Chapter Text
Tick...... Tock...... Tick..... Tock.... Tick... The sound of a clock is all that can be heard, all else is dark. Tock.. Tick. Tock It continues to get faster. Tick-Toc- and faster.Tic-Toc-Tick. Until.
Whoosh.
Crick, crack.. shatter.
A clock made of golden light shatters into bits of gold glitter and anemo blue.
~•¥•~
As his consciousness slowly returns he finds himself propped up against an old Inazuman styled shrine. It is dark outside, the moon full and bright up above, near it he could see his own constellation, Peregrinus, mixed with the other stars.
A faint breeze blew by, so he reached up for his hat realizing that it was not there.
His body was in so much pain. He looked down to see that the shard Dottore had sent through his chest was no longer there. Only a faint resemblance of a hole was left behind.
The familiar glow of his vision, though broken, still prevailed.
His core too, had remained intact. His body though broken and bleeding would heal again, just as it had time and time again.
As he stands now, alive, and not buried beneath the ruins of a world once known as home. He, Wanderer is the sole reminder that Teyvat had ever existed.
Creation by Raiden Ei using lost Khaenri'an technology, student of The Goddess of Wisdom and the Sumeru Academia, bearer of the Anemo God's vision, Ex 6th Fatui Harbinger under the Tsaritsa's rule, witness of the Travelers might and the Abyss's resilience in battle and much more.
He is the sole bearer of knowledge that people now could not fathom to have been real. Have been a part of their history that has been erased and replaced with something else entirely.
"Ugh, my head hurts. Where am I? What happened?"
His voice sounded foreign even to him, raspy and broken from disuse.
'All I remember was passing out after Dottore had killed Nahida when we were trying to protect the Irminsul but he still set it ablaze. Heh. two fires. The closest person to me dying in them. Yet, I'm the one to still survive. Hahahaha why is it always me who survives.'
Before he could even realize it himself, there were tears streaming down his cheeks, catching on the cracks still on his face.
"Is this an Inazuman shrine? No, it's similar but not the same. The colors are wrong. The Grand Narukami Shrine uses pink because of that damn fox."
The shrine was small, with a stone brick base. The roof was green and had white Katsuogi on top. Hanging from the roof there was a string holding five white Shinto.
The shrine appeared to have been abandoned with moss growing all over it and bits of paint chipping away.
Whatever offerings were once there are now scattered or broken.
The breeze picked up again, cold and sharp.
Not wanting to stay in the same spot at an unknown place for too long, Wanderer tried to carefully get up. He placed one hand firmly on the shrine for stability and tried to pull himself up.
As soon as he had put pressure on his ankle he screamed out in pain and collapsed back to the ground.
He must have injured his ankle joint sometime during the fight with Dottore. This is going to make things much more inconvenient. But being the stubborn bastard that he is, Wanderer was just going to use his vision.
One of the perks of having an anemo vision was that Wanderer can fly. He let the wind gently lift him off the ground, staying low to conserve energy.
Wanderer followed the small, almost invisible path that led away from the shrine.
~•¥•~
He had flown for what felt like hours, occasionally sitting down to recover some energy before moving on again.
~•¥•~
He eventually came across a small convenience store that was closed. Perfect, he could slip in and grab some essentials.
The door was for some reason that Wanderer didn't care to look into was unlocked still. It was like a ghost town with no signs of life anywhere. Good, makes things easier.
Wanderer walked over to where the medical stuff was and grabbed some gauze and bandages. There wasn't much he could do for the cracks in his skin, granted it had never been this bad before. But he could at least cover them so people wouldn't be suspicious. That is if he even finds any people to be suspicious.
He went and ways away from the store and sat down against a tree so he could recover some energy and bandage the cracks.
By this point the sun was gradually peeking over the horizon, showing how truly messed up and tattered his clothes were. He would have to find new ones.
Tsk. "How annoying."
\(•○•)/ meet Stuart your friendly neighborhood time skip because the author is stumped and doesn't know how to write this scene -_- sorry
~•¥•~
It has been a few days now and Wanderer has acquired new clothes by some means. (No, the author doesn't know how)
He is wearing a tight, black, bodysuit-like shirt with a dark blue zip up hoodie with a light blue wind design and white flowers mixed with maple leaves at the bottom. In true Wanderer fashion he is wearing black shorts and black geta sandals.
By now he has made his way to a city that he has been told is Musatafu, a city in Japan. His ankle joint is mostly healed by now so he is walking mostly normally, just has a slight limp.
He walked around until he found what he was looking for, a library. As he opened the door he was greeted by a kind woman with brunette hair tied up in a messy bun and had glasses.
"Good morning sir, do you need help finding something?"
Putting on a kind face he sweetly responded. "Oh, uh, yes, actually, can you show me where the history books are?"
