Chapter Text
Lumine found herself surrounded by blinding lights.
Curious about her predicament, she tried grasping at the air around her, her fingertips finding no resistance whatsoever. She felt strange, almost lightheaded in this sea of brightness, as if she were being carried by the stream and her body wasn’t resisting the pull. However, there was a nagging feeling at the back of her head, as if there was something important she needed to remember but was unable to.
She was unsure of how long she spent floating in limbo, her consciousness coming and going like a wave, unaware of anything else going on around her. However, as soon as she got comfortable, there was a sharp pang in her chest and she felt all the air leave her lungs. She tried to gasp for air to no avail: her lungs were constricted by an unknown force. The world flashed dark momentarily, but before her body could give in to the darkness she felt something tugging on her arm.
Her brain had barely registered what had happened, but her previous unease had disappeared, and when she desperately tried to breathe she found herself able to.
With a cough, her body jerked itself awake.
She coughed water, her lungs fiery and aching, desperate for oxygen, barely managing to keep her heart still as she regained her breaths. Slowly, her body felt heavier and her limbs regained their feeling. Lumine became acutely aware of her senses, which were screaming at her. Her fingertips, previously unable to feel anything, felt the course ground underneath her. A light breeze caressed her skin. Had it always been that cold?
The girl finally managed to calm down, her breathing becoming more and more regular as she settled down. She felt hazy, confused. What had she been doing before? Why did she feel like she had been floating mere minutes ago?
Then, in a flash — as quick as it had left her mind, her memory came back. She had been travelling! Her brother! Had she crashed?
"Aether!!"
She shot her body up, forcing her eyelids to open to a flash of brightness. The world before her appeared hazy as her vision adjusted, but the focus came back to her eyes within a few blinks. She spotted a few thick trunks, foliage not deep enough to impede the sunlight from filtering through the leaves. It was quiet, peacefully so, and while she definitely didn’t recognise where she was, she could tell she was in a forest clearing of some sort.She quickly patted her clothes; they were damp. Her skin was more susceptible to the light breeze, so she assumed she had fallen into a body of water. But, nothing around the clearing seemed to indicate that there was water nearby. How had she appeared here? Perhaps someone had dragged her to this place?
Her thoughts were interrupted by an enthusiastic gasp.
"Ah!! You're awake! Paimon was beginning to get worried!"
Confused at the new voice, Lumine turned around to find a small girl, hovering midair around her. Her appearance made her look like a small fairy, like the ones she had seen in a different world with her brother. However, even if she looked harmless, Lumine knew that it didn’t hurt to be cautious, especially since she didn’t know where she was.
"Ah...were you the one who saved me?"
The fairy – Paimon, assumed Lumine – shook her head in a dramatic motion. "Nuh-uh. Paimon was passing by when she heard some rustling coming from the trees. Paimon got curious and found you in the middle of this clearing, but you weren’t moving, so Paimon decided to stay up and guard until you woke up!"
Lumine snickered at the thought of such a small creature guarding her in her defenseless sleeping state, but decided not to put her kindness to question. "Well, thank you, eh, Paimon was it?” The fairy nodded at her. “This might sound strange, but… may you please tell me where I am?"
Paimon’s eyes widened and her brow furrowed. "What do you mean where we are? Have you lost your memory? Do you remember your name at least?"
Uh, this was going to prove hard to explain… Travelling between worlds was second nature to her, but she remembered countless times where accidentally saying too much had cost her and her twin dearly. Still, she had no one to cover her back now. Without her brother and without the ability to leave this world she was going to have to brace herself and tell the truth, or else she’d be stuck in this world forever.
She stuttered a bit at first, still agitated at the memories of losing her beloved kin, but as the story went on she gained momentum. It helped that the girl was taking to her story with doleful eyes, nodding along like a curious child. By the end she had almost poured her heart out. She spoke about how it had only been her and her brother for such a long time, how travelling between worlds took a toll on their bodies and they needed rest after landing; about the encounter that separated her from her twin, how she remembered being thrown into the abyss, how she felt like she had been floating between life and death before she had woken up in an unknown forest clearing.
