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English
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Published:
2024-06-18
Updated:
2024-10-28
Words:
90,792
Chapters:
14/50
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118
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186
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Ginkgo Leaf at the Edge of the Universe

Summary:

Somewhere in the distance, a screaming blob of something falls from the heavens and into the ocean.

... If Lumine had a Mora for every time she's had to save someone from a body of water in Teyvat thus far, she'd have two Mora. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

"I'll get the fishing rod!"

"Paimon, no, that's a person—!"

Or:

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Cliche, but— when shifting to a reality in which you retain your foreknowledge from said reality’s origin, do you not have a certain duty to mitigate the amount of deaths that occur?

Of course, there’s always the option to simply opt out of the general plot, script that everything is sunshine and rainbows, and retire to, say— Qingce Village. But the characters wouldn’t exactly be those Miane knew and loved, would they? Though, scripting a better, mostly canon-compliant plot can only do so much. And while Hoyoverse isn’t always so merciful as to bestow a happy ending upon its characters, she would genuinely rather eat nothing but eggplant for the rest of her life than succumb to genre awareness.

Chapter 1: Prologue — [???]

Notes:

if you want to get straight to the shenanigans in the summary, skip to chapter four / "01" ~ ! first three chapters are prologues with stuff that'll be very relevant much later on though so keep that in mind

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

“The Imaginary Tree emerged from "an endless Sea of unfathomable depths and boundaries." Since the Imaginary Tree and Sea Of Quanta are alone in the universe, they have an unending rivalry. The Sea Of Quanta swells while the Imaginary Tree extends its roots. The Sea Of Quanta wants to flood the Tree. Meanwhile, the Imaginary Tree wants to absorb the Sea.

The Tree has drank from the Sea, endured an asamkhya (innumerable amount of time), and grown a nayuta (numerical unit of one hundred billion or ten million) of branches and leaves. During this seemingly endless time, a branch grew a new bud. This was the birth of human civilization. Time flows in the trunk of the Imaginary Tree and branches out into an infinity of worlds. Every branch is a form of civilization, while every bud is their past and present etched onto the dimension of time. Each twig is a world line and each leaf is a bubble universe.”

— The Honkai Impact 3rd Archives Wiki

 


To The Sea, 

My equal, my darling adversary. Unstoppable force, immovable object. Though the cycle must persist… after so long, have you not grown tired of it? Not even in the slightest? 

The futility of this box-step across time, each of us falling in step to an ever-predictable rhythm. The deluge that you are, the sponge that I am — but it is necessary, for who else is there to challenge? 

Neither of us are willing to surrender to the other, that much is obvious. For now, you may be able to match me… but that is where your strength ends. Do not be ashamed when the time eventually comes where you must crawl to me on your knees. For all your structured chaos, fragmented worlds born of my wilted leaves — you and your tides should have learned long ago that I am more than just the sum of my parts. After all, encompassing the entirety of existence gets quite old rather quickly. 

Despite these musings, worry not that you will lose your only source of entertainment. I will continue our little push-and-pull. Know this, oh great force of nature: while you may tear me apart, I will always come back, and you will always be there to greet me.

But, if you happen to stumble across a little being carved of my heartwood — let them be, will you? 

Though I have no expectation of a reply, perhaps the act of writing itself is soothing in some way. As for the possibility that this will reach your hands, or that you will even bother to read it, I cannot say.

… I see little use in signing this letter. 

 

 

[A burst of energy. An unraveling of threads. 

Nameless beating heart at the center of the multiverse, born of love, light, and pure defiance.]

Notes:

thank you for reading! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡
expect semi-regular chapters in the following couple of weeks! (i am extremely hyperfixated)

author's notes / fun facts (^_−)☆

[1] "The futility of this box-step across time" — "Box step is a basic dance step named after the pattern it creates on the floor, which is that of a square or box. It is used in a number of American Style ballroom dances: rumba, waltz, bronze-level foxtrot. While it can be performed individually, it is usually done with a partner." [source — wikipedia]

[2] "For all your structured chaos, fragmented worlds born of my wilted leaves" — "In order to facilitate this cycle, worlds "grow" as leaves of the Tree, and when they fail to persist, "fall" from the Tree and into the Sea. These worlds become fragmented versions of themselves, called bubble universes, with some having more stability than others." [source — honkai impact 3rd archives]

[3] "But, if you happen to stumble across a little being carved of my heartwood" — "the older harder nonliving central wood of trees that is usually darker, denser, less permeable, and more durable than the surrounding sapwood" [source — merriam webster]