When the Tsaritsa was ordered by The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles to destroy Khaenri'ah, her first thought was that it was ridiculous and that surely, none of the Archons would agree to such a thing. However, her opinion was proven thoroughly wrong when Morax signed a contract with Her Majesty and the other Archons didn't say a word of objection. Thus, the Tsaritsa too stayed quiet.
She was timid, not capable of making decisions herself. Too gentle, too hopeful, too caring. She loved her people with all her heart, she loved nature with all her soul, she loved Teyvat with her entire being; the last thing she desired was war. Khaenri'ah might have done wrong in Her Majesty's eyes, but was this really the only way?
Initially, she had decided to stay out of the trouble - to not help either Celestia nor Khaenri'ah. She was merely an Archon; if faced with Her Majesty and six others, her efforts will be futile.
That changed when she found a letter addressed to her upon her return to Zapolyarny Palace.
It was as if it was fate's calling. With this unknown adeptus (a powerful illuminated beast that hails from Liyue, if she wasn't mistaken) and their powers combined, they could perhaps make a difference, however slight, to tip the scales of war. She immediately set out to Liyue in search of the brave adeptus, hoping that she could lend a hand.
Yet no matter how much she tried reassuring herself, she was totally not prepared to witness the horrors of war.
It was absolute chaos. The air was scorching, the lands were flooded with boiling water, crackling with electricity and filled with debris of Khaenri'ah's machines and ashes of shadow warriors.
The Tsaritsa had watched with horror as her fellow Archons indifferently destroyed buildings and flipping aside armies of mages, machines and shadow warriors. It was terrifying. It turned her blood cold, especially seeing her kind, quirky master, Barbatos, using his wild winds to break apart the lands, drowning and burning nearly a hundred mages under the Hydro Archon and Pyro Archon's sea of boiling water.
She could hear them crying and choking. She could hear all their wails of pain, their yells of injustice, their tremendous will that was crushed like an ant at the other Archon's snap of the finger.
Why...how were they able to do this? Haven't they sworn to protect their people? Was it because the citizens of Khaenri'ah weren't their people, their lives were not worth protecting?
No...with how she was, she wouldn't be able to protect them. Surrounded by the devastating battle, she was faced with the reality that love was not the answer to everything in this world. Her perspective of the world was wrong all along - it was this she realised.
The Cryo Gnosis in her chest felt colder than ever. Harnessing the cryo energy from the environment, the Tsaritsa swept her arm outwards, her once spirited eyes empty and distant.
With a voice so unlike her usual, a tone that bit into the soul with icy frost, she said, "Freeze."
Answering her call, a surge of ice consumed the entire plains, washing the broken lands and the flooded city a stark, blinding white. The temperature of the air plunged so suddenly that if one didn't have the favour of the elements, one would have died right away from hypothermia.
"We can stand on the water now!" a Herald shouted to his troop of mages. "Hit them with what you've got!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Release the field tillers!" a Lector ordered.
In addition to the rallying cries of mages, machinery that were incapable of fighting in the previous condition were let out, groaning and clicking as they moved their heavy feet across the frozen ground. However, there were those that flew into the air, slashing their way towards the Archons like a deadly flying windmill of blades.
Meanwhile, Aether, Lumine and Xiao were dashing towards the Archons, trying to get into one-on-one combat with any of them.
"I think the Tsaritsa went nuts!" Lumine shouted.
Right after she said that, a giant shadow fell over them. Aether quickly looked up to see that it wasn't that the sky had darkened. It was worse. Formidably sharp tips of hundreds of gigantic stone spears were peeking out from the artificial sky. Aether inhaled sharply. If they were to fall now, it would be in their vicinity. They won't be able to make it!
Stopping in his tracks and calling to the lingering Geo energy, Aether commanded, "Get around me!"
Lumine and Xiao did not hesitate. They leapt towards Aether's side as the ground beneath them sank deeper and deeper like an elevator. Following them, the ground above their heads covered themselves up. Not a few seconds later, the entire walls and ground shook tremendously, covering them head to toe with dirt.
"We should be safe enough," Aether said, lighting up a small fire on the tip of his finger. The space he had made was not the best - it just had the right amount of space for the three of them to stand. But move around, and they'll be hitting each other. "We'll approach them from below."
"We're gonna dig?!" Lumine gasped.
"That, or we die," Xiao pointed out.
"No no, we're not gonna dig," Aether corrected. "Here. A tunnel."
Lumine glanced at where Aether was pointing. It was clearly just a wall of soil. "Where?"
Aether turned around. Lifting up his leg, he sent a flying kick at the wall. Lumine's jaw flew open as the soil was blasted back, opening up a perfectly horizontal tunnel.
"Here."
"Bruh," she said.
Xiao briskly gave Aether a kiss on the cheek, as if to praise him. Aether smiled giddily as he cheered, "Let's go, then!"
When they had finally emerged back onto land, they found not six but five Archons orchestrating the attacks. Barbatos and Baal were in the air zooming in and out, battling with ruin hunters, ruin scouts and ruin cruisers. Rex Lapis and the Hydro Archon, however, took the high ground on a giant hill-tall boulder, obliterating any ruin graders, ruin guards or perpetual mechanical arrays that came close. Murata, however, had taken the pleasure of jumping right into the heat of things. In the battlefield, she darted around fervently cutting down shadow warriors and mages at close combat, occasionally disabling machines on her way with crazed laughter.
They were definitely a force to be reckoned with. Aether doubted even with the Tsaritsa assisting on the defense line that this would last long.
Before Aether, Lumine and Xiao could reach the Archons, a flash of lightning interrupted their path. Aether, Lumine and Xiao ran around it on reflex, continuing their way towards the giant boulder.
"HEEEEEEY! WAIT UP!"
The three of them spared a glance behind in curiosity. Three surprised faces met Scaramouche, the messenger of Celestia, running to catch up with them.
"You guys go ahead first!" Aether said.
Lumine and Xiao nodded. While Lumine and Xiao made their way ahead, Aether stopped, waiting for Scaramouche.
"You guys had to run away from me!" Scaramouche panted heavily, hands on his knees.
"Where's the Dendro Archon and The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles?" Aether demanded. He had no time to spare now - not that with every passing second, casualties were building up rapidly. He needed to know what was going on.
"The Dendro Archon died!" Scaramouche reported impatiently. "And Her Majesty is the damn reason I came! She's about to attack the palace directly and uproot the entire nation!"
A/N:
Aether: SECRET TUNNEL
Xiao: SECRET TUNNEL
Aether: THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS
Aether and Xiao: SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNEL!
Lumine: What
YOU ARE READING
In The Midst of Snow
FanfictionFollowing the death of Xiao, Aether went back in time with the help of Lumine to fix things up. But in trying to avoid getting caught by the unknown god, Aether was sent way too much back in time and met a boy named Alatus, who was stuffing his face...
