#thank you thank you thank you thank you you are truly sent by the anemo archon himself to this world
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The Love that Travels and Lives on in the Wind - Chapter 1: Sibling Shenanigans
Story Masterlist
A/N: Okay, here goes. This is my first fic post ever and it is a chapter for my self-indulgent story. I hope you enjoy! Comments and critiques are welcome as always :)
Update: This will probably be the only tickling part of the fic until I write for Venti as a fyi. The part of Lumine being tickled didn't feel it flowed well, so I changed a few things. Other minor stuff like spelling and wording were adjusted too.
Summary: A day in the life of Aether and Lumine.
—
Word Count: 2084
The lives of Aether and Lumine were perfect: Brother and sister, together at every step. Always having each other's backs. Traveling across galaxies and bringing souvenirs “home” with them. As universe-trotters, they did not truly have a “home,” permanent place to inhabit, but they eventually found one after countless searching.
Lush grass rustled in the salty ocean breeze as the orange and red hues of sunset painted the skies. A one-story house settled atop a hill overlooking the ocean and the lush trees, and lake in the far west. Soft jazz music wafted out the window as the ocean breeze flowed in. The furnishings collected through their travels reflected the sunset colors and completed the feeling of home.
“Can you pass the salt, Aether?”
“What?”
“Salt.”
“The sea is literally outside, Lumine.”
Lumine rolled her eyes as she held her hand towards Aether, sitting across from her in their cozy kitchen. They were eating strawberries, freshly picked from their home garden by the lake.
“Pass the salt. Y’know, the salt that you just used. It’s literally on the table in front of you,” Lumine retorted. “And stop being a smart ass.”
“And what if I don’t?”
“You and I both know what will happen.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Maybe…. Eat this!”
Lumine suddenly threw her strawberries at Aether in lightning succession. Before he could react, a strawberry struck him right between the eyes and bounced toward the floor.
“Why you-” Aether recovered quickly and began catching each one with his mouth and eating them at record speed. Lumine laughed as she tried her best to make him falter, but she eventually ran out of strawberries and was left with a smug-looking Aether.
“Aw dang it,” she sighed in defeat, before catching a glimpse of her brother’s face and cracking up. “You look like a chipmunk!”
“Eusce Mmp?!”
Lumine pulled an instant camera out of nowhere and snapped his photo with his cheeks puffed up, full of strawberries, and red juice dripping down his chin. He finished swallowing just as the photo finished printing.
“Thanks for the food,” Aether smirked, completely ignoring the photo. “Told you I can handle anything.”
Lumine rolled her eyes then sent him a devious smile that sent shivers up his spine.
“Oh that? That was only a warm-up. You are going down now.”
Lumine calmly rose from her chair and walked towards her brother, who cowered in fear.
“Wait… What are you doing? Lumine?" Aether squeaked, putting up his hands in defense and leaning as far back as he could. Lumine only responded by walking slower and slowly bringing up her fingers and wiggling them menacingly as she slowly smiled that mischievous smile of hers. Aether's eyes widened in realization, and he fell into a panic, stumbling out of his chair.
I am so done for, he thought.
"No Lumhihine!” he gasped out between giggles, "W-We can tahalk about thihis. I-Viator! I'm going to fall!"
Viator, Aether's cat, strolled into the kitchen making him trip as he tried to use anemo to break his fall.
A sudden tug at his back brought him crashing into Lumine.
“Oof. Thank- Hey! That’s not fair!”
Lumine stuck her tongue out at him as she wrapped Aether’s wrists with Dendro vines.
"Viator, are you okay?" Lumine questioned, stroking his soft, light brown fur with one hand, and pinning down a struggling Aether.
Viator purred and nudged his head against Lumine, his chestnut brown spotted tail swishing back and forth before walking over to the neglected strawberry on the floor and settling down to eat it.
Lumine smiled fondly at him before turning her attention to a whining and giggling Aether.
"Lumihihinehehe!”
Lumine smirked as she brushed her fingers against his exposed sides, trapping him against the floor.
“Aww, is my big, tough brother ticklish?” Lumine teased. “Coochie coochie coo~”
“Luhumihihihinehehe! Nohohohoho!” Aether giggled, trying to buck her off. “Nahahahat therehehe!”
“Not here? What about here?” She began to vibrate her fingers against his ribs causing him to throw his head back and laugh.
“LUMIHIHIHI! NAHAHAHAHA! YOU ARHEHEHE EVIHIHIL! HAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHA!”
“Me? Evil? You have some nerve.” She added more pressure, eliciting more frantic laughter from him as tears leaked from his closed eyes. “If you just passed the salt, this wouldn’t have happened. Unless…” She bent down towards his ear, whispering, “...you wanted this to happen, my tickle loving brother?”
“AHAHAHA! IS THAHAHAT WHAHAHAT YOU THIHIHINK? YOU AREHEHE WR- HAHAHAHA! WRONG! WROHOHONG! PLEHEHEASE! THAHAHAT’S MY WORST SPOHOHOT! HAHAHA!”
“Worst spot you say?” Lumine’s smirk grew wider. “That is where you are wrong. I’m tickling your worst area, not your worst spot.”
Aether’s eyes shot open in horror as he processed what his sister said. He struggled more frantically, trying to form a Geo knife to cut at his bonds.
“NohoHO! DoHOHOn’t youHU dahaHARE!” he threatened, albeit ineffectively, with a wide smile on his face.
“Oh, I dare. The tickle monster will take good care of you,” she teased, winking at him before wiggling a finger in his navel.
“DiHId you puHULL theHE tihic- KLEHEHE MOHOHONSTEHEHER? HAHAHAHA! NAHAHAHAT THEHEHERE! EHEHEVIL! PLEHEHE- WHAHAHAT IHIHIS THAHAHAT!? AHAHAHA! NOHOHOHO!
Aether burst into louder laughter that was sure to scare any living thing within a twenty feet radius from the window. Lumine just chuckled at his reaction as she used Anemo to enhance the sensations making him lose concentration on creating the Geo knife.
“HAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHA! LU- NAHAHAHA! OHOHOHO PLEAHEHEHESE!”
“I’m not hearing you say stop~”
“HAHAHAHAHA! YOU ARHEHEHE MEHEHEHEAN! AHAHAHAHA!”
“You will know the real meaning of mean after this. Get ready to laugh.”
Nothing could have prepared him for what was about to come. A raspberry.
“SHIHIHIHIT! NOHOHOHOHO!”
Then another.
“WAHAHAHAT? AHAHAHAHA!”
And another one.
“LUM- HAHAHAHA!”
And many more.
“THIHIHIS IHIHIS SOHOHOHOHO BAHAHAHAD! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Ready to give up yet?”
“NEHEHEHEVER!”
“Suit yourself.”
Lumine pulled the finale by adding her fingers to the mix and scribbling all over his sides and ribs.
“HAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHA! OKAY! OKAHAHAHAY! STAHAHAP! STAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEASE!”
Lumine still went on making Aether rack his brains for the right word.
“VIHIHIHISION! VISION! LUMIHIHIHI! HAHAHAHAHA!”
Lumine immediately pulled away as Aether laughed and giggled as the residual, tickly ghost sensations ebbed away. Viator padded over to Lumine and nudged her as if to say, you got him good; he deserved it. He then rubbed his fur against Aether’s neck, tickling him.
“Nohohoho morehehe!” Aether laughed weakly, nudging his neck away in a fruitless attempt. “Ihihi dehehefinitely knohohow whahat you tohold Lumine.”
Aether scrunched his neck to fend off the sensations caused by Viator’s incessant purring. Eventually, the overly affectionate cat backed off and went to play with Viatrix, Lumine’s cat.
“You know I was going to stop after a couple minutes,” Lumine said. “I wanted to push you a little more. I wasn't expecting you to use a safe word. You know I wouldn't kill you, right?”
Aether chuckled, “Of course I know you wouldn't kill me. I just know how mischievous you are and thought that you really needed the right word to get you to stop.”
“Hahaha, you know me as well as I know you.”
“And that must mean you know how we can recover stamina quicker than any other being,” he smirked, devilishly.
She hesitantly narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“But I tied you up with the vines?”
He only smirked wider. “I know,” he responded, showing his free hands “But I used Geo, and you know the rest.”
She stared in utter bewilderment until he lifted her off the floor, causing her to squeak in protest.
“Aether! What do you think you are doihing-” She felt the air escape her lungs as he wiggled his fingers against her side.
“Just getting my revenge,” he said, nonchalantly, bringing her to their living room couch. And then throwing her into the air.
“AETHER!” she screamed.
He then gently lowered her with his Anemo abilities, laughing through it all.
“Ahahaha! Come on. That was funny! You know I wouldn't hurt you either.”
“Ha ha, very funny,” she deadpanned. She tried to get up only to realize that she had her hands bound with Cryo. “I hate you; you know that?”
“Nah, you don't. You love me.”
“Wait until I- ahahaha!”
“You were saying?” Aether chuckled, gliding his fingers down her armpits.
“IHihiHI’LL BRIhihiHING YOUhuhuHU DOhoHOWN! NAHAHAHAHA!”
“Glad you still have your fighting spirit.”
“OHOHOHOHO SHUHUT UHUHUP!”
“Hmm?” he hummed.
“Ahahahaha! You heheheard mehehe!”
He chuckled, gently scratching at her sides.
“AEHEHEHETHER!”
“Yeah?” he asked casually, as if Lumine wasn’t dying of laughter.
“AHAHAHAHA!” she squealed, trying to avoid his fingers to no avail. “WEHEHE NEHEHEHED TO WAHAHATCH THE NIHIHIHIGHT SKYHYHY!”
“Eh, I think it can wait.”
Aether continued to tickle Lumine as the colors in the room changed from pastel orange to an indigo hue.
“Can wehehe wahatch thehehe sky nohow?” Lumine asked after noticing the color change. Aether was just tracing random shapes across her shoulders, listening to her giggles. He totally forgot about their original plans to watch the sunset together.
“Yeah, I guess sohohohoho. Viahahatrix!” Said soft blue and white furred cat entered the room and rubbed against his feet affectionately as if asking, Gentle scratches, please.
“Okay, okay. I hear ya,” Aether said, scratching the back of her ears making her purr in satisfaction and her blue spotted tail sway. “Where’s your brother?”
A loud meow resounded by the front door.
“Well, there’s your answer,” Lumine chuckled. “Would you help me out with the bonds?”
“Oh yeah, of course.”
As he reached towards her hands, she suddenly shot water at him.
“Bleh!”
“Hahahaha, payback~”
“Pyro, huh?
“Yup, and Hydro too.”
“Teaching you well, huh?”
“Whatever you say, big bro,” Lumine said, rolling her eyes.
Viator and Viatrix meowed impatiently as they pushed Aether and Lumine towards the front door.
“Okay, okay. We are coming. ‘Go watch the night sky,’ we get it,” both Lumine and Aether laughed as they opened the door.
They were greeted by fireflies, which the cats immediately began swatting at. The siblings walked towards a hammock they set up by the house with a perfect view of the horizon.
Indigo colors painted the horizon while the dark blue sky was dotted with stars. The colors waved across the ocean painting a majestic–almost magical–light show.
“I can never get tired of this view,” Lumine said breathlessly once they settled in the hammock. “It’s beautiful.”
“I like the sunrise better if I’m being honest,” Aether confessed.
“Can you read the mood, Aether? You just ruined it,” Lumine exasperated.
“Sorry. Here, let me fix it,” Aether amended sarcastically. “You are a hundred percent right; this view is super-duper nice.”
His sister rolls her eyes before he continues, a sudden sincerity slipping to his voice, “Reminds me of traveling through the universe. The stars zoom by as we visit different worlds. Each galaxies’ colors mix to create a breathtaking sight, something that no one else could ever see like we do, a true spectacle.”
A comfortable silence settled over them as they enjoyed each other’s presence and the scenery. The only sounds were nature around them, the soft jazz still drifting out of their kitchen window, and their cats playing in the grass.
“I’m glad we found this place,” Aether said, breaking the silence. “This world is ours along with our two cats. A safe haven for both of us.”
“You are right. It’s peaceful and fits our vibe just right. A moment in time here is always special,” Lumine agreed.
“We’ll stay together until the end of time, protecting one another.”
“And if we do ever get separated, we’ll always find a way back here.”
Aether yawned and Lumine followed suit.
“Sleep?”
“Yeah, let’s sleep.”
Both snuggled in the hammock together as their eyelids grew heavy.
“Lumine?” Aether said, sleepily.
“Hmm?” Lumine hummed, sleepily as well.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. We’ll stick by each other’s side, always.”
Their breathing evened out as they fell asleep. The cats quietly walked to the hammock and then looked at each other. Then they walked up to the kitchen window and their fur glowed as they harnessed the power of Electro to turn off the music and lights. They headed back to the hammock and closed their eyes as they pulled in the power of Anemo to lift themselves to the hammock’s level and landed lightly on the siblings’ figures before curling up together and sleeping alongside them.
The light of the world dimmed as it too went to sleep.
#percival fics#my fic#lee!aether#ler!lumine#lee!lumine#ler!aether#genshin impact#tickling#tickle fic#aether#lumine#Genshin impact tickle#Genshin tickling#Genshin tickle#genshin impact tickling
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Luna Noctinou
Stormswept Breeze
Luna Noctinou is the runaway daughter of a Fontaine politician. Having faced a greater injustice than she could take in her homeland, she made her escape to Liyue, where she now temporarily resides.
Weapon: Polearm (Taken from the hands of one of her family's guards)
Vision: Anemo (Granted during her flight for freedom, she uses her vision in ways more akin to hydro users)
(Image not accurate to actual appearance)
Luna is very wary and reserved, and can be spotted most frequently near Dihua marsh. She yearns to be useful to her mentor, Adeptus Xiao, in combat and elemental abilities, and so chooses to patrol that area, when she isn't doing a supply run.
Luna will enter the city of Liyue Harbor on occasion, usually to purchase supplies for Verr Goldet to stock the Inn. While in the Harbor, she frequently crosses paths with a young man named Childe. She also interacts with the proprietiers of Wanmin Restaurant on a frequent basis, and can also occasionally be found at the market on the docks on her supply runs.
Skills: Luna is skilled in diplomacy thanks to her family's status and careers. She can easily cut tensions down if a fight is brewing, and is shrewd negotiator, the reason Goldet asks her to take over the weekly supply runs. Luna is also usually quite hard to sneak up on, as she has developed hyper-vigilance as a safety measure to keep herself out of the reach of the Fontaine soldiers sent to track her down for the crime she didn't commit. After extensive training with the Adeptus Xiao, she's become quite skilled with both her weapon and her Vision
Flaws: Luna has the unfortunate ability to trust the wrong people while being distrustful of those who could help her. She also fears bonding with other people to a certain point, and has a very high grudge threshold. She's also hesitant in battles, especially ones against human opponents.
