Today was going to be a good day. He was sure of it. His visit yesterday with Xingqiu calmed his yang energy, he prepared his popsicles fresh, and he completed his morning basics. His arms ached thanks to the weight of his claymore which meant he had done a good job.
"Hey! Chongyun! Over here!" Xiangling waved frantically from Wanmin's open kitchen; the garbled voices behind her indicated she entertained quite the crowd. She didn't seem fazed however, as she wiped her hands on the clean towel Guoba provided.
"Hey. Need any help with anything?"
"Nah. I'm good. I just wanted to hand this off to you." She pulled a glass tupperware from beneath the counter. It was filled with her signature dish, and it absolutely drowned beneath a more than generous serving of molten chili sauce.
"For Xingqiu?"
"No, I was thinking you should really broaden your culinary horizons. Help you move past your bad experience, ya know?" Chongyun narrowed his eyes. "Of course it's for Xingqiu, you dullard! I know he's going through a lot of stress right now with the busy season, and I'm working myself so-"
"It's no problem. I should probably check on him anyway. He isn't sleeping so well."
"Aww, poor Xingqiu! Ugh, I wish I could come with. Well, hopefully this helps. A little shock to the taste buds always does the trick for me!" Xiangling's smile was infectious.
"What's this?"
"Hmm? Oh I just wrote him a little note. You know how sentimental he is."
"Wow, that's really…thoughtful." A twinge of guilt crept up his chest. He wished he thought to do the same.
"Anyway I have to get going now! Tell Xingqiu I said hi!" She left just as quickly as she appeared, dipping behind the kitchen curtain while balancing seven dishes along her arms. How she did that he would never know.
Fortunately he wasn't forced to do the same, so he could concentrate entirely on delivering his friend's hot magma without coming into contact with it. He knew he was safe thanks to the glass and the snugly fit lid, but he could never be too careful. If it was bad in his mouth, it would be twice as bad wiped into his eyes.
He shivered. He glanced up and did a double take. Did he go the wrong way? No…it was a straight shot from Wanmin to Xingqiu's, and he hadn't turned. Why was the commerce guild buried beneath an avalanche of police tape?
"Umm, excuse me, what's going on?" A Millelith guard stood stiff at the building's front door,
"What does it look like? We're investigating a crime scene. Stay back."
"A crime scene? What on earth happened?" He turned a full circle, but he didn't see any evidence of a break in. Unfortunately, Xingqiu was also nowhere to be seen.
The guard shrugged. "Some sort of treason. Guess the guild got involved with the wrong crowd." Before Chongyun could ask another question, "Oh yeah, I'm also supposed to be handing these out. If you see this kid let us know."
He handed him a bounty with Xingqiu's face on it; his eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. They had taken this picture a month ago with the Traveler! He could see Lumine's blonde hair where they cropped her out of the photo!
"You know something?"
"Wh-no. No, of course not."
"That was...the least convincing lie I've ever heard."
"I have a medical condition!" Without forethought, he tucked the chili against his side and tore off down the street. Racing past the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, he collided directly with Hu Tao. Great.
"Woah! Someone's in a rush. Are you okay? Oooh, is that for me?"
"What? No. Have you seen Xingqiu?"
"The book guy? No. Why?" He held up the wanted poster, and she had the gall to laugh.
"Heh, that's kinda funny. Wait- IS THAT MISTER ZHONGLI?" The corner ripped as she tore it from his hand. She burst out laughing. "Are the Millelith out of their minds? Zhongli is like an eighty-seven year old man in like, a thirty year old's body. Why do they think-oh. Shit."
"What?"
"They're wanted for treason. They really don't mess around with those allegations."
"But-that doesn't even make sense! Xingqiu would never!"
"Neither would Zhongli." Hu Tao's demeanor changed completely as the gravity of the situation struck. Despite his malcontent towards her, the nervous expression didn't fit her face. "At least, from what I know. He's been on time to work and everything. Have you noticed anything? About either of them?"
"No. I didn't even know they knew each other, and Xingqiu's been spending all his time on the silk trade. I just saw him yesterday!"
