#g.enshin

[baizhuslovingmalewife]

Baizhu thinking he's about to cough, but he burps instead...... 🤭

[smolcinnamonchipmunk]

Stained Ruins Pt. 2

A bit surprised, I was distracted as I looked down while two people walked through the yellow barrier, one about as large as the guy holding me but in teal like the person I’d knocked out while the other was a more lanky man in a grey outfit and no mask. Well, he had a mask, but he wasn’t wearing it over his face.

“Sir,” the arm holding me lowered a little as the purple man bowed his head a little as a show of respect. “We are merely dealing with a lowlife Treasure Hoarder that dared to sneak up on our operations.”

“I-I’m not a fucking Treasure Hoarder,” I growled, kicking one of my legs up and sending a slash of Anemo energy at the man holding me. In his attention to the man in grey, he wasn’t braced for it and promptly dropped me as the wind knocked him back a few feet. I landed on my feet, blinking away some of the spots that accumulated in my vision and saw everyone brace themselves for more combat. Everyone except the man in grey.

He stepped forward, ignoring the “Sir!” from the man in teal as he walked towards the imminent brawl, holding his hands up a bit as he calmly ordered, “Stand down. All of you.”

I could see the hesitance with which the others lowered their weapons, the purple man staring at me with his hammer ready until a glance from the man in grey caused him to reluctantly relax along with the others. I remained on guard in contrast as he continued forward, glancing him up and down to assess him, not missing the Hydro Vision that was attached to his hip and taking an instinctive step back. I’m certain if I had to make an educated guess, the man in teal behind him was also probably a Vision holder.

“I’m sure it’s all just a misunderstanding,” he added, keeping his eyes on the others for another couple moments before looking at me, making me tense up again. Even with my wings cloaked, no pun intended, I could practically feel the feathers bristle in apprehension. He looked friendly enough, but I couldn’t shake off my unease, even as he stopped with a smile. “I apologize for my subordinates' behaviour. Ruins like these tend to have them on edge and ready for a fight. We’ve tried to be particularly on the lookout here since there have been Treasure Hoarders sighted around here.”

“So they just have orders to kill on sight,” I asked, rubbing my neck a bit to get rid of the ache settling from being lifted by it.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but the man in red cut in, exclaiming, “You took out one of our own!”

“I didn’t kill him,” I spat, almost offended at the suggestion but a part of me was trying to see it from their point of view. To be fair, if I ran around the corner and saw a fallen coworker/friend with someone booking it, I’d probably assume the worst as well. “He pinned me to a wall, and I was acting in self-defense. I’d be long gone if it wasn't for the stupid Geo shield.”

“Go check on him,” the man in grey nodded towards the red man, who quickly moved to do so. The man crossed his arms over his chest, his look a bit more stern as he stared at me. “As for you, you said you’d be ‘long gone’. For someone supposedly not a Treasure Hoarder, I find your wording more than a little suspicious.”

“Feel free to search me. I didn’t take anything of yours and I had no intention to,” I replied, holding my arms out in challenge to show that I carried nothing. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m a little lacking in the satchel department to steal things.”

“Hmmm, true. But, this far from any city, you must have provisions for travel.”

“Apple trees dot the land from what I’ve seen, among other things. I haven’t exactly struggled in my travels.”

“And yet, I saw no apple trees or anything around the ruins,” he mused, idly walking a few feet in thought. “Certainly no apple trees down here in the dungeon of a ruin. So, pray tell, what led you down here to be seen by my men? If you’re not trying to steal treasures and artifacts, then what are you down here for?”

I didn’t exactly want to say I flew over, not trusting anyone in this room, but I needed to think of a lie on the spot. Otherwise, they really would think I was a Treasure Hoarder.

“I saw the ruins from the road,” I answered matter-of-factly, lowering my arms to cross them in front of me. “I’ve never been in any, so I got a bit curious. When I got inside, I heard voices and followed them down here, where I saw your goons in front of the door down that hallway. A different one I guess walked down the hall, saw me peeking, and assumed I was here to steal. Thus, pinning me to the wall and starting this whole thing.”

“I see…”

Silence stretched on for several moments as he seemed to delve into thought, making me nervous. If he decided I wasn’t credible, then I could easily find myself swarmed by all the Vision holders in the confined space with the Geo shield still blocking my way out. If I could just get to the man in yellow and -.

