a blog about my obsessions

“Hey, hey, there’s no need for that. We should rest and continue on our way once the moon sets.” You tried to reason but Childe had already conjured his own dual water blades. 

  “Come, have some tea with me.” Zhongli patted the seat beside him. You sighed in exasperation as you sat beside him. He handed you a new, hot cup of tea that you gladly accepted as your eyes followed Childe and Xiao out of the cavern.

  “This is going to be a long journey.” You said, listening in on the sounds of blades clashing.

  “Are you sure Yin really is here?” The sudden change of topic startled you and you looked at Zhongli quizzically.

  “What do you mean?” Why would he suddenly bring up your yaksha?

  “My loss of gnosis is very recent. I don't believe I would’ve missed it if someone as powerful as a yaksha stepped onto my territory. Perhaps she is no longer here or she never was in the first place.” He stated as he calmly sipped his tea. “Or perhaps have you come here seeking something else?” He knew something wasn't right with you. He noticed it the moment he saw you, saw it in the way you talked and the moment you had first laid your eyes upon Xiao.

“I-...” He was as perceptive as always, that or because he’d known you since you were a newborn god, had trained you and watched you grow into the feared yet respected Celestial Goddess you once were. “There is something else, that’s true,” you replied. 

 You didn't know how to continue though. How do you explain the sudden desire you’d felt to come back to Liyue, the weird nostalgic feeling you had once you finally stepped in its borders, the constricting of your lungs when you’d first seen Xiao or the mysterious agony that had overwhelmed you when you’d seen the half-frozen tree. 

  Was Zhongli’s trust in you wavering? So soon? On another hand, perhaps he was right. He couldn't have missed the fact that a yaksha had stepped into his domain. He would’ve definitely felt it. Or was it something else? It seemed that since you’d arrived in Liyue there always was something else.

  “Nonetheless, my priority is Yin. I’ve never been this close to finding her. I can’t give up now, Zhongli.” You said, turning to him with pleading eyes. 

“You know I’d never refuse to help you, you don't need to look at me like that. No matter what you say, you are still the current God of the Moon and I would never disobey you.” He stated as a matter of fact, continuing to sip on his tea ever so calmly.

  A silent rage swirled in your chest as you turned your whole body towards him. “I want you to help me because you’re you and I’m me, not because of your duties as an Archon to obey the Celestials. I want you to help me because Yin fought for you in the Archon war when she swore she’d never fight again just because of what you meant to me. Because I know how much she hates herself that she wasn't there when I-” You cut yourself off, you didn't want to finish the sentence. 

 Zhongli’s eyes closed in phantom pain as memories he didn't want to remember resurfaced. Images of your lifeless body, covered in blood flashed before his eyes. He knew that if Yin was with you instead of with him, perhaps what happened to you on the night of your descent from Celestia wouldn't have happened.

 “I’m sorry, Zhongli.” You were just guilt-tripping him at this point with how you were phrasing things. You were never too good at expressing yourself with words.

 “You need not apologise. You are indeed correct. My duties to you as an Archon may be over, but I am still your life long friend and I am willing to help you find Yin no matter what.” If you didn't know him like the back of your hand, you’d say he was emotionless when he said that. But you could hear the underlying determination coming from his words. 

  You smiled at yourself as you drank your tea, “Thank you, Zhongli. I promise you she is here in Liyue. I can feel it. Her constellation has never shone brighter.” Zhongli hummed as he poured himself another cup.

      Something shook you awake from your slumber. You opened your eyes and was met with the golden ones of Xiao and the restless figure of Zhongli. You hadn’t even noticed you had fallen asleep the night before. 

  “Wake up. Childe is missing.” What? 

  “What? How? I thought someone was keeping watch?” You looked around - the fire had long been extinguished, the tea was cold and the moon still hadn’t set. By the looks of it, it was close to early morning.

  Xiao ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. “I was keeping watch outside and Rex Lapis came over to discuss… something. By the time he went back in, the annoying harbinger was gone.” 

  “I see… Then we have no choice but to look for him.” You pulled yourself up. What was Childe up to? “Since you were both outside when he vanished… then there’s only one direction he could’ve gone.” 

   The deeper you walked into the cave the darker it got. You couldn't hear any sounds, even Zhongli couldn't feel any vibration in the stone floor. It was as if Childe had disappeared into thin air. 

