"Are you a new ally... or a new storm?" a masculine voice greets.
Daring to face the person, you began to panic internally.
'Oh my Archon, it's frickin' Kaeya.'
"Are you one of Amber's friends?" you ask curiously – as to not raise suspicion.
He let out a short laugh, "Rather bold of you to assume considering you've just met me. But I've seen you interact with Amber while you were on a roof."
"You mean you saw me stuck on top of a roof for 10 minutes straight and watched me get blown away by hurricane?"
Amber cuts in before Kaeya responds. "Uh guys- About that, Stormterror is attacking Mondstadt itself!" she turns to both of you. "Kaeya, (Y/n), you've come at the right time!"
In the midst of her fuss, your gaze wanders towards the navy blue-haired man.
"Hold on Amber, aren't you forgetting to introduce us?" Kaeya asks - cutting off Amber's panic tangent.
"Oh... right. This is Kaeya, our Cavalry Captain." The brunette explains before looking at Kaeya. "These two are travellers from afar."
Of course, you earned suspicious squints once more.
So long story short, after a minute - Amber started explaining your situation to the Cavalry Captain. You mentally think about your separated siblings - wondering how they're doing.
--Time skip--
"I see. Welcome to Mondstadt - though you haven't arrived at the best of times, I'm afraid." Kaeya welcomes softly. "I understand the anguish of being separated from family."
'It's nice to know someone empathizes.' you humbly thought.
Kaeya continues, "I'm not really sure why you're looking for the Anemo God... But everyone has their secrets, right?"
"My secret is to find my missing siblings - actually – it's my only goal." you reply back at the Cavalry captain.
"Is that truly your only secret, or is there more?" The Cavalry Captain mused - earning a look from you. "Haha, relax! I won't pressure you for more."
The wind continues to blow as Kaeya expresses thanks for your help on fight to defend the city by the dragon, apparently many citizens witnessed it.
"The Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius is also very interested in meeting you, and formally invites you both to our headquarters." he adds.
"Alright, let's go there then." you nod your head to Paimon - who joins in your walk towards the Headquarters.
--Timeskip to the Headquarters--
"Jean, I've brought them." Kaeya calls out.
'It feels like I'm being escorted like a criminal.' you mentally joke.
Entering an office with a lot of books in the shelves, you see a blond-haired woman who radiates authority - and another woman that seems to be a purple witch.
You stood idle next to Paimon, while Kaeya summarizes your situation with your siblings to Jean. "...And once it was over I brought them straight here."
You politely wave over to the women standing in front of you.
"Mondstadt welcomes you, windborne travellers." The lady named Jean greets. "I am Jean, Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius. This is Lisa, our resident librarian" she says gesturing towards the purple witch.
'We should find an electro-user to use it again!' Paimon's old words regarding the phone rang through your mind. 'If I recall correctly, Lisa is an electro-user.'
'I should talk to Lisa about my dead cellphone later.' you mentally note.
Then, Lisa kindly elaborates on the current predicament of Mondstadt's elemental sphere and ley lines - and the stress it has taken a toll on her.
Jean frowns, "If it weren't for this interference, the Knights of Favonius would've better ways to help you than just putting up missing people posters."
'The situation in Mondstadt got out of hand real quick.'
You felt a tiny sting at your heart at that statement but you remained strong - for your siblings.
"I see, that's understandable considering the circumstances." you said - crossing your arms.
"We simply ask that you repose in Mondstadt while we help seek out your siblings." Jean politely requests.
"I really should help out as well - especially for helping me find my siblings." you says softly.
"Paimon will help too!" your companion chirps next to you.
"Good. In that case, we need a plan."
Jean spoke of her plan to cut Stormterror's power straight from the source. With the help of Lisa's detection magic, Stormterror's power source were located in the abandoned Four Winds Temples.
Since Stormterror's abilities to cast hurricanes come from its source in the temples - your objective is to deal with three of the four temples
'Something about this feels eeriely dangerous... but if doing this helps me find my siblings..' you thought before looking over to the worried expressions of the knights.
'It wouldn't hurt to make some acquaintances along the way.'
After that important discussion with the Knights of the Favonius HQ, you were left to your own devices. Whilst in the room, you collected some books you found interesting and kept them.
'Your objective is to deal with three of the four temples.'
