𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 , KAEYA A.

12 | KAIROS

― "𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭." ―

"shit... who is that?" a young man muttered from behind me as the figure emerged from the shadows, blue light shining from behind it.

all of us stood still as the mist that followed the figure slowly dissipated, showing us its complete form.

"bow before the abyss."

an abyss herald?

i had only ever encountered it once, the day my mother died. clad in ornate armor that seems to shift and shimmer like liquid darkness, everyone could sense the aura of otherworldly power and menace. their eyes glowed with an eerie blue light, and their movements are smooth and fluid, as if they were part of the very shadows themselves.

i mentally counted the numbers in my head. on our side, we had about 7, with 3 injured. 10 in total. the herald is alone, surely we could win this.

"..fuck." i muttered out loud.

just as that thought crossed my mind, four more of the same portals opened behind the abyss herald, each figure stepping out slowly. they were not all the same, while the main figure was mostly blue, the others were mostly purple or red. i analysed them, taking note of the different weapons they held at hand.

"protect the injured. move them to safer spot."

the knights responded unanimously at jean's authoritative request, immediately packing up the things on the floor and moving the men to a safer corner.

i tightened the grip on my sword. the abyss herald scanned us from left to right, before chuckling lightly to himself. the air was thick with tension as he slowly raised his arm. his muscles tensed, the veins in his arm bulging as he pointed one finger in a deliberate, menacing gesture. his gaze fixated on me and i knitted my eyebrows in confusion.

before any of us could react, he swung his sword with his other hand, sending a torpedo of abyssal energy. lisa dodged with ease, the attack barely missing her arm. the other enemies were quick to jump into action, sending attacks left and right. soon enough, the small area became a battlefield. i cursed loudly when i felt a plummet of cryo energy dragged down my side and dodged another attack, sending one back of my own.

the herald yelled loudly, the electro buzzing on his chest before dissipating. pressing a hand to the area that was just hit, he rubbed his fingers together. in a split second, he dashed towards me.

the sound of clashing weapons and battle cries faded into the background, and all that remained were the sounds of my beating chest and his footsteps.

"so you're the one she wants."

she?

my sword made a long clang against his and i gritted my teeth as we both held our stances.

"who is she?"

the herald put more strength into his weapon, putting pressure against mine and whispered. "you will not receive an answer from me."

"don't speak in fucking riddles. i'm not playing games. answer. my. question." at each word, i transferred more electro energy into my sword, now glowing a bright purple.

"hm." the herald let go and stepped back, making me stumble.

"we will meet again." the other heralds suddenly returned behind him, sending one final attack before turning their backs. everyone was confused but knew it is hard to fight in this situation where too much elemental energy may injure others more.

jean held her hand up, signaling us not to engage further.

the abyss herald gave me one final look before making a hand motion, the portal from before reopening.

the second they left, everyone let out a relieved sigh. amber immediately ran over to me, holding up my arm. "ysabelle!!! are you okay? are you hurt? what did he say to you?"

i placed my hand over hers. "i'm fine, amber. are you okay?" i ignored the last question, hoping it won't be pressed further. she was clutching her shoulder, her sword noticeably suffering some damage from the fight.

kaeya stood behind me silently. i gave him a questioning look, my own eyes wandering down to what he was strongly gazing at. a small gash had cut through my clothes and the leftover cryo energy remained burning on my skin.

my skin tingled in response. i placed my hand over the gash, forcing myself not to wince at the pain that i suddenly became aware of. cryo? of all elements, why did it have to be cryo?

"you're hurt." he spoke in a harsh whisper.

"i'm fine."

"ysabelle, you're–"

"i said i'm fine." i spat. it's not even a huge cut, it'll heal. it may hurt, but it isn't life-threatening. it'll heal.

for a moment, i became unsure who i was trying to convince. i looked over to the others, grateful they were busy with their own conversations to notice ours.

he didn't press further. instead, he raised his hand and pointed forwards to bring our attention to the gate. "there's a glow. it's opening."

we all followed his gaze. all of a sudden, the door to the domain reappeared. at the same time, the floor below started to rumble.

we all cursed loudly. a knight started to bark orders to his subordinates, quickly picking up the equipment and the injured. jean and lisa nodded at each other, waving at the others to hurry.

a groan coming from behind me caught my attention and i turned to see a knight buckled over, clutching his side. the equipment he was carrying was sprawled on the floor. i rushed to him, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and placed a hand on his waist to support him.

kaeya, who noticed what was happening, rushed over top to help with the equipment. i scanned the area, relieved to see that we were on the last ones on their way to the exit.

i helped the knight walk, though i could tell he was trying his best not to place much of his weight on me. jean stood at the gate, preparing to grab onto the other side of the knight to hoist him over.

with only a couple of steps away, my heart accelerated upon feeling the ground below my feet rumble. i looked back. the walls were already mostly demolished. it was scary to think that this used to be an enclosed room.

i hastened my pace. right when i took my next step, the ground sunk in, the debris surrounding my ankle. i cursed loudly and made a split second decision to basically throw the knight onto jean's hands.

right when she was able to catch him, kaeya and i locked gazes, the conclusion obvious between both of us.

we're fucked.

all happening in a blur, the only thing i could hear was jean's loud scream as the ground suddenly split apart, forming a gaping chasm. the next second i knew, i was engulfed by the gaping void and sent hurtling downward into darkness. the domain's gate disappeared from my view. my heart pounded against my chest as adrenaline coursed through my veins. after what felt like an eternity, i crashed onto solid ground with a bone-jarring impact.

.˳⁺⁎˚˚⁎⁺˳ .˚ʚ♡ɞ˚.˳⁺⁎˚˚⁎⁺˳ .

a/n: hi how are u today?

i started playing honkai and i am very much obsessed with jingyuan. and blade. and kafka. and serval. i took 5 tries to fight cocolia's ghost i cant I SUCK im still trying to fight the actual cocolia and i keep failing oh my gofh

if ur comfy, drop ur uids so i can add u <3 my friends list is very much empty LMFOAOOO