Chapter Text
A lot of tourists over the years have asked to be ferried out to one of the many interesting, history-rich locales throughout Liyue, but very few had ever wanted to be taken to somewhere as dangerous as Guyun.
Albedo could still remember the look on the ferryman’s face when he suggested the location. He had to spend a few minutes trying to get him to believe that he was serious.
‘I find it ridiculous that I nearly had to shove my vision in his face to get him to agree.’ The memory of the exchange still brought about a twinge of annoyance in Albedo’s mind.
‘This is why I dislike interacting with new people, it can be so tedious.’
Wanting to distract himself from his thoughts, Albedo decided to look around the small vessel he was on. The ship itself wasn’t exactly a show-stopper, in fact, in a couple of ways it looked like it was starting to fall apart.
Albedo looked at a speck of golden paint near one of the windows. From what he could gather, it seemed that the boat hasn’t had any kind of paint job in at least a couple of years.
‘Not the worst part of the ship that I’ve seen though.’ Albedo mused. ‘I’m pretty sure that steering wheels shouldn’t have the top-right quarter of them missing entirely.’
Looking down at the bench he was sitting on, Albedo became thankful that he was wearing gloves, otherwise, he was sure that he would be picking splinters out of his fingers.
‘It’s not exactly the safest seafaring vessel I’ve been on, but unfortunately, it was the only one available.’
“Hey, I was wondering something.”
A gruff voice broke Albedo out of his thoughts, causing him to look up, it seemed that the ferryman was wanting to initiate a conversation.
‘Wonderful.’
“This research that you’re doing, what’s so special about it? I mean, I know the history of the place, but I don’t see what’s so special about a bunch of rocks.” The ferryman asked, curious, he didn’t take his eyes away from looking straight ahead the entire time he talked.
“The rocks may seem ordinary to most.” Albedo started to explain, a little happy that he could talk about his plans. “But, I believe that there is something special about them because of how they were formed, Rex Lapis created them in the heat of battle, I feel like there could be something different about their alchemical structure.”
The ferryman went still for a few seconds before answering, confused. “Um, okay, but I still don’t really get it.”
Albedo sighed. “Rex Lapis created the rocks while in a state of heightened emotion, I want to see if there is anything about the rocks at Guyun that differs from those found throughout the rest of this region.”
With a bit more understanding the ferryman nodded before going back to concentrating on driving the boat.
Seeing that the conversation was over, Albedo decided to return to his thoughts.
‘It’s still a bit hard to believe that I’m here. To think that I was still working on experiments at headquarters a little over a week ago.’
‘I will have to make sure to thank Jean for forcing my hand on this matter when I return.’
“Sucrose, would you please come here and assist me.” The blonde alchemist called. He was currently examining a sample of crimson agate that he had brought with him when he returned from his most recent trip to Dragonspine.
Against his own will, he might add. ‘I still don’t see what the big deal was, I was only on the mountain for three weeks.’ Albedo thought, still a bit irritated at being forced back down into the city. ‘I’ve been up there for longer periods of time in the past, but Jean seemed strangely upset with me this time.’
Before Albedo was able to think more about the acting Grandmaster’s strange behaviour, Sucrose walked up to him to start helping out only for there to be a knock on the door.
“Come in.” Albedo called out after the door didn’t budge for a few moments.
The door opened to reveal a knight that Albedo didn’t recognise, judging by their youthful appearance he concluded that they must be a new recruit.
The knight nervously stood by the doorway before answering. “E-excuse me sir, but the acting Grandmaster has requested me to c-come get you, s-she wishes to speak with you.”
‘These recruits always act like I’m some intimidating presence, it can be amusing, but it does get old very fast.’ Albedo mused as he watched the recruit look around the lab, it seemed that he was trying to look at anywhere but him.
“Thank you, I will head there shortly.” Albedo responded before turning to his assistant. “Would you please keep an eye on the agate, I want to know if there have been any changes while I’m gone.”
Sucrose looked at him before nodding, a determined gleam in her eyes. “Yes, Mr Albedo”
“Sucrose, you know you don’t need to add…” Albedo sighed before shaking his head. “Thank you.” The blonde looked at Sucrose as he said this, a small smile on his face.
Turning back to the recruit, Albedo moved to slip past them, heading on his way to Jean’s office.
