ghostbird

Just like the others in her group, (Y/N) found herself in the same situation, bent over a pile of rubble with a trowel and brushes in her hands as a sifter and cleaning rag lay next to her. There were a few finds within the group, mostly broken weapon parts and tattered items belonging to the many hillichurl camps that once seemed to reside near the area. The biggest find was an old water jug excavated a few days prior in another area. Hours turned into days within the dark and desolate caverns. So, just like the others, she continued to dig, brush and chat alongside the group to keep up the morale. Digging deeper, (Y/N) noticed a small, faint glimmer as some dirt shifted from her digging. Getting excited, she carefully began brushing off the dirt and picking at the ground to show more of the artefact. Excruciatingly patient moments later, the relic was unearthed – a beautiful golden necklace depicting a serpent with blue gemstone eyes. Even with the years' worth of dirt and grime, the necklace still looked in good condition; a good bath and treatment would freshen it up in no time.

Hearing her team call for everyone to pack up for the day, (Y/N) quickly wrapped the relic in cloth and placed it in a box with other things she had found. Once everyone rejoined, they made the journey back to one of the base camps. The trek was harder uphill than the initial descent; crumbling pathways and barely-upkept bridges provided little to no stability. One of the scouts came back a few hours into the walk with bad news – the main pathway was blocked by some abyss mages. While the adventurers were skilled at fighting, they weren't on the level to beat multiple abyss mages. (Y/N) listened intently as the adventurers began plotting and pointing at the map.

"Route B is longer but has less chance of running into any enemies, while route C is shorter but has a harder climb than these."

‘Route C will be destroyed by a nearby lawachurl. Take route B.' A saccharine masculine voice echoed in (Y/N)'s head.

"Route B?" (Y/N) whispered as she looked around for who said that.

"Oh, why B?" one of the adventurers asked.

"Oh, um," seeing no one interrupt her, she continued, "none of us are that athletic, so we would take longer and get injured, possibly?"

(Y/N) trailed off as everyone looked at her.

"Sounds reasonable. Is everyone alright with the longer route?" Seeing everyone nod and agree, the adventurers led them to the chosen route.

'Thank you, whatever or whoever you were.'

Throughout the ascent, (Y/N) felt a buzzing in her head, no louder than a distant bee, like something beginning to take root in her head. By the time the group made it to the camp, the humming in her head had begun to cause her a headache. Slumping down onto the ground, she fell against her bag as the exhaustion started throbbing in her muscles. She was right; judging from how exhausted she was and how worn everyone else looked, none of them were that athletic.

"Just a few more days and then I can take a nice soak in the tub," (Y/N) muttered as she lazily opened her bag to search for food and water.

'You should investigate why we can hear each other.' The same voice echoed in her head.

"Right, I should listen to the nice voice in my head and seek a healer or a psychologist." Continuing to mutter to herself, she began to eat her food, just a pack of rations given by the Adventurers Guild.

'Maybe we can help each other.'

"Rest first, psychotic break analysis later."

One would think that hearing a mysterious voice would warrant a bigger reaction, but (Y/N) had studied carefully about the dangers the Chasm could bring: abyssal tainting; death in various ways; treasure hoarders; and, of course, hallucinations.

Several days later, the group had finally resurfaced and was ready to journey back to Liyue Harbour. By now, (Y/N) could not tell if the buzzing in her brain was from the deadly everything in the Chasm, from the exhaustion or from the overstimulation of being trapped in the same few dirty clothes for days on end. The voice occasionally returned to talk to her, not often but just enough to remind her that she should find out what is causing her to hear such things. Oddly enough, the voice only appeared to warn her of dangers around the corner.

Several more days later, everyone had finally made it to the harbour and split their own ways, with (Y/N) making a mad dash to the Wanmin restaurant and slamming down a pouch of money and telling Xianling to deliver something comforting and flavourful to her in a few hours. Once home, (Y/N) left a flurry of clothes, bags and equipment being thrown across the house in a trail leading to the bathroom.

"Now this is what I'm talking about; I have good food on the way, and I'm finally washing away the weeks' worth of filth off of me, and then I'll rest and rest and rest some more." Lounging in the hot, bubbly water, (Y/N) talked to herself as she lathered on a heap of shampoo in her hair. "Hey mysterious voice, you should have a rest day like this, in whatever afterlife you are in… If you're even dead, that is."

