cluster of stars

DRYADALIS, THE PURIFIER OF EVIL.

Constellation: Mal Purificationem Element: Hydro Weapon: Polearm

DRYADALIS & XIAO

Five hundred years ago, a young girl appeared on Mt. Aocang. Her origins were a mystery, even to the adepti of Liyue. She was found alone, asleep among wildflowers blooming in a place where nothing should have existed except remnants of ancient energy and echoes of past calamities. It was Cloud Retainer who found her and decided to take her in. Though she would never admit it so simply, she ultimately raised her as one of her own disciples and gave her the name Dryadalis.

Dryadalis grew up surrounded by mountains, crystal-clear lakes, and seas of clouds atop Mt. Aocang. There, under Cloud Retainer’s guidance, she learned everything she knew and found a family in Ganyu and Shenhe. Over the years, she came to see them as sisters. Her life seemed peaceful, yet from a young age there was something that set her apart from everyone else. Dryadalis had been born marked by karmic debt. It was a burden that had always been with her. Some nights she struggled to sleep; other times she felt a pain she could not explain. There were moments when she wondered if the feeling would ever disappear. It never did.

However, alongside that curse, she was born with a strange ability. The suffering of others became more stable when she was nearby. She could not erase it or heal it completely, but she could lessen its effects. Her presence even affected karmic debt itself, soothing what would normally consume those forced to bear such a burden. It was for this reason that she eventually became a Yaksha. She was not like the ancient heroes of legend, renowned for laying waste to demons on the battlefield. Her role was different. Where others fought corruption through brute force, she kept it under control.

It was during one of her journeys that she met Xiao. The first time they crossed paths, he barely spoke to her. The moment he learned that Dryadalis was a Yaksha, however, something changed in his expression. To anyone else, it would have gone unnoticed, but she saw it.

Surprise.

And then concern.

Xiao had spent centuries watching the Yakshas disappear one by one. He had seen his companions succumb to karmic debt, lose themselves to madness, or perish while fulfilling their duty. For a long time, he believed he would be the last. That was why Dryadalis’s existence came as such a shock to him. She was a Yaksha far too young. Barely five hundred years old, compared to the more than two thousand years he had spent carrying that same burden. Every time he looked at her, he could not help but remember those he had lost.

Perhaps that was why he kept his distance from the very beginning.

For a long time, Dryadalis believed he simply disliked her. Xiao rarely initiated conversations, disappeared without warning, and always seemed to find an excuse to leave whenever she tried to get too close. But the truth was much simpler.

Xiao did not want to watch her suffer, and even less so to watch her die.

The more time he spent around her, the more obvious it became that Dryadalis was also marked by karmic debt. Though the burden she carried was different from his own, she was still a Yaksha walking the same path that had destroyed so many before her. After losing the others, the thought of watching yet another one of his kind meet the same fate was something he could not bear. So, for years, he tried to keep his distance.

What he never realized was that while he was trying to protect her from afar, Dryadalis was doing exactly the same. Every time Xiao set out to hunt demons, she followed him in secret, hiding among the trees or atop the highest cliffs so that he would never notice. She knew her presence helped regulate the karmic debt he carried, even if only slightly, and though she never dared tell him, she always made sure to stay close whenever she could.

Xiao’s attempts to keep his distance gradually began to lose their strength. Dryadalis continued to appear time and time again, whether on Mt. Aocang or during her travels across Liyue, always carrying the same natural warmth of someone who expected nothing in return. Little by little, Xiao accepted her presence. They began sharing small moments of peace far away from battles and the responsibilities they both carried on their shoulders. Sometimes they talked for hours; other times, they simply sat together, watching the clouds drift across the mountains.

Though he would never admit it out loud, Xiao grew accustomed to those moments. So much so that whenever Dryadalis disappeared for several days—whether to tend to her own responsibilities or because she needed to isolate herself due to her karmic debt—he found himself glancing toward Mt. Aocang more often than usual. He never went looking for her.

He never asked about her.

Yet his gaze always drifted toward the mist-covered peaks, searching for some sign that she had returned.

And whenever he finally saw her again, a small part of the burden he carried seemed to grow a little lighter.

"Since when, Drya?"

"What do you mean, Xiao?"

"Since when have you been using this power for my sake?"

"..."