"Get back! This fight is mine!" Xiao skidded to a halt beside Noelle, and with her claymore on her hip the maid looked to Lumine. Her fingers sparkling with electricity, the Traveler sprinted towards them. She flung a ball of it outwards and it orbited him like a planetary ring, before it expanded into a full shield. The overcast skies above them darkened as Bosacius rushed from the surrounding canyon.

He buffeted Xiao with all four of his fists. The first struck and split Lumine's barrier giving him the time to react. Ducking and swaying rapidly, Xiao parried the three remaining strikes with his polearm. Apparently this wasn't impressive enough to warrant independence.

"He almost killed you before!" He ignored her. This demon could copy Bosacius' guerilla tactics to its heart's content, but it was still going to die. Simple as that. Shifting from his defensive stance, he leapt and sliced through its shoulder; like a miasma, its body lacked any sort of solidity and his spear rushed through it in a gray, misty haze. Bosacius caught Xiao's ankle with a lower arm and flung him, and Noelle leapt to catch him like he was a frisbee.

He weighed just a bit more than that.

Metal crunched against steel as they both slammed into a parked mine cart. Still, he couldn't afford to look back. He darted forward with a forceful gale as he summoned the strength from his vision. He stomped the demon's knee. His anemo infused kick should have broken a joint, yet it only served as a brief setback. Bosacius retreated as his body reconstructed itself.

"Chongyun!" The young exorcist exuded a cryo infused mist as he concentrated on the compass. His pupils glazed over in an oblivious white sheen. He didn't hear Xiao's warning as Bosacius targeted him. Barely, he made it to his defense.

"Alright, I gave you your chance!" Lumine summoned a swarming blast of air and flung herself into the line of fire, but just as Xiao's strategy didn't work, neither did hers. Swirling didn't affect him at all this time as Bosacius anticipated the blow, and he struck her with an uppercut to the stomach. His right hook drained both her face of blood and her body of energy.

Before Xiao could rush to her defense, he was snagged back by the exorcist. He fought every immediate instinct to stab Chongyun and instead yielded to the tug on his sleeve.

"Charge this. It's like the adjuvant!" The device illuminated in a brilliant bluish-green; the internal wind chill seemed to power it, and like an ordinary catalyst it began to float between them. Despite the fact that it was clearly anything but.

Mind be clear

While to words you adhere

Follow their rhythm

And channel them here.

A blinding explosion forced Xiao to squint as it expanded in a rapid dome, and it stunned Bosacius while the rest of them recovered. The demon returned to a solid form which Xiao eagerly pierced through the torso.

"...Menogias, where have you been?"

"Brother Yaksha, you're confused again. I've told you countless times, I am Boyang. A thaumaturge who fought with you in the Chasm."

"...Stay here? You must leave!"

"We're down here for good, don't you remember?"

Lumine slashed with a backhand across Bosacius' waist while a shield surrounded them both. He didn't recall falling. Still, she loomed above him fighting, while each of Noelle's precise strikes placated his festering cuts.

"Yes, but who am I? And where is my family?"

"Adeptus Xiao!" Ice blasted just inches from his nose, and it fizzled in a super conduct reaction.

"Alatus, is that you?" Xiao reflexively shouldered his way between his allies and the demon. The compass had stopped working, and Chongyun fiddled with it again. Xiao's attacks yielded nothing.

"At least…at least tell me your name!"

"It needs adeptal energy!"

"I am…I am Bosacius, and my destiny is to make the ultimate sacrifice." Xiao slid beneath the demon and to Chongyun's side,

"I was wrong."

"About what?" A whirlwind of images flashed before him; they tasted like dreams. They tasted like blood.

Those around Bosacius flickered and faded like the life still trapped inside him. A man who looked like Menogias, and a man who looked like Alatus both claimed they were not. It didn't really matter who they were; they held the catalyst that would turn the battle's tide. Even if he secretly wished it were them. Menogias had died centuries ago, and Alatus fought ceaselessly as the final yaksha.

