I'm baaaack!!! I... missed Tuesday!! ...I'll be talking more about this in the end note, for now just enjoy this chapter!Also someone mentioned that the link to the discord server was not available anymore, so I made a permanent one:
https://discord.gg/z3NfQGwnjQ
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Aether never knew a city like Mondstadt could get this cold, this lonely.
No one could be seen walking outside, enjoying the warmth of the sun or the fresh breeze. Not a single Mondstadtien had his windows opened or his clothes drying outside.
And the wind... the wind was nothing like what Aether was used to. It wasn't gentle anymore, but harsh and violent.
The last time he had seen Venti... properly seen Venti, the God had bid him goodbye and wished him safe travels to Liyue. He had went there, left Mondstadt without having the slightest idea of what would happen.
In Liyue, he had met the adepti, had been told that all the archons were out of their nations for some time, and although that had raised some questions, they never revealed where they went or for what reason. So Aether came to the conclusion that he would have to wait in Liyue for the return of the Geo Archon before he could continue his journey.
Aether could never describe the horror that had went through him when Paimon had first made him notice that Celestia was moving towards Mondstadt. Aether knew Venti had something against Celestia, even if he didn't know to what extent it went. But seeing the castle heading to his friend's nation had made him extremely worried.
So he ordered for Paimon to stay in Liyue. Even if he would never tell her that, he had been scared she would make him slower. He knew the situation was extremely serious, he also knew he couldn't afford to lose time. Paimon had argued, had been curious as to why she was to stay in Liyue, but Aether's mind was made.
So Paimon stayed, and Aether rushed to Mondstadt, teleported to the waypoint at the top of the Knights of Favonius' headquarters. What he had seen... What he had seen was something he wished he would never get to see again.
Mondstadt had been windy, cold, had been devoided of the warmth it usually had. Mondstadt had just been a shell of what it usually was. And that terrified Aether. He knew just how much Venti liked Mondstadt, just how much he cared for his nation. He also knew that the wind depended on his emotions. So the fact that Mondstadt was in that state... it sent a chill running down his spine.
He could tell something had happened, something bad.
He had searched for the bard, nowhere to be found. It only served to make him worry even more. He had asked Diluc; Venti hadn't been in the tavern for a while, which set Aether off. It was more than strange, and this only served to confirm to him that something had happened.
Next, he had asked Jean. She had said... she had said that Venti had talked to her, had asked of her to take care of Mondstadt while he was gone.
While he was gone.
Aether didn't like that sentence. Venti went away, that much was clear, but where? Why?
Aether never managed to sleep that night. He had stayed awake, had made it his personal duty to find Venti, to protect the city as long as the Archon was nowhere to be seen.
So imagine his surprise when, in the middle of the night, he spotted in the darkness six figures he could barely distinguish running out of the city. And so he followed them, he followed them all the way to Cape Oath, where he was sure his blood ran cold, his heart beating faster than it ever was as memories of the past came forth, showing him sceneries of when he first woke up in that world, Lumine by his side.
And when they were all taken to archons knew where, Aether had jumped with them, hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to get out of there.
And here he was now, heading back to Mondstadt. When in Celestia, Aether had no access to the teleport waypoints. Having explored Enkanomiya a bit, he did manage to unlock some...
Aether was only glad they had a way to return there, now that the key that was in Makoto's possession was taken from them. They... had no way of returning back to Celestia, but at least they had a quick way all around Mondstadt, Liyue and Enkanomiya, and for that much he was grateful.
"What..." mumbled Rukkhadevata.
As they made it back to Mondstadt, minutes after they left the castle, it was only to found a wind barrier raised around the city. It reminded Aether terribly of the way Stormterror's lair used to look like before they got rid of all the wind.
It could only be Venti's doing.
"How are we supposed to get in?" asked Makoto, with a slight tremor in her voice.
"I have an idea," he said.
Aether hadn't revealed to the archons he could teleport, but if there was a moment to do so, then it would be now. The wind barrier was so dense they wouldn't be able to go through without getting cut and torn to pieces by the strong, howling winds.
