Chapter Text
No one knew what the curse exactly was. Or why it exists.
The curse, where gods cannot love mortals, or even someone close to god.
The rule was, that gods can't fall in love, so that they can keep their head straight and continue to lead their people with no strings attached.
They say that the curse usually leads to death.
There were no records of this, of course, because gods can't find a reason to affiliate themselves with the mortals below, or even hope to fall in love. They just carried out their duty, year after year, for thousands of centuries after.
This was just a baseless rumour, running around town, whispers among the people, then later to be forgotten like what they had for breakfast last week.
However, it was a subject of worry for the Ameno archon of Mondstadt, and he worried his lip as he listened to the traveler ramble on and on about the gossip she picked up back in Liyue.
"How...do you think this curse will occur?" Venti asked Lumine, who was striding ahead of him, trying to keep on the lookout for hilichurls.
"I don't know, there wasn't a specific explanation on how it will occur. Some guessed that it will happen all of a sudden, like sudden death, you know?"
"Some say that the archon will lose their powers slowly and die, then the other one third say that they will die and reincarnate again and again, remembering their past lives and die from the hanahaki disease." Paimon added with a dramatic voice, and Lumine just rolled her eyes and chuckled. "It's stupid stuff, really."
The bard tensed at their words. The problem was - and not that he wanted to admit it - his powers had been fading recently, but he didn't mention that to the oblivious traveler and her guide. And he definitely knew what was up.
"Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about anyway, because I can't imagine you dedicating yourself to someone," Lumine laughed as she spun around to look at him, but the happy expression dissipated after seeing his face.
"Uh, Ven...are you okay? You seem really...sad, which is unlike you."
"Oh, it's nothing," He chuckled, forcing himself to put on a smile. "I just suddenly felt a little sentimental, since you're leaving soon."
Well, he wasn't lying exactly. He did feel sad that Lumine was preparing to leave soon, now that she succeeded in finding her brother Aether, it was time for them to move on.
"WAIT-" Paimon screeched. "YOU'RE LEAVING?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
Oops- Venti had totally forgot that Lumine hadn't told Paimon about this yet, to prevent her from moping around for the rest of the time that she's here.
"WHAT ARE YOU EVER GOING TO DO WITHOUT MEEEEEE?" Paimon broke into a dramatic pout and whine. "HOW CAN YOU JUST LEAVE ME JUST LIKE THAT-"
"No, I'm not going to leave you just yet-"
"YET! YOU SAID YET..."
The bard watched the two quarrel back and forth and he just laughed along a little guiltily.
With nothing to do, he fished out his lyre, hoping to play some music to set the mood. They were near Starsnatch Cliff anyway, and he wanted to influence the two with his music to calm down.
When he plucked the first note, the two went quiet, looking at him with attentive eyes, already entranced. He smiled to himself, then closed his eyes and immersed himself into the music that he was making on the lyre.
But not before long though, his heart seized as he realised that he was so immersed to the point that he was pulling the winds towards them with his power, but because it had been fading recently, he was hitting his limit.
He quickly let the winds go in panic, and bent over, panting in exhaustion, the song forgotten.
"Hey, hey, Venti, you ok?" He could distantly hear Lumine's voice getting closer and closer, but not close enough to be surreal even as he could feel her trying to help him up.
Ah...his world...it was fading.
"Venti? Venti? VENTI!" He could hear her scream as he felt his legs give out beneath him.
"Tone-deaf bard!"
"Venti-"
He couldn't hear anymore. He couldn't breathe. His heart constricted. He tried to find the words to say that he was ok - but he was not. His head screamed at him in pain, and it was too loud, too loud-
The one that disturbed him the most was the emptiness in his body. He couldn't feel it, couldn't feel his power. Before, it was constantly coursing through him like it was a natural thing that happened, but now with its absence, he realised that he had been taking his power and this sensation for granted.
I want to see him for at least just one last time...
That was the last thought before he fell into an entangled dark web of unconsciousness, ready to trap him there as long as it could.
***
"Barbatos, would you like to meet one of the adepti of Liyue?"
This conversation happened not long ago, when the bard-disguised god went over to Liyue to visit his old friend, Morax - oh, no - Zhongli.
He didn't have a lot of reasons to be in Liyue. In fact, he barely came here, unlike his friend traveler. He didn't really like the way the people guided themselves with a contract, binding oneself to something they may not want years later. He preferred the idea of freedom, which was what he taught his people. But he couldn't blame his friend though - he was the god of contracts.
"Meet one of the adepti?" Venti echoed, sipping at the wine he brought over. Or more like, gulped. "Why?"
Zhongli shrugged. "I thought you might want to see the adeptus you gave a vision to."
