Summary of the previous chapter:-
Lumine had flashbacks of her horrible past in her nightmare, where she again saw Aether captured, Khanreia'ah destroyed, and of a long time ago, when she found her two best friends dead, and saw her older brother and mentor, Archer get killed by Kronos( King of Titans and enemy of the Olympians) in front of her eyes. She sees herself about to retaliate in pure fury, before Xiao stops her nightmare using his ancient adeptus art.
Xiao POV
"WHAT?!" Paimon screeched right into their ears. Lumine's eyes were distant, maybe remembering something that happened long ago? She replied quietly, "There is only one living person with whom I have such a deep connection to be able to sense his presence or aura. That only person is my brother."
Dainsleif mused, "Perhaps your brother had been here some time ago? Perhaps that could indicate why that mere dandelion held his memories." "But, if he was here some time ago, then where is he now?" "I am afraid I have no idea." Dainsleif replied quietly.
"Atleast you know that he is still alive, right?" Xiao tried to console her.
Dain said, "I do not pretend to know about your past, but it is only natural to be desperate to find one's family. However, I would suggest you do not rush. As Morax says, 'Every journey has its end.' But your's has just begun, has it not." Lumine nodded. "Hang on." Xiao interrupted. "How do you know Lord Morax says that?" "If I have traveled around Tevyat like Lumine is doing so, then isn't it natural to have met the archons too? Though I cant say I am too fond of them." Dain was quick to retort, turning his piercing, diamond shaped pupils on him. Xiao responded by crossing his arms and muttering, "Hmph." Back to old, unresponsive Xiao.
Dain turned back to Lumine. "I hope you find your kin at the end of your journey. I am afraid we must part here for now... Goodbye, and Goodluck." With that, he walked off into the distance. "Lets go back to Wangshu Inn now." Xiao suggested. "Ooooh yesss, and we will also eat loads of food, we had such a tiring day! Almond Tofu, Bamboo Shoot soup, Black Back Perch stew, and whatnot! Yummmm, Paimon's tummy is grumbling just thinking about it!"
Lumine laughed at this. Even he had the smallest, barest of smirks.
Lumine POV
Hehe, turns out she could always rely on Paimon's natural hungriness to cheer her up from sad moods. "Alright then." Xiao extended his hand, and she was confused until she remembered his teleportation thingy. So she reached out for it and grabbed Paimon with her other hand.
Once again that darkness enveloped her before she found herself in the all- too familiar balcony of Wangshu Inn. Turning to Xiao, she said, "Thank you for accompanying me today, Xiao. It was nice having a familiar face around." Turning the other way, he crossed his arms and muttered, "Think nothing of it." She couldn't help it; a small knowing smile appeared on her face. "Well, goodbye for now. I have to go supervise Paimon, or she might once again use all my savings on food." Dread grew inside her as she remembered the time that hungry ogre in pixie disguise had used up around 10000 mora, all her savings till then, to order extravagancies while she was having a well deserved late sleep. "I'll see you at night, byeee." Her last words were drowned as she practically flew down the stairs before Paimon could order anything.
Whew, just in time. Paimon was saying, "and an Adeptus's Temptation too, 5 star. Here's the mo-" "Nonono don't you dare Paimon!" She snatched her mora bag from Paimon. Smiling politely at the confused waiter, she said, "Could you please cancel everything she ordered? Instead, we'll have an Almond Tofu, and two Grilled Tiger fish, thank you, and here's the mora." She paid how much was necessary, and glared at Paimon, who also scowled at her.
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A snort of laughter escaped him as he watched Lumine and Paimon quibble over the food and mora. Lumine had literally flown down the steps to stop Paimon. But yet again, he was thankful that he was an adeptus, and didn't have to worry about these impracticalities.
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As she was roaming through Liyue, she saw Ganyu, a familiar friend of hers, talking to.... Lan? ".... audacity to go after anything. Nothing can escape their greedy eyes. But treasures of the Abyss? Something else entirely." Ganyu sighed.
"Huh" Paimon mused, looking at them. "Ganyu, what are you doing here? Do you have a commission?" Ganyu nodded and said, "Yes indeed, I have received news that some big- time Treasure Hoarders are planning a mass-scale operation on taking the treasures of the Abyss Order." Lan added. "And those treasures couldn't be anything good if they are coveted by the Abyss. So it would be potentially disastrous if it fell into their greedy hands."