“Well, that settles it,” the man’s sudden comment caught me off guard from my strategizing. His gaze no longer looked stern as he clapped his hands together. “See? Just a big misunderstanding!”

He gestured to the man in yellow, who nodded and lowered his staff, causing the yellow barrier to dissipate. Another gesture and the man in yellow and the man in purple walked back down the corridor towards the carved door.

“You’re free to leave, but I feel like introductions are in order before goodbyes, don’t you think,” the man asked. Without even waiting for a response, he placed a hand to his chest and introduced himself, “You can call me Childe, one of the Harbingers of the Fatui. And, you are?”

If I was wary before, wanting to dash out the second the shield dropped, I was alarmed to hear that he was with the Fatui, hesitating for a moment before curtly answering, “Katrin. Random traveller.”

“Well, now I feel like I’m getting a bit of a cold shoulder,” the man - Childe, I reminded myself - said with a sheepish smile. “And I’m guessing it’s from the whole Fatui part. You don’t really look like you’re from around here, so I was kind of hoping that wouldn’t get me the response I’m used to.

“Look, I’m not sure what you’ve been told about the Fatui, but I won’t deny that sometimes we act kind of like bad guys,” he continued, putting his hands on his hips. “But, we just want what the Tsaritsa wants: Peace. I feel like that’s a goal worth being seen as the bad guy sometimes, hmm? Although, I also won’t deny that this isn’t exactly the best first impression to be had of the Fatui organization.”

“No, it really isn’t,” I agreed, glad that he at least acknowledged it as less than ideal.

I turned to walk towards the stairs, keeping an eye on the man in teal that stood near where the Geo shield had been. But, before I could get far, Childe walked in front of me to get my attention. This made me jolt in surprise and take a step back to brace for anything.

“I have an idea,” he declared, looking proud at whatever he thought of. When I didn’t protest or try to move past him, he seemed satisfied to keep going. “How about I make this whole mess up to you? You said you were curious about what we were doing, so how about I show you? Might as well satisfy that curiosity while you’re here. And, it’ll hopefully put us in a bit of a better light in your eyes.”

I was more than a little skeptical, replying, “You’re just going to let me look around at your ‘operation’ that I was about to be killed over?”

“It’s really not as secretive as my subordinates made it out to be. They just take things a bit seriously. It’s an open invitation, you don’t have to take it,” he shrugged, waiting for me to answer.

I mulled it over for a minute, my logic struggling with my curiosity. With the confined space, it’d be difficult to maneuver if I ended up being attacked by the group, but now that I knew they were all Vision holders, I’d be less likely to underestimate them and less likely to be as considerate. The Sunk Cost Fallacy was getting to me as well, considering the amount of effort I had put in to satiate my interest.

“Fine,” I eventually relented to both his request and my own nagging need for answers. “But I won’t hesitate to fight my way out if I have to.”

“Understandable,” Childe chuckled. He started walking down the hall towards the corner while the man in teal walked back up the steps. That was probably the lookout I had seen before on my way down. “Where are you heading? Mondstadt or Liyue?”

“Liyue,” I answered, trailing behind him and not offering anymore.

This didn’t seem to deter him though, chipperly remarking, “Ah, so you must be coming from Mondstadt. The City of Freedom seems to carry many interesting things, though the same could be said for Liyue Harbor. Are you looking for something in particular? Or are you simply travelling for travelling's sake?”

“Uh, I guess the latter?”

“You don’t really seem confident of your answer,” he glanced at me in a bit of amusement as we rounded the corner. I could see the other four Fatui members - including the one I knocked out earlier - standing by the carved door, and I had a bit of a feeling that they weren’t happy to see me accompanying Childe back, though none of them spoke up about it. 

“I didn’t really think about it. I just decided to travel to Liyue,” I shrugged, keeping an eye on the others as we approached.

“Spontaneous. I can certainly relate. Give me a moment.” He turned to the other four and asked, “Have you figured out how to break the seal yet?”

“No, Sir,” the one in red spoke, dipping his head submissively. “It’s impervious to our Visions, and using normal tools has yielded no results.”

“Hmmm, disappointing news,” Childe seemed to delve into thought, walking over to a crate by the wall where I could see some papers. Whatever they were, they probably were supposed to hold some sort of hint about the ruin seal on the door. And, while he was doing that, I took the opportunity to finally get a good look at the carvings on the door.

