Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Here you were, a puny human (you think??) standing before a grand stone statue of the one called Bartoties? Bartisobe? Barbietoes? You didn’t know what the name was, but you certainly didn’t care. It’s been three months since you’ve awakened in this vast world. You can’t remember where exactly you’re from either. You don’t know if you’re from this world, or a confused alien.
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You’ve been wandering these lands for ages, no ounce of civilization has been sighted. The only sign of the existence of humans was a skeleton you found in near a village made entirely out of bamboo, wearing a straw hat. Seeing no reason not to, you swept the hat off the corpse and put it on your head. You further explored the village before seeing a noticeboard with the only relevant piece of information was that you were currently in Mingyun Village. You had travelled across two nations and it was only now that you’ve found a village, albeit neglected and left to dust.

A rather peculiar hilichurl strolled by you, ignoring your presence completely and entered a nearby cave. The creature looked different from other hilichurls; its skin (fur????) was pale white and it held a briefcase in hand, as if it was some kind of business man. Abandoning common sense and survival instincts, you attempted to follow it into the ominous, yet somewhat alluring cave. You took small steps towards the cave before a violet flash of electricity exploded in front of your eyes.
You could only stare in shock as the charred body of the hilichurl fell before a strange lady in purple wielding a sword with intricate patterns engraved on it.

The strange lady with amethyst hair widened her eyes in presumably shock when she spotted you.

“y-y-you..”

You raised your eyebrows in utter confusion. Was she scared that somebody else witnessed her murdering that innocent hilichurl in cold blood? Were they illegal to hunt down in this world? Many possibilities surged through your brain until you realised that she was still staring at you. You didn’t know what to say, nor did you want to say anything and you also wanted to leave and continue foraging for food, but you felt obligated to stay for the sake of finding out what would happen next. She IS the first live human you’ve seen ever since you’ve landed in this strange, peaceful world.

“Salomonis…” she muttered. The word she said seemed to tug at your heart strings. It feels familiar. Maybe it was your name? But why was she so afraid? You wondered to yourself whether you were a feared individual in your past. Furthermore, if that lady recognized you despite having no recollection of having met her before, it meant only one thing. You were indeed from this world. But how did you lose your memories? Why in front of that weird statue of Barbatitties? (or whatever that guy’s name is) Where have you met this lady before? Have you met this lady before? Or did she just happen to hear of you? But surely you’re not THAT intimidating, right? Only more questions seemed to appear.

“This undeniable divine aura… I-I must inform the Tianquan at once..” With that, she disappeared in a spark of violet electro, like when she mercilessly slaughtered the poor hilichurl.

The lady disappearing seemed to invoke an onslaught of burning questions and curiosity.

How strange…
You wondered if you would see more of her and her friends in the future. Afterall, she did mention informing somebody about your sighting.

Chapter Text

“Lady Tianquan!” The rapid clacking of high heels across the mansion’s floors sounded in the eerily quiet interior. Keqing burst the door to the Tianquan’s office open.

“Ah, Keqing, long time no see. You need not address me with such extravagant titles when we are not around the public.” Ningguang was seated eloquently inside her office, with weird shiny trinkets lacing every corner of the room, each one considered an antique that has been graced with the touch of the Lady Tianquan.

“Now, why the rush? What was oh-so urgent that you needed to cause such a ruckus in the middle of my work?” Ningguang’s voice now had a sharper edge to it, silently demanding for Keqing to either get straight to the point or to exit the room. Ningguang narrowed her eyes dangerously low at Keqing. Despite the fact that they were officially working together, they had fundamentally different principles, spiking silent tension between them. Ningguang heaved a sigh of exhaustion and picked up a porcelain teacup with her gloved hands to drink from.

“Salomonis is back.”

Fragments of porcelain were then strewn on the once pristine floor as Ningguang dropped the teacup in utter shock. Ningguangs breath rate rapidly increased. She felt like she was suffocating. Beads of perspiration formed on her head.

With an uncharacteristically shaky voice, she ordered, “Summon the Millelith.”

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The sun had already set, the blue-black hues of the night sky had already come into place. Tiny pearl-like stars dotted the sky. It was like a picture of tranquillity, peaceful and still. You sat in front of a campfire you made yourself by rubbing two sticks together. You enjoyed quiet nights like these. The only audible sound was the occasional chirping of insects and the crackling of the fire. The ruins you have selected as a temporary campsite were a bit hard to reach since it was located at a deeper part of the cave, but overall, very nice. Any monsters inside have already been dealt with by the blade of your scythe.

“Hey, these ruins are hella creepy, once we take a picture of those weird murals Lord Dottore talked about, we should just leave, they’re giving me a weird vibe - like impending doom kinda vibe.” Your ears perked up at the foreign voice echoing from the entrance of the ruin. You put out the fire quickly and retreated to a hiding spot. Though chances are that you could defeat the morons who intruded on your moment of peaceful solitude, you wanted to listen in on their conversation.

“C’mon, Alyona, don’t be such a baby! It took WAY too long to find this wretched place, we gotta loot this place clean! Besides, if we were to find anything else of importance to Lord Dottore’s research, we could be promoted!” Another loud, annoying voice emanated from the ruins’ entrance.

“Yeah Alyona, the scariest thing here would be either ruin machines or spiders, both of which we could defeat with these bad boys!” Yet another voice boomed through the ruins’ entrance. However this time, followed by the sound of a gun.

“What the hell was that Kirill??!!” a shout could be heard from the girl presumably called Alyona.