Potential Voice Lines:
Hello: I am Luna Noctinou. However, I've cut all ties with my family, so... just Luna is fine. Xiao's told me much about you, I hope you live up to his stories.
Favorite Food: I prefer Light and airy foods when I can get them, but as for a specific favorite? I don't think I could actually tell you.
About the Vision: I got it in Dihua Marsh, not far from where I patrol. I remember it was raining thanks to one of the guards who had a Hydro Vision. ...I don't actually remember getting it, just coming to and finding... Never mind.
About Fontaine: For the land of Justice, only our Archon is truly Just. The people, the politicians? They're all corrupt. I guess that means I am too... Huh? Just because I don't lie to you doesn't mean I'm free from corruption!
About Trust: I know Xiao trusts you, but... I have a bad habit of trusting the wrong people. Just. Just give me some time.
About Trust II: You truly are trustworthy. Thank you for being so patient with me. It's an honor to travel with you.
About Appearance: Hm? Why do I look like... this? It is a result of a blessing from my archon. I'm unsure what the blessing does. But I woke up one day after a dream like this. That's all.
About Xiao: He was nearby when the incident in Dihua Marsh occured. He's the reason I have a place in Wangshu, and he helped me train with both my weapon and my Vision. He acts tough, but he has his soft side. And, again, he speaks highly of you.
About Zhongli: Oh? I see him around the Harbor sometimes. His gaze frightens me, so I haven't spoken to him beyond a few passing greetings.
About Childe: ... I can't trust him again. I can't tell you anything else.
About Keqing: The Yuheng, that's her title, right? She's... aha, she's admirable. Very admirable.
About Mona: Oh, I think I know her, at least in passing. Dark hair, light eyes, astrologer? Yes, she would drop by my family home at least once a year. I hope she's doing well.
About Thoma: I... Made a mistake when I first met him, and I fear I hurt his feelings. Thankfully we've made up, but it still haunts me when I see him. Would you tell him... agh, that would be redundant.
About Ayaka: Ayaka is kind, and good. And if anyone hurts her, I will... Ahem, I beg your pardon, that wouldn't be very ladylike. Keep her safe when she's with you, yes? I'm not sure if I could land a hit on you but I will not hesitate to try.
Happy Birthday: So it's your birthday? Well, I've... I made you a card. It's not much but it's all I can offer- Hey! Oh, it's just a hug. I thought maybe you were displeased. Apologies.
Character Design:
#nyx's ocs#genshin impact#luna noctinou#genshin oc#nyx writes stuff#nyx talks about stuff#the castle's lady speaks
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Hello honey, I'm only happy to write something about him.
I also want to say that I do not support any of the actions, my letter is only fiction, and this is just for fun .
Just enjoy.
Summary: Being blessed with an anemo vision is truly amazing, but do you know what they are for?
The vision... A truly amazing thing, and you, as a person who was very interested in both the archons and their history, were pleased with such a gift.
That's just ... Why exactly anemo?
Though you were interested in the archons but you have never been so believing.
And from your knowledge, you tried to understand why, and to answer this question.
As you know, from your acquaintances with visions, or from the stories of other people how they got their vision, you learned that anemo is given only to those who are very striving for freedom. Or lost a loved one...
Not very positive...
But none of the aspects suited you.
So why?
* * *
All the same, vision is a very useful thing.
As time passed in thought, you did not forget about the new thing.
After all, whatever one may say, you cannot get rid of it, but it could be useful. — Those were your thoughts at the time.
And you weren't wrong
But still, thoughts about why they couldn’t leave your head.
* * *
Thanks to the traveler, you were able to get to Dvalin's lair, as the bard called it.
And this bard seems extremely familiar to you.
* * *
" Sweet, so sweet and beautiful.
Don't you deserve more? "
The thoughts that have haunted Venti's head lately.
Y/n.. why do you distrust me?
Did I do something wrong? Did I reveal myself ahead of time? Why?
One question, two minds.
* * *
I met her when, in spite of fear, she helped others.
It looks like my friend...
But still, my feelings are not at all similar to those that I experienced for a friend.
I want to... take her?
When did it start ... just helping and protecting a child, and my heart was already grabbed with two hands and taken away.
The God of freedom who wants to deprive her of him own citizen of him own city, what an irony.
* * *
Meeting with a traveler, and Y/n....?
What is she doing here, it's dangerous, she might die here!
- Traveler...
- Why did you bring other people here? It's dangerous and it's personal. — Venti's voice and eyes were as cold as snowy winds.
But you didn't flinch.
You are still the owner of the anemo element, and you are with her on "you".
- I came for personal reasons, and I will not engage in combat or anything like that. I just want to explore this area after defeating the protector of the winds.
"Y/n, you are really beautiful..."
"I am ready to dedicate to you, and your courage, everything in you, millions of songs and ballads."
Thoughts that Venty will voice after defeating himself, but for now, he will be better prepared.
* * *
After the battle in which the Traveler won. Venti and the others left while you Venti and the others left while you went to turn your words into reality.
The building... It contained so much new information for you...
Except, Venty's eyes haunted you after he came out... They were an ominous pink hue, so poisonous...
Okay, you should think about your work, and not have your head in the clouds.
* * *
- Bar- VENTI! — scream Jeann.
"Am I...infected?
I feel so much power...and desire?"
I knew that Dwalin was infected, but I did not think that I would become another victim of this "virus"
My eyes began to see a lot.
And I realized
Why fight your own desires? The expression of one's own feelings and desires is also freedom...
* * *
And you realized.
Your vision was given to you because of a desire, a strong one, an Archon's desire.
The true purpose by which I received the vision was...Poison...Falsehood and illusion.
I got it because of a whim of fate, I became stronger for the sake of the Archon whose history I was interested in.
But the Archon whose whim was fulfilled was not the god of freedom...it was sent by his own desires.
The answer has been found.
Honestly, I was inspired by some drawings with "pink" Venti. Or, to be more precise, the poisoned Honkai.
✄肉丸
@/rouwan on Twitter (author of drawings about "pink" Venti)
I hope that I fulfilled your request and brought you some emotions.
@: @beta12121
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your requests are open right? My name is clemmy and I would like some xiao x reader, comfort from xiao mayhaps? Like the reader was being followed by people who wanted to hurt ehr and she gets scared? Thank you!
hi clemmy, and yes my requests are indeed open! this sounds very fun to write. nothing like some sweet comfort by mister too cool for u. thanks for the request!
Fandom: Genshin Impact
Characters Included: Xiao x reader
Warnings: None
Blurred out by tears, the world was dipped in blue and muddied by obstacles in the way. Branches stretched out their fingers, clawing their ways out and leaving scratches on the skin of your face. You were currently running -- not sure for how long or where you could eventually end up from this, but your legs wouldn’t stop moving. It hurt and you were tired. You were not fit to be running for so long, but desperation kept you on your toes.
Heart pounded against your chest and every limb attached to your body trembled uncontrollably. Then the questions began to pop into your head. Why me? What had I done for this to happen?
The footsteps from behind you grew closer and louder, causing your chest to feel suffocated, for you could not push yourself any harder. Ragged breaths left your lips and beads of sweat hung in every crevice of your body. And that was when a hand snagged you back like a prey getting caught by its predator.
The treasure hoarders caught up. And you didn’t know what they wanted with you.
“You’re making this hard on all of us, woman,” one of the treasure hoarders had said. His beady eyes landed on you and a sneer painted his lips. He was a burly man, tall and most definitely stronger than you. “Behave and you’ll find yourself a better outcome.”
You didn’t listen to him. The guy behind you was a scrawnier man, so perhaps you could luck out on it. Struggling against his hold, a searing cold suddenly made way around your wrists. You turned your head over your shoulder to find ice formed to create shackles.
Fuck. This guy had a cryo vision.
No. Widening your eyes and stepping back, you tumbled to the ground, frozen in shock. They all cackled at your clumsiness, staring at you downwardly, as if you were below them.
Whimpers crept from your throat. “Xiao! If you can hear me... Please...”
A light burst and the world burned in green. The wind howled and standing before that was the Adeptus. Dark green locks furled and amber hues glowed ominously, aimed at the poor victims -- which in this case, were the treasure hoarders. Once so confidant, they were now seemingly less confidant, but tried to put on their brave faces anyway.
“I knew it. So you truly do come at her beck and call, Xiao,” the same treasure hoarder spat out. “Your weakness is so obvious by now. You’ve grown weak.”
“If I’m weak, I wonder what you are?” the Conqueror of Demons retorted coolly. “Bugs to squash beneath my feet?”
He whipped out his polearm and when the bandits hurried toward him, he easily slashed them. Dodging elegantly and summoning his power, he destroyed them all, anemo wind unwinding before you. It was violent, but he did it beautifully, keeping your attention on him at all times. At moments of these, you were forced to see the difference in his strength and in yours.
When he was done, strolling away from the bandits like a stroll out of a park, he went over to you. You were shaking madly, the fear of this day’s events striking to remind that you weren’t safe. You couldn’t defend yourself; instead, Xiao had to do it.
Droplets of tears rolled down your cheeks once more and your head drooped. “[Y/N]...” Xiao’s voice was gentle for once.
His arms hesitantly wrapped around yours in an awkward embrace. Not arguing against it, you leaned your head into his shoulder and smothered your face into his chest. Smelling like a mixture of ash and almond tofu, it was indeed him. He was warm, covering you from the cold wind blowing through the woods. Only him. The thought of danger faded into the background and your heartbeat returned to become a soothing lullaby.
“You’re okay now,” he breathed out, stroking your [e/c] locks. “You’re safe and I’m here to protect you.”
“I’m sorry,” you whispered.
“Sorry for what?” he responded angrily. “You don’t have to be sorry for anything.”
“I do. I’m a burden to you. They’re using me as leverage to get to you. I can’t even do anything to protect myself.”
“Then let them. Call my name anytime you find yourself in this type of situation. Promise me [Y/N].”
You shook your head. “You have better things to do than showing up at my bidding.”
He let go of you and his eyes narrowed. Dammit. His stubborn ways were getting to him, but the same applied to you. “Everything and anything pertaining to you is never a waste of my time. So promise me this. Promise me so I can sleep well at night.”
“Not like you sleep anyway,” you grumbled. Unfortunately, you were breaking from his determined gaze and his loving words that sent your heart racing. “Fine. I promise. On one condition. I’m paying you back with almond tofu meals.”
He tried not to look so excited, but you could tell. His irises glimmered for a second as he nodded in agreement. “Deal.”
#genshin impact#Genshin#genshin impact scenarios#genshin impact headcanons#oneshot#xiao#xiao x reader#xiao x you#genshin impact xiao#romance#fluff#cute#OneShots#zhongli#Kaeya#Childe#zhongli x reader#childe x reader#reader#x reader#reader insert#comfort
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His Fight
Venti x GN!Reader
1.9 Words
Warnings: Frostbite, assault (not sexual), near death experience
Part 1: His Lyre
His kiss to your cheek was quick but sent a warmth blooming across your face, contrasting with the coolness of his lips.
“Of course,” you mumble, embarrassed. “It was your lyre anyway.”
“It was,” he agreed. “But you believed me. And that really does mean a lot to me. Thank you, really.”
“I’ve always believed you, Venti,” you tell him softly, “both Venti and Barbatos. I believe in you. Even if you didn’t bring the lyre back in one piece, you brought yourself back. And I know you tried your best. You always do, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”
Venti chuckles out a nervous, “ehe~” and rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He doesn’t try to hide the blush dusting his cheeks at your sincere words. “I’m not sure I deserve that, but thank you anyway.”
The two of you stand in silence for a little while after that. It’s not uncomfortable silence though. There’s a pleasant and kind of tingly feeling warming you from head to toe. Venti’s humming a little song and staring thoughtfully out into the distance; and you’re working up the courage to try and hold his hand.
Then your eyes accidentally meet the Traveler’s. Thankfully they seem to have been busy with Paimon while you and Venti were talking, so things aren’t as awkward as they could have been. They’re still kind of a third wheel though, and you’ve done that enough times to know how awkward it is.
Both of your eyes are caught by movement to the right of Traveler. Venti’s still oblivious, but it was enough of a tell for Traveler to be ready when two fatui pyro agents burst out of the brush. They drew their sword and stood their ground despite being outnumbered. Knife met sword as they exchanged blows.
While the fight attracted Venti’s attention, you took the chance to scan the area. It was uncommon for fatui agents to attack like this. Especially in a public area like the cathedral, and… there!
You push Venti out of the way just in time for the blast of ice to miss him, though it hits you dead on. The strength of it had both knocked you off your feet and frozen you solidly to the ground. Squirming some to test your cryo prison, you found an arm and both your legs to be solidly frozen to the ground. A hiss leaves your mouth as the cold starts to seep through your clothes and all the way down to your bones. Frostbite.
A sultry chuckle escapes your attacker as she approaches the two of you, with two cicin mages at her heels. “How touching,” she coos. “You sacrificed yourself for his sake.” She comes to a stop a couple feet away. Venti has very carefully not tensed up, pretending to not be affected, but you can see the wary look in his eyes.
Glancing over at Traveler, your heart falls. They’re still being held up by the pyro fatui agents. There will be no help from them.
She turns to Venti and smirks. “At last, Mondstadt’s rodent ruler in the flesh.” Step by step she draws nearer. “Scurrying through the streets, looking for leftovers.” She passes you, not giving you a second glance. Tilting her head, she quirks an eyebrow and gestures at Venti. “Mondstadt calls this a god?”
Oh she did not just go there.
You may be stuck in ice, and it may be slowly freezing you, but you’re not helpless. Your anemo vision is a weight against your chest. Most may choose to flaunt their visions, but you choose to wear it like a pendant but under your shirt. It may garner less respect, but it also garners less attention. Which is really helpful in situations like this.
The first thing you have to do is take out those cicin mages. With slight hand movements you slowly steal the air out of their lungs- and keep it there. If you’re careful enough, and you are, you can knock them out without them making a sound.
While waiting for them to drop, you keep an eye on Venti and the lady’s exchange.
“Resident rodent beats invasive vermin,” Venti quips.
The lady’s face darkens with rage. “Don’t you dare speak back to me, insolent bard.” She responds, stretching out her arm and summoning a gust in another attempt to freeze him. Crossing his arms, Venti launches himself into the air to avoid it. In return, he reaches for his lyre, which transforms into a bow, and he lets a volley of anemo arrows fly.