Lumine may have thought her story sounded unbelievable, but the other girl didn't seem to have a problem with it.
Paimon had her little hands closed into fists as she nodded one last time. “So, Lumine is a traveller from beyond this world who got attacked by a mysterious entity. The culprit took Lumine’s brother and sent her to this world, yes?”
Lumine gave a shaky nod. “That’s the gist of it, yes…”
“Well then, Paimon better help Lumine find her brother!”
She was taken aback by the bold statement, not that it wasn’t appreciated. “So… you’re not going to question my story?”
“Nu-uh, you look sincere! Besides, your clothes do look really out of place, and Paimon has seen a lot of places! You better be grateful, Paimon makes a great guide! You’ll find your brother in no time! Paimon accepts payment in the form of food!”
Lumine offered her a slight smile. Her enthusiasm was contagious: she already felt less lonely. "Well, Paimon, as soon as we find the means to, I'll treat you to the nicest meal you've ever had!"
Happy with the deal they had struck, and while Lumine adjusted to her surroundings, Paimon told her a little about the world she had woken up in. They were currently in one of the seven nations of Tevyat, Mondstadt. The capital was nearby, apparently, but the information proved useless to Lumine, who still hadn’t really gotten her bearings. She pepped herself up to stand up; moving would probably be better than sitting around waiting for nightfall.
Her legs were still shaky, but she managed to get up on her feet. She lightly dusted her dress, still damp. That brought her back to the question that had been lingering on her mind since she woke up. She shot her new companion a curious glance.
"So, Paimon, you never answered my question. Where are we? I must have fallen into the water, so how come I woke up in a forest?"
Paimon shrugged, unsure of how to answer. “Well, just outside this forest clearing is a small shore. Paimon thinks the rustling she heard earlier was someone carrying you into this clearing. We’re currently near Wolvendom, known for vicious wolves… It remains largely unexplored, so you’re lucky you were carried here, if anyone came across you in the open you could have been in trouble!”
Lumine shuddered at the thought. She had been defenseless, so she was thankful that she had woken up safe and sound, at least. She still had so many questions, though.
"Wolvendom?" The name sounded ominous.
"It is a forest that has grown on top of some ruins. As the name indicates, there are a lot of wolves here, so travellers tend to stay away from it. It’s very easy to get lost, the forest is quite thick… And lost and tired travellers are easy prey!”
Her heart dropped. This was the last thing she needed. She wished she could have woken up in a nicer part of the continent. But it was all wishful thinking.
“Well, we better get going, then. Are there any nearby towns or villages, at least? We could navigate towards them and see if we can find any more clues about what might have happened to my brother.” It was always better to be proactive. Sitting and wallowing in self-pity and ‘what-ifs’ would do her no good. Paimon seemed to agree, if her enthusiastic nodding was anything to go by.
She tumbled a bit as she took a step forward, her body still getting used to the shock of being forcefully thrown into an unknown world. Her companion hovered around her, giving her enough space but staying close. However, before they could make their way out of the small clearing and towards the shore she heard some rustling behind them.
Her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She looked to the fairy, looking for confirmation that she hadn’t imagined the sounds. Wide eyes blinked back at her, confirming her suspicions. She carefully planted her feet in the ground, making sure to not make any more sound than what was needed. Twisting her body backwards, she squinted her eyes, trying to spot any sudden movements from beneath the trees. She was scared she’d find a pair of glowing eyes, as she had no means to defend herself from attackers. She hoped that, if worse came to worst, her legs wouldn’t give out underneath the roots and uneven ground. That was, if Paimon remembered her way out of the forest.
The leaves rustled and moved, and she swore she could have heard some steps. Her companion gulped audibly, instantly covering her mouth afterwards. With a deep breath, she willed her heart to still before warily placing her hands before her body, in a feeble attempt to protect herself from whatever was lurking in the shadows.
With a trembling voice she managed to speak up. “Who goes there? Show yourself!”
