fidelity || gi

origins: lady zepar (prologue)

began writing: 21/8/21
finished writing: n/a

; blood, death, vomit, angst

(this chapter's fairly graphic so please don't read if those kind of things make you uncomfortable, you can easily skip this chapter if you're familiar with mondstadt lore!!) i'll include an important events summary at the end of this chapter so you can avoid it if need be!

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• old mondstadt, 2,600 years ago. •

long ago, around 2,600 years ago, in the time of decarabian, two siblings lived trapped in the storm-shrouded city of mondstadt.

the youngest, a boy, no older than 16, a budding young bard with sunken cheeks but a burning hope in his heart, that one day he might live to see the birds in flight. then, he would write the greatest poem of all, and let the wind carry it to the hearts of all the people of the brighter, freer mondstadt.

the older, a girl, the less fortunate for living in such a world for longer than her brother, freshly 21, still a youthful soul in a world of ancient beings, in the midst of a century-long war.

the girl was their breadwinner. she would work, she would pray, she would beg and barter, but the prices were getting higher as she matured- her doe eyes would not work on the leering men behind the stalls anymore. now, they wished for a new form of payment, one she would only be desperate to give.

she only wished she could manipulate their minds in some way, make them see, make them feel, sympathize. but who was she to judge? she felt the very same stone enclosing her heart, the same coldness, the same greed, the same ignorance she could see in them.

life was getting more difficult under the watchful eye of their captor, and the light dimming from her brother's eyes as hers had done years before was becoming harder to watch.

when the war broke out, she was at the very front lines. the battle for freedom was one long overdue, and she was not one to back away from conflict.

with the spear in her hand and the fire in her heart only, she fought alongside the bravest, strongest men and women in the city much older and wiser than her, until the god of storms, the lord decarabian had fallen.

when the battle was won, she felt she should have rejoiced, been ecstatic at the victory. this was what she had always longed for, no?

but a dig through the rubble of the battlefield gave her her answer.

her baby brother. the only reason she had lived previously. her pride and joy, her happiness, her smile. the light of her life, was fading.

fast.

"brother..." she rushed to his side, her voice a trembling mess. "oh my. oh... brother. it's okay. it's all okay. you're okay." she wasn't quite sure whether the reassuring words were for herself or the twitching boy.

the dark haired child gurgled as he tried to speak, and he gave three chest-wracking coughs as blood sprayed over his sister's cheek, around his mouth, and over both sibling's clothes.

"no, no, no. it's okay, it's okay." the girl's lip trembled as she fumbled for a large stone and used the strength she gained from adrenaline to drag it over to her brother and propped his head up on it to open his airways, hiccuping and sobbing with panic as tears rolled thick and fast down her cheeks.

"i'm... i'm..." the boy babbled, tears filling his glassy eyes, which were staring straight past his sister, unseeing.

"shh, shh. don't talk. you need your energy. need energy... for when..." the girl whimpered, unable to finish her sentence while trying to keep her voice steady, grabbing at her skirt and tearing off a large piece of the fabric.