Pausing, she waited for the answer, but none came. Thinking that maybe she was finally beginning to lose the hallucinations, she shrugged and continued washing and humming to herself. By the time she was done, she had just enough time to get dressed in the comfiest pyjamas and fluffiest slippers and wrap her hair in a towel before Xianling came knocking at her door with her food. Slinking into the living room, (Y/N) plopped the food down onto the table and went to look through her records to set the atmosphere. Deciding on a track called 'Rhythm from the Conch', (Y/N) sat down and began happily tearing into the food. To her pleasant surprise, Xianling had made some of her favourites—dragon beard noodles with some honey char siu. Running to grab a drink from the fridge, (Y/N) returned and happily dug into the food.

Sighing happily, (Y/N) fell back onto the couch. The food was gone, the record player had played multiple songs by now, and the sun had started to shine honey-coloured cooling rays through the lace curtains in the living room. While lounging around, enjoying the comfort of being able to put her feet up and relax on what seemed like the softest couch ever, her head lolled to the side, and she noticed her adventurer pack and quickly remembered the treasures she had found. Clearing off her table, the researcher grabbed the needed tools to clean and preserve the found relics.

A slow few hours later, she was ready to tackle her best find, having warmed up on the less tricky pieces. Noticing the headache had returned, she stood up to stretch and open the window. The buzzing feeling in her head returned when she messed with the artefacts, further proving her suspicion of the two being linked. It was possible that some of the toxic fumes had seeped into the relics or the dirt residue covering them.

"Well, aren't you a beauty? Whoever lost you must have been devastated; I know I would've been." Running her fingers over the golden scales of the snake, (Y/N) spoke as she watched the light refract over the clearer parts of the surface. The necklace was shaped in the form of a long, thin snake; it was fairly light and flexible, likely meant to be shaped to fit the wearer's neck.

'I would be if I knew what you had found, archaeologist.'

"Oh great, I'm definitely breathing in poison. Glad to have you back, mysterious voice. Where were you?" Wetting a cloth, (Y/N) started to clean the surface thoroughly.

'My best guess is that whatever you're holding was away from you, so we couldn't hear each other. Now what is it you're holding?'

"Oh, it's a serpent-shaped necklace, made of gold and has a blue gemstone, agate maybe, can't tell." Looking closer at the gem, she spoke.

'Ah, that piece, I remember it. You are right; I was quite sad when I lost it, and it's labradorite, not an agate.'

"Sooo, what are you? Vengeful spirit or hallucination, because in both cases I don't want to end up in Lady Hu's services just yet."

'I am a spirit of sorts. Possibly even vengeful to some. But I think we could work something out to mutually benefit us both.'

"Alright, calling Chongyun or Shenhe it is, maybe even Dr Baizhu!"

'Now, now, didn't I help get you home safely? The least you could do is hear me out.' The voice tutted in disappointment.

"Fine, but I won't hesitate to slap a banishing talisman on you if you try anything funny."

'Fantastic, all you have to do is help release me.'

If the spirit had a body, (Y/N) imagined it draping its arms around her and pressing up against her back. "Right, and start the end times possibly? How do I know you aren't an evil spirit waiting to take over the mortal realm?" (Y/N) rolled her eyes as she continued to carefully restore the necklace, despite what the spirit possessing it was saying.

'How very astute of you, but I do see this happening in the future; it is only a matter of which road you take to get there.'

"Alright, so I'm guessing you can see into the future then? Tell me this: how about you prove that you aren't going to kill anyone if I set you free, and then maybe we can discuss this so-called future where I let you roam the planet."

'Making a deal with the likes of me? How curious. You sure are brave; not many can say they have been in your place and lived.'

"You aren't helping your case there, buddy. Hey, you don't feel through the necklace, right?"

'Sadly, I'm limited to just hearing your voice through it. Why do you ask?'

"Oh, no reason, I just didn't want to pour chemicals over it and hear you scream in agony in my head." Placing the necklace into a glass container full of liquid, she let the chemical process happen while she began cleaning up the table. "How close do I have to be to hear you, by the way?"

'I would say up to an arm's length? The further you go, the less connection we have.'

"Oh, so if I get tired of you, I can just leave you somewhere and be free."

'How hurtful, and they called me cruel.'

"Speaking of hurtful, when will the headache leave?" Lying down on the couch, (Y/N) stared at the container.

'Headache? Oh, that is probably caused by the residual abyssal energy lingering on it.'

