The Winds Bring with them Change (Volume 1)

Xiao had never known freedom. He has always had someone behind him, controlling his every move. Even when under contract from Morax, he was not free. He struggled his way through decades alone and in pain, hating himself more every day he awoke to his accursed state. Too afraid to inform his Lord about his worsened state, he deals with dangers to Liyue alone until a blonde traveler appears in his life and refuses to leave. After bad things happen relating to his Karmic Debt, his Lord frees him, and he is left to a choice. Continue his path to destruction, or search for freedom with an ex-Archon and the blonde traveler.

Word Count: 67,658

AN: This is a polyam ship of Venti Xiao and Aether, so don't like, don't read Ig. While this is polyam, VenXiao is more love at first sight, whilst AeVen and Xiaother are more slowburn.
The first three chapters are simply for context, and completely skippable if you've played through Liyue's archon and Xiao's story quests. Also, I'm using Aether instead of Lumine because he's the traveler I picked.