  “How much deeper does this cave go? We’re losing light. We should've brought torches.” Xiao pondered. 

 Well, you could help with that couldn't you? You took off one of your gloves and concentrated on the pyro vision within you and brought it forth to your palm, lighting the cave around you. The small crescent moon sigil at the back of your hand glowed gently in response. 

  “You shouldn't do that.” Xiao said, grabbing onto your wrist, looking at the fire, or more likely into the slowly reddening flesh around the flame. 

 Your body had the ability to wield all seven elements but the downsides to that were the fact that it couldn't adapt to just one. Cryo was too cold, Pyro burned you and Electro electrocuted more often than not. But how did Xiao know that? Sure, it wasn't hidden knowledge that the Celestial Gods possessed all elements but it was a strictly kept secret that your bodies couldn't withstand them for long periods of time, so that no one could use that weakness against Celestia itself.

  You looked at Zhongli in question, perhaps he was the one that told him. Out of all the seven Archons, only Zhongli knew of your predicament. But Zhongli wore the same confused expression you did. So how did Xiao know? You decided not to comment on it right now. You had a harbinger to find.

  “Don't worry, I’m okay. This is nothing.” You smiled softly at Xiao. It felt nice to have the normally stone cold yaksha care for something as small as a slight burn on your hand. If you had a heart perhaps it’d skip a beat.

  The deeper you went into the cave the more lost you got in your own thoughts about the previous peculiar events. Of Xiao’s knowledge and his familiarity with you. It felt so out of place.

  “I feel something.” Zhongli spoke up, his deep voice echoed inside the cave. 

  “What is it?” You tried to listen in but you couldn't hear anything. 

  “I can’t tell which way it's coming from.” In front of you were two long, dark corridors.

  “Do we split up?” The moment the words left your mouth, the ground shook beneath your feet. Xiao immediately held you steady by the arm while his free hand found purchase on the nearby wall. “I guess we don't need to split up after all.” 

  The rumbling of earth was coming from the right corridor. When the earthquake stopped, you walked forward following the loud noises. You could see an exit at the end of the constricting tunnel, dim light that wasn't there before, shining through it.

  Out of nowhere, Xiao gently grabbed your wrist again. “You should extinguish that before we go any further.” Ah, yes, Childe wasn't supposed to know. You quickly extinguished the flame in your palm and was about to put on your glove when you noticed Xiao wasn’t letting go of your wrist.

  “I know some herbs that help with burns. We should look for some later.” He said, looking intently at your reddened palm before finally letting go of your wrist and walking forward. Instead of the wound itself burning, it was the skin that he had touched along with your reddening cheeks. 

  Before you could dwell on the action even more there was another earthquake and this time you could hear the sounds of fighting and… a roar? What exactly was at the end of the tunnel? You hurried til the end of it just in time to watch Childe being thrown high into the air by what seemed to be a moving assortment of… boulders? It looked like big rocks being held together by pure elemental energy. It stood in the middle of a giant cave opening with light shining through a hole in the ceiling.

  “I haven't seen one of these in a long time.” Zhongli seemed all to calm as he mused with a hand on his chin. 

  “Comrades! Took you long enough to join me!” Childe had noticed you from across the field and waved enthusiastically before he was thrown into the air once more. 

“We should help!” You ran without even thinking, the instincts beaten into you kicking in. Xiao told Childe you had an electro vision, so you had to be mindful not to impulsively use any other element. That seemed easy enough. You could do it.

  “Don't run into danger out of the blue!” Xiao growled from behind you as he ran after you and toward the stone creature.

  “I wonder if they can take down a geovishap by themselves and her… being able to use only one of her elements, she’s not used to that.” Zhongli stood silently at the sidelines to observe you fight. He wondered if you still used the techniques he taught you. 

  “I am not going to believe you if you say you only heard of the commotion until now.” Childe landed beside you and wiped the blood at the side of his mouth.

  “Where did you even go?” You asked him, paying half attention to the stone monster’s position. It seemed to have backed up a little, wary of the newcomers. 

  “My hands were itching for a fight after the disappointing one I had with this little adeptus,” Childe replied, panting. 

 He looked a little beaten up which surprised you a little. When you'd watched him fight Xiao last night, he looked like a very talented fighter.

