Work Text:
“Move!”
Tighnari rolled to the side, nocking an arrow and already twisting to fire. Above his head, a beast slammed into a tree trunk. Shards of wood showered down around him. Something hit his shoulder. Firing the arrow, Tighnari leapt back. His back met Cyno’s. The two of them exchanged glances. “I haven’t seen Abyss Mages do this sort of summoning before. This doesn’t look like it’s from Teyvat.” He said, grimacing.
Something sharpened in his husband’s gaze. “We’ll let Lumine know to contact Diluc. He knows a lot about the Abyss Order. Maybe that one other redhead as well. What’s his name. Kid?”
“Childe.” Tighnari retorted. “Duck.”
Cyno dropped down. Turning, Tighnari loosed an arrow. It struck one of the beasts in the chest. With an unearthly shriek, it stumbled back. Sliding around him, polearm in hand, Cyno struck another one of them.
The beasts—and that was really all Tighnari could describe them as, beasts—didn’t look normal. They didn’t look normal for Teyvat, and they especially didn’t look right for Avidya. Somehow, they almost looked like they should belong there. On first glance, he had thought that they were Jadeplume Terrorshrooms. They weren’t the right size, but they had the right shape, almost. But then, on the next look, Tighnari realized that they were not Terrorshrooms. If they had been, they weren’t anymore. The whole thing was covered in thick, leathery skin with massive spines running down its back. It stood on its back legs like a Terrorshroom would. The tail was thick, lashing. The colors were wrong, too. The eyes were wrong. They glowed bright red, glinting like the rubies Dori loved so much. They seemed even brighter against the dulled, sandy yellows and faded, dusky purples of the beast’s side.
A thick paw with claws as thick around as Tighnari’s wrist smashed into the dirt beside him. Fangs that were too white to be normal flashed by his face. Swinging his bow around, Tighnari fired. The momentum would be better than just stabbing it. The string snapped. “Cyno, watch my back!” He barked over his shoulder.
“Right!” When Tighnari ducked back, grabbing an extra string from his hip, Cyno jumped into the fight. One of the monsters trotted around him. It shook the ground as it moved. A spiked tail lashed, a thick beak opened to cry out. Cyno stepped back, twisted and lashed out with his polearm. One of the other beasts—varying shades of deep blue with a sail and a crocodilian face—charged with an open maw filled with teeth.
Tighnari’s hand slipped on the bow.
Swearing under his breath, he glanced up. The beasts were getting closer. He’d seen the Abyss Mage earlier, but he didn’t know where—there. He saw them, dancing behind a tree and giggling like this was some sort of funny prank. “Cyno! Sightline!"
Cyno glanced at him. His eyes darted around the area. Finding the Mage, he looked back at Tighnari and then nodded. The only flying monster dropped down. Clawed talons kicked forwards. They locked around Cyno’s shoulder. Crying out, he grabbed onto its ankle. The air went thick with the smell of ozone. Purple wrapped around Cyno’s arms, metallic claws forming.
Tighnari turned and fired at the Mage.
The infuriating giggling cut off with a shriek. Satisfied, Tighnari darted towards them. A gray and dark green beast with a shield-like head edged with massive horns charged. The ground rattled. Ducking to the side, Tighnari skidded to a stop. Under his feet, the leaf mulch skidded. He dropped down. The beast went right over him, slamming into a nearby tree. The horns stuck in the trunk. We’ll free it later. Maybe, he thought. There was a hiss behind him. He glanced around.
Another, smaller (not by much, this thing was still the size of a Terrorshroom) creature stalked forwards. Stalked was the right word, too. One enormous, curved claw sat on each back talon, and its tail lashed. He saw a flash of green and purple scaled skin, sharp teeth, sharp claws.
Tighnari fired. His arrow struck true, thankfully. The thing collided with him. Throwing it off, he turned.
The ground shook beneath him.
Whipping around, Tighnari looked up—
There was a blur of motion—the world spun—his bow went flying—he went flying—
He smacked into something and the world went dark—
When Cyno came to, there was blood dripping from his shoulder and the Mage was cowering in front of him.
Blinking, he glanced around. The beasts were gone. He didn’t see any sign of their blood, because that had been something sparkling like black ichor. However, they’d left plenty of evidence behind. Broken tree trunks, holes where one of the horned ones had gotten stuck in a tree for some time, some pieces of trees where they had been ripped from the ground. Tighnari was—
Nari.
“What did you do?” Cyno ripped his gaze around to snarl down at the Mage in front of him. The air grew thick around him. He could feel the static settling on his skin, running through his veins, reaching its boiling point and begging to be set free. Ducking down, he grabbed the Mage and slammed them into the tree they were shoving themself into. Purple swarmed the edges of his vision, struck through with gold. Somewhere, Hermanubis was growling, teeth bared and eyes flashing. “What did you do?”
He didn’t shout it. Didn’t dare raise his voice above a whisper. The Mage shrank back as much as they could, anyways, staring at him like he was about to rip their throat out. Maybe he was. Shaking, curling in like a kitten, they squeaked something out.
“What.”
Nothing. Just a shaking response. With a growl, Cyno threw them to the side and stalked away. Stalked over to his husband.
He didn’t remember much after Tighnari hit the tree. Just the hefty crack, the scream of one of the monsters—the one with the spiked tail, he remembered that much, it had caught Tighnari with it if he had to guess. There was blood wetting the ground, dying Tighnari’s clothes and the green leaves and brown earth with an ugly shade of red.
“Nari?” He whispered, pressing his hands to the bloody injury. He didn’t know how deep it was. The spiked-tail…whatever it was, he remembered there being blood on the spines but he had no idea how far they may have gone. Sharp force trauma, not great. Could possibly be punctured lung. Maybe broken ribs with the force of the original hit. Blunt force trauma from slamming into the tree. I don’t think his spine or neck are damaged…carefully, he drew a hand along Tighnari’s neck and back, checked his head for any breaks. His husband had taught him as much. It was a hell of a first date, funny looking back except for right now. “Oh, Nari.”
There weren’t any spine wounds, but there may have been a nasty fracture to his cheek and there was blood running from the corner of his mouth.
Carefully, delicately, Cyno picked him up, hefted him closer, and then started the walk home.