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Chapter Text

Hey everyone! Tohka here, and after debating if I should wait a little bit longer or not to post this or not... the time for my Genshin Impact story is here!

My thanks go out to my friend and kouhai, CrimCrom, who made it possible for me to publish the story now by helping me clear the few doubts I had over some ideas that I had been worried could lead to largescale retcons. Something I really wanted to avoid due to how much lore the game has and how deep HoyoVerse's story telling manages to get at times.

There's quite a lot this story has planned for it, so I won't say much else beyond this. However, I will mention that because of what I said about Genshin's lore in the paragraph above, to the point I'd honestly say most Light Novels are like normal waves to the tidal waves that the full story has, updates will be slow since I have a lot to work with. There is some content that won't be making it in, as trying to use all of it feels like a "all but the kitchen sink" scenario.

Even so, I'm excited to see how this story will develop with what I do use!

Now, for one last thing before we begin? I only intend to adapt the Teyvat storyline, so anytime you see someone mention Teyvat by name in the story, that character is referring to the name of the world itself, instead of a continent it canonically is since I began this idea during a time I was unaware of the fact. Aside from that detail, Teyvat is exactly the same.

So, with that said... let Lumine's adventure begin!

[Chapter 1 - A Flickering Light]

The skies of Teyvat were quiet, as the serenity of night currently enveloped the land. The most anyone, if they were still awake at the time, could hear was the sounds of the various creatures that filled its landscape. As this common pattern continued, looking like it would seemingly be uninterrupted for the night... a shooting star came into view!

People and creatures alike stopped to looked at the rare occurrence, as this shooting star was alone and yet seemed to be racing across the seven nations in a near perfectly horizontal path without interruption. It passed through Shezhnayah, then Natlan, Fontaine, Sumeru, Inazuma, Liyue, and Mondstadt with near silence as only its bright glow telling of its arrival.

"No... no! Aether!"

Right as it hovered near the edge of Mondstadt's borders, however, the shooting star split into seven smaller orbs of light that soon fizzled out. To most who had seen it, this light in the sky was an unusual event with little to no meaning. Yet, to everyone else...

This one star was, in reality, the symbol of what was about to come for Teyvat's future.

Morning arrived in Teyvat a few hours after the event from the night before, with the sound of waves lightly crashing being heard as the scene opened to the one of the many shores in the world.

Walking across the ground, a single crab with a light gray shell was following its usual instincts as it walked sideways across the sand. However, it soon felt one of its legs tap something it didn't recognize, causing it to stop and turn so it could look at what it made contact with.

"...?" The Crab wondered.

In the send, and mostly covered by it, was something many times its size. It seemed to have five appendages, with two facing the water and three towards the walls of stone, one of which was short and stumpy looking with bits of a color similar to the sand from what it could make out. Unsure of it was hostile or not, the crab held out its crush claw and gave it a strong pinch.

A loud scream was heard as the unknown creature got up, throwing off the sand covering its body, which terrified the crab and made it scurry away in fear.

"Give my brother back!" The so-called 'creature' screamed.

Stretching out their hand, the being underneath the sand was confirmed to be nothing more than an ordinary human girl, who had washed up on the shore. She had the body of a teenager, with short blonde hair aside from two side strands that reached down to her chest and matching eyes, with her hair being decorated by a pair of white flowers above her left ear and a pair of feathers above the right.

Her attire consisted of a white dress, one that somehow managed to avoid getting wet or stained from her implied time in the ocean's waters, decorated with black accents and golden ornaments, the most common being a series of four pointed stars with a single dot above the top part. She also wore a pair of matching gloves and above knee-high boots, both of which had light armor where her wrist and ankles were, and a scarf-like sash wrapped around her neck that reached to just before the hem of her dress.

"Huh?" She paused.

The girl let out heavy breaths as she realized where she was. The last thing she could recall was being... but that wasn't where she was now, she was on a beach she didn't recognize, causing her eyes to widen in horror before she began digging her hands into the sand. If her thoughts were correct, then it should have ended up here with her.

"Come on... please, please be here!" The girl begged.

Her fingers then brushed over something cold, the sign she had found what she was looking for, and then brushed away all the sand in that area as it finally came into view.

"It's true... it really is true."

Resting in the sand before her was a sword of incredible quality. It was made of an unusual pair of metals, one of which was an opaque white while the other was a reflective gold, with a golden-yellow gem of a similar color to the latter in the center of its hilt that acted as the central connection to every detail carved by the latter metal's presence. It was a sword that, if the blade was pointing toward the ground, resembled a large cross if every end had more of a diamond cut and two triangular extensions where the hilt ended and the blade began. The diamond shaped hole between this spot only emphasized this.

Such a beautiful sword, yet one that only brought her tears... because this sword wasn't her sword. It was the sword of her older twin brother, who she had failed to protect.

"Aether..." She said softly as the tears fell out.

After staring at it for a moment longer, she immediately hugged it close before letting out a loud sob. Any doubts to the reality before her having been completely shattered.

~ One Day Later

The sun began to rise on the beach once again, with the sound of the waves being joined by the near-quiet breaths of the girl, who had cried herself to sleep going by the tear stains on her face. She was currently resting her head against a rock while hugging her brother's sword close to her as if it was a security blanket, but soon felt her eyes start to flutter open as the light of morning enveloped her form.

"Huh... I don't even remember falling asleep." She mumbled.

She placed the sword beside her as she got on her feet, and stretched out her arms. Lucky for the girl, she had always been an early bird, allowing that stretch to be enough to fully wake herself up.

"Glad no was around the other day. I don't think I've cried like that since..." The girl admitted, feeling embarrassed.

At that moment, the rest of her words faltered, realizing she honestly couldn't remember the last time she had cried.

'Of course I can't remember...'

For so long, it was just her and Aether, following wherever life led them. Despite that her brother was the older of the two, she had always been the responsible one that kept an eye out for the both of them. She had to grow up faster, and maybe at some point... that meant she walled off her emotions to some degree, to be the strong one for both of them.

"The truth really does set you free... I really am the younger twin." She admitted, staring at the horizon.

She let out a sigh before shaking her head, knowing the time for tears had already come and gone for her.

"I can't just sit here, I need to-"

A loud growl escaped from her stomach at that moment, causing a faint blush to form on her cheeks, and once again she appreciated that no one was nearby to hear her.

"Uh..."

The girl looked around, trying to figure out her food options. She didn't see any animals like the crabs, which is because they were avoiding her due to being a strange and new creature. There also weren't any fruits or mushrooms nearby, though those had the potential risk of being poisonous if she had found any. That left her only one option.

~ Six Days Later

Sitting on the rock that she had come to know as her current pillow, the girl felt and heard her stomach constantly rumbling for food, which she'd love to give it... if it wasn't for the fact she hadn't manage to catch even a single fish as of yet!

"I know it's just a stick, string, and a seashell, but come on already!"

Her crankiness was well deserved at this point. After the first two days, she tried to go beyond the beach, though got blocked off by an area she had to climb, yet lacked the energy to accomplish. Even worse is since she also needed water, she had been forced to drink out of the ocean every once in a while, and that left her near parched as well.

"Please..." She sobbed.

At that moment, she felt a tug on her makeshift rod, making her gasp as she felt it. The girl smiled as she began to pull on it, making sure to hold one hand near the top so it was less likely to break.

"You... aren't... getting away... from... ME!" The girl screamed.

With one last tug, she pulled a big and fat fish out into the air.

"YES!" She cheered.

The fish fell to ground, and the moment it hit the sand, it became thinner as it spat something out of its stomach. The girl freaked out at first, worried it had just barfed out a fish carcass... only to see that it wasn't a fish or aquatic.

She wasn't sure what it was, though the girl noted it had a strong resemblance to a wingless fairy. It had white hair somewhat longer than her own with some sort of golden... crown she guessed, floating over its head. Her attire was something like a onesie, with gold decorations, gold cuffs on the sleeves, and gold... hip guards, maybe? There were also match boots styled like said supposed hip guard at the top, a black hairclip similar in shape to the star designs on her own dress, and a cape-like scarf that seemingly had moving constellations in it!