‘Why would Jean need to speak with me?’ He started to ponder. ‘Does she have some paperwork that she needs me to do or…’
Albedo stopped in his tracks, realising what could be wrong. ‘Klee has gotten into trouble again hasn’t she… but maybe not, it’s only been a few days since she got out of solitary, surely she hasn’t done something already.’
Albedo started to pick up his pace, he needed to get to his destination. Hopefully, he was wrong.
Arriving at the door to Jean’s office, Albedo steeled himself for the worst before lifting his hand and knocking.
“You may enter.” Albedo was just barely able to make a voice out as it came muffled through the other side of the door.
Turning the handle, he started to enter. "Jean, I know that Klee may have caused a lot of damage, but…”
Albedo cut himself off as the room's inhabitants came into view. Jean was sitting at her desk, looking up at him as he entered. Albedo noted that the bags under her eyes seemed to be a bit worse than they usually were.
But, Jean isn’t what made him stop, that would be the other two people that were currently standing behind her desk.
‘I should have known that Kaeya would be involved somehow.’ Albedo thought in annoyance as he spotted the smirk of the resident Cavalry Captain before moving on to look at his sister. Klee was beaming up at him, which was a far cry from the tears that would usually run down her cheeks when she had been caught. ‘What is going on?’
“Albedo” Jean began, shaking him out of his thoughts. “I’m glad that you’ve arrived.”
“Jean? What is going on, has Klee done something bad?” The alchemist asked, confused by the way everyone was acting.
“Don’t worry, Klee has done nothing wrong.” Jean responded, a tired smile appearing on her face. “I’ve asked you here because this little ‘meeting’ is actually about you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.” Jean confirmed. “Specifically, how much you have been working lately.”
Albedo just stared at Jean as she spoke, his work? Why would there be anything wrong with how much he has been working?
“I’m afraid that I don’t really understand the issue here, my work schedule has been the same as it has always been.”
Jean sighed before continuing. “While that may be true, it has been brought to my attention by a concerned colleague that it has been way too long since you have had time off.”
“It’s true.” Kaeya finally spoke up, the smirk on his face getting wider “it seems that our dear Chief Alchemist has been working himself to the bone with barely any time to rest.”
Albedo blankly stared at Kaeya, refusing to let him see how annoyed he was starting to feel, before turning back to Jean “I’m afraid that our Cavalry Captain is mistaken, I can assure you that I have been taking proper breaks when necessary, as I’m sure Klee can attest to.”
Hearing her name being called, Klee began to speak up. “Big bro makes sure that he cooks us dinner and reads to me every night.” Klee confirmed and Albedo felt a familiar spark of warmth in his chest from being referred to as her brother.
“But he is always working during the day, Klee barely gets to see big bro, especially when he is on the mountain.” Hearing the sadness in Klee’s voice started to fill Albedo with guilt.
‘I’m so sorry Klee, I’ll try to make it up to you somehow.’
“As you can see.” Jean continued. “Multiple members of the Knights of Favonius have come forward out of concern for your health. As acting Grandmaster, I feel that it is my duty to make sure that everyone under my command is in their best shape.”
“I can assure you tha-“
Albedo began to speak before Jean cut him off. “That is why I am, as your superior, having you take your annual leave, you can have a few days to get everything that you need ready, but there will be absolutely no work allowed to be done by you.”
“But-“
Jean looked at Albedo sternly. “Starting now.”
“I’m afraid that going on leave won’t be possible.” Albedo protested while he started to grip the edges of his coat. “I am currently in the middle of multiple experiments, I simply cannot put them off for however long I would be on leave.”
Jean sighed before moving her right hand up to massage her forehead, trying to fight off her impending headache. “Sucrose and Timaeus are more than capable of looking after your work while you’re gone. I assure you that you will be able to continue with what you’re working on when you get back. It will be like nothing has changed.”
“I see.” Albedo felt like he was in a losing battle, he had one more thing he could try, but it wasn’t something he was very confident in the effectiveness of.
“I don’t even have any plans made. What exactly am I supposed to be doing?” Albedo felt a bit pathetic over what he just voiced. ‘Is that really the best I could come up with?’
“Well, you’re in luck.” Jean assured him, a small smile starting to reappear on her face. “Kaeya has brought to my attention that you have an interest in visiting Liyue.”