"Okay, okay calm down. Let's think rationally about this and maybe not in the middle of the street."
"Right." Chongyun took a deep breath and removed a popsicle from the holster he kept in his inner coat. The two of them entered the funeral parlor, and Hu Tao locked the doors behind them.
"I don't know. The lock feels right! Hang on, let me check his office." She disappeared down the unlit corridor leaving him alone with his thoughts. The sea of promotional posters adorning the walls did little to ease his nerves, although he had to admit some of the puns were pretty clever. Not tasteful, but clever. He nervously took a seat and set down the chili, focusing entirely on his popsicle. His panic persisted.
"Everything is just as he left it! I don't understand, where would he have gone?" Hu Tao's voice carried down the hall with a great echo; her voice was followed immediately by a cacophonous crash. He bolted in the direction of the sound, summoning his claymore as he ran through the doorway.
"Are you okay?"
"Ugh, yes," she removed her hat in order to rub her head, "I hit my head on the desk. Thought I should at least check under it. Not that that makes any sense in retrospect." He offered her a hand, dismissing his claymore in the process. She had been right.
Zhongli's office was in pristine condition. The desk's surface was completely organized; an expensive looking glass held several writing utensils (which were organized by size), a few staplers and tape dispensers lined the perimeter at ninety degree angles, and an orange flower waited patiently in its vase. Perfectly healthy. The rest of the furnishings were exquisitely inconspicuous.
"I don't even know where we'd start."
"Me either. There are so many corpses down stairs. How am I gonna lift them all?" Chongyun raised an eyebrow,
"Really?"
"What? Embalming takes a long time! He was supposed to be in today."
"I was referring to him and Xingqiu."
"Did you search book bo-I mean Xingqiu's house?" Hu Tao nervously smiled, clearly holding back his assigned moniker. She probably nicknamed him something equally preposterous.
"Can't. Millelith are there."
"Aw man! Now I have to give a testimony to the Millelith?" Coincidentally, a knock sounded at the door, and of course it had to be the police. "Did they see you at Xingqiu's?"
"Yes, why?"
"You're gonna look suspect unless you high tail it out of here. I'm sorry I don't have anything else for you, but you can use my backdoor!"
"Thanks, I guess…Are you gonna look?"
"Probably? I don't know. Zhongli can handle himself. I'm sure this is just some big misunderstanding and it will all blow over soon anywa-" Several screams ignited in the streets, and a thunderous BANG shook the roof. Immediately, a burst of demonic energy rushed his senses. Hu Tao and Chongyun exchanged a look, and they raced to the exit.
"Get back if you want to live!" The Millelith guards at the front entrance scattered. Several of them bore deep lacerations, and those that didn't began to drag the wounded away. The sight was completely surreal.
At first, Chongyun thought it was some kind of dragon, until he got an actual glimpse at the face. A serpent with the visage of a wolf, several stories tall, pulsating with karma so thick he could see it. As it moved it blocked out the sun.
"We need to get it away from the city!"
"Well no shit, what are you gonna do about it? Hey! Are you listening to me? There are still people down here!" As Hu Tao aided the wounded, Chongyun leapt up the wall, throwing himself onto the roof. He felt like he was going to die, and at this point it was highly probable, but this was his chance.
Finally a demonic presence. Sure, he wished it was under better circumstances, but he could actually do something!
"Goddamn it!" To his left, he sensed a different kind of presence, not quite evil and not quite good. A dark energy engulfed the voice's origin, and through it he recognized the gleam of the yaksha mask. Adeptus Xiao.
He stood, or rather he rose out of the parlor's upper balcony; it used to be flat, but since he took the hit it caved under his weight. Blood poured from an open wound on his weapon side. The creature suddenly seized and it screamed until his ears rang. It turned to face him. Furious.
"What are you DOING?" Chongyun slammed his claymore against the roof flinging splinters into the air like shrapnel; cryo energy materialized around them smothering the surface of his weapon. Good. It's cool. Cold means focus. Focus. Focus.