"Well then, let's go off" you can't help but look back at your fairy-like companion - who shared your same enthusiasm.
she nods, "Remember, Paimon says 'stay safe out there'!"
With that, you two departed together to meet the others at the wind temples
--Timeskip through Amber's whole adventure--
Not long after finishing your venture with Amber - you obliterated some hilichurl camps before focusing on your next goal: Meet Kaeya in the next wind temple.
You sprinted through the hills, swiftly jump up, and extend your wind glider as you glide properly in front Kaeya.
"Greetings, Kaeya." you greet - still descending from above to land.
"You've arrived." he points out. "Come closer, can you smell that?"
"That's the smell of pyro slimes dying, Kaeya." you inhale the wind - you smell nothing.
Paimon giggles while Kaeya rose a brow.
"Pardon-- no." The Cavalry Captain said. "Something must've happened in the temple."
"Same goes for the other temples right now."
"Indeed. I imagine there will be slimes, hilichurls, and... whatever is giving Stormterror power." Kaeya smirks. "Oh yes, it's going to be lively in there indeed."
"Ah yes, I love the smell of death in the air." you emphasize. "Watch me speedrun through the temple."
"Oho, you're a brave one aren't you?" he muses. "Well then, I hope that confidant of yours isn't an act. Though, it feels a pity that the temple of the wolf has been disturbed by such atrocity."
You shift your attention towards the temple entrance at hand. "We should head inside now, the temple won't clear itself."
Kaeya nods with a grin. "Right. Let's head in, (y/n)."
--Inside the Temple--
You both enter the air temple and looked out for each other. You then waited for him to continue to venture on - and so did he.
He crossed his arms with determination. "Let me show you how the Knights of Favonius conquer our adversaries."
"Alright then." you mumble as you look up to the temple. "What will be our next move?"
"We'll be going to the end of the temple which should be up there," he says, pointing to a building in the distance.
"Wait, how did you know?" You ask.
"Heh... Experience." he says with a bittersweet expression. "The kind of experience you get after dealing with things like this for others."
'You make it sound like you're a hitman.' you mentally joke.
"I would like to see your skills, once we're finished - we'll see how you fight." Kaeya says before dropping into a wet arena with hilichurls - he utilizes the water and freezes them.
"I see, I'm going in." you said as you charge towards the unsuspecting hilichurls. Unfortunately, they noticed you after a second - blowing your sneak attack.
"They already noticed us. If you do mind, I'll take the lead from here." Kaeya chimes whilst sliding through his own ice bridge he made using his powers.
"It's alright, you already revealed us by speaking so what's the point of hiding." You reply before raising your weapon.
Long story short, after a while the challenge started - you start to explore and find some chests inside the place. You silently cheer once you found some great new items. Preparing yourself up for the battle, you turn to Kaeya who seemed to be having the time of his life of freezing every single creature in the room.
"(Y/n)... Unless I'm mistaken, you don't seen to have a vision." He ponders as a cool breeze passes by with his attack. "So how exactly is it you're able to channel elemental energy?"
"It was a very strange occurrence," you hum while striking a slime with your blessed anemo energy. "I don't really understand what happened so I can't exactly explain it."
He buys your answer for now as you continue to clear out the other enemies.
After that, you use your glider to fly through the wind current. Then, you found a closed stone gate with an activator next to it. You assume you needed a certain someone's ice powers to activate it.
"Hey Kaeya, over here!" You voice out as you ran towards the weird activator thing.
"Oh my, well aren't you eager?" He says as he glides and lands over to you.
"What? Anyways, what do we do with this thing?" you ask as you stare at it. you suddenly remember something. "Oh! Wait, Kaeya you should activate this - it'd work considering you have ice powers."
"Sharp intuition, I like it." He teased before activating it with a swift freeze.
As the large stone door separates to make way to the next room - you saw more upcoming enemies upfront.
There were fire slimes present, you pause to calculate and observe the room to find any strategies to take them down quickly.
You spotted a Hydro Amber and utilize it by breaking it - sending rainfall over the fire slimes, weakening them.
"Water! We can use this to weaken the fire slimes!" you say quickly before slashing through the already weakened slimes.
"Good idea, that's some keen observation." He strikes one of the weak slimes. "We should get Jean to give you a title and make you a knight."
'I feel like you're skipping too many steps before becoming an actual knight.' you mentally sweat.