She easily knocks each one aside with a volley of ice crystals. “Look at you, absentee archon of Mondstadt… how impotent you have become.” Another barrage of ice rushes towards him with another gesture from the lady.
Venti easily knocked them off course with a blast of wind. “That smirk of yours looks out of place. Did you steal it from your master’s face?”
At that moment you realized three things. The cicin mages are knocked out so you should probably let them go before you kill them. The lady just got angrier than before. Not good. And you’re losing feeling in your legs. That’s definitely not good.
You let out a quiet sound of pain as the pins and needles reach further up your chest towards your neck. The moment he hears that noise, Venti’s attention snaps to you. He freezes. Your lips are blue and your skin is growing pale. He has to do something, fast.
“Cicin mages, attack!” The lady commands, trying to take advantage of his distraction. When nothing happens she turns around to find them where you left them on the ground. A growl escapes her throat as she turns on you.
“I thought that was enough to keep you down and out of the fight,” she said darkly. “Apparently I was wrong. I suppose I’ll need to put you down permanently.” Grabbing a dagger of ice out of thin air, she went for the throat.
“Hey, keep your eyes on me!” Venti calls. “This is my fight!” A flash of turquoise light lit up the area, blinding her and giving her pause. Immediately Venti was at your side, melting the dagger with the warm west wind and pushing the lady away. He donned whites and golds now instead of greens and browns. Feathery wings stretched out behind him. Before you stood the anemo archon, Barbatos. And he was angry.
“How dare you,” he hissed. “How dare you attack them! Leave now, before I truly lose my temper. I do not delight in bloodshed, but blood will be shed if you continue. Begone. And tell Tsaritsa that she had best watch herself. I may not be as powerful as she thinks I ought to be, but I am powerful enough to protect myself and my city.”
And with that, beaten but spiteful, the lady left. “Vanessa,” he spoke. “Would you make sure she leaves? We wouldn’t want her to get… lost.” A hawks cry echoed through the plains as she accepted his request. After all, this was her land too and Venti is her friend.
With that taken care of, all of Venti’s attention is on you.
Usually this would be a good thing, but this attention is because you’re turning blue and starting to lose feeling in your chest. He melts the ice and sweeps you into an embrace, wrapping his wings around you, partly for comfort and partly for warmth. “Thank celestia you’re okay,” he murmured. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. And I’m so glad I haven’t lost you like I did my friend all those years ago.”
You hum wordlessly in response and huddle closer to the warmth he provided. “I’m glad you’re okay too,” you whisper quietly.
Then Venti looks up. The flash of his transformation drew quite the crowd. But, most importantly, it drew Barbara out of the Cathedral.
“Barbara, I am not able to fully heal them myself. The frostbite has gotten too far. Would you kindly lend your assistance?”
“Of course, Lord Barbatos!” She exclaimed, hurrying forward to help heal you.
“Venti, Barabra,” he gently chastised. “I may be Barbatos, but I far prefer to go by Venti.”
“Venti it is then,” she concluded. “I… I believe we owe both of you an apology,” she admits as she focuses more on healing you. “You were telling the truth the whole time, Venti. And they were the only one to believe you. And we can see how that turned out.” She lets out a sigh as she pulls her hands away. “That should do it. How do you feel?”
“I’m still a little cold, but I’ll be okay,” you inform her. Venti holds you a little closer in response. Your skin is still a shade paler than it should be and you’re shaking with cold. But you can feel even your toes and fingers again. Everything will be okay in time.
Over the next few days as you recover, the news of Barbatos’ reappearance and his true identity spread throughout the town. While Venti’s power and ability grew significantly, the revenant and awed looks he received in public made him uncomfortable. Things did get better but it took a while.
“Do you regret doing it?” You asked him one night.
“Revealing my identity as Barbatos? Kind of,” he confessed. “But saving your life? Never. And there wasn’t another way I could have done it. My form as Venti is not able to wield as much power as I can in my winged form. Without revealing myself, I would not have been able to save you. So no, I don’t really regret it. I never could.”
You snuggle closer to him on the couch and entwine one of your hands with his. “Thank you,” you whisper.
“Anytime,” he responds back, just as quietly. He gently squeezes your hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve just brought such a bright light into my life since I met you. I’m not sure I could handle the dark anymore.”
You feel your face flush with warmth and he laughs a little in response. “Aww, did I fluster you?” He teases, poking at your cheek. You groan and let go of his hand to bury your face in your hands. He frowns a little. “How now, you don’t need to hide.”
When you peak out from your hands he gives you a wide smile. “See? It’s just me. It’s okay!”
As soon as your hands are away from your face he reaches forward to cup the side of your face. “Hey,” he says softly as he looks into your eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
“Yes,” you breathe back. And just like that, his lips are on yours. It lasts an eternity and is over in a second as he pulls away. Now he’s the one who’s shy, looking away from you with pink dusting his cheeks. “Was that, um- Was that okay?”
“Hmm,” you ponder. “I don’t know. You may need to try again.”
Surprised, his head snaps back to face you. “Really?” He squeaks a little too quickly.
“Really,” you confirm, tugging on his braids to bring him back in for another kiss.
Neither of you are sure how long you spent kissing on the couch, but both of you will remember this moment fondly for the rest of your lives.
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Mondstadt and its Archon
Sister Grace asks for help in preparing an offering to Barbatos, and he so happens to be there at the end.
Pairing: Venti x Traveler (Reader)
Warnings: Some crying
Note: I happened to unlock this quest and complete it while Venti was still at the usual place and I really just wanted to give him a hug, and then this happened.
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The green-clad figure is uncharacteristically silent. Sometimes even the lissome winds grow heavy in their grief… But not that mortals could ever see a moment oh so brief. The urge to embrace Venti from behind is almost overpowering, but you relent. The painful memories he holds for the past, for his friend, it is enough to forget all else. To forget that even in the present, there are people who care for the bard as he cares for them. The city of Mondstadt was filled with so much love, but it can do little to ease a broken heart. Perhaps… it would be better to give him some space. With a final gentle glance, you descend behind the statue of Barbatos so those who gaze upwards in delight as your glider falls would not see your friend grieve above.
“Traveler?” Sister Grace rounded the statue, eyes squinted softly in a smile as she spotted you turning back. You lowered your head briefly in greeting.
“What are you up to?” She hummed thoughtfully as you closed the distance between your bodies.
“I was praying to Lord Barbatos. It was and always has been his protection that has kept Mondstadt, the knights, and the adventurers safe.” Your face broke into a half-smile.
“Yes… How hardworking of him.” Sister Grace turned towards the pre-dawn horizon, when had it gotten so late? Truly, even if he favored wine just a bit too much, Venti would try his best to ensure the happiness of all those who called the City of Freedom their home. The silence was companionable, soft, until she spoke up softly.
“Traveler, if you have some time, could you do me a favor?” Noticing your attention was still on her, she continued. “May you bring me a batch of Dandelion seeds to spread on the winds atop the statue of Lord Barbatos?” Strange as the request sounded, you pulled out some seeds from your pouch. You had picked them earlier in your adventures with Venti, Jack, and Stanley. Venti even offered to make a wish with you over wine once you’d all returned safely, saying that it would surely come true as long as he was with you. You unwrapped them from the dainty cloth they were kept and offered them to Sister Grace.
“Will these do? I picked them only a few hours ago with a dear friend.” She beamed in return, nodding.
“Perfect. May I see them for a moment?” You placed the floaty seeds in her outstretched palms, and she gently curled her fingers around them. “…Lord Barbatos, please hear me…” Her prayer was gentle, grateful even. Thanking the Anemo Archon for the prosperity of the Knights of Favonius, the Adventurer’s Guild, Mondstadt, and she even offered a quiet prayer for you hoping it would grant you safety along your travels. Spending so much time helping the people of the city, everyone had learned of your journey and your name. It was humbling to imagine those that send wishes along the seeds of a Dandelion also wished for your safety and health in some way. Once finished in her prayers, you were handed back the seeds with the utmost care.
“I will spread these on the wind.” You spoke.
“Thank you ever so much.” Out of the corner of your eye, Paimon had finally returned once Sister Grace retreated into the walls of the cathedral to begin her duties. She was disgruntled and more than a little annoyed but carried a bundle of apples with her.
“Here are your STUPID apples! Paimon still doesn’t know why you sent her so far away like that!” You laughed gently.
“Thank you Paimon. And Venti wasn’t feeling well, I thought some food would cheer him up. Let’s see how he’s doing now, shall we?” The climb back up to the hands of the statue was swift and painless, you had nearly perfected it with how often you and Venti would abscond with the wind to have a moment to laugh together. Carefully treading over the arms of the statue, Venti was still observing the city below in silence. Turning to Paimon, you placed a finger to your lips before walking forward. He didn’t even budge when you crouched behind him, and you firmly believed he didn’t even sense you. So, you quietly unraveled the blessed seeds and blew against them. On your breath, the Dandelion seeds danced off into the wind. And that, Venti noticed.
“Dandelions?” He murmured, a croak in his voice that made your chest constrict in sorrow. Had he been crying? Suddenly, the hunched figure of the Anemo Archon straightened, and he looked back at you. His eyes were red and puffy, and they threatened to spill all over again when an apple was offered in front of him.
“Did you hear them? The voices of Mondstadt?” You asked as his teeth dug into the flesh of his apple. He sniffled once and swallowed with difficulty, but he nodded. You held out one more dandelion seed in your free hand, and with a smile you spirited that one away with the others. A wish you made, one that was spoken to Venti through a single wind. The dam broke and he flung his arms around you, sobbing. You returned his embrace as tightly as you could. It was a wish of happiness and love, and it danced along to the bright skies of a new morning that bathed the city in colors of blue and gold.
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Lost Zephyrs | Bang Chan
summary — you’ve got the worst luck in the history of the world, but it seems as though a miracle has finally been bestowed upon you
word count — 2.4k words
pairing — chan x gender neutral!reader
genre — genshin impact au, fluff, reader is not the smartest person in the world
disclaimer — !! Small mentions of death/injuries !! I’ve been obsessed with genshin impact for the entire week and it stopped me writing. so I decided do make an au out of it to get me out of the slump, please enjoy !! (I explain most of the genshin content for readers who aren’t players :D !!)
tags — @fluffyskzclub
You knew you had the worst luck of them all. You've been constantly reminded of the fact that things didn't go your way no matter how hard you tried, so you think you would have learned your lesson by now right?
Somehow, you were wrong. Excruciatingly wrong in fact. It didn't matter who you told you— your friends, strangers, anyone —you always seem to think that maybe one day something would go your way. If it never did then you'd simply force the world to bend to your knees and allow you to proceed on with life like any other normal person. Most of the time that didn't happen and today was one of those days.
You should have known that traveling across the nations of Teyvat would be a dangerous journey, alone at that. So many monsters, so many evil people, would be out to cause trouble to anyone whose fate crossed their path. But you thought you were fine! After easily skipping across the land of Mondstadt without any help from strangers, slinking past monsters, and quietly napping any interesting treasures along the way, you had gotten too cocky.
Eventually, along your travels you had gotten your map of the world completely blown away in the middle of terrible weather after entering the nation of Liyue, finding yourself somewhere near Wuwang Hill. Then just when you had saved yourself from monsters near the bridge to Wangshu Inn, your sword completely snapped in half. The blade getting cut clean off after a Cryo slime froze it and broke it.
You were lucky enough that you had been able to rush into Wangshu Inn but now you were stuck without a weapon and a map of the landscape ahead of you.
Any sane person would stop their journey to stock back up on everything they've lost, but you didn't want to. You were a rather restless person and desperately wanted to reach the capitol, Liyue Harbor, as quickly as you could so you set off anyways, severely underestimated the distance between Wangshu Inn and the capitol.
That's how you ended up where you are, desperately running in the storming weather as fast as your legs would take you away from the hilichurl camp you had accidentally stumbled upon. It was never easy seeing those masked, primitive creatures armed with clubs and bows and ready for the attack but usually you were unphased. You were a traveler! You saw them all the time in Mondstadt and they are a common monster found throughout Teyvet.
But right now you were an unarmed, feeble traveler with no map and no strength to fight them off. They'd pounce on you the moment you stopped running.
"Why won't they give up!" You yell over the pounding rain, nearly tumbling over your own two feet with a strike of lightning hit the ground somewhere not too far off. You didn't even bother trying to check and see where the lightning was with the thunder roaring across the land and the hilichurl's arrows being aimlessly shot at you. It would be a death sentence trying to take a moment to look at your surroundings at this point.
You would have tried to use your elemental powers to fight back but you couldn't. You spent all that time trying to perfect the element of Ameno back in Mondstadt since it was known as the city of freedom and for its god of the winds, Barbatos, but you had used up all your energy trying to fight to save your life after you lost your sword. Truly, you were in the worst situation and it didn't feel like your luck was going to get any better from here.
Once you finally had a moment to rest, even for a second, you might be able to muster up the strength and energy to send a blast of wind toward the hilichurls. One little gust of your Anemo would send them flying and you'd finally be safe.
Rest, rest. You needed rest, but where? Where could you possibly find rest out away from the rain and hilichurls in this long stretch of land?
"You know what," you told yourself, still struggling to hear yourself as another lightning bolt strikes the ground and thunder rumbles through the air. "I should just try, if I ran fast enough they'll be long behind me and it'll give me enough time to regain my strength and blast them away."
You had to psych yourself up for it, not confident in your strength and not confident in your odds against the world, but you had to try. If the world decided you had enough karma now, maybe you'd be okay by the end of it.
Though it seemed like it wasn't enough, as you were quickly approaching an awfully large cliff that cut off your path to safety. You could climb but in this condition? In this weather? You'd probably fall straight to your doom.
With nowhere else to run, you forced yourself to pick up the page before turning on your heel and facing your opponents. Your eyes grew wide and a scream threatened to fly out your mouth at the sight of the hilichurls running towards you, their clubs swinging wildly through the air and their bows pointing straight at your chest. You were lucky that not a singular mitachurl was following you though, you would have been dead long ago.
"Here goes nothing," you mumble as you hold out your hand, desperately summoning the wind around you to be focused into the palm of your hand. Just when your body felt like it was going to collapse, a blast of wind exploded from your hands and slammed straight into the hilichurls that followed you. The rain was sucked up into your wind vertex and splattered against the already drenched hilichurls, sending them flying through the air defenseless.
