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There was a time when Xiao flew above all else.
High above mountaintops, a man bore witness to a chaotic landscape. Fields ravaged by war and painted with bleeding iron, yet no emotion crossed his face.
"Alatus, let loose your wings." There was no warmth there. Moments passed, the command still unmet.
"Alatus."
"... Your will be done, my Lord."
Emerald haze surrounded Alatus, twisting and forming jagged wings upon his back. A burst of light followed by shadow—the tempest of war.
"All evil, be rid of this world."
One, ten, fifty, the hordes of monsters were merely numbers. No matter how many they were, the outcome always remains the same: Alatus high above, and his targets ravaged below.
There was a time the adeptus flew above all else, away from it all. A silent existence, if one could call it that. There was nothing, he was nothing. Tranquil, yet transient all the same. First came pale light, then a bird's lullaby, then the scent of forests—one by one, the being named Alatus was roused from nothingness, to sight new to his eyes.
"Welcome, oh great Protector."
A tinge of warmth and a smooth silver gaze, his master looked upon him with a smile.
"To protect this land, I ask of you of one thing..."
Unwavering, those eyes held a pure-hearted promise.
"By my will, become my shield."
A bitter laugh rang through the silent battlefield.
"Your shield, hah." Alatus looked upon steely skies. Cold rain washed away the scarlet taint on broken swords, the acrid stench of iron soon mired by the wet earth.
"Perhaps if a dulled blade passed as a shield, then you may have kept your promise."
The piercing wail of shattering glass brought the adeptus to his knees, the crushing force doing him no favors. Once-emerald wings turned black before finally giving out, bursting into fine shards of crystal.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Well done, well done.” The fields echoed with a half-hearted laugh. Cold eyes locked with Alatus's empty gaze.
“Once again, you did not disappoint me. Look at the absolute carnage you wrought upon these miserable creatures.” The man spat at a corpse as he made his point.
“I only did this to-"
“Ah, no need for words. Come.” Alatus hissed, his master's grasp was harsher than ice.
Between bands of silver light, Alatus watched as the bloodied landscape melted away. Before long, what surrounded him was nothing more than a silent hall of broken mirrors. Dangling chains rattled in the air like cruel windchimes, and the winds themselves carried nary a scent.
The sting of biting steel coiled around Alatus’s wrists—the familiar sound of clicking metal was enough to confirm his thoughts.
“Until next time, Alatus.”
“When will it end, Master Caducus?”
A derisive laugh answered.
“When ? Do you tire, oh great and winged Alatus?”
In one blink, Caducus was at Alatus’s back. In another, the man’s hand lifted the adeptus’s head by the chin. Wisps of ash and smoke singed Alatus’s skin, yet he did not flinch.
“Tsk. No screams tonight?” The man flicked away imaginary dirt from his nails. A snap of his fingers and the reflective mirrors soon dimmed into black slates.
"This... purgation will go on until all is right."
"And what will it take for that to happen?" Even the tightening of his manacles did not stop Alatus from sharpening his words.
"Until no one is left to oppose me."
A wordless command twisted the scattered mirrors to face the two, regarding them like a closed eye.
"The world is lost, my dear adeptus. The people here are all but lambs to the slaughter, freely embracing butchers as they run from their shepherds. Running from us. Running from me."
Once again, silver eyes bore into Alatus.
"I have no use for such blindness."
Grave silence bogged down the already-stale air. Dryness clawed at Alatus's throat, but his voice cannot waver now.
"Once, you promised me I was your shield." Rattling iron replaced whatever shot nerves the adeptus hid.
"Your point?"
"A shield does not kill! How, why... This crusade of yours, what will be left for us to protect!?" Golden eyes wild with desperation, and a hitched breath. Met with nothing more than a sneer, the adeptus bit back his protest. What will be left for him? Is he even there to protect?
"What will be left?" Caducus saunters over, clawed grip tilting the adeptus's face until their gazes lock.
"All that will remain will be my flock, dear Alatus. Blind they may be, at least they cast their lots to me."
The unholy chorus of scratched glass and snapping bones rang out as the blackened mirrors cast illusions of sickly green. Memories of Alatus and his massacres, they stared back at him with every accusation.
"Far too late to see what you have truly done, Alatus."
No, no more, none of this... is me- His anguish joined the dead's, a filthy lament to his sins.
"And far too late to be blind."
---
"No."
Alatus stood before the cowering crowds. Innocent eyes full of tears, not malice. No weapon stood straight and no cruel gleam of metal blinded the adeptus.
The blackened glaive nearly fell from his slacked grip. All he could do was to meet each and every gaze that begged him, begged Death to turn the other way.
"No, I can't do this!"
"I heard you the first time." The sound of rattling chains echoed through the plains, and suddenly all Alatus could hear was his own quickening heartbeat.
"Do you forget your place, adeptus?"
Hissing smoke singed Alatus's airways. Pain wracked every inch of him, bringing him to heel.