"How did a fish manage to eat something like this?" The girl questioned, still somewhat in shock.

Eventually, after staring at her enough, the girl's eyes widened as she finally realized something.

"Wait, is it still alive!?" She panicked.

Since she had no idea where this fairy-like creature's heart was, and said creature seemed close enough to a human, the girl lifted her arm to see if it would go limp or not.

It didn't.

"OK, I hope this works, and I apologize in advance for anything I might break." She prayed.

The girl pushed down both her hands on fairy-like creature stomach, causing its eyes to squint.

*"SPSH!"*

And she spit out water onto the girl's face like a squirt gun, making her close them for the next three seconds until it was all out. Once she felt the lack of water hitting her face, the girl opened her eyes, giving a deadpan expression.

"Of course it hit me in the face..." She whispered to herself.

She shook her face dry as she heard a few coughs and then a groan leave the fairy-like creature, who finally opened her eyes. The girl got a look at them as the creature got up, revealing white pupils and iris that were the same as her cape in both color and presence of constellations, albeit they were still and motionless unlike those in her scarf.

"Ugh..." It groaned.

It then saw the girl, and let out a panicked scream before flying away out of fear.

"No, wait! I'm not gonna... hurt..."

The girl failed to finish her sentence as the lack of food and water caught up to her, and she fell forward onto the sand, causing the fairy-like creature to stop and turn around.

"Huh?"

She cautiously flew back, then heard her growling stomach, and then the dying fish that tried in vain to return to the ocean before it choked.

"Oh..."

The fairy-like creature, now known as Paimon, realized what was going on and flew towards a group of trees as the girl tried to lift her head up.

"N-Need... f-food..." The girl begged.

As the girl finally lifted her head to see past the sand, she paused as a bucket fell before her and a couple of apples fell out. Seeing a fruit she knew was safe enough to eat, the girl felt tears of joy fill her eyes before she gobbled the nearest apply.

"It might just... be an apple, but right now... its-!" She said between bites.

Paimon, glancing out from behind the bucket, saw the girl quickly devour the remaining apples without caring if she ate any the seeds or not in her attempt to stave off what had been a week's worth of hunger.

"Thank you, great apple trees." The girl thanked, her eyes closed and her hands put together in thanks.

Once she opened her eyes, she noticed Paimon begin to float towards her, looking a little embarrassed.

"Paimon's sorry." Paimon apologized.

"It's alright. If I woke up and saw someone I didn't recognize, I probably would have reacted in a similar way." She smiled, recalling what happened a week ago.

Hearing that caused Paimon to smile, and float in front of her.

"Then allow Paimon to properly introduce herself!" She declared.

The girl giggled at that.

"Nice to meet you Paimon, my name's Lumine." The girl greeted, giving a slight bow as she finally revealed her name.

And then her stomach growled again.

"Uh... think you could maybe find me some firewood, and some water that's lacking in salt?" Lumine asked, blushing in embarrassment.

"Paimon will be right back!" She replied.

She grabbed the bucket formerly filled with apples and quickly flew into the forest once again.

15 minutes later, Lumine and Paimon were sitting around a fire, the fish cooking against it.

"It's almost ready." Lumine stated.

"Ooh! Paimon's stomach is rumbling already!" Paimon exclaimed, nearly drooling at the sight.

Lumine gave a silent giggle at that, unsure if Paimon was hungry or wanted revenge on the fish.

"So, what exactly are you Paimon?" Lumine asked.

Hearing that question, Paimon scratched her cheek.

"Honestly... Paimon only knows she's Paimon, and it's been that way for as long as Paimon can remember." She admitted, her expression falling a little.

"And you've never seen anyone else like you? Like, at all?" Lumine asked in surprise.

Paimon's following silence and brief look towards the ocean was her answer to Lumine.

"Is... that related to how the fish-" She asked.

"Yeah, Paimon's been trying to find out something, and was at an island not far from here. But Paimon didn't realize she was floating over part of the water a fish could be, and that's how it managed to even eat Paimon to begin with." She confessed.

Lumine raised an eye toward that last part, with Paimon blushing in response.

"Paimon was inside." She added.

"Ah, I get it now." Lumine replied.

Realizing the fish was cooked, Lumine moved it away from the fire before using her brother's sword to cut it in half.

"Head or tail?" She asked.

Her eyes widened as Paimon had already taken the head half by the time she looked back up, and eaten half of it.

'I guess she wanted revenge and was that hungry.' Lumine thought, impressed by the appetite her small form had.

She took a bite of her half moments after.

"So, Lumine, how did you end up getting so hungry in the first place? You don't seem like the type to end up starved?" Paimon asked, already done with her half.

Lumine paused at that.

"I'm not sure if you'd believe my story if I told you..." She confessed.

"Don't worry, Paimon's a very open-minded listener!" Paimon smiled.

Lumine thought about for a moment.

"Alright, I guess at some point I'll have to talk about it if I ever hope to find my brother." She decided.

That last part immediately got Paimon's attention.

"The truth is... my brother, my older twin brother to be exact, came from another world entirely." Lumine revealed.

Paimon floated back as she gave a slight gasp at that.

"We arrived in this world, but when we tried to leave and go to the next world as we had many times before? That was when... she appeared." Lumine continued.

Her eyes closed as that horrible memory came returned.

Lumine and her brother stood in an area seemingly above the clouds, filled with hundreds of pillars and structures made of white stone. Neither of them seemed aware of what this location truly was, as they had already decided to move onto the next world by this point, but it definitely seemed like said location was unlike the rest of Teyvat.

Her brother, Aether, was shown to look identical enough to her that, with their origin as travelers between worlds, they may have actually been identical twins despite being different genders. The main differences between them were his hair only looked short when it actually had a braid that reached to his waist, and had mostly black clothing with little of white, though more than she had black on hers.

Said attire consisted of a tight black shirt that exposed his torso, black gloves, black boots, and somewhat baggy black pants that were tucked into said boots. Like her, his clothing had golden decorations around it, one notable example being the belt with a circular buckle-like attachment with a white star in its center like the ones Lumine and Paimon possessed on their clothing. Topping it all off was a black earring with a feather under just his left ear, and a white scarf with gold decorations that reached his waist.

"So, what world is-" Lumine asked.

Aether suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Aether? What are you-?" She asked, surprised by the unusual action.

"Something's wrong here..." He replied, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

His worries proved true as they saw a red ripple.

The twins both stared as the sight of said ripple morphed into a trio of four-pointed stars, which were all still rippling, of black/red energy.

"Outlanders!"

Both of them saw a bandaged foot move out of the middle star, which now seemed to be someone's personal portal.

"Your journey ends here!"

Standing before them, now fully revealed, was a woman with white hair flowing upwards like it was the wind and eyes of a sickly yellow glow. She wore an outfit that Lumine could only describe as a mixture of long stripes of either red, black, or white, with some being decorated with faded gold in places with a black fur collar. Behind her, the two other stars had shrunken to her body's size and had ring cuts form in their centers that made the remaining middle to resemble eyes. Soon, she took a single step forward.

"Who are you!?" Lumine demanded.

"The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles." The strange woman answered, telling her much yet little at the same time.

Holding up her left hand, she formed a cube of the same-colored energy that flashed gold before it changed back.

*"WHHR!"*

Lumine and Aether noticed the red glow under their feet, and jumped away as a giant version of the same cube nearly shot upwards to do... something to them. Both twins immediately twirled in midair, forming three pairs of wings made of yellow light and golden metal as they summoned their swords. Lumine's true sword was her brother's if the hilt was instead shaped like a crescent moon.

"The arrogation of mankind ends now!" She stated.

Instead of asking questions, Lumine and Aether flew forward as she unleashed multiple cubes towards them, all linked together as if they were a pair of serpents dashing to sink their fangs into the duo. Both of them soared over, under, and through the various stone structures with incredible speed that the attacks just barely managed to keep up with, and the twins turned around with such precision that the attacks lost them as they rushed towards their caster.

