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Twin stars soared across the universe. Each shining in splendour. They have visited the worlds after worlds. However, as luck would have it, Lumine grumbled, and their journey was cut short. When they first arrived at Teyvat, all was well and good. The world was nice, the people were friendly, and the food was excellent. Sure, there was a suspicious castle in the sky lording over this world, but hey, not everything has to be perfect, until it became their problem. When it started, she was in this contrasting nation called Sumeru, with half of their nation being a desert and the other a lush forest. From what she had heard, it was because they gained knowledge about something they shouldn’t. Lumine wasn’t quite surprised, she had seen plenty of cases like that. In this case, it seemed that someone had poisoned the knowledge itself. One second she was just enjoying her meal and then, creatures of abyss poured out from everywhere, even the moon turned dark. Lumine was with the creatures of the forest, holding back the corrupted things from reaching the settlements, alongside many other vision-wielders. Suddenly, Aether appeared, cutting through the darkness like a stray star. There, he begged her to go on with their journey and leave this world behind. At this moment, as she looked at his stiff shoulders and shifty eyes, she knew he had fucked up, and this disaster had something to do with him.Lumine scowled, “what did you do? This disaster has something to do with you, isn’t it?” Aether dodged her glare, “please Lumine, just let’s go. We have seen enough of this world, isn’t it?” “Again, what did you do?” Aether wilted under Lumine’s intense glare. He murmured, “I may have taught something I shouldn’t have and now, the gods are angry. It’s too late. We need to leave now”. Lumine sighed and finally said, “fine, I will send you ahead first, I have to clean this mess first”. “What, Lumine? Let’s just go. It’s too late. Things aren’t that simple,” Aether refused adamantly but Lumine cut him off, “this is our mess, it is for us to clean this up. Nevertheless, since this matter already involves gods, it isn’t safe for you to be here anymore. Come, let me send you somewhere safe first”. Aether just lowered his head guiltily in acceptance of her decision. However, things got more complicated when an Unknown God appeared before them and blocked their way. “Outlanders, your journey ends here,” Unknown God said with an authoritative tone. Yes, no, Lumine wasn’t dealing with this, she summoned her sword to cut the God down. Then, she stopped for a second. For a time now, Aether had been…. difficult. Two worlds before, he even inadvertently started an Apocalypse, even with the rules that were agreed upon between them to prevent that. He thought it was a good idea to summon an Outer God just to impress some girls. If you asked Lumine though, she would just say he was at that age, he must be a late bloomer, a very late one. In the end, Lumine had to salt that entire reality, and burn away all corruption. Thankfully, she had backups to the people of that reality to recreate them. It was just that they wouldn’t be the same people. Needless to say, they left that world after all that excitement. The point was that Aether was going out of control, and it would be too late at some point. A decision was reached, and she let go of her sword, hopefully, this would teach him. When Lumine opened her eyes again, she found herself in a ruin. After fighting off a robot and wandering around in the forest aimlessly, don’t judge, she had a poor sense of direction and hadn’t been here when she was out travelling on this world. She came upon this beach and the rest was history. “Paimon sees,” the floating fairy thingy in front of her said. As much as Lumine loved her extended family from the side of her origin, they were all to a degree could be said to be strange. Even Lumine wasn’t spared from that, as she too was strange if observed from an outsider's perspective. “Paimon thinks you are a bitch, Traveller,” floating thingy delivered her final verdict on the matter. Lumine looked at her quizzically.“You could have handled it much better, talking things out, showing him consequences for his action through a milder method, but you went straight for the nuclear option, think about it, the sister he thought invincible got captured in front of him, and it was all his fault, I am pretty sure that would leave him with enough trauma to join the anti-hero club,” Paimon explained her thought animatedly with wild gestures. “Maybe,” Lumine was forced to agree with her point. She was too hasty in her actions. “So, Unknown God sealed your powers, right?” Paimon asked, waking her from her thoughts. “Umm, yes, the powers I collected while I was travelling were sealed, only leaving me with my Origin powers,” Lumine answered. “Hmm, that God seemed to be troublesome, might be the Second or Shades but can’t rule out Archons either. Traveller, what’s the name of that God?” she asked. “Hmm, I didn’t think to ask that, should’ve done that,” Lumine replied. Paimon sighed in exasperation, all Vibrant seemed to be like that, one-track mind.“So, what’s your plan now?” she asked. “Well, I think I will resume my travel and along the way find my brother,” Lumine took out a watch and her face scrunched up, “I think I slept more than I intended. I might have to restart my travels”. “Well, how long have you been hibernating?” Paimon asked which Lumine only answered with, “500 years”. “Haa, you must have slept through the entire Cataclysm and the fallout of that. Anyway, since it’s like this, let’s go, Paimon will be your guide,” Paimon smiled cheekily and floated around. Lumine also smiled, “I will be in your care”.
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Due to their travelling nature, Lumine had on the good authority to say that they had ridden almost everything, from normal horses to a godly being carrying a mountain. Riding a goldfish, though, was definitely a first. According to Paimon, they were in the Dark Sea. Lumine had heard about this area. This was where Celestia’s eyes didn’t reach, where gods who lost in the Archon war and those who were unwilling to submit to Celestia’s tyrannical rules retreated to. Aether would call it Loser Club, Aether had called it Loser Club. However, she knew he understood them. To lose their place and had to run away helplessly to some forsaken place. This was essentially describing them. Of course, after she gained enough strength, she eventually hunted ‘that’ and exacted her revenge, and scattered its screaming remains at the dark corners of the multiverse. “So, Traveller, what is our destination?” Paimon asked atop her “mount”. Lumine winced watching its gasping motions. Paimon had wanted to just fly, but she was unwilling to do so without her wings. So, they decided on this method. While she could make a boat or something, this would be much faster considering they were so far away from the mainland. “To Inazuma first, I made a few friends when I last got there, and they were much likelier to be alive considering their nature. From there, we can search for my brother,” Lumine declared. “Okie! Please hop on to the Goldie express,” Paimon shouted enthusiastically. Lumine just sighed and rubbed her pitiable ears and jumped atop. “You know, if we could just kill it, I am pretty sure I can make some great vehicle for us to travel in,” Lumine suggested. But Paimon looked at her as if she had just said she would kill her pet. “No! Never! It’s okay Goldie don’t listen to her, Paimon would never let her touch you,” Paimon soothed the goldfish. So, it was her pet, after all, oop. She shot her a withering glare. A few unsuspecting fishes caught in her sight and floated, dead. Lumine discreetly stored them. “By the way Traveller, Paimon has been meaning to ask, why are you gathering resources and not just you know,” Paimon asked while directing her fish. Lumine had to admit, this overgrown pet the size of a two-story house was really fast. “Well, directly creating them would be too boring and just gathering them would deprive the natural resources, so I created a system. I must admit that video games of other worlds inspire me. I created something called the Server. It’s a device that cloaks reality with a virtual one only I can interact with. Its features are such that when I farm materials, it would be ones from the Server that got picked up, which would once again copy the base materials after a day. So, I can have an endless amount of supplies without having to resort to creating things directly,” Lumine explained. “Uhh…. Cool” Paimon just replied with a cute blank look. Day 21 on the way to Inazuma, “So, Paimon, I’ve been meaning to ask, what are you? I didn’t recognize the current form you are taking from anywhere,” Lumine asked while upgrading some features of her sword. “Paimon is Paimon. Paimon designed this body from the ground up. It took Paimon about a hundred years or so, but Paimon got this! Though, Paimon has to break a few rules of Physics just to get it to work,” Paimon replied after devouring her sandwich in seconds. It was a very delicious sandwich. “Hmm… Does Paimon's body come with the extra stomach for food,” Lumine teased, which was responded to with a smug grin. Day 42 on the way Inazuma, “Hey, Lumine,” Paimon started while laying flat.“Yes?” Lumine replied. She, too, was in a similar position. As much as they were unable to feel bored, just seeing the same blue body of water other than the occasional sea monster flashing by was getting to them. It was dumb. Yes, but the ship had sailed, and they didn’t want to back down and resort to flying now. “You've been travelling the multiverse for a long time, yes?” Paimon asked.“Indeed, why?” “Well, have you been to any interesting places?” “Well… Every place was interesting, so to speak. But there was this one sector of the multiverse that got damaged. So, to mitigate the damage and fix it, local gods just decided to loop it. Apparently, that has been going on for a long time…. Well, longer than I would have liked. It was a giant mess there with loopers, two types: Anchors and Awakes. Anchors were a core person from that loop, generally, the first person to notice they were looping and Awakes, characters due to some reasons became aware of the loop, and retained their memories from the previous loop. They were slowly going crazy, you know? Mortal minds aren't made for that sort of immortality,” Lumine retold. “Well… That was just a mess. No one went there to fix that? Paimon would have thought a Sovereign if not one of our own would have gone there, slapped a fix on it, and destroyed the reason behind the mess before things got to that point,” Paimon said, now fully interested in the story. “Well, a sister of mine near there offered to fix it for them when it came to her attention, but they denied her. They didn't want “Outsider” involved. Well, Weapon Maker is a nice girl and seeing that Anchors and Awakes have no problem with looping, she just decided to fix her own universe and move on. Besides, I am pretty sure she finds them entertaining, you can see her hanging around those parts,” Lumine finished. “Huh, well, that’s interesting, Paimon thinks she will visit there someday,” Paimon said while striking a thinking pose while in mid-air. “Hey!” Lumine squeezed Paimon’s cheek amidst her indignant shouts. She couldn’t help it, Paimon was just so cute while she was like this. “Tell me about the stories of this world too, we haven’t been able to travel around properly before. What with our journey cut short,” Lumine said. “Well, like many other worlds, this world housed many stories. Many were lost to time and wind, but Paimon remembers them,” Paimon replied in a melancholic tone before she continued, a much more serious tone settled in perhaps as a show of respect to those in her story, “Paimon will tell you a story about a troupe. Its name was lost to time, even the names of members weren’t known anymore, but their admirers and foes alike called them Wanderer’s Troupe. They were great musicians as well as fearsome warriors, wielding swords and bows as if musical instruments. In the days past, they performed across the Teyvet. From the snow-laden peaks of Dragonspine to the ashen plains of Mare Jivari. Alas, their journey didn't last, like all things under the Heavenly Principles of this world. They were cut down rebelling against the tyranny in the land blessed by the wind while trying to regive them their freedom that was once promised to them. Only a few remember the name Wanderer’s troupe and even less know about them,” Paimon recounted. As Lumine was about to give her comment, their “ride” stopped. They had arrived at Teyvet. Lumine looked around the shore and felt that something was wrong. Inazuma beaches weren't like this. For one, she sure as hell was sure that Inazuma didn't have Sunsettia trees. They had that weird purple melon tree. She argued with Saiguu about that before because melons aren’t supposed to be hanging from a tree. Saiguu just snickered and said it was just a name. Lumine wondered how Saiguu was doing. In her mind, she was sure Saiguu was fine. Not to mention she was a kitsune with 9 tails already, she was also a competent combatant. Furthermore, she had Makoto, Ei and Chiyo. “Umm, Lumine?” The sheepish voice of Paimon entered her ears. “Yes?” She replied to Paimon’s sheepish smile. “Paimon thinks we took a wrong turn, we are in Mondstadt,” Paimon said. Lumine held off her urge to groan. This was gonna be a long day. Lumine suddenly stood straight, startling Paimon. She cracked her knuckles. “Oh well, since we are already here, let's make the most of it,” Lumine said before starting to run around. Picking up random things from lizard tails to crystal ores. “What….are you doing, Lumine?” Paimon followed after her. “Resources gathering. You will never know when you will need them. The best policy is to just pick up whatever catches your eye,” Lumine explained. “Okay, Paimon can see your logic, but please rein it in a bit! We look like lunatics,” Paimon squeaked in exasperation. Lumine quirked an eyebrow and stared at her with a deadpan expression. “Why should we care about what they think?” Lumine asked simply. “Hmm, you have a point,” Paimon reluctantly conceded. She floated by as Lumine went on a resource-gathering spree.