He recited his mantras beneath his breath, "From whence you came!" He completely whiffed.
"IDIOT!" At full speed the adeptus slammed into him, throwing him flat against the roof as the serpent smashed its face into his previous foothold. The entrance collapsed blocking it entirely.
Behind them stood a stone terrace and the reception building for the Jade Chamber. If they could lead it there, the terrain wouldn't be so difficult.
Still focused on the serpent Xiao immediately rose, using his spear like a javelin to catapult him upwards. He crashed down on top of it. The anemo from his vision swirled the frosted surface of his polearm, and the effect magnified into a plummeting blizzard. Again, the beast ignored him and set its sights on Chongyun.
It's following me. "It's following me!" An evil spirit. Was. Following. Him. Him! Despite his yang energy!
"NO FUCKING SHIT DUMBASS!"
"I don't have time to explain! Just get me up there!" For a moment he thought the adeptus completely ignored him, until he raced past leaping for the terrace. The beast opened its maw again, its eyes locked on Chongyun. He inhaled and threw his entire weight into his claymore until it stuck, and he used the momentum to launch himself forward.
He narrowly dodged the golden laser beam. Now on the cliff beside the terrace, he jumped the extra ledge until he stood beside the adeptus.
"It's following you." Chongyun suppressed the urge to curse.
"Yang energy. It doesn't like that. Let's get out of here." It seems that Xiao understood his logic, and instead of running with him, he lifted Chongyun as if he were weightless. Throwing him over his shoulder, Xiao sprinted across the terrace, his feet sliding horizontally each time he gained enough altitude. They made it out of the city proper before the next attack, a massive tornado of earth that threw shrapnel across the plains.
"It's weak to geo, and I've got nothing to swirl."
"Think you can hold it still for long enough?"
"With luck." Xiao released him and he recited his mantras again. While it focused on him, Xiao chipped away at its natural armor as best he could. Piercing the scales was not having much effect. Chongyun thrust his weapon down again scattering frost in all directions, willing as much of his vision into the atmosphere as possible.
It felt like the sky was drinking him from a straw; the more elemental energy that Xiao released from the monster, the more he poured into the air. He became a conduit of ice, and that ice shattered as Xiao once again leapt into the air and plunged on top of it.
"This isn't," he plunged, "working!"
"It has to!" Chongyun's legs were growing stiff, and he fought to ignore it. On Xiao's side, the monster grew wiser to dodging his plunge. They needed another source of elemental energy. Wait.
Body and mind. Xingqiu's words sprang to the front of his mind. If his mind was the part of him that summoned his vision, then his body was merely an extension of it. If he couldn't water the pyro slime, he'd bring the pyro slime to the water. Oh what he would give to have Xingqiu right now.
"There! Hilichurls!" He never thought he would be so excited to see their flames; he broke into a sprint and imagined the frosted air accompanying him rather than remaining stagnant. The wolf predictably followed, while Xiao wore it down. Hilichurls scattered to dodge and few survived, their bodies suddenly tossed into the air by Xiao's anemo. The moment the ice made contact with the torch's flame it melted, and water cascaded upwards as Xiao leapt.
The elemental reaction was far more effective as regions of its body continually froze and shattered, but it still wasn't enough. It slammed its tail into the ground and dug, tearing the earth as it traveled.
"Move!" Xiao lagged behind. There was no way he could save him again, and he wasn't about to outrun it. He braced himself for a pain that never arrived.
"Leave it to me!" The voice was entirely unfamiliar, but he didn't complain when the shield of geo encompassed him protecting him from the monster's path.
"Chongyun!"
"Xiao!"
That was Lumine's voice. He grinned as he sprinted away from her, keeping it from approaching the newly formed group. A vortex that threatened to pluck him from the ground opened before him, and the cryo energy was drawn to it like a crystalfly to flame. Lumine summoned a boulder at that point, while Xiao and the nameless geo user pushed it forward. A gust of wind opened up beneath him, pushing him above the earth's surface, and he plunged, piercing the base of its neck with his frosted claymore. Just as Lumine's geo halted its path.
The creature fell still.