Albedo turned to Kaeya, watching as his smirk widened even more before he started speaking, his tone smug.
“Our cute little Kreideprinz let it slip a few months ago that he so wishes that he had the time to explore our closest nation. It seems that all those business trips he makes there never leave him with a lot of free time to do what he wants.”
‘The one time I agree to go for a drink with him.’ Albedo resisted the urge to glare at Kaeya as he tried to keep his growing annoyance at bay. It would do him no good to let the other man know that he had affected him.
Albedo was snapped out of his thoughts by Jean continuing. “As you can see you have a place that you can go and you can be safe in the knowledge that all of your work will be just as you left it.”
Jean moved to open one of the drawers on the right-hand side of her desk, pulling out what looked to be some kind of document.
‘She is probably going to have me sign it to make this leave official.’
“This leave you are going on has actually happened at a pretty good time of the year.” Jean started to say, the tiredness she is feeling really starting to become noticeable through her tone of voice.
“Lantern Rite is coming up in a few weeks, so you will be able to enjoy yourself even more than you would by just exploring.” After putting the document down on the desk, Jean started to rummage around for what Albedo assumed will be a quill.
“Lantern Rite!” Klee exclaimed as she started to bounce up and down before running up to Albedo and hugging him.
“Big brother is so lucky! Klee has always wanted to go to Lantern Rite!”
Klee looked up to Albedo, her eyes shining in excitement. “Big brother Kaeya has told me so much about the festival and his adventures at it!”
Hearing this made Albedo look over at the blue-haired male. ‘Hopefully, he left out the adventures with that ginger-haired ‘friend’ of his that he has told me about.’
As if understanding what he is thinking, Kaeya put his hands up in a placating manner, trying to let him know that he didn’t mention anything about them.
Looking back down at Klee, Albedo decided to humour her. “What about the festival has gotten you this excited then?”
Klee beamed up at him before she began to speak. “Big brother Kaeya told Klee that the harbour is made to look pretty with loads of colourful decorations! People come together to eat loads of different food and watch all the pretty colours!”
That was a…safe enough description that Kaeya had given her, Albedo supposed. “What else did you like hearing about Klee? What was your favourite detail?” Albedo asked, giving her a warm smile.
Klee went silent for a moment, thinking over everything that she had been told about the festival. Albedo watched as the gears turned in her head before she jumped away from him and exclaimed. “The lanterns!”
“Klee has heard that the lanterns are the most beautiful thing you can ever see in Liyue!” After saying this Klee dropped her shoulders, her excitement slowly turning into sadness. “Big bro is so lucky, Klee wishes that she could see the lanterns too.”
Seeing how dejected Klee looked made Albedo come to a decision. ‘Klee wants to see the lanterns so badly, maybe I should take her with me.’
“Jean?” Hearing her name being called made the blonde look his way. “Hypothetically, if I was to actually go on this vacation, would I be able to bring someone with me?”
Jean sighed before looking at Albedo with an apologetic expression on her face. “I’m sorry, but Klee will have to stay here, ever since Grandmaster Varka decided to go on his latest expedition we just haven’t had enough manpower to protect the city. I may not agree with how Klee decides to use her vision, but the more vision users we have the safer that Mondstadt will be.”
Klee looked at Albedo with a sad expression on her face. “It’s okay big bro, Klee will be alright, I can just show you drawings that me and Dodoco made when you get back. You can tell Klee how close she was to what you’ll see.”
Albedo felt his heart clench from how sad Klee was becoming. ‘If I knew how you make the lanterns then I could have made one with her… Wait, that’s it! I’ll find out how they are made at the festival and then I can surprise her with the materials when I get back, we can build one together.’
With his new plan in mind, Albedo spoke up. “I’ll start packing as soon as I can.”
Hearing this caused Jean to drop the quill she was holding, staring at Albedo with wide eyes, shock written all over her face.
“Y-you will?!” She spluttered out.
“That is what I said, yes.” Albedo responded, finding some amusement from her actions.
“As much as it pains me to admit it, all of you are right, I could use some time off and what better way to spend it than to take some time exploring Liyue then relaxing at Lantern Rite.”
Jean quickly tried to compose herself, still recovering from what he said. “Okay then…great!” She exclaimed before holding out the quill to him.
