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Stars fall, lights dim.
And no other bundle of light, be they as bright and as warm as they please, could ever live up to those before them. Thus, the few who do remain will come to the awfully bitter conclusion that every effort is in vain, that they cannot stand for the decisions and morals of those who rule over them and most of all that they do not desire to protect them any longer and so one has to take aim at them instead.
The resentment may make it easier to fight against the heavenly principles but moving on from all you've lost and all you are yet to lose has become all the harder by this point , the Bard admitted as he watched the little blue haired kid stumble through a world he has yet to understand.
Because, thinking back, the original seven were like a family; close, so close he remembers how they would hug him during the days his pain would become unbearable, how they would meet oh so often on the very top of the majestic peak of Mt.Aocang to wine and dine, to bask in each other's godly glory as they share words of friendly wisdom.
But now? Now there was no one left, the only ones who remain of the true seven are only Morax and him.
And yet: sometimes when he was sitting in the hands of the statue that was meant to represent not just himself but also his long lost friend, looking off into the far distance, with a bottle of cider in his left hand and and a ripe apple in his right one he could almost smell the freshly cut Cecelias Raiden Makoto would place in his hair, he could taste the Sumeruian specialties the dendro Archon would bring along ever so often.
And if he was drunk enough to the point of giggling like a child he could forget that he was Barbatos the great anemo Archon and instead pretend that he was just Venti the bard.
And if he was drunk enough to the point of crying his heart out he could still feel Rex Lapis' hand holding his with the promise of better times dawning upon them.
But once he was sober again he would be met with the crushing reality that their dawn had long passed and that they were edging in on their ever so lonely twilight.
Still, no matter how much he'd drink he could never forget the sacrifices he wished he never had to make.
It was 500 years prior and his hands were shaking then.
"No one, Morax! No one! It's no one but us now!", Barbatos cried out, his voice hoarse, his wings battered and his porcelain skin bruised from their ruthless war against a once mighty nation mere days ago.
The Anemo archon's chest was heaving, with tears running down his face as he realised that Celestia had now completely stripped him of all his morals.
The tears he cried that day, unbeknownst to almost everyone, would form a pond around the Archon's table that remains on the peak of Mt. Aocang to this very day. Causing the only mortal one, a certain Cavalry Captain of the Ordo Favonius, who knew of this incident to name it 'The Pond Where Poets Went To Die'; a mouth full but still an awfully fitting name.
Barbatos was already certain that as he was crying a puddle was beginning to form around his feet, even as he was gasping for air and grasping for a reason.
He couldn't seem to find either.
"Barbatos.", the geo Archon's voice was somber but he tried his best not to let it show as he had always been the type to stay strong for the others, but that didn't mean he was good at comforting.
There was little he could say and even less he could do.
The God of freedom kept his gaze locked onto his lap and exclaimed: "The grass and trees of Sumeru and beyond will never have their words carried by my winds ever again and most Inazumans will live and die never having heard Raiden Makoto's and Rhukkadevata voice singing to the tune of my Lyre Der Himmel."
The brunette remained silent throughout but his eyes were blinded with nothing but rage and hurt from the sight of the pain stricken Archon before him as well as the tragically poetic words he had just uttered.
Rex Lapis always thought that art could not exist without pain and here the anemo God was, proving his theory time and time again.
"Tell me, my dearest friend,", the ravenette addressed him and there would've been anger in his voice if he wasn't just so tired , "Is this fair?"
The winds of Liyue messed with their hair like the shameless orders of the heavenly principles messed with their lives.
The once wholly set table was now empty with the exception of two items belonging to the two Archons who had passed away days prior: a single seed from the late Sumeru Archon's herself whose corpse has yet to be found and the blade that had once been wielded by the now former Inazuman Archon, who in her last moments whispered her final words into Morax's ear.
Both items were meant to be tossed from a cliff somewhere at the Guyun Stone Forest so they can be one with the sea; it was a form of ritual Morax and the other remaining Archons would partake in to commemorate the passing of their friends.
Barbatos himself never came to these 'events', he never had the strength to do so.
Is it fair? , Rex Lapis asked himself a question he already knew the answer to.
"Every journey must come to an end.", he answered or rather lied to himself and the smaller male.
"So is this what it truly is to you?", the bard spat in a small voice, despite knowing that what his oldest and last friend was saying was just a lie, "A journey?"
Morax let out a shaky breath, he too was exhausted, the one-sided fight against Kaenria'h didn't leave him cold either: "Barbatos—"
"What did they even die for?!", the other challenged, becoming louder, the wind began picking up as his tears kept coming with no end in sight.
