The Traveler: Mondstadt (Genshin Impact)

Chapter 47

- Irma -

Lumine and I made it sound easy. Our plan was nothing more than a single agreement to each other to climb up this damn mountain. When we switched our shifts, the hard snow snapped us back hard into reality. Another storm was surging around the mountain and if I was being honest, it seems two times worse than the storm we encountered on our trek up here. It's like the universe was giving me a sign not to go off doing dumb ass shit.

I wrapped a scarf around the lower half of my face and stuck close to Lumine as she secured a rope around each other's belts. Walking five feet away from our shelter was bad enough. How much would we struggle trying to climb up a whole damn mountain?

The wind whistled heavily against our ears, threatening to toss us down into the snow and bury us alive. I took a step back to steady myself only for my foot to start sinking into the ground. I let out a mumble of soft curses as I tried to pull myself out. Lumine tugged at the rope as she struggled to come towards me.

We couldn't hear each other's voices so the best we could do was communicate with our eyes. Even though the blinding snow it was clear that none of us wanted to risk it. After maybe ten minutes into our shift we made our way back to the shelter and practically threw ourselves in.

Snow dusted itself off our clothes as we shut the shelter closed and undid the rope from our waists. Paimon was sleeping soundly next to Kaeya, Diluc, and Jean. She held a rag in her hands. She had probably been looking after them but passed out a couple minutes later. If I wasn't so anxious about what we were going to do, I would call her cute.

I held out my hands towards the heating mechanism and frowned to myself.

Lumine put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. The markings were starting to appear on my fingers and that itself was throwing me off the edge. I know what she wanted to tell me though. Even though we wanted to do something about the Divine Nail, we had to go down the mountain. If we didn't, then we'd really die. What seemed like a possibility hours ago was now impossible.

"We need to head down the mountain as soon as we can."

Ariana sighed, "I know. We should be proud of ourselves for even coming this far but we need to come up with a new plan."

...

"Can we even do that though?" They turned to me, "Wasn't this all we could come up with? And if we do come up with something new how long will that take? There's no knowing what could happen even hours from now."

"Then what do you suggest we do then?" The elf asked me, "Stay here and wait for those three to die? Or should we die trying to fix something we know nothing about?"

...

"No...but...there just has to be something we could do. It doesn't feel right to walk away after we made it this far."

"It isn't. Some can even say it's a selfish decision risking three lives for three hundred but it wouldn't feel any better to do the opposite...would it?"

I lowered my head and closed my eyes. No matter how many times we have this conversation it'll only become a constant loop as we throw back the same rights and wrongs. I looked up at the heating mechanism and thought what it would be like if someone else was here instead of me. Someone smarter, someone braver.

Ariana yelled the same things to me before we met with the Rifthounds. Her words might've been influenced by corrupt energy but there was some truth to it still. She's tried her best to be patient with me this whole time. Even though I might find her methods confusing, there's always meaning in what she says and doesn't say. I'm not smart enough to realize what that is though.