"Of course! Follow me." She had a sweet smile and looked genuinely happy to help.
He spent the whole day sitting surrounded by stacks and stacks of history books trying to figure out what happened while he was out. As he kept reading he just kept on getting more and more frustrated because out of all the books that he has read so far not one of them has ever mentioned anything about Inazuma or Teyvat. Nothing about archons or visions; nothing that he has known as being part of everyday life. When he read some of the books on Legends he was able to find things on the Yokai and Yggdrasil from Norse Mythology. He learned that the names of the Archons are the names of demons from the Ars Goetia Lesser Key of Solomon. What Wanderer found ironic was that the 9th name was Paimon. Paimon is said to have been the king of hell and most loyal to Lucifer. That at least got a chuckle and eye-roll out of him.
~•¥•~
He must have lost track of time going through all the books, his entire world collapsing word by word, because the librarian had come up to him saying that they were closing soon.
"Excuse me sir, but we will be closing in 10 minutes. Would you like help with putting these books away?"
Looking up from what he was reading he put on a kind expression despite all of his jumbled up thoughts. "Oh, yes. I appreciate the help, thank you. What time is it anyway?"
"It's no problem!" She checked her watch as she went to pick up a small stack of books to return to the shelf. "It's currently 4;45 (16;45)pm."
Standing up to grab a reasonable pile of books that wouldn't seem suspicious he responded more to himself than anyone. "Hm, 4;45(16;45) really lost track of time there." 'Not like it really matters for me anyway.'
They work in comfortable silence putting away all the books where they belong. Is what I would say if Wanderer's thoughts would just shut up. Everything was so confusing right now, because what do you mean there are zero mentions of Teyvat anywhere. All of the 'history' books he has read have talked about wars and evolution. Also whatever a 'quirk' was, having seen some books mention a 'pre-quirk era'. Like, what happened to people receiving visions? Did it have something to do with the fall of celestia and the archons? (Celestia yes, archons not so much)
Before he realized it they were at the door saying goodbye. Now, Wanderer does not have a home here, so he had to figure out what to do for the night. He doesn't need to sleep, or eat, and he doesn't get cold so that's not a problem. What is a problem is figuring out what to do for the night.
He could find a secluded area and check to see if any of the cracks or chips have healed yet, but that won't take very long, so he still needs to find something to do after that. He could go for a walk, but he doesn't want to put too much strain on his ankle joint nor does he want to be seen flying in an unknown place with unknown laws.
After ruling out his options he decided to just head up to the roof of a nearby building to sit and gather his thoughts. Maybe do some stargazing if the thoughts become too much.
He found a building with a fire escape that leads to a flat roof, perfect for sitting on. The night was quiet, it was nice to be able to sit and just enjoy the moment. It brought a strange sense of calm Wanderer hadn't felt in a long time. He didn't want to pay attention to all of the thoughts spiraling through his mind. So he pushed them back, enjoying the quiet of the night. Until he was rudely interrupted by someone else's presence approaching him from behind.
"Hey, kid, don't do it. Please, its not worth it." It was a man's voice. Low and gruff, tired.
"Don't do what? Enjoy this peaceful night that got rudely interrupted?" Wanderer's voice was sharp and annoyed. He didn't even spare the man a glance, and who was he calling kid?
"Dont jump. It's not worth it." He took a few steps closer earning a side eyed glare from the boy.
"Why the hell would I jump off the roof of a building? It's not like I really have a death wish anymore." Immediately after realizing what he said he internally face palmed because 'why the fuck would I word it that way‽'
The man, Aizawa as Wanderer would later learn, had clocked that information immediately because this kid just admitted to previously having a death wish and still kinda does.
"Well then, why are you out so late? Shouldn't you be heading home, your parents must be worried." The man's voice had a certain sincerity to it that almost seemed genuine.
"Its none of your business." Wanderer still wasn't looking fully at him his eyes hidden behind his hair. If he had his hat that would have been pulled low over his face. And he couldn't pull up his hood now without looking suspicious.
"Well, I'm a Pro-Hero so it kinda is my business."
"What the fuck is a- you know what fine. I'm a vagrant, a wanderer. And I don't have parents. There, happy now?" He said with a roll of his eyes as he looked back out into the street ahead of him.
"Well then, what's your name, kid? If you have one." Aizawa hasn't moved from the spot he stood, capture weapon away but still ready for any sudden movements from the wanderer kid.
'Ah, shit, he wants a name. Well-' Before he could think too much about it he spoke up. "Kunikuzushi, Raiden Kunikuzushi." He hated that he had used his mother's name but it was unfortunately the first thing that came to mind.
"Well Raiden, it was nice to meet you. I'm Eraserhead, by the way.”