CONCLUSION OF THE FILLER QUEST, ACT I: IN THE MOUNTAINS
The night was uneventful, you shared dinner together while Diluc was going to insist that he keep watch but you managed to convince him to get some sleep. You also ended up putting Paimon to sleep with some random story you've thought of and she did end up falling asleep. Aether also ended up falling asleep listening to the story, leaving you alone to be awake.
Or rather, you can't sleep. You placed the warming bottle next to them to make sure they don't freeze to death while you could only stare at the campfire as your source of entertainment. "Why haven't you slept right now?" A voice that you are truly familiar with asked you before taking a seat next to you.
"Is it any of your business if I sleep or not, Orochi? And why do you take the form of... Albedo?" You asked not expecting him to take the form of him.
"I don't want to but you keep thinking of the bloody alchemist, hence this." It felt weird listening to Sukuna's voice coming from Albedo's body but whatever. Seeing Albedo's face is quite calming so you do prefer this but the voice had to stay or else you are going to confuse yourself halfway. "Something bothering you while I was gone?" He asked which cause you to shoot a confused look.
"You were gone? Where the hell did you go?" He nodded before poking the fire with some random stick that he had in his hand.
"Checking up your buddies, Osial, Corazon, and Astra, nothing much." He shrugged as you frowned. You would like to see them once more but well, it's not possible right now. You let out a sigh as you could feel Orochi just looking at you. "Now, tell me what's bothering you. It's fair for me to know."
You just tried to shift the image of seeing Albedo and started to think of Orochi's original appearance since it's going to be more distracting seeing his beautiful teal eyes and fluffy hair. He did change his appearance except that, missing the tattoos because you can't recall them quite clearly. "Yeah, about that... I'm getting an ominous feeling of somebody's watching me lately. They have very odd intentions in following me. Even till now... I can't tell by these auras whether they are good or bad." You whispered to him, worried that these stalkers of yours might overhear you.
It wasn't a lie that to this point, you felt 2 pairs of eyes watching you with both different reasoning and you don't even know what is it. Orochi looked around for a moment before he looked back at the fire. "I can feel a faint presence of one but not the other one. I wouldn't worry about the first one, if anything he's rather harmless." He stated as you frowned.
"But this is super uncomfortable to feel being watched..." You shot a glare to him, hoping he could at least take care of the stalker.
"If I could I would but right now, you and I are weak to go against whoever. It is best we just leave them be. Speaking of which, I wanted to explain to you about your power and since the chain of this power is slowly loosen, you should learn to control it," he said, standing up while doing some stretches.
You gave him a puzzled look. "Wait what? Huh? What do you mean I have another power? I thought I could only control seven elements?" You asked before he shook his head.
"No, that's only a bonus. You held power far more powerful and your existence itself relied on this element." He said which made you raise your eyebrows, wondering what element could you possibly have. "Y/N Villareal, you do remember you used to rule Khaenri'ah right?" Orochi asked as you nodded. You did read your past journal on that matter. "You know how the people ended up and they turned Abyssal monsters were because of you. They could've passed away peacefully but your power wouldn't allow them."
You were a bit shocked, it was because of... you? This was so different from the game, so this... had to be an indication that the game storylines you knew will immediately change. "Wait... after the downfall of Khaenri'ah, I ruled the Abyss and the only reason I can exist here is because of that?" Orochi nodded.
"Ancient Gods, Hilichurl and Abyss Mage carried the Abyssal energy. When you lost control, this abyss side took over for a moment before I interfered with this side by taking a charge of your body. I wasn't sure who put that inside you but back before I was unrestrained, this thing was never active. So once this power is fully active, you'll hear a couple more voices than just mine in your head." You frowned at the idea there were going to be more and more voices occupying your head.
Though, if what Orochi told you was true... You might as well go a bit more aggressive on the story and make sure the story ended the way you want. "Alright... but how do I even take control of this power?" You asked as Orochi thought for a moment.
"When we reached Inazuma, you should test them on those samurai people. For now, try not to make any contact with Abyss as necessary. Even though you were supposed to be there for Aether during that specific Archon quest, you should avoid it as much as possible and maybe leave it up to him." You sighed and what reason should you even use to tell him that you can't go with him.
While you two had your own conversation, the two stalkers that you had taken notice of are now encountering each other both with malicious intentions towards each other. "Haha, I didn't expect to see you again, Adriel."
"Go to hell." Adriel frowned at him as he let out a laugh.
"You forgot that your curse doesn't work on me. I can't simply die right here and now even if you wanted to." The guy laughed before Adriel took out his weapon.
"Just leave my brother alone, Pierro." The guy gave a smirk to him.
"Depends on who will win. Though I doubt I lose anyway." He said before Adriel began to rush towards him.
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The Next Day...