“Let’s go to Mondstadt first, from there we can plan the rest of our journey,” Paimon advised Lumine who was still running around. “Hmm, okay then. Let’s set off,” Lumine said while grabbing a random lizard. Paimon squirmed in awkwardness. After a while, Lumine calmed down, leaving the entire area empty of any gatherable resources. Sweet flowers? gone, Dandelions? bagged, Sunsettia and Apples? Went right there into the inventory. Paimon had to admit that Lumine’s dedication was admirable at least. “So, this Monstadt, it wasn’t covered during my travels, tell me a little about this place,” Lumine asked while walking. “Monstadt is the Land of Freedom, ruled by Anemo Archon Barbatos, who is also known as the God of Freedom. It is also described as the Crown of the North, the City of Pastorals. Where we are heading to now is the capital of Mondstadt, the city of Mondstadt, somewhat redundant yes, but if it works, it works. It is a great place. It’s Paimon’s favourite place in Teyvet at least, due to Barbatos’, the land is always pleasant and there are foods everywhere. And guess what?” Paimon asked with a tiny grin that said I know something you don’t, and you will be surprised by this knowledge. Lumine decided to indulge her and asked in return, “what?”“It is where our little cousin currently resides,” she said. Lumine stopped dead in her tracks. She had to admit, this blindsighted her. “That’s great, it’s always nice to have a family member nearby, and look at this, with you, Interference, me, Vibrant, and this one, Administrator, we have a full party. So, what is her name?” Lumine nodded to herself. “Yep! Her name is Crimson” Paimon answered.“Though Paimon isn’t sure whether she would be accompanying us on our journey, she has taken on a job there. Outrider of the Knights of Favonius, Paimon believes. Last Paimon visit, she was having fun there. Making friends, kicking Fatui's asses, helping random kids, again kicking Fatui’s asses. All in all, she is having a great time,” Paimon said while taking on a thinking pose. “Well, it is fine even if she doesn’t. We can always visit her,” Lumine said, “by the way, what are Fatui and Knights of Favonius?”“Well, as the city of Freedom, Mondstadt has no official ruling body but,” Paimon said ‘but’ firmly, “the Knights of Favonius are regarded as the ruling body by other nations. They generally keep citizens of Mondstadt safe and responsible for creating and upholding laws. As for Fatui, they are generally jerks, even toward themselves or others, so don’t hesitate to give them a beating when you find them in the wild, and they are acting somewhat suspiciously. Though, Paimon doubts you would find them doing that here. After Crimson dismantled one of their Harbingers and hung his body parts all over Snezhnaya, they declared Mondstadt as the high-risk zone. Though that bastard was fine, geniuses are really tricky to kill after all,” Paimon explained. “I see,” Lumine answered. “Why are you so upset with Fatui, though?” Lumine asked. “Well, let’s just say Paimon has her reasons,” Paimon answered with assurance. Together, they headed toward the city of Freedom and Wind. They would after they had finished their lunch under Anemo Archon’s statue. As they were eating, a huge dragon flew over their heads.“Hey Lumine. Did you see that?”“Yes, a dragon, isn’t it? And it seemed angry”.“Paimon wondered what it was doing there. It seems familiar. Paimon thinks she has seen it somewhere else”. “Well, let’s check it out, no matter the world, dragons always make great materials”. “Hey! No skinning random dragons!”
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It turned out that the dragon was visiting a friend, a bard clad in teal colour clothes. As Lumine observed from behind the bushes like some creepy stalker, she noted that the dragon seemed to be hurting and clearly mad. It snapped off mid-conversation and lunged to bite off the bard. In a green flash, the bard disappeared, and the dragon set off, no doubt, to rampage elsewhere. “Ah, Paimon remembered!” Paimon chirped. She had been trying to think about where she had seen them for the last five minutes. In her defence, Paimon had lived a long time and defaulted her cognitive functions to that of a human, so it took a long time to sort out. Though, in the deep recess of Lumine’s mind, she briefly wondered if Paimon miscalculated and defaulted a child’s instead of an adult human’s. It wouldn’t be surprising. They weren’t infallible after all. Just free of the consequences of their failure. When you are an absolute immortal, you tend to be more careless with how you do things. Knowing that nothing will ever hurt you, knowing that no matter how you messed up, you will always be free of the consequences. Hmm, now that she thought about it, it made so much sense when everyone would look at her like that after pulling certain stunts… Lumine shook her head, it was not the time for the spontaneous epiphanies. Must focus on Paimon. “Who are they?” Lumine asked. “That’s Barbatos and his familiar, Dvalin,” Paimon replied. “I see, but Paimon,” Lumine said.“Yes?” “Don’t you feel awkward when others are riding dragons, and you are riding a goldfish?” Lumine teased.“Hey!” Paimon indignantly squawked. “For your information, Goldie is worth more than ten dragons! She is a connate lifeform. Although she may only have the intelligence of a goldfish, she was there even before the era of Seven Sovereigns. Her strength is of no question,” Paimon asserted. “Yes, but it is still a goldfish, isn’t it,” Lumine deadpanned. “Eh, how could you say that?! Apologize to her! Apologize!” Lumine internally laughed at the fuming Paimon. “Okay, okay, please say that I am sorry to her. There, alright?” Lumine obediently apologized. “Hmph,” Paimon crossed her hands, turned her head, and huffed cutely. Lumine grinned at the display before taking out a Paella dish from her inventory. She heard Paimon gulping as she held out near her head. “Fine, Paimon will forgive you this time,” Paimon said and snatched the dish.“Hey, Lumine, look over there. There is some sort of shiny red thingy over there,” Paimon pointed toward a red spot where the dragon sat.“Let’s go take a closer look,” Paimon said in a low tone. They stood, in Paimon’s case, floated before the red gem. “Hmm, Paimon hasn’t seen something like this before, so Paimon doesn’t know what it is,” she narrowed her eyes, “But this corrupting energy…. Abyss,” she muttered out the name with slight hostility. “Abyss? I have heard about it before, but I don’t know much,” Lumine said. “Abyss, That Which Lies Beneath, could be said to be an alien thing. Its presence alone is corrupting and devastating up here,” her face settled into a frown as she said, “to see this energy on Dvalin is concerning”.“How concerning?” Lumine asked.“Well, elemental beings have much weaker resistance to the energy of Abyss so Dvalin must be in a lot of pain right now and from the look of it, he seemed to be snapping at everything,” Paimon said. “So…. are you thinking what I am thinking?” Lumine said. “That would depend on what you are thinking,” Paimon drew out carefully.“Well, it’s a berserk dragon. So, I believe that we should defeat it before it could hurt others any further. Like heroes of old, saving dragons and killing damsels and whatnot,” Lumine declared. “Paimon felt like there was something severely wrong in that sentence and no, we are not killing him! Barbatos will hunt us down! Do you know how hard it would be to hide from someone who is a literal wind? Besides, Paimon is pretty sure we are as far away from being heroes as we can be,” Paimon shot down the idea very quickly. Lumine looked somewhat crestfallen at that. Paimon sighed in exasperation. ‘Traveller sure had some serious hoarding tendency,’ she thought quietly in her head. “There is another dragon that fell not far from here. Its body parts should still be in good condition, we can go there sometimes and salvage them,” Paimon compromised. That place was cold and somewhat depressing, but that place had its uses, it seemed. Like preserving a dragon’s corpse for hundreds of years. Lumine brightened at her words and said, “Okay, this is a promise, alright?” “Alright!” Paimon agreed enthusiastically. As they moved on, a voice suddenly called out from behind them, “hey, you! Stop right there!” a voice called out from behind. Before a dash of red flashed past them and landed in front of them. Before the owner of the voice, wearing a red hoodie, brown shorts and inscribed with the symbol of Knights of Favonius. What stood out really was what sat on her hair. A red ribbon in the shape of bunny ears. The girl looked at them before saying, “oh, it’s just you, Paimon. It’s been a while!” she immediately crossed the distance and hugged the silvery unidentified floating object. After they separated, Paimon introduced Lumine, “Traveller, this Crimson, our Cousin. Crimson, this is Traveller”.The girl, Crimson, looked at her curiously and smiled brightly, “Crimson here”. “Traveller, though I am also called Lumine. Feel free to call me whatever,” she also introduced herself. “I see, well, I am also called Amber,” Amber said.“Oh right, Crimson, I have something to ask,” Paimon started. “Yes?” Amber replied. “What’s the deal with Dvalin? Why is he still in that state? I thought you would have done something about it,” Paimon asked. “Well, I was about to, but I decided against it. Since this is Dvalin, Barbatos’ familiar and companion, it would be best for Anemo Archon to deal with him,” Amber answered. Lumine and Paimon nodded. It was sensible. “So, what are you doing in Mondstadt? It’s not that I am not happy you guys are here, but I just want to know”. “Traveller here is looking for her brother. They got separated due to her blunder. The last she saw him, they were facing an unknown god. So, Traveller decided to ask the gods the whereabouts of her brothers”.“I see, that’s unfortunate. How did you even lose him to an unknown god anyway?” “I let her take him,” Lumine answered. Amber looked at her quizzically. “Excuse me?” She asked in bafflement. “Her brother is undergoing a phase, doing things they shouldn’t and stuff. Dear Traveller here wanted to teach him a lesson, so she surrendered herself to the hold of that unknown god and took a nap, and the rest is history,” Paimon explained. Amber looked at her in concern as she said, “that’s quite an interesting way of teaching a lesson”. “He isn’t in any danger. He picked up a few things as we travelled, and I made sure he was fine,” Lumine shrugged. “Still…”. “Don’t worry. I know what I am doing. Everything will be fine. I hope,” Lumine muttered out the last part. “Okay then, I trust you,” Amber conceded. What happened had happened, and she believed Lumine knew what she was doing.Together, they moved toward Mondstadt, with Amber explaining more about the region. Mondstadt may be the Capital of the region, but it was more like a quiet and laid-back countryside, and they had kept it that way to honour the past, however, it didn't make the city any less important seeing as it was the headquarters of major organisations of Mondstadt like Knights of Favonius, Church of Favonius, Dawn Winery, and a shadowy organisation that has protected Mondstadt even before the formation of Knights of Favonius.Amber suddenly stopped. They were closed enough to the city that you can see it in the distance. Lumine was about to question her, but Amber pointed toward a camp. “Ah, a hilichurl,” Paimon said upon seeing a furry creature wearing a mask walking around. “Let’s go after it,” Amber said. They followed the creature back to its camp and climbed up on a nearby hill to observe the camp.“How did they end here? These creatures aren’t the type to set up camps so close to the city like this,” Paimon mused. “It’s more normal for them to be further out in the wilderness. But because Stromterror, which is the name we’re calling Dvalin nowadays, has been around a lot more recently, our orchards have been destroyed, and the local market has been affected as well. Furthermore, Fatui is using this chaos and snooping around. The knights were also injured when the storm hit, so we are spreading far too thin,” Amber explained. “So, these annoying creatures have been getting closer to the city and there isn’t enough manpower to keep them in check,” Paimon concluded. “Exactly!” Amber affirmed. Lumine drew some deductions from this discussion. It seemed that these hilichurls were pests, like cockroaches, and before, they were kept in check by knights. However, since knights had their hands full with Dvalin and Fatui, they weren’t able to clean up hilichurls. In conclusion, Paimon and Amber really should just let her handle that dragon. Or, Lumin supposed, she could cook up some tools to patrol and keep the area safe. It would be easy enough. ‘Hmm…. robots that exist in overlapping dimensions simultaneously. Better yet, give them advanced regenerative abilities and make it so that you can only kill them when you destroy every part of their bodies across dimensions, and fire beams of instant detonation. I think I am onto something here,’ Lumine thought as she imagined a squid-looking spectral robot with parts blinking in and out of reality, firing beams as hilichurls burst into flames.“Traveller…..Traveller…..Oi! Traveller!” A high-pitched and silky voice shook Lumine back to reality. She looked at the offending U.F.O and said, “Yes?” “Oh good, you are back. We were just discussing where to have lunch. Crimson told Paimon about this superb place that sells fantastic, delicious Sticky Honey Roast. Paimon thinks we should go there for lunch. What do you think?” Paimon said. Lumine could see she was already salivating.“Well, I don’t see why not,” Lumine agreed. It’s about time for lunch anyway.They quickly walked toward the gate of Mondstadt. When they got there, Amber gifted them a wind glider. “This is made by my Grandfather. When I was young, I used to fly around with this, and got into a lot of trouble. Paimon said you want to make a pair of wings, so, I think of this,” Amber said and handed the glider. “Thank you,” Lumine thanked. She held the glider gently in her hand. A gift with sentimental value, it’s been a while since she got them. “I will make sure to treasure them,” Lumine said as she equipped the wing glider to have a feel.“I know you will,” Amber replied with a smile.