uncover | k. albedo

Chapter Thirty-Six

"How. . .How are you still alive? I saw you and that sword. . .I- aren't you supposed to be dead?", The Chief Alchemist asked, hesitatingly retracting his arms from her somewhat transparent yet solid form. His breathing hitched, eyes red from crying his tears out just a few seconds ago, not even caring if he lost his usually regal and composed persona after seeing her for a year of separation.

"I am, Albedo. . .I am", Cascade mumbled loud enough for her current audience to hear. She forced on a small smile, hands gently cupping on his cheeks, whilst leaning on to touch their foreheads. "I am nothing but a mere spirit of a fallen archon- you can see me as something alike that of the Four Winds. . .a guardian of Sumeru",

"Archon. . .wha- what does that supposed to mean? I- Cascade, dear. . . I-I'm quite baffled", he stuttered. For a moment, it seems that his well-functioned brain have lost it's clogs, hindering his mind from forming a theory and concluding an answer to her statement. He watched as the woman before him smiled sadly, blinking whilst she recalled something from the past. "How. . .How in the world of Teyvat. . .",

"Do you really want to know?", She breathed, optics filled with concern and hesitation. Cascade was overall willing to tell him the tale, but the fact that the story itself was way more complicated and probably heart breaking made it hard for her. Of course, she knew that it was only appropriate enough to tell her lover, her ever so sweet alchemist, of the truth that concerns her whole being- but would it be really a great idea?

His curiosity and thirst for answers had him nodding in an instant. Aether could've swear that he felt his heart clench upon seeing how eager the alchemist was to seek for the truth that only he, Paimon, Cascade, Barbatos, Xiao, Cyno, and probably Diluc- knows. When he went into that secret passage, hidden within the vicinity of the late Crepus Ragnvindr, the traveller had felt his blood run cold at the sight of something- something so unimaginable and surprising. He could recall how he and Paimon turn stiff at the sight of a casket- a human sized casket, filled with unwilting flowers and a surge of green energy. It was different from her coffin during her funeral wake, because this time- it was her real body that was contained inside.

"Before we met. . .I have long gone to the land of the dead. I have been dead for years now, without you knowing", She sighed, frowning as she glanced at the traveller and his companion, fully knowing that he had seen and learned the answer that lies beneath that secret door. "The Cascade that you've seen. . .the Cascade that you've met. . .the Cascade that brought you lunches. . .the Cascade whom you've hangout with- was only a mannequin made to look real. A homunculus of the real one. My soul was somehow contained within, with the help of some sort of forbidden ritual that would transfer my spirit from my body and into that doll",

"It was still me who controls the heart and mind, for it was somehow made to be a body to my accord, because the real one is already too weak and frail. So they asked someone, to make an exact copy of that hidden figure of mine, and to transfer my soul into that mannequin in order for it to breathe and do as I pleased, because I was deprived of a life that I have so yearned to have due to my illness", She chuckled grimly, pursing her lips, whilst she gazed on the alchemist that had seemingly stopped to breath, upon hearing the revelation. This made her frown, gently tapping him on the cheek, calling his name again and again, in order to snap him out of the whirling thoughts that came to plague his mind. "Albedo? Love?. . .",

". . . you're a homunculus. . .all this time? All those moments we share. . .", He asked trailing at the end, gazing at her pair of chartreuse orbs blankly, to which she sadly smiled at. She knew that he was confused, and that he has a lot of questions in mind. To be honest, even Cascade was quite bewildered. Her old man was also a rather mysterious person, Crepus Ragnvindr.