Genshin Horror Oneshots || Genshin Impact

1.

Night started to fall over the cursed land, and Bennett's lone wandering had led him back to the center of the pandemic. All of his friends were probably dead. The lucky ones would remain that way, or be buried in the ground, the others walked Mondstadt with a senseless hunger for the living. Only the Archons knew how long it had been since Bennett had set foot in the city again, but to Bennett, they were dead too.

Bennett crouched in the bushes near the city gates, scanning the surrounding with his lime green eyes and listening for hints of movement. Two, maybe three of the walking corpses were shambling on the cobblestone streets between what used to be the Adventurer's Guild reception desk and Marjorie's shop. Their slow shuffles were all he could hear; not even a sound from the grand windmills of Mondstadt City. The wind had died in Mondstadt.

Time was running out. He gripped the handle of his blade and duck out of the bushes, dashing towards the first zombie. With one familiar motion he sliced through its neck, running his blade through the remaining two before the head of the first zombie had even hit the ground. Without looking back, he quickly surveyed the path ahead. He made his way towards the fountain, now a black pool of undiscernible filth, and detoured to the General Goods store, hoping to find some supplies there.

The City of Freedom was the stench of decomposition and death. The buildings stood soullessly, and the ground was littered with broken furniture and a myriad of clutter. The front desk of the General Good's store was scarred by blades and broadswords, blood and old chunks of dried flesh stained the pillars and the half-opened door to the storeroom. Bennett pushed on the door lightly and peeked in to find the top half of a rotten corpse swaying lightly from the ceiling by its neck. Death was commonplace, the same cannot be said for supplies.

A loud, piercing roar tore through the dead silence of the city.

"Fuck."

Bennett exited the storeroom. The sun had gone and the starless night carpeted the land. He had to find a hiding place before it tracked him here by his scent. He needed to get to high ground, and he turned to the direction where the statue of Barbatos stood, towering over this place that he once called home.

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He climbed the final steps to the Archon statue plaza and look across it. Abandoned barricades and tents filled the usually vast and empty spaces. Corpses and severed limbs laid in every direction, as far as his eyes could see. Shriveled and desecrated, mouths agape from the mercilessness of the death that befell them. Dark blood streaked across the floor and the base of the statue, an infernal testament against God.

The citizens had retreated here, gathering in the comforts of each other in the final moments. Men, women, and children all came together under the statue, the last bastion of hope against the onslaught of ceaseless undead, to pray for protection from their almighty and benevolent Archon. Now it was but a scene of desolation. Barbatos did not answer.

"May your souls go in peace." Bennett quickly gathered the supplies that laid in the empty tents. He heard another roar echo, this time reverberating throughout the city walls. He took whatever he could and sprinted towards the church. He pushed the door open without inspection and immediately slammed the door shut behind him.

The church was empty and abandoned, frail beams of moonlight shone through the broken stained glass, bathing the cathedral in a shade of silver consolation. The pews were broken and thrown aside, but the interior had remained mostly uncorrupted. He strolled along the aisle of the church, reminiscing the life of old, as he began assembling his wind glider.

This was his place of solace, in the days that were now but a memory. The days when his dreams were still of adventures and travelling, and when the air still smelled of sweet flowers. He would come here when accidents would befall him, to Barbara to tend to his wounds, and she would speak to him words of comfort and encouragement, and sing him sweet songs to sooth his heart. Songs that till now, still carried him forward when despair eclipsed his will to survive.

He stopped a few paces in front of the vacant altar, a body had been strung up by its arms and legs, like a twisted offering. On its head it wore a white and blue nurse cap, the front of its white dress was torn and shredded from the chest down. A ribbon of white and blue lay stained in black blood underneath it.

Bennett dropped to his knees. His eyes brimming with tears that he had not shed since this curse first spread across Mondstadt, but his soul was scorching with a flame of hatred that burned hotter than the pyro vision he carried. The sight of his violated idol broke the last of his resolve. He had never resented his misfortune more than in this moment. What else had fate intended for him to see, to prolong his suffering?

"Why don't you just fucking take me?! FUCK you, Barbatos!" Bennett cried out with all his heart.

A loud thud rang out from the direction of the pipe organs. A figure stood in the cover of darkness at the top of the staircase. It hissed and rasped at the air, as it shuffled step by step down the stairs.

Bennett readied his sword, warm tears still streaming down the skin of his cheeks.

The figure stepped clumsily into the glow of moonlight, its white stockings stained by fluids of putrefaction, its once teal shorts and cape only recognisible by parts that were not covered by blotches of dried blood.

Two short teal ombre braids hung at the side of its rotting face.

Its jaw hung open, hungry for the taste of flesh.

It's eyes cold and empty.

And on its head sat a beret, adorned by a withered Cecilia.

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