“Now, come with me. Let's give them a whirl before you do any modifications. After that, I will treat you to a traditional Mondstadt delicacy ─ Sticky Honey Roast”, Amber said with enthusiasm. “Sticky Honey Roast!” Paimon also cheered.They arrived at the plaza in front of a cathedral. There was a huge Anemo Archon statue in the middle. Amber looked around for something before resting her eyes on the statue. She pointed at the head and said, “how about you glide down from there to the city gate?”“Alright,” Lumine agreed and climbed up. She saw a sister from the church looking at her in bemusement and when she was about to shout, she saw Amber cheering her from below and facepalmed in irritation before leaving in resigned helplessness. Lumine felt a little bit bad. It was a bit tricky to climb, but finally, she arrived on top of the head, where Paimon was waiting. However, as she was about to dive from the head of the statue, the sky darkened and the wind picked up. A dragon emerged from the sky with a deafening roar. The dragon circled the city, leaving people to scramble for an escape before unleashing violent tornadoes. “No wonder they call it Stormterror,” Paimon commented while watching the display. Not even a second later, a wayward tornado picked both her and Lumine up.“Wh-what?!” Paimon said as she steadied herself. Lumine also unfurled her wind glider. “Quick, let’s go down,” Paimon shouted. “The winds are supporting the wind glider,” Lumine shouted back. “I am preventing your fall with the power of a thousand winds,” the winds carried a gentle voice.“Barbatos?” Paimon asked. “Now, concentrate. See yours-” “What in the fucking sweet mother of celestia!” the voice shouted in shock as two giant cannons suddenly appeared beside Lumine. Both of them were aimed at Dvalin. One of them fired and Dvalin barely dodged out of the way. However, the beam continued. It left nothing but bubbling lava and dried lands behind its trajectory. When it stopped, it exploded in an eye-blinding light, and suddenly it got sucked into a pin-sized black hole, leaving nothing but pure destruction.At that moment, the wind calmed and the dragon stilled. After a while, Dvalin let out some sort of whimper like a roar and ran away. Lumine looked at Paimon who was looking at her with an accusing face. She averted her eyes and said, “They shouldn’t have startled me”.
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After the disaster was averted by the way of overwhelming firepower, they came back down. They found Amber with an encirclement of knights led by a blue-haired guy wearing a… corset? ‘Huh, to each of our own I guess,’ Lumine commented quietly in her head. Amber and blue-haired were arguing about something. Amber noticed them. “Oh, you guys are back, how is the view from above?” Amber first greeted them.“Care to introduce us to your friends,” that blue-haired guy spoke up. Somehow, Lumine had a feeling that he had a very punchable face. Maybe, it's the way he talked. From her side-eye, she could see Paimon’s fingers twitching. She smiled in relief, it was not just her after all. “Of course, they are Lumine and Paimon, visiting here,” Amber cheerfully replied before giving Kaeya a stink eye and said, “please be mindful and don’t make a repeat of last time, Captain Kaeya”.“Did something happen between them?” Lumine asked in a whisper.“Well, Paimon wasn’t there, but Amber once said that Kaeya tried to kill a friend of hers,” Paimon whispered back. Lumine nodded in understanding.“Guys, this is Kaeya, our cavalry captain,” Amber introduced. Kaeya gestured and the knights dispersed. Though, she could still see some of them idling around, keeping an eye on them.Kaeya looked at Lumine with a look of consideration and said, “I was on the city wall, so I had the pleasure to see your attack, it was quite… impressive”. “Thank you,” Lumine replied. “To wield such power, are you a new ally….or a new storm? Anyway, I thank you on behalf of the Knights of Favonius,” Kaeya said in a friendly tone, yet his eyes didn't hide his wariness. “No matter what it is, it can wait. I promised them Sticky Honey roasts,” Amber intercepted. “Oh right? May I join in? I missed my lunch,” Kaeya spoke with a smile. Amber narrowed her eyes at Kaeya before nodding, “very well. Let’s go”.They were at Good Hunter, a charming little restaurant in the Market District of Mondstadt. It was awkward. Kaeya was eyeing them constantly, and it was clear that this was getting on Amber's nerves. Most people wouldn't know this, Administrators, Amber's kind could really nurse a grudge. Lumine glanced at Paimon who was devouring food, seemingly unaware of this tense atmosphere. “So, Lumine and Paimon, where are you from?” Kaeya said in a curious tone. “I’m from another world,” Lumine replied. To Kaeya’s credit, he just blinked and said, “I see. It must’ve been a long journey. Welcome to Mondstadt.“Paimon is from……from, uhhh…. Huh! From beyond these stars,” Paimon said finally after finding words to use. Kaeya raised an eyebrow before turning to Amber and said, “you have quite interesting friends,” he smiled and continued, “Tell me, if you have an interesting origin too”. “Kaeya, you watched me grow up. We were even tossed into that timeout room because we accidentally burned down a wing of Knights of Favonius HQ after a prank, remember?” Amber deadpanned. “Cough,” Kaeya cleared his throat and said, “right”. “Anyway, let's go. I imagine Jean would want to talk to them,” Amber declared after finishing their lunch. They arrived at the front of an impressive building. At the entrance, two knights of Favonius could be seen guarding. Seeing Kaeya, they quickly saluted and opened the door. Amber and Kaeya led them to a room. There, they saw two people speaking. “Jean, I’ve brought them,” Kaeya said to the attractive blonde. After that, he gave them a report of what happened. After Kaeya finished his report, Jean took several seconds to process the information. And looked at Lumine with an incredulous expression before taking a breath and schooled her expression. “Mondstadt welcomes you, Windborne travellers,” Jean said with a welcoming gesture. “I am Jean, Acting Grandmaster of Knights of Favonius and this is Lisa, our resident Librarian,” she gestured at an attractive woman in deep purple. “A traveller from another world? I had heard about such beings, but I didn’t think I would come in contact with one,” Lisa said with a mysterious smile. Lumine had a feeling that she wanted to cut her up. Due to her habit of being flippant about her origins, Lumine and Aether had someone trying to catch them to experiment on them or study how to gain their powers more than once.“Why didn’t you tell us that you have such interesting friends? A traveller from another world and a floating child that claimed to come from the cosmos,” Lisa said to Amber with a playful voice. “I told you about Paimon once when she first came to visit me, and you met her while I was showing the library,” Amber replied. “.... I don’t remember that,” Lisa said with a faint disbelief colouring her tone. “Ah… must have been disorder,” Paimon said with a nod. “Disorder?” Lisa asked while Jean, Kaeya were listening with interest. Though, Lumine and Amber knew what disorder meant.“Yes, the best way to explain this would be…... Let’s say there is a mountain with infinite height, and you see it in its entirety point-blank at which point, your brain would start melting from the sheer scale of data it’s processing and the impossibility of this. The disorder is like that too, just milder. So, instead of your brain melting, it just decided to ignore the impossibility in your vision and forget it ever existed,” Paimon explained. “That is a quite worrying and fearsome statement,” Jean said after much deliberation.“And you were okay with letting us meet her even though the risk?” Jean asked Amber.“Ah, don’t worry it’s nothing serious, it’s just some shattered minds, I can put it back from scratch easy-peasy. In fact, I had to do that a lot back then, so I would say I am quite an expert,” Amber shrugged. Lisa sighed. She silently took out a tiny bottle from her pocket and took a swig.“Stormterror has caused quite a ruckus in the region since its recent resurgence. Simply put, Mondstadt’s elemental sphere and ley lines are now akin to a yarn ball in the paws of a kitten. For a mage, it couldn’t get much worse. My skin is one electro particle away from a full-blown breakout,” Lisa spoke suddenly. “And it is escalating, honestly speaking, we aren’t equipped for this type of threat,” Jean said with a sigh. “That’s why respectable travellers can I ask you to help out Mondstadt during this period?” Jean asked. “Of course, we won’t let you lose out. Knights of Favonius will reward you greatly for all of your troubles,” Lisa added. “This…” Lumine looked at Paimon and at Amber. Amber just shrugged, imperceptibly. “Very well, then. We will help,” Lumine agreed. While Lumine wasn’t above counterfeiting whatever currency of the world they were in, information would be nice. The world had changed too much in her 500 years nap and even then, she wasn’t able to unearth all the secrets of Teyvet. For one, she had always thought the sky of Teyvet seemed kinda off. Of course, she could find out all about this world quite easily if she ever wanted to, but that won’t be fun, and travelling was all about learning and having fun after all. Hence, the hard route.“Thank you very much, traveller,” Jean sincerely said.“Good, in this case, we need a plan,” Kaeya said while crossing his hands.“Well, the simplest solution would be to just kill it,” Lumine suggested. “““NO!””” Jean, Lisa and Kaeya simultaneously rejected. “Traveller, you wouldn’t know this, but the true identity of Stormterror is that of-” Lisa started.“Dvalin, one of the four winds. Yes, I know,” Lumine cut off. “Then, you must know why we can’t kill him. Even though Anemo Archon Barbatos hasn't been seen for thousands of years, his legacy, the four winds, has always protected Mondstadt. To kill one of our protectors isn't something we can do. Furthermore, Dvalin is the familiar of Barbatos. If we kill it, then, I am afraid we will have to face the fury of thousands winds,” Jean said. “Hmm…. Not necessarily,” Lumine spoke, “when I was in the sky earlier, I vaguely heard the wind whispering to me. I think it is Barbatos,” Lumine presented her hypothesis. “Then why didn't he help us? Surely, he can get Dvalin to calm down,” Kaeya spoke up. “That may not be necessarily true. Most people wouldn't know, but an Archon's power is closely tied to the level of control they exert over their respective region. As for Barbatos who refuses to rule due to his ideal of freedom, not to mention calming Dvalin, he would be a snack!” Paimon shook her head. “I am surprised you would know that. I have read similar theories during my time in Sumeru however they are of course just theories since Archons rarely talk about such things. However, it seemed that you knew what you were saying,” Lisa eyed Paimon with a newfound interest and wariness.“Paimon has lived a long time now. It would be pretty shameful not to know basic things like this,” Paimon shrugged. “Just how old are you really?” Lisa asked. “Well, when Paimon first arrived at Teyvet, the sun and moons weren't established yet,” Paimon said vaguely. Lumine felt there was a hidden meaning behind that answer. “A time before sun and moons…. I don’t think I have read of such things anywhere,” Lisa said with interest. “That’s natural, after all. Sometimes, even knowledge itself can be dangerous, and Celestia won't allow that knowledge to exist on Teyvet,” Paimon spread out her palms and shook her tiny head. “Well, as much as that’s enlightening, let’s focus on Dvalin first, shall we?” Kaeya interjected. “Right,” Jean said from her thoughts. “With Dvalin attacking directly at Mondstadt, we may have an opportunity to cut off the problem at the source. Lisa has revealed the sources of Dvalin’s power with her detection magic,” Jean said. “Is that so?” Kaeya added.“They’re located in the abandoned Four Winds’ temples,” Lisa said.“Dvalin must have been drawing powers from the temples to whip up these kinds of storms,” Lisa explained.“Our objective is to deal with three of the four temples. I trust everyone understands why we are only dealing with three,” Jean said the mission objective.“Paimon doesn’t” Paimon spread her hands.“Maybe because Dvalin is already drawing power from its own temple?” Lumine said her theory.“Maybe,” Paimon agreed. “We need to move fast. We will set out in the next 30 minutes,” Jean said. Lumine left the room with Amber.“Let's go to my place,” Amber offered and Lumine followed her. Amber lived in a cottage outside the city of Mondstadt, inside the Whispering Wood to be precise. Her cottage was quite deep inside the wood and it would take quite a while to reach if not for them being what they were. “I used to live in the City but I relocated here since this place offered me more freedom,” Amber explained“Why are you hiding your powers anyway?” Lumine asked. “Hehe,” Amber laughed awkwardly, “let's just say little Amber isn't going to win a good citizen award anytime soon,” she said. Lumine met her eyes with Paimon. Paimon just shrugged and Lumine nodded. They arrived at the cottage after diverging from the small path and passing through a pond. Amber's cottage was Mondstadtian style. It was painted in pastel yellow colour with crude flowers painted in various colours complementing it which was totally unexpected. Lumine had expected it would be in bright crimson or something. There was a flower garden beside the cottage where Dendrobium flowers were blooming in full glory. Their petals, vibrant and crimson, as if they were dripping with blood. However, Lumine also remembered one particular aspect of that flower, namely how it grows.Paimon noticed Lumine staring and said, “do you know that Mondstadt is famous for very few Treasure Hunters and Fatui activities? It was said that very little Treasure Hunters and “renegade” Fatui managed to return alive from this region. Most of the time, they just disappeared, and no one knows what happened”.Lumine activated her eyes for a moment and looked beneath the ground and was impressed. Aside from one metre of dirt they were standing on, the entire underground was filled with bones. “It seems like big Amber also will not be winning the good citizen award anytime soon. No wonder she moved here,” Lumine commented.“Treasure Hunters and Fatui are top on Amber's shit list, just below traitorous knights,” Paimon shrugged. Lumine nodded and went inside the cottage.