The God of contracts forced his face to remain stone cold as he said words that made himself feel utterly disgusted with himself: "They gave their life for Teyvat, from start to finish."
Barbatos let out a heavy sob at that, so loud and painful that it engraved itself into his mind, from then on whenever the geo Archon would have the displeasure of hearing the wind howl he would always be cursed with the picture of the broken God of freedom crying in front of him.
After the first sob came another one, and then another, only for his sobs to turn into the most twisted form of laughter mixed with desperate wails: "Do whatever you please, Rex Lapis, but don't you dare lie to me!"
And that, that sheer form of helplessness was what made the God of contracts himself gulp.
" Teyvat didn't suffer of Kaenria'h's existence, at least not to this extent, not their people!", Barbatos yelled and finally, oh, finally he looked up at his last standing friend and Morax was not at all prepared for the red, puffy cheeks and the tear-filled sapphire eyes the wind-born bard greeted him with, "Neither did we Archons, Morax! No one but the heavenly principles felt threatened! We didn't kill those who took from us, Morax! Children! Civilians! We killed innocent people. And for what reason? Selfishness? Fear ? Kill their king for attacking us, kill their Khemist for creating this curse, but what did the people do?!"
The leaves of the age-old tree behind them were shaking violently and so was Barbatos.
"We have no right to judge their choices.", Morax spoke, his voice strained as he tried to think of a way to undo this mess, to take all the pain and make it vanish.
The God of geo never had a need for safety in his life, but now he wished for a place he could hide away at with his anemo Archon.
All he wanted was to let go of his godly tasks, perhaps even play dead and run away with the bard.
The utmost foolish thought he ever had by a long shot and still it's all he wanted to do.
Instead he was forced to upset the last person who remained of a once glorious collection of Gods.
And upset the ravenette he did: "Nor do we have the right to brutally murder an entire nation! Nor do we have the right to hide every truth from our people! And yet we do it, Morax! So tell me, who will do something against this madness if not us?!"
"Do you truly wish to keep playing this sick game until it's only you who remains?!", he shouted, his voice sounded like a broken lyre.
"For Teyvat's sake! Don't you paint your own demise like that!", the brunette was getting louder too, a tremor could be heard in his voice, the thought of being the last one made his blood run cold.
"Oh but why should I not if it's the purest form of truth?!", Barbatos spoke bitterly, "I'm walking on breaking branches, Morax! They threw me out of Celestia for going against their will and now they are waiting for me to make another mistake! It's me, Morax! Me! The weakest of the seven and yet I stand here alongside the strongest one, alone . I'm going to lose my head one of these days, at the hands of Celestia itself! I will die one day and you—"
The geo God slammed his fist against a stone surface of the table causing it to rattle violently: "You will not die, Barbatos!"
Another tear rolled down the bard's cheek, he looked directly into Morax's golden eyes as he mockingly spoke: "Every journey must come to an end."
Oh Barbatos, mouthy and cheeky Barbatos , Morax complained to no one but himself, If only you'd use your wits and sharp tongue for your own good.
"You can pretend as much as you desire to, Morax, but I can feel your pain as much as you can feel mine.", the anemo Archon whispered, "So if you'd just get over yourself…we could fix this— together , it's not too late."
"It's not meant to be that easy.", Rex Lapis countered.
"And yet no one said it would be so hard.", Barbatos concluded, eyes still clouded with tears as he pleaded, "So please, stop being such a brute block head and do me this single favor…"
There was endless tranquillity between the two Gods.
"I can't.", Morax spoke, plain and simple.
The bard sucked in a breath and nodded to himself: "It was foolish of me to think otherwise, wasn't it?"
Barbatos didn't wait for an answer, nor did he expect one before pushing past the taller man: "I need a drink.", the anemo Archon spoke dryly.
The geo Archon turned to the other God: "Barbatos, no."
But the other didn't bother to listen, instead he grabbed the bottle of dandelion wine he brought with him in his satchel.
Alcohol had become his companion over the abundance of years, frankly, it was concerning.
'A disgrace to the arts' was what Morax would call Barbatos' drinking habits, but his annoyance has never once lessened his worry even in the slightest.
"Compose yourself, wind-born Archon.", he tried to reason as Makoto always would when it came down to this, the anemo Archon had always been a true master of self-destruction and Raiden Makoto, the late electro Archon, was the one who could build him up again; Morax? Not so much, "This is no occasion to drink."