“You were really this disappointed over losing? Don't fret it, not many can beat me.” Xiao said from beside you. 

 He looked just a little bit smug, which put an annoyed expression on Childe’s face.

“I didn't lose! I was just -” 

  “Can you stop fighting for just a moment? We need to find a way to stop this thing.” You interrupted him. 

 You didn't need them fighting each other and the giant boulder that looked as if it made up its mind that you were the enemy and was getting ready to charge at you. 

 “We can't attack it head first without thinking of some strategy. Not many elements work against geo creatu-” You stopped. 

 Childe was already charging at it, a water bow in his hand and trying to shoot the tiny shiny thing on its forehead. Something you guessed was a potential weak point. You sighed in annoyance and looked at Xiao, trying to silently communicate to him. He gave you a small nod. You both charged at the monster, following Childe. All the while you manifested a white sword in your hand, infusing it with as much electro as you could muster.

 Childe’s water attacks didn't even phase the monster, you tried to stupify it with your electro charges but it wasn't’ working. Xiao was trying to immobilise its feet but it proved futile. It’s geo skin seemed harder than any other geo enemy’s. You knew if you and Childe weren't there to get in the way of his attacks he would’ve been done with the monster already.

 You noticed that last night, too. How swift and fast his movements were, with every swing from his spear precise and thought out. The way he moved felt like art to you.

 “Nothing seems to work against it.” You said after you put some distance between it.

 “We just need to take out that silver sigil from its forehead.” Childe jumped next to you, having been flung yet again in the air. “I accidentally awoke it by placing that thing into some engraved stone. Never thought it’d awake a giant angry boulder monster like that,” he chuckled. 

 He was enjoying this, this fight and the fact that he couldn't beat the creature as easily. The masochist.

 “I need to take a closer look. If the right strategy would be to try and take out the sigil then why do you have us trying to beat it into submission.” You looked pointedly at Childe and he only laughed at you in response. 

 “I’ll watch your back while you try to get close to its forehead. Be careful of its arms - they may look like they are not even going for you but when they hit the ground, it’ll send you flying.” Xiao spoke. He didn't have one scratch on him, his fast movements evaded every attack of the monster.

 “As much as I’d like to continue this exciting fight, I guess we do need to head out soon. Be careful, ojou-chan.” Childe winked at you and then he was off.

The harbinger distracted the creature while Xiao leapt around you, watching its every movement, deflecting some of the strikes coming towards you. After jumping around, circling around the creature you managed to land on its back. The moment it felt you it tried to fling you off, shaking uncontrollably. Yelping, you tried to hold onto some of its stone scales and slowly climbed up to its head. 

 Its head was even more unsteady than the rest of its body, swinging it around wildly. You were just about to grab the sigil before you lost your footing and nearly slipped off save for one hand trying to desperately hold on. You struggled to pull yourself up as you were swung around. You barely managed to grab onto the sigil, eyes widening at the symbol on it before you were completely thrown off from the creature. 

  Your thoughts were still fogged with the surprise you felt to even try to land a clean landing. You closed your eyes and braced for impact, but it never came. Instead you felt warm arms catch you and swiftly jump from stone to stone. You opened your eyes to see Xiao, eyes concentrated on not getting hit by one of the many crumbling stones.

 Looking back you watched the creature continuously hit the ground with its crumbling arms, creating one shock wave after another. This couldn't be good and Xiao knew that as well.

 “Hold tight.” He muttered into your ear as he held you closer. 

 You weaved your arms around him and hid your head in his neck as you watched the creature wail pitifully as it crumbled away into nothing. However, the ground still continued to shake as it split in two as the ceiling caved in on itself. It was complete chaos from that moment on.  You watched Childe stumble before he was steadied by a stone pillar made by Zhongli who you guessed was nearby, after that you lost sight of them both.

It’s been 3000 years since you last saw her. You weren’t even sure if she was alive until her constellation had shown in the sky, as bright as ever. You had felt such relief you cried the whole night.

Despite that, millenia passed and you still hadn’t found her. With your weak powers all you could do is wait for the centuries to pass before her constellation was supposed to make another round and show up in the night sky. Last time that happened was 14 days ago and the stars had pointed you  here in Liyue. You promised yourself this time you’d find her.

