Barbatos gasps, falling to the ground.
It’s a messy, graceless fall. Head-over-heels, disorienting and painful. As a spirit of the wind, Barbatos is keenly attuned to Mondstadt’s air currents, and in this moment those currents are howling. In grief and in rage, a direct reflection of Decarabian’s overwhelming outrage. Barbatos can feel it, as if the winds are flaying him down to the core of his very being.
Despair, anger, hate.
Barbatos straightens, wobbling, and harshly shakes his head. Decarabian’s emotions are deeply embedded within Mondstadt’s winds, and it’s…
Painful. It’s painful.
…
Barbatos… doesn’t know how things turned out so, so horribly awful like this. Ventus had wanted to save Mondstadt. Barbatos knew how dearly his friend cared for his home, how determined the young bard was to fix things. How he had been unable to turn a blind eye to the growing problems in their city. Ventus’ goal was to ensure that Mondstadt would be able to reach a future beyond the eternal wind barrier –a barrier that eventually became both blessing and curse to its people as the years passed.
Well. Now the barrier is finally gone, but… there’s no way that this is a victory.
(If anything, it would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?)
All citizens of Mondstadt have been cast out from their city; thrown aside like worthless trash by Decarabian. By the real Decarabian, who was not at all the same ‘Decarabian’ whom the people of Mondstadt had worshiped throughout the ages.
That was ‘Balor.’
… Balor, who gave Barbatos his name.
Barbatos–
Barbatos had known that she was Balor! He’d known that on the very day that he received his name from her! But he…. he’d never realized that she was also ‘Decarabian,’ not during any of the rare occasions when he’d found her silently watching the city from the rooftops, and flitted over to join her. Rare occasions that had ended altogether, eventually… had it been because Balor was planning this ritual, all the way back then?
Oh, why had he never asked? Why hadn’t Barbatos been able to put together the pieces earlier, before Ventus was misled by the deceptive information that they’d found?
… The worst thing was, none of what they learned had been a lie.
‘Decarabian’ genuinely was not the god ruling Mondstadt. The ‘festival’ really was not a celebration but instead a ritual. And Balor was–
Balor was–
…
Balor… didn’t deserve this.
Where did things go wrong?
Balor wasn’t wrong for wanting to bring back the true Decarabian, a god who was dear to her heart and clearly cherished her in turn. The people of Mondstadt weren’t wrong for wanting to resolve the problems they faced in regards to Mondstadt’s future. And the real Decarabian’s anger was entirely justified, because–
Because the truth of the matter is, even though Balor might’ve lied about her identity, she was the ‘Decarabian’ whom Mondstadt had built their faith on.
And no matter their reasons and the many misunderstandings… Mondstadt had betrayed their god.
Barbatos doesn’t understand it. Everyone was fighting for a just cause, and yet the only result is misery.
…
Things can’t end like this.
Barbatos refuses to let things end like this. Ventus and Gunnhildr and everyone are drowning in guilt, regretting their actions, and–
And Barbatos, too, regrets. But he knows that he will regret it even more if he chooses to do nothing.
Even if the real Decarabian has expelled the people of Mondstadt from their homeland, they are still children of Mondstadt. They are the people who have lived upon these lands for generations upon generations. Their people are resilient and unafraid of hard work. They hold a love for song and dance, and enjoy a good drink in the local tavern. Their knights are noble and chivalrous, valiant in battle and courageous in face of adversity.
This is the ‘Mondstadt’ that has grown under Balor’s protection. No matter what Decarabian might think, it’s not a lie.
If Balor can use the faith of humans to grasp onto the fading echoes of a god and return them to this world, then…
Can’t the people of Mondstadt rally themselves and do the same for their own god?
