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The guiding stars at the end, water streaming down through the tunnel, her boots making noises against the bumpy road. Even the birds, that used to sing about the freedom and intelligence a second ago, stopped singing. She outstretched her hand, as if to catch onto the nearest light there is. And yet, she could not feel any. …You're not very fond of talking, quite unlike Nara Varuna. Her sibling… She had released that much by the time her place to shine came. Had we met in another age, I could have introduced Nara Varuna to you. How wonderful that might have been. She shook her head. Lumine did agree… Perhaps, had she stayed longer around the entrance to down there, she could see him again. She could talk to him again…
She attempted to skip through another rocks, but her jump only made a splash. She furrowed her eyebrows and glanced up. Only a starry sky above a platform filled with water embraced her, instead of rocky path forward to Chasm.
She knew this place. It was that of her dreams… Did she… fell asleep? She tilted her head to her boots. Unlike before, they were crystal clear. She couldn’t fall asleep. So why did she appear here? Was it because of her mind? She glanced up again, only to find her brother before her. Once again, she found herself running. Perhaps to distract herself from all the despair. Or perhaps to catch up to her twin…
Only this time, her thoughts weren’t that of being late. No… They were different. Did her twin brother enjoy Teyvat? What was he like back then? She could only wonder, before Aether disappeared from her sight. She wanted to run, to scream; but nothing came out. She was stuck. Stuck and hardly breathing. Why did her brother choose the abyss? She wiped out the tears streaming down her cheeks and fell down to the floor.
…
..Would she stay this way forever?..
Would they never reunite?..
What if her brother didn’t remember?
What if-
She didn’t stop crying, until she heard the bird’s singing again. When she looked up she was no longer in that domain. She was back surrounded by a dim tunnel, water droplets falling down and the smell of cavern all around. She didn’t stand as she expected; she sat at nearby wooden bridge above a small puddle of water. She only let out a deep exhale, before setting out again. She could hardly stand, but she knew to keep going was a necessity.
Perhaps it was not meant for her sibling to be there…
She didn’t got enough time to say goodbye.. How should she accept? That her brother’s fate was being encased by the abyss? She had longer path to go…
The sudden light of the moon found a way to her amidst the darkness and she squinted her eyes in an attempt to catch up with the scenery before her. Chasm’s stream of light and hope. Only three steps and all the quietness of Chasm embraced her lonely form. The mountains ever so tall, looming up and gazing to the unbound heavens, the tree’s smallest leafs rustling to the flow of time.
Sometimes, it reminded her of her home. Her family long lost to disastrous cataclysm and yet, she ought to never forget them. She could picture her hometown in the craters of unknown depths of Chasm, all the ruins reminiscing of better days. With naught but a slight hesitation, Lumine jumped down from the wooden ladder. It's broken planks creaked and allowed for the smallest parts to fall down to the ground. Then, again, silence embraced everything in it’s path. Nothing, except for the orange-hued grass rustling. Only her harrowing memory of her twin brother forever in her mind. She could remember it all, rather clear as the water of Chasm. Them walking down the grassy canyon, teasing and laughter. Even the very few moments before the disaster stroke.
She looked up to the sky, the stars as bright as the lights of Chasm, never to evaporate. Everyone in Teyvat loved stars. She was the the closest to them all, though. She once came to being from a star resembling that of Teyvat ones. Lumine climbed up to a higher mountain peek, just then the majesty and elegance of Liyue made itself known before her very eyes. Would Aether love the sight, too? She sat down on nearby rock, her eyes fixed on the sky. Before she expected, it lit up with fireworks so bright and beautiful, she was forced to forget her thoughts before. She remembered all her journeys in Sumeru, she appreciated the god of wisdom. The only thing she could think of now, though, was that of the electro archon, it’s civilians and Enkanomiya. Had the sustainer of heavenly principles never came, would present Teyvat look the same? Would it’s inhabitants come to develop the same cultures? She didn’t think so. In the end, it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered more, then that she felt at peace for the first time in her life. She closed her eyes, only one sentence arise in her mind…
Those who meet under the light of fireworks grow up, mature, and grow old. Not that this is the end, of course. On the contrary, I believe that our story is only just beginning~!
It came from Yoimiya. She wasn’t particularly sure why it came to her. But it felt familiar. Perhaps, one day she’d remember why…