Starbound Destiny: Mondstadt Chapter

Prologue: Everdream
Ad_Astra

-O-

The first thing he saw was the night sky.

Stars glittered the dark, boundless canvas like dust on a petri dish. It spread above him, beyond the horizons of his eyes. As he took in the view, he felt a familiar tightening on his chest.

It was not the first time he was asked to stargaze, but after a couple of these nightly outings, he came to understand two things. One, that the vastness of the night sky was only limited by his eyes, ocular tools that are limited by design; and two, that no matter how hard he tried to surpass those limits, the skies would forever be beyond his reach. A picture of hopelessness, of an insurmountable wall that bred despair.

Such was humanity's fate, he supposed. But even though he had accepted that fact, he could never feel unintimidated in the face of such…magnitude.

"The sky's quite the looker tonight, don'tcha think?"

The peppy voice of his stargazing companion, laden in an accent he couldn't quite pin down, brought him back from his reverie. He remembered breathing sharply in surprise, which he awkwardly tried to hide behind a cough. "I…I guess so," he replied while shaking his head slightly.

The person next to him—a tall woman who seemed to be well into her adulthood—offered him a knowing look which she expertly masked behind a soft giggle. "Coulda sound a bit more excited, y'know."

He blinked, realizing she had caught him off-guard, and stifled a sigh. While he appreciated her tolerance of his peculiar aversion towards the night sky, he couldn't help but feel pathetic for it. It wasn't the case that beauty intimidated him, either. He was certain that the long tresses of black hair and the green eyes on the woman's person, along with her iconic lab coat, had long been engraved into his memory, attesting to the opposite. No amount of rationale could ever truly explain why he had trouble seeing the skies in the same light as she did—or as everyone else did, for that matter. That was why he would always be a burden to them in his eyes.

"Sorry, didn't mean to…" His apology trailed off as he felt a hand brush the top his head, affectionately messing with his hair.

"Jeez," she sighed, though a smile was present on her face. "Kept tellin' ya not to think too much 'bout things. Always gets ya in this weird funk, y'know? Not everythin' out there's gotta have some deeper meanin' behin' it."

"Heard you the first time," he grumbled. She always treated him like a child despite him no longer being one, and it annoyed him that she always found a way to do so. It didn't help that, despite his feelings on the matter, he found himself leaning into her head-rubbing all the same. "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

Her bright smile remained as she waved off his apology. "S'alright," she said. "Got my share o' vices, too. This one time, Lakshmi was being a real gloom-an'-doomer, so I sent her a rubber snake the next day. Oh, and that one time Superintendent Horace came to visit-"

As the lab coat woman retold her recent record of office pranks, he took note of their surroundings.

They were sitting comfortably upon a grass-laden river bank, maple trees lining its expanse at even intervals showcasing their autumn colors. It had not been raining for a few days, so she hadn't brought her usual picnic mat. And for that same reason, the river flow had been calmer than usual, so there was not much noise aside from their own and a stray cricket or two. When the weather forecast predicted clear skies for the night and the following, she had hurriedly told him to clear his schedule to join her in this hobby of hers. At this point, he had lost count of how many times she had done that.

Scowling at the sky, he wondered if he should get back at her for dragging him into her stargazing routine whenever she wanted. Maybe that way she would stop seeing him as a kid and respect him and his private time a bit more. Unfortunately, after an occasion in which she treated him to some alcohol to celebrate his coming of age, he had let slip that he actually enjoyed this activity of theirs, if only because he enjoyed her company.

Obviously, he had left the detail about enjoying her company unsaid. Or at least, he dearly hoped he had.

It was embarrassing enough to think about, and would be even more embarrassing to admit. No matter how much he told himself that he only let her pull him by the leash because of where they stood professionally, he would ultimately be telling a bold-faced lie.

Silence washed over them as the lab coat woman finished retelling her story, and his thoughts once again drifted away from the immediate reality. As his eyes reflected the shine of the million stars they could capture, he wondered if there was a point in this activity of theirs. Remembering what the woman said, he wondered whether she wanted it to have a point at all. After all, astronomy was not the main focus of her research. Was she simply enjoying the sight for what it was, then, exempt from her passion and duties?

He supposed that was what having a hobby entailed.

