Chapter Text
It had been a lovely day when Kazuha saw the ley line outcrop. Twisted in a violent shade of purple and awfully foggy in appearance. Nothing at the start of his day alluded to such a magnificent ley line being present for himself to see. And quite frankly, he was awfully glad that Scaramouche was here to see it too.
For as much as the former loathed to admit it, Kazuha knew full well how much Scaramouche enjoyed their ventures across Teyvat, no longer bound by Fatui and free to go his own way.
They had originally started the day with the intention to investigate Seirai island, setting sail early in the morning to arrive within time to explore. Scaramouche had previously decided to travel with Kazuha for a short while after his defeat and rehabilitation in Sumeru, avoiding having to leave Kazuha alone in a country with few too many bad memories.
The two had transversed the unstable environment and hiked through the electro energy buzzing widely in the air. Even though Seirai had recently been much calmer after the Travelers visit, it still set Kazuha on edge.
The weather was, surprisingly, quite pleasant and given that Kazuha had Scaramouche with him, he felt quite pleased as the day had turned out quite well. Even with such a lovely day, the ley line itself was a very unexpected variable.
It was a unique thing, about as large as a regular outcrop yet purple in color and buzzing with energy. The usual fog seen with ley line outcrops was twice as potent, swirling unnaturally and pulsing across the grass.
“Do you think that it perhaps absorbed the electro energy?” Kazuha asked, turning his head to Scaramouche.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.” The ex-fatui himself watched the ley line with curiosity and a raised eyebrow, a short scoff ending his thoughts.
Considering that an outcrop like this had never been noted before was intriguing to say the least, what could it give besides wealth and experience? And with curiosity winning, the two wanderers decided to stay near it just in case.
They found a large tree nearby, shading carefully and half burned, even so they sat underneath and ate their lunch all the while watching the ley line swirl in fog and twitch. Its color was a vibrant and gorgeous shade of purple, blending almost naturally with the aura that was Seirai Island.
Kazuha wasn’t sure how long they relaxed under the tree, resting themselves after their staggering exploration. For when he focused back on the ley line a light could be seen, blinding and pulsing in exuberating white. It was awfully stark against the purple mass of the outcrop and Kazuha could feel himself tense, for nothing about the light felt natural to him, toned without color and loud without noise. The ex-harbinger next to him must have sensed him startle and he too turned towards the Ley line outcrop as the light spread like wildfire.
And all too soon Kazuha could not see, nor hear. With his senses dulled he panicked, scraping his eyes across the vivid white in search of any exit. It was an awful experience, feeling the one thing he felt most connected to being dragged away and leaving him an empty shell without senses to perceive the world. He struggled like a man drowning but darkness came quickly, and his consciousness could not hold on forever.
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Maybe waking up to wind blasting against your face wasn’t exactly very comfortable, not to mention the feeling of being completely weightless so much so that Kazuha could not in fact make out solid ground.
Snapping in consciousness with panic, Kazuha's ears were immediately assaulted with swirling air and the dragging force of gravity. Being so busy swept up in his panic, Kazuha did not notice Scaramouche falling beside him before a hand grabbed his own, forcing the samurai to look over his shoulder.
Scaramouche’s face was twisted in unimpressed displeasure, scowling against the howling wind. Attempting to talk was useless, for nothing could compete over the ridiculously loud flush of air. His eyes were cast downward gazing at the scene of a massive dome below them. It bulged against the scenery, overpowering the forestry and claiming attention with its stark white exterior.
The two were gaining speed quickly and coming in for a landing directly above the dome, even with an anemo vision, slowing down their fall could only do so much for gravity was a strong opponent. With his anemo vision lighting up like a seelie, Kazuha dealt with the wind around them, slowing their fall and, after realizing that it was mostly futile, switched to a plunge attack alongside Scaramouche with the attempt to provide comfort for the inevitable crash landing.
They made their arrival apparent with an echoing smash, falling straight through the dome and drifting unceremoniously to the floor with a thump. Each muscle felt stressed after the fall, stretched by gravity and aching in displeasure.
Taking the time to look around after their plunge attack, Kazuha noticed the surrounding people, decorated in bright colors and twisted with strange additions to their bodies. Although they were all increasingly strange, their facial expressions were most certainly recognizable, shock and unhidden curiosity.
It almost appeared as if they had landed in the middle of a fight, it didn’t even take a few seconds before people were swarming in different directions and screaming in anger and fear.
Some came at Kazuha, bearing weapons and physical strength. Up close their appearances became more apparent with strange facial features and interesting bodily additions like horns and tinted skin. With very little effort, Kazuha disarmed those who came charging. He could hear Scaramouche doing the same, sending out brash waves of anemo and disorientating enemies. His snarky attitude presented in his voice as he degraded those who attempted to catch him in surprise and stomped down on others with the heavy burden of anemo.
Strangely enough, each person they heard spoke native Inazuman, yelling out battle cries and orders to others around them. Of course, this wouldn’t have been as odd if it were Inazuma but as far as Kazuha was aware, no place such as this existed anywhere in his homeland and the regular use of Teyvat's ordinary language made such a situation rather unlikely.
