Chapter Text
The vision hunt decree was not in existence yet. A doll with flaws stood next to its master, looking upon the land swarmed with monsters. The people that resided there knew better than to mess with the forces that lived there. The doll looked over to its master--its creator--with the dull, lifeless eyes it always held. Its master turned to it. “Ningyō, I want you to take this.” A small, purple object was placed in its hand. “Keep it safe.” It nodded, holding the object close to where, if it were human, a heart would be. Its complimenting purple hair rustled in the wind, the same color hair as its master. It was a creation of hers, another piece of her. “When you leave, explore the other nations. Be free for a while. If you ever find yourself in danger, that will grant you the power to protect yourself.” It nodded, its master turning toward it.
And with the wind, the time of peace came to its glorious end.
Each archon held a certain element that they reigned over. Each archon chose who to gift a vision to. Those gifted with visions were granted the power held within its vision. There was electro, hydro, geo, anemo, cryo, dendro, and pyro. The time of peace went with the wind, hundreds of years earlier when khaenri'ah was demolished by the archons. He was there when it happened. He held no role, only watched as people's lives were taken. A distant memory he often recalled was a moment during the war--the moment when his true creator died.
After the fall of Khaenri'ah, he roamed every corner of the world, Teyvat. He knew every secret to each nation, the paths to take, and how to defeat every possible enemy alive. He was gifted with a vision--cryo--shortly after exploring the nation of Snezhnaya. He’s met the cryo archon, and she saw right through him and his secrets.
He watched as a new traveler piqued his interest. Someone not of this world, it was very easy to tell. The boy wore clothing he’d never seen before, no type of resemblance to the different design styles of every nation. Of course, interest sparks curiosity.
“Hello. You’re not of this world, are you?” The blonde boy flinched, turning to him. Beside him, a fairy-like creature floated with a matching face of shock.
“No, I’m not.” He nodded. After a pause from the blonde, he hesitantly spoke. “Is it that easy to tell?” He nodded, moving closer to the boy. “U-uhm…does every one of this world move so close to one another--” he grabbed the boy’s arm, moving him closer to get a better look. He was shorter than the blonde, probably by 2 to 3 inches. After inspecting him for a moment, he nodded.
“You have very nice eyes. They reflect many stories.” The blonde nodded, a blush spreading on his face. “What’s your name?” Their eyes met. The blonde mumbled something, causing him to tilt his head. “What was that?”
“My name is Aether…” He smiled, echoing the name through his head. Aether, the traveler of another world. He gave a content smile. “What about yours, what is your name?” The blush never left Aether’s face. It was most likely caused by the closeness between the two.
“Ume. My name is Ume.” He smiled at Aether, the blonde processing the name. “It means ‘plum blossom’ because my hair and eyes are purple.” Aether now smiled, nodding to himself. “I was also nicknamed Ningyō a very distant time ago.”
“What does that one mean?” Ume smiled, shaking his head.
“I guess you’ll have to find out.”
The wind followed Aether and Ume, the land of Mondstat--the land of freedom--the place where the Anemo archon blessed their people with the taste of their freedom with no interference from the one and only Barbatos. An interesting god he was to meet once, though Ume would never admit that aloud. There was a bit of an ego boost that would occur if he ever did so.
Aether and Une strolled, their peaceful small talk being interrupted by a random sound—one of someone being attacked. The blonde jumped into action whilst Ume watched. The blonde was incredibly skilled with the sword. That much was obvious, even to someone that knew nothing of fighting. Wherever he was from, he was taught extremely well. Soon after discovering the monsters, they were gone. The person that’d been attacked thanked Aether, only when they went to walk off did they notice Ume. He waved to the person, who very scarily walked off.
With a huff, he turned to the blonde. “I forget how fearful these people are of strangers.” He offered Aether a smile. “Well, to where is your journey heading next?” The blonde paused and thought for a moment.
“I was supposed to meet someone I’ve met during my journeys. He needs help with a domain, claims to have seen an abyss herald.” Ume nodded, completely understanding the situation.
“If you wouldn’t mind, might I accompany you?” Aether nodded, the floating fairy appeared once again with a screech.
