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As the world knows, There was once a region that existed beyond the lands - but that nation was doomed to fall due to the people crossing the line of creativity onto the line of playing gods when they started creating life with their alchemy.
Celestia punished them out of fear of what may come from this new development, turning the residents into monsters and destroying everything that they have worked on - only leaving barren lands in the wake.
That was the punishment from the gods to the land of khaenri’ah.
It was unjust to punish a whole nation for one of their residents' mistakes, but considering that khaenri’ahns had no archon to defend them - the gods did not even bat an eye when they brought destruction.
It pissed off liev, it pissed him off more considering the suffering they have brought over innocent lives for 5 damn centuries. He seethed with anger the moment he looked upon celestia in the sky.
He wanted to tear the place down from the skies and crush it under his feet.
No book had any records of the fallen land that is his home. He was not born there, but he felt so much connection to the land that he has never been to, he felt like that is where he truly belonged instead of mondstadt or snezhnaya.
He had learned of the tale from the people themself since he was young. Bunch of hilichurls have accepted him, treated him as their family and extended their passed down tales from their ancestors to him.
He had grown to love them and refused to fight them or let anyone else harm them in any way. The only fight he wouldn’t refuse was friendly spars with the said beasts and a deadly battle with thieves and scums of this world.
Though he could only do so much to stop the poor creatures from getting slaughtered all across the teyvat lands.
If the lands were too corrupted to live in, then he decided that he would cure the place no matter what it took for him.
One day, he suddenly left his home and went on his journey to find the pocket to abyss...the abyss welcomed its newcomer with open arms, immediately showing the prince the entrance to his ‘’home’’
Liev fought for days, years even. He learned all that there was to the abyss.
He has learned about the monsters that dwelled in them, he has learned about the mutation and the miasma that heavily weighted down the air, he has learned about the ways to survive it each day and he has learned that nothing is forgiving in the land of the abyss.
He has earned many scars, injuries as well as cursed weapons that he used and chipped away at his life.
It didn’t matter to him how much it hurt, it didn’t matter to him how long he would be down here, it didn’t matter if he had to put down his life in order to restore home to millions of cursed creatures.
Liev surely missed his family...more than anything, but he can not back down from this now, not when he's so close to getting what he wants.
The young man has also learned the art of khemia to aid himself through the quest. It was hard at first, he couldn’t get the hang of the measurements and the tedious process that experiments needed to be executed. His brother would have surely picked up on this much faster than he ever did, but in the end.. He would not drag anyone else down with him. Especially not his family.
Khemia learned, abyss fighting styles learned, knowledge on the plant and animal matter on the place learned.
Time passed much differently in abyss than it did in the real time. It’s been almost 8 years here...he wonders how much time has passed outside.
He has only aged a little, fortunately.
His appearance changed only due to the hair growth and the scars that were being added to his body.
He wasn’t bothered about those, though. His father had said how scars are a trophy that warriors wore and he, too, wore his own with pride.
At the end of his journey he has stumbled upon the heart of the abyss….a large pale tree with leaves that glowed softly in the dark, illuminating the whole place.
The tree was bigger than anything he has ever seen, it’s roots spread out everywhere- it even reached the entrance that he came in from years ago.
It was nothing short of amazing and beautiful, captivating even - like a gentle light of fire attracting the unsuspecting insects over it, only to burn them in matter of seconds the moment they got closer.
This was it, he knew. This was the literal ‘’heart’’ of the abyss. This is what ‘’khaenri’ah’’ thrives off of...and this is the key that liev needs to restore the lands back to its former glory.
He would be a fool to think that he would be able to get close to the tree without a problem.
A fool he was for sure…
Monsters gathered around the tree, much bigger than any other he has encountered along the way. They were much more mutated, seemed stronger and wielded elemental powers that could have crushed him in minutes...but liev had his own tool that would help kill them.
The delusion who he found out later was left purposely behind for him to find in the snowy mountains. It was a gift from someone in the abyss, but to this day he has no idea who gifted him such a dangerous item.
Using it helped him grow in size, gave him armor strong enough to fend off strong attacks and gave him the power to control the cold.
He was no stranger to using his delusion at this point in time. He had used it multiple times before he even got here and even while he has been down here.
It’s a dangerous thing, really.
It could easily take over his mind and drive him insane. He could lose the sight of his goal and dwell into the darkness for the rest of his life if he were to make a single misstep.