Lumine readied her sword, while Aether raised a hand out to prepare an attack of light, with the Sustainer holding up her hands as they made contact. The brief sight of a blue glow that represented her shielding their attacks was seen... right as Lumine let out a gasp. She jumped away as more of the Sustainer's cubes formed on her sword, swallowing it inside them, though Aether wasn't as lucky as it got the arm he attacked with, and he found himself trapped.

"Aether!" She shouted.

She flew towards her brother, who looked at her with an expression begging for help, which he had no time to say as he let go of his sword, causing Lumine to pass by his form as the cubes swallowed him like her sword. Grabbing his blade, Lumine turned around with a horrified look as the Sustainer held a cube in her right hand. It may have been coincidence, or intentional on the Sustainer's part, but the mere fact she was holding him with her brother's dominant hand only served to fuel the anger of the action.

"NO!" She shouted.

The Sustainer moved to capture Lumine as well, only to see her vanish, surprising her. Lumine reappeared behind the Unknown God, her left hand filled with condensed light as she used her brother's sword to funnel it into the shape of a spear. She let out another scream before swinging at the Sustainer right as she turned to look at her, and the attack struck home.

*"KABOOM!"*

As the smoke of her attack cleared, and Lumine released angry pants, she saw the Sustainer had been pushed back, and her right arm was now bleeding a little. However, this moment of seeming success was quickly shattered as she saw the outline of another cube surrounding her... and then trap her inside. Her eyesight soon began to blur.

"Wait, no! Don't go!" She shouted as she panicked.

The Sustainer briefly showed surprise as Lumine tried to say the words she woke up to, only for everything to fade and she too was sealed away, and soon felt everything fade into black.

Lumine let out a gasp as she quickly grabbed her left hand, scaring Paimon for a moment. She soon took a deep breath as she calmed down, reminding herself it was over.

"And just like that... the God took away my brother. Some kind of seal was cast upon me and I lost most of my powers. So, while we used to cross world after world... we're now trapped here." She finished.

"Whoa..." Paimon quietly replied.

What could she even say to a story like that? It did sound crazy, though Lumine's reaction felt too real for it to be some fabrication. It didn't seem like a hallucination either.

"For the whole time I was sealed, it was like I lived in a nightmare where I lost all sense of time. How long did I stay like that before I woke up here? Was it only a day... or have years gone by? I don't know..." Lumine continued, a solemn look on her face.

"Paimon might not understand much, but Paimon knows this world does have Gods, though Paimon's never heard of the one you've mentioned." Paimon admitted.

Lumine let out a sigh, expecting that.

"After I woke up? I was on my own for the first time in nearly forever, and spent a whole week trying to find something to eat. Though, I guess I'm not alone anymore, now that I've met you." She continued, briefly smiling.

"Paimon doesn't even wanna think about what might have happened if you hadn't caught that fish when you did." She shuddered, pushing the thought away.

She then looked at Lumine with a worried expression.

"So, now that you've gotten some food in your belly, what are you going to do now?" Paimon asked.

"I have no idea what happened to my brother, or where he is, but I intend to find out." She promised.

Hearing that, Paimon made her choice.

"Then Paimon will do her best to be a great guide!" Paimon declared.

Lumine looked at her in surprise.

"Wait, you? Guide me?" She asked.

"Well, Paimon does owe you. If you hadn't been here? Paimon likely would have either been digested, or simply drowned." Paimon replied.

She floated closer to Lumine and then smiled at her.

"Plus, Paimon's been all over Teyvat trying to find answers to who and what she is, but Paimon can't fight to protect herself. So, with Paimon's knowledge and your strength? We might just find what we're looking for." She added.

Lumine paused for a moment, really thinking about it.

"I might still be starving right now if you hadn't brought me those apples, and... I am currently trapped in a world I don't know anything about." She admitted.

She smiled, making her choice.

"Alright then, Paimon, we're now officially traveling partners." She decided.

Paimon let out a cheer and spun through the air as if she was doing a flip.

"Paimon thinks we'll be great friends!"

"Think? We already are." Lumine giggled.

Paimon paused as she felt a blush on her face, letting out a slight giggle in response. Lumine soon grabbed the bucket, then headed to the ocean to get water to douse their fire with. As she was doing this, however... neither she nor Paimon noticed someone watching them from the cliffs.

This watcher was seemingly not human, and wore blue and white robes with its face covered by dark blue fur and what looked like a white plague mask, holding a scepter in its right hand as its gaze more on Lumine as if it had just witnessed a ghost or spotted a Cryptid without any doubts.

"Is... is that really her!?" They asked themselves.

Seeing the sword she possessed, the strange creature realized there was only one thing it could do to verify Lumine's identity.

"Forgive me, my Highness..."

Swirling its staff for a moment, the strange creature cast a spell towards the water, right as Lumine and Paimon were about to head towards the area the former hadn't been able to climb due to her hunger. It caused the water to start bubbling, which quickly caught the pair's attention.

"Uh... Paimon, what's happening over there?" Lumine asked, looking at her new friend and travelling companion.

"Paimon doesn't recognize that." She replied.

The bubbling water started to become bigger, making the two nervous. Their worries became validated a moment later as something shot out of the water, surrounded by a black aura before landing before the two and revealing itself to be a huge, solid bubble that looked what most of the people in Teyvat normally knew as a large Hydro Slime.

"Wait, is that a Slime!?" Paimon said in surprise.

"Let me guess... they aren't usually in the ocean?" Lumine assumed, reaching for her sword.

"More like they usually aren't submerged in it!" Paimon corrected, already seeing a red flag.

The slime responded to that by lunging forward.

"Oh crap! Paimon, watch out!" Lumine shouted.

Paimon shouted and flew to the side as Lumine rolled to the side, grabbing her sword and rushing towards it as it bounced to face her. It lunged forward once again as she swung at it... only for Paimon to gasp as she was knocked back as if she was a ragdoll! As she got up, Lumine seemed to be just as surprised as she was at what happened.

'No way... it isn't just my power, but my strength?' She thought in horror.

The Slime lunged at her again, knocking her back, and showing the blade hadn't even hurt it in the slightest! Aether's sword flew from her hands and slid across the sandy shores as the attack caused Lumine to tumble across it. Shaking for a moment, the Slime released a bubble that soon captured Lumine within it, making her eyes widen as she was immobilized and left unable to breathe, causing Paimon to shake with fear as she looked at the Slime ready for another attack and where Lumine's sword had landed.

"Lumine!" She shouted.

She flew towards the sword, knowing she had to do something, right as the Slime lunged for what looked to be its finishing blow against Lumine, and then grabbed it.

*"SHING!"*

In just one moment, the Slime was pushed back as Aether's sword returned to Lumine's hand, and she had suddenly escape the bubble. Her eyes were wide at what just happened, and how she felt a strange surge throughout her body.

"What the... my strength, I feel it coming back!" Lumine realized.

At that moment, while the Slime was still regaining its bearings, she suddenly noticed Paimon wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Paimon? Paimon, where are you!?" She called out.

"Paimon's in here!" She answered, her voice coming from Aether's sword.

Lumine's eyes went widen in shock as she looked at her brother's sword.

"You're in the sword!?" She asked.

"Paimon has no idea what happened, but Paimon thinks it's a good thing! Now show that Slime it made a mistake by messing with us!" Paimon responded.

Seeing the Slime had regained its bearing and was ready to attack her again, Lumine got into a stance, then dashed forward right as it lunged at her again.

*"SLICE!"*

Only this time, it froze in midair as Lumine dashed past it and slashed right through it. In just a few seconds, the slime popped, causing droplets of water to splash above the spot it died at.

"We won!" Paimon cheered, still in the sword.

"All thanks to you, Paimon." Lumine smiled.

Having seen all it needed to? the strange creature turned away from the duo as its suspicions were confirmed.

"It's just as I suspected. I must tell our Highness about this development, now!" The strange creature realized.