"I'm sorry, the what?" (Y/N) sprang up, shouting at the necklace. Running away from the couch, she began frantically trying to remember what to do when dealing with abyssal contamination.

"You couldn't have warned me? ‘Oh, I might be a little evil', clearly!" She shouted – none of which was heard by her mysterious spirit. Running back to the table, she slammed her hands on it and shouted at the necklace as if it were going to come alive and help her. "Hey, you asshole with the nice voice, tell me you have a way to fix this, or so help me, I will chuck you so far into the ocean Osial will probably choke on you!"

'So vulgar. Is this how you treat all of your friends? Agree to help me, and I will tell you how to fix your little problem,' he continued, ignoring the archaeologist's colourful insults and comebacks.

"I don't know what you want from me, but sure. Better yet, let's hurry this up so I can smack you to the moon for putting me in this situation!"

'Need I remind you that you picked up the necklace and took it home?' the voice taunted; a smirk was practically audible in his tone. The moon wasn't far enough in her opinion. 'This is an old method, so listen closely.'

***

"So you're sure this charm will work?" She asked, twisting her wrist to look at the bracelet she had crafted. Even though both of their alchemical knowledge was limited, with the right instructions, they were able to weave together a sigil into a bracelet to ward off the abyssal side effects.

'I would believe so. So long as you keep it on you, you should be fine,' the voice reassured. 'Now that you have calmed down, I think we should try to reintroduce ourselves. You may call me Vedrfolnir. Now it's your turn, little researcher.'

"Vedrfolnir, huh?" (Y/N) thought, trying to figure out what nation the name could belong to. "Alright, you may call me (Y/N), and I'm not a little researcher; I'll have you know I have published a paper or two in my life."

'My mistake then. Now, with that out of the way, would you mind listening to my proposal?' Vedrfolnir asked.

"Not like I have much of a choice, so go ahead." Agreeing to his proposition, she let him continue while starting to tidy up the mess their 'little crafting session' had made.

'You see, I'm in quite a bind, to say the least. A long time ago, I was horribly sealed in a chunk of crystal by an evil group just because they didn't like what I saw in their futures. I was so alone in that crystal for so long until you just so happened to stumble upon something that belonged to me. If I don't call that fate, then I don't know what else to call it. So, how about we strike a deal? I give you prophecies of your future, and you help me escape my punishment.' His tone was overly fake, cheerful yet sombre as he spun his tale

Pausing from her chores, she thought about it. It didn't take a genius to hear the absolute lie in his speech. "I mean, you saw me back there; I'm not that good at alchemy or anything magical."

'But you can do something I can't, talk to people and observe.'

"So, I would need to find an alchemist for you?"

'Or learn from them, but yes. See? Simple, not that difficult.'

"And these prophecies you say you can give to me – how do I know they're real?"

'I led you out of the Chasm, didn't I?'

"True…" Finishing the last of the cleaning, she walked to her room and fell onto her bed. "Say, how can you see into the future?"

'A curious little one, aren't you? Very well, alas, it's not a fantasy story from a children's book where I was blessed with it as a gift from the gods. I was simply born with it. Ever since I was young, I have always been riddled with these visions of the future. At first, just mere moments later. Then, over time, I trained it to see further and further into the future.'

(Y/N) picked up on the way he said the word 'Gods' as if the word were a poison he was forced to drink. "You say it's not like a fairy tale, yet there you go saying, 'Oh, I was simply born with it.' What's next? You'll say woodland animals came scurrying to you when you called?"

Vedrfolnir laughed in her mind, the volume of it surprising her as she stared at the window on her side. He had a nice laugh, just as airy and elegant as his voice. If (Y/N) had to guess, she would say he was most likely a noble or at least someone who lived in a prestigious society, if his tone of voice and manner of speaking were anything to go by.

'Ahh, forgive me, I haven't heard such a funny thing in a while. Alas, I was never able to test that out, as the land I am from didn't have many animals that called it home.'

'Maybe he's from the desert then?' (Y/N) thought as her mind drifted to images of how Vedrfolnir and his home could have looked.

"Tell me about it another time, will you? Your home, that is." Failing to stifle a yawn, (Y/N) burrowed under the warm and thick duvet. By now, the moon was high in the sky, having risen hours earlier. The world outside was quiet, with not a soul in sight. The vendors had long since packed their wares; even the millelith had quieted down, choosing to remain at their posts.

"Goodnight, Vedrfolnir."