There was a large square in the center of the door outlining the rest of the carving. There was an arc of weapons above cupped hands. The middlemost weapon was an upside-down sword and the carving made it look like blood on the blade was dripping down into the waiting hands beneath. Over it all was a sort of iridescent sheen that changed color depending on where you looked at it from, and if I moved closer it would glow brighter and turn more opaque, a visual cue of the seal that apparently stumped the Fatui. Though, I wondered if erosion was still an issue, seeing cracks in the door.

"What even is the artifact you're looking for," I asked, continuing to look over the damage to the door.

"It's called the Bloodstone. Not a very creative name of you ask me, but it got it because it's supposed to be imbued with the blood of countless Vision holders that were forced to fight to the death in gladiatorial combat," I glanced at him, seeing him now leaning against the crate while he looked through the papers. "It's supposed to give the wielder enough power to rival Adepti. If they can withstand the screams of all who died for it. Not sure how factual that is, but my job is to get a hold of it or find out if it's real. Given the seal on the door, that suggests that something important is in there.

"The issue," he sighed, placing the papers back on the crate and crossing his arms. "Is that the translation basically states that we have to offer the Bloodstone to gain access to it."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't. Which is why we brought along an assortment of tools, from hammers to chisels and pickaxes - and what are you doing?"

“Well,” at this point, I was crouched in front of the door, having noticed that the cracks seemed too… constant and unnatural. Some of them even connected to other cracks in the floor that also seemed to have that iridescent glow, which then connected to a diamond-shaped indent in the floor small enough to be mistaken as just a chipped spot in the floor. Except, the edges were too clean and it was positioned almost perfectly in line with the cupped hands. “I don’t know about your translation or anything, but I have an idea. I don’t want to sound stupid by saying it out loud, though.”

Sitting back on my heels, I glanced around on the ground and saw a metal shard near the tool bag, gesturing with Anemo energy to drag it closer for me to grab and inspect. Not seeing any rust and coming to the conclusion that it probably chipped from one of the tools they brought, I dusted it briefly before quickly drawing the edge along the meat of my palm near my thumb.

I didn't dig it deep. After all, I wasn't trying to scar or cut deep enough to properly injure myself, only making a small cut that beaded with a bit of blood that I encouraged by flexing my thumb a bit.

Enough blood oozed out to converge in a large drop, and I tilted my hand over the diamond indent on the floor, watching the drop fall into the small space.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but I was startled, standing up in surprise when the diamond indent glowed red and the glow spread through the cracks that I had trailed down to the indent in the first place. It almost reminded me of veins, especially as the glow spread to the cupped hands and made the carving of dripping blood actually look the part. A previously imperceivable seam in the door was the last thing to glow, the iridescent sheen from before turning red briefly and disappearing while the door split in two to open.

Hearing footsteps behind me, I looked back to see Childe walking up while staring thoughtfully at the opening doors that revealed a large chamber. 

“Huh, I guess I’ll have to have a talk with the translators about this so that we can refine any other documents we have. It must have actually meant something along the lines of ‘offer blood to the stone’,” he remarked, shrugging after a moment. “Well, no need to dwell on that for now, that can wait until after we get the Bloodstone.”

Turning to the other Fatui, he ordered, “Stay out here. Should be pretty simple going forward, so I can take care of it alone. Obviously, Katrin, you’re still free to keep following for your curiosity’s sake.”

“I’ve stuck around this far, so I don’t see why not,” I replied, thinking that it would probably only be a little while longer in these ruins and then I could return above ground to continue my travels to Liyue. The other Fatui let out a chorus of “Yes, Sirs”  and remained posted where they stood, making me resist the urge to shudder at the masked faces that accompanied them.

“I figured as much. Let’s go then.”

Childe walked through the opened door, and I followed him again. After a few meters, the hall behind the door declined into a tunnel, making it feel even more claustrophobic than the dungeon halls. I didn’t even need to question the Fatui Harbinger about the ruin depths, since he spoke freely after a few moments.

“Hopefully, the Bloodstone will be found safely, and as long as neither of us make skin contact with it, we won’t have to find out whether or not the whole screaming voices thing is a rumor.”

