掠夺 | Genshin Impact

𝔓𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢

My dear child, have you heard the story of the Gods?

Their tales of victory and woe, tales of great love and betrayal, tales of the very stars and the threads of destiny?

Yes, my child, the blood of the Gods now soars in our veins, as they roam Teyvat through you and me. The constellations that once summoned the mighty beings on Mount Olympus now do your bidding, their legacy and regrets passed on in an eternal melody only the sun and moon can whisper at the peak of dawn and dusk. Their melodies for only you to hear.

I've sung the songs of Leo Minor, Monoceros Caeli, and Pavo Ocellus, but have you heard the tragedy that is Corvus? The most loyal, intelligent, and beautiful of the gods' servants, only to be destroyed, ignorant of her dying cries and they tore apart her wings and carved out her heart, letting her tears and blood pool into the sky. All due to the unforgiving wrath of a single God.

Corvus was an unnamed enchantress, body purer than the dove's as she flew with the blessing of the moonlight. Her master was Apollo, then God of sun and light, prophecy and youth, his cries of freedom still echo through our Archons Barbados, and his love of the Arts thrive through Baal. Known not only for her plumage, but for unmatched intelligence, one that rivaled Athena's own, Corvus was one deeply loved by Apollo as his most worthy servant.

And Corvus loved the God threefold.

However, such a relation could never persist with Master and Servant, and so Corvus kept her heart's sole reason for beating secret until Apollo himself tore it out from her chest.

The Gods were not bound by mortal lineage, nor were they by earthly morals or law. And so Apollo fell for a mortal, and despite the consequences— not to him but to his mortal, it is truth no matter what a God does, another will harbor his curse for him— claimed her, a noble princess then known as Coronis of Thessalian. Corvus was a master in the art of reconnaissance, none escaping her watchful eye, and she was tasked with watching Apollo's dear Coronis.

And watch she did.

She watched her Master fall in love with another, she watched as they fell beside one another and conversed with hushed whispers, words dripping like honey from her tongue to his, she watched as they shared lingering touches and the vows of man and woman of god and goddess, she watched as they began and ended their sunsets in the other's grasp, sharing kisses that rivaled the passion of Aphrodite. Passion that could only ever appear to Corvus as the chilling ghost of warmth from the empty winter winds.

But Apollo could only be entertained by a mortal for so long.

Duty and the thunderous demands of Zeus forced the God back to Olympus, but not before he departed with a kiss to both Coronis and to their unborn child, tasking Corvus to watch his mortal, and, if anything should happen, to report to him at once. And accept she did.

Corvus stayed, training her eyes to the lover, the wife, and bearer of her Master's child day in and day out, until one dawn she spread her wings only to notice another man laying beside Coronis. Ischys, a mortal worth no more to Corvus than the dirt under her talons or the maggots within the earth, slept with Coronis, a moral who had tasted the forbidden fruit and the love of a God. 

Oh, that foolish mortal. Did she not know the blessing that was carried with the vows of a god? She was granted the memory of Apollo's silky touch along her body, she had felt his lips dance along her skin, and she had his demigod child beating within her. Oh! But what could a mere Servant do? Her eyes knew not of tears nor the cries of treachery. And so she flew. She flew to her Master, willing and wishing that, perhaps, he will witness this dishonest and revolting nature of mortals, and finally accept his servant?

A fool.

Corvus was nothing more than a fool.

She flew to Olympus, her wings threatening to fail her and her voice became raw and throat bled from her screams. Pushing past the point of return as she flew beyond the heavens and up to her Master, only her loyalty and this accused thing called love forcing her forward. Finally Corvus arrived at Apollo's side, and she told him of his lover's secret deeds, that Ischys son of Elatus had wedded Coronis the daughter of Phlegyas of birth divine.

My child, if you take away anything let it be this— the Gods know nothing of what it means to be mortal. Not of loyalty, not of pain, and certainly not of love.

Corvus had barely finished uttering the words of Coronis' treachery, when, at the same time her wings, Corvus, croaking Raven, were suddenly changed to black, as her very soul was set aflame. She was once a bird with silver-white plumage, equal to the plumage of the spotless doves, equal to the divine beauty that graced Venus Urania, those saviors of Olympus with their watchful cries, outshining the swan, the lover of rivers. Her speech condemned her. Because of her ready speech Corvus, who was once ethereal white, was now white's opposite.

Apollo burned her, burned through her tears and through her cries, burning until charred black and until the only thing remaining was her heart. That, upon all that has happened and all that was to come, still beat for her Master.

Corvus was banished to the sky, her white plumage, heavenly beauty, and voice of ambrosia no more, as she was chained to the inky black sky, her tears overflowing the chalice of the night as she was met with her eternal prison of stars.

The constellation of Corvus, The Raven, and tragedy that follows her lives on in Teyvat and in our own world my child. As those who bear her constellation bear not only her legacy and Vision but also her festering rage, unrestrained sorrow, and this poison we call love.

And they are destined to burn.

┏━━༻✦༺━━┓

greetings traveler, so you have stumbled upon this epic? 

warning, will contain mature scenes, gore, heartbreak, and a chalice of your tears. 

ready? then we shall commence.

will include Diluc, Kaeya, Childe, and Zhongli 

alongside many others.