Chapter Text
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"When everything falls apart, I stood and bare witness to it all."
A masculine voice called out from the darkness, sadness and yearning clear from his tone.
"I have witness everything I should. And the destiny I shall bare for the future."
"Yet.... Why does my heart ache, with just knowing you are changing?"
"I only just realized how much you depended on me. I made the fallacious assumption that you needed to change for both your own good and mine's relief. But when you do, and I'm not there, I start regretting it right away. It's almost funny."
The voice chuckled to himself before speaking seriously.
"Though, your journey will undoubtedly test your resolve and may even break you completely. But even so, I hope that you will fully grasp my goals and may even support me as you always do in due time. But not yet and certainly not now."
".... And selfishly on my part. I hope when your journey finally ends. Would you come crying back to me like you always do.. my Twin?"
He then spoke more quietly, and his voice seemed to convey a sense of pleading, as if he was making a wish to the gods. However, he knows that none of them will listen to his sorrows.
But that was exactly what he desires. Because his words were not meant to be passed on to the gods, but only to his dear younger twin.
His half and not to those foolish gods of this world.
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As the sun was shining all over Mondstadt, the City of Freedom, the people from the city were bustling in like bees with vigor as they enjoyed their peace, knowing that the Dragon that was wrecking havoc a few months ago had suddenly gone quiet.
While peace descended on the City of Freedom, none could exactly be said for a certain individual.
"...A-Aether..!?"
Deep within Starfell Valley, a terrified voice cried out loudly. A female figure emerged from the bushes, her golden eyes being filled with tears. Her appearance looking a bit disarray as she desperately continued her search, hoping to see her twin brother again.
Though looking at her appearance, if someone were to stumble upon this sight before them, they would not use the word "elegant" to describe the girl.
She certainly lacked elegance. With her light blonde medium cut, short, straight twin tails, and lovely white dress, she certainly has a cute appearance.
But she appeared unkempt; her clothes were dusted, and her hair was a mess. She was in a state of panic, and as she shifted around while doing nothing to address the sticks and leaves in her hair as it continued to tangle. She was fortunate that no one was passing by because they would have heard and seen her sorry state.
"Aether..! I-if this is one of your jokes... I'm not laughing!" The blonde began sniffling and sobbing while gazing at the forest she had just woken up in. But she still has hope, so she waited..
Waited....
Waited......
But no one came.
And she wept.
Her older brother Aether was the older twin of the two. He was her source of stability, her lifelong companion, her rock, and the one she knew who would never leave her when she felt scared or vulnerable. But now... He was just gone.
And she doesn't know what to do.
She quickly lost her drowsiness in favor of looking for her twin when she woke up and realized she had not seen her brother.
And she had been searching ever since she opened her eyes, but she had found no trace or hair of her twin.
She thought of that Unknown God as a nightmare. That Aether wasn't really gone, and so were her powers. But it did happen; everything did happen. It wasn't a nightmare, but it was her reality..
Their cruel fate.
"Ika Yaka..! Ika.. Ya.. Ya..!?"
Someone shouted, and the girl's depressing thoughts abruptly left her as she heard the odd words. The blonde looked up to see what was happening, but finding none, she was confused... Until she looked down to see a small, mask-wearing creature angrily bashing the ground with its club.
When the aforementioned creature appeared, the blonde nearly yelled bloody murderer on the spot but refrained herself as her hands froze in the middle of summoning her sword.
Aether's words were playing at the back of her mind, successfully stoping her from making any hasty actions against said creature.
'Lumine... You shouldn't shout at the first creature you'll meet. What if those creatures you often shouted at were the locals? It would rude to shout.'
The girl, Lumine, lowered her hands reluctantly and shuffled slowly over to the creature. Her body shook with each step. She started to smile awkwardly with her mouth, attempting to appear less menacing to the masked creature. Desperately wanting to be seen as non-threatening as possible.
Since Aether wasn't around to do the talking, Lumine must be the one to do so. And she hated every process of it.
What if the creature was hostile!?
What if she get attacked or even be ambushed!?
It would be way smoother if she could identify it as an enemy and be done with it without even being paranoid of its unknown intention. Lumine would only attempt to render it unconscious at most. So she would simply runaway.
But she couldn't. If she resumed her old behavior while he was away, Aether would be extremely disappointed in her.
But seriously this whole situation was scary!?
Terrifying even!
"H-H-hi... I-I...am.. L-Lumine?" Instead, she questioned as she became aware of a huge shadow hanging over her. She looked around confused and grew pale.
What the blonde saw was a large, menacing creature that resembled a larger version of the one with the club, but it was way more buffier and, scarily enough, it was menacingly holding a giant axe.
And without question, Lumine produced her sword in a flash. And quickly deflected its abrupt swing with her small frame, which surprisingly supported the weight.
But as she was busy with the large creature, some smaller creatures suddenly appeared on all sides. Some had crossbows and others had clubs. Lumine, who had finally realized that she had been ambushed as she had frantically thought, cried.
"Wooohh ..!!!" In a panic, she made a weird sound, but when the large creature pulled out its axe once more for another strike, Lumine saw an opening. Quickly wiping a few stray tears, she gathered herself and delivered a powerful strike. Kicking the creature's legs before it could even strike back, making the black huge humanoid creature to cry out in surprise as it losses its balance. Too bad its friends were slow to react as Lumine quickly dashes towards 2 of them, having fat tears in her eyes as she stared at the two crossbow users in determination.
And as the two creatures saw her charging toward them, they braced themselves, holding onto their weapons tightly in case that she would.... push them apart??
"Vaa...???" All the masked creatures cried out in confusion. The Big One even going so far as to squint its eye in perplexity at the running human.