Even so, what would she be looking for in that vast sea of celestial bodies? The stars hanging above them was so innumerable that they lost their individual significance. Was it something more than the sum of its parts, then? Something that he couldn't perceive with his eyes? Or perhaps, though he was afraid to wonder, was it the endless abyss at the back of it all that captivated her?

He shuddered. Then sighed.

Maybe it would've been easier just to ask her directly.

"Say, kid."

The lab coat woman's voice brought him back for a second time. It was a routine, at this point. Time and again, she was the one who pulled him back from the slippery slopes of his mind; like a lifeline thrown to someone drowning, or sunlight peeking through the cover of fog. And, time and again, he wondered what would happen if she didn't.

"Ya ever wondered if there's anythin' out there?" she asked, her gaze still stolen by the skies.

He waited for her to continue. Realizing that she wasn't going to elaborate, he tentatively asked, "What do you mean?"

She pursed her lips, seemingly in thought. A rare sight, especially considering how she was at work. As head researcher, she was loud, to-the-point, and unabashedly confident in her own abilities. Men and women working under her often relied on the strength of will she exuded in her pursuit of knowledge, and secretly, so did he. In these private moments, however, she was pensive, almost meek by comparison. The change of personality made him nervous at times—often he found himself worrying that a careless word or two that her professional side would simply brush off could somehow shatter this side of her.

"My old man used to tell bedtime stories 'bout people livin' out there, y'see. Folks like us, out there in the stars. Away from all the things we gotta face down 'ere." She chuckled, most likely reminiscing a memory he had no knowledge of. "Stories was all they were, o' course. Got me thinkin' though, whether that kinda place is real. And…say it's real, ya think we can get there?"

As much as her smile wavered as she put her thoughts into words, her eyes did not. In fact, he could see her focusing on the stars even more as an indescribable expression dawned on her face. While pondering on her words, he stared at her incredulously. "What happened to 'not thinking too much about things'?" he pointed out. The lab coat woman creased her sharp eyebrows inwards to give him an annoyed look, which he responded with a poorly-hidden smirk.

"Just humor me, will ya?" she tiredly said, pouting.

"Right, right," he relented, chuckling at how adorable her reaction was despite her age. "Well…gods and angels are common knowledge to us. Heaven, Purgatory, whatever you call that place up there, we're kinda required to know that they exist."

"That ain't what I'm talkin' about," she waved her hand while looking doubly annoyed that he didn't understand what she meant. "I'm talkin' somethin' even further beyond that! Somethin' that ain't bound by the rules o' this world, y'know?"

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Not sure I get what you mean."

She sighed loudly. It seemed like she was trying to decide whether she was sober enough to give a full explanation of whatever it was she was trying to tell him. Clicking her tongue, she relented and gave up on the subject. "Ugh, never mind. Guess recent discussions are getting into my head a lil'. Got none to blame but myself, too, since I was the one who made the research proposal."

That…was an explanation, he supposed. Considering her field of expertise, he found it curious how they arrived at that sort of discussion, but he wasn't one to pry. While he did find the topic interesting, he wasn't sure what she expected, asking such a question to a layman like him. After all, there was an obvious reason why she was the one in a lab coat and not him.

"I see…" he tentatively said. Yes, he was not the right person to be asked that sort of question. That didn't mean he couldn't form an opinion on the matter. "I guess it's possible. Not like it's any more outlandish than what we've seen so far. Then again, I haven't really thought about it, either. And besides…" He paused, braving himself to look up like she was doing. He searched for that gnawing feeling that never failed to grow in his chest, wondering how he should describe it in the clearest way possible. A frown threatened to crawl up to his face, so he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"I dunno. Thinking about something I can't see just never appealed to me, I guess."

"Tch. That ain't cute in the slightest," the woman remarked with sneer, taking a swig from a metal flask she kept at her side. "Where's yer sense of romance? Brats like you oughta be full o' it."

"Do I look the type? And I'm no brat, I'm literally old enough to drink."

Again, the lab coat woman sighed aloud. He wasn't sure if it was out of disappointment or exasperation. It could be both, for all he knew. The thought made him bristle, perturbed by the negative reaction he was getting. "Look, sorry if that ain't what you wanted to hear, but we ain't exactly living in a world made of cake and candy. Ya can't expect me to—!"

"That ain't what I meant, kid."

Her voice was soft, with a calmness that betrayed sincerity. The contrast between her voice and his own made him realize he had somehow raised his voice before she interjected him, and immediately, a feeling of guilt washed over him. He turned his head down to look at his lap, but he caught a glimpse of a smile from the corner of his eyes. Somehow, that only made him feel even guiltier.