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Amber’s cottage was, as expected, quite large on the inside. After all, for them, twisting space like this was basic of basic. Lumine would know, she once punished a civilization by putting their sun into a glass bottle and yeeting it into the multiverse. It was quite funny and satisfying watching them running around like headless chickens.“Hmm, why didn't you hide them inside some space?” Lumine asked.“Oh,” Amber thought about who were them Lumine was talking about before understanding and said, “I am recycling”.Lumine was led to a workshop filled with various explosive materials and fabrics.“This is the place where I make my Baron Bunnies,” Amber said.“Amber's Baron Bunnies are quite cute, and they always explode spectacularly,” Paimon Chimed in.“Yes, though Baron Bunny 567th has gone rogue, and now who knows where,” Amber said with a sigh.Sensing their questioning gazes, “Baron Bunny 567th is my first attempt at making sentient beings. Not to mention, apart from other Baron Bunnies, she was made human-like. I even gave her a name and treated her like a sister!” Amber said with much emotion.“Why did she run away anyway?” Paimon asked.“I don’t know, she said she met a wandering samurai when we were visiting Dornman Port and had a lot to think about. The next day, she was gone, leaving just a letter saying “I am on the journey to find myself. Please don’t search me,” Amber sighed.“She knew a lot of don’ts about me, so she managed to hide from me even to this day,” Amber said with tiredness seeping into her voice. From the look of it, Amber must have loved her a lot. Lumine could say she understood, after all, she too loved her brother.“Anyway, please notify me if you ever meet a wandering samurai with white hair and a particularly good nose. I would like to have a talk with this person who made my favourite doll to run away,” Amber said with a sharp smile.“.... I will be sure to contact you,” Lumine promised unsurely. Amber nodded with a satisfied smile.Amber and Paimon left her to modify the wind glider while they caught up.Lumine unfurled the wind glider. The first order of action was cosmetic. She dyed the feathers into Snow White colour with gold colouring rachises and barbs. She decided that this was enough and moved onto the main course, which was to create a redundant array matrix by which she will etch runes into each barb and barbule. Each feather will be a runic array with various functions which is part of the array matrix, simple and easy enough.Lumine started to work by taking out a small pen-like cutting tool and a monocle. She activated the cutting tool and a very thin laser came out. She adjusted the intensity of the laser and started etching runes into the wind glider. Her monocle expanded her sight to even see dust particles in the air one by one. Her movement was quick and graceful.After a few minutes, Lumine got out of the workshop. Amber and Paimon were already waiting.“Lumine, you are back! How is it? Let Paimon see. Let Paimon see,” Paimon excitedly floated around her.“Alright,” Lumine agreed, and white wings unfurled from her back.“Wow, beautiful,” Paimon said excitedly.“Yes, they look quite good. Hmm, is that runecraft? I rarely see something like that,” Amber said while examining the wings.“Yes, it is something I learned during my travels. Doesn't this world also use runecraft though? I remember seeing them before,” Lumine asked in confusion. During her three years of travel, she had seen machinations and things that were made using runes.“Maybe, but it’s a rare art nowadays,” Amber answered.“Yes, the destruction of Khaenri’ah impacted Teyvat on multiple levels. Everything was never quite the same again,” Paimon chimed in.“I see,” Lumine said. That gave her a lot of things to think about.“What about Inazuma, then?” Lumine asked. She was having a bad feeling about this, but asked regardless.“Inazuma? Last, Paimon heard, it was locked down under the Sakoku decree,” Paimon said.“Yes, I am also hearing some unsettling news from there. There seems to be a push for something and Fatui are somehow involved, but I haven’t heard anything concrete yet,” Amber said after thinking for a while.Lumine grimaced. Something was indeed wrong with Inazuma. This isn’t Makoto’s style of doing things.“Who is the current archon of Inazuma?” Lumine blurted out.“Hmm…that would be Baal,” Paimon said after thinking for a moment.Lumine sighed in relief, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She just simply said, “I see, thank you”.“Hey, don’t worry about it for now. I am sure we will stumble into the land of Inazuma in our travels sooner or later. We will have your answer at that time,” Paimon said cheerfully.Lumine smiled and said, “okay, let’s go”.Together, they regrouped at the Grandmaster's office once again.Jean went through the plan.“Is that all clear?” Jean asked, and everyone in the room nodded.“Very well. Let’s go,” Jean commanded, and everyone started to move to perform their assignments.A few moments later, Lumine found herself at the front of an old temple/“This is it. One of the deserted temples of The Four Winds. Let’s go in. Beat whatever is inside and fix it,” Amber said enthusiastically.“Alright” “Okay!”Inside the temples, they encountered a few hilichurls which were swiftly killed. Then, they found an egg thingy that Amber dubbed Dragon’s Breath and shattered it.“Good job, Lumine. That only leaves two more,” Amber said with a thumb up. Lumine also gave her a thumbs up.Amber said and sighed, “in the past, Knights of Favonius were at least able to defend the city and keep it safe. Of course, it’s mostly thanks to Jean. Now, with Dvalin directly attacking the city, things aren’t looking good. Though, that also means I can do my other
‘activities’ without Knights breathing down on my neck”.“It seems that you are having fun,” Lumine commented.“Of course! After all, this is the job I love. Running around in the wild, disposing of trash, lazing in the sun, meeting new people and friends,” Amber sighed in contentment.“I feel like there is something missing in what you just said, but okay, you do yours,” Lumine said sagely.“Now, I have to go to Kaeya’s, yes?” Lumine asked.“Yes, they should be ready,” Amber said.“Well then, see ya, Little Crimson,” Lumine said her farewell and took off.She dropped down in front of Kaeya who was already waiting for her in front of the Temple of the Wolf.“Hmm, are those wings?” Kaeya asked as she furled her wings and concealed them.“Yes, just made them, what do you think?” Lumine asked with a bit of pride.“They look quite nice… to be able to make such a tool in such a short time. I must say you are quite capable,” Kaeya said.“Thank you, now let’s go,” Lumine said and marched inside the temple.The monsters in the temple were quickly defeated without much hassle.“Bravo! What a performance,” Kaeya said with a grin.“To my surprise, you are a well-trained knight with a disciplined combat style. I would not have thought that from that battle with Stormterror,” Kaeya said, still with a grin. Lumine felt a silver of guilt at being reminded of that fiasco.“That was an accident!” she quickly defended herself.“Well… due to your ‘accident’ we will have to upgrade our maps now,” Kaeya said before pausing, “anyway, stories of your heroic deeds shall be known throughout the City of freedom, well into the future,” he said with a dramatic flair.He calmed down, “please do visit me at our headquarters when you have the time. I also know a lovely tavern, if that’s more your thing. I would love to hear the stories from another world” Kaeya said before continuing into the temple. Paimon floated after him. Lumine took a glance to the back before ignoring that and continuing on her quest.“Quite rewarding, no?” Kaeya said while dusting his palms.“We have seized another temple from Dvalin’s grasp!” Paimon twirled her body in a victory dance.“I can take care of the rest here. You go and take care of other things while I am at it,” Kaeya said.Lumine agreed and left, not before glancing at a corner of the room.“See ya, bye-bye~,” Paimon waved excitedly.‘Paimon has always been quite expressive,’ Lumine thought.After Lumine and Paimon left, Kaeya crossed his arm and muttered, “there is no way hilichurls organized an ambush like this themselves — not with their limited mental capacity…”A blue furry creature slowly flew out from a hidden corner. It left out a creepy laugh.“Thus you were behind this,” Kaeya faced it.The creature began to chant an incantation, and the water started to surge around it. Then, suddenly a wave of flame rushed into the room, hitting the creature and with that flame, a red-haired man in a white shirt with a black luxurious overcoat with a slit on the back and a black tie with a red gem on top of it. Both his shirt and coat had golden patterns on them. He gave off an authoritative and moody presence.“Knights of Favonius…. Always so inefficient,” the stranger said gloomily.“Now, now, no need to be so hostile, Diluc,” Kaeya said amiably, “so, what did you find out?”“Not much, it is almost like she came out of nowhere. It seems that what she said about being an outlander from the other worlds may hold some claims. However, things became a lot confusing after I dug deeper. There were some records of a golden haired immortal in the archives of Liyue, accounts of a being with wings made of light and golden eyes, and in Sumeru, there are tales of Agni whose flames purified and brought light to the forest in the Dark Nights. They were all accounts from 500 years ago,” Diluc recounted what he had learned from the mysterious organization.“An immortal travelling being we know next to nothing about, huh? That’s worrying,” Kaeya said with a relaxed voice, but if you knew him, you could hear tension in his voice. For Kaeya, Mondstadt was his true home, and he didn’t like allowing dangerous elements like this near his home. One Amber was already bad enough, after all.“Who was that?” Lumine asked the creature who was floating quietly behind her.“Which?” Paimon asked back.“Mister Grumpy,” Lumine answered.“Oh, that would be Diluc Ragnvindr, owner of the Dawn Winery,” Paimon answered.“Ragnvindr…. I think I had heard of that name before,” Lumine said.“Yes, Ragnvindr are famous, they come from a long line of heroes and champions. In fact, their ancestors were involved in the formation of the Mondstadt and, later, freeing Mondstadt from the hands of aristocrats.“That’s quite an impressive resume,” Lumine commented.Soon, they arrived at the temple of Lion, where they were greeted by a librarian in purple.“Hey cuties, you’re you going to help me out, too? How kind of you. Don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything,” the librarian also known as Lisa said.While for others, it would be seen out of place for a librarian to be here in the field, Lumine knew better, some of the strongest mages she had witnessed were librarians.“As a librarian, you must be very knowledgeable. So, what sort of works do you do?” Paimon asked as they walked into the domain.“Good question. Basically, things other than that which requires brawn….or brains,” Lisa answered.“So, what does that leave?” Paimon said, rather unimpressed by the answer.“Let’s go, the disturbance of the elemental flow inside is making me uncomfortable. Let’s get this temple back to the normal state, so I can be less…. tense,” Lisa said and walked forward. Lumine and Paimon also followed.