And with those words, it teleported away.

Within a different region of Mondstadt, the sight of a giant brown machine was seen as it held someone in its hands like a throne could be seen, that someone being hidden from view as it spoke to someone that seemed to be dressed in black and blue armor with a sort of magician's vibe to it.

"My Prince, our plans are progressing smoothly. It shouldn't be much longer before the power of-" The armored man spoke.

"Your Highness!" The strange creature shouted.

The armored warrior gave an annoyed growl as one the many it outranked appeared before the two, and then formed a blade of water from its right arm in response.

"How dare you disrespect the Prince by-" He shouted in anger.

"Stop, let him talk. Then you may deal with him if he truly ends up wasting our time." His Prince interjected.

"Thank you, your Highness." The mage praised.

The robot turned around so his Highness could face him, as he crossed his arms.

"So, what news is so important that you had to come to me directly?" He inquired.

"I have come to tell that I have found..."

What the mage said next caused his Prince to gasp, even getting the attention of his armored superior, who was just as shocked by the revelation.

At the same time the mysterious mage was meeting with his Highness/the Prince, Lumine saw Paimon reappear before her, looking a tad befuddled.

"Paimon, are you sure you don't know how you did that?" She asked.

"Well, Paimon might actually some idea of how Paimon did it." She admitted.

Lumine looked at her with her arms on her hips.

"See... part of how Paimon's been able to travel all across Teyvat is because Paimon... can turn invisible and teleport." Paimon admitted.

And with that, Lumine's eyes widened in shock.

"You can teleport and turn invisible!?" She asked.

Paimon nodded her head, and floated back with a proud look on her face.

"Watch Paimon and be amazed!" Paimon declared.

She tried to turn invisible first to prove it to her, but when she tried... nothing happened, to her confusion.

"Huh?" She blinked.

Paimon tried again, and now Lumine had a worried look, fairly certain Paimon wasn't just messing with her and was genuinely trying to do it with no success.

"Uh... maybe try the other one?" She suggested.

"OK then, Paimon will teleport over to that tree!" Paimon declared, pointing to the further tree Lumine could see.

She floated in midair, expecting to have moved near said tree... and yet nothing happened. Paimon finally screamed.

"Why can't Paimon do either!?" She panicked.

"I have no idea, you didn't have any problems until you went into my-" Lumine replied, just as confused.

She paused mid-sentence, with Paimon calming down as she and Paimon's eyes moved to her sword.

"Uh oh..." Lumine realized.

Taking her sword in hand, she decided to test something and threw it a few feet away, then held out her hand and imagined it returning.

It popped right back into her hand, confirming her suspicions.

"No wonder I felt stronger... I think those powers were absorbed by the sword." Lumine realized.

She clapped her hands as she faced Paimon.

"I'm so sorry about all of this!" She apologized.

"It's fine, it happened because Paimon was trying to help you. Besides, Paimon can still go into the sword, so in a way Paimon can still do both." Paimon reassured her.

Though right after saying that, she scratched the back of her head.

"Plus, even if Paimon could teleport... Paimon has no idea if it works on only Paimon or not." She confessed.

"Fair point. At least this way, I know where you'll be whenever you're hiding from danger." Lumine realized.

The two let out a laugh in response.

"I guess now the only question left to ask is where to next?" Lumine stated.

"Follow Paimon, we're heading to... a Statue of the Seven!" She announced.

"Why a statue?" Lumine asked.

"Paimon will explain on the way, so let's go." Paimon promised, taking the lead.

Lumine nodded and followed, and she finally climbed over the one wall of stone.

"Finally..." She breathed.

She took a look at all the lush greenery before her, and was wowed by the beauty of it. If she was going to be stuck in Teyvat for a while, then it was better for her to enjoy the sights it had to offer, especially as overlooking anything could cause her to miss her brother, no matter how unlikely it might be for him to be in an area such as this one.

"To explain why we're looking for a Statue of the Seven, it's because the one who took your brother had been a God, and the Seven are a group of Gods that rule over the seven nations of Teyvat." Paimon explained.

"Which means if anyone knows about the Sustainer, it would most likely be them." Lumine realized.

"Yep! Although, maybe it's best you don't call her that. Paimon has no idea if its taboo." She warned.

Lumine shivered at that thought.

"Good point, I'm not in any position to fight another God until I can regain my powers." Lumine agreed, having no idea how the Slime scaled in comparison to Teyvat's Gods.

She turned to face Paimon, only to notice she was gone.

"Lumine, over here!" Paimon called, waving from the cliff.

Noticing where Paimon was shouting from, Lumine walked over, and then let out a gasp at what she saw. Besides a few lakes, more cliffs, and both new and familiar kinds of trees? She saw a city in the distance and the sight of a statue standing on the nearest lake.

"Welcome to the region of Mondstadt!" Paimon revealed, her hands aimed towards the sight.

"Wow, this place is beautiful." Lumine praised.

She turned to look at Paimon, who continued.

"Each nation of Teyvat's lifestyle and culture developed around one member of the Seven, who each represent a divine ideal and one of the seven elements." She revealed.

"Which are...?" Lumine inquired.

"Wind, earth, lightning, nature, water, fire, and ice. Though most people refer to them as Ameno, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, and Cryo, especially for many creatures imbued with the elements' power." Paimon explained.

"Like with the slime we encountered." Lumine realized.

"Right! It had the power of water, so that makes it a Hydro Slime, though usually we only refer to a creature by the elements if it has multiple variants." Paimon verified.

Lumine nodded in understanding.

"So, is there anything I should know about Mondstadt's God before I met him... her... them?" She asked.

"Paimon doesn't know what any of the Seven's genders are, though for Mondstadt's God?" Paimon thought.

Paimon took a few seconds to remember what she knew.

"The God of Mondstadt is Barbatos, the God of Freedom, better known to his people as the Wandering Wind... though that's all Paimon really knows." She shared.

"What you told me sounds like enough to go off of, so let's get to the Statue, and we'll figure out what's next from there." Lumine replied, giving a reassuring smile.

Paimon nodded and led the way down to the lake.

"Oh, uh... sorry that you'll have to get wet again." She apologized, recalling how much Lumine's recent problems with the ocean.

"Do I?" Lumine asked.

Paimon was left confused until she saw Lumine walk on the water's surface, surprising her.

"Most of the powers I kept are utility based, as you can see." Lumine said, giving her a wink.

"Wow!" Paimon exclaimed.

After crossing the lake, Lumine and Paimon stood before the Statue of the Seven present there, making the former feel nervous as she looked at the sculpture on it.

"OK... here goes." She breathed, walking forward.

She placed her hand on the statue's gold plating.

We'll be stopping things here for right now, since I've got a certain plan for when Lumine gets the Ameno element, and I feel the chapter will run too long if I try to add it in here. Also, a majority of this chapter was to simply start up the story and adjust some game mechanics that make less sense in fanfic form.

One thing I'd like to clarify about Lumine struggling against the Slime is she wasn't actually fighting a Slime, she and Paimon just thought it was one. It was actually the magic of the Abyss Mage shaped into a form resembling one. That made it much stronger and sturdier than a real slime, whereas Lumine would have managed to beat a regular Slime in a fight.

I also wanted to give Paimon a little more role than just being Lumine's guide, so having her unknowingly restore some of Lumine's power to make her able to handle fighting an Abyss powered enemy was a good way to do it while also giving her a place to hide when in danger, since while I wasn't able to find a good time to mention it in the chapter? The sword is made to be an unbreakable weapon, truly making it the best place for Paimon to go when a fight starts.

Whatever happens next, just know things will change as much as they stay the same, and those changes will start to present themselves more as time goes on. I just need to get the ball rolling so they show sooner than later. For now, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and will stick around to see what's next.

Until next time everyone, and stay awesome! ^^

Chapter Text

Hello!