"I gave you my order, now obey it." Alatus gripped his weapon like a vice, silver threads bending his will. His heart yet beats faster, but his mind was clear.
"You are my shield, Alatus. Do not forget that."
Bursts of otherworldly emerald sprouted from the adeptus's back, the shards more fragmented and sharper now as they fall into place. No matter how heavy they became, Alatus had to bear it all. The stares of every broken heart, the blood of every unjudged soul, the lives of every unfulfilled life, he had to take them all for himself. That was the most he could do, no matter how much he wished there to be more to it than that.
No longer.
No longer.
The people looked away in abject horror as the adeptus tore off his own wings. Black blood oozed as Alatus pulled at his back, every fiber of his being begged for him to stop. Yet, he kept going, he must.
"GRAAAAAGH!" Alatus howled as he adorned himself with his gore. A mouth that leaked black tar. Hands burning red with incendiary heat. Try as he may, Caducus could not stop his puppet. Silver wires snapped away with every labored scream the adeptus let out.
"You..! You dare!?" Sweltering heat poured from Caducus, scorching the ground he stood upon.
"I... am a shield. Not a puppeteer's plaything."
"A puppet has more worth than you, you petulant-"
Silver flames engulfed Alatus, but no pain could stop him now.
"Guh..!"
"Rest now, master."
Caducus's flames died as Alatus's own black smoke embraced the two. The adeptus sank to his knees, the weight of his blackened glaive much heavier now. Yet, this was nothing to what he has torn away.
The adeptus knew what it was like to be dead, he did not fear it as most mortals did. The cold embrace was nothing new, yet a seed of regret he thought smothered crawled its way back to his heart. Warmth, he would miss that in this fleeting life. It was a memory long buried away, yet in these final moments, he swore he felt it once more.
I, I knew this feeling...
--
"You're finally awake."
Dappled sunlight warmed Alatus's skin. A dull pain, a reminder that he yet lived—but that was not what roused him from his slumber. Golden eyes that reminded him of the gentle sun, that was what met his gaze at that moment.
"Ah, don't push yourself too much. You might as well have come back from the dead, after all." A chuckle flittered through the air, but for once Alatus did not feel any jaggedness—no, it was pure and free of any other emotion than simple happiness.
"What is your name?" The lilt of a voice eased him into reality. Alatus was laid on simple cloth. The earthy scent of grass, amber trees on tall trees, the honeyed hums of songbirds carried by a gentle breeze. Amidst it all, was him and the owner of that voice.
"Oh, apologies. You must be in some sort of shock." The woman smiled at Alatus as she offered her hand to him.
"I am Guizhong, the leader of the people you saved."
"... Alatus, once servant of..." A hitched breath, then a sigh. He remembered, no chains would strangle him now.
"Caducus."
"The Mad Serpent." Guizhong took Alatus's hand and held it between hers. There it was again, the gentle warmth once forgotten.
"Tell me Alatus, do you still wish to bear that name?" Another voice called out. A strong aura flooded the adeptus, yet it was far too different from that of Caducus's. No, this one was of tempered determination, and nothing more.
"Morax, perhaps you are being too direct."
The man named Morax stood before the two. Just like Guizhong, his eyes bore the golden sun in them. And yet, Morax's held the flame and Guizhong's the warmth.
"That master of his has caused him pain for far too long. It is time he be set free."
"Even if I were set free, where would I go?" Alatus looked away and towards the skies. Even if he once soared high, it was all for naught. What use are heavenly wings if they only brought terror?
"I have shed the blood of monsters and humans alike. There was no justice in what I did, only savagery. I can't..." I can't be free, I shouldn't be free.
"Then cast away your past and walk among us."
From below the earth, Morax produced a spear of jade. Unlike the harsh glows that once sprang forth from his wings, the colors that shone from the weapon held a different promise.
"I cannot promise you a path of no bloodshed. The moment you take this spear, you shall fight once more. Perhaps you shall never see peace."
Guizhong squeezed Alatus's hands tighter as if to pass on her warmth. Her eyes held the same conviction.
"However, I can promise you this." His gaze looked beyond Alatus's eyes, beholding the wounded man that hid beneath.
"No longer shall you bear the cursed name of Alatus. Take up this spear and be born anew. Become the protector you swore to be."
Morax held up the weapon and towards the adeptus, spearpoint away from him and towards himself.
"Walk with us, and be free. What say you?" The once-stern countenance of Morax finally bore the faintest of smiles. And yet, it held much more than a flimsy oath.
--
Centuries passed. Wounds have turned into scars and promises into traditions. Alatus no longer, the adeptus stood over the ports of Liyue as he witnessed the amber lanterns float freely towards the night sky.
There was a time when Xiao flew above all else. Yet, the seed of regret never took hold. Here on the ground, he could see all the lives, the people he swore to protect. The skies above let him see them as a whole, but down here, they were much like the floating lanterns, brilliant in their unique light.
The untouchable sky remained a relic he could not reclaim, and he could not be happier.
For wings once held offered him flight, and earth now roamed offered him freedom.