Paimon looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but Lumine shook her head. Her brother had told her about scary beasts from other worlds. As a last resort, she could make herself sound loud. Harsh and sudden noises usually scared beasts away. She readied her throat to scream as loud as she could if it came to it. After a few seconds, which felt like hours, she saw the leaves move again. This time she was sure she spotted a shadow from beneath the trees. It didn’t look like it was shaped like a beast, at least.
“Come out!” Her voice was louder this time.
The leaves rustled again and she took a tentative step forward, raising her arms as a symbol of peace, in the hopes that whatever the shadow was, it understood human gestures.
That seemed to get a reaction from the shadow, and in the twinkling of an eye, a man jumped out from between the trees. His body moved swiftly, and she barely caught the flash of colour before it settled at a safe distance from them. At the abrupt movement, Paimon hid behind her back, eyes barely peeking out from behind her shoulder.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. Although his body was tense and he had taken a tentative fighting stance, in front of them wasn’t a beast, but a young man.
Lumine noticed his eyes first, blood-red irises with a raw power emanating from them, energy unlike anything she had seen before. His dishevelled white hair covered his face and almost reached his calves. It was longer than Aether’s had ever been. It looked wilder than her brother’s, too. His body was covered in lithe scars, some darker and raised, some almost indiscernible from his skin. She wondered how he didn’t get cold, with how ragged and unpractical his outfit looked. If she had to pick a word to describe him, it would be wild.
“You… who are you?” His voice sounded rough, as if it didn’t get much use. However, it had a calm edge to it that didn’t match his current tense stance and harsh eyes.
“I’m…” Lumine was at a loss for words. She had just finished explaining how she got to this world; she wasn’t sure she’d be believed a second time. “My name is Lumine. My companion here is Paimon.”
The man maintained his stance, his brow furrowing further.
“We aren’t looking to cause trouble,” she tentatively spoke again, in an attempt to keep the situation at bay. “You could say I accidentally fell into the water and I woke up here?”
Her words seemed to calm him down, as he relaxed his shoulders somewhat and took a few cautious steps towards her, sniffing the air around them. She hoped she wasn’t the only one feeling confused at his action.
“You smell nice. Not dangerous.” He looked her straight in the eyes. Even with the distance between them, she could feel the intensity of his gaze. “I was told someone was in danger. I decided to check.”
Someone in danger? Were they referring to her? She gulped at the thought of being attacked after all, but decided to not let her fear show. “Were you the one that dragged me out of the water?”
The man shook his head, then briefly looked around. “Someone else. I just show up now. Check that there is no danger.”
Lumine looked behind her, as if to double check. “And is there? Danger, I mean.”
“No danger. Just you. Nice smell, not dangerous.”
“He sounds strange, like he doesn’t have a firm grasp on language.” Paimon hovered behind her ear, quietly whispering into it. Lumine agreed with her words. The man sounded almost feral, but she was glad they could at least communicate.
"What is your name?" she enquired.
"Razor," he answered.
“Well, Razor, I’m glad that there is no danger. We were honestly just on our way out, we didn’t want to alert you!”
As soon as Lumine took a step backwards, the man stepped forwards. The action took her by surprise, and she could only shoot him a confused look.
“Lumine. Why are you here?” He pointed to the forest around them. “Humans don’t come here. You are first in a long time.”
It struck her as odd how he referred to her as human, as if he was somehow not. Perhaps he was a feral child of the forest? She had heard tales from other worlds about children raised by beasts. But she decided not to ponder on it long enough. She just hoped she’d manage to convey what had happened to her without alerting him or confusing him. The concept of travelling between worlds sounded bizarre to most people, and not everyone was as accepting as Paimon. Perhaps she could twist the truth slightly? Make it sound less bizarre?
“Well, the truth is… I’m not really sure how I got here. I was travelling with my brother when we were attacked, and I got separated from him. Next thing I knew, I woke up here with no recollection of how I got here." That was close to the truth, anyways.
Razor's eyes darkened, and his brow furrowed. "You lost your pack?"