“I’m not really interested in touching it, so it’s all yours, pal,” I absentmindedly messed with the brim of my hood as we walked. Despite there being no torches in the tunnel, it seemed lit by a streak of some sort of magic that lined the wall on either side of use.

“And I wasn’t expecting you to take it, but I suppose I appreciate it,” he chuckled a bit.

The tunnel hadn’t been very long, opening up only a few seconds after. Only to reveal a giant underground colosseum, the tunnel situated at the top. Rows of seats lined either side of us while the ramp led to the arena below, and due to the underground placement the colosseum wasn’t as eroded as one would expect. In the center of the arena was a large section of carvings etched into the ground around a grate, and above it was a large grate that showed the afternoon sunlight from above.

The entire arena floor looked like it’d seen some blood in its lifetime.

“The Bloodstone should be beneath that grate,” Childe said, not affected by the surroundings at all as he started walking down the ramp with me in tow.

Meanwhile, I looked around with thinly veiled fascination that such a structure could exist beneath the surface, but there were probably a fair few Geo Vision holders that helped with the construction and concealment. Curious, I asked, “What’s the whole story behind this place?”

“This is where the gladiatorial death matches between Vision holders were held. The arena floor is made of explicitly stone rather than sand so that the grooves and indents could collect blood from the battles, dripping into the grate above the Bloodstone and feeding into it more,” he answered. “Not quite sure why the death matches started being held, but it’s thought to be a prisoner of war situation. WInner either gets released or lives on to fight another day.”

“That seems rather harsh,” I frowned a bit in consideration as we walked onto the stained stone. Granted, I didn’t know anything about any war, nor did I know what crimes the prisoners did or didn’t commit. Still, pitting them against potential allies or friends seemed awful. Ever curious though, I walked closer to the metal grate - which had that iridescent sheen again - , peering down below. I had been expecting skeletons considering the history behind it, but I only saw a gently pulsing gem the size of a skull in a small stone pit that was so stained with blood that the gem was almost able to be missed if it didn’t glow. “Well, it looks like the stone’s actually here. Huh.”

“Good, then I didn’t come all this way for nothing. Though, the door wasn’t the only thing needing an offering.”

“What kind of -,” I cut myself off as I glanced up to look at Childe, seeing him a few meters away with a bow in hand. His demeanor seemed less friendly than before.

“Another blood offering,” he stated casually, starting to pace a bit. “Honestly, you showed up at the perfect time. I was beginning to contemplate whether or not I’d have to sacrifice one of my own subordinates for this, unsure whether or not animal blood would be enough to open the grate door. Then, you came along.”

“So, that whole having an idea thing was just leading me to my death?” I spat out, instinctively materializing my glaive. If the action surprised him, he didn’t show it. I couldn’t help but get angry, both at him and my own curiosity. Sure, I didn’t trust the guy by any means, but I didn’t exactly think I was gonna be sacrificed for some stone today. That wasn’t exactly on my To-Do list.

“I don’t want to do it,” he said, without sounding sorry at all, in my opinion. “But, the Tsaritsa wants the Bloodstone and tasked me to retrieve it. And I’m not one to back down from my objectives. Even if it means having to kill you.”

“Or, I could just leave, and you don’t get to kill me.”

“You could certainly try. But, all my subordinates are up there, and if you try to leave without me, they’ll probably stop you before you can get out of the dungeon. Again.”

I couldn’t help but scowl, baring my teeth both angrily and defensively. But, I knew he was mostly right, especially with that stupid man in yellow. My grip on my glaive shifted, bristling as I growled out, “Fine.”

“Good! I figure it’s fitting to try and give you a fighting chance, so I’ll try to go a bit easy on you,” he shifted, way too eager at the prospect of killing me. “Ready?”

Before I could even attempt to respond, he fired the first shot, purposefully missing me by inches. I could feel the Hydro arrow as it passed me, barely brushing my hair as it whizzed by. I narrowed my eyes at the purposeful miss, feeling like he was going to toy with me. Oh, he wanted to be cocky?

I knew he had the advantage of being a distance attacker, but I could teleport using my Anemo energy. Which, I didn’t hesitate to do, sprinting forward before feeling the destabilizing feeling of teleporting. I reappeared behind him, rewarding his showboating with slash to his back. 