To everyone who came here expecting this to be an update? My apologies, but this is actually an Update Notice, though before I say anymore, this is the second part of one I've already made and the first half is already on FFN's version of the story. If you've already read that one then continue on ahead to find out what I didn't say, while for those who haven't or are only familiar with my AO3 half of content, it's best you go there to fully learn what's going on.

If not?

Well, to give a small summarization, this update notice is about a largescale change in how I do my stories as a whole. One that's generally seemed up as "I will now be working on AO3 only due its pluses and the loss of FFN's nostalgia."

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

The following text below will mainly cover a new direction some of, but not all of my stories will take

You also won't need to worry about anything disappearing, as this relates more to links and extra content

Are you ready?

Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, the changes in question are an idea that I somewhat used a long time ago (6 years for those who wanna know) in my only truly successful crossover story to date: "Heaven and Hell: Adventure of Two Worlds", which had linked two of my stories together in a canon way till events led it to becoming non-canon.

However, I won't be doing it in the same way it did.

What makes this idea different is rather than have two or more of my stories interact with one another on purpose to progress the events of both? My plan is for a select amount of my stories to exist in a Multiverse that gives them the potential to interact with one another, where an actual crossover can happen or someone from one story may either cameo or have a slight role depending on what happens.

So, which of my stories will become part of this? Four out of what I call my "Big Five", which are:

1. Never Blinded

2. Light of Teyvat

3. Legends of the Heavenly Dragons

4. Date A Live: Altered Timeline

The reason Daydreamer Dragon isn't included is due to two major reasons, the first is that this Multiverse operates under a "One story per franchise rule", and how unreleased content from the first of the sequels in the DD trilogy will reveal something that contradicts with the setup of this Multiverse because its world building is more closely linked with content from V21 and higher of DxD's light novels.

Another major change is that I'll be taking advantage of AO3's features to help group together content from the same story. Back when I made the original LOHD, one major thing I included was a small summary of lore near the start of each chapter. That eventually stopped because trying to keep all of the lore from those summaries organized became a little too tricky. Luckily, I've since seen a few stories that have an extra entry for them and/or character info.

I've made one myself for DALAT, which just needs refining, so it's a start.

Likewise, those already familiar with my AO3 exclusives should know about a certain DxD and DAL story of mine. While I'm not directly referring to them in this stance? I am referring to the idea of lemons themselves happen within the events of my major stories, since I've had the idea of actually doing a lemon scene between Issei and Vali in LOHD, since the original did technically have one and the way I write their relationship makes me feel that's an inevitability.

But wait... THERE'S MORE!

New story ideas will be following due to the fresh start I'm making, though not in the traditional sense, or is usual a better word for it? This is something I've only seen two, maybe three stories so, but they operate under having no chronological order and acting mostly as a collection of scenes that make it possible to tell a story without forcing it to go from start to finish, especially if you have a scene or two that you really want to write out sooner than later.

For someone with this exact issue? This is a godsend!

Such a method might just make it possible for some of my discontinued stories over here to get new life because while I'm never going to truly finish them under this method? You'll still get to see new content from them! This idea is still in its infancy stage, but I see the potential it has and I'm hoping that this will turn out well. It will also help me start putting out all of my adoptable story ideas so people can adopt them, which I really should have done ages ago.

That covers pretty much everything, so all I have left to say is that this whole transition will take some time, and that it will still be awhile before I update the usual way again. Works out in my favor regardless since the barometric pressure in my area has been particularly horrible this year and I'm not gonna write well if I'm suffering from pressure headaches...

I hope to be writing once Spring 2024 finally arrives.

Overall, this is the way I'll be taking forward to both keep writing and give you my very best, so for those who're sticking around and have followed me here to AO3? Thanks again for the support! You're all awesome! Also, for those who didn't go over to see the FFN half of this update and haven't see it? Enjoy the last preview scene for this story:

Lumine placed her hand on the statue's gold plating, breathing in slightly as a sense of tension formed from making contact with it, and then... she felt herself gasp as her body shook. This immediately caught Paimon's attention.

"Lumine? Lumine, what's wrong!?" Paimon asked worriedly.

She put her free hand on her forehead as a rush of... something began to flow through her body and mind like it was water through a stream. She closed her eyes, and then opened them to an absolutely unbelievable sight.

Before her stood a figure covered in white light.

"Welcome Traveler, your journey begins here." They said, a myriad of sounds coming from their voice.

'What... what's happening?' Lumine questioned, finding herself unable to move or speak using her own voice.

She saw the sight of a bard flash into her mind.

"Even though the beginning will leave you confused and lost at first..." The figure continued, reappeared beside her at a smaller and now yellow in color.

'These are...' Lumine thought, feeling her eyes struggling to stay open.

More sights flashed through her head as if they were events yet to be, a sort of precognition of the future she would soon experience for herself.

"Reach the end of this journey, and you shall find the truth you seek." The figure resumed, moving to another spot as they turned orange.

It happened give more times, with the figure turning purple, green, blue, red, and cyan.

"It is up to you... because I need you to... the path forward is mired by... your brother is... please, help me!" They said between each shifting of colors.

'My head is-!' She mentally groaned.

"Reawaken, great light!" The figure's voice echoed with tenfold the volume it had prior, resuming their initial white color and size as their hand reached out to them.

Lumine let out a pained scream as her body briefly floated, with certain spots of her outfit regaining their former light glow as a surge golden light burst out of her body!

"Wah!" Paimon screamed, shielding her eyes.

After a few seconds of this sudden experience, Lumine landed on her feet before kneeling on one knee, panting as she looked at her hands to see something that she almost couldn't believe right now.

"It came back..." She said.

"Came back? What do you mean by it came back?" Paimon asked.

Instead of answering Paimon, Lumine got to her feet, and then...

"It came back!" She exclaimed.

Paimon let out a yelp as Lumine suddenly formed the wings she claimed to have lost, making Paimon stare in shock before Lumine took flight.

"My powers, they're back! I have no idea how but they came back! Paimon, do you see this!?" Lumine shouted like a kid visiting a candy store.

"They... they did what!?" Paimon exclaimed in disbelief.

Lumine continued flying for around another minute, until her wings suddenly disappeared, catching her off guard as she started to fall.

"Lumine!" Paimon screamed.

She flew up right as Lumine was about to crash into a shallow area of the pond, then grabbed her, and pulled up on her dress just enough that most of Lumine's momentum vanished as they harmlessly crashed into the water.

Both of them groaned as they pulled themselves up.

"Thank you, Paimon."

They each shook the water out of their hair, then wring the water out of their clothes.

"Paimon is confused? You said that your powers came back, but you fell?" Paimon asked.

"I have a theory..." Lumine realized.

She tried to recreate the power in the attack she struck the Sustainer with, but while it looked the same visually? It was clear that its power was nowhere close to it.

"Should have realized it wasn't that easy, but my excitement got the better of me. I feel so embarrassed right now..." Lumine sighed, having confirmed her suspicions.

"What do you mean?" Paimon questioned.

"Turns out I only regained some of my powers, not all of it. In fact, while I can't say how much I've regained, with how you told me Teyvat has a total of seven elements..." Lumine explained.

"Oh!" She realized.

Having let that revelation sink in, Lumine let out a tired and annoyed sigh in response.

"I guess trying to find all Seven Archons isn't our only goal anymore..." She realized.

"At least you can restore your powers." Paimon smiled.

Hearing that caused Lumine's slight frown to flip into a slight smile, then patted Paimon on the head, causing the latter to giggle a little.

"Fair point, I'll count this as a small win." Lumine decided.

Chapter Text

The original plan was to edit this information in, but there was a lot more text than I initially expected, so...

Here we are with Part 3 of the announcement!

For this part, I'll be sharing information specific to this story itself, and there are some important details here that you should read. Though before I get into that? Let me give you all a heads up on the kind of info you'll be seeing:

WARNING!

I did my best to keep them out, but you may see something you consider a spoiler in the information below

Said information shouldn't give away anything major about the story, but this is only based on my point of view

That's all for now

After finally thinking on the subject for some time, I've figured out how the story will adapt certain content such as any Character Quests or Limited Event Stories that aren't able to fit into the main outline. Those will be put into Side Stories, which will all have "Tales of Teyvat" in their title due to how I can't really shorten "Light of Teyvat" to fit the naming theme used by my other Side Stories and the fact Lumine and Paimon will not appear in the Side stories.

