Chapter Text
Above the smoldering ruins of the once great nation of Khaenri'ah a woman could be seen floating. Her long white hair flowing up gracefully like a stream of water, a dark red cube floating in her free hand. Her amber eyes swept across the nation searching for any more immediate bursts of abyssal energy that needed to be contained. As she was doing this she felt an unnatural sensation spread across her body and felt ‘space’ tear ever so slightly. In an instant she moved to the infected area and felt her golden blood still. She saw a man standing there, the abyss seeming to cover him completely wielding a blade dark as night.
She remembers this man as one of the five people to absorb significant abyssal energy during the destruction of the nation Surtalogi, currently committing blasphemy against her domain of space. She immediately jumped into action raising her hand as several dimensional cubes locked onto him. He then began cutting through them and using some of them as platforms to approach the goddess. Asmoday could feel the intense power radiating off of him and decided to take the matter seriously. In her hand she summoned the blade she managed to take from that ‘descender’ infusing it with a mix of light and space. She moved quickly, space itself bending around her as she prepared to strike. The sword began glowing with energy similar to a celestial nail tearing space behind its line of strike. Surtalogi raised his blade as well, feeling mildly interested in the power of the shade. His blade now infused with the power of the abyss seemed to be mimicking the endless void within space. When the blades collided the clash tore space itself apart leading to a huge explosion within the already ruined nation.
Surtalogi found himself floating within the dark sea. As for Asmoday she opened her eyes to find herself outside of the false sky as well. She tried to use her power to open a portal down but seemed too tired to do so. She could see Surtalogi in the distance and knew she was in no state to continue their fight, especially after having already been weakened thanks to her actions within that now fallen nation. She poured all her remaining power into making it back onto land however, due to her unstable state after having used too much of her power the portal malfunctioned dragging her into an unknown space. The shade felt her mind normally so strong and resilient began to dull as her vision faded; the last thing she saw was a vast empty wasteland with a great city of lights far off in the distance.
She landed with a heavy thump falling onto a mix of dirt and sand. After a great length of time she opened her eyes, sitting up and glancing at the area around her. The surroundings seemed… unfamiliar to her how odd normally she would know every area within Teyvat. She tried feeling the space around her mind and power out to pinpoint her location and realized something was off. She felt faint traces of strange energies, strange divinities she did not recognize. Feeling mildly alarmed she tried to feel for the elemental energy within the area only to release there wasn’t any. The place she was in seemed to be made from a different energy and seemed to be composed of different substances than the Teyvat she was used to.
Realization started to dawn on the shade that she may have accidentally opened a portal to somewhere way beyond Teyvat. The shade could feel herself starting to albeit mildly panic. However, her years of experience and many hardships from facing dragons to fighting descenders had granted her the ability to stay calm and graceful even in situations like this one. Asmoday knew she needed to come up with a proper plan. Her first priority would be trying to identify the nearest civilization as she did see vague traces of life in the area. She hoped that a human-like civilization was on the planet although speaking to them would be below her stature as a shining shade she still knew it would be the most ideal for gathering information on the place she found herself in and if it still was Teyvat.
The shade then decided to at least attempt to create a disguise for herself. Her hair fell back down no longer floating up her hands and part of her arms were now being covered by long gloves, and her clothing seemed to change as well. The shade was now wearing a dark cloak and her eyes normally shining a brilliant amber or even gold were now a blue similar to the sky above her though stars were still being expertly reflected in them, a sign to her nature as the ruler of space. She began to walk, still extending her power and self to the space around her to identify any nearby civilization. Within a matter of minutes she found a town roughly 7 miles from her current location.
She began to walk and as she did she continued to slightly tweak her appearance focusing on changing her other features to look more human. She knew walking would be the best choice since she was still tired and she needed to see more of the environment she was in. She noticed hills in the background and took note of the strange transparent waste she found. Strange bottle-like containers made from a material she did not recognize along with a few metal cans here and there. After roughly an hour she managed to reach the town and was immediately perplexed. Strange lights seemed to be all across the town seeming to brim with an energy similar to electro. The buildings were also strange having a different build style from any of the buildings she had come to expect from Teyvat.
She saw a store with a sign above it that read "grocery store”. It seemed to have people in it, good the shade thought as she made her way to the entrance. The doors seemed to open automatically once again seeming to be powered by an electro-like energy. She scanned the store and took note of the variety of new foods she saw in it and some others she recognized. Though the main thing that caught her attention was the human who seemed to be standing next to a strange device. Next to him there seemed to be a label “check out”. Asmoday decided to approach the man and ask him where exactly she was.