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Lumine, Paimon and Lisa cleaned up this temple fairly easily too. Lumine had to admit that Lisa had impressive mastery over Magic for a mortal. Finally, they reached the destination where an Anemo-coloured stone rested.“Break it, and we can head home to relax. The thought of putting my feet up and relaxing has me all fired up,” Lisa said with an undercurrent of enthusiasm.“Paimon has been meaning to ask. Do you know why Dvalin is attacking Mondstadt? Last Paimon checked, it was still happily protecting it,” Paimon asked. Lumine listened on from the side. She, too, was curious about this.“Because of hatred, I presumed,” Lisa answered“Hatred?” Paimon said.“Hatred for Mondstadt. Hatred drove it to become something more powerful than Wind itself - Stormterror,” Lisa said leisurely, but Lumine could sense underlying sadness in her tone.“Do you know why?” Paimon asked.“As a child of Mondstadt, it’s something that’s really hard to say aloud,” Lisa said and handed over a book, “here take this, it’s a very old story from a century ago”.Lisa walked away after that. Lumine eyed the book with a raised eyebrow. She wondered if Lisa carried it everywhere she went or if she had accessed to her library remotely. Lumine wouldn’t wonder if she did, from what she had seen, Lisa was very talented. Paimon seemed quite sharp and oddly round, Lumine wondered how her body was designed.“Bad Traveller! No dissecting Paimon with your eyes. Don’t act so surprised. Paimon had been with many Vibrants before,” Paimon said with mock anger.“Alright, I won’t anymore,” Lumine answered under Paimon’s suspicious glare.Paimon crossed her hand and huffed, “you better. Now, let’s go back,” she said and flew away. Lumine overlooked the vast, beautiful land of Mondstadt from the edge of the mountain and smiled. She was going to enjoy this journey again. She spread her wings and flew down toward the city of windmills.Lumine and Paimon were free after cleansing the temples. Acting Grandmasters and other higher-ups were still trying to figure out how to deal with Dvalin. So, it was estimated that they would be discussing this matter for a few days. Meanwhile, Paimon offered to guide Lumine on a trip to Dragonspine. Lumine had wanted to scale the mountain when she was back in Liyue, but never got the chance to. So, it was fair to say that she was excited. Moreover, she also wanted to examine the infamous nail of Celestia. She had heard that the Chasm had one, but that stingy noodle didn’t allow her to descend into the Chasm. This time, though, she was going down there even if she had to brute force her way in.After travelling for about two hours on foot because as a traveller she wanted to enjoy her journey, not blitz through it. Paimon, her “guide” had managed to lose her way with a compass and real-time updating map. It was only the looming shape of the death trap that called itself a mountain which was getting closer that they knew they were on the right track, mostly.Soon after, they reached the place where a Cryo Abyss Mage was dancing on water.“Hmm…” Paimon said and looked around.“Paimon thinks we arrive at the wrong side,” she said with such a cheery and innocent tone that Lumine almost forgot she was the reason behind this, almost. Lumine just sighed in exasperation.“Don’t be so glum, at least we arrived at the right place, didn't we? Now, look at it,” she pointed at the dancing Cryo Mage and said, “something no one will miss,” she said with a smug voice, “go beat it up….no kill it. It will even thank you”.Lumine stared in confusion at the strange words. Her eyes flared, and countless colours flashed through them. Lumine frowned at the sight in front of her. A curse. A very vicious one. A promise of eternal torment and pain. Even death itself shall avoid them. What was more troubling was that the curse was woven into the laws of this world and practically became a rule. Few beings in the multiverse had this sort of power.“Why?” Lumine asked simply.“Well, since you were here 500 years ago, you must have known about Khaenri'ah, right?” Paimon asked.Lumine nodded in agreement. That nation where her brother decided to remain instead of travelling the world together like before. If you ask Lumine though, she would say the people of Khaenri’ah were quite arrogant, she had seen through from the moment their creation started to rampage through the land, they poked at something mere mortals had no business poking.However, such was just human nature. Lumine was painfully aware of that. This was something present through most mortal races across the multiverse. At that thought, a blonde hair and green eyes figure with a symbol depicting an eye ran through her mind. She shook away that image and sighed. That world wasn't something she wanted to revisit, even in her mind. That was the last world they visited before wandering into Teyvat. When they arrived there, the performance was about to be done. She killed that existence on the moon, but the new world was unforgiving. It felt like the more she tried to help, the more things were getting worse.Regarding Khaenri'ah, it wasn't like Aether, her dear brother, was blameless either, she was quite sure he did something stupid there. That was part of the reason she decided to punish him like this. This time, big sis won't clean up your messes.“These Hilichurls and Abyss Mages are formerly of Khaeneri’ah. Cursed to lose their mind and wander aimlessly like wild animals,” Paimon said with a casual tone as if discussing how many of Timmie’s pigeons were killed for fowls when they set off.“What did they do to receive such cruel punishment?” Lumine asked.“Well, that would be spoiling, isn’t it?” Paimon said cheekily, “You will find out as you travel this exciting world,” Paimon ended with a cheerful tone.“I will accept that, but do you think the people of Khaeneri’ah deserve forgiveness now?” Lumine asked.Paimon laughed. Her laughter rang through this merciless frozen land like a pleasant jingle, “whether they deserve their forgiveness or not? Does that matter to us?” she asked with a smile.“No, I suppose not,” Lumine replied with her own smile.Lumine thought for a moment and summoned a hammer. Intricate runes were etched in its metal head and face. Curse Smasher, despite its simplistic name, was one of the most useful tools in Lumine’s arsenal. On her other hand, she carried what looked to be a stick at the length of a bastard sword, with a sloped edge on the top and a hole in the middle. She walked toward the dancing mage, melted off the shield with a centralised solar flare, and bobbed the head with the hammer. She heard a distinct sound of something breaking. The confused Mage wobbled onto its feet and promptly kneeled as it screamed. It really could scream. In her peripheral vision, Lumine saw a Cryo Cicin Mage poking her head out to investigate what was causing the commotion. Before she could do anything to this interloping traveller and floating UFO, the flesh and blood of the Abyss Mage began to writhe and squirm before long, all the fur disappeared and once again, the creature regained the body of a human.Out of the corner of her eyes, Lumine saw the Cicin Mage gasping in surprise.“....the curse…pain…what is happening?” the very confused Abyss Mage spoke. It looked down. Its image stared back from the water. Its shaking hands slowly moved toward the mask. A youthful face filled with disbelief stared back from the water. Tears flew down ceaselessly from his eyes, but the boy seemingly didn’t notice as he continued to stare at his image. He tentatively touched his face, as if he wasn’t daring to believe it was real. Ceaseless tears began to flow down.“...free…” he muttered to himself and looked at Lumine with a shadow of a smile and said, “Thank you”.*Crack*The boy broke his own neck. Lumine stared at the corpse speechless. Its face still bore a satisfied smile. Paimon poked at the corpse with a stick.“Yes, he’s dead,” she said, ignoring Lumine and the spectating Cicin Mage’s scandalous look.“What? It is important to make sure they are dead,” Paimon said defensively.“Right,” Lumine said with a bemused look.“Ugh, anyway, Paimon remember now. If you just scale over that hill, we will reach our first tourist spot, Wyrmrest Valley. Let’s go,” Paimon said and flew away. Lumine just sighed and followed, not before giving the Cicin Mage a glance, who shuddered inexplicably. The Cicin Mage felt as if she was judged by all her worth and only escaped a certain death because she wasn’t worth the time, which, ouch, but good. The Cicin Mage suppressed these distracted thoughts and left toward the direction of the Harbinger she served under.‘I need to report this,’ she thought.Lumine reached the top of the valley, where she saw giant rib bones sticking out. It was quite a striking sight.“During the Cataclysm, creations of an Alchemist known as Gold rampaged through the entire Teyvat,” Lumine’s eyes narrowed a bit at the name, “one such creation was Durin, the abyssal Dragon. It attacked Mondstadt and only by the strength of Barbatos and Dvalin that it was slain and fell here. Heh, for a creature with strength rivalling that of gods, it was also a miserable wench fated to doom from the start,” Paimon concluded.Lumine surveyed the area, “Are we sure we are still in Mondstadt? Because this place is crawling with Fatui,” Lumine said.“Huh? Let me see,” Paimon elevated and looked down. Just like Lumine said, she saw a lot of Fatui conducting research on Dragon remnants.Paimon huffed in annoyance, “What are these bastards doing here? Traveller, let’s clean them up”.She took out a costume from nowhere, “here, this is a Treasure Hoarder uniform. They are also no good bastards, so let's pit them up against each other,” she commented.‘Paimon, for a little thing, you are so vicious,’ Lumine lampooned. Nonetheless, she obediently put on the Treasure Hoarder costume. After a while, she was spotted with a headscarf of brown colour, and reddish-brown tunic and shorts complemented with a stylish belt (Treasure Hoarder Boss’s Garb. Lumine created a silvery blue mirror, and she would have to admit, she looked fabulous in this costume.“Hmm, now all you need is an axe, and you are set,” Paimon commented with a hand on her chin and a concentrated look on her face. Lumine smiled at how cute she looked but decided not to comment on it. She had to remind herself that despite how she may look, Paimon was still older than her by…a lot.“Will this do?” Lumine said as she took out a huge axe from her inventory. It was, as its appearance suggested, an axe. It had no special functions aside from being indestructible and heavy. However, it had no need for any of such. It only had one job, and that was to wreck shit up, and she was gonna do that.At Paimon’s agreement, she jumped down to the place where Fatui Skirmishers were gathering and talking. They jumped to alert by her presence.“What are you doing here? We have an agreement,” the Fatuus wielding an enormous hammer, interrogated.Lumine didn’t answer his question and instead twirled her axe aesthetically. With a bit of exertion on the ground, she immediately crossed the distance between her and the leader. With a glint in her eyes, she slashed her axe horizontally. On impact, it destroyed the hammer guy’s armour and sent him flying backward with a lot of broken bones. The other Fatui members also came back to their senses and immediately activated their elemental power.“Your equipment is quite interesting. I think I am gonna examine them later,” Lumine said with a bloodthirsty grin while slapping the handle of the axe on her other hand.“Harden up. Take cover!”“Detoxifying heat”“It’s time for a flash freeze”“Get it together!”Lumine just smiled and said, “Heh, cute”.