The reason for that? It's so everyone else can have a chance in the spotlight.

For one example, we see the Archons getting involved on some occasions, but Ei and Nahida feel like they don't do as much despite having more of a public presence than Venti and Zhongli whose absences are genuinely justified. I'd honestly like to see how some quests could change if they get involved... if they can that is, since the Knights are more likely in Mondstadt.

If any quest has no Side Story, expect it as part of the AQs!

Another thing that's gonna be different as my last preview scene showed is, instead of gathering all the elements, Lumine will instead regain portions of her original skills. This is another major reason behind why I'm not putting every Character Quest or Limited Event Story into the main outline, because Lumine will only backtrack to a region if that's the only way to enter a new one, like how we went back to Liyue to enter Sumeru by going through going the Chasm.

As for the Archon Quest storyline itself? If you haven't seen the newer tags I added sometime before I made the previous chapter, and/or don't understand what they mean, the events will mainly use canon as a guide up to Sumeru, but the moment we reach Fontaine is where I start to heavily diverge to a point that Act 5 will be quite different. I'm already expecting to do a full Natlan rewrite.

Since I can't really explain much more beyond that, the most I can say is that this relates to the idea which made me pick Lumine as the Traveler instead of Aether, as said idea made it impossible to choose him. The reason why I won't ever be using the Paimon is Emergency Food running gag on the other hand?

The in-story reason is that Lumine was starving till Paimon helped her get something to eat, so she's not gonna make such a wisecrack when Paimon ended up choosing to come back when she could have run away after initially thinking Lumine was going to harm her in a way that would have made her think she actually was going to eat her. Even she won't cross such a line.

While for my out of universe reasoning... it's because I played Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the Tatsu food jokes happened one too many times for me to find such a gag funny ever again. I even wonder if the joke is why Paimon's been helping less.

Now that I've covered all of that, here's one detail that I need to say about the Multiverse:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The following information will contain the official name for the Multiverse concept, which will be the Series' name

Not to worry, as it itself isn't really a spoiler, but will influence all the stories that are part of said Multiverse as a whole

You may now proceed

That detail is, the Multiverse in question... is none other than the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta! This is important because before I learned about Honkai Impact 3rd and all of the great lore behind it, I was actually stuck on how to proceed with LOHD and DALAT's stories since both of their narratives contained something that I had trouble explaining until learning about them.

As such, I've decided to give this Multiverse the name of the Imaginary-verse!

I know the name isn't exactly the most original, but this is the name that I wanted to go with, and it works with how I intend to connect the worlds of all the stories that are part of this Multiverse. Another thing to note is that "Never Blinded from Tomorrow" will be the first story that occurs in this Multiverse going by chronological order, but for now?

The reason behind this is a MAJOR spoiler.

With that, there's nothing else to say, so to close everything? Since I already gave my last preview scene last chapter, I decided to instead give you a trailer to hype up the story!

Hope you all enjoy it:

A pair of stars suddenly flew across the cosmos, eventually nearing a world with an unusual... atmosphere around it?

"We had no time to say goodbye, so let's not call it that."

They shot through whatever it was, and the people watched them in awe.

However, few realized the destination they were heading towards until they neared it, revealing these two stars to be small meteorites. Within a nation of machines, all of its people watched as the meteorites struck the ground and the treasures inside finally revealed themselves. What seemed like two mere shooting stars was really a pair of twins with golden-blonde hair.

A brother, and his sister.

Looking at the two who had appeared from the summoning, the brother gasped as his eyes opened and he shot up. Once he had, only then did his eyes meet the people's.

"What do you mean!?"

His expression turned to one of worry as he looked at his younger twin, who was still unconscious, but blessed with no injuries. The only true harm she received was that she seemingly had entered a coma and had yet to awaken.

"Tell me, this world... what is it called?" Aether inquired.

In all of his travels with Lumine, they had never seen a world like this, and not just because it was the first time they had been brought to a world, rather than having chosen to visit it themselves.

"Its name is... Teyvat."

Just as quickly as those words came, the scene changed to show Aether staring at the destruction happening to the land he was summoned to as he rushed to get his sister as she finally began to awaken. The strange noises of the chaos filled her ears, leaving her confused as he rushed in and took her hand without saying even one word to her.

"Let us make an exchange of memories."

In an unknown location, a mysterious figure was seen as they walked across the screen.

They turned around and revealed their identity as a woman, with their long hair coming into view as the scene focused to where her arms were, showing her clasped hands as they revealed a radiant light shining through.

Her mouth spoke, but no words were heard as she opened her hands to reveal a divine hourglass within as the source behind said light. Only then was her face finally shown.

"That is... if you don't mind?"

[Genshin Impact - Travail]

And in the end, he didn't need to. Lumine was brought to the edge of a cliff and let out a gasp before falling to her knees at the sign of a Khaenri'ah that had been consumed by the flames.

Meanwhile, the twins failed to notice the sight of a symbol gazing at them from the sky. A symbol revealed to be some kind of eye that looked at them with sinister intentions.

"A Light that flickers in the Darkness of a New World..."

Lumine felt herself blacking out as the Unknown God's power enveloped her body, leading to the sudden fall of a star that represented her falling form as it soared across the skies of Teyvat that would be 500 years later.

It was at that moment a new face appeared.

The one who appeared was a young boy dressed in a green bard outfit, carrying a lyre as a strong gust blew around his form. A symbol resembling a pair of wings beside him.

"The Winds of Freedom blow through the skies, echoing the songs of days past and to be."

"But is one truly free in a world such as this when none are aware of the false skies above?"

Lumine let out a gasp as she and Paimon saw her brother standing before her, but... something about him had changed. His once goofy yet caring expression was gone. What remained was a cold, lifeless look that had no hesitation in destroying or culling his enemies.

"Once you've finally reached the end of your journey as I have? You will finally understand."

A horrifying roar screeched across the air as the sight of a giant teal Dragon was seen, spinning across the skies as it whipped a series of tornadoes around Mondstadt's walls.

"Aether... what have you done?" Lumine questioned.

"We've always had enough time..." Aether declared.

Paimon watched as Lumine fell to her feet, tears flowing down her face as she screamed towards the sky in confusion and pain. Her brother's words and actions cutting deeper than any blade.

Following this was the same blackness that took over the screen with the arrival of the bard dressed in green. Though this time it was of a brunette man wearing a brown suit as he held a yellow-orange gemstone in his hand. Open opening the palm it was held in, the still earth shook as spikes of earth rose from the ground behind where he stood.

"In every stone there is a record, and a moment filled within every grain of sand."

"What kind of Contracts could have been woven in the land by the stones of history?"

The Traveler duo looked at the horizon as they saw the beauty of Liyue for the first time.

"No way! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Lumine and Paimon turned in response.

Whoever they saw was left a mystery as they were joined by Yanfei and another in Liyue Harbor, helping them with finishing the last few preparations for the upcoming Rite of Descension.

"Can someone explain to Paimon what Mora's even for? They just seem like flat rocks!" Paimon questioned.

"Looks like I don't have to worry about you being greedy." Lumine remarked, unsure how to answer that.

Everyone panicked as a monster rose from the ocean waters.

Next to show on what was a third transition to the black screen was a purple haired woman wearing a kimono with a purple to lavender gradient, with lightning of an identical color sparking around her form as the silhouette of one sharing her appearance aside from her kimono's gradient being in the opposite direction. Thunder roaring behind her.

"Never stop searching for a spark, so we'll have the Transience of the now."

"Though can a scar's moment stretch to last until it becomes one's Eternity?"

A single soldier of an army rushed ahead to shield Lumine from an attack, the scar across their nose searing as the electric currents ebbing off the attack against his mortal steel, yet his will ambition refused to falter as an orb of glass flew to his side.