“I just need you to sign this document so that your leave will be official. You will be expected to return exactly one month from the day you depart.”
‘An entire month away, I wonder how it’ll go.'
‘Hopefully, learning how to make the lanterns will be relatively straightforward, I don’t want Klee to get upset over something going wrong.’ Albedo worried to himself. Disappointing his sister is the last thing he would ever want to do.
“Hey! We’ll be arriving at Guyun in a couple of minutes, you may want to get ready.” The ferryman bellowed out, snapping Albedo out of his reminiscing.
“Yes, thank you.” Albedo responded before reaching over on his left side for the only thing he had brought with him on this boat. A medium-sized brown satchel that he was using to store anything that he felt would be important on his travels.
'Like those rocks.' Albedo hoped as he put the satchel on.
Albedo waited at his bench holding onto his satchel for a few minutes before finally, the boat started to come to a stop.
Getting up from his seated position, he started to make his way to the exit, only to stop as soon as he was able to take a proper view of his surroundings.
Guyun was…spectacular. It was even better that he could have ever imagined. The jagged stone cliffs were much more impressive up close, towering above even the boat that he had arrived on.
“I hope you don’t mind how close I’ve driven the boat.” Albedo turned to the ferryman as his voice broke the silence. “I thought that it would make things easier for you.” The ferryman continued, a kind tone to his voice.
Albedo was taken aback by his kindness for a moment before shaking it off. “It’s fine, thank you.”
The ferryman smiled at his thanks, before turning to head back into the boat. “No problem. Am I still to come pick you up two days from now?”
“Yes, and in the same location, exactly as we discussed.” Albedo confirmed before going to step off the boat.
From inside the cabin, a voice rang out. “Good luck! And be careful, the sun will be starting to set in a few hours, things are usually a lot more dangerous when it’s dark out!”
The boat soon started to pull away from the island. Albedo watched it go for a few minutes, the boat slowly getting smaller and smaller the further away it got.
Once the boat was nothing more than a speck in the distance, Albedo turned around and let out a deep breath.
Finally...
‘Peace.’
Albedo closed his eyes, taking a few moments to let the soothing calm from the sound of the ocean wash over him. At that moment he felt more relaxed than he has in months.
Deciding that it’s time to get going the blonde opened his eyes, starting to take a proper look around the location. In front of him, two stone cliffs seemed to block out the sun all around him except for what appeared to be the remains of some kind of stone arch that was embedded in the middle.
Finding the arch fascinating, the blonde walked closer, stopping to take in the engravings found throughout. ‘Interesting, it seems that there are still remnants of the civilisation that once resided here. I will have to remember to try and sketch some of these designs while I’m here.’
Moving away from the arch, Albedo made his way through it, coming across a stone circle that covered most of the ground. From a glance, it seemed to be the remains of what would have once been the floor of a building.
‘I wonder what this structure used to be, could it have been a temple? Or maybe one of the dwellings of the people that lived here?' Looking up from the ground made the blonde realise a most concerning sight.
Strewn across the islands were the remains of many different ruin guards. Thankfully, from a glance Albedo could tell that they were no longer functional. ‘A good thing too, having to deal with any of them would have significantly eaten into the time that I have here.’
Speaking of his time being limited, Albedo turned to the stone cliffs, deciding that it would be best to get his samples now rather than leaving them until later. Walking up to one of the cliff walls the blonde crouched down before taking his satchel off, putting it down beside him and reaching into it.
Albedo took out a chisel and a small hammer, setting them on the sandy ground before reaching back into his satchel and taking out a couple of empty glass vials, placing them down on top of it.
Picking the hammer and chisel back up, the alchemist started to chip away at the stone wall in front of him, spending a few minutes making sure that the rocks were small enough to be able to fit in the vials.
Albedo sorted through the rocks that had come loose and started to insert them into the vials. ‘I find myself feeling excited about the possibility of what I will find when I can finally get round to examining these samples.’
Packing everything back into his satchel and slinging it around his shoulder, Albedo got up from his crouched position and turned back to face the ruin guard remains. ‘I only have a few hours of light left, I should go have a bit of a look around, I need to try to get an understanding of the layout of the area.’
