"AHAHA! So, I said-"
"Uhm... Venti." Bennett interrupted the drunk bard, "I think you've had a tad more dandelion wine than you should have..."
"That grumpy guy isn't here today, don't worry!" The drunk man laughed, patting the adventurer's back roughly.
"Yeah, hehe..." The boy said awkwardly.
"Anyway, uh... do you think that your uh... dragon would be back now..?"
"Shhhh, not so loud!" Venti shushed, standing up and swaying about.
"Ehe~ I'd forgotten all about that! Well, let's head off then."
Bennett's eyes gleamed and he quickly stood up, glad to finally be able to start his journey towards finding his friend.
"Jeez, you humans can be so troublesome.." Muttered the bard as he made his way out out the Mondstatian gates.
Bennett followed close behind, making sure that the drunk man did not trip in his path, ending up tripping instead of him.
They finally approached a cliff, and Venti stopped in his tracks.
He took out his lyre and started playing a sweet tune, catching Bennett by surprise. It was rather strange, really, and if he hadn't known the bard beforehand, he probably wouldn't have trusted him to take him to his friend.
Soon enough, a gigantic blue dragon soared through the sky and landed on the grass a few feet away from Venti and Bennett.
"Woah..." exclaimed the boy.
"Well, here's your ride." Beamed the short man with braided hair as he patted the dragon's head.
"Ah, thanks Venti! I'll be sure to pay you back with a bottle of dandelion wine once I get back." Smiled Bennett as he climbed onto Dvalin's back, trying his best not to slip.
"Now we're talking!" Laughed Venti as he stepped away from them.
The dragon took off, and Bennett subconsciously hugged the creature to keep himself from falling off.
He was off to another adventure, but he surely wasn't expecting what would be transpiring within the next few days.
- ◇ -
Around a quarter of an hour later, Bennett could just about catch a glimpse of what looked like a sandy island. Little by little, more islands came into view, and Dvalin had started flying down closer to the ground.
Suddenly, Bennett spotted a lot of mist gathered in one place.
"Hey, uh... Dvalin... could you drop me off there?" He shouted his request at the dragon, hoping it would hear him.
At first, no response came, but soon they were swooping down at incredible speed towards the island.
"Woaaah!" Yelled the adventurer, clinging tightly to the dragon as they spiralled down.
They landed abruptly onto a small, rocky slope, sending the boy flying off Dvalin's back and onto the ground.
"Ow..." He groaned, rubbing the back of his head. He'd gone dizzy for a moment and struggled to stand up. The dragon pushed him back up with its head and grunted.
"Oh, uh... thanks buddy!" The bright boy smiled at the creature and patted its big head. Dvalin let the boy pet him before backing away and soaring back up into the sky.
Bennett shielded himself from the wind, to no avail as he was sent thumbling back onto the sand anyway.
But he quickly stood up, ignoring his scraped knees and elbows, and set off to investigate the strange mist as his first step towards finding Razor.
From beyond the mist emerged two figures.
"You keep melting my bridge! How are we ever going to make it to the next island like this..?" Complained Kaeya.
"Hmph! It's your fault that you can't freeze water as fast as I melt it!" Snapped Diluc.
"My fault-... if only you had a geo vision, we would be there already by now..."
"Uhm... excuse me.." Interrupted Bennett.
The men snapped their heads in his direction with their annoyed expressions.
Bennett yelped "Uh.. s-sorry! I just saw a mist and had to investigate..."
"Oh, Bennett!" Exclaimed Kaeya, immediately shifting expressions. He approached the boy and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about that. Anyway, what brings you here?"
"Well, I'm looking for my friend, Razor." The blonde boy said, playing with his fingers.
"Razor? We're also looking for him. He jumped off the dragon while we were still in the air-"
"wHAT?!" Bennett cut him off.
'Razor jumped off Dvalin?! That means... no... I mustn't think like that! I will find him, and he'll be okay..!' The boy thought.
Then he stormed off, leaving the confused Kaeya and stubborn Diluc behind.
Bennett looked around frantically. Where was Razor? Could he have landed in the ocean? Did he even know how to swim?
The young adventurer climbed the nearest mountain, almost forgetting to watch his stamina. When he reached the top, his arms and legs ached more than ever, and his energy was more or less completely drained.
But what he saw in the distance gave him back his energy. A boy with long, grey hair and a brown hood sat on an island at the centre of the ocean.
"Razor..?!"
-- ◇ ◇ ◇ --