The battle was won, but during the fight he had lost an eye to the beast and almost an arm, but he was quick to freeze it and shatter it into pieces before it landed a blow.
Liev had to remove what was left of his eye to not get infected like the monsters here. He froze over his eye so the blood would stop leaking and he got up again.
Everything hurted, everything burned. His muscles screamed at him to rest and his mind was going crazy with adrenaline and the pain of losing an eye.
Delusion still activated, liev finally came close to the tree and dug around in his pocket to take out a certain vessel that he had made specifically for this occasion.
He knew that this would be either the end of him or a new beginning...he did not shy away from the danger that was about to come, instead - he dug his fist as deep inside of the roots as he could and chanted few words in a language that has been long forgotten.
His body seized up and his chest felt constricted. His mind started swirling with haze and his heart started squeezing unbelievably hard.
He felt pricking on his arm inside of the roots and soon blackness spread up onto his body from the veins.
It felt like it was eating at him from inside out, it felt like something was making a space for god knows what,but it
HURT.
Not long after did he feel his body spasm and freak out about the sudden intrusion and change.
Even if he wanted to pull his arm out now, he couldn’t.
It was stuck until the process was fully complete.
He felt like he was truly dying, he felt like the world was fading out of existence, he felt his body grow weaker- but he wouldn't stop fighting for control? Over what? Something. Anything.
His world soon turned to black and there was nothing anymore.
He felt nothing, saw nothing and heard nothing for a good amount of time, until a certain voice spoke to him.
It was doubled...tripled almost. It echoed like bells in his head.
It spoke with purpose and elegance.
‘’You are worthy. Prove to us what you can do. Your bravery and power has brought you far and we have acknowledged your determination. Rise now, Archon of dreams, Dreamer and the savior of the land that has perished long ago.
We await eagerly for your next move.’’
Just as the voice stopped, his body shot awake immediately- he was laying on the ground, arm still inside the tree with few roots that have grown out and twirled around his forearm to keep him in place.
He pulled his arm out and opened up his palm to see a certain chess piece in it. It glowed and pulsed with power.
A gnosis.
He successfully managed to make one…
He swallowed down the lump in his throat...he was starting to feel weaker and weaker by the second.
His chest felt empty and something told him that it needs to be filled in with the item he has in his hand.
So he did just that.
The gnosis easily slipped in and accepted it’s host...he could already feel the power coursing through his entire being.
He felt like a totally different person.
He felt stronger, lighter and stranger than ever before.
…
He remembered the voice that spoke to him in his head ‘’archon of dream’’...that is what he was now, it seems…
That was not the end of his journey, however. He still has one thing left to do...and that is to remove this dreadful curse from the people of khaenri’ah.
He places his hand back on the tree again, borrowing only a fraction of its energy before he connects with the minds of the damned.
Slowly but surely he removes the curse from his people, transferring it all in himself instead.
The hell before was finished, but this was another stage of it that he has to go through yet again.
The hilichurls and abyss dwellers from all around teyvat started feeling weird, their bodies shook and the fogs in their heads slowly raised.
Soon they started transforming into the creatures that they were supposed to be...into the people that were once called khaenri’ahns.
Everyone in teyvat was frazzled by this change, the horrors that they experienced after finding out who they were actually killing instead of monsters got many of the people freaked out.
While changes slowly happened in the outside world...the inside started to change as well.
The young man has fallen into a deep slumber, letting nature handle all the change that needs to be done to clear up the miasmas and corruption from the lands.
Soon the land shaped up into what it once was - a beautiful landscape full of plants and life that were otherworldly took over, the waters have cleared and the crystals shone brightly to ward away the darkness.
Liev slumbered through the whole process, it was too exhausted - still too frail to handle all that power so he slept and let the gnosis change him.
Years passed and he finally woke up.
Laid on a stone slab with mountains of pillows, he was surrounded by people with...odd looks - by that he thought of the strange long bunny ears that stuck out of their heads, much like the ones hilichurls had.
He sat up, feeling completely rejuvenated and healed from his last battle, and looked around curiously.
It was quiet until one of them spoke in a familiar language...Khaenri’ahn…
‘’Thank you’’ they said and the others followed suit. They got down to their knees, bowed and cried upon his awakening, rejoicing and announcing the name of their new god.
‘’Sepid’’
Was the name his people bestowed upon him as their new god.