You wanted to cheer for your small victory, but there was no chance to do it when the hilichurls that hadn't been blown away were still standing. "Oh, come on!" You yelped, falling to your knees from the strain you had placed on your body, unable to fight against the crossbows that were pointed at you. You shielded yourself as best as you could to save yourself from the oncoming attacks, opting that you'd rather go out seeing nothing and hearing everything instead of the opposite.
Yet inside of hearing the screeching arrows being shot and stung into your flesh, instead of hearing the hilichurls growl and cackle at their victory over another frail traveler, you hear something different. Their yelps of pain echoed through the air as the rain began to let up, their bows crashing to the ground and their cackles going panicked at their sudden change of plans.
Curious over the turn of events, you peered around your arms to catch a glimpse of the fairytale-like scene before you. A boy stood in the middle of the hilichurls with a victorious dimpled smile, soaking wet in the now light rain and swinging a large red and black greatsword like it was the lightest object in the world. His movements were messy and slow but his sword dealt enough damage to frighten the hilichurls into a tactical retreat.
The boy tried to get in an extra hit by taunting the monsters for their cowardice before he slammed his greatsword into the ground, rocks flying away from the heavy sword's collision. After a moment to himself, laughing at whatever words that had come out of his mouth, he turned to you. His brown eyes flashed from fiery excitement to immediate worry at your condition, quickly giving you a one over before rushing to your side.
"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft voice, falling to his knees and grabbing your hands. Around his wrist jingled a bracelet of some sort, charmed with different and unique trinkets. Though the most notable one being the large, glowing yellow crystal hanging in the center of the trinkets, a swirling symbol of earth inside of the crystal. You knew exactly what that symbol was, the symbol of Geo, the earth element famously found throughout Liyue. "I couldn't help but barge in, it seemed like you needed help."
"I am," you quickly tell him, awkwardly snatching your hands away from him after realizing he was checking to see if you suffered any wounds. "I mean, I'm fine. I definitely needed help though, thank you for saving me."
"No problem," he nodded, his smile stretching across his face and his dimples growing even deeper. "I saw you from over there after you sent that gust of wind toward the hilichurls. Had you not done that, I wouldn't even have noticed you through that thick downpour." The boy told you, pointing across the way towards the cliffs not too far from you.
He must have climbed down from there to reach you, but that would have been a rather tedious process. Maybe he jumped instead?
"Ah, you saw that?" You quietly asked, embarrassed to be caught weak and defenseless by what seemed to be a fellow traveler. When he innocently nodded his head, you let your head fall to your hands. "Gosh... that's so embarrassing... that means you saw me running away from those hilichurl and everything didn't you?"
The boy shrugged, "as I said, I didn't see you until the gust of wind." He explained.
"Did I just out myself on running away?" You cringed, mentally slamming your head with one of the hilichurl clubs. You were just letting anything fall out of your mouth now, huh? And to a total stranger at that! "This is even more embarrassing! I'm sorry, forget I ever said that, erase that from your memory."
He laughed at your words, slicking back his drenched purple hair as the rain finally stopped. "Don't worry! It's like that sometimes, even I've run away from a hilichurl or two once in my life. Especially those samachurls, creepy little things they are, especially with the fact that they can control elements."
"You too?" You gasped, jumping up to attention at your shared fears. "I hate those devils! Hydro samachurls that heal the other hilichurls, they make everything else so... so difficult."
"So you have fought hilichurls before," he teased, tapping the glowing light teal crystal that dangled down your neck in a pendant. Like the boy, you too had a symbol that displayed the element you had been gifted, giving away the fact that you could control Anemo as if the gust of wind from your hands wasn't enough of a dead giveaway. "With the way your knees buckled from sending one meek blast at them, I would have thought this was your first time seeing them."
"It is not!" You defended, jumping up to your feet and feeling energy course through your body once more. All you needed was one quick rest and you were back to your normal self. "I'm a full blown traveler! I had just been running from those hilichurls for a while now, I didn't have enough strength to create a whole tornado or something to save myself."
"What full blown traveler walks across Liyue without a weapon in tow?" The boy pointed out, gesturing toward your empty scabbards hanging around your waist. "Liyue, while very beautiful, is a very dangerous place to go on your own, especially without a weapon or two to project yourself."
You bit your lip, fidgeting with the pendant around your neck as you tried to sugarcoat your situation. "Well... I did have a sword when I first came here from Mondstadt but things... happened... and by the time I reached Wangshu Inn I had no sword."
"Wangshu Inn?" He gasped, "but that's so far away from here, how'd you even make it this far?"
"Barbatos was on my side, I guess," you shrugged, not knowing the answer to his question. It's a literal miracle that you hadn't died. "I was going to try and make my way as close to Liyue Harbor as possible since that was my original destination but I lost my map before I even got into the nation so... I'm kinda... all over the place right now."
"You sure are, you're nowhere near Liyue Harbor right now. In fact, I'd say you're closer to Wangshu Inn than the city." The boy explained, completely catching you off guard. Not even close to your destination? You spent all this time running and fighting through the terrain of Liyue and ended up almost exactly where you started."
"What? But I thought I had been following a clear path before the hilichurls attacked. So if I'm not near Liyue...," you began, twisting and turning in every direction as you tried to make sense of your location. "Then where am I?"
"If you climbed up the cliffs? You'd be standing in Jueyun Kurst, and mere mortals can't just walk into Jueyun Kurst." The boy explained, pointing to a path you could have taken had you not been chased by monsters. "It's going to take a while for you to even reach Guili Plains now, this place only gets more secluded the deeper you head into the mountains."
Had you survived the attack from the hilichurls, you would have gotten lost within Jueyun Kurst. Your luck was absolutely horrendous at the moment, the mere fact that the Geo boy had come and saved you was a miracle.
"If you want, I can take you to Liyue?" He offered, both of you catching each other's eyes almost immediately. After a moment of pure silence, he let out a nervous laugh and anxiously ran his hands through his hair. "I mean, I have friends who live in Liyue! They can help you get a new sword and a map... and I'm also sorta heading towards Liyue Harbor in a sense? So I think it'll just benefit the both of us! Yeah..."
You couldn't help but giggle at his actions, taking note of the evident flushing of his cheek that even the boy didn't seem to notice. "I'd like that very much. I feel a lot safer running around Liyue with a partner instead of on my own. Thank you...?"
"Chan," he informed you, his smile shining as he finally properly introduced himself. "I'm Bang Chan, but usually I just get called Chan... it doesn't matter which one you use though. I'm fine with anything."
"Chan," you repeated, making sure his name and face were permanently engraved in your mind. "I'm Y/N. Thank you, Chan, for being my guide around Liyue. Now shall we get going? It was raining a few minutes ago and we're soaking wet, don't want to catch a cold while we're on the road, do we?"
#stayhavennet#skzwritersclub#fluffyskzclub#kpop imagines#kpop#kpop scenarios#kpop au#kpop fluff#stray kids#stray kids imagines#skz#skz fluff#skz imagines#skz chan#skz x reader#bang chan x reader#bang chan imagines#bang chan#stray kids chan#stray kids x reader#genshin!au
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100+ Followers Event - Update!
Hey everyone! :D Anemo here with a quick update on the Event!
Today is the last day of the event so make sure you get your requests in! ^w^
I'm going to be closing my inbox again Saturday morning and will spend some time catching up on all the requests I've had >3<
If you've sent in a non-event related request so far, I promise I've got it and they wil be answered!
I'll be clearing the event asks out, then non-event asks and then we'll be open for new requests again :)
Thanks again to everyone for the incredible support you've all shown me ;w; I've already met some wonerful people and y'all are all truly amazing!!! <3
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Date Night
Paimon: “New mail!”
Lumine: “Huh?” sees the small box “What is it Paimon? Another set of primogems?”
Paimon: “Better! it smells like food inside!” drolls “Paimon can't wait to see what's inside*
Lumine: rolls eyes “You and your fascination for food. And who sent it?”
Paimon: “Oh! There was a letter for you along with the box!”
Paimon gives the small scroll to Lumine. The traveler opens it and sees a small message inside
Lumine: “Its from Keqing”
Paimon: “Oh! Is that the girl we met at the Guizhong Ballista when we were looking how to enter the jade chamber? and after that you two started to know each other better?”
Lumine: “Yep. well, something like that. It looks like its her birthday today”
Paimon: “Oh really?! Paimon loves Birthdays! We should make a gift for her! Or better yet, a cake!”
Lumine: “I'm not going to bake her a cake made of slimes, Paimon”
Paimon: “Hey, what's wrong with cooked slimes? They're delicious!”
Lumine:“You spend too much time with Xiangling… Oh wait.”
Paimon: “What? what does it say? Please tell Paimon what does the letter say!”
Lumine: “It says she has been busy for two days to finish all her work, and since its her birthday she wants to show me around Liyue harbor tonight..”
Paimon: “Oh! That sounds fun! There are a lot of good shops that sell funny gadgets and toys. and lots of delicious food! Paimon wants to join too”
Lumine: “I dont think it will be possible Paimon”
Paimon: “What? why not?!”
Lumine: “The letter says “We can spend some leisure time time shopping together, just the two of us”
Paimon: “What?! that's so unfair! Paimon wants to go- Oh wait, Paimon starts to realize something”
Lumine: “Eh?”
Paimon: giggles “Paimon cant go with the traveler because the traveler has a date tonight!”
Lumine: “What?! No, Paimon, it's not a date, Im sure its just to show her gratitude after what happened with the overlord with the vortex”
Paimon: “Fufufu, is that so? and then why is the traveler blushing now?”
Lumine: hides her red cheeks “I'm not blushing, and don't start teasing me”
Paimon: sings “ The traveler has a date, the traveler has a date!”
Lumine: “What are you? a five year old kid?”
Paimon: “Oh don't be so grumpy, Paimon can still help you searching for a good gift for your date tonight”
Lumine: Sighs “Why you have to be so annoying..:”
Later, that night, Lumine was waiting near the Liyue harbor, with a small gift box on her hands
Lumine: sighs “I cant believe Paimon made me buy this gift.:”
???: “Oh, you arrived early. I was expecting to arrive first and wait for you”
Lumine: “Huh?”
Lumine looks at her right and some meters away, Keqing was approaching with some more casual purple clothes
Keqing: “I apologize if I make you wait too long. I had to finish some details in my clothing so I wouldn't be recognized so easily by the citizens and merchants of Liy- Uhm, are you alright?”
Lumine blushes as she clungs her heart “First Mondstalt, now Liyue, why does everyone have to be so freaking gorgeous?!”
Lumine: clears her voice and smiles “Oh, its nothing, I feel fine, you don't have to worry I just arrived too”
Keqing: “Oh, that's a relief. So, there's a few shops that I want to take a look at, shall we go now?”
Lumine: “wait! before we start, uhm… heres a gift” handles the box to keqing
Keqing: “Oh? ¿A gift? well.. you didn't have to, you know”
Lumine: “Maybe, but Paimon insisted and, well, it would be weird if I didn't bring anything for your party, considering you gave me a box this morning”
Keqing: “Oh, it was just a small treat, after all you did for this nation, I feel that-!”
Keqing opens the box and her eyes widened and blushes
Keqing: “W-What is this?”
Lumine: giggles nervously: “Paimon told me you may have liked it. I'm still not sure why but, if you don't like then-”
Keqing: “N-No! I didn't say I didn't like it, but uhm” holding a Rex Lapis plushie “I didn't expect someone would give me something like this . It's a really unexpected surprise, but a very welcomed one”
Lumine: “O-Oh is that so? t-then I'm glad to hear it!”
Keqing: “Of course, I would not throw a gift like this, despite that I'm not that interested in Rex Lapis”
Lumine: “Oh, it was Paimons idea, not mine”
Keqing: “I understand” hugs the plushie closer to her “So, let's start shopping then?”
Lumine: nods “Let's begin*
After some hours shopping, watching new gadgets, artifacts, and buying some food, the two girls walked along with each other, talking, smiling and laughing together
Keqing: “What did you buy in that bag?”
Lumine: “Oh, this? Just some artifacts I may need in the future. I remembered I should upgrade my sword again”
Keqing: “I think you spend too much time in the forge, lumine”
Lumine: “I'm just there in the mornings, before I go to another adventure”
Keqing: “Don't you get bored of adventuring too much?”
Lumine: “mhmm, sometimes, but there's always interesting and new stories with each new day. and besides, I'm never alone in this journey, there's always Paimon next to me and others who have joined me in one of my adventures”
Keqing: “That sounds… pretty nice. Maybe one day I can join too, but work is always busy”
Lumine: “I understand. but don't worry. Maybe one day we will go on an adventure, for for tonight, I'm glad to spend some time with you”
Keqing: blushes “Im.. Im happy to hear that from you, Lumine..:”
???: “Lumine!”
Lumine: “Huh? *looks behind* Xiangling?”
Xiangling: carrying a knocked out Paimon “Hey there you are!”
Keqing: “Woah, what happened with her?”
Xiangling: “That's why I came for! We were enjoying my new plates when she suddenly fell to the floor! Would she be alright?”
Paimon: “Too many… slimes…”
Lumine: sighs “She may have a food induced coma again… Don't worry Xiangling, she will sleep all night”
Lumine grabs Paimon and she carries her in her arms. the little pixie rests her head on her shoulder as she mumbles something ininteligible
Xiangling: “Oh that's a relief! I thought she got poisoned or something, since I tried to wake her up and nothing happened”
Keqing: “Im worried about your dishes sometimes, Xiangling…”
Lumine: softly smiles “Its okay, I think she will be fine”
Xiangling: “Alright! So, I have to go back to the kitchen, you guys can visit me tomorrow if you want lunch or breakfast!”
as Xiangling leaves, Keqing looks at the small fairy groaning and drooling on Lumine's shoulder “Is she really okay?”
Lumine: “It's just Paimon, sometimes she doesnt down when to stop eating”
Keqing:“I wonder how much she can eat with such a small body”
Lumine: “Oh, you will be surprised, I assure you, I will just have to tug her on bed and she will be back to normality”
Keqing:“Oh, well, since you have to go back to take care of her, and most stores are going to close for the night… there's a place that I want to visit”
Lumine: “Eh, sure, where?”
Keqing: “The Yujing Terrace, come follow me”
Lumine: “The Yujing Terrace? Do you think we can go there now?”
Keqing:“Of course we can, and don't worry too much, as long as you're closer to me, no geoarmy soldier should ask you why are you up there.”
The two girls , plus the sleeping Paimon being carried on Lumines arms, walked in silence, until they arrived to the terrace
Lumine: “Wait, This is..”
Keqing:“The place where the Rite of Descension took place. I know you were here that day. and since then, the nation of Liyue changed forever, thanks to its citizens, the adepti, and you, of course”
The two approached to the roof where they could see all the lights of the city”
Lumine: “It's beautiful..”