The other merely huffed as he opened the bottle: "That is hardly for you to decide."
He placed the wine against his lips, only for Rex Lapis to stop him in the act by grabbing the ravenettes wrist: "Don't be an idiot, Venti ."
The usage of his chosen name made him recoil: "Oh, so I'm Venti now? Want me to play you a tune? Maybe dance around a bit like a pretty little bard?"
"If that's what it takes for you to stop being this irresponsible."
The bard freed himself from the geo Archon's grip before standing on his tiptoes and leaning close to the brunettes face was he spoke: "You think I'm irresponsible?"
"You may think of me as irresponsible, but so you care to know what I believe to be true, Morax ?"
"Vent—"
"Everyone is gone. Dead .", Venti whispered through gritted teeth as tears fell to the ground, "And it keeps you from admitting just how bad of a God you are."
"If you're under the impression that this is easy for me then you are mistaken.", Morax ushered, "I'm not here to hurt you, I— we have little to no choice in this."
The anemo Archon shook his head: "But we do. We do, we always did and we always will…you're just too afraid to admit it."
And with that Barbatos pulled away: "Not that it matters. The Thousand Winds of Time have weaved our fate long, long ago. I'm heading back to Mondstadt, farewell archaic lord."
The bard turned to leave for good, with every step he took it became harder to breathe but he was determined to make it down this forsaken mountain even if doing so would kill him.
He knew that for mortals this was just going to be yet another ballad lost in time, about the falling out between Barbatos and Morax.
For him, however, it was going to be yet another wound left untreated. And what would it be to Morax? He could only assume.
But ballads were never written about this somber day, nor would this day be part of Teyvat's folklore.
"Venti.", the God of contracts called out, causing the younger God to come to a halt, before he continues to admit, "The reason I can't help you is not because I do not want to nor is it because I fear the heavenly principles."
"Then why?", he didn't turn around, his teary gaze locked at the joke of a sky above him.
"I made a contract.", Morax stated and before the bard could ask he added, "With Celestia."
The anemo God threw his head over his shoulder at that, his eyes wide and rimmed red. Rex Lapis took a few steps back before sitting down on one of the seven stone chairs around the round table before he continued to elaborate: "That war it wasn't—"
" Genocide and I know…", the anemo Archon looked to the sky again and Morax sensed in that moment that Barbatos knew all too well what he was going to bring up, "I know why they sent us there. Celestia always had their…preferences, but it's as they say: a pawn too can turn into a queen."
"And yet you stand here and not a pawn." the geo Archon concluded, hinted .
"That I do.", Barbatos huffed, "I'd be thankful, but I'm not. My life in return for your silence is hardly a good deal."
Rex Lapis inhaled: "You're welcome, either way."
A moment of silence ruled over the two and then the anemo Archon laughed, mania settled in as tears fell onto the ground; even the great Rex Lapis can be fooled.
"You got beaten at your own damn game, Morax.", nothing but spite, "So is this why they died? Is this what Makoto told you before—"
" No. ", he spoke firmly, Barbatos didn't need to turn around to know that he was being honest.
"Makoto….", Morax stated, "In her last moments she beckoned me to her to claim that she knew the key to true eternity for Teyvat and its people. She were to tell me on the single condition that I make sure not to let Celestia raise a hand on either her sister or any of the remaining seven."
There were a million questions rushing through the bards head. Morax and Makoto made a contract, one that entailed the safety of their loved ones over that of Celestia or Teyvat itself.
He couldn't remember when either of the two Archons had ever been as selfish as that, if it wasn't for the current circumstances he would have deemed it endearing.
"Her arguments were fickle at best and…contradictory at worst.", the brunette reasoned.
Offering eternity on the condition of fulfilling her final wish , ironic ., Barbatos thought to himself.
"But one does not easily deny the wishes of the electro Archon.", Rex Lapis continued, "And so I agreed."
A contract of protection, how sad it was that both Baal and Morax would go through such lengths for him.
For someone who isn't even worth an ounce of anything , the back of Barbatos' head hissed at him.
"I see.", Venti spoke up, "Pray tell, that wasn't the only thing she said, no? What about… the rest?"
"Curiosity killed the cat, Barbatos."
The bard shot back: "Feel free to consider me dead then."
For a split second Morax wanted to laugh at that, and after that second passed he just wanted to cry.
A feeling so foreign, the geo Archon he wasn't even sure he could cry.
