In The Midst of Snow

Talk About Good (Bad) Timing

"Shimu, the god of despair. Legends say that he was born of the twisted pleasure certain humans have upon seeing others suffer. He was a pure god - descendant of no one, born purely from human emotions. Upon manifesting, he spread despair like a disease to anyone who comes across him. Eventually, his influence had spread so much - through flora and fauna alike - that it had taken a good chunk of land, big enough for Shimu to call it his territory.

"Even illuminated beasts had fallen under his control. Some perished from the overwhelming despair they could not handle; some mutated into terrifying monsters; some accepted their fate and served under Shimu. Try as they might to resist, they were all powerless under such a powerful god.

"So, children, what do you do if you see a man with silver white hair?" The balding elderly man asked the huddle of small kids around him.

Aether watched from the shadows as one kid with rashes festering his skin raised his hand. "I know, chief."

"Yes, Adam?"

"If he hasn't noticed you, you avoid eye contact and walk away as far as possible," the kid said robotically, as if he had repeated this a few hundred times. "If he has, bow and await your verdict."

The chief nodded, his flimsy white beard fluttering along like a curtain of vines. "That's right. If you're lucky, he may let you go freely. If not, well, it depends on what His Highness desires."

As the kids hollered, "For His Highness!", Aether could only feel his stomach flipping uncomfortably at the thought of children at such a young age being conditioned to resign themselves to whatever Shimu wanted.

He had met a couple gods before this, of course. Barbatos, Rex Lapis - but neither of them had treated their people in such a cruel way.

Pulling his hood up, Aether made his way away from the hut of the village chief and towards an inn two blocks away. The people gave him weird looks but did not question his unusual presence. Even the tones people communicated with were eerily quieter than the norm. It was the same throughout this entire region ruled by Shimu, Aether had realised throughout his four-month journey.

It was also during this four-month journey did he really begin to miss his friends. Ever since he arrived in Teyvat, he had never been alone for such a long period of time. As always, his sister was there. But even after their separation, when he woke up once again, he had met Paimon not long after. Many others joined his journey from both Mondstadt and Liyue, so he was always surrounded by people.

Silently, Aether passed the receptionist that eyed him suspiciously and up the stairs to his room.

It was only when he was in the refuge of his room that he pulled down his hood again. It was rather hot in this region, and the air was really dry. Aether really desired a bath at this moment, but he forced himself to sit down at the dusty table in the corner and work on his notes.

He would usually be joined by his sister. Or in the second case, not really care about it at all because Paimon would blabber away at everything he asked. But now, since he had no one to support him, he had to do his own homework himself.

From what Aether had gathered so far, his current possible goal was to seek refuge in Rex Lapis' domain lest he wanted to catch the miasma here or get caught in the future downfall of this region.

Secondly, Visions don't exist. Humans in this time were nothing more than powerless creatures compared to the gods. The first time he accidentally used his powers in front of another person was when he summoned a geo platform to get an apple that was too high in a tree. Said person instantly called him a god and it was only with food on the negotiation table that the person agreed to keep it to himself. Who knows what would happen if any god - and in the worst case, Shimu - were to catch wind of a human having powers.

And then there was Alatus.

Aether had not seen even a glimpse of the future Yaksha ever since he had awoken in the bat-filled cave. Sometimes their encounter was so brief and bizarre that Aether thought that he might have been hallucinating from grief. Yet another part of him argued that he would have no idea how the younger Xiao would have looked like; Xiao himself barely gave details, there was no way his imagination could conjure up such a detailed hallucination from breadcrumbs.

Sighing, Aether put down his pen and leaned back on the hind legs of his chair, pouting at the ceiling. The Teyvat he had time travelled to was completely different from the Teyvat he knew. Has the Archon War changed the world so much that it's unrecognisable?

He had no time to dawdle about. Even if he had read many books, none had given the specific time, month or year that Shimu's reign would end. It could be a month later, a week later, tomorrow, or even today. Besides, he had no other reason to stay in this village any longer; he had gotten enough information from this village already, he's got to move onto the next.

However, he had barely gotten up when he heard heavy footsteps rushing in the hallway outside, as if a herd of wild sheep had been let loose and were rampaging throughout the whole inn. The shockwaves made Aether lose balance and fall over his chair with a yell.

Aether blinked. He was staring up at his legs.

Quickly getting onto his feet and dusting himself off, he quickly put on his hood and opened the door. To his relief, it was actual people that were causing the mayhem, and not a bunch of sheep - that would have been concerning. But on the other hand, what had happened that's making them so panicked?

He didn't have much time to think about it before a vice-like grip clamped around his wrist, hauling him forcefully along the heaving sea of people. They did not release their hold on his arm until they were outside of the inn.

Apparently, it wasn't only the people in the inn that were frantic; the entire village was up in alarm. The village chief was shouting orders to evacuate the people, hollering in a croaky voice for the children to be prioritised.

"What's...going on?" Aether mumbled to himself in a dazed state. He then noticed that the person that had dragged him out was none other than the receptionist herself, bent over on her knees and panting tiredly.

"Run, traveller," she gasped. Aether helped grab her arm over his shoulder so that she could stand. As fast as he could, he supported her along with the crowd. But not a few steps later, she stopped, turning a serious gaze towards him.

"You must abandon me, traveller," she whispered. "I am...only going to be a burden. Even climbing stairs tires me out."

"We can get out of this together," Aether urged. He doesn't know what is causing this unrest, but if everyone from this hopeless village is running away from it, it must be something terrifying. "What are we running from, though? Do you know?"

Becoming white as paper, her lips quivering, she barely managed to choke out, "Mo-Morax...is invading our- our village."

A/N: 
Aether: Xiao...I love you...and I miss you...huuuu