Looking out ahead of him, the blonde could see even more ruins scattered throughout the islands as well as what appeared to be the remains of ships. ‘So many wrecks, how many people have met their end travelling to this place?’ Albedo pondered for a few moments before turning his attention to a similar-looking stone archway in the distance.
‘Maybe there are more of these arches than just the two, I wonder where they will lead.’ Having made his decision the alchemist started to make his way toward the arch.
On his stroll across the island he started to notice more and more ruins scattered around, they seemed to range from destroyed pillars to parts of what he assumed were once walls. ‘It is sad in a way, all the people that were lost, I wonder how their society functioned? What were their daily routines?.’ The blonde pondered.
‘More importantly, why was this the place where Rex Lapis defeated Osial? I wonder if it was random or if the serpent attacked here with a purpose?’ Albedo continued with this train of thought as he went on his way to the second arch.
Arriving at the arch, Albedo noticed that it was more or less the same as the first, even down to it being sandwiched between two stone cliffs. Stepping through the arch caused the blonde to pause at what he saw.
Not too far from the arch was a shell, but it was unlike any that Albedo had seen. The shell was lying along the shoreline nestled beside some rocks. This wouldn’t have been noteworthy if not for the fact that the shell itself was bigger than any of them.
Stepping up to the shell, Albedo noted that it was taller than him. ‘Fascinating, I wonder if there are more of these scattered throughout Liyue. I will have to make sure to remember this, so that I can keep an eye out on my travels.’ Materialising his sketch pad into his right hand Albedo then took some charcoal out of his satchel before starting to make a quick sketch of the shell.
After a few minutes, he was happy with the result and decided to pack everything away. Realising that he needed to get a better understanding of how long he had until the sun set the blonde lifted his hands to the sky, seeing how many fingers he can fit between the sun and the horizon.
‘Hmm, if I remember correctly one finger counts for fifteen minutes, so if I count it up then it seems that I have at least another two hours before I need to set up camp.’ As he was thinking this Albedo noticed something out of the bottom corner of his vision. Looking down he noticed a ship off in the distance.
The ship was definitely a lot more impressive when compared to the one he was just on, you didn’t have to look any farther than how detailed the figurehead was. ‘A dragon is certainly an interesting choice.’
Curious, he moved away from the shell to get a better view, deciding to see if he could make anything out about what the people on board were doing.
From what he could see, it looked like the crew were lowering a rowboat down into the water. Squinting, he could just barely make out some details of the crew. He couldn’t properly make out their outfits but they seemed to mostly consist of black and red.
Some of the crew seemed to be waving to the person in the rowboat who also looked to be returning the gesture. Albedo found that whoever was leaving the boat stood out in comparison to everyone else, they had the same colour scheme with their clothing but Albedo was able to just barely make out a shade of yellow.
‘A blonde perhaps.’ Albedo put his hand on his chin, starting to wonder about why the person was leaving. He spent a few moments going over various scenarios in his head before stopping.
“What am I doing?” He muttered under his breath, turning away from the ship. ‘I’m just wasting time, my main concern right now is exploring this place, I shouldn’t be letting myself get distracted.’
Looking around the area in front of him, the blonde noticed what he guessed to be the tallest cliff in the entirety of Guyun. It towered over everything else in the area, casting shadows over the surroundings.
But this wasn’t what drew Albedo’s curiosity, carved into the middle of the cliff was a giant opening. The blonde wondered what could be inside, would it just be an easier way to get around the cliff, or would it be something more interesting like some kind of Shrine that could have been erected in remembrance of Guyun’s history?
With all of the possibilities swirling in his head, the blonde started to make his trek towards the entrance to the cliff.
Just like before, the landscape was full of wrecks and the remains of ruins. One wreckage that stood out in particular to him was that of a rowboat that was situated against an outcropping of stone.
Upon making it to the cliff entrance, the blonde slowly made his way inside. He soon came to what looked to be a small stone altar. The altar was glowing a faint blue, which in Albedo’s experience meant that someone must have recently activated it.
‘Maybe someone from one of the wrecks activated it, or maybe some Hilichurls?' The blonde soon decided that it wasn’t worth thinking about. ‘Not when there is something nearby that I am much more fascinated in.’
Turning his back to the altar, Albedo looked at the structure that had really caught his eye. A pair of stone doors were carved into the wall of the cliff. Ornate designs covered the doors with gold inlaid around the borders. A faint blue glow that matched that of the altar was emanating from it.
