The Winds Bring with them Change (Volume 1)

13: Family Reunions; Definitely Always a Good Thing

Xiao made his way further into the dark tunnels away from the treasure hoarders that he was hoping wouldn't see him. Being this near the lingering affects of the death of a Yaksha was taxing to say the least, and multiple old injuries were causing him pain like they hadn't in years. Granted he had become accustomed to it, so it was easy enough for him to jump from a high wooden beam to a cliffside to avoid being spotted while he didn't think he had the capacity to fight anything.

His head swam and he hoped that he didn't run into anyone who might question why he was in the Chasm, as he didn't feel as if he could speak until he got used to the feeling of being so near to another's karmic debt. It was nauseating. He dropped from the ridge he was perched on, landing as lightly as he could manage and making his way deeper, closer to the suffocatingly dense karmic debt.

As he drew closer to the feeling, he heard arguing and drew near to where he saw Aether, Yanfei, Yelan and a couple other people he didn't recognize standing above a small opening in the rocks. Xiao made note of Paimon's irritating protests to the squabble when he was close enough for the group to catch sight of him. Aether's face lit up even more than it already was lit, his eyes positively sparkling even in the low lighting of the caves.

"Xiao!" Paimon sounded relieved at his arrival, as if him being there would cease all arguing in the group. Which it did not, as the really big one tossed his head, his foot coming down hard, and a rumbling filling the cavern they stood in. Yanfei and Aether stumbled, leaving Xiao grasping his friends elbows to keep them righted, and they all fell into an even darker part of the Chasm. He lost his grip on his friends and free fell for so long that he began to be concerned for his own well-being.

Thankfully there was water at the bottom of his fall, and he bobbed on the top of it for a moment, gasping for breath. There was only the sounds of water dripping from the ceiling of the cavern and his own labored breathing, and his friends were nowhere to be found.

Xiao dragged himself out of the water and lay half-submerged in the water for a bit, letting his pain sink in, using methods he knew were mostly ineffective only because he hadn't been this alone since the blonde traveler had entered Teyvet. In his musings, he started to hear a faint voice, gruff and angry.

"Evil.....abolished..."

He sat up, tilting his head as if it would help him to hear the sound better than he was already hearing it. It didn't help, his actions resulting in only making the voice stop, his own heavy breathing once again the only sound. Xiao had half a mind to shout to the voice, to try and confirm that he wasn't truly alone in the pitch black that enveloped him. But he was taken back to long before his Zhongli had taken him in and changed his name, to a time was darkness was hell, it meant that he was once again evil incarnate. That he was the creature parents warned about in the cautionary tales they told their children. He was the one who lurked in the night yet again, consuming people's dreams, and more times than he liked to remember, their lives.

And so he sat, the images that he had once wiped from his memories running in a loop through his mind. Then the voice was back, clearer this time, and Xiao knew who it was. Bosacius. It was as if this place was creating everything the way he didn't want it to be: his sight was gone, he was alone, he was seeing all the lives he caused pain to, his old friend was perhaps still alive and in pain. It was all awful.

But he was Alatus, the demon slayer, and a Yaksha gone mad would definitely be considered in his line of work. So he stood, following the whispers as closely as he could amidst the screams that echoed in his ears.

And he was correct.

It was Bosacius, just not the version of him that Xiao remembered fondly. This was a specter, but a ghost of his friends spirit, his body and mind long gone. Xiao still fought, trying to get some idea of how much of the other Yaksha was still left. Unfortunately, Xiao was no longer in battle condition, while Bosacius' remains definitely were. So he was no match at all for his raging ghost.

Xiao dodged one arm, accidentally moving into the path of a different one and getting knocked to the ground. He was definitely going to feel these injuries in the morning, that is if he had a morning at all. He seriously doubted it when he dodged another blow, breathing deeply behind a rock overcropping. His heart hadn't pounded much at all in the past decades, much less as much as it was currently, his entire chest heaving with the force. His hands were shaking and he yelled something he couldn't hear over the blood pounding in his ears.

His next move was a dash towards where he had entered the space, and it seemed as if his whole body was screaming with overexertion as he moved. He could feel his feet pounding on the mysteriously dry ground in his teeth, every bone grinding in a way that was so incredibly uncomfortable that he considered for a split second dropping to the ground then and there.

But the though of Aether being in the same kind of danger he was in at the moment spurred him on, until he was out of sight of the being that was at some point his family. Once he was sure he was far enough away, his body gave in and he collapsed. He didn't even feel tired, but his legs could no longer support him and he couldn't even drag himself along the ground. He was sure he was bleeding, but not sure where, as he couldn't actually feel the warm dripping of it.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there; that was the only thing he understood about this space, time was really messed up. His body was no longer aching as if bruised all over, but now he was acutely aware of the dried blood flaking off his skin. At some point he had moved to sit against the wall, trying to fight the voices that battered against his skull.

The voices became more insistent, yelling his name between the normal screams of accusation. He opened his eyes and saw that two of the voices weren't the ones in his head, but his friends.

"Xiao jump through, this is the closest we've got to where you are, hurry!"

He let a wry, tired smile cross his lips before he fell into the portal in front of him.