Letting out a yell, all those who witnessed this moment saw a new legend born.

"Can we truly snuff out an ambition?" Miko asked.

"Exactly what defines the right to earn a Vision? I don't know, but maybe not knowing is what matters the most!" Itto stated, giving Lumine a smirk.

She and Paimon looked at Enkanomiya as if they were witnessing a ghost.

"Is this really a whole nation from before the Archon War?" Paimon asked.

Bare feet were witnessed hoping across a fourth black space as a young girl who looked no older than 8 moved as if she were playing hopscotch, then jumped into the air as an older version of herself stood back-to-back with her. This jump into the air causing what looked to be a field of plants to suddenly grow as various leaves jumped with her.

"Wisdom is a form of cultivation, and the people are the garden known as society."

"But knowledge that is used careless will turn any gardener into a force of withering."

Lumine and Paimon stood within an oasis frozen by time, seeing a nail emitting a blue glow.

"Seek not the Master of the Four Shades..." Nilou said.

"Is that the truth, or are we being deceived by someone who wants everyone to believe the narrative they've laid out for us?" Cyno questioned, glaring at murals before him.

Within a strange yet enclosed garden, Lumine's face was filled with shock at the truth she was being exposed to, feeling the flower on her head that she thought had already revealed all of its secrets to her.

"So, the truth is..." She realized.

Surging tides surrounded a girl wearing blue, bubbles surrounding her as she spun until she made a flashy pose that dispelled the waters and revealed the magician theme of her attire and revealed a silhouette of water that reflected her pose as if she was an invisible mirror.

"Truth or Equity, what we call our Justice is as flexible as the seas."

"But lies we failed to see will always drown us in an ocean of deception."

A giant Narwhal swam across the skies, leaving Paimon to scream.

"The prophecy will be fulfilled. Is this what it's like to be a prisoner of fate?" Clorinde questioned, seeing the floods swallow the city.

Holding out her hand, a woman with lightless eyes gathered the Primordial Seas waters as souls sunk underneath the raging waters.

"Unless one is able to deceive fate itself." Someone smiled.

"Lumine, I... I can't save them alone." Furina admitted, no longer able to hold back the tears she was holding in.

Arlecchino stood in the Prosecutor's seat as Lumine and Paimon stared at her from the Defense's side of the stage.

"Then it's a good thing you aren't alone." Lumine promised.

Fires blazed throughout the realm of blackness, with a single foot stomping as a silhouette standing within turned their head to face whoever was looking at them.

"Fires of Passion can lead to the world's warmth."

"So, how cold is the blaze stained in the rage of war?"

One by one, the Fatui Harbingers appear until finally, only one remains before Lumine.

"So, you believe the truth you've found is the answer Teyvat needs to finally free itself from this cage of chaos?" El Capitano questioned, standing across from her in an arena.

"You bet we do!" Paimon answered with full confidence.

Hearing that answer, he took a step closer to the duo.

"Then prove it to me. Prove that even when enduring her bitter cold, you still have the will to burn!" He declared.

The two sides rushed forward and made the first clash of their battle as their respective elements let off a flash.

"And that your fire is brighter than theirs!"

Walls of ice formed, freezing the ground as their chilling cold soon cracked, revealing a single person within their reflections as they walked closer and closer to the end of this long journey.

"She is a God with no Love left for her people."

"But only to avoid faltering from her goal to stand against one who is incapable of loving anyone."

"Yet maybe..."

Within the domain of the Tsaritsa, the sight of Lumine and Paimon is seen as the two nervously stare at the Cryo Archon's form descending down the stairs to meet with them.

"So, you've finally made it." She said.

She tossed a Chess Piece into the air.

Its landing isn't witnessed, but the sight of six others just like it that each held a color representing Teyvat's seven elements was seen as they stood on a plate.

"Will my drive win?"

"Or will your beliefs?"

Icicles sprouted from the ground as Paimon vanished, going into Lumine's sword as the chilling cold pushed against her body with all its might.

"The time for Teyvat to find out has come!" She announced.

This time, rather than the return of the black background, the color white takes the stage as a blonde swordsman wearing mostly black is shown with an intense look as if he was looking at Lumine.

"In the era of today, most are content to simply live, and never dare to dream."

"So the few who will escape the shackles and see where the Gods' gaze doesn't fall?"

"Live the dreams of the dreaming."

Stepping on the same stage where her brother was taken from her 500 years ago, Lumine stood before the truth of this world, the real truth that was hidden from her brother before his own journey had even started.

Her brother who was now free of the lies.

"You looked down on us, as if we were mere dregs with a few chosen who only exist to serve and help you. But in the end? All humans have their humanity!" Lumine started.

"And now..." Aether finished.

The twins raised their blades.

"We will overcome the power from beyond this world!" They said in unison, glaring at their enemy.

With that statement, said enemy is finally revealed to them, a foe who was not the Unknown God.

"So, are you ready?"

"To the Light whose overcome Life and Death, while crossing Time and Space? It's time to defy the Usurper!"

"Join me and my family, so with the aid of your brother? We shall finally reweave the destiny of this world."

Lumine stared at an incredible sight before her.

The shining silhouette of a person, whose form was completely hidden under a radiant white light, with only a pair of iridescent circles representing their kind eyes and seven strands streaked on an area of her long hair that matched the colors of Teyvat's seven elements.

Said figure held out their hand, causing Lumine to slowly stretch out one of her own to grasp it.

"Oh, who am I?"

"You already know."

Lumine vanished as the figure's eyes closed and their silhouette turned fully white, right as they stretched out their arms and had the black shadow of what looked to be some kind of ring, or perhaps even a circlet appeared.

Four more figures of different colors joined them.

None of their genders were clear, just like with the original silhouette, but each one had a shadowed object of their own to hint who all of them were. One had a flower, with the one next to them possessing a soft feather, next possessed some kind of goblet, and the last one possessed an hourglass that was about to have its sand at the bottom.

"But the time for us to reintroduce ourselves will come later."

"For you won't remember these words until that day has come."

Said silhouette with the hourglass was revealed to be none other than the very same woman holding the hourglass from earlier, giving a wink that was now clearly aimed at Lumine, who was experiencing everything between both her appearances as something else.

That different experience being the message she did retain upon regaining her power of Light.

[Insert Song End]

Istaroth: "Good luck."

A distorted mess of sounds was heard as Lumine slowly rose from her brief slumber, opening her eyes to the first rays of dawn as she saw Paimon calling out to her, looking a little worried until she saw her shake her head.

"Sorry about that, let's get going." She smiled.

Now with the trailer out of the way, let me cover three things that weren't able to be shared in the upper AN due to how it would have made it too cluttered to read it among the info there.

First off, the trailer's contents:

Like you tend to see with movie previews to keep some secrets, the scenes I have in the trailer aren't a guaranteed 1:1 of what will actually happen. What I did put it in will have some relevance, but the way things are presented is meant more to give hints on what will eventually happen than verify anything as a whole. I'll have a little more to say on this subject once we get to the last of the three things, since that one is somewhat connected to this, albeit indirectly.

I should also mention that anything in the trailer or that I said in the upper AN is NOT finalized in any form. Things can change at any time and likely will in the time between now and Spring, so consider this more like a bookmark for where things are at the moment, though things should still be similar unless I make a notable change later.

Second, story updating issues:

Besides the obvious fact that we haven't had our fourth meeting with Dainsleif yet? The story's currently unable to update past the Inazuma Archon Quest, as what we recently learned about Visions from Neuvilette has left me wanting to know why we haven't met the Dragon who's either the actual or implied Electro Sovereign, and I need to know their current status as a result of the changes I made.

The closest info I've found to that, and is likely the Fools Gold of leaks, is that they might be in Natlan right now. Regardless, that's currently the main issue that will limit the story once updates make it that far. Hopefully, having multiple stories to focus on will make updates constant and steady enough to dodge said issue.

And finally?

I guess this last one is technically more of a heads up compared to the other three, but I still felt it was better to tell you about it in case anyone is feeling like they had to hold back on this area. Said heads up is...