"Me, giving a vision?" He wrinkled his nose. He doesn't remember most of the people he had given a vision to, and besides, it's been thousands of years since last. There's no way he could remember.
"Alatus," Zhongli seemed to be egging him on to remember.
"Alatus, Alatus..." Venti mumbled, as if chanting the name could bring said person to mind. And surprisingly it did. "Aha, I got it!"
He remembered Alatus, the boy barely of 20 when he came for the vision. If you were going to ask what Barbatos was looking for in his vision holders, there was no answer. He seemed to choose on random, no matter where you came from or who you are.
But for Alatus, it was different. The god did see something in him, but he didn't know what. Maybe it was the way he presented himself, when he was a bundle of nerves inside, he still held himself tall. Maybe it was the wild freedom he felt inside of him. Maybe it was the way he spoke, or maybe it was the way his angular features-
He was getting ahead of himself, so he stopped and pulled himself back to reality.
"Yup, I definitely remember him," he beamed at the composed man. "Back then, he was as free as the wind."
Zhongli just frowned slightly. "Oh really? Hmm...you should give him a visit while you're here."
"Where is he at?"
"I believe that you can find him in Wangshu Inn."
***
And just like that, the bard was off on a journey to find that boy named Alatus.
Despite it being far from Liyue harbor, he found the lively inn in no time, with the help of some Liyue natives, of course.
As he walked up the steps to Wangshu Inn, he saw little kids, running around, playing. Some of the little kids growled and dashed at one particular kid, and Venti was getting worried that the poor child was getting bullied, but instead what he saw was that one lone kid charging at the rest of the kids, attacking them with weak blows until they all fell to the ground, laughing.
"Hello!" He approached them, speaking cheerfully.
"Ooh! Stranger!" One of them squeaked, getting excited. "You're not from Liyue, right?"
"Apparently," The bard had chuckled. "I'm from Mondstadt!"
"A Mondstadtian!" Another squealed. "It's been so long since we saw anyone from other cities come here! Usually it's just boring Liyue people coming here just for a change of scenery..."
Venti laughed melodically. "Well, what were you playing just now?"
"The Conqueror of the Demons!"
"What's that?"
"That's the last surviving adeptus in Liyue! We call him the Conqueror of the Demons! There are so many stories about him!"
"Oh really?" So was the person that they were talking about was the Alatus that he was about to meet?
"Yeah, he's so cool!" One of the kids piped up. "And Jing Xian, you promised that I would be the adepti this round!"
"But I still want to be the adeptus!" The child named Jing Xian winced.
"But that's not fair..."
Venti smiled at the antics of the kids, quickly bid farewell, and went ahead into Wangshu Inn. Hearing about Alatus from the kids just made him want to meet him again more. He wonders how much he has changed since he had met him back then.
"How may I help you?" The lady at the front counter asked him. "Would you like a room here, or do you want to eat at our restaurant-"
"Oh no, I want to see someone," Venti beamed at the woman. "His name is Alatus. Is he here?"
The woman frowned. "Alatus? Yeah, he's in, but he doesn't like to see people. But no one has called him that for a really long time. Are you one of his thousand year old friends?"
"Uh...well, you can definitely say that! But what does he go by now?"
"I believe he prefers to be called-"
"Is someone looking for me?" A deep, rich voice reached his ears. Venti turned around to see where the sound come from, and he saw a figure standing at the top of the steps, looking down at him.
He couldn't help it. His breath hitched.
He was like the most beautiful creature - or human, adeptus, whatever - he ever saw, despite having seen a lot of beautiful people. But him, it's different. It was like he was on a whole other unworldly level, and his bard instincts tells him that he could write a song about him all night.
This boy standing in front of him looks different. Feels different. There wasn't a sense of freedom radiating from him anymore - no, it seems as if he was trapped in some sort of sadness and tumult, and his expression was a serious frown, sharp, alert, unlike the soft smile that seemed to dominate his face years ago. His hair wasn't wild, it was much neater, and it swayed slightly in the wind that came in from the balcony.
It doesn't make sense, how much he changed. He was no longer that nervous boy, Venti knew. This man in front of him is grown, having experience many depressing events, and now is trapped in this cycle he couldn't seem to get out of.
The very opposite of freedom.
So it doesn't make any sense for Venti - Barbatos - to be attracted to him at first sight.
Maybe it was the fact that he wanted to help him, to save him from whatever was pulling him down to the depths of the dark sea of despair.
Maybe.
But the bard ignored his mixed feelings, and instead smiled up at the adeptus.
"Are you looking for me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at Venti, evaluating him, as if he could be some sort of threat.
"Yup, I'm Venti the Bard, and I come from Mondstadt!" The god decided not to reveal his identity just yet. He doesn't know why, but his instincts just tell him to not.
