Chapter Text
The shades were all given tasks during the Cataclysm.
It was Istaroth’s to pull a trick. A dip into the future, the procurement of a key. Enough to pull the savior away.
It was Ronova’s to place the curse. Every pure-blooded Khaenrian soul was locked in their body, even as it rotted.
It was Naberius’ to form the others. She made them grotesque and horned and incoherent.
And it was Asmoday’s to catch the Descenders. She caught them on the edge of Celestia, trapping them in small spaces. She sealed their power in a box of space, and set it afloat in their limitless husks. She formed them into human forms and gave them to Istaroth, saying “Do what you please. My work is done.”
Truthfully, she wondered how long her space could hold the power of world eaters.
~
The seal was extra aggravating today. Aether’s memory was blurrier and his wings were phantoms at his back. The seal was trying to eat again, trying to take what he’d reclaimed. It didn’t really matter whether it got what it wanted or not, for Aether had already written down every little detail he could recall about each memory when he had first remembered them. His instincts didn’t seem to think it mattered, though, so when the memories started slipping his subconscious began to panic.
It was annoying at most. He could handle it.
But perhaps Aether had grown too complacent, because he was on his way to find that adeptus anyway.
Xiao was quiet and understanding, with observant eyes and the occasional small smile that made Aether want to melt. But he was also ridden with karmic debt: corrosive, angry Abyssal energy harvested from the demons of old gods he’d sworn to kill.
Energy like that was nothing to Aether. In fact, when the karma tried to seep into his bones, corrupt him like it did other humans, the only thing it found within Aether was the seal on his powers, his form, his soul. It was the only thing to corrode and destroy, so destroy it did. In Natlan, when Aether delved into the Night Kingdom, he could almost see the cracks forming in the seal.
Instead of corrupting him, Abyssal energy soothed Aether. It made his mind clearer, helped him remember, and let him be a little stronger in battle.
He had found several ways to access this feeling. But between fighting on the front lines in Natlan and delving into the Spiral Abyss in Mondstadt, Xiao was by far his favorite way, even if it was the hardest on his conscience.
Aether knew it was twisted to use Xiao’s company like that. But that’s simply how it was. It was the only thing holding the two together.
(That was a lie and Aether knew it. But admitting to himself that his feelings had become something more was more terrifying than he could describe. ‘No attachments’ Lumine had said.)
He was already in Liyue, Aether told himself. Why not visit anyway?
Aether’s internal struggle continued as Paimon chatted his ear off. The duo headed into the marsh, towards the inn.
~
The voices were maddeningly loud today. Xiao really should have taken his medicine like his lord told him to, but he hated the taste and believed he deserved the pain anyhow.
Another band of hilichurls had been corrupted. By demons or his own influence Xiao couldn’t tell, and he couldn’t focus long enough to find out. He tuned out his surroundings and focused on the battle.
The shadows grew unnaturally longer, and Xiao slowly realized he could no longer hear beyond the screams. Every hilichurl he felled joined the chorus as more Abyssal energy drew them back up like immortal bloody puppets.
Again and again and again he struck them down, and again and again and again they rose, sloppier and louder and darker. To kill them for good Xiao had to slice them to pieces, so unrecognizable they couldn't be pieced back together.
By the time the last one was down for good, Xiao was no longer aware of where he was. Shadows rose around him, screams drowned out his own thoughts, and the pain became excruciating. Oh, he thought distantly, a flea against the horde of screams. I’m having another episode.
The shadows grew into faces he didn’t recognize, but he instinctively knew who they were. They formed the voices in his head, the cacophony of cries that made his head ache. Most of them were grown men, wrapped in armor that clearly didn’t stop anything by their oozing wounds. They were soldiers. A couple figures stood out in the crowd. An elderly man there, screaming with no eyes, a woman calling for her fiancé, a weeping child screeching “I want to live” over and over and over and over
Xiao gripped his spear and took it. They deserved to yell at him, to scream until he lost his own sanity. He had taken everything from them. He ignored his rising panic dutifully, resisting the urge to drop to his knees and cover his ears like a child until it passed.
“I want to live!”
“You killed him!”
“Bloodhound-”
“She was everything-”
“I want to live”
“PLEASE”
“KILLER!”
“You took EVERYTHING”
“I WANT TO LIVE-”
“MONSTER” the voices yelled in chorus as one final hilichurl ran towards Xiao.
His jade spear was flying out the other side of its chest in a second.
The very human choke that was heard in place of a monstrous screech was all it took for every voice to fall quiet. The shadows parted and Xiao’s blood turned to ice.
The Traveler stood where the hilichurl wasn’t, eyes wide with shock as blood stained his white shirt.
“Monster,” the shadow child whispered one final time.
~
Paimon knew the second that the Traveler hit the ground that he wasn’t making it. Somewhere, deep down, she knew.
Xiao’s spear had soared straight through his chest, making a sickening squelch sound, and ripping through vital organs. Paimon shrieked, covering her eyes. She could’ve dragged him out of the way. She should have.
Xiao, to his credit, looked horrified, and he raced over immediately. He laid the Traveler down with careful urgency and wrapped his own outer tunic around the wound. The blood soaked through the fabric immediately, staining Xiao’s gloves and flowing onto the ground.
The Traveler caught Xiao’s wrist weakly, trying to push him away. “Xiao,” he managed.
Paimon realized what he was doing. She knew what was coming.
Xiao didn’t respond, taking in a shaky breath and summoning his power. He began to chant, his brows furrowed in concentration.
“Xiao-” Paimon started-
“Quiet,” Xiao ordered, his teeth gritted in concentration.
Paimon knew his power wouldn’t work in time. And she also knew that she was coming.
The Traveler was weakly pushing at Xiao, his voice failing him.
Paimon had to get Xiao out of there.
“Xiao, we have to go!” Paimon urged, tugging on Xiao’s arm.
Xiao growled in annoyance but his face was pure desperation as he continued his spell.
“The Traveler will be okay, Paimon promises, but we have to leave!”
Xiao was no longer listening to her. Paimon became frantic.
“Xiao!”
-
A second sickening slice echoed. A glistening, golden sword had been pushed through Xiao’s back, and he stared at it in shock, his spell forgotten.
As the sword retracted, a golden power coalesced at the wound. It looked rather familiar. It was the Traveler’s power, and it wouldn’t let him heal.
A hand took Xiao by the shoulder and pushed him to the side. Xiao crumpled to the ground, curling in on himself.
Paimon locked eyes with the attacker. She knew who it was, but she looked anyway.
The Traveler's face stared back at her, with different hair and colder eyes. She was here to save her other half, and she would cut down any in her way.
The Princess stared Paimon down, raising her sword.
Paimon looked to Xiao, then to the Traveler, then to the Princess and-
-and she disappeared into a shower of stars.
She was a coward, and she was sorry.