Chapter Text
The soft, early afternoon breeze that swept over Suibian Temple was warm, ruffling the leaves of the plants that lined the buildings. It was a rather quiet day today, with the temple not receiving many visitors, along with Yixuan, Ju Fufu and Pan Yinhu still yet to return from a trip to another Yunkui Summit temple. Wise walked through the main courtyard, scrolling through the Inter-Knot on his phone to try and pass the time while waiting for Belle to return from grabbing their lunch.
It was set out to be a peaceful afternoon, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when someone came running through the open gates of Suibian Temple. A miner from the Lemnian Hollow it looked like, panicking.
“Please, help! There’s been an ethereal attack, and we think there might be someone injured,” the miner yelped out, his voice constantly changing pitch as his brain worked a mile a minute, his movements jittery even as he tried to stand still, “but we can’t reach them safely, and contacting someone else might take too long-”
“Woah, uh, okay, okay. Take a second, calm down. Where was this attack exactly?” Wise cut the man off, raising his hands in a soothing motion.
“Near Timesworn Hills. I… I can take you there! Just please, help us out.”
“I will go.”
The robotic voice rumbled out from behind Wise, the sound of Banyue’s footsteps filling the space as he approached the miner. The intelligent construct stood tall over the both of them, his lion-like visage looking down towards the panicking man while his right hand absentmindedly rolled around two golden balls he often used when fighting. His broad frame dominated the space, leaving no questions when it came to who would be dealing with the ethereals that would stand in the way between them and the injured person.
“Thank you so much, Banyue Shifu! We should go right away,” the miner responded, the panic in his frame easing slightly at the presence of a reliable fighter, “we’re not sure whether the injured person is even a miner or not.”
“I understand. Time is of the essence, if we do not want them to be corrupted by the time we reach them,” Banyue nodded, letting go of the golden balls as they returned to the compartment in his back. He gestured for the miner to lead the way, already bracing his mechanical body for battle before they had even entered the Hollow. The miner turned and began leading the way, with Banyue beginning to follow closely behind.
“Hey, I’m coming too! I’ll just send Belle a quick message…”
Wise scrambled to join them, hurriedly texting Belle that he’d be missing lunch and that she was in charge of Suibian Temple until he got back.
The ether is thick, tinged with the slightest trace of miasma that still lingers even after it began to recede in the recent weeks. This area had only been recently uncovered according to the nearby miners, an area adjacent to the Timesworn Hills that had not been mined in for a while due to the overgrowth of plants, some miasmic and some not. And yet, even after all mining practices were supposed to have stopped, the miners still returned there to try and retrieve some valuables that had been thought to have been left there.
Wise and Banyue both stood in a small clearing, large shards of lumite ore piercing out of cliffsides that surrounded them. Miners dotted the area, some hunched on the ground, injured yet being taken care of by other miners kneeling next to them. The ethereal attack had come totally unexpected, and the sorry state of the miners was proof of it.
“Just follow the path beneath that pass. Thank you again, both of you!” The miner who had led them here said, bowing before frantically heading towards one of the injured. Wise nodded, looking towards the path that the miner had gestured to while keeping a mental map of the area while Fairy was still collecting data for an actual map.
“Stay behind me. I will deal with any ethereals we find along the way,” Banyue’s voice echoed against the stone and metals enclosing the clearing. He immediately began to walk in a brisk stride, his strong legs carrying his bulk with ease and mane slightly blowing with the movement.
The walk through the path was not peaceful, with it being infested with ethereals around every corner, some laying in wait along the tops of cliffs only to dive down once Banyue got within sight. Thankfully, the intelligent construct was able to dispatch them as while the ethereals attacked consistently, they were spread out along the path as though more of a watch party. Eventually, after passing through another clearing that was strangely empty, along with another stretch of narrow paths littered with ethereals, Wise caught sight of someone lying on the ground ahead.
“Banyue Shifu, I see the injured person. He doesn’t look like a miner,” Wise began, immediately rushing over without fear of ethereals as his companion was already distracting and fighting the ones that had been nearby, “I’ll check him for corruption symptoms.”
The person lay on the ground, unconscious but breathing steadily. They were wearing a hoodie along with a pair of trousers, not uncommon wear for someone from New Eridu yet the brand was one that Wise was unfamiliar with. Their hair was brown and messy, almost reaching down to their shoulders, their fringe swooped to the side with stray spikes of hair defying the swoop. Upon getting closer, it became clear that this person was a man, likely in his early to mid-twenties, his face seeming youthful but not quite enough to be mistaken for a teenager. But before he reached the unconscious man, Wise noticed a slight… oddity in what he was seeing, the figure blurring somewhat, flickering around the edges almost like a hologram if his eyes were to unfocus, though they became clearer the closer he got.
Wise kneeled next to the person, shaking them gently to try and wake them. They seemed to stir slightly, a light groan escaping their throat as though waking from a long sleep, although one that had also been exhausting for them.
