Chapter Text
Childe had been walking for what he felt to be ages down the dimly lit stone path. Each step he took echoed in the pathway, the sound of water trickling from somewhere around him. And because he was as tall as he was, the low height of the ceiling made it so he had to slightly hunch over as he trudged along, causing his upper back to begin to strain. “Gods, just how long is this path…?” he grumbled to no one in particular. “And… where does it go?”
The reason as to why he was walking along such a path in the first place is because he asked Pierro about any ways that he could become stronger. Pierro had initially brushed him off, disregarding his antics altogether as being little more than a child wanting to play, but when Childe had told him that he needed a new way to hone his skills, the old man had paused. “…Very well,” he spoke after much deliberation. “If you wish to hone your skills in service of Her Majesty… then I know a way you may do so. After all… you are now eligible to partake in it.”
He had silently guided Childe over to a doorway in the depths of Zapolyarny Palace, far beyond what Childe had even known was there to begin with. He opened it, and gestured Childe inside. Before he closed it behind him, he told the man one last thing. “When you return, you will understand the truth of this world.”
“…Stupid old man, giving me riddles instead of direct answers…” Childe huffed as he kept moving. “If only he-”
As he took a step forward, it was almost as if he had crossed some kind of barrier. The air around him felt different somehow, and he noticed that the temperature has gone up a little. And as he continued onward, he could feel the temperature continue to rise. No longer was it cold, and he needed to bundle up in order to survive. In this new, balmier weather, he could wear his usual garbs while visiting other nations just fine. And so he doffed his coat before pressing onward.
It only took a little bit more time for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he stepped out of the pathway he was guided down on, he emerged in a realm with a pink sky and tall, spiraling buildings surrounding him. They were crumbling at the seams, and yet the pieces that fell off hovered around where they fell from. Gravity was perfectly fine for him, though, so he was confused, yet intrigued. “…Well,” he started as he gazed around to take the scene in for himself. “This is new.”
“Yes, it’s quite fascinating isn’t it?”
The disembodied voice startled Childe, and he quickly reached for his bow. Drawing it and pointing it in various directions around him, all the voice did was giggle at his antics. “My, don’t be so tense,” it cooed out to him. “I promise I won’t hurt you. After all, you are an esteemed guest of ours, seeing as though you’ve been granted permission to venture here.”
“…What is this place?” Childe cautiously questioned. “And who are you?”
“My, are gentlemen of the Current Era like this?” the voice teasingly asked back. “It’s quite rude to ask a lady to introduce herself before you do to her.”
“…Childe,” he slowly introduced himself. “I also go by Tartaglia, the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers. Now… care to introduce yourself?”
Instead of being met with a response, however, he was met with silence. It was only brief, however, as the voice spoke up once more, this time with curiosity in its voice. “Fatui Harbingers?” it questioned. “So… you’re not a member of World Serpent, then?”
“Can’t say I am, seeing as though this is my first time hearing about this World Serpent thing,” Childe snarked back. “You sure have the tendency to avoid introducing yourself, don’t you? I mean, you’re getting me to reveal more things about myself before I even get to know your name. That’s quite rude, wouldn’t you think?”
He was once again met with a momentary pause before a golden door with a shimmering portal and a crystalline flower symbol on it opened up before him. “Please come through,” the voice called out to him. “Like I said, I won’t hurt you. And when you come through, we can then have a chat so I may properly introduce myself. Does that sound good to you?”
Childe waned for a moment before shrugging. “Well, I guess I should follow your advice,” he figured. “After all, Pierro wanted me to come here, and if he tells you to do something, you do it without really questioning it.”
“That doesn’t quite sound like sound logic, but I won’t really try to argue about your cause,” the voice responded, mildly concerned about the flimsiness of Childe’s reasoning. “Anyways, when you step through, you’ll see me on the couch in the lounge. Feel free to come and sit by me.”
“I’ll reserve the judgment for that, thank you,” Childe replied. Stepping through the door, he was transported to a large room with three parts to it. The middle section of it, the part of it that he had walked in on, had nothing but a large stone podium with intricate designs etched into it. The section to his right seemed to have giant vats on one end, and a table with blue squares floating on their own and displayed on glass panes on the other. And on the other end was a golden room with a bar and a long, cushioned seating area that stretched to the back of it. And sitting on it was a woman with pink hair and elven ears.