You rounded the corner of a tight passage between two stone walls under mountain Hulao and was met with a giant tree, one branch of it had seemed to have turned into ice, bright glowing flowers grew near its roots. It was beautiful in its own tragic way. You saw how the ice weighed down one side of it and no leaves grew on it. An itch spread across your chest the more you looked at it.

As if in a trance you walked closer to it, the closer you were the more that itch became an ache. You didn’t blink, didn't breathe, just walked closer and closer. You felt past echoes of screams that sounded too familiar to your own, an ancient power you hadn’t felt in millennia came in waves through the tree.  

All of a sudden an agonising pain overtook your whole body. You clutched your chest in pain, your breathing laboured and your eyes wanted to squeeze shut from the pain but you simply couldn’t tear them off the tree. Your body was used to pain, having endured millenia of it. But this pain was so different than any sword or arrow could cause.

It started from the deepest depths of your heart, traveled along every nerve of your body and made your eyes burn with hot tears. The screams were louder, there was blood on the trunk of the tree, there were arrows blasing by your head, blood on your hands. What was happening? Why did it hurt so much? Someone make the screams stop, someon-

A hand landed on your shoulder to keep you steady. You hadn’t noticed you were on your knees, trembling hands clutching your heart.

“Are you okay? What happened?” You realised the person who had showed up was Xiao.

You opened your mouth to answer but your throat was constricted. It seemed as if Xiao didn’t even need an answer, seeing you stare so intently at the half frozen tree.

Wordlessly he slid an arm around your waist and hoisted you up, helping you walk back through the narrow path between the mountains and setting you down under the shadow of a nearby tree. You breathed deeply, now that tree was out of sight the ache in your chest seemed to wither. You realised Xiao was sitting across from you, hands in the air as if he wasn’t sure on what to do next, his amber eyes glowed with an emotion you didn't recognise. Was it concern? You tried to lighten the mood a bit as you took another deep breath and released it as a soft laugh.

“I’m sorry. I don't know what happened back there. I apologise if I startled you.” You brushed your tears away with the sleeve of your shirt.

Your words seemed to calm him down as the peculiar emotion left his face and he put his hands back down. You didn’t know what to say. How do you explain yourself when you weren't sure what happened in the first place.

Why did seeing the half frozen tree suddenly trigger such a reaction from you? It felt like a phantom wound had reopened in your chest, a long forgotten agony, swept in the deepest part of your mind.

But why? This is the first time you’re seeing this particular tree, no event had taken place here that you could remember. So why?

“Stop thinking so much.” The voice beside you startled you.

“I’m sorry,” you started. “Stop apologising so much.” His eyes were fixated on you, over your body as if checking for injuries, for discomfort. He hesitated for a second before he looked away and said, “Are you okay?”

“Ah, there’s no need to worry. Pain doesn’t phase me much.” You missed the way his body tensed at your words. “I’m just… confused.”

Xiao had only hummed as a reply.

“Were there ever any major battles that have taken place here?” You settled on asking.

“Liyue is an old place. There have been numerous battles that have taken place and will continue to take place. As a celestial god you should already know that.”

You simply nodded, not replying. Perhaps you had felt the emotions of someone or something during a battle that had happened around the tree. Maybe it had absorbed the intensity of it and sealed it in its core. The previous Moon Gods have had quite high sensitivity to spirits and spiritual signs of power. Unfortunately, your own talents didn't lie there, you were more of a warrior but maybe it had awoken it in you?

A flicker on your forehead took you up from your deep thoughts. You looked up in confusion. Xiao had flicked his fingers against your forehead.

“I said stop thinking so much. This tree has a lot of history to it. Aren't you celestial beings attuned to underlying powers?”

You realised he was trying to calm your fast breathing. It seemed so uncharacteristic of him.

“Yes, that’s true. However, it just seemed as if-” as if you were there when whatever happened took place. You shook your head to clear it of such thoughts. If you were there why didn't you remember? You were an old god, old gods had good memory. Zhongli was proof of that. You wouldn't forget something so major.

You sat in silence for a while as you took slow, deep breaths until you spoke again. Something clicked in your brain all of a sudden. “You were there that night weren't you?”

He didn't bother turning to you and just hummed. You turned to him instead. He was laying against the tree, eyes closed and arms crossed. He looked peaceful and the more you looked at his closed eyes the more the ache in your heart seemed to slowly return.

