Hello hello! Guess who's back with a new chapter? ;)
Thank you so much for all the feedback and replies I've gotten so far! I really like reading every single one of them, even if I don't always reply!
I've been very busy, as I'm sure you can tell, but I am determined to finish this fanfic no matter what, so here we are!
With this, we start a new arc, arc 6 "The Sacrifice".
This arc is very very short, it's only this chapter, so in chapter 22 we will be starting arc 7, which should last for about two chapters! (Arc 8 is bigger, though. Hehe.)
Enjoy!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Venti couldn't remember a time where he felt this ready. Ready... ready to sacrifice himself to save his home. Ready to say goodbye to the people he loved, all for the greater good. He knew where Istaroth was, he knew where he would find her. He made his way to the center of the Dainichi Mikoshi without trouble but with a heavy heart.
He was making the good decision; he was certain he was. Venti was convinced. Or, well, partially convinced, at least. He was doing what felt right, at least. Was his life really worth all the others that could be lost if he didn't fight against Celestia? Was life really worth living if his people disappeared? All killed because Venti did not want to face death?
No. It never was, and it never will be. Venti will walk to his end with a smile, knowing what he was doing was for a good cause. Mondstadt was about to lose its Archon very soon, but they would get another one.
They might not, who knew? Really, if Istaroth succeeded in defeating Celestia... Venti, the other archons, Mondstadt... none of them would have to worry about a nation without an Archon anymore. It would not be an issue anymore. The only one who seemed to have an issue with this would be long dead, eliminated forever.
Venti only wanted for Mondstadt to prosper, after all. That was all he ever cared for since the moment he became the Anemo Archon.
He knew Istaroth sensed his presence before he even entered the chamber she was calmly standing in. Back facing him, she didn't turn around immediately, but the way she raised her head indicated clearly that she acknowledged his presence. Venti waited for her to say the first words, silence reigning around them.
Finally, she turned around, locking her gaze with his, an appreciative look in her eyes.
Venti could not help but yearn for her approval, even after all this time.
He felt ridiculous.
He really couldn't help it.
"I knew you would come around."
Venti blinked. "What do you want me to do exactly?"
There was no need for him to explain what he was talking about, he was sure she knew already. Hard not to, if he was to be honest. After all, the whole purpose of Venti's presence in Enkanomiya was the execution of this plan Istaroth had. Or so it seems, at least. Venti felt the need to note that if the reason where to be something else, then the plan was very poorly executed.
He stayed silent.
Istaroth merely closed her eyes, unbothered by his cold response, a slow smile creeping its way to her face. Venti didn't know she was capable of smiling. He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or to cry.
Probably both.
"Do they know?"
Venti wanted to know, he needed to know. At this point, he couldn't even try to pretend like it didn't bother him, the others being in the known, bringing him to Enkanomiya knowing very well what fate had for Venti there. Did the traveler know? Did the archons know?
Once more, Venti didn't need to explain exactly who it was he was asking about. Istaroth knew very well.
Only for the better, Venti thought.
"No."
"None of them?"
"None."
"Not even Aether?"
"Not even Aether."
There it was, the words of reassurance he had been waiting for. A weight he didn't know was there lifted off of Venti's shoulder, and he exhaled shakily, nodding briefly.
No. They didn't know. The archons were as clueless as Venti had been before coming to Enkanomiya. Aether didn't know, either. He hadn't betrayed Venti, hadn't acted simply because he believed bringing Venti to his doom was the best thing to do.
Venti knew very well he would die. By now, there was no denying it anymore, there was no turning back. He had confirmed to Istaroth he would do it, so he will. But having thought Aether had known all along, had deliberately brought him to Enkanomiya knowing what would happen to Venti...
The Anemo Archon felt relieved. Extremely so. By bringing him here, Aether had only wanted to help. His intentions had been pure, and he didn't have a single idea that something big, bigger than any of them could have expected, was happening behind their back.
There was nothing worse than a betrayal from a friend, from someone you thought you trusted only to find out that you were only fueled with lies. Nothing but words that had no real meanings behind them.
Venti could have almost expected this from the archons, those who turned on him as soon as they had the opportunity to. They never cared for Venti, never bothered to see beneath the surface, never bothered to dig deeper than what Venti showed them.
And in the end, they had never cared for him. Not truly.
On the other end, the traveler had been there for him when Venti's only company had been Dvalin and the wind. Perhaps Andrius could be counted as well... However, Venti never actively seeked out Andrius in his moments of loneliness. So really, Venti wasn't sure if the spirit of the wolf counted.
And here he was, learning that the traveler never meant for Venti to end this way...
Well, now that he had the confirmation that none of them knew about Venti's fate, the Archon would keep it for himself. This was a secret that should be kept strictly between Istaroth and him. Only when he deemed it necessary would he inform the others.