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Lumine made no effort to move as she stood still amidst the continuous attack barrage. While these Fatui were attacking her, she summoned her inventory window to sort her items.‘Hmm, too many Hilichurl drops?’ Lumine asked herself, ‘Nah, never is too much,’ she decided and continued sorting things.The attacks stopped just as she had finished sorting her sword collections. Teyvat had enhanced weapons just lying around everywhere. Of course, being the efficient person she was, she made sure to collect all those scraps and trinkets she encountered. However, such behaviour didn’t make it easier for her inventory, as it sort of became a mess quickly. Lumine made a note to add an auto-sorting feature to the inventory. Back then, she just wanted something easy to carry around and big enough that it could hold their things when they travelled, her current inventory was the result of many patches and upgrades.Just as she finished sorting, the attacks stopped. She looked around coolly, and Fatui were out of breath and looking at her like she was a monster. Lumine smirked.“What are you?!” the Anemo Boxer asked.“That information……is above your pay grade,” Lumine said, “now, are you ready to talk?”Surrounding Fatui agents growled and took out a cylinder shape tool. Under Lumine’s gaze, it set off and a burst of bright light and sound emerged.“Smart,” Lumine muttered as she saw them making a run for it. However, it was useless. With a burst of speed, Lumine caught up with the Anemo Boxer. She grasped his shoulder and slammed it into the ground with the sound of a bone or two breaking. Hydro and Cyro Fatui suddenly turned around and froze her. She was locked, raising her axe in mid-air.‘Last I checked, Teyvet still has gravity,’ Lumine thought to herself.‘Nevermind, I had dealt with weirder things,’ she shrugged in her mind and summoned a sword. The sword flew at high speed and slashed the mountain walls, bringing down rubbles and snow. Lumine walked toward the trembling Fatui calmly after the Frozen status was dispelled.“Is it her? That thing?” One of them asked another. His voice was tense.“No, she left Dragonspine alone, and there isn’t any fog indicating her arrival, she isn’t it,” the Pyro Agent replied. He sounded more composed than the rest. The rest also looked relieved at that.“Paimon, what are they talking about?” Lumine whispered.“It’s our little cousin. They tend to get scared of you after you turned an entire region into a no-man zone by yourself,” the air vibrated and words sounded directly into her ear.“I didn’t expect that from Amber,” Lumine commented.“A lot of people don’t expect that from our little cousin. But her nature will always shine through. That’s part of being us,” Paimon said.Lumine made a noise of agreement. Their nature was one of the very few things that can tie them after all.She looked at the Fatui troopers in front of her, who were starting to look at her with worry.“What are you doing here? State your purpose or else,” Lumine mustered as much threatening voice as she could into her voice.“Yes, we are telling you nothing. Just kill us,” the agent said with a cold, emotionless tone.Lumine smirked savagely, “Do you honestly think you can die? As long as I don’t give my permission, see if death will dare to claim you”.With a resounding clang, a dull sword dropped in front of the Pyro Agent. Lumine looked at him with a bored look. As if saying to him to go on, do that. With trembling hands, Pyro Agent touched the sword and looked up into her eyes. Lumine just smiled.“Hmph!”Without any hesitation, Pyro Agent directly stabbed the sword into his chest. However, to his horror, he was still standing. The glove hand reached inside the chest and yanked out. A heart, most of it was already torn apart by the sword, however, from the veins, one can see blood flowing. Through pain, Pyro Agent threw away his heart and even then, he found himself still standing.“Wh-What sort of monster are you?” He gritted out.“The kind that will only let you die if you give me what I want,” Lumine.“We will not betray the Tsaritsa,” he defiantly proclaimed.“We shall see if you maintain that resolve after experiencing countless deaths,” Lumine retorted, her voice tinged with boredom. With a sudden snap, the Fatui agents crumbled to dust. In the next moment, Lumine snapped again, and they were restored.“How does the sensation of dying feel?” Lumine inquired, a wicked amusement hidden within her words. In truth, she hadn't truly ended their lives. She had captured their souls and memories, a mere illusion of death. With each recreation of their bodies, their torment was prolonged.The Fatui trembled and shivered while Lumine waited in tensing silence.“It… it was so cold. Even the wrath of the Tsaritsa pales in comparison. Please, spare us. I will tell you everything you wish to know,” the Fatui pleaded, their voices quivering with fear.“Good choice,” Lumine said cheerily, “spill, what are you doing here?”“We are here to study the corpse of Abyss Dragon, Durin under Lord Harbinger Il Dottore's orders”.Lumine raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar name, she looked at Paimon who went silent suddenly.“Do you know this Dottore person, Paimon?” Lumine asked in curiosity.“You can say that. If he is involved in this, then, we can't let Amber know about this. She will flip out,” Paimon said with a tired sigh.Lumine's hands swiftly swiped through the air, causing the head of Fatui to roll and once pristine snow to be stained crimson. The image left a striking impression.“I can sense a story here,” Lumine commented in curiosity.“Well, to start with, much of Amber's animosity toward Fatui came from him. This person was a grade-A scumbag. All sorts of morally questionable things, he has done them. Experimenting on children was just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, Amber had this little friend, someone she practically treated as her sister and kid, I guess. Well, that kid was experimented on by Dottore and suffered a lot, after much hardship, reached toward Mondstadt, right into Amber's heart and the rest is history,” Paimon said.“Huh, then how is this Dottore person still alive?” Lumine asked, flabbergasted.“Actually no, Amber killed him. A few hundred times, to be exact. But he just popped right back,” Paimon explained with exaggerated body gestures.“If you ask me, though, I will say that Amber is treating him as a stress relief. Even now, Amber would occasionally go and kill him,” Paimon concluded with a shrug.“Interesting, I wonder how he keeps himself alive,” Lumine wondered.“Probably clones, it's all the rage with these mad scientist types,” the Great Paimon shared her wisdom.“You are right,” Lumine agreed.“Anyway, since we know what they are doing here, and it doesn't matter much, let's continue our journey. Hmm, let's go to the camp first, though. Dragonspine is a dangerous place, for mortals, that is. There may be someone who would need our help there,” Paimon suggested.“Okay,” Lumine agreed readily. Helping people, destroying civilizations, killing people, it's all on par the course with her usual actions.They made their way toward the camp at the base of Dragonspine. It was a small little camp made by a chef for weary adventures to rest and prepare for the harsh journeys ahead. The leader of the camp was an Adventure named Iris, the elder sister of Cyrus, Mondstadt's Adventure Guild's branch master and aunt to Marjorie.“Hello, travellers, is something the matter? I see that you come down from the location of Dragonspine…..well, whatever reasons for being here may be, stay on your guard all the time. Situations on Dragonspine are getting worse,” Iris said in succession.“Thank you. We are planning to scale the mountain. Is there anything you need help with?” Lumine asked.“Hmm, you seem like a strong Adventure and seeing that both of you are already there, I will trust you,” Iris said after a bit of contemplation.“... Aside from harsh conditions, this mountain is also home to some strange …ice. It is incredibly hard to break and will not melt when exposed to fire. Worst of all, a few roads have been blocked by this ice. Quite a few of our expedition teams have been forced to turn back after being blocked by ice barricades that they could not get around,” she sighed, “I wonder when we're going to find a way to get rid of that ice”.“We will have a look at it,” Lumine said reassuringly.“Thank you, please stay safe,” Iris said.“..... By the way, can I trouble you with another commission?” Iris asked.“Sure,” Lumine readily agreed.“Can you talk with Joel? His father has disappeared while on an expedition to Dragonspine's summit. Joel is that child who was by the camp’s edge,” Iris requested.“Will do,” Lumine nodded and walked away toward the place where a young kid was looking at the snow-covered mountain with a worried look.“Hello,” Lumine said gently.“Who's th— No, Daddy said that I should be more polite…,” Joel shouted startled, “how do you do?” he schooled himself and rectified his earlier slip-up.“Hello,” Lumine greeted simply, “Iris sent me. I am an Adventure about to go on an expedition on Dragonspine, she said you have a commission for me,” Lumine continued.Joel's face brightened up, “my father, he's an adventurer. He said that he would come to pick me up and that we'd go watch the snow together. But the time we arranged has come and gone, and he isn't here yet. I thought that he must have found some rare and precious treasure map or something, which is why he hasn't come to find me yet. That has to be it, right? So I came to Dragonspine by myself. If he's not going to come find me, then I'll go looking for him… Or so I thought. However, it's been so long and he hasn't come back yet. Miss Adventure, can you please help me look for him? I wanted to go search for him, but the Knight wouldn't let me. So I'm stuck here waiting for Daddy to come back. I'll see him for sure, though. We promised to go see the snow together. There's no way that he'd break his promise”.“He'll be fine,” Lumine reassured him.“Thank you. I don't have much to give but please, take this pocket watch with you,” he presented a pocket watch. Lumine weighed it in her hand. She felt an unknown flow of ambitions and ideals inside it.“I wanted to give it to Daddy, but I could never find the chance. If you're going up the mountain, you should take it. Hope it'll bring you good luck. Have a safe trip!” Joel said with a firmness uncharacteristic in a young child's eyes.“Don't worry,” Lumine smirked, “nothing can harm me,” she said with confidence.“See you around then, kid,” Lumine said her farewell.“Goodbye. Well, I've seen the snow. Now all that's left is to find Daddy,” Joel remained, eyes locked toward the mountain.Lumine and Paimon slowly walked toward the site of Dragonspine, or in Paimon's case, float. “Well, I guess, that's it,” Paimon looked over two commissions in the Adventure Handbook and said.“First quest is straightforward enough. Second quest though. It won't be easy. Dragonspine, like many places in Teyvat, is filled with many secrets. Not to mention whether Joel's father would be still alive or not. Dragonspine is a harsh place,” Paimon commented after much deliberation.“That's a concern, yes. Even then, we still have to find him. We have to at least find a body, even if he is dead,” Lumine said with conviction.“…. You are right, we have already accepted the quest after all,” Paimon agreed.In the distance, storms raged and the wind howled. The ominous mountain, cursed by Heaven and filled with despair, sat still like a beast, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
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Their expedition was estimated to be longer than it should have been due to the unusual rise in monster activities and snowstorms and Paimon’s incessant request to stop by and have snacks every 15 minutes or so. However, it was quite enjoyable camping out in the snow. She even got some interesting meat from the wild boars frozen in ice. How did it get there, and how did it get frozen like that? She would never know. She chalked it off as one of life's great mysteries. ‘Still, isn’t this one a little bit too big and too strong for a wild boar?’ she thought as she faced the Boar King. She had just been minding her business on one of the many cliffsides of the Dragonspine, thawing out frozen boars and killing them for chilled meat when this creature showed up. Calling up hail and snow with a stomp, and its minions with another. With those actions alone, she was quite sure this wasn’t a mortal creature. It was the king of the mountain. With this creature’s strength alone, barring some bizarre entities, not many creatures in this mountain would be its match. As expected of the king of a race that thrived in this frozen and rough place. “Paimon, I choose you!” Lumine shouted. