敗北と自由
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The group of heroes: Aether, Diluc, Jean, and Venti, stood in front of the storm barrier. Venti hummed in thought at the sight of it, summoning his lyre.
Unknown to the group, excluding the traveler duo, an ancient entity stood at the side of the cliff, silently overseeing their actions. Alastor hummed, unhooking his vision and raising it to his view. The endless ticking inside his head was gradually getting louder as Venti's lyre resonated across the canyon. He sighed, "In three, two, one..." He murmured and the storm barrier was no more. The clock hands that were invisible to most stopped momentarily, as if a timer had just gone off.
His heterochromatic orbs traveled to Aether then to Venti. 'Aether, I'll go on ahead.' He spoke through their telepathic connection, jumping down from the cliff as the power of pyro covered him and slam to the ground.
As Aether and co. cross the bridge to Decarabian's tower, he briefly glanced at the faint outlines of red zooming towards the tower. "Al is pretty fast for a Pyro-user," Paimon whispered, her eyes trailing of to Alastor's figure that jumped into the Tower while evading the Windscreen.
Aether nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I think it's some kind of ability. Whenever he starts sprinting, he becomes fire itself and burns his surroundings." He recalled, remembering the burning grass that trailed of Alastor.
While the five venture up the tower, an ominous being watched them closely. The abyss mage tapped its staff on the currently dormant Ruin Guard, and its eye started to glow brightly. The mechanism's sound echoed through the hall but was unable to reach the group of heroes.
"Let the Anemo Archon fall-"
Suddenly, a burst of flames came crashing down from the ruined edge of the tower, rocketing the Ruin guard to the wall. Its sound faltering, before the glowing orb turning full. The abyss mage screeched in shock, whipping his head around for the assailant.
The sounds of footsteps ominously echoed, sending shivers down the Abyss mage's spine. In a panic, it summoned its hydro shield, trying to protect itself from the danger that defeated the ruin guard.
"Blame yourself for trying to attack him while I'm in the vicinity."
The abyss mage snapped its head back, greeted by the sight of a boy clad in red and black. His vivid dual-colored eyes pierced through the mages' soul, making it freeze at the mere sight of them.
Warnings of his kin, in which they must always avoid a young man with yellow and blue eyes, and must run when they turn red and black.
"Y-you are..." the abyss mage gasped, its hand trembling, almost dropping its staff.
A smile graced the lips of his foe, summoning a spear of fire, floating over his palm. The searing heat that emitted from the celestial orb that hung on his belt affected the mage to the point it felt like evaporating. A vain attempt of summoning a hydro spell, sending a bubble to potentially trap the person, was merely a foolish attempt.
The abyss mage was frantic before it summoned a ruin guard from the depths. "Charge!" It yelled, and the ruin guard twisted its torso. Several missiles target the assailant, but they hit nothing but the crumbling floor. The abyss mage's eyes were wide before it felt the searing blazes behind him.
Snapping his head back, to his horror the ruin guard was wrapped in glowing blue and red chains, as the chains in question burned the machine to ash. It stumbled back, enforcing his hydro shield, assuming that the hydro would extinguish the flames.
But alas...
The shield evaporates before it could put out the demonic flames that charge at him.
Now, Alastor frowned in annoyance. "Although that person had the guts to summon me...it doesn't mean I like you."
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Aether and Paimon now stared hopelessly at the light actuator. One more piece needed to complete it, yet they were unable to find it. In midst of desperation, Aether released a strained sigh. "Should we call Alastor?" He asked his floating companion, who was rubbing her chin.
"Yeah- but how do we call him?" She asked the right question, which truly was the current malediction. Neither of them knew how to simply call upon Alastor without the ritual to summon him.
Aether scratched the back of his head, before hearing a snap. "I got it! We gotta call him out like those fancy familiar thingies!!" Paimon exclaimed, resting her hands on her hips with a proud smile.
Aether blinked in surprise, before deadpanning at her. The method she suggested was to call upon one with a rather extravagant chant. "Try it! It Gotta be something like this: "Alastor, the contract demon! I call upon you to aid me!" Or something."
Flushing red, Aether thought the method was embarrassing. But they had no choice, his only option was to try out any method of summoning the contract demon.
"U-uh... Well, Ehem! Alastor co-" A burst of azure flames swirled in front of the duo, and the contract demon gracefully landed on the cold ground.