"Oh hello, all of you! It's a surprise seeing you all here!" A third, familiar voice exclaimed. They turned to look at the newcomer and smiled. "Keqing!" Paimon exclaimed. "Two of the Qixing here?" Lumine said thoughtfully. Then it must be really serious. "Yes it is." Keqing agreed. Turning to Ganyu, she said, "There are three major people in the Treasure Hoarders' plan. Big Sis of the South, Raptor of the North, and the Grand Thief from Fontaine."
"Hmmm.." Ganyu mused. "The Boss, the Bird, and the Expert. Lan, do you have any good and capable candidates for this?" At this, Lan turned to Lumine, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, lemme guess. You wanna give this to us, right?" Lan said, "Yes, indeed. You are one of our best adventurers and explorers, also extremely skilled in fighting. It only makes sense that we offer this commission to you."
She had a sudden thought, and said, "Alright. I'll take it. From where do we start?"
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Two hours later found them in a really creepy old ruin, currently standing in front of some sort of bubble projecter that kept trapping her when she tried to go by. She groaned, and once again tried to sprint forward, dodging those cursed bubbles. She almost made it, before those three bubbles in a row came. She tried to press herself to the wall, trying to not get trapped, until she fell over herself. She blinked. Head over heels. Yeah, it wasn't a pretty sight.
Turns out there were these little crevices in the wall, where you could go to let the bubbles pass by. She smirked as made it forward again, avoiding the bubbles in those crevices. She also found a bunch of common chests. Not bad, she guessed.
She was now at that projecter- thingy that was producing those bubbles. She tried to go forward, but that thing was blocking her path, and it felt like there was some sort of invisible wall there. While trying to destroy that thing, she accidentally lost her foothold, dropping into the large gaping hole below. "Aaaaaaaa!" she exclaimed while trying to desperately deploy her wind glider, finally succeeding, landing on the ground a little shakily. "Are you ok!" Paimon aksed worriedly. "Yeah yeah, just a little groggy." She said dismissively. She took in the room in front of her, eyes landing on a figure kneeling on the ground.
"Uh, do you see that person, Paimon?" The pixie nodded as they cautiously made their way towards the figure. Suddenly that person in question started coughing, and they jumped back in fright. Lumine then ran towards him. He was spluttering blood. "Are you ok?"
"GO!" the man whisper-screamed, eyes wide and frenzied. "DANGER! MONSTERS!" Before he slumped forward. She looked at Paimon with large eyes. Paimon floated towards them. "L- Looks like t- that was the Grand Thief." The pixie stammered. "B- but is he dead?" Lumine cautiously bent over the man, checking for signs of life. Finally, she heavily whispered, "Yes."
Suddenly, a dark purple light flashed throughout the room. They swiveled around to see some sort of statue holding a dark orb. "But that's a-" "Statue of the Seven." Lumine finished for Paimon. Stepping closer, she observed, "And that orb is made of pure, dark, abyssal energy."
Paimon mumbled, "Uh, Paimon doesn't have a good feeling about this. Lets get out of here and report this to Ganyu and Lan." Half listening to her, she stepped even closer to the orb and statue. She was very curious about it. It almost seemed to be calling out to her, some sort of unknown summons. She was almost touching it.
The ground seemed to explode, cracks forming. She was thrown off balance. The floor started to bubble violently, reeking of the Abyss. Paimon exclaimed, "We gotta get out of here, quick!" She couldn't agree more. The abyssal energy seemed to be taking her own strength. They ran out of the room, through another set of the damn annoying bubbles, collapsing platforms and the like.
Until Paimon screamed, "AAAHHH!!! WHAT'S THAT?!"
She swiveled around to see a tall monster, dressed completely in blue, like a monster of the abyss. Of the Abyss....
She knew exactly what it was.
An Abyss Herald.
Xiao POV
He was going to kill those demons of the night, as usual. But he couldn't find Lumine... He remembered her going out that afternoon, and she hadn't returned yet. He would never admit it, but he had grown used to her being there with him, killing monsters in perfect sync. Guess he would have to do it alone.
But somewhere, in the back of his mind, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was very wrong.
(1658 words
Alright guys, forgive me, but I kept getting distracted while writing this chapter lol. And sorry, I didn't include Aether in this, since there is a whole lot of story left (The entire we will be reunited quest) But I'll do my best, and hope yall are enjoying! Toodles! ;P)