"Hmm. It seems like we'll have to work our way out of this one." Kaeya sighs at the sight of upcoming enemies. "I think you should take the lead this time, (y/n)."
"Alright, let's ride." you gripped your weapon.
You approached the hilichurls as Kaeya tagged along with you. You two compromised by attacking the enemies with the element of surprise. You heard someone yell to wait but you brushed it off.
As if this were a dramatic moment, you both feel as though you got each other's back - feeling the breeze behind you like those anime battle scenes.
[a/n: art by me - please don't steal or use - i edited the bg]
You got to annihilate a hilichurl first and aimed for another behind Kaeya's back. While he was busy, you sprinted towards the other enemies with a bloodthirsty gaze.
"I didn't expect you to be so fast-" The bluenette exclaimed as he freezes another hilichurl.
You let out a short laugh, "c'mere you silly-churls!" then you darted after the creatures as you started swinging your sword.
"Oho, Amber never said anything about you being fierce." Kaeya exclaimed as he sent another ice attack to an enemy.
"That girl will face my blade if she does." you joked. Sooner or later, both of you finished the level.
You come across a dangerous body of water with underwater spikes - making it too dangerous to swim over.
Kaeya managed to create an ice bridge over it and moved aside to make way for you. "Ladies first, I suppose." he says with a small chuckle.
"What a gentleman," you joke back. During the ordeal, Kaeya mentioned that the stormterror used to be one of the Four Winds. He wasn't sure on the details, so if you want to learn more, you can ask the Acting Grandmaster about it.
Now knowing that you're possibly in the last level, you began moving towards an egg-shaped thing in the middle of the room. Kaeya soon followed.
"Is that the thing that stormterror uses to gain its power?" you inquire as you glance at the egg thing.
"Seems probable. Let's deal with it." Kaeya says.
"I suppose we'll just have to break it then."
Then you two proceeded to break the egg and it deactivated the wind temple's power.
"And we were right." you said with a proud expression.
"Oh, your companion is here."
"(Y/n)!" Paimon calls out while speed-floating through the rooms. "There you are, Head-First Buster!"
"Wait, Paimon? I thought you were right beside me this whole time?" You said in confusion.
"Paimon was... Paimon was trying to catch up to you when you two suddenly sprinted through the levels!" She yells with a mad expression.
"I didn't know..." You mumble but it could be heard. "We were fighting was pretty intense." Paimon seemed to calm down after that.
"Alright... Paimon forgives you. Just don't forget or leave behind your companion, okay?" Paimon reminds. "You're not a lone wolf now that you have Paimon! And don't you forget it!"
You let out a tiny smile at that. A small yet endearing reminder that Paimon was by your side even if your siblings weren't.
"As much as I hate to interrupt this short reunion, it's been a good challenge. Especially with your fighting skills, (Y/n)." Kaeya smirks while crossing his arms.
You shift your attention back to the blue-haired man.
"That was a wonderful performance. You are, to my surprise, a well-trained knight. The battles you just fought were sights to behold. "
"Not worth complimenting, really.." You humbly reply. Something about this situation felt vaguely familiar.
"Haha, I see you already have the knightly virtue of modesty." He places his fist against his chest. "Stories of your heroic deeds to save Mondstadt from destruction shall be known throughout the City of Freedom, well into the future."
'That's quite far-fetched but thank you nontheless.' You say mentally.
"Please do visit me at our headquarters when you have the time." Kaeya cheekily adds. "With your combat skills, I'd hope you'll give me some private lessons."
Despite understanding the underlying tone of his words - you still felt confused. "Aren't you one of the Knights of Favonius? What would you learn from me that you haven't learned before?"
"She has a point, y'know." Paimon casually adds.
"That's fair. But you never know, perhaps you may have knowledge of something I'm not aware of, no?" Kaeya winks. Or blinks. You weren't really sure since he wears an eyepatch.
"Well, I'll keep that in mind." You reply. "Anyways, it seems like we've seized another temple from Stormterror's grasp."
"Yep! Two down, one more to go!" Paimon cheers.
You hum in agreement before turning back to the entrance. you look over your shoulder. "Are you coming, Kaeya?"
"You go on ahead," He turns to face you. "I can take care of the rest from here. You go take care of other things while I'm at it."
"Okay," you reply, walking back to the entrance with Paimon. "see you later!"
He sent you a tiny smile before shifting his attention back to whatever he was focused on.
