Chapter Text
The winds were always calm, even in the most intense of storms. However, for days on end, they howled and tore down houses, they kept the windmills and their blades spinning with ferocity, and all who went outside swore they heard a faint voice singing, calling out to them.
People in Mondstadt had been going missing. Jean sighed as she looked over the numerous files with names and pictures all over them. Why were they going missing? Lisa stood next to her, arms crossed, “perhaps we need to truly step up and consider a lockdown. Fifteen people going missing is a big deal.”
“Yes, I understand, but there seems to be no motive for anyone to do this..we have no leads at all! Lord Barbatos..has he turned his back on the city?” Jean murmured, pressing her hand to her head. She had to think about the safety of the people before she did anything too.
She looked at Lisa, “please call in the rest of the Knights, including the Honorary Knight. I also want my order to be this; the lockdown will be initiated, nobody will leave their homes until we settle this.”
“Understood.”
The gates of Mondstadt closed, people were ushered into their homes, guards were posted everywhere and some patrolled the areas. The Knights all met up with Jean, even including Klee, who had no idea what was going on. Barbara was also with her, hands clasped in front of her.
“I have detected large amounts of Anemo energy being used,” Lisa explained, “this may be the work of the Abyss Order.”
“The Abyss Order is taking hostages?” Amber tilted her head. It didn’t really align with what they planned to do, which was to completely eradicate mankind, but it was still something. Lisa continued, “but I have been coming to the conclusion that this may be Lord Barbatos’s work.”
Noelle raised her hand, “but why would he do such a thing?”
“That I don’t know, what I do know is that something’s terribly wrong. We also enlisted the help of the Church to see if Lord Barbatos may appear to take the Holy Lyre der Himmel. If the Holy Lyre is gone, then we know this must be his doing.”
The room was silent. They weren’t sure it really was their own God’s fault for this, but they had to think about it. Jean looked at them, “Albedo, I must ask of you to halt your own research and investigate where the Anemo energy is coming from directly with Lisa.”
“I understand.”
Jean then glanced at Kaeya, “you will keep the guards in line here, we must make sure these problems won’t happen again.”
“You got it.”
She flipped through the pages of the papers she had on her desk as she continued assigning jobs, “Amber, you’ll leave Mondstadt and alert the other cities that the city is on lockdown and that they will need official documents to get in. Noelle, please assist Deaconess Barbara with everything involving the Church and keep watch of the Holy Lyre.”
“Please leave it to me, Acting Grand Master.”
Klee then began waving her hand around, “what about me, Jean? What about me? I wanna do something to help!” she was bouncing around. Jean couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “you will be with the Honorary Knight to assist in all of the areas.”
Paimon cheered and she began chatting with Klee.
With that, Jean said, “this meeting is now dismissed, please hurry to your jobs. If you have any questions, direct them to me. We will get to the bottom of this problem.”
Everyone dispersed from the room. Jean stopped Aether and said, “be careful, Honorary Knight, you have Klee to take care of. I would usually leave her in the hands of Albedo, but I know he has his work cut out for him and he won’t want distractions. Make sure she never leaves your sight.”
“You got it, Jean,” Aether smiled and left with Paimon, Klee was waiting for him outside. The winds were still going wild. Klee skipped around Aether and said, “what are we gonna do? I wanna help out!”
Paimon began to think, “let’s see..what can we do right now?”
A soft voice began to fill the air.
“Please listen, oh, sweet breeze of desire
You shall no longer tire
Flooding all senses, the heart and mind
You have been put into a bind..”
Aether looked around for the source of the voice. It was like the wind had carried the voice everywhere and it was finally reaching his ears. He looked back at the others, “are you hearing it?” he asked and Paimon stopped talking to hear.
“..woah! I can! Who’s singing?!”
Klee looked confused, “hear what?”
A woman was out on the streets, looking wildly confused. When guards tried to talk to her or stop her, she pushed them aside and kept going. The trio noticed and ran forward, aiming to help out. The woman turned to see Aether when he grabbed her arm.
Her eyes had green spirals in them, spinning endlessly, she looked like she had been put under a spell. Klee asked her, “what’s wrong..? Are you okay?”
The same singing voice came out of her mouth as an answer. It terrified Klee, who backed away. The woman then collapsed and was caught by Aether, he looked at the guards and said, “please get help! Get her back to her home before she wakes up!”
People came to help out, taking the woman away. Aether was baffled, “the song..is it putting these people under a spell?”
“Maybe! That’s strange though,” Paimon put her hands on her hips, “how could such a thing be possible? Why aren’t we affected?”
Klee adjusted her backpack, “I don’t know what singing you’re hearing..is it because of my hearing?” she was seriously baffled as well. When asked by Aether what she meant, Klee shyly glanced away, “my treasures..Jean said I couldn’t keep doing them a lot because they would destroy my ears..”
“So you can’t even hear the song?!” Paimon’s eyes widened.
“Uh-huh..”
“How are you hearing us then?”
“Well, we’re close together! You don’t speak quietly..”
Okay, that made sense. The trio continued on their way through Mondstadt, hearing the same verse being repeated and echoed by many who heard it. The sky was becoming grayer and darker, clouds were rolling in, a storm was about to come.
A ghastly voice carried by the winds kept singing, as if they were bringing the storm in themselves. It began to rain. Aether got him, Klee, and Paimon underneath a building where they could shelter themselves for a bit.
It was only the beginning.