But, before my blade could make contact with even the fabric of his outfit, suddenly it was cutting through water as the water quickly shifted and moved several meters away. The water turned back into Childe, who looked more pleased with the development of my own teleporting than any sort of angry or shocked.

"So, you do have some tricks up your sleeve! Well, so do I!"

He leapt into the air, using Hydro energy to keep himself aloft as he aimed again, this time able to see the arrow split into three as it was released from his bow.

I quickly dodged it, sprinting forward again and darting and dodging out of his arrows as much as I could. It still earned me a few nicks here and there, which I reciprocated by teleporting above him and slashing down. This time, I also used Anemo energy in case he managed to evade my blade, and he was quickly forced back to the ground with a cut in the back of his outfit. The cut itself was very shallow, only able to be seen by a thin line of red if he shifted too much. Whatever talking we had been willing to do before was pushed to the side as both of us grew serious. Mostly.

He still quipped every now and then, but I was too focused on not dying that I didn't really register anything being said. Trying to not be shot by his arrows took a lot of my concentration, though even with my ability to teleport with Anemo energy I still ended up with more than a few nicks here and there. But, the same could be said for Childe since I'd been able to get a couple of my own hits on him.

Both of us teleported around the arena when we could to stay out of each other's reach, the fight stretching on for minutes. Longer than I would have liked, and longer than I think he had expected.

"And here I was thinking you didn't have any experience fighting," he remarked cheekily, dodging another slice from my glaive.

"And here I am, trying to not die!" I twirled the glaive in my hands to redirect my missed slash into an uppercut. This time the blade was able to glance against the side of his face as he jolted back to get away. I'd been having to be more aggressive with my tactics since he was using a bow. If I hung too far back, he just had more time and distance to aim at me, something I learned incredibly quickly after getting one of his split arrows to the arm.

Childe looked at me while his cheek bled a little bit and a streak of red ran down. I saw his eyes narrow, something about it sending a shiver down my spine despite the obvious attempts to end my life beforehand.

The sight made me flinch in surprise, allowing him the opportunity to teleport several meters out of my reach as he readied his bow once more. But, rather than aim at me like normal, he aimed above before letting his arrow loose. The arrow fell to the ground after briefly being shot into the air, dissipating into the ground. It seemed rather harmless for a second before the ground began to glow, the stone seemingly shaking for a few moments before a large spire began to grow from the ground.

Instinctively, my cloak turned into wings as the spire grew and turned to the sky. I leapt into the air as a narwhal-looking creature made of water came out of the ground where the arrow fell. Trying to not be speared through felt like enough of a challenge, but then it jerked it's head up, knocking into my left wing roughly with the watery tusk. 

It almost knocked me entirely out of the sky, but I was able to keep myself aloft, twirling out of the way and using the momentum to bring myself down towards Childe.

I didn't really see his face, but I felt my glaive make contact, seeing the spray of water as the impact caused him to lose grip on his bow. Quickly, I bowled him over with my wings, standing on his abdomen and holding my glaive to his neck as I straightened.

Both of us panted tiredly after our bout of fighting, me staring intently at him to make sure he didn't make a move to get back up while I could feel and see him staring at my wings. 

"Alata Devastanteque," he breathed, eyes almost searching.

I didn't know what he was talking about, nor did I care. Touching my glaive to his neck, I asked, "What did the translation say? The one about the Bloodstone."

"Well, other than the door to get into here, I believe it said something along the lines of 'Another sacrifice must be made in order to obtain the stone, let the rivers of blood flow to the grate and allow you entry'," he answered, glancing between the glaive and I. "I take it you're going to kill me for the stone."

"What the fuck? No, you psychopath, I just want to get the fuck out of here before you kill me," I replied. Keeping him pinned with a foot on his chest, I glanced him over, twisting my glaive in hand to cut into his arm. I still tried to not cause permanent damage, but I wanted a lot of blood. He hissed beneath me, and I didn't stop him from reaching for the cut. Instead, I focused on looking myself over, taking a deep breath before gashing into my own leg and aimed for the artery. The thought alone made me squeamish, so I had to keep my breathing steady as I slashed, quickly plucking the longest primary feather from one of my wings. 

It was a slight pain in comparison, and I kneeled on the ground, controlling my breathing as I removed some of the vane at the tip of the feather.