But there was two teleport waypoints in Mondstadt city.
One higher than the other. Aether would rather they use the lower one, least they get spotted more easily with the one on top of the headquarter. Laying low until they found Venti would be the best course of action.
"Everyone just, hold each other," he instructed as he himself put a hand on Morax' shoulder.
Aether waited for everyone to have a hold of someone before he closed his eyes, visualizing the waypoint he wanted to teleport to. The one just above the central place, somewhere they could infiltrate the city without risking to be immediately noticed by Venti.
Unless the Archon had some sort of sensing when people entered his territory. Aether hoped not.
Aether felt the familiar sensation of being pulled, he embraced it. He was far too used to it to be bothered by the squishy feeling by now. He only opened his eyes when he felt his feet touch solid ground, looking besides him and making sure everyone had landed besides him; they all had varying degrees of shock, and some were nauseous. Aether could perfectly understand that feeling, it did the same thing to him the first few times.
"Where... are we? What is happening?"
Aether turned abruptly in the direction of the Cryo Archon as she looked at them, seeming more confused than ever. "And who are you?" she continued as she looked straight at Aether, her brows furrowing.
What did that mean? Had she mysteriously had her memories erased? What the hell happened in those few seconds...?
"Tsaritsa, what do you mean?" asked Morax carefully.
"Morax?" the Tsaritsa took a few steps back, looking at all of them now with extreme confusion on her face. From where he stood, Aether could see the gears turning in her head. It didn't make any sense, why would she be so lost?
"Tsaritsa, where do you think we are right now?" asked Rukkhadevata, looking cautiously at the Cryo Archon.
She looked around herself, stayed silent for a few seconds, before her frown deepened. "Why are we in Mondstadt?"
Aether's eyes widened. He feared he was starting to understand what was happening, and he didn't like it one bit.
Without warning, he materialized his sword just as Murata did, the both of them brandishing their weapons in the Archon's direction while her own eyes widened and she backed off a bit more, only to be met with Focalors who was glaring down at her from behind.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and Aether started to understand.
"Who are you?" asked Morax coldly.
The Tsaritsa laughed nervously. "What do you mean? Don't you recognize me?"
Rukkhadevata snorted. "Are you a Shade in disguise?"
The Cryo Archon's eyes widened even more. "Why would you think-?"
"Don't play dumb with us," snapped Focalors. "We don't have time for this."
The Cryo Archon closed her eyes, placing her hands in front of her chest. Aether's jaw clenched as her hands glowed, readying himself for an attack.
Damn it, they didn't have time for that!
Instead, what they saw made him loosen his grip on his weapon.
What they saw shouldn't have been with the imposter, because that object was supposed to be firmly tucked in Enkanomiya, safe with The God of Time.
But here it was, glowing in the Cryo Archon's hands. A chess piece.
The Tsaritsa's gnosis.
But how-?
Notes began to play.
Somber notes, on a lyre, not far from them.
Aether felt his heart leap in his throat as his head swiveled in the direction of Mondstadt's statue.
He looked back at the Tsaritsa, shared a look with the other archons, before deciding they would come back to this later. For now, their priority was Venti.
Aether ran in the direction of the music, knowing he was followed by the others. If the Tsaritsa had her gnosis, then she couldn't be an imposter. Istaroth had confirmed to them that the Shades didn't have access to Enkanomiya, and gnosis just couldn't be copied. So as far as they knew, this was the Tsaritsa.
As for the mystery of what had happened, they would have to figure this out later. For now, they at the very least knew she wouldn't suddenly turn against them, or else she would have done so a while ago.
Aether couldn't help but think that maybe she hadn't given her gnosis to Istaroth, or maybe she had just taken it back. He couldn't help but think that maybe this was the reason they had so easily been spotted by the Shades.
But on the other hand, her concern for Venti had been so genuine, and he didn't want to believe she was betraying them. So he resolved that there must be an explanation, an explanation they would go through later because for now, they had to save Venti.