You turned your eyes away. “Why were you so irritated? I could feel it from miles away.”

“You were too loud,” he simply replied.

“What?” You were sure you hadn't uttered a word that night.

“Your prayers. They were too loud,” he added, noticing your confused expression.

“Oh.” He could hear you? Someone actually heard your prayers?

“Why are you staring at me like that?” His eyebrows creased, the more you looked at him. Why did you have that look in your eyes? Why did your eyes sparkle as if he’d done something no god has ever done.

“You listened.” That’s all you said but you didn't need to say more. The crease in his brow relaxed and that same unrecognisable emotion that he had whenever he looked at you showed up again. You wanted to figure out what it was.

Xiao seemed to act differently towards you, his actions screamed familiarity, as if he’d done this before. You wondered if perhaps you had met at some point of your travels. You reminisced of all the remarkable people you had met so far in your thousands years of life. Yet none of them were anyone resembling Xiao. You’d remember him if you’d ever met him.

Then again, you hadn't visited Liyue in 2000 years and from what Zhongli had told you, the yaksha had kept to his duties for just as long.

You opened your mouth to ask him -

“I apologise for my lateness.” Zhongli had appeared behind you with a tall ginger man in tow.

“Why is he here?” Xiao growled in annoyance as he got up from his place under the tree.

“Oh? Does it bother you that I'm here? Guess I'm gonna have a better time than I thought,” he chuckled lowly. Xiao seemed to want to pounce on him the moment he set his eyes on you, a glint forming in his eyes and mouth turning up into a smirk. “And who do we have here? What is such a pretty lady doing with a short adeptus and an Archon without a gnosis?” He took a step closer to you.

“Oh, I’m-” Before you could introduce yourself, Xiao had stepped in front of you, stopping the taller man in his tracks.

“She’s no one you have to concern yourself with.” Xiao almost growled the words out. You caught Zhongli’s eyes behind the ginger and he shook his head subtly. He didn't want this stranger knowing who you are.

“Hm. Well, I’m Childe but you can call me Tartaglia, pretty lady,” he winked at you.

“Rex Lapis, may I ask once again what is he doing here? I don’t remember you telling me he’s joining.” Xiao asked, still standing in front of you.

“It wasn’t exactly my wish either, but he overheard me telling Hu Tao I’m taking an indefinite leave and decided to follow me.” Zhongli sighed out, a hand on his forehead. “However, he can be useful. The lands beyond my adepti’s protection are dangerous. I don't have my full power back and Xiao’s collateral damage may show detrimental and attract unwanted attention.” Xiao huffed at that and turned his head away with a ‘tsk’. Zhongli was right.

“And what about you? Do you possess a vision?” Childe walked around Xiao in his state of distraction.

“Hm? Oh… uhm…” What were you supposed to say? You had to hide who you were from this strange man.

“She’s electro, now move.” Xiao had put a hand Childe’s chest to push him away from you again.

You didn't understand why Xiao’s was suddenly acting this way. Nor why he was protecting you so vehemently but you knew there was something he knew that you didn't. It was surely connected to that unnamable look in his eyes that he had only when he looked at you.

Zhongli spoke up in the middle of the tension. “I’m sorry for interrupting your chatter-” Xiao ‘tsk’ed again at the wording, “- but we must start moving if we want to reach our destination before the sun sets.”

And so you had walked half a day before the sun had started to set and Zhongli led you to a cave in the mountains, saying the group should rest here for the night.

You started a fire while Zhongli took out some food from a bag he carried.

“Since there is a human in our group, I have taken some rations for along the way,” he said but from the looks of the food in his hands, it just seemed like dishes from a restaurant.

“So, ojou-chan,” Childe took to calling you that at some point on your way, “Zhongli wasn't exactly clear as to why we’re going on this journey.”

“I’m looking for someone,” you replied. Zhongli took out a whole tea cup set and had started brewing a little bit of water over the fire.

“And who exactly is this someone?” Childe asked with a curious glint in his eyes.

You weren't sure if you could share with him so you looked over at Zhongli and then at Xiao, asking silently for approval. Zhongli didn't seem to be paying attention as he was too busy pouring tea in 4 small cups, but Xiao was intently staring at you and Childe over the small fire pit. As soon as you looked at him in question, he seemed to contemplate the answer in his head before he slowly nodded, eyes completely focused on Childe as you turned to him.