All of them could sense that the human was powerful, and they all felt threatened enough to attack, but....
'Why did human run away if strong?' They all wondered in sync. Looking at the distance were the human kept running away in confusion.
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Lumine did what she did. It was the professional thing to do.
She didn't run because she was panicking, she ran because of Aether's words!
And because she understood that the creatures were speaking in a different language, so she refrained from using violence first.
They were obviously terrified. And she knew the feeling quite well.
As a result, Lumine was currently experiencing her first (Without Aether) communication problems, which she and her twin always encountered when exploring a foreign world. Additionally, to her, it made no sense to start a fight just because she couldn't understand what the creatures were saying.
It wouldn't be fair for the locals.
But..... Where was she again? She was so busy running away that she didn't even check her surroundings!
How could she be a traveler with her carelessness!
She knew if Aether was with her, her twin would just chuckle to death at her mistake.
*Grumble..!
And how will she find Aether if she goes hungry?
Sighing at her actions, Lumine turned to look around, but was genuinely surprised when she saw that her surroundings had changed. She flushed uncontrollably as she pondered just how far had she run to reach a lake.
She has been in a dense forest before. Therefore, why, oh why, was she in a clearing? With a giant lake no less!? And how could she have overlooked it!?
Shaking her head, Lumine forced herself to ignore her embarrassment in favor of looking for any wild animals. Oddly, she saw none, but she had previously screamed; ergo, with that realization, she couldn't really help but hang her head in defeat.
And then she pauses as she turns to face the lake full of fish.
While... Her memories were mixed up in some places. The blonde only knew that she, with her brother only saw destruction as they made their escape from this land. She actually knows almost nothing about the biodiversity of this world.
What if something was poisonous? If Lumine didn't know whether this area was completely safe, then she just wouldn't feel at ease using her blunt blade to spear some fishes in close proximity.
'That's why when traveling to another world, it's best to make good friends from the locals before doing anything.' Lumine thought with a frown.
But it just so happens that luck was not on Lumine's side since she hadn't seen any humans around when she woke up and hadn't seen anything during the hours of her search for Aether all morning.
So... She must be resourceful. Looking around she saw... broken pieces of wood that were clearly smashed into bits and Lumine couldn't help but shiver at the culprit.
But she later made herself stay calm.
Looking at it closely, it happened a long time ago.
So, whoever or whatever did that has long since left.
And to be honest, Lumine felt a tiny bit better after that.
After gathering her wits, she proceeded toward the broken pile, being careful to keep clear of any lizards with very bright colors.
She sighed in relief when she noticed that nothing was moving inside the pile, and she jumped when she noticed a long rope.
'Score!' Lumine pondered this while grinning broadly. Finally, she felt as though everything was working in her favor.
She didn't waste any time in getting what she needed to improvise a rod. It really wasn't perfect, but it could still be done.
After just a few minutes of scraping the wood with her sword, Lumine successfully shaped it into a rod and enthusiastically tested it by swinging it in all directions, making sure that it wouldn't break. After cautiously making her way down to the lake and locating a nice position, the blonde approached the edge of the lake after determining that her improvise rod could withstand a good hard pulling.
She knelt down and reached into her dimensional pocket for a hook and some bait after spotting some fish swimming in the water. When she discovered that all that was in her storage along with her sword and a few necessities but nothing else, she was a little embarrassed. She would always remember to pack up everything when going to a different world. But when she woke up, Lumine only remembered the two of them: she and her twin, both of them running away. As they both fled, Aether explained something gibberish as everything started to collapse, and then the Unknown God suddenly materialized in front of them.
And the rest? waking up alone in an unfamiliar environment far from home and her twin.
"Haaaa...." As a melancholy expression crossed her face at her thoughts, she sighed.
Since nothing else could be done, so Lumine carefully dropped the rope of her fishing rod while attempting to fish peacefully.
However, a split second later, near the water where she had dipped her bait, ripples occurred and frantic breathing was audible.
Lumine instinctively grabbed her rod tightly out of fear. The blonde, who had been hearing choked sobs, looked at the rapid, unnatural motions and gasped when she saw a child's figure struggling in the water. Her concern overpowers her fears as she jerks up her fishing rod and swings it at the figure in the water instead.
She did not waste any time and hurriedly drew her rod with all of her strength as a child shot out of the water when she felt a tiny weight.
Lumine expected to see a child or something similar in that regard. What she wasn't expecting, though, was to see the said child floating after she fished her out.
She stared at the child, who had light skin, dark purple eyes, and thick white hair chopped just above her shoulders. She, the child that Lumine pulled from the water, was dressed in a long-sleeved white jumper, with a night-blue cape that was flecked with stars, and white stockings and white boots. Her jumper, boots, and sleeves all have rose-gold embroidery and patterns. In all honesty, for someone drowning in a lake, in a deep place in some unknown forest, the child seems rather fancy.
'I just fished something incredible.' Lumine thought in awe.
When the pixie (Lumine decided) had finished hacking the water out of her system, the child suddenly whirled around to stare at Lumine. Suddenly grinning, the pixie begins babbling in a strange language. Her cheeks flush in either excitement or gratitude.
But Lumine did hear a name.
The flying child seems to be referring to herself in the third person. The young child kept repeating what Lumine assumed to be a name.
"Paimon... Huh?" With a thoughtful expression, The Traveler murmured out. And lost to the blonde, her fear of getting stuck in an unknown world without her brother seems to be forgotten, as the Outlander suddenly has lively company.
'Maybe I'll get by this somehow.... Just wait, Aether... I promise... I'll keep looking for you until it's the last thing I do.'