Xiao x Aether Oneshots

Will You Come Back?

As I finish taking out the hilichurl camp outside Liyue, I begin walking to the next location described to me by the adventurers guild. When I arrive, I hide behind a rock and peek around, locating my targets before deciding my plan of action. I sneak around the camp of hilichurls, keeping an eye out for any abyss mages or ruin guards that seem to pop up out of nowhere when I'm doing things like this.

Upon finding none, I slowly approached the camp, getting within a few meters of the first hilichurl without being spotted before another caught sight of me. I summoned my sword and swung at the first one, satisfied when it flew back before turning to another one. This continued on for about a minute before the lawachurl joined in and got a hit on me. Dashing a small distance away, I took a breath before using windblade to knock it off balance. Swinging around, I catch another hilichurl sneaking up on me and it disappears.

The Lawachurl starts swinging its axe in circles, hitting me once before I could get out of its way. I jumped in the air and summoned a tornado with my element and breathed a sigh of relief when the last of the monsters disappeared.

That's when Paimon popped up out of nowhere. "Is it just me or were those guys stronger than the other camps you've dealt with?"

I shrug. "It was a little tougher but not too bad." I agree and start walking back to Liyue for my commission rewards.

After collecting those, Paimon suggested that we get food and visit Xiangling. I tell her to go ahead.

"I'm going to head to some ruins past Wangshu Inn and see what's going on there. I heard some rumors going around and want to investigate." I say.

"You better not get yourself into trouble! You always get hurt when you leave me behind." She complains, stomping her little feet in the air.

"I promise, if I sense that I am about to get attacked then I'll leave. I won't get hurt this time." I assure her with a smile before running out of the city.

After a while, I arrived at the site in question and climbed on top of one of the broken pillars and looked over the area. There didn't seem to be anything around. Slowly, I stepped out into the open, walking towards the ruins not too far from where I was.

I looked around and spotted a ruin guard sitting half buried in the ground. I approached it from behind, closing the space between us. Once I was close enough, I used a burst of anemo to see if it was still active so I could take care of it and head back to Paimon so she wouldn't start worrying.

It didn't move. Sighing, I began to head back towards Liyue, barely making it 10 meters away when I was blasted off my feet. I hit the ground, rolling back a little ways before jumping to my feet again.

"Hey, I thought you... were... broken." I trail off upon seeing three ruin guards preparing to shoot their missiles.

I manage to dodge most of them, only getting hit a couple times.

"Where in the name of the archons did you three come from?" I ask, getting a bat in the stomach as a result.

"Alright Aether, think. How are you going to get out of this situation?" I mumble, staying close enough to prevent them from shooting more missiles, but keeping enough distance so they couldn't hit me with their ridiculously long arms.

Deciding not to think and to just go for it, I raced up to the closest one and released my burst, taking some of its health away, rendering it useless as I approached the other two, determined to shut them down long enough for me to make an escape.

I managed to complete most of my plans. I am in the process of running away when I am, once again, targeted by more missiles, every single one of them hitting their target. I fall to my knees, weak with all the hits I've taken as well as the fight against the hilichurls a few hours ago. I should've replenished my strength when I was in town.