Albedo had recognised it immediately, it was the entrance to a domain. ‘Fascinating, it looks just like the ones back in Mondstadt. 'I wonder what this could mean?’
Walking up to the domain entrance, Albedo could feel faint energy flowing from it. Putting his hand up against it he could feel the energy start to pulse through him. “Judging by the blue glow it seems that someone has unlocked this domain.” He thought out loud, before starting to push against the door.
‘I know that it isn’t the smartest idea to enter one of these by myself, but I must admit that I am too curious to let this opportunity pass me by.’ Putting a bit more force into his pushing, Albedo was soon able to open the doors before he started to step inside.
Once he was on the other side of the door, the blonde started to look around before feeling a sliver of disappointment.
The image that he was familiar with from the domains in Mondstadt wasn’t what greeted him at all, the warm glow of fire or the ethereal blue light that he was used to was nowhere to be seen, replaced with a dim and dull interior. Various parts of the area were covered in dust and the place seemed to be in a state of disrepair that he had never thought to associate with the domains he had visited in the past.
Deciding to head further in, the alchemist soon came across a staircase that was leading upward towards what he guessed would be the central chamber. Making his way up, Albedo made note of how fragile the stone stairs appeared to be, it looked like any amount of excessive force would cause the entire thing to collapse.
Arriving at the top of the staircase revealed a sad sight that once again reminded Albedo of a decayed version of what he was used to. Even the tree in the back of the area, which was usually teeming with energy looked pathetic, it’s branches shrivelled up and slowly falling off.
‘How long has this place been neglected? I never thought that a domain could just…die, for lack of a better word.’ As Albedo started to wonder about the current state of the domain, a clattering sound could be heard from over near the tree, it sounded like something had been dropped.
“Is anyone there?” The blonde called out, muscles tense. He waited a few moments for some kind of answer, but nothing came.
Feeling a little annoyed, Albedo called out again, raising his voice. “If anyone is there, then show yourselves!” A few more seconds passed before the sound of footsteps could be heard.
From behind the archway leading to the tree stepped out a man, their arms up in the air. They looked at Albedo for a few seconds before finally speaking.
“It’s okay, we mean no harm.” As he said this, more men started to appear from the same area. Looking closely at their attire, the blonde realised that they were all treasure hoarders. “We’re only looking for some treasure.”
“Well.” Albedo finally spoke up, muscles staying tense as the hoarders started to walk closer. “Judging from the state of this place, I highly doubt that there is anything of value.”
By the time he had finished speaking, the hoarders had formed a circle around him. From what Albedo could tell, there were around eight of them. ‘I’m unsure if I would be able to beat the odds if we started to fight, even with my vision, but maybe I can talk my way out.’
“Say.” The voice of what Albedo assumed to be the group’s leader, derailed his thought process. Realising that they were now standing directly in front of him the blonde looked up. “You look like the scholarly type, maybe you could help us.” The leader continued, his hand on his chin with a look of contemplation.
Realising that he needed to try and get out of this situation, Albedo decided to try some honesty. “I’m afraid that isn’t going to be possible, I have a lot that I need to be doing today and I feel like this would just be a waste of time.”
“Come on.” The leader responded with a slight whine to his tone. “If we find anything we’ll split the treasure with you. What do you say?”
The blonde shook his head, schooling his features into a blank expression. “I’m afraid that monetary gain doesn’t interest me that much, so I can’t help you.” Albedo responded disinterestedly. The blonde started to turn away from the leader to try and make his way out. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have much quieter places to be.”
Albedo hadn’t even been able to face his back towards the leader before he reached out and took a hold of his wrist, turning him to face him again. The leader pulled Albedo closer to his face, a frown greeting him. “I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice.”
‘Of course, something like this happens on my leave, seems that I am going to have to fight after all.’ The blonde sighed before responding in a bored tone. “I don’t feel like fighting, but I will if I have to.”
The group of hoarders started to laugh at his response. Albedo noticed that the frown that was on the leader's face had been replaced by a grin. He leaned his face down closer to Albedo, now leering at the blonde. “You don’t seem like you’ll be that much of a challenge, I mean what could one little bookworm hope to achieve against an entire group of treasure hoarders?”
