Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
I have now lost my 20th 50/50 (out of 22). Mihoyo, please, let me win at least something in my life. This shít ain't 50/50.
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As soon as you leave the tunnels of the Chasm, you are hit with a wave of warm and humid air. Taking a deep breath, you let the tropical vibes sink in. Yep, this will take some time to get used to. The flora on the other hand leaves a positive first impression on you. After having seen so many places with limited to no plants at all, this lush greenery is a welcome change. Well, this is the Land of Dendro after all.
Aether squeezes you hand. “So this is Sumeru, our fourth Nation to visit and the first one where you don’t know what the right thing to do is.”
He said the last part with a slightly sarcastic undertone, but you answer it seriously nevertheless. “Nah, as long as there are no plot twists and you use your common sense, there shouldn’t be any problems. The thing that bothers me at the moment though is that I can’t tell you which way we should go to get to the city. Since we are looking for an Archon, our best bet is to look for them wherever are a lot of people. Well, at least the Archons we have met so far lived close to humans.” The unpleasant feeling of being watched creeps over you, but once you look into the direction where that feeling comes from, it immediately disappears.
“Is something wrong?”, asks Aether.
“I kinda feel watched…", you halt, "Eh, is that a person over there?” You point at a female figure in the distance and hesitantly wave at her. Since she comes from a different direction, you doubt that she was the one starring at you. "Hi! Do you happen to know how we can get to the city or something like that?”
She takes notice of your group, but simply ignores you and continues to walk the path she originally was walking.
Awkwardly you put down your hand that was still waving a second ago. Disappointed, you let out a sigh. ”This is exactly why I avoid initiating contact. Embarrassments like these are haunting me to this day.”
Paimon crosses her arms. “How rude!”
“Maybe we should follow her. Even if she doesn’t want to talk to us, she should – in theory - lead us to more people. Given that she isn’t some lonely recluse.”, suggests Aether.
“Based on our luck, I bet she is gonna be a recluse. Or going to get attacked by a hoard of monsters. Or both.” Despite having your doubts, you decide to follow the strange woman as Aether proposed.
It doesn’t take your group long to catch up to her. You see her enter a small cave in the stony walls that separate Liyue from Sumeru. Apparently she is living in there right now as there are books, a hay bed, a pile of clothes and a thing used for incenses. She probably used some incenses not too long ago as there is a peculiar smell in the air, irritating your respiratory tracts. Unfortunately, it really seems like she doesn’t live a particularly social life at the moment.
Suddenly Paimon lets out a high pitched scream. “Ah! She collapsed!” She floats over to what you previously thought of as a pile of clothes. Technically you weren’t wrong – it is a pile of clothes. Those clothes are just worn by a person. Quickly the rest of your group rushes over to the unconscious woman. She is breathing, but doesn’t react to being shaken.
“What do you think is wrong with her, Aether?”
No answer.
“Aether?” You turn around towards your friend only to see that he is holding his head, barely being able to keep himself on his feet. “Aether, what’s wrong?” Carefully, you move in front of him and give him a tap on his shoulder. As if you pressed his turn-off button, he immediately collapses into your arms. “Aether?! What is going on here…?” You cough. “Maybe this irritating smell is actually some poisonous gas. We should get out of here, quickly.” Not being able to drag two people at the same time, you only take your unconscious friend out of the cave and put him on a nice patch of grass. After that you also carry out the unfamiliar woman since you don’t want to be at fault if she actually dies.
Meanwhile Paimon and Rosa fly around like disoriented insects, looking for help. “What do we do? There isn’t a single soul out here to help them. What if Aether dies?”
“Calm down Paimon. Even if the air in there is poisonous, we quickly carried them outside to fresh and safe air, so they should recover soon. …I hope.” You lightly slap the Traveler to wake him up, but he doesn’t react. Well, at least he is still breathing. Taking a deep breath, you calm yourself down. There is no way that something serious will happen to Aether – he has plot armor after all. You might be a foreign body in this story with a potential to change it, but a plot is a plot even if it goes a different way. …You hope.
“Did something happen to them?” A non-familiar male voice asks from right behind you.
You are startled so hard that you jump up from shock and immediately fall back to the ground into a nearby puddle. Looking up, you see a guy with dark-green, chin-length hair and an outfit with plenty of accessories. But his most prominent features must be his large ears and his fluffy tail. Some part inside you wants to pet him… He is accompanied by two, less remarkable, people.
“We did say that we were coming to you. Did you not hear us?”, asks the man with the fox ears.
“Ah… I must have been lost in my thoughts... You asked what happened to them, didn’t you? Me, my friend – this blond guy over here – the floating white fairy and the pink Seelie just arrived here in Sumeru and then we saw this woman. We wanted to ask her about the way to the city, but she ignored us so we followed her. She went into that cave over there and collapsed. Shortly after entering the cave, my friend collapsed as well. Since the air in there smells rather odd, I fear that poisonous gas has accumulated in there.”
“I see…” He kneels down next to Aether and takes a sniff. After a moment of evaluation he visibly relaxes. “I can reassure you that this strange smell that you perceived is nothing more than an incent used for meditation. But if you don’t mind, I will take them to Gandharva Ville to examine them. You can, of course, come along.”
Both you and Paimon agree with his proposal. The two ‘unremarkable’ people pick up Aether and the woman and, this now rather big, group sets out to Gandharva Ville with you and the fox guy walking at the front. Now that you think about it, you don’t know his name and you certainly can’t call him fox guy. “Eh, could I ask you what your name is? I don’t think you have told me it yet.”
“I did, but I suppose you didn’t hear it as I said it at the very beginning when you weren’t listening. My name is Tighnari and I am an Avidya Forest Watcher, if you are curious about that as well.”
“My name is (Y/N) and I am… a traveler, I guess. Nice to meet you and thank you again for helping us! I honestly wouldn’t have known what to do with two unconscious people…” You offer him a bright smile.
“No need to thank me.” His voice is calm, almost nonchalant, but his tail swishes happily.
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