What he saw when he finally arrived in front of the statue wasn't something he wanted to remember. Here he was, the Anemo Archon, sitting on the hands of his statue in his Archon form, hoodie half covering his hair.
His purple hair. He was glowing a sick purple instead of the ethereal blue Aether had gotten used to.
His eyes were closed as he hummed, and he seemed so serene.
The Tsaritsa gasped, Aether decided to ignore it, his eyes couldn't get off of Venti no matter how much he wanted to. He seemed transfixed to him. It was maddening.
What the hell did they do to you...?
The Anemo Archon opened his mouth.
"Drown out the sound of a budding wish with your cries,
There is no hope left,
Despair is our only savior,
The light that is gone will shine no more,
Alas! It shines no more..."
Aether had to shield his eyes from the sudden way the winds were picking up, dancing around them, responding to the Archon's voice.
"No way..." he heard Morax whisper. "The song that Istaroth was humming..."
Although Aether didn't understand what he was talking about, Tsaritsa's answer was enough for him to get the gist of it.
"Barbatos' is destructive, full of anguish, so different from the one I heard at that meeting." She paused. "He must have changed the words of the original song..."
"If everything is an illusion, then everything will disappear,
The true state of the world, returning to nothingness...
If everything is destiny, then everything shall disappear,
Life was created to be guided to a world that ceases to exist."
Aether felt tears come to his eyes, both from the sheer intensity of the wind against his face, and from the song.
Even after the God had finished, the winds didn't seem to calm down. If anything, Barbatos let go of his lire, fingers dancing with the wind, eyes still closed as he took in a deep breath, smile playing on his lips, seeming to enjoy the ruckus around him.
"It seems," he spoke, voice carrying out in the wind, echoing around them, "that we have visitors."
Aether shivered as he watched Venti get up, opening his eyes and staring at them.
Even his eyes... even his eyes had lost the color they once had. Aether hated that new color, he found it didn't suit the gentle God.
He was destroying Mondstadt, he was bringing harm to his people, he was taking away their freedom, this was everything the Barbatos Aether knew resented, it was going against his beliefs, against everything he had ever fought for.
"In formation!" he heard Morax scream, voice muffled by the wind.
Venti's eyebrow raised an eyebrow as he flew down, amused, not landing on the ground, floating slightly above them.
Even if he knew Morax couldn't see him, Aether still nodded, running to the left.
They never had the occasion to practice a certain fighting style, but Aether guessed anything would be fine, as long as they managed to take Venti down without hurting him. In preference with the less damage possible, but Aether didn't know how likely that would be. He figured he would help in Mondstadt's reconstruction if major damage was to be done.
Aether felt more than he saw the shield form around his body as he readied his sword. Aether was suddenly glad he had gone to Liyue before discovering about the situation, because now that he had gotten blessing from the Geo statue of the Seven, he could use that element instead of Anemo against the Anemo Archon.
Slamming his feet to the ground, he saw as a line of geo spikes formed, rising from the ground and heading to the Archon.
I'm sorry Venti, but we have to do this.
Aether felt immensely guilty for attacking his friend, but he also knew he and the others had no choice.
Venti raised an arm in the direction of the sparks, seeming unbothered by it, destroying them with a flick of his wrist.
At the same time, Rukkhadevata sent vines, made even more powerful by the combination of her Dendro and Makoto's wave of Electro. Venti simply moved back, raising a wind barrier to block them, sending another wave towards Murata who had to shield her eyes, sliding away slightly due to the force of the wind.
Morax raised simultaneously pillars on Venti's right and left while the Archon watched with confusion.
Aether took the opportunity to run in his direction, slamming his feet to the ground once more and resonating with the Geo structures posed by the Geo Archon, creative a wave that had Venti back away, raising a wind barrier around him, growing it until it exploded, taking with it the Geo structures.