“Hi Childe,” she greeted him, her voice gentle yet chipper. “Come here, come here. I’ll introduce myself after you get yourself situated.”
Complying with what the woman had to say, Childe slowly made his way over to her and sat beside her on the couch. “…Man, this is pretty comfy,” he admitted as he allowed himself to relax.
“Right? Eden loves the high thread count of these seats,” the woman spoke. “Ah, how could I have forgotten? I need to introduce myself to you. My name is Elysia, and I suppose you could I’m the one in charge of this realm.”
“Well… pleasure to meet you, Elysia,” Childe nodded. “So, what exactly is this place?”
“This is the Elysian Realm, where we reside and guide those whom are worthy,” Elysia explained. “Normally, this place is exclusively visited by those who work for World Serpent, but seeing as though you’re here and aren’t part of that, you’ve certainly caught the attention of everyone.”
“…Okay, who is ‘everyone’, exactly?” Childe questioned. “And just what the heck is World Serpent?”
“Oh, ‘everyone’ refers to all thirteen of us whose avatars have been saved in the Elysian Realm’s database,” Elysia replied. “All thirteen of us are from a group called the Flame Chasers, and we worked to defeat the Honkai.”
“Huh? Honkai?” Childe asked, scrunching his nose up as he did so. “What’s that?”
Elysia’s otherwise pristine demeanor was slightly dropped as she revealed to him a sense of confusion. “…You… don’t know what the Honkai is?” she questioned him. “Are you certain?”
“Am… I supposed to know what that is?” Childe said. “We don’t have anything named ‘Honkai’ anywhere in Teyvat, as far as I’m aware. It might be a Mondstadtian thing, but that’s only a guess from what limited knowledge I had on linguistic origins.”
“…Teyvat? Mondstadtian?” Elysia cocked her head slightly. “Is it possible that… you might not be from Earth?”
Childe shook his head. “Never heard of that place,” he replied. “I’m guessing you and the other Flame Chasers are from there?”
“All of humanity lives on Earth, as far as I’m aware. So for you to have never even heard of it before…” Elysia’s words droned off for a moment before returning her gaze to Childe and giggling for a moment. “My, this will be a fascinating experience.” Getting up from her spot on the couch, she walked down the stairs of the lounge and headed over to the room with the table and glass panes. “Childe, would you mind following me, please?” she called out to him. “I’d like to show you something.”
Getting up from where he was sitting, Childe made his way over to Elysia in the other room, and stood behind her as she fiddled with the glass panes, and watched her fingers caused smaller squares to appear and disappear as they clacked against a bunch of other squares beneath her hands. “So… what exactly are you doing?” he asked her.
“I’m just trying to set something up for you, based on your digital information,” Elysia informed him. “Your memories were scanned and uploaded into the Elysian Realm’s system upon your arrival, hence why everyone else is interested in meeting you sometime in the future. I’m just calibrating those memories to aid you with your expeditions here in search of the truth you’re looking for.” Finally though, she stopped, and the glass panes settled on squares displaying images of a bunch of people’s faces. “Alright, allow me to explain how the Elysian Realm works. In order to succeed in this place, you’ll need to gather something called signets from each of us as you eventually progress. These signets will offer you buffs to your overall strength, and will be dependent on which Flame Chaser you choose to receive them from. And you get to choose which Flame Chaser you’ll get the signets from by crossing the door with their symbol on it. Mine’s the crystal flower one you likely saw earlier.”
“…Yeah, that makes sense,” Childe nodded along, processing everything that Elysia was saying. “But what are these people on this glass pane?”
“The people on this screen are from the first batch of people whom we’ve scanned from your memories,” Elysia explained to him, subtly informing him of what the glass panes were called. “You’ll be able to select the digitized avatars of two people from them, one from each group, to aid you each time you progress through the Elysian Realm. And once you return after having selected them for the first time, you’ll be able to see them hanging out here.”
“That’s not what I meant, though I do appreciate the explanation,” Childe spoke. “What I mean is, I don’t recognize most of these people. There’s a few of them I know, yeah, but I haven’t necessarily interacted with them all. Kaeya’s the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt, but he and I have never spoken to each other before. The only one here I have interacted with is this girl,” He pointed to a young woman with a dark complexion and a red outfit. “Her name’s Xinyan, and I met her once when I was looking for, er, something in Inazuma. She said she was from Liyue, and came over to the nation for a special music performance.”
