Chapter Text
There’s an old saying in Mondstadt.
That if one wants to know the secrets of the world, one must throw themselves into the perilous void and enter the unknown. The truth is a fickle thing, dancing between the lines of the lies people placed them. And as the winds blow to all corners of Teyvat, Snezhnaya makes them the harshest. For no spirited wanderer is courageous enough to brave its snow and no passionate soul is ignited by their deathly cold.
The truth may set you free... Another warning foretold, but even in the nation blessed by the four winds, there is always a price to pay for that freedom. What can be set free if it has already been lost so many years ago?
A young man bordering between mortal and godhood strides the grand halls of Zapolyarny Palace. A castle with high ceilings and lengthy corridors, a fairy tale that was once a sight for story tales. The stranger walks on, eyes devoid of life beyond the bloodshed he creates. The true unspoken radiance of his fire.
This man is like no other, there is a vast sea of shadows that follow him everywhere. There’s more to this stranger than what meets the eye but his feet carry him through until he was standing upon large doors. Guards of great stature nod their heads upon his arrival.
The doors open and the figure strides inside, his posture confident as he halts before the throne. In the corners, he sees ice bloom along the fortification, retreating and extending as the woman sitting up on the chair smiles. He returns the grin with his knee to the floor.
“My lovely Capitano”. She sighs, uncrossing her legs as she watches her harbinger rise from the floor. “Tsaritsa” he greets and immediately his power radiates the room. She could almost taste it, how strong her lovely subject has grown since the last she left him. The feeling is glorious; the pinnacle of her experiments, finally concluding this. Yet even with this wondrous development, the Tsaritsa is left unsatisfied. Compared to her unrivaled ice and frost. It is still a mere candle in the dark.
“Come forward my child” she commands, an air of ease seeping into her tone, the harbinger follows without question, rising to the dais just as she wished. With each step forward the echoes of hundreds wisp around his head, crying out for his mercy.
“Please”
“No!”
“Spare us!”
“I beg of you..”
In just a moment's flash, a shadow casts upon him, the whispers of death singing to his ear. Frost immediately takes over his mind, commanding him to ignore the screams.
Deep inside the cacophony of strangled noises were his own little cries too. A past latched with grief, misery, and anger. The same one where he traveled and fought, waging his own war against the darkness this world was corrupted with. Leading a past filled with torture and blood. A flame could burn so bright before it flickers away.
“Fontaine is no longer, and that’s all thanks to you.” He hands her the hydro archons gnosis and she moves to cup his cheek, cold deep blue against bright crimson.
“Diluc”
The harbinger looks up and the Tsaritsa smiles, thumb stroking his skin. The delusion glows magnificently on his hip, consuming him as it lifts them up from the ground. Diluc screams, energy waning yet surging. The pyro flows through his bloodstream, merging with his cells and every part of his being. The entire hall lightens as a sign of a perfect convergence.
He falls to the ground, heaving, and panting. Diluc clutches at his heart, mind focused on his breathing. The ink-stained marks on his neck slowly recede and what’s left is a shell of a man and the pyro running in his veins. For a very brief second, this new Diluc sees the rolling fields of Mondstadt, the sight of grapes, and the large tree at Windrise.
He grasps his head, the images washing away like parchment over water. He has no recollection of these places, only from the missions he was told. His head pounds even harder but he doesn’t bother with them any longer as the Tsaritsa places a hand on his shoulder, her eyes gazing down upon him with all the might of Cryo. Diluc yields, perishing his thoughts. In this life, all he’s ever known was with his time with the Tsaritsa.
“Every day you grow stronger my child, pyro surges through you as if you are one element.” She explains, expression filled with pride, Diluc accepts the compliment graciously. “But” her eyes darken, the temperature of the room lowering at the change. “As you grow stronger, so will your equal.”
“My Equal?” He asks, turning his head as he follows the God walk down the dais, she summons icicles in her palm, bursting them into the ceiling. It paints the walls with the glitters of its broken shards, forming a symbol. “Everything is balanced, everything is weighed. The strength you possess is merged with another.” She explains, moving the shards accordingly. They form maps and people, the darkness and its light, animals, plants, and the entire universe.