"Tsaritsa! With me!" he heard Focalors scream as she raised the water that was besides Venti, at the base of his statue. The Archon saw that coming, so he backed away, only for his feet to be trapped in ice that Tsaritsa materialized. Focalors took that opportunity to send the water at Venti while he was occupied with destroying the ice that held him in place, forming a bubble that exploded against Venti, wetting his wings.
Normally, wet wings wouldn't be enough to block him, but just as he raised his hand to get rid of the water that would make his movements sloppy, Tsaritsa sent a wave of ice, freezing them and rendering him incapable of flying.
"Sorry, Barbatos, but I had no other choice!" she apologized as Venti fell on the ground, groaning.
Aether winced.
"Let me-!" Rukkhadevata said as she sent a wave of Dendro energy, creating little blooms.
Venti saw Murata send a beam of Pyro of her own to make them explode as he quickly got back on his feet. sending a big Anemo wave and dispersing the blooms in their direction, exploding on them.
Morax raised another shield when the current one got down after the explosions, wincing and putting more pillars around Barbatos who materialized arrows full of Anemo energy that soared towards them, aided by the wind and so sharp they seemed to cut the air, a small bunch directed towards each one of them.
Aether's eyes narrowed as he jumped from a side to another. It was getting harder and harder to see in front of him, the wind becoming denser and denser.
They had to find a way to stop him and quick, before the situation got any worse.
He should have known his luck would run out soon enough.
As he got distracted, an arrow pierced through the shield, breaking it and lodging itself in his shoulder, making him cry out and fall on his knee as he gritted his teeth. His scream alerted the Archon who took the opportunity to send a wave of Anemo his way, a way he couldn't avoid in time. So it hit Aether, sending him crashing against the nearest wall.
Shit-! It hurt!
"Traveler!"
"Go go Baron Bunny!"
Aether raised his head so fast his vision swirled. No way, there was actually no way-
"Barbara! I told you not to come!"
"But I had to Master Jean!" a beat. "Are you alright, traveler? Silly me- of course you aren't. I'll-I'll heal you!"
Aether registered his pain getting better as the healer did her job on him. "Barbara...?"
Once his vision got better and he was able to look without the world turning, he noticed that the archons weren't the only ones fighting anymore.
Jean, Mona, Kaeya, Noelle, Diluc... even Bennett and Lisa were there... And Sucrose...!
But it was dangerous, Aether didn't want them to get hurt! They were going on a fight against an Archon!
"All healed," Barbara told him. Aether immediately got back up, thanking her.
"Please, stay here and heal the wounded," he said before he rushed back into battle.
He knew that no matter what he said, he wouldn't be able to make them stop fighting, so he at least wanted them to get healed as soon as the would get hurt.
"Morax! Your shield!" he screamed, getting the attention of the Geo Archon who was already activating new shields around the newcomers.
"Damn you Venti, I knew this would be a bad idea!" He heard Kaeya scream as the knight sent Cryo shards to the Archon, Electro-charging them with the help of Lisa, shards Venti deflected with a wave of his own.
From where he stood, Aether could see Venti was struggling to fight them all at once. It was only natural.
"Here! I'm going in!" Bennett materialized a Pyro circle, big enough to fit multiple people. Amber stood on it, firing an arrow at Venti, arrow overloaded by Makoto.
"Written in the stars!
"Burn!"
Aether glanced at Focalors, waited until she looked at him, and nodded his head.
Going from the left, and watching her go from the right, they made their way behind Barbatos, who was too focused on the others to notice them. Aether slammed his foot to the ground once more, sending another wave of rocks embedded with Geo at Venti's way.
The Archon sensed them coming, quickly turning around and destroying them. He was fast enough to destroy his rocks, but not fast enough to avoid the bubble Focalors materialized, sending it Venti's way and trapping him in it.
With guilt swelling up inside him, Aether watched as Vent struggled against the bubble, generating wind to destroy it. Before he had the chance to do so, Rukkhadevata sent a wave of Dendro, mixing it with the bubble, creating another batch of blooms.