“Hm, then why not select her?” Elysia suggested. “To do so, just tap her icon with your finger and read her description to see what powers she’ll be able to offer you.”
Doing as she suggested, Childe reached his hand out to the screen and tapped his finger on Xinyan’s icon, and a small box appeared beneath it. It read “Xinyan, 4 Star Pyro Character. Increases party’s resistance to Pyro attacks. Can only be used once per floor.” And beside the description were two icons. On the left was a red box with a white cross in it, and on the right was a green box with a white checkmark.
“If you want to select her, all you need to do is tap the checkmark icon,” Elysia told him, figuring he was a little lost. “Once you’re done, you’ll be taken to the other group of people. Try to connect everything together and see what skills can be used in tandem with each other for maximum output.”
“…Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to see her again,” Childe agreed. “It’s been almost a year already, so it’d be nice to catch up, even if she’s only a digi… thingy.”
Selecting Xinyan, all of the icons from the first group disappeared, and were replaced with another group of people shortly after. And among those people was a face that Childe recognized all too well, and could immediately begin to feel his blood boil over from just seeing. Selecting the man’s icon, his description read “Zhongli, 5 Star Geo Character. Petrifies enemies for 10 seconds. Can only be used once per floor. Can only be used three times per expedition.”
“Oh, do you know this gentleman?” Elysia asked, recognizing the growing rage on Childe’s face. “Judging by your expression, you seem to have a rather strong opinion of him.”
“…That bastard…” Childe cursed underneath his breath. “Maximum output be damned, I’m going to have a long talk with him as soon as possible.” Slamming his finger against the checkmark, all of the icons in the second group disappeared, and he turned his attention over to Elysia. “Tell me how I can get to that guy,” he demanded.
“My, seems like you have some pent up feelings,” Elysia joked. “But don’t worry. I’ll help relieve them for you.” Snapping her fingers, another door appeared on the podium at the end of the central part of the room they were in. This time, though, there was no symbol on it. “Head through that door so we can get everything started. I promise you, you’ll be able to talk with him when the opportunity arrives.”
Hastening his pace with every step he took, Childe walked out of the room and up to the podium to reach the door. As he passed through, it closed behind him, and he was in the same area he was in when he first arrived. “So, Elysia,” he called out to Elysia. “How can I get to talk to him?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Elysia’s voice rang from somewhere. “All you need to do is call out his name. However-”
“Zhongli!”
The world was quiet for a moment… and another… and another. Childe, growing impatient, called out to Elysia. “Hey!” he barked. “Where the heck is he?”
“…Well, I was about to say that I’ve temporarily disabled the function so you could meet two of the other Flame Chasers first and get acquainted with how signets work,” Elysia shared. “Goodness, you must be in a hurry to see him.”
“Then hurry up and explain that stuff so I can meet the two of them and get to Zhongli!” Childe cried out.
Elysia let out an audible sigh in response. “Ah, very well,” she complied. “There will be a screen appearing in front of you, with an icon of my face on it, right about… now.” As she said that, true to her words, a screen appeared before Childe, with Elysia’s face displayed on one end of it, and a list of three descriptions on the other. “Now, are you ready to hear about my signets?” she asked him.
Childe scoffed. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “Let’s just hurry this up.”
“Aw, alright,” Elysia jokingly pouted. “Unlike the other Flame Chasers, my signets are geared specifically towards each person’s strengths after having reviewed their memories. I have five signets I can offer you, and you’ll be shown three at a time to select one from. So please, take a look at what I can offer!”
As Childe inspected the three signets presented before him, he read through all of the descriptions for them. The first one, which was titled “Blessing of the Precursor”, had a description that read “All Normal Attacks will be converted to Hydro Damage for 10 seconds after the enactment of ‘Havoc: Obliteration’.” The second one, which was titled “Blessing of Morepesok”, had a description that read “Cooldown timer for ‘Foul Legacy: Raging Tide’ is halved after the enactment of ‘Havoc: Obliteration’.” And lastly, the third one, which was titled “Blessing of Justice”, had a description that read “After successfully landing a Charged Attack on an enemy, the next Normal Attack Sequence deals 200% more Attack power, with the final Normal Attack dealing 350% more Attack power instead.”