They leapt into the Chasm's depths, while he powered what Boyang called "The Fantastic Compass." It didn't exactly guide them. Time and space escaped them as they suffered. Death would reap regardless, but at least he saw them one last time.

"Alatus, make your big brother proud. Okay?"

"Exorcists." Bosacius faded with his final strike. The compass' power engulfed the entity according to Chongyun's guidance, and Xiao could already feel himself forgetting his face. The nameless yaksha, the only body they couldn't find. Not even his karma remained anymore. He wondered what that was like.

Lost, they both stood there watching the last spot he stood. Well, Xiao was lost. Chongyun had succeeded again, so he should be happy right now. Xiao should be happy right now. The fight was over and now he found the truth. He accomplished his mission.

But that didn't ease the weight of his grief. Like karmic debt, it rode his sternum with every breath and it didn't budge. He could pretend it wasn't there, but that never changed the reality.

"Did you see what happened to him?" Chongyun was just a bit taller than he realized.

"I'd rather not speak of it. Not now at least."

"So long as you found the answer." Xiao nodded and shoveled himself back into the present. Piercing his polearm into the dirt, he walked the short distance to Lumine and Noelle. They sat beneath a solitary tree while eating some sort of ration - a potato dish accompanied by a dwindling jam.

"Want some? It's cold. Very cold." Chongyun shared while he stood there awkwardly. "We tried not to get too in the way, but we weren't about to let you kill yourself."

"It's my duty," he pointedly evaded eye contact, "but thank you."

Like an angry god his mind couldn't comprehend, the compass still loomed over them while they chewed. His brain worked like a torn tendon, which is to say not at all. Meanwhile it only hurt more to think. The same facts and concerns clouded his judgment, and it was hard to admit but he needed a push.

"That was some good work with the compass. How much did you figure out?"

"Just that it's an old catalyst. I feel like there's more to it than that, but it will take some investigation."

"So we aren't any closer to getting out of here," Lumine stretched.

"Well, that's not entirely true. We didn't have this before." Chongyun finished his portion. He examined the back of the device like he was reading a book, a popsicle hanging out of his mouth.

The answer seemed to dwindle on the tip of Xiao's tongue, but he couldn't quite place it. Surely there was some connection between their experiences. The ley lines were varying levels of sporadic, and the Chasm certainly bended reality, but he had to believe it could be understood. He couldn't let the others starve down here with him.

"Noelle?"

"Hmm?" She still absentmindedly held the small cup of jam. Like a tin can, her pauldron imploded during the fight. It gripped her shoulder like a demented boomerang.

"Um," he coughed, "during your vision you saw…did you actually witness a tower falling during Dvalin's attack?"

"Oh," she shifted uncomfortably, "no. I think the Chasm was showing my fears. At least, that's what I hope. If it is reality, then I may have a few things to consider."

"Same here. Nothing the demon showed me actually happened, so it's either a farce or some kind of premonition," Chongyun nervously crunched a chunk of ice.

"I saw my brother, and he wasn't actually there." Lumine shrugged. "What are you thinking?"

"I'll be frank. In my vision of Bosacius, if it's even real, he spoke with a thaumaturge down here. They were the ones that formed the seal, and it seems like they used the compass."

"So the compass can break the seal?"

"It's possible."


Venti's cheek lay squished against the bar as he slept there beneath Diluc's jacket. The way his neck craned over the wood hardly looked comfortable, but at the very least he was quiet. That silence didn't last long.

"If it isn't the Dark Knight Hero!" The tavern door whined on its hinges and Venti jerked awake; his eyes rolled as they scrambled to find a focal point.

"Did you have to do that?" He turned to Kaeya who simply shrugged,

"How was I supposed to know it was you? You look like a broken coat rack." For once the bard didn't have a retort, and he resumed his previous resting position. Apparently flying was more taxing than it seemed.

