Chapter Text
A vast sea of red entrapped you. It felt as if every direction you turned, the only thing that fell upon your eyes was nothing but that cursed color. The only thing you could see past it was an overhead of deep ashen gray. The red land before you felt hot, monstrous, and unstoppable. No matter what you would attempt to do, you felt as if it was inescapable. No… it wasn’t a feeling. It was a fact- reality to blatantly put it. You were trapped. And there was nobody coming to save you. The fire outstretched every grass patch you could see. You stood still on a small stone surface etched into the ground. It was the farthest you could get before the fire spread rapidly and surrounded you, leaving you no more openings to run. Was it alive? You knew it was a silly thought, but what were the odds of the fire spreading so quickly that you were left trapped as you are now? The smoke clogged your throat and burned your eyes. The bitter gray smell clung to your clothes. You could barely breathe properly and were sure you would die from lack of oxygen sometime soon.
Distant screams, from those in the village you once were well acquainted with, were echoing around you. You wanted to help but you were unable to move without being scorched alive. You could only hope that most of the people were able to escape. You lived in a small village, along the mountain sides of Tianqiu Valley in Liyue. There wasn’t an overwhelming number of people, and it was such that you were mostly familiar with everyone around you. Albeit not close, you knew these people, to an extent at least. And now… so many of them were being lost to the flames. You stood there, emptily staring out into the vicious fires, dancing about as if they were mocking you.
It wasn’t that you were scared of death. You were only 13 at the time after all, and barely beginning to understand the world around you. You knew that death was bad, was scary, but the full comprehension of it had never truly been within your grasp. Nor was it something that you planned to reflect on at that age either. Nonetheless you felt this overwhelming sense of dread, you never felt it be so strong, so overpowering, not once in your life. You started shaking, your mental state taking a toll on your physical one. And that’s when it hit you, the thing sitting in the back of your conscious finally coming to the surface. It wasn’t that you feared yourself dying, it was that you feared never being able to see-
Your breath hitched in your throat. Your heart beat and thoughts slowed. It felt as if time had stopped. You heard her. The one person in the world you cared for the most. “It can’t be.” you dryly thought. But yes, unfortunately, your worst fear came to be: your selfless mother risking her life to save yours, gambling with the fate of being able to escort you both to safety. You knew your mother would sacrifice herself to rescue you. And that was the last thing you wanted to happen. Upon earlier, your mother had stepped out of the village to run a few errands as she tends to do every now and then. She, the one person you cared for most in this world who surrounded you with nothing but love and kindness. It was just a life you led with her and yourself. Your father was not in the picture. He left when you were young, an age you could not even remember him clearly. It bugged you, to barely remember this man while simultaneously holding so much disdain for him. He left the two of you and you would never understand the reasoning of it, especially because your mother is so wonderful and kind. And you were just a child. You did not want to admit it, but you couldn’t help but wonder if he left because of you being born. Would he have stayed if you were out of the picture? Or was it because you were a girl, maybe he wanted a first son instead. You hated it but you couldn’t help to sometimes blame yourself for his disappearance, the prickles of self blame were unfortunately inescapable. Especially because despite his actions, your mother never painted him as a bad person (much to your dismay). When you would ask about him, she would speak of him longingly. She never would elaborate on the reason he left, but she would say that he had to leave for an important purpose. Nothing would make sense in your eyes. I mean, what could be more important than your family? One day you hoped to meet the bastard and give him a peace of your mind. That is… if you even managed to survive.
“Meilin!” you heard your mother screech, snapping you out of your rambling devices. Her voice pitched through the flames. You felt your once frozen legs jolt in place. You quiveringly took a small step in the direction of her voice, not going far as the stone platform wasn’t fairly large. “Mom…” you barely stuttered out. Your voice was weak. Why were you still so terrified? Your mother was here, everything would be okay now… right? Your mind went blank as your mothers shouts kept echoing through the land. The molten red land, painstakingly unforgiving and cruel. You took a dry gulp of the bare minimum saliva hitched in your throat. Finding your voice again, you started shouting so that your mother would be able to locate the direction you were in by following your voice. Relief rushed through your body when you finally saw her. Your mother was running to you. She had what seemed to be a blanket (that she probably had just acquired from her trip to the marketplace) wrapped around her as she launched herself through the flames, trying to get to you with her quickest might. There she reached you, hoisted you in her arms, and wrapped the both of you into a bundle. It all became a blur from there.
Your mother dropped you off at a patch of open space near the outskirts of the village that was not being encompassed by flames. She then took off again after telling you to stay put. You felt barely conscious at this moment. You could not even feel yourself process what was happening. Your mother, who had just saved you from flames… was now running back into them? Why? What could be so important to go back there for? Most of the villagers had either escaped or… were too unfortunate to evacuate themselves in time. Was her purpose to try to find survivors, despite the danger of losing herself and becoming literal ashes? Your mind whirred.