“…Man, these descriptions really got into my head…” he spoke to himself underneath his breath. “How could she know about my hometown…? Whatever, let’s just pick one and get this over with.”
Pressing his finger against the second one, the screen before Childe promptly disappeared, and a golden door opened not too far from where he was standing. On it was a symbol displaying a golden coin and music notes. “Ah, you’ll be meeting Eden first,” Elysia’s voice rang out from the skies. “She figured that it’d be best to meet you as soon as possible since you already know about her, so why not pop in and say hi?”
“Fine, fine,” Childe complied, waving his hand in annoyance. “I’ll go greet her and move along.”
As he stepped through the portal door, it revealed to him another place in the same space he was in, as if he had gone a few floors down in a building. Standing on the edge of the platform, overlooking the pink sky, was a woman with a chalice in her hand, humming a tune. It was a tune Childe knew far too well, though. She was humming the theme of the Harbingers. Eventually, though, she sensed his presence, and turned around to face him. “Ah, sorry to keep you waiting, dear visitor,” she apologized. “I was just reminiscing about an old piece from a musician I used to admire.”
“…That piece… how do you know it?” Childe cautiously questioned.
“Oh, are you acquainted with Yaroslav Balakin as well?” she asked him in turn. “It’s not often that I’ll run into someone who is.”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Childe interjected. “I mean, how could you possibly know that piece? It was composed for Her Majesty.”
“Hm? ‘Her Majesty’?” the woman questioned. “You must be thinking of something else. Or perhaps… a great melody transcends time and space? After all, Ellie told me that you’re from a place called Teyvat, and not from Earth.”
Wanting to bark back at the woman, her words actually got Childe contemplative for a moment. “…Transcends time and space, huh…” he mused over. He quickly realized his mind was getting off point, however, and shook it gently to focus on his objective. “Never mind that,” he spoke. “So. I’m guessing you’re that Eden lady Elysia mentioned?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Eden confirmed. “I am ranked fourth out of all the Flame Chasers, and bear the Signets of Gold. Ellie chose the name for me, to reflect the wealth I once possessed in my prime. Alas, all that fell to the Honkai, and I pursued a new life-long ambition to aid the efforts in eradicating them so that I may return to the stage once more and sing for the world.”
“Ah, so you’re a singer?” Childe asked. “How quaint. Though, you don’t strike me as being much of a fighter in any way, shape, or form.”
“In my early years, I was hardly ever able to stand my ground in battle,” Eden explained to him. “However, once I became a part of the Flame Chasers, my capacity grew and grew until I got to stand where I do today. Looks may be deceiving, but I assure you, I will not attempt to deceive you myself.”
“Well, I hope you’ll be able to at least be upfront with me whenever I have a question for you,” Childe huffed. “I’m presuming the next person is waiting for me?”
Eden gave him a nod and raised her chalice. With the snap of her fingers, another portal door opened beside her, this time displaying a leaf for a symbol. “He will be awaiting you on the other end, hoping to guide you to the wisdom you may need to find the truths you’re looking for here,” she spoke. “But before you go, you’ll need to pick one of my signets.” Eden allowed a screen to appear beside her, displaying three different signets, each with their own descriptions. Childe, not caring enough to read what each had to say, selected one at random, and the screen disappeared, with a signet manifesting in the palm of his hand beside the one he had chosen from Elysia just moments earlier. “We’ll see each other again,” Eden spoke up, her voice not giving way to any negative feelings she may be feeling at that moment. “So, consider this a farewell for now, Childe.”
Not wanting to say anything else for the time being, Childe walked right past Eden and headed straight through the portal, taking him to a near identical room as the one he was just in. As he looked around, he eventually saw another man, tall and with long silver hair, sitting on the floor as if he were meditating. However, without even opening his eyes, the man looked up from his spot over to where Childe was standing, and smiled. “Greetings, traveler from afar,” the man welcomed him. “I am Su, the seventh of the Flame Chasers, and the one who possesses the ability to distribute the Signets of Bodhi.”
“Well, pleasure to meet you Su. Mind if I take one of those signets of yours and move on? I have something I’d like to say to a colleague of mine,” Childe huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance.
“Yes, I can see that you’re in a rush,” Su commented. “However, there is no need to hurry along in this place. While you will be given the opportunity to call for his aid on the next floor, Elysia has designated me the task of further explaining to you how the Elysian Realm works.”