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Paimon said, offended. Suddenly, misty tentacles rolled up from behind her. They straightened and pierced through the boar in a single shot. The boar then dissolved into a bunch of frozen meat. Lumine smiled at her. “It’s something from a world I once stopped by. That was an interesting world, run by a Divine Llama of all things,” Lumine sighed in nostalgia. They were now sitting beside a campfire near a monument. “You know, hearing you saying all that makes Paimon want to pick up wandering again,” Paimon said while drinking the soup Lumine prepared. “Why did you stop?” Lumine added more wood to the fire. “Well, things happened would be the best way to say,” Paimon sighed, “Anyhow, after this travel, Paimon thinks she will pick up on it again”. “That’s the spirit,” Lumine said and added more soup to Paimon’s bowl, and Paimon laughed. “We have travelled together for just a short time, but Paimon doesn’t think she could part with your cooking”. Lumine smirked, “Then, you could follow us. Me and Aether”. “It sounds fun. Maybe,” Paimon muttered. “Shall we continue, then?” Lumine stood up and stretched her back. “Alright,” Paimon floated. The mountain climbing was relatively simple enough. However, Lumine was trying the wing-free challenge, as simply flying through it would just betray the spirit of hiking. “Okay,” Lumine exerted her hand and jumped toward the gripping place. However, to her and Paimon’s surprise, the wall crumbled, and she tumbled down. Lumine briefly thanked her enduring structure as she fell toward the bottom of the cavern. When she finally stopped, she was assaulted by incessant laughter from Paimon. “Sure, laugh it off, at least I am not a cheater,” Lumine controlled her blush and said. Her embarrassment was bleeding from her words. “It's not Paimon's fault. Without flying, Paimon wouldn't be able to keep up with you with her small body,” the little fae-like creature immediately defended herself. Lumine looked at her with amusement. “Who asked you to be in this form? You brought this upon yourself,” Lumine said mercilessly. “Hmph, it would be troublesome for Paimon to be in her full form,” Paimon crossed her hands and stomped on the air. “Is that a story I hear?” Lumine asked with curiosity. Paimon just sighed. “You will know it as you go through this journey anyway,” she finally said. “Anyway, welcome to the Starglow Cavern,” Paimon announced, extending her hands dramatically. Lumine gazed around the cavern, where gentle light streamed in from the overhead opening, illuminating crystalline stalagmites and stalactites. The light sprinkled into myriad colours, casting a mesmerizing, wonderland-like glow throughout the entire cavern. “It’s beautiful,” she finally said after taking in the sight for a few moments. “Hehe,” Paimon laughed happily, “Paimon knew you would react like this. All these colours are reminding you of your home, aren’t they?” “Yes, they remind me of being under the shades of MOTHER,” Lumine agreed. “Okay, if Paimon remembers correctly, that would lead us to the top of Dragonspine, and we can go to Dragonspine from there,” Paimon pointed toward an opening blocked out by raging wind and storms. “Let's go!” Lumine fist pumped and Paimon followed suit. Lumine then proceeded to erase Hilichurls, guide Seeles toward their courts, and find treasures, things that are on par with the course for an Adventurer. Finally, she reached the top. And found a lonely cliff with a lone Ruin Grader sitting quietly. Amidst the winds and snow, she stepped forward. “Wow, the wind is something else here,” Paimon said as something unseen shifted in her and she steadied as if she wasn't to be unsullied by any forces. “You are cheating again,” Lumine pouted which Paimon only replied with smug laughs. Lumine tentatively stepped before the gigantic Ruin Machine and waved her hand when it didn't react. “Is this broken?” She mused. “Paimon doesn't think so. She believes someone left a puzzle here to cut off the energy. See?” she pointed toward a puzzle piece. “Understood,” Lumine said and quickly solved the puzzle. With a quiet roar of the engine, the mechanical monster came back to life. She quickly drew her Sol's Dictator and started to blast away the robot. It was an impressive structure. It took the strike of the rod head-on and came out only slightly singed. “Khaenri'ahn machines are made to last,” Paimon said with misplaced pride. “No shit, this thing took a flare from a star even if that wasn't the maximum output but …” Lumine quickly dashed to the side as the place she was standing was impacted by missiles, “still it had the entire heat and energy of a solar flare, regardless. Most things would be disintegrated”. “Eh, well, just from design alone, Paimon could tell it isn't just any Ruin Grader, it's a weapon made to trade blows with beings at the levels of gods,” Paimon said thoughtfully. “Noted,” Lumine dismissed the rod and took out a sword. It had a jet-black blade made of seemingly crystalline materials and an ornate hilt made out of silver-coloured metal. She grasped the handle firmly and a faintly shining circuit made of many colours came to life in the blade. Her left foot stomped into the ground, and she tensed and straightened her body, facing the Ruin Machine. Then, she tilted her body forward a bit and let out a flurry of rapid attacks. Her left hand which was holding the sword blurred. Strikes which were devoid of noise contacted the rampaging machine and the area around it, cutting them into thousands of parts. She then beautifully twirled the sword and dismissed it. Lumine picked up a chunk of the Ruin Machine and carefully examined it under the curious gaze of Paimon. “This composition and material…this was Aether's work,” Lumine declared with a frown. “You said this machine was from Khaenri'ah, right?” Lumine addressed to Paimon. “Yes,” Paimon affirmed. “To release this sort of material to this world and at such scale…what were you thinking, Aether?” Lumine said with a complicated look. “Let's go. To the peak,” Lumine said to Paimon who was hovering silently beside her. Paimon immediately perked up and said, “Great! You just need to climb this,” she pointed to a steep cliff where the snowstorm was blowing ceaselessly. Lumine looked at the debris flying around the storm, the steep wall of the mountain, and said, “Nope,” then jumped down. “Where are you going?” Paimon yelled and followed her from behind. “I am finding a proper way. No way I am climbing up from that way,” Lumine adamantly refused. Paimon looked disappointed but conceded. “Well, if so, then let's find a way to calm the storm first,” she said. “Let's find the clue first. Iris said there are strange ices blocking the paths. Let's go what is going on there first,” Paimon said and went ahead. Lumine hurriedly ran after her. They first appeared near the Skyfrost tree and approached the strange ice. “Hmm, I can feel the authority belongs to Celestia from it,” Paimon said speculatively. “Let's thaw it out first,” Paimon said, and she gestured to Lumine. Lumine immediately brandished the rod and sent a wave of solar flare directed toward it. Contrary to the Ruin Machine, the ice was erased and from it, a shard came out and immediately flew toward the summit. “Well, that went well. Let's go back to Iris to report it. We may as well make a chained commission out of it to get more reward,” Paimon said with mirth leaving out of her voice. “That works too, I guess,” Lumine agreed. She immediately ran toward the direction of the camp with Paimon holding nestling comfortably on her head. Lumine jumped onto a cliff. Then, she jumped again, leaving a fractured cliff under her feet. Then, she grabbed another wall of a mountain and clawed deep into the stone and launched herself toward the sky. “Yayy,” Paimon shouted in glee, and Lumine smiled widely as they fell toward the camp. The residents shouted in alarms when they fell toward the edge of the camp and destroyed the ground. Lumine made a note to fix it after this. “Well, that's quite an explosive entrance you two made” The duo was greeted by the frowning face of Iris. “Hehe, sorry about that,” Paimon said without a hint of remorse. “Yes, right, please let her not be another Klee, my liver isn’t prepared for that. What is so important that you decided to come here like that?” Iris asked. “We, mostly because it was fun. *Cough* we found the ice,” Paimon said. “Did you? So, what did you manage to learn?” Iris asked now in business mode. “Well, the good news is they seem harmless, mostly,” Paimon said. “And?” “Well…,” Paimon’s expression turned serious, “Paimon believes whatever going on up there is a matter related to the Divine. It would be wise for you to not interfere,” she said seriously. “Are you sure?” Iris's expression turned alarmed instead. “Very sure,” Paimon confirmed. Iris sighed, “for such things to happen when there are Stormterror attacks and Chief Alchemist Albedo is away on a mission”. “Chief Alchemist?” Lumine asked. “Yes, the Chief Alchemist of the Knight of Favonius, Albedo, had a lab somewhere in the Dragonspine. He spends a lot of time there. Albedo is an extremely powerful alchemist so with him, there won’t be much to worry about even if the matter is as serious as it is,” Iris said with a wry smile. “You seem to be taking this matter seriously,” Lumine said in wonder. Iris smiled a little, “I was an active adventure back then, a successful one at that too and when you got around as much as I was, you will know there are certain matters, no matter how implausible they are, must be taken seriously. That include matters regarding the Divine too,” she shuddered, “you wouldn’t believe how many adventures lost their lives because they didn’t heed the warnings ahead”. “That sounds…healthy,” Lumine commented. “Very much so,” Iris chuckled. “It seems this matter will not be solved anytime soon. I would have to report about this to the Adventurers’ Guild,” she said while looking at the peaks of Dragonspine. “We can help!” Paimon exclaimed. At Iris's curious look, “we are strong. We can take on whatever that mountain throws us at,” Paimon placed both of her hands on her hip and raised her chin. Lumine couldn’t help but pat her head, “What are yo- hey! You are ruining Paimon’s moment here. Stop!” “As she said, we are plenty strong, don’t worry,” Lumine assured the adventurer. “Still, I can’t in good conscience allow you to do that without knowing your capabilities myself first. Lumine and Paimon stopped to think for a moment first and then pointed to a ravine just a few distances away from the camp and said, “See that? That was Traveller’s handiwork’. Iris and the campers surrounding them stopped for a minute and then blinked and blinked again before breaking out in surprise and shock. “That was…. Unexpected,” Iris eventually settled back her stunned expression into a professional mask. “However, I have to go report about this first. If what you have said was true, then, I can’t think someone who would be more suitable for this matter, Lady Lumine,” she made an odd bow and left. “Oh, that was the etiquette of when speaking to a god,” Paimon explained the odd behaviour of the adventurer. “I thought all gods except the Archons are dead,” Lumine questioned. “Well, yes, but you can say that the lines between living and death are tad a bit blurred in matters regarding gods. Gods are natural phenomena and shapes gaining sentience through various means, for example, Barbatos who is a wisp of thousand winds, the gods of Eternity and Transience and Light, Raiden Ei and Makoto, who are strikes of celestial Lightings gained sentience, Lupus Boreas, the North Winds into a form, and Egeria, the previous Hydro Archon whose true form is that of countless rivers flowing through the entirety of Teyvat. So, you can see how hard it would be to truly kill gods. Even now, they are still lurking in the shadows, finding ways to regain their influence. Of course, that would be pointless so long as the Seven still reigns as most of them expend their energy throughout the lands to keep them at bay except for Liyue where the Geo Archon made Adepti do it in his stead,” Paimon put on her glass and made a rough explanation of the situation of Teyvat and its gods. “I see. This is very much all interesting,” Lumine commented, “thank you for explaining,” she gently smiled and showed appreciation which made Paimon beamed. Paimon giddily danced a bit and said, “Ooh, Paimon is hungry. Let's see what the chef had. Paimon heard the meals here are hearty and delicious”. “Sure, let's go,” Lumine agreed readily, and both of them strolled toward the makeshift kitchen and dining area of the camp. After a few moments, Iris came back. *Pant* “Okay, I have reported the matters to the Adventurers’ Guild and confirmed your involvement in Stormterror’s attack on Mondstadt. As such, as the Adventurers’ Guild representative, I hereby commission you to solve the problem of strange ices on the mountain. Do you accept this?” Iris immediately said between breaths. “Uh, okay, we will take this,” Paimon agreed. “That’s good,” now calmed, Iris replied. “By the way, that was quick. There are quite a few distances between Mondstadt and the camp, isn’t it?” Paimon questioned. Iris laughed carefreely, “Oh, the mount was too slowed, so I ran all the way”. “You…run…back and forth between Mondstadt and the camp?” stunned, Paimon questioned again. “Yes. That was refreshing, it’s been a while since I exerted myself like that,” Iris said with a smile. “Oookay,” Paimon drawled. “Anyway, we will go back to Dragonspine then,” Paimon said. As they were about to depart, they were disturbed by a voice, “Miss Traveller, Paimon, please wait!” It was Joel. “I finally managed to meet you again. I was looking at daddy's notes and found another clue regarding where daddy might be. In a note, he said he would be exploring upward the Snow-covered Path, then he would head over to the outskirts of the Entombed City before going for mountain's summit. There might be some clue about the whereabouts of daddy there,” Joel said. “Noted. Don't worry, kid. We promise we will surely find your father. If it comes down to this, I guess a little cheating would be acceptable,” She mumbled out the last part but from Paimon's smug grin, she knew she was heard. Cheater. “Thank you, Miss Traveller and Paimon,” Joel gave a huge smile and Lumine couldn't help but smile along too. With that, they are back at Dragonspine again. This time, they decided to directly go for the Starglow Cavern by directly blasting a path. “What about no cheating?” Paimon yelled amidst the constant bombardments toward the rock walls.“Rule of cool takes precedent,” Lumine simply replied. “That sounds stupid, but whatever, it’s quicker this way, anyway,” Paimon said to Lumine who was sitting on a charging railgun mounted on a tank. “Where did you get this anyway?” Paimon asked, eyeing the stylised Infinity symbol on the machine. “Oh, stole and repurposed it from some nerd called Welt,” Lumine answered nonchalantly. “Huh,” was Paimon’s response. With that, the comfortable silence between them settled again, barring the noises from the constant barrage of the artillery, of course. “... Do you think we could have dinner in there?”“It’s 3 in the evening, Paimon”. “Well, Paimon feels like it’s dinner time already”. *Sigh* “Fine” “Yayy”.