YOU CAN ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT THE TRAILER SCENES

No need to hold back on that front! If you have a question about anything that was shown in the trailer, you can ask me about it. There are some things that I can't really give a straight answer on because of spoilers, but that doesn't mean my reply will simply be to tell you that's the case as the content I put in it are things I can at least somewhat talk about.

To help give you an idea of something I can say more about and say less about? If you asked me a question on how I have Paimon act here compared to the game, I have more reason to talk about it since things like her viewing Mora like unusual rocks is just a quirk and doesn't really give away anything since its one she formed from her isolation from society prior to meeting Lumine. For something like Prosecutor Arlecchino, that has too many details to talk about.

And with that?

Until next time everyone, and stay awesome! ^^

Chapter Text

Hey everyone!

I apologize for having been so silent and off many of my readers' radars for a while, but... well, remember by previous update? Despite that I said things were OK at the time I posted it, grief only truly hit me after that. Too much was going on, so I decided that I needed to really, REALLY, step away from things for a while. In fact, truth be told? I'm still not completely fine. There's still a sense of hollowness I'm probably going to feel for a while. Lucky for me, I've had some good friends to help lift me back up after everything that happened, so it seemed like this was a good time to give all of you an update.

To everyone who helped me back then?

Once again, I'd like to thank all of you.

Getting to what's happened since? The first place to start would be that the versions for a few of my stories that were on FFN have been removed. This was something that I had already been considering for a while now, but only recently decided to actually do. The main reason for this is the fact most of the people I knew on there aren't really active as much... if at all, with most of them now here as well. I'll still be on FFN, though mainly for following any stories only on there.

Next is, like I've mentioned before, I intend to start using pictures in my stories, though... there's a slight problem there. I've seen a few stories have dealt with broken image links due to where the images originated from. As such, if anyone knows of any sites that can be used for image sources that don't tend to break often, if even at all, then please let me know as I'd like to have multiple options prepared.

Also, in case some of you may ask about my stance on AI art, my answer to that is I only intend to use it to show how a character may look in my stories, and that's only if I can't find a proper reference to use in its place first. I have no drawing skills beyond making basic shapes or things made from combining them like gemstones, so this is the only way I can really "draw" such characters, and I'd need the generated result to actually match. Overall, I consider it as a last resort.

Lastly... this story.

Story Specific Info:

You might recall me saying this in the preview update that Natlan's story might get a full rewrite, and now that we've actually got the full story for the region out? I'm changing that to more of a half rewrite as while there's a lot of it I can actually use? The reveal of Ronova has 100% confirmed that this is where my story will diverge from canon, since without giving away too much, I've already decided on what the Shades of my story's divine names would be and they act very differently than Ronova does.

The story also implies entering Snezhnaya is going to be difficult because Fatui would attack us immediately? My story's adaptation of the Snezhnaya arc will have Lumine able to enter with no such issues. The most I can say is that the lack of a fight with Capitano is at least partly related to it, as some of what we learned about him has changed what my plans for the Tsaritsa are, but I can't really share why.

Mavuika is still going to be different in my story, though I'll at least keep her non-God name as such and only change Haborym into Phenex as I planned since there's nothing anyone can do to prevent me from using that when she's got so many Phenex motifs already! (laughs) The reason for this is my outline was made when we thought the Pyro Archon was like the other Archons, which is that they were as much a God as the other six, and that's all I can say.

Similarly, for anything/anyone that's not confirmed yet has strong implications or theories behind it/them such as the 2nd and 3rd Descenders, Sandrone, Columbina, and etc.? I'll be going with the ideas that I've deemed will work best in the narrative I've set. If new information like what's been shown in the Moon web event hinting Nod-Krai comes into play and it can be fit in, then it will, but how much is the question since for Nod-Krai reveals, this at most will only set how I fully write the Snezhnaya arc which is likely going to have a lot of original content.

I also will be updating the first chapter's contents, though this is more of a cleanup to make sure nothing contradicts any newer ideas and shouldn't affect anything too much. Though, if It does, I'll make sure to address what was in Chapter 2 since that's where you'll start to really see the Butterfly Effect take root beyond the story's original concept that I can only say didn't have as many differences from canon, especially from anything following Inazuma.

Besides that, the story itself will eventually give you the overall answers to everything.

Last Section:

With how long its been, plus how I don't want to just give you all an update and nothing else with it? I'm going to forgo what I said last time about a preview scene and give you all one more as a gift for being so patient and as proper thanks to everyone who helped and supported me last August.

HOWEVER...

I should warn all of you that this one is going to be slightly different, as I tried to avoid/minimize spoilers in those previous preview scenes, but this time? Not so much. The context and such will still be fairly vague and not reveal much, but it will essentially reveal a puzzle piece to the overall tale, so depending on if you're going to make a comment or not you'll either wanna skip to the bottom or click your backspace button if you don't wanna see it.

Furina starting to panic, seeing the faces of the crowd starting to turn on her and left powerless to stop it.

"I believe the time for argument and presentation has come to an end." Neuvilette said, professional as ever.

With those words, Furina's eyes started tearing up.

"If there are no more objections, we will move onto-'

"HOLD IT!"

Everyone heard the doors swing up, getting everyone's attention as they turned around to Lumine and Paimon were revealed at the now door door, with even Arlecchino looking at them with a look of surprise. Furina suddenly felt her tears freeze in their cascade down her face as she saw the duo.

"Sorry, but I have an objection to all of this Harbinger's claims about Furina!" Lumine declared.

And with that proclamation, the entire courtroom suddenly let out a collective gasp before murmuring between everyone started to occur.

"She... she objects!?"

"That's crazy! How can anyone object to the evidence we've seen?"

"I wonder if she even knows what's been revealed up until now?"

Lumine smirked at those last words.

"Not to worry, Lyney and Lynette were kind enough to inform me of everything that the Knave would be talking about a day before the trial began." She replied.

Arlecchino's eyes briefly widened at that, glancing to the two in the crowd.

"Apologies father, but... Lumine told us after she defended us in our trial that if we wanted to earn back her trust? We needed to prove it." Lynette explained.

"Truth be told? I... no, we still believe in Lady Furina's innocence!" Lyney confessed.

More murmurs started to follow the crowd, right as Lumine looked at Neuvilette.

"Your honor, if I've heard everything correctly from Lyney and Lynette... than am I to presume correctly that Furina has no one to defend her? Regardless of the legitimacy of her godhood, is it not the law of Fontaine that all defendants have an attorney, or is the law so whimsy one can ignore it at their discretion?" She questioned.

"No, you are correct in that all defendants may have an attorney. The real issue at hand is if anyone would defend Furina in such a position, considering the charges the Knave has made against her." Nevuilette answered.

"Then we will defend her." Lumine declared, turning to face the Prosector's stand.

She and Paimon both pointed their fingers towards the Knave with confident smiles.

"Because we're going to disprove every one of her claims!"

Silence completely filled the courtroom at such a bold statement with even Arlecchino's eyes briefly widening at such a claim being made. Not just because she said it, but the unyielding certainty in her eyes.

"You claim that you can refute everything that I've said until now? I hope you realize that's not a claim you can take lightly, especially given the evidence I've presented up until now." Arlecchino warned.

"Regardless of what's been said, Furina is my friend and she's sobbing because of everything she's had to sacrifice these past 500 years. I'm not letting your accusations ruin all of that." Lumine replied.

At that moment, the Oratrice suddenly tilted in Furina's favor, but only so slightly.

"The Oratrice just... but how? She hasn't even started defending Furina as of yet!"

While the odds still weren't in Furina's favor? Doubt had slowly started to creep into a few members of the audience from this, if only due to Lumine and Arlecchino's positions.

"It seems that I am in no position to make a final judgment at this time. Lumine, as Iudex, I hereby approve you as the defense for Lady Furina in this trial." Neuvilette declared.

'Furina, hang on a little longer... I'm going to save you!' Lumine vowed.