"Yer right. The world ain't a pretty place. We've both seen its ugly mug long enough to know that," the woman lied down and put her arms behind her head. "Hell, we're part of what makes it so damn ugly. But if ugly is all there is, then life wouldn't be worth livin', would it? We're all fightin' to win our wars, to stay alive, 'cuz we all found somethin' worth livin' for. Or worth dyin' for, God forbid."

The woman gently fingered the necklace she was wearing. It was a curious trinket consisting of several small sheets of rectangular metal, words carved onto its form—names. Dogtags. She was a researcher, not a soldier, so it was obvious to him that she wasn't the original owner.

Her lips formed a smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. Unlike her usual smile, he could see that she was hiding behind it. "People gotta have dreams, kid. And dream big, else the world's gonna swallow you whole."

He wondered what she meant by that.

A peaceful world would hide its darkness in the shadows, but the world they lived in bared its darkness out in the open. Understanding that darkness was not just imperative, it was the norm. Naturally, that rule applied to him, too. And no matter how much she treated him like a child, she was not so patronizing as to think he wasn't aware of the reality he lived in.

Then what? What was she warning him about that was not something he was already aware of?

The growing number of questions made him stifle another sigh. Perhaps it was wisdom gained only by living as long as she had. Or perhaps there was a darkness deeper still that only people in her line of work was privy to. In that sense, no wonder she could only see him as a child.

"…Is that why yours is way up there?" he finally asked after collecting himself. "Makes sense. Keeps it from being tainted by everything down here, I suppose."

"Hah! So ya do get it, after all!" she tittered at his assessment. It seemed his comment excited her enough that she swung herself back up into a sitting position. "That ain't exactly the reason, but I'll be damned if I don't like how ya explained it a lot more! It's a lot more poetic, more…significant." She clearly enunciated the word teasingly, then suddenly giggled to herself. "And dare I say, more full o' itself."

"Oi."

"Whaaat, it's a compliment!" She ruffled his hair again, this time more roughly. Her boisterous laugh drowned out his irate glare, while her following wink served to stoke it further. "Shows that ya do have some heart in that noggin' o' yers. Believe you me, sugar, that'll do ya good in the long run."

He didn't bother holding back his sigh this time. Her idea of a compliment was at times just as roundabout as one of her pranks, just somehow with even less of a punchline. What did she even mean by having a heart in his head? How was she a researcher when she can say dumb stuff like that? Instinctively, he massaged his right temple to nurse away an incoming migraine.

"Yeah, I wish," he muttered. "I'm not like you. Long-term goals of our organization are abstract enough, and now you're talking dreams? Food on my plate, a roof over my head, and a bed under it. That's enough in my book." We're expendables, anyway, he thought of adding, but decided to keep it to himself. "Not to mention, well…there's that condition I have, so stars don't really interest me."

The young woman chuckled good-naturedly. Seemingly in high spirits, she stood up and walked forward, eyes still turned towards the night sky above her.

"It ain't gotta have anything to do with stars, y'know," she said. He can hear the smile in her voice as she raised a hand towards the sky, her fingers grazing the starlit void as a shooting star happened to sail westwards. "My dream's mine, and yers is yers. Whatever's gonna help ya take the leap, whatever's gonna help ya take that one step forward come hell or high water. Something ya'd die trying to achieve, and something ya'd stay alive to realize."

She paused and turned to him, likely waiting for his response. He reckoned she was expecting him to say something profound, to find it within himself to speak of his future as highly as she did of her own. Make her proud.

He was not stupid. What she wanted him to do was to find for himself the one thing that kept her walking—kept everyone walking—despite what the world threw at them. A goal. A dream. Be it something to cement their place in history, or a route to wade through the pitfalls of life, or something as simple as a boost to their morale. They all held their ideals close to their hearts, not just because they wanted to, but because it was necessary.

"'Cuz I'll be honest, kid," she continued. Again, she hid behind a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I don't want ya dead."

-O-

Heavy eyelids slowly cracked open.

A ringing noise had woken him up, but as his consciousness slowly returned to him, the ringing turned into the sound of chirping birds. It took him several moments to process his surroundings as his brain took its sweet time to rouse from its sleep.