“Aether, who is this? They scared Paimon!!” Ume made a mental note of the fairy’s speaking manner and that its name is Paimon. The fairy started to shake Aether’s arm, much to the blonde’s annoyance.
“This is Ume, a new traveling companion of ours. He’s from uh…”
“Inazuma. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Are you a fairy?” Paimon nodded with a child-like fondness in her eyes.
“Inazuma is a long way away, so Paimon will assume that you are a traveler!! Paimon is very happy that someone knows what Paimon is instead of assuming that Paimon is something else.” Ume listened to the fairy attentively, not missing a beat of her long speech. Aether rolled his eyes but didn’t say a word.
“Can we get going? Dain won’t want to wait around for very long.” Ume nodded, excitement sparkling in his eyes. The trio walked to a very secluded area, arriving at an eerie domain. “Well, shall we go inside?” Paimon and Ume nodded, and Aether started walking inside.
The domain was filled with many puzzles, some of which were meant to keep people out of it. The trio made their way through all of the puzzles with ease, arriving in a room with an upside-down statue of the anemo god, Barbatos. “Very welcoming.” Aether chuckled at Ume’s remark, continuing forward. Suddenly, he paused, Ume accidentally walking into Aether’s back. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” Aether seemed frozen, and Paimon appeared.
“Paimon spots someone!! Paimon will go see who it is!!” With that, she flew forward, leaving the frozen Aether with Ume.
Aether mumbled something under his breath as Ume started to walk around him. “What was that Aether?”
“He’s dead.” Shock ran through Ume, but not the elemental kind. There was a dead person in the domain? He rushed around Aether, finding the dead body of a treasure hoarder and the upside-down statue holding abyssal magic.
“Paimon, stay away from that man!!” The fairy turned to Ume, confusion in her star-filled eyes. She complied hesitantly and flew over to Aether. “We should leave.”
The trio started to finish the domain but was halted by the appearance of the rumored abyss herald. Before Aether or Paimon could react, Ume sprang into action. The air became cooler, and sparks and crackles sprang through the air. Ume reached a hand behind his back as he ran, and Aether watched as a sword made up of electro particles appeared. Aether and Paimon were in awe, they’d never seen someone create a sword out of one of the elements. Ume made an exorcising hand motion with his free hand, evidence of cryo starting to form around the hand. He made a blowing motion, blowing some of the cryo onto the electro sword and swinging it toward the abyss herald. It landed its hit, momentarily paralyzing the herald. Aether took the opportunity and brought out his own sword, readying to help Ume once the abyss herald rose again. Ume kept swinging the sword at the abyss herald, landing multiple hits before it rose again. Aether ran forward, using his gifted anemo powers to create a tornado. As the tornado scourged forward, he used more anemo energy to blow the herald into it. Ume threw some cryo particles toward the tornado, making it freeze the abyss herald in midair. It made a noise of hurt and anger, falling to the ground and summoning an abyss portal. “The next time we meet, I refuse to let you pathetic travelers beat me again.” And with that, it fled through the quickly disappearing portal.
Ume let out a sigh of relief, and the sword vanished from existence. With a quick glance around the room for safety, Ume turned to Aether and Paimon. The two seemed to have glitter in their eyes A’s they stared at Ume. “What’s gotten you two so excited..?”
“What do you mean?? You were incredible! How did you do that thing with the sword?” Ume laughed quietly and shook his head.
“We’ll just say…I was gifted with the ability to do that.” Paimon flew over to Ume.
“C'mon Aether!! We need to tell Dain about that Abyss Herald!” The blonde nodded, running to catch up with his two traveling companions.
The trio arrived outside of the domain, meeting a blonde haired man with an intricate outfit. His eyes held the reminiscent pattern of stars, much like the Calvary Captain’s of Mondstat. He looked to Aether, recognizing him. “Hello Traveler. Have you seen an abyss herald anywhere nearby?” Aether nodded, but Paimon answered the man verbally.
“We ran into this huge abyss herald, but our new friend here, Ume, almost wiped the thing out before it cowardly escaped into this weird portal-like thing. You should’ve been there, Dain, it was a very awesome fight in Paimon’s opinion!!” The man, Dain, nodded.
“So then, your name is Ume?”