Legend of the Snowman-Mancer 6

Euri Lawrence

I told Eula everything. She was my sister, which meant she deserved at least as much courtesy as that drunkard god.

"You speak heavy truths, brother," she said. She took a final sip of her hot chocolate and leaned back with a melancholy sigh.

"I do. I'm sorry for that," I said. It was nice, leaning against each other like this. We hadn't just chillaxed like this since… well, since I left.

"Mnn, don't be. It's not your fault the world is a bloody place."

"No, I guess not. But I'm getting involved one way or another."

"How? You know, you've told me much of what is to come, but little of what you've done to prepare. You insisted on your self-imposed exile, saying you would be in a position to help by the time Dvalin arrives. He has arrived."

"And I can help."

"How? Never mind the other countries, Dvalin alone feels insurmountable. He's a literal legend, Euri," she whispered. "I'm with you all the way. You can always count on my sword, but…"

"But we'll need the strength of a legend. I mean, the Traveler will probably fix things even if we do nothing, but sitting around with my dick in my hand while they fight for Mondstadt doesn't sit right with me."

"She. The Traveler from a Distant Star that you mentioned is a young girl named–"

"Lumine, I know. She has a twin named Aether, which is why I wasn't sure. And she's not young. If anything, she's fucking ancient."

"I see. Is that her name? She can defeat Dvalin?"

"Kinda. She, Venti, Jean, and Diluc break the spikes of corruption growing from Dvalin's back."

"Then we'll be there as well," she said with conviction.

"Of course we will. And, it'd be a lot easier if we also had a way to fly."

"Who's fault is it that we are up here?"

"Mine, but I had to set the ambiance, sis. Don't worry, we'll get down in no time at all."

"Euri, I am not gliding down. I trust my skills, but not this much. Not even Amber would try. And have you forgotten? You're utterly terrible at gliding," Eula said with a brutal honesty that pierced straight through my heart.

"I've gotten better," I pouted.

"Have you?"

"Well, no, but we don't need to glide down."

This time, it was Eula's turn to pout. "No. I refuse. Your sleighs are death traps."

"Aww, don't tell me the mighty Spindrift Knight is afraid of heights," I teased.

"I'm not! I just have a healthy respect for the ground," she huffed, "and a justified distrust for flying sleighs. They're clearly not meant for the sky!"

"Well how else did you think we were going to get down?"

She poked her head out over the edge and let out an explosive sigh. "Fine, but know that I ride those things under protest."

I laughed and began to clean up after ourselves. "Don't worry, sis. I was joking. I wouldn't make you ride a sleigh. I prepared a special ride just for us."

"That worries me more, brother."

"Well, you did say Dvalin was a legend. It's only fair that we call another such legend, right?"

So saying, I skipped onto the very edge of the nail and spread my arms. I did my best impression of an Irish jig before allowing myself to step over the ledge.

"Euri!" she shrieked in shock. She tried but failed to catch me and watched as I plummeted below.

"Durin!" I yelled back with a cackling laugh.

I flipped over and over, marveling as a faint spec in the sky grew larger and larger. Eula looked out over the ledge, shocked face turning into anger for worrying her. She expected me to catch myself, call my glider or make a sleigh of ice as I'd done so many times before.

I could have; I had the Anemo Gnosis. Having a divine relic specifically attuned to wind but still dying via fall damage would be a pathetic way to go.

And yet, I did not. Then, as she began to figure something had gone horribly wrong, Eula was startled out of her shock by a deafening roar.

Durin had arrived. I'd sent him away for a quiet moment with Eula, but he was so very eager to make a new friend.

He was glorious; my true masterpiece. Ei could keep her meat-puppet; I had Durin.

His scales were shaped from the fully bloomed Frostbearing Tree and their white wood gleamed against the sunlight like pearls. Eyes of crimson agate peered out at the world, his baleful glare hiding a truly gentle soul. Two sets of curling ram's horns framed his massive face, an addition I'd made mostly for aesthetic reasons as a nod to M and her wonderful fairytale. Those and his claws and teeth had been forged from starsilver and lined with scarlet quartz, allowing him to channel his toxic blood freely, something we'd taken to calling the Felfrost.