Keqing: “It's the lights of a new Liyue. It's truly precious..”
Keqing stares for a few seconds to Lumine as she stares at the view of the city in the night and the stars
Keqing: “Truly beautiful..”
Keqing: “So, I hear you were looking to travel to Inazuma?”
Lumine: “O-Oh? Well, yes. I still have to keep going. I'm planning to visit every nation, after all”
Keqing: “It will be difficult, to enter to Inazuma, but since I don't see you carrying a vision with you, you shouldn't have an issue”
Lumine: “I dont think not having a vision would be a problem. Looking for a ship to bring me there, in the other hand”
Keqing: “If you need a hand, I can help to contact a captain for you”
Lumine: “Would you do that for me?”
Keqing: “After all you did for Liyue, its the least thing I can do… but with a small condition”
Lumine: “What is it?”
Keqing: “Once you finish your tasks at Inazuma… promise me you will come back”
The two girls blush a bit. but soon, Lumine smiles and nods
Lumine: “I promise I will go back, and I will tell you everything about Inazuma once I my adventure in that nation ends”
Keqing: smiles “I'm happy to hear that. Miss traveler”
They giggle for a minute as they stare at each other for a while. Then Keqing clears her voice
Keqing: “Anyway. I should go to sleep soon. My job always starts early in the morning. you and your friend should have some rest too”
Lumine: “I will make sure Paimon rests well. thank you”
Keqing: “So, you know how to leave the Yuying terrace on your own, right?”
Lumine: “Well, of course, I have been here a few times, but not at night, maybe if I use the wings I-!”
Suddenly, something softs touches Lumines cheek, shocking her, along with a small *chu* kiss
The traveler was frozen in place as Keqing kissed her cheek. then she pulls her face away with a big blush
Keqing: “S-So anyways, Haveagoodnight!”
Using her vision to escape and run like a lighting bolt, Keqing quickly disappeared, leaving Lumine in a frozen state as she touched her left cheek, still not believing it
Paimon: groaning “So cold.. need blanket…” opens eyes “Oh, it's your traveler, that's strange. The last thing Paimon remembers was eating a cake of anemo slime and chocolate. Did Paimon fell asleep again”
Lumine: “....”
Paimon: “Lumine? Hey Paimon’s talking to you! Why is your face so red?”
Lumine: “... best, night, ever..:”
#genshin impact#genshin keqing#genshin lumine#genshin xiangling#genshin paimon#If you ask how Paimon knew about the plushies#Lets say she asked Ningguang about it#Genshin impact prompts gives me life
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i think kaeya’s suffocating one-way loyalty to others, especially diluc, is one of my favourite parts of his character. an inhumanly knightly ideal stretched transparent, gauze-thin to try and obscure the deficit of your own personhood. like clawing shut a black hole with bloodied fingers but still finding it weeping uncontrollably, hysterically. it’s not exactly self-sacrifice but more like some ill-fated way of seeking validation, plunging yourself into the dark to reaffirm that there is something light, barely alive, faintly flickering within. something worth saving, something human after all. its knowingly asking a question that cannot be answered or taken back. an irreversible change of state is the culmination of rubedo, the metamoprhic stage preceding it symbolized by the peacocks tail, cauda pavonis. understanding the true weight of flesh without blood is to kill the creature beforehand, but this is the only way a true value can be known. childhood dreams denature into scar tissue, charred memories leave a bitter taste in your mouth no matter what you wash it down with. twisting the knife to feel agony once more, confirmation there was some soft underbelly to to the beast, still made of blood and bone, steel carapace and blood-dark claws nothing more than bygone idles. this body can catch alight, can burn brilliantly. this maddening fragility can only be human.
an enduring but deceptively frail nature. i think most of his potential as a character is just waiting for him to shatter and reveal what exactly is left underneath it all like a kinder surprise! but the surprise is abject misery compounded upon whatever fucking awful events would have to cause him to break cleanly in two. i think, naturally, if left to his own devices with little change other than his tentative limbo with diluc, the niggling fear of his truth being exposed and his true utter loneliess, rather than breaking, kaeya would slowly be eroded with time. already well entrenched in the safety of his masks in the city he all but rules, slowly the glaciers hes built turn into the sea and without realising it one day he’d be stranded in an ocean of his own making completely and utterly desolate. eventually kaeya will find himself swalloed by the abyss and he will not struggle as the water comes to claim him.
as fun as that is i think there are much more interesting avenues to go down. for all kaeya is mond’s glacial cavalry captain he’s paradoxically also characterised by his emotional vulnerability. and i just think it’s delicious to prey on that and have some extreme emotional distress that tears him apart. although it’s never alluded to ingame outside of jean’s story quest it seems that kaeya orchestrates a lot of things and is relatively deeply involved with the personal lives of many characters who could not particularly offer him anything in return. specifically jean, klee, lisa and amber. somehow slowly he has scraped together some semblance of friendship and camraderie if not outright family. with him being abandoned twice over, one more final abandonment making kaeya compeltely lose all sense of reality would utterly break him for the last time. like realising all this time, all this change, everything yous aid and did was not only pointless but it was a distraction. the ice beneath your feet is is cracking even if you screamed for help you’d simply be damning another person to die with you, selfishly, thoughtlessly, cruelly. realising your purpose was nothing so grand, but with lies and misdirection they sent you to die in the snow convincing yourself a martyr. there is nothing to catch you, nothing to hold onto but whatever is lurking beneath. you can at least trust a beast to be beast, you were denied to live amongst the land of men but in the depths of the abyss you monsters you call your kin reach out to you, knowing. its only a matter of control now, to either fall off of the edge of the world or dive into it.
like a bird trying to swim beneath the water and finally succumbing to the waves. abandon yourself to your fate. revel in it, drink it down in huge gulps, fall into the spiral and dont look up, don’t acknowledge any other ending than this. there is no use making wishes, the stars are not listening.
i think the event that makes kaeya lose his tenuous grip on reality will actually be completely unnoticeable to anyone who doesnt particularly know him ie other than maybe jean, rosaria and diluc. kaeya will not endanger mond directly, but he is aware, that when he falls, so does a pillar of mond’s defence. he will not raise his sword against the place that gave him a wonderful illusion of belonging but he will not save it either, there was no way for him to understand this land of wind, as someone who was born not knowing the sky.
kaeya would mostly act as usual but there’s something distinctly off-kilter. his usual teasing more strange and obtuse, his usual silvertongue tempered into something more humble, cut with a strange truthfulness, a quiet gentleness of a youth from long ago. as if the captain had suddenly turned back time, as if slowly opening up and blooming like a flower. jean is happy to see kaeya smile again, even if she knows it if an affectation of a memory of a memory. she feels like the anemo archon had gifted him wings, this lightness a blessing she should be thankful for rather than weighed down with niggling worry for her oldest friend. rosaria finds it rather liberating, feeling as if kaeya has finally had the strength to shake off the great weight he carried, that burdensome melancholy has finally thawed. if it was not for the face master diluc is making at him however, she might have missed how wide and unseeing that smile seems.
diluc would be torn. there is something wrong with kaeya. but at the same time isn’t this what he wanted? perhaps in another life if kaeya ragnivindr had the chance to grow up, to bloom into adulthood, this is what he’d be. there is a childish softness he had thought he had burned away, the specter of a boy from another life warm and real before you. that makes something in his throat catch, the back of his eyes ache. diluc would feel tormented, kaeya surely had found some peace but here diluc has convinced himsef its ill-gotten. theres a warring inside him of wanting to reach out and hold this person you’ve never seen before, lest the disappear like snow come dawn and at the same time dig your fingers into it, sift through it until its in pieces before you and find what must exist in the heart of this illusion, even if it means tearing it to pieces. its often, often, he curses demanding the truth. honor and code and chivalry mean nothing any more but he has chosen the path and he can no longer go back. because now it means he cannot leave this kaeya, who can at least pretend to smile like he used to, intact. even this short reprieve must be burnt away.
questioning kaeya is painful, he uses his truthful emotions to disarm and its impossible to get anywhere. kaeya knows what hes doing. if he must be a liar to the end, he will give them the grandest, most beautiful illusion he can create. he pulls on his own strings until he feels them dig into skin, closing around his throat. choking down all his childish wishes to be saved, and turning once more to the audience. smothering it is the kinder alternative than to let the small voice in his heart live, take pitiful struggling steps and have to watch it fizzle and die out with a whimper under the weight of the world. the show must go on, such a mundane performance is not worthy of the king of khaenriah.
kaeya has always known that no matter how he comes to the finale, he has his part to play. in the end his choices dont matter, nobody has ever let kaeya have anything but (a photograph set alight by the fireplace. black satin ribbons tied in neat loopy bows, order in unruly heads of hair, scratchy facial hair against your cheek, the smell of cologne and grapes, not yet wine, three bodies curled on an armchair, a book of fairy tale held in two sets of hands. there is hole is in the center). his body has always belonged to khaenriah, his sword to the knights of favonius, his life to mond. there a quiet vindictive selfishness still, of owning and having complete control of your heart. one ill retaliation that gurgles out of your throat and takes the form of half-aborted laughter spilling out like tar, like sickness. turning the world upside down and righting your positions. kaeya sets the board to its rightful place.
is it still falling if you jump? no need to fear of someone letting go, if you had no intention of holding on. one final indulgence, one last rebellion. the childish vindictiveness of taking something from someone and not giving it back, getting the last laugh even if you laugh alone.
the peacock stage in alchemy, is the stage of transcendence, to destroy the original form and purify it to its final rubedo. the peacock must be swallowed by the phoenix. burning through its brilliant colours to achieve the transmutation between the mundane and divine. this is the the purpose of the cauda pavonis. it is to represent a form that is to be destroyed to achieve completion. a sacrifice.
to kaeya, knowing his purpose yet still foolishly living beyond it is the thing that truly truly sinks its teeth in. knowing that everything he built will be destroyed and he must allow it for being foolish enough to build it in the first place. he knows his impermanence and yet still he is beside himself with a festering rage called humanity creeping into his bones. having no way to process this as anything other than some inherent malignant evil that must be intrinsic to himself, i think kaeya takes ‘pleasure’ in not only burning that bridge but proving to everyone that he was an awful person who deserved this and he really is getting the last laugh. and truly there is something about it, for once, destroying something for your own pleasure. even if it is taking your own chance of redemption, that weak-hearted hopefulness and crushing it between your teeth, finding your saviour just to spite their naivety. the onyl thing left ot destroy is yourself so kaeya will make it absolute and spectacular! a performance seen this night and never again.
but the just straight up sacrifice for the sake of devotion, feeling as if he truly has nothing left but himself and he is his own person to destroy, his only act he can take, the only move on the board is sexy too. in another world, those deeper desires never breaking the ice, layers of permafrost scarred over and scratched raw - idle fantasies of love and forgiveness and belonging, mundane dreams reserved for better people - that could not be burnt out of you that night, like your hair, like your hands, like your flesh, like your heart. an ashen taste that lingers, a bitter aftertaste ever present no matter what you try and wash it down with. you can at least appreciate that the ache of your lungs filling with water, with wine, with the heavy weight of lies -- you can imagine you will sink, heavy with this grief. no one can change this punishment you have decided for yourself, they cannot save you without your consent. you see an invitation to be smothered, for your death to have a purpose, just as your life and birth had predetermined value, how could you deny such a privilege?
what is this if not a final act of devotion? to who, it’s undecided. but the fact you have burnt through this life for others, that you have bled for them, have been their hope, perhaps with this you can finally earn the title of a good man in their eyes. but your own dull gaze is the only one that looks back at you.
to think of their faces, their names, their warmth would sully this divine duty with pointless sorrow so you would close your eyes and clutch at the chest, where an abyssal heart would beat fast and scared, a betrayer and coward til the end. in the cold water, the outline of a dream, the gauzy silhouettes of people you loved, the light of the sun cast shadows across lands both alien and comforting, and, and - anything at all would be worth it. anyone but you.
perhaps this is simply the end. the final act lay unwritten for there is no point writing words that will never be read. perhaps the mask has slipped and you never noticed, insisting the show must go on when there is no one to play to. a performer perpetually stuck on the stage, turning about the head of a pin, boring into you with every revolution.
the depths of the abyss, pale in comparison to a gaping maw of this despair so wide, that this ocean is nothing but shallow waters to you. walking into the sea, with sword in hand, a sickness in the form of a love that is incomprehensible and cold. to finally rest free, a sojourn with no hope of return a voyage to far away from here. kaeya alberich falls to the end of the world and you will not save him.
as well and good all this rambling is, i think my favourite rendition of kaeya alberich shattering into tiny little pieces is to the tune of ‘kelly clarkson - since u been gone’
#damn you ren#its a banger song#i like my vindictive kaeya he deserves it king#renshin impact#unhinged kaeya rambling time#cw suicidal ideation#i am jus rambling its nothing coherent#organic free range delusions served fresh and hot#if even 20% of this is intelligeible i am a goddamn GENIUS#unfortuantely i will never know since i do not intend to ever read this again
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Doppelgänger 8/15
Chapter 08: Incoordination
Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; none
Rating: T
Word Count: 9,086
Summary: It was like looking into a mirror. What happens when one’s reflection talks back and throws uncomfortable questions? El Search Party struggles to find entrance into the Demon Realm, but Dominator has a plan.
Alternative Title: Dominator fucked up and now everyone meets their alternative selves
AO3 Link / FF.NET Link
— [Chapter 01] [Chapter 02] [Chapter 03] [Chapter 04] [Chapter 05] [Chapter 06] [Chapter 07] [Chapter 08] [Chapter 09] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] —
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Class Notes:
Canon Path: Knight Emperor, Aether Sage, Daybreaker, Rage Hearts, Code: Esencia, Comet Crusader, Apsara, Empire Sword, Doom Bringer, Ishtar and Chevalier (Innocent), Bluhen
Alternative Path: Rune Slayer, Oz Sorcerer, Anemos, Furious Blade, Code: Ultimate, Fatal Phantom, Devi, Flame Lord, Dominator, Timoria and Abysser (Catastrophe), Richter
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Anemos
True to the El Master’s words, Demon Realm was a mirror to their world in a sense that she could identify some of its inhabitants as distant relatives to their Elrian counterparts. The deer-like creatures had multiple eyes, but aside from that, they ran off startled when she approached too close for comfort. Nights outlasted the days in this part of the strange new territory, the rain was plentiful. Trees and shrubs overshadowed Anemos and glimmered in the dark in colors she didn’t know existed. These creatures weren’t surviving, but thriving in a world absent of the El.