He ignored as best as he could the part of his brain that told him some of them had a right to know, some of them should have time to mourn him before his death even happened, should have time to spend with him. But it was useless.
Venti knew very well that if he opened his mouth, told anyone about this, he might be swayed into changing his mind. And really, what did that say about his convictions?
No, Venti won't be foolish, won't be selfish, refused to even indulge in the thought that someone might convince him he was not doing the right thing. This would put him in an even more complicated situation. This would mean that he would be observed constantly, he wouldn't be able to sneak out if he ever decided that sacrificing himself was the only option.
(It was, but who knew what the others might say to prevent him from dying?)
If Venti were to tell anyone, he would have to sit through hours of people looking at him with pity and guilt in their eyes when they had nothing to feel guilty for, when they couldn't do anything to prevent the inevitable from happening.
Venti would never survive being supervised, being followed, being lectured on how 'reckless he was being' and 'how can you think that your life doesn't matter?'
If anything, this would only be a waste of time, time during which Celestia was probably killing his people and Venti couldn't do anything about it. Time during which Venti would torture himself because what if dying is the only way and I'm making a terrible mistake?
This was for the best.
Yes, yes, it was for the best. There was no doubt about it.
No one to make him doubt, no on to make him regret. Just him and his own convictions.
"What do you know about the sundials?" Istaroth suddenly asked him.
While a bit startled by the question, Venti did his best to answer. He wasn't a stranger to the half clocks that laid in Mondstadt, had even spent quite a lot of time in front of both.
Had Venti felt like joking, he would have snorted at the incredulity he felt creeping in him.
Istaroth was really asking him this question? Did she not hear the countless prayers Venti uttered to her while he knelt in front of the sundials? Did she not hear him beg for guidance, for help that he never got?
He wanted to ask her so badly, wants to know if she ever cared for him. He wants to know if she heard his pleas or not, if she tried to contact him or deliberately ignored him.
He didn't. Venti stayed silent, in the end deciding against it. He was scared of the answer, scared of what she might say, scared to end up even more disappointed than he already was.
Venti was a coward, that much was obvious, and it seemed like he would stay like this even when facing death.
"There are twin sundials," he replied. "One is located in the Thousand Winds Temple. The other can be found in an island North of Teyvat, not very far from Starsnatch cliff."
Istaroth nodded.
"Those, Barbatos," (he tried not to flinch at the mention of his name pronounced by her), "are the only relics left of me in Teyvat, I fear."
Yes, that much Venti was aware of. However, he was not sure what she was hinting at. He stayed silent, letting her finish.
"I will need you to pour your powers into one of the sundials."
Venti furrowed his brows. That was it? Surely, for something so complex as giving a God its powers, there ought to be something more complicated to do.
Venti doubted that the task as easy as transferring his powers to a sundial that as apparently attached to the God of Time.
"Then what?" he found himself asking.
Istaroth sighed. Venti didn't understand why. Was it frustration on her face? Was he reading her expression incorrectly?
He hoped he was.
He felt a slight pang in his heart.
"The sundial will absorb your powers. Transferring them to me." She took a little pause, still staring directly in Venti's eyes. "Your powers were created from mine, your form was created artificially from me. Your birth was nothing like a human's birth."
Venti understood, then. Istaroth did not elaborate, knowing she didn't need to.
The Anemo Archon would return to his original form once his powers were transferred back to his creator. Therefore, he would return to the Thousand Winds. The Anemo Archon would vanish, turned back into the winds he was born from.
Despite himself, Venti could not bring himself to feel sad about the way he would die. It seemed to him like a fitting ending. He could only hope the others wouldn't blame him for choosing this.
He did not specify who the others were. He would rather not. After all, Venti himself wasn't sure who 'others' applied to exactly.
"When?" was all he felt like he needed to ask.
"As soon as possible."
Venti nodded.
Today, then. Or tonight. He wasn't sure what time it currently was.
With this, he turned around and walked out. Perhaps, had he been more attentive to his surroundings, he wouldn't have jumped when a certain red head suddenly appeared in front of him.
Venti gulped slightly.
"So this is it, then?"
"How much of this did you hear, Diluc?"
He glared at Venti. "Enough to know you are about to do something stupid."
Venti couldn't help but crack a smile he hoped was reassuring. "Oh come on Diluc! Give me a bit more credit, will you?"
Diluc only raised a delicate eyebrow, arms crossed.
So Diluc didn't know. He hadn't understood completely what Venti and Istaroth had been talking about. Good, good.
Somehow, he mustered the strength to laugh, walking past Diluc, hands posed behind his head, glad there was no mention of death, that Diluc didn't know about Venti's original form, nor about his origins.
Otherwise, this conversation would have been far more complicated to escape.