"She told me that if we wanted Teyvat to prosper for all eternity we have to accept that there will come a fateful day when us Archons are no longer needed, that one day stepping down will be necessary otherwise this world could not evolve.", Rex Lapis recalled, "This was the rest, although you as the God of freedom itself have been slyly preaching the idea of a 'Godless Teyvat' for eons now. So, this is hardly new information for you."
The former wind spirit didn't speak up, he wouldn't know where to start, he meekly wrapped his bruised arms around his own waist to keep himself from crying even more.
"Dearest Barbatos,", the brunette spoke, suddenly standing right behind the smaller God, "Would you mind looking at me?"
The anemo Archon let out an exasperated sigh before balling his fists and turning to the older Archon, he looked up at him and couldn't help but let out another bitter sob when he looked into the Gods golden eyes; knowing that this would be the last time for a long time he could look into them, realising that one day he will never get to look at them again.
In that moment Barbatos truly wished for eternity, not for Teyvat but for himself alone as he was too selfish to wish for anything else and yet he realised that there was no such thing as eternity for the God of eternity herself could not last forevermore, she too has met her demise.
It was nothing if not a question of time before even the God of contracts and the God of freedom would be forced to bid their farewell to this world and yet the pain of dying could never be greater than the pain both Gods felt now; dying was a sweet release to both of them, separating from each other with the knowledge that this might be the final time they will see each other was tremendously heartbreaking.
"I have lived for so long, Barbatos.", Morax said tiredly but also reassuringly, "I have ruled over Liyue for almost six thousand years now. I have gone to war with many Gods, some barbaric, others smitten and gentle and the sea. I have met humans who had hearts bigger than their own bodies. I have seen so, so many beings."
"And yet I never met someone as human as you, my friend, so forgive me if sometimes I look at you all I can see is Guizhong.", Morax looked at the anemo God with sad eyes, "You're too wise and too reckless for your delicate age, Barbatos. We both know that you know too much of not everything about this world. More than anyone, more than I could ever fear to know."
"I—", the God of freedom was looking for something to say but was cut off by Morax continuing his monologue.
"Someone like you, a God with the desire to be mortal, shouldn't be forced to carry all the burdens our world has to offer and yet you do."
Morax placed a hand on Barbatos' cheek, gently cupping his face: "And do not misinterpret my words, I do not want you to tell me anything, perhaps I'd break too if you did, but I want need you to know that none of it can be worth losing your head over."
"Just yet.", the ravenette added somberly.
And Morax exhaled before reluctantly agreeing: "Just yet."
The two Gods stood in silence for a moment before the bard's eyes wandered to the contents on the stone table and then back to his friend as he firmly demanded: "Morax, lord of geo, I wish for you to make a contract with me."
"A contract?", Rex Lapis raised an eyebrow and and removed his hand from the ravenettes shoulder to cross his arms in front of his chest, "If you offer to share knowledge about Time and Wind with me then I must remind you that I do not wish to know—"
"I will let you fulfil the contract you made with Celestia without any form of resistance.", the anemo Archon interrupted, he had little intention of sharing the secrets of the Thousand Winds of Time, "On the one condition that you will not toss the seed and the blade into the sea."
Morax blinked once, then twice: "I assume you want them to be placed elsewhere?"
"Not elsewhere , Morax.", Venti corrected, "I'd like you to bury the seed wherever you please so a tree as prosperous and wise as the dendro Archon was will grow and I want the electro Archons blade to be given to her sister for she shall not fall into the same despair as we did."
The geo Archon looked to the two items that once belonged to their precious friends before he turned back to Barbatos.
Oh how Barbatos never failed to impress him.
Or annoy me , the brunette added in his head.
Morax looked fondly into the sapphire eyes of the anemo Archon as he smiled gently, albeit sadly.
If that's what it takes to lessen the bard's pain then so be it , he decided.
With his answer set in stone Rex Lapis took Barbatos hand into his own, holding it as though it was a glaze lily, as he starts to pull the wind born bard towards their table and warmly saying: "A contract will be made between the God of anemo and the God of geo, it shall last until my final day has come to pass and to seal this agreement I ask of you to play me our lovely tune and sing to me the ballad you always sang to us on this mountain for a final time before we part."
May it soothe my senses for I cannot bare the to think that this journey is coming to a close even if I know that this truly marks the beginning of the end
Barbatos laughed through his tears: "My dearest friend, there is nothing I'd rather do."
And thus, up, high up on what was once known as 'The Mountain Of The Seven' Barbatos would sing for Morax the ballad of those they had lost and those who remained, singing away their sorrow and pain.