"You called?" Dumbfounded at the sight of the heterochromatic-eyed boy, Aether was deadpanning. Alastor who was slowly standing from the kneeling position he had taken, tilted his head curiously at the red hue on Aether's cheeks.
Suddenly pressing a hand to his forehead, Alastor tried to feel any worrying heat from him. "Are you alright? Your face is red." He bluntly explained, but Aether's face only turned redder. The blonde outlander aggressively shook his head, denying such claims.
"D-did we only have to call your name to summon you?" Alastor smiled lazily, nodding his head in confirmation.
"It's not like you need to tell out some sort of incantation to call me. Simply saying my name with the intent of summoning me is enough." He chuckled, having a faint idea of what the duo had planned to do to call out to him.
"So, what do you need?" He asked, glancing at their surroundings.
"See the light actuator? We need the last piece but we don't know where it is." Aether sighed, frowning at the one side of the actuator that was not glowing. Alastor hummed in thought, slowly walking around the actuator.
As he was quite sensitive to the leyline flows, even if he was no such mage. He still had a frustrating sensitivity towards the magical flow, but also gave him several advantages. His dual-colored gaze rested on a broken pillar before a smile graced his lips. A loud ticking resonated in his head, one which was rather orthodox for him. It was something he had for centuries now.
"Do you think Al found it? He's been staring at that pillar for a while now." Paimon commented, subtly pointing at the contract demon who had been staring at the broken pillar. Aether deadpanned at her impatience, "It's only been a couple of seconds." He said, returning his gaze to Alastor who had his head tilted.
He slightly raised his hand as if he was holding something. and in seconds, a glowing triangle was floating over his palm.
"Wah! How did he do that?!" Paimon screeched, her eyes wide at the sight of the last piece of the actuator. Alastor smiled mysteriously at them, humming as he approached the light actuator and dropping the glowing piece onto its place.
"Now that's finished, look." Alastor pointed to the tower, watching as the blue magic circle around it vanish into the air. Aether was in awe, before grinning at Alastor. Grabbing the entity's wrist,
"C'mon let's go now!" But he didn't budge, which confused Aether. Alastor stared blankly at the ground, before raising his head and smiling softly. "I can't join you." He stated, sighing tiredly.
Paimon and Aether were startled at his refusal to join them, which made both quite confused.
He chuckled quietly, "I am... an immortal entity. My presence will deter your smooth success, as he will misunderstand the reason why I am there." He explained, smiling blankly at them. The pair visibly cringed at the memory of their failed attempt at Starsnatch.
Alastor chuckled internally, before waving the pair. Hesitant to leave, both still complied with his wish. Waving with a smile, Alastor watched their figures vanish into the tower. His yellow and blue eyes turned red and black. An insane smirk gracing his lips.
"Interesting."
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Unseen to mortals and immortals alike, Alastor leisurely walked into Stormterrors domain without said dragon detecting him. His gaze was fixated on the traveler and bard, a ball of blue flames floating on their shoulders. The flames reacted to a semi-transparent chain that was wrapped around his arm, burning brightly to be near the subject of their contracts.
Humming in thought, Alastor glanced around his monochromatic world. A place, once known as his prison, until a contract freed him a millennia ago. Now that contract tied him to protecting an Archon.
"I still don't like the fact that the only permanent color other than black and white in this realm is... the magnificent red."
Alastor sighed before glancing at the only source of red in his world. Diluc Ragnvinder and his glowing vision.
"Well considering the only fully colored being we can see is...... each other." Alastor scoffed, turning to the entity that stood behind him with a smile. The same appearance, yet different.
His red glazed hair, red and black eyes. "Now-now... Don't look at me with such disdain. Did the Abyss mage upset you?" He asked, chuckling wryly.
"No. Just the sight of you makes me upset." Alastor, the one with the correct color scheme, retorted. His supposed 'Copy', chuckled and both watched as Venti lifted Aether into the stormy sky. The sudden burst of teal in their dullness made both smile in nostalgia.
"The show is just beginning... I still prefer if you didn't stand beside me." Alastor deadpanned, raising a brow to his companion.
His companion chuckled, his red and black gaze narrowing at his other self.
"You must accept me" He said, stepping closer.
"I am you after all."