The elven elders once spoke of this place when she was a curious child, eager to learn more about the world beyond her village. They whispered about a world that lacked the same resources they relied on, where the sun barely reached their inhabitants and it was a fight between the strong and the weak. It was true that Demon Realm was harsher than what she was used to. Without the goddess’s influence, Anemos had to use all of her abilities and experiences to avoid losing blood.
Anemos played with a stray strand of hair, wrung her hand over the communicator tucked behind her ear. She replayed a message she had received shortly after she had found Dominator lying on the ground. It was a brief message from Richter whispering,
“Come here… fighting has deceased.”
A map appeared through holographic projectors installed into the communicators. Red and blue lines formed around the landmasses with stars marked to indicate the landmarks scattered across the region. The first half of the map was covered in shady trees and narrow streams between the iron mountains. The second half was obscured in dark clouds, overshadowed by a name written in Elrian.
“Varnimyr,” Anemos examined the map. “Is that what this place is called?”
“You’re going to listen to Toothpaste?” Dominator peeked from behind. The scientist walked with a limp from his fight with Esencia, dragging his right foot but was otherwise well enough to talk and make comments about their teammate with a smirk.
“Do you have a different plan in mind?” She looked at Dominator with scrutiny, “I haven’t heard from Raven since he took off after the other Ara and I can’t imagine Ain winning a fight by himself.”
“I’m sure he’ll talk his head off with those demons,” Dominator chuckled despite Anemos rolling her eyes. “Don’t you think this can be a trap? They’re trying to lure us out when we let our guard down.”
That couldn’t be right, Anemos shook her head. Fear and anger were absent from Richter when he contacted them, keeping his voice low with his words flowing close together. Embarrassment? Shame? It was difficult to tell without seeing his face to gauge the intent behind his message. Anemos had known the priest long enough to understand that something was on Richter’s mind. She sensed hesitation when Richter spoke. Words were hard to come by for Richter, a sentiment Anemos shared because there were many words on the elven language that could not be translated into Elrian for equal measure.
Anemos found it pointless to have the two El Search Parties argue over the disappearances of their leaders, but that didn’t mean she was one to avoid a fight if the opposing initiated, which was often the case throughout their journey. If the alternate El Search Party truly wanted to take them down, pulling them together would be counterproductive. It would be easier to defeat them by dividing them and targeting their weak points. She was sure the other party had considered them sharing similar weaknesses as their counterparts.
“Even if this was a trap, we already lost Elsword.” Anemos said, “I’m not losing another friend.”
Dominator dropped his smile and forced a more somber expression. The scientist averted his eyes and pursed his lips, mumbling an apology. He pushed Apocalypse away when the cat cube saw its master frowning and ordered its dismissal. The destructive weapon meowed in protest, but scattered into smaller blocks and disappeared. Dominator ordered Dynamo to run scans and signaled Anemos to keep walking.
It was those eyes again. They were the same ones their friends all shared - some of them more obvious than others. Ones of pain and regret about something from a distant past catching up to them and nipping them by the ankles. For all of his dramatics, Dominator was a child even by human standards. Something struck a chord in Anemos when Dominator once casually remarked with a cheerful smile that he was used to scars. It was troubling to see the scientist express confusion when Anemos offered to help him tend to his wounds.
“You said Raven was with the fox?” Dominator deepened his frown, rubbing his chin in thought. Dynamo flashed and ushered the white-haired man to a set of charts and codes outlining them. He let the machine whirr in the background as he followed Anemos deeper into the woods. Dominator glared past her shoulders and ordered Dynamo to line up and set up installs.
There was a young woman in white. Dried blood smeared at the edge of Apsara’s clothes, forming a dark crust around her sleeves. The tassels on her sleeves and waist became ragged and clung together from sweat and worn use. Apsara used her scarf as a makeshift bandage by wrapping it around her right arm. She waved for them to wait. Apsara ran with her arms tucked in and lifted the back of her dress to avoid falling over. She stopped to catch her breath when she caught up to them.
“I didn’t think,” Apsara gasped. “You were still here. Mr. Blade said you might be meeting up with everyone.”
Mr. Blade? Ah, she must be referring to the former member of the Crow Mercenary Knights. It sounded like Blade received Richter’s message as well. Who else did Richter contact in the short span of time between the time Anemos found Dominator until now?
“Where is he?” Dominator scanned for the older man. “What did you do to him?”
“Do to him?” Apsara frantically shook her head and waved her hands, “It’s not like that! He told me to go ahead because he saw Ms. Eve and… eep!”
Pushing too much of her weight onto her knees, Apsara lost her balance and tipped over. She stuck out one leg to the side and landed on her stomach before falling head first into the ground.
Anemos went to check on the other woman and winced when she saw reopened wounds. Apsara rolled to her side and hugged her knees with tears running down her pink face.
“Are you okay?” Anemos offered a hand.
Flustered, Apsara wiped her tears and nodded. Anemos pulled her up and ushered Dominator to help. His baffled expression reflected what was on the elf woman’s mind, but this wasn’t about them. She understood Dominator’s distrust, but neither of them was in a good position to continue fighting without depleting their supplies. If they wanted to make peaceful terms with the opposing team to keep the fighting to a minimum, that meant cooperating before they could find Richter and get a proper explanation from the priest.
They moved Apsara to a safer place, away from the poisonous plants and worn down the path where demons commonly tread. Anemos used a bit of the ointment she made from the plants she found and applied them over Apsara’s reopened wounds.
“This might sting,” Anemos warned her.
“Thank you very much!” Apsara bowed her head into a ninety-degree angle, “I’m sorry!”
“It’s just a fall,” Dominator said in disbelief. “Why do you come to us when we’re the enemy?”
“I thought you can’t be all that bad if you didn’t try to kill me yet.” Apsara sniffed, “I saw Ms. Rena and thought everything would be okay because she’s always kind and patient. It’s my fault you’re taking the time to help me after Blade already helped me.”
That was… one way to look at things. An optimistic outlook, but one that touched Anemos’s heart. So the other Rena was kind and patient. Huh… She’ll have to meet her and see if Apsara’s claims were true. It was the first time they had an opponent come to them without trying to lash out at them when words were no use. This was Ara? Anemos smiled to hide the confusion clouding her mind. She was better at doing that than some of her younger friends.
“So Raven shows his true colors,” Dominator grumbled.
“Your friend didn’t tell you what happened?” She was confused. “I thought he contacted you.”
“Toothpaste?” Dominator scoffed, “he sent us a cryptic note telling us what to do.”
“He didn’t go into detail what happened,” Anemos explained.
“Oh…” Apsara frowned. The long strand of hair hanging from her hairline drooped. She wiggled her fingers to test the new bandage on her hand. “Lu and Ciel told me your friend agreed to work with them to find Elsword - ours, I mean.”
“Your Elsword, our Elsword. Would you be offended if we stuck to nicknames instead? These names are getting confusing.” Dominator complained.
“It was your idea to bring us here,” Anemos reminded him.
“Did you have something else in mind?” He twitched, “excuse me, but none of us can travel through dimensions at free will! And this is Demon Realm, so my calculations weren’t completely off!”
Demon Realm was already occupied by alternate versions of themselves. What did that tell them? How long did Apsara’s group stay in the Demon Realm and how much did it predict the outcome for their group? Anemos wasn’t one to delve into the future as much as humans sometimes did, but she felt it was her duty to help restore the El because of its importance for all Elrian races including hers.
Does this mean they went into the wrong dimension if they encountered themselves? Anemos didn’t ask whether Dominator had a plan on getting back, but she was sure it was a recurring thought for the scientist from the increased amount of time he spent in front of the screen as of lately. Dominator snickered and talked about data collection, but she could see frustration behind the facade. This wasn’t supposed to happen and now they were wasting time looking for an eighteen-year old that wasn’t even from their original group.
“Why are you here?” Anemos asked Apsara, “are you here because of the Dark El too?”
Apsara nodded.
“Lu and Ciel called and Blade heard from your friend, so we were together.” Apsara pressed her hands together, “We found Eve and Blade said it must have been Add...”
“He knows me so well,” Dominator chuckled.
Anemos shushed the scientist and gestured to Apsara to continue.
“I offered to help, but Blade told me to go ahead and find you two.” She said, “he told me he would catch up to us later with Eve.”
“How kind of him to do the heavy lifting,” Dominator laughed.
“You left her there because you knew he would come back, didn’t you?” Anemos deadpanned.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dominator grinned.
Liar.
Anemos had no doubt Blade had the strength to carry a humanoid sized Nasod across Demon Realm, but wondered if the mercenary received the same message as she and Dominator did. Richter had left them a vague report with more questions than answers. If Apsara could be believed, then they may have just gained new allies that could help them find a way back to their dimension.
“May I ask where Rune is?” Anemos asked. “It’s not that we don’t trust you, but I think it’s fair that we know where our friend went.”
“Right!” Apsara smiled, “I think he’s with Aisha and Rena last time I heard from them!”
“Last time?” Dominator noted the wording.
“Our Add said communication is slightly delayed in Demon Realm than in Elrios,” She let out a nervous laugh, “it’s funny thinking that there are two of you now!”
Dominator snorted, “I’m sure it is.”
“Will we be seeing that group soon?” Anemos asked.
“Mm!” Apsara nodded, “they’re on their way. It sounded like they found something big!”
“The other Elbrat?” Dominator asked.
“Maybe!” Apsara beamed.
Apsara had a bandage placed over her forehead to cover the bruise where she fell over. She sat with her legs tucked to the side with her knees on the ground. Next to Dominator brooding about his miscalculations, Apsara was blinding with her innocent questions and naive optimism. She and Richter would have Dominator running for his money to explain what sarcasm was.
Anemos decided that Devi’s counterpart was strange. She searched for an ulterior behind the woman’s cheery disposition, but it was hard to see anything past that when Apsara was always moving and asking them more questions about themselves. Anemos saw Dominator staring at Devi’s alternate too.
“Did I say something wrong?” Apsara stopped smiling when she felt their stares, “Is there something on my face?”
“You’re... not what I expected,” Dominator said and averted his eyes. “Let’s get going. No need to waste time if everyone else is on the move. Just don’t fall on your face again and you’ll be okay.”
“Wow, he really is Add.” Apsara was amazed.
“They’re the same?” Anemos was curious.
“Oh no, they’re very different!” She laughed, “yours talks more!”
---------------------------------------------------------
Doom Bringer
Bringer sneezed.
Despite the warnings and preparations based on the El Masters’ precautions, Demon Realm was colder than what he was prepared for. Their nights were almost as cold as Hamel’s mild winters. Bringer couldn’t always rely on Dynamo’s heater as they were straying further from the El’s influence.
He tugged on his sleeves and wrapped the fur coat closer around his body. Electricity circulated through his body and sent his blood pumping with adrenaline, a feeling that sent the brawler into a frenzy. The black markings implanted in his arms glowed in unison to the rest of his body engulfed by plasma and electricity. He had never felt more alive.
Bringer looked at the woman who declared herself as Devi. There was something dangerous about the woman. She looked like Apsara, but Dynamo gave him different readings in her El resonance. It was as if she was a different person because he was getting higher readings in magic from her than he would have for Apsara. Devi placed her weight inward and walked with stride. Her voice cut through the thin air like the sharp spear she wielded, a noble woman’s laughter contradicting her crude smile. Devi saw past Bringer, for she had her eyes on one target.
“Elesis!” Devi screamed Empire’s name.
Devi flew over his head with her spear in hand. The martial artist landed on her feet and blocked Empire’s blade with her weapon’s handle, pushing the Velder knight’s claymore away and stopping her attacks. The marks on her cheeks burned red as her eyes. Devi’s spear danced across, an elaborate dance as she twirled and the sound of blades clashed.
Every time they attempted to take one step, they were met with someone ready to object to them. This time, it was fighting their alternate selves and Glave was nowhere to be seen. Bringer suspected it was his doing. It sounded like something Glave would do when the administer of Henir’s Time and Space held no qualms about making them relive fights with old enemies for entertainment. Who else would have the power to bring over a large number of people from different dimensions? He smelled a rat in all of this.
“Ara!” Empire slammed her foot on the ground and kept her stance. Her eyes didn’t leave Devi and barked, “Add, what are you waiting for? Help Ain and Chung!”
“As if I’m interested in dealing with crazy,” Bringer scowled. He didn’t enjoy being bossed around by the brat’s sister. It was bad enough getting ordered by an illiterate child all the time and now the idiot had gone missing!
Raised in the army at a young age, Empire was sculpted into the ideal leader and remembered an old lesson in making use of one’s resources. She kept them together as a group and made use of their abilities by having Bringer run scans for Knight’s possible whereabouts. Bluhen claimed he was sensitive in detecting El resonance as Knight was, so she let him come along. Their group was past the point of referring to Bluhen as a priest, but the annoying green man kept up with the charades and spoke about his Goddess. Bringer couldn’t understand why Knight saw him as a close friend. It was infuriating listening to Bluhen speak as if he was hundreds of years old.
It was a combination of Dynamo and Bluhen’s ability to detect El resonance that brought them back to the entrance of a mysterious cavern brimming with demonic activity. Demon Realm was naturally going to have high levels of demonic energy and activity, but Bringer’s readings showed a high density of demons occupying the area. They weren’t high enough to suggest levels of aggression, but he wasn’t going to let that slip without further analysis. The El Search Party better be grateful for his extra efforts!
There were indications of active levels of El resonance escalating from within the cavern that was likely created by Knight himself. El resonance users frequently left imprints behind when they used tremendous amounts of energy. It was like leaving footprints behind and could be used to trace back the location of its user. Assuming Knight didn’t stray far from where Dynamo picked up his activity, it shouldn’t be difficult to locate the brat, especially when demons didn’t naturally use El resonance.
Finding Bluhen wasn’t hard. Gold light showered from above, flickering and lighting up the skies like fireworks. Bluhen hovered overhead, his body nearly swallowed by green energy encircling around him. Extracting energy from the ground, Bluhen let them float before having them explode as they crashed down. He formed dense energy balls inside his palms before using it to push himself away from the resisting winds.
The pendulum hooked around his index finger as Bluhen weaved through the flames and was pursued by two figures in blue - a man and a young girl. The man sported a cap over his white hair and wielded dagger knives inside an oversized coat. A girl landed on her feet beside him, wearing matching outfits of a cap, jacket, and a collared shirt with a black tie tucked under. What was this, take your child to work day?
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” Bringer asked. He ordered Dynamo to shift themselves into two disks beneath his feet to support his weight.
“Judging by the uncool hair and the way you look at me, you must be Add.” Abysser grinned, “I don’t suppose you plan on handing Elsword over to us so we can be off and on our way?”