The blonde sighed, realising he didn’t have a choice. Albedo slowly started to move the fingers of his right hand, concentrating on the geo energy that flowed straight through him from his vision. Focusing on where the leader was standing, Albedo clenched his right hand into a fist.
“What!” The leader exclaimed as an isotoma flower was formed under his right foot, knocking him off balance as it rose slightly off of the ground. As he started to fall over, his grip on Albedo’s wrist started to loosen up, allowing the blonde to rip it free and run out of the circle of hoarders in the confusion.
As the blonde made his way across the chamber he heard one of the hoarders shout out. “He has a vision!”
Once he had gotten close to the arch leading to the tree, Albedo turned, materialising his sword into his hand. ‘They’ll just keep coming after me if I run away, I need to try and put an end to this.’
From his position on the floor, the hoarder leader started to sit up, letting out a laugh. “Feisty are we, oh, I can tell that this will be fun!” The leader’s tone was tinged with amusement.
Albedo got into a stance that he was long familiar with from his time training with the knights. Sword pointed towards the group, he kept his eyes trained on them, ready to strike.
As Albedo did this, the leader had finally gotten into a standing position before drawing his sword, he smirked menacingly. “Alright then, looks like you aren’t going down without a fight. Tell you what, I’ll make things easier for you.” He turned to the other hoarders, gesturing to them. Albedo was confused for a moment before he saw the other seven start to back away.
The leader turned back to Albedo, once more walking towards him. “Let’s start by making things a bit more even for you. He began cockily, getting into a fighting stance. He smirked at the alchemist, getting ready to lunge.
The two stayed in their standing positions for a moment, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Eventually, the hoarder lunged forward, trying to strike the blonde in his sword arm.
Albedo dodged out of the way, using his blade to block the other as he moved out of range. Keeping his focus on the hoarder, Albedo waited again for him to make his move.
The hoarder looked at the blonde with a smirk before going in for another attack, making a swiping motion with his sword.
The blonde decided to use his height to his advantage and ducked under the swing, slicing the other in the leg.
Turning back to the hoarder, Albedo decided to go in for another attack while he recovered. Unfortunately the blonde underestimated how long the recovery would take as his opponent turned to him and dodged his attack, punching him in the gut with his free hand.
Winded, Albedo nearly fell to his knees. He was just barely able to keep upright as he tried to control his breathing. The blonde looked at his opponent, seeing how pleased he was. It seemed that he wasn’t going to play fair.
‘Well, that can go both ways.’ Albedo thought, feeling himself getting annoyed at the person in front of him. He decided to see if he could get a reaction out of the other, if he could get him angry then he could become sloppier with his technique. Albedo looked up at the hoarder with a smug smirk on his face.
Seeing his expression made the hoarder falter for a second “Why are you so smug, huh?” The blonde knew that he was on the right track, he just needed to keep going. In the smuggest tone that he could muster, the blonde taunted.
“It’s amusing to me that you think you have the upper hand.” Albedo began, watching as the leader’s left eye started to twitch. “You probably think that your fighting skills are impressive, but if I’m honest I feel like a child picking up a blade for the first time would have better form than you.”
His opponent’s face started to morph into an expression of rage. Gripping his sword in both his hands the hoarder began running towards the blonde, screaming in anger.
Realising that he needed to act quick, Albedo used his vision to place a flower near him, just as he finished the hoarder had gotten close enough to him to swing. Albedo dodged out of the way of the attack before swinging at the hoarder, the blade connecting with his elbow.
At that moment, the hoarder was knocked to the ground from the small explosion of energy that occurred from the isotoma, it also caused him to drop his sword in shock.
Albedo stood over his opponent, sword pointing towards him. The blonde started to talk, tone monotone. “I know that we never discussed any kind of prize for whichever one of us won this duel, but I feel that the honourable thing to do would be to let me go.” The blonde was starting to breathe a little heavily, the fight and specifically the punch to the gut had drained some of his energy.
The hoarder looked up at the other in disbelief for a moment, before he narrowed his eyes into a glare. “Boys! It’s your turn!”
Albedo barely had a moment to think over what the other had said before all seven of the hoarders that were stood off to the side started to charge at him with their weapons drawn.
