vitriolic

caustic

the fight had been going on for hours, and azhdaha was finally getting the upper hand. he had summoned his hydro attacks, and then once they hit zhongli, he would alternate between cryo and electro attacks to deal the most damage.

another hour later, they both had sustained severe wounds, but zhongli had the worst of it. you knew you had to put a stop to it one way or another, so you told the hydro mimic, that you had lovingly named delta, to be prepared to heal everyone in the cave. it chirped in response, and you took that to mean it was ready.

standing up from your spot tucked away in the corner, you put on a false brave face, and walked in between the two.

immediately, azhdaha stopped attacking, and stood stone still. zhongli however, saw this as his chance to win, and kept attacking, this time focusing on you. he had been slightly weakened from the fight, but was still faster than you could ever dream to be, and managed to stab you straight through the stomach.

you could feel every ridge, every movement of his polearm through your entire body when he twisted it to prolong your tourture, the feeling of it moving was nothing compared to the sickening, warm feeling of blood slowly filling up all of your organs, and his polearm coming out the other side.

the adrenaline quickly faded, and you let out a strangled scream, before falling to the floor with a burst of light.

you remember passing out, but don't remember why until you look down at your clothes, and suddenly all the memories come rushing back at once, being stabbed, the fight between azhdaha and zhongli, the graphic feeling of blood crawling up your esophagus and filling every crevice of your body. just thinking about it made you want to throw up, but you wanted to make sure azhdaha was ok before worrying about yourself.

you slowly stood up, ignoring the excruciating pain in you abdomen, and looked around, trying to get some clue as to where he was, before seeing that you were in a traditional liyue bedroom. immediately, you started panicking, realizing they had caught you, and were probably planning your execution right this moment.

that line of thought quickly dissolved into a full blown panic attack, and you didn't even notice the door open, or how the bandages that had been wrapped around your torso had started leaking a sticky, gold substance.

you felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around you, as if someone was trying to comfort you, but they just served to make you more panicked. you thrashed in their hold, and managed to land a single hit on them, right in the chest. they let out a light grunt, "your grace, please calm down." however their voice only served to make you panic more, as you immediately recognized it as the one who stabbed you.

zhongli kept his arms around you no matter how much you struggled, so you were left in that position for half an hour before you gave up on getting him to let go. "i apologize for having to restrain you your grace, but i couldn't have you reopening your wounds."

"do you seriously expect me to believe that? you've almost killed me multiple times, and now you're acting like you want the best for me?" you scoffed, the pain from your wounds being replaced by anger, and a burning desire for revenge. zhongli fell into a deep bow, and started begging for your forgiveness. "please your grace, i cannot express how sorry i am. i know what i have done is unforgivable, but i truly feel remorse for my actions."

"no you don't. you aren't sorry you did it, you're sorry you were wrong. you don't care about my forgiveness, you care about your god's forgiveness." you spoke with cold indifference, not once betraying the raging storm of anger inside.

"no! i care about your forgiveness! i know what i have done is unforgivable, but please don't think for a second i don't crave your approval." his voice cracked when he spoke, tears starting to well up in his eyes as he pleaded with you.

"really? tell me then, if i was someone else, if i wasn't your god, would you still be begging for my forgiveness like this? would you have even given me a proper burial after killing me?" the disdain you had for him was clear in your voice, almost as clear as the tears streaming down his face. "just tell me where azhdaha and delta are, and and i'll leave you all alone, that is what you wanted, isn't it?"

𝑧ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖'𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑣

after he stabbed the impostor, he twisted his weapon deep into her stomach, prolonging her suffering as punishment for her crimes. what he wasn't expecting, was for a bright burst of golden light to appear, and for the impostors blood to be a beautiful shade of gold. his eyes immediately widened, and he fell to his knees in sorrow, forgetting all about azhdaha and the hydro mimic.

he heard a loud roar, and then saw a flash of blue in the corner of his eye. he looked up, and saw the hydro mimic, he remembered you calling it delta, and moved out of the way so it could heal you, tears still streaming steadily down his face. after the mimic was down healing you, azhdaha let him take you into the city to get proper treatment for your wounds, with a promise to let you leave as soon as you asked.

when he went to check on you a few hours later, he was shocked to see you curled up, shaking in fear on the bed. he didn't want you to reopen your wounds, but he also didn't want to tie you up again, so he did the only thing he could think of, wrap his arms tightly around you in a sort of hug, before asking you to please calm down. he felt terrible for what he had done to you, and only felt worse after your words had sunk in. you had said he wouldn't care if he had wounded an innocent person as he had wounded you, and he was ashamed to admit you were right.

he could only watch in sorrow as you walked out, and, for the first time in his life, he truly was powerless.