“I’m afraid not, Demon.” Bluhen fluttered his eyes opened and smiled. “Ms. Knight Captain gave her orders and Elsword made his decision to stay with us.”
Bringer growled.
What’s wrong with his hair? As if Abysser could talk when the asshole had bobby pins in his hair! He punched his hand into a tight fist and cracked his knuckles. Bringer planted his first into the ground and cracked it open, sending vibrations through the stoned earth and sent sparks flying from his body.
Those two were Lu and Ciel? Bringer searched for familiar traits in the man and the child. He recognized Timoria for the same toothy grin she used to mock him and when stealing his stuff, but Abysser was unrecognizable when he wore the ridiculous hat. Timoria was shorter than he remembered.
“You must be Ain,” Timoria said with an equally forced smile. “I was wondering when you would show up.”
Abysser brandished one hand over his gunblade, a smaller and thinner version of the one Chevalier had. Nodding his head towards Timoria, the demon propelled himself, firing bullets at Bringer. He landed on his feet and recoiled when Bringer blocked the bullets with Dynamo and sent jolts of electricity to the butler.
Plasma coated over Bringer’s body, static and electricity running through his veins and tingling over his fingertips. The brawler placed his feet over Dynamo and flew over to Abysser to deliver a kick over the demon’s left shoulder blade. Lines of chains emerged from the soil up. They chained Bringer by the feet and forced the brawler down to his knees. When he was down, they went for his wrists and resisted the electric currents created by his Nasod Armor.
A shadowed demon appeared behind Timoria. She ordered the demon to extend its claws as it emitted blue fire, but its path was halted by Bluhen forming rings of line around the creature and forcing it to disperse. Light poured from Bluhen and rained down on Timoria and Abysser. The shackled chains weakened and Bringer broke free, forming his hands into fists and fired pulse cannons at the two demons.
Bringer’s lips curled up as he kicked the ground and increased his speed, ecstatic in finding a new opponent with abilities he had yet to experience. They looked like Ishtar and Chevalier, yet their powers were drawn from a different source and utilized them for different purposes. A battle with them could provide sufficient data for later analysis! This was a mere fight to add to his database and increase his efficiency in battle. Bringer’s laughter erupted into a cackle. His eyes widened and his chest heaved as the brawler clawed the gravel with his hands and crawled back up. Sweat evaporated from his pores as he joined his opponents in an elaborate waltz and demanded more.
“Is that all you got?” Bringer laughed, “You’re pathetic!”
He had Dynamo record all of his fights to expand his database, but Bringer held the habit of making mental notes as he went through the flow of battle. It was in his nature to search for strengths and weaknesses in himself and from his opponents even as he let his Nasod Armor guide him and form punches at his opponents. Dark energy exploded from Abysser, holding dagger knives between his knuckles and using them as projectiles. Bringer puffed his chest and deflected the knives with his Nasod Armor, sending them pointing back to Abysser with bared canines.
“Supreme Punishment!”
Portals opened from the skyline. Multiple rifts expanded as Abysser and Timoria posed for a wave of demons to loom from the skies. They shrieked in unison to the demon duo summoning darkness from within and exploded. Blue flames showered down on Bringer and Bluhen.
Light blinded the cavern entrance and burned through his retina. Red flashed behind Bluhen before the priest spun his pendulum and light formed at the end of his weapon. Embedding the ground with a touch of his hand, he teleported away from Timoria and Abysser. Energy surfaced from below as he inflicted damage with waves of projectiles raining down onto the two demons.
“You can heal on command?” Timoria groaned, “Now you’re just playing with us!”
“We need to end this quickly,” Bluhen reminded the brawler. His eyes were lured over to the cavern’s entrance with uncharacteristic wariness. “Avoid coming too close.”
“Wasn’t it your idea to look for the brat inside?” Bringer scowled.
“There’s something powerful inside,” Bluhen was pale. “It has high levels of demonic energy. It’s going to find us.”
“And leave like cowards?” Bringer scowled.
“No,” Bluhen hissed. “Retreat. We need more people.”
“We don’t even know if he’s still in there,” Bringer said. “He could be elsewhere and coming here was a waste of time.”
Bluhen should have told them earlier if he was planning to chicken out at the last minute. Where did the sudden hesitancy come from? Coming here to find Knight was the first objective, but luring out the opposing El Search Party to learn about their intentions was their second one.
It was cumbersome being the only one in their group to use their brain, let alone have enough sense to question things beyond what was given at the surface level. Bringing the entire party to a demon’s den was suicide if they weren’t certain if Knight was still there. What was stopping demons from moving their teammate to a new location? Bringer was able to form a map to where Knight could have been, but they were distant dots held together by traces of readings picked up by Dynamo. There was a slight delay in those readings and could change at a moment’s notice.
Electricity generated from within Bringer. Static made his hair stand up at its ends as electricity pulsated through his body. Charging from above, he concentrated the electricity into his fists and punched Abysser. He launched the demon into the air and fired particle shots from Dynamo.
Abysser fell. He dragged one of his many knives across the side of the cavern to break his fall. Abysser loosened his grip and collapsed, landing on his knees with his arms out to avoid falling face down. He grunted and had blood masked over his eyes. The blue cap he sported was soiled with dried blood and clay.
Blue flames burst from the seams of Abysser’s clothes, forming into the shape of a demon from the dark. Its eyes flared with the same sharpness in Abysser’s features, hissing and bearing a smile.
“What are you doing?” Mild panic edged in Bluhen’s voice.
“I’m ending this,” Bringer grinned.
“You’re ignoring my signals,” Bluhen lowered his eyelids. “We need to withdraw.”
“You said you wanted to make this quick,” Bringer growled.
“You’re making me waste my energy on you,” he said.
“I didn’t ask you to help me!” Bringer glowered.
“Is that how you thank your healer?” Bluhen asked. His skin, hair, and face were porcelain white. Wings emerged from the back of his spine, enveloping the rest of his body in an aura and glowed green.
Bluhen avoided looking at the brawler. Vibrant colors danced around the priest as an array of symbols. The blue fire reached the priest and engulfed him in a sea of smoke and flames. A yellow aura outlined Bluhen’s figure, expanding from within until the forest was blinded by light. When the light faded away, Bluhen was free of bruises and blemishes. He attacked, untouched by Abysser’s flames.
Bringer yelped when the flames approached him. Cuts and bruises remained on the brawler and his muscles ached when he moved. Heat traveled under his skin, his Nasod Armor demanding more cooling, more energy, more data. Bring had reached his limit. Why was he still injured? He glared at Bluhen.
“Why aren’t you covering me?” Bringer demanded to know.
“You said you didn’t need my help, Mr. Ancient.” The damned priest replied.
“We’re in the middle of a fight!”
“And you don’t know how to treat your healer,” Bluhen said.
“What do you want me to do?” Bringer asked, “Go down on my knees and say sorry while we get our asses kicked?”
“Ciel, now!” Timoria summoned a new demon for assistance.
“Ready when you are,” Abysser pulled out his gunblade.
The summoned demon materialized from Timoria. Its flames mirrored those to Abysser’s and flared in intense shades of blue. Fire consumed the trees and followed after Bluhen and Bringer despite the two splitting paths. It transformed back into the shape of a demon and raised its claws.
Bringer compressed the energy around him to generate an electromagnetic field. He jumped onto Dynamo and narrowly stepped to the left to avoid being consumed by the summoned demon’s attack. A dark shadow loomed over the brawler. Bringer saw the summoned demon and called out to Dynamo. Electric currents roared inside his head before something sharp passed through his abdominals.
Fuck.
-----------------------------------------------------
Knight Emperor
The sky cracked open like a winter melon. Fragments fell from the edges of Paradox’s portals, crystal-like borders exploding and exerting gravity outward. Knight caught sight of four tails flickering with an outline of Paradox’s figure and followed after him. Violet chains dangling down the time traveler’s back and appeared to have more functions than the ones Bringer had. Knight rubbed his wrists to where the tails had held him down.
He didn’t understand the time traveler’s intentions. It was a game of cat and mouse with Paradox leading the way. Paradox weaved in and out each room with a wild grin, leaving the portals opening long enough for Knight to slip through before it closed behind him. Knight had no choice but to follow the time traveler, afraid of being left behind in the cavern he was kept captive in.
“You’re lagging behind,” Paradox spun around to face Knight cutting through a group of soul eaters. The time traveler opened another portal and sang, “you need to be faster if you want to catch up to your friends~”
There was no end to the eternal rooms and narrow corridors inhabited by demons. Small beady eyes trailed behind them, the sound of tails and claws scratching against the cool floor. Knight blocked an attack from a shadow driller charging for him headfirst. Thorns shot out from its spine and curled its body against Knight, changing directions to find its prey. It screamed to Knight slicing the rune sword down from the middle. Jet black blood shot out from the high pressure.
Knight stabbed a shadow guard attacking from behind. He saw a portal open and shoved the demon aside, reaching one arm through a portal and stumbled over. The demons’ cries faded from behind as the portal sealed itself. It was a deafening sound of shattered glass for each time a portal was formed and sealed by Paradox.
Blood pounded inside his head. Knight searched for a place to find his footing. He stepped into shallow pools of what he hoped was water. His throat went dry when Paradox was nowhere to be seen. Knight gripped his blade, his eyes wandering in search for the time traveler.
Finding Paradox left an unsettled feeling at the bottom of his stomach. Knight wasn’t sure of what to take from his brief but poignant interactions with Bringer’s counterpart. Being next to Paradox gave the red knight headaches from how quickly he jumped from one topic to the next. Laughter rang inside Knight’s head from the grand chase he had with the time traveler, pulling himself through yet another portal. Paradox didn’t give him enough time to ask himself where they were going.
A white face appeared. Paradox hung upside down with long white strands of hair falling over his face. Crawling out from a portal, the time traveler landed on his feet and turned to face Knight. He spun Knight around and electrocuted a wandering demon with spiked energy balls, calling them “Maximum Strike”. Paradox’s movements were fluid, moving his limbs and body ever so slightly to avoid getting hit from the demons. The cavern became a violent shade of pink as he clawed into space with his hands. He grabbed Knight by the collar and shoved the redhead into the portal.
His vision blurred. Knight plunged through the vortex and felt blood rushing down his face. He stumbled over his steps before he found his footing, planting his foot back and leaning back to catch his breath.
Laughter rang in the air followed by the sound of Paradox’s chains. Knight dashed headfirst, pressing his way through with his weight against his sword. He swung from the right, his weapon running past his opponent. He chipped Paradox’s shoulder. White particles broke out and separated from the time traveler. Black ink seeped through Paradox’s attire. His figure lit up and shattered into glass shards, replaced by a small child, sclera pitch black and broke out into a wide grin.
“How could you hurt a child?” Paradox wiped his eyes, “that hurts so much.”
Knight froze. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the image of a child with unnerving adult-like mannerisms. No longer concerned about maintaining the innocent facade, Paradox hovered with the aid of Dynamo and opened a spatial rift from the fabric of space. Tension built up in the air and Knight was suctioned in by a strong gravitational pull. Knight was lifted off his feet and flew towards the time traveler.
He was flung straight into a portal and popped out from the bottom of a pit. Knight rose by several feet and gasped. Lying at the bottom of the pit was the Dark Agate he and Paradox fought earlier! Its eyes were closed with its limbs stuck to the side of its body with rigidity. It was asleep, but for how long?
The time traveler opened another portal. Gravity was distorted and pressed Knight down. Paradox emerged from the portal and flew in to fire spatial orbs from a distance. The orbs exploded when it came into contact, launching Knight upward again. Knight groaned in pain when he came landed beside Paradox, who was humming to himself.
Knight pressed his face between his arms. Forming his hands into knuckles, he used his legs to rise and lifted his head. Red painted over his palm after placing it over his left shoulder dampened by his own blood. It stung as he grabbed his sword planted into the ground and raised his weapon. Sparks flew from Knight’s fingertips, bursting into flames and blasted Paradox backward.
Dynamo sought their master. Paradox staggered but landed on top of the six drones with his head disheveled. A portal activated to reveal a rift from space. Starlight and nebulas shone and purple spheres hailed from a separate dimension, crashing at Knight’s feet and causing tremors from the cavern’s insides.
“I knew you could keep up.” Paradox purred, “Good job. Now do that again and make sure you don’t miss. It’s going to take more than spinning around to catch me.”
“You’re going to regret asking for this fight!” Knight shouted.
“Those are big fighting words,” Paradox said. He clutched his chest and feigned a hurt expression. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep~”
“Armageddon Blade!”
Knight called forth a massive blade. The great sword was twice his size and consumed a fraction of his vitality, weighing against his shoulder blade and raged with the power of the El. It wasn’t as powerful as it would have been if they were fighting in Elrianode, but Knight knew that he was stronger than before. The Demon Realm had shaped him in many ways and taught him to adapt. His new opponent was going to be an additional experience to help him gain strength and help his friends. He brought the sword back and rushed ahead to tackle Paradox. Knight held up his sword and swung at Paradox.
“Double Slash!”
Paradox ordered Dynamo to shield against the blade. The Nasod cracked under the pressure and Knight paved his way in, hitting Paradox and swinging his blade to strike. Paradox’s body distorted from the attack. The time traveler gritted his teeth and forced himself to move after being stunned by Knight’s attack. He stepped to the side and smeared his finger across where he was wounded. Blue light surrounded Paradox and his body was free of cuts and bruises.
That’s right… Paradox had Seal of Time.
“Vertical Slash!”
His back protested from being exerted in a fight Knight had not properly rested for. He allowed gravity to guide his blade and blocked an electrical blast. Paradox’s portals popped in and out from different directions. When Knight looked at where he thought Paradox was hiding, he was met with an obnoxious crack from a new portal coming from a new location followed by the time traveler giggling. The process only repeated.
“Pre-dic-ta-ble~” Paradox sang, “Let me join and call out my attacks too! Reverse Stigma! Moonlight Breaker!”
Blue light shone between the two of them. Knight raced to slide over to Paradox as the time traveler uploaded coordinates onto his Nasods and shone a beam of light at an uphill angle. A powerful force tore from the ground up and narrowly missed him by an inch. The beam exploded with an ear-piercing noise that threatened to break the fabric of time and space.
Knight had his sword ready when his body began to tingle. Confused, the red knight held up his arm to see his body fading away. He panicked and turned to demand questions from Paradox when his world disappeared. Knight materialized several feet from behind and was at a loss as to how it was possible. He was back to where he was before!
