Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 18: Rite of Descencion

Charlotte made herself comfy, hiding on top of nearby building's roof. She didn't like crowds, so a place like this roof was perfect. Of course, Millelith soldiers were a problem as they could have noticed her anytime, but girl was sure the roof has hidden her pretty well.

She followed the Traveler with the eyes of an eagle, never letting blonde out of her sight. Zanni was happy enough with her mission progress, so she knew she can relax a bit.

Rite soon started. 12th Harbinger couldn't hear what Ningguang was saying, but the speech wasn't too necessary here. Qixing Tianquan used her geo (as Charlotte assumed) vision, making a couple of golden gemstones spin around her. As she turned around, facing the main censer on the event table, rocks started spinning around it, soon enough placing themselves in the small holes. Censer lit up, shooting a golden light tower up in the sky, making the clouds start spinning in circles around it.

Something wasn't right. Clouds started turning darker and darker until they reached the color of black storm clouds you can encounter at sea. The crowd that gathered around to watch the rite were horrified, panicked.

All of the sudden, a black-yellow figure fell from the sky, crashing on the ground with loud thud and raising a huge dust cloud. Charlotte's eyes widened once the dust settled down: on top of the broken event table laid a dragon-like figure, lifeless.

Girl watched how Ningguang came closer to the dragon, inspecting the body. She then stood up, gesturing towards the exit.

"Rex Lapis has been killed! Seal the exits!"

Millelith came running from all possible directions, surrounding the crowd. Charlotte knew she wasn't noticed (yet, at least), so she stayed around a bit longer, scanning through crowd, looking for a blonde outlander. She soon noticed her sneaking out of the exit, skillfully avoiding the millelith.

Not knowing what to do, 12th Harbinger started jumping from one building roof to another, looking for a better place to continue following the Traveler. Lumine sure was a fast one – Charlotte quickly lost track of her.

Before she knew it, a shadow passed by her. She nearly screeched, but calmed down as she saw a familiar grey-ish clothing and orange hair like sunset hair disappearing a few roofs away from her. Surprised, she didn't know what to do anymore. Will Childe help the poor Traveler? Millelith seem to be alerted now... Did they catch her?

Carefully, she jumped down the roof, walking out from between the buildings in the main Liyue street. Girl was dead worried about Lumine, despite knowing that she can't really be friends with Traveler. After all, she'll have to betray her sooner or later... To say the truth about being one of the Twelve.

Sighing, heartbroken, Zanni took a stroll down the street, going to the Northland bank, straight to her office. Sadly, she couldn't reach it as receptionist Ekaterina had some stuff to discuss with her.

Apparently, she'll also be receiving some commissions from Fatui as debt collection and similar business. Charlotte agreed, as this task seemed easier than the grand mission of stealing gnosis from the geo Archon himself.

Girl was about to head back to her office and put down the records of the information she has gathered until she heard a familiar squeaky voice outside the bank. Coming close to the outside door, she leaned to the wall, listening to the conversation outside.

She immediately recognized the voices: Childe, Lumine and Paimon. Sighing in relief, glad that Traveler was safe at least, girl relaxed, feeling way more at ease than she was before.

Due to the noise inside Northland Bank, Zanni couldn't hear their conversation clearly, but she heard enough to understand the current situation. Childe gave Lumine a specific item and told her to head to the Liyue wilderness, looking for the illuminated Adepti – mystical magical creatures who are responsible for looking after Liyue and protecting it. With that item and story of her version of events, Lumine can clear herself from all blame and be safe again.