Venti retreated to a corner, alone, books surrounding him. He searched the drawers for any pen, any paper he could find, tested the ink to see if it could still be used.
He had a few letters to write.
It turned out to not be as tedious a thing to do as he expected it to be. Venti knew exactly what he wanted to say, what he had to write in those letters. And somehow, he was not sure how that made him feel. Perhaps it should alleviate his worries that he was doing the right thing, because he had no trouble expressing what he felt on paper, because he felt no regret while writing those letters.
Well, that wouldn't be totally true.
Venti had hesitated on some passages, had wondered if he was writing the right thing. But in the end, he decided to not hold back on his words. No one would be able to confront him with them, after all.
By the time anyone read those, Venti would be long gone, and the seal that restrained Istaroth to Enkanomiya destroyed with the demise of the Anemo Archon.
Somehow, that thought made Venti question whether or not he should feel responsible that Istaroth was locked in Enkanomiya. She had lost a considerable amount of power, and on top of that, a part of it was within Venti.
But then again, he didn't recall ever asking for this to happen.
The trip back to Mondstadt, he found out, was much easier than it should have been.
All he had to do was travel to the border of Enkanomiya, use a portal that was waiting for him there, and he found himself on Inazuma. The rest of the journey was even easier: the wind was very cooperative and, soon enough, Venti was standing on Starsnatch cliff.
He would not use the sundial that laid in the Thousand Winds Temple. Not that one, never that one.
Venti knew all too well what happened when an Archon died. Venti's element was the wind.
He was dying to protect Mondstadt from the same fate that Khaenri'ah suffered. He refused for Mondstadt's end to be wild winds that would ravage the nation because their Archon died. This was out of the question.
So taking out his glider, Venti decided he would take one last trip with the wind, enjoy it one last time.
Casting a quick glance at Mondstadt city, Venti felt relief immediately wash over him at the sight of his nation still standing proud. Celestia had left its marks here and there in Mondstadt, but his people were still safe. And Venti would keep it that way.
He glanced up, searching for the hauntingly familiar castle. He had no trouble locating it, standing proudly and imperially above Windrise.
Well, Venti knew he had the Four Winds to thank.
Jumping from the cliff, his worries were assuaged. Venti was leaving Mondstadt in good hand. Be it the Four Winds or the Knight of Favonius, he shouldn't be too scared for his people. They were protected.
Always were, always will be. Venti would make sure it stayed that way.
While gliding, every breeze that caressed his face, every little call of the wind whispering in his ear that they missed him, he enjoyed it all, bathed in the glorious feeling it provided him with.
Yes, Venti was heading straight towards his death, but he couldn't bring himself to think it was an unpleasant one.
He was experiencing for the last time things he loved, surrounding by a companion whose presence he had dearly missed while he stayed in Enkanomiya.
When his feet touched the ground once more, Venti breathed deeply, walking head held high towards the sundial that glistened under the sun, pointing towards the sky in an eternal glory.
Venti smiled slightly when he stood directly in front of it.
This was it, then.
This was the moment he would die.
Venti raised a hand to the sundial. It felt cold under his touch.
Venti smiled a bit wider.
.
To the people of Mondstadt,
I leave you in good hands. You made your Archon proud. I could not have hoped for better people, for a nation more loving than you were towards me.
I hope you will not take my death too harshly, I hope you will not be mad at me.
I did what I think is best for you. I sacrifice myself in the hope that you will never live in the fear of being persecuted anymore, of being destroyed, killed, and watch your love one be killed.
You, my children, are my pride and joy, and I love you with every fiber of my being.
This is not a goodbye, for I am sure we will meet again, one day, even if for that you will have to wait until you join me in the afterlife. I will be waiting for you there, arms open wide, ready to welcome you back.
Rest assured, I will keep a watch over you from wherever I am. I have always been besides you, my children. I will never leave you, even if the world was to turn against you.
I leave you this final message to tell you what I was never able to. I love you, Mondstadt.
May the wind bless you!
You beloved Archon, Barbatos.
As the Anemo Archon's last prayer traveled through the winds, reaching the ears of his people, his form began to glow as he closed his eyes.
.
The people of Mondstadt raised their heads, turned them towards the sky. Some looked at each other in confusion, others were slightly crying. Some were praying, whispering in turn their last prayers to their Archon.
That day, the people of Mondstadt all assembled in front of the statue that was built in honor of their God, holding hands and chanting, praying for their Archon, dandelions flying in the last winds around them.
Barely a few minutes later, violent winds rose from the North of Teyvat, absorbed by the water surrounding the little island.
A few hours later, the wind stopped blowing in every corner of Teyvat.
The blessings of the Anemo Archon were no more.
Barbatos, the God of Freedom, was dead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:)