You opened your eyes, wondering when did you fell asleep, realizing you were the first one to wake up while you were being wrapped in a blanket. You watched the campfire seems to have been put out and there's no more firewood for you to use which made you let out a sigh. You went through your inventory remembering you had collected a few blocks of wood beforehand because you wanted to be ready for the teapot that you'll get later.
You took one wood out before you cut them into small pieces before you stack them nicely and light them up with your Pyro magic. Since it's morning you should make breakfast for them but... as much as you are craving some chicken curry with rice, you had run low on stock in terms of rice.
You should've visited Liyue beforehand to buy some more rice. You wondered if you should cook Adeptus' Temptation since there's a food buff and also it's tasty. You could cook up some noodles to eat alongside the Adeptus' Temptation because drinking only soup and stew is a nightmare for you.
Since you've known what to prepare, you immediately cook up the food which of course wakes Paimon up the moment you started to cook the Adeptus' Temptation. She was still half-asleep since she only smell the food as she slowly floated next to you. "Mm... Food." Her tiny hand reached for the pot before you stopped her.
"Wait, it's not finished. Go brush yourself up or something." You said as Paimon hummed and floats somewhere. Slowly Aether and Diluc started to wake up and greeted you morning. You served them breakfast that you had cooked for them. After finishing eating, you guys began to set foot at the peak of the mountains.
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You guys had reached the summit of Dragonspine and there you saw a giant pillar. "Look, a giant pillar! What could it be for?" If only you remember what they were for, you could've answered her questions. "Up there, aren't those the shards we unfroze? So is this pillar where they came from...?" She asked as you hummed.
"Seems likely." You answered.
"Looks like they froze again... Brr, this climate really isn't Paimon-friendly..." Paimon shivered from the coldness. " ...But we've got no choice. Let's go unfreeze them again." She said as you looked at Diluc and Aether.
"Do the two of you know how to use a bow? I have an extra bow if you need one." You stated, taking out another bow which was another Slingshot that you happened to encounter inside a chest. Sooner or later, you could ask Wagner or Master Zhang to make you some 4-star weapons.
Diluc frowned a little as he shook his head. "I know how to use one," Aether answered as you smiled.
"Well, it's fine. Aether, you helped me destroy the first shard, the Scarlet Quartz should be around the inactive Ruin Guard and after that, you should try and aim for the shard above. It'll save time than trying to climb. Diluc, you'll follow me because I have a... feeling there's something waiting for us." You said as he took out his weapon before you headed up to the slope and turn north to see there's a huge Lawarchurl waiting for you.
You and Diluc exchanged looks with each other as Diluc began to rush in to fight the Lawachurl while you put a shield on you and him before switching your weapon to a sword. You saw the Cryo Hilichurls begin to spawn so you decided to pull a Kazuha move on them to group them up before tossing them down from the mountains while Diluc already finished taking out the Lawachurl which made you surprised.
You broke the Scarlet Quartz next to the chest before going back to where you were before and aimed for the second one. You went back to claim for the chest to see there are only some 1-star artifacts and... a rotten fowl. "Better than nothing," Diluc said but you were utterly disappointed.
You let out a sigh and threw the fowl away. "Why would anyone put a fowl in a chest? Anyways, we should follow this Seelie. It should lead us somewhere important." You said as the Seelie floated next to you, waiting to be followed.
"Alright, let's head there then," Diluc stated, following you from behind making sure of your safety.
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After arriving at the place where the Seelie led you and defeating the hilichurls, you destroyed the Scarlet Quartz before you shared a glance to DIluc and pulled out your glider and glide to activate 2 orbs before shooting the third one before activating the last one.
The ice shards began to thaw which cause the pillar to float before Diluc looked at the ground. "Huh... There's a ruin beneath it. We should check it out." Diluc stated before you two glided down and landed next to Aether and Paimon who were checking out the place to only see a luxurious chest, a precious chest, and an exquisite chest.
"Seems like there's nothing else here... Y/N, do you want to discover this ruin right now or, are we going somewhere else?" Paimon asked as you only activated the Domain just so you could conveniently travel back here before turning to her.
"Nope... I was going to plan on finding a ruin but I think I shall save that for another day. We should return back to Mondstadt instead because I simply felt a bit tired doing this whole thing to reach the summit." You said, unable to control the shivers that are getting under your skin. You turned to Diluc with a soft smile before asking him, "Can I... ask for your help later in the future?"
"Sure, being on an adventure with you had brought some interesting information about Dragonspine that I didn't know before," Diluc stated before you guys made your way back to Mondstadt after all the climbing.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author Note:
My brain just fried writing this man. I had a good idea first half but well, this is what I got. I really do hope you enjoy the chapter and have some pictures that I took some time ago that I hope could brighten your day.