Chapter Text
“Hey, Lumi?”
A young girl turned towards her brother questioningly. She took in his tired face and hunched figure and frowned in concern. "Aether? What's wrong? Are you tired?"
Her brother sighed and averted his eyes. "Not sure. Just feeling kind of drained, you know? I haven't felt this way in a while."
Lumine nodded in understanding.
It was funny how the travellers who crossed world after world found a home in Teyvat, a small realm cracking at the seams. They'd gotten separated, and met on opposite sides, before finally reuniting at the end of that incredibly long journey. By the time Aether had found Lumine, he was so tired that he'd collapsed from the exhaustion and burden of trying to find her. She had felt so guilty for leaving him behind, letting him pick up the pieces of her work, but they'd finally been reunited. She could take care of him, she had a chance to make up for everything she'd done.
As travellers, they were used to leaving worlds behind. Letting them carry on after they'd made their mark on the world. Letting life run its course. Aether had told all his friends about it. So it was a surprise when the Allogenes learned of the siblings' decision to stay in Teyvat.
Over time, most of them eventually were laid to rest by time itself, leaving only their friends or the travellers themselves to remember them while the world moved on. And though the siblings lived on, immortals that they were, they knew the spirits of their friends would stick by them, silently watching over them until the end of time.
Aether, handicapped by the special sealings of The Sustainer, sometimes suffered bouts of dizziness, fatigue, and momentary memory lapses. Lumine would always be there to help him through. As the years turned to decades, and decades turned to centuries, the siblings continued to take care of each other and those around them.
It's been a few hundred years since their fall into Teyvat, and they've watched it grow from a magical, beautiful realm into a bustling modern world.
Lumine traced her brother's cheek, tucking his hair behind him with a sweet smile and a soft touch. "Why don't you go out for a walk? Clear your head a bit?"
Aether's gaze returned to her, mulling it over before nodding. "Thanks, Lumi. I'll see you soon?"
Lumine gave her reply with a nod. "Dinner'll be ready by the time you're back!"
"Great, I'm looking forward to it."
Aether pulled out his phone and scrolled through his chats absentmindedly, occasionally tapping on one to reply to a message.
The crowd swirled around him, people bumping into him at times, muttering their apologies before moving along. He barely paid any heed to them, only nodding while fixated on his screen. He felt a pair of eyes land on him, and stay there. Confused, he turned around, unable to find anyone in the area.
It's probably nothing.
He began to walk away, unaware of the alert golden eyes staring at him.
...So he's still alive.
I thought he'd be dead after all those years.
I wonder if...
he still remembers me?
A person with the complexion and stature of a young man watched the blonde teenager walk away. The markings on his face and the tattoos on his right arm almost seemed to glow, the Anemo vision on him lighting up briefly before he blended into the shadows and disappeared with a flash of teal.
On Visions
Visions are elemental foci granted by the Archons for certain special people. It is said that when a person's ambition is great enough to attract the attention of the gods, they will look down on them and grant them a vision. If the wielder of a vision dies, the vision will become masterless and will turn cloudy and white. In certain cases, these masterless visions can be reawakened, if the ambition of the vision's previous master matches that of the person currently wielding it, the vision will momentarily light up and respond to the wielder's call.
"Hey! You're back."
Aether smiled at his sister. "Yeah, you were right. That walk did do some good after all. However..."
Lumine put down the food on the table and leaned on it curiously. "Hm? Did you see something?"
Her brother shook his head. "Not see, necessarily... more like I felt something looking at me. It felt... familiar, for some reason."
Lumine hummed and pulled back a chair, inviting him to sit down. "Tell me about it." She put her head in her free hand, the other toying with her food.
Aether sat down as well, sighing. "It's funny... I don't know why, but I knew someone was watching me. But when I turned around, I couldn't sense anyone at all. Not just that... the energy the person gave off was familiar."
"Do you think it's one of them?"
"Heh, I wish," Aether smiled softly. "But almost all of them are dead or missing. The only ones we know are still alive are the Archons. I don't understand why someone would go looking for me."
Lumine paused, mouth full of food. "Maybe it was one of those who disappeared," she mumbled, words garbled by the food in her mouth. "Who knows, maybe one of them came back." She swallowed her food with a gulp.
"...Maybe."
That energy...that vision... felt so familiar.