"What are you doing," Childe asked, working on putting a tourniquet on his arm from a spare strap he had on his hip. But blood had already dripped from the appendage and pooled beneath him, the grooves in the stone taking it from there.

"M-My thought process," I replied, using the primary feather as my own tourniquet, the remaining vane on the feather helping to soak up the bleeding while the rachis/shaft of the feather acted like a decent tie point. My own pool of blood was larger, feeling lightheaded from the self-inflicted wound. "Is that maybe our two pools of blood will be enough to open the grate, rather than either of us dying for this."

As I spoke, my own blood followed along the grooves towards.the grate. Both of our blood reached the grate, the grooves separating the blood enough that a little bit touched it on all sides, the grate glowing red like the door from before.

"Well, I'll be damned," Childe finished tying the tourniquet to his arm as I stood up and used my glaive as a cane. Using Anemo energy, I slammed the now unlocked grate open.

"There's your stupid stone," I said, barely containing the anger I felt at being dragged into this. I felt lightheaded from the loss of blood, though I ignored it the best I could, pointing to.the sky-grate above with my glaive for a moment. "I'm going to leave, and never fucking come back here."

"Fair enough," the Fatui Harbinger stood up as well, looking into the now open pit with the stone at the bottom before looking at me. "I found our sparring session rather entertaining, so I hope we can meet each other in the near future."

"I hope we never see each other again," I grumbled, taking off towards the sky-grate. Maybe it was the rust around the edges, or maybe I was just that pissed, but one strong pull with Anemo energy pulled the whole thing off to allow me past. I chucked it to the side to try and avoid Childe, but I didn't look back, continuing into the sky.

My first stop in Liyue was going to have to be a medic.

[smolcinnamonchipmunk]

Stained Ruins Pt. 1

(Spoilers for Liyue, specifically about Childe. I hope it's not too OOC, I'm just going off the story and wiki. This is incredibly self indulgent, haha ^^;. Also, I realized that I've never seen a catgirl/dogboy in Liyue, only in Inazuma and Mondstadt. Ganyu has horns, but that's about it. 

To make it a bit more realistic, I'm gonna say the map is bigger since I'm guessing it's pretty small for game sake, and I'm gonna add a random ruin because I want more ruins with towers. Don't get me wrong, it's a huge map to explore in game, but with how fast the days go in game I'm gonna say it's a few days of travel. I did a bunch of calculations, but I won't bore anyone with them, haha.

I also had to cut this into two parts, which I’ve never experienced before, so either I wrote a lot more in this or Tumblr has turned into a massive butt.)

I hummed a bit as I walked along the trail, toying with a leaf in my hand in boredom as the afternoon sun was briefly covered by wispy clouds. I really wanted to fly since it would be so much quicker, but one of the Knights of Favonious - I think her name was Jean, she didn't really come out of the Headquarters much - had told me to be cautious since there were some that probably wouldn't be as accepting of my wings. Which I felt was very off considering there were people with cat and dog ears and tails! But, it was an entirely different country that sounded a lot more strict than I was used to.

... Still, it couldn't hurt to fly a little, right? If I flew high enough, people wouldn't think twice.

Pausing, I looked around, checking to see if there was anyone else on the trail. Seeing no one, I continued to be cautious as my wings changed and unfurled. It felt almost wrong for them to be visible with how long and often I'd been keeping them hidden from public view. But, it also felt so good for them to be able to stretch them, like when you're sitting down far too long and finally stand up to stretch and walk around.

In fact, I think it'd been a week since I last had them out for any substantial amount of time.

I stretched both my arms and wings, satisfied as a few bones popped and my muscles strained a little. Making a small noise in thought, I figured I might want a take off point. Sure, I could get myself off the ground just fine, but if I could get a pleasant updraft to ease my underworked wings, it would be preferred. The closest thing was just a hill though, so after a bit of a walk I reached the disappointingly short peak. 

Looks like my hope for an easy takeoff wasn't one to be fulfilled, sadly. Still, it allowed me a bit of leeway as I struggled a little to take off into the air even with the help of Anemo energy. A particularly powerful flap, and I was able to stay aloft, making my ascent as quick as I could to try and avoid any prying eyes that were nearby. It took a lot longer than I would have liked, feeling like forever before I reached an altitude where I could just rely on wind currents and the occasional wingbeat to continue going forward. Even these small movements made my underused muscles ache a little.