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“So...” Paimon starts.“So…” Lumine reluctantly says.“Let’s forget this ever happens and move on?” Paimon suggests.“Sound good to me,” Lumine agrees and float away to not leave any trace from a destroyed camp and a certain Chief Alchemist on the ground with a bump on his head.After away from their serendipity run-in with the Chief Alchemist, they continue on toward the mountain peak. They have been taking detours as for a mountain that is famed for harsh conditions and how deadly it is, there are surprising numbers of visitors who desperately need helps. Lumine laments a bit as they haven’t found Joel’s dad, yet. Also, they have to thaw out the strange ices of divine authority.As they go higher and higher, the harsh winds turn into outright heavy storms. Were they simply a mortal, they would have been blown away or killed by debris and winds. However, Lumine can already feels it. The source of the suppression pressing over this land. A power that subsumed the very world itself.“That’s some serious power,” Lumine comments.“Yes, unfortunately it was a necessity. The Abyss had already starting to subsume the leylines through from the branch here. So, they had to suppress all things before it could escape,” Paimon explains.“That reminds me. What is the Abyss? I keep hearing about that,” Lumine asks as she swats away a boulder coming at her.“Hmm… how should Paimon says? The Abyss is a complex subject. Basically, it’s an unknown. It can be a person, an information, even an event, so, something that’s not of this world and actively and passively harmful to it, Paimon guess,” Paimon sagely nods as she explains.“Interesting,” Lumine thoughtfully says.“Then, what happened here?” Lumine is quite curious.“Well, the Second happened. When the Descender first came into this world, with her, she brought knowledge that would be her and this world’s undoing. The First fears what would become of their Utopia and took drastic measures to prevent that. In the end, they decided that instead of losing an entire world, it is better to lose just some of it. And the rest is history,” they arrives at a ruined site of what seems to be an academic institution.“I see,” Lumine looks at debris of what was once grand building. In her mind, for a moment, she could almost see people walking through it in its heydays. Such ruins, littered throughout the mountain brings the feeling of melancholy to those who witness them. For a moment, Lumine remembers her original home. That place, once too, was glorious.“Where were you at that time?” Lumine asks Paimon.“Ehe”.That reply doesn’t fill Lumina with any confidence.“Anyhow, we are close!” Palimony’s voice stings through her ears like a syringe and she is brought back to present.“Closer to where?” she asks as they are a good distance away from the peak.“The vault!” Palimony answers with a smile, “You seem quite interested in the history”.“Well, yes, that is the part of travelling. Seeing new people and learning new things,” Lumine replies with a tone that says ‘obviously’.“Of course, well, if you want to learn more about the history of this place, the ancient vault would be the start. Usually we would need keys, but Paimon went in back then by turning into smoke. Paimon is sure you have your own way,” Paimon says.“Alright,” Lumine nods, clearly curious in whatever the secret the vault is holding.Soon, after some Hilichruls which Lumina absolutely demolished, they have arrived in front of a sealed vault.“This is the one,” Paimon says.Lumine looks at the sealing mechanism, and with a few touches in places, the gears inside turn and change. With great force, the door slide aside. Inside were a few treasure chests which she and Paimon happily store away to put them into better uses. Lumine also takes a recipe for a great sword. She decides to give it to Order of Favonius.Lumine then turns her head towards the murals on the wall. She holds out her palm and in a burst of starlight, a cube-shaped device appears. Multi-colours zigzag lines are running across the dark metal encasing and there is a crystal ball in the centre surrounds by metal case. It is then sets onto the ground gently. A brief scanning light washes over the room. Soon, a narrating voice comes out from it.
Before ice and snow set upon the mountain that is called Dragonspine, it was once a verdant, flourishing mountain. It was called Vindagnyr, and the kingdom that ruled it was called Sal Vindagnyr. The people who lived there took refuge on the mountain, away from the blizzards that plagued Mond before Barbatos’ time. With the gifts from the Heaven, they built their city on the mountain and flourished for a time.
“Interesting,” Lumine comments on the narration while Paimon is looking at the device with an intriguing look.“That is an interesting device,” Paimon says.“Well, we just want some dramatic when we are uncovering ancient secrets or hidden mysteries, mostly. It has the ability to peek back towards the past no matter how distorted or manipulated it is, so, it’s useful in uncovering the Truth as to what really happens back then,” Lumine explains.“What does it call?” Paimon asks.“Well, we haven’t really decided on the name so in the end, we just call it Flashback Device,” Lumine shrugs.“Very innovative name,” Paimon deadpans. Lumine just looks on with amusement.“Okay! We are about to reach the peak! Hmm, are you feeling it, Traveller?” Paimon says with uncharacteristically serious tone.“Yes,” Lumine says, she too is a little muted. Because, she can feel it, on that peak, a presence intimately familiar to her. A symbolic tool. Lumine is a member of a race called Vibrant Dryads. Each of them, in addition to their name given by their mortal parents, have the additional names after their chosen professions or hobbies and depending on them, they would make a symbolic tool. It would be a device almost on par with their raw power. A tool capable of bringing about True Miracles. For Lumine who has chosen the name “Traveller”, her symbolic tool is her wings.For a Vibrant to abandon her symbolic tool means they are sealing off that part of herself and returning to their mortal origin. It would be like cutting off all things that is “her” and reducing one’s self to nothing. It’s a dreadful thing.Lumine glares where the presence is coming but it offers no answer.With that, the two focuses on hiking.Lumina believes there should be said thing called *Angry Paimon Noises* and indeed, there is said thing. To be more accurate, she has been watching Paimon huffs and rages with no words only frustrated noises. She is terribly cute like this.“It’s just wind, Paimon. You shouldn’t get angry at winds, they are just doing their job, you know, blowing things and stuff. Next time, I will tie a rope for you, all right? Pff!” Lumine consoles Paimon calmly.“Ohhh, Paimon can get angry at the winds, Paimon can very much get angry at the wind! Next time Paimon sees a green themed clown, he is so getting it!,” Like that, Paimon declares revenge on totally an unrelated person. Lumine can only nod her head with approval at this.With great effort they arrives at the mountain top.“Huh, so those ices from before are here,” Lumine comments.“Melt it,” Paimon says and Lumine takes out the rod. She briefly wonders if she should just name it ‘Hot Stick’ and then, she remembers her brother’s face of pure condescension last time she suggests that, so, later for now.She blasts a beam of plasma at the ice and they melt under the heat. What was underneath shine with divine glow and move upward reform into a nail.“The Skyfrost Nail. It’s been a while I last saw it,” Paimon comment.Lumine looks at the nail glowing with divine authority, suppressing everything underneath it with curiosity. However, what she is more curious would be in the middle of the peak, in a frozen domain. It’s hitting her with full force.SisterHer sister. One of her own. A bond that is as true as the bond between her and Aether. Lumine’s heart reach out with fondness, but there is nothing but only a heart, seals under the borrowed powers of Heaven. Lumine grits her teeth in frustration. She wonders what pushes one of her sister, so. It doesn’t matter, her sister wishes to conceal herself for now, so she will respect her wish, however, she is sure, as she travels through this world and becomes more renowned, her sister will show up herself by choice. It’s in their nature to cherish their family, after all.Lumine steps into the domain and peers at the centre of it. There, on a pedestal materialised by countless flowing waters of thousands colours, a beautiful crown made of corals and jewels. Tentatively, she steps forward and extends a hesitant hand. The restrictions flares as it blasts off suppression. Lumine and Paimon are fine due to their nature. However, even Archons would have trouble continuing if they face with this suppression.Yet, there in lies the problem. Normally, if a Vibrant truly doesn’t want anyone to approach it, even the existence folding on itself wouldn’t let anyone barring them approach it.‘She must’ve been so young,’ Lumine thinks in her head.She grabs the crown. It resists in her hand after being removed from the pedestal. She releases it and it flies away somewhere Northwest.“Umm,” Paimon says uncertainly.“Whether she accepts it back or not will be her choice. However, we both know this is inevitable. She will have accepts it back eventually. We are allowed to play being mortals. Nonetheless, no one can deny our nature, not even us. Heh, foolish,” Lumine calmly says.“…Alright,” Paimon agrees.Lumine takes out the Flashback device once again. It scans the domain and continue the story of the snowy mountain.
To find a solution to the problem, they asked an outlander, Imunlaukr, to find a way to stop the cold. He was close to the princess, who waited for his return and also gave him the Snow-Tombed Starsilver sword. She had dedicated a fresco to the hero to be completed upon his return, but her words never reached him through the storm.
While he was gone, the Skyfrost Nail split into three, landing on the Starglow Cavern, an underground chamber, and on the spot where their tree grew. Noticing the state of the tree, the princess took it upon herself to pick its most complete branch and tried to graft it onto a healthy one. It did not take, and the princess died in the snowstorm near her attempt.
Another also tried healing the Ley Lines connected to the tree, but they had all withered and any attempts were for naught. They brought the princess to be buried in the Starglow Cavern. With no princess, and no hope for surviving the sheer cold and endless blizzards, the people succumbed to its fate.
Imunlaukr returned unsuccessful in his hunt for answers and found the city abandoned and its inhabitants dead. Cursing the gods of Celestia, he left the city and the sword he was given to find a place where he could fight.
“Quite a tragic tale, isn’t it? It’s almost an epic tale,” Lumine states after hearing the rest of the story.“This is human nature,” Paimon just says simply.Lumine gazes at the lone pillar floating in the sky.“Yes,” at that moment, she remembers her homeland. It is a tale so tragic yet so great. A world-ending epic. The glory of a civilization so great, they weave stars and use skies as stepping board. Alas, in the end, only two remains.In the end, only Nihility remains.‘However,’ Lumine muses, ‘who must be punished have been punished and the past has faded to the past. Let bygone be bygone’.