He stopped to the sound of a distant groan. The cavern creaked from the walls, ceiling, and the ditch from below. A convulsion erupted at the wake of the Dark Agate. Its hollow cries were the sounds of crushed crystals fractured into millions of pieces. It silenced the smaller demons chattering with its presence and dug its nails against its stony prison. The jarring sound forced Knight to cover his ears. Paradox was unfazed and talked as if they hadn't disrupted the monster’s slumber.
“Oh no, it’s cranky. Would you look at the time,” Paradox smiled. “Our fun moment together seems to be over.”
Knight’s eyes widened in horror. The ground beneath him cracked, traveling across the floor and up to the ceiling that barely touched his head. Its hoarse cries echoed inside the musty enclosure. A hand stuck out from the dark pitch, accompanied by the other holding a lantern dangling with a single flame burning in its wake.
The cavern trembled. Its mouth bared sharp crystals protruding from its insides, sharp edges pointing inward like jagged teeth. The crystal monster dug its nails into the walls as it made the trek up with a clear destination. Born from the mines and the geodes, the cavern was its home. As it reached the top, it brought itself up by its hands and pulled one leg over the next. Its core illuminated violet as the Dark Agate lifted its sword and swung its lantern into view.
The room went dark.
----------------------------
Devi
How still the world fell around her. The topsoil of the earth was being torn apart from the inside out, clay hovered around them in a crimson haze. There was hardly time for the dust to settle before being brought up again by Devi raising her spear and Empire pulling her claymore back to block an attack. Oh, how beautiful those eyes were when they glared at her like that. So angry and full of life!
Blood red skies painted the backdrop of their macabre dance. Both of them knew the rules. Each danced at their own tempo, moving forward by a few steps before stepping back and waiting for the other to make their next move. Their battle moved in progression to the speed of their movements. Devi spun faster, sliding over to Empire and flipping her spear upside down onto its tip.
The tails formed behind her back spread out and flicked Empire’s kicks away from Devi. Did the Velder captain expect her to fall for the same tricks twice? Empire ran her sword over her head and struck the ground. Eun alerted her about Empire’s presence and lent her strength. Spirit spheres formed around the martial artist and shielded Devi from the impact of the shockwaves delivered by Empire.
A large vortex of energy formed by dark clouds appeared in front of her. She opened a vacuum that tugged at anything that had energy except for itself. Its strong pull lifted Empire off her feet and suspended her in midair in what felt like an eternity for the captain. Her limbs fell to the side and became limp like a ragdoll.
It was hard to watch Empire fall. Her body was stunned from below the shoulders and could not move. The pained look on her face was one of desperation, locked into eye contact with Devi and full of anger, frustration. It wasn’t directed at her. When one fought as many monsters and humans as Devi has, it became easier to pick and pull apart the root of people’s emotions. It was self-loathing.
Flame once had those same eyes, shortly after discovering her foolish brother giving himself up to the El. To carry the burden of being an older sibling was a daunting task. Devi did not have experience of that, but she was raised in understanding the sacrifice one should take when protecting one’s family. That was why Aren…
Fighting Elesis wasn’t the problem. Empire was leading a team that barely managed itself because one of their team members went missing. Demons were unforgiving when outsiders stepped into their territory and Empire’s team should have had more time to adjust to the Demon Realm. She and Eun could sense their heightened stamina shaped by exposure to demonic energy for a period of time. A fight against this team shouldn’t have been this easy. If Empire and her teammates struggled against a group of adventurers with less exposure, how were they supposed to find the Dark El?
Pity their fight wasn’t much of a challenge. Devi stretched her neck with a bored sigh and rubbed her knuckles, tracing between them with the bottom of her lips with an absent expression. With a temper like that, Devi was expecting more resistance from Empire. Wasn’t she supposed to be synchronized with the El or something like that?
Devi stood up and crossed her arms, her eyes moving over to the cavern’s entrance. The thin hairs on the tails she shared with Eun shivered in recognition of the strong demonic energy reeking from the insides. The fall to get past the entrance was unimaginable. She could not see the ground from where she stood. It was a rough fall with much of the walls and floors covered in crystals. They glimmered in response to the unfamiliar power of El radiating from the foreign humans fighting in its proximity.
The place smelled of demon blood. It made her blood run hot, Devi’s fingers twitched in the excitement in imagining how many demons there must be inside, waiting to be torn to pieces! If Empire was too weak to move, then she was going to make it her personal goal to reach inside and slaughter all the demons that got in her way. One of them was going to know where Knight was. That’s why Empire couldn’t focus on their fight, wasn’t it?
“Wait!” Empire cried.
Devi remained in her spot. The depths of the cavern was almost hypnotic, a dark abyss covered in sandstone and crystals.
“We’re not done yet!” The Velder knight rolled on her stomach, pushing her upper body with her arms and forcing herself back up. Empire panted, “Fight me!”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?” Devi mused.
“No, you!” Empire stood up with her hands and pressed her weight onto claymore as a makeshift cane. “I want to fight you, not Eun!”
Devi stopped laughing but smiled. That was the Elesis she knew, she looked at the swordswoman with pride. Enough with the formalities and cutting straight to the chase. That’s what made it a pleasure to test her abilities and use the moment to assess each other’s strength behind their resolve. Words were for fools. What was the use of words if one didn’t have the power to fight back? Devi didn’t trust people who talked yet refused to raise a single finger to follow through with sweet promises they will never fulfill. If Empire wanted to salvage what was left of her teammates’ dignity, she would need to fight back.
Her hair returned back to its original color, glossy black fanned behind her back by the removal of the hairpin that kept her hair up. The tails have shrunken away and disappeared from sight. Devi’s eyes faded from red back into its original amber hue. She could feel Eun’s presence returning back into her body, no longer possessing her body and leaving her with Empire.
“If that’s what you wish, princess.” Devi giggled, “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t mean foul. Don’t cry if I’m too hard on you~”
Numerous orbs materialized from the ground up. Devi had them fly around Empire and raised her spear to strike. Battles were harsh teachers, but that was how Aren helped her. Even after being possessed by a demon, he taught her the harsh reality of how being stronger wasn’t enough to catch Ran and demand him to release her brother. Empire should understand more than anyone else in the party what happened when one hesitated in saving one’s family member.
Spirit energy circuited through her body, a warm and familiar friend she could always rely on in addition to Eun’s help. She conjured flames from the Rakshasa, incinerating everything in her path and watched it burn. It smelled of ashes, marking the skies in orange flames and making their presence known.
Struck by the destructive fire, Empire hissed to the pain shot up from her arm. One second too late and her body would have been inflicted by Devi’s Rakshas Inferno. She put on her tough soldier face and didn’t let the pain slow her pace. The Velder captain charged with her sword steadied, using her left hand to strike from behind, pulling her weight and knocking the spear from Devi’s hold with her claymore.
The flames dispersed, losing their warmth and vanished into cold breaths. Devi lost her grip and watched her spear land on the ground, leaving deep scars in the stone floor. She welcomed Empire with a pained smile.
“Those weren’t for decoration afterall,” Devi eyed the ornaments stitched into the Velder captain’s clothing and purred, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from Ele’s other self.”
Her opponent was now defenseless without a weapon within an arm’s reach, yet Empire did not lower her guard. Once again, Devi found herself at the end of the redhead’s claymore. Its sharp end was an unfamiliar one, thinner and more elegant than Flame’s. She was met with cold steel. Empire wasn’t afraid to let her blade get close to her enemy. She was no fool.
Empire’s efforts were not to be ignored. How hard she tried to put up a leaderly front and tell her teammates to go for the enemy, away from where they could see their leader stumble. Hardened by endless wars combined by stubbornness in refusing to let that facade slip for more than a moment. Flame was guilty of all of that no matter how many times Devi had called her out on it.
“They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Devi chuckled at an old saying she once heard Dominator said out of exasperation. She thought it was fitting when both of the women she loved had hair the color of the bright red fruit.
“What?” Empire tensed, “is that a code you use for you and your friends?”
“Hmm?” Devi laughed again, “Why so anxious? Scared of little old me?”
“Ara isn’t this-” Empire failed to find words. “She isn’t…”
“Reckless? Vile? A monster?” She chortled, shaking her head with laughter, “you wouldn’t be the first to say that, honey. But… my Elesis isn’t this stiff.”
Red flashed in Empire’s eyes and protested, “Stiff? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Oh, surely you aren’t thinking, ‘Why is she like this? Why is she crazy? Why is she…’” Devi’s voice drifted away before she redirected her attention to Empire. “But soldiers aren’t supposed to be thinking of trivial things, isn't that right, Ms. Velder Captain~?”
“Don’t call me that!” Empire snapped but her cheeks were pink, “What are you trying to-”
The earth shifted beneath their feet. Plate tectonics split in two, sliding over one another and forming into sharp-edged peaks erupting from the bottom up. Amethysts shot from the floor, bursting from the inside of geodes that were formed between sedimentary and volcanic rocks.
Devi slid over a geode, careful not to trip over the gravel covered in fine dust. She dragged her foot down and lowered her body, taking a leap and using a rising geode as a springboard to land opposite to Empire. Her spear was lodged between two cliffs meeting at a center point. Devi reached over to grab her spear, eager to regain her balance once she had her hands wrapped around its amber handle once more.
“Ara!” Oz’s voice came from her communicator, “I’m inside with Crusader. Don’t follow us, there’s something living there. It’s-”
A harsh cry snarled from inside. Its groans shook the walls around them, in sync to the rocking of the cavern. A monster several times larger than the beasts from Sander emerged from a portal.
Shrouded by the shadows and lighting struck by the suns, the stranger was dressed in purples and pinks draped over a distinctly thin figure. Their face was covered by long white hair reaching down their back. Bright white teeth blanched against sickeningly pale skin. The stranger had a strange assortment of diamond-shaped disks circling around them. Nasods?
Thin lines cracked against the skies, forming into a circular shape and a portal opening appeared. A new figure fell from the heavens. They made their landing with lack of grace, crash landing on their knees and hands. Devi made out the familiar shape of Rune’s greatsword held inside a scabbard slid onto the stranger’s back. Red eyes came into view as they moved into the light.
“Elsword?” Empire stumbled over to Knight with arms extended.
Shit. She was still here.
Devi twisted her body but could not speak, too stunned by Rune’s mirror image. He was Elsword, but something about him was different. She sensed the heightened power of the El from within the Knight Emperor. It was unlike the living flames inside of Rune amplified by the El’s influence. When Devi looked into the boy’s eyes, it was like he was seeing past her.
Her eyes flashed between the scenic apocalypse painted by a combination of their fight and that of the newcomers. What was that monster? It exuded similar energy as the Dark El, but more concentrated than the remnants she had encountered in Feita. The man in purple, who was he? What was he doing here with Knight?
“Sis?” Knight didn’t take his eyes away from her, wiping some tears running down his cheeks. “Is that you?”
Devi lowered her head. The princess had finally reunited with her brother after painstakingly fighting strangers that looked like the people she knew. She was rewarded for her gallant efforts. What did that leave Devi with? Defeated teammates while Ran was still running amok among demons and imprisoning her brother’s body? Was this the end to her duet with Empire? Knight has returned. There was no other reason to continue the fight. Empire had won.
“I’m here,” Empire smiled, soft pink shells curling up against her tan complexion. She wrapped her arms around him. “How did you find a way out?”
“I didn’t,” Knight said. “It’s Add-, I mean Paradox. This is all his doing.”
“Add?” Empire was confused, “but I thought he was fighting Eve. I heard from her just an hour ago when she spoke to me.”
“There’s another one!” Knight tugged her arm, “please. We need to stop him. I don’t know who else he’s going to go after.”
Although no longer a boy by any means, Devi continued to see him as one. So naive and eager to save everyone involved with him. Knight was no different from Rune, although he lacked a sense of humor, Devi snorted. At least Rune was funny. It was strange to see someone be so similar to their leader, yet dissimilar enough to stop her from getting sentimental about Knight’s entrance.
“What do you want?” Empire barked when Paradox landed beside them.
“Man, is that all everyone here asks?” Paradox yawned, “I didn’t think there would be so many of you, but I suppose this will suffice.”
“If you come any closer, I’ll have to fight you!” Knight shouted.
“Isn’t that what we were doing before we were rudely interrupted?” Paradox leaned his head back and waved lazily to Empire, “I suppose you must be the red brat’s sister.”
“You can fight me, but let Knight go!” Empire readied her blade.
“If you insist~” He sang, “Reverse Stigma!”
Blue light covered Paradox and Empire, a series of numbers and vectors unwinded from the light. Empire tumbled away from the man shooting out electrical spheres, slashing her claymore into Dynamo and leaving a dent on one of the drones. Paradox ordered Dynamo to arrange themselves into a triangular formation as he inputted the coordinates and angled them upward with intent. A powerful force tore the surrounding space apart. Explosions propelled Empire and launched her into the sky.
“Elesis!” Knight ran after her.
Devi thrust her spear into Paradox and stunned him momentarily. She pulled her spear out and sprinted. Devi stuck her spear in the ground for leverage, using it as a springboard to launch herself high and brought her arms out to catch Empire. The additional weight and momentum from Empire’s fall crushed them back into the earth just as the world began to turn on its axis. The monster!
“Y-you?” Empire opened her eyes. “But why?”
Devi didn’t answer.
Paradox planted a pair of Nasods stationed at the base of the monster, setting off explosions and hauling the Dark Agate down to its knees. It fought to break free from a paradigm coordinated by the time traveler to restrain its movements. Black tar oozed from the man’s lower lip, shaken from having his stamina drained from the ongoing fight. His eyes flashed black and released his hold on the monster. It slammed into the ground.
The cavern began to collapse. Devi shoved her spear between the Dark Agate’s mouth and used the last of her energy to summon an Energy Wave to push it out. She raised Empire with one leg and pushed herself to keep going. Devi could feel her stamina being drained away. At least… Empire got to see Knight and was safe. She struggled to stay awake and closed her eyes as the cavern’s entrance was sealed shut by the destruction from all sides.
----------------------------
Author Notes: Sorry for taking so long to update. It’s been a rough month for me with work and classes going online. Thank you @dezimaton for always beta-reading my stuff and feeding me ideas when I ramble meme about my fanfics. Credit goes to them for giving me wonderful ideas for the Paradox fight and by wonderful, I mean awful ideas on how to torment Knight.
#elsword#eltag#elsword fanfiction#mywriting#Elboy (Elsword)#Rena (Elsword)#Aisha (Elsword)#Raven (Elsword)#Eve (Elsword)#Chung (Elsword)#Ara (Elsword)#Elesis (Elsword)#Add (Elsword)#Ain (Elsword)#doppelganger
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