“Huh… Wha…” Their voice came out, quiet and slightly slurred as their eyes fluttered open, squinting against the sunlight and bringing a sluggish hand to shield their eyes, “who… are you?”
“My name is Wise, I’m a disciple of Yunkui Summit, here to help you get out of here. We’re currently in Lemnian Hollow, but don’t worry, you’re safe.”
“Lemnian… what now?”
Wise paused, unsure what to say in response to that. As far as he was aware, most people who had gone through basic history classes in school were aware of the Hollows and how they worked, so this random person seemingly having no clue what he was talking about caught him off guard. He opened his mouth to respond, ready to explain the basic concepts of Hollows, ether and such before the stranger’s gaze snapped towards the sound of fighting, where Banyue was just finishing up in fending off the ethereals.
“What the… monsters? And is that… a robot?” Their voice is more confused rather than anything else, still fairly sleepy and lacking the shock that one might expect considering their words. They turned their gaze back onto Wise, seemingly becoming a bit more aware of their surroundings, focusing on Wise’s face for a few moments, “and why are your eyes… like that?”
Wise is just about to respond once more before the sounds of heavy footsteps approaches from behind, the broad figure of Banyue casting a shadow of them both and bringing attention onto himself through presence alone.
“They seem to not be in a sound mental state. I advise we vacate the Hollow before questioning them further.”
“Yeah… right. Can you stand? Walk?” Wise asks, lowering his hands underneath the stranger to help them sit upright. They take a few moments, movements sluggish before eventually their whole body begins to wake up fully, allowing them to stand thanks to Wise’s support. Wise checks them over quickly for injuries or signs of severe ether corruption, before speaking once more, “Do you have a name? Again, my name is Wise, and this is Banyue Shifu.”
“I’m… James. Yeah, James. Thanks for helping me,” the stranger responded, straightening themselves up as any signs of the previous sluggishness fades away completely, leaving a somewhat disheveled, sleep-deprived looking guy standing there. James reaches up to scratch behind his neck, eyeing Banyue quizzically before asking, “so… that’s a robot, right? Not some weird mech suit or something?”
“Indeed. I am an… intelligent construct,” Banyue answers, hesitating for a moment to call himself that when it was still something he was not officially recognised as yet. He kept his emotionless gaze on James as he shifted his stance, going from the calm stance he had taken as to try and not intimidate the stranger to one that was more battle-ready.
“Intelligent constructs are fully sapient robots. They have really advanced logic cores, so they have free will and are considered to be individual citizens,” Wise further explained, an awkward smile taking over his face as he attempted to be polite while simultaneously worrying that James might struggle to even understand that explanation. But thankfully, Banyue interrupted.
“The ethereals will return if we linger too long. You seem to be able, James, but please keep a safe distance should I be engaged in combat.”
“Right… okay.”
The walk back towards the miners began quiet, mostly in the sense that the ethereals seemed to have been culled out almost completely as the group was never interrupted along the walk. Wise was busy answering questions that James asked about various things, the strange man seeming to have little to no knowledge of the things that were pretty usual in New Eridu. James seemed to be grasping the concepts on a basic level, but it was still strange to Wise that he had no prior knowledge at all. At least, until James said something neither Wise nor Banyue had been expecting.
“Huh… Guess I have a lot to learn. Never heard of any of that before… maybe I’m from another dimension or something,” James says, responding to Wise having explained the basics of how Hollows and ether works, dropping that thought without much care for what it might imply. Wise stares dumbfounded for a moment, unsure whether to treat this as some sort of elaborate prank or someone genuinely believing they were transported from one universe to another.
But before Wise could follow up with several more questions on where James got that idea from, Banyue stopped in his tracks, raising a hand to signal for them to stop aswell. They were in the clearing from earlier, which had been strangely empty when they passed through it earlier, and remained that way even now… except for the slight shift in a dense piece of shrubbery to their sides, a clear implication of an ethereal attack that Banyue had picked up on.
The intelligent construct reacted immediately as a Hati leaped from one of the bushes, sending one of his golden orbs flying towards it as it exploded in a blast of fire, preventing the ethereal’s attack. It wasn’t long before this caught the attention of the other circling ethereals, and soon Banyue found himself surrounded as he fought against the horde. Wise had already dragged James backwards, away from the fighting, narrowing his eyes at them to stop them trying to run in and help.
Banyue fought mercilessly, fending the ethereals off without much difficulty, although the sheer numbers of them now were beginning to overwhelm him slightly. Yet he persisted, clearly intent on clearing a path forward so that they could get James to safety, even if it was beginning to weigh heavily on his chassis. His golden orbs whirled around him as he punched and blocked, fire erupting from him as he repeatedly beat down on the ethereals with his martial arts and immense strength.
James watched, transfixed, at the scene in front of him. Ethereals, intelligent constructs… all of it was unfamiliar to him, or at least it seemed that way, and he found his fingers itching to do something. But he held back, understanding from the look in Wise’s eyes that it was a death wish to try and fight off ethereals without proper experience or weaponry.
