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Monstadt's houses were thriving with joy. Pumpkins hung everywhere, kids rejoicing with candy, and cats running free through the roof tiles. A beautiful sight indeed, one that Amber was only able to see for a small while.
As she had duties to attend to, her outfit didn’t have any major changes, However, she was free to wear a cute pair of bunny ears and a tail attached to her belt.
She had received instructions to watch over a nearby event. Klee was more than ready to put on a big, explosive show to light up the night sky, and with the other knights of Favonius already busy with other matters, the task fell onto Amber's shoulders.
On her way there, her mind too wrapped in excitement, she forgot where exactly to turn, and got stuck in the middle of the woods. Not a clue on what was north or south despite the many times she had wandered around Monstadt. Even with her grand knowledge of the area, it only took a bit of daydreaming to get lost between the bushes.
Cursing to herself, she decided to sit on a log to wait for any sound to give her guidance. Or send her to her doom, for all she knew, a bunch of monsters could be lurking. She had rather not further think about that.
Seconds and minutes passed, probably more than she could calculate at the time, yet no sight of human activity was to be seen. Sudden tiredness kicked in, but she fought against it to stand up and walk towards anywhere but that place.
A few steps forward, luck chose to mess with her brain. Broken branches were heard, leaving her completely frozen with her hands ready to grab her bow. But nothing appeared. Not a single shadow or any footsteps appeared in her way, her surroundings refusing to give any hints to where the sound had come from. She thought about it twice and resumed her path towards an exit, followed by nothing more than the birds’ chirps.
However, peace did not last long, as soon a strange figure dashed in front of her. Arrow in hand, she took a few steps back. As much as she wanted to hide it, her legs were trembling and her aim was not the steadiest, but that didn’t stop her attention to points towards any clue on what was happening.
Once again, the shadow made its appearance, throwing itself towards Amber’s body. She barely got to dodge it, and so she was able to catapult her arrow. Too bad that the shadow had good reflexes and got to avoid a fatal fate. She was about to shoot at it once again until an apple fell right above her head.
With her focus stolen for a fraction of a second, a sweet, little ghost pushed her back just enough to force her forward. A path of candlelights was summoned, leading deep inside the forest. Amber pondered, but seeing an opportunity to get out of there, she went along the candles to who knows where at a slow pace. She appreciated the silence while at the same time it made her forehead get clammy. Air mingling against her barely dressed legs, she couldn’t help but shiver. Guess she was going to be a bit weaker the next few days.
The road wasn’t too long. Soon, she was in front of a pair of tombstones and a dead tree. The grass was nonexistent, yet the blue landscape of the sky, brighter than ever, made the situation much less scary.
She approached one of the tombstones.
“Hey, mind if ya help me out?”
As she turned around, a girl that could not be much taller than her got closer. Her dark outfit and her cheerful expression threw her off.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, pardon my modals. Name’s Hu Tao, and as you can see, these two got quite a special design, don’t you think?”
Amber’s eyes tracked back to the tombstones. Truly, it was odd that above the deceased names there were missing spots. Ones that looked perfectly fit for a pair of Visions.
“Yeah they do… but hey, only one of these belongs to a Monstadt Vision!”
“Yup, but here’s the Liyue one!”
Hu Tao rotated herself, letting Amber face the Vision on her back.
“So… will you grab it already?”
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Why are we even doing this? Where did these gravestones come from?”
Hu Tao sighed. “Well, there’s this tale I read long ago. A pair of lovers decided to marry here, the tallest part of this forest. One of them, while completing the rites, tragically fell down to the void. Their partner ran to their aid, but it was too late. their tears were so strong that they formed the lake below. It’s a bit boring, to be honest, but it is said that a treasure was buried right beneath their corpses, and can only be found on this day of the year.”
Amber stood quiet for a moment. “I’ve never heard of such tale. How did you come across it?”
“I’m just into a lot of niche stuff, like legends and myths. The book I read this from has plenty of stories like this one for all of Teyvat basically, but nothing was ever verified to be true. For all I know, it could be a regular pair that just really liked this place, and decided to get buried next to each other!”
Amber backed off slightly. “Either way, isn’t it disrespectful to the dead to do this? You’re literally planning to rob them!”
“Oh trust me, being the director of a funeral parlor, I thought about that a lot, but my conclusion is that this treasure is meant to be found! That’s why I dragged you here.”
The bunny girl was not quite satisfied yet, but she didn’t want to push the conversation any further, after all, she had some duties to attend to. She swallowed her questions and reached for Hu Tao’s back.
“Alright… here it goes.”
As soon as the Visions were placed, the stones started to vibrate. As they set each other apart, the tree flourished with beautiful red flowers, and a chest appeared in between.
“It worked!” Hu Tao joyfully approached it, but she didn’t get to open it. A set of thieves instantly surrounded them, slowly approaching them.
“Hey, we got company!” Amber quickly steadied her bow, already aiming at the many strangers that had arrived.
“Well, hope you’re ready to fight without your Vision!”
Before getting to the action, Amber saw Hu Tao quip. The girl made the first moves, swiftly knocking her opponents’ knees so they lost balance. That allowed Amber to shoot at them, but that made her an easy target to those behind her.
One of the guys was already way too close. She was barely able to dodge his attacks, and the distance between her and the tree only got closer.“Hey! Come here a sec!”
“Aight, let me have a go!”
Hu Tao summoned a giant ghost which pushed back all the enemies in front of Amber, who proceeded to run even farther than them.
“Thank you!” Amber in turn heavily injured them with her special attack, Hu Tao finishing them off at once with her lance. Finally, each attacked the remaining thieves individually, Baron Bunny being the one who dealt the final blow. Hu Tao abruptly sat on the grass, panting and mindlessly looking at the sky.
“Wow, business is doing well today! Uh...”
Amber rapidly put her weapon away and ran towards Hu Tao. “Here, I brought some food.”
“Thank you so much… what was your name?”
“Ah pardon me, I’m Amber, a Knight of Favonius!”
“I see…”
Everything became silent. Not even the leaves made a single movement. Amber felt quite uncomfortable just watching Hu Tao eat, deciding to sit down right when Hu Tao stood up.
“Well, it’s time to check the big prize, don’t you think?”
“Ah, right! I had already forgotten!”
“Forgot about a fresh chest waiting to be opened? You got to be the only person who could do that!”
Amber simply gave an awkward smile and followed Hu Tao’s steps. They both opened up the chest, a few Mora greeting them.
Hu Tao grinned. “Half and half. Help me count this.”
“Wait but… it was you who discovered this place...”
“And you helped me to arrive at my objective. Take the money, alright?”
She hesitated before finally giving in, saving her corresponding amount after a few minutes. Once she had done that, she realized her companion was already down ahead, extinguishing the candles.
“Are you not going to say goodbye?!”
“Hmm…” Hu Tao innocently yet stiffly turned herself around. “Well, you were a nice help, that’s all I can say.”
And so she ran away, some Mora falling off her practically nonexistent pockets. Amber couldn’t help but lower her expression, noticing the only Vision left on the tombstones was hers. Soon she jumped back, realizing the corpses from the thieves had completely vanished, not even their blood was on sight.
But that was a mystery for another moment, for Klee’s show had probably started already.
She ran faster than lighting, in hopes that she was running towards the right path. It became clear she was already late thanks to the sudden explosion of color invocated on the dark sky. Well, at least she knew exactly where to go, right?