts of the machine's joints to stall it for a brief moment as he used this opportunity to quickly close the gap. The Ruin Guard finally felt threatened, its mechanical mind making the decision to detach its right arm in order to preserve its integral structure. Its mechanical mind had calculated that no human could make the leap to reach its core once its arm was detached.
It was right, the First Sage of Buer wasn't able to cross that vital distance to take it down under normal means. Rain Cutter wasn't able to reach it.
Unfortunately for it, his very first friend wasn't exactly normal either. Junjou had taught him all of his tricks before they were separated worlds apart.
Hanega: Song of the Wind
The winds swirled and he rose, flying through air and the sight of it briefly stunned the Ruin Guard, who was unable to comprehend what just happened. The First Sage of Buer finally reached where he wanted to arrive, standing atop the Ruin Guard's head as he held his sword high above his head in a reverse grip pointing downwards towards where the Ruin Guard's eye was.
Where its core will be.
The sword fell.
"Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
The Ruin Guard sputtered with erratic sparks. A loud explosion ensued as the gigantic form of the machination finally fell over and burned in a blaze of fire. The remaining fighters roared, the embers of their fighting spirit fully ignited in a fiery inferno.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Weeks later, the source of the Withering had finally been removed and with it, the unfortunate removal of all memories of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. The remaining Withering spots were also either eliminated or are temporarily under control, allowing the Akademiya to follow up at a later time without needing the assistance of their Archon. As time passed Sumeru gradually prospered under the wise rule of their archon as they sang praises of Lesser Lord Kusanali, and Nahida eventually waited long enough to see to the arrival of the other Descender, the Traveller, which he told her about from his memories. Things really did pan out as he told her to be.
Even long after the Traveller left Sumeru the God of Wisdom sat there alone in her Sanctuary of Surasthana. She was alone, then she had him for company for fifteen years, the happiest fifteen years of her long life. She was glad to have met him.
But now, as she sat on her swing and held the burnt silver twig in her hand, she never felt more empty. That sense of loneliness, it really felt like it would swallow her whole.
"Liar," she sobbed as she held the twig close to her chest. "You said you won't be my regret. You…"
Liar
.
.
.
He awoke with a violent jolt. He's getting used to suddenly dying and then waking up in an unfamiliar place in a strange land at this point. A quick asking around confirmed that he's still in Sumeru, but now in present time where all the canonical events would take place.
He's elated. For the first time in three– no, four lives, he finally was able to verify the oddity of his circumstances for himself.
"Lesser Lord Kusanali… never made an appearance?"
Shockingly, everything was still the same before he intervened. Nahida was never freed from the Akademiya. There was no Withering outbreak at Aaru Village three hundred years ago. Things just… were the same.
He felt a little angry, sore at the fact that no matter what he did things would always end up the same. He would somehow get himself involved in some big event, he would somehow end up dying, then he would wake up and find himself in a new cycle where everything would restart. The only difference was where his starting point would be and the time period which he was dropped into.
Just why? Just who? He's sick of dying over and over again at this point and all he wants are answers.
He broke into Nahida's dreams using the techniques she had taught him when he was her Sage. The god with a childlike appearance was surprised that a human was able to break into her sanctuary of dreams, but she wasn't shocked. She even asked him the same questions she asked him when they met for the very first time.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Those words struck him harder than his numerous deaths. His worst fears came true. She never said hi to him like she promised.
Nobody remembers him. Not the forest, not Irminsul and not Nahida, who swore that she would never forget him.
Disheartened, he travelled to Huaguang Stone Forest in Liyue where he remembered the Guhua Clan built their sect. There were records of his master and his disciples, but there were no records of him having an eighth disciple which he was. He had no disciples by the name of Xun.
The Defense of the Chasm never happened either.
And as his cycles continued until around the tenth cycle the Descender finally understood. The start of every cycle is the start of a fresh blank slate of a specific time period of Teyvat's countless parallel worlds. There will be worlds where certain people and events did not occur even if most worlds are largely similar to the canonical timeline.
What truly pained him was just that no matter what he did, nobody ever remembered him.
It's an endless samsara. A never ending cycle of life and death in parallel worlds that will never remember his existence.
This is his fate, his curse.
He's Adham, a man of this earth who also went by the name of Xun, a man who's destined to live in continuity in an eternal search for answers.
He is the Forgotten Wanderer.
–Tales of a Hundred Cycles, Vol III