Banyue punches began to slow as the horde thinned, but the ethereals were still insistent on their attack. He smashes a group of alpeca into the ground, their bodies disintegrating into ether particles before he directs his attention onto another hati in front of him, preparing an attack. But, he fails to notice the slow but deadly approach of a banyrek behind him, miasma churning within the creature like bile in a hungry beast’s stomach. It prepares to leap high into the air to strike, a blow that would surely put the intelligent construct in a much worse position, with him failing to notice it. Yet Wise and James notice it well enough.
“Banyue Shifu! Behind you!” Wise’s shout of warning is drowned out by the snarling of ethereals, only briefly catching Banyue’s attention and serving to distract him even further from the imminent threat.
“Robot guy!”
James’s yell rings out over the area, louder and hoarser than Wise’s, as the man pulls himself out of Wise’s grip and runs forward, unsure of what he’s really attempting to do other than put himself in danger. His instincts scream at him to do something, his body flickering before Wise’s very eyes until it disappears altogether, replaced by a bolt of green energy, piercing a few minor ethereals and causing them to only add their ether to the bolt, before reaching the banyrek threatening Banyue’s life. The green bolt of ether goes into the banyrek, launching the ethereal high into the sky as it is tossed around by an unseen force, being slashed at from inside. Ether crystals grow along its body rapidly, the ethereal eventually becoming more recognisable as a boulder of crystals than the beast it once was.
The boulder suddenly launches itself down at the hati that Banyue was about to attack, crushing the ethereal in an explosion of ether, leaving only a crater of pure ether crystals and James, his body once again intact and kneeling in the centre of the crater, catching his breath intensely. His body is wracked with fatigue, and the ether crystals that made up the crater begin to fall apart and disintegrate into ether. Wise and Banyue stare at the man, both frozen with shock. The remaining ethereals are all weakened from the explosion, fleeing into the shrubbery once again.
“What the… that’s not possible is it? Someone can’t just…”
“Our eyes do not deceive us, Junior Wise. So long as you are untainted by miasma, you must trust in your vision.”
“Right. Of course…”
Banyue walks over to the kneeling James, the sound of the human’s heavy breathing having replaced the ungodly sounds of the ethereals. The intelligent construct kneeled beside the man, placing a large, metal paw on their back as his voice rumbled out in a calm, guiding manner.
“Breathe deeply. Let the air flow like a river down a mountain, not the waterfall preceding its descent into the ocean below.” Banyue began, beginning to breathe deeply himself with the respiratory system he had been outfitted with, a consistent rhythm. 4 seconds in, 7 seconds holding it, 8 seconds out. Banyue’s voice rumbled out once more, an attempt to provide further encouragement as he might do with a struggling disciple. “You have exerted yourself to save me. For that, I am grateful, but my priority remains in ensuring you are safe. So please, breathe with me.”
James doesn’t immediately respond, but his breathing eventually evens out, matching the cycle which Banyue was exemplifying in the moment. This seemed to be effectively calming him, the feeling of the metal paw against his back — smooth, with warmth lingering from the embers of Banyue’s fiery fighting style — an anchoring presence despite the whirlwind of thoughts and sensations that overcame their body.
“I don’t think a doctor will be much help at this point…” Wise mutters, watching the pair as they breathed in time with each other. He knew now would not be the time to ask questions, as even if he was incredibly confused and curious about the enigma that was James, he knew that they were exhausted. He’d make a few calls later to see if they were truly not from New Eridu, but for now they needed to prioritise getting out of here.
“Your constitution is impressive. Now please, stand. If you are in need of support, feel free to lean on my arm as we walk.” Banyue spoke as he began guiding James upwards until they were standing properly, his paw falling from their back yet he remained close to them in case they needed to grab onto him.
“Thanks… I… I don’t know what that was, but… I’m glad I could have helped you.” James responded, swaying slightly as he stood before regaining his balance properly, nodding towards the other two as they all began walking the final stretch towards the clearing where the miners were.
After passing through the miners, assuring them that they had found the person uninjured and would be taking them out of the Hollow, giving the miner who had sought their help some peace of mind. The group then went along the route back towards where the cable cars were, the journey quiet as James was too drained to be asking questions, one hand loosely wrapped around Banyue’s thick arm. The intelligent construct had slowed his pace to ensure that he did not knock them off balance as their hand remained there, intent on fulfilling his offer of supporting James as they both walked.
Eventually, they reach the cable cars and are all able to exit the Hollow, the fresh air and sea breeze of Failume Heights filling James’s lungs and seeming to rejuvenate them somewhat. They’d very likely still need to rest for a while once they were taken back to Suibian Temple, but it was enough that they could stop holding Banyue’s arm to keep them on balance.
“Suibian Temple is just this way,” Wise said, beginning to lead the way to the place where James would be staying from now on — or at least for tonight — past the strange art piece and cable car down to Sailume Bay. The stone lions out front greeted them as they entered through the gate, and Wise lights up at the sight of Belle and Xiao’guang waiting eagerly for their return.