The fractures disappear and left alone once again were the two of them. “You are precious to me Diluc. Remain under my hand and everything you wish for shall be granted. Do you understand me, child?” She whispers as if a mother warning her offspring to never stray too far from the house. He relishes her affection, yearning for it even as her cold light surrounds him.
Just as he was about to prove to her his undying loyalty once more, a sharp twist in his gut almost makes him recoil. Diluc was good at hiding his emotions but this one seems to move right out of his reach. His walls crumble for just a moment and the Tsaritsa doesn’t dare ask. Her eyes only observe as his gut pooled even more at the thought. His tongue is not to be trusted in times like this so Diluc chooses not to say anything at all, he offers a nod to her request.
A long pause follows and once his pain receded it falters. “It seems the effects are adapting to your body quicker than I thought... no matter, this will barely hinder your next assignment.” She recites, moving away as she flings her shards right back up to the sky. With a flick of her finger and the millions of crystals formed into the shape of a landmass, Diluc was all too familiar with it.
“Mondstadt”.
“There is a reason why I have informed you on the subject of equals,” she says and it all instantly clicks. “In this precious world of ours, nothing is without its equivalent. When you exceed expectations, somewhere out there becomes a rival to your indifference.” She explains, looking at Diluc carefully. “Nothing is able to surpass Celestia’s eyes of benevolence, but the person that shares your significance-I manage to have felt”. The grand display of ice and snow, the push and pull of existence. The eternal scheme of the stars.
“In the City of Freedom, you may find them there.” Diluc turns to her, red eyes wide and unwavering. He has known for a while that he was likely from Mondstadt origins, but to think his story would all come circling back to where he once been...
As if sensing this inner turmoil, she puts a cold hand on his shoulder “Mondstadt may have abandoned you but I won’t.” She states confidently and Diluc closes his heart to the confirmation.
He is whatever Tsaritsa wants him to be.
“What would you have me do”. He asks, like the good soldier he was. The Cryo archon gazed upon him for a few more seconds before smiling. In her years spent on molding him, her most exceptional harbinger never disappoints.
“I want you to kill them”
that there will be no stopping your bloodshed.
Diluc didn’t need to be told twice, he has heard her unspoken words either way. As soon as he leaves this room, he will pack what little he has brought and head straight for Mondstadt. The additional fuel added to his delusion ignites inside of him, the last he’s felt this way was at the massacre of Fontaine’s court. He bows, twisting his ankle to make his exit but not before being called out.
“There may be little to rival your flames Capitano but still, take caution. This might end up becoming the most challenging obstacle you will ever face.” She smirks, seating herself back at her thrown. The former knight squints, he may know a little or two about formalities but he has now something better else to do than to exceed his limit. Scrunching his brows he opens his mouth. “I’m not afraid” he answers truthfully, the archon laughs.
“I know”.
With that, he exits the stage.
The summer wind blows past, bringing with it the seeds of dandelions in its breeze. Another day was done and Jean spends the last of its remnants under the famed tree of Vanessa. The sun sets on the horizon, painting Windrise in a beautiful scenery similar to that of a fairytale. Jean stops to appreciate the peaceful moment, taking in deep breaths as she marvels at the scene.
Another short gush of wind passes, ruffling at her cloak and she laughs, twirling around in its current. It is rare for the dandelion knight to appreciate such fleeting moments so she makes a point to spend minutes taking in everything. A lot of things have been going so well that Jean is starting to think it may all be a dream. Nonetheless, she is very much grateful.
As she readies herself for her trip back to headquarters, not expecting the devastating news awaiting her there. She stops head turning to the distance where she felt a loud thud in her chest.
Beyond Dragonspine, across the plains of Liyue and the many nations after it. Jean could’ve sworn there was something inevitable coming. Her eyes squint to the clouded peaks of the mountain before settling her gaze back to the dirt path ahead.
Her intuition was rarely wrong but to have felt such powerful dread so far away was unheard of...
It’s probably just the wind, Jean convinced herself, brushing the thought away for later purposes as sweat forms the side of her brow.