“Ugh, for the love of- do I really need to sit through another lecture?” Childe groaned. “I already got an earful from her about this place before I came in, and I just want to get to Zhongli so I can give him a piece of my mind.”
“If you wish to survive in this place, then it would perhaps be in your best interest to listen to what I need to say,” Su spoke, maintaining his composure in spite of Childe’s whines. “I promise you, I won’t take too long. It will simply be information that Elysia omitted from your initial conversation about this place with her.”
Grumbling to himself for a bit, Childe finally gave in and sighed. “Yeah yeah, fine, let’s hear it,” he agreed. “What do I need to know?”
“Firstly, this place is a highly dangerous one, where the power of these signets will come to be of assistance,” Su began explaining after Childe’s compliance. “You will encounter powerful enemies here, enemies that will be bent on killing you. I know you have a penchant for combat, but treat these expeditions as being more akin to a life-or-death soul-searching journey than anything casual for you. One wrong move can cause your life to be over in an instant.”
“…Noted,” Childe nodded. Despite the calm look on his face, he knew that what Su was saying to him was true, and that he should take this place more seriously than he initially believed. “What else?”
“The different types of signets we Flame Chasers can provide to you will grant you various additional strengths to your offensive capabilities, as well as various weaknesses to employ on your enemy’s defensive capabilities,” Su continued. “The Signets of Gold will provide you with buffs to help aid with your energy output, while my Signets of Bodhi pair well with the potential for combining different attacks and stringing them together for a chain of attacks that deal devastating pain to enemies.”
“What about Elysia’s then?” Childe questioned. “She said to me that her signets are catered to my specific abilities, but she didn’t elaborate any further than that.”
“…That is a question that I cannot answer,” Su spoke. “But as you progress through the depths of this realm and traverse further into the abyss, the truths of this place will come together to aid you on your journey to find the truth of what it is you came here for.”
“…So learning more about this place and about you guys will help make me a better fighter then,” Childe rationalized. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Essentially, yes,” Su affirmed with a nod. “Though the signets you gain through each venture are only temporarily rewarded to you, I’m sure you’ll be able to find unique combinations that’ll allow you to exercise various fighting styles as you gain more experience and come to meet more of us.”
Childe looked down at the two signets he had collected from Elysia and Eden so far, inspecting which ones he had taken. The first was Elysia’s, titled “Blessing of the Precursor”, while the second was Eden’s, the “Recitatif of Birds”. Seeing the potential, he looked back up at Su. Silently acknowledging what Childe was trying to convey to him, Su permitted a screen to appear before him, this time with his face on it instead of Elysia’s or Eden’s. Presented on the screen to Childe were the “Motto of Dibba-Sota”, the “Motto of Pubbe-Nivasanussati”, and the “Motto of Iddhi-Vidha”. He inspected each one’s descriptions, trying to figure out which one would work best for him, before ultimately selecting the first one.
Once he was done, he turned his attention back to Su. “Alright, can you open the door now?” he asked him. “I’m ready to go fight that thing now, and to give Zhongli a piece of my mind.”
“…Very well,” Su conceded. He opened the door, this time with Elysia’s symbol on it. “She won’t be giving you another signet when you enter through here this time, but on subsequent trips, she will,” he explained to Childe. “Head on in. You’ll be greeted by Elysia and a Honkai beast soon after.”
Heading through the door, Childe arrived at yet another room reminiscent of the past two. This time, however, it was much more weary, with the pink sky being almost more distant than how it had been before. “Hi Childe,” Elysia warmly greeted him, this time being in person. “Before I allow you to fight the Honkai beast, I do think you have something you’d like to get out of your system.”
“Zhongli!”
Without a moment of hesitation, Childe had screeched out the man’s name, and just like how Elysia had informed him earlier, Zhongli appeared before him. “Hm? Ah, Childe,” he greeted the redhead in such a casual manner. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. I don’t suppose you know where we are, though, do you?”
“Oh, you’ve got some nerve to act so casually around me after that stunt you pulled with Signora,” Childe seethed. “Don’t try to get all chummy with me like how you did before. I’m not falling for your act again.”
“…Ah, so you’re still upset by that,” Zhongli acknowledged, a look of sadness wiping across your face. “I would like to explain it to you now, but I know my time here is nearly up.”
“…Come again?”