"What is a Mondstadtian doing looking for an adeptus in Liyue? And how do you know my old name?"
Uh oh, not good, he was getting suspicious.
"Well...I just heard it somewhere, that you are the Conqueror of Demons! I want to write a song about you, so I came!" Even though that wasn't his original plan, he still indeed wanted to write a song about him. From what he heard from the kids, and what he saw now...he could definitely make a great song out of this.
"Firstly, why would the people of Mondstadt want to listen to a song about an adeptus of Liyue?" The adeptus asked, incredulous. "And secondly, I don't take interviews."
Alatus turned around, as if ready to walk away, but he was stopped by a tug on his shirt.
"Hey, what are you doing?" He tried to shake Venti off, who was making a puppy face at him.
"Come on, please? Just let me talk to you!"
They argued back and forth and tussled up the stairs all the way out onto the balcony, where the night sky had already fallen, the stars showing up to do their nightly dance in the beautiful dark blue up above.
"Fine!" Alatus groaned, not being able to take the bard's whining and begging any longer. "Just one interview, and you go."
"Yay!" Venti cheered, grinning. Then he looked up. "Look at the stars!"
"Hmm?" The boy stopped struggling against Venti's grip for awhile, and looked up. The stars looked the same to him, since it was something he looked at almost everyday on the rooftop of Wangshu Inn. However, the bard seem entranced, his mouth slightly open as he stared at the night sky.
"Woah, is the view in always Liyue like that?"
"Uh...yea?"
"You're so lucky!" Venti squealed, and Alatus had to resist himself from putting his hand over his ears.
Lucky? He thought to himself. Isn't it just the same old sky everyday-
"I could sing a song about this!" Out of nowhere, the bard conjured up a lyre, and Alatus just stared at him, not knowing where he got it from. And he was also reluctant to hear him sing, because, well, is he really that good?
But all doubt disappeared as soon as the bard opened his mouth.
It wasn't the words, no, it was his voice, that pulled him in. His voice, it was so beautiful, so wonderful, that it immediately charged him with feelings, all at once, as if there is hope for him again.
He watched the bard twirl around as he sang, looking up at the stars with wonder in his eyes. His hair blew around in his face, braids swaying. The pure sea green of his eyes pulled him in even further, and soon he looked up too, to see what Venti could see in the stars.
He still saw the same old scenery, but...were the stars shining brighter than before?
All too soon, the song ended, and Venti finally tore his eyes away from the stars and looked at the still-entranced-adeptus with a smile.
"Do you like it?"
"Uh..." The poor boy couldn't formulate a response. Besides, he really didn't want to answer the question, not wanting to satisfy the annoying bard. "Wait, didn't you want to interview me? Can we just get on with it."
The bard pouted, and finally sighed and nodded. "Fineeeeee."
***
Hours later, Alatus was slumped on his chair, mentally tired from Venti's grilling questions. The bard had apparently forced him to tell all of his stories to him, and honestly, it was long and boring to him, but Venti had somehow listened to it with all his attention.
"Alatus, are you ok?" The bard asked when he put an arm over his head just to get some shut eye for awhile.
"I'm fine, I just wanted to-" He removed his hand and opened his eyes to look at him, but stopped when he found Venti's face just barely inches away from his. His first instinct was to fight or flight; either punch the poor bard in the face and send him flying or to run away as far as possible from getting too close.
However, he did neither, he just sat frozen on his seat, staring up into his sea green eyes. There was something about it that drew him in, just like his singing. Now that he was right in front of him, he could see up close on how beautiful he actually is. His petite nose fitted his features perfectly, and his eyes - there was too much to say about them - his lips seemed so soft that he wanted to touch it-
But when they both blinked at almost the same time, the moment was broken, and they both seemed to break out of whatever trance they were in.
"Oops, sorry! Did I get too close?" Venti quickly backed away, laughing awkwardly. "Ehe, sorry about that."
Alatus wanted to wave it away, saying that it was ok, but no, he was not. His heart was going at an impossible rate, pounding hard against his ribcage, and he felt out of breath like he had run a marathon.
Why...and...
What. Was. He. Thinking. About?!
"Well...you seem tired, let's end here for today!" He said in his normal cheerful voice, looking unfazed from whatever that has happened. But was his voice and hands slightly trembling?
"By the way, you haven't answered my first question."
"Huh?" Alatus asked, still recovering.
"Was my song and singing nice?" He giggled.
"No," he rolled his eyes, but in his heart was a resounding "yes".
"Aww," Venti pouted. "Then I'll try my best to make that a "yes"!"
"What are you going to do?" He asked in a warning tone.
"See you next week!" With that, he leaped away, leaving Alatus to stare after him.
"Wait, didn't you say that this was a one time thing-"
But the bard had already disappeared from his sight.