Upon having the realization of the passing time, fear seeped in through your whole body again. It was a cold, dreadful feeling. Nothing but a rushing onslaught of fright with the sole thought of losing the person who meant the world to you. Moments creeped by until you saw her figure appear. You felt yourself breathe again after what felt like an eternity. She had the blanket wrapped around her for some protection of the scorching fire. The blanket looked like it wasn’t enough as you noticed some of the patches completely burnt through. Did your mother get hurt? You opened your mouth to ask her until you noticed she was holding a… staff?
No, not just any staff. Your spear, the one you were gifted as a child by the age of 5. It was a toy to you. An object you played with for fun. Striking at targets with no honed sense of direction. It was quite beautiful. The shaft was submerged with a deep shimmering black and specs of gold. White and red scriptures layed on top of it with symbols you did not understand. The sharpened spearhead enamored with a striking gold and cool steel. The wings, floating along the sides, were colored in a shimmering red. The collection of black, red, white, gold and silver never looked so beautiful to you until that moment. What you could not understand was why your mother risked her life for an inanimate object. And also… how was it possible for the spear to not be burnt to ashes? Snapping you out of your thoughts, she thrusted it upon you and ushered the two of you to run. And so, you did. Silence seeped through as you two made your escape from the flames. But why did it seem like you were running from… something? You glanced over at your mother who looked fearful. The fire was just an accident right? Or was it not? Why was she so scared? Why did it feel as if you two were on the run? Your mind spiraled with questions, wondering what could possibly be the matter until-
You and your thoughts froze in place. Because ahead of the path you and your mother were going, a group of men were situated. As if they were waiting for the two of you. But what reason could people be after you? You looked over to your mother. You could see her small form trembling. You had never witnessed her look so fragile… so weak. She slowly ushered you a few steps back and to the side of the main dirt path you were originally on, placing you both closer to the onset of bushes and trees. Whether it be luck or the blessing of an archon, the dangerous looking men had not noticed you. Your mother turned to face you, her eyes possessing so many emotions: fear, hatred, bitterness… but mostly, anguish. Amongst the semi camouflage of the trees, she stooped down beside you and whispered. “Meilin, I need you to run.” To run… Why would you run? Just you? What exactly is your mother implying here? “I…” she barely stuttered out, her voice was hardly a whisper at this point. “...cannot come with you. Please listen to me my dear.” she then placed both of her hands on your shoulders. “No matter what happens, no matter where you go…. Promise me, that you will always keep that staff close. And not only will you protect it, but you will make sure that it protects you. You will train with it, master it, to the point where you become one with it.” her voice was languid. You heard her say every word but why did she… why was she doing such a thing? Did she really intend on abandoning you like this? Just like your father...
Tears formed in the crevices of your eyes. You felt so hurt, but mostly afraid. The most important person in your life was ready to throw herself away just like that? “How could I?” you almost cried out, your whisper being nearly too loud. “Mom I can’t just leave you behind like this. I want to stay by your side. Please don’t leave me alone.” You clutched her shirt with a free hand, the other weakly holding onto your spear. Tears formed in your eyes as you looked up to her, desperately. She was the only family you had. You can’t just part from her, not like this. She then smiled down at you. Her eyes were soft yet enamored with pain. Her lips quivered ever so slightly as she spoke. “One day… you are going to have to face your father in the heart of Liyue. And… he will tell you everything, dearest flower. I...” she glanced past you at the group of men, seeing them shuffle about. “Cannot come with you. Your existence would become too obvious then. I want you to leave and go to Mondstadt, they wouldn’t expect you to be there. Keep heading Northeast, you will eventually find it and know you have reached it when the lands have changed.” she shakily sighed and then continued, “They might not yet even know of your existence if we’re fortunate. In Mondstadt you can find someone to take you in and live there. You’ll be safer, where they won’t be able to hurt you. At least…. For a while. Under any conditions you cannot return to Liyue until you have mastered your staff, and most importantly when you receive the blessing of a...”
Her voice trailed out. You could no longer think clearly. What… what was she saying? Who wants to hurt you? And why? Face your father? Run? Escape? Hide? Mondstadt… a place you have never even been to before and now you suddenly had to- no. no no no no. This was wrong. Everything about this situation was wrong. You’re being forced to say goodbye to your mother and you still have no clarity as to why? This… this just can’t be… your heart beat painfully against your chest. Everything felt so cold once again. You opened your mouth to speak but no words came out. Only hot tears rushed down your cheeks as you looked up at her.
“Did you think we wouldn’t have noticed you wench?” a man's voice came encroaching about. Footsteps of the men from before came teetering close to your location. Your mother, being taller than you at the time must have been seen. You on the other hand were well hidden among the bushes and a medium sized boulder blocking view of you even further. You could see the expression on your mother’s face change immediately. From a sad goodbye to a fearful entrapment, as if death had roared through her. You could feel her tense up. Her eyes once again met yours. You could barely hear her whisper a last, painful goodbye of: “I love you.” It was then that she pushed you over the edge of an abyss you had not noticed was so close behind you, and you felt your body hurdle downwards into the unknown.