However, before leaving the temple, something in your gut encouraged you to stay inside for a little while. A paranoid feeling rang in your chest that - almost - command you to stay behind.
'That can't just be it. There has to be more to it than just the air temple.' you mentally justify.
Paimon questions you but you silence her by hiding behind a wall. You take a small peek where Kaeya stood.
"There's no way hilichurls organized an ambush like this by themselves - not with their limited mental capacity..." The blue haired man crossed his arms in suspicion.
An inhumane maniacal laughter echoes within the building. Not long after that, a strange blue creature with bunny-like ears, blue robes, and white mask, appears and summons attacks against him.
"Thus, YOU were behind this." Kaeya accuses, facing the creature.
The creature began chanting incomprehensible phrases before getting absolutely blasted by a flaming strike from an unknown person.
Squinting at the familiar figure, the man had apple-red hair and dark clothing with a giant sword(?). He attacks the creature with fierce strikes and absolutely hurls it into a wall - knocking it unconscious.
The red-haired man rested his sword and stood, giving Kaeya the side-eye. "Knights of Favonius... Always so ineffecient."
Kaeya simply claps - although it felt more sarcastic than anything. "Agree to disagree. But your involvement in this made things a whole lot more interesting."
The scene finally ended, you can finally rest your shoulders from the thrill of the fight.
'I vaguely remember something like this before. Especially regarding that red-haired man.' you think. 'I should really check my cellphone to jog my awful memory.'
You took your leave and listened to Paimon's tangents as you reached the opening entrance.
You jump outside back to the grassy hills, you remember that you'll assist Lisa in the next Air Temple nearby. Continuing your venture to the next Air Temple, you recall that you need Lisa's help in charging your phone.
~~To the Next Air Temple~~
Soon after you entered the air temple with Lisa, you helped her attack the enemies whilst you observed her electrical attacks.
Surprisingly, she was able to explain a lot of things in the midst of battle - perhaps it was because she was a well-informed librarian.
Her explanations ranged from her electro attacks to Stormterror's real identity - it being one of the four winds, and real name Dvalin - she almost sounded like an encyclopedia.
You had a mini-discussion about Stormterror's motives considering it attacked the city it was supposed to protect. Lisa deduced that hatred was the driving factor for Dvalin, but she could never be sure.
'I'm guessing this has to do with one of those strange masked creatures from the previous air temple.' you recall a certain abyss mage.
Either way, after you finished beating the enemies and breaking the egg - you turn to Lisa to ask.
"By the way, Lisa, there's been something I've been meaning to ask," you start off, taking note of her eyebrow raise.
"Hmm? What is it?"
Taking a deep breath, you instinctively reach for your pocket. "You're an electro-user right? I'd like to ask for your help this one time."
You held out your dead phone for Lisa to see. Paimon lets out a small gasp - Lisa observed the item with a bewildered expression.
"May I ask what this is, first?" Lisa inquiries. "Never have I seen this before... I'm not exactly sure how to help you with this, sweetheart."
"Could you use your electro powers to recharge this thing? I need an electro-user to restore it back to its best shape. Just try to charge it please." you plead.
"...Alright, I'll see what I can do." Lisa charges up one of her attacks and stabilize it enough to touch your phone. "Though, you do owe me an explanation later."
"Okay." you reply as you and Paimon watched the electro-user power up the mobile once more.
While charging, Lisa explained some fun facts. "See, chain-lightning can be set off between electro-charged things."
A tiny zap accidentally sparked and hit Paimon in the forehead - causing her to rub the hurt area. "Ow! Paimon just got zapped!"
"Sorry about that, Paimon. You were too close in the electrical range" Lisa giggled before continuing to charge. "The electrical discharge is only a little less shocking than love at first sight."
You almost choked from laughter at that. Once a few minutes has passed with occasional jokes - Lisa informs that she must stop charging your phone or else it'll burst from power overdrive.
"Here you go, sweetie." Lisa hands over your phone after her charge. "Now, about that explanation..."
"I'll explain it to you later - after I activate this." you say reassuringly.
She gave the phone to you, it felt like it somehow warm up at least. Makes sense considering it hasn't been charged by an electro-user before.
You hit the power button and suddenly feel it vibrate as you watched carefully at the black screen. Your company stared at the item with awe and bafflement.
You waited for a few seconds until a familiar jingle pierces the silence.
*vrrt vrrt*