Chapter Text
I. The End
Xiao had lived for much longer than he cared to remember.
But… even that was only half the truth, really.
You see, Xiao had lived for much longer than he cared to. Period.
Sometimes, he wondered when his end would come. On darker days, he longed for it. And on darker days still Xiao came to realise, with a cold and creeping dread, that he had met a number of ends already. He had watched, unfeeling, as each one of these ends approached – some with all the writhing, boundless fury of a meteor, others a mere whisper-soft exhale. Each one, he welcomed. And each one passed him by.
…He had outlived them all.
He, who had taken lives enough to drown the nation of Liyue in blood.
He, who still ached to feast on dreams.
He, whose black heart continued to beat for no other reason, it seemed, than to spite him.
Perhaps it would do so forever.
Perhaps… this was simply his destiny. A fate that he had earned. A price that he must pay for eons of slaughter.
Perpetual agony. An existence of suffering with no end in sight.
And this… Xiao had accepted.
It was nothing less than he deserved, after all.