Her pack? Did he think he was a wolf when he was clearly human? "I guess you could say that?" She didn't sound too convinced, but the boy nodded, scowling. He didn't seem too happy at the idea.
"Losing pack is like losing life. Hunting alone is difficult. Lumine is alone now?"
"No! Lumine has Paimon by her side!" The fairy had gained enough courage to step from behind her back and confront the man head on. "But humans don't form packs!"
His scowl deepened. "I live with wolves. Wolves are my pack. We hunt together."
That did explain his demeanour and roughness. No wonder he was wary of them, they must have looked so out of place to him. But she didn't have a lot of time to waste idly chatting. If she had woken up here, there was a chance Aether was somehow nearby. And she needed to find him fast. She decided to interrupt the conversation before Paimon could get a word in.
"Say, Razor, have you by chance seen someone like me pass by? He might have accidentally drifted ashore here as well." Although she wasn't even sure how long she was out for. It could have been months, time flowed differently between worlds. "Same height as me, long blonde hair in a braid, similar clothes?"
Razor seemed to consider her question for a split second, giving it some thought before fervently shaking his head. "No. Razor stays in the forest most of the time. Human villages are far away and scary. Humans are cruel. The forest feels safer. No other humans pass recently, other than Lumine."
She had braced herself for that answer, the chance of Aether having landed on the same place as her was slim, after all, but she still felt disheartened and couldn't help it when her shoulders unconsciously dropped.
"Well, I guess we better find somewhere to look for him. I can't lose hope." She dropped her gaze at Paimon, gesturing at her that it was time to start moving. “We better get out of the forest then! Thanks for checking on us, Razor.”
"Good luck." With those brief parting words, Razor was ready to turn around and head back into the deep forest, but something caught his attention and he stopped midtrack, his body tensing in alert.
“Wait!” The girls hadn’t even managed to move a few steps when his hoarse voice stopped them. They turned to look at him, surprised by his change of demeanour. He lunged forward with long steps and caught Lumine’s wrist. She was surprised by his sudden action, and almost jolted backwards. “I smell danger nearby. Hilichurls are coming.”
That word seemed to have an effect on Paimon, who frantically grabbed onto Lumine’s dress. Lumine however, was confused. “Hilichurls? Is that the danger you were warned about?”
Razor shushed her, but nodded solemnly. “They are coming this way. Lately they are bold and angry. Razor hates them,” he said in hushed whispers.
Soon enough, she could hear faint grunts and growls accompanied by the rustling of leaves.
Usually, Lumine wasn’t scared of danger. She wasn’t as adept as her brother with a sword, but she could still hold her ground against the enemies they had encountered. But she currently had no means to defend herself, her things scattered across the universe when she had been thrown into this world. What would she do now? She wasn’t sure she could rely on her fists. Her mind worked on autopilot, scanning her surroundings and desperately trying to find an opening where she could run out of the forest and its dangers.
Razor seemed to pick up on her anxiety and gave her a stern look. “Take breaths. Hilichurls smell fear.”
That didn’t help, she thought to herself.
“Can we not avoid them?” she whispered back.
Razor never answered, instead looking focused on something she couldn’t see or hear. She hadn’t even been awake for an hour and she was already fed up with this world. But before she could feed that negative train of thought, she felt Razor tug on her wrist.
“We move, now!”
She didn’t need to be told twice. His sudden outburst and their movements seemed to have alerted whatever creatures were lurking nearby. She could hear them running after them and her legs almost gave in.
It was hard to match Razor’s pace, especially while he was tugging on her wrist and she had a fairy clinging to her dress, but she tried. The blood rang in her ears, and she felt panic wash over her whenever Razor’s steps quickened. She was so focused on moving forward that her senses seemed to block out whatever creatures were following after them. She didn’t dare to look back to see if they were being followed, and Paimon’s shouts fell deaf to her ears.
Soon they were running with all their might.