Albedo knew that even with their boss defeated he still wouldn’t be able to take them all on just by himself. He was outnumbered and slowly becoming more and more tired.
Mulling over his options, Albedo realised that there was only really one thing that he could do. ‘I could use the ability that I have been working on for a while now, but it’s too risky, it drains a lot of my energy and if it doesn’t take them all down then I’ll be nothing more than an easy target from my exhaustion.’
Deciding to take the risk, Albedo closed his eyes and brought his right hand close to his chest, he concentrated to allow the power that ran through his vision to accumulate into one place. Feeling that he was ready, he opened his eyes, throwing his right hand out and shouting.
“Moment of birth!”
A bright, blinding light engulfed the area in front of him, followed by the sound of geo energy bursting from his hand and exploding near the hoarders, knocking all of them to the ground. The sound of the explosion rang throughout the chamber, its echo corresponded with the much smaller explosions that were triggered by his still active isotoma.
Once the attack ended, the blonde fell to his knees, using his sword to keep himself upright. Exhaustion ran through his body, his breathing becoming heavier with each passing second.
Looking up, Albedo noticed that a couple of the hoarders had started to try to stand up again. At that moment, Albedo started to feel worry fill his body, he was too tired to be able to keep going for much longer.
The blonde could only watch from his kneeling position as the remaining hoarders started to make their way toward him. Knowing that he had to at least try, Albedo was able to shakily get to his feet, tightly gripping his sword and getting ready for the upcoming fight.
As Albedo was steeling himself for the inevitable attacks, the relative quiet of the chamber was broken by a loud screeching sound. Pausing for a second Albedo thought about it, the noise sounded…mechanical.
The hoarders paused as well. The leader of the group shouted out from his position not far from the blonde, voice drenched in fear. “What in the world was that!?”
The chamber remained silent for a few more moments, the only sounds that could be heard being that of breathing.
Feeling that nothing was going to happen, the hoarders started to move again, but they didn’t get far before the sound of something being destroyed rang out behind them.
Turning towards the sound, Albedo noticed that the place near the staircase leading to the door back outside was now engulfed in a cloud of dust, it seemed that whatever made that noise had damaged the staircase.
Not long after he thought this, a shape started to descend from up high. Looking closer, Albedo felt his blood start to run cold upon recognising what it was.
“Ruin hunter!”
One of the hoarders cried out in terror. The hunter got lower to the floor, becoming still for a second before its core lit up, it let out a screech before it turned to the hoarders, it’s right arm forming into a blade.
Albedo was frozen in shock as he watched the hunter start to attack the hoarders. In the midst of the chaos, Albedo noticed some of them were able to make it to the destroyed staircase before getting their gliders ready and making their way down to the entrance.
Coming to his senses, the blonde decided that the best course of action was to do exactly what the hoarders had done. Albedo looked up at the hunter and noticed that it was currently distracted by the wailing of the few remaining hoarders.
Taking his chance Albedo ran as fast as his tired body would allow towards the destroyed staircase. Upon reaching his destination the blonde reached his arms out and he soon felt the familiar weight of his own glider.
Albedo moved up to the staircase remains and got ready to jump only to feel the non-bladed arm of the hunter slam into his stomach, knocking him away from the staircase and into one of the walls of the chamber.
As he tried to sit up, Albedo felt pain shoot through his abdomen, the strength of the sensation knocked the breath out of him.
Looking up, the blonde found that his vision was starting to blur from both the pain and exhaustion running through his body.
Barely able to move, the blonde closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable, only to become confused upon hearing the faint sound of glass breaking followed by another screech from the hunter.
Opening his eyes, Albedo was just about able to make out the purple glow of electro covering the hunter’s body through his blurred vision. A few seconds later the blonde heard the same sound of breaking glass, only this time the hunter was engulfed in fire.
The hunter flailed around for a few moments, continuing to let out mechanical screeches before the glow from its core started to dim. The hunter slowly stiffened up before falling onto the ground, unmoving.
Feeling relieved, Albedo slumped back against the wall he had been thrown against. Albedo was barely able to move, any energy that he had before coming into the chamber had completely left him. His vision continued to blur.
As exhaustion continued to overtake him he heard the sound of footsteps. Using his remaining strength to lift his head he was able to just barely make out a yellow blur before he slumped over, unconscious.