“Who are you?!” When Kazuha turned to observe who had spoken the question he was faced with a large man, shirt off and rather strange markings showing, a dragon curled around his chest. The man's hair was tied like a rope and was rapidly shooting out towards the wandering samurai seemingly on its own accord.
Kazuha attempted to keep his face calm and not betray his confusion when he replied. “Kaedehara Kazuha, may I ask for your own name sir?”
A blatant scoff. “What’re ya meant to be, a silly little student?” He spoke with disregard, glazing over his own words like one would skip a pebble over water, patchy. Kazuha's answer was left hanging in the air, unanswered.
It seemed that the people around them had stood off slightly, waiting for his answer and all on edge. They had taken the hint that neither traveler was bother by their onslaught, yet none however left space for an easy escape.
Kazuha was not ashamed to admit that he was rather fronted by the question. “No?” Scaramouche now stood by his side as well, tilted head and sneer plastered on his face, the trinkets on his eccentric hat jingling with the movement.
The man looked at them in distrust. “Ya sure ‘bout that?” He looked both Kazuha and Scaramouche up and down. “You both certainly look like goodie two shoes.” The surrounding group chuffed and giggled, feeding into the dragon man's ego as he puffed out his chest.
“So what, you should look at your own reflection, because at least we don’t look like an overused fishing net.” Scaramouche shot back.
“You’ve got a bad attitude.”
“And you’ve got back teeth.”
As much as Kazuha wasn’t approving of the way Scaramouche ticked off the man, he had to admit that his hair did look like he decided a fishing net would make a nice wig. The wear and tear decorating his unique hairstyle made obvious the haunting amount of time it was left uncleaned and properly cared for.
By now the rather buffed man was flushed red, angrily smiling. Scaramouche simply had a single eyebrow raised in defiance. In seconds his hair had lashed out and darted at the two wanders, smelling thick of terrible intentions and greasy oil.
Kazuha with his still drawn sword cleanly sliced through the self-acting hair, leaving it lifeless on the floor and prepared to parry any approaching assaults.
Just as their assailant came stomping towards them arms raised and positively fuming, a man dressed head to toe in black crashed into his side, dragging the attention of the onlookers. The black blur moved rapidly, swinging around a white ribbon and knocking out the people surrounding Kazuha and Scaramouche with well-placed punches. Dragon man resorted to using his fists, his strikes becoming more unplanned as he glowered. It was of little surprise when he was finally knocked out, slumping onto the floor unceremoniously. Kazuha was prepared and on guard when the man finished, watching in caution as a pair of unique yellow glasses turned to face his direction. “Are you villains working in this attack as well?”
Kazuha wasn’t going to lie; things were beginning to make less and less sense. Not only had a man dressed in all black with weird glasses asked if they were villains but there were people with literal flying hair and green skin. Take care to note that Kazuha was usually a calm person, the voice of reason if you may, but even he was getting restlessly irritated at the continuing confusion constantly being pressed onto him. With no answers being provided it was simply baffling to observe the people now lying unconscious around them.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Scaramouche bet him to it. “Look, we have no idea what the hell you’re going on about Mr. I-dress-in-all-black, but I would like to request an explanation before I resort to making one.” Clearly, Scaramouche was losing patience much faster than Kazuha.
The man in all black drew his eyebrows together, his stance was low and prepared to move quickly. Kazuha could already tell that the man was preparing to take them both on, aiming most likely to knock the two out like he had the others. Considering the man's fast paced attack pattern previously.
Interrupting Kazuha’s thoughts came countless screams, children calling out names and battle cries ranging in volume. The man’s attention on Kazuha and Scaramouche broke slightly as he and the wanderers looked to their side in alarm. Black smoke swirled capriciously as children in decorative outfits threw hands, explosive pops similar to Yoimiya’s fireworks littered the noise and the smell of ash caught itself in Kazuha’s consciousness.
In the time that the man was distracted, Scaramouche grabbed Kazuha by the arm and dragged him out from the open. Bruising was to be expected with the strength of Scaramouche’s grip, dangerously leaving an angry rash above his bandaged hand. The two dashed quietly through forestry, avoiding missteps and watching their backs with apprehension.
Then the forest gave way to massive concrete buildings, smashed together unnaturally and littered with shards of glass. The smell of dust was heavy and rather uncomfortable to engage.
“I am fairly certain that no place like this exists anywhere in Teyvat, either we’re in a different world or this is one large, shared fever dream and I’m not sure which idea I prefer.” Scaramouche spoke in an almost deadpan tone, looking at the mess that was their surroundings and inhaling a tentative breath before turning to Kazuha for his input.
“I have never once encountered scenery quite like this in my travels, not to mention that the air of a place like this is quite... Off Putting.” Kazuha could feel his face scrunch up in discomfort with the admission.
“Nonetheless, the people here are weird too.” Scaramouche shrugged uncaringly. “I for one would like to find a way home.” His multitude of accessories jingled again as Scaramouche looked around, taking in the high-rise buildings and crushed vehicles. Perhaps finding a way out of the strange dome they landed in should be their first objective.