NOCTURN BRIDE • genshin Impact | ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY.

alas, her eyelids seemed to get heavier—consciousness slowly drifted away, and got further, as did life. 

however, the fear of death was nowhere to be sought.

with a satisfied smile; one that she'd perhaps barely put onto her face. did she give on a satisfying, climatic performance? well, the apostle was sure that celestia would be satisfied with her death.

as her vision faded away, she could hear desperate shouts and calling from barbatos; don't leave me, please. oh, how much she pitied the bard, although she detested him with the bottom of her soul, more than one could ever imagine.

she once loved him. and that was a fact she could not change.

out of desperation, barbatos pleaded for help, just like anyone would do. however, unnecessary attraction would do no good. with her remaining strength, before people would gather, before rex lapis would witness her crumble in a pathetic state. she dared not want him, to witness her piteous self.

this was her contract, of being happy. and it was fulfilled.

"barbatos..." it was silent. like a world that only had the two of them, barbatos immediately dropped on his knees, grasping her cold hands that held no warmth once. she choked up blood, a fresh and venemous ooze of liquid that held the stench of eroding iron. "please... l-listen to my final request." 

"whatever is it?" using his entire willpower, the poor bard held back onto his sobs. what would he be if his world just vanished? the apostle is his world, she was his world—what would he be? it was like a kid losing both parents, an adult losing wealth, a person losing their other half. 

"don't cry... you look awful." with a silent chuckle, she started coughing up more blood. initially, she had the thought to kill barbatos. to murder him with her very hands and gauge his heart out. she wanted to do every single horrible, painful, torturous thing that she went through to him, to everyone in teyvat. "r-run..."

"what? what do you mean by-"

sure, there was a sense of lingering regret deep down. was she sure she wanted to let barbatos off the hook? no, in the first place, why did she?

"please... live another day." it was tranquil. a peaceful silence that she'd never heard in a long time, for usually, the silence ringing in her head made her blood boiled. every second of it tore her sanity apart. "and tell our story."

the apostle couldn't think straight. however, if she were to assume why she'd stabbed herself rather than barbatos; was because she wanted to die yet live. she wanted to live through fables and tales, it didn't matter how cruel she'd sound in them — the more evil, the more wicked — the better! that way, people would always talk about her. her deeds, her actions, her way of thinking; and perhaps, someday, there would be someone who could understand her.

just like that, her anticlimactic death, had reached its ending at the climax.

of course, if she could, the apostle would like to continue narrating her story. she'd wanted to witness the ugly face of barbatos, the shocked face of rex lapis, the mournful eyes from the adepti, or even the screams of despair from the civilians.

but she was dead. she is dead. 

she could not hear, nor could she see. she could not breathe, nor could she live. this is her end, and this is where her journey ends — in the hands of the wind.

of course, it was sort of a cliche death. dying in the hands of her lover, look at that! there are many similar tales of sort, yes, the apostle didn't like her ending just like others, but, it was the journey that made it different.

her death was planned since birth, her life, her journey, her everything.

when she stepped foot, along and lost, into a vast world.

in a vast, lost world, alone.

with war.

her existence was unwelcomed, weightless and unwanted.

for she was delicate, she was unsure.

so she became a religion of allure.

just to live another night. she became a cruel, viscous and ambitious creature. she became someone who used, manipulated and lied; well, this was the world she lived in. 

in fact, the apostle had lived for this very moment, well, living would be an understatement. she was just like a dead girl who was imitating a living being. just to fulfill her final role, as a gambit, a jester, a fool nonetheless. to be killed, by barbatos, what a melodramatic act indeed.

but since her role is over, she could finally close her eyes. for once, she could close her eyes without worrying, without being, without thinking, without remembering, without-

she could close her eyes.

but fret not, dearest children! for those, who had boldly assumed her tale to end there, well, yes but not quite. for there now is a tale—a myth and folktale that the winds would mourn by, the stars would weep as the rain mourned by the clouds. a song, a tale, a poem that was grieved by many others, yet admired by few. 

it all begun with the few verses that was sung by the unknown bard.

for his only reason on being alive, was her.

like a blank canvas, waiting to be completed.

for she, was the only one who'd make him feel complete.

❝ run. live another day and tell her story.❞

—

( CHAPTER XXX )

NOCTURN BRIDE
end.