Chapter Text
I was running for my life.
I waded through the dead of the night in the place I actually call playground: Wuwang Hill. To be caught lacking in the place I call my playground. Such irony, really, but that wasn’t my main concern now. When I thought it'd just be some small fry of the occasional Treasure Hoarders I usually come across and scare to death, it turns out the Fatui were waiting to ambush me during my regular evening stroll.
Worse, they were elite members of the Fatui. I counted a platoon of more than twenty of them.
“Got you!” An agent clad in red and black suddenly emerged before me, but I was prepared.
Smirking, the tip of my polearm glowed red. And then, already aiming it to the ground, it reacted to one of the hidden bombs I set all around the area, courtesy of a good friend from the once-locked-down country overseas.
Standing on a bomb-proof platform, I was flung a little high — a little damaged but airborne, and the enemy before me was blown away.
“Ngh!” My feet felt the shock from the explosion, causing them to ache.
“Think you’ve gotten some air?”
Suddenly, strange blue crystals appeared all around me. While I was ready to vaporize them, my arms felt like they were zapped by a jolt of excruciating electricity, causing me to drop my polearm.
I landed on a patch of dead leaves, cushioning my fall. My body ached all over, and all energy was drained. My Staff of Homa wasn’t in my grasp, but in the hands of the enemy. With my eyesight clearing up a little, I was then surrounded by men and women clad in cloaks.
“Your boss gave you clear instructions not to harm the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, y’know?” I said, trying to maintain my poker face. “You’ll all be sorry, really sorry. ”
They were… chuckling?
“Since you’re about to die, we’ll tell you: we’re not under Childe’s direct command,” the Cicin Mage clad in purple started.
“We’re the Fair Lady’s loyalists… personally handpicked and sworn to fulfill her commands from beyond the grave, even with the threat of execution from direct disobedience!” the Cicin Mage in ice-blue continued.
The Fair Lady…? No way…!
“And her orders were clear…” the Maiden in blue added.
They then drew all their weapons and charged their elemental specialties, sending shivers to my spine — something that had never, ever happened before.
“To eliminate all allies of the Traveler without fail!”
Everything became clear to me now.
That ginger warned me of one particular Harbinger with a personal elite guard of so-called ‘fanatics’ or ‘loyalists’, going as far as to disobey direct orders issued by the Zapolyarny Palace for the ‘enchanting’ words of The Fair Lady.
But I had to learn all these before I went…?
Emotions danced in my head.
Time moved unbelievably fast, yet painstakingly slow.
I could only let out a grin.
They were about to kill me.
My life flashed before my eyes.
From my spoiled yet traumatic childhood to the eventful yet peaceful life I live now.
Peaceful… heh, speaking of ‘peaceful’…
Yanfei…
I’m not afraid, nor am I worried.
I have always been prepared to die.
I have penned down everything in my final will and testament.
As such, I will leave no regrets in this world… if I hadn’t met her.
I guess… if there’d just be one lingering regret, that’d be not personally saying how this cheeky little brat fell for Liyue’s Top Legal Expert.
Despite that, the grin I had turned into a smile as I welcomed their incoming attacks. It’ll only be painful for a second, knowing the efficiency of the Fatui.
But then, a miracle!
As my blossom-pupiled eyes remained open for the worst that could’ve happened, I beheld every single flurries and waves of flames directed at my assailants, causing them to disperse.
In an instant after I retrieved my polearm, a flash of red and white zoomed past me and the elite guards, leaving me unscathed but knocking them all out in one fell swoop. It happened all too quickly, but my eyes registered what could be registered: the defeat of the elite guards.
Surprise must’ve taken them, but I doubt they’ll take that as a sign to retreat. Any case, now that I’ve finally gotten my senses back, I should get—
“Woah!”
Suddenly, I was swooped by the figure that knocked them out and taken up to the starry midnight skies, passing through threads clouds.
“Taotao…?”
‘Taotao…?’
No… no way…! That voice! C-could it be…?
I looked up, and Archons…
Her flowing scarlet-pink hair.
Her sharp fangs.
Her white wings.
Her muscular red arms.
Her diamond scales.
Her ferocious yet concerned countenance.
How mighty…
“Y-Yanyan…?”
This was… her adeptus form!