If it'd been a bit since I allowed my wings to stretch, it'd been even longer since I'd actually flown. Turns out you need a license just to glide, which is how the Knights found out about my wings since I couldn't exactly take them off like the gliders they used. There had been a lot of questions that day, and I didn't particularly like the vibe the librarian had been throwing off.

Still, musings of the past few weeks aside, the scenery was rather pretty from my position flying above the ground. I still followed the trail below, now a thin line in the ground as I flew over hills, lakes, and valleys. And I noticed that there were ruins everywhere along the way, some close to the road that led to Liyue and some that I could see in the distance as just gray mounds. The road that I was following that I was told would take two to three days to travel was speeding by beneath me, and even at my leisurely pace (both because I wasn't in a particular hurry and also because I was too out of practice to pick up the pace too much) I should reach Liyue Harbor before the end of the day!

But, it didn't take long before the ache in my wings became almost unbearable. I started slowly descending, trying to look for a place to land not too close to the trail since I had seen a few carts on the way. I saw some ruins about a mile away with a few towers. Most were crumbled from degradation, but I landed on top of the one tower that remained standing.

I was a bit nervous that it would fall as I planted my feet into the weathered stone, but thankfully it didn't so much as budge beneath my weight. My wings instinctively folded into themselves and turned into the cloak, blinking after a second at realizing the unintentional action. I shrugged it off internally, not super fussed whether or not my wings were out while I let them rest, and started to look around the top of the tower.

It was bare aside from some wood scraps and the vines that curled up from the outer wall that managed to reach all the way to the top. There was a bit of a degraded portion of the roof, and when I approached out of curiosity, I saw a ladder that looked like it was hanging on by a thread. Judging by the wood splinters at the bottom of the ladder, there'd probably been a trapdoor leading to the roof that broke before the stone around it. Other than that, there wasn’t much to be seen down below, but I could hear something and tilted my head as I tried to decipher what it was. It was too loud to be a rat, and sounded as though something large was being dragged.

I was curious, though my mind hopped to one of the worst possibilities: murderer hiding a body.

I certainly hoped that wasn’t the case, mulling over my options in my head. I didn’t exactly want to confront a potential murderer, but after a few more seconds I felt a bit guilty at the thought of leaving. If someone was hiding a body, there was the chance that they’d never be caught if I just disregarded the whole thing and went about my day as though nothing had happened.

Pulling the hood of my cloak over my head, the dark color hopefully going to help me be stealthy, I decided to at least investigate further. If it was a murderer hiding a body, I’ll incapacitate them and figure out how to get the local authorities involved. If it wasn’t a murderer, I’d just leave and go about my day without any incident. Either way, it’d require me to go down into the tower to get a closer look.

Not exactly trusting the ladder to not crumble and alert whoever was down there of my presence, I hopped down and softened my fall with a small breeze of Anemo energy. The first floor I landed in was empty save for some crates that looked smashed in and looted through, but there was a stairwell nearby that seemed to go down with the curvature of the wall. Aside from some cracks and missing stones in the wall letting in light, it was rather dark inside, and it seemed like it would only be about the same further in. 

The first step down the steps was the most nerve-wracking, but thankfully nothing crumbled or creaked beneath me. Each step still made me nervous as I crept down the stairs towards the noise, but heard nothing other than my attempt at quiet footsteps, the dragging sound now stopped and replaced by voices.

So there were multiple people. Hopefully, that decreased the chance of it being a murder.

As I got closer, I realized that the source of the noise must have been further than I thought, the sound of the voices reverberating up the stone cylinder as I walked down from floor to floor in search of the people. It sounded like they were talking about the ruins themselves, something about an important artifact. I think they were talking about names, but they could have been titles for all I knew. Harbinger was one I knew, but I wasn’t sure whether that was the artifact or something else.

Eventually, my investigation brought me below ground, noticing what I could only guess was a lookout posted at the first floor entrance. Thankfully, they were looking outside of the tower, otherwise they definitely would have seen me walk to the basement steps. The voices were definitely louder here, echoing on the stone. Oh yeah, they definitely needed the lookout to make sure no one could hear them since they didn’t seem to care about toning their voices down. Then again, the ruins were a bit away from the trail, so it wasn’t like their voices would travel far enough to alert passersby that were just walking down the road.