It was a miracle she hadn’t tripped over her own feet and stumbled over a stray tree root or a rock; on the other hand, Razor was acutely in-tune with the layout of the forest and seemed to have memorised every tree and furrow within the forest. Her wrist was starting to hurt from being tugged on by him, but her survival was a priority in her mind, so she tried not to focus on the pain.
“Here! Follow me!”
That was the only warning Lumine got before being pulled behind a giant fallen tree trunk. Razor pressed their bodies against the bark, Paimon still grabbing onto the fabric of her dress, and gestured to both of them to stay quiet. She pressed her hands against her mouth, to try and still her breaths — ragged from running — hoping that would be enough. She looked over to Razor, who hadn’t even broken into a sweat. His brows were furrowed and his shoulders were tense: he was listening out for their pursuers.
She could hear them close, their chants and grunts unintelligible. There must have been at least half a dozen running after them, and she was glad she hadn’t looked back. Paimon had taken to hugging her body tightly, like a human shield, and Razor’s arm was still pressed against her. She forced herself to count to ten inside her head, attempting to derive her attention away from the enemies behind the trunk.
The minutes felt like hours, but finally, the hilichurls seemed to lose interest and she could hear them step back into the direction they all came from, all letting out disappointed grunts. Once they could no longer be heard and Razor removed his arm, she felt exhaustion wash over her and her knees gave in. Within a second, she had let her body fall to the ground.
Paimon slowly let go of her dress to face the man that had saved them. “Razor! There were a lot of hilichurls! The big kind as well! Paimon was scared. Paimon has never seen such vicious looking hilichurls before!”
He turned around to face the fairy; the scowl still hadn’t disappeared from his face. “Yes. Hilichurls usually stay away. Wolvendom is scary for them. But lately they have become bold and fearless. They show up and attack weak wolves. Steal food. Destroy forest.”
Lumine looked up at the man, intrigued by his words. “Has something caused them to change? Why have they become so brazen?”
Razor shrugged. “I don’t know. But pack suffers, so I hunt them. I will drive them away from Wolvendom.”
Paimon looked pensive for a few seconds. “Paimon has seen a lot of hilichurls show up in groups around Mondstadt lately… perhaps something is affecting them?”
“I don’t know,” said Razor. “I only fight them. I do not follow them out of the forest.”
Razor ducked down so he could look Lumine into her eyes. Concern was written all over his face. She looked back at him, curious about what was going through his mind.
“But Lumine is alone. Hilichurls might come back... “ he whispered.
“Yes, but now that I know of their existence I can probably manage to outrun them. At least until I find a weapon of sorts.” Lumine wasn’t entirely convinced, but she tried to not let it show.
“But hilichurls are strong and Lumine is lost. You can stay with me.”
Paimon and Lumine gasped at the same time. Stay with him? And his wolf pack? That was crazy… Razor had presumably been raised by wolves, but they were both strangers, and Lumine wasn’t even from this world! The concept of being surrounded by wolves didn't sound too appealing, and he clearly wasn't a big fan of humans. Why would he offer such a thing?
“But you stay with wolves…” said Paimon.
“And you don’t smell like danger,” countered Razor. “Pack will accept you. I will speak with Elder.”
Lumine looked around. They were deep into the forest now, and surely both her and Paimon would get lost and run into the hilichurls from earlier. And even if they made it out unscathed, she had no money and no food. Her chances of survival were slim. Until she found something to defend herself with, she realised she had no choice but to rely on him. She looked over to her companion, who looked like she had slowly come to a similar conclusion.
“I guess we can stay with you for now. Thanks.” She paused for a second before continuing. “But why are you helping me? We’re nothing but strangers…”
Razor shrugged again, he didn't seem to give it too much thought. “I lost my family. Wolves found me. Without wolves I would not have survived. You lost your family now, so I am paying debt forward.”
She could accept that explanation.
Lumine quietly gave him her thanks and let Paimon hold onto her arm as she gathered herself up, ready to follow Razor to wherever he lived. She could only hope the wolves would accept her, and not turn her into their next meal.
With a gulp, she put the thought away and stepped forward, thankful that Razor was mindful of his pace now.