Shaded surroundings. A green tarp hanging overhead, its edges nailed down while the center was raised up by a pair of wooden pillars. What he had been sleeping under was a simple tent which, judging from its design, was made for one person.

"Shit…did I oversleep?" he groggily asked to no one in particular.

Were it still early morning, the shape of the tent would've made sure the first thing he'd do was to roll away from the sunlight peeking in from the tent's very exposed sides. He wasn't sure who designed the tent or why in the world they would make one that was so lacking in cover, but at the time, it was better than nothing.

Grunting, he rose to a sitting position and checked his surroundings. No people or animals in sight. The former was good news, while the latter meant he'd have to get moving if he wanted to calm his growling stomach anytime soon. He gave the simple traps he had set around the vicinity of his makeshift camp a quick scan, taking into account the lack of game that got snared by the baits he'd carefully placed the night before.

He sighed.

"Cryptic dreams and no breakfast. Guess it's gonna be a long day," he lamented to himself. "Wonder if that travel guide has any hunting spots documented…"

Pushing down the urge to grumble further about the bad start to his day, he opened the leather satchel he had been using as a pillow in search of the aforementioned book. Neither the book nor satchel was his; in fact, the tent he was under was also borrowed without permission. Of course, the fact that the owner—if there were any—had not returned between the three days he had spent there worked in his favor.

After a short while of fumbling with the satchel, he finally pulled out a book. It was a thin, beige- and brown-colored magazine with a picture of a compass adorning its front cover. Underneath the picture were foreign letters that, in the early days after he first awakened in this strange land, were barely recognizable. As he had eventually came to learn, the letters spelt "Travel Guide".

He thumbed through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

[-Mondstadt Chapter-

Teyvat Geographic Special Edition – Alice's Mondstadt Diaries.]

His stomach growled.

"I know, I know. Let's get you fed soon."

-O-

/AN/

To the first-time readers who picked this up out of simple curiosity, thank you for reading.

To old fans who have somehow awaited my return until this day, my sincerest of gratitude. Y'all the real ones.

I find Cesc Vilá's "Everdream" to be a great inspiration for the scene I tried to portray in this prologue. As shown in HDSounDI's Youtube channel, the image of a woman so taken by the stars has been in my mind for years at this point. Makes me think whether the people back in the Stone Ages looked at the stars with the same sense of wonder as we do these days.

One of the biggest things that I got from Genshin is the importance of its universe's stars, what with the characters having their own star constellations and fates heavily tied to them. That is the impression I had after spending some time reading through some of the lore and character stories. For that reason, I wrote our protagonist to have his own relationship with the stars. I intend to develop this as he interacts with both the world of Genshin and its characters, especially those with their own unique bonds with the world's astronomy.

It should come as no surprise, then, that I title this story as such.

But stars don't just hold a literal meaning to the protagonist. In fact, as you've read in this prologue, what perspective he has of the stars is very much influenced by his dream companion, the lab coat woman. On one hand, a playful older sister with a penchant for pranks; on the other, a mentor with a shrouded history that shaped her character and ideals. All in all, I wanted to write a mother figure for the protagonist to bounce his personality off of. Hopefully, I conveyed her character well enough without being too wordy, while still keeping it vague.

The protagonist's inability to understand how the stars looked in the lab coat woman's eyes mirrored his lack of a dream as compared to her. In that sense, he associates stars with dreams, and that unlike the people he works with, he lacks the aptitude to hope for better things to come. That is not to say he has given up on life, but that his realism has stunted his idealism quite a bit. This is due to his line of work, but that is something that will be featured in a later chapter.

As you may have realized, this chapter is almost purely a dream sequence. I did this so that I have a starting point from which I can develop our protagonist. Other authors might be talented enough to develop compelling blank slates while starting off their story, but unfortunately, I'm nowhere near that level. Framing his dreams as vague clues to his past also lets me slowly shape the protagonist's background while I write out what is happening to his present, without completely delving into it yet. Oh, and I do hope I've left that part suitably vague. What exactly was his past life like? What was going on that his dream spoke of it in the manner that it did? Personally, I'm excited to write a story with past and present going in tandem like this. I just hope I don't fall into the inevitable trappings of flashback syndrome too early in the game.

I look forward to telling this story to you. And hopefully, you'll find it interesting enough to follow until the end.

Until then, once again, thank you. Take care of yourselves, Travelers.

And with the spin of a yarn…

Let me weave you a lie.