Right after asking that, Zhongli began to disappear into blue sparkles, leaving Childe baffled at it. He wordlessly turned to Elysia, who only responded to his flabbergasted state with a giggle of amusement. “Oh, I forgot to mention,” she realized. “Your chosen allies will only appear for a few seconds whenever you call out for them. Ah, what a shame. You would’ve needed his petrification skill to make quick work of this Honkai beast.”
“…You…!”
With a snap of her fingers, a giant boar-like entity appeared between the two of them, with it facing towards Childe. “This is Ganesha, an Emperor Class Honkai beast with a rapid spinning ability that will charge towards you like a pinball. Some of the members of World Serpent have told me that in the Current Era, Emperor Class Honkai beasts are something that can be taken down by a group of A-rank Valkyries. Though seeing how your strength is roughly equivalent to that of an S-rank Valkyrie, this shouldn’t be all too hard for you.” Elysia giggled before opening a portal. “I’ll open this portal once more when you defeat it,” she informed Childe. “Good luck! And don’t forget to call on your other friend if you need it!”
As the portal door closed behind her, Childe drew his bow, ready to fight the beast standing before him. “Hah, this thing doesn’t seem all too bad,” he laughed to himself, feeling confident in his chances of defeating it. “I’ll beat it in no time.” All it took for his confidence to waver was a mighty roar from it, however, as the mere soundwaves of its roar shook the ground beneath the warrior’s feet.
The beast curled up into a ball aimed directly at Childe and began to build up momentum by spinning in place. Shooting a few arrows at it, the tips of the arrows bounced right off of its white casing, eliciting a grunt of frustration from the warrior. He put the bow back and instead used his Vision to summon two water blades to duel wield. Connecting their ends together to form a makeshift double-edged polearm of sorts, he braced his feet to the ground as well as he could, ready to leap if need be. As he anticipated, Ganesha charged right towards him at a breakneck speed, causing Childe to falter for just a moment. However, a moment’s falter wasn’t enough to deter him, as he used to makeshift water polearm as a means to lunge across the top of the beast, narrowly avoiding the impact it would’ve made on him and instead grazing the very end of his scarf.
The polearm dissipated shortly after he was thrust upward in the air, however, leaving him with no effective weapon at that moment. But when he heard his Vision shimmer and saw that it was glowing, a grin appeared on his face. “Perfect,” he remarked. Summoning a larger version of the makeshift polearm and aiming it at the beast’s now-exposed underbelly, he shouted out at the top of his lungs “You shouldn’t have let your guard down, beast!” and threw it directly at the belly of it.
It pierced through its black skin, and Ganesha roared out in pain before dissipating into thin air. Childe didn’t have a moment to celebrate however, as he was about to fall directly onto the charred grounds the Ganesha had left behind as it was getting ready to roll towards him earlier. It occurred to him what he needed to do in that moment, however, and so he called out to her for protection.
“Xinyan!”
“Don’t worry! I’ve got you!”
With the loud strum of her guitar, Childe could feel a protective force encapsulate his being right before he fell face first into the torn up ground. “Woah, that could’ve been nasty,” Xinyan commented. “Thank goodness you called for me right before though!”
“Yeah, thanks Xinyan,” Childe thanked her. “Sorry it was in such a pinch.”
“Hey, it’s no problem!” she assured him. “That’s what friends are for! Now, I’m about to disappear, but I’ll see you in the lounge, alright?”
“…Wait, is that where Zhongli is?” Childe asked her after realizing what she was implying. It was too late for her to give him an answer, however. She began to dissipate into the same blue sparkles that Zhongli had faded away in earlier, leaving him alone by himself. Taking a moment to laugh under his breath, he looked towards the portal door that Elysia had left behind for him to use. “How was that, Elysia?” he asked her, half-expecting her to respond without necessarily being in the same room as him like how she had done twice already. “Were you impressed?”
“My, you certainly put on quite a show!” Elysia’s voice rang out, much to his anticipation. “Fantastic work, Childe! I think you deserve a bit of a break.” The portal door opened, and Childe knew where it would lead to. “Why don’t you come through and rest in the lounge for a while? I’m sure you still have questions you’d like to ask.”
“Oh, you have no idea…” he muttered to himself. Dusting himself off as he walked, Childe headed through the portal door to head back to the lounge, and the area with the pink sky disappeared as the portal closed behind him.