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Paimon is the type of person to learn everything once she hears something even remotely interesting. Gliding around excited than ever, pulling the traveler everywhere they could go to potentially obtain some information. Aether, although annoyed by her “intel gluttony" at first, started admiring her dedication as days passed.
When her eyes caught the Anemo Archon minding his business -trying to lure Diluc into giving him some more wine- she flew in their direction. Diluc thanked Barbatos (old habits die hard) for Paimon’s arrival and Venti even turned his head at him. “Tehe~ You’re welcome!”
“Tone-Deaf-Bard! And Master Diluc too.” She waved her hand even though Diluc was close enough to touch Paimon. Aether silently stood next to her, eyeing the archon to make sure he wouldn’t run away this time.
“To what do we owe the pleasure in this pleasant Mondstadt evening?” Venti welcomed. “Master Diluc and I were just discussing business strategies. Wouldn’t you two prefer to drink while listening to my performances? Well, I accept no excuse, of course you would! I say, by offering me one more bottle of wine, Master Diluc can get to sell a lot more bottles just because I’m around and lighting up the mood!”
“Somehow, this bard doesn’t accept Mora as currency. But instead, glasses of wine.” Diluc sulked. “How do you even pay rent?”
“I don’t have to pay rent.” Venti shrugged.
“Where do you live, then?”
“Wherever I feel like. As the free child of the winds and traveling bard in a constant search for inspiration and the perfect spot to whisper my kindest ballads, I—” Venti couldn’t finish his sentence before Diluc interrupted.
“You don’t have a place to live.”
“I don’t have a place to live,” Venti admitted instantly, lowering his head. “But at least, wine helps me forget it.”
“If you were to save up the half of the Mora you earned from your services, you could have easily rented yourself one of the finest houses in the city,” Diluc murmured, his eyes met with Paimon’s. “Leaving that aside, what you two are here for?”
Paimon raised herself higher, glad to get recognized. “We came here to ask Venti about something we found in the ruins nearby. You won’t believe how much junk there is, but sometimes, interesting things like these pop out too.”
The floating fairy pointed at the scroll Aether held in his hands. When he revealed the page, Diluc asked if he could look at it too. Aether nodded as Venti’s eyes read the words.
In the eerie murmurings of the Abyss, where madness and truth entwine as fateful companions, A soul must endure the harrowing visage of the gruesome brute, steadfast in its resolve.
Verily, those ensnared by the clutches of madness, cast out from the tapestry of life, find themselves bereft of a return.
Those led astray by the veils of insanity transform into naught but vacant vessels, subject to the whims and dominion of the abyss.
Anticipate no semblance of reason from such tormented souls, for their minds constitute their own infernal realm, wherein they play the dual role of both the banished and the gods of their own exile. A profound emptiness, impervious even to the celestial ballads of Barbatos.
Upon encountering a wandering soul, beseeching the embrace of death, extend not a blade but a compassionate hand. The remedy for this demonic affliction lies not in the cold steel, but in loyalty itself.
The two Mondstadters stared and stared until Paimon asked if they could even read the complicated letters. The ink appeared to be so old and pale that the scroll could age more than anyone else in the city —excluding its Archon and the traveler, of course.
Venti nodded, distracted from his former bargain with the wine tycoon. Diluc, too, appeared to be interested. He couldn’t keep his eyes away from the scroll, thinking that an old-timer like his father could get to understand this script more than Diluc could.
Luckily, the bard seemed to know what they were up against. He gently held the scroll and felt the paper between his fingers, nodding gently. He gestured at everyone to come inside and find a quiet place to sit in Angel’s Share. Diluc could tell it had to be something serious, as Venti didn’t utter a word about wine even after he saw the countless bottles behind the counter.
They went upstairs and Venti laid the ancient scroll in their middle. He got a candle and put it not too close to the scroll, just in case. He pointed at the stanzas as he translated them into a modern version of the language of Teyvat.
In the eerie murmurings of the Abyss, where madness and truth entwine as fateful companions, A soul must endure the harrowing visage of the gruesome brute, steadfast in its resolve.
“When the madness of the abyss whispers only the truth, one shall stay away from the gruesome brute.”
Verily, those ensnared by the clutches of madness, cast out from the tapestry of life, find themselves bereft of a return.
“Those who fall ill into the madness, banished from life, have no source of coming back.”
Those led astray by the veils of insanity transform into naught but vacant vessels, subject to the whims and dominion of the abyss.
“Those who are blinded by insanity, are nothing but empty bodies for the Abyss to control.”
Anticipate no semblance of reason from such tormented souls, for their minds constitute their own infernal realm, wherein they play the dual role of both the banished and the gods of their own exile. A profound emptiness, impervious even to the celestial ballads of Barbatos.
“Expect no logic from them, as their mind is their own hell, and they are their own banishing gods. A deep hollowness that not even Barbatos's blessing ballads can reach.”
Upon encountering a wandering soul, beseeching the embrace of death, extend not a blade but a compassionate hand. The remedy for this demonic affliction lies not in the cold steel, but in loyalty itself.
“When you find that soul, wandering and begging for death, give them a hand instead of a knife. The cure of this demonic illness is none other than loyalty itself.”
Done with the translation, he placed the candle further away. The lighting coming from downstairs barely made their faces visible, the candle didn’t add much to the darkness. “This is pretty much the translation. I can write it down to if you need it for treasure hunting.”