His skeleton had been forged from the tree's boughs and his own ribs, the arches of which had once encircled Wyrmrest Valley. Durin's heart had of course become the core of this vessel, packed with Cryo-enhanced snow and reinforced with more crimson agate to contain the poisonous nature of his blood.

Hell, I'd even hunted down the Cryo Hypostasis for its bloom, just to further enhance the snow.

All the treasures of the Dragonspine Mountains came together to form this golem. Though far smaller than Durin's old form, probably only half again as large as the Favonius Church, it was far more durable and would not seep his toxic blood onto the world, not unless he chose to use it in battle.

And absolutely none of it would have been enough; this all shouldn't have worked.

Simply put, Gold, the alchemist who first made Durin, was a monstrous entity who was completely beyond me in skill. My affinity for sculptures, Cryo energy, and all the treasures of Dragonspine would have failed to contain Durin's power. It was only Venti's Gnosis acting as the initial catalyst that made this possible.

As I understood it, the Gnosis was more than just a symbol of Venti's office as Archon. It was a crystalized part of his domain as the Anemo God. And more importantly, the God of Freedom. Durin wanted to be free, free to laugh and play with others, free to build friendships and explore, free of his own lethality.

The Gnosis responded, rousing him from his slumber. It allowed me to craft the seals around his heart, though I no longer required it to maintain them. It made him as malleable as the snow that made up the bulk of his new body, granting him the ability to change his size.

Just teaching him more about the world, about how fragile it was compared to a dragon, or a draconic snow golem, took the better part of six months. And when he heard of what he'd done to Dvalin and Mondstadt on accident, he'd mourned. He swore to make things right and fight by my side.

That was how I got a legendary dragon as my familiar.

I settled on Durin's back and gave his scales a comforting pat. It wasn't the most comfortable seat in the world, but I was perfectly capable of making a saddle for myself out of snow.

Besides, I had a motherfucking dragon!

"Hey, buddy," I said with a laugh. "Wait long?"

"Euri!" Durin roared. In his larger form, even a simple greeting sounded horrifically intimidating. "The view is so pretty. It's a lot different from what I remember. Have you finished speaking with your sister? And what's that weird, floating thing over there?"

"I did. That's the Jade Chamber."

"Ooh, sounds pretty."

"Yup, it's gorgeous. In fact, inside is a lady who is just as beautiful as her home. She rules over Liyue with her friends and everyone admires her."

"Can we visit? Think she'll want to play with us?"

Durin had the mind of a child, a playful mentality that had not changed in five hundred years since his slumber. The first thing he asked of me when he woke up was to tell him stories about Mondstadt and the games I used to play with my sister, Sara, and Amber.

Unfortunately, many of those stories were either of me sparring with them or playing pranks. Then again, I was able to use those stories to emphasize how much stronger he was than normal people, and how careful he'd need to be, so there was that.

I barked out a laugh at the thought of making the Tianquan piss herself. Though I wasn't a knight anymore, I doubted my "It's technically not a declaration of war because I'm not a part of Mondstadt's military anymore," excuse would be enough to get either Jean or Ningguang to forgive me.

"Later," I promised. That sounded hilarious, scolding women aside. "We'll go there eventually, but we have to free Dvalin first, remember?"

"Right! Will your sister be okay with me?"

"She'll love you. She'll be surprised at first but she'll just chalk it up to more 'Euri nonsense.'"

"And she'd be right!"

"Yup. Remember, a prank is something that hurts no one."

"Right. Like not telling her that you found a way to turn an ancient dragon into a snow golem."

"See? Now you're getting it."

I grinned as Durin lifted us effortlessly into the air. I cackled madly as we approached the nail. The face my sister made was absolutely priceless.