There were lit torches down here along the wall, practically a trail towards where the voices were coming from as I stood at the bottom of the steps. A part of me wanted to back out, thinking this was obviously a group effort for looting and not a murder scene. But, my curiosity reasoned that I’d already made it this far. If things went downhill, I was pretty sure that I could handle a bunch of treasure hunters.

So, I continued forward, peering around the next corner where I could see a group of oddly dressed people standing in front of what looked like a large stone door with carvings. A large bag spilling with tools for mining and other items seemed to be the source of the dragging noise earlier based on the line of disturbed dust on the ground that led to it.

Well, that answered one question, but I still had more. Like, what kind of artifact were they looking for? What did they want it for? I tilted my head in my musings, trying to glean what I could from the conversation in front of the carved doors and from the markings themselves. 

I was torn from my thoughts roughly as a sharp “Hey!” resonated behind me. I was barely able to turn around before finding myself roughly pinned against the wall by my assailant's forearm slamming against my collarbone. The action forced air from my lungs and I gasped, head bowing for a second as I coughed and my hood fell. Whoever had me pinned was angrily saying something, but I didn’t really hear it over my daze. I must not have heard him over the echoing voice, leaving him to take advantage of my ignorance. Rude!

Becoming angry myself, my head snapped up to glare at the person pinning me, seeing a masked face with dark eyes. Since they had me pinned by my collarbone, my arms were free and I pushed out with them, shouting, “Get the fuck off me!”

A burst of Anemo energy was released, the gale strong enough to slam the masked man into the wall opposite of the stone hall. I watched him fall to the ground with fury at having been jumped, waiting for any sign of life from him. Even if I attacked in self-defense, I didn’t want him dead. But, his torso moved with his breaths, and that was enough of a confirmation he was okay for me. I realized that the voices had stopped, hearing footsteps and shouting from around the corner where the carved door was.

Definitely my cue to leave before I ended up having to knock everyone around here out.

I quickly started sprinting back down the hall towards the stairs that lead to the first floor and the rest of the tower. And almost ran headfirst into a glowing and opaque yellow wall that suddenly sprouted out of the ground in front of me, barely preventing me from doing so by skidding to a halt a couple feet in front of it. Reaching out a hand towards it, it was indeed solid, and I knew it had to be from one of the people that were chasing me. 

Spinning around, I glanced over at the three people that had me cornered, seeing one with a staff that was glowing the same color as the yellow wall, with clothing to match. They had a Vision.

“You’re not getting away,” the large one in purple said, voice distorted. I realized that the other man’s voice had been distorted, but it hadn’t registered in the whole being pinned against the wall thing. The person in purple had a giant warhammer while the last one was in red and held a gun. Probably the most concerning thing right now, but the person in purple demanded my attention by adding, “I’ll kill you!”

“Isn’t that taking it a bit far,” I retorted, setting my sights on the man in yellow that was keeping me trapped. A click caught my attention as I lunged, seeing the man in red lifting his gun that was glowing. I barely managed to roll out of the way of the shot, the sound echoing in the stone halls as a scorch mark burned into the spot where I had been a moment ago. So, they had a Vision, too. I debated whether or not I should prioritize him since I couldn’t exactly do much if I was shot, rolling out of the way of the purple man’s swing that would have broken a few bones if the cracked stone was any indication.

This was such a constrained space that I had to try and be tactful. One wrong move and I could end up dead, let alone crippled.

Jumping to my feet, I bolted behind the purple man and used him to block me from the red man’s line of sight. With his bulk, the purple man had difficulty trying to spin around fast enough to clock me with his hammer as I followed his movement. The spin allowed me to get closer to the man in yellow, readying to bolt forward and knock that stupid staff from his hand but another shot from the gun caused me to flinch back at the sound. 

I saw the scorch mark on the ceiling, realizing the man in red didn’t have a clear shot of me and had used the noise to startle me. Successfully, I might add, finding my throat grabbed by the man in purple and lifted into the air roughly while my hands instinctively grasped at the thick glove he had on. 

“Let’s end this quickly,” he said, his gloved hand tightening around my neck. He shifted his hammer in his other hand and it suddenly burst into crackling electricity.

Where they all fucking VIsion holders?!

“What’s going on?”

(Sorry, kind of cliffhanger! Read the next part if you want ;) )