I finished the game, achieved both endings and then decided that it's so good I need to make a fanfic of it. 10/10, a masterpiece of a game.
Primordial Roots
Hu Tao had seen everything there was when it comes to life and death. Be it spiritual beings, restless souls, creatures of mythic properties...but this, this was different in nature.
"What could it be...?"
The thing reminded her a lot of nature but unlike nature this was new. It appeared out of nowhere near the mountains of Liyue on one of the pillar mountains. The...roots? Yes, the roots appeared in the crack of the mountain, it was small and it was supplied by an unknown source of energy. She felt it in the roots...it was primordial in nature.
No one knew of this yet considering it's practically in the middle of nowhere and she was the first to find it courtesy of the Traveller Aether wanting her to adventure with. Now that she found this...she had no idea what to do. She wanted to report it to Ganyu and have her describe her findings but the primordial nature of these roots gave her a second thought.
To temper with something unknown always led to disastrous results, history had foretold it countless times. Even now with the existence of Archons and divine beings, mortals should know what not to meddle with. Signora learnt that the hard way after trying to mess with Raiden.
"Hmm..." Hu Tao hummed in thought, trying to come up with a solution to her dilemma. "What to do?"
She observed the roots in interest, seeing its peculiar texture being hexagonic and dark in color yet was still teeming with unknown energy. Was it safe to touch it?
"...!"
Hu Tao was caught off guard when the roots began to slither within the cracks, opening up enough space for an orb to form. Her eyes widened when the orb swirls around and forms an interesting dichotomy of black and white. Just then, the orb swirls again once more and begins to form a shape of something. The form was clearly humanoid in nature but the face was feline. It popped off and the creature landed down on the ground.
Hu Tao blinks as she tries to process what had just happened.
The creature looks around in confusion before its eyes lands on her.
"An Apeman?" It said, surprised. "Where am I?"
...was it too late to refuse Aether's offer on going on an adventure with him?