Lisa saw that opportunity for what it was and generated the hyperbloom reaction, making the cores explode with the bubble, Venti still inside it.
Aether watched him silently scream with a heavy heart, before he dropped on the ground, motionless, unconscious.
Aether struggled to catch his breath, watching as the winds slowly died down around them. And although the sky was still obscured, and the city was still blocked by the wind barrier, at least the worst of it had passed.
"Lord Barbatos...?" murmured Jean, hesitant to approach him. Diluc placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. It was safest for now to not get too close.
The next step to take now was return to Enkanomiya.
"Kaeya, are you okay...?" he heard Amber gently ask.
The knight was staring at Venti with a strange expression on his face, and Aether didn't know what to say. He wondered not for the first time just what exactly happened while he was gone.
"You...!" Focalors said, pointing a finger at Kaeya, the latter just looking back at her with a straight face. "You were the one he was talking to that night," she said.
Kaeya's brow twitched.
"You knew about this?!" she screamed.
"Focalors!" Makoto reprimanded her.
"Kaeya?" asked Aether.
"What if I did?" he simply said.
Aether's eyes widened. Kaeya knew about what now? He didn't understand a single thing of what was going on, and it annoyed him more than he wanted to admit.
"We should return to Enkanomiya," suggested Rukkhadevata.
Aether cast a look at The Tsaritsa who was looking at Barbatos, seeming to be the only Archon as confused as Aether was. Right, they still had to figure out what the hell happened to her. They would do that with Istaroth, now they had to go back to her and hopefully get to save Venti from that damn corruption.
Even if he would never voice it out loud, in the end he was glad the others had joined the fight. With that many fighting against Barbatos, he was bound to take a hit sooner or later.
And Aether was glad that a corrupted Venti didn't mean a Venti turned into a Shade. Or at least, that's not what seemed to have happened. That was also something they had to figure out.
It was infuriating, how many little things they had answers to, and how much things were still left to be figured out.
"Right, let's go," he responded to Rukkhadevata.
"Traveler?" Barbara called out to him. "Will Lord Barbatos be okay?"
Aether smiled. He promised he would save Venti, didn't he?
"He will," he said with conviction.
"Wait! Mister Honorary Knight!"
A small girl came running in their direction, her mother right behind her, calling out to her. The girl didn't stop until she was right beside Venti. She looked at him, got on her knees as her mother reached her. The girl simply hastily kissed Venti's head.
"Get well soon, Lord Barbatos," she whispered.
Then, she hurriedly got up and handed Aether a Cecilia.
"Here! Please give this to him from me!"
Aether smiled gently, ignoring the way his eyes were getting wet. He took the girl's hands and closed them, returning back her flower. "What about you give it yourself to him once he feels better?"
The girl looked at him for a moment, before a smile broke out on her face. "I will!"
Aether's smile only got more genuine. If only Venti could see how much his people liked him...
Morax reached out and picked Venti up, before they each got hold of each other and Aether closed his eyes, ready to take the archons and himself back to Enkanomiya.
With Venti, this time.
"Kaeya, wait!" he heard someone scream before his vision swirled once more, and he teleported them to Enkanomiya.
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First: this chapter was supposed to be longer, but I came to the realization that this was a perfect chapter ending :p
Second: as you guys know, I talked to you already about me skipping chapters and going on a break. Well, I noticed that I'm struggling to keep up the pace, and I don't have time anymore. So sadly, this is the last chapter I'll be posting for a while... I might post once every two weeks, every three weeks... I might not post at all until March ends, I will be starting my break next week.
In all cases, if I really end up not posting at all, please keep in mind that I did not abandon this fic, I just don't have any other choice but to put it on hold.
To keep you looking forward to April: I will fully be back a Friday, on April 7th.
PS: this is the song Barbatos was singing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0tFbRDAjM8
I'll miss you a lot in the meantime, I love you all so much!
See you next time!
(It's sad to put next time instead of Tuesday...)