Mocking chortles began to fill the ruins. You flinched and covered your ears at the sound of those ruffians even daring to near your sanctuary of serenity. You observed carefully as you watched three figures enter your line of sight, a rather petite girl with a fancy violet hood with a matching purple mask obscuring her eyes, a rather bulky man with a cyan suit and huge gauntlets with a mask similar to the lady and another man, particularly lean in comparison to the other male beside him, but wearing a red coat with soft gold outlines with a mask that covered his whole face. And he had red glowing eyes. Huh. Maybe he’s not human, like you! You found solace in the fact that there was someone, somewhat similar to you in this gigantic world. However, as much as you wanted to believe the fact that he would be a trustworthy and reliable travel companion, his earlier demeanour suggested against it. You silently hoped that you wouldn’t end up a headless imbecile like him.

“Comrades, there’s an extinguished campfire here.” The red guy pointed at the burnt pieces of wood.

“Yea, yea captain obvious.” Alyona nonchalantly rolled her eyes. You’re starting to like this.. ‘Alyona’, maybe she could be your travel companion. She seemed like a competent woman who knew what she was doing. A useful tool for you to find out who exactly you are and what exactly happened.

“The fire seemed like it was only put out recently,” The red guy kneeled down to further examine the wood, “somebody has been here before us recently.” You could’ve sworn his voice dropped an octave lower. You shuddered as chills were sent down your spine. It felt as if hours had passed. Your heart ricocheted against your ribcages. You could feel hostility exuding from the intruders. They certainly wouldn’t be happy if they found a little rat like you eavesdropping on their conversations. The fact that it was three against one didn’t help either.

“Aha! There you are, eavesdropper!”

Chapter Text

Three weeks have passed ever since the trio adopted you into their little gang. Three weeks ever since you’ve gotten used to their absurd speech patterns. The idiots think ‘slay’ is a term for fabulous when the true definition is to brutally put to rest. You don’t know why you agreed to accompany them in the first place, but you did. Now here you are, supervising three hopeless fully grown adults as if they were toddlers.
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“You there. Halt.” A peculiar man cladded in beige and brown armour pointed his spear to your neck, barely touching, a threat. You tilted your head in curiosity. You were out in the wild munching peacefully on the ripe sunsettia you found, wandering aimlessly across the Liyuen plains, waiting patiently for your ‘comrades’ to return from what they called the Northland Bank.

“Young lady, what is your name? The Millelith requires your cooperation to guarantee the safety of these lands.” Safety? From what? From purple people slaughtering innocent albino hilichurls (yes you’re still mad about it)? You raised an eyebrow. What was your name again? Ah, Salomonis, you remember. Or something along the lines of that. Suddenly, memories of your encounter of the violet-haired lady appeared in your mind. She seemed shocked at the sight of you. AND she muttered something about informing somebody about you too. Maybe somebody was looking for you back in the city? You decided to tell the friendly fellow your name.

His eyes widened. “Soldiers, come out.” He barked out commands. As if practised, men in the same uniform as the one who stood in front of you slowly emerged from the bushes, perfectly synchronised and all wielding identical spears in the same cautious stance. The display was rather amusing; did people do this often? You stood there, holding the half-eaten sunsettia in half confusion, half entertainment. How weird.

“Once again, we require your utmost cooperation for both the safety of Liyue. Follow us back to the harbour.” He ordered. His eyes dangerously narrowed, threatening your life if you were to try anything funny. Though you could tell he was anxious. His hold on the spear grew wobbly, with sweat dotting his forehead. Seeing that you would not like to get impaled with a spear by a deranged man and his clump, you agreed. Not to mention you were curious to see the harbour.

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You sat on the opposite end of an unnecessarily long, grand table, in a palace, in the SKY. A tall and imposing lady sat on the other end, her posture elegant and unmoving, her demeanour poise and radiating dignity. She was wearing a gold silk outfit, adorned with a few gems. Her hair was cream white, long and luscious, gracefully cascading down her back, with a red streak in the middle of her bangs. Strange, but whatever.

You observed as another lady with curly black buns scurried into the room, holding a tray laced with gold accents with what you assume to be food and tea. She gently placed the tray and bowed before making a swift exit. You turned towards the fancy lady, she had a sceptical expression on her face. She was distrustful of you. Tension grew as the silence became more awkward. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“What is your game, Salomonis? What do you want from the people of Liyue?” She spat. She slammed the table, making you jump a little bit. You blinked in confusion. Through the evident bewilderment scribbled on your face, she backed down a little bit, though still wary of you.
She sat in contemplation for a good few seconds and looked back at you.

“Do you remember who you are?” Ah, so she was catching onto your situation. You suppose that makes it easier? You nodded your head slightly. Concern grew, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you remember where you came from?” You shook your head. You didn’t know why it was so hard for you to admit that. You could see the fancy lady sigh in relief. She nods her head in acknowledgement. This woman seemed more at ease when you told her that you did not remember your identity. Maybe you weren’t an ordinary person? Maybe you were an enemy of hers? Possibilities circled inside your head doing cartwheels.

You grabbed a banana fritter served as one of the many desserts on the tray by the black-haired girl earlier and took a bite out of it. As your teeth broke through the brittle, crispy layer of batter, rich creamy banana filling blessed your tastebuds. You let out a tiny gasp of delight at the feeling of the filling on your tongue. Instinctively, you reached out to grab another fritter, yet again stuffing it inside your mouth. The fancy lady chuckled softly at your display.

“So, greetings Salomonis. My name is Ningguang, Tianquan of Qixing. Do me a favour, I might divulge a thing or two about how you used to be in the past.” A coy smile formed on Ningguang’s lips. She was scheming something. However, you didn’t know what she was planning, nor did you care. All that mattered was getting even a tiny bit closer to knowing what exactly happened.