"Eula! How do you like my surprise?" I shouted to be heard above the beating of Durin's massive wings.

"Euri? You made a dragon?" she yelled.

"I did! Well, kinda! His name's Durin and he's great!"

"Hello, Eula! You smell like Euri!" he said with childish wonder. Even the basic observation that siblings might smell similar was a novel one to him.

"See? Awesome, right? And cute, too!"

Eula looked at me, then at the cathedral-sized dragon. His teeth were bigger than her. She then let out a sigh. "Well, at least this beats the sleigh."

"Told ya, Durin. She'll get over your size really quickly because she just chalks everything around me to 'Euri nonsense.'"

"Splendid! As expected of Euri's nest-mate!" he roared. "Eula Lawrence!"

"Y-Yes?" she asked, a little nervous in spite of my presence. Durin was a fraction of his former size, but he was still a fuck-massive dragon with very sharp teeth.

Then, Durin did something that had me rolling. I laughed so hard I almost fell off his back.

A pale blue tongue, twice as long as Eula was tall, snaked out and licked her, from her high-heeled boots to the top of her face. She froze and shivered involuntarily as the literally ice-cold appendage drenched her.

I wasn't sure what to say. Durin couldn't eat anything seeing how the bulk of his body was made of snow. He "ate" in the sense that he could consume sources of Cryo energy to replenish his mass. The tongue was for speech articulation, not because he had a sense of taste.

Then again, Eula didn't know that.

"Hmm," he hummed. "You were right, Euri. She does taste terrible, like old socks and vinegar."

Her eyes flickered to me. Realization dawned on her and she glared heatedly. Alas, I had nothing to do with this. But this was Durin's very first prank, so I did what any proud teacher ought to do: I leaned into the bit.

"See? I told you so. My dear sister is as sour as can be," I said with a shrug.

"Hmm, perhaps with a little more salt…"

"Nah, she's not a pickle, Durin. Some things don't get better with age."

"I-I'm sorry?" Eula squawked.

"Yup, terrible. Don't worry, Euri's sister. It's not your fault. I'm told all humans taste revolting."

"Excuse me? I taste fine!" she yelled back, running completely off the impulsive need to be contrarian.

I laughed as Eula went from startled and frightened to awed, then straight to indignant rage. I doubted she'd even registered what she was arguing, only that she'd been insulted.

I molded a chain of ice out of Cryo and tossed it at her so she could climb on. I formed a saddle behind me, mostly so her sword, the Song of Broken Pines, wouldn't get in my way as I steered Durin. Slowly, Durin banked towards Mondstadt.

"Really now, sister? 'I taste fine?' You've grown quite bold to shout out your bedroom preferences from the top of the world, haven't you?"

She flushed red and punched me, hard. "Shut up, Euri!"

"Oww! Is that any way to treat your beloved big brother?" I whined. Whatever else could be said about my talents, Eula was by far stronger than me.

"Yes, you insufferable boor. Lecher. Degenerate."

"Come on, don't be mad, sis. You're flying on a dragon!"

"Hmph!" she sniffed.

"I'll sing you a song if you stop pouting," I coaxed.

"I'm not pouting. And I will have vengeance for this."

"Of course not. The great knight captain would never pout."

"Precisely."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Well? Sing," she commanded imperiously.

I smiled as I summoned my lute from storage. There was something about me that brought out the bratty child in Eula. As her big brother, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Strumming, I began to sing the lyrics of a song from a different world. "Dovahkiin, dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin~"

Author's Note

Not much to say so have a random Genshin fact. Itto and Yae had a tofu-eating contest once. Itto won, which technically makes him one of a very short list of people to have anything on Yae. But he's allergic to beans so he was sick for months afterwards.

Being Shinobu sounds exhausting.

Thank you to everyone who paid for my groceries. I have a Pat-re-on and Kofi with dozens of chapters written across my various stories. If you'd like to read ahead, I recommend Pat-re-on. If you're interested in commissioning me, instructions are on Kofi.