"What do you want?" The area around Diluc all but sparkled, in lieu of his post combat cleaning session, yet he continued wiping a spotless glass. He dismissed everyone else for the day. He wasn't in the mood to talk, and he wasn't in the mood to sit around either. Yet here he was.

"I came to investigate the rumors. Jean went to interview the other two." Kaeya sat on the barstool, and he rocked back on it just to be annoying; he knew Diluc would tighten the chair again right after he left.

"There's not much to tell."

"Sure. I suppose Venti always sleeps here then? Do you two have something to tell me?" Diluc frowned. Without hesitation Venti lifted his head,

"Diluc would sooner kill me than date me." He set his head back down.

"Agreed." Filling the glass with water, he set it between them.

"Whatever. Just tell me what happened after the fight. I know neither one of you would let them run free." Venti drank from the glass, which meant it was his turn to answer.

"We were overwhelmed by enemies from the ley line. We barely managed to interrupt the Fatui and we left." Unlike Jean, Kaeya did not pause to write anything down. He wore the same condescending stare he always did,

"That's it?"

Venti yawned into his hand, "The abyss lector fucked off into a different dimension. We ran like hell and we barely lived. What more do you want from us?"

"More than that! We need to know what's going on. You know this has caused a diplomatic nightmare, right?"

"Funny how attacking us plummets public opinion."

"Is Jean still negotiating with them?" Diluc couldn't imagine anything besides a war declaration.

"Not anymore," Kaeya absentmindedly picked at the dirt under his fingernail, "Let's just say the hotel has some vacancies." The tavern door slammed on its hinges and knocked a picture frame askew.

The smell of cigarettes rolled in alongside a constrained, very beaten electro abyss lector.

"Then you'll have room for one more."


"I think we need to try something else." Chongyun's brow dripped with sweat, and the catalyst faded the moment he took his hands off it.

"I don't understand why it's any different now. I just used it for exorcism."

"Maybe breaking the seal requires a different kind of magic. Besides, you did just heavily exert yourself. Let one of us give it a go." Lumine stepped up like she was ready, but in truth Noelle was going to have to pull through. If it came to her, she didn't know if her questionable mortality would cut it.

"I'll try." Ever the dependable one, Noelle gracefully stepped in and held the compass opposite Xiao. "I can only hope that in the realm of the geo archon my vision helps." She sighed while Lumine and Chongyun nervously resumed their positions.

The compass began to glow.

"Keep your focus!" An enormous circular rune bloomed beneath their feet like an arena, and suddenly they began hurtling skyward.

"We're all making it out of here. Keep going!" The Chasm retaliated as Xiao said it would. Apparitions and monsters poured from the stirring darkness and lunged to abort the ritual, but fortunately they weren't too numerous. Yet. Noelle sucked in a labored breath. The yaksha mask glowered an ominous green. Chongyun stumbled and Lumine intercepted a stray, oncoming strike.

Dappled hues of sunlight poured from the opening fissure above them, the scent of apples on the breeze almost strong enough to taste. Noelle cried out in pain. This time Chongyun was the one calling out encouragement, although it sounded strained.

"You can do it! Let the wind lead!" The circle grew tighter as their enemies only multiplied; hilichurls flooded from the crevice in the sky. Something had triggered a ley line. Noelle dropped to a knee, her knuckles straining to keep their grip.

"Let go!"

"Don't!"

"Noelle! You're going to kill yourself!" She began to hyperventilate, her vision flickering gold and gray. Lumine knew she would die before she gave in. She nearly died on Dragonspine, she'd do it again. Cursing, Lumine looked back to the surface. They only needed a few more seconds.

"Noelle!" She screamed. Noelle's vision went dark, but she still held on. Xiao ripped the compass from her hands. Before any of them could act, the three of them were thrust into the air, and with the last of her breath Lumine gambled for fallen gods.