“I’m looking for a yaksha.”

“But you have one here?” He asked, his head turning to you in curiosity.

“There is another yaksha, a female. She’s…” you weren't sure how to continue without giving away what you weren't supposed to. “She’s a friend of mine that I lost a long time ago. Her tracks led me here in Liyue so that’s why I came and asked help from Zhongli.”

“And how do you know Zhongli?” He really was relentless, picking apart every sentence. Now you understood why Zhongli and Xiao didn't want you telling him exactly who you were.

You hadn't discussed this beforehand with Xiao and Zhongli so you didn't know exactly how to go about with your story. Were you going to play it off as a mortal or could you somehow weave some truth into your lie? You had to decide for yourself. You breathed out.

“I am not a mortal.” His eyes sparkled at that, a smile graced his features but it seemed dangerous in a way you couldn't describe.

“Oh? Is that so, Ojou-chan?” His voice held an interested lull to it.

“Don't get too excited. I am not an Archon. I am but a simple god with mere electro powers. If it wasn't for Zhongli who protected me during the Archon war I wouldn't have survived.” You weaved your lies easily.

The predatory look in his eyes told you enough as to why Zhongli and Xiao wanted you to hide the truth from him. He was dangerous in a sly way. He reminded you of a wolf that stalked their prey from afar, played with it to test its powers just to beat them down in an instant.

“So are you willing to help me find the yaksha?” You looked into his eyes with determined eyes.

And yet here you were, the God of all gods, praying for someone else to come and help you. Pathetic.

But you were desperate for someone to hear your wish, to rescue you and so you stayed all night, praying until you could barely feel your legs.

If you didn’t know better, you would have already confronted the man who had watched you the whole night from a distance far off in the forest of mountains. You could feel his wariness and his disdain, for what, you didn’t know. You had already felt the fact that he was no mortal, waves of condensed, rippling power coming from his direction miles away.

Once the sun rose, so did you. Supporting yourself on a nearby rock wall, you allowed your weak legs to gain circulation back to them and dusted off your white attire. You had a long day ahead.

Knocking on the funeral parlour door, you were surprised to be greeted by a short girl with brown hair and red eyes.  

“Welcome, welcome! My name is Hu Tao and I am here to provide you with our funeral services! How may I assist you?” She spoke in a high and excited voice. She seemed a little too hyper to be working for a funeral parlour but to be fair, in all your years of life, it wasn’t the most peculiar thing you’ve seen.

“Uhm...” You were unsure how to continue. “I am looking for someone actually.”

“Oooh? And who may that be?” Her eyes lit up with curiosity. She reminded you of a small child.

But you weren't sure who exactly you were looking for. You haven't seen him in 3000 years, you didn’t know what form he might've taken this time. If it was even a ‘he’, but the stars had led you here and you trusted them more than you trusted anything else.

You had to guess. “A man?”  

The girl, Hu Tao, pouted and crossed her arms childishly. “Everyone’s always looking for Zhongli and never me! Hmph!” You smiled sheepishly at her cute display of annoyance as she stepped aside to let you in.

The parlour wasn’t anything extravagant but you could see it was doing well enough to have all kinds of commodities. You stepped into a giant room with a long table in the middle, and as your eyes followed the length of it, at the head of it you saw a man.

He was sipping his tea, eyes closed and demeanour calm but as soon as his eyes opened, you knew. It was him.

The second you stepped into the room his golden eyes had snapped open and landed on you. He studied you for a second before those same gorgeous eyes widened. The sudden pressure in the room made the eccentric girl beside you obviously uncomfortable.

“I-I guess I’ll leave you two here to talk things out,” she said and she exited the room with hurried steps.

“You...” He seemed to not be able to form any further words and his eyes had filled with the foreign feeling you had recognized as hope. “You’re alive?”

“Have been for some time,” you chuckled and scratched the back of your neck uncomfortably; you really didn’t want to talk about it. “how have you been, Rex Lapis?”

That seemed to take him out of his stupor as he regained his usual calm demeanour, even though his eyes would still not leave your form as if you’d vanish into thin air at any moment.

“It’s Zhongli now,” he cleared his throat “Rex Lapis is no more.” He said and pulled out a chair for you to sit, “but you knew I hadn’t actually passed away did you, neither Gods nor Archons could ever escape your sight.”

“Isn’t that my job anyway? To be an observer and a protector-”, you laughed softly “or at least it was at one point in time. However, that’s not why I'm here, Rex L-, sorry, Zhongli. I need your help.”

“I am glad to offer my help, anyway I can, but you must know – my power is not what it used to be,” he said solemnly.

“What? Why? I knew something must be wrong as soon as I heard about your death but at the same time your constellation stayed as bright as ever.”

“I made a deal with the Tsaritsa. I gave her my gnosis,” he said as calm as ever. As if he didn’t just say he gave away the most precious thing to an Archon. You’d be furious if it wasn’t Rex Lapis himself, the god you’d known for over 4000 years and knew he’d never do anything irrational without having thought it out.

So as calm as he himself was, you asked simply. “Why?”

“Liyue’s protection and its people are my first priority. You might have heard already that the Tsaritsa is planning a revolution, a war against Celestia itself. It would be no easy feat and it will require sacrifice – I cannot allow my people to be that sacrifice,” he sipped his tea. “You must also be careful, as a God born from Celestia itself, once it’s destroyed so will your powers fade.”

“I know, that is why I looked for you. I need to find someone before that happens, my powers are only enough to point me in a vague direction but ever since that night 3000 years ago, they’re a quarter from what they used to be, I am not strong enough.” You sighed and held your hands in a fist over your weakness. Because of that fateful night 3 millennia ago, you were now reduced to begging for help – something your pride didn’t allow you to.

It was quiet for a few moments and you could feel his gaze on you. “I’d ask you what happened but I’m sure you don’t want to talk about it.”

You breathed out in relief, “Thank you, Zhongli.”

“I may not be able to help out much. Ever since I gave away my gnosis my powers have also waned, I haven’t had enough time for them to recover. However I know who can.” He seemed to have finished his tea and stood up from his chair.

Looking at him fully now, you could see the similarities of his stature and face to the one you remembered 4000 years ago. You knew he probably never meant to go back to godhood ever again, but he seemed happy where he was and that relieved you more than you thought it would.

“Shall we go, little lady.” He outstretched his elbow for you to take and laughed softly the moment he noticed your annoyed expression.

“I’ve told you a million times not to call me that!”

The full moon was high in the sky when you crossed a wooden bridge and could finally see the giant tree – hotel hybrid up close. It looked much bigger than you had thought it would at first. It’s height intimidating against the moonlit night sky. You and Zhongli used the elevator and got to the top floor.

“You can see every point in Liyue from here!” you exclaimed excitedly, leaning over the ledge of the balcony.

When you had entered a lady at the front desk had only nodded at you and Zhongli wordlessly, letting you through. You figured this was a place Zhongli frequented often. The view was as beautiful as you thought it would be, the gentle light of the moon covering everything in a beautiful silver colour.

“Rex Lapis, what may I do for you?” You heard a deep voice from behind you, turning around in time to see the boy bowing at Zhongli.

Your eyes met his golden ones and time seemed to stop for a moment. You felt pressure constricting your lungs and an unfamiliar feeling building in your chest. You didn’t understand what was happening, you weren’t even able to think, your head felt lightweight and heavy at the same time. There was a tiny ache right where your heart was supposed to be.

Yet, he also stood there, those golden eyes wide in surprise and something else you couldn’t recognise. His fingers twitched once, then twice as if hesitating before he slowly outstretched his hand towards you.  

That seemed to wake you up from your state and as if you had just jolted awake you shook your head to get rid of that weird feeling that had made every hair on your body stand on end.

“I-I’m sorry, have I met you before?” You asked him quietly, eyebrows creased.

His outstretched hand stopped in its tracks before it fell down lifelessly by his side. His golden irises clouded with confusion for a split second before his expression turned blank, as if that whole exchange hadn’t even happened in the first place.

He turned away from you and towards Zhongli with his arms crossed against his chest. “No, we have not.”  

It was like a lightbulb went off in your head. He was the person who had watched you for the whole night praying during the Lantern Festival! That must be it. You had felt his irritation at you from miles away, so this must be it. You had done something to disrespect him surely.

You had almost forgotten Zhongli was even here before he cleared his throat to get your attention, having watched the whole display in front of him with eyes filled with confusion. You could feel the cogs in his brain turning, thinking, analysing.