#rwnd

---

Prologue: A Dream?

The Twins Are United At Last

Tyvet Has Been Seen

Replay the game from the very start?

Tyvet Has Been Saved

Tyvet Says Thank You

The Twins Must Leave

To Explore New Worlds

This Is Goodbye

Travelers

Thank You For Playing

Take Care Travelers

The Stars May Shine Over You All

-Mihoyo

That was the ending message. The last thing you'd ever see of the game. Billions around the world had scrambled to finish their playthroughs to watch the very last livestream Mihoyo would ever send- at least for Genshin Impact. Who knows what other games there would be. Like the new addition to Honkai Impact: Guardian Trail

The livestream was bittersweet. Every character was showcased. From all of Mondstat to all of Khaenri'ah, including every dead character being featured. All the voice actors had been gathered and gave their farewells, each leaving with a heartfelt message.

At the end of the livestream the devs of the game made an appearance.

"Due to popular demand, the game will still run after you finish but there will be no new content. Events will be rerun and no new world quests, hangouts or characters will occur. You can continue on your current account or have a fresh start. We thank you for play Genshin Impact. Goodbye Genshin Impact and goodbye Travelers."

And then it cut to black. One last Goodbye flashed on the screen before the stream died, leaving billions devastated yet content. I was among those billions. Years spent playing the game, investing in characters and equipment. And now we've reached the end. Lumine and Aether had finally been reunited and were headed to their next adventure.

I let out a sigh and leaned heavily against my chair, staring at the Goodbye and reading it over and over again until it didn't even look like a word anymore. I should get up soon. I had chores to do. I wasn't a teenager with no responsibility anymore. There were dishes that needed to be washed, clothes that needed to be cleaned. Just as I was about to get up from my desk a ding rang out from my computer.

I debated on if I should open it. If I did, who knows how long I'd push back being responsible. But if I didn't, the curiosity would eat me alive…

Against my better judgement I looked to see where the ding came from. After a bit of looking I came to the Genshin launcher, which showed a picture of the twins in a white flower field, waving goodbye to the camera with serene smiles on their faces. Though the image was obstructed with a window that said [Start over from the beginning?]

"Start over? Maybe Mihoyo thought some people would rather restart their account than make a new one? Maybe restarting gives some extra benefits?" I mused out loud as my mouse hovered over the [Accept] box. Right before I pressed it I glanced at the clock, seeing how late it was getting. "I'll restart and get started on those chores. I'll check it out when I'm done."

Little did I know, those would be the last words I said. At least in this timeline.

After I pressed [Accept] it felt like time stopped. Everything went still. The quiet buzzing of the AC stopped, the gentle squeaks of my guinea pigs ceased, the faint chatter from outside halted. Even the acanio upstairs stopped playing his music- it was impossible to get him to stop playing without a police visitation. I froze, unsure what to do before the world slowly started going black. I tried holding onto my consciousness but it was a futile effort.

The next time I opened my eyes something was different. No- even before my eyes opened I knew something was different. My bed was much more uncomfortable than it's ever been, it almost felt like back when I was a teenager and like hard mattresses. There were no stuffed animals smothering me and I swear I could feel a dog curled up next to me. Which should be impossible as the last time I had a dog was when I was a teenager. Which I am not.

When I opened my eyes I had to blink harder. I couldn't see any! The world was blurry and too out of focus. I haven't had to deal with this since I turned twenty three and got corrective eye surgery. Which was four years ago.

Was… was it all a dream? Were the last eleven years of my life… a dream? Everything I worked for? Everything I did? Did it not matter? Did I just imagine it? Did clicking that stupid accept button wake me up?

I rolled onto my back, disturbing the dog next to me, and covered my eyes with my arm, hiding the slowly building tears that had started to gather. "Fucking hell... I think I made a mistake." I whispered out, wincing at how high pitched my voice was. Would my voice become as deep as it was in my dream? Or would it get more annoying?

"(Y/N)! Wake up! Breakfast is ready!" I heard my mom yell from down the hall.

I slowly lowered my arm and let it rest over my stomach, staring up at the ceiling. Tears slowly clouded my vision, making my already blurry vision even worse. I wiped my eyes, hoping the unwanted liquid was the only reason I couldn't see. After trying to focus on seeing clearly I gave up, looking over to the messy blob or brown fur. "How long was I asleep Fox? It definitely felt like years. And I'm not even well rested."

The dog only rolled over, letting me pet her stomach. Despite not wanting to get out of bed I knew I had to get up at some point, least my mom comes in my room to drag me out herself. I wonder if anything from my dream will come true.