“But what this could mean?” the rarely-talking traveler narrowed his eyebrows, touching his chin as he tried to answer his question himself. Paimon too hummed, agreeing with the rightful wondering. Diluc pulled himself a chair.
“Well, normally I would tell you two go figure it out.”
“Please don’t.” The travelers spoke at the same time, making Venti chuckle.
“This isn’t something you two can figure out on your own, in fact, I wouldn’t want anyone to witness the contents and reasonings of his scroll. You see, dear friends, this is an ancient writing concerning the powers of the Abyss.”
Diluc didn’t like the name, anything that happened to have “abyss” in it ended up terrible. Those monsters and their lunatic cult could burn to their ashes, Diluc wouldn’t move an inch. He could even reason with the Fatui and their goals, but not with the Abyss Order. They and their god-forsaken pursuit of whatever they want could never herald anything good.
“The power of the Abyss is lethal for the people of Teyvat. The moment one gets in contact with it too much, they will experience serious symptoms. Thus the Chasm in Liyue is considered to be dangerous. That place is filled with that dark magic.”
The dark, gloomy substances there made things a lot worse than they already were. The lurking monsters got stronger while the heroes of the day lost their remaining strength. Aether even remembered a lady they met there, eager to keep exploring even though the atmosphere of the endless cavern drained each of her bones.
In short, Paimon and Aether knew what Venti meant by that.
“As you all might know, the monsters of the Abyss, obvious from their name, are not from Teyvat. They come from multiple locations that are not… well-known to us.”
“One of which is Khaenri’ah,” Diluc revealed his awareness of the situation. Venti nodded and then added.
“Especially from Khaenri’ah. They are immune to the lethal effects of the Abyssal power.” No one said a word, waiting for the wise Anemo Archon to continue. “But instead, it can lead them to insanity. Into a state we call oblivion, the state of unawareness.”
“In that drunken state, the poisoned victim will have no idea of their doings. Their body, as our ancient scroll suggests, will belong to the Abyss to use as it pleases.”
Paimon gasped. “Does that mean some of the members of the Abyss are… not actually members but puppets, unaware of what they have gotten themselves into?”
When Venti shook his head up and down, Paimon’s worried expression got worse with her eyes opening wide. She held Aether’s shoulder as the not-very-merciful traveler questioned how many monsters he murdered so far. Diluc too didn’t seem pleased to hear this.
“I fear this is the case for many of them. Have you noticed how almost all abyss mages and hilichurls speak the same words and make the same moves? I only met a small number of them who are not very… monotone. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Paimon thought they were just dancing because they were in a good mood!” she sighed, Paimon wasn’t in the mood to float so she placed herself on the table. Aether could feel his heart burn each time Venti revealed something worse than the prior.
“So, the scroll is about their poisoning?” the redhead asked, Paimon wondered how he could manage to stay so collected upon hearing the news.
“Yes. It talks about the helpless state of the victims and how they can’t do anything about it. At the very end, it suggests us sane people to approach them with kindness.”
“Paimon thought it said loyalty, though.” She interrupted.
“Loyalty is a form of kindness too, friend.”
“But we have been… murdering them all along!” her eyes filled with tears, and Aether gestured at her to stop shouting.
“No worries,” Venti smiled. The moment he smiled, Aether and Paimon sighed in relief. If the bard was happy, then they didn’t have to worry about their past doing too much.
“They want to die anyway, as the scroll says.”
“For the love of the gods, you are not helping!” Paimon shouted her lungs out and Aether didn’t stop her this time. He just hit his elbows on the wooden table and hid his embarrassed expression between his palms.
“Let me help you clear your minds, then.” Venti seated himself. “Abyssal power is lethal for the people of Teyvat, and maddening for the people of the Abyss. When someone starts losing their mind because of Abyssal powers, we call that the Madness of the Abyss.”
“The madness works like this, do you know the five stages of grief? Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The affected victim will first go into a stage of denial, then it will turn into self-hatred, and then the victim will try perceiving life through different views, but end up facing reality and going into depression. The acceptance part in question is basically submitting to the Abyss, unintentionally.”
“I know how this works because this was what happened to Dvalin back then. He was sure that we had betrayed him, not because he knew it but because the poison traveling through his veins made him believe so. He couldn’t differentiate reality and his doubts, he was at the stage of anger.”
“But Dvalin isn’t from the Abyss.” Diluc knew the dragon had celestial origins. Venti didn’t refuse that.
“But Durin was from the Abyss. During their fight, Dvalin got seriously injured, and some of his wounds came into contact with Durin’s blood. Those dark crystals on his back were covered in the other dragon’s blood.”
Diluc hummed. “What you try to say is that, in normal conditions, those Abyssal crystals could end Dvalin. But they didn’t because Durin’s blood got mixed in Dvalin’s system. And this somehow made Dvalin immune to the lethal effects, but vulnerable to insanity?”
“That’s right!”
“Ah, thank you Master Diluc. If it weren’t for you, Paimon’s brain could explode trying to understand what the Tone-Deaf-Bard just said…”
The redhead scratched his chin. “But this also means anyone who is from the Abyss is vulnerable to the madness.”
“As long as they come into some contact with noteworthy amounts of Abyssal energy,” Venti corrected his claim.
Diluc didn’t add more. With his lips sealed, he leaned on the back of the chair and watched the heroes of Mondstadt talk. He watched but didn’t listen, his eyes were so unattended he couldn’t even notice if a bomb were to drop there. His usual stern expression didn’t worry anyone.
But the fact that Kaeya was from Khaenri’ah gave Diluc enough concern to ruin his weeks.