掠夺 | Genshin Impact

𝔄𝔠𝔱 2

That night Asira dreamt of a dove, pure white in its plumage and yet dawned in patchwork armor, carrying a tambourine that rung out in harsh chimes of crashing metal. It flew and flew, wings steady until a spark of black fire burst from its epicenter, smell of burning flesh flooding her lungs as its heart charred.

Smoke obscured her view, choking her as it billowed out, harsh clouds suffocating the once blue sky. She can't breathe. Collapsing to the floor, she gags, desperate for air and yet the thick smoke offers her nothing but embers. And their impermanence stains the darkness.

Crash, an echo of metal.

She jolts up with a heave, chest throbbing as it finally tastes sweet air, head spinning with the intensity of it. When she regains feeling of her limbs a violent shiver rocks her body. Asira looks down to find herself surrounded by snow, skin pricked with needles of ice and numbing blue.

"Hurry up Птичка! Else I'll leave you behind!"

That voice...

"No fair, I know you froze my feet! Slow down, Ajax!"

Asira sees two children tumble against the snow, throwing snowballs and swinging wooden swords. But that smile freezes as she realizes she recognizes the dying grove of trees the children wander into, forest turning fatally quiet. There is a crack in the ice and it happens, the ground gives way as the children fall, endlessly, into the Abyss.

Crash, an echo of metal.

Her world is thrust into darkness once more, and yet this time it is not the light but the stench of blood that forces her awake. She's covered in the red liquid and it streams down her face, coats her hands, and drips from her trembling body onto the navy floor beneath her.

"Wake up!" No, "Ajax!" No, please, not this one, "Ajax, wake up!"

Through the red staining her vision she sees herself, kneeling over a boy's limp body, epicenter in the pool of red as a horde of monsters draw near. Asira screams, tiny fists buried against Ajax's blood soaked shirt, quivering as she blindly swings around a broken sword. The monsters draw nearer.

A child stumbles out from the horde, but where his right arm should be a horrifying bundle of black muscle and fur sprout.

"Why did you do this to us?" He drags his feet, legs cracking as they morph with each step, sickening crunch of bones jerking the child's body forward until he spasms on the floor. "Why! God lover, why is it that you get to live? Do our hearts not beat the same melody of life! Curse you, curse Gold who made us so, curse the gods and their selfish vows of love, curse the dove and the raven for—"

The boy's voice cracks into a scream, his jaw ripping in two as bone plunges out from the cracks. Blood streams from his skull, gushing onto the the floor of the Abyss as bone grows to shield his face, muffling his cries until only distorted growls can be heard. Where the boy once stood a monster remained, bloody marks forever etched into the bony mask that could never be removed.

Is this what you wanted, god lover? Is this the life of power Gold promised you? Because before me, I see no living souls left, only those cursed with the dying dream of dreaming.

So what say you, god